 to making their own ketchup. When I look at these blogs, I begin to want those things for my future. These blogs are idyllic representations of life, but nowadays, is that kind of lifestyle actually an option for most women? Are we supposed to choose home over work? And if we don't, is that even a bad thing? Are we not able to have it all?

When I saw an interview with Emily Matchar, author of Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity, I was intrigued by her thoughts on the rise of lifestyle blogs, DIY culture, and whether or not women have to choose between work and home. I immediately purchased her book.

Matchar discusses why lifestyle blogs and mom blogs have become so popular—the fantasy of having a perfect family, the poor job market, the lack of maternity benefits, and an increased disillusionment with the workplace. Blogs have become an outlet for both the bloggers and the readers. Bloggers can potentially earn an income and stay at home with their families, while readers get to peak into lives that differ from their own. These blogs romanticize domestic life—young women giving up their jobs and hectic lives in favor of simpler lives filled with canning fruits, farming, and homeschooling children. They appeal to readers because they promote creativity, environmental consciousness, and family.

But Matchar doesn't sugar coat this choice in lifestyle. She informs us, with simple yet effective prose, of political and social ramifications that go hand in hand with this heightened individualism. By leaving the workforce, are some women disregarding the effort women before us put into making sure we have opportunities to work? What about the women who cannot afford to stay at home? How can we make the workplace friendlier to mothers if we reject the idea of the working mom?

I appreciate what Matchar does in this book—she doesn't praise one type of mother over the other and she creates an open discussion about the trials women face in today's society and offers practical solutions like incorporating men in the home, instigating social change, and letting go of trying to be perfect mothers.

So...can women really have it all?  Matchar doesn't explicitly answer this question, but her social commentary ends on a positive note—with social change, acceptance of different lifestyles, and a little balance, women can definitely have it all.

If you have read Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity, what did you think of it? If you haven't, are you intrigued by this topic? Will you pick up the book? I definitely recommend it! It's an eye-opening read, especially for young women who want families.

Anna Mathias #theeverygirl

Anna Mathias

writing intern<|endoftext|>Catholic questions

Question: If we must “cooperate” with God’s grace, how is that not salvation by works?images

I subscribe to a podcast of a radio program called Catholic Answers Live where frequently the host takes questions about the Catholic faith from listeners. As a former Catholic who now believes the Roman Catholic Church gravely errs in her teachings, I have plenty of questions I would like to ask Catholics….not about what the Church teaches but about how they reconcile it with God’s Word and/or how they would defend it.

I suspect that many Catholics never really think about the rationale or validity of much of what they have been taught but just accept it without question because they choose to submit to the most fundamental of Church doctrines…her authority. But I would think that before entrusting your eternal destiny to another human being you would want pretty definitive evidence that he, or she, genuinely has that authority. So if the Catholic Church claims to speak for God so that one’s eternal destination depends on obeying her, one would be wise to be well-persuaded of the truth of that claim. And for consequences as monumental as the difference between Heaven and Hell, the evidence should be persuasive enough to lead most followers of Christ to that conclusion. And that’s simply not what we have, a point that I have argued here, here, here, and here.

If a Catholic is willing to honestly examine what he professes to ascribe to, he may find that his trust in the Church’s authority is not as well-placed as he was led to believe. Perhaps her interpretation of the evidence leading to her claims of superiority is true, but if it can be shown that much of what proceeds from those claims is false, nonsensical, or at least questionable in its veracity, shouldn’t her asserted authority be questionable as well?

So I am beginning a new series of posts I’m titling, Catholic Questions, and inviting all Catholics to answer the questions I have, prompted by listening to professional Catholic apologists defend their faith. And the first is the one I began this post with.

I will respectfully engage any commenter who has an answer for me, with a view to greater mutual understanding, not to prove myself right. I know that debates about truth in Christianity can get heated but that seldom accomplishes anything positive for either side. So I intend to facilitate an honest, open, and cordial dialogue and pray that it bears some healthy fruit.

That said now, this first question proceeds from Catholic teaching on salvation which says that though good works are required to merit Heaven, it’s not salvation by faith plus works because it is God who gives us the grace to do the good works. We just need to “cooperate” with his grace. But if the decision is ours to cooperate or not cooperate, how is that different from choosing to do good or not apart from his grace? How is that not salvation by works?<|endoftext|>Posts filtered on Category

Category: General

Video: Champ of the stairway fetch

This dog should be entered in the Canine Olympics Downhill.

Count the number of balls in this dog’s mouth

There are three.

Best Puppy Bowl commercial

Super Bowl XLIV commericials were rather boring. In the animals category, we saw: Budweiser’s colt and calf commercial. Meh. And the Dorito ad with the dog in the anti-bark collar? Dumb. The best

Deer in lobby

Too many roosters in LA

You never know what those wacky graphic designers will do next.

How to make a lemur happy

Happiness is when the guy knows just where you like to be brushed.

Goose tries to hijack kayak

After lulling fisherman into a false sense of security, the goose attacks.

What’s that noise? Cat detectives

When I played this video, the dog went crazy.

How a ferret gets ready for the red carpet

That tousled look takes a lot of spit and patience.
<|endoftext|>Having an ice cream: A messy kid is eating an ice cream cone. He bites the parents ice cream cone. The parent adjusts the cone for the child.<|endoftext|>Drexel dragonThe Math ForumDonate to the Math Forum

Ask Dr. Math - Questions and Answers from our Archives

Estimate the Sums

Date: 07/24/2003 at 19:48:47
From: Johnny
Subject: Addition

My assignment has this question:

Use front-end estimation to estimate each sum.

  428 + 219
  374 + 425

This is just summer practice and I forgot how to do it. Do I turn 428
into a 400, turn 2 into 20, and the eight is in the ones place. Then
you do the same to 219 and then add them up to get the answer.

Date: 07/27/2003 at 11:42:02
From: Doctor Ian
Subject: Re: Addition

Hi Johnny,

Well, 428 is kind of a long way from 400, so that might not be the
best estimate to use.

I look at problems like these as like fitting together pieces of a
puzzle. 28 is close to 30, and 19 is close to 20, and I know 30 and 20
add up to 50. So I'd probably do the first one this way:

   428 + 219 = about 430 + 220

             = 400 + 200 + 30 + 20

             = 650

Now, suppose that I had this instead:

   428 + 277 = ?

In this case, I'd be thinking about 25 and 75, instead of 30 and 20.
So I'd estimate the first number a little differently:

   428 + 219 = about 425 + 275

             = 400 + 200 + 25 + 75

             = 600 + 100

             = 700

This is kind of interesting. In each case, I started with the same
number, 428, but in one case I estimated it as 430, while in the other
case I estimated it as 425.

To understand why, it's important to keep in mind what the _point_ of
this kind of estimation is: it's to reduce the amount of work we have
to do. So when I'm thinking about using estimation to help me add two
numbers, usually what I'm doing is comparing them to pairs of numbers
that I can add easily: 30 and 20, 25 and 75, and so on.  That's what
tells me whether to estimate up or down.

Does that make sense?

With that in mind, how would you estimate your second addition?

's markets to homeschooling to making their own ketchup. When I look at these blogs, I begin to want those things for my future. These blogs are idyllic representations of life, but nowadays, is that kind of lifestyle actually an option for most women? Are we supposed to choose home over work? And if we don't, is that even a bad thing? Are we not able to have it all?

When I saw an interview with Emily Matchar, author of Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity, I was intrigued by her thoughts on the rise of lifestyle blogs, DIY culture, and whether or not women have to choose between work and home. I immediately purchased her book.

Matchar discusses why lifestyle blogs and mom blogs have become so popular—the fantasy of having a perfect family, the poor job market, the lack of maternity benefits, and an increased disillusionment with the workplace. Blogs have become an outlet for both the bloggers and the readers. Bloggers can potentially earn an income and stay at home with their families, while readers get to peak into lives that differ from their own. These blogs romanticize domestic life—young women giving up their jobs and hectic lives in favor of simpler lives filled with canning fruits, farming, and homeschooling children. They appeal to readers because they promote creativity, environmental consciousness, and family.

But Matchar doesn't sugar coat this choice in lifestyle. She informs us, with simple yet effective prose, of political and social ramifications that go hand in hand with this heightened individualism. By leaving the workforce, are some women disregarding the effort women before us put into making sure we have opportunities to work? What about the women who cannot afford to stay at home? How can we make the workplace friendlier to mothers if we reject the idea of the working mom?

I appreciate what Matchar does in this book—she doesn't praise one type of mother over the other and she creates an open discussion about the trials women face in today's society and offers practical solutions like incorporating men in the home, instigating social change, and letting go of trying to be perfect mothers.

So...can women really have it all?  Matchar doesn't explicitly answer this question, but her social commentary ends on a positive note—with social change, acceptance of different lifestyles, and a little balance, women can definitely have it all.

If you have read Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity, what did you think of it? If you haven't, are you intrigued by this topic? Will you pick up the book? I definitely recommend it! It's an eye-opening read, especially for young women who want families.

Anna Mathias #theeverygirl

Anna Mathias

writing intern<|endoftext|>Catholic questions

Question: If we must “cooperate” with God’s grace, how is that not salvation by works?images

I subscribe to a podcast of a radio program called Catholic Answers Live where frequently the host takes questions about the Catholic faith from listeners. As a former Catholic who now believes the Roman Catholic Church gravely errs in her teachings, I have plenty of questions I would like to ask Catholics….not about what the Church teaches but about how they reconcile it with God’s Word and/or how they would defend it.

I suspect that many Catholics never really think about the rationale or validity of much of what they have been taught but just accept it without question because they choose to submit to the most fundamental of Church doctrines…her authority. But I would think that before entrusting your eternal destiny to another human being you would want pretty definitive evidence that he, or she, genuinely has that authority. So if the Catholic Church claims to speak for God so that one’s eternal destination depends on obeying her, one would be wise to be well-persuaded of the truth of that claim. And for consequences as monumental as the difference between Heaven and Hell, the evidence should be persuasive enough to lead most followers of Christ to that conclusion. And that’s simply not what we have, a point that I have argued here, here, here, and here.

If a Catholic is willing to honestly examine what he professes to ascribe to, he may find that his trust in the Church’s authority is not as well-placed as he was led to believe. Perhaps her interpretation of the evidence leading to her claims of superiority is true, but if it can be shown that much of what proceeds from those claims is false, nonsensical, or at least questionable in its veracity, shouldn’t her asserted authority be questionable as well?

So I am beginning a new series of posts I’m titling, Catholic Questions, and inviting all Catholics to answer the questions I have, prompted by listening to professional Catholic apologists defend their faith. And the first is the one I began this post with.

I will respectfully engage any commenter who has an answer for me, with a view to greater mutual understanding, not to prove myself right. I know that debates about truth in Christianity can get heated but that seldom accomplishes anything positive for either side. So I intend to facilitate an honest, open, and cordial dialogue and pray that it bears some healthy fruit.

That said now, this first question proceeds from Catholic teaching on salvation which says that though good works are required to merit Heaven, it’s not salvation by faith plus works because it is God who gives us the grace to do the good works. We just need to “cooperate” with his grace. But if the decision is ours to cooperate or not cooperate, how is that different from choosing to do good or not apart from his grace? How is that not salvation by works?<|endoftext|>Posts filtered on Category

Category: General

Video: Champ of the stairway fetch

This dog should be entered in the Canine Olympics Downhill.

Count the number of balls in this dog’s mouth

There are three.

Best Puppy Bowl commercial

Super Bowl XLIV commericials were rather boring. In the animals category, we saw: Budweiser’s colt and calf commercial. Meh. And the Dorito ad with the dog in the anti-bark collar? Dumb. The best

Deer in lobby

Too many roosters in LA

You never know what those wacky graphic designers will do next.

How to make a lemur happy

Happiness is when the guy knows just where you like to be brushed.

Goose tries to hijack kayak

After lulling fisherman into a false sense of security, the goose attacks.

What’s that noise? Cat detectives

When I played this video, the dog went crazy.

How a ferret gets ready for the red carpet

That tousled look takes a lot of spit and patience.
<|endoftext|>Drexel dragonThe Math ForumDonate to the Math Forum

Ask Dr. Math - Questions and Answers from our Archives

Estimate the Sums

Date: 07/24/2003 at 19:48:47
From: Johnny
Subject: Addition

My assignment has this question:

Use front-end estimation to estimate each sum.

  428 + 219
  374 + 425

This is just summer practice and I forgot how to do it. Do I turn 428
into a 400, turn 2 into 20, and the eight is in the ones place. Then
you do the same to 219 and then add them up to get the answer.

Date: 07/27/2003 at 11:42:02
From: Doctor Ian
Subject: Re: Addition

Hi Johnny,

Well, 428 is kind of a long way from 400, so that might not be the
best estimate to use.

I look at problems like these as like fitting together pieces of a
puzzle. 28 is close to 30, and 19 is close to 20, and I know 30 and 20
add up to 50. So I'd probably do the first one this way:

   428 + 219 = about 430 + 220

             = 400 + 200 + 30 + 20

             = 650

Now, suppose that I had this instead:

   428 + 277 = ?

In this case, I'd be thinking about 25 and 75, instead of 30 and 20.
So I'd estimate the first number a little differently:

   428 + 219 = about 425 + 275

             = 400 + 200 + 25 + 75

             = 600 + 100

             = 700

This is kind of interesting. In each case, I started with the same
number, 428, but in one case I estimated it as 430, while in the other
case I estimated it as 425.

To understand why, it's important to keep in mind what the _point_ of
this kind of estimation is: it's to reduce the amount of work we have
to do. So when I'm thinking about using estimation to help me add two
numbers, usually what I'm doing is comparing them to pairs of numbers
that I can add easily: 30 and 20, 25 and 75, and so on.  That's what
tells me whether to estimate up or down.

Does that make sense?

With that in mind, how would you estimate your second addition?

- Doctor Ian, The Math Forum
Associated Topics:
Elementary Place Value

Search the Dr. Math Library


Travel: How to check into a hotel. Check it out online. Before committing yourself to a reservation, check out the hotel online, where you can see rooms, location, lists of amenities and more. If you cannot use the internet, then give them a call and ask them questions about the hotel's location, noise level, walking distance to restaurants, etc. Make note of the hotel's cancellation policy. Sometimes the unexpected happens, so make sure you are okay with the hotel's cancellation policy, and keep track of what it costs.<|endoftext|> C allele with the T allele, comparing homozygous genotypes, and applying recessive and dominant genetic models.

All statistical tests for this meta-analysis were performed using RevMan 5.14 (Cochrane Collaboration) and Stata 11.0 (StataCorp, College Station, USA). Fixed-effect and random-effect models were used to calculate pooled ORs. The statistical significance of the pooled ORs was determined using the Z-test, and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The assumption of heterogeneity was evaluated by applying a chi-squared-based Q-test among the studies. In this approach, the Q value is defined to be identical to the effect size of the chi-squared test. P > 0.10 for the Q-test indicates a lack of heterogeneity and suggests that variability in effect sizes is larger than that expected from chance alone [16]. In these cases, the fixed-effect model was used to calculate a pooled OR for each study. Otherwise, the random-effect model was used to calculate pooled ORs. HWE in the control group was assessed using the asymptotic test, with P < 0.05 considered significant. Small-study bias was assessed by Harbord’s modified test [17]. As much as possible, the meta-analyis was carried out according to the PRISMA guidelines [18].

Description of studies

A total of 115 potentially relevant publications published through January 31, 2013 were systematically identified in the PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases. Of these, we excluded 32 studies based on review of the titles and abstracts because they did not focus on the association of mEH polymorphism and ovarian cancer risk, or they did not include a control group (n = 5). In the end, only five studies [1115] involving 2,566 cases and 2,839 controls were found to satisfy the inclusion criteria and included in the meta-analysis (Figure 1). Detailed characteristics of the five studies are listed in Table 1. Participants in four studies [11, 12, 14, 15] were Caucasian, while those in the remaining study [13] were Chinese. Genotype distribution in controls did not show HWE in two studies [12, 13]. We failed to find additional eligible studies when we repeated our systematic literature search procedure in May 2013.

Figure 1

Flow chart of study selection. mEH, microsomal epoxide hydrolase.

Table 1 Principal characteristics of studies included in the meta-analysis

One study [12] did not report histological subtype data in detail. However, it provided the OR and 95% CI based on allelic contrast. Three studies [11, 13, 15] described the histological data in detail, and the remaining study [14] did not mention histological subtype at all.

One of the included studies [11] reported that the polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) genotyping method could lead to incorrect classification of Tyr/His heterozygotes as His/His homozygotes. Among the five included studies, only one [14] used this approach, whereas the others [1113, 15] used allele-specific PCR. Therefore we conducted sensitivity analysis based on genotyping method to assess the robustness of our meta-analysis results.

Quantitative data synthesis

Table 2 shows the summary ORs for the Tyr113His mEH polymorphism and ovarian cancer risk on the basis of 2,566 cases and 2,839 controls. Calculation of overall OR in the total population using the random-effect model showed that the C allele did not influence risk of ovarian cancer based on allelic contrast (OR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.83-1.17, P = 0.86; I2 = 58%) (Figure 2). However, the variant CC genotype was associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer relative to the TT genotype (OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.01-1.43, P = 0.04) and to the TT + TC genotypes (OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.01-1.41, P = 0.03). In contrast, the wild-type TT genotype was not associated with higher or lower ovarian cancer risk than was the CC + TC genotype (OR = 1.04, 95% CI = 0.83-1.29, P = 0.74).

Figure 2

Forest plots describing the association of Tyr113His mEH polymorphism with ovarian cancer (C-allele vs. T-allele).

Table 2 Overall and stratified meta-analysis of the association between the Tyr113His mEH polymorphism and ovarian cancer risk

Small-study bias tests showed no significant bias (P = 0.054; Additional file 1: Figure S1).

Subgroup analysis by ethnicity

Chinese ethnicity

After stratification for ethnicity, we observed that in the Chinese population of 86 cases and 174 controls [13], mEH polymorphism was not associated with increased or decreased risk of ovarian cancer based on the C allele, homozygote comparison, or recessive and dominant genetic models (C allele, OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.58-1.20, P = 0.32; homozygotes, OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.42-1.46, P = 0.44; recessive model, OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.45-1.30, P = 0.32; dominant model, OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 0.65-1.99, P = 0.66).

Analysis of the Caucasian participants in four studies [11, 12, 14, 15] gave results similar to those obtained with the total population (Table 2).

Subgroup analysis by histological subtype of ovarian cancer

The first subtype analysis was based on three studies with 922 cases and 718 controls [11, 13, 15]. Meta-analysis showed that individuals with the C allele had significantly reduced risk of endometrioid/clear cell ovarian cancer (OR = 0.54, 95% CI 0.42-0.70, P < 0.001). At the same time, the homozygous CC genotype significantly increased the risk of mucinous ovarian cancer relative to the TT genotype (OR = 23.53, 95% CI 9.40-58.93, P < 0.001). Significant associations were not detected for comparisons of other genotypes and cancer subtypes (Table 3).

Table 3 Association between the Tyr113His mEH polymorphism and risk of ovarian cancer of different histological subtypes

The second subtype analysis was based on one study involving 1571 cases and 2046 controls [12]. Logistic regression analysis of genotype revealed that the C allele increased serous ovarian cancer risk (OR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.04-1.32, P = 0.01). The same allele did not, however, increase or decrease the risk of other types of ovarian cancer.

Sensitivity analysis

Sensitivity analysis was carried out to assess the robustness of the meta-analysis results to genotyping method, given that one study [14] used PCR-RFLP, which may incorrectly classify Tyr/His heterozygotes as His/His homozygotes [11]. After excluding the PCR-RFLP study [14], meta-analysis showed that risk of ovarian cancer tended to be higher in the presence of the C allele according to allelic contrast (OR = 1.09, 95% CI 1.00-1.18, P = 0.06). The CC genotype was associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer both by homozygous comparison (OR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.02-1.43, P = 0.03) and by recessive contrast (OR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.03-1.47, P = 0.02). In contrast, the TT genotype was not associated with higher or lower ovarian cancer risk based on dominant contrast (OR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.84-1.05, P = 0.29) (Table 4).

Table 4 Sensitivity analysis to include only studies using allele-specific PCR as the genotyping method (2493 cases and 2764 controls)

Activity of mEH is critical to the metabolism of xenobiotics and procarcinogens that may be involved in initiating cancers such as ovarian cancer. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the hypothesis that mEH polymorphism, by altering xenobiotic metabolism, may affect risk of developing ovarian cancer. The results suggest that in the total population and among Caucasians, although not necessarily among Asians, the CC genotype of Tyr113His mEH (rs1051740) is a risk factor of ovarian cancer according to homozygous and recessive

 C allele with the T allele, comparing homozygous genotypes, and applying recessive and dominant genetic models.

All statistical tests for this meta-analysis were performed using RevMan 5.14 (Cochrane Collaboration) and Stata 11.0 (StataCorp, College Station, USA). Fixed-effect and random-effect models were used to calculate pooled ORs. The statistical significance of the pooled ORs was determined using the Z-test, and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The assumption of heterogeneity was evaluated by applying a chi-squared-based Q-test among the studies. In this approach, the Q value is defined to be identical to the effect size of the chi-squared test. P > 0.10 for the Q-test indicates a lack of heterogeneity and suggests that variability in effect sizes is larger than that expected from chance alone [16]. In these cases, the fixed-effect model was used to calculate a pooled OR for each study. Otherwise, the random-effect model was used to calculate pooled ORs. HWE in the control group was assessed using the asymptotic test, with P < 0.05 considered significant. Small-study bias was assessed by Harbord’s modified test [17]. As much as possible, the meta-analyis was carried out according to the PRISMA guidelines [18].

Description of studies

A total of 115 potentially relevant publications published through January 31, 2013 were systematically identified in the PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases. Of these, we excluded 32 studies based on review of the titles and abstracts because they did not focus on the association of mEH polymorphism and ovarian cancer risk, or they did not include a control group (n = 5). In the end, only five studies [1115] involving 2,566 cases and 2,839 controls were found to satisfy the inclusion criteria and included in the meta-analysis (Figure 1). Detailed characteristics of the five studies are listed in Table 1. Participants in four studies [11, 12, 14, 15] were Caucasian, while those in the remaining study [13] were Chinese. Genotype distribution in controls did not show HWE in two studies [12, 13]. We failed to find additional eligible studies when we repeated our systematic literature search procedure in May 2013.

Figure 1

Flow chart of study selection. mEH, microsomal epoxide hydrolase.

Table 1 Principal characteristics of studies included in the meta-analysis

One study [12] did not report histological subtype data in detail. However, it provided the OR and 95% CI based on allelic contrast. Three studies [11, 13, 15] described the histological data in detail, and the remaining study [14] did not mention histological subtype at all.

One of the included studies [11] reported that the polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) genotyping method could lead to incorrect classification of Tyr/His heterozygotes as His/His homozygotes. Among the five included studies, only one [14] used this approach, whereas the others [1113, 15] used allele-specific PCR. Therefore we conducted sensitivity analysis based on genotyping method to assess the robustness of our meta-analysis results.

Quantitative data synthesis

Table 2 shows the summary ORs for the Tyr113His mEH polymorphism and ovarian cancer risk on the basis of 2,566 cases and 2,839 controls. Calculation of overall OR in the total population using the random-effect model showed that the C allele did not influence risk of ovarian cancer based on allelic contrast (OR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.83-1.17, P = 0.86; I2 = 58%) (Figure 2). However, the variant CC genotype was associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer relative to the TT genotype (OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.01-1.43, P = 0.04) and to the TT + TC genotypes (OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.01-1.41, P = 0.03). In contrast, the wild-type TT genotype was not associated with higher or lower ovarian cancer risk than was the CC + TC genotype (OR = 1.04, 95% CI = 0.83-1.29, P = 0.74).

Figure 2

Forest plots describing the association of Tyr113His mEH polymorphism with ovarian cancer (C-allele vs. T-allele).

Table 2 Overall and stratified meta-analysis of the association between the Tyr113His mEH polymorphism and ovarian cancer risk

Small-study bias tests showed no significant bias (P = 0.054; Additional file 1: Figure S1).

Subgroup analysis by ethnicity

Chinese ethnicity

After stratification for ethnicity, we observed that in the Chinese population of 86 cases and 174 controls [13], mEH polymorphism was not associated with increased or decreased risk of ovarian cancer based on the C allele, homozygote comparison, or recessive and dominant genetic models (C allele, OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.58-1.20, P = 0.32; homozygotes, OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.42-1.46, P = 0.44; recessive model, OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.45-1.30, P = 0.32; dominant model, OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 0.65-1.99, P = 0.66).

Analysis of the Caucasian participants in four studies [11, 12, 14, 15] gave results similar to those obtained with the total population (Table 2).

Subgroup analysis by histological subtype of ovarian cancer

The first subtype analysis was based on three studies with 922 cases and 718 controls [11, 13, 15]. Meta-analysis showed that individuals with the C allele had significantly reduced risk of endometrioid/clear cell ovarian cancer (OR = 0.54, 95% CI 0.42-0.70, P < 0.001). At the same time, the homozygous CC genotype significantly increased the risk of mucinous ovarian cancer relative to the TT genotype (OR = 23.53, 95% CI 9.40-58.93, P < 0.001). Significant associations were not detected for comparisons of other genotypes and cancer subtypes (Table 3).

Table 3 Association between the Tyr113His mEH polymorphism and risk of ovarian cancer of different histological subtypes

The second subtype analysis was based on one study involving 1571 cases and 2046 controls [12]. Logistic regression analysis of genotype revealed that the C allele increased serous ovarian cancer risk (OR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.04-1.32, P = 0.01). The same allele did not, however, increase or decrease the risk of other types of ovarian cancer.

Sensitivity analysis

Sensitivity analysis was carried out to assess the robustness of the meta-analysis results to genotyping method, given that one study [14] used PCR-RFLP, which may incorrectly classify Tyr/His heterozygotes as His/His homozygotes [11]. After excluding the PCR-RFLP study [14], meta-analysis showed that risk of ovarian cancer tended to be higher in the presence of the C allele according to allelic contrast (OR = 1.09, 95% CI 1.00-1.18, P = 0.06). The CC genotype was associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer both by homozygous comparison (OR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.02-1.43, P = 0.03) and by recessive contrast (OR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.03-1.47, P = 0.02). In contrast, the TT genotype was not associated with higher or lower ovarian cancer risk based on dominant contrast (OR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.84-1.05, P = 0.29) (Table 4).

Table 4 Sensitivity analysis to include only studies using allele-specific PCR as the genotyping method (2493 cases and 2764 controls)

Activity of mEH is critical to the metabolism of xenobiotics and procarcinogens that may be involved in initiating cancers such as ovarian cancer. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the hypothesis that mEH polymorphism, by altering xenobiotic metabolism, may affect risk of developing ovarian cancer. The results suggest that in the total population and among Caucasians, although not necessarily among Asians, the CC genotype of Tyr113His mEH (rs1051740) is a risk factor of ovarian cancer according to homozygous and recessive contrast. These results were robust to sensitivity analysis in which one study [14] using PCR-RFLP instead of allele-specific PCR was excluded. The available data are insufficient to determine whether particular mEH genotypes affect risk of particular histological subtypes of ovarian cancer.

The Tyr113His mEH polymorphism has been extensively investigated for its potential involvement in various types of cancers, such as colorectal cancer [19], lung and upper digestive tract cancer [20], esophageal carcinoma [21], and hepatocellular carcinoma [22]. Most of these studies, however


Having an ice cream: A baby is seated in a car seat in a car. He is drinking from a cup and crying.<|endoftext|> knowledge based activities, through a better connection between core cities in the UK. As a result, GVA would receive by 2040 a boost between £17 billion and £29bn. Due to increased economic activity, HS2 would also generate additional tax receipts valued between £6bn and £10bn. This impact, according to KPMG (2010) would be felt more strongly in the North of the country, thereby effectively contributing to the spatial rebalancing of the UK economy.

3.5 The DfT (2011) provides European examples to support its argument, although it is unclear what its sources of its evidence are:

"International experience supports this view. In Lyon, the high speed rail link to Paris has enabled firms from the city to benefit from improved access to the French capital. The area around Lyon’s Part Dieu high speed rail station now hosts 5.3 million square feet of office space and around 20,000 jobs. Similar patterns have been observed in Japan, where high speed rail has seen a dispersal of investment and economic activity from the main ‘developed region’ towards the periphery. And in Spain, a number of towns and cities have benefited from improved links to the capital – for example, Lleida, whose high speed rail links have helped to attract investment from Microsoft and other high-tech companies."

3.6 The Government’s main statement on its approach to rebalancing the economy spatially is its White Paper Local Growth (HMG, 2010b). This document refers to rail only once as a means of encouraging local growth and this reference is to Crossrail, although there are some generic references to the importance of transport investments. Similarly the accompanying technical paper makes no reference at all to the role of rail (and only two references to transport) as a source of local growth, and here the focus is on the importance of intra-urban transport systems in underpinning agglomeration economies rather than addressing inter-regional imbalances (BIS, 2010).

3.7 In summary, the current government is presenting high speed rail as a crucial policy instrument that will help address regional inequalities and boost the UK economy. The government also claims that total economic and social benefits will be significantly larger than the subsidy they will require, which will guarantee a positive rate of return in these terms. However as we will discuss next, based on theoretical and empirical arguments, these predictions about the impact of HSR on regional inequalities are founded on assumptions that are difficult to sustain.

4 High speed rail and regional development

4.1 The "new economic geography" (NEG) (Krugman, 1993) seeks to explain the persistence of regional disparities assigning a critical role to the productivity advantages accruing from the agglomeration of economic activity in major cities which are able to attract firms and workers. NEG is a globally influential theoretical framework for understanding the economic processes that produce regional inequalities. It is worth paying particular attention to, because this theoretical framework figured prominently in the technical paper which accompanied the current UK Government’s white paper on Local Growth, which set out its approach to rebalancing the UK economy spatially (HMG, 2010b, BIS, 2010). According to NEG the location of each individual business is the result of a trade-off between transportation costs and increasing returns to scale. The latter suggests that the marginal cost of production decreases as total production increases. In other words, once a firm invests in the necessary physical and human infrastructure the more it produces the cheaper the cost of each individual good or service. Therefore the firm has an incentive to locate its activities in the same place, even if that implies transporting some of its output. Naturally the benefits of increasing returns to scale disappear once transportation costs exceed its benefits.

4.2 This is an important principle but it still does not explain why firms tend to locate in cities, where land and labour are more expensive, instead of locating in isolated or rural areas. The emergence of cities is the product of localisation and/or agglomeration economies. Both are based on the same three principles, but the former explains the concentration of firms in specialised clusters, whereas the latter explains their presence in cities with a diversified economy. The three principles are: scale economies in intermediate outputs, labour market pooling, and knowledge spillovers. These principles are mutually reinforcing and therefore they lead to exponential gains in productivity and competitiveness. The combination between the benefits of agglomeration and the principles underlying the location of businesses explains the pull effect exerted by core cities. This pull effect has remained strong (and according to some authors has even increased) despite the proliferation of information and communication technologies and an overall decrease in transportation costs. It explains why cities such as London and the South East region of England continue to prosper and diverge from the rest of the country, despite higher land and property prices (plus other costs, such as increasing commuting times or pollution).

4.3 Much of the NEG literature surveyed for this report does not focus specifically on high speed rail but its conclusions are nonetheless relevant. A recent paper by Lafourcade and Thisse (2008) for example develops the theoretical elements in NEG theory concerning the mobility of capital and labour, increasing returns to scale and transport costs to understand the potential impact of infrastructure investment. The authors argue that lower transport costs are likely to benefit core regions to the detriment of poorer ones. The positive externalities generated by agglomeration economies are mutually reinforcing and therefore the more productive cities or regions are likely to provide a more competitive business environment. As a result, when firms located in the core city compete with those located in peripheral ones the former have a comparative advantage. This is particularly the case for isolated areas, which are the most likely to suffer from transport improvements, even if this assumption is counterintuitive.

4.4 There is nevertheless an assumption that the impact of transport costs on the regional economies follows a bell curve i.e. after a first period, when a fall in transportation costs leads to concentration of economic activity in the major agglomerations, lower transportation costs are likely to facilitate a redistribution of economic activity towards the periphery, particularly of manufacturing activities. This would however imply that transportation costs became almost negligible.

4.5 A similar argument is developed by Puga (2002) who has drawn on these insights to examine the trends in regional inequalities and regional disparities in the EU who notes that:

"A better connection between two regions with different development levels not only gives a less developed region better access to the inputs and markets of more developed regions. It also makes it easier for firms in richer regions to supply poorer regions at a distance, and can thus harm the industrialisation prospects of less developed areas. New economic geography models not only point out this potential ambiguity of lower transport costs on less developed regions, they also tells us that the overall effects depends not just on the characteristics of the projects, but also on certain aspects of the economic environment. For instance, if there is little interregional migration, and if wages do not vary much between regions – even when regions differ widely in their attractiveness to firms – then investment in infrastructure can do little to help poorer regions catch up, and may even widen their lag with respect to richer regions" (2002)

4.6 Puga (2002) suggests that the main (potential) impact of high speed rail is on the location of business services and headquarters suggesting that an increased ability of business service providers and headquarters’ operation to serve remote locations leads to a further concentration of these activities in fewer, larger cities. One effect of this can be to raise costs in those cities which make them less attractive to manufacturing firms. This accelerates the shift in economic geography from a specialisation by sector to a specialisation by function. Puga provides evidence of this shift in US and of the emergence of this trend in France, where the construction of the Lyon-Paris TGV led to the relocation of headquarters activities from Lyon to Paris in contradiction to the claims made in the DfT consultation document (DfT 2011; see section 2 above). DfT claims that the development of a new office complex adjacent to the Part-Dieu station in Lyon points to the positive effects of HSR, but this statement does not address the net impacts on growth and employment. The balance of evidence assessed here and below in section 3.2 points to a negative net impacts for Lyon. De Reus therefore concludes:

"New economic geography models not only point out this potential ambiguity in the impact of lower transport costs on less developed regions, they also tell us that the overall effect depends on certain aspects of the economic environment (such as mobility and wage rigidities) and on the characteristics of the projects. On this respect, the Trans-European Transport Network will give much of the EU better access to the main activity centres. However, the gap in relative accessibility between core and peripheral areas is likely to increase as a result of the new infrastructure, which reinforces the position of core regions as transport hubs. The emphasis on high speed rail links is also likely to favour the main nodes of the network, and is unlikely to promote the development of new activity centres in minor nodes or in locations in between nodes" (2008: 14).

4.7 Puga distinguishes between different types of rail investment, for instance between those that facilitate trade between regions and those that facilitate trade within regions (see also Martin and Rogers, 1995). He concludes that while improvements in the former may harm rather than help peripheral regions, improvements in local infrastructure appear to have no negative impacts. Similarly hub-and-spoke type high speed rail systems appear to produce particular effects. Multiple spokes connected to a single hub tend "to promote agglomeration in the hub of the network, as firms located there face lower transport costs to spoke locations than firms in one spoke to another. Furthermore,

 knowledge based activities, through a better connection between core cities in the UK. As a result, GVA would receive by 2040 a boost between £17 billion and £29bn. Due to increased economic activity, HS2 would also generate additional tax receipts valued between £6bn and £10bn. This impact, according to KPMG (2010) would be felt more strongly in the North of the country, thereby effectively contributing to the spatial rebalancing of the UK economy.

3.5 The DfT (2011) provides European examples to support its argument, although it is unclear what its sources of its evidence are:

"International experience supports this view. In Lyon, the high speed rail link to Paris has enabled firms from the city to benefit from improved access to the French capital. The area around Lyon’s Part Dieu high speed rail station now hosts 5.3 million square feet of office space and around 20,000 jobs. Similar patterns have been observed in Japan, where high speed rail has seen a dispersal of investment and economic activity from the main ‘developed region’ towards the periphery. And in Spain, a number of towns and cities have benefited from improved links to the capital – for example, Lleida, whose high speed rail links have helped to attract investment from Microsoft and other high-tech companies."

3.6 The Government’s main statement on its approach to rebalancing the economy spatially is its White Paper Local Growth (HMG, 2010b). This document refers to rail only once as a means of encouraging local growth and this reference is to Crossrail, although there are some generic references to the importance of transport investments. Similarly the accompanying technical paper makes no reference at all to the role of rail (and only two references to transport) as a source of local growth, and here the focus is on the importance of intra-urban transport systems in underpinning agglomeration economies rather than addressing inter-regional imbalances (BIS, 2010).

3.7 In summary, the current government is presenting high speed rail as a crucial policy instrument that will help address regional inequalities and boost the UK economy. The government also claims that total economic and social benefits will be significantly larger than the subsidy they will require, which will guarantee a positive rate of return in these terms. However as we will discuss next, based on theoretical and empirical arguments, these predictions about the impact of HSR on regional inequalities are founded on assumptions that are difficult to sustain.

4 High speed rail and regional development

4.1 The "new economic geography" (NEG) (Krugman, 1993) seeks to explain the persistence of regional disparities assigning a critical role to the productivity advantages accruing from the agglomeration of economic activity in major cities which are able to attract firms and workers. NEG is a globally influential theoretical framework for understanding the economic processes that produce regional inequalities. It is worth paying particular attention to, because this theoretical framework figured prominently in the technical paper which accompanied the current UK Government’s white paper on Local Growth, which set out its approach to rebalancing the UK economy spatially (HMG, 2010b, BIS, 2010). According to NEG the location of each individual business is the result of a trade-off between transportation costs and increasing returns to scale. The latter suggests that the marginal cost of production decreases as total production increases. In other words, once a firm invests in the necessary physical and human infrastructure the more it produces the cheaper the cost of each individual good or service. Therefore the firm has an incentive to locate its activities in the same place, even if that implies transporting some of its output. Naturally the benefits of increasing returns to scale disappear once transportation costs exceed its benefits.

4.2 This is an important principle but it still does not explain why firms tend to locate in cities, where land and labour are more expensive, instead of locating in isolated or rural areas. The emergence of cities is the product of localisation and/or agglomeration economies. Both are based on the same three principles, but the former explains the concentration of firms in specialised clusters, whereas the latter explains their presence in cities with a diversified economy. The three principles are: scale economies in intermediate outputs, labour market pooling, and knowledge spillovers. These principles are mutually reinforcing and therefore they lead to exponential gains in productivity and competitiveness. The combination between the benefits of agglomeration and the principles underlying the location of businesses explains the pull effect exerted by core cities. This pull effect has remained strong (and according to some authors has even increased) despite the proliferation of information and communication technologies and an overall decrease in transportation costs. It explains why cities such as London and the South East region of England continue to prosper and diverge from the rest of the country, despite higher land and property prices (plus other costs, such as increasing commuting times or pollution).

4.3 Much of the NEG literature surveyed for this report does not focus specifically on high speed rail but its conclusions are nonetheless relevant. A recent paper by Lafourcade and Thisse (2008) for example develops the theoretical elements in NEG theory concerning the mobility of capital and labour, increasing returns to scale and transport costs to understand the potential impact of infrastructure investment. The authors argue that lower transport costs are likely to benefit core regions to the detriment of poorer ones. The positive externalities generated by agglomeration economies are mutually reinforcing and therefore the more productive cities or regions are likely to provide a more competitive business environment. As a result, when firms located in the core city compete with those located in peripheral ones the former have a comparative advantage. This is particularly the case for isolated areas, which are the most likely to suffer from transport improvements, even if this assumption is counterintuitive.

4.4 There is nevertheless an assumption that the impact of transport costs on the regional economies follows a bell curve i.e. after a first period, when a fall in transportation costs leads to concentration of economic activity in the major agglomerations, lower transportation costs are likely to facilitate a redistribution of economic activity towards the periphery, particularly of manufacturing activities. This would however imply that transportation costs became almost negligible.

4.5 A similar argument is developed by Puga (2002) who has drawn on these insights to examine the trends in regional inequalities and regional disparities in the EU who notes that:

"A better connection between two regions with different development levels not only gives a less developed region better access to the inputs and markets of more developed regions. It also makes it easier for firms in richer regions to supply poorer regions at a distance, and can thus harm the industrialisation prospects of less developed areas. New economic geography models not only point out this potential ambiguity of lower transport costs on less developed regions, they also tells us that the overall effects depends not just on the characteristics of the projects, but also on certain aspects of the economic environment. For instance, if there is little interregional migration, and if wages do not vary much between regions – even when regions differ widely in their attractiveness to firms – then investment in infrastructure can do little to help poorer regions catch up, and may even widen their lag with respect to richer regions" (2002)

4.6 Puga (2002) suggests that the main (potential) impact of high speed rail is on the location of business services and headquarters suggesting that an increased ability of business service providers and headquarters’ operation to serve remote locations leads to a further concentration of these activities in fewer, larger cities. One effect of this can be to raise costs in those cities which make them less attractive to manufacturing firms. This accelerates the shift in economic geography from a specialisation by sector to a specialisation by function. Puga provides evidence of this shift in US and of the emergence of this trend in France, where the construction of the Lyon-Paris TGV led to the relocation of headquarters activities from Lyon to Paris in contradiction to the claims made in the DfT consultation document (DfT 2011; see section 2 above). DfT claims that the development of a new office complex adjacent to the Part-Dieu station in Lyon points to the positive effects of HSR, but this statement does not address the net impacts on growth and employment. The balance of evidence assessed here and below in section 3.2 points to a negative net impacts for Lyon. De Reus therefore concludes:

"New economic geography models not only point out this potential ambiguity in the impact of lower transport costs on less developed regions, they also tell us that the overall effect depends on certain aspects of the economic environment (such as mobility and wage rigidities) and on the characteristics of the projects. On this respect, the Trans-European Transport Network will give much of the EU better access to the main activity centres. However, the gap in relative accessibility between core and peripheral areas is likely to increase as a result of the new infrastructure, which reinforces the position of core regions as transport hubs. The emphasis on high speed rail links is also likely to favour the main nodes of the network, and is unlikely to promote the development of new activity centres in minor nodes or in locations in between nodes" (2008: 14).

4.7 Puga distinguishes between different types of rail investment, for instance between those that facilitate trade between regions and those that facilitate trade within regions (see also Martin and Rogers, 1995). He concludes that while improvements in the former may harm rather than help peripheral regions, improvements in local infrastructure appear to have no negative impacts. Similarly hub-and-spoke type high speed rail systems appear to produce particular effects. Multiple spokes connected to a single hub tend "to promote agglomeration in the hub of the network, as firms located there face lower transport costs to spoke locations than firms in one spoke to another. Furthermore, they also tend to trigger disparities between spoke regions" (Puga, 2002: 397; see also Puga and Venables, 1997


 After a 4 am call, I know that I would.

    You are far more tolerant than I am about having my sleep interrupted for something less than the house being on fire.

  2. hi con…isn’t it a little hard to visualize me as anything but vibrantly tolerant?

    alcohol and poor sense make for a bad mix. I turned the phone off and went back to sleep

  3. max says:

    So you are saying it was a friendly divorce, right?

    Wait. Was this another kind of ex?

    Say what is this script that keeps trying to run on your blog and makes replying on your blog a living hell anyway? That thing gives me more grief.

  4. hi max…i have no idea what it is. if oyu want let me know more, and i’ll see what i can do to fix it.

    good to see you…hope the deadline is going well

  5. and thats the right ex. it was with no court involvement so friendly enough.

  6. max says:

    Oh I finished I am being totally lazy today.

  7. good for you. Always take time to smell the roses. Are you happy with the work?

  8. max says:

    Sure. It was not a writing deadine, though, it was another kind of deadline.

  9. well, long as it worked out. If its more dog t-shirts do you have them in rabbit sizes?

  10. max says:

    No it was reads for the academy. It is crunch time in the Nicholl competition and they need scripts to turn around fast.

    I do not know how big Roscoe is. There are kitty shirts :

  11. i tend to thrive on crunch time, but am always tickled for it to end so that i can return to my slothful nature.

    I’ll check them out…roscoe will be so pissed if i try to dress him. Just think, if he bites me its rabbit mcnuggets

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%d bloggers like this:<|endoftext|>Ancient Africans Are Never Properly Represented in Historical Documentaries

I flip on my tv guide and search through the options. I notice a program on the History Channel called “Who Really Discovered America?” I’ve seen and read theories on this subject many times in the past so I already know the brunt of the information they’re talking about. But just to make sure, I click the info button and I am presented this…

“Researchers will examine evidence, which could possibly prove several other cultures discovered the New World years before Christopher Columbus, including the Chinese, Japanese, Polynesians, ancient Hebrews and many others.

We see all the big names on that list except for one, West Africans and specifically the Moors. Anyone who is a son/daughter of history knows of the African depicted head statues of the Olmec of Central Mexico, similarities between Aztec and Egyptian calendars and pyramid structures, and many other examples my feeble brain can’t remember. I remember hearing something a few years back that there is a sort of “hush hush” when it comes to revealing any positive exploits about ancient Africans as if they never contributed anything to world.

At first I didn’t want to believe something so immature could be true, especially among learned men but I’m now starting to think there may be some truth in that statement. For anyone interested in ancient African naval discoveries and exploration I suggest to read the book “They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America” by Ivan Van Sertima

You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

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Connecting to %s<|endoftext|>Home and Garden: How to get rid of starlings. Deter starlings from eating livestock feed. Farms often attract starlings, but the birds can eat your livestock feed and spread disease to your animals. Using feed and feeding methods that do not attract starlings can help keep the birds off of your farm.  Provide either granular feed or large pellets (at least 0.5 inch in size) that are more difficult for starlings to eat. Do not put animal feed directly on the ground.<|endoftext|>Isolation is something a lot of creatives go through, particularly if they’re working from home. How important is human contact as a designer? Is there a happy medium between a full-time office job or working from home alone? What are some effective ways to connect with like-minded people? How should your personality type dictate your work life? We cover all this and more in today’s episode of The Honest Designer’s Show.

Other Ways to Listen: Soundcloud | iTunes | Stitcher

Meet Your Hosts

In this episode we talk about isolation as a designer. We compare working from home to working with a team, and look at some ways you can find a happy middle ground, that suits your personality type.

[1.00] We’re all isolated
[2.00] Why your personality type dictates your level of isolation when working
[2.50] Ian’s experience working with a team
[3.15] Our collective desperation for human-connection
[4.00] Ian’s coffee breaks and Dustin’s loneliness!
[6.00] How Skype calls can help
[6.50] Adapting your situation around your mindset
[7.45] Ian escaping to London to get people time in
[9.15] Why face to face interaction matters
[10.30] Lisa’s tips for outside activities reducing isolation
[12.00] Lisa finding mental balance (talking to her pets!)
[13.20] The importance of making a non-work schedule
[14.15] Why you shouldn’t be one dimension with your interests
[15.20] Design conferences and communities
[17.20] Ian and Dustin meeting in real life at a conference
[18.30] How the average person has no idea what creatives do
[21.20] The importance of ‘doing you’
[22.20] There are options, and there can be a middle-ground
[23.30] Ian’s friend’s dad who was living the designer dream!
[24.40] The freedom of being a freelancer
[25.50] The benefits of working in an office
[29.30] How offices can also be bad for your mindset
[30.30] Why the atmosphere where you work is everything
[31.30] Dustin paying attention to his ‘biological rhythms’
[32.30] Dustin having the freedom to nap every day
[34.00] Lisa needing more balance and less isolation
[36.15] Lisa being a machine!
[38.20] How Lisa’s personality type is so determined and dedicated (dictating her work life set up)
[40.00] Being grateful for your work-life balance
[43.00] The importance of surrounding yourself with the right people
[45.30] Escaping from the daily routine

The Honest Designers Show Podcast

How you can help

1. Subscribe to The Honest Designers Show in iTunes
2. Leave us an honest rating/review in iTunes

Click to listen to The Honest Designers Show on iTunes

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  1. Advanced Patent Search
Publication numberUS20050010598 A1
Publication typeApplication
Application numberUS 10/856,252
Publication dateJan 13, 2005
Filing dateMay 28, 2004
Priority dateDec 4, 2001
Also published asWO2003048995A1, WO2003048995A8
Publication number10856252, 856252, US 2005/0010598 A1, US 2005/010598 A1, US 20050010598 A1, US 20050010598A1, US 2005010598 A1, US 2005010598A1, US-A1-20050010598, US-A1-2005010598, US2005/0010598A1, US2005/010598A1, US20050010598 A1, US20050010598A1, US2005010598 A1, US2005010598A1
InventorsRavi Shankar
Original AssigneeRavi Shankar
Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
Method of concurrent visualization of module outputs of a flow process
US 20050010598 A1
A method of concurrent visualization of serial and parallel consequences or communication of a flow input to a process module of a flow process includes the steps of: arranging a plurality of process modules in a system and flow relationship to each other; encapsulating each module within an input/output interface through which module operating requirements and process-specific options may be furnished as inputs to the interface, and parallel and series responses to the inputs may be monitored as outputs of the interface,

 dozen, and not worth the price of admission.

11 Responses to 6 a.m. hateful

  1. Conundrum says:

    I think I would quickly be blocking her number from calling me. After a 4 am call, I know that I would.

    You are far more tolerant than I am about having my sleep interrupted for something less than the house being on fire.

  2. hi con…isn’t it a little hard to visualize me as anything but vibrantly tolerant?

    alcohol and poor sense make for a bad mix. I turned the phone off and went back to sleep

  3. max says:

    So you are saying it was a friendly divorce, right?

    Wait. Was this another kind of ex?

    Say what is this script that keeps trying to run on your blog and makes replying on your blog a living hell anyway? That thing gives me more grief.

  4. hi max…i have no idea what it is. if oyu want let me know more, and i’ll see what i can do to fix it.

    good to see you…hope the deadline is going well

  5. and thats the right ex. it was with no court involvement so friendly enough.

  6. max says:

    Oh I finished I am being totally lazy today.

  7. good for you. Always take time to smell the roses. Are you happy with the work?

  8. max says:

    Sure. It was not a writing deadine, though, it was another kind of deadline.

  9. well, long as it worked out. If its more dog t-shirts do you have them in rabbit sizes?

  10. max says:

    No it was reads for the academy. It is crunch time in the Nicholl competition and they need scripts to turn around fast.

    I do not know how big Roscoe is. There are kitty shirts :

  11. i tend to thrive on crunch time, but am always tickled for it to end so that i can return to my slothful nature.

    I’ll check them out…roscoe will be so pissed if i try to dress him. Just think, if he bites me its rabbit mcnuggets

Leave a Reply

WordPress.com Logo

Twitter picture

Facebook photo

Google+ photo

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this:<|endoftext|>Ancient Africans Are Never Properly Represented in Historical Documentaries

I flip on my tv guide and search through the options. I notice a program on the History Channel called “Who Really Discovered America?” I’ve seen and read theories on this subject many times in the past so I already know the brunt of the information they’re talking about. But just to make sure, I click the info button and I am presented this…

“Researchers will examine evidence, which could possibly prove several other cultures discovered the New World years before Christopher Columbus, including the Chinese, Japanese, Polynesians, ancient Hebrews and many others.

We see all the big names on that list except for one, West Africans and specifically the Moors. Anyone who is a son/daughter of history knows of the African depicted head statues of the Olmec of Central Mexico, similarities between Aztec and Egyptian calendars and pyramid structures, and many other examples my feeble brain can’t remember. I remember hearing something a few years back that there is a sort of “hush hush” when it comes to revealing any positive exploits about ancient Africans as if they never contributed anything to world.

At first I didn’t want to believe something so immature could be true, especially among learned men but I’m now starting to think there may be some truth in that statement. For anyone interested in ancient African naval discoveries and exploration I suggest to read the book “They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America” by Ivan Van Sertima

You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google+ photo

Twitter picture

Facebook photo

Connecting to %s<|endoftext|>Isolation is something a lot of creatives go through, particularly if they’re working from home. How important is human contact as a designer? Is there a happy medium between a full-time office job or working from home alone? What are some effective ways to connect with like-minded people? How should your personality type dictate your work life? We cover all this and more in today’s episode of The Honest Designer’s Show.

Other Ways to Listen: Soundcloud | iTunes | Stitcher

Meet Your Hosts

In this episode we talk about isolation as a designer. We compare working from home to working with a team, and look at some ways you can find a happy middle ground, that suits your personality type.

[1.00] We’re all isolated
[2.00] Why your personality type dictates your level of isolation when working
[2.50] Ian’s experience working with a team
[3.15] Our collective desperation for human-connection
[4.00] Ian’s coffee breaks and Dustin’s loneliness!
[6.00] How Skype calls can help
[6.50] Adapting your situation around your mindset
[7.45] Ian escaping to London to get people time in
[9.15] Why face to face interaction matters
[10.30] Lisa’s tips for outside activities reducing isolation
[12.00] Lisa finding mental balance (talking to her pets!)
[13.20] The importance of making a non-work schedule
[14.15] Why you shouldn’t be one dimension with your interests
[15.20] Design conferences and communities
[17.20] Ian and Dustin meeting in real life at a conference
[18.30] How the average person has no idea what creatives do
[21.20] The importance of ‘doing you’
[22.20] There are options, and there can be a middle-ground
[23.30] Ian’s friend’s dad who was living the designer dream!
[24.40] The freedom of being a freelancer
[25.50] The benefits of working in an office
[29.30] How offices can also be bad for your mindset
[30.30] Why the atmosphere where you work is everything
[31.30] Dustin paying attention to his ‘biological rhythms’
[32.30] Dustin having the freedom to nap every day
[34.00] Lisa needing more balance and less isolation
[36.15] Lisa being a machine!
[38.20] How Lisa’s personality type is so determined and dedicated (dictating her work life set up)
[40.00] Being grateful for your work-life balance
[43.00] The importance of surrounding yourself with the right people
[45.30] Escaping from the daily routine

The Honest Designers Show Podcast

How you can help

1. Subscribe to The Honest Designers Show in iTunes
2. Leave us an honest rating/review in iTunes

Click to listen to The Honest Designers Show on iTunes

The Honest Designers Show Podcast

Want Help From the Honest Designers?

Join the discussion on Instagram

Join the discussion on Twitter

Let Us Know What You Think
<|endoftext|>Search Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »
Sign in

  1. Advanced Patent Search
Publication numberUS20050010598 A1
Publication typeApplication
Application numberUS 10/856,252
Publication dateJan 13, 2005
Filing dateMay 28, 2004
Priority dateDec 4, 2001
Also published asWO2003048995A1, WO2003048995A8
Publication number10856252, 856252, US 2005/0010598 A1, US 2005/010598 A1, US 20050010598 A1, US 20050010598A1, US 2005010598 A1, US 2005010598A1, US-A1-20050010598, US-A1-2005010598, US2005/0010598A1, US2005/010598A1, US20050010598 A1, US20050010598A1, US2005010598 A1, US2005010598A1
InventorsRavi Shankar
Original AssigneeRavi Shankar
Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
Method of concurrent visualization of module outputs of a flow process
US 20050010598 A1
A method of concurrent visualization of serial and parallel consequences or communication of a flow input to a process module of a flow process includes the steps of: arranging a plurality of process modules in a system and flow relationship to each other; encapsulating each module within an input/output interface through which module operating requirements and process-specific options may be furnished as inputs to the interface, and parallel and series responses to the inputs may be monitored as outputs of the interface, each input/output interface thereby defining a process action of the module of interest, visually mapping by rows, of selected module interface outputs, of a selectable subset of modules of the flow process, to be visualized, the mapping occurring from a common vertical axis, in response to the process


Personal Care and Style: How to wash micro braids. Prepare your hair for washing. As micro braids are quite delicate, you will need to arrange them properly to prevent possible breakage or damage while washing. Before entering the shower or bath, braid your hair into 4 to 6 larger braids. Keep the braids relatively loose to allow the water, shampoo, and conditioner to permeate all strands of hair. Secure the end of each braid with a rubber band or other type of hair tie.<|endoftext|> word, I passed out the Diction Door Templates (one of each color per class), a black Crayola marker, and a pair of scissors. I told the students that they were to write down the definition and the original sentence that used the word, and that they needed to create a new sentence using the word. Finally, I gave each group four small pieces of paper that matched the color of their template, which they used for synonyms.

After that, I simply walked around the room and listened to the students work and talk to each other. Once they finished, I taped their word and synonyms onto the door.

The Diction Door Templates

The Diction Door Templates

But not all went as planned…in a good way

I’ll admit, I was a little stressed out about it during 1st period. Originally, I thought that it would take the students about 10-15 minutes. I was wrong. Like, WAY wrong. It ended up taking the entire class period, which surprised because I expected the students to just look up the word and then write down the definition. Instead, they looked up the word, didn’t understand the definition, looked up more words in the definition, and then rephrased the original definition so that it made sense to them!

The Diction Door also provided many teachable moments that I hadn’t originally anticipated. For example, one group of students realized that the word “deliberate” could be an adjective or a verb. Then they had to decide if it was being used as an adjective or a verb in the passage. Not only did this help them understand the word, but it also helped them understand the difference between verbs and adjectives!

With the word “Womanize,” the students found the dictionary.com synonyms first. They used words and phrases like “flirt,” “fool around,” “stud,” and “ladies man” as their synonyms. I explained that these words were too positive, and that womanizing isn’t a good thing. I told them that “objectify” would be a good synonym for womanize, but I couldn’t think of any others and the students were struggling to find appropriate synonyms online. I sent them across the hall to ask their social studies teacher. He started rattling off words like “chauvinistic” and “sexist.” Perhaps the feminist side of me kicked in during this exchange, but I’m totally okay with that.

Originally, I just wanted to have a Diction Door because I didn’t think I would have enough space for a word wall, but I actually ran out of space on the door. I had to extend it a bit and now the word wall is covering a white board that I don’t use very often. I made a sign for the word wall, and I still have a sign for the diction door up, but I decided to make a poster to maintain the diction door theme. It says: Deliberate diction unlocks the door to success! We navigate our whole lives using words. Change and improve the words and I believe we can change and improve life.

Deliberate diction unlocks the door to success: We navigate our whole lives using words. Change and improve the words and I believe we can change and improve our life.

I made a banner!

Overall, I am extremely pleased with my diction door/word wall. The students had a blast with it, and I added a word to the wall today: allusion. I also referred to a couple of the words on the wall while talking to the students about avoiding redundancies in their writing. Next year, I’ll have to rearrange my classroom so that the word wall has room to grow. I’m sure it’ll end up spilling out into the hall outside of my room like this teacher’s word wall.

Oh, and for the record, my diction door/word wall is very aesthetically pleasing! Too bad I’ll have to cover it up when we have NMSBA testing in a couple of weeks.

My newest addition to the word wall

My newest addition to the word wall

Want to read more about the Diction Door? Check out my first two posts: Wading into Word Walls and ‘Twas the eve of the Diction Door

‘Twas the eve of the Diction Door

‘Twas the eve of the Diction Door

and all through the school,

every student was wondering

how it would be used.

But nobody knew –

except for Ms. Bloom –

who smiled mysteriously

at every question anew.

She said, “Tune in tomorrow,

it’ll be quite a show!

Just come prepared

to learn the lingo!”

And as she walked off,

the students replied,

“That Ms. Bloom

sure is…

Want to read more about the Diction Door? Check out these two posts: Wading into Word Walls and Deliberate Diction Unlocks the Door to Success!

Wading into Word Walls

I have an announcement to make: I’ve decided to make a word wall in my classroom.

To some, this may not seem like a big deal or like a difficult task, but for me, this is a new, scary, unpredictable adventure. I’ve always been intimidated by word walls; mostly because I’ve never really understood their role in the classroom. I do know that they are considered a best practice, and I know that when used properly, word walls can have a major impact on students’ vocabulary.

But I’m still intimidated.

I decided to bite the bullet and implement a word wall the other day when my students were struggling through the first four pages of Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides. With words like caromed, bantam, bumpkin, terrestrial, fastidious, and cadence, I realized that I can’t possibly expect my students to use context clues for every difficult word. Plus, in an effort to create a more student-centered classroom (and to not spend an entire day on vocabulary), I figured a word wall would be the most effective way to tackle the difficult vocabulary in the excerpt over an extended period of time.

Now, the question is, how does one use a word wall?

Questions to Consider…

Where will I put it? I don’t have a lot of free space on my walls. Plus, since my walls are concrete, the only way to hang something is by hot gluing it to the wall (tape doesn’t work on the paint on my walls for some reason). I do have a closet door at the front of the room…perhaps I’ll have a Diction Door instead!

I know that I want the students to select the words to go on the wall, and I know that I want them to look up the definition for the word, write an original sentence or two using the new word, and list synonyms for the word. I’ll need some sort of template for the students to use.

I also know this is something I will leave up for all of my classes, so I need to develop a system where each class will contribute different words to the wall. But how should I organize it? Should the words be in alphabetical order? Or should they just go up in a random order?

The perfectionist side of me is kicking in too. I want everything to be uniform, so I want all of the words to be typed, using the same size font. I know I want the definitions to be typed too, but getting the students to type and add the definitions to the wall will take away from the seamlessness of the strategy…so what’s more important? A messy, student-driven word wall, or a neat, teacher driven-word wall?

…Learning is messy. I suppose an organic word wall is a messy word wall.

The Plan

I’ll cut out a bunch of multi-colored strips of paper. The students will use these strips of paper for the words and definitions. I’ll also cut out smaller pieces of paper for synonyms. These will surround the original word. I’ll give each group a few markers so the words are easy to see from the back of the classroom.

Since I already sorted the students into mixed-ability literature circles, I’ll just have each literature circle select one word from the text to add to the wall. Then, as a group, they will find the definition, write a new sentence using that word, and find as many synonyms as possible. They will write these things down on the strips of paper, and then I will tape them up on the sheet of butcher paper taped to the door at the front of the classroom (A.K.A. Diction Door!) Each class will add new words, but they can also add synonyms to existing words.

The whole thing should only take about ten minutes per class

 word, I passed out the Diction Door Templates (one of each color per class), a black Crayola marker, and a pair of scissors. I told the students that they were to write down the definition and the original sentence that used the word, and that they needed to create a new sentence using the word. Finally, I gave each group four small pieces of paper that matched the color of their template, which they used for synonyms.

After that, I simply walked around the room and listened to the students work and talk to each other. Once they finished, I taped their word and synonyms onto the door.

The Diction Door Templates

The Diction Door Templates

But not all went as planned…in a good way

I’ll admit, I was a little stressed out about it during 1st period. Originally, I thought that it would take the students about 10-15 minutes. I was wrong. Like, WAY wrong. It ended up taking the entire class period, which surprised because I expected the students to just look up the word and then write down the definition. Instead, they looked up the word, didn’t understand the definition, looked up more words in the definition, and then rephrased the original definition so that it made sense to them!

The Diction Door also provided many teachable moments that I hadn’t originally anticipated. For example, one group of students realized that the word “deliberate” could be an adjective or a verb. Then they had to decide if it was being used as an adjective or a verb in the passage. Not only did this help them understand the word, but it also helped them understand the difference between verbs and adjectives!

With the word “Womanize,” the students found the dictionary.com synonyms first. They used words and phrases like “flirt,” “fool around,” “stud,” and “ladies man” as their synonyms. I explained that these words were too positive, and that womanizing isn’t a good thing. I told them that “objectify” would be a good synonym for womanize, but I couldn’t think of any others and the students were struggling to find appropriate synonyms online. I sent them across the hall to ask their social studies teacher. He started rattling off words like “chauvinistic” and “sexist.” Perhaps the feminist side of me kicked in during this exchange, but I’m totally okay with that.

Originally, I just wanted to have a Diction Door because I didn’t think I would have enough space for a word wall, but I actually ran out of space on the door. I had to extend it a bit and now the word wall is covering a white board that I don’t use very often. I made a sign for the word wall, and I still have a sign for the diction door up, but I decided to make a poster to maintain the diction door theme. It says: Deliberate diction unlocks the door to success! We navigate our whole lives using words. Change and improve the words and I believe we can change and improve life.

Deliberate diction unlocks the door to success: We navigate our whole lives using words. Change and improve the words and I believe we can change and improve our life.

I made a banner!

Overall, I am extremely pleased with my diction door/word wall. The students had a blast with it, and I added a word to the wall today: allusion. I also referred to a couple of the words on the wall while talking to the students about avoiding redundancies in their writing. Next year, I’ll have to rearrange my classroom so that the word wall has room to grow. I’m sure it’ll end up spilling out into the hall outside of my room like this teacher’s word wall.

Oh, and for the record, my diction door/word wall is very aesthetically pleasing! Too bad I’ll have to cover it up when we have NMSBA testing in a couple of weeks.

My newest addition to the word wall

My newest addition to the word wall

Want to read more about the Diction Door? Check out my first two posts: Wading into Word Walls and ‘Twas the eve of the Diction Door

‘Twas the eve of the Diction Door

‘Twas the eve of the Diction Door

and all through the school,

every student was wondering

how it would be used.

But nobody knew –

except for Ms. Bloom –

who smiled mysteriously

at every question anew.

She said, “Tune in tomorrow,

it’ll be quite a show!

Just come prepared

to learn the lingo!”

And as she walked off,

the students replied,

“That Ms. Bloom

sure is…

Want to read more about the Diction Door? Check out these two posts: Wading into Word Walls and Deliberate Diction Unlocks the Door to Success!

Wading into Word Walls

I have an announcement to make: I’ve decided to make a word wall in my classroom.

To some, this may not seem like a big deal or like a difficult task, but for me, this is a new, scary, unpredictable adventure. I’ve always been intimidated by word walls; mostly because I’ve never really understood their role in the classroom. I do know that they are considered a best practice, and I know that when used properly, word walls can have a major impact on students’ vocabulary.

But I’m still intimidated.

I decided to bite the bullet and implement a word wall the other day when my students were struggling through the first four pages of Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides. With words like caromed, bantam, bumpkin, terrestrial, fastidious, and cadence, I realized that I can’t possibly expect my students to use context clues for every difficult word. Plus, in an effort to create a more student-centered classroom (and to not spend an entire day on vocabulary), I figured a word wall would be the most effective way to tackle the difficult vocabulary in the excerpt over an extended period of time.

Now, the question is, how does one use a word wall?

Questions to Consider…

Where will I put it? I don’t have a lot of free space on my walls. Plus, since my walls are concrete, the only way to hang something is by hot gluing it to the wall (tape doesn’t work on the paint on my walls for some reason). I do have a closet door at the front of the room…perhaps I’ll have a Diction Door instead!

I know that I want the students to select the words to go on the wall, and I know that I want them to look up the definition for the word, write an original sentence or two using the new word, and list synonyms for the word. I’ll need some sort of template for the students to use.

I also know this is something I will leave up for all of my classes, so I need to develop a system where each class will contribute different words to the wall. But how should I organize it? Should the words be in alphabetical order? Or should they just go up in a random order?

The perfectionist side of me is kicking in too. I want everything to be uniform, so I want all of the words to be typed, using the same size font. I know I want the definitions to be typed too, but getting the students to type and add the definitions to the wall will take away from the seamlessness of the strategy…so what’s more important? A messy, student-driven word wall, or a neat, teacher driven-word wall?

…Learning is messy. I suppose an organic word wall is a messy word wall.

The Plan

I’ll cut out a bunch of multi-colored strips of paper. The students will use these strips of paper for the words and definitions. I’ll also cut out smaller pieces of paper for synonyms. These will surround the original word. I’ll give each group a few markers so the words are easy to see from the back of the classroom.

Since I already sorted the students into mixed-ability literature circles, I’ll just have each literature circle select one word from the text to add to the wall. Then, as a group, they will find the definition, write a new sentence using that word, and find as many synonyms as possible. They will write these things down on the strips of paper, and then I will tape them up on the sheet of butcher paper taped to the door at the front of the classroom (A.K.A. Diction Door!) Each class will add new words, but they can also add synonyms to existing words.

The whole thing should only take about ten minutes per class.

I’ll keep you posted on the results. In the meantime, check out these word walls that other K-12 teachers have in their classrooms…

I hope my word wall Diction Door is pretty too.

Wish me luck.

Want to read more about the Diction Door? Check out the next two posts: ‘Twas the eve of the Diction Door and Deliberate Diction Unlocks the Door to Success

Adventures in Grading…and Procrast