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id_2000 | Despite the fact that some associate musicals with cheesy joy, the genre is not limited to gleeful stories, as can be demonstrated by the macabre musical, Sweeney Todd. The original story of the murderous barber appears in a Victorian penny dreadful, The String of Pearls: A Romance. The penny dreadful material was adapted for the 19th century stage, and in the 20th century was adapted into two separate melodramas, before the story was taken up by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. The pair turned it into a new musical, which has since been performed across the globe and been adapted into a film starring Johnny Depp. Sondheim and Wheelers drama tells a disturbing narrative: the protagonist, falsely accused of a crime by a crooked judge, escapes from Australia to be told that his wife was raped by that same man of the court. In response, she has committed suicide, and her daughter - Todds daughter - has been made the ward of the judge. The eponymous figure ultimately goes on a killing spree, vowing vengeance for the people who have wronged him but also declaring we all deserve to die, and acting on this belief by killing many of his clients, men who come to his barbershop. His new partner in crime, Mrs Lovett, comes up with the idea of turning the bodies of his victims into the filling of pies, as a way of sourcing affordable meat - after all, she claims, times is hard. Cannibalism, vengeance, murder and corruption - these are all themes that demonstrate that this show does not conform to a happy-clappy preconception of its genre. | There is nothing positive in Sweeney Todd. | c |
id_2001 | Despite the fact that some associate musicals with cheesy joy, the genre is not limited to gleeful stories, as can be demonstrated by the macabre musical, Sweeney Todd. The original story of the murderous barber appears in a Victorian penny dreadful, The String of Pearls: A Romance. The penny dreadful material was adapted for the 19th century stage, and in the 20th century was adapted into two separate melodramas, before the story was taken up by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. The pair turned it into a new musical, which has since been performed across the globe and been adapted into a film starring Johnny Depp. Sondheim and Wheelers drama tells a disturbing narrative: the protagonist, falsely accused of a crime by a crooked judge, escapes from Australia to be told that his wife was raped by that same man of the court. In response, she has committed suicide, and her daughter - Todds daughter - has been made the ward of the judge. The eponymous figure ultimately goes on a killing spree, vowing vengeance for the people who have wronged him but also declaring we all deserve to die, and acting on this belief by killing many of his clients, men who come to his barbershop. His new partner in crime, Mrs Lovett, comes up with the idea of turning the bodies of his victims into the filling of pies, as a way of sourcing affordable meat - after all, she claims, times is hard. Cannibalism, vengeance, murder and corruption - these are all themes that demonstrate that this show does not conform to a happy-clappy preconception of its genre. | Wheeler is an avid penny dreadful fan. | e |
id_2002 | Despite the fact that some associate musicals with cheesy joy, the genre is not limited to gleeful stories, as can be demonstrated by the macabre musical, Sweeney Todd. The original story of the murderous barber appears in a Victorian penny dreadful, The String of Pearls: A Romance. The penny dreadful material was adapted for the 19th century stage, and in the 20th century was adapted into two separate melodramas, before the story was taken up by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. The pair turned it into a new musical, which has since been performed across the globe and been adapted into a film starring Johnny Depp. Sondheim and Wheelers drama tells a disturbing narrative: the protagonist, falsely accused of a crime by a crooked judge, escapes from Australia to be told that his wife was raped by that same man of the court. In response, she has committed suicide, and her daughter - Todds daughter - has been made the ward of the judge. The eponymous figure ultimately goes on a killing spree, vowing vengeance for the people who have wronged him but also declaring we all deserve to die, and acting on this belief by killing many of his clients, men who come to his barbershop. His new partner in crime, Mrs Lovett, comes up with the idea of turning the bodies of his victims into the filling of pies, as a way of sourcing affordable meat - after all, she claims, times is hard. Cannibalism, vengeance, murder and corruption - these are all themes that demonstrate that this show does not conform to a happy-clappy preconception of its genre. | Legal corruption is the predominate theme of Sweeney Todd. | e |
id_2003 | Despite the fact that some associate musicals with cheesy joy, the genre is not limited to gleeful stories, as can be demonstrated by the macabre musical, Sweeney Todd. The original story of the murderous barber appears in a Victorian penny dreadful, The String of Pearls: A Romance. The penny dreadful material was adapted for the 19th century stage, and in the 20th century was adapted into two separate melodramas, before the story was taken up by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. The pair turned it into a new musical, which has since been performed across the globe and been adapted into a film starring Johnny Depp. Sondheim and Wheelers drama tells a disturbing narrative: the protagonist, falsely accused of a crime by a crooked judge, escapes from Australia to be told that his wife was raped by that same man of the court. In response, she has committed suicide, and her daughter - Todds daughter - has been made the ward of the judge. The eponymous figure ultimately goes on a killing spree, vowing vengeance for the people who have wronged him but also declaring we all deserve to die, and acting on this belief by killing many of his clients, men who come to his barbershop. His new partner in crime, Mrs Lovett, comes up with the idea of turning the bodies of his victims into the filling of pies, as a way of sourcing affordable meat - after all, she claims, times is hard. Cannibalism, vengeance, murder and corruption - these are all themes that demonstrate that this show does not conform to a happy-clappy preconception of its genre. | Most musicals deal with morbid themes. | c |
id_2004 | Despite the fact that some associate musicals with cheesy joy, the genre is not limited to gleeful stories, as can be demonstrated by the macabre musical, Sweeney Todd. The original story of the murderous barber appears in a Victorian penny dreadful, The String of Pearls: A Romance. The penny dreadful material was adapted for the 19th century stage, and in the 20th century was adapted into two separate melodramas, before the story was taken up by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. The pair turned it into a new musical, which has since been performed across the globe and been adapted into a film starring Johnny Depp. Sondheim and Wheelers drama tells a disturbing narrative: the protagonist, falsely accused of a crime by a crooked judge, escapes from Australia to be told that his wife was raped by that same man of the court. In response, she has committed suicide, and her daughter - Todds daughter - has been made the ward of the judge. The eponymous figure ultimately goes on a killing spree, vowing vengeance for the people who have wronged him but also declaring we all deserve to die, and acting on this belief by killing many of his clients, men who come to his barbershop. His new partner in crime, Mrs Lovett, comes up with the idea of turning the bodies of his victims into the filling of pies, as a way of sourcing affordable meat - after all, she claims, times is hard. Cannibalism, vengeance, murder and corruption - these are all themes that demonstrate that this show does not conform to a happy-clappy preconception of its genre. | Mrs Lovett and Sweeney Todd are in a romantic relationship. | c |
id_2005 | Despite the fact that some associate musicals with cheesy joy, the genre is not limited to gleeful stories, as can be demonstrated by the macabre musical, Sweeney Todd. The original story of the murderous barber appears in a Victorian penny dreadful, The String of Pearls: A Romance. The penny dreadful material was adapted for the 19th century stage, and in the 20th century was adapted into two separate melodramas, before the story was taken up by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. The pair turned it into a new musical, which has since been performed across the globe and been adapted into a film starring Johnny Depp. Sondheim and Wheelers drama tells a disturbing narrative: the protagonist, falsely accused of a crime by a crooked judge, escapes from Australia to be told that his wife was raped by that same man of the court. In response, she has committed suicide, and her daughter - Todds daughter - has been made the ward of the judge. The eponymous figure ultimately goes on a killing spree, vowing vengeance for the people who have wronged him but also declaring we all deserve to die, and acting on this belief by killing many of his clients, men who come to his barbershop. His new partner in crime, Mrs Lovett, comes up with the idea of turning the bodies of his victims into the filling of pies, as a way of sourcing affordable meat - after all, she claims, times is hard. Cannibalism, vengeance, murder and corruption - these are all themes that demonstrate that this show does not conform to a happy-clappy preconception of its genre. | Generalisations can be misleading. | c |
id_2006 | Despite the fact that some associate musicals with cheesy joy, the genre is not limited to gleeful stories, as can be demonstrated by the macabre musical, Sweeney Todd. The original story of the murderous barber appears in a Victorian penny dreadful, The String of Pearls: A Romance. The penny dreadful material was adapted for the 19th century stage, and in the 20th century was adapted into two separate melodramas, before the story was taken up by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. The pair turned it into a new musical, which has since been performed across the globe and been adapted into a film starring Johnny Depp. Sondheim and Wheelers drama tells a disturbing narrative: the protagonist, falsely accused of a crime by a crooked judge, escapes from Australia to be told that his wife was raped by that same man of the court. In response, she has committed suicide, and her daughter - Todds daughter - has been made the ward of the judge. The eponymous figure ultimately goes on a killing spree, vowing vengeance for the people who have wronged him but also declaring we all deserve to die, and acting on this belief by killing many of his clients, men who come to his barbershop. His new partner in crime, Mrs Lovett, comes up with the idea of turning the bodies of his victims into the filling of pies, as a way of sourcing affordable meat - after all, she claims, times is hard. Cannibalism, vengeance, murder and corruption - these are all themes that demonstrate that this show does not conform to a happy-clappy preconception of its genre. | Sondheim is a brilliant musician and lyricist. | c |
id_2007 | Despite the fact that some associate musicals with cheesy joy, the genre is not limited to gleeful stories, as can be demonstrated by the macabre musical, Sweeney Todd. The original story of the murderous barber appears in a Victorian penny dreadful, The String of Pearls: A Romance. The penny dreadful material was adapted for the 19th century stage, and in the 20th century was adapted into two separate melodramas, before the story was taken up by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. The pair turned it into a new musical, which has since been performed across the globe and been adapted into a film starring Johnny Depp. Sondheim and Wheelers drama tells a disturbing narrative: the protagonist, falsely accused of a crime by a crooked judge, escapes from Australia to be told that his wife was raped by that same man of the court. In response, she has committed suicide, and her daughter - Todds daughter - has been made the ward of the judge. The eponymous figure ultimately goes on a killing spree, vowing vengeance for the people who have wronged him but also declaring we all deserve to die, and acting on this belief by killing many of his clients, men who come to his barbershop. His new partner in crime, Mrs Lovett, comes up with the idea of turning the bodies of his victims into the filling of pies, as a way of sourcing affordable meat - after all, she claims, times is hard. Cannibalism, vengeance, murder and corruption - these are all themes that demonstrate that this show does not conform to a happy-clappy preconception of its genre. | Several Sweeney Todd themes are morbid. | c |
id_2008 | Despite the fact that some associate musicals with cheesy joy, the genre is not limited to gleeful stories, as can be demonstrated by the macabre musical, Sweeney Todd. The original story of the murderous barber appears in a Victorian penny dreadful, The String of Pearls: A Romance. The penny dreadful material was adapted for the 19th century stage, and in the 20th century was adapted into two separate melodramas, before the story was taken up by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. The pair turned it into a new musical, which has since been performed across the globe and been adapted into a film starring Johnny Depp. Sondheim and Wheelers drama tells a disturbing narrative: the protagonist, falsely accused of a crime by a crooked judge, escapes from Australia to be told that his wife was raped by that same man of the court. In response, she has committed suicide, and her daughter - Todds daughter - has been made the ward of the judge. The eponymous figure ultimately goes on a killing spree, vowing vengeance for the people who have wronged him but also declaring we all deserve to die, and acting on this belief by killing many of his clients, men who come to his barbershop. His new partner in crime, Mrs Lovett, comes up with the idea of turning the bodies of his victims into the filling of pies, as a way of sourcing affordable meat - after all, she claims, times is hard. Cannibalism, vengeance, murder and corruption - these are all themes that demonstrate that this show does not conform to a happy-clappy preconception of its genre. | There are four themes in Sweeney Todd. | c |
id_2009 | Destination Mars Mars is the closest potentially habitable planet. It has solid ground, protective surface features, a thin atmosphere, more closely mimics the gravitational and lighting conditions on Earth, and is reachable just. Most importantly, studies have found that this planet has vast reserves of frozen water, and there are other basic minerals as well. In contrast, the closest heavenly body the moon is dusty, barren, hostile, and dark. Settlement of the moon would be much easier, but since there are no resources there, it would ultimately be more costly and of little use. If there is any extra-terrestrial site where humankind will ultimately settle, it must be Mars. Yet this planet is much more distant than the moon, making the logistics daunting. Food, water, oxygen, and life-support systems for such a journey would be too heavy for current rocket science. Technological innovations would be necessary, and the timing of the trip absolutely critical. The different orbits of Mars and Earth mean that they most closely approach each other every 26 months, but this event itself fluctuates on a 15-year cycle. This means that only once in that time does a launch window open. That is quite few and far between, yet missions must necessarily leave at these times. The trouble is, even then, the journey to Mars and back would take over a year, and the human body suffers profoundly when left in micro-gravity for that length of time. Without the need to stand, there is almost no flexing or pressure on the back or the leg muscles. These gradually shrink and weaken, while bones lose their density, and lungs their aerobic capacity. When left long enough in space, astronauts are unable to function properly. Yet these people will need their full physical strength and alertness for the many operational duties required. These include docking in space, approaches and landing on Mars, remote manipulation of machines, and dealing with any emergencies that arise. Another hazard of such duration in a hermetically sealed spacecraft is disease. Human bodies constantly shed waste material (sweat, skin-flakes, hair, moisture, mucus, and the products of digestion), all of which allow microbes to breed prolifically. Coughs and sneezes spray fluids into the air, which, without gravity to pull them down to surfaces, simply float as airborne particles in those cramped confines, causing easy microbial exchange between crew members. Bacterial infections and fungal attacks can be prevalent, and human immune systems are weakened in micro-gravity. Thus, a long mission to Mars would require the best air-cleansing system available, rigorous disinfecting and hygiene procedures, plus an excellent supply of antibiotics. On reaching Mars, the problems only increase. Staying on the planet for any significant length of time will be difficult. In the absence of a thick protective atmosphere or magnetosphere to burn up or deflect objects, respectively, astronauts will be exposed, to potentially lethal UV radiation, micro-meteoroids, solar flares, and high-energy particles, all of which regularly bombard the surface. Spacecraft and land-based capsules will need special shielding, which adds to the weight and expense. Construction of living quarters will be time-consuming, difficult, and dangerous. For a longer stay on Mars, the only solution, it seems, is to go underground. One of the most interesting discoveries in this respect is of possible cave entrances on the side of Arsia Mons, a large Martian volcano. Seven such entrances have been identified in satellite imagery, showing circular holes resembling the collapse of cave ceilings. The hope is that these may lead to more extensive cave formations, or perhaps lava tubes, offering the protection necessary in such a hostile terrain. An additional benefit is the potential access to vital minerals, and most importantly of all, the possibility of frozen water. These sites therefore open up the possibility of independent and permanent settlement on this planet. The most exciting option is to attempt that on the very first trip in other words, making it a oneway journey. The advantage is that the duration of space travel is immediately halved, reducing the technological, biological, and financial challenges. This very strong argument is somewhat offset by the difficulties in establishing a permanent presence, as well as the necessary ongoing commitment to it for example, in the delivery of food and supplies via unmanned spacecraft. Similarly, the psychological effects on these pioneers of permanent isolation from Barth and its community, as well as being crowded into confined Martian living quarters with the same companions, raise issues of whether such a settlement is humanly feasible. This begs the question of why undertake such missions at all. The answer, according to proponents, is that it is our destiny. Throughout history, explorers have regularly embarked on journeys in the full knowledge that death may await them, or that even if they succeeded, their health and wellbeing would be severely compromised. And today, people regularly practise extreme sports, or work in dangerous occupations, all of which significantly lower their life expectancy. The risks involved in being a Martian pioneer are no different, and so, it is argued, there is no reason why they should deter us now. | A one-way expedition to Mars is better. | n |
id_2010 | Destination Mars Mars is the closest potentially habitable planet. It has solid ground, protective surface features, a thin atmosphere, more closely mimics the gravitational and lighting conditions on Earth, and is reachable just. Most importantly, studies have found that this planet has vast reserves of frozen water, and there are other basic minerals as well. In contrast, the closest heavenly body the moon is dusty, barren, hostile, and dark. Settlement of the moon would be much easier, but since there are no resources there, it would ultimately be more costly and of little use. If there is any extra-terrestrial site where humankind will ultimately settle, it must be Mars. Yet this planet is much more distant than the moon, making the logistics daunting. Food, water, oxygen, and life-support systems for such a journey would be too heavy for current rocket science. Technological innovations would be necessary, and the timing of the trip absolutely critical. The different orbits of Mars and Earth mean that they most closely approach each other every 26 months, but this event itself fluctuates on a 15-year cycle. This means that only once in that time does a launch window open. That is quite few and far between, yet missions must necessarily leave at these times. The trouble is, even then, the journey to Mars and back would take over a year, and the human body suffers profoundly when left in micro-gravity for that length of time. Without the need to stand, there is almost no flexing or pressure on the back or the leg muscles. These gradually shrink and weaken, while bones lose their density, and lungs their aerobic capacity. When left long enough in space, astronauts are unable to function properly. Yet these people will need their full physical strength and alertness for the many operational duties required. These include docking in space, approaches and landing on Mars, remote manipulation of machines, and dealing with any emergencies that arise. Another hazard of such duration in a hermetically sealed spacecraft is disease. Human bodies constantly shed waste material (sweat, skin-flakes, hair, moisture, mucus, and the products of digestion), all of which allow microbes to breed prolifically. Coughs and sneezes spray fluids into the air, which, without gravity to pull them down to surfaces, simply float as airborne particles in those cramped confines, causing easy microbial exchange between crew members. Bacterial infections and fungal attacks can be prevalent, and human immune systems are weakened in micro-gravity. Thus, a long mission to Mars would require the best air-cleansing system available, rigorous disinfecting and hygiene procedures, plus an excellent supply of antibiotics. On reaching Mars, the problems only increase. Staying on the planet for any significant length of time will be difficult. In the absence of a thick protective atmosphere or magnetosphere to burn up or deflect objects, respectively, astronauts will be exposed, to potentially lethal UV radiation, micro-meteoroids, solar flares, and high-energy particles, all of which regularly bombard the surface. Spacecraft and land-based capsules will need special shielding, which adds to the weight and expense. Construction of living quarters will be time-consuming, difficult, and dangerous. For a longer stay on Mars, the only solution, it seems, is to go underground. One of the most interesting discoveries in this respect is of possible cave entrances on the side of Arsia Mons, a large Martian volcano. Seven such entrances have been identified in satellite imagery, showing circular holes resembling the collapse of cave ceilings. The hope is that these may lead to more extensive cave formations, or perhaps lava tubes, offering the protection necessary in such a hostile terrain. An additional benefit is the potential access to vital minerals, and most importantly of all, the possibility of frozen water. These sites therefore open up the possibility of independent and permanent settlement on this planet. The most exciting option is to attempt that on the very first trip in other words, making it a oneway journey. The advantage is that the duration of space travel is immediately halved, reducing the technological, biological, and financial challenges. This very strong argument is somewhat offset by the difficulties in establishing a permanent presence, as well as the necessary ongoing commitment to it for example, in the delivery of food and supplies via unmanned spacecraft. Similarly, the psychological effects on these pioneers of permanent isolation from Barth and its community, as well as being crowded into confined Martian living quarters with the same companions, raise issues of whether such a settlement is humanly feasible. This begs the question of why undertake such missions at all. The answer, according to proponents, is that it is our destiny. Throughout history, explorers have regularly embarked on journeys in the full knowledge that death may await them, or that even if they succeeded, their health and wellbeing would be severely compromised. And today, people regularly practise extreme sports, or work in dangerous occupations, all of which significantly lower their life expectancy. The risks involved in being a Martian pioneer are no different, and so, it is argued, there is no reason why they should deter us now. | The magnetosphere burns up objects. | c |
id_2011 | Destination Mars Mars is the closest potentially habitable planet. It has solid ground, protective surface features, a thin atmosphere, more closely mimics the gravitational and lighting conditions on Earth, and is reachable just. Most importantly, studies have found that this planet has vast reserves of frozen water, and there are other basic minerals as well. In contrast, the closest heavenly body the moon is dusty, barren, hostile, and dark. Settlement of the moon would be much easier, but since there are no resources there, it would ultimately be more costly and of little use. If there is any extra-terrestrial site where humankind will ultimately settle, it must be Mars. Yet this planet is much more distant than the moon, making the logistics daunting. Food, water, oxygen, and life-support systems for such a journey would be too heavy for current rocket science. Technological innovations would be necessary, and the timing of the trip absolutely critical. The different orbits of Mars and Earth mean that they most closely approach each other every 26 months, but this event itself fluctuates on a 15-year cycle. This means that only once in that time does a launch window open. That is quite few and far between, yet missions must necessarily leave at these times. The trouble is, even then, the journey to Mars and back would take over a year, and the human body suffers profoundly when left in micro-gravity for that length of time. Without the need to stand, there is almost no flexing or pressure on the back or the leg muscles. These gradually shrink and weaken, while bones lose their density, and lungs their aerobic capacity. When left long enough in space, astronauts are unable to function properly. Yet these people will need their full physical strength and alertness for the many operational duties required. These include docking in space, approaches and landing on Mars, remote manipulation of machines, and dealing with any emergencies that arise. Another hazard of such duration in a hermetically sealed spacecraft is disease. Human bodies constantly shed waste material (sweat, skin-flakes, hair, moisture, mucus, and the products of digestion), all of which allow microbes to breed prolifically. Coughs and sneezes spray fluids into the air, which, without gravity to pull them down to surfaces, simply float as airborne particles in those cramped confines, causing easy microbial exchange between crew members. Bacterial infections and fungal attacks can be prevalent, and human immune systems are weakened in micro-gravity. Thus, a long mission to Mars would require the best air-cleansing system available, rigorous disinfecting and hygiene procedures, plus an excellent supply of antibiotics. On reaching Mars, the problems only increase. Staying on the planet for any significant length of time will be difficult. In the absence of a thick protective atmosphere or magnetosphere to burn up or deflect objects, respectively, astronauts will be exposed, to potentially lethal UV radiation, micro-meteoroids, solar flares, and high-energy particles, all of which regularly bombard the surface. Spacecraft and land-based capsules will need special shielding, which adds to the weight and expense. Construction of living quarters will be time-consuming, difficult, and dangerous. For a longer stay on Mars, the only solution, it seems, is to go underground. One of the most interesting discoveries in this respect is of possible cave entrances on the side of Arsia Mons, a large Martian volcano. Seven such entrances have been identified in satellite imagery, showing circular holes resembling the collapse of cave ceilings. The hope is that these may lead to more extensive cave formations, or perhaps lava tubes, offering the protection necessary in such a hostile terrain. An additional benefit is the potential access to vital minerals, and most importantly of all, the possibility of frozen water. These sites therefore open up the possibility of independent and permanent settlement on this planet. The most exciting option is to attempt that on the very first trip in other words, making it a oneway journey. The advantage is that the duration of space travel is immediately halved, reducing the technological, biological, and financial challenges. This very strong argument is somewhat offset by the difficulties in establishing a permanent presence, as well as the necessary ongoing commitment to it for example, in the delivery of food and supplies via unmanned spacecraft. Similarly, the psychological effects on these pioneers of permanent isolation from Barth and its community, as well as being crowded into confined Martian living quarters with the same companions, raise issues of whether such a settlement is humanly feasible. This begs the question of why undertake such missions at all. The answer, according to proponents, is that it is our destiny. Throughout history, explorers have regularly embarked on journeys in the full knowledge that death may await them, or that even if they succeeded, their health and wellbeing would be severely compromised. And today, people regularly practise extreme sports, or work in dangerous occupations, all of which significantly lower their life expectancy. The risks involved in being a Martian pioneer are no different, and so, it is argued, there is no reason why they should deter us now. | Settlement of the moon would be more expensive. | e |
id_2012 | Destination Mars Mars is the closest potentially habitable planet. It has solid ground, protective surface features, a thin atmosphere, more closely mimics the gravitational and lighting conditions on Earth, and is reachable just. Most importantly, studies have found that this planet has vast reserves of frozen water, and there are other basic minerals as well. In contrast, the closest heavenly body the moon is dusty, barren, hostile, and dark. Settlement of the moon would be much easier, but since there are no resources there, it would ultimately be more costly and of little use. If there is any extra-terrestrial site where humankind will ultimately settle, it must be Mars. Yet this planet is much more distant than the moon, making the logistics daunting. Food, water, oxygen, and life-support systems for such a journey would be too heavy for current rocket science. Technological innovations would be necessary, and the timing of the trip absolutely critical. The different orbits of Mars and Earth mean that they most closely approach each other every 26 months, but this event itself fluctuates on a 15-year cycle. This means that only once in that time does a launch window open. That is quite few and far between, yet missions must necessarily leave at these times. The trouble is, even then, the journey to Mars and back would take over a year, and the human body suffers profoundly when left in micro-gravity for that length of time. Without the need to stand, there is almost no flexing or pressure on the back or the leg muscles. These gradually shrink and weaken, while bones lose their density, and lungs their aerobic capacity. When left long enough in space, astronauts are unable to function properly. Yet these people will need their full physical strength and alertness for the many operational duties required. These include docking in space, approaches and landing on Mars, remote manipulation of machines, and dealing with any emergencies that arise. Another hazard of such duration in a hermetically sealed spacecraft is disease. Human bodies constantly shed waste material (sweat, skin-flakes, hair, moisture, mucus, and the products of digestion), all of which allow microbes to breed prolifically. Coughs and sneezes spray fluids into the air, which, without gravity to pull them down to surfaces, simply float as airborne particles in those cramped confines, causing easy microbial exchange between crew members. Bacterial infections and fungal attacks can be prevalent, and human immune systems are weakened in micro-gravity. Thus, a long mission to Mars would require the best air-cleansing system available, rigorous disinfecting and hygiene procedures, plus an excellent supply of antibiotics. On reaching Mars, the problems only increase. Staying on the planet for any significant length of time will be difficult. In the absence of a thick protective atmosphere or magnetosphere to burn up or deflect objects, respectively, astronauts will be exposed, to potentially lethal UV radiation, micro-meteoroids, solar flares, and high-energy particles, all of which regularly bombard the surface. Spacecraft and land-based capsules will need special shielding, which adds to the weight and expense. Construction of living quarters will be time-consuming, difficult, and dangerous. For a longer stay on Mars, the only solution, it seems, is to go underground. One of the most interesting discoveries in this respect is of possible cave entrances on the side of Arsia Mons, a large Martian volcano. Seven such entrances have been identified in satellite imagery, showing circular holes resembling the collapse of cave ceilings. The hope is that these may lead to more extensive cave formations, or perhaps lava tubes, offering the protection necessary in such a hostile terrain. An additional benefit is the potential access to vital minerals, and most importantly of all, the possibility of frozen water. These sites therefore open up the possibility of independent and permanent settlement on this planet. The most exciting option is to attempt that on the very first trip in other words, making it a oneway journey. The advantage is that the duration of space travel is immediately halved, reducing the technological, biological, and financial challenges. This very strong argument is somewhat offset by the difficulties in establishing a permanent presence, as well as the necessary ongoing commitment to it for example, in the delivery of food and supplies via unmanned spacecraft. Similarly, the psychological effects on these pioneers of permanent isolation from Barth and its community, as well as being crowded into confined Martian living quarters with the same companions, raise issues of whether such a settlement is humanly feasible. This begs the question of why undertake such missions at all. The answer, according to proponents, is that it is our destiny. Throughout history, explorers have regularly embarked on journeys in the full knowledge that death may await them, or that even if they succeeded, their health and wellbeing would be severely compromised. And today, people regularly practise extreme sports, or work in dangerous occupations, all of which significantly lower their life expectancy. The risks involved in being a Martian pioneer are no different, and so, it is argued, there is no reason why they should deter us now. | The greatest advantage of Mars is that it has many basic minerals. | c |
id_2013 | Detection of a meteorite Lake A. AS THE SUN rose over picturesque Lake Bosumtwi, a team of Syracuse University researchers prepared for another day of using state-of- the-art equipment to help unlock the mysteries hidden below the lake bottom. Nestled in the heart of Ghana, the lake holds an untapped reservoir of information that could help scientists predict future climate changes by looking at evidence from the past. This information will also improve the scientists' understanding of the changes that occur in a region struck by a massive meteorite B. The project, led by earth sciences professor Christopher Scholz of the College of Arts and Sciences and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is the first large-scale effort to study Lake Bosumtwi, which formed 1.1 million years ago when a giant meteor crashed into the Earth's surface. The resulting crater is one of the largest and most well-preserved geologically young craters in the world, says Scholz, who is collaborating on the project with researchers from the University of Arizona, the University of South Carolina, the University of Rhode Island, and several Ghanaian institutions. "Our data should provide information about what happens when an impact hits hard, pre-Cambrian, crystalline rocks that are a billion years old, " he says. C. Equally important is the fact that the lake, which is about 8 kilometers in diameter, has no natural outlet. The rim of the crater rises about 250 meters above the water's surface. Streams flow into the lake, Scholz says, but the water leaves only by evaporation, or by seeping through the lake sediments. For the past million years, the lake has acted as a tropical rain, filling and drying withchanges in precipitation and the tropical climate. The record of those changes is hidden in sediment below the lake bottom. "The lake is one of the best sites in the world for the study of ropical climate changes, " Scholz says. "The tropics are the heat engine for the Earth's climate. To understand global climate, we need to have records of climate changes from many sites around the world, including the tropics. " D. Before the researchers could explore the lake's subsurface, they needed a boat with a large, working deck area that could carry eight tons of scientific equipment. The boat dubbed R/V Kilindi was built in Florida last year. It was constructed in modules that were dismantled, packed inside a shipping container, and reassembled over a 10-day period in late November and early December 1999 in the rural village of Abono, Ghana. The research team then spent the next two weeks testing the boat and equipment before returning to the United States for the holidays. E. In mid-January, five members of the teamKeely Brooks, an earth sciences graduate student; Peter Cattaneo, a research analyst; and Kiram Lezzar, a postdoctoral scholar, all from SU; James McGill, a geophysical field engineer; and Nick Peters, a Ph. D. student in geophysics from the University of Miamireturned to Abono to begin collecting data about the lake's subsurface using a technique called seismic reflection profiling. In this process, a high-pressure air gun is used to create small, pneumatic explosions in the water. The sound energy penetrates about 1,000 to 2,000 meters into the lake's subsurface before bouncing back to the surface of the water. F. The reflected sound energy is detected by underwater microphones-called hydrophonesembedded in a 50-meter-long cable that is towed behind the boat as it crosses the lake in a carefully designed grid pattern. On-board computers record the signals, and the resulting data are then processed and analyzed in the laboratory. The results will give US a good idea of the shape of the basin, how thick the layers of sediment are, and when and where there were major changes in sediment accumulation, Scholz says. We are now developing three-dimensional perspective of the lakes subsurface and the layers of sediment that have been laid down. G. Team members spent about four weeks in Ghana collecting the data. They worked seven, days a week/ arriving at the lake just after sunrise. On a good day, when everything went as planned, the team could collect data and be back at the dock by early afternoon. Except for a few relatively minor adjustments, the equipment and the boat worked well. Problems that arose were primarily non-scientifictree stumps, fishing nets, cultural barriers, and occasional misunderstandings with local villagers. H. Lake Bosumtwi, the largest natural freshwater lake in the country, is sacred to the Ashanti people, who believe their souls come to the lake to bid farewell to their god. The lake is also the primary source of fish for the 26 surrounding villages. Conventional canoes and boats are forbidden. Fishermen travel on the lake by floating on traditional planks they propel with small paddles. Before die research project could begin, Scholz and his Ghanaian counterparts had to secure special permission from tribal chiefs to put the R/V Kilindi on the lake. I. When the team began gathering data, rumors flew around the lake as to why the researchers were there. "Some thought we were dredging the lake for gold, others thought we were going to drain the lake or that we had bought the lake, " Cattaneo says. "But once the local people understood why we were there, they were very helpful" | Historical climate changes can be detected by the analysis of the sediment in the lake. | e |
id_2014 | Detection of a meteorite Lake A. AS THE SUN rose over picturesque Lake Bosumtwi, a team of Syracuse University researchers prepared for another day of using state-of- the-art equipment to help unlock the mysteries hidden below the lake bottom. Nestled in the heart of Ghana, the lake holds an untapped reservoir of information that could help scientists predict future climate changes by looking at evidence from the past. This information will also improve the scientists' understanding of the changes that occur in a region struck by a massive meteorite B. The project, led by earth sciences professor Christopher Scholz of the College of Arts and Sciences and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is the first large-scale effort to study Lake Bosumtwi, which formed 1.1 million years ago when a giant meteor crashed into the Earth's surface. The resulting crater is one of the largest and most well-preserved geologically young craters in the world, says Scholz, who is collaborating on the project with researchers from the University of Arizona, the University of South Carolina, the University of Rhode Island, and several Ghanaian institutions. "Our data should provide information about what happens when an impact hits hard, pre-Cambrian, crystalline rocks that are a billion years old, " he says. C. Equally important is the fact that the lake, which is about 8 kilometers in diameter, has no natural outlet. The rim of the crater rises about 250 meters above the water's surface. Streams flow into the lake, Scholz says, but the water leaves only by evaporation, or by seeping through the lake sediments. For the past million years, the lake has acted as a tropical rain, filling and drying withchanges in precipitation and the tropical climate. The record of those changes is hidden in sediment below the lake bottom. "The lake is one of the best sites in the world for the study of ropical climate changes, " Scholz says. "The tropics are the heat engine for the Earth's climate. To understand global climate, we need to have records of climate changes from many sites around the world, including the tropics. " D. Before the researchers could explore the lake's subsurface, they needed a boat with a large, working deck area that could carry eight tons of scientific equipment. The boat dubbed R/V Kilindi was built in Florida last year. It was constructed in modules that were dismantled, packed inside a shipping container, and reassembled over a 10-day period in late November and early December 1999 in the rural village of Abono, Ghana. The research team then spent the next two weeks testing the boat and equipment before returning to the United States for the holidays. E. In mid-January, five members of the teamKeely Brooks, an earth sciences graduate student; Peter Cattaneo, a research analyst; and Kiram Lezzar, a postdoctoral scholar, all from SU; James McGill, a geophysical field engineer; and Nick Peters, a Ph. D. student in geophysics from the University of Miamireturned to Abono to begin collecting data about the lake's subsurface using a technique called seismic reflection profiling. In this process, a high-pressure air gun is used to create small, pneumatic explosions in the water. The sound energy penetrates about 1,000 to 2,000 meters into the lake's subsurface before bouncing back to the surface of the water. F. The reflected sound energy is detected by underwater microphones-called hydrophonesembedded in a 50-meter-long cable that is towed behind the boat as it crosses the lake in a carefully designed grid pattern. On-board computers record the signals, and the resulting data are then processed and analyzed in the laboratory. The results will give US a good idea of the shape of the basin, how thick the layers of sediment are, and when and where there were major changes in sediment accumulation, Scholz says. We are now developing three-dimensional perspective of the lakes subsurface and the layers of sediment that have been laid down. G. Team members spent about four weeks in Ghana collecting the data. They worked seven, days a week/ arriving at the lake just after sunrise. On a good day, when everything went as planned, the team could collect data and be back at the dock by early afternoon. Except for a few relatively minor adjustments, the equipment and the boat worked well. Problems that arose were primarily non-scientifictree stumps, fishing nets, cultural barriers, and occasional misunderstandings with local villagers. H. Lake Bosumtwi, the largest natural freshwater lake in the country, is sacred to the Ashanti people, who believe their souls come to the lake to bid farewell to their god. The lake is also the primary source of fish for the 26 surrounding villages. Conventional canoes and boats are forbidden. Fishermen travel on the lake by floating on traditional planks they propel with small paddles. Before die research project could begin, Scholz and his Ghanaian counterparts had to secure special permission from tribal chiefs to put the R/V Kilindi on the lake. I. When the team began gathering data, rumors flew around the lake as to why the researchers were there. "Some thought we were dredging the lake for gold, others thought we were going to drain the lake or that we had bought the lake, " Cattaneo says. "But once the local people understood why we were there, they were very helpful" | With the investigation of the lake, scientist may predict the climate changes in the future. | e |
id_2015 | Detection of a meteorite Lake A. AS THE SUN rose over picturesque Lake Bosumtwi, a team of Syracuse University researchers prepared for another day of using state-of- the-art equipment to help unlock the mysteries hidden below the lake bottom. Nestled in the heart of Ghana, the lake holds an untapped reservoir of information that could help scientists predict future climate changes by looking at evidence from the past. This information will also improve the scientists' understanding of the changes that occur in a region struck by a massive meteorite B. The project, led by earth sciences professor Christopher Scholz of the College of Arts and Sciences and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is the first large-scale effort to study Lake Bosumtwi, which formed 1.1 million years ago when a giant meteor crashed into the Earth's surface. The resulting crater is one of the largest and most well-preserved geologically young craters in the world, says Scholz, who is collaborating on the project with researchers from the University of Arizona, the University of South Carolina, the University of Rhode Island, and several Ghanaian institutions. "Our data should provide information about what happens when an impact hits hard, pre-Cambrian, crystalline rocks that are a billion years old, " he says. C. Equally important is the fact that the lake, which is about 8 kilometers in diameter, has no natural outlet. The rim of the crater rises about 250 meters above the water's surface. Streams flow into the lake, Scholz says, but the water leaves only by evaporation, or by seeping through the lake sediments. For the past million years, the lake has acted as a tropical rain, filling and drying withchanges in precipitation and the tropical climate. The record of those changes is hidden in sediment below the lake bottom. "The lake is one of the best sites in the world for the study of ropical climate changes, " Scholz says. "The tropics are the heat engine for the Earth's climate. To understand global climate, we need to have records of climate changes from many sites around the world, including the tropics. " D. Before the researchers could explore the lake's subsurface, they needed a boat with a large, working deck area that could carry eight tons of scientific equipment. The boat dubbed R/V Kilindi was built in Florida last year. It was constructed in modules that were dismantled, packed inside a shipping container, and reassembled over a 10-day period in late November and early December 1999 in the rural village of Abono, Ghana. The research team then spent the next two weeks testing the boat and equipment before returning to the United States for the holidays. E. In mid-January, five members of the teamKeely Brooks, an earth sciences graduate student; Peter Cattaneo, a research analyst; and Kiram Lezzar, a postdoctoral scholar, all from SU; James McGill, a geophysical field engineer; and Nick Peters, a Ph. D. student in geophysics from the University of Miamireturned to Abono to begin collecting data about the lake's subsurface using a technique called seismic reflection profiling. In this process, a high-pressure air gun is used to create small, pneumatic explosions in the water. The sound energy penetrates about 1,000 to 2,000 meters into the lake's subsurface before bouncing back to the surface of the water. F. The reflected sound energy is detected by underwater microphones-called hydrophonesembedded in a 50-meter-long cable that is towed behind the boat as it crosses the lake in a carefully designed grid pattern. On-board computers record the signals, and the resulting data are then processed and analyzed in the laboratory. The results will give US a good idea of the shape of the basin, how thick the layers of sediment are, and when and where there were major changes in sediment accumulation, Scholz says. We are now developing three-dimensional perspective of the lakes subsurface and the layers of sediment that have been laid down. G. Team members spent about four weeks in Ghana collecting the data. They worked seven, days a week/ arriving at the lake just after sunrise. On a good day, when everything went as planned, the team could collect data and be back at the dock by early afternoon. Except for a few relatively minor adjustments, the equipment and the boat worked well. Problems that arose were primarily non-scientifictree stumps, fishing nets, cultural barriers, and occasional misunderstandings with local villagers. H. Lake Bosumtwi, the largest natural freshwater lake in the country, is sacred to the Ashanti people, who believe their souls come to the lake to bid farewell to their god. The lake is also the primary source of fish for the 26 surrounding villages. Conventional canoes and boats are forbidden. Fishermen travel on the lake by floating on traditional planks they propel with small paddles. Before die research project could begin, Scholz and his Ghanaian counterparts had to secure special permission from tribal chiefs to put the R/V Kilindi on the lake. I. When the team began gathering data, rumors flew around the lake as to why the researchers were there. "Some thought we were dredging the lake for gold, others thought we were going to drain the lake or that we had bought the lake, " Cattaneo says. "But once the local people understood why we were there, they were very helpful" | The crater resulted from a meteorite impact is the largest and mostpreserved one in the world. | n |
id_2016 | Detection of a meteorite Lake A. AS THE SUN rose over picturesque Lake Bosumtwi, a team of Syracuse University researchers prepared for another day of using state-of- the-art equipment to help unlock the mysteries hidden below the lake bottom. Nestled in the heart of Ghana, the lake holds an untapped reservoir of information that could help scientists predict future climate changes by looking at evidence from the past. This information will also improve the scientists' understanding of the changes that occur in a region struck by a massive meteorite B. The project, led by earth sciences professor Christopher Scholz of the College of Arts and Sciences and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is the first large-scale effort to study Lake Bosumtwi, which formed 1.1 million years ago when a giant meteor crashed into the Earth's surface. The resulting crater is one of the largest and most well-preserved geologically young craters in the world, says Scholz, who is collaborating on the project with researchers from the University of Arizona, the University of South Carolina, the University of Rhode Island, and several Ghanaian institutions. "Our data should provide information about what happens when an impact hits hard, pre-Cambrian, crystalline rocks that are a billion years old, " he says. C. Equally important is the fact that the lake, which is about 8 kilometers in diameter, has no natural outlet. The rim of the crater rises about 250 meters above the water's surface. Streams flow into the lake, Scholz says, but the water leaves only by evaporation, or by seeping through the lake sediments. For the past million years, the lake has acted as a tropical rain, filling and drying withchanges in precipitation and the tropical climate. The record of those changes is hidden in sediment below the lake bottom. "The lake is one of the best sites in the world for the study of ropical climate changes, " Scholz says. "The tropics are the heat engine for the Earth's climate. To understand global climate, we need to have records of climate changes from many sites around the world, including the tropics. " D. Before the researchers could explore the lake's subsurface, they needed a boat with a large, working deck area that could carry eight tons of scientific equipment. The boat dubbed R/V Kilindi was built in Florida last year. It was constructed in modules that were dismantled, packed inside a shipping container, and reassembled over a 10-day period in late November and early December 1999 in the rural village of Abono, Ghana. The research team then spent the next two weeks testing the boat and equipment before returning to the United States for the holidays. E. In mid-January, five members of the teamKeely Brooks, an earth sciences graduate student; Peter Cattaneo, a research analyst; and Kiram Lezzar, a postdoctoral scholar, all from SU; James McGill, a geophysical field engineer; and Nick Peters, a Ph. D. student in geophysics from the University of Miamireturned to Abono to begin collecting data about the lake's subsurface using a technique called seismic reflection profiling. In this process, a high-pressure air gun is used to create small, pneumatic explosions in the water. The sound energy penetrates about 1,000 to 2,000 meters into the lake's subsurface before bouncing back to the surface of the water. F. The reflected sound energy is detected by underwater microphones-called hydrophonesembedded in a 50-meter-long cable that is towed behind the boat as it crosses the lake in a carefully designed grid pattern. On-board computers record the signals, and the resulting data are then processed and analyzed in the laboratory. The results will give US a good idea of the shape of the basin, how thick the layers of sediment are, and when and where there were major changes in sediment accumulation, Scholz says. We are now developing three-dimensional perspective of the lakes subsurface and the layers of sediment that have been laid down. G. Team members spent about four weeks in Ghana collecting the data. They worked seven, days a week/ arriving at the lake just after sunrise. On a good day, when everything went as planned, the team could collect data and be back at the dock by early afternoon. Except for a few relatively minor adjustments, the equipment and the boat worked well. Problems that arose were primarily non-scientifictree stumps, fishing nets, cultural barriers, and occasional misunderstandings with local villagers. H. Lake Bosumtwi, the largest natural freshwater lake in the country, is sacred to the Ashanti people, who believe their souls come to the lake to bid farewell to their god. The lake is also the primary source of fish for the 26 surrounding villages. Conventional canoes and boats are forbidden. Fishermen travel on the lake by floating on traditional planks they propel with small paddles. Before die research project could begin, Scholz and his Ghanaian counterparts had to secure special permission from tribal chiefs to put the R/V Kilindi on the lake. I. When the team began gathering data, rumors flew around the lake as to why the researchers were there. "Some thought we were dredging the lake for gold, others thought we were going to drain the lake or that we had bought the lake, " Cattaneo says. "But once the local people understood why we were there, they were very helpful" | The water stored in lake Bosumtwi was gone only by seeping through the lake sediments. | c |
id_2017 | Detection of a meteorite Lake A. AS THE SUN rose over picturesque Lake Bosumtwi, a team of Syracuse University researchers prepared for another day of using state-of- the-art equipment to help unlock the mysteries hidden below the lake bottom. Nestled in the heart of Ghana, the lake holds an untapped reservoir of information that could help scientists predict future climate changes by looking at evidence from the past. This information will also improve the scientists' understanding of the changes that occur in a region struck by a massive meteorite B. The project, led by earth sciences professor Christopher Scholz of the College of Arts and Sciences and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is the first large-scale effort to study Lake Bosumtwi, which formed 1.1 million years ago when a giant meteor crashed into the Earth's surface. The resulting crater is one of the largest and most well-preserved geologically young craters in the world, says Scholz, who is collaborating on the project with researchers from the University of Arizona, the University of South Carolina, the University of Rhode Island, and several Ghanaian institutions. "Our data should provide information about what happens when an impact hits hard, pre-Cambrian, crystalline rocks that are a billion years old, " he says. C. Equally important is the fact that the lake, which is about 8 kilometers in diameter, has no natural outlet. The rim of the crater rises about 250 meters above the water's surface. Streams flow into the lake, Scholz says, but the water leaves only by evaporation, or by seeping through the lake sediments. For the past million years, the lake has acted as a tropical rain, filling and drying withchanges in precipitation and the tropical climate. The record of those changes is hidden in sediment below the lake bottom. "The lake is one of the best sites in the world for the study of ropical climate changes, " Scholz says. "The tropics are the heat engine for the Earth's climate. To understand global climate, we need to have records of climate changes from many sites around the world, including the tropics. " D. Before the researchers could explore the lake's subsurface, they needed a boat with a large, working deck area that could carry eight tons of scientific equipment. The boat dubbed R/V Kilindi was built in Florida last year. It was constructed in modules that were dismantled, packed inside a shipping container, and reassembled over a 10-day period in late November and early December 1999 in the rural village of Abono, Ghana. The research team then spent the next two weeks testing the boat and equipment before returning to the United States for the holidays. E. In mid-January, five members of the teamKeely Brooks, an earth sciences graduate student; Peter Cattaneo, a research analyst; and Kiram Lezzar, a postdoctoral scholar, all from SU; James McGill, a geophysical field engineer; and Nick Peters, a Ph. D. student in geophysics from the University of Miamireturned to Abono to begin collecting data about the lake's subsurface using a technique called seismic reflection profiling. In this process, a high-pressure air gun is used to create small, pneumatic explosions in the water. The sound energy penetrates about 1,000 to 2,000 meters into the lake's subsurface before bouncing back to the surface of the water. F. The reflected sound energy is detected by underwater microphones-called hydrophonesembedded in a 50-meter-long cable that is towed behind the boat as it crosses the lake in a carefully designed grid pattern. On-board computers record the signals, and the resulting data are then processed and analyzed in the laboratory. The results will give US a good idea of the shape of the basin, how thick the layers of sediment are, and when and where there were major changes in sediment accumulation, Scholz says. We are now developing three-dimensional perspective of the lakes subsurface and the layers of sediment that have been laid down. G. Team members spent about four weeks in Ghana collecting the data. They worked seven, days a week/ arriving at the lake just after sunrise. On a good day, when everything went as planned, the team could collect data and be back at the dock by early afternoon. Except for a few relatively minor adjustments, the equipment and the boat worked well. Problems that arose were primarily non-scientifictree stumps, fishing nets, cultural barriers, and occasional misunderstandings with local villagers. H. Lake Bosumtwi, the largest natural freshwater lake in the country, is sacred to the Ashanti people, who believe their souls come to the lake to bid farewell to their god. The lake is also the primary source of fish for the 26 surrounding villages. Conventional canoes and boats are forbidden. Fishermen travel on the lake by floating on traditional planks they propel with small paddles. Before die research project could begin, Scholz and his Ghanaian counterparts had to secure special permission from tribal chiefs to put the R/V Kilindi on the lake. I. When the team began gathering data, rumors flew around the lake as to why the researchers were there. "Some thought we were dredging the lake for gold, others thought we were going to drain the lake or that we had bought the lake, " Cattaneo says. "But once the local people understood why we were there, they were very helpful" | The greatest obstacle to research of scientists had been the interference by the locals due to the u indigenous believes. | c |
id_2018 | Detergents should be used to clean clothes. | Detergents form lather | n |
id_2019 | Detergents should be used to clean clothes. | Detergents help to dislodge grease and dirt. | e |
id_2020 | Diamonds are transparent and graphite is dark grey both are forms of the element carbon, a non metal. Diamonds are the hardest naturally occurring material. Graphite is a very good conductor of electricity. Both are crystalline in form. There are a great number of carbon-based compounds and many are found in living tissue. Fossilized plants can form an impure form of carbon called coal. If we heat wood in the absence of air we make another impure form of carbon called charcoal. Carbon fibres are used to manufacture things that need to be strong but light. | The passage described three qualities of diamonds. | c |
id_2021 | Diamonds are transparent and graphite is dark grey both are forms of the element carbon, a non metal. Diamonds are the hardest naturally occurring material. Graphite is a very good conductor of electricity. Both are crystalline in form. There are a great number of carbon-based compounds and many are found in living tissue. Fossilized plants can form an impure form of carbon called coal. If we heat wood in the absence of air we make another impure form of carbon called charcoal. Carbon fibres are used to manufacture things that need to be strong but light. | It can be inferred from the passage that all living tissues are made up of carbon-based compounds. | c |
id_2022 | Diamonds are transparent and graphite is dark grey both are forms of the element carbon, a non metal. Diamonds are the hardest naturally occurring material. Graphite is a very good conductor of electricity. Both are crystalline in form. There are a great number of carbon-based compounds and many are found in living tissue. Fossilized plants can form an impure form of carbon called coal. If we heat wood in the absence of air we make another impure form of carbon called charcoal. Carbon fibres are used to manufacture things that need to be strong but light. | The subject of the passage is the element carbon. | e |
id_2023 | Diamonds are transparent and graphite is dark grey both are forms of the element carbon, a non metal. Diamonds are the hardest naturally occurring material. Graphite is a very good conductor of electricity. Both are crystalline in form. There are a great number of carbon-based compounds and many are found in living tissue. Fossilized plants can form an impure form of carbon called coal. If we heat wood in the absence of air we make another impure form of carbon called charcoal. Carbon fibres are used to manufacture things that need to be strong but light. | The author would agree that we use carbon fibre to manufacture things that need to be strong but light because it is stronger than other materials of the same weight. | n |
id_2024 | Diamonds are transparent and graphite is dark grey both are forms of the element carbon, a non metal. Diamonds are the hardest naturally occurring material. Graphite is a very good conductor of electricity. Both are crystalline in form. There are a great number of carbon-based compounds and many are found in living tissue. Fossilized plants can form an impure form of carbon called coal. If we heat wood in the absence of air we make another impure form of carbon called charcoal. Carbon fibres are used to manufacture things that need to be strong but light. | The passage states that the element carbon has two naturally occurring pure forms, diamonds and graphite. | c |
id_2025 | Different businesses occupy a three-storey building. The Architect is on the top floor, whilst the Estate Agent is on the floor below the Travel Agent. The Accountant is on the floor above the Publisher, as is the Estate Agent. The Travel Agent is on the same floor as the Car Rental Company. On the floor between the Publisher and the Car Rental Company is a Detective Agency. | Architect business occupies the largest floor space | n |
id_2026 | Different businesses occupy a three-storey building. The Architect is on the top floor, whilst the Estate Agent is on the floor below the Travel Agent. The Accountant is on the floor above the Publisher, as is the Estate Agent. The Travel Agent is on the same floor as the Car Rental Company. On the floor between the Publisher and the Car Rental Company is a Detective Agency. | Detective businesses are on the same floor as the Accountant | e |
id_2027 | Different businesses occupy a three-storey building. The Architect is on the top floor, whilst the Estate Agent is on the floor below the Travel Agent. The Accountant is on the floor above the Publisher, as is the Estate Agent. The Travel Agent is on the same floor as the Car Rental Company. On the floor between the Publisher and the Car Rental Company is a Detective Agency. | Estate Agent businesses are on the same floor as the Accountant | e |
id_2028 | Different businesses occupy a three-storey building. The Architect is on the top floor, whilst the Estate Agent is on the floor below the Travel Agent. The Accountant is on the floor above the Publisher, as is the Estate Agent. The Travel Agent is on the same floor as the Car Rental Company. On the floor between the Publisher and the Car Rental Company is a Detective Agency. | Publisher business is on a floor by itself | e |
id_2029 | Digital broadcasting heralds a new paradigm in television broadcasting. This sophisticated broadcasting technology allows broadcasters to offer television with multiple broadcasting choices and interactive capabilities and high-quality sound and image. However, digital broadcasting should not be confused with High-Definition Television, which offers the very best audio and picture clarity. Both the UK and the USA have already made the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. There, television stations have stopped broadcasting along analogue channels, and any viewers with analogue television sets must use special set-top conversion boxes in order to view programmes. As well as benefiting viewers with superior entertamment options, the switch to digital broadcasting. | Digital television offers the best audio and visual quallty. | c |
id_2030 | Digital broadcasting heralds a new paradigm in television broadcasting. This sophisticated broadcasting technology allows broadcasters to offer television with multiple broadcasting choices and interactive capabilities and high-quality sound and image. However, digital broadcasting should not be confused with High-Definition Television, which offers the very best audio and picture clarity. Both the UK and the USA have already made the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. There, television stations have stopped broadcasting along analogue channels, and any viewers with analogue television sets must use special set-top conversion boxes in order to view programmes. As well as benefiting viewers with superior entertamment options, the switch to digital broadcasting. | In the USA, analogue televisions can no longer be used. | c |
id_2031 | Digital broadcasting heralds a new paradigm in television broadcasting. This sophisticated broadcasting technology allows broadcasters to offer television with multiple broadcasting choices and interactive capabilities and high-quality sound and image. However, digital broadcasting should not be confused with High-Definition Television, which offers the very best audio and picture clarity. Both the UK and the USA have already made the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. There, television stations have stopped broadcasting along analogue channels, and any viewers with analogue television sets must use special set-top conversion boxes in order to view programmes. As well as benefiting viewers with superior entertamment options, the switch to digital broadcasting. | The UK will soon convert to exclusively digital broadcasting. | c |
id_2032 | Digital broadcasting heralds a new paradigm in television broadcasting. This sophisticated broadcasting technology allows broadcasters to offer television with multiple broadcasting choices and interactive capabilities and high-quality sound and image. However, digital broadcasting should not be confused with High-Definition Television, which offers the very best audio and picture clarity. Both the UK and the USA have already made the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. There, television stations have stopped broadcasting along analogue channels, and any viewers with analogue television sets must use special set-top conversion boxes in order to view programmes. As well as benefiting viewers with superior entertamment options, the switch to digital broadcasting. | A set-top box 1s necessary in order to access digital broadcasts. | c |
id_2033 | Digital broadcasting heralds a new paradigm in television broadcasting. This sophisticated broadcasting technology allows broadcasters to offer television with multiple broadcasting choices and interactive capabilities and high-quality sound and image. However, digital broadcasting should not be confused with High-Definition Television, which offers the very best audio and picture clarity. Both the UK and the USA have already made the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. There, television stations have stopped broadcasting along analogue channels, and any viewers with analogue television sets must use special set-top conversion boxes in order to view programmes. As well as benefiting viewers with superior entertamment options, the switch to digital broadcasting. | The switch to digital broadcasting benefits the emergency services. | e |
id_2034 | Dirty river but clean water Floods can occur in rivers when the flow rate exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders in the waterway. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the natural flood plains of rivers. While riverine flood damage can be eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, people have traditionally lived and worked by rivers because the land is usually flat and fertile and because rivers provide easy travel and access to commerce and industry. FIRE and flood are two of humanitys worst nightmares. People have, therefore, always sought to control them. Forest fires are snuffed out quickly. The flow of rivers is regulated by weirs and dams. At least, that is how it used to be. But foresters have learned that forests need fires to clear out the brush and even to get seeds to germinate. And a similar revelation is now dawning on hydrologists. Rivers and the ecosystems they support need floods. That is why a man-made torrent has been surging down the Grand Canyon. By Thursday March 6th it was running at full throttle, which was expected to be sustained for 60 hours. Floods once raged through the canyon every year. Spring Snow from as far away as Wyoming would melt and swell the Colorado river to a flow that averaged around 1,500 cubic metres (50,000 cubic feet) a second. Every eight years or so, that figure rose to almost 3,000 cubic metres. These floods infused the river with sediment, carved its beaches and built its sandbars. However, in the four decades since the building of the Glen Canyon dam, just upstream of the Grand Canyon, the only sediment that it has collected has come from tiny, undammed tributaries. Even that has not been much use as those tributaries are not powerful enough to distribute the sediment in an ecologically valuable way. This lack of flooding has harmed local wildlife. The humpback chub, for example, thrived in the rust-red waters of the Colorado. Recently, though, its population has crashed. At first sight, it looked as if the reason was that the chub were being eaten by trout introduced for sport fishing in the mid-20th century. But trout and chub co-existed until the Glen Canyon dam was built, so something else is going on. Steve Gloss, of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), reckons that the chubs decline is the result of their losing their most valuable natural defense, the Colorados rusty sediment. The chub were well adapted to the poor visibility created by the thick, red water which gave the river its name, and depended on it to hide from predators. Without the cloudy water the chub became vulnerable. And the chub are not alone. In the years since the Glen Canyon dam was built, several species have vanished altogether. These include the Colorado pike-minnow, the razorback sucker and the roundtail chub. Meanwhile, aliens including fathead minnows, channel catfish and common carp, which would have been hard, put to survive in the savage waters of the undammed canyon, have moved in. So flooding is the obvious answer. Unfortunately, it is easier said than done. Floods were sent down the Grand Canyon in 1996 and 2004 and the results were mixed. In 1996 the flood was allowed to go on too long. To start with, all seemed well. The floodwaters built up sandbanks and infused the river with sediment. Eventually, however, the continued flow washed most of the sediment out of the canyon. This problem was avoided in 2004, but unfortunately, on that occasion, the volume of sand available behind the dam was too low to rebuild the sandbanks. This time, the USGS is convinced that things will be better. The amount of sediment available is three times greater than it was in 2004. So if a flood is going to do some good, this is the time to unleash one. Even so, it may turn out to be an empty gesture. At less than 1,200 cubic metres a second, this flood is smaller than even an average spring flood, let alone one of the mightier deluges of the past. Those glorious inundations moved massive quantities of sediment through the Grand Canyon, wiping the slate dirty, and making a muddy mess of silt and muck that would make modem river rafters cringe. | Contribution of sediments delivered by tributaries has little impact. | e |
id_2035 | Dirty river but clean water Floods can occur in rivers when the flow rate exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders in the waterway. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the natural flood plains of rivers. While riverine flood damage can be eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, people have traditionally lived and worked by rivers because the land is usually flat and fertile and because rivers provide easy travel and access to commerce and industry. FIRE and flood are two of humanitys worst nightmares. People have, therefore, always sought to control them. Forest fires are snuffed out quickly. The flow of rivers is regulated by weirs and dams. At least, that is how it used to be. But foresters have learned that forests need fires to clear out the brush and even to get seeds to germinate. And a similar revelation is now dawning on hydrologists. Rivers and the ecosystems they support need floods. That is why a man-made torrent has been surging down the Grand Canyon. By Thursday March 6th it was running at full throttle, which was expected to be sustained for 60 hours. Floods once raged through the canyon every year. Spring Snow from as far away as Wyoming would melt and swell the Colorado river to a flow that averaged around 1,500 cubic metres (50,000 cubic feet) a second. Every eight years or so, that figure rose to almost 3,000 cubic metres. These floods infused the river with sediment, carved its beaches and built its sandbars. However, in the four decades since the building of the Glen Canyon dam, just upstream of the Grand Canyon, the only sediment that it has collected has come from tiny, undammed tributaries. Even that has not been much use as those tributaries are not powerful enough to distribute the sediment in an ecologically valuable way. This lack of flooding has harmed local wildlife. The humpback chub, for example, thrived in the rust-red waters of the Colorado. Recently, though, its population has crashed. At first sight, it looked as if the reason was that the chub were being eaten by trout introduced for sport fishing in the mid-20th century. But trout and chub co-existed until the Glen Canyon dam was built, so something else is going on. Steve Gloss, of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), reckons that the chubs decline is the result of their losing their most valuable natural defense, the Colorados rusty sediment. The chub were well adapted to the poor visibility created by the thick, red water which gave the river its name, and depended on it to hide from predators. Without the cloudy water the chub became vulnerable. And the chub are not alone. In the years since the Glen Canyon dam was built, several species have vanished altogether. These include the Colorado pike-minnow, the razorback sucker and the roundtail chub. Meanwhile, aliens including fathead minnows, channel catfish and common carp, which would have been hard, put to survive in the savage waters of the undammed canyon, have moved in. So flooding is the obvious answer. Unfortunately, it is easier said than done. Floods were sent down the Grand Canyon in 1996 and 2004 and the results were mixed. In 1996 the flood was allowed to go on too long. To start with, all seemed well. The floodwaters built up sandbanks and infused the river with sediment. Eventually, however, the continued flow washed most of the sediment out of the canyon. This problem was avoided in 2004, but unfortunately, on that occasion, the volume of sand available behind the dam was too low to rebuild the sandbanks. This time, the USGS is convinced that things will be better. The amount of sediment available is three times greater than it was in 2004. So if a flood is going to do some good, this is the time to unleash one. Even so, it may turn out to be an empty gesture. At less than 1,200 cubic metres a second, this flood is smaller than even an average spring flood, let alone one of the mightier deluges of the past. Those glorious inundations moved massive quantities of sediment through the Grand Canyon, wiping the slate dirty, and making a muddy mess of silt and muck that would make modem river rafters cringe. | Mighty floods drove fast moving flows with clean and high-quality water. | n |
id_2036 | Dirty river but clean water Floods can occur in rivers when the flow rate exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders in the waterway. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the natural flood plains of rivers. While riverine flood damage can be eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, people have traditionally lived and worked by rivers because the land is usually flat and fertile and because rivers provide easy travel and access to commerce and industry. FIRE and flood are two of humanitys worst nightmares. People have, therefore, always sought to control them. Forest fires are snuffed out quickly. The flow of rivers is regulated by weirs and dams. At least, that is how it used to be. But foresters have learned that forests need fires to clear out the brush and even to get seeds to germinate. And a similar revelation is now dawning on hydrologists. Rivers and the ecosystems they support need floods. That is why a man-made torrent has been surging down the Grand Canyon. By Thursday March 6th it was running at full throttle, which was expected to be sustained for 60 hours. Floods once raged through the canyon every year. Spring Snow from as far away as Wyoming would melt and swell the Colorado river to a flow that averaged around 1,500 cubic metres (50,000 cubic feet) a second. Every eight years or so, that figure rose to almost 3,000 cubic metres. These floods infused the river with sediment, carved its beaches and built its sandbars. However, in the four decades since the building of the Glen Canyon dam, just upstream of the Grand Canyon, the only sediment that it has collected has come from tiny, undammed tributaries. Even that has not been much use as those tributaries are not powerful enough to distribute the sediment in an ecologically valuable way. This lack of flooding has harmed local wildlife. The humpback chub, for example, thrived in the rust-red waters of the Colorado. Recently, though, its population has crashed. At first sight, it looked as if the reason was that the chub were being eaten by trout introduced for sport fishing in the mid-20th century. But trout and chub co-existed until the Glen Canyon dam was built, so something else is going on. Steve Gloss, of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), reckons that the chubs decline is the result of their losing their most valuable natural defense, the Colorados rusty sediment. The chub were well adapted to the poor visibility created by the thick, red water which gave the river its name, and depended on it to hide from predators. Without the cloudy water the chub became vulnerable. And the chub are not alone. In the years since the Glen Canyon dam was built, several species have vanished altogether. These include the Colorado pike-minnow, the razorback sucker and the roundtail chub. Meanwhile, aliens including fathead minnows, channel catfish and common carp, which would have been hard, put to survive in the savage waters of the undammed canyon, have moved in. So flooding is the obvious answer. Unfortunately, it is easier said than done. Floods were sent down the Grand Canyon in 1996 and 2004 and the results were mixed. In 1996 the flood was allowed to go on too long. To start with, all seemed well. The floodwaters built up sandbanks and infused the river with sediment. Eventually, however, the continued flow washed most of the sediment out of the canyon. This problem was avoided in 2004, but unfortunately, on that occasion, the volume of sand available behind the dam was too low to rebuild the sandbanks. This time, the USGS is convinced that things will be better. The amount of sediment available is three times greater than it was in 2004. So if a flood is going to do some good, this is the time to unleash one. Even so, it may turn out to be an empty gesture. At less than 1,200 cubic metres a second, this flood is smaller than even an average spring flood, let alone one of the mightier deluges of the past. Those glorious inundations moved massive quantities of sediment through the Grand Canyon, wiping the slate dirty, and making a muddy mess of silt and muck that would make modem river rafters cringe. | Damage caused by fire is worse than that caused by flood. | n |
id_2037 | Dirty river but clean water Floods can occur in rivers when the flow rate exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders in the waterway. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the natural flood plains of rivers. While riverine flood damage can be eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, people have traditionally lived and worked by rivers because the land is usually flat and fertile and because rivers provide easy travel and access to commerce and industry. FIRE and flood are two of humanitys worst nightmares. People have, therefore, always sought to control them. Forest fires are snuffed out quickly. The flow of rivers is regulated by weirs and dams. At least, that is how it used to be. But foresters have learned that forests need fires to clear out the brush and even to get seeds to germinate. And a similar revelation is now dawning on hydrologists. Rivers and the ecosystems they support need floods. That is why a man-made torrent has been surging down the Grand Canyon. By Thursday March 6th it was running at full throttle, which was expected to be sustained for 60 hours. Floods once raged through the canyon every year. Spring Snow from as far away as Wyoming would melt and swell the Colorado river to a flow that averaged around 1,500 cubic metres (50,000 cubic feet) a second. Every eight years or so, that figure rose to almost 3,000 cubic metres. These floods infused the river with sediment, carved its beaches and built its sandbars. However, in the four decades since the building of the Glen Canyon dam, just upstream of the Grand Canyon, the only sediment that it has collected has come from tiny, undammed tributaries. Even that has not been much use as those tributaries are not powerful enough to distribute the sediment in an ecologically valuable way. This lack of flooding has harmed local wildlife. The humpback chub, for example, thrived in the rust-red waters of the Colorado. Recently, though, its population has crashed. At first sight, it looked as if the reason was that the chub were being eaten by trout introduced for sport fishing in the mid-20th century. But trout and chub co-existed until the Glen Canyon dam was built, so something else is going on. Steve Gloss, of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), reckons that the chubs decline is the result of their losing their most valuable natural defense, the Colorados rusty sediment. The chub were well adapted to the poor visibility created by the thick, red water which gave the river its name, and depended on it to hide from predators. Without the cloudy water the chub became vulnerable. And the chub are not alone. In the years since the Glen Canyon dam was built, several species have vanished altogether. These include the Colorado pike-minnow, the razorback sucker and the roundtail chub. Meanwhile, aliens including fathead minnows, channel catfish and common carp, which would have been hard, put to survive in the savage waters of the undammed canyon, have moved in. So flooding is the obvious answer. Unfortunately, it is easier said than done. Floods were sent down the Grand Canyon in 1996 and 2004 and the results were mixed. In 1996 the flood was allowed to go on too long. To start with, all seemed well. The floodwaters built up sandbanks and infused the river with sediment. Eventually, however, the continued flow washed most of the sediment out of the canyon. This problem was avoided in 2004, but unfortunately, on that occasion, the volume of sand available behind the dam was too low to rebuild the sandbanks. This time, the USGS is convinced that things will be better. The amount of sediment available is three times greater than it was in 2004. So if a flood is going to do some good, this is the time to unleash one. Even so, it may turn out to be an empty gesture. At less than 1,200 cubic metres a second, this flood is smaller than even an average spring flood, let alone one of the mightier deluges of the past. Those glorious inundations moved massive quantities of sediment through the Grand Canyon, wiping the slate dirty, and making a muddy mess of silt and muck that would make modem river rafters cringe. | The flood peaks at almost 1500 cubic meters every eight years. | c |
id_2038 | Dirty river but clean water Floods can occur in rivers when the flow rate exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders in the waterway. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the natural flood plains of rivers. While riverine flood damage can be eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, people have traditionally lived and worked by rivers because the land is usually flat and fertile and because rivers provide easy travel and access to commerce and industry. FIRE and flood are two of humanitys worst nightmares. People have, therefore, always sought to control them. Forest fires are snuffed out quickly. The flow of rivers is regulated by weirs and dams. At least, that is how it used to be. But foresters have learned that forests need fires to clear out the brush and even to get seeds to germinate. And a similar revelation is now dawning on hydrologists. Rivers and the ecosystems they support need floods. That is why a man-made torrent has been surging down the Grand Canyon. By Thursday March 6th it was running at full throttle, which was expected to be sustained for 60 hours. Floods once raged through the canyon every year. Spring Snow from as far away as Wyoming would melt and swell the Colorado river to a flow that averaged around 1,500 cubic metres (50,000 cubic feet) a second. Every eight years or so, that figure rose to almost 3,000 cubic metres. These floods infused the river with sediment, carved its beaches and built its sandbars. However, in the four decades since the building of the Glen Canyon dam, just upstream of the Grand Canyon, the only sediment that it has collected has come from tiny, undammed tributaries. Even that has not been much use as those tributaries are not powerful enough to distribute the sediment in an ecologically valuable way. This lack of flooding has harmed local wildlife. The humpback chub, for example, thrived in the rust-red waters of the Colorado. Recently, though, its population has crashed. At first sight, it looked as if the reason was that the chub were being eaten by trout introduced for sport fishing in the mid-20th century. But trout and chub co-existed until the Glen Canyon dam was built, so something else is going on. Steve Gloss, of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), reckons that the chubs decline is the result of their losing their most valuable natural defense, the Colorados rusty sediment. The chub were well adapted to the poor visibility created by the thick, red water which gave the river its name, and depended on it to hide from predators. Without the cloudy water the chub became vulnerable. And the chub are not alone. In the years since the Glen Canyon dam was built, several species have vanished altogether. These include the Colorado pike-minnow, the razorback sucker and the roundtail chub. Meanwhile, aliens including fathead minnows, channel catfish and common carp, which would have been hard, put to survive in the savage waters of the undammed canyon, have moved in. So flooding is the obvious answer. Unfortunately, it is easier said than done. Floods were sent down the Grand Canyon in 1996 and 2004 and the results were mixed. In 1996 the flood was allowed to go on too long. To start with, all seemed well. The floodwaters built up sandbanks and infused the river with sediment. Eventually, however, the continued flow washed most of the sediment out of the canyon. This problem was avoided in 2004, but unfortunately, on that occasion, the volume of sand available behind the dam was too low to rebuild the sandbanks. This time, the USGS is convinced that things will be better. The amount of sediment available is three times greater than it was in 2004. So if a flood is going to do some good, this is the time to unleash one. Even so, it may turn out to be an empty gesture. At less than 1,200 cubic metres a second, this flood is smaller than even an average spring flood, let alone one of the mightier deluges of the past. Those glorious inundations moved massive quantities of sediment through the Grand Canyon, wiping the slate dirty, and making a muddy mess of silt and muck that would make modem river rafters cringe. | In fact, the yield of artificial flood water is smaller than an average natural flood at present. | e |
id_2039 | Dirty river but clean water Floods can occur in rivers when the flow rate exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders in the waterway. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the natural flood plains of rivers. While riverine flood damage can be eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, people have traditionally lived and worked by rivers because the land is usually flat and fertile and because rivers provide easy travel and access to commerce and industry. FIRE and flood are two of humanitys worst nightmares. People have, therefore, always sought to control them. Forest fires are snuffed out quickly. The flow of rivers is regulated by weirs and dams. At least, that is how it used to be. But foresters have learned that forests need fires to clear out the brush and even to get seeds to germinate. And a similar revelation is now dawning on hydrologists. Rivers and the ecosystems they support need floods. That is why a man-made torrent has been surging down the Grand Canyon. By Thursday March 6th it was running at full throttle, which was expected to be sustained for 60 hours. Floods once raged through the canyon every year. Spring Snow from as far away as Wyoming would melt and swell the Colorado river to a flow that averaged around 1,500 cubic metres (50,000 cubic feet) a second. Every eight years or so, that figure rose to almost 3,000 cubic metres. These floods infused the river with sediment, carved its beaches and built its sandbars. However, in the four decades since the building of the Glen Canyon dam, just upstream of the Grand Canyon, the only sediment that it has collected has come from tiny, undammed tributaries. Even that has not been much use as those tributaries are not powerful enough to distribute the sediment in an ecologically valuable way. This lack of flooding has harmed local wildlife. The humpback chub, for example, thrived in the rust-red waters of the Colorado. Recently, though, its population has crashed. At first sight, it looked as if the reason was that the chub were being eaten by trout introduced for sport fishing in the mid-20th century. But trout and chub co-existed until the Glen Canyon dam was built, so something else is going on. Steve Gloss, of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), reckons that the chubs decline is the result of their losing their most valuable natural defense, the Colorados rusty sediment. The chub were well adapted to the poor visibility created by the thick, red water which gave the river its name, and depended on it to hide from predators. Without the cloudy water the chub became vulnerable. And the chub are not alone. In the years since the Glen Canyon dam was built, several species have vanished altogether. These include the Colorado pike-minnow, the razorback sucker and the roundtail chub. Meanwhile, aliens including fathead minnows, channel catfish and common carp, which would have been hard, put to survive in the savage waters of the undammed canyon, have moved in. So flooding is the obvious answer. Unfortunately, it is easier said than done. Floods were sent down the Grand Canyon in 1996 and 2004 and the results were mixed. In 1996 the flood was allowed to go on too long. To start with, all seemed well. The floodwaters built up sandbanks and infused the river with sediment. Eventually, however, the continued flow washed most of the sediment out of the canyon. This problem was avoided in 2004, but unfortunately, on that occasion, the volume of sand available behind the dam was too low to rebuild the sandbanks. This time, the USGS is convinced that things will be better. The amount of sediment available is three times greater than it was in 2004. So if a flood is going to do some good, this is the time to unleash one. Even so, it may turn out to be an empty gesture. At less than 1,200 cubic metres a second, this flood is smaller than even an average spring flood, let alone one of the mightier deluges of the past. Those glorious inundations moved massive quantities of sediment through the Grand Canyon, wiping the slate dirty, and making a muddy mess of silt and muck that would make modem river rafters cringe. | It seemed that the artificial flood in 1996 had achieved success partly at the very beginning | e |
id_2040 | Dirty river but clean water Floods can occur in rivers when the flow rate exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders in the waterway. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the natural flood plains of rivers. While riverine flood damage can be eliminated by moving away from rivers and other bodies of water, people have traditionally lived and worked by rivers because the land is usually flat and fertile and because rivers provide easy travel and access to commerce and industry. FIRE and flood are two of humanitys worst nightmares. People have, therefore, always sought to control them. Forest fires are snuffed out quickly. The flow of rivers is regulated by weirs and dams. At least, that is how it used to be. But foresters have learned that forests need fires to clear out the brush and even to get seeds to germinate. And a similar revelation is now dawning on hydrologists. Rivers and the ecosystems they support need floods. That is why a man-made torrent has been surging down the Grand Canyon. By Thursday March 6th it was running at full throttle, which was expected to be sustained for 60 hours. Floods once raged through the canyon every year. Spring Snow from as far away as Wyoming would melt and swell the Colorado river to a flow that averaged around 1,500 cubic metres (50,000 cubic feet) a second. Every eight years or so, that figure rose to almost 3,000 cubic metres. These floods infused the river with sediment, carved its beaches and built its sandbars. However, in the four decades since the building of the Glen Canyon dam, just upstream of the Grand Canyon, the only sediment that it has collected has come from tiny, undammed tributaries. Even that has not been much use as those tributaries are not powerful enough to distribute the sediment in an ecologically valuable way. This lack of flooding has harmed local wildlife. The humpback chub, for example, thrived in the rust-red waters of the Colorado. Recently, though, its population has crashed. At first sight, it looked as if the reason was that the chub were being eaten by trout introduced for sport fishing in the mid-20th century. But trout and chub co-existed until the Glen Canyon dam was built, so something else is going on. Steve Gloss, of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), reckons that the chubs decline is the result of their losing their most valuable natural defense, the Colorados rusty sediment. The chub were well adapted to the poor visibility created by the thick, red water which gave the river its name, and depended on it to hide from predators. Without the cloudy water the chub became vulnerable. And the chub are not alone. In the years since the Glen Canyon dam was built, several species have vanished altogether. These include the Colorado pike-minnow, the razorback sucker and the roundtail chub. Meanwhile, aliens including fathead minnows, channel catfish and common carp, which would have been hard, put to survive in the savage waters of the undammed canyon, have moved in. So flooding is the obvious answer. Unfortunately, it is easier said than done. Floods were sent down the Grand Canyon in 1996 and 2004 and the results were mixed. In 1996 the flood was allowed to go on too long. To start with, all seemed well. The floodwaters built up sandbanks and infused the river with sediment. Eventually, however, the continued flow washed most of the sediment out of the canyon. This problem was avoided in 2004, but unfortunately, on that occasion, the volume of sand available behind the dam was too low to rebuild the sandbanks. This time, the USGS is convinced that things will be better. The amount of sediment available is three times greater than it was in 2004. So if a flood is going to do some good, this is the time to unleash one. Even so, it may turn out to be an empty gesture. At less than 1,200 cubic metres a second, this flood is smaller than even an average spring flood, let alone one of the mightier deluges of the past. Those glorious inundations moved massive quantities of sediment through the Grand Canyon, wiping the slate dirty, and making a muddy mess of silt and muck that would make modem river rafters cringe. | Decreasing number of chubs is always caused by introducing of trout since mid-20th | c |
id_2041 | Disappearing Delta The fertile land of the Nile delta is being eroded along Egypt's Mediterranean coast at an astounding rate, in some parts estimated at 100 metres per year. In the past, land scoured away from the coastline by the currents of the Mediterranean Sea used to be replaced by sediment brought down to the delta by the River Nile, but this is no longer happening. Up to now, people have blamed this loss of delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in the south of Egypt, which hold back virtually all of the sediment that used to flow down the river. Before the dams were built, the Nile flowed freely carrying huge quantities of sediment north from Africa's interior to be deposited on the Nile delta. This continued for 7,000 years, eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers of fertile silt. Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region, replacing what had been washed away by the sea, and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt's richest food-growing area. But when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation, and to protect the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought, most of the sediment with its natural fertilizer accumulated up above the dam in the southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser, instead of passing down to the delta. Now, however, there turns out to be more to the story. It appears that the sediment-free water emerging from the Aswan dams picks up silt and sand as it erodes the river bed and banks on the 800-kilometre trip to Cairo. Daniel Jean Stanley of the Smithsonian Institute noticed that water samples taken in Cairo, just before the river enters the delta, indicated that the river sometimes carries more than 850 grams of sediment per cubic metre of water almost half of what it carried before the dams were built. 'I'm ashamed to say that the significance of this didn't strike me until after I had read 50 or 60 studies, ' says Stanley in Marine Geology. 'There is still a lot of sediment coming into the delta, but virtually no sediment comes out into the Mediterranean to replenish the coastline. So this sediment must be trapped on the delta itself. ' Once north of Cairo, most of the Nile water is diverted into more than 10,000 kilometres of irrigation canals and only a small proportion reaches the sea directly through the rivers in the delta. The water in the irrigation canals is still or very slow-moving and thus cannot carry sediment, Stanley explains. The sediment sinks to the bottom of the canals and then is added to fields by farmers or pumped with the water into the four large freshwater lagoons that are located near the outer edges of the delta. So very little of it actually reaches the coastline to replace what is being washed away by the Mediterranean currents. The farms on the delta plains and fishing and aquaculture in the lagoons account for much of Egypt's food supply. But by the time the sediment has come to rest in the fields and lagoons it is laden with municipal, industrial and agricultural waste from the Cairo region, which is home to more than 40 million people. 'Pollutants are building up faster and faster, ' says Stanley. Based on his investigations of sediment from the delta lagoons, Frederic Siegel of George Washington University concurs. 'In Manzalah Lagoon, for example, the increase in mercury, lead, copper and zinc coincided with the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the availability of cheap electricity, and the development of major power-based industries, ' he says. Since that time the concentration of mercury has increased significantly. Lead from engines that use leaded fuels and from other industrial sources has also increased dramatically. These poisons can easily enter the food chain, affecting the productivity of fishing and farming. Another problem is that agricultural wastes include fertilizers which stimulate increases in plant growth in the lagoons and upset the ecology of the area, with serious effects on the fishing industry. According to Siegel, international environmental organisations are beginning to pay closer attention to the region, partly because of the problems of erosion and pollution of the Nile delta, but principally because they fear the impact this situation could have on the whole Mediterranean coastal ecosystem. But there are no easy solutions. In the immediate future, Stanley believes that one solution would be to make artificial floods to flush out the delta waterways, in the same way that natural floods did before the construction of the dams. He says, however, that in the long term an alternative process such as desalination may have to be used to increase the amount of water available. 'In my view, Egypt must devise a way to have more water running through the river and the delta, ' says Stanley. Easier said than done in a desert region with a rapidly growing population. | Water is pumped from the irrigation canals into the lagoons. | e |
id_2042 | Disappearing Delta The fertile land of the Nile delta is being eroded along Egypt's Mediterranean coast at an astounding rate, in some parts estimated at 100 metres per year. In the past, land scoured away from the coastline by the currents of the Mediterranean Sea used to be replaced by sediment brought down to the delta by the River Nile, but this is no longer happening. Up to now, people have blamed this loss of delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in the south of Egypt, which hold back virtually all of the sediment that used to flow down the river. Before the dams were built, the Nile flowed freely carrying huge quantities of sediment north from Africa's interior to be deposited on the Nile delta. This continued for 7,000 years, eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers of fertile silt. Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region, replacing what had been washed away by the sea, and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt's richest food-growing area. But when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation, and to protect the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought, most of the sediment with its natural fertilizer accumulated up above the dam in the southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser, instead of passing down to the delta. Now, however, there turns out to be more to the story. It appears that the sediment-free water emerging from the Aswan dams picks up silt and sand as it erodes the river bed and banks on the 800-kilometre trip to Cairo. Daniel Jean Stanley of the Smithsonian Institute noticed that water samples taken in Cairo, just before the river enters the delta, indicated that the river sometimes carries more than 850 grams of sediment per cubic metre of water almost half of what it carried before the dams were built. 'I'm ashamed to say that the significance of this didn't strike me until after I had read 50 or 60 studies, ' says Stanley in Marine Geology. 'There is still a lot of sediment coming into the delta, but virtually no sediment comes out into the Mediterranean to replenish the coastline. So this sediment must be trapped on the delta itself. ' Once north of Cairo, most of the Nile water is diverted into more than 10,000 kilometres of irrigation canals and only a small proportion reaches the sea directly through the rivers in the delta. The water in the irrigation canals is still or very slow-moving and thus cannot carry sediment, Stanley explains. The sediment sinks to the bottom of the canals and then is added to fields by farmers or pumped with the water into the four large freshwater lagoons that are located near the outer edges of the delta. So very little of it actually reaches the coastline to replace what is being washed away by the Mediterranean currents. The farms on the delta plains and fishing and aquaculture in the lagoons account for much of Egypt's food supply. But by the time the sediment has come to rest in the fields and lagoons it is laden with municipal, industrial and agricultural waste from the Cairo region, which is home to more than 40 million people. 'Pollutants are building up faster and faster, ' says Stanley. Based on his investigations of sediment from the delta lagoons, Frederic Siegel of George Washington University concurs. 'In Manzalah Lagoon, for example, the increase in mercury, lead, copper and zinc coincided with the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the availability of cheap electricity, and the development of major power-based industries, ' he says. Since that time the concentration of mercury has increased significantly. Lead from engines that use leaded fuels and from other industrial sources has also increased dramatically. These poisons can easily enter the food chain, affecting the productivity of fishing and farming. Another problem is that agricultural wastes include fertilizers which stimulate increases in plant growth in the lagoons and upset the ecology of the area, with serious effects on the fishing industry. According to Siegel, international environmental organisations are beginning to pay closer attention to the region, partly because of the problems of erosion and pollution of the Nile delta, but principally because they fear the impact this situation could have on the whole Mediterranean coastal ecosystem. But there are no easy solutions. In the immediate future, Stanley believes that one solution would be to make artificial floods to flush out the delta waterways, in the same way that natural floods did before the construction of the dams. He says, however, that in the long term an alternative process such as desalination may have to be used to increase the amount of water available. 'In my view, Egypt must devise a way to have more water running through the river and the delta, ' says Stanley. Easier said than done in a desert region with a rapidly growing population. | The Aswan dams were built to increase the fertility of the Nile delta. | c |
id_2043 | Disappearing Delta The fertile land of the Nile delta is being eroded along Egypt's Mediterranean coast at an astounding rate, in some parts estimated at 100 metres per year. In the past, land scoured away from the coastline by the currents of the Mediterranean Sea used to be replaced by sediment brought down to the delta by the River Nile, but this is no longer happening. Up to now, people have blamed this loss of delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in the south of Egypt, which hold back virtually all of the sediment that used to flow down the river. Before the dams were built, the Nile flowed freely carrying huge quantities of sediment north from Africa's interior to be deposited on the Nile delta. This continued for 7,000 years, eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers of fertile silt. Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region, replacing what had been washed away by the sea, and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt's richest food-growing area. But when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation, and to protect the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought, most of the sediment with its natural fertilizer accumulated up above the dam in the southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser, instead of passing down to the delta. Now, however, there turns out to be more to the story. It appears that the sediment-free water emerging from the Aswan dams picks up silt and sand as it erodes the river bed and banks on the 800-kilometre trip to Cairo. Daniel Jean Stanley of the Smithsonian Institute noticed that water samples taken in Cairo, just before the river enters the delta, indicated that the river sometimes carries more than 850 grams of sediment per cubic metre of water almost half of what it carried before the dams were built. 'I'm ashamed to say that the significance of this didn't strike me until after I had read 50 or 60 studies, ' says Stanley in Marine Geology. 'There is still a lot of sediment coming into the delta, but virtually no sediment comes out into the Mediterranean to replenish the coastline. So this sediment must be trapped on the delta itself. ' Once north of Cairo, most of the Nile water is diverted into more than 10,000 kilometres of irrigation canals and only a small proportion reaches the sea directly through the rivers in the delta. The water in the irrigation canals is still or very slow-moving and thus cannot carry sediment, Stanley explains. The sediment sinks to the bottom of the canals and then is added to fields by farmers or pumped with the water into the four large freshwater lagoons that are located near the outer edges of the delta. So very little of it actually reaches the coastline to replace what is being washed away by the Mediterranean currents. The farms on the delta plains and fishing and aquaculture in the lagoons account for much of Egypt's food supply. But by the time the sediment has come to rest in the fields and lagoons it is laden with municipal, industrial and agricultural waste from the Cairo region, which is home to more than 40 million people. 'Pollutants are building up faster and faster, ' says Stanley. Based on his investigations of sediment from the delta lagoons, Frederic Siegel of George Washington University concurs. 'In Manzalah Lagoon, for example, the increase in mercury, lead, copper and zinc coincided with the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the availability of cheap electricity, and the development of major power-based industries, ' he says. Since that time the concentration of mercury has increased significantly. Lead from engines that use leaded fuels and from other industrial sources has also increased dramatically. These poisons can easily enter the food chain, affecting the productivity of fishing and farming. Another problem is that agricultural wastes include fertilizers which stimulate increases in plant growth in the lagoons and upset the ecology of the area, with serious effects on the fishing industry. According to Siegel, international environmental organisations are beginning to pay closer attention to the region, partly because of the problems of erosion and pollution of the Nile delta, but principally because they fear the impact this situation could have on the whole Mediterranean coastal ecosystem. But there are no easy solutions. In the immediate future, Stanley believes that one solution would be to make artificial floods to flush out the delta waterways, in the same way that natural floods did before the construction of the dams. He says, however, that in the long term an alternative process such as desalination may have to be used to increase the amount of water available. 'In my view, Egypt must devise a way to have more water running through the river and the delta, ' says Stanley. Easier said than done in a desert region with a rapidly growing population. | Sediment in the irrigation canals on the Nile delta causes flooding. | n |
id_2044 | Disappearing Delta The fertile land of the Nile delta is being eroded along Egypt's Mediterranean coast at an astounding rate, in some parts estimated at 100 metres per year. In the past, land scoured away from the coastline by the currents of the Mediterranean Sea used to be replaced by sediment brought down to the delta by the River Nile, but this is no longer happening. Up to now, people have blamed this loss of delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in the south of Egypt, which hold back virtually all of the sediment that used to flow down the river. Before the dams were built, the Nile flowed freely carrying huge quantities of sediment north from Africa's interior to be deposited on the Nile delta. This continued for 7,000 years, eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers of fertile silt. Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region, replacing what had been washed away by the sea, and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt's richest food-growing area. But when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation, and to protect the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought, most of the sediment with its natural fertilizer accumulated up above the dam in the southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser, instead of passing down to the delta. Now, however, there turns out to be more to the story. It appears that the sediment-free water emerging from the Aswan dams picks up silt and sand as it erodes the river bed and banks on the 800-kilometre trip to Cairo. Daniel Jean Stanley of the Smithsonian Institute noticed that water samples taken in Cairo, just before the river enters the delta, indicated that the river sometimes carries more than 850 grams of sediment per cubic metre of water almost half of what it carried before the dams were built. 'I'm ashamed to say that the significance of this didn't strike me until after I had read 50 or 60 studies, ' says Stanley in Marine Geology. 'There is still a lot of sediment coming into the delta, but virtually no sediment comes out into the Mediterranean to replenish the coastline. So this sediment must be trapped on the delta itself. ' Once north of Cairo, most of the Nile water is diverted into more than 10,000 kilometres of irrigation canals and only a small proportion reaches the sea directly through the rivers in the delta. The water in the irrigation canals is still or very slow-moving and thus cannot carry sediment, Stanley explains. The sediment sinks to the bottom of the canals and then is added to fields by farmers or pumped with the water into the four large freshwater lagoons that are located near the outer edges of the delta. So very little of it actually reaches the coastline to replace what is being washed away by the Mediterranean currents. The farms on the delta plains and fishing and aquaculture in the lagoons account for much of Egypt's food supply. But by the time the sediment has come to rest in the fields and lagoons it is laden with municipal, industrial and agricultural waste from the Cairo region, which is home to more than 40 million people. 'Pollutants are building up faster and faster, ' says Stanley. Based on his investigations of sediment from the delta lagoons, Frederic Siegel of George Washington University concurs. 'In Manzalah Lagoon, for example, the increase in mercury, lead, copper and zinc coincided with the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the availability of cheap electricity, and the development of major power-based industries, ' he says. Since that time the concentration of mercury has increased significantly. Lead from engines that use leaded fuels and from other industrial sources has also increased dramatically. These poisons can easily enter the food chain, affecting the productivity of fishing and farming. Another problem is that agricultural wastes include fertilizers which stimulate increases in plant growth in the lagoons and upset the ecology of the area, with serious effects on the fishing industry. According to Siegel, international environmental organisations are beginning to pay closer attention to the region, partly because of the problems of erosion and pollution of the Nile delta, but principally because they fear the impact this situation could have on the whole Mediterranean coastal ecosystem. But there are no easy solutions. In the immediate future, Stanley believes that one solution would be to make artificial floods to flush out the delta waterways, in the same way that natural floods did before the construction of the dams. He says, however, that in the long term an alternative process such as desalination may have to be used to increase the amount of water available. 'In my view, Egypt must devise a way to have more water running through the river and the delta, ' says Stanley. Easier said than done in a desert region with a rapidly growing population. | Some people predicted that the Aswan dams would cause land loss before they were built. | n |
id_2045 | Disappearing Delta The fertile land of the Nile delta is being eroded along Egypt's Mediterranean coast at an astounding rate, in some parts estimated at 100 metres per year. In the past, land scoured away from the coastline by the currents of the Mediterranean Sea used to be replaced by sediment brought down to the delta by the River Nile, but this is no longer happening. Up to now, people have blamed this loss of delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in the south of Egypt, which hold back virtually all of the sediment that used to flow down the river. Before the dams were built, the Nile flowed freely carrying huge quantities of sediment north from Africa's interior to be deposited on the Nile delta. This continued for 7,000 years, eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers of fertile silt. Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region, replacing what had been washed away by the sea, and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt's richest food-growing area. But when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation, and to protect the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought, most of the sediment with its natural fertilizer accumulated up above the dam in the southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser, instead of passing down to the delta. Now, however, there turns out to be more to the story. It appears that the sediment-free water emerging from the Aswan dams picks up silt and sand as it erodes the river bed and banks on the 800-kilometre trip to Cairo. Daniel Jean Stanley of the Smithsonian Institute noticed that water samples taken in Cairo, just before the river enters the delta, indicated that the river sometimes carries more than 850 grams of sediment per cubic metre of water almost half of what it carried before the dams were built. 'I'm ashamed to say that the significance of this didn't strike me until after I had read 50 or 60 studies, ' says Stanley in Marine Geology. 'There is still a lot of sediment coming into the delta, but virtually no sediment comes out into the Mediterranean to replenish the coastline. So this sediment must be trapped on the delta itself. ' Once north of Cairo, most of the Nile water is diverted into more than 10,000 kilometres of irrigation canals and only a small proportion reaches the sea directly through the rivers in the delta. The water in the irrigation canals is still or very slow-moving and thus cannot carry sediment, Stanley explains. The sediment sinks to the bottom of the canals and then is added to fields by farmers or pumped with the water into the four large freshwater lagoons that are located near the outer edges of the delta. So very little of it actually reaches the coastline to replace what is being washed away by the Mediterranean currents. The farms on the delta plains and fishing and aquaculture in the lagoons account for much of Egypt's food supply. But by the time the sediment has come to rest in the fields and lagoons it is laden with municipal, industrial and agricultural waste from the Cairo region, which is home to more than 40 million people. 'Pollutants are building up faster and faster, ' says Stanley. Based on his investigations of sediment from the delta lagoons, Frederic Siegel of George Washington University concurs. 'In Manzalah Lagoon, for example, the increase in mercury, lead, copper and zinc coincided with the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the availability of cheap electricity, and the development of major power-based industries, ' he says. Since that time the concentration of mercury has increased significantly. Lead from engines that use leaded fuels and from other industrial sources has also increased dramatically. These poisons can easily enter the food chain, affecting the productivity of fishing and farming. Another problem is that agricultural wastes include fertilizers which stimulate increases in plant growth in the lagoons and upset the ecology of the area, with serious effects on the fishing industry. According to Siegel, international environmental organisations are beginning to pay closer attention to the region, partly because of the problems of erosion and pollution of the Nile delta, but principally because they fear the impact this situation could have on the whole Mediterranean coastal ecosystem. But there are no easy solutions. In the immediate future, Stanley believes that one solution would be to make artificial floods to flush out the delta waterways, in the same way that natural floods did before the construction of the dams. He says, however, that in the long term an alternative process such as desalination may have to be used to increase the amount of water available. 'In my view, Egypt must devise a way to have more water running through the river and the delta, ' says Stanley. Easier said than done in a desert region with a rapidly growing population. | Stanley found that the levels of sediment in the river water in Cairo were relatively high. | e |
id_2046 | Disappearing Delta The fertile land of the Nile delta is being eroded along Egypt's Mediterranean coast at an astounding rate, in some parts estimated at 100 metres per year. In the past, land scoured away from the coastline by the currents of the Mediterranean Sea used to be replaced by sediment brought down to the delta by the River Nile, but this is no longer happening. Up to now, people have blamed this loss of delta land on the two large dams at Aswan in the south of Egypt, which hold back virtually all of the sediment that used to flow down the river. Before the dams were built, the Nile flowed freely carrying huge quantities of sediment north from Africa's interior to be deposited on the Nile delta. This continued for 7,000 years, eventually covering a region of over 22,000 square kilometres with layers of fertile silt. Annual flooding brought in new, nutrient-rich soil to the delta region, replacing what had been washed away by the sea, and dispensing with the need for fertilizers in Egypt's richest food-growing area. But when the Aswan dams were constructed in the 20th century to provide electricity and irrigation, and to protect the huge population centre of Cairo and its surrounding areas from annual flooding and drought, most of the sediment with its natural fertilizer accumulated up above the dam in the southern, upstream half of Lake Nasser, instead of passing down to the delta. Now, however, there turns out to be more to the story. It appears that the sediment-free water emerging from the Aswan dams picks up silt and sand as it erodes the river bed and banks on the 800-kilometre trip to Cairo. Daniel Jean Stanley of the Smithsonian Institute noticed that water samples taken in Cairo, just before the river enters the delta, indicated that the river sometimes carries more than 850 grams of sediment per cubic metre of water almost half of what it carried before the dams were built. 'I'm ashamed to say that the significance of this didn't strike me until after I had read 50 or 60 studies, ' says Stanley in Marine Geology. 'There is still a lot of sediment coming into the delta, but virtually no sediment comes out into the Mediterranean to replenish the coastline. So this sediment must be trapped on the delta itself. ' Once north of Cairo, most of the Nile water is diverted into more than 10,000 kilometres of irrigation canals and only a small proportion reaches the sea directly through the rivers in the delta. The water in the irrigation canals is still or very slow-moving and thus cannot carry sediment, Stanley explains. The sediment sinks to the bottom of the canals and then is added to fields by farmers or pumped with the water into the four large freshwater lagoons that are located near the outer edges of the delta. So very little of it actually reaches the coastline to replace what is being washed away by the Mediterranean currents. The farms on the delta plains and fishing and aquaculture in the lagoons account for much of Egypt's food supply. But by the time the sediment has come to rest in the fields and lagoons it is laden with municipal, industrial and agricultural waste from the Cairo region, which is home to more than 40 million people. 'Pollutants are building up faster and faster, ' says Stanley. Based on his investigations of sediment from the delta lagoons, Frederic Siegel of George Washington University concurs. 'In Manzalah Lagoon, for example, the increase in mercury, lead, copper and zinc coincided with the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the availability of cheap electricity, and the development of major power-based industries, ' he says. Since that time the concentration of mercury has increased significantly. Lead from engines that use leaded fuels and from other industrial sources has also increased dramatically. These poisons can easily enter the food chain, affecting the productivity of fishing and farming. Another problem is that agricultural wastes include fertilizers which stimulate increases in plant growth in the lagoons and upset the ecology of the area, with serious effects on the fishing industry. According to Siegel, international environmental organisations are beginning to pay closer attention to the region, partly because of the problems of erosion and pollution of the Nile delta, but principally because they fear the impact this situation could have on the whole Mediterranean coastal ecosystem. But there are no easy solutions. In the immediate future, Stanley believes that one solution would be to make artificial floods to flush out the delta waterways, in the same way that natural floods did before the construction of the dams. He says, however, that in the long term an alternative process such as desalination may have to be used to increase the amount of water available. 'In my view, Egypt must devise a way to have more water running through the river and the delta, ' says Stanley. Easier said than done in a desert region with a rapidly growing population. | Coastal erosion occurred along Egypt's Mediterranean coast before the building of the Aswan dams. | e |
id_2047 | Disorderly Conduct occurs when a person fights with another person in a public place. | Federico tells his roommate to wash his own dishes and points at a stack of dishes in the sink. His roommate gets mad, and the two men begin hitting each other. This situation is the best example of Disorderly Conduct. | c |
id_2048 | Disorderly Conduct occurs when a person fights with another person in a public place. | Julio and Petra are crossing the street when he begins yelling at her that he is tired of arguing over money. This situation is the best example of Disorderly Conduct. | c |
id_2049 | Disorderly Conduct occurs when a person fights with another person in a public place. | Alan walks up to Terrence at the bus stop and shoves him. The two men begin trading punches with their fists. This situation is the best example of Disorderly Conduct. | e |
id_2050 | Disorderly Conduct occurs when a person fights with another person in a public place. | Jeff is getting onto the subway when a man elbows him aside. Jeff elbows the man back and then decides to wait for another train. This situation is the best example of Disorderly Conduct. | c |
id_2051 | Disrupting a Meeting or Procession occurs when a person, with intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting, procession, or gathering, obstructs or interferes with these events either physically or verbally. | Craig is at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new state capitol building. The governor is about to cut the ribbon when Craig yells out, Reelect the governor. This situation is the best example of Disrupting a Meeting or Procession. | c |
id_2052 | Disrupting a Meeting or Procession occurs when a person, with intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting, procession, or gathering, obstructs or interferes with these events either physically or verbally. | Simone is at a zoning board meeting and learns that she will not be able to open her business in the location she leased. She tells the board members that she will be suing the city and stalks out of the room. This situation is the best example of Disrupting a Meeting or Procession. | c |
id_2053 | Disrupting a Meeting or Procession occurs when a person, with intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting, procession, or gathering, obstructs or interferes with these events either physically or verbally. | Vinnie is at the same council meeting. He is upset because the mayor won't discuss the noise ordinance, so he begins clanging two cymbals together repeatedly. This situation is the best example of Disrupting a Meeting or Procession. | e |
id_2054 | Disrupting a Meeting or Procession occurs when a person, with intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting, procession, or gathering, obstructs or interferes with these events either physically or verbally. | Sara is at a city council meeting and gets upset when the mayor refuses to answer her question. She stalks out of the council chambers with her fist raised. This situation is the best example of Disrupting a Meeting or Procession. | c |
id_2055 | Ditching that Saintly Image Charities, it is still widely believed, are separate from government, staffed entirely by volunteers and spend every penny donated on the cause they support. Noble stuff, but in most cases entirely wrong. Yet these misapprehensions underpin much of the trust and goodwill behind giving. And there is concern that such outdated perceptions could blow up in charities faces as people begin to discover what the voluntary sector is really about. High-profile international programmes of awareness-raising activities, such as Make Poverty History, have dragged the voluntary sector into the spotlight and shown charity workers to be as much business entrepreneurs as they are angels of mercy. But with the spotlight comes scrutiny, and unless charities present compelling cases for political campaigning, six-figure salaries and paying the expenses of celebrities who go on demanding trips to refugee camps for nothing, they may get bitten. If people become more sceptical about how charities use their donations, they will be less inclined to give money, says Nick Aldridge, director of strategy at the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO). A wide range of initiatives have been undertaken to secure long-term trust in the sector by explaining what charities do and publishing the figures. But its still difficult to give donors a complete picture because, unlike profit-driven businesses, charities cant measure achievement purely by the bottom line. The report Funding Success suggests this might explain some of the communication difficulties charities face. Nevertheless, it suggests there are sound reasons for trying. Many funders, it claims, regard high overheads on, for example, premises, publicity and so on, that are properly accounted for, as a sign of an efficiently run organisation, rather than a waste of resources. Detailed reporting can be an important element in efforts to increase transparency. Better information might also unlock more money by highlighting social problems, and explaining what might be done to address them. Some charities are already taking steps in this direction. The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) introduced annual impact reporting, to tell people about the effects of its work in a broader sense than an annual report would usually allow. Each impact report looks back at what has been achieved over the previous 12 months and also states the charitys aims for the year ahead. Brian Lamb, director of communications at the RNID, says the sector has been complacent about transparency because of the high level of trust it enjoys. We have not been good at educating the public on issues such as why we do a lot of campaigning, he says. But the more high-profile the sector becomes, the more people will ask questions. Baroness Onora ONeill, chair of the Nuffield Foundation, says building trust goes deeper than providing information. She points out that the additional reporting and accounting requirements imposed on institutions across all sectors in recent years may have made them more transparent, but it has not made them more trusted. ... If we are to judge for ourselves, we need genuine communication in which we can question and observe, check and even challenge the evidence that others present. Laying out the evidence of what has been done, with all its shortcomings, may provide a rather better basis for placing or refusing trust than any number of glossy publications that trumpet unending success. Not everyone thinks the public needs to be spoon-fed reams of information to maintain confidence. There isnt any evidence that there is a crisis of confidence in charities, says Cathy Pharoah, research director at the Charities Aid Foundation. The facts support her claim. In a Charity Commission report published in November last year, the public awarded charities 6.3 out of 10 on trust. Pharoah believes key donors are savvier than they are portrayed. There is heavy dependence on middle-class donors for charity income, and I would be amazed if they didnt realise charities had to pay to get professional staff, she says. She believes the biggest threats to trust are the kind of scandals that blighted the Scottish voluntary sector in 2003. Two high-profile charities, Breast Cancer Research (Scotland) and Moonbeams, were exposed for spending a fraction of their profits on their causes. The revelations created intensely damaging media coverage. Even charity stalwarts were shocked by how quickly the coverage snowballed as two bad stories turned into a sector-wide crisis. Those two incidents caused a media frenzy as journalists took every opportunity to undermine the sector, says Fiona Duncan, director of external affairs at Capability Scotland. After suffering a media grilling herself, Duncan launched Giving Scotland to redress the balance. Fourteen charities, plus the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Institute of Fundraising Scotland, joined together to put out communications restoring confidence in charities. The Scottish Executive pledged 30,000 and, with donations from corporate supporters, the campaign was able to secure advertising worth 300,000 for a lightning two- week campaign over Christmas 2003. Two months before the campaign was launched, The Herald newspaper published a poll revealing that 52 per cent of people were less likely to give because of the scandals. Giving Scotland did a similar poll in February 2004 and this time more than half of the population said they were more likely to consider giving because of the campaign. We learned about strength in numbers and the importance of timing because it was Christmas, we were able to get good coverage, says Duncan. It was an effective rearguard campaign. The numerous proactive initiatives now underway across the UK give charities the chance to prevent the situation ever getting that bad again but their success will depend on whether they are prepared to shed their saintly image and rally to the cause of creating a newer, bolder one. | People have been challenging the RNID on their promotional activities. | c |
id_2056 | Ditching that Saintly Image Charities, it is still widely believed, are separate from government, staffed entirely by volunteers and spend every penny donated on the cause they support. Noble stuff, but in most cases entirely wrong. Yet these misapprehensions underpin much of the trust and goodwill behind giving. And there is concern that such outdated perceptions could blow up in charities faces as people begin to discover what the voluntary sector is really about. High-profile international programmes of awareness-raising activities, such as Make Poverty History, have dragged the voluntary sector into the spotlight and shown charity workers to be as much business entrepreneurs as they are angels of mercy. But with the spotlight comes scrutiny, and unless charities present compelling cases for political campaigning, six-figure salaries and paying the expenses of celebrities who go on demanding trips to refugee camps for nothing, they may get bitten. If people become more sceptical about how charities use their donations, they will be less inclined to give money, says Nick Aldridge, director of strategy at the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO). A wide range of initiatives have been undertaken to secure long-term trust in the sector by explaining what charities do and publishing the figures. But its still difficult to give donors a complete picture because, unlike profit-driven businesses, charities cant measure achievement purely by the bottom line. The report Funding Success suggests this might explain some of the communication difficulties charities face. Nevertheless, it suggests there are sound reasons for trying. Many funders, it claims, regard high overheads on, for example, premises, publicity and so on, that are properly accounted for, as a sign of an efficiently run organisation, rather than a waste of resources. Detailed reporting can be an important element in efforts to increase transparency. Better information might also unlock more money by highlighting social problems, and explaining what might be done to address them. Some charities are already taking steps in this direction. The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) introduced annual impact reporting, to tell people about the effects of its work in a broader sense than an annual report would usually allow. Each impact report looks back at what has been achieved over the previous 12 months and also states the charitys aims for the year ahead. Brian Lamb, director of communications at the RNID, says the sector has been complacent about transparency because of the high level of trust it enjoys. We have not been good at educating the public on issues such as why we do a lot of campaigning, he says. But the more high-profile the sector becomes, the more people will ask questions. Baroness Onora ONeill, chair of the Nuffield Foundation, says building trust goes deeper than providing information. She points out that the additional reporting and accounting requirements imposed on institutions across all sectors in recent years may have made them more transparent, but it has not made them more trusted. ... If we are to judge for ourselves, we need genuine communication in which we can question and observe, check and even challenge the evidence that others present. Laying out the evidence of what has been done, with all its shortcomings, may provide a rather better basis for placing or refusing trust than any number of glossy publications that trumpet unending success. Not everyone thinks the public needs to be spoon-fed reams of information to maintain confidence. There isnt any evidence that there is a crisis of confidence in charities, says Cathy Pharoah, research director at the Charities Aid Foundation. The facts support her claim. In a Charity Commission report published in November last year, the public awarded charities 6.3 out of 10 on trust. Pharoah believes key donors are savvier than they are portrayed. There is heavy dependence on middle-class donors for charity income, and I would be amazed if they didnt realise charities had to pay to get professional staff, she says. She believes the biggest threats to trust are the kind of scandals that blighted the Scottish voluntary sector in 2003. Two high-profile charities, Breast Cancer Research (Scotland) and Moonbeams, were exposed for spending a fraction of their profits on their causes. The revelations created intensely damaging media coverage. Even charity stalwarts were shocked by how quickly the coverage snowballed as two bad stories turned into a sector-wide crisis. Those two incidents caused a media frenzy as journalists took every opportunity to undermine the sector, says Fiona Duncan, director of external affairs at Capability Scotland. After suffering a media grilling herself, Duncan launched Giving Scotland to redress the balance. Fourteen charities, plus the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Institute of Fundraising Scotland, joined together to put out communications restoring confidence in charities. The Scottish Executive pledged 30,000 and, with donations from corporate supporters, the campaign was able to secure advertising worth 300,000 for a lightning two- week campaign over Christmas 2003. Two months before the campaign was launched, The Herald newspaper published a poll revealing that 52 per cent of people were less likely to give because of the scandals. Giving Scotland did a similar poll in February 2004 and this time more than half of the population said they were more likely to consider giving because of the campaign. We learned about strength in numbers and the importance of timing because it was Christmas, we were able to get good coverage, says Duncan. It was an effective rearguard campaign. The numerous proactive initiatives now underway across the UK give charities the chance to prevent the situation ever getting that bad again but their success will depend on whether they are prepared to shed their saintly image and rally to the cause of creating a newer, bolder one. | Charity donations in Scotland are now back to their pre-scandal level. | n |
id_2057 | Ditching that Saintly Image Charities, it is still widely believed, are separate from government, staffed entirely by volunteers and spend every penny donated on the cause they support. Noble stuff, but in most cases entirely wrong. Yet these misapprehensions underpin much of the trust and goodwill behind giving. And there is concern that such outdated perceptions could blow up in charities faces as people begin to discover what the voluntary sector is really about. High-profile international programmes of awareness-raising activities, such as Make Poverty History, have dragged the voluntary sector into the spotlight and shown charity workers to be as much business entrepreneurs as they are angels of mercy. But with the spotlight comes scrutiny, and unless charities present compelling cases for political campaigning, six-figure salaries and paying the expenses of celebrities who go on demanding trips to refugee camps for nothing, they may get bitten. If people become more sceptical about how charities use their donations, they will be less inclined to give money, says Nick Aldridge, director of strategy at the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO). A wide range of initiatives have been undertaken to secure long-term trust in the sector by explaining what charities do and publishing the figures. But its still difficult to give donors a complete picture because, unlike profit-driven businesses, charities cant measure achievement purely by the bottom line. The report Funding Success suggests this might explain some of the communication difficulties charities face. Nevertheless, it suggests there are sound reasons for trying. Many funders, it claims, regard high overheads on, for example, premises, publicity and so on, that are properly accounted for, as a sign of an efficiently run organisation, rather than a waste of resources. Detailed reporting can be an important element in efforts to increase transparency. Better information might also unlock more money by highlighting social problems, and explaining what might be done to address them. Some charities are already taking steps in this direction. The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) introduced annual impact reporting, to tell people about the effects of its work in a broader sense than an annual report would usually allow. Each impact report looks back at what has been achieved over the previous 12 months and also states the charitys aims for the year ahead. Brian Lamb, director of communications at the RNID, says the sector has been complacent about transparency because of the high level of trust it enjoys. We have not been good at educating the public on issues such as why we do a lot of campaigning, he says. But the more high-profile the sector becomes, the more people will ask questions. Baroness Onora ONeill, chair of the Nuffield Foundation, says building trust goes deeper than providing information. She points out that the additional reporting and accounting requirements imposed on institutions across all sectors in recent years may have made them more transparent, but it has not made them more trusted. ... If we are to judge for ourselves, we need genuine communication in which we can question and observe, check and even challenge the evidence that others present. Laying out the evidence of what has been done, with all its shortcomings, may provide a rather better basis for placing or refusing trust than any number of glossy publications that trumpet unending success. Not everyone thinks the public needs to be spoon-fed reams of information to maintain confidence. There isnt any evidence that there is a crisis of confidence in charities, says Cathy Pharoah, research director at the Charities Aid Foundation. The facts support her claim. In a Charity Commission report published in November last year, the public awarded charities 6.3 out of 10 on trust. Pharoah believes key donors are savvier than they are portrayed. There is heavy dependence on middle-class donors for charity income, and I would be amazed if they didnt realise charities had to pay to get professional staff, she says. She believes the biggest threats to trust are the kind of scandals that blighted the Scottish voluntary sector in 2003. Two high-profile charities, Breast Cancer Research (Scotland) and Moonbeams, were exposed for spending a fraction of their profits on their causes. The revelations created intensely damaging media coverage. Even charity stalwarts were shocked by how quickly the coverage snowballed as two bad stories turned into a sector-wide crisis. Those two incidents caused a media frenzy as journalists took every opportunity to undermine the sector, says Fiona Duncan, director of external affairs at Capability Scotland. After suffering a media grilling herself, Duncan launched Giving Scotland to redress the balance. Fourteen charities, plus the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Institute of Fundraising Scotland, joined together to put out communications restoring confidence in charities. The Scottish Executive pledged 30,000 and, with donations from corporate supporters, the campaign was able to secure advertising worth 300,000 for a lightning two- week campaign over Christmas 2003. Two months before the campaign was launched, The Herald newspaper published a poll revealing that 52 per cent of people were less likely to give because of the scandals. Giving Scotland did a similar poll in February 2004 and this time more than half of the population said they were more likely to consider giving because of the campaign. We learned about strength in numbers and the importance of timing because it was Christmas, we were able to get good coverage, says Duncan. It was an effective rearguard campaign. The numerous proactive initiatives now underway across the UK give charities the chance to prevent the situation ever getting that bad again but their success will depend on whether they are prepared to shed their saintly image and rally to the cause of creating a newer, bolder one. | Following the scandal, the media attacked the charity sector as a whole. | e |
id_2058 | Ditching that Saintly Image Charities, it is still widely believed, are separate from government, staffed entirely by volunteers and spend every penny donated on the cause they support. Noble stuff, but in most cases entirely wrong. Yet these misapprehensions underpin much of the trust and goodwill behind giving. And there is concern that such outdated perceptions could blow up in charities faces as people begin to discover what the voluntary sector is really about. High-profile international programmes of awareness-raising activities, such as Make Poverty History, have dragged the voluntary sector into the spotlight and shown charity workers to be as much business entrepreneurs as they are angels of mercy. But with the spotlight comes scrutiny, and unless charities present compelling cases for political campaigning, six-figure salaries and paying the expenses of celebrities who go on demanding trips to refugee camps for nothing, they may get bitten. If people become more sceptical about how charities use their donations, they will be less inclined to give money, says Nick Aldridge, director of strategy at the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO). A wide range of initiatives have been undertaken to secure long-term trust in the sector by explaining what charities do and publishing the figures. But its still difficult to give donors a complete picture because, unlike profit-driven businesses, charities cant measure achievement purely by the bottom line. The report Funding Success suggests this might explain some of the communication difficulties charities face. Nevertheless, it suggests there are sound reasons for trying. Many funders, it claims, regard high overheads on, for example, premises, publicity and so on, that are properly accounted for, as a sign of an efficiently run organisation, rather than a waste of resources. Detailed reporting can be an important element in efforts to increase transparency. Better information might also unlock more money by highlighting social problems, and explaining what might be done to address them. Some charities are already taking steps in this direction. The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) introduced annual impact reporting, to tell people about the effects of its work in a broader sense than an annual report would usually allow. Each impact report looks back at what has been achieved over the previous 12 months and also states the charitys aims for the year ahead. Brian Lamb, director of communications at the RNID, says the sector has been complacent about transparency because of the high level of trust it enjoys. We have not been good at educating the public on issues such as why we do a lot of campaigning, he says. But the more high-profile the sector becomes, the more people will ask questions. Baroness Onora ONeill, chair of the Nuffield Foundation, says building trust goes deeper than providing information. She points out that the additional reporting and accounting requirements imposed on institutions across all sectors in recent years may have made them more transparent, but it has not made them more trusted. ... If we are to judge for ourselves, we need genuine communication in which we can question and observe, check and even challenge the evidence that others present. Laying out the evidence of what has been done, with all its shortcomings, may provide a rather better basis for placing or refusing trust than any number of glossy publications that trumpet unending success. Not everyone thinks the public needs to be spoon-fed reams of information to maintain confidence. There isnt any evidence that there is a crisis of confidence in charities, says Cathy Pharoah, research director at the Charities Aid Foundation. The facts support her claim. In a Charity Commission report published in November last year, the public awarded charities 6.3 out of 10 on trust. Pharoah believes key donors are savvier than they are portrayed. There is heavy dependence on middle-class donors for charity income, and I would be amazed if they didnt realise charities had to pay to get professional staff, she says. She believes the biggest threats to trust are the kind of scandals that blighted the Scottish voluntary sector in 2003. Two high-profile charities, Breast Cancer Research (Scotland) and Moonbeams, were exposed for spending a fraction of their profits on their causes. The revelations created intensely damaging media coverage. Even charity stalwarts were shocked by how quickly the coverage snowballed as two bad stories turned into a sector-wide crisis. Those two incidents caused a media frenzy as journalists took every opportunity to undermine the sector, says Fiona Duncan, director of external affairs at Capability Scotland. After suffering a media grilling herself, Duncan launched Giving Scotland to redress the balance. Fourteen charities, plus the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Institute of Fundraising Scotland, joined together to put out communications restoring confidence in charities. The Scottish Executive pledged 30,000 and, with donations from corporate supporters, the campaign was able to secure advertising worth 300,000 for a lightning two- week campaign over Christmas 2003. Two months before the campaign was launched, The Herald newspaper published a poll revealing that 52 per cent of people were less likely to give because of the scandals. Giving Scotland did a similar poll in February 2004 and this time more than half of the population said they were more likely to consider giving because of the campaign. We learned about strength in numbers and the importance of timing because it was Christmas, we were able to get good coverage, says Duncan. It was an effective rearguard campaign. The numerous proactive initiatives now underway across the UK give charities the chance to prevent the situation ever getting that bad again but their success will depend on whether they are prepared to shed their saintly image and rally to the cause of creating a newer, bolder one. | Charity involvement in some prominent campaigns has meant that they are undergoing more careful examination by the public. | e |
id_2059 | Ditching that Saintly Image Charities, it is still widely believed, are separate from government, staffed entirely by volunteers and spend every penny donated on the cause they support. Noble stuff, but in most cases entirely wrong. Yet these misapprehensions underpin much of the trust and goodwill behind giving. And there is concern that such outdated perceptions could blow up in charities faces as people begin to discover what the voluntary sector is really about. High-profile international programmes of awareness-raising activities, such as Make Poverty History, have dragged the voluntary sector into the spotlight and shown charity workers to be as much business entrepreneurs as they are angels of mercy. But with the spotlight comes scrutiny, and unless charities present compelling cases for political campaigning, six-figure salaries and paying the expenses of celebrities who go on demanding trips to refugee camps for nothing, they may get bitten. If people become more sceptical about how charities use their donations, they will be less inclined to give money, says Nick Aldridge, director of strategy at the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO). A wide range of initiatives have been undertaken to secure long-term trust in the sector by explaining what charities do and publishing the figures. But its still difficult to give donors a complete picture because, unlike profit-driven businesses, charities cant measure achievement purely by the bottom line. The report Funding Success suggests this might explain some of the communication difficulties charities face. Nevertheless, it suggests there are sound reasons for trying. Many funders, it claims, regard high overheads on, for example, premises, publicity and so on, that are properly accounted for, as a sign of an efficiently run organisation, rather than a waste of resources. Detailed reporting can be an important element in efforts to increase transparency. Better information might also unlock more money by highlighting social problems, and explaining what might be done to address them. Some charities are already taking steps in this direction. The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) introduced annual impact reporting, to tell people about the effects of its work in a broader sense than an annual report would usually allow. Each impact report looks back at what has been achieved over the previous 12 months and also states the charitys aims for the year ahead. Brian Lamb, director of communications at the RNID, says the sector has been complacent about transparency because of the high level of trust it enjoys. We have not been good at educating the public on issues such as why we do a lot of campaigning, he says. But the more high-profile the sector becomes, the more people will ask questions. Baroness Onora ONeill, chair of the Nuffield Foundation, says building trust goes deeper than providing information. She points out that the additional reporting and accounting requirements imposed on institutions across all sectors in recent years may have made them more transparent, but it has not made them more trusted. ... If we are to judge for ourselves, we need genuine communication in which we can question and observe, check and even challenge the evidence that others present. Laying out the evidence of what has been done, with all its shortcomings, may provide a rather better basis for placing or refusing trust than any number of glossy publications that trumpet unending success. Not everyone thinks the public needs to be spoon-fed reams of information to maintain confidence. There isnt any evidence that there is a crisis of confidence in charities, says Cathy Pharoah, research director at the Charities Aid Foundation. The facts support her claim. In a Charity Commission report published in November last year, the public awarded charities 6.3 out of 10 on trust. Pharoah believes key donors are savvier than they are portrayed. There is heavy dependence on middle-class donors for charity income, and I would be amazed if they didnt realise charities had to pay to get professional staff, she says. She believes the biggest threats to trust are the kind of scandals that blighted the Scottish voluntary sector in 2003. Two high-profile charities, Breast Cancer Research (Scotland) and Moonbeams, were exposed for spending a fraction of their profits on their causes. The revelations created intensely damaging media coverage. Even charity stalwarts were shocked by how quickly the coverage snowballed as two bad stories turned into a sector-wide crisis. Those two incidents caused a media frenzy as journalists took every opportunity to undermine the sector, says Fiona Duncan, director of external affairs at Capability Scotland. After suffering a media grilling herself, Duncan launched Giving Scotland to redress the balance. Fourteen charities, plus the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Institute of Fundraising Scotland, joined together to put out communications restoring confidence in charities. The Scottish Executive pledged 30,000 and, with donations from corporate supporters, the campaign was able to secure advertising worth 300,000 for a lightning two- week campaign over Christmas 2003. Two months before the campaign was launched, The Herald newspaper published a poll revealing that 52 per cent of people were less likely to give because of the scandals. Giving Scotland did a similar poll in February 2004 and this time more than half of the population said they were more likely to consider giving because of the campaign. We learned about strength in numbers and the importance of timing because it was Christmas, we were able to get good coverage, says Duncan. It was an effective rearguard campaign. The numerous proactive initiatives now underway across the UK give charities the chance to prevent the situation ever getting that bad again but their success will depend on whether they are prepared to shed their saintly image and rally to the cause of creating a newer, bolder one. | The two charities involved in a scandal have altered their funding programmes. | n |
id_2060 | Ditching that Saintly Image Charities, it is still widely believed, are separate from government, staffed entirely by volunteers and spend every penny donated on the cause they support. Noble stuff, but in most cases entirely wrong. Yet these misapprehensions underpin much of the trust and goodwill behind giving. And there is concern that such outdated perceptions could blow up in charities faces as people begin to discover what the voluntary sector is really about. High-profile international programmes of awareness-raising activities, such as Make Poverty History, have dragged the voluntary sector into the spotlight and shown charity workers to be as much business entrepreneurs as they are angels of mercy. But with the spotlight comes scrutiny, and unless charities present compelling cases for political campaigning, six-figure salaries and paying the expenses of celebrities who go on demanding trips to refugee camps for nothing, they may get bitten. If people become more sceptical about how charities use their donations, they will be less inclined to give money, says Nick Aldridge, director of strategy at the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO). A wide range of initiatives have been undertaken to secure long-term trust in the sector by explaining what charities do and publishing the figures. But its still difficult to give donors a complete picture because, unlike profit-driven businesses, charities cant measure achievement purely by the bottom line. The report Funding Success suggests this might explain some of the communication difficulties charities face. Nevertheless, it suggests there are sound reasons for trying. Many funders, it claims, regard high overheads on, for example, premises, publicity and so on, that are properly accounted for, as a sign of an efficiently run organisation, rather than a waste of resources. Detailed reporting can be an important element in efforts to increase transparency. Better information might also unlock more money by highlighting social problems, and explaining what might be done to address them. Some charities are already taking steps in this direction. The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) introduced annual impact reporting, to tell people about the effects of its work in a broader sense than an annual report would usually allow. Each impact report looks back at what has been achieved over the previous 12 months and also states the charitys aims for the year ahead. Brian Lamb, director of communications at the RNID, says the sector has been complacent about transparency because of the high level of trust it enjoys. We have not been good at educating the public on issues such as why we do a lot of campaigning, he says. But the more high-profile the sector becomes, the more people will ask questions. Baroness Onora ONeill, chair of the Nuffield Foundation, says building trust goes deeper than providing information. She points out that the additional reporting and accounting requirements imposed on institutions across all sectors in recent years may have made them more transparent, but it has not made them more trusted. ... If we are to judge for ourselves, we need genuine communication in which we can question and observe, check and even challenge the evidence that others present. Laying out the evidence of what has been done, with all its shortcomings, may provide a rather better basis for placing or refusing trust than any number of glossy publications that trumpet unending success. Not everyone thinks the public needs to be spoon-fed reams of information to maintain confidence. There isnt any evidence that there is a crisis of confidence in charities, says Cathy Pharoah, research director at the Charities Aid Foundation. The facts support her claim. In a Charity Commission report published in November last year, the public awarded charities 6.3 out of 10 on trust. Pharoah believes key donors are savvier than they are portrayed. There is heavy dependence on middle-class donors for charity income, and I would be amazed if they didnt realise charities had to pay to get professional staff, she says. She believes the biggest threats to trust are the kind of scandals that blighted the Scottish voluntary sector in 2003. Two high-profile charities, Breast Cancer Research (Scotland) and Moonbeams, were exposed for spending a fraction of their profits on their causes. The revelations created intensely damaging media coverage. Even charity stalwarts were shocked by how quickly the coverage snowballed as two bad stories turned into a sector-wide crisis. Those two incidents caused a media frenzy as journalists took every opportunity to undermine the sector, says Fiona Duncan, director of external affairs at Capability Scotland. After suffering a media grilling herself, Duncan launched Giving Scotland to redress the balance. Fourteen charities, plus the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Institute of Fundraising Scotland, joined together to put out communications restoring confidence in charities. The Scottish Executive pledged 30,000 and, with donations from corporate supporters, the campaign was able to secure advertising worth 300,000 for a lightning two- week campaign over Christmas 2003. Two months before the campaign was launched, The Herald newspaper published a poll revealing that 52 per cent of people were less likely to give because of the scandals. Giving Scotland did a similar poll in February 2004 and this time more than half of the population said they were more likely to consider giving because of the campaign. We learned about strength in numbers and the importance of timing because it was Christmas, we were able to get good coverage, says Duncan. It was an effective rearguard campaign. The numerous proactive initiatives now underway across the UK give charities the chance to prevent the situation ever getting that bad again but their success will depend on whether they are prepared to shed their saintly image and rally to the cause of creating a newer, bolder one. | Famous people insist on a large fee if they appear for a charity. | n |
id_2061 | Ditching that Saintly Image Charities, it is still widely believed, are separate from government, staffed entirely by volunteers and spend every penny donated on the cause they support. Noble stuff, but in most cases entirely wrong. Yet these misapprehensions underpin much of the trust and goodwill behind giving. And there is concern that such outdated perceptions could blow up in charities faces as people begin to discover what the voluntary sector is really about. High-profile international programmes of awareness-raising activities, such as Make Poverty History, have dragged the voluntary sector into the spotlight and shown charity workers to be as much business entrepreneurs as they are angels of mercy. But with the spotlight comes scrutiny, and unless charities present compelling cases for political campaigning, six-figure salaries and paying the expenses of celebrities who go on demanding trips to refugee camps for nothing, they may get bitten. If people become more sceptical about how charities use their donations, they will be less inclined to give money, says Nick Aldridge, director of strategy at the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO). A wide range of initiatives have been undertaken to secure long-term trust in the sector by explaining what charities do and publishing the figures. But its still difficult to give donors a complete picture because, unlike profit-driven businesses, charities cant measure achievement purely by the bottom line. The report Funding Success suggests this might explain some of the communication difficulties charities face. Nevertheless, it suggests there are sound reasons for trying. Many funders, it claims, regard high overheads on, for example, premises, publicity and so on, that are properly accounted for, as a sign of an efficiently run organisation, rather than a waste of resources. Detailed reporting can be an important element in efforts to increase transparency. Better information might also unlock more money by highlighting social problems, and explaining what might be done to address them. Some charities are already taking steps in this direction. The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) introduced annual impact reporting, to tell people about the effects of its work in a broader sense than an annual report would usually allow. Each impact report looks back at what has been achieved over the previous 12 months and also states the charitys aims for the year ahead. Brian Lamb, director of communications at the RNID, says the sector has been complacent about transparency because of the high level of trust it enjoys. We have not been good at educating the public on issues such as why we do a lot of campaigning, he says. But the more high-profile the sector becomes, the more people will ask questions. Baroness Onora ONeill, chair of the Nuffield Foundation, says building trust goes deeper than providing information. She points out that the additional reporting and accounting requirements imposed on institutions across all sectors in recent years may have made them more transparent, but it has not made them more trusted. ... If we are to judge for ourselves, we need genuine communication in which we can question and observe, check and even challenge the evidence that others present. Laying out the evidence of what has been done, with all its shortcomings, may provide a rather better basis for placing or refusing trust than any number of glossy publications that trumpet unending success. Not everyone thinks the public needs to be spoon-fed reams of information to maintain confidence. There isnt any evidence that there is a crisis of confidence in charities, says Cathy Pharoah, research director at the Charities Aid Foundation. The facts support her claim. In a Charity Commission report published in November last year, the public awarded charities 6.3 out of 10 on trust. Pharoah believes key donors are savvier than they are portrayed. There is heavy dependence on middle-class donors for charity income, and I would be amazed if they didnt realise charities had to pay to get professional staff, she says. She believes the biggest threats to trust are the kind of scandals that blighted the Scottish voluntary sector in 2003. Two high-profile charities, Breast Cancer Research (Scotland) and Moonbeams, were exposed for spending a fraction of their profits on their causes. The revelations created intensely damaging media coverage. Even charity stalwarts were shocked by how quickly the coverage snowballed as two bad stories turned into a sector-wide crisis. Those two incidents caused a media frenzy as journalists took every opportunity to undermine the sector, says Fiona Duncan, director of external affairs at Capability Scotland. After suffering a media grilling herself, Duncan launched Giving Scotland to redress the balance. Fourteen charities, plus the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Institute of Fundraising Scotland, joined together to put out communications restoring confidence in charities. The Scottish Executive pledged 30,000 and, with donations from corporate supporters, the campaign was able to secure advertising worth 300,000 for a lightning two- week campaign over Christmas 2003. Two months before the campaign was launched, The Herald newspaper published a poll revealing that 52 per cent of people were less likely to give because of the scandals. Giving Scotland did a similar poll in February 2004 and this time more than half of the population said they were more likely to consider giving because of the campaign. We learned about strength in numbers and the importance of timing because it was Christmas, we were able to get good coverage, says Duncan. It was an effective rearguard campaign. The numerous proactive initiatives now underway across the UK give charities the chance to prevent the situation ever getting that bad again but their success will depend on whether they are prepared to shed their saintly image and rally to the cause of creating a newer, bolder one. | The new RNID documents outline expected progress as well as detailing past achievements. | e |
id_2062 | Do You Look Your Age? It can be hard to guess someones exact age. A range of factors may leave marks on our appearance: how much sleep Weve had even the way we dress and our view of ourselves. The good news is that just as these factors can add years on to your appearance, it follows that they can also take years off. We dont always have control over some of those social factors that can make us look younger, but there are other steps we can take to try to stop the ravages of age. SOCIAL FACTORS Last month, the University of Southern Denmark published a report, The Influence of Environmental Factors on Facial Ageing, which showed that how we live can affect how old we look. In it, 1,826 twins were photographed and then ten female nurses aged between 25-46 years were asked to guess how old the models were. The results were intriguing. They showed that belonging to a high social class can make us look up to four years younger, and many other lifestyle factors were shown to affect the way we look. Having children was found to make men look a full year younger, though it had no effect on women, and having four or more children cancelled out the benefit. Depression and sun exposure were the biggest factors in making you look old before your time. Depression added up to three and a half years to a womans perceived age (and 2.4 years for men). Sun exposure piled on at least an extra year. Smoking put on six months for a woman and a year for a man. Meanwhile, having a high BMI (body mass index) was found to take a whole year off for both men and women. If you are not depressed, not a smoker and not too skinny, you are basically doing well, says Professor Kaare Christensen (married, three children, non-smoker), one of the reports authors. Professor Christensens report concluded that it was more dangerous for our health to look a year older, than to actually be a year older. NUTRITION This is possibly the biggest change we can make fairly easily. There are four main factors that prematurely age us: smoking, too much alcohol, lack of fresh fruit and vegetables, and insufficient protein intake. You can immediately tell a smoker. Its not just the lines around the mouth and eyes, but smoking is dehydrating to the body. Every time you inhale on a cigarette, youre taking toxins into the body which have to be diffused and detoxified by the liver and kidneys, and theyre dependent on plenty of fresh water to carry toxins away. Most smokers dont drink anywhere near enough water. The really big, quick fix, though, is eating more fresh fruit and vegetables. You can see if someone doesnt eat enough, or any, fresh fruit and veg in a minute. The skin lacks a freshness and translucency. This is because the skin is the last organ to benefit from the nutrients you eat the likes of the brain, heart, and lungs all get first share. If someones diet is lacking in fruit and veg, the skin will become dehydrated. This is a sign that sufficient nutrients arent being delivered, so from an anti-ageing point of view, its important to have live, fresh food and raw food is vital. If you have to cook, steaming will retain at least some of the vitamins and minerals. The other really important thing, and one we tend to miss out on in our diet-obsessed culture, is adequate intake of essential fatty acids (EFAs), from oily fish, nuts, and seeds. EFAs are vital for prolonging life expectancy because every cell in the body has a phospholipid bilayer that protects it, but they also give the skin a dewy, bouncy, youthful feel. One of the worst things you can do in terms of looking old is to go on a low-fat diet. Stress is another big one for adding years. We can help support the adrenal and thyroid glands, which take a hammering when were stressed, by eating plenty of fresh vitamin C and magnesium for the adrenal glands; and iodine, selenium, zinc, and B vitamins to support the thyroid. EXERCISE Weve come to think of exercise as a pure slimming pursuit and women tend to be rather scared of lifting weights, but building lean tissue through weight-bearing exercise is key to keeping the years at bay. Exercise can help reduce the effects of ageing by slowing down the decline of type II muscle fibres. Generally, type I muscle fibres deal with aerobic activities and type II with anaerobic ones. The type II responds to resistance work to improve muscle tone. With ageing, theres a reduction in frequency, duration, and intensity of habitual activity: we generally move less. So, these type II fibres deteriorate because they simply dont get enough stimuli. SKIN CARE Almost every skin cream promises to make you look younger. Its a promise many are seduced by, but many end up disappointed. The problem is not that products dont work, but starting too late, and then not spending enough money. A lot of people skip good skin care until they think they need it, and by then its actually too late. In women, the skin around the eyes is the first to go, in men its the hands. A good routine should start early because maintenance is much easier than repair. Your skin also becomes more transparent as you get older, so you need to adapt your make-up and hair colour accordingly. Foundation should be lighter than youd imagine, and sheerer, and if you want to cover grey, dont be tempted to go for a too-dark hair colour or block colour highlights are kind. Dont forget to apply moisturiser around the back of the neck: Its the only bit of skin attached to a bone, so its important that you look after it to avoid sagging. | Most skin creams contain vitamins that are good for the skin. | n |
id_2063 | Do You Look Your Age? It can be hard to guess someones exact age. A range of factors may leave marks on our appearance: how much sleep Weve had even the way we dress and our view of ourselves. The good news is that just as these factors can add years on to your appearance, it follows that they can also take years off. We dont always have control over some of those social factors that can make us look younger, but there are other steps we can take to try to stop the ravages of age. SOCIAL FACTORS Last month, the University of Southern Denmark published a report, The Influence of Environmental Factors on Facial Ageing, which showed that how we live can affect how old we look. In it, 1,826 twins were photographed and then ten female nurses aged between 25-46 years were asked to guess how old the models were. The results were intriguing. They showed that belonging to a high social class can make us look up to four years younger, and many other lifestyle factors were shown to affect the way we look. Having children was found to make men look a full year younger, though it had no effect on women, and having four or more children cancelled out the benefit. Depression and sun exposure were the biggest factors in making you look old before your time. Depression added up to three and a half years to a womans perceived age (and 2.4 years for men). Sun exposure piled on at least an extra year. Smoking put on six months for a woman and a year for a man. Meanwhile, having a high BMI (body mass index) was found to take a whole year off for both men and women. If you are not depressed, not a smoker and not too skinny, you are basically doing well, says Professor Kaare Christensen (married, three children, non-smoker), one of the reports authors. Professor Christensens report concluded that it was more dangerous for our health to look a year older, than to actually be a year older. NUTRITION This is possibly the biggest change we can make fairly easily. There are four main factors that prematurely age us: smoking, too much alcohol, lack of fresh fruit and vegetables, and insufficient protein intake. You can immediately tell a smoker. Its not just the lines around the mouth and eyes, but smoking is dehydrating to the body. Every time you inhale on a cigarette, youre taking toxins into the body which have to be diffused and detoxified by the liver and kidneys, and theyre dependent on plenty of fresh water to carry toxins away. Most smokers dont drink anywhere near enough water. The really big, quick fix, though, is eating more fresh fruit and vegetables. You can see if someone doesnt eat enough, or any, fresh fruit and veg in a minute. The skin lacks a freshness and translucency. This is because the skin is the last organ to benefit from the nutrients you eat the likes of the brain, heart, and lungs all get first share. If someones diet is lacking in fruit and veg, the skin will become dehydrated. This is a sign that sufficient nutrients arent being delivered, so from an anti-ageing point of view, its important to have live, fresh food and raw food is vital. If you have to cook, steaming will retain at least some of the vitamins and minerals. The other really important thing, and one we tend to miss out on in our diet-obsessed culture, is adequate intake of essential fatty acids (EFAs), from oily fish, nuts, and seeds. EFAs are vital for prolonging life expectancy because every cell in the body has a phospholipid bilayer that protects it, but they also give the skin a dewy, bouncy, youthful feel. One of the worst things you can do in terms of looking old is to go on a low-fat diet. Stress is another big one for adding years. We can help support the adrenal and thyroid glands, which take a hammering when were stressed, by eating plenty of fresh vitamin C and magnesium for the adrenal glands; and iodine, selenium, zinc, and B vitamins to support the thyroid. EXERCISE Weve come to think of exercise as a pure slimming pursuit and women tend to be rather scared of lifting weights, but building lean tissue through weight-bearing exercise is key to keeping the years at bay. Exercise can help reduce the effects of ageing by slowing down the decline of type II muscle fibres. Generally, type I muscle fibres deal with aerobic activities and type II with anaerobic ones. The type II responds to resistance work to improve muscle tone. With ageing, theres a reduction in frequency, duration, and intensity of habitual activity: we generally move less. So, these type II fibres deteriorate because they simply dont get enough stimuli. SKIN CARE Almost every skin cream promises to make you look younger. Its a promise many are seduced by, but many end up disappointed. The problem is not that products dont work, but starting too late, and then not spending enough money. A lot of people skip good skin care until they think they need it, and by then its actually too late. In women, the skin around the eyes is the first to go, in men its the hands. A good routine should start early because maintenance is much easier than repair. Your skin also becomes more transparent as you get older, so you need to adapt your make-up and hair colour accordingly. Foundation should be lighter than youd imagine, and sheerer, and if you want to cover grey, dont be tempted to go for a too-dark hair colour or block colour highlights are kind. Dont forget to apply moisturiser around the back of the neck: Its the only bit of skin attached to a bone, so its important that you look after it to avoid sagging. | Some people dont get enough fatty acids because they are slimming. | e |
id_2064 | Do You Look Your Age? It can be hard to guess someones exact age. A range of factors may leave marks on our appearance: how much sleep Weve had even the way we dress and our view of ourselves. The good news is that just as these factors can add years on to your appearance, it follows that they can also take years off. We dont always have control over some of those social factors that can make us look younger, but there are other steps we can take to try to stop the ravages of age. SOCIAL FACTORS Last month, the University of Southern Denmark published a report, The Influence of Environmental Factors on Facial Ageing, which showed that how we live can affect how old we look. In it, 1,826 twins were photographed and then ten female nurses aged between 25-46 years were asked to guess how old the models were. The results were intriguing. They showed that belonging to a high social class can make us look up to four years younger, and many other lifestyle factors were shown to affect the way we look. Having children was found to make men look a full year younger, though it had no effect on women, and having four or more children cancelled out the benefit. Depression and sun exposure were the biggest factors in making you look old before your time. Depression added up to three and a half years to a womans perceived age (and 2.4 years for men). Sun exposure piled on at least an extra year. Smoking put on six months for a woman and a year for a man. Meanwhile, having a high BMI (body mass index) was found to take a whole year off for both men and women. If you are not depressed, not a smoker and not too skinny, you are basically doing well, says Professor Kaare Christensen (married, three children, non-smoker), one of the reports authors. Professor Christensens report concluded that it was more dangerous for our health to look a year older, than to actually be a year older. NUTRITION This is possibly the biggest change we can make fairly easily. There are four main factors that prematurely age us: smoking, too much alcohol, lack of fresh fruit and vegetables, and insufficient protein intake. You can immediately tell a smoker. Its not just the lines around the mouth and eyes, but smoking is dehydrating to the body. Every time you inhale on a cigarette, youre taking toxins into the body which have to be diffused and detoxified by the liver and kidneys, and theyre dependent on plenty of fresh water to carry toxins away. Most smokers dont drink anywhere near enough water. The really big, quick fix, though, is eating more fresh fruit and vegetables. You can see if someone doesnt eat enough, or any, fresh fruit and veg in a minute. The skin lacks a freshness and translucency. This is because the skin is the last organ to benefit from the nutrients you eat the likes of the brain, heart, and lungs all get first share. If someones diet is lacking in fruit and veg, the skin will become dehydrated. This is a sign that sufficient nutrients arent being delivered, so from an anti-ageing point of view, its important to have live, fresh food and raw food is vital. If you have to cook, steaming will retain at least some of the vitamins and minerals. The other really important thing, and one we tend to miss out on in our diet-obsessed culture, is adequate intake of essential fatty acids (EFAs), from oily fish, nuts, and seeds. EFAs are vital for prolonging life expectancy because every cell in the body has a phospholipid bilayer that protects it, but they also give the skin a dewy, bouncy, youthful feel. One of the worst things you can do in terms of looking old is to go on a low-fat diet. Stress is another big one for adding years. We can help support the adrenal and thyroid glands, which take a hammering when were stressed, by eating plenty of fresh vitamin C and magnesium for the adrenal glands; and iodine, selenium, zinc, and B vitamins to support the thyroid. EXERCISE Weve come to think of exercise as a pure slimming pursuit and women tend to be rather scared of lifting weights, but building lean tissue through weight-bearing exercise is key to keeping the years at bay. Exercise can help reduce the effects of ageing by slowing down the decline of type II muscle fibres. Generally, type I muscle fibres deal with aerobic activities and type II with anaerobic ones. The type II responds to resistance work to improve muscle tone. With ageing, theres a reduction in frequency, duration, and intensity of habitual activity: we generally move less. So, these type II fibres deteriorate because they simply dont get enough stimuli. SKIN CARE Almost every skin cream promises to make you look younger. Its a promise many are seduced by, but many end up disappointed. The problem is not that products dont work, but starting too late, and then not spending enough money. A lot of people skip good skin care until they think they need it, and by then its actually too late. In women, the skin around the eyes is the first to go, in men its the hands. A good routine should start early because maintenance is much easier than repair. Your skin also becomes more transparent as you get older, so you need to adapt your make-up and hair colour accordingly. Foundation should be lighter than youd imagine, and sheerer, and if you want to cover grey, dont be tempted to go for a too-dark hair colour or block colour highlights are kind. Dont forget to apply moisturiser around the back of the neck: Its the only bit of skin attached to a bone, so its important that you look after it to avoid sagging. | Smokers need to drink more water than non-smokers. | e |
id_2065 | Do You Look Your Age? It can be hard to guess someones exact age. A range of factors may leave marks on our appearance: how much sleep Weve had even the way we dress and our view of ourselves. The good news is that just as these factors can add years on to your appearance, it follows that they can also take years off. We dont always have control over some of those social factors that can make us look younger, but there are other steps we can take to try to stop the ravages of age. SOCIAL FACTORS Last month, the University of Southern Denmark published a report, The Influence of Environmental Factors on Facial Ageing, which showed that how we live can affect how old we look. In it, 1,826 twins were photographed and then ten female nurses aged between 25-46 years were asked to guess how old the models were. The results were intriguing. They showed that belonging to a high social class can make us look up to four years younger, and many other lifestyle factors were shown to affect the way we look. Having children was found to make men look a full year younger, though it had no effect on women, and having four or more children cancelled out the benefit. Depression and sun exposure were the biggest factors in making you look old before your time. Depression added up to three and a half years to a womans perceived age (and 2.4 years for men). Sun exposure piled on at least an extra year. Smoking put on six months for a woman and a year for a man. Meanwhile, having a high BMI (body mass index) was found to take a whole year off for both men and women. If you are not depressed, not a smoker and not too skinny, you are basically doing well, says Professor Kaare Christensen (married, three children, non-smoker), one of the reports authors. Professor Christensens report concluded that it was more dangerous for our health to look a year older, than to actually be a year older. NUTRITION This is possibly the biggest change we can make fairly easily. There are four main factors that prematurely age us: smoking, too much alcohol, lack of fresh fruit and vegetables, and insufficient protein intake. You can immediately tell a smoker. Its not just the lines around the mouth and eyes, but smoking is dehydrating to the body. Every time you inhale on a cigarette, youre taking toxins into the body which have to be diffused and detoxified by the liver and kidneys, and theyre dependent on plenty of fresh water to carry toxins away. Most smokers dont drink anywhere near enough water. The really big, quick fix, though, is eating more fresh fruit and vegetables. You can see if someone doesnt eat enough, or any, fresh fruit and veg in a minute. The skin lacks a freshness and translucency. This is because the skin is the last organ to benefit from the nutrients you eat the likes of the brain, heart, and lungs all get first share. If someones diet is lacking in fruit and veg, the skin will become dehydrated. This is a sign that sufficient nutrients arent being delivered, so from an anti-ageing point of view, its important to have live, fresh food and raw food is vital. If you have to cook, steaming will retain at least some of the vitamins and minerals. The other really important thing, and one we tend to miss out on in our diet-obsessed culture, is adequate intake of essential fatty acids (EFAs), from oily fish, nuts, and seeds. EFAs are vital for prolonging life expectancy because every cell in the body has a phospholipid bilayer that protects it, but they also give the skin a dewy, bouncy, youthful feel. One of the worst things you can do in terms of looking old is to go on a low-fat diet. Stress is another big one for adding years. We can help support the adrenal and thyroid glands, which take a hammering when were stressed, by eating plenty of fresh vitamin C and magnesium for the adrenal glands; and iodine, selenium, zinc, and B vitamins to support the thyroid. EXERCISE Weve come to think of exercise as a pure slimming pursuit and women tend to be rather scared of lifting weights, but building lean tissue through weight-bearing exercise is key to keeping the years at bay. Exercise can help reduce the effects of ageing by slowing down the decline of type II muscle fibres. Generally, type I muscle fibres deal with aerobic activities and type II with anaerobic ones. The type II responds to resistance work to improve muscle tone. With ageing, theres a reduction in frequency, duration, and intensity of habitual activity: we generally move less. So, these type II fibres deteriorate because they simply dont get enough stimuli. SKIN CARE Almost every skin cream promises to make you look younger. Its a promise many are seduced by, but many end up disappointed. The problem is not that products dont work, but starting too late, and then not spending enough money. A lot of people skip good skin care until they think they need it, and by then its actually too late. In women, the skin around the eyes is the first to go, in men its the hands. A good routine should start early because maintenance is much easier than repair. Your skin also becomes more transparent as you get older, so you need to adapt your make-up and hair colour accordingly. Foundation should be lighter than youd imagine, and sheerer, and if you want to cover grey, dont be tempted to go for a too-dark hair colour or block colour highlights are kind. Dont forget to apply moisturiser around the back of the neck: Its the only bit of skin attached to a bone, so its important that you look after it to avoid sagging. | A persons social class can affect how old they look. | e |
id_2066 | Do You Look Your Age? It can be hard to guess someones exact age. A range of factors may leave marks on our appearance: how much sleep Weve had even the way we dress and our view of ourselves. The good news is that just as these factors can add years on to your appearance, it follows that they can also take years off. We dont always have control over some of those social factors that can make us look younger, but there are other steps we can take to try to stop the ravages of age. SOCIAL FACTORS Last month, the University of Southern Denmark published a report, The Influence of Environmental Factors on Facial Ageing, which showed that how we live can affect how old we look. In it, 1,826 twins were photographed and then ten female nurses aged between 25-46 years were asked to guess how old the models were. The results were intriguing. They showed that belonging to a high social class can make us look up to four years younger, and many other lifestyle factors were shown to affect the way we look. Having children was found to make men look a full year younger, though it had no effect on women, and having four or more children cancelled out the benefit. Depression and sun exposure were the biggest factors in making you look old before your time. Depression added up to three and a half years to a womans perceived age (and 2.4 years for men). Sun exposure piled on at least an extra year. Smoking put on six months for a woman and a year for a man. Meanwhile, having a high BMI (body mass index) was found to take a whole year off for both men and women. If you are not depressed, not a smoker and not too skinny, you are basically doing well, says Professor Kaare Christensen (married, three children, non-smoker), one of the reports authors. Professor Christensens report concluded that it was more dangerous for our health to look a year older, than to actually be a year older. NUTRITION This is possibly the biggest change we can make fairly easily. There are four main factors that prematurely age us: smoking, too much alcohol, lack of fresh fruit and vegetables, and insufficient protein intake. You can immediately tell a smoker. Its not just the lines around the mouth and eyes, but smoking is dehydrating to the body. Every time you inhale on a cigarette, youre taking toxins into the body which have to be diffused and detoxified by the liver and kidneys, and theyre dependent on plenty of fresh water to carry toxins away. Most smokers dont drink anywhere near enough water. The really big, quick fix, though, is eating more fresh fruit and vegetables. You can see if someone doesnt eat enough, or any, fresh fruit and veg in a minute. The skin lacks a freshness and translucency. This is because the skin is the last organ to benefit from the nutrients you eat the likes of the brain, heart, and lungs all get first share. If someones diet is lacking in fruit and veg, the skin will become dehydrated. This is a sign that sufficient nutrients arent being delivered, so from an anti-ageing point of view, its important to have live, fresh food and raw food is vital. If you have to cook, steaming will retain at least some of the vitamins and minerals. The other really important thing, and one we tend to miss out on in our diet-obsessed culture, is adequate intake of essential fatty acids (EFAs), from oily fish, nuts, and seeds. EFAs are vital for prolonging life expectancy because every cell in the body has a phospholipid bilayer that protects it, but they also give the skin a dewy, bouncy, youthful feel. One of the worst things you can do in terms of looking old is to go on a low-fat diet. Stress is another big one for adding years. We can help support the adrenal and thyroid glands, which take a hammering when were stressed, by eating plenty of fresh vitamin C and magnesium for the adrenal glands; and iodine, selenium, zinc, and B vitamins to support the thyroid. EXERCISE Weve come to think of exercise as a pure slimming pursuit and women tend to be rather scared of lifting weights, but building lean tissue through weight-bearing exercise is key to keeping the years at bay. Exercise can help reduce the effects of ageing by slowing down the decline of type II muscle fibres. Generally, type I muscle fibres deal with aerobic activities and type II with anaerobic ones. The type II responds to resistance work to improve muscle tone. With ageing, theres a reduction in frequency, duration, and intensity of habitual activity: we generally move less. So, these type II fibres deteriorate because they simply dont get enough stimuli. SKIN CARE Almost every skin cream promises to make you look younger. Its a promise many are seduced by, but many end up disappointed. The problem is not that products dont work, but starting too late, and then not spending enough money. A lot of people skip good skin care until they think they need it, and by then its actually too late. In women, the skin around the eyes is the first to go, in men its the hands. A good routine should start early because maintenance is much easier than repair. Your skin also becomes more transparent as you get older, so you need to adapt your make-up and hair colour accordingly. Foundation should be lighter than youd imagine, and sheerer, and if you want to cover grey, dont be tempted to go for a too-dark hair colour or block colour highlights are kind. Dont forget to apply moisturiser around the back of the neck: Its the only bit of skin attached to a bone, so its important that you look after it to avoid sagging. | Having children makes men and women look younger. | c |
id_2067 | Do literate women make better mothers? Children in developing countries are healthier and more likely to survive past the age of five when their mothers can read and write. Experts in public health accepted this idea decades ago, but until now no one has been able to show that a womans ability to read in itself improves her childrens chances of survival. Most literate women learnt to read in primary school, and the fact that a woman has had an education may simply indicate her familys wealth or that it values its children more highly. Now a long-term study carried out in Nicaragua has eliminated these factors by showing that teaching reading to poor adult women, who would otherwise have remained illiterate, has a direct effect on their childrens health and survival. In 1979, the government of Nicaragua established a number of social programmes, including a National Literacy Crusade. By 1985, about 300,000 illiterate adults from all over the country, many of whom had never attended primary school, had learnt how to read, write and use numbers. During this period, researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Central American Institute of Health in Nicaragua, the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua and the Costa Rican Institute of Health interviewed nearly 3,000 women, some of whom had learnt to read as children, some during the literacy crusade and some who had never learnt at all. The women were asked how many children they had given birth to and how many of them had died in infancy. The research teams also examined the surviving children to find out how well-nourished they were. The investigators findings were striking. In the late 1970s, the infant mortality rate for the children of illiterate mothers was around 110 deaths per thousand live births. At this point in their lives, those mothers who later went on to learn to read had a similar level of child mortality (105/1000). For women educated in primary school, however, the infant mortality rate was significantly lower, at 80 per thousand. In 1985, after the National Literacy Crusade had ended, the infant mortality figures for those who remained illiterate and for those educated in primary school remained more or less unchanged. For those women who learnt to read through the campaign, the infant mortality rate was 84 per thousand, an impressive 21 points lower than for those women who were still illiterate. The children of the newly-literate mothers were also better nourished than those of women who could not read. Why are the children of literate mothers better off? According to Peter Sandiford of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, no one knows for certain. Child health was not on the curriculum during the womens lessons, so he and his colleagues are looking at other factors. They are working with the same group of 3,000 women, to try to find out whether reading mothers make better use of hospitals and clinics, opt for smaller families, exert more control at home, learn modern childcare techniques more quickly, or whether they merely have more respect for themselves and their children. The Nicaraguan study may have important implications for governments and aid agencies that need to know where to direct their resources. Sandiford says that there is increasing evidence that female education, at any age, is an important health intervention in its own right. The results of the study lend support to the World Banks recommendation that education budgets in developing countries should be increased, not just to help their economies, but also to improve child health. Weve known for a long time that maternal education is important, says John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. But we thought that even if we started educating girls today, wed have to wait a generation for the pay-off. The Nicaraguan study suggests we may be able to bypass that. Cleland warns that the Nicaraguan crusade was special in many ways, and similar campaigns elsewhere might not work as well. It is notoriously difficult to teach adults skills that do not have an immediate impact on their everyday lives, and many literacy campaigns in other countries have been much less successful. The crusade was part of a larger effort to bring a better life to the people, says Cleland. Replicating these conditions in other countries will be a major challenge for development workers. | Before and after the National Literacy Crusade, the child mortality rate for the illiterate women stayed at about 110 deaths for each thousand live births. | e |
id_2068 | Do literate women make better mothers? Children in developing countries are healthier and more likely to survive past the age of five when their mothers can read and write. Experts in public health accepted this idea decades ago, but until now no one has been able to show that a womans ability to read in itself improves her childrens chances of survival. Most literate women learnt to read in primary school, and the fact that a woman has had an education may simply indicate her familys wealth or that it values its children more highly. Now a long-term study carried out in Nicaragua has eliminated these factors by showing that teaching reading to poor adult women, who would otherwise have remained illiterate, has a direct effect on their childrens health and survival. In 1979, the government of Nicaragua established a number of social programmes, including a National Literacy Crusade. By 1985, about 300,000 illiterate adults from all over the country, many of whom had never attended primary school, had learnt how to read, write and use numbers. During this period, researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Central American Institute of Health in Nicaragua, the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua and the Costa Rican Institute of Health interviewed nearly 3,000 women, some of whom had learnt to read as children, some during the literacy crusade and some who had never learnt at all. The women were asked how many children they had given birth to and how many of them had died in infancy. The research teams also examined the surviving children to find out how well-nourished they were. The investigators findings were striking. In the late 1970s, the infant mortality rate for the children of illiterate mothers was around 110 deaths per thousand live births. At this point in their lives, those mothers who later went on to learn to read had a similar level of child mortality (105/1000). For women educated in primary school, however, the infant mortality rate was significantly lower, at 80 per thousand. In 1985, after the National Literacy Crusade had ended, the infant mortality figures for those who remained illiterate and for those educated in primary school remained more or less unchanged. For those women who learnt to read through the campaign, the infant mortality rate was 84 per thousand, an impressive 21 points lower than for those women who were still illiterate. The children of the newly-literate mothers were also better nourished than those of women who could not read. Why are the children of literate mothers better off? According to Peter Sandiford of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, no one knows for certain. Child health was not on the curriculum during the womens lessons, so he and his colleagues are looking at other factors. They are working with the same group of 3,000 women, to try to find out whether reading mothers make better use of hospitals and clinics, opt for smaller families, exert more control at home, learn modern childcare techniques more quickly, or whether they merely have more respect for themselves and their children. The Nicaraguan study may have important implications for governments and aid agencies that need to know where to direct their resources. Sandiford says that there is increasing evidence that female education, at any age, is an important health intervention in its own right. The results of the study lend support to the World Banks recommendation that education budgets in developing countries should be increased, not just to help their economies, but also to improve child health. Weve known for a long time that maternal education is important, says John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. But we thought that even if we started educating girls today, wed have to wait a generation for the pay-off. The Nicaraguan study suggests we may be able to bypass that. Cleland warns that the Nicaraguan crusade was special in many ways, and similar campaigns elsewhere might not work as well. It is notoriously difficult to teach adults skills that do not have an immediate impact on their everyday lives, and many literacy campaigns in other countries have been much less successful. The crusade was part of a larger effort to bring a better life to the people, says Cleland. Replicating these conditions in other countries will be a major challenge for development workers. | The women who had learnt to read through the National Literacy Crusade had the lowest rates of child mortality. | c |
id_2069 | Do literate women make better mothers? Children in developing countries are healthier and more likely to survive past the age of five when their mothers can read and write. Experts in public health accepted this idea decades ago, but until now no one has been able to show that a womans ability to read in itself improves her childrens chances of survival. Most literate women learnt to read in primary school, and the fact that a woman has had an education may simply indicate her familys wealth or that it values its children more highly. Now a long-term study carried out in Nicaragua has eliminated these factors by showing that teaching reading to poor adult women, who would otherwise have remained illiterate, has a direct effect on their childrens health and survival. In 1979, the government of Nicaragua established a number of social programmes, including a National Literacy Crusade. By 1985, about 300,000 illiterate adults from all over the country, many of whom had never attended primary school, had learnt how to read, write and use numbers. During this period, researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Central American Institute of Health in Nicaragua, the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua and the Costa Rican Institute of Health interviewed nearly 3,000 women, some of whom had learnt to read as children, some during the literacy crusade and some who had never learnt at all. The women were asked how many children they had given birth to and how many of them had died in infancy. The research teams also examined the surviving children to find out how well-nourished they were. The investigators findings were striking. In the late 1970s, the infant mortality rate for the children of illiterate mothers was around 110 deaths per thousand live births. At this point in their lives, those mothers who later went on to learn to read had a similar level of child mortality (105/1000). For women educated in primary school, however, the infant mortality rate was significantly lower, at 80 per thousand. In 1985, after the National Literacy Crusade had ended, the infant mortality figures for those who remained illiterate and for those educated in primary school remained more or less unchanged. For those women who learnt to read through the campaign, the infant mortality rate was 84 per thousand, an impressive 21 points lower than for those women who were still illiterate. The children of the newly-literate mothers were also better nourished than those of women who could not read. Why are the children of literate mothers better off? According to Peter Sandiford of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, no one knows for certain. Child health was not on the curriculum during the womens lessons, so he and his colleagues are looking at other factors. They are working with the same group of 3,000 women, to try to find out whether reading mothers make better use of hospitals and clinics, opt for smaller families, exert more control at home, learn modern childcare techniques more quickly, or whether they merely have more respect for themselves and their children. The Nicaraguan study may have important implications for governments and aid agencies that need to know where to direct their resources. Sandiford says that there is increasing evidence that female education, at any age, is an important health intervention in its own right. The results of the study lend support to the World Banks recommendation that education budgets in developing countries should be increased, not just to help their economies, but also to improve child health. Weve known for a long time that maternal education is important, says John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. But we thought that even if we started educating girls today, wed have to wait a generation for the pay-off. The Nicaraguan study suggests we may be able to bypass that. Cleland warns that the Nicaraguan crusade was special in many ways, and similar campaigns elsewhere might not work as well. It is notoriously difficult to teach adults skills that do not have an immediate impact on their everyday lives, and many literacy campaigns in other countries have been much less successful. The crusade was part of a larger effort to bring a better life to the people, says Cleland. Replicating these conditions in other countries will be a major challenge for development workers. | After the National Literacy Crusade, the children of the women who remained illiterate were found to be severely malnourished. | n |
id_2070 | Do literate women make better mothers? Children in developing countries are healthier and more likely to survive past the age of five when their mothers can read and write. Experts in public health accepted this idea decades ago, but until now no one has been able to show that a womans ability to read in itself improves her childrens chances of survival. Most literate women learnt to read in primary school, and the fact that a woman has had an education may simply indicate her familys wealth or that it values its children more highly. Now a long-term study carried out in Nicaragua has eliminated these factors by showing that teaching reading to poor adult women, who would otherwise have remained illiterate, has a direct effect on their childrens health and survival. In 1979, the government of Nicaragua established a number of social programmes, including a National Literacy Crusade. By 1985, about 300,000 illiterate adults from all over the country, many of whom had never attended primary school, had learnt how to read, write and use numbers. During this period, researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Central American Institute of Health in Nicaragua, the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua and the Costa Rican Institute of Health interviewed nearly 3,000 women, some of whom had learnt to read as children, some during the literacy crusade and some who had never learnt at all. The women were asked how many children they had given birth to and how many of them had died in infancy. The research teams also examined the surviving children to find out how well-nourished they were. The investigators findings were striking. In the late 1970s, the infant mortality rate for the children of illiterate mothers was around 110 deaths per thousand live births. At this point in their lives, those mothers who later went on to learn to read had a similar level of child mortality (105/1000). For women educated in primary school, however, the infant mortality rate was significantly lower, at 80 per thousand. In 1985, after the National Literacy Crusade had ended, the infant mortality figures for those who remained illiterate and for those educated in primary school remained more or less unchanged. For those women who learnt to read through the campaign, the infant mortality rate was 84 per thousand, an impressive 21 points lower than for those women who were still illiterate. The children of the newly-literate mothers were also better nourished than those of women who could not read. Why are the children of literate mothers better off? According to Peter Sandiford of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, no one knows for certain. Child health was not on the curriculum during the womens lessons, so he and his colleagues are looking at other factors. They are working with the same group of 3,000 women, to try to find out whether reading mothers make better use of hospitals and clinics, opt for smaller families, exert more control at home, learn modern childcare techniques more quickly, or whether they merely have more respect for themselves and their children. The Nicaraguan study may have important implications for governments and aid agencies that need to know where to direct their resources. Sandiford says that there is increasing evidence that female education, at any age, is an important health intervention in its own right. The results of the study lend support to the World Banks recommendation that education budgets in developing countries should be increased, not just to help their economies, but also to improve child health. Weve known for a long time that maternal education is important, says John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. But we thought that even if we started educating girls today, wed have to wait a generation for the pay-off. The Nicaraguan study suggests we may be able to bypass that. Cleland warns that the Nicaraguan crusade was special in many ways, and similar campaigns elsewhere might not work as well. It is notoriously difficult to teach adults skills that do not have an immediate impact on their everyday lives, and many literacy campaigns in other countries have been much less successful. The crusade was part of a larger effort to bring a better life to the people, says Cleland. Replicating these conditions in other countries will be a major challenge for development workers. | The women who had learnt to read through the National Literacy Crusade showed the greatest change in infant mortality levels. | e |
id_2071 | Do literate women make better mothers? Children in developing countries are healthier and more likely to survive past the age of five when their mothers can read and write. Experts in public health accepted this idea decades ago, but until now no one has been able to show that a womans ability to read in itself improves her childrens chances of survival. Most literate women learnt to read in primary school, and the fact that a woman has had an education may simply indicate her familys wealth or that it values its children more highly. Now a long-term study carried out in Nicaragua has eliminated these factors by showing that teaching reading to poor adult women, who would otherwise have remained illiterate, has a direct effect on their childrens health and survival. In 1979, the government of Nicaragua established a number of social programmes, including a National Literacy Crusade. By 1985, about 300,000 illiterate adults from all over the country, many of whom had never attended primary school, had learnt how to read, write and use numbers. During this period, researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Central American Institute of Health in Nicaragua, the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua and the Costa Rican Institute of Health interviewed nearly 3,000 women, some of whom had learnt to read as children, some during the literacy crusade and some who had never learnt at all. The women were asked how many children they had given birth to and how many of them had died in infancy. The research teams also examined the surviving children to find out how well-nourished they were. The investigators findings were striking. In the late 1970s, the infant mortality rate for the children of illiterate mothers was around 110 deaths per thousand live births. At this point in their lives, those mothers who later went on to learn to read had a similar level of child mortality (105/1000). For women educated in primary school, however, the infant mortality rate was significantly lower, at 80 per thousand. In 1985, after the National Literacy Crusade had ended, the infant mortality figures for those who remained illiterate and for those educated in primary school remained more or less unchanged. For those women who learnt to read through the campaign, the infant mortality rate was 84 per thousand, an impressive 21 points lower than for those women who were still illiterate. The children of the newly-literate mothers were also better nourished than those of women who could not read. Why are the children of literate mothers better off? According to Peter Sandiford of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, no one knows for certain. Child health was not on the curriculum during the womens lessons, so he and his colleagues are looking at other factors. They are working with the same group of 3,000 women, to try to find out whether reading mothers make better use of hospitals and clinics, opt for smaller families, exert more control at home, learn modern childcare techniques more quickly, or whether they merely have more respect for themselves and their children. The Nicaraguan study may have important implications for governments and aid agencies that need to know where to direct their resources. Sandiford says that there is increasing evidence that female education, at any age, is an important health intervention in its own right. The results of the study lend support to the World Banks recommendation that education budgets in developing countries should be increased, not just to help their economies, but also to improve child health. Weve known for a long time that maternal education is important, says John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. But we thought that even if we started educating girls today, wed have to wait a generation for the pay-off. The Nicaraguan study suggests we may be able to bypass that. Cleland warns that the Nicaraguan crusade was special in many ways, and similar campaigns elsewhere might not work as well. It is notoriously difficult to teach adults skills that do not have an immediate impact on their everyday lives, and many literacy campaigns in other countries have been much less successful. The crusade was part of a larger effort to bring a better life to the people, says Cleland. Replicating these conditions in other countries will be a major challenge for development workers. | Before the National Literacy Crusade, illiterate women had approximately the same levels of infant mortality as those who had learnt to read in primary school. | c |
id_2072 | Do literate women make better mothers? Children in developing countries are healthier and more likely to survive past the age of five when their mothers can read and write. Experts in public health accepted this idea decades ago, but until now no one has been able to show that a womans ability to read in itself improves her childrens chances of survival. Most literate women learnt to read in primary school, and the fact that a woman has had an education may simply indicate her familys wealth or that it values its children more highly. Now a long-term study carried out in Nicaragua has eliminated these factors by showing that teaching reading to poor adult women, who would otherwise have remained illiterate, has a direct effect on their childrens health and survival. In 1979, the government of Nicaragua established a number of social programmes, including a National Literacy Crusade. By 1985, about 300,000 illiterate adults from all over the country, many of whom had never attended primary school, had learnt how to read, write and use numbers. During this period, researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Central American Institute of Health in Nicaragua, the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua and the Costa Rican Institute of Health interviewed nearly 3,000 women, some of whom had learnt to read as children, some during the literacy crusade and some who had never learnt at all. The women were asked how many children they had given birth to and how many of them had died in infancy. The research teams also examined the surviving children to find out how well-nourished they were. The investigators findings were striking. In the late 1970s, the infant mortality rate for the children of illiterate mothers was around 110 deaths per thousand live births. At this point in their lives, those mothers who later went on to learn to read had a similar level of child mortality (105/1000). For women educated in primary school, however, the infant mortality rate was significantly lower, at 80 per thousand. In 1985, after the National Literacy Crusade had ended, the infant mortality figures for those who remained illiterate and for those educated in primary school remained more or less unchanged. For those women who learnt to read through the campaign, the infant mortality rate was 84 per thousand, an impressive 21 points lower than for those women who were still illiterate. The children of the newly-literate mothers were also better nourished than those of women who could not read. Why are the children of literate mothers better off? According to Peter Sandiford of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, no one knows for certain. Child health was not on the curriculum during the womens lessons, so he and his colleagues are looking at other factors. They are working with the same group of 3,000 women, to try to find out whether reading mothers make better use of hospitals and clinics, opt for smaller families, exert more control at home, learn modern childcare techniques more quickly, or whether they merely have more respect for themselves and their children. The Nicaraguan study may have important implications for governments and aid agencies that need to know where to direct their resources. Sandiford says that there is increasing evidence that female education, at any age, is an important health intervention in its own right. The results of the study lend support to the World Banks recommendation that education budgets in developing countries should be increased, not just to help their economies, but also to improve child health. Weve known for a long time that maternal education is important, says John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. But we thought that even if we started educating girls today, wed have to wait a generation for the pay-off. The Nicaraguan study suggests we may be able to bypass that. Cleland warns that the Nicaraguan crusade was special in many ways, and similar campaigns elsewhere might not work as well. It is notoriously difficult to teach adults skills that do not have an immediate impact on their everyday lives, and many literacy campaigns in other countries have been much less successful. The crusade was part of a larger effort to bring a better life to the people, says Cleland. Replicating these conditions in other countries will be a major challenge for development workers. | About a thousand of the women interviewed by the researchers had learnt to read when they were children. | n |
id_2073 | Do scientific investigations of our past add to our understanding or do they whittle away at the mystery? Archaeology, carbon dating and DNA analysis have been used to disprove popular explanations of historic events and to claim that supposed historic events could never have taken place. | Science can play a positive role and rather than be seen to discredit popular belief instead enrich it. | n |
id_2074 | Do scientific investigations of our past add to our understanding or do they whittle away at the mystery? Archaeology, carbon dating and DNA analysis have been used to disprove popular explanations of historic events and to claim that supposed historic events could never have taken place. | An example of the scientific debunking of popular belief is the use of satellite images to locate a fabled, lost city. | c |
id_2075 | Doctoring sales. Pharmaceuticals is one of the most profitable industries in North America. But do the drugs industrys sales and marketing strategies go too far? A few months ago Kim Schaefer, sales representative of a major global pharmaceutical company, walked into a medical center in New York to bring information and free samples of her companys latest products. That day she was lucky a doctor was available to see her. The last rep offered me a trip to Florida. What do you have? the physician asked. He was only half joking. What was on offer that day was a pair of tickets for a New York musical. But on any given day, what Schaefer can offer is typical for todays drugs rep a car trunk full of promotional gifts and gadgets, a budget that could buy lunches and dinners for a small country, hundreds of free drug samples and the freedom to give a physician $200 to prescribe her new product to the next six patients who fit the drugs profile. And she also has a few $1,000 honoraria to offer in exchange for doctors attendance at her companys next educational lecture. Selling pharmaceuticals is a daily exercise in ethical judgement. Salespeople like Schaefer walk the line between the common practice of buying a prospects time with a free meal, and bribing doctors to prescribe their drugs. They work in an industry highly criticized for its sales and marketing practices, but find themselves in the middle of the age-old chicken-or-egg question businesses wont use strategies that dont work, so are doctors to blame for the escalating extravagance of pharmaceutical marketing? Or is it the industrys responsibility to decide the boundaries? The explosion in the sheer number of salespeople in the field and the amount of funding used to promote their causes forces close examination of the pressures, influences and relationships between drug reps and doctors. Salespeople provide much-needed information and education to physicians. In many cases the glossy brochures, article reprints and prescriptions they deliver are primary sources of drug education for healthcare givers. With the huge investment the industry has placed in face-to-face selling, salespeople have essentially become specialists in one drug or group of drugs a tremendous advantage in getting the attention of busy doctors in need of quick information. But the sales push rarely stops in the office. The flashy brochures and pamphlets left by the sales reps are often followed up with meals at expensive restaurants, meetings in warm and sunny places, and an inundation of promotional gadgets. Rarely do patients watch a doctor write with a pen that isnt emblazoned with a drugs name, or see a nurse use a tablet not bearing a pharmaceutical companys logo. Millions of dollars are spent by pharmaceutical companies on promotional products like coffee mugs, shirts, umbrellas, and golf balls. Money well spent? Its hard to tell. Ive been the recipient of golf balls from one company and I use them, but it doesnt make me prescribe their medicine, says one doctor. I tend to think Im not influenced by what they give me. Free samples of new and expensive drugs might be the single most effective way of getting doctors and patients to become loyal to a product. Salespeople hand out hundreds of dollars worth of samples each week $7.2 billion worth of them in one year. Though few comprehensive studies have been conducted, one by the University of Washington investigated how drug sample availability affected what physicians prescribe. A total of 131 doctors self-reported their prescribing patterns the conclusion was that the availability of samples led them to dispense and prescribe drugs that differed from their preferred drug choice. The bottom line is that pharmaceutical companies as a whole invest more in marketing than they do in research and development. And patients are the ones who pay in the form of sky-rocketing prescription prices for every pen thats handed out, every free theatre ticket, and every steak dinner eaten. In the end the fact remains that pharmaceutical companies have every right to make a profit and will continue to find new ways to increase sales. But as the medical world continues to grapple with whats acceptable and whats not, it is dear that companies must continue to be heavily scrutinized for their sales and marketing strategies. | Sales representatives like Kim Schaefer work to a very limited budget. | c |
id_2076 | Doctoring sales. Pharmaceuticals is one of the most profitable industries in North America. But do the drugs industrys sales and marketing strategies go too far? A few months ago Kim Schaefer, sales representative of a major global pharmaceutical company, walked into a medical center in New York to bring information and free samples of her companys latest products. That day she was lucky a doctor was available to see her. The last rep offered me a trip to Florida. What do you have? the physician asked. He was only half joking. What was on offer that day was a pair of tickets for a New York musical. But on any given day, what Schaefer can offer is typical for todays drugs rep a car trunk full of promotional gifts and gadgets, a budget that could buy lunches and dinners for a small country, hundreds of free drug samples and the freedom to give a physician $200 to prescribe her new product to the next six patients who fit the drugs profile. And she also has a few $1,000 honoraria to offer in exchange for doctors attendance at her companys next educational lecture. Selling pharmaceuticals is a daily exercise in ethical judgement. Salespeople like Schaefer walk the line between the common practice of buying a prospects time with a free meal, and bribing doctors to prescribe their drugs. They work in an industry highly criticized for its sales and marketing practices, but find themselves in the middle of the age-old chicken-or-egg question businesses wont use strategies that dont work, so are doctors to blame for the escalating extravagance of pharmaceutical marketing? Or is it the industrys responsibility to decide the boundaries? The explosion in the sheer number of salespeople in the field and the amount of funding used to promote their causes forces close examination of the pressures, influences and relationships between drug reps and doctors. Salespeople provide much-needed information and education to physicians. In many cases the glossy brochures, article reprints and prescriptions they deliver are primary sources of drug education for healthcare givers. With the huge investment the industry has placed in face-to-face selling, salespeople have essentially become specialists in one drug or group of drugs a tremendous advantage in getting the attention of busy doctors in need of quick information. But the sales push rarely stops in the office. The flashy brochures and pamphlets left by the sales reps are often followed up with meals at expensive restaurants, meetings in warm and sunny places, and an inundation of promotional gadgets. Rarely do patients watch a doctor write with a pen that isnt emblazoned with a drugs name, or see a nurse use a tablet not bearing a pharmaceutical companys logo. Millions of dollars are spent by pharmaceutical companies on promotional products like coffee mugs, shirts, umbrellas, and golf balls. Money well spent? Its hard to tell. Ive been the recipient of golf balls from one company and I use them, but it doesnt make me prescribe their medicine, says one doctor. I tend to think Im not influenced by what they give me. Free samples of new and expensive drugs might be the single most effective way of getting doctors and patients to become loyal to a product. Salespeople hand out hundreds of dollars worth of samples each week $7.2 billion worth of them in one year. Though few comprehensive studies have been conducted, one by the University of Washington investigated how drug sample availability affected what physicians prescribe. A total of 131 doctors self-reported their prescribing patterns the conclusion was that the availability of samples led them to dispense and prescribe drugs that differed from their preferred drug choice. The bottom line is that pharmaceutical companies as a whole invest more in marketing than they do in research and development. And patients are the ones who pay in the form of sky-rocketing prescription prices for every pen thats handed out, every free theatre ticket, and every steak dinner eaten. In the end the fact remains that pharmaceutical companies have every right to make a profit and will continue to find new ways to increase sales. But as the medical world continues to grapple with whats acceptable and whats not, it is dear that companies must continue to be heavily scrutinized for their sales and marketing strategies. | Kim Schaefers marketing technique may be open to criticism on moral grounds. | e |
id_2077 | Doctoring sales. Pharmaceuticals is one of the most profitable industries in North America. But do the drugs industrys sales and marketing strategies go too far? A few months ago Kim Schaefer, sales representative of a major global pharmaceutical company, walked into a medical center in New York to bring information and free samples of her companys latest products. That day she was lucky a doctor was available to see her. The last rep offered me a trip to Florida. What do you have? the physician asked. He was only half joking. What was on offer that day was a pair of tickets for a New York musical. But on any given day, what Schaefer can offer is typical for todays drugs rep a car trunk full of promotional gifts and gadgets, a budget that could buy lunches and dinners for a small country, hundreds of free drug samples and the freedom to give a physician $200 to prescribe her new product to the next six patients who fit the drugs profile. And she also has a few $1,000 honoraria to offer in exchange for doctors attendance at her companys next educational lecture. Selling pharmaceuticals is a daily exercise in ethical judgement. Salespeople like Schaefer walk the line between the common practice of buying a prospects time with a free meal, and bribing doctors to prescribe their drugs. They work in an industry highly criticized for its sales and marketing practices, but find themselves in the middle of the age-old chicken-or-egg question businesses wont use strategies that dont work, so are doctors to blame for the escalating extravagance of pharmaceutical marketing? Or is it the industrys responsibility to decide the boundaries? The explosion in the sheer number of salespeople in the field and the amount of funding used to promote their causes forces close examination of the pressures, influences and relationships between drug reps and doctors. Salespeople provide much-needed information and education to physicians. In many cases the glossy brochures, article reprints and prescriptions they deliver are primary sources of drug education for healthcare givers. With the huge investment the industry has placed in face-to-face selling, salespeople have essentially become specialists in one drug or group of drugs a tremendous advantage in getting the attention of busy doctors in need of quick information. But the sales push rarely stops in the office. The flashy brochures and pamphlets left by the sales reps are often followed up with meals at expensive restaurants, meetings in warm and sunny places, and an inundation of promotional gadgets. Rarely do patients watch a doctor write with a pen that isnt emblazoned with a drugs name, or see a nurse use a tablet not bearing a pharmaceutical companys logo. Millions of dollars are spent by pharmaceutical companies on promotional products like coffee mugs, shirts, umbrellas, and golf balls. Money well spent? Its hard to tell. Ive been the recipient of golf balls from one company and I use them, but it doesnt make me prescribe their medicine, says one doctor. I tend to think Im not influenced by what they give me. Free samples of new and expensive drugs might be the single most effective way of getting doctors and patients to become loyal to a product. Salespeople hand out hundreds of dollars worth of samples each week $7.2 billion worth of them in one year. Though few comprehensive studies have been conducted, one by the University of Washington investigated how drug sample availability affected what physicians prescribe. A total of 131 doctors self-reported their prescribing patterns the conclusion was that the availability of samples led them to dispense and prescribe drugs that differed from their preferred drug choice. The bottom line is that pharmaceutical companies as a whole invest more in marketing than they do in research and development. And patients are the ones who pay in the form of sky-rocketing prescription prices for every pen thats handed out, every free theatre ticket, and every steak dinner eaten. In the end the fact remains that pharmaceutical companies have every right to make a profit and will continue to find new ways to increase sales. But as the medical world continues to grapple with whats acceptable and whats not, it is dear that companies must continue to be heavily scrutinized for their sales and marketing strategies. | The information provided by drug companies is of little use to doctors. | c |
id_2078 | Doctoring sales. Pharmaceuticals is one of the most profitable industries in North America. But do the drugs industrys sales and marketing strategies go too far? A few months ago Kim Schaefer, sales representative of a major global pharmaceutical company, walked into a medical center in New York to bring information and free samples of her companys latest products. That day she was lucky a doctor was available to see her. The last rep offered me a trip to Florida. What do you have? the physician asked. He was only half joking. What was on offer that day was a pair of tickets for a New York musical. But on any given day, what Schaefer can offer is typical for todays drugs rep a car trunk full of promotional gifts and gadgets, a budget that could buy lunches and dinners for a small country, hundreds of free drug samples and the freedom to give a physician $200 to prescribe her new product to the next six patients who fit the drugs profile. And she also has a few $1,000 honoraria to offer in exchange for doctors attendance at her companys next educational lecture. Selling pharmaceuticals is a daily exercise in ethical judgement. Salespeople like Schaefer walk the line between the common practice of buying a prospects time with a free meal, and bribing doctors to prescribe their drugs. They work in an industry highly criticized for its sales and marketing practices, but find themselves in the middle of the age-old chicken-or-egg question businesses wont use strategies that dont work, so are doctors to blame for the escalating extravagance of pharmaceutical marketing? Or is it the industrys responsibility to decide the boundaries? The explosion in the sheer number of salespeople in the field and the amount of funding used to promote their causes forces close examination of the pressures, influences and relationships between drug reps and doctors. Salespeople provide much-needed information and education to physicians. In many cases the glossy brochures, article reprints and prescriptions they deliver are primary sources of drug education for healthcare givers. With the huge investment the industry has placed in face-to-face selling, salespeople have essentially become specialists in one drug or group of drugs a tremendous advantage in getting the attention of busy doctors in need of quick information. But the sales push rarely stops in the office. The flashy brochures and pamphlets left by the sales reps are often followed up with meals at expensive restaurants, meetings in warm and sunny places, and an inundation of promotional gadgets. Rarely do patients watch a doctor write with a pen that isnt emblazoned with a drugs name, or see a nurse use a tablet not bearing a pharmaceutical companys logo. Millions of dollars are spent by pharmaceutical companies on promotional products like coffee mugs, shirts, umbrellas, and golf balls. Money well spent? Its hard to tell. Ive been the recipient of golf balls from one company and I use them, but it doesnt make me prescribe their medicine, says one doctor. I tend to think Im not influenced by what they give me. Free samples of new and expensive drugs might be the single most effective way of getting doctors and patients to become loyal to a product. Salespeople hand out hundreds of dollars worth of samples each week $7.2 billion worth of them in one year. Though few comprehensive studies have been conducted, one by the University of Washington investigated how drug sample availability affected what physicians prescribe. A total of 131 doctors self-reported their prescribing patterns the conclusion was that the availability of samples led them to dispense and prescribe drugs that differed from their preferred drug choice. The bottom line is that pharmaceutical companies as a whole invest more in marketing than they do in research and development. And patients are the ones who pay in the form of sky-rocketing prescription prices for every pen thats handed out, every free theatre ticket, and every steak dinner eaten. In the end the fact remains that pharmaceutical companies have every right to make a profit and will continue to find new ways to increase sales. But as the medical world continues to grapple with whats acceptable and whats not, it is dear that companies must continue to be heavily scrutinized for their sales and marketing strategies. | It is legitimate for drug companies to make money. | e |
id_2079 | Doctoring sales. Pharmaceuticals is one of the most profitable industries in North America. But do the drugs industrys sales and marketing strategies go too far? A few months ago Kim Schaefer, sales representative of a major global pharmaceutical company, walked into a medical center in New York to bring information and free samples of her companys latest products. That day she was lucky a doctor was available to see her. The last rep offered me a trip to Florida. What do you have? the physician asked. He was only half joking. What was on offer that day was a pair of tickets for a New York musical. But on any given day, what Schaefer can offer is typical for todays drugs rep a car trunk full of promotional gifts and gadgets, a budget that could buy lunches and dinners for a small country, hundreds of free drug samples and the freedom to give a physician $200 to prescribe her new product to the next six patients who fit the drugs profile. And she also has a few $1,000 honoraria to offer in exchange for doctors attendance at her companys next educational lecture. Selling pharmaceuticals is a daily exercise in ethical judgement. Salespeople like Schaefer walk the line between the common practice of buying a prospects time with a free meal, and bribing doctors to prescribe their drugs. They work in an industry highly criticized for its sales and marketing practices, but find themselves in the middle of the age-old chicken-or-egg question businesses wont use strategies that dont work, so are doctors to blame for the escalating extravagance of pharmaceutical marketing? Or is it the industrys responsibility to decide the boundaries? The explosion in the sheer number of salespeople in the field and the amount of funding used to promote their causes forces close examination of the pressures, influences and relationships between drug reps and doctors. Salespeople provide much-needed information and education to physicians. In many cases the glossy brochures, article reprints and prescriptions they deliver are primary sources of drug education for healthcare givers. With the huge investment the industry has placed in face-to-face selling, salespeople have essentially become specialists in one drug or group of drugs a tremendous advantage in getting the attention of busy doctors in need of quick information. But the sales push rarely stops in the office. The flashy brochures and pamphlets left by the sales reps are often followed up with meals at expensive restaurants, meetings in warm and sunny places, and an inundation of promotional gadgets. Rarely do patients watch a doctor write with a pen that isnt emblazoned with a drugs name, or see a nurse use a tablet not bearing a pharmaceutical companys logo. Millions of dollars are spent by pharmaceutical companies on promotional products like coffee mugs, shirts, umbrellas, and golf balls. Money well spent? Its hard to tell. Ive been the recipient of golf balls from one company and I use them, but it doesnt make me prescribe their medicine, says one doctor. I tend to think Im not influenced by what they give me. Free samples of new and expensive drugs might be the single most effective way of getting doctors and patients to become loyal to a product. Salespeople hand out hundreds of dollars worth of samples each week $7.2 billion worth of them in one year. Though few comprehensive studies have been conducted, one by the University of Washington investigated how drug sample availability affected what physicians prescribe. A total of 131 doctors self-reported their prescribing patterns the conclusion was that the availability of samples led them to dispense and prescribe drugs that differed from their preferred drug choice. The bottom line is that pharmaceutical companies as a whole invest more in marketing than they do in research and development. And patients are the ones who pay in the form of sky-rocketing prescription prices for every pen thats handed out, every free theatre ticket, and every steak dinner eaten. In the end the fact remains that pharmaceutical companies have every right to make a profit and will continue to find new ways to increase sales. But as the medical world continues to grapple with whats acceptable and whats not, it is dear that companies must continue to be heavily scrutinized for their sales and marketing strategies. | The drug companies may give free drug sample to patients without doctors prescriptions. | n |
id_2080 | Doctoring sales. Pharmaceuticals is one of the most profitable industries in North America. But do the drugs industrys sales and marketing strategies go too far? A few months ago Kim Schaefer, sales representative of a major global pharmaceutical company, walked into a medical center in New York to bring information and free samples of her companys latest products. That day she was lucky a doctor was available to see her. The last rep offered me a trip to Florida. What do you have? the physician asked. He was only half joking. What was on offer that day was a pair of tickets for a New York musical. But on any given day, what Schaefer can offer is typical for todays drugs rep a car trunk full of promotional gifts and gadgets, a budget that could buy lunches and dinners for a small country, hundreds of free drug samples and the freedom to give a physician $200 to prescribe her new product to the next six patients who fit the drugs profile. And she also has a few $1,000 honoraria to offer in exchange for doctors attendance at her companys next educational lecture. Selling pharmaceuticals is a daily exercise in ethical judgement. Salespeople like Schaefer walk the line between the common practice of buying a prospects time with a free meal, and bribing doctors to prescribe their drugs. They work in an industry highly criticized for its sales and marketing practices, but find themselves in the middle of the age-old chicken-or-egg question businesses wont use strategies that dont work, so are doctors to blame for the escalating extravagance of pharmaceutical marketing? Or is it the industrys responsibility to decide the boundaries? The explosion in the sheer number of salespeople in the field and the amount of funding used to promote their causes forces close examination of the pressures, influences and relationships between drug reps and doctors. Salespeople provide much-needed information and education to physicians. In many cases the glossy brochures, article reprints and prescriptions they deliver are primary sources of drug education for healthcare givers. With the huge investment the industry has placed in face-to-face selling, salespeople have essentially become specialists in one drug or group of drugs a tremendous advantage in getting the attention of busy doctors in need of quick information. But the sales push rarely stops in the office. The flashy brochures and pamphlets left by the sales reps are often followed up with meals at expensive restaurants, meetings in warm and sunny places, and an inundation of promotional gadgets. Rarely do patients watch a doctor write with a pen that isnt emblazoned with a drugs name, or see a nurse use a tablet not bearing a pharmaceutical companys logo. Millions of dollars are spent by pharmaceutical companies on promotional products like coffee mugs, shirts, umbrellas, and golf balls. Money well spent? Its hard to tell. Ive been the recipient of golf balls from one company and I use them, but it doesnt make me prescribe their medicine, says one doctor. I tend to think Im not influenced by what they give me. Free samples of new and expensive drugs might be the single most effective way of getting doctors and patients to become loyal to a product. Salespeople hand out hundreds of dollars worth of samples each week $7.2 billion worth of them in one year. Though few comprehensive studies have been conducted, one by the University of Washington investigated how drug sample availability affected what physicians prescribe. A total of 131 doctors self-reported their prescribing patterns the conclusion was that the availability of samples led them to dispense and prescribe drugs that differed from their preferred drug choice. The bottom line is that pharmaceutical companies as a whole invest more in marketing than they do in research and development. And patients are the ones who pay in the form of sky-rocketing prescription prices for every pen thats handed out, every free theatre ticket, and every steak dinner eaten. In the end the fact remains that pharmaceutical companies have every right to make a profit and will continue to find new ways to increase sales. But as the medical world continues to grapple with whats acceptable and whats not, it is dear that companies must continue to be heavily scrutinized for their sales and marketing strategies. | Evidence of drug promotion is clearly visible in the healthcare environment. | e |
id_2081 | Don't wash those fossils! Standard museum practice can wash away DNA. Washing, brushing and varnishing fossils all standard conservation treatments used by many fossil hunters and museum curators alike vastly reduces the chances of recovering ancient DNA. Instead, excavators should be handling at least some of their bounty with gloves, and freezing samples as they are found, dirt and all, concludes a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today. Although many palaeontologists know anecdotally that this is the best way to up the odds of extracting good DNA, Eva-Maria Geigl of the Jacques Monod Institute in Paris, France, and her colleagues have now shown just how important conservation practices can be. This information, they say, needs to be hammered home among the people who are actually out in the field digging up bones. Geigl and her colleagues looked at 3,200-year-old fossil bones belonging to a single individual of an extinct cattle species, called an aurochs. The fossils were dug up at a site in France at two different times either in 1947, and stored in a museum collection, or in 2004, and conserved in sterile conditions at -20 oC. The team's attempts to extract DNA from the 1947 bones all failed. The newly excavated fossils, however, all yielded DNA. Because the bones had been buried for the same amount of time, and in the same conditions, the conservation method had to be to blame says Geigl. "As much DNA was degraded in these 57 years as in the 3,200 years before, " she says. Wash in, wash out Because many palaeontologists base their work on the shape of fossils alone, their methods of conservation are not designed to preserve DNA, Geigl explains. The biggest problem is how they are cleaned. Fossils are often washed together on-site in a large bath, which can allow water and contaminants in the form of contemporary DNA to permeate into the porous bones. "Not only is the authentic DNA getting washed out, but contamination is getting washed in, " says Geigl. Most ancient DNA specialists know this already, says Hendrik Poinar, an evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. But that doesn't mean that best practice has become widespread among those who actually find the fossils. Getting hold of fossils that have been preserved with their DNA in mind relies on close relationships between lab-based geneticists and the excavators, says palaeontologist Svante P bo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. And that only occurs in exceptional cases, he says. P bo's team, which has been sequencing Neanderthal DNA, continually faces these problems. "When you want to study ancient human and Neanderthal remains, there's a big issue of contamination with contemporary human DNA, " he says. This doesn't mean that all museum specimens are fatally flawed, notes P bo. The Neanderthal fossils that were recently sequenced in his own lab, for example, had been part of a museum collection treated in the traditional way. But P bo is keen to see samples of fossils from every major find preserved in line with Geigl's recommendations just in case. Warm and wet Geigl herself believes that, with cooperation between bench and field researchers, preserving fossils properly could open up avenues of discovery that have long been assumed closed. Much human cultural development took place in temperate regions. DNA does not survive well in warm environments in the first place, and can vanish when fossils are washed and treated. For this reason, Geigl says, most ancient DNA studies have been done on permafrost samples, such as the woolly mammoth, or on remains sheltered from the elements in cold caves including cave bear and Neanderthal fossils. Better conservation methods, and a focus on fresh fossils, could boost DNA extraction from more delicate specimens, says Geigl. And that could shed more light on the story of human evolution. | In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Geigl and her colleagues have shown what conservation practices should be followed to preserve ancient DNA. | e |
id_2082 | Don't wash those fossils! Standard museum practice can wash away DNA. Washing, brushing and varnishing fossils all standard conservation treatments used by many fossil hunters and museum curators alike vastly reduces the chances of recovering ancient DNA. Instead, excavators should be handling at least some of their bounty with gloves, and freezing samples as they are found, dirt and all, concludes a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today. Although many palaeontologists know anecdotally that this is the best way to up the odds of extracting good DNA, Eva-Maria Geigl of the Jacques Monod Institute in Paris, France, and her colleagues have now shown just how important conservation practices can be. This information, they say, needs to be hammered home among the people who are actually out in the field digging up bones. Geigl and her colleagues looked at 3,200-year-old fossil bones belonging to a single individual of an extinct cattle species, called an aurochs. The fossils were dug up at a site in France at two different times either in 1947, and stored in a museum collection, or in 2004, and conserved in sterile conditions at -20 oC. The team's attempts to extract DNA from the 1947 bones all failed. The newly excavated fossils, however, all yielded DNA. Because the bones had been buried for the same amount of time, and in the same conditions, the conservation method had to be to blame says Geigl. "As much DNA was degraded in these 57 years as in the 3,200 years before, " she says. Wash in, wash out Because many palaeontologists base their work on the shape of fossils alone, their methods of conservation are not designed to preserve DNA, Geigl explains. The biggest problem is how they are cleaned. Fossils are often washed together on-site in a large bath, which can allow water and contaminants in the form of contemporary DNA to permeate into the porous bones. "Not only is the authentic DNA getting washed out, but contamination is getting washed in, " says Geigl. Most ancient DNA specialists know this already, says Hendrik Poinar, an evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. But that doesn't mean that best practice has become widespread among those who actually find the fossils. Getting hold of fossils that have been preserved with their DNA in mind relies on close relationships between lab-based geneticists and the excavators, says palaeontologist Svante P bo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. And that only occurs in exceptional cases, he says. P bo's team, which has been sequencing Neanderthal DNA, continually faces these problems. "When you want to study ancient human and Neanderthal remains, there's a big issue of contamination with contemporary human DNA, " he says. This doesn't mean that all museum specimens are fatally flawed, notes P bo. The Neanderthal fossils that were recently sequenced in his own lab, for example, had been part of a museum collection treated in the traditional way. But P bo is keen to see samples of fossils from every major find preserved in line with Geigl's recommendations just in case. Warm and wet Geigl herself believes that, with cooperation between bench and field researchers, preserving fossils properly could open up avenues of discovery that have long been assumed closed. Much human cultural development took place in temperate regions. DNA does not survive well in warm environments in the first place, and can vanish when fossils are washed and treated. For this reason, Geigl says, most ancient DNA studies have been done on permafrost samples, such as the woolly mammoth, or on remains sheltered from the elements in cold caves including cave bear and Neanderthal fossils. Better conservation methods, and a focus on fresh fossils, could boost DNA extraction from more delicate specimens, says Geigl. And that could shed more light on the story of human evolution. | The fossil bones that Geigl and her colleagues studied are all from the same aurochs. | e |
id_2083 | Don't wash those fossils! Standard museum practice can wash away DNA. Washing, brushing and varnishing fossils all standard conservation treatments used by many fossil hunters and museum curators alike vastly reduces the chances of recovering ancient DNA. Instead, excavators should be handling at least some of their bounty with gloves, and freezing samples as they are found, dirt and all, concludes a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today. Although many palaeontologists know anecdotally that this is the best way to up the odds of extracting good DNA, Eva-Maria Geigl of the Jacques Monod Institute in Paris, France, and her colleagues have now shown just how important conservation practices can be. This information, they say, needs to be hammered home among the people who are actually out in the field digging up bones. Geigl and her colleagues looked at 3,200-year-old fossil bones belonging to a single individual of an extinct cattle species, called an aurochs. The fossils were dug up at a site in France at two different times either in 1947, and stored in a museum collection, or in 2004, and conserved in sterile conditions at -20 oC. The team's attempts to extract DNA from the 1947 bones all failed. The newly excavated fossils, however, all yielded DNA. Because the bones had been buried for the same amount of time, and in the same conditions, the conservation method had to be to blame says Geigl. "As much DNA was degraded in these 57 years as in the 3,200 years before, " she says. Wash in, wash out Because many palaeontologists base their work on the shape of fossils alone, their methods of conservation are not designed to preserve DNA, Geigl explains. The biggest problem is how they are cleaned. Fossils are often washed together on-site in a large bath, which can allow water and contaminants in the form of contemporary DNA to permeate into the porous bones. "Not only is the authentic DNA getting washed out, but contamination is getting washed in, " says Geigl. Most ancient DNA specialists know this already, says Hendrik Poinar, an evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. But that doesn't mean that best practice has become widespread among those who actually find the fossils. Getting hold of fossils that have been preserved with their DNA in mind relies on close relationships between lab-based geneticists and the excavators, says palaeontologist Svante P bo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. And that only occurs in exceptional cases, he says. P bo's team, which has been sequencing Neanderthal DNA, continually faces these problems. "When you want to study ancient human and Neanderthal remains, there's a big issue of contamination with contemporary human DNA, " he says. This doesn't mean that all museum specimens are fatally flawed, notes P bo. The Neanderthal fossils that were recently sequenced in his own lab, for example, had been part of a museum collection treated in the traditional way. But P bo is keen to see samples of fossils from every major find preserved in line with Geigl's recommendations just in case. Warm and wet Geigl herself believes that, with cooperation between bench and field researchers, preserving fossils properly could open up avenues of discovery that have long been assumed closed. Much human cultural development took place in temperate regions. DNA does not survive well in warm environments in the first place, and can vanish when fossils are washed and treated. For this reason, Geigl says, most ancient DNA studies have been done on permafrost samples, such as the woolly mammoth, or on remains sheltered from the elements in cold caves including cave bear and Neanderthal fossils. Better conservation methods, and a focus on fresh fossils, could boost DNA extraction from more delicate specimens, says Geigl. And that could shed more light on the story of human evolution. | Geneticists don't have to work on site. | n |
id_2084 | Don't wash those fossils! Standard museum practice can wash away DNA. Washing, brushing and varnishing fossils all standard conservation treatments used by many fossil hunters and museum curators alike vastly reduces the chances of recovering ancient DNA. Instead, excavators should be handling at least some of their bounty with gloves, and freezing samples as they are found, dirt and all, concludes a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today. Although many palaeontologists know anecdotally that this is the best way to up the odds of extracting good DNA, Eva-Maria Geigl of the Jacques Monod Institute in Paris, France, and her colleagues have now shown just how important conservation practices can be. This information, they say, needs to be hammered home among the people who are actually out in the field digging up bones. Geigl and her colleagues looked at 3,200-year-old fossil bones belonging to a single individual of an extinct cattle species, called an aurochs. The fossils were dug up at a site in France at two different times either in 1947, and stored in a museum collection, or in 2004, and conserved in sterile conditions at -20 oC. The team's attempts to extract DNA from the 1947 bones all failed. The newly excavated fossils, however, all yielded DNA. Because the bones had been buried for the same amount of time, and in the same conditions, the conservation method had to be to blame says Geigl. "As much DNA was degraded in these 57 years as in the 3,200 years before, " she says. Wash in, wash out Because many palaeontologists base their work on the shape of fossils alone, their methods of conservation are not designed to preserve DNA, Geigl explains. The biggest problem is how they are cleaned. Fossils are often washed together on-site in a large bath, which can allow water and contaminants in the form of contemporary DNA to permeate into the porous bones. "Not only is the authentic DNA getting washed out, but contamination is getting washed in, " says Geigl. Most ancient DNA specialists know this already, says Hendrik Poinar, an evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. But that doesn't mean that best practice has become widespread among those who actually find the fossils. Getting hold of fossils that have been preserved with their DNA in mind relies on close relationships between lab-based geneticists and the excavators, says palaeontologist Svante P bo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. And that only occurs in exceptional cases, he says. P bo's team, which has been sequencing Neanderthal DNA, continually faces these problems. "When you want to study ancient human and Neanderthal remains, there's a big issue of contamination with contemporary human DNA, " he says. This doesn't mean that all museum specimens are fatally flawed, notes P bo. The Neanderthal fossils that were recently sequenced in his own lab, for example, had been part of a museum collection treated in the traditional way. But P bo is keen to see samples of fossils from every major find preserved in line with Geigl's recommendations just in case. Warm and wet Geigl herself believes that, with cooperation between bench and field researchers, preserving fossils properly could open up avenues of discovery that have long been assumed closed. Much human cultural development took place in temperate regions. DNA does not survive well in warm environments in the first place, and can vanish when fossils are washed and treated. For this reason, Geigl says, most ancient DNA studies have been done on permafrost samples, such as the woolly mammoth, or on remains sheltered from the elements in cold caves including cave bear and Neanderthal fossils. Better conservation methods, and a focus on fresh fossils, could boost DNA extraction from more delicate specimens, says Geigl. And that could shed more light on the story of human evolution. | Paabo is still worried about the potential problems caused by treatments of fossils in traditional way. | e |
id_2085 | Don't wash those fossils! Standard museum practice can wash away DNA. Washing, brushing and varnishing fossils all standard conservation treatments used by many fossil hunters and museum curators alike vastly reduces the chances of recovering ancient DNA. Instead, excavators should be handling at least some of their bounty with gloves, and freezing samples as they are found, dirt and all, concludes a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today. Although many palaeontologists know anecdotally that this is the best way to up the odds of extracting good DNA, Eva-Maria Geigl of the Jacques Monod Institute in Paris, France, and her colleagues have now shown just how important conservation practices can be. This information, they say, needs to be hammered home among the people who are actually out in the field digging up bones. Geigl and her colleagues looked at 3,200-year-old fossil bones belonging to a single individual of an extinct cattle species, called an aurochs. The fossils were dug up at a site in France at two different times either in 1947, and stored in a museum collection, or in 2004, and conserved in sterile conditions at -20 oC. The team's attempts to extract DNA from the 1947 bones all failed. The newly excavated fossils, however, all yielded DNA. Because the bones had been buried for the same amount of time, and in the same conditions, the conservation method had to be to blame says Geigl. "As much DNA was degraded in these 57 years as in the 3,200 years before, " she says. Wash in, wash out Because many palaeontologists base their work on the shape of fossils alone, their methods of conservation are not designed to preserve DNA, Geigl explains. The biggest problem is how they are cleaned. Fossils are often washed together on-site in a large bath, which can allow water and contaminants in the form of contemporary DNA to permeate into the porous bones. "Not only is the authentic DNA getting washed out, but contamination is getting washed in, " says Geigl. Most ancient DNA specialists know this already, says Hendrik Poinar, an evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. But that doesn't mean that best practice has become widespread among those who actually find the fossils. Getting hold of fossils that have been preserved with their DNA in mind relies on close relationships between lab-based geneticists and the excavators, says palaeontologist Svante P bo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. And that only occurs in exceptional cases, he says. P bo's team, which has been sequencing Neanderthal DNA, continually faces these problems. "When you want to study ancient human and Neanderthal remains, there's a big issue of contamination with contemporary human DNA, " he says. This doesn't mean that all museum specimens are fatally flawed, notes P bo. The Neanderthal fossils that were recently sequenced in his own lab, for example, had been part of a museum collection treated in the traditional way. But P bo is keen to see samples of fossils from every major find preserved in line with Geigl's recommendations just in case. Warm and wet Geigl herself believes that, with cooperation between bench and field researchers, preserving fossils properly could open up avenues of discovery that have long been assumed closed. Much human cultural development took place in temperate regions. DNA does not survive well in warm environments in the first place, and can vanish when fossils are washed and treated. For this reason, Geigl says, most ancient DNA studies have been done on permafrost samples, such as the woolly mammoth, or on remains sheltered from the elements in cold caves including cave bear and Neanderthal fossils. Better conservation methods, and a focus on fresh fossils, could boost DNA extraction from more delicate specimens, says Geigl. And that could shed more light on the story of human evolution. | Only newly excavated fossil bones using new conservation methods suggested by Geigl and her colleagues contain ancient DNA. | c |
id_2086 | Dopplers butterfly is only found in Asian countries, including India, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and Cambodia, and in areas of non- forested South American countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru. It is very rare in Brazil, where it has black, elongated wings, whilst in Asia the wings are much shorter and coloured orange. In Chile they have only red wings, though these retain the characteristic South American shape. | A forest-dwelling Doppler butterfly with orange wings is most likely to be found in Thailand | e |
id_2087 | Dopplers butterfly is only found in Asian countries, including India, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and Cambodia, and in areas of non- forested South American countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru. It is very rare in Brazil, where it has black, elongated wings, whilst in Asia the wings are much shorter and coloured orange. In Chile they have only red wings, though these retain the characteristic South American shape. | a purple Doppler butterfly is most likely to be found in France | n |
id_2088 | Dopplers butterfly is only found in Asian countries, including India, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and Cambodia, and in areas of non- forested South American countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru. It is very rare in Brazil, where it has black, elongated wings, whilst in Asia the wings are much shorter and coloured orange. In Chile they have only red wings, though these retain the characteristic South American shape. | a desert-dwelling, elongated winged Doppler butterfly is most likely to be found in Argentina | e |
id_2089 | Dopplers butterfly is only found in Asian countries, including India, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and Cambodia, and in areas of non- forested South American countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru. It is very rare in Brazil, where it has black, elongated wings, whilst in Asia the wings are much shorter and coloured orange. In Chile they have only red wings, though these retain the characteristic South American shape. | In India the butterfly is unlikely to have elongated wings. | e |
id_2090 | Dr Ashwan Chander, a 38-year-old eye specialist living in Chelsea, West London, was meeting some friends for an evening meal at a restaurant in Kensington High Street. He saw his last patient at Hayes Green Hospital in Putney and left the hospital at about 6.00 pm. After walking to a florist shop to buy some flowers, he took a taxi to his mothers house in Fulham. He then intended to take another taxi from his mothers house to meet his friends at the restaurant at the agreed time of 8.00 pm. However, because the traffic was at a standstill, Dr Chander thought it best to walk and eventually arrived at the restaurant at about 8.20 pm. Later, when he went to pay the bill at the restaurant he found that he had lost his wallet. It is also known that: Dr Chander took money out of his wallet to pay for the flowers. Dr Chander did not take money from his wallet to pay for the taxi. The wallet was usually in Dr Chanders jacket, which he placed on the back of his chair in the restaurant. Police have been warning people to beware of pickpockets operating in the area. His credit card was used at 9.30 pm that night to pay for fuel at a garage in North London. | A pickpocket stole the wallet as Dr Chander walked to the restaurant. | n |
id_2091 | Dr Ashwan Chander, a 38-year-old eye specialist living in Chelsea, West London, was meeting some friends for an evening meal at a restaurant in Kensington High Street. He saw his last patient at Hayes Green Hospital in Putney and left the hospital at about 6.00 pm. After walking to a florist shop to buy some flowers, he took a taxi to his mothers house in Fulham. He then intended to take another taxi from his mothers house to meet his friends at the restaurant at the agreed time of 8.00 pm. However, because the traffic was at a standstill, Dr Chander thought it best to walk and eventually arrived at the restaurant at about 8.20 pm. Later, when he went to pay the bill at the restaurant he found that he had lost his wallet. It is also known that: Dr Chander took money out of his wallet to pay for the flowers. Dr Chander did not take money from his wallet to pay for the taxi. The wallet was usually in Dr Chanders jacket, which he placed on the back of his chair in the restaurant. Police have been warning people to beware of pickpockets operating in the area. His credit card was used at 9.30 pm that night to pay for fuel at a garage in North London. | The wallet was last used when Dr Chander paid for the taxi. | c |
id_2092 | Dr Ashwan Chander, a 38-year-old eye specialist living in Chelsea, West London, was meeting some friends for an evening meal at a restaurant in Kensington High Street. He saw his last patient at Hayes Green Hospital in Putney and left the hospital at about 6.00 pm. After walking to a florist shop to buy some flowers, he took a taxi to his mothers house in Fulham. He then intended to take another taxi from his mothers house to meet his friends at the restaurant at the agreed time of 8.00 pm. However, because the traffic was at a standstill, Dr Chander thought it best to walk and eventually arrived at the restaurant at about 8.20 pm. Later, when he went to pay the bill at the restaurant he found that he had lost his wallet. It is also known that: Dr Chander took money out of his wallet to pay for the flowers. Dr Chander did not take money from his wallet to pay for the taxi. The wallet was usually in Dr Chanders jacket, which he placed on the back of his chair in the restaurant. Police have been warning people to beware of pickpockets operating in the area. His credit card was used at 9.30 pm that night to pay for fuel at a garage in North London. | Dr Chander was late meeting his friends. | e |
id_2093 | Dr Ashwan Chander, a 38-year-old eye specialist living in Chelsea, West London, was meeting some friends for an evening meal at a restaurant in Kensington High Street. He saw his last patient at Hayes Green Hospital in Putney and left the hospital at about 6.00 pm. After walking to a florist shop to buy some flowers, he took a taxi to his mothers house in Fulham. He then intended to take another taxi from his mothers house to meet his friends at the restaurant at the agreed time of 8.00 pm. However, because the traffic was at a standstill, Dr Chander thought it best to walk and eventually arrived at the restaurant at about 8.20 pm. Later, when he went to pay the bill at the restaurant he found that he had lost his wallet. It is also known that: Dr Chander took money out of his wallet to pay for the flowers. Dr Chander did not take money from his wallet to pay for the taxi. The wallet was usually in Dr Chanders jacket, which he placed on the back of his chair in the restaurant. Police have been warning people to beware of pickpockets operating in the area. His credit card was used at 9.30 pm that night to pay for fuel at a garage in North London. | Dr Chander took a taxi from the hospital to Fulham. | c |
id_2094 | Dr Ashwan Chander, a 38-year-old eye specialist living in Chelsea, West London, was meeting some friends for an evening meal at a restaurant in Kensington High Street. He saw his last patient at Hayes Green Hospital in Putney and left the hospital at about 6.00 pm. After walking to a florist shop to buy some flowers, he took a taxi to his mothers house in Fulham. He then intended to take another taxi from his mothers house to meet his friends at the restaurant at the agreed time of 8.00 pm. However, because the traffic was at a standstill, Dr Chander thought it best to walk and eventually arrived at the restaurant at about 8.20 pm. Later, when he went to pay the bill at the restaurant he found that he had lost his wallet. It is also known that: Dr Chander took money out of his wallet to pay for the flowers. Dr Chander did not take money from his wallet to pay for the taxi. The wallet was usually in Dr Chanders jacket, which he placed on the back of his chair in the restaurant. Police have been warning people to beware of pickpockets operating in the area. His credit card was used at 9.30 pm that night to pay for fuel at a garage in North London. | Dr Chander walked to the restaurant because he could not find a taxi. | c |
id_2095 | Drive alive The monotony of driving along straight roads and motorways, especially with driver aids like cruise control, increases the chances of falling asleep at the wheel. Working night shifts and driving home afterwards can be particularly risky. Younger drivers are more likely to feel tired in the morning and older drivers can doze off in the afternoon. A period of increased drowsiness and fighting sleep pre-empts falling asleep. It is important to recognize these warning signs and to stop driving. Winding the window down for cold air and turning the radio up provide only temporary relief from drowsiness. Drivers should act responsibly and stop driving to prevent an accident. One solution is to take a short break (15 minutes) with a cup of coffee (caffeine stimulant). The same counter-measures can be employed every two hours during daytime driving. Long journeys should be planned in advance to avoid hold-ups that increase the time spent behind the wheel. Other preventative measures include sharing the driving with others, turning the heat down or the air conditioning on, not driving after a large meal or heavy exercise, and avoiding even the smallest amount of alcohol. Some medications, such as cold and flu remedies, antihistamines and motion sickness tablets, can cause drowsiness as a side-effect. Ideally, it is better not to upset the bodys natural circadian rhythm by driving at a time normally spent sleeping, for example in the early hours of the morning, and to limit the total number of hours spent behind the wheel to a maximum of eight per day. Self-awareness of ones vulnerability to falling asleep and of fighting sleep is also important. Feeling sleepy is perfectly natural but, narcolepsy excepted, nobody falls asleep without prior warning. | Driving in the early hours of the morning upsets the circadian rhythm. | e |
id_2096 | Drive alive The monotony of driving along straight roads and motorways, especially with driver aids like cruise control, increases the chances of falling asleep at the wheel. Working night shifts and driving home afterwards can be particularly risky. Younger drivers are more likely to feel tired in the morning and older drivers can doze off in the afternoon. A period of increased drowsiness and fighting sleep pre-empts falling asleep. It is important to recognize these warning signs and to stop driving. Winding the window down for cold air and turning the radio up provide only temporary relief from drowsiness. Drivers should act responsibly and stop driving to prevent an accident. One solution is to take a short break (15 minutes) with a cup of coffee (caffeine stimulant). The same counter-measures can be employed every two hours during daytime driving. Long journeys should be planned in advance to avoid hold-ups that increase the time spent behind the wheel. Other preventative measures include sharing the driving with others, turning the heat down or the air conditioning on, not driving after a large meal or heavy exercise, and avoiding even the smallest amount of alcohol. Some medications, such as cold and flu remedies, antihistamines and motion sickness tablets, can cause drowsiness as a side-effect. Ideally, it is better not to upset the bodys natural circadian rhythm by driving at a time normally spent sleeping, for example in the early hours of the morning, and to limit the total number of hours spent behind the wheel to a maximum of eight per day. Self-awareness of ones vulnerability to falling asleep and of fighting sleep is also important. Feeling sleepy is perfectly natural but, narcolepsy excepted, nobody falls asleep without prior warning. | Reaction times are slower in the early hours of the morning. | n |
id_2097 | Drive alive The monotony of driving along straight roads and motorways, especially with driver aids like cruise control, increases the chances of falling asleep at the wheel. Working night shifts and driving home afterwards can be particularly risky. Younger drivers are more likely to feel tired in the morning and older drivers can doze off in the afternoon. A period of increased drowsiness and fighting sleep pre-empts falling asleep. It is important to recognize these warning signs and to stop driving. Winding the window down for cold air and turning the radio up provide only temporary relief from drowsiness. Drivers should act responsibly and stop driving to prevent an accident. One solution is to take a short break (15 minutes) with a cup of coffee (caffeine stimulant). The same counter-measures can be employed every two hours during daytime driving. Long journeys should be planned in advance to avoid hold-ups that increase the time spent behind the wheel. Other preventative measures include sharing the driving with others, turning the heat down or the air conditioning on, not driving after a large meal or heavy exercise, and avoiding even the smallest amount of alcohol. Some medications, such as cold and flu remedies, antihistamines and motion sickness tablets, can cause drowsiness as a side-effect. Ideally, it is better not to upset the bodys natural circadian rhythm by driving at a time normally spent sleeping, for example in the early hours of the morning, and to limit the total number of hours spent behind the wheel to a maximum of eight per day. Self-awareness of ones vulnerability to falling asleep and of fighting sleep is also important. Feeling sleepy is perfectly natural but, narcolepsy excepted, nobody falls asleep without prior warning. | Ideally, a driver spending a maximum of eight hours per day behindthe wheel should take three 15-minute coffee breaks at regular intervals. | e |
id_2098 | Drive alive The monotony of driving along straight roads and motorways, especially with driver aids like cruise control, increases the chances of falling asleep at the wheel. Working night shifts and driving home afterwards can be particularly risky. Younger drivers are more likely to feel tired in the morning and older drivers can doze off in the afternoon. A period of increased drowsiness and fighting sleep pre-empts falling asleep. It is important to recognize these warning signs and to stop driving. Winding the window down for cold air and turning the radio up provide only temporary relief from drowsiness. Drivers should act responsibly and stop driving to prevent an accident. One solution is to take a short break (15 minutes) with a cup of coffee (caffeine stimulant). The same counter-measures can be employed every two hours during daytime driving. Long journeys should be planned in advance to avoid hold-ups that increase the time spent behind the wheel. Other preventative measures include sharing the driving with others, turning the heat down or the air conditioning on, not driving after a large meal or heavy exercise, and avoiding even the smallest amount of alcohol. Some medications, such as cold and flu remedies, antihistamines and motion sickness tablets, can cause drowsiness as a side-effect. Ideally, it is better not to upset the bodys natural circadian rhythm by driving at a time normally spent sleeping, for example in the early hours of the morning, and to limit the total number of hours spent behind the wheel to a maximum of eight per day. Self-awareness of ones vulnerability to falling asleep and of fighting sleep is also important. Feeling sleepy is perfectly natural but, narcolepsy excepted, nobody falls asleep without prior warning. | Driving home after a night shift with the window of the car open and the radio turned up will prevent you from falling asleep. | c |
id_2099 | Driving While Intoxicated occurs when a person is intoxicated while driving or operating a motor vehicle in a public place. | Jerry is sitting behind the wheel of his car in a parking lot in front of a bar. The engine is not on, and Jerry has both hands on the wheel and is staring straight ahead. This situation is the best example of Driving While Intoxicated. | c |
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