An aggregation of all of the recent Blog@Case postings.
This is an aggregation of all of the recent blog posts of the Case Blog system. The entries are in reverse chronological order according to each entry's last modified date. Persons with questions regarding Planet Case or the Blog system can check the FAQ or email us at blog-admin@case.edu.
First let's have On This Mountain, the piece just done at the New Voices @ CUA Festival in D.C. (This isn't that performance, but the premiere). It's for soprano, flute, oboe and piano
And while we're on religion, here's a religious piece of quite a different bent: Ritual for the Mother, for women's voices with flute and harp. Not sure I should be spreading paganism, but it is what it is.
And Huntress for orchestra is also a bit Old time Religion too, I'm afraid.
Calling all graduate students: KSL knows you're busy, but we'd like to share an hour of your time & talk about what you use in library resources, spaces, and services. Register and participate in a session, and your immediate future might include a Kindle Fire!
We'll also talk about what the future@KSL might offer graduate students. We especially need Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Weatherhead graduate students to meet with library staff in informal discussions.
Share your knowledge & remarks on your research activities—we look forward to hearing from you. Registration is required, lunch is provided. Participants from all groups will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire, which could change your research, too!
A new collection has been loaded of Dr. Rolfe Petschek collected papers, from 1970-2010. This collection contains various publication authored or co-authored by Dr. Petschek. New publications will be added on an annual basis.
Do submit a separate ILLiad request form for each individual loan or copy you need. We cannot provide multiple items on a single transaction due to the unnecessary processing and searching difficulties this creates, and because of the reasonable expectations of potential lenders. Where copies of articles and book chapters are involved, this also raises copyright issues. Don't submit duplicate requests for the same loan or copy. If you have submitted a request and need to make a change, you can usually edit it if you catch it shortly afterwards. If ILL staff have already processed a request that you can no longer edit, please contact us by phone or e-mail to make any corrections or additions you think need to be included. Also, you may contact us regarding the status of an existing active request, rather than just submitting another transaction for the same material.
Do seek out bookstore copies of new, used, or rentable textbooks for your coursework. If they have run out of copies for your class, consider inquiring whether they have more on order. You can always check for the availability of such titles in OhioLINK as well, and you may be able to borrow a copy that way at least to hold you over for a good while. With extended renewals possible on these loans, you may even be set for a good portion of the academic term. Don't rely on interlibrary loan services to fill your textbook requirements for the entire semester period. We can help supplement your needs up to a reasonable point, but should not have to act as a substitute for obtaining your own personal copies. Unfortunately, indefinite numbers of copies of the same title and edition cannot be assumed to be available from the pool of potential lender libraries. Local users from other universities and colleges where equivalent courses are also taught may have the same idea, and will have secured all the copies held at their own academic libraries. Even if we are able to borrow a textbook from another location, there is always the possibility that a lender's local patron will request for it to be recalled at some point in the term for their own use.
Do make a habit of indicating the specific edition of a loaned item you need, if possible. Please provide any publisher and publication year information, if you are able. It is always helpful if you can also give the ISBN, as this makes the matter unequivocal as to the specific edition required. If you do not care which edition you want us to obtain, at least give some hint of the year or possible years. Of course, if you need to borrow copies of more than one specific edition of the same title, we ask that you request these separately. Don't forget to indicate whether or not you will accept an alternate edition. You can select this option when you submit your loan request form. This is most helpful in a case when your original indication is already for a specific edition. If you haven't specified which edition from the start, we won't be able to interpret a selection of 'No', and will have to disregard it.
Do indicate whether or not you will accept your ILL materials in a foreign language. If this is a matter of concern, you ay select the 'Accept Non-English' option when you submit your request form -- the default setting for this is 'Yes'. Don't forget that materials you request that are originally cited in a foreign language most likely will be provided in that same language. Books, theses, articles, papers, etc., that are known with certainty to have been translated into English should also be cited in English when you submit your request, unless you actually want the original language version. Keep in mind that materials referenced by title and abstract in English may not necessarily be available full-text in English translation.
Do keep the personal information in your ILLiad profile correct and up-to-date. We ask this especially where your current e-mail and phone contact information are concerned, as this is our primary means of notifying you about your interlibrary loan service issues. Don't create multiple user accounts in ILLiad, for any reason. If you forget your password, please use the 'Forgot Password' link available on the main login page, or contact us by phone or e-mail to reset it manually. In case you have forgotten your username, or if your account has become blocked or has been disavowed, contact ILL staff directly as well, so we may help to resolve the situation.
Hope these additional quick reminders will help you out with making better use of ILLiad and your interlibrary loan services.
On February 8, a researcher from Washington, D.C., will present her findings about the life of Elsa Leichter, an MSASS alum and Austrian refugee social worker whose American social work career started in Cleveland during WWII.
Researcher Barbara Reiterer, a Doctoral Fellow in Residence at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., will discuss how Leichter found refuge as a social worker. The lecture, entitled, Elsa Leichter's Second Chance: Interruptions and Continuities in a Refugee Social Worker's Transatlantic Career, will be held on February 8 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 320 at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. Reiterer's talk is free and open to the public.
During World War II, American social work provided a professional refuge for Leichter, a Jewish exile from Vienna who came to the United States on the eve of World War II. Reiterer's research provides a history of Austrian and American social work in the mid-twentieth century and the experiences of Jewish women exiles in the United States.
Even though a cursory glance at Leichter’s biography may yield a neat and smooth narrative, interruptions complicated her life. After serving 12 years as a social worker for the Vienna city municipality, she had to start over when she came to the U.S. It was in Cleveland where she received her "big second chance," as she repeatedly said. Reiterer's discussion of Leichter will trace her complex, often difficult career path, for which her time at the Mandel School played a central role.
Leichter received her degree in social work from Case Western Reserve University in 1942. She went on to work for the Jewish Family Service in New York City where she earned distinction in the field of family therapy. Starting in the 1970s, she traveled to Europe to give lectures and workshops, thus contributing to the transatlantic circulation of knowledge in the applied social sciences. She died in 1997 at the age of 92.
A spoonful of medicine goes down a lot easier if there is a dog or cat around. Having pets is helpful for women living with HIV/AIDS and managing their chronic illness, according to a new study from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University.
“We think this finding about pets can apply to women managing other chronic illnesses,” said Allison R. Webel, instructor of nursing and lead author of the article, “The Relationship Between Social Roles and Self-Management Behavior in Women Living with HIV/AIDS,” which appears in the online journal Women’s Health Issues.
(To see a video, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl6XcIZT2wI.)
Webel set out to better understand how women manage their HIV/AIDS and stay on track to take their medications, follow doctors’ orders and live healthy lifestyles. She conducted 12 focus groups with 48 women to find out what they did to stay healthy. The women had an average age of 42, about 90 percent had children, and more than half were single.
During the focus groups, six predominant social roles emerged that helped and hindered these women in managing their illness: pet owner, mother/grandmother, faith believer, advocate, stigmatized patient, and employee. All roles had a positive impact except stigmatized patient, which prevented women from revealing their illness and seeking out appropriate supports.
“Much information is available about the impact of work and family roles, but little is known about other social roles that women assume,” Webel said.
Being a pet owner was an important surprise, added Webel, who collaborated with co-author Patricia Higgins, a professor of nursing at Case Western Reserve University.
“Pets—primarily dogs—gave these women a sense of support and pleasure,” Webel said.
When discussing the effect their pets have on their lives, the women weighed in. “She’s going to be right there when I’m hurting,” a cat owner said. Another said: “Dogs know when you’re in a bad mood…she knows that I’m sick, and everywhere I go, she goes. She wants to protect me.”
The human and animal bond in healing and therapy is being recognized, Webel said, as more animals are visiting nursing homes to connect to people with dementia or hospitals to visit children with long hospital stays.
Being a pet owner is just one social aspect of these women’s lives. “We found the social context in which this self-management happens is important,” Webel said.
Another strong role to emerge was advocate. Participants wanted to give back and help stop others from engaging in activities that might make them sick, the researchers report.
While roles as mothers and workers are well documented, “less-defined social roles also have a positive impact on self-management of their chronic illness,” Webel said.
For a broadcast-quality version of the video without graphics, contact Mary Gerity at mary.gerity@case.edu. To set up an interview, contact Susan Griffith at susan.griffith@case.edu.
Hi! Welcome to a new blog about using RefWorks 2.0 at Case Western Reserve University. Here I will post announcements, know issues with the software, training options, and more.
Remember to take a look at my guide for using RefWorks at Case.
All questions about RefWorks can be sent to me at refworks@case.edu.
Fuel Pressure
Airlines spent 37% more on jet fuel in 2011 than in 2010, but still turned a profit. This was due to the industry's success in passing along higher costs as surcharges and outright airfare increases. A recent Continental/United RT from Cleveland to London Heathrow via Newark is an example. The itinerary was advertised at $580, but when taxes, fees, and surcharges were added, the price tag reached $870. Airfares themselves were up 15-20% in 2011.
Low-Cost Destinations
Inexpensive destinations from Cleveland still include Baltimore-Washington (BWI) and Chicago-O'Hare (ORD). Roundtrips to these airports can be as low as $130 including tax. Florida destinations also are bargains. Pre-tax RT fares on Continental-United to Orlando (MCO)begin at $218. Fort Lauderdale (FLL), an alternate destination to the Miami airport, has some February-March flights starting at $228 plus taxes and fees.
Changing Changes
There was a time when airlines adjusted schedules and equipment once per quarter. Now changes occur more frequently. For example, the Cleveland-San Francisco (SFO) route on weekdays is adjusting from one 125-passenger 737-700 aircraft per day to two 124-passenger A319s to two larger 737s all in the span of just two months. Also, watch for daily frequency changes on the popular Cleveland - Chicago-O'Hare route. Frequency goes from a maximum of 11 weekday flights to as few as two per day on the weekends.
• Whittlesey, Charles W. Early history of Cleveland, Ohio, including papers and other matter relating to the adjacent country. AVAILABLE ON GOOGLE BOOKS
• The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: http://ech.cwru.edu/
• Whittlesey, Charles W. Early history of Cleveland, Ohio, including papers and other matter relating to the adjacent country. AVAILABLE ON GOOGLE BOOKS
Time to register for Spring 2012 CaseLearns New Media Workshops! CaseLearns returns with a full lineup of New Media workshops with offerings from Digital Images & Digital Video to Desktop Publishing & Presentation Design.
This semester many of the workshops will take place in the new ACR (Active Collaboration Room), the completely remodeled KSL 215 classroom with high-tech features and comfortable new furniture. Another new offering is a series of workshops, "Tell Me About Technology." Part demonstration and part discussion, these one-hour workshops take place each Thursday on a variety of different topics ranging from e-books to Facebook!
Faculty who are interested in having students incorporate New Media projects into their courses are encouraged to contact the library's Creative New Media Officer Jared Bendis (jared.bendis@case.edu) He'll consult on project parameters, arrange for training sessions, and help faculty learn how best to take advantage of resources such as the Freedman Center and the Software Center.
Registration is required for CaseLearns, where classes continue to be posted. Please check back for new classes, and read more about the program and the Attendance Policy. We'll see you in a class, soon!
People with mental illness have gotten a bad rap in past research studies, being labeled the group of people with the highest return rates to prison. But a researcher from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University counters those findings in a new study—demonstrating that inmates with severe mental illnesses alone actually have lower rates of recidivism than those with substance abuse issues or no mental or substance abuse issues.
Past studies compared inmates with severe mental illnesses, like schizophrenia and severe affective disorders, with a general population of released inmates and found that those with mental illnesses had higher recidivism rates.
The study’s principal investigator Amy B. Wilson, assistant professor of social work at Case Western Reserve, said the researchers took a novel approach to studying recidivism among released inmates from one of the country’s largest jail systems (Philadelphia) and separated inmates into four categories: those with severe mental illnesses, those with a substance abuse problem, those with dual problems of mental illness and substance abuse, and those with neither problem.
When looking at individual groups, those with mental illnesses alone fared better—even compared against those with no mental or substance abuse issues.
The findings from the study, “Examining the impact of mental illness and substance use on recidivism in a county jail,” were reported in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry.
The researchers looked at recidivism rates for 20,112 inmates admitted to the Philadelphia jail system in 2003 and then tracked their return rates over the next four years. Using data from Philadelphia’s behavioral health system on Medicaid records and from the Philadelphia Country’s jail system on admission, release and demographic information, the researchers were able to categorize the individuals into the four groups and follow their readmissions.
Of those readmitted to jail, 32 percent took place in the first year, increased to 45 percent by year two, 54 percent by year three, and 60 percent by year four.
At the end of four years, 54 percent of those with severe mental illness returned to jail, while 66 percent of those with substance abuse problems did, 68 percent of those with co-occurring issues, and 60 percent of those with no diagnosis did.
Each year of the study, those with severe mental illnesses had lower return rates than those in the other three groups.
Wilson says further study is needed, but she speculates that the services offered to those with mental illness alone upon release are more readily available than social services for individuals with dual problems or substance abuse. But much is yet to be learned about how mental illness can protect the inmates from further recidivism, Wilson said.
“These findings point to a possible need for more integrated services for mental and substance abuse, and more attention being paid generally to the ways that substance abuse involvement among people with serious mental illness complicates these individuals involvement with the criminal justice system” Wilson explains.
Other contributors are: Jeffrey Draine from Temple University, Trevor Hadley of University of Pennsylvania, Steve Metraux of University of the Sciences of Philadelphia, and Arthur Evans from the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health.
I have decided to take up the offer to move to Freethought Blogs. The change will take effect immediately and my new site is already up here. I reposted yesterday's Santorum post over there to get a feel of how to use the new platform. I will continue to maintain this site with all its archives and will monitor it to clear up the spam and respond to any questions and comments that warrant them but new posts will only appear over at the new site.
Thanks to all who responded to my request for comments on the move. It was gratifying to hear the messages of support and that most of you felt that you would go to the new site. I was surprised at the number of people who said that the present site had a sense of intimacy and coziness that they feared might get lost at FTB. One does not immediately think of the internet as an intimate place but I understand what they are saying. Over time, a community of people gets created and I feel that I 'know' many people who comment here though I have never met them and all that I know about them is the name and URL they choose to provide.
People have warned me about possible trolls at the new location. I think of internet trolls as commenters who deliberately try to deflect a discussion to irrelevant issues or start a flame war or otherwise disrupt a discussion. I have not had to deal with that problem here, mainly because the readers here seem to be able to keep things on track and ignore irrelevancies. It will be interesting to see what the new site will bring.
What I have had to spend a lot of time on is spam. Every day I get hundreds of spam comments, a few of which get past the system's filters and appear on the site. Several times I day I go in and clean them out, so that the real comments don't get lost in the clutter. More time consuming is going into the spam folder and rescuing and publishing real comments that the filter has mistakenly identified as spam. In the new system, you can freely post comments as here except that I have chosen the option that the first time someone posts a comment, I will need to authorize it but after that there is no restriction and your comments should appear immediately. Sorry about that inconvenience but that should reduce the spam problem.
I would like to express my special thanks to Norm Nason, editor of the excellent web magazine Machines Like Us, and a person of many artistic talents whose wide variety of work can be seen here, for designing the nifty new banner that graces my new site.
I must also give a lot of thanks to Jeremy Smith, the system administrator here, who has been immensely supportive in keeping the system going and helping me out when necessary when I have done something stupid, such as banning myself from my own site, if you can believe it. (I have never banned anyone but the system has filters that identify most spam and can ban the more egregious offenders and on occasion I have accidentally triggered it.) I must thank Jeremy, Heidi Cool, and Vincenzo who commented on my first few posts and encouraged me to keep going. But they should not be blamed for the quality of the roughly two million words that have subsequently emerged!
I also have to thank Case Western Reserve University for creating this blogging platform without which I might never have had the nerve to start blogging. This platform made it so easy that I took the plunge on January 26th, 2005 and I will mark the seventh anniversary of blogging this month. The university has never once interfered with anything that I have posted, although I have taken some pretty controversial positions on occasion. Colleagues have on occasion asked me if I received any push back from the university administration for things I said and have been surprised when I reply that no one has given even the remotest suggestion that I tone things down. Universities should be the most dedicated defenders of free speech but we know that in these days, with so much pressure from external sources such as alumni and funders, many are wary of stepping on toes. Hence it reflects great credit to CWRU that they have left me completely alone to write what I wish. It is not that they don't know this blog exists because I know that I am read quite widely on campus.
New book urges universities to address lack of women’s leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics leadership positions
News Release: Wednesday, January 11, 2012
CLEVELAND – The numbers of female students and PhD recipients in science, technology, engineering and math has grown in recent years, as the National Science Foundation has encouraged efforts to attract more women to enter the STEM fields. Still, the advancement of women faculty in these areas hasn’t increased at the same rate, especially in leadership positions.
Researchers Diana Bilimoria and Xiangfen Liang examine the phenomenon known as the “leaky pipeline” – and the outcomes of the recent steps that leading universities are taking to reduce the leaks – in their newly published book, Gender Equity in Science and Engineering: Advancing Change in Higher Education.
Bilimoria is a professor of Organizational Behavior at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. Her research focuses on gender and diversity in governance and leadership.
Liang is an independent researcher and consultant in higher education and organizational behavior. Previously, Liang was a senior research associate at the Weatherhead School.
“Universities are trying many different things, and this book is a compendium of the innovative practices that universities can undertake to increase inclusion and diversify their work forces,” Bilimoria said. “The ideal worker in science and engineering is someone who is perceived as being devoted to scientific work to the exclusion of other responsibilities, and that sometimes can be an added challenge for women.”
The book takes a detailed, fresh look at the pace of gender equity, particularly in science and engineering. Bilimoria and Liang explain a variety of diversity and inclusion initiatives and their institutional outcomes. They describe transformational actions undertaken at the level of the whole university (e.g., faculty policy changes), at the level of schools and departments (e.g., leadership development of deans and chairs), and at the level of individual faculty (e.g., providing mentors for pre-tenure faculty).
The researchers focused on 19 universities and colleges that received funding from the National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE Institutional Transformation program (nsf.gov/advance). The authors note that the ADVANCE initiative has generated significant improvements.
The most prominent improvements observed were consistent increases in the proportions of women faculty in science and engineering fields; more systemic attention to salary distributions and resource equity among faculty, some increases in the inclusion of women in senior leadership positions, and improvements in specific facets of the academic workplace culture and climate. The authors noted increased campus-wide awareness of gender issues, improved work-life integration, an increased faculty voice provided to women, and improved overall recognition of the factors leading to faculty success and retention at these universities.
However, their research finds that issues remain regarding gender equity and inclusion outcomes, particularly the challenge of unsupportive workplace climates and traditional career advancement systems at the nation’s research universities. According to 2011 NSF data, among science and engineering doctorate holders with academic faculty positions in four-year colleges and universities, females remain significantly less likely than males to be found in full professor positions.
Bilimoria and Liang recommend that gender equity data be more completely tracked and research findings shared regularly among decision makers, such as deans, department chairs, faculty search committees, and promotion and tenure committees.
“This book is a product of a 10-year professional journey” Bilimoria said. “It provides a comprehensive, stand-alone description of successful approaches to increase the recruitment, advancement and retention of women faculty throughout the academic career pipeline.”
Research for Gender Equity in Science and Engineering was supported by the NSF. The book, which debuts in January 2012, is published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Entrepreneurs and students benefit from collaboration
News Release: Tuesday, January 10, 2012
CLEVELAND – Case Western Reserve University law student Joel Simon has been working closely with some of Northeast Ohio’s most determined entrepreneurs. At Shaker LaunchHouse, a regional incubator, the people he meets have big ideas – and important legal questions.
Simon, who expects to graduate with a law degree in May, now as a 25-year-old student offers background information to startups of all kinds on patent, copyright and trademark issues. He’s learning first-hand the role intellectual property plays in the development and growth of startup companies. His recent work is part of an experiential learning opportunity that has served as a precursor to a intellectual property law clinic that is beginning in January.
“There’s a barrier to entry for any startup,” Simon said. “Not every good idea is going to work. If there is some way to make them have a better chance, I think that’s a wonderful thing.”
Simon is one of the two students participating this semester in the Intellectual Property Entrepreneurship Clinic at the school’s Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic Center. They’ll work under the supervision of new adjunct faculty member Todd Behrens, a partner with the law firm Medley, Behrens & Lewis LLC. With Behrens’ guidance, students will draft patent applications and render patentability opinions, among other services.
“We want to start with small successes,” Behrens said. “So the idea is to start with two students and develop the program, and in coming academic years, we can expand and have more students involved.”
The clinic will provide free legal work to LaunchHouse clients, and students, in turn, will gain valuable experience that may help them as they enter an increasingly competitive job market.
“That experience can become a key point of differentiation,” said Craig Nard, Tom J.E. and Bette Lou Walker Professor of Law and director of the Center for Law, Technology & the Arts at the law school. “In addition to the student experience, the clinic is engaging the community and offering an important service to local companies, which are at a stage in their development when they need capable legal counsel, particularly with respect to intellectual property.”
Among the benefits to LaunchHouse clients is substantial cost savings. Legal fees associated with drafting and filing a patent application, for example, often run between $10,000 and $20,000.
“Case Western Reserve University Law School involvement has been a great asset to LaunchHouse,” said Todd Goldstein, a founder and managing partner of LaunchHouse, which opened in June. “We’re very excited about this opportunity. The students and the young companies working together can learn a lot about entrepreneurship, education and innovation.”
Learn more about Case Western Reserve School of Law’s unique experiential learning initiatives at law.case.edu/Academics/ExperientialLearning.aspx.
Learn more about Shaker LaunchHouse at launchhouse.com.
(Editors and reporters note: A high resolution photo showing law student Joel Simon outside of Shaker LaunchHouse is available upon request.)
(My latest book God vs. Darwin: The War Between Evolution and Creationism in the Classroom has just been released and is now available through the usual outlets. You can order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the publishers Rowman & Littlefield, and also through your local bookstores. For more on the book, see here. You can also listen to the podcast of the interview on WCPN 90.3 about the book.)
So far I have been simply describing what the Big Bang theory says without giving much of the theoretical background. But Einstein's General Theory of Relativity (like Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection) has had such a profound effect on our relationship with the rest of the universe that I feel obliged to give readers, at least for cultural purposes, a glimpse of what the theory is and why it is so powerful, even if it remains obscure in its details. So for the sake of greater completeness and for the benefit of those who want to know more, in this post and the next I will give some of the theoretical background to what I have been saying so far, and hope that even those who are averse to algebra will stick with me through it and get some of the flavor of how the theory works.
A word of caution, though. This is not my field so I cannot guarantee that this is error-free or state-of-the-art knowledge. My goal here is to give a simplified understanding of how the important field of cosmology operates. In order to provide a narrative I will largely ignore the fact that this is a field in which there are spirited debates and disagreements over many of the details. I strongly recommend reading more authoritative works by real scholars in the field for a more complete understanding of all the alternative points of view.
The basic paradigm that the field of cosmology operates under is Einstein's General Theory of Relativity which generates the Einstein Field Equations:
Rij - (1/2)Rgij = (8πG/c4)Tij - Λgij
Without worrying too much about what each individual term means, the main idea is that the terms on the left of the equal sign (Rij and R) represent the curvature of space while the terms on the right (Tij and Λ) represent the mass and energy in the universe that causes this curvature. The quantity Tij is called the stress-energy tensor and in it is contained all the information about how all the mass and the 'normal' energy (i.e., excluding dark energy) is distributed throughout all space. Λ is what is called the cosmological constant and determining its value that has been the source of all the excitement within the last two decades. The quantity gij is called the 'space-time metric' and defines how space and time are related. So the above equation represents the fundamental relationship between the mass-energy of the universe and the curvature of space.
G is the universal gravitational constant and c is the speed of light and since these are such fundamental and important quantities, they have been measured with great precision and are found to have the values G=6.67x10-11Nm2/kg2 and c=3x108m/s. (For the most up-to-date and comprehensive compilation of data, see the work of the Particle Data Group at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, which has a section on astrophysics and cosmology that contains a very useful data table.)
If we treat the universe on a large enough scale as if all the mass and energy is homogeneously spread out (like a uniform gas or liquid) and ignore the clumping on small scales that make up the stars and planets, the equation above simplifies considerably by mathematics standards, although it is still difficult to solve. In that case, Λ is related to the density of the energy (ρΛ) of the 'vacuum' by Λ=(8πG/c2)ρΛ, and it is this vacuum energy that is referred to as dark energy and is driving the accelerating expansion of the universe. The vacuum of space used to be considered as inert 'empty' space, but that is no longer the case.
The total energy density of the universe ρ is thus made up of what we might call matter density ρM (comprising regular matter such as protons, electrons and the like, plus electromagnetic energy and dark matter), and the energy density associated with dark energy. i.e., ρ=ρM+ρ&Lambda.
The critical density ρc that we encountered earlier and that determines the curvature and ultimate fate of the universe is something that we can calculate theoretically and is given by the expression ρc=3H2/8πG, where H is the Hubble constant (more about this and how it is measured in the next post). So &Omega=ρ/ρc, where Ω>1 gives us a positive curvature and a universe that will eventually stop expanding and start contracting, Ω<1 gives us an open universe that will expand forever, and Ω=1 gives us a flat universe that will also expand forever.
The results obtained from the WMAP satellite say that the density of our universe is currently exactly equal to the critical density thus making Ω=1.0, and is made up of 4.6% 'ordinary' matter and energy, 23.3% dark matter, and 72.1% dark energy. This means that our current best estimates are that ΩM=0.28 and ΩΛ=0.72.
Note that since we know the values of G and H (more on this in the next post), the value of the critical density ρc=3H2/8πG can be calculated and it works out to be 1.0x10-26kg/m3. This is an extremely small number reflecting the fact that the universe is mostly empty space. This highly dilute distribution is one major reason why it is not easy to directly detect things like dark matter and dark energy.
When it comes to calculating the total energy density of the universe, the dark energy is added up with the other energies from ordinary matter and dark matter. But unlike those other forms of energy, its effect on cosmic expansion is to push outwards and increase the rate of expansion of the universe, and not pull on it and slow it down.
In those particular inflationary models that assert that Ω will always equal 1.0 for all time, since ΩM gets less as the universe expands and gets more dilute, the value of ΩΛ must increase with time to keep Ω=1, so that the outward pressure will ultimately win out over the gravitational attraction. In this model, we live in essentially a runaway expanding universe, with everything moving away from everything else with increasingly rapid speeds.
In fact, these theories suggest that the universe is expanding so rapidly that galaxies are disappearing from sight over the far horizon so we will see less and less of them as time goes by. So if we had happened to come along a hundred billion or so years later than we did, the only things we would see in the night sky would be the merged result of own Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy, which are predicted to collide in the future. The sky would be really boring because the rest of the sky would be dark and people would have thought that there was nothing else in the universe. We would not have had the vast amounts of observational data that we have now that enable us to learn so much by making all these great inferences.
Lucky us!
Next: Measuring the universe.
POST SCRIPT: Mr. Deity has a better equation than Einstein's one
Bingo may be a popular activity in nursing homes, but MSASS Dean Grover Gilmore is seeing a lot more benefits that extend well beyond socializing.
According to Gilmore and other psychology researchers, the high-contrast, large bingo cards boost thinking and playing skills for people with cognitive difficulties and visual perception problems produced by Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). The findings were reported in the journal Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition. Learn more
The North Dakota Department of Human Services has been calling upon Ohio's expertise in the implementation of evidence-based practices for people with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders since 2006. Today, outcomes from the department's data analyses show that the use of Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment has been significantly reducing crisis services, psychiatric hospitalizations, incarcerations, and more. ... This story features Ric Kruszynski, MSSA ('93), LISW, LICDC, director of substance abuse and mental illness consulting and training initiatives at the Mandel School's Center for Evidence-Based Practices. Kruszynski is a 1993 graduate of the Mandel School.
I joined Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio) in Fall 2009. In October 2009, the university involuntarily withdrew me on medical grounds.
In December 2009, the university told me that I could apply with a psychiatric clearance after being symptom-free for at least 6 months. (So, the earliest I could reapply was Fall 2010.)
In June 2010, I applied for readmission to the university but was denied on the grounds that I met my psychiatrist "only" 6 times. Subsequently, I filed a complaint of discrimination with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Cleveland.
In June 2011, I again applied for readmission. This time I was readmitted subject to the conditions that I continue psychiatric counselling and sign a release. I told OCR that these conditions constitute discrimination.
In October 2011, the complaint was ruled in my favour and the university removed the treatment conditions.
In a change that will improve the quality of service for users, Kelvin Smith Library is integrating reference and circulation services at the KSL Main Service Desk on January 17, coinciding with beginning with the Spring 2012 semester. Enhanced training for the Main Service Desk staff means that library staff will be able to answer most common questions. Questions that cannot be answered by the Main Service Desk staff will be referred to the librarian subject specialists or transferred to the 24x7 online chat services that the library continues to maintain.
These changes in service are based upon an extensive analysis of transaction records that tracked the most frequently asked questions at the Reference Desk, and the times of day during which help was sought. Many (if not most) research libraries have seen the number of walk-up transactions falling over the past ten years, and have been modifying their services accordingly. By reassigning Research Services Librarians (formerly known as reference or collection management librarians) from wait-for-walk-up to a more active form of service, KSL is now able to tailor our services for the benefit of the entire University community. Therefore, beginning this semester the librarians will:
actively increase their availability for appointments not only in KSL but in academic departments and other places of need on campus.
receive referrals by Main Service Desk staff to handle questions that require specialized assistance.
be available "on call," with at least one librarian scheduled from 11:00 am-5:00 pm Monday through Friday to provide quick assistance within KSL.
increase the opportunities to collaborate in and assist with faculty and student research through regular consultation in academic departments and in a new first floor consultation room created in KSL to meet one-on-one or with small groups.
offer increased instruction opportunities, such as greater availability to teach classes, to assist in assignment/project creation with instructors, and to be available by appointment to assist students.
increase their ability to attend academic department programs, seminars, and other events to proactively support collection development and research needs of faculty.
In addition, KSL will continue to provide a 24x7 online chat service through OhioLINK and through other online systems, including:
As a further improvement in research services, also on January 17, the library will introduce “KSL Summon,” a service that allows simple searching across the library’s collections of books, journals, and electronic resources, as well as the resources of OhioLINK. The search interface can be used in a straightforward “Google-like” mode, but also provides enhanced features to enable more complex searching. In either case, the search will enable the user, with a single click, to search the CWRU catalog and most of our electronic resources. The KSL Summon index also makes suggestions of more specific databases that may assist the user with in-depth research. KSL Summon will continue to grow throughout the semester as additional resources are indexed.
As Kelvin Smith Library is implementing additional assessment and opportunities for user feedback as part of an ongoing effort to improve the library’s services, users are invited share questions and comments with Brian Gray, KSL Team Leader for Research Services, at bcg8@case.edu or 216-368-8685.
Some of the most interesting segments on The Daily Show are those involving authors and books that I had never heard of before. In this segment, Jon Stewart interviews Elizabeth Dowling Taylor, author of A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisons.
In the complicated life cycle of ancient flatworms that cause schistosomiasis, Case Western Reserve University researchers have identified a gene activator crucial to development of the parasites within humans – a potential target for a vaccine.
A description of the activator, which turns on rapid growth, is in the online journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Schistosomiasis, which causes organ damage and failure, afflicts more than 200 million people worldwide, killing 280,000 annually. Another 400 million people are at risk for the disease.
For decades, a single drug, praziquantel, has been used to kill the worms, and scientists are concerned the drug may become useless. The worms, called schistosomes, have shown they can develop resistance to praziquantel in the lab and there is currently no other drug to treat the disease.
Beyond that concern, the lack of a vaccine leaves human hosts in a cycle of their own: becoming infected, taking praziquantel, becoming reinfected - multiple times - due to the prevalence and ease of contracting the parasite in rivers and ponds in Asia, Africa and South America. Repeated exposure can add up to illness and death.
“This is really a disease of poor people,” said Emmitt Jolly, professor of biology at Case Western Reserve and senior author of the paper. “The strategy to combat the disease cannot be expensive.”
Jolly and John Milligan, a technician in Jolly’s lab and lead author, spent two years studying, identifying and characterizing the protein, and gene activator, myocyte enhancer factor 2, commonly referred to at Mef2, in the flatworm’s life cycle.
Depending on the phase of development, the schistosome lives in snails, in freshwater or in humans. From the snail, it becomes a tiny free swimmer that penetrates human skin. The parasite enters blood vessels and feeds on blood cells.
Sexually mature schistosomes congregate in blood vessels in a part of the abdomen called the mesentery. They mate and lay 300 to 1,000 eggs per day that migrate through the liver. About half the eggs are passed outside with urine and feces, depending on the species, and half get stuck in the body.
Upon reaching fresh water, the half excreted hatch into free swimmers that enter and grow in snails.
The half that remain in the body build up and cause an immune response. The eggs become encapsulated in granulomas, immune cells that wall off the foreign material. The result is significant organ damage, particularly in the liver, spleen, and intestine, but also other organs. Schistosomes can live and lay eggs for decades, the build-up of the granulomas slowly sickening and killing the host.
Mef2 is found in plants and yeast on up to humans. The activator is essential to muscle, nerve and bone development in humans, but how it works in flatworms was unknown.
Jolly and Milligan found, by homology, the protein appeared similar to Mef2 in yeast. Mef2 has two parts that act independently: one part binds to DNA, the second part activates gene expression.
When the researchers combined the schistosome gene activator with the DNA binder of yeast, the combination switched on the same yeast gene as the pure yeast gene activator.
They found that in the Schistosome, Mef2 expression is turned up right after the swimmer enters the human host. During this time, the parasites grow from 100 micrometers in length to 10 to 16-millimeter worms.
Praziquantel is most effective when schistosomes start producing eggs inside human hosts. A vaccine could prevent the parasite from reaching sexual maturity and laying eggs inside of hosts – thereby preventing schistosomiasis, the researchers say.
Although Mef2 is present in humans, the portion of schistosome Mef2 that switches on gene activity is so different from human Mef2 that “We can target that part, and not affect the host,” Jolly said.
Milligan and Jolly are working with other researchers to further understand schistosome Mef2 and are hopeful the work will lead to an alternative to praziquantel or a complimentary drug.
The research was funded the Case Western Reserve Department of Biology.
Case Western Reserve University scientists take step toward cyborg
An insect’s internal chemicals can be converted to electricity, potentially providing power for sensors, recording devices or to control the bug, a group of researchers at Case Western Reserve University report.
The finding is yet another in a growing list from universities across the country that could bring the creation of insect cyborgs – touted as possible first responders to super spies – out of science fiction and into reality. In this case, the power supply, while small, doesn’t rely on movement, light or batteries, just normal feeding.
The work is published in the online Journal of the American Chemical Society.
“It is virtually impossible to start from scratch and make something that works like an insect,” said Daniel Scherson, chemistry professor at Case Western Reserve and senior author of the paper.
“Using an insect is likely to prove far easier,” Scherson said. “For that, you need electrical energy to power sensors or to excite the neurons to make the insect do as you want, by generating enough power out of the insect itself.”
Scherson teamed with graduate student Michelle Rasmussen, Biology Professor Roy E. Ritzmann, Chemistry Professor Irene Lee and Biology Research Assistant Alan J. Pollack to develop an implantable biofuel cell to provide usable power.
The key to converting the chemical energy is using enzymes in series at the anode.
The first enzyme breaks the sugar, trehalose, which a cockroach constantly produces from its food, into two simpler sugars, called monosaccharides. The second enzyme oxidizes the monosaccharides, releasing electrons.
The current flows as electrons are drawn to the cathode, where oxygen from air takes up the electrons and is reduced to water.
After testing the system using trehalose solutions, prototype electrodes were inserted in a blood sinus in the abdomen of a female cockroach, away from critical internal organs.
“Insects have an open circulatory system so the blood is not under much pressure,” Ritzmann explained. “So, unlike say a vertebrate, where if you pushed a probe into a vein or worse an artery (which is very high pressure) blood does not come out at any pressure. So, basically, this is really pretty benign. In fact, it is not unusual for the insect to right itself and walk or run away afterward.”
The researchers found the cockroaches suffered no long-term damage, which bodes well for long-term use.
To determine the output of the fuel cell, the group used an instrument called a potentiostat. Maximum power density reached nearly 100 microwatts per square centimeter at 0.2 volts. Maximum current density was about 450 microamps per square centimeter.
The study was five years in the making. Progress stalled for nearly a year due to difficulties with trehalase – the first enzyme used in the series.
Lee suggested they have the trehalase gene chemically synthesized to generate an expression plasmid, which is a DNA molecule separate from chromosomal DNA, to allow the production of large quantities of purified enzyme from Escherichia coli. “Michelle then began collecting enzyme that proved to have much higher specific activities than those obtained from commercial sources,” Lee said. “The new enzyme led to success.”
The researchers are now taking several steps to move the technology forward: miniaturizing the fuel cell so that it can be fully implanted and allow an insect to run or fly normally; investigating materials that may last long inside of an insect, working with other researchers to build a signal transmitter that can run on little energy; adding a lightweight rechargeable battery.
“It’s possible the system could be used intermittently,” Scherson said. “An insect equipped with a sensor could measure the amount of noxious gas in a room, broadcast the finding, shut down and recharge for an hour, then take a new measurement and broadcast again.”
The research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation.
Most people have probably heard that Rick Santorum was given a hard time by a group of college students in New Hampshire because of his opposition to same sex marriage, which resulted in him being booed and jeered at the end. You can see the video at the bottom of this news story. What people may not have been noticed is that this was a group of college Republicans, which shows how the younger generation across the political spectrum views giving gays equal rights much more favorably than the old. Homophobia is dying, and dying quickly.
In responding to the question of why he opposed same sex marriage, Santorum exploited a debating trick in which one shifts the point of discussion ever so slightly away from something that is hard to defend against to something else that is easier to defend. The students were not prepared for this and though they sensed that they were getting a non sequitur, they could not quite put their finger on the flaw at that moment. This is not a good thing for Santorum because the students will figure out later what he did and why he was wrong and it will make them angry that he tried to snooker them. I think the jeers at the end were from those who already realized what he was doing but did not get the chance to make their case.
As a former debater, I have learned that there are quite a few tricks that you can use to stymie an opponent and seemingly win a point in the short term but you have to be aware that when people figure out later that they have been tricked, that will backfire on you. So, as a public service, here is some information to anyone to counter the kinds of phony arguments that Santorum made.
What happened during the exchange was this. When a student asked why he opposed same sex marriage, Santorum correctly replied that the burden of the argument is on those who advocate a change in existing law and pressed the student for a reason that made same sex marriage necessary. Put on the spot, the student said (at 2:30) that without it, gay people do not have the right to visit their partners in hospital. Santorum responded (again correctly) that gay people could sign a contract that gave their partners this particular right, so marriage was not necessary to achieve that particular goal.
But this misses the point. It is true that one can sign contracts that enable one's partner to have this or that specific right, but the fact is that when you get married you automatically get conferred on you a wide range of rights, only a few of which can be substituted contractually outside of marriage. If all the rights of marriage could be achieved by signing a single legal contract between two people, then the whole issue of same sex marriage would be moot since we would have the equivalent of civil unions and gay people could have such a legal ceremony and be done with it.
Santorum further said that if same sex marriage is allowed, then the rule that marriage is only between one man and one woman would no longer hold and one would have to allow polygamy as well. He wisely steered away from his earlier claim that allowing same sex marriage to be legal would mean that one would have to also allow marriage to animals and children. This association of homosexuality with bestiality and pedophilia was what resulted in his famous Google problem.
What Santorum was doing here was misleading the audience on the ways in which the rules for marriage can be expanded. In general, marriage has the following rules: (1) only human beings can get married; (2) the number of people who can be married is two; and (3) the two people must consist of one man and one woman. (There are other rules involving age, relationship, and so on that do not add anything to the point I am making here.) Hence when one broadens the definition of marriage, one can do it in at least three ways. One can expand it to include other species, one can increase the number of people involved, one can make more flexible the genders of the people involved, or some combination of all three. What should be obvious is that there is no logical reason why any one option would inevitably lead to any other. What supporters of same sex marriage are saying is that they have no problem with restricting marriage to human beings or that the number be two. It is that they want to relax only rule #3 and allow two people of any gender (male, female, transgender) to marry. The reason for urging this change is so that then there will be equality under the law and that people's rights are not restricted because of their gender or sexual orientation. This is a reasonable, understandable, and to my mind compelling, argument.
So what about relaxing rule #2 and allowing polygamy or rule #1 and allowing bestiality? At present there is no significant constituency pressing for either and so they are moot and bringing them into this discussion is purely a diversionary tactic. It may happen that the day will come when (say) some Mormons and Muslims lead a campaign for relaxing rule #2 and that debate will come to the forefront. I for one would have no fundamental problem with the number of people who are allowed to marry being increased to three or four or to whatever number society deems most suitable. But for the same reasons as above, I would have a problem if they increased it to three and restricted it to (say) just one man and two women. If we are going to increase the number to three human beings then, invoking the same principle of equality, the persons that comprise those three should not be restricted by gender. You should also allow one woman and two men, or three men, or three women, or one woman and one man and one transgender, and so on.
What Santorum was doing was conflating something that is arbitrary (the number of people who can be married) with something that involves a fundamental principle of justice (equal treatment under the law). As an analogy, if one should be needed, it is like the speed limit on a road. People accept whatever number is posted. People also accept speed limit changes from 55 mph to 60 mph or 65 mph as involving merely numbers that are determined based on a variety of prosaic reasons. There is no fundamental principle involved. But everyone would agree that it would be wrong to have one speed limit for male drivers and another for female drivers.
One student during the exchange pointed this out, saying (at 5:40) that she personally did not care if polygamy was allowed but that this issue was irrelevant to the issue of same sex marriage. She was absolutely correct but her view did not get a proper response.
This was not a debating competition where the point is to win. As a lawyer, Santorum should have been aware of everything that I said above and in not acknowledging it, he was either being dishonest and trying to bamboozle the audience or is so homophobic that his reasoning skills completely desert him when it comes to anything involving homosexuality. It could be the latter. As comedian Gary Shandling says in a tweet, "Rick Santorum seems so homophobic that I'm surprised he even allows another man to vote for him."
I think that the students sensed that Santorum was not discussing the issue honestly and was being patronizing and condescending and that was why he was roundly booed at the end. But thanks to the internet, people are going to wise up and the next time he, or anyone else, tries these debating tricks, I hope they get strong push back.
They have started a new science section and Arianna Huffington says this of her hopes for it:
I'm particularly looking forward to HuffPost Science's coverage of one of my longtime passions: the intersection of science and religion, two fields often seen as contradictory -- or at least presented that way by those waging The War on Science. A key part of HuffPost Science's mission will be to cut through the divisions that have resulted from that false war.
Rather than taking up arms in those misguided, outdated battles, HuffPost Science will work in the tradition of inquisitive minds that can accommodate both logic and mystery. It's a tradition exemplified by Brown University biology professor Kenneth Miller, who, when I visited with him last year, told me that he sees Darwin not as an obstacle to faith but as "the key to understanding our relationship with God."
Ah, yes, the old "accommodate both logic and mystery" ploy, as Inspector Clousseau would say. Expect to see full-bore accommodationism that tells you that magical thinking is perfectly compatible with science, as long as you throw in sexy sciency words such as 'quantum' and 'indeterminancy' to mask the woo that lurks beneath. I don't know why they don't call it the 'Deepak Chopra section' and be done with it.
A good indicator of how degraded the political discourse has become in government is the absurd fuss over the recess appointment by president Obama of Richard Cordray to head the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency that Elizabeth Warren designed and which she was considered too controversial to lead. She is now running for the US Senate seat in Massachusetts.
The US Senate, that has blithely ignored or gone along with all the major violations of the law and the constitution that presidents have committed over recent years, has taken umbrage over a minor issue of procedure and privilege, illustrating once again my point that it is not the issues that they fight over in Washington that one must watch closely, it is what they don't fight over.
The Daily Show comments on the latest absurd fuss. I find it impressive how, in a few short minutes, they manage to explain precisely what is at issue, with all its munitiae, while overlaying it with humor.
Many Christians who belong to the Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on or around January 6 because they follow the older Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar that the rest of the world uses. This gives them a huge advantage since they can do their Christmas shopping after December 25, thus not only avoiding the crowds but also taking advantage of the post-Christmas sales.
I came across this news report that said that priests of the Greek Orthodox Church and the Armenian Orthodox Church came to blows over who has the right to clean the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the site that tradition says is where Jesus was born. Each side had come with cleaning materials to clean their assigned area but when one group encroached on the space of another, they used their brooms and mops to wage a pitched battle for supremacy. Watch.
What is extraordinary is that this apparently happens every year and police have to be called in to quell the disturbance but that no arrests are made because, as the police chief says, "all those involved were men of God". Of course they were. Who else would fight about something like that?
The intensity of feeling over cleaning a building made me curious as to what theological difference existed between these two religious traditions and discovered that the split dated back to 451 CE and the Council of Chalcedon that was convened to settle an important doctrinal issue known as the "Two Natures" controversy: Did the two natures of Jesus (divine and human) co-exist in his body or were the two natures fused into one? The verdict of the Council was in favor the former and believers of any other formulation were 'anathematized' or cursed.
As if often the case involving dogma, the final adjudication caused umbrage on the part of the losing side in the debate, causing them to take their ball and go home, which in this case meant forming the Oriental Orthodox churches of which the Armenian branch is one.
I myself am on the side of the Greek Orthodox Church in this dispute since they are obviously right. The idea that the two natures of Jesus were fused into one is preposterous and the Armenians will burn in hell forever for this monstrous heresy. As for them breaking away, all I can say is, "Good riddance, splitters."
On New Year's eve, a time when no one is paying much attention to politics, president Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act. This was a bill that funded the US military for the rest of the fiscal year. But within that legislation was a provision that allows the US government to indefinitely detain without trial even US citizens, by making the entire world, including the US, part of the 'battlefield' which means that anyone can be picked up anywhere and declared to be an enemy combatant and thus stripped of their rights. The administration claims it has the right to indefinitely detain anyone that they, and they alone, assert is 'at war with the United States', whatever that means. This continues the whittling away at habeas corpus, one of the bedrock protections of individual liberty.
According to the ACLU, the legislation was "drafted in secret by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) and passed in a closed-door committee meeting, without even a single hearing." It then passed easily in both houses with little or no debate, always a dangerous sign, since such speedy and secretive bipartisan harmony usually means that the general public is getting a raw deal. The Daily Show rightly ridiculed the rushed Senate debate.
The Senate finally voted 93 to 7 in favor of the bill. The only 'no' votes were Tom Harkin (D, Iowa), Tom Coburn (R, Ok), Rand Paul (R, Ky), Jeff Merkley (D, Or), Ron Wyden (D, Or), Mike Lee (R, UT), and Bernie Sanders (I, VT). Notable yes votes were from Al Franken and Sherrod Brown. Ohio's Brown, a supposed liberal, has a disgraceful record of voting for authoritarian legislation such as the Military Commissions Act in 2006 and now this. The House of Representatives voted 283 to 136 in favor with 14 not voting.
Human rights groups have been outspoken in their condemnation of the Act. Human Rights Watch has called it a 'historic tragedy for rights' and its executive director Kenneth Roth has said that, "By signing this defense spending bill, President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in US law."
The far-reaching detainee provisions would codify indefinite detention without trial into US law for the first time since the McCarthy era when Congress in 1950 overrode the veto of then-President Harry Truman and passed the Internal Security Act. The bill would also bar the transfer of detainees currently held at Guantanamo into the US for any reason, including for trial. In addition, it would extend restrictions, imposed last year, on the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo to home or third countries – even those cleared for release by the administration.
As Justin Raimondo points out, this legislation "essentially repeals the longstanding Posse Comitatus Act, which prevents the military from engaging in law enforcement on US territory." Obama apologists have, as usual, said that things are not that bad but Glenn Greenwald sets them straight using the direct language of the Act to make his case. Matt Taibbi is disturbed by the muted reactions to this the new law, when the opposition should be vociferous from all sides of the political spectrum.
Those of us who have been following the steady erosion of constitutional rights under the Bush/Cheney and Obama regimes knew this was coming. As is often the case when civil liberties are involved, Obama and the Democrats have played a double game, strengthening the authoritarian powers of government while pretending to care about freedoms. George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley rips into the Act and Obama's duplicity;
Ironically, in addition to breaking his promise not to sign the law, Obama broke his promise on signing statements and attached a statement that he really does not want to detain citizens indefinitely.
…
Obama insisted that he signed the bill simply to keep funding for the troops. It was a continuation of the dishonest treatment of the issue by the White House since the law first came to light. As discussed earlier, the White House told citizens that the president would not sign the NDAA because of the provision. That spin ended after sponsor Senator Carl Levin (Democrat, Michigan) went to the floor and disclosed that it was the White House and insisted that there be no exception for citizens in the indefinite detention provision.
…
[T]he insistence that you do not intend to use authoritarian powers does not alter the fact that you just signed an authoritarian measure. It is not the use but the right to use such powers that defines authoritarian systems.
The almost complete failure of the mainstream media to cover this issue is shocking.
…
On the NDAA, reporters continue to mouth the claim that this law only codifies what is already the law. That is not true. The administration has fought any challenges to indefinite detention to prevent a true court review. Moreover, most experts agree that such indefinite detention of citizens violates the constitution.
There are also those who continue the longstanding effort to excuse Obama's horrific record on civil liberties by blaming either others or the times. One successful myth is that there is an exception for citizens. The White House is saying that changes to the law made it unnecessary to veto the legislation. That spin is ridiculous. The changes were the inclusion of some meaningless rhetoric after key amendments protecting citizens were defeated. The provision merely states that nothing in the provisions could be construed to alter Americans' legal rights. Since the Senate clearly views citizens as not just subject to indefinite detention but even to execution without a trial, the change offers nothing but rhetoric to hide the harsh reality.
The Obama administration and Democratic members are in full spin mode – using language designed to obscure the authority given to the military. The exemption for American citizens from the mandatory detention requirement (section 1032) is the screening language for the next section, 1031, which offers no exemption for American citizens from the authorisation to use the military to indefinitely detain people without charge or trial.
Obama could have refused to sign the bill and the Congress would have rushed to fund the troops. Instead, as confirmed by Senator Levin, the White House conducted a misinformation campaign to secure this power while portraying the president as some type of reluctant absolute ruler, or, as Obama maintains, a reluctant president with dictatorial powers.
…
For civil libertarians, the NDAA is our Mayan moment: 2012 is when the nation embraced authoritarian powers with little more than a pause between rounds of drinks.
The Daily Show rightly mocks Obama's bogus attempts at pretending that he cares about civil liberties.
So what happens if you or someone you know is captured and detained under this law? Not to worry! Tom the Dancing Bug has a handy information sheet telling you what rights you still have.
As a vivid example of the ghastliness that can ensue when religious people gain political power, we have the case of people who are condemned to death by stoning in Iran. According to an ACLU pamphlet that I received, at least 14 people are currently awaiting this form of execution.
Bound, wrapped in shrouds and buried in a pit with head and shoulders above ground, the victims are likely to survive for between 20 minutes and two hours from when the first stone draws blood. The reason they survive so long can be found in the chillingly clinical wording of Article 104 of the Iranian Penal Code:
'The size of the stone used in stoning shall not be too large to kill the convict by one or two throws and at the same time shall not be too small to be called a stone.'
As can be seen in this passage and in the instruments of torture and death developed during the Inquisition, religious people can be quite ingenious in the careful way they devise ways to prolong the agony of their victims.
One Iranian woman, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, is awaiting such an execution because of an adultery conviction. Maryam Namazie has been highlighting her case, hoping to win her freedom.
Have a project to work on in the Freedman Center? Beginning Monday, January 9th until Saturday January 14th the Center will be open from 10 am until 5 pm. As always, staff will be on hand to help you out.
On Wednesday, January 11th we will be purging all saved files from the Freedman Center's work stations. To ensure you don't lose them, please come in to take all files with you. Need a jumpdrive? We sell 'em! Contact us at freedmancenter@case.edu with any questions.
Normal everyday life for parents requires organization. Parents of children who require ventilators, oxygen, IVs and other tools to live, those day-to-day tasks can be time-consuming, difficult and stressful on the family. But researchers from Case Western Reserve University found that mothers who successfully integrate the care of the technology-dependent child into family life have families that function better.
“It’s about the perception of the child’s illness,” said Valerie Toly from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. She is the lead researcher on the study, “A Longitudinal Study of Families with Technology-Dependent Children,” in the journal of Research in Nursing & Health.
Toly’s research is one of the first longitudinal studies to see how families function and reach normalcy once children leave the hospital equipped with technology to keep them alive. She studied 82 mothers, recruited during visits to a hospital’s specialty clinic.
The mothers were interviewed and given six surveys after leaving the hospital, and then again 12 months later to track changes in the mother’s psychological wellbeing, family functioning and normalcy.
The mothers—primarily Caucasian (79 percent), African-American (17 percent), Hispanic (6 percent) and Asian (2 percent)—ranged in age from 22 to 66. About 75 percent had some college education, a third worked full time and 75 percent had other children, some of whom also are technology dependent.
About a third of the mothers tested for clinical depression, and that percentage increased by 7 percent at the second visit. (Mothers with high levels of depression were provided mental health resource information.)
At the beginning of the study, children ranged in age from 6.75 months to 16.83 years, with an average age of 6.41 years. Nearly half of the children had medical issues related to neuromuscular diagnoses like cerebral palsy, and half of the children needed more than one technology. Overall, an average of 45 hours of home care help was needed at the first interview, and that need grew by the second interview.
The researcher found mothers whose children no longer used technologies had the greatest improvement in family functioning and normalcy.
Toly said children in the study “are in a high risk, vulnerable group…3 children died in the one year span of time between interviews and one mother died. This is much higher than the general population.”
But for those who continue to require technology, integrating the child into family events is critical. Toly has seen mothers pack up the technology and take the child along with other siblings to soccer practice and other family events. In another instance, one mother missed an annual family camping trip because of the extra work required to include the technology-dependent child in the trip; the following year, the extended family pitched in and built ramps, making it possible for the mother and child to join in the camping fun.
Examples like these keep families on the normal track. “Mothers integrate technology-dependent child into the family by being flexible about when to give medications or food,” Toly said.
But, adhering to rigid schedules can interfere with what others in the family need to do, and it can create problems, Toly added.
“A mother’s depression plays a greater role in family functioning than the child’s severity of illness,” Toly reported.
As early as the 1980s, Toly saw technological advances were keeping preemies alive, but “we didn’t know what the long-term impact that technology would have on the families and the children.”
She said that even 30 years later, the effect is unknown. She has set out to understand what families encounter and help the families have a normal life even among the tubes, monitors and medications.
Carol Musil from the Case Western Reserve University nursing school and John C. Carl from the Cleveland Clinic contributed to the study. View the article at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nur.21454/abstract.
For all those people worried about the Mayan prediction that this will be the last year before the world is destroyed on December 21, it appears that a new reading of the Mayan calendar says that it did not predict that the world will end in 2012. It only predicted the return of the god Bolon Yokte, shown on the right.
So who is this Bolon Yokte? And does he/she come in peace or to smite us in the ways that gods seem to enjoy? The image suggests someone with a fierce attitude, which does not look promising. Some have suggested that he is in fact Jesus, but that seems a bit much. The concept of the trinity is mind-boggling enough without adding a fourth incarnation. As they say when it comes to gods, three's company, but four's a crowd.
Despite his strong showing in Iowa, there is absolutely no chance that Rick Santorum will get the Republican nomination because the party establishment will shoot him down before he rises too far. The only question is how long it will take before he is crushed. This is because his social views are too out there even for a party that likes to see itself as the guardians of morality. His obsession with sexual issues, especially his reservations about the right to contraception, is too creepy and extreme for even the oligarchy and its media allies and they will never let him get the nomination. For a sample of his positions, see here.
Furthermore, he is already the butt of relentless humor about his name as a result of Dan Savage's efforts and The Daily Show also had fun with him.
Santorum's daughter Elizabeth has complained about it, saying that "It's disappointing that people can be that mean." In her father's defense, she says that she has gay friends who support her father's candidacy based on his economic and family platforms.
One of the telling signs that a particular bigotry is on the way out is when those bigots go out of their way to insist that they do not hate the victims of the bigotry but in fact have such people among their friends. The statements "Hate the sin, love the sinner" and "Some of my best friends are black/Jews/gays/(fill-in-the-blank)" have now become jokes because they are such obvious attempts at hiding their prejudices. Major changes in social attitudes tend to be accompanied by this kind of hypocrisy just before the new attitudes become accepted.
Dan Savage notes that this stage has arrived for gays. As Savage says, "[W]hat does it tell us about this moment in the struggle for LGBT equality that even homophobes like Elizabeth and her dad perceive a political risk in being perceived as homophobic?" Rick Santorum, his daughter Elizabeth, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Donny Osmond, and Sarah Palin all insist that they have gay friends, though those friends are mysteriously invisible. Either they are made up or they exist but do not want to publicly identify themselves and have to explain to others how they could be friends with homophobes. Savage says that reporters should ask who these friends are. Whatever the case, the very fact that such affirmations of friendship are now obligatory is a good sign.
Savage also says that reporters who listen sympathetically when such people complain about how others are being mean to them about their homophobia are not doing their job. What they encounter is nothing compared to the meanness of the policies that they would like to inflict on gay people. It is a good article, and the short video at the end about a gay couple that waited in vain for forty years to get married is very moving.
All those who predicted dire warnings of the collapse of the US military as a fighting force as a result of the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' (yes, you, John McCain) should apologize because the military has not fallen apart. Even the celebrated public kiss of two navy lesbians aroused little more than curiosity and celebration, the first kiss on shore being a navy tradition whenever a ship returns to port. Note that a similar photo was also featured on the official website of the US Navy.
We now have had multiple states give equal rights to gay people (at least as far as marriage is concerned), all of which were predicted to signal the end of civilization as we know it. And what has happened? Nothing. Life goes on just as before, as all rational people knew it would. Meanwhile the governor of Washington state is introducing legislation to legalize gay marriage which, if it passes, will make it the seventh state to do so, after New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa and the District of Columbia.
We should just give gay people equal rights now in all areas of public life and be done with it. They are going to get them eventually anyway because it is the right thing to do and rights have always been expanded to include more groups of people, never reduced. The people who fight this trend are going to lose and lose badly and will be looked back in history as villains. And they will deserve it.
In the meantime, we can enjoy all the Santorum jokes that will fill the airwaves in the next few days before he fades off into well-deserved oblivion.
One of the common criticisms that one hears against us science-based atheists is that our search for naturalistic explanations of hitherto mysterious phenomena, coupled with a relentless assault on irrational and unscientific thinking, results in all the wonder being drained from life. We are told, for example, that to explain that the rainbow is the product of multiple scattering of light by water droplets in the air is to somehow detract from its beauty or that when gazing at the billions of twinkling stars on a beautifully clear cloudless night, to be aware that they are the products of nuclear fusion reactions that took place billions of years ago is to reduce their grandeur.
I must say that I don't understand the criticism. For me at least, understanding how these things come about actually enhances my sense of wonder about the universe. The more I learn about how the universe works and how the impersonal forces of nature created everything around us, the more I am impressed.
To illustrate my point, I am now going to show you something that I think is incredibly beautiful. It is the equation:
T = 2tanh-1(√ΩΛ)/(3H0√ΩΛ)
So what is so great about this equation? It is the equation that tells us the age of the universe. Note that the age T depends on just two quantities H0 and the square root of ΩΛ, both of which are measured quantities. H0 is the value of the Hubble constant at the present time and is given by the slope of the straight line obtained when one plots the speed of distant galaxies (on the y-axis) versus the distance to those galaxies (on the x-axis). ΩΛ is the ratio of the density of dark energy in the universe to the total energy density of the universe.
As with all scientific results, there are some basic theoretical assumptions that go into obtaining them. This particular one requires that the universe be governed by Einstein's equations of general relativity and that its current state is 'matter dominated' (i.e., the energy contribution of pure radiation is negligible) and 'flat' (i.e., the total density of the universe is at its critical value so that the curvature of space is neither convex nor concave). These 'assumptions' are supported by other measurements, so they are not arbitrary.
The values of H0 and ΩΛ are obtained using satellite probes that collect a vast body of data from stars and galaxies and scientists then do a best fit to those data for multiple parameters, of which these are just two. The current values were obtained in 2009 by the WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Satellite Probe) satellite launched in 2001, and are given by H0=70.5 km/s/Mpc and ΩΛ=0.726. Insert these values into the above equation (with the appropriate units) and you get that the age of the universe is 13.7 billion years.
Why do I think this equation is a thing of extraordinary beauty? Just think about the implications of that equation for a moment. We humans have been around for just an infinitesimally small period of time in history and occupy an infinitesimally small part of the universe. And yet we have been able, using pure ingenuity and by steadily building upon the scientific achievements of our predecessors, to not only figure out the large-scale structure of the vast universe we happen to occupy but to determine, in a simple equation, its actual age! That is truly incredible. If that does not strike you with wonder, then I don't know what will.
Furthermore, note how simple the equation is. The tanh-1 function (which represents the inverse of the hyperbolic tangent) may be intimidating for some but it is such a standard mathematical function that it can be found on any scientific hand calculator. If a news report states that new satellite data have given revised best fit values for by H0 and ΩΛ, anyone can calculate the revised age of the universe themselves in a few minutes.
But as this xkcd cartoon captures accurately, it is not that scientists lose their sense of wonder but that they find wonder in learning about the universe, and do not need to invoke mystery to sense it.
There is something quite fascinating to me about miniature railroads. I had a toy train set as a boy but this is something I could never have imagined.
Oh that god, such a tease! After promising Michele Bachmann that she would pull off a miracle in Iowa, he unceremoniously dumped her to sixth place, exactly where she was predicted to be, resulting in her 'suspending' her campaign, which is translated as 'dropping out'. I thought that she would lash out at god for making her look like a fool, but she held her tongue. That's perhaps a wise move since we know how god gets riled for the most petty things and can lash out, like the way he had forty two children attacked by bears merely because they called his prophet Elisha 'baldy'.
It looks like god also abandoned another devoted fan Rick Perry, who came in fifth and has decided to 'reassess' his campaign, which also translates as 'dropping out', although he may have changed his mind and decided to stick it out a little longer.
It looks like god decided, like with Tim Tebow, to throw his weight behind his third string quarterback Rick Santorum, the latest candidate to enjoy the anti-Romney surge. I must admit that I did not see that coming. I thought that the anti-Romney forces would be exhausted after the collapse of their previous hopes Bachmann, Perry, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich.
I think god dumped Bachmann because he is a sexist and prefers to hang out with the guys, especially football players. Via Gawker, I learn that he has also been spending a lot of time with his old buddy Pat Robertson, telling him all that will happen in 2012, including who will be president, though Robertson said he will keep that particular bit of news to himself, probably so that he can make a killing betting on the outcome on Intrade.
It looks like Robertson took notes of what god said during these chats because he gives us direct quotes. Imagine: Direct quotes from god! How cool is that? I don't know why this has not got the entire media to pay attention. Even the woman Robertson is telling all this to does not seem to get all that excited. What a jaded people we have become when god's actual words are ignored.
Did you know that Robertson also only came in second in the Iowa caucuses in 1984 when he ran for president, even though he is so tight with god? So Rick Santorum should not be disheartened that god left him just eight votes shy of first place. It looks like god has this habit of holding back just a little bit. He did go all the way with Mike Huckabee in 2008, only to crash and burn his candidacy soon after. I think god just gets a kick out of messing with his fans' minds.
As the calendar page turns from 2011 to 2012 we would like to share more updates and interesting developments related to a few of last year’s topics:
Our August post on the survey of Special Collections World War I resources contained a reference to the Thomas Slavin gift of 50 images taken by commercial photographers Underwood & Underwood for distribution to news-bureaus during that era. The gift, noted then as "in process" has recently been added to Digital Case as The Underwood & Underwood. WWI Photographs.
"Disabled Heroes Being Taught New Trades." circa 1919 From the Underwood & Underwood Collection of World War I Photographs. Gift of Thomas Slavin
When we wrote about the collections in the Case Archive of Contemporary Science and Technology in September we could not foresee the events that would unfold bringing staff members into closer connection with History of Science and Technology groups meeting in Cleveland last fall. An invitation extended by NASA Chief Archivist Jane Odom presented an opportunity to archivists Helen Conger {University Archives) and Nora Blackman (Special Collections) to speak at the NASA Annual History Meeting on November 1st at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland on our holdings related to T. Keith Glennan, President of CIT (1947-1966) and first NASA Administrator (1958-1961), and the Case Archive.
The session featured the following papers, which underscored the value of our primary sources in the field of Engineering Education:
Bruce Seely (Michigan Technological University): Mel Kranzberg and SHOT’s Creation Story: “And How Does One Go About Forming a New Scholarly Society?”
Atsushi Akera (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute): Implementing Liberal-Professional Education at Case Institute of Technology
Robert C. Post (National Museum of American History): Mel Kranzberg’s Return to Ithaca
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The North Dakota Department of Human Services has been calling upon Ohio's expertise in the implementation of evidence-based practices for people with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders since 2006. Today, outcomes from the department's data analyses show that the use of Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment has been significantly reducing crisis services, psychiatric hospitalizations, incarcerations, and more. ... This story features Ric Kruszynski, MSSA ('93), LISW, LICDC, director of substance abuse and mental illness consulting and training initiatives at the Mandel School's Center for Evidence-Based Practices. Kruszynski is a 1993 graduate of the Mandel School.
For all those people worried about the Mayan prediction that this will be the last year before the world is destroyed on December 21, it appears that a new reading of the Mayan calendar says that it 
