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Everything You Need to Know if You Have Bronchitis

Everything you need to know if you have Bronchitis

Everything You Need to Know if You Have Bronchitis

Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchi, and it can either be acute or chronic. If you are diagnosed with bronchitis, your cough can persist for a couple of weeks or even longer. It is important to seek appropriate medical attention, as it can lead to serious complications if not treated properly. Click through this slideshow to learn about the different symptoms of bronchitis, when you should see a doctor, and how to treat it.

What Is Bronchitis?

Bronchitis is known to be a medical condition that leads to inflammation of the lining of the bronchial tubes. These tubes carry air to and from the lung section. Those individuals who suffer from bronchitis are known to often cough up thick mucus that is generally discolored. The condition of bronchitis can be either acute or chronic. The acute form of bronchitis is said to occur often from a cold or any other form of respiratory infection, whereas the chronic case of bronchitis is known to be the more serious of the two, and it leads to a constant occurrence of irritation to or inflammation of the lining of the bronchial tubes. This chronic case is mostly caused due to smoking. The acute form of bronchitis is also known as a chest cold, which it is said to mostly improve within a period of ten days, and also, there are no lasting effects, but the cough is known to linger for about a week or so. But those individuals who suffer from a constant case of coughing or repeated occurrences of bronchitis may suffer from the chronic condition of bronchitis. This condition would need urgent medical attention and should not be ignored. Chronic bronchitis is known to be one of the conditions that is also a part of COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

For either the acute or chronic conditions of bronchitis, the signs and symptoms can include:

  • Sudden shortness of breath
  • Discomfort in the chest
  • Fatigue or tiredness
  • Coughing, which becomes persistent in certain cases
  • Slight fever
  • There is a production of mucus, which is basically clear, yellowish-gray, white, or green in color. In certain rare cases, it can turn out to be red, like blood.
  • Chills

For those individuals who suffer from acute bronchitis, the symptoms may be similar to cold symptoms, which can include mild headaches or body aches. These symptoms are known to improve in a weeks’ time, but the cough can linger for weeks after. If the individual suffers from the chronic form of bronchitis, there would be certain periods wherein the cough or any of the other symptoms experienced by the individual may start to worsen. In those instances, the individual may also suffer from an acute infection on top of the chronic bronchitis.

The cause of acute bronchitis is due to viruses, and it is usually the same virus that is known to cause the flu or a cold. Use of antibiotics would not help since they do not kill viruses, hence, antibiotic medications do not seem to be of any help in treating bronchitis here. On the other hand, one of the most common causes of chronic bronchitis is attributed to smoking. A few other conditions which can also lead to bronchitis are constant exposure to dust, toxic gas, and pollution in the air. This can occur anywhere, whether at home or the workplace.

Risk Factors

A few of the factors that are known to increase one’s risk of getting bronchitis are:

  • Smoking cigarettes: Those individuals who smoke or who live with a smoker are at the highest risk of developing either acute or chronic bronchitis.
  • Gastric reflux: Due to repeated occurrences of heartburn, this can also lead to irritation in the throat, thereby making the individual prone to developing bronchitis.
  • Weakened immune system: This normally can occur in those individuals who are already suffering from a different medical condition, such as a cold or from any other chronic condition that can cause an impairment of the immune system. Elderly individuals, infants, and small children are prone to such infections.
  • Exposure to any kind of irritants at the workplace: There is a higher chance of developing bronchitis if the individual is known to work around certain kinds of lung irritants, and those can include textiles or being exposed to certain chemicals or fumes from factories.

During the initial period of the bronchitis infection, it may become difficult for one to differentiate between signs of a cold and bronchitis. The doctor, with the help of a stethoscope, can closely listen to the lungs as you breathe. In certain cases, the doctor may also suggest to go in for other medical tests, which can include:

  • Sputum tests: Sputum is basically known as the mucus that one tends to cough up from the lungs. This sputum can be used to test and see if there is any presence of illness that could be treated with the help of antibiotics. This sputum is also known to be tested for the presence of any kind of allergies in the individual.
  • X-ray of the chest: Carrying out an X-ray of the chest would be helpful in determining if the individual has pneumonia or any other condition that can explain the reason for their cough. This becomes very important if the individual was or is currently a smoker.
  • Pulmonary function test: In this particular test, the individual is instructed to blow into a device, which is known as a spirometer. This instrument helps to measure how much air is held in the lungs and how quickly the air can get out of them, too. This test is also termed as useful for checking on any signs related to asthma.

When it comes to acute bronchitis, it would usually get better without the need for treatments and it can happen in a couple of weeks’ time.

Medications: Since many cases of bronchitis are due to viral infections, antibiotics would not be of much use. But, if the doctor suspects that the individual has a bacterial infection, then they can prescribe certain antibiotics. Also, in certain circumstances, the doctor can also recommend to go in for other medications, which may include cough medicines. This is mostly given to keep the cough in check, especially for those whose cough interrupts their sleep. Hence, cough suppressants can be tried before bedtime.

In the case of allergies, asthma, or COPD, the doctor would probably recommend an inhaler as well as any other medications to reduce the inflammation and open the narrowed passages of the lungs.

Home remedies: If not the medications, there are certain home remedies which an individual can try as a self-care measure:

  • Use of a humidifier: Warm air is known to provide relief from a cough since it loosens the mucus present in the airways. But be sure to clean the humidifier first so as to avoid any kind of growth of bacteria or fungi in the water container.
  • Face mask: If the cold tends to increase the coughing or worsens the shortness of breath, then it is ideal to wear a cold air face mask before you step outside of your home.
  • Try to avoid any kind of lung irritants: Try not to smoke since it can aggravate the condition, and anyways, smoking is not good for one’s health. Try to wear a mask when the air is polluted or the moment you are exposed to any irritants, which can include pain or strong fumes.


PloS one

Inhibition of autophagic flux by salinomycin results in anti-cancer effect in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

PMID 24816744

Salinomycin raised hope to be effective in anti-cancer therapies due to its capability to overcome apoptosis-resistance in several types of cancer cells. Recently, its effectiveness against human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells both in vitro and in vivo was demonstrated. However, the mechanism of action remained unclear. Latest studies implicated interference with the degradation pathway of autophagy. This study aimed to determine the impact of Salinomycin on HCC-autophagy and whether primary human hepatocytes (PHH) likewise are affected. Following exposure of HCC cell lines HepG2 and Huh7 to varying concentrations of Salinomycin (0-10 µM), comprehensive analysis of autophagic activity using western-blotting and flow-cytometry was performed. Drug effects were analyzed in the settings of autophagy stimulation by starvation or PP242-treatment and correlated with cell viability, proliferation, apoptosis induction, mitochondrial mass accumulation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. Impact on apoptosis induction and cell function of PHH was analyzed. Constitutive and stimulated autophagic activities both were effectively suppressed in HCC by Salinomycin. This inhibition was associated with dysfunctional mitochondria accumulation, increased apoptosis and decreased proliferation and cell viability. Effects of Salinomycin were dose and time dependent and could readily be replicated by pharmacological and genetic inhibition of HCC-autophagy alone. Salinomycin exposure to PHH resulted in transient impairment of synthesis function and cell viability without apoptosis induction. In conclusion, our data suggest that Salinomycin suppresses late stages of HCC-autophagy, leading to impaired recycling and accumulation of dysfunctional mitochondria with increased ROS-production all of which are associated with induction of apoptosis.


Parasitology research

Plasmodium alveolins possess distinct but structurally and functionally related multi-repeat domains.

PMID 25475193

The invasive and motile life stages of malaria parasites (merozoite, ookinete and sporozoite) possess a distinctive cortical structure termed the pellicle. The pellicle is characterised by a double-layered 'inner membrane complex' (IMC) located underneath the plasma membrane, which is supported by a cytoskeletal structure termed the subpellicular network (SPN). The SPN consists of intermediate filaments, whose major constituents include a family of proteins called alveolins. Here, we re-appraise the alveolins in the genus Plasmodium with respect to their repertoire, structure and interrelatedness. Amongst 13 family members identified, we distinguish two domain types that, albeit distinct at the primary structure level, are structurally related and contain tandem repeats with a consensus 12-amino acid periodicity. Analysis in Plasmodium berghei of the most divergent alveolin, PbIMC1d, reveals a zoite-specific expression in ookinetes and a subcellular localisation in the pellicle, consistent with its predicted role as a SPN component. Knockout of PbIMC1d gives rise to a wild-type phenotype with respect to ookinete morphogenesis, tensile strength, gliding motility and infectivity, presenting the first example of apparent functional redundancy amongst alveolin family members.


Hey guys. Today I installed Fender CS Fat 50's pickups in the neck and middle position of my 2007 Standard American Strat (which had all stock pickups). I didn't change the stock bridge pickup though, since I'm still waiting for my SSL-5 to come in. Anyways, I changed them...(FYI the middle pickup of the fat 50's is RW/RP) When I first installed them, the volume of the bridge/mid combination on my selector switch had a drastic decrease in volume, so i switched the leads and that solved that problem.

Now what's happening is that when I put the selector switch to the neck/mid setting, it hum-cancels very well. However, if i set it to bridge/mid, it does not hum-cancel. Actually, it gets quite noisy. Does anyone know why this is?


Elder abuse victim killed stepson in self-defense.

During the initial argument, the stepson appears to have struck Pawloski several times and possibly tried to strangle him, police said, adding the older man had marks on his neck and face. The two separated and went to their own rooms, authorities said.

However, a few hours later, the stepson went into Pawloski’s room. Bois said the conversation between the two men was initially apologetic, but quickly turned argumentative again.

Around 4:45 a.m., when his stepson was about to begin striking Pawloski again, Pawloski pulled out a gun and fired twice into the man’s chest, according to police.

via Police: Elder abuse victim killed stepson in self-defense – San Antonio Express-News.

And this was not the first instance where the step-idiot had attacked the older gentleman as he had a previous arrest for the same thing.

Domestic abuse can be cured. Some remedies are extreme but assure no recidivism.


Cpt. Winter Woods

Captain of the Onigashima

Born and raised on humanity’s homeworld of Earth, Captain Woods is a rare student of warfare: both of the ways of ancient man, and the fractal patterns of fighter drones. As cool of head and heart as her name would suggest, she leads the crew of the Onigashima with a firm hand and a wealth of knowledge that could only be gained through personal experience.

Woods is a tall, amazonian woman with fair skin, grey eyes, and silver hair. While she holds strong at the peak of health, she bears scars and signs of her age that she either hasn’t bothered or has chosen not to erase. Most notable are a scar running down near the right edge of her lip and the silver port of an old-style interface on her left temple.

Cpt. Winter Woods

The Imaginal Starship Onigashima tarkya tarkya


All About Books

ReadTracker App

I love keeping track of the books I read in every possible way. I have notebooks, I have excel sheets and google documents and the only thing missing was some app to keep track of how long I actually read on one book. Not that I really care about that and want to improve or anything like that. I just thought it would be a fun fact to know. Then I found the ReadTracker app (for android) which I used these past two weeks and I’m definitely going to keep using.

ReadTracker is an app to keep track of how many pages of a book you read in how many minutes. It then shows you not only your progress but also statistics on how much longer you will need to read to finish the book and how many hours to spend daily with the book to finish it in one week. If you like to keep track of quotes: you can create highlights for books in registering its text and the position in the book.
It’s also possible to connect this app to your Readmill account (Readmill is as an app to read ebooks on your phone) and share your progress (I don’t have a Readmill account and didn’t look into this though).

App2 App3 App4

(Click on the pictures to better see the details)

1. You get a list with all your finished books with their title, author, cover and when you finished them. You can then click on each of those books to get more details about them. When finishing a book you can also write some remarks about it. You can chose in the options if you want them to show on this page or not.

2. Another list is the one with the books you are currently reading. You can of course be reading multiple books at the same time. When you click on one of those you can start tracking your time. It also shows you your current progress for each book.

3. You just have to click on the always present plus button in the top right corner to add a new book. You can search for books (via Google books) by using the title, author or ISBN. I always use ISBN to get the edition with the right cover. If ReadTracker can’t find the book you can manually add the book. In both cases you get to the screen above to type in/correct the number of pages. You can also switch to use percentage.

 App5 App6 App7

(Click on the pictures to better see the details)

4. This is how the summary page of a book looks like once you started reading. You will get one of those circles for each session. They are the bigger the longer you read. It shows how much time in how many sessions you spend so far and how much longer you will need overall and each day if you want to read it over a week.

5. Once you start a session the clock starts ticking! (not literally,there is no sound but it moves! :D) You can then either “Pause” a session which just stops the clock (its starts tracking again if you click “Resume”) or you can stop the session.

6. When you stop a session you can then track your current progress in saving your current page number or percantage. (Downside: you can only scroll through the pages which is annoying if you read a lot in one session and the percentage has a decimal which makes the scrolling even more annoying)

With The Rithmatist I got all this in green but the color is not always the same. I so far had four different colors.


Soft-Cooked Eggs

print this recipe
Soft-Cooked Eggs
8 eggs 8
  Salt and pepper, to taste

Place cold eggs in a single layer in a saucepan. Cover with at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) cold water over the top of the eggs. Cover saucepan and bring quickly to a boil over high heat. Immediately remove pan from heat to stop boiling. Let eggs stand in water 3 to 4 minutes or until cooked as desired. Remove eggs and rinse under cold water. Cut off larger end with a sharp knife. Place in eggcups and season with salt and pepper.

For these serving suggestions, eggs should be cooked for at least 4 minutes and cooled slightly before peeling.
Spread toasted, split bagel with cheese and top with slices of peeled, soft-cooked eggs. Top toasted waffle with fork-mashed, peeled, soft-cooked eggs and drizzle with maple syrup.
Place slices of peeled, soft-cooked eggs onto warm flour tortilla, garnish with shredded cheese, roll up and serve.

Eggs cooked in the shell are commonly referred to as "boiled", but they should never be boiled. Cooking and accurate timing are the secrets to perfect soft-cooked eggs. Leaving the eggs in boiling water might cause the shell to crack, or cause the egg white to be hard and rubbery and the yolk to be dry.

Number of Servings:  4
Preparation  2 minutes
Cooking  10 minutes
Standing  3 minutes

Nutrients per serving - 2 eggs:
Calories 150
Fat 10 g
   Saturated 3 g
   + trans 0 g
Carbohydrate 2 g
Fibre 0 g
Protein 12 g

Source: Egg Farmers of Canada


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Porphyria Educational Services

Vol. 1 No. 41 October  3, 1999
FOCUS:  Porphyria:  A Basic Overview

Porphyrins are chemical compounds that are stepping stones along the pathway
which leads to the formation of heme in man, and to chlorophyll in plants.
They are responsible for the fact that "blood is red, and grass is green."
Heme is essential if the body is to work properly. And heme has everything
to do with porphyrins and porphyria.

In porphyria, the cells do not convert porphyrins to heme in a normal manner.
Because of this, porphyrins build up in the body and are excreted in the
urine and stool in excessive amounts. When present in very high levels, they
cause the urine to often have a spectacular port wine color, however the
shades of urine coloring differ with each individual due to a number of other
factors including dietary and drug intake. In all cases the urine of a porphyric
will turn darker when the urine is left in air and light.

The symptoms of porphyria fall into two major groups. Some patients have
attacks in which the nerves of the body do not function properly. Abdominal
pain and weakness result. Other patients have problems with the parts of the
skin that are exposed to the sun and can cause pain and swelling of the skin
or the formation of blisters. Treatment is available for both types of
symptoms. Some patients because of the type of porphyria they have will
experience both types of symptomology.

The disease can appear in childhood, but the onset most frequently occurs
between the ages of 20 and 40. The disease affects men less often thanwomen,
in whom attacks are related to the cyclic nature. Long latent periods which
are called remission, may separate these attacks, which can be precipitated
by drugs, chemical toxins, infections, alcohol consumption and dieting or
low carbohydrate intake.

Proper diagnosis and treatment of porphyria depends on chemical studies of
the blood, urine and stool. Since certain types of porphyria are genetic
diseases, studies should also be done on children and blood relatives of
affected individuals


List of Countries By Thorium Reserves

India has the largest reserves of thorium with 963,000 tonnes.

Thorium is a weak radioactive element of the actinide series. It is chemically represented as Th with an atomic number of 90 and atomic weight of 232.03. It is inherently unstable; all of its isotopes are radioactive. The only stable known isotope is 232Th, which is metal and has half-life of equivalent to that of the universe -14.05 billion years. This is significant because it is one of the only two naturally occurring actinides, Uranium being the other. Since Thorium occurs naturally, it can be mined, and its radioactive properties harnessed. Thorium decays through alpha decay and it is very slow. The decay chain is known as thorium series that will result in a stable 208Pb.

List of Countries by Thorium Reserves

Largest Thorium Reserves

At present, information on resources of thorium ores is low since its low economic potential renders widespread exploration unnecessary. The main sources of information on thorium reserves are USGS (United States Geological Survey) and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). IAEA and USGS figures agree the largest reserves in the world are found in India which has around 25% of the world reserves, currently estimated at 519,000 tons. India plans to use its reserve as a cornerstone in its energy independence plans.

USGS figures put the US and Australia's reserves at par with India, however, according to the IAEA, Australia has 489,000 tons which represents 19% of the world reserves. Australia's government estimates its RAR (Reasonably Assured Reserves) at only 19,000 tons. The United States has the third largest reserves are in the world, which is estimated to be about 400 thousand tons or 13% of the world reserves.

The same disparity exists for figures given by the two bodies for Turkey and Brazil with USGS figures being higher than IAEA estimates. Turkey’s total reserves is estimated to be about 344,000 tons or 11% of the world reserves. Venezuela and Brazil are two countries estimated each having 302,000 tons representing a total of 20% of the world reserves.

What is Thorium Used For?

Thorium Oxide (thoria) has a melting point of 5,972 degrees Fahrenheit which is one of the highest known for a stable compound. ThO2, the chemical formula of thorium oxide, has accordingly found use in a high-temperature application. Some of its uses are in heat resistant crucibles, arc lighting elements, high-intensity lanterns, and arc-welding. Thorium is also used in high-end magnification lens used in scientific and photographic equipment due to its excellent wavelength dispersion and refractive index. As a radioactive element, thorium has been used in weapon and energy production. The US experimented with thorium-based fission bombs in mid-1950's, but they did not go into production as they were hard to store and were easily detected. Use of thorium in energy generation was reported by the US in 1962 when the Indian Point Energy Center In New York reactor started producing power. However, the use of thorium was short lived as the reactor was switched to uranium oxide.

Global Demand

Currently, there are no mines that exclusively or primarily mine thorium since global demand is low, ranging from a few tens of tons a year. Thorium is mainly mined from different minerals like thorite, thorianite, and monazite which is a by-product of mining of rare earth minerals.

List of Countries By Thorium Reserves

RankCountryReserves (Tonnes)
2United States440,000
5South Africa35,000

More in Environment


Stress induces sense of danger in harmless situations

Stress induces sense of danger in harmless situations

Washington D.C:A new study has recently found that stress makes people sense danger in harmless situations. So, when in stress, one should try to relax and remain calm.

Humans are thought to have learned to identify dangerous scenarios for self-defense, however, certain circumstances can cause people to misidentify such cues. The findings revealed that when older memories are coupled with stress, individuals are likely to perceive danger in harmless circumstances and repeated stress, trauma may lead to increased risk for PTSD.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which affects about 8 million adults every year, is one disorder characterized by the inability to discriminate threat from safety.

“These findings provide important laboratory data that helps explain why PTSD symptoms are often exacerbated during times of stress, and how repeated stress and trauma in the battlefield may lead to increased risk for PTSD,” said Suzannah Creech from Dell Medical School.

Lead study author Joseph Dunsmoor said that the human mind uses cues to danger learned over time for self-defense, but certain circumstances can cause people to misidentify those cues. Dunsmoor added, “Our research reveals that stress levels and the amount of time since an adverse event promote this type of overgeneralization.”

The researchers tested the effects of stress and time on a person’s ability to correctly identify a cue associated with a negative outcome. The participants heard two tones with one followed by a shock, set by the participant at the level of “highly annoying but not painful.”

This study provides new data that will help us care for people with disordered patterns of fear and worry. The research appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

– With inputs from ANI


An Inconvenient Truth was a significant documentary, not just for its prominence in the public debate over climate change, but also because it was the first documentary to win two Oscars in 2007, for Best Documentary and Best Original Song. Coming close on both counts but not quite repeating the achievement in 2013 was Chasing Ice, Jeff Orlowski’s film about the work of photographer James Balog.

I’m partial to the song that did win the Oscar, Adele’s “Skyfall”. It’s the most memorable one from the recent Bonds, but I found J. Ralph’s “Before My Time” (performed by Scarlett Johansson and Joshua Bell) more memorable. The fact that it came at the end credits of Chasing Ice made a more meaningful connection to the movie, and the more languid pace allowed me to listen to it more attentively. This is one of the best closing credit sequences I’ve seen lately, documentary or no.

[Closing credits for Chasing Ice: “Before My Time” by J. Ralph Feat. Scarlett Johansson & Joshua Bell]

Chasing Ice is an elegant contribution to the body of documentaries concerned with enviromental degradation and global warming. It’s more finely focused than An Inconvenient Truth, a film which generated a lot of discussion and made its way strongly into the cultural consciousness. Although based on Al Gore’s relatively static slide presentation (an extended TED-like talk before the ubiquity of TED talks), it’s animated by Gore himself, drawing on his Southern preacher style and made more personable by the many family photographs and stories scattered through the film. It’s also driven by Gore’s argument about the nature of the changing planet that he supports with graphs and interviews and photographs. The pictures he shows are before and after shots of places with long-term visible climate effects, and it is this element of the visual material that Orlowski and Balog make use of so effectively in their film.

There are two issues with the use of photographs for this purpose: 1) What do they show us? How effective are they as evidence for the point being made about glacial transformation or rainfall? Sometimes their status as evidence is circular: we trust the photograph because of what the narrator is telling us, and we believe what the narrator is telling us because of the photographs. This is why all the other evidence Gore provides in his film is so important. 2) What kinds of photographs do you present in support of an environmental argument? Pristine wilderness or decay? The vivid beauty of Peter Dombrovskis‘s photographs of Tasmania seemed to have had a lot of influence around the Franklin River preservation in the 1980’s. But it’s also important rhetorically if not epistemologically to see other kinds of pictures too, like the toxic deserts of Richard Misrach.

James Balog’s use of photographs in Chasing Ice speaks to both these issues. His project with the photographs is to set up still cameras in various remote locations to record in time-lapse the movement of glaciers and icy landscapes. He does this within and across seasons and presents pictures that are strong demonstrations of the diminution of these formations. The answer is in the ice, he keeps saying, and even though this is true in the sense that ice core samples are a basic source of data for climatologists, the answer to how to see all of this is in the ice. Balog constructs with his time-lapses a convergence of moving and still images that have strong evidentiary and persuasive value on their own terms.

Of course one always needs a context for looking at images, but here the images have an extra resonance and meaning, not just as illustrations. His ice photography is framed not just as an art project but as a scientific one; like a lot of his photographs it’s a melding of the two. His TED talk from 2009 draws a lot of these ideas together and shows some of these timelapses (at 8’51”, 12′, 13’40”, 15’30” and video of a glacier calving at 16’12”).

[James Balog at TEDGlobal, 2009]

The second issue around environmental photography, whether to show beauty or degradation, (Ansel Adams or Robert Adams?) is also something that is accommodated by Balog’s approach. His subject is ice. Ice! I’m glad I saw this film on the big screen because the overwhelming grandness of those glaciers calving and crashing into the sea was magnificent and scary and sad and awe-inspiring all at once. It’s not as if we were in some smoky sulphur mine or grim and baking oil field; these locations were amazingly watchable.

Balog is careful to show some sense of scale in a few of his pictures, and having his process documented in turn by Orlowski is gripping in its own way. The sequence with the puny humans abseiling down an ice cavern getting closer and closer to its infinitely deep rushing waters equals the tension of any episode of The Walking Dead.

Balog’s attention to the ice and the emphasis on the ice survey project make for a film that is precise in the point that it makes about the environment. There are depictions of the hero photographer that exist as a standard trope in a lot of photographer movies both fictional and nonfictional (patient wife who suffers his absences, dogged insistence on trudging forth despite doctor’s orders); these I found a little distracting, but on the whole the film maintains its focus on the point it is making about the ice and the environment. The photos aren’t left to carry the entire weight of the argument though, there are a few scientist-authority-figures appearing, and in fact some well-made graphs as well. The movie recognises what it does best to contribute to this cause–give us some stunning images–and it wisely leaves the details of our own engagement and action to a couple of websites, for the Extreme Ice Survey and for the movie. Balog’s ice photographs are spectacular and this movie shows them on a bold scale. The project is something between still and moving images and takes its place in documentary form in a way that is logical and arresting.


It’s no big secret that landfills are abhorrent for the environment. They have only existed for a century and we are already feeling the negative repercussions of methane polluting our air, and toxic runoff polluting our water not to mention the increasing deficit of space to bury these mounds of garbage.

But there may be a solution in sight. Though it was first theorized in the 1950s landfill mining has started catching the public’s attention as of late. The increased call for precious metals and land for development have turned heads towards landfills as a source for these increasingly evanescent materials.

When first attempted, landfill mining was not feasible due to the lack of technology to handle unstable organic waste. However, with an increased understanding of accelerated decomposition, landfill mining is now within our reach.

The Sorting Process

After material from a landfill has been excavated it is separated into streams to be sent through a primary screen to do the initial sorting before it is sent through a secondary screen to remove the fines and extract the material further from the soil. The material is then passed through a magnet to separate the ferrous metal from the rest of the stream to go on to its own process for repurposing. The rest of the stream is then sent through an air classifier to separate the material into piles depending on their density.

The Complications

The scientific community is divided on if the process of landfill mining is, in fact, beneficial to the environment. On the one hand, it is reducing the toxic run off making its way into sources of water and it does have its own gas pollution. But on the other hand: excavating, recycling, and burning the material for repurposing gives off a significant amount of gas in itself. One conclusion is that the environmental benefits really depend on the location, resources, and gas emittance of the landfill in the first place compared to the amount of gas that will be created if the material is to be recycled. As precious metals become more scarce and land is in higher demand, however, landfill mining may become one of the only options to renew this resource in the future.

Financially many question if landfill mining is profitable enough to sustain given the costs of testing, excavation, deposition, and sorting being higher due to the need for recycled material to be clean and purified in order to have market value. Landfill miners are now looking to the possibility of screening more material faster to improve the profitability of this industry.

The Solution

General Kinematics has nearly 60 years of experience expertly crafting cutting edge technology to improve sorting processes around the world. With a track record of increasing sorting capacity, General Kinematics has what it takes to increase your processing power and uncover the profitability of your landfill mining venture.

Thinking ROI? Think GK. Call us today!

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March 20, 2009

Interview with Diana Corpus

Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Diana and I am a student at Cal State University Fullerton. I am majoring in communications with a minor in anthropology. I work in the retail and fashion industry. I also intern for a magazine.

Where did you learn to craft?
I learned to craft on my own and at school and from friends.

How did you start selling? Where did the idea come from?
I heard about etsy and started selling there, but I have attended craft fairs. I think my items are very unique and I want to share them with the world.

What are your goals? Your inspiration & motivation?
I want to be a respectable working professional. There are so many things I want to do that some I’m doing now. I want to be a writer, photographer and a fashion designer. I can mix these three together easily.

If there is a new craft you could learn, what would it be and why?
I’m currently learning how to crochet. I want to learn silk screening, anyone know how to?

Where do you receive your inspiration, in general?
I receive my inspiration in the streets and from belly dancers and friends.

What is the best advice you have ever received?
Never give up and believe in yourself.

What is your favorite craft/item you have created?
My headband made of antique turkoman buttons, not for sale.

Apart from creating things, what do you do?
I’m a student and I also work.

I would spend it on a serger, thread, needles, fabric, feathers, pens, makers, etc etc!! Everything!

Please add any links here:

March 6, 2009

Interview with Moonflower Jewelry

Tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am a relocated New Mexican living in Southern California. Except for one of the cats, I am the only female with one husband, two sons and three cats total. I have a tendency to be painfully shy, which sometimes makes selling my work rather difficult.

Where did you learn to craft? Where did the idea come from?
I went to art school in my early 20's, and majored in Film/video/performance - I started working in collage/assemblage because San Francisco was a treasure trove of street scores and thrift stores, and I got hooked on working with found objects. But... then I discovered my one true love, sterling silver... although I still have a respectable stash of effluvia for just in case.

How did you start selling?
I began selling at my local farmers market over 5 years ago. It's a weekly gig, and I still do it, although the economy has affected sales. I started selling primarily so I could buy more tools and supplies. I don't sell on ebay any longer, and my only online venue is etsy.

What are your goals?
My goal is to get better at the cabbing, as I have invested quite a bit of money in rough rock. I am not so much inspired as I just love playing with my materials and acquiring more to play with.

Aside from cabbing, I'm not too interesting in picking anything else up right now. I get too scattered. I've gone through a papermaking phase, a book making phase, a soap making phase and also a knitting phase. Like I said, I have a prodigious amount of unusual supplies in my hoard from all these things.

…Your inspiration & motivation?
I never can think of what inspires or motivates me. My work has always been a reflection of my person: quirky, rough around the edges, non representational. I like texture and shape and color as a way of getting out of my very verbal and critical head.

Several years ago I made a series of assemblage boxes and gave them to a few friends. I love working silver, but the boxes were an important artistic expression rather than jewelry which is more a craft to me.

I've been a stay at home mom for 15 years, and I am actually looking for a "real" job because the pressure of making a living selling jewelry has squeezed some of the fun out of it.

What is the best advice you have ever received?
"Honor your mistakes as hidden intent."

One good trip to a gem show, give me an hour and that money would be gone so fast on beads and cabs. Except $1k doesn't go far since spot silver went over $10 per troy ounce.

Favorite links:

THE BEST CHOCOLATE on planet Earth is: Guanni Chocolates
My favorite soapers are Kreamy Soaps

Visit Moonflower Jewelry at: Moonflower Jewelry


Facilitating Deployable Mechanisms and Structures Via Developable Lamina Emergent Arrays

A method is presented utilizing networks of lamina emergent joints, known as lamina emergent arrays, to accommodate large-curvature developable structures suited to deployable applications. By exploiting the ruling lines in developable surfaces, this method enables developable structures and mechanisms that can be manufactured with two-dimensional geometry and yet have a greater range of elastic motion than is possible with a solid sheet of material. Aligning the joints to the ruling lines also biases the struc- ture to a specific deployment path. A mathematical model is developed to describe the resulting stiffness of the structure employing the lamina emergent arrays and equations are derived to facilitate stress analysis of the structure. Finite element results show the sensitivity of alignment of the elements in the array to the stress present in the developed structure. A specific technique for creating an array pattern for conical developable surfaces is described. Examples of developable structures and mechanisms, including curved-fold origami models transitioned to thick materials and two origami-inspired mechanisms, are examined. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4031901]
Chicago Nelson, Todd G., Robert J. Lang, Nathan A. Pehrson, Spencer P. Magleby, and Larry L. Howell. "FACILITATING DEPLOYABLE MECHANISMS AND STRUCTURES VIA DEVELOPABLE LAMINA EMERGENT ARRAYS." (2015).


A Little History:

Our Mission Statement:

Sunday, July 15, 2012

The Gratitude Challenge

I heard a powerful and articulate talk today about gratitude by our Stake Primary President.  I wish I could give it back to all of you verbatim.  It was timely for me to hear her message, but then, when is it NOT a good time to be reminded to be grateful?

She talked about reasons to be grateful - it makes you happier AND healthier, it allows you to see more of your blessings that you may have overlooked, and the Lord is displeased by a spirit of ingratitude ("Really, children of Israel, you're complaining about the manna?  I can make it stop.").

She talked about feeling gratitude for small, mundane, everyday things.

She pointed out that gratitude is completely under our control, and often it's just a matter of reframing your situation to see the good.

Remember the joy you felt the first time you rode a bike without training wheels?  Do you still feel that kind of joy every time you ride now?

When was the last time you felt gratitude for the songbird that wakes you up at 5am, because you have the ability to hear it?  Or for feeling the sunlight on your face, because you can go outside and you have the amazing gift of a sense of touch?

Or, when it rains, instead of grumbling that you're stuck inside all day or that you'll get stuck in traffic, thinking how great it is that you don't have to water your plants?

She issued a challenge to us: The Gratitude Challenge.  It's simple: write down 100 things you're grateful for.  But before you start feeling overwhelmed, break it down this way:

- List 10 people you're grateful for.
- List 10 people who have died you're grateful for.
- List 10 physical abilities you're grateful for.
- List 10 material possessions you're grateful for.
- List 10 things about nature you're grateful for.
- List 10 things just about today you're grateful for.
- List 10 places on earth you're grateful for.
- List 10 modern-day inventions you're grateful for.
- List 10 foods you're grateful for.
- List 10 things about the Gospel you're grateful for.

Then, if you're feeling motivated, you can come up with your own lists beyond that - 10 things about your home, your spouse, your parents, things Jesus did...imagine how much happier you'd be if you listed out 10 things and made the conscious decision to be grateful every day.

Pres. Monson has said,
It would be easy to become discouraged and cynical about the future-or even fearful of what might come-if we allowed ourselves to dwell only on that which is wrong in the world and in our lives. Today, however, I’d like us to turn our thoughts and our attitudes away from the troubles around us and to focus instead on our blessings as members of the Church. The Apostle Paul declared, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear [or complaint]; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Happy Sunday.


Loch of the Lowes

This is a brilliant place for everyone. Not only can you get to see the ospreys during the summer months, but all through the year there's something going on, and the feeding area has red squirrels and birds of all sorts. Also, it's just a beautiful spot!

Accessibility: Accessible to all.


The Significance/Function of Phonological Rules in Language

Essay by climber368University, Master'sA-, July 2004

download word file, 3 pages 4.1

The Significance/Function of Phonological Rules in Language

Every language has a set of phonological rules that are learned sub-consciously by the native speaker. These rules can be applied to individual sounds, but mainly they apply to groups of sounds called natural classes (Fromkin, p.270). The rules help us to understand, what may appear to be irregularities in our language, to actually be predictable forms of speech. A non-native speaker may not be aware of these rules and thus may have difficulty with certain utterances.

By being aware of these rules, a non-native speaker may become more native like in his/her speech.

There are many phonological rules, but I will discuss only three of them here: assimilation rules, feature-addition rules and segment deletion rules.

Assimilation rules are considered feature-changing rules, that is, the value of phonemic features are changed. The assimilation rule states that a sound becomes more similar to a neighboring sound. This is in large part due to the difference in the manner and place of articulation of each sound. When moving from one sound to another we want to move our articulators as little as possible. This easing of the articulators results in the assimilation of the two sounds. Palatalisation is an example of assimilation (Fromkin, p.477).

In palatalisation the alveolar 'sounds /d/ and /t/ are pronounced further back in the mouth' (Avery, p.89). They occur...


Module 7: How we Craft.

    “Great Word of Life, great Light of the World, breathe on us.  Shine on us.  So that by looking we may see and by listening we may hear.…”

    This is part of the prayer for illumination offered every time I am invited to proclaim the indwelling Word.  This prayer does not begin on Sunday morning when I mount the steps to preach, but when I sit in the company of the Holy Spirit to craft the sermon.

    Dwelling in the Word gives preachers the opportunity to step into a text looking, watching, asking, smelling, and, if possible, tasting its truth and mystery.  The preacher cannot approach sermon preparation as a spectator or observer, but must fully abandon the world where she lives for a time to immerse herself in the text.  There, while dwelling in the Word, she discovers how to craft the sermon.

    Crafting a sermon is unlike preparing for any other kind of speech.  Other speeches utilize rhetorical tools to relay some sort of information or instruction before, beneath or within the speech.  Preachers who dwell in the Word find that the Word of God itself is the actual sermon.  We preach the text.

    There are three elements to crafting the sermon: understanding the genre of the text, understanding the contemporary context of the sermon, and wrapping both in the preacher’s prophetic imagination.

    Some preachers find the most difficult moment of sermon preparation to be after the preacher has faithfully done careful exegesis and is confronted with the frightening question of how to say what she has been compelled by the Spirit to say.  This is often the part of the process when preachers sift through commentaries, articles, and perhaps even sermon notes from other preachers in search of a form that will be useful for preaching a particular text in an equally particular context.

    Those who dwell in the Word more easily find that the form of a sermon can be found simply by understanding the genre of the text.  Thomas Long offers an insightful section on biblical genre in his bookPreaching and the Literary Forms of the Bible.  In it he identifies psalms, proverbs, miracle stories, parables, prophetic oracles and short stories as just a few of the genres offered in the texts of scripture (1.) Each of these genres communicates particular characteristics, historical content and rhetorical functions with faithful forms worthy of sermon preparation.

    Consider for a moment the Psalms as a genre.  Psalms are poetic and liturgical through and through, although they vary in context and primary purpose of use.  Long says the Psalms, like all poetry, persuade us “by making finely tuned adjustments at deep and critical places in our imagination” (2).  The task for the preacher who dwells in the Psalms is not to appeal to the power of persuasion or academic acrobats but instead to receive the poetic genre with its probing and unfolding as a gift fit to be used in the form it already is in.

    With genre in tow the preacher who is still dwelling in the Word widens her gaze to invite her actual preaching context to join her in the work of formation.  Paul Scott Wilson offers a hermeneutical instrument for dwellers in “four pages of a sermon” (3) where preachers marry the trouble and grace in the text with the same in the world.  Wilson seems to mimic Karl Barth who first offered the notion of the relationship between Bible and newspaper.  Both images confirm that the genre of the text and that of the contemporary context where preachers live and proclaim must be continuous.

    The pulpit in the black church became a prevailing force because of the black preacher’s mastery of this very way of crafting the sermon.  The distinctive power of black preaching provides a form which transports preacher and hearers from the trouble in the text and world to find grace enough to cover both.  In the text where the lion becomes like a tamed pet and the fiery furnace welcomes the company of the Son of Man, the preacher who dwells forms a contextual sermon equally as subversive and reassuring.

    Finally, when the preacher has been gifted with the form of the text and invites her context to lie faithfully beside it, she is ready to practice what Walter Brueggemann calls “prophetic imagination.” By this Bruggemann does not offer an external analysis of the world or current issues with or without the lens of ancient texts.  Instead he affirms the moment when the preacher is free to “utter, entertain, describe, and construe a world other than the one that is manifest in front of (her).” (4)  At this juncture, genre and context are clothed in a glorious skin that appropriates God with agency and character, namely Jesus Christ our Lord.

    Jesus, the Logos of God, emerges from the wilderness full of the Spirit to perform what in some church traditions is called his initial sermon, recorded in Luke 4:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,

to preach deliverance to the captives,

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty them that are bruised

    Jesus had been dwelling in Isaiah 61, with its trouble and grace of the age of the prophet Isaiah, and brought it into the trouble and grace of his own first century world.  With flesh and blood Christ utters, entertains, describes and construes a sermon whose form is as old as the text in which he dwelled.

    Whether on paper with pen, or on the contents of a human heart, the sermon is crafted marrying genre, context and prophetic imagination enough to allow the preacher to offer the person of Jesus Christ the Word of Life, Light of the World and nothing else.

Rev. Denise Kingdom Grier

Maple Avenue Ministries

Holland, Michigan

1.      Long, Thomas G. Preaching and the Literary Forms of the Bible. Philadelphia; Fortress, 1989.  Print, pg.45.

2.      Ibid, pg.46

3.      Wilson, Paul Scott. The Four Pages of the Sermon: A Guide to Biblical Preaching.  Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1999.

4.      Brueggemann, Walter.  The Prophetic Imagination. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978.

YouTube Video

YouTube Video

Consider the questions below - ponder them in your mind and in your heart. Then write out your answers before meeting with your group.

As you read and watch, how do you...

...find yourself resonating with the ideas offered in the essay?

...find yourself experiencing resistance?

Consider the text you have internalized over the last few months. What message is starting to appear? How would you begin to see this as a sermon?


Surprising immune cell discovery may have cancer implications

01 January 2014

T lymphoctyes

Image: Innate-like T lymphocytes.

Scientists have identified a previously unknown subset of T lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, that can mount a quicker-than-usual response to generic immune threats - termed 'innate-like' immunity.

The findings, by researchers at Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute (LRI; now part of the Francis Crick Institute), King's College London and UCL, have implications for cancer treatment, as innate immune responses can be a crucial part of our defence against the formation of tumours.

Professor Adrian Hayday of LRI explained: "During vaccination or infection by microbes or viruses, T lymphocytes respond to limit infection. These responses are highly specific, targeting very particular pathogens, but are delayed by the time that it takes to assemble the response - typically a week or longer. By contrast, our laboratory has demonstrated that some T lymphocytes react very rapidly to generic signals of something being awry in cells or tissues.

"It's as though T lymphocytes traditionally respond to the presence of a burglar in the house, whereas the subset of T lymphocytes we identified respond to the sight of an open door or broken window, without knowing what caused it.

"Such signs that things are not normal  occur in the early stages of infection by many pathogens. And interestingly, they can also occur in the early stages of cancer, supporting our and others' studies that rapidly-responding T lymphocytes can form one key part of our defences against tumour formation."

Professor Hayday's team used mouse models to investigate the behaviour of the rapidly-responding, innate-like T lymphocytes. The study focused on the very fine dissection of small numbers of cells, using molecular biology and immunology techniques.

They discovered that the 'internal wiring' of the innate-like lymphocytes is altered during development of the cells. This explains how they can behave so differently from conventional lymphocytes - that is, with quick and generic, rather than delayed and specific, responses to immune threats.

Professor Hayday added: "These findings are important if we are to mobilise innate-like lymphocytes against cancer or if we need to suppress such cells, such as in cases where they may be contributing to inflammatory disease."

He continued: "The journal Science proclaimed cancer immunotherapy as the breakthrough of 2013 and has published clinical studies where conventional T lymphocytes showed efficacy against some solid tumours. However, these may have many severe side-effects and so will need radical refinement before they can be used to treat patients.

"It is likely that innate-like T lymphocytes will form an important part of the immunotherapy arsenal. Any attempts to use them to treat cancer in the clinic should greatly benefit from the improved understanding of their biology provided in this study."

The scientists are now investigating the biology of innate-like T lymphocytes in human samples ranging from normal skin through to primary breast cancers.

The paper, Innate-like T cells straddle innate and adaptive immunity by revising antigen-receptor responsiveness, is published in Nature Immunology.

  • Innate immune responses have been shown to play a part in defending against certain tumours. And conversely, suppressing innate-like immune responses may be a potential strategy for treating disorders caused by overactive immune responses, such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis.
  • White blood cells are involved in protecting the body against infection and foreign materials. Lymphocytes are one type of these, which are further broken down into large and small lymphocytes. T lymphocytes are one of two types of small lymphocyte, which together with B lymphocytes make up the so-called acquired or adaptive immune system and provide specific responses to threats. There are several types of T lymphocytes, each of which play a distinct role in immunity.
  • Conversely, the innate immune system is comprised of non-lymphocyte types of white blood cell, which provide a non-specific first line of defence.


Seva Samiti

Seva Samiti was another organization founded by another prominent member of the Servants of India Society, Hridayanath Kunzru. Founded in 1914 at Allahabad, the Seva Samiti had as its objective to organise social service during natural disasters like floods and epidemics, to promote the spread of education, cooperation, sanitation, to uplift depressed classes, reform criminals and rescue the fallen.


House Bill to Provide Gas-Price-Relief Without Drilling

House Bill to Provide Gas-Price-Relief Without Drilling

by -

cars-driving-at-sunset.jpgBipartisan Legislation to Provide Transportation and Housing Options was introduced in the Congress yesterday that would offer Americans relief from high gas prices by providing expanded transportation and housing options.

The bill, “The Transportation and Housing Options for Gas Price Relief Act of 2008” (H.R. 6495), was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and five co-sponsors. It was endorsed by the Environmental Defense Fund as a bill that would “facilitate alternatives to driving where possible and respond to America’s insufficient public transit and costly housing options”.

The Transportation and Housing Options for Gas Price Relief Act of 2008 would allocate funds to:

  • Make sure the Federal Government leads by example by: 1) Upgrading key websites for easier access to services without having to leave home and work; and 2) Encouraging federal agencies and offices to participate in local Transportation Management Agencies, which provide transportation options.

“Public transit use and demand for other transportation options are continuing to rise throughout the country,” said Michael Replogle, transportation director at Environmental Defense Fund and a former consultant for the U.S. Federal Highway Administration and the World Bank on sustainable transportation strategies. “This bill would support current transportation options while encouraging the creation of new and necessary transit alternatives. It would ultimately benefit all Americans by saving them gas money, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, alleviating traffic, and reducing pollution.”


The Evenlode

 Torture will give a dozen pence or more
To keep a drab from bawling at his door.
The public taste is quite a different thing- Torture is positively paid to sing.

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09 May 2011

West Virginia is the only state to report a decrease in population. Dealths outpace births and the race is expected to continue. The once booming area used to house an abundance young couples and children, but with the decline of the steel mill the largest employer, these families are forced to relocate to survive.
The sense of community is dwindling if not gone in some areas. The aging population just does not have the energy, or in some cases, the ability to activily participate in community building activites. Gone are the days of festivals, fairs, and parades unless the younger generation steps up to the challenge.
Weirton, West Virgina is a perfect example of this story. With just 71 babies born on average for every 100 residents who die, Brooke County, in which Weirton is partly located, has the largest such gap in the nation among counties in metropolitan areas, save for a handful of places that are magnets for retirees. Hancock County, which contains the other part of Weirton, is in similar demographic straits.
The main reason Brooke County is so far off the national number - which is 171 births to 100 deaths - is that it has missed out on one of the dominant demographic trends to emerge from the recent census: the influx of young immigrants into communities across the United States. The median age for Hispanics, by far the largest immigrant group, is just 27, far lower than the median age for whites of 41.
Without immigrants or economic opportunities to keep its younger residents close to home, Brooke County and others like it are showing their age. At St. Paul Catholic Church in Weirton, the Rev. Larry Dorsch has buried 15 people this year and baptized one. The American Legion in Wellsburg has closed because of a lack of young supporters. Volunteer fire departments are so understaffed that people come from other towns to fight fires.
There are now 853 counties with similar population including parts of the Great Plains, the Midwest and New England. The problem is even more acute across the Atlantic. Countries in the European Union collectively will cross the threshold for having fewer births than deaths by 2015, and would experience population growth only through immigration.
West Virginia is the only state in the country with more deaths than births, but other states, like Maine, are not far behind. Estimates are that many white areas will tip into natural decrease in the next 10 to 15 years.
If Brooke County is a postcard from the future, it ended up there because it never adapted from its past. For decades, it was a steel manufacturing powerhouse, employing thousands of workers in mills along the Ohio River. Weirton Steel, a hulking plant that straddles Weirton’s main street was once the largest single private employer in the state. Now Wal-Mart holds that distinction, and Weirton Steel, now owned by Arcelor Mittal, a Luxembourg company run by an Indian billionaire, is a small fraction of its former size. Grass grows through cracks in the vast, empty parking lots.
Manufacturing jobs, long the lifeblood of the area, shrank by 38 percent statewide since 1990. Now health care is the state’s second-largest employer after government. The number of young people here sagged with the economy. The population under 35 is about half of what it was in 1980, while the number of residents 55 or older has jumped by 23 percent, according to 2010 census data released Thursday.
Now walkers and wheelchairs are more common than strollers. Sunday school classrooms at the United Methodist Church downtown are ghostly quiet, and Brooke High School has just half the number of students it did when it opened in 1969.
Fewer people means, inevitably, less of a sense of community. Father Dorsch spends his days looking for ways to revive it. In one town, he used public outrage about stray shopping carts to get people involved in improving their community. But Weirton has such bitterness over the mill that it has been hard to get its residents to trust anybody, and it seems stuck in place.
The demographics have created a death spiral, both literal and metaphorical. The lack of young people had reduced the tax base. With so few young people, volunteer fire departments are having trouble keeping staffing at safe levels. At the Bethany Fire Department, it is said that when the alarm goes off, the trucks leave with just two people on them when six are needed, so volunteers have to come from other towns to help.
But even one energetic young couple can do a lot to bring a town back to life, as the Sheperds have proved in Beech Bottom, the tiny town where they live. The town now has a new playground, thanks to the grant writing skills of Mr. Sheperd, who is from the county. They also have revived the town picnic, and have set up a Web site and a newsletter. They recently received a grant to start a recycling program.
With the population crisis, the communities will continue to struggle unless people, especially younger people, are willing to step up and take on the burden to turn things around. The Shepherds may have gotten the ball rolling but it will take more dedication from others to make it all work and progress. Areas like Brook County have a lot to learn to move themselves up from the trenches of a bad economy into a prosperous area that families will want to move back into.


Illustrations by Kiersten West
A Greater Price to Pay:
Poverty and Food Insecurity
by Patrick Reyes

 Progress and innovation have always marked humanity’s steady march into the future. Long ago, our collective efforts allowed us to depart from the simple question of surviving, onto the ever-grander unknown of thriving. Or so one would think. Despite the advances and discoveries of the 21st century, for many people, the issue of survival still takes precedence. According to a 2015 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 795 million people around the world, or about one in nine people on Earth, are undernourished and remain in a state of what is known as “food insecurity” (United Nations, “State of Food Insecurity”). According to the FAO, food security consists of four factors: the physical availability of food, the economic and physical access to food, the utilization and nutritional value of food, and the relative stability of the other three factors (United Nations, “An Introduction”). Thus, food insecurity results from a deficiency in any of these four factors. But it is the question of access that perplexes the most and prompts the need for further investigation, especially the issue of economic access. The correlation between poverty and food insecurity remains strong: FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva noted that, of the 795 million food insecure in 2015, 780 million were from the developing regions of the world (United Nations, “State of Food Insecurity”). Global rises in food prices also continue to restrict access to food for the poor. But food insecurity has far greater consequences than simply going hungry. Malnutrition results in poor physical and cognitive development, and affects a person’s productivity and income, thereby further exacerbating both food insecurity and poverty in a vicious cycle between the two (United Nations, “An Introduction”). Thus, not only do the poor already suffer the most from food insecurity, but they are also the most susceptible to further increases in food insecurity. Unless certain measures and solutions are implemented to feed the poor and combat poverty, the rate of food insecurity around the world will only grow, and millions already hungry will see no relief in the near future. Tackling the problem requires an understanding of how poverty results in, and worsens, food insecurity. Lack of economic development and government aid both contribute to poverty, thereby contributing to food insecurity by affecting the poor and their access to food.

Because of poverty’s role in the manifestation of food insecurity, one can examine food security as an economic problem. Professor emeritus of Ohio State University Luther Tweeten notes that access, not availability, is of the utmost concern among the four factors of food insecurity. Tweeten points out that “availability of food… is not now of overriding interest, given the rising per capita global supply” (475). To demonstrate the notion that access supersedes the question of availability, Tweeten cites Indian economist Amartya Sen’s observations of the 1943 Bengali famine, wherein food was readily available, but many starved due to the following economic factors: lack of buying power, prohibitive prices, and a lack of transfer payments such as welfare, government subsidies, or social security (475). In this way, one can consider the problem of food insecurity in the 21st century as a manifestation of low incomes and ailing economies. Food may very well be plentiful and abundant, but the reason many still in the world still starve is that they have no economic access to it. To that end, Tweeten concludes that “because it is the poor who lack access to food, alleviating food insecurity means alleviating poverty” (476).

why do some countries falter while others improve and prosper?

To understand the underlying root causes of economic decline on poverty and food insecurity, one need only look at areas of the developing world affected by these problems. For example, developing countries in Africa have experienced a general increase in food insecurity in recent decades, while other regions of the globe improved, and saw decreases instead. The FAO found that in the period between 1969-1971 and 1990-1992, while countries in East and Southeast Asia saw a reduction of 207 million in the number of undernourished people, sub-Saharan Africa saw an addition of 112 million (Tweeten 474). This begs the question: why do some countries falter while others improve and prosper? The answer, again, lies in poverty.

Sisay Asefa, professor of economics at Western Michigan University, focused on Ethiopia as a case study for economics and food insecurity in Africa. He notes that, despite its large and diverse population, and its great agro-economic potential, Ethiopia has played host to many of the problems facing other African nations in recent decades such as conflict, economic mismanagement, and political ineptitude (Asefa 59). To that end, Asefa concludes that “Thus, there are few socio-economic, political, and agro-ecological conditions in Africa that do not have some manifestation in Ethiopia” (Asefa 59). Despite the fact that 60% of Ethiopian land was suitable for agricultural production in 2003, only 10% was being cultivated, undermining an economy that was, and still is, based primarily on agriculture (Asefa 60). And since smallholder farms produce conduct 95% of Ethiopian agriculture, a weak economy with unfulfilled potential contributes to poverty by lowering incomes, which in turn, contributes to food insecurity (Asefa 60). Highlighting the “strong link between lack of economic growth, poverty, and food insecurity,” Asefa notes the dichotomy between progress in East Asia and stagnation and decline in Africa, by observing that “East Asia is also the region where the fastest economic growth and poverty reduction has taken place” (Asefa 61). Empowering the poor by raising incomes and improving economies has already proven to be a strong solution in the fight against food insecurity. Thus, by eliminating poverty, economic development can be a key to reducing food insecurity.

This principle does not only apply exclusively to the developing regions of the world, however. Economic development also plays just as profound a role in developed, Western nations. This may come as a surprise to some who believe that hunger and starvation are a problem the Western world has successfully managed and cordoned off to far-away places in Africa or South Asia. Some believe that developed countries possess the abundance of food that developing countries do not, and that this surplus acts as a bulwark against hunger in developed countries. However, the fact of the matter is that people still go hungry in developed nations, and the root of the problem again lies in lack of economic access to food. For example, a 2009 study conducted in the city of Ontario sought to explore the correlations between food insecurity and one’s socio-demographic factors. In that study, Valerie Tarasuk and Janet Vogt found that poverty proved the strongest factor in determining one’s state of food security, stating that “Even after other socio-demographic factors were taken into account, the odds of experiencing household food insecurity rose… as the adequacy of household income declined” (185). Again, one’s income determines the state of one’s food security. Just as it was in 1943 Bengal, so it is in modern day Ethiopia and Ontario: despite the availability of food, one’s economic access to it, or lack thereof, decides whether one goes hungry or not.

Two common threads in the relationship between poverty and food insecurity lie in two entities that affect one?s economic standing: the economy and the government.

Tarasuk and Vogt’s study also noted something else of interest that Tweeten highlighted as well. Of the food insecure households found in Ontario, 61% were also reliant on social assistance (Tarasuk and Vogt 185), just as Tweeten noted the lack of government assistance in the Bengali famine. Two common threads in the relationship between poverty and food insecurity lie in two entities that affect one’s economic standing: the economy and the government. Economies and governments are two vastly different creatures altogether, yet they are intimately intertwined. Where one is the resulting phenomenon from business and transactions, the government is formed in mind with the purpose of providing for and protecting certain rights and liberties of the people. Among those responsibilities is the mandate to ensure that the basic needs of its citizens are met. There are departments for education, health and safety, as well as agencies that work to ensure that people are fed. But citizens may also call upon the government for aid if they lack the means to procure certain necessities. This is the heart of social welfare and government aid, and this notion is of particular import to the poor, because while improving the economy may improve their state of food security in the long term, government aid is essential to providing more immediate help, especially when the economy fails to do so. Food is a right, one that must be protected and ensured by government, for it is the right that precedes all others. For what use is freedom of speech to one who is starving? Does the Declaration of Independence not count the right to life among a person’s unalienable rights? In this way, the government is the primary institution in society tasked with ensuring and safeguarding the people’s welfare. Thus, when government fails to help people already on hard times, it must adjust and improve itself in order to provide for its people sufficiently.  To that end, Tarasuk and Vogt find the high correlation between Ontario’s food insecure with reliance on social assistance as representative of the “inadequacy of welfare incomes to cover estimates of basic living costs,” signaling the need to improve upon and expand social assistance (186).

Government inadequacy and the lack of sufficient welfare as factors contributing to food insecurity can be observed worldwide. In his article, “Food Insecurity and the Conflict Trap”, from Our World 2.0, a periodical published by the United Nations University, Mark Notaras notes the importance of the role governing bodies play in food security, saying that “national governments and the international community can provide food assistance that restores peace and builds social capital.” Governments are institutions that must first and foremost be invested in the safety and well-being of the people. Among other responsibilities, they are tasked with ensuring that the people are fed. But what if they fail in this endeavor? What happens when governments do not give the necessary aid and stability to ensure food security? The answer is simple: the poor go hungry.

Take, for instance, a study conducted by Ellen Messer and Marc J. Cohen that notes the prevalence of food insecurity in war-torn regions. Messer and Cohen highlight how, in 2004, the FAO found that 71% of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was food insecure, as was 68% of Burundi, and 27% of the Sudan, all of which are regions where the governing bodies are either too corrupt or locked in some sort of conflict to be anywhere near capable of providing for the needs of their people. Messer and Cohen, like Tweeten, also quote Amartya Sen to say that “conflict causes food insecurity by reducing food production, entitlement to produce or access food, and human welfare and capabilities, through the destruction of the environment, health and healthcare, education and other social infrastructure” (qtd. in Messer and Cohen). While that point touches on all four of the basic factors of food security, Messer and Cohen emphasize the role of governments, and how conflict renders them incapable of providing for the poor and their most vulnerable citizens. Conflict produces, among other things, political instability, which in turn undermines that ability of government to provide the necessary social aid and welfare to stem food insecurity among those who need it most, such as the poor.

Now, some may say that this problem could never be found in a developed, Western nation, since most of the governments of these nations tend to be politically stable and, thus, able to provide welfare. However, that belies the point. Political instability simply hampers a government’s ability to provide sufficient welfare and social aid. But functioning governments can still fail to provide the necessary amount of aid by not providing enough. One need only look at the United States to find an example of this. Craig Gundersen and James P. Ziliak studied childhood food insecurity in America and, naturally, found that “poverty strongly predicts both whether a child enters food insecurity and whether food insecurity persists.” However, they also note factors other than the economy that contribute to food insecurity. For example, while they highlight the increase of children in food insecure households during the Great Recession, they also found that “food-insecurity rates among children were high even during good economic times,” citing the three years of robust economic growth prior to the Great Recession, where “approximately 17 percent of U.S children lived in food-insecure households” (Gundersen and Ziliak). So the question remains: how does a functioning government and a thriving economy still allow for food insecurity? To that end, Gundersen and ZIliak closely examined U.S. welfare programs that help feed the needy, particularly the USDA’s Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). Gundersen and Ziliak note how SNAP and programs like it have been proven to work in the past, but are currently experiencing inefficiencies due to antiquated models of aid and recent downturns in the economy. Notably, they criticize the way in which SNAP calculates the amount of aid a household receives, wherein the more income a household makes, the less aid they receive. For example, SNAP’s “30 percent rule”, wherein families are expected to pay about one-third of their income for food, was created during the 1950’s when the official poverty line was first established (Gundersen and Ziliak). They contend that SNAP must reorganize and refine its model in accordance with modern costs and incomes (Gundersen and Ziliak). Research has also found lower SNAP participation among eligible working people, again, in large part because income minimizes SNAP benefits (Gundersen and Ziliak). SNAP’s formula discourages participation, hampering the benefits of either livelihood or SNAP aid, as households are forced to balance and weigh the two. Why choose SNAP when earning the maximum benefit can only come from not having a living wage? Workers on SNAP are forced into a precarious limbo between getting a decent wage and getting help to put food on the table. Where most would expect that increases in wage would improve the poor’s state of food security, the current SNAP formula turns out to discourage such economic growth. Earning a better wage brings with it the prospect of losing one’s SNAP benefits. But because SNAP relies on an antiquated formula to determine need and aid, reaching such a threshold would mean receiving no aid and having to rely on a wage only considered adequate during the 1950’s. Thus, to many, the prospect of upward mobility is undercut by certain deficiencies and lack of change in the SNAP program. In this way, SNAP effectively punishes much-needed incremental income growth among households at greatest risk of food insecurity. Gundersen and Ziliak, again, suggest revisiting the SNAP formula increasing the discount of earned income in SNAP to “encourage more work among the SNAP population.” This way, those around the poverty line will be free to work and earn more, thereby empowering their economic access to food in the long-term, while ensuring the necessary aid to help them in the short term.

Knowing that lack of both economic development and government aid exacerbate poverty in such a way that also enhances food insecurity, one can see how Tweeten claims that “alleviating food insecurity means alleviating poverty” (476). In this way, the solution to the problem lies in the two entities that can directly impact poverty and food security: the economy and the government. However, a capitalist economy is more fickle and unpredictable than the other, owing to its nature rooted in business and profit. The economy has no moral obligation to feed the poor or ensure the well-being of the public. It is predicated solely on the notion of profit to ensure that money can flow. But sometimes the flow of money fails to reach those who need help the most. To that end, it is the government that must take up the work of empowering the poor and fighting food insecurity. The government, unlike the economy, does have the obligation to ensure the welfare of its citizens. It also possesses the authority and power to do so. But it must provide the necessary amount of aid in doing so, and not the bare minimum of years gone by. Expanding welfare programs, revisiting the measures and systems of older ones, and creating new ones as needed, will ensure that a proven means of fighting food insecurity does not grow obsolete or limp-wristed.

The problem of economic development must also fall to the government, rather than the market. While the economy may be the tool with which to eliminate poverty, it cannot wield itself. Again, the economy is, at its core, deaf to the cries and lamentations of the populace. But the government can assert itself and keep the economy in check, using its power to eliminate poverty. Economic laws and regulations must be enacted to in order to prevent another Great Recession and allow the government to help a nation recover and empower its poor. Regulation of industry ensures fair play in business and allows the poor and at-risk to also have the chance of reaping the fruits of a thriving economy. The United Nations and the international community must also do the same, ensuring that prosperity and the natural right to food reaches all people, especially in developing countries, where progress fighting poverty and food insecurity are desperately needed.

Now, some may argue that to focus on poverty, economic access, economies and governments is to ignore the FAO’s other factors of food security: availability, utilization and stability of the other factors (UN, “An Introduction”). They may contend that solving food insecurity requires more than just programs to feed people and laws to rein in the economy. However, these criticisms fail to recognize why poverty and food insecurity are so closely intertwined. Again, as Tweeten notes, improved global supply and production have allowed food to be widely available, but people still starve because they do not have economic access to them (Tweeten 475-6). Access also supersedes the factor of utilization and nutritional value. For what good is a nutritious and wholesome meal if one cannot get to it? Thus, tackling the problem of economic access to food, through meaningful and effective government aid, and ensuring economic growth and prosperity in order to eliminate poverty, stand as the most viable and impactful way of tackling food insecurity.

In her 1970 essay “The Changing Significance of Food”, renowned cultural anthropologist and activist Margaret Mead once wrote of the dilemma of world hunger, saying that “If this hunger is not met now, we disqualify ourselves, we cripple ourselves, to deal with world problems” (176). The promise of a better tomorrow continues to drive progress and innovation in the 21st century. But for many, that promise has yet to come true. Countless poor around the world struggle to deal with hunger, suffering a fate not of their own doing. One can see how certain entities/bodies, such as governments and economies, have either failed to help them or have grown callous towards them. Yet those very same entities/bodies can be the key to eliminating the great anachronism of our time. For how can we truly say that humanity has achieved its brighter future when, in fact, it still struggles to feed itself? Humankind owes it to itself to eliminate poverty, and thus, food insecurity. In doing so, humanity can then confidently say that it has taken those crucial steps towards the brighter tomorrow it longs for: a world without hunger.

Works Cited

Asefa, Sisay. “Rural Poverty, Food Insecurity and Environmental Degradation in Ethiopia: A Case Study from South Central Ethiopia” International Journal of Ethiopian Studies 1.1 (2003): 59–89. JSTOR. Web. 1 May 2016.

Gundersen, Craig, and James P. Ziliak. "Childhood Food Insecurity In the U.S.: Trends, Causes, and Policy Options." The Future of Children Fall 2014: n. pag. Academic OneFile. Web. 7 Apr. 2016.

Mead, Margaret. “The Changing Significance of Food.” Food Matters: A Bedford Spotlight Reader. Ed. Holly Bauer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. 166-176. Print.

Messer, Ellen, and Marc J. Cohen. "Conflict, Food Insecurity and Globalization." Food, Culture & Society 10.2 (2007): n. pag. Academic OneFile. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.

Notaras, Mark. "Food Insecurity and the Conflict Trap." Our World 2.0. The United Nations University, 31 Aug. 2011. Web. 4 Apr. 2016. 14 Oct. 2014.

Tarasuk, Valerie, and Janet Vogt. “Household Food Insecurity in Ontario”. Canadian Journal of Public Health / Revue Canadienne de Sante'e Publique 100.3 (2009): 184–188. JSTOR. Web. 14 May 2016.

Tweeten, Luther. “The Economics of Global Food Security”. Review of Agricultural Economics 21.2 (1999): 473–488. JSTOR. Web. 1 May 2016.

United Nations. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “An Introduction to the Basic Concepts of Food Security.” Rome: Palazzo FAO, 2008. Web. 15 May 2016.

United Nations. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “State of Food Insecurity in the World: In Brief”. Rome: Palazzo FAO, 2015. Web. 15 May 2016.

Patrick Reyes

The breadth of research topics open to me for the ENGL110 essay were both liberating and a bit overwhelming. The freedom to explore any topic brought with it the burden of choice. Yet having grown up in the Philippines, I felt compelled to give voice to what life was like for many back home. For many Filipinos, hunger is part of life, as it is for people around the world. Indeed, the revelation that hunger still casts its long shadow in a modern country like America was particularly jarring. Thus, I chose to try to find at least one of the explanations to this problem, if only to find a solution to a troubling question such as this.

What was once intended to be a lone comparison between the Philippines and the United States of America grew in scope to countries the world over. The trends and parallels could not be ignored. Further research brought me to the United Nations and the international effort to both understand and solve the problem of hunger, as well as the experts that have examined current trends and historical precedents in order to isolate certain root causes and offer specific solutions. Many of these lines of research ultimately brought me to the issue of global economics of food, thus providing the nexus of my argument.

The research and the essay brought with them an element of urgency. That hunger still exists in the world has shaken my faith and rendered me in dire need of an answer. I wrote with the knowledge that, while I may not have the ultimate answer to hunger, by grounding the problem to the concepts of economics and poverty, at the very least one can see that hunger is a problem that can be solved so long as we tackle it from the right angle.

Professor Frank Hillson

What do food selection, preparation, and distribution tell us about people?  What insight does food provide into the politics and mores of a community, culture, or country?  This honors English 110 course, “You Are What You Eat: Food and Culture,” used food as a mechanism to examine our society and our world.  Courtney Zozulia and Patrick Reyes’ culinary journey began with an exploratory in-class workshop where they investigated a topic of personal interest. (This food concept became the foundation for their research paper.)  The idea was then discussed in a five-page exploratory essay, which was later fine-tuned during a one-on-one conference with the instructor.  Several more workshops helped to round out their discussion. The students’ arguments were then showcased in a five-minute PowerPoint presentation where they received input from their peers during Q & A.  Courtney’s essay investigated the cleverness with which western supermarkets entice consumers to buy food (and more food than needed) in “Science of the Supermarket: An Analysis of Consumerism in the Developed World.” Patrick took a global look at food, or lack thereof, in “A Greater Price to Pay: Poverty and Food Insecurity,” addressing the plight of the poor and their access to proper nutrition.  Overall, they spent about two months brainstorming, researching, composing, rewriting, and editing to produce two insightful essays.

Paper Prompt PDF