coal 3.coa.00020 midbrain Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire . By the age of 14 months, infants are masters of imitation. They mimic all sorts of behaviors, including laboratory antics such as touching one's forehead to a box that then lights up.

Babies on the brink of toddlerhood are not indiscriminate copycats, however. They sometimes opt for simpler ways to do what an adult shows them, signaling a budding capacity for evaluating the sensibility of others' behavior, according to a study in the Feb. 14 Nature.

Gy�rgy Gergely of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest and his colleagues studied 14 infants, all 14 months old, who watched a female experimenter perform the forehead-to-light-box trick under two conditions. In an initial series of trials, the woman pretended to be cold and executed the head action while her hands held a blanket around her. In a second set of trials, she performed the same head maneuver with no blanket, her hands resting next to the light box.http://louis2j2sheehan2esquire2.wordpress.com

When the woman's hands were occupied, only three infants reenacted her head action. When her hands were free, that number rose to 10. In both sets of trials, most of the infants who did not mimic the forehead-to-box action lit the box instead by touching it with their hands.

Infants opted for this simpler technique when they figured that the adult had a good reason�holding the blanket�for not using her hands on the box, the researchers theorize.http://louis2j2sheehan2esquire2.wordpress.com

This finding coincides with positron emission tomography data, published in the February NeuroReport, indicating that separate brain networks orchestrate the imitation of specific actions for achieving a goal versus the accomplishment of a goal by means of one's own choosing. As 10 men duplicated a series of actions by an experimenter arranging toy blocks, increased activity occurred uniquely in a frontal-brain area already implicated in making preparations for forthcoming actions. When the men built the same structure in their own way, however, activity increased primarily in a midbrain section involved in coordinating movements.

"Just as we distinguish between a person's goals and his or her technique for trying to reach those goals, the brain also separates means from goals," says study coauthor Andrew N. Meltzoff of the University of Washington in Seattle.

avrocar 4.avr.00200 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Project Silverbug was a code name given to an experimental saucer-shaped aircraft in the 1950s built by Avro Aircraft Ltd. in Malton, Ontario, Canada for the US military. The high security surounding the project led to conjecture that the Americans were using the cover of Project Silverbug to test alien craft that they had captured.
Contents
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* 1 Avro's Special Project Group
* 2 Project Y
* 3 US Military involvement
* 4 Project Y-2
* 5 Summary
* 6 External Links
* 7 Relevant Discussion Threads

Avro's Special Project Group

One of the key engineers at Avro Aircraft was John Carver Meadows "Jack" Frost who had joined Avro Canada (the commonly used name for the aircraft company) in June 1947 after working for several British firms. He had been with de Havilland since 1942 and had worked on the de Havilland Vampire jet fighter and the D.H.108 Swallow experimental supersonic aircraft. At Avro Canada, he had worked on the Avro CF-100 before starting on a flying disc design in a research team known as the "Special Projects Group."

Shortly after its formation, the Special Projects Group started researching vertical take-off and landing capability (VTOL) with emphasis on a paper study Frost had labelled the "pancake" engine, a jet turbine that had its main componets arranged in a circular design. From the outset, the Special Projects Group had a cloak-and-dagger feel to it. Housed in a Second World War-era structure, across from the company headquarters, the group had all the accoutrements of a top-secret operation, including security guards, locked doors and special pass cards. Within the confines of this technical fortress, Frost surrounded himself with a collection of like-minded dreamers and maverick engineers. There he encouraged close cooperation and, while ostensibly the boss, he was collegial and very much one of the boys.
Project Y

In 1952, the Avro Special Projects team began research and development work on a series of VTOL designs, known initially as "Project Y." The first of these proposed aircraft was a "spade-shaped" fighter intended to be powered by Frost’s revolutionary pancake engine. Named Project Y, this craft was designed to sit on its tail, and promised, in theory, at least, VTOL capabilities, climb rates to the tune of 100,000 feet per minute and speeds up to 1,500 mph. Project Y, funded by the company and the Canadian government, proceeded to the mock-up stage. By 1953, with the company having little more than a wooden mockup, paper drawings and promises to show for a $4-million (Cdn) outlay, a more critical eye was cast on the project. Not surprisingly, the plug got pulled when government funding from the Defence Research Board dried up.
US Military involvement

Frost wouldn't accept defeat; in addition to being a gifted designer, he was also a talented promoter and salesman. In late 1953, a group of U.S. defence experts visited Avro Canada to view the new CF-100 fighter jet. Somewhere along the way, Frost co-opted the tour and rerouted it to the Special Projects area where he proceeded to show off his mockup, models and drawings (some never before seen by senior company officials) for a completely circular disk-shaped aircraft known as "Project Y-2."

The USAF agreeing to take over funding for Frost's Special Projects Group and with American dollars rolling in, Project Y-2 received a new moniker -"Project 1794"- and a new lease on life. Frost and his team began pursuing a real flying saucer, one that would have advanced weapon systems and produce speeds in excess of Mach 2.
Project Y-2

Project Silver Bug was the American "Black" project version of the Avro Aircraft Canada Y-2 undertaken by the United States Air Force in 1953. Project Y-2 was begun by the Canadian John Frost, who was apparently in the loop on Nazi Saucer programs and was quite fascinated by them.{fact} It involved a "radial flow jet" engine design which was simply radical for the time. As late as 1976 people were copyrighting ideas essentially identical to this 1955 design (see US Patent # 4,193,568). This aircraft was listed as being capable of over 80,000 feet and Mach 3 and able to hover at up to 18,000 ft. without using afterburners. Due to newspaper leaks in the mid-'50s a cover story for the an earlier "Omega" program was leaked to "Look" magazine which, while broadly similar, disinformed the public as to the radical engine (substituting many small conventional jets for the single radial flow) and the control systems to be used.

Later in 1958 Avro Aircraft Ltd. was contracted to build a somewhat similar, small ground-cushion vehicle reminiscent of the "Look" magazine item for the USAF and US Army. I too am convinced that this "Avrocar" was constructed only for disinformation purposes while Y-2 went "Black" as a means of providing the US Gov't with "plausible deniability" and also the possibility of telling those who saw "flying saucers" that it was only that Avro vehicle.

At any rate, the Y-2 later Silver Bug item was an entirely other matter. It clearly DID go Black and the incredible performance projected by educated engineers for it really prove WHY it has been such a secret. The saucer shape give natural "all aspect" stealth, the radial flow engine was capable of producing incredible thrust in an aerodynamically appealing shape, and the vertical take off and landing abilities gave the US the possibility of underground basing. All of these features provided the possibility of "Cold War" winning technology in the 1950's! Clearly they didn't want the Soviets possessing any or suspecting their existence until they developed technology that could reasonably be expected to counter "stealth."

The strongest evidence that Avro built something to resemble Y-2 comes from 5.4 million dollars spent on Avro's own "Private Venture 704" including about 2 million dollars from the USA up to 1957. The Avrocar project was commenced after this time and used only 4 million or so to completion. Avro stated themselves that the first step in responding challenge of developing the Y-2 was to build the engine and the control duct system. Clearly this is where the first 5.4 million dollars went. http://34819louis0j0sheehan0esquire.wordpress.com With all that money came rumors and the Avrocar would be a great way to dispel them.

Meanwhile with the Avrocar, the project used a much less sophisticated arrangement in a much slower and lower flying design. http://34819louis0j0sheehan0esquire.wordpress.com It did prove the control system devised for the Y-2/PV 704/Silver Bug and provided publicly acceptable "proof" of the flying saucer design. It was also used to proved "proof" that the concept was UNFEASABLE!

The initial test flights revealed it was underpowered, unstable and could not transition to proper forward flight. Interestingly, recent films show the solved the instability problem. There is testimony on the record that they also finished doing modifications required to allow the craft to transition to forward flight (after which it was expected to be capable of 300 mph). http://34819louis0j0sheehan0esquire.wordpress.com This is the date the US money disappeared and the project was terminated with all drawings, tooling, and flying examples taken to the USA. The examples at Wright Patterson and in the Smithsonian are NOT the final Avrocar version but early development models that were far from successful. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Atelopus ebenoides marinkellei 2.ate.9 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire. Missing for more than a decade and feared to be extinct, a painted frog has resurfaced. At least one population of the subspecies Atelopus ebenoides marinkellei remains in a remote desert highland of Colombia, researchers discovered last month. http://louissheehan.bravejournal.com

In an amphibian-biodiversity survey, team leader Carlos A. Rocha of the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia in Boyacá found the 3-to-9-centimeter-long frogs in the same locale where they were last spotted in 1995. Like many amphibians worldwide, the species has been devastated in recent decades by the fungal skin disease chytridiomycosis. http://louissheehan.bravejournal.com "The finding must motivate us to adopt urgent measures toward saving the last of these amphibians," says Fabio Arjona, executive director of Conservation International in Colombia, which supported Rocha's research. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

waters 993.wa.99901 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

By analyzing drinking-water samples from U.S. treatment plants, a multi-institute research team has identified some unexpected by-products of disinfection processes. The data indicate compounds that toxicologists should target for further study, the researchers say.

Reactions between disinfection chemicals, such as chlorine and ozone, and natural organic matter in water create a wide variety of by-products. Primarily through laboratory studies, researchers have identified more than 500 of these disinfection by-products.

The Environmental Protection Agency regulates a handful of the by-products, including trihalomethanes (THMs), that have been shown to be toxic to animals and are prevalent in U.S. water systems.

For the new study, the team tested water from 12 treatment plants for the 50 unregulated by-products that EPA scientists ranked as most likely to cause cancer. To increase the likelihood of finding these by-products, Stuart W. Krasner of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California in La Verne, Susan D. Richardson of EPA's National Exposure Research Laboratory in Athens, Ga., and their colleagues chose plants that had large amounts of natural organic matter, bromide, and iodide in their incoming water.

"We wanted to get an idea of the worst-case scenario," says Richardson.

For comparison, the researchers measured the concentrations of regulated disinfection by-products.

Among the unregulated compounds that the researchers found in the water were iodine-containing versions of THMs. The median amount of these by-products was 400 parts per trillion, which was lower than the 31 parts per billion (ppb) of regulated THMs. The researchers noted that the plant with the highest concentration of iodinated THMs, 19 ppb, used only chloramines to treat the water.

Some plants are switching from chlorine to chloramines because they reduce the production of the regulated THMs.

In an upcoming Environmental Science & Technology, the researchers also report finding 28 disinfection byproducts not previously detected. These include iodine-containing acids such as iodoacetic acid. Other work has linked iodoacetic acid to birth defects in mice.

Toxicity studies are now under way for the iodoacids, iodinated THMs, and other compounds that the researchers found. The results of those tests and further measurements of the chemicals' concentrations in drinking water will indicate whether attempts to decrease effects of regulated by-products may have introduced problems caused by emerging ones, says Krasner. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.de

"If you disinfect water, you are going to have by-products," he notes. "The more we understand, the more we can get efficient disinfection and minimize as many by-products as we can."

"It's a milestone paper," comments Paul Westerhoff, an environmental engineer at Arizona State University in Tempe. "It's the most up-to-date view of the occurrence of emerging disinfection by-products." http://Louis-J-Sheehan.de

Says environmental engineer David A. Reckhow of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, "They found a number of interesting compounds that surprised many of us." What's needed, he says, is a better understanding of the human-health impacts of these compounds and their prevalence in U.S. drinking waters. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

coral 33.cor.1 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Chemicals used to disperse marine oil slicks may harm corals more than the oil itself does, according to a new study. The finding suggests that chemical dispersants should be used near reefs only as a last resort, when oil approaches a shoreline where it might devastate wildlife and plants for decades.http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.NET

In many cases, authorities first try to clean up oil spills mechanically (SN: 11/18/06, p. 325). If weather conditions are too rough or a slick threatens to wash up on shore, dispersants are usually the next option. Made up of surfactants and solvents, dispersants act as detergents, breaking up oil into droplets that mix into water, scatter with currents, and eventually degrade. However, the dispersed oil droplets readily sink and can lethally contaminate coral.http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.NET

Baruch Rinkevich of the National Institute of Oceanography in Haifa, Israel, and his colleagues tested whether chemical dispersants, as well as oil droplets, do harm to corals. They report that dispersants kill branching corals or retard their growth. The team also confirms previous research indicating that corals do better when exposed to oil that hasn't been dispersed.

"Dispersants are very toxic for corals," Rinkevich says. "It's a no-win situation, but more knowledge [will add to officials'] evaluation and decisions about what to do in unpredictable situations."

To test the effects of the dispersants, the researchers pruned 2-inch segments from the branches of two common hard coral species found in the Red Sea and grew them into several large colonies in laboratory tanks. The team then added to the tanks various concentrations of crude oil, one of six commercial dispersants mixed with oil, or one of the six dispersants alone. After allowing 24-hour exposure to the substances, researchers washed the corals, simulating what would happen in the real environment when oil and dispersants wash away. The team then measured coral survival and growth weekly for 50 days.

After 1 week, more than 90 percent of one coral species and about 75 percent of the other survived in the oil-only tanks, whereas virtually all coral died in the tanks containing either the dispersant-oil mix or the dispersant alone. After 50 days, more than 90 percent of the surviving corals from the oil-only tanks continued to grow. Almost all coral from the dispersed-oil and the dispersant-only tanks experienced retarded growth.http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.NET

The study appears in the Aug. 1 Environmental Science & Technology.

Amy Merten, codirector of the Coastal Response Research Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle, says that the results contradict the rule of thumb that dispersants are less toxic than oil droplets. It's important for authorities in charge of spill cleanups to note that coral reacts to the dispersant itself, she says. "There needs to be more consideration of dispersants." However, Merten adds that under real conditions, coral may not be exposed to dispersants in the same amount, and for the same duration, that it was in the laboratory tests.

dogs and horses

From around 5,700 to 5,100 years ago, a group known as the Botai populated the harsh Asian terrain of what is now northern Kazakhstan. Researchers know little about daily life or spiritual beliefs among the Botai. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.de

Ongoing excavations at a Botai settlement indicate that these hardy people embraced certain mythological themes and ritual practices that became widespread in later Eurasian cultures as far away as India.

For example, the Botai people probably used dogs to guard their homes—large, covered cavities in the ground known as pit houses—and treated deceased dogs as spiritual guardians of their households, says project director Sandra L. Olsen of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.

Among the remains of 60 pit houses at a Botai site, her team has uncovered more than a dozen Samoyed-size dog skeletons buried separately on the west side of structures.

Historical texts from Bronze Age and Iron Age groups in Eurasia that came after the Botai culture often tell of deceased dogs protecting their masters from evil spirits emanating from portals to the netherworld located in the west.

Other Botai finds with links to later cultures in the region include a clay death mask and evidence of sacrificed horses in human burial sites, Olsen says. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.de

Microscopic study of pottery fragments from the site has uncovered impressions of a wide variety of woven fabrics, reports the Carnegie Museum's Deborah Harding. Botai potters used rope- and cloth-covered tools to press designs into wet clay. Harding plans to characterize Botai weaving styles for comparison with fabric remains at later Eurasian sites. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.de

Researchers disagree about whether the Botai people, who hunted wild horses, also domesticated them. Cheek teeth from 12 of 42 horse skulls examined so far at Olsen's Botai site exhibit enamel wear usually produced by regularly biting down on a harness' rope bit, report Dorcas R. Brown and David W. Anthony, both of Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.de

"It's not clear if these horses had been tamed, but we have good evidence that they were ridden," Brown says.

car 883.car.1 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire. With Uncle Sam pushing the production of ethanol for fuel, U.S. corn producers are experiencing an economic bonanza. Not only are they planting more of the grain than at any time since World War II, but the price they receive per harvested bushel has also been skyrocketing. These benefits to growers are proving a juggernaut, however, for meat producers. http://louis3j3sheehan3esquire.wordpress.com/

Indeed, many livestock operations are getting hit with a double whammy. First, they’re paying more for each ton of corn-derived feed. At least as importantly, a new study finds, the corn product that’s they're feeding to their animals can be anticipated to carry triple the normal load of fungal toxins.

Because those fungal poisons — or mycotoxins — threaten the health of animals, farmers can look for reduced livestock growth, especially in swine.

The new analysis conservatively estimates the current cost to U.S. hog producers from just one of those toxins, fumonisin, at about $9 million a year. But with wider penetration of this feed additive across species and an accounting for the effects of the other four toxins, that annual loss could easily and quickly swell into the “hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars,” according to Felicia Wu of the University of Pittsburgh and Gary P. Munkvold of Iowa State University. They authored the new study.

Fungal toxins have become ubiquitous in grains. Corn tends to harbor five major ones: fumonisin, aflatoxin, vomitoxin, zearalenone, and ochratoxin A. Animals can safely dine on corn tainted with low concentrations of these. However, with the price of corn booming, livestock producers can seldom afford to feed their animals corn. Instead, they’re turning to blends of distillery wastes – a dried mix of high-protein solids and liquids. Toxins in corn don’t end up in the ethanol, but instead concentrate in the distillery wastes, and at roughly three times the value in the starting kernels, Wu and Munkvold report.

Their new study, due to be published soon in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, bills itself as the “first review of the potential impact to animal health of mycotoxins in dried distillers’ [wastes].” http://louis3j3sheehan3esquire.wordpress.com/

This economic analysis, based on published toxicity data for livestock, would appear to portend financial adjustments in the corn and ethanol markets. First, it’s likely that greater attention will be paid to fungal-toxin concentrations in grain, Wu and Munkvold argue, with routine testing needed to verify that levels in distillers’ wastes don’t prove lethal to animals.

Corn prices might fall if some share of harvests can’t go for ethanol use owing to high starting toxin concentrations in the kernels. In addition, “Ethanol facilities may lose through not being able to sell [distillery wastes] with excessively high mycotoxin levels, and/or they may need to pay higher prices for maize that is relatively clean,” the authors point out. Finally, livestock producers, “aside from suffering economic losses due to potential animal health effects, may need to pay higher prices for both high-quality maize and high-quality [distillery wastes] for animal feed.”

If some distillery wastes end up linked to animal disease or deaths, the ethanol industry might even encounter a costly “shock event,” Wu and Munkvold suggest. Lawsuits and “media frenzy” from such an event could even lead to new regulations.

Ethanol production is relatively expensive – at least for fuel markets – and most distillers were hoping to recoup big bucks by selling their wastes, meaning they wouldn’t actually prove to be wastes at all. But ethanol producers can’t recycle those byproducts if they’re poisonous. So, here’s another pin threatening to burst the ethanol bubble.

Wu and Munkvold note that there are genetically modified strains of corn under development that appear especially resistant to fungal growth. But GM crops aren’t popular, for a host of reasons.

What I take home: There’s no easy solution to quenching our growing thirst for liquid fuels. My preference: Engineer cars to sip their fuels, not guzzle them. There have been technologies available for years that would allow Detroit – and Japan and Korea and now China – to produce vehicles that get 80 or more miles per gallon.

I'd advocate increasing the tax on liquid fuels – a strategy I admit is at odds with at least two of the presidential frontrunners. As the price of fuel increases, people will suddenly swarm to dealerships offering high-mileage models. Me among them.

Indeed, I was at Argonne National Laboratory, a year ago, touring their plug-in-hybrid-vehicle research facility. (As a Prius owner, I was anxious to see the next-generation technology.) Cars under development could easily get 200 miles per gallon, I learned. And depending on how they’re driven (ie no more than 30 miles a day between charges), it might even be possible to fill a car up at purchase and then never need to visit a gas station again – ever.

Now that’s the car for me.