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A yellow canary records animal suicides at the edge of a cliff, possibly the world. Animator Philip Bacon speaks in tongues of metaphor with his take on death and behavior. He tells this story in a way that allows the audience to create their own interpretations of the larger meaning. The protagonist, the canary, acts as a god-like character, simply observing suicides in ritual by recording in a book then eating a representation of their species (jelly beans). He is unfazed by the animals’ obvious strife. A break in the ritual occurs when a cat is caught dragging a briefcase to the cliff. Upon the discovery, the cat flees the scene leaving the briefcase behind. Curiosity drives the canary to reveal what is in the case. At this point, the canary has a crisis of conscience. Should he be involved with the dealings of his fellow animals? Can his routine return to normal after such an interruption? Props beautifully illustrate the difficult decision-making process. The canary’s decision eventually overwhelms him with emotion. A cow helps him complete his emotional journey by reminding him that he is an animal too, not alone. The canary character could be interpreted in many ways. He could be the physical manifestation of death, longing to be a human. Perhaps he’s a Jesus figure meddling and recording events only to be sucked into the drama of the moment then saved by Mary Magdalene. Maybe he assumes the identity of the title itself, cowardice. Or perhaps his costume has a literal meaning for humans as animals and our emotions is what eventually separates our species. This is why the short is enticing. Whichever interpretation you subscribe, this short will keep you talking for days after you watch.

Ones Street uses the idea that numbers are like houses on a street. The ones place is a house. The tens place is a street. The hundreds place is a block. The thousands place is a neighborhood. This tool helps K-2 students understand place value, how big a number is, how to count on, addition, and subtraction. Common Core Standards for K-2 math are listed that the tool can assist in teaching as well as some simple ideas of ways to use the tool. This tool can help you differentiate instruction for the more concrete learners in your classroom or it can help you bring math into your transportation theme or social studies unit. This is a PDF file.

SPRING CREEK (BOWIE COUNTY) SPRING CREEK (Bowie County). Spring Creek rises 2½ miles south of Wake Village in southeastern Bowie County (at 33°23' N, 94°07' W). Intermittent in its upper reaches, the stream flows in a southerly direction for six miles to its mouth on the Sulphur River, four miles east of the Arkansas state line (at 33°18' N, 94°07' W). The soils through which Spring Creek flows are loamy along the upper and middle reaches and clayey around the mouth of the creek. The area around the upper reaches is extensively developed for commercial and residential uses. That around the middle and lower reaches is heavily wooded, with pines and various hardwoods predominating. The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article."SPRING CREEK (BOWIE COUNTY)," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rbsel), accessed November 29, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Get Texas history everyday, with day by day Each day's email tells a little bit more of the story of Texas and links to our collection of more than 27,000 articles

When writing in a particular genre and to a particular audience, one important consideration is the level of formality of your writing. For instance, the type of language typically used in texting differs significantly than that used in email and even more significantly than that used in an academic essay. Even if you are writing in the same genre, say an email message, your language should change depending on your audience. For instance, you would write an email differently to a friend than to a professor. Here are some characteristics of different genres of writing: 1. Brainstorm some additional informal/formal word pairs. 2. Compare an email that you wrote to a friend or family member and one that you have written to a professor. Did you adapt your language for the different audiences? If not, what could you have done differently to write to the more formal audience of your professor? 3. Why do you think expressions like “I think” and “In my opinion” are generally avoided in academic writing?

Water is getting more valuable by the day, it seems. It is so valuable that Amarillo city officials are pondering whether to impose a fee for the water we allow to run off into storm sewers. It's not without precedent, as cities such as Lubbock, Austin and Abilene impose fees - as much as $10 monthly - to help pay for infrastructure improvements. The Amarillo Development Policy Review Committee heard a presentation that projects the city could raise as much as $10 million annually with the fee, which would be assessed on customers' water-and-sewer bills each month. The money would pay for street and alley repair and maintenance, as well as storm-drain improvements. But consider this factor as well: The fee could deter the wasting of water, which in the grand scheme could cut into the revenue raised by its imposition. Perhaps you've seen it. Water pours from sprinkler heads on commercial property, spilling onto sidewalks and into streets. It runs into storm drains, where it does no good whatsoever. Add to that the fact that we've had some mighty cold mornings of late. The water turns to ice, thus creating a significant hazard to those walking along the sidewalks or driving on the streets. The city's capital-improvement projects need a revenue source. Attaching fees to the water many of us waste every day seems to be a reasonable option for the city to pursue. It also has an added benefit of deterring further waste. Who wants to pay more for water than is absolutely necessary? With surface and groundwater levels receding each day, we need to look for incentives to take better care of this valuable resource. A little extra money out of consumers' pockets just might do the trick.

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Foreign Affairs and National Security Policy and Strategy Ethiopia’s policy towards Somalia a) Historical background of relations The relation between Ethiopia and Somalia has not been a healthy one. In the recent historical period, one major and one lesser war were fought between the two countries. The empty dream of the so-called “Greater Somalia”, an expansionist policy, had brought to Somalia nothing but hostility and conflicts with all its neighbors, especially Ethiopia. Moreover, Somalia had always allied with all groups and countries it believed were anti-Ethiopian and had disturbed Ethiopia’s peace. On the other hand, Ethiopian Somalis had resisted the oppressive system in Ethiopia. Related to this, Somalia had succeeded in mobilizing a large number of Ethiopian Somalis as allays in its attempt to execute its expansionist policy. In this regard Ethiopia has been exposed to threats emanating from Somalia and other quarters. Ethiopia, for its part, rather than responding to the threat by respecting the right of Ethiopian Somalis and by fostering brotherhood between the peoples of Ethiopia, so Ethiopian Somalis could live in voluntary unity with their other fellow Ethiopians, resorted to dismantling Somalia to the extent possible. The policy was to respond to Somali aggression by taking the war to Somalia and, along the way, aggravating the contradiction between the Somali clans. The situation has now fundamentally changed. The “Greater Somalia” ideology has been discredited. It is now over ten years since Somalia has become stateless. On the other hand, in Ethiopia, a constitution in which peoples’ rights are guaranteed is being implemented. Ethiopian Somalis are living in brotherhood and voluntary unity with other Ethiopians in a newly defined, inclusive Ethiopian identity. Together with other Ethiopians, Ethio-Somalis are, in the spirit of equality, democracy, development and an Ethiopian identity, resting on strong foundations and contributing to the building of the country. Ethiopia’s vulnerability to the “Greater Somalia” ideology has been greatly diminished. On the other hand, the disintegration of Somalia has in itself brought ever-growing danger. The crisis in Somalia has allowed religious extremism to take hold. Somalia has become a haven and conduit for terrorists and extremists. Anti-peace elements are using the country as a base and place of transit in order to threaten Ethiopia’s peace. Somalia’s disintegration has brought danger to the peace in our country. b) Significance of the relations There is no condition whereby Somalia could contribute as a source of investment and financial development or as a significant market for Ethiopia. After a process of some length, followed by peace and stability in Somalia, there is the chance that it could become a significant market, but this is difficult to imagine in the short and medium term. Regarding natural resources, all the big rivers in Somalia flow from Ethiopia. The irrigation schemes in Somalia which effectively served the people are in a poor state. On the other hand, as our country steps up its development, we will have to dam the rivers for irrigation purposes. The harnessing of rivers in Ethiopia can help Somalia resist floods, and so the benefit would be mutual. But on the other hand, these rivers could be used in Ethiopia – mainly in the Somali region – for development purposes. This could create a minor conflict but the problem can be tackled by the principle of give and take in a way that takes into account the national interests of the two countries. As can be understood from the above, in the short and medium terms, Somalia does not have a positive or negative influence of note in the development of our country. And yet, in Somalia there are numerous ports that can provide services to Ethiopia. Starting from the port of Zeila which gave services to Ethiopia during its long history, all the way to Kismayo, there are no less than seven ports in Somalia that can be used by different parts of our country. These possibilities could significantly contribute to our development, but due to the “Greater Somalia”-driven conflict and national oppression in Ethiopia, they were never seriously considered (not to forget that Ethiopia had ports of its own). The current collapse of the state in Somalia makes it unrealistic to think of using the ports at the present time. Even if the chances to use the ports were to arise, and though that would increase Somalia’s relevance to our development, one cannot see a positive role that Somalia can play at this time. On the negative side, it is worth noting that the disintegration of Somalia has posed dangers for peace and stability in Ethiopia. This situation has spoilt the image of our sub-region, and the Horn is now perceived as an area of conflict. Our chances to attract investment have been reduced and the “Somalia effect” has contributed to the uncertainty about regional peace and the lack of economic linkages between the two countries. c) Policy Direction Our proximity to Somalia would be beneficial to our development if there were peace and stability in Somalia. Peace can come to our region if a government committed to fighting disorder, terrorism and extremism in cooperation with its neighbours is established in Somalia. Some circles say that the establishment of such a government in Somalia would once again resuscitate the ideology of “Greater Somalia” and that peace, democracy and development in Somalia would, in that case, not benefit Ethiopia. This view is fundamentally wrong and dangerous. First, of all, from now onwards, our country safeguards the unity of its peoples not by denying them options but by helping them recognise and confirm in practice, the option based on equality, mutual development and democracy. As a result of this, we have created the condition whereby Ethiopian Somalis, no matter whether the ideology of “Greater Somalia” is revived or not, would choose to live in equality and unity with their other Ethiopian brothers and sisters. As our development and democratisation process gains momentum, our vulnerability to the effects of this and other similar slogans will be much reduced. Furthermore, it should be underscored that, since it has been the cause of much suffering first and foremost to the people of Somalia, this slogan of “Greater Somalia” has been discredited and its chances of revival are indeed very slim. In light of the encouraging political and economic situation in Ethiopia, the fact that Somalis live in both countries would actually ensure that they serve as a bridge that creates strong connections between the two countries, rather than as a factor of suspicion. On the contrary, if Somalia enjoys peace and democracy, we will have the opportunity to use the Somali ports extensively and continuously and this would contribute to our development significantly. Such a situation would make it possible, in alliance with the new government, to stamp out anti-peace activities originating from Somalia. Both countries can work together to jointly develop river utilization plans. The way would also be clear to promote strong educational and cultural ties and interdependence in light of the educational and other related activities that are carried out in the Somali language within the Somali Region of our country. By creating strong relations between the two countries regarding the use of ports and rivers, commerce, culture and so on, and seeing to it that the two peoples are benefiting from this, one could be sure that the peoples would resist activities designed to harm the relations that are proving to be so beneficial to them. Ethiopia would also gain direct economic advantages from this situation; in addition, when Ethiopia’s eastern border ceases to be a source of threat, overall economic development would be enhanced. That is why, at this time, our major objective in Somalia is to see the establishment of peace and democracy, and based on that, the development of strong economic, cultural and political ties between the two countries. This may be our wish and policy, but peace and democracy cannot be realised through our efforts only. Although we will do all in our power to contribute to the peace and stability of Somalia, as it is in our interest to do so, the responsibility to establish peace in that country principally rests on the Somali people and the political forces there. In addition to this, those external forces which can influence events should see to it that they use their authority to contribute to bringing about peace and democracy in Somalia. The events of the last ten years in Somalia have not been encouraging, but we should not give up hope that peace and democracy will eventually come to Somalia. The country has disintegrated into different areas, and while some are comparatively, calm others are in continuous turmoil. Those who reap benefits from the absence of authority – a number of Somali groups, some traders, religious extremists, and their foreign friends – are bent on sabotaging in one way or another any effort aimed at bringing about peace in Somalia. Although the Somali people long for peace, they have not been able to break out of the web of obstruction put in place by those who oppose peace and change. Although the international community wishes to bring about peace in Somalia, it is evidently not ready to exert all its efforts to realise this. Thus, it appears to us that the condition of instability in Somalia is likely to persist for some time. Therefore, our policy should not be limited to contributing to the emergence of peace and democracy only and, based on that, to forging strong ties; rather, it should also address what we should do if instability and turmoil persist. Our fundamental policy remains to persistently work towards the birth of a peaceful and democratic Somalia. But in light of the continuing instability, the policy we pursue should essentially be a damage-limitation policy to ensure that the instability does not further harm our country, the region and the people of Somalia. If the instability is not stopped, the only option left is to limit the damage that may be caused. There are three main options to limit the damage. First, we have to try to help those regions which are comparatively stable and do not shelter extremists and terrorists in order that the relative peace they enjoy is maintained and even strengthened. Those that can be mentioned in this regard are the regions known as Somaliland and Puntland. In the spirit of damage limitation and to assist these regions maintain their stability, it is necessary that the links be strengthened in such areas as trade, transport and the like in the interest of our country and the people inhabiting the region. The question could be raised regarding the recognition of Somaliland as an independent state. Taking this initiative is not preferable to Ethiopia because it would create negative feelings on the part of Somalis living in the rest of Somalia and others would be suspicious of our intent. Therefore, our cooperation with these regions should not include recognizing the regional administrations as independent states. But we should continue to assist these regions in maintaining peace and stability, as it is to our advantage and the benefit of the peoples living in the area. Secondly, we shall certainly continue to be exposed to various dangers as long as peace and stability elude Somalia as a whole. In recognition of this, we must create the capability to defend ourselves and foil any attack by forces of extremism, terrorism and other anti-peace elements originating in Somalia. In this regard we must always be vigilant. Thirdly, we have to work in cooperation with the Somali people in the region, and the international community as a whole, to weaken and neutralize those forces coming from any part of Somalia to perpetrate attacks against our country. Obviously, the solution to all of this is the prevalence of democracy, and everything must be done to assist in reaching this solution. At the same time, however, we need to receive the understanding and support of the people of Somalia and the international community regarding what we are facing. While maintaining the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of Somalia, we have to ensure our right to safeguard our peace and defend ourselves.

Acute appendicitis is one of the commonest abdominal surgical diseases, the etiology of which is only fairly well established. As shown in the experimental work of Wangensteen and Bowers,13 the two important etiologic factors are obstruction and infection, and the finding of acute appendicitis without both factors is rare. Boyd2 has stated that while concretions or fecaliths are the cause of the obstruction in about 80% of the cases, other causes may also be found. Among the commoner causes are obstruction due to lymphoid hyperplasia, fibrous bands, and masses of intraluminal parasites, primarily Oxyuris vermicularis. The occasional finding of tumor as the cause of obstruction has been reported.* Among the most important of these are carcinoids or argentaffinomas. Lee and Blain report an incidence of about 0.2% in unselected cases. Primary carcinoma of the appendix, in rare instances, may be the cause of the obstruction leading to acute

Much has been written about the dangers of consuming soft drinks because of their hidden sugars and extra calories. However, is it as simple as just extra calories from sugar or is the high fructose corn syrup used as the sweetener that is particularly harmful? It is important to understand that there are several different types of sugar. The sugar our bodies use for energy is glucose. Dextrose is the same as glucose. Our bodies eventually break all sugars down into glucose. Sucrose is our usual table sugar and is made from cane or beet sugar. This is a two-sugar molecule with one glucose and one fructose bonded together. Fructose is the sugar found in fruits and vegetables. Fructose has a low glycemic index, which means that it takes a long time for the body to it break down, resulting in a slow, steady release of sugar, rather than a sudden rush. For this reason, fructose is sometimes recommended for people with diabetes. Regular corn syrup is made from corn and is all glucose. High fructose corn syrup is a mix of glucose and fructose but with a higher percentage of fructose. The sugars in high fructose corn syrup are not bonded together. High fructose corn syrup is less expensive to make and also preserves foods and soft drinks longer than glucose can. It did not exist until 1996. It tastes sweeter and adds to food texture. Because of this, food manufacturers prefer high fructose corn syrup to other sweeteners. All popular nondiet soft drinks are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. All sugars have the same caloric content but the effect on metabolism and hormones may be different. A recent study attempted to look how our bodies may differently metabolize some sugars: In the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Dr. Peter J. Havel, professor of nutrition at the University of California at Davis, randomly assigned 32 overweight or obese men and women to drink three daily servings — 25 percent of their daily energy requirements — of a glucose- or fructose-sweetened beverage for 10 weeks. At the end of the study period, both groups had gained similar amounts of weight, but those consuming fructose-sweetened drinks showed an increase in intra-abdominal fat, the kind that embeds itself between tissues in organs. These individuals also became less sensitive to insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar, and they had elevated levels of fat in the blood. The fructose group also showed increased fat production in the liver, elevated “bad” cholesterol and larger increases in blood triglycerides. The group drinking glucose-sweetened beverages showed none of these changes. Americans’ obesity problem started about the same time that high fructose corn syrup came on the market. It is this association that has led some nutritionists to want to study if high fructose corn syrup is metabolized differently than regular sugar. Unfortunately there is not much funding for this type of research and therefore there are not many studies. Also, there are some studies that seem to come to the opposite conclusion, that high fructose corn syrup is no worse than other sugars. So, what can I recommend, given this controversy? First, it is inconclusive that high fructose corn syrup is inherently unhealthful. However, because it is present in so many foods and essentially all nondiet sodas, it is an important and ever-present source of extra calories. Therefore, you must look at food and drink labels and try to pick the brands that don’t contain high fructose corn syrup. It is fair to say that our intake of extra calories is a problem and that the increase in high fructose corn syrup consumption is not helping. You should avoid food with added sugar regardless of whether it is table sugar or high fructose corn syrup. A previous version of this story about high fructose corn syrup needs clarification. Author Joanmarie Pellegrini, M.D., notes that high fructose corn syrup is no sweeter than table sugar and that it originally was marketed in the 1960s but did not come into widespread use until much more recently. More information is available by going to www.wabi.tv and searching under “Healthy Living.”

Did you know that mammograms do not prevent breast cancer? In truth, they actually detect cancer that already exists. And while screening mammography* is currently the best tool we have for detecting breast cancer, it misses 20% of all tumors and women younger than 50 were even more likely to have a missed tumor. Over the last 30 years, the promise of early screening to significantly reduce deaths from breast cancer has under-delivered. Nevertheless, “early detection” and debates over whether breast cancer screening does more harm than good continue to oversimplify and dominate the conversation.The truth about screening is more complicated. BCAction believes that all women should have information about the risks and benefits of breast cancer screening technologies in order to make their own decision about breast cancer screening. We are excited to present this webinar hosted by: - Tracy Weitz, BCAction Board Chair and Director, Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), University of California, San Francisco and - H. Gilbert Welch, MD, Professor of Medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Research and co-author of the study “Effect of Three Decades of Screening Mammography on Breast Cancer Incidence.” During the webinar we will: - Deconstruct the “early detection saves lives” mantra - Analyze the benefits and harms of mammography - Explain the effect three decades of screening mammography has had on breast cancer incidence - Help to translate the science around overdiagnosis and overtreatment related to mammography - Discuss what all this information means for you Join us on Tuesday March 12th 1pm (PST)/4pm (EST) or Thursday March 14th 9am (PST)/12pm (EST) for this free webinar to learn about the risks and benefits of mammography and help inform a woman’s personal decision on timing and frequency of screening. *Breast Cancer Action recognizes that mammograms have an important but fundamentally limited role and should be part of, not all of, a strategy to address the breast cancer epidemic.

The Religious Society of Friends (RSOF), aka “Quakers,” was founded in England in 1652. Though there are still about 300,000 Quakers in the world today, when I mention the religion in polite company I often get puzzled looks, “Quakers? Aren’t they mythical, like fairies?” and “How do they get by without using electricity or driving cars?” Clearly, there is need for a little education here. I believe this confusion can be blamed on the Quaker Oats Man. We’ve all seen him on those boxes of oatmeal, wearing his old-fashioned clothing and that red-cheeked superior smirk. He gives Quakers a bad name, I tell you. The Religious Society of Friends, also known simply as “Friends,” is not church as we know it. Though the religion has been around since the 17th century, it is still as unconventional today as it was seen to be then. Their services are called “meetings,” and their building is referred to as the “meeting house.” There is no clergy, in fact, nobody is in charge. They hold no creeds, no dogma; they tell no myths, have no rituals, no symbolism. Zilch. I had always thought of Quakerism as the Seinfeld of religion. It is a religion about nothing. But Friends do hold principles. They believe in simplicity. Not in the “no cars, no electricity” way but rather, in more of a “green, socially responsible, and try not to wear a lot of designer labels” manner. Quakers are perhaps best known for their staunch commitment to peace. In fact, the RSOF won the 1947 Nobel Peace Prize. They have always refused military service and, during times of war, are often granted conscientious objector status, though many have been jailed for their pacifism throughout the years. Some Quakers go so far as to be unwilling to allow their taxes to go toward military spending and they establish separate measures with the government for the allocation of this portion of their taxes. Their own literature explains more of who they are and the RSOF do like their literature. Many meeting houses boast their own library and all carry plenty of pamphlets, leaflets, and publications that explore common interests such as climate change, the progress of volunteer peace workers around the world, political and social issues, and always, always, Quaker poetry. It is a world-wide religion, practiced in nearly every country, though their numbers are dwindling. Again, I blame the Quaker Oats man. But they too are somewhat responsible for their own diminishing membership. They don’t advertise, baptize, chastise, nor proselytize. It hardly seems like a religion at all. It is easy to understand why so few would venture into a meeting house uninvited. Though they have a reputation for being puritanical, which really isn’t fair given how poorly the Puritans treated them back in the day, they are actually a very liberal group. They stress moderation in all things but they drink, they dance, and they can sin with the best of us. They do, however, frown on gambling and other than staunch pacifism, this is the only line in the sand that Quakers have drawn as far as I can see. They refuse to swear legal oaths, with the explanation that they recognize only one standard of truth. A Friend never lies. The RSOF developed as a nonconformist movement in reaction to materialism. George Fox, one of the early founders of the religion, urged his followers to follow a more simple path of Christianity, one that they felt was based on early Christian communities. And, like the early Christians, the first Quakers were also beaten, imprisoned, and sometimes killed. In fact, the term “Quaker” was initially used derisively. During a trial an early Friend faced his accusers and “bid them tremble at the word of God,” and then those nasty Puritans turned it all around and gave them the cruel epithet “Quakers.” But Friends simply appropriated the name, thus stripping it of its insult in a very Friend sort of way. Quakers were radical in their time, and still are to some extent, in that they believe that each person can experience a direct relationship with God. This is why they have no clergy or anything else that might possibly be construed as an intermediary. They do not give authority to the Bible but use it instead for guidance and inspiration. To investigate British Quakers I decided to visit the Seven Oaks Meeting House. It was once a large thriving meeting but now is down to the last determined dozen or so members. I arrived to a warm, if not somewhat surprised, welcome. The meeting room itself was nice enough and the doors of the room opened onto a beautiful garden. They explained to me that I could sit anywhere and that the chairs in a Quaker service are usually arranged in a circle, underlining their commitment to egalitarianism. There seemed to be an awful lot of women in attendance, which single men should take note of. Before we began, they asked me, very nicely I might add, not to take notes during the meeting. I was a bit taken aback. No notes? They thought it might disturb the silence. I huffed and puffed a bit. My mind is like a sieve so I rely on my notes. But as it was, not that much happened. They refer to the meetings as “a space of gathered stillness.” Actually, they sit in collective silence – for an hour. As a child, a Quaker friend of mine, a Friend friend if you will, attended meetings with his grandmother. He said that each time they entered the meeting room she would direct him to “Go in and greet the light.” The “light” is a metaphor to Quakers for one’s relationship with God. So I sat in silence and looked for the light. For an hour. There are many forms of silence. There is the popular “silent treatment,” prized by angry couples worldwide, the spiritual “vow of silence,” the evocative “moment of silence,” Simon and Garfunklel’s famous “Sound of Silence,” a parent’s desperate plea for “a little bit of silence, please!” and the cruel silence of censorship. My mind was wandering. I looked around the room and noticed that everyone, save the man with special orthopedic shoes, was wearing sandals. That says something about a religion, I thought. I was not sure what, exactly. And I was the only one with a pedicure. Though I couldn’t vouch for the woman wearing striped socks under her sandals, I’d be willing to bet that she didn’t have painted toenails. I wished that I could take out my notebook. I didn’t think that pencil against paper would really be that disruptive. What about the woman next to me with the dodgy stomach? That wasn’t distracting? It positively screamed. And the woman who kept flipping maniacally through the pages of the Bible. What was she looking for? I closed my eyes and tried to enter the silence, or the light, or whatever. My mind followed the sounds of a dog barking down the street, birds singing, distant traffic sounds, there goes that stomach again. What could she have eaten? And then the neighbor next door began to play the piano. Loudly, with the windows open. What Kind of Fool am I. Anthony Newly. I recognized it right away, having appeared in the play in high school. I could still remember the words as it turned out. I started to relax. To sit in silence for an hour is actually not as boring as one might think. Parents would probably find a Quaker meeting heaven. The silence of a meeting can be broken should someone be “moved by the spirit” to speak. Early Quakers were considered radical in that women had the same right to speak during meetings as men, something that might still be considered alarming in many churches. During the Seven Oaks meeting, a few people were moved to speak. One mentioned the recent death of a friend, and she asked us to “hold his family in the light.” Another spoke of her response to a work of art that she had recently seen, and the third read a very moving passage from a an essay written by that most famous of American Quakers, William Penn. It was something beautifully profound about how Quakers view death. But I can’t quote it here because I was not allowed to take notes. It did take a lot of work to sit in silence for an hour. You couldn’t just nod off. Though I have heard that people do fall asleep. And sometimes, yes, they snore. The rule of thumb is to simply ignore them, unless they are accompanied by a spouse, who usually takes care of the problem in their own private way. The end of the hour was signified by the assigned leader (not a priest) taking her neighbor’s hand. And then everyone joined hands for a silent moment of camaraderie. I wondered how Quakers worked as a group without a priest? Who makes the decisions? It turns out that everything is run by committee. If you have ever been on a committee or needed anything from a committee, you can appreciate just how alarmed I was. And it got worse. Business is conducted with silence. An appointed clerk records the “sense of the meeting.” Can you imagine? They don’t vote. They simply have quiet time and get a sense of what is right. So there is no debate, no arguments, no threats. Do these people really understand the meaning of the word “meeting?” When asked if they agree with a point, the positive Friend response is “I hope so” as opposed to a simple “yes,” and this is shorthand for “I hope that this is God’s will.” A decision is made when everyone in the meeting hopes that a “way forward” or “coming to unity” has occurred. If someone at the meeting disagrees the issue will not be considered resolved and they will return to silence. They maintain that every decision is determined by God’s will and, if everyone is listening to God, then the correct decision will eventually become evident. I questioned whether those who thought that Quakers belonged to another time weren’t right after all. This seemed no way to run a religion. Where did they find the time to do all of their charity service? What does the Quaker Oats man know that we don’t? The American artist James Turrell is a Friend friend. He once told me about being at an exhibition where an Italian gallerist approached him and coolly asked, “So, eez eet true that zou are a Quacker?” He never did correct him. Some other famous folk who you probably wouldn’t have guessed were Friends include singer Bonnie Raitt, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ben Kingsley, author A.S. Byatt, singer Dave Matthews, model Cheryl Tiegs, and, much to the shame of Quakers everywhere, former American President Richard M. Nixon, who really was much more of a Quacker.

By G. Wright Doyle Edited by Mark Ellis He was a polarizing figure who inspired respectful admiration or disgust and derision. He led the Republic of China during World War II, but after a bloody civil war with the communists his government was forced to retreat to Taiwan in 1949. The story of his spiritual journey reflects his turbulent life, which was often filled with contradictions. Chiang Kai-shek was born to Chiang Shu-an, a salt merchant. His mother, Wang Tsai-yu, was a devout Buddhist who sought to inculcate the tenets and practices of her faith in her son from infancy. As a child, he was known for his tendency to assume command of others, expecting obedience. The death of his father when he was very young forced his mother to work hard to support her son. As he watched her dealing with unscrupulous people, an intense rage started to burn in him, and he began to see himself as part of an exploited people. He reacted to these perceived injustices by turning in upon his own resources, spending a great deal of time alone, surrounded by mountains and streams and meditating upon his own future course. At the age of fifteen, he married nineteen-year old Mao Fu-mei, who was functionally illiterate. The couple seems to have been close for the first two months of their marriage, but Chiang’s mother rebuked him for uxoriousness. In response, Fumei dutifully distanced herself and the two drifted apart. As a young man, Chiang was known as a promiscuous womanizer, despite being married and having a son. His first marriage fell apart as his wife, who did not share Chiang’s passion for politics and revolution, complained of his frequent absences. He often beat her, and at least once dragged her by her hair down a flight of stairs. Finally, the two settled upon a relatively amicable divorce, though his wife grieved deeply. Chiang Ching-kuo was their only son. After their divorce, Chiang was reported to have several concubines, one of whom, Zhang Ah Feng, “Jennie,” he reportedly married in 1921. At that time he contracted a form of venereal disease. After graduation from a military academy in Japan, where he met Sun Yat-sen, Chiang become an enthusiastic supporter of the Chinese nationalist revolution, and joined the Tongmenghui (Sun’s organization). Return to China Chiang returned to China to participate in the Xinhai Revolution, which overthew the Qing Dynasty. He eventually became a trusted associate of Sun, who appointed him founding commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy in 1918, when Chiang also joined the Nationalist Party (KMT). He succeeded Sun in 1925 as leader of the KMT upon Sun’s early death. In 1926-1927 he unified much of the country, defeating warlords and breaking with the Communist Party, whose members he purged from the KMT. In his personal life, Chiang fell in love with Soong Meiling, the daughter of wealthy businessman and former missionary Charlie Soong. There seems to have been a political deal worked out through the mediation of Meiling’s sister Ailing, wedding the Soong family wealth and connections to Chiang’s military and political assets. When Chiang sought to marry Meiling, the strong Christian identity of the Soongs meant that their daughter could not be joined to a non-believer. Meiling’s mother asked Chiang whether he would become a Christian. He replied that he would not change his religion to marry Meiling, but he would read the Bible and pray for God to show him what he should do. Permission was granted, but Methodist church law forbade a church wedding between a Christian and an unbaptized person. It was also doubted whether Chiang had been properly divorced from his first wife, and there were persistent rumors about Jennie, whom Chiang had sent off to America without divorcing. Chiang produced proof of his divorce and discounted the stories about Jennie. Bishop Z.T. Kuang went to the Songs’ house to pray for the couple and pronounce a blessing upon them after a lavish civil ceremony on December 1, 1927.Thenceforward, Chiang read his Bible daily (starting with the Old Testament), prayed privately, and knelt with his wife to pray. Still, he resisted her efforts to persuade him to become a Christian, since he continued to harbor doubts. Bishop Kuang answered his many questions, but did not press him to make a premature decision to follow Christ. Chiang formed a Nationalist government inNanjingin 1928, with himself as virtual military dictator, though many democratic and modernizing reforms were undertaken during the so-called Nanjing Decade (1927-1937). A pledge to God In the midst of a military campaign against a rebellious general, Chiang found himself surrounded, with capture and death imminent. He spotted a local Christian chapel, entered it, and told God that he would become a follower of Christ if he survived. A heavy snowstorm impeded his enemy’s advance, and Chiang’s forces gained the victory. He was baptized by Bishop Kuang in 1930. When asked why he had become a Christian, he replied, “I feel the need of a God such as Jesus Christ.” In addition to his wife’s impact, he may have been influenced by the Christians in his government, since seven out of ten high officials in Nanjing were believers. Quickly, Meiling became an essential source of strength and support. She helped Chiang keep up with world news, reading and digesting English publications daily; introduced him to Western literature, music, and culture; served as personal advisor, ambassador, and interpreter. Their marriage, though outwardly harmonious, was sometimes marked by conflict and tension, aggravated by Meiling’s extravagance, domineering personality, and possible infidelity, as well as by his intense emotions, bad temper and inability — or unwillingness — to engage in marital sexual relations. Close friends and associates have borne abundant testimony to Chiang’s daily Bible reading, prayer, and open affirmation of his faith in Christ. Some contemporaries say they noticed that after his baptism he seemed to believe less in force and more in conciliation. During one notable incident, after he gained release from captors in Xi’an, he stated that he had been strengthened during his ordeal by reading the Bible and entrusting himself to God’s care, so that he did not fear death and thus would not give in to their threats and demands. “The greatness and love of Christ burst upon me with new inspiration,” Chiang said, “increasing my strength to struggle against evil, to overcome temptation and to uphold righteousness…” He further claimed that he forgave the two main perpetrators because of the example of Christ on the Cross. A visitor to his house in Chongqing was stunned by a significant time of family prayer after dinner, during which the General asked God for strength and energy for his soldiers and himself, requested that God would help the Chinese people not to hate the Japanese; and calmly placed himself and his nation in God’s hands, imploring divine wisdom to know how to serve God the next day. He continued to seek to eliminate the communists, despite Japan’s increasing encroachments and domestic calls for stiff resistance to the Japanese. Finally, after the Xi’an Incident in 1936, he was forced to enter into an uneasy alliance with the communists in order to fight the Japanese. He led the Republic of China during the Second World War, and was elected President of the Republic of China in 1948, but was forced to retreat with many members of his government and army to Taiwan in 1949. Chiang’s Christian commitment found expression in his diaries, his public statements, regular church attendance, and the open support of both Chinese and foreign Christians. One of the most public manifestations of his ethical convictions in his early years was the New Life Movement, an attempt to reform Chinese civilization and morals on the basis of Confucian principles, with some admixture of Christianity. Chiang and his wife poured enormous energy, time, and resources into this campaign, for which he solicited the help and support of Christian missionaries. They generally approved of the project, and in some places it took on a Christian flavor. The invasion of China by Japan put a virtual end to this ambitious undertaking, as it did so much else that the Nationalist government was attempting. In later years, Chiang was heavily involved in the translation and publication of “Streams in the Desert” into Chinese, and worked closely with John C.H. Wu’s translation of the New Testament, going over the draft and making suggested corrections many times. The front piece of Wu’s version of the Psalms indicates that it was produced “under the editorial supervision of Chairman Chiang.” Wu found enough material about Chiang and his faith to write a 265-page book on his spiritual life, published in 1975. His diaries reveal his constant reliance upon God for wisdom and strength. Western missionaries who knew him in Taiwan report that he seemed humble, gentle, and genuine in his faith when they saw him in church each Sunday, and had no reason to doubt the sincerity of his Christian profession. This assessment was shared by his personal chaplain. Though the general populace of Taiwan were surprised to see a large cross at the head of the funeral cortege, and to read at the opening of his will that he had been “a follower of the Three Principles of the People and of Jesus Christ from his youth,“ those who had known Chiang were struck by his personal inconsistencies. On the other hand, some of his ideas, actions and personal characteristics seem to belie the depth of his faith, or at least its impact upon his conduct. Chiang read widely in the Confucian classics and in Chinese history, and believed strongly in the value of China’s cultural heritage, especially Confucianism. His Christian sermons seemed unclear on the distinctions between personal salvation and national recovery. His long and consistent alliance with the Shanghai underworld made him complicit, at least to some degree, in their corruption and cruelty; likewise, his reliance upon his own secret police, which engaged in countless acts of brutality. Reports of corruption on a grand scale by his wife’s family call his own integrity into question, though he had no power to control them; still his nepotism is undeniable. His decision to breach the levees of theYellow River in order to stall the advance of the Japanese, and then again to halt the Communists, led to the deaths of thousands and deprived many more of their homes and livelihood. Though his role in the military suppression of Taiwanese dissent in the infamous February 28 incident is unclear, his active oversight of the ensuing White Terror is well established. Chiang’s positive character traits included extraordinary personal courage, a huge capacity for work, a very strong will, and immense stamina. On the other hand, he was notorious for refusing to take advice, or even to seek the counsel of advisers. He brooked no disagreement, and would fly into a rage when criticized. A mediocre military leader, he issued orders from afar without any real knowledge of battlefield conditions, and then altered his plan without notice. More than once, he ordered loyal troops to fight to the death, knowing that their resistance was fruitless. Some of his closest companions considered him to be an arrogant egotist. There is evidence that he often said one thing and did another, or said one thing to one person and something else to another. Though he projected an image of imperturbable calm in public, he could cry like a baby behind closed doors. His lifelong commitment to Confucianism makes some wonder whether his fundamental faith was more a matter of traditional Chinese ethics than Christian belief. Did his extraordinary self-control in public stem from dependence upon God, or upon the inner strength he had long learned to cultivate? In defense, many have argued that Chiang’s autocratic leadership style is simply the norm for Chinese, and can be found in some of the most outstanding Chinese church leaders even today. Also, he was surrounded by mortal enemies and spies, and could really trust no one. His murderous purge of communists in Shanghai was undertaken only after his enemies had formed a rival government, committed atrocities and put a price on his head. Further, war compels one to make decisions that will cost many lives in order to save more people. It is believed that he matured in Christian character as he grew older and that a Christian’s true heart can be known only to God. If his private diaries, public pronouncements, consistent support of Christian churches and foreign missionaries, and active involvement in the production of Christian literature which we have noted above mean anything, then we may perhaps say that Chiang Kai-shek’s Christian career represents the halting, stumbling, but steady pilgrimage towards the Celestial City of a sinner saved by grace. G. Wright Doyle is Director, Global China Center; General Editor, Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.

A to Z of Great Parenting: first posted early March 2007 G is Goal Encourage your children to have goals and help them plan to achieve them. Celebrate when they do and help them learn when they don't. From saving for an expensive toy, to budgetting their first pocket-money allowance. From a revision schedule to an inter-rail trip. Being able to plan and achive goals is a high-level and vital skill. Be wary if your school steers away from this area as being 'elitist' or unfair on some children. If so, it is not preparing children for the competitive world of work. All children can have goals (not necessarily the same ones) and all can be successful in their own chosen area. The act of goal-setting helps this process tremendously. And be a good role model yourself: set a few goals. And make them happen.

The year was 1852 and it marked the beginning of the Second French Empire, with Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew, Louis-Napoleon (Napoleon III) ruling as Emperor. The Second Empire would last until, following the Franco-Prussian War, there was an uprising in Paris and the government of Napoleon III was overthrown. One of the new empire’s creations of 1852 was the infamous prison in French Guiana known as “Devil’s Island.” French Guiana was brutal territory and some of the previous attempts at settlement proved disastrous in the hostile environment. In 1852, Napoleon began deporting political prisoners to the newly formed penal colony and between 1852 and 1946 when the penal camp was closed, more than 56,000 prisoners were sent there. Prisoners were forced into hard labor in horrific conditions in timber camps, so brutal that many attempted dangerous escapes. Most of the penal camps were actually on the mainland, but other than a dangerous sea escape, the only escape routes through the mainland were fraught with peril. A popular route to Dutch Guiana meant crossing the piranha-infested Moroni River and then through a dense jungle through which there was one road. Devil’s Island is perhaps best known now through the movie “Papillon,” which was based on the book by Henri Charriere, who managed to escape the prison after several attempts. In the United States, movement was decidedly westward. According to “Oregon Trail Statistics,” by William E. Hill, immigration hit an all-time high on the Oregon Trail with around 10,000 people making the overland trip. With people still flocking to California in search of gold, every available means of transportation was employed and many chose to make the trip by sea, rather than face the long trek across the United States. But the voyage by sea had its perils as well. The sea voyage could mean a trip around Cape Horn, where ships were tossed in turbulent, windy waters, and iceberg inhabited waters, often being blown near Antarctica. Skilled captains might be able to shorten the trip by traveling the Straits of Magellan, a sea passage around the tip of South America, but this too was considered a dangerous trip, because the narrowness of the passage at certain points made it difficult to navigate. The trip could take up to eight months and onboard conditions were horrid. Food spoiled quickly with the heat of the equator, and worms and rodents got into whatever supplies they had. A shorter trip took passengers to Panama where they embarked on canoes to navigate the Chagres River. From there things were more difficult as the remainder of the passage to the Pacific meant a fifty-mile hike through the Panamanian jungle where some fell prey to cholera, malaria, and yellow fever. Those who survived this leg of the journey often arrived in Panama City to find a shortage of ships, which meant that they would have to wait for sometimes weeks to obtain passage on a northbound ship to California. There was also an influx of immigrants into California from China at this time. The Chinese population of California was three (two men and a woman), but by 1852 an article in the Daily Alta California estimated the Chinese population to be at around 12,000. The Chinese weren’t welcomed in a land where the gold fields weren’t producing the riches expected and where the industrious Chinese were seen as a threat. For more on the journey westward, there are many great websites, some with narratives by those who made the trek. Here are a few I found: - Oregon Trail Diaries - 1852 Oregon Trail Emigrants - Gold Rush Chronology 1852-54 - Gold Rush Links - Chinese in California - California Gold Rush (Sacramento Bee website) 1852 also marked the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The book was an anti-slavery statement which she later revealed was largely based on the memoirs of Rev. Josiah Henson. Originally produced in serial format, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a sensation and by 1857 had sold half a million copies in the United States–breaking book sales records for that time and stirring anti-slavery sentiment. Image: The Oregon Trail in South Pass, 1852. From the Library of Congress Photo Collection at Ancestry. Click on the image to enlarge it.

The Pope shines a light on an underrated gem of Catholic architecture The Pope is about to talk at St Mary's College, Oscott, bringing to a close his extraordinarily successful state visit. Take a look at the Oscott chapel as the Pope speaks. Most of the great Catholic buildings in Britain were taken over by the Anglican Church after the Reformation, but some splendid examples have been built since then. One of them is Oscott – which got the full medievalist treatment in 1838 from the greatest of all Victorian Gothic architects, AWN Pugin, the man behind the Houses of Parliament. Walls, ceiling and chancel arch are all covered with typically Puginesque bright colours and high medieval designs. The stained glass, based on 14th century work, is designed by Pugin. Other artefacts are genuinely medieval, collected by Pugin – 15th century Flemish retables, a 17th century confessional from Louvain and an exceptional 1500 lectern, built in Maastricht; the lectern from which Newman made his Second Spring sermon in 1852. A wonderful and rare collection. Radio 3 dumbed down long ago October 24th, 2014 9:47 Sherlock Holmes on screen – the best five October 17th, 2014 11:50 How wonderful if we find King Harold's bones October 14th, 2014 8:35 Why is UKIP run by public school boys? October 12th, 2014 11:24 Russell Brand's politics are staggeringly stupid October 11th, 2014 10:39

Doctors are sending a warning to new mothers who feed their babies with breast milk purchased online. There are thousands of sellers and interested buyers on breast milk websites but a new pediatric study found high levels of bacteria and contamination in three out of four samples received from private sellers. Crouse Hospital in Syracuse is home to just one of eleven licensed milk banks in the United States. Staff screen breast milk donors using the same standards for blood donation and keep breast milk frozen to maintain safety. "We do several blood tests on the mother for say, Hepatitis C, HIV - even though they've been tested pre-natal, we do it again," said Crouse Hospital nurse practitioner Karen Juszek. Crouse's milk bank freezes breast milk as soon as possible after it is donated. In the study, 19% of private breast milk samples were shipped without any form of refrigeration. "Once that's thawed, it's only good for 48 once thawed under refrigeration. So I can't imagine it being shipped without refrigeration. It has to be full of bacteria," said Juszek. Syracuse mother Amy Lafebvre had heard of people buying and selling breast milk but says she can not believe any mother would put their children at risk by using breast milk from a complete stranger. "You don't know what she's been eating, there's drugs out there - you don't know if the mother has been doing drugs or what she's been doing. Because what you eat or whatever goes into your body goes into breast milk," said Lefebvre.The research also cites several cases in which babies did get sick from a stranger's breast milk.(Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.)

a doctrine, theory, system, etc., esp. one whose name ends in -ism: a somewhat dismissive term Origin of ism; from -ism - the act, practice, or result of: terrorism - the condition or state of being: pauperism - action, conduct, or qualities characteristic of: patriotism - the doctrine, school, theory, or principle of: cubism, socialism - devotion to: nationalism - an instance, example, or peculiarity of: Gallicism, witticism - an abnormal condition caused by: alcoholism - belief, attitudes, actions, or conduct characterized by prejudice or bigotry related to: ageism, classism, sexism Origin of -ismMiddle English -isme ; from Old French and amp; Classical Latin -isma (; from Gr) and amp; -ismus (; from Classical Greek -ismos): origin, originally suffix of action or of state, forming nouns from verbs in Classical Latin -izare, Classical Greek -izein A distinctive doctrine, system, or theory: “Formalism, by being an ‘ism,’ kills form by hugging it to death” (Peter Viereck). Origin of ismFrom –ism. - Action; process; practice: terrorism. - Characteristic behavior or quality: heroism. - a. State; condition; quality: pauperism.b. State or condition resulting from an excess of something specified: strychninism. - Distinctive or characteristic trait: Latinism. - a. Doctrine; theory; system of principles: pacifism.b. An attitude of prejudice against a given group: racism. Origin of -ismMiddle English -isme, from Old French, from Latin -ismus, from Greek -ismos, n. suff. - Abbreviation of Imperial Service Medal. - Abbreviation of Institute for Supply Management. - (astronomy) Abbreviation of interstellar medium. InitialismSee also: OISM - (sciences, medicine) Initialism of Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine. - (religion) Initialism of Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement. ism - Computer Definition Radio frequency (RF) bands in the 902

At traditional gyms, you pay the same dues whether you visit the facility twice a day or twice a year. This makes a lot of sense for gyms, but doesn’t give you a financial incentive to actually go. But what if you had one? Behavioral economics tells us that people are more motivated by short-term effects than theoretical long-term ones. Losing money now is a better motivator than the promise of maybe losing weight in the future. Gym-Pact, an experiment run by two recent Harvard graduates, takes advantage of this. The program is intended to find out if “motivational fees” will help customers keep to their workout schedules. Groups of exercisers at two different gyms receive a free membership–if they keep to their workout schedule. If they don’t, a $25 fee applies for every week that they slip up. Harvard grads turn gym business model on its head; fitness plan members pay more if they don’t work out [Boston Globe] (Thanks, Patrick!)

Why the sudden turnaround? Research has been piling up for years supporting the NHLBI's position, according to TIME medical contributor Dr. Ian Smith. "Systolic pressure can show what's happening throughout the circulatory system, rather than only within the heart itself." For example, Smith explains, a systolic reading not only shows the force the heart is required to exert in order to push blood past resistance points, it also measures the pressure generated within vessels to keep blood moving to different organs which can pinpoint a patient's risk for stroke or general damage to blood vessels. Of course, just because your doctor or nurse may start keeping a closer eye on a new element of your blood pressure reading doesn't mean you're off the hook to keep your pressure down. According to generally accepted standards, no one should maintain a reading above 140/90, and some people may be advised to keep their pressure even lower. And that's where the work comes in: Cutting salt from your diet, losing weight and, yes, getting out there and exercising.

Follow-up though Dec 31, 2002 has been completed for a study of site-specific cancer mortality among tuberculosis (TB) patients treated with artificial lung collapse therapy in Massachusetts TB sanatoria (1930-1950). Treatment involved frequent chest fluoroscopy examinations, which delivered highly fractionated radiation doses to breast, lung, and other thoracic organs. The estimated mean doses to breast and lung for these patients are 0.74 and 0.84 Gy, respectively. In earlier analyses, breast cancer but not lung cancer was linked to cumulative radiation dose. Those results are consistent with the other cohort of tuberculosis patients exposed to chest fluoroscopy in Canada. Acquiring new cancer cases, particularly lung cancer, should allow DCEG investigators to conduct a more detailed dose-response analysis and refine risk estimates for fractionated radiation. For more information, contact Alina Brenner.

Following in Hexy’s six-legged footsteps is Sparki, which can react to light, draw its name on a sheet of paper and tote up to 10 pounds on its back, if the weight is balanced correctly. The little workhorse also can push or drag objects across surfaces with low friction. Sparki uses the open-source electronics platform Arduino and comes fully assembled, ready to operate, Bluetooth included. Drag-and-drop programming, enabled when Sparki is hooked up to a computer, makes it easy for kids to learn the basics of how human commands translate into robot actions. “Our goal is to get kids who don’t really know electronics or robotics to interact with it and get them to trust in science,” says Schlesinger. Setting a modest goal of $13,000 on Kickstarter for Hexy, Schlesinger and co-founder Connie Hu raised more than $168,000. Using the same fundraising model for Sparki, they garnered $188,786. Sparki went into production in June and was scheduled to arrive in classrooms in October. Sparki is suggested for ages 11 and up, but Hu notes it’s user-friendly enough to teach (and entertain) any school-age child. “Take Sparki out of the box, and he’s ready to go when you plug him in via the USB port on your computer,” says Hu. Sparki’s “arms” may be a mere inch long, but his reach is worldwide. Pilot programs are already set up in schools from Mexico to Norway. Tutorials and individual classroom lesson plans will be available for anyone purchasing the ‘bot.

By M. Scott Morris/Daily Journal You’ll find three floors filled with Mississippi history at the intersection of Capitol and South State streets. The Old Capitol Museum in Jackson is a 173-year-old Greek Revival time machine. In its chambers, universities were created, and civil rights abuses were written into law. “How did Mississippi get to where it is today?” said Clay Williams, museum director. “This building can explain that.” The “new” Capitol opened in 1903. That’s where the modern-day business of Mississippi government happens. But you’ll find that some of today’s controversial issues are continuations of debates that took place at the Old Capitol from 1839 to 1903. “Mississippians did not begin funding public education until 1868. Until then, you had the county schools, or you had to have a private tutor,” Williams said. “Obviously, we’re still dealing with how to educate our children. They’re debating that now.” Winds of change The Old Capitol has operated as a museum since 1961. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina made a direct impact on the building and its mission. Heavy winds blew the copper roof off and caused other damage. That created an opportunity. “After the hurricane, we decided to focus on the building and on the building’s history,” Williams said. The House Chamber got period carpeting, and each window has a set of three arrows at the top of the drapes. A reporter mentioned the arrows in his coverage of the 1861 debate over secession, when Mississippi left the United States. “We tried to recreate it as best we could,” Williams said. “Obviously, there aren’t many pictures of the inside of the building.” He said the House Chamber is his favorite room because so many far-reaching decisions were made there. “All of the colleges and universities that you know of, the legislation forming them came out of this room,” he said. Some of Mississippi’s troubles grew out of the same room. There were 142,000 black registered voters in 1890. The number was down to 8,615 in 1896. The drop is directly attributable to the poll tax and literacy test in the 1890 Constitution, which was hammered out in the House Chamber. “If you were a black person and you read the literacy test perfectly and explained it, the registrar could still say ‘Nah,’” Williams said. “If you were a sharecropper in Mississippi and you had to pay $2 to vote and you made $88 a year, you might say, ‘I won’t vote.’” The effect on black voters was devastating, and poor whites also were affected. There were 110,000 registered white voters in 1890. The number was 68,117 in 1892. “We’re not glossing over anything,” Williams said. “We’re telling the truth here. We’re telling the truth about where we’ve been and where we’re going.” In addition to being a storehouse of state history, the Old Capitol Museum is a monument to what human beings can accomplish. It’s an impressive structure with its elegant rotunda and dome, as well as Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns. Rosettes decorate the Governor’s Office and the House Chamber. Builders and craftsmen dedicated themselves to turning the building into something special. In the 19th century, there were calls to move the capital to Vicksburg or Clinton. The building opened in 1839, and that probably cemented Jackson as the state capital, Williams said. “Back then, this would have been amazing compared to the other shacks and cabins in Jackson,” he said. “They weren’t going to abandon this building.” It was originally brick and covered in stucco that was scored to resemble stone. The stucco didn’t make it through a renovation in the 1960s, but it returned during the Katrina-inspired changes. The stucco isn’t on the back of the building, which used to face a Pearl River swamp. “When it was originally built, no one would have approached it from the back, so they didn’t put stucco on that part,” Williams said. “We didn’t either.” A set of displays detail the many renovations and changes over the years. One case is filled with items that were discarded in the most recent update. “There’s a little bit of everything in there, from an 1840s brick to a 1960s kitchen sink,” Williams said. The Old Capitol Museum regularly hosts visitors from Mississippi and other states, as well as people from Europe and Asia who come to see the state’s many blues sites and maybe check out the Elvis Presley Birthplace. “They’ll kind of hit us in the middle,” Williams said. School children once roamed the halls in large numbers, but that’s changed. School budget cuts in recent years have reduced field trips, and Williams called that a shame. The doors are open every day but Monday for anyone interested in visiting the National Historic Landmark, which also happens to be Mississippi’s own Greek Revival time machine. “This is Mississippi history. This is our culture,” Williams said. “This is an important place. We want people to understand that.”

Kendo, is composed of two kanji: "ken", meaning sword, and "Do", meaning 'the way/path of'. Together the term is literally the "way of the sword". It is a martial arts tradition spawned by the traditional school of swordsmanship (ryu) of ancient Japan, and was practiced by and large by the bushi, or samurai class of the era. As practice with real blades is inherently dangerous, the schools developed a dummy sword called a shinai, and a set of protective equipment called bogu which protects the head (men), wrists (kote), chest (do), and groin (tare). Kendo training is based on a variety of movements of attack and defense know as waza. Most fundamental are stance, footwork, cuts, thrusts, feints, and parries. Though is it a highly strenuous activity, kendo is also a means to strengthen the mind and the will to to improve oneself. It is this aspect of kendo that attracts many of its most devoted practitioners. A Kendo bout with skilled opponent is an intense experience. For a moment in time concentration is absolute, conscious thought is suppressed, and action is instinctive. Such training develops in the serious student powers of resolution and endurance under pressure which frequently affects his or her life beyond the confines of the training hall. Iaido, In the beginning Iai-jutsu was a part of Ken-jutsu. When time passed and as a result of the relatively peaceful Tokugawa period many masters saw in Iaido an excellent way of developing spiritual, mental and physical discipline. Iaido was born. Iaido does not actually mean overcoming an enemy, but overcoming one's own self. The only and the most dangerous opponent in Iaido is the iaidoka themself.

Bees, Wasps and Ants Hornets, Yellow Jackets, Paper Wasps. Being true social insects, these critters have a well-developed caste system. In a typical mature wasp nest there are many workers and one or more kings and queens. Unlike some of the other social insects discussed in this CD, there are fewer differences in the appearance of each caste. Hornets, yellow jackets and paper wasps all exhibit the same general life cycle. Their nesting cycle is annual, with only mated queens surviving the winter in a variety of protected locations--including under bark and in attics. In early spring the queen emerges and may reoccupy an old nest, or construct a new one. Regardless of which condition prevails, the queen initially deposits a few single eggs-one to each cell. Upon hatching, the larvae are fed a variety of insect larvae (mainly caterpillars) that are captured and brought back to the nest by the adult queen wasp. The adult wasps feed primarily on nectar, ripe fruit and other substances that are high in sugar. They do require a certain amount of protein in their diet which is typically acquired from the larvae. As adults wasps are feeding their larvae, the larvae exude a proteinaceous material from their mouth that is quickly consumed by the adult. The majority of these larvae will develop into adult workers, which take over the duties of expanding the nest, collecting food and feeding the young (Figure 18A). The queen continues to lay more eggs; this results in several generations with the colony continuing to increase in size into the fall. In the late fall, new kings and queens are produced, mating occurs, and the newly mated queens overwinter, completing the annual cycle. Left. Mating yellow jackets. Right. Paper wasp. Some consider these wasps beneficial, as they are predatory on different pest species. Besides feeding on caterpillars and other insects and spiders, these insects are attracted to any meat source, a phenomenon, which is frequently observed much to the displeasure of campers, clients of or participants in restaurants, snack bars and backyard barbecues The nests of hornets, yellow jackets and paper wasps are constructed out of cellulose, which is collected by the adult workers from a variety of sources, including old newspapers, cardboard, weathered wood, and bark. Once collected, these materials are chewed, saliva is added and they are formed into cells basically appearing like those in honey bee comb. With paper wasps the nest is a single layer that is suspended upside down by a short stalk. Around the home, paper wasp nests typically are found under eaves, along fences, or can be found attached to trees and plants. Hornet and yellow jacket nests may exist above or below ground; their nests are much larger than those of paper wasps, and are constructed of many layers of cells that are surrounded by a capsule-like structure. Left. A paper wasp nest with a dozen or so workers. Right. A large hornet nest. Image courtesy CDC Healthwise Photo Library-Dr Gary Alpert. Since paper wasp nest are single-layered it follows that mature colonies of these insects are much smaller than those of the multiplayer nests of hornets and yellow jackets. The nest of a paper wasp typically contains a few dozen adults while the nests of hornets and yellow jackets may number in the thousands. Paper wasp colonies although common under the eaves of houses do not typically pose a threat to the homeowner unless the nest is disturbed. If disturbed they will readily defend the nest and sting is similar to that of a bee although unlike that of a honey bee these insects can sting repeatedly. I was once asked in class how to remove a paper wasp nest from the eves of a home. Although not in the position to recommend such a task there are sprays available at garden centers that provide an instant knock down an subsequent kill of wasps and bees. One of the students in the class said she used hair spray which upon drying prevented the wasps from flying. Another student immediately added that she uses hair spray but lights it! Both seem quite unacceptable and possibly dangerous! The most common social wasp found in the Western United States is the western yellow jacket. This species typically nests underground, but occasionally is found in wall voids and other protected locations. As with other members of this group these insects are predatory in nature but when their natural food is scarce they are attracted to any type of meat or sweets. Certain years these insects become extremely common and are major pests around campgrounds, restaurants and even backyards. One major factor relating to larger numbers during certain years is previous mild winters. Under these conditions the nests may not totally die out during the winter months. An official from Catalina Island recently contacted me. The yellow jackets had become a major concern over the entire several-mile long island. In Avalon when customers ordered a hamburger and a coke at one of the restaurants it was a matter of whom or what got to the food first. One year on 3 separate occasions children had to Medi-vaced by helicopter out of the Boy Scout camps due to massive number of stings from these wasps. Students frequently ask me what is the worst sting-bite that I personally have experienced. I have been stung by many scorpions, many species of ants, exotic caterpillars and hundreds of bees at one time and bitten by large beetles, giant waterbugs, assassin bugs, various tarantulas and black widows but the worst encounter was by a colony of yellow jackets. The sting of a yellow jacket or hornet is considerably worse than that of a honeybee. I was once called to remove a honeybee nest from a property. When I got there it was a yellow jacket nest in the ground. Even though, I was only prepared for honeybees (a veil and hat) I decided to continue. After about 15 stings (over a period of 20 minutes) I decided to retreat and get some better protective clothing. By the time I got back to my vehicle most of my body had turned bright red with hives and large red welts. Besides the initial pain I itched for several days. I once received a single sting from a large hornet in Mexico. The initial pain was much worse than that of a honeybee and within less than one minute I had such a severe headache that I could not stand up for several minutes. Bald Face Hornet-Dolichovespula maculata. This is a North American insect commonly called the bald-faced hornet (or white-faced hornet or white-tailed hornet). Its well-known features include its hanging paper nests and the females' habit of defending them with repeated stings. Bald Face Hornet. Image Courtesy of PiccoloNamek. It belongs to a genus of wasps called yellow jackets in North America, but is not called that because it lacks yellow coloring. Instead, it is called a hornet in the American sense of a wasp that builds paper nests, especially one of the subfamily Vespinae. It is not a "true hornet" in the British sense, that is, a member of the genus Vespa in the same subfamily, such as the Asian giant hornet or the European hornet. The bald-faced hornet lives throughout North America, including southern Canada, the Rocky Mountains, the western coast of the United States, and most of the eastern US. They are most common in the southeastern United States. They are best known for their large football-shaped paper nest, which they build in the spring for raising their young. These nests can sometimes reach 3 feet tall. Like the median wasp (Dolichovespula media) in Europe, bald-faced hornets are extremely protective of their nests and will sting repeatedly if disturbed. Every year, queens that were born and fertilized at the end of the previous season begin a new colony. The queen selects a location for its nest, begins building it, lays a first batch of eggs and feeds this first group of larvae. These become workers and will assume the chore of expanding the nest — done by chewing up wood which is mixed with a starch in their saliva. This mixture is then spread with their mandibles and legs, drying into the paper-like substance that makes up the nest. The workers also guard the nest and feed on nectar, tree sap and fruit pulp. They also capture insects and arthropods, which are chewed up to be fed to the larvae. This continues through summer and into fall. Near the end of summer, or early in the fall, the queen begins to lay eggs which will become drones and new queens. After pupation, these fertile males and females will mate, setting up next year's cycle of growth. Remains of Bald Faced Hornet Nest. Image Courtesy of Makuabob. As winter approaches, the wasps die — except any just-fertilized queens. These hibernate underground, on hollow trees until spring or other protected locations. The nest itself is generally abandoned by winter, and will most likely not be reused. When spring arrives, the young queens emerge and the cycle begins again. Bald-faced hornets visit flowers for nectar, especially in late summer, and can be minor pollinators. Like other social wasps, bald-faced hornets have a caste system made up, in one nest, of the following: Queen — the fertile female which starts the colony and lays eggs; Workers — infertile females which do all work except laying eggs; Drones — males, which have no stingers, and are born from unfertilized eggs; New queens — fertile females, each of which, once fertilized, may start its own nest in the spring. Bald-face hornets will sting repeatedly if disturbed. Like other stinging wasps, they can sting repeatedly because the stinger does not become stuck in the skin. Some suggest putting baking soda or meat tenderizer on the area of the sting, but others say such treatments do not work. European Hornet-Vespa crabro. This species is commonly known simply as the "hornet", is the largest European true social wasp. The queen measures 21–1.4 inches long; males and workers are smaller. The antennae have 13 segments, while in females there are only 12 This species is not particularly aggressive except when defending the nest, and care must be taken when in its proximity, as the stings are quite painful. As with most stinging insects, European hornets will sting in self-defense when grabbed or stepped on. Eyes are deeply indented, shaped like C. Wings are reddish-orange, the petiolate abdomen is brown striped with yellow. The European hornet is larger than common wasp, but smaller than some Asian hornet species. It has hair on the thorax and abdomen, although the European hornet is not so hairy as most bees. European hornets are often mischaracterized as very aggressive and dangerous, and are greatly feared by some people. Some people believe that "three stings from the European hornet can kill an adult human, and that seven can kill a horse". These are common myths - a sting from a European hornet isn't any more dangerous than any other wasp sting, and European hornets are less aggressive than other wasps. In contrast, multiple Asian giant hornets stings are, in fact, more dangerous. While impressive due to their size and loud sound, European hornets are in fact much less aggressive than some of their smaller relatives, such as the German wasp and the common wasp. When approached, European hornets can actually be seen to slowly crawl backwards and eventually flee, rather than attack. This can make it hard to remove hornets from indoors, if they happen to come in through an open window or door. While not aggressive when encountered far from the nest, multiple workers will vigorously defend the nest if provoked. Nests can be approached without provocation (by moving slowly and not breathing towards the nest) to about 20 inches. Nests are usually not a problem outside buildings, but because they drip feces, a bad smelling black liquid, nests inside sheds or walls can be a problem. Unwarranted fear has often led to the destruction of nests, leading to the decline of the species, which is often locally threatened or even endangered. European hornets benefit from legal protection in some countries, notably Germany, where it has been illegal to kill a European hornet or nest since 1 January 1987, with a fine up to 50,000 Euros. European hornets are attracted to lights at night, but are not attracted to human foods and food wastes. However, they can totally destroy fruits, such as apples, while the fruit is still on the tree. This is quite unlike the bald-faced hornet or other social wasps. The Japanese Hornet. I have saved this beast for last since it is probably the most frightening of all the Hymenoptera. As its name implies it occurs mainly in Japan which is of course good for us since it is a treacherous and dangerous insect. It is quite large approaching the size of a thumb and by the way its sting, besides feeling like a hot nail driven into you, can also dissolve tissues of your thumb, actually any part of your body-ouch! Well it is gets worse. The sting-venom also contains an alarm pheromone that will incite mass attack from nearby hornets-hopefully not to a human. Unfortunately in many cases it is us as 40 to 70 people a year in Japan die from attack of these critters. A Japanese Hornet. As bad as this is for humans it is much worse for the European honeybee, Apis mellifera, the most common honeybee found around the world. These wasps will fly many miles looking for beehives to raid. They can fly as far as 60 miles in a day at 25 miles per hour. A searching hornet may actually follow a foraging bee back to its hive. Once finding the hive it attacks giving off the alarm pheromone attracting other hornet in the vicinity. Ultimately they typically attack in force with a relatively small but very effective army of 30 or more. You wouldn’t think such a small army would be that successful since a beehive can have upwards of 80,000 bees. However, one hornet can kill 40 bees a minute. Unfortunately honeybees possess relatively small stingers that are of minimal use in penetrating the thick exocutile of the invading hornets nor do they defend in mass. The hornets descend on the hive and systematically one by one cut the bees in half. In the interest of efficiency they typically cut off the defending bees heads. After a few hours the hive contains few if any adult bees but there are piles of heads, limbs and various other body parts. At that point the hornets gorge on the honey and rip the bee larvae (young) and pupae from their cells and carry them back to their nest to feed to their young. However all is not totally lost. There is different species of honeybee which naturally occurs in Japan that has a defensive tactic it uses against these invaders. When a single hornet in search a beehive is detected, hundreds of the worker bees gather at the hive entrance but readily allow the hornet to enter. Once in the hive the bees immediately surround and totally cover the hornet with a ball-like mass of up to 500 individuals. They prevent the hornet from moving and begin to vibrate their wings muscles. This action produces heat raising the temperature in the center of the mass (where the hornet occurs) to around 117 F. This temperature is not lethal to the bees but the hornet cannot tolerate temperatures above 113 F and subsequently dies. Of course action prevents the “scout” hornet from releasing its pheromones which would normally attract other hornets in the vicinity to mass attack the hive. In the mountains of Japan where these hornets are commonly encountered villagers eat them deep fried. Also a number of companies in Europe and Japan have begun to manufacture diet supplements and energy drinks which contain synthetic versions of secretions which the larval hornets feed to adults. The product sold as “hornet juice” is said to greatly enhance human endurance. Parasitic (Parasitoids) Hymenoptera There are many families of Hymenoptera that are parasitic. In strict entomological terms they are referred to as parasitoids. In the world of bugs parasite refers to an insect or one of its relatives (e.g. mites) that feeds on a host from a different groups animals (e.g. humans) but does not generally kill it in doing so. Example of this would include fleas, mites, lice and many others. A parasitoid is an insect or relative that typically lays its egg or eggs on or in its host which typically belong to the same group or animals (e.g. insect laying its eggs on another insect). Once the eggs hatch the larvae feed and develop internally or externally on that host and in doing so kill it. Thread Waisted Wasps. As a group most thread waisted wasps are characterized by an elongated waist or petiole that joins the thorax to the abdomen. These are commonly found around the home. However some species have a narrow waist. In this case they can be separated from Vespidae by the front wing not bring folded longitudinally. These wasps can easily be distinguished from other similarly appearing wasps by the elongated stalk or petiole that connects the thorax to the abdomen; hence another common name is the thread-waisted wasps. The black and yellow mud dauber, Even though these are solitary insects a single nest may be composed of several elongated cylindrical cells made of mud and placed side by side until the make a mass about the size of a fist. The entire structure is then plastered over to make a smooth and even outer surface. Each inner cell is provided with several insect larvae or paralyzed spiders that the adult female has collected. A single egg is then deposited in each cell and the hatching wasp larvae complete their development on the provided prey. These wasps are much less aggressive than solitary forms, as they do not protect their nest. About the only way someone could be stung by one of these wasps is by accidentally stepping on or carelessly handling one, which seem very unlikely. Black and Yellow Mud Dauber- Sceliphron caementarium. This is solitary insects that build nests out of mud in sheltered locations, frequently on man-made structures such as bridges, barns, open porches or under the eaves of houses. These nests are not aggressively defended, and stings are rare. Black and Yellow Mud Dauber. The black and yellow mud dauber's nest comprises a series of cylindrical cells that are plastered over to form a smooth nest that may attain nearly the size of a human fist. After building a cell, the female wasp captures several spiders. The captured prey are stung and paralyzed before being placed in the nest, and then a single egg is deposited on the prey within each cell. The wasp then seals the cell with mud. After finishing a series of cells, she leaves and does not return. Eventually, the hatching larva will eat the prey and emerge from the nest. A common species of cuckoo wasp, Chrysis angolensis, is frequently a cleptoparasite (steals they prey by laying its eggs on it)in Sceliphron nests, and is only one of many different insects that parasitize these mud daubers. There are some 30 other species of Sceliphron that occur throughout the world, though in appearance and habits they are quite similar to S. caementarium. S. caementarium is widespread in Canada, the United States, Central America, South Africa and the West Indies, and has been introduced to many Pacific Islands (including Australia, Hawaii andJapan), Peru and Europe , where it has become established in the western Mediterranean Basin. Organ Pipe Mud Dauber-Trypoxylon politum. These are fairly large wasps, shiny black with pale hind tarsi. Male organ pipe mud daubers are among the few male wasps of any species to stay at the nest. A male "stands guard" (to prevent theft of prey or nest materials, as well as to ward off parasites while a female is away collecting spiders. Mating typically occurs on her visits to the nest. They typically build their nests in sheltered locations, and large aggregations may form with dozens to hundreds of nests in a small area. The shape of their nest is the derivation of their common name. Organ Pipe Mud Dauber, Nests and Parasitized Spiders M0ved from Nest. Images Courtesy or Pollinator. Organ pipe mud daubers are also an exceedingly docile species of wasp, and generally pleasant to have around, as they serve to keep spider populations down. Stings to humans are very rare, bordering on non-existent, although if squeezed, they will sting in self-defense. There are a great many other species in the genus Trypoxylon (over 700 of them worldwide), mostly smaller in size and less abundant. Sphecius speciosus-Cicada Killer. Cicada killer wasps are large, solitary wasps. The name may be applied to any species which uses cicadas as prey, though in North America it is typically applied to a single species, Sphecius speciosus, often simply referred to as "The cicada killer". However, since there are multiple species of related wasps, it is more appropriate to call it the Eastern pr Western cicada killers. These species occurs in the eastern, western and Midwest U.S. and southwards into Mexico and Central America. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them. In North America they are sometimes called sand hornets, although they are not hornets, which belong to the family Vespidae. Adult Eastern and Western cicada killer wasps are large, 1.5 to 5 cm (2/3 to 2 inches) long, robust wasps with hairy, reddish and black areas on the thorax (middle part), and are black to reddish brown marked with light yellow stripes on the abdominal (rear) segments. The wings are brownish. Coloration may superficially resemble that of yellow jackets or hornets. The females are somewhat larger than the males, and both are among the largest wasps seen in the Eastern United States, their unusual size giving them a uniquely fearsome appearance. European hornets (Vespa crabro) are often mistaken for Eastern cicada killers. Solitary wasps (such as the Eastern cicada killer) are very different in their behavior from the social wasps such as hornets, yellow jackets, and paper wasps. Cicada killer females use their sting to paralyze their prey (cicadas) rather than to defend their nests. Adults feed on flower nectar and other plant sap exudates. Adults emerge in summer, typically beginning around late June or early July and continuing throughout the summer months. They are present in a given area for 60 to 75 days, until mid-September. The large females are commonly seen in mid-to-late summer skimming around lawns seeking good sites to dig burrows and searching shrubs and trees for cicadas. The males are more often seen in groups, vigorously challenging one another for position on the breeding aggregation from which they emerged, and generally pursuing anything that moves or flies within close proximity. It is not unusual to see two or three male wasps locked together in midair combat, the aggregate adopting an erratic and uncontrolled flight path until one of the wasps breaks away. The male wasp's aggressive behavior is extremely similar to that of another robust insect of the area, the male carpenter bee. In both cases, while the males' vigorous territorial defense can be extremely frightening and intimidating to human passersby, the males pose no danger whatsoever. They will only grapple with other insects, and cannot sting. This ground-burrowing wasp may be found in well-drained, sandy soils to loose clay in bare or grass-covered banks, berms and hills as well as next to raised sidewalks, driveways and patio slabs. Females may share a burrow, digging their own nest cells off the main tunnel. A burrow is 15 to 25 cm (6 - 10 in.) deep and about 3 cm (1.5 in.) wide. The female dislodges the soil with her jaws and pushes loose soil behind her as she backs out of the burrow using her hind legs, which are equipped with special spines that help her push the dirt behind her. The excess soil pushed out of the burrow forms a mound with a trench through it at the burrow entrance. Cicada killers may nest in planters, window boxes, and flower beds or under shrubs, ground cover, etc. Nests often are made in the full sun where vegetation is sparse. Nest of Cicada Killer. Image Courtesy of Chuck Holliday. After digging a nest chamber in the burrow, female cicada killers capture cicadas, paralyzing them with a sting; the cicadas then serve as food to rear their young. After paralyzing a cicada, the female wasp straddles it and takes off toward her burrow; this return flight to the burrow is difficult for the wasp because the cicada is often more than twice her weight. After putting the cicada in the nest cell, the female deposits an egg on the cicada and closes the cell with dirt. Male eggs are laid on a single cicada but female eggs are given two or sometimes three cicadas; this is because the female wasp is twice as large as the male and must have more food. New nest cells are dug as necessary off the main burrow tunnel and a single burrow may eventually have 10 to 20 cells. The egg hatches in one or two days, and the cicadas serve as food for the grub. The larvae complete their development in about 2 weeks. Overwintering occurs as a mature larva within an earth-coated cocoon. Pupation occurs in the nest cell in the spring and lasts 25 to 30 days. There is only one generation per year and no adults overwinter. Although cicada killers are large, female cicada killer wasps are not aggressive and rarely sting unless they are grasped roughly, stepped upon with bare feet, or caught in clothing, etc. One author who has been stung indicates that, for him, the stings are not much more than a "pinprick". Males aggressively defend their perching areas on nesting sites against rival males but they have no sting. Although they appear to attack anything which moves near their territories, male cicada killers are actually investigating anything which might be a female cicada killer ready to mate. Such close inspection appears to many people to be an attack, but male and female cicada killers don't land on people and attempt to sting. If handled roughly females will sting, and males will jab with a sharp spine on the tip of their abdomen. Both sexes are well equipped to bite, as they have large jaws; however, they don't appear to grasp human skin and bite. They are non-aggressive towards humans and usually fly away when swatted at, instead of attacking. Cicada killers exert a natural control on cicada populations and thus may directly benefit the deciduous trees upon which their cicada prey feeds. Chrysisid Wasps. These tiny wasps are characterized by their shining coloration made of iridescent blue, green, purple which are true pigments (red, brown and white) and are very rare in insects. The typical brilliance is emphasized by the exoskeleton sculpture, which is carved by a complex punctuation and by projections, crests and holes. In addition there is a reduction of the number of the external abdominal segments, the presence of 11 antennal segments and for the wing veins with 5 closed cells. Some tropical species have apterous females and a body without metallic reflections. Cuckoo Wasps. Images Courtsey of (left) Pollinator and (right) Alvesgaspar. Currently about 3,000 species have been described worldwide. Chrysidids are parasitoids with some species being cleptoparasites meaning they lay their eggs on host that are already parasitized by other wasps. In addition it is not uncommon for the newly hatched cleptoparasitic larvae to attack and kill the other parasitic larvae thus leaving more food for themselves Velvet Ants. Their common name velvet ants refers to their dense hair which may be red, black, white, silver, or gold. They are known for their extremely painful sting, facetiously said to be strong enough to kill a cow, hence the common name cow killer or cow ant. They invade the nests of wasps and bees as their exoskeleton is very tough and roughly textured to protect against stings. Like related families in the Vespoidea, males have wings but females are wingless. They exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism; the males and females are so different that it is almost impossible to associate the two sexes of a species unless they are captured while mating. In a few species the male is so much larger than the female that he carries her aloft while mating, a characteristic that is also seen in the closely related family Tiphiidae. In all Hymenoptera only the females sting because the stinger is a modified ovipositor. Like all wasps they can sting multiple times. A structure called a stridulitrum on the metasoma is used to produce a squeaking, chirping, or humming warning sound when handled. Female (left) and Winged Male Velvet Ants. Mature velvet ants feed on nectar. Although most species are strictly nocturnal, females some species are sometimes active up to two hours before sunset. It is thought they may not avoid light but rather are active during temperatures which usually occur only after sunset but on cool overcast days could occur earlier. The male locates a female on the wing and mates. The female then enters an insect nest, typically a ground-nesting bee or wasp nest, and deposits eggs near the larvae or pupae. Her young develops as an ectoparasitoid, eventually killing and eating its immobile host. A few European species have been known to invade and raid bee or wasp nests. Velvet ants occur worldwide, with some 5000 species, mainly in the tropics. They are especially common in desert and sandy areas, with most of the over 400 North American species found in the Southwestern United States and adjacent parts of Mexico, with others found in generally sandy regions throughout the United States and Canada; the same habitat where their hosts are most diverse. Spider Wasps. These are one of the better know groups of large Hymenoptera. Most of the Spider Warps are orange and black, black and grey/white markings or just black, i.e., the very strong warning colors. They usually have tinted wings, smooth and shiny body. Their hind-legs are long and always have two prominent spurs. They tend to coil their antennae. Spider wasps are best distinguished from other similar wasps in having (in most species) a transverse groove dividing the mesopleuron (the mesepisternal sclerite, a region on the side of middle segment of the thorax above the point where the legs join) into halves. Spider Wasp with Coiled Antennae and Mesoplural Transverse Groove Dividing Segment above Attachment of Second Pair of Legs In South America spider wasp species may be referred to colloquially as marabunta or marimbondo, though these names can be generally applied to any very large stinging wasps). The family is cosmopolitan, with some 4,200 species in 4 subfamilies. All species are solitary, and most capture and paralyze prey, although some species are cleptoparasites of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders. Sexual dimorphism is not marked although females are often larger than the males. Spider wasps are long-legged, solitary wasps that use a single spider as a host for feeding their larvae. They paralyze the spider with a venomous stinger. Once paralyzed, the spider is dragged to where a nest will be built – some wasps having already made a nest. A single egg is laid on the abdomen of the spider, and the nest – or burrow – is closed. Spider Wasps Collecting Prey. Images Courtewy Tony Willis. The size of the host can influence whether the wasp will lay an egg that will develop as a male, or an egg that will develop into a female – larger prey yielding the (larger) females. A complex set of adult behavior can then occur, such as spreading dirt or inspecting the area, leaving the nest site inconspicuous. When the wasp larva hatches it begins to feed on the still-living spider. After consuming the edible parts of the spider, the larva spins a silk cocoon and pupates – usually emerging as an adult the next summer. Some species lay the egg on a still-active spider, where it feeds externally on hemolymph (spider blood). In time, that spider will die, and the mature wasp larva will then pupate. They usually hunt on ground with the characteristic wing flicking movement. The tarantula hawk is only one of a number of related species of wasps that mainly parasitize spiders and in entomological terms are referred to as parasitoids. They typically hunt out their prey, sting and paralyzed them and carry them back to their nest. The nest is typically a hole in the ground into which they insert one or more spiders upon which they subsequently lay a single egg. After hatching the wasp larva feed on the paralyzed prey until completing development. Tarantula Hawk-Pepsis spp. This is a species of spider wasp which hunts tarantulas as food for it larvae. Up to two inches long with a blue-black body and bright rust-colored wings, tarantula hawks are among the largest of wasps. The coloring on their wings warns potential predators that they are dangerous (Aposematism). Their long legs have hooked claws for grappling with their victims. The stinger of a female tarantula hawk can be up to 1/3 inch long, and delivers a sting which is rated among the most painful in the insect world. During the spiders’ reproductive season male tarantulas are usually emaciated from ignoring food while searching for females. The tarantula hawks thus prefer female tarantulas and seek them in their burrows. The females capture, sting, and paralyze the spider, Then they either drag the spider back into her own burrow or transport their prey to a specially prepared nest where a single egg is deposited on the spider’s body, and the entrance is covered. The wasp larva, upon hatching, begins to suck the juices from the still-living spider. After the larva grows a bit, it plunges into the spider's body and feeds voraciously, avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep it fresh. After completing pupation the adult wasp emerges from the nest. Tarantula wasps feed primarily on nectar and other natural sugary materials. The consumption of fermented fruit sometimes intoxicates them to the point that flight becomes difficult. While the wasps tend to be most active in daytime summer months, they avoid the very highest temperatures. The male tarantula hawk does not hunt; instead, it feeds off the flowers of milkweeds, western soapberry trees, or mesquite trees. The male tarantula hawk has a behavior called "hill-topping", where he sits atop tall plants and watches for females that are ready to reproduce. Tarantula Hawk Dragging Prey to Nest and Feeding on Milkweed Nectar. Image Courtesy of Astrobradley (left) and Davehood (right). The tarantula hawk is relatively docile and rarely stings without provocation. The sting, particularly of Pepsis formosa, is among the most painful of any insect, but the intense pain only lasts for about 3 minutes.[ Commenting on his own experience, one researcher described the pain as "…immediate, excruciating pain that simply shuts down one's ability to do anything, except, perhaps, scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these situations”. In terms of scale, the wasp's sting is rated near the top of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, second only to that of the bullet ant and is described by Schmidt as "blinding, fierce [and] shockingly electric". Because of their extremely large stingers, very few animals are able to eat them; one of the few animals that can is the roadrunner. The U.S. State of New Mexico chose the insect in 1989 to become its official state insect. The selection of the insect was prompted by a group of Edgewood, New Mexico, elementary school children doing research on states which had adopted state insects. They selected three insects as candidates, and mailed ballots to all schools for a state wide election. The winner was the Tarantula Hawk Wasp (specifically, Pepsis formosa). The RQ-16 T-Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle has been named after the Tarantula Hawk. Gall Wasps-Cynipidae. These tiny wasps are also called gallflies with about 1300 species worldwide. As indicated they are generally very small creature (1-8 millimeters). The reproduction of the gall wasp is partly pure two-sex propagation and partly pure parthenogenesis, in which a male is completely unnecessary. With most species, however, there is an alternation of generations with one two-sex generation and one parthenogenic generation annually. The plant galls mostly develop directly after the female insect lays the eggs. The reason for gall formation is largely unknown but is a result of the present of the developing gall insect; it is speculated that chemical, mechanical and viruses triggers the process. The hatching larvae feed within the tissue of the galls and are also well-protected from external environmental effects. The host plants and the size and shape of the galls are specific to the majority of gall wasps with about 70% of the known species living in various types of oak trees. Galls occur on nearly all parts of trees including leaves, buds, branches, and roots. Other species of plant where galls are commonly found include eucalyptus, rose or maple trees, as well as many herbs. Frequently, identification a of species of gall forming insect is easier by the shape of the galls produced rather than the insect itself. Some of the more common types of galls caused by the feeding of these insects are discussed below. Oak artichoke galls develop as a chemically induced distortion of leaf axillary or terminal buds on Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur) or Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea) trees, caused by the parthenogenetic gall wasp Andricus fecundatrix which lays single eggs within leaf buds using their ovipositor. The larva lives inside a smaller hard casing inside the artichoke and this is released in autumn. Oak Artichoke Galls. Image Courtesy Rasbak The galls of the rose gall wasp (Diplolepis rosae) are also distinctive and are known as bedeguars or robin's pincushions. These are found on the shoots of dog roses and have a length of up to five centimeters with red long-haired outgrowths. Inside the galls are several chambers, which may be occupied by larvae. Robin’s Pincushion on Rose. Image Courtesy of Bjorn Appel Knopper galls develop as a chemically induced distortion of growing acorns on Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur (L.)) trees, caused by gall wasps which lay eggs within buds using their ovipositor. The gall thus produced can greatly reduce the fecundity of the oak host, making the gall a potentially more serious threat than those which develop upon leaves, buds, and stems. The large one inch gall growth appears as a mass of green to yellowish-green, ridged, and at first sticky plant tissue on the bud of the oak, that breaks out as the gall between the cup and the acorn. If only a few grubs are developing within, then it may appear only as a group of bland folds. Where several grubs are competing for space the shape may become much more contorted, with several tightly bunched galls. Kopper Galls. Image Courtesy of saharadesertfox. Neuroterus numismalis is a gall wasp that forms chemically induced leaf galls on oak trees. It has both bisexual and agamic (parthenogenetic) generations and forms two distinct galls on oak leaves, the Silk button gall and Blister gall. The galls can be very numerous with more than a thousand per leaf. his Silk button spangle gall has a cover of golden hairs that give the impression of silk thread. The 0.3 cm button-shaped galls have a pronounced concavity and sit tightly against the leaf lamina. Silk Button Galls on Oak. Image Courtesy of Image Courtesy of Beentree. Neuroterus albipes is a gall wasp that forms chemically induced leaf galls on oak trees which has both bisexual and agamic generations and therefore forms two distinct galls, the Smooth Spangle gall and Schenck's gall. The normally cream colored saucer of the Smooth Spangle gall has a small cone elevated in its centre, a pronounced rim and they are sometimes found almost folded in two. The gall may have steaks of purple, red or other colors through it. Typically found on the lower surface, this gall is found more often on the upper surface than other spangle galls and although often grouped together, the numbers on each leaf are far fewer than in species such as Neuroterus quercusbaccarum. The gall is observed to swell appreciably once it has detached and fallen in late autumn. The gall has also been recorded as green, purple, red or pink. Smooth Spangle Gall. Image Courtesy of Rosser1954 All bees collect nectar and pollen as their main source of food. One of the distinguishing characteristics of all these families is that their body hairs are profusely branched. This adaptation serves to capture and carry pollen. Worldwide, there are an estimated 20,000 species of bees (Michener, 2000), with approximately 4,000 species native to the United State. The non-native European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most important crop pollinator in the United States. However, because of disease and other factors the number of managed honey bee hives in the United States has declined by 50 percent since. During this same period, the amount of crop acreage requiring bee pollination has continued to grow. This makes native pollinators even more important to the future of agriculture. Native bees provide free pollination services (as opposed to honey bee which are typically rented) and are often specialized for foraging on particular flowers, such as squash, berries or orchard crops. This specialization results in more efficient pollination and the production of larger and more abundant fruit from certain crops. The pollination done by native bees contributes an estimated $3 billion worth of crop production annually to the U.S. economy. Native bees come in a wide range of colors and sizes, from tiny sweat bees less than a quarter of an inch long to bumble bees over an inch in length. Most are solitary, with each female creating and provisioning her nest without the support of a caste system of workers. About 70 percent of native bees excavate underground nests while 30 percent of bees nest in wood tunnels, usually pre-existing holes such as those made by wood-boring beetles, but some will chew out the center of pithy twigs. In the case of both ground-nesting and wood-nesting bees, once the nest is complete, the mother bee generally dies. Her offspring will remain in the nest, passing through the egg, larva and pupa stages before emerging as an adult to renew the cycle. For some species this life cycle may progress over a matter of weeks, resulting in a second generation of bees in a single season. A few species may remain dormant for over a year. Most solitary bees however complete this life cycle over the course of a full year. Native bees often only live for a few weeks as actively flying adults. They mate immediately upon emergence and the females begin nesting. They lay relatively few eggs compared to other insects, with a single female often laying less than 50 eggs before she dies. Male bees do not live long beyond mating, they do not collect pollen and have little value as pollinators. While most of these wood-nesting and ground-nesting bees are solitary, some are gregarious, preferring to nest near others, a behavior that allows large aggregations to develop in favorable locations. Only a few tunnel and ground-nesting bee species ever develop truly social colonies, and often such behavior is environmentally dependent with some bees being social in one situation and being solitary in another. The one group of strictly social bees native to the United States is the group of approximately 45 bumble bee species. The two habitat components need to be close enough together so that the bees can fly between them. The flight distance of a bee varies with the size of the bee. Small sweat bees and mining bees may not fly more than 200 or 300 yards from nest to forage area. Large bees (bumble bees, for example) can cross a mile or more of inhospitable, flower-less landscape to forage. But however large the bee, if it has to fly too far the effort begins to outweigh the benefits and the bee may either find somewhere else to nest or not survive in the landscape. A third factor that influences habitat is insecticide exposure. To thrive, bees need minimal exposure to pesticides. The Apidae are a large family of bees, comprising the common honey bees, stingless bees (which are also cultured for honey), carpenter bees, orchid bees, cuckoo bees, bumblebees, and various other less well-known groups. The family Apidae presently includes all the genera that were previously classified in the families Anthophoridae and Ctenoplectridae, and most of these are solitary species, though a few are also cleptoparasites. The four groups that were subfamilies in the old family Apidae are presently ranked as tribes within the subfamily Apinae. This trend has been taken to its extreme in a few recent classifications that place all the existing bee families together under the name "Apidae" (or, alternatively, the non-Linnaean clade "Anthophila"), but this is not a widely-accepted practice. Stingless Bees. These can be found in most tropical or subtropical regions of the world, such as Australia, Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America and parts of Mexico and Brazil. The majority of native social bees of Central and South America are stingless bees, although only a few of them produce honey on a scale such that they are farmed by humans. They are also quite diverse in Africa and are farmed there also; meliponine honey is prized as a medicine in many African communities. Being tropical, stingless bees are active all year round, although they are less active in cooler weather. Unlike other eusocial bees, they do not sting but will defend by biting if their nest is disturbed. In addition, a few have mandibular secretions that cause painful blisters. Despite their lack of a sting, stingless bees, being social, may have very large colonies made formidable by way of numerous defenders. Stingless bees usually nest in hollow trunks, tree branches, underground cavities, or rock crevices but they have also been encountered in wall cavities, old rubbish bins, water meters, and storage drums. Many beekeepers keep the bees in their original log hive or transfer them to a wooden box, as this makes it easier to control the hive. The bees store pollen and honey in large egg-shaped pots made of beeswax, typically mixed with various types of plant resin (sometimes called "propolis"). These pots are often arranged around a central set of horizontal brood combs, where the larval bees are raised. When the young worker bees emerge from their cells, they tend to remain inside the hive (much like honey bees, performing different jobs. As workers age, they become guards or foragers. Unlike the larvae of honey bees, stingless bee larvae are not fed directly by worker adults. The pollen and nectar are placed in a cell, an egg is laid, and the cell is sealed until the adult bee emerges after pupation ("mass provisioning"). At any one time, hives can contain anywhere from 300-80,000 workers, depending on species. In a simplified sense, the sex of each bee depends on the number of chromosomes it receives. Female bees have two sets of chromosomes (diploid) - one set from the queen and another from one of the male bees or drones. Drones have only one set of chromosomes (haploid), and are the result of unfertilized eggs, though inbreeding can result in diploid drones. Unlike true honey bees, whose female bees may become workers or queens strictly depending on what kind of food they receive as larvae (queens are fed royal jelly and workers are fed pollen), the caste system in meliponines is variable, and commonly based simply on the amount of pollen consumed; larger amounts of pollen yield queens in the genus Melipona. There is also a genetic component however, and as much as 25% (typically 5-14%) of the female brood may be queens. Queen cells in the former case can be distinguished from others by their larger size, as they are stocked with more pollen, but in the latter case the cells are identical to worker cells, and scattered among the worker brood. When the new queens emerge, they typically leave to mate, and most die. New nests are not established via swarms, but by a procession of workers who gradually construct a new nest at a secondary location. The nest is then joined by a newly-mated queen, at which point many workers take up permanent residence and help the new queen raise her own workers. If a ruling queen is herself weak or dying, then a new queen can replace her. For Plebeia quadripunctata, although less than 1% of female worker cells produce dwarf queens, they comprise six out of seven queen bees, and one out of five proceed to head colonies of their own. They are reproductively active but less fecund than large queens. Myan Stingless Bees-Melipona beecheii and Meliopons. yucatanica, These are the only native bees cultured to any degree in the Americas. They were extensively cultured by the Maya for honey, and regarded as sacred. These bees are endangered due to massive deforestation, altered agricultural practices (especially insecticides), and changing beekeeping practices with the arrival of the Africanized honey bee, which produces much greater honey crops. These bees have been kept by the lowland Maya for thousands of years. The traditional Mayan name for this bee is Xunan kab, literally meaning "royal lady". The bees were once the subject of religious ceremonies and were a symbol of the bee-god Ah-Muzen-Cab, who is known from the Madrid Codex. The bees were, and still are, treated as pets. Families would have one or many log-hives hanging in and around their house. Although they are stingless, the bees do bite and can leave welts similar to a mosquito bite. The traditional way to gather bees, still favored amongst the locals, is to find a wild hive; then the branch is cut around the hive to create a portable log, enclosing the colony (Figure 37). This log is then capped on both ends with another piece of wood or pottery and sealed with mud. This clever method keeps the melipine bees from mixing their brood, pollen, and honey in the same comb as the European bees. The brood is kept in the middle of the hive, and the honey is stored in vertical "pots" on the outer edges of the hive. A temporary, replaceable cap at the end of the log allows for easy access to the honey while doing minimal damage to the hive. However, inexperienced handlers can still do irreversible damage to a hive, causing the hive to swarm and abscond from the log. On the other hand, with proper maintenance, hives have been recorded as lasting over 80 years, being passed down through generations. In the archaeological record of Mesoamerica, stone discs have been found which are generally considered to be the caps of long-disintegrated logs which once housed the beehives. Traditional Stingless Bee Hive. Image Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Belize37.jpg Balché, an alcohol beverage similar to mead, was made from fermented honey and the bark of the leguminous Balché tree (Lonchocarpus violaceus), hence its name. It was traditionally brewed in a canoe. The drink was known to have entheogenic properties, that is, to produce mystical experiences, and was consumed in medicinal and ritual practices. The hallucinogenic properties come from tan alkaloid in the bark of the Balché tree, although whether the hallucinogens came from the bark or the honey, which beekeepers would harvest after placing the nests near the trees, remains uncertain. Toxic and hallucinogenic substances can be found in all honey, if bees collect nectar and pollen from certain types of vegetation. Most likely, it is a combination of the two, since balché is made from both the Melipona honey gathered from the Balché flowers, and from the bark of the tree, brewed and fermented together. Lost-wax casting, a common metalworking method which is typically found where the inhabitants keep bees, was also utilized by the Maya. The wax from Melipona is soft and easy to work, especially in the humid Mayan lowland. This allowed the Maya to create smaller works of art and jewelry that would be difficult to forge. It also makes use of the leftovers from honey extraction. If the hive was damaged beyond repair, the whole of the comb could be used, thus using the entire hive. With experienced keepers, though, only the honey pot could be removed, the honey extracted, and the wax used for casting or other purposes. The outlook for meliponines in Mesoamerica is grim. The number of active Melipona beekeepers is rapidly declining in favor of the more economical, non-indigenous Africanized Apis mellifera. The high honey yield, 100 kilograms or more annually, along with the ease of hive care and ability to create new hives from existing stock, commonly outweighs the negative consequences of "killer bee" hive maintenance. Furthermore, there are flora that the Africanized honey bees do not visit, such as those in the tomato family, and several forest trees and shrubs, which rely on the native stingless bees for pollination. There has already been a decline in populations of native flora in areas where stingless bees have been displaced by Africanized honey bees. An additional blow to the art of meliponine beekeeping is that many of the meliponine beekeepers are now elderly men and women, whose hives may not be cared for once they die. The hives are considered similar to an old family collection, to be parted out once the collector dies or to be buried in whole or part along with the beekeeper upon death. In fact, a survey of a once-popular area of the Mayan lowlands shows the rapid decline of beekeepers, down to around 70 in 2004 from thousands in the late 1980s. It is traditional in the Mayan lowlands that the hive itself or parts of the hive be buried along with the beekeeper to volar al cielo, "to fly to heaven". There are conservation efforts underway in several parts of Mesoamerica. South American Stingless Bee-Trigona spinipes. This is a species of stingless bee occurring in South America where it is called arapuá, irapuá or abelha-cachorro ("dog-bee") (Figure 38.). The species name means "spiny feet" in Latin. Trigona spinipes builds its nest on trees (or on buildings and other human structures), out of mud, resin, wax, and assorted debris, including dung. Therefore, its honey is not especially fit for consumption, even though it is reputed to be of good quality by itself, and is used in folk medicine. Colonies may have from 5000 to over 100 000 workers. Adult and Nest of South American Stingless Bees. Images Courtesy of Reynaldo and (Left) Jorge Stolfi This species will attack in swarms when they feel the nest is threatened. They cannot sting, and their bite is not very effective but quite annoying. Their main weapon against predatory animals (including people) is to get themselves entangled in the victim's hair and buzz loudly. These bees uses odor trails, sometimes extending to several hundred yards in order lead nest mates from the hive to a food source. Moreover they will frequently follow trail similar chemicals used by other bee (such as carpenter bees, Africanized honeybees and other stingless bees) for the same purpose, frequently killing or driving them away and taking over their food source. This bee has been considered an agricultural pest for some cultures, such as passion fruit, because it damages leaves and flowers while collecting nest materials, and tunnels through the unopened flowers to collect the nectar (thus frustrating their normal pollinators).[ On the other hand, they are significant pollinators on their own, e.g. for onions. Attack by stingless bee although not considered dangerous to humans can be very annoying if not scary, especially if the victim is not expecting it. On one occasion Pat (my wife) and I were collecting insects in Monte Verde Costa Rica. Without any warning there were hundreds of bees on us. As indicated above they got into our clothing and hair. As indicated their bite was not especially painful but when hundreds of bees are biting you especially around the face neck and other areas of the face it can be disconcerting to say the least. She still talks about it today (30 years ago). Carpenter Bees. Carpenter bees are large, hairy bees with over 500 species distributed worldwide. Their name comes from the fact that nearly all species build their nests in burrows in dead wood, bamboo, or structural timbers. In the United States, there are two eastern species, Xylocopa virginica, and Xylocopa micans, and three other species that are primarily western in distribution, Xylocopa varipuncta, Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex and Xylocopa californica. X. virginica is by far the more widely distributed species. Some are often mistaken for a bumblebee species, as they can be similar in size and coloration, though most carpenter bees have a shiny abdomen, while in bumblebees the abdomen is completely clothed with dense hair. Males of some species have a white or yellow face, where the females do not; males also often have much larger eyes than the females, which relates to their mating behavior. Male bees are often seen hovering near nests, and will approach nearby animals. However, males are harmless since they do not have a stinger. Female carpenter bees are capable of stinging, but they are docile and rarely sting unless caught in the hand or otherwise directly provoked. Many Old World carpenter bees have a special pouch-like structure on the inside of their thorax called the acarinarium where certain species of mites (Dinogamasus spp.) reside. The exact nature of the relationship is not fully understood, though in other bees that carry mites where the mites are beneficial, feeding either on fungi in the nest, or on other, harmful mites. Carpenter bees are traditionally considered solitary bees, though some species have simple social nests in which mothers and daughters may cohabit. However, even solitary species tend to be gregarious. There are two very different mating systems that appear to be common in carpenter bees, and often this can be determined simply by examining specimens of the males of any given species. Species in which the males have large eyes are characterized by a mating system where the males either search for females by patrolling, or by hovering and waiting for passing females, whom they then pursue. In the other type of mating system, the males often have very small heads, but there is a large, hypertrophied glandular reservoir in the mesosoma, which releases pheromones into the airstream behind the male while it flies or hovers. The pheromone advertises the presence of the male to females.[ These bees come in a variety of sizes although most are slightly larger than a honey bee. One of the most common species is the valley carpenter bee that is characterized by solid black females and golden males. They are as large as or larger than bumblebees. Female and Male Valley Carpenter Bees. As previous indicated these bees nest in wood. Their colonies consist of a series of tunnel-shaped burrows. As do other bees, carpenter bees collect pollen to feed to their young. Once collected, the pollen is formed into a ball about the size of a small marble. A single egg is then deposited on each ball, which subsequently is compartmentalized within the burrows (Figure 40). Their life cycle is completed in a few months as the larvae develop on the pollen balls. A Tunnel of a Carpenter Bee with Developing Larva and Pupa. Image Courtesy Univar Corporation. Carpenter bees are not true social insects as there is no division of labor, but many bees may occupy the same nesting burrow. The burrows typically are used year after year and can become rather extensive. Even though these are wood infesting insects, rarely do they do any significant damage to homes. Occasionally they can be bothersome to the homeowner because the males are especially aggressive and will fly up to and buzz in a person’s face; however, they are totally harmless, as male Hymenoptera do not have stingers. The sting of the female is quite painful, but she is much less aggressive. In the telephone industry these bees are referred to as pole bees because they frequently nests in telephone poles. Even though they typically do not sting, they buzz linemen and in some cases this has resulted in injuries as a result of the workers’ attempts to avoid their harassment. I am aware of more than one case where linemen have fallen from poles due to “bee attack”. Bumble Bees. A bumblebee (or bumble bee) is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere although they are common in New Zealand and Tasmania. Bumblebees are social insects that are characterized by black and yellow body hairs, often in bands. However, some species have orange or red on their bodies, or may be entirely black (Figure 41). Another obvious (but not unique) characteristic is the soft nature of the hair (long, branched setae), called pile, that covers their entire body, making them appear and feel fuzzy. They are best distinguished from similarly large, fuzzy bees by the form of the female hind leg, which is modified to form a shiny concave surface that is bare, but surrounded by a fringe of hairs used to transport pollen (in similar bees, the hind leg is completely hairy, and pollen grains are wedged into the hairs for transport). Like their relatives the honey bees, bumblebees feed on nectar and gather pollen to feed their young. One characteristic of bees in general is that the body hairs are profusely branched making them more efficient in trapping pollen. Their mouthparts consist of a tube-like proboscis for siphoning the nectar from pants. It is coiled up when not in use. A Bumbles Bee with Uncoiled Proboscis in Preparation for Removal of Nectar. Image Courtesy FFubs. Right. Bumblebee with Pollen Trapped on Hairs. Image Courtesy of Jesse Hickman The brightly-colored pile of the bumble bee is a form of aposematic signal, meaning the bright coloration is a sign that I am bad-don’t mess with me (Figure 42). Depending on the species these colors can range from entirely black, to bright yellow, red, orange, white, and pink. Thick pile can also act as insulation to keep the bee warm in cold weather. Further, when flying a bee builds up an electrostatic charge, and as flowers are usually well grounded, pollen is attracted to the bee's pile when it lands. When a pollen covered bee enters a flower, the charged pollen is preferentially attracted to the stigma (female part of plant-thus fertilization occurs) because it is better grounded than the other parts of the flower. Brightly Colored Bumble Bee. Image Courtesy Christian Sand. Bumblebees are typically found in higher latitudes and or high altitudes; though exceptions exist (there are a few lowland tropical species). A few species range into very cold climates where other bees might not be found; Bombus. polaris can be found in northern Ellesmere Island (west of Greenland)—the northern most occurrence of any true social insect. One reason for this is that bumblebees can regulate their body temperature, via solar radiation, internal mechanisms of "shivering" and cooling from the abdomen (called heterothermy). Bumblebee colonies are usually much less extensive than those of honey bees. This is due to a number of factors including: the small physical size of the nest cavity, a single female is responsible for the initial construction and reproduction that happens within the nest, and the restriction of the colony to a single season (in most species). Often, mature bumblebee nests will hold fewer than 50 individuals and are typically found below ground (Figure 43). They sometimes construct a wax canopy over the top of their nest for protection from moisture and insulation. Bumblebees do not often preserve their nests through the winter, though some tropical species live in their nests for several years (and their colonies can grow quite large, depending on the size of the nest cavity). In temperate species, the last generation of summer includes a number of queens who overwinter separately in protected spots. Bumblebees Nest in a Shed. Image Courtesy Pete Griggs. Bumblebee nests are first constructed by over-wintered queens in the spring. Upon emerging from hibernation, the queen collects pollen and nectar from flowers and searches for a suitable nest site. The characteristics of the nest site vary among species, with some preferring to nest in underground holes and others in tussock grass or directly on the ground. Once the queen has found a site, she prepares wax pots to store food and wax cells into which eggs are laid. These eggs then hatch into larvae, which cause the wax cells to expand into a clump of brood cells. These larvae need to be fed both nectar for carbohydrates and protein in order to develop. Bumblebees feed nectar to the larvae by chewing a small hole in the brood cell into which nectar is regurgitated. Larvae are fed pollen in one of two ways, depending on the species. So called "pocket-maker" bumblebees create pockets of pollen at the base of the brood cell clump from which the larvae can feed themselves. Conversely, "pollen-storers" store pollen in separate wax pots and feed it to the larvae in the same fashion as nectar. Bumble bees are incapable of trophallaxis (direct transfer of food from one bee to another) which is common in other hymenoptera such as ants. After the emergence of the first or second group of workers, workers take over the task of foraging and the queen spends most of her time laying eggs and caring for larvae. The colony grows progressively larger and at some point will begin to produce males and new queens. The point at which this occurs varies among species and is heavily dependent on resource availability and environmental factors. Unlike the workers of more advanced social insects, bumblebee workers are not physically reproductively sterile and are able to lay haploid eggs that develop into viable male bumble bees. Only fertilized queens can lay diploid eggs that mature into workers and new queens. Early in the colony cycle, the queen bumblebee compensates for potential reproductive competition from workers by suppressing their egg-laying by way of physical aggression and pheromonal signals. Thus, the queen will usually be the mother of all of the first males laid. Workers eventually begin to lay males later in the season when the queen's ability to suppress their reproduction diminishes. The reproductive competition between workers and the queen is one reason that bumble bees are considered "primitively social insects". New queens and males leave the colony after maturation. Males in particular are forcibly driven out by the workers. Away from the colony, the new queens and males live off nectar and pollen and spend the night on flowers or in holes. The queens are eventually mated (often more than once) and search for a suitable location for diapause (dormancy). The following season they will form new colonies. Bumblebees generally visit flowers exhibiting the bee pollination syndrome. They can visit patches of flowers up to 1-2 kilometers from their colony. Bumblebees will also tend to visit the same patches of flowers every day, as long as nectar and pollen continue to be available. While foraging, bumblebees can reach ground speeds of up to 15 m/s (54 km/h). When bumblebees arrive at a flower, they extract nectar using their long tongue. Many species of bumblebee also exhibit what is known as "nectar robbing": instead of inserting the mouthparts into the flower normally, these bees bite directly through the base of the flower to extract nectar, avoiding pollen transfer. These bees obtain pollen from other species of flowers that they “legitimately” visit. Pollen is removed from flowers deliberately or incidentally by bumblebees. Incidental removal occurs when bumblebees come in contact with the anthers of a flower while collecting nectar. The bumblebee's body hairs receive a dusting of pollen from the anthers which is then groomed into the pollen baskets. Bumblebees are also capable of pollination. With certain species of plants it I difficult to remove the pollen from the anthers. In order to release the pollen, bumblebees and some species of solitary bees are able to grab onto the flower and move their flight muscles rapidly, causing the flower and anthers to vibrate, dislodging pollen. This resonant vibration is called buzz pollination. The honeybee rarely performs buzz pollination. About 8% of the flowers of the world are primarily pollinated using buzz pollination. This behavior is very important for some plants such as blueberries, cranberries, tomatoes and peppers, all of which release pollen from pores within the anthers (similar to salt being shaken from a salt shaker). In at least a few species, once a bumblebee has visited a flower, it leaves a scent mark on the flower. This scent mark deters visitation of the flower by other bumblebees until the scent degrades wears off. It has been shown that this scent mark is a general chemical bouquet that bumblebees leave behind in different locations (e.g. nest, neutral, and food sites) and they learn to use this bouquet to identify both rewarding and unrewarding flowers. In addition, bumblebees rely on this chemical bouquet more when the flower has a high handling time (i.e. it takes a longer time for the bee to find the nectar). Once they have collected nectar and pollen, bumblebees return to the nest and deposit the harvested nectar and pollen into brood cells, or into wax cells for storage. Unlike honey bees, bumblebees only store a few days' worth of food and so are much more vulnerable to food shortages. Providing Nest Locations for Bumble Bees. Unlike solitary bees, which can be very particular about tunnel diameters, bumble bees are flexible in their nesting needs. All they want is a warm, dry cavity, roughly the size of a shoebox (Figure 44). Artificial nests can be constructed to attract bumble bees, but occupancy is typically extremely low – often far less than 25 percent. A simple wooden bumble bee box can be made from preservative-free lumber. An appropriate size will have internal dimensions of about 7 inches high by 7 inches wide and 7 inches long. Drill a few ventilation holes on the upper sides of the box (near the roof) and cover with window screen to deter ants. Also drill some drainage holes in the bottom. Make an entrance tunnel from 3/4-inch diameter plastic pipe and fill the box with soft bedding material, such as short lengths of soft unraveled string, dry straw or upholsterer's cotton (do not use cotton balls, as the fibers become tangled in the bees' legs). The box must be weather tight; if the nest gets damp, the larvae may become too cold and mold and fungus will grow. Bumble Bee Box. Place the nest in a dry, undisturbed area that has some obvious landmarks (a fence post, rock or building) to aid bee navigation; these landmarks are important to bees returning from foraging. Nesting boxes that are at ground level or slightly buried (either with soil or straw) are the most attractive to queens of many species. Boxes placed on the surface should be level and stable. If you are burying your box, extend the entrance pipe so it gently slopes up to the surface and clear the vegetation from an area a few inches around where the pipe surfaces. The best time to install a bumble bee nest box is in early spring, when the first queens have emerged from hibernation and are searching for a nest site; in many areas, this is when the willows first start blooming. Bumble bee nests require little maintenance. Watch your boxes through the spring and early summer. Any above-ground boxes that are unoccupied by late July can be removed, cleaned and put into storage until the following spring. This is not vital, and if you have a lot of boxes on a large site it may not be practical. In late fall or early winter inspect all the boxes that have been occupied. Remove the old nests, clean them and make any repairs. Cleaning the boxes with a bleach-water solution (1:2 ratios) will help reduce parasites and diseases in the nests. The following spring, add fresh nesting material to all the boxes. The package bumble bee industry, which provides farmers with live bumble bee colonies for crop pollination, currently only produces a single eastern bumble bee species, Bombs impatiens. This species is then shipped nationwide, in a situation similar to the blue orchard bee, often far beyond its native range. Many bumble bee scientists now believe that these commercially produced bumble bees are responsible for the introduction of one or more diseases which have decimated several bumble bee species, even causing the potential extinction of one species, Bombus franklini (Franklin's bumble bee). There is an enormous need for managed agricultural pollinators in this country, but it critical not to import non-local bees, especially near wild areas, even if the bees are represented as being the same species as local bees. The alternatives are to either develop local commercial sources of bees that are native to your region or to rear already widely established non-native species, such as honey bees or the alfalfa leafcutter bee, as managed pollinators. Cuckoo bumblebees are a few species of bees which live parasitically in the colonies of other bumblebees and have lost the ability to collect pollen (Figure 45).. Before finding and invading a host colony, a Psithyrus female (there is no caste system in these species) will feed directly from flowers. Once she has infiltrated a host colony, the Psithyrus female will kill or subdue the queen of that colony and forcibly (using pheromones and/or physical attacks) "enslave" the workers of that colony to feed her and her young. This female also has a number of adaptations, such as larger mandibles and a larger venom sac that increase her chances of taking over a nest. Cuckoo Bumblebee. Image Courtesy of Alvesgaspar. Queen and worker bumblebees can sting, but unlike a honey bees, a bumblebee's stinger lacks barbs, so they can sting more than once. Bumblebee species are normally non-aggressive, but will sting in defense of their nest, or if harmed. Female cuckoo bumblebees will aggressively attack host colony members, and sting the host queen, but will ignore other animals (including humans) unless disturbed. Based on my numerous encounters the sting of the bumble bees is considerably more painful than that of a honey bee. Bumblebees are important pollinators of both crops and wildflowers. Bumblebees are increasingly cultured for agricultural use as pollinators because they can pollinate plant species that other pollinators cannot by using a technique known as buzz pollination. For example, bumblebee colonies are often emplaced in greenhouse tomato production, because the frequency of buzzing that a bumblebee exhibits effectively releases tomato pollen which is normally wind pollinated and therefore difficult to release from the anther. Bumblebees are in danger in many developed countries due to habitat destruction and collateral pesticide damage. In Britain, until relatively recently, 19 species of native true bumblebee were recognized along with six species of cuckoo bumblebees. Of these, three have become extinct, eight are in serious decline, and only six remain widespread. Similar declines in bumblebees have been reported in Ireland, with 4 species being designated Endangered, another two species considered Vulnerable to extinction. A decline in bumblebee numbers could cause large-scale sweeping changes to the countryside, leading to inadequate pollination of certain plants. The world's first bumblebee sanctuary was established at Vane Farm in the Loch Leven National Nature Reserve in Scotland in 2008. One common, yet incorrect, assumption is that the buzzing sound of bees is caused by the beating of their wings. The sound is actually the result of the bee vibrating its flight muscles, and this can be achieved while the muscles are decoupled from the wings—a feature known in bees but not other insects. This is especially pronounced in bumblebees, as they must warm up their bodies considerably to get airborne at low ambient temperatures. Bumblebees have been known to reach an internal thoracic temperature of 30 °C (86 °F) using this method. The orchestral interlude "Flight of the Bumblebee" was composed by Rimsky Korsakov to represent the turning of Prince Guidon to visit his father, Tsar Saltan, in the opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, however the music is considered to more accurately reflect the flight of a bluebottle fly rather than a bumblebee. The music went on to inspire Walt Disney to have a bumblebee featured in his musical Fantasia and also sound as if it was flying in all parts of the theatre - the unsuccessful experimentation led to the music being excluded from the film and the eventual invention of surround sound. Salvador Dali was inspired by the sound of a bumblebee to create one of his paintings Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bumble bee around a Pomegranate a Second before Awakening. Orchid Bees. Euglossine bees, also called orchid bees, are the only group of corbiculate bees whose non-parasitic members do not all possess eusocial behavior. Most of the species are solitary, though a few are communal, or exhibit simple forms of eusociality. There are about 200 described species, distributed in five genera: Euglossa, Eulaema, Eufriesea, Exaerete and the monotypic Aglae, all exclusively occurring in South or Central America (though one species, Euglossa viridissima, has become established in the United States). The latter two genera are cleptoparasites in the nests of other orchid bees. All except Eulaema are characterized by brilliant metallic coloration, primarily green, gold, and blue (Figure 46). A Nest of Orchid Bees. Females gather pollen and nectar as food from a variety of plants, and resins, mud and other materials for nest building. Some of the same food plants are also used by the males, which however leave the nest upon hatching and do not return. Male orchid bees have uniquely modified legs which are used to collect and store different volatile compounds (often esters) throughout their lives, primarily from orchids in the subtribes Stanhopeinae and Catasetinae, where all species are exclusively pollinated by euglossine males. These orchids do not produce nectar, and hide the pollen on a single anther under an anther cap; they are not visited by females. The whole pollinarium becomes attached to the male as it leaves the flower (Figure 47). Several flowers from other plant families are also visited by the bees: Spathiphyllum and Anthurium (Araceae), Drymonia and Gloxinia (Gesneriaceae),Cyphomandra (Solanaceae), and Dalechampia (Euphorbiaceae) contain one or more species that attract male euglossines. A Male Orchid Bee with Highly Modified Legs. Image Courtesy Green Fly. The chemicals are picked up using special brushes on the forelegs, transferred from there by rubbing the brushes against combs on the middle legs, and finally these combs are pressed into grooves on the dorsal edge of the hind legs, squeezing the chemicals past the waxy hairs which block the opening of the groove, and into a sponge-like cavity inside the hind tibia. The accumulated "fragrances" are evidently released by the males at their display sites in the forest understory, where matings are known to take place. Although the accumulated volatiles have long been believed to serve as a signal to females, female attraction to male odors has never been demonstrated in behavioral experiments. The behavior of volatile collection is essentially unique in the animal kingdom. Single synthetic compounds are commonly used as bait to attract and collect males for study, and include many familiar flavorings and odors considered appealing to humans (e.g., methyl salicylate, eugenol, cineole, benzyl acetate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate), and others which are not (e.g., skatole). Neotropical orchids themselves often exhibit elaborate adaptations involving highly specific placement of pollen packets (pollinia) on the bodies of the male orchid bees; the specificity of their placement ensures that cross-pollination only occurs between orchids of the same species. Different orchid bee males are attracted to different chemicals, so there is also some specificity regarding which orchid bees visit which types of orchid. The early description of this pollination system was by Charles Darwin, though at the time, he believed the bees were females. Not all orchids utilize euglossines as pollen vectors, of course; among the other types of insects exploited are other types of bees, wasps, flies, ants, and moths. Digger Bees. The Anthophorini is a large tribe in the family Apidae, with over 750 species worldwide that were previously classified in the family Anthophoridae; the vast majority of species are in the genera Amegilla and Anthophora. All species are solitary, though many nest in large aggregations. Nearly all species make nests in the soil, either in banks or in flat ground; the larvae develop in cells with waterproof linings and do not spin cocoons. Species in this tribe are often referred to as "digger bees", though this common name is sometimes applied to members of the tribe Centridini, as well (Figure 48). Digger Bee, Image Courtesy of entomart. The characters used to define this group are subtle, but they are nonetheless fairly recognizable; they are generally large (up to 3 cm), very robust, hairy bees, with visibly protruding faces, and the apical portion of the wings are studded with microscopic papillae. The abdomen is often banded, and in many Old World species of Amegilla these bands are metallic blue. The wings often appear disproportionately short compared to other bees, and their "buzz" is often a high-pitched whine, as they hover and feed on flowers. Males commonly have pale white or yellow facial markings, and/or peculiarly modified leg armature and hairs. Attracting Digger Bees. Some digger bees nest in cracks or cavities in soft sandstone and dry exposed soil embankments. Some of these species will excavate tunnels in cliff sides by wetting the hard soil surface with water or nectar to soften it. To attract these species, adobe bricks can serve as the equivalent of a wooden nest block. Such bricks can sometimes be purchased, in which case you can increase their attractiveness to bees by drilling nesting holes following the size recommendations listed above for wood blocks. Adobe blocks can also be easily made where clay soils are common. To create one, half-fill a large bucket with clay soil, and then fill the bucket with water. Stir the mixture together to create muddy slurry and allow it to settle. Remove any sticks or debris floating on the surface and slowly pour off most of the water. Finally, pour the remaining sediment into a mold (such as a wooden box or small Styrofoam cooler), and allow it to dry for several days or weeks. Before it completely dries, you can make several 1-inch indentations, using the diameter guidelines above, to make it more attractive to bees. Mount the brick, either singularly or in a stack. Adobe will not hold up well in wet climates and many need sheltering from rain. You might want to supply a shallow water source near your bricks to help bees excavate their nests. Halictidae-Halictid Bees. This is a cosmopolitan family of the order Hymenoptera consisting of small (> 4 mm) to midsize (> 8 mm) bees which are usually dark-colored and often metallic in appearance. Several species are all or partly green and a few are red (Figure 49); a number of them have yellow markings, especially the males, which commonly possess yellow faces, a pattern widespread among the various families of bees. They are commonly referred to as sweat bees (especially the smaller species), as they are often attracted to perspiration; when pinched, females can give a minor sting. Common Sweat Bee. Image Courtesy of Jon Sullivan Most halictids nest in the ground, though a few nest in wood. They mass-provision their young by providing a mass of pollen and nectar formed inside a waterproof cell. Once an egg is deposited on this mass the cell is sealed off. Thus the larva is with all the food at one time that it needs for full development, as opposed to "progressive provisioning", where a larva is fed repeatedly as it grows, as in honey bees. All adult species are pollen feeders and may be important pollinators. Several genera and species of halictids are cleptoparasites of other bees (mostly other halictids). The most well-known and common are species in the genus Sphecodes, where the female enters the cell with the provision mass, eats the host egg, and lays an egg of her own in its place. Halictidae are one of the four bee families that contain some species that are crepuscular. These bees are active only at dusk or in the early evening or sometimes truly nocturnal. In these cases they have greatly enlarged ocelli or simple eyes to enhance their night vision. Megachilidae-Leaf Cutting Bees and Mason Bees. The Megachilidae are a cosmopolitan family of solitary bees (Figure 50) whose pollen-carrying structure (called a scopa) is restricted to the ventral surface of the abdomen (rather than mostly or exclusively on the hind legs as in other bee families). Leaf Cutting Bee with Pollen Trapped on Underside of Abdomen. Megachilid genera are most commonly known as mason bees and leafcutter bees, reflecting the materials they build their nest cells from (soil or leaves, respectively); a few collect plant or animal hairs and fibers, and are called carder bees. All species feed on nectar and pollen, but a few are cleptoparasites (informally called "cuckoo bees"), feeding on pollen collected by other megachilid bees. These parasitic species do not possess scopa and are incapable of collecting their own pollen. The brightly colored scopa leads to a colloquial name used occasionally in North America - "Jelly-belly bees." Megachilid bees are among the world's most efficient pollinators because of their energetic swimming-like motion in the reproductive structures of flowers, which moves pollen, as needed for pollination. One of the reasons they are efficient pollinators is their frequency of visiting to plants. In actuality they are extremely inefficient at gathering pollen when compared to all other bee families. However, megachilids require on average nearly ten times as many trips to flowers to gather sufficient resources to provision a single brood cell. Of course with more, more pollination is accomplished. North America has many native megachilid species, but Alfalfa leafcutter bees (Megachile rotundata) are an imported species used for pollination. The most significant native species is Osmia lignaria (the "Orchard Mason Bee" or "Blue Orchard Bee"), which is sold commercially for use in orchard crop pollination, and which can be attracted to nest in wooden blocks with holes drilled in them (which are also sold commercially for this purpose). Leafcutter bees nest in soft, rotted wood; thick-stemmed, pithy plants (e.g., rose); and in similar materials that the bees can easily cut through and excavate. Nest tunnels may extend several inches deep and coarse sawdust may be deposited at the entrance. This sometimes causes confusion with other wood nesting insects such as carpenter ants. However, leafcutter bees restrict their tunneling to soft, rotted wood and do not cause damage to homes or other wooden structures. There also are concerns about leafcutter bee nesting in rose canes, excavating the pith of pruned canes. Leafcutter bees sometimes nest in the largest diameter rose canes but cause little damage because they restrict tunneling to the pith and rarely girdle cambium. Furthermore, other insects, including various hunting wasps (Pemphredon species) and small carpenter bees more commonly tunnel and nest in rose canes. After the nest is made, the bees collect fragments of leaves to construct individual nest cells. The bees cut leaves in a distinctive manner, making a smooth semicircular cut about 3/4 inch in diameter from the edge of leaves. Although they cut many types of leaves, leafcutter bees prefer certain types, notably rose, green ash, lilac and Virginia creeper. This injury often is only a minor curiosity. However, where leafcutter bees are abundant and concentrate on cultivated plantings, the removal of leaf tissues can be damaging. Serious damage most often occurs in isolated rural plantings. Rose Leaf with Discs Cut from Edge by Leaf Cutting Bee. Leafcutter bees do not eat the cut pieces of leaves that they remove. Instead, they carry them back to the nest and use them to fashion nest cells within the previously constructed tunnels. Then they provision each leaf-lined cell with a mixture of nectar and pollen. The female lays an egg and seals the cell, producing a finished nest cell that somewhat resembles a cigar butt. A series of closely packed cells are produced in sequence. A finished nest tunnel may contain a dozen or more cells forming a tube 4 to 8 inches long. The young bees develop and remain within the cells, emerging the next season. There are a great many parasites that act as important natural enemies of leafcutter bees. As a result, leaf cutting activity may vary widely from year to year. Parasitic bees and wasps, velvet ants and certain blister beetles are among the most important enemies of leafcutter bees and other solitary bees. Alfalfa Leafcutter Bee-Megachile rotundata. This is a European bee that has been introduced to other regions . As a solitary bee species, it does not build colonies or store honey, but is a very efficient pollinator of alfalfa, carrots and some other vegetables. The importation of the species to North America was to assist in the pollination of food crops, and it has now widespread. The species is also found in Queensland, Australia, but not recorded in other states. The vernacular in Australia is Lucerne leafcutter bee. Female alfalfa leafcutter bees have stingers, but both sexes will use their mandibles as a defensive mechanism, usually only defending themselves when squeezed or antagonized. Therefore bee suits, such as those required with honey bees, are not really necessary when dealing with these bees. The ratio of males to females is generally one to one. Alfalfa Leaf Cutting Bee. Image Courtesy of USDA. This species of leafcutter bee is cultivated to pollinate alfalfa grown for seed, a function that it does far more efficiently than honeybees. These leafcutter bees are provided with predrilled "bee boards" that they use for nest construction. At the end of the season, the nest cells with developing bees are collected and carefully stored, to be released the subsequent season when alfalfa blooms. Figure 53. Alfalfa Leaf Cutting Bee Pollinating Alfalfa. Commercially produced bee blocks, consisting of a wood block drilled with a series of dead-end holes, are now widely available. These types of bee nests were initially developed in the 1960s by alfalfa seed producers in the western United States to attract and manage large numbers of the non-native alfalfa leafcutter bee (Megachile rotundata). Their sole purpose is to attract wild populations of these bees. Bee Block for Attracting Large Population of Alfalfa Leaf Cutting Bees. More recently they have been modified to manage the blue orchard bee (Osmia lignaria), a bee that is active only in the spring and will not pollinate later-flowering fruits and vegetables. Consequently, all of the nest tunnels are a uniform size and depth, which may be either too large or too small for many other species. Nest blocks with a greater diversity of hole sizes and depths are necessary to attract a variety of bees that are active throughout the year. Under the best circumstances these nests can attract large numbers of cavity-nesting bees and boost their local populations. However, because these nests concentrate bee populations in unnaturally large numbers in a small space, they can become infested with parasites and disease spores after several seasons. Without regular sanitation or the phasing out of nest materials, these parasites and diseases threaten long-term pollinator health wherever they are used. Because contaminated nest blocks left unattended in the landscape continue to attract wild bees from the surrounding area, they have the potential to do harm. Only with proper management can these nests maintain healthy bee populations indefinitely. Alfalfa flowers provide an example of native bee efficiency. The stamen (the structure holding the anthers) of alfalfa flowers is held under tension by two flower petals, and springs forward with force when released by a visiting bee. This triggering discourages many bees, including honey bees, which learn to avoid being hit by the stamen by approaching the flower from behind, where they can gather nectar but not pollen. The alkali bee (Nomia melanderi), a native ground-nesting megachilid bee, is not discouraged by this unusual flower structure and is a major pollinator of alfalfa seed in some western states. It has been used as an effective pollinator of alfalfa when grown for seed in the western United States. In this case large areas of barren soil are provided for the nesting of this bee, Mason Bees. These are a gentle beneficial insects that has potential as a pollinator of apples, cherries, and other tree fruits. It is found throughout most of North America, particularly in wooded areas but often around homes in towns and cities. Mason Bees. Image Courtesy of Exzellente Bilder. Homeowners sometimes become concerned when they see the bee entering cavities under shake siding or investigating nail holes or other cavities in wood during March through early June. These are not destructive insects, since they do not excavate holes in the wood, though they will clean out loose debris. No controls are recommended, since no damage is done. To prevent the bee from nesting, holes may be filled with caulking. The females use existing holes in wood for a nest. They choose holes slightly larger than their body, usually 1/4 to 3/8 inches in diameter. The bees first place a mud plug at the bottom of the hole, then brings in 15 to 20 loads of nectar and pollen which they collects from spring flowers, including apples and other fruits. If you watch the bees closely as they enter the nest, you can see the pollen on the underside of the abdomen. When the female has provided a sufficient supply of food for the larva, she lays an egg and then seals the cell with a thin mud plug. She then provisions another cell, and continues in this fashion until the hole is nearly full. Finally the bee plasters a thick mud plug at the entrance. Some wasps and leaf-cutter bees also build nests in such holes but their nests can be distinguished from the orchard mason bee nests by characteristics of the plug. The plug of the mason bee is always rough while the wasp prepares a smooth plug. Leaf-cutters seal the holes with chewed-up leaves. Mason Bee Egg in Pollen Mass. Image Courtesy of Red58bill The female mason bee lives for about a month and can produce one or two eggs each day. The larva hatches from the egg after a few days and begins to eat its provisions. When the pollen-nectar mass is completely eaten in about 10 days, the larva spins a cocoon and pupates within the cell. Near the end of the summer the bee transforms to the adult stage but remains in the cocoon throughout the winter. In the spring, when the weather has warmed up sufficiently, the males begin to emerge by chewing their way out of the cocoons and through the mud plugs. The females, which are almost always in the inner cells of the tunnel, emerge several days later. One or two weeks may be required for all the bees to emerge during cool weather. Females mate soon after emerging and begin nesting in 3 to 4 days. The bees forage on a number of different flowers. In wooded areas, they seem to prefer ballhead waterleaf. In urban areas, dandelion and Oregon grape are commonly visited, in addition to cherries and apples. The mason bee is non-aggressive and will sting only if handled roughly or if it should get trapped under clothing. It is less objectionable than the honey bee as a pollinator in urban areas and should be encouraged. Efforts are being made experimentally to develop large populations of these bees to use as a supplement to honey bees for fruit pollination, much as the alfalfa leaf cutting bee was developed for alfalfa seed pollination. Populations for pollinating around a home or commercial orchard can be developed by establishing trap nests to collect the bees. Trap nests can be made by drilling holes 1/4 to 3/8 inches in diameter and 3 to 6 inches deep in pine or fir 4x4's. A "brad-point bit" leaves a nice, smooth hole. (Figure 57) Alfalfa leaf cutting bee boards with hole diameters of at least 1/4 inch can also be used. These boards are then attached to a house or other structure where bees have been seen. Some protection from rain is desirable. Boards can also be placed on dead trees or posts in wooded areas near streams where there is a good supply of mud for nest construction and wild flowers on which to forage. Predrilled Drilled Block Infested with Mason Bees. Image Courtesy of Red 58bill. Boards should be positioned where they will receive morning sunlight and started in March before the bees begin nesting and remove them in early to mid-summer when nesting is completed. If the boards are stored outdoors over winter (under cover to protect them from rain and snow) the bees will usually emerge in March and April. They should forage for pollen during the period of cherry and apple bloom and afterwards, if sufficient other flowers are available to them. For large populations for orchard pollination, the nests should be under humid refrigeration at 35 to 40° F. This will permit control of emergence time and reduce predation and parasitism by the insect enemies of the bees. Do not place the nests in storage until September or October to assure complete development of the adults. The following spring, place the boards in the orchards in plywood shelters facing east to catch the morning sun. To hasten emergence, incubate the boards at room temperature for 24 hours before placing the bees in the orchard. The boards and some new nesting material should be in place a few days before apples begin to bloom, or earlier if other fruit bloom such as cherries, is available. Provide 500-1000 filled holes per acre. These should contain 750-1000 females, assuming an average of 1 1/2 females per hole. Males also visit flowers, but they do not live long and are not as effective as pollinators. Competing flowers such as dandelions should be mowed as soon as the fruit begins to bloom. Developing large populations of the bees may be a slow process under orchard conditions; the short duration of bloom does not allow the bees to accomplish maximum reproduction. The orchard mason bee also has a tendency to fly away rather than using or reusing nests in the near vicinity. However, relatively large populations have been developed in 2 or 3 years in urban situations. Once established, orchard bees will nest in containers filled with large-diameter drinking straws or paper tubes folded in half. Orchard Mason Bee, Osmia lignaria. This is a megachilid bee that as do other mason bee makes nests in reeds and natural holes, creating individual cells for their brood that are separated by mud dividers. They are unlike carpenter bees in that they cannot drill holes in wood. O. lignaria is a common species used for early spring fruit bloom in Japan, Canada, and the United States, though a number of species of other Osmia are also cultured for use in pollination. Orchard Mason Bee. Image Courtesy Red58bill. The bees begin to emerge from their cocoons in the spring when the daytime temperature reaches 14°C (57°F). The males emerge first. They remain near the nesting site and wait for the females to begin their emergence, which can be several days to weeks depending on the number of days of warm weather. The first thing the females do is mate. A female will typically mate once, maybe twice. She will be absent from the nesting site for several days while she feeds and waits for her ovaries to fully mature. When a female is ready, she seeks out a suitable nest. O. lignaria females like to nest in narrow holes or tubes, though they have been found to nest inside cedar shakes and even keyholes. Beekeepers put out pre-made nesting materials to entice the females to stay close to the orchard. Rain, wind, and free-release (the practice of putting loose cocoons out rather than letting them emerge in their natal nests) discourage females from selecting a nesting site near their natal nest. A female might inspect several potential nests before settling in. Once she has found the right nest, she flies outside of the hole and does an in-flight dance. She is orienting on major visual features in order to find her nest when she returns from foraging. O. lignaria arrange their nest as a series of partitions, with one egg per partition. She begins the process by collecting mud and building the back wall of the first partition. Then she makes trips to nearby flowers. Unlike honey bees which visit flowers that are miles away, she prefers flowers that are nearest the nest. She can visit 75 flowers per trip, and it takes 25 trips to create a complete pollen/nectar provision. She works tirelessly during the day, only stopping once the sun has gone down. When the sun rises the next morning, she will bask in its rays until she is warm enough to fly. Then she continues where ever she left off the day before. Once the provision is complete, she backs into the hole and lays an egg on top of it. She collects more mud to seal off the partition. The new wall also doubles as the back wall of the next cell. She continues until she has filled the nest hole. O. lignara, like many insects, can select the gender of the egg they lay by fertilizing the egg, or not. Unfertilized eggs are males, while fertilized eggs are females. The adult bee lays female eggs in the back of the burrow, and the male eggs towards the front. She lays about three males to every nest hole depending on depth. When the egg hatches, the larva consumes the food provision as it goes through many changes on its way to becoming an adult. It will spend most of its life alone in this dark cell made by its mother. Once the female has finished the nest, she plugs the entrance with one thick mud wall. Then she seeks out another location for a new nest. She works tirelessly until she dies. An O. lignaria female lives for about four to eight weeks and she can complete an average of four 6-inch tubes in her lifetime, with about eight eggs per tube. That's nearly 60,000 blossom visits per female. Because of this farmers have cultivated the insect for pollination purposes in fruit orchards. By the early summer, a larva has consumed all of its provisions and begins spinning a cocoon around itself and enters the pupal stage; the adult females die off as the season progresses. The young bee is now a fully developed insect and diapauses inside its cocoon for the duration of the winter. They burn through their fat reserves to stay warm. If it stays cold for too long, the bees can die of starvation. Alternatively, if the temperature rises too fast, they may emerge before the blossom. Farmers are known to exploit their emergence cycle and time their release to coincide with the first orchard blossoms. Commercial Availability. Recently, many people have become interested in the blue orchard bee (Osmia lignaria), also called the orchard mason bee, as a garden and orchard pollinator. Many thousands of mason bee nesting blocks are sold each year in the United States, along with hundreds of thousands of blue orchard bees. This interest has greatly raised public awareness about the importance of pollinators; however, it is important to remember that raising large numbers of a single species (bee-ranching) is a different objective than the conservation of diverse species of wild pollinators. As mason beekeeping has increased in popularity, important questions are being asked about the risks associated with the nationwide shipment of blue orchard bees by commercial producers. In fact, there are two distinct subspecies of the blue orchard bee: Osmia lignaria propinqua in western North America and Osmia lignaria lignaria in the east. The species is rare in the Great Plains region, although some intermediate specimens have been collected. Most commercial producers of the blue orchard bee are located in the Pacific Northwest, where they rear the locally native western subspecies . Unfortunately, the bees these producers raise are then marketed nationwide, resulting in the frequent shipment of locally non-native bees to the eastern United States. The potential ecological consequences of the western blue orchard bee hybridizing with its eastern subspecies are unknown. Similarly, these shipments have the potential to introduce locally non-native parasites and diseases. For the consumer, there is another significant drawback. The western bees may not develop in sync with local conditions, resulting in poor establishment and poor performance as pollinators. The net result is that people purchasing blue orchard bees over the Internet or through garden catalogs may be doing more to harm their local pollinator populations than to help them – and not be getting the pollination they paid for. This is a family of bees that are often referred to collectively as plasterer bees, due to the method of smoothing the walls of their nest cells with secretions applied with their mouthparts; these secretions dry into a cellophane-like lining. This allows the bees to nest in periodically flooded areas such as stream banks. There are over 2000species, all of them evidently solitary, though many nest in aggregations. Bees in this are highly varied in appearance and have few common features. One feature consistent to all colletid bees is that their tongue has a branched tip (Figure 59) . The two genera most frequently seen are Colletes and Hylaeus. Two of the subfamilies, Euryglossinae and Hylaeinae, lack the external pollen-carrying apparatus (the scopa) that otherwise characterizes most bees, and instead carry the pollen in their crop (enlarged portion of the foregut). These groups, and in fact most genera in this family have liquid or semi-liquid pollen masses on which the larvae develop. Colletid Bee. Image Courtesy of Michael Becker. They can be found all over the world, but the most species live in South America and Australia. Over 50% of all bee species living in Australia belong to this family. Only the genera Colletes and Hylaeuscan be found in Europe, while in North America there are, in addition to these two, the genera Caupolicana, Eulonchopria, and Ptiloglossa. Ants are among the most highly evolved of insects. The variety of lifestyles displayed by ants is amazing--perhaps because so many of their social behaviors seemingly parallel our own. All living ant species have a caste system. The main castes consist of kings, queens and workers. The kings are winged reproductive males that contribute absolutely nothing to the labor of the colony. The winged females swarm with the males, similarly to the behavior previously discussed with termites. Eventually they will become the queens of new colonies. During the establishment of a new colony, the new queen initially performs all the work tasks; but once her first brood of worker larvae is reared to adulthood, her sole duty is to lay eggs. Unlike termites, ant colonies may have many queens, in some cases, hundreds. Workers are sterile females and can be both the laborers and defenders of the colony. In most ant species there can be sub-castes of the workers, namely majors, media and minors. Relative head and overall body size distinguish subcastes. The majors are the largest of the three and possess a disproportionately large head and mandibles. The function of the soldiers is to protect the ant colonies. The media and minor workers are the most common individuals in an ant colony and perform the majority of the work duties. Minor worker ants also perform a variety of functions depending on the species of ant. Ant Wars, Competition and Survival. Ants are amongst the most aggressive and war-like of all animals. If ants had a policy of life it could be summarized as restless aggression, territorial conquest, and total annihilation of neighboring colonies. These insects use any of a number of strategies and weapons to reach these ultimate goals. Chemical warfare is prevalent amongst many species including spraying a variety of toxic chemicals in order to repel, confuse, immobilize or even kill their rivals. The soldiers of many species readily assume a kamikaze role in order to “win skirmishes” between rival colonies. One of the most dramatic of these sacrifices is exhibited by a carpenter ant from SE Asia. These ants act as walking bombs. There is a huge internal gland that occupies much of their body that is filled with toxic chemicals. If one of these ants is hard pressed by a rival ant or predator it contract some large abdominal muscles that bursts open the abdomen violently (like a bomb) releasing the chemicals. The availability or more significantly the limited availability of food frequently is important in colony survival. As a consequence rival colonies frequently develop strategies to maximize their collection of available food. There is a tiny fast moving ant in the deserts of Arizona that utilizes toxic secretions to intimidate and confuse much large honey ants (10 time their size) as they steal food from the larger ant colonies. In addition these tiny ants will frequently prevent honey ants from leaving their nests by releasing toxic chemical down the hole or nest entrance thus driving the former below ground. This of course allows the smaller species to forage without competition from the honey ants. Another form of nest entrance blocking is exhibited by a small ant species in the southwestern deserts. In this case they gather in mass around the nest entrance of their rivals and similarly release toxic chemicals down the entrance. However in addition they pick up pebbles, twigs and other small objects and drop them down the vertical shaft entrance. Possibly the most elaborate of all documented aggressive strategies in social insects occurs in battles between the tiny woodland ant and the imported fire ant. The fire ants are deadly enemies of the woodland ants with colonies 100 times larger than their tiny rivals. Even though fire ants are much more powerful than the woodland ants both successfully survive in the same area. The secret of woodland ant survival evolves around a specialized soldier (major) and a three-stage strategy to defend against fire ant attack. These soldiers are equipped with huge heads that are equipped with large sharp jaws provided with massive muscles. These do not attempt to sting or spray their enemy with poisons (common in many ants) but quite precisely use their mandible to snip off legs, heads and other body parts. Unless attacked the majors remain in the colony. However, the minors regularly forage for food but are always on the alert for scout fire ants that are looking for colonies to raid. If a woodland ant minor encounters a fire ant soldier close to its colony a violent response is triggered. Once detected the minor rushes to the fire ant in a mock attack but merely touches the potential invader in order to acquire some of its odor. She then quickly retreats toward her nest. As she retreats she lays a pheromone trail by periodically touching her abdomen to the ground. On her way back she briefly rushes up to any other minor alerting them to the presence of the fire ant scout. Once in the nest soldiers plus many of the minors are alerted to the presence of the invader scout (by its smell on the minor worker) they subsequently rush in mass along the already establish pheromone trail leading to the enemy. Once found the soldier surrounds the fire ant and attack relentlessly and are fully capable of destroying it due to their great superiority in numbers. Of course the whole purpose is to kill the fire ant scout before it can alert other fire ants in the area as to the presence of a woodland ant colony. Once accomplished the soldiers search the general area for any other fire ant scouts. If fire ants mount a full scale attack of a woodland ant colony, the defenders have an alternate strategy. As fire ants arrive in full force the entire force of woodland soldier ants are sent into the battle. Soon the battle ground is littered with the bodies of the smaller species plus a multitude of legs and other body parts of the fire ants. As the battle continues any woodland ant minors still present retreat to the nest. As more and more fire ants arrive and the woodland ant soldiers are greatly out-numbered they retreat, close ranks to form a dense protective perimeter around their colony entrance. With the impending doom that the fire ants will soon break through the protective barrier and ravage, steal and consume the woodland ant’s eggs, larvae and pupae the activity of the minors in the colonies is frantic but well programs. They gather the young in their mandibles and sprint out though the colony entrance, through the battle field and beyond to safety. The woodland ant soldiers remain true to their programmed behavior and fight to the death. Once the fire ants leave the now ravaged colony the minors return with their cargo of eggs, larvae and pupae and reestablish colony life. Over time new soldiers develop in the colony preparing for the possibility of another raid. Such is the life of ants! Some ants survive by controlling the environment in which they live. In the Amazon rain forests there is a tremendous diversity of vegetation. If you walk through the forest no plant typically dominates and you may not see any two plants of the same species within hundreds of yards. One notable exception is the Cordia tree. On occasion you will find a large stands of these trees with no other plants in the vicinity. In addition these stands are typically encircled by large barren strips of land. The reason for this phenomenon is the presence of a small ant species that lives within the stems of these trees. They are very protective killing any plant feeding insects. They will also swarm on and attack any larger animal venturing into the stand. In addition any other species of plants that germinates with in the stand quickly shrivels and dies due to the ants stinging and injecting venom into the terminal buds. As might be expected the barren areas surrounding the stand of trees is similarly cleared by the stinging of these ants. Of course the ants benefit from this symbiotic relationship since they are provided by a safe bountiful location for their nests. And of course the trees benefit as they are provided with an endless competitively free environment in which to expand their growth. People living in the rain forest refer to the barren areas as the “devil’s garden” and refrain from planting crops there. Honey Ants. Ants vary tremendously as to their food preferences, size and colony locations. The honey ants are among some of the more interesting species. Normally they live in arid desert regions of the world; their primary diet is honeydew, which they collect from aphids and other homopterans. In such dry areas, honeydew-producing insects are common during the rainy season only when host plants prevail. Because in most areas this season only lasts a few months, honey ants have developed a means of ‘storing’ honeydew from season to season. A special form of worker called the replete, or reservoir ant, accomplishes this. These repletes are fed huge amounts of honeydew; consequently, their abdomens stretch to many times the normal size. Once fed, reservoir ants remain inactive and store honeydew for many months. In many areas of the world, reservoir honey ants are human’s food—they are collected and their abdomens are bitten off. The stored honeydew gives them a candy-like taste. Honey Ants-Myrmecocystus Spp.. Worker media and replete castes of honey ants. Image courtesy Greg Hume at Wikepedia. Colonies of these amazing insects develop specialized workers, called repletes or honeypots, with tremendously swollen abdomens for nectar storage. Some repletes also hoard water, fats and body fluid from insect prey. The repletes ingorge on food that is collected outside the nest and brought to them by normally-proportioned worker ants. Deep in underground chambers, the repletes hang quietly in clusters, literally imprisoned by their abdomens ballooned to the size of small grapes (Figure )! Worldwide there are several very different kinds of ants that exhibit extreme repletism; all are properly called honey ants. One outstanding group; the genus Myrmecocystus, occurs exclusively in western North America. Myrmecocystus contains a diverse ensemblage of at least 28 closely related species, many of which are broadly distributed. It follows that these honey ants are very common insects. Most human residents or visitors to the American Southwest have probably strolled atop a honey ant nest completely unaware of the treasure trove hidden below. But those lucky enough to view repletes first hand can't help but want to find out more about these astonishing creatures. Honey ants are highly social insects. They live in efficiently organized colonies or groups of cooperating individuals. Their societies are matriarchal or female-dominated families. A typical honey ant colony contains a single fertile queen and thousands of sterile female workers. The queen is the mother of the colony and is specialized for egg production, while the workers, the queen's daughters and hence all sisters, are responsible for colony labor. Worker honey ants are polymorphic, meaning that they come in different sizes, ranging ten-fold or more in body weight. This variation, in turn, permits more effective task specialization. For example, the smallest workers, called minims, tend to remain in the nest as nursemaids caring for the queen, the developing brood (eggs, larvae and pupae) and the repletes. Medium and larger size workers are more apt to be involved with nest excavation, food acquisition and colony defense. The largest workers, called majors, are the individuals most likely to develop into repletes. Honey ant colonies are coordinated largely by pheromones, glandular secretions produced by the ants that function as chemical signals. Pheromones regulate complex social behavior and broadly serve to identify colony members, recruit nestmates to food sources, and elicit alarm and defensive behaviors. For example, honey ant workers instantly distinguish nestmates from intruders based on their smell (colony odor); the former might be groomed and offered food while the latter would be attacked and killed or driven from the nest. Honey ant societies may also contain numerous non-working reproductive forms, or winged males and virgin queens. Winged forms, called alates, are produced when colony populations reach an optimal size and become reproductively mature. Then, a portion of the brood raised each year is converted into individuals designed to mate, disperse and start new colonies. Mating flights typically are nocturnal or crepuscular, and generally occur only once a year following the first heavy precipitation of the summer rainy season. The reproductive forms pour out of the nest and swarm into the air, mating on the fly. Young queens take only one mating flight; they store viable sperm long-term in a special organ, called a spermatheca, which is then used for fertilizing eggs throughout the remainder of their lives. The males, their primary function completed, die shortly after mating. The inseminated queens drop to the ground, twist off their now useless wings, and scamper across the surface of the warm wet ground, looking for a place to burrow. The vast majority of the queens fall victim to a barrage of predators including birds, lizards, spiders and especially, other ants. Surviving queens must be well below ground before the rising sun relentlessly dries and bakes the surface. The queens seal themselves inside humid, subterranean cavities and do not forage; rather, they rear their first brood of tiny workers, called nanitics, relying solely on their stored fat reserves and metabolized flight muscles. Colony growth is slow at first, but soon rapidly accelerates as additional ants are added to the worker force. Honey ant nests almost always have only a single surface opening surrounded by a small accumulation of excavated substrate. Each species has a characteristic nest entrance. For example, M. mimicus builds a low sandy mound while M. mexicanus constructs a turret of coarse gravel. Nest openings of the latter species are very distinctive and not easily confused with those built by other kinds of ants in the area. The amount of soil surrounding a honey ant nest entrance is deceptively small, for the nest tunnels and chambers frequently extend deep into the ground, often reaching several yards or more below the surface. Nests of M. mexicanus have been studied in detail and have a surprisingly distinct and seemingly adaptive architecture. The nests typically are built in hard rocky soil, and consist of a subsurface labyrinth of tunnels and a vertical array of small domed chambers interconnected by one narrow vertical passageway. The maze of tunnels just below the surface probably serves as a staging area for foraging parties and mating flights and as a site for brood incubation. The lower chambers, deep enough to be within the level of permanent soil moisture, house the queen, much of the worker population and the majority of repletes. The lone interconnecting passage probably makes individual nest chambers easier to defend or seal off from enemy invaders. Honey ants are generalized scavengers and predators. Sugary carbohydrates are needed for energy. The ants visit flowers and extrafloral nectaries for the sweet rewards, and "milk" homopterans like aphids and scale insects for their sugary exudations called honeydew. Once engorged with liquid sugar, workers return to their nest to share with other colony members. Protein sources also are necessary, particularly for the growing larvae. Foraging honey ants search for live or recently dead invertebrates, predominantly arthropods; small soft-bodied insects like termites and caterpillars are especially fair game. Individual workers head homeward with pieces of food clasped within their mandibles, while groups of workers may cooperate when retrieving large or struggling prey items. Like all formicine ants, honey ants lack stingers: rather, they spray fine droplets of formic acid from their abdominal tip. The caustic acid is used, along with pinching mandibles, to help subdue uncooperative prey or to deter colony enemies. Grappling with prey or facing off against their foes, attacking honey ants spread and brace their legs, rapidly curl their abdomens underneath pointing forward, aim and fire. Their chemical weaponry is most effective against small targets; it is useful against mammals or other large animals only if sprayed into highly sensitive tissues like eyes or nostrils. Given an abundance of sweet repletes, it is not surprising that badgers and other desert creatures sometimes burrow into and plunder honey ant nests. Even some honey ant colonies will raid one another, stealing not only repletes but also brood, that when mature, is "enslaved" as part of the pirating colony's worker force. As recently as early this century, various Native American tribes and Mexicans regularly excavated honey ant colonies to obtain the savory morsels stockpiled therein. Sweet-toothed human predators typically hold a replete's head and thorax with the fingers, bite off or rupture the fragile abdomen, then suck its contents into the mouth. The so-called "honey" tastes somewhat like molasses, while the ants' bodies, being bitter, are discarded. Perhaps fortunately for honey ants, this practice seems to have fallen by the wayside due to the advent of commercially available candies. These not only taste better but are much less work to procure. Many social insects, notably honey bees and some wasps, collect and store liquid sweets for later use. However, these insects stow their food within the confines of their nest combs. Honey ants are unique in using their own bodies as living storage vessels. But why develop repletes? In arid regions, food and water usually are obtainable only for very limited periods. But when available, as during the brief summer rainy or growing season, these resources are present in overwhelming abundance. Under favorable conditions, surplus food gathered by the colony is fed to the repletes for long-term storage. Then, in times of need, the food is regurgitated back to colony members. While the formation of food-storing repletes seems remarkable, it is merely an exaggerated form of typical ant behavior. Most ants possess expandable abdominal crops (stomachs) for temporarily carrying liquid food back to the nest. When solicited by a hungry nestmate, they regurgitate this liquid and offer a small droplet held between their mandibles. Close observation will reveal that the donor ant's abdomen shrinks as the recipient's abdomen expands. Thus, the crop serves as a "communal stomach" and repletism simply as extreme development of this expandable organ. In the presence of excess food, repletes can develop from any newly emerged worker, apparently before its exoskeleton and intersegmental membranes harden and become less flexible. In young colonies, it is not uncommon to find small workers serving as somewhat ineffective repletes, with their tiny abdomens distended to the bursting point. However, on an individual basis, major workers make the most efficient honeypots. Hundreds to a thousand or more large repletes can be found in mature honey ant colonies, each patiently hanging and waiting to serve up dinner when called upon by its nestmates. Argentine Ant. Linepithema humile. Argentine Ant tending soft scale for honeydew. Image courtesy Penarc. Identification. The Argentine ant is a one node, small, shiny, brown ant with only one size of worker. Workers are usually about 1/12 to 1/8 inch long. The queen ants are much larger, sometimes reaching 1/4 inch in length. They nest outdoors under logs, concrete slabs, debris and mulch. Argentine ants build very large colonies and can move rapidly. During winter months, this ant will move indoors. Biology. This ant is successful and hard to control because: · Different Argentine ant colonies in a same general locale are not enemies. Even the many queens in a single colony or separate colonies are friendly to each other. · Argentine ants are not too "picky" when choosing a suitable site to infest or colonize. They readily (as you will read about in move their nests during the changing seasons and other conditions. · These pests are omnivorous; they seem to never be in short supply of food. · Each colony of Argentine ants contains a multitude of workers. · Each worker is more courageous and harder worker than most ants. Creatures that attempt to prey on Argentine ants are confronted with an army of stubborn bugs that never runs from a fight! · The queens of most ant species are usually egg-laying machines. The queen ant of Argentines actually helps in the care, grooming and feeding of her young. · Most species of ants mate and reproduce by swarming; the Argentine mates in the colony, unexposed to the perils of birds, frogs, lizards, predator insects and extreme weather conditions. A swarmer reproductive (as seen with fireants and carpenter ants) has about 1 chance in 1,000 of surviving and successfully reproducing. The Argentine ant queen always succeeds! Distribution. Originating from Northern Argentina near the Paraná River and surrounding regions, the Argentine ant now occurs in most regions with Mediterranean climates or with mild winters and moderate to high humidity. Argentine ants are established in at least 15 countries on six continents and many oceanic islands, including New Zealand, Japan, and Hawaii. The global distribution of Argentine ants continues to expand. Humans have been the primary factor in their spread, however, this ant can also disperse into new areas without human influence. The Argentine ant is widely distributed in California, with highest abundance in coastal areas, along rivers, and in urban settings. It was discovered by scientists two years ago that native Argentine ant (in Argentina)colonies living in close proximity were territorial and aggressive toward one another, literally tearing one another apart whenever they came into contact. The puzzling question to the researchers was, Why weren’t the introduced ants in California the same way? Why would an Argentine ant from San Diego dropped into a colony in San Francisco be welcomed, while an Argentine ant dropped into a colony two hundred meters away in its native country be torn apart? In search to the answer to that question the genetic differences among the ants in Argentina were compared with those in various parts of California, from San Diego to Ukiah. Using some of the same DNA fingerprinting techniques employed by criminologists, it was discovered that the native Argentine ants were twice as diverse as the native California ants, explaining why the California ants regard individuals up and down the coast as close kin, while those different nearby colonies in Argentina do not. They have an innate ability to recognize other members of their colony based on how genetically similar they are to themselves. Basically the genes are similar among California ants because they are descended from a relatively small founding population In essence, the super colony that we see in California is in fact one big colony. Damage. Because it does not sting or bite the Argentine ant is not a direct threat to humans, unlike harvester ants or fire ants. However since there is little competition between opposing colonies of this species (one giant colony) this ant is the dominant species in areas where it becomes establish. It is very aggressive toward other species of ants and tends to out competes and replace other ants that are found in their same general area. As a result the Argentine ant is by a long way the major nuisance pest in urban areas, especially because of the availability of water. This ant exists in back yards at high densities associated with landscape features that provide favorable microclimates, such as potted plants and walkway bricks or stones. They enter homes through cracks and other spaces, in search of food or water. Argentine ants are also an economic threat because of their potential to tend plant pest insects, such as mealybugs, scales, and aphids. In return for sweet honeydew secretions from these plant feeding insects, ants provide protection from natural enemies. Argentine ants may even move pests to better food sources or more favorable microclimates to maximize honeydew production. This mutualism can compromise management of pest insects by otherwise effective natural enemies, through removal or intimidation of predators and parasitoid wasps, leading to higher pest densities and greater plant damage than would occur in the absence of Argentine ants. For example, parasitism rates of an important citrus pest, the California red scale (Aonidiella auranti), were reduced two- to five-fold in the presence of Argentine ants. Control. There are no known specific enemies of the Argentine ant. Therefore control is primarily via chemical and cultural means. Broadcast spraying of insecticides is of limited value because a substantial portion of Argentine ant colonies exist below ground where insecticides are unable to penetrate. Poison bait stations have proven effective at controlling Argentine ants in vineyards, though prolonged deployment may be required for natural enemy-mediated reductions on honeydew producing pests to become apparent. Control in homes and yards include sanitation (e.g. removal of food scraps), closing points of entry to homes, and removing landscaping features that promote favorable microclimates - especially excess water sources. Leaf-cutting Ants. These are commonly found in many New World tropical areas. In such areas, columns of these ants frequently can be seen crawling up the trunks of trees and cutting small discs from the leaves. In some areas these insects are so common that they become major agricultural pests. Leaf cutting ants carrying leaf discs. Some of these ants exhibit polymorphism (different form within a caste –in this case the workers) to an extreme. There are 4 different forms within the worker caste, namely the minima, minors, media and maxima. The minima are the smallest form of the adults and function to care for the brood (larvae and pupae) and fungal gardens. Media workers forage for and carry the leaf discs deep into their nests, where they are licked, cut into smaller pieces, dampened with an anal secretion and finally formed into a bed of moist pulp. The newly formed beds are then planted with fungi from established beds. As the fungus grows, it is harvested and fed to the larvae. Most leaf cutting ants are quite particular and typically cultivate and harvest only one species of fungus. Media workers continuously ‘weed out’ any alien species of fungi that infest their gardens. It is believed that a few species actually produce fungicidal substances from their salivary glands, which chemically aid in the weeding process. In some species, when the swarming queens leave the colony, they carry the strands of fungi with them in pouches below their heads. Once new colonies are begun, the strands are ‘planted’ to assure a new garden of the correct species of fungi. The maxima are the largest of the forms with enlarged heads and protruding mandible. These of course are the soldiers of the colony and function to protect the colony against intruders. In a few species of leaf-cutting ants, the minor caste performs a rather specialized function. These smaller workers frequently accompany the larger foraging leaf-gatherers; they do not assist in leaf cutting; but ride back to the nest either on the leaf portion or on the thorax of the media. Their sole function is to protect the media by snapping their mandibles at a species of parasitic fly that attempts to lay eggs on the media’s head. Carpenter Ants. On occasion, carpenter ants are confused with termites by the homeowner. These two are easily distinguished by any of a number of characteristics. As in all ants, the abdomen is connected to the thorax by a narrow waist, or petiole, while the abdomen of a termite is broadly joined to the thorax. Also, in the winged forms, a termite’s wings extend far beyond the tip of the abdomen and their front and hind wings are of equal size and shape. In winged ants, the hind wings are much smaller than the front wings and both rarely extend beyond the tip of the abdomen. Many carpenter ants are large and typically black in color. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat wood and rarely cause damage to structures. In California, their nests may occur inside the wooden parts of homes, but in such cases they usually have occupied abandoned drywood termite nests. Carpenter ants eat a variety of things, including other insects. A common carpenter ant. Army Ants. The most spectacular and well-known ants are the legionary, or army, ants of the humid tropical forests. These ants do not construct nests, but form temporary clusters called bivouacs in the shelter of fallen trees or in other partially exposed situations. The workers form a solid mass up to a yard wide, which consists of layer after layer of individuals hooked together by their tarsal claws. The queen, larvae, pupae, and eggs are located in the center of this mass. An army ant, not considered as dangerous to humans as commonly believed. The night is passed in a tight cluster, but at the first sign of light the cluster dissipates and hoards of workers fan out from the bivouac in all directions. Soon, one or more columns form and begin to search for food. The workers lay down a pheromone trail for others to follow while the soldiers guard the perimeter of the trail. Workers form numerous columns; changing positions behind the advancing hoards of ants—flushing out large numbers of prey (arthropods, small reptiles and rodents). The prey is stung, killed and transported to the rear as food for the larvae. At the end of the day the cluster is reformed. When the food supply is depleted around the area of the bivouac, the colony relocates. Some colonies of army ants may number as high as one million individuals. Because of the spectacular size of their colonies and ‘raiding’ nature of these insects, they have been used repeatedly by the motion picture industry. Actually army ants pose no threat to humans or other large animals. The authors recently had the opportunity to observe army ant behavior in Costa Rica. One morning we were walking down a dirt road with several students collecting insects. Collecting was not that good but suddenly hoards of insects, spiders and even a few scorpions and lizards started pouring out from the underbrush across the road we were on. After a few moments of excellent collecting, we decided to investigate the reason for this windfall. And, as you might suspect, there was a column of army ants moving through a gully to the side of the road. Of course all the animals in its path were attempting to flee. On the following evening a column of army ants raided the students' cabin. The students were not awakened, but the following morning they were very disappointed to see that the army ants had stolen most of the several thousand insects they had collected and mounted on pins over the past week. Shortly thereafter, I decided to test the reports that army ants pose no threat to humans. There was a column moving through our pension grounds--so I placed my foot directly in their path. They merely ignored this obstacle and marched over and around it. While the army ants are primarily found in the New World tropics the driver ants are found in the tropics of Africa. Both types are very similar as far as their behavior and biology is concerned. One distinct difference is that while large colonies of army ants may number one million colonies of driver ants can reach 200 million. With such huge numbers they present more of a threat to humans and other animals. There have been human deaths recorded from the raids of these critters (mostly infants). In these cases death has typically occurred from suffocation as a result of the ants entering and filling the lungs. The mating behavior of these ants is especially strange. The males are to drawn to the foraging columns supposedly looking for a mate. Instead of finding a queen the sterile workers quickly swarm the males and immediately tear their wings off. Then they carry them off and basically imprison them until a potential new queen is available. Bullet Ants. This ant is primarily found in rainforests ranging from Nicaragua to Paraguay and Australia. This huge (1 inch) beast is called the bullet ant because its sting feels like being shot by a bullet. On the Schmidt Sting Index bullet ants rate as the number one most painful sting found in the arthropods. When defending their nest they swarm out, release a strong odor and stridulate an audible sound (said to sound like a shriek) and then grab and impale their intruder. In Central-South America they are referred to as the 24-hour ant, referring to the pain described as “of burning, throbbing, all consuming pain” that may last a day or more. A one-inch Costa Rican bullet ant. As with many other arthropods bullet ants play a ceremonial role in some tribes of the rainforests. The Satere-Mawe people of Brazil use this ant in the right of passage of boys into manhood. In this case live bullet ants are woven into a sleeve made of leaves with the stingers pointing inward. Once the sleeve is place on the arm the goal is to leave it on for 10 minutes without crying due to the stings. When finished the boys arms are temporarily paralyzed and they may shake uncontrollably for days. To fully complete the initiation, however, the boys must go through this ordeal a total of 20 times over a several month period or years. Harvester Ants. These (Pogonomyrmex spp.) are commonly thought as the large red or black ants that form rather large nests in open fields, schoolyards, along railroad tracks, alleys or other similar situations. Of the 23 species that occur in the United States 22 occur west of the Mississippi River. Beside their large size and color these ants can be distinguished by fringes of long curved hairs on the back, underside margin of the head. These hairs are used to clean the ant’s antennae and legs, carry water and remove sand during excavation of their nests. The nests are typically quite large consisting of one or more holes surrounded by a low flat crater (up to 8 inches across). This crater in turn is surrounded by a rather large vegetation free area A black harvester ant. Harvester ants feed primarily on seed. In agricultural areas they are considered beneficial as they remove weed seeds from crops. The main reason they are found along railroad tracks is due the grain that is lost during transportation. Harvester ants readily sting but typically are not aggressive unless defending the nest. If disturbed they will swarm from the nest and readily sting. Their venom is extremely powerful resulting in considerable pain that may last for several days. Harvester ant venom is the most toxic venom found in arthropods although there is considerably less than in black widows and consequently the sting of the ant is much less dangerous than the bite of the spider. Fire Ants. There are many species of fire ants in the United States, but the most serious pests are 4 in the genus Solenopsis: the red imported fire ant, the black imported fire ant, the southern fire ant, and the fire ant. Distinguishing between imported and native species of fire ants is difficult, even for experts. Identification usually requires 40 or more randomly collected worker ants for study. Black Imported Fire Ant. The black imported fire ant, Solenopsis richteri, is very similar to the red imported fire ant. Its current distribution is limited to a small area of northern Mississippi and Alabama. It may be displaced from established habitats by the red fire ant. Scientists have long thought that the black and red fire ants were 2 distinct species. Recently it has been discovered that hybrids of these ants produce viable offspring, and some scientists now wonder whether they are simply 2 races of the same species, varying in color and perhaps behavior. Southern Fire Ant. The southern fire ant, Solenopsis xyloni, is a native species that occurs from North Carolina south to northern Florida, along the Gulf Coast and west to California. In California it occurs in the lower altitudes from Southern California up through Sacramento but is seldom found along the coast in central to northern California. This is probably our most common native species of ant but its distribution is greatly retarded when the Argentine ant is present. However in areas where the Argentine ant is controlled, populations of this species rapidly return. Colonies may be observed as mounds or more commonly may be constructed under the cover of stones, boards, and other objects or at the base of plants. These ants also nest in wood or the masonry of houses, especially around heat sources such as fireplaces. Nests often consist of loose soil with many craters scattered over 2 to 4 square feet. In dry areas nests may be along streams, arroyos, and other shaded locations where soil moisture is high. Southern fire ants usually swarm in late spring or summer. The workers are very sensitive to vibrations or jarring. If their nest is stepped on they will rush out and sting the feet and legs of the intruder. Individual reaction to their venom is quite variable depending on allergic reaction. There is a least one case of a human infant death due to mass stinging of this species. This species is practically omnivorous feeding on a variety of materials including honeydew, meat, seeds, fruit, nuts, cereal and cereal products, grease and butter and dead and living insects. It can be quite detrimental to agriculture foraging for seeds from seed beds, girdling nursery stock, and consuming fruits and vegetables. In addition these ants will remove insulation from wiring and occasionally gnaws on a variety of fabrics. Fire Ant. The fire ant, Solenopsis geminata, is a native species sometimes called the tropical fire ant. It ranges from South Carolina to Florida and west to Texas. It is very similar to the southern fire ant except its head is much larger and the petiole node is higher and narrower. This species usually nests in mounds constructed around clumps of vegetation, but may also nest under objects or in rotting wood. Red Imported Fire Ant. The red and black imported fire ants were first reported in the United States in 1929. It is thought that they came to the port in some soil used as ballast in the bottom of a cargo ship. Since this introduction the black fire ant has not spread as rapidly as the red imported species. By 1953 (first official USDA survey) the red imported fire ant had spread to over 100 counties in 10 states. Today it is prevalent throughout the southeastern US and has moved into Texas, New Mexico. Arizona and California. Natural movement of fire ants is limited to mating flight or by rafting during period of flooding. However, the rapid movement of these species across the South and westward is mainly associated with human activity. In this case the initial spread of these ants in the southeastern US was thought to be due to movement of sod and potted ornamental plants. This inadvertent movement of S. invicta and S. richteri was noted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1953 when a direct link was established between commercial plant nurseries and the spread of imported fire ants. In response to mounting public pressure, the U.S. Congress appropriated $2.4 million in 1957 for control and eradication efforts. As part of an overall plan quarantine was imposed to retard or prevent the artificial dissemination of these now notorious pests. On May 6th 1958, regulations governing the movement of nursery stock, grass sod and some other items were instituted through the Federal Quarantine 301.81. By that time, however, imported fire ants had moved into 8 southern states. This spread, although slowed considerably by federal regulations and climatic conditions, continues even today. In recent years, isolated infestations of imported fire ants have been found as far west as New Mexico, Arizona California and as far north as Kansas and Maryland. In the case of California it is thought that the spread of these ants into this state was due to movement of bee hives as most initial infestations were found in around orchards and other situations where bees were moved into these areas for crop pollination. Based on USDA prediction these ants have a potential of even expanding the spread throughout much of the United States. Current and potential distribution of imported red fire ant. Image courtesy of USDA. Adult fire ants (Genus Solenopisis) are characterized by the presence of a ten-segmented antennae, two-segmented antennal club and two-segmented waste that joins the thorax to the abdomen which is typically darker than the rest of the body. Species identification is somewhat more difficult due to hybridization between the 2 "native" species as well as between the 2 imported species. Diagram of diagnostic characteristics of red imported fire ant. A mature colony of fire ants typically consists of 4 main stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adults. Since these are true social insect there is a caste system with different shaped and sized adults that carry out different function within the colony. These adult forms include the polymorphic workers, winged males, winged females and one or more reproductive queens. The egg, larval, and pupal stages (Figure 3) occur within the underground nest and are only seen when nests are disturbed or when they are being carried to a different location by workers (Figure 4). The eggs are small but can be seen with the unaided eye. They hatch into the grub-like legless larvae that are fed by the workers. Ant larvae in general are legless, carrot shaped with a well-developed unpigmented head capsule and are typically hooked at the head end. The larvae will grow and molt (shed their exoskeleton) 3 times prior to molting into the pupae, which are similar in appearance to the adults except that their legs and antennae are held tightly against the body. As with the larvae the pupae lack pigmentation, especially in the early instars. As they mature they begin to turn darker. As discussed in honeybees, the function of the polymorphic workers is determined primarily by age (and to a much lesser degree by size). Younger workers typically care for and feed the brood while middle-aged workers maintain and protect the colony. The oldest workers forage for food. Figure 3. Egg, larval and pupal stage of fire ants. Image courtesy of USDA Archives. Figure 4. Worker fire ants carrying larva for relocation. Image courtesy of USDA, Calif. Dept Agriculture. The alates, or winged reproductives (Figure 5), are most abundant in the late spring and early summer, but can be found at any time of the year. The males are decidedly smaller than the females, glossy black and have a smaller head. Although both winged males and females can be found in the same colony, as a general rule one form will be dominant. It is possible that this functions to increase the chances of one sex mating with another from a different colony. Most colonies in a given area typically swarm on nuptial flights at the same time. This benefits the species and insures mixing of the gene pool. It is well-documented that inbreeding is generally detrimental to a given species. Figure 5. A winged reproductive of the red imported fire ant. Image courtesy of USDA Archives. Mating flights most often occur at mid-morning 1 or 2 days following a rainfall if the temperature is above 22°C and the wind is light. At this time a virgin female flies into a cloud of congregating males and mates in the air. The male subsequently dies while the female seeks a location to start a new colony. Once located, she breaks off her wings and excavates a brood chamber approximately 1 to 2 inches below ground. The new queen subsequently deposits a few dozen eggs which hatch in a little over a week. The queen does not forage but feeds the first generation of larvae from nutrients obtained from her fat reserves and by dissolving her no longer needed wing muscles. The larvae obtain the nutrients by trophollaxisis (exchange of alimentary fluids) or from sterile eggs she has produced for that purpose. The entire life cycle is completed in 3 to 4 weeks. The initial generation of adult worker (minims) are relatively small due to a limited amount of nutrients available from the queen. Once developed these worker open up the brood chamber and begin to forage for available food. Soon another generation of larger adult workers has developed and the colony begins to grow. Workers start to emerge daily and within 6 months the colony population approaches several thousand and an above ground mound is visible. The polymorphic (poly in Latin means many and morph means form) nature of the worker becomes more apparent. The largest workers in the colony (majors) can be as much as 10 times the size of the smallest workers (media). The queen lives up to 7 years and produces an average of 1600 eggs per day. At maturity, a monogynous (one queen) fire ant colony can consist of over 250,000 ants. As discussed above some fire ant colonies have only one queen per nest while others can have many queens and are called polygynous colonies. The polygynous colony may be more difficult to control because all the queens must be killed to prevent the colony from surviving. Polygynous colonies frequently expand by "budding"; i.e., some of the queens and workers break off from the parent colony and start a new mound nearby. This process in polygynous colonies can accounts for much higher mound density which sometimes approaching 1,000 mounds per acre. Different sized worker adults. Image courtesy of USDA Archives. One of the identifying characteristics of an imported red fire ant colony is the earthen nest or mound. This mound is a cone-shaped dome with a hard crust. They averages 1 ½ feet in diameter and 8-inches in height. In heavy clay soils they can exceed 3-feet in height and 4 1/2 feet diameter. There are usually no external openings in the mound; but tunnels a few inches below the surface tunnels radiate several feet from the mound allowing foraging workers access to the colony. These mounds serves several functions: They act as a flight platform for nuptial flights and to raise the colony above ground in excessively wet soil while protecting it above ground from intruders and rain. They also serve as a passive solar collector to supply warmth to the colony during the cold winter months. Mound of red imported fire ant. Image courtesy of USDA Archives. In areas with hot, dry summers these mounds may not be maintained or may not be formed at all. In a dark, protected site with sufficient moisture and an adequate supply of food, fire ants will nest in a wide variety of locations (e.g. rotten logs, walls of buildings, under sidewalks and roads, in automobiles, in dried cow manure). Fire ants are omnivorous, feeding on almost any plant or animal material; although dead and living insects seem to be their preferred food. In rural habitats, they have a major impact on ground nesting animals (birds, reptiles, mammals). Studies have shown that once established in a new area there is typically a minimum of a two-fold reduction in the populations of field mice, snakes, turtles and other vertebrates and a maximum of a total elimination of some species. Fire ants also feed on plants attacking young saplings and seedlings, destroying buds and developing fruits and have been shown to feed on the seeds of over a hundred species of native wildflowers and grasses. Damage to plants is increased during periods of drought as fire ants seek alternate water sources. In fields where drip irrigation is used, these insects build their mounds over the emitters reducing or blocking the flow of water to crops. In some cases, actual physical destruction of microsprinkler assemblies has occurred. Finally, the mere presence of fire ants on plants and within the field will deter hand-harvesting of crops. As an urban pest, imported fire ants cause many of the same problems experienced in rural areas. In addition they nest within the walls of homes and offices. Colonies are established under sidewalks and roadways frequently resulting in complete collapse of sections of these structures if the nests are eventually abandoned. The presence of fire ants can deter outdoor activities in yards, parks and school grounds. Home invasions can threaten small children and the elderly. House invasions are especially prevalent during periods of heavy precipitation and flooding. Fire ant colonies have been found inside automobiles, trucks and recreation vehicles resulting in traffic accidents caused by fire ants stinging the drivers. Imported fire ants are attracted by electrical currents and have caused considerable damage to heat pumps, air conditioners, telephone junction boxes, transformers, traffic lights, and gasoline pumps. Because of their reputation people fear fire ants. In some areas playgrounds, parks, and picnic areas are rarely used because of the presence of fire ants. In campsites of state and national parks in fire ant infested areas, it is often difficult to put up or take down a tent without being stung by angry ants. Stings. Fire ants are best known for their behavior of stinging, frequently in mass. If a nest is disturbed hundreds if not thousands of ants will quickly emerge and attack the intruder. This occurs so quickly and in mass that is not uncommon to have hundreds on the victim before the first sting is felt. To make matters even worse a single fire ant can sting repeatedly and will continue to do so even after their venom sac has been depleted. Once reaching the victim the ant will typically attach with its mandibles to the skin and then insert its stinger. Subsequently it will rotate it abdomen and repeatedly sting using the attached head as a pivot. The result is a circle of several stings from the same ant. Initially, the sting(s) result in a localized intense burning sensation (hence the name "fire" ant). Within a day or two a white pustule forms at the sting site (Figure 8). Pustule formation occurs only with the red and black imported fire ant and not the southern fire ant or fire ant. There is a possibility of secondary infection and scarring if the wounds are not kept clean or if they are continually picked at or scratched (Figure 9). As with any other hymenopterous stings, there are a few individuals who are hypersensitive to the venom and can react quite strongly and be severely affected. Symptoms in these cases can include chest pains, nausea, dizziness, shock or, in rare cases, lapsing into coma. In cases of an allergic reaction, even a single sting can lead to a potentially serious condition called anaphylactic shock. There are recorded cases of human death resulting from fire ant stings but these are rare. Pustular formation for sting of red imported fire ant. Image courtesy of USDA Archives. Figure 9. Secondary infection of sting from red imported fire ant. Image courtesy of USDA Archives. Individuals with disabilities, reduced feeling in their feet and legs or reduced mobility, are at greater risk from serious stinging incidents and the incidence of resulting medical problems may be even greater. Large numbers of ants can sting and even overcome victims before they can safely escape. There was a recent case where fire ants entered a room of an elderly gentleman in a retirement hospital and basically stung him to death. In his case he was unable to escape their attack. Individuals who are known to be allergic to fire ant stings should seek professional advice from a physician or allergist, especially if they are in situations where they might be exposed to these pests. There are emergency treatment kits that are available (by prescription) for individuals who are sensitive to their sting. Fortunately, relatively few deaths from fire ant stings have been documented, especially when compared to deaths from bee and wasp stings. Victims stung to death by fire ants often were not able to escape, sustained large numbers of stings, and suffered allergic reactions to the venom. There are basically two methods of fire ant control, namely individual mound treatment and broadcast treatment. Before attempting either, it is advisable to check with regulatory agencies as the availability and use of different chemicals for either method may vary from state to state. In addition, in many cases free control by state governmental agencies of these pests is available. Individual Mound Treatments. Treating individual fire ant mounds can be time consuming, but it is generally the most effective method of control. Once treated it will take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks before total elimination of a colony depending on the product used, time of the year and size of the mound. Treatment is usually most effective in the spring with the key being to treat all the mounds in the area. If control is not complete, reinfestation of an area can take place in less than a year. There are several different methods that can be used to treat individual mounds. Insecticides-One of the more commonly used methods is drenching mounds with a high volume of diluted contact pesticide. As with any treatment, it is extremely important to follow label directions not only to attain maximum effect, but to maximize safety of the application and avoid potential illegal consequences. In most cases the mounds and surrounding areas are wetted thoroughly but gently with the drench. Subsequently the mound is broken open and the insecticide is poured directly into the tunnels. Mound drenches are most effective after rains when the ground is wet and the ants have moved up into the drier soil in the mound. During excessively dry weather, effectiveness of the treatment may be enhanced by soaking the soil around the mound with water before treatment. One problem with this technique is that the queen may be too deep to be reached with the drench. This may be especially true if the colony is disturbed prior to an application. In this case the workers may move the queen deeper into the colony in order to avoid a potential threat. Granular formulations are also available for individual mound treatment. In this case once the recommend dose is applied to the mound it should be watered thoroughly in order to reach the worker ants and queen that occur deeper in the colony. The dissolved granules must come into direct contact with the ants to have any effect. As in mound drenches, care must be taken not to disturb the colony prior to application. A few insecticides are marketed as injectants. In this case they may be injected using a "termite rig" with a soil injector tip, a standard 1-3 gallon compressed air sprayer with a fire ant injector tip, or a special aerosol soil injector system. The mound is injected in a circular pattern, usually at 3 to 10 points. A new product combines insecticide treatment with high temperature vapors to increase Fumigants are readily available in most states for fire ant control. These are usually more effective than surface applications or mound drenches but are also more expensive and can be dangerous if not handled properly. Depending on the state a number of fire ant baits are available. These can be used for treating individual mounds or for broadcast treatment of larger areas. The bait should be uniformly applied around the mound 0.3 to 1.0 meters away and not on the mound itself. Baits are much slower acting than the control methods listed above but are generally safer, cheaper and more effective in the long run. Water - The use of boiling water has been examined on several different occasions resulting in varying degrees of success. In one experiment over a 50% of treated mound were eliminated by pouring approximately 3 gallon of hot water directly into the mound. The use of steam produced by a steam generator produced similar results. Regardless both techniques are far less effective the use of drenches, fumigants, granular formulation or baits are cumbersome in the field are not practical when dealing with large populations of these pests. Area wide flooding with water has not proven to be effective, impractical in most situations and can led to spreading of the population due to the rafting ability of these insects. Broadcast Treatments - A number of fire ant baits (Figure 10) are commercially available for broadcast treatments (again depending on the state). Baits are composed of an inert carrier-attractant (corn carrier and soybean oil) and toxicant. The active ingredient (either a slow-acting insecticide or an insect growth regulator) is incorporated into the oil. These baits can be applied either by a hand operated granular fertilizer spreader or larger equipment. Once foragers find bait they carry it back to the nest, ingest it and begin feeding other ants in the nest. Because the active ingredients are slow acting, they are spread around the nest before the desired effect. This formulation and means of application has a number of advantages. Unlike individual mound treatments, colonies need not be "located" in order for them to be treated and as a result this method is less time intensive and consequently less expensive than individual mound treatments. On the other hand broad cast treatment has the potential of affecting non-target organisms. It is also slow acting and the effectiveness of the bait is greatly reduced when they come in contact with water from rain, irrigation or other sources. Finally baits are only effective during those times of the year or temperatures when the ants are readily foraging. Generally speaking it is advisable to only use this type of treatment in areas where there is little or no human traffic. If broadcast treatment is used in such an area, a good choice is growth regulator bait, which poses much less risks to non-target species. For example, fenoxycarb bait has been shown to be very effective for suppression of fire ant populations when applied in one application over a wide area. Figure 10. A corn- based bait used for control of the red imported fire ant. Image courtesy of USDA Archives. Figure 11. A tractor driven granular applicator. Image courtesy of USDA Archives.

Individually stereotyped vocalizations often play an important role in relocation of offspring in gregarious breeders. In phocids, mothers often alternate between foraging at sea and attending their pup. Pup calls are individually distinctive in various phocid species. However, experimental evidence for maternal recognition is rare. In this study, we recorded Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) pup vocalizations at two whelping patches in Atka Bay, Antarctica, and explored individual vocal variation based on eight vocal parameters. Overall, 58% of calls were correctly classified according to individual. For males (n = 12) and females (n = 9), respectively, nine and seven individuals were correctly identified based on vocal parameters. To investigate whether mothers respond differently to calls of familiar vs. unfamiliar pups, we conducted playback experiments with 21 mothers. Maternal responses did not differ between playbacks of own, familiar, and unfamiliar pup calls. We suggest that Weddell seal pup calls may need to contain only a critical amount of individually distinct information because mothers and pups use a combination of sensory modalities for identification. However, it cannot be excluded that pup developmental factors and differing environmental factors between colonies affect pup acoustic behavior and the role of acoustic cues in the relocation process.

- air raid (n.) - 1914, from air (n.1) + raid (n.); originally in reference to British attacks Sept. 22, 1914, on Zeppelin bases at Cologne and Düsseldorf in World War I. The German word is Fliegerangriff "aviator-attack," and if Old English had survived into the 20th century our word instead might be fleogendeongrype. One didn't dare to inhale for fear of breathing it in. It was the sound of eighteen hundred airplanes approaching Hamburg from the south at an unimaginable height. We had already experienced two hundred or even more air raids, among them some very heavy ones, but this was something completely new. And yet there was an immediate recognition: this was what everyone had been waiting for, what had hung for months like a shadow over everything we did, making us weary. It was the end. [Hans Erich Nossack, "Der Untergang," 1942]

Woman's Education According to Rousseau and Wollstonecraft "Give, without scruples, a woman's education to women, see to it that they love the cares of their sex, that they possess modesty, that they know how to grow old in their m�nage and keep busy in their house." Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile "The neglected education of my fellow-creatures is the grand source of the misery I deplore." Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women The salons of Jean Jacques Rousseau's day greatly admired his theories, including his advocation of breast-feeding and his concept of natural education. Today he has enormous influence on accepted educational doctrines. Rousseau describes his methods in Emile, the story of a boy's upbringing in natural state. Admiring his sentiment, Mary Wollstonecraft applauded Rousseau's scheme for Emile but deplored the neglect of Emile's perfect wife, Sophie. Her disappointment in Rousseau was a main influence on Wollstonecraft's best-known work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Rousseau outlines his theories for the ideal education for women in Chapter V of Emile written between 1757 and 1761. These so contradict his plan for Emile that it becomes necessary to place them in the framework of his time and the particular prejudices of Rousseau. Certainly he broke no ground regarding the topic of women. Nearly a hundred years before Emile, Mrs. Makin published An Essay to Revive the Ancient Education of Gentlewomen. In her Serious Proposal to Ladies of 1694, Mary Astell advocated a convent where serious-minded women might retire for study and contemplation. In his Essay on Projects , Daniel Defoe suggests an academy for women where they might study whatever they chose. He observes as early as 1697, "We reproach the sex every day with folly and impertinence, while I am confident, had they the advantages of education equal to us, they would be guilty of less than ourselves."1 As women and their education were very popular topics among the frequenters of the salons, Rousseau was often drawn into their discussions as a consultant. After publication Rousseau realized some recognition as a spokesman for the rights of people, although there was a decided rise in the intensity of demands for recognition of women's state.2 Rousseau describes his passionate feelings for several women in his life in his Confessions, the first of which was the strange feelings he had as a boy when Mademoiselle Lambercier punished him. "Who would have believed that the chastisement I received at eight from a thirty-year-old girl would have determined my tastes, desires, and passions for the rest of my life?"3 Having left Protestant Switzerland for Catholic France, Rousseau began to meet the women who would support and influence his work for the rest of his life. One of his first encounters was with Madame de Warens, whom he referred to as maman, also a convert to Catholicism and an escapee from Geneva. Because of her support he was able to take part in knowledgeable conversations, philosophical discussions, and intellectual pursuits. From her privileged position he was able to observe with fraternal pity the people whose fate he might have shared. At the age of thirty, Rousseau left Madame de Warens' residence. He wished to be accepted in the intellectual circles of the salons, and to gain entrance to the Academie des Sciences. He succeeded at the Academie but failed to be accepted socially at the salons. One of his sponsors, P�re Castel, advised, "Since musicians and servants will not sing together with you, change your tactics, and try the women."4 He took this advice and made the acquaintance of several intelligent and influential women. According to Claude Fervel in Jean Jacques Rousseau et les femmes, Rousseau's feelings of inferiority among these women induced his unnatural attachment to a twenty-three year old servant girl, Th�r�se Levasseur. "She is so limited," says Hume, "that she knows neither the year, the month, nor the day of the week; she is unaware of the value of money and in spite of all that, she has on Jean Jacques the empire of a nurse over her charge."5 Certainly Levasseur had some influence in Rousseau's concept of the ideal woman. Rousseau primarily claimed that "[n]ature has created man happy and good, but society depraves him and makes him miserable."6 In the eighteenth century, morality took on a new meaning founded on the natural goodness of man. Happiness became a right supplanting the idea of duty. Sensual delights were natural and therefore rational. All of Rousseau's educational theories derive from his attempt to preserve nature's pure state. His concept of negative education allowed a child to discover for himself and to be punished by the nature he sought to defy. The tutor must not try to reason with the child or show authority. Books would not be forced on the child; at twelve Emile would hardly know what to do with a book. Positive education, or direct instruction, would only begin at approximately the age of adulthood, and then the studies would be based on the student's natural curiosity. Rousseau stressed utility, the need for teaching things with practical applications. This concept of negative education as applicable to women was totally inconceivable to Rousseau. He viewed women's options as entirely limited to the roles of wife and mother. What need would there be to allow her to determine for herself when nature had already physiologically dictated her destiny? His scheme for Emile was radical; his scheme for Sophie was not radical enough. Rousseau demanded a reversion to primitivism in the education of women, offering minimal vocational training while insisting on her inability to reason and her inferiority to man. "A woman's education must be planned in relation to man".[S]he will always be in subjection to a man"and she will never be free to set her own opinion above his."7 He stresses freedom of movement and physical exertion for Emile, asserting that weak bodies contain weak minds. At the same time he discourages Sophie from too much physical activity and uses her weakness as another proof of her inferiority. "The object of that cultivation is different. In the one sex it is the development of corporeal powers; in the other, that of personal charms," Rousseau asserts.8 Emile is not instructed in religious matters until he reaches adulthood. He has a natural sense of morality "from reason tempered by the heart."9 Presumably woman cannot reason, so she cannot maintain a state of morality, and must be guarded by men throughout her life. Rousseau proposes that Sophie must be made to love virtue, although she will never understand theological rationale for living uprightly. She must be made to feel subject to society's opinions of her. In fact, Sophie fails at this. In the fragmentary sequel to Emile, Les Solitaires, Rousseau tells of the infidelity of Sophie who had been "educated" to be Emile's ideal wife. Mary Wollstonecraft makes no mention of this book and probably never read it, but she would make the right assumptions about the likelihood of Sophie's fidelity. Helen Misenheimer points out in Rousseau on the Education of Women that Rousseau leaves off the sexual education of Emile in describing Sophie. In fact, she is his sexual identity. Rousseau considers a man's union with a woman a debasement of his nature. While insisting on the importance of motherhood, he stumbles on women's role as mothers. In addressing mothers in Book I of Emile, he acknowledges their primacy in the education of youth. By denying women the ability to reason he denies them the ability to raise children, which Mary Wollstonecraft later attempts to prove. Francis Gribble proposes, "Contemporary critics contended that Jean Jacques did not mean a word that he said; the difficulty of the modern critic is to discover that he ever said anything at all which he did not immediately afterwards contradict."10 When accosted by a father who informed him he was using the Emile method to raise his son, Rousseau replied that he was sorry for him but even sorrier for his son.11 Certainly he contradicts himself in Chapter V of Emile. One must ask if woman is as "natural" as man, and nature is essentially good, then why should the same principles of "negative education" not apply to women? Misenheimer discusses the dichotomy of women in Rousseau's writings. She claims that Rousseau makes woman totally subservient to man, making her into a mere plaything for the superior sex. Yet by inserting Sophie in her place in his educational theories, he encourages others to give the question further thought at a moment in history when social revolution uniquely supports her. This is exactly the cause which Mary Wollstonecraft takes up. Furthermore, by speaking of all society and not just the elite, he becomes one of the first writers even to recognize the ordinary woman, giving her a foothold to independence. Rousseau certainly did not intend to liberate women; he advocated the freedom of man. Mary Wollstonecraft reputedly tried to rear one of her charges, Ann Fuseli, as a child of nature. The experiment proved disappointing when she caught her stealing and lying.14 She considered herself a rationalist, but she greatly admired Rousseau's "pure sentiment." She did not, however, share Rousseau's admiration for primitive society, and took great exception to his views of women. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman she asserts, "Rousseau exerts himself to prove that all was right originally: a crowd of authors that all is now right: and I, that all will be right [sic]."12 Her most famous and controversial work, Rights of Woman, was not the first work to advocate better education for women. Among Wollstonecraft's contemporaries, there were several in France who had written in behalf of women. Olympe de Gouges spoke boldly in defense of her sex in several publications, one titled A Declaration of the Rights of Woman. Condorcet advocated better education for women in Memoirs on Public Instruction. Wollstonecraft had reviewed Catherine Macaulay's Letters on Education for the Analytical, and acknowledged her debt to the work in Rights of Woman. Letters denies any fundamental difference in character between the sexes, attributing women's weaknesses to faulty education and social position. Wollstonecraft repeats and develops almost every point of her work. Like many English intellectuals, Wollstonecraft watched the French Revolution with interest, anticipating that the great social experiment would one day reach her shore. The Revolution "must have seemed like a happy fusion of all she had been taught to respect by her sage London friends, and all that she cherished by nature".And so she, like many of her countrymen, looked hopefully to France as the great proving-ground."13 She espouses the cause of freedom in her Vindication of the Rights of Men, written in reply to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. She digresses occasionally in this work, criticizing the effects of wealth and rank and chiding Burke for his fondness for waifishness and weakness in women. In her previous work, Wollstonecraft had shown an interest in women's status without directly addressing the matter. According to her husband William Godwin, she spent only six weeks in actual composition, but she had been developing the ideas for Rights of Woman all her life. She found that most writers showed either outright disdain or condescending praise of women's weakness. The immediate cause of Rights of Woman was Talleyrand's Report on Public Institution, an outline of the projected plan of national education under a new French constitution. Talleyrand declared that girls should be educated with boys only until the age of eight. Wollstonecraft prefaces her book with a letter to Talleyrand which urges him and his compatriots not to deny women their rights.13 Wollstonecraft seeks to find a rational explanation for the state of her sex. She questions whether women are really created for the pleasure of men: [T]hough the cry of irreligion, or even atheism, be raised against, I will simply declare, that were an angel from heaven to tell me that Moses's beautiful, poetical cosmogony, and the account of the fall of man, were literally true, I could not believe what my reason told me was derogatory to the character of the Supreme Being.14 She discovers the only reason for women's state is their lack of education. In Chapter V she attacks several writers, especially Rousseau, who had written poor accounts of women. Wollstonecraft cites and comments on long passages from Emile. She is not unaware of Rousseau's relationships with women. In her chapter "On National Education," she states: Who ever drew a more exalted female character than Rousseau? Though in the lump he constantly endeavoured to degrade the sex. And why was he thus anxious? Truly to justify to himself the affection which weakness and virtue had made him cherish for that fool Theresa. He could not raise her to the common level of her sex; and therefore he labored to bring woman down to hers. He found her a convenient humble companion, and pride made him determine to find some superiour virtues in the being whom he chose to live with; but did not her conduct during his life, and after his death, clearly show how grossly he was mistaken who called her a celestial innocent.15 She treats his description of Sophie with smug indignation, as when Rousseau describes Sophie's garb, "simple as it seems, was only put in its proper order to be taken to pieces by the imagination." To this she retorts, "Is this modesty? Is this a preparation for immortality?"16 She correctly accuses Rousseau of depicting not a wife and sensible mother, but a pleasing mistress. Getting to the heart of Rousseau's error, she determines: Men have superior strength of body, but were it not for mistaken notions of beauty, women would acquire sufficient to enable them to earn their own subsistence, the true definition of independence". Let us then, by being allowed to take the same exercise as boys, not only during infancy, but youth, arrive at perfection of boys, that we may know how far the natural superiority of man extends.17 She cautions that she has no desire to breed a generation of independent and unattached women like herself, but that she seeks to develop wiser and more virtuous mothers. She believes that children's characters are formed before the age of seven, shuddering to think of the damage done by addle-headed mothers. Without stressing independence she believes that once women gain intellectual equality, they should be given political and economic equality as well. In Chapter XII, "On National Education," Wollstonecraft develops her proposal. She feels that private education is confined to the �lite, and that school-children need the company of other children. She has an aversion to boarding schools because of the interruptions of vacations. She suggests day schools where children may spend time with other children. These need to be national establishments, so that school-matters are not left to the "caprice of the parents."18 Like Rousseau, she emphasizes that children must be allowed to play freely. What is so radical about Wollstonecraft's idea is that girls are not educated relative to boys, but with them. She states: If marriage be the cement of society, mankind should all be educated after the same model, or the intercourse of the sexes will never deserve the name of fellowship, nor will women ever fulfill the peculiar duties of their sex". Nay, marriage will never be held sacred till women, by being brought up with men, are prepared to be their companions rather than their mistresses.19 After the age of nine, girls and boys intended for domestic employments or mechanical trades will be removed to other schools. The two sexes will still study together in the mornings, and in the afternoons girls will learn millinery, mantua-making, and other fitting pursuits. Girls and boys still together? I hear some readers ask: yes. And I should not fear any other consequence than that some early attachment might take place". Besides, this would be a sure way to promote early marriages, and from early marriages the most salutary physical and moral effects naturally flow.20 Women should be taught anatomy and medicine to make them rational nurses of their infants, parents, and husbands. At the time of its publication in 1792, A Vindication of the Rights of Women was considered radical and revolutionary. By the end of the year Joseph Johnson published a second edition. An American edition appeared in Boston and Philadelphia, and a French translation appeared in Paris and Lyons. Aaron Burr admired it and attempted to raise his own daughter according to its principles, although he complained in 1793 that he had "not yet met a single person who had discovered or would allow the merit of this book."21 Contemporary reactions ranged from shock to amusement to enthusiasm. Despite a number of mean-spirited parodies, including A Sketch of the Rights of Boys and Girls and A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes, there is no doubt her book had a tremendous impact on British and American feminism. Her argument that one must educate mothers so they may better raise their children would be echoed by the advocates of "Republican Motherhood" in the first years of the new American republic.22 Mary Wollstonecraft's ideas were savagely attacked after her death, when the horrors of the French Revolution had convinced most Englishmen that all revolutionary theories were dangerous. However, there is little doubt that her ideas live on, and like Rousseau's, still have an impact on education. Public education, teaching by the exploitation of natural curiosity, practical applications, are all ideas descended from Rousseau and Wollstonecraft. Most distinctive of these is Wollstonecraft's radical notion that women and men be educated together. 1As cited in Ralph M. Wardle, Mary Wollstonecraft: A Critical Biography (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1951), p. 143. 2Helen Evans Misenheimer, Rousseau on the Education of Women (Washington, DC: University Press of America, Inc., 1981), p. 64. 3Confessions, I as cited by Misenheimer, p. 21. 4Ibid., p. 24. 5Claude Fervel, Jean-Jacques Rousseau et les femmes, as cited by Misenheimer, p. 26. 6Misenheimer, p. 19. 7Rousseau, pp. 322, 325. 8Rousseau, as cited by Wollstonecraft, p. 176. 9Rousseau, as cited by Misenheimer, p. 39. 10Francis Gribble, Rousseau and the Women he Loved, as cited by Misenheimer, p. 4. 11William Boyd, The Minor Educational Writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau, as cited by Misenheimer, p. 8. 12Wardle, p. 178. 13Wollstonecraft, p. 22. 14Wollstonecraft, pp. 173-174. 15Ibid., pp. 403-404. 17Ibid., p. 189. 18Ibid., p. 379. 19Ibid., pp. 380, 381. 20Ibid., p. 389. 21Matthew L. Davis, Memoirs of Aaron Burr, as cited by Wardle, p.158. 22Linda K. Kerber, "The Republican Mother," Women's America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 87-95. Last modified 2005-01-20 03:11 PM

Get Your Degree! Find schools and get information on the program that’s right for you. Powered by Campus Explorer Art School Loans The two types of loans available to college students are federal loans and private loans. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, and many students decide to utilize a mix of the two to pad their college funds. Since you're not limited to only one, it's a good idea to do some research and understand both kinds before signing the papers. Federal loans are so named because they are guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education, either directly or through affiliated agencies. This allows for some student-friendly terms: the governments sets a bar for interest rates, the loans are available to almost every student regardless of credit score or financial history, and there is a six month grace period, which means that no payments are required until six months after graduation. There are also forms of assistance for those struggling to pay even after this grace period, including deferment and forbearance. However, the downfall of federal loans is their relatively low limit. As of June 1, 2007, freshman undergraduates are eligible for no more than $3,500, sophomore for $4,500, and juniors and seniors for $5,500. For graduate students, the limit is increased to up to $12,000, depending on the type of federal loan and the area of study. Federal loans fall under two broad categories. Subsidized loans are granted based on the financial need of the student in question, and for as long as you remain enrolled in college either full-time or half-time, no interest accrues while you study! Or rather, the federal government pays the interest for you. It's an amazing deal, because if you go start off borrowing $3000 to enter college, you owe $3000 and not a penny more by the time you graduate. In other cases where the student fails to qualify, loans are unsubsidized. Interest does accumulate during your years in college; you are, however, still eligible for the six month grace period. Federal loans come in many guises: Stafford loans, Perkins loans, Federal Family Education Loans, Ford Direct Student Loans. Each one is a bit different and targeted towards a different type of student, so it's a good idea to do some research and find out which one is the most beneficial to you. Private students address the weakness of federal loans by offering higher limits, but also higher interest rates rates. While more significant than the interest rates charged by federal loans, they are nonetheless still lower than a nonspecific loan. Unlike federal loans, credit history does matter, and many private loans will require the student to fill out a FAFSA or some other application that provides the lender with financial information. Because of this reliance on the borrower's financial situation, many students who choose to take out a private loan will cosign with their parents in order to reap the benefits of their credit score and the subsequent lower interest rate. Depending on your family's situation, this could be a good option to consider! Following in the footsteps of federal student loans, many private loans also offer a similar grace period, which can extend to up to twelve months in some cases (though six is far more common). Because they don't carry the federal government's guarantee, there are far more private student loans out there than federal ones. Each lender will have their own qualifications, rates, terms, and schedules. If you plan on applying for private loans, watch out for hidden fees and terms that can trip you. Choose carefully, and the best private loans will provide you with a significant monetary boost so that you can study in your dream art school without worrying about funds. LOAN RESOURCE SITES Loans are a great, solid source of educational funding. They are available to almost everyone and are a time-proven asset to any student who won't allow financial difficulties become an obstacle to attaining a good education in the arts. Though we've listed pros and cons to both federal and private loans here, we reiterate again that a mix of both types can create a strong, balanced aid plan.

Considerations Regarding a Behind-the-Counter Drug Class GAO-09-245: Published: Feb 20, 2009. Publicly Released: Mar 23, 2009. In the United States, most nonprescription drugs are available over-the-counter (OTC) in pharmacies and other stores. Experts have suggested that drug availability could be increased by establishing an additional class of nonprescription drugs that would be held behind the counter (BTC) but would require the intervention of a pharmacist before being dispensed; a similar class of drugs exists in many other countries. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not developed a detailed proposal for a BTC drug class, it held a public meeting in 2007 to explore the public health implications of BTC drug availability. GAO was asked to update its 1995 report, Nonprescription Drugs: Value of a Pharmacist-Controlled Class Has Yet to Be Demonstrated (GAO/PEMD-95-12). Specifically, GAO is reporting on (1) arguments supporting and opposing a U.S. BTC drug class, (2) changes in drug availability in five countries since 1995 and the impact of restricted nonprescription classes on availability, and (3) issues important to the establishment of a BTC drug class. GAO reviewed documents and consulted with pharmaceutical experts. To examine drug availability across countries, GAO studied five countries it had reported on in 1995 (Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and determined how 86 drugs available in all five countries were classified in each country. Arguments supporting and opposing a BTC drug class in the United States have been based on public health and health care cost considerations, and reflect general disagreement on the likely consequences of establishing such a class. Proponents of a BTC drug class suggest it would lead to improved public health through increased availability of nonprescription drugs and greater use of pharmacists' expertise. Opponents are concerned that a BTC drug class might become the default for drugs switching from prescription to nonprescription status, thus reducing consumers' access to drugs that would otherwise have become available OTC, and argue that pharmacists might not be able to provide high quality BTC services. Proponents of a BTC drug class point to potentially reduced costs through a decrease in the number of physician visits and a decline in drug prices that might result from switches of drugs from prescription to nonprescription status. However, opponents argue that out-of-pocket costs for many consumers could rise if third-party payers elect not to cover BTC drugs. All five countries GAO studied have increased nonprescription drug availability since 1995 by altering nonprescription classes or reclassifying some drugs into less restrictive classes. Italy and the Netherlands, which previously allowed nonprescription drugs to be sold only at specialized drug outlets, made some or all of these drugs available for OTC sale. Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States switched certain drugs from more restrictive to less restrictive drug classes, increasing these drugs' availability. However, the impact of restricted nonprescription drug classes on availability is unclear. When we examined the classification of 86 selected drugs in the five countries, we found that the United States required a prescription for more of those drugs than did Australia or the United Kingdom--the study countries using a BTC drug class. However, the United States classified more of the 86 drugs as OTC--the option that provides greatest access to these drugs for consumers--than all four of the other study countries. Pharmacist-, infrastructure-, and cost-related issues would have to be addressed before a BTC drug class could be established in the United States. For example, ensuring that pharmacists provide BTC counseling and that pharmacies have the infrastructure to protect consumer privacy would be important. Issues related to the cost of BTC drugs would also require consideration. For example, the availability of third-party coverage for BTC drugs would affect consumers' out-of-pocket expenditures and pharmacists' compensation for providing BTC services would need to be examined. In commenting on a draft of this report, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agreed that cost-related issues would have to be addressed before implementing a BTC drug class and also provided technical comments. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) also reviewed the report and provided technical comments. We have incorporated HHS and VA technical comments as appropriate.

The red flowering gum, Corymbia ficifolia (formerly Eucalyptus ficifolia) is one of those trees that really grabs your attention when it’s in full flower, like very few other flowering trees can, perhaps with the exception of the jacaranda or the Illawarra flame tree. However, one of the ongoing problems with the red flowering gum has been that it’s always been grown from seed in the nursery industry in the past. When it did flower, after 5 to 10 years, the colour varied enormously as there is a great deal of genetic variability within this species. Not only does the colour vary, but the height of the tree can vary from a 10-15 metre substantial tree to a mallee form that’s no more than a couple of metres in height – a form which does have its advantages in the smaller gardens of today. One of the exciting developments in horticulture in recent years has been the development of the red flowering gum to make it more predictable and amenable to garden culture. Before I talk about that, though, I’d like to talk about the botany and the name change from Eucalyptus ficifolia to Corymbia ficifolia. The reason why the group of gums that include the red flowering gum were separated from Eucalyptus were that there are considerable differences. Corymbia are generally known as the bloodwoods and they have a special characteristic of being terminal flowering, with all those big sprays of flowers held on the end of the branches, which can be seen from a very long distance away. Many of what have remained as Eucalyptus flower way back inside the canopy on the axillary buds, unlike the terminal buds of Corymbia. Indeed, many people are surprised to hear that all gums are ‘flowering gums’; the red flowering gum just holds its flowers where they can be easily seen. Corymbia shares this terminal flowering with Angophora, sometimes known as the apple gums, of which the Sydney red gum, Angophora costata is probably the best known in cultivation. The botanists faced the dilemma that Corymbia gums were more closely related to Angophora, both being terminal flowering and sharing some other characteristics. Being closer to Angophora, it was either include everything within the one genus of Eucalyptus, or split off the bloodwoods and create a separate group for them sitting in between Angophora and Eucalyptus. Which brings me to the genetic improvement of the red flowering gum, a brilliant but unreliable species, in the genetic sense that you don’t know what you’re getting! One of the more amazing projects that I’ve seen in my career as a plant breeder happened up in Queensland. A fellow by the name of Stan Henry, a retired horticulturist, wanted to grow a red flowering gum in his home garden but he was in the humid climate of coastal central Queensland. He watched a number of his Corymbia ficifolia die from the heat and humidity, and from the leaf spot that they tend to get when they’re grown in Sydney and further north (you can grow them but they look very ratty and not a good garden specimen). The strategy that he then chose was to hybridise Corymbia ficifolia, the red flowering gum from around Albany in south-west Western Australia with the swamp bloodwood, Corymbia ptychocarpa from northern Australia, which has the same spectacular terminal flowers common to all the Corymbias, but is obviously much better equipped to cope with the humidity and heat of northern Australia. By crossing those two species together, we get a group of hybrids which has been marketed as the Summer series – ‘Summer Red’, ‘Summer Beauty’ and ‘Summer Snow’, a white variety. By and large it’s been quite a successful series when planted in gardens up and down the east coast, from Melbourne through to Queensland. Hybridisation is one way to go, and I like to think of what he’s done as a wonderful reconciliation, a sort of ‘east meets west’, between the swamp bloodwood from the east and north east and, from the other corner of the continent right down in the south-west, the red flowering gum. That’s where I think plant breeding really does have a place in modern horticulture; to combine the outstanding features of two different species to come up with a plant that has all the right attributes to be a successful garden plant. One of the issues with all the selections, whether they’re straight selections of Corymbia ficifolia or hybrids like the Summer series, is that they are difficult to propagate by cuttings – too difficult for commercial production. The way that they’re propagated now is by grafting onto the rootstock of a hardy member of the Corymbia group, such as the spotted gum, Corymbia maculata, or the red bloodwood, Corymbia gummifera. Finding the right species to use as a rootstock for different areas has become one of the key challenges for the selection and improvement of the Corymbia group, and in particular the flowering gums. The second wave of improvement of the red flowering gum has come about through the selection of different clones of the red flowering gum though the hundred years or so that this plant has been in cultivation. In southern Australia, from Perth across to Melbourne and up the southern coast of NSW, Corymbia ficifolia is quite a reliable species in its own right. Having been grown from seed, there’s all sorts of variation, so various nurseries have selected their outstanding forms of Corymbia ficifolia and we’re now seeing some interesting new cultivars emerge from that work. ‘Wildfire’ is one the oldest selections, and there are new ones called ‘Baby Red’, ‘Baby Orange’ and ‘Calypso’. They’re all slightly different in both flower colour and plant height, so it’s a matter of going out and finding out what is available from your local garden retailer. There will be a continuing series of new selections in the future as we get more confident with the grafting of red flowering gums in its various colour selections and finding the right rootstock partner. The red flowering gum is one of our most iconic Australian species in cultivation, and through some judicious genetic selection and breeding work, we’re now starting to see cultivars emerge which are going to be more reliable – as far as knowing what flower colour and height you’re going to get. Hopefully in the future, you’ll be able to find anything from a 2 metre shrub to a 15m tree to match your garden requirements. So if you’ve ever planted a seedling tree and been disappointed, have another look as more new colours and forms emerge. [You can now see how to prune your flowering gum in the new post by Angus How to prune a flowering gum]

|A service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine®| Progressive osseous heteroplasia On this page: Reviewed January 2009 What is progressive osseous heteroplasia? Progressive osseous heteroplasia is a disorder in which bone forms within skin and muscle tissue. Bone that forms outside the skeleton is called heterotopic or ectopic bone. In progressive osseous heteroplasia, ectopic bone formation begins in the deep layers of the skin (dermis and subcutaneous fat) and gradually moves into other tissues such as skeletal muscle and tendons. The bony lesions within the skin may be painful and may develop into open sores (ulcers). Over time, joints can become involved, resulting in impaired mobility. Signs and symptoms of progressive osseous heteroplasia usually become noticeable during infancy. In some affected individuals, however, this may not occur until later in childhood or in early adulthood. How common is progressive osseous heteroplasia? Progressive osseous heteroplasia is a rare condition. Its exact incidence is unknown. What genes are related to progressive osseous heteroplasia? Progressive osseous heteroplasia is caused by a mutation in the GNAS gene. The GNAS gene provides instructions for making one part of a protein complex called a guanine nucleotide-binding protein, or a G protein. In a process called signal transduction, G proteins trigger a complex network of signaling pathways that ultimately influence many cell functions. The protein produced from the GNAS gene is believed to play a key role in signaling pathways that help regulate the development of bone (osteogenesis), preventing bony tissue from being produced outside the skeleton. The GNAS gene mutations that cause progressive osseous heteroplasia disrupt the function of the G protein and impair its ability to regulate osteogenesis. As a result, bony tissue grows outside the skeleton and causes the complications associated with this disorder. Read more about the GNAS gene. How do people inherit progressive osseous heteroplasia? This condition is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, which means one copy of the altered gene in each cell is sufficient to cause the disorder. People normally inherit one copy of each gene from their mother and one copy from their father. For most genes, both copies are active, or "turned on," in all cells. For a small subset of genes, however, only one of the two copies is active. For some of these genes, only the copy inherited from a person's father (the paternal copy) is active, while for other genes, only the copy inherited from a person's mother (the maternal copy) is active. These differences in gene activation based on the gene's parent of origin are caused by a phenomenon called genomic imprinting. The GNAS gene has a complex genomic imprinting pattern. In some cells of the body the maternal copy of the gene is active, while in others the paternal copy is active. Progressive osseous heteroplasia occurs when mutations affect the paternal copy of the gene. Where can I find information about diagnosis or management of progressive osseous heteroplasia? These resources address the diagnosis or management of progressive osseous heteroplasia and may include treatment providers. General information about the diagnosis and management of genetic conditions is available in the Handbook. Read more about genetic testing, particularly the difference between clinical tests and research tests. To locate a healthcare provider, see How can I find a genetics professional in my area? in the Handbook. Where can I find additional information about progressive osseous heteroplasia? You may find the following resources about progressive osseous heteroplasia helpful. These materials are written for the general public. You may also be interested in these resources, which are designed for healthcare professionals and researchers. What other names do people use for progressive osseous heteroplasia? What if I still have specific questions about progressive osseous heteroplasia? Where can I find general information about genetic conditions? The Handbook provides basic information about genetics in clear language. These links provide additional genetics resources that may be useful. What glossary definitions help with understanding progressive osseous heteroplasia? autosomal ; autosomal dominant ; bone formation ; cell ; cutaneous ; ectopic ; gene ; guanine ; imprinting ; incidence ; inherit ; inherited ; maternal ; mutation ; nucleotide ; ossification ; osteogenesis ; osteoma ; protein ; signal transduction ; skeletal muscle ; tissue ; transduction You may find definitions for these and many other terms in the Genetics Home Reference Glossary. See also Understanding Medical Terminology. References (6 links) The resources on this site should not be used as a substitute for professional medical care or advice. Users seeking information about a personal genetic disease, syndrome, or condition should consult with a qualified healthcare professional. See How can I find a genetics professional in my area? in the Handbook.

Concentrating solar photovoltaics are a type of technology that uses optics to concentrate sunlight onto solar cells to boost energy production. While the tech is still in an early stage, some startups are looking to ramp up, and Fremont, Calif.-based Solaria just raised $30 million in equity in its march to win over converts for its own brand of concentrating photovoltaic technology. The funding came more than a year after it raised about $65 million in a round, some of which went into setting up a new factory and headquarters in Fremont. Solaria develops solar panels that use lenses to concentrate the sunlight onto silicon solar cells, a process the company says reduces the need of silicon cells by roughly half. The optics are made of a glass sheet, under which are solar cells that have gone through slicing and other steps to become strips. Solaria has also designed trackers to go with its solar panels and is selling the equipment separately or as part of the package. Trackers tilt the solar panels to follow the sun’s movement throughout the day, and they are used in larger scale projects built for utilities or other businesses. Solaria has built various configurations with its products at its headquarters to show off different solar array designs (see our slide show). Using trackers adds costs, but it also boosts power generation, a benefit that could be well worth the investment, particularly in markets with incentives based on power production. But Solaria is pushing its relatively new technology at a time when the global market is beset by a glut of solar panels. Prices for solar panels have fallen so quickly – by 30 to 40 percent – that many manufacturers have posted losses and expect tough times to continue in 2012. Solar panel makers are boosting their research and development work to create more efficient solar panels in order to set themselves apart and command higher prices for their products. The company is among a breed of developers who sought to create alternatives to conventional silicon solar panels. The solar industry experienced a shortage of silicon around 2005 when it was growing and competing against the chip industry for the same raw material, which fetched hundreds of dollars per kilogram. Some companies turned to materials such as copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS). The price of silicon has plummeted in recent years to around $30 per kilogram now on the spot market. Others began to experiment with materials such as germanium and gallium-arsenide, which are more expensive than silicon but can squeeze far more electricity from sunlight. To use these highly efficient materials, developers rely on mirrors and lenses to concentrate sunlight, so they can get the same amount of energy while using a smaller amount of materials. Solaria has opted to stick with the cheaper silicon but still adds the concentrating optics. The company was founded in 1999, but didn’t start working on concentrating technology until much later. Its engineers first used acrylic for lenses and placed them under a protective glass layer in the panel. They then decided to ditch acrylic and use only glass for the optics and spent 2009 finalizing a commercial design. Dan Shugar, who was president of PowerLight and then head of SunPower’s project development business (SunPower bought PowerLight in 2006), came to Solaria as CEO in early 2010.

There are, however, electric fish: eight-foot long, 600 volt, mouth breathing, alligator-killing fish. Although there are a number of fish that produce an electric charge, the species that is called "electric eel," E. electricus, is a member of the fish order, ostariophysian. Mistaken for an eel due to its shape and lack of pelvic, caudal and dorsal fins, E. electricus has a long (up to 8 feet), cylindrical body with a flat head. Its vital organs are found in the front fifth of its body (near the head), while the rest of its long body contains three electric organs, together filled with nearly 6,000 specialized electrocyte cells that, as the name suggests, produce, store and discharge electricity. The electric organs begin to develop early in the fish's lifetime. The Sachs, which produces only a weak electric charge and is used for echolocation, begins to develop very soon after birth. The other two electric organs, known as the main and the Hunter's, produce much higher voltages of around 600 volts and about 1 amp, so about 600 watts for approximately 2 milliseconds. Although the fish has gills, it takes in most of its oxygen through its "highly vascular mouth," and, therefore, often comes to the water's surface to breathe. The fish is also covered with a thick, gray to brownish/black skin. It is presumed that this tough layer protects it from its own electrical current. To reproduce, the female of the species deposits up to 17,000 eggs in a spit-nest made by the male during the dry season, and, on average, 1,200 of those eggs hatch. In captivity, male electric fish live up to 15 years and females up to 22. E. electricus Habitat The electric fish is native to the South America, particularly the Orinoco and Guyanas rivers, as well as large portions of the Amazon river basin. It lives on river bottoms and in swamps, and thrives in relatively low-oxygen waters because of its propensity to mouth breathe. E. electricus uses its electric organs for orientation, hunting and defense. While swimming through its murky habitat at night (it's nocturnal), the electric fish orients itself by periodically emitting a weak electrical discharge: This lower voltage can be used to "see" surrounding objects. Objects with a different conductivity will distort the electric field that the eel produces, thus making the eel aware of the object's presence. After locating its prey with weak electrical pulses, E. electricus kicks it up a notch: Once prey is found the electric eel will use a much larger electrical current to stun the fish. Toothless, electric fish eat their prey by "open[ing] their mouths to create a suction," and swallowing the meal whole. Able to produce a voltage as high as 650 volts and about 1 amp, the electric fish emits a strong, brief (2 milliseconds or less) shock when it is attacked by a predator. Although experts say the shock is rarely fatal by itself, it can kill some animals. How Does it Produce Electricity? E. electricus' nervous system controls its production of electricity: Each electrogenic cell [electrocyte] carries a negative charge of a little less than 100 millivolts on its outside compared to its inside. When the command signal arrives [from a "command nucleus" in the nervous system], the nerve terminal releases a minute puff of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter. Through nerves on one side of the cell, causing ion channels to open on that side. Sodium ions are able to rapidly enter the cell via these channels . . . [which] alters the equilibrium of the cell. To re-establish [it], potassium ions leave the cell on the other side,. . . . A transient path with low electrical resistance connecting the inside and outside of the cell. Thus, each cell behaves like a battery with the activated side carrying a negative charge and the opposite side a positive one. Because the cells are oriented inside the electric organ like a series of batteries piled into a flashlight, the current . . . set[s] off an avalanche of activation that runs its course in just two milliseconds. . . [and] creates a short-lived current flowing along the eel's body. Can Its Energy Be Harnessed? Scientists have long been impressed with the electrical generating ability of E. electricus, and recent research is leading to uses that may benefit people. Since 2009, scientists at the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy, Utah, have been harnessing the power of their resident electric tree to power the lights on the aquarium's Christmas tree. Essentially, two stainless steel electrodes are attached to Sparky's (the electric fish) tank, and each time Sparky sends out a pulse, which is part of "his natural, normal activity," currents of electricity travel through the electrodes to sequencers that make the lights on the tree flash. Living Planet's marketing director loves the display because it "helps give a visual idea of what an animal really does on a daily basis." Some medical implants and devices require batteries to power their complex functions. In recent years, scientists have been looking for ways to create "bio-batteries," that "would be just like any other cell in your body," except they also produce electricity. A few researchers have been investigating whether E. electricus' electrocytes might make a goodblueprint, and are: Designing an artificial cell that could replicate the electrocyte's energy production. . . . [They] found that an artificial cell could actually out perform a natural cell. One hurdle to producing a viable bio-battery is finding a human-safe power source, although "bacteria cold be employed to recycle ATP – responsible for transferring energy within the cell – using glucose." Researchers remain hopeful, particularly since the bio-battery has many advantages including: "if it breaks, there are no toxins released into your system." If you liked this article, you might also enjoy: - Clownfish are All Born Male, a Dominant Male Will Turn Female When the Current Female of the Group Dies - There is a Species of Jellyfish That can Age Backwards - The Candirú Fish Can't Swim Up a Stream of Your Urine - Sushi is Not Raw Fish - How to Treat a Jellyfish Sting This post has been republished with permission from TodayIFoundOut.com.

Derieving interesting data is always tied to a time period. We may want to extract interesting information from the whole life time of the data or we want to perform the same on a given time period say the last month or week. To specify such options, we have user defined functions in pig. This allows us to write filters and operations that we want pig to perform on each entry of the data set. This gives more control on the data filtering, flow. Some of the nuances of pig udf are explained in the example below. Pig Version of this example: Apache Pig version 0.10.0 (r1328203) Objective: You want to write a filter function in PIG to filter data rows according to a date range that you are interested in. You want to invoke the script from a scheduler which passes in the date range as command line parameters. A pig script is shown in the image below. 1) Passing command line parameters to pig script: You need to pass command line arguments like this pig -param datefrom='2012-10-20 00:00:00' -param dateto='2012-10-23 00:00:00' -x mapreduce user-based-analytics.pig. (I am actually calling the script from Python, which we will see in the next post). Here I am using these two date parameters to build my Java UDF. If you are passing parameters with space character, it has to be like this otherwise pig will throw an error saying that, it cannot create your UDF java class. 2) With in the pig script: You refer to the command line parameters using the format '$ 3) Defining your UDF reference using DEFINE pig keyword: This allows you to create a reference to your UDF which you can call using an alias. For example, the script defines a reference to the UDF as follows, define date-based-filter com.home.pig.udfs.TimeStampFilter('$datefrom', '$dateto') where date-based-filter is the alias that I will use to call my UDF com.home.pig.udfs.TimeStampFilter java class. 4) Calling your UDF filter in a pig script using FILTER keyword: Pig does not have a boolean data type. But, expressions are evaluated to boolean true or false. You need to call your UDF as follows, with the alias for your UDF. Here we are checking for datebasedfilter(ts) == TRUE i.e does my UDF 'com.home.pig.udfs.TimeStampFilter' acting on the current row with 'dateto' and 'datefrom' return Java Boolean true or false. filter-by-date = filter site-data by date-based-filter(ts) == TRUE; 5) Now the Java Class that does the filtering. b) Override the public Boolean exec(Tuple arg0) member function to define how this filter will handle tuples from the script. Here I just get the date from the string and check if it is within the range. Why use Pig and UDFs? Writing UDFs can be easy and saves a lot of time compared to writing a MapReduce Java program or any other option. Plus, if you have a ton of data or will end up with one this is better option since Hadoop will scale and Pig will do the jobs like data groupings, filtering for you.

We have had two indications recently that typhoid fever, for all the vaunted control of the disease which we have claimed, is still alive. The newspapers carried the report of an epidemic in Minneapolis and the U. S. Public Health Service has published a final report of its investigation of the epidemic of typhoid fever that occurred in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey’s circus in the summer of 1934. These evidences of return to the Middle Ages teach us that we can never relax the vigilance which is needed to keep the infectious diseases in subjugation. Boards of health everywhere are constantly working on the control of the water supply and milk supply, and food handlers, yet somehow or other the disease manages to break through the barriers and cause death as well as economic loss. In the case of the circus, typhoid broke out in Detroit and 68 employees were hospitalized. In the course of time 141 persons were left in hospitals in various cities. Seventy-four of them proved to have typhoid. From the fact that everybody in the circus was infected except train men, porters and elephant men, whose water supply was separate from the rest of the circus, the indications are that the epidemic was water-borne, although in what city enroute or under what circumstances, has not been proved. The epidemic itself certainly teaches us that the only sure way of protection against typhoid is individual inoculation or vaccination by the hypodermic injection of typhoid vaccine. As an indication of the vigilance with which boards of health work on the problem of water supply, I find in the report of the Indiana Division of Public Health for one month that the Board investigated 32 public water supplies in such cities as Aurora, Elkhart, Fort Wayne, Lafayette Heights, Vincennes, Winslow, etc. It made 999 examinations of drinking water, 93 examinations of bottled water and 49 examinations of swimming water. It made 825 examinations of dairies and 966 examinations of other food stations. In spite of this staggering amount of work typhoid fever will slip through because none of us have any natural immunity to it. Today the only safe thing to do is to have vaccination of each individual against typhoid. This should be done before the age of 5 years. Parents often balk at the idea of vaccination at early agesvaccination against smallpox and diphtheria as well as typhoid. But this attitude is unwarranted. First, because these diseases strike particularly the young. To make prevention effective, we must begin early. And second because children, as a rule, react less than adults. This is really true. A one-year-old baby will not have as much trouble with a smallpox vaccination as a man of twenty-five. Just as a baby will not have as rough a trip with measles as an adult.

Marketus Presswood: On Being Black in ChinaRoundup: Historians' Take tags: China, The Atlantic, African American, Marketus Presswood Marketus Presswood is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Modern Chinese History with an emphasis on both the Republican Era (1912-1949) and the post-1949 era. In the 1996 China edition of the Lonely Planet's Guidebook, a text box aside comment from a street interview provided some interesting conversation fodder, "... there is no racism in China because there are no black people," a Chinese woman was reported to have said. This became a little running joke in my small study abroad circle, since I was the only black student in my program of fifty students. It was 1997, and I was in Beijing studying Chinese. "There is no way you could be experiencing any racism in China," one classmate sardonically told me, "because you are the only black person here." We all laughed. While China is officially home to 55 ethnic minority groups, the Middle Kingdom is far more ethnically homogeneous than the United States. Han Chinese make up 91.59 percent of the population, and the majority of the remaining 8.41 percent are visually indistinguishable from their Han counterparts. In part due to this difference, race and nationality are often conflated in China. A white foreigner is likely to be called laowai, or "old foreigner," while a black foreigner is more likely to be described as heiren, or "black person." White Americans face no barriers to claiming their nationality, but blacks are often assumed to hail from Africa, a place thought to be more backwards and poorer than China, and one more than likely receiving Chinese government economic aid in the form of loans and infrastructure projects. This leads to either resentment or denigration on the part of some Chinese. The Chinese media tends to focus on the generosity of the Chinese government toward Africa -- a sore point among Chinese who feel their government is not doing enough for the Chinese themselves -- and not on the valuable natural resources gained or access to lucrative growth markets for cheap Chinese goods.... comments powered by Disqus - At Brandis the Afro-American studies faculty is siding with student protesters - NYT's Notable Books of 2015: These are the history books that made the cut - Petition signed by 44,000 to add more female thinkers to the Politics A Level syllabus in the UK - Most Students Have No Clue What Accurate Native American History Looks Like - Historians Re-Enter Presidential Studies

Appeal for war stories to create biggest ever digital history archiveBreaking News tags: World War I, digital history, Imperial War Museum The Imperial War Museum is to use the centenary of the first world war to launch an international appeal for private letters, diaries and photographs held by the families of those who served, with the aim of putting eight million personal stories online by the end of 2018. The museum's aim is to collect a mass of personal information, much of which will have been stored away in people's cupboards and attics, and make it available to the public at the press of a button. The information submitted and the individual stories of family members will become part of a giant online library for use by historians and people interested in researching their own relatives' roles in the conflict. The project – called Lives of the First World War and launching next February – will see the museum returning to its founding purpose but adapting to the internet age, in what is believed to be the biggest trawl for historical information ever undertaken. The museum was founded on 5 March 1917, when the War Cabinet approved a proposal by Sir Alfred Mond MP for the creation of a national war museum to record the events still taking place during the Great War and to honour those who had lost their lives and those who survived.... comments powered by Disqus - At Brandis the Afro-American studies faculty is siding with student protesters - NYT's Notable Books of 2015: These are the history books that made the cut - Petition signed by 44,000 to add more female thinkers to the Politics A Level syllabus in the UK - Most Students Have No Clue What Accurate Native American History Looks Like - Historians Re-Enter Presidential Studies

Most conifers are not shade tolerant, but yews are a major exception. Their dark green needles add a bit of color to the otherwise barren shade garden from fall through early spring. Description of Japanese yew: In its original form, the Japanese yew is a single-trunked tree reaching 50 feet in height. The species is rarely grown in cultivation, having been replaced by the numerous dense, slow-growing varieties that may be globular, vase-shaped, pyramidal, or spreading, depending on the selection. Although they are labeled dwarf plants, most eventually become quite high: 20 feet or more. The dark green needles have rounded tips and are not "scratchy" like most other conifers. Female plants bear bright red berries. Ease of care of Japanese Yew: Easy. Growing Japanese yew: Yews are perfectly tolerant of moderate shade, and even deep shade, as long as they get some spring sunlight. In dense shade, the shrubs need harsher pruning to help fill in the gaps formed by a more open growth pattern. Yews need fertile soil and ample moisture. They will not tolerate root competition from shallow-rooted trees. Protect them from strong, drying winds. Propagating Japanese yew: By cuttings, usually carried out by professionals, or seed. Uses of Japanese yew: The Japanese yew is widely used as a foundation plant, especially on the north or east sides of the home. It makes an excellent formal or natural hedge, and dwarf varieties -- of which there are many in different sizes, shapes, and colors -- are popularly used in rock gardens. Related species of Japanese Yew: English yew (Taxus baccata) and the hybrid yew (T. x media) are similar to the Japanese yew, although the English yew is less hardy (USDA zone 6). Scientific name of Japanese yew: Taxus cuspidata If you love the Japanese yew's berries but don't have an outdoor garden, consider growing it as a house plant. We'll show you how in the next section.Want more information on gardening and great plants you can grow? Try: - Shade Gardens: You don't need loads of direct sunlight to create a lush retreat in your yard, garden, or patio space. Learn how to plant a vital shade garden. - Shade Garden Plants: Find out about stunning options for planting that will make your shade garden unique and lovely. - Garden Types: There are many ways to cultivate a lush oasis around your home. Read about all the different types of gardens you can create. - Gardening: Get great tips on how to keep your garden healthy and thriving.

PSim Home > York Corpus Christi Play [ Staging | Contexts | Origin | Glossary ] |Introduction Contexts Chronology||For an historical anecdote illustrating how the religious, economic, and civic life of the medieval Christian were inextricably linked, read "A Christ Taken Prisoner" The outdoor theatrical event in the medieval city of York, England, known to its performers and audiences as the "Corpus Christi Play," is a collection of brief religious plays that together represent the story of Christian salvation. The York cycle is one of four that have survived in more or less complete form. The others are known as Chester, Wakefield, (after the cities where they were performed) and N-Town (now identified with no known city, but formerly identified as Townley). The York cycle was performed nearly every year, on the feast of Corpus Christi (Latin for the Body of Christ). The plays were already an established tradition in the late 14th century, and they continued in one form or other (weakened by Protestant censorship) until the mid-to-late 16th century. Nobody knows who wrote the plays, or even how many authors there were, although the group of plays describing the Passion seems to bear the stamp of an exceptional dramatist now called "the York Realist." The plays date from the time before England's separation from the Church of Rome; as such, they emphasize the sacraments and rituals of the Catholic faith and urge people to salvation through active membership and participation in the community of worshippers. Since the plays were performed as part of a day-long celebration of Corpus Christi -- the presence of the Body of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist -- they upheld the authority of the Church as a theological and moral guide for living in this world and the next. To begin to understand the popularity and significance of the Corpus Christi plays, we must first recognize the significance of the feast being celebrated. During the early middle ages, as church architecture and artistry moved away from the conservatism necessitated by its beginnings as a renegade faith in a Pagan world, and as the rituals surrounding Christian worship grew more intricate, the interior design of churches evolved. As the churches grew in size, the altar grew more elaborate, and the people moved proportionately farther away from it; communion rails developed because it was inconvenient to have crowds rushing the ornate altars to receive the Host. These rails eventually developed into a screen of bars or wooden slats, behind which the priest would say the mass. In addition, the priest and the congregation both faced the tabernacle on the back wall, the end result being that the priest blocked the people's view of most of the mass. Over generations, the faithful began to associate the unseen elements of the service with an air of mystery. Only when the priest lifted the consecrated wine and bread over his head in prayer -- a gesture known as the Elevation -- did the people get a clear view of the action. In the cities people ran from church to church to see the elevated Host as often as possible, since they assumed that the more Elevations you saw, the more grace you would acquire. At the end of the twelfth century, stories began to circulate of miracles that had occurred at the moment of Elevation -- people had seen visions, the Host shone like the sun, a tiny child had appeared in the priest's hands, and so forth. In some congregations the majority of the faithful waited for the ringing of the sance-bell, which signaled the approaching consecration, before they even deigned to enter the church, and then, as soon as the Elevation was concluded rushed out again as quickly as they had come in. People started lawsuits to ensure that they obtained pews which provided a favourable view of the altar, and some priests even took bribes to protract the Elevation. (Harris 75)To address this growing problem, in 1264, Pope Urban IV suggested a new religious celebration that would bring the consecrated host out into the streets so that those who wished to gaze and meditate upon it could have their fill without disrupting the other business of the mass. This joyful celebration, which began to establish itself about 50 years later, served as an important counterpoint to the medieval obsession with the sinful state of fallen humanity; it was an opportunity for the "good Christian" to reflect upon the promises of Christ, not merely upon the consequences of human sin. The Mass, in Urban's words, should be a "glorious act of remembrance, which fills the minds of the faithful with joy at their salvation and mingles their tears with an outburst of reverend jubilation." Medieval drama served as a religious outlet; and, in an age when most people were illiterate, took an important place alongside stained glass windows and statues in spreading the Christian message to the general public. For instance, the play depicting the birth of Christ includes a long monologue delivered by a learned man directly to the audience-- it is a sermon explaining the significance of Old Testament prophecies that point to the Nativity. The speaker ensures that the audience understands everything they need to know in order to appreciate more fully the significance of the events that the actors are about to portray. The actors then, become living icons, windows into the spiritual realm, which never seemed very far off to the medieval mind. During the early part of the Corpus Christi period, the Corpus Christi plays were part of a larger celebration on the feast of Corpus Christi. The community leaders, including the religious authorities, the elected town officials, and the masters of the guild, assembled for a pre-dawn torchlight procession in honor of the Body of Christ-- a consecrated host was carried at the head of the procession. The play wagons would follow behind. The York pageant was completely interwoven into society. Throughout the year, the elected officials -- known as the City Fathers -- used the York play as a way for the local government to regulate business. For instance, when the merchant guild imported leather, impinging on the tanners' livelihood, the merchants were ordered by the city officials to pay a fine; half of the fine went to the city, and the other half went to pay the tanners' expenses for mounting the next year's pageant. Similarly, if a guild defaulted on a play, caused delays or disorder in the procession, or if a clergyman or burgher failed to show up to take his part in the procession, fines for these infractions went to the next year's production. In the York plays the past is a direct continuation of the present: Moses swears by the cross; Pilate calls his soldiers knights; everyone wears medieval garb. No attempt was made to hide this anachronism because nobody minded -- medieval people did not think of the world of the Bible as different from their own. Because each play was produced by a guild, there was a competition among the guilds to produce the best play. The guilds were economic, social and often religious groups, tied together in that unique medieval way. Within the plays are obvious and more subtle mercantile messages. For instance, the play of the construction of Noah's ark was produced by the wainwrights, or shipbuilders; Noah was probably played by a well-known shipbuilder, employing his craft with talent on loan from God. In the play put on by the cloth dyers, Jesus is dressed in white, which one of the mockers calls the color of fools -- suggesting, in essence, the audience members are fools unless they pay to have their clothing dyed. The winesellers did the (now lost) Wedding Feast of Cana, the Bakers did the Last Supper, and the Chaundlers -- who made candles and chandeliers -- did the play with the Star of Bethlehem. The Mercer's wagon for the play "Doomsday" included special effects -- a pulley-operated platform that Christ rides up and down from heaven; smoke for a gaping hell mouth, into which the sinners were thrown; miniature angels that seemed to run around the heavens in a circle; and of course, costumes, music, and a choir of voices. Although scholars used to think that all of society revolved around the guilds, the guild structure was largely undeveloped before the Black Death (14c). Modern Marxists imagined the guilds were labor organizations, developed by the rising working class to protect their economic and political rights. More recent research suggests that the guilds were formed by the city officials in order to organize and control various conflicting business interests. They were run not by workers but by the bosses -- master guildsmen who controlled who was hired and who got training; these masters aspired to be landlords and city officials, and moved freely in these circles. For the few at the top of the guild structure, the York Play might have been part of a class struggle being waged in the city. The working class did have its own organizations, called "Fraternities." These were similar to the modern JayCees, Knights of Columbus or Shriners; they were attached to a specific parish and focusing on charity -- an enormous amount of which was needed in the days before large-scale government social programs. To modern Christians, the term "religious theater" tends to conjure up images of terrified but cute kids wearing dishtowels on their heads at Christmas time, or silly-looking adults playing guitars and singing with puppets. Because the feast being celebrated is named for the body of Christ, the York plays emphasize the importance of that body, dwelling on its actions, its symbolic significance, and, of course, its death and resurrection. Many Protestants will be uncomfortable with the play's presentation of Christ's suffering, as well as the implied and direct significance of "the body of Christ" and its relationship to the bread and wine offered during Christian worship. A colleague of mine recently rolled his eyes and moaned in mimicry of traditional paintings of Christ's passion, calling such images "offensive" to an Evangelical Protestant mindset. During the Reformation, all artistic reminders of the medieval church, and the public's lingering attachment to them, constituted grave threats to the new Protestant order, prompting Protestant reformers to act quickly to suppress them (see Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England c. 1400-1580). As a result, many protestant denominations have all but lost what was once a popular and powerful devotional tradition: affective piety -- a religious zeal which affects the emotions, by way of statues, images, and devotional legends which expound upon core religious messages. (See "Affective Piety," below). Every Easter in the Philippines, pious volunteers carry crosses through the streets and actually allow themselves to be temporarily crucified (with stainless steel nails sterilized in alcohol) in order to fully understand the grief and pain which Jesus underwent on the cross. Religious devotion which encourages the faithful to meditate deeply upon the physical and emotional sufferings of holy figures is called "affective piety." The Philippines example may be extreme; however, affective piety was an important part of medieval religious instruction, designed to stir the personal devotion of people living in a society that took religion for granted. In their private chambers, using a picture, a statue, or spoken prayers to feed their spiritual imagination, the devout entered into the suffering of Christ, a martyr or some other holy figure with a psychological totality that we today would probably describe as a very extreme form of method acting. Many modern Christians may be tempted to dismiss or ridicule such devotional practices, yet these same critics may have no problem with the idea of responding with powerful emotion to contemporary religious music or extemporaneous spoken prayer. Meanwhile secular culture provides many opportunities for people to cry over the imaginary troubles of soap opera characters, or to cheer or curse a televised sporting event. In the absence of television or recorded sound, the medieval faithful responded in much the same way to icons, statues, or music or dialogue from live performers. For more on affective piety, see "'Crucifye hem, Crucifye hem': The Subject and Affective Response in Middle English Passion Narratives", by Laurelle LeVert (a former classmate of mine). June, 1997 -- first published in (Re)Soundings 16 Jul 1999 -- updated for UWEC May 2003 -- updated for Seton Hill University PSim Home > York Corpus Christi Play [ Staging | Contexts | Origin | Glossary ]

Surface plasmon polaritons are collective longitudinal oscillations of electrons near a material surface, strongly coupled to an electromagnetic wave. The existence of coherent electron oscillations bound to the surface of a conductor were first predicted by Ritchie in 1957 and demonstrated by Powell and Swan[2,3] in 1959, but have recently experienced an explosion of interest due to their ability to efficiently manipulate light on a deep sub-wavelength scale. Because the electromagnetic wave is coupled to the motion of conduction band electrons bound to the material surface, the fields are strongly localized to the surface, opening up possibilities of sub-wavelength optical detectors and waveguides; compact, sensitive chemical detectors; and enhanced light-matter interaction. |Fig. 1: Dispersion relation for bulk plasmons, free-space electromagnetic waves, and surface plasmons.| Both bulk and surface plasmons have associated electromagnetic waves, and can consequently be described by Maxwell's equations. The coherent oscillations of electron motion can be encapsulated in the dielectric constant of the material. The derivation of the electromagnetic fields which characterize bulk and surface plasmons is done below, and those interested are encouraged to work out the results. To keep things brief however, the basic form of the bulk and surface plasmon solutions are shown below, along with a plot of the dispersion relation for these modes. The dispersion diagram relates the time-variation of the wave (given by its frequency &omega) to the spatial variation of the wave (given by its wave-vector kx). Bulk plasmons are associated with purely transverse electromagnetic waves, with the electric and magnetic fields perpendicular to the direction of propagation, and can only exist for &omega > &omegap (the plasma frequency). &omegap is the resonant frequency of free electrons in response to a perturbation (such as an electromagnetic field). For &omega < &omegap, the wave-vector for bulk plasmons becomes imaginary, giving an exponentially decaying wave instead of a propagating wave. It is for this reason that most metals are highly reflective for visible light (&omega < &omegap &asymp 10eV), but transparent for ultraviolet light (&omega > &omegap) [4, pg. 275]. Surface plasmons have an associated electromagnetic wave with both transverse and longitudinal field components. Such waves can only be excited at the interface between a conductor and dielectric, and are tightly bound to the surface. The fields reach their maximum at the interface (z=0), and exponentially decay away from the surface. The wave-vector of the surface plasmon mode (kspp) always lies to the right of the free space wave-vector (ko), such that &lambdaspp < &lambdao, where &lambdaspp is the wavelength of the surface plasmon and &lambdao is the wavelength of light in free space (vacuum). Additionally, this makes it impossible to directly launch a surface plasmon wave by illumination with free-space radiation: the free-space photons simply do not have enough momentum to excite the surface plasmon. As &omega increases, kspp gets larger and larger, moving further away from ko. As kspp increases, the surface plasmon wavelngth decreases and the wave is more tightly bound to the surface. This process has an upper limit of &omegasp, the surface plasmon resonant frequency, which occurs when the dielectric constant of the metal and the dielectric have the same magnitude but opposite signs. |Fig. 2: Schematic of a Kretschmann coupling setup for launching surface plasmons optically.| Surface plasmons were first predicted by Ritchie in 1957, and were experimentally verified by Powell and Swan[2,3] in 1959 with electron energy loss spectroscopy measurements. In these measurements, high energy electrons were used to bombard a thin metallic film and launch surface plasmons. The charge of the high energy electrons couples to the plasma oscillations of electrons in the metal; by tuning the energy and angle of incidence of the electrons, the wave-vector can be tuned and surface plasmons of a whole range of wavelengths can be excited. However, due to the high energy of the electrons, they have a very large momentum and it is difficult to precisely control the coupling: even a slight spread in energy or angle will result in a very broad range of surface plasmon wavelengths being excited. Additionally, only surface plasmons far along the dispersion curve, where kspp is largest, are generally excited. A more precise method to launch surface plasmons is through coupling with an incident electromagnetic wave (photon). As mentioned previously, direct excitation of surface plasmons by free-space photons is not achievable because kspp is always greater than ko; this can be seen in figure 1, where the surface plasmon dispersion relation always lies to the right of the free space dispersion curve. This can be overcome by back-side illumination through a material with a higher index of refraction (n), where the far-field radiation has a larger wave-vector (k=nko). This type of coupling geometry is shown in figure 2, and is known as a Kretschmann-Raether coupler. A surface plasmon will be efficiently excited when k|| = nkosin(&theta) = kspp. Kretschmann couplers are commonly used in experiments, but are limited to very thin films such that the high-k photon is able to tunnel through the film and couple to a surface plasmon on the lower-index surface. A more general approach to launching surface plasmons with light is the use of structured surfaces that are able to impart momentum on the photon, enabling it to couple to the surface plasmon mode. Anything from a single sub-wavelength disk or slit, to rectangular or sinusoidal diffraction gratings are used for this type of coupling. A thorough overview of surface plasmon coupling and patterned and rough surfaces is given by Raether. Surface plasmons have many interesting applications such as optical measurements of films, chemicals, and biological agents bound to a metallic surface; confinement and guiding of light below the classical diffraction limit; and enhanced light-matter interaction such as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). A few of the more interesting applications from the literature and industry are outlined below. Surface plasmon resonance sensors based on Kretschmann couplers can be used to make precise optical measurements at a metal-dielectric interface. The basic idea behind these detectors is encapsulated in the coupling condition discussed above for the Kretschmann geometry: k|| = nkosin(&theta) = kspp. Since the surface plasmon is tightly bound to the metal-dielectric interface, any changes in that interface will translate directly into changes in the surface plasmon wave-vector kspp. This will cause a corresponding change in the optimal excitation angle for the Kretschmann coupler; by measuring this angle, the change in kspp can be deduced, allowing for the change in the refractive index to be computed. These detectors are sensitive enough that they can measure a change in film thickness of just a single monolayer, or refraction index changes (for example, due to chemical binding events on a bio-functionalized gold surface) as small as 10-6 RIU (refractive index units). For example, the commercial sensiQ detector from Nomadics is capable of measuring binding events of just one picogram of protein/mm2. More recently, there has been an explosion of interest in surface plasmons on nanoscale patterned surfaces. Using modern nanofabrication facilities, it is possible to make structures with feature sizes much smaller than the wavelength of visible light (&sim 500nm). For example, enhanced transmission through arrays of sub-wavelength slits has been experimentally demonstrated and has promising applications in photolithography and high-density optical data storage. Because surface plasmons can be launched at optical frequencies with much smaller wavelengths, it is possible to manipulate the flow of light on the scale of tens of nanometers. This has led to the coining of the term "plasmonics", where surface plasmons are used to manipulate and transport information, analogous to electronics and photonics. Photonics has nearly unlimited bandwidth and almost no loss or dispersion, making it invaluable for high-throughput long-haul information networks. However, photonics components are diffraction-limited to micron-scale sizes, ruling out dense integration with nanoscale electronics. Plasmonics is potentially poised to bridge the tens of nanometer scale of modern electronics to the micron scale world of photonics. Many interesting devices, such as a 50nm metal-insulator-metal (MIM) surface plasmon waveguide capable of guiding 1.5um light even around 90o corners, have been proposed and are being actively investigated. Such devices have great promise, but also must overcome the limits imposed by the lossy propagation of surface plasmons in metals. The propagation lengths of surface plasmon waves in the visible and near infrared regimes are typically on the order of hundreds of microns on unpatterned surfaces, but drop to under thirty microns in sub-wavelength MIM waveguides. The propagation length in a modern optical fiber is drastically larger, on the order of kilometers. The small propagation lengths of surface plasmons are a significant hurdle in the practical implementation of plasmonics; however, researchers throughout the world are actively pursuing geometries which take account for this loss and new designs to limit the loss as much as possible. Surface plasmons have many exciting potential applications and rich underlying physics drawing heavily from solid-state physics and electrodynamics. Although known for over 50 years, there are still many unsolved theoretical and experimental problems in the field of surface plasmons. Additionally, with the use of modern nanofabrication techniques, a whole range of new plasmonic devices have become possible. Although not without their drawbacks, surface plasmon based devices have a plethora of laboratory and commercial applications--including the potential to revolutionize photonic-electronic integration with the burgeouning field of plasmonics. Both bulk and surface plasmons have associated electromagnetic waves, and can consequently be described by Maxwell's equations. The coherent oscillations of electron motion can be encapsulated in the dielectric constant of the material. A simple model for the motion of an electron in a conductor is a free electron driven by the field of the electromagnetic wave. This electron motion can then be converted into a dielectric constant by using the definitions of the dipole moment, electric susceptibility, and dielectric constant: |Fig. A-1: Dispersion relation for bulk plasmons and free-space electromagnetic waves.| &omegap is known as the plasma frequency. This dielectric constant can then be inserted into the standard electromagnetic wave equation The wave equation allows for the standard propagating wave solution, given by This is a valid solution provided that This is the dispersion relation of bulk plasmon polaritons propagating in a metallic film. The dispersion relation gives the correspondence between the time-dependence of the electromagnetic wave (&omega), and the spatial variation (k); the wavelength of the wave is given by &lambda=2&pi/k. Figure A-1 shows a plot of the bulk plasmon dispersion relation (solid line), along with the free space dispersion relation (&omega = ck). For frequencies above the plasma frequency &omegap, the metal supports propagating modes. For frequencies below &omegap, k becomes imaginary and the fields exponentially decay inside the metal. For typical metals, h&omegap/2&pi &asymp 10eV (in the ultra-violet); for semiconductors, h&omegap/2&pi < 0.5eV (in the terahertz regime). Although bulk plasmons, which can exist even deep inside a metal, do not exist for &omega < &omegap, there is an additional solution to Maxwell's equations for these frequencies: surface plasmons. Surface plasmons are propagating waves bound to plasmon oscillations of electrons at a metal-dielectric interface. The field intensity of the wave is at a maximum at the interface and exponentially decays away from the interface. The mathematical form of surface plasmons can be obtained by solving Maxwell's equations at a metal-dielectric interface: Assuming the metal-dielectric interface lies in the xy plane at z = 0, it can be shown that x-propagating surface waves of the following form are solutions to Maxwell's equations: with Ex,m = Ex,d (E|| continuous), &epsilonmEz,m = &epsilondEz,d (D&perp continuous), and Hy,m = Hy,d (B|| continuous); all other field components are zero. The subscript j is used to denote fields in the metal or dielectric. The dispersion relation for surface plasmons can be obtained by inserting the equations for E and H into Maxwell's equations and enforcing the boundary conditions: The dispersion relation, assuming &epsilonm = 1 - (&omegap/&omega)2, is shown in Fig. 1, along with the free-space and bulk plasmon dispersion relations. The surface plasmon dispersion relation always lies to the right of the free-space dispersion relations; as a result, free-space radiation does not have enough momentum to launch surface plasmons. Additionally, the magnitude of kx for the surface plasmon asymptotically approaches &infin as &omega approaches &omegasp, where &epsilonm = -&epsilond. For &epsilonm = 1 - (&omegap/&omega)2, &omegasp = &omegap / &radic(1 + &epsilond). As kx increases, the surface plasmon wavelength decreases and &kappaz increases, resulting in a rapidly varying surface wave that is more tightly confined to the surface. For smaller values of &omega, the surface plasmon wave vector approaches the light line, the surface plasmon and free-space wavelengths become more similar, and the surface wave becomes less and less strongly confined to the surface. For the simple free-electron model considered thus far, there is no loss in the system and the surface wave will have an infinite propagation length. In real materials, however, there is loss and the wave will only propagate a finite length. The propagation length will decrease as the surface wave becomes more tightly bound to the interface (as &omega approaches &omegasp), as the energy of the field becomes more concentrated in the metal. Consequently, there is a trade-off between confinement and propagation distance. A final property of interest that can be obtained from the dispersion diagram shown in figure A-2 is the group velocity of the surface wave. Any information carried by the wave will propagate at the wave group velocity, vg = (&part &omega / &part k). As &omega approaches &omegasp, vg asymptotically approaches zero. The dispersion diagram plots shown above were generated using matplotlib, an open source plotting library written in Python; the source code of the python script for the plots can be downloaded here. The images of the above equations were generated using latex and latex2html; the .tex file can be downloaded here. The figure of the Kretschmann-Raether coupler was drawn in Inkscape, an open source vector graphics editor; the svg file can be downloaded here. © 2007 Justin White. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author. R. H. Ritchie, Phys. Rev. 106, 874 (1957). C. J. Powell and J. B. Swan, Phys. Rev. 115, 869 (1959). C. J. Powell and J. B. Swan, Phys. Rev. 116, 81 (1959). C. Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics, 7th ed. (Wiley, 1995). E. Kretschmann, Z. Phys. 241, 313 (1971), H. Raether, Surface Plasmons on Smooth and Rough Surfaces and on Gratings (Springer, 1988), pp 1-133. http://www.nomadics.com T.W. Ebessen et. al, Nature 391, 667 (1998). S.A. Maier et. al, Adv. Mat. 13, 1501 (2001). G. Veronis and S. Fan, Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 131102 (2005). J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd ed. (Wiley, 1998).

The Life and Martyrdom of Polycarp (Born about 70 A.D. - Martyred about 168 A.D.) Pastor David L. Brown, Ph.D. I have an old book in my study that says on its spine "Wake's Epistles." It was printed in 1710. This book contains some of the history and letters of the post-Apostolic preachers and accounts to their suffering and martyrdom. On page 52 there is a chapter on the martyrdom of Polycarp, pastor of the Church of Smyrna. Briefly, let me share with you the story of his life and his death. Polycarp was born abound 70 A.D. He was sold as a slave in his childhood to a wealthy woman named Calisto. She reared him as her son. He came to know Christ as his Savior in those early years. As he grew older, he had the opportunity to study under the Apostle John and others who had personally sat under the teaching of Jesus Christ. Polycarp was actively involved in serving the Lord in the Church of Smyrna. Upon the death of Calisto, he became heir to all of her estate. He used his inheritance to advance the cause of Christ and to help those who were in need. When the of his church, Pastor Bucolos, died the Apostles and particularly the Apostle John appointed Polycarp to be the Pastor of the Church of Smyrna. Polycarp faithfully ministered in that church for many years. Persecution of Christians was the order of the day when Marcus Aurelius was the Emporer of Rome (161-180). For many years Polycarp was spared. But, the full forced of persecution was unleashed on Polycarp in the later years of his ministry. Three days before he was arrested the Lord revealed to him in a dream that he would be burned at the stake. When the soldiers came to get him, his friends insisted on hiding him. Polycarp made it clear that in the future, he would not all himself to be hidden. Soon the soldiers discovered where he had been taken. When he saw them coming, he went out and greeted them warmly and offered them food. As they were eating, he requested that he be allowed to pray before they took him away. His request was granted. For two hours he prayed fervently out loud and my book says, "inasmuch that many of the soldiers began to repent, that they were come out against so godly an old man." When he was done praying they set him on a donkey and took him into the city to be tried as one who was an adversary of the authorized pagan religion. When he arrived, they sat him in a chariot and began to urge him to say the Caesar was God and offer a sacrifice to him. They said, there is no harm in that is there? At first he refused to answer. Finally, after they continued to press him Polycarp said, "I shall not do what you would persuade me to." This made his judges very angry. They had confidently supposed that they would be able to easily persuade him to do what they wanted him to do. They became vicious in their words and actions. They literally threw him out of the chariot he had been sitting in, which cause serious injury to his thigh. This display of force incited the blood thirsty mob to the point that they were so loud in their curses and jeers that no one could hear. As they were dragging Polycarp to the place of execution, a voice rang out from Heaven loud and clear, above the harangue of the crowd which said, "Be strong, Polycarp, and quit thyself like a man." [The phrase "quit you" means, to carry through, or perform to the end. Hence, be strong and stand like a man to the end.] The record states that while no one saw who it was that spoke to Polycarp, many of the believers who were in the crowd clearly heard the voice also. To be sure, Polycarp stood for the Lord Jesus Christ to the end, despite all the efforts to persuade him to renounce Christ. One of the judges tried to get him to deny his faith by saying, "Reverence thy old age Swear by Casear's Fortune. Repent, and say; Take away the Wicked." The historian goes on to say, "Polycarp, looking with a stern countenance upon the whole multitude of wicked Gentiles, that was gathered together in the Lifts, and shaking his hand at them, looked up to Heaven, and groaning said, Take away the Wicked." But the judge was not satisfied with this. He said, "Sware, and I will set thee at liberty; reproach Christ." It is at this point that Polycarp gives his famous response -- "Eighty and six years have I now served Christ, and he has never done me the least wrong: How then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?" The judge then angrily urges him to, "swear by the Genius of Caesar." Polycarp refuses, but offered to share his faith in Christ. The judge rejected the offer and threatened, "I have wild beasts ready, to those I will cast thee except thou repent." Polycarp responds calmly, "Call for them then: For we Christians are fixed in our minds not to change from good to evil; But for me it will be good to be changed from Evil, to Good." The furious judge said, "Seeing that thou dispiseth the Wild Beasts, I will cause thee to be devoured by Fire, unless thou shall repent." Polycarp answered, "Thou threatenest me with Fire which burns for an hour, and so is extinguished; but knowest not the Fire of the Future Judgment, and of that Eternal Punishment, which is reserved for the Ungodly. But why tarriest thou? Bring forth what thou wilt!" The judge loudly cried out three times, "Polycarp has confessed himself to be a Christian." The mob responded in fury, "This is the Doctor of Asia; The Father of the Christians; an the overthrower of our Gods. He that has taught so many not to sacrifice, nor pay any worship to the Gods." At first they cried out that the lions should be loosed on him and then that he should be burned alive. They took Polycarp to the stake and were going to nail him there. He spoke up and said, "Let me alone as I am: For he who has given me strength to endure the Fire, will also enable me, without your securing me by nails, to stand without moving in the pile." The merely tied him to the stake. He prayed this prayer before the fire was was kindled -- Lord God Almighty, the Father of thy Well-beloved, and Blessed Son, Jesus Christ, by whom we have received Knowledge of thee; the God of Angels and Powers, and of every Creature, and especially the whole Race of Just Men who live in thy presence! I give thee hearty thanks that thou hast vouchsafed (allowed) to bring me to this Day, and to this Hour; that I should have a part in the Number of thy Martyrs, in the Cup of thy Christ, to the Resurrection of Eternal Life, both of Soul and Body, in the Incorruption of the Holy Ghost. Among which may I be accepted this Day before thee, as a fat and acceptable Sacrifice; as thou the true God, with who is no falsehood, has both before ordained, and manifested unto me, and also hath now fulfilled it. For this, and for all things else, I praise thee, I bless thee, I glorify thee by the Eternal, and Heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ they Beloved Son; whit whom to Thee and the Holy Ghost, be Glory both now, and to all succeeding Ages, AMEN. Upon the "AMEN" the executioner lighted the fire, but something strange happened. The flames arched around Polycarp like a sail of a ship filled with wind and he would not burn. After some time, the command was given to the executioner to stab him with a sword, so he did. The result was that so much blood flowed from the wound that it extinguished the fire. The fire was rekindled and Polycarps body was burned to ashes. Polycarp was faithful to the Lord unto death. And it is interesting to note that the congregation of the Church of Smyrna believed that the Apostle John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, penned Revelation 2:8-10 with their pastor, Polycarp, prophetically in mind. Revelation 2:8-10 says, And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; 9 I know thy works, and tribulation , and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. John wrote Revelation in about 96 A.D. and Polycarp was martyred in about 168 A.D. [Note: The Graphic of Polycarp is from Holy Transfiguration Monastery]

|Up a level| This activity gives students the chance to talk about the Summer School (also The ALE), to get them talking to fellow students after the experience of Jena/ ALE. This could be used online or face2face. This activity links with the Summer School and gives students another opportunity to develop confidence before the oral. These cue cards for use either online or face2face to enable students to share tips on surviving exams. Tutorial material collection covering work, talking about the past and tourism. Materials collection covering the topic Glueck, Wege, Philosophie and Ethik. Materials collection covering definitions of Kunst and describing comics and cartoons. Materials collection to discuss topics of praktische Philosophie and Ethik. A collection of activities centred around the topic of "Wohnen" and preparation of TMA1 In this first tutorial students get to know each other and learn about some basic functionalities of their online tutorial environment (Elluminate). This activity uses the same introductory whiteboard slides as L203Unit1Act1a (to familiarize students with Elluminate) but additionally includes some PowerPoints to trigger conversations about German-speaking countries. It is aimed at groups who have already met face-to-face and don't need another tutorial introducing themselves. For this activity students will need to do some preparatory work online using web addresses of German accommodation agencies to find a house, flat or room they like. They will then describe their chosen object in the tutorial and talk about their preferences. In this activity students discuss how they go about finding information, and talk about the benefits and disadvantages of a collaborative online encyclopedia like wikipedia. In this activity students write about their dreams for the future and then check each others writing by using a checklist. In this activity students talk about their working lives and discuss their views. They describe what their dream job might be like. Students talk about working conditions in different work environments. They exchange ideas and suggestions using conditional clauses and modal verbs. In this activity students discuss ideas for an internet start-up company and then present their suggestion. In this activity students discuss cultural differences between German-speaking countries and the UK. In this activity students discuss newspapers, in particular the tabloid press. In groups, they then write some tabloid-style articles. In this activity students collect arguments and have a debate on whether or not soap operas are a waste of time. In this activity students make plans for a new radio station. They use expressions of opinion and reported speech. In this activity students discuss the influence of different mass media on their audiences. In groups, they prepare and deliver a presentation on the topic. In this activity students discuss how they think the internet might change in the future. They make suggestions for desirable developments and react to the suggestions of others. In this activity students discuss what art means to them. Students debate whether the internet is the death toll for books. Before this tutorial students should have read the story "Das Judenauto" by Franz Fühmann. They will discuss the story and find out more about its author. In this activity students talk about their own and other people's definition of "Glück". Students discuss pilgrimages and join a web tour of a traditional walk. They then devise their own route. After some preparatory steps students engage in a debate about the commercialisation of religious festivals or other traditional celebrations. Students talk about aspects of GDR history and plan a visit to the Gedenkstätte in Hohenschönhausen. A group&pair work activity in which students exchange info and look for a suitable member for their WG. Many thanks to Dr Beatriz de los Arcos - whose original idea I have adapted to produce this resource. Beatriz' resource can be found here: http://loro.open.ac.uk/969

One of my favorite books, How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?, is perfect for this time of year. Children estimate how many pumpkin seeds are in pumpkins of varying sizes. In order to find the number of seeds, children count by 2s, 5s, and 10s, and learn that the smallest pumpkin actually has the most. Maybe you'll want to read it and do some of the "Pumpkin Problem Solving" or "Fall Math Activities" over at Mathwire...one of my FAVORITE math idea sites! ;)

Recently, I have been (re)reading Fitelson and Hawthorne's extensive and thorough discussion of "The Wason task(s) and the paradox of confirmation", which revived a puzzling little thought that I have. Wason's selection task is widely known, I guess. You have four cards as follows: Each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other. A hypothesis is at issue, i.e., H = "for any card, if there's a vowel on one side, then there's an even number on the other side". Your task is to say which of the cards you need to turn over in order to find out whether H is true or false. (I want to be very careful here with the wording - I'm closely following Johnson-Laird & Wason, 1977, via Humberstone, 1994). [Edit: By the way - I forgot to say! - people strongly tend to choose the E- and the 4-card. The point is if this makes logical sense.] Two cases have to be clearly distinguished: either (i) the domain of H is restricted to the four cards initially presented, or (ii) a larger deck is involved, from which those four cards have been sampled. If (ii) is allowed for, then very interesting issues arise (most famously tackled by Oaksford and Chater, 1994). However, Wason had (i) in mind, and everyone seems to agree that in that case the correct answer is: turn over the E- and the 7-card. Why? From Wason on, the standard answer has been more or less the same: because only by turning the E- and the 7-card you could possibly falsify H. (Wason's experimental idea was apparently inspired by his knowledge of Popper.) But the logical point seems stronger than that: if the domain is restricted, then H is logically equivalent to "there's an even number behind E and a consonant behind 7". Logically equivalent - period. Not just such that it would otherwise be falsified. The proof is easy, and it provides ultimate motivation for why the selection of E and 7 is indeed compelling (recall how the question is spelled out: which cards are needed to find out whether H is true or false). Yet I have consistently found variants of the "Popperian" argument, and never seen an overt statement of that plain logical equivalence. I'd be happy to know if anyone alse ever has. Humberstone, L. (1994), "Hempel meets Wason", Erkenntnis, 41 (1994), pp. 391–402. Johnson-Laird, P.N. & Wason, P.C. (1977), "A theoretical analysis of insight into a reasoning task", in P.N. Johnson-Laird & P.C. Wason (eds.), Thinking: Readings in Cognitive Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 143-157. Oaksford, M. & Chater N. (1994), "A rational analysis of the selection task as optimal data selection", Psychological Review, 101 (1994), pp. 608–631.

Euler Line Proof Date: 11/13/2001 at 23:58:00 From: Natalie Loser Subject: Euler line Prove that if the Euler line of a triangle passes through a vertex, then the triangle is either right or isosceles. Date: 11/14/2001 at 03:05:52 From: Doctor Floor Subject: Re: Euler line Hi, Natalie, Thanks for writing. If (for instance) vertex A lies on the Euler line, then the Euler line of ABC is the line through A and the centroid G = the median through A. So the midpoint of BC is on the line as well. Now if the orthocenter H lies on the median through A, this means that either: - A is not equal to H. Then the median through A is also the altitude from A, and thus ABC is an isosceles triangle with A as top. - A is equal to H. Then A is a right angle, because AB must be the altitude from B to AC, and AC must be the altitude from C to AB. This proves your statement. If you need more help, just write back. Best regards, - Doctor Floor, The Math Forum http://mathforum.org/dr.math/ Search the Dr. Math Library: Ask Dr. MathTM © 1994-2015 The Math Forum

As space exploration geared up in the 1960s, scientists were faced with a new dilemma. How could they recognize life on other planets, where it may have evolved very differently—and therefore have a different chemical signature—than it has on Earth? James Lovelock, father of the Gaia theory, gave this advice: Look for order. Every organism is a brief upwelling of structure from chaos, a self-assembled wonder that must jealously defend its order until the day it dies. Sophisticated information processing is necessary to preserve and pass down the rules for maintaining this order, yet life is built out of the messiest materials: tumbling chemicals, soft cells, and tangled polymers. Shouldn’t, therefore, information in biological systems be handled messily, and wasted? In fact, many biological computations are so perfect that they bump up against the mathematical limits of efficiency; genius is our inheritance. DNA stores information at a density per unit volume exceeding any other known medium, from hard disks to quantum holography.1 It’s so dense that all the world’s digital data could be stored in a dot of DNA the weight of eight paper clips. This remarkable storage density is paired with an equally remarkable reading mechanism. A developing embryo must self-direct the rapid division, migration, and specialization of its constituent cells based on the information stored in DNA. Cells diverge from one another to grow in different ways, depending on their position in the embryo. This means that precise control of gene expression is necessary both in space and in time. Even minor errors could spell death or deformity for the organism. The question is, how quickly and effectively can spatial information be communicated in order for development to unfold properly? Alan Turing, the father of modern computing, was fascinated by the idea that life might be reducible to mathematical laws, and tackled this question in the early 1950s. He predicted that the spatial patterning of tissues during embryonic development could be controlled through the concentration of chemical signalers, called morphogens. He derived equations showing that interactions between morphogens that activate and inhibit one another’s gene expression could set up standing waves of morphogen concentration, and control embryonic patterning. With just four variables—production and degradation rates, diffusion rate, and interaction strength—Turing could reproduce biologically plausible, self-directed pattern formation. His prediction of a chemical system of information management was proven true decades later with the first discovery of a morphogen in fruit flies, called bicoid (though his equations proved to be too simple). Cells in a fruit fly embryo with high bicoid concentration become the fly’s head, and those with lower concentration become its body. What is remarkable, however, is how quickly and accurately these cells differentiate. In 2007, a team led by Princeton biophysicist Thomas Gregor measured the concentration gradient and diffusion rate of bicoid in fruit fly embryos. They estimated that it would take around two hours for embryonic cells to measure the morphogen concentration with enough precision for adjacent cells to mature differently (measurement precision increases with measurement time). But this is nearly the entirety of the fruit fly’s developmental period, from fertilization to cellularization. The embryo was developing faster and more precisely than should have been possible. Gregor proposed that multiple cells could be sharing information with each other using a second signaling chemical: One candidate is a morphogen called hunchback. This would allow them to compute a spatial average of bicoid concentrations, rather than relying entirely on individual readings. The averaging process would be less susceptible to variation and noise, and would allow the required pattern accuracy to be achieved in about three minutes, rather than two hours. The process is not just ingenious, but efficient. To find out how efficient, physicist William Bialek used nucleus-by-nucleus measurements of morphogens in fruit-fly embryos to study how closely hunchback concentrations followed changes in bicoid concentrations. He found that the fidelity of this information transfer was 90 percent of the theoretical maximum. A video interview with the author, Kelly Clancy. When an embryo develops into an adult, it confronts a new information processing challenge. Its body must learn how to sample and integrate both external and internal information. Odorant molecules signal a predator, prompting a rodent to flee. The setting sun triggers melatonin release, causing a cascade of effects throughout the body, inducing sleep. Internal chemoreceptors measure high carbon dioxide levels, causing an athlete to breathe faster. Information from microscopic measurements, sampled by disparate sensors, must be integrated and used to make macroscopic decisions that are efficiently communicated back out to relevant body parts. Here, too, nature has discovered an optimal solution, whose details can be read in the shapes of our anatomical structures. One of the earliest observations of a mathematical relation in biology was that almost every living creature in every ecosystem on the planet, spanning more than 20 orders of magnitude in size from uni- to multi-cellular, has features that scale with the mass of the organism, including heart rate, life span, aorta size, tree trunk size, and metabolic rate. This is called allometric scaling. A rule of thumb common in the halls of Intel was programmed into our bodies eons ago. Strangely, the relationship between these features and an organism’s mass usually follows a power law. That means, for example, that metabolic rate depends on the organism’s mass, raised to some constant power. Even stranger, the constant for the majority of these features is some multiple of one fourth. Physicist Geoffrey West has argued that this scaling results from the ubiquity of fractal-like networks within organisms. Fractals are structures that have similar structure at very different spatial scales—one familiar example is the vasculature of a leaf, whose branching geometry is replicated in miniature across the leaf’s surface. They can be found in a dizzying variety of systems, including our nervous system, blood vessels, capillaries in plant leaves, lung bronchioles, the calyxes of kidneys, neurons, root systems, and mitochondrial cristae. Why would nature use fractal geometry so regularly? Mathematically, fractals are interpreted as having a fractional dimension higher than the space they reside in: A fractal drawn on a two-dimensional sheet of paper, for example, has a higher dimension—say, 2.1. This is a useful feature, allowing nature to pack some part of a fourth dimension into three-dimensional space. To see why it might be useful, we can turn to a well-known result in the semiconductor industry, called Pollack’s Rule. It states that the speedup achievable by adding computing elements to a processor is proportional to the number of added elements, raised to the power of (1-1/D), where D is the dimension in which the processors are arranged. A three-dimensional arrangement of, say, 100 processors will give a greater boost than a two-dimensional arrangement of those same processors, due to reduced signal latency. The same kind of speedup can be achieved in our nervous and circulatory systems with a D of greater than three. A rule of thumb common in the halls of Intel was programmed into our bodies eons ago; the fractal arrangement of our biological sensors and the nerves that connect them are designed for speed. The brain represents the height of biological information processing and transmission. But for years, it’s been considered a noisy instrument. Neurons code information with binary electrical events called spikes, shocking one another like tiny batteries. Once a neuron receives enough input that its voltage passes a certain threshold, it will spike in turn, sending its signal to downstream neurons. Fluctuations in the summed output of the brain’s 100 billion neurons, as measured by an electroencephalogram, or EEG, are much smaller than the amplitude of individual spikes, and were long thought to be epiphenomenal: pointers to various brain states, but not an information-carrying signal in itself. In other words, noise. Slow oscillations in the brain are coherent over large anatomical distances, in the same way you can hear the bass from your neighbor’s sound system better than the treble. Yet, as we saw with genetic expression, interactions among many discrete elements can be incredibly useful. It’s becoming clear that the so-called noise seen in an EEG is actually an important signal, and one that is crucial to neural computation. The fluctuation of the summed output of the brain’s neurons feeds back to affect the resting potential of those neurons, bringing them closer to or farther from spike threshold. Slow oscillations (as found in drowsy or sleeping animals) are coherent over large anatomical distances, in the same way you can hear the bass from your neighbor’s sound system better than the treble. This is how the brain may be facilitating communication between disparate brain areas: If an individual spike is timed with the crest of the slow amplitude fluctuation, it will have a bigger effect downstream than if it is timed with a trough. Neurons are somehow coordinating themselves to generate self-directed, global feedback that serves to adaptively boost even sub-detectable signals: No informational signal is wasted. In fact, it is an open question whether the idea of “waste” can even be properly defined in the context of the brain. Theoretical neuroscientist Tony Bell argues that the hallmark of biological computation is that information flows across multiple hierarchies of complexity, bubbling up from microscopic to macroscopic levels and back down again. Simpler structures (like neurons) communicate with more complex structures (like areas of the brain), and vice versa. Computations are occurring on and between every level, from molecules to cells to organisms as a whole. There is a good deal of evidence that even the subcellular compartments within neurons are doing their own computations. Most recently, a study1 published in Nature in October 2013 showed that activity within dendrites (a compartment representing a neuron’s “input”) shapes the information processed by that neuron. Given this multi-level information flow, Bell argues that noise simply cannot be defined: Deviations from expectation should be interpreted as meaningful communication at another level of the complexity hierarchy. This information flow is not restricted to the brain, and can also be observed, for example, in epigenetics. Bell says this kind of dynamic multidirectional information flow is what defines life. Artificial intelligence, when it arrives, may not be built from silicon, but repurposed biology. Before we get there, though, we will need a vastly different approach to science in order to understand the higher-order, emergent capabilities of nature’s self-organizing structures. While biomimicry holds incredible promise, perhaps in so assiduously copying the physical design of systems we are missing the point: Form is transient in Nature, cast to meet shifting needs in a given niche. Determining the rules by which biology struck upon these ingenious solutions in the first place will spark the true revolution. Kelly Clancy studied physics at MIT, then worked as an itinerant astronomer for several years before serving with the Peace Corps in Turkmenistan. She is currently a National Science Foundation fellow studying neuroscience at UC Berkeley. 1. Smith, S., et al Dendritic spikes enhance stimulus selectivity in cortical neurons in vivo. Nature 503, 115-120 (2013).

The red backed shrike - also known as the "butcher bird" Following months of secrecy, hushed conversations, cloaks and daggers we can at last reveal that there is a new bird nesting in England. The red backed shrike last bred in the UK over in East Anglia in the early 1990s. But it has now returned to breed on Dartmoor with a hardy pair raising three youngsters. They are fascinating birds. I saw one of the last breeding pairs in the late eighties over in Suffolk. I clearly recall, even after 20 years, the male perched on a thorn bush gently flexing its silky black talons. Although they are passerines, in the same group of birds as our robins and blackbirds, they are also keen-eyed, sharp-billed predators that eagerly hunt small mammals, large insects and lizards. This is remarkable for a bird no bigger than your hand. They also have a habit that would see them at home in a 70s Hammer House of Horror flick. After catching their prey they often store it for later by impaling the hapless victim on a spike, be that a thorn or barbed wire fence. This rather gothic behaviour gave rise to their widespread title as "butcher birds". If you go back 50 years, red backed shrikes were not uncommon in England. Their general decline is something of a mystery, but the population is very much on the edge of its European range. Dartmoor - an ideal "bridgehead" for the species to re-colonise But we do know, that as they became scarcer their eventual fate was exacerbated by the unwanted attention of egg collectors who, in their fevered obsessions appeared to prize the shrikes' eggs above those of other birds. Although egg collecting has been consigned largely to a paltry footnote in the history books, there are still a small number of people willing to go to great lengths to lay their hairy palms on the eggs of rare species. And shrikes, we believe, are still near the top of their lists. The first news that the shrikes had settled came back in May 2010. Knowing they were immediately under threat, the RSPB, local birders from the Dartmoor Study Group and Forestry Commission mounted a huge operation to protect the birds. It's a good job we did, for within weeks the site received its first visit from known egg collectors. Who knows what was going through their minds, but we feel the protection we afforded the site was enough to dissuade them from satisfying their cravings. Nowadays, to be caught collecting carries a £5,000 per egg fine and possible custodial sentence. The watch, 24-hours a day, seven days a week, carried on throughout the summer. The team involved grew remarkably close to the birds, their behaviour, their favourite hunting grounds, the tree each bird preferred. When I visited back in early August I was impressed by the studied concentration of the people involved. To remain fixed on one spot for any length of time is no mean feat. Finally, after many anxious days in August, the youngsters appeared. Three in all, enthusiastically tended by their proud parents. While this was a relief, it meant no let-up in the protection operation. Being the only pair, they are hugely vulnerable and the slightest disturbance could spell disaster. And we still felt it right to maintain secrecy to give the newly fledged young the very best start. But now, with the family days away from their migration south, we decided to lift the lid on this remarkable operation, not least to share the good news and to pay thanks to all those who have willingly given up many hundreds of hours to watch over the shrikes. And next year? Well, we hope the birds fare well in their African wintering grounds and return to breed again in 2011. And we hope their young return to breed as well. Dartmoor is an ideal bridgehead for them to re-colonise. Conservation organisations and landowners have worked hard over the years to make the moor a welcoming place for wildlife, as this success bears witness. Who knows, if all goes well, give it 10 years and you might have butcher birds near you. Tony Whitehead is the RSPB press officer for the South West.

Accession Number : AD0704541 Title : BARRIER ISLANDS OF THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO COAST: SEDIMENT SOURCE AND DEVELOPMENT. Descriptive Note : Technical rept., Corporate Author : LOUISIANA STATE UNIV BATON ROUGE COASTAL STUDIES INST Personal Author(s) : Kwon,Hyuck J. Report Date : 31 DEC 1969 Pagination or Media Count : 61 Abstract : The evolution of barrier islands along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast is directly related to source of sediments and littoral processes. Johnson formulated his hypothesis on barrier island formation in 1919, and his theory prevailed for several decades. Johnson's theory resulted from consideration of only two dimensions normal to the coastline; a third, longshore drift, was not regarded as critical for the initiation of barrier island development. In this study, which is confined to the northern Gulf coast, major sources of sediment supply and transportation patterns of barrier forming sand were examined, along with results of recent oceanographic investigations in the Gulf of Mexico. This study is based on a comprehensive survey of the literature, maps, and marine charts, which were correlated with field observations. To obtain a perspective, only gross forms and processes of barrier development were considered. Evidence indicates that Santa Rosa Island, Mississippi Sound, and Bolivar Peninsula barriers developed downdrift of sediment-supplying coasts of Quaternary age. These barriers evolved with the Recent rise of sea level to its present stand. Apalachicola barriers formed on the flanks of the Pleistocene deltaic plain. Coasts such as the stretch between Destin and Panama City, Florida, and the zero-energy coast of Florida do not have barrier islands. In these cases the modern shoreline is abutted against Pleistocene deposits which are the local source of sediments. (Author) Descriptors : (*COASTAL REGIONS, MEXICO GULF), (*ISLANDS, SEDIMENTATION), SOURCES, TRANSPORT PROPERTIES, SAND, DEPOSITS, ESTUARIES, GEOLOGIC AGE DETERMINATION, DELTAS, OCEAN WAVES, TIDES, FLORIDA Subject Categories : Physical and Dynamic Oceanography Distribution Statement : APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

September 22, 2012 A new study conducted by the New York University of Medicine reports that packaged food is directly correlated to the obesity levels rising in American children because of their exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA). According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2003, 92.6 % of children 6 years and older had obviously measurable levels detected in tested urine. The study also concludes that BPA disrupts other multiple metabolic mechanisms. BPA has been identified as causation for recent early pubescent development in our children. Between the ages of 5 – 7 is the new average pubescent age, wherein this physiological change used to occur several years later just a generation ago. BPA is a highly toxic estrogen accelerator that is used in all plastic products commercially produced. The chemical mimics natural estrogen when leeched into the body. It offsets natural estrogen levels, causing the body to hasten its pubescent generation. Nearly all children are exposed to this chemical through plastic toys, pacifiers, bottles, sippy cups. Its influence on natural hormone distribution within the body has proven to be incredibly damaging. In April of this year, GlobalData surmised that manufacturers would produce 4.7 million metric tons of BPA to be used in plastics worldwide. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned its use in certain children’s products, it is widely used in packaging processed foods. In fact, the FDA claims that there is not enough convincing evidence to support the banning of BPA from use in food products, plastic packaging and personal care products. The FDA also asserted that there is insufficient scientific proof to justify restricting BPA’s use. Other chemicals linked to obesity in humans are: • Monosodium glutamate (MSG) • Pthalates (used in plastics) • PFOA (used in Teflon) also are harmful to the human immune system, liver and thyroid • Corn fed cows has higher levels of saturated fat in their beef • Arsenic (fed to pigs and chickens) affects the thyroid gland • Pharmaceuticals and medications in public water supplies negatively affect the natural chemical make-up of our bodies The claim by recent a recent study that obesity is linked to IQ, which was funded by the pharmaceutical industry serves to purvey the ideal that drugs are the answer to America’s weight problem. By determining the metabolic syndrome rate in a teenager, it is suggested that their cognitive brain function is compromised by their body mass index (BMI). The author of this study recommends using methods to develop a classification for overweight children in America so that the psychiatric industry can work together with the pharmaceutical corporations to develop drugs. Young people have been targeted as having a propensity toward becoming obese in rural areas. It was also noted that ethnicity played a part in the likelihood of becoming overweight. Blacks and Hispanics, according to the study, have a poor diet and are physically isolated, and do not necessarily have access to healthy food. The World Health Organization (WHO) have asserted that American over-consumption of food is a drain on global resources and unsustainable. Although Americans only account for 6% of the global population, more than a third of them are considered obese. WHO would like the average global body weight to be near emaciated levels to conserve food stores and reduce the human impact on the planet. Michelle Obama has remarked that the growing number of obese children in America is a threat to national security. Endocrinologist Robert Lustig of the University of California, San Francisco observes, “This epidemic of obese 6-month-olds. Since they’re eating only formula or breast milk, and never exactly got a lot of exercise, the obvious explanations for obesity don’t work for babies. You have to look beyond the obvious.” Early life exposure to traces of chemicals and hormone-mimicking pollutants, such as BPA, in the environment act on genes in the developing fetus and newborns and turn more precursor cells into fat cells. These chemicals cause the cells to hoard nutrients, directly causing weight gain in infants. They may even cause severe alterations in the body’s metabolic rate.

Osteoarthritis symptoms of the hand can include difficulty bending and flexing your fingers, joint pain, and morning stiffness. Along with joint swelling and crepitus, common with finger arthritis, Heberden’s nodes can also appear. Heberden’s nodes are growths of bone on the distal interphalangeal joints (DIPs). These bumps can be a clear indication of hand osteoarthritis. Dr. William Heberden (1710 – 1801) was an english doctor who first described these bumps: “What are those little hard knobs, about the size of a small pea, which are frequently seen upon the fingers, particularly a little below the top near the joint? They have no connection with the gout, being found in persons who never had it: they con- tinue for life: and being hardly ever attended with pain, or disposed to become sore, are rather un- sightly than inconvenient, though they must be some little hindrance to the free use of the fingers.” Dr. Heberden was ahead of his time. He didn’t believe in blood-letting, sweating, and purging – all common treatment options during that day and age. He was known as the “Father of Observation”. An ice pack or finger splint can help.

(b Epsom, Surrey, 13 Dec. 1903; d Fawley Bottom, Buckinghamshire, nr. Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, 28 June 1992). English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, designer, and writer. He reluctantly became an articled clerk in his father's legal firm, but took up the study of art after his father's death in 1926, first at the Richmond School of Art and then at the Royal College of Art. From 1928 to 1933 he wrote as an art critic for the Listener and the Nation and was among the first to recognize such contemporaries as William Coldstream, Ivon Hitchens, Victor Pasmore, and Ceri Richards. By the mid-1930s he was one of the leading British abstract artists, but by the end of the decade he had become disillusioned with non-representational art and reverted to naturalism. He concentrated on landscape and architectural views in an emotionally charged style that continued the English Romantic tradition (see Neo-Romanticism). Some of his finest works were done as an Official War Artist when he made pictures of bomb-damaged buildings. A similar stormy atmosphere pervades his famous views of country houses of the same period. Piper's work diversified in the 1950s and he became recognized as one of the most versatile British artists of his generation. He did much work as a designer of stage decor and of stained glass (notably at Coventry Cathedral) and was a prolific printmaker. In addition he made book illustrations and designed pottery and textiles. As a writer he is probably best known for his book British Romantic Artists (1942). He also compiled architectural guidebooks to several English counties, usually in collaboration with the poet John Betjeman.

Phlebotomy Jobs: An Overview Phlebotomy refers to the medical practice that revolves around extracting, essaying and experimenting blood. Usually, blood is extracted from human bodies for 3 main purposes. This can be for transfusion or donation and it can even be to test the presence of diseases within the human body. The technicians who get involved in extracting blood are referred to as phlebotomists. They are bound to make use of sterilized needles in order to extract the blood from the human veins. This blood drawn is further stored in vials for later essaying. Further to this extraction, the phlebotomist cleans up the area with cotton and sterile pads. A bandage is sometimes placed in the perforated area to stop bleeding. Phlebotomists who work at clinical laboratories get involved in essaying blood samples in depth. They try to understand the abnormalities present in the blood cells and further conduct experiments with it. Usually such personnel hold Bachelor’s degree in the field of medicine, anatomy and the like. To practice independently, they might also need to pass state conducted license examination and this might vary by location. Phlebotomists who work at veterinary clinics deal with blood samples of animals. They get involved in analyzing the samples of animals and defying the abnormalities in the blood of different animals in depth. Phlebotomists who work at research laboratories often get involved in blood analysis and discovery of new medications. This requires a doctoral degree in biology, chemistry or medicine. The most common advantages associated with Phlebotomy jobs are: * Getting into the entry level position is easy and requires minimal training in this arena. * The demand for Phlebotomists is usually unaffected by recession. * Growth in this arena would be easily possible provided the venture is associated with continuous education. Phlebotomy Jobs: Current Trends Currently, there is a boom for phlebotomy jobs, especially for individuals with good education, skills and training. The bulk of phlebotomy jobs seem to be occupied by the technicians at the laboratories who are associated with drawing human blood. Other phlebotomy jobs are also available at veterinary clinics and research laboratories. Individuals can get into the medical industry as phlebotomists with a high school diploma. However, there are employers who ask for certifications from differentiated medical schools or for associate degrees. Novices usually get training from either experienced phlebotomists or from nurses.

The name moonshine was taken from the term “moonlighter”, used by the English to describe the nighttime runners that smuggled brandy from France. Read more about the history of moonshine, and learn about how it’s made. Moonshine is a common term for home distilled alcohol; especially in places were the production is illegal. The illegal production of moonshine is usually associated with the Southern United States and Appalachia. Since my grandparents had a farm in the Appalachian Mountain Range, I am familiar with the making of moonshine. Not that I ever made any, I was just a child in the 1960’s, but I had kinfolks (as we call them in the south) who did make it. Now, I am not telling anyone to make moonshine. It is illegal and dangerous. Sloppily produced moonshine can be contaminated with toxins, mainly from the materials used in the construction of the still. Some folks use old car radiators for a condenser in their stills. The lead used to solder radiators and in some cases the glycol products from antifreeze are poisonous and potentially deadly. My family had a friend that was in a coma and suffered kidney damage after drinking contaminated moonshine. Thankfully, he lived but it could have easily gone the other direction. Moonshine is made from fermented corn mash distilled in a cooker. The name moonshine was taken from the term “moonlighter” used by the English to describe the nighttime runners that smuggled brandy from France. After World War I, the agricultural prices dropped so during Prohibition, many American farmers turned to making moonshine as a way to support their families. Cosby, Tennessee was known as the “Moonshine Capital of the World”. In the 1960’s it was claimed there were over 200 stills operating on any given day, each averaging 20 gallons a day. It was also locally claimed that they ran moonshine to Atlanta, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Asheville, as well as some unnamed northern cities. The first thing you need before you can make moonshine is a still. A typical mountain still uses a stone furnace for heat and a metal still for fermenting and heating the mash. Large barrels are used to collect the steam and for condensing the alcohol. It is always a smart moonshiner who locates his still next to a mountain stream where good cold water can be easily piped in to condense the steam from the liquor. - 50 lb of cornmeal - 200lb of sugar - 200 gallons of water - 12 oz of yeast. A hint: Don’t buy your sugar all in one place because it is a sure sign to the “revenuers” that you are going to make moonshine. - First carry all your supplies up to your mountain hideout. Have someone else there to keep the still nice and hot. - Bring the cornmeal to a boil add yeast and all your sugar to ferment the mash. - When the mash stops bubbling it is cooked in the still and the stream is captured in a barrel filled with cold mountain stream water. - The steam is allowed to cool and condensed by running it though a long copper coil submerged in another barrel with water in a trough from the near by cold mountain stream. - Once condensed. the clear liquor drips from the bottom of the still into a catch can – these are usually ½ gallon glass jars. Test your moonshine for alcohol content or proof by adding a small amount of gunpowder to it and igniting it. If it burns, and you are still alive, its proof is measured somewhere between 100 and 200 proof or 50% to 100% pure alcohol. Pour into jugs, old coffee cups or mason jars and enjoy. Will get the entire gang drunk or I am not a good old southern girl. Just remember this was only written for fun. Don’t let me see any of you out there making moonshine, and if you do don’t forget to invite me over.

New microfluidic devices found to be effective method of in-vitro fertilization in mice Early research suggests the emerging technology could be viable option for IVF ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Technology that more closely mirrors the natural fertilization process is showing promise as a new method of in-vitro fertilization, researchers at the University of Michigan Health System have found. The researchers found that microfluidics – an emerging area of physics and biotechnology that deals with the microscopic flow of fluids – can be used successfully for IVF in mice. They also found that lower total numbers and concentrations of sperm were required when using microfluidic channels instead of culture dishes. "This is an extension of the work we've done in recent years to use microfluidics to separate viable sperm from dead and immature sperm in order to maximize the potential chances of fertilizing an egg," says Gary D. Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, urology, and physiology at the U-M Medical School. "Now that we are using microfluidics for fertilization, what you are starting to see is the whole IVF process happening on a chip," says Smith, senior author of a study in Human Reproduction and director of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies Laboratory and of the Gamete Cryopreservation Laboratory at the Comprehensive Cancer Center. IVF is a process in which eggs are removed from a woman's body and fertilized with sperm outside the body. Fertilized eggs are then placed in the woman's uterus, where they can develop as in a normal pregnancy. The study, published online in the journal Human Reproduction, suggests that among other uses, microfluidic channels could be used in some – but not all – instances when a common form of insemination, known as ICSI, otherwise would be employed. ICSI, which stands for intracytoplasmic sperm injection, involves a single sperm being injected directly into an egg, or oocyte. Smith says ICSI still will be used in many situations, particularly when other types of fertilization have failed in the past, or when the man has an extremely low sperm count or motility. Smith does not think the use of microfluidics will replace ICSI, but he says it could offer another option to many couples whose situations do not require ICSI, a process that can cost an extra $1,500 to $2,500 in addition to standard IVF costs. "While ICSI bypasses all natural selection, the use of microfluidic channels more closely resembles in vivo insemination. The microfluidic environment also may possess conditions more suitable for efficient sperm-oocyte interaction than the culture dish," he says. During the early stages of the study, researchers found that, contrary to their initial hypothesis, a much lower fertilization rate was achieved with the microfluidic device (12 percent) than in culture dishes (43 percent). They then hypothesized that as sperm concentration is decreased, fertilization rates would improve in microchannels. At these lower concentrations, the combined fertilization rate was significantly higher in microchannels (27 percent) than in culture dishes (10 percent). The authors note that the research has only been conducted on mice, and that more testing and possibly the development of auxiliary technology will be needed before IVF by microfluidics is a viable option for humans. Still, the research is very promising, says lead author Ronald S. Suh, M.D., now with Urology of Indiana LLC in Indianapolis who was a resident in the U-M Department of Urology when he wrote the paper. "There has been a large amount of research on almost every aspect of IVF. The exciting thing we're seeing here is going the potential of integration of all of these things. In the future, you will be able to take patients with low sperm counts, use microfluidics to select the best sperm, and achieve fertilization in one step," he says. "That integration is really what is going to make microfluidics change IVF." In addition to Smith and Suh, other authors of the paper are Dana A. Ohl, M.D., professor of urology at the U-M Medical School; Shuichi Takayama, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering and of macromolecular science and engineering at the U-M College of Engineering; Xiaoyue Zhu, research fellow in biomedical engineering; and Nandita Phadke, research assistant in biomedical engineering. Portions of the research were supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the College of Engineering Technology Development Fund. U-M has applied for patents on the microfluidic technology involved in this study. Smith and Takayama have formed a company called Incept BioSystems and stand to profit from commercialization of the products. Source: Eurekalert & othersLast reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009 Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

Individual differences | Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology | The Academic Performance Index (API) is a measurement of academic achievement and progress of individual schools in California, United States. It is one of the main components of the Public Schools Accountability Act passed by the California legislature in 1999. API scores ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 1000. A numeric API score ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 1000. The interim statewide API performance target for all schools is 800. A school's growth is measured by how well it is moving toward or past that goal. An API score is calculated for all students in a school as well as numerous API scores for each subgroup at the school (such as by race, English Learner Status, students with disabilities, and socieconomically disadvantaged pupils). The API Statewide Rank score ranks a school with all schools in California based on API score, while the API Similar Schools score ranks a school with 100 other schools in the state with similar demographic profiles (including parent education level, poverty level, student mobility, student ethnicity). Each rank ranges from 1 to 10, with a score of 10 meaning that the school's API fell into the top 10%. Indicator of performanceEdit A school's score or placement on the API is designed to be an indicator of a school's performance level and is calculated annually by the California Department of Education, primarily based on CST and CAHSEE tests. Due to the API's heavy reliance on standardized testing (although some factors such as attendance and graduation rates are considered), many criticisms of standardized testing can also be leveled at the reliability and accuracy of API scores as an indicator of a school's level of "academic achievement." One criticism until recently was that a school's API score took no account of a school's student dropout rate. This created the incentive to let poorly performing students drop out, since this would increase a school's average test scores. SB 219 (Senator Darrell Steinberg, 2007) addressed this concern, however, by requiring schools' API scores to incorporate student dropout rates. These changes are expected to be implemented in 2011. The API is closely tied to monetary and incentive awards by setting Annual Percent Growth Targets for each school and whether the school met or exceeded this goal. The Public Schools Accountability Act also establishes The Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program and the Governor's High Achieving/Improving Schools Program. In addition, the API is used to determine Adequate Yearly Progress as a part of the No Child Left Behind Act. - Academic Performance Index (API) - Understanding the API - Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA) - Google - public data: Education Statistics of California: Academic Performance Index (API) |This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).|

|Home | About | Journals | Submit | Contact Us | Français| Classical αβ T cells protect the host by monitoring intracellular and extracellular proteins in a two-step process. The first step is protein degradation and combining with a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule leading to surface expression of this amalgam (antigen processing). The second step is the interaction of the T cell receptor (TCR) with the MHC-peptide complex leading to signaling in the T cells (antigen recognition). The context for this interaction is a T cell-antigen presenting cell (APC) junction known as an immunological synapse if symmetric and stable and that we have referred to as a kinapse if it is asymmetric and mobile. The physiological recognition of ligand takes place most efficiently in the filamentous (F)-actin rich lamellipodium and is F-actin dependent in stages of formation, triggering and myosin II dependent for signal amplification. This review discussed how these concepts emerged from early studies on adhesion, signaling and cell biology of T cells. The adaptive immune system is a sensory organ that monitors our inner spaces for evidence of infection or cancer, regulates steady state microbiota and avoids self injury (Krogsgaard and Davis, 2005). The primary filter for this sensor is the dendritic cell (DC), which samples tissue spaces and interfaces for novel macromolecular information (Steinman et al., 2003). DC respond to tissues injury and detect conserved microbial structures leading to changes in DC signals to T lymphocyte (T cells), to shape an appropriate response (Trombetta and Mellman, 2005; West et al., 2004). The largest part of the information is in the form of proteins broken down into peptides that form complexes with surface molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC-peptide complexes) that allow DCs to share this information with T cells expressing the T cell antigen receptors (TCR). An individual has a few hundred T cells that can detect any foreign MHC-peptide complex with single molecule sensitivity (Irvine et al., 2002; Sykulev et al., 1996). This sensitivity evolved by necessity because although the DC may express up to a million MHC molecules, it also samples thousands of proteins, most of which are self-proteins (Trombetta and Mellman, 2005). Thus, each T cell that contacts a DC needs to sort through this huge complexity of ligands and then focus on a few tens or hundreds of ligands that bind the TCR. This ultrasensitive process is still poorly understood, but clues are being discovered at an accelerating rate such that some critical answers are on the horizon. In the 1980’s it was shown that antigen recognition and actin dependent adhesion were integrated processes (Dustin and Springer, 1989); in the 1990’s it was discovered that the actin rich lamellipodium was the most sensitive part of this sensitive cells (Valitutti et al., 1995a); and in the present decade we and others have begun to examine single molecule dynamics of TCR signaling complexes (Douglass and Vale, 2005). This review will describe the cellular context of TCR signaling reactions, which include an important niche based on F-actin rich lamellipodia that can be elaborated in motile and arrested cells. The TCR and adhesion molecules were identified by antibodies in the same burst of activity to discover the receptors involved in lymphocyte function by screening for inhibitors (Sanchez-Madrid et al., 1982; White et al., 1983). The last piece of the molecular puzzle, the structure of an MHC-peptide complex, was determined in 1987 (Bjorkman et al., 1987). This structure clarified the highly competitive nature of binding short peptides to the MHC molecule in a relatively stable manner (Babbitt et al., 1985). Thus, each TCR is locked into recognizing a small number of antigenic structures and each MHC molecule presents a single peptide. DCs use a limited numbers of any single MHC-peptide ligand to search through a vast repertoire of T cells. Thus, powerful mechanisms are needed to coordinate the search and response. Early work on the T cell signaling response to TCR-MHC-peptide interactions revealed rapid elevation of and protein kinase C activation and cytoplasmic Ca2+ down-stream of a tyrosine kinase cascade (Samelsonet al., 1986). Parallel studies on the adhesion molecule LFA-1 demonstrated that it was regulated by an F-actin and energy dependent mechanism that could be activated by phorbol esters (Marlin and Springer, 1987). LFA-1 was found to mediate adhesion by binding to a family of adhesion molecules including ICAM-1, whose expression reflects the innate immune activation of tissues (Dustin et al., 1986). Resting T cells are non-adhesive to ICAM-1 coated surfaces when freshly isolated from peripheral blood, but become more adhesive to ICAM-1 after triggering of TCR signaling (Dustin and Springer, 1989). The time course of adhesion activation closely followed the time course of TCR signaling: a process of “inside-out signaling” (Dustin and Springer, 1989). In the case of LFA-1, a candidate molecular mechanism for this activation was binding of talin to the cytoplasmic domain of LFA-1 (Smith et al., 2005). Talinis recruited to sites of LFA-1 interaction with ligands on APCs and this is a more sensitive process with respect to antigen dose than cytokine production or proliferation (Kupfer and Singer, 1989). The parallel field studying lymphocyte trafficking revealed that LFA-1 can also be acutely activated by G-protein coupled receptors that are associated with lymphocyte homing (Lawrence and Springer, 1991). Thus, LFA-1 regulation is a cornerstone in both body-wide navigation of lymphocytes through vascular interaction and the coordination of antigen recognition and strong, transient adhesion leading to the immunological synapse in tissues. Specific signaling pathways are required for inside out signaling from TCR to LFA-1. The adapter molecule ADAP and its partner SKAP-55 have been shown to contribute to about half of TCR triggered adhesion (Peterson et al., 2001). This process is integrated with F-actin at both the level of the TCR signal as discussed below and directly through the interactions of ADAP through Ena-VASP family members, which are involved directly in actin polymerization and contribute to regulation of Arp2/3 (Krause et al., 2000). SKAP-55 forms a complex with RIAM (Menasche et al., 2007), which binds to active Rap-1, a small G-protein related to Ras that is required for regulation of adhesion in lymphocytes. Activation of Rap-1 downstream of tyrosine kinase cascades requires a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) called C3G. TCR signaling activates C3G by a cascade involving Vav, a GEF for Rac (Krawczyk et al., 2002). Recent evidence suggests that Rac activates the WAVE2 complex, which activates Abl and CrkL-C3G to increase active Rap1 (Nolz et al., 2008). The Rap-1-RIAM complex then contributes to activation of talin, which directly binds to the β2 cytoplasmic domain in the critical hinge region to activate and cluster LFA-1 (Smith et al., 2005; Tadokoro et al., 2003; Wegener et al., 2007). This pathway accounts for the strong correlation of LFA-1 dependent cell-cell adhesion and talin accumulation at the interface. Another connection to F-actin is observed in the APC. DC mediated antigen presentation is an active process that requires small G-proteins of the Rac family and intact F-actin (Al-Alwan et al., 2003; Benvenuti et al., 2004). This may be in part due to the interaction if ICAM-1 with the actin cytoskeleton, in part via ERM family members. Norcross and Paul first discussed the idea of an immunological synapse with the main “synapse-like” features being a role for Ca2+ elevation, adhesion and directed secretion and polarity (Norcross, 1984). There are a handful of studies in the 1980’s and 90’s that provide quantitative data on cytoskeletal organization, secretory apparatus polarization and Ca2+ signaling in T cell conjugates with B cells e.g. (Geiger et al., 1982; Kupfer et al., 1986; Poenie et al., 1987), in addition to above mentioned studies on adhesion. The classical picture is of cell pairs with a T cell stably appended onto the often-larger target cells like an apse on a building-which is the origin of the term synapse. In one study, a distinct annular adhesive domain and central secretory domains were resolved by electron microscopy (Schmidt et al., 1988), which foreshadows the later work by Kupfer. The molecular organization of these interfaces was not revealed until advances in imaging in the 1990’s led to the definition of discrete localization of TCR and LFA-1 and a more specific definition of immunological synapse was proposed (Dustin et al., 1998). Springer proposed in 1990 that LFA-1 and TCR would be segregated in adhesive interfaces because they are different sizes and it would be impossible for TCR to reach the MHC in a adhesive interface mediated by LFA-1 and it would be similarly difficult for LFA-1 to squeeze into an interface defined by the smaller CD2-CD58 adhesion system, which would in turn be ideal for the TCR (Springer, 1990). Springer further proposed that exclusion of large phosphatases like CD45 might be important for tyrosine phosphorylation down-stream of the tyrosine kinase cascade. This concept has been refined and tested and seems likely to be an important part of the signaling niche for the TCR (Choudhuri and van der Merwe, 2007; Varma et al., 2006). Springer didn’t speculate on the scale over which this segregation process would take place. The initial answers to this question were surprising. Kupfer examined fixed T cell-B cell conjugates and revealed a large central TCR cluster that was also rich in PKC-θ, defined as the central supramolecular activation cluster (cSMAC) (Monks et al., 1998)(Table 1). A ring of LFA-1-ICAM-1 interactions and talin surrounds this central cluster, defined as the peripheral supramolecular activation cluster (pSMAC). Each of these areas contained thousands of molecules in what was apparently a large non-covalent functional network-a supramolecular assembly. Kupfer later defined the distal supramolecular activation cluster as the outermost structure, enriched in CD45, although this will be discussed further below. The distal pole complex was described by Burkhardt and may be important for sequestering specific negative regulators like SHP-1 (Cullinan et al., 2002). TCR microclusters will be discussed at length. Table I outlines the compartments associated with stable, antigen specific T cell-B cell conjugates. Parallel studies with supported planar bilayers presenting adhesion molecules revealed similar phenomena in which a single adhesion system would establish a cooperative supamolecular cluster and mixed systems would segregate into spatially discrete SMACs. We examined the organization of the CD2-CD58 and LFA-1-ICAM-1 interactions in contacts in Jurkat T cells on planar bilayers containing ICAM-1 and CD58 (Dustin et al., 1998). We proposed that the “specialized junction, cell polarization, and positional stability” of the symmetric contacts were similar to a neural synapse and proposed that stable T-APC interfaces should be defined as “immunological synapses”. A planar bilayer based system using MHC-peptide complexes and LFA-1 fully recapitulated Kupfer’s findings and provided insight into the dynamics of these structures, which were not formed en bloc, but evolved from very distinct early intermediates by an F-actin dependent transport process (Grakoui et al., 1999)(Fig 1). The immunological synapse has an axis of radial symmetry with its center at the cSMAC (Fig 1). At the same time, we can view the synapse as having a direction of polarity along the length of this axis with a proximal and distal pole relative to the APC containing distinct molecules (Fig 1). The function of the immunological synapse pattern is most transparent for cytotoxic T cells where the F-actin free cSMAC serves as a secretory domain and the pSMAC serves as a retaining wall (Beal et al., 2008; Stinchcombe et al., 2006). The importance of directed secretion is supported by studies with human patients with deficiencies in granule transport to the synapse that lead to defects in killing (Baetz et al., 1995). Stabilization of the pSMAC of CD4+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) with a PKC-θ inhibitor quantified increased killing, the first evidence of for an advantage of an intact pSMAC (Beal et al., 2008). Structures similar to pSMACs also form between T cells in homotypic aggregates and are important for intensification of cytokine signals during T cell expansion (Sabatos et al., 2008). The symmetric immunological synapse may serve equally important functions in tolerance induction, priming and differentiation as discussed below. Between chemokine dependent extravasation and MHC-peptide dependent immunological synapse formation T cells rapidly migrate in DC networks of T cell zones (Bajenoff et al., 2006). Rapid migration by T cells can be fully reconstituted with solid phase CCL21, a CCR7 ligand, in vitro (Woolf et al., 2007). This involved polarization and formation of a leading edge that takes the form of a flattened lamellipodium on CCL21 and ICAM-1 coated surfaces (Huang and Dustin, unpublished data). LFA-1 is not required for mobility in T cell zones (Woolf et al., 2007), but LFA-1 increases sensitivity to MHC-peptide complexes up to 100-fold (Bachmann et al., 1997) and ICAM-1 is required for antigen specific arrest in vivo (Scholer et al., 2008). The lamellipodium is a sensory structure and has been shown to be the most sensitive part of a T cell by ~40-fold in elegant studies with laser traps and anti-CD3 coated beads (Negulescu et al., 1996; Wei et al., 1999). Valitutti has also described the probing behavior of lymphocytes undergoing sustained signaling on APCs (Valitutti et al., 1995a). Another important experiment is the demonstration that TCR signaling is continually being renewed by new TCR-MHC-peptide interactions such that blocking the access to new MHC-peptide ligands with MHC antibodies immediately block signaling (Valitutti et al., 1995a). Lamellipodia are coordinated by small G-proteins including Rac-1, which activates the WAVE2 complexes leading to dynamic actin in the periphery of nascent immunological synapses (Nolz et al., 2006). HS-1, a lymphocyte-specific cortactin is important for forming lamellipodia (Gomez et al., 2006). EVL, a hematopoietic cell member of the ENA-VASP family, is found at the tips of projections touching the APC (Lambrechts et al., 2000). Activation of these systems is not antigen specific and similar structures are induced during non-antigen specific engagement of adhesion molecule like LFA-1 by ICAM-1 (Smith et al., 2003) and CD2 by CD58 (or CD48 in the mouse) (Kaizuka et al., 2009). In response to TCR signals, the SLP-76 signaling module recruits and activates Vav, an exchange factor for Rac and Cdc42. Rac then activates WAVE2 and Cdc42 activates WASP. Both WAVE2 and WASP activate the Arp2/3 complex to generate branched actin networks. WAVE2 is associated with lamellipodial actin (Nolz et al., 2006), whereas WASP is associated with ventral projections such as podosomes and invadipodia (Carman et al., 2007). Behind the lamellipodium is the lamella, which has also been referred to as a focal zone in migrating T cells (Smith et al., 2005). These zones are rich in adhesion sites and integrin binding adapter talin, which is also a marker of the pSMAC. T cell may arrest migration and form a stable synapse, or alternatively, they may continue to migrate and integrate signals on the move. This rapid migration during antigen recognition contrasts with the stable synapse and has different functional consequences. Rapid migration during antigen recognition is observed in T-DC interactions in vitro early stages of T cell interaction with low dose agonist stimuli in vivo (Henrickson et al., 2008) and with low potency TCR stimuli (Skokos et al., 2007). There are at least two explanations for these mobile junctions or “kinapses”(Dustin, 2008). Certain chemokinetic signals, such as CCL21 signals, can compete with antigen stop signals (Bromley et al., 2000). The ability of T cells to migrate for some period followed by arrest may relate to signaling thresholds or time dependent down-regulation of CCR7. This gives the T cells flexibility in looking at different amounts of antigen on DCs-a few DCs with high amounts of MHC-peptide can stop T cells whereas many DCs with few antigen can sustain signaling until the T cells resets its sensitivity and can arrest (Henrickson et al., 2008). Weaker MHC-peptide never overcome the chemokinetic signals and continually migrate in DC networks (Skokos et al., 2007). T cells encountering these weaker ligands cannot arrest in the steady state and only integrate signals through kinapses. This mode of signal integration is sufficient to induce an alternative mode of tolerance induction when the antigen is presented on many DCs through scavenger receptor DEC-205. The failure of some weaker self-antigens to stop T cells may contribute the failure of tolerance induction and the development of autoimmuity (Zehn and Bevan, 2006). In autoimmunity the combination of strong innate signals and weak TCR signals can lead to robust responses, although there are differences in the kinetics of T cell release from lymph nodes and fitness of the cells that may limit memory generation autoimmunity (Zehn and Bevan, 2006). Thus, a migrating T cell sensing MHC-peptide complexes at its leading edge can integrate signals and make decisions about tolerance to abundant antigens, but not rare self-antigens. How do T cells form a synapse? T cells stopped by MHC-peptide complexes remained highly dynamics with prominent cycles of extension and retraction around a pivot point (Dustin et al., 1997; Valitutti et al., 1995a). Studies on planar bilayers reveal what appears to be an early spreading, receptor engagement and contractile process that form the cSMAC over a period of 5 minutes and which is F-actin dependent (Grakoui et al., 1999). These results also led to speculation that myosin II based contraction might also be involved because of the substantial decreases in contact size and the speed of receptor cluster movement (Dustin and Cooper, 2000; Grakoui et al., 1999). Similar results were obtained in live cell-cell systems in which TCR in small clusters moved to the center to form the cSMAC (Krummel et al., 2000). However, these authors eventually rejected the hypothesis that myosin II is required for this contraction and transport process because knockdown of myosin IIA did not appear to eliminate the ability to form a synapse with an APC (Jacobelli et al., 2004). More recent studies in the planar bilayer model actually supported the hypothesis that myosin IIA is important for microcluster transport and signal amplification in that system and for signal amplification in cell-cell models (Ilani et al., 2009). It is possible that there are alternative mechanisms to form a cSMAC in cell-cell systems that involve directed vesicular transport, which would be myosin II independent (Das et al., 2004). Nonetheless, the extension of an APC embracing lamellipodium is observed in cell-cell systems (Antón et al., 2002; Tskvitaria-Fuller et al., 2003). In Jurkat T leukemia cells, spreading on anti-CD3 coated surfaces form a well organized F-actin ring at early time points, and that this ring appear to break up after a contractile phase (Bunnell et al., 2001). These studies suggest that the initial contact expansion is mediated by F-actin driven protrusion, which then shift to a more dynamic extension-retraction process during sustained signaling. In fact the pivoting process observed with solid phase MHC-peptide complexes suggest that the stop was based on loss of persistent polarity. What could account for the ability of cells to rapidly transition from migration to arrest? Quantitative analysis of TCR dynamics and cell spreading provided insight into how the stable and dynamic characteristics of the synapse are reconciled. Observations of contact areas on planar bilayers with total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) reveal that the dSMAC is a radial lamellipodium. First, TCR in cells form synapses over a period of 30 minutes and even after cSMAC formation, sub-micron TCR clusters continue to form in the periphery (Varma et al., 2006). These small TCR microclusters forming later during stimulation are invisible to wide-field imaging on bilayers or cell-cell system. In fact, the continual formation of small microclusters to sustain signaling has only recently been observed in cell-cell systems using a combination of laser tweezers and spinning disk confocal microscopy (Oddos et al., 2008). This sustained movement of small TCR clusters suggested that some centripetal F-actin flow continued in the stable synapse. How can one define a lamellipodium quantitatively? The Sheetz and Wiggins labs developed methods based on loading cells with a fluorescent dye that fills the cytoplasm and then use TIRFM to image the dynamic footprints of the cell. Edge tracking algorithms quantify the advances and retraction of the edges and modify this to compensate for rapid movement of lymphocytes forming kinapses. This data can then be subjected to graphic and correlation analysis to compare the contact area dynamics between cell types (Dobereiner et al., 2006; Sims et al., 2007). Our collaborative studies revealed that the outer edge of the immunological synapse displayed an evolutionarily conserved dynamic pattern of movement referred to as contractile oscillations (Fig 1). This is thought to emerge from cycles of F-actin polymerization and myosin II dependent contraction that periodically pull the membrane protrusion up and back. This is an excellent way to test the mechanical properties of the surface on which cells are interacting. This protrusion and retraction cycle then propagates as a wave around the entire periphery of the cell. These experiments provided strong quantitative evidence the periphery of primary mouse T cells forming synapses or kinapses on planar bilayers with MHC-pepide complexes, ICAM-1 and CD80 form a radial lamellipodium. More recently, Vale and my lab used speckle microscopy to explicitly demonstrate centripetal actin flow in the dSMAC and pSMAC regions (Kaizuka et al., 2007). This F-actin flow is a consequence of the polymerization of F-actin at the protruding edge, which is pushed backwards because the outer edge advances more slowly than actin is added to the growing filament ends. TCR microclusters are transported at about 40% of the speed of the F-actin in the lamellipodium. This suggests that the microclusters bind and dissociate from the actin network. This notion is also supported by studies showing that TCR clusters can navigate around barriers placed in planar bilayers by nanofabrication methods (DeMond et al., 2008). The ability to move around the barriers appears to depend upon periods of transport punctuated by diffusive movement, which allows the microcluster to make progress around diagonal barriers. TCR microcluster transport, contractile oscillations and centripetal F-actin flow support the model that immunological synapses are based on maintaining a radially symmetrical lamellipodium-the same structure Kupfer described as a dSMAC (Freiberg et al., 2002). The dSMAC was reported as having a high concentration of both CD4 and CD45, but TIRFM imaging of these structures on bilayers does not consistently show this. It is likely that the impression of increased CD4 or CD45 in wide-field imaging is based on the lamellipodium having two plasma membrane layers separated by only 100–200 nm of cytoplasmic and thus appearing twice as bright as surrounding single membrane layers in the pSMAC. In fact, by TIRFM CD45 appears relatively uniform in the synapse except for discrete areas of exclusion around TCR microclusters (Varma et al., 2006). Thus, dSMAC is immunological shorthand for a radial lamellipodium. The pSMAC must also maintain radial symmetry to have a stable synapse because this structure contains most of the integrins that generate traction for movement (Sims et al., 2007). If the symmetry of the pSMAC is broken the cell will migrate, even if a radially symmetrical dSMAC appears to be maintained. The precise mechanism by which symmetry is established or broken is poorly understood. We know that on the supported planar bilayer system WASP is required to maintain a stable synapse and PKC-θ contributes to symmetry breaking (Sims et al., 2007). Symmetry breaking in the contact plane leads to polarity and in a migrating cells this process is based two opposing actin-myosin networks-the lamellipodium dominated by Rac and a high F-actin:myosin II ratio and the uropod dominated by Rho and a low F-actin:myosin II ratio (Xu et al., 2003). Thus, we have speculated that myosin II may be a target in symmetry breaking. PKC-θ phosphorylates WASP interacting protein (WIP) and regulates its interaction with myosin II (Krzewski et al., 2006). WASP also interacts with this complex. One hypothesis is that myosin II activation via WIP phosphorylation leads to contraction of the pSMAC actin network leading to local thinning and breakdown, whereas WASP may either antagonize this myosin II activation or induced ventral actin polymerization to repair the pSMAC and restore symmetry after its been broken. PKC-θ mediated synapse breaking seems like a negative feedback loop because the other major activity of PKC-θ in T cells is activation of NFkB and other transcription factors. Thus, the functional consequences of synapse stabilization as a result of PKC-θ inhibition can only be studied in pre-armed effector cells, which don’t need to activate transcription for function. The cSMAC was initially shown to contain PKC-θ and Lck, two kinases that are important for T cell activation (Monks et al., 1998). This suggested that the cSMAC might be involved in sustained signaling. Our early studies on planar bilayers demonstrated that TCR signaling was initiated before the cSMAC was formed based on cytoplasmic Ca2+ elevation at a time point where TCR-MHC-peptide interactions were focused in the periphery (Grakoui et al., 1999). This was more explicitly demonstrated with a specific phopho-Lck antibody, which revealed early TCR signaling in the periphery of the nascent synapse, but not at the cSMAC. This led to the suggestion that the cSMAC might be involved in signal termination (Lee et al., 2003). Computer models suggested that signals in response to weaker ligands might survive in the cSMAC due to a less aggressive attack by ubiquitin ligases. As discussed below this preservation of signaling in the cSMAC may also depend upon a reorganization of F-actin to fill in the normally F-actin depleted central area (Cemerski et al., 2008; Lee et al., 2003). The enigma with peripheral signaling in the immunological synapse was that TCR was not clearly associated with the signaling. This issue was resolved with TIRFM, which greatly increased the contrast of imaging of the cell-planar bilayer interface, as described above, but the discovery of the late submicron TCR microclusters that formed in the dSMAC and moved to the pSMAC over ~ 2 minutes. The movement of microcluster was interesting for what it said about actin dynamics, but the signaling behavior was even more interesting. Varma repeated the Valittuti experiment of blocking signaling with anti-MHC while observing TCR microclusters and the cSMAC. He found that the TCR microclusters stopped forming and the last microclusters reached the cSMAC about 2 minutes after addition of the antibody, the exact time course with which Ca2+ signaling was eliminated (Varma et al., 2006). Thus, the cSMAC was unable to sustain TCR signaling beyond the 2 minute lifetime of the microclusters, although cSMAC interactions persisted for many minutes. These experiments implicated TCR microclusters in signaling by way of kinetics and complemented experiments that were performed subsequently demonstrating co-localization of TCR microclusters with signaling molecules including ZAP-70, LAT and SLP-76 in live cells and activated ZAP-70, LAT and Lck in fixed cells (Campi et al., 2005; Yokosuka et al., 2005). The movement of these microclusters was a clue to the cellular context of the activation process. How does the Jurkat T cell line model using solid phase anti-CD3 relate to work in primary cells using bona fide MHC-peptide ligands? Signaling of T cells in response to anti-CD3ε is not blocked by depolymerizatin of F-actin (Valitutti et al., 1995a). Similarly, knock-down of the WAVE2 complex completely eliminates lamellipodial F-actin, but doesn’t inhibit early T cell signaling (Nolz et al., 2006). All but the largest TCR microclusters formed with MHC-peptide ligands are dissolved by depolymerization of F-actin (Varma et al., 2006). Nonetheless, the spreading of Jurkat cells on surfaces coated by anti-CD3ε is accompanied by the formation of a dramatic lamellipodial F-actin ring (Bunnell et al., 2001) and the formation of many discrete TCR microclusters throughout the interface that require F-actin to form in the normal manner (Bunnell et al., 2002). These structures recruit ZAP-70 and SLP-76 and, interestingly, the SLP-76 foci dissociate from the ZAP-70 rich TCR clusters and stream toward the center of the interface based on a mixture of F-actin and microtubule dependent transport processes and appear to engage in sustained signaling even after internalization (Barr et al., 2006; Bunnell et al., 2006) Nguyen et al, 2008). This behavior is strikingly similar to the observed movement of MHC-peptide based TCR microclusters, which occurs in the plane of the plasma membrane in the synapse (Varma et al., 2006). However, the anti-CD3ε driven TCR clusters become systematically F-actin independent after formation (Douglass and Vale, 2005). The inclusion of β1 integrin ligands like fibronectin on the surface with anti-CD3ε results in stabilization of the SLP-76 interaction with the TCR clusters and also appears to dampen F-actin dynamics (Nguyen et al., 2008). Integrin ligands generally enhance TCR signaling (Shimizu et al., 1990) and this study suggests that one component of this effect may be stabilization of TCR signaling complexes. There are clearly differences between the polyvalent anti-CD3ε interaction with the TCR complex, which contains two copies of the CD3ε chain (Call et al., 2002), and the monovalent interaction of MHC-peptide ligands with TCR that change requirements for signaling. The transport process in the planar bilayers also creates a very useful lateral segregation of TCR based structures by age with the earliest TCR microclusters in the periphery and the oldest TCR clusters in the cSMAC. Recently, monovalent biotinylation of anti-CD3εhas created a means to achieve such tempero-spatial segregation of TCR signaling complexes by attaching anti-CD3 to planar bilayers with lipid anchored ICAM-1 to form classical synapses with Jurkat cells or polyclonal T cell populations (Kaizuka et al., 2007). This method has contributed to our understanding of the synapse dynamics. We have two quite different ways to study microclusters that are appropriate for different questions and have different degrees of difficulty. It is impossible to say that one is better than the other at this point-it depends upon the experiment. Further study of microclusters in T cell-DC interfaces using advanced confocal methodologies and even in vivo will be needed to drill deeper into T cell signaling (Oddos et al., 2008). The relationship between TCR microclusters and F-actin suggests that the TCR clusters are formed actively rather than by diffusion trapping by ligand alone. The formation of TCR microclusters is F-actin dependent whether the ligand is a physiological MHC-peptide complex or a CD3 antibody (Bunnell et al., 2001; Campi et al., 2005; Douglass and Vale, 2005; Varma et al., 2006). This also extends to signaling because depolymerization of actin in an established synapse results in rapid cessation of signaling, but does not disrupt larger TCR microclusters or the cSMAC (Varma et al., 2006). The synapse contains a zone of F-actin depletion at the center, corresponding to the cSMAC regardless of whether this structure is filled with TCR (Kaizuka et al., 2007). When TCR clusters reach the actin free zone in the center the signaling process appears to be terminated. The mechanism of signal termination is not known, but may be as simple as the inability to amplify signals in the absence of F-actin. It is not known how the TCR microclusters continue to move to the center of the synapse when the F-actin conveyor belt stops 1–2 μm from the center. This could be a diffusive process or might involve some alternative transport system that remains to be described. For example, the zone of F-actin depletion is observed in cytotoxic T cell synapses and allows close approach of the centrosome to the plasma membrane for efficient directed secretion (Stinchcombe et al., 2006). It is not clear why F-actin is so important for TCR signal transduction because anti-CD3 stimulation to Ca2+ mobilization and cytokine production doesn’t require intact F-actin (Valitutti et al., 1995a). Similarly, B cells require F-actin to recognize ligands on a surface, but not aggregating ligands in solution. Stimulation by surface presented ligands requires F-actin, Rap1 and CD19 (Depoil et al., 2008; Lin et al., 2008). The model for stimulation of activation of BCR by monovalent ligands in supported planar bilayers is based on diffusion trapping of receptors and ligands in microdomains with multiple BCR and ligands. This mode of clustering is likely driven by F-actin dependent membrane fluctuations and adhesion, perhaps accounting for the role of F-actin in enhancing B cell recognition of solid phase ligands (Carrasco et al., 2004; Tolar et al., 2008). For T cells, the F-actin requirement seems to involve both forming microclusters and then formation of signaling complexes at the TCR clusters. This is based on the observation that many TCR microclusters are stable after F-actin depolymerization, but signaling is still terminated even though the receptor clusters persist. All antigen receptors engage in signaling that activates actin polymerization via the Rac and Cdc42 small G-proteins leading to activation of the WAVE2 complexes and WASp (Barda-Saad et al., 2005; Nolz et al., 2006). In the absence of WAVE2 the lamellipodium at the periphery of T cell contacts with anti-CD3 coated surfaces is lost (Nolz et al., 2006). This does not alter that ability of these cells to initiate early TCR signaling in response to solid phase anti-CD3, but more work is needed to determine if this alters sensitivity to MHC-peptide ligands as expected. The recent focus on microclusters raises questions about cSMAC-associated signals. Is the cSMAC just for signal termination or is it a site of TCR or other relevant signaling? Is the cSMAC even one compartment? Kupfer defined the cSMAC based on accumulation of TCR and PKC-θ. Dynamic studies using fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) revealed that TCR-MHC-peptide interactions are particularly stable in the cSMAC (Grakoui et al., 1999) and that the TCR microclusters that converge to form the cSMAC appear to fuse together into one stable structure on planar bilayers (Varma et al., 2006). This structure is partly shed by the T cell if it breaks the synapse and migrates or wanes over 10’s of minutes in stable synapses. Is this highly stabilized structure in which TCR seem to be shed or degraded all there is to the cSMAC? Analysis of CD28-CD80 interactions in the synapse suggests that there is a second, more dynamic component to the cSMAC that is typically not well resolved, but represents a very distinct sub-cellular compartment (Tseng et al., 2008; Yokosuka et al., 2008). CD28-CD80 interactions colocalize with TCR-MHC-peptide interactions in microclusters. When these mixed microclusters reach the cSMAC, mostof the TCR are incorporated into a stable central cluster, but all of the CD28 remains in an intermediate compartments which is very dynamic and appears to be critical for sustained PKC-θ signaling (Yokosuka et al., 2008). This annular structure sits at the inside edge of the F-actin rich lamella and thus the small amounts of TCR in this compartment may continue to signal to maintain the dynamic CD28-CD80 interactions. Similar segregation of TCR and CD28 is observed in T cell-DC interfaces, although it was not possible to observe the precursor microclusters (Tseng et al., 2008). Blocking TCR signaling with anti-MHC-peptide antibodies rapidly eliminated the bright CD28-CD80 foci, consistent with a continual role for TCR signaling in maintaining this component of the cSMAC. These studies demonstrate that the cSMAC consists of two compartments: one a stable structure enriched in non-signaling TCR destined for shedding or degradation (a) and one highly dynamic structure rich in F-actin, CD28 and PKC-θ (b) (table 1). These compartments are difficult to resolve in cSMACs formedin cell-cell interfaces. The mechanisms by which CD28 and TCR are segregated into these two cSMAC compartments is not known. The mechanism of TCR triggering has been an enduring problem. The prevailing model has been based on TCR dimerization or clustering as a triggering modality (Germain, 1997; Weiss and Littman, 1994). This is largely based on models from receptor tyrosine kinases and observations that antibody crosslinking triggers signaling. However, the is an adapter that recruits non-receptor tyrosine kinases to 10 docking sites, the immunotyrosine based activation motifs (ITAMs), in response to ligand binding. With all these docking sites, it is not clear that dimerizing this receptor would increase its activity. Recent studies have provided indirect evidence that monovalent ligands can trigger TCR microclusters and signaling events without directly cross-linking the receptor to form dimers e.g.(Varma et al., 2006). It is interesting at this point to think about how the TCR would sense such a monovalent engagement event? Recent data from the BCR and TCR systems provide insights into accessibility changes in cytoplasmic domains of the receptor during triggering and provide raw material for a draft model that incorporates an early role for F-actin. The BCR has two signal transduction subunits with one ITAM in each. BCR with a FRET donor at the C-terminus of transmembrane immunoglobulin (sIg) and a FRET acceptor on the C-terminus of Igα have a high FRET signal in the basal, non-signaling state. Remarkably, triggering results in a rapid decrease in the FRET signal, suggesting an “opening” of the complex (Tolar et al., 2005). It is not known what conformational change causes this decreased FRET. One interpretation is based on the model that the ITAMs may interact with the membrane prior to triggering, making the tyrosine inaccessible to kinases and preventing signaling (Aivazian and Stern, 2000). The interaction with the membrane would confine the FRET acceptor associated with the C-terminus of the ITAM bearing subunit to the membrane in proximity to the FRET donor that is kept close to the membrane by the short sIg cytoplasmic domain. Triggering would then involve dissociation of the ITAM from the membrane. A recent study using live cell FRET imaging and structure determination supports the idea that ITAM displacement from the membrane is a critical step in triggering (Xu et al., 2008). This study found that each ITAM in the TCR has a positively charged motif on its N-terminal side that interacts with acidic phospholipids in the inner leaflet and facilitates the docking of both tyrosines in the lipid bilayer where they cannot be phosphorylated. The results suggest that a change in the lipid environment to a more neutral composition is needed for ITAM access by Src family kinases (Douglass and Vale, 2005). How could a single MHC-peptide complex change the lipid environment of the TCR? Our understanding of the basal distribution of the TCR is constrained by two seemingly contradictory results: evidence for preclustering from electron microscopy (Schamel et al., 2005) and non-correlated monomeric diffusion using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (James et al., 2007). Long term tracking of Fce receptor movements in the context of actin bundles on rat basophilic leukemia cells shows that receptors can be corralled by actin and diffuse independently at the same time (Andrews et al., 2008). These results suggest that the clusters seen in EM maybe a result of transient confinement on monomeric receptors. Basal fluctuations in TCR density were observed as highly dynamic structures similar in size to microclusters, but which could not be tracked from one frame to the next (Varma et al., 2006). In order to maintain low basal activity the membrane domains in which the TCR moves prior to ligand binding will likely be highly acidic and fluid. The lamellipodium is a relatively flat membrane region with a dense mesh of branched actin filaments translocating away from the leading edge (Svitkina et al., 1997). The mesh size of the actin gel if relatively fine, with interstitial areas on the order of 100 nm based on electron microscopy analysis of model lamellipodia (Svitkina et al., 1997). This F-actin mesh is similar in scale to the lipids domains that have been identified in membranes as lipid rafts (Sharma et al., 2004). The spatial distribution of acidic lipids like PS on the inner leaflet is not known, but structural constrains suggest that liquid ordered domains should be enriched in neutral phosphatidylethanolamine (Brown and London, 2000). I would speculate that TCR maybe confined to approximately 10% of the plasma membrane composed of disordered, fluid phase and acidic lipids, which are corralled by the mobile actin elements. In the basal state the TCR cannot be individually transported into less acidic liquid ordered domains (Fig 2). Clustering of the receptors by serial ligand binding can stabilize the interaction with the F-actin meshwork and create a sufficient force to overcome resistance to entry into less acidic domains, in which the ITAMs are exposed in the presence of Src family kinases and with depletion of CD45 together lead to triggering of the signaling cascade (Fig 2). It is likely the the “lipid rafts” also anchored to disctinct cortical actin networks and this actin may anchor these domains against movement by the dendritic actin network inivolved in the retrograde flow (Chichili and Rodgers, 2007). This model invokes shearing action of the lamellipodial actin to generate force to overcome energetic barriers, similar to recent models for the role of lateral mechanical forces in integrin activation (Zhu et al., 2008). The specific adapters that link TCR to F-actin are not well described. The complex may include NCK, SLP-76, ADAP, SKAP55, EVL, Vav, Rac, Cdc42 and WASP certainly may play a role once signaling is initiated (Barda-Saad et al., 2005; Bubeck Wardenburg et al., 1998; Krause et al., 2000). It has also been suggested that ZAP-70 may play a role through binding of ezrin (Ilani et al., 2007). It appears that TCR signaling in microclusters ceases when the microcluster reaches the actin depleted cSMAC. Since activated TCR appear equipped to generate their own dynamic actin focus, the suppression of this mode of actin dymanics in the cSMAC is likely to be active, rather than a passive dissipation of lamellar actin. Less is known about the basal interactions of TCR with actin that might be available to stabilize a cluster early in the triggering process. This is likely a complex situation. An example of the potential complexity can be seen in interaction networks recently compiled as the integrin adhesome (Zaidel-Bar et al., 2007). Once the ITAMs are exposed Src family kinases can then initiate phosphorylation by diffusion into the same domain (Douglass and Vale, 2005)(Fig 2). Exclusion of CD45 in the nascent foci would increase the half-life of the phosphorylated ITAM allowing sufficient time for ZAP-70 recruitment (Varma et al., 2006). This cluster may interact more strongly with LAT so that ZAP-70 could phosphorylate LAT and Itk to initiate PLC-g recruitment and initiation of Ca2+ signaling, PKC activation and Ras-GRP recruitment. Integrin microclusters will be interspersed with the TCR microclusters. Integrin dependent signaling will generate additional diacylglycerol for RasGRP by activating phospholipase D and phosphatidic acid phosphatase (Mor et al., 2007). Electron micrographs of membrane sheets suggest that immunoreceptor rich and LAT rich islands only partially mix (Lillemeier et al., 2006; Wilson et al., 2001). The force needed to induce island mixing may be generated by periodic myosin II based contraction. This may account for the role of myosin IIA in the signal amplification from Lck, which is normally activated after myosin IIA knock-down, to ZAP-70 and LAT, which are only weakly activated in myosin IIA knock-down T cells (Ilani et al., 2009). The TCR triggering process in microclusters and how this is sustained in a synapse has relevance to T cell decision-making. T cell differentiation is controlled in large part by cytokines and small molecules from APC. There are two independent reports that propose distinct mechanisms for the synapse to influence differentiation. One is the concentration of interferon-γ receptors in the synapse leading to increased T helper 1 (Th1) cell development (Maldonado et al., 2004). IL-4 counteracts this through Stat6 (Maldonado et al., 2004). The other is the control of polarity networks leading to asymmetric cell division to control memory-effector decisions (Chang et al., 2007; Ludford-Menting et al., 2005). A particular challenge is in understanding how the microcluster-based mechanism sustains signaling from small numbers of ligand to drive differentiation. If each microcluster can sustain signaling for 2 minutes as the microclusters translocates from the periphery to the cSMAC. How is signaling sustained with only 10 MHC-peptide complexes? An interesting observation is that although the actin depleted zone at the center of the synapse is always present, the size of the cSMAC is linearly dependent upon the MHC-peptide density such that no TCR cSMAC if formed at the lower limit of MHC-peptide density. Under these conditions our model would posit that MHC-peptide ligand are recycled expensively by long term serial triggering at the F-actin rich cSMAC-pSMAC boundary. This fits with notions of serial triggering initially propose by Valittuti and Lanzavechia (Valitutti et al., 1995b), but would induce very little if any TCR down-regulation because all receptors are needed for sensitive recognition of rare MHC-peptide ligands. The links between TCR signaling and polarity networks include Cdc42 and PKC-ζ. Activation of Cdc42 has been extensively studied in T cells due to interest in immunodeficiencies such as Wiscott-Alrdrich Syndrome. PKC-ζ can be activated in the Par3-Par6 complex by activation of Cdc42, but it is not clear what it means that PKC-ζ is concentrated in the distal pole complex, the part of the T cell farthest from the synapse (Chang et al., 2007). The polarity networks control the positioning of actin, microtubules and intermediate filament and spindles. The dynamic F-actin networks and myosin II seem important at early stages of signaling complex assembly. The actin-myosin system is critical for multiple stages in TCR triggering and sustained signaling. It will be exciting in the future to determine in more detail how the context of TCR signaling allows this process to shape differentiation in parallel with powerful innate signals. I thank Kaushik Choudhuri and David Fooksman for valuable discussions. Due to length constraints not all relevant literature could be cited and I apologize in advance regarding omissions. This work was supported by NIH grants AI43542and the PN2 EY016586, a Nanomedicine Development Center.

A hydrologic reconnaissance of the Medicine Lake Volcano area was done to collect data needed for the design of a hydrologic monitoring plan. The reconnaissance was completed during two field trips made in June and September 1992, during which geothermal and hydrologic features of public interest in the Medicine Lake area were identified. Selected wells, springs, and geothermal features were located and documented, and initial water-level, discharge, temperature, and specific-conductance measurements were made. Lakes in the study area also were surveyed during the September field trip. Temperature, specific- conductance, dissolved oxygen, and pH data were collected by using a multiparameter probe. The proposed monitoring plan includes measurement of water levels in wells, discharge from springs, and lake stage, as well as analysis of well-,spring-, and lake-water quality. In determining lake-water quality, data for both stratified and unstratified conditions would be considered. (Data for stratified conditions were collected during the reconnaissance phase of this project, but data for unstratified conditions were not.) In addition, lake stage also would be monitored. A geothermal feature near Medicine Lake is a "hot spot" from which hot gases discharge from two distinct vents. Gas chemistry and temperature would be monitored in one of these vents. Additional publication details USGS Numbered Series Hydrologic data and description of a hydrologic monitoring plan for Medicine Lake Volcano, California U.S. Geological Survey ; Information Services [distributor],

Key Safe Routes to School Research Practitioners implementing Safe Routes to School programs, or other active travel promotion programs, have a large scope of issues to address. This section is a collection of research that evaluates current Safe Routes to School programs and identifies issues to consider when implementing new programs. Findings from these studies can provide insight into the cost-effectiveness of programs, impact of school siting, and how gender and socio-demographic factors can influence active travel to school. Also included in this section is academic literature reviewing legislative policies that can provide practitioners with information regarding potential funding opportunities and policy trends that influence active transport initiatives. Many of the articles in this section directly reference Safe Routes to School programs. - Safe Routes to School programs have shown a 37 percent increase in bicycling and walking where projects have been undertaken. (Stewart, 2014) - Specific to Safe Routes to School, introducing a program focused on education and encouragement increased bicycling to school by 5 percent each year. When programs also incorporated infrastructure improvements like sidewalks, crosswalks and covered bicycle parking, the rate of bicycling and walking improved to between 5 percent and 20 percent (McDonald, 2013). - One study reports that the national Safe Routes to School program has the potential to positively influence individuals, communities, and the environment regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status by providing funds to address some of the barriers and improve the ability of students to safely walk and bicycle to school (Martin, et al., 2008). - The findings of an analysis of walking and biking to school among low-income and minority youth in the United States has significant implications, reporting that Safe Routes to School programs have the potential to strongly benefit minority and low-income students, especially because many of those students are more likely to live near the school they attend (McDonald, 2008). - The odds of walking and bicycling to school are 40% lower in girls than in boys (McMillan, et al., 2006). - Results show that children who pass completed Safe Routes to School projects are more likely to show increases in walking or bicycle travel than are children who do not pass by projects (15% vs. 4%), supporting the effectiveness of Safe Routes to School construction projects (Boarnet, et al., 2005). - A review of the success of the Safe Routes to School program in Marin County reports a 64% increase in the number of children walking to school, a 114% increase in the number of students biking, and a 91% increase in the number of students carpooling (Staunton, et al., 2003). Academic Research Articles and Findings: - State-level school physical activity policies are currently not implemented on a broad level, often have weak and non-specific language, and may not effectively monitor implementation. - At the time of study, only 16 states had policies on minutes of physical activity during the school day/week or minutes or percent of physical education to be spent in physical activity. - No policies were rated as having strong wording, defined in this study as specifying moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and wording on implementation and monitoring. - This research study examined state-level policies collected by the RJWF Bridging the Gap (BTG) program in 2011. Policies were rated as weak, moderate, and strong in specifying minutes of physical activity in physical education or during school. - The researchers also interviewed state-level physical education coordinators about implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of policies. Carlson JA, Sallis JF, Chriqui JF, Schneider L, McDermid LC, Agron P. (2013). State policies about physical activity minutes in physical education or during school. Journal of School Health 83, 150-156. - Comprehensive physical activity programs in school settings can affect physical activity, health, and academic performance. - Students participate in much of their physical activity through physical education classes, but schools can help increase students’ activity levels by strengthening curriculum and increasing opportunities outside these classes. - State and school district wellness policies should include stronger goals and requirements for daily physical activity. - Joint use agreements can encourage physical activity after school and on weekends, especially in low-income, inner-city, and rural areas with fewer recreational facilities. - This research synthesis summarizes evidence about different ways schools can promote physical activity. Ward, D.S. (2011). School Policies on Physical Education and Physical Activity: A Research Synthesis. Active Living Research. - Measuring the built environment can help assess needs and set priorities for creating healthy community design. - The built environment includes buildings, roads, sidewalks, utilities, homes, transit, fixtures, parks and all other man-made entities that form the physical characteristics of a community. - The BE Tool assess as core set of features selected by research experts: built environment infrastructure (e.g., road type, curb cuts/ramps, intersections/crosswalks, traffic control, transportation), walkability (e.g. sidewalk/path features, walking safety, aesthetics & amenities), bikeability (e.g., bicycle lane/path features), recreational sites and structures, and the food environment (e.g., access to grocery stores, convenience stores, farmers markets, etc.). - The built environment can influence health by affecting rates of physical activity, air pollutants such as ozone and particulate matter that can exacerbate asthma and respiratory disease, and emissions of carbon dioxide that contributes to climate change. - The manual provides background on the importance of the built environment and health and describes data collection and analysis processes for the BE Tool. The tool, instructions, and a data coding and scoring table are included. - The BE Tool was created by ICF International through a contract with the CDC. - Kids are more active when walking and biking are safe, and Safe Routes to School programs can increase safety and active transportation to school. - Traffic speed and volume and lack of sidewalks are major barriers to active travel to school. - Active commuting can provide an estimated 16 of the 60 minutes of daily physical activity recommended for children, as found by a meta-analysis. - Implementing Safe Routes to School programs has been connected with a 44% reduction in injury rates. - This infographic summarizes highlights from the research brief “Impact of Safe Routes to School Programs on Walking and Biking” published by Active Living Research in May 2015. BEST PRACTICES AND RECOMMENDATIONS (2015) - Collaborative partnerships between schools and communities and multi-level strategies are key components of SRTS programs. - The review identified benefits, challenges and lessons learned from SRTS partnerships across studies: - Benefits: “coordination of projects, programs, and policies to avoid duplication; mobilization of partners; builds lasting and trusting relationships; increases credibility and community support; partners bring unique perspectives, which increases knowledge and capacity to problem solve; builds greater sense of community; and provides opportunity for internal and external funding” - Challenges: “inexperience of volunteers; lack of time for outreach and support; difficulties to integrate programs and policies; lack of staff/volunteers; reactive responses and pushback from the community; lack of and dependence on funding support; loss of credibility; difficulties to maintain partnership; and absent stakeholders slows progress” - Lessons learned: “communication and consideration of viewpoints; partner with schools early to identify champions and establish support; implement multiple project, program and policies strategies for greater participation; expect slow progress and gradual change; target children for long-term investment; identify key partnership leaders; have strong evaluation components to monitor progress and success; involve partners when relevant to them; build on small success and community response; and collaborate with preexisting groups, including youth groups” - Data collection methods varied across studies, and tools were often not provided, making it difficult to assess effective evaluation strategies. - This study conducted a qualitative review of 15 journal articles about Safe Routes to School programs in the U.S. and Canada. Elementary schools were more than twice as likely to have a walking school bus (WSB) if district and state policies supported safe active transportation than if no such policies were in place. - The percentage of schools nationally with WSB programs increased from 4.2% in 2008-2009 to 6.2% in 2009-2010. - Schools were 2.14 times as likely to organize a WSB program if a district policy concerning safe active transport to school was in place than if no policy existed. - Schools were 2.72 times as likely to have a WSB program if state law required school crossing guards than if no law existed. - WSB programs were more common in the Northeast (10.9% of schools) and West (7.9%) than in the South (2.9%). - Rural schools were 73% less likely to implement a WSB program than urban schools. - Schools with a majority Latino population were 78% times less likely to have a WSB than schools with a majority white population. - Data was collected through responses to a mail survey from 641 elementary schools in 2008-2009 and 680 elementary schools in 2009-2010. Turner, L., Chriqui, J.F., & Chaloupka, F.J. (2013).Walking School Bus Programs in U.S. Public Elementary Schools. Journal of Physical Activity and Health 10, 641-645. Tags: physical education; education; training; bicycle; biking; students; school; safety - The Bike Smarts skills program incorporated bike skills into elementary and middle-school physical education curriculum to address parents’ safety concerns related to biking and encourage more students to bike to school. - The Bike Smarts program, developed by the SRTS coordinator to fit into existing physical education curriculum, consisted of four class sessions with components both in and outside the classroom. - When teaching the program, elementary and middle schools could reserve use of a trailer, bikes, and helmets purchased for shared use by the district. - Additional considerations in program development and implementation included bike maintenance, appropriate sizes of helmets, and teacher and student skill level. - A $50,000 Safe Routes to School grant from the North Carolina SRTS Program funded development of the program for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WSFCS) in North Carolina. Wallace, J.L. & Sutton, N.P. (2015). Biked Skills Training in PE is Fun, Keeps Kids Safe. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, & Dance. 86(2), 41-46. - Municipal officials’ involvement in local transportation policies for pedestrian and bicycle safety may be related to levels of collaboration, perceived importance of issues, and support from the public. - Higher perceived resident support of local government to address economic development and traffic congestion through changes in the built environment was associated with increased likelihood of municipal official involvement in development, adoption, or implementation of transportation or public works policy to increase pedestrian or bicycle safety (OR= 1.70). - Perceived importance of health topics was not influential in municipal officials’ transportation policy participation. - Municipal officials who perceived lack of collaboration among departments as a barrier were less likely to be involved in transportation policy (OR = 0.78). - Municipal officials who lived in the city or town where they worked were more likely to be involved in transportation policy (OR=1.83). - This online cross-sectional survey gathered responses from 461 municipal officials from public health, planning, transportation, public works, community and economic development, parks and recreation, city management, and municipal legislatures in 83 urban areas across 8 states in 2012. Zwald, M., Eyler, A., Goins, K., Brownson, R., Schmid, T., & Lemon, S. (2014). Understanding Municipal Officials' Involvement in Transportation Policies Supportive of Walking and Bicycling. Journal of Public Health Management & Practice. 0(0), 1-8. - There is promising evidence that walking school buses (WSBs) can impact children’s health and safety skills, and supporting facilitators and eliminating barriers to WSBs could improve program sustainability. - Three studies demonstrated a positive relationship between WSBs and proportions of children walking to school through self-report, and three studies showed an association between WSBs and increased activity levels using accelerometers, although not always at statistically significant levels. - Two studies reported savings in car journeys as a result of WSBs. - One study found that WSB schools had a five-fold improvement in children crossing at intersections instead of non-intersection locations. - Child and parent enjoyment during participation, parents’ time savings, and effective information provision and promotion were key facilitators of WSBs. - Parent road safety concerns were the most common barrier across the literature, cited in 10 of 12 studies. - Recruitment of volunteers and children to participate was also a common challenge, and time commitment from coordinators, variable family travel schedules, and lower motivation in winter months can affect recruitment. - This systematic review examined 12 studies conducted between 2001 and 2012 that focused solely on WSBs. These studies included 326 schools in a variety of socio-demographic contexts in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. - Studies generally focused on either the impact of WSBs on child activity, health, and safety, or barriers and facilitators to implementation. Smith, L, Norgate, SH, Cherrett, T, Davies, N, Wistanley, C and Harding, M. (2015.) Walking school buses as a form of active transportation for children: A review of the evidence. Journal of School Health. 85, 197-210. - Biking and walking to school may vary by factors like distance to school, speed of traffic, school encouragement, and children asking permission. - Students were 2.6 times as likely to walk or bike to school if these modes were promoted by the school. - Students who lived within 0.5 miles of the school were 16.7 times as likely to walk or bike to school than those living further away. - Lower travel times were associated with higher percentages of walking and biking to school; 23.8% of children biked or walked who were less than 5 minutes away, while only 2.2% of children more than 20 minutes utilized active modes. - More children in kindergarten through fifth grade walked or biked to school than children in sixth through eighth grade. - Students who asked permission from their parents to walk or bike to school in the past year were seven times as likely to be using active transportation modes. - Children whose parents reported recognizing most people on the block were 1.6 times as likely to walk or bike to school compared to children whose parents did not recognize most people. - · Children of parents who reported speed of traffic as a significant factor affecting their decision to allow children to walk/bike to school were 58% less likely to walk/bike to school than parents who did not identify speed as a significant factor. - This study conducted a baseline assessment of 5 SRTS-awarded schools from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade in communities with similar median incomes in Louisiana. Data was collected using parent surveys, teacher tallies, and the Pedestrian Environmental Data Scan (PEDS). Gustat, J., Richards, K., Rice, J., Andersen, L., Parker-Karst, K., Cole, S. (2015). Youth Walking and Biking Rates Vary by Environments Around 5 Louisiana Schools. Journal of School Health, 85 (1), 36-42. - National governments have provided subsidies for investments in increasing the safety and attractiveness of walking and biking to school. Evaluations of Safe Routes to School initiatives have found that they have been effective at changing behavior and reducing injuries. - However, there has been little attention to the impacts of these programs on pupil transportation costs. - This analysis assesses the potential economic benefits of Safe Routes to School programs in the US context by estimating the annual costs of using motorized transport for short trips to schools, examining real-world examples of the costs savings of SRTS programs, and evaluating land use impacts on school transportation costs using a simulation analysis of school bus routes. - We find that there is potential for school districts and families to reduce transport expenditures through public sector investments in walking and biking infrastructure near schools. We also find that land use context matters and the most cost-effective investments would benefit schools where large numbers of children live within walking distance. McDonald NC, Steiner RL, Palmer WM, Bullock AN, Sisiopiku VP, and Lytle BF. Costs of school transportation: quantifying the fiscal impacts of encouraging walking and bicycling for school travel. Transportation 2014, November. - Objective. Joint use policies (JUP) encourage shared facility use, usually between schools and a city or private organization, for both physical activity-related and non-physical activity-related programs. Little is known about JUP's impact on physical activity (PA). This study examined whether more specific JUPs were associated with increased PA and decreased sedentary behavior (SB) in adolescents. - Methods. Data on PA, sports participation, and SB were taken from annual cross-sectional nationally representative samples of 51,269 8th, 10th and 12th grade public school students nested in 461 school districts in the US from 2009–2011. JUP measures were constructed using information obtained from corresponding school district JU policies. Multivariable analyses were conducted, controlling for individual demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and clustering at the district level. - Results. Results showed small associations between more specific JUPs and increased PA (IRR 1.01, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.02). Closer examination of specific JUP provisions indicates that specifying what times facilities are available for use was associated with vigorous exercise and prioritizing school or affiliated organizations' use and which spaces were available for use were associated with vigorous exercise and more frequent PA participation, which includes participation in sports or athletics. No associations were found between more specific JUPs and SB. - Conclusions. JUPS may have small influences on adolescent physical activity behavior. Future longitudinal studies should be conducted to examine the impact of JUPs in conjunction with other physical activity-related policies and environmental changes to determine what impact they have on overall adolescent physical activity and sedentary behavior. Slater S, Chriqui J, Chaloupka FJ, Johnston L. Joint use policies: Are they related to adolescent behavior? Prev. Med 2014 Dec; 69S:S37-S43. - Defining healthy schools remains largely discipline specific. Design disciplines ground discussions in a “green building” framework. Public health approaches healthy schools through programmatic interventions for physical activity and nutrition. - This article presents a more systemic approach to healthy schools via health impact assessment (HIA). It reviews literature on health determinants in school environments, focusing on physical design. Existing school HIAs are reviewed with other decision support tools that provide guidance on the operation and design of healthy schools. - The paper examines current use of HIAs in schools and develops a screening matrix for using HIA in creating healthy schools. Arthi Rao, Catherine L. Ross. Health Impact Assessments and Healthy Schools. Journal of Planning Education and Research 2014;34(2):141-152. - Despite the growing interest in expanding the joint use of K–12 public schools by public health and planning practitioners to promote healthy, sustainable communities, the topic has received little attention in the urban planning and public health scholarship. - The objective of this article is to situate joint use in the academic literature focused on the links between built environments and health. - The author examines the “state of the field” of K–12 joint use through studying the academic and associated literature, interviews, participant observation, and case examples and develops a joint use classification system to aid researchers and practitioners. Vincent J. Joint Use of Public Schools: A Framework for Promoting Healthy Communities. Journal of Planning Education and Research 2014;34(2):153-168. - In 2005, the United States Congress directed the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to develop the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program (NTPP). - The program provided over $25 million in contract authority to four pilot communities (Columbia, Missouri; Marin County, California; Minneapolis area, Minnesota; and Sheboygan County, Wisconsin) for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure and nonmotorized programs. - This report summarizes the progress and results of the NTPP from August 2005 through December 2013, updating and expanding upon the analysis from the Report to the U.S. Congress on the Outcomes of the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program, submitted by the Federal Highway Administration in April 2012. - This report analyzes the results through December 2013 of the NTPP in terms of program implementation, transportation mode shift toward walking and bicycling and associated improvements pertaining to access and mobility, safety and public health, and the environment and energy. - From 2007 to 2013, the pilot communities observed an estimated 22.8 percent increase in the number of walking trips and an estimated 48.3 percent increase in the number of bicycling trips. - This report examines how the NTPP pilot communities provide examples to other communities interested in implementing and evaluating nonmotorized investments. William Lyons, Benjamin Rasmussen, David Daddio, Jared Fijalkowski, Erica Simmons. (2014). Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program: Continued Progress in Developing Walking and Bicycling Networks – May 2014 Report In U. S. D. o. Transportation, J. A. V. N. T. S. Center & T. P. Division (Eds.). 55 Broadway Cambridge, MA 02142-1093: US Dept of Transportation. - Purpose and Method: This research brief examines elementary school administrators’ reports of school participation in Safe Routes to School initiatives and estimated rates of active travel by students, as collected by surveys from administrators at nationally-representative samples of U.S. public elementary schools between the 2006-07 and 2012-13 school years. - Results: The prevalence of elementary school participation in SRTS programs grew steadily over the past seven years, increasing by 54 percent between 2006-07 and 2012-13 (from14.2% of schools to 21.8% of schools). Rates of student active travel to school, as estimated by school administrators, were 60 percent higher at schools that participated in SRTS programs (where 32.4% of students walked or biked) than at schools that did not participate (where 20.2% of students walked or biked). In examining the 2012-13 survey, SRTS programming did not differ by the school’s socioeconomic characteristics. - Conclusions: Active travel is a promising strategy for keeping children physically active and for reducing the adverse health consequences of inactivity, such as childhood obesity. SRTS programs are associated with higher reported rates of children walking or biking to school. Turner L, Slater S, Chaloupka FJ. . (2014). Elementary School Participation in Safe Routes to School Programming is Associated with Higher Rates of Student Active Travel to School. In H. P. C. Bridging the Gap Program, Institute for Health Research and Policy (Ed.), A BTG Research Brief. Chicago, IL.: University of Illinois at Chicago. - Purpose: State Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs provide competitive grants to local projects that support safe walking, bicycling, and other modes of active school travel (AST). This study assessed changes in rates of AST after implementation of SRTS projects at multiple sites across four states (Florida, Mississippi, Washington and Wisconsin). - Measures: AST was measured as the percentage of students walking, bicycling, or using any AST mode. SRTS project characteristics were measured at the project, school, and school neighborhood levels in 53 schools affected by 48 completed Safe Routes to School projects. - Results: Statistically significant increases in AST were observed across projects in all four states. All AST modes increased from 12.9% to 17.6%; walking from 9.8% to 14.2%; and bicycling from 2.5% to 3.0%. Increases in rates of bicycling were negatively correlated with baseline rates of bicycling. - Conclusion: State-funded SRTS projects are achieving one of the primary program goals of increasing rates of AST. They may be particularly effective at introducing bicycling to communities where it is rare. The evaluation framework introduced in this study can be used to continue tracking the effect of state SRTS programs as more projects are completed. Orion Stewart, Anne Vernez Moudon, and Charlotte Claybrooke (2014). Multistate Evaluation of Safe Routes to School Programs. American Journal of Health Promotion, 28(sp3), S89-S96. - Objective. We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of a package of roadway modifications in New York City funded under the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program. - Methods. We used a Markov model to estimate long-term impacts of SRTS on injury reduction and the associated savings in medical costs, lifelong disability, and death. Model inputs included societal costs (in 2013 US dollars) and observed spatiotemporal changes in injury rates associated with New York City's implementation of SRTS relative to control intersections. Structural changes to roadways were assumed to last 50 years before further investment is required. Therefore, costs were discounted over 50 consecutive cohorts of modified roadway users under SRTS. - Results. SRTS was associated with an overall net societal benefit of $230 million and 2055 quality-adjusted life years gained in New York City. - Conclusions. SRTS reduces injuries and saves money over the long run. Muennig, P. A., Epstein, M., Li, G., & DiMaggio, C. (2014). The Cost-Effectiveness of New York City's Safe Routes to School Program. Am J Public Health. doi: 10.2105/ajph.2014.301868 - Despite the health benefits associated with physical activity participation, activity levels of North American children are declining. In response, practitioners are placing emphasis on active forms of transportation to and from school. The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers and facilitators to active transportation to school (ATS) from the perspectives of practitioners. - The perspectives of 19 practitioners (eg, health promoters, traffic engineers, police, etc.) from 3 communities in Alberta, Canada were captured using focus group interviews followed by content analysis. - Subthemes tied to barriers included logistics, lifestyle, safety, and lack of resources; while facilitators were comprised of collaboration, education, and leadership. The results were interpreted using an ecological model of health behavior. - The most common ATS barriers: attitudes and safety concerns, lack of resources and time, and the nature of the natural and built environments were associated with the intrapersonal, organizational, and physical environmental factors, respectively. The most significant organizational facilitators concerned collaboration among parents, schools, businesses, community organizations, and government agencies. While the multifaceted nature of barriers and facilitators add complexity to the issue, it also challenges practitioners to think and act creatively in finding solutions. Loitz CC, Spencer-Cavaliere N. (2013). Exploring the Barriers and Facilitators to Children's Active Transportation to and From School From the Perspectives of Practitioners. J Phys Act Health, 10(8), 1128-1135. - In many developed countries walking and bicycling are not extensively used as a means of transportation. Further, the share of these non-motorized travel modes (as a percentage of all trips) has been reducing over time. - The increasingly low use of walk and bicycle modes of transportation, and the concomitant increasing use of motorized vehicles for transportation, may be associated with several factors, including land use and development patterns, traffic safety and personal security concerns, and perceptions of and attitudes towards non-motorized transport. These factors manifest themselves differently in developing and developed countries, but throughout the world the increasing reliance on motorized transport contributes to serious traffic congestion problems, air quality degradation, and greenhouse gas emission increases. - In addition to transportation professionals, health agencies are also paying increased attention to non-motorized modes, or “active transport” as a route to improve public health. - In this chapter, the authors discuss the many benefits of non-motorized travel, identify its facilitators and impediments, analyze its utilization in select developed and developing countries, review previous studies of the effectiveness of strategies to promote it, and recommend possible pathways to promote non-motorized travel as a sustainable travel option. Christina Bernardo, Chandra Bhat. (2014). Non-motorized Travel as a Sustainable Travel Option Handbook of Sustainable Travel (pp. 277-291). Netherlands: Springer Netherlands. - This study assesses how federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) funds were allocated to public and private schools and communities and whether there were demographic or locational differences between schools that benefited from SRTS funding and those that did not receive SRTS awards. - The study analyzes all SRTS projects awarded between 2005 and 2012 (N1⁄45532) by using descriptive statistics to profile SRTS funding amounts and purposes, and to compare demographic and neighborhood characteristics of schools with and without SRTS programs. Analysis was conducted in 2013. - The average SRTS award was $158,930 and most funding was spent on infrastructure (62.8%) or combined infrastructure and non-infrastructure (23.5%) projects. - Schools benefiting from the SRTS program served higher proportions of Latino students and were more likely to be in higher-density areas. Few differences existed in neighborhood demographics, particularly educational attainment, work-trip commute mode, and median household income. - Conclusions: Schools benefiting from the SRTS program are more urban and have higher Latino populations but are otherwise comparable to U.S. public schools. This suggests that disadvantaged areas have had access to the SRTS program. Noreen C. McDonald, PhD, Pamela H. Barth, MRP, Ruth L. Steiner, PhD. (2013). Assessing the Distribution of Safe Routes to School Program Funds, 2005–2012. Am J Prev Med, 45(4), 401-406 - The study used a robust quasi-experimental research design to measure the impacts of Eugene, Oregon's Safe Routes to School program on walking and biking. - Using data collected between 2007 and 2011 at 14 schools with and without Safe Routes to School programs, the study showed that the Safe Routes to School program was associated with increases in walking and biking. - Education and encouragement programs were associated with a five percentage point increase in biking. Augmenting education programs with additional SRTS improvements such as sidewalks, crosswalks, covered bike parking, and Boltage was associated with increases in walking and biking of 5–20 percentage points. - The study results illustrate the potential for the Safe Routes to School program to change behavior and should encourage other communities to plan for multi-modal school travel. Noreen C. McDonald a, n, Yizhao Yang b, Steve M. Abbott b, Allison N. Bullock (2013). Impact of the Safe Routes to School program on walking and biking: Eugene, Oregon study. Transport Policy 29 (2013) 243–248, 29, 243-248 - Household and parental characteristics and perceptions of walking and the built environment may reduce the propensity of children to use active travel modes (walking and bicycling) for their school trip. - This paper examines whether there is a relationship between walking or bicycling to school and the walking habits of caregivers or parents. - A statewide pedestrian survey of New Jersey residents was used to assess the mode taken by children for their school trip (age of respondents (parents) 19–84; n=353). Socio-demographic characteristics, public school density, full and part-time employment status of respondents, self-reported frequency of walking of adult respondents and perceived neighborhood environment characteristics are used as independent variables. Logit models are estimated to test associations between these variables. - Non-minority ethnic status, women respondent's employment type, higher income, and vehicle ownership are negatively associated with active travel to school, while higher public school density is positively associated with choice of an active travel mode. - Even in favorable circumstances for active travel to school, the employment circumstances of parents or caregivers may deter children from walking to school. - When parents are active, their children are also more likely to be active. Poor sidewalk quality also deters parents from letting children use active modes for their school trip. Hyunsoo Parka, Robert B. Nolanda. (2013). Active school trips: associations with caregiver walking frequency. Transport Policy, 29, 23-38 - Few reports examined long term predictors of children's active commuting to school (walking or cycling to school, ACS). - To identify predictors of ACS over one school year among a sample of children with relatively high rates of ACS. - Parents were surveyed in September 2010 (Time 1) and April 2011 (Time 2). The dependent variable was children's commuting mode to school (active versus passive). Independent variables included: 1) parents' outcome expectations (from Social Cognitive Theory: the expected risks/benefits for their child doing ACS), 2) distance to school, 3) participation in an adult-led walk to school group, 4) temperature, and 5) child demographics. Generalized mixed-models estimated odds ratios for ACS (n=369 or 49.7% of Time 1 respondents). - ACS was associated with the following: - males (OR=2.59, 95% CI [1.57-4.30]) - adult-led walk to school group participation (OR=1.80, 95% CI [1.14-2.86]) - parents' outcome expectations (OR=1.26, 95% CI [1.14-1.39]) - temperature (OR=1.03, 95% CI [1.01-1.07) - distance to school (OR=0.23, 95% CI [0.14-0.37]) - Latino ethnicity (OR=0.28, 95% CI [0.12-0.65]). - CONCLUSIONS: Programs and policies sensitive to parents' concerns, e.g. adult-led walk to school groups, and targeting Latinos and girls appear promising for increasing ACS. Mendoza JA, Cowan D, Liu Y. (2013). Predictors of Children's Active Commuting to School: An Observational Evaluation in Five US Communities. J Phys Act Health. Epublished. - We assessed changes in transit-associated walking in the United States from 2001 to 2009 and documented their importance to public health. - We examined transit walk times using the National Household Travel Survey, a telephone survey administered by the US Department of Transportation to examine travel behavior in the United States. - People are more likely to transit walk if they are from lower income households, are non-White, and live in large urban areas with access to rail systems. Transit walkers in large urban areas with a rail system were 72% more likely to transit walk 30 minutes or more per day than were those without a rail system. From 2001 to 2009, the estimated number of transit walkers rose from 7.5 million to 9.6 million (a 28% increase); those whose transit-associated walking time was 30 minutes or more increased from approximately 2.6 million to 3.4 million (a 31% increase). - Transit walking contributes to meeting physical activity recommendations. Study results may contribute to transportation-related health impact assessment studies evaluating the impact of proposed transit systems on physical activity, potentially influencing transportation planning decisions. Freeland AL, Banerjee SN, Dannenberg AL, Wendel AM. (2013). Walking associated with public transit: moving toward increased physical activity in the United States. Am J Public Health, 103(3), 536-542. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.300912. - This study developed and tested an algorithm to classify accelerometer data as walking or non-walking using either GPS or travel diary data within a large sample of adults under free-living conditions. - Participants wore an accelerometer and a GPS unit, and concurrently completed a travel diary for 7 consecutive days. Physical activity (PA) bouts were identified using accelerometry count sequences. PA bouts were then classified as walking or non-walking based on a decision-tree algorithm consisting of 7 classification scenarios. Algorithm reliability was examined relative to two independent analysts' classification of a 100-bout verification sample. The algorithm was then applied to the entire set of PA bouts. - The 706 participants' (mean age 51 years, 62% female, 80% non-Hispanic white, 70% college graduate or higher) yielded 4,702 person-days of data and had a total of 13,971 PA bouts. The algorithm showed a mean agreement of 95% with the independent analysts. It classified physical activity into 8,170 (58.5 %) walking bouts and 5,337 (38.2%) non-walking bouts; 464 (3.3%) bouts were not classified for lack of GPS and diary data. Nearly 70% of the walking bouts and 68% of the non-walking bouts were classified using only the objective accelerometer and GPS data. Travel diary data helped classify 30% of all bouts with no GPS data. The mean duration of PA bouts classified as walking was 15.2 min (SD=12.9). On average, participants had 1.7 walking bouts and 25.4 total walking minutes per day. - GPS and travel diary information can be helpful in classifying most accelerometer-derived PA bouts into walking or non-walking behavior. Kang B, Moudon AV, Hurvitz PM, et al. (2013). Walking Objectively Measured: Classifying Accelerometer Data with GPS and Travel Diaries. Med Sci Sports Exerc. (e-published). - Given the health benefits of walking, there is interest in understanding how physical environments favor walking. Although GIS-derived measures of land-use mix, street connectivity, and residential density are commonly combined into indices to assess how conducive neighborhoods are to walking, field validation of these measures is limited. - To assess the relationship between audit- and GIS-derived measures of overall neighborhood walkability and between objective (audit- and GIS-derived) and participant-reported measures of walkability. - Walkability assessments were conducted in 2009. Street-level audits were conducted using a modified version of the Pedestrian Environmental Data Scan. GIS analyses were used to derive land-use mix, street connectivity, and residential density. Participant perceptions were assessed using a self-administered questionnaire. Audit, GIS, and participant-reported indices of walkability were calculated. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to assess the relationships between measures. All analyses were conducted in 2012. - The correlation between audit- and GIS-derived measures of overall walkability was high (R=0.7 [95% CI=0.6, 0.8]); the correlations between objective (audit and GIS-derived) and participant-reported measures were low (R=0.2 [95% CI=0.06, 0.3]; R=0.2 [95% CI=0.04, 0.3], respectively). For comparable audit and participant-reported items, correlations were higher for items that appeared more objective (e.g., sidewalk presence, R=0.4 [95% CI=0.3, 0.5], versus safety, R=0.1 [95% CI=0.003, 0.3]). - The GIS-derived measure of walkability correlated well with the in-field audit, suggesting that it is reasonable to use GIS-derived measures in place of more labor-intensive audits. Interestingly, neither audit- nor GIS-derived measures correlated well with participants’ perceptions of walkability. Hajna, Samantha, MSc, Kaberi Dasgupta, MD, MSc, FRCPC, Max Halparin, BA, Nancy A. Ross, PhD. (2012). Neighborhood Walkability: Field Validation of Geographic Information System Measures. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 44(6), e51-e55. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2013.01.033 This report summarizes findings associated with the successful implementation of a Safe Routes to School program in an elementary school in metropolitan Atlanta, GA between 2008–2010. Elements of the program that led to its success may inform future policy efforts related to active transport to school. This was a multilevel, multi-sector, intervention involving education, community capacity building, enablement and reinforcement through supportive environments and evaluation. Elements and results included: - Safe Routes to School Task Force: Parent volunteers formed a Safe Routes to School Task Force comprising the school principal, nurse, and physical education teacher, as well as the county police, public works staff, board of health, and a county commissioner. This Task Force formed the basis of a movement to increase social capital at the community, school, family, and the individual level in order to shift the entire school community culture toward one of active transport. - Education: An informed and engaged community participated on its own behalf. Students, parents, school staff and faculty focused on Safe Routes to School goals of increasing walking roundtrip to school, decreasing traffic, and improving air quality around school. Pedestrian safety education was provided through the Physical Education program. The PTA and local churches were involved. Maps were provided of best walking routes and an extensive publicity campaign was undertaken. - Various local and federal resources were available to help support community infrastructure projects. Interactive Community Police and infrastructure improvements helped improve safety along routes to school. - Built environment improvements to increase active transport to school benefited the surrounding community as nearly 40% of communities are within ½ mile of a public school. Five crosswalks were restriped and raised walking intersections and new traffic lights were installed. - Parental surveys confirmed increased rates of walking to school (18% to 42% in two years) and parental perceptions of health benefits and enjoyment of walking increased. Rates of walking home did not change. Susan Henderson, Robin Tanner, Normal Klanderman, Abby Mattera, Lindey Martin Webb, John Steward. (2013). Safe Routes to School: A Public Health Practice Success Story—Atlanta, 2008-2010. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 2013, 10, 141-142. - This novel interdisciplinary collaboration between public health and computer science provides automatic analysis of existing public data feeds to quantify the impact of built environment intervention on increasing bike travel mode share. - The Archive of Many Outdoor Scenes (AMOS) has archived over 225 million images of outdoor environments from more than 12,000 public webcams since 2006. Using the publicly available webcams and a custom web crawler (similar to the web search engine or Google), webcam images are captured at the rate of one image per camera per hour and given a time stamp. Many of the locations have had built environment improvements such as complete streets, bike share startups or walking school bus programs. AMOS is able to document and allow quantification of population behavior changes following the built environment modification. - The intersection of Pennsylvania Ave NW and 9th ST NW in Washington, DC where bike lanes were installed was chosen as a location to monitor transportation mode share comparing the first workweek or June 2009 and the first week of June 2010 (pre-bicycle lane and post-bicycle lane). - Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) website was used to crowd-source the image annotation. MTurks are simple tasks not yet computer automated. MTurk workers were paid US $0.01, in March 2012 to count each pedestrian, cyclist, and vehicle in a photograph. Each image was counted 5 unique times (n=1200), completed in less than 8 hours. The counts per transportation mode were downloaded to SPSSv.19 for analysis. Results showed a statistically significant difference in transportation mode share between the two years: no significant increase in pedestrians but a four-fold increase in the number of cyclists per scene. - The investigators conclude that the use of AMOS and MTurks offer an inexpensive ($12.00 for this study) opportunity to quantify behavior change impact following built environment changes. Future plans include monitoring other locations in the Washington DC Capitol Bikeshare program and developing computer algorithms to automate the counting process. Hipp, J. Aaron; Adlakha, Deepti; Chang, Bill; Eyler, Amy A.; and Pless, Robert B. (2013). "Emerging Technologies: Webcams and Crowd- Sourcing to Identify Active Transportation" (2013). Brown School Faculty Publications (Paper 3). - The authors indicate that in the United States, development in the past 60 years has turned away from the traditional compact, walkable city or town toward a more dispersed, automobile-centric pattern that makes travel by any means except private vehicle impractical and inconvenient. - The article explores what makes the United States so different from European countries in which walking and bicycling is more prevalent. - To plan sustainable—and healthful—human environments, and to determine the most cost-effective measures to encourage more walking and bicycling, more must be known about the various influences on bicycling and walking behavior. - The article includes an overview of data and planning tools helpful for non-motorized travel, a wide array of walking and bicycling data, an examination of the influence of the natural and built environment, attitudes and perceptions towards walking and bicycling, and questions for future research. - The article also links to several other publications that may be useful for active transportation practitioners: - NCHRP Project 8-78 guidebook Estimating Bicycling and pedestrian Demand for Planning and Project Development http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=2707 - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities, 4th Edition, https://bookstore.transportation.org/item_details.aspx?ID=1943 - NCHRP (National Cooperative Highway Research Project) Report 500 series Vol 10 and 18 are Guides for Reducing Collisions Involving Pedestrians and a second Guide to Reducing Collisions Involving Bicycles. More information can be found at www.trb.org/Main/Public/Blurbs/152868.aspx - Traveler Response to Transportation system Changes, Chpt 16: Pedestrian and Bicycle Facilities available online at www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/167122.aspx Kuzmyak R. Dill J. (2012). Walking and Bicycling in the United States: The Who, What, Where, and Why. TR News, 280(May/June), 4-17. - This pilot study examined the effects of a teacher-taught, locomotor skill (LMS)-based physical activity (PA) program on the LMS and PA levels of minority preschooler-aged children. - Eight low-socioeconomic status preschool classrooms were randomized into LMS-PA (LMS-oriented lesson plans) or control group (supervised free playtime). Interventions were delivered for 30 min/day, five days/week for six months. Changes in PA (accelerometer) and LMS variables were assessed with MANCOVA. - LMS-PA group exhibited a significant reduction in during-preschool and total daily percent time spent in sedentary activity. LMS-PA group also exhibited significant improvement in leaping skills. No other, significant changes were observed. The implementation of a teacher-taught, LMS-based PA program could potentially improve LMS and reduce sedentary time of minority preschoolers. Alhassan, S., O. Nwaokelemeh, et al. (2012). "Effects of locomotor skill program on minority preschoolers' physical activity levels." Pediatrc Exercise Science 24(3): 435-449. - Washington State Department of Transportation released a report that assessed the Safe Routes to School program in five states: Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. - A database of all SRTS projects announced for funding and all schools affected by these projects were developed. The database was analyzed to (1) quantify the SRTS programs’ impact in the five states and compare them to SRTS programs nationally, (2) assess the SRTS programs’ effectiveness in increasing rates of walking and bicycling to school, and (3) identify characteristics of SRTS projects associated with greater increases in walking and bicycling to school. - The results of this study offer preliminary evidence that the SRTS program is achieving one of its primary goals of increasing rates of walking and bicycling to school and that SRTS funds are delivering a return on investment. - Key finding from this study: In the five states, more than 1400 schools and 781,000 children have been reached as a result of Safe Routes to School funding; this is roughly 11 percent of the pre-kindergarten through eighth grade public school population in the five states. - Key finding from this study: Engineering projects made up about 72 percent of the funding in the five states, with sidewalk projects featured in about 69 percent of these projects. Interestingly, the engineering projects that were on smaller scales (affected fewer schools and students) and included encouragement and education components tended to perform better. - Key finding from this study: Rates of walking increased by 45 percent, bicycling increased by 24 percent, and all active travel to school increased by 37 percent in these five states. - The study findings suggested that Safe Routes to School projects may be more effective at encouraging bicycling to school where few children already do so. - Poor lifestyle behaviors, including suboptimal diet, physical inactivity, and tobacco use, are leading causes of preventable diseases globally. Although even modest population shifts in risk substantially alter health outcomes, the optimal population-level approaches to improve lifestyle are not well established. - In this paper, the authors systematically reviewed and graded the current scientific evidence for effective population approaches to improve dietary habits, increase physical activity, and reduce tobacco use. - Strategies were considered in 6 broad domains: (1) Media and educational campaigns; (2) labeling and consumer information; (3) taxation, subsidies, and other economic incentives; (4) school and workplace approaches; (5) local environmental changes; and (6) direct restrictions and mandates. The writing group also reviewed the potential contributions of healthcare systems and surveillance systems to behavior change efforts. - Several specific population interventions were identified, providing a set of specific evidence-based strategies that deserve close attention and prioritization for wider implementation. School-related interventions included increased availability and types of school playground spaces and equipment, increased number of PE classes, and revised PE curricula to increase time in at least moderate activity. - This systematic review identified and graded the evidence for a range of population-based strategies to promote lifestyle change. The findings provide a framework for policy makers, advocacy groups, researchers, clinicians, communities, and other stakeholders to understand and implement the most effective approaches. New strategic initiatives and partnerships are needed to translate this evidence into action. Mozaffarian, D., A. Afshin, et al. (2012). Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation 126(12):1514-1563. - The recess environment in schools has been identified as an integral part of school-based programs to enhance physical activity (PA). The purpose of this study was to report pilot findings on the extent to which the Ready for Recess intervention was associated with a different amount of increase in moderate to vigorous PA (MPVA) during recess and the rest of the school day between girls and boys, and between nonwhites and whites. - The Ready for Recess intervention modified the recess environment of schools by providing staff training and recreational equipment. The MPVA levels of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students (n = 93) at 2 schools were measured pre- and post-intervention using ActiGraph accelerometers. Multiple regression models with robust variance were utilized to test for the interaction of intervention with gender and race/ethnicity. - The intervention was associated with an adjusted increase of 4.7 minutes (P <.001) in moderate/vigorous PA during recess. There was no evidence that this effect varied by gender (P = .944) or race (P = .731). The intervention was also associated with an adjusted increase of 29.6 minutes (P < .001) in moderate/vigorous PA during rest of the school day. While this effect did not vary by gender, there was some evidence (P = .034) that nonwhites benefited more from the intervention than whites. - Simple strategies such as staff training and recreational equipment may be an effective way to increase PA in children (despite gender or ethnicity) during recess time as well as during the rest of the school day. Siahpush, M., J. L. Huberty, et al. (2012). Does the Effect of a School Recess Intervention on Physical Activity Vary by Gender or Race? Results From the Ready for Recess Pilot Study. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 18(5): 416-422. - This article reports on a study that explored the barriers that prevent parents from allowing their children to commute to school. - The authors used data from parents of school children in Illinois, U.S., as reported in the National Safe Routes to School Parent Surveys. - The study finds that the top barriers for both urban and suburban children were intersection safety and traffic speed/volume. Distance from school had a greater impact on the walking or bicycling to school habits of suburban students compared to urban students. - The authors contend that actively commuting to school gives children the opportunity to explore nature, get exercise, and develop cognitive skills. With the barriers to active commuting to school identified, the Safe Routes to School Programs in Illinois can target their resources effectively to encourage children and their parents to consider walking and biking alternatives for trips to and from school. Fries, R., E. Sykut, et al. (2012). Barriers Influencing Illinois Children School Travel Mode Choices. Advances in Transportation Studies 27. - This study examined the relationship between state laws requiring minimum bussing distances, hazardous route exemptions, sidewalks, crossing guards, speed zones, and traffic control measures around schools and active travel to school (ATS) policies and practices in nationally representative samples of U.S. public elementary schools between 2007–2009. The state laws and school data were compiled through primary legal research and annual mail-back surveys of principals, respectively. - A pooled, cross-sectional analysis examined the relationship between the state laws and the school policies and practices. - A stacked, cross-sectional data set containing 1967 schools over the combined period, 2007–2009, comprised the final study sample (with 578, 749, and 641 schools included in each of the three corresponding study years). - Multivariate logistic and zero-inflated poisson regression indicated that all state law categories (except for sidewalks) relate to ATS. These laws should be considered in addition to formal Safe Routes to School programs as possible influences on ATS. - Nearly 40 percent of schools were located in states with minimum bussing distance requirements; 23.4 percent were located in states with hazardous route exemptions. - More schools allowed all students to walk to school if the state had a minimum bussing distance law of greater than one mile or a law requiring sidewalks or traffic control measures. - The odds of zero students walking/biking to school were 68 percent lower in states requiring crossing guards and 55 percent lower in states requiring speed zones. Chriqui, JF, Taber, DR, et al. (2012). “The impact of state safe routes to school-related laws on active travel to school policies and practices in U.S. elementary schools.” Health & Place 18(1): 8-15. - Walking and bicycling are important but underused modes of transportation in the United States. Road design influences how much walking and bicycling takes place along streets and roads. Currently, numerous national policy initiatives, including Safe Routes to School and Complete Streets, are attempting to improve pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure and “friendliness.” However, no state has completed a systematic assessment of its streets to determine how amenable they are to walking and bicycling. This statewide study was undertaken to assess how accessible and friendly Hawaii roads are to these 2 activities. - The authors randomly selected street segments in Hawaii’s 4 counties and then completed objective assessments using the Pedestrian Environmental Data Scan. They audited 321 segments, and interrater reliability was adequate across all measures. Streets were coded as high (42.4%) or low capacity (57.6%) depending on how much vehicular traffic the street was designed to accommodate. Outcome measures included street accommodations (ie, sidewalks and crossing aids) and pedestrian and bicyclist use. - Most high-capacity streets had sidewalks (66%). These sidewalks were usually in good condition, contiguous, and had traffic control devices and pedestrian signals. Most low-capacity roads did not have sidewalks (63.4%). Bicycling facilities were limited (<10%) on both types of roads. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic was related to mixed use, including both residential and retail space, and to pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure. - Road segments in Hawaii with more infrastructure and types of use, including single-family houses, apartment complexes, restaurants, office buildings, and industrial buildings, are used more by pedestrians and bicyclists. Maddock JE, Ramirez V, Heinrich KM, Zhang M, Brunner IM. (2012). “A Statewide Observational Assessment of the Pedestrian and Cycling Environment in Hawaii, 2010.” Preventing Chronic Disease. - This paper examines parents' responses to key factors associated with mode choices for school trips. The research was conducted with parents of elementary school students in Denver Colorado as part of a larger investigation of school travel. - School-based active travel programs aim to encourage students to walk or bike to school more frequently. To that end, planning research has identified an array of factors associated with parents' decisions to drive children to school. Many findings are interpreted as ‘barriers’ to active travel, implying that parents have similar objectives with respect to travel mode choices and that parents respond similarly and consistently to external conditions. While the conclusions are appropriate in forecasting demand and mode share with large populations, they are generally too coarse for programs that aim to influence travel behavior with individuals and small groups. - This research uses content analysis of interview transcripts to examine the contexts of factors associated with parents' mode choices for trips to and from elementary school. Short, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 65 parents from 12 Denver Public Elementary Schools that had been selected to receive 2007–08 Safe Routes to School non-infrastructure grants. Transcripts were analyzed using Nvivo 8.0 to find out how parents respond to selected factors that are often described in planning literature as ‘barriers’ to active travel. - Regular active travel appears to diminish parents' perceptions of barriers so that negotiation becomes second nature. Findings from this study suggest that intervention should build capacity and inclination in order to increase rates of active travel. Zuniga, Kelly Draper. (2012). “From Barrier Elimination to Barrier Negotiation: A Qualitative Study of Parents’ Attitudes about Active Travel for Elementary School Trips” Transport Policy 20: 75–81. - Despite efforts to combat increasing rates of childhood obesity, the problem is worsening. Safe Routes to School (SRTS), an international movement motivated by the childhood obesity epidemic, seeks to increase the number of children actively commuting (walking or biking) to school by funding projects that remove barriers preventing them from doing so. This article summarizes the evaluation of the first phase of an ongoing SRTS program in California and discusses ways to enhance data collection. - There is no requirement for funded SRTS programs to submit evaluation data to the California Department of Public Health, but some supply information on a voluntary basis. This study used de-identified data sent to the University of California, San Francisco. The information was on children's school transport modes and parents’ views on active commuting from the Arrival and Departure Tally Sheet and Parent Survey about Walking and Biking to School, instruments developed by the SRTS national center. - As of October 2010, 20% (n = 42) of grantees from 219 federally funded programs in California had voluntarily submitted evaluation data pertaining to 392 schools, including 63,078 unique parent records. - Findings: Regardless of weather conditions, day of week, or time of day, the relative pattern of school transport mode was consistent. A majority of children commuted in their family vehicle, and smaller percentages of children walked, carpooled, took the school bus, biked, or used public transportation. Chaufan, C., Yeh, J., Fox, P. (2012). “The Safe Routes to School Program in California: An Update.” American Journal of Public Health 102(6): e8–e11 - Researchers examined the extent to which differential traffic volume and road geometry can explain social inequalities in pedestrian, cyclist, and motor vehicle occupant injuries across wealthy and poor urban areas. - They performed a multilevel observational study of all road users injured over 5 years (n = 19 568) at intersections (n = 17 498) in a large urban area (Island of Montreal, Canada). They considered intersection-level (traffic estimates, major roads, number of legs) and area-level (population density, commuting travel modes, household income) characteristics in multilevel Poisson regressions that nested intersections in 506 census tracts. - There were significantly more injured pedestrians, cyclists, and motor vehicle occupants at intersections in the poorest than in the richest areas. Controlling for traffic volume, intersection geometry, and pedestrian and cyclist volumes greatly attenuated the event rate ratios between intersections in the poorest and richest areas for injured pedestrians (−70%), cyclists (−44%), and motor vehicle occupants (−44%). - Roadway environment can explain a substantial portion of the excess rate of road traffic injuries in the poorest urban areas. Morency, P., L. Gauvin, et al. (2012). "Neighborhood Social Inequalities in Road Traffic Injuries: The Influence of Traffic Volume and Road Design." American Journal of Public Health 102(6): 1112-1119. - Although a health impact assessment (HIA) is a tool that can provide decision makers with recommendations to promote positive health impacts and mitigate adverse health impacts of proposed projects and policies, it is not routinely conducted on most major projects or policies. - To make health a decision criterion for the Atlanta BeltLine, a multibillion-dollar transit, trails, parks, and redevelopment project, a HIA was conducted in 2005–2007 to anticipate and influence the BeltLine's effect on health determinants. - Changes in access and equity, environmental quality, safety, social capital, and physical activity were forecast, and steps to maximize health benefits and reduce negative effects were recommended. - Key recommendations included giving priority to the construction of trails and greenspace rather than residential and retail construction, making health an explicit goal in project priority setting, adding a public health professional to decision-making boards, increasing the connectivity between the BeltLine and civic spaces, and ensuring that affordable housing is built. BeltLine project decision makers have incorporated most of the HIA recommendations into the planning process. The HIA was cited in the awarding of additional funds of $7,000,000 for brownfield clean-up and greenspace development. The project is expected to promote the health of local residents more than in the absence of the HIA. - This report is one of the first HIAs to tie specific assessment findings to specific recommendations and to identifiable impacts from those recommendations. The lessons learned from this project may help others engaged in similar efforts. Ross, C. L., K. Leone de Nie, et al. (2012). "Health Impact Assessment of the Atlanta BeltLine." American journal of preventive medicine 42(3): 203-213. - Few adolescents choose to cycle to school in the UK despite the potential health and environmental benefits of the activity. This study sets out to establish the psychological, social and environmental barriers that affect an adolescent's decision to cycle to school. - Two cross-sectional surveys were distributed, one to pupils aged 11–14 years and one to their parents. Respondents were drawn from a state school for 11–16-year olds in the south of England. Using a Likert scale, respondents were asked to rate barriers to cycling. Fifty-two per cent responded, with 62 households returning both questionnaires. - Using logistical regression analysis, the investigation found that the probability of a pupil cycling to school decreased when they did not have a friend who cycled to school. Other variables that showed a decreased probability of a child cycling to school were linked to either safety or social issues. - The findings of this research suggest that social support and road safety could be important predictors for adolescent cycling behavior. Recommendations include promoting initiatives that facilitate social interaction and cyclist safety at the school. Benson, J. and A. Scriven (2012). "Psychological, social and environmental barriers to cycling to school." International Journal of Health Promotion and Education 50(1): 34-44. - Walking school buses (WSB) increased children's physical activity, but impact on pedestrian safety behaviors (PSB) is unknown. - This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of collecting school-level pedestrian safety behavior outcomes and changes to those outcomes during a WSB program study. - The WSB was associated with more children crossing at an intersection, but fewer children fully stopping at the curb. These mixed results suggest modification to the WSB program may be necessary in order to improve children's pedestrian safety behaviors on the walk to and from school. - Further WSB studies, preferably fully powered experimental trials that longitudinally follow participants' pedestrian safety behaviors in the long term, should be conducted in a variety of settings among diverse populations to formally evaluate pedestrian safety and physical activity outcomes. Moreover, studies that examine the influence of the built environment, use objective measures of neighborhood safety, and consider vehicular traffic are also necessary to evaluate their influences on the WSB and children's pedestrian safety. Mendoza, J. A., K. Watson, et al. (2012). "Impact of a pilot walking school bus intervention on children's pedestrian safety behaviors: A pilot study." Health & Place 18(1): 24-30. - The school setting could be a primary venue for promoting physical activity among inner-city children due to the structured natured of the school day. The authors examined differences in step counts between structured school days (SSD) and weekend days (WED) among a sample of public school children in Washington, DC. - Subjects (N = 29) were third- to sixth-grade students enrolled in government-funded, extended-day enrichment programs. Step counts were measured using a pedometer (Bodytronics) over 2 SSD and 2 WED. Differences in mean step counts between SSD and WED were determined using multivariable linear regression, with adjustments for age, sex, and reported distance between house and school (miles). - Recorded step counts were low on both SSD and WED (7735 ± 3540 and 8339 ± 5314 steps/day). Boys tended to record more steps on SSD compared with girls (8080 ± 3141 vs. 7491 ± 3872 steps/day, respectively), whereas girls recorded more steps on the WED compared with boys (9292 ± 6381 vs. 7194 ± 3669 steps/day). Parameter estimates from the regression modeling suggest distance from school (P < .01) to be the strongest predictor of daily step counts, independent of day (SSD/WED), sex, and age. - Among inner-city school children, a safe walking route to and from school may provide an important opportunity for daily physical activity. Goodman, E., W. Evans, et al. (2012). “Preliminary Evidence for School-Based Physical Activity Policy Needs in Washington, DC.” Journal of Physical Activity & Health 9(1): 124-128. - In 2005, the United States Congress authorized $612 million for use in implementing the US Safe Routes to School program to address physical inactivity, air quality, safety and traffic near schools. - Each US state developed administrative practices to implement the program. Based on state-specific annual obligations, on average, states have obligated 44% of available funds. - State project obligations were directly associated with programmatic factors, including broader adherence to federal agency administrative guidance objectives and the number of years for which the states obligated new projects and indirectly associated with student enrollment and state child poverty. - Overall, $221,229,427 was obligated to implement 2298 SRTS projects in the 50 US states during fiscal years 2005–2009. - Implementation increased across the fiscal years: $4.99 million was obligated for 6 projects in 2005, $22.09 million for 141 projects in 2006, $45.75 million for 344 projects in 2007, $71.97 million for 949 projects in 2008 and $76.43 million for 858 projects in 2009. Overall percentage increase in obligations between 2006, the first full year of funding, and 2009 was 246%, with annual percentage increase in obligations ranging from 6% (FY2009) to 343% (FY2006). - On average, states obligated 44% of available funding (range 6–100%). Average per student obligation was $11.07 (range $0.83–$68.05). - Four states had no county-specific obligations; funding in these states was obligated only to statewide or multi-county projects during the reporting period. Four states had no non-core, rural counties. - Only 12 states (24%) obligated 50% or more of funds within counties in their state that had child poverty rates above the county median poverty rate for their state. - Finally, 33 states (66%) made progress on the promotion of comprehensive SRTS programs and activities via state or local practices encouraging the obligation of funding for both infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects. Cradock, A. L., B. Fields, et al. (2012). "Program practices and demographic factors associated with federal funding for the Safe Routes to School program in the United States." Health & Place 18(1): 16-23. - This study provided insights on how individual activity-travel patterns of adults were impacted by whether they lived with children or not. - This cross-sectional study used the 2006 Puget Sound Regional Council Household Activity and Travel Survey data to investigate activity-travel patterns of 7,709 individual adults living in the Puget Sound Region, Washington. Multilevel regression models with the individual as the first level and the household as a second level were developed. - With one-third of the participants living with children, the results showed that individuals who lived with children made 20% more non-work trips than those who did not live with children. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of size of activity realm. - Whether individuals lived with children or not was found to be an insignificant variable to predict individual automobile dependence. - The impact of residential density on parents was not different from that of non-parents. Interactions between gender, work status, and whether adults lived with children or not, revealed complex travel patterns according to different population subgroups. - Women who worked part time and lived with children made the second highest number of non-work trips after women who were unemployed and lived with children. Men who worked part time and lived with children had the largest individual activity realm. Interestingly, men who did not work but lived with children traveled the least. Lin, L. and A. V. Moudon (2012). The Impacts of Children on the Activity-Travel Patterns of Adults. Paper for the 91st Annual Meeting of the TRB, Washington, DC, January 2012. - Although being active is vital to the health and well-being of children, increases in physical activity can lead to an elevated risk of injury, which is a leading cause of childhood mortality globally. - This article provides an overview of the evidence base concerning unintentional injuries associated with popular forms of physical activities for youth, and describes how injury prevention and child obesity professionals can work together to prevent injuries while promoting active lifestyles. - Policy and environmental interventions that are beneficial to both outcomes are highlighted and recommendations for future research for these complementary areas are also provided. Pollack, K. M., C. Kercher, et al. (2012). "Toward environments and policies that promote injury-free active living—it wouldn't hurt." Health & Place 18(1): 106-114. The Safe Routes to School National Partnership has identified several critical areas where additional research is needed. Our meetings with state and federal policy makers and funders have revealed that quantifying these issues will be important for the future of Safe Routes to School. Quantifying the Economic Benefits and a Cost/Benefit Analysis of Safe Routes to School Research that codifies the financial benefits of SRTS is greatly needed in the US and would be valuable for advocates as they make their case before policy makers for more funding for SRTS. A cost benefit analysis is also needed, including the creation of jobs, driving costs / busing costs saved, safety savings, and physical activity and air quality benefits. Similar research has already taken place in the UK; however, US policy makers want US research. Sustrans’(UK) Research and Monitoring Unit, working with partners at Bolton University and the Institute for Transport Studies at Leeds University, have produced leading guidance into the appraisal of cycling and walking schemes for the Department for Transport. The guidance enables a monetary valuation to be placed on the costs and benefits of projects like new cycling and walking routes and other features such as road crossings. For a full summary and an explanation of the analysis used, please review the Sustrans methodology report. Linking Physical Activity to Academic Performance and Attendance Schools and education partners frequently request research showing the connection between physical activity, academic performance, behavior and attendance. This is particularly important as school budgets are shrinking and schools are focused on test scores. As we seek to increase collaboration between the public health, school and transportation sectors, more research at multiple sites is needed for substantiating ties between walking and bicycling to school and increased levels of academic performance, attendance and behavior. Such research is also necessary to the school siting debate. State and local-level decisions regarding where schools are built have significant impacts on whether homes are located within walking and bicycling distance of schools. And as a result of No Child Left Behind, the main focus of Departments of Education is on academic performance. We need research in the United States that assesses the direct ties that SRTS has to academic performance, attendance and behavior. A recent European study shows that girls who walk or bike to school do better academically: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B74C520101208. School Siting Cost Benefit Analysis A cost-benefit analysis studying school siting is needed, as there is a move across the country to consolidate schools and build them further outside communities, where students cannot bicycle or walk to schools. The percentage of children who live within a mile of school has declined from 41% in 1969 to 31% in 2009. When a school district is making school siting decisions, costs of land and infrastructure are the most obvious considerations, but “hidden” costs such as the impact of a school site on bus transportation costs and traffic congestion are not frequently considered. A cost-benefit analysis that captures the true breadth of costs and benefits deriving from school sites close to children being served versus school sites on the outskirts would be extremely useful for school systems. Such a study would include capital costs, long-term busing costs, infrastructure, maintenance, crashes, congestion, air quality, obesity, etc. Quantifying Calories Burned and Minutes of Physical Activity through Active Transportation to School It is difficult to measure the amount of calories burned and minutes of physical activity gained through walking and bicycling to and from school because these figures depend on distance traveled, speed/intensity of travel, and the age and weight of the child. To be able to compare walking and bicycling to school with other health and obesity interventions—such as increasing P.E. classes or cutting back on sugary foods—requires additional research on the average calories burned and minutes of physical activity gained during an active commute to and from school. Such a study could use accelerometers or similar technology. Assessing Safety Improvements and Mode Shift from Safe Routes to School Past research in the transportation field has demonstrated the safety benefits of infrastructure improvements such as sidewalks and crosswalks. From this, we can presume that similar infrastructure improvements installed through Safe Routes to School will improve safety. The state of California also conducted a statewide evaluation of its state Safe Routes to School funds that found that Safe Routes to School did improve safety and rates of walking and bicycling. However, we need more definitive studies that cross different types of communities to demonstrate the impact of Safe Routes to School on safety and mode shift. The majority of Safe Routes to School studies focus on results from one school or one community. A multi-site evaluation study is needed to help understand the true impact of Safe Routes to School, and how impacts vary across different types of settings, population and geographies. Delving into the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) Data from the 2009 NHTS shows that driving to school has increased from 12.2 percent in 1969 to 44.3 percent in 2009. Based on this, an important research need is for the NHTS data to be cross referenced with program evaluation data from communities that are running Safe Routes to School programs. Cross-referencing this data can help make the case that while the number of people driving their children to school may have risen overall at the national level, if compared to the 5% of schools participating in Safe Routes to School nationwide, a reversal of the national trend is possible. Use of data generated through the federal parent surveys and student tallies would demonstrate to Congress that SRTS is an evidence-based solution to changing transportation patterns to school, while accentuating the need for more funding to make SRTS available to a greater percentage of schools nationwide. Assessing the Impact of Safe Routes to School on Neighborhood Crime Parents often identify fear of neighborhood crime as one reason why they do not allow children to walk and bicycle to and from school. Safe Routes to School advocates assert that increasing walking and bicycling to school can build social interactions with neighbors, create a sense of community, and reduce crime and fears about crime due to the increased number of people out on the street during the commute to and from school. However, academic research in this area is hard to come by. It would be beneficial to be able to show the broader neighborhood benefits of Safe Routes to School on neighborhood crime. Determining if Safe Routes to School Behaviors Influence Parents Some Safe Routes to School programs report anecdotally that getting more children to walk and bicycle can also have an impact on parental behaviors. As a result of their student(s) participating in a SRTS program, parents may walk and bicycle more themselves, and try to avoid the car for short family and personal trips, increasing opportunities for physical activity for the whole family, while reducing traffic congestion. Parents may also walk or bicycle with their children, getting more exercise themselves, impacting their personal health and physical activity levels. However, these reports are anecdotal and there is no research we are aware of examining systematic changes in transportation behavior that could be attributed as further benefits for Safe Routes to School programs.

Some time back, I wrote about what you need to make a quantum computer. Given that it’s election season, I thought I’d revisit the topic by looking in detail at the candidate technologies for quantum computing. The first up is Ion Trap Quantum Computing, probably the most well-established of any of the candidates. The field really starts with Dave Wineland’s group at NIST, though there is outstanding stuff being done by Chris Monroe at Maryland, and a host of others. So, how do they stack up? Here are the facts about ion traps as a quantum computing system: What’s the system? Ion traps are, as the name suggests, devices for trapping atoms that have lost one or more electrons. They use the fact that these ions interact very strongly with electric fields to confine them to small volumes using high-voltage electrodes. Once they’re stuck in the trap, the ions can be cooled to very low temperatures using laser cooling. Laser cooling was actually first demonstrated with ions, by the Wineland group– cooling of neutral atoms came later. What’s the qubit? The two states needed for computation (“0” and “1”) are two energy levels of the ion. Generally, these are two hyperfine levels of the ground state. These states are generally separated by a small amount of energy, and thus have extremely long lifetimes, long enough that you don’t need to worry about one spontaneously decaying to the other. The exact choice of states is different for different experiments. How do you manipulate the qubits? In order to do quantum computation, you need to be able to manipulate the states of individual ions. This is done by hitting them with lasers tuned to drive transitions between states. Generally, this is done via “Raman transitions,” which use two lasers with very slightly different frequencies to make a coherent two-photon transition between states. The basic idea is that one photon excites the ion to a high energy state (much higher than either the “0” or “1” states), while the second causes stimulated emission back down into the other of the two computation states. This isn’t quite right– the atoms is never actually in the upper state– but it gets the idea. You can use this Raman technique to do any excitation you want. You can take an ion in “0” and move it to “1,” you can take an ion in “1” and move it to “0,” or you can take an ion in either “0” or “1” and move it into an arbitrary superposition of “0” and “1” at the same time. It’s all a matter of timing– by leaving the lasers on for different amounts of time, you make different states. How do you entangle the qubits? The ion trap system offers a novel method for entangling separated bits. In addition to the quantized internal states of the ions, the traps allow collective modes. If you have two or more ions in a trap, they can be sloshing back and forth in the trap in a couple of different ways. This motion is also quantized. So, if you want to entangle two bits– say, the first one, and the fourth– you can do it using the collective motion as a “data bus.” You do an operation that puts the collective motion into a state that depends on the state of the first bit– not moving if the state is “0,” moving if the state is “1.” Then you do an operation on the fourth bit that depends on the state of the motion– flip the bit if the ions are moving, or leave it alone if they’re not. Then you stop the collective motion. You now have a system in which the state of the fourth ion depends on the state of the first ion. If the fourth ion started as a “0,” it’s a “1” if the first bit was a “1” and a “0” if the first bit was a “0.” And if the first bit was in a superposition of “0” and “1,” the fourth bit is now in a superposition of “0” and “1,” entangled with the state of the first bit. This lets you do all the operations you need to do to make a quantum computer. How do you read the result out? You can detect the state of an individual bit by illuminating it with a laser tuned to a “cycling transition,” which drives the ion back and forth between two energy states, absorbing and emitting lots of photons. If you tune your laser correctly, ions in “0” will absorb photons from the laser, and then re-emit them, while ions in “1” will do nothing. If you look at the trapped ions with a sensitive CCD camera, you’ll see bright spots at the positions of ions in “0” and nothing at the position of ions in “1.” That lets you read out the values of all the ions in the trap. Does it scale? Yes and no. It’s possible to put multiple atoms in a single trap, but not enough of them to do useful computations (“useful” here meaning things like “factoring products of 100-digit prime numbers”). It’s also possible to build arrays of lots of little traps, and shuttle ions back and forth between computation and storage regions– Chris Monroe’s group has done some really excellent work in this area. It’s hard work, but it looks like it’s at least in principle possible to build a large quantum computer using ion traps. What about decoherence? One of the problems plaguing quantum computation is “decoherence,” a term referring to random interactions with the environment that destroy fragile quantum superposition states, and wreck the operation of the computer. In the ion trap system, the main source of decoherence is heating of the ions in the trap– if you cool all the ions in a trap down to the not-moving state, and hold them for a while, after some time, they start moving. Since this motion is your “data bus,” this is a killer. Finding the source of this heating has been a long and tedious process. As I understand it, the current thinking is that it’s due to random areas of extra charge on the electrodes making up the trap, which push the ions in different directions. A lot of hard work has gone into nailing this problem down, and it looks like they finally have a handle on it. The last decoherence rates I remember seeing were still a little too high to do practical quantum computing, but they’ve made great strides, and the future looks promising. Summary: As I said at the beginning of this, ion traps are the most established of the candidate technologies, and probably the farthest along by most measures. The Wineland group in particular has been working on this stuff for better than twenty years, and they’ve got a lot of the bugs worked out, or at least identified. They’re not ready to make an ion-based quantum computer yet, and the complexity needed for a large system might mean that it never will be the basis for a practical computer. Ion traps are the best test and demonstration system we have at the moment, and they’re likely to remain so for the forseeable future. If they were running for President, they would be: Joe Biden. They’ve been around forever, and are a central part of the quantum computing establishment. They may not be the most exciting candidate out there, but nobody doubts that they could get the job done. (We are currently in the middle of a fundraiser for the educational charity DonorsChoose. My challenge goal works out to about $3 per daily visitor. If you feel that you have gotten $3 worth of entertainment or information from this post, please consider making a donation.)

British troops were involved in a secret plan to go into battle wearing women’s underwear, it has emerged. The plan – recently declassified by the Public Records Office – was set up to protect World War II troops from mustard gas attacks. Kilt-wearing soldiers in the Scots regiments were particularly at risk because their legs were exposed to the poisonous gas. From the 1920s up until 1939, secret tests were carried out on volunteer soldiers dressed in long stockings and woollen bloomers. Wearing underwear, soaked in protective chemicals dissolved in white spirit, volunteers were exposed to mustard gas. The research and tests were carried out at Porton Down, the government-funded military research centre in Wiltshire. Porton Down historian, Gradon Carter, said: “A great deal of attention was paid in those days to the impregnation of battle dress and socks with substances called impregnities. “These were chemicals which could actually combine with mustard gas vapour to render them harmless.” Although the tests showed the underwear did protect the volunteers, it was decided that the protective clothing would be too costly to supply to all Scots regiments. As a result, the kilt was banned from the battlefield in 1940. The Scottish Tartans Authority has decreed that refusing to put on underwear beneath a kilt is “childish and unhygienic”. It also warned that “going commando” flies in the face of decency. Tartans Authority director Brian Wilton said kilt wearers should have the “common sense” to realise they should wear underwear beneath their country’s national dress. He said “The idea that you are not a real Scot unless you are bare under your kilt should be thrown into the same wastepaper basket as the idea that you’re not a real Scot unless you put salt on your porridge. “People should not be browbeaten into believing that nonsense. Just because Highlanders wore nothing in the days before Y-fronts were invented doesn’t mean that we, in the 21st Century, should wear nothing too. Can’t say that I agree. I recommend that London kilts are worn with uncommon indecency! Tip: if you are concerned about hygiene simply safety pin a piece of fabric to the inside of the front apron. You can change it as often as you like without needing to wash the whole kilt.

An essential aspect of managing any business that sells physical goods is determining how many goods to produce and how large of a stock of goods to keep on hand for sale. Goods that are available sale are referred to as a firm's inventory or stock. Keeping a large amount of inventory on hand can be advantageous in that it reduces the chance of running out of a product, but a large inventory can also have several notable disadvantages. Holding a large volume of items on hand means you need a large amount of space to store your inventory. Storage space like warehouses and storage rooms cost money to build, rent and maintain. Storage facilities require workers to categorize and organize items and transport items from one place to another. In addition, high levels of inventory can lead to higher insurance costs. Deterioration and Obsolescence Some businesses sell goods that tend to deteriorate or perish over time, such as food products. Keeping a large amount of perishable inventory on hand risks the possibility that you will be unable to sell some of the inventory in time before it goes bad, which can force you to throw away product. Similarly, certain types of products, such as computers and other electronic devices tend to become obsolete quickly. Keeping a large inventory of such products is risky because consumers might not be willing to buy old versions of products at a price that is profitable when new or updated versions become available. Shifts in Demand Another disadvantage of keeping a large amount inventory on hand is that certain goods might not sell due to shifts in market demand. For example, a clothing store that stocks too many tank tops during the summer may find itself unable to get rid of the tank tops before fall. During the fall, consumers might demand different types of clothing, like T-shirts or sweatshirts, leaving the company with a large quantity of goods on hand that simply take up space. While high levels of inventory can be a disadvantage, carrying too few goods on hand can also be harmful to a business. If you run out of a certain product, you could miss out on potentially profitable sales, and this could cause customers to give their business to your competitors. Managers must decide on an inventory level that balances the risk of running out of products with storage costs and the other negative aspects of holding too much inventory.

- Students will recognize and analyze the uses and types of evidence in argument. - Students will define and evaluate the affect of bullying in young adulthood. In order to enhance our skills at recognizing evidence within an argument, we are going to analyze the documentary Bully. Each day you will be given a specific set of notes to maintain throughout the viewing process. You will use these notes to journal and reflect upon the argument of the documentary. These notes will be created in a Google document, so you will have your computer on during the documentary; however, you are not allowed to have any other documents or Internet sites open during this time. If you are caught with some open, your computer privileges will be revoked for the remainder of the documentary and you will need to maintain handwritten notes. PART 1: Personal Narrative and Anecdote Our first set of notes will focus on the evidence the documentary produces in support of the argument: bullying is a social issue in which aggressors target those viewed as different. - Describe the students the documentary introduces. Briefly describe their stories. - What are the different types of bullying these student encounter? - Why are some young adults more vulnerable to bullying? Why do they become targets? - Who are the bullies? How do they get away with the bullying? How can bullies be stopped? What are the consequences? - What impact does bullying have on the family and friends of people who are bullied? PART 2: Persuasion Evidences and Purposes Every piece of writing constructed has a a specific purpose. The format of the writing is determined based on that purpose. In order to determine the purpose of a text, you must answer the following questions: - What is the argument of the text? - What evidence is used to support the argument/opinion? - Who is the audience? After you have determined the answers to these questions, you can begin to analyze how the writer presents these ideas. These elements will vary based on the type of text. Together we will analyze the different types of argument listed below. We will analyze the elements utilized in the text and we will determine the texts’ purpose. Informational: Informational texts increase the reader’s knowledge of the topic. Think definition. Text: Bullying Definition, StopBullying.gov Opinion: Known as op-ed pieces in the media, is a piece of media typically found in magazines or newspapers. It is a piece of writing, constructed by a columnist, in which they state their opinion about a relevant topic or issue in society. Then with your partner, you will find different types of argument about your topic. Text: Fighting Back Against Bullies, James E. Causey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Persuasive: Persuasive writing attempts to coarse the reader to perform a certain action or view the topic in the same way as the writer using appeals. An appeal is a device used in nonfiction to persuade you as the audience to feel and react in a specific way. There are three different types of appeals. This persuasion occurs using specific appeals: ethos, pathos, logos. Although persuasive pieces can utilize all three appeals, the tone of the piece usually has one dominate appeal. Ethos (appeal to character): this is when the filmmaker (or writer) attempts to present an authoritative or credible self-image to convince the audience of the argument. Pathos (appeal to emotion): this is when the filmmaker (or writer) attempts to make the audience feel a certain way, emotionally, in order to make the argument more believable. Examples: The personal narratives and anecdotes of the bully victims in the Bully documentary. Logos (appeal to logic): this is when the filmmaker (or writer) uses facts, evidence, statistics, graphs, basically any type of reason to make the audience believe their audience. Fiction: Fictional texts can create arguments or messages that are conveyed to the reader through literary elements such as characterization, dialogue, conflict/plot, theme, etc. Text: The Swan, Roald Dahl - Identify a specific aspect of your topic that interests you – perhaps a challenge related to your topic or a question that you have about it. - Use the Internet to search for opinions related to your topic. Your goal is to find an opinion that is informed, thoughtful, and engaging. Read a few of them before you settle on just one. You are not limited to the first ten sights that come up in your search. Some sites will be blocked, but there are still some high quality opinions out there. Try using some of Google’s search tips to find quality opinions. [The opinion I chose to read about bullying came from a search that looked like this: opinion:bullying +teen +teachers ] - Once you’ve found an opinion to read, open a Word document. - Use the formal paper format to set up your document. - Copy and Paste the URL of your opinion at the top of the page. Also write the title of the piece and the author’s name. - Answer the following questions about the opinion you chose: - What is the writer’s opinion or message that s/he wants to share with readers? - What can you tell about the writer as a person? What more do you want to know about the writer in order to better understand the opinion? - What insights and views does this writer have to offer your group’s discussion about your topic? - What characteristics of an Op-Ed are present in the piece of writing? [Hint: This refers to things ‘inside the triangle.’] - How is reading this opinion piece different than reading the news article you looked at with your group last week? What do you get from this writer that you didn’t get from the news reporter? - How does your own opinion on the issue brought up in your opinion piece align with or diverge from the writer’s opinion?

Cognitive scientist Johnjoe McFadden’s research indicates that consciousness is a “field effect” resulting from “brain’s electromagnetic field interacting with its circuitry.” Nerve cells firing simultaneously create powerful waves in the field, which in turn cause other neurons to spark. In this way, the electromagnetic field works as a sort of wireless processor, combining the most important information from the hard wiring of the brain into a wireless signal, which is then transmitted back to the brain as conscious thought. Why don’t other electromagnetic waves effect our consciousness? Because “… our skull and protective membranes effectively block the radiation. According to his calculations, the fields from these outside sources are far weaker than the brain’s own natural electromagnetism.” I’m really into consciousness theories; anyone have any interesting ones?

Like any electronics, there are best practices for use With the increasing popularity of tablet devices, many are looking beyond the novelty of apps and the usefulness of the devices, and digging deeper into how people’s good and bad habits are forming around the use of the devices. Much like desktops pose a risk to your eyesight with long term use, tablets possess their own risks when used improperly. Tablets are no longer an item purchased by the most tech savvy people, they have become a mainstream device, with one in five Americans now owning one of a variety of models. Recently, a Harvard study put an iPad 2 up against a Motorola Xoom to analyze the different risks, even with two devices that are not dramatically different in size. The most common problem The most common problem is the most common use of tablets – lap use. Holding a tablet with or without a case on your lap can cause strain on a variety of your muscle groups and can cause eye strain. The study also notes that posture varies depending on where a user places their device, which in and of itself is a health risk – slumping over for hours on end is not good for anybody. The study took particular issue with the iPad 2 smart cover, noting that because of its angle, whether on a desk or not, users are forced to bend their necks, and users are prone to hunching, while desk use may hurt wrists over the long run. Many of these issues can cause pain, discomfort, and over the long term can cause damage, but is this a unique problem? If you watch movies on your smartphone or are constantly looking down at the device, you are equally prone to health hazards, and if you spend 14 hours each day in front of a desktop computer, even improper lighting can cause problems. So no, this problem is not unique, but like all working conditions, there are ideal positions for devices that can curb any body pains or damage.

Regional Earth System Modeling A number of regional climate model (RCM) systems have been developed during the last two decades in order to downscale the output from large scale global climate model simulations and produce fine scale regional climate change information useful for impact assessment and adaptation studies (e.g. Giorgi 2006a). To date most RCMs have been essentially composed by an atmospheric component coupled to a land surface scheme and driven over ocean areas by prescribed sea surface temperature (SST). Although such a RCM can be sufficient for many applications, there are cases in which the fine scale feedbacks associated with air-sea interactions can substantially influence the spatial and temporal structure of regional climates. The development of a Regional Earth System Model has been one of the main objective of the Regional climate variability research area of ENEA. Our main focus is the Mediterranean climate variability, together with the simulations of the African climate. - Modelling the Mediterranean coupled system - Mediterranean ocean variability - Land-surface atmosphere interaction - River modeling - Impact modeling - African climate Modelling the Mediterranean coupled system We developed an atmosphere-ocean regional climate model (AORCM) for the Mediterranean basin, called the PROTHEUS system, composed by the regional climate model RegCM3 as the atmospheric component and by a regional configuration of the MITgcm model as the oceanic component. The model is applied to an area encompassing the Mediterranean Sea and compared to a stand-alone version of its atmospheric component. An assessment of the model performances is done by using available observational datasets. Despite a persistent bias, the PROTHEUS system is able to capture the inter-annual variability of seasonal SST and also the fine scale spatio-temporal evolution of observed SST anomalies, with spatial correlation as high as 0.7 during summer. The close inspection of a 10-day strong wind event during the summer of 2000 proves the capability of the PROTHEUS system to correctly describe the daily evolution of SST under strong air-sea interaction conditions. As a consequence of the model's skill in reproducing observed SST and wind fields, we expect a reliable estimation of air-sea fluxes. The model skill in reproducing climatological land surface fields is in line with that of state of the art regional climate models. This activity is carried out in collaboration with ICTP Within the CIRCE-EU project, we performed regional climate scenarios for the Mediterranean region. Figure. SST anomalies (degrees C) for 09/07/2000 in CPL scale observations. Figure. SST anomalies (degrees C) for 09/07/2000 in fine scale observations. Mediterranean ocean variability The oceanic component of the PROTHEUS system is firstly validated comparing the sea level variability reproduced by the model with altimeter data and then used to study the interannual variability of the Mediterranean Sea and to extrapolate future behavior using the A1B scenario of IPCC. Please note that this work is in progress. The validation with data shows that the fully coupled model (C4, panell upper right on the figure below) bette represents the 'strange' sea level behavio observed between 1993 and 1998 in the Eastern Mediterranean. Probably due to the cooncomitant Eastern Mediterranean Transient, the sea level in the 90's in the EM shown a complicate behavior with apparent oscillation of the sea level height both in space and time. Figure. Sea level trend observed between 1993 and 1998 in the EM from AVISO data (upper left panel) fully copled experiment (upper right panel), oceanic stand-alone experiment (lower left panel) and partly coupled experiment (lower right panel, this experiment is equal to C4 except the interactive river run off scheme) Land-surface atmosphere interaction We investigate the impact of land cover changes on regional climate over the Euro Mediterranean area. Land use and Land Cover Changes (LCC) affect the local, regional and global climate system through biogeophysical and biogeochemical processes that modify both surface-atmosphere exchanges of momentum, energy and greenhouse gases and surface roughness. The feedback mechanisms between the land surface and the atmosphere have been increasingly investigated during last decade due to the increasing computational power. Therefore, in order to study the potential impacts of LCC on local climate, the simulations performed by General Circulation Models (GCMs) have been complemented by the use of Regional Climate Models (RCMs): in fact, the coarse resolution of the GCMs limits their capability to capture mesoscale features that play a pivotal role in regional dynamics. Figure. Differences of deforestated and control simulations of horizontal wind vectors (arrows, m/s) and temperature (shaded area, K) at 960 hPa over the summer season (JJA). The contour lines indicate where these differences are statistically significant (t test for 90% confidence level). River discharge data analysis River discharge is one of the five components of the Mediterranean Sea water budget, together with the net inflow of Atlantic water through the Strait of Gibraltar that from the Black Sea at the Dardanelles Strait, evaporation, and precipitation. In terms of absolute values, river discharge (R) represents the smallest contributionto this budget. In fact, climatological annual mean discharge is less than 20% of the atmospheric water budget evaporation minus precipitation (E - P), and the amplitude of its seasonal cycle is almost negligible with respect to the seasonal cycle of E-P. Nevertheless, discharge together with precipitation is the only freshwater input into the basin, and during spring the two basin-integrated components E -P and R are fairly comparable. We collected historical river discharge monthly series from different hydrological database in order to assess the river discharge contribution to the Mediterranean fresh water input. We identified 68 rivers discharging into the Mediterranean and we estimated the climatological annual mean Mediterranean discharge with an accuracy of about 78%, see Fig.1 Fig. 1 Climatological seasonal cycle of total discharge into the Mediterranean Sea and its decomposition by continent of origin. Represented here is at least 78% of the actual Mediterranean totals (solid line), 76% of discharge from Europe (short dashed), 40% of that from the Middle East (dotted), and 86% of discharge from North Africa (long dashed). (Values are in m3/s.) From "River Discharge into the Mediterranean Sea: Climatology and Aspects of the Observed Variability" , M.V. Struglia, A. Mariotti, A. Filograsso, Journ. Clim. Vol.17 (2004), No. 24 pp. 4740-4751. Regional projections of river discharge in the Mediterranean catchment Among all the possible physical impacts of climate change in the Mediterranean area, the one related to the availability of water resources is crucial both for natural equilibrium of biological ecosystems and for social and economic activities of the inhabitants of the Mediterranean countries. Projected variations in river discharge deriving from altered rainfall distribution will dramatically affect both natural equilibriums and people, as some areas are liable to experience large increases in flood flows, whereas others will be subject to water stress. We developed IRIS (Interactive River Scheme) which is a numeric tool to estimate river discharge from modelled total runoff fields. Runoff fields are computed by atmospheric models via a soil parameterization scheme, which accounts for energy and water fluxes at the atmosphere-biosphere-land interfaces, thus determining the moisture content of soil, the quantity of water returned to the atmosphere through evapo-transpiration and the excess rainfall that goes into runoff. Fig.2 Mediterranean and Black Sea catchments in IRIS. Reconstruction based on TRIP datase On sufficiently long time scales, vertical balance between the four components of the terrestrial hydrological cycle should be achieved: where P is the cumulated precipitation, E is the cumulated evaporation, ΔS is the soil storage variation and R is the cumulated total runoff. Therefore, river discharge can be easily calculated by spatially integrating the simulated time mean total runoff field over distinct catchment basins. Such a simple approach is allowed only when climatic scales are concerned as the relevant variables can be derived as long term means of those computed for forecast purposes. IRIS is based on the Total Runoff Integrated Pathway (TRIP) dataset, which maps information on land water flow directions onto a 0.5°x0.5° regular global grid. The above figure shows the results of the hind-cast run. The blue line is the modelled seasonal cycle from the runoff fields of the hind-cast run of the Protheus coupled model, forced with the ERA-40 reanalysis , years 1958-1997. For comparison, we also show the observed climatology for the same years (red line), computed from river discharge time series. Only in the case of the Danube river the plotted climatology refers to the period 1958-1984, for which observations are available. Designing adaptation strategies requires a fundamental understanding of regional climate change and its impact on productive sectors. The main objectives of our research is the applications of weather-driven physiologically based demographic models (PBDMs) used to analyze a major Mediterranean crop-pest system, namely olive (Olea europaea) and the olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae) (Center for the Analysis of Sustainable Agro-ecological Systems). The Mediterranean Basin is expected to be particularly vulnerable to climate change including pronounced climate warming and desertification. The tight co-evolution links of drought-resistant olive and its major pest the olive fly, and their wide distribution makes the system a suitable model for climate change studies. Figure. Olive yield (kg dry matter tree-1) in the Mediterranean Basin: average (a, b) and standard deviation (c, d) for the period 1958-1967 and 1988-1997. The West African Monsoon is a climatological feature of major social importance to populations whose economy relies on agriculture. Therefore, understanding its dynamics, variability at various timescale and evolution contribute toward food security and stability of the region. The monsoon is a large-scale circulation characterized by a seasonal reversal of winds due primarily to the land-sea temperature contrast. Within this circulation is embedded a number of rainfall producing systems such as African Easterly Waves (AEWs), squall lines and tropospheric jets: African Easterly Jet (AEJ) centered approximately at 600 hPa and the Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ) centered at about 200 hPa. The intensity of these systems and their latitudinal location influence not only the amount of rainfall but also its variability over West Africa. Our research aims to understand the intraseasonal and the interannual variability of rainfall and the related atmospheric circulation over West Africa and to evaluate our capability to correctly reproduce them. Figure. Averaged 1989-2005 Precipitation (in mm/day and shaded) from CRU (Upper Panels), GPCP Superimposed are ERAIM Wind Vectors at 925 hPa (Middle Panels) and RegCM3 Superimposed its 925 hPa Wind Field (Lower Panels) on DJF (Left) and JJA (Right)

Tech Stuff Mac Users, read this!! How to Make an "A" This will be a presentation on a popular music topic of your choice. Listed below are some interesting topics to get you started. You DO NOT have to choose one of these topics, but you may. by no means an exhaustive list, but a point of departure The Political Power of ____ Music (could be folk, rap, rock, country, etc.) Rock (or country) Stars Who Were Classically Trained (how that affected their music) The Role of the Lyricist in Popular Music A Day in the Life of a Mississippi Delta Blues Musician Same Song - Different Styles (treatment of one song covered by different genres) Rock Music on TV Commercials (how and why it works) Dick Clark and Rock and Roll (his impact and influence) (or Sam Phillips, or another non-musician) The Effect of Music Videos on Popular Music Country Music Hooks Covers You Didn't Know Were Covers (and does it matter?) The Blues Are Everywhere (the influence of the blues in popular music) Classical Music used in Popular Songs Is Rap Music? Social Statements in Popular Music Styles What is Real Country Music? The Subject of _____ in American Popular Music (could be love, war, infidelity, horses, cars . . . ) Early Women Rock Stars The Music Genome Project (Pandora) New Artists - Old Styles What the Top 10 Singers (singles/groups/albums) Have in Common A History of Lip-syncing Rock (country/pop/blues/rap) Song Parodies (their purposes and results) Is It Country or Rock? Singers Who Think They Can Act (or Actors Who Think They Can Sing) Improvisation in Popular Music Is Music an Aphrodisiac? The Psychology of Popular Music (Why we like what we like) Popular Music in Movies (or television or commercials) Dance Crazes in Popular Music (their cause and effect) New Directions in _______ (pick any genre or a particular instrument, record company, radio format . . .) Copyright Laws Are Our Friends (or Are Not Our Friends) The "Crossover" Phenomena Do Rockers Have to Be Unstable? Music That Scares Our Parents Does Music Promote Violence? My, How You've Changed (a "then and now" look at a particular performer, group, or genre) How _________'s (performer/group/style) Philosophies Sabotaged Their (his/her) Career The Most Popular Controversial Songs (some banned, some investigated) [Please feel free to make up your own title. You won't get extra credit for choosing one of these.] Your best bet is to choose a topic that requires some conclusions - not just a narrative of what some artist or group has done, what albums they made, where they went on tour. That is BORING!! One more thing - don't preach to the rest of us Example: "My opinion is the correct one because . . . " or "Music does promote violence and parents should . . . " or "Contemporary Christian music is superior because . . . " In other words, we are not really interested in your opinion, we want to LEARN SOMETHING. Feel free to take any position if you can back it up with research, but I have never heard any research conclusions that included the word "should." And remember - you don't have to use one of these topics. If you want to come up with your own, feel free to do so. If you're not sure about it, ask me. The presentation should be about 6 minutes long. In other words, it should take about 6 minutes to view. This should not count the time it takes to view videos. There should be 6 minutes of material that you produce. Depending upon how much text is on each slide, you should probably have at least 15-20 slides. However, more slides with less text per slide is the preferred default. If you have less than 15, it is probably too short. Name your PowerPoint file and the folder that you put it in Powerpoint_yourname Do not name your project by the title of your subject. (Read this part carefully - this is the biggest part of your grade!) Put your name and the title of your presentation on the first slide. State the intent of your presentation (the conclusion you will support, the analysis you will undertake, the point to which your material will be directed). A good rule to follow: 1) tell me what you're going to say, 2) say it, 3) tell me what you said. This is a simple matter of voicing your intent so that I know what to look for as you go through your material to make your point. Then, at the end, you will restate your intent (which should be your conclusion or analysis). Don't just present a bunch of "Trivial Pursuit"- type facts and information. Analyze your information and draw conclusions. At the end of your presentation, I should not be able to say: "And your point is . . . ?" A good place to begin is by asking a question that interests you and your conclusion should answer it. Almost all topics should include audio music clips (see how to insert them below). If you think your topic is an exception, make sure you clear it with me first. Failure to include audio music clips in your presentation will lower your grade one letter. If you use videos, you should integrate them so that you do not have to leave the slide show to view them. Be sure to test that! Use graphics and photos on your slides and not just text. This is a presentation, not a research paper on slides. Do your research, but don't get wordy. Make your points and back them up with visuals and audio. However, DO NOT use video to explain your points. In other words, the videos should be used as examples only, not interviews, etc. to deliver content. You can watch those videos to learn from them, but your point must be made via your own original content. Be sparing with text. The idea of a presentation is to draw in your audience, not to write a research paper. You should not use paragraphs or bullets with many lines of text. Definitely do your research, so that you know your subject well, but then choose carefully what information to highlight. This is the reason I required audio examples. The music should tell part of the story. In other words, do not reduce your subject to textbook information on a slide. Fan-based sites (those posted by fan clubs, blogs, etc.) Your sources for video or graphics such as YouTube or Google images. As instructed above, do not include those as sources. Example of a past project If you copy and paste your slide text from some other source, that is plagiarism. The penalty for plagiarism is an F in the course. Don't do it! Note: Even if you cite the source in your bibliography, copying that material for one of your slides is not allowed. Only in the case of a direct quotation is it acceptable to use someone else's words. Do your own work. Don't try to take shortcuts. Most Common Errors Not including the mp3s in the folder with the PowerPoint before zipping. Apostrophes!!! "it's" means "it is" - "music and its effect" (for example) should not use an apostrophe. Also, the word "artist" is NOT plural. If you are referring to more than one, the word is "artists." Putting too much text on each slide. Split up the slides - use more graphics - don't be so wordy. This is not a report. It is a presentation. Using Wikipiedia as one of your reliable sources (or your only source of information) Also, YouTube does not count as a source. General PowerPoint Tips Don't pick a background that fights your content. In other words, text should be plain and readable. Be careful that text does not "bleed over" into graphics as that is hard to read. Put the text in a text box to control the space. Avoid using bright red backgrounds or text, which is difficult to read. On the other hand, don't use a plain white background. This is a presentation and should be attractive. Make sure the photos, graphics you choose are not fuzzy or "pixelly" when sized to your choice. Note: one of my pet peeves is to see pictures that have been stretched to fit a space, causing them to be disproportionate (people look much thinner or fatter than they really are). Enlarge or crop the picture, do not stretch it or smash it. Don't use a lot of animation - words and pictures flying in and out. A little of that goes a long way. A lot is distracting and annoying. Seriously, DO NOT have words bouncing onto the slides. I will count off for that and I will know you did not read this! Same goes for sound effects. Unless you want to make a specific point, and usually only once, avoid those. Don't use bullets unless you are listing points. You should never use one bullet on a page. If you don't need a bullet, don't use one. They are not for dividing paragraphs. Choose one or two fonts only (heading and body text can be different). This will make your presentation more unified and will look more professional. Don't use a different font on every page. Remember that if you use a font that might not be loaded on my computer, I won't be able to read it properly. Otherwise, when I open your project, it might look like the one below (an actual example). If you want to use a non-standard font, please embed it into your PowerPoint file. Under "PowerPoint Options," choose "Save" and in that window, check the box that says "Embed fonts in the file." This is the rubric I will use to grade your project. Missing or unacceptable content |Incomplete content (too short) or only chronological information| Acceptable content, but too much opinion, incorrect information, or no conclusion Good content with a supported conclusion Well-researched content, well supported by analysis to draw a conclusion |Unacceptable presentation form| Missing element or elements, or extremely wordy Detracting elements used, too much text per slide, or no graphics Good use of background, color, graphics, animation that do not detract from the presentation Excellent use of background, color, graphics, animation that particularly enhance the presentation Audio attempted but files not available (linked incorrectly) One audio example or more than one with lack of integration More than one audio example appropriately placed and integrated Three or more audio examples appropriately placed and integrated Less than 3 sources and/or no book cited other than the textbook 3 sources, including a book other than the textbook, but one or more of questionable reliability At least 3 reliable sources including a book other than the textbook More than 3 reliable sources including a book other than the textbook Unacceptable writing form Multiple errors in punctuation, capitalization, grammar, spelling and/or form Several errors in punctuation, capitalization, grammar, spelling and/or form Minimal errors in punctuation, capitalization, grammar, spelling and/or form Correct punctuation, capitalization, grammar, spelling and/or form | || || || || || | Tips on How to Make an "A" First, read everything on this page I know there is a lot to read. The information and instructions on this page are a result of many semesters of grading these PowerPoints. The instructions were very simple at first, but every problem, every misunderstanding, every misguided interpretation, and every erroneous assumption has resulted in additional information or clarification in the hopes that future students will be more informed and therefore, more successful. Do some research "Research" does not mean looking it up on Wikipiedia. Remember that Wikipiedia doesn't even count as a valid source. Some of that information is very good, but anyone can post on Wikipiedia, whether they have a clue or not. You can start there, but use the bibliography at the bottom of the Wikipiedia article to look at other sources. Tarleton also has excellent databases and library services available online. Go to the library page (http://www.tarleton.edu/library/) and click on "Databases." Oxford Music Online and IIMP are a great place to begin. Do some reading but DO NOT under any circumstances copy material from these sources unless you intend to use quotation marks. Even then, quotations should only be used sparingly. Don't choose a single performer or group as your topic Of course you can if you wish. The danger in this is that inevitably, students will start to list what albums they have recorded, what awards they have won, where they went on tour, what year they started using drugs. This information does not require any thinking. If you do choose a single artist or group, do so with a specific point in mind that does not require a chronological treatment of his/her/their career(s). My observation has also been that students will choose their favorite artist or group, about which they are incapable of being objective. It ends up sounding more like a commercial than an academic assignment. Teach the teacher Along the same lines as the point above, I am most impressed when I can grade a project that makes me think. The fact that Joe Rock Star's third album went triple platinum does not make me think. Find and gather all of the details you like about your topic, but your conclusion should be based upon your own critical thinking skills, taking that information, thinking about it, and drawing your own conclusions (not paraphrasing someone else's conclusion). How to rip CDs into MP3s These instructions use Windows Media Player, but other players use a similar process Right-click along the top of the window. Click the Rip Music tab. Choose MP3 as the format. Note: Do not save as .wav files as these are huge memory hogs (40 megs per song instead of 1 or 2, for example) How to use MP3 audio files with PowerPoint Save your PowerPoint file in a new FOLDER and name it Powerpoint_yourname Copy all of the mp3 files that you plan to use into the same FOLDER (do this first, before you link them to the slides) Note: your Powerpoint is a file! You must put your PowerPoint plus the mp3s in a FOLDER. FOLDERS look like this: When you open the folder, you should be able to see your PowerPoint and the mp3's that you intend to use in your project. Below is an example of what your folder should contain: After you have placed the mp3's in the folder, on each slide in which you wish to insert an audio file, click insert - movies and sounds - sound from file and choose the mp3 from the folder containing your PowerPoint and mp3 files. This will link the mp3 to the PowerPoint slide. When you are finished with your PowerPoint and ready to submit, zip the folder (See below for instructions). Submit the zipped file in the assignment section as usual. Note: You MUST drag the actual mp3 file into the folder with the PowerPoint. If you only follow #3 above, the music will still be on YOUR computer and will not play for me when I open your project. How to use video links with PowerPoint (like YouTube, etc.) Bring up the YouTube video. While it's playing, select and copy the URL in the address bar. In your PowerPoint, type "video" on the page where you want the clip to play. Select that word, right click on it and choose "Insert" on the toolbar at the top. Choose "hyperlink" and in the blank provided, paste the URL that you copied. Test it (but you have to be in Slideshow view) and when you click that word (that should be underlined now as a link) the YouTube video should play. Note: This works the same way with any hyperlink You can also embed your video into your PowerPoint. This is even more convenient as it does not require a new window to open. Do a Google search for these instructions if you wish to try it. How to submit your PowerPoint Project When you are finished with your project, zip the folder containing the PowerPoint and your mp3's Submit the zipped folder in the assignment section as usual. Be aware that large files take some time to submit, so don't wait until just a few minutes before midnight! You MUST have your mp3 files in the folder with your PowerPoint file or I can't listen to them! How to zip your folder Right click on the folder that has your PowerPoint and mp3s inside and select Send To Compressed (zipped) Folder This will create a zip file with the same name as the folder: Preferably, don't use a Mac! If you must, know that PowerPoint/Windows doesn't support QuickTime compression. Do not drag and drop or copy/paste the graphic into PowerPoint. PowerPoint for MAC makes the images into a MAC only readable picture. I will not be able to see those when I grade your project. The only workaround that we have found is for you to save local copies of your images to the computer and Insert à Picture in PowerPoint. Also, you will need to make sure that the image file type is universal between operating systems. Ex: GIF, JPEG. Created and maintained by Vicky V. Johnson

GENUS & SPECIES • Wings have evolved into small appendages, useless for flight • Feeds mainly by living in the waters near its isolated Galapagos Islands habitat • Often rests with its stubby wings spread out to dry, as do birds that fly • Relies on its strong, webbed feet for swimming and diving WHERE IN THE WORLD? Having lost the ability to fly, the flightless cormorant now permanently resides on the Galapagos Islands and is rarely found more than a half mile from its breeding grounds. The Galapagos Islands are home to many unique animal species found nowhere else in the world, including the flightless cormorant. These islands lie in the Pacific Ocean about 600 miles off the eastern coast of South America. The flightless cormorant is limited to only Fernandina Island and the western and northern coasts of Isabela Island, 2 of the 13 islands of Galapagos. The flightless cormorant favors a relatively cool, dry climate. It feeds exclusively on marine life in the cold, food-rich inshore waters, and shelters and nests along the rocky coastlines. A Island home Once capable of flight, the flightless cormorant now only swims and walks around the beautiful Galapagos Islands. The El Nino event of 1982-1983 reduced the flightless cormorant’s population by half, but 18 months later, their numbers were back to normal. In 1835, Charles Darwin used his observations of “the Galapagos Islands when constructing his theory of evolution for the topic On The Origin of Species. Food & hunting The cormorant is an efficient daytime hunter with a voracious appetite. It feeds mainly on fish, octopus, squid and eel, along with the occasional invertebrate and crustacean. The bird dives and expertly swims after its prey. The indigestible parts of its prey, such as scales and bones, are regurgitated as pellets. The cormorant feeds at least With a little leap, the flightless cormorant dives from the shoreline into the cold water in search of food. Using its powerful feet for propulsion, the cormorant spots an octopus and quickly changes direction to catch it. Although it speeds off, the octopus is no match for the cormorant, which uses its hooked bill to catch and hold its prey. The cormorant returns to the water’s surface and maneuvers the octopus by tilting back its head and gulping it down. Breeding occurs throughout the year, but peaks from March to September. Unlike most cormorants, which begin courtship on land, the flightless cormorant starts its mating display on the water. This aquatic dance, which includes neck raising and bill movements, occurs from 10 days to 6 weeks before egg laying; the pair bonds at the nest site just before mating. The female lays from 1-4 eggs in a large nest made of seaweed. Both sexes share incubation duties; the eggs then hatch after about 35 days. Born naked and helpless, chicks are fed regurgitated food by the parents and fledge at about 60 days. Relatively few chicks survive to adulthood, though: breeding success is low due to predators, such as feral dogs, which kill chicks and eat eggs. The chicks start to swim after one month. The flightless cormorant has been classified as vulnerable by the IUCN. This species has suffered tremendous declines with the introduction of predatory mammals such as feral dogs. These dogs now pose the biggest threat to nesting birds. The flightless cormorant is also accidentally killed in traps and nets used for catching lobsters and tuna. The population is estimated to be around 900-1,200 individuals. With an extremely limited range, the flightless cormorant has undergone several adaptations. The mild climate of the Galapagos means it doesn’t need to migrate south in the winter; with abundant food nearby it doesn’t travel great distances to eat; and predators for many centuries were few. Thus, over time, the wings of this cormorant have become greatly reduced and are now about the size of penguin flippers. While the flightless cormorant has totally lost the power of flight, it has become a skilled swimmer and developed stronger feet than other cormorants. On land, the flightless cormorant waddles clumsily due to the shortness of its legs and its large, webbed feet; underwater it is swift and graceful. A Noisy neighbors The flightless cormorant associates in small colonies of up to 12 breeding pairs and their offspring. The guanay cormorant (Phalacrocorax bougainvillii) has a much wider range than its flightless cousin. It lives along the Pacific coast of South America from Peru to Chile and on the Atlantic coast of Argentina. Although the guanay cormorant can fly, it lives entirely in a marine environment and feeds mainly by diving, much like the flightless cormorant The guanay cormorant feeds entirely on fish, such as sardines. Reaching a length of 30″ and a weight of 7 lbs., the guanay cormorant is much smaller than its flightless cousin. |Weight Length||5.5-9 lbs. 35-40″| |Sexual Maturity||2 years| |Breeding Season||All year, but mainly March -September| |Number of Eggs||1-4; usually |Incubation Period||About 35 days| |Fledging Period||About 60 days| |Breeding Interval||Usually 1 year, but may breed twice per year ;| |Typical Diet||Fish, eels, squid and octopus| • The flightless cormorant belongs to the order Pelecaniformes, which contains tropicbirds, pelicans, gannets, boobies, darters and frigatebirds. There are65 species in the order, but the cormorant family, Phalacrocoracidae, is the largest, with 39 species in only 1 genus. Relatives include the great cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo and the bank cormorant, P. neglectus.

Reading magma, predicting giant eruptions Running short of worries? Then ponder the super-volcanoes — earth-bombs that can vomit 10 or 100 or 1,000 cubic kilometers of molten rock. Super-volcanoes can change history by creating rivers of red-hot ash moving at highway speed, spreading dust across hundreds of kilometers and spewing vapors that block the sun, destroy crops and start famines. A volcano may go dormant for thousands of years after such a huge eruption, so they may be even harder to predict than smaller ones — which are also unpredictable at this point… But this week, Nature published a new analysis of Santorini, a Mediterranean monster, that shows the movement of molten rock that preceded the eruption. Santorini’s sudden release of 40 to 60 cubic kilometers of rock and ash was followed by a giant collapse that left a characteristic ring of hills called a caldera. Thousands may have died in the eruption, which laid down a 60-meter layer of ash and rock. Eruptions of this general size happen about every 300 years, says Timothy Druitt, a volcanologist at the Université Blaise Pascal in France, who lead the current study. The most recent was in 1815 at Tambora, in Indonesia. Druitt’s new analysis of crystals within the frozen magma offers a rough schedule for the entry of molten magma into a holding tank — the magma chamber — below the volcano, which is a precursor to eruption. Caldera-forming eruptions rival earthquakes and tsunamis as the deadliest natural disasters. “People who work in the field know these volcanoes are not rare, even on a human time scale,” says Druitt, but “we have never been able to monitor one of these big eruptions during the long buildup phase, so we are not really sure how that happens.” The crystal analysis detects microscopic changes in chemical composition, offering a unique, after-the-fact picture of the gestation of eruption. In the crystals As crystals grow in the cooling magma, atoms of trace elements diffuse within them, and both growth and diffusion are affected by conditions within the hot magma, says Druitt. “These crystals grow progressively, and as they do, their chemical composition changes according to the composition of the magma around them, and the temperature and amount of water in the magma.” The crystals revealed that a big gob of magma — perhaps 10 percent of the magma chamber’s total contents — entered in the decades before the eruption. “Looking at the crystals in this magma, we were able to reconstruct very crudely events taking place in the last few decades prior to the eruption,” Druitt says. That final addition probably made the magma chamber unstable, leading to the eruption, Druitt explains. If such a late, large magma movement proves typical of super-volcanoes, that could contribute to a distant early warning system for mega-eruptions, based on more conventional methods, such as seismic monitoring. Distant early warning But the findings also carried a caution, Druitt says, since Santorini was apparently dormant for about 18,000 years before the last apoplectic outburst. “That is a slightly alarming result. There are lot of these big caldera systems, but most are in a stage of repose.” The upshot is more proof that a dormant volcano can still be a dangerous one, he adds. “We can imagine that a big caldera in a remote region of the world, such as the Andes, which is not monitored very well, could reawaken pretty quickly on a human time scale.” The crystal method gives after-the-fact data on an eruption. Current attempts to anticipate eruptions rely on data about earth shaking, deformation of the crust, and release of gases. “It’s a very timely topic, and solid science in terms of the measurements and observations,” says Bradley Singer, a volcanologist and professor of geoscience at University of Wisconsin-Madison. “They admit that there are issues about the time scales,” largely because the diffusion of strontium and titanium is imperfectly understood in the hot magma. The study’s title, however, specifies that the final growth of the magma chamber occurs on “Decadal to monthly timescales,” Singer notes. “It could be centuries or even longer, which implies that we’d have a longer time prior to the eruption” to worry about the effects of the rising magma. Singer concurs on the importance of understanding the relationship of magma flows, instability and eruption, and says the crystal analysis is gaining traction in volcanology. That’s just as well, since giant caldera-forming volcanoes may be frighteningly common. The one at Yellowstone, for example, released 1,000 cubic kilometers of rock 640,000 years ago. Wouldn’t you want to know if something like that was building on your continent? — David J. Tenenbaum Terry Devitt, editor; S.V. Medaris, designer/illustrator; Molly Simis, project assistant; David J. Tenenbaum, feature writer; Amy Toburen, content development executive - Decadal to monthly timescales of magma transfer and reservoir growth at a caldera volcano, T. H. Druitt et al, Nature, 2 Feb. 2012. ↩ - Volcanology: Greek inflation circa 1600 BC, News and Views, Jon Blundy & Alison Rust, Nature, 2 Feb. 2012. ↩ - 1815: Mt. Tambora and the year without summer. ↩ - What would happen if the Yellowstone super-volcano erupted? ↩ - A super-volcano’s fallout: mass extinction. ↩ - The intense impacts of volcanic ash ↩ - Explore the world’s volcanoes ↩

A little language is a domain-specific language designed to be very small and focussed on doing just what the designers of it had in mind. The term comes from Little Languages , Programming Pearls, Jon Benley, Communications of the ACM 29 :8 (August 1986), pp. 711-721. He points out that much of what we do as programmers can be thought of as creating "little languages" that are suited to particular small tasks.DKF : It is the Tcl experience that little languages tend to grow. After all, that's what Tcl started out as: a common little language for John Ousterhout 's EDA tools. For a very good example see Solving cryptarithms , especially the examples at end! To prevent over-deep brace nesting, a custom language for such riddles is designed and put to fascinating use. The Tcl language is itself "little." Its formal syntax is described completely in eleven (twelve since version 8.5) short paragraphs on the Tcl manual page. Most of its power comes from the fact that it is easy to embed other little languages within it. Obvious examples include: - Regular Expressions - regexp, regsub, and others - pattern matching - whose language is also used in if, for, and while selectors - adds specialties like %W substitution, + command prefix, break outside loops - bind sequences - e.g. <Control-Button-1> - format/scan/binary format/binary scan - clock format - command indices can be specified as end-1 or $var+1 or similar. - includes syntax for redirection and variable substitution - | is a special syntax at the beginning of a file name argument - Variable names - as seen in the first argument of set, and lots of other commands. (disputed) - item ids. All of these are comparatively small and self-contained, and do not have far-ranging effects on the rest of the Tcl system. In this way, Tcl can be understood in pieces; it's not necessary to know the whole language in order to be able to program in it. These can all be considered particular domain-specific language : Some of these seem a little dubious to be called "languages". switch takes a dictionary of pattern-body pairs; how is this a new language? I'm also confused about the inclusion of string - are all ensemble s to be considered separate languages? The syntax for variables and namespaces used by set and $, would also seem to be an essential part of the syntax of Tcl itself rather than being a separate little language. A syntax on its own doesn't make a language.Peter da Silva : I don't think the lindex command index and other similar special cases really qualify as "languages" (and, really, some of them should be considered mistakes)AMG , in a perverse mood: Maybe calling every command a separate "little language" is just a nice way of saying that their interfaces are inconsistent. Certainly I recognize that it's good we have little languages as opposed to the rigid structure imposed by a language like C or (shudder) Java , but that doesn't mean we should abuse this power to avoid worrying about making the standard library of commands self-consistent. (Yeah, yeah, I know the idiosyncrasies from command to command are usually driven by historical reasons, but I'm just trying to make a point.) An alternative to little languages is sometimes to have a great many parameters for the programmer to set. Tcl/Tk features with that kind of interface include: Some problems lend themselves towards one approach, some rather to the other. As a matter of Tcl Advocacy it is however interesting to observe that most languages other than Tcl have a syntactical rigidity that makes it difficult to take the little language route. Some little languages that are not part of the Tcl/Tk core are: The term "little language" is also used in a book by Kernighan and Pike: The practice of programming. That is a book I quite enjoyed reading and it uses examples in Awk for other little languages. This begs the question of what the semantics of Tcl would be without any little languages, which implies being without any commands. To this end, tcl-null discusses Tcl stripped of all commands, as a beautiful but useless language - the process of adding back a minimal subset of Tcl built-in commands is launched as a game for the obsessive. See Also edit - Little Languages, C2 wiki

A team led by Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez has been working on the Ooho water bottle, which, according to Smithsonian magazine, could reduce to obsolescence the 50 billion plastic bottles that Americans use each year.Now, if they could do this with beer... The Ooho water bottle resembles a jellyfish and is made of edible material. Gonzalez took inspiration from the culinary technique 'spherification' by legendary Spanish chef Ferran Adria, who used this technique to add juice-filled pearls to bubble tea. "The main point in manipulating the water as solid ice during the encapsulation is to make it possible to get bigger spheres and allow the calcium and algae to stay exclusively in the membrane," Gonzalez told the Smithsonian. The scientists received accolades from critics for his invention, but he also revealed that not all reactions were positive. He compares the edible water bottle's fortified layers to a fruit's skin. "The jelly texture around [the bottles] is something we are not used to yet. Not all of the reactions were positive. Some people say that [the bottles] are like breast implants or jellyfish," he said. Monday, April 28, 2014 Eat And Drink Me At long last, bottled bottled water:

Professor Anton Middelberg and team from the University of Queensland say they have developed a surfactant that does this, which also has medical applications. The new surfactant, which is based on a protein, is called a pepfactant. And when the researchers tweaked its amino acid composition, they found they could switch its properties on and off, in response to changing acidity or the presence of zinc ions. When the pepfactant it switched on, it can create an emulsion or a foam by forming strong collagen-like gel capsules around small pockets of oil or air. But these capsules collapse when the pepfactant is switched off. As a laundry detergent, the pepfactant could generate suds that can collapse as quickly as they are created, says Middelberg. "During the wash cycle the pepfactant is on and has good foaming properties," he says. "During the rinse cycle the pH drops and de-sudsing occurs." The peptide, along with the dirt it has mobilised, is then free to go back into the water and be washed away easily. Middelberg says the system would be better for the environment than standard detergents because it is made of amino acids that microbes can attack and destroy. The pepfactant is based on a protein that binds to DNA to initiate gene expression. But Middelberg says as only a small part of the original protein has been used, the pepfactant should not affect DNA expression in the environment. He also says that as long as the pepfactant remained diluted it would remain switched off. But he says any future product would need to be tested for toxicity and biodegradability. A pepfactant detergent will cost much more than conventional petrochemical-based detergents, says Middelberg, although the rising cost of oil may change this. He says pepfactants are most likely to be deployed first in drug delivery. For example, a pepfactant could be used to help deliver the anticancer drug, Taxol (paclitaxel), with fewer side-effects. Currently the drug, which is an oily substance, is injected into patients along with petrochemicals to help its delivery via the patient's water-based bloodstream. "By encapsulating the [drug] in this layer of gel-like collagen you have a bio-compatible encapsulation methods for anticancer agents," says Middelberg. The research is funded by the Australian Research Council and the researchers have signed a number of commercial agreements with major multinational pharmaceutical and chemical companies. The work was presented at an American Chemical Society meeting in Boston recently.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006 The Welsh Triads and Giant Vermin In an earlier blog, I mentioned that the original Welsh Arthur was a lot closer to the King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail than other more stately versions of him. The manuscript Culhwch ac Olwen isn't the only old Welsh piece that is rather Monty Python-esque. In the Triads, the "Three Fortunate Concealments of Britain" are listed. Two involve the grave sites (one of a noted warrior, the other that of Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere of later European tradition)) and the third being the burial site of two warring dragons who killed each other. One scholar did a bit of orthography research into these two warring dragons, and discovered that the original Welsh manuscript uses the word "pryf". "Pryf" in Medieval Welsh means "vermin." Nennius, one of the first to translate the Welsh into Latin, translated "vermin" into the Latin "vermes," which in the 1100s, Arthurian writer Geoffrey of Monmouth took to mean "worm," as in the German word for "dragon." This led to Monmouth's version including an account of two warring dragons, instead of two warring "vermin." So this orthography scholar decided that basically it might be two really big badgers that fought and were buried... This reminds me of the closing line of the failed Trojan Rabbit scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. posted 5:39 PM Wednesday, March 22, 2006 More Fun With Medieval Welsh Despite grand tales of retrieving the Holy Grail, which come later on in Arthurian literature, the original Welsh Arthur had a different quest. In Culhwch ac Olwen, Arthur and his men pursue a giant boar in order to retrieve the golden comb and shears from between its ears. Ah, what nobler quest could one ask for? Not only must they battle the boar, Twrch Trwyth, but they must fight its deadly piglets, as well. Arthur sends his men to Ireland to see if the boar is there, and if it has the treasures between its ears. The text reads: "That the boar was there was certain; it had already destroyed a third of Ireland." Later on the text reads: "Dogs attacked the boar from all directions, and the Irish battled it throughout the day until night fell; despite that, a fifth of Ireland was destroyed by it." (Somehow these fractions add up. Let's see - a third plus a fifth - is that a majority of Ireland yet?) Arthur does not kill the boar -- it lumbers into the sea, its sides bristling with spears, to hunt another day. posted 2:39 PM Monday, March 13, 2006 The Fun of Translating Medieval Welsh Oftentimes people ask me about the translation of Middle (Medieval) Welsh, and the manuscripts I've worked with. Here's a few of the stranger and more humorous lines I've translated from Middle Welsh. The following belong to a manuscript entitled "Culhwch ac Olwen," one of the earliest manuscripts in which King Arthur appears. This is the original Arthur of Welsh tradition, before other European authors added all the bits about him being an upstanding warrior with a Round Table and all that. Let's face it. The original Arthur is just a bit silly. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is closer than we think. Many of the funny lines involve the men of Arthur's court and their descriptions and talents: "Penpingion, who goes around on his head in order to save his feet, not upright and not downright, but like a stone rolling on the floor of the court." "Twyll Golau whose treachery was patent" "Cynwas Cwryfagyl the clumsy" "Samson Finsych the dry-lipped" "Hyfaidd Unllen, who had but one coat" "Gwrfan Gwallt Afwyn of the unruly hair" (Enemies beware!) "Gilla Goeshydd stag-legs - he could leap three hundred acres in a single bound; he was the chief leaper of Ireland." (An impressive occupation, I can assure you.) "Sol, who could stand on one leg all day" (who wouldn't want this super power?) "Gwefyl son of Gwastad – when he was sad, his lower lip sagged down to his navel, and the other lip became a cowl for his head." "Uchdryd Farf Draws, the beard flinger - he would fling his red, well-sprouted beard across the fifty rafters of Arthur's hall." "Gwen Alarch, the swan daughter of Cynwal Canhwch of the hundred hogs" Once Arthur's adventure starts, he and his warriors meet many an interesting obstacle, including: "Dillus Farfawg, who was the greatest warrior who had ever avoided Arthur" posted 3:29 PM

- Historic Sites A history of the food reformers and cereal kings who made Battle Creek the center of a revolution in Americans eating habits June 1957 | Volume 8, Issue 4 “Battle Creek, Mich, has a population of 21,647 persons,” said Jabs , a Chicago humorous magazine, “all of whom are engaged in the manufacture of breakfast cereals.” “I spent a Sunday there lately,” continued the Jabs reporter, “noting that they had Grape Nuts, Grip Nuts (for commercial travelers only), Postum Cereal, Hullo Boena, Hello-Billo, Cero-Fruito, Shredded Wheat, Fruito-Cerro, MaIt-Ho, Flake-Ho, Abita, Tryachewa, Corn Crisp, Korn Kure, Korn Pone, Oatsina, Hayina and Strawina. … “And it is surprising the amount of nourishment that some of these foods possess. A dyspeptic drummer who sat opposite from me at breakfast, and who from all appearances was not long for this world, ate three ounces of MaIt-Ho and one and one-half ounces of Griplor and then moving the automatic player up in front of the agony box, played ‘On the Banks of the Wabash’ until 12:59 P.M. without batting an eyeball.” “You sit out on the front porch at night with your host,” said the Chicago Tribune , “and as the cigars turn into ashes he tells you of the fortune that waits the man who can invent a near cigar, full of near tobacco, which will look like a cigar, and smoke like a cigar, and sell for ten cents like a cigar, but which will not be a cigar at all, but some pure, sweet, wholesome combination of non-injurious ingredients, having all the characteristics of a cigar, but none of its harmful and debilitating effects. ” ‘Make the tobacco,’ the man says, ‘just like we have made coffee and breadstuffs of all kinds, retaining the good qualities and striking out the bad. There’s a fortune for the man that can do it. Somebody in Battle Creek will do it some day. Sure thing. He’ll make his million out of it in two years’ time or less.’ ” A few from among the many cereal names which flourished for a time during the exciting first decade of this century may be cited as representative of all. Cero-Fruito was wheat flakes sprayed with apple jelly. Tryabita was “peptonized and celery impregnated,” made a few miles out of town at Gull Lake, the only Battle Creek breakfast food to carry the union label. There was also Nutrita, Malta-Biscuit, My Food, and Orange Meat, a whole-wheat product despite its vibrant name. At the height of the mania, the Reverend D. D. Martin, a Methodist preacher, concocted the formula for Per-Fo and received $100,000 (in stock) for his recipe. The Hygienic Food Company gave its flakes a maple flavor. They were known, not unnaturally, as MaplFlakes. Vestiges of the religious background of the pure food crusade appear in such names as Food of Eden, Golden Manna, and Elijah’s Manna, the original name of Post Toasties. Of all who felt the urge to agitate “the food question” at a profit, the greater number proved to be inadequate in the areas of finance, of production, or of merchandising. One always turns back to C. W. Post as the man who knew the ropes. Money, product, distribution, advertising—he knew the importance of all, and their interrelationships. Business, like diplomacy, has its Realpolitik . C. W. played the game consumately according to the rule book in force at the time. Charles W. Post (1854-1914) was born in Springfield, Illinois, and arrived in Battle Creek when he was approaching middle age, a health seeker in a wheel chair. He had tried many businesses and made several inventions including some patent suspenders which he sold by mail, but each time he got into a new venture his health broke. Now he was seeking, through a combination of diet, exercise, and mental therapy what he later called “The Road to Wellville.” Post did not find his elixir at the Kellogg Sanitarium. His treatment there was, by his own estimate, a complete failure. But he spent a lot of time in the laboratory where Dr. Kellogg’s helpers were experimenting with cereal coffee, using a variety of grains. A born promoter, he approached the Doctor with a plan to go it together on a campaign for Minute Brew, the Doctor’s current enthusiasm, but Kellogg turned him down flat. From then on Post scoffed at the sanitarium, and Kellogg was ever after to believe that Charlie Post had stolen his ideas. Broad-shouldered, slender, courteous, and slow of speech, with a cordial handshake, Post was a commanding figure. He had dash and faith in himself and a bulldog determination. With one helper he started the first commercial batch of Postum Cereal Food Coffee—they hoped it would be commercial—on January 1, 1895. Postum was joined later by Grape-Nuts and Post Toasties. Finally, Post rounded out his creations with Instant Postum. As an early and massive user of national advertising, Post put a “halo” around Postum, using a powerful brand of farmer English: “If coffee don’t agree—use Postum.” Within less than a decade the Postum plant became a spectacular White City of wooden factory buildings painted white with green trim, recalling to thousands happy memories of their visit to the White City of the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. Post gathered up all the bubbly forces which had been working in Battle Creek for a generation, some elements of religion, and certain aspects of vegetarianism, Right Living, hydropathy, and Christian Science; he dropped the altruism overboard and turned the health movement into an attractive businessman’s risk.

Bison Bulls Prepare for Battle on American Prairie Reserve The bulls in the Reserve’s bison herd have been getting ready for their annual bout of strength and dominance. Their scraggly beards, shaggy pantaloons and unruly hairstyles have grown large and dense, making the animals seem even more formidable than other times of year, and as the temperature on the prairie heats up so does the competition. This is the rut, an explosive gathering that pits bulls against each other as they jockey for position next to the opposite sex. Standing shoulder to shoulder against an aloof bison cow, an act known as tending, a bull becomes increasingly combative while waiting for the chance to mate. Fights break out among those also vying to stand by her side — a scene that’s replicated hundreds of times across the sagebrush flats where the herd has come together. Dust soon fills the air as these burly contenders wallow and kick their feet, and the sounds of their deep bellows and head-on crashes linger over miles of prairie. It’s an unsettling time as a sense of raw nature permeates the landscape. Within weeks, a new generation of bison calves will begin and the now-lean bulls will return to a more solitary and stoic life on the northern plains. (Photo: Dennis Lingohr/APR)

Mummified remains found in bog are world’s oldest The remains of a young man found in a Laois bog in Ireland have been dated back 4,000 years, making it the world’s oldest ‘bog body’ ever recovered in the world. The chemical composition of bogs can preserve human bodies for thousands of years and so far archaeologists have found more than 100 ancient bodies in Irish bogs but few as well-preserved and none as old as this one. The mummified remains were discovered two years ago on Bord na Móna land in County Laois by a worker operating a milling machine and researchers have now been able to date the body back to 2000 BC, nearly 700 years earlier that the famed Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen. Scientists had initially thought the body dated from the Iron Age period (500 BC – 400 AD) as a number of other bodies had been recovered from Irish bogs from that time period. However, they were astonished to find that the remains were nearly two millennia older, predating the earliest bog body discovered in Ireland which dates to around 1300 BC. The dating was carried out through radiocarbon tests on the body, the peat on which the body was lying, and a wooden stake found with the body, which all confirmed that the young man had lived in the early Bronze Age, around 2,000 BC, making it one of the most significant finds in Ireland in recent times. It is believed that “Cashel man”, as he has been called, met a violent death in some sort of ritual sacrifice as an analysis on his remains revealed that his arm was broken by a blow and there were deep cuts to his back which appear to have been inflicted by a blade. The body was found in a crouched position and covered by peat and was placed in proximity to an inauguration site, all of which point the individual being the victim of a ritual sacrifice. “It seems to be same type of ritual that we’ve observed in later Iron Age finds. What’s surprising here is that it’s so much earlier,” said Eamonn Kelly, keeper of Irish antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland. Because of the lack of calluses on the hands and the well-groomed fingernails observed in other finds, though not this one as the hands were not recoverable, Mr Kelly suggests the victims belonged to the elite and may even have been kings that failed in their kingship and were sacrificed as a consequence. The discovery promises to open a new chapter in the archaeological record of Bronze Age burial in Ireland.

When Arthur Conan Doyle grew tired of writing detective stories about Sherlock Holmes, he did what any sensible author would do — he killed him off. The public was outraged when Holmes fell to his death over the Reichenbach Falls. Readers wept, mourned and made such an outcry that Doyle was shocked into reviving him. Today the brainy detective is probably the most famous fictional character in history. Postcard collectors can identify with much that Holmes did. They love to search out clues to new finds, learning as they acquire. And, let’s be honest, they also seem a bit peculiar, as did the detective, to people who think a room full of postcards has no practical value. Sherlock Holmes has been revived so many times in movies and on television that his name is familiar all over the world. Societies such as the Baker Street Irregulars (named after the street urchins who sometimes helped on his cases) and The Sherlock Holmes Society of London study his cases with intense interest. Visitors can visit his museum at 221 Baker Street. But can an enthusiast put together a collection of Sherlock Holmes postcards? The answer is yes, certainly, but it requires the kind of doggedness that solved Holmes’s most difficult cases. The first Holmes story came out in 1887, “A Study in Scarlet,” published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual. THE CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES came out in 1927, marking the end of the fictional detective’s career (Doyle died in 1930). This places the majority of cases in the late Victorian period, a time when the world was awash with postcards, the so-called “Golden Age” of the hobby. So did Sherlock Holmes rock the postcard world the way he did the book world? Afraid not. The most desirable are reproductions of scenes drawn by Sidney Paget for The Strand Magazine. This artist produced 357 Holmes drawings, but only a few appear on older postcards and these aren’t plentiful. The easiest starting place for a Holmes collection is the internet. Modern postcards are fairly plentiful and include a Granada series featuring Jeremy Brett as Holmes in the TV productions. Another nice series was issued by the Royal Mail in 1993 picturing their five stamps honoring the detective. Tracing the actors who played Holmes can lead to postcards. The oldest card in my collection shows the Baldwin Theatre in Springfield, Mo. With a huge billboard announcing “Sherlock Holmes” by William Gillette, the actor most associated with the detective in this country. It was mailed in 1905. For collectors who are up for a real challenge and enjoy reading his cases, there’s another way to put together a Holmes collection. Doyle used real places in his stories, and in the early 1900’s postcard production was so great that it literally covered the world. Imagine how much it would add to the adventures of Holmes and Watson if the reader had an album of postcards showing all the places they went. For those who already have a collection of London postcards, focusing on Sherlock Holmes can make it much more meaningful. Names like Pall Mall, Regent Circus, Brixton Road and Covert Garden Market will come alive in rereading the stories. Of course, Holmes traveled for cases, but how many people can imagine Aldershot or Wallington as it was in his day? Or Reichenbach Falls, the scene of his supposed death? Holmes traveled by cab (horse-drawn) and train. Can you picture them in your mind? Did people really wear deer stalker hats? What about the coppers of the day? There’s evidence in postcards! Read the stories, make note of the settings and begin a search for the places where Sherlock Holmes did his crime-fighting. It’s a challenge worthy of the master detective. Barbara Andrews is an avid postcard collector from Star City, W.Va. She can be reached at RockAndrews@gmail.com.

Five years constitue a big part of a childhood, and the years of the occupation have influenced the generation who lived important, shaping childhood years 1940-45. Several archives can tell us something about childhood during the war. Many children had a poor diet, and many children were also struck by war in a way that made them in need of care. During the war and straight after, several efforts were made to ensure good nutrition through school breakfasts and soup serving, and to help the children that suffered the most from the war, through contributions, sponsorships and stays at health resorts. Central in this work was “Nasjonalhjelpen til de skadelidte distrikter/frihetskampens ofre” (a national institution that raised money and gave help to the victims of war). In this institution’s archive you will find a lot about children’s nutrition, rehabilitation in Sweden for sick children, correspondence and information about the sponsorship schemes, information about help-needing single children organized alphabetically, and an overview of the situation for the children of sailors. The Norwegian Women’s Health Association and the Norwegian Red Cross were also active in the work to improve the lives of children. These organizations’ archives are preserved at the National Archives in Oslo, and you will find various information about children’s situation by searching the individual archives’ catalogues. The soup stations of “Danskehjelpen” (Danish humanitarian aid to Norway during World War II) were other important suppliers of food to Norwegian children during the war. In the archives there are accounts, lists of school classes and kindergartens, as well as letters and drawings from Norwegian children. The legation in Bern’s archive contains a report regarding the situation in Norway with several photos of catering for children, the handing out of food, and drawings and thank-you notes from children in Norway. In the Norwegian Relief-Central in Sweden’s archive, especially in box 40 and 41, you will find information about aid to children in Norway. In the fall of 1946, an essay competition was organized for mainly 7th grade students with the topics ”A memory from the war” and ”When peace came”. The initiative came from The Norwegian Total Abstainers’ Society, and the essays are found in their archive. They give us a good opportunity to take part in the children’s own descriptions and interpretations of experiences from the war years and the peace day. Many of these essays describe dramatic memories that have made strong impressions. Bomb attacks and panicky stays in bomb-shelters, airplanes that have been shot down and encounters with traumatized prisoners of war, are among the themes. Some tell about the anxiety they felt when someone close to them were involved in illegal work, the fear of house searches and experiencing their father being arrested. Despite the fact that the events described often are dramatic, we also get insight into the elements of children's everyday lives, their everyday chores, and their food and housing situation. The children who chose the theme ”When peace came” not only tell about the overwhelming feeling of peace and freedom, but also about the everyday life in war that they left behind in May 1945. PA-0379 Norske Kvinners Sanitetsforening (organizing of food and clothes for children, including in corporation with Svenske Norgeshjelpen (the Swedish help to Norway)) S-2073 Den norske Relief-Central i Sverige. About help for children, especially box 40 and 41

Submitted to: Wildland Shrub Symposium Proceedings Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: December 30, 2010 Publication Date: January 1, 2011 Repository URL: http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/nrei/vol17/iss1/8 Citation: Ralphs, M.H. 2011. Broom Snakeweed Increase and Dominance in Big Sagebrush Communities. Natural Resources and Environmental Issues (Wildland Shrub Symposium Proceedings). 17(8). Interpretive Summary: Broom snakeweed is an invasive native sub-shrub that is widely distributed across rangelands of western North America. In addition to its invasive nature, it contains toxins that can cause death and abortions in livestock. It establishes in years of above average precipitation following disturbance by fire, drought or overgrazing. This allows widespread even-aged stands to develop that can dominate plant communities. Although its populations cycle with climatic patterns, it can be a major factor impeding succession of plant communities. Snakeweed can be controlled with prescribed burning and herbicides, however a weed-resistant plant community should be established and/or maintained to prevent its reinvasion. Technical Abstract: Broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae (Pursh) Britt. & Rusby) is a native sub-shrub that is widely distributed on rangelands of western North America. It often increases to near monocultures following disturbance from overgrazing, fire or drought. Propagation is usually pulse driven in wet years, allowing large expanses of even-aged stands to establish and dominate plant communities. It can maintain dominance following fire, or can co-dominate with cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) on degraded sagebrush rangelands. State-and-transition models show that competitive grasses in the respective plant communities can prevent snakeweed dominance.

Hotarumibashi Park is a triumph of Japanese contextualism. By Mary G. Padua, ASLA When Tooru Miyakoda first encountered in 1994 the site that has become Hotarumibashi Park, he found two small, disconnected parcels of land divided by a newly built road. Much of the site consisted of the slope of a river gorge, which drops more than 50 feet from the edge of the road to the river. The site was the type of remnant area from an infrastructure project that, in many parts of the world, would have been abandoned to gather trash and become a public hazard. However, Miyakoda, as a landscape architect, saw something more—the rich slopes of rice terraces rising in steps behind the river and open fields stretching to a mountainous horizon pierced by the white peak of Mount Completed in 2000, Hotarumibashi Park is a triumph of shakkei, or “borrowed scenery,” which plays a central role in the garden design traditions of both Japan and China. The design used the site’s visual and symbolic connections to its surroundings to transform a patch of land left over from infrastructure development into an elegant community park. At the same time, Hotarumibashi Park remains a simple local park that serves the needs of people from schoolchildren to grandparents. …To read the entire article, subscribe to LAM! | Annual Meeting Product Profiles & Directory

Copyright © 2013 Audubon Nature Institute P.O. Box 4327 New Orleans, LA 70178 (504) 861-2537 firstname.lastname@example.org California Sea Lion Sea lions are adaptable, intelligent and engaging – so much so that it’s sometimes easy to forget they are wild animals with considerable strength. Their streamlined bodies glide easily through the water with the assistance of flippers and a very flexible spine. They have sensitive whiskers and hear well underwater. Sea lions love seafood! Fish, squid, clams – it’s all fair game for the California sea lion. Sea lions can be found along the western North America coastline from Alaska all the way to Mexico in a variety of settings, from the rocky shores to man-made environments such as marinas. Although they are salt-water creatures, they have been known to live in fresh water for some periods of time. California sea lion populations are not considered to be threatened. While marina owners and others may view them as pests, seeing sea lions lounging in the sun by the dozens (or hundreds!) is always a big hit with tourists in places like San Francisco’s Pier 39. - Many of the “tricks” guests may see at sea lion shows, like the show at Audubon Zoo, are actually adaptations of behaviors sea lions need to survive in the wild. Sea lions are so intelligent that the military uses them to locate mines and enemy divers. Animalia, Chordata, Mammalia, Carnivora, Pinnipedia, Otariidae Place of Birth West Coast of North America 6 – 8 feet long; up to 220 lbs. Light to dark brown About 20 years Where to See Adopt An Animal Add a wild child to your family tree today! Your adoption helps feed and care for more than 15,000 animals in Audubon's care.

Some hardy garden plants need winter protection. Of the hardy outdoor plants, those in colder spots and all first year plantings require attention. Otherwise, winter damage can result if the roots and crowns of the plants become dry, or if they are subject to heaving or alternate freezing and thawing. Bring them safely through the winter by keeping them watered until the ground freezes. Except for mums and scabious, all the deciduous ones should be cut back. Generally, all plants benefit from winter mulch. Leave established irises and peonies unmulched. Consider snow as a natural mulch. Unfortunately, in mild winters there may not be enough to insulate the ground. So, add mulch just to be sure. Do this after the ground has frozen. If applied too early, it can attract mice and keep the ground warm, the opposite of what you want. For evergreen perennials, and those needing a well-drained soil (which includes most gray foliage plants and herbs) pine needles or pine cones make an ideal mulch. The next best thing is evergreen boughs. Put those holiday decorations to good use. These plants are sensitive to mildew if they remain too wet, so airy mulches are best. Woven bee skeps would work very well. I would peg the skep down to be sure it isnít shoved about by the numerous animals that wander through my yard. Most of the other perennials can be protected with a thick layer of leaves. All leaves arenít equal. I prefer sycamore because they curl up, meaning the plant gets good air circulation and the water can soak through. Norway maple leaves tend to be flat and form a mat, which isnít desirable. Once they are shredded, they work fine. Partially decayed leaves also serve well. A four to six inch layer of leaves or shredded leaves is usually sufficient. For plants like foxgloves, which retain their basal leaves over the winter, place mulch under the foliage. Because the loose leaves may blow about, I sprinkle a little compost or wood chips on them. Sometimes we have hardy, container-grown plants that we didnít quite get around to planting. Perhaps they were grown from cuttings, and werenít quite large enough to plant. Chances are they need some witner hcill to break dormancy. You have several choices. Dig holes, sink the pots in the ground, and mulch heavily with pine needles or leaves. Or overwinter them in an unheated indoor space like a garage or in a cold frame. I use my side porch. When choosing a spot for these, remember evergreens will need light. Cold frames are great so long as they are vented on mild, sunny days. Automatic venting systems are very convenient. Ventilation is necessary to prevent mildew and other plant diseases, which can result from high humidity. Place hay bales around the cold frame as insulation during colder periods.

New research provides critical insights into how normal breast precursor cells may be genetically vulnerable to develop into cancer. The research is published June 4th in the inaugural issue of Stem Cell Reports, an open-access journal from the International Society of Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) published by Cell Press. Scientists discovered that a particular class of normal breast precursor cells have extremely short chromosome ends (known as telomeres). As a result, these cells would be expected to be prone to acquiring mutations that lead to cancer if they managed to stay alive. These findings suggest new indicators for identifying women at higher risk for breast cancer and provide insights into potential new strategies to detect, treat, and prevent the disease. Dr. David Gilley's laboratory at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis and Dr. Connie Eaves' laboratory at the BC Cancer Agency's Terry Fox Laboratory in Vancouver, Canada, collaborated to determine how telomeres are regulated in different types of normal breast cells. Their studies revealed that a subset of normal breast precursor cells, called luminal progenitors, have dangerously short telomeres and display a correspondingly high level DNA damage response localized at their chromosome ends. This shows how a normal process of tissue development produces a cell type that is predisposed to acquire cancer-causing mutations. "This is the first report of a particular normal human precursor cell type that shows such telomere malfunction," says Dr. Eaves. "The luminal progenitors we have found to possess this feature are thus now being brought into the spotlight as a likely stage where breast cancer may 'take off.'" Recent studies have implicated luminal progenitor cells in the development of breast cancers with a mutated BRCA1 gene. The research highlights the importance of investigating different cell types in normal human tissues to understand the cellular origin of cancer and the factors that may contribute to its development. "An immediate use of our study will be to look into other human epithelial tissues to see if this finding is unique to the breast or a more general phenomenon," says Dr. Gilley. This advance in breast cancer research reflects the mission of Stem Cell Reports to provide an open-access forum that communicates basic discoveries in stem cell research as well as translational and clinical studies. "Stem Cell Reports publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed research presenting conceptual or practical advances across the breadth of stem cell research and its applications to medicine," Christine Mummery, editor-in-chief of Stem Cell Reports says. "The ISSCR is delighted to introduce Stem Cell Reports, an open-access forum edited by leaders in the field. Stem Cell Reports is an important complement to the ISSCR's Annual Meeting series and Regional Forums in promoting the exchange of advances and new ideas in stem cell research," says Nancy Witty, CEO of ISSCR. "Partnering with the ISSCR in launching their first society journal, Stem Cell Reports, represents an exciting opportunity to serve the scientific community in providing high-quality stem cell research in an Open Access format. Stem Cell Reports is the second fully Open Access journal published by Cell Press and illustrates our commitment to developing new partnerships with societies across a broad range of publishing initiatives" says Emilie Marcus, CEO of Cell Press and Editor-in-Chief of Cell. Stem Cell Reports, Kannan et al.: "The luminal progenitor compartment of the normal human mammary gland constitutes a unique site of telomere dysfunction." |Contact: Mary Beth O'Leary|

A homemade, high potential benefit-driven development from the public sector Beans are an important food item, mostly in the developing world. Unfortunately, the golden mosaic virus infection is a serious constraint causing severe grain losses in Brazil and South America. The National Technical Commission on Biosafety (CTNBio) approved the genetically modified golden mosaic virus-resistant beans developed by the Brazilian public Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) linked to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply. This work is an example of a public-sector effort to develop useful traits, such as resistance to a devastating disease, in an “orphan crop” cultivated by poor farmers throughout Latin America. It is a milestone as it is the first fully “publicly funded homemade” recombinant biotechnology crop improvement strategy that has reached this stage in a developing country. Why are the virus-resistant beans so important? Beans are highly nutritious and one of the most important legume consumed by over 500 million people in Latin America and Africa. In Brazil it is regularly an indispensable item of the everyday diet, often combined with rice and eaten by all social classes in all parts of the nation. They are found in a great variety of types with different sizes, colors and tastes consumed throughout the country. Perhaps, the most typical Brazilian dish is the ‘feijoada”, a black beans stew. The local consumption is around 16 kg per person every year. Given its high protein (15 to 33%) content besides B vitamins and minerals as iron, calcium and phosphorus, beans provide a high nutritional value meal. Moreover, beans are the major source of protein for the economically disadvantaged. Currently Brazil is the largest producer, responsible for approximately 20% of the global production. It is estimated that the domestic production should reach 3.8 million tons in the 2010/2011 period. This is mostly an achievement of small farmers (less than 100 hectares) responsible for approximately 70% of the country’s production. In spite of this high domestic production, Brazil does not produce enough to meet its own needs. The major threat to the farmer’s plants, causing losses of up to a 100%, is the golden mosaic virus, which is transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci in a persistent and circulative manner. That means that once the insect gets the virus it will transmit the disease to the crop its whole life. Only one to three whiteflies per plant in a field are enough to infect all plants. With the spread of the disease throughout Latin America, hundreds of thousands of hectares were either abandoned or could not be cultivated without heavy use of insecticides with limited efficacy. This kind of control has resulted in the development of insecticide resistance, adverse environmental effects, and health hazards to field workers throughout the region. In Brazil alone, annual losses vary between 90,000 and 280,000 tons. That would be enough to feed up to 18 Million adults in the country. There are 180 to 200 thousand hectares that are not suitable for cultivation. The long way to develop the virus-resistant beans. The search for bean varieties resistant to the golden mosaic virus (BGMV) begun in the 70’s. It was hoped to obtain plants immune to this disease through conventional breeding methods. Thousands of lines were evaluated for natural resistance or immunity to the disease, but the extensive screening of common bean germplasm found no genotypes with satisfactory level of resistance to BGMV. With the advent of genetic engineering new strategies have been employed in addition to conventional breeding. Finally a successful strategy was found. The strategy was the use of RNA interference (RNAi) that mimics natural silencing mechanisms. Infected plants naturally produce silencing mechanisms that interfere with the virus in the bean cells, unfortunately not effective enough against this disease. The new “vaccinated” variety produces small fragments of RNA that will activate its defense mechanism to silence the viral rep gene, which leads to the synthesis of an essential protein for the replication of the virus. Consequently, without this protein, replication of the virus is compromised and the plants become resistant to the disease. Safety and the way from research to seed market Safety precautions for modern agricultural biotechnologies start at the very beginning of the research at the lab, and continue through the different phases of the development. Only when detailed scientific assessments determine it to be innocuous is the new development considered for commercial use. Prior to the submission for the commercial release, a comparison between the virus-resistant beans and its parental conventional/non-modified variety in all the ecosystems where the beans are cultivated in Brazil had been conducted by a consortium of 10 research centers over several years. Results showed that the transgenic beans do not differ in the environmental impact compared to its non-engineered parent beans. Additionally, the transgenic beans offer the advantage of reducing insecticides that have being used to kill the whiteflies that transmit the golden mosaic virus during the past decades. The new virus resistant beans are also considered as safe for consumption as the currently cultivated beans. On that ground, CTNBio, the multidisciplinary commission responsible for making science-based, technical assessments for the safety of genetically engineered products approved the beans for commercial release. Approvals by CTNBio may be followed by an examination from the National Biosafety Council (CNBS) on the socio-economic convenience and opportunities of national interest. There are in any case, further steps to be pursued on the way to market the seeds, such as the incorporation of the trait into cultivars suited to the different local conditions, the registration of the variety and production of the seeds. The following step is the law inspired by the UPOV Convention (International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants), legislation that came with the intend of protecting the rights of developers of plant varieties, no matter if obtained through conventional breeding or modern biotechnology, while encouraging investment in research and development. According to the legislation, any plant variety with a minimum of clearly new distinguishable characteristics goes through a process to be registered. After the approval of registration the new variety enters the fields of seed production. Farmers will probably have to wait another 2 to 3 years to see the virus-resistant beans. For more information Do you want to know more about the virus resistant beans? See for example: Kenny Bonfim et al; RNAi-Mediated Resistance to Bean golden mosaic virus in Genetically Engineered Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris); MPMI Vol. 20, No. 6, 2007 (Link) and Aragão and Faria, First transgenic geminivirus-resistant plant in the field, Nature Biotechnology Vol. 27, 1086-1088, 2009 . (link) Do you want to know more about the Brazilian legislation on biosafety? See: CTNBio webpage (http://www.ctnbio.gov.br/index.php/content/view/12840.html ) I am thankful to Dr. Francisco Aragão for reviewing the text. Editor’s Note: You will find these fantastic virus-resistant beans added to the rotating header images on our blog!

Scientists debunk idea that rise in allergic diseases is due to homes becoming “too clean”BMJ 2012; 345 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e6673 (Published 03 October 2012) Cite this as: BMJ 2012;345:e6673 - Matthew Limb UK researchers say that they have dismantled the “myth” that allergic diseases have risen to epidemic levels because people now live in sterile homes and have become “too clean.” A report published today by the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene rejects the so called hygiene hypothesis, which first suggested more than 20 years ago that reduced exposure to infection in early childhood as a result of improved cleanliness might explain the rise of some allergies.1 Not only is the theory unsupported by evidence, says the report, it is “confusing and potentially dangerous” because it could put people off washing and cleaning to remove possible pathogens when the threat of infectious disease is rising. Graham Rook, a coauthor of the study and a professor at University College London’s Centre for Clinical Microbiology, said, “The rise in allergies and inflammatory … Log in using your username and password Log in through your institution Register for a free trial to thebmj.com to receive unlimited access to all content on thebmj.com for 14 days. Sign up for a free trial

A History of the County of Northampton: Volume 5, the Hundred of Cleley. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 2002. This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved. The parish of Wicken occupies some 2,321 acres (fn. 1) in the extreme south of Cleley hundred on the north bank of the Great Ouse, which here forms the boundary between Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. (fn. 2) The parish is separated by the river from Thornton and Beachampton (Bucks.) on the south, and is bounded on the west by Leckhampstead (Bucks.) and in the north-west by Lillingstone Lovell, formerly a detached portion of Oxfordshire, transferred to Buckinghamshire in 1832-44. (fn. 3) To the east and north-east Wicken has a lengthy boundary with Passenham, running in part through fields between the Ouse and the village of Deanshanger (which immediately adjoins the Wicken boundary) and represented further north by Kings Brook. The modern parish was created in 1587 (fn. 4) by the union of two previously separate parishes, Wick (or Wyke) Dive and Wick Hamon, which were already distinct estates in 1066. (fn. 5) The union has been commemorated annually ever since by a special service, with cakes and ale, in the village on the Thursday in Holy week. (fn. 6) The boundary between Wick Dive and Wick Hamon is apparently marked by the stream which flows from west to east through the village of Wicken to join Kings Brook at Deanshanger. (fn. 7) Wick Hamon lay to the south of this brook, Wick Dive to the north, and each parish had its own church in its respective portion of Wicken village. (fn. 8) The regular outer boundary of the modern parish, as well as the common first element of the two medieval parish names, (fn. 9) suggests that at some date before the Norman Conquest the whole area had formed a single estate that was later partitioned. The only boundary change since 1587 occurred in 1956. (fn. 10) The south-eastern corner of the parish lies about 250 ft. above sea level. From the river valley the land rises gently to reach about 360 ft. at the north-west corner, about three miles away. The parish is roughly a mile and a half wide on its other axis, although it narrows to a point in the north-west. Large areas of alluvium occupy the flood plain of the Ouse and the higher land to the south of the village and in the west is covered Boulder Clay. In the valley formed by the small stream which runs through the centre of the parish broad patches of Oolitic Limestone are exposed. (fn. 11) Baker described the soil as a cold white clay, or in some parts a brown stone brash loam, overlying limestone. (fn. 12) An earlier writer commented on the excellence of the water supply and the availability of building stone, gravel and sand, as well as 'a good vein of marble'. (fn. 13) In 1301 40 households were assessed to the lay subsidy in the vill of Wick Dive; there is no entry on the roll for Wick Hamon, (fn. 14) which may be included in this total. In the 1520s the two townships together contained about 35 households assessed to the subsidy. (fn. 15) A total of 58 households were assessed to the hearth tax in 1674, of which 28 were discharged through poverty. (fn. 16) In the early 18th century the parish contained about 70 houses. (fn. 17) A 'general guess' put the population at 273 in 1765 and 294 in 1774. (fn. 18) It had increased to 367 by 1801, including 13 navigators building the canal to Buckingham, (fn. 19) and continued to rise modestly to a peak of 536 in 1821. The parish had a population of 529 in 1861, after which there was a steady decline to 362 by 1911 and only 278 fifty years later. There was then a relatively sharp increase to 378 in 1971, followed by a fall to 317 in 1981. The modern main road from Stony Stratford to Buckingham, which leaves Watling Street at the crossroads in Old Stratford, runs through the southern part of the parish, some distance from the village of Wicken. This route, which until a bypass was built in the 1980s passed through Deanshanger, (fn. 20) was turnpiked under an Act of 1815. (fn. 21) In the early 18th century there was an alternative road from Old Stratford through Passenham and Wicken, which followed a course closer to the river, thus avoiding Deanshanger. (fn. 22) Although described in 1747 as the best known way and the general highway by which most waggons and travellers went from Old Stratford to Buckingham, (fn. 23) it had disappeared by 1779 (fn. 24) and was probably stopped up when the common fields of Wicken through which it ran were inclosed in 1757. (fn. 25) In the early 18th century two by-roads ran north from these main roads to Wicken village, from where other lanes continued north towards Whittlebury. The main east-west route through the village linked Wicken with Deanshanger and Leckhampstead. (fn. 26) By the early 19th century parts of the north-south route to the south of the village had disappeared or declined into footpaths, leaving the roads from Deanshanger, Whittlebury and Leckhampstead as the main links between Wicken and its neighbours. (fn. 27) The Buckingham branch of the Grand Junction Canal passed through the southern part of the parish on its way from Old Stratford to Buckingham. Originally projected in 1793 as a scheme to canalise the Ouse from Buckingham to Passenham, from where a short artificial cut would continue to the sidecut aleady agreed on from the main line of the Grand Junction at Cosgrove to a wharf near Watling Street at Old Stratford, (fn. 28) the branch was finally built as a deadwater canal throughout. Digging at Wicken began in October 1800 and the first boat passed from Old Stratford to Buckingham on 7 May 1801. (fn. 29) In July that year Mrs. Prowse of Wicken Park took two of her nieces on a trip on the canal through her estate, and in August she watched the canal company committee pass by on their way from Paddington to Buckingham. (fn. 30) The nearest public wharfs serving Wicken were at Deanshanger, about a mile away. (fn. 31) The branch fell into disuse in the early 20th century and was largely filled in, although in the 1990s a Buckingham Arm Canal Society was established to press for its rebuilding. LANDCSAPE AND SETTLEMENT The Impact of Whittlewod. The pattern of settlement and land usage in Wicken has been considerably influenced by the position of the parish at the southern edge of Whittlewood Forest. Although in 1289 a proposal to reinclose the park at Wick Hamon was investigated by a swainmote court presided over by John de Tingewick, keeper of Whittlewood, implying that the township then lay within the forest, (fn. 32) the detailed perambulation made ten years later, which established the boundary of the forest until the 17th century, clearly places both Wick Hamon and Wick Dive outside Whittlewood. (fn. 33) In 1639, as part of Charles I's attempts to enlarge the forest far beyond the traditional limits, Henry Lord Spencer, the rector and two freeholders were fined for a grant of disafforestation relating to 1,800 a. of land in Wicken and Leckhampstead, and 100 a. of wood in the latter parish. (fn. 34) In reality, as an early 17th-century map of Whittlewood makes clear, no part of either parish was properly within the forest, whose south-western boundary at that date, as in 1299, was marked by Kings Brook. (fn. 35) A good deal of woodland survived at the northern end of Wicken in the early 17th century, extending over the border into Leckhampstead, most of which was still in existence a century later. (fn. 36) By the early 19th century Wicken Wood had been slightly further reduced in size, although there were still 236 a. of woodland in the parish as a whole, including several parcels to the south-west of the village, detached from the main area further north. Even as late as this, Sir Charles Mordaunt, the owner of the Wicken Park estate, successfully claimed an 18 ft. freeboard along much of the parish boundary with Leckhampstead (including some stretches that were no longer wooded on the Wicken side as well as those that were). (fn. 37) The claim was also accepted by the Ordnance Survey in the 1880s, which accounts for the unusual mereing ('18 ft. R.H.') along much of the western boundary of the parish. (fn. 38) When Whittlewood was disafforested under an Act of 1853 Wicken successfully claimed that it had enjoyed the right, as an out-town of the forest, to pasture cattle there between St. George's Day and Holy Rood Day (4 May-25 September). (fn. 39) The parish accordingly received an allotment of former forest land in Passenham to compensate for the loss of common grazing, amounting to 72 a. 2 r. 35 p., which was divided between the freeholders in 1861, when Sir Charles Mordaunt received 67 a. 3 r. 24 p., the rector 4 a. 2 r. 27 p., and two smallholders 12 perches each. (fn. 40) The parish also received a sum of money to endow a charity to buy coal for the poor, to compensate for the loss of the right to collect firewood in the forest. (fn. 41) Early and Medieval Settlement. Well away from Whittlewood, the earliest evidence for settlement in Wicken is a feature identified as a prehistoric ring ditch discovered on the flood plain of the Great Ouse. Also in the southeast of the parish, on river gravel, remains of a Roman building, including 3rd- and 4th-century pottery, were found in 1965. (fn. 42) Any woodland that once existed in the central and south-eastern parts of Wicken was presumably cleared in the early Middle Ages when the twin villages of Wick Dive and Wick Hamon with their adjoining common fields were established. Both estates are mentioned for the first time in 1086 and have a separate manorial history until 1449. There was a capital messuage belonging to the manor of Wick Dive, but not Wick Hamon. (fn. 43) Although the two settlements had effectively merged into one by the time they were mapped in 1717, it is clear that they had once been largely distinct villages. Most of the houses in Wick Dive were strung out on either side of a main street running west-east, whereas Wick Hamon developed along a north-south axis to the south of the brook, the two roads meeting towards the north-western end of the village. (fn. 44) By the early 18th century, if not before, the majority of houses lay in Wick Dive, together with St. John's church and the site of the manor house, most of which was demolished in the late 17th century. (fn. 45) Wick Hamon church, dedicated to St. James, was taken down after the union of the two parishes, but its site is marked on later maps as a field named 'Old Church Yard' to the south of the brook. (fn. 46) Earthworks on the edge of the modern builtup area indicate that both villages were somewhat larger in the Middle Ages than they were in 1717. (fn. 47) To the south of Wick Hamon village land was imparked in the 13th century, disparked in the 17th, and re-imparked in the 18th, before being finally ploughed up during the Second World War. (fn. 48) Most of the rest of the parish, outside the woodland, was cultivated as common arable in the Middle Ages and, to a reduced extent, until inclosure in 1757. Wick Dive and Wick Hamon each had its own three-field system. (fn. 49) Apart from the park keeper's lodge, the only settlements outside the village which can definitely be said to have medieval origins are Dagnall, not far from Deanshanger, and Mount Mill, on the Ouse in the extreme south-eastern corner of the parish, both of which are first recorded in the early 14th century. (fn. 50) Mount Mill was a small farm of 17 a. in 1717, (fn. 51) whereas Dagnall was an estate of 128 a., sold off by Henry Lord Spencer in 1640 and repurchased for the Wicken Park estate in 1753. (fn. 52) Mount Mill probably only ever comprised the mill itself and a few adjoining parcels of land but Dagnall may have been a medieval hamlet, with its own open fields, which later shrank to two farms. (fn. 53) Two other settlements stand apart from the two villages. One is Wicken Hurst (whose name appears not to be recorded in any medieval source), a small farmstead on Kings Brook at the southern limit of Wicken Wood which seems likely to have originated as a roadside assart on the edge of Whittlewood. By the early 18th century, when it was sometimes known as Little Wicken, Wicken Hurst comprised part of a hamlet of four or five houses, the rest of which lay on the opposite side of the brook in Passenham. (fn. 54) There was a brick kiln on the farm during most of the 18th century, in a copse named Brick Kiln Spinney in 1717. This closed down c. 1800 but another works was established at about that date at Old Copse on the Passenham side of the brook, which was in use throughout the 19th century. (fn. 55) To the south of the 17th-century park keeper's lodge and later mansion, the map of 1717 marks a moated site, which then formed a small freehold outside the Wicken Park estate. (fn. 56) Remains of the moat were still evident in 1838, by which date it belonged to the Mordaunt estate. (fn. 57) Presumably it marks the site of an isolated medieval farmstead, unless it was the keeper's lodge belonging to the medieval park. Settlement from the 16th to the 19th Centuries. In 1511 the two manors were purchased by John Spencer of Snitterfield (Warwicks.), whose grandson, Sir John Spencer of Althorp and Wormleighton (Warwicks.), secured the union of Wick Dive and Wick Hamon into one parish in 1587, (fn. 58) from which time the manor was also conveyed as a single estate, generally known as 'Wicken alias Wick Hamon and Wick Dive'. (fn. 59) The Spencers only occasionally resided at Wicken, although in the early 17th century Robert Lord Spencer rebuilt both the capital messuage belonging to the manor of Wick Dive and the lodge in Wicken Park. (fn. 60) Most of the farmhouses and cottages in both villages were also renewed in this period. The redundant church of St. James, Wick Hamon, however, was taken down. (fn. 61) Wicken changed hands by purchase again in 1716, when it was acquired by a London merchant named Charles Hosier. Whereas during the Spencers' time the parish had formed a small outlying portion of a large estate centred elsewhere, for Hosier it became his principal residence, which he improved through the purchase of the remaining freeholds and the building of a new mansion in the park, in place of the old manor house near the church. (fn. 62) After Hosier died in 1750, Wicken passed to his granddaughter Elizabeth and her husband Thomas Prowse, an amateur architect who, before his death in 1767, began the rebuilding of Wicken church to his own design and in 1765 prepared plans for the enlargement of the mansion. (fn. 63) He also improved the estate by repurchasing in 1753 two farms at Dagnall which had been sold in the Spencers' time, and by inclosing the remaining common fields in 1757, which led to the building of three farmsteads on the new inclosures. (fn. 64) Wicken passed from Thomas Prowse's widow to their daughter Elizabeth, on whose death in 1810 it once again became part of an estate centred elsewhere and the mansion was let. In 1877, after forty years as a tenant, the 1st Lord Penrhyn purchased the estate, which remained in his family's hands until 1944. (fn. 65) The DouglasPennants' main home was their enormous Caernarvonshire estate centred on Penrhyn Castle, whose chief asset in the 19th century was the extensive slate-quarrying business which dominated the local economy. They appear to have regarded Wicken as a convenient second country estate, only 50 miles from London in excellent hunting country (three generations of the family were masters of the Grafton Hunt), with more congenial neighbours and certainly more amenable tenants than the small farmers and quarrymen of North Wales, amongst whom the family were deeply unpopular. (fn. 66) There was litle new building in either the 19th century or the first half of the 20th in Wicken, which remained a close community almost entirely owned by a single estate. Sir John Mordaunt provided a schoolroom in 1839, which was replaced by a larger building in 1878, the gift of the 1st Lord Penrhyn, who later met the entire cost of restoring the church. (fn. 67) The 2nd Lord Penrhyn enlarged the mansion in 1913 and provided the village with a piped water supply, but otherwise the Douglas-Pennants did not do much towards modernising, replacing or increasing the housing stock on the estate, or altering the arrangement of the farms. (fn. 68) The Modern Parish. The purchase of the Wicken Park Estate by the Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol in 1944, including virtually the whole of the parish of Wicken apart from the glebe (which the Society bought six years later), as well as Dovehouse Farm in Deanshanger and Limes End in Leckhampstead, (fn. 69) marked the beginning of change in the community. The mansion was let to a private school, although the buildings were not greatly altered. (fn. 70) In the north of the parish, Wicken Wood, most of which was cleared during the Second World War, was let to the Forestry Commission, whilst the smaller acreage near Wicken Park was retained as amenity woodland. The cottages in the village were progressively sold (over 60 had been disposed of by 1979) and the farms gradually consolidated. The 10 holdings totalling 2,306 acres in 1944 had been amalgamated into five principal tenancies (3,075 acres) by 1980. (fn. 71) During the following decade the Society began to sell farms to sitting tenants and by 1992 the estate was reduced to 1,877 acres. (fn. 72) As well as a reduction in the number of farms, the half-century after 1944 also saw some amalgamation of fields, although less markedly so than in some parishes in the district. In the 1970s the Society bought the bed of the disused Buckingham branch of the Grand Union Canal, most of which was absorbed into adjoining farms, apart from a short stretch which was acquired by the Northamptonshire Naturalists' Trust as a nature reserve. When the amenity woodland in hand was affected by Dutch elm disease in the early 1980s the Society replanted the spinneys with hardwoods to maintain the traditional appearance of the estate. (fn. 73) As soon as they acquired a group of estates within reasonable travelling distance of each other in the South Midlands, the Society of Merchant Venturers made regular tours to inspect their property, under the guidance of their land steward. Members of the Society met the tenants, attended church services, and took part in social functions, including cricket matches between the tenants of Wicken and Mentmore. From time to time the tenants were invited back to Bristol to see something of the work of the St. Monica Trust. (fn. 74) As the number of tenants fell over the years, along with the Society's acreage in the parish, and the village lost the unity it had once possessed as a community where everyone depended on the fortunes of a single estate, the style of management became less paternal, although in the 1990s the Society continued to make tours of Wicken and its other remaining properties. The sale of the cottages and a decline in agricultural employment after the Second World War led to a gradual change in the character of the village, as the older houses were modernised and increasingly from the 1960s became the homes of professional and business people who worked elsewhere, principally Milton Keynes. Wicken proved particularly attractive for such people, since it was within easy reach of the new town but away from any main road and protected by planning policy against large-scale development. Small groups of council houses were built in the village from 1948 (fn. 75) and in the 1970s and 1980s a limited number of high-status private houses were added to the built-up area. During the same period the range of retail and commercial services-never extensive-declined further, although the former rectory was successfully converted into a Japanese restaurant and hotel. The school closed in 1962. (fn. 76) In 1290 John son and heir of John, who was the son of John son of Alan, lord of Wick Hamon, was allowed to re-inclose his park at Wicken after it had fallen into decay during the time that his mother Isabel had held it in dower. (fn. 77) In 1404 Richard Woodville, then lord of Wick Hamon, made a grant of all the underwood in Wick Park to William Furtho and two others, who were to make a fence round the park at their expense. (fn. 78) A century later, in 1512, Sir John Spencer was granted licence to impark 300 a. of land and 200 a. of wood at Wicken: (fn. 79) even if these figures are notional, they suggest a considerable enlargement of the medieval park and also point to the survival of woodland in this part of the parish, as the survey made for Charles Hosier in 1717 also indicates. (fn. 80) In 1604 Robert Lord Spencer received a confirmation of the grant of 1512, which was confirmed again in 1639. (fn. 81) In about 1651, however, the 2nd earl of Sunderland disparked Wicken, when Sir Peter Temple Bt., an ancestor of the dukes of Buckingham and Chandos, purchased the deer for his new park a few miles away at Stowe (Bucks.). (fn. 82) By 1717 much of the park had been divided into closes, although a large area of lawn survived to the north of the keeper's lodge, as well as the woodland to the west, and a broad avenue which ran roughly south-east from the lodge for over a mile, through the park and the common-field arable near the Ouse to the parish boundary, crossing both branches of the road to Buckingham. (fn. 83) Charles Hosier, who bought the Wicken estate in 1716, commissioned a detailed survey the following year, when he also built a new house adjoining the keeper's lodge in the former park. (fn. 84) Either Hosier (who died in 1750) or his immediate successor Thomas Prowse (died 1767) re-established a park around the house, on less formal (and possibly less extensive) lines than its predecessor, with stretches of grassland (some of it recovered from closes taken out of the old park), extending on all sides from the house. A broad belt of woodland was retained to the west of the mansion but the avenue was completely swept away. (fn. 85) Few changes appear to have been made to the park between the early 19th century and the Second World War, when much of the land was ploughed up and remained in agricultural use after 1945. (fn. 86) After the war the mansion, including outbuildings and grounds, were let to a private school. (fn. 87) There was presumably a keeper's lodge in the medieval park, which was evidently rebuilt in the early 17th century, since the surviving building, later used as stables and in modern times converted into flats, bears the Spencer arms and the date 1614 on the porch. (fn. 88) The former lodge is built of coursed rubble limestone with a plain-tile roof and brick end-stacks on stone bases. It is T-shaped in plan, of two storeys and attics, four bays wide. Charles Hosier's new house of 1717 appears to have consisted of a seven-bay, two-storey range, in plain limestone ashlar beneath a hipped slate roof. (fn. 89) In February 1765 Thomas Prowse, an amateur architect, prepared plans for additions to the house, including three garrets and probably also the wings, and ordered the existing building to be repaired and the roof re-tiled. (fn. 90) The new roof and the shell of the new building were finished by August that year, (fn. 91) although fitting-up of rooms and work in the grounds continued until at least 1793, during which time new rides were laid out in the park and woods. (fn. 92) In 1792-3 Mrs. Prowse had the library furnished to receive her brother Granville Sharp's books. (fn. 93) One result of the rebuilding was the introduction of coal (brought by road from Northampton until the canal was built) (fn. 94) for domestic use at the house in 1766, whereas previously only wood had been burnt. (fn. 95) Wicken Park was further enlarged by Lord Penrhyn in 1913, chiefly by the addition of a third storey to the main range to accommodate visiting servants. (fn. 96) In 1945 the mansion was described as being of no architectural merit but in good structural condition, following the alterations of 1913. (fn. 97) Both the main house and the outbuildings, including the 17th-century lodge, were altered to suit the needs of the tenants after Wicken Park became a school. (fn. 98) MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES. There were two manors in Wicken, later known as Wick Dive and Wick Hamon, from before the Norman Conquest, although only the latter had a capital messuage associated with it. The two were held by the same family from 1449 and treated as a single estate after the parishes of Wick Dive and Wick Hamon were united in 1587. Several religious houses had small estates in the parish in the Middle Ages. The Manor of Wick Dive to 1587. In 1086 Robert d'Oyley held one hide and one virgate in Wick, which Azor had held freely in King Edward's time. (fn. 99) Robert died without male issue and was succeeded in his barony of Hook Norton (Oxon.) by his brother Nigel, whose great-grandson Henry, dying without issue, was succeeded by his sister Margery, the first wife of Henry, earl of Warwick (d. 1229). (fn. 100) Their only son and heir Thomas died without issue in 1242, when he was succeeded as countess of Warwick suo jure by his sister Margery, whose second husband John de Plessis died in 1263 seised of the barony of Hook Norton and the lands of Henry d'Oyley, his wife's uncle, by virtue of a conditional grant, if his wife predeceased him without issue. (fn. 101) Among Henry's lands was one fee in Wicken. (fn. 102) John's first wife was Christian, daughter and heiress of Hugh de Sandford of Hook Norton, by whom he had a son and heir Hugh de Plessis, who was 26 at the date of his father's death, and whose own son Hugh was summoned to Parliament as a baron in 1299. (fn. 103) In 1265, 1272 and 1277 Sir Hugh de Plessis was found to be tenant in chief of the Wicken estate, except (in 1277) for an assart which the undertenant held of the king in chief. (fn. 104) Possibly as a result of confusion between the assart and the manor proper, the same undertenant was said in 1281 to hold the lordship itself in chief. (fn. 105) On the other hand, Hugh de Plessis was the tenant in chief in 1284, (fn. 106) and in 1346, 1384 1398 and 1428 the manor was said to be held of the honor of Hook Norton. (fn. 107) In 1086 the undertenant of the d'Oyley portion of Wicken was named Roger. (fn. 108) The next identifiable holder of the manor appears to be Guy de Dive of Deddington, who held the manors of Deddington and Ducklington (Oxon.), both members of the honor of Hook Norton, in the reign of John. (fn. 109) In 1216 the sheriff was directed to give full seisin to Eustace de Leon of the land of Wick which was a member of Ducklington, with all the chattels on it, parcel of the lands of Peter Picot, which the king had previously given him under the name of Eustance de Eu, and which were described as the lands of Peter in Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire. (fn. 110) William de Dive, who held one fee in Wick in 1242, (fn. 111) died in 1261 holding the same estate, when he was succeeded by his son John, (fn. 112) who rebelled against Henry IIII and was killed at the battle of Evesham in 1265. (fn. 113) His lands were forfeited to the Crown and assigned to Osbert Giffard. In 1266 John's widow Sybil recovered their manor and park of Ducklington for her life, but not the Deddington or Wicken estates. (fn. 114) In 1272 John de Dive, presumably John and Sybil's son and heir, died seised of a capital messuage and other premises in Wicken, when his heir was found to be his son Henry, (fn. 115) who the following year redeemed the rest of the family's Wicken estate from Osbert for a fine of 300 marks under the terms of the Dictum of Kenilworth. (fn. 116) Henry appears to have died in 1277, leaving a son and heir John aged three. A year before he had enfeoffed Edelina Corbett in all his lands in Northamptonshire for her life, including the manor of Wick Dive. (fn. 117) In March 1279 the king granted John's wardship and marriage to Queen Eleanor, although two months later a new grant was made to Alice, Henry de Dive's widow. (fn. 118) Edelina herself died in 1281 seised of Wick Dive for her life. (fn. 119) The lands which Alice held in dower in both Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire were taken into the king's hands in 1282, although the Crown appears to have retained only the Oxfordshire estate. (fn. 120) John de Dive was still a minor in 1283 but had come of age by 1303, when he presented to the living; (fn. 121) in 1305-6 he complained that his servant had been robbed and murdered at Wicken. (fn. 122) John died in 1310, leaving a son and heir named Henry, (fn. 123) returned as lord of Wick Dive in 1315, (fn. 124) who in turn died in 1327, leaving a son and heir named John, aged seven. (fn. 125) Henry's widow Martha held the manor in dower in 1343, when her son John granted the reversion to feoffees, who regranted it to John for his life, with successive remainders to Sir John Lewknor, John's son Henry de Dive, and Henry's wife Elizabeth, Sir John's daughter. (fn. 126) The feoffees held half a fee in Wike Dive in 1346 and presented to the living the following year. (fn. 127) After Martha, John de Dive and John Lewknor had all died, Henry de Dive and Elizabeth entered into seisin of the manor, which they retained until 1356-9 when Henry demised the estate to Roger de Mortimer, earl of March (d. 1360) and Sir Ralph Spigurnel for their lives. Afterwards Henry released all his right in the manor to Roger and Ralph, and Roger's heirs. Henry died without heirs and his widow later married Sir Edward de Twyford; in 1361 Elizabeth and Edward successfully recovered the manor from Ralph Spigurnel, Earl Roger then being dead. After both Ralph and Edward had died, Edmund son of Earl Roger (1352- 81), who was seised of the reversion, confirmed the manor to Elizabeth. After her death in 1384, the reversion was found to pertain to Roger son and heir of Earl Edmund, a minor in the king's wardship. (fn. 128) Immediately after Elizabeth's death the king committed the keeping of the manor to Roger, the earls of Arundel, Warwick and Northumberland, and John de Neville, Lord Neville, to hold until Roger came of age. (fn. 129) Earl Roger died in 1398 seised of the manor of Wick Dive, leaving a son named Edmund, who was again a minor. (fn. 130) In 1424 Edmund first leased and then released the manor to William Lucy and his wife Margaret, who were in possession when the earl died the following year. (fn. 131) In 1449 Richard Woodville of Grafton and his wife Jacquetta purchased the reversion of the manor from Richard duke of York and his wife Cecily, (fn. 132) and appear also to have acquired the Lucys' life interest. (fn. 133) Woodville, by then Lord Rivers, had a grant of free warren in Wicken in 1457. (fn. 134) Wick Dive thereafter descended with the Woodvilles' home manor of Grafton to Thomas Grey, 2nd marquess of Dorset, (fn. 135) who in 1511 sold the estate to John Spencer of Snitterfield (Warwicks.) (d. 1522), (fn. 136) the founder of the Spencer family of Althorp. (fn. 137) In 1512 Spencer was granted free warren in his manors of Althorp and Wicken, and the right to create a park of 500 acres at Wicken. (fn. 138) It was John Spencer's great-grandson, Sir John Spencer of Althorp and Wormleighton (Warwicks.), who secured the union of Wick Dive and Wick Hamon into a single parish in 1587, (fn. 139) from which time the manor was also conveyed as a single estate, generally known as 'Wicken alias Wick Hamon and Wick Dive'. (fn. 140) The Unified Estate. Sir John Spencer died in 1600 (fn. 141) and was succeeded by his son Robert, created Baron Spencer of Worrnleighton three years later, who in 1604 received confirmation of his ancestor's grants of free park and free warren. (fn. 142) The following year he laid claim to lands in Wicken formerly belonging to Snelshall priory (fn. 143) and in 1609 received a grant of some additional land in the parish. (fn. 144) Lord Robert built new stables at Wicken in 1614 and rebuilt the manor house six years later, although he only visited Wicken occasionally to hunt. (fn. 145) The house may in these years have been the home of Elizabeth, countess of Southampton, (fn. 146) whose daughter Penelope in 1615 married Lord Robert's son and heir William, who succeeded as 2nd Lord Spencer on his father's death in 1627. (fn. 147) William died in 1636, bequeathing the manor of Wicken and lands there to trustees to help raise portions for his daughters. (fn. 148) He was succeeded by his son Henry, who in 1639 married Dorothy, daughter of Robert Sidney, earl of Leicester, (fn. 149) when the manor and advowson of Wicken and all his lands there were among the property settled on her trustees. (fn. 150) In the same year Henry was fined for a grant of disafforestation freeing Wicken from any claim that it lay within the bounds of Whittlewood and for a grant of a park of 200 acres. (fn. 151) The following year he sold two farms at Dagnall, which were only repurchased by Thomas Prowse in 1753. (fn. 152) Henry was created earl of Sunderland in June 1643 but was killed at the battle of Newbury three months later, leaving a son Robert (1641- 1702) as his heir. In 1665 Robert married Anne, the daughter of George earl of Bristol, (fn. 153) to whom, by his will of 1695, he bequeathed Wicken and all his other lands in England not settled on the marriage of his son Charles (afterwards 3rd earl of Sunderland). (fn. 154) From 1671 onwards Sunderland raised a series of mortgages on the Wicken estate, which by the time of his death in 1702 totalled £5,000. (fn. 155) The mansion, as well as the rest of the estate, continued to be let in this period. (fn. 156) By her will, dated 17 July 1712, Countess Anne left all her real estate to trustees for sale. Four years later, acting under a Chancery decree, the trustees sold the manor, mansion house and advowson of Wicken, with woods in Leckhampstead and Limes End (Bucks.), to Charles Hosier, a London merchant originally from Berwick, near Shrewsbury, for £11,500, of which £5,063 was due to the mortgagees. (fn. 157) Hosier's only daughter and heiress Anna Maria married John Sharp of Grafton Park but both died in his lifetime, as did their son John Hosier Sharp. (fn. 158) Therefore, by his will dated 30 November 1747, Hosier left Wicken and his 9/24ths share of the Grafton Park estate to their eldest daughter and coheiress Elizabeth and her husband Thomas Prowse of Axbridge (Som.) in tail general. Thomas had already acquired the remaining 15/24ths of Grafton Park from Elizabeth's father. (fn. 159) Charles Hosier died in 1750, aged about 90. (fn. 160) Thomas Prowse died in 1767 (fn. 161) and in 1772 his widow Elizabeth demised the Wicken estate to her daughter-in-law, also named Elizabeth, the widow of George Prowse (who also died in 1767), so long as she remained his widow. (fn. 162) At her death in 1780, the elder Mrs. Prowse confirmed the conveyance of Wicken to Elizabeth and also left Grafton Park to her daughter Mary, in both cases for their lives only. (fn. 163) The younger Elizabeth Prowse (born in 1733), who was the daughter of Thomas Sharp, prebendary of Durham, and the sister of Granville Sharp, the philanthropist and antislavery compaigner, never remarried. On her death in 1810 the Wicken estate, under the terms of her mother-in-law's will, passed to her younger daughter and coheiress Elizabeth and her husband Sir John Mordaunt Bt. of Walton (Warws.), who had acquired Grafton Park in 1802, after the death of Mary Rogers, the other daughter and coheiress. (fn. 164) After 1810 Wicken once again became a detached portion of an estate centred elsewhere and the mansion and park were let, first to Lord Charles FitzRoy, the second son of the 3rd duke of Grafton, who lived there until his death in 1829. (fn. 165) He was followed by the Hon. Arthur Hill-Trevor (1798-1862), whose mother Charlotte was a daughter of another Lord Charles FitzRoy, a younger brother of the 3rd duke, created Lord Southampton in 1780. HillTrevor succeeeded his father as 3rd Viscount Dungannon in 1837 and gave up Wicken the following year. (fn. 166) The next tenant was Col. Edward Gordon Douglas-Pennant (1800-86), a younger brother of the 17th earl of Morton, who retired from the Army in 1847. After the death in 1842 of his first wife, a daughter and coheiress of George Hay Dawkins-Pennant of Penrhyn Castle (Caerns.), he married in 1846 Maria Louisa, a daughter of the 5th duke of Grafton. He was created Lord Penrhyn of Llandegai in 1866. (fn. 167) In 1877, after forty years as a tenant, Penrhyn purchased from Sir Charles Mordaunt the freehold of the Wicken and Grafton Park estates (fn. 168) and thereafter Wicken Park became one of the family's two principal seats for the next seventy years. The 2nd Lord Penrhyn died in 1907 and was buried at Wicken, where he was a generous benefactor to the church and parish. (fn. 169) He was succeeded by his eldest son Edward (1864- 1927), who married Blanche Georgiana, a daughter of the 3rd Lord Southampton. (fn. 170) Three of their sons were killed in the first year of the Great War. (fn. 171) The Dowager Lady Penrhyn remained at Wicken Park until her own death in November 1944; the following year the 4th Lord Penrhyn sold the estate (of 3,042 a.) to the Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol, acting as trustee of the H.M. Wills Charity for Chronic and Incurable Sufferers, for £92,169. The Society subsequently sold the cottages and some of the farms on the estate, but at the time of writing still owned about 1,800 acres of tenanted farmland at Wicken, together with the mansion, which from 1945 was let as a school. (fn. 172) The Manor House. The capital messuage belonging to the manor of Wick Dive (and later the unified estate) stood to the southwest of Wick Dive churchyard. (fn. 173) Included in an extent of the manor in 1272, (fn. 174) the house was said to contain merely a hall, chamber, kitchen and barn in 1427. (fn. 175) It was still known as the Manor House in 1670, when it was let with a farm of about 440 a.; (fn. 176) nine years later, when a new lease of the same holding was granted, the house was called the Porter's Lodge. (fn. 177) This change confirms Baker's belief that the rest of the buildings were demolished during Lord Sunderland's time and only the gatehouse left standing, (fn. 178) to become the nucleus of the modern Manor Farm. The present house, which has 19th- and 20th-century additions, is built of coursed squared limestone with a plain-tile roof, of two storeys and attics, three bays wide. A panel contains the arms of the Spencer family. Never more than occasionally occupied by the Spencers, the manor was superseded as the principal residence on the estate by a new mansion in the park built by Charles Hosier after his purchase of Wicken in 1716. (fn. 179) The Manor of Wick Hamon to 1587. In 1086 Maino held three virgates in Wick which in King Edward's time Siward held freely. (fn. 180) In Henry I's reign Mainfelin held two hides at Wick of the fee of Wolverton (fn. 181) and in 1166-7 the sheriff accounted for half a mark from Hamon, son of Mainfelin, from Wick. (fn. 182) Hamon son of Hamon son of Mainfelin held land in Wick in 1185. He was then aged 20; his father had died in May that year and his mother Maud was aged 46. (fn. 183) Wick had briefly come into the king's hands and in 1185 the sheriff accounted for 40s. from the manor. (fn. 184) Hamon was involved in litigation over land in Wick in 1194. (fn. 185) His son William was returned as lord of Wick in 1208, 1235 and 1242, (fn. 186) and in 1213 was acquitted from the service of castle guard at Northampton (by which he held his barony of Wolverton) for the previous year. (fn. 187) William died early in 1248 leaving his brother Alan as heir. (fn. 188) Alan died later the same year, leaving his son John as heir, when the manor was held in dower by Hawise, William's widow. (fn. 189) In 1265 Sir John son of Alan was found to have demised to Michael Tony a fourth part of a knight's fee in Wick, worth £8 a year, for two years. (fn. 190) John held Wick Hamon, as the manor had by then become known, in chief in 1276. (fn. 191) He was dead by 1284, when Ralph de Ardern and Isabel his wife held the manor for the fourth part of a knight's fee, in right of her dower as John's widow. (fn. 192) John and Isabel's son and heir was also named John. He in turn had a son of the same name, who in 1290 was granted licence to reinclose the park at Wicken. (fn. 193) In 1312, when John de Wolverton (the surname the family had adopted by that date) was allowed to settle the manor of Padbury (Bucks.) on his son John and his first wife, it was found that among the lands that would remain to the father were those in Wick. (fn. 194) The elder John de Wolverton was returned as lord of Wick Hamon in 1316, (fn. 195) and in 1331 settled the manor, held in chief by the payment of 2s. 6d. yearly to the ward of Northampton Castle, on his son John and his second wife Joan in tail male at the time of their marriage. (fn. 196) Sir John Wolverton the elder died in 1341 (fn. 197) and five years later his son, also Sir John, was returned as holding Wick Harnon for the fourth part of a knight's fee as parcel of the barony of Wolverton. (fn. 198) The younger Sir John died in 1349, leaving by his first wife four daughters, Joan, Sarah, Cecily and Constance, and by his second wife a son and heir Ralph, aged two. (fn. 199) Ralph died two years later, when his two sisters, Margaret the wife of John Hunt of Fenny Stratford (Bucks.), aged 19, and Elizabeth, aged 17, were found to be his heirs. (fn. 200) In 1365, following the death of Margaret and Elizabeth, an inquisition established that under the entail of 1331 the reversion of the manor, in the absence of surviving male heirs of John and Joan, lay with the heirs of the elder John de Wolverton. Accordingly the manor was divided into five parts, three going to the representatives of the surviving daughters of the younger John's first marriage (Constance being dead) and two to the heirs of the elder John's daughters. (fn. 201) Two years later all five heirs sold their shares to Richard Woodville of Grafton and his son John. (fn. 202) In 1382 John Woodville was able to bar the entail of 1367 and settle the manor on himself and his wife Isabel in tail male. (fn. 203) In 1442 Richard and Joan Woodville were fined 40s. for taking a conveyance of the manor from William Furtho, who had been enfeoffed by Richard's father. (fn. 204) In 1449 Richard purchased the adjoining manor of Wick Dive and both Wicken estates thereafter descended with the Woodville's home lordship of Grafton until the sale in 1511 to John Spencer. (fn. 205) There appears to be no tradition of a capital messuage belonging to the medieval manor of Wick Hamon, presumably because until the sale of 1367 it was held in demesne by a family seated close by at Wolverton and afterwards formed part of an estate centred elsewhere in Cleley hundred. St. James's abbey in Northampton received at least two small gifts in Wicken, presumably in the 12th or early 13th centuries. Roger Greenworth gave 4 a. land and Robert son of Hamo de Wike 25s. in rent from messuages and crofts held by John de Mauleye. (fn. 206) In the mid 13th century Snelshall priory (Bucks.) received at least three grants of lands and rent in Wicken, of which the most important was that of 35s. 4d. rent due from 15 tenants given by William de Northampton (together with 24s. 8d. rent from other premises in Wolverton (Bucks.)), which was confirmed by John son of Alan of Wolverton, the tenant in chief. (fn. 207) In 1291 the whole of the priory's lands and rents in Wick Hamon, Deanshanger and Passenham were valued at 48s. 10d.: (fn. 208) unless some of William's gift had been alienated or reduced in value, this implies that the bulk of the estate lay in Wicken rather than the other two townships. (fn. 209) After Snelshall was dissolved the Wicken, Passenham and Deanshanger lands were leased as a single entity on several occasions between 1540 and 1573. (fn. 210) In 1587 the reversion of all the leases with years yet to come was granted in fee to Sir Francis Walsingham and Francis Mills, (fn. 211) from whom the estate passed through intermediaries to Sir John Spencer, (fn. 212) who in c. 1600 brought an action against John Seaman (or Simmons), one of the two freeholders on the manor, for the recovery of former Snelshall lands. (fn. 213) He was successful and in 1630 Seaman was paying 7s. a year for the premises. (fn. 214) Thereafter they appear to have been merged into the manorial estate. Some concealed lands late of Snelshall discovered by, and granted to, John Mershe in 1576 were said to lie in Wicken as well as Cosgrove and Passenham, (fn. 215) although only those in the latter parish can be traced in later references to the property. (fn. 216) In 1531 the Carthusian priory at Sheen (Surrey) entered into an exchange with Henry VIII, whereby it received the site and precincts of the former priory at Bradwell (Bucks.), together with lands formerly belonging to Bradwell in nine parishes in Buckinghamshire and two in Northamptonshire, one of them Wicken, in return for its own estates in Lewisham and East Greenwich. (fn. 217) In 1541, after Sheen was dissolved, the king granted the former Bradwell lands in Wicken and elsewhere, together with other premises, to Arthur Longfield of Wolverton (Bucks.) in return for Longfield's manor of Stoke Bruerne. (fn. 218) Henry VIII sold the lands at Wicken to Edward Giffard and his wife Christina the following year; (fn. 219) after she was widowed, she settled them in 1556 to her use for life, with remainder to Sir John Spencer and his heirs. (fn. 220) They were thus merged with the manorial estate in Wicken. Some land in Wicken which before the Dissolution had belonged to Bradwell priory was granted in 1528 to Thomas Wolsey, who in turn added it to the endowment of his new college in Oxford. (fn. 221) In 1540 the Crown purchased lands in Wicken, Puxley and Deanshanger from John Heneage and his wife Anne in exchange for premises in London, Lincolnshire and Kingston-uponHull. (fn. 222) The estate had been settled on John by his father Thomas Heneage in 1520 (fn. 223) and in 1542 was among the Crown premises in Wicken annexed to the honor of Grafton on its establishment. (fn. 224) What appear to be the same premises were leased, as parcel of the former Heneage manor of Deanshanger, in 1575 and again in 1583. (fn. 225) The land presumably later passed with the rest of that manor. (fn. 226) In the early 16th century John Ede owned an estate in several parishes near Stony Stratford, including a messuage and 50 a. in Wicken, which passed first to his sons Jake and Edmund and then, after both died without issue, to his daughters, Margaret and Isabel, and their respective husbands, between whom the estate was partitioned. The Wicken portion was assigned to Isabel and Robert Pigott. (fn. 227) The Medieval Estates. In 1086 there was land for 10 ploughs on Robert d'Oyley's manor at Wicken. There were three ploughs in demesne, with seven serfs, and seven villeins and three bordars had four ploughs. There were 10 acres of meadow and wood 11 furlongs in length and six in breadth. The value of the estate had risen from 40s. to 100s. since 1066. (fn. 228) Maine's manor was much smaller, with land for three ploughs, although there were two in demesne (with one serf) and two farmed by five villeins and a bordar. The estate included six acres of meadow and wood 10 furlongs in length and three in breadth. Its value was unchanged since 1066 at 40s. (fn. 229) John Dive's lands at Wicken in 1272 included four carucates of land in demesne and eight virgates in villeinage, together with 60s. rent from free tenants. (fn. 230) In 1427 there were three carucates of arable and four of pasture in demesne on the same manor, as well as a dovecote, worth 2s. yearly beyond charges. The tenanted land included nine messuages, each with one virgate; there were also 18 a. of meadow and 60 a. of wood, cropped as coppice on a twenty-year cycle. Rents of assize amounted to 37s. yearly. (fn. 231) Hamon son of Hamon's estate at Wicken was said to be worth £4 10s. yearly in 1185, when stocked with two ploughs, 50 sheep, four cows, four sows and a boar; because there was no stock, it was worth only 37s. (fn. 232) In 1247 there were three carucates of arable worth £8 in demesne on William FitzHamon's manor, his customary tenants had 4½ virgates, and there was pasture worth 4s. (fn. 233) Wick Dive and Wick Hamon each had their own open fields in the Middle Ages, as, it seems, did the hamlet of Dagnall which later shrank to a single farmstead. The best evidence for this is the survival of an unusually large number of separate fields in 1717, when the Wicken Park estate was thoroughly surveyed and (presumably for the first time) mapped. (fn. 234) At that date there was an extensive area of open-field arable on the south-eastern side of the parish, occupying all the ground between the modern Buckingham road and the Ouse, apart from a strip of meadow alongside the river itself. The open field continued to the north of the main road, taking up most of the land to the south-east and north-east of the village as far as the parish boundary at Kings Brook, apart from some small closes near Dagnall and another block of old inclosure to the east of Wicken Park. Most of the land to the south-west of the village was either wooded in 1717 or was perhaps formerly included in the Spencers' park; the small amount of land between the village and Wicken Wood in the north of the parish seems likely to have been cleared piecemeal from earlier woodland and never cultivated in common. Much of this land was laid down as leys in 1717. The open-field land to the south and east of the Buckingham road is mostly described as the 'Out Field', apart from a small area near the mill called Mount Field. Great and Little Dagnall fields lay on either side of the main road, while to the north of Dagnall itself were Kingdom Field, the Great Field and Wood Furlong Field. Adjoining the village to the south were several smaller pieces of open field, named Hale Hole Fields, Penn Bush Fields, Culver Field and Park Corner Field, of which the two latter may have occupied land which had previously formed part of the park. (fn. 235) The survey groups the larger areas of arable further away from the village together as the 'Out Field' (683 a.), and lists separately another 250 a. made up of Kingdom Field, Stocking Field next Kingdom, Park Corner Field next Culver, and Culver Field. The two fields to the north-east of the village (Wood Furlong Field and Great Field) contained 114 and 127 acres respectively, of which 38 a. in the former and 32 a. in the latter were then laid down to pasture. Elsewhere the Out Field is described as comprising Little Dagnall, Great Dagnall, Mount Field, Out Field next Mount Field, Middle Field, Field next Thornton, and the Out Field next Dagnall Great Field. (fn. 236) Virtually the same names appear in a late 17th-century survey made for the 2nd earl of Sunderland. (fn. 237) It is impossible to say for certain how the open-field arable, which in 1717 was already in the process of piecemeal inclosure, was distributed in the Middle Ages, especially in a parish whose landscape history is complicated by the presence of a large area of woodland and a 500acre park. Perhaps the best explanation is that the fields to the north and east of the village (Wood Furlong Field, the Great Field and Kingdom Field) belonged to the manor of Wick Dive (although the latter lies to the south of the brook which is supposed to have been the boundary between the two parishes); that a hamlet at Dagnall had its own fields; and that the arable adjoining the village to the south, together with the Out Field beyond the Buckingham road, represented the common fields of the manor of Wick Hamon. Some piecemeal inclosure, as well as additional imparking, took place at Wicken around the turn of the 16th century. In 1490 Thomas marquess of Dorset converted 30 a. of arable to sheep pasture, displacing four families, and in 1512 John Spencer did likewise with a further 40 a. (fn. 238) The Wicken Estate in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Spencers let the farms on their Wicken estate on 21-year leases, each typically including a house, buildings, one or more closes of pasture, and land in the open fields and meadows, the latter generally reckoned in half-yardlands. (fn. 239) The manor house and park were also let, (fn. 240) which led to litigation against a tenant in 1590 concerning the alleged cutting down of 400 oaks belonging to Sir John Spencer in the park. (fn. 241) In 1630 the estate was producing a gross income of about £290 a year, most of which came from the park, which appears to have been let in two halves. The Wick Dive farms were worth about £37 a year, those in Wick Hamon £20, and the two at Dagnall a further £22. (fn. 242) The manor of Deanshanger, which the 1st Lord Spencer bought in 1615 and sold a couple of years later, (fn. 243) briefly accounted for a further £29. (fn. 244) There were only two freeholders on the manor at that period, paying a total of 16s. a year in chief rent. (fn. 245) The Spencers' limited interest in the Wicken estate is illustrated by an inventory drawn up in 1628 after the death of the 1st Lord Spencer, totalling £13,950, of which just £35 was represented by a few items of furniture at 'Wicken Lodge', (fn. 246) presumably the park keeper's house. In 1641 the 3rd Lord Spencer sold the Dagnall farms to Anthony Gibbs of Wicken for £1,050. (fn. 247) What remained of the estate was worth £570 a year in 1662, of which £300 came from the 600 acres of woods, valued as coppice cropped on a twenty-year cycle to produce £10 an acre annually. Anthony Gibbs was paying £86 7s. 6d. for the park (110 a.), three closes of pasture (21 a.), and a farm of 2¾ yardlands (probably about 100 a.), and another 13 tenants had between a quarter of a yardland and 4½ yardlands (about 160 a.) each, with rents ranging from £2 to £38. There were also 19 cottage tenants paying between 3s. and £2. (fn. 248) Gibbs's lease, which included the Park House or Lodge, was renewed for a further 21 years in 1681; (fn. 249) his son Charles surrendered the lease early in 1700 in return for a new one for 24 years at the same rent and a fine of £400. (fn. 250) The other large holding in this period, described as 'The Great Farm all lying together' (440 a., presumably the consolidated manorial demesne), was let with the Manor House in 1679 for 21 years at £130 a year to James Bevin of Deanshanger, (fn. 251) in place of Richard Pease, who had held the farm on a nine-year lease from 1670 at the same rent. (fn. 252) In the late 17th century, besides the Park Lodge and Manor House, there were 18 other holdings which included at least a small amount of land (among them the mill and the farm held by the Gibbses), as well as 17 cottages and seven houses built on the waste. (fn. 253) Several other tenancies, besides the Park Lodge and Manor House, continued to be let on 21-year leases. (fn. 254) The 18th-Century Estate and Inclosure. After he bought Wicken in 1716, as well as building a new mansion in the park, (fn. 255) Charles Hosier had the estate surveyed. This revealed that he had about 440 a. in hand, excluding the woodland, with most of the rest let to nine principal tenants, whose holdings ranged from 46 a. to 418 a. around a mean of 140 a. They included Charles Gibbs, who was also the main freeholder, and the tenant with the smallest farm had 13a. of freehold. What is striking, however, is how the long tail of smaller holdings evident in the 17th-century surveys had disappeared. About 300 a. belonged to freeholders, of which Gibbs's Dagnall estate (128 a.) was the most important, and there were 126 a. of glebe. (fn. 256) Hosier's policy over the next few years was to buy up the freeholds. In 1717-18 he paid £331 in two stages to acquire Stocking Close and other premises, which had been the Snoxall family's freehold, (fn. 257) and £1,300 for the farm at Mount Mill, which had once belonged to John Seaman (or Simmons), the other freeholder mentioned in the 1630s. (fn. 258) Hosier also bought 3 a. of arable for £25 in 1718; (fn. 259) two cottages with half a yardland of arable for £200 the following year; (fn. 260) and in 1726 purchased a cottage newly erected on a pightle of land that had once belonged to the Seaman family for £28. (fn. 261) In 1735 and 1741 Hosier bought (in two moieties) 4½ a. in Dagnall Fields for £17, (fn. 262) and appears to have made other small purchases of which the details do not survive. (fn. 263) Twenty years after Hosier's purchase of Wicken there were still nine farm tenancies on the estate, as well as the woods and a considerable acreage of farmland in hand. There were also 58 cottage tenants, far more than fifty years before, which must reflect either an increase in population or, more likely, a reduction in the status of houses which had once belonged to the smaller farms whose land had been merged into larger holdings by 1717. (fn. 264) It was left to Hosier's successor, Thomas Prowse, to make the most important purchase for the estate, that of the two farms, a cottage and three yardlands (just over 100 a.) at Dagnall, for which he paid Charles Gibbs of Towcester £3,050 in 1753. (fn. 265) From that date practically the whole of the parish of Wicken, together with about 200 a. of woods in Leckhampstead, belonged to the estate. As Prowse's daughter-in-law Elizabeth later observed, only the parsonage and glebe (including two houses), plus five cottages in the village (one of them the White Lion) were not owned by her family. (fn. 266) The way was thus open for Prowse to inclose the remaining common arable and meadow in the parish by agreement with the rector and bishop, which he proceeded to do in 1757. The glebe in the open fields was consolidated into a single farm of 126 a. (which was described as a gain of 36 a. to the living) and a composition of £130 a year agreed in lieu of the tithes due from the Wicken Park estate. Although the parties undertook to obtain an Act to confirm the agreement they did not do so. (fn. 267) At the same time Prowse made an exchange with one of the handful of small freeholders in the parish. (fn. 268) Thomas Prowse gave up Wicken Park to his son George in 1764, (fn. 269) three years before his death. (fn. 270) George also died in 1767, (fn. 271) leaving a widow Elizabeth, who never remarried and ran the estate as a resident proprietor until her own death in 1810. (fn. 272) Both her own detailed accounts (fn. 273) and the comments of others testify to the close interest she took in Wicken and its people. She supported a day school for girls as well as boys, (fn. 274) suppressed any sign of Nonconformity, (fn. 275) and ensured that there was no poverty, no rebellion and no sedition in the parish. (fn. 276) In 1777 a visitor described how Mrs. Prowse entertained the labourers and their families (some 60 people in all) at harvest time with music, large bowls of syllabub, bread, cheese and ale, helping to ensure that they remained the 'happiest set of peasants in England'. She also invited her family and 'select friends in the neighbourhood' to a fête champêtre in the park, which the country people were allowed to watch from beyond the ha-ha, before being invited in by her servants to finish off the food. (fn. 277) Within twenty years of inclosure a new farm, Little Hill, was established on the former open fields between the Buckingham road and the river, and Mount Mill had been assigned a large acreage of new inclosures. (fn. 278) In 1768 Mrs. Prowse converted all the farms from 'written agreements' (apparently annual tenancies) to leases, losing only one tenant in the process. (fn. 279) The number of separate holdings, however, did not change greatly: in 1778 Mrs. Prowse noted that she had insured nine farmhouses, the maltster's house and kiln, two tiled houses, and 51 thatched cottages, (fn. 280) figures very similar to those of 1717 and 1738. (fn. 281) The estate was producing about £1,000- £1,100 in rent in the last quarter of the 18th century, from which Mrs. Prowse normally drew around £800 a year for repairs and domestic expenses, including the cost of the school. (fn. 282) One of the farms was kept in hand, although Mrs. Prowse charged herself a notional rent for the holding and carefully accounted for other expenses and income there. (fn. 283) The eight let farms were yielding about £1,250 gross in 1797, when a new survey suggested that advances of around 20 per cent could be achieved on re-letting. The farms, which all had their land in reasonably compact blocks around the house and buildings, ranged from 102 a. to 363 a. around a mean of 200 a., with considerable variation in the proportion of arable and grass between different holdings. Two had between 40 and 45 per cent of their land under the plough; on two more the proportion was exactly half, and on the two others for which the shares can be calculated the figures were 67 per cent and 80 per cent. (fn. 284) In 1796 Sir John Mordaunt of Walton (Warws.), the heir apparent to the Wicken estate following his marriage to Mrs. Prowse's sister-in-law Elizabeth, persuaded the Wicken tenants that they, and not Mrs. Prowse, should pay the tithe composition of £130 due from the estate, rather than face an increase in rent. (fn. 285) The estate was only slightly affected by the building of the Buckingham branch canal in 1800-1, when Mrs. Prowse sold 2½ acres of land to the Grand Junction, part of which was later sold back to her. (fn. 286) She appears to have accepted payment for the land in shares. (fn. 287) Also in the early 19th century a new house and buildings were erected at Mount Mill, after the mill went out of use, (fn. 288) and a third new farm, Park Farm or Sparrow Lodge, was built midway between Dagnall and the village. Manor Farm and Home Farm, the two main farmsteads in the village itself, were improved. (fn. 289) An important element in the economy of the estate in this period, and of the local community as a whole, was the large acreage of woodland, from which sales of underwood, faggots and hedgerow wood were producing about £200 a year between the 1770s and Mrs. Prowse's death in 1810, (fn. 290) representing an addition of nearly 20 per cent to income from the farms. This figure was only two thirds of that included in the valuation of 1662, (fn. 291) presumably a reflection of the contracting market for wood as a fuel during the 18th century. By contrast, the farm rental quadrupled over the same period, which also saw a reduction in the number of holdings. During the 1770s and 1780s timber was only occasionally felled for sale, but between 1795 and 1808 annual sales realised an average of £280 a year (including bark). These were made at the request of Sir John Mordaunt, who was to inherit the Wicken and Grafton Park estates after Mrs. Prowse's death; in 1809, exceptionally, timber and bark to the value of £1,635 was sold at Wicken. (fn. 292) The estate under the Mordaunts and Douglas-Pennants. In 1810 the Wicken estate passed to Sir John Mordaunt of Walton (Warwicks.), whose wife was a sister of Mrs. Prowse's husband George; the Mordaunts had already inherited Grafton Park in 1800. (fn. 293) At Wicken the mansion and 336 a. were let to General Charles FitzRoy for 12 years from 1812 at £616 a year. (fn. 294) FitzRoy died in 1829 and, after a short tenancy in between, Wicken Park was leased to Col. E.H. Douglas-Pennant from 1838, but with only 35 a. (fn. 295) The rest of the Mordaunt estate in Wicken was divided into seven farms, two of which were held in 1838 by the same tenant. If those are treated as a single holding, the size of farm ranged from 217 a. to 377 a. around a mean of 304 a. (fn. 296) The woodland, of which 236 a. lay within Wicken parish, was kept in hand. (fn. 297) Five freeholders had five acres between them in 1838, of which 4¾ acres were owned by Henry Gurney; another 10 a. belonged to the canal company; and the rest of the parish (131 a.) was glebe. There were two small quarries on the road from Wicken to Deanshanger at work in 1838 but no other industry. (fn. 298) Mordaunt made at least one small addition to the estate during his period of ownership. (fn. 299) Sir John Mordaunt died in 1845, (fn. 300) leaving a son and heir, Sir Charles, who was a minor and whose trustees immediately announced a reduction in charitable donations on the Northamptonshire estates, expressing the hope that Col. Douglas-Pennant would make up the shortfall. (fn. 301) Since Wicken Park continued to be let to Douglas-Pennant until he bought the entire estate in 1877, the Mordaunts were never resident there. As effectively sole owners in the parish, they appear to have behaved in a conventionally paternalistic manner towards their Wicken tenants, providing land for allotments in 1838 (fn. 302) and a new school the following year. (fn. 303) When Sir Charles Mordaunt came of age in 1857 the usual tea, dinner and sports were arranged for his Northamptonshire tenants. (fn. 304) There are, however, few signs of new investment at either Wicken or Grafton Park to compare, say, with the model farms erected on the Grafton estate in the 1840s, nor any building of new cottages. Little seems to have changed after the sale to Lord Penrhyn in 1877. (fn. 305) During the sixty-odd years in which the Douglas-Pennants owned Wicken, the income from which was unimportant compared with that from their North Wales estate, they made no attempt to develop its resources or to make it pay, apparently remaining content to subsidise the estate from their income from their Caernarvonshire slate quarries. (fn. 306) The estate was enlarged by the purchase in 1877 of Dovehouse Farm on the edge of Deanshanger village, just inside Passenham, whose land marched with that of Dagnail; (fn. 307) a house and four cottages at the Folly, also just over the Passenham border, in 1878; (fn. 308) and a couple of small additions in Wicken itself in 1882 and 1892. (fn. 309) The estate after 1944. After the death of Blanche, Lady Penrhyn, in November 1944 her son, the 4th baron, at once placed the estate (including the lordship and advowson) on the market, seeking a private treaty sale at £100,000 for just over 3,000 acres. At much the same time the Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol, acting as trustee of the St. Monica Trust, founded in the early 1920s by Henry Herbert Wills (of the tobacco manufacturing family) and his wife Monica to establish a rest home at Westbury-on-Trym, obtained the approval of the Charity Commissioners to transfer up to a third of the trust's capital (i.e. about £500,000) from government securities into agricultural land. The Society accordingly undertook a programme of purchasing good quality estates, mostly in Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland, beginning in 1944 with Mentmore (Bucks.). The following year they were advised that Penrhyn would only secure the asking price for Wicken from a buyer who intended to break up the estate for re-sale, that he would prefer to sell at £95,000 to an institution who would keep the property together, and that an offer of £90,000 would probably be accepted. The Society completed the purchase at the latter figure (£92,169 including costs) in July 1945. (fn. 310) The contents of the mansion were sold by auction four months, earlier. (fn. 311) When the Society took possession of the estate they found it generally in good order, if run on somewhat conservative lines, with no attempt to make income meet expenditure. (fn. 312) Their agent observed that tenants had been chosen as much for their ability to ride to hounds as their farming skill; rents were low, although few tenants were of longstanding; and, until the Second World War, no mature timber had been felled except to meet the needs of the estate. The estate workshops were well equipped, although the four men employed there were too accustomed to the easy ways of the Penrhyns to be retained. Of the 3,042 a. making up the estate (including 617 a. in Buckinghamshire), 2,306 a. were let in 10 farm holdings for a total of £2,650 (i.e. 23s. an acre, described as 'on the low side'). The farm buildings, mainly of stone with slate or tiled roofs, were above the general standard of the district and the farmhouses substantially built. Seven had piped water (five from the estate supply, two from the mains) and four had mains electricity. Before the war 628 a. had been arable, to which a further 871 a. had been added by order of the War Agricultural Executive, which the Society's agent felt had brought improvements. Lime was available on the estate and basic slag had produced good results on the pastures. All the tenants followed a system of mixed farming, growing wheat, beans and other cereals, and all had dairy herds, two of them attested. Ditches and drains had been improved, using prisoners of war, although the hedges had been neglected. The tenants were described as 'substantial and competent farmers', some of whom had considerable additional land outside the estate, which itself had 399 a. of accommodation holdings (including Park Farm, 138 a. in hand). Almost all this had been ploughed up by order during the war, whereas before 1939 about 254 a. had been pasture. The let accommodation land produced a further £211 a year. The estate included 92 cottages in 1945, of which 27 were let with the farms. Of the rest, seven were condemned (although four were occupied under licence), another seven were let on service tenancies, one was the village reading room and club, and another was a better-class property with an acre and a half of land. The remaining 49 were occupied by estate employees, pensioners, widows or descendants of employees. Apart from Glebe Farm, the only property in the parish not owned by the estate was one condemned cottage, the White Lion (a fully licensed tied house), a one-acre housing site acquired by the R.D.C., and the school, which Lord Penrhyn retained. None of the estate cottages had bathrooms and only two had w.c.s: the water supply, provided by the estate, was inadequate to cope with any increased demand should the houses be modernised. In other respects the cottages were in good repair, with many of the thatched roofs recently overhauled. The cottage rental was £411, plus £25 for the village allotments. As well as Park Farm, the estate kept 267 a. of woodland in hand, of which 200 a. had been clear felled during the war, although at the time of the Penrhyn sale a good deal of mature oak remained in some of the coppices, as well as hedge and field timber. At the time of the 1945 sale, the Wicken estate was let for £4,074 gross, £2,100 net. The Merchant Venturers were advised that it was a first class investment: although about £1,000 would have to be spent on immediate repairs and wages, and initially there might be no net income, within about five years the estate should be producing 2½-3 per cent. Farm rentals should be raised as opportunity allowed; the mansion should if possible be let, rather than sold, as the Society tended to do elsewhere; and about £7,000 could be raised quite quickly from the sale of timber, after which the woods should be let to the Forestry Commission. The Society generally followed these recom mendations over the next thirty years and also sold (unmodernised) the cottages not let with the farms. Apart from two cottages built in 1949 for Wicken Park Farm, the Society left the provision of new housing to the local council, to which they sold building land as required. The former estate water supply was also transferred (as a gift) to the R.D.C. in 1948. (fn. 313) The mansion was let almost at once to a private schools syndicate, (fn. 314) and in 1949, after timber to the value of £12,000 had been sold, the woodland was leased to the Forestry Commission for 200 years at £43 16s. 6d. a year. The estate was extended in 1951 by the purchase of 128 a. of glebe land and cottages, bringing the total outlay to £103,000 for 3,170 a. At the end of 1958 the gross income had risen to £9,116, net £5,242, or 4 Per cent on capital invested, better than the prediction made in 1945. The average rent (including woodlands) was then 57s. an acre. By 1964 only 37 a. had been sold at Wicken for a total of £25,000. This included land for council housing and a new parsonage, the old estate yard, and some of the cottages, which made between £250 and £350 when the first were sold in 1956. Others followed at prices ranging from £900 to £1,350 and by 1970 a total of 52 had been sold. The first major disposals came in 1967, when Manor Farm was broken up and the house and buildings were sold for £13,600, together with 103 a. of land. By 1972 sales had realised £65,000; since the Society had spent £106,000 on improvements, the estate then had a net book value of £144,000 for 3,075 a. By 1961 farm rents had risen to an average of 61s. an acre; in 1974 they reached £10. The net yield on the estate was then 4.6 per cent. There were no further disposals in the 1970s, apart from some cottages (of which over 60 had been sold by December 1979), but farms continued to be amalgamated. In 1980, when the gross rental was £97,600, the estate was let to five principal farm tenants, who were paying an average of £34 an acre. The largest holdings were Hurst Farm, whose 700 a. included most of the farmland of the parish north of the village, and the combined Home Farm & Little Hill Farm, with 678 a. stretching from the village, through the former park down to the Ouse. The others were Mount Mill & Limes End (469 a. in two separate holdings, of which the latter was in Leckhampstead), Sparrow Lodge (299 a. to the south-east of the village), and Dagnall & Dovehouse (445 a. between Wicken and Deanshanger). In the early 1980s the Society sold the house and buildings at Dovehouse Farm, which were redundant since the land was being worked from Dagnall, and in 1984 offered Wicken Road Farm, a smallholding of 22 a. let for £800, for sale by auction at a reserve of £104,000. The following year Mount Mill & Limes End (274 a.) was sold to the tenant. Continuing a policy of reducing its holding of agricultural estate, the Society accepted an offer from the tenants for the 709 a. of Home Farm & Little Hill in 1986, although one field on the edge of the village was retained, in the hope that planning permission for residential development might one day be obtained. These sales reduced the Society's estate to 1,877 a., let in 1992 for £101,500 gross. The remaining farms were Sparrow Lodge (302 a.), Hurst (702 a.) and Dagnall (442 a.), plus 141 a. of accommodation land at Pig & Whistle, near Hurst. Of these, Dagnall was sold in 1992. In 1980 the Society's land steward described the overall standard of farm management at Wicken as good, with the tenant of Hurst Farm setting the pace. This was run on an allarable five-year rotation based on winter wheat, barley and oil seed rape, with spring break crops including sugar beet, peas, beans and linseed. The farm also had 60 breeding sows. The system depended on high inputs achieving high outputs, a large investment in machinery and little labour: there was only one full-time man plus seasonal helpers. The farm was well roaded and was virtually all under-drained. Ten years later there was no paid labour besides casuals at harvest time, the under-draining had been completed, and the system of husbandry remained unchanged, apart from a 15 per cent set-aside, which was left as fallow. The other farms were more mixed in character, both in the 1980s and 1990s. At Home Farm & Little Hill winter wheat was the principal crop, with oil seed rape and beans as break crops; there were 500 grey face ewes and 150 Friesian heifers, as well as pigs. Mount Mill & Limes End was growing wheat, barley and rape on a six-year rotation, and also had a herd of 70 bullocks. Sparrow Lodge was a beef, sheep and arable farm, with a flock of 300 breeding ewes; Dagnall & Dovehouse had 280 a. under winter corn, with grass ley breaks, and 200 cattle. In 1227 Henry son of Robert acquired land and a mill at Wike from Robert de Marisco. (fn. 315) In 1383 John de Wikemill and Alice his wife made a lease for nine years at a rent of 66s. 8d. a year to John Cock of Wick Hamon of all his land, a tenement called Wikemill, the water-mill, dovecote, meadows and pasture in Wick Dive and Wick Hamon, (fn. 316) and in the early 15th century 'Wykemylne' occurs as both a place name and personal name. (fn. 317) In 1662 the mill was let with half a yardland for £14 a year, (fn. 318) probably to Thomas Ashby, who is listed elsewhere as Lord Sunderland's tenant at about that date. (fn. 319) Robert Ashby the younger of Thornton (Bucks.) took a new 21-year lease of the mill and some adjoining land in 1687, when the wheel was noted as undershot. (fn. 320) In 1717 the tenant was still Robert Ashby, who had the mill and 17½ acres (i.e. half a yardland). (fn. 321) The mill was standing when the canal to Buckingham was projected in 1793 (fn. 322) but may have been abandoned when that was built; it had certainly gone by 1827. (fn. 323) Brickmaking and quarrying. Much of the underwood cut on the estate in the late 18th century was sold to the Foxley family of Wicken Hurst, where they had a brick-kiln. (fn. 324) The Foxleys also supplied bricks and lime to the estate for repairs. (fn. 325) The kiln was already in existence in 1717, when the tenant was Elizabeth Green, who also had a farm of 63 acres on the estate. (fn. 326) Twenty years later the kiln and 8 a. of land were in the hands of John Foxley, (fn. 327) who described himself as a farmer and brickmaker of Wicken Hurst in his will of 1769. (fn. 328) His widow Anne continued the business until 1778, when she was succeeded by her son Thomas. (fn. 329) He in turn died in 1797, when he described himself merely as a farmer, (fn. 330) and this may have marked the end of brickmaking on the estate. His widow Elizabeth kept the farm at Wicken Hurst until 1817 and left the parish two years later, (fn. 331) but there is no evidence that the brickkiln was still at work in that period. In the 19th century the Foxleys made bricks elsewhere in the district. (fn. 332) Gravel has presumably been extracted on a small scale over a long period from pits near the river. Wicken was among the parishes in which quarries were opened (or enlarged) in the late 1950s to provide materials for the building of the M1 through the county. (fn. 333) Other trades and crafts. Wicken had only a handful of tradesmen or retailers during the century and a half in which the Mordaunts and Douglas-Pennants owned the estate, presumably relying for most services on the much bigger, open village of Deanshanger. (fn. 334) A blacksmith is listed in directories from 1847 to 1940, together with a shoemaker until the end of the 19th century. There were three shopkeepers in the village in 1869, (fn. 335) and four or five from the 1870s until the First World War. (fn. 336) In the early 1920s there were still two greengrocers and a butcher, (fn. 337) but by 1930 only the butcher was left, plus a general store at the post office, which remained the position until the start of the Second World War. (fn. 338) Thomas Green, the schoolmaster, who kept the post office at Wicken from the 1850s until the 1870s, (fn. 339) appears to have been the village's first sub-postmaster. Services were modestly increased in the 1890s but Deanshanger remained the nearest place for most Post Office business. (fn. 340) Richard Whitton was described as a 'laceman' (i.e. a merchant) of Wicken in 1699 and 1720; (fn. 341) he died in 1741, by which time he was living at Deanshager, where two of his sons were also lace merchants. (fn. 342) As elewhere in the district, lacemaking remained a ubiquitious by-employment for women in Wicken until the early 20th century. In 1891 there were said to be at least 40 pillows in the village, which was one of those which benefited from the interest in the craft shown by Mrs. Harrison, the wife of the rector of Paulerspury. The exhibition organised that year in Northampton helped to raise the price the local buyer paid for Wicken lace, while Mrs Harrison's counterpart in the parish, Mrs. Andrews, tried to revive the craft and Lady Penrhyn agreed to pay for some new designs. (fn. 343) The White Lion, one of the few freeholds in the village, was kept by the Canvin family from at least the 1840s until it was bought by Pickering Phipps, the Northampton brewer, in 1883 and a new tenant installed the following year. (fn. 344) The pub was modernised in 1906. (fn. 345) A carrier from Wicken to Stony Stratford on Fridays and Northampton on Saturdays is first mentioned in 1869; (fn. 346) in 1874 he was also going to Wolverton Station on Thursdays, although this seems to have been a shortlived innovation. (fn. 347) In the 1890s there were two carriers (both of whom also had greengrocer's shops in Wicken) to Stony Stratford on Wednesdays and Saturdays but no service to Northampton; one of them was still in business in 1920 but had retired by 1928. (fn. 348) Another carrier continued to go to Stony Stratford one or two days a week until at least 1936. (fn. 349) From about 1930 motorbuses from Stony Stratford to Buckingham passed through Wicken on Tuesdays and Sundays, and there were buses to Wolverton on Friday and Saturday evenings. (fn. 350) The first of these services had been increased to three days a week by 1940. (fn. 351) No muniments survive to illustrate the working of the two manor courts in Wicken in the Middle Ages. In the years immediately following the establishment of the honor of Grafton in 1542, to which all Crown lands in Wicken were annexed, (fn. 352) the constables of Wick Dive and Wick Hamon did suit at the honor court held at Grafton twice a year, paid a certainty of 13s. 0½d., and reported that all was well. (fn. 353) Charles Hosier, who purchased the Wicken Park estate in 1716, was said a few years later to owe suit and service to the duke of Grafton's court at Grafton Regis. (fn. 354) In the mid 18th century the Wicken constables' expenses included the cost of 'going to Grafton court' each year (fn. 355) to deliver a payment representing 1d. from every male householder in the parish (widows, spinsters, the rector and the patron of the living being exempt), together with a suit roll listing those from whom the payment was due. Mrs. Prowse believed that this was an acknowledgment of the right each parishioner had to turn cattle into the forest between Old St. George's Day (4 May) and Old Holy Rood Day (25 September). In addition, the Wicken Park estate was still paying 13s. 0½d. (plus 4d. for an acquittance), which she described in 1783 as a 'certainty, or assart money' due to the duke of Grafton, and which she understood gave the owner of the estate and the tenants the right to put cattle in Whittlewood at the proper seasons and free them from paying any other tax to the honor. (fn. 356) The final volume of Grafton manor court minutes (1764- 1801) (fn. 357) make no reference to the presence of the Wicken constable, and in 1802 Mrs. Prowse noted that one of her tenants had only paid the 1d. levy once or twice since he was married 21 years before. Another informant told her that no payment had been made for the last ten years. (fn. 358) Wicken had certainly ceased to do suit to the honor by the 1830s. (fn. 359) In the late 16th century and early 17th the Spencers were holding two courts a year for the combined manor of Wick Dive and Wick Hamon, at which transfers of freehold land were recorded, orders made for the management of the common fields, and various officers appointed, including two constables, presumably one for each of the medieval townships. There is no sign of copyhold tenure. (fn. 360) Much the same picture emerges from rolls of 1661 and 1699-1707 for what was then simply called the manor of Wicken. (fn. 361) Charles Hosier may have given up holding courts as soon as he acquired the lordship, since by the 1740s (ten years before inclosure would have made the court largely redundant) the (single) constable was clearly an official of the vestry, rather than the manor. (fn. 362) The Vestry and Parish Council. Overseers' accounts from 1773 to 1820 indicate that the poor of the parish were being maintained entirely by out relief, although at the beginning of that period a small amount was received each year from the sale of lace, presumably made by some of the paupers. (fn. 363) The highways were maintained by a combination of statute duty and the employment of contractors. (fn. 364) Wicken was included in Potterspury poor law union after 1834 but neither the guardians, nor after 1894 the rural district council, were much concerned with the affairs of what remained very much an estate village. Lord Penrhyn installed piped water in 1896-7 but Wicken lacked a waterborne sewerage system until well into the 20th century. (fn. 365) Mains electricity reached the village in 1930 (fn. 366) and by 1954 the parish council, a seven-member body established in 1894, had adopted the Lighting & Watching Act. (fn. 367) In 1948 Towcester R.D.C., to which Wicken was transferred in 1935 when Potterspury R.D.C. was abolished, completed the first group of council houses in the parish and took over (as a gift) the village water supply from the Society of Merchant Venturers. (fn. 368) The following year the council let a contract for ten more houses, although large-scale development remained impossible until the water supply was improved. (fn. 369) More council houses were built in the mid 1950s after this had been done and a sewerage scheme installed. (fn. 370) Apart from pressing for more local authority housing, the parish council had few major issues to deal with in the 1950s and early 1960s, beyond protesting at the naming of streets and the erection of speed limit signs at the entrance to the village, both of which were felt to be detrimental to the character of the place; (fn. 371) and ensuring that Wicken kept up its strong record in Northamptonshire's Tidest Village competition, in which it won a pink chestnut tree for the churchyard in 1960. (fn. 372) The council objected without success to the closure of the school in 1962. (fn. 373) The council first became alarmed at the prospect of new housing in 1967, when the Merchant Venturers sold the house and buildings at Manor Farm and the council strongly objected to residential development on the site. (fn. 374) Two years later came proposals for houses in Deanshanger Road and Leckhampstead Road. (fn. 375) In 1975, a year after the parish became part of the newly established South Northamptonshire district, the local member assured the parish council that Wicken was safe from both council and private house-building because of the limited capacity of the sewerage system, added to which it had the shortest housing waiting list in the district. (fn. 376) By the late 1970s, however, as in other villages in the area, both the parish council and residents generally were concerned about proposed house-building (fn. 377) and in the 1980s and 1990s observations to the district council on planning applications became the most important (and most contentious) aspect of the parish council's work. (fn. 378) The church at Wick Dive is not mentioned in 1086 (fn. 379) but must have been built fairly soon afterwards, for in about 1130 Henry I confirmed the gift by Robert d'Oyley of two parts of the tithes there to the church of St. George which Robert founded in Oxford castle. (fn. 380) The advowson passed with the manor until the union of the two parishes in 1587, (fn. 381) except for the period of Sir William Lucy's tenure of the manor (1424- 49), when it was granted by Edmund earl of March to Sir John Tiptoft and Richard Wigmore, (fn. 382) although Lucy's successors, Richard and Jacquetta Woodville, had regained possession by 1451. (fn. 383) A chaplain was presented to the church at Wick Hamon by William son of Hamon in 1218 and another by John son of Alan in 1272, whereas from 1278 the incumbents were rectors. (fn. 384) The advowson passed with the manor throughout the Middle Ages. (fn. 385) Wick Hamon does not appear in the taxation of 1254, presumably because it was not a parish church, but in 1291 it was returned as a rectory, (fn. 386) as it was in 1535. (fn. 387) In 1587 Sir John Spencer, who as owner of the unified estate formed from the two manors of Wick Dive and Wick Hamon was patron of both churches, together with the churchwardens and others, petitioned the bishop of Peterborough, stating that the living of Wick Hamon was vacant through the death of the incumbent, was worth only the figure stated in 1535, and had the tithes of only three ploughlands. Since the two churches at Wicken were 'not a flight shot asunder' and either was sufficient to hold all the people of both villages, the petition asked that services be held alternately in the two churches. The request was granted and the parishes were united on 1 May that year. (fn. 388) Ever since that time, a commemoration has been held on the Thursday in Holy Week, after a service in the church, under an elm tree near the parsonage, at which Psalm 100 is sung, and cakes and ale given to the congregation. (fn. 389) In 1938, when seven gallons of beer were provided by the White Lion for the occasion, the service was broadcast by the B.B.C. (fn. 390) In 1619 the church of Wick Hamon was taken down and thereafter that of Wick Dive served the whole of the combined parish. (fn. 391) The advowson of the united living was retained by the Spencers throughout their period of ownership at Wicken, except for a few years after 1696 when Anne countess of Sunderland granted the next presentation to the incumbent, William Trimnell, who assigned the right to Charles Hosier shortly after his purchase of the Wicken Park estate in 1716. (fn. 392) It then remained the property of the estate until 1944, when it was acquired by the Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol, (fn. 393) who remained patrons at the time of writing. (fn. 394) In 1794, 1798 and 1806, during the period in which Wicken was settled on her for life, Mrs. Prowse presented to the living, but only with the consent of Sir John Mordaunt, the heir apparent to the estate. (fn. 395) Income and Property. The rectory of Wick Dive was valued at £4 6s. 8d. in both 1254 and 1291, on the latter occasion less 26s. 8d. belonging to Osney abbey, (fn. 396) to whom Robert d'Oyley's gift was confirmed in 1267. (fn. 397) In 1535 the living was valued at £10 3s. 5d., less 10s. 7d. due to the archdeacon of Northampton for synodals and procurations. (fn. 398) Wick Hamon, as a chapel, was not included in the taxation of 1254; the rectory was valued at 108s. 11d. in 1535. (fn. 399) The unified living was certified to be worth £100 a year in 1655. (fn. 400) When the parish was inclosed in 1757 Thomas Prowse, the owner of the Wicken Park estate, agreed with the rector and the bishop that the glebe should be consolidated into a holding of 126 a. and that he should pay a composition of £130 in lieu of tithes previously due from his estate. (fn. 401) In 1780, in addition to the new inclosures and the composition, the living included the parsonage, a house and two cottages let to tenants, a piece of meadow, and the old burial ground belonging to Wick Hamon church. (fn. 402) The glebe was let for about £80 a year in the early 19th century. (fn. 403) The tithes were commuted for £477 10s. in 1838 (fn. 404) and in the 1840s and 1850s the income of the living, including the glebe rent, was about £670. There was a drop in rents in the 1860s but in 1870 the gross income was still £564. (fn. 405) The glebe, reckoned as 133 a. in 1851, was augmented by an allotment of 4½ acres in Whittlewood (exchanged for land adjoining the rest of the estate in Wicken) under the Disafforesting Act of 1853. (fn. 406) In the 1870s the income of the living was stated as £435, including 135 a. of glebe, (fn. 407) which by the late 1890s had fallen sharply to £290. (fn. 408) It was only £250 the following decade (fn. 409) but recovered to between £380 and £400 in the 1920s and 1930s. (fn. 410) After the Second World War the rector augmented his stipend by running a taxi service and opening the rectory as a guest house. (fn. 411) A new parsonage house, presumably on the site of earlier houses belonging to Wick Dive parish, was built by William Trimnell shortly after he was instituted to the living in 1702, entirely from materials from the demolished Manor House near the church. He is said to have laid out £1,000 on the work. (fn. 412) Similarly, as soon as Henry Jonas Barton began his ministry at Wicken in 1838 he spent about £560 on rebuilding the parsonage, before beginning his campaign of restoration on the church. (fn. 413) His successor, Edward Cadogan, added a new wing at cost of £300 in 1873, not long after his arrival in the parish. (fn. 414) The parsonage house belonging to Wick Hamon was repaired and improved by the rector who was instituted to the two benefices in 1690. Bridges found it still standing thirty years later but described it as 'a very mean building'. (fn. 415) It is presumably the house which appears in a glebe terrier of 1780 in addition to the parsonage then occupied by the incumbent. (fn. 416) Incumbents And Church Life. A number of incumbents held other livings, including three who were also rectors of Great Brington. (fn. 417) At least two incumbents were related to the patron: Charles Hosier presented his nephew to the living in 1722 and Sir John Mordaunt his son in 1798. (fn. 418) Two rectors, Henry Jonas Barton and his successor, Edward Cadogan, were rural deans in the 19th century for an area that included Easton Neston, Paulerspury, Alderton, Grafton Regis, Potterspury, Furtho, Cosgrove, Passenham and Deanshanger as well as Wicken. (fn. 419) The story and commemoration of the unification of the benefice was subtly altered over the three and a half centuries after 1587. Paul Hoskin, who became rector in 1934, suggested that the two parishes were only separated in 1218 and that there had been a long-running feud between the two churches. Under Hoskin, the feast in commemoration of the union became known as the Peace Feast, commemorating the end of the immemorial feud between the two churches. The Parish Church Of Wick Dive. The former parish church of Wick Dive (since 1587 that of the united parish of Wicken) is dedicated to St. John the Evangelist and consists of a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, west tower and porch. No medieval fabric appears to survive, although there is a late 12th-century square font-bowl with simple arcading. The present tower, which has a parapet and pinnacles, was erected by Robert Lord Spencer in 1617, at much the same time as he rebuilt the gatehouse of the Manor House and the park keeper's lodge, and (like both those buildings) bears his arms and the date of construction. It measures 16 ft. 6 in. by 12 ft. 9 in. and is 76 ft high. (fn. 420) The belfry stage of the tower is in an accurate Early English style and is either remarkably academic for its date or, perhaps more likely, a careful Victorian rebuilding. In 1753 the whole of the church, apart from the tower, was found to be dangerously unsafe and permission was granted for it to be taken down and rebuilt using the old materials. The chancel was to be shortened from about 28 ft. in length to 23 ft., with a bigger east window, but was to remain the same width (19 ft.). The nave and aisles were to be rebuilt on the old foundations but with much smaller gothic pillars in place of the what were described as the very large old ones, so that more more seats could be installed. (fn. 421) The whole cost was met by Thomas Prowse, (fn. 422) who is described as the designer of the new church on a tablet in the north aisle. Prowse had in fact partly demolished the old building before seeking a faculty: as he pointed out, the citation would have had to be read in the churchyard, since there was no church to read it in. (fn. 423) Prowse did not live to complete the work, which was finished after his death by his widow and daughter-in-law. (fn. 424) In April 1770 the younger Mrs. Prowse gave directions to John Sanderson concerning the paving of the church and in July he came down again to supervise the completion of the interior. (fn. 425) In October she told Sanderson that the church was finished and that she had paid off the workmen, (fn. 426) who included Joseph Foxley, the local brickmaker. (fn. 427) The cost (£240) was met by her mother-in-law. (fn. 428) As rebuilt, the nave and aisles were of the same height, separated by tall quatrefoil piers with shaft-bands, rather than shaft-rings. The capitals are decorated with leaves in a late 13thcentury French style. The aisles were groinvaulted, the nave tunnel-vaulted, and the chancel fan-vaulted in plaster with pendants hanging from open-work ribs. (fn. 429) The nave and chancel were 79 ft. 6 in. long and the church 33 ft. wide including the aisles. (fn. 430) In the early 1830s Baker found the interior 'fitted up with peculiar neatness and taste', floored with freestone and furnished with pews and open benches of oak. A small marble altar piece was presented in 1833 by Arthur HillTrevor, the tenant of Wicken Park, who also restored the old font which had lain neglected in the churchyard since the rebuilding. (fn. 431) Soon after H. J. Barton became rector in 1838 a lengthy campaign of restoration and redecoration began. A new porch was added in 1839 (fn. 432) and in 1842 the stonework of the chancel window was replaced (at a cost of £145 met by Miss Mordaunt) in the style of the window in Abbot Litchfield's chapel in Evesham Abbey. (fn. 433) The following year the reading desk and pulpit were altered, the seating rearranged, and the pews cut down to make open seats. Sir John Mordaunt presented an iron gate for the porch at the same time. In 1845 Edward Holbech presented an oak chair and shared with Barton the cost of a reredos triptych; over the next couple of years new altar cloths, cushions, hassocks and other items were presented (and in some cases worked) by Lady Mordaunt, her daughter, and other ladies. (fn. 434) In 1865 Lady Louisa Douglas-Pennant presented six stained glass windows designed by her relation the 2nd Lord Sudeley, and in 1867 other members of the family gave a lectern and desk, Bible and prayer book, carpet for the sanctuary, and stained glass for the east window of 1842. (fn. 435) A vestry and organ-chamber 15 ft. square, the gift (together with a new organ) of Lady Penrhyn and designed by E. Swinfen Harris, were added in 1878. (fn. 436) In the same period Lady Penrhyn also gave a reredos, designed by Harris, in memory of H. J. Barton, whose widow presented a corona for the chancel in 1875. The north window of the nave was filled with stained glass (again designed by Harris) in memory of Edward Mordaunt Cadogan, the son of Barton's successor Edward Cadogan, and in 1890 a screen on the east side of the tower and a window on the north side, both by Harris, were presented by the Dowager Lady Penrhyn in memory of her husband. (fn. 437) The rector's wife gave a new altar frontal the same year, which was said to contain old French lace from Laon buried at the time of the Revolution. (fn. 438) In 1896-7 the 2nd Lord Penrhyn met the entire cost (£2,000) of a thorough restoration and enlargement of the church in memory of his wife, who died in 1869, to the design of Matthew Holding. The chancel, shortened in 1758, was extended one bay to the east, and a south transept added, opening out of the chancel and south aisle. A new boiler-room was added at the west end of the north aisle and new heating apparatus installed. The nave and aisles were refloored in rubbed stone, with oak under the seats, and the chancel in polished Hoptonwood stone, intermixed with marble and tiles. The nave, aisle and transept were reseated with open seats of wainscot oak; new prayer desks and choirstalls were installed, and a new pulpit, the upper part in oak, the base and steps in Hoptonwood stone. New wrought-iron altar rails were also added. (fn. 439) Stained glass by Eleanor Brickdale was inserted into the north window of the chancel in 1921. (fn. 440) The church contains a monument to Charles Hosier and his wife by Sir Henry Cheere, erected in 1758, and others to their daughter, Anna Maria Sharp (d. 1747), her father-in-law John Sharp (d. 1726), and her son John Hosier Sharp (d. 1734), as well as Elizabeth Sharp (d. 1810). (fn. 441) Until 1587 Wick Dive had only two bells but after the union three more were brought from Wick Hamon church and the whole recast by Lord Spencer. (fn. 442) One of the bells was cracked by frost in 1797 and recast the following year. (fn. 443) The bells were rehung in 1882, (fn. 444) and recast as a set of eight and rehung in a new frame in 1931 in memory of the 3rd Lord Penrhyn. On both occasions the work was done by Taylors of Loughborough and the Douglas-Pennants met most of the cost. In 1931 the chiming clock in the tower was also restored as a further memorial to Penrhyn. (fn. 445) The Parish Church Of Wick Hamon. St. James, Wick Hamon, consisted of a nave and chancel about 60 ft. long and 20 ft. wide, and a west tower 10 ft. square containing three bells. (fn. 446) After the union of 1587, instead of services being held alternately at the two churches as intended, St. James was stripped of its bells (fn. 447) and allowed to decay. In 1619 the rector and wardens sought permission to demolish the church, which after a commission had reported on its ruinous condition was granted. (fn. 448) Nothing survived of the fabric in Bridges's day, although he reported that part of the tower had been standing 'not many years ago'. (fn. 449) The churchyard was later let as part of the glebe (fn. 450) and was still known as Old Churchyard or Church Field Close in the 19th century. (fn. 451) In 1801 Mrs. Prowse dismissed her dairymaid for attending Methodist meetings (where they were held is not stated), inviting the youth of the village to accompany her, and allowing the preachers to call. (fn. 452) Many years later, in 1833, a house in Wicken occupied by John Foddy was certified as a dissenting meeting house. (fn. 453) This appears to have been a shortlived venture, for a few years later the rector assured the Northamptonshire branch of the National Society that there were no dissenters in his parish and thus no dissenting school. (fn. 454) Any Nonconformists in Wicken probably worshipped at Deanshanger, where there were both Baptist and Primitive Methodist chapels in the 19th century. (fn. 455) The Village School Before 1870. From at least 1768 (when the surviving accounts begin) Elizabeth Prowse was paying a master and mistress to teach both boys and girls at a school on her estate at Wicken, as well as providing coal and other items, including worsted cloth for the girls to make up. The cost was charged against income from the cottage rents; Mrs. Prowse kept the proceeds from the sale of finished garments. The master was paid three guineas a year for teaching 12 'Charity Boys', plus 1s. a week for another six boys. (fn. 456) In 1800 Catherline Lamburne was the schoolmaster at Wicken. (fn. 457) When the younger Elizabeth Prowse died in 1810 she left one share in the Grand Junction Canal Company to the rector and churchwardens of Wicken, the dividends on which were to be used to help meet the expenses of both the day school and Sunday school (established in 1788). (fn. 458) In the 1830s the share was producing about £10 a year, three quarters of which was applied to the support of the day school and the rest to the Sunday school. The school house then stood in the Wick Hamon portion of the village. (fn. 459) The Mordaunts continued the Prowses' work of supporting the schools and in 1818 the day school (the only one in the parish) had 12 boys and eight girls in attendance. (fn. 460) In 1831 the school was admitted into union with the Northamptonshire branch of the National Society. (fn. 461) During the 1830s there were between 30 and 40 boys at the school, but fewer than 10 girls, although over 40 attended the Sunday school. (fn. 462) The contrast was explained by the fact that the girls' day school was in fact a lace school, whose pupils left as soon as they could earn their living. In 1838 the teacher was paid £20 a year, of which £7 16s. was found by the Mordaunts and the rest by the rector. (fn. 463) Changes soon followed the arrival of H. J. Barton as rector in 1838. (fn. 464) He and Sir John Mordaunt became trustees of the fund endowed with the share in the Grand Junction Canal (fn. 465) and in 1839, having been elected to the committee of the county branch of the National Society, (fn. 466) Barton persuaded Sir John to build a new school at a cost of £200, which the society supplemented with a grant of £20 towards fittings. (fn. 467) The school comprised two rooms, each 21 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. (presumably one for boys and the other for girls), although there was no house for the master. In 1840 there were 32 boys at the day school (but only nine girls), aged between six and 12, and about 60 children of that age in the parish not attending school, who were said to be working on the farms or making lace, for which they could earn between 2d. and 5d. a day. The day schools had an endowment of £10 a year but the master received a salary of £40 3s., the balance coming from Sir John Mordaunt. (fn. 468) His death in 1845 led to a reduction in charitable donations of all kinds on the estate, although both the master and mistress continued to receive a coal allowance in addition to their salaries. (fn. 469) In the 1850s Barton tried to mitigate the evil of children leaving the school at an early age by establishing an allotment garden for the boys (fn. 470) and ensuring that in the girls' school a certain number of hours were devoted to reading, writing, arithmetic and plain needlework, even if in other respects it was run as a lace school. (fn. 471) Barton also established a night school, to which the local branch of the National Society made a grant of £4 for equipment to meet £2 raised in the parish. (fn. 472) In the 1860s the boys' school, where the master was 'well-intentioned, but growing infirm', had an average attendance of 30; the same figure was returned for the girls' school, although the pupils only attended for ordinary classes two days a fortnight, the rest of the time being devoted to teaching lace-making. There was a night school and library attached to the girls' school but not the boys'. (fn. 473) A few years later the girls' school, whose premises had been more than doubled in size from the original room of 1839 and could now accommodate over 90, although there were only 33 on the books, was working alternate weeks as an ordinary school and a lace school. This arrangement was criticised by the diocesan inspector, although in other respects he was satisfied. The boys' school had 25 on the books at the end of the 1860s, when it was described as an 'unpretending little school . . . perhaps sufficient for the wants of the population'. The two schools together then had an income of £75 a year from voluntary contributions and £1 10s. from school pence. There was also a night school twice a week during the five winter months, taught by the rector, his family and the schoolmaster, and funded by the rector. (fn. 474) The Village School After 1870. From 1871 the school came under government inspection and began to receive a grant; other changes followed the retirement of the longserving master and the arrival in 1872 of a new rector, Edward Cadogan. In 1875 Cadogan claimed that he found the school 'struggling into life and health' but within three years had placed it on a sound footing. He coupled this optimism with an appeal for increased subscriptions, threatening a school board if these were not forthcoming, but at the same time offering to hand the management over to the subscribers or their elected representatives. There were then about 80 children on the books. (fn. 475) During the 1870s the grant was around £50 a year and voluntary contributions some £70. The Grand Junction Canal share continued to pay £4 a year, with the balance coming from school pence, which rose from £3 in 1871-2 to over £20 immediately before they were abolished in 1891-2. (fn. 476) Subscriptions fell off noticeably during the agricultural depression of the 1880s, settling at about £40 a year in the 1890s, although this was largely balanced by a steadily rising grant, which reached £100 by the end of the century. The old master was paid £75 a year in the early 1870s; his successors received £100, which remained unchanged until after 1900. The infants' teacher was paid £25 a year in the 1870s and 1880s, which rose to £45 in the 1890s and later. (fn. 477) The most fundamental change came in 1878, when the 1st Lord Penrhyn, almost as soon as he bought the Wicken Park estate, met the entire cost (£1,000) of a completely new schoolroom, capable of accommodating 90 children, with a house for the headmaster. A classroom for 50 infants, with a gallery, was added in 1898. At the turn of the century the average attendance for the two departments was between 60 and 70, taught by the head and a part-qualified woman assistant. (fn. 478) In the years up to the First World War the school received reasonably satisfactory reports from H.M.I., although there were repeated complaints about the poor premises and the limited abilities of the staff. (fn. 479) Edwin Green, who had been headmaster since 1891, retired in 1921 and was succeeded by the first of three women heads, each of whom initially brought new life to the school but were then in turn defeated by similar problems. The number of pupils fell from about 40 during the First World War (fn. 480) to fewer than 30 by the late 1930s, with attendance frequently reduced by illness, (fn. 481) although a suggestion by the L.E.A. in 1926 that children should transfer at 11 to the larger school at Deanshanger was not acted on. (fn. 482) Numbers rose in 1939-40 with the admission of evacuees from Essex, Kent and Surrey as well as London, who arrived as individuals rather than (as at Roade or Hartwell) complete classes. (fn. 483) In 1941 the school had 19 evacuees but only 16 'natives'. (fn. 484) An annual open day for parents, established in 1939, (fn. 485) was kept up throughout the war. (fn. 486) During the winter of 1942-3 the head, as well as having no cleaner, lost one assistant when she went to work at the munitions factory in Wolverton and another through ill-health; (fn. 487) she herself resigned in the summer of 1943. (fn. 488) Her successor took over with 28 pupils (fn. 489) but left two years later, suffering from shock and worry. (fn. 490) The school received six evacuees (two from Harlesdon and four from Forest Hill) in 1944, three of whom were still at Wicken a month after V.E. Day. (fn. 491) Another new head tried to make a fresh start at the end of the war but lasted only two years, (fn. 492) defeated in part by the winter of 1947. (fn. 493) Her successor arranged the usual Christmas parents' day in December that year, when the girls of the newly opened prep. school at Wicken Park sent a packet of sweets for each child. (fn. 494) In 1949 school dinners were started. (fn. 495) From September that year Wicken became an infant and junior school, with older children moving to Deanshanger, where a purpose-built secondary modern opened in 1958. (fn. 496) In 1950 H.M.I. recognised that the new head was trying to make up for the problems of the previous twenty years but was not over-generous with praise for the school, which now had fewer than 20 pupils. (fn. 497) Numbers rose to about 30 over the next few years, following the building of a small estate of council houses in the village. (fn. 498) In 1952 Wicken was designated a voluntary controlled primary, (fn. 499) the rector having recognised that, faced with the need to spend between £4,000 and £5,000 to bring the premises up to date, aided status was not attainable. (fn. 500) Between 1953 and 1957 the county carried out major improvements, installing running water, water closets, a tarmac playground, and new heating. The redundant infants' classroom was converted into a dining hall. (fn. 501) In 1956 the school received a noticeably more favourable report from H.M.I. (fn. 502) By this time numbers were beginning to fall again, and when a new head took over in September 1958 she had only 20 pupils. (fn. 503) There were 12 when she resigned three years later (fn. 504) and in December 1962 the school closed and the 11 remaining pupils transferred to Deanshanger. (fn. 505) The benefaction of 1810 remained in existence at the time of writing (as Elizabeth's Prowse's Charity), with the income still applied to the expenses of a day school and Sunday School at Wicken. (fn. 506) Wicken Park School. After their purchase of the Wicken Park Estate in 1945, the Society of Merchant Venturers concluded that the mansion was unlikely ever again to be a private residence and immediately opened negotiations with Allied Schools Agency Ltd., which had interests in a number of leading independent schools. The company took a 21-year lease on the house and grounds from Michaelmas 1945 at £530 a year, plus interest on improvements. The society spent £8,350 on converting the buildings, which in 1946 became a girls' preparatory school, acting for a time as a recognised feeder for Westonbirt (Gloucs.). (fn. 507) The connection with Westonbirt later ended, but Wicken Park remained a girls' prep. until falling numbers forced its closure in July 1970, two years after the original headmistress, Miss A.M. Sharp, retired. There were then 72 pupils aged 8-13, taught by 12 staff, but at least a hundred girls were needed to make the school a paying proposition. (fn. 508) Allied Schools had taken a new lease of the house and grounds for 14 years from 1966 at £2,500 a year, which in 1970 was assigned to New Learning Ltd. This company reopened Wicken Park as a specialist school catering for about 60 boys of prep. school age suffering from dyslexia. In 1980 a new 14-year lease, including two staff houses as well as the mansion and grounds, was granted to New Learning at £10,000 a year, subject to review after seven years, when the rent was increased to £25,000. In 1989 the company was acquired by W.H. Wilcox, the owner of Akeley Wood School, a private co-educational secondary school near Buckingham, for which Wicken Park became a junior department named Akeley Wood First School. In the early 1990s discussions were in progress between Wilcox and the Society of Merchant Venturers concerning the renewal of the lease of Wicken Park from 1994, or alternatively the outright sale of the premises. (fn. 509) Wicken Park continued to be occupied by a private junior school at the time of writing. CHARITIES FOR THE POOR The Bread Charities. Francis Palmer, rector of Wicken and of Sandy (Beds.), by his will dated 2 September 1680, proved on 15 March 1681, left £52 to be laid out in land, and directed that the yearly rent should be used to buy 52s. worth of bread. One shilling's worth was to be distributed every Sunday throughout the year to 12 poor people of the parish who attended church regularly. (fn. 510) In 1691 his trustee lent the money, which had then risen to £65, to Isaiah Steere of Deanshanger on a mortgage secured on Stocking Close in Wicken. (fn. 511) Mrs. Frances Thompson of the parish of St. Philip's, Barbados, by her will left £25 to the poor of Wicken and ordered that the interest be distributed in the same way as Palmer had directed. A further £10 was left by Mrs. Fisher to the poor of Wicken and in 1745 these several sums were combined, amounting (with the addition of £13 contributed by the parishioners) to £100, which was lent out at interest and the income used to buy bread for the poor. (fn. 512) The principal was later reduced by the insolvency of a person to whom it had been lent, and by the early 19th century the balance was more securely invested in stock. (fn. 513) It continued to be distributed in bread every week. (fn. 514) In 1857 the capital was transferred to the Official Trustee, when the income was £2 10s. 4d. The dividend continued to be used for the same purpose until at least the end of the Second World War, when the income was £2 2s. (fn. 515) Edward Whitton, who was born at Wicken and died at Northampton in 1774, left £100 to be invested in Old South Sea Annuities in the name of the rector and churchwardens of Wicken. The stock purchased amounted to £114 12s. 3d., the dividend on which was to be distributed in bread, to be given annually on 5 January (Whitton's birthday) by the rector and wardens as they thought fit, to such poor people of Wicken as did not receive alms or other collection from the parish. (fn. 516) The charity lapsed in 1815, following the departure from the parish of one of the wardens, and when the arrears were collected ten years later the extra money was used to buy clothing, blankets etc. for the poor. Thereafter the annual distribution of bread was resumed. (fn. 517) In 1857 the stock was transferred to the Official Trustee. The gross income was then £4 10s. 6d. The income continued to be spent on bread until at least the end of the Second World War, when the amount received annually was £3 15s. 4d. In 1936-7 no fewer than 76 people received bread from the charity. (fn. 518) The two bread charities, renamed the Wicken Relief in Need Charity, remained in existence at the time of writing. (fn. 519) Miss Sharp's Charity. In 1747 Anna Maria Sharp, the daughter of Charles Hosier of Wicken Park and widow of John Sharp, left £100 to the poor of Wicken. (fn. 520) In the early 19th century the capital was in the hands of Sir John Mordaunt, who paid 5 guineas a year to the churchwardens, which was distributed in bread after church every Sunday, in doles of 2s. to each recipient. (fn. 521) After Sir John's death in 1845 the trustees of his heir, Sir Charles Mordaunt, a minor, maintained the payment, although they reduced other charitable subscriptions. (fn. 522) The benefaction was not capitalised when the parish's other charities were transferred to the Official Trustee in 1857, although the payment of 5 guineas continued to be received annually from the Mordaunts and, after 1877, the Douglas-Pennants. (fn. 523) The payment may have ended with the death of Blanche Lady Penrhyn in 1944, since it appears not to have been continued by the Society of Merchant Venturers. (fn. 524) The Whittlewood Coal Charity. In 1854 the Whittlebury Disafforesting Commission, following the intervention of the 5th duke of Grafton, accepted that seven local parishes had established a claim to compensation for the loss of the right to collect sere (or broken) wood as fuel in Whittlewood and awarded them a total of £868, of which Wicken, as one of three out-towns, was entitled to £57 17s. 4d. The money was raised by the sale of a parcel of woodland in Passenham near Wicken Hurst. (fn. 525) The following year stock worth £63 3s. 1d. was transferred to the rector and churchwardens to endow the new charity, (fn. 526) which in 1857 was passed the Official Trustee, when the annual income was £1 17s. 10d. (fn. 527) At first, the Whittlewood money, like the three older charities in the parish, was used to buy bread for the poor, but from 1867 the income was handed to a coal club to buy fuel. This arrangement had ended by the 1880s, when the money was being given to the rector. From 1896 it was handed to the parish council but by 1907 it was once again being paid to the rector. In 1936-7 16 individuals received coal but thereafter, until at least the end of the Second World War, no disbursements were made and the annual income of £1 11s. 4d. was carried forward unspent each year. (fn. 528)

Metarhizium, a widespread soil-borne fungus that feasts upon more than 200 different kinds of insects, has long been known to be an insect pathogen, destroying soil-borne pests by robbing them of nitrogen. But breakthrough research by biologist Michael Bidochka and his team two years ago found that the fungus is also able to transfer nitrogen from the insects that they kill to plants via their root systems, making the fungus a natural fertilizer as well as an insect repellant in agriculture. “This discovery generates new knowledge that enables us to better understand the nitrogen cycle and soil ecosystems,” Bidochka said at the time. “We’re going to go on and do more complex things based on this research.” He and his team will now do just that, thanks to a $165,000 grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). On June 26, NSERC announced the results of the 2014 Discovery Grants, scholarships and fellowships competitions for universities across the country. Eleven Brock University researchers received funding totaling $1,275,000 over 2014-2019. Of the 11 who were successful, nine currently held a grant, while the remaining two regained funding after previous unsuccessful applications. “Our success rate for those already holding a grant is an impressive 82 per cent, higher than the national average,” says Joffre Mercier, associate vice-president research of Natural and Health Sciences. “This attests to the leading-edge quality of our researchers’ work and our growing reputation as a research-intensive university,” he said, adding that Brock received one Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) grant, giving Brock a 33 per cent success rate in that category. Bidochka’s program, “Plant-fungal communication: using an endophytic insect pathogen fungus as a model,” will enable the scientists to have a deeper understanding of their earlier findings. “The award will be used to continue research on beneficial fungi that are plant symbionts as well as insect pathogens,” says Bidochka. “We are hoping to implement our research findings into commercial applications of these fungi for plant growth promotion and general plant health.” Chemist Travis Dudding and his group’s program, “A ‘superbasic’ approach to discovery,” will be using computer modeling to design new chiral molecules, chemical entities whose mirror images are not super-imposable, much like left and right hands. Chiral molecules are the basic building blocks of life and are found in DNA, amino acids and proteins. That is why most life-saving medicines on the market today – for example, the cancer chemotherapy drug Paclitaxel – are chiral molecules. Dudding explains that he and his team plan to simplify the “green process” of design by using state-of-the-art computing to model chemical processes for producing chiral molecules. The team will predict what will work experimentally rather than testing reactions in the laboratory “and thinking about how to improve them later,” which is how current chemical laboratory testing protocols are done. “This research is also helping to alleviate our dependence on metals in organic chemistry by opening up new avenues of reactivity that weren’t available before,” says Dudding. “Overall, the approach we’re taking to chemical synthesis and the production of chiral molecules is setting a new precedent. Moreover, we’re actually opening up new classes of organo-catalysis, which are green catalysts.” Brock University’s results for the 2014-2019 NSERC Discovery Grants competition are: • Anco, Stephen (Mathematics & Statistics): “Symmetries, conserved integrals, Hamiltonian flows, and integrable systems” • Bidochka, Michael (Biological Sciences): “Plant-fungal communication: using an endophytic insect pathogen fungus as a model” • Bruce, Douglas (Biological Sciences): “The dynamic structure, function and regulation of Photosystem II in photosynthesis” • Cote, Kimberly (Psychology): “Neurobehavioural and physiological consequences of sleep deprivation in humans” • Dudding, Travis (Chemistry): “A “superbasic” approach to discovery” Houghten, Sheridan (Computer Science): “Computational techniques for applications in bioinformatics and coding theory” • Huang, Mei Ling (Mathematics & Statistics): “Semi-parametric and Nonparametric Inference” • Odesski, Alexander (Mathematics & Statistics): “Algebraic and geometric structures related to integrable systems” • Pickering, Gary (Biological Sciences): “Taste phenotypes and implications for food and beverage behaviour” • Tattersall, Glenn (Biological Sciences): “Integrative physiological approaches to thermoregulatory and thermosensory biology” • Vandenboom, Rene (Kinesiology): “The influence of myosin regulatory light chain phosphorylation on skeletal muscle energetics, mechanics and function” NSERC’s Discovery Grants Program supports ongoing research programs that have long-term goals as opposed to a single short-term project or collection of projects. These grants “recognize the creativity and innovation that are at the heart of all research advances, whether made individually or in teams,” says the agency. This year, the agency reviewed a total of 3,190 applications from universities across Canada. Results were announced June 26 at Western University in London. “We are developing, attracting and retaining the world’s most talented researchers who carry out the scientific research that creates jobs and prosperity and improves the quality of life of Canadians,” said Minister of State (Science and Technology) Ed Holder. “This highly competitive funding for discovery research supports excellence and provides a key advantage to our researchers who want to pursue new knowledge wherever their discoveries and insights take them,” said Janet Walden, NSERC’s chief operating officer. NSERC also offers awards to master’s and doctoral students. In this year’s competition, nine Brock University graduate students received $479,500 in NSERC funding. These recipients include doctoral students Scott Behie and Lee Belding, who are working on the Bidochka and Dudding research teams respectively. Behie received a Postgraduate Scholarship totalling $63,000 for three years to pursue his program “Trading nitrogen for carbon: Nitrogen/carbon translocation in a plant fungal symbiosis.” Lee Belding received an Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship totalling $70,000 for two years to support his program, “Bis-bis (dialkylamino) cyclopropenimines as molecule-based magnets.” A list of the graduate student NSERC awards is available online.

About 7,500 songbirds died when they flew through a giant flame. The deaths may have included some endangered species. The flame is part of a standard safety procedure meant to burn off excess natural gas at the gas company, Canaport LNG. “The birds were drawn to the flames like moths,” said Don McAlpine, the head of zoology at the New Brunswick Museum. Imagine coming to work and finding several thousand adorable birds dead in front of your building. Employees of the gas plant were understandably upset. Many of them were even reduced to tears. In response, McAlpine was quick to point out: “Although this is certainly a tragic event and it’s shocking to see 7,500 dead birds, itís a drop in the bucket in terms of the number of birds that are killed from human actions every year.”

Fracking is in the news everywhere with more environmental and health problems being announced almost as quickly as the cancer-causing chemicals are forced into the earth. - Tulsa World article from May 12, 2012 — Study on gas drilling finds methane in drinking water — Methane can be explosive and cause unconsciousness or even death. Methane is what causes the tap water to be able to be lit on fire. - PhysOrg.com story from May 9, 2011 — Methane levels 17 times higher in water wells near hydrofracking sites. — Measurable amounts of methane were found in 85 percent of wells sampled. - Environment on MSNBC article from april 16, 2011 — Carcinogens injected into gas wells, report says. Millions of gallons of hazardous chemicals and carcinogens were used in fracking, with 29 known or suspected carcinogens. Want to know more? Check out this interesting website for Gasland, a film by Josh Fox. Think this won’t affect you — sure it won’t, if you don’t drink the water or breathe the air or eat food from near the fracked wells. But if you live near where any drilling occurs (which is pretty much anywhere in Oklahoma), you and your family need to learn more about the health hazards of fracking. If your friends or family have been affected by natural gas wells and you don’t know where to turn, please contact our Oklahoma and Arkansas fracking attorneys today via email or at our offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Northwest Arkansas.

It is difficult to provide an exact number for the total energy that is used by all separation processes. The best guesses associate 10-15% of the total global energy consumption with separations. Given the expected increase in population and the possibility of large-scale carbon capture and storage, this amount is expected to increase significantly. Reducing the total energy costs of separations would be a major contribution in reducing our energy consumption. Developing novel materials and concepts for the efficient separation of gas mixtures is the focus of our Center for Gas Separations (CGS). The aim of the CGS is to develop synthesis strategies to tailor-make novel materials for gas separations that are based on a fundamental understanding of materials properties and molecular interactions. Developing the science to tailor-make materials in which “every atom is at exactly the right place” to separate gases addresses one the Grand Challenges, specifically “How Do We Design and Perfect Atom- and Energy-Efficient Syntheses of Revolutionary New Forms of Matter with Tailored Properties?” as described in the report “Directing Matter and Energy: Five Chal-lenges for Science and the Imagination.” The focus of a key portion of our research will be the development of materials for carbon capture, and as such we directly address the use-inspired priority direction “Basic Research Needs for Carbon Capture: Beyond 2020.” In addition, the development of efficient gas separations could play a key role in the production of hydrogen from natural gas or renewable energy sources (Hydrogen Economy) and in the conversion of CO2 into fuels using sunlight (Solar Energy Utilization). In the first phase of the Center, we have developed a computational method for rapidly screening millions of materials for optimal performance in carbon dioxide capture. For example, out of the millions of different metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that can potentially be used for gas separations, in practice we can only synthesize and test a relatively small subset of these. Therefore a key aspect of the CGS was to develop computational techniques that can identify a subset of the most promising materials. In the renewal of our Center, we aim to continue this line of research, as it is exactly in line with the type of research that is proposed in “Computational Materials Science and Chemistry: Accelerating Discovery and Innovation through Simulation-Based Engineering and Science.” One of the key challenges we face is the ability to tune the morphology and crystal size of a MOF. We lack a fundamental understanding of how these materials are formed. For example, in synthesizing membranes it is essential to control the assembly of these materials. In the renewed program, we propose to study the formation of MOFs, a topic that nicely fits in the research theme “Directing Assembly of Hierarchical Functional Materials” as described in the report “From Quanta to the Continuum: Opportunities for Mesoscale Science.”

Details about Essentials of School Neuropsychological Assessment: Provides a current overview of neuropsychological practice in schools, written by a leading school psychologist With neuropsychological assessment more widely used in school settings than ever before, school psychologists require greater knowledge of both the discipline and its application within the school environment. Written by a leading expert in school neuropsychology, Essentials of School Neuropsychological Assessment is a practical resource providing learning specialists and school psychologists with clear coverage and vital information on this evolving area of practice within school psychology. Like all the volumes in the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series, this book is designed to help mental health professionals quickly acquire the knowledge and skills they need to make optimal use of major psychological assessment instruments. Each concise chapter features numerous callout boxes highlighting key concepts, bulleted points, and extensive illustrative material, as well as test questions that help you gauge and reinforceyour grasp of the information covered. Essentials of School Neuropsychological Assessment provides the most current, concise overview of all aspects of neuropsychological practice in schools and explains how to identify the need for testing, conduct a neurodevelopmental history, select appropriate assessment instruments, effectively evaluate students, and accurately interpret results. In addition to presenting a unique model of applying neuropsychological assessment principles in school settings in chapter 4, this valuable book includes case studies and practice examples. Other titles in the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series: Essentials of Assessment Report Writing Essentials of Processing Assessment Essentials of Stanford-Binet (SB5) Assessment Essentials of WISC?-IV Assessment Essentials of WIAT?-II and KTEA-II Assessment Essentials of WJ III Cognitive Abilities Assessment Essentials of WJ III Tests of Achievement Assessment Essentials of WPPSI-III Assessment Essentials of Cross-Battery Assessment, Second Edition Essentials of KABC-II Assessment Essentials of NEPSY? Assessment Essentials of WMS?-III Assessment

Boys and girls love woodworking projects! But most kids (and most parents) lack woodworking skills. That's where Kids' Building Workshop steps in. Craig Robertson, a master carpenter and renowned designer and builder of furniture, and Barbara Robertson, an art educator who specializes in teaching children, have developed an inspired method for teaching kids and their parents the basics of woodworking. In this lively, fully photographed and illustrated book, the Robertsons present fun projects that teach essential woodworking skills. For example, the Spider-Web String Art project teaches kids how to wield a hammer, and the Drilled Name Plaque project teaches kids the safe and proper way to use a drill. Building on these basic skills, the book moves on to intermediate-level projects. Kids learn how to make a sawhorse, a tool box, a step stool--all things that every carpenter must have to build bigger and more elaborate projects. Finally, the kids are ready to take on seriously hip projects: a cricket cage, a book house, a dollhouse (and dollhouse furniture!), a lemonade stand, and a kids' play table. The Kids' Building Workshop is a great primer that passes the hammer to a new generation of woodworking kids (and their parents). Back to top Rent The Kids' Building Workshop 1st edition today, or search our site for Craig textbooks. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by Storey Publishing, LLC.

Boeing's two-year study of jatropha-curcas agriculture in Brazil has found that location choice and strong seeds are the key to maximizing the crop's benefits, the company said today. The jatropha-curcas plant has been under close scrutiny in recent years by scientists and companies because its. The weedy plant can grow in adverse soil conditions. And in addition to yielding oil, it provides, like most plants, the secondary benefit of removing carbon from the atmosphere. Many have been trying to compare the carbon footprint of producing petroleum-based jet fuel vs. producing jatropha-based jet fuel, which includes both the farming and processing. Robert Bailis, an assistant professor, and Jennifer Baka, a doctoral student, of Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies led the research. They concentrated on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that were reduced in a given area as a result of jatropha farming and fuel production. The also looked at the socioeconomic impact of producing the crop and its fuel. Theirs was a real-world study that collected data from jatropha farms and processing plants in Brazil, and included interviews with the farmers and processors. The farms ranged in size from 10 hectares to thousands of hectares. "This analysis presents a comparison of life-cycle [greenhouse gas] emissions from synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) produced as jet fuel substitute from jatropha curcas feedstock cultivated in Brazil against a reference scenario of conventional jet fuel," the report stated. Bailis and Baka found that the type of land on which the jatropha plant grew had a direct correlation to its carbon footprint in comparison with petroleum-based jet fuel. When planted on lands that were already fallow or degraded by use, the jatropha crop reduced greenhouse gas emissions by over 60 percent of the area's baseline levels when compared against production of petroleum-based jet fuel. However, in woodland areas that had been home to trees and shrubs and were cleared for the sole purpose of cultivating and processing jatropha, the emissions ratio actually increased. Bailis and Baka also found that some farmers struggled due to poor resources. "A second important finding is that early jatropha projects suffered from a lack of developed seed strains, which led to poor crop yields," the report said. The results pointing to the importance of careful choice of land and seed may seem obvious. But this is one of the first studies conducted in Latin America that uses hard data and interviews, as opposed to estimates and computer modeling, and applies it to the sustainability criteria developed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, according to Boeing.

Homepage International Economics International Economics, Robert A. Mundell, New York: Macmillan, 1968, pp. 298-317. Robert A. Mundell The stability analysis introduced by Hicks has been one of the most successful failures in economic theory. Originally developed to integrate statical and dynamical general equilibrium theory, it was used by Hicks (, p. 62) as a bridge between dynamics and comparative statics: The laws of change of the price system, like the laws of change of individual demand, have to be derived from stability conditions. We first examine what conditions are necessary in order that a given equilibrium system should be stable; then we make an assumption of regularity; that positions in the neighbourhood of the equilibrium position will be stable also; and thence we deduce rules about the way in which the price-system will react to changes in tastes and resources. But the stability conditions were not founded on an explicitly formulated dynamic system. Hicks had defined stability along conventional lines: In order that equilibrium should be stable, it is necessary that a slight movement away from the equilibrium position should set up forces tending to restore equilibrium.... but concluded that stability requires that . . . a rise in price makes supply greater than demand, a fall in price demand greater than supply. This is indeed the stability condition corresponding to a dynamic system in which excess demand causes a rise in price, but, as Samuelson pointed out, the proposition is not explicitly derived as the condition of convergence of such a dynamical system. The problem may be considered trivial in the case of a single market,3 but it raises difficulties in analysis and interpretation in the case of multiple exchange (exchange of more than two commodities), as Hicks foresaw (, p. 66): What do we mean by stability in multiple exchange ? Clearly, as before, that a fall in the price of X in terms of the standard commodity will make the demand for X greater than the supply. But are we to suppose that it must have this effect (a) when the prices of other commodities are given, or (b) when other prices are adjusted so as to preserve equilibrium in the other markets? To resolve the difficulty Hicks introduced his concepts of perfect and imperfect stability. He noted first that it was necessary to distinguish a series of conditions-that a rise in the price of X will make supply greater than demand (1) all other prices being given, (2) allowing for the price of Y being adjusted to maintain equilibrium in the Y market, (3) allowing for the prices of Y and Z being adjusted, and so on, until all prices have been adjusted. He then defined as imperfectly stable a system in which a rise in price of a commodity causes excess supply for the commodity after all repercussions are allowed for, and as perfectly stable a system in which a rise in price causes excess supply regardless of how many other prices are adjusted to attain equilibrium values in their respective markets.4 Samuelson criticized Hicks' concept of stability on the grounds, as stated above, that "stability conditions are not deduced from a dynamic model, except implicitly." Hicksian stability is not equivalent to "true" dynamic stability, and the Hicks conditions are neither necessary nor sufficient for the convergence of the dynamical system implicit in Hicks' dynamics, that is, the dynamic system Samuelson postulated as the "natural extension" of the Walrasian system. True dynamic stability requires that the roots of the characteristic equation of the dynamic system have negative real parts, and this requirement is not equivalent to the Hicks conditions.5 Samuelson's criticism undermined the logic of Hicks' method. But the conditions of stability produced by that method retained an important place in the literature. Samuelson had already observed that the Hicks conditions were equivalent to the conditions of "true" dynamic stability in the symmetrical case. Metzler showed that they were equivalent in the case of gross substitutes, and also necessary (but not sufficient) for stability to be independent of the speeds of adjustment (Metzler ).6 Morishima proved that they were equivalent for certain classes of complements. They are also sufficient conditions for convergence of any nonoscillating system, since Hicksian (perfect) stability implies the absence of positive real roots. They are, moreover, conditions that, if not satisfied, yield anomalous comparative statics results, and thus seem at least to be necessary conditions for useful applications of the correspondence principle, at least in the context of analysis of the Walrasian system. Thus, even though Hicks' method seems to lack theoretical justification,7 the Hicks stability conditions produced by that method have proved exceedingly useful. How can a wrong method yield useful results ? Leaving aside coincidence, the answer may lie in the two-way character of the correspondence principle. Samuelson had observed that not only can the investigation of the dynamic stability of a system yield fruitful theorems in statical analysis, but also known properties of a (comparative) statical system can be utilized to derive information concerning the dynamic properties of a system. When Hicks is specifying the signs of changes in excess demands when a given price is put above or below its equilibrium value, various subsets of other prices remaining constant, he is at the same time implying specific comparative statics results. Provided these results correspond to known properties of a statical system the conditions implied should be related to stability conditions if the reciprocal character of the correspondence principle is valid. Another reason why the Hicks method may appear more reasonable than Samuelson's original criticism of it suggests is that our knowledge of the precise laws governing dynamical systems is scanty. The empirical "output" according to the methodology of the correspondence principle is a set of comparative statics results, while the empirical "input" is (a) the nature of the dynamic processes, and (b) the assumption of stability. Acceptance of (b) is the essence of the correspondence principle, but how are we to determine (a)? Consider, for example, the following alternative expressions for dynamical systems: To each of these systems there will correspond a different set of stability conditions. System (1) is a version of that used by Samuelson to prove that the Hicks conditions are neither necessary nor sufficient for stability. Yet, as he himself noted, more complete generalizations such as (2) and (3) can be developed with different consequences for comparative statics. There is, therefore, an element of arbitrariness in the specification of dynamic systems in the absence of empirical information and there may on these grounds be a pragmatic justification for Hicks' method of developing " stability conditions " that are "timeless." The Samuelson criterion is completely general and is an appropriate methodological approach, but for purposes of yielding practical results generality often implies emptiness. The purpose of this chapter is to show that the Hicksian stability analysis is a useful contribution to the integration of statical and dynamical theory. First, we shall show that the perfect and imperfect stability conditions do correspond to the dynamic stability conditions of some dynamic processes, irrespective of the pattern of signs of the price-matrix. Second, we shall argue that, despite their usefulness in the form Hicks presented them, the perfect stability conditions are not completely general, since they do not yield the information obtained by extending his method to the commodity "adopted" as the standard commodity. Third, we shall show that generalized conditions can be obtained by interpreting his device of holding subsets of prices constant with respect to the standard commodity as an arbitrary method of forming various composite commodity groupings. Further, we shall show that dynamic systems that fail to satisfy the generalized conditions will be unstable at some speeds of adjustment when a different commodity is adopted as the standard commodity in the dynamic system. And finally, we shall discuss the usefulness of the generalized Hicks conditions in devising dynamical rules for the hyperstability of " policy systems."8 The illustrative examples are all taken from the theory of foreign exchange markets, but the results, of course, apply to any generalized system. Our first task is to show that the Hicks conditions do, in a sense, correspond to the conditions of convergence of some dynamic systems. Let us take as an example a problem in devaluation theory. We can describe a closed static equilibrium system of n + 1 currencies with prices (exchange rates) expressed in terms of currency 0, denoted by p1, . . . pn, as follows: where Bi is the balance of payments of the ith country. In equilibrium each Bi = 0, while near the equilibrium we can write the system (4) as follows: after expanding Bi in a Taylor series and omitting nonlinear terms. Now let us suppose that the exchange rate of one country, say the rth country, appreciates in proportion to its balance of payments surplus according to the law while all other exchange rates adjust instantaneously to equilibrium. The solution of the differential system (6) is and Deltarr is the cofactor (principal minor) of the element in its rth row and rth column. For the dynamic process implied in (7) to be stable it is necessary and sufficient that Delta / Deltarr < 0. But this condition is precisely (for the analogous problem in the Walrasian system) the Hicksian condition of imperfect stability for the rth currency; and when the method is applied to each currency (in succession, not simultaneously), we have the complete Hicksian conditions of imperfect stability: A similar analysis can help to show the usefulness of the Hicks conditions of perfect stability. Suppose that one exchange rate, say pi, is held constant (relative to the numéraire). This amounts to dropping the ith row and column from Delta, so that if the original experiment were repeated, this time with the ith exchange rate constant, we would get, instead of (7), and the stability condition Deltaii / Deltaii,rr< 0, which is one of the Hicksian conditions of perfect stability. Proceeding along these lines, holding one or another set of prices constant, we get the complete Hicks conditions of perfect stability. But does this dynamic process have any economic plausibility ? Are we not, as Samuelson argued, allowing "arbitrary modification of the dynamical equations of motion"? The answer is, in a sense, yes. But this can be the exact method needed in the theory of policy, where our purpose is to design stable dynamic systems. As an example, we might be interested in examining aspects of the stability of an exchange-rate system such as that recently advocated by sixteen distinguished academic economists -a sliding parity system (with widened exchange-rate margins).9 Is it not precisely a set of conditions such as the Hicks conditions that would be involved? We might ask, first, what would happen if, say, Britain (which we shall identify with country 1) adopted a sliding parity system while a subset of other countries (2, . . ., j) allowed their exchange rates to float, and the remaining countries, k, . . ., n, kept their rates pegged to, say, the U.S. dollar (the currency of country 0). Then, if we suppose that balances of payments of countries whose rates float adjust instantaneously while the pound adjusts slowly, the path of the pound over time would be for which knowledge of the Hicks conditions would be directly relevant. Thus the particular form of the dynamic system adopted -which countries are left out and which are left in- would depend on which of the Hicks conditions are satisfied. The Hicks method does, therefore, have a role to play in dynamic aspects of the theory of economic policy. The Hicks conditions, however, are not exactly what we need for the theory of economic policy, because, as we shall see, they are incomplete even in terms of Hicks' own method. In the experiments Hicks conducts to derive his stability conditions he accords the numéraire -the standard commodity- a special role. In this section we shall consider the precise deficiencies in the statical information provided by the Hicks conditions. This is best established by considering the comparative statics theorems implied by the Hicks conditions. Consider the equilibrium system where, again, the Bi's are balances of payments, the p's are exchange rates, and alpha is a parameter. Differentiation of (11) with respect to alpha yields and the solutions for the exchange-rate changes are Now consider an increase in demand for the currency of country i such that deltaBi / delta alpha > 0; while the excess demand for every other currency, at given exchange rates, is unchanged (deltaBj / delta alpha = 0 for i not= j). Then, instead of (13), we have simply By the Hicks conditions of imperfect stability Deltaii /Delta < 0, so deltaBi / delta alpha > 0 implies dpi / d alpha > 0. Thus an increase in demand for the currency of the ith country raises the price of that currency after adjustment of all other exchange rates has been allowed for. Similar implications follow from the conditions of perfect stability if we hold various subsets of other exchange rates constant relative to the numéraire. If, for example, the exchange rates of countries k, . . ., n are held constant, we get, instead of (14), the equation the inequality being an implication of one of the conditions of perfect stability. How can an increase in demand occur in a closed system ? Clearly only at the expense of other commodities (currencies) in the system. Cournot's law (or Walras' law in the context of the Walrasian system) ensures that where the summation, it should be emphasized, extends over all the commodities. The interpretation of (14) is therefore that an increase in demand for (say) pounds (the currency of country i) at the expense of dollars raises the dollar price of the pound. Now if other exchange rates are held constant relative to the dollar, the proposition holds, if the Hicksian perfect stability conditions are satisfied, when the shift of demand is interpreted as being from the dollar and all currencies whose exchange rates are kept fixed to the dollar. Note, however, that the Hicks conditions do not give us the sign of so that we cannot specify, on the grounds of the Hicks conditions alone, whether a shift of demand from dollars to pounds raises or lowers the price of (say) the franc relative to the dollar. But now we are in a position to see the narrow form of the mathematical implications of the Hicks conditions. Consider a shift of demand from the franc (currency j) to the pound (currency i). Then deltaBs / delta alpha = 0 for s not= i, j, while deltaBi / delta alpha = - deltaBj / delta alpha >0 in view of (16); with no loss of generality we can make deltaBi / delta alpha = - deltaBj / delta alpha = 1. Substitution in (13) then gives the change in the dollar price of the pound and the franc: The Hicks conditions do not provide us with the sign of either (18) or (19), nor, by analogy to (17), should we expect them to. But, by analogy with (14), we should expect the difference to be unambiguous in sign for any system in which units are chosen so that each ps = 1, initially. When demand shifts from the franc to the pound, we should not expect to be able to predict the sign of the change in the dollar price of the pound or franc, but we should be able to determine, on the basis of the Hicks conditions, the sign of the change in the franc price of the pound, the expression given in (20). But the Hicks conditions are no help here, and this means that Hicks has not developed the mathematical implications of extending his method to the standard commodity. The same information problem applies, a fortiori, when various subsets of prices are held constant. An implication of the Hicks condition of perfect stability is that a shift of demand onto pounds raises the price of the pound even when various currencies remain pegged to the dollar; this amounts to treating the dollar and the other currencies pegged to it as a composite currency. By analogy the price of the pound should rise when demand shifts from a currency other than the dollar, say, the franc, while other currencies (for example, the mark) are pegged to the franc. Thus consider a shift of demand, at constant exchange rates, among three currencies i, j and k, such that and every other deltaBr / delta alpha = 0. Then, from (13), we have Applying the restrictions that and setting we can deduce the change in price of the pound relative to the mark and franc. where A is the sum of the cofactors of the elements in the following matrix: The cofactor of, say, the element Deltajk can be related to the second cofactors of Delta by Jacobi's ratio theorem, so that A /Delta can be written entirely as the sum of second cofactors, and (24) can be rewritten The inequality sign should hold if an increase in demand for one country's currency occurs at the expense of any other country, one other currency price remaining constant relative to that country. But the mathematical information is not given to us by the Hicks conditions. The reason is that the mathematical implications of the Hicks method have not been developed with respect to the currency adopted as numéraire.l0 When we do extend Hicks' method to make it " symmetrical " with respect to the numéraire (appreciating, say, the pound relative to, say, the franc, allowing various subsets of other currency markets to adjust), we get, of course, a set of conditions that specifies the signs of terms like those in (20) and (25). Along with the Hicks conditions, which can be written [The next term requires that the ratio of the denominator of the second ratio and the sum of sixteen third minors be negative, and so on for successive ratios. The last term in the conditions of (27) specifies that the sum of the (n-l)th minors (n2 in number) be negative. But the (n-l)th minors are equivalent to the elements in the original determinant, so the last condition simply requires that the sum of all the elements in the original determinant Delta be negative.] This suggests an alternative-and simpler-way of developing the generalized conditions. Consider the augmented determinant formed by bordering Delta with its column and row sums, with a change of sign, so that Then the extended Hicks conditions can be stated simply as the requirement that principal minors of B arranged in successive order oscillate in sign, except for the (singular) determinant B itself.11 Because the elements in the augmented determinant B are interdependent the generalized conditions can be expressed entirely in terms of the elements of the "normalized" determinant Delta. The supplemental conditions are with the last condition reducing to the basic determinant Delta itself. These forms are equivalent to (30) and imply the signs of the ratios in (27). This representation has the intuitive appeal of starting with the matrix of all the currencies in the system.l2 Thus, instead of omitting the numéraire currency at the outset, we start with a nonnormalized system of n + 1 currencies, exchange rates being expressed in terms of an abstract unit of account (for example, IMF par values), and apply the Hicks conditions allowing each currency the role of numéraire in turn. The above conditions are more general than the Hicks conditions. Yet they still do not exhaust the information inherent in the Hicks methodology. The Hicks method of holding various subsets of prices constant with respect to one another can be regarded as a device for constructing "composite commodities"; in the present context of currencies, we shall describe them as "currency areas." Now if we apply the Hicks method to a system based on arbitrary arrangements of countries in the currency areas, we get a further generalization of the results obtained by Hicks. When, for example, the mark is pegged to the dollar (the numéraire), the dollar and mark constitute a currency area. But there is no reason to restrict the formation of currency areas in a unidirectional attachment to the dollar. A group of currencies could be "attached" to the pound or the franc or any other currency, in principle. More importantly, we can then allow entire currency areas to appreciate and require that the balance of payments of the areas worsen, while various subsets of other currencies in the currency areas remain unchanged.13 The remarkable fact is that the conditions resulting from making arbitrary currency alignments among the (nondollar) countries and applying the Hicks method to the resulting matrix incorporate the conditions just developed as a special case. Thus consider the denominator of the first term in (27), This term is the result of combining the ith and jth currencies together to form a currency area of those two countries. With no loss of generality we can write i = 1 and j = 2. Then if the first and second rows and columns are replaced by their combined rows and columns, we have as can be proved by straightforward expansion. Similarly, it can be shown that the denominator of the second term in (27) is the determinant formed by replacing the ith, jth, and kth rows and columns of Delta by the amalgamated row and column. When we now carry out Hicks' method for arbitrary arrangements of currency areas, extended over the whole range of currencies, we get a new set of conditions on the original (n x n) price matrix. These conditions can be expressed in a triangular arrangement of principal minors as follows: The conditions on the left side of the stability triangle are the conditions of perfect stability Hicks developed; they do not provide the information implicit in extending the analysis to the numéraire commodity. The conditions on the base of the triangle result from extending the Hicksian method to the numéraire; they ignore the experiments resulting from allowing currency areas to appreciate. Finally, the conditions on the right side of the triangle are the conditions applicable when various sets of prices are raised in the same proportion, other prices remaining constant. More generally, the Hicks conditions on the left correspond to Hicksian adjustments when each currency (commodity) is treated in isolation; the adjacent conditions to their right are the Hicksian conditions when in the ith and ith goods move in the same proportion; and so on. The entire set of conditions are needed if the logic of Hicks' method is carried out to the bitter end.14 An important implication of the general conditions is that a system satisfying the Hicks conditions, but not the general conditions, will be stable or unstable depending on which currency is adopted as the key currency.15 Consider, for example, a world of three currencies, dollars (currency 0), pounds (currency 1), and francs (currency 2), and suppose that the balances of payments of the three countries are related to exchange rates according to the equations where the exchange rates are defined in, and the Bi are expressed in, an abstract unit of account (IMF par value units). (Equilibrium exchange rates are unity or any multiple of unity, as the system is homogenous of degree 0.) Let us consider a dynamic system in which the dollar is constant with respect to its par value so that the dollar becomes the effective numéraire. Let the par values of the pound and franc adjust in proportion to B1 and B2, respectively. We then have the following dynamic system: In this system, the Hicks conditions of perfect stability, narrowly interpreted, are satisfied (since b11 = -2 < 0, b22 = -1 < 0), and and the system is dynamically stable regardless of the (positive and finite) values of kl and k2 . Consider, however, a system in which the par value of the franc is fixed so that it becomes the "key currency " instead of the dollar. The dynamic system then becomes for which the Hicks conditions are not satisfied, It is dynamically stable or unstable according to whether k0 >< 4kl . This result could be predicted at once by applying the general conditions as given in the stability triangle (32). The sum of the coefficients in (34a) are positive, so the general conditions are not satisfied. The general conditions are necessary conditions for a system to be stable regardless of the currency (commodity) chosen as key currency (standard commodity) and regardless of how quickly the various exchange rates adapt to disequilibrium. This proposition is perfectly general in the sense that it is valid in the n-currency case.16 I shall conclude this book by showing how the Hicks conditions, extended as above, can be useful in devising dynamic mechanisms that are "strongly stable." The problem could be approached from the direction of the correspondence principle, which, in a narrow version of it, suggests that we apply to comparative statics the conditions that the characteristic equation of the systems have negative real parts. The justification for this narrow version lies in the observation that the systems we know are not characterized by instability. But there is no reason, in principle, why stronger conditions could not be applied. We could, following Hicks (and Samuelson), require that the system be stable no matter which subsets of market variables are held constant. Alternatively, we could use conditions that the roots be real or complex according to whether we observe cycles in the system under investigation.17 If, for example, we observe an absence of cycles in the real world, we know at once that the Hicks conditions are sufficient conditions for dynamic stability. In the theory of policy (under incomplete information) the problem is often to choose among different dynamic systems, or different degrees of centralization of a given dynamic system; this is often expressed in terms of allocating, dynamically, instruments to targets (the problem of effective market classification), and we may want to construct strongly stable systems: first, because systems near the borderline of stability may become unstable if disturbed by outside shocks; second, because the cost of adjustment may be higher if the system, even though stable, oscillates in its approach to equilibrium; third, because slight errors in manipulating rates of changes in instrumental variables (interest rates, exchange rates, and so on) may turn a weakly stable system into an unstable system; and, finally, because the time involved in approaching equilibrium may be less under strongly stable systems and rapid adjustment may be preferred to slow adjustment. We can consider, therefore, the problem of choosing a dynamic control mechanism with "hyperstable" properties, in the sense that variables rise or fall whenever they are out of equilibrium, and show how the Hicks conditions can be of some help in constructing such a system when the precise location of an equilibrium is not known. We take again as our example an international currency system. In a general hyperstable system it will be necessary to vary exchange rates, taking into account the balances of payments of each country. The problem is to find the weights each central bank should give their own balance of payments disequilibrium and that of the other countries. Let Bi represent, as before, the balance of payments of the ith country, dependent upon the n exchange rates, according to the equation that will make the system hyperstable. (The "speed" kij can be interpreted as the weight that country i has to give to the condition of the balance of payments of the jth country in adjusting its own exchange rate.) It is readily shown that the system (36) is hyperstable if the k's are chosen so that where alphai is a negative real constant and the Deltaji's are, as before, the cofactors of Delta. The condition (37) means that the hyperstable speeds are weighted elements of the inverse of the price matrix. To prove this proposition we need to prove that the dynamic system But, from the properties of any determinant, the typical term has a value of unity for k = i and a value of zero for k not= i. The system (39) therefore reduces to It is instructive to write out the hyperstable system (38) in detail to see clearly the implications of Hicksian perfect stability for dynamics: We shall also find it convenient to consider a reduced system in which we choose the alphai, the rate at which each pi is restored to equilibrium (with a negative sign), to be equal to the corresponding Hicksian conditions of imperfect stability as given in (9), that is, we equate Two observations can immediately be made about (44). First, if the elements of the inverse matrix all have the same sign, hyperstability implies that positive weights be assigned to each balance of payments. Thus, "Britain" should depreciate (appreciate) more rapidly the greater the deficits (surpluses) in the balance of payments of other countries, for any given deficit in her own balance (this implies corresponding changes in the U.S. balance). But from Mosak's theorem the elements in the inverse will all have the same sign if the original currency matrix [bij] is a gross substitute matrix provided [bij] is Hicksian; and it will be Hicksian provided the dollar is also (reciprocally) a substitute for all other currencies. The second point to notice about (44) is that " Britain" should attach less weight to the balance of payments of other countries' currencies than to her own balance if currencies are all substitutes for one another; this follows because every ratio Deltaji / Deltaii < 1 for j not= 1.19 Leaving now the special case of the gross substitutes to return to the more general case represented by equations (42), we can find immediate implications of the Hicks conditions. First, if the Hicks conditions are satisfied, " normal" adjustments are implied in the sense that, ceteris paribus, a deficit in a country's balance of payments suggests depreciation and a surplus appreciation; this follows because every kii = Deltaii /Delta > 0 given the Hicks conditions of imperfect stability and alpha i< 0. But more than this can be said. The following identities have to hold, from our definitions and Jacobi's ratio theorem: the inequality following at once from the Hicks conditions of perfect stability. Proceeding to the last term we have More generally, if the basic matrix [bij] is Hicksian, the matrix of the speeds required for hyperstability must satisfy the conditions that every principal minor be positive, that is, Analogous conditions hold for the extended Hicks conditions if the system is to be hyperstable regardless of the currency used as the key currency. In this sense the Hicks conditions alone are sufficient to establish in a weak sense the correctness of exchange rate policies directed at correcting "own" balances of payments. These developments conform to the conclusions of economic intuition indeed, they may be interpreted as bringing the mathematical treatment of the subject closer to the level of common sense. They nevertheless suggest that the Hicksian stability analysis is not lacking in significance for the integration of dynamical and statical theory.20, 2l 1 Adapted from: a forthcoming article in Essays in Honor of Sir John R. Hicks (N. Wolfe, ed.). 2 I am happy to acknowledge many helpful conversations on the subject matter of this chapter with J. C. Weldon of McGill University. 3 Strictly, the problem is not trivial even in the case of exchange of two commodities; first, because of complications associated with the possibility of time derivatives of various orders of price changes entering the excess demand (X) functions, in a system such as second, because of nonlinearities in the excess demand function; and, third, because market exchange of two commodities among many people may involve adjustments of quantities toward budget constraints, giving rise to the more complicated dynamics such as Marshall postulated in his foreign trade analysis. 4 Let Xi = Xi(p, . . ., pn) be the excess demand functions for commodities i = 1, . . ., n. By differentiation . Solving for the dpi we get , where Delta is the determinant of the system and Deltaji, its first cofactors. When all other prices adapt so that every dXj = 0 except dXi, we have the solutions dpi = (Deltaii /Delta) dXi; if various prices k, . . ., n, are held constant with respect to the numéraire we get instead Imperfect stability requires that Deltaii /Delta < 0 for i = 1, . . ., n, whereas perfect stability requires that Deltaii,kk, ... ,nn / Delta kk ... ,nn < 0 for any subset of commodities k, ...,n, excluding commodity i. The Hicksian perfect stability conditions are thus the first condition being the condition of imperfect stability. 5 It is slightly ironic that Marshall in his 1879 manuscript on foreign trade utilized the link between dynamics processes and stability, but not explicitly the link between stability and comparative statics, whereas Hicks utilized the link between stability and comparative statics but not the link between dynamics and stability. Samuelson used both links in his integration of dynamics and statics. 6 Actually, Metzler's example (p. 285) that the Hicks conditions are not sufficient for stability to be independent of the speeds of adjustment contains a numerical error that mars his demonstration [the second cubic of his footnote 12 should read lambda3 + 4lambda2 + 3.4lambda + 13.2 = 0 instead of lambda3 + 4lambda2 + 2.6lambda + 13.2 = 0 and in the first (correct) cubic the Routh conditions are satisfied]. But a slight adjustment to his counterexample can nevertheless demonstrate his point. If, for example, speeds are chosen so that, in his terminology, kl = k3 = 1, giving the cubic lambda3 + (2 + k2)lambda2 + (1+ 1.2k2) lambda + 6.6k2 = 0, the Routh conditions will not be satisfied for values of k2 somewhat less than 1. 7 In this connection Samuelson writes (, p. 554): "In principle the Hicks procedure is clearly wrong, although in some empirical cases it may be useful to make the hypothesis that the equilibrium is stable even without the 'equilibrating action' of some variable which may be arbitrarily held constant." Samuelson provides an example in connection with the Keynesian system later in his paper. 8 See, for example, Mundell and the references there to the principle of effective market classification. 9 See page 111 for a list of economists who signed the petition. 10 This is perhaps apparent immediately, since the Hicks conditions can be expressed in terms of the commodity chosen as numéraire, the excess demand for which is never allowed to go to zero. On this point (but without apparent recognition of its implications) see Lange (, p. 92). 11 More compactly, we can state the conditions as requiring that every first minor of B be "Hicksian." Not all the conditions are independent, however, since B00 = B11 = Bnn in view of the characteristics of B. 12 One might think that Hicks really intended his conditions to extend over the entire range of excess demand coefficients (including the numéraire), this would be incorrect since the last (augmented) determinant is singular. Alternatively, it might be thought that Hicks intended the conditions to apply no matter what commodity were taken as numéraire. The latter interpretation seems to be fortified by a footnote which states ( p. 75): " [this] can be seen at once if we adopt the device of treating X (momentarily) as the standard commodity, and therefore regarding the increased demand for X as an increased supply of the old standard commodity m ...." If this device were adopted to derive the Hicks conditions it would indeed result in conditions equivalent to the above stability conditions. Yet this interpretation would conflict, not only with all subsequent interpretations of the Hicks conditions by other writers on stability, but also with Hicks' own explicit statement in the Mathematical Appendix (p. 315), which specifies that the conditions must hold "for the market in every Xr (r = 1, 2, 3, . . ., n-1)"; that is, the market for the numéraire (the nth commodity) is omitted, In any case his discussion on pages 68-71 fails to make the point clear, while his third graph in Figure 16, which he asserts is stable, is actually totally stable only if the line along which there is zero excess demand for the standard commodity (not drawn in his figures) is inelastic referred to the abscissa. The discussion is not completely clear, however, and I am therefore inclined to interpret Hicks as actually intending to give full coverage to the numéraire but not completing the mathematical implications of doing so. 13 I have considered the problem of " optimum" currency areas in terms of its attributes for stabilization policy, optimum exploitation of the functions of money, and so on in Chapter 12; the present analysis suggests an additional criterion in terms of stability conditions. 14 Stability conditions should, in principle, be "invariants" in the sense that they are independent of the choice of units in which commodities are measured; this corresponds to Lange's "principle of invariance" (, p. 103). The above stability conditions are invariants only if, as is assumed in the case of the foreign exchange market analysis, the bij's are all measured in equivalent currency units. In the general case, however, where prices respond to excess demands denominated in physical quantity units, the units in which bij( j = 1, . . ., n) is measured differ from the units in which bkj(j = 1, . . ., n) is measured. This means that invariant stability conditions require that each row of every stability determinant involving the sum of elements be multiplied by an arbitrary number reflecting units of measurement. Thus "unit-invariant" stability in the general case involves the sign of terms such as For arbitrary values of ki and kj extended over the entire range of the (n+ 1) x (n+ 1)-B determinant, and given the homogeneity postulate, the general conditions then imply that all goods are gross substitutes. 15 From a historical point of view, it is somewhat amusing that although the Hicks conditions are not symmetrical with respect to the commodity chosen as numéraire, neither are the (normalized) dynamic systems used to refute the validity of the Hicks conditions as true dynamic stability conditions. 16 The proof in the general case follows by analogy to the proof of Metzler (, pp. 280-285) when his method is extended to include the augmented system. 17 I have applied this method to the problem of disentangling lags in expectational and cash balance adjustments . 18 More directly the matrix equationif k = B-1. The usefulness of this result lies not so much in providing a policy maker with the rules of adjustment, since there is no problem if the basic matrix is known, and the rule gives insufficient information if the basic matrix is not known. The point is rather that pieces of information about the inverse may be sufficient to distract policy makers from mistakes, and that conditions like the Hicks conditions may be a sufficient guide to the relative importance to be attached to particular instruments. 19 I have discussed the implications of this condition in some detail . 20 Even the gap between the true dynamic stability and Hicksian stability may be bridged by integrating Hicksian stability conditions with the "Samuelson-Le Châtelier principle" (see, for example, Samuelson ) which can be expressed entirely in terms of the Hicksian determinants. Hicksian stability and dynamic stability mesh together under appropriate conditions of gross substitutes, gross complements, and symmetry, a common link being sign symmetry; and sign symmetry of the inverse of the basic Hicksian matrix is sufficient for at least one of the Le Châtelier conditions to hold (DeltaDeltaii,jj - DeltaiiDeltajj < 0 if Deltaij and Deltaji, have the same sign). 21 A further implication of the Hicks conditions was called to my attention by Daniel McFadden, who had proved, in a paper presented at the 1963 Econometrica Society meetings in Boston, Massachusetts, that if the Hicks conditions of perfect stability are satisfied, a stable dynamic system of the form can always be found for a diagonal K matrix with positive diagonal coefficients; the result also holds in the global form. Prior to McFadden's result, and unknown to him, a local version of the theorem had been published; see Fisher and Fuller . In the context of the currency problem discussed above, the theorem means that if the Hicks conditions are satisfied, it is always possible to find a stable dynamic system in which exchange rates are adjusted to " own " balances of payments only. W. J. FELLNER et al., Maintaining and Restoring Balance in International Payments. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1966. M. E. FISHER and A. T. FULLER, " On the Stabilization of Matrices and the Convergence of Linear Iterative Processes," Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc., 54 (1958). J. R. HICKS, Value and Capital. 2nd ed. Fair Lawn, N.J.: Oxford University Press, 1946. O. LANGE, Price Flexibility and Full Employment. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1944, p. 92. L. A. METZLER, "Stability of Multiple Markets: The Hicks Conditions," Econometrica, 13, 277-292 (Oct. 1945). R. A. MUNDELL, "The Appropriate Use of Monetary and Fiscal Policy for Internal and External Stability," IMF Staff Papers, 9, 70-79 (March 1962). R. A. MUNDELL, "Growth, Stability and Inflationary Finance," Jour. Pol. Econ.. 73. 97-100 (April 1965). R. A. MUNDELL, "The Significance of the Homogeneity Postulate for the Laws of Comparative Statics," Econometrica, 33, 349-356 (April 1965). P. A. SAMUELSON, "The Stability of Equilibrium: Comparative Statics and Dynamics," Econometrica, 9, 97-120 (April 1941). P. A. SAMUELSON, " The Stability of Equilibrium: Linear and Non Linear Systems," Econometrica, 10, 1 (April 1942). P. A. SAMUELSON, " An Extension of the Le Châtelier Principle," Econometrica, 28, 368-379 (April 1960).

1. Lacking in light. 4. Foul with waste matter. 10. An international organization based in Geneva that monitors and enforces rules governing global trade. 13. Fiddler crabs. 14. Wool of the alpaca. 15. The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium. 16. Lighter consisting of a thin piece of wood or cardboard tipped with combustible chemical. 18. A former copper coin of Pakistan. 19. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural). 20. The boarding that surrounds an ice hockey rink. 22. Small genus of dioecious tropical aquatic plants. 24. (Sumerian) Goddess personifying earth. 25. Any place of complete bliss and delight and peace. 26. Patterned by having color applied with sweeping strokes. 30. Dry red table wine from the Rioja region of northern Spain. 34. The shape of a bell. 36. Lacking or deprive of the sense of hearing wholly or in part. 37. A radioactive element of the actinide series. 38. The 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. 39. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens. 41. A metric unit of volume or capacity equal to 10 liters. 42. One-thousandth of an equivalent. 44. (folklore) A corpse that rises at night to drink the blood of the living. 47. Large sweet juicy hybrid between tangerine and grapefruit having a thick wrinkled skin. 50. Obvious and dull. 54. Someone who copies the words or behavior of another. 56. Relating to or characteristic of or occurring in the air. 58. A Hindu prince or king in India. 59. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables. 60. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine. 63. Of or relating to or characteristic of Thailand of its people. 64. A complex red organic pigment containing iron and other atoms to which oxygen binds. 66. God of war and sky. 67. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill. 68. A group of Plains Indians formerly living in what is now North and South Dakota and Nebraska and Kansas and Arkansas and Louisiana and Oklahoma and Texas. 69. An associate degree in applied science. 1. Slow to learn or understand. 2. The United Nations agency concerned with civil aviation. 3. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad. 4. King of Saudi Arabia since 1982 (born in 1922). 5. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite. 6. A federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment. 7. Airtight sealed metal container for food or drink or paint etc.. 8. (of complexion) Blemished by imperfections of the skin. 9. (South African) A camp defended by a circular formation of wagons. 10. Impairment resulting from long use. 11. A sock with a separation for the big toe. 12. Predatory black-and-white toothed whale with large dorsal fin. 17. Tender and brittle. 21. Rise or heave upward under the influence of a natural force, as on a wave. 23. A town in north central Oklahoma. 27. A cord that is drawn through eyelets or around hooks in order to draw together two edges (as of a shoe or garment). 28. 10 hao equal 1 dong. 29. Tropical woody herb with showy yellow flowers and flat pods. 31. An unabridged dictionary constructed on historical principles. 32. Immense East Indian fruit resembling breadfruit of. 33. A federation of North American labor unions that merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1955. 35. A barrier constructed to contain the flow or water or to keep out the sea. 40. Top part of an apron. 43. The French-speaking capital of the province of Quebec. 45. Filled with fear or apprehension. 46. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine. 48. Pasture grass of plains of South America and western North America. 49. A state in midwestern United States. 51. Italian chemist noted for work on polymers (1903-1979). 52. A genus of Platalea. 53. (Greek mythology) King of Thebes who was unwittingly killed by his son Oedipus. 55. A deep prolonged sound (as of thunder or large bells). 57. The United Nations agency concerned with atomic energy. 61. (usually followed by `of') Released from something onerous (especially an obligation or duty). 62. The capital and largest city of Japan. 65. A crystalline metallic element not found in nature.

Don't treat C02 as a pollutant From higher energy bills to lost jobs, the impact of carbon regulations will hurt us far more than CO2 itself ever could. Grove City, Pa. — A few days before this year's Earth Day, America's ideological greens received a present they have been desiring for years: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – responding to a 2007 US Supreme Court ruling – officially designated carbon dioxide (CO2) as a pollutant. That spurred Democrats in Congress to push a major climate change bill. In the next 25 years, their massive cap-and-trade scheme would, according to a Heritage Foundation study, inflict gross domestic product losses of $9.4 trillion, raise an average family's energy bill by $1,241, and destroy some 1,145,000 jobs. Democrats want it passed by July 4. Get ready for a veritable Pandora's box of complications. A generation ago, it was considered great progress against pollution when catalytic converters were added to automobile engines to change poisonous carbon monoxide to benign carbon dioxide. Now, CO2 has been demoted. The EPA's characterization of CO2 as a pollutant brings into question the natural order of things. By the EPA's logic, either God or Mother Nature (whichever creator you believe in) seriously goofed. After all, CO2 is the base of our food chain. "Pollutants" are supposed to be harmful to life, not helpful to it, aren't they? Of course, it is true (although environmentalists often ignore it when trying to ban such useful chemicals as pesticides, insecticides, Alar, PCBs, and others) that "the dose makes the poison." Too much oxygen, for example, poses danger to human life. So what is the "right" concentration of CO2 in our atmosphere? There is no right answer to this question. The concentration of CO2 in Earth's atmosphere fluctuated greatly long before humans appeared on Earth, and that concentration has fluctuated since then, too. The current concentration is approximately 385 parts per million. Some scientists maintain that 1,000 parts per million would provide an ideal atmosphere for plant life, accelerating plant growth and multiplying yields, thereby sustaining far more animal and human life than is currently possible. Whatever standard the EPA selects will be arbitrary. "Forget about the plants," say the greens. "What we're trying to control is how warm Earth's atmosphere gets." To which I reply, "With all due respect, are you kidding me?" As with a "right" concentration of CO2, what is the "right" average global temperature? For 7,000 of the past 10,000 years, Earth was cooler than it is now; mankind prospers more in warm climates than cold climates; and the Antarctic icecap was significantly larger during the warmer mid-Holocene period than it is today. Are you sure warmer is bad or wrong? And how do you propose to regulate Earth's temperature when as much as three-quarters of the variability is due to variations in solar activity, with the remaining one-quarter due to changes in Earth's orbit, axis, and albedo (reflectivity)? This truly is "mission impossible." Mankind can no more regulate Earth's temperature than it can the tides. Even if the "greenhouse effect" were greater than it actually is, the EPA and Congress would be powerless to alter it for several reasons: 1. Human activity accounts for less than 4 percent of global CO2 emissions. 2. CO2 itself accounts for only 10 or 20 percent of the greenhouse effect. This discloses the capricious nature of the EPA's decision to classify CO2 as a pollutant, for if CO2 is a pollutant because it is a greenhouse gas, then the most common greenhouse gas of all – water vapor, which accounts for more than three-quarters of the atmosphere's greenhouse effect – should be regulated, too. The EPA isn't going after water vapor, of course, because then everyone would realize how absurd climate-control regulation really is. 3. Even if Americans were to eliminate their CO2 emissions completely, total human emissions of CO2 would still increase as billions of people around the world continue to develop economically. Clearly, it is beyond the ken of mortals to answer the metaquestions about the right concentration of CO2, or the optimal global average temperature, or to control CO2 levels in the atmosphere. I feel sorry for the professionals at the EPA who are now expected to come up with answers for these unanswerable questions. However, I do not feel sorry for the political appointees, like climate czar Carol Browner, because it looks as if they are about to get what they evidently want – the power to increase their power over Americans' lives and pocketbooks via CO2 emission regulations. From higher energy bills to lost jobs, the impact of CO2 regulations will hurt us far more than CO2 itself ever could. Let's nail shut the lid on this Pandora's box before it swings wide open.

Stream Water Quality Monitoring Programs A number of federal, state, regional and local governmental agencies monitors the quality of Minnesotaís streams and rivers including the USGS, PCA, DNR, the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES), and certain local units of government. In addition, a number of citizen groups engages in monitoring activities. Each agency designs its monitoring program to meet its specific needs. Federal Programs. The Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) currently operates two nationwide stream water-quality monitoring networks, the Hydrologic Benchmark Network and the National Stream Accounting Network (NASQAN). Samples from stations in each program are sampled approximately four or five times during the year and analyzed for the parameters listed in Appendix C. A 20-year record of data exists for most sites. The USGS stores all water-quality data in their WATSTORE database available via STORET, the U.S. EPAís large water-quality database. Requests for small amounts of data from STORET (total costs under $25) may be obtained by contacting the EPA Region 5 Freedom of Information Officer. Data can also be obtained online or from the PCA. There are no fees for this service, except for unusually large data retrievals, and the wait time for most data requests is approximately two weeks. (Contacts for data requests are listed in Appendix B.) The nationwide Hydrologic Benchmark Network Program provides information on baseline water quality conditions. The network consists of a set of stations located in small, pristine drainage basins. Because point source pollution is not a problem in these areas, this program has been especially useful in describing the effects of non-point atmospheric deposition of pollutants on streams. Only one Hydrologic Benchmark Network station is located in Minnesota on the Kawishiwi River near Ely. Another station, located on the North Fork of the Whitewater River, closed in 1993. The National Stream Accounting Network (NASQAN) was established in 1973 to obtain information on the quality and quantity of water draining into the oceans, describe geographic variability in water quality, detect temporal trends, and provide a nationally consistent database. Most NASQAN stations are located at the mouths of rivers and tributaries. As a result, this programís stations are broadly representative of their basins, but they cannot provide specific, detailed data to characterize the basins. This has limited the ability of the program to analyze geographic patterns in water quality. In the early 1990s, this program experienced a significant reduction in size declining from ten NASQAN stations in Minnesota in 1993 to four in 1994. Existing stations are located on the Minnesota River at Jordan, the Mississippi River at Royalton and Nininger, and the St. Louis River at Scanlon. Figure 5.1 shows the locations of the NASQAN stations, the USGS Hydrological benchmark stations and other USGS water quality monitoring stations. Figure 5.1 Locations of NASQAN, USGS Hydrological Benchmark and other water quality monitoring stations. U.S. Geological Survey, 1993. To assess the quality of the nationís surface and ground water, the National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAQWA) began in 1991. The program was designed to describe the status and identify trends in water quality and identify natural and anthropogenic factors affecting water quality. The scope of the program is large, covering approximately 60 to 70% of the water used by the entire U.S. population. This information will provide water managers and policy makers with a better understanding of the geographic differences water quality and concomitant causes. Two basins that lie partially within Minnesota are being studied as part of NAWQA: the Red River of the North Basin and the Mississippi Basin in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The Red River of the North project began in 1991 and the Mississippi River project in 1994. Both projects were recently completed. USGS Water Resources Investigations Reports contain information summarizing the water quality of the basin. (See reports 3 and 4 in this series of WRC River reports for further information on these studies.)

- What Is a Blue Screen Error? - Troubleshooting Common Blue Screen Error Messages - 0x000000ED and 0x0000007B - 0x0000007E and 0x0000008E - Using the Windows Debugger This article describes what Blue Screen errors are, why they occur, how to recognize them, and how to resolve some of the more common error messages. This article is specific to Microsoft Windows 7. Click below to change the operating system. Resolving stop (blue screen) errors in Windows 7 (Microsoft Content) When Windows encounters certain situations, it halts and the resulting diagnostic information is displayed in white text on a blue screen. The appearance of these errors is where the term "Blue Screen" or "Blue Screen of Death" has come from. Blue Screen errors occur when: - Windows detects an error it cannot recover from without losing data - Windows detects that critical OS data has become corrupted - Windows detects that hardware has failed in a non-recoverable fashion - The exact text displayed has changed over the years from a dense wall of information in Windows NT 4.0 to the comparatively sparse message employed by modern versions of Windows. These two errors have similar causes and the same troubleshooting steps apply to both of them. These stop codes always occur during the startup process. When you encounter one of these stop codes, the following has happened: - The system has completed the Power-On Self-Test (POST). - The system has loaded NTLDR and transferred control of the startup process to NTOSKRNL (the kernel). - NTOSKRNL is confused. Either it cannot find the rest of itself, or it cannot read the file system at the location it believes it is stored. When troubleshooting this error, your task is to find out why the Windows kernel is confused and fix the cause of the confusion. Things to check - The SATA controller configuration in the system BIOS If the SATA controller gets toggled from ATA to AHCI mode (or vice versa), then Windows will not be able to talk to the SATA controller because the different modes require different drivers. Try toggling the SATA controller mode in the BIOS. - RAID settings You may receive this error if you've been experimenting with the RAID controller settings. Try changing the RAID settings back to Autodetect (usually accurate). - Improperly or poorly seated cabling Try reseating the data cables that connect the drive and its controller at both ends. - Hard drive failure Run the built-in diagnostics on the hard drive. Remember: Code 7 signifies correctable data corruption, not disk failure. - File system corruption Launch the recovery console from the Windows installation disc and run chkdsk /f /r. - Improperly configured BOOT.INI (Windows Vista). If you have inadvertently erased or tinkered with the boot.ini file, you may receive stop code 0x7B during the startup process. Launch the recovery console from the Windows installation disc and run BOOTCFG /REBUILD This stop code indicates the NTFS file system driver encountered a situation it could not handle, and is almost always caused by 3 things: - Data corruption on the disk - Data corruption in memory - The system completely running out of memory (this typically only happens on heavily-loaded servers) Things to check - Reseat the memory and all drive data cables to eliminate data corruption issues stemming from poorly or improperly seated hardware. - Run a complete memory and hard drive diagnostic. The quick test will not be thorough enough here. You need to run the full system diagnostic. - If those diagnostics pass, run a full file system check from the Recovery Console (chkdsk /f /r) to detect and (potentially) fix any corrupted data. - If none of the above solves the issue, reinstall Windows. - If that does not fix the issue, replace the hard drive. These two errors indicate that a program running in the kernel encountered an unexpected condition it could not recover from. They have identical troubleshooting and resolution steps, and you will probably need to use the Windows Debugger to find out what caused the error. Things to check - If the Blue Screen message mentions a driver or library file, figure out what driver or application that file is part of and update or disable it. - Update the system BIOS to the latest available revision. - Uninstall any recently installed programs, and roll-back any recently installed drivers. - Run diagnostics on the computer's memory. This stop code means the system tried to access a nonexistent piece of memory, almost always due to: - A driver trying to access a page of memory that is not present - A system service (ex. virus scanner) failing in an exceptional way - Faulty or incorrectly seated memory - Corrupted data on the hard drive Use the Windows Debugger to pinpoint the exact cause of these errors. Things to check - If the Blue Screen error mentions a driver or library file, figure out what driver or program the file is a part of and either upgrade to the latest version or uninstall the driver or program. - If the error happens during the startup process, try booting to the Last Known Good Configuration. - If the error started appearing after a program or driver was installed, uninstall that program or driver. - Try running a full hard drive and memory diagnostic after reseating the memory and hard drive data cables. This stop code indicates a driver tried to access a certain area of memory when it should not have, meaning there is a flaw in the driver itself. The goal of your troubleshooting is to find that driver and either disable or replace it. Use the Windows Debugger to troubleshoot this error. Without the debugger, you are limited to uninstalling/updating/rolling back the driver that contains the driver file the Blue Screen mentions. This Blue Screen error indicates that a device driver-almost always a video card driver-is stuck waiting for something (usually a hardware operation) to happen. Most of you have probably seen nv4_disp.sys associated with this Blue Screen. Things to check: - Ensure the video drivers are updated to the latest Dell version. - The system BIOS is fully up-to-date. - If both the video driver and the system BIOS are fully up-to-date, check with the manufacturer for recent driver updates. - As a last resort, try exchanging the video card. Reinstalling Windows is not likely to prevent this error from reoccurring. The Windows Debugger is one of the primary tools used by Microsoft software developers and support staff to analyze and resolve errors that result in memory dumps, and it's available for you. The Windows Debugger is a powerful tool with many useful applications, but for this article, we are only interested in its ability to analyze memory dump files generated by blue screen errors to determine the cause of the error. Before you can use the tool, keep in mind the following: - The Windows Debugger is not a native Windows tool. You must download and install the application (15 MB) from the Microsoft web site. Administrator access is required to install the tool. - The Debugger requires some minor customization before use. - The Debugger can take anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes to fully analyze a memory dump. To use the tool, follow these steps: - Download and install the Windows Debugger from the Microsoft Web Site . If you use Google to search for "windows debugger," the first link returned will be the Windows Debugger home page. - Once installation completes click Start, click All Programs, click Debugging Tools for Windows, then click WinDbg to open the Windows Debugger. - Configure the symbol path used by the debugger to turn addresses in the memory dump file into meaningful location names: expand the File menu, select Symbol File Path, type "SRV*c:\debug_symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols" in the dialog box then click OK. - Open a minidump file: expand the File menu, select Open Crash Dump, select the desired dump file and click Open. The system usually stores minidump files in either: C:\WINNT\Minidump\ or C:\Windows\Minidump\. The files will be named miniMMDDYY-NN.dmp, where MMis the month, DD is the day, and YY is the year in which the dump file was created. NN is the sequence the dump files were created in if multiple dumps were generated on the same day (the first crash dump on a given day will be numbered 01, the second 02, etc.). - The debugger will open the dump file and give a brief description of what caused the system to crash. (Figure 2) The first time you use the Debugger to open and dump file on a system, it will take a few minutes to download symbol information in the background before it returns any information. Figure 2: Windows Debugger Suggested command for the Debugger's command line Stop code from the blue screen (1000007F is the same as 0x7F) What Windows thinks caused the crash (atapi.sysin this example, you will sometimes see things like memory_corruption - When it returns this preliminary analysis, the Debugger tells you how to dig deeper. Type "!analyze -v" in the command line (kd>) field at the bottom of the window and press theEnter key to have the WinDbg perform a detailed analysis of the file. The results will be lengthy, and you may have to scroll vertically within the Debugger's window to locate all the pertinent information. Figure 3: Analyze the Results A detailed explanation of the stop code (in the example, you can see that the kernel encountered an EXCEPTION_DOUBLE_FAULT (8), or an error while trying to process an error) Figure 4: Further Analysis of the Results The bug check code (notice in the example it includes the number 8, indicating the double fault) The number of times the system has crashed with this exact error (typically 1) The bucket in which Windows has categorized the crash The stack trace at the time the system crashed, with the most recently called procedure on top (you can see in the example the system crashed while processing a request from the IDE controller) Figure 5: Additional Analysis The name of the module the system was in when it crashed. On an actual system, the module name is a link you can click to receive some useful information about the module, who created it, how old it is, etc

Q & A Library Living Without a Spleen? My son, 14, lost his spleen due to an accident. What can I do to keep him healthy? He has had the vaccines recommended and took penicillin for two years. He is now on a multivitamin. He plays golf but complains of being tired. Answer (Published 1/1/2008) The spleen, located in the upper left of the abdomen under the rib cage, is part of the immune system. Its functions include storing old, damaged blood particles and helping identify and destroy bacteria. Your son can live perfectly well without a spleen although he will be at higher than normal risk of contracting serious or even life-threatening infections. When the spleen is removed, patients need to be vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia, a bacterial infection of the lungs and other organs. Some doctors recommend vaccinations against other types of bacteria as well, and, in the case of children, may suggest long-term treatment with antibiotics to prevent bacterial infections of the bloodstream (sepsis). Long-term antibiotic use is usually not necessary in adults. The most important strategy you can use to safeguard your son’s health is to make sure that he gets medical attention for even minor illnesses such as sore throat or sinus infections. Sometimes, antibiotics may be needed here as well. The removal of his spleen is unlikely to be a factor in the fatigue your son is experiencing. Many teenagers complain constantly about being tired. Bear in mind that fatigue due to disease usually worsens as the day goes on while fatigue due to stress is often worse in the morning. If no underlying medical reason for his fatigue has been found, make sure that he is getting enough sleep (teens need about nine hours a night). Consider, too, whether your son might be depressed, also a leading cause of fatigue in adolescents and teens. If you suspect that he might be, ask his physician to recommend a psychologist or counselor. You also could try giving him Eleutherococcus (Siberian ginseng), which, taken regularly, can help people who are run down, weak, lack energy and resistance, or suffer from chronic illness. Look for Eleuthero products in herb and health-food stores, or combination products that include cordyceps and ashwagandha, two other herbs I recommend to address fatigue. They vary in concentration and potency, so follow the dosage recommendations of the manufacturer. Andrew Weil, M.D. Some Rights Reserved Creative Commons Copyright Notice A portion of the original material created by Weil Lifestyle on DrWeil.com (specifically, all question and answer-type articles in the Dr. Weil Q&A Library) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

by Xiaohong Wei The Constitution of the United States of America, written well over 200 years ago, has been the foundation for building one of the great nations. It is the central instrument of American government and the supreme law of the land. For more than 200 years, it has guided the evolution of U.S. governmental institutions and has provided the basis for political stability, individual freedom, economic growth and social progress. However, the birth of the Constitution is not accidental, but has complicated economic and political backgrounds. The period after the Revolutionary War was characterized by economic depression and political crisis on the grounds that the Articles of Confederation just devised a loose association among the states, and set up a central government with very limited powers. The central government could not get the dominant position in the country’s political life while the individual states could do things in their own ways. In this chaotic situation, the central government was incapable of paying its debt, of regulating foreign and domestic commerce, of maintaining a steady value of the currency, and worst of all, incapable of keeping a strong military force to protect the country’s interests from foreign violations. As time went by, the old system became more and more adverse to the development of the young nation, and political reform seemed to be inevitable. The best solution was to draw up a new constitution in place of the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution was drawn up by 55 delegates of twelve states (all but Rhode Island) to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787 and ratified by the states in 1788. That distinguished gathering at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall brought together nearly all of the nation’s most prominent men, including George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin. Many were experienced in colonial and state government and others had records of service in the army and in the courts. As Thomas Jefferson wrote John Adams when he heard who had been appointed: “It is really an assembly of demigods.” Despite the consensus among the framers on the objectives of the Constitution, the controversy over the means by which those objectives could be achieved was lively. However, most of the issues were settled by the framers’ efforts and compromises, thus the finished Constitution has been referred to as a “bundle of compromises”. It was only through give-and-take that a successful conclusion was achieved. Such efforts and compromises in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 produced the most enduring written Constitution ever created by humankinds. The men who were at Philadelphia that hot summer hammered out a document defining distinct powers for the Congress of the United States, the president, and the federal courts. This division of authority is known as a system of checks and balances, and it ensures that none of the branches of government can dominate the others. The Constitution also establishes and limits the authority of the Federal Government over the states and emphasizes that power of the states will serve as a check on the power of the national government. Separation of Powers in the Central Government One important principle embodied in the U.S. Constitution is separation of powers. To prevent concentration of power, the U.S. Constitution divides the central government into three branches and creates a system of checks and balances. Each of the three governmental branches, legislative, executive and judicial, “checks” the powers of the other branches to make sure that the principal powers of the government are not concentrated in the hands of any single branch. The principle of separation of powers and the system of checks and balances perform essential functions and contribute to a stable political situation in the United States. 1. Theory of Separation of Powers The principle of separation of powers dates back as far as Aristotle’s time. Aristotle favored a mixed government composed of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, seeing none as ideal, but a mix of the three useful by combining the best aspects of each. James Harrington, in his 1656 Oceana, brought these ideas up-to-date and proposed systems based on the separation of power. Many of the framers of the U.S. Constitution, such as Madison, studied history and political philosophy. They greatly appreciated the idea of separation of power on the grounds of their complex views of governmental power. Their experience with the Articles of Confederation taught them that the national government must have the power needed to achieve the purposes for which it was to be established. At the same time, they were worried about the concentration of power in one person’s hands. As John Adams wrote in his A Defense of the Constitution of Government of the United States of America (1787), “It is undoubtedly honorable in any man, who has acquired a great influence, unbounded confidence, and unlimited power, to resign it voluntarily; and odious to take advantage of such an opportunity to destroy a free government: but it would be madness in a legislator to frame his policy upon a supposition that such magnanimity would often appear. It is his business to contrive his plan in such a manner that such unlimited influence, confidence, and power, shall never be obtained by any man.” (Isaak 2004:100) Such worries compelled the framers to find a good way to establish a new government, thus separation of powers and a balanced government became a good choice. Two political theorists had great influence on the creation of the Constitution. John Locke, an important British political philosopher, had a large impact through his Second Treatise of Government (1690). Locke argued that sovereignty resides in individuals, not rulers. A political state, he theorized, emerged from a social contract among the people, who consent to government in order to preserve their lives, liberties, and property. In the words of the Declaration of Independence, which also drew heavily on Locke, governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Locke also pioneered the idea of the separation of powers, and he separated the powers into an executive and a legislature. The French political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, another major intellectual influence on the Constitution, further developed the concept of separation of powers in his treatise The Spirit of the Laws (1748), which was highly regarded by the framers of the U.S. Constitution. Montesquieu’s basic contention was that those entrusted with power tend to abuse it; therefore, if governmental power is fragmented, each power will operate as a check on the others. In its usual operational form, one branch of government (the legislative) is entrusted with making laws, a second (the executive) with executing them, and a third (the judiciary) with resolving disputes in accordance with the law. Based on the theory of Baron de Montesquieu and John Locke, the framers carefully spelled out the independence of the three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. At the same time, however, they provided for a system in which some powers should be shared: Congress may pass laws, but the president can veto them; the president nominates certain public officials, but Congress must approve the appointments; and laws passed by Congress as well as executive actions are subject to judicial review. Thus the separation of powers is offset by what are called checks and balances. 2. Separation of Powers among Three Governmental Branches Separation of powers devised by the framers of the U.S. Constitution serves the goals: to prevent concentration of power and provide each branch with weapons to fight off encroachment by the other two branches. As James Madison argued in the Federalist Papers (No.51), “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” Clearly, the system of separated powers is not designed to maximize efficiency; it is designed to maximize freedom. In the Constitution of the United States, the Legislative, composed of the House and Senate, is set up in Article 1; the Executive, composed of the President, Vice-President, and the Departments, is set up in Article 2; the Judicial, composed of the federal courts and the Supreme Court, is set up in Article 3. Each of these branches has certain powers, and each of these powers is limited. The First Article of the U.S. Constitution says, “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” These words clearly define the most important power of Congress: to legislate for the United States. At the same time, the framers granted some specific powers to Congress. Congress has the power to impeach both executive officials and judges. The Senate tries all impeachments. Besides, Congress can override a Presidential veto. Congress may also influence the composition of the judicial branch. It may establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court and set their jurisdiction. Furthermore, Congress regulates the size of the courts. Judges are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The compensation of executive officials and judges is determined by Congress, but Congress may not increase or diminish the compensation of a President, or diminish the compensation of a judge, during his term in office. Congress determines its own members’ emoluments as well. In short, the main powers of the Legislature include: Legislating all federal laws; establishing all lower federal courts; being able to override a Presidential veto; being able to impeach the President as well as other executive officials. Executive power is vested in the President by the U.S. Constitution in Article 2. The principal responsibility of the President is to ensure that all laws are faithfully carried out. The President is the chief executive officer of the federal government. He is the leader of the executive branch and the commander in chief of the armed forces. He has the power to make treaties with other nations, with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate. The President also appoints, with Senate consent, diplomatic representatives, Supreme Court judges, and many other officials. Except impeachment, he also has the power to issue pardons and reprieves. Such pardons are not subject to confirmation by either house of Congress, or even to acceptance by the recipient. Another important power granted to the President is veto power over all bills, but Congress, as noted above, may override any veto except for a pocket veto by a two-thirds majority in each house. When the two houses of Congress cannot agree on a date for adjournment, the President may settle the dispute. Either house or both houses may be called into emergency session by the President. The judicial power—the power to decide cases and controversies—is vested in the Supreme Court and inferior court established by Congress. The following are the powers of the Judiciary: the power to try federal cases and interpret the laws of the nation in those cases; the power to declare any law or executive act unconstitutional. The power granted to the courts to determine whether legislation is consistent with the Constitution is called judicial review. The concept of judicial review is not written into the Constitution, but was envisioned by many of the framers. The Supreme Court established a precedent for judicial review in Marbury v. Madison. The precedent established the principle that a court may strike down a law it deems unconstitutional. 3. Checks and Balances The framers of the U.S. Constitution saw checks and balances as essential for the security of liberty under the Constitution. They believed that by balancing the powers of the three governmental branches, the efforts in human nature toward tyranny could be checked and restrained. John Adams praised the balanced government as the “most stupendous fabric of human invention.” In his A Defense of the Constitution of Government of the United States of America (1787), he wrote, “In the mixed government we contend for, the ministers, at least of the executive power, are responsible for every instance of the exercise of it; and if they dispose of a single commission by corruption, they are responsible to a house of representatives, who may, by impeachment, make them responsible before a senate, where they may be accused, tried, condemned, and punished, by independent judges.” (Isaak 2004:103-104) So the system of checks and balances was established and became an important part of the U.S. Constitution. With checks and balances, each of the three branches of government can limit the powers of the others. This way, no one branch is too powerful. Each branch “checks” the powers of the other branches to make sure that the power is balanced between them. The major checks possessed by each branch are listed below. - Can check the president in these ways: - By refusing to pass a bill the president wants - By passing a law over the president’s veto - By using the impeachment powers to remove the president from office - By refusing to approve a presidential appointment (Senate only) - By refusing to ratify a treaty the president has signed (Senate only) - Can check the federal courts in these ways: - By changing the number and jurisdiction of the lower courts - By using the impeachment powers to remove a judge from office - By refusing to approve a person nominated to be a judge (Senate only) - Can check Congress by vetoing a bill it has passed - Can check the federal courts by nominating judges - Can check Congress by declaring a law unconstitutional - Can check the president by declaring actions by him or his subordinates to be unconstitutional or not authorized by law By distributing the essential powers of the government among three separate but interdependent branches, the Constitutional framers ensured that the principal powers of the government, legislative, executive and judicial, were not concentrated in the hands of any single branch. Allocating governmental authority among three separate branches also prevented the formation of too strong a national government capable of overpowering the individual state governments. In order to modify the separation of powers, the framers created a best-known system—checks and balances. In this system, powers are shared among the three branches of government. At the same time, the powers of one branch can be challenged by another branch. As one of the basic doctrines in the U.S. Constitution, separation of powers and a system of checks and balances contribute to a stable political situation in the United States. Separating Powers between the Federal Government and the States As is mentioned above, the United States was in a chaotic state after the American Revolution. Under the Articles of Confederation, all of the thirteen states only had a kind of very loose connection. They were like thirteen independent countries, and could do things in their own ways. They had their own legal systems and constitutions, made their own economic, trade, tax and even monetary policies, and seldom accepted any orders from the central government. Localism made the state congresses set barriers to goods from other states, thus trade between states could not develop. At the same time, the central government did not have any important powers to control the individual states well. As time went by, the old system became more and more adverse to the stability and development of this young country. Many Americans viewed a number of grave problems as arising from the weakness of the Confederation. They thought the Confederation was so weak that it was in danger of falling apart under either foreign or internal pressures. They appealed for reforming the governmental structure and establishing a stronger central government. This government should have some positive powers so that it could make and carry out policies to safeguard state sovereignty against foreign violations and to protect the people’s interests. This idea was embodied in the U.S. Constitution: The powers of the national government and the states were divided. The central government was specifically granted certain important powers while the power of the state governments was limited, and there were certain powers that they shared. All those powers granted to the Federal Government by the U.S. Constitution are enumerated principally as powers of Congress in Article I, Section 8. These powers can be classified as either economic or military. As is known to all, economic and military power are fundamental and essential to a government. Possessing such powers, the U.S. central government was capable of controlling the country well, thus keeping up a stable political situation and promoting the economic development. Economic powers delegated to the Federal Government include the authority to levy taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce, coin money, and establish bankruptcy laws. In Article I, Section 8, the Constitution writes, “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United State; …to borrow money on the credit of the United States; to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes; to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States; to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.” According to this stipulation, the Federal Government has gathered the most important economic power into its own hands: with the right to collect taxes directly, the Federal Government could pay its debt and provide funds for the nation’s common defense and general welfare; with the right to issue uniform currency and to determine the value of foreign currencies, the Federal Government could control the money supply and restrain inflation; with the right to regulate trade with foreign nations and among the states, the Federal Government became able to control the economic situation of the country. The stipulation about commerce regulation won strongest support from big cities and centers of manufacturing industry and commerce, such as New York, Philadelphia and Boston, because they knew that the regulation of the central government would be quite helpful for the sale of their products. Alexander Hamilton, one of the most active representatives in the Constitutional Convention, pointed out that free trade in the whole nation was very profitable for any kind of business. For example, when the local market was weakened, the markets in other states and areas of the country would support the sale of the producers, thus their business could keep developing. Hamilton concluded that any farsighted businessman would see the power of the unity of the country, that they would find the unity of the whole nation would be much better than the separation of the thirteen states. Power to Declare War Certain military powers granted to the Federal Government involve declaring war, raising and supporting armies, regulating and maintaining navies, and calling forth the militia. In Article I, Section 8, the Constitution stipulates, “The Congress shall have power to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water; to raise and support armies, …to provide and maintain a Navy; to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces; to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions; to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia….” With these powers, the Federal Government can not only protect the land and provide guarantee for the development of the country, but also create conditions to invade other countries on the grounds that it has the power to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal. The framers of the U.S. Constitution regarded the military power of the Federal Government as a tool to protect the domestic interests of their country from foreign invasion. John Jay, one of the three writers of “The Federalist Papers” and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, even said that when a country wanted to gain something, it would engage itself in a war. Most representatives in the Constitutional Convention had realized that when the United States broke up, it would easily become a sacrifice to its neighboring and enemy states. They saw that other countries still threatened the security of the United States. The Great Britain was unwilling to secede from America and kept military bases in the Northwest boundary of the United States. At the same time, France blockaded some important river mouths so that it could monopolize the market, and Spain also tried to blockade the Mississippi River. The European powers did not want the United States to develop into a powerful nation, or to share their market, neither in the United States itself nor abroad. The framers of the U.S. Constitution fully realized that a strong navy and land force could become not only a tool to protect the interests of the United States, but also a tool to force other countries to open their markets. A strong army would definitely make the European countries respect their country. Apart from the foreign troubles, the leaders of the United States had also seen the serious influences of clashes between different classes. They believed that in time of trouble, a strong army would be decisive. Of course, they would not ignore the danger of such domestic rebellions as Shays’ Rebellion. When talking about the danger of rebellions, James Madison said, “I have noticed a kind of unhappy people scattered in some states. They degrade under the human standard when the political situation remains steady; but when the society is in chaos, they would provide their fellow people with a great force.” (Smith 1986:194) So the rulers of the country needed a strong army to suppress the revolt of these “unhappy people”, and to maintain a stable domestic political situation. The U.S. Constitution grants so many specific powers to the Federal Government, at the same time, lists a rather large number of things that the Federal Government is not allowed to do. Evidently, the framers were afraid that too strong a central government would easily bring about autocracy. In order to restrict the authority of the central government, the framers wanted to make it clear in the Constitution that certain powers were emphatically denied to the Federal Government. Restrictions of the powers of the Federal Government are listed below: - No exercise of powers not delegated to it by the Constitution. - No payment from the Treasury except under appropriations made by law. - All duties and excises must be uniform throughout the United States. - No tax or duty to be laid on articles exported from any state. - No appointment of a senator or representative to any civil office which was created while he was a member of Congress or for which the amount of compensation was increased during that period. - No preferences to the ports of one state over another in regulation or tax collection. - No titles of nobility to be granted by the U.S. government, or permitted to be granted to government officials by foreign states. - No bill of attainder or ex post facto law to be passed. When the Constitution granted the Federal Government certain powers, the framers also considered reducing the power of the state governments, so that the central government could force the states to take unified steps if necessary. In Article I, Section 10, the Constitution stipulates, “No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment or debts….No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws…. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in war….” According to this clause, the states were deprived of the power to issue currency, to levy taxes freely, to keep troops in time of peace, to make a compact of agreement with another state of the U.S., or with a foreign state, and to engage in war. With the prohibition of the states from issuing currency, the United States could now avoid inflation and depreciation of currency caused by unregulated money supply. With the restriction of the states from levying taxes freely, the obstacles of the commerce were removed. Now the state congresses did not have the power to collect heavy taxes freely on goods from other states any more, thus the commerce in the United States began to thrive. With the prohibition of the states from keeping troops in time of peace and engaging in war, the territorial integrity of the United States could be guarded, and the Union could be maintained. As the power of the state governments was limited, people’s confidence in their central government was greatly strengthened. The society of the United States was being led onto a right path of development. Although the power is restricted, the states still possess some necessary powers and exercise important functions in the United States. The Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution indicates that the states possess those powers that are not given to the Federal Government or prohibited to the states. The Tenth Amendment stipulates, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” State powers then are called reserved powers. Reserved powers are interpreted as the right to establish schools and supervise education, regulate intrastate commerce, conduct elections, establish local government units, and borrow money. In addition, a broad and generally undefined “police power” enables the states to take action to protect and promote the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of their inhabitants. All of these are functions that directly affect Americans every day and in every part of their lives. There are still some powers that both the national and state governments can exercise. They are called concurrent powers, which include the power to tax and borrow money, to take property for public purposes, to enact bankruptcy laws, and to establish laws and courts. Thus in the course of the U.S. Constitutional Legislation, a federal system was created by separating power between two levels of government, state and national. According to the Constitution, the Federal Government was granted certain powers, the states were given certain powers and there were certain powers that they shared. In order to overcome a series of domestic crises and keep a stable political situation, a strong central government was created. This central government was granted certain important powers while the power of the state governments was limited. The U.S. Constitution has remained in force because its framers successfully separated and balanced governmental powers to safeguard the interests of majority rule and minority rights, of liberty and equality, and of the central and state governments. For over two centuries it has provided the basis for development of the United States and a guarantee for the stability of the country. - Bishop, Donald M. (1985). Living Documents of American History [C]. Beijing: Press and Cultural Section U.S. Embassy. - Jay, John; Madison, James and Hamilton, Alexander (1979). THE FEDERALIST—A Comment On THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES [C]. New York: The Modern Library. - Locke, John (1690). Second Treatise of Government [M]. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. - Isaak, Robert (2004). American Political Thinking: Readings from the Origins to the 21st Century [C]. Beijing: Peking University Press. - Smith, James Morton(1986). Jefferson and Madison [M]. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc.. About the Author Xiaohong Wei is a full-time staff member at Sichuan Agricultural University, China, where she teaches English. She holds a B.A in English Language and Literature（Sichuan International Studies University, China）, and a M.A degree in Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics (Sichuan University, China). For more than ten years, she has been working as a teacher at Sichuan Agricultural University. Her research interests include intercultural studies, transfer theory, as well as culture teaching and learning. She has been in charge of and fulfilled 3 scientific research projects , and participated in 6 national and provincial research projects. She has published two book chapters and more than 20 articles at academic journals, especially of some renowned universities in China. Addressee: Xiaohong Wei Xinkang Road 46#, Yucheng District Department of Foreign Languages, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya’an, Sichuan, China Post code: 625014

[an error occurred while processing this directive] The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and steal bread. -Anatole FranceMulticultural education calls for all aspects of education to be continuously examined, critiqued, reconsidered, and transformed based on ideals of equity and social justice. This includes instructional technology and covers its content and delivery (or curriculum and pedagogy). That is, it is not enough to critically examine the individual resources--in this case, CD-ROMs, Web sites, or pieces of software--we use to ensure inclusivity. Instead, we must dig deeper and consider the medium itself and how it is being used differently in different contexts. What roles are various software titles, Web sites, and the computers that facilitate our use of them, playing in education? Are they contributing to education equity or supporting current systems of control and domination of those groups already historically privileged in the United States education system (such as White people, boys and men, first language English speakers, and able-bodied people)? The term "digital divide" has traditionally described inequalities in access to computers and the Internet between groups of people based on one or more social or cultural identifiers. Under this conceptualization, researchers tend to compare rates of access to these technologies across individuals or schools based on race, sex, disability status, and other identity dimensions. The "divide" refers to the difference in access rates among groups. The racial digital divide, for example, describes the difference in rates of access to computers and the Internet, at home and school, between those racial groups with high rates of access (White people and Asian and Asian-American people) and those with lower rates of access (Black people and Latina(o) people). Similarly, the sex- or gender digital divide refers to the gap in access rates between men and women. So, by the end of 2000, when women surpassed men to become a majority of the United States online population, many people also believed the sex digital divide had disappeared. If there were more women than men using the Internet, the logic went, equality had been achieved. Girls and women were equally likely to use computers and the Internet as boys and men. Still, though the fact that more girls and women were using the Internet is a meaningful step forward, a broader and deeper look at their position in relation to the increasingly techno-centric society and global economy, reveals that equality in access is considerably different from equity in opportunity. In fact, most of the sex and gender inequities in society and other media are replicated online. The ever-present and ever-growing Internet pornography industry, along with the threat of cyber-stalking and the relative ease with which potential sexual predators can attain personal information about women online, make the Internet a hostile--and potentially dangerous--environment for many girls and women. Equally hostile to women are academic and professional pursuits of mathematics, sciences, engineering, computer sciences--all traditionally male fields that are closely linked with computers and the Internet. Research shows how women and girls are systematically steered away from these fields beginning as early as elementary school through school culture, classroom climate, traditional gender roles, and other societal pressures. Additionally, video games, largely marketed for men and boys, often depict girls and women as damsels in distress or sideshow prostitutes. Even those games, such as Tomb Raider, that challenge these stereotypical roles by casting strong, independent, heroic female characters in lead roles dress these big-breasted women with impossibly-dimensioned bodies in tight, revealing clothes. Most video game makers are men and most video game consumers are boys and men. So, instead of critiquing this fact and considering why it is so, the producers bow to market pressures and recycle the industry sexism. Unfortunately, a majority of information technology professionals cite video games as their initial point of interest in the field. As a result of these and other socio-political, socio-historical, and socio-cultural dynamics, during the same year that women became over 50 percent of the online population, only 7 percent of all Bachelor's-level engineering degrees were conferred to women and only 20 percent of all information technology professionals were women. So, while equality in access rates reflects an important step forward, it does not, by any useful measurement, signify the end of the sex digital divide. In fact, the glaring inequities that remain despite equality in Internet access illustrate the urgency for a deeper, broader understanding of the digital divide and a deeper, broader approach for eliminating it. These remaining inequities, which mirror deeply entrenched and historically cycled inequities in professional, economic, and education opportunities for women in the U.S., together serve as a clear, powerful critique of the unidimensional approach most often employed for addressing the race and class digital divides: simply providing schools and communities with more computers and more, or faster, Internet access. Again, though this is a positive step forward, it fails to address social, cultural, and political factors that will be in place with or without more machinery. For example, research indicates that, while teachers in schools with a high percentage of White students and a low percentage of students on free or reduced lunch programs are more likely to use these technologies to engage students in creative and critical thinking activities, teachers in schools with a high percentage of Students of Color and a high percentage of students on free or reduced lunch tend to use computers and the Internet for a skills and drills approach to learning. Additionally, the growing online presence of African Americans and Latina(o)s is tempered by the growing number of white supremacy Web sites and a more intense sense of fear and vulnerability among these groups (along with Native Americans) related to the availability of personal information online. Ultimately, the traditional understanding of the digital divide as gaps in rates of physical access to computers and the Internet fails to capture the full picture of the divide, its stronghold, and its educational, social, cultural, and economic ramifications. Meanwhile, such a narrow conceptualization of the divide serves the interests of privileged groups who can continue to critique access rates instead of thinking critically and reflectively about their personal and collective roles in cycling and recycling old inequities in a new cyber-form. A new understanding of the digital divide is needed--one that provides adequate context and begins with a dedication to equity and social justice throughout education. Multicultural education--a field that enters every discussion about education with this dedication--offers an important, desperately needed framework for such an understanding. It is from that framework that I have crafted the following statement about understanding and eliminating the digital divide. A multicultural education approach to understanding and eliminating the digital divide: As information technology becomes more and more interwoven with all aspects of life and well-being in the United States, it becomes equally urgent to employ the complexities and critiques of multicultural education theory and practice to the problem of the digital divide. It is the next--the present--equity issue in schools and larger society with enormous social justice implications. This reframing of the digital divide can serve as a starting point for more active participation in digital divide research and action within the field of multicultural education. Additionally, this conceptual piece should challenge those currently studying or working to eliminate the divide in all contexts to broaden and deepen their understandings of equity. It is crucial to recognize that the effort to eliminate the divide, while a clearly identifiable problem unto itself, must be understood as one part--albeit an immensely important one--of a larger effort toward eliminating the continuing and intensifying inequity in every aspect of education and society. [an error occurred while processing this directive]

[Part 5 shows how to protect critical code and resources using semaphores, spin locks, and other techniques. It also explains how to synchronize interdependent tasks. Part 7 shows how to analyze scheduling behavior, and how to ensure tasks meet their deadlines.] So far we've said that determinism was important for analysis of real-time systems. Now we're going to show you the analysis. In real-time systems, the process of verifying whether a schedule of task execution meets the imposed timing constraints is referred to as schedulability analysis. In the next three articles, we will review the two main categories of scheduling algorithms, static and dynamic. Then we will look at techniques to actually perform the analysis of systems to determine schedulability. Finally, we will describe some methods to minimize some of the common scheduling problems when using common scheduling algorithms. Scheduling Policies in Real-Time Systems There are several approaches to scheduling tasks in real-time systems. These fall into two general categories, fixed or static priority scheduling policies and dynamic priority scheduling policies. Many commercial RTOSs today support fixed-priority scheduling policies. Fixed-priority scheduling algorithms do not modify a job's priority while the task is running. The task itself is allowed to modify its own priority for reasons that will become apparent later. This approach requires very little support code in the scheduler to implement this functionality. The scheduler is fast and predictable with this approach. The scheduling is mostly done offline (before the system runs). This requires the DSP system designer to know the task set a-priori (ahead of time) and is not suitable for tasks that are created dynamically during run time. The priority of the task set must be determined beforehand and cannot change when the system runs unless the task itself changes its own priority. Dynamic scheduling algorithms allow a scheduler to modify a job's priority based on one of several scheduling algorithms or policies. This is a more complicated approach and requires more code in the scheduler to implement. This leads to more overhead in managing a task set in a DSP system because the scheduler must now spend more time dynamically sorting through the system task set and prioritizing tasks for execution based on the scheduling policy. This leads to nondeterminism, which is not favorable, especially for hard real-time systems. Dynamic scheduling algorithms are online scheduling algorithms. The scheduling policy is applied to the task set during the execution of the system. The active task set changes dynamically as the system runs. The priority of the tasks can also change dynamically. Static Scheduling Policies Examples of static scheduling policies are rate monotonic scheduling and deadline monotonic scheduling. Examples of dynamic scheduling policies are earliest deadline first and least slack scheduling. Rate monotonic scheduling is an optimal fixed-priority policy where the higher the frequency (1/period) of a task, the higher is its priority. This approach can be implemented in any operating system supporting the fixed-priority preemptive scheme, such as DSP/BIOS and VxWorks. Rate monotonic scheduling assumes that the deadline of a periodic task is the same as its period. Rate monotonic scheduling approaches are not new, being used by NASA, for example, on the Apollo space missions. Deadline monotonic scheduling is a generalization of the Rate-Monotonic scheduling policy. In this approach, the deadline of a task is a fixed (relative) point in time from the beginning of the period. The shorter this (fixed) deadline, the higher the priority. Dynamic Scheduling Policies Dynamic scheduling algorithms can be broken into two main classes of algorithms. The first is referred to as a "dynamic planning based approach." This approach is very useful for systems that must dynamically accept new tasks into the system; for example a wireless base station that must accept new calls into the system at a some dynamic rate. This approach combines some of the flexibility of a dynamic approach and some of the predictability of a more static approach. After a task arrives, but before its execution begins, a check is made to determine whether a schedule can be created that can handle the new task as well as the currently executing tasks. Another approach, called the dynamic best effort apprach, uses the task deadlines to set the priorities. With this approach, a task could be pre-empted at any time during its execution. So, until the deadline arrives or the task finishes execution, we do not have a guarantee that a timing constraint can be met. Examples of dynamic best effort algorithms are Earliest Deadline First and Least Slack scheduling. Earliest deadline first scheduling Earliest deadline first scheduling is a dynamic priority preemptive policy. With this approach, the deadline of a task instance is the absolute point in time by which the instance must complete. The task deadline is computed when the instance is created. The operating system scheduler picks the task with the earliest deadline to run. A task with an earlier deadline preempts a task with a later deadline. Least slack scheduling Least slack scheduling is also a dynamic priority preemptive policy. The slack of a task instance is the absolute deadline minus the remaining execution time for the instance to complete. The OS scheduler picks the task with the shortest slack to run first. A task with a smaller slack preempts a task with a larger slack. This approach maximizes the minimum lateness of tasks. Dynamic priority preemptive scheduling In a dynamic scheduling approach such as dynamic priority preemptive scheduling, the priority of a task can change from instance to instance or within the execution of an instance. In this approach a higher priority task preempts a lower priority task. Very few commercial RTOS support such policies because this approach leads to systems that are hard to analyze for real-time and determinism properties. Thus, the analysis in the following articles will focus instead on static scheduling policies. Part 7 shows how to analyze scheduling behavior, and how to ensure tasks meet their deadlines. Used with the permission of the publisher, Newnes/Elsevier, this series of eight articles is based on chapter eight of "DSP Software Development Techniques for Embedded and Real-Time Systems," by Robert Oshana.