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So what's Arielle's new book all about?
How to face life's challenges and not only survive, but thrive. Although the book focuses on how to turn around a healing crisis, the same principles are relevant for any kind of crisis. We don't have to let outside events control us. We have choice. We can learn how to bounce back instead of feeling helpless, bewildered and confused.
Have you ever wondered:
How to make a miracle happen when you need one?
How to bounce back from crisis?
How to transform problems into gifts?
By transforming stressful thinking into healing thinking, we build resilience. Our thoughts radiate magnetic frequencies that attract either difficulties or opportunities. Why not learn how to make everyday miracles happen? Develop the kind of inner resiliency that sustains and encourages good health, no matter what is happening.
This book is a work of genius. Anyone feeling lost or afraid is truly safe in your hands. Anyone seeking answers will find them. Anyone needing a friend who understands has just been sent one. Anyone cut loose and alone can join up and laugh again as the depths of your message of acceptance seeps into every pore. It's the work of an Angel on Earth.
Alice Bergin, Poet, Author of 'I Know You'
Who should read this?
This book will speak to anyone who is currently experiencing a crisis or still in recovery. Because I still remember how it felt to face my own scary diagnosis, I wrote this book to offer guidance, inspiration and healing perspectives. This book could be given to a friend, a client, or anyone who doesn't fully understand the mind/body connection. It offers simple explanations of the link between the negative consequences of stress and disease, based on scientific research.
There are few people who wouldn't benefit from reading this helpful, informative and insightful book. Just reading it will inspire you to a new level of consciousness about mind, body and spirit. Practicing this approach will not only assist healing, but act as preventive medicine.
Dr. Satish Chadha, M.S; F.R.C.S; M.R.C.O;
D.R.C.O, INLPTA Certified Trainer in NLP
Why I wrote this book:
My purpose in writing this book is to share the wisdom gained from my own healing journey. The book aims to carefully pace understanding about stress, stimulate deep personal insights, transform old beliefs, reach the point of miraculous shift and help us all remember who we are. My mission is to teach via questioning, challenging and more profound enquiry. My own story serves to illustrate several points. As one of my friends asked, 'Are you an inspiration or a warning?' Maybe both! But my aim is to teach by example and walk my talk.
Arielle's groundbreaking book brings together her incredible knowledge and expertise in NLP, amassed from years of client work and practitioner courses, the latest scientific research into the mind body connection, and her own unique insights into the causation of stress, anxiety and ultimately disease.
Arielle has distilled this information into an easy to understand and practical solution focused book that is a 'must' for anyone wanting to attract more peace, health and the occasional miracle into their lives.
Karl Dawson, EFT & MatrixReimprinting.com
What will you get from this book?
My hope is that you will be able to make more sense of how and why things have happened during your life. You will gain insights into how your thoughts have contributed to everything you've received and how to attract what you want through the power of choice. When you learn how to forgive the unforgivable, let go of the past and resolve your problems, you will develop ultimate resilience to protect you like an invisible shield.
This eminently practical book on how to deal with crisis in our lives and develop resilience is invaluable. Drawing on her own experience of tackling immense challenges, Arielle is an inspiring teacher. She shows us how to take responsibility and direct our thoughts, living fully in the present and allowing miracles to unfold. An essential book for those who are anxious and stressed and looking for life-changing guidance.'
Eileen Campbell, 'Wake Up and Hear the Thunder!
Finding Hope in a Hopeless World'
What is unique about this book?
Practical Miracles offers a rare mix of simple scientific explanations plus a practical approach to restore peace and wellbeing. Arielle introduces her concept of the 'Thought Cloud' as a metaphor to assist a more thorough diagnosis of the issues associated with a particular problem. If you dare to answer all the questions that are posed and contemplate new perspectives, you may enjoy a radical transformation of consciousness and a re-awakening of knowing who you really are.
Arielle, you have done it. You funneled your extensive understanding of several schools of thought into one very usable volume. You have spanned the world of research to everyday life. Your readers can benefit from your bridge between theoretical insights to how we can help ourselves NOW.
"Practical Miracles" is a treasure trove of quotes that could be printed as wall plaques. Your chapter titles are clever and witty. I really appreciated your practical exercises.
Michael Grinder, Charisma & Group Dynamics
What's next? How can you help?
You can get your copy of the book on Amazon right now! It's also available on Kindle. After you've read it, please do write your review on the Amazon site and let others know about it. Join me on Facebook, too if you'd like to chat.
Turning the impossible into miracles – Arielle Essex, UK
Holistic Healilng with Arielle Essex – Wired For Success [Episode 20]


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by Sue Ann Rybak
Sister Simone Campbell of "Nuns on the Bus" told an audience of about 300 people at Chestnut Hill College that Americans today face the challenge of "reclaiming our democracy."
Speaking in the college's Gruber Theater on Sept. 27, Campbell, who is executive director of NETWORK, a national Catholic social justice lobby in Washington, D.C., recently toured nine states this summer to protest Congressman Paul Ryan's budget, which gives tax breaks to the wealthy while cutting funds to social programs that benefit the poor.
The lecture was sponsored by the Institute for Forgiveness and Reconciliation, the women's studies major, and the history program. In her introduction, Sister Catherine Nerney, S.S.J., described Campbell as an advocate who "cares about the needs of 100 percent of the people."
An animated presenter, Campbell asked seven attendees to participate in an exercise to demonstrate the changes in Americans' income from 1980 to 2009 by creating a human graph. Participants were divided up into seven different income groups: the top 1 percent, top 5 percent, top 20 percent, second 20 percent, middle 20 percent, fourth 20 percent and the bottom 20 percent. She said the income gap between the top 20 percent and the bottom 20 percent is so great it's almost as if they were on different planets.
"The problem is the folks up there have no interaction with the folks down here," Campbell said. "So, they don't know what the story is."
She said the institution of credit cards has allowed the middle 20 percent to maintain a standard of living without their income growing. Campbell said people who are in the top income bracket live in gated communities, in isolation and are afraid they are going to lose what they have.
"When you're afraid and fearful, the instinct is to protect what's mine," Campbell said. "But, what we need in our country is not isolates who are protecting themselves in fear. What we need in our country is to return to our basic constitutional orientation, which is also our faith orientation, which is about community … but, it's gonna require sharing and changing policies that have gone to foster this huge disparity."
But changing those policies will require us to talk to one another, she said.
"We cannot let ourselves be bamboozled by some half-truth ads on television," Campbell said, pointing out that Americans now face the challenge of reclaiming their democracy.
" I really think our democracy is at risk at this point because we don't talk to each other about real issues," Campbell said. "In Congress, it's all about stalemate."
She recalled how right after the 2008 election, Sen.Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, said his sworn duty was to make sure Barack Obama is a one-term president.
"Isn't your sworn duty to govern and solve some of our problems," Campbell said. "Why did you run for Senate if you thought it was just to be a roadblock. How can you care so little about our nation?"
Campbell noted that in the United States there is a smaller chance of moving out of poverty than in England where they have nobility.
Campbell referred to a book titled "The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better," by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, that studied the correlation between the income gap and the quality of life in 23 countries. The British authors examined issues such as mental health, infant mortality, incarceration, alcohol and drug dependence and education, and then related the variables to how income is distributed in each society.
According to the data, the authors found that there is a one-to-one correlation between quality of life and the income gap. Countries that had a large disparity between income levels had a lower quality of life for that society.
The authors found that "reducing inequality is the best way of improving the quality of the social environment."
Campbell said the only way Americans can move past the idea of class warfare is by talking to people who think differently than them.
"The only place you can go to bridge that gap is by talking about basic values," Campbell said, adding that Americans can move forward if " you come at it from values that we all value."
Campbell said two key issues Americans need to address are healthcare and immigration.
Campbell's lecture was followed by a Q & A session. One attendee asked Campbell to address vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan's interpretation of the subsidiarity principle.
"Ryan just doesn't get it," Campbell said.
Campbell said subsidiarity is based on the principle that decisions should be made from the lowest governing social organization possible – first the family, then the community, and then the state.
Campbell said the current pope, Benedict XVI, said "unless you have a strong sense of solidarity you can't do subsidiarity."
"Solidarity means I hold your concerns as deeply as I hold my own," she said. "Can you imagine what our national policy would look like if we did that? We as a nation need to come together and figure this out.
"The Greeks knew the only way you could have a democracy was if you had an educated public and have the capacity for dialogue. If we don't have that then we're doomed. So, we better fix it."

subset: commoncrawl


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versión On-line ISSN 2071-0771
versión impresa ISSN 0075-6458
Koedoe vol.50 no.1 Pretoria ene. 2008
Measurement of concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in free-ranging African elephants within the Kruger National ParK
Jozua J. ViljoenI, II; Andre GanswindtIII, IV ; Rupert PalmeV; Hendrik C. ReyneckeI, VI; Johan T. Du ToitII, VI; William R. Langbauer JrVII
IDepartment of Nature Conservation - Tshwane University of Technology - South Africa
IIMammal Research Institute - Department of Zoology and Entomology - University of Pretoria - South Africa
IIISection of Veterinary Wildlife Studies - Faculty of Veterinary Science - University of Pretoria - South Africa
IVGerman Primate Centre - Department of Reproductive Biology - Germany
VInstitute of Biochemistry - Department of Natural Sciences - University of Veterinary Medicine - Austria
VIDepartment of Wildland Resources - Utah State University - USA
VIIPittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium - USA
During the past several years, non-invasive monitoring of steroid metabolites in faeces of elephants has become an increasingly popular technique to generate more information about the causal relationship between hormones and behaviour in both living elephant species. This is important knowledge which can be used to optimise local conservation and wildlife management by finding new strategies for better elephant population management and control. In this context, however, information about an actual involvement of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis during assumable stressful events is still limited, especially for wildlife populations. One difficulty in discovering such information is often the lack of reliable data for hormone baseline levels. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine baseline concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites that could be expected within age classes and between seasons in African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Kruger National Park (KNP). a total of 374 faecal samples were collected from randomly located family herds in the southern KNP between May 2002 and August 2005. The samples were analysed for immunoreactive concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites using a validated enzyme immunoassay for 3α,11oxo-cortisol metabolites (3α,11oxo-CM). All samples were grouped according to the estimated age class of the subject using a field method based on bolus diameter, and regarding the ecological season collected. No significant differences in faecal 3α,11oxo-CM concentrations were found across age classes (H3 = 7.54; p = 0.057), but the mean 3α,11oxo-CM concentration of samples collected in the dry season (n = 196) was significantly higher than in the wet season (n = 178) (u = 15206.50; p = 0.032), which indicates a possible physiological stress situation due to a decline in food quantity and quality. The information generated in this study represents a reliable data set for baseline concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites for elephants within the KNP and can be used to measure the stress-related effects of translocations, management actions and the impact of chosen land use activities.
Keywords: glucocorticoid metabolites, faecal, baseline, African elephant, enzyme immunoassay
A free-ranging animal is in a state of stress if it is required to make abnormal or extreme adjustments in its physiology or behaviour in order to cope with adverse aspects of its environment or management (Friend 1980). From the physiological perspective, several endocrine responses are, amongst others, involved during stress situations. The frontline hormones to overcome these situations are the glucocorticoids, which are indicators of adrenal activity and thus of stress (Möstl & Palme 2002). As a physiological mechanism, stress is not inherently negative (Moberg 2000), however, prolonged high concentrations of glucocorticoids may decrease individual fitness (Munck et al. 1984) and reproductive success (Liptrap 1993), which may cascade into long-term behavioural changes.
The assessment of adrenal endocrine function in vertebrates via blood samples was an often used tool in the past, but the procedure in itself can elicit a glucocorticoid response (Möstl & Palme 2002). In order to avoid such self-induced stress responses, the use of non-invasive methodologies for endocrine assessment is necessary. The collection of urine or faeces as basic material for endocrine analysis seems to be a reliable alternative to blood hormone measurements, which is demonstrated by the large number of established non-invasive methodologies for monitoring adrenal function in a variety of different mammalian species (Goymann et al. 1999; Wasser et al. 2000, Sands & Creel 2004), including elephants (Brown et al. 1995, Ganswindt et al. 2003).
Brown et al. (1995) successfully developed and validated a method to assess adrenal function non-invasively through the analysis of cortisol in urine from captive elephants, but due to the practical difficulties involved with collecting urine samples in areas with absorptive ground, this method would not be an option for regular sampling from elephants in the wild. Faecal samples offer the advantage that they can easily be collected, and a few non-invasive methods have already been developed and successfully tested to enable the measurement of glucocorticoid metabolites in elephant faeces (Stead et al. 2000, Wasser et al. 2000, Foley et al. 2001, Ganswindt et al. 2003; 2005). In this respect, it could be shown that a pharmacologically induced physiological stress response, induced via administration of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), could be monitored in captive African elephants. Although work on free-ranging African elephants has been limited, Ganswindt et al. (2005) found that elevated androgen levels in free-ranging male African elephants could not be related to the age of the individual. Seasonal effects however do appear to influence concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites, as Foley et al. (2001) found the highest concentrations during the dry season. However, a regular sample collection at a certain time before and after a predictable stressful event is necessary to create a reliable baseline for comparison, which already underlines the importance of known baseline levels to reliably determine if any specific situation is more or less stressful than the norm.
We suggest, for example, a stressful situation can be triggered in elephants by several stimuli, including environmental factors (food quality and quantity): behavioural (courtship and mating); and psychosocial causes (translocation, culling). More information on the endocrine regulation of potential stress-related events is needed, as the effect of human and natural disturbances on elephant populations has been restricted to behavioural indicators (Whyte 2003). It is still not known what constitutes a naturally occurring stressful situation for free-ranging elephants, or which management actions or land use practices will result in elevated stress indicators.
In this paper we provide a quantitative baseline measure of concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites, after taking age and seasonal effects into account, in order to start establishing baseline levels for elephants in the Kruger National Park (KNP).
Study area and population
The study area is located in the KNP and falls within the Lebombo Arid Mountain Bushveld, Sweet Lowveld Bushveld and Mixed Lowveld Bushveld vegetation types (Low & Rebelo 1996). The KNP covers an area of approximately 19 000 km2 and can be longitudinally divided into resistant granites in the west, succeeded by ecca shales, basalt and rhyolites in the east, that give rise to different soil types and the associated flora and fauna (Venter et al. 2003). Data collection was restricted to the southern KNP and extended from the Sabie and Crocodile River thickets, Sclerocarya birrea subsp. caffra/Acacia nigrescens Savanna, mixed Combretum to the Lebombo south landscapes.
A matriarch of a family herd (median size 12) was fitted with a VHF radio collar and this group was followed on foot so as not to bias sampling close to roads. Samples were collected as soon as possible after an individual had defecated, from individuals in the collared group as well as from family herds (median size 13) located within the study area. We tried to exclude individual bias by collecting samples throughout each feeding patch used by a family herd. When there were obvious signs that a herd had detected our presence, such as a definite orientation towards or away from us, no samples were collected, in order to avoid the collection of stress-induced samples. All samples were collected between 07:00 and 11:00 am. Rubber gloves were used to collect approximately 100 grams of faecal material that was then placed in a labelled plastic bag. The time lapsed between defecation and the freezing of a sample was standardised to a maximum of two hours. Each sample was marked with the date of collection, a GPS coordinate, and the estimated age class of the subject using a field method based on the bolus diameter as described by Wimberger (2001).
Faecal samples were collected over the four ecological seasons as classified by Zambatis (2002), namely early dry (MayJuly); late dry (AugOct), early wet (NovJan) and late wet (FebApril). This allowed us to determine, through concentrations of glucocorticoid metabolites, whether environmental factors, which change between seasons, have any possible influence on physiological stress. Samples (n = 374) were collected between May 2002 and August 2005. The average annual rainfall during the study was 572 mm, which is in the known average annual rainfall range of 500700 mm for this region, and therefore would not have unduly influenced environmentally induced feeding stress (Venter et al. 2003).
Faecal extraction and hormone assays
Faecal samples were extracted according to the procedure described by Merl et al. (2000). In brief, 0.5 g faeces plus 1 ml water and 4 ml methanol were vortexed for 30 minutes and centrifuged at 2000 g for 15 minutes. A quantity of 1 ml of the supernatant was mixed with 5 ml ethyl ether and 0.25 µl of a 5% NaHCO3 solution, and centrifuged at 2000 g for 15 min. The aqueous phase was frozen at -20 °C overnight and then the ether was decanted and dried down under a stream of N2. Following evaporation, the samples were reconstituted in an assay buffer and taken to assay.
Faecal extracts were measured for immunoreactive glucocorticoid metabolites using an enzyme immunoassay for 3α,11oxo-cortisol metabolites (3α,11oxo-CM) (Möstl et al. 2002), which has previously been shown to provide reliable information on adrenocortical function in the African elephant (Ganswindt et al. 2003; 2005). Briefly, 50 µl aliquots of standards, quality controls, and diluted faecal extracts were pipetted in duplicate into microtiterplate wells. A total of 100 µl of biotinylated label and antiserum (raised in a rabbit against 5 -β-Androstane-3 α-ol-11-one-17-CMO) were added and the plates incubated overnight at 4 °C. Following incubation, the plates were washed four times and 250 µl (4.2 mU) of streptavidin horseradish peroxidase conjugate added to each well. Following incubation in the dark for 45 min at 4 °C, plates were washed again, before 250 µl (69.4 nmol) tetramethylbenzidine was added and plates further incubated (45 min; 4 °C). The reaction was terminated by adding 50 µl of 2 M H2SO4 and the absorbance measured at 450 nm (reference filter: 620 nm) with an automated plate reader. Sensitivities of the assays at 90 % binding were 3.0 pg/well and intra- and interassay coefficients of variation, determined by repeated measurements of high and low value quality controls ranged between 3.0 % and 12.5 %, respectively.
Statistical analysis
the age class data, as well as the data from the ecological season, was tested for normality using the Shapiro-Wilks W test. The data sets were not normally distributed and subsequently subjected to non-parametric statistical methods. An ANOVA was performed to test for the possible effect of age and season on concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels. The computer program STATISTICA (STASOFT. 1995) was used for all statistical analyses. All tests were two-tailed, with the α-level of significance set at 0.05. In cases of all pair-wise multiple comparison procedures, the α-level was adjusted by applying the procedure described by Holm (1979).
No significant variation in concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (H3 = 7.54; N = 374; P = 0.057) was found across age classes (Table 1). Therefore, the age classes were combined for further analysis. Although no significant differences in concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites were found between the four ecological seasons (Table 2), there was a statistically significant difference (u = 15206.50; p = 0.032) between the wet season (n = 178) and dry season (n = 196), after the early and late period of both the dry and wet seasons were combined (Figure 1).
This study provides new information on baseline concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites that could be expected within age classes and between seasons in African elephants in the southern Kruger National Park. Our results show that the variability in baseline concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (3α,11oxo-CM levels) in African elephant faeces is dependent on seasonal changes, rather than on the age class of the subject. In the present study faecal 3α,11oxo-CM levels differ significantly between seasons, but no differences were found across age classes. Although the seasonal effect found seems to be rather small, future studies using methods of faecal hormone analysis to determine the effect of a potential stressor should account for seasonal effects, especially between the wet and dry season.
The fact that no significant variation in faecal 3α,11oxo-CM levels was found across age classes confirm findings by Ganswindt et al. (2005), who also reported no age effects on 3α,11oxo-CM levels in a group of African elephant bulls (n = 52, age range: 1849 years) living in the Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves, Kenya. In the same study, Ganswindt and colleagues described a small but clear elevation in 3α,11oxo-CM levels in longitudinal hormone profiles of African elephant bulls at the end of a long dry period (Ganswindt et al. 2005). A correlation between season-dependent rainfall and adrenal endocrine function (highest concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in the dry season) was further described for female elephants by Foley et al. (2001). The present study confirms a possible influence of a dry period on increased glucocorticoid excretion, because the mean concentration of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites of samples collected in the dry season was significantly higher than in the wet season. The elevation of concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites during the dry season could be an indication of increased physiological stress due to a decline in food quantity and quality. This was a suggestion already made by Codron et al. (2006), who reported that the percentage of nitrogen in elephant faeces from the southern KNP showed a dramatic increase from the dry to the wet season. An elevation of nitrogen in faeces is known as a useful indicator of nutritional status.
We could unfortunately not investigate differences in concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites between sexes due to safety considerations for the observers (distance away from the herd), and visual impairment caused by vegetation structure. However, further studies should examine the difference in 3α,11oxo-CM levels between the sexes after intense sampling from cows and bulls within both seasons, because sex could be a co-factor for the variability in baseline concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites. Greyling (2004) found that during periods of resource limitation, males showed significantly lower levels of faecal minerals, together with higher levels of fibre, than adult females. These results indicate that males could be maintaining diets of poorer quality than females and consequently be nutritionally more stressed than females during the dry season.
Further studies should also investigate the difference in concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites between elephants from different areas, which would finally allow a comparison of mean concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites across elephant management regions within the KNP (Whyte et al. 2003). This would aid in creating a baseline for the entire park; that would be per season, per region and between different elephant densities. Finally, this information could also be applied more universally, e.g. if a significant correlation with average monthly rainfall can be shown, or whether a direct correlation exists between increasing physiological stress and vegetation damage.
A validated method (EIA) was applied in assessing the level of physiological stress in free-ranging elephant herds. The method has been shown to be practical and enables long-term monitoring of ethological or environmental factors without interfering with the result.
South African National Parks is thanked for allowing fieldwork in the Kruger National Park. Dr I. Whyte and Prof. D. G. A. Meltzer for their assistance. We are grateful to mrs A. Human for the laboratory work. We thank the field rangers of the Lower Sabie section for providing protection during data collection. The South African National Research Foundation and Pittsburgh Zoological Society provided funding.
Brown, J.L., C.M. Wemmer & J. Lehnhardt. 1995. Urinary cortisol analysis for monitoring adrenal activity in elephants. Zoo Biology 14: 533542. [ Links ]
Codron, J. J., Lee-Thorp, A., Sponheimer, M., Codron, D., Grant, R.C & De Ruiter, D.J. 2006. Elephant (Loxodonta africana) diets in Kruger National Park, South Africa: Spatial and Landscape differences. Journal of Mammalogy 87(1): 2734. [ Links ]
Friend, T.H. 1980. Stress: What is it and how can it be quantified? Int J Stud Anim Prob 1 (6): 366373. [ Links ]
Foley, C.A.H., Papageorge,S.& Wasser, S.K. 2001. Non-invasive stress and reproductive measures of social and ecological pressures in free-ranging African elephants (Loxodonta africana). Conservation Biology 15: 11341142. [ Links ]
Ganswindt A., Heistermann, M., Palme, R., Borragan, S. & Hodges, J.K. 2003. Non-invasive assessment of adrenal function in the male African elephant (Loxodonta africana) and its relation to musth. Gen Comp Endocrinal 134: 156166. [ Links ]
Ganswindt, A., Rasmussen, H.B., Heistermann, M. & Hodges, J.K. 2005. The sexually active states of free-ranging male African elephants (Loxodonta africana): Defining musth and non-musth using endocrinology, physical signals, and behaviour. Horm Behav 47 (1): 8391. [ Links ]
Goymann, W., Möstl, E., Van't Hof, T, East, M.L. & Hofer, H. 1999. Noninvasive Fecal Monitoring of Glucocorticoids in Spotted Hyenas, Crocuta crocuta. Gen. Comp. Endocrinal 114: 340-348. [ Links ]
Greyling, M.D. 2004. Sex and age related feeding distinctions in the feeding ecology of the African elephant, Loxodonta africana. Ph.D Thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. [ Links ]
Holm, S. 1979. A simple sequentially rejective multiple test procedure. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics 6:6570. [ Links ]
Liptrap, R.M. 1993. Stress and reproduction in domestic animals. Ann NY Acad Sci 697: 27584. [ Links ]
Low, A. B. & Rebelo, A. G. 1996. Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism, Pretoria. [ Links ]
Merl, S., Scherzer, S., Palme, R. & Möstl, E. 2000. Pain causes increased concentrations of glucocorticoid metabolites in horse faeces. J Equine Vet Sci 20: 58690. [ Links ]
Moberg, G.P. 2000. Biological response to stress: implications for animal welfare. In: Moberg, G.P. & Mench, J.A. (Eds.) The biology of animal stress. Pp. 12346, CABI Publishing, 2000. [ Links ]
Möstl, E., Maggs, J.L., Schrötter, G., Besenfelder, U.& Palme, R. 2002. Measurement of cortisol metabolites in faeces of ruminants. Vet Res Commun 26: 12739. [ Links ]
Möstl, E. & Palme, R. 2002. Hormones as indicators of stress. Domestic Animal Endocrinology 23: 6774. [ Links ]
Munck, A., Guyre, P.M. & Holbrook, N.I. 1984. Physiological function of glucocorticoids in stress and their relationship to pharmacological actions. Endocr. Rev. 5: 2544. [ Links ]
Sands, J. & Creel, S. 2004. Social dominance, aggression and faecal glucocorticoid levels in a wild population of wolves, Canis lupus. Anim. Behav. 67, 387396. [ Links ]
STASOFT. 1995. Statistica for windows. StaSoft, Inc., 2300 East 14th Street, Tulsa, OK U.S.A. [ Links ]
Stead, S.K., Meltzer, D.G.A. & Palme, R. 2000. The measurement of concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in the serum and faeces of captive African elephants (Loxodonta africana) after ACTH stimulation. Tydskr. S.Afr. Vet 71(3): 192195. [ Links ]
Venter, F. J, R., Scholes, J.& Eckhardt, H. C. 2003. The abiotic template and its associated vegetation pattern. In: Du Toit, J. T., Rogers, K. H. & Biggs, H. C. (Eds.) Pp.83129, Island Press, Washington, D.C. [ Links ]
Wasser, S. K., Hunt, K.E., Brown, J.L., Cooper, K., Crockett, C.M., Bechert, U., Millspaugh, J.J., Larson, S.& Monford, S.L. 2000. A generalized faecal glucocorticoid Assay for use in a diverse array of non-domestic mammalian and avian species. Gen Comp Endocrinol 120: 26075. [ Links ]
Whyte, I. 2003. The movement patterns of elephant in the Kruger National Park in response to culling and environmental stimuli. Pachyderm 16:7280. [ Links ]
Whyte, I. J., Van Aarde, R.J., Pimm, S.L. 2003. Kruger's elephant population: Its size and consequences for ecosystem heterogeneity. In: J. T. Du Toit, Rogers, K. H. & Biggs, H. C., (Eds.) Pp.332-348, Island Press, Washington, D.C. [ Links ]
Wimberger, K. 2001. Aging free-ranging African elephants (Loxodonta africana) using faecal bolus diameter. Recitation for BSc Honours. Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria. (Unpublished) [ Links ]
Zambatis, N. 2002. Annual section ranger reports. KNP vegetation monitoring. Scientific services KNP. (Unpublished) [ Links ]
Correspondence to:
Jozua J. Viljoen
e-mail: email@example.com
Postal Address: Tshwane University of Technology, Private Bag X680, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa


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Hustle Hard: Maino Gets Emotional & Cries While Performing His Hit Song "All The Above"! (Breaks Down After Saying His Friend Might Not Walk After Police Shot Him In The Back)
Ernie reports "Maino recently came out to White House Night Club in Hampton Bays, NY (Long Island) on saturday 4/2 ... He performed his hit songs but, when he got to performing "All the Above" he became overly emotional on stage and even began sobbing-almost. Very pure moment"
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There were reports over the weekend that the Jets had settled on a top candidate to be their next general manager, but they are still adding names to the list of interviews this week.
Multiple reports indicate that the team will interview Dolphins Assistant General Manager Brian Gaine for the vacancy created when the Jets fired Mike Tannenbaum last week. Gaine moved to the Dolphins along with several other former Cowboys employees that joined the team when Bill Parcells took over football operations in 2008.
Gaine has previous experience with the Jets, working in their scouting department when Parcells was with the Jets before he moved on to Dallas in 2005.
49ers exec Tom Gamble and Jets Assistant General Manager Scott Cohen are also in the mix for the job and there have been reports of interest in Colts vice president of football operations Tom Telesco as well, although Telesco is considered one of the favorites for the vacancy in San Diego. The Chargers are expected to announce their choice on Wednesday.
UPDATE 2:05 p.m. ET: Telesco has been hired in San Diego, so you can strike him from the list.


text:
- "I suppose you three won't want mushrooms again?"
- ― Fredegar Bolger[1]
Mushrooms were a particular delight of young Frodo Baggins, who would often steal them from Farmer Maggot's fields. Old Maggot still remembered it when Frodo came to his farm years later, and as a parting gift, Mrs. Maggot gave Frodo a basket of the prized mushrooms.[1]
J.R.R. Tolkien described himself as a Hobbit in all but size, noting that he was vey fond of mushrooms.[2]
Portrayal in adaptations
2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring:
- Though the scenes in Maggot's house have been omitted, a nod to mushrooms is given when the four Hobbits escape Farmer Maggot. Pippin spots them after a comment on a "short cut", making the full phrase sound as "A short cut to... mushrooms!", the chapter title.[3]
2002: Vivendi's The Fellowship of the Ring:
- Mushrooms are collectible items found throughout the Shire. When ate, they restore 10 points of the player's health.[4]
2003: Sierra's The Hobbit:
- Mushrooms serve as power-ups throughout the game. One mushroom - green and blue of colour - restores one health bubble.[5] Later in the game, larger, clustered mushrooms serve as a full healing item.[6]
2007: The Lord of the Rings Online:
- Mushrooms can be grown by players who are famers by profession. Players who are cooks can make these into mushroom pie, fried mushroom and fried dace with mushrooms. These are foods for low leveled characters that can increase different traits.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Short Cut to Mushrooms"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 213 (dated October 25, 1958)
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Short Cut to Mushrooms"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game), "The Shire"
- ↑ The Hobbit (2003 video game), "Hobbiton"
- ↑ The Hobbit (2003 video game), "Flies and Spiders"


text:
Click on office location on map or select location from list below.
USGS Headquarters
USGS Science Centers
- Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, AK
- Earthquake Science Center, Menlo Park, CA
- Geologic Hazards Science Center, Golden, CO
Regional & Field Offices
- Seattle Field Office, Seattle, WA
- Pasadena Field Office, Pasadena, CA
- Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory
For General Public and Media
- Media Contacts and Information
- Earthquake Questions or Website Comments - Use the Questions or comments? link at the bottom of every webpage.


text:
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Unemployment in Greece climbed to a new record of 26 percent in September, topping that of Spain to become the highest in the euro area, data by Greece's statistics service ELSTAT showed on Thursday.
Greece's jobless rate has almost tripled since it started climbing in September 2009, driven higher by the global financial crisis and then by severe austerity policies imposed by the bailed-out country's international lenders.
Continue Reading Below
Unemployment is more than double the euro zone average of 11.6 percent, edging past the rate in struggling Spain, which was 25.8 percent in September, according to data from European statistics agency Eurostat. Greece's jobless rate climbed from a revised 25.3 percent in August.
The Greek economy is now in its fifth year of recession and is expected to have shrunk by almost a quarter before recovery begins in 2014, according to the country's central bank.
This has taken its toll on the labor market, especially for the young. Unemployment among those aged 15-24 stood at 56 percent in September, compared with 22 percent in the same month four years ago.
A record 1.3 million Greeks were without work in September, up 38 percent from the same month last year, ELSTAT said.
Spain's unemployment was 26.2 percent in October, according to Eurostat.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Harry Papachristou; Editing by Catherine Evans)


text:
aadi needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 22 designs submitted by 11 freelance designers.
We are in need of a logo that reflects the mission of the Asian American Diabetes Initiative at Joslin Diabetes Center. This logo will be featured on our website as well as in all of our other printed materials.
Who are we?
The Asian American Diabetes Initiative is a team of professionals within Joslin dedicated to improve the quality of life for Asian Americans living with diabetes through research, education, outreach and improved diabetes treatment outcomes.
- Theme colors: red, yellow, or orange (or any combination of those colors)
- matches the current web design (refer to website)
- overall Asian American theme that relates to Far East Asians, Southeast Asians, and South Asians
- must contain words "Asian American Diabetes Initiative at Joslin" or "Joslin's Asian American Diabetes Initiative"
- professional
- contemporary
- stereotypical Asian icons that represent only one Asian ethnicity (e.g. dragons for Chinese)
- anything comical
- medical supplies icon
- Asian language characters
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
By Mike Ferrentino
It's late in the afternoon on Sunday, September 6, 2009, just outside of Canberra, Australia. The weeklong mountain bike World Championships have just drawn to a close. The final event contested, as usual, was the elite men's downhill race. The shadows are lengthening and the remaining sunlight is slanting deeply, with an almost cliché golden hue. Rick Clarkson, Steve Peat's perennially stoic mechanic, is holding forth with uncharacteristic animation, his words cropped and shaped by his northern English accent: "Steve Peat, World Champion, well, nobody's said it, ever," he says with a broadening grin. "Steve Peat, World Champion, that's all you need to know. That's number one!" Then, breaking completely out of character, unable to restrain his pure ebullient joy, he begins hooting "Steve Peeeaaaat! Noombah One! Steeeeve Peeeeeaaaat!" Finger pointing skyward, head tilted back, full bellow, his chant is taken up by the surrounding crowd, a cacophony of horns and bells and noisemakers swelling the sound and carrying it far away into the cold and dry southern twilight.
Steve Peat's 2009 World Championship victory was a sentimental slam dunk. It could not have been choreographed any better by Hollywood. The star of the show—Peaty—as the grizzled veteran who finally beats the odds and throws a long-clinging monkey from his back. At age 35, now a father of two, he has been competing at the elite level of downhill racing since it first became defined as a sport. He's been nicknamed "Old School" by his young teammate, Josh Bryceland. His 16 years of World Cup racing have seen nearly all of his early peers go into retirement while he has retained an almost ageless grace and competitiveness. This, in a sport that has evolved so dramatically as to be unrecognizable when compared to its roots—the only common aspect held from past until present being that races are individual timed runs held on a downhill slope. In an impressive career arc, so often abruptly punctuated with other riders by injuries or burnout, he has won more World Cup races (17) than any other downhill racer in history. He has won the World Cup overall three times, and netted a phenomenal 50 career World Cup podiums. Along the way, he has carved out a reputation as a journeyman powerhouse, able to finesse the skill courses, but also capable of throwing down horsepower on the pedaling tracks. But until this September, he'd never won that single-day crapshoot, that amalgam of skill and strength and timing and luck known otherwise as the UCI Downhill World Championships.
In spite of his win record, regardless of his other accomplishments, in terms of the World Championships, fate has never been kind to Peat. Bouncing back from a disastrous 1999 season that included a broken ankle and a broken arm, he suffered a heartbreaking 0.57-second loss to Myles Rockwell in 2000 that began a back-to-back-to-back string of second-place finishes. But perhaps the most bitter race of all came at the 2004 Worlds in Les Gets, France.
"I came back from a plated collar bone just before the race and couldn't believe I could even ride down the hill, never mind pin it," Peat recalls. "Everything was going well all week and I was more up for it than I had been for any other race, maybe too up for it. I wanted to crush the other guys…. My run was going perfectly until the last real corner of the track—I was last man down the hill and two seconds up on Fabien [Barel], who was in the hot seat. Had I known that, would I have slowed down and milked it home? No, I kept 'er lit, and crashed on a corner I'd been nailing all week. I got up and crossed the line to see Fabien celebrating. That was the first time I went and hid in my van and cried…."
At the 2008 World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy, it looked as if Peat's World Championship curse might finally reverse its cosmic flow. This time, it was Australian rival Sam Hill who went down in the final corner. Interviewed right before the awards ceremony, always the diplomat, Peat recounted the event with a calmness that bordered on detachment: "When I first crossed the line, I didn't think I was going to win, and then obviously it got down to Sam, and he was up by so much, I knew I was going to get beat. But then he crashed in the last corner and gave me some luck…and I just thought, 'finally, maybe I'm gonna get some luck at this race!'" Fate had other plans, however. "Gee [Atherton] was the last man down, and he had a stormer, and uh, I got beaten. I'm stoked to be on the podium with Gee. I'm stoked that Gee won, as another Brit, but it's the wrong way 'round for me. I'm gutted, but that's racing."
A long, lucrative career as an enduringly popular athlete—shouldn't that be enough? By dint of his personality alone, Peat is a sponsor's dream. He's unpretentious, friendly, hardworking, accessible and an absolute giant on the landscape of downhilling, as well as a household name in his home country. Mike Rose, editor of the gravity-centric U.K. magazine Dirt, defines Peat as "just a solid, down-to-earth guy."
"He knows he has the talent, but he's always been grounded," Rose says. "I think that has a lot to do with his upbringing…normal. He has the touch of the common man, and he can get on with anyone—he'll talk to everyone, and always has the time. I honestly believe that downhill here in the U.K., in fact mountain biking in general, would be completely different without Steve Peat. There is no way that we would be where we are today—he is that important. He has helped and influenced generations of riders. He is an inspiration to anyone who races downhill."
Peat's down-home accessibility, combined with his prodigious talent, has elevated him into the rarified atmosphere of mountain bike superstardom, with all the spoils that entails. He is one of the most highly compensated mountain bikers in the world. He has a very nice house, a loving wife and two healthy sons, Jake and George. And he is the winning-est World Cup downhill racer, ever. But still, there are those rainbow stripes that only one person gets to wear for a whole year after winning them….
This is where we get into the murky world of what drives us. For some people, a single goal can burn their vision, consume them entirely, and the pursuit of that goal is etched clearly on their faces. With Steve Peat, plumbing those depths is not easy. He is so experienced at dealing with the media that it is tough to draw out any of the teeth and bile that we automatically assume to be at the core of every driven athlete. In almost every sport, when it comes to great champions who stay at the top of their game for a long time, that stratosphere is frequently occupied by mammoth egos: Eddy Merckx, John McEnroe, Bernard Hinault, Michael Schumacher, Kobe Bryant, Lance Armstrong…. The assumed paradigm drawn from this could read as follows: If you want to win, and want to stay at the top, you'd better be prepared to eat the souls of your rivals.
Peat affords this argument no traction. Born in 1974 and raised in Chapeltown, Sheffield, 2 miles from where he now lives, Steve (youngest of three brothers) got his first bike at age two. His dad was a service engineer and motorcycle trials rider, and that first bike was a hand-me-down from his older brothers.
"We used to build jumps and they would send me off first to check them out," Peat recalls. "Got myself nicknamed 'the Kamikaze Kid' because of that."
At age 16, he got into cross-country riding with a local club, which led to a sponsorship with Langsett cycles in Sheffield. Racing both XC and DHDH, his gravity skills brought him to the attention of Kona U.K., which led to him winning the 1993 U.K. DHDH series aboard a fully rigid titanium bike. From there, faced with the choice of taking to the trades and becoming a plumber, or rolling the dice and trying to make a living as a downhill racer, he gambled on the latter. No childhood trauma. No deep, dark secret pushing him forward. The most scarring character builders would include such horrors as having to share a bedroom with one elder brother, and being used as a guinea pig by both. Not exactly exceptional circumstances.
Throughout his career—even in his younger days, which fell smack-dab in the middle of the mid-1990s throes of mountain biking's brief flirtation with massive salaries, big-rig race support and purported media glamour—while in no uncertain terms casting his lot in with the rowdy kids, he has always maintained a gentlemanly equanimity. There is none of the tightly wound hyperkinetic tension of Cedric Gracia, nor the curled-lip "fuck you" energy of Shaun Palmer, and not a trace of the loose-cannon lack of discipline or focus that has caused more than a few talented downhill racers to disintegrate in their 5.10s. He credits much of his demeanor to his upbringing. "My parents are the ones to thank," he says. "They made me this way."
He also deflects his success back onto mountain biking itself with a slippery deference. "Mountain biking, more specifically downhill racing, molded me into who I am today," he says. "I didn't have much before I started racing, and I didn't have any goals in racing. I just took every day as it was, race after race, enjoying myself. That's why I think bikes have molded me. I was totally happy to sit back and let bikes do this to me."
When pressed more on the nature of the competitive beast, when nosy journalists come scratching at the surface for a glimpse of the monster beneath, trying to unearth some secret to his longevity and his success, the cryptic neo-Zen ratchets up a level: "I've been trying to come up with some reason other than 'I love to ride my bike' and I think I've got it," he says. "I love to race my bike as well. I love everything about it. I love to hear the start beeps, figure the track out in practice, set the bike up to feel best on different tracks, cross the finish line, hear the crowds, sign the autographs, stand on the podium, drink the champagne. For me, it's all part of my life."
Asked point blank to define the keys to his success, and the Zen approach turns toward a level of simplicity that alludes to either true mastery or a very strong wall of bullshit. "Downhill is a hard game, and you have to be mentally stable," Peat explains. "Once you have figured that out, you can then do the things that are needed to keep you at the top. Strict training schedules, the best bikes, gifted talent followed by hard tuning of that talent, the ability to not take yourself or the environment too seriously until it's needed and keeping good people around you. Those are all key points in having a long and successful career. To sustain that is another beast, almost impossible to answer, but here goes…Enjoy and have fun. That's all I've done and it seems to have worked out quite well."
No surprise revelations there, but the practice has served Peat quite well indeed. Except for those rainbow stripes.
By the time Peat arrivived in Canberra, he hadn't exactly given up his hopes of snagging that elusive gold medal, but he had developed a sort of fatalism. "This year in Canberra was different for me," he relates. "I came in feeling like I would never win Worlds. Other things seemed more relative, and the race wasn't the only reason I was there."
The course at Stromlo Park was a short little mindfuck. Initially criticized for being too flat and not technically demanding enough for the World Championships, it began to show some teeth during the week leading up to the final event. Many riders opted to ride lighter, shorter-travel bikes in an effort to milk speed out of the pedal-heavy bottom section, sacrificing smoothness—and possibly time—on the rocky and increasingly blown-out upper reaches of the course. With times running in the mid-two-minute zone during practice, it became evident that regardless of personal sentiment, this was going to be a tough track to win on, and there wasn't going to be room for any mistakes. That rule—no mistakes—is one to live by in a sport where victory margins are usually measured in single-second increments. In Canberra, it was radically amplified.
And on that course, 16 years after he became a pro downhill racer, Steve Peat delivered a surgically clean run. His entire campaign for the World Championships was defined in the two minutes, thirty seconds and thirty three hundredths of a second that transpired between the start gate and finish line. Squeaking out a razor-close five one-hundredths of a second margin over his friend and teammate, South Africa's Greg Minnaar, Peat found himself atop the podium of the World Championships for the first time, finally having a gold medal strung on a rainbow-hued ribbon draped over his head. He won the race riding his usual downhill bike, without opting for any light bike or tight clothing. And in what turned out to be some of the tightest racing of the last two seasons, with all the elite riders in attendance and healthy, he won the race straight up. There were no crash gifts, no equipment failures, no excuses from the beaten.
At this level of competition, nobody wants to come second. Winning is the goal. Second place is the first loser. Perhaps the greatest accolades Peat can claim from this victory—and probably the truest measure of the huge respect that he has earned by just being himself—come from those he beat. Minnaar, a former World Champion himself, was gracious in defeat. "I knew Steve was going to push it," he said. "The old bugger does deserve it, so I'm not disappointed that I didn't win, although winning would be nice."
Third step on the podium (and still only .69 of a second off the win) belonged to Australian Mick Hannah, enjoying a career renaissance after a year away from the circuit. His post-award comments best summed up the feeling among both racers and fans. "Steve just rode really well, and he deserves it," Hannah said. "He's been robbed so many times. I have to say I had a really good race, and it sounds like Greg had a really good race, and Steve deserved it. It would be unfortunate for Steve to win it in lesser circumstances, but everybody had a good race, and he beat them."
The two preceding quotes came from a video recap of the World Championships. Just before the video fades to black at the end, the viewer is treated to a smiling man holding forth. The smile is one of great satisfaction, as if the man wearing it is struggling to contain it from exploding into a face-splitting grin. He says, "My name is Steve Peat. Some people call me Peaty. But from now on I'd like to be called World Champion."
This content was originally published in Bike's December 2009 issue.
See More from the December 2009 Issue


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text:
Subject: [ecasound] Please remove me from the e-mail list
From: boudris (firstname.lastname@example.com)
Date: Mon Mar 06 2000 - 04:25:43 EET
Packages available at http://www.wakkanet.fi/~kaiv/ecasound/download.html__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com
and http://ecasound.seul.org/download ... CVS-tree is also up-to-date.
Changes since last dev-release:
17022000 (v1.7.0d11)
- added: qtecasound - chainsetup status
- added: automatic grouping of realtime and non-realtime
audio objects for better performance
- added: two-stage linear envelope (-kl2)
- added: 'run' command to ia-mode - like 'start' but blocks
until processing is finished
- added: '-kx' option - this can be used for controlling
controller parameters with other controllers
- added: ia-mode command "ctrl-status" (controller status)
- added: qtecasound - controller status pushbutton
- added: qtecasound - a nicer looking debug-window
- added: libqtecasound - a new subpackage containing
generic GUI objects
- added: support for chain-to-chain looping, see ecasound(1)
manual page for more info
- removed: qtecasound - waveform view
- changed: ecawave is now the default ext. wave-editor
- changed: all shortcuts are now alt+key combinations
- changed: renamed ia-mode commands "cop-add-controller"
to "ctrl-add" and "cop-remove-controller" to
- changed: qtecasound - some renamed pushbuttons and
reassigned shortcut keys
- changed: changes in debugging subsystem, affects '-d'
behaviour, see ecasound man page
- changed: rewritten .ewf support with lots of new
features - see ecasound user's guide for more
detailed info
- fixed: qtecasound - position slider wasn't working
- fixed: instead of just outputting raw ANSI-codes,
standard ncurses routines are now used
- fixed: recording from realtime inputs didn't work
when processing length was not set
- fixed: setting processing length didn't work in normal
passive mixing mode (multiple chains)
- fixed: overrun/underrun problems with ALSA 0.5.x
30012000 (v1.6.13d11)
- changed: rtnull reports about over/underruns now
level-4 debug messages
- fixed: some problems in mixmode selection
Kai Vehmanen <firstname.lastname@example.com> -------- CS, University of Turku, Finland
. http://www.wakkanet.fi/ecasound/ - linux audio processing
. http://www.wakkanet.fi/sculpscape/ - ambient-idm-rock-... mp3/ra/wav
This archive was generated by hypermail 2a24 : Mon Mar 06 2000 - 16:24:07 EET


text:
The Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS), a joint research program of the Arnold Arboretum and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, has been awarded a five-year, $631,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). CTFS, which manages a global network of temperate and tropical forest research plots, will utilize the funds to conduct workshops in the Americas and Asia to investigate how taxonomic, functional, and genetic dimensions of diversity affect tree communities and their resilience to global change.
This project brings together two existing forest research networks in the United States and China, which provide demographic, phylogenic, and environmental data on thousands of tree species. Through a series of symposia, analytical workshops, and international scientific exchanges, the collected data will determine:
- The functional traits that underlie species demographics and distributions across environments;
- How functional traits and phylogenetic relatedness of communities link to forest function;
- How functional traits and environmental tolerances vary among individuals within species;
- How gene flow contributes to genetic diversity at local and regional scales.
By combining long-term temperate and tropical forest studies across entire tree communities, CTFS will be able to create models incorporating functional and genetic variation among species in order to test predictions about current and future forest changes.
The project will be implemented through a series of training initiatives that will expand our understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem processes and enhance international collaboration. The strengthening of the network of forest research plots in Asia and the Americas will have long-term benefits for scientists examining the role of forests in a changing global environment. Workshops and symposia will engage approximately 100 students and early-career scientists over the next five years, including an international scientific exchange program for scientists drawn from the US, China, and other developing countries in Asia and the Americas. In addition, the workshops will stimulate the development of new analytical tools and data compilations that will be made available to online audiences globally.
The team assembled for this project includes: Dr. Stuart J. Davies, Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University (Principal Investigator); Dr. Nathan G. Swenson, Michigan State University; Dr. W. John Kress, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; Dr. Rick Condit, Center for Tropical Forest Science, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI); and Dr. Helene Muller-Landau, STRI (Co-Principal Investigators); Dr. Liza Comita, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis; Dr. S. Joseph Wright, STRI; Dr. Ma Keping, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS); Dr. Cao Min, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Yunnan; Dr. Hao Zhanqing, Institute of Applied Ecology, Shenyang; and Dr. Mi Xiangcheng, IBCAS (Senior Personnel).


text:
Get Your Free Audiobook
Publisher's Summary
In which Vlad Taltos finds himself, much to his surprise, at the fateful Battle of Baritt's Tomb.
Marching through mud just isn't as much fun as they say. After years of surviving in Adrilankha by practicing the trade I know best - killing people for a living - suddenly I'm in the last place any self-respecting assassin wants to be: the army. Worse, I'm right in the middle of a apocalyptic battle between two sorcerous armies, and everyone expects me to play a role they won't explain. All I've got between me and the worst kind of death is my wits. Oh, and a smart-mouthed winged lizard.
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- Wade
- 17-03-2013
Novel Much Better than the Audiobook
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
To those who I believe would enjoy Brust's Vlad Taltos series (those I've not already suggested it to), I might recommend the audiobook, but really I'd lean more to recommending the novel.Maybe after having read the novels in this series, the voices, tone and inflection used, just seemed off. This was most notable with Morrolan, and especially for Kragar. The droll, sort of stuffy voice just didn't seem to fit for the banter between them and Vlad. Everyone else worked okay, but these two important characters just didn't work, and detracted from the story for me.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Dragon?
Vlad working to initially fit in with the veteran soldiers of his company.
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Bernard Setaro Clark?
The narrator, Bernard Clark, is good, just not right--or didn't create the right voices--for this work--at least as I listened to it.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
I couldn't do better than the tag line on the back cover of Brust's novel:
When the Dragonlord Morrolan hired me to guard a cache of sorcerous weapons, I never suspected I would end up in the thick of battle, where no self-respecting assassin ought to be--and worse, on the losing side. But that's what comes of consorting with Dragons...
Any additional comments?
Dragon is my favorite novel in the series. That's why I selected it to give a shot with the audiobook version.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
- Nchang
- 01-05-2016
loved it!
My my my, Vladimir really out did himself this time! this story was fantastic, riveting, and profound in the sense that he ACTUALLY stuck it out as a soldier! Not only that but he was a main operative for Morrolan and Sethra, making his role vital to their plans. I loved how Vladimir had such a huge part to play but yet remained humble and bugging out was not his first response. A true testament to his courage and commradery. I was pleased with this book!
- Kat Hooper
- 16-12-2014
In which Vlad Taltos is a soldier
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.
Dragon is the eighth novel in Steven Brust's VLAD TALTOS series. As you're reading the series, it probably doesn't matter when you read Dragon since it's really a stand-alone story which tells of a battle that occurred earlier in the series' chronology, just after the events of Taltos, which was a prequel to the first three VLAD TALTOS novels. (As you can see, the books jump around in time). But Dragon is not one of the better volumes, so I wouldn't recommend, say, reading it first and basing your judgment of the entire series on this novel. Read Jhereg, Yendi, Teckla and Taltos first.
Most of the VLAD TALTOS books are named after one of the Great Houses, feature one or more characters from that house, and usually in some way discuss its denizens' personality characteristics in a way that includes some social commentary about the general human condition. The Dragons are known for their confident, strong, aggressive bearings. They tend to be leaders who think they know how the world should run and they are willing to fight for what they believe in. Fans of the series are already familiar with the Dragonlord Morollan. In this story, Morollan declares war on the Dragonlord Fornia who has stolen a Morganti weapon from a wizard who was recently killed. Vlad gets recruited into Morollan's army which is led by Sethra Levode, the undead enchantress of Dzur Mountain.
Most of the plot details Vlad's experiences as a soldier. He complains about picket duty, latrine digging, marching in the rain, slogging through the mud, eating bad food, waiting for hours and days for something exciting to happen, and then being terrorized when something finally does happen. There are a couple of interesting discussions about tactics and how the ultimate purpose of war is peace, but mostly (like Vlad) I didn't find Vlad's soldiering experience to be very exciting except for the couple of times he and Loiosh (his jhereg familiar) tried to sabotage the enemy camp. Those parts were fun.
Just like the series as a whole, the story in Dragon is not told linearly. (I wonder if Steven Brust has something against straight lines?) It follows three different timelines which are easy to keep straight and help to change up the pace and add a little more texture to a somewhat bland story. In one of the interludes, Vlad mentions that Cawti has agreed to marry him, which helps orient us in time. We also hear a prophecy that Vlad will someday carry a weapon called godslayer.
As usual, the strength of the story is Vlad's appealing personality. He's often funny as he tells us his story ("Virt said that the bandage around my forehead made me look like a real warrior. I made scatological culinary recommendations."), makes occasional geeky pop culture references ("Run away! Run away!") and carries on a snarky internal dialogue with Loiosh ("You're pretty smart for a guy with no opposable thumbs"). Besides just liking Vlad as a person, I also like that all of Brust's female characters are strong and smart.
If you're reading these books in publication order, you might be glad to return to this "old" Vlad because he's been kind of depressed in the previous three novels and I thought the last two, Athyra and Orca, were not up to par. Dragon is better than Athyra and Orca, but not as good as the books 1-5. (Fortunately, I like the next book, Issola, a lot better than Dragon.) I continue to listen to VLAD TALTOS in audio format. I love Bernard Setaro Clark's narration of Audible Studio's version.
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Editor's Summary
Data with high potential information value must be carefully selected, appraised, organized, stored and disseminated. Recognizing this critical management need, the Council on Library and Information Resources Digital Library Federation (CLIR/DLF), the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and six universities have partnered to sponsor the Data Curation Fellowship Program. This two-year postdoctoral fellowship brings together information professionals interested in acquiring the diverse skills needed to become a professional data curator, serving as researcher, librarian, technology adopter and policy maker. Acknowledging differences in their own views and experiences, early fellows recognized the need to promote a culture of data sharing to connect stakeholders across technology, disciplinary and institutional boundaries and to develop an infrastructure to support data curation. It is hoped that serious work in data curation will lead to professional recognition of the specialty.
data curation
continuing education
professional competencies
digital objects
digital object preservation
Bulletin, December 2012/January 2013
RDAP Review
CLIR/DLF Digital Curation Postdoctoral Fellowship The Hybrid Role of Data Curator
by Inna Kouper
We live in the age of data. As the popular statement says, "data is the new oil." It is a growing resource with high potential. In order to realize this potential, we need to determine how to curate data effectively.
Data curation at its simplest is taking care of resources. It involves the selection, appraisal, storage and dissemination of objects and collections. With regard to data, particularly digital data, it is important to conceptualize and support the whole data lifecycle because without a proper understanding of how data are created and used it is almost impossible to store and preserve it properly. And vice versa without adequate storage and preservation, data can quickly become obsolete and unusable. Data curation can easily become the responsibility of both everyone and no one. By understanding the data lifecycle, a data curator can alleviate this problem.
The data curator occupies a hybrid role somewhere among the traditional researcher, librarian, early technology adopter and policy maker. Clearly, neither current library and information science curricula nor extra-academic certification programs are ready to prepare people for this complex function. In an attempt to fill this gap, as well as to raise awareness of the significance of the work of such hybrid professionals, the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) has expanded its postdoctoral fellowship in academic libraries to create the Data Curation Fellowship Program (www.clir.org/fellowships/postdoctoral-fellowship-in-academic-libraries-new/program-information/clir-dlf-data-curation-sciences).
The program, which is co-sponsored by the CLIR Digital Library Federation (CLIR/DLF), the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and participating universities, is aimed at establishing data curation as a profession and providing opportunities for on-the-job training. Recent Ph.D.s already have domain-specific knowledge, as well as expertise in data collection and analysis. During this two-year postdoctoral fellowship, participants are expected to gain experience in data storage, organization, preservation and dissemination. For the 2012-2013 fellowship, there are seven fellows hosted in six institutions: B. Dewayne Branch at Purdue University; Vessela Ensberg at University of California, Los Angeles; Inna Kouper at Indiana University; Ting Wang at Lehigh University; Wei Yang at McMaster University; and Fe Consolacion Sferdean and Natsuko Hayashi Nicholls at University of Michigan.
As a fellow of this program, I participated in a two-week immersion seminar at Bryn Mawr College with other CLIR fellows (from both the data curation and academic libraries programs). The seminar brought library practitioners and researchers together to share our experiences with data and data initiatives and discuss issues facing libraries and academic institutions. The participants came from an astonishingly wide range of domains from educational research and political sciences to geology and molecular biology. We knew that developing a common language and culture across diverse disciplines would be important, but were not clear where to begin. As someone with experience in libraries and information studies and interest in cross-disciplinary research, I was amazed by some deep disconnects between research areas, researchers and libraries, and libraries and technologies. There is a lot to be done if we want to establish and promote a common culture of data sharing.
In addition to recognizing diversity, participants discussed the changing role of the library and the challenges of developing infrastructure to support data curation. Infrastructure development is not merely a technical/engineering issue data curators need to be aware of historical context and socio-political issues, as well as the complexities of everyday practice. Because data curation involves many different stakeholders, it is important to ease tension and facilitate consensus among universities, libraries, granting agencies and creative individuals. We also talked about collaborations and interdisciplinarity. Despite the great diversity among fellows and the uncertainties involved in data curation, everyone expressed excitement to work with different kinds of people and materials and do what is called boundary work, that is, connecting people across data types, technologies, disciplines and institutions.
It has been almost two months since the seminar ended and the fellows dispersed to their new places of work. We plan to meet online every month to re-connect, share successes and frustrations, explore potential collaborations and identify more training opportunities. From our first meeting in September, it seems that fellows have been able to engage with the challenges at work and take on the CLIR mission to raise awareness and build capacities for data management and sharing throughout the academy. As CLIR program officer Christa Williford kindly noted, This cohort of data curation fellows has exceeded our expectations with their level of engagement, problem-solving skills and openness to new ideas. We are learning a great deal from them.
Along with this promising beginning come many uncertainties. We chose an unusual, trailblazing path in our academic careers. We do not know whether this path will allow us to acquire enough symbolic capital to be recognized as serious researchers. We also do not know whether data curation as a profession will gain high, Ph.D.-required status or whether some of us will have to choose between traditional research and professional careers. We also face the challenges that all academics face balancing research, teaching and service activities; making an impact; and living a productive life. In one of next year's RDAP columns, we will address some of those issues and provide a more detailed report about our experiences as hybrid data curation scholars.
Inna Kouper is data curation fellow, Data to Insight Center, Indiana University. She can be reached at inkouper<at> indiana.edu.
Articles in this Issue
Taxonomies in Practice Introduction
Evaluating Classification Schema and Classification Decisions
Case Study: Developing the PLOS Thesaurus
Building User Experiences: Synchronizing User Experience Design and the Supporting Metadata and Taxonomy Infrastructure
Indexing Electronic Medical Records Using a Taxonomy
Building a Taxonomy for Auto-classification
Building Controlled Vocabularies for Metadata Harmonization
President's Page: Diane Sonnenwald
President's Page: Andrew Dillon
IA: On What Assumptions Do You Base Your Thinking? Contextual Challenges and Strategic Possibilities
RDAP: Digital Curation Postdoctoral Fellowship - The Hybrid Role of Data Curator


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I need to measure TNFalpha secretion in the cell supernatent. The final volume is 0.5ml. The OD of the standards is pg/ml so do I need to halve the OD's of the test samples as the final volume is 0.5 ml.
Submit your paper to J Biol Methods today!
elisa OD calculation
Started by tulip, May 08 2013 08:47 AM
2 replies to this topic
Posted 08 May 2013 - 08:47 AM
- Cesseasculk likes this
Posted 08 May 2013 - 01:29 PM
No, absorbance is a function the pathlength of the light though the sample in the well (see Beer-Lambert law - so if you loaded 100 ul into each well for both standards and samples then there isn't a problem, results should be directly convertable.
Posted 09 May 2013 - 03:25 PM
Thanks a lot.


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In 1969, the City of Lakewood incorporated and adopted Jefferson County's Zoning Ordinance. The Lakewood Zoning Ordinance was amended in 1980, including significant changes like modifying the land use classification system, consolidating several residential zone districts and modifying some dimensional standards. The current Lakewood Zoning Ordinance became effective March 31, 2014.
Prior ordinances and zoning maps for Jefferson County and the City of Lakewood can be found below in PDF format. If you have questions about the Zoning Ordinance, please contact the Planning Department.
Zoning Maps
Jefferson County Zoning Ordinances
Jefferson County Map


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The Mr. Marina Competition
Wednesday, March 18, 2015 from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM (PDT)
On Wednesday, March 18th the whos's-who of San Francisco's most northern region will venture to The Regency Center to witness 12 of the district's favorite bros take the stage to compete for the title of Mr. Marina 2015.
The contestants are currently in the midst of a 2 month fundraising campaign that leads up to the big day. At the main event, there will be a panel of judges that score each contestant based on 3 categories:
Since 1998, Barry's Bootcamp has been delivering The Best Workout in the World to a legendary following, including A-list celebs, models—even Olympic athletes. The signature hour-long workouts include 25-30 minutes of interval cardiovascular treadmill routines and 25-30 minutes of strength training utilizing free weights, resistance bands, medicine balls and other equipment. Trainers, muscle groups and even workout segments vary throughout the week so that no one class is ever the same.2015 GOLD SPONSORSimply put, Chubbies are the best shorts out there. Comfortable, flexible, aerodynamic and most of all utterly Radical, Chubbies are everything a short should be and more. They are weekend BBQs in the sun. They are that perfect day on the beach. They are trampoline dodgeball and IM sports. They are radical moustaches and longboarding in Costa Rica. They go where no cargo shorts can go, and they do it in style
In order to purchase these tickets in installments, you'll need an Eventbrite account. Log in or sign up for a free account to continue.


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Academic Services Building
Top - The Loft (1975); Bottom - Construction (1999) and building (2007)
(Click thumbnails for larger images)
The building that now houses Academic Services has gone through many renovations and changes since it was constructed in 1974. This building was the first Student Center on campus; the entry level featured the campus post office, with mailboxes for students which had, until that time, been located in Mary Commons. From the post office/entry area, steps led down half a flight to a new bookstore, and up half a flight to "The Loft" which provided food service, dining area and a television lounge.
When The Loft was built, there was only money enough to get the food service running and very little for good furnishings. In the summer of 1982, The Loft was renovated with new furniture and new equipment for food services. The dining services also became part of the meal plan instead of having cash-only sales. These renovations did not exceed $40,000.
The Loft soon became too small to accommodate the growing number of students, and in 1992 plans for a new student center began to develop. In 1995, the Haehn Campus Center was completed and the Loft was vacated. The bookstore, however, remained in the building until the Mary Commons renovation of 2000.
When the bookstore vacated the building and the Ardolf Science Center was built adjacent to it, the building underwent another renovation, this time to provide offices for the Registrar, Academic Advising and Career Services, which had been located in the basement of Aurora Hall. Their new location was renamed the campus Academic Services Building (ASB).
Selected Bibliography
"Board Approves Construction of Student Center," Vitae, May 5, 1973, p. 1.
"Vitae Urges Student Center Action," Vitae, October 11, 1973, p. 5.
Piatz, Karen "3.2 Invades Campus," Vitae, September 26, 1974, p. 2.
Devine, Mary "Feedservice Hungry for Feedback," Cable, October 29, 1982, p. 5.
See Also:
Rosenberger, Sue. "Loft Gets Mixed Reviews." The Record, October 29, 1982, p. 5.
Special thanks to Sara Trent '08 for drafting this text.


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Genres: Sound Effects , Technology
Description: Loop ready, stereo ambience / sfx recording of a lab environment. This background ambience track contains the steady hum of computers and other equipment, and is great for sound designing computer labs, science laboratories, server rooms, testing facilities, etc. This mid/side stereo recording can be converted to mono without phase problems.


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Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres ended his term as president of Israel on Thursday — a man who symbolizes hopes for peace capping a seven-decade public career amid the brutal reality of war. Peres handed the ceremonial but high-profile presidency over to Reuven Rivlin, a legislator from the hawkish Likud Party, reports AP.
Although the globe-trotting elder statesman has made clear he has no intention to retire, few expect him to hold public office again, after a career that dates back to the 1940s and has seen him occupy almost every major government position in the land.
"I did not imagine that in the last days of my presidency I would be called upon, once more, to comfort bereaved families," Peres, 90, said in his speech at the handover ceremony. He blamed the Islamic militant group Hamas for starting the current war by firing barrages of rockets at Israel, but also emphasized that "Israel is not the enemy of the people of Gaza."
Rivlin's theme was similar: "We are not fighting against the Palestinian people, and we are not at war with Islam," he said. "We are fighting against terrorism." In sharp contrast to Peres, however, Rivlin has long been an opponent of efforts to establish a Palestinian state.
Peres spent the last days of his seven-year term consoling families of soldiers killed in two weeks of fighting. More than 30 have died, along with three civilians on the Israeli side and more than 700 Palestinians, most of them civilians. During his visits, Peres is seen clutching the hands of grieving mothers, wives and siblings, pressing them to remain strong
"On the one hand he feels great satisfaction from having served Israel," said his spokeswoman, Ayelet Frisch. "On the other hand he feels sadness for these days when Israel does not know peace."
Peres once struggled for popularity, widely seen as an opportunistic political operator. Having never served in the army, he lacked the halo that propelled ex-generals like Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin and Ariel Sharon to political heights. Since the 1980s he came to be associated with a single-minded drive to achieve peace with the Arabs that many in Israel considered naive and out of touch with the hostility toward Israel in the region. Undeterred, Peres published books like 1993's "The New Middle East," predicting a near future in which economic mutual interest trump ethnic and religious hatreds.
A longtime leader of the center-left Labor Party, Peres lost elections in 1977, 1981, 1988 and 1996, managing a sort-of tie in 1984, even though under his rival, the incumbent Yitzhak Shamir, Israel's inflation was running around 400 percent and the country was mired in an unpopular war in Lebanon. Considering such electoral futility, it is remarkable that he did serve for three brief terms as prime minister and has also been foreign minister, defense minister and finance minister among many other posts.
Israel's president is meant to serve as a unifying figure and moral compass — while executive power rests with the prime minister, currently the conservative Benjamin Netanyahu.
From this pulpit position Peres achieved true popularity for the first time, refashioning himself as a grandfatherly figure whose longevity and energy genuinely amazed, and inspiring a certain nostalgia for a simpler time. At international events like the World Economic Forum at Davos, Peres was treated with a near-adulation that no Israeli politician — and only a handful around the world — could possibly attain. He even established his own mini-Davos in Jerusalem, an event which managed to attract major business and academic figures each year anew.
He was also a fitting address to many — in Israel and outside — who opposed the rightist policies of Netanyahu and treated the presidency as an almost unofficial alternative government, despite the lack of any actual executive power. Peres' pronouncements on major strategic issues and his seemingly content-filled meetings with world leaders were starkly different from anything Israeli presidents had done in the past. This week was no exception, as Peres met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about the efforts to broker a cease-fire.
He is also credited with restoring dignity to the Israeli presidency after his predecessor, Moshe Katsav, was convicted and jailed for rape.
Rivlin, 74, a stalwart in Netanyahu's Likud Party, has said he will turn the presidency's priorities inward, focusing on domestic issues, such as the rising cost of living and affordable housing. While Rivlin is respected as a champion of civil-rights, he does not support the creation of an independent Palestinian state and has been a longtime supporter of Jewish West Bank settlements.
In an interview with The Associated Press last week, his last granted as president to international media, Peres was defiantly optimistic, forecasting an end to Israel's 47-year occupation of the West Bank and putting his faith in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as a solid partner to secure peace. "I don't think that Israel can or shall remain an occupying force," he said. "There are ups and downs, it takes time, but there is also progress that people don't note."
He said that once out of office, he intends to facilitate investment in education, health care, agriculture and technology throughout the Middle East.
"The president is known all around the world as a man of peace," said Frisch. "A brave man who fights for peace even during the hardest moments."


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Copied word for word
An interesting peek into the unique mind of our entertaining Rose
1. Kits (Hint: I love to smear, powderize, pour, ooze, creamerize, etc. with watery stuff.)
2. Make-up Kit (I can't have my OWN make-up, so I use face molds.)
3. A Chemistry Set (This, I hope, will cover the whole smear, pour......I won't continue.)
4. Art of Calligraphy (I've ALWAYS wanted to use ink and quill!)
5. A Nancy Drew Mystery Computer Game (The one I played was SOO fun!)
6. A Notebook (Going back to my old ways)
7. Barnes and Noble Giftcard (Keep the price low, or I'll never emerge from my books. Hee Hee)
8. I-Pod (Lucy, do NOT say I won't get one!)
9. Geography Set (Please, I would prefer countries, because I know all my states.)
10. A marker set (to add to my collection)
11. Books (You can never say no to them.)
12. A doll (Cholita, stay back! You have Rosalie!)
13. Nail polish (Lucy can tell you the colors I like, she knows.)
14. Nice chapstick (You know how my lips get)
15. Bruder's I-Pod (free present, right?)
16. Architeque (sorry, I'm bad at spelling!) set (see me for details)
17. A car (just kidding!)
18. A boxed book series (One I haven't read, please)
19. Mini American Girl Doll (The big ones are too expensive)
20. A happy family.
Dear Mom, Dad, Bruder, Lucy, Cholita, and XiXi,
I know this year people are short on money. This list was only to give you a wide range of choices. You know what I like, so don't worry about getting "pacific" (ha ha). I've never been disappointed. You guys are very creative. If we don't have as much money, we can still have a good, happy Christmas. I just wanted to give you an idea or two (or twenty) so you can feel a bit of direction with your shopping. But really, I don't care. You can get me a moldy sock (note the sarcasm. Bruder, this means you.) Just don't tell me what you got me (Cholita, this means you), or say I'll never get it (Lucy), or open another person's gifts (XiXi).
Merry Christmas, Rose
Editor's Note: We are not destitute. I think possibly we went overboard on the "let's not spend too much on Christmas this year" bit.


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Webmaster's Note: This is the first in what I hope will become a regular series of posts written by Maryland Writers' Association members discussing the art, craft, and business of writing. If you are an MWA member and would like to contribute a feature to this blog, e-mail me. Authors retain all rights to their work published here.
# # #
Greetings! My name is Carol Plotnick. I am an MWA member, free-lance writer, and small business owner. Recently, Paul Lagasse invited me to write about my Kindle publishing experience with Amazon.com. The following is an account of my journey into cyberpublishing:
The economy made me do it! Good excuse, but not totally accurate. When banks went belly up and the stock market took a dive in October 2008, I was on the verge of publishing my novel Flying Wires in paperback. However, with belt tightening now part of my business plan, I decided to publish a PDF. When I announced the release of my book in December 2008, a friend said she would buy my novel if it came out in Kindle format. At that time, Kindle was about two years old, but from what I'd read in the September 2008 issue of IBPA Independent – the journal of the Independent Book Publishers Association – it sounded like another avenue, albeit a road less traveled, for my self-publishing company to explore.


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The Cessna CitationJet/CJ series (Model 525) are American turbofan-powered light corporate jets built by the Cessna Aircraft Company in Wichita, Kansas. The Citation brand of business jets encompasses seven distinct "families" of aircraft. The Model 525 CitationJet was the basis for one of these families, which encompasses the CJ, CJ1, CJ1+, CJ2, CJ2+, CJ3, and CJ4 models.
The original Model 525 CitationJet was developed as a replacement for the Citation and Citation I, being launched in 1989. Basically an all new aircraft, the CitationJet used a modified version of the Citation's forward fuselage, but with a new supercritical laminar flow wing, and a new T-tail configured tailplane. It is powered by two Williams FJ44 turbofans, and features EFIS avionics and single pilot certification. The CitationJet's fuselage is 11 inches (27 cm) shorter than the Citation I's, but has a lowered center aisle for increased cabin height. The CitationJet's first flight was on April 29, 1991, with its first delivery on March 30, 1993.
The Cessna Citation CJ1 (Model 525) was developed as an improved version of the original CitationJet. The CJ1 improved on the CitationJet by adding a more-modern EFIS avionics suite and a moderate increase in maximum takeoff weight. The CJ1 has been replaced by the CJ1+, which shares the same airframe but has an additional updated avionics package, and FADEC to allow the engines to be controlled by computer rather than mechanical controls.
The Cessna Citation CJ2 (Model 525A) is a 5' stretch extension of the Cessna Citation CJ1 (Model 525) first delivered in the year 2000. The 525A comes in two forms, the original CJ2 and the newer CJ2+, which has updated avionics, increased performance, and FADEC controls. The CJ2+ was first delivered in April 2006.
The Cessna Citation CJ3 (Model 525B) is part of the Citation business jet family. It is a stretch extension of the CJ2, which itself was a stretch of the CJ1. The aircraft was unveiled in September 2002 at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention. It took its first and second flight on the same day on April 17, 2003. It was FAA certified in October 2004 and delivery of the CJ3 began in December of that year. The CJ3's cabin comes standard with six club seats in a center-style configuration, although it is customizable to the owner's specs. The cockpit was originally designed for a single-pilot operation, but it can accommodate up to two crew members. Its flight deck is composed of a state of the art avionics system, which was built by Rockwell Collins. It has external baggage access for added convenience. There is also a cabin baggage compartment which is accessible in flight. It also features a trailing-link tricycle landing gear.
The Cessna Citation CJ4 (Model 525C) is part of the Citation business jet family. It is a stretch extension of the CJ3, adding an additional two feet to the CJ3 cabin. The CJ4 also introduces a different wing design than the earlier models. It borrows the moderately swept wing from the Citation Sovereign. The CJ4 was introduced in 2006. The first CJ4 business jet lifted off from McConnell AFB at Wichita, KS on Monday, May 5, 2008, with the first deliveries starting up in 2010.
The CitationJet is a low-wing cantilever monoplane with retractable tricycle landing gear, a T-tail pressurised cabin and powered by two turbofan engines pylon mounted on the rear fuselage.
Model 525
Model 525A
Model 525B
Model 525C
Specifications (Cessna CitationJet CJ1+)
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Capacity: 3-9 passengers
Payload: 615 lb (279 kg)
Length: 42 ft 7 in (12.98 m)
Wingspan: 46 ft 11 in (14.30 m)
Height: (4.19 m)
Empty weight: 6,765 lb (3,069 kg)
Useful load: 3,835 lb (1,740 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 10,700 lb (4,853 kg)
Powerplant: 2× Williams FJ44-1AP turbofan, 1,965 lb (8.74 kN) each
Cruise speed: 389 ktas (720 km/h)
Stall speed: 83 kcas (153 km/h)
Range: 1,300 nm (2,408 km)
Service ceiling: 41,000 ft (12,497 m)
Rate of climb: 3,290 ft/min (1,003 m/min)


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AUBURN UNIVERSITY – When a circus elephant kills her keeper, a haunting tale of spectacle, violence and revenge follows in George Brant's "Elephant's Graveyard." Based on a true story that happened in a small town in Tennessee in 1916, the new play closes the 2012-13 season for Auburn University Theatre in the College of Liberal Arts. The show runs April 16-20 at 7:30 p.m. with a matinee performance April 21 at 2:30 p.m. on the mainstage of the Telfair B. Peet Theatre.
The play was drawn from Brant's own research into the real-life incident in which the townspeople of Erwin, Tenn., lynched a circus elephant named Mary after she killed her handler in 1916.
"'Elephant's Graveyard' is a play about community," said director Chase Bringardner, "the communities we are born into, the communities we grow into, the communities that constitute around us. These communities can be good and bad, positive and negative, safe and threatening; they can change and shift at a moment's notice. 'Elephant's Graveyard' presents the audience with a specific, historic case study of communities clashing and the aftermath for a small town in Tennessee. Yet Erwin could easily be Auburn or any other of the hundreds of thousands of small towns that dot the landscape across this country connected by rail lines first built well over a hundred years ago. The story this ensemble tells is as relevant today as it was in 1916; the people of Erwin and Sparks Circus have a vital, vibrant, visceral message to impart with Mary as the unexpected (or expected) vehicle."
Playwright George Brant received his M.F.A. in writing from the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of more than 20 plays including the award-winning "Elephant's Graveyard," which has been performed more than 100 times in just the past few years.
The Auburn University Theatre production of "Elephant's Graveyard" features scenic and lighting design and costume design from faculty members Fereshteh Rostampour and Tracy Oleinick. Sound design is from student designer Gary Castriota. The stage manager is Kayla Zinke. The cast includes Tyler Baxter, Shelby Blezinger, Blake Burgess, Winn Carroll, Anna Caudle, Sharrell Edmond, Jake Heflin, Chandler Jones, Garrett Keller, Madeline Koon, Jordan Lunstead, Ashton Ron-Gabriel, David Tourtellotte, Richard Trammel and AnnaClaire Walker.
General admission tickets are $15 and $10 for seniors, Auburn University faculty and staff and non-Auburn University students. Auburn University students may reserve a complimentary ticket at www.auburnuniversitytheatre.org.
(Written by Kelly Walker.)
Contact: Linda Bell, Department of Theatre, (334) 844-4748 (firstname.lastname@example.com), or
Mike Clardy, Office of Communications and Marketing, (334) 844-9999, (email@example.com)