issue 30 Nov 2008, volume 3, wavlength by wavelength issue

Volume 3, Issue 30, November 2008

To r Sea each far ou er r s

avelength The CENTROFIN Newsletter

a brief history

Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 (300 years after the death of Galileo) in Oxford, England. His parents' house was in north London, but during the second world war Oxford was considered a safer place to have babies. When he was eight, his family moved to St Albans, a town about 20 miles north of London. At eleven Stephen went to St Albans School, and then on to University College, Oxford, his father's old college. Stephen wanted to do Mathematics, although his father would have preferred medicine. Mathematics was not available at University College, so he did Physics instead. After three years and not very much work he was awarded a first class honours degree in Natural Science. Stephen then went on to Cambridge to do research in Cosmology, there being no-one working in that area in Oxford at the time. His supervisor was Denis Sciama, although he had hoped to get Fred Hoyle who was working in Cambridge. After gaining his Ph.D. he became first a Research Fellow, and later on a Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College. After leaving the Institute of Astronomy in 1973 Stephen came to the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, and since 1979 has held the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. The chair was founded in 1663 with money left in the will of

One consequence of such a unification that he discovered was that black holes should not be completely black, but should emit radiation and eventually evaporate and disappear. Another conjecture is that the universe has no edge or boundary in imaginary time. This would imply that the way the universe began was completely determined by the laws of science. His many publications include The Large Scale Structure of Spacetime with G F R Ellis, General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey, with W Israel, and 300 Years of Gravity, with W Israel. Stephen Hawking has three popular books published; his best seller A Brief History of Time, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays and most recently in 2001, The Universe in a Nutshell. There are .pdf and .ps versions of his full publication list.

the Reverend Henry Lucas, who had been the Member of Parliament for the University. It was first held by Isaac Barrow, and then in 1669 by Isaac Newton. Stephen Hawking has worked on the basic laws which govern the universe. With Roger Penrose he showed that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implied space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes. These results indicated it was necessary to unify General Relativity with Quantum Theory, the other great Scientific development of the first half of the 20th Century.

Professor Hawking has twelve honorary degrees, was awarded the CBE in 1982, and was made a Companion of Honour in 1989. He is the recipient of many awards, medals and prizes and is a Fellow of The Royal Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences. Stephen Hawking continues to combine family life (he has three children and one grandchild), and his research into theoretical physics together with an extensive programme of travel and public lectures.

TEMPERAMENT (Personality Types / Viewpoint)

"Dostoyevsky was firmly convinced that the true sickness of man is rooted in his enormous pride. All of his great late novels centre on the problem of pride and its destructive effects" - Predrag Cicovacki. Temperament defined. Your temperament is like an artist's canvas. It is your basic inherited style. It is the fabric underlying who you are. Generally speaking, two of the basic temperament types are outgoing or extroverted and two are more inward

TO THE MASTER: Please circulate copies of this Bulletin to the CREW.

In this issue pg 2

Disability pg 6

Natural Disasters pg 8-9

Safety First !! pg 11

MARS pg 12

Temperament pg 15

Prostate Cancer

cont'd on pg 2 directed or introverted. This varies based on temperament blend and our individual personality development. Two people with like temperament may be very different in actual behaviour. Factors that affect personality include socialisation, education, birth order, siblings or lack of siblings, and interpersonal pressures will cause us to adapt and change our behaviours. Why study temperament? Understanding temperament - your own and others - makes you much better equipped to handle interpersonal relationships successfully.

cont'd on pg 12

from pg 1

Disability I am quite often asked: How do you feel about having ALS? The answer is, not a lot. I try to lead as normal a life as possible, and not think about my condition, or regret the things it prevents me from doing, which are not that many. It was a great shock to me to discover that I had motor neurone disease. I had never been very well co-ordinated physically as a child. I was not good at ball games, and my handwriting was the despair of my teachers. Maybe for this reason, I didn't care much for sport or physical activities. But things seemed to change when I went to Oxford, at the age of 17. I took up coxing and rowing. I was not Boat Race standard, but I got by at the level of interCollege competition. In my third year at Oxford, however, I noticed that I seemed to be getting more clumsy, and I fell over once or twice for no apparent reason. But it was not until I was at Cambridge, in the following year, that my father noticed, and took me to the family doctor. He referred me to a specialist, and shortly after my 21st birthday, I went into hospital for tests. I was in for two weeks, during which I had a wide variety of tests. They took a muscle sample from my arm, stuck electrodes into me, and injected some radio opaque fluid into my spine, and watched it going up and down with x-rays, as they tilted the bed. After all that, they didn't tell me what I had, except that it was not multiple sclerosis, and that I was an a-typical case. I gathered, however, that they expected it to continue to get worse, and that there was nothing they could do, except give me vitamins. I could see that they didn't expect them to have much effect. I didn't feel like asking for more details, because they were obviously bad. The realisation that I had an incurable disease, that was likely to kill me in a few years, was a bit of a shock. How could something like that happen to me? Why should I be cut off like this? However, while I had been in hospital, I had seen a boy I vaguely knew die of leukaemia, in the bed opposite me. It had not been a pretty sight. Clearly there were people who were worse off than me. At least my condition didn't make me feel sick. Whenever I feel inclined to be sorry for myself I remember that boy. Not knowing what was going to happen to me, or how rapidly the disease would progress, I was at a loose end. The doctors told me to go back to Cambridge and carry on with the research I had just started in general relativity and cosmology. But I was not making much progress, because I didn't have much mathematical background. And, anyway, I might not live long enough to finish my PhD. I felt somewhat of a tragic character. I took to listening to Wagner, but reports in magazine articles that I drank heavily are an exaggeration. The trouble is once one article said it, other articles copied it, because it made a good story. People believe that anything that has appeared in print so many times must be true. My dreams at that time were rather disturbed. Before my condition had been diagnosed, I had been very bored with life. There had not seemed to be anything worth doing. But shortly after I came out of hospital, I dreamt that I was going to be executed. I suddenly realised that there were a lot of worthwhile things I could do if I were reprieved. Another dream, that I had several times, was that I would sacrifice my life to save others. After all, if I were going to die anyway, it might as well do some good. But I didn't die. In fact, although there was a cloud hanging over my future, I found, to my surprise, that I was enjoying life in the present more than before. I began to make progress with my research, and I got

engaged to a girl called Jane Wilde, whom I had met just about the time my condition was diagnosed. That engagement changed my life. It gave me something to live for. But it also meant that I had to get a job if we were to get married. I therefore applied for a research fellowship at Gonville and Caius (pronounced Keys) college, Cambridge. To my great surprise, I got a fellowship, and we got married a few months later. The fellowship at Caius took care of my immediate employment problem. I was lucky to have chosen to work in theoretical physics, because that was one of the few areas in which my condition would not be a serious handicap. And I was fortunate that my scientific reputation increased, at the same time that my disability got worse. This meant that people were prepared to offer me a sequence of positions in which I only had to do research, without having to lecture. We were also fortunate in housing. When we were married, Jane was still an undergraduate at Westfield College in London, so she had to go up to London during the week. This meant that we had to find somewhere I could manage on my own, and which was central, because I could not walk far. I asked the College if they could help, but was told by the then Bursar: it is College policy not to help Fellows with housing. We therefore put our name down to rent one of a group of new flats that were being built in the market place. (Years later, I discovered that those flats were actually owned by the College, but they didn't tell me that.) However, when we returned to Cambridge from a visit to America after the marriage, we found that the flats were not ready. As a great concession, the Bursar said we could have a room in a hostel for graduate students. He said, "We normally charge 12 shillings and 6 pence a night for this room. However, as there will be two of you in the room, we will charge 25 shillings." We stayed there only three nights. Then we found a small house about 100 yards from my university department. It belonged to another College, who had let it to one of its fellows. However he had moved out to a house he had bought in the suburbs. He sub-let the house to us for the remaining three months of his lease. During those three months, we found that another house in the same road was standing empty. A neighbour summoned the owner from Dorset, and told her that it was a scandal that her house should be empty, when young people were looking for accommodation. So she let the house to us. After we had lived there for a few years, we wanted to buy the house, and do it up. So we asked my College for a mortgage. However, the College did a survey, and decided it was not a good risk. In the end we got a mortgage from a building society, and my parents gave us the money to do it up. We lived there for another four years, but it became too difficult for me to manage the stairs. By this time, the College appreciated me rather more, and there was a different Bursar. They therefore offered us a ground floor flat in a house that they owned. This suited me very well, because it had large rooms and wide doors. It was sufficiently central that I could get to my University department, or the College, in my electric wheel chair. It was also nice for our three children, because it was surrounded by garden, which was looked after by the College gardeners. Up to 1974, I was able to feed myself, and get in and out of bed. Jane managed to help me, and bring up the children, without outside help. However, things were getting more difficult, so we took to having one of my research students living with us. In return for free accommodation, and a lot of my attention, they helped me get up and go to bed. In 1980, we changed to a system of community and private nurses, who came in for an hour or two in the morning and evening. This lasted until I caught pneumonia in 1985. I had to have a tracheotomy operation. After this, I had to have 24 hour nursing care. This was made possible by grants from several foundations. Before the operation, my speech had been getting more slurred, so that only a few people who knew me well, could understand me. But at least I could communicate. I wrote scientific papers by dictating to a secretary, and I gave seminars through an

AGEMENT I N AN

- pg 3 -

NTROF

QUOTATIONS interpreter, who repeated my words more clearly. However, the tracheotomy operation removed my ability to speak altogether. For a time, the only way I could communicate was to spell out words letter by letter, by raising my eyebrows when someone pointed to the right letter on a spelling card. It is pretty difficult to carry on a conversation like that, let alone write a scientific paper. However, a computer expert in California, called Walt Woltosz, heard of my plight. He sent me a computer program he had written, called Equalizer. This allowed me to select words from a series of menus on the screen, by pressing a switch in my hand. The program could also be controlled by a switch, operated by head or eye movement. When I have built up what I want to say, I can send it to a speech synthesizer. At first, I just ran the Equalizer program on a desk top computer. However David Mason, of Cambridge Adaptive Communication, fitted a small portable computer and a speech synthesizer to my wheel chair. This system allowed me to communicate much better than I could before. I can manage up to 15 words a minute. I can either speak what I have written, or save it to disk. I can then print it out, or call it back and speak it sentence by sentence. Using this system, I have written a book, and dozens of scientific papers. I have also given many scientific and popular talks. They have all been well received. I think that is in a large part due to the quality of the speech synthesiser, which is made by Speech Plus. One's voice is very important. If you have a slurred voice, people are likely to treat you as mentally deficient: Does he take sugar? This synthesiser is by far the best I have heard, because it varies the intonation, and doesn't speak like a Dalek. The only trouble is that it gives me an American accent. I have had motor neurone disease for practically all my adult life. Yet it has not prevented me from having a very attractive family, and being successful in my work. This is thanks to the help I have received from Jane, my children, and a large number of other people and organisations. I have been lucky, that my condition has progressed more slowly than is often the case. But it shows that one need not lose hope. Copyright: Prof. Stephen Hawking http//hawking.org.uk For more information on Motor Neurone Disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, as well as other progressive conditions, please follow one of the links below: www.alsmndalliance.org

Throughout history, words of great leaders have Inspired, Confronted, Persuaded and Motivated us. Ed. ! “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790 ! “Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill, 1871-1965 ! “The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.” Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826 ! “Be courteous to all, but intimate to few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.”George Washington, 1732-1799 ! “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend.” Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968 ! “If you can dream it, you can do it.” Walt Disney, 1901-1966 ! “The best thing about the future is that comes only one day at time.” Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865 ! “The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavour.” Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970 ! “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962 ! “A person that values its privileges above its principles soon looses both.” Dwight Eisenhower, 1890-1969 ! “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.” Nelson Mandela, 1918! “Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.” Albert Einstein, 1879-1955 ! “Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.” John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 ! “We must become the change we want to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi, 1969-1948 ! “The best and most beautiful things in life cannot be seen, not touched, but are felt in the heart.” Helen Keller, 1880-1968 ! “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” Henry Ford, 1863-1947 ! “Recession is when your neighbour loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.” Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004 ! “The worst prison would be a closed heart.” Pope John Paul II, 1920-2005 ! “To reach a port, we must sail ; sail, not tie at anchor ; sail, not drift.” Franklin Roosevelt, 1882-1945 ! “If a man does his best, what else is there?” George S. Patton, 1885-1945 ! “There are two ways of exerting one's strength; one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.” Booker T. Washington, 1856-1915 ! “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919 ! “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” Albert Schweitzer, 1875-1965 ! “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” Harry Truman, 1884-1972 ! “In this life we cannot always do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa, 1910-1997 ! “There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other by debt.” John Adams, 1735-1826 ! “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. None are more hopelessly enslaved that those who falsely believe they are free.” John Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832

UK House of Lords Select Committee

Cargo Ship Losses and Fatalities

Review of the Causes of Ships Losses

Initiatives in safety regulations,

Conclusions:

over the years, have focused on

? Poor level of training and experience among offices and crew in the merchant fleet;

bulk carriers and passenger ships. However, an investigation was undertaken for the Royal Institution

? Poor design;

of Naval Architects' Safety Committee, which compared the

tankers,

general cargo

associated

? Inadequate equipment;

losses of

? Incomplete repairs;

fatalities with other types of ships. This study has

? Incorrect loading and overloading

ships and their

concluded that general cargo ships account for nearly 20% of the world merchant fleet, but suffer over 40% of the

Note: To find out the date of this review issuance, please turn on page 15

total losses and almost 40% of the fatalities.

(Contributed by Jonathan L. Jones of JLJ Maritime SA, Glyfada, Athens, Greece). Ed.

In its capacity as a Non Governmental Organisation at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the Institution

presented a paper on the study to the 77th Session of the

Cormorant. A friendly, all black, cormorant (picture) is often seen near Sounion's temple of Poseidon. The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed. The scientific genus name is latinised Ancient Greek, from φαλακρός (phalakros, "bald") and κόραξ (korax, "raven"). This is often thought to refer to the creamy white patch on the cheeks of adult Great Cormorants, or the ornamental white head plumes prominent in Mediterranean birds of this species, but is certainly not a unifying characteristic of cormorants. "Cormorant" is a contraction derived from Latin corvus marinus, "sea raven".

Maritime Safety Committee, recommending that further

investigations

be carried out into the causes behind

these alarming

statistics

and that action should

subsequently be taken to reduce the risks. It was agreed in

principle that the data provided by the Institution justified undertaking into the safety of these

a more detailed

ships. Accordingly, RINA is seeking the support of a Member Government to co-sponsor a suitable

submission to the

next meeting of the Maritime Safety Committee seeking its

agreement to the inclusion of a new work item in work programmes of relevant sub-committees.

English Idioms + By the sweat of one's brow: By very hard work, either physical or mental, without anyone's help + Heads I win, tails you loose: An unequal contest which only one person can possibly win + In mint condition: As good as new, perfect. The reference is to coins newly produced by the British Royal Mint + To coin a phrase: To invent a phrase in order to express a new idea. Hundreds of new phrases are coined every year + State-of-the-art: The achievement of the latest technology in a particular field + A poison-pen letter: A malicious or threatening letter, sent anonymously + To mend one's ways: To change one's behaviour or habits, for the better + The child is father of the man: The child's behaviour indicates how the character of the man will develop

- pg 5 -

Double standards By David Osler Lloyd's List Monday 6 October 2008 THERE used to be a joke to the effect that when somebody owes the bank $1,000 and can't repay it, that's their problem; when somebody owes the bank $1,000,000 and can't repay it, that's the bank's problem. But what happens when the bank sector collectively needs hundreds of billions of dollars to maintain liquidity? That's when governments have to step in and bail out some of the richest people on the planet. So if a major shipping company was staring collapse in the face, could it expect the same sort of helping hand? That is going to depend very much on the government concerned. In the advanced capitalist countries, the financial services sector are at the core of the economy, in a way that shipping companies - outside one or two nations, perhaps - simply are not. It cannot be allowed to fail. Equally, in many emerging and transition economies, the maritime industries are regarded as central to national prosperity. Even today, there remain a number of carriers that are either nationalised or with a substantial state shareholding. Knowing what we know about the mindset in some Asian and former communist countries, the administrations concerned are unlikely to have any ideological difficulty in subsidising such concerns through the hard times ahead. As a result, beneficiaries will enjoy competitive advantages compared to operators that live or die by paying their way in the free market. Normally, it would be tempting to scream blue murder and threaten resort to the World Trade Organisation. But given the recent generosity of the US and several EU members towards the bankers of late, such tactics would be open to charges of extreme hypocrisy

money matters The following is the text of a letter sent to a bank by a 96-year-old woman. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;New York Timesâ&#x20AC;?. It may, or may not, be apocryphal, but it meets the sentiments of your editor. To whom it may concern: I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque, with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his depositing the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it. I refer of course, to the automatic monthly transfer of funds from my modest savings account, an arrangement, which, I admit, has been in place for only thirty-one years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and for debiting my account by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank. My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. I noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, faceless prerecorded entity, which your bank has recently become. From now on, I, like you choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate. Be aware that it is an offense under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact Status form, which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that all copies of his her medical history must countersigned by a Notary Public, and the

mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof. In due course, I will issue your employee a PIN number, which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I modeled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitations is the sincerest form of flattery. Please allow me to level the playing field even further. When you call me, you will now have a menu of options on my new voice mail system to choose from. Please press the buttons as follows: 1. To make an appointment to see me 2. To query a missing payment 3. To transfer the call to my drawing room in case I am there 4. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping 5. To transfer the call to my bathroom in case I am attending to nature 6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home 7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Such passwords will be communicated to your Authorised Contact at a later time and date as is comfortable to me 8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 7 over again 9. To speak to my pet Labrador who is in charge of litter To make a general complaint or inquiry, press buttons as indicated above. The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering machine service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call. Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee of Euro 30 to cover the setting up of this new arrangement. Please credit my account on each occasion. (Signed) Your Humble Client

NATURAL DISASTERS 1 the

st d o m d's l r o w

ting a t s eva

ena m o h en

Hurricanes Tornadoes

The destructive power of hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones

Hurricanes start when strong clusters of thunderstorms drift over warm ocean waters. In the Atlantic and eastern Pacific they are called hurricanes, but in the western Pacific they are called typhoons. In the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean they are known as cyclones. The very warm air from the storm combines with the moist ocean surface and begin rising. This creates low pressure at the surface. As trade winds hit those within the storm, the whirling winds cause the storm to start spinning. Rising warm air leaves low pressure above the surface. Air rises faster and faster to fill this low pressure, in turn drawing more warm air off the sea and sucking cooler, drier air downwards.

When a hurricane hits land it often has devastating effects. The Saffir-Simpson scale was devised to measure hurricanes around the Americas and is increasingly used to categorise typhoons and cyclones, too, although some regions still use different scales. The effects: Category 1: Minor flooding Little structural damage Storm surge 1.2-1.5m above normal Category 2: • Roofs damaged • Some trees damaged • Storm surge 1.8-2.4m above normal

How tornadoes form and the damage they can cause

No two tornadoes are the same, but they all need certain conditions to form - in particular intense or unseasonable heat. As the ground temperature increases, moist air heats and starts to rise. When the warm, moist air meets cold dry air, it explodes upwards, puncturing the cooler air above. A thunder cloud may begin to build. A storm quickly develops and there may be rain, thunder and lightning. Upward movement of air can become very rapid. Winds from different directions cause it to rotate. A visible cone or funnel drops out of the cloud towards the ground. The vortex of winds varies in size and shape, and can be hundreds of metres wide.

NATURA DISASTE As the storm moves over the ocean it picks up more warm, moist air. Wind speeds start to increase as more air is sucked into the low-pressure centre. It can take hours or several days for a depression to grow into a fully-formed hurricane. Hurricanes are made up of an eye of calm winds and low pressure surrounded by a spinning vortex of high winds and heavy rainstorms.

Category 3: • Houses damaged • Severe flooding • Storm surge 2.7-3.7m above normal

Category 4: • Some roofs destroyed • Major structural damage to houses • Storm surge 4-5.5m above normal

Category 5: • Serious damage to buildings • Severe flooding further inland • Storm surge more than 5.5m above normal

A tornado can last from several seconds to more than an hour and may travel dozens of miles. Winds within the tornado may be so fast they cannot be properly measured. Instead, the Fujita damage scale is used to estimate speed.

F0 - Light damage: Some damage to chimneys; branches broken from trees and some trees blown over. F1 - Moderate damage: Moving cars blown off roads, mobile homes overturned or pushed off their foundations. F2 - Considerable damage: Mobile homes demolished, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off ground. F3 - Severe damage: Trains overturned, most trees uprooted, heavy cars thrown, walls of homes destroyed. F4 - Devastating damage: Well-constructed buildings destroyed, large objects thrown. F5 - Incredible damage: Cars thrown more than 100m, strong buildings swept away.

- pg 7 -

Earthquakes

How and why the Earth moves - and different types of quake The Earth is made up of a solid inner core, a molten outer core, solid mantle and crust. The crust and upper mantle form a cold, strong layer known as the lithosphere. The lithosphere is broken up into plates. Convection currents in the mantle cause the plates to move in different directions. Most earthquakes occur at the plate boundaries.

Volcanoes How they are formed and what happens during an eruption

In some places the plates become locked together. Potential energy builds up in the locked plates.

When the plates give, the stored energy is released in the form of an earthquake. The point of the earthquake's origin beneath the surface is called the hypocentre. An earthquake emits its power as three waves of energy. Primary, or P-waves, are felt as a sudden jolt. Secondary, S-waves, arrive a few seconds later and are felt as a more sustained side-to-side shaking. Then surface waves radiate outwards from the epicentre - the point on the surface directly above the hypocentre - and arrive after the main P and S waves.

AL ERS There are two types of wave with different movements: Rayleigh waves create a rolling, up and down motion. Love waves (named after mathematician AEH Love) cause the ground to twist from side to side. These two types of surface wave cause great damage to buildings.

How earthquakes at sea can trigger devastating waves Tsunamis are caused by earthquakes at sea. Earthquakes happen when the plates that make up the Earth's surface suddenly move against each other.

A tsunami forms when energy from an earthquake vertically jolts the seabed by several metres, displacing hundreds of cubic kilometres of water.

Where plates converge, one is drawn slowly beneath the other. This takes place over thousands of years. Where plates collide, rock layers are forced upwards, creating mountains. Where plates diverge and pull away, lava emerges from the mantle and cools to form new sections of crust. Diverging plate boundaries are often found underwater. Other plates move very slowly alongside each other. Faults are found at the edges of the plates where the crust is moving in different directions.

Tsunamis

The Earth is a 4.5-billion-year-old ball of molten rock with an iron core and a cool crust. In-between lies a solid mantle. The crust is made up of plates, moving at the rate of about 10cm a year. They are propelled by convection currents in the mantle. Areas along edges of plates are prone to geological upheaval. Molten rock – magma – finds its way into the upper crust. If it reaches the surface, it becomes a volcano. An eruption is caused by the pressure of dissolved gas building up in the magma. When it becomes greater than the surface can take, the volcano erupts. Large rocks thrown out during the eruption – bombs - crush and set fire to anything they hit. A super-hot avalanche of rock and ash – pyroclastic flow engulfs everything in its path in dense ash. Ash and toxic gases, including sulphur dioxide, create an eruption cloud, which pollutes the atmosphere over a large area and can contribute to acid rain. Lava - molten rock - flows slowly, but is very destructive, burning anything in its path and cutting off escape routes. Mud flows can be swift, silent and lethal, engulfing homes many kilometres away from the volcano. A stratovolcano is formed by layers of lava from successive eruptions. But other types of volcano also exist. Caldera volcanoes are formed when the dome of a stratovolcano collapses, leaving a broad circular vent. Shield volcanoes are formed by eruptions of runny basalt lava which flows swiftly and does not build up in a cone shape. Most of the 550 active volcanoes are found along the edges of the Earth's plates. More than half of these encircle the Pacific Ocean in the socalled "Ring of Fire".

Large waves begin moving through the ocean, away from the earthquake's epicentre. In deep water, the tsunami moves at great speeds. When it reaches shallow water near coastal areas, the tsunami slows but increases in height. In the devastating tsunami of December 2004, many coastal areas in the Indian Ocean had almost no warning of the approaching tsunami. The only sign came just before it struck, when the waterline suddenly retreated, exposing hundreds of metres of beach and seabed. The several waves of the tsunami came at intervals of between five and 40 minutes. In Kalutara, on the Sri Lankan coast, the water reached at least 1km (0.6 miles) inland, causing widespread destruction.

Safety First !! Message from the DPA: Hot work is one of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;hottestâ&#x20AC;? safety related topics. Detailed requirements and procedures are laid out in the SMS providing safeguards including risk assessments, hot work permits, shore authorization, work planning meetings, checklists, etc. All of these systems are in place to reduce the possibility of something going wrong. In addition to these, I wish to make two fundamental points here: - All accidents happen when the workers involved think they are safe. If someone identifies a risk, then the job will not be proceeded with until the risk is reduced. Always keep this in mind: you can never be too safe. When you believe that everything is safe to proceed with, stop and rethink you will see that there is always something more to do. - Never cut corners for any reason. Specifically for hot work, follow the process meticulously step by step it is there to protect you and the company. Never proceed when in doubt or under pressure, and always refer back to the head office for assistance. This is what is expected from you nothing more. At the end of the day, it is down to each of you individually and collectively to make a difference. As they say, Safety Comes In Cans. I Can, You Can, We Can. Anthony Lambros / Q&S Manager DPA I welcome your comments, suggestions or feedback on the contents of this column (Safety First!) at <q&s@centrofin.gr>.

Case Study: Near misses relevant to eye injury/irritation Vessel: applicable to all vessels Source: Company records and Chevron Safety Bulletin July 2008 I.Details of incidents / near misses Case # 1: Deck Cadet was washing and cleaning the accommodation area when just remover droplets entered his eye. Case # 2: Deck Cadet was mixing paint with thinner, when some of the mixture splashed into both his eyes. Case # 3: Deck Cadet was using steel saw to cut a small pipe when a foreign body (metal particle) was embedded into his right eye.

II.Investigation, findings and root causes An investigation was initiated on the grounds of repetitiveness, in order to determine what went wrong and how to avoid similar situations. The main findings were that none of the Cadets has been using goggles during work. Moreover there was little or no supervision during the undertaken tasks. Root causes were thus defined as follows: 1) Improper supervision and poor planning of activities on the part of the experienced seafarers. 2) Lack of knowledge and experience on the part of the Cadets. 3) Failure to use P.P.E. (goggles in this case) 4) For cases relevant to more experienced seafarers, overconfidence or complacency seems to be a contributing cause.

III.Corrective & preventive actions 1) First Aid was administered as necessary, either on board or ashore. 2) These occurrences and findings have been extensively discussed during Safety Meetings on board. 3) All personnel involved were requested to attend a training session on proper use of P.P.E.

4) The Masters and Ch. Engineers were requested to conduct a Training Session for the persons who are responsible to plan and supervise various tasks onboard the vessel, such as the Ch. Officer, 2nd Eng, Bosun, Pumpman etc. 5) As per FIM, Chapter A, Section 8.1, work planning meetings must be carried out daily in order to create a schedule, organize the various pending tasks and address any safety related matters that may arise out of the planned activities. 6) The PPE Matrix (on Chapter B, Section 3 of FIM) has been recently added to our System and should become a point of reference during any work planning. 7) In addition to work planning, experienced seafarers should verify that all safety precautions have been taken prior assuming the task and that all equipment / tools are readily available on the site and in operating condition.

IV.Lessons learned It goes without saying that most of all inexperienced crew members must be well coached in advance and always supervised during the job undertaken. Moreover, we must understand the importance PPE has as a tool to help us prevent injuries. There are times, when we rely too heavily on PPE. PPE should not be the first line of defense when approaching job safety. PPE should be, in fact, one of the last. For illustration, if we take a simple task such as using a bench grinder we can see how the process works in our environment.

Eliminate the hazard. The main hazard when using the grinder is sparks or debris coming off the wheel. Because this is how the grinder works, it cannot be truly eliminated. Control the hazard as its source by guards or enclosures. The grinder should have been fitted with guards and shields when it left the factory. These should always be left fitted, as they are the first line of defense. Make personnel aware of the hazard by warning or placards. Signs should be posted warning the operator of the eye hazard of the machine. Workers should make others in the area aware of the risk when working in close proximity. Provide adequate training and supervision. Those who do not routinely use the equipment should be made aware of the correct safe way to operate the machine, and supervised until they can demonstrate a proper understanding. Provide personal protective equipment to shield against the hazard. This is the last line of defense. Should all of the proceeding steps fail to protect the worker; the PPE will do its job and prevent injury.

- pg 9 Safety Bulletin 08-06

Case Study:

Poop deck garbage fire Vessel: Tanker applicable to all vessels Source: Industry feedback

I. Details of incident and course of events

wrong?) must be a part of the daily routines.

Recently on a vessel, general garbage and trash, stowed on the poop deck caught fire whilst the vessel was discharging a cargo of crude oil.

- Flammable materials must be protected and/or properly stowed when on weather decks, to eliminate the potential for ignition from sources such as smoke stack embers.

The fire was extinguished after 15 minutes by the crew members and the assistance of refinery's fire brigade.

- Trash must be stowed in proper receptacles and fully covered.

There were no personal injuries, pollution or any structural damage to the vessel.

- Whenever possible, trash must be incinerated and/or removed ashore to eliminate accumulation.

II. Incident Investigation

- Boilers (aux and/or main) must be properly maintained and soot blown down at appropriate intervals, to minimize soot accumulation.

Initial indications point to sparks or embers, emitted from the smoke stack exhaust outlets / boiler uptake, settling onto open containers of trash on the fantail and igniting the material. Several immediate observations became clear: -The trash, which had accumulated during several days in port, was in non approved and open top containers. -The containers were stowed in open deck areas subjected to exposure to carbon embers from the smoke stack. -The boiler used to produce steam to drive cargo pumps, had not had tubes blown or soot removed for several days. -When the mate on watch rapidly started and increased cargo pump speeds, the boiler apparently shifted to high-fire rate and produced significant outflow of exhaust gases and thus, burning carbon embers.

III. Lessons learned As part of normal operations, all personnel must review vessel operations for potential risks and proper mitigation factors. Constant Risk assessments, (what might go

- When boiler firing rates are to be increased, deck and engine personnel must be aware of potential ignition situations and eliminate and/or be prepared to monitor and deal with them. - Inexperienced personnel must be mentored and trained as to the risks, exposures and proper mitigation factors necessary to prevent accidents. - Fire and emergency response teams must be constantly well trained with drilled to be ready to respond to any type of shipboard emergency. - Near misses and minor events must be well investigated with rigor, such that lessons learned are derived and are of value in helping to prevent future similar exposures. We would like to draw your attention, to ensure that all "at risk" rubbish stored around the poop deck is adequately covered and protected from the potential of being ignited from "sparks". ______________________________ This case is industry feedback contributed by Marine Operations department.

Marine Accident Reportin MARS 200869 Bunkering hose rupture and pollution One vessel experienced a failure of bunker hose while bunkering. As a result, about five barrels of fuel oil were spilt on the bunker barge deck, vessel's ship side and the area around the ship's manifold, while some oil was noticed to have gone in the sea. The bunker hose failed closed to the manifold

of the bunker barge. The hose had been sighted by the second engineer prior to starting the bunkering operation and he reported it to be in an apparently good condition. However, without detailed examination, it would have not been possible to determine any existing faults in the hose, especially at the end that was connected to the barge's manifold. The ship's engineers kept a record of manifold pressure during the bunkering operation and

MARS 200870 Gangway accidents Two accidents were reported recently involving shore personnel, due to improper maintenance and rigging of portable gangways. On one of the vessels, even though the main gangway (accommodation ladder) was in use, a portable gangway, without proper guard rails, was temporarily rigged aft from the accommodation deck. This was to facilitate easy access for the ship's personnel to continuously monitor the aftdraft while cargo loading was nearing completion. A stevedore used this access to board the vessel; however during his passage, some of the railings became dislodged due to their poor condition and caused him to fall and sustain severe injuries. On another vessel, the portable gangway was half withdrawn and left unsecured while the regular

The Greek view of life

(Philosophy)

"The service of philosophy, of speculative culture, towards the human spirit, is to rouse, to startle it to a life of constant and eager observation. Every moment some form grows perfect in hand or face; some tone on the hills or the sea is choicer than the rest; some mood of passion or insight or intellectual excitement is irresistibly real and attractive to us - for that moment only. Not the fruit of experience, but experience itself, is the end. A counted number of pulses only is given to us of a variegated, dramatic life. How may we see in them all all that is to be seen in them by the finest senses? How shall we pass most swiftly from point to point, and the present always at the focus where the greatest number of vital forces unite in their purest energy? To burn always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life. In a sense it might even be said that our failure is to form habits: for, after all, habit is relative to a stereotyped world, and meantime it is only the roughness of the eye that makes two persons, things, situations, seem alike.

- pg 11 -

ng Scheme (MARS) (Compliments, The Nautical Institute October 2008) ensured the pressure remained steady and within safe limits without any pressure surge. It was also confirmed that there was no misoperation of tank and line valves at any time. Lessons Learned. 1. Always verify that the bunker hose to be used by the supply barge is accompanied by a valid test certificate before commencement of the bunkering operation. 2. When lining up for bunkering, confirm that the bunker tank filling valves are fully open according to the bunkering plan.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: Oil Spill: "The cadet at the helm; under the captain's command; with the pilot's advice". Is this how, sometimes (usually), it works? Ed.

gangway was being rigged. A stevedore, trying to disembark the vessel via the unsecured gangway, caused it to fall into water, while he fell on to the wharf and suffered serious injuries. It is the responsibility of the vessel to provide safe access at all times. Lack of maintenance or unsafe rigging of gangways will be construed as gross negligence on the part of the responsible officers onboard. Portable gangways must be used only after careful consideration. They must also receive the same level of safety precautions, inspections and maintenance as that given to the regular accommodation and pilot ladders. All repairs have to be documented and the gangways ought to be tested after repairs, if practicable.

While all melts under our feet, we may well grasp at any exquisite passion, or any contribution to knowledge that seems by a lifted horizon to set the spirit free for a moment, or any stirring of the sense, strange dyes, strange colours, and curious odours, or work of the artist's hands, or the face of one's friend. Not to discriminate every moment some passionate attitude in those about us, and in the very brilliancy of their gifts some tragic dividing on their ways, is, on this short day of frost and sun, to sleep before evening". (A passage from Walter Horatio Pater's (4 August 1839 - 30 July 1894 - an English essayist, art and literary critic) Studies in the History of the Renaissance'. Western civilisation owes its existence and much of its character to classical ancient Hellas (modern Greece). Rome took its culture from Hellas and spread it through Europe.

TEMPERAMENT from pg 1

Observation of the Week The first thing a child learns when he gets a drum is that he'll never get another one. Portent of the Week It first occurred to me that our marriage might be in trouble when my wife won an all- expenses-paid trip for two to Hawaii and she went twice. Incentive of the Week Missing: wife and dog. Reward for dog. Sight for sore eyes AN invisible man married an invisible woman. The children were nothing to look at either.

Studying your own temperament helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses and why you do some of the things you do. Understanding another's temperament can help you adapt your communication to theirs or, at the least, understand why you have problems with them. Typological representation is "one of the oldest ways of distinguishing individuals with respect to personality differences". From the astrological signs of the ancient astrologers to the temperaments of Hippocrates, from the psychological types of the experts to the modern psychiatry, typologies have been used to try to understand personality. Below are 16 personality types.

intensity; the term often is used to refer to the prevailing mood or mood pattern of a person. The notion of temperament in this sense originated with Galen who developed it from an earlier physiological theory of four basic body fluids (humours): blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. According to their relative predominance in the individual, they were supposed to produce, respectively, temperaments designated sanguine (warm, pleasant), phlegmatic (slowmoving, apathetic), melancholic (depressed, sad), and choleric (quick to react, hot tempered). In 'Your Personality and How to Live with It', Dr. Gregory G. Young gives his definition of personality style:

The terms "type" and "style" are considered here to be synonymous, and are used interchangeably. But "type" is the preferred term because it better communicates the fact that both personality types and personality styles are "the products of purposeful intellectual construction". The term "temperament" is also used synonymously with these two terms, because it is believed, by the experts, that temperament is the essential basis of personality (cf. Cicero). In accord with that belief, experts say that personality style is the expression of temperament, and that personality type is its conceptualisation.

Personality includes attitudes, modes of thought, feelings, impulses, strivings, actions, responses to opportunity and stress and everyday modes of interacting with others. When these elements of personality are expressed in a characteristically repeated and dynamic combination, we have what I call a personality styleâ&#x20AC;?.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, in psychology, temperament is the aspect of personality concerned with emotional dispositions and reactions and their speed and

From long experience working with patients in his psychiatric practice, Dr. Young came to the conclusion that "each of us fits one and only one Personality Style".

Blonde moment A BLONDE man and a brunette girl were happily married and about to have a baby. When his wife started having contractions, the husband rushed her to the hospital. He held her hand as she went through a trying birth. In the end, there were two little baby boys. The blonde turned to his wife and said angrily, "All right, who's the other father?" Twenty thoughts for the day

> My husband and I divorced over

religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't. > I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it. > Some people are alive only because it's

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Personality is a word that signifies the personal traits and patterns of behaviour that are unique to the individual. You experience these traits and patterns of behaviour as your own; others observe them directly or through your communication with them.

illegal to kill them.

> I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.

> Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.

> Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.

> I'm not a complete idiot. Some parts are just missing.

> Out of my mind - back in five minutes. > Consciousness - that annoying time between naps.

> Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

> Being over the hill is much better than being under it.

> Wrinkled was not one of the things I

- pg 13Personality Type

Basic Desire/ Pleasure

Basic Fear/ Distress

Personality Disorder

Does Temperament Matter? Call it reflexes in a crisis. Or instincts under pressure. The qualities that a 'Leader' (Captain) needs to succeed are both essential and elusive. What qualities matter? Temperament is a special subcommittee of character: it is less intellect than instinct, more about music than the lyrics the quality people sense when they watch a 'leader' improvise or when he thinks no one is looking.

Idealist Conscientious

control

loss of control

acceptance

rejection

ObsessiveCompulsive Avoidant

autonomy

being subordinated

Paranoid

attention

being ignored

Histrionic

dominance

submission

Sadistic

non-conformity

conformity

Schizotypal

Sensitive Vigilant Dramatic Rationalist Aggressive Idiosyncratic Inventive

recognition

Solitary

solitude

obscurity Compensatory Narcissistic intimacy Schizoid

Traditionalist Leisurely Serious Self-Sacrificing Devoted

freedom to do as one pleases

compulsory activity

PassiveAggressive

duties and responsibilities

not having duties and responsibilities

Depressive

being needed being unappreciated

Masochistic

being taken care of

having to act independently

Dependent

being special

being ordinary

Narcissistic

excitement

boredom

Antisocial

relationship

being alone

Borderline

creativity

being unable to create

Cyclothymic

Hedonist Self-Confident Adventurous Mercurial Exuberant

wanted to be when I grew up.

> Procrastinate Now! > I have a degree in liberal arts; do you want fries with that?

> A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

> A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.

> Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!

> He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.

> A picture is worth a thousand

words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory. > Ham and eggs - a day's work for a chicken, a lifetime's commitment for a pig.

Temperament is formed early; from kindergarten years & teachers. You can call it balance. You can call it a sense of proportion. You can call it maturity, good judgement. 'One of the clearest lessons of history is that there's no such thing as the foreseeable future, and particularly in traumatic times such as we have now, temperament is of the utmost importance', says historian David McCullough Time, Oct 2008. It's good to be smart, but that's no guarantee of success. More important is the confidence that lets welcome smart people around you and hope they disagree; for which, one ought to have the internal self confidence and knowledge that, if one could get them working together as a team, it would be exactly what one needed for one's leadership. Perhaps most important than intelligence is vitality; to be upbeat but never giddy; sunny but without being blinding. Resilience helps too; so do steadfastness, persistence and conviction. But as soon as you make the list, it mocks you, for history is a dance of luck and intend, and sometimes they trip each other. One's temperament might undermine one's talent, In crisis ingenuity and cool head play a serious part. The bright idea favours the prepared mind. 'Every man is a moon', Mark Twain liked to say, 'with a dark side he doesn't show anybody'. It is widely believed that 'Leaders' who are good at handling people, who have high emotional intelligence, stand a better chance of pushing their agenda through. Temperament should be coupled with discipline and coolness. But consistent coolness has a cost. The most successful leaders project warmth during the chilliest times. One has to have a fire inside; a fierce design for change, for new accomplishments, higher goals. Is there a perfect temperament? You want the right blend of confidence and humility. Confidence to make big decisions, to act in crisis, and humility to listen to other people, and be flexible in those moments. For extras add: Fundamental decency, Discipline, Optimism, Instincts, Intellectual curiosity and dogged Determination. Ed.

Prostate Cancer Prostate cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed cancer of UK men. The prostate is a small, walnut-sized gland situated near the bladder in men - it produces one component of semen. There were 24,700 new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed in the UK, lately. If found early, while still confined to the gland itself, chances of survival are excellent, and modern surgical techniques, combined with drugs such as Viagra, mean that life-saving operations don't have to mean the end of sex lives. Professor Alan Horwich, is based at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London and the Institute of Cancer Research, where he carries out research funded by Cancer Research UK. He said: "There are a broad range of prostate cancers, some of which are extremely gentle and indolent, which may not cause any significant ill health. "Others have the ability to spread to other parts of the body and cause damage there." He added: "If prostate cancer is caught at a time when it is confined to the prostate, generally it can be cured by radiotherapy and surgery." Symptoms The first sign of prostate cancer is usually problems passing water - usually an increased frequency or difficulty maintaining a full stream. However, these symptoms are shared with benign prostate enlargement.

If prostate cancer is caught at a time when it is confined to the prostate, generally it can be cured by radiotherapy and surgery Professor Alan Horwich, Institute of Cancer Research

The symptoms are caused by the growth of cells, whether malignant or benign, pushing against the urethra, the thin tube which links the bladder to the penis. Other symptoms to look out for are: Painful urination or ejaculation Blood in urine or semen Pain in lower back, hips or thighs Of course, all of these symptoms could be caused by something else, for example infection - but should be investigated. The doctor has several methods to check for the presence of prostate cancer. The simplest of these is the digital rectal examination, in which a gloved finger is inserted into the rectum, through which an enlarged prostate can be felt. Blood tests are the next step - prostate cancers cause the levels of certain chemicals in the blood to rise. More sophisticated tests include the use of ultrasound scans, and x-rays. Causes The causes of prostate cancer are not yet understood. However, there are certain things which place some men at higher risk of developing the disease than others.

Caring for Kidneys (Compliments NoE P&I, Issue 73)

The Association unfortunately sees many cases of crew members affected by kidney damage, sometimes irreversible, resulting in failure of these vital organs. Kidneys undertake the following essential roles: FMaintaining balance of water and level of chemical constituents within the body FRegulating blood pressure FHelping maintain acid base balance of the blood FEliminating chemical waste from the body FActing as a gland producing

hormones and enzymes which, among other functions, regulates blood pressure, assists bone formation and stimulates the production of red blood cells Symptoms of renal disease As with all health issues, people need to listen to their bodies since warning signs that provide early recognition of symptoms can often mean quicker diagnosis and treatment. Such warning signs include: FPainful urination, which can be caused by inflammation of the neck of the bladder due to infection, or to the presence of kidney stones in the urinary

These include other family members who have had prostate cancer. There is some suggestion that a fat-rich diet may contribute to prostate cancer, but this is not proven. Studies linking the cancer to vasectomy, an operation to remove a man's fertility, are contradictory. Treatments The key decision in prostate cancer is whether or not to treat at all. In many older men, the cancer progresses so slowly that surgery and other treatments may cause more harm than good. However, for those whose cancer is more aggressive, either already spreading or liable to spread beyond the prostate, surgery is usually the first option. A prostatectomy means that the prostate gland is removed, normally along with small parts of the lymphatic system near the gland. Unfortunately, the operation often causes nerve damage which can make it nigh-on impossible for men to achieve erection afterwards, or maintain complete control over urination. However, modern "nerve-sparing" surgical techniques - combined with drugs such as Viagra - mean that the effects on both function and quality of life can be minimised.

passage

FHaematuria (blood in the urine), a

sign which must not be ignored and can result from the presence of kidney stones, an acute infection or even cancer of the kidney or bladder FThe need to pass urine frequently during the night Pa t i e n t s w i t h g r a d u a l b u t progressive damage of the kidneys may have no sign of any symptoms in the early stages and this can cause it to be detected too late. General symptoms include pallor and fatigue resulting from anaemia, weight loss and body malaise due to an increase metabolic rate, as well as loss of appetite and an accumulation of excess water presenting itself as facial puffiness

or swelling of the lower extremities and abdomen. There may also be headaches, nausea and vomiting. Causes of renal damage Kidney problems can be genetic, but other common causes are: FProlonged usage of antibiotics, pain relievers, epilepsy drugs and alcohol FAn excessive intake of red meat which the kidney is unable to process

- pg 15As well as surgery, another option for doctors is radiotherapy which will be precisely targeted on the pelvic area. And doctors are also tackling prostate cancer using the body's own hormones. Prostate cells, including cancerous ones, are sensitive to levels of certain male hormones, and can be rendered far less active if levels are reduced. However, one unwanted by-product of this is to lessen the natural sex drive of the patient. The main advances in prostate cancer treatment are being made in surgery and radiotherapy. Surgeons are learning how to remove the prostate without causing the problematic nerve damage which was inevitable in the past. And radiotherapy technology advances mean that far higher doses can be targeted more precisely on the prostate, killing more cancer cells with fewer treatments. Recent advances include the use of a technique called brachytherapy. There are two major methods of prostate brachytherapy, permanent seed implantation and high dose rate (HDR) temporary brachytherapy. Permanent seed implants involve injecting approximately 100 radioactive seeds into the prostate gland.

:)HUMOUR Signs of the times

TOILET OUT OF ORDER. PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOW In a launderette: AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES: PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT

In a London department store: BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRS

In an office: WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE STEP LADDER YESTERDAY PLEASE BRING IT BACK OR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKEN In an office: AFTER TEA BREAK STAFF SHOULD EMPTY THE TEAPOT AND STAND UPSIDE DOWN ON THE DRAINING BOARD

Outside a second-hand shop: WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING - BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC. WHY NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONG AND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN? Notice in a health food shop window: CLOSED DUE TO ILLNESS

They give off their cancer-killing radiation at a low dose rate over several weeks or months, and the seeds remain in the prostate gland permanently.

In a safari park: ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR

HDR temporary brachytherapy instead involves placing very tiny plastic catheters into the prostate gland, and then giving a series of radiation treatments through these catheters. Another option is High Intensity Focussed Ultrasound, which uses sound waves to "melt" away the cancer.

Seen during a conference: FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN AND DOESN'T KNOW IT, THERE IS A DAY-CARE ON THE 1ST FLOOR

(Editor's note. Every male above the age of 40 should have a PSA test once yearly. Please consult your urology doctor.)

FHypertension, where persistently uncontrolled FUncontrolled diabetes mellitus FExcessive salty and spicy foods, which may lead to an increase in blood pressure

FInadequate water intake Taking care of the body Whereas it is impossible to control medical factors entirely, a healthy approach to life is always the best form of prevention and this relates to taking care of kidneys as much as anything else. People should follow a healthy diet, enjoy a sensible consumption of safe drinking water every day, keep fit and watch out for anything unusual. The Association is grateful to Dr Bacungan of 'SM LAZO Clinic' in Manila, Philippines, for information used in this article. --------------------------------------------------------------Note: The Chief Cooks should be told again and again of their obligation to have prepared healthy meals onboard and follow-up the company's instructions. Ed.

Notice in a farmer's field: THE FARMER ALLOWS WALKERS TO CROSS THE FIELD FOR FREE, BUT THE BULL CHARGES. Message on a leaflet: IF YOU CANNOT READ, THIS LEAFLET WILL TELL YOU HOW TO GET LESSONS

On a repair shop door: WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING. (PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR THE BELL DOESN'T WORK) Seven up A WOMAN got on a bus with seven children. The conductor asked, "Are these all yours lady? Or is it a picnic?" "They're all mine,' she replied. "And it's no picnic.' Trouble with the car Wife: "There's trouble with the car. It has water in the carburettor." Husband: "Water in the carburettor? That's ridiculous." Wife: "I tell you the car has water in the carburettor." Husband: "You don't even know what a carburettor is. Where's the car?" Wife: "In the swimming pool." (Compliments the 'Maritime Advocate online').

OCIMF TMSA Guidelines :

(extract)

Element 10 - Environmental Management (Aim. The company implements a plan for the systematic identification and assessment of all sources of marine and atmospheric pollution)

Main objective Develop a proactive approach to environmental management that includes identification of sources of marine and atmospheric pollution, and measures for the reduction of potential impacts, both onboard and ashore. Protection of the environment is a fundamental requirement for ship operators chartering ships to OCIMF members or using their facilities. Element 10 discusses the system and procedures necessary for effective environmental performance.

Environmental management Ship operators should establish and maintain procedures to limit the impact of their operations on the environment. These should include provisions for: The systematic identification and assessment of sources of marine and atmospheric pollution Minimising adverse environmental impacts and waste generation Ensuring the safe and responsible disposal of residual wastes Contingency plans for dealing with potential pollution incidents Reporting arrangements for all pollution incidents or near-miss occurrences that could have resulted in pollution Establishing reduction targets to minimise discharge of pollutants Establishing requirements for ballast water exchange

AGEMENT I N AN

CENTRO-NEWS

NTROF

avelength

The Articles written and the Views expressed in this bulletin do not necessarily reflect those of CENTROFIN and/or its members. Queries to: wavelength@centrofin.gr Disclaimer. The contents provided herewith are for general information purposes only; not intended to replace or otherwise contradict the detailed instructions/procedures issued by the owners/managers, flag etc. Editor: Cmdr Nicholas A. ILIOPOULOS - Master Mariner - Human Resources Tel. +30.6944.941 333. Email: ilioship@yahoo.com.sg Comments. This editor welcomes readers' responses to all articles & Editorials. Design-Production: www.paradox.com.gr Tel.+30.210.6560 574

! ! ! ! ! ! !