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Rahim Kanani Contributor

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Expert: 'Pakistan Is the Most Dangerous Country on Earth'

Joe Cirincione, President of Ploughshares Fund.

In an in-depth interview with the President of Ploughshares Fund and one of nation’s top nuclear experts Joe Cirincione, we discussed the true threat of nuclear disaster and its relationship to other global challenges, a new international policy and consensus on nuclear weapons, a ranking of global nuclear threats, whether diplomacy is a dying art, the role of multilateral institutions, and much more.

Joseph Cirincione is President of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation.  He previously served as Vice President for National Security and International Policy at the Center for American Progress and Director for Nonproliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  He is the author of Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons and Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Threats.  Cirincione serves on the Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board, which provides the Department of State with independent insight and advice on all aspects of arms control, disarmament, international security, and related aspects of public diplomacy.  He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

At the Skoll World Forum in March, Cirincione participated in a panel discussion on “catastrophic risks and threats to the global commons” along with Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post, Helene Gayle of CARE, Ian Goldin of the Oxford Martin School and Larry Brilliant of the Skoll Global Threats Fund.

Rahim Kanani: As you think about the range of threats facing the world today–specifically those that have the potential to cause cataclysmic harm–such as climate change, global pandemics, and your particular expertise, nuclear disaster, where on the continuum do you place the nuclear risk in relation to other critical challenges?

Joe Cirincione: We face many challenges in our personal lives, our communities and our nations.  But two stand out in their seriousness and consequences:  global warming and nuclear weapons.  Both threaten destruction on a planetary scale.  Both are caused by machines we built. Both are preventable and reversible.  But both require new ways of thinking and new leadership to find solutions.  Continuing with current policies courts global catastrophe. Other problems also cause or could cause massive human suffering, such as war in the Middle East or the poverty conditions of much of humanity.  And others can have global consequences, such as pandemics.  But only nuclear weapons and global warming have the potential for fundamentally altering or even ending all that human civilization has accomplished over the past millennia.

Rahim Kanani: Continuing that thought, how would you characterize the relationship between these global threats?

Joe Cirincione: First, these threats are truly global.  That is, developments in one nation impact many other nations and only many nations working together can resolve these problems.  We see this on many issues.  Take the rising economies of China and India that have lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty.  These nations have an increasing impact on global economies and global diplomacy.  But their success is not just the result of national policies.  It would not  have been possible without global institutions such as the World Trade Organization and multi-national corporations.  Similarly, we need effective multi-national organizations to coordinate actions on the top global threats.  No one nation can do it.

The need for international cooperation is obvious when addressing threats like global warming and pandemics, but it is also true for nuclear problems–reducing the 19,000 nuclear weapons that threaten us today, preventing new nations from getting these weapons and stopping nuclear terrorism.   The U.S. and Russia, with 95 percent of the weapons, must take the lead, but others, like China and India will have to join the effort.  Even stopping the relatively small, weak nations of Iran and North Korea from becoming nuclear weapon states requires the united efforts of many nations to apply the right pressures and provide the needed incentives.

There are other connections between global threats.  Some believe that nuclear power is essential to slowing carbon emissions that are warming the Earth.  But civilian nuclear power programs are often used by nations as a pathway to nuclear weapons.  Al Gore once said, “During my eight years in the White House, every nuclear weapons proliferation issue we dealt with was connected to a nuclear reactor program. Today, the dangerous weapons programs in both Iran and North Korea are linked to their civilian reactor programs.”

We cannot let our pursuit of a solution to one global threat exacerbate another threat.  As long as nuclear power is considered necessary, it must have the strictest safety and non-proliferation standards possible.  This may require some to give up their national “rights,” by joining regional fuel banks, for example, rather that enriching uranium in their own facilities.  They will only do so if they see it as part of a fair, equal, global bargain where all nations are working to reduce and eliminate nuclear dangers.

Rahim Kanani: What were the key insights you took away in regards to your own panel on catastrophic risk mentioned earlier, both in terms of challenges but also solutions?

Joe Cirincione: The challenges related to the risks discussed on our panel – global poverty, pandemics, and nuclear proliferation – can be daunting. Obstacles to progress can seem insurmountable.  But the belief that change is impossible is our greatest challenge. It turns out that when people say something is impossible, what they really mean is that it is so hard they cannot imagine a solution. Every year, the Skoll World Forum gathers hundreds of gifted social entrepreneurs who can see the solutions.  For a few days, you get to experience, personally and close up, the incredible work these people do. They devote their lives to creating meaningful change.  It is inspiring. It is powerful.

With the dedicated work of a few individuals, great ideas can spread.  We see now a transformation of thinking on nuclear weapons. A new, non-partisan, international consensus has emerged that sees these weapons as a security liability rather than a security asset. Whatever benefits nuclear weapons may have once had during the Cold War are now seen as overwhelmed by the cost and the dangers they represent. This new consensus on the dangers of nuclear weapons is focused on three actions pursued simultaneously:  reduce, prevent and secure.   This is the core of a new global policy:  reduce existing nuclear arsenals, prevent new nuclear states, and secure nuclear stockpiles around the world to block nuclear terrorism.  Progress on each step reinforces progress on the others.  Reducing weapons arsenals builds the cooperation you need to prevent new nuclear states and to secure nuclear materials around the world, which creates the security that allows further reductions.

Rahim Kanani: As you survey the nuclear landscape today, and you think about the situation in Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, among others, is any one nuclear threat to global stability more imminent or important than the other, and how should those in decisions of power think about prioritization?

Joe Cirincione: Pakistan is the most dangerous country on Earth.  It has enough nuclear material for 60 to 100 bombs, an unstable government, a fragile economy, strong extremist influences in its military and intelligence agencies, and Al Qaeda and a half dozen similar groups operating inside the country.  It is not a question of the security of the weapons, it is a question of the security of the government.  What happens if the government falls or the Army splinters?  Who gets the weapons?  Or the scientists who know how to build the weapons, or the material for the weapons?  Pakistan could go from a major non-NATO ally to our worst nuclear nightmare overnight.

By comparison, Iran and North Korea are serious challenges but Iran does not (and may never) have nuclear weapons, while North Korea has only have a few.  Both are more isolated than ever before with more cooperation among nations dealing with these nations than ever before.  This makes a negotiated solution to these programs more feasible or, failing that, their containment.

Rahim Kanani: When you think about intervention versus diplomacy–in the nuclear context and beyond–is the art of diplomacy a dying construct?

Joe Cirincione: No country has ever been coerced into giving up a nuclear weapons program, but many have been convinced to do so.  And these were not easy cases.  Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan gave up thousands of nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union.  South Africa ended a secret program and dismantled the weapons it had built.  Argentina and Brazil ended a years-long nuclear rivalry and spearheaded efforts to make all of South America a nuclear weapons free zone.  Iraq and Libya gave up nuclear programs.  In fact, more nations have given up nuclear weapons and programs in the last 25 years than have tried to acquire them.

All this was done with diplomatic instruments, a combination of pressures and incentives. The process can be difficult, it can be protracted, but in the end a nation has to be convinced that it own goals of security, prestige and productive regional relations can be improved more without nuclear weapons than with them.  There is no military short cut.  US and Israeli military leaders, for example, agree that an attack on Iran would not end that nation’s nuclear program—it would likely accelerate it.  An attack would consolidate the regime’s grip on power, end all debate on whether to build a nuclear weapon, and launch a Manhattan Project-style effort to deploy the only weapons the regime might believe could protect it from further attacks.

There is no substitute for political solutions to our nuclear threats and never has been.  There is no substitute for diplomacy if you want a peaceful, prosperous Middle East, shared water resources, a less warm planet or solutions to any of the dozens of global challenges we face.  We have no choice but to get better at it.

Rahim Kanani: Building off that, how would you rate our multilateral institutions–built with diplomacy at heart–in tackling the current threat landscape, which ultimately requires global leadership and collective action?

Joe Cirincione: The real problem is not the institutions themselves, but an overall lack of global leadership and collective action. Nuclear weapons, for example, are a global issue that will require global cooperation. The United States cannot succeed in eliminating the threat of nuclear disaster on its own. It will require a consensus that is thankfully growing. In the U.S., almost all of the living former secretaries of state and many high-level officials have joined these efforts, publicly warning that we court disaster with nuclear policies still frozen in Cold War thinking.  Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, Sam Nunn and Bill Perry are leaders of this movement but they are not alone.  There are hundreds of institutions and strategists around the world—many of whom we are pleased to support through Ploughshares Fund—who are working to identify and implement practical steps towards the verifiable, global elimination of nuclear weapons.  No one thinks this will be easy or quick.  But each step towards this goal makes us safer and more secure.  We are making progress.  In just the four years that I have been president of our foundation, we have seen the US strategic nuclear arsenal cut by 45 percent.  This is the global trend.  Our job is get it down to safe levels before any weapon goes off anywhere.

Rahim Kanani: Lastly, what is the core driver for you to work on this issue day in and day out, and what is truly at stake if we don’t get it right?

Joe Cirincione: People often fail to realize just how completely destructive these weapons are. Mankind has the power to destroy human life as we know it. The use of one nuclear weapon would be devastating, ten would be unimaginable, and one hundred would cause destruction beyond anything humankind has ever seen. We have thousands. I do not believe that fallible human beings can control this destructive power indefinitely.

Not only do thousands of nuclear weapons not make strategic sense, it does not make fiscal sense. The current arsenal is very expensive, and it is about to grow much more so. Each leg of the United States’ nuclear triad — long-range missiles, bombers, and submarines — is reaching the end of its expected operational life. Proposals to replace each leg and to refurbish each warhead in the stockpile are now working their way through the Pentagon and Congress. Together, they would regenerate the Cold War force at slightly lower levels well past the middle of this century. I estimate that spending on all nuclear weapons and related programs will cost the government $600-750 billion dollars over just the next ten years.  This is money we do not have, for weapons we do not need.

Our troops, our public and our nation deserve a smarter, safer policy.  If we miss this opportunity to modernize our security policies to meet the needs of the 21st Century, we could slip back into a world of more nuclear states, more nuclear arms races, and greater risk of nuclear terrorism.  I believe we are smarter than this.  I am optimistic that over the next few years we will make the right choices, choose the right strategies and budgets and move step by step towards few weapons and greater security.  That is not just my vision, it is my passion.

@rahimkanani | G+ Rahim Kanani | Personal Contact

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Biology: The Eukaryotic Cell Cycle

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About this Lesson

  • Type: Video Tutorial
  • Length: 9:13
  • Media: Video/mp4
  • Use: Watch Online & Download
  • Access Period: Unrestricted
  • Download: MP4 (iPod compatible)
  • Size: 99 MB
  • Posted: 02/10/2009

This lesson is part of the following series:

Biology Course (390 lessons, $198.00)
Biology Review (19 lessons, $27.72)
Biology: An Intro to the Cell Cycle & Mitosis (4 lessons, $6.93)

Professor Wolfe gives an overview of the full cycle of eukaryotic cells. There are consistencies in the cell cycles of almost all eukaryotic cells. Why do cells divide? All the cells divide to maintain their volume to surface are ratio. When cells divide, the genetic information in the offspring cells must be identical to the genetic information in the parent cell, so this genetic information must first be organized and doubled. This process is called 'packing' and forms chromasomes, which are 2 molecules of identical DNA. Ninety percent of a cell's life cycle is spent in the period called "interphase," which is where the cell grows (known as the G1 or Gap 1 phase), DNA replicates (known as the S phase for DNA synthesis), and the cell prepares to divide (known as the G2 or Gap 2 phase). A eukaryotic cell will only spend ten percent of its life cycle dividing, or "replicating."

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Cell Reproduction
An Introduction to the Cell Cycle and Mitosis
The Eukaryotic Cell Cycle

Have you ever wondered why cells divide? There are a lot of good reasons for it. Different cells divide differently.
However, we find when we study the cell cycle that there are literally consistencies throughout practically every kind of
cell. Now, once again, we have to make a special niche for our prokaryotic friends. With their one chromosome and
their singular chromosome and their lack of compartmentalization, they’re going to do cell cycle and cell division a little
bit differently than you and I. I want to talk to you about the eukaryotic cell cycle. I want you guys to get a good feel
for why this happens.
Now, one of the nightmares—you know, so often that when I talk to my students and I ask them for a little retrospect,
many students will say, “Man, in high school I never got cell division.” And then you ask them about college. “You
know, in college I never really got cell division.” And then you talk to teachers and they say, “You know, I had to teach
cell division 148 times before I really got it.” And I don’t get it why you don’t get it, why it’s so hard—no, actually I do
get it because I remember back when it was a struggle for me. And you know, something I’ve learned over the years
is: understand the process and you’ll get the words. Okay? Just a little advice from an old guy here. If you get the
process, it’s all going to make sense. And you’re going to see as we progress through cell divisions—and two
particularly different types of cell divisions—that your basis is learning the eukaryotic cell cycle and what happens, and
then it all stems from there.
Well, let’s start out with what’s important. If you were going to divide a cell, what’s important? Well, the first thing you
would probably say is, “Why bother? Why bother having a cell cycle?” Well, I think you know a little bit about this
story. Why don’t cells get to be giant? Well, cells don’t get to be giant because they depend on their cell membrane
for input of nutrients and for output of wastes, and it’s a simple question of geometry. Volume increases
proportionately faster than surface area. So the cell will get proportionately more volumetric or more volume, whereas
its membrane—and the mathematical thing is, it grows on a cubic basis—whereas the membrane only is a surface
area. So if you just plug in some numbers you find out that, wow, cell volumes get bigger a lot faster than cell
surfaces. It becomes a volume-to-surface-area ratio. Doesn’t work. So cells can’t get giant, which is a good thing for
people who swim in lakes, because amoebae stay on the bottom and they’re tiny. But let’s move on.
So now we know why it has to happen. What would you want to do? Well, if you’re going to make a cell duplicate,
you have to make sure that that cell can function. Think about it. I think I want to make a new skin cell. There’s a
skin cell and there’s its nucleus. Now, if you want that skin cell and this precursor to a skin cell to give rise to new skin
cells, you have to make sure of something. You have to make sure that the two offspring, if you will, of that cell are
going to be able to do a job. And what’s its job? To be a skin cell—not to be a liver cell, not to be a sperm or egg, to
be a skin cell. So therefore, we have to make sure that we get the genetic information that was in this first one, and
we make sure that it goes into this one and this one. So we have to make sure that our genetic information gets in
And so what has evolved over the course of the millennia—more than millennia. Over the millions and billions of
years that life has been around, what has evolved is this idea of, before we can replicate a cell, we have to get its
genetic material organized. So organization. You know, if you think of compartmentalization of cells, it’s an attempt at
organization, and a good attempt. Well, there is even organization within that organization. A cell must organize its
genetic information before it can pass it on. And here’s the thing: not only must it organize it, but it has to double it.
We know that. This is what we’re going to lay out for you over the course of this discussion on the eukaryotic cell
cycle: how does a cell organize its genetic material and how does it pass it on after doubling it? Well, let’s take a
quick look.
Let’s take a look at what happens to our genetic material. Now, I keep using the words “genetic material” because I
want you to think. What is the genetic material? DNA. And what we know about DNA is that our cells, to organize
DNA, go through a series of steps called packing. And we go from what is normally found in the nucleus of a cell,
called chromatin. And chromatin is DNA wrapped around proteins called histones and nonhistonal proteins. And
what happens is we go through a series of steps where this coils and coils and coils and coils, and goes through a
series of continued coils until eventually we get what we like to refer to as a supercoiled strand of DNA, which
eventually ends up in this thing here called a chromosome.
Now, we’re going to talk a lot about chromosomes as we move through the cell cycle but there are a couple of things I
want you to understand. A chromosome is literally two molecules of DNA. You see, chromosomes only exist when
the cell cycle is occurring or when cell replication is occurring. So what we just did is we went from a state called chromatin, which was that loosely-packed DNA, to a chromosome. But even more importantly, we did something
else. If you know anything about molecular genetics, you know that DNA can replicate. So in-between this idea of
chromatin and chromosome, we have doubled our DNA. And there is literally one molecule of DNA on the left side of
the chromosome and one molecule of DNA on the right that are identical to each other. So we’ve accomplished our
goal of doubling our DNA and organizing it. And what did I say is important? You want to make sure you organize
that genetic material, and number two, you want to make sure you get it out to the new cells that you’re making.
Which brings us to an overview of the cell cycle, and let’s talk about what that means.
The cell cycle is what a typical eukaryotic cell goes through. We’ve divided it into phases so that we can have a
picture and have something to talk about. The bottom line is, I know everybody thinks, “Oh, my gosh, we’re going to
learn about this hard thing called mitosis.” But if you take a look at the life of a cell before dividing, we’re going to see
that about 90 percent of a cell’s life is in this green section here called “interphase.” And indeed, interphase is divided
into three phases itself. We have a phase called G1, which stands for gap. You know, we’ve talked a lot in this
course about cell biology. We’ve talked a lot about how cells function. We’re going to talk a lot more about how cells
function. Guess what? Right there. G1. We have been G1 experts. But then at the end of G1, the DNA is
duplicated, and that’s when the cell is getting ready to do what I showed you a second ago, split into two. And now
we get a DNA duplication, a replication of DNA using enzymes like DNA polymerase—did you ever hear of that?
Maybe. And so our DNA is going to replicate.
And now the cell is ready to divide but it’s got to grow a little bit more. So after S, DNA synthesis, it goes into gap 2.
So when does it divide? Right here. Only 10 percent of a cell’s life is spent dividing. Obviously, the field of biology
spends an awful lot of time investigating what happens in the phases when a cell is doing cell things, but it’s very
important for us to now spiral in and take a look at what happens in this small little section here, which we’re going to
call “cell replication.”

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• Fort Matanzas

    Fort Matanzas

    National Monument Florida

There are park alerts in effect.
show Alerts »
  • Unmanned aircraft prohibited

Prickly pear cactus with white, shriveled pads due to cactus moth caterpillars.

Prickly pear cactus showing necrotic tissue damage from burrowing cactus moth caterpillars

NPS photo

A pest can be any animal that causes problems for people, especially when the animal is present in large numbers. Usually the "problem" takes the form of damaged crops and gardens, or a home or other building invaded by pest species looking for food and/or shelter. The class of animals most often associated with pest problems is insects. Common insect pests include: mosquitos, wasps, cockroaches, and ants, all of which are certainly present at Fort Matanzas. (Sometimes way too present, especially mosquitos, which form maddening swarms when weather conditions favor mass hatchings.) But there are three insect species which have caused, or have the potential to cause, significant ecological damage to the park's native plant life. They are the ambrosia beetle, the cactus moth, and the gypsy moth, all non-native invaders of Florida.

The ambrosia beetle (Xyleborus glabratus) is native to southeast Asia, and is thought to have arrived in the southeast United States (first detected in Georgia in 2002) as a stowaway on wooden crating material from international cargo. It is the vector for a non-native fungal species called laurel wilt fungus. The beetle carries spores of the fungus in its mouthparts, and when it attacks its preferred host tree, the redbay, the fungus is released into the tree's xylem (the water-conducting sapwood). The multiplying fungus restricts the flow of water throughout the tree's vascular system, resulting in the wilting of the tree's leaves. An infected tree attracts many other ambrosia beetles, which create galleries in the wood, a habitat they use for reproducing and growing more fungi, which is the beetles' food source. The infected tree eventually dies, and the beetles move on to other trees, repeating the process. Since 2006 nearly every redbay tree in Fort Matanzas has been infected. No preventative or curative treatment for laurel wilt disease has been discovered as of yet.

The cactus moth (Cactoblastis cactorum) is native to Uruguay, Paraguay, and parts of Argentina and Brazil. It came to the U.S. in a roundabout way from Australia, South Africa, and the Caribbean. It was discovered in Florida in 1989. As its name implies, the cactus moth feeds on cacti, specifically prickly pear cactus, a species native to Florida. The moth has three flight dispersal periods per year, typically April-May, July-August, and October-November. During these times, the moths search out prickly pear pads upon which to alight and lay their eggs. The eggs are laid in a chain-like pattern called an egg stick. The egg sticks resemble and blend in with the spines of the prickly pear pads. There are about 70 eggs per egg stick. When the eggs hatch the small larvae burrow their way into the pad where they grow and feed, eating the cactus from the inside out. Damaged prickly pear pads look white and withered (necrotic). If enough pads are infected the plant will eventually die. Before the larvae mature into moths, they leave the plant and drop to the ground where they will transform and continue the cycle. Each flight period Fort Matanzas staff deploy cactus moth traps (scented sticky traps that lure male moths) supplied by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service- Agricultural Research Service, and manually search out and remove egg sticks, in an attempt to mitigate the damage done by these non-native invaders to the park's native cacti.

Finally, in May and June of each year, park staff also deploy sticky traps scented with artificial pheromones specific to the gypsy moth. The gypsy moth is a Eurasian species introduced to the northeastern U.S. in 1869. It is a voracious eater of foliage, especially oak species. While this is a pest primarily of the northeastern states, Fort Matanzas participates in a program of the U.S. Forest Service to identify and eliminate outlier gypsy moth infestations wherever they occur. Fortunately, gypsy moths have never been captured in the park. This is one case where null data is welcome data indeed, especially considering the preponderance of live oaks found in this area!

Did You Know?


5 Places in Your Home That are Breeding Superbugs

The discovery this summer of dishwasher-inhabiting microbes resistant to vast ranges of temperature and acidity got us wondering: What other places in your household are breeding grounds for bugs?

Air (and Trash Cans)

Antibiotic resistance has long been a problem in hospitals, but Drexel University public health researcher Hernando Perez says an increasing number of infections with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are now found outside clinical settings. The bacteria, which are a common culprit in blood, skin, soft tissue and respiratory infections, are mostly transmitted by unwashed hands and contaminated surfaces, but there's some evidence that airborne bacteria can also put people at risk.

Perez wondered if these virulent bacteria lurked in the air of our homes, so he and a team of researchers collected air samples from bedrooms and kitchen trash areas in 12 homes in and around Philadelphia for a study published in February. They then cultured the bacteria they found, isolated the S. aureus and tested it for antibiotic resistance. Nearly one-third of the colonies were MRSA. "[It was] way more than we expected," Perez says. A slightly larger portion of the kitchen bacteria was antibiotic resistant: 26 percent compared with 21 percent in bedrooms.

None of the households' residents had a history of MRSA infection, so the bacteria may have come from pets or other sources. And the elevated levels in the kitchen probably came from food, Perez says. Because farm animals are given a steady diet of antibiotics, he explains, meat and dairy are known sources of antibacterial-resistant pathogens. And once the bacteria are in our trash, they stay warm and moist and well fed: "Trash is a nice little food source," Perez says. "It's a breeding area for all sorts of bugs, and that includes antibiotic-resistant bacteria."

"If airborne bacteria are associated with risk of infection in hospitals, there's no reason to think that they won't be associated with risk of infection in homes."


How to Remove the 3 Most Common Barriers to Happiness

With much love and aloha,

Happy Thanksgiving Day

Aloha and Happy Thanksgiving,

Here in the United States we celebrate Thanksgiving Day today. It is my favorite holiday. A day dedicated to gratitude and thanksgiving. What could be better than gratitude and love? Lots of people use it as an opportunity to overeat but I love having people over, cooking, celebrating and truly giving thanks for everything. I am so grateful I have a wonderful home, a great family, friends and each of you. Thanks for allowing me to be part of your life.

As the holiday approached thought about what I wanted to give you. I finally decided I wanted to share a story from my book, The Toltec Way. It is about a village of people who learned the power of gratitude and love. At first I was just going to record it as an audio but then decided to make a video instead. I hope you enjoy it.

Here is the transcript of the story if you want to read along.

[Read more...]

Ever Thought About Your Thoughts? Where Do They Go?

How many miles have your thoughts traveled?

I once read an article about how far out in space human beings original radio signals travel each day. I saw a science fiction movie in which ET’s were attracted to earth because of TV shows from the 50’s (what a scary thought!)

Imagine each and every thought or word you have ever had or spoken. Think of them traveling into space, forever held, forever spoken, forever reverberating through space, for all time, eternally. Are there any words or thoughts you wish you could take back? [Read more...]


How to Manage Pests

Pests in Gardens and Landscapes

Site selection

Avocados are adapted to a wide range of soils and should grow well where there is fairly good drainage. There should be no hardpan or rock layers within 3 feet of the soil surface. Lime deposits in the soil can cause poor growth and should be avoided. Soils that are poorly drained or where water remains standing for any length of time are also unsuitable and may lead to root rots.

Most avocados are adapted to warmer, tropical or subtropical climates. Depending upon the variety, avocado trees are generally damaged at low temperatures. The Guatemalan races of avocados are injured between 27° and 30° F, and the Mexican varieties can be injured between 24° and 26° F. Cold temperature sensitivity depends on many factors such as how long it stays cold, the weather prior to the cold, the position or exposure of your tree, and fruit maturity as well as variety.

Avocado tree
Poor drainage can lead to avocado root rot

Statewide IPM Program, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California

Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California

Accessibility   /PMG/GARDEN/FRUIT/CULTURAL/avocadosite.html revised: April 25, 2014. Contact webmaster.


Cardinal girls lose two weekend games

The Alexandria girls’ hockey team was handed two losses during a weekend road trip that included games against Mound Westonka and Orono.

The first of the two games on the road was played Friday against Mound Westonka, a team the Cardinals last faced in the consolation bracket of the state tournament last February. The Cardinals were unable to exact revenge against Mound Westonka in a 4-0 loss.

Blaze Fugina
(320) 763-1230


Women's Sexual Health > Female Incontinence

In order to treat the problem you have to know what the problem is, and therefor lets talk about causes. This urgency and frequency syndrome, which I coined, is medically referred to as urethral syndrome, or unstable bladder, and is probably called such because they don't know what the problem really is and how to handle it. Just about anything irritating the bladder or the urethra (the urine tube) can give you the urgency/frequency symptoms.

Many are associated with an abnormal urinalysis and other associated urinary symptoms such as burning on urination, blood in the urine as well as cloudy urine with pus in it. However, most of the problems that have abnormal urinalyses and other symptoms can be diagnosed, treated with antibiotics, or after simple diagnostic tests treated by stretching the urethra. The remainder are the problem patients, the ones with this urethral syndrome the question is how to make a specific diagnosis and be able to treat this complex, not easily treatable disorder?

We have to think about certain entities that can give you this problem and are hard to diagnose without some special tests. The first entity is interstitial cystitis, a bladder inflammation involving mostly the muscle layers of the bladder. The cause is unknown, but is probably due to a lack of a normal substance being produced by the lining of the bladder allowing urine to enter the muscle of the bladder causing irritation and possibly stimulating some kind of autoimmune mechanism where the body becomes allergic to its own bladder muscle.

This problem is treatable with a specific medication called DMSO, which is instilled in the bladder at regular intervals, and a new oral drug called Elmiron which is taken three times a day. With these treatments 90+% of usually women with this problem can get resolution which is a far cry from the old days when two-thirds of the patients worsened and frequently became incapacitated from this disease.

Another cause of urethral syndrome, or unstable bladder is chronic ureterovesical reflux where urine backs up into the kidneys due to some congenital abnormality of the valves from the urine tubes of the kidney and the bladder. When the urine backs up into the kidney the bladder works very hard trying to empty itself, becomes thick-walled and irritable and causes frequency and urgency. In addition, after emptying the bladder the urine trickles back down filling the bladder with additional urine.

In order to solve the complicated urethral syndrome problems, your health care professional should think about the above disorders and then do appropriate evaluations. X-rays of the kidneys will determine the status of the kidneys and whether or not damage has occurred from tuberculosis of the bladder, another, but slim possibility, reflux of urine, or other bladder or urethral problems.

If a neurological condition such as a stroke, brain tumor, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, back or disc problems occur doctors may also suggest doing a pressure study on the bladder called a cystometrogram.

It involves putting a catheter in the bladder, infusing fluid which is usually a gas like carbon dioxide, then measuring the pressures in the bladder as the volume increases. At the same time the doctor can instill dye and observe the bladder before, during, and after urination to see if urine backs up into the kidneys in the case of ureterovesical reflux. You can also see if the bladder really does empty and is there any urine left behind after urination.

Another test is for your doctor to look into the bladder, which frequently can be done with a fiber optic-type flexible cystoscope. This instrument allows the physician to look at the lining of the bladder, the neck of the bladder and the urethra.

If you are concerned about interstitial cystitis the procedure must be done under anesthesia so the bladder can be stretched maximally above and beyond what one could normally tolerate, emptied, and then refilled to look for the characteristic hemorrhages associated with interstitial cystitis.

On occasion there are ulcerations in the bladder which are even more diagnostic of interstitial cystitis. With this test you are looking for inflammation, inflammatory polyps, stones, tumors, and/or pustules, all of which can be treated. Frequently they can be treated at the time of the endoscopic procedure, particularly if it is done under some type of sedation or anesthesia.

So you can see, the unstable bladder, urgency/frequency syndrome, or urethral syndrome is really a number of disorders many of which are often not diagnosed and appropriately treated.

Additional resources on incontinence are available from


The clerks of the county courts shall transmit to the auditor a list of all lands in their respective counties purchased by the state, under the provisions of section sixteen of this article, and set forth in such list all the information which they can obtain in relation to the lands mentioned therein. For each tract of land or lot so mentioned by any clerk of the county court, he shall receive one dollar from the treasury.


Luol Deng has led the league in minutes per game the last two seasons and played in 75 of the Bulls' 82 regular season games last year so when he was seen wobbling down a United Center hallway with his head down looking weaker than ever before Game 6 of the Bulls' first round playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets something was clearly wrong. Bulls Insider Aggrey Sam was first to report that what was first described as "flu-like symptoms" by head coach Tom Thibodeau prior to the Bulls' loss to the Nets was in actuality a spinal tap a procedure "which drew fluid from his back and brain to ensure that he didn't have viral meningitis" that caused Deng to be sent home from the United Center.


relapsing-remitting ms

Natalizumab (Tysabri) Can Occasionally Cause Liver Problems

Dr. Gross Health Guide March 03, 2008
  • It is extremely important to place the following information in context as it does not in any way represent medical advice for any patient. It should also be mentioned that all standard Multiple Sclerosis (MS) immunomodulator drugs can in rare cases damage the liver and isolated severe attacks have been reported. In addition, it should be mentioned that the liver enzyme elevation reported is 0.1% or 1/1000 users of Tysabri, and that 4% of MS Tysabri users experienced liver enzyme elevation as opposed to 5% of placebo controls (those receiving inactive substances during testing).

    The liver is a critical metabolic organ that enzymatically processes many foods, toxins and drugs that enter our systems. One way we know that the liver is being stressed is the identification of an elevation of liver (hepatic) enzymes (transaminases: AST/SGOT, ALT/SGPT, GGT) in our blood. In addition, the liver manufactures bilirubin, which aids in the removal of metabolic breakdown products. If a type of bilirubin is high, that too suggests there is a liver problem or injury.

    According to a report by MedWatch last month, the FDA's safety information and adverse event reporting program, elevation of serum hepatic enzymes and bilirubin have been observed as early as 6 days following the start of natalizumab (Tysabri) therapy for MS.

    Unfortunately the combination of liver enzyme and bilirubin elevations (without an obstruction such as gallstones or other such blocking condition) can have dire consequences (such as the need for liver transplant) if not reversed.

    Evidence for liver enzyme rise is jaundice or yellowing of the skin, which is due to the release of bilirubin. The FDA advises that natalizumab (Tysabri) should be discontinued if jaundice or other signs of significant hepatic injury occur. Patients are advised of the risk of liver damage and are advised to call their medical professionals if they experience yellowing of the skin/eyes, nausea/vomiting, darkened urine and feeling fatigued or weakened. No Tysabri patient has yet required a liver transplant.

    Tysabri is a monoclonal antibody for select cases of relapsing/remitting MS that was introduced in 2004. It is often quite beneficial but reserved for those MS patients who have had a less than optimal response to or cannot tolerate conventional immunomodulators such as Copaxone, Betaseron, Avonex or Rebif. Due to a few cases of Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML), the drug had to be withdrawn but was reintroduced into the US market via a restricted distribution program in 2005. In January 2008, Tysabri was approved for Crohn's Disease (Granulomatous Colitis).


mutation in a sentence

Example sentences for mutation

The good news: They've identified the genetic mutation that makes that possible.
That's why there's so much worry about fallout: radiation increases the mutation rate— mistakes pile up.
And the source of variation is mutation.
Every family member with the mutation had great difficulty speaking.
Still other research is concerned with the unpredictable mutations that sometimes occur in viruses.
The human race is undergoing a massive cultural mutation.
As stated the other animals evolved in their own direction according to random mutation and natural selection.
Consider the case of a patient who is carrying a disease mutation.
If it's truly beneficial, the mutation stays and gets bred in to the species.
Alfalfa was a useful rotation in keeping that evolutionary mutation at bay.
The syndrome is caused by a recessive genetic mutation.
But a mutation in the mismatch-repair genes themselves can cause that check-and-balance system to go awry.
Another is to identify ways to interfere with the mechanisms that spur mutation or regulate gene expression.
As more genomes are unravelled, the creeping process of mutation-by-mutation change within the genes can be seen in detail.
Where they differ is on the likelihood of identifying one key mutation that underlies a given cancer.
Researchers now recognise that cancer has an epigenetic component that may contribute as much as normal genetic mutation does.
Of those, the precise mode of inheritance is known of about half, and is usually a single gene mutation.
It is the product of random mutation followed by selective breeding-as, indeed, are all domesticated creatures.
The more one inhales smoke, the more one increases their risk of cell mutation and cancer.
The technique allows scientists to target individual genes with extreme precision to produce a particular genetic mutation.
Tell students the symbol represents a mutation, or genetic marker.
Her illness was closely linked to a genetic mutation.
Some genes that contribute to diseases can be traced back to what's known as a founder mutation.
But in dogs, a mutation in any similar protein has not been found.
Therefore, a mutation that leads to anti-social behavior would still not be advantageous to human evolution.
Or these mutations consist of losses, rather than gains, through mutation.
On rare occasion, a mutation can change their order.
The family's problem was caused by a different mutation.
Of course, nobody is saying they evolved all at once by random mutation.
Antivirus software helps, but it can't keep up with the speed of malware mutation.
Peak shift represents a much more active, dynamic evolutionary mechanism than random genetic mutation.
For example, such modeling shows, that a single mutation could render the vaccine ineffective.
Estimating gene flow and mutation rates is a tricky thing, the authors acknowledge.
Radiation exposure is a potential cancer promoter since it can trigger mutation in healthy cells.

Famous quotes containing the word mutation

Flow, flow the waves hated, Accursed, adored, The waves of mutation: No anchorage is.... more
What does this mean? The individual, Nature, mutation, strife? I fell, though I am simple, still the whole ... more
There is nothing exempt from the peril of mutation; the earth, heavens, and whole world is thereunto subjec... more
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August 11, 2006

Cellular scaffold plays dual role in cell division

A new spatiotemporal model of microtubule organization shows the exquisite levels at which the cell division process is controlled

Figure 1: Fluorescently labelled cells of the worm C. elegans showing the last phases of cell division (DNA is blue; γ-tubulin is green; aurora A-kinase is pink; E is early; M is mid; L is late).

Developmental biologists at RIKEN have determined a dual role for microtubules, the basic building blocks of the internal cellular scaffold, during the final stages of cell division or cytokinesis.

During cytokinesis, cells adopt an internal organization reminiscent of the earth’s poles and equator. Spindles of microtubules connect the DNA-containing chromosomes situated along the ‘equator’ with the area around both ‘poles’, the polar cortex. As the spindles pull the chromosomes away from the equator, the cell membrane inches inwards along the equator forming a cleavage furrow. This eventually splits the cell into two daughter cells.

Working with the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, a well-known model organism for studying animal development, Asako Sugimoto and Fumio Motegi from RIKEN’s Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, and colleagues from New York University, now propose a biphasic model for the regulation of microtubule assembly during cytokinesis. Their model, presented in Developmental Cell1, explains cleavage furrow formation along the cell’s equator.

Using live imaging techniques for fluorescently labelled molecules, Sugimoto and colleagues studied the changes over time in density and location of different components of the cellular scaffold or cytoskeleton (Fig. 1). They first determined that prior to furrow formation, microtubules are enriched in the equatorial plane. All the while, filamentous actin, another component of the cytoskeleton starts forming a so-called contractile ring around the equator. As the microtubule density diminishes at the equator while increasing around the polar cortex, the contractile ring starts closing in (Fig. 2). “These observations combined with analyses using mutants and drugs revealed that the microtubules play two separate roles in the initiation of cytokinesis; one as an ‘instigator’ that localizes the contractile ring to the equator, and the other as a ‘repressor’ of the furrowing outside the equator,” explains Sugimoto.

The team then embarked on a second round of experiments to reconcile these two seemingly contradictory roles of microtubules. Applying molecular biology technologies to manipulate the activities of particular control components of microtubule assembly, they discovered that control of this process gradually ‘changes hands’ from γ-tubulin, a microtubule nucleating protein, to a second control system characterized by an increased presence of the enzyme aurora-A kinase.

“This model of dual-roles of the cytoskeleton provides an attractive alternative to existing models representing the cell cleavage process—in which single control systems fail to satisfactorily explain the different stages of cytokenesis,” notes Sugimoto.

  1. Motegi, F., Velarde N.V., Piano, F., & Sugimoto, A. Two phases of astral microtubule activity during cytokinesis in C. elegans embryos. Developmental Cell 10, 509–520 (2006). || (Link)


Busted Halo
feature: politics & culture
June 8th, 2012

The Role of Religion in Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Peacemaking

Religion and faith have always played an important role in my life, shaping my views of the world and informing my career path in human rights and peacemaking. Attending religious education as a child and young adult exposed me to the views and teachings of the Church. There, I learned the importance of loving your neighbor as yourself and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. The emphasis on loving all of God’s creatures and respecting humanity significantly shaped my view of the world. Little did I know, the solid foundation of peace and justice in Catholic social teaching would contribute so much to my future career and passion for human rights and peacemaking.

As a child, I wanted to be a writer and was always curious about history, specifically World War II and the Holocaust. How could such atrocities occur? Where was the humanity and respect for human dignity? As a teenager and young adult, I volunteered with various social justice projects in my neighborhood, which stemmed primarily from involvement in my local church. In high school, I joined Amnesty International, a global human rights organization.

In college, I pursued a double major in political science and classics, which allowed me to combine my religious background and knowledge of ancient traditions with my interest in human rights. I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and joined the campus Catholic community where we discussed challenges young adult Catholics face, particularly on campus, and ways we could make a difference in the community.

Based on my interest in social justice, I established a chapter of Pax Christi, a Catholic peace organization, on campus. Through Catholic social teaching, I learned about the dignity of the human person, the emphasis on community participation, and the importance of respect for all God’s creatures, as well as the role of forgiveness and reconciliation. The value placed on the inherent rights and dignity afforded to each of us coincided directly with what I was learning in my human rights classes. I was beginning to understand the link between these two seemingly separate yet inextricably bound parts of my life — my faith and my work.

Making links

The connection between religion and peacemaking can be traced to the roots and origins of modern human rights discourse. The idea of human rights being inalienable and universal harkens back to the principle of inherent dignity afforded to all human beings. Much of the modern study of human rights is based upon Judeo-Christian ethical and moral principles, which can be traced back to ancient Greek and Roman concepts of justice and natural law found in the texts of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Thomas Aquinas. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the most central documents to the study of human rights to date, was drafted with significant input from the religious community.

Similarly, Catholicism has drawn from the field of human rights in its modern social teachings. In his seminal work Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition (1983), Harvard legal scholar Harold Berman highlights this link between Christianity and Western legal discourse. He argues that the roots of modern Western legal institutions and concepts, such as human rights, can be traced back to the papal revolution (1075-1122), during which time the Western church established its political and legal unity as independent from emperors, kings, and feudal lords. This apparent influence of religious humanism and ancient traditions over the development and study of modern human rights has directly informed my own work in the field.

Transitional justice — a response to human rights violations

Throughout history, there have been countless examples of injustice and grave violations of human rights that have plagued the consciousness of humanity. The trials at Nuremberg and subsequent formation of the international tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, followed by the creation of the International Criminal Court and emergence of hybrid tribunals, illustrate a push towards accountability and justice for the victims of these crimes.

The emergence of truth commissions in Chile, Argentina, South Africa and around the world emphasizes the need for a holistic approach to justice that includes elements of truth-telling and reconciliation between conflicting parties, a concept central to Christianity as highlighted by scholars and theologians such as Walter Wink, former professor of biblical interpretation and Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace. Alex Boraine, former president of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and deputy chair of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), highlights accountability, truth recovery, reconciliation, institutional reform and reparations as the five key pillars of transitional justice.

Transitional justice generally refers to the set of judicial and non-judicial measures that have been implemented in order to redress legacies of massive human rights abuses. The role of non-violent conflict resolution as part of transitional justice efforts to address human rights violations was supported during the South African TRC by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and others, and continues to be a central part of peacemaking today.

It was through my own work with civil society organizations in the Great Lakes region of Africa that I have seen the impact of transitional justice processes in addressing human rights violations and working towards peace and reconciliation. At moments like those, I experience firsthand the way that the Catholic teachings of brotherly love and universal humanity have contributed to my faith and my work in the field of human rights, transitional justice, and peacemaking.

On June 3, 2012, Carla received a Young Adult Peacemaker Award from Pax Christi Metro New York for her work for human rights, transitional justice and nonviolent conflict resolution in Africa.

The Author : Carla De Ycaza
Carla De Ycaza is a Ph.D. candidate in international human rights Law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, focusing on post-conflict transitional justice in Africa, and holds an M.A. in human rights studies from Columbia University and a B.A. in political science and classics from Vassar College. She is a lecturer at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University. She also currently serves as Editor in Chief of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Rights Law.
See more articles by (1).
  • Alison Feuer Pascuzzi

    Your work and ideas excite me. How can I learn more?

  • madeline labriola

    congratulations Carla on your award at Pax christi Metro NY. I’m sorry i missed the event. Family responsibilities made it impossible on that day. Please know that you were in my prayers and thoughts. I remember when we meet a few years ago when you were at Vassar and I was coordinating Pax Christi Hudson Valley. You are doing wonderful work, keep it up and keep in touch.
    God bless you with peace,

  • James Leo Oliver

    God bless you and your work.

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Civil Liberties
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Bringing Human Rights Home

December 10 marks International Human Rights Day and events like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo show that it's time to bring a tradition that respects human rights back home.

What if the world's governments came together and agreed on the fundamental rights that every human being must have in order to enjoy basic dignity, opportunity, and a meaningful life?

What if their agreement was profoundly progressive, recognizing civil and political rights like free speech, due process, and non-discrimination, as well as economic and social rights like the right to health care and housing, to organize, and to receive a living wage for a hard day's work? And what if they memorialized those rights in a seminal document, from which more specific commitments and enforcement could and did flow?

Most Americans would be surprised to learn that such a document exists. It's called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and it turns 58 years old on December 10 -- International Human Rights Day.

Although the United States played a leadership role in fashioning the Declaration and advocating its adoption, it also took steps to hamper its use here at home, bowing to Southern Democrats who feared it would overturn segregation. And in the years since, our government has failed to ratify, or outright opposed, key international agreements intended to fulfill the Declaration's promise, even as it pushed other nations to take human rights seriously.

It's time to change that. Events over the last six years -- Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, racial profiling and warrantless wiretaps, exclusion of immigrants from basic services and due process, Hurricane Katrina, and 47 million Americans without health insurance -- make clear that it's time to bring human rights home.

What do international human rights bring to Americans that our own Constitution and current domestic laws do not? Plenty.

For example, the federal courts have largely rejected the notion that the Constitution protects economic rights. But the Universal Declaration provides that "everyone has the right to work" under "just and favorable conditions," and that "everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection."

The Declaration affirms that "everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests." It guarantees that "everyone has the right to education." And it insists that "everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."

If that language sounds familiar, it's because Eleanor Roosevelt and other members of the U.S. delegation to the Declaration process borrowed heavily from FDR's vision of an " economic bill of rights" that led us out of the Great Depression and laid the foundation for unprecedented post-war prosperity.

Another area in which human rights add tremendous value is in ensuring equal opportunity and preventing discrimination. While a mountain of research shows that our criminal justice system is infected by racial bias and unfairness -- with race influencing outcomes in policing, arrest, jury selection, prosecution, conviction, and punishment -- our courts have declined to find a constitutional violation without proof that an identifiable person in the system intentionally sought to harm people of a particular race. Such a showing is almost impossible to make, and, in any event, misses the point.

By contrast, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, which the U.S. has signed and ratified, takes a more realistic and effective approach. It prohibits practices that have the effect of treating people differently based on their race -- whether or not that discriminatory treatment is intentional. Well-documented racial bias in drug sentencing and the death penalty, for example, clearly fail that test.

These and other human rights agreements, when applied through the lens of our own Constitution, laws, and national values, can move us closer to the ideals of justice and opportunity that Americans hold dear.

How can we bring human rights home? The new Congress can make a difference immediately by ratifying outstanding human rights treaties without significant reservations. A good place to start is the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which only the United States and the collapsed state of Somalia have failed to ratify. The U.S. has resisted ratifying the CRC because it outlaws the execution of children. Now that our own Supreme Court has held juvenile executions unconstitutional, our government should quickly ratify it.

Another important step would be to add to our existing civil rights laws a new generation of domestic human rights laws that apply our international commitments here at home. We don't have to wait for Washington to begin making that happen. State and municipal governments can take the lead, as San Francisco did when it adopted an ordinance implementing the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. That action, which immediately led to more equitable city spending and a new, pragmatic focus on preventing violence against women, established an exciting example for other local governments.

Finally, we should all educate our fellow Americans about human rights as a proud part of our nation's legacy and crucial to our nation's future. After all, it was the founders of our country who declared it to be self-evident that we're all created equal and endowed by our creator with inalienable rights. Human rights are profoundly American, even as they are global and universal. And bringing them home is crucial to making our country all that it was meant to be.

Opponents of human rights argue that reclaiming our role and responsibility within the international human rights framework would somehow threaten our national sovereignty. But in an era of globalization and interconnection, in which we routinely participate in international trade agreements, anti-terrorism compacts, and anti-nuclear efforts, it makes no sense to argue that participating in our half-century-old international human rights system is somehow a threat. To the contrary, reclaiming our leadership role on human rights will help to reestablish our credibility and influence around the world.

Once again December 10 is International Human Rights Day. It's a good time to remind your elected officials, your community leaders, your family and friends, that it's also American Human Rights Day, and that it's time to make that mean something again.

Alan Jenkins is executive director of The Opportunity Agenda , a communications, research, and advocacy organization with the mission of building the national will to expand opportunity in America. He previously served as director of Human Rights at the Ford Foundation, and as assistant to the solicitor general at the U.S. Department of Justice.

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gaming sinds 1997

Titan Quest

From the co-creator of Age of Empires, Brian Sullivan, comes an all-new action role-playing game set in the mythical worlds of ancient Greece and Egypt. Amazing visuals and fast-action gameplay deliver a true cinematic gaming experience. Lush ancient world settings crafted in near-photo realistic detail provide the player with an extraordinary canvas on which to set forth on an epic quest of the ultimate good versus evil.

The Titans, gods before the gods, have escaped from their eternal prison to wreak havoc on the world. In this titanic struggle between old and new gods it is the heroes of humankind who will ultimately determine the fate of all existence. The player quests throughout the ancient world in a race to uncover the secrets needed to once again imprison these ancient gods. Journeying to fabled locations such as the Parthenon, the maze at Knossos, the Great Pyramids, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the player will have to overcome terrifying monsters and mythical beasts.

A flexible class system allows almost limitless ways for the player to develop their character. Skills can be customized in many ways, and never become obsolete. With addictive, fast action gameplay and tons of unique loot, epic gaming has never been so good. Brave the trials of Titan Quest alone or bring a group of friends to share the glory while playing through the thrilling story-driven campaign

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MidoriRibbon.com was created as a virtual destination for all Ribbonistas to get creative and get inspired through celebrating individuality and unveiling diamonds in the rough.  This inspiration is the backbone of the MIDORI brand, infusing a fresh mindset into the elegance and distinction that is synonymous with the MIDORI name.

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Perspective is probably the most important aspect of storytelling; the story completely changes depending on whose point of view we are inclined to side with. Most films are told from one person’s perspective, and some attempt to allow us to see the events unfold through the eyes of multiple characters. The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, however, takes this idea to a whole new level by giving us two full length features, telling his and her story completely through each perspective. Director/writer Ned Benson has been working on this project for a decade, and it is hard to believe that this is his first feature-length film.

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is a highly intelligent and emotionally complex film about a couple who have lost touch after a tragic event. Connor (James McAvoy) is a small restaurant owner who is still deeply in love with his wife Eleanor (Jessica Chastain), trying to make things work. She, however, has completely lost sight of who she is and what her marriage has become. She leaves Connor telling him that she needs a fresh start, and disappears.

The first film, from His perspective, tells the story of a man who is struggling to put his marriage back together. He tries to find Eleanor, seeks help from his father and friends, and desperately tries to see what he did wrong. Him is lead by an incredible performance from James McAvoy, and is filled with humor from the strong supporting cast of Bill Hader, Ciaran Hinds, and Nina Arianda.

Her is screened immediately after, and gives further explanation into why Eleanor feels the need to disappear. We now follow her journey and her struggle, the ways in which she has lost sight of her own identity. Any questions that Him left unanswered are filled in by Her story; and vice versa depending on how the film is screened. Her is lead by an extraordinary performance by Jessica Chastain, who truly is the actress of her generation. She is supported by a wonderful cast including Viola Davis, William Hurt, Isabelle Huppert and Jess Weixler.

The film has such a rich tone that allows it to be so many things at once. It has this deep sadness to it, but it also can be funny and light. The dialogue is extremely poetic; it almost feels surreal. Even though the characters are very truthfully portrayed, there is a very “movie” quality to it. They speak so articulately and beautifully in a way that could only be scripted. It only helps the film though, because there is this magical and mysterious element to it. The cinematography is gorgeous, and these two characters are framed so beautifully in their own worlds. The music, composed by the artist Son Lux, has the most perfect quality for the film. It is wistful, magical and cinematic.

The film can be watched in either order; however this in itself is a play on perspective, as the audience may be more drawn to the character and the story that they saw first. The whole concept of the film touches on not just point of view, but memories and individual realities. As the two films play out the exact same scenario but one follows her and one follows him, some scenes reoccur in each film but with subtle differences. The dialogue changes the slightest bit, and it is a reflection on how each character interprets their conversations and their realities.

This highly ambitious project deserves to be seen by the world, as it is such a unique concept that may change the way stories can be told in the future. What is equally remarkable is that although the film must be seen as a whole, both Him and Her, they work just as well individually, becoming a profound meditation on relationships, reality and memory when seen together.

Director/writer Ned Benson is a truly original talent that everyone needs to keep their eye on. It is absolutely astounding that this is his first feature, crafting something so beautiful, poetic, and profound that most filmmakers spend their whole lives trying to achieve. Every element of this film is magical, and what it says about relationships and the individuals that find themselves lost within them is something that everyone can relate to. Playing upon perspective in the way that Benson, McAvoy and Chastain do, this film will make you reevaluate the way you see your own life and own relationships, remind us that we all have our own stories.

Grade: A

About The Author

Newswire Editor

Adriana Floridia is a 4th year communications student who has been passionate about film her whole life. She writes and speaks about movies all the time and believes that they are the perfect way to learn more about humanity.


CNSforum The Lundbeck Institute

Brain physiology: Neurotransmisson Basics

The Na+/K+ ATPase

Na+/K+ ATPase is a pump that uses the energy from the hydrolysis of ATP to actively pump sodium and potassium ions against their concentration. The binding of three sodium ions to internal binding sites on the cytoplasmic side of the pump and phosphorylation of the pump induces a conformational change that releases the Na+ ions into the extracellular space. The subsequent binding of two potassium ions to the pump within the synapse followed by dephosphorylation causes it to return to its original confirmation and release the potassium ions into the cytoplasm. This pump is found in almost all cells of the body and the ionic gradient that it creates is used to carry out numerous important cellular processes, such as the transport of other molecules across membrane eg the monoamines.

Fusion of a synaptic vesicle with the pre-synaptic membrane


FotoFest Home

Issa Touma (Syria)
Issa Touma, Sufi, 1999

Once each year the Sufi, adherents of a mystical branch of Islam, come together in a small village in the north of Syria. On this occasion, the day of Al-Ziyara, fifteen to twenty thousand men descend upon the otherwise tranquil village to honor the memory of the Sufi saint Al-Sheikh Abou Baker Al-Huwwari. The visitors bring money and gifts, and they surrender themselves to song, dance, music and rituals. Statistics indicate that it is during this period that the most children are conceived in the village. The Sufi are the minority in Syria. With gatherings such as the day of Al-Ziyara they seek to strengthen their faith and emphasize their solidarity.

Photographer Issa Touma is the initiator of various photographic and cultural festivals in Syria. He is the founder of the International Photography Festival in Aleppo, which has shown Eastern and Western photography.


Calling for Evidence-Based Elections

That’s the message I take from a recent book by James Gilligan, a psychiatrist at New York University. In Why Some Politicians Are More Dangerous than Others, Gilligan documents a striking statistical connection between changing rates of violent death in the United States over the past century and the party of the president. He concludes that Republican administrations are “risk factors for lethal violence,” and that the only reason they have not produced “disastrously high epidemic levels” of suicides and homicides is that Democrats have repeatedly undone their damage. (I’ve added handsome hand-coloring to Gilligan’s key figure in order to highlight the partisan pattern.)

Gilligan found that, over the 108 years covered by his analysis (1900-2007), the age-adjusted suicide rate increased by an average of 9.7 per million over each Republican four-year term but decreased by an average of 11.1 per million over each Democratic term. The age-adjusted homicide rate increased by an average of 3.6 per million over each Republican term but decreased by an average of 4.2 per million over each Democratic term.

These differences may sound small, but they are not. According to the CDC’s latest National Vital Statistics Report, there were 37,793 suicides in the U.S. in 2010 (122 per million population) and 16,065 homicides (52 per million population). Applying Gilligan’s figures to those baseline levels (and assuming 1 percent population growth per year) implies a projected total of 213,000 violent deaths over the next four years under a Democratic president, but 236,000 under a Republican—a difference of 23,000 lives. (These estimates reflect my calculations based on Gilligan’s data; even they greatly understate the long-run implications of the partisan differences he identifies, since a higher or lower death rate at the end of one term becomes a higher or lower baseline for subsequent fluctuations.)

Gilligan attributes these very different trends in violent death rates to consistent differences in the parties’ policies and performance with respect to unemployment, economic inequality, and recessions, which in turn have substantial effects on “individual emotional and psychological health and welfare.” (The first of these links draws, in part, upon my work.) He argues that intense shame or humiliation is usually “the immediate psychological motive, or cause,  of violent behavior,” and that “these feelings can be stimulated and exacerbated by many stressors in the social environment, one of the most powerful and common of which is the experience of being fired from one’s job, or for any other reason suffering a severe loss of socio-economic status; this experience has been more frequent and prolonged under Republican than under Democratic administrations throughout the twentieth century, and compensatory measures to reduce the intensity of the humiliation (e.g. the WPA under Roosevelt) have been more extensive and effective under Democratic than under Republican presidents.”

Gilligan argues that analyses like his “provide an empirical basis for evaluating different political parties and their social and economic policies and achievements—an assessment grounded in the human sciences, such as public health, preventive medicine, and economic and epidemiological statistics. These can serve as fact-based alternatives to the much more frequent opinion-based assertions and predictions concerning political parties, candidates, and policies. At a time when every knowledgeable person is calling for evidence-based medicine, isn’t it time we also had evidence-based politics?”

This piece is cross-posted on the VU on Politics blog.

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Rdio's Android app got a teensy, tiny update today, adding gapless playback to all devices running Android 4.1. According to the "What's New" section of the Play Store page, the feature was added in by popular demand. For the uninitiated, gapless playback is exactly what it sounds like: a seamless transition from one track to the next. It's a big deal for some users, and much harder to do on a streaming music service than on local playback.

wm_snap20110504_184819 wm_snap20110504_184808


5 steps you must take to reach your target customer

5 steps you must take to reach your target customer

Start by thinking about how your target audience gets information. What channels do they use? Television? Radio? Newspapers? Webpages? Online search campaigns?

You want to make sure that when your target consumers are learning about the world around them that your messages are part of that information stream.

Step 5: Measure campaign results to determine if you actually did reach the right people!

Defining your target audience is just the first step. Now, you need to determine if you were correct.

It’s not uncommon for marketers to identify an audience they want to reach only to discover once the campaign starts running that a very different group of people respond to the marketing materials. Again, depending on the types of marketing channels you use, the feedback you will receive can tell you some very important stories.

The bottom line is NOT to assume that just because you have identified an audience and then determined the best criteria to select and reach that audience that your work is done. EVERY campaign you’ll run will teach you how to do a better job in the future. However, you need to be open to that feedback and be willing to continually tweak that information to optimize future campaigns resulting in more and more effective results!

5 resources to help you become a Twitter ninja (or just to help you get started tweeting)

You can stumble around blindly on Twitter and learn through trial-and-error, or you can go to the pros and stand on the shoulders of social media greats.

The 6 worst words any businessperson can hear

Good marketing needs to reflect a thorough understanding of target clients.


Symptom Diagnosis

Symptom Diagnosis

Bronchitis Symptoms

  • Early bronchitis symptoms are typically indistinguishable from those of the common cold. The appearance of a cough and its progressive worsening are the first indications of the development of bronchitis.

    The bronchitis cough may begin as a dry one then progressively evolve to include increasing amounts of mucus. Mucus coughed up in the sputum typically begins as white in color then proceeds to green/yellow.

    The bronchi are the two large airways that branch left and right off of the trachea in the chest. When the bronchi become irritated and inflamed, or infected, then bronchitis can result.

    Infectious bronchitis is predominately caused by viral infections during the winter months. Bacterial bronchitis occurs less frequently. Although an initial infection may subside, ongoing irritation of the bronchi typically extend the duration of the symptomatic cough.

    Pollution and environmental factors can lead to irritation of the bronchi, and irritative bronchitis. Chemical fumes, gases, dusts or particulate matter, allergens are all able to cause inflammation and the characteristic cough of bronchitis.

    Bronchitis can be classified as acute (if duration is less than 3 months) or chronic if it is longer term.

    Bronchitis symptoms:

    • sore throat
    • fatigue
    • runny nose
    • chills
    • aching muscles
    • dry cough progressing to cough with mucus
    • fever
    • shortness of breath

    Diagnosis is typically through examination and observation of the characteristic symptoms (including analysis of the cough sputum), as well as the absence of confirmation of the presence of pneumonia. A chest x-ray can typically be used to rule out pneumonia.

    Treatment is typically to suppress a dry, painful cough. Expectorants can be administered to aid in the clearing of sputum. Proper rest and rehydration methods are required. Humidifiers may be recommended to ease breathing. Bacterial bronchitis may be treated with antibiotics.


Fiesta Colorado is one of the few organizations that produces Flamenco concerts in the Denver area featuring Flamenco artists living in Colorado as well as inviting outside guest artists. Two presentations are presented each year: Spanish Dance showcase and the Colorado Flamenco Festival. They are the only company that has presented its classical Spanish dances with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

The art of Flamenco is a combination of the human spirit and passion being expressed through music and dance. Flamenco dance is an intimate interaction between the dancers and guitarists. The dancers in the company have had the opportunity of performing with some of the finest artists from Spain and the United States. Including: Guitarists: Jose “Chuscales” Fajardo, Steve Mullins, Ruben Romero, Miguel Espinoza and Guillermo Salazar Dancers: Mina Fajardo, Juan del Valle, Gina Martinez, María Vasquez, Sali Gutierrez and Vicente Romero.

Ms. Trujillo Lucero’s love of dance began with Ballet and then developed into Spanish dance. She studied with renowned maestros of Spanish dance: Lucille Campa, Vicente Romero, Pablo Rodarte and María Benitez. She studies each year at the annual Flamenco Dance Festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Aficionados of Spanish dance anticipate the Spanish dance performances of the Fiesta Colorado Flamenco Society.


Posts Tagged ‘electronics’

Laser water cooling, part 1: Peltier element theory

September 8th, 2014 No comments

I just ordered a laser engraver/cutter from China.  While I wait for the slow boat to come into port, I thought it would be a good idea to start preparing the infrastructure.  These products don’t include any hardware for the required water-cooling, other than a submersible pump.  Most people just say “just have a few gallons of water circulating, and you’ll be fine.”  I say “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.”

In the spirit of overdoing it, I remembered that I had a peltier element-cooled fridge in my lab for a while, and that the parts were still kicking around somewhere.  Peltier coolers are really neat.  They can use an electrical current to drive a difference in temperatures on the opposite plates.  I found an interesting page with a simplified model for calculating their performance across a range of conditions.  It’s interesting to note that you can’t just drive it harder to move more heat.  Because the modules are consuming energy themselves, self-heating can (and often does) overwhelm the coolers ability to move heat.  After spending a couple days understanding the models, I discovered an error in the page, so I’m going to re-post corrected equations.

Computation of T1

This equation computes the temperature of the “cold side” of the cooler.  The model depends on several variables:

I = Drive current (Amps)

Rp = Cooler resistance from the data sheet (Ohms)

Q1 = Thermal load that we’re trying to cool (Watts)

C1 = Thermal conductivity from load to ambient (Watts/°C)

Cp = Thermal conductivity through the peltier (Qmax/ΔTmax) from the data sheet

Ch = Thermal conductivity of the heatsink on the hot side (Watts/°C)

T1 = Temperature of the object being cooled (°C)

T3 = Temperature of the ambient environment (°C)

I’m going to ignore P.  For now, it suffices to say that it’s a constant that models the peltier junction’s performance.  (Watts/Amp)

The article that I got this model from doesn’t really explain the terms at all, so I’m going to try to interpret the pieces of it.  First of all, the T3 term references the entire model to ambient.  If you used something else as a counterpoise, I’ll call it, to the peltier you could remove this term and model it.

The middle term models the heat flow out of the hot-side heatsink.  The numerators of this term are the thermal load (Q1) and the self-heating from the peltier cooler’s current (see Ohm’s law for the inspiration of this).  The entire term is divided by the thermal conductivity of the heatsink, Ch.  Thermal conductivity is a very useful specification, as it tells us the °C across the device per Watt.  In the case of a heatsink, that is referenced to ambient.

The first term models the heat flow from the load through the peltier.  Again, there is the Q1 term, as we have to get the thermal load through the device.  Second, we have half of the peltier’s self-heating.  My assumption is that only half of the peltier’s self-heating has to travel all the way through the device.  Finally, the -P*I term models the active cooling (the point of this whole thing).  These are all divided by the combination of the thermal conductivity of the load-peltier junction and the peltier’s internal thermal conductivity.

The upshot of this, is that we can model the performance of our system built around a given peltier junction given load, heatsink performance, and ambient temperature.

Now, let’s talk about P.  We can derive P entirely from information commonly found in peltier junction datasheets.  There really isn’t much more to say about this, just plug in the values…

The module I'm working with

The module I’m working with

Now, let’s make all of this a little less abstract…  The image above is the module that I’ve salvaged.  It’s easy enough to lookup the model number and get the data sheet.

Specification table

Specification table

Using the specification table, directly from the data sheet, we can calculate P to be 14.47 (for 25°C).  For now, let’s also choose some values for the other parameters.  Let’s say we want to cool a load that is producing 10 Watts, with a rather poor heat sink that has .2 Watt per °C of conductivity (would be listed as 5 °C per Watt as resistance).

T1 heat versus amps, with simple heatsink (blue) and ambient (green).

If we graph T1 versus drive current, I, we can see that the optimal current from the cooler is 0.8 Amps (red line).  Unfortunately, if we compare it to Q1/Ch (which would happen if we just put a heatsink on the load) it’s almost 6 °C hotter than without the peltier cooler…  boo.   The laser is estimated to produce about 200 Watts (20 times more than the 10 Watt example) of heat.  The problem, ultimately, is that the hot-side heatsink matters.  A lot.

T1 heat versus amps, with simple heatsink (blue) and ambient (green).  With a better heatsink

Now, what happens if we find a much better heatsink?  They’re expensive, but you can find .1 °C per Watt heatsinks on Digi-key.  This would be 10 Watts per °C in terms of conductivity.  With the better heatsink, the cold side is down to -17 °C!  The heat sink is more than able to shunt the heat from the load and the cooler.

All that is obviously super-awesome, but what if we want to calculate what the ideal drive current is for a peltier cooler?  The Itec equation, above, will give us this information.  We still need the P and Rp terms from the data sheet, and the thermal conductivity of the peltier and the heatsink.  But, you’ll notice that thermal load and the ambient temperature are not factors in the equation.  Therefore, the ideal drive current (and, therefore maximum temperature drop) are not affected by those factors.

I hope this has been at least somewhat interesting.  Stay tuned for part two, where I investigate whether it’s really feasible (practically and economically) to move over 200 Watts with peltier elements.  Also, I’m planning some research into how to characterize the efficiency of radiators in liquid cooling setups.  If you have any insight, please leave it in the comments.  Also, I started to write a mac application to model peltier cooler systems.  I probably won’t finish it unless it seems like something people would want.  Leave messages in the comments if you would pay a few dollars for something like that.

BladeRF first impressions

March 19th, 2014 2 comments

blade uncal

phase noise

Skyworks 65116 update

January 9th, 2014 No comments

Video modulator output

Video modulator output (click for enlargement)

Gain vs. Pout curve

Gain vs. Pout curve

Simple 14dB attenuator model

Simple 14dB attenuator model

Constructed attenuators

Constructed attenuators

14dB attenuator performance

14dB attenuator performance

Transmitter after amplification

Transmitter after amplification

In the above image, you can see that we’re getting 27.5dBm out of the amplifier!  I love it when a plan comes together!  This is the value I calculated, right on the nose.  I promise that I didn’t work the math backward! :)  Again, it’s so painfully obvious that the transmitter is AM, rather than the VSB signal that it should be.

Close-up of the signal

Close-up of the signal

amplifier gain v. frequency

amplifier gain v. frequency

Harmonics after amplification

Harmonics after amplification

3D Printering

January 6th, 2014 No comments

Ok, confession time.  I succumbed to the 3D printing fad thing.  I know.  I made fun of 3D printer fanbois in the past, but we got one at work.  Using it for a bit forced me to realize that they’re actually pretty cool.

My kit of reprap parts!

My kit of reprap parts!

I asked my whole family to chip in for a RepRap Prusa i3 kit for my birthday (in September, to give you an idea of how behind I am).  It came relatively quickly, but there were certainly some issues.  For one, everything smelled –very strongly– of cigarette smoke.  Luckily, it was mostly isolated to the outside of the packaging.  Once I unpacked everything, it went away.

Aaaarg!  Two sets of threaded rods!

Aaaarg! Two sets of threaded rods!

Then, I discovered that I got two sets of threaded rods!!  That wouldn’t be so bad, except that I didn’t get any smooth rods!  I emailed the company, and they got a replacement set of smooth rods in the mail right away, but I still had to wait a while.  In the mean time, I figured that 5/16″ is awfully close to 8mm.  I bought some 5/16″ stainless steel rods from the hardware store to keep working on the printer.  The 5/16″ rods are undersized for the LM8UU linear bearings (they’re designed for 8mm rods), so there was extra slop in all the axes.  Eventually, the 8mm rods came in the mail, and I installed them.

There were a few other minor issues.  For one, the melamine material that was used for the main frame was thicker than the laser-cut slots.  I had to carefully trim the tabs so that they would fit.  It may be difficult to understand what I’m talking about without photos, but all that’s important to understand is that there were some attention to detail issues.

After printing for a while, I noticed another problem with the melamine.  It’s also used in the frame that holds the build platform to the Y axis bearings.  The frame material wasn’t strong enough to level the platform.  When I lengthened the screws on the low sides, the frame would just bend downward rather than moving the platform.  I found a place in town that sold me a sheet of 3/16″x1’x2′ aluminum for $5, from which I cut out a replacement frame with my scroll saw.

Other than those problems, everything went together smoothly.  One interesting thing about RepRaps (the models that I know about, anyway) is that they don’t really include something to hold your spool on.  I almost think it’s to give people something to design and print out of the chute.  My solution was to build a frame using aluminum channel stock.  I started with just the upright part of the spool holder.  Then, the spool spun a bit too easily, and it would unspool and catch on things.  The angled portion holds a dry sponge with a hole in it.  This has the dual purpose of wiping the dust off of the filament and providing a small amount of friction.

The reprap is all finished.

The reprap is all finished.

The green adapters on the spool ends are just bearing holders that help the spool turn more easily.  It was the first thing that I printed.  Here’s a very short video of it working:

 The final issue I had was with the GFCI circuit in my office.  I can’t figure out why I have GFCI there, but I do.  To add insult to injury, my firewall/router/server is on the same circuit.  So, every time the printer trips my GFCI, it takes down the internet and generally causes havoc.  I pulled my hair out over this one.  I replaced my (very expensive) GFCI circuit breaker and the printers power supply.

Trying to measure GFCI current

Trying to measure GFCI current

In the photo above, I’m trying to measure the peak ground current from the printer.  The fluke is on the mA setting with peak hold.  This is the highest reading I ever got, and the circuit didn’t trip.  It’s my understanding that GFCI trips when there’s about 30mA on the ground circuit.  My assumption at this point was that the shunt resistance in the DMM was limiting the peak current, therefore no 30mA spike and no trip.

The problem persisted for sometime, and I began to suspect the GFCI breaker.  I went to an electrician store, and the guy said that they can wear out.  After I replaced the circuit breaker, and $50 later, the problem got worse!  It would trip even when the printer wasn’t plugged in!  At least then, it was no longer an intermittent fault.  Now that I could reliably cause the fault, I at least had hope for isolating it.  I unplugged everything on the circuit and plugged in things one-by-one.  I turned out that a cheap power strip (the same kind as in the above photo) was the culprit.  Boooo.

Any way, I’m now a 3D printing convert.  But I promise I won’t be annoying about it. :)

Support for the Rafael Micro R820t tuner in Cocoa Radio

October 26th, 2012 2 comments


This is an archived article.

September 16, 1999

‘Soapy’ droplets make brighter clouds

News and Information

The phenomenon affects climate locally, and probably regionally, say researchers from the Consilio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Bologna, Italy, and the University of Washington in Seattle, who report their findings in the Sept. 16 edition of the British journal Nature.

Such organic particles bring a decrease in surface tension – commonly observed when a small amount of soap or detergent is added to water – during the formation of cloud droplets, said Robert Charlson, a UW atmospheric chemist. The result is the formation of more droplets than normal, making clouds that are somewhat more reflective of sunlight.

Charlson co-authored the study with Maria Cristina Facchini, Mihaela Mircea and Sandro Fuzzi of Consilio Nazionale delle Ricerche.

“What we found out is that the stuff in the Po valley is more like soap than sugar,” Charlson said. The researchers discovered up to a 30 percent decrease in surface tension in the cloud droplets, which they calculate would result in about 20 percent more droplets than normal and reduce the size of droplets about 6 percent.

At the top of the atmosphere, the increase in the number of droplets results in about 1 percent more sunlight being reflected away from Earth, they said. The effect of the small increase in reflection is opposite the warming associated with man-made carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but the pollution particles also represent a fundamental change in the chemistry of the atmosphere. Similar effects are likely in other agricultural and industrial regions, Charlson said, but no data are available to make a global estimate.

“It helps to explain the many complex factors that control the amount and properties of clouds on Earth,” Charlson said. “Clouds are a major feature of climate that are essential for precipitation, but they also strongly influence how much sunlight reaches the surface.”

In the last 10 years, Charlson has pushed the idea that, in some regions, aerosols from industrial pollution might be countering the atmospheric warming effects of greenhouse gases by reflecting sunlight into space. He is part of the science team for a NASA mission scheduled for launch in 2003, called PICASSO-CENA, which should provide crucial data to help scientists better understand the role of aerosols in human-caused climate change.

However, that work involves particles present in the atmosphere outside of clouds. The current study is among the first to examine how organic pollutants change the reflective properties of clouds.

For more information, Charlson can be reached through Sept. 21 at the Hotel Commercianti in Bologna, 011 39 051 233052. The hotel’s fax number is 011 39 051 224733. After Sept. 21 he can be reached at Stockholm University, 011 468 162 397.

NOTE: Time difference is six hours later than EDT, nine hours later than PDT.