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The number of job advertisements posted in Perspectives in the academic year 2004–05 surpassed estimates of new history PhDs for the first time in 15 years.
After two years of declines, the total number of positions advertised in Perspectives in the 2004–05 academic year increased 13.1 percent over the year before (Figure 1).1 The number of positions advertised last year, 966 in all, was second only to the academic year 2001–02, when 983 positions were listed.
At the same time, the number of new history PhDs reported to the AHA's Directory of History Departments academic year 2004–05 dropped 13.6 percent from the year before. That steep fall may be reflected also in what the federal government will report when it publishes the annual Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). Extrapolations based on the Directory data and past comparisons with SED data suggest that we can expect the federal figure to be 840 history PhDs earned in the academic year 2004–05.2 If that forecast bears out, it will represent the lowest number of new history PhDs in 12 years—that is, since 1993–94, when only 800 history PhDs were conferred.
The data and the resultant projections have to be read with an enormous amount of caution, however, as four trends suggest this could just be a transitory moment for the academic job market. Over the past five years, the number of graduate students entering history PhD programs has been rising, while the proportion of faculty approaching retirement has been falling. And looking forward, the U.S. Department of Education anticipates that the recent growth in the number of new undergraduate students at American colleges and universities will slow down over the coming decade—about the time it would typically take someone just starting a history PhD to finish.3
The other uncertain factor in the mix is a large number of recent history PhDs who did not find full-time employment in recent years, and remain on the academic job market or might be tempted to re-enter it. The faculty listings in the latest Directory clearly show that the proportion of newly hired junior faculty who had received their PhDs less than three years before appointment (the traditional window over the past decade) is decreasing. Among new assistant professors hired last year, for example, just 60 percent were either PhD candidates or had received their degree within the past three years. This is a marked drop from past years, when this proportion was typically around 80 percent.
One other area we cannot properly measure is the number of job openings outside of the four-year college and university market, which also provide good career options for new history PhDs. Aside from the lack of data on this question, doctoral programs in the discipline rarely prepare their students for careers in two-year colleges and public history. This is unfortunate, though, because these continue to be important growth areas in jobs advertised and in the number of history PhDs employed there.
At a fundamental level, then, the recent problems in the history job market appear to have stemmed from an imbalance in the way PhD programs admit students, train them, and value their potential career options. This is hardly surprising, as few PhD programs systematically keep track of where their PhDs go on to find employment.4 And PhD programs are further insulated from the four-year college job market because PhD-granting departments rarely hire newly minted history PhDs (preferring to cherry pick mid-career faculty from other schools).5 Given their limited exposure to the vicissitudes of the job market for which they are training their PhDs, we hope PhD programs will nevertheless exercise caution as they consider how to adjust their admissions decisions to the information presented below.
Job Ad Growth in All Categories
The number of new junior faculty positions—jobs advertised as open to faculty at the instructor or assistant professor level—rose 17.6 percent, from 682 jobs in the 2003–04 academic year to 801 in 2004–05. This represents the largest number of junior faculty jobs listed since we began differentiating jobs more precisely by academic rank in 1991–92.6 Alongside the junior faculty jobs, another 59 of the listings were for postdoctoral fellowships, which could provide other short-term opportunities in academia to recent history PhDs. An additional 34 public history positions were advertised.
The increases in the number of positions occurred in all regions of the country and in all geographic fields of specialization (Tables 2 and 3). The most pronounced growth occurred in the Southwest, where the number of junior faculty jobs increased almost 66 percent over the year before (from 35 to 58 jobs). In simple numeric terms, the largest growth occurred in the Midwest, where an additional 37 junior faculty jobs were advertised.
In recent years it has become more apparent that a large segment of new history PhDs can or will only apply for positions in a limited number of regions—particularly the region in which they received their doctorate. So it is somewhat troubling that job growth lagged a bit in the Northeast and West, where more than half of the new PhDs received their degrees. The proportion of junior faculty jobs advertised in each of those regions was slightly lower than the proportion of new history PhDs recently conferred in that region. In contrast, in the Southeast, departments advertised almost 18 percent of the jobs for new faculty, but PhD programs conferred barely 15 percent of the new PhDs.
Of course, the total number of jobs and where they are is somewhat less important than the actual alignment of specific field specializations. Unfortunately, we cannot offer a precise comparison of the field specialization of new history PhDs to the field specializations requested in the job advertisements.
We can report that the number of new junior faculty jobs advertised in each of the major geographic categories did grow (Table 2). Positions in African history led the way, rising 92 percent from the year before, followed closely by openings in the Middle Eastern and Islamic history, which rose 64 percent.
Openings in U.S. and European history continue to account for more than half of the jobs listed last year, but their proportion of the advertised positions has been declining over the past decade. To account for year-to-year fluctuations, it helps to look at the past three years in comparison to the last three years of the 1990s (from September 1997 to May 2000). Over the past three years U.S. history averaged 34.1 percent of the junior faculty listings, as compared to 37.9 percent of the listings in the late 1990s. Similarly, European history jobs have fallen from an average of 26.5 percent of the positions advertised to 23.6 more recently.
This is troubling. By most estimates, more than half of the new history PhD recipients in recent years specialized in some aspect of U.S. history—with a majority working on the past 100 years. Moreover, the number of new history PhDs specializing in U.S. history has been growing in recent years. In comparison, only about one-quarter of the recent PhDs were conferred on students working in European history, and that portion has been declining.7 As this suggests, recent PhDs working on regions outside of the U.S. and Europe are likely to find less competition for jobs in their field.
One other important point of distinction is in the preference for (or, more accurately, the expectation of) employment in a major research university. Less than half of the junior faculty jobs were in universities rated as doctoral/research universities, and barely a quarter were in departments that met the National Research Council's criteria for ranking PhD programs 12 years ago.
History Departments Continue to Grow
To take a better measure of how the job listings translate into actual jobs, AHA staff tabulated the faculty listings in the latest Directory. As in recent years, the most notable change is the small incremental growth in the number of faculty employed in the 657 departments listed in the past two directories (Table 3).
Of course, the hiring of new faculty in the departments tends to arise from three purposes connected to the classroom—the need to replace retiring faculty, the need to find teachers for a growing number of students in the classrooms, and finally, the need to provide new coverage of emerging subject fields. The trends among faculty listed in the Directory provide some evidence on these questions.
In relative terms, the growth in the use of part-time faculty outpaced the growth in the number of full-time faculty for the third year in a row. The number of full-time faculty at all levels in these departments grew 2.6 percent, while the number of part-time faculty grew by 4.4 percent.
The increases in the number of new faculty seem largely driven by recent increases in the number of undergraduate students studying history. Given the estimates from the Department of Education that the growth in the number of undergraduate students will taper off over the coming decade, departments may be encouraged to hire part-time and contingent faculty (because their numbers can be adjusted more easily to adapt to changing student recruitment patterns).8
While the growth in the number of undergraduates is clearly an important element in the recent increase in the number of faculty in the departments, much of the recent expansion in hiring has been necessitated by a growing number of retirements over the past decade. This is perhaps best indicated by sharp increases in the number of emeritus faculty over the past decade. Ten years ago fewer than 700 faculty were listed in the emeritus category; now they number more than 2,300. It is worth noting, however, that this trend is slowing after a decade of annual growth of more than 7 percent. The number of new emeritus faculty went up this year only by a modest 0.4 percent.
Taking a closer look at the faculty listed in the Directory, and more specifically at when they received their degrees, the generational shift that has taken place becomes more evident. Given that the average age when historians receive their PhDs has consistently been above 30, we classify the full-time faculty into the decades since they received their degree. While imperfect, such a classification does allow us to estimate how many faculty are approaching retirement relative to the number who are still quite early in their careers (Figure 3).
A decade ago more than half of the full-time faculty listed in the Directory had received their doctorates more than 20 years earlier (and hence assumed to be past their mid-50s). In the most recent Directory this number has now fallen to 42 percent. While the pool of history faculty approaching retirement age is by no means exhausted, this is very near the lowest point in more than 20 years.
If we look back to the first year for which we have comparable information, 1975, we can see both why there has been a recent wave of retirements and why doctoral programs need to rein in any optimism that may arise about the future prospects for the academic job market. In the first edition of the Directory (then called the Guide to Departments of History) almost 80 percent of the faculty had received their doctorates within the previous 20 years, almost half within the prior decade.
In many ways, 1975 marked a painful turning point for the discipline. As indicated in Figure 1, in the early 1970s departments were conferring many more degrees than the available jobs in departments, leading to a job crisis that actually dwarfs the more recent troubles in the field. Even though the problems in the academic job market had been clearly identified by 1970, and departments sharply cut back on their admissions of new doctoral students, because of the large numbers of doctoral students admitted in the late 1960s and the lengthy process to earn a history PhD, the numbers of new history PhDs did not begin to decline until the middle of the decade.
Looking at the cohorts of personnel listed this year, we can see that the professors who earned their degrees before 1976 now comprise 23 percent of the full-time faculty, with a relatively steep drop-off in the proportion who earned their degrees in the following decade (between 1976 and 1985). So while the cohort approaching retirement has reached the largest point in our records, there is also evidence that it will not sustain over the longer term.
Nevertheless, there is certainly good news in the rising number of faculty promoted to the full and associate professor level in history departments. Promotions to these higher ranks has been growing over the past few years, as the historians hired in increasing numbers into junior faculty positions over the past decade are now earning tenure and moving up in the ranks.
Decline in New PhDs, but Admissions and Student Numbers on the Rise
The laws of supply and demand apply to the job market as well; so, if one looks at the current numbers of students earning degrees and seeking jobs, the news seems quite positive.
The number of new PhDs reported to the Directory for the 2004–05 academic year fell almost 14 percent from the year before. With the exception of the modest uptick last year, the number of new PhDs conferred has declined annually since the 1999–2000 academic year, and is now 20 percent below the levels of five years ago.
The declines over the past five years have been fairly evenly distributed across most demographic categories—public and private institutions, programs at the top and the bottom of the various rankings, and in all regions of the country. The only category that seems significantly different from the norm is of programs that were not ranked by the National Research Council (NRC) in 1993 or byU.S. News and World Report last year. Typically they were not ranked because they were either newly established or too small to meet the criteria for inclusion.
While the number of PhDs conferred in the ranked programs have all declined more than 16 percent over the past five years, the doctorates earned at the unranked programs fell a more modest 5.9 percent. It is important to note that these programs comprise only a very modest portion of the new PhDs earning degrees—just 8.9 percent of the doctorates conferred over the past five years.
Despite the recent declines, it is important to also look at trends in admissions into the PhD programs, where the number of new students has been on the rise at most programs over the past five years. The estimate for the number of new graduate students that would matriculate this fall was 11 percent higher than the number of students who entered in the 2000–01 academic year.
Programs in the top tier of the NRC rankings have continued to limit the number of new graduates entering their programs. They anticipated admitting 2.9 percent fewer students than five years ago for the fall 2005 term. In contrast, the other ranked programs estimated that the number of new graduate students admitted would be 21.3 percent higher.
As a result of the recent increases, the number of graduate students reported as "actively enrolled" in PhD programs has risen to its highest total since the fall of 1999. Departments reported 12,264 graduate students in their programs. Of these students, 10,098 were enrolled full time and 2,166 were enrolled part time.
Not all of these graduate students are on their way to doctoral degrees, of course, so we cannot specifically predict the number of PhDs that will be conferred in the near future. Moreover, recent PhDs have spent more than nine years in graduate studies after the bachelor's degree. While only some of those are typically spent in the specific doctoral program, the great majority of that time is spent in doctoral studies. So it is no surprise that number of admissions to the PhD program is a lagging indicator.
Nevertheless, it seems clear that within a few years the number of PhDs conferred is likely to increase again modestly. Given some of the other indicators for the academic job market, departments must deliberate more carefully about how many students they will admit and what types of jobs they will prepare their students to take.
—Robert B. Townsend is assistant director for research and publications at the AHA and a doctoral candidate in history at George Mason University. Liz Townsend assisted with the tabulation of data from the 2005–06 edition of theDirectory.
1. The count of total positions includes all full-time appointments designated as lasting nine months or more and fellowships paying $25,000 or more per annum.
2. There are a number of different methods for counting the number of new history PhDs; we tend to take the numbers reported in the federal survey of earned doctorates as the best measure of the number of new history PhDs. This number tends to be about 9 percent higher than the numbers reported to the Directory because new PhDs can (and do) self-select the field in which they received their degrees. This larger number suggests in addition that new PhDs who earned their degrees in other departments (in American studies, for example), will also be competing in the history job market.
3. William J. Hussar, Projections of Educational Statistics to 2014 (Washington, D.C.: NCES, 2005).
4. See, for instance The Education of Historians for the Twenty-first Century (the report of the AHA's Committee on Graduate Education). Anecdotal evidence provided by directors of graduate studies to the author supports the report's contentions. The AHA's web pages dedicated to collection and dissemination of information on history doctoral programs are intended to eventually facilitate, among other things, the tracking of post-PhD career trajectories.
5. For more on this issue, see Robert B. Townsend, "New Study Highlights Prominence of Elite PhD Programs in History," Perspectives (October 2005), 16–17.
6. The categories and tabulations were first developed by the AHA's vice president for professional issues, Susan Socolow, and reported in "Analyzing Trends in the Job Market," Perspectives (May/June 1993). Regrettably there is a one year gap in the 1994–95 academic year, which is why we do not show a tabulation back to the beginning.
7. See Robert B. Townsend, "Survey Shows Marked Drop in History PhDs" Perspectives 44:2 (February 2005) and Robert B. Townsend, "Job Market Report 2001: Openings Booming … but for How Long?" Perspectives 40:9 (December 2001), 5.
8. See Robert B. Townsend, "Rising Tide of History Undergraduates Contrasts with Declining PhDs," Perspectives (December 2005), 8.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Attribution must provide author name, article title, Perspectives on History, date of publication, and a link to this page. This license applies only to the article, not to text or images used here by permission.


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A novel device that uses only sunlight and wastewater to produce hydrogen gas could provide a sustainable energy source while improving the efficiency of wastewater treatment.
A research team led by Yat Li, associate professor of chemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz, developed the solar-microbial device and reported their results in a paper published in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano. The hybrid device combines a microbial fuel cell (MFC) and a type of solar cell called a photoelectrochemical cell (PEC). In the MFC component, bacteria degrade organic matter in the wastewater, generating electricity in the process. The biologically generated electricity is delivered to the PEC component to assist the solar-powered splitting of water (electrolysis) that generates hydrogen and oxygen.
Either a PEC or MFC device can be used alone to produce hydrogen gas. Both, however, require a small additional voltage (an "external bias") to overcome the thermodynamic energy barrier for proton reduction into hydrogen gas. The need to incorporate an additional electric power element adds significantly to the cost and complication of these types of energy conversion devices, especially at large scales. In comparison, Li's hybrid solar-microbial device is self-driven and self-sustained, because the combined energy from the organic matter (harvested by the MFC) and sunlight (captured by the PEC) is sufficient to drive electrolysis of water.
In effect, the MFC component can be regarded as a self-sustained "bio-battery" that provides extra voltage and energy to the PEC for hydrogen gas generation. "The only energy sources are wastewater and sunlight," Li said. "The successful demonstration of such a self-biased, sustainable microbial device for hydrogen generation could provide a new solution that can simultaneously address the need for wastewater treatment and the increasing demand for clean energy."
Microbial fuel cells rely on unusual bacteria, known as electrogenic bacteria, that are able to generate electricity by transferring metabolically-generated electrons across their cell membranes to an external electrode. Li's group collaborated with researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) who have been studying electrogenic bacteria and working to enhance MFC performance. Initial "proof-of-concept" tests of the solar-microbial (PEC-MFC) device used a well-studied strain of electrogenic bacteria grown in the lab on artificial growth medium. Subsequent tests used untreated municipal wastewater from the Livermore Water Reclamation Plant. The wastewater contained both rich organic nutrients and a diverse mix of microbes that feed on those nutrients, including naturally occurring strains of electrogenic bacteria.
When fed with wastewater and illuminated in a solar simulator, the PEC-MFC device showed continuous production of hydrogen gas at an average rate of 0.05 m3/day, according to LLNL researcher and coauthor Fang Qian. At the same time, the turbid black wastewater became clearer. The soluble chemical oxygen demand–a measure of the amount of organic compounds in water, widely used as a water quality test–declined by 67 percent over 48 hours.
The researchers also noted that hydrogen generation declined over time as the bacteria used up the organic matter in the wastewater. Replenishment of the wastewater in each feeding cycle led to complete restoration of electric current generation and hydrogen gas production.
Qian said the researchers are optimistic about the commercial potential for their invention. Currently they are planning to scale up the small laboratory device to make a larger 40-liter prototype continuously fed with municipal wastewater. If results from the 40-liter prototype are promising, they will test the device on site at the wastewater treatment plant.
"The MFC will be integrated with the existing pipelines of the plant for continuous wastewater feeding, and the PEC will be set up outdoors to receive natural solar illumination," Qian said.
"Fortunately, the Golden State is blessed with abundant sunlight that can be used for the field test," Li added.


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An innovative window treatment that looks beautiful and insulates your home all year round, Duette® Honeycomb Shades were the first cellular shades, specially engineered to provide energy efficiency at the window in both cold and warm climates. Their specially engineered honeycomb construction traps air in distinct pockets, which creates insulation that can help lower your energy consumption and energy bills.
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10 Elements of Competency-Based Learning
Competency-based learning (or standards-based or performance-based if you will) is based on two important ideas:
- Students should meet learning expectations—passing kids along with a weak foundation means they will never achieve higher level knowledge and skills and will be excluded from the idea economy.
- Students should show what they know—it's not about turning work in, earning point, or showing up to class, they should demonstrate in several ways that they have mastered important knowledge, skills, and abilities.
For most people that sounds logical and for twenty years we've been saying "it's about learning not time" and "learning is fixed and time is variable." Only it's not—it's all about time and the structures we've ensconced with policies, budgets, and contracts.
Since Horace borrowed the idea from the Prussians we've been batch-processing kids based on birthdays through a print curriculum. This batch-print system was moderately efficient until we tried to retrofit it to work for all kids. It just created a mess of tacked on services and a crazy patchwork quilt of courses. As educational demands of society increased, it became obvious that the batch-print system is a disaster for at least two thirds of our kids.
The shift to personal digital learning offers a better alternative. Specifically, a system based on demonstrated competence and powered by personalized learning technology holds the potential to double the number of students prepared for college and careers in this decade.
However, competency-based systems are fundamentally different than batch-print. Following are ten elements of a competency-based system:
- Intellectual mission that focuses resources and behaviors on productive habits of mind and preparation for participation in college, careers, and civic life.
- Standards that express in some detail what students should know and be able to do.
- Progress monitoring, historically thought of as grading, and achievement recognition systems, historically thought of as class rank.
- Grouping and scheduling systems—when, why and how groups are used when learning not age cohorts is the dominant organizing principle.
- Reporting to the outside world that still thinks in courses, credits, and grades.
- Content that supports self-directed and customized learning.
- Tools that facilitate standards-based challenges, collaboration, and scheduling.
- Teacher support, preparation and development for a dynamic environment with differentiated (i.e., different levels) and distributed (i.e., different locations) staffing.
- Evaluation systems that helps to determine student learning and how experiences and adults are contributing.
- Community connections and supports for student success.
Unfortunately, it's tough create/manage competency-based environments because the tool set is just not very good yet. And even new platforms/apps assume a age cohort system. Next week I'll cover 10 edtech advances that will promote competency-based learning.
This blog first appeared on CompetencyWorks, an iNACOL project sponsored by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and managed by Chris Sturgis. Check out the new site for everything you need to know about competency-based learning. Tom is a director of iNACOL.


text: There's no other e-bike out there with ride quality, range, and power like this, at a weight that's light enough to carry. The Turbo Vado SL 5.0 EQ is best for your daily commute, quick errands, and getting around town. Extra-bright, built-in lights in front and back mean you'll see and be seen. DRYTECH fenders keep water and road spray away, and a standard rear rack is always ready for your bags and panniers. This is your go-to for local transportation.


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There's a powerful story behind every headline at Ohio State Health & Discovery. As one of the largest academic health centers and health sciences campuses in the nation, we are uniquely positioned with renowned experts covering all aspects of health, wellness, science, research and education. Ohio State Health & Discovery brings this expertise together to deliver today's most important health news and the deeper story behind the most powerful topics that affect the health of people, animals, society and the world. Like the science and discovery news you find here? You can support more innovations fueling advances across medicine, science, health and wellness by giving today.
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"Chaos does not mean total disorder. Chaos means a multiplicity of possibilities.
Chaos is from the ancient Greek words that means a thing that is birthed from the void.
And it was about that which is possible, not about disorder."
– jok church –
*DETERMINATION "At the Gates of Tomorrow"
The Soul Medicine Art Print Editions
I believe in the healing power of art. In a world ruled more than ever by the intellect, art becomes an island where the soul can rest. It opens the door to freedom of thought, to a world of possibilities beyond mere logic. It is always a pleasure for me to enter this realm, full of excitement and expectation what I will encounter there.
When I create a painting, I usually surrender to chaos. Sometimes, however, a concept or guiding principle emerges in the process, that moves the image towards a certain direction and manifests itself in it. Many of my paintings stand for very specific forces that work in us. They are a reminder of what is really important in life.
A gift for the soul
Out of the idea to communicate which kind of energy talks through the paintings, I created the 'Soul Medicine' art boxes. The concepts that inspired me during the painting process, can be found on the packaging of the prints, giving each image it's 'magic power'. The 'Soul Medicine' boxes are a reminder of one's own strengths and possibilities, sources of inspiration, which are also wonderfully suitable as gifts for good friends.
Each art print comes in a nicely designed box with a special security hologram, that can also be found on the back of the prints. For customers outside of Germany, the boxes will arrive in English language. I will gladly sign or dedicate the art prints for you – just write your wishes into the 'order notes' at the checkout.
About the artist
Since the beginning of this millennium, Dennis Konstantin Bax has fascinated an ever-growing international audience with his multi-layered paintings. Bax is at the forefront of the modern visionary and psychedelic art movement, but he is reluctant to let himself be put into a certain drawer.
Although he proudly carries the flag of fantastic art into the future, (which is not particularly surprising, since his father was a friend of Salvador Dali and he himself was an assistant to the Viennese painter-prince Prof. Ernst Fuchs) he doesn't hesitate to do it in such an unorthodox way, that one can literally sense the dawn of a new era… Read on here


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From the Sunday Times number one bestselling author Lucinda Riley, The Missing Sister is the seventh instalment in the multimillion selling epic series.
They'll search the world to find her.
The six D'Aplièse sisters have each been on their own incredible journey to discover their heritage, but they still have one question left unanswered: who and where is the seventh sister?
They only have one clue – an image of a star-shaped emerald ring. The search to find the missing sister will take them across the globe; from New Zealand to Canada, England, France and Ireland, uniting them all in their mission to at last complete their family.
In doing so, they will slowly unearth a story of love, strength and sacrifice that began almost one hundred years ago, as other brave young women risk everything to change the world around them.
Praise for the Seven Sisters series:
'The Seven Sisters series is heart-wrenching, uplifting and utterly enthralling' – Lucy Foley
'Well researched and compelling ? on an epic scale' – Sunday Express
'There's something magical about these stories' – Prima
'Addictive storytelling' – Woman & Home
'A masterclass in beautiful writing' – The Sun


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The Southwest Allen County School District (SACS) is an award-winning school corporation that serves more than 7,800 students.
Our Mission
Preparing today's learners for tomorrow's opportunities.
Our Guiding Principles and Beliefs
We believe parents are the first and essential teachers of their children.
We believe it is our role to serve as the hub of our diverse community. We serve as professional educators, providing consultation and partnership with parents. We serve as more experienced co-learners, providing wisdom and guidance for our students. And we serve as an educational workplace of choice, providing support and opportunities for our employees.
We believe a culture of learning embraces change, flexibility, and innovation. We believe learning is neither bound by place nor time and must be appropriate and accessible to all learners. We believe learners will experience the joy of learning and working in a safe and secure educational environment.
We believe learning encompasses critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, citizenship, digital literacy, perseverance, and resiliency.
We Are Committed
Southwest Allen County Schools is home to dedicated staff, passionate teachers, and a generous community that values and supports education. We are focused in our efforts and do our best for girls and boys each and every day. We lead by example. We value hard work, attention to craft, tenacity, and resiliency in ourselves and in our students.
We Are Collaborative
Southwest Allen County Schools is a place that values learning and community. We ask questions, share ideas, and work together to find new ways to do new things—great things—for our students, for our district, and for our community.
We Are Innovative
We are an innovative school district. Our standards are high, and our performance often exceeds. We have been recognized both locally and nationally for our award-winning programs, students, and staff. We celebrate this achievement but never stop asking how we can be better and do better for our students, our staff, and our community.
Our Goals
In order to build upon a history of successful academic achievement in every school and in every classroom, SACS will:


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wise_WISE2013-001 January 16th, 2013
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
The Great Nebula in Orion is featured in this sweeping image from NASAs Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The constellation of Orion is prominent in the evening sky throughout the world from about December through April of each year. The Orion Nebula (also catalogued as Messier 42) is located in the sword of Orion, hanging from his famous belt of three stars. The star cluster embedded in the nebula is visible to the unaided human eye as a single star, with some fuzziness apparent to the most keen-eyed observers. Because of its prominence, cultures all around the world have given special significance to Orion. The Maya of Mesoamerica envision the lower portion of Orion, his belt and feet (the stars Saiph and Rigel), as being the hearthstones of creation, similar to the triangular three-stone hearth that is at the center of all traditional Maya homes. The Orion Nebula, lying at the center of the triangle, is interpreted by the Maya as the cosmic fire of creation surrounded by smoke.
The metaphor of a cosmic fire of creation is apt. The Orion Nebula is an enormous cloud of dust and gas where vast numbers of new stars are being forged. It is one of the closest sites of star formation to Earth and therefore provides astronomers with the best view of stellar birth in action. Many other telescopes have been used to study the nebula in detail, finding wonders such as planet-forming disks around newly forming stars. WISE was an all-sky survey giving it the ability to see these sites of star formation in a larger context. This view spans more than six times the width of the full Moon, covering a region nearly 100 light-years across. In it, we see the Orion Nebula surrounded by large amounts of interstellar dust, colored green.
Astronomers now realize that the Orion Nebula is part of the larger Orion molecular cloud complex, which also includes the Flame Nebula. This complex in our Milky Way Galaxy is actively making new stars. It is filled with dust warmed by the light of the new stars within, making the dust glow in infrared light.
Color in this image represents specific infrared wavelengths. Blue represents light emitted at 3.4-micron wavelengths and cyan (blue-green) represents 4.6 microns, both of which come mainly from hot stars. Relatively cooler objects, such as the dust of the nebulae, appear green and red. Green represents 12-micron light and red represents 22-micron light.
Provider: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
Image Source: /image/wise/WISE2013-001
Curator: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Berkeley, CA, USA
Image Use Policy: Pulic Domain
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
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More funny crap and you can link, or embed images or video (HTML allowed) is welcome in the Comments section.
2009.03.27 : Best of FAILBlog
Since the Last Best of FAILBlog
Plus Some Other Funny Crap
"The world has agreed to shuffle papers between 9:00AM and 5:00PM, and since you're trapped in the office for that period of servitude, you are compelled to create activities to fill that time. Time is wasted because there is so much time available."
- Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Work Week (read this book - ed.)
More funny crap and you can link, or embed images or video (HTML allowed) is welcome in the Comments section. |
Fuchs is the author of the novels The Manuscript and Pandora's Sisters, both published worldwide by Macmillan in hardback, paperback and all e-book formats (and in translation); the D-Boys series of high-tech, high-concept, spec-ops military adventure novels D-Boys, Counter-Assault, and Close Quarters Battle (coming in 2016); and is co-author, with Glynn James, of the bestselling Arisen series of special-operations military ZA novels. The second nicest thing anyone has ever said about his work was: "Fuchs seems to operate on the narrative principle of 'when in doubt put in a firefight'." (Kirkus Reviews, more here.)
Fuchs was born in New York; schooled in Virginia (UVa); and later emigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lived through the dot-com boom. Subsequently he decamped for an extended period of tramping before finally rocking up in London, where he now makes his home. He does a lot of travel blogging, most recently of some very long walks around the British Isles. He's been writing and developing for the web since 1994 and shows no particularly hopeful signs of stopping.
You can reach him on .


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The Ekadashi that falls on the Krishna paksha of Ashada month of the Hindu calendar,i.e the elevnth day of the waning phase of the moon of the Ashada month of Hindu calendar is known as Kamika Ekadashi.
The meaning of Kamika is a desire to be fulfilled.
People perform the Ekadashi Vrat as it is observed on all the other Ekadashis. It is believed that by observing the vrat on this day one would be blessed and his desires will fulfilled.It is considered that if one worships lord Vishnu with Tulsi leaves (Basil leaves), it is equivalent of getting the Punya of bathing in all the sacred rivers and also doing 100 yagnas.


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Automated License Plate Recognition ("ALPR") Usage and Privacy Policy
- SP Plus Corporation ("SP+") uses ALPR Systems at certain parking facilities where permitted by law and in accordance with the procedures provided below. For purposes of this policy, the following definitions apply:
- "ALPR Systems" means a searchable computerized database resulting from the operation of one or more mobile or fixed cameras combined with computer algorithms to read and convert images of registration plates and the characters they contain into computer-readable data.
- "ALPR Information" means information or data collected through the use of an ALPR System.
- The authorized purposes for using ALPR Systems and collecting ALPR Information include parking enforcement, validating accurate parking rates, and performing vehicle inventories.
- ALPR Systems may be used or accessed by authorized SP+ employees whose jobs require such use or access including, without limitation, lot checkers, parking attendants, enforcement agents, and facility managers, or independent contractors who are required to access such information in order to provide a service to SP+ or its clients. Such employees and independent contractors are required to be trained on information security procedures and receive personalized training at the local parking facility level.
- ALPR Information collected by SP+ is stored in compliance with applicable data privacy laws within our secure internal SQL and DB2 databases, which are monitored by SP+'s IT Information Security Department. Independent contractors receiving or collecting ALPR Information on behalf of SP+ are required to comply with applicable data privacy laws and security standards when accessing or storing such information.
- SP+ does not sell ALPR Information. In states where collection is permitted for unpaid parking citations, we will share parking violation information with a thirty-party collection agency.
- For ALPR Information at parking facilities in California, SP+:
- Maintains a record of access to its ALPR Information which shows:
- The date and time the information is accessed;
- The license plate number or other data elements used to query the ALPR System;
- The username of the person who accesses the information, and, as applicable, the organization or entity with whom the person is affiliated; and
- The purpose for accessing the information.
- Requires that ALPR Information is only used for the authorized purposes identified in this policy.
- Maintains a record of access to its ALPR Information which shows:
- This policy is implemented by SP+'s Director of Operations Support and Director of Information Security.
- SP+ is capable of reviewing ALPR Information captured by ALPR Systems for accuracy by comparing it to customer records and data from parking access and revenue control equipment at the parking facilities. SP+ also has a customer dispute procedure in place for customers to report inaccurate charges.
- License plate numbers and images of license plates captured by ALPR Systems are retained by SP+ for up to ninety (90) days for paid parking customers and up to five (5) years for unpaid parking customers where a citation has been issued.
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, the practices of the Sites, or your dealings with the Site(s), you can contact us at email@example.com. You can also send us mail to:
Privacy Officer
SP Plus Corporation
Attn: Legal Department
200 East Randolph Street, Suite 7700
Chicago, IL 60601


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Welcome to the Studio 306 blog!
We are documentary wedding, event and portrait photographers based in Minneapolis | St. Paul.
You can view a portfolio of our work on our main site at www.studio306.com
We will blog about the weddings, events, and portraits we photograph and include descriptions, vendor info, photographs and list our favorite sources for all things wedding.
Let us know if you have any questions!
Marc + Leda @ email@example.com


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Chandra Source Catalog: Onto the Google Sky (Part 1)
From time to time in the Chandra blog, we like to give a look at the behind the scenes of how things really work around here. As you may suspect, it takes a lot of effort from many, many people to make this mission a success. One area we haven't delved into too much yet is the "data analysis" and other herculean efforts that are required to make the Chandra data as useful and user-friendly as possible to the scientific community.
Ken Glotfelty works in this important endeavor and has written this blog entry on how the Chandra Source Catalog - the definitive list of what the Chandra has observed over its lifetime - has made its way into Google Sky. Since there's a lot of ground to cover, we'll split this entry into two parts. This week, we begin with part one.
The science data from the ACIS and HRC instruments on Chandra are processed through a series software modules, or pipelines, that do things like
- convert spacecraft values to physical units (for example, the conversion from the location on the detector to celestial coordinates)
- flag and remove detector anomalies such as bad pixels
- identify good times during the observation when all the spacecraft systems, such as the transmission gratings, have been moved into/out-of place.
Once this "Standard Data Processing" is complete and the data have been validated, they are made available to the scientists who requested the observation to perform whatever specific science analysis their research entails. In Standard Data Processing, the processing is focused on the observation as a whole, not on individual sources within that observation.
The Chandra Source Catalog (CSC) project takes the next step and aims to process data on a per-source basis. Since Chandra may observe the same source multiple times in different observations, these multiple observations of the same source need to be merged so that its properties are only reported once -- while still maintaining all the per-observation information. Since some observations are long and some are short, some use the ACIS instrument and others use the HRC instrument, and since some of the observations may be taken years apart or optimized for different science objectives, this merging process is very tricky. Data in the Chandra Source Catalog are all processed uniformly to provide users with as unbiased as possible sample of X-ray sources that have been observed with Chandra.
In total there are over 700 quantities that computed for each of the roughly 100,000 sources in the current catalog release that is built from about 4000 individual ACIS observations that were completed during the first eight years of the mission. Soon another year's worth of data will be processed and data from the HRC will also be included.
The CSC goes far beyond just a position and some measure of the brightness (or flux); i.e. record information about any variability seen in the source (using several different tests), a set of X-ray "colors" or (hardness ratios), and many more. Most values are reported in multiple energy bands and estimates of the uncertainty are provided (usually with upper and lower limits).
These data and the associated files used to create them will allow unprecedented access to Chandra data. A typical X-ray astronomer will be able to quickly use the tabular data to sift through the sources and identify classes of objects -- or more interesting -- those sources that don't fit into any standard classification. The file-based products allow users the option to start their analysis without having to worry about many of the low-level details that Chandra users must be aware of.
Maybe even more importantly, these data will be directly usable by astronomers who are not experts in X-ray astronomy. X-ray data processing is very different from other wavelengths and Chandra is no exception. There is a significant learning curve to understand all the analysis tools and to work through all the analysis threads just to produce a single flux estimate (with errors) for a single source in a single observation. With the CSC, it will now be easy to add Chandra data as another data-point in multi-wavelength research project.
It should not be surprising then that the Chandra Source Catalog project took considerable time to design the science algorithms and to develop, test, and optimize the software as well the necessary computer hardware to run it on. After the data were processed, they went through a "Quality Assurance" phase where we did identify and correct a few software bugs and unexpected corner cases where the science algorithms performed inappropriately.
In the next installation, I'll talk about taking the CSC out of its usual venues and into Google Sky.
-Ken Glotfelty, CXC
Please note this is a moderated blog. No pornography, spam, profanity or discriminatory remarks are allowed. No personal attacks are allowed. Users should stay on topic to keep it relevant for the readers.
Read the privacy statement


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Spectacular Dredging Application of a New Liebherr Duty Cycle Crawler Crane
- Dredging application of a new HS 8130 HD from Liebherr on a reservoir in the Swiss canton of Ticino
- Duty cycle crawler crane with Negrini clamshell bucket convinces with low fuel consumption and high efficiency
- Challenging transport on a winding mountain pass
A 130-tonne duty cycle crawler crane from Liebherr is currently operating in the midst of an imposing mountain backdrop in the Swiss canton of Ticino. Its task is to free the reservoir's drain of deposited sediment. For this purpose the machine, which is fitted on a barge, is equipped with a specially designed mechanical clamshell bucket.
Since the beginning of the summer, a duty cycle crawler crane type HS 8130 HD belonging to the newest generation from Liebherr, is operating amidst the Swiss Alps. The duty cycle crawler crane is being used to dredge large amounts of sediment on the filter grids of the Lake Luzzone reservoir. "In future, this should ensure the unhindered flow of water to the power station in the Ticino town of Olivone," explains Andrea Baumler, one of the Directors of the Maggia Kraftwerke AG.
At depths of up to 200m, a total of 125,000m³ of material has accumulated in close proximity to the power station. In order to carry out the dredging work the HS 8130 HD is equipped with a mechanical clamshell bucket from Negrini, which was specially produced by the Italian manufacturer for this specific assignment. Thanks to its large filling capacity of 10m³, an average hourly handling performance of about 130m³ can be achieved.
The HS 8130 HD is fitted with a V-8 diesel engine from Liebherr with 505kW / 686hp that fulfils the European emission standards and US standards Tier 4 final. "Through its sophisticated hydraulic system the machine convinces with low fuel consumption. For the dredging assignment here in Ticino the duty cycle crawler crane requires a mere 35 litres of diesel per hour," states Florian Gabriel, the responsible Product Manager from Liebherr-Werk Nenzing GmbH.
Challenging Delivery
The delivery of the HS 8130 HD to Lake Luzzone imposed an immense challenge for Liebherr, S.E. Levage the French owner of the crane, as well as the transport company JMS Risi AG. On the way to its job site the duty cycle crawler crane did not only have to negotiate numerous hairpin bends but also pass through two narrow tunnels and cross a 225m high dam. Furthermore, shortly before transportation the road had to be cleared of fallen rock.
This journey to the unusual job site required close cooperation between all three of the companies involved. A lot of time and effort was spent in an intensive planning phase. "The high number of bends in the last stretch of the road, the bad weather with heavy rainfall and the danger of falling rock were a real challenge. Thanks to careful planning and the right vehicle everything went without a hitch," explains Paul Hotz, Operations Manager at JMS Risi AG.
In order to pass through the two narrow tunnels the duty cycle crawler crane had to be transferred to a smaller carrier shortly before its destination. Due to the extremely limited amount of space the uppercarriage and the undercarriage of the duty cycle crawler crane were delivered separately. Thus, the basic machine's low transport weight of only 51 tonnes and the maximum transport width of a mere 3.5m were an enormous advantage.
The assembly was carried out directly on the shore of the reservoir with the aid of a Liebherr mobile crane. Subsequently the duty cycle crawler crane was driven onto and mounted on a barge, which was also assembled on-site. And so the work could begin. Thanks to its robust design and the high-strength fine grained steel the Liebherr duty cycle crawler crane is ideally equipped for the dynamic forces which especially influence the uppercarriage in dredging operation.
As successor of the proven and successful HS 885 HD, the HS 8130 HD has two hydraulic free-fall winches with 35 tonnes line pull each – about 17% more than the previous model. Further benefits of the winches are the increased rope capacity as well as the automatic adjustment of the rope speed for all working ranges.
An intelligent control system provides for easy handling of the machine and allows for short working cycles. The Liebherr customer S.E. Leverage is very impressed with the high level of operator comfort, "The handling of the HS 8130 HD is extremely smooth and precise. This contributes immensely to the fact that, so far, the work has progressed according to plan."
Two-year Operation on the Reservoir Is of Utmost Importance
It is anticipated that the duty cycle crawler crane will be operating on the high altitude reservoir in the Swiss Alps, between May and October, for two years. Only after the completion of this work can the power station in Olivone be put back into full operation.
The importance of this project derives from the fact that a yearly average of 180 millionm³ of water flow through the turbines of the Olivone power station and consequently warrant approximately 234,000MWh of energy. The same water subsequently flows on to the Biasca power station which produces 304,000MWh of electricity per year. It is clear that a decelerated and impaired flow of water from the Lake Luzzone reservoir would not achieve this amount of electricity.


text: Fortune Heights is located in the popular CBD business area near to many of its landmark buildings such as the Kerry center, China world trade center and the CCTV headquarter building, and many facilities including restaurants, shopping malls, health centers, international schools and supermarkets. It is a mere 10 min drive away from Chaoyang Park and the Sanlitun area. On the higher floors you get stunning views of the area.


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We wanted a way for people to experience some Ruby in the browser, as well as have a platform that can send cool Ruby scripts to one another.
What does this mean?
In Github, forking is a way that you can build upon someone else's code.
Once the project you have forked the code, you can update it from that point on.
RubyFiddle grew up a little bit on June 14, 2012.
We execute in a restricted environment on Heroku and unfortunately, system calls and Ruby classes cause problems.
Due to such security concerns, we had to disable things like


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adidas Yeezy Boost 380 'Pyrite' GZ0473 Epochal Sneaker
adidas Yeezy Boost 380 'Pyrite' GZ0473 Epochal Sneaker
Model No
GZ0473Release Date
Sports, TrendySeason
Spring/Summer/AutumnUpper material
LacingSole material
Rubber SoleToe type
Round ToeHeel type
Flat heelColor way
PyriteIntroducing the adidas Yeezy Boost 380 'Pyrite' - a sneaker that's guaranteed to turn heads. This lifestyle silhouette features a re-engineered Primeknit upper in varying shades of grey, along with a sock-like build for unparalleled comfort. The no-tie laces and translucent monofilament window add a touch of style, while the large perforations on the side panel ensure enhanced airflow. The caged Boost cushioning on the midsole provides unbeatable support and stability, while the herringbone-traction rubber outsole ensures optimal grip. Whether you're hitting the streets or the gym, this sneaker is a must-have for any shoe collection.
The adidas Yeezy Boost 380 'Pyrite' GZ0473 Epochal Sneaker is a revolutionary footwear creation that combines style, comfort, and sustainability. This sneaker pushes the boundaries of traditional shoe design and introduces a new era of futuristic fashion.
Crafted with meticulous attention to detail, the adidas Yeezy Boost 380 'Pyrite' GZ0473 features a unique one-piece construction. This innovative choice not only ensures a lightweight and flexible feel but also contributes to reducing the shoe's carbon footprint.
The 'Pyrite' colorway adds a touch of understated elegance to the Yeezy, making it a versatile option for various occasions. Whether you're heading out for a casual day with friends or attending a trendy event, these sneakers effortlessly elevate your style game. The neutral tone complements a wide range of outfits, allowing you to experiment with different looks and express your individuality.
Comfort is at the forefront of the 'Pyrite' design.This ensures all-day comfort, making these sneakers perfect for long walks or extended periods of wear. The slip-on style eliminates the hassle of laces, allowing for easy on and off while maintaining a sleek aesthetic.
In addition to its striking design and comfort, the 'Pyrite' is a statement of sustainability. By choosing this sneaker, you contribute to a more eco-conscious fashion industry.
Overall, the adidas Yeezy Boost 380 'Pyrite' GZ0473 Epochal Sneaker is a game-changer in the world of footwear. Its innovative design, comfort, and commitment to sustainability make it a must-have for fashion-forward individuals who value both style and the environment. Step into the future of fashion with these iconic sneakers.


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Some midweek reading material…
[Images: Muons beneath the Alps; via and via].
I'm pretty much obsessed with muons—subatomic particles that have been used to map the interiors of archaeological ruins—so I was interested to see that muons have now also been put to work mapping the bedrock beneath glaciers in the Swiss Alps. It is the "first application of the technique in glacial geology," Eos reports. Even better, it uses underground railway infrastructure—the Jungfrau rail tunnel—as part of its experimental apparatus.
[Image: Mountain, written by Robert Macfarlane].
Robert Macfarlane has written a movie called Mountain, narrated by Willem Defoe. Macfarlane also recently joined Twitter, where he has rapidly accumulated nearly 28,000 followers.
The world's sand is running out—indeed, "it's scarcer than you think," David Owen writes for The New Yorker. As highlighted on Twitter by @lowlowtide, the piece includes this great line: "The problems start when people begin to think of mutable landforms as permanent property." Sand, and the peculiar economies that value it, has gotten quite a bit of attention over the past few years; among other coverage, a long feature in Wired two years ago is worth checking out.
Researchers at Penn State have figured out a way to generate electricity from the chemical mixing point where freshwater rivers reach the sea. "'The goal of this technology is to generate electricity from where the rivers meet the ocean,' said Christopher Gorski, assistant professor in environmental engineering at Penn State. 'It's based on the difference in the salt concentrations between the two water sources.'"
Hawaii is experiencing an unusually intense barrage of high tides, known as "king tides." "For the people of Hawaii, alarm bells are ringing," Adrienne LaFrance writes for The Atlantic. "King tides like this aren't just a historic anomaly; they're a sign of what's to come… Scientists believe Hawaii could experience a sea-level increase of three feet by the year 2100, which is in line with global predictions of sea-level change and which would substantially reshape life on the Islands. That's part of why scientists are enlisting volunteers to help photograph and describe incremental high tides across Hawaii." Read more at The Atlantic.
[Image: Courtesy Places Journal/Zach Mortice].
Over at Places, landscape architect Zach Mortice takes a long look at what he calls "perpetual neglect" and the challenge of historic preservation in African-American burial grounds. Badly maintained—and, in some cases, almost entirely erased—black cemeteries reveal "that the racism and inequality that plague African Americans in life are perpetuated in death," Mortice suggests. This is "nothing less than a preservation crisis for black burial grounds across the country."
I recently discovered the existence of something called Betonamit. Betonamit is a "non-explosive cracking agent," essentially a "non-toxic" powder that can be used for the slow-motion demolition of buildings and geological forms. "When mixed with water and poured into holes 1 1/4″, 1 3/8″ or 1 1/2″ diameter, it hardens and expands, exerting pressures of 12,000 psi. Reinforced concrete, boulders, and ledge[s] are fractured overnight with no noise, vibration, or flyrock." I'm imagining a truck full of this stuff overturning on a crack-laden bridge somewhere, just an hour before a rainstorm begins, or a storage yard filled with crates of this stuff being ripped apart in the summer wind; a seemingly innocuous grey powder drifts out across an entire neighborhood for the next few hours, settling down into cracks on brick rooftops and stone facades, in sidewalks and roadbeds. Then the rains begin. The city crumbles. Weaponized demolition powder.
In any case, I actually stumbled upon Betonamit after reading a few blog posts on that company's in-house blog. Atlas Preservation has a handful of interesting short articles up documenting their preservation work, including what might be the oldest gravestone in the United States and the challenges of open-air cemetery preservation. Let's hope no one goes wandering amongst the tombs with a bucket of Betonamit…
The BBC went into horror-movie mode earlier this month, asking, "what would happen if we were suddenly exposed to deadly bacteria and viruses that have been absent for thousands of years, or that we have never met before? We may be about to find out. Climate change is melting permafrost soils that have been frozen for thousands of years, and as the soils melt they are releasing ancient viruses and bacteria that, having lain dormant, are springing back to life." The headline is straight-forward enough, I suppose: "There are diseases hidden in ice, and they are waking up."
[Images: Courtesy Waxwork Records].
Fans of John Carpenter's (excellent) 1982 film The Thing might be interested to hear that the original score has been remastered and released on vinyl. The final product is visually gorgeous—and temporarily sold out. Keep your ears peeled for further pressings.
A retired F.B.I. investigator has newly dedicated himself to tracking down lost apple varietals of the Pacific Northwest. They are not extinct; they have simply disappeared into the background, both ecologically and historically. They are trees that have "faded into woods, or were absorbed by parks or other public lands," but the apples that grow from them can still be enjoyed and cultivated.
If you are interested in apples and their history, meanwhile, don't miss the late Roger Deakin's superb book, Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees.
[Images: Courtesy Public Domain Review].
Blending into the natural landscape is the subject of a fascinating piece over at Public Domain Review about the early wildlife photographers, Richard and Cherry Kearton. In order not to scare away their subject matter, the Keartons constructed artificial trees, put on short, deliberately misleading performative displays for wildlife, and carved masks that would help camouflage them against the woodlands.
There's more—always more!—to link to and read, but I'll leave it at that. For other, ongoing links, I am also on Twitter.


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Wearing a Water Filter
Water is something that's easy to take for granted, especially in a developed country where the taps run clean and clear. But the story is very different in the rest of the world, where nearly one billion individuals lack access to clean and safe water, and women and children can spend hours each day toting gallons of liquid from source to home.
Sometimes the solutions are simple, though. Back in 2003, University of Maryland microbiologist Rita Colwell and her colleagues reported that teaching women in villages in Bangladesh to filter water through folded sari cloth reduced the incidence of cholera by 48 percent. Cholera is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which attaches itself to the gut of a tiny zooplankton that lives in standing freshwater. Untreated, the disease kills 60 to 80 percent of those infected and is especially hard on the elderly and children younger than 5. The sari fabric filters out the zooplankton and reduces exposure to the bacteria.
But what happened after the researchers left and the village women stopped getting lessons and reminders on water filtration? A new study, published in mBio, answers that question.
The researchers returned to Bangladesh and surveyed 7,000 women who had participated in the study five years earlier. The scientists found that 31 percent of the women continued to filter their water and that 60 percent of those women used sari cloth. In addition, 26 percent of women who had been in the control group and not received any education about water filtration were now filtering their water. Fewer people were hospitalized for cholera over those five years, and even households that did not filter their water had a lower incidence of the disease if they lived among many people who had continued the practice.
But many of the women who used the sari filters used less than four layers of cloth, which could reduce their effectiveness. And the researchers witnessed only a few women actually using the sari cloth during the hours of observation in the follow-up study.
So, although the method works and many of the villagers continued to use it without reminders, Colwell suggests that "active reinforcement" would likely be needed to ensure the higher protection level seen in the earlier pilot study.


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Pictured are members of the GTLC Team L-R: Nebojsa Marinkovic (QA/QC Engineer) Ryan Holbrook (Apprentice) Emma Findley (Trainee PM) Mark Thomas (HSE Manager) Julia Hornby (HSE Administrator) Neil Angus (Security Manager) Anhar Choudhury (Project Planner) Alexander Hanna (Graduate Design Manager)
A total of 15 teams participated in the annual event which is a competition to promote and raise awareness to the health, safety, security and environmental functions that the RAF have to plan and prepare for as part of the operational preparedness of the facility.
The participating teams were set to task to navigate their way around a number of topical stands where they were rated on their ability to answer questions and perform tasks relative to a series of topics which included Fire Protection, FOD, First Aid, Spill Containment, Air Safety Management, Mental Wellbeing, Driving Safety, Air Traffic Control and Functional Safety and the Environment.
The teams also demonstrated their ability to respond to three mock scenarios which included discovering a suspicious package, discovering a live weapon and discovering an unauthorised individual.
GTLC were the only contracted organisation external to the RAF and Navy to partake in the event and after three hours of competition acquitted themselves admirably by achieving 3rd place.


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OFW as a Coreboot Payload
This page tells how to build Open Firmware as a Coreboot payload and run it under QEMU. You can also run Open Firmware under QEMU without Coreboot:
- You can build a QEMU ROM image directly from code in the OFW tree - see Building OFW for QEMU.
- You can boot OFW from a conventional BIOS - see Building OFW to Load from BIOS
Software Requirements
- qemu-0.9.1
- Open Firmware rev. >= 1051
- coreboot >= v2
- GCC and GNU make - OFW builds with most versions; I'm not sure which versions Coreboot needs
Building Open Firmware
Download the Open Firmware source:
svn co svn://openfirmware.info/openfirmware
Configure OFW for Coreboot:
cd openfirmware/cpu/x86/pc/biosload cp config-coreboot.fth config.fth
Build OFW:
cd build make
After make is finished (it shouldn't take long) there should be a file "ofwlb.elf" in the same directory. Copy this to your coreboot-v[x] directory.
Building coreboot
Follow the instructions in the coreboot documentation, using ofwlb.elf as your payload file.
Getting QEMU
Get QEMU >= 0.9.1 from http://bellard.org/qemu/download.html
Version 0.9.1 should "just work". It supports reasonably large ROM images, determining the emulated ROM size from the size of the image file. There was a "qemu_biossize.patch" for qemu-0.9.0, but the site that hosted that patch is defunct.
Run Your ROM Image
qemu -L coreboot-v3/build -hda path/to/disk.img -serial `tty` -nographic
Ideas for Improvement
These instructions build a rather plain OFW configuration that lacks drivers for several of QEMU's specific I/O devices (Ethernet, video, sound). Suitable drivers are in the OFW tree, and are included in the QEMU build described in Building OFW for QEMU. It would be nice to add those drivers to the configuration described herein. If the Cirrus video driver were added, qemu could be used in graphic mode.