No. 255,  April 2004

LIVING TREES ARE DOLLARS IN THE DIRT  Trees almost covered the United States when the colonists arrived in 1608. The dead trees became the log cabins which were colonists’ houses. Trees have been and still are one of the basic building materials and source of wood products of the American people.  The value of the wood from felled trees has been well established and the United States produces $300 billion dollars in wood products annually. Now, the living trees are even more valuable because they provide a variety of environmental services which have quantified and translated into monetary savings. First, and most important, trees collect and store carbon which is nature’s free way to combat carbon dioxide buildup and global warming. Rural and urban forest areas are natural filters which retain, control, and clean storm and polluted waters resulting in clean drinking water for cities.  Trees clean the air we breathe by filtering out the pollutant particles which cause and aggravate respiratory illnesses. This is most beneficial for polluted urban areas. Urban forests will hold rainwater and prevent storm water run off. Shade trees placed around urban buildings and houses control urban temperatures and reduce the need for air conditioning.  Trees, tree use, and forests are becoming an essential part of the planning and policymaking of companies which find that the proper use of trees can save energy costs, achieve climate control, and prevent air pollution. These individuals see living trees as dollars in the dirt.  “Dollars in the Dirt, The Economic Value of Living Trees,” by Betty Joyce Jackson, Region Focus, V. 8, No. 1, Winter, 2004, pages 24-26 which is  found on the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond website at (http://www.rich.frb.org/pubs/regionfocus/winter04/dollars.htm).

ANIMALS IN DISASTERS Do you want to learn about animals in disasters?  Want a Certificate of Achievement? College Credit?  You do?  The Emergency Management Institute of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has just put together an independent study course: “Animals in Disaster” in two modules. IS 10: Animals in Disasters: Module A, Awareness and Preparedness can be found on the FEMA web page http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/IS/is10.asp.   The main theme is training and education to prepare and plan for animals in disasters.  Disasters arise from meteorological hazards (storms, floods, fires, etc.), geological hazards (earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, etc.), technological hazards (radiation, hazardous materials, etc.), and care of pets, livestock, and horses are the objects of concern when learning and applying the four phases of emergency management.  The text includes summary and review features and even a final exam. IS 11: Animals in Disaster, Module B, Community Planning is the second half of this FEMA course which is available from the FEMA web site http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/IS/is11.asp. For those who like the “text-book” version of these courses, look for Animals in Disaster – Module A Awareness and Preparedness (May, 1998) FEM 1.2: AN 5/MODULE A is in paper in many Federal Depository Libraries.  But, computer access to these and other FEMA courses are found on its Independent Study Course List at the FEMA web page   http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/IS/crslist.asp. 

ROBOTS/COOL ROBOT OF THE WEEK 1986, 1996-2003.  In a 1986 movie Short Circuit, the robot Johnnie Five was one of five military robots struck by lightning. Upon being struck by lightning, just as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, he comes alive. Johnnie Five develops self-awareness, consciousness, and a fear of being reprogrammed. With a very human like head, eyes, and arms Johnnie Five moves on a tripod set of wheels. This robotic movie star is very similar to the robots now exploring the surface of the planet Mars.  There are two basic kinds of robots as explained in the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Press October 23, 203 Release: People are Robots, Too. Almost   (http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/roboticexplorers/robots_like_people.html). There are reactive and behavior-based controlled robots which use either neural networks or fuzzy logic to function. The NASA Space Telerobotics Program was shut down in 1997, but still has a website http://ranier.hq.nasa.gov/telerobotics_page/coolrobots.html  with 10 major links to historical information about NASA robotic research. There are pictures and explanations of all the different kinds, shapes, and    sizes of robots. Areas of NASA Robotic Research and achievements include Program Overview, Major Projects, Participants and Facilities, Plans and Publications, Technologies, a Photo Archive, Robot Tools, Internet Robot Resources, Real Robots on the web, and the most fascinating Cool Robot of the Week, which seems to be current.   Cool Robot of the Week (each week) from 1996 through 2003 (http://ranier.hq.nasa.gov/telerobotics_page/coolrobots.html) leads to  pictures of real Massachusetts of Institute of Technology humanoid robots developed by NASA sponsored research, GORT (from the Day the Earth Stood Still), and the Robots currently on Mars.

FINGERPRINTS v DNA  A person’s fingerprints were the best way to identify someone until now. Yet, in some cases, a decomposed body lacking skin on the fingers could only be identified by his/her teeth.  As of a pilot project in 1990, the FBI Laboratory’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) has become law enforcement’s chief identification and crime solving tool if fingerprints are not available. CODIS makes use of human tissue samples or body fluids in the minute quantity from the living.  If the person’s body is totally decomposed, the person’s DNA can be derived from their skeletal remains. Current computer software and communications technology allows for DNA profile analysis, storage, and information exchange in 49 states. CODIS also includes the U.S. Army and Puerto Rico . The FBI has provided the CODIS software, training, and user supports to all local and State level laboratories which complement the FBI’s National DNA Index System (NDIS) in a three-tiered system. All DNA profiles start at the DNA Laboratory at the local level. These laboratories enter their samples and analyses into their respective Local (LDIS) and State level DNA Index Systems (SDIS) Databases. Each DNA Index System Database includes a Forensic Index which contains the DNA profiles from crime scene evidence. These are the DNA profiles of the (unidentified) persons linked to crime scene evidence.  The Offender Index contains the DNA profiles of individuals convicted of crimes.  CODIS enables federal, state, and local crime laboratories to exchange and compare DNA files electronically and to link similar crimes to each other and to convicted offenders. In some cases, the fact that the DNA profile which came from crime scene evidence is not the same as the assumed offender and proves the person is not guilty.   There are two CODIS Brochures ( PDF) http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/codis/brochures.htm    worth reading as an introduction to the CODIS website found at http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/codis/index1.htm .

 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE(S) STATISTICS AND LAW  Did you know there is archaeological law? There are several laws and thousands of old artifacts and archaeological sites all found in over the 700 million acres of federally own lands in the United States . As of Fiscal Year 1997, there were 35,936 new sites found, for a total of 696,785 known archaeological sites located in 743,153,260 acres of Federal Public Lands.   Federal law, as in the U.S. Code, Title 16,  Section 470mm “Surveying of Lands; Reporting of Violations” states that all archaeological sites on federal lands be surveyed and evaluated by federal agencies and submit annual progress reports to Congress.  Currently, per the 1997 figures, “less than 10 percent of the more than 700 million acres of federal lands have been surveyed” (47,132,325 surveyed out of 743,153,260 total). These 1997 statistics data come from three tables of the eleven sets of statistical data which accompany the Secretary’s Report to Congress on Federal Archaeology.  This Report  includes (statistics in)  Fiscal Years 1996 and 1997 Data Sets in the National Park Service, Archaeology and Ethnology Program website at  http://www.cr.nps.gov/aad/SRC/INDEX.HTM.  To cover over 700 million acres, the archaeologists who work slowly with small spades and brushes are helped by Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR).  AIRSAR uses of three kinds of radio waves which are manipulated to locate objects beneath the earth’s surface and help avoid unnecessary digging. When AIRSAR was used on the archaeological site on San Clemente Island , it revealed the artifacts and skeletal remains of Native Americans who lived in the southwestern United States hundreds and thousands of years ago.  AIRSAR proved its value again, as it did in the 1990s when it located the ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia .  NASA Radar Aids High-Tech Digs http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/clemente_airsar.html) is an April 7, 2004 NASA article about AIRSAR’s use on San Clemente Island, and if you go to Application of Airborne Radar and GIS to San Clemente Island Archaeology , a paper by Dr. Ronald Blom at http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2002AM/finalprogram/abstract_42313.htm  where there is more about the San Clemente Project.  At the Geological Society of America website http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2002AM/finalprogram/session_3008.htm, you will find Application of GIS and Remote Sensing to Archeological Geology which presents other AIRSAR applications.

MEDICINES 21^ST CENTURY DEEP SEA TREASURES In 1973, the FDA published the guidelines for producing the limulus amebocyte lysate test for endotoxins—dangerous by-products of “gram-negative” bacteria such as Salmonella and E. Coli.  This analytical test was made possible because of a medical product which came from horseshoe crabs.  It was thirty years ago when horseshoe crabs introduced medical researchers to the fact that many creatures of the sea provide endotoxin testing, aid in bone implants, kill cancer cells, and are potent pain-killers. John Henkel’s “Drugs of the Deep, Treasures of the Sea Yield Some Medical Answers and Hint at Other,” FDA Consumer, V. 32, No. 1, January-February 1998, pages 30-33 (HE 20.4010:32/1 and http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1998/198_deep.html  provides the basics of this new age of medicine.  The National Institute of General Medical Sciences’ Medicines by Design: Drugs From Nature, Then and Now/Oceans Medicines web page presents some of the latest developments as to what ocean creatures, in which oceans, provide what new medical products. Ocean Medicines (http://www.nigms.nih.gov/medbydesign/drugs/ocean/)   also identifies and presents details about the medicines, the sea creatures, the countries, and some of the scientists who are part of the current information about our new sea based medical products. There are pictures of some sea creatures such as the cone snail (C. geographus) which provided the new pain killer.  “Medicine from the Sea” by Kevin Krajick in the Smithsonian Magazine, V. 35, No. 2, May, 2004 pages 50-59, a PDF file at the Smithsonian website  http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues04/may04/pdf/marine.pdf  is another up-to-date discussion of medicines from the sea. Another account of drugs from the sea research is documented by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Explorations Series.  NOAA’s Ocean Explorer: Deep Sea Medicines currently has Medicines from the Deep: Exploration of the Gulf of Mexico September 8-19, 2003 with information and details about specific research projects (http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/03bio/welcome.html).

WORK CAN BE A PAIN   Work can be (i.e. cause) a pain in the arms, hands, fingers, neck, back, wrists, legs, or shoulders. The pain could be in one or more places. During some work operations, work stations, tools, and equipment can cause stress, disorders, and injuries to the soft tissues of muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, and cartilage in one’s body.  These disorders and injuries are called musculoskeletal disorders or MSDs. Some of the MSD risk factors are force, repetition, awkward pressures, static postures, quick motions, compression or contact stress, vibration, and cold temperatures.  What types of work  pose hazards and result in occupational injuries?  How do I know if I have a MSD pain?  When the pain or injury arises while performing a job, the job must be examined. “Ergonomics is the study of work. It is the science of designing the job to fit the worker, rather than physically forcing the worker’s body to fit the job. Adapting tasks, work stations, tools, and equipment to fit the worker can reduce physical stress on a worker’s body.  This adaption, in turn will eliminate many potentially serious, disabling work-relate musculoskeletal disorders.  Ergonomics: The Study of Work, issued (and Revised) in 2000 (L 35.2:ER 3/2000) by the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is 11 pages of basic information about how and why work can be a pain.  OSHA has two web sites for  work and pain and ergonomic guidelines for hospitals (http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/etools/hospital/index.html) and nursing homes (http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/etools/nursinghome/index.html). These are two of the many “painful places of employment” for which OSHA provides ergonomic guidelines (http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/outreach.html#eTools).    

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June 7, 2004

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