HOW THE MEANING OF CANCER HAS CHANGED

At the beginning of the movie 50/50, Adam Lerner is diagnosed with neurofibrosarcoma, a cancer of the spine's nerve tissue. Adam sits in his doctor’s office while the doctor rattles off the word several times, but Adam has no idea what it means, or if there’s anything wrong with him at all. Eventually, his doctor uses the word “cancer,” and Adam’s perspective goes blurry, the doctor’s voice drowned out by a high-pitched ringing.
Many people have had real experiences like this one. Cancer is still one of the scariest words you can hear in a diagnosis. And chances are, you know someone who has heard it—almost 40 percent of adults are diagnosed with some form of it during their lifetime. Every patient’s story is different, and they don’t all have a happy ending. But because of decades of research into how cancer works, patients diagnosed with cancer today have a much better chance of survival than ever before.
There’s something big going on in oncology right now. It seems like every day a scientific paper is published highlighting a new treatment or discovery; new documentaries or feature articles come out every week. But it’s difficult to understand this excitement without a firm grasp of how the meaning of cancer has changed for doctors and researchers today. Experts’ understanding of what cancer is, how to diagnose and treat it, has matured in recent years—and some of the things you may have learned in the past may no longer be true.
“Back in the 1970s we thought if we found every cancer early, we might be able to cure it. Now we have a much more mature understanding,” says Len Litchenfeld, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the American Cancer Society. “Our technology has allowed us to find many different cancers than we would have in the past. And our understanding of what cancer is and how it behaves is also evolving.”
Cancer isn’t just one disease—it’s actually hundreds of diseases. And these diseases don’t have much in common, except that they are caused by a genetic mutation that throws the cells’ normal process of growing and dying gets out of whack.

Role of the School

Once children are in a school setting, other factors affect their social development (Berk, 2001; NRC & IM, 2000). In addition to a child’s parents and family, the teacher becomes an agent of socialization. Now the teacher and perhaps the principal set rules, limits, and standards for behavior. Other children also become models, setting new or different standards for social behaviors. Entrance into the school society can be difficult for young children (Seefeldt, Galper, & Denton, 1998). Leaving home, unsure of how to manage interactions with this new socializer and with other children, preschool-primary students can find school a miserable experience at first. Many transition techniques have been designed and implemented to ease children’s entrance into school. Some schools encourage parents to stay with their children for part or all of the first few days to let the children know they are not being totally deserted. Some schools begin by inviting a small group of children on the first day and adding another four or five each day until the total group has been integrated. This approach allows children to get used to relating to small groups and become familiar with the school and the new social situation before the entire group is present. Home visits by the teacher or school visits by parent and child help ease possible stress.

The dichotomy of socialization—developing a strong sense of individuality while learning to become a member of a group—is ever-present in school. Children must retain their individuality, yet they must give it up by putting the welfare and interest of the group before their own. At school, they find they must share not only materials, toys, and time but also the attention of the teacher. Here they learn to cooperate, see others’ viewpoints, and work together for the common welfare.

The school’s role during these early years is twofold. First, school experiences must focus on strengthening the child’s self-concept and feelings of individuality. Children who feel good about themselves can make the difficult, complex adjustments necessary for group living. Having aided the child’s development of self-esteem, the school then uses this strong sense of self as the basis for guiding children into positive group experiences where they can learn the skills necessary for living in a society.

In the school, the focus on social skill development is threefold, revolving around the development of the following:

1. Self-concept. Children’s feelings about themselves are the foundation from which they learn to relate to and communicate with others.
2. Prosocial skills. Being able to cooperate and share are necessary for forming solid relationships with others.
3. Making and keeping friends. Children who relate to and communicate with others, sharing and cooperating, are those who are accepted by their peers and can make and keep friends.

Role of Culture

The characteristics of culture also affect children’s developing social skills (Wardle, 2001). Teachers who take the time to observe and know the culture and community in which children live are better able to build on its strengths or work to mediate its potential negative effects on children’s social development.

Children who live in violent or unsafe communities may be fearful and withdrawn when in the classroom. Those exposed to domestic abuse, gang violence, and petty or not-so-petty criminals do not feel safe or secure. Their feelings of insecurity will interfere with their total development, especially social skills development.

Children who experience violence in their community will need to find the following in the preschool-primary classrooms (Gross & Clemens, 2002; Slaby et al., 1995; Wallach, 1995):

Meaningful relationships with caring and knowledgeable adults
Schedules and environment that are as consistent as possible
Structure and very clear expectations and limits
Many opportunities to express themselves safely in play, art, and stories and storytelling
All of us are affected socially and emotionally by violence, wars, threats of wars, and terrorism (Avery et al., 1999). During these frightening, sad, and uncertain times, even children who live in relatively safe environments are exposed to a great deal of violence.

Some children and their families have been directly and deeply affected by war and terrorism. Even children with no direct contact with war, however, can be deeply affected. Children who witness violence or have been personally affected by violence will express their needs, grief, fears, apprehensions, and thoughts in different ways (Rosen, Rahay, & Rosenbaum, 2003). Some may withdraw, become irritable, or stop eating or sleeping; others may act out. It’s important for teachers to take their cues from the child. Support each child as an individual while providing all children with the following (NAEYC, 2001):

Make sure routines are kept, that children know and can depend on the structure of the day.
Accept children’s feelings and behviors with support and acceptance.
Find ways for children to express themselves, whether through outdoor play, running, drawing, painting, building, or telling stories.
Many children view far too much violence on TV or in games, toys, stories, and other media. In schools throughout the nation you can observe children acting out the violence they observe: playing war or superhero and acting aggressively.

Teachers have found a number of ways to help children and their parents cope with the prevalence of violence in children’s lives. Teachers and parents discuss the problems of children’s exposure to media violence and work to change the media (NAEYC, 2001). They also work with children to do the following:

They develop the concept of real and not real by informing children about which stories, movies, and television shows are “real” and which are not. They then ask children to determine which shows or movies are factual and which are fantasy.
They foster the development of critical viewing skills for evaluating media violence.
They reduce television viewing.
They ensure that children watch more prosocial television programs.

Factors Affecting Social Development

Children’s development of social skills is affected by the nature of their family and early educational experiences (NRC, 2001). Whether in a nuclear, blended, or extended family; a communal arrangement; or a single-parent family, the child learns social patterns and skills within this context. Children find love and security and form attachments with people who protect and care for them.

In the family, children become socialized through interactions with parents, siblings, relatives, and neighbors; once in a school setting, they need new ways of acting, relating, and socializing. Children who have had a strong attachment to a nurturing figure and see themselves as separate from this nurturing figure are ready for a group situation. Children who have not fully developed strong attachments to another person may have a more difficult time adjusting to the complexity of the social system of the school.

The Family
Children who experience the security of loving parents and have strong attachments to their parents are better able to reach out to relate with others. According to attachment theory, children who enjoy a secure attachment relationship with their parents and caregivers use this relationship as a support to venture out and explore their environment (Maccoby, 1993). They reach out to others, return to the caregiver for support, and venture out again, going further into the world of social relationships (Ainsworth et al., 1978). As the child confidently wanders out to test the social waters, he enlarges his social world, expands his social contacts, and is more likely to learn from experience in social interaction.

10 Steps To Industry Sustainability

1. Understand sustainability trends and best practices

Associations can research emerging and frontier sustainability trends, impacts, issues and dependencies and canvass members on top sustainability challenges and concerns. With this information, they can develop an overarching set of issues and opportunities for the sector to tackle collectively. This usually results in a “call to action” to build buy-in and support from the broad membership.

2. Consult and prioritize

Once the membership has agreed on the need for collaborative action, the association consults with members and external stakeholders to determine the top priorities a sustainability or CSR program should address -- and any gaps in current programs.

3. Develop sustainability vision or principles

An important, often overlooked step is to develop a sector-wide sustainability vision or set of principles. Clarity on a definition, principles and the long-term direction of an association’s CSR initiative can help focus future programming on top issues for the industry or profession.

4. Get your house in order

To effectively champion sustainability leadership to their members, associations can adopt their own in-house sustainability program.

5. Develop tools and education programs

Associations can develop tools, guides and learning platforms to support their members along the sustainability path. Peer learning and mentoring are important steps to educate the sector and bring all members up to speed on CSR. Training and education are critical components of a successful program.

6. Develop a plan, metrics and targets. Track and reward progress

As with any initiative, it is important to develop, implement and monitor a plan to improve member sustainability performance, including targets and metrics for tracking and measuring success. Many associations provide green awards for members with top performance and celebrate sustainability progress at annual conferences.

7. Develop industry code of practice

To respond to member requests, keep ahead of government regulation and/or enhance industry license to operate, some associations develop voluntary or mandatory codes of environmental and social practice. The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) launched its program "Towards Sustainable Mining" in 2004. It is a mandatory program for members and includes external verification of companies’ performance. New members have three years to comply and publicly report their performance against the standards. A multi-stakeholder “community of interest panel” provides advice and feedback on the program to ensure it is based on best practices.

8. Analyze and engage

From the vision process in Step 3 above, the association can back-cast to identify barriers and opportunities for the realization of the vision. Through stakeholder consultation, the association can identify partners to help tackle the systemic challenges to sector sustainability. Industry working groups can be established to liaise with business, government and civil society on sustainability projects.

9. Report on sector results

Associations can adopt sector-wide metrics to guide member sustainability progress. They then can gather member performance data into an industry progress report to enhance accountability with the government and public. The association can assess annual performance data to identify opportunities for continuous performance improvement.  Members also can benchmark their performance to their peers and competitors.

10. Contribute to progressive public policy

Industry needs a level playing field to operate effectively. There is considerable uncertainty regarding government’s role to require business to fully address social and environmental impacts. Association leaders proactively can reach out to government to support the development of effective public policy frameworks that both advance sustainability and enable industry to compete and thrive.

The future beckons

Over the coming decades, society will grapple with serious global trends, such as climate change, resource scarcity, ecosystem depletion and a growing social divide. Industries, professions and the associations that represent them will be called upon to help develop solutions that generate shared value for business and society.

Leading associations will move beyond focusing on building their sector’s license to operate. They will engage in a fundamental rewiring of humanity’s relationship to the planet and business’ relationship to society. The development of a sustainability program for members today is the beginning of a collective journey toward social, environmental and economic sustainability for all.

This article originally appeared at the , where it is one of a six-part series on the role of industry associations to advance sustainabi.

Indigenous Cryogenic Engine and Stage

A Cryogenic rocket stage is more efficient and provides more thrust for every kilogram of propellant it burns compared to solid and earth-storable liquid propellant rocket stages. Specific impulse (a measure of the efficiency) achievable with cryogenic propellants (liquid Hydrogen and liquid Oxygen) is much higher compared to earth storable liquid and solid propellants, giving it a substantial payload advantage.

However, cryogenic stage is technically a very complex system compared to solid or earth-storable liquid propellant stages due to its use of propellants at extremely low temperatures and the associated thermal and structural problems.


Oxygen liquifies at -183 deg C and Hydrogen at -253 deg C. The propellants, at these low temperatures are to be pumped using turbo pumps running at around 40,000 rpm. It also entails complex ground support systems like propellant storage and filling systems, cryo engine and stage test facilities, transportation and handling of cryo fluids and related safety aspects.

ISRO's Cryogenic Upper Stage Project (CUSP) envisaged the design and development of the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage to replace the stage procured from Russia and used in GSLV flights. The main engine and two smaller steering engines of CUS together develop a nominal thrust of 73.55 kN in vacuum. During the flight, CUS fires for a nominal duration of 720 seconds. Liquid Oxygen (LOX) and Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) from the respective tanks are fed by individual booster pumps to the main turbopump to ensure a high flow rate of propellants into the combustion chamber. Thrust control and mixture ratio control are achieved by two independent regulators. Two gimbaled steering engines provide for control of the stage during its thrusting phase.

What is Nanotechnology

When k.  Drexler (right) popularized the word 'nanotechnology' in the 1980's, he was talking about building machines on the scale of molecules, a few nanometers wide—motors, robot arms, and even whole computers, far smaller than a cell. Drexler spent the next ten years describing and analyzing these incredible devices, and responding to accusations of science fiction. Meanwhile, mundane technology was developing the ability to build simple structures on a molecular scale. As nanotechnology became an accepted concept, the meaning of the word shifted to encompass the simpler kinds of nanometer-scale technology. The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative was created to fund this kind of nanotech: their definition includes anything smaller than 100 nanometers with novel properties.
Much of the work being done today that carries the name 'nanotechnology' is not nanotechnology in the original meaning of the word. Nanotechnology, in its traditional sense, means building things from the bottom up, with atomic precision. This theoretical capability was envisioned as early as 1959 by the renowned physicist Richard Feynman.
I want to build a billion tiny factories, models of each other, which are manufacturing simultaneously. . . The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom. It is not an attempt to violate any laws; it is something, in principle, that can be done; but in practice, it has not been done because we are too big. — Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize winner in physics
Based on Feynman's vision of miniature factories using nanomachines to build complex products, advanced nanotechnology (sometimes referred to as molecular manufacturing) will make use of positionally-controlled mechanochemistry guided by molecular machine systems. Formulating a roadmap for development of this kind of nanotechnology is now an objective of a broadly based technology roadmap project led by Battelle (the manager of several U.S. National Laboratories) and the Foresight Nanotech Institute.
Shortly after this envisioned molecular machinery is created, it will result in a manufacturing revolution, probably causing severe disruption. It also has serious economic, social, environmental, and military implications.