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This is the syllabus used in conjunction with educational content offered by JHSPH. As a result, some of the information and/or materials listed here may not be relevant to or available for an OCW user's self-directed study.
Students will be guided to analyze problems and develop strategies based on real world drug management issues including regulations, manufacture, procurement, distribution, safety, policy, financing and the unique aspects of international pharmaceutical trade, the role of the World Trade Organization - Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (WTO-TRIPS), government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals/programs in the selection and use of pharmaceutical products. Course materials are drawn from both developed and developing countries so that the student will be knowledgeable about the role of Essential Medicines and the formation of a National Drug Policy. The course will use a multidisciplinary approach to provide students with an operational understanding of factors influencing access to and use of pharmaceuticals and other health commodities. Collectively, these materials and approaches are intended to stimulate critical thinking on how to improve access to and the use of pharmaceutical products.
To develop an operational understanding of pharmaceuticals management in developing countries and underserved populations. The course will discuss factors, policies and regulations influencing drug availability and access, procurement, utilization, distribution, rational use, essential drugs, budgeting, inventory, and financing. The course will also discuss and describe the roll of government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individual/program pharmaceuticals management.
Students will identify the different types of health commodities and their regulation, will understand key factors in the drug management cycle, will identify potential obstacles to and problems of access, as well as define creative solutions to these problems. Students will also understand the various factors influencing drug selection and the rational use of pharmaceuticals, and explain the relative strengths and weaknesses of alternative ways to raise revenues to pay for pharmaceuticals.
Managing Drug Supply: The Selection, Procurement, Distribution, and Use of Pharmaceuticals. 2nd edition. Management Sciences for Health in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Kumarian Press. 1997. ISBN 1-56449-047-9. | <urn:uuid:a2f17be6-22eb-4485-af7d-2a1c7cdd7e3e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ocw.jhsph.edu/courses/pharmaceuticalsmanagementforunder-servedpopulations/syllabus.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402699.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00185-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.894108 | 445 | 2.625 | 3 |
Thermal Rectifiers Explained
In electronics we are fairly used to devices that allow an electrical current to flow in only one direction. Some years ago it was suggested that some materials could have a similar directional bias, but for thermal currents. Now researchers at Purdue University have finally explained this thermal rectification, and such knowledge could lead to some very interesting and useful technologies.
Similar to how electrical currents can be thought of as a flow of electrons, a thermal current can be thought of as a flow of phonons, the quanta of vibrational energy. What was suggested years ago was that asymmetrical graphene nanoribbons would act as thermal rectifiers, and have a bias for which direction the phonons travel. Now the researchers have explained that what enables this is lateral confinement of the phonons, which prevents the phonons from bouncing into each other. Graphene, being only an atom thick, is naturally able to confine the phonons properly, but now that we understand the mechanics, other thermal rectifiers could be developed as well, such as asymmetric nanowires, thin films, and even some quantum dots.
The most obvious use of thermal rectifiers is to control the direction heat can flow, potentially keeping a building from losing heat during winter. Such rectifiers could maybe also be developed into thermal transistors and logic gates too, which could have some interesting applications considering the amount of waste heat electronics generate.
Source: Purdue University | <urn:uuid:230a6b39-2ea8-4caa-b269-e715158d9411> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.overclockersclub.com/news/35296/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00196-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962495 | 294 | 3.5 | 4 |
Suburban Housing More GHG Intensive?
Researchers at the University of Toronto estimated differences in GHG emissions between a typical low density detached house in the suburbs and a 15-story high rise apartment or condominium building in the central city. The study covered the impact of GHG emissions from “embodied energy” in the construction materials and day to day operations. The conclusion was that, on a per capita basis, the detached house produced 75% higher GHG emissions than the high-rise unit. Conversely, measured on a square footage basis, the detached house produced 6% less in GHG emissions than the high-rise unit. This research does not include energy used in construction.
All of the Difference is in House Size
The differences in house size were substantial, with the detached house being approximately 2,600 square feet and the high rise unit less than approximately 825 square feet. The square footage per capita in the detached house was approximately double that of the high-rise unit. Again, the apparent differences in energy consumption are a function of the size of the house. To achieve the apparent energy savings would require households to “downsize” their living space and standards of living.
Study Excludes Common Energy
Again, more importantly, the Canadian government data source cited in this research does not include common energy consumption, as in the case of the US RCES (See Below: Common Energy Consumption), which would be typical for a high-rise building. Thus, based upon the Sydney research (below), it is possible that the much smaller high-rise apartment produces more GHG emissions per capita than the detached house.
Common Energy Consumption
Residential energy surveys often fail to allocate common energy usage to housing units in multi-unit buildings, especially high-rise condominium or apartment buildings. Common energy includes living unit and building usage that that does not appear on energy bills, but rather is charged to buildings and included, in rents, mortgages or management fees.
According to the Sydney Water study, common energy consumption includes:
• Lighting (exterior, lobbies, stairs, hallways, parking lots)
• Centralized hot water supply including circulation pumps
• Centralized heating and air conditioning.
• Parking lot ventilation
• Common exhaust fans
• Pool and spa areas (including water heating, pumps, heating, ventilation, air conditional and lighting)
• Cooling tower pumps and fans
The Sydney Water research cited indicates that common energy consumption in multi-family buildings exceeds the amount used per capita in single family residences.
Research covering residential buildings in Sydney indicated that GHG emissions per capita are higher in multi-unit condominium buildings (high-rise, mid-rise and low-rise) than in single family detached or townhouses (attached houses). Unlike the US and Canadian data cited above, the Sydney study includes common energy use, which is shown to equal approximately two-thirds of direct household consumption in high rise condominium buildings (Box: Common Energy Consumption). These estimates do not include GHG emissions from construction of buildings or the embodied energy in building materials (Figure 1).
The Sydney research, which includes both energy on residential bills and common energy, indicates that lower density housing (detached and townhouses) tends to have less in GHG emission that multi-unit housing, both low rise and high rise.
Residences: Missing data on common energy consumption makes it impossible to draw any reliable conclusions on GHG emissions based upon residential building type from the Canadian research. Even with the incomplete data, the energy consumption advantages reported for the US and Canadian multiple-unit housing simply reflects smaller housing unit sizes. On the other hand, the Australian research, which includes common energy consumption, indicates that multiple unit buildings have greater GHG emissions per capita than the lower density detached houses and townhouses. The Canadian findings on embodied energy and the Sydney findings on common energy consumption suggest that, generally, high rise condominium living produces more in GHG emissions than single-family suburban residences.
There are, however, research gaps. There is only incomplete information on embodied energy in construction materials and virtually no information on the GHG emissions produced in constructing the various kinds of housing. Any definitive research would need to include these issues.
Additional Discussion on Common Energy | <urn:uuid:0a3dcc6e-1287-4362-bdf1-385df313af40> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://demographia.blogspot.com/2009/04/canada-residential-study-greenhouse-gas.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00063-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951842 | 871 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Recombinant vaccines for oral immunization of wildlife
The development of recombinant DNA technology has initiated a new era in rabies control. Recombinant vaccines cannot exhibit residual pathogenicity caused by rabies because they contain only single non-virulent gene products. The majority of the safety requirements for modified live-virus vaccines are also applicable to recombinant vaccines.
Various recombinant constructs (e.g. animal poxviruses or human or canine adenovirus as vector) expressing the rabies glycoprotein were tested in different target and non-target wildlife species by the oral route. The only recombinant that is now produced and used in large quantities is a vaccinia based recombinant product expressing the rabies glycoprotein (VRG).
VRG shares many basic properties with parental vaccinia virus (Copenhagen strain) but differs in other ways which make the vector virus safer. The deletion of the thymidine kinase gene dramatically decreases the pathogenicity of the vaccine for mice when it is given by the intracerebral and intraperitoneal routes. In addition, no viral spread from currently known ites of viral replication has been observed, and oral vaccination of dozens of animal species, including wild animals, has not revealed any residual pathogenicity.
When administered orally (by direct instillation in the mouth or in a bait) to young and adult foxes or raccoons, a dose of 10 8 TCID 50 (median tissue-culture infective dose) of VRG elicits high titres of virus-neutralizing antibodies and confers protection against a severe rabies challenge.
Studies have shown that the VRG vaccine is not pathogenic in over 10 avian and 35 mammalian species, including the majority of rabies reservoir hosts. Regardless of the vaccine dose or route of administration, the vaccinated animals have remained clinically normal, with no overt gross or histopathological lesions. Following oral administration, the VRG vaccine is cleared relatively quickly (e.g. within 48 hours). No abortifacient, teratogenic, or oncogenic side-effects have been noted. Large-scale field trials in foxes, raccoons and coyotes have been reported to date in Europe and North America. | <urn:uuid:707d15fe-c539-4ee4-a011-150037bb27dd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.who.int/rabies/vaccines/recombinant/en/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00001-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914973 | 464 | 3.40625 | 3 |
The Psychiatric Technician Career
Learn about the role of a psychiatric technician in today's health care environment...
Psychiatric technicians assist individuals who have mental illness or developmental disabilities. They are most often employed in hospitals or residential care facilities, but a variety of settings are possible, from vocational rehabilitation to correctional institutions.
Job duties vary widely, depending on such factors as the age of patients and whether work is performed in an inpatient or outpatient setting. The technician's education and experience also determine what duties he or she can carry out.
The American Association of Psychiatric Technicians defines psychiatric technicians as mental health workers who have education at the bachelor's level or lower which of course, includes a diverse group of individuals.
Psychiatric technician job duties
Entry level workers, and those with little or no formal training beyond high school, are sometimes called psychiatric aides. An entry level job might involve providing direct care or helping patients with recreational activities. Duties could include taking patients to the shower room or escorting them through the hospital grounds.
Technicians with more education and experience may be part of the health care team, attending meetings and helping plan and carry out goals. They might be involved in record keeping and admissions. Technicians are often responsible for some basic nursing duties like administration of medication and recording of vital signs. They may provide companionship to children in care or adults who are unable to live independently. This might mean going with them on outings or socializing over a game of Scrabble. Technicians in inpatient and residential facilities do sometimes need to restrain individuals who are self-injurious or violent – this is a duty for which training is provided.
Technicians with the requisite education may perform a limited scope of counseling duties under supervision. In some cases, the job title may include the word counselor, for example, Residential Counselor or Problem Gambling Counselor. Other titles, though, will be reserved by law for those who have graduate education and who have gone through a licensing process.
Certification and Licensing
Rehabilitation technicians are licensed in four states: Arkansas, California, Colorado, and Kansas. Aides are not licensed.
Psychiatric technicians in other states can be certified through the American Association of Psychiatric Technicians. There are four levels of certification. The lowest level requires a high school diploma or equivalency while the highest level requires a bachelor's. Levels 2 - 4 have an essay test with scenarios; there is also an experience requirement.
Some states have their own certification process for workers who carry out particular duties. States may certify behavioral health technicians, for example. Many states certify workers to counsel individuals with substance abuse problems in agency settings; some certify them to work with people with gambling issues or other behavioral problems.
Education and Advancement
Candidates are often given preference if they have at least some college – the BLS notes that the post-secondary certificate is the most common entry point.
A job as psychiatric technician can be a career in itself or a step up to a higher position in mental health. Graduate programs in counseling typically like to see some experience. Some candidates get this experience by volunteering, but paid employment is often an option. If one plans on becoming a technician en route to career as practitioner, it can be a good idea to pursue an academic degree in a social or human services field.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the mean wage was $15.08 an hour or $31,370 a year as of May 2011. Work setting is an important factor in determining salary. Technicians in specialty hospitals have the highest average salaries: $47,840. Those in psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals earn an average $34,170 while those in residential facilities (mental illness, mental retardation, or substance abuse) average $24,920. Jobs for psychiatric technicians and aides are each expected to grow 15% between 2010 and 2020. | <urn:uuid:c8df4de9-1494-4330-a8ed-a40e9e7bfbc3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.healthcarepathway.com/Health-Care-Careers/psychiatric-technician.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00031-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95134 | 787 | 2.703125 | 3 |
School Assemblies and Workshops are a great way to bring song, art and music into your specific curriculum. All classroom workshops are are aligned to the Connecticut State Frameworks and can be conducted in a 45-60 minute class period, or expanded over several meetings into more of a residency.
- Sing Me a Story
Books that are songs and songs that are books. A great way to motivate more trips to the library! Great for Dr. Seuss’ birthday celebrations or National Library Week.
- Piggyback Planet
Songs for a friendly Earth. A participatory workshop on ways to reduce, re-use and recycle.
- Old Friends I Never Knew
Songs about interesting and often overlooked historical heroes, from aviator Amelia Earhart, to Connecticut abolitionist Prudence Crandall, from former slave, Rufus Malbone to Revolutionary War hero, Israel Putnam.
- American Folk Music
A participatory assembly of traditional songs from the American tradition, played on the mountain dulcimer, guitar,banjo and jaw harp
- Tailor Made Tunes
With at least 2 months notice, Sally will prepare an assembly to meet the needs of your curriculum.
- World Travelers
Participatory songs from around the world in many languages (Rogers speaks 4 and is learning Mandarin Chinese!)
- Songwriting (all grades)
curriculum-related song-writing. Areas covered in the past include: language arts, social studies, geology, astronomy, civil rights movement, local history and more.
- Tenopolis (Grades 3-6)
A one-hour workshop for students studying place-value. Using a story, graph paper and Cuisenaire rods, students create villages. A “census worker” then has to count the inhabitants.
- Local History (Grades 4 and up)
Students (4th grade and up)collect oral history from community elders and then compose songs, create art projects/quilts or plays to reflect the stories they heard. Past history can also be looked at by collaborating with the local historical society. In these workshops, students will look at primary source documents and objects as a basis for story and song creation.
- Build and Play a Cardboard Dulcimer! (Age 10 and up)
Using kits from Backyard Music, participants will build and learn to play the Appalachan Mountain Dulcimer. This is a full day program. Dulcimers are built in the morning. The glue dries over lunch. Students return in the afternoon to learn basic playing skills and then perform their song at a culminating concert.
- The Science of Sound (Grades 4 and up)
This can be a one-shot workshop or multi-day, depending on the goals. Students will learn how sound is created and how musical instruments create different kinds of sounds. They will also create their own instruments out of found objects and recyclables.
- Singing Games from Around the World (K-12)
Students (and teachers) will learn a selection of participatory singing games for later classroom use. These games are great for transitions, pre-test warm-ups, and just a chance to get the blood flowing in our sedentary schools! | <urn:uuid:39ccd4df-6de5-4dcc-ae62-efc134a6db6a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sallyrogers.com/site/booking/school-programs/assemblies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394937.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926236 | 671 | 3.390625 | 3 |
In ancient times the Lamut in all parts of the land ate one another. There was an old man who had an only daughter. The neighbors wanted to eat her. So the father and mother and girl fled, and wandered off for ten days and ten nights without stopping. They crossed several ridges of hills, and from the last they saw some tents standing in a pass. They descended, and pitched their own tent near by. The people, however, were also man-eaters, even worse then those whom they had left. Although they had large reindeer herds, they wanted to eat human flesh. A rich reindeer breeder of those people paid suit to the girl. He paid a hundred reindeer for her, and married her.
Every day the husband slaughtered fat bucks to feed his wife with their meat. They gave her of the best fat. Oh, the parents rejoiced! A poor young man who had no reindeer of his own, and who served throughout the year, summer and winter as a herdsman to the rich owner, said to them, "There is Do cause to rejoice. They simply want to fatten her before they slaughter her. When she is fat enough, they will kill her."
And, indeed, in the night time in the very act of copulation, the husband felt with his hand of the haunches and the belly of the woman, and muttered to himself, "Still not enough. Why do you not eat your fill? Eat more fat and marrow." So the woman understood. The next morning the young
herdsman said, "They are weary of waiting. Soon they are going to eat her. Why do you not flee? You may do so this very night, cut a way through the cover of the sleeping room."
Indeed, in the night time they ripped open the cover of the sleeping room and ran away. They took riding reindeer and rode off. They rode for a night and a day. Then they looked back, and saw three men in pursuit. So they turned in another direction and rode on. They rode again for a night and a day. Then they looked back and saw the same three pursuers who were this time nearer than before. The father grew angry, and said, "I will attend to this." He descended from the reindeer, and slipped his bow from over his shoulder. "You ride on without me. I shall wait here for the pursuers." The path was very narrow, and led through a pass, so that the three pursuers had to ride in single file. The foremost hurried on. He did not think of any danger. He only looked ahead.
When he was directly opposite the hidden man, the latter sent forth an arrow and shot him. In the same way he slew another and still another. After that he mounted his reindeer and overtook the women. They came to another country, and lived there. The girl was married again to a rich reindeer breeder, a well-meaning man, who knew nothing of man's flesh.
Told by Irashkan, a Lamut man, on the upper course of the Molonda River, in the Kolyma country, summer of 1895.
29:1 Among the Tungus and the Lamut, cradles of small children are so constructed that they may form one half of the usual pack load of a pack reindeer so they may be carried along with infants on the reindeer back. | <urn:uuid:78cefc88-c7d5-40ee-b6a3-3275fdf8cf66> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/tes/tes14.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00001-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990134 | 720 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Getting Ready to Prospect for Content
Gather your picks and shovels
- Open your favorite browser window (or several).
- Open your favorite text editor as a scratch pad, you'll want to copy/paste links from the browser and make notes.
- Simply relying on browser history or bookmarking is probably not the best strategy, you'll want to capture your findings and get them recorded on the wiki at the end of your search. Editing directly into a wiki page is also less-than-ideal as you don't want to get distracted by formating and the like while the hunt is on.
- If you are doing this collaboratively (in real-time) you'll probably want to open an IRC chat session on a suitable channel.
Focused content hunt
You've got an idea of what sort of content you want to find.
Searching with your favorite search engine on carefully chosen terms is likely to return a lot of links, and you can't necessarily visit them all. One good strategy is to use this search to find super-nodes from which to do more focused browsing. For health and science content: government agencies/ministries, NGO's, patient and research advocacy groups and universities are all likely to have produced suitable content or gathered together links to high-quality content. Furthermore, as these are all generally non-profit organizations, the chances of finding content that is (or can be) made available under suitable licensing terms are substantially improved.
Surprise content discovery
Sometimes when you are looking for one thing, you stumble across something else entirely. Serendipity is a wonderful thing. Open a fresh text window and paste the link with some notes on topic, copyright, that will allow you (or someone else) pick up that thread. If you working collabaratively with a group on a focused content hunt, it's best not to get distracted by another topic, no matter how rich a vein of content you've found; but don't lose track of it either. It could become the starting point of a new focused content hunt you may launch later on, or you can drop it onto an appropriate wiki page for someone else to follow up.
Hub-and-spoke versus linear search
Content Types to Hunt
There are different purposes for any content that might be bundled. Let's start with two major groupings.
- "Fill the book-bag"
- Classroom-oriented modules of content that are readily adapted for use by teachers.
- Fits into a curriculum by covering one topic or concept well, blends lessons into other appropriate subject matter (health messages in biology materials, social studies topic on agriculture includes environmental/economic themes, etc.)
- Ideally comes with lesson plans and classroom activities that can reinforce content themes.
- "Fill the School Library shelves"
- Curiosity-driven exploration of themes covered in classes/lessons. Resource for research into essay topics (wikislices, etc.)
- Resource for real-world concerns faced by student and family.
Both types of content are needed and should be gathered in a balanced manner. The distinction is somewhat flexible. For example, what is in "the school library" for one grade level may be re-purposed and used in-class in a higher grade level.
Assessing your Finds
There are a number of characteristics that make some content better suited for use than other content. I'm going to extend the minerology / geology theme I started above because we are really talking about data-mining after all.
We all like picking up pretty rocks. We need pretty rocks. With some buffing and polishing, they might become a gem. With a lot of work, a bunch of pretty rocks can be shaped and carefully placed into a beautiful mosaic. But on their own, a pretty rock is just a pretty rock.
What kind of content would you describe as a "pretty rock"? As an example, a single animation by itself doesn't make a whole classroom lesson, not matter how cool it may be at first glance. It will have much more impact if it is used to spice up a dry section of text content, particularly if it does a nice job of visually illustrating some difficult-to-describe point, but an animation by itself is probably not very valuable alone. To have a real impact, it needs to be presented in context, used to emphasize or reinforce ideas or concepts presented by other materials. Collected together with the right textual materials, carefully placed in context and it's a whole different story, but by itself, that animation is just a "pretty rock".
Another possible example of this is something like the StarChart activity. All by itself, it is really cool and engaging. Bundle it together with the Moon activity and add text and other content / lesson plans from NASA's web-site about galaxies and star formation, planets, etc. and you've got a junior "Astronomy 101" class in a box. Calling some content finds "pretty rocks" is not to criticize them, but to recognize that there needs to be additional content gathered around them to realize their true value.
Sometimes you get really lucky and pick up a piece of pure lump of gold that is just sitting there. A "gold nugget" needs very little polishing, it's value is readily apparent by just looking at it.
For content, a website that covers a substantive topic with lesson plans included, maybe sufficient for several days of teaching is a "gold nugget". UNESCO and some other sites have materials like this, just confirm the copyright status, download for off-line presentation, modify for internationalization (i18) and localization (i10n) and ship it off for teachers to consider using in the classroom. This is perfect "fill the bookbag" material.
Vein of high-grade ore
Sometimes you come a cross a site and you realize there is a lot of good stuff in there, but it will take some serious processing and maybe even heavy equipment to get it ready for use. Many sites (e.g. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthtopics.html) have a substantial amount of material, but they are not neceassarily easy to re-purpose for classroom use. Tools like wget can be useful for harvesting chunks of content from a web-page for off-line processing. Materials like this are often just the thing to "fill the school library shelves". | <urn:uuid:6f5f0fd5-0bf3-46cb-bd3a-4ffcb8060103> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Content_hunting | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00026-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946805 | 1,330 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Carbon fiber cars could put US on highway to efficiencyOAK RIDGE, Tenn., March 6, 2006 – Highways of tomorrow might be filled with lighter, cleaner and more fuel-efficient automobiles made in part from recycled plastics, lignin from wood pulp and cellulose.
First, however, researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, working as part of a consortium with Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler, must figure out how to lower the cost of carbon fiber composites. If they are successful in developing high-volume renewable sources of carbon fiber feedstocks, ORNL's Bob Norris believes they will be on the road to success.
"Whereas today the cost to purchase commercial-grade carbon fiber is between $8 and $10 per pound, the goal is to reduce that figure to between $3 and $5 per pound," said Norris, leader of ORNL's Polymer Matrix Composites Group. At that price, it would become feasible for automakers to use more than a million tons of composites – approximately 300 pounds of composites per vehicle – annually in the manufacturing of cars.
The big advantage of carbon fiber is that it is one-fifth the weight of steel yet just as strong and stiff, which makes it ideal for structural or semi-structural components in automobiles. Replacing half the ferrous metals in current automobiles could reduce a vehicle's weight by 60 percent and fuel consumption by 30 percent, according to some studies. The resulting gains in fuel efficiency, made in part because smaller engines could be used with lighter vehicles, would also reduce greenhouse gas and other emissions by 10 percent to 20 percent.
All of this would come with no sacrifice in safety, as preliminary results of computer crash simulations show that cars made from carbon fiber would be just as safe – perhaps even safer – than today's automobiles. Today's Formula 1 racers are required by mandate to be made from carbon fiber to meet safety requirements.
Progress in developing affordable carbon fiber composites has been steady as ORNL researchers with the support of the University of Tennessee work to optimize raw materials and spinning processes for alternative forms of carbon fiber precursors from renewable sources.
Another focus is on developing an efficient carbon fiber oxidation process, which would significantly increase production and lower cost of this raw material. One promising possibility is plasma processing technology to rapidly oxidize precursor fibers. In this area, ORNL is working with Atmospheric Glow Technologies, a high-tech company spun off from UT that has expertise in atmospheric pressure plasma processing. This is a technique to generate and use plasmas in a non-traditional way – in the open atmosphere instead of in a carefully controlled environment such as in inert gases and at very low pressures.
ORNL is also establishing a modular carbon fiber research pilot line to evaluate these revolutionary new processes on a comparable basis against conventional industrial processes.
"The goal is to demonstrate and transfer the technology to producers of carbon fiber, which could be existing carbon fiber producers or perhaps companies in the forest product industries," Norris said.
Researchers also are working to develop techniques to allow high-volume cost-effective processing of carbon fiber, hybrid glass-carbon fiber and reinforced thermoplastic material forms. In addition, ORNL recently installed an advanced preforming machine that features a robotically actuated arm that chops and sprays fiber and a binder in powder form to create fiber preforms. After being set at elevated temperature, the preforms are injected with resin in a mold and consolidated under pressure to create the final part.
"The preforming process is the first step in creating polymer composite structural and semi-structural auto parts that are lightweight and cost-competitive with metal parts they would replace," Norris said.
UT-Battelle manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy. This research is funded by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
NOTE TO EDITORS: You may read other press releases from Oak Ridge National Laboratory or learn more about the lab at http://www.ornl.gov/news.
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 30 Apr 2016
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:c3a81447-4722-419c-b1ab-90362c3a7050> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychcentral.com/news/archives/2006-03/drnl-cfc030606.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397111.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951646 | 858 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Public access to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed could improve by more than 20 percent by 2025 if a new plan is implemented.
The Chesapeake Watershed Public Access Plan includes an overview of public access to significant streams, rivers, and bays in the Chesapeake watershed, including portions of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
The plan is a product of the Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, developed in response to Executive Order 13508. The strategy aims to increase public access to the Chesapeake Bay and tributaries by adding 300 new public access sites by 2025.
The plan calls for the National Park Service in conjunction with watershed states to “develop a public access plan to inform and guide expansion of Chesapeake watershed public access.”
The plan was produced by a Public Access Action Team, which includes people involved in public access planning and implementation in each of the Chesapeake watershed states, the District of Columbia, and the National Park Service.
The Chesapeake Watershed Public Access Plan:
– Summarizes the demand for public access in the Chesapeake watershed
– Outlines the process, steps, and definitions used for developing this plan
– Establishes the baseline of existing public access sites
– Depicts specific potential public access sites that can could be developed in the future, as well as areas and stretches requiring additional attention
– Describes planning challenges to be considered in adding new access sites
– Summarizes findings and sets out next steps for implementing the plan and increasing access
source: National Park Service | <urn:uuid:b4e524cf-31a9-4917-a06b-8061343ae8b0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chesapeake-bay.org/index.php/02-2013/11/chesapeake-watershed-public-access-plan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911186 | 331 | 3.25 | 3 |
| Long regarded as the leading book in the field, this volume provides a basic introduction to the biological, chemical, and physical properties affecting soil fertility and plant nutrition. It covers all aspects of nutrient management for profitable crop production, with particular attention to minimizing the environmental impact of soil and fertilizer management. The Seventh Edition has been substantially revised to reflect rapidly advancing knowledge and technologies in both plant nutrition and nutrient management. Crop specific data to estimate nutrient status and needs for many diverse products are provided, as well as example calculations that are routinely used in the market make this a comprehensive resource tool. Nutrient management, water use, and economics are all fully covered. Comprehensive discussions of the development and use of nutrient recommendation systems make this an excellent reference and must-read for soil professionals, technical service providers, extension agents, and crop consultants. | <urn:uuid:b63a6e31-43af-4c24-a3de-84f1cc8a9e3e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.2frogmedia.com/Books/details/44905.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00067-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908241 | 166 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Thus it was hurriedly decided that the trapper should lead the way. Holcomb suggested that he and the trapper should return to the burned camp in the hope, if possible, of finding something left which might be of use on the journey. They were sadly in need of an axe; the dull hatchet they had found in the cook’s shanty they knew would prove next to useless. So Holcomb and Holt set off at once for the scene of the disaster while the rest got together into more practical carrying shape all that they possessed, ready for a start immediately on their return.
Soon Holcomb and the trapper were trudging about in the stifling heat of the ruins; they had drenched themselves to the waist in the brook and were thus enabled to make a hurried search within the fire zone. The first ruins they came upon were the stables—not a horse had escaped.
Although they found it impossible to approach the still blazing ruins of the main camp, they discovered among the smouldering, charred timbers of Holcomb’s cabin the blade of a double-bitted axe, its helve burned off. A few rods further on, in the blinding smoke, they found a keg of nails. The only things the flames had left around them were of iron. An iron reservoir lay on its side where it had fallen; twisted girders loomed above the cauldron of desultory flame, marking the rectangle of the main camp. They shovelled the hot nails and the blades of the two axes into a blackened tin bucket and started back to the brook.
The trapper led. He had gone about a dozen rods farther on when he halted abruptly, peering under the palm of his hand at a smouldering log ahead of him.
“God Almighty!” he cried, staring back at Holcomb, as he pointed to the smoking log.
Holcomb, with stinging eyes, saw a claw of a hand thrust above the log. The bones of the wrist were visible; the rest resembled a misfit glove, the fingers hanging in shreds. The hand connected with the body of a man lying close against the opposite side of the log. The legs from the knees down were gone; the remainder of the man was a mass of burned flesh and rags. Near the stump of the right arm lay a charred kerosene can.
Under the trapper’s guidance the party left the burned camp behind them. They pushed on in silence, following mechanically the tall, lank figure of the old man ahead of their single file. He led them up timbered ridges and along their spines; he swerved down into swampy hollows choked with wind-slash, around which they were obliged to make tedious detours. The fine drizzle had turned into a steady soft rain that pattered on the broad moose-hopple leaves. Often they plunged into swamp mud nearly to their knees. The fallen logs over which they climbed were as slippery as wet glass—the branch spikes on these logs as dangerous under slipping feet as upturned pitchforks. The men were top-heavy under their packs; the women uncomplaining and soaked to their skins. The moist air was still impregnated with the scent of smoke—a sinister odour which kept in their minds the events of the morning. | <urn:uuid:ac36de9b-f749-4baa-8ba5-d6fcc6c7b115> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/12989/85.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00000-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980569 | 696 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Dallas, TX (PRWEB) September 04, 2014
Students in grades 1 through 8 demonstrate greater gains in overall reading ability with Istation curriculum than their peers who do not use Istation, according to a statewide literacy growth study conducted by Southern Methodist University during the 2013-14 school year.
The study collected data from more than 350,000 Texas students in grades 1 through 8 to determine Istation Reading’s impact on student development. Results provide evidence of reading growth among students using Istation Reading in grades 1 through 8 across the state of Texas. Comparing beginning of year (BOY), middle of year (MOY) and end of year (EOY) results on the Istation’s Indicators of Progress (ISIP™) assessments between students who used Istation curriculum and those who did not, researchers confirm that the program has a significant impact on overall reading ability.
By comparing the number of minutes students use Istation curriculum, the study also shows that those who spend more time with Istation Reading curriculum show greater growth in overall reading ability than those who spend less time on the curriculum. Further, students at risk for reading failure make even greater gains with a sufficient amount of Istation Reading curriculum usage compared to those reading at grade level.
Based on their findings, the researchers believe that “if campuses properly implement the ISIP Early Reading and ISIP Advanced Reading assessments and Istation curriculum, students will experience growth in reading skills.”
Istation Reading curriculum is designed and developed using scientifically-based reading research, specifically in the skills most predictive of future reading success. Using the assessments and intervention resources together allows teachers to identify student weaknesses and immediately provide data-informed instruction specific to each student’s needs.
Istation is a leading provider of richly animated and interactive computer-adaptive assessments (known as Istation’s Indicators of Progress, ISIP™), differentiated computer-delivered intervention programs, teacher resources, Lexile® leveled online books, instant data reporting and customer support, as well as professional development for use by educators and students in grades pre-K through 12. Istation’s products are standards- and research-based, facilitating response to intervention, personalized and differentiated instruction and progress monitoring. The company’s products are delivered via the Internet and Web. Istation’s suite of products includes computer-adaptive assessments (ISIP) for reading, Spanish and math and an interactive, differentiated, computerized reading intervention program with interdisciplinary studies and content in the areas of science, social studies and writing. Istation is a subscription-based service currently used by nearly four million students in 38 states and six countries. Company information is available at http://www.istation.com or by email at pr (at) istation (dot) com. You may also contact Kevin Sharpe at 972-715-3828 for more information. | <urn:uuid:8394d677-6870-4608-ba26-1af4fe0ab369> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/08/prweb12105844.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00032-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941561 | 599 | 3.046875 | 3 |
See what questions
a doctor would ask.
Skin pigmentation: The occurrence of pigmentation that is located in the skin. See detailed information below for a list of 78 causes of Skin pigmentation, Symptom Checker, including diseases and drug side effect causes.
The following medical conditions are some of the possible
causes of Skin pigmentation.
There are likely to be other possible causes, so ask your doctor
about your symptoms.
Review causes of types of Skin pigmentation in more specific categories:
Listed below are some combinations of symptoms associated with Skin pigmentation, as listed in our database. Visit the Symptom Checker, to add and remove symptoms and research your condition.
Review further information on Skin pigmentation Treatments.
Real-life user stories relating to Skin pigmentation:
The following drugs, medications, substances or toxins are some of the possible
causes of Skin pigmentation as a symptom.
Always advise your doctor of any medications or treatments you are using,
including prescription, over-the-counter, supplements, herbal or alternative treatments.
Some of the comorbid or associated medical symptoms for Skin pigmentation may include these symptoms:
Research the causes of these more general types of symptom:
Research the causes of related medical symptoms such as:
Research the causes of these symptoms that are similar to, or related to, the symptom Skin pigmentation:
Read more about causes and Skin pigmentation deaths.
Psoriasis often undiagnosed cause of skin symptoms in children: Children who suffer from the skin disorder called psoriasis can often go undiagnosed. The main problem is that psoriasis is rare in children, and not often seen by physicians for this reason. children...read more »
Other ways to find a doctor, or use doctor, physician and specialist online research services:
The list below shows some of the causes of Skin pigmentation mentioned in various sources:
This information refers to the general prevalence and incidence of these diseases, not to how likely they are to be the actual cause of Skin pigmentation. Of the 78 causes of Skin pigmentation that we have listed, we have the following prevalence/incidence information:
The following list of conditions have 'Skin pigmentation' or similar listed as a symptom in our database. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.
Select from the following alphabetical view of conditions which include a symptom of Skin pigmentation or choose View All.
Ask or answer a question about symptoms or diseases at one of our free interactive user forums.
Medical story forums: If you have a medical story then we want to hear it.
Medical Conditions associated with Skin pigmentation:
Symptoms related to Skin pigmentation:
Skin rash (461 causes), Skin blisters (426 causes), Skin ulcers, Skin color changes (2348 causes), Addison's disease, Radiation dermatitis, Cushing's disease (2 causes), Acne scars, Small pox, Chicken pox, Melanoma, Hutchison's melanotic freckle
Doctor-patient articles related to symptoms and diagnosis:
These general medical articles may be of interest:
Medical research papers related to Skin pigmentation include:
Search Specialists by State and City | <urn:uuid:454d3084-b1c8-499e-a93e-31e88d241b14> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/sym/skin_pigmentation.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393533.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912143 | 685 | 2.75 | 3 |
Conflicting reports of comet's fate come in hours after flyby
Comet ISON seems to have emerged from its brush with the sun diminished but intact. The comet's closest approach, known as perihelion, occurred during the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day.
Several solar telescopes were watching for the comet (SN Online: 11/27/13). NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory did not capture ISON emerging from behind the sun, leading to initial reports that the comet had fizzled. But in the hours after perihelion, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, run by NASA and the European Space Agency, observed an object that researchers think is the comet's nucleus, according to NASA's latest updates.
Astronomers will watch closely in the coming days to see how much of ISON remains. If the comet has survived, earthbound observers will get their best view in early December.
But astronomers are still scratching their heads. Karl Battams, of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, wrote in a blog post:
“We have no idea how big this nucleus is, if there is indeed one. If there is a nucleus, it is still too soon to tell how long it will survive. If it does survive for more than a few days, it is too soon to tell if the comet will be visible in the night sky. If it is visible in the night sky, it is too soon to say how bright it will be... “
K. Battams. Schrödinger's Comet. NASA Comet ISON Observing Campaign. Published online November 28, 2013.
G. Popkin. Comet ISON approaches sun for Thanksgiving flyby. Science News Online. November 27, 2013.
G. Popkin. Oort cloud tosses astronomers a cometary curveball. Science News. Vol. 184, November 16, 2013, p. 14. | <urn:uuid:302486cc-4653-4edf-8753-749c6d3d4c1e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ison-seems-have-survived-close-call-sun?mode=topic&context=36 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00057-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933954 | 391 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Industrialisation has spawned a new (un)natural order. My aim is to question the value of industrialisation and its implications for nature and human isolation. Recurring motifs juxtapose the natural with the unnatural. Nature is being reselected in a different context – a context of industrial material, overdevelopment and waste. The snippets of maps in collage form hint at the new direction in which society is heading – a journey of disconnectedness – away from nature. Though nature continues to have a role, it is one which is caged, limited or manipulated.
Consider the different objects used in Isabella Rich’s artwork and in Alex Rizkalla’s Remains/vestiges: dispersal. Write a narrative inspired by one of the works, creating your own connections between the objects within it. Construct an artwork using found objects to represent the world around you.
Research the origin of the found object in art practice and its significance to 20th-century artists. Why was there a shift from artworks created by the artist’s hand to artworks made using objects that already exist? | <urn:uuid:a2edae22-6447-4c32-afe0-fc0303bf4237> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/insideartexpress/2011/isabella_rich/?model=connections-all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00032-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939816 | 228 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Course Overview and Goals
Description: This course focuses on information behavior, that is, how members
of varied groups need, seek, give, and use information in different contexts.
The course introduces the theoretical frameworks and research methodologies that
underpin the study of information behavior. It focuses particularly on how
findings from studies of information behavior can be used to inform and improve
the design of information systems and services. The course provides theoretical
and practical frameworks for professionals who wish to design and evaluate
information systems and services based on user-centered approaches.
The course for this spring quarter is a special offering that will focus on
studying the information behavior of health-care consumers and health-care
professionals, such as nurses, physicians, medical students, and medical
In this course
1. Critically examine a number of paradigms or frameworks for studying
2. Understand a number of the basic concepts used by information scientists to
study the relationships between people and information
3. Understand the factors that may predict or influence a user's search for, use
of, and perceptions of information, information products, services and systems.
4. Be introduced to research methods that can be used to study information
5. Get familiar with patterns of information behavior of specific groups.
6. Have the opportunity to consider how findings from information behavior
studies can inform the improvement and design of information systems and
7. Be introduced to a number of information scientists who have shaped the
discipline's views on the study of information behavior.
8. Critically evaluate the assumptions underpinning normative patterns of
9. Learn how practitioners can accommodate contemporary theoretical perspectives
when serving the information needs of their clients.
LIS 500 is
the normal, official prerequisite, but it is not necessary for this quarter's | <urn:uuid:a37cef5d-15d5-43f9-87ed-5d10eadea53c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://faculty.washington.edu/wpratt/LIS510/Overview.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00072-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.86063 | 373 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Now that everything is working, I want to have a ready-to use printed circuit board for it. Came up with this:
It’s tiny – about 48 x 12 mm – even though it’s based entirely on through-hole parts. The idea is to build it up, add wires, and then encapsulate the whole thing in heat-shrink tubing to reduce the number of contact points.
It can not be repeated enough: when tied to AC mains, the ENTIRE circuit carries AC mains voltage levels!
I have a couple of configurations in mind (see yesterday’s post for the schematic):
- with C1 a 10 nF X2 cap and C4 replaced by a wire, this delivers an average of 0.3 mA on 230 VAC mains
- with C1 a 22 nF X2 cap and C4 replaced by a wire, this delivers an average of 0.3 mA on 115 VAC mains
- with both C1 and C4 22 nF caps, this supplies 0.3 mA on 230 VAC with no direct connection to AC mains
- with C1 and C4 replaced by a wire, this supply can be used with 10..24V DC in – which is great for testing
- with C1 and C4 each replaced by a 220 kΩ resistor, and R1 by a 1N4007 diode, this becomes a somewhat less efficient (but lower-profile) resistive version, again delivering up to 0.3 mA at 230 VAC
With C4 replaced by a wire, this circuit will have its “GND” output tied directly to the “N” input. This is important when powering the AC current monitor, which needs to have one side of its shunt at 0V relative to AC mains.
Note that no matter what, even with C1 and C4 both included, faults can develop in this circuit which cause the “low voltage” output of the circuit to end up directly tied to an AC mains “live” line. This is not, and will never be, a “safe” circuit. It can only be used safely while enclosed in a plastic box, with no contacts or parts sticking out.
In all cases, the on-board regulator will be activated once the input voltage rises to about 6V. This is the key to being able to power up a JeeNode or JeeNode Micro with their on-board RFM12B module. | <urn:uuid:03d5a34a-0314-41a1-a315-1f6f64a98a8f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://jeelabs.org/2011/12/18/meet-the-low-power-supply/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933295 | 531 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Learn something new every day
More Info... by email
Named after a state in Brazil, Bahia grass is a type of grass native to South America that is often used for lawn and pasture grasses, particularly in the United States. A relatively low-maintenance, drought-tolerant grass, this grass grows on infertile and sandy soils. Bahia grass is ideal for arid areas, such as South America and the southern states in the US. There are four main types of Bahia grass: common, Pensacola, Argentine, and Paraguay.
A hardy, quick-growing grass, Bahia grass does not require much watering or fertilizing. It has an extensive root system, sometimes reaching as much as 8 feet (2.4 m) deep. This grass has tough stems and often grows in clumps. Bahia grass is also known for its tall seed heads, which appear most of the year if allowed to grow. It may be grown from sod or seeds.
Although Bahia grass is fairly healthy, it is susceptible to mole crickets and leaf yellowing. Leaf yellowing is generally cause by an iron deficiency, so iron fertilizer may be needed. Additionally, weeds are difficult to eliminate since Bahia grass does not generally tolerate chemical herbicides.
Bahia grass does well in hot, dry areas with a lot of sunlight. It does not thrive in shade, in acidic soils, or near salt water, nor can it survive in high traffic areas. Overwatering or over-fertilizing are also common reasons for this grass to fail when planted.
Neither the common or Paraguay varieties are suitable for lawns. The light green common grass is coarse with only a sparse growth. Also called Texas Bahia grass, the Paraguay variety has short, tough, grayish leaves and is one of the more susceptible to disease. Both varieties are intolerant to the cold.
Both Pensacola and Argentine Bahia grasses work well for lawns. The Pensacola is very cold and drought tolerant. The excessive number of seed heads it produces, however, makes it inferior to the Argentine grass for use on lawns. Also tolerant to cold, Argentine grass is dark green and creates a dense growth. It is also one of the most disease-resistant varieties.
In 1914, Bahia grass was first introduced to the US from Brazil as a good grass for cattle and horse pastures in the South and Southwest. It has since been adapted for use on lawns and on roadsides in southern states, such as Florida. Though Pensacola is the most common variety in Florida, it is more often used for roadside grasses. | <urn:uuid:4b129faf-7386-4174-a0ec-cef0b9953ea9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-bahia-grass.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00193-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968711 | 548 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Researchers at the University of Liverpool have created a wi-fi virus which spreads through populated areas as efficiently as the common cold spreads between humans.
The team designed and simulated an attack by a virus, it dubbed “Chameleon”. It found it spread quickly between homes and businesses, but it was able to avoid detection and identify the points at which wi-fi access is least protected by encryption and passwords.
Fortunately the wi-fi attack was just a computer simulation, but researchers from the University’s School of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and Electronics, found that “Chameleon” behaved like an airborne virus.
This is partly because areas that are more densely populated have more APs in closer proximity to each other, which meant that the virus propagated more quickly, particularly across networks connectable within a 10-50 metre radius.
Alan Marshall, Professor of Network Security at the University, said that when “Chameleon” attacked an AP it did not affect how it worked, but was able to collect and report the credentials of all other wi-fi users who connected to it. The virus then used this data to connect to and infect other users.
When an APs was encrypted and password protected, the virus simply moved on to find those which weren’t strongly protected. Coffee shops and airports became hotbeds of infection.
Professor Marshall said that it was assumed that it was not possible to develop a virus that could attack wi-fi networks but the research demonstrated that this is possible and that it can spread quickly. | <urn:uuid:c9330cde-2cba-4111-8da1-f0caf39e98bd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.techeye.net/science/wi-fi-networks-can-get-sick?fullsite | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00132-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979942 | 321 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Wobbler's Syndrome and Dog Wheelchairs
|Great Danes and Doberman Pinchers are breeds that are most often seen afflicted with Wobbler's Syndrome. A K9 Cart may be helpful during rehabilitation or in more severe cases who are not eligible for surgery.|
It is time to talk about serious enemies lurking out there in the lives of large breed dogs, especially in Great Danes and Doberman Pinchers. This is a condition know as Wobblers Syndrome or Cervical Vertebral Instability. There are seven cervical vertebrae or bones that make up a dog's neck. In Wobbler's syndrome, the last three cervical vertebrae, i.e., five, six, or seven, are the culprit. Wobbler’s Syndrome is well described as evidenced by a wobbly gait. It is assumed to be caused by a genetic deficit seen in mature Great Danes and Doberman Pinchers, but nutrition may also play a role in enhancing the expression of the disease in these breeds too. The condition has a subtle onset caused by a progressive instability of these lower cervical vertebrae.
|The fifth to seventh cervical vertebrae or bones of the spinal cord in the dogs neck have instability in Wobbler's syndrome.|
How does Wobbler's Disease Progress?
Nature attempts to correct this instability by building excessive connective tissue over the unstable intervertebral space (or space between each vertebrae.) Connective tissue plays a vital role in joining bones in the neck and muscles to our bones. But too much of anything can be a problem. Alas, the buildup of this connective tissue bulges into the cervical spinal cord or the pathway that provides nervous connections of signals from the brain to the limbs. The result is functional loss in front followed by loss of the lower motor tracts or nervous connections that are supplying the commands for the rear limbs as well or vise versa. Fortunately, cervical vertebral instability is typically not painful. More often than a dog with Wobbler's syndrome will have a wide stance in back and swinging gait or movements that resemble a drunken sailor.
How Is Wobbler's Syndrome Diagnosed?
Wobbler's syndrome should be suspected in Doberman pinchers and Great Danes with gait abnormalities and no signs of overt neck pain. X-ray images of the neck can be helpful, but a definitive diagnosis is made either by an X-ray imaging study injecting dye into the spine called a "myelogram" or with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) studies of the neck.
How to Treat Cervical Vertebral Instability?
Medical treatment is of limited success. Surgical decompression is effective providing it is done before permanent damage to the spinal cord has occurred. Specialized surgical treatment by a veterinary surgeon or neurologist is necessary for a successful outcome. Nursing care often extends over a long period of time and is complicated by the size of the animal and the support system needed during convalescence.
How Can a K9 Cart Dog Wheelchair Help?
A K-9 Cart fitted properly is invaluable in recovery by maintaining a level of function and mobility while healing progresses. The support provided by a two-wheel or quad dog wheelchair gives these animals a better quality of life, regardless of any whether surgical treatment is performed or not. Pet owners who are faced with these problems no longer need to grunt and groan every time they need to take their pup out for a walk. A cart eliminates the need for awkward towels and harnesses used by owners struggling to help their beloved pets achieve even the smallest amount of mobility.
Want more info?
Not sure whether your pet could benefit from our products? Peruse our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) at K-9Cart.com. If you can't find an answer there, look at our Forums or post a question there yourself. Or shoot us an email at k9carts[@]yahoo.com or call us toll-free at 866-K9-CARTS (866-592-2787.) | <urn:uuid:58dcd2e9-bfae-4deb-968e-151239243bed> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.k-9cart.com/1357-drunken-sailor-or-wobblers-syndrome | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946341 | 847 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Egypt's most famous pharaoh, King Tutankhamun, was a frail boy who suffered from a cleft palate and club foot.
He died of complications from a broken leg exacerbated by malaria and his parents were most likely brother and sister.
Two years of DNA testing and CT scans on Tut's 3,300-year-old mummy and 15 others are helping end many of the myths surrounding the boy king.
While a comparatively minor ruler, he has captivated the public since the 1922 discovery of his tomb, which was filled with a stunning array of jewels and artifacts, including a golden funeral mask.
The study, which will be published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, provides the firmest family tree yet for Tut. The tests pointed to Pharaoh Akhenaten, who tried to revolutionise ancient Egyptian religion to worship one god, as Tut's father. His mother was one of Akhenaten's sisters, it said.
Tut, who became pharaoh at age 10 in 1333 B.C., ruled for just nine years at a pivotal time in Egypt's history.
Speculation has long swirled over his death at 19. A hole in his skull fueled speculation he was murdered, until a 2005 CT scan ruled that out, finding the hole was likely from the mummification process. The scan also uncovered the broken leg.
The newest tests paint a picture of a pharaoh whose immune system was likely weakened by congenital diseases. His death came from complications from the broken leg - along with a new discovery: severe malaria.
The team said it found DNA of the malaria parasite in several of the mummies, some of the oldest ever isolated.
"A sudden leg fracture possibly introduced by a fall might have resulted in a life threatening condition when a malaria infection occurred," the JAMA article said.
"Tutankhamun had multiple disorders... He might be envisioned as a young but frail king who needed canes to walk," it said.
The revelations are in stark contrast to the popular image of a graceful boy-king as portrayed by the dazzling funerary artifacts in his tomb that later introduced much of the world to the glory of ancient Egypt.
They also highlighted the role genetics play in some diseases. The members of the 18th dynasty were closely inbred and the DNA studies found several genetic disorders in the mummies tested such as scoliosis, curvature of the spine, and club feet.
Dr Howard Markel, a medical historian at the University of Michigan, said some of King Tut's ailments including his bone disease likely were the result of his parents' incestuous marriage. Children born to parents who are so closely related to each other would be prone to genetic problems, he said.
Like his father, Tutankhamun had a cleft palate. Like his grandfather, he had a club foot and suffered from Kohler's disease which inhibits the supply of blood to the bones of the foot.
In Tut's case it was slowly destroying the bones in his left foot - an often painful condition, the study said. It noted that 130 walking sticks and canes were discovered in Tut's tomb, some of them appeared to have been used.
Egypt's top archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, who co-authored the study, noted that more than 80 years after Tutankhamun's discovery, technology was revealing secrets about the pharaoh.
The study is part of a wider programme to test the DNA of hundreds of mummies to determine their identities and their family relations. To conduct the tests, Egypt built two DNA labs to follow international protocols for genetic testing.
Hawass, who had long opposed DNA testing on Egypt's mummies because it would have been performed outside the country, acknowledged his original skepticism. "I never thought that we would really reach a great important discovery," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The new study answered long-standing questions about Tutankhamun's family, tracing his grandfather to Pharaoh Amenhotep III. While some archaeologists have speculated that Tut's father was a little-known figure, Smenkhkare, it now appears that it was Akhenaten, who attempted to change millennia of religious tradition by forcing the country to worship the sun god Aten, instead of a multiplicity of deities.
DNA tests pinpointed the mummy of Tut's mother - and confirmed she was a sister of his father - but the mummy has not yet been firmly identified. Brother-sister marriages were common among Egypt's pharaohs.
"There is a lot fuzziness about the succession and that's why knowing Tutankhamun was the son or direct blood descendant would make a difference," said Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo and an expert on mummies.
The tests also disproved speculation that Tutankhamun and members of his family suffered from rare disorders that gave them feminine attributes and misshapen bones, including Marfan syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that can result in elongated limbs.
The theories arose from the artistic style and statues of the period, which showed the royal men with prominent breasts, elongated heads and flared hips.
"It is unlikely that either Tutankhamun or Akhenaten actually displayed a significantly bizarre or feminine physique," the article said.
Hawass' first high profile discovery involving DNA tests, the identification of the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut, came under criticism because it didn't follow accepted scientific protocols and was not published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
The tests were also not confirmed by a second, independent DNA lab.
This time the work by the Supreme Council of Antiquities DNA lab was replicated by a second DNA lab set up at Cairo University and the results were then published in the American medical journal.
Angelique Corthals, an assistant professor of forensic science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York helped set up the first Egyptian lab and said the work is being conducted according to international standards.
Hawass predicted that many more discoveries were in the works for King Tutankhamun and the mummy project.
"It will never be revealed completely, still we need more research," he said. "We finished the first great part of the mystery and the second one is coming soon in one year." | <urn:uuid:db69d59a-b173-434c-bccd-8db74e1911bc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10626747 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00035-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980874 | 1,295 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Florida's Shrimp Industry
From Miami, the Moreira family runs an operation that's one of the biggest players in producing, distributing and marketing shrimp coming out of Central and South America.
|By 2001, shrimp became America's most-consumed seafood. Today, per capita consumption in the U.S. is 4.2 pounds.|
Ladex does $100 million in annual volume, receiving a fixed commission of 5% to 7%. It markets just a small slice of the estimated 8-billion-pound global shrimp market but has the largest single share -- though only 7% -- of the Central and South American market.
SOUTH OF THE BORDER: The Moreiras own shrimping operations in Central and South America, including this plant in Guatemala.
The Moreiras' own farming operations have withstood allegations of pollution and harm to local fishing-based economies. In 2001, according to the New York Times, protests emerged around a Moreira farm in Champerico over its effect on local fishermen, water quality and a fence. Police killed a protester while they tried to protect a farm company lawyer at one public meeting. A second man was killed at the plant weeks later by farm company guards during another protest. The company subsequently moved the fence on its property. Moreira defends the business's environmental record and says the difficulties were caused by thieves in a settlement near the farm and plant who instigated trouble among locals because their attempts to steal shrimp were being thwarted. The company lawyer was attacked while showing that the fence was on company property, and in the second incident, the "same group" broke its way through a door into the plant, Moreira says.Elmer Lopez, a former Greenpeace representative in Guatemala, says local people tell him the farm and its managers have become more positive in trying to help the community and regenerated the mangrove ecosystem. "The company hasn't (had) more problems with communities," Lopez reports. The Moreiras' processing plant provides a free school and medical care in the town. | <urn:uuid:f63ae8d2-1261-460f-a58c-48b5caf6d9d3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.floridatrend.com/article/10836/shrimp-giant?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97815 | 419 | 2.546875 | 3 |
One particularly intriguing reason to study these young massive clusters is to search for black holes. None of the roughly 150 globular clusters in our Galaxy2 is known to contain a black hole (although there are some controversial claims (26,109)), and only recently was the first black hole found in an extragalactic globular cluster (63). This paucity is understood theoretically. A basic trend in the evolution of a star cluster is that the heaviest objects will sink to the cluster core where they will form a sub-core and interact with each other (103). They will tend to pair off in binaries with each other and become more and more tightly bound through super-elastic encounters with other cluster members (92). Through these encounters, they will kick each other out, and eventually all or almost all of them will be ejected from the core (90).
In the younger stages (a few million to a few hundred million years) of a star cluster's life, this process of sinking to the core and ejecting each other is thought to occur with the cluster's massive stars and the black holes formed from the cluster's most massive stars. At an age of about a billion years, all of the black holes (except perhaps one) will have been ejected, and the process repeats with the neutron stars (as is currently happening with the Galactic globular clusters).
According to this scenario, clusters younger than about a hundred million years should be rich in black hole binaries (which includes both black hole + normal star binaries and pairs of black holes) and colliding wind binaries (which consist of a pair of young massive stars with strong stellar winds), many of which are readily observable in X-rays. The very youngest clusters, less than a few million years old, should be rich in colliding wind binaries but not black hole binaries (they are not yet old enough to have black holes; e.g., the main sequence lifetime of a 25 Msun is roughly 8 million years).
I began an investigation with Chandra of some young massive clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud with Simon Portegies Zwart and Walter Lewin to gain an understanding of their source populations and dynamics. Our initial study dealt with a 2 - 4 million year old massive cluster in the 30 Doradus region. As expected, we found many colliding wind X-ray sources, but no black hole systems (93). Our next observations were of the binary clusters NGC 1850A and NGC 1850B. Based on their ages and masses, we expected to find many colliding wind binaries in both and many black hole binaries in NGC 1850A. In fact, based on the calculations of Portegies Zwart, NGC 1850A is one of the best young clusters in which to look for black hole binaries. Surprisingly, we found no X-ray sources in either cluster. It is unclear yet whether this is a fluke or whether our thinking about the young stages of globular cluster evolution needs to be revised. Simon Portegies Zwart is running new numerical simulations of binary clusters to investigate this problem on the theoretical side, and we have observations of another pair of binary clusters (NGCs 2136 and 2137, both of which have a number X-ray sources) which will shed some observational light on this problem. A graduate student at the University of Amsterdam will be working on these data to search the archival HST images for counterparts to the X-ray sources for classification.
I am also part of another collaboration which observed the very massive Galactic open cluster Westerlund 1 with much the same aims as above. The most exciting result thus far is our discovery of a slowly rotating pulsar (the spin period is 10.6 sec) associated with this cluster (71), which is only about 4 million years old. This cluster is known to contain stars more massive than 40 Msun (12), which implies that the progenitor of this neutron star was even more massive. Conventional wisdom has long held that the outcome of a supernova explosion -- either a neutron star or a black hole -- was a relatively simple function of the mass of the progenitor, with the dividing line around 25 Msun. It now seems that conventional wisdom is wrong.
Our monitoring of this object has resulted in a very rich data set. We observed the cluster on 2006-Sep-16 as part of the XMM-Newton guest observer program. Four days later, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope detected a 20 millisecond burst from the direction of cluster, which prompted an XMM Director's Discretionary Time observation 1.5 days later. The outburst was seen to come from the slowly rotating pulsar, which placed it in the class of “anomalous X-ray pulsars” which are young pulsars with magnetic fields on the order of 1013 - 1015 G. Our analysis of the change in X-ray properties before and after the burst the outburst resulted in a drastic change in the pulse shape -- from single peaked before the outburst to triple peaked after the outburst. This could happen if the outburst were caused by internal changes in the neutron star which deformed the crust as they moved outward and resulted in multiple hotspots.
Thus far, these young massive clusters have held some very interesting surprises, and there other compelling reasons to continue their study. For example, many “ultraluminous” X-ray sources (those with X-ray luminosities above the Eddington limit of a 10 Msun black hole) have been claimed to be powered by black holes of hundreds to thousands of solar masses (67). Many believe that these black holes could be formed somehow in young massive star clusters (91). The lack of observational evidence of any sort of black hole in a young massive cluster makes this idea a little difficult to accept, and the discovery of even one such system could lend some credence to it. | <urn:uuid:30cfff5b-2eee-4f1e-a1ca-2c482beb0114> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://deadlyastroninja.com/research/node2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397111.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00148-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950164 | 1,200 | 3.359375 | 3 |
History of Dogs
The history of domestic dogs began 20,000 years ago, when Mesolithic Man first began to use dogs while hunting. When livestock became domesticated 7000 to 9000 years ago, dogs were important as protectors and guards. Skeletal remains indicate that five diverse types of dog existed in the Bronze Age (about 4500 BC) – mastiffs, wolf-type dogs, greyhounds, pointing dogs, and shepherding dogs, and cave paintings show dogs working alongside human hunters.
In the 5th century BC the Greeks utilized dogs as guards. Fifty dogs protected the fortress of Corinth and when attacked, saved the town. The sole canine survivor was given a pension for life and a silver collar. The Greeks also used them for hunting, some preferring Celtic dogs for that task. Doctors used dogs to determine whether a person was dead or in a coma – a wag of the dogs tail would indicate life, but a silent dog meant the person was indeed dead. In 350 BC Aristotle made a list of the known breeds, discussing the merits of some.
The Romans traveled Europe widely during their conquests, taking their dogs with them. These dogs in turn bred with local dogs, spreading bloodlines throughout Europe. Breeding and training dogs was an important matter, as much of the success of a hunt depended on the skill of the dog. In other regions, herding or guarding were more valued, and dogs were bred to accentuate the skills needed to perform different tasks for humans.
Asiatic breeds were introduced to Europe by invasion forces in about the 4th century, and they may have contributed the curly-coated traits found in many of the European breeds. For the most part, the breeds of central and eastern Asia may have developed with less of the cross-region interference than European and Mediterranean breeds were to experience.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, dog breeding and care was less important that eating and war. Packs of abandoned dogs formed and terrorized the towns and villages of the Dark Ages. Frightened, invaded and uneducated peasants blamed dogs for much of the horror around them and superstitions about dogs arose – werewolves, monsters with fangs and curled lips, and many other evil creatures were based on dogs.
What saved the dog was its continued skill at hunting, and feudal nobility began to reconstruct lost breeds. Monasteries recognized dog breeding as a good source of revenue, and turned to creating breeds to sell to wealthy nobles. From these breeds came the hunting dogs of France, notably Bloodhounds. So popular did these dogs become that nobles brought their dogs in to church. When the priests objected the nobles sat outside for services. The Blessing of the Animals on church steps is a custom that survives today.
Dogs soon became expensive, and hunting was reserved as the right of the rich. The random-bred dogs of the poor were required to wear large blocks around their necks to prevent them from mating with the prized breeds of the aristocracy. Meanwhile, specialty breeds thrived, with one even becoming King of Norway for three years when a deposed king returned to his country and gave his people a choice – if you won’t be ruled by me, pick this slave or this dog – the dog won. Sadly, the dog-king later picked a fight with a wolf, and lost.
During the Crusades, European knights took their dogs to the Holy Land, where they discovered different breeds. The resulting crossbreeding gave us the ancestors of today’s hounds and spaniels. Specialty breeds really took off in the Middle Ages. Different dogs were required to hunt a wide variety of animals, such as stags, gazelles and bear, and size and traits changed. The poor old peasants weren’t allowed to hunt, but they prized small, ferocious dogs that would hunt and kill the abundant rat population.
The Renaissance saw a further refining of breeds. A wealthy merchant class had both spare cash and spare time, and dogs bred strictly as companions became popular. Hunting dogs were further developed and the basis for today’s ‘griffon’ and ‘braques’ dogs were established in France. Wealthy monarchs in Europe developed passions for certain breeds – King Charles of England had his spaniels and Charles IX of France declared a royal day of mourning when his Griffon died. Royals gave other rulers dogs as gifts, so bloodlines developed in various European regions became mixed, producing yet more breeds.
Specialty breeds found themselves in trouble once again after the French Revolution. With their aristocratic owners mostly headless, many of these breeds went into decline. Although peasants could now hunt, their needs were different, and so different breeds emerged. Gundogs were now popular and by crossing greyhounds with braques, a variety of pointers were developed.
In the 19th century many new breeds were created. This was driven both by people recreating lost ancient breeds as well as requiring yet more specific traits for working dogs. Breeds once again were refined for hunting, ratting, coursing, retrieving and as companions. With the advent of the first dogshow in 1859, the continued success of the most popular breeds was assured.
There are still many breeds who are little known to even the most enthusiastic dog fancier. Air travel made formerly isolated areas more accessible and breeds from places like Tibet became more well known. There are still breeds who have specific regional followings, but are not recognized outside their own areas. There are other breeds whose work is no longer valued due to mechanization, and many of them have faced extinction.
Whatever the breed, or mix of breed, dogs continue to hold a special place in the hearts of humans, and their importance in our lives will continue.
The Life, History and Magic of the Dog by Fernand Mery, Madison Square Press | <urn:uuid:0c794fe2-59e3-4ccf-ab0b-7a045ea265c6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dogpark.com/history-of-dogs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00155-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981858 | 1,196 | 3.53125 | 4 |
The process that takes a control of execution of another process and make step over of code to view the process execution, show relation between consecutive processes. Debugging mainly used to detect error or bugs.
● If kernel dies, display driver dies too● Do not panic the system while fsck (8) is running● [syrinx@tweety]/(78)% cat /etc/rc.conf | grep fsck● fsck_y_enable="YES"● background_fsck="NO"● Core dumps may contain sensitive information● # boot -s● # dumpon /dev/ad4s4b● # mount -a -art ufs● # /command-to-crash-the-kernel
● Kernel crashes usually require straighforward approach● kgdb(1) is an extention of gdb(1) that understands FreeBSD kernel corefiles● Symbol resolving● Scripting support● On-line debugging via /dev/mem● Remote debugging – via serial line – via firewire
[syrinx@tweety]/home/syrinx(92)% sudo kgdb /boot/kernel.old/kernel /var/crash/vmcore.1GNU gdb 6.1.1 [FreeBSD]Copyright 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.Unread portion of the kernel message buffer:rum0: could not multi read MAC register: USB_ERR_NOT_CONFIGUREDFatal trap 12: page fault while in kernel modecpuid = 1; apic id = 01fault virtual address = 0x0fault code = supervisor read, page not presentinstruction pointer = 0x20:0xc069bf24stack pointer = 0x28:0xe6b40c44frame pointer = 0x28:0xe6b40c60code segment = base 0x0, limit 0xfffff, type 0x1b = DPL 0, pres 1, def32 1, gran 1processor eflags = interrupt enabled, resume, IOPL = 0current process = 0 (rum0 taskq)panic: from debugger
● NULL Pointer Dereference● Resource leak● Bad test condition, resulting in code path never executed● Use before test (NULL/-1)● Use after free● Buffer overflow● Unsafe use of returned value● Uninitialized value read● Type and allocation size mismatch
● ddb(4) – interactive kernel ● Inspecting locks with ddb debugger ● db> show lock [lockaddr]● Poor symbol resolving ● db> show turnstile [lockaddr] compared to kgdb(1) ● # mutexes● Extensible – new commands ● db> show lockchain added at compile time - ● # six locks, sleepqueues● Sources at src/sys/ddb ● db> show sleepchain● Scripting support since FreeBSD 7.1 – ddb(8) ● More info in manual page.● Enter DDB● #sysctl debug.kdb.enter=1
Examination of CPU registers, variables, etc. Stepping over the instructions code to view the process execution.
ps shows selected fields from the process structures. With an understanding of the structures, it can give a good idea of whats going on. top is like a repetitive ps: it shows the most active processes at regular intervals. vmstat shows a number of parameters, including virtual memory. It can also be set up to run at regular intervals.
iostat is similar to vmstat, and it duplicates some fields, but it concentrates more on I/O activity. netstat show network information. It can also be set up to show transfer rates for specific interfaces. systat is a curses-based program which displays a large number of parameters, including most of the parameters displayed by vmstat, iostat and netstat.
[syrinx@tweety]/home/syrinx(71)% sysctl debug.ktrdebug.ktr.alq_enable: 0debug.ktr.alq_file: /tmp/ktr.outdebug.ktr.alq_depth: 1024debug.ktr.alq_failed: 0debug.ktr.alq_cnt: 0debug.ktr.alq_max: 0debug.ktr.clear: 0debug.ktr.version: 2debug.ktr.entries: 1024debug.ktr.compile: 270540806debug.ktr.mask: 270540806debug.ktr.cpumask: 3● KTR buffer accessible in DDBdb> show ktr [v]● read the contents of a ktr(4) file[syrinx@tweety]/(105)% sudo ktrdump -t -o /tmp/ktr.out
● Kernel process tracing● [syrinx@tweety]/home/syrinx(89)% ktrace -a -tcy -f /home/syrinx/krtace.out ifconfig● kdump(1) displays the kernel trace data● [syrinx@tweety]/home/syrinx(91)% kdump -f ~/krtace.out ... 7490 ifconfig CALL write(0x1,0x28203000,0x38) 7490 ifconfig GIO fd 1 wrote 56 bytes options=23<PERFORMNUD,ACCEPT_RTADV,AUTO_LINKLOCAL> 7490 ifconfig RET write 56/0x38 7490 ifconfig CALL ioctl(0x3,SIOCGIFMAC,0xbfbfdfac) 7490 ifconfig RET ioctl -1 errno 22 Invalid argument 7490 ifconfig CALL ioctl(0x3,SIOCGIFMEDIA,0xbfbfdfa0) ...
1. Writing the Makefile.2. Writing the description files.3. Creating the checksum file4. Testing the port5. Checking your port with portlint6. Submitting the port.
# New ports collection makefile for: oneko# Date created: 5 December 1994# Whom: asami## $FreeBSD$#PORTNAME= onekoPORTVERSION= 1.1bCATEGORIES= gamesMASTER_SITES= ftp://ftp.cs.columbia.edu/archives/X11R5/contrib/MAINTAINER= asami@FreeBSD.orgCOMMENT= A cat chasing a mouse all over the screenMAN1= oneko.1MANCOMPRESSED= yesUSE_IMAKE= yes.include <bsd.port.mk>
pkg-descr pkg-plist Refer to the pkg_create(1) manual page for details on the packing list.
This is a longer description of the port. One to a few paragraphs concisely explaining what the port does is sufficient. Example This is a port of oneko, in which a cat chases a poor mouse all over the screen. : (etc.) WWW: http://www.oneko.org/
This file lists all the files installed by the port. Also called the “packing list” because the package is generated by packing the files listed here. The pathnames are relative to the installation prefix (usually /usr/local or /usr/X11R6). If you are using the MANn variables (as you should be), do not list any manpages here. If the port creates directories during installation, make sure to add @dirrm lines to remove them when the package is deleted. Example: bin/oneko lib/X11/app-defaults/Oneko lib/X11/oneko/cat1.xpm lib/X11/oneko/cat2.xpm lib/X11/oneko/mouse.xpm @dirrm lib/X11/oneko
Type make makesum. The ports make rules will automatically generate the file distinfo.
pkg-plist does not contain anything not installed by your port pkg-plist contains everything that is installed by your port Your port can be installed multiple times using the reinstall target Your port cleans up after itself upon deinstall
1. make install2. make package3. make deinstall4. pkg_add package-name5. make deinstall6. make reinstall7. make package | <urn:uuid:6a31ca9b-8b4f-4ecd-a2c1-a3eb86d26fb5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.slideshare.net/memoegyptian/lecture-6-kernel-debugging-ports-development | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00179-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.700324 | 1,789 | 2.625 | 3 |
Preventing Field Fires
This article was written by Mark Hanna, ISUEO Ag Engineer, & Clarke McGrath, ISUEO Field Agronomist & Firefighter for Harlan Fire Department.
Field/Combine Fire Prevention
Mark Hanna, ISUEO Ag Engineer
Clarke McGrath, ISUEO Field Agronomist; Harlan Fire Department, Firefighter
It’s always difficult to forecast weather, but if dry field conditions persist, potential for combine and field fires this fall will increase. A high-temperature source in the engine area or an overheated bearing can ignite dry plant material.
Warm, dry winds rapidly dry plant materials. With potential for an earlier maturing crop and resulting early harvest, air temperatures will likely be warmer than during typical harvest conditions. Farmers in northwest Iowa experienced a greater than average number of harvest fires during 2011. A recent study by South Dakota State University ag engineers found an average of nearly seven combine fires per county in nine northwest Iowa counties. Although air temperatures were warm and relative humidity was low during much of early harvest, most fires occurred on days with wind speeds averaging 15 mph and occasional gusts of 25 to 30 mph. This suggests that not only should combine operators be careful when field conditions are dry and air conditions are warm, they should be extra vigilant during windy periods.
During harvest periods with increased potential, fires cause millions of dollars in property damage in Iowa, including loss of machinery, crops and time. Injuries to farm workers and firefighters are also an unfortunate outcome in some instances.
Modern, high-productivity combines are powerful machines; power means heat. Fire cannot start without heat and fuel. You cannot remove the heat from the engine, hydraulics and other hard-working systems, but you can remove the fuel source by keeping your combine clean.
Prevention is a key to avoiding problems; here are some tips:
- Keep the machine clean, particularly around the engine and engine compartment. Use a high pressure washer or compressed air to remove caked-on oil, grease and crop residue.
- Check coolant and oil levels daily.
- Check the pressurized oil supply line to the turbocharger for wear areas that rub and may start an oil leak.
- Frequently blow leaves, chaff and plant material from the engine area with compressed air or a portable leaf blower. Doing this one last time at night is better than in the morning when dew may make it harder to blow residues off.
- Remove plant materials wrapped on or near bearings, belts or other moving parts.
- Examine exhaust or hot bearing surfaces. Repair leaking fuel or oil hoses, fittings or metal lines immediately.
- Inspect and clean ledges or recessed areas near fuel tanks and lines.
- Prior to fueling, wait 15 minutes to reduce the risk of a spill volatilizing and igniting.
In case of fire, call 911 first, and then attack with fire extinguishers if it is safe to do so.A fire can double in size in less than a minute; burning embers blown downwind can spread the fire well beyond the control of your fire extinguishers in just seconds.
Two ABC-type fire extinguishers are recommended: a smaller 10-pound unit in the cab and a larger 20-pound extinguisher at ground level on the combine. Invert and shake the extinguishers once or twice a season to ensure machine vibrations don’t compact the powder inside. A shovel to throw dirt can also help.
Fires may start from plant materials that have smoldered unnoticed for 15 to 30 minutes or more. The ignition source for field fires may have been the earlier passing of a truck, tractor or combine. Flames aren’t apparent until additional oxygen is supplied, perhaps by a gust of wind. Harvest crews and neighbors may want to discuss a plan for emergency tillage of a fire break should that option become advisable. Keep in mind that personal safety is more important than property loss.
With current prospects for an early, dry harvest, fire prevention measures will be more important than usual.
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- Families & Healthy Living | <urn:uuid:e32bf87e-5978-42c4-95ba-1ce3d618f2b9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.extension.iastate.edu/guthrie/news/preventing-field-fires | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926072 | 882 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Here are some of the most interesting and rarely known shark facts for kids including its habitat, diet and reproduction. Sharks are a crowd of fishes that believed to have lived some 420 million years ago.
These marine animals are considered to be cartilaginous skeleton with gill slits on the head-sides. Shark is the member of the genus Elasmobranchii. These large-sized fishes have been classified into more than 400 species. There is a significant size variation amongst species. The smallest of the sharks measure around 17 cm (6.7 inches).
The whale shark is the largest shark specie with a length measuring at 12 metres (39 feet). These whale sharks largely feed on small creatures like squid, plankton, and other small fish. Sharks are one of the most common species that are known to exist in almost all the Oceanic waters.
Shark Facts For Kids
- Sharks are competent enough to dive 2,000 metres (6,600 feet) deep into the water. These animals are not akin to live in freshwater; nevertheless, some species like river shark or bull shark can be found with exception.
- The teeth are affixed into the gums instead of connected with the jaws. These teeth are relentlessly swapped over the time. Sharks are known to lose more than 30,000 teeth during their entire lifetime. Sharks that predominantly feed on crustaceans and mollusks have relatively flat teeth whereas others that eat fish have sharp pointed teeth.
- Sharks lack rib cages which is why they can be easily compressed beneath their own weight on land.
- With the help of a tail, shark accelerates its speed while thrusting it.
- These animals have an extraordinary sense of smell.
- While swimming, these animals reach at a speed of 8 km/h (5.0 mph); however, they escalate their speed to 19km/h (12 mph) while foraging. Shortfin Mako shark is the by far the fastest swimmer with a speed of 50 km/h (31 mph).
- There is a false stipulation regarding the sharks’ attack to humans. There are only four species out of 360 that have been proved fatal or unprovoked attack on humans. That is why most of the times divers are shielded with a cage while making a shark film.
- Too many unsuccessful attempts have been made to keep sharks under captivity which suggests that these animals are one of the most difficult ones to capture and look after. Hornsharks, leopard sharks and carsharks are few of those. Aquarium is certainly not the right place for these animals.
- The lifespan of sharks is about 20 – 30 years. Dogfish has been known to live up to 100 years.
- Sharks have the capability to detect frequencies within the range of 25 – 50 Hz.
Read More: Do Sharks Lay Eggs?
Shark Facts For Kids | Reproduction
- Sharks reach maturity at the age of 13 – 15.
- The fertility in sharks ranges from 2 to 100 young per reproductive cycle.
- Mating is an uncommon phenomenon in these species.
- Most sharks are ovoviviparous in that the eggs are hatched in the oviduct in the mother’s body.
- The period of gestation lasts for about 18 – 24 months.
- Some the shark species are highly sociable. These are mainly found in the Gulf of California.
- They have a complex migration pattern even more than birds.
Read More: Do Sharks Have Tongues?
What Do Sharks Eat?
Sharks are carnivorous. Shark facts about its diet show that these animals are opportunistic feeders in that they largely eat crustaceans, squid, and other fish. With their pointed lower teeth, they almost crush anything that comes in between. Unlike other species, tiger sharks are capable to chomp anything.
Read More: Do Sharks Have Bones?
Where Do Sharks Live?
These animals are not deemed to exist in freshwater with some exception such as bull and river sharks. Sharks typically dive 2,000 metres (7,000 feet) deep down into water; some species can even dive more than 3,000 metres (10,000 feet), with the deepest ever recorded at 3,700 metres (12,100 feet) was dogfish.
Read More: How Fast Can Sharks Swim? | <urn:uuid:564509d0-6d80-40bf-abd4-9f156e14dbce> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://animalstime.com/shark-facts-kids-shark-habitat-shark-diet/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00012-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956177 | 895 | 3.46875 | 3 |
A massive threat is emerging in South Africa from a family of superbugs known as CRE, described as "nightmare bacteria" in the US where cases are increasing.
"The exponential rise of CRE in South Africa has the potential to become a national crisis," warned clinical microbiologist Dr Adrian Brink, co-chair of the South African Antibiotic Stewardship Programme.
In 2012, 64 patients in South Africa tested by just one of the leading laboratories - Ampath - had CRE, or carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Only three years later the lab found that 587 patients were positive.
The germs live in the gut and can kill up to half the patients who get bloodstream infections.
"The big problem at the moment is CRE," said Professor Guy Richards, director of critical care at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.
MRSA, the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, "was the big bug that the public was aware of 10 years ago," the professor said.
CRE are among the three most common resistant bacteria found in Mediclinic hospitals, said Briëtte du Toit, manager of infection prevention and control for Mediclinic Southern Africa.
Dr Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, said in a report: "CRE are nightmare bacteria. Our strongest antibiotics don't work and patients are left with potentially untreatable infections."
Carbapenems are one of the last classes of antibiotics that reliably work against resistant infections.
The menace of superbugs has grown worse since 2004 when the Sunday Times reported that about one in seven patients were at risk of deadly infections in major state and private hospitals in South Africa.
Roughly one in every five patients admitted to selected state hospitals are at risk of contracting a hospital-acquired infection, often caused by superbugs that are hard to treat.
The statistic was arrived at by a recent survey involving close to 3000 beds in 13 hospitals across four provinces and conducted under the direction of Professor Adriano Duse, chairman of the South African national working group for the Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership.
"As this study does not include all state hospitals and did not include private sector hospitals where, in selected facilities infection rates may be as high, if not higher, the results are not generalisable to the South African public or private hospital services," Duse said.
Duse, a top infection control expert at the University of the Witwatersrand, said these were preliminary data which still had to be verified.
Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu said about 1500 people contracted hospital-acquired infections in Gauteng provincial hospitals from 2012 to 2014. Twenty of these patients died.
Dr Roshini Moodley Naidoo, head of clinical quality management at Discovery Health, said hospitals were not obliged to report healthcare-associated infections.
"Infections are in general significantly under-reported," she said. "We have anecdotal and other evidence [such as the use of certain antibiotics] of infection outbreaks in some hospitals."
Private hospital groups Mediclinic and Netcare said their rate of healthcare-associated infections was well within the internationally accepted norm.
Immune-compromised patients are the most at risk but any patient can be exposed to superbugs.
Richards said even patients going in for elective surgeries were increasingly exposed to resistant infections. "It is quite common for patients to go in for a procedure like a knee or hip replacement and develop an infection," he said.
Common healthcare-associated infections are, for example, urinary tract infections, surgical site infections, bloodstream infections from intravenous catheters and pneumonia associated with ventilators.
The good news is that academic, public and private hospitals at the forefront of infection control in South Africa are taking steps like early detection and surveillance to try to ensure superbugs are under control.
Medical aid schemes including Discovery, Bonitas and GEMS monitor the quality of hospitals through indicators like infection rates, mortality rates and readmission rates.
Public and private hospitals are among those supporting the "Best Care Always" campaign launched in 2009 to reduce healthcare-associated infections and promote antibiotic stewardship.
"Hundreds of lives have been saved and much harm averted," Naidoo said, citing estimates from campaign data.
Department of Health spokesman Joe Maila said South Africa had developed an antimicrobial strategy and implementation plan in line with the antimicrobial global action plan of the World Health Organisation.
"A strength of the current strategy is the department's strong working relationship with infectious disease clinicians and microbiologists," he said.
"Antimicrobial resistance has not reached crisis stage yet. However, if the current trend continues, then it is likely that we will have a crisis." | <urn:uuid:5d060109-b194-4dc0-b81c-99f7244e352e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/stnews/2016/02/28/New-superbug-danger-stalks-SA-hospitals | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00176-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956107 | 991 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Pollen may seem like ephemeral dust when it's aloft on the breeze, but those grains can have surprising staying power in the environment. After plants spread theirs far and wide it can be preserved in lakebeds
or fossilized in soil. When scientists take a sediment core, they sometimes find that pollen from different species dominates in different eras. And since plants thrive best under particular temperatures and conditions, researchers can use the pollen mix to determine the climate of an era.
In one 2009 study, researchers used pollen traces to study the climate of the Andes mountains in South America, and found evidence
that a warm spell between 1100 and 1533 AD allowed for more agriculture on the mountain slopes. That may explain the Inca civilization's expansion during those centuries, researchers suggest. | <urn:uuid:63694d14-9ebb-484b-85a1-02bb433ba8cb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://discovermagazine.com/sitefiles/resources/image.aspx?item=%7B7C38013C-261F-4C9B-8259-C839E42BD38D%7D | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00093-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910566 | 159 | 4.3125 | 4 |
Potato production in the U.S. and Canada is down from the year before, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Statistics Canada.
About 8 per cent fewer potatoes were harvested last fall in the U.S., and 4 per cent fewer in Canada, according to the January 21 North American Potatoes report, a joint effort of the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service and Statistics Canada.
About 361 million cwt. of potatoes were harvested in the U.S. and about 97 million cwt. in Canada last fall.
Both lower acreage and lower yields contributed to the decline in U.S. production, according to the report. Harvested acreage fell from 917,000 acres in 2009 to 881,000 acres in 2010. Yields dropped from 429 cwt. to 409 cwt. per acre.
Potato production in 2010 was the lowest in the 2000's, according to the report. The second-lowest was 379 million cwt. in 2008.
Prince Edward Island and Canadian production has been on a steady decline since 2002 and 2003.
"In the last few years there's been a real attempt at the North American level for the potato producers to try and cut their acreage back so that the production would actually meet the demand, and try to encourage better prices," said Barbara McLaughlin, an official with Stats Canada's agriculture division.
Canadian production was at 457,000 acres in 2003. P.E.I. grew 106,000 acres that year and 109,000 in 2002.
While acreage has been tailing off, yield has been going up - 282.8 hundredweight per acre for Canada in 2010, compared with 277.3 in 2008. P.E.I.'s average yield has gone up from 280 cwt/acre in 2008 to 300 cwt in 2009 and 2010. | <urn:uuid:bf11f1f1-9668-4bbf-ad1c-c7267b04c565> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.potatobusiness.com/index.php?view=article&catid=1:latest-news&id=391:potato-production-in-canada-and-the-us-sees-decline | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950596 | 384 | 2.78125 | 3 |
More than 450,000 babies are born too soon each year in the U.S. Preterm birth is a serious health problem that costs the nation more than $26 billion annually, according to the Institute of Medicine, and is the leading cause of newborn death. Babies who survive an early birth are at an increased risk for breathing problems, cerebral palsy, intellectual and developmental disabilities, vision and hearing loss, and other lifelong health problems. In 2012, the U.S. preterm birth rate dropped to 11.5 percent, the lowest in 15 years, but still above the March of Dimes goal of 9.6 percent.
With the help of funding from the March of Dimes, James F. Padbury, MD, pediatrician-in-chief and chief of Neonatal/Perinatal Medicine at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island and the William and Mary Oh-William and Elsa Zopfi Professor of Pediatrics for Perinatal Research at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, is one of five scientists whose work toward discovering the causes of and reducing the rates of prematurity will be supported by March of Dimes Prematurity Research Initiative (PRI) grants in 2014. The PRI grants, which total nearly $27 million over 10 years, are one of several March of Dimes grant programs available to researchers.
"Prevention is the way to save babies from death and disability caused by preterm birth," says Betsy Akin, RI March of Dimes director. "Research is the key that will provide new insights into the many unknown causes of preterm labor, and help doctors recognize the women and babies most at risk."
Preterm birth not only affects one in eight women but since it "runs in families," it has a strong genetic basis. With prior support from the March of Dimes, Dr. Padbury's laboratory at Women & Infants Hospital has been studying the genetic basis of preterm birth for the past five years. This new, $400,000, three-year Prematurity Research Initiative Program grant will enable Dr. Padbury and his colleagues to continue their work in bioinformatics and targeted sequencing in preterm birth.
"We are so grateful to the March of Dimes for supporting this important work," said Dr. Padbury. "We are using the resources of this grant to sequence the genes we identified in women who delivered preterm, who were preterm themselves, and who have a family history of preterm birth in their relatives. We are sequencing up to 300 women, including 150 we have identified with a strong family history of prematurity at Women & Infants Hospital."
Dr. Padbury and his team have used bioinformatics techniques and "big data" approaches to collect all of the genes known to be involved in preterm birth, reading more than 1,000 scientific articles and pulling data from hundreds of public genetic databases. Their database is now hosted on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Genomics in Health Impact website, the University of Florida's Library of Genetic Resources, and Stanford University's Great Placenta Disorders and Preeclampsia Single Nucleotide Resources.
Dr. Padbury continued, "The Human Genome Project revealed that each of us have minor genetic variations, which may, in part, cause preterm birth. In order to identify these minor genetic variations, we will use new DNA sequencing technologies. We will look for minor genetic variations in families with a strong family history of preterm birth and compare genetic sequence to patients of similar background but who delivered full-term children. We hope that, with insights into the cause of prematurity, we can begin to address possible treatment, prevention methods and prediction."
|Contact: Amy Blustein|
Women & Infants Hospital | <urn:uuid:d44a20ba-5edc-4e82-bde1-bf9a4c660381> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/Women--26amp-3B-Infants-earns-March-of-Dimes-prematurity-research-initiative-grant-34515-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947655 | 778 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Today the National Park Service put corporate interests before protecting our parks. The agency caved to pressure from the White House, PPL and PSEG and selected Route 2, the existing corridor, as the park service's preferred alternative for the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line. This project will destroy the scenic vistas and important natural resources of our National Park lands, which belong to all of us. This project will bring in more dirty coal-fired energy into New Jersey through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, the Middle Delaware Scenic and Recreational River and the Appalachian Trail. Instead of selecting the best alternative for the environment, the Parks, and our clean energy future, the “No Build” alternative, the National Park Service is putting corporate interests before the public interest.
“Today the Obama administration sold out our National Parks. Lands that are supposed to be protected for future generations, they turned over to power companies. This is a shameful day in the long history of our parks and may set precedent for more gas and power lines through our parks. This decision is an insult to the more than 5 million people that visit the Water Gap every year,” said Jeff Tittel, Director, NJ Sierra Club.
“We will continue fighting this project even in the Courts if necessary. We will stand up for the integrity of our National Parks even if the Department of interior will not.”
“This comes two days after the administration came out with rules to block new coal plants. The Obama administration did an about face and approved a power line that will make new coal plants a reality. The rules did not address pollution from old plants and this power line will help keep those old plants operating,” said Tittel.
“Yesterday they allowed for exploration for oil drilling off our coast and today they are opening up our National Parks to bring dirty power lines to transport more coal. The Obama administration is siding with big oil and big coal against our Parks and our coast,” said Tittel.
The park service considered several alternatives to the project including routes completely outside the Delaware Water Gap. However an alternative route would continue to have impacts on the Appalachian Trail and the Highlands region, which is state and federally recognized as a critical environmental resource area. The “No Build” Alternative is the only option that would prevent the destruction of resources both within and outside the park units.
This decision may have been fueled by the $30 million mitigation plan proposed by the two utilities behind the project, PPL and PSEG. The plan was submitted on the last day of the public comment period and therefore not subject to public comment. $30 million would go to land acquisitions, but you cannot mitigate for the destruction of a National Park. This project will ruin the breathtaking vistas and critical resources of our National Parks, diminishing the visitor experience and those impacts cannot be reversed.
“This is all about the power of money, whether it is coal companies and utilities pushing a power line that will cut through a national park or people standing in line to get mitigation money so that they can profit on the destruction of a National Park’s resources,” said Jeff Tittel.
The applicants had also stated that if the park service did not approve their proposed route through the Park they would continue with the project regardless. They claim their rights to the existing right-of-way would allow them to circumvent to final park service decision.
The selection of a route by the National Park Service will have significant impacts outside the boundaries of the parks as well. The Highlands region and the historic and environmental resources of the Kittatinny Ridge communities will be impacted by this route selection. This decision will impact the health and safety of homeowners along the expanded right of way.
The park service was required to prepare the environmental document under the National Environmental Policy Act. The draft review found the “No Build” Alternative to be the “environmentally-preferred route”. The final environmental impact study will be released in the fall and after a 30 day review period the park service will release a Record of Decision.
The Susquehanna-Roseland line is unnecessary as we improve our energy efficiency and demand response programs and as energy demand drops. The line will bring dirty coal-fired energy into New Jersey while cutting across our public lands. The Susquehanna-Roseland line is a major infrastructure project that raises electricity rates, increases our dependence on fossil fuels, and does not increase grid reliability. Instead we should be investing in local renewable energy.
“John Muir is rolling in his grave today. After working so hard to protect our parks, the NPS is just giving the lands away to power companies. What comes next gas drilling?” asked Kate Millsaps, program assistant, NJ Sierra Club. | <urn:uuid:cc264510-bb87-44a8-a8f3-db16a65e80ee> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nj.com/warrenreporter/index.ssf/2012/03/power_line_through_delaware_wa.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943269 | 991 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Arad (āˈrăd) [key], in the Bible, royal town in the Negev, the modern Tell Arad (Israel), S of Hebron. The "king Arad" in the Book of Numbers is a mistranslation for "king of Arad." It is the only tell (mound) in the Negev and indicates the existence of a fortified town in the Bronze Age.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:d61d0340-54bc-430d-bd22-c9cec8047bfd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/society/arad-bible.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.866176 | 110 | 2.6875 | 3 |
A review of eleven years of foodborne illness data has revealed that, between 1998 and 2008, leafy green vegetables and dairy sickened the greatest number of people, while poultry caused the most deaths.
Government researchers identified 4,589 outbreaks linked to one known food source during this time period. These outbreaks caused a total of 120,321 illnesses, which were used for the analysis, published ahead of print Tuesday in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
A full 46 percent of these illnesses were attributed to produce items, led by leafy greens, which alone accounted for 22 percent of illnesses. Dairy was the next leading source of sickness, linked to 14 percent of cases, followed by fruits and nuts.
More than half (56 percent) of all illnesses were caused by norovirus, a pathogen that causes gastrointestinal symptoms that usually resolve within a couple days, but can cause more serious illness in young children, the elderly or individuals with compromised immune systems.
While poultry took a smaller share of the illness pie (10 percent), it was the leading cause of food related deaths during this ten-year period, accounting for 19 percent of the estimated 1,451 deaths that occurred over this time period. The organisms that caused the most poultry related deaths were Listeria monocytogenes (63 percent) and Salmonella (26 percent).
Dairy was the leading cause of hospitalizations. The report did not look which of these dairy products were pasteurized versus raw, but that is something the agency intends to examine in the future, said Patricia M. Griffin, CDC’s Chief of Enteric Diseases and lead author of the paper.
“Sometimes we don’t know for a particular outbreak whether the item was raw or pasteurized,” said Griffin. “Because it’s not provided on the report form. We’re working with reporting agencies to make sure that’s really clear in the future.”
While this new report provides a picture of what foods were responsible for the most illnesses over more than a decade, it does not reflect changes that occurred during this time, noted Griffin.
“There are some particular things that were different in the beginning of this period we studied from the end,” said Griffin.
For example, poultry-related deaths were more prevalent in the beginning of the window covered by the report, due to a number of Listeria outbreaks linked to deli turkey, she explained.
“Our last big multistate Listeria outbreak [linked to these foods] was in 2002,” said Griffin. “That was in the early part of the period that we’re reporting on in this paper. If we only looked at the last half of the period that we reported on for this paper, we’d have many fewer of those Listeria outbreaks, and they’re responsible for a lot of poultry-related deaths, so that’s a place where you might see a difference.”
Another change in outbreak sources over this time period was a decrease in illnesses from fruit juice. “Apple cider and even commercial, widely distributed apple juice that wasn’t pasteurized was harboring E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella and parasites as well,” noted Griffin. Now, juice that’s sold across state lines must be pasteurized.
So what lessons can be drawn from looking at such a broad time period rather than at the ups and downs during that time?
“You get a more robust analysis if you include more data, and if you start trying to include fewer years, then you have a hard time making some good statistically significant statements about some of the less common agents in food,” said Griffin.
The analysis was conducted by researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order “to help determine priorities for food safety efforts,” according to the paper.
But while this report can be useful in deciding where to allocate food protection resources, “CDC does not make those sorts of recommendations,” said Patricia M. Griffin, one of the authors of the analysis, in an interview with Food Safety News.
This report marks CDC’s second data dump of the week. The first, a review of foodborne illnesses from 2009 through 2010 was released on Monday. That one focuses on a smaller, more recent window of time.© Food Safety News | <urn:uuid:3679c382-e901-40be-989d-3f50160d521a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/01/leafy-greens-dairy-lead-foodborne-illness-causes-at-turn-of-century/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00158-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970188 | 911 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Topics covered in this tutorial
- What is TCP/IP?
- TCP/IP history and development
- TCP/IP as a standard
- ISOC, IANA and IAB
- Requests for Comment
- The TCP/IP protocol suite
What is TCP/IP?
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the basic communication language or protocol of the...
Internet. It can also be used as a communications protocol in a private network (either an intranet or an extranet). When you are set up with direct access to the Internet, your computer is provided with a copy of the TCP/IP program just as every other computer that you may send messages to or get information from also has a copy of TCP/IP.
TCP/IP is a two-layer program. The higher layer, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), manages the assembling of a message or file into smaller packets that are transmitted over the Internet and received by a TCP layer that reassembles the packets into the original message. The lower layer, Internet Protocol (IP), handles the address part of each packet so that it gets to the right destination. Each gateway computer on the network checks this address to see where to forward the message. Even though some packets from the same message are routed differently than others, they'll be reassembled at the destination.
Development of TCP/IP
The original research was performed in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), which is the research arm of the US Department of Defense (DOD). The DOD wanted to build a network to connect a number of military sites. The key requirements for the network were as follows:
- It must continue to function during nuclear war (development took place during the 'cold war'). The 7/8th rule required that the network should continue to function even when 7/8th of the network was not operational
- It must be completely decentralized with no key central installation that could be destroyed and bring down the whole network
- It must be fully redundant and able to continue communication between A and B even though intermediate sites and links might stop functioning during the conversation
- The architecture must be flexible as the envisaged range of applications for the network was wide (anything from file transfer to time-sensitive data such as voice)
ARPA hired a firm called BBN to design the network. The prototype was a research network called ARPANET (first operational in 1972). This connected four university sites using a system described as a packet switching network. Prior to this development, any two computers wanting to communicate had to open a direct channel (known as a circuit) and information was then sent. If this circuit were broken, the computers would stop communicating immediately, which the DOD specifically wanted to avoid. One computer could forward information to another by using packet-switching, so it superseded circuit-switched networks.
To ensure information reached the correct destination, each packet was addressed with a source and destination and the packet was then transferred using any available pathway to the destination computer. It was divided into small chunks or packets (originally 1008 bits). Sending large chunks of information has always presented problems, often because the full message fails to reach its destination at the first attempt, and the whole message then has to be resent. The facilities within the new protocol to divide large messages into numerous small packets meant that a single packet could be resent if it was lost or damaged during transmission, rather than the whole message. The new network was decentralized with no one computer controlling its operation where the packet switching protocol controlled most of the network operations.
TCP/IP is a very robust protocol and can automatically recover from any communication link failures. It re-routes data packets if transmission lines are damaged or if a computer fails to respond, utilizing any available network path. The figure below shows an example of an Internet system. A packet being sent from Network A to Network F may be sent via Network D (the quickest route). If this route becomes unavailable, the packet is routed using an alternate route (for example, A B C E F).
Once ARPANET was proven, the DOD built MILNET (Military Installation in US) and MINET (Military Installation in Europe). To encourage the wide adoption of TCP/IP, BBN and the University of California at Berkeley were funded by the US Government to implement the protocol in the Berkeley version of Unix. UNIX was given freely to US universities and colleges, allowing them to network their computers.
Researchers at Berkeley developed a program interface to the network protocol called sockets and wrote many applications using this interface. During the early 1980s, the National Science Foundation (NSF) used Berkeley TCP/IP to create the Computer Science Network (CSNET) to link US universities. They saw the benefit of sharing information between universities and ARPANET provided the infrastructure. Meanwhile, in 1974 a successor to ARPANET was developed named NSFNET. This was based on a backbone of six supercomputers into which many regional networks were allowed to connect. The first stage in the commercial development of the Internet occurred in 1990 when a group of telecommunications and computer companies formed a non-profit making organization called Advanced Networks and Services (ANS). This organization took over NSFNET and allowed commercial organizations to connect to the system. The commercial Internet grew from these networks.
There are numerous reasons why TCP/IP was chosen to be the protocol that drives the Internet; some of these include:
- TCP/IP was accepted as an industry standard protocol
- It is a routable protocol suite
- It is provided on almost all network operating systems, and therefore allows connectivity between dissimilar systems (for instance, from a UNIX computer to a Windows NT computer)
- The protocols are in the public domain and are freely available, which makes it a popular choice for software companies. There are no restrictions on its use and no royalties to pay
- It is a well designed protocol
- It is an open standard where no single vendor has any control over the protocol and anyone is allowed to use it and develop applications based on it
TCP/IP as an Open Standard
TCP/IP and the Internet are inextricably linked. Although no organization owns the Internet or its technologies, a number of organizations are responsible for the development of the Internet and so TCP/IP.
Internet Society ( ISOC ) The purpose of the ISOC is to encourage the development and availability of the Internet.
Internet Architecture Board ( IAB ) The IAB is the technical committee of ISOC and is responsible for setting Internet standards and publishing these standards as Request for Comments (RFCs). The IAB governs three groups:
- Internet Research Task Force ( IRTF ) - responsible for TCP/IP related research projects
- Internet Engineering Task Force ( IETF ) - focuses on solutions to Internet problems and the adoption of new standards
- Internet Assigned Numbers Authority ( IANA ) - oversees the process of providing a unique number or port for each protocol used on the Internet
Request for Comment (RFC)
TCP/IP standards are not developed by a committee but rather by consensus. The process for adopting Internet standards revolves around the production of documents called Request for Comments (RFCs). When an RFC is published, it is assigned the next available number. Anyone can submit a document for publication as an RFC. A technical expert or task force then reviews all documents. A period of time for comments is followed by an updated draft that responds to these comments. After several drafts, the proposed standard is either accepted or rejected. The standards for TCP/IP are published via these RFCs. Some RFCs describe network services or protocols and their implementation while others summarize policies. An older RFC is never updated. If changes are required, a new RFC is published with a new number. It is always important to verify you have the most recent RFC on a particular topic.
Internet Network Information Center (InterNIC)
For the Internet to function successfully, a central organization must assume two major responsibilities:
- Oversee the assignment of IP addresses
- Oversee the assignment of domain names to organizations wanting to connect to the Internet
InterNIC is responsible for ensuring the same IP address or domain name is not allocated twice. They partially delegate this responsibility by giving the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) a block of IP addresses that they can assign to customers.
The TCP/IP Protocol Suite
The figure below shows a comparison of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model and the TCP/IP protocol suite. The TCP/IP protocol maps to a four layer conceptual model: application, transport, Internet and network interface. This model is referred to as the Internet Protocol Suite or the ARPA model. As shown below, each layer in the green Internet Protocol Suite corresponds to one or more layers of the white OSI model.
The network interface layer is the equivalent of the OSI physical and data link layers as it defines the host's connection to the network. This layer comprises the hardware and software involved in the interchange of frames between computers. The technologies used can be LAN-based (e.g. Ethernet) or WAN-based (e.g. ISDN)
The network layer uses a number of protocols to ensure the delivery of packets. These are described below:
IP (Internet Protocol)
The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is responsible for obtaining hardware addresses and matching them to their IP address when the destination computer is on the same network.
The Internet Control Management Protocol (ICMP) is used to report errors and send messages about the delivery of a packet. It can also be used to test TCP/IP networks. Two examples of ICMP messages include:
- Destination unreachable - used when a router cannot locate the destination
- Time exceeded - used when the Time To Live (TTL) of a packet reaches zero
The TTL field in a packet has a maximum value of 255 and this value is reduced by one every time the packet crosses a router. The TTL is eventually reduced to zero if the packet is looping (because of a corrupted routing table) or when congestion causes considerable delays. The router then discards the packet and a warning packet is sent back to the source host.
The Transport layer provides communication between the source and destination computers, and breaks application layer information into packets. TCP/IP provides two methods of data delivery:
The Application layer is the layer at which many TCP/IP services (high level protocols) can be run (such as FTP, HTTP and SMTP). Two application programming interfaces (APIs) are commonly used within the TCP/IP environment:
The people at FreeSkills.com were nice enough to share one of their many free tutorials with us in order to make "Understanding TCP/IP" available to SearchNetworking.com readers. FreeSkills.com has more than 400 free tutorials and many reasonably-priced courses available for different IT subjects. We recommend you stop by and visit this wonderful resource! | <urn:uuid:5441c5cb-c27a-42fc-8e58-e5f4ec7386eb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/tutorial/Understanding-TCP-IP | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00055-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933509 | 2,269 | 3.765625 | 4 |
Doctors in Preston are being urged to sign up to take regular cervical screening programmes to help prevent cervical cancer.
Cervical screening is not a test for cancer but can help prevent the disease by detecting early abnormalities in the cervix so they can be treated.
If these abnormalities are not identified and go untreated, they can lead to cancer of the cervix.
It is thought on average that cervical screening helps save the lives of 4,500 women in England every year.
Dr Ann Bowman, a local GP and chairman of NHS Greater Preston Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Having your cervical screening sample taken should only take matter of minutes.
“In the UK, practice nurses take the majority of cervical screening samples.
“As with all cancers, the earlier a problem is spotted, the better the patient’s outcome. Screening saves lives.” | <urn:uuid:0fc81836-f5ba-42be-ab50-c625a67e5e9c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lep.co.uk/news/doctors-asked-to-help-with-screening-plans-1-6414404 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936335 | 180 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
Biological: Behavioural genetics · Evolutionary psychology · Neuroanatomy · Neurochemistry · Neuroendocrinology · Neuroscience · Psychoneuroimmunology · Physiological Psychology · Psychopharmacology (Index, Outline)
Colostrum (also known colloquially as beestings, bisnings or first milk) is a form of milk produced by the mammary glands of mammals (including humans) in late pregnancy. Most species will generate colostrum just prior to giving birth. Colostrum contains antibodies to protect the newborn against disease, as well as being lower in fat and higher in protein than ordinary milk.
Newborns have very immature digestive systems, and colostrum delivers its nutrients in a very concentrated low-volume form. It has a mild laxative effect, encouraging the passing of the baby's first stool, which is called meconium. This clears excess bilirubin, a waste-product of dead red blood cells, which is produced in large quantities at birth due to blood volume reduction, from the infant's body and helps prevent jaundice. Colostrum is known to contain antibodies called immunoglobulins such as IgA, IgG, and IgM in mammals. IgA is absorbed through the intestinal epithelium, travels through the blood, and is secreted onto other Type 1 mucosal surfaces. These are the major components of the adaptive immune system. Other immune components of colostrum include the major components of the innate immune system, such as lactoferrin, lysozyme, lactoperoxidase, complement, and proline-rich polypeptides (PRP). A number of cytokines (small messenger peptides that control the functioning of the immune system) are found in colostrum as well, including interleukins, tumor necrosis factor, chemokines, and others. Colostrum also contains a number of growth factors, such as insulin-like growth factors I, and II, transforming growth factors alpha, beta 1 and beta 2, fibroblast growth factors, epidermal growth factor, granulocyte-macrophage-stimulating growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor, and colony-stimulating factor-1.
Colostrum is very rich in proteins, vitamin A, and sodium chloride, but contains lower amounts of carbohydrates, lipids, and potassium than normal milk. The most pertinent bioactive components in colostrum are growth factors and antimicrobial factors. The antibodies in colostrum provide passive immunity, while growth factors stimulate the development of the gut. They are passed to the neonate and provide the first protection against pathogens.
In animal husbandryEdit
Colostrum is crucial for newborn farm animals. They receive no passive transfer of immunity via the placenta before birth, so any antibodies that they need have to be ingested. This oral transfer of immunity can occur because the newborn's stomach is porous. This means that large proteins (such as antibodies) can pass through the stomach wall. The newborn animal must receive colostrum within 6 hours of being born for maximal transfer of antibodies to occur. The stomach wall remains somewhat open up to 24 hours of age, but transfer is more limited.
Livestock breeders commonly bank colostrum from their animals. Colostrum can be stored frozen but it does lose some of its inherent quality. Colostrum produced on a breeder's own premises is considered to be superior to colostrum from other sources, because it is produced by animals already exposed to (and, thus, making antibodies to) pathogens occurring on the premises. A German study reported that multiparous mares produced on average a liter (quart) of colostrum containing 70 grams of IgG.
Bovine colostrum is produced by cows for their newborn calves. In many dairy cow herds the calves are not permitted to nurse; rather, they are fed colostrum from a bottle or by stomach tube and later milk from a bottle then a bucket.
Human consumption of bovine colostrumEdit
Assertions that colostrum consumption is of human benefit are questionable because most ingredients undergo digestion in the adult stomach, including antibodies and all other proteins. Bovine colostrum and its components are safe for human consumption, except in the context of intolerance or allergy to lactose or other components. It shows promise in the treatment or prevention of a variety of diseases.
Bovine colostrum from pasture-fed cows contains immunoglobulins specific to many human pathogens, including Escherichia coli, Cryptosporidium parvum, Shigella flexneri, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, and rotavirus (which causes diarrhea in infants). Before the development of antibiotics, colostrum was the main source of immunoglobulins used to fight infections. In fact, when Albert Sabin made his first oral vaccine against polio, the immunoglobulin he used came from bovine colostrum. When antibiotics began to appear, interest in colostrum waned, but, now that antibiotic-resistant strains of pathogens have developed, interest is once again returning to natural alternatives to antibiotics, namely, colostrum.
Some athletes have used colostrum in an attempt to improve their performance decrease recovery time, and prevent sickness during peak performance levels. Thus, supplementation with bovine colostrum (20 g/d) in combination with exercise training for 8 wk may increase bone-free lean body mass in active men and women.
Low IGF-1 levels may be associated with dementia in the very elderly, although causation has not been established. People with eating disorders also have low levels of IGF-1 due to malnutrition, as do obese individuals. Supplementation with colostrum, which is rich in IGF-1, can be a useful part of a weight reduction program. Although IGF-1 is not absorbed intact by the body, it does stimulate the production of IGF-1 when taken as a supplement.
Hyperimmune colostrum was an early attempt to boost the effectiveness of natural bovine colostrum by immunizing cows with a specific pathogen and then collecting the colostrum after the cow gave birth. This initially appeared very promising as antibodies did appear towards the specific pathogens or antigens that were used in the original challenge. However, upon closer examination and comparison, it was found that IgG levels in natural colostrum towards 19 specific human pathogens were just as high as in hyperimmune colostrum, and natural colostrum nearly always had higher antibody titers than did the hyperimmune version. However, travelan, a drug used to prevent traveler's diarrhea is made using this method, and has been shown to prevent the disease in up to 90% of people.
Proline-rich Polypeptides (PRP) Edit
These small immune signaling peptides were independently discovered in colostrum and other sources, such as blood plasma, in the United States, and Poland. Hence they appear under various names in the literature, including Colostrinin, CLN, transfer factor and PRP. They function as signal transducing molecules that have the unique effect of modulating the immune system, turning it up when the body comes under attack from pathogens or other disease agents, and damping it when the danger is eliminated or neutralized. At first thought to actually transfer immunity from one immune system to another, it now appears that PRP simply stimulates cell-mediated immunity.
A 2006 study published in the Journal of Experimental Therapeutics and Oncology indicated that PRP may have an impact on the aging process by reducing the spontaneous or induced mutation frequency in the DNA of cells. Such DNA damage is implicated in the general process of aging. The study, which was performed in both hamster and human cells, looked at the impact of PRP on the frequency of defined DNA mutations in these cells as they occur naturally and when induced by various known chemical or physical agents. In cells stressed oxidatively, PRP reduced the frequency of mutation induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) to nearly background levels in a dose-dependent manner. It is suggested that the antimutagenic properties of PRP are achieved via multiple mechanisms - by decreasing intracellular levels of ROS and so preventing DNA damage and by increasing the efficiency of natural DNA repair mechanisms.
PRP-rich preparations from bovine colostrum have shown some activity against various diseases including viral infections of herpes viruses and HIV, as well as difficult to treat bacterial and fungal infections like Mycobacterium fortuitum and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (cause of tuberculosis), cryptosporidosis in AIDS patients, and candida. Also for various forms of cancer, such as Hodgkin's disease, osteogenic sarcoma, prostate cancer, and others. As an immune modulator, PRP is also effective in disease states characterized by an overactive immune system, such as allergies, asthma, and autoimmune diseases.
PRP has some effect in neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease, but has not yet shown longterm disease retarding effect. A placebo-controlled clinical trial in 106 people with Alzheimer’s over 30 weeks was completed in 2002 and the results appeared to demonstrate efficacy in a significant proportion of patients treated. The results showed that approximately 40% of patients taking PRP were stabilized or improved after 15 weeks of therapy, based on an Analysis of Overall Response. 33% of patients continued to show stabilization or improvement after 30 weeks of treatment, although levels of benefit were slightly higher at the 15-week stage of the trial. The dosage regimen used for the trial was 100 micrograms of PRP administered every second day for three weeks followed by a two-week period without PRP.
There is one report of use in patients with intractable epilepsy.
- ↑ Gottstein, Michael. Colostrum is vital ingredient to keep newborn lambs alive. Irish Independent. 3 March 2009.
- ↑ Peter Bird, Northamptonshire ACRE 'Village Voices' oral history recordings, Northamptonshire ACRE and Northamptonshire County Archives
- ↑ L. Saint, Margret Smith, P. E. Hartmann (1984). The yield and nutrient content of colostrum and milk of women from giving birth to 1 month post-partum. British Journal of Nutrition 52.
- ↑ Groves, ML (1960). The isolation of a red protein from milk. Journal of the American Chemical Society 82 (13): 3345–3360.
- ↑ Paulík S, Slanina L, Polácek M (January 1985). [Lysozyme in the colostrum and blood of calves and dairy cows]. Vet Med (Praha) 30 (1): 21–8.
- ↑ Reiter B (1978). The lactoperoxidase-thiocyanate-hydrogen peroxide antibacterium system. Ciba Found. Symp. (65): 285–94.
- ↑ Brock, JH (1975). Bactericidal and hemolytic activity of complement in bovine colostrum and serum: effect of proteolytic enzymes and ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid (EGTA). Annales d'Immunologie 126C (4): 439–451.
- ↑ Zabłocka A, Janusz M, Rybka K, Wirkus-Romanowska I, Kupryszewski G, Lisowski J (2001). Cytokine-inducing activity of a proline-rich polypeptide complex (PRP) from ovine colostrum and its active nonapeptide fragment analogs. Eur. Cytokine Netw. 12 (3): 462–7.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Hagiwara K, Kataoka S, Yamanaka H, Kirisawa R, Iwai H (October 2000). Detection of cytokines in bovine colostrum. Vet. Immunol. Immunopathol. 76 (3–4): 183–90.
- ↑ Rudloff HE, Schmalstieg FC, Mushtaha AA, Palkowetz KH, Liu SK, Goldman AS (January 1992). Tumor necrosis factor-alpha in human milk. Pediatr. Res. 31 (1): 29–33.
- ↑ Maheshwari A, Christensen RD, Calhoun DA (November 2003). ELR+ CXC chemokines in human milk. Cytokine 24 (3): 91–102.
- ↑ Xu RJ (1996). Development of the newborn GI tract and its relation to colostrum/milk intake: a review. Reprod. Fertil. Dev. 8 (1): 35–48.
- ↑ O'Dell SD, Day IN (July 1998). Insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II). Int. J. Biochem. Cell Biol. 30 (7): 767–71.
- ↑ Okada M (1991). Transforming growth factor (TGF)-alpha in human milk. Life Sci. 48 (12): 1151–6.
- ↑ Saito S, Yoshida M, Ichijo M, Ishizaka S, Tsujii T (October 1993). Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) in human milk. Clin. Exp. Immunol. 94 (1): 220–4.
- ↑ Tokuyama Y, Tokuyama H (February 1993). Purification and identification of TGF-beta 2-related growth factor from bovine colostrum. J. Dairy Res. 60 (1): 99–109.
- ↑ Hironaka, T, et al. Identification and partial purification of a basic fibroblast growth factor-like growth factor derived from bovine colostrum. Journal of Dairy Science 80(3):488-495 (1997)
- ↑ Xiao X, Xiong A, Chen X, Mao X, Zhou X (March 2002). Epidermal growth factor concentrations in human milk, cow's milk and cow's milk-based infant formulas. Chin. Med. J. 115 (3): 451–4.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Playford RJ, Macdonald CE, Johnson WS (July 2000). Colostrum and milk-derived peptide growth factors for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 72 (1): 5–14.
- ↑ Vuorela P, Andersson S, Carpén O, Ylikorkala O, Halmesmäki E (November 2000). Unbound vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptors in breast, human milk, and newborn intestine. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 72 (5): 1196–201.
- ↑ Flidel-Rimon O, Roth P (November 1997). Effects of milk-borne colony stimulating factor-1 on circulating growth factor levels in the newborn infant. J. Pediatr. 131 (5): 748–50.
- ↑ Pakkanen R, Aalto J. (1997). Growth Factors and Antimicrobial Factors of Bovine Colostrum. International Dairy Journal 7 (5): 285–297.
- ↑ Venner M, Markus RG, Strutzberg-Minder K, Nogai K, Beyerbach M, Klug E (2008). [Evaluation of immunoglobulin G concentration in colostrum of mares by ELISA, refractometry and colostrometry]. Berliner Und Münchener Tierärztliche Wochenschrift 121 (1–2): 66–72.
- ↑ (2002). Colostrum and its benefits: a review. Nutrition Research 22 (6).
- ↑ (May 1999). Bovine colostrum is a health food supplement which prevents NSAID induced gut damage. Gut 44 (5): 653–8.
- ↑ (Jun 1996). Trophic factors for the gastrointestinal tract. Clin Perinatol 23 (2): 265–85.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 (2001). A comparison of IgG and IgG1 activity in an early milk concentrate from non-immunised cows and a milk from hyperimmunised animals. Food Research International 34 (2–3): 255–261.
- ↑ (Nov 1950). Antipoliomyelitic substance in milk of human beings and certain cows. AMA Am J Dis Child 80 (5): 866–7.
- ↑ (Oct 2003). Antibiotic prophylaxis: problems in paradise. Dent Clin North Am 47 (4): 665–79.
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 (Dec 2002). The effect of bovine colostrum supplementation on exercise performance in elite field hockey players. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 12 (4): 461–9.
- ↑ (Jun 2002). Bovine colostrum supplementation during endurance running training improves recovery, but not performance. J Sci Med Sport 5 (2): 65–79.
- ↑ Ray Playford et al. (2011). The nutriceutical, bovine colostrum, truncates the increase in gut permeability caused by heavy exercise in athletes. American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, (March 2011).
- ↑ (Apr 1990). The effect of long endurance running on natural killer cells in marathoners. Med Sci Sports Exerc 22 (2): 207–12.
- ↑ (Mar 2001). The effects of bovine colostrum supplementation on body composition and exercise performance in active men and women. Nutrition 17 (3): 243–7.
- ↑ (Feb 2001). Serum insulin-like growth factor-1 in centenarians: implications of IGF-1 as a rapid turnover protein. J Gerontol a Biol Sci Med Sci 56 (2): M79–82.
- ↑ (Jun 2001). Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), a nutritional marker in patients with eating disorders. Clin Nutr 20 (3): 251–7.
- ↑ (Mar 1994). The impact of obesity, fat distribution, and energy restriction on insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), IGF-binding protein-3, insulin, and growth hormone. Metabolism 43 (3): 315–9.
- ↑ (Aug 2002). IGF-I, IgA, and IgG responses to bovine colostrum supplementation during training. J Appl Physiol 93 (2): 732–9.
- ↑ (May 1999). Inhibition of iron/ascorbate-induced lipid peroxidation by an N-terminal peptide of bovine lactoferrin and its acylated derivatives. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 63 (5): 955–7.
- ↑ (Dec 1988). Antioxidant protection by haemopexin of haem-stimulated lipid peroxidation. Biochem J 256 (3): 861–5.
- ↑ Randomized control trials using a tablet formulation of hyperimmune bovine colostrum to prevent diarrhea caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in volunteers. Informa Healthcare, Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, 2011; Early Online, 1–7. URL accessed on 2011-05-23.
- ↑ Lawrence HS (August 1949). The cellular transfer of cutaneous hypersensitivity to tuberculin in man. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 71 (4): 516–22.
- ↑ Janusz M, Lisowski J, Franĕk F (December 1974). Isolation and characterization of a proline-rich polypeptide from ovine colostrum. FEBS Lett. 49 (2): 276–9.
- ↑ Zimecki M (2008). A proline-rich polypeptide from ovine colostrum: colostrinin with immunomodulatory activity. Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 606: 241–50.
- ↑ Levin AS, Spitler LE, Fudenberg HH (1975). Transfer factor I: methods of therapy. Birth Defects Orig. Artic. Ser. 11 (1): 445–8.
- ↑ Bacsi Attila; Aguilera-Aguirre Leopoldo; German Peter; Kruzel Marian L; Boldogh Istvan; Colostrinin decreases spontaneous and induced mutation frequencies at the hprt locus in Chinese hamster V79 cells, Journal of Experimental Therapeutics & Oncology 2006; 5(4):249-59.
- ↑ Khan A (February 1978). Transfer factor in viral diseases. Lancet 1 (8059): 328–9.
- ↑ Estrada-Parra S (1995). Immunotherapy with transfer factor of recurrent herpes simplex type I. Arch. Med. Res. 26 Spec No: S87–92.
- ↑ Raise E (1996). Preliminary results in HIV-1-infected patients treated with transfer factor (TF) and zidovudine (ZDV). Biotherapy 9 (1–3): 49–54.
- ↑ Wilson GB, Metcalf JF, Fudenberg HH (May 1982). Treatment of Mycobacterium fortuitum pulmonary infection with "transfer factor" (TF): new methodology for evaluating TF potency and predicting clinical response. Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol. 23 (2): 478–91.
- ↑ Fabre RA (May 2004). Transfer factors as immunotherapy and supplement of chemotherapy in experimental pulmonary tuberculosis. Clin. Exp. Immunol. 136 (2): 215–23.
- ↑ Louie E (September 1987). Treatment of cryptosporidiosis with oral bovine transfer factor. Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol. 44 (3): 329–34.
- ↑ Feigin RD, Shackelford PG, Eisen S, Spitler LE, Pickering LK, Anderson DC (January 1974). Treatment of mucocutaneous candidasis with transfer factor. Pediatrics 53 (1): 63–70.
- ↑ Phillips J, Boiucheix C, Pizza G, Sartorio C, Viza D (March 1978). Effect of in vitro produced transfer factor on Hodgkin patients. Br. J. Haematol. 38 (3): 430–1.
- ↑ Levin AS (March 1975). Osteogenic sarcoma. Immunologic parameters before and during immunotherapy with tumor-specific transfer factor. J. Clin. Invest. 55 (3): 487–99.
- ↑ Pizza G (1996). A preliminary report on the use of transfer factor for treating stage D3 hormone-unresponsive metastatic prostate cancer. Biotherapy 9 (1–3): 123–32.
- ↑ Boldogh I, Aguilera-Aguirre L, Bacsi A, Choudhury BK, Saavedra-Molina A, Kruzel M (2008). Colostrinin decreases hypersensitivity and allergic responses to common allergens. Int. Arch. Allergy Immunol. 146 (4): 298–306.
- ↑ Keech A (2008). Peptide Immunotherapy: The Use of Bovine Colostrum Proline-Rich Polypeptides in Cytokine Modulation for the Alternative Relief of Allergic Symptoms. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 119 (1): S260–S260.
- ↑ Khan A (April 1978). The usefulness of transfer factor in asthma associated with frequent infections. Ann Allergy 40 (4): 229–32.
- ↑ Lawrence HS (June 1965). Transfer factor and autoimmune disease. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 124 (1): 56–60.
- ↑ Bilikiewicz A, Gaus W (February 2004). Colostrinin (a naturally occurring, proline-rich, polypeptide mixture) in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. J. Alzheimers Dis. 6 (1): 17–26.
- ↑ Robles A (2009). Pharmacological Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease: Is it Progressing Adequately?. Open Neurol J 3: 27–44.
- ↑ A. Bilikiewicz; W. Gaus; Colostrinin (a naturally occurring proline-rich polypeptide mixture) in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 6 (2004) 17–26 17 IOS Press.
- ↑ Simko M, Mokrán V, Nyulassy S (April 1997). [Immunomodulatory therapy of epilepsy with transfer factor]. Bratisl Lek Listy 98 (4): 234–7.
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).| | <urn:uuid:4bb90118-1a28-4c36-86ca-9438fe12cb67> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Colostrum | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.861898 | 5,263 | 3.21875 | 3 |
English to English
1. the relative magnitudes of two quantities (usually expressed as a quotient)
2. the relation between things (or parts of things) with respect to their comparative quantity, magnitude, or degree
an inordinate proportion of the book is given over to quotations|a dry martini has a large proportion of gin
3. The relation which one quantity or magnitude has to another of the same kind. It is expressed by the quotient of the division of the first by the second; thus, the ratio of 3 to 6 is expressed by &frac36; or ½; of a to b by a/b; or (less commonly) the second term is made the dividend; as, a:b = b/a. | <urn:uuid:8d7b6f83-8f26-4cb8-974f-dc8a40824f9b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.artikata.com/arti-149573-ratio.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00062-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950287 | 154 | 3.859375 | 4 |
Doctors have known for years that blood levels of lead in children may rise by more than 10 percent in summer.
Now, scientists are a step closer to understanding the warm weather connection.
According to a new study in the American Chemical Society's journal Environmental Science and Technology, "wind, humidity and other weather-related factors" may increase the amount of lead-containing dust in the air in summer. Exactly the time when kids are outside playing.
The new nine-year study followed more than 367,000 Detroit children. In a report, researchers called the "mysterious seasonal fluctuation in blood lead levels in children" a result of exposure to "re-suspended dust contaminated with lead."
Previous studies have noted seasonal swings in kids in cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, and Washington, D.C. In those locations, researchers report, blood lead levels in kids rise in July, August, and September, and fall in winter and spring.
Meanwhile, a story about the metal on Time.com indicated that lead poisoning in children still is a significant concern for parents.
It is especially worrisome, Time said, in cities where "older housing materials remain sources of potential exposure."
Citing other research on the topic, Time said exposure can result in "low performance in science, reading and math in elementary and junior high school students"— even at "levels lower than the federal limit."
In light of their findings, authors of the Detroit study suggested that the federal government's emphasis on lead-based paint "may be "out-of-step" with the latest info. Efforts should be focused on "contaminated soils."
And that makes sense.
As long as some kids are still at risk for elevated blood levels of lead, even tiny particles continue to be national problem.
Clearly, there's a lot do before all our kids are safe.
What have you done to limit contaminants in your environment? Tell us in the space below. | <urn:uuid:063f41fe-6f4a-431d-86ad-46d0aa98a0cf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.whattoexpect.com/wom/family-life/why-kids-blood-levels-of-lead-may-rise-in-july-august-and-september.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00125-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944319 | 404 | 3.296875 | 3 |
The subject of Jewish identity is one of the most vexed and contested issues of modern religious and ethnic group history. This interdisciplinary collection draws on work in law, anthropology, history, sociology, literature, and popular culture to consider contemporary and historical responses to the question, "Who and what is Jewish?"
These essays look at the forces, ranging from new genetic and reproductive technologies to increasingly multicultural societies, that push against established boundaries, examining how definitions of Jewishness have been established, enforced, challenged, and transformed. What makes Boundaries of Jewish Identity distinctive is its attention to the various Jewish "epistemologies" or ways of knowing who counts as a Jew. The essays reveal that answers to that question reflect the different social, intellectual, and political locations of those who are asking.
This book provides an excellent opportunity to examine how Jews fit into an increasingly diverse America and an increasingly complicated global society.
"A provocative and timulating book about a much talked about but surprisingly under-analyzed subject."
David Biale, University of California, Davis
"A wonderfully coherent, superbly edited volume about the incoherence of contemporary Jewish identity. Its lucid, intriguing essays provide a fresh, and at times unsettling, perspective on what it means to be Jewish."---Steven J. Zipperstein, Stanford University | <urn:uuid:966c9490-2c4d-43a3-9039-9e991468743a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.moviemars.com/nonfiction/book-boundaries-of-jewish-identity.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00012-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913617 | 267 | 2.625 | 3 |
CATs can be used to stimulate students to think about
their own learning and thinking processes. CATs related to metacognitive
assessment include study-time logs to self-assess engagement and effort,
diagnostic learning logs to analyze preparation, and exam post-mortems
to assess and plan for specific exam learning strategies. In
addition to using CATs to enhance student metacognition, many faculty
advocated the use of student learning style analyses to alert students
to their own natural preferences.
Learning style analysis
has been historically used for basic skills or college readiness
programs, but new research on learning indicates that is useful for all
students. Several institutions provide access to online learning styles
analysis (North Carolina State, Georgia
Southern University, University of Tennessee, Penn State University,
University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Davis).
Learning style tests differ in their
classification methods but most suggest study strategies based upon the
diagnosis, saving the student time and energy. The two self-assessment
websites below quickly determine student learning
preferences and suggest strategies in less than 15 minutes.
Kinesthetic) by Fleming & Bonwell,
Style Analysis by Soloman and Felder, 1999
One approach is to require students to do the VARK
analysis as homework and turn in a specific study strategy based upon the
syllabus and course outcomes as homework after the first class meeting.
The following class meeting students can be temporarily grouped around the classroom
based upon learning styles. Grouping by learning styles, allows them to
develop study teams by selecting participants with a variety of learning
strengths besides their own.
Inevitably there are very few students that learn best through auditory styles, the teaching modality
they have been most exposed to in college. Examining learning styles
helps students to become aware of, and broaden, their ability to learn
from various teaching styles (Felder, 1993). *The large number of
kinesthetic learners always reminds me of the importance of hands-on
activities, even though they take more of my time and effort.
Understanding learning styles is an
important faculty consideration when choosing assessment methodologies.
Anderson (2000) advocated that, particularly in open admission
environments common in community colleges, there is an increased need to
adapt assessment methods to a variety of learning styles. | <urn:uuid:360b9320-fb2d-43fc-ad2b-7f0b13ebc152> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www2.bakersfieldcollege.edu/courseassessment/Section_5_Course%20Assessment/Section5_7metacognition.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00037-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9216 | 499 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Are you becoming agitated and irritable when your child won’t listen? When you’re out, are others noticing her behavior?
Many times a child is called “stubborn”or “bad,” when there IS a real problem. Many teachers or even parents label a young child as “difficult” or as a behavior problem when the real problem is, he doesn’t understand and process language as well as other children his age.
This happens often when children achieve their milestones on the late end of the expected developmental ranges. And this is always the case for toddlers who have been diagnosed with developmental delays and other issues such as autism spectrum disorder, sensory processing disorder, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, or who were born prematurely.
Because of these delays, whether mild or severe, all of these children have trouble understanding what’s expected of them.
This makes it even more difficult to know how to discipline them or even determine what’s appropriate to try.
The good news is ….
There are lots of very practical ways to work on these skills at home.
You can learn simple, but effective strategies for improving the way a child understands language so that he can begin to obey.
There’s finally a DVD series that will teach you EXACTLY how to help your child learn to understand your words and learn to obey your instructions.
It’s called Teach Me To Listen and Obey, and it was developed by Laura Mize, pediatric speech-language pathologist and author of the website teachmetotalk.com.
There’s so much information that it’s been split it into a 2 part DVD series to address specific developmental phases and disciplinary approaches for both toddlers and preschoolers.
Both DVDs focus on helping parents, and even professionals, teach receptive language skills, or improving the way a child understands and comprehends language.
Teach Me To Listen and Obey takes the camera inside real therapy sessions with children just like yours. Whatever stage you child is at – whether you’re just wondering if there’s a problem and want to try to address it at home, or if you’ve already seen a professional and your child has been diagnosed with a developmental delay – you’ll see all kinds of children with various abilities and at different stages.
Save $$ when you buy the 3 DVD Set – Teach Me To Talk and Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1 & 2.
For easy ordering and for a special discounted rate, order here.
To order through PayPal, select here:
To purchase Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1, click this BUY NOW button.
For Teach Me To Listen and Obey 2, click this BUY NOW button.
Here’s a sneak peek….
Clip from Teach Me To Listen and Obey 2………….
Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1 is a packed hour-long DVD that teaches parents how to help younger toddlers, and even older preschool children with developmental delays, learn to understand words and follow basic directions.
Teach Me To Listen and Obey 2 is a full two hours long and is for parents of older toddlers and young preschoolers ages 2 to 4 who need help learning to understand many different kinds of words so that they can follow more complex commands and begin to consistently obey. Watch more……
Buy the entire set and you’ll get a full 3 hours of instruction to help you teach your child to understand new words, consistently follow your directions, AND you’ll learn what to do about it when this doesn’t happen.
See more from the discipline section of Teach Me To Listen and Obey 2…..
It’s hard to discipline ANY toddler, but when you’re considering your options for a toddler with developmental delays, it’s especially challenging.
In Teach Me To Listen and Obey 2, you’ll review the?techniques recommended by behavior experts, and then you’ll see actual demonstrations of how to handle common behavior problems such as:
- Difficulty with transitions
- Throwing things
- Melt-downs and tantrums
- Difficulty paying attention and staying on task
- Refusing to do what you’ve asked?
There’s even an entire section on how to use time out for toddlers with developmental challenges.
If your child is not learning to understand new words and does not follow your directions, you need to change your approach.
Learn what works to be able to teach your toddler or preschooler to listen and follow through.
Learn what works to be able to teach your toddler or preschooler to listen and obey.
Much of the time, it’s not what you do, but HOW you do it. Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1 and 2 will show you how to teach your child in an easy, step-by-step format, that you can easily implement at home.
A mom’s feedback from email about Teach Me To Listen and Obey:
Four months ago I noticed my daughter didn’t talk as well as other childrend her age. After visiting our local school district for a speech eval, I was sent home and told she was fine and would have a “word burst” any day now. I wasn’t comfortable with the “wait and see” idea, so I turned to the internet and THANKFULLY found your website. From your site alone, I was able to educate myself and understand my daughter’s problem was a language issue, and she was way over due for her “word burst.” It prompted me to get an assessment with a private SLP, and we then found she does have a moderate expressive language delay that is not going to correct itself! Even though my daughter scored normally on her receptive language test, I saw the signs you listed that may still point to a receptive language issue, specifically not being able to answer simple questions or follow simple commands, using lots of jargon, etc. I decided to get Teach Me to Listen and Obey 2 to get some ideas to work with her at home. As expected, it gave me many great game ideas. In fact, my daughter found your voice so engaging, she kept coming into the room to view the video with me. I could tell she really wanted to play the games! But perhaps the most valuable thing your video taught me was that raising a child with a language delay is different and it’s hard!? My daughter and I are both frustrated all the time, so it’s my job to keep it together and to fill in the communication gaps. I needed to be reminded of that, and I am a better parent today because of it. Thank you so much for your wonderful website and videos. Thank you, thank you!” Teresa G
Read what a few parents and professionals who previewed the project during the editing process said:
“I loved your first DVD Teach Me To Talk, but I think I enjoyed Teach Me To Listen and Obey even more! The way you presented the information made it very easy to understand. My child does have some difficulty understanding what’s said to him, but I never thought it could be the reason he doesn’t seem to listen to me. Thank you for letting me watch this because now I know how to help him better.”
“The discipline information alone would be worth the money to buy the whole set.”
“As a father, I want my son to mind me. Until I watched your video I didn’t understand that he didn’t understand. Thank you for showing me that.”
“This is a great DVD set for teaching parents how to view receptive language delays. I’m a developmental therapist, and I learned several new things that I will be thinking about as I work with my clients.”
“This is the BEST DVD I’ve ever seen for teaching a parent how to work on receptive language at home.”
Use the following guidelines to determine which DVD is most appropriate for your child:
Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1 is for parents of a child who:
- Can’t follow simple directions
- Doesn’t consistently respond to his or her name
- Won’t participate in simple games or play with an adult
- Needs help understanding very basic concepts like learning the names of familiar objects and people, pointing to body parts, or completing early requests such as, “Wave bye-bye,” or “Give me a kiss.”
- Demonstrates developmental and receptive language skills below the 24 month level
Even if you feel your child is older and past the “baby” stage, if he is not consistently following simple directions or paying attention when you talk to him, you need to begin here.
In Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1, you’ll learn what things your child must do first so that he can begin to understand words. You’ll also learn the background information you need to decide if there’s a real problem. Thisincludes the definition of receptive language,the early signs and symptoms of a receptive language disorder, and you’ll see a review the basic receptive language milestones for toddlers and preschool children between 1 and 4.
You’ll learn simple ways to cue your child, and an EASY tag line to help you remember what to do! You’ll be able to use these techniques during play and during your daily routines at home to provide a strong foundation for comprehension and communication skills.
Teach Me To Listen and Obey 2 is for parents of a child who:
- Gets “lost” when trying to follow more complicated commands
- Needs help expanding his vocabulary to understand many different kinds of words
- May understand basic directions, but won’t follow through with what you’ve asked her to do
- Has reached a developmental and receptive language age-equivalency of at least 24 months, but is still behind his peers who are 2, 3, or 4
- Is ready to move on to higher-level language skills, but you’re not sure how to teach these or you don’t know what should come next
During Teach Me To Listen and Obey 2 you’ll see demonstrations of teaching children how to understand?the major language comprehension?milestones for children ages 2 to 4. This includes learning to understand verbs, prepositions, adjectives, pronouns, and other concepts such as size, categories, parts of an object, object functions, quantity, and making inferences.
You’ll also find out what’s NOT important to teach your child at this phase of language development so that you can use your time efficiently and wisely.
You’ll learn how to design “games” for teaching young children to listen and follow directions, and you’ll get ideas for involving siblings at home. Here’s an example……….
SPECIAL OFFER – Save $15 when you order the DVDs as a set here.
Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1 and Teach Me To Listen and Obey 2 are available as separate DVDs through these PayPal links:
Buy Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1
Buy Teach Me To Listen and Obey 2
Buy the entire set, you’ll get 3 full hours of instruction to help you teach your child to understand new words and follow your directions. Order your set now!
Save even more when you combine this set with the best-selling DVD Teach Me To Talk the DVD. If your child isn’t talking and is having difficulty understanding, then this is the recommended set for you! Choose the 3 DVD set and receive Teach Me To Talk the DVD and Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1 & 2 for $84.99. Save now here! | <urn:uuid:8bbbf74c-1fc6-4d59-b57c-fa01ca330809> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://teachmetotalk.com/2009/01/04/best-dvd-for-receptive-language-therapy-at-home/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00015-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951546 | 2,491 | 2.65625 | 3 |
September 30, 2010
Competition between cells in the body contributes to the health of tissues, regulates the size of organs, and underlies the growth of tumors. In the case of the germ cells —- egg and sperm — or their precursors, the outcome of a competition not only affects the quality and quantity of germ cells, but also is inherited by the offspring, making it relevant to evolution.
With her new innovator award developmental biologist Diana Laird will study the mechanisms of competition between the precursors of egg and sperm in the embryo to shed light on cancer, where similar mechanisms are likely exploited by tumor cells. This competition among cells will need to be considered in stem cell therapy and other treatments that introduce cells into the body, Laird says.
Diana Laird, PhD is an assistant professor in residence in the UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine | <urn:uuid:3fa71d27-fae0-4952-916b-0eadad364df8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://coe.ucsf.edu/coe/spotlight/innovators_award.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398209.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946685 | 197 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Many illnesses and routine infections such as coughs and colds can be avoided through good personal hygiene. The importance of teaching your child basic hygiene routines to avoid the transmission of infection cannot be overstated. Encourage your child to wash their hand regularly with soap and water before meals and after visits to the bathroom. Where possible they should avoid sharing towels with other students.
A healthy diet can make all the difference in boosting your child’s immune system. It is important therefore to ensure that they have a balanced and varied lunchbox .Sugary treats should only be rarely and sparingly included in lunch boxes because all they provide is empty calories. When it comes to choice of drink, from a dental health point of view the best options are water or milk.
Unfortunately the return to school is often shortly followed by an outbreak of headlice. You need to be vigilant and regularly check your child’s head for evidence of lice or eggs – watch out for scratching. Regularly wash and comb out your child’s hair with a nit comb to check for lice and eggs, Unfortunately head lice have become increasingly resistant to different insecticides with recent research estimating that four out of five had lice are now resistant to the treatment used to date. A few new treatments have come on to the market recently so it is worth talking to your chemist for the most up-to-date advice.
In any event, if you find the dreaded lice in your off-springs hair it is important to immediately inform your school so that other parents can be alerted to the need to check and treat their kids if necessary.
The majority of children will have been through the chicken pox illness before they reach primary school – most having contracted it during their time in crèches or playschools. However there will still be a number of children who have been lucky enough to avoid the illness. It is important therefore that a child who contracts chickenpox is kept away from school until the illness passes so as to avoid passing it on to their class mates.
A child with chickenpox is infectious from two to four days before the rash first appears until all the spots have crusted over. The chickenpox illness usually lasts about two weeks. | <urn:uuid:d147ec17-d4b8-4e0b-acf8-6368377c4077> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.schooldays.ie/articles/school-bugs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398209.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00180-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971131 | 456 | 3.546875 | 4 |
1. How many northern lakes had author John J. "Jim" Rowlands said he had seen when he happened upon Cache Lake?
2. What time of year was it when Jim first came upon Cache Lake?
3. What was the term used when the early morning mist that hung over the lake was referred to?
4. How long was it from the time Jim initially happened upon Cache Lake until he first returned?
5. What did the term "cache" mean?
A hidden storage place for provisions.
6. What did Jim relate was the reason it had been difficult to find Chief Tibeash despite his many efforts?
Indians did not leave forwarding addresses.
This section contains 6,011 words
(approx. 21 pages at 300 words per page) | <urn:uuid:584f02fb-7283-4f5a-ac73-8473ae8b15e2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/lessonplan/cache-lake-country/shortanswerkey.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00014-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983763 | 162 | 3.390625 | 3 |
The tropical rain forest is a forest of tall trees in a region of year-round warmth. An average of 50 to 260 inches (125 to 660 cm.) of rain falls yearly.
Rain forests belong to the tropical wet climate group. The temperature in a rain forest rarely gets higher than 93 °F (34 °C) or drops below 68 °F (20 °C); average humidity is between 77 and 88%; rainfall is often more than 100 inches a year. There is usually a brief season of less rain. In monsoonal areas, there is a real dry season. Almost all rain forests lie near the equator.
Rainforests now cover less than 6% of Earth's land surface. Scientists estimate that more than half of all the world's plant and animal species live in tropical rain forests. Tropical rainforests produce 40% of Earth's oxygen.
A tropical rain forest has more kinds of trees than any other area in the world. Scientists have counted about 100 to 300 species in one 2 1/2-acre (1-hectare) area in South America . Seventy percent of the plants in the rainforest are trees.
About 1/4 of all the medicines we use come from rainforest plants. Curare comes from a tropical vine, and is used as an anesthetic and to relax muscles during surgery. Quinine, from the cinchona tree, is used to treat malaria. A person with lymphocytic leukemia has a 99% chance that the disease will go into remission because of the rosy periwinkle. More than 1,400 varieties of tropical plants are thought to be potential cures for cancer.
All tropical rain forests resemble one another in some ways. Many of the trees have straight trunks that don't branch out for 100 feet or more. There is no sense in growing branches below the canopy where there is little light. The majority of the trees have smooth, thin bark because there is no need to protect the them from water loss and freezing temperatures. It also makes it difficult for epiphytes and plant parasites to get a hold on the trunks. The bark of different species is so similar that it is difficult to identify a tree by its bark. Many trees can only be identified by their flowers.
Despite these differences, each of the three largest rainforests--the Americas, the African, and the Asian--has a different group of animal and plant species. Each rain forest has many species of monkeys, all of which differ from the species of the other two rain forests. In addition, different areas of the same rain forest may have different species. Many kinds of trees that grow in the mountains of the Amazon rain forest do not grow in the lowlands of that same forest.
Layers of the Rainforest
There are four very distinct layers of trees in a tropical rain forest. These layers have been identified as the emergent , upper canopy, understory, and forest floor.
Emergent trees are spaced wide apart, and are 100 to 240 feet tall with umbrella-shaped canopies that grow above the forest. Because emergent trees are exposed to drying winds, they tend to have small, pointed leaves. Some species lose their leaves during the brief dry season in monsoon rainforests. These giant trees have straight, smooth trunks with few branches. Their root system is very shallow, and to support their size they grow buttresses that can spread out to a distance of 30 feet.
The upper canopy of 60 to 130 foot trees allows light to be easily available at the top of this layer, but greatly reduced any light below it. Most of the rainforest's animals live in the upper canopy. There is so much food available at this level that some animals never go down to the forest floor. The leaves have "drip spouts" that allows rain to run off. This keeps them dry and prevents mold and mildew from forming in the humid environment.
The understory, or lower canopy, consists of 60 foot trees. This layer is made up of the trunks of canopy trees, shrubs, plants and small trees. There is little air movement. As a result the humidity is constantly high. This level is in constant shade.
The forest floor is usually completely shaded, except where a canopy tree has fallen and created an opening. Most areas of the forest floor receive so little light that few bushes or herbs can grow there. As a result, a person can easily walk through most parts of a tropical rain forest. Less than 1 % of the light that strikes the top of the forest penetrates to the forest floor. The top soil is very thin and of poor quality. A lot of litter falls to the ground where it is quickly broken down by decomposers like termites, earthworms and fungi. The heat and humidity further help to break down the litter. This organic matter is then just as quickly absorbed by the trees' shallow roots. Plant LifeBesides these four layers, a shrub/sapling layer receives about 3 % of the light that filters in through the canopies. These stunted trees are capable of a sudden growth surge when a gap in the canopy opens above them. The air beneath the lower canopy is almost always humid. The trees themselves give off water through the pores (stomata) of their leaves. This process, called transpiration, can account for as much as half of the precipitation in the rain forest. Rainforest plants have made many adaptations to their environment. With over 80 inches of rain per year, plants have made adaptations that helps them shed water off their leaves quickly so the branches don't get weighed down and break. Many plants have drip tips and grooved leaves, and some leaves have oily coatings to shed water. To absorb as much sunlight as possible on the dark understory, leaves are very large. Some trees have leaf stalks that turn with the movement of the sun so they always absorb the maximum amount of light. Leaves in the upper canopy are dark green, small and leathery to reduce water loss in the strong sunlight. Some trees will grow large leaves at the lower canopy level and small leaves in the upper canopy. Other plants grow in the upper canopy on larger trees to get sunlight. These are the epiphytes such as orchids and bromeliads. Many trees have buttress and stilt roots for extra support in the shallow, wet soil of the rainforests.Over 2,500 species of vines grow in the rainforest. Lianas start off as small shrubs that grow on the forest floor. To reach the sunlight in the upper canopy it sends out tendrils to grab sapling trees. The liana and the tree grow towards the canopy together. The vines grow from one tree to another and make up 40% of the canopy leaves. The rattan vine has spikes on the underside of its leaves that point backwards to grab onto sapling trees. Other "strangler" vines will use trees as support and grow thicker and thicker as they reach the canopy, strangling its host tree. They look like trees whose centers have been hollowed out.Dominant species do not exist in tropical rainforests. Lowland dipterocarp forest can consist of many different species of Dipterocarpaceae, but not all of the same species. Trees of the same species are very seldom found growing close together. This bio diversity and separation of the species prevents mass contamination and die-off from disease or insect infestation. Bio diversity also insures that there will be enough pollinators to take care of each species' needs. Animals depend on the staggered blooming and fruiting of rainforest plants to supply them with a year-round source of food.
Animal LifeMany species of animal life can be found in the rain forest. Common characteristics found among mammals and birds (and reptiles and amphibians, too) include adaptations to a life in the trees, such as the prehensile tails of New World monkeys. Other characteristics are bright colors and sharp patterns, loud vocalizations, and diets heavy on fruits.Insects make up the largest single group of animals that live in tropical forests. They include brightly colored butterflies, mosquitoes, camouflaged stick insects, and huge colonies of ants.The Amazon river basin rainforest contains a wider variety of plant and animal life than any other biome in the world. The second largest population of plant and animal life can be found in scattered locations and islands of Southeast Asia. The lowest variety can be found in Africa. There may be 40 to 100 different species in 2.5 acres ( 1 hectare) of a tropical rain forest.
When early explorers first discovered the rainforests of Africa, Southeast Asia and South America, they They were amazed by the dense growth, trees with giant buttresses, vines and epiphytes . The tropical vegetation grew so dense that it was difficult to cut one's way through it. It was thought at the time that the soil of a rainforest must be very fertile, filled with nutrients, enabling it to support the immense trees and other vegetation they found.Today we know that the soil of the tropical rainforests is shallow, very poor in nutrients and almost without soluble minerals. Thousands of years of heavy rains have washed away the nutrients in the soil obtained from weathered rocks. The rainforest has a very short nutrient cycle. Nutrients generally stay in an ecosystem by being recycled and in a rainforest are mainly found in the living plants and the layers of decomposing leaf litter. Various species of decomposers like insects, bacteria, and fungi make quick work of turning dead plant and animal matter into nutrients. Plants take up these nutrients the moment they are released.
A study in the Amazon rainforest found that 99% of nutrients are held in root mats. When a rainforest is burned or cut down the nutrients are removed from the ecosystem. The soil can only be used for a very short time before it becomes completely depleted of all nutrients.
The Tropical Rain forest can be found in three major geographical areas around the world.
Central America (Belize) and in the the Amazon river basin. Also in Africa - Zaire basin, with a small area in West Africa; also eastern Madagascar. Indo-Malaysia - west coast of India, Assam, Southeast Asia, New Guinea and Queensland, Australia.
Introduction", http://www.hqlist.demon.nl/gvg/ctkoppen.htm (Nov 2000)"Köppen Biomes", http://www.tesarta.com/www/resources/library/biomes.html (Dec 2000)"Rainfall", http://encarta.msn.com/find/print.asp?&pg=8&ti=00531000&sc=29&pt=1 (Dec.2000)"Temperature", http://encarta.msn.com/find/print.asp?&pg=8&ti=00531000&sc=29&pt=1 (Dec.2000)Allaby, Michael, Biomes of the world volume 7 Oxford: Anndromedia Limited1999 Kellert, Stephen R. Macmillion Encyclopedia of the Environment. Simon and Schuster and Prentice Hall International. 1997"Rainforest Climate", http://passporttoknowledge.com/rainforest/GEOsystem/Rainforests/climate.html (March 2001)Stralhler, Arthur N. Strahler, Alan H. Elements of Physical Geography . John Wiley & Sons. 1997 | <urn:uuid:26eb3fd1-11a2-4294-bbae-7ce0ec04ee15> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://belizegateway.com/Rainforest-of-Belize.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00065-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943793 | 2,356 | 4.09375 | 4 |
See Safely: The Value of Safety Eyewear: At Work, At Home and At Play
approximately 2.4 million eye injuries occur in the U.S., both in and
outside the workplace. It's estimated that nearly 50,000 of those victims
lost some degree of their eyesight. According to the American Academy of
Ophthalmology (AAO), ninety percent (90%) of eye injuries could have
been prevented by safety eyewear/1. Eye injuries can happen
anywhere – at work, at home or at play. Safety eyewear is the first and
foremost form of protection against them.
Not only is it legally
required for many U.S. industries, but awareness is growing of the need
for safety eyewear outside the workplace, like while playing sports or
doing home projects. Safety eyewear can protect from minor eye injuries
like superficial corneal abrasions to the more serious, like
retinal detachments, internal bleeding, and even permanent blindness.
Eye hazards exist within many workplace settings and the most common eye injuries are caused by particles or objects, such as glass or dust, striking or scraping the eye. While 61 percent of eye injuries occur in manufacturing, construction or trade jobs, they are also common in offices, hospitals and laboratories. The reason for three out of five workplace eye injuries is that victims were wearing the wrong eye protection or none at all.
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) imposes stringent safety eyewear requirements in all workplace environments that put a worker's eyes at risk. Despite this, about 700,000 job-related eye injuries occur each year, carrying an annual price tag of approximately$467 million in direct and indirect costs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A well-implemented safety eyewear program protects not only a company's valued employees, but its own bottom line as well.
OSHA mandates that workplace safety eyewear complies with the standards set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Different types of safety eyewear suit different purposes. The main types include:
- Non-prescription and prescription safety glasses: These are mostly used for protection from dust, chips or flying particles. Side shields and wraparound-style safety glasses provide additional protection from dangers in the periphery. Safety lenses are available in various materials, although polycarbonate lenses are regarded as the most effective due to their impact resistance. Although sturdier, safety eyeglasses look very similar to regular eyeglasses and can include a variety of optional features.
- Goggles: These provide a protective shield around the eyes to secure against many hazards, including impact, dust and chemical splashes. Goggles can be worn over prescription eyeglasses and contact lenses for extra security.
- Face shields and helmets: Usually for welding or working with molten materials, face shields and helmets protect from heat, chemical or blood borne pathogens should be used in conjunction with safety glasses or goggles.
If a need for safety eyewear exists, employers must provide individually sized and fitted safety eyeglasses to each employee. They should also enforce its use.
We don't always notice the risks that many day-to-day activities pose.
Even outside the work setting, an eye injury can occur. Actually, the majority of eye injuries happen at home, often during lawn work or in the kitchen, resulting in abrasions, lacerations, or other eye irritations. While awareness is increasing, only 35 percent of people surveyed by the AAO consistently wear their protective eyewear when doing home repair or projects/2. The AAO recommends every household to have at least one pair of ANSI-approved safety eyewear for home use. They protect from elements like sawdust, sparks, flying bits of metal or wood fragments that can dislodge and damage your eyes.
sports field is another common setting for eye injuries, resulting in
approximately 40,000 emergency room visits each year, according to Prevent
Blindness America. Eye injuries can occur in most any sport but are common
in baseball and racquet sports, which involve flying objects at high
speeds. Many eye injuries also occur during contact sports like basketball
and ice hockey. Safety eyewear is especially important in paintball.
Paintball courts are hotbeds of devastating eye injury and require the
highest level of safety precautions. Never take off your head shield in
the playing area, even between games. In a study of paintball-related eye
injuries, 81% percent required surgical intervention/3.
Choosing the Right Safety Eyewear for you
Your eye care professional is well
versed in the safety eyewear options out there, which can include prescription
or non-prescription lenses. If your eyes don't require a prescription, it
only takes a trip to the sporting goods store or hardware store/home
building center to get the right safety eyewear for you. There are lots of
factors to consider when it comes to safety eyewear, both at home and on
- All safety eyewear should be made of polycarbonate
lenses which provide the highest level of impact protection (as well as
ultraviolet protection, which is a plus on the sports field).
- Safety eyewear used at home must meet the requirements by ANSI and
include the "Z-87" logo stamp.
- Safety eyewear used in sports should
reflect the ASTM logo (this means it's approved by the American Society for
Testing and Materials).
- Allow time to adjust to your safety
- Keep the eyewear on at all times during the activity.
The eyes are complex and delicate organs. We don't always notice the
risks that many day-to-day activities pose. Using safety eyewear can
significantly decrease your risks of suffering a devastating eye injury. | <urn:uuid:d6198da5-a25c-434d-a972-f334875e7b70> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.davisvision.com/See-Safely-The-Value-of-Safety-Eyewear/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00116-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944315 | 1,227 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Posted: 07 Aug 2013 10:41 AM PDT
Science has struggled to explain fully why an ice age occurs every 100,000 years. As researchers now demonstrate based on a computer simulation, not only do variations in insolation play a key role, but also the mutual influence of glaciated continents and climate.
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In 1939, Kurt Lewin led a group of researchers that studied the responses of school children when lead by leaders characterized as authoritarian, democratic or laissez-faire leaders.
Also known as the autocratic leadership style, the authoritarian style is characterized by the fact that the leader himself will answer the "what", "when", and "how" questions, without any considerations from his subordinates. In contrast to the servant leadership style, the authoritative leader will only think of their employees as a means to an end. As a result, the leader will ensure that the information, source of power, is closely graded and its distribution is carefully controlled.
One could wonder if there is actually a miss-conception about the authoritarian or autocratic leadership style. In the sense, that some would make the claim that leading by yelling, threats and abuse of power is rather an unprofessional style that doesn't belong within a leader's repertoire of styles. Other, would qualify these individuals as using an extreme version of the authoritative leadership style! Regardless of who is right or wrong, one thing is certain those yelling, making threats and abusing their power are not only ineffective, but are exposing themselves as well as the organization to legal issues.
In a lesser extreme, authoritarian leader are still capable of being very successful leader when the situation calls for such a style. I've discuss it in the autocratic leadership style article as well as provided some word of caution. However, authoritarian leaders that are motivated by a lack of self-confidence, insecurity or a feeling of inferiority won't be successful authoritarian leaders, as their subordinates will quickly discover the leader's motive.
Apart from the negative connotation to the term, there is a possibility of having a "smart" authoritarian leader, one that will command with certainty and provide unquestionable directions; however, he will do so because the situation call for it and not to feed is sense of superiority. For example, when a first respondent arrives at the scene of an accident, the leader of the group will use an authoritarian or autocratic leadership style to save your life! Thus, to measure the appropriateness of the usage, one should look at the motivation of the leader for using the style.
The authoritarian or autocratic leadership style as been the object of many studies, hence, we do understand when to use it and when not too! However, there appears to be a disconnect between human emotional states that would encourage an involuntary, for the most part, use of an authoritarian style, in other words when we feel stressed and organizational reality. The famous business line of "Do more with less" implicitly favours today's leaders to direct more and listen less. In addition, looking at the job posting online will reinforce this view, as employers are demanding more and more technical knowledge for their leadership positions. Consequently, contributing to an organizational culture where the leaders are experts within the area of expertise of the organization, favouring a prolonged an inappropriate use of the authoritarian or autocratic leadership style.
We encourage you to expand on the discussion, add to the critique or even share your vision with regards to the future applications of the theory.
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Causes and Effects of Abolition ~ Lesson Plan
(Click here for a printer-friendly version of this lesson).
LESSON TITLE: Antebellum Agents of Change: Causes and Effects of Abolition
GRADE LEVEL: 9-10
TIME ALLOTMENT: Two 45-minute sessions
In this lesson, students explore the concept of “cause and effect” as it relates to the abolition of slavery in the United States in the 1800s. Using clips from the PBS series The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, students examine the causes and effects of events in the Antebellum period of American history that contributed to the end of slavery. Students also apply cause-and-effect-based thinking to current events. This lesson can be taught in a thematically-structured curriculum when teaching methods of historical thinking, or in a chronologically-structured curriculum leading up to the Civil War. The lesson reinforces two important tenets of historical study:
• Cause and effect analysis of major and minor events is a crucial component in the study of history; and
• Understanding the multiple factors that lead to, and arise from, events increase our comprehension of history as a whole.
SUBJECT MATTER: Social Studies, American History
After completing this lesson, students will be able to:
- Identify causes that led to the abolition of slavery;
- Incorporate “cause-and effect” into historical thinking;
- Project the effects that historical events may have on the future.
From the Common Core Standards: English Language Arts, available online at
Common Core Standards, now adopted in over 40 states, are designed to help educators prepare students for success in college and careers by focusing on core knowledge and skills. The English Language Arts standards reflect the need for young people “to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in a variety of content areas” including history/social studies. This curricular resource developed to accompany The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross aligns most closely with the following Common Core Standards:
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.3 Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.
From the National Standards for United States History for grades 5-12, available online at http://www.nchs.ucla.edu/Standards/us-history-content-standards:
United States Era 4
Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
How the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tensions.
Standard 2D: The student understands the rapid growth of “the peculiar institution” after 1800 and the varied experiences of African Americans under slavery.
Grades 5-12: Identify the various ways in which African Americans resisted the conditions of their enslavement and analyze the consequences of violent uprisings.
Historical Thinking Standard 3
The student engages in historical analysis and interpretation:
Therefore, the student is able to:
- Analyze cause-and-effect relationships bearing in mind multiple causation including (a) the importance of the individual in history; (b) the influence of ideas, human interests, and beliefs; and (c) the role of chance, the accidental and the irrational.
- Hypothesize the influence of the past, including both the limitations and opportunities made possible by past decisions.
The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, selected segments.
Access the video segments for this lesson at the Episode Two Video Segments Page.
Segment 1: “Cotton Gin”
This video describes how the invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the worldwide textile industry, and with it the dynamics of the American slave community.
Segment 2: “Nat Turner Rebellion”
Learn about the Nat Turner Rebellion, and how it affected Southern slaveholders.
Segment 3: “Frederick Douglass”
This video describes the life of Frederick Douglass and his rise to prominence in the abolitionist community.
Segment 4: “Fugitive Slave Act”
In this video, learn about the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and what led to its implementation.
For the class:
- Computer, projection screen, and speakers (for class viewing of online video segments)
- Chalkboard, whiteboard, or overhead projector
For each group:
- Flip chart paper and markers OR computer or tablet
PREP FOR TEACHERS
Prior to teaching this lesson, you will need to:
Preview all of the video segments used in the lesson. Prepare to watch them using your classroom’s Internet connection.
Find educational resources related to this program - and access to thousands of curriculum-targeted digital resources for the classroom at PBS LearningMedia.Visit PBS Learning Media | <urn:uuid:38ae907f-4843-49f0-9bdf-858b443ea149> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/classroom/causes-and-effects-of-abolition-lesson-plan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00036-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.871602 | 1,075 | 3.734375 | 4 |
From 1926 to today, inflation has averaged about 3% per year. In order to stay even with the inflation an investor must earn after tax return of 3% each year. If you are in top most tax bracket, then the income from bonds is currently taxed at 35%.
The 10-year bond currently yields 4.21%. After paying 35% tax on this income, this investor will earn 2.73% return over the 10-year period. In real terms, the investor will lose 0.27% to inflation.
The 30-year bond has the yield of 4.43%. After paying 35% tax on this bond income, the investor will earn 2.87% return over the 30-year period. In real terms, the investor will lose about 0.13% annually to inflation.
In today’s low rate environment, bonds do not provide a real return. Some may argue that the inflation will not average 3% for the next 30-years, the market is not expecting it. Precisely. The market rarely accommodates the majority. The inflation expectations are too low today. Be prepare for a surprise.
All disclaimers apply. | <urn:uuid:5686e87c-5369-4a7b-9a60-d2f3b079ecb9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://therealreturns.blogspot.com/2005/07/bonds-and-real-returns.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00113-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950893 | 239 | 2.625 | 3 |
If you could talk to the animals, would you ask them how they monkey around?
This weekend you could have the chance. Brookfield Zoo, in honor of Valentine's Day and Charles Darwin's birthday on Friday, will hold what's billed as a "Weekend for Lovers."
In other words, "We're going to talk about how they do it," said Ray Pawley, curator of herpetology, getting right to the point. Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians.
The purpose of the first-time program was to focus more attention on what zoos are doing now, said Pawley, specifically their efforts to breed animals or delay breeding in some cases, in keeping with global conservation concerns.
The weekend's subtheme, however, falls into the category of everything you ever wanted to know about (animal) sex, but were afraid to ask.
"Animal mating is something that naturally occurs at the zoo," said Susan Zeiler, special events coordinator at the zoo. Visitors may have actually witnessed such an event, "but did not want to ask questions when they saw it," she said.
To that end, at 2 p.m. Saturday, Pawley will be stationed in the Reptile House, where he'll be happy to take questions on precisely how snakes manage to eat while they remain locked in an, er, embrace, for up to days at a time.
Better yet, how do they embrace? (Without hands, it's more on the order of lying really still.)
The weekend for lovers kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Friday with a lecture called "The Mating Game." Thomas Antonio, a researcher for the Chicago Botanic Garden; Lester Fisher, former director of the Lincoln Park Zoo; and George Rabb, director of the Brookfield Zoo, will each discuss the sex lives of plants and animals. | <urn:uuid:2b5f97d6-4d2f-4670-8c50-d0f42171cd98> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-02-11/news/9303177919_1_reptiles-and-amphibians-lester-fisher-reptile-house | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968508 | 385 | 2.5625 | 3 |
The Legend of Tarzan
Sometimes you have to wonder how certain movies get made.
Losing Harper Lee a couple months shy of her 90th birthday feels akin to losing her literary alter ego, Scout Finch, the tomboy narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird. Though Lee never wrote another novel, her debut solidified her place in literary history, winning the Pulitzer Prize and several generations' worth of praise. It's unclear how Lee felt about her own fame, though her choice to keep a low profile would suggest that she wasn't comfortable with it. In a 1964 interview, she admitted, "I never expected any sort of success with Mockingbird. [...] I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I'd expected."
Maycomb, the small town where Mockingbird takes place, has lived in readers' imaginations since 1960, when To Kill A Mockingbird was first published. The town is so much more than a community in Alabama or a setting in a novel. Anyone fortunate enough to have grown up reading To Kill a Mockingbird can attest to how their memories of childhood are intertwined with those of Scout. It is through her eyes that we observe a darker side of American history that contrasts sharply with the nostalgic warmth of Lee's sublime prose.
For many white children who grew up in predominantly white communities, this book was their first exposure to how racism is woven into the fabric of our culture. Scout's father, Atticus Finch, was hailed as a civil rights icon, since the book's central plot thread concerns the lawyer's efforts to defend an African-American man wrongly accused of rape. Along with Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Mockingbird was the greatest reading experience I had in grade school, and it left an indelible impact on me, as did Robert Mulligan's Oscar-winning 1962 film adaptation. The final shot of Atticus and Scout embracing as the camera pulls back through their window, accompanied by Elmer Bernstein's hauntingly bittersweet score, moves me to tears every time I see it.
One person who wasn't a fan of either the book or the film was Roger Ebert. In his two-and-a-half star review of Mulligan's classic, he dubbed it a time capsule that "expresses the liberal pieties of a more innocent time." He's right, of course, yet I find it hard to criticize a work of art for being a product of its time. There's as much to learn from Lee's perspective on the material as there is from the material itself.
The impact of "Mockingbird" the movie on cinema is as far reaching as influence of the book. Echoes of Lee can be found in Kevin Costner's Atticus-like hero in Oliver Stone's "JFK" and Samuel L. Jackson's accused murderer on trial in Joel Schumacher's "A Time to Kill"—a Tom Robinson character, opposite Matthew McConaughey's young Atticus Finch—to the variations on Scout's mysterious neighbor Boo Radley seen in Billy Bob Thornton's "Slide Blade," Chris Columbus's "Home Alone" and Sam Raimi's "The Gift."
I wonder what Roger would've thought about Go Set a Watchman, the early draft that led to Mockingbird. It was published last year under controversial circumstances, and was foolishly marketed as a deliberate prequel to the classic. Yes, it charts Scout's return to Maycomb as an adult, yet since Lee wrote it first, there is no reason to believe that these versions of the characters are identical to those that populate Mockingbird. Though Watchman lacks the finesse of its predecessor, its portrayal of Scout's disillusionment—as she confronts the ugliness and discrimination that eluded her childhood gaze—provides a more provocative view of Southern life. It's the sort of novel a director like Todd Haynes was born to adapt. So many lines resonate today, such as this nugget: "Prejudice, a dirty word, and faith, a clean one, have something in common: they both begin where reason ends."
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"It was as though this plan had been with him all his life, pondered through the seasons, now in his fifteenth year c... | <urn:uuid:59b72d39-166e-4c90-8f8e-14ce5164a430> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/harper-lee-1926-2016 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00169-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974717 | 1,006 | 2.65625 | 3 |
INTERVENTION BY THE HOLY SEE
ADDRESS OF H.E. MSGR. SILVANO M. TOMASI*
1. Forcibly displaced people continue to be subjected to human rights violations. Regrettably, the number of refugees has increased again to some ten million persons and internally displaced people to well over 24 million. The statistical trend shows that uprooting people from their homes is a major injustice caused by persisting conflicts that trigger this dehumanizing condition. Other forms of violence force people to leave their homes and native countries: these include extreme misery, environment degradation, religious intolerance and persecution, lack of freedom, lack of respect for advocacy activity on behalf of human rights. Millions of normal, ordinary human beings are thrust into situations of incredible humiliation and suffering. The frustration of the international community in trying to cope with the plight of refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), stateless persons and asylum-seekers, finds expression in the public anxiety and in the emotional political reactions about options for resettlement and for provisions of an adequate financial solidarity to meet emergencies and then enable the return of such uprooted people to a normal life back home with a minimum of dignity. Frustration, however, cannot be allowed to dictate the pace of the action required to protect the rights of the displaced.
2. An approach that opens to new commitments and that leads to practical measures of assistance and protection is based on rethinking the central place that human dignity and human rights should hold in refugee and asylum policies. On balance, among political considerations, institutional requirements, sudden crises and security mechanisms, priority should be given to uprooted people as persons with a claim on the international community. In fact the protection due to forcibly displaced people has been the motivation for the juridical instruments already developed by the international community. The respect of the rights of all displaced persons leads to a comprehensive response and protection so that a globalisation of protection results from a globalisation of rights. In this way, a more coordinated and effective implementation of existing protection instruments is possible while new instruments can be developed to remedy existing gaps, especially regarding vulnerable groups like women and girls, children, the elderly. The recent reflection in the preparation of new ExCom ‘Conclusions’ has been moving in this direction.
3. The perspective of human rights emanating from the dignity of every person offers a twofold advantage. First, a human rights approach means that the duty to protect reaches beyond the narrow national interest of single states and beyond the fear that it may be a disguised form of domination. A human rights-based approach to protection requires that the international community should respond actively to the needs of the displaced in ways that respect people displaced from their home nations and cultures as persons with equal dignity. Second, the human right to protection means that governments and other social groups have a duty not to drive people from their homes by denying them the possibility to survive there but to respond instead to the challenges of protection in a timely and effective way.
Some of the well-known challenges facing the forcibly displaced have been the subject of long debates, but they still remain of concern because no substantive solutions have been reached. Uprooted people have to flee because their rights are not recognised. In this exodus, their rights are again violated. Protection gaps and challenges still exist in the whole process, from the moment a person becomes a refugee to the moment of access to one of the durable solutions. State security is emphasized over the protection of persons; financial contributions are channelled elsewhere. The end result is human suffering. The evidence is given by the fact that access to asylum procedures has increasingly become difficult or even impossible to secure, sometimes leading to restricting access or leading to refoulement. The policy of detention is enforced beyond strictly necessary measures, while people are forced, more or less permanently, to stay in camps, without having their right to freedom of movement and access to work guaranteed, a situation that too often results in chronic malnutrition. Donor fatigue and insufficient funding lead to reduction in food rations in camps and in failure to provide the necessary minimum basic essentials to address needs. The combined effect of this situation impacts the individual and the family and leads to a breakdown of values. Reintegration programmes should be in line with the national recovery programme in post-conflict situations and should proceed smoothly from emergency assistance to development aid, and so guarantee a sustainable return of forcibly displaced people.
A comprehensive human rights perspective can indicate appropriate criteria and means that would apply from the moment a person is forced to leave home and to apply for asylum to the moment a durable solution is reached. In particular, renewed emphasis should be accorded to prevention and to peace-building, dialogue and reconciliation. The prevention of conflicts, which always are a source of human rights violations and of massive forced displacement, must become the main road in the efforts of the international community to eradicate the tragedy of forced displacement. Such a moral imperative is also pragmatically cost-effective. Moreover, the previously-mentioned task of strengthening the institutional capacity to fulfil the protection mandate should encourage creative thinking, as has been the case in the cluster approach and in the ongoing restructuring within the U.N. system and some of its agencies. In this manner, the international community can succeed in developing a comprehensive instrument that embraces all forcibly uprooted persons. In this regard, the search for some monitoring mechanism or expert technical group could arrive at practical ways for a more effective implementation of the rights recognized to refugees in the 1951 Convention and its related Protocol as well as for a more convergent interpretation of these basic statutes.
4. Around the world, crises leading to the movement of refugees and displaced people in the Middle East, in Africa and elsewhere are reported as a routine dimension of daily existence. Public opinion tends to accept almost as normal the fact that millions of fellow human beings are so uprooted and relegated to miserable and painful conditions. But welcoming refugees and giving them hospitality is, for every one, a vital gesture of human solidarity in order to help them feel less isolated by intolerance and disinterest. The Delegation of the Holy See is happy to see that the UNHCR continues to witness such welcome and that it recognizes the welcome provided by representatives of the civil society, as is the case this year with the Nansen Refugee Award, given to a member of Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). Pope Benedict XVI constantly appeals that these our brothers and sisters, so badly tested by suffering, should be guaranteed asylum and the recognition of their rights, and that public authorities should offer them protection in such delicate situations of need.
In conclusion, addressing the problem of uprooted people from their own perspective, and that of their dignity and rights, will lead the international community to search for more comprehensive and humane solutions and to find the motivation for undertaking bold steps for their implementation.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
*L’Osservatore Romano, 7.10.2007 p.2. | <urn:uuid:4d5e85aa-7f58-4260-95d0-53a4c0349a16> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/2007/documents/rc_seg-st_20071002_tomasi-unhcr_en.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947136 | 1,408 | 2.796875 | 3 |
The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT has developed an interferometric distance sensor that can precisely measure the geometric features of shafts – for example, camshafts and crankshafts – with sub-micrometer accuracy. The compact » bd-1 « sensor head can be integrated into shaft measuring machines without any difficulty and also measures surface roughness as well as geometric features. Our experts will be demonstrating the sensor live at the Control 2014 trade fair in Stuttgart.
Crankshafts, driveshafts, and camshafts are found in all internal combustion engines. The automotive industry sets extremely high standards on the manufacturing accuracy and surface characteristics of these shafts.
For example, camshafts must work with microsecond precision in controlling valve opening times synchronous to piston movement. Even the tiniest manufacturing errors can greatly impair engine performance, fuel consumption, and the service life of components.
Deviations from the specified roundness or roughness values, for instance, can lead to increased wear, unwanted noises, and malfunctions. Not surprisingly, then, the 100% inspection of shafts on the assembly line calls for measurement technology that is ten times more accurate than values applying to manufacturing technology. Measuring deviations in shape and position requires measurement accuracy in the micrometer range, sometimes even in the range of a few hundred nanometers.
For the most part, shaft measuring machines still use tactile distance sensors and laser triangulation sensors that measure a variety of characteristics such as cam shape, cam lift, base circle radius, roundness, eccentricity, angular position, and straightness of bearing positions. Surface roughness is usually measured separately using perthometers.
» bd-1 « pushes back the limits of measurement technology
Now experts at Fraunhofer ILT have developed the bidirectional optical sensor » bd-1 «, which can measure both the shape and roughness of shafts inline and needs only a fraction of the installation space that triangulation sensors take up. Its name alludes to the fact that the laser beam moves back and forth along a »bidirectional« single path. This does away with adjustment problems, as the transmitter and receiver no longer have to be aligned with each other. In direct comparison with conventional triangulation sensors, » bd-1 « boasts a much lower linearity error value, putting it way ahead of the field.
» bd-1 « can measure all kinds of surfaces – including finely polished, shining, and reflective surfaces, which can be difficult to measure with other optical sensors. It not only measures surfaces positioned at steep angles and drill holes with high aspect ratios; it also records surface roughness while measuring deviations in shape on rotating shafts – eliminating the need for a separate process step and equipment specifically for this purpose.
Precise, rapid inline measurement for quality inspection and process monitoring
» bd-1 « recognizes deviations in shape and the microscopic surface structure of shafts at speeds of several thousand revolutions per minute with an accuracy in the 100-nm range. This is made possible by high-speed data acquisition and processing and distance measurement frequencies of up to 70 kHz in some cases. » bd-1 « thus achieves the precision of interferometric sensors and is faster than conventional absolute-measurement distance sensors. » bd-1 « can be used both for quality inspection on the assembly line and for process monitoring during manufacture.
The sensor also works reliably in rough environments. The window for the beam outlet and inlet has a diameter of < 5 mm and can therefore be effectively protected against dirt by means of an air current.
Fraunhofer ILT developers created the distance sensor primarily for manufacturers of shafts or of high-precision cylinder coordinate measuring machines (CCMMs) for components such as camshafts and crankshafts. » bd-1 « is ideally suited to the 100-percent inline inspection of geometric features in accordance with the requirements of the automotive industry. In field tests, » bd-1 « has already proved how effectively it can measure the thickness of rolled strips and blown films inline, or carry out roundness and distance measurements during the manufacture of turned parts in machine tools.
Visitors to the Control international trade fair for quality assurance in Stuttgart, which is taking place from May 6 to 9, 2014, will have the opportunity to see » bd-1 « in action as it performs live measurements at the joint Fraunhofer booth 1/1502.
Dipl.-Phys. Christian Tulea
Clinical Dioagnostics and Microsurgical Systems Group
Phone +49 241 8906-431
PD Dr. Reinhard Noll
Head of the Competence Area Measurement Technology and EUV Sources
Phone +49 241 8906-138
Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT
52074 Aachen, Germany
Petra Nolis | Fraunhofer-Institut
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01.07.2016 | Medical Engineering | <urn:uuid:06107116-5dc2-4e5f-80c0-cba597a1e086> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/trade-fair-news/process-monitoring-new-bidirectional-sensor-bd-1-measures-shape-and-roughness-of-shafts-inl.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00108-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.87944 | 1,500 | 2.5625 | 3 |
|pop. density:||121 inh./km²|
Eichsfeld is a district in Thuringia, Germany. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) the districts of Nordhausen[?], Kyffhäuserkreis[?] and Unstrut-Hainich[?], and by the states of Hesse (district Werra-Meißner) and Lower Saxony (districts Göttingen and Osterode.
In medieval times the Eichsfeld was property of the bishops of Mainz, although anything but close to that city. In 1801 the clerical states were dissolved, and Prussia gained the region, only to lose it again in the Napoleonic Wars. In the Congress of Vienna (1815) Prussia as well as the kingdom of Hanover raised claims for the Eichsfeld. The region was divided between both states. Although Hanover was annexed by Prussia in 1866, this border remained the boundary between two Prussian provinces, later between East and West Germany, and today between Thuringia and Lower Saxony.
The present district was established in 1994 by merging the former districts of Worbis and Heiligenstadt.
The district is named after the historical region of Eichsfeld, which covers the northern portions of the present district and parts of Lower Saxony. It is a hilly countryside, that is attached to the Harz Mountains in the north. Incidentally it is the geographical centre of Germany. The rivers of Leine and Unstrut[?] are both rising from the Eichsfeld.
The name is believed to be derived from "Eichenfeld", which means "field of oaks". A less popular theory is the origin in the word "Eisfeld" ("field of ice").
|The coat of arms displays the heraldic eagle of Prussia together with the wheel, which was a symbol of the bishops of Mainz. These arms were granted shortly after Prussia gained the Eichsfeld (1801). In 1816 the Eichsfeld was not a geographical unit anymore, and the arms became irrelevant. They were reintroduced in 1945 (used until 1952) and again in 1994.|
Official website (http://www.lk-eichsfeld.de) (German) | <urn:uuid:cb407d5d-05cf-4908-b375-1aa7ed606ddc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/ei/Eichsfeld | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393518.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00182-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948919 | 489 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Born: June 17, 1947
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Hispanic American civil rights activist and author Throughout her career Hispanic American civil rights activist Linda Chavez has helped change the role of Hispanics in America. Chavez believes that Hispanics and other minorities should be awarded advancement not because of their race but rather for their own achievements.
Linda Chavez was born into a middle-class family in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on June 17, 1947. Her parents, both devoted Catholics, came from different racial backgrounds. Her mother was Anglo American and her father was Hispanic. Racial prejudice was not a concern during her early years as the city of Albuquerque was mostly Hispanic. Her father was proud of his heritage as a descendant of seventeenth-century Spanish settlers and also took pride in the United States. He served as an American during World War II (1941–45). Chavez's father considered his Hispanic background part of private life, not public. Her father's quiet approach to his racial identity was influential in Chavez's own ideas later in her career.
Chavez first came into contact with racial prejudice when her family moved to Denver, Colorado, when she was nine. Chavez witnessed firsthand the negative attitudes about minorities that would later inspire her to join in civil rights movements supporting the causes of Hispanics, African Americans, and women. She also became determined to excel in her schoolwork to overcome the low expectations that some people had of her as a Hispanic.
After graduating from high school, Chavez attended the University of Colorado, where she decided to pursue a career in teaching—a career that she felt could play an important role in social reform. During her undergraduate studies, she married Christopher Gersten in 1967, but she kept her maiden name.
After graduating from the University of Colorado in 1970, Chavez went on to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where she began a graduate program in English literature. However, she became upset with the way she was treated by faculty and students because she was Hispanic. Chavez left the university in 1972 and moved to Washington, D.C., with her husband.
In the nation's capital, Chavez did not return to teaching but remained active in educational issues. She worked with the National Education Association (NEA), the largest teachers' union in the country. She served as a consultant (someone who gives expert advice) on education to the federal government's Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In addition, she became an active member of the Democratic National Committee, participating in the promotion of a number of liberal causes. She eventually obtained a position with the nation's second-largest teachers' union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which was known as an influential force in education policy.
While editor of the AFT publication, American Educator, Chavez wrote a series of articles urging a return to "traditional values" in American schools. These writings soon brought her to the attention of conservatives in Washington.
Throughout the 1970s Chavez became increasingly dissatisfied with liberal views on minorities in America. She felt that liberals sought her out simply because of her representation as a Hispanic leader, not for her own ideas. Similarly, she developed a growing concern over national programs such as affirmative action (efforts to create equal opportunities for minorities and women in areas such as education and employment). Chavez believed that Hispanics should not be stereotyped, or forced into traditional roles, as helpless minorities who could not get ahead without government aid. She believed Hispanics should be encouraged to succeed through individual effort.
With the election of Ronald Reagan (1911–) to the presidency in 1980, Chavez's ideas received praise from conservatives. She became a consultant for the Reagan administration in 1981. In 1983 she was appointed by the president to serve as director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Chavez continued to criticize certain parts of the country's civil rights laws, especially programs such as affirmative action. Meanwhile, many liberal activists accused her of supporting Republican efforts to weaken the government's role in guaranteeing civil rights to minorities.
Finding herself lacking support from most Democrats, Chavez officially joined the Republican Party after being hired onto Reagan's White House staff in 1985. As director of the Office of the White House Public Liaison, Chavez was the most powerful woman on the staff. Her position gave her an increased level of influence with the president, but she left this post after less than a year's time in order to run for senator in Maryland.
For the senatorial race, Chavez ran as a Republican in a mostly Democratic state. The state's citizens were distrustful of Chavez's short residence in Maryland as well as her track record in her shifting political beliefs. On election day, Chavez was handed a devastating defeat. Soon afterwards, she removed herself from the political arena.
Now free of political loyalties, Chavez returned to producing ideas for social and educational change. The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a conservative research institute, made her a fellow (an associate). She also became a regular contributor to many national publications. Her 1991 book, Out of the Barrio: Toward a New Politics of Hispanic Assimilation, brought renewed attention from politicians and the press. The work once again showed her belief that affirmative action and other programs created an unrealistic and unflattering picture of Hispanics as a group. As had been the case throughout her career, Chavez's words were often talked about in the media, but they created debate and raised awareness about the state of the nation's attitude toward minorities.
In 1995 she founded the Center for Equal Opportunity in Washington, D.C., a public policy organization that concentrates on three subjects: racial preferences, immigration and integration, and multicultural education.
In 2000 Chavez was honored by the Library of Congress as a "Living Legend" for her continued involvement and contributions to American culture. In 2001 the newly elected President George W. Bush (1946–) nominated Chavez for Secretary of Labor. Chavez later withdrew her name from consideration. It is believed that she did so because of media allegations that she had housed an undocumented immigrant in her home, which is against the law in the United States.
Despite the criticism she has received from many liberal and Hispanic American groups for her conservative views, Chavez has emerged as one of the most visible and influential figures fighting for civil rights and educational reforms. Her example as a successful political personality has made her a role model for many in the Hispanic community, inspiring a growing number of politicians in the minority group to join the Republican Party.
Chavez, Linda. Out of the Barrio: Toward a New Politics of Hispanic Assimilation. New York: Basic Books, 1991.
Telgen, Diane, and Jim Kamp, eds. Notable Hispanic American Women. Detroit: Gale, 1993. | <urn:uuid:95e743f0-2d50-4010-a867-a1aaac86adb2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ch-Co/Chavez-Linda.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00046-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981359 | 1,363 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 5/3/2013 (1214 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
In my previous column, we examined the science of weight loss. While conventional wisdom states that eating too many calories will cause us to gain weight, the science supporting this idea doesn’t always hold up.
As we continue to investigate, we find that the current obesity epidemic is a complicated problem, with multiple causes and individual differences in susceptibility. In other words: What works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another.
However, there are a few simple principles of health and nutrition that may be true for the majority of people seeking to lose weight.
The first and most important step a person can take is to begin by eating natural, real foods. This would include foods found on the periphery of the grocery store – vegetables, fruits, nuts, lean proteins - and not the packaged and canned foods down the aisles.
Packaged foods contain high amounts of sugar, salt and hydrogenated fats, all of which have been shown to contribute to the obesity epidemic by stimulating pleasure centres in the brain.
In his new book, "Salt, Sugar and Fat," Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Moss investigated the practice of the packaged food industry to chemically engineer addictive food products.
"The optimum amount of sugar in a product became known as the "bliss point." Food inventors and scientists spend a huge amount of time formulating the perfect amount of sugar that will send us over the moon," he said.
Avoiding foods that are chemically engineered to make us eat more of them would be a good starting point.
The second most important factor, when it comes to weight loss, is understanding that the problem goes beyond food. Frequent movement and exercise may be as important as what we eat.
Considering the fact that only half of all Canadians meet the required amount of daily exercise, it is clear there are other factors at play in the obesity epidemic.
Take time for 15-minute fitness breaks throughout the day. Exercise does not have to be difficult or painful. It could be as simple as a walk around the block, playing with your kids, taking the stairs instead or playing sports. The key is to move frequently.
Finally, a discussion of weight loss would be incomplete without acknowledging the role that stress and sleep deprivation play in weight gain.
The fact is, most Canadians are stressed and sleep deprived. The average person gets only 6.9 hours of sleep a night. This is simply not enough for proper rest and recovery from a stressful day.
Chronic sleep deprivation changes affect how hormones like leptin, ghrelin, cortisol and insulin store fat. Fortunately, getting eight hours of sleep, proper nutrition and exercise can reset these hormones over time.
Weight loss fads may come and go over the years, but basic principles of health and wellness such as proper nutrition, exercise and sleep, will always withstand the test of time.
Remember that healthy weight loss should always be a product of a healthy lifestyle and not necessarily the main objective.
Dr. Christian Chatzoglou, D.C. is a chiropractor, writer and natural health expert. | <urn:uuid:cec4c092-1645-4ee4-b744-b24c99a7bbe4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/column/The-science-of-weight-loss-Part-2-195445061.html?story=The%20science%20of%20weight%20loss:%20Part%202 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00140-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957866 | 660 | 2.953125 | 3 |
The Co-Operative Studies on Brain Injury Depolarizations is an international research consortium focused on the role of spreading depolarizations in acute neurologic injury.
Spreading depolarizations are waves of electrical silence caused by mass neuronal depolarizations in injured brain. These occur in traumatic brain injury, ischemic stroke, aneurysmal SAH and ICH.
Spreading depolarizations are not only electrochemical waves, but also elicit profound changes in cerebral blood flow. These changes can help brain tissue recover, or in pathologic conditions, may worsen injury through a process known as spreading ischemia.
Excitotoxicity from excess NMDA receptor activation has been targeted as the pathologic culprit in brain injury for decades. New studies are uniting the theories of excitotoxicity and spreading depolarizations. | <urn:uuid:9dd30144-b135-4357-a216-6985b967bceb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cosbid.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396027.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00037-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895912 | 169 | 2.578125 | 3 |
PLEASE REVIEW THE USFRA EXTERNAL LINKS POLICY BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR LINKS.
If you choose not to read our policy before submitting your link, your link will be refused and your email will be sent to our spam folder.
We only provide FREE one way links to IRS confirmed not-for-profit/charitable and government agencies.
As the waves approach the shallow coastal waters, they appear normal and the speed decreases.
Then, as the tsunami nears the coastline, it turns into a gigantic, forceful wall of water that smashes into the shore with speeds exceeding 600 miles per hour (965 km/h)!
Usually tsunamis are about 20 feet (6 m) high, but extreme ones can get as high as 100 feet (30 m) or more!
A tsunami is a series of waves and the first wave may not be the largest one, plus the danger can last for many hours after the first wave hits. During the past 100 years, more than 200 tsunamis have been recorded in the Pacific Ocean due to earthquakes and Japan has suffered a majority of them.
The Pacific Ocean tsunami warning system was put in place back in 1949. As of June 2006, the Indian Ocean has a tsunami warning system, and NOAA expanded the Pacific system to include the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and areas of the Atlantic around the U.S. coast as of mid-2007.
Did you know...
...a tsunami is not a tidal wave - it has nothing to do with the tide?!
...another name used to describe a tsunami is “harbor wave”
...“tsu” means harbor and “nami” means wave in Japanese?!
...sometimes the ocean floor is exposed near the shore since a tsunami can cause the water to recede or move back before slamming in to shore?!
...tsunamis can travel up streams and rivers that lead to the ocean?!
BEFORE A TSUNAMI:
Learn the buzzwords - Learn words used by both the West Coast / Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WC/ATWC - for AK, BC, CA, OR, and WA) and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC - for international authorities, HI and all U.S. territories within Pacific basin) for tsunami threats...
Learn risks - If new to area, call local emergency management office and ask what the warning signals are and what to do when you hear them. Coastal areas less than 25 feet above sea level and within a mile of shoreline along coasts are at greatest risk. Or visit www.tsunamiready.noaa.gov
Make a plan - Develop a Family Emergency Plan (e.g. establish meeting places, list of emergency contact #s, out of state contact person, etc) and Disaster Supplies Kits.
Listen - Make sure you have a battery-operated radio (with spare batteries) for weather forecasts and updates. (Radios like Environment Canada’s Weatheradio and NOAA’s Weather Radio have a tone-alert feature that automatically alerts you when a Watch or Warning has been issued.)
Water signs - If near water or shore, watch for a noticeable rise or fall in the normal depth of coastal water - that’s advance warning of a tsunami so get to high ground. Also - if water pulls away from shoreline and exposes sea floor - run to higher ground ASAP!!
Feeling shaky...? - If you feel an earthquake in the Pacific Coast area (from Alaska down to Baja), listen to the radio for tsunami warnings.
Is that it...? - Don’t be fooled by the size of one wave - more will follow and they could get bigger … and a small tsunami at one beach can be a giant wave a few miles away!
Be ready to evacuate - Listen to local authorities and leave if you are told to evacuate.
DURING A TSUNAMI:
Leave - If you are told to evacuate, DO IT! Remember - a tsunami is a series of waves - the first one may be small but who knows what the rest will bring. Grab your BOB/Disaster Supplies Kit and GO!
IF ON OR NEAR SHORE - Get off the shore and get to higher ground quickly! Stay away from rivers and streams that lead to the ocean since tsunamis can travel up them too. You cannot outrun a tsunami ... if you see the wave it’s too late!
IF ON A BOAT - It depends where you are -- either get to land or go
further out to sea ...
Don’t go there - Do NOT try to go down to the shoreline to watch and don’t be fooled by size of one wave - more will follow and they could get bigger so continue listening to radio and TV.
AFTER A TSUNAMI:
Listen - Whether on land or at sea, local authorities will advise when it is safe to return to the area -- keep listening to radio and TV updates.
Watch out - Look for downed power lines, flooded areas and other damage caused by the waves.
Don’t go in there - Try to stay out of buildings or homes that are damaged until it is safe to enter and wear sturdy work boots and gloves when working in the rubble.
Strange critters – Be aware that the waves may bring in many critters from the ocean (marine life) so watch out for pinchers and stingers!
RED or GREEN sign in window – After a disaster, Volunteers and Emergency Service personnel may go door-to-door to check on people. By placing a sign in your window that faces the street near the door, you can let them know if you need them to STOP HERE or MOVE ON.
Either use a piece of RED or GREEN construction paper or draw a big RED or GREEN “X” (using a crayon or marker) on a piece of paper and tape it in the window.
-- RED means STOP HERE!
-- GREEN means EVERYTHING IS OKAY…MOVE ON!
-- Nothing in the window would also mean STOP HERE!
Insurance - If your home suffers any damage, contact your insurance agent and keep all receipts for clean-up and repairs.
Mold - Consider asking a restoration professional to inspect your house for mold. Also check out www.epa.gov/mold
Some additional things to check and do...
Above from IT'S A DISASTER! …and what are YOU gonna do about it? book (proceeds benefit USFRA) - learn more
Photo: Mainichi Shimbun/Reuters via NatGeo
West Coast / Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WC/ATWC - for AK, BC, CA, OR, and WA)
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC - for international authorities, HI and all U.S. territories within Pacific basin)
Flood safety tips on USFRA
Earthquakes mitigation & safety tips on USFRA
USFRA's Disaster Preparedness Links | <urn:uuid:ad858ed8-b8bc-4a08-a949-ab1f29e040e1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.usfra.org/group/disasterpreparedness/forum/topics/tsunami-safety-tips | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00082-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907456 | 1,472 | 3.765625 | 4 |
The following grade 8 multiple-choice question addresses the skill of "explaining and analyzing" in the content area, "What are the foundations of the American political system?" The percentages below the question indicate how students performed on the question. In addition to the overall percentage of students who answered the question correctly, the percentage of students at each achievement level who answered the question correctly is presented.
As an example of how to interpret these percentages, 28 percent of the students overall answered this question correctly. When only the students in the Proficient category are considered, 61 percent answered correctly.
See more about this question in the NAEP Questions Tool.
View this question, at score 208, on a map of NAEP civics items. | <urn:uuid:0be01605-a252-4bca-a40d-4c10e1f1496a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nationsreportcard.gov/civics_2006/c0111.aspx?tab_id=tab2&subtab_id=Tab_1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929918 | 148 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Heinrich Frick (Fricken), a well-to-do and notable citizen of Zürich, Switzerland, who had been converted and become a Mennonite, in 1625 refused to serve as the military standard-bearer because it was contrary to his conscience. This refusal caused a new persecution at Zürich. Frick was imprisoned (1641) and so severely treated that he consented to attend the Reformed Church, and was released. But soon he repented, and "went back to Zürich, . . . to be confined, . . . which was done." In the meantime his two large farms and a considerable amount of money were confiscated. Then he was released, "but again apprehended, out of which bonds he escaped," and "wandered about in misery and poverty." Later Frick was allowed to emigrate to the Palatinate, Germany.
Braght, Thieleman J. van. The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour . . . to the Year A.D. 1660. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 1119. Available online at:. (The information is not found in the Dutch edition; it was inserted in the 1780 German edition on p. 804.
|Author(s)||Nanne van der Zijpp|
Cite This Article
Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Frick, Heinrich (17th century)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 1 Jul 2016. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Frick,_Heinrich_(17th_century)&oldid=107695.
Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1956). Frick, Heinrich (17th century). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 1 July 2016, from http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Frick,_Heinrich_(17th_century)&oldid=107695.
©1996-2016 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:b2d1e276-4f35-4748-8b98-8f59878147cb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Frick,_Heinrich_(17th_century)&direction=next&oldid=81020 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00045-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910009 | 482 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Here’s a rhetorical question that isn’t just an excuse to talk about something rude. Would you men out there rather have large gonads or large brains? For female readers, how about this: What do you think is most important in a male, testes size or brain size?
You might think that it’s not a case of one or the other, that it’s possible to have large testes and a large brain. Likewise, there might be some unfortunate males with both small testes and a small brain.
But new research in bats suggests otherwise.
Scott Pitnick and colleagues at Syracuse University in New York state, looked at brain size and testis size in 334 different species of bat. What they found was that there really is a trade-off between the two organs.
Put simply, bats with large testes had small brains.
However, whether a similar correlation exists in humans at this point still remains to be seen.
Bats are the second-largest group of mammals, after rodents. What Pitnick did was to examine the data collected by scientists all over the world on bat anatomy and behavior, and then look for patterns across species. He was following up well-established work in primates, which shows that testis size is related to the mating system.
Hence promiscuous species, that is those that have multiple partners, have larger testes.
That makes sense. If you need to copulate with lots of different females, it’s best to be able to manufacture lots of sperm.
Chimps have large testes because they copulate freely with many different females.
Gorillas also copulate with many females, but they have a harem system in which a mature, immensely strong male guards a group of females and prevents other males from getting a chance to copulate. So gorillas have relatively small testes.
In between chimps and gorillas are human males. This reflects our mating system: we are socially monogamous, but occasionally an opportunity will arise to copulate with a different female.
What about within humans? Research on testes size is not to the highest standard, though what has been done suggests there are ethnic differences in humans. But the new work Pitnick has done on bats is much more reliable. And certainly less controversial.
Pitnick and his colleagues had two ideas. The first was that testis size would be linked, as it is in primates, to mating system. In other words, species that were promiscuous would have large testes, reflecting the higher demand for sperm production.
But the second idea was where it got interesting.
Pitnick knew that the tissue in the testes that makes sperm, and also the tissue that makes the billions of neurons in the brain, are the most energetically costly types of tissue to maintain.
He also knew that bats are animals that live life on the edge. Bats are the only mammals able to truly fly, and flying is a damn tiring thing to do. It requires a huge amount of energy, which could otherwise be spent growing larger testes or larger brains. Perhaps because bats are animals that have such a tight energy budget, it turned out to be easy to see that there was a trade-off between testes size and brain size.
In fact, it turned out that testes size in bat species ranged from 0.12 percent to 8.4 percent of their body mass. The latter percentage is the size of the testes in Rafinesque’s big-eared bat, the bat with the biggest gonads. The former, the bat with the smallest testes, is the African yellow-winged bat.
In primates, the range is much more narrow: Among species, primate testes range from 0.02 percent of body mass to 0.75 percent.
In the bat species where the females were faithful, the male’s gonads were small. However, their brains were bigger. And the opposite was true, too. In bat species with large testes, the brains were smaller.
Pitnick said he was surprised. He expected that in species where females were promiscuous, the brain would be larger, so that males could keep track of what the females were up to. Not so. In bat society, at least, if females are going to have sex with lots of males, then the best solution is not to have a big brain — but to have huge testes, and for the males to also have sex a lot.
It may be a case of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” | <urn:uuid:d257f4bc-a89a-484e-b169-31d2db7ee2ef> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2005/12/14/national/trade-off-apparent-in-bats-costly-tissues/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00150-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976361 | 966 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Female Soldiers in the Civil War
On the front line
By Sam Smith
The outbreak of the Civil War challenged traditional American notions of feminine submissiveness and domesticity with hundreds of examples of courage, diligence, and self-sacrifice in battle. The war was a formative moment in the early feminist movement.
In July of 1863, a Union burial detail at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania made a startling discovery near Cemetery Ridge. Among the bodies covering the ground--the wreckage of the Confederate attacks during the battle--the Union men found a dead woman wearing the uniform of a Confederate private.
The burial detail had stumbled upon one of the most intriguing stories of the Civil War: the multitudes of women who fought in the front line.
Although the inherently clandestine nature of the activity makes an accurate count impossible, conservative estimates of female soldiers in the Civil War puts the number somewhere between 400 and 750. Long viewed by historians as anomalies, recent scholarship argues that the women who fought in the Civil War shared the same motivations as their male companions.
Some women went to war in order to share in the trials of their loved ones. Others were stirred by a thirst for adventure, the promise of reliable wages, or ardent patriotism. In the words of Sarah Edmonds Seelye, also known as Franklin Flint Thompson of the 2nd Michigan Infantry: "I could only thank God that I was free and could go forward and work, and I was not obliged to stay at home and weep." Seelye holds the honor of being the only woman to receive a veteran's pension after the war.
Jennie Hodgers, also known as Albert Cashier of the 95th Illinois Infantry, participated in more than forty engagements. Frances Clayton served with the 4th Missouri Artillery and was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh and again at the Battle of Stones River. Loreta Janeta Velazquez served the Confederacy as fighter and spy "Lieutenant Harry Buford."
Women stood a smaller chance of being discovered than one might think. Most of the people who fought in the war were "citizen soldiers" with no prior military training--men and women alike learned the ways of soldiering at the same pace. Prevailing Victorian sentiments compelled most soldiers to sleep clothed, bathe separately, and avoid public latrines. Heavy, ill-fitting clothing concealed body shape. The inability to grow a beard would usually be attributed to youth.
Some women in uniform were still discovered, often after being wounded in battle and sent to a field hospital. Clara Barton, who went on to found the Red Cross, discovered Mary Galloway's true identity while treating a chest wound Galloway had suffered at the Battle of Antietam. Finding a woman in the ranks would generally bring a welcome dose of rumor and wonderment to camp life.
The discovered woman herself would usually be sent home without punishment, although an unlucky few faced imprisonment or institutionalization.
Clara Barton claimed that the four-year war advanced the social position of women by fifty years. The 1881 manifesto History of Woman Suffrage, written by luminaries Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Matilda Gave, argued vigorously that female front-line service proved that women should be accorded the same rights as male defenders of the republic. The Civil War changed the nation's perception of its citizens' capabilities and catalyzed a new push for equality not only between races, but between genders as well. | <urn:uuid:18958dce-ca6e-4d54-841a-d943af15c61e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/untold-stories/female-soldiers-in-the-civil.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965556 | 703 | 3.71875 | 4 |
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This climate is characterized by relatively high temperatures and evenly distributed precipitation throughout the year. This climate type is found on the eastern sides of the continents between 20° and 35° N and S latitude. In summer, these regions are largely under the influence of moist, maritime airflow from the western side of the subtropical anticyclonic cells over low-latitude ocean waters. Temperatures are high and can lead to warm, oppressive nights. Summers are usually somewhat wetter than winters, with much of the rainfall coming from convectional thunderstorm activity; tropical cyclones also enhance warm-season rainfall in some regions. The coldest month is usually quite mild, although frosts are not uncommon, and winter precipitation is derived primarily from frontal cyclones along the polar front.
The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfa". (Humid Subtropical Climate).
The average temperature for the year in Jalpaiguri is 75.0°F (23.9°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 83.0°F (28.3°C). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 62.0°F (16.7°C).
The highest recorded temperature in Jalpaiguri is 104.0°F (40°C), which was recorded in April. The lowest recorded temperature in Jalpaiguri is 36.0°F (2.2°C), which was recorded in February.
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Jalpaiguri is 128.6" (3266.4 mm). The month with the most precipitation on average is July with 32.2" (817.9 mm) of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is December with an average of 0.2" (5.1 mm). In terms of liquid precipitation, there are an average of 92.8 days of rain, with the most rain occurring in July with 23.4 days of rain, and the least rain occurring in September with 0.0 days of rain. | <urn:uuid:6b84d027-9a8d-49bf-8aac-77f7f1969eca> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=99324&cityname=Jalpaiguri%2C+West+Bengal%2C+India&units= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00121-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956004 | 442 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Although it was designed to last only three to five years, the Jason-1 ocean altimetry satellite operated for 11 years before being decommissioned. Since its launch in December 2001, it orbited the Earth 53,500 times. The satellite collected data mapping sea level, wind speed, and wave height for more than 95% of Earth’s ice-free ocean every 10 days. In doing so, it enabled more accurate forecasting for weather, ocean, and climate changes. For example, it was instrumental in gaining information about changes in the Pacific Ocean, including the El Nino and La Nina events.
During some of its mission, Jason-1 flew in coordinated orbits with both its predecessor TOPEX/Poseidon and its successor, the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2 (launched in 2008). These orbit periods, which each lasted about three years, cross-calibrated the satellites. In doing so, they enabled a 20-plus-year unbroken climate record of sea-level change while doubling data coverage.
Jason-1, which was a joint effort of NASA and the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), lost contact after its last transmitter failed. All attempts at re-establishing communications were ineffective. On July 1, controllers commanded Jason-1 into a safe hold state and turned off its magnetometer and reaction wheels. Without those attitude control systems, the satellite and its solar panels will slowly drift away from pointing at the sun and its batteries will discharge. It won’t re-enter Earth’s atmosphere for at least 1000 years.
The in-orbit Jason-2 mission is in good health and continues to collect science and operational data operated by the meteorological agencies of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Europe’s EUMETSAT in collaboration with NASA and CNES. The same US/European team is preparing to launch the next satellite in the series, Jason-3, in March 2015. | <urn:uuid:44ed9fec-66c3-4288-ac3b-827f2a3e7dec> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mwrf.com/print/systems/decommissioned-ocean-satellite-exceeded-expectations | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946646 | 409 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Neurobiobank/Jill Bolte Taylor
Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D., a spokesperson for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, discusses why brain donation truly is the gift of hope.
>> Taylor : With brain donation, it began because I was a scientist in a lab studying the brain disorder schizophrenia . I have a brother diagnosed with schizophrenia. As a sister and as a scientist, I wanted to understand what is the difference between my brother's brain, which results in hallucination and delusion, and my brain. Personally, I understand the value of brain donation because I understand that the only way for us to truly understand at a cellular level what's going on with these disorders is to look at the tissue. It's extremely valuable on all fronts. Unfortunately, there's a long-term shortage of some types of tissue donated. If we want more research into certain types of illnesses, then it's really important that we can provide the scientists with the tissue they need in order to do the work. I always encourage any family member or any individual who has any type of neurological or neuropsychiatric illness inside of their family to really consider brain donation first. If you don't have a neurological or neuropsychiatric illness, there's also a shortage of normal control tissue donated. When you stop to think about it, the only way that scientists in a microscope looking at the tissue can really understand what is altered that is resulting in some type of symptom for any of the disorders, they have to compare that tissue to normal control. There is normal control and, technically, if you don't a neuropsychiatric or a neurological disorder in your family, then you would be counted as normal control. It's really important that as soon as an individual dies or death is impending, the family calls one of the brain banks. Timing is everything when it comes to the cell tissue. A brain can generally be donated within the first 24 to 48 hours. It's also very important that the next of kin sign a form that releases the entire life history of medical records for that individual so that scientists then can go through that and we can have a better understanding about what was the normal progression of a disorder, if there was one, and which medications was this individual on so they can take that into account. When a person dies, their body becomes the property of their family. If there's a spouse, the body becomes the property of the spouse. If no spouse, then adult children. If not adult children, then parents. Ultimately then, after death, regardless of what has been put in writing, unless it's used as a formal contract, the family will make those decisions. It's really important that families get together and talk about brain donation. These mental illnesses, these major neurological disorders, they're genetically based. When you give that gift, you're really giving the gift of hope that your children, your grandchildren, your nieces and your nephews, if they do have these types of problems, we'll have a better understanding about what to do to help these people get better. | <urn:uuid:007df7f6-d37c-4069-9d33-426971dc06df> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/media/2013/neurobiobank-jill-bolte-taylor.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973625 | 626 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Twenty-eight years ago today, NASA and the world watch as the space shuttle Challenger and its crew of seven intrepid astronauts were lost shortly after liftoff in a devastating launch failure.
The Challenger shuttle disaster, tragically, was not NASA's last shuttle accident, but it was the first broadcast on live television and is the subject of the new e-book "Challenger: An American Tragedy" by veteran Hugh Harris, who served as the Voice of NASA in launch control. In the book, Harris offers a personal — and sometimes painful — look back at one of the darkest chapters in U.S. human spaceflight, as well as its impact on NASA over time.
Harris spent 35 years with NASA, many as director of the Public Affairs Office at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Best known to the public for his calm, professional commentary on the progress of launch preparations and launch of the space shuttle, his primary accomplishments were in directing an outreach program to the general public, news media, students and educators, as well as to business and government leaders. Harris and publisher Open Road Media sends SPACE.com this two-chapter preview from "Challenger: An American Tragedy," which is available for Amazon Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and Apple iTunes:
Chapter One: A Look Back Twenty-eight Years
Challenger was a spacecraft designed to transport, protect, and nurture its seven-member crew as it transported them beyond the limits of our home planet’s life-support system. There, they would conduct experiments to improve lives on Earth. Among its passengers was the first civilian crewmember, the “Teacher in Space” Sharon Christa McAuliffe (known as Christa), who was already inspiring a generation of school children.
I had watched from the firing room as the twenty-four previous shuttles rocketed upward and successfully returned to Earth. But on January 28, 1986, Challenger was engulfed in a fiery inferno in full view of thousands of people at the center and millions of others viewing the launch on television.
The tragedy produced a myriad of human emotions. For Todd Halvorson of Florida Today, it was an unforgettable introduction to space reporting. Hired the day before, but not yet on the job, he stepped out of the Cocoa Beach Holiday Inn to watch. Burned into his psyche are the pitchfork contrails and the memory of a weeping young girl, pointing upward and crying over and over, “The teacher is up there! The teacher is up there!”
For some young astronauts, it was a “loss of innocence” that took some time to accept. Franklin Chang-Díaz flew on STS-61C, the shuttle mission just a few weeks before Challenger. He and his crew experienced the tragedy from a viewing room at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“I think we were all unprepared to deal with this kind of event,” he says. “From my first flight before the Challenger disaster, to my second flight, after, it felt as if we had lost our innocence. When I went into my second flight—well, it was probably the same way a soldier goes into battle with a few scars. You don’t look at that battlefield the same way you did on the first day. I mean, it was still exciting, it was still wonderful, but we realized it was not child’s play anymore.”
Lisa Malone, then a young public information specialist who would become director of public affairs for the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) twenty years later, recalled, “At the time, I was angry. I was angry at the engineers. I didn’t yet realize how hard space flight was. Later, as I started to go to more technical meetings, I learned the difficulty of managing risk posed by a highly complex vehicle.”
The accident triggered in-depth investigations and denied the nation of human access to space for almost three years. Unmanned launches continued, but our astronauts stayed on the ground.
It brought into question the way management and technical experts worked together. It highlighted the role played by political decisions and uncertain year-to-year funding. It exposed the roadblocks to communication imposed by managers and organizational culture.
It was a chilling reminder that it is safer to sit on the ground than fly into space. But that’s not an option for the human race.
Ultimately, it helped enable 110 more space-shuttle flights and the construction of the International Space Station, which ranks near the top of human achievement.
Dozens of people gave the “go” to launch on that morning twenty-eight years ago, and tens of thousands more had worked on the hardware. Yet, despite all of the investigative probing and some rancorous finger-pointing in the months to follow, no one ever alleged less than a strong desire to do his or her job to the best of his or her ability.
It demonstrated, once again, how much there is to learn as humankind continues to advance the boundaries of science, technology, and human interaction.
On that day, I was the chief of public information for NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the launch commentator. This piece will take you on the same journey I experienced in the hours before launch and then along the bumpy road to find the cause of the accident and heal the system.
Chapter Two: A Cold, Cold Night
The night of January 28, 1986, was the coldest I can remember in Florida. But when I left my house in Cocoa Beach at two a.m., I wasn’t thinking of the cold. I was worrying about getting to the Kennedy Space Center on time.
Every time I served as “the voice of launch control” for a space shuttle launch—a responsibility I had held beginning with STS-1 in 1981—I worried that my car would be delayed by the hundreds of thousands of people who came to watch. If I didn’t get to the firing room on time, the launch would have happened anyway, but I would have felt like I’d let down the team.
But this morning, as I drove toward KSC, I did not find the usual congregation of cars. Very few were parked along the causeway over the Banana River. Normally, even at that early hour in the morning, and eight or more hours before a launch, the causeways were crowded. Families would leave their cars to make new friends or gather around radios to keep track of the progress of launch preparations. Cars would sport license plates from dozens of states—California, Washington, even Alaska. The space program was a source of national pride, and we who were privileged to work in it could not help but be inspired.
But this night was different. The few who had come were huddled inside their vehicles.
In the distance, Pad 39 B and Challenger were sparkling in the pure white light of the xenon searchlights. The thick shafts of light illuminated the rocket vehicle and slanted skyward for many miles.
As I drove toward the center along State Route 3 on Merritt Island, some of the orange groves huddled under blankets of smoke from large bonfires created to help protect the fruit from freezing. Most of the large groves had been flooded or sprayed with water. The temperature of fruit encased with ice does not drop below freezing. Smudge pots were no longer used due to pollution.
The air temperature was in the low thirties and dropping rapidly into the twenties. The smaller grove owners could not afford to protect their groves, and a week later their oranges would be thudding to the ground at the rate of a dozen per minute.
The officers at the first guard gate wore heavy jackets. “Do you think it will go, Mr. Harris?” one asked.
I told them the launch had already been postponed an hour and might be delayed further because of concern due to the cold. I said, “They’re supposed to start tanking around three a.m. If they tank, they’ll try to launch. They have about a two-hour window.”
In capitulation to the freezing cold, the press site looked pretty deserted when I arrived. Normally, the photographers and reporters would be walking between buildings or gathered in little groups for a smoke. This morning they were all indoors.
There were fewer press representatives than normal, as well. The shuttle launches had become routine through the years. About five hundred media had been accredited for Challenger—as opposed to five times that number for STS-1. As I recall, only one of the major networks was covering the launch live.
The science writers typically on hand for launch had a conflict this time. Press briefings were taking place at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, where many of the most knowledgeable space reporters were learning what scientists were discovering as Voyager flew past Uranus. Laurie Garrett of National Public Radio described the experience by saying, “Every single minute Uranus was blowing our minds more than the minute before. The moons of Uranus were absolutely the most stupendously puzzling things any of us had ever covered.”
The twelve-acre press site is located at the Banana River Turn Basin, slightly more than three miles from the launch pads. During the Apollo program, barges bringing the rocket stages from Michoud Assembly Facility, just outside of New Orleans, unloaded at the turn basin; now it was the shuttles’ external tanks that were unloaded there. It is just across the road from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), where the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB), external tanks, and orbiters were bolted together on a mobile launch platform before being taken to one of the two launch pads, designated Pads 39 A and 39 B. The Challenger launch was taking place from 39 B.
A three- to four-acre, six-foot-high mound had been built along the back of the press site with material dredged up to deepen the turn basin. On top was a 350-seat grandstand fitted with long counters, telephone hookups, and folding chairs, as well as several permanent structures put up by NASA, the major television networks, and the wire services. Another half-dozen office trailers had been brought in by Florida Today, the Orlando Sentinel, the Nikon camera company, and others were split between the mound and the lower level.
The public information office, my home away from home, was located at the press site in a geodesic dome originally bought for the United States Bicentennial Exposition. It also provided working space for media who didn’t have their own facilities. KSC office spaces lined one inner wall of the dome; along the other were several rows of long, counter-like desks for the press with assigned spaces where they could order temporary phone hookups. There were bins for fact sheets and news releases and a bank of pay phones.
A waist-high counter separated the press from the information people and provided space for the press to ask questions. Members of the press were not allowed behind the counter unless they were invited in for an interview or other business.
The flags of the sixteen countries that were partners with the United States for the Spacelab missions and for the future International Space Station flew over the press area.
Down below the mound were several acres of grass and the large, iconic countdown clock at the water’s edge. Many news photographers had used the countdown clock in the foreground of pictures of previous launches. Thousands more posed with it as proof that they had covered history.
For each launch, temporary grandstands were trucked in to accommodate about a thousand VIP visitors. These included the extended families of the astronauts who were flying and guests invited by NASA headquarters or other centers. The immediate families of the astronauts and special guests, such as members of Congress, would watch from the roof of the Launch Control Center.
Approximately twenty thousand other invited guests would be taken by bus or given car passes to park on the causeway across the Banana River connecting KSC and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station about seven miles from the pads. Loudspeakers set up in each location allowed my commentary to keep them informed about what was happening. Public affairs representatives and car parkers at each location helped direct them and answer questions.
I reached the press site about eight hours before the then-scheduled launch time of 10:38 a.m. and went into my office after checking with the staff and saying hello to the press who had come in early. Almost everyone commented on the cold and speculated that we would postpone the launch for a third time.
The launch scheduled for two days earlier had been canceled because of the weather forecast. It turned out to be a perfect day. The attempt of the previous day, January 27, had been scrubbed because sensors showed that the crew ingress door on the Challenger was not securely closed. Once that was corrected, the handle used to latch the door could not be removed without drilling out the bolts. Time ran out, and crosswinds at the shuttle landing facility became unacceptable.
Finally we were at January 28. The day had everything going for it in terms of weather, except the bitter cold.
The first person I called was information specialist Andrea Shea King, who was in the firing room, keeping the press informed on the progress of loading liquid hydrogen and oxygen. “What are you hearing on the OIS?” I asked, referring to the Operational Intercom System, which tied all elements of the launch team together on more than thirty voice circuits.
“It’s been pretty smooth, except for concern about ice on the pad,” she reported. “The temperature is below thirty-two degrees. All the valves on the water lines on the pad have been open slightly all night so that they don’t freeze. Can you see the icicles?” | <urn:uuid:38208159-17e7-413b-bd62-605a1a20b2a4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.space.com/24457-challenger-american-tragedy-book-preview.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979463 | 2,889 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Thank you very much for the question. Tea tree oil is derived from the leaves of the Melaleuca alternifolia, a plant commonly found in Australia and used by the Australian aborigines. It appears that the leaves were used sometime to make tea and hence the name. It is used regularly as an alternative medicine in a variety of conditions like boils, dandruffs, acne, athletes’ foot and others. Tea tree oil is effective against germs and fungus because of the presence of terpenoids like terpenin-4-ol. It has also been used in allopathic medicine and in the treatment of burns. Studies have shown the cytotoxicity of tea tree oil against human fibroblast and epithelial cells and therefore it has been suggested that tea tree oil should not be used on burn wounds ( see reference below-1). I am not sure if you have used tea tree oil before as some individuals may have allergy to the tea tree oil and present with dermatitis like picture with rashes, itching and blisters or serious allergic reactions rarely. When used in undiluted form it can result in a chemical burn showing redness, skin irritation, itching and blistering.
http://asktheburnsurgeon.blogspot.com/2010/01/management-of-2nd-degree-superficial.html describes in detail the management of 2nd degree superficial burn.
Since you have acne and possibly a higher skin bacterial load the affected site should be watched for any sign of infection and antibiotics may be started if this happens. Once the area heals use a bland skin moisturizer to nourish the new skin and use a sunscreen to avoid pigmentation (darkening) of the new skin from sun exposure. A visit to your doctor will be helpful as this advice is given without actually seeing you in person.
Related articles and sites
1)Allergy to tea tree oil: retrospective review of 41 cases with positive patch tests over 4.5 years.
Rutherford T, Nixon R, Tam M, Tate B.
Australas J Dermatol. 2007 May;48(2):83-7.
2)Does tea tree oil have a place in the topical treatment of burns?
Faoagali J, George N, Leditschke JF.
Burns. 1997 Jun;23(4):349-51.
3)Melaleuca oil (tea tree oil) dermatitis.
Knight TE, Hausen BM.
J Am Acad Dermatol. 1994 Mar;30(3):423-7. | <urn:uuid:df8ab62b-01d7-48f6-9815-2431901b6f1d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://asktheburnsurgeon.blogspot.com/2010/04/chemical-burn-from-tea-tree-oil.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00071-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918394 | 529 | 2.59375 | 3 |
One of the beautiful benefits of saving land is that we all have the opportunity to enjoy it. Eastern Shore Land Conservancy holds three preserves, one of which is open all year. We also have helped to save properties where others offer public access. We welcome you to enjoy the natural beauty of our beloved Eastern Shore.
The property was donated to ESLC in 1999 by Mary Lynch in loving memory of her husband, Jim Lynch Sr. Mary Lynch grew up on a larger farm that included the modern property.
The property is on Robins Creek and the Choptank River, near Two Johns Landing. Mary Lynch grew up walking through the forest. Her husband developed some of the fields for the Two Johns subdivision, now famous for its Christmas lights. He preserved the forest because she liked to walk there. Later, she donated the land to ESLC, which put an easement on the property, which allows for an educational center, which has not been created.
The Bennett Point Farm is owned jointly by Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage and Eastern Shore Land Conservancy. The property was purchased in 1997 with funds from a North American Wetlands Conservation Act. In 1998, large scale habitat restoration projects were completed on the property. Management of the property is critical to ensuring that wildlife and water quality continue to benefit from these restorations.
The Bennett Point Farm consists of a diversity of habitat types including 140 acres of forest, 13 acres of grassland, 107 acres of shallow, freshwater, emergent wetland; and 24 acres of farmland used for wildlife food plots. This diversity is uncommon on lands today in Maryland. The wetlands provide habitat for a variety of amphibians, reptiles, insects, birds and mammals. Nesting coots, black ducks, and blue-wing teals have been recorded on the site. Winter waterfowl populations have been extraordinary, due to the good habitat and lack of human disturbance.
Twelve thousand years ago, Tilghman Island was a ridge several hundred feet above the Susquehanna River roaring with cascades of glacial melt. Humans were there, and whether settled or just passing by, left a few stone points and tools. When they were gone, the weather reverted to a millennia of cold, called by archaeologists the “Younger Dryas.” The area was covered by a thick layer of wind-blown dust, the ocean rose, and the immense canyon became the Chesapeake Bay. Erosion along the shores exposed the layers, including the one that contained evidence of early occupation by Clovis people.
Many years later, when Darrin Lowery was a young man, he began collecting items lying on the beach of his family’s property at PawPaw Cove. Upon seeing a television program about their ancient origin, he and his father took the “lithics” to a meeting with Dr. Dennis Stanford at the Smithsonian Insitution. Their land became the easternmost location for investigation of what were then thought to be the earliest occupants of North America.
Since then, evidence of even older humans has been discovered at many locations; some found by Lowery (now a geologist) along the shores of the Chesapeake. The book Across Atlantic Ice (2012) by Dr. Stanford and Dr. Bradley details Lowery’s finds and others that support their theory of seaborne hunters crossing to these shores from France before 22,000 BC.
Eastern Shore Land Conservancy has helped to protect many properties where the public is welcome, either for various events, to hike, to hunt or fish, or to participate in community supported agriculture. | <urn:uuid:84d73719-92e0-410e-beb1-94fab0dd475f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eslc.org/land-preservation/preserves/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00059-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971921 | 733 | 2.671875 | 3 |
[Source: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, full page: (LINK). Edited.]
Volume 20, Number 6—June 2014 / Commentary
Unraveling the Mysteries of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus
John T. Watson, Aron J. Hall, Dean D. Erdman, David L Swerdlow, and Susan I. Gerber
Author affiliations: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a novel CoV known to cause severe acute respiratory illness in humans; ≈40% of confirmed cases have been fatal. Human-to-human transmission and multiple outbreaks of respiratory illness have been attributed to MERS-CoV, and severe respiratory illness caused by this virus continues to be identified. MERS-CoV was first reported in September 2012, and subsequent investigations documented illness onsets as early as April 2012 (1). As of February 23, 2014, the World Health Organization has reported 182 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV infection, including 79 deaths, indicating an ongoing risk for transmission to humans in the Arabian Peninsula (2). The median age of reported case-patients is 52 years (range 2–94 years); most case-patients are male (3). Most index case-patients have at least 1 reported chronic comorbid condition (4) and have resided in, or recently traveled to, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, or Saudi Arabia (3). Confirmed cases of MERS-CoV have been identified in travelers returning from France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, and Tunisia (3). Although some have speculated that a zoonotic reservoir of MERS-CoV exists, very little is known about the specific exposures that result in primary human cases.
MERS-CoV infection causes severe acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, extrapulmonary organ dysfunction, and high rates of death; however, the spectrum of illness and clinical course are not fully defined (5). Evidence suggests that MERS-CoV is capable of limited human-to-human transmission, which results in outbreaks in family and health care settings (5,6). The 182 reported cases include multiple distinct spatiotemporal clusters and 32 identified infections in health care workers (3). Modeling performed to assess the extent of human infection and the transmission potential of MERS-CoV (as of August 2013) estimated that most symptomatic case-patients had not been detected but that chains of transmission were not self-sustaining when infection control was implemented (7). Despite evidence of human-to-human transmission, the number of contacts infected by persons with confirmed infections appears to be limited; sustained transmission in the community has not been documented (3). The Hajj, the annual religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, involved 1.37 million pilgrims from 188 countries in 2013 but resulted in no reports of confirmed cases in the weeks after the pilgrimage (3).
Little is known about the pathogenic potential and transmission dynamics of MERS-CoV. Although multiple health care–associated clusters have been identified (4), further investigation is needed of the specific risk factors for transmission within health care facilities. Basic information about the temporal and causal patterns of viral shedding and their relationships to clinical outcomes is critical to further understand the virus and to shape prevention and control measures needed to limit transmission. Standard, contact, and airborne precautions appear to be effective in limiting transmission and are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to manage known or suspected MERS-CoV infection in hospitalized patients as a primary means of preventing and controlling transmission (8).
Potential animal reservoirs and mechanism(s) of transmission of MERS-CoV to humans remain unclear. Of the minority of case-patients for whom information is available about exposure to animals, few have reported owning or visiting a farm with camels, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, or other animals (4). A zoonotic origin for MERS-CoV was initially suggested by its high genetic similarity to bat CoVs (9) and the identification of closely related viruses in bats (10). Recent reports have described additional data from camels. These include real-time reverse transcription PCR detection and limited sequencing of MERS-CoV from 3 camels from a farm in Qatar linked to 2 infections in humans in October 2013 (11) and, more recently, in camels in Saudi Arabia (12), and antibodies against MERS-CoV in serum of camels from the Arabian Peninsula, including serum from the United Arab Emirates drawn in 2003 (13–17). However, more epidemiologic data linking cases to infected animals are needed to determine whether a particular animal species is a host for the virus, a source of human infection, or both.
This month’s issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases presents results of a study that provides evidence of MERS-CoV in dromedary camels in Egypt (18). Only 3 other reports of MERS-CoV detection in animals have been published: 1 in a bat and 2 in camels (11,12,19). However, these reports were based on limited genetic information. In contrast, on the basis of their sequence analysis of nearly the entire viral genome that showed >99% nt sequence identity with human MERS-CoV, Chu et al. provide the most compelling evidence thus far of MERS-CoV infection in dromedary camels (18). Although the authors also found neutralizing antibodies to MERS-CoV (or a MERS-like CoV) in most of the camels, they did not find serologic evidence of infection in the abattoir workers who had contact with the infected animals. This finding leaves key questions about zoonotic transmission unanswered. Most notably, it remains unclear whether zoonotic transmission of MERS-CoV occurs between camels and humans and, if so, what the directionality and risk factors are for such transmission. These lingering gaps in knowledge about MERS-CoV emphasize the need for more epidemiologic study to determine risk factors for human infection, more population-level data on the prevalence of MERS-CoV in camels, risk factors for infection and shedding in camels, and continued vigilance for other possible sources of infection. Also, the camels tested were in Egypt and were locally reared or imported from Sudan or Ethiopia, countries in which no cases have been identified in humans. Thus, the geographic area for surveillance should be widened beyond the Arabian Peninsula and include eastern Africa, which is a source for importation of dromedary camels. This study emphasizes the need to further define exposure information for all MERS-CoV cases regarding camels and other animals, as well as exposure to ill humans who might have undetected MERS-CoV infections. Understanding the role of dromedary camels and possibly other animals in transmission of MERS-CoV to humans remains a priority for future investigation to enable development of targeted control measures and prevent future cases and deaths from this emerging pathogen.
Dr Watson is a medical officer with the Division of Viral Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. His research interests include the epidemiology and control of viral respiratory diseases.
- Pollack MP, Pringle C, Madoff LC, Memish ZA. Latest outbreak news from ProMED-mail: novel coronavirus—Middle East. Int J Infect Dis. 2013;17:e143–4 . DOIPubMed
- World Health Organization. Global Alert and Response (GAR). Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)—update. 2014 7 February [cited 2014 Feb 24]. http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_02_07mers/en/
- World Health Organization. Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) summary and literature update—as of 20 January 2014 [cited 2014 Feb 24]. http://www.who.int/csr/disease/coronavirus_infections/MERS_CoV_Update_20_Jan_2014.pdf?ua=1
- World Health Organization, MERS-CoV Research Group. State of knowledge and data gaps of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in humans. PLoS Curr. 2013;5:pii: ecurrents.outbreaks.0bf719e352e7478f8ad85fa30127ddb8.
- Memish ZA, Zumla AI, Al-Hakeem RF, Al-Rabeeah AA, Stephens GM. Family cluster of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infections [Erratum in: N Engl J Med. 2013;369:587]. N Engl J Med. 2013;368:2487–94. DOIPubMed
- Assiri A, McGeer A, Perl TM, Price C, Al Rabeeah AA, Cummings DAT, Hospital outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. N Engl J Med. 2013;369:407–16. DOIPubMed
- Cauchemez S, Fraser C, Kerkhove MDV, Donnelly CA, Riley S, Rambaut A, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus: quantification of the extent of the epidemic, surveillance biases, and transmissibility. Lancet Infect Dis. 2014;14:50–6. DOIPubMed
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Interim infection prevention and control recommendations for hospitalized patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) [cited 2014 Feb 24]. http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/infection-prevention-control.html
- Cotten M, Lam TT, Watson SJ, Palser AL, Petrova V, Grant P, Full-genome deep sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of novel human betacoronavirus. Emerg Infect Dis. 2013;19:736–42. DOI PubMed
- Ithete NL, Stoffberg S, Corman VM, Cottontail VM, Richards LR, Schoeman MC, Close relative of human Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in bat, South Africa. Emerg Infect Dis. 2013;19:1697–9. DOIPubMed
- Haagmans BL, Dhahiry SHSA, Reusken CBEM, Raj VS, Galiano M, Myers R, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in dromedary camels: an outbreak investigation. Lancet Infect Dis. 2014;14:140–5. DOIPubMed
- Alagaili AN, Briese T, Mishra N, Kapoor V, Stephen C, Sameroff SC, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in dromedary camels in Saudi Arabia. MBio. 2014;5:e00884–14. DOIPubMed
- Hemida MG, Perera RA, Wang P, Alhammadi MA, Siu LY, Li M, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus seroprevalence in domestic livestock in Saudi Arabia, 2010 to 2013. Euro Surveill. 2013;18:20659 .PubMed
- Reusken CB, Ababneh M, Raj VS, Meyer B, Eljarah A, Abutarbush S, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) serology in major livestock species in an affected region in Jordan, June to September 2013. Euro Surveill. 2013;18:20662.PubMed
- Perera RA, Wang P, Gomaa MR, El-Shesheny R, Kandeil A, Bagato O, Seroepidemiology for MERS coronavirus using microneutralisation and pseudoparticle virus neutralisation assays reveal a high prevalence of antibody in dromedary camels in Egypt, June 2013. Euro Surveill. 2013;18:20574.PubMed
- Reusken CB, Haagmans BL, Müller MA, Gutierrez C, Godeke GJ, Meyer B, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus neutralising serum antibodies in dromedary camels: a comparative serological study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2013;13:859–66. DOIPubMed
- Meyer B, Müller MA, Corman VM, Reusken CBEM, Ritz D, Godeke G-D, Antibodies against MERS coronavirus in dromedary camels, United Arab Emirates, 2003 and 2013. Emerg Infect Dis. 2014 Apr [cited 2014 Feb 24]. DOI
- Chu DKW, Poon LLM, Gomaa MM, Shehata MM, Perera RAPM, Zeid DA, MERS coronaviruses in dromedary camels, Egypt. Emerg Infect Dis [Internet]. 2014 Jun [cited 2014 Feb 27].
- Memish ZA, Mishra N, Olival KJ, Fagbo SF, Kapoor V, Epstein JH, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in bats, Saudi Arabia. Emerg Infect Dis. 2013;19:1819–23. DOI PubMed
Suggested citation for this article: Watson JT, Hall AJ, Erdman DD, Swerdlow DL, Gerber SI. Unraveling the mysteries of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Emerg Infect Dis [Internet]. 2014 Jun [date cited]. http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2006.140322 | <urn:uuid:d7658626-ed19-446d-a684-c7c391595bd5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://hygimia69.blogspot.com/2014/03/unraveling-mysteries-of-middle-east.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00124-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.862436 | 2,877 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Vancouver, BC – Two BC researchers have combined forces to develop a blood test that will identify patients at high risk for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) lung attacks. This much needed test will help medical professionals provide better treatment and ultimately lead to patients with fewer attacks, and reduced hospitalization and emergency visits.
By the end of their four-year, $7.2 million research project, funded in part by Genome BC, Drs Don Sin and Raymond Ng hope to have the blood test ready to identify patients at high risk for ‘lung attacks’, as well as be able to differentiate these attacks from other conditions. Ultimately, their goal is to ensure that patients who need preventative drugs will receive them, resulting in fewer attacks and significantly reducing the burden on the health care system. At the same time, patients at low risk of an attack will be able to avoid unnecessary drugs and their potential side effects.
COPD is a progressive disease that is characterized by loss of lung function, leading to breathlessness, poor quality of life, loss in productivity and increased mortality. According to most recent Statistics Canada figures, COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in Canada and the leading cause of hospital admissions. The disease is a burden on the healthcare system: patients require hospital admissions that average a 10-day length of stay at a cost of $10,000 per stay. The total cost of COPD hospitalizations alone is estimated to be over $2 billion a year.
Presently there is no advance warning for these severe lung attacks that exacerbate the condition. If caught early enough―or, better yet, prevented―these attacks can be effectively treated with medication. Unfortunately, many lung attack symptoms can resemble pneumonia, heart attacks or even the flu.
“As a clinician, I see patients on a daily basis who suffer from COPD,” says Dr. Don Sin,Canadian Research Chair in COPD, professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia and a respirologist at St. Paul’s Hospital. “At present we blindly treat all patients the same way regardless of how active their disease is because we have no test that can tell us about disease intensity or activity. This research will help us find a simple blood test that can provide critical information about disease activity and hence guide rational treatment therapies for patients”.
Over 1,000 patient samples are already being investigated, as researchers are using genomics to begin identifying which biomarkers provide the molecular signature to indicate disease activity. The biomarkers will identify patients at high risk for lung attacks (i.e. those with high disease activity) and just as importantly, differentiate these attacks from other conditions.
"With our experienced team of computer and data scientists applying state-of-the-art tools to process and mine the data required, we are confident that the biomarker-based blood tests will be developed and ready to move into clinical use in the next few years," says Raymond Ng, Chief Informatics Officer at the PROOF Centre of Excellence.
“BC is fortunate to have a talented pool of researchers working in the area of genomics,” said Terry Lake, Minister of Health. “This project is an example of valuable research, supported by organizations such as Genome BC, that has the potential to help the over 100,000 British Columbians living with COPD lead healthier lives.”
“COPD is a burdensome disease that is outstripping our ability to keep up with the therapeutic and clinical demands,” says Dr. Alan Winter, President and CEO of Genome BC. “Investing in research that will provide a tangible, practical tool for physicians and improve patient outcomes is one of the major goals for Genome BC and we look forward to watching the progress of this significant project.”
The research project, entitled Clinical Implementation and Outcomes Evaluation of Blood-Based Biomarkers for COPD Management is also funded by Genome Canada, the PROOF Centre of Excellence, the St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation and Genome Quebec.
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a long-lasting respiratory disorder that causes the airways of the lungs to be inflamed and become “obstructed”. The two major forms of the disease include chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
- Those suffering from COPD usually experience shortness of breath, long-lasting coughs, and sputum production. COPD gradually deprive individuals of their breath, health and vitality, and affects their quality of life. Up to 79% of Canadians with COPD avoid everyday activities.
- Hospital admissions for COPD lung attacks in Canada averaged a 10-day length of stay at a cost of more than $10,000 per stay. The total cost of COPD hospitalizations is estimated to be at $2 billion a year.
- COPD Canada’s fourth leading cause of death. The disease affects approximately 3 million Canadians, including 1.5 million patients who currently suffer from this disease and another 1.5 million undiagnosed patients.
- Patients who have a lung attack are twice as likely to die in the 12 months following a hospital stay than patients who have had a heart attack.
- Canadian COPD patients are well below the global average (55% versus 73%) for accessing health care services in response to a lung attack.
- The disease is especially prevalent among younger Canadian baby boomers – one in seven Canadians aged 45 to 49 (375,000) may have COPD.
- According to the latest estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2007, 210 million people currently have COPD and is the third leading cause of death worldwide.
- COPD poses a huge drain on health resources and carries a significant economic in Canada. It accounts for the highest rate of hospital admission and readmission among major chronic illnesses in the country. 18% of COPD patients were readmitted once within the year and 14% twice within the year.
About Genome British Columbia:
Genome British Columbia is a catalyst for the life sciences cluster on Canada’s West Coast, and manages a cumulative portfolio of over $625M in research projects and science and technology platforms. Working with governments, academia and industry across sectors such as forestry, fisheries, agriculture, environment, bioenergy, mining and human health, the goal of the organization is to generate social and economic benefits for British Columbia and Canada. Genome BC is supported by the Province of British Columbia, the Government of Canada through Genome Canada and Western Economic Diversification Canada and more than 300 international public and private co-funding partners. www.genomebc.ca
Communications Specialist, Genome BC | <urn:uuid:6c0f1250-eb98-4bfe-a42a-2777783f0ec2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.genomebc.ca/news-events/news-releases/2013/copd-patients-starting-breathe-easier/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00034-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946828 | 1,397 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Key Features Brings together a range of views on the concept of the native speaker including psycholinguistic, linguistic and sociolinguistic aspects Concludes that all characteristics of the native speaker (except early childhood exposure) are contingent
Linguists, applied linguists and language teachers all appeal to the native speaker as an important reference point. But what exactly (who exactly?) is the native speaker? This book examines the native speaker from different points of view, arguing that the native speaker is both myth and reality.
Preface to First edition
Preface to Second edition
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Psycholinguistic aspects of the native speaker
Chapter 3: Linguistic aspects of the native speaker
Chapter 4: Sociolinguistic aspects of the native speaker
Chapter 5: Lingualism and the knowledges of the native speaker
Chapter 6: Communicative aspects of the native speaker
Chapter 7: Intelligibility and the speech community
Chapter 8: Losing one's language
Chapter 9: Assessment and second language acquisition research
Chapter 10: Conclusion: who is the native speaker?
Appendix/ References/ Index
Alan Davies has taught and researched English and Applied Linguistics in Kenya, Nepal, Australia, Hong Kong and the U.K and is now Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics in the University of Edinburgh. In the 1960s he developed the English Proficiency Test Battery, which the British Council used prior to ELTS and IELTS. A former editor of the journals Applied Linguistics and Language Testing, his publications include Principles of Language Testing (Blackwell 1990), An Introduction to Applied Linguistics (Edinburgh U.P. 1999) and Dictionary of Language Testing (Cambridge U.P. 1999). | <urn:uuid:3eb6643a-0a42-4d63-b790-cbd6326e42de> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=5219 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00198-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.877457 | 362 | 3.78125 | 4 |
BOSTON (July 9, 2014) – Over the last 60 years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 20 medications for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) based on clinical trials that were not designed to study their long-term efficacy and safety or to detect rare adverse events, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital report today in PLOS ONE. The study highlights gaps in how the long-term safety of drugs intended for chronic use in children is assessed as part of the FDA approval process.
"This study doesn’t address whether ADHD drugs are safe, though their safety has since been established through years of clinical experience," says study senior author Kenneth Mandl, MD, MPH, Boston Children's chair in biomedical informatics and population health and director of the Intelligent Health Laboratory in Boston Children's Informatics Program. "Instead, we point to the need for an agenda emphasizing improved assessment of rare adverse events and long-term safety through post-marketing trials, comparative effectiveness trials and more active FDA enforcement."
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 percent of children in the U.S. between the ages of four and 17—or about 6.4 million children—have been diagnosed with ADHD. On average, children prescribed ADHD medications take them for several years.
To understand how extensively the long-term safety of common ADHD medications had been studied before going on the market, the researchers reviewed the clinical trial data included in the FDA drug approval packages for 20 drugs, reaching as far back as the original FDA approval for methylphenidate (Ritalin®) in 1955.
The team identified 32 clinical trials on the 20 drugs. Only five trials were focused specifically on drug safety. The team calculated that each drug was tested in a median of 75 patients prior to FDA approval, with a median trial duration of four weeks. Eleven of the 20 drugs were approved after having been tested in fewer than 100 patients, and 14 in fewer than 300. Seven drugs that the FDA had previously approved for other conditions (e.g., obesity) were approved for ADHD without any condition-specific trials or trials in children.
For context, the authors note that the International Conference on Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH)—a forum for best practices in drug development—recommends that drugs intended for chronic use in non-life-threatening conditions (such as ADHD) should be tested in a minimum of 300 to 600 patients for at least six months, in a minimum of 100 patients for at least one year, and in about 1,500 patients total before regulatory approval.
"ADHD drugs are so effective at producing a behavioral effect quickly that one can measure a statistically significant treatment effect rapidly and with relatively few patients," Mandl says. "However, in the real world, these drugs are prescribed often for years, not for a few weeks, and long-term cognitive effects were never measured during the approval process."
Of note, six of the drugs received FDA approval with the caveat that the manufacturers conduct post-marketing surveillance studies of long-term safety. However, based on the records the researchers reviewed, only two of those requested studies were ever conducted.
"One approach used by the FDA to increase our knowledge around rare adverse drug events and the long-term safety of drugs is to require pharmaceutical companies to conduct post-marketing trials after a drug is approved," says study first author Florence Bourgeois, MD, MPH, of Boston Children's Department of Emergency Medicine. "However, historically there has been little enforcement of this requirement and sponsors have not been conducting the requested post-marketing trials."
Mandl and Bourgeois see the results as a call for increased regulatory emphasis on drugs' long-term safety and efficacy, particularly ones prescribed on a chronic basis.
The study was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grant number 1R21HD072382).
Boston Children's Hospital
617-919-3110 | email@example.com
Boston Children's Hospital
617-919-3110 | firstname.lastname@example.org
Boston Children’s Hospital is home to the world’s largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including seven members of the National Academy of Sciences, 14 members of the Institute of Medicine and 14 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children’s research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children’s today is a 395-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care. Boston Children’s is also the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about research and clinical innovation at Boston Children’s, visit: http://vectorblog.org. | <urn:uuid:56ca798b-ef02-42de-891e-13aaa97744e5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.childrenshospital.org/news-and-events/2014/july-2014/review-of-adhd-drug-approvals-highlights-gaps-between-approval-process-and-safety-assessment | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00175-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958249 | 1,024 | 2.65625 | 3 |
The natural instinct of a software developer is to demonstrate that their application works. They are genuine problem-solvers, sharp and go-getting, who can knock out a prototype application in a matter of weeks or even days. A tester's focus is different. It is to demonstrate an application's weaknesses. It is to find test cases or configurations that would give unexpected results, or to show the software breaking.
When my fellow testers at Red Gate were asked to find words to describe themselves, they used tenacious, uncompromising, and thorough – all personality traits well suited to a determined software tester.
Consequently, testing a piece of software can take twice the time it took to develop it. In some situations there is even a danger that the activities of the test team can become a bottleneck in the drive to meet a product release date, as developers sit back and wait for results back from the test team in order to progress with their coding.
So, what are the processes involved in testing software? And why is it worth all of the effort? Hopefully, this short article will provide at least some of the answers.
Why does testing take so long?
To the uninitiated, it remains a mystery why software deadlines are often delayed. While at university, I remember knocking out a simple application within a few days of starting a programming course, and wondering how on earth it took professional developers so long to write and release commercial applications.
Of course, I now know that there is a world of difference between developing a rough prototype and developing a commercially viable application. It doesn't take long at all, sometimes only days, to get an application to the stage where it starts to do what it is supposed to do. However, creating an application that is user-friendly, meets customer requirements, copes under stress and is scalable and robust – that involves a huge amount of joint development and testing effort.
The developer-tester dynamic needs careful coordination and management. Full coordination is a difficult, if not impossible task and at some point it's inevitable that the testers will be waiting for critical bug fixes, or that the developers will be waiting for results from the test team before progress can be made.
What are the testers up to?
Although many test teams use test tools or scripts to automate testing activities, there's a lot about testing which is just simply labour intensive. Here are just some of the activities involved:
- Planning and developing test cases – writing test plans and documentation, prioritizing the testing based on assessing the risks, setting up test data, organising test teams.
- Setting up the test environment – an application will be tested using multiple combinations of hardware and software and under different conditions. Also, setting up the prerequisites for the test cases themselves.
- Writing test harnesses and scripts – developing test applications to call the API directly in order to automate the test cases. Writing scripts to simulate user interactions.
- Planning, writing and running load tests – non-functional tests to monitor an application's scalability and performance. Looking at how an application behaves under the stress of a large number of users.
- Writing bug reports – communicating the exact steps required to reproduce unexpected behaviour on a particular configuration. Reporting to development team with test results.
As David Atkinson noted in a recent interview, much testing involves going "beyond sensible" – making sure that the software does not break under extreme conditions. It's not uncommon to find one bug for every ten lines of a developer's code, so subjective decisions need to be made about what should be fixed and with what priority.
When a bug is discovered there is often a time consuming (and curious!) investigation to track down and fix the defect. On other occasions the fix is trivial. It has happened on a number of occasions that I've submitted a bug report detailing the steps required to reproduce an issue, attached screen shots and log files and even investigated for which configurations it is valid, then received confirmation within a few minutes that the developer has fixed it!
However, even after the fix, there is more work to be done. On the next build regression tests are performed (many should be automated) to check that the fix hasn't broken anything else, and test scripts are modified to add this test case for next time.
Some of the above test activities lend themselves to a degree of automation, but many of them are labour-intensive. Planning and developing test cases is manual work. Writing test harnesses and automated test scripts, which iterate through test cases, requires planning and development time for the test team.
Even when automated tools can do some of the donkey work, there's often a price to pay. For example, using automated tools for load testing is pretty much the only way to repeat the same load test between builds to investigate the performance impact of code changes. However, it still takes time for the tester to plan the load tests, write the scripts, set up the test environment, run the tests and analyze the results.
Other times, automation can be counter-productive. It's time pressures that make it rarely worthwhile to use automated tools to do functional testing of the user interface, as the maintenance of the scripts is so fiddly between builds.
Even though automation takes time to setup and maintain, it does offer huge advantages in terms of what can be tested and how frequently, and it also allows testers to innovate and be creative. For testers, coding scripts for automation is worthwhile and easily justifiable to their managers. In fact, only basic programming skills are required to manipulate scripts (recorded automatically by test tools, for example) in order to encompass a wider range of test cases. With greater skill, testers can produce extensive automated tests that can then be scaled up to test not only the basic business requirements but the whole application infrastructure.
Tips for test teams
The best advice I can offer testers is to share your knowledge with the team. One simple but hugely beneficial exercise is to look over another tester's shoulder, as he or she demonstrates an issue they have discovered, and how they investigated it further to realise the extent of the defect. Another top tip for test team leaders is to set up a bug hunt. The idea is that testers work in pairs, or small teams, for an hour to do exploratory testing together. For example, a particular piece of functionality is tested and the team that finds the most defects, or most interesting defects, is rewarded. Donuts are always appreciated!
What's the ROI?
Test teams bring with them considerable expense, and it is one that many companies tend to try to avoid. Aside from the labour costs, there are also hardware and software requirements to be considered, as well the cost of the effort required to fix the bugs that testers find.
However, in order to appreciate the ROI of thorough testing, one only has to consider the impact on a business of delivering substandard products. No software application can claim to be bug free, but it's a given that untested applications will contain more defects than tested applications. Shoddy software will affect future sales, company reputation, increase work for application support staff, affect employee morale, and so forth.
The exact return on investment on testing may not be easy to measure, but as long as the test team focuses on testing the riskiest areas of the application, and executing tests covering all of the business requirements, then these facts alone render their presence invaluable.
There's often a misconception that testing isn't always as challenging as writing code, and therefore an activity which carries less stature within an organization. A large proportion of Computer Science graduates will become software developers, and possibly wouldn't even consider applying for a job as a software tester.
In reality testing can be an extremely creative activity. You still get to develop complicated software, only the objective is different. Where developers have to stick to a fairly rigid brief on what they are coding, testers have more freedom about what and how to build applications that increase productivity or verify quality. It's also extremely satisfying to break a developer friend's code. | <urn:uuid:ebd18a62-a32b-403c-ab2d-c628858956bd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.simple-talk.com/opinion/opinion-pieces/driving-up-software-quality---the-role-of-the-tester/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00009-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951087 | 1,645 | 2.515625 | 3 |
By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News
A "Jesus Christ" lizard, filmed from above and below the water
Remarkable slow-motion footage has been taken of two lizards that seem to do the impossible - walk on water.
A high-definition film, shot at 2,000 frames per second, shows a brown basilisk lizard running across the surface of a pond in Belize.
More footage shows how a species of gecko is so tiny that it can walk across a puddle without breaking the water's surface tension.
These amazing feats are captured for the BBC natural history series Life.
The group of animals known as basilisk lizards commonly lives along the edge of rivers running through rainforests, eating small insects among the foliage.
The lizards need to bask in the sun to warm up each day, which leaves them vulnerable to being caught by predators, such as large birds of prey hunting from the air, or carnivores such as cats living on the jungle floor.
So the lizards have evolved an extraordinary escape mechanism.
They drop into the water and then run across it, earning the lizards their nickname, the "Jesus" or "Jesus Christ" lizard.
Exactly how they do so is revealed by the slow-motion, high-definition footage taken at 2,000 frames per second.
"Because they run so fast they create a bubble as their feet hit the water and then they push off from this bubble before it bursts," says Simon Blakeney, a producer on the
series who helped direct and film the footage of both reptiles.
"They can only run at that speed. If they were going any slower, for example, they wouldn't stay upright, they would slip into the water and would have to swim."
Mr Blakeney and his colleagues filmed brown basilisk lizards (Basiliscus vittatus) running across ponds and rivers in the rainforest in Belize, around 60km from Belize City.
Capturing the footage of the animals in action proved tricky.
To a Brazilian pygmy gecko, a raindrop could be deadly
"Around 80% of the time when they are escaping from things, they don't run, they swim. So filming them running was quite a difficult thing in itself."
The lizard has long thin toes that are covered by scales underfoot. These help create the air bubbles that enable the lizard to push off and walk across the water.
Scientists had also previously established that basilisk lizards produce massive sideways forces in their running stride, which, perversely, help them stay upright.
Slowing the action of the film to 1/80th of its real-life speed reveals the true spectacle, says Mr Blakeney.
"As the water lifts up it makes this incredible trail of splashes behind it, like a pebble dropping into the water.
"Then the lizard has already gone out of frame because they are so fast."
Float like a gecko
Another lizard, a tiny species known as a pygmy gecko, faces a different problem altogether.
At just 2 to 4cm long from head to tail, the Brazilian pygmy gecko (Coleodactylus amazonicus) could be battered by a raindrop and risk drowning in even the smallest pool of water.
So it has evolved to be essentially waterproof, which in turn allows it to walk across the surface of any puddle it encounters.
Mr Blakeney's team encountered the remarkable gecko near a place called Aripauna, on the edge of the Amazon in Brazil.
With the help of expert Dr Gabriel Skuk of the Federal University of Alagoas based in Maceio, Brazil, the team filmed the geckos surviving in the leaf litter on the forest floor.
"They don't really use water as an escape response, because even if they are trying to escape from something a puddle looks like a lake to them," says Mr Blakeney.
"Because they are so tiny, they are able to float on the surface of the water like a pondskater, so they don't break the surface tension.
"I've never seen anything like that to be honest."
The geckos have hydrophobic skin which repels water just like a waterproof jacket.
One hypothesis put forward by scientists, says Mr Blakeney, is that as the geckos became smaller, they needed to evolve a way to float, to avoid drowning when it rains.
The water-walking lizards can be seen on the BBC series Life, which is broadcast at 2100BST on BBC One on Monday 19 October. | <urn:uuid:4f642ce6-3d47-47fb-8ec2-f78a2d85d0cc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8304000/8304139.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00057-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960106 | 961 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Risk factors may include
Extremes of age or weight; dehydration, exposure to cold or hot environments, illness or trauma affecting temperature regulation
Possibly evidenced by
(Not applicable; presence of signs and symptoms establishes an actual diagnosis)
Desired Outcomes/Evaluation Criteria—Child Will
Regain or maintain appropriate body temperature for age and size.
Provide proper environmental controls and safeguards.
Nursing intervention with rationale:
1. Note conditions promoting fevers—infection, inflammation, hot environment, and dehydration.
Rationale: Determines choice of interventions.
2. Measure and monitor child’s temperature, using properly functioning thermometer.
Rationale: Inaccurate measurement can result in inappropriate treatment.
3. Discuss variables in temperature measurements for age of child and where temperature is measured.
Rationale: Knowledge of normal ranges for age of child—newborn through adolescent—is critical to knowing when a fever requires treatment. Temperature may be measured orally, rectally, and at the axillary space, with rectal measurement being on average approximately 1 degree higher than oral, and axillary being 1 degree lower than oral. Note: Temperature of 100.4 F (38 C) or greater in newborns and infants needs immediate attention. For toddlers and older children, temperatures up to 104 F (40 C) may be tolerated unless accompanied by other signs, such as poor color, breathing problems, severe lethargy, headache, or stiff neck (Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center [CCHMC], 2006).
4. Be aware of heat loss related to age and body mass.
Rationale: Newborn is more vulnerable to heat loss than older child because of body surface area, higher metabolic rate, and sensitivity to environmental conditions.
5. Observe for seizure activity. Provide safety precautions, as indicated.
Rationale: Higher fevers may trigger febrile seizures in susceptible children.
6. Adjust bedclothes, linens, and environment. Apply cool cloth to head and bathe in lukewarm bath.
Rationale: Limiting linens and use of room fan can help lower body temperature. Note: Use of alcohol sponge bath is contraindicated as fumes are inhaled by infant.
7. Administer antipyretics, for example, acetaminophen (Tylenol), 10 to 15 mg/kg every 4 hours or ibuprofen (Motrin), 10 to 15 mg/kg every 6 hours, as indicated. Avoid use of aspirin.
Rationale: Some degree of fever may be useful for fighting infection; however, excessive levels may have adverse effects and require intervention. Aspirin is believed to be associated with the onset of Reye’s syndrome (London et al, 2007). | <urn:uuid:53d04abf-3732-491f-8aed-f9a95858765c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.enurse-careplan.com/2011/09/risk-for-imbalanced-body-temperature.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00083-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.874325 | 588 | 3.453125 | 3 |
The Milky Way is essentially the galaxy that contains our Solar System. Its name comes from its appearance as a dim "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky, in which the naked eye cannot distinguish individual stars. Continue reading to see ten fascinating things you may not have known about the Milky Way Galaxy.
10. It Moves at 552-630km Per Second
Astronomers believe the Milky Way is moving at approximately 630 km per second relative to the average velocity of galaxies taken over a large enough volume so that the expansion of the Universe dominates over local, random motions: the local co-moving frame of reference that moves with the Hubble flow. The Milky Way is moving in the general direction of the Great Attractor and other galaxy clusters, including the Shapley supercluster, behind it. The Local Group (a cluster of gravitationally bound galaxies containing, among others, the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy) is part of a supercluster called the Local Supercluster, centered near the Virgo Cluster: although they are moving away from each other at 967 km/s as part of the Hubble flow, this velocity is less than would be expected given the 16.8 million pc distance due to the gravitational attraction between the Local Group and the Virgo Cluster.
9. It Passes Through 30 Constellations
The Milky Way passes through parts of roughly 30 constellations. The center of the Galaxy lies in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius; it is here that the Milky Way is brightest. From Sagittarius, the hazy band of white light appears to pass westward to the Galactic anticenter in Auriga. The band then continues westward the rest of the way around the sky back to Sagittarius. The fact that the band divides the night sky into two roughly equal hemispheres indicates that the Solar System lies close to the Galactic plane.
8. It Has Relatively Low Surface Brightness
The Milky Way has a relatively low surface brightness. Its visibility can be greatly reduced by background light such as light pollution or stray light from the moon. It is readily visible when the limiting magnitude is +5.1 or better, while showing a great deal of detail at +6.1. This makes the Milky Way difficult to see from any brightly lit urban or suburban location but very prominent when viewed from a rural area when the moon is below the horizon.
7. Barred Spiral Galaxy
The Galaxy consists of a bar-shaped core region surrounded by a disk of gas, dust and stars. The gas, dust and stars are organized in roughly logarithmic spiral arm structures. The mass distribution within the Galaxy closely resembles the SBc Hubble classification, which is a spiral galaxy with relatively loosely wound arms. Astronomers first began to suspect that the Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, rather than an ordinary spiral galaxy, in the 1990s. Their suspicions were confirmed by the Spitzer Space Telescope observations in 2005 that showed the Galaxy's central bar to be larger than previously suspected.
6. Contains 100-Billion Stars
The Milky Way contains at least 100 billion stars and may have up to 400 billion stars. As a comparison, the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy contains an estimated one trillion (1012) stars.Filling the space between the stars is a disk of gas and dust called the interstellar medium. Both gravitational microlensing and planetary transit observations indicate that there may be at least as many planets bound to stars as there are stars in the Milky Way, while microlensing measurements indicate that there are more rogue planets not bound to host stars than there are stars.
5. Galactic Center Marked By Intense Radio Source
The Galactic Center is marked by an intense radio source named Sagittarius A*. The motion of material around the center indicates that Sagittarius A* harbors a massive, compact object. This concentration of mass is best explained as a supermassive black hole[nb 4] with an estimated mass of 4.1-4.5 million times the mass of the Sun. Observations indicate that there are supermassive black holes located near the center of most normal galaxies.
4. Spiral Arms
Beyond the gravitational influence of the Galactic bars, astronomers generally organize the interstellar medium and stars in the disk of the Milky Way in four spiral arms. All of these arms contain more interstellar gas and dust than the Galactic average as well as a high concentration of star formation, traced by H II regions and molecular clouds. Counts of stars in near infrared light indicate that two arms contain approximately 30% more red giant stars than would be expected in the absence of a spiral arm, while two do not contain more red giant stars than regions outside of arms.
3. Galactic Disk Surrounded By a Halo
The Galactic disk is surrounded by a spheroidal halo of old stars and globular clusters, of which 90% lie within 100,000 light-years (30 kpc) of the Galactic Center, suggesting a stellar halo diameter of 200,000 light-years. However, a few globular clusters have been found farther, such as PAL 4 and AM1 at more than 200,000 light-years away from the Galactic Center. About 40% of the galaxy's clusters are on retrograde orbits, which means they move in the opposite direction from the Milky Way rotation. The globular clusters can follow rosette orbits about the Galaxy, in contrast to the elliptical orbit of a planet around a star.
2. Gamma-Ray Bubbles
On November 9, 2010, Doug Finkbeiner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced that he had detected two gigantic spherical bubbles of high energy emission that are erupting to the north and the south of the Milky Way core, using data of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The diameter of each of the bubbles is about 25,000 light-years (7.7 kpc); they stretch up to Grus and to Virgo on the night-sky of the southern hemisphere. Their origin remains unclear, so far.
overdensities were the seeds of globular clusters in which the oldest remaining stars in what is now the Milky Way formed. These stars and clusters now comprise the stellar halo of the Galaxy. Within a few billion years of the birth of the first stars, the mass of the Milky Way was large enough so that it was spinning relatively quickly. Due to conservation of angular momentum, this led the gaseous interstellar medium to collapse from a roughly spheroidal shape to a disk. Therefore, later generations of stars formed in this spiral disk. Most younger stars, including the Sun, are observed to be in the disk.
Since the first stars began to form, the Milky Way has grown through both galaxy mergers and accretion of gas directly from the Galactic halo. The Milky Way is currently accreting material from its two nearest satellite galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, through the Magellanic Stream. Direct accretion of gas is observed in high velocity clouds like the Smith Cloud. However, properties of the Milky Way such as stellar mass, angular momentum, and metallicity in its outermost regions suggest it has suffered no mergers with large galaxies in the last 10 billion years. This lack of recent major mergers is unusual among similar spiral galaxies; its neighbor the Andromeda Galaxy appears to have a more typical history shaped by more recent mergers with relatively large galaxies.
[Sources 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5] | <urn:uuid:891c6325-7bba-40c7-badd-daeccc819ba2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/10-fascinating-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-the-milky-way-galaxy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397567.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00106-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930185 | 1,538 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Like bubble sort, selection sort is implemented with one loop nested inside another. This suggests that the efficiency of selection sort, like bubble sort, is n 2 . To understand why this is indeed correct, consider how many comparisons must take place. The first iteration through the data require n - 1 comparisons to find the minimum value to swap into the first position. Because the first position can then be ignored when finding the next smallest value, the second iteration requires n - 2 comparisons and third requires n - 3 . This progression continues as follows:
(n - 1) + (n - 2) + ... +2 + 1 = n(n - 1)/2 = O(n 2)
Unlike other quadratic tests, the efficiency of selection sort is independent of the data. Bubble sort, for example, can sort sorted and some nearly-sorted lists in linear time because it is able to identify when it has a sorted list. Selection sort does not do anything like that because it is only seeking the minimum value on each iteration. Therefore, it cannot recognize (on the first iteration) the difference between the following two sets of data: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 and 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. In each case, it will identify the 1 as the smallest element and then go on to sorting the rest of the list. Because it treats all data sets the same and has no ability to short-circuit the rest of the sort if it ever comes across a sorted list before the algorithm is complete, insertion sort has no best or worst cases. Selection sort always takes O(n 2) operations, regardless of the characteristics of the data being sorted. | <urn:uuid:fd59c56a-e287-46a7-8da1-7dbf407609c3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sparknotes.com/cs/sorting/select/section1.rhtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00152-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904422 | 342 | 3.578125 | 4 |
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Within many different bacteria, small circular pieces of DNA can be found in the cytoplasm. These DNA circles are known as plasmids, and they are separate from the chromosomal DNA, or the DNA that carries the genes for the bacteria cells. Several copies of the plasmids are often present at any one time in the bacterial cell. Plasmids play a very important role in genetic engineering, particularly in gene cloning.
When genes are cloned, the process usually takes place within bacteria. In order to get the gene that is to be cloned into the bacteria, a vector is necessary. A plasmid is what is used as the vector, as it can pass easily from one cell to another.
There are a number of steps involved in gene cloning before inserting a plasmid into a host cell. First, the gene that is to be copied must be isolated, as must the plasmids that are to be used as vectors. Once this is done, the gene must be inserted into the plasmid DNA. The plasmid is then inserted into the bacterial host cell for replication.
To isolate plasmids from bacterial cells, the cells must be initially treated with enzymes to break down the cell walls of the bacteria. The larger chromosomal DNA is the separated from the smaller plasmids using a centrifuge. The isolated plasmid DNA is now ready to have the gene inserted into it.
Plasmids are made up of a double-stranded circle of DNA. To insert the desired gene, the plasmid DNA is cut with restriction enzymes. These enzymes only cut DNA at very specific nucleotide sequences. Once the plasmid DNA has been cut, linker sequences are added to the loose ends that correlate to the ends of the gene to be inserted. This ensures that the gene fits precisely into the plasmid.
Once the gene has been inserted into the plasmid, it is now ready to be inserted into a living bacterium. Bacteria replicate their plasmids so that a single cell can contain many copies. There can be up to 200 copies of a single plasmid within one bacterium. If the plasmid is introduced into many bacterial cells, many copies of the gene can be produced relatively quickly, particularly as bacteria cells replicate about every 20 minutes.
This is the process that is used to create human insulin. The gene coding for insulin was isolated and inserted into a plasmid. All of the plasmids containing the insulin gene were then introduced into a bacterium, where they were replicated. The bacteria then continued to replicate themselves, so that many millions of cells containing the insulin gene can be created in a very short time. This cloned gene now provides a reliable source for human insulin.
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK! | <urn:uuid:b31ab4b6-961f-482f-b73b-20c86c2063fe> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-plasmids.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00048-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960672 | 628 | 4.375 | 4 |
During the reign of the emperor Antoninus Pius in the middle of the second century, an unnamed Roman matron furtively became a Christian and not only left her old way of life behind but invited her husband to do the same. When this proved ineffectual, she decided to leave him and wrote up a repudium , a lawful bill of divorce. Her outraged husband went to the authorities and revealed his wifes new creed, whereupon she was arrested. He went on to denounce his wifes teacher in the faith, Ptolemaeus, who was also duly shackled. When asked if he bore the name of Jesus Christ, Ptolemaeus joyfully declared that he did and was condemned to execution. Seeing such a brutal, albeit legal, injustice, a certain Lucius loudly denounced the cruelty of the Roman official, Urbicus. Turning to Lucius, Urbicus inquired whether he, too, was a Christian. Lucius reply of Certissime earned him a place alongside Ptolemaeus in the executioners chamber. When a third, unidentified onlooker also protested such treatment, he was ordered to join the others in martyrdom that day. Upon hearing of this chain of cruelty, Justin Martyr wrote his Second Apology to the Roman senate, protesting that Christians were maltreated for no other reason than because they bore the name of Christ.
How did Christian allegiance become a matter of Roman law and, even more importantly, an offense for which one would joyfully die? Scripture lacks any clear and irrefutable equation of Jesus of Nazareth with the enfleshed Logos who partakes of the very nature of God the Father: even the confession of the apostle Thomas (in John 20:28), My Lord, my God, would be interpreted by the heresiarch, Arius, as Thomas thanking God for Jesus return. So how did Christs first disciples come to develop ways of defining and understanding his divinity, and how did the assurance of his divine nature develop so quickly?
In Lord Jesus Christ , the University of Edinburghs Larry Hurtado sets out to answer these questions, and his thorough examination of the primary texts and much of the scholarship surrounding the first two centuries of Christianity provides him with three main theses. First, he demonstrates that Christian devotion to Jesus was immediate and was intrinsically connected to his followers communal conviction that he alone possessed the power to save. Hurtado makes it clear that Christianity had a fluid relationship with the cultures and religions of the empire, both shaping them and being influenced by them, but he argues that Christs exalted status is neither a later development nor a borrowing from other cults around the Mediterranean. Unlike some current groups of scholars, Hurtado is deeply sensitive to the first Christians unique claim that Jesus was God incarnate.
Accordingly, his second argument is that Jesus stands as an unprecedented and unparalleled figure. Regardless of how he has been understood, such allegiance and constancy have been given to no other man in history. The third and most sustained argument that Hurtado presses throughout is that the first friends of Jesus came to develop a way of worshiping and speaking about the Son of Man in a way that avoided ditheism (the making of Jesus into another god alongside or subordinate to the Father).
Christs perfect union of divinity and humanity is the central mystery of the Incarnation, and, as de Lubac pointed out a generation ago, the abjuring of this paradox marked the heretics of the early Church, not her faithful adherents: the Adoptionists and Docetists were the ones who refused to live with the ultimate inscrutability of the God-Man. The believing Church, by contrast, looked for the most fitting and faithful way to express this paradox. That is, as inheritors of the old covenant, Christians sought to demonstrate the reasonableness of only one divine and eternal being, while as initiates into the life of Jesus, they also sought to show how Christs glory consummates Gods action ad extra and reveals the triune nature of God in a way that never puts monotheism at risk.
To make these points, Hurtado proceeds by way of the textual, the historical, and the creedal. The first seven of his ten chapters are given over to close textual studies. Hurtado opens by treating the religious environment of Jesus day and then proceeds to examine the Pauline evidence of Christs messiahship, the commonality of the Synoptic Gospels with the Gospel of John, and then the other early Jesus books (as the noncanonical accounts of Christs life are called). The goal here is to show how Jesus received a soteriological importance without precedent. As Hurtado puts it, Overall, we get the impression of a remarkably well-established pattern of prayer in which Jesus figures very prominently, either as a recipient or as unique agent through whom prayer is offered. Moreover, there is simply no analogy in Roman-era Jewish groups for the characteristic linking of Jesus with God in the prayer practice reflected in Pauls letters.
Similarly, the Gospels reveal a soteriological consistency in which Jesus is presented not only as an eschatological instrument but as salvation itself (e.g., John 14:6). Hurtado is excellent at guiding the reader through the subtle differences between the Gospels on this point as well as at showing how the devotion to Jesus presented there is strongly paralleled in such extrabiblical writings as The Protoevangelium of James , The Gospel of Peter, and The Gospel of Thomas .
An historical overview of the second century is given in Chapter8, and the emphasis here is on Christianitys struggle to understand its Jewish roots as it finds itself being more and more structured by the ethos and the religious expressions of gentile converts. The proven success and new distinctiveness of Christianity at the turn of the first century prompted not only attacks by the empires literati but also an orchestrated apologetic effort on the Churchs behalf. The anonymous Letter to the Hebrews captures this emergence from a new Jewish sect to a developed and distinctive creed, and Hurtado explicates the main points of each section of that letter before turning to the later Pauline epistles as well as the pastoral letters of Timothy and Titus.
The final two chapters take up creedal questions, examining what Hurtado calls radical diversity and the proto-orthodox tendencies both inside and outside the early Church. As Christians began to formulate what their newly found faith meant, they discovered that some expressions and images corresponded with their growing rule of faith and others fell outside of what was doctrinally acceptable. The major struggle here was to preserve Christs divine humanity against docetic and gnostic tendencies. The errors of Valentinus and Marcion are thus exposed before Hurtado analyzes other influential texts, both biblical and extrabiblical, which express Christs godliness: The Book of Revelation, The Ascension of Isaiah , and The Shepherd of Hermas .
This is a fine andhefty tome. Hurtados attention to the many Christian currents flowing into the second century is superb. Perhaps it is because one finds so much here that one looks for more. There are two additional areas that could have been better developed: communal worship and episcopal authority. First, the sacramental structure of the Church is indispensable to understanding the development of Christianity. Devotion to Christ was made possible because the early Church understood how the sacraments effected his continued presence on earth. Baptism and Eucharist occupy central places in, for instance, the letters of Ignatius and the apologiae of Justin, as well as in the Didache .
Second, Hurtado reduces the mono-episcopacy to a footnote and simply refers the reader to an encyclopedia entry. Closer attention, however, should have been paid to the question of why men like Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna labored unceasingly to foster and preserve Christian allegiance to Christs ecclesial representatives on earth. For the first centuries of Christianity, ones devotion to Christ was, in a large part, measured by ones devotion to the bishop.
Hurtado approaches the early Church with an integrity and thoroughness that should be a model for historians and theologians working in this area, where hard evidence is sparse and key terms are often ambiguous. Perhaps he relies too much on twentieth-century Anglo-American scholarship, but his work will prove helpful for any reader interested in the first two centuries of Christianity, particularly in the question of how unwavering devotion to the divine person of Jesus so rapidly became a sine qua non of the first believers lives. His writing is uncomplicated and illuminating, and his sensibilities are evangelical in the best sense of the term.
David Vincent Meconi, S.J. is a member of Campion Hall at Oxford University and is currently working on issues of human divinization in the Latin Fathers. | <urn:uuid:f03cbb1c-3408-4c8c-871c-0eb4ca6e8562> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.firstthings.com/article/2004/12/lord-jesus-christ-devotion-to-jesus-in-earliest-christianity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00007-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962904 | 1,823 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Melons are all "Cucumbers" (Cucurbits or Cucurbitaceae) to
the botanist, along with squash, gourds and actual cucumbers. To the
agriculturist they are are all "vine crops". All are technically "fruit" but
in culinary practice all are treated as "vegetables" except the melons which
are treated as fruit.
General & History
There are two broad categories of melon and one odd one.
Melons are generally eaten mature when the flesh becomes sweet, which contrasts with gourds, squash and cucumbers which are eaten immature. The rind is tough but not hard and the flesh is always watery. Most are eaten raw but some are cooked, particularly in soup. Most have thick walls and a hollow center containing seeds, but the Watermelons are solid and uniform all the way through with seeds embedded in the flesh. Most melons will store at room temperature maybe a week and not much longer refrigerated, but there are a few, such as the Hami and Christmas melons that will store much longer at room temperature.
All Melons (with the exception of Watermelons) are of the same species, C. melo, so can be interbred to create new varieties. There are, however, several recognized C. melo varietal groups.
Afghan Melon -
This melon is similar to the Persian Melon
but greener with rather sparser netting. They are only moderately sweet
so should be selected with a fair amount of flex at the flower end to
assure ripeness. I haven't seen these for awhile, but they're sure to
become more common in the future. When the U.S. pulls the troupes out of
Afghanistan anyone who cooperated will have to leave the country and
they'll head straight for Los Angeles where every other ethnic group
has settled. Soon they'll be opening restaurants and demanding Afghan
melons in the markets.
Ananas Melon -
[Middle Eastern melon]
Armenian Cucumber -
[Snake Cucumber / Melon, Uri (Japan), Metki, Mikti (Near East), Wild
Cucumber (commercial), Cucumis melo var. flexuosus]
Market size varies widely from 6 inches long and 1-1/4 inches diameter to 21 inches long and 2-1/2 inches diameter but they can grow to a yard long and over 3 inches in diameter. They are very much like a cucumber in structure and in taste, if raw. The skin is very thin and tender and is almost never peeled. Smaller sizes are often pickled and the resulting pickles have a rather different flavor from cucumber pickles.
Armenian cucumbers are seasonally available fresh in Southern
California (May to July) and are grown as a garden vegetable in Florida
and other suitable areas, but I understand they're almost impossible to
find fresh in Armenia. Pickled they can be found in any market serving
a Western Asian or Near Eastern community. They're usually packed in
Lebanon or surrounding regions and labeled "Mikti" or "Wild Cucumber".
The front photo specimen was 12 inches long (uncut), 2 inches diameter
and weighed 14-5/8 ounces. The middle one was 14-1/2 inches long (if
straight) 1-3/4 inches diameter and weighed 10-1/8 ounces
Details and Cooking.
Canary Melon -
[Juan Canary, Jaune des Canaries, Amarillo, PLU #4317, C. melo
This bright yellow mellon, oblong and pointy at the ends like an
American football, is now grown by the truck load in California. A fully
ripe Canary is about as sweet as melons get. The flesh is firm, almost
crisp, white to faintly greenish, and light pink or orange around the
seed cavity. Select melons that are bright yellow and springy at the
flower end but not mushy. This melon is a yellow variety of the
Piel de Sapo, a melon popular in Spain. The photo
specimen was 9 inches long, 6 inches diameter and weighed 5 pounds 7 ounces.
[Orange Flesh Melon, Kandy Melon, PLU #4327]
This cross between a cantaloupe and a honeydew has been grown more
in South America than in North America, but is becoming more available
here. It's marketed as "Orange Flesh Melon" and "Kandy Melon". The flesh
tastes similar to cantaloupe, is firm, almost crisp, and quite sweet right
to the thin rind. The rind is smooth with some scattered netting and when
ripe becomes quite pale, sometimes almost white. Also look for some
springiness at the flower end. The photo specimen was 6 inches diameter
and weighed 3 pound 13 ounces.
The true Cantaloupe is seldom grown outside southern Europe,
mostly Italy. Unlike the Muskmelon the skin is hard, deeply grooved,
warty and lacks the orderly netting of the Muskmelons. See
Dulcinea "Tuscan Style" Cantaloupe and
Muskmelon for melons available in North America.
The common market "Cantaloupe" in the U.S. is actually a Muskmelon,
not a True Cantaloupe. I realize the entire fruit
and grocery industries go along with calling it "cantaloupe", but I'm
going to call it a Muskmelon anyway - and
besides, that's what my Connecticut based family called it when I was a
Cantaloupe - Athena
A specialty of Dulcinea Farms in California - it is, of course, a
Muskmelon, not a true Cantaloupe.
Casaba Melon -
[PLU #4320, C. melo (Inodorus group)]
This fairly large mellon (4 to 10 pounds) has a wrinkly skin and is usually flat at the flower end and with a point where the stem attaches. The white to slightly yellow flesh has little flavor and is only lightly sweet when the melon is fully ripe. It ripens unevenly, very soft near the seeds and still rather firm near the rind. Personally, I don't see the point of this melon since sweeter, more flavorful melons are available at the same price per pound.
Casabas are ripe when the flower end has plenty of give but is still
springy. This melon has no odor so that isn't an indicator of ripeness,
and it does not slip when ripe so stems or stem tears are not an
indicator it was picked too soon. The photo specimen was 8-1/2 inches
diameter, 7-1/2 inches long and weighed 9 pounds 3 ounces. The Casaba
melons originated in western Asia and in the U.S. is grown mainly in
A French variety of the True Cantaloupe from the town of Cavaillon.
It is considered very highly for flavor and is now grown in various places
around the world including the USA. Some are grown in California but I
have yet to see them in the markets - they probably all go to the fancy
chef set. The flesh is a light orange and they are said to be ripe when
a small crack appears at the stem end.
Charentais Melon -
[French Breakfast Melon, Chaca, Italian Melon, French Kiss
(marketing); Hakucho (Japan); Cantalupensis group]
This is a small European melon, globe shaped with a smooth to slightly netted gray, gray-blue or yellow-green rind with distinct but shallow sutures. Flesh color ranges from greenish to intense orange depending on cultivar. Some sources say if the color of the rind becomes yellowish they are over-ripe, but, again, that seems to vary with cultivar - these were just about perfect.as shown.
This is an aromatic melon with flesh that's exceptionally sweet right
out to the very thin rind. Flavor is quite attractive and somewhat lighter
than cantaloupe. This is the favorite melon of the French, who commonly
use it as a breakfast melon. Cut in half it will serve two. They also
split them in half, scoop them out and fill with a sweet wine such as
Marsala or Madeira to serve as an appetizer. The larger of the photo
specimens (the cut one) was 5 inches diameter and 2 pounds 3-1/4 ounces.
Christmas Melon -
[Santa Claus, Inodorus group]
These 5 to 8 pound football (US) shaped melons have a mottled
yellow or green rind and pale green or pale orange flesh depending on
variety. The photo specimen was 8-3/4 inches long, 6 inches diameter and
weighed 5 pounds. They are very sweet when ripe and are similar to
Piel de Sapo with some varieties looking very much
like that melon but others are smoother and some have a little or a lot
of netting as in the photo. These melons get the name Christmas or Santa
Claus from their late season harvest excellent keeping properties - even
to Christmas if stored in a cool place.
Citron Melon -
[Pie melon (U.S.), Tsanna Citrullus lanatus var.
This melon is thought to be ancestral to the Watermelon and originated in Africa. It now grows wild in Baja California though no one knows how it got there. It is also both cultivated and considered a weed in much of the Southern U.S. though rarely in pure form there due to accidental cross breeding with commercial watermelons.
This melon is not to be confused with the citrus fruit
Citron, though they are both used mainly
candied or as preserves and pickles. Citron melon is very high in pectin
so is a desirable ingredient for preserves. The flesh is much stiffer and more
strongly flavored than that of watermelon.
Details & Cooking.
Collective Farm Woman Melon
Crenshaw Melon -
[Cranshaw, C. melo (Inodorus group)]
This is a hybrid between the Casaba and Persian melons that weighs in
at 5 pounds or higher. It is a bit flattened at the stem end giving it an
acorn shape. The skin, though still wrinkly is a bit smoother than the
Casaba. Yellow when ripe, older varieties have green flesh and newer ones
have salmon pink flesh.
An Israeli melon with a netted rind similar to a
Muskmelon but paler in color and not as distinctly
netted. It is a cross of Cantaloupe and Honeydew. The flesh is pale
green to white, similar to a Honeydew, and has a
banana like aroma. These slip their stems when ripe so any stem or
stem tears indicate picking before fully ripe. They are now common in
Southern California, grown here, in the U.S. South and in South and
Gaya Melon There are several varieties of Gaya mellon, so different from each other you would wonder why they have the same name. The two here are the most available, and both are most likely to be found in Asian markets.
Gallicum - see Ogen Melon.
These were sold not quite ripe with crisp, moderately sweet flesh, as
would be expected for a pickling melon. The flesh becomes soft and almost
crumbly when fully ripe, with just a touch of crispness near the peel.
Even fully ripe the flesh is only moderately sweet and the flavor is a
Hami Melon -
They are generally football (US) shaped with a yellow-green lightly
to only vaguely netted rind and orange, salmon, white or green flesh. The
flesh is distinguished by being fairly crisp, even brittle, and most are
just medium sweet. The flesh freezes well so they are good for frozen
deserts. Hamis keep well and will store for a couple of weeks or more at
a cool room temperature.
Japanese Melon -
[ reticulatus group]
A round to slightly oval melon with strong netting on a green rind.
They are generally 3 to 4 pounds with very sweet white to green flesh.
In Japan these are very expensive "gift melons" selling for around US $100
each. They are hothouse grown with controlled heat to assure highest
possible sweetness, and then expensively packaged. These melons don't
slip, but stem tears would be unthinkable, so they are normally sold with
a piece of the vine still attached. Young melons are sometimes scratched
to produce scars if the netting pattern needs a little filling out. In
California these melons could be field grown, but nobody seems to bother.
Bobak Ha'Eri distributed under
Attribution-Share Alike 2.5.
Kiwano - [#4302,
Horned Melon, Melano, Horned Cucumber, Jelly melon, English tomato,
Metulon (France), Cucumis metuliferus]
This odd African melon is grown in the Kenya, Israel, New Zealand and the U.S. as a decorative fruit and in Australia as a noxious weed. Now grown commercially in California they have a long shelf life and are easily shipped so you will find a few in supermarkets but often at prices that will leave you gasping. The photo specimen was 4-3/4 inches long, 2.8 inches diameter and weighed 11-3/4 ounces, from a small chain supermarket for $2.99 each or $4.07 / pound. Major supermarkets may charge as much as $4.99 per melon.
They are sold mainly as a curiosity and are not expected to be a
viable food crop until varieties with a higher sugar content are
developed. Currently they have a light refreshing flavor but are not
real sweet. It's the seed mass you eat as there is very little edible
flesh inside the hard rind. Note: seed merchants are also selling
purely decorative varieties which look about the same but are very
toxic. You won't eat those by accident because the toxin is extremely
bitter. Details and Cooking
Korean Melon -
[Yellow melon, Oriental melon; Yeoncheon, Dua Gan, Cha Mae, Chamoe
(Korea); Huangjingua, Tian Gua (China); Makuwa (Japan); Dura Gan
(Vietnam); Cucumis melo var. makuwa]
This small bright yellow melon with shallow light yellow sutures is commonly found in Chinese and Korean markets. The photo specimen was typical at 1 pound 1-1/4 ounces, 4-1/2 inches long and 3.5/8 inches diameter. It was purchased from a large Asian market in Los Angeles (San Gabriel) for 2016 US $1.79 / pound. The most perfect ones are sold in Korean markets at a significantly higher price.
The crisp flesh of this melon is white to pale peach and moderately
sweet. The rind is very thin and doesn't need to be peeled, though it
commonly is peeled. The seeds very small and soft, and the seed mass is
always eaten with the flesh as it is by far the sweetest part. In Korea
there are many varieties, and many are pickled, or even made into
kimchee. Only the sweetest varieties are marketed in North America, but
they can still be pickled. This is a perishable melon and should be
eaten within 5 days of purchase.
Korean Melon -
[Hybrid Golden Honey]
A hybrid recently developed in Korea, this ia a round to slightly oval
smooth yellow skinned melon often found in Korean markets. These are
"gift melons", carefully grown to be blemish free and even in California
sell for around $2/pound when in season. The photo example weighed 2-1/4
pounds. The stem does not slip so some stem is included (a stem tear would
be an unacceptable blemish). The flesh is a very pale yellow-orange to
white, fairly crisp and quite sweet. They are ripe when there is some
springiness at the flower end. See also the sutured
Korean Melon, also commonly found in Korean
[Cantaloupe (North America), reticulatus group]
Ogen Melon -
Orange Flesh Melon - see Cantaline Melon.
Of course in Asia these melons are very carefully grown to make sure
appearance is perfect, because the two most potent flavor enhancements
used in Asia are perfect appearance and an absurdly high price. The photo
specimen was 5-3/4 inches long, 4 inches diameter and 1 pound 9-3/4
Persian Melon -
Similar in appearance to a Muskmelon but larger
(generally around 5 pounds) with sparser netting over a greener background.
There are also more spherical varieties but the elongated variety is the
one most grown and sold in Southern California. The pink-orange flesh is
somewhat milder than Muskmelon. Unlike Muskmelons the Persian does not
slip it's stem when ripe, so a bit of stem or stem tears do not mean it
was picked too green.
Piel de Sapo -
[Toad Skin Melon, C. melo (Indorus group)]
The name, literally "toad skin", describes the green and yellow blotched coloration and bumpy texture of these melons. They may be lightly and randomly sutured - or not. It is a very popular melon in Spain and grown in Central and South America for export to Spain in the off season, but is only just beginning to appear in other European markets. Some are now grown in Arizona, Colorado and California but they are not yet common here. Similar Spanish melons are the Rochet and Tendral, while this general type of melon is represented in North America more by a yellow version, the Canary Melon and by the late season Christmas Melon.
The photo specimen was 8 inches long, 5 inches diameter and weighed
4 pounds 7-3/4 ounces. The flesh is firm and fairly sweet, shading from
green at the rind to slightly orange near the seeds. The rind is about
1/4 inch thick, and the seed cavity is small but packed tightly with
seeds. These are long lived melons - both the whole and cut ones sat on
my kitchen floor for about 2 months without any sign of degradation.
Red Moon Melon
Santa Claus Melon - see Christmas Melon.
Sharlynne Melon - [PLU #4338]
In appearance it looks like an elongated orange musk melon but the
flesh inside is light yellow-green and tastes more like a bland but fairly
sweet honeydew. The flesh ranges from very soft in the center to firm at
the rind. They are ripe when the background color turns from green to
light orange and there is some give at the flower end. Also check the
stem end because that's where they often start to rot. They are extremely
perishable keeping for only a few days once ripe. The seed mass of a ripe
melon is often completely liquid and can be poured out. The photo
specimen was 4 pounds 5 ounces, 8 inches long and 5-1/2 inches diameter
- a bit more elongated than most.
Sugar Kiss Melon
This is a new, proprietary variety of melon. The photo example
was 5 inches diameter and weighed 2 pounds 4-1/4 ounces. It is a cross
between Galia and Charentias melons, with faintly greenish color, faint
netting and very faint sutures. This melon has soft, deep orange
flesh which tastes pretty much like sugar water. The melon flavor is as
faint as the netting and sutures. This is typical of what melon growers
are doing. Their industrial farming methods don't produce flavorful
melons, so they keep increasing the sugar content in hopes nobody will
notice. This melon is ready to eat when the flower end has an obvious
amount of give under moderate pressure.
These melons have started to appear in Los Angeles markets serving
a heavily Vietnamese community. They vary quite a lot in pattern and
coloration but all are quite cylindrical and lightly sutured. The photo
specimen was purchased in mid July from the Hawaii Supermarket in
Alhambra. It weighed just under 4 pounds 5 ounces and was 8-1/2 inches
long and 4-1/2 inches diameter. This appears to be a cooking melon. Fully
ripe the flesh was still firm and not very sweet, but it did have a light
but interesting flavor and stayed firm enough for soup when simmered.
Watermelons originated in southern Africa but were already grown as a crop in Egypt 5000 years ago and are now planted throughout the world. China got them in the 10th century CE and is now the largest producer. They were brought to North America in the 16th century where California, Georgia, Arizona and Texas are the major producers.
Watermelon fruit is unlike the Cucumus melons of Western Asia in that they are not hollow in the center but have a uniform pulp throughout. Many sizes have been developed (the examples here are 22 pounds for the large and 3-3/4 pounds for the small) and a number of colors. Yellow and white are fine for decorative accents, but as usual I recommend the standard red color as the best tasting,
Seedless Watermelons are not actually without seeds, but the seeds are all or mostly immature, white and very soft when the melon is ripe. Making a seedless watermelon is quit a feat of genetic engineering, but personally I don't see the point - I've always just swallowed the seeds anyway so they don't bother me. I find the standard watermelon to have better flavor and texture than the manipulated ones.
The ancestral Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus var citroides),
known as the Citron Melon, is still extant and is now
wild in Southern and Baja California, though nobody knows how it got there.
The white flesh is so firm it's sort of "rind all the way through" but its
high pectin content makes it popular for preserves.
Details and Cooking.
Not a melon - see Ash Gourd.
Melons are non-toxic, non-fat and low in calories, but due to their very high water content they have modest nutritional value. Orange fleshed melons are fairly high in vitamin A, some rating even USDA "Excellent Source", and also foliate and potassium. Green or white fleshed melons provide little but potassium.
Melons need almost no digestion. Eaten on an empty stomach they will go on through immediately. On two occasions, to test reports that scientists had found a Viagra-like substance in watermelon, I ate an entire 12 pound watermelon in one sitting. This is not difficult for me because once I start on a watermelon I just can't stop. I'll eat until I'm in pain, then lie down until I can eat more.
No Viagra-like effect whatever was observed (and in one case I ate the rind out to the peel in case it was there), but It did sweep my guts absolutely bright sparkling clean. | <urn:uuid:a6731aa4-9cc0-4ac5-92eb-f1e5c0a4686f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/melons.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00041-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934748 | 5,073 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Exercise and activity can help you lose weight, and they are generally part of a weight-loss program. But some dangers are involved both for those just beginning a fitness program and those who are active and fit.
In order to lose more weight, or to lose weight more quickly, people beginning a fitness program sometimes restrict calories too much (eat too little). Because you need calories when you are active, this can lead to inadequate nutrition.
Fit people usually have a higher-than-average ratio of muscle to fat. Muscle weighs more than fat, so people who have more muscle than average may weigh more than another person with the same stature. In order to lose what seems like extra weight, some people restrict calories even when they are burning more calories than most people with the same weight and stature. This also can lead to inadequate nutrition.
Rapid weight loss has dangers. Gradual weight loss is healthier than rapid weight loss, but for people who already have minimal body fat, even gradual weight loss may be unhealthy because the body will burn muscle when it has no excess fat at all. It's healthier to get to an appropriate weight and maintain it whether you are training or performing or in off-season.
Rapid weight loss is often seen in those who participate in:
- Activities like ballet and gymnastics, where appearance is considered very important. The reasons for this practice are often based more on social pressures than on health or performance.
- Sports with weight classifications, such as wrestling. You may be tempted to lose weight rapidly to "make weight" (qualify in a weight class that is lower than your weight during training).
Some athletes and coaches believe that training at a higher weight and then dropping weight right before competition improves performance. There is little concrete evidence to support this.
Primary Medical ReviewerAdam Husney, MD - Family Medicine
Current as ofNovember 14, 2014 | <urn:uuid:affd26e1-4be9-4a1e-90b6-f64866ea99bf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/weight-loss-and-fitness | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00106-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968112 | 386 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Abstraction: withdrawal from a source
Aggregate: combined total from multiple collections of data; aggregate supply is the total quantity of goods produced in a specified market.
Allowance: permit conferring the right to a fixed quantity of a good or a service; an abstraction allowance permits the bearer to withdraw a specified quantity of water.
Alternative energy: any form of usable energy which replaces fossil fuels and other traditional sources of energy.
Anaerobic: without air. In wastewater treatment it simply indicates an absence of an electron acceptor such as nitrate, sulfate or oxygen.
Aqueducts: a type of canal built to channel water. It is often elevated.
Aquifer: A geological formation that is permeable to water, and can store and transmit water to a well or spring. It can be composed of sand, gravel, rock, soil.
Brine: High-salinity concentrate that is removed from water during desalination.
Cogeneration: generating both electricity and useful heat from a power station.
Combined cycle technologies: These technologies follow one thermodynamic cycle with another of a different kind. This results in more efficient systems since individual cycles generally use only a fraction of the energy generated from their fuel and lose the rest of the heat.
Derivative: financial instrument based on the value of an underlying asset or commodity
Desalination: The process of removing salts from seawater. Desalinated water can be a source of water.
Discount rate: rate of return on an investment, usually expressed as a percentage; used to translate the value of an investment at its time of occurrence to its value at present (analogous to the interest rate, which is used to translate the present value of an investment into a value for that investment at a different time)
Effluent: Water that is treated after use mainly from sewage, and can be recycled to be used as a source of water.
Evapotranspiration: The net water loss from evaporation of water from surfaces of plants and transpiration.
Fallow: When a field is left fallow no crops are planted in it. This is generally only a temporary state, for a season or a year.
Fallow fields: Parts of the farmland that is left unplowed and unproductive during the growing season.
Flood irrigation: An irrigation method, where the furrows between crops are filled with water. This results in a large surface area of water.
Forwards: derivative based on expected future prices of a certain commodity good; traded over-the-counter between specified buyers and sellers
Futures: derivative based on expected future prices of a certain commodity good; traded at an exchange or clearinghouse without specification of buyers
Gray Water: see Effluent
Groundwater: Water that is naturally found beneath the ground, stored in aquifers. This water is an accumulation of gradual recharge from the run-off and surface water over centuries.
Gypsum: a soft mineral composed of calcium sulphate dehydrate.
Halite: otherwise known as sodium chloride or rock salt.
High Plains: A semi-arid region in central United States, that consists of parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming. The High Plains region relies heavily on Ogallala Aquifer and sustains a significant portion of agriculture.
Hydroelectric power: Power generated usually by damming rivers and channeling the water through turbines, harvesting the mechanical energy.
Levelized cost: total discounted cost of a capital asset over its lifetime divided by the discounted quantity of the good or service to be produced by the asset over its lifetime.
Micro-hydropower systems: generation of hydroelectric power on a very small scale, generally for a single company or village. It does not require powerful rivers.
Non-point source pollution: The source is not a single easily identifiable place. For example it may be runoff from agriculture.
Ogallala Aquifer: one of the largest aquifers in the southwest of the United States. It spans from South Dakota to Texas, and sustains a significant portion of the agriculture in the United States.
Options: derivative conferring the right to purchase a specified quantity of a certain commodity good in the future; traded over-the-counter between specified buyers and sellers
Overdraft: groundwater mining, usually expressed as the gross decrease in saturated thickness of an aquifer
Point source pollution: pollution from a single identifiable source such as a waste water outlet.
Price elasticity of demand: percent change in quantity of a good demanded divided by percent change in price of the good; ranges from zero (when quantity demanded remains constant regardless of price) to negative infinity. Price elasticity of demand can be classified by the following definitions under the assumption that price and quantity demanded are inversely correlated:
Primary treatment: removing contaminants in wastewater through physical mechanism; for example: using screens to filter solids
Progressive: affecting individuals based on ability to pay; higher-income individuals pay greater amounts of money as tax under a progressive taxation structure.
Recharge: the replenishing of water in aquifers. The increase in the amount of water stored in the aquifer.
Recharge zones: The area in which water enters an aquifer
Reclaimed water: see Effluent
Regressive: disproportionately affecting lower-income individuals; each individual pays the same amount of money as tax under a regressive taxation structure.
Runoff: The portion of precipitation that runs into streams and other bodies of surface water.
Secondary treatment: a biological process that removes organic waste from wastewater; this is typically done through aeration tanks in which bacteria feeds on nutrients in the wastewater
Tertiary treatment: advanced wastewater treatment that may include fitration, ammonia removal, and/or disinfection
Thermoelectric power: electricity is produced by converting heat to some form of mechanical motion which is then converted to electricity. Common fuel sources include coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear energy.v
Turbidity: A measure of water opacity caused by suspended solids in the water
Water competency: Power of flowing water
Watershed: In North American usage this refers to a drainage basin. The area drained by a river and its tributaries.
Winters Doctrine: Established in the Winters v. United States case. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an Indian Reservation has the right to reserve water necessary for the purpose of the Reservation, with priority given to the date of the establishment of the Reservation.
AFY: acre-fee per year
ASCE: American Society of Civil Engineers
BTU: British Thermal Unit. The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of liquid water by one degree from 60o to 61o Fahrenheit at a constant pressure of one atmosphere. Approximately 1054-1060J.
CBO: Congressional Budget Office
CF: Conventional furrow, a type of irrigation method
CIMIS: California Irrigation Management Information System
EPA: Environmental Protection Agency
FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency
GDP: Gross Domestic Product
GM crops: Genetically Modified crops
GMDs: Groundwater Management Districts, A system used in Kansas, that is used manage groundwater resources
HETs: High Efficiency Toilets
LEPA: Low Energy Precision Application, a type of irrigation method
LESA: Low Elevation Spray Application, a type of irrigation method
MESA: Mid-Elevation Spray Application, a type of irrigation method
MGD: million gallons per day
MWRSA: Monterey Wastewater Reclamation Study for agriculture
NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement
NAWTA: North American Water Trading Authority
NETL: the National Energy Technology Laboratory
NRDs: Natural resource districts, a system used in Nebraska to manage groundwater resources
NWC: Australian National Water Commission.
PIA: Practicably Irrigable Acreage, this is based on the Native American population on a reservation
POTWs: Publicly Owned Treatment Works
SDI: Subsurface drip irrigation, a type of irrigation method
SF: Surge flow, a type of irrigation method
TDS: Total Dissolved Solids
TSS: Total Suspended Solids
USDA: United States Department of Agriculture
USDIRB: United States Department of the Interior Reclamation Bureau
USDOI: United States Department of the Interior
USEPA: United States Environmental Agency, also known as EPA
USGS: United States Geological Survey
WRPs: Water Reclamation Plants | <urn:uuid:41884a6d-3873-4dff-a106-71a480bb776e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2012/finalwebsite/about/glossary.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00035-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909714 | 1,786 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Exercise can help low back pain, obesity can hurt, study shows
New Orleans — The more obese a person is, the more likely the risk that they will suffer from low back pain, but they may be able to reduce the odds by engaging in a moderate amount of exercise, according to research presented here.
The research paper is the latest to link weight and exercise to one of the most common conditions afflicting Americans and one of the first large studies to use an objective measure to study the condition: accelerometers that track a person's daily exercise levels.
The research, which was presented Thursday at the North American Spine Society's annual meeting here, analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey involving 6,796 people.
It found that in people who were normal weight, defined as a body mass index of 20 to 25, the risk of low back pain was 2.9%. BMI is the relationship between a person's height and weight.
A person who is 5 feet 10 inches and 174 pounds has a BMI of 25.
In those who were overweight, which is a BMI of 26 to 30, low back pain risk was 5.2%. In the obese, a BMI of 31 to 35, the risk grew to 7.7%. And in the morbidly obese, a BMI of 36 or more, the risk was 11.6%
A person who is 5 feet 10 inches and 251 pounds has a BMI of 36.
"We showed both increased BMI and inactivity were independent risks of low back pain," said lead author Matthew Smuck, a physician and associate professor of orthopedic surgery at Stanford University Medical Center. "Perhaps the best news out of this study is that big gains can be made by making some incredibly modest changes in activity."
The researchers found different ways to achieve the improvements:
■The typical overweight person increasing their amount of moderate activity such as brisk walking, riding a bike or general gardening by less than 20 minutes a day can reduce back pain risk by 32%.
■For those with BMIs of 36 or more, the average duration of time spent during a bout of moderate activity was 1.3 minutes. However, by increasing that time by one minute, the risk of back pain dropped 38%.
For years, anecdotal evidence has led spine specialists to tell overweight people to lose weight and exercise. Now there is hard data to back up those beliefs, said Michael Reed, a physical therapist and spine specialist with the Hospital for Special Surgery in Jupiter, Fla.
One question the study could not answer is why obesity increases the risk of low back pain.
Two leading theories are that it causes mechanical changes that affect the spine or that it causes metabolic changes that lead to varying levels of hormones and inflammation.
"I suspect it could be a combination of the two," Reed said.
Either way, Reed said, increasing activity, which can be as simple as gardening, heavy house work or a walk around the neighborhood, can help reduce low back pain.
The study was financed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics. | <urn:uuid:1b04e331-72d4-44fb-bc7d-9dfca627acab> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jsonline.com/news/usandworld/obesity-affects-low-back-pain-new-national-study-shows-b99117760z1-227289601.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395621.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971699 | 636 | 2.84375 | 3 |
By Dr. Mercola
Spring allergies affect an estimated 25 million Americans, and according to the American Board of Allergy and Immunology, we're looking at one of the worst allergy seasons in a long time, thanks to a number of climactic factors.1
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation's annual list of the worst cities for those with spring allergies (based on tree pollen counts) include the following five:2
- Jackson, Mississippi
- Knoxville, Tennessee
- Chattanooga, Tennessee
- McAllen, Texas
- Louisville, Kentucky
Airborne pollen is the most common cause of seasonal allergies, also known as hay fever or allergic rhinitis. Early arrival after a mild winter has spawned high levels of pollen, and means allergy season will linger weeks longer. Both 2011 and 2012 reported record-breaking pollen numbers, and this season will likely break those records.
Needless to say, sales of allergy medications of all kinds are booming. This includes antihistamines, decongestants, nasal sprays and allergy shots—many of which can cause significant side effects.
According to the featured article in Forbes, the US market for allergy drugs is projected to hit or exceed $14.7 billion by 2015:
"The companies named to benefit most include Schering-Plough, Novartis, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (Vicks), Meda Pharmaceuticals, Collegium Pharmaceutical, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, and others, including companies that make alternative remedies as well."
One of the better alternatives is sublingual allergy drops, which have been shown to work just as well as inhalers. Sublingual immunotherapy has not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but is widely used in Europe, and some American doctors prescribe it off label.
There are also a number of other alternatives, including provocation neutralization treatment. The success rate for this approach to treating allergies is about 80 to 90 percent, and you can receive the treatment at home.
How and Why Do Allergies Develop?
Allergies are your body's reaction to allergens (particles your body considers foreign), a sign that your immune system is working overtime. The first time your body encounters an allergen, your plasma cells release IgE (immunoglobulin E), an antibody specific to that allergen. IgE attaches to the surface of your mast cells.
Mast cells are found in great numbers in your surface tissues (i.e., those with close proximity to the external environment, such as in your skin and in the mucous membranes of your nose), where they help mediate inflammatory responses. Mast cells release a number of important chemical mediators, one of which is histamine.
So, the second time your body encounters a particular allergen, within a few minutes, your mast cells become activated and release a powerful cocktail of histamine, leukotrienes, and prostaglandins, which trigger the entire cascade of symptoms you associate with allergies: sneezing, runny nose, sore throat, hacking cough, itchy eyes, etc.
Histamine can cause your airways to constrict, like with asthma, or cause blood vessels to become more permeable, leading to fluid leakage or hives. Leukotrienes cause hypersecretion of mucus, which you commonly experience as a runny nose or increased phlegm.
Pollen is an extremely common mast cell activator, but other agents can trigger these processes as well. Mold spores, dust, airborne contaminants, dust mites, pet dander, cockroaches, environmental chemicals, cleaning products, personal care products and foods can all cause allergic reactions. Every person is different in what he or she reacts to. And, just because you haven't reacted to something in the past doesn't mean you won't react to it in the future—you can become sensitized at any point in time.
Allergies May Also Be Due to Leaky Gut Syndrome
Leaky gut is a condition that occurs due to the development of gaps between the cells (enterocytes) that make up the membrane lining your intestinal wall. These tiny gaps allow substances such as undigested food, bacteria and metabolic wastes that should be confined to your digestive tract to escape into your bloodstream -- hence the term leaky gut syndrome. Once the integrity of your intestinal lining is compromised, and there is a flow of toxic substances "leaking out" into your bloodstream, your body experiences significant increases in inflammation.
Besides being associated with inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, or celiac disease, leaky gut can also be a contributing factor to allergies.
According to a growing number of experts, including Dr. Loren Cordain, a professor at Colorado State University and an expert on Paleolithic lifestyles, humans are NOT designed to eat grains, and doing so may actually be damaging to your gut. The problem isn't only that there are superior sources of nutrients; grains actually contain anti-nutrients that may damage your gut. Cracks in your intestinal wall can then allow undigested proteins to enter your blood stream. These large complex substances are antigenic and allergenic, meaning they stimulate your immune system to produce antibodies against them. This is what sets the stage for the occurrence of allergies and other autoimmune disorders.
"Healing and sealing" your gut has been shown to help alleviate allergy symptoms.The key lies in altering your diet to eliminate the offending foods, such as grains and processed foods, and introduce healthier ones that will support a proper balance of bacteria in your gut. To restore gut health, and prevent leaky gut from occurring, eating traditionally fermented foods is essential.
Alternative Allergy Treatments that Can Work
A recent ABC News report took 10 common "myths and old wives' tales" to allergists to get feedback on what works and what doesn't. Included in their list were the following. For the remaining, please see the original article.3 In the following sections, I'll address a number of other drug-free alternatives:
- Eating locally-produced honey: According to ABC News, the feedback was mostly negative on this strategy. But they do acknowledge the positive results gleaned in a 2011 study, which found that patients diagnosed with birch pollen allergy found significant relief when they consumed birch pollen honey daily from November to March. During birch pollen season, compared to the control group, the patients using honey experienced a 60 percent reduction in symptoms; twice as many asymptomatic days; 70 percent fewer days with severe symptoms, and 50 percent decrease in usage of antihistamines.
While I believe there's truth to the anecdotal claims that local honey can help reduce symptoms of asthma, it's important to be aware that honey itself can also trigger in some cases severe allergic reactions, including anaphylactic shock. So clearly you should not attempt to use honey if you've ever experienced an adverse reaction to honey in the past. Also be careful and use it sparingly in the beginning until you've confirmed that you can tolerate it. Another important point to remember is that honey is high in fructose, which, in excessive amounts, can exacerbate pre-existing insulin resistance and wreak havoc on your body.
- Flushing your nasal cavity with a neti pot: This strategy is widely recommended, even by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Irrigating your sinuses will help flush out pollen and other irritants, helping you breathe a little easier
- Acupuncture: Perhaps surprisingly to a lot of people, acupuncture has been shown to offer effective relief from allergy symptoms. A study published earlier this year found that those who went for weekly acupuncture treatments had significantly fewer breathing problems compared to those who did not receive acupuncture. However, the effect only lasted as long as they maintained their treatments. Still, this could be a viable option for seasonal allergy sufferers willing to get needled once a week while pollen counts are at their worst
- Eating "right": Here, the allergists claimed the findings were inconclusive, but I think there's a lot of wiggle-room when you ask conventionally trained doctors and researchers to define what the "right" diet is. Most are simply clueless about using nutrition for optimal health. For example, genetically engineered (GE) foods, which are pervasive in the American diet, have been shown to cause food allergies. Ditto for various food additives. Recent research has also found that junk food increases a child's risk of asthma and allergies, so certainly, avoiding such foods can, at the very least, reduce your risk.
To me, addressing your diet if you have allergies is a no-brainer.
An estimated 80 percent of your immune system is located in your gut, so supporting your digestive health is essential to also supporting your immune system, which is your primary defense system against ALL disease. Processed food, GE ingredients and synthetic additives all decimate the beneficial bacteria in your gut, thereby having a negative effect on your immune system. Ideally, you'll want to avoid processed foods, focusing on organic, locally-grown foods instead (both to optimize your nutrition and avoid pesticides), and include fermented foods in your diet to optimize your gut flora, or use a high-quality probiotics supplement.
Additionally, as it pertains to your diet: about one-third of seasonal allergy sufferers have something called "oral allergy syndrome,"4 in which your immune system is triggered by proteins in some foods that are molecularly similar to pollen. Your immune system looks at the protein molecule and says, "Close enough!" and attacks it. If you are allergic to ragweed, for example, you may have cross-sensitivity to melons, bananas, tomatoes, zucchini, sunflower seeds, dandelions, chamomile, and Echinacea. If you have a grass allergy, you may also react to peaches, celery, tomatoes, melons and oranges. If this applies to you, you'll want to avoid such foods.
The MOST Important Allergy 'Treatment' You Need to Pay Attention to
While I believe you certainly need to address your diet and could try any of the alternative strategies listed above, if you have asthma, optimizing your vitamin D levels is absolutely crucial. In fact, research suggests that vitamin D deficiency may be a primary underlying cause of asthma. This means that many are needlessly suffering with a potentially life threatening ailment, since vitamin D deficiency is easily remedied.
Ideally, you'll want to get your vitamin D from safe sun exposure. Beware that using sunscreen when outdoors effectively shields your skin from making any vitamin D. Another alternative is using a safe tanning bed, or if neither of those options are available, an oral vitamin D3 supplement. If you opt for a vitamin D supplement you also need to boost your vitamin K2. For more information on this, please see this previous article.
Whichever way you go, make sure to check your vitamin D levels to make sure you're within the therapeutic levels of 50-70 ng/ml. If you get your levels to about 60 ng/ml there's a strong likelihood -- especially if you combine it with exercise and balancing out your omega-3 and omega-6 fats as described below -- that you will not experience asthma anymore.
Provocation Neutralization Allergy Treatment
Addressing allergies takes a multi-faceted approach that involves optimizing your diet, intestinal health, vitamin D levels, and avoiding potential triggers. Typically, allergy sufferers tend to arm themselves with a variety of antihistamine pills, nose sprays and eye drops in anticipation of allergy season. But these drug treatments come with their own set of side effects, and relief is short lived. And it's been my experience that conventional allergy testing, whether done through the blood or skin, works for only 20 to 30 percent of patients. It is also quite inconvenient, as you need to go to the doctor's office every week for months or perhaps years, and it can take several years to be effective.
Provocation neutralization (PN) allergy testing and treatment offers many allergy sufferers permanent relief without adverse side effects. The success rate for this approach is about 80 to 90 percent, and you can receive the treatment at home. I offered this effective treatment for many years in my office.
The provocation refers to "provoking a change" and neutralization refers to "neutralizing the reaction caused by provocation." During provocation-neutralization, a small amount of allergen is injected under your skin to produce a small bump called a "wheal" on the top layers of your skin, and then it is monitored for a reaction. If you have a positive reaction, such as fatigue, headache, or a growth in the size of the wheal, then the allergen is neutralized with diluted injections or with drops that go in your mouth of the same allergen. If you are interested in pursuing PN, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine5 (AAEM) has a list of physicians and offices that are trained in this highly effective and recommended technique.
Sublingual Immunotherapy for Asthma & Allergies
"Desensitizing a person to allergies usually involves a series of injections of small amounts of allergens, but a large review of studies has found that putting allergens under the tongue in a water solution might work just as well," the New York Times6 recently reported.
A meta-analysis of 63 randomized controlled trials, involving more than 5,130 patients between the ages of four and 74, found strong evidence that sublingual immunotherapy improved asthma symptoms caused by grass, tree pollen, dust mites, ragweed and other substances. The treatment produced a greater than 40 percent improvement in symptoms compared to a placebo, and led to a significant reduction in the use of asthma medicines. Interestingly, Provocation Neutralization technique, described above, has also utilized sublingual allergy treatments for many decades.
The review, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association,7 also found moderate evidence that the oral treatment reduced runny nose and eye inflammation. Local reactions were common, but no life-threatening side effects, such as anaphylaxis, were reported. According to Dr. Daniel Moore,8 the allergy drops used for sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) are administered daily, or several times per week, over a period of years.
"The immune system of the gastrointestinal tract tends to 'tolerate' foreign substances, meaning that it does not respond in an over-active way to swallowed material," he explains. "...When SLIT is administered into the gastrointestinal tract [via your mouth], the immune system tolerates the allergen, instead of the over-reactivity of the immune system, as with allergic disease. This results in less allergy symptoms when the body is exposed to the allergy source, such as airborne pollen or pet dander... SLIT appears to be effective in the treatment of allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis and, to a lesser degree, allergic asthma."
Additional Safe and Effective Strategies to Treat Allergies and Asthma
As already mentioned, addressing your diet and optimizing both your gut health and vitamin D levels should be at the top of your list if you're suffering from allergies and/or asthma. Here are a few other basic strategies that can help treat the root of the problem as well.
- Increase your intake of animal-based omega-3 fats – I can't emphasize enough the importance of getting sufficient amounts of high-quality animal-based omega-3 fats in your diet. The fats DHA and EPA found in fish oil and krill oil are potent anti-inflammatories.
According to Mother Earth News,9 a German study published in the journal Allergy found people who have diets rich in of omega-3 fatty acids suffer from fewer allergy symptoms. A second study10 in Sweden found that children who regularly ate fish prior to age one had much lower allergies by age four. My favorite sources of omega-3 fatty acids are grass fed meat and eggs, and krill oil. (Fish has become too contaminated to rely on as a staple.)
- Reduce your intake of omega-6 fats – In addition to adding omega-3 fats to your diet, you also want to reduce the amount of omega-6 fats you consume because the ratio between these two fats is very important. If you eat processed foods daily, the balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fats will become distorted, which can cause the type of inflammation that leads to asthma.
- Fermented vegetables and/or probiotics: In a 2008 study, researchers discovered that people who took probiotics throughout allergy season had lower levels of an antibody that triggered allergy symptoms. They also had higher levels of a different antibody (IgG), thought to play a protective role against allergic reactions. Other researchers found evidence that giving probiotics to newborns and mothers-to-be may help prevent childhood allergies.
- Avoid pasteurized milk products, which are notorious for increasing phlegm and making asthma worse.
- Get regular exercise – Exercise (especially out in fresh air if you're an asthmatic) is actually crucial, as it helps to moderate insulin levels.
Below are several other foods and herbs you might want to try:
- Hot peppers: Hot chili peppers, horseradish, and hot mustards work as natural decongestants. In fact, a nasal spray containing capsaicin (derived from hot peppers) significantly reduced nasal allergy symptoms in a 2009 study.
- Quercetin: Quercetin is an antioxidant that belongs to a class of water-soluble plant substances called flavonoids. Although research is sketchy, many believe quercetin-rich foods (such as apples, berries, red grapes, red onions, capers and black tea) prevent histamine release—so they are "natural antihistamines." Quercetin is also available in supplement form—a typical dose for hay fever is between 200 and 400 mg per day.
- Butterbur (Petasites hybridus): Another natural antihistamine, this herb has been used since ancient times to treat a variety of conditions. As far back as the 17th century, butterbur was used to treat coughs, asthma, and skin wounds. Researchers have since identified the compounds in butterbur that help reduce symptoms in asthma by inhibiting leukotrienes and histamines, which are responsible for symptom aggravation in asthma.11 In a German study,12 40 percent of patients taking butterbur root extract were able to reduce their intake of traditional asthma medications. A British study found butterbur as effective as the drug Zyrtec.
A word of caution is needed, however. Butterbur is a member of the ragweed family, so if you are allergic to ragweed, marigold, daisy, or chrysanthemum, you should not use butterbur. Also, the RAW herb should not be used because it contains substances called pyrrolizidine alkaloids that can be toxic to the liver and kidneys and may cause cancer. Commercial butterbur products have had a lot of these alkaloids removed.
- Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis): Goldenseal may be helpful for seasonal allergies. Laboratory studies suggest that berberine, the active ingredient in goldenseal, has antibacterial and immune-enhancing properties.
- Eucalyptus oil: This pure essential oil can be healing to mucus membranes. You can apply a drop on a cotton ball and sniff it several times a day, add a few drops to water (or to a nebulizer, if you own one) for a steam treatment, or use a few drops in your bath water.
There is Hope if You Suffer From Allergies
If you're one of the tens of millions of allergy sufferers in the US, know there is plenty you can do besides lining the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry. Eating a wholesome diet based on unprocessed, ideally organic and/or locally grown foods, including fermented foods, along with optimizing your vitamin D levels and correcting your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, will form the foundation upon which your immune system can function in an optimal manner.
For short-term relief of symptoms, you could give acupuncture a try, and irrigate your sinuses with a neti pot. There are also a number of foods and herbs you can try to alleviate symptoms, which are listed above. For more long-term relief, you may want to consider provocation neutralization treatment, or sublingual allergy drops, which work just as well as inhalers. | <urn:uuid:ed2516c5-4675-4021-960a-b67f7e8bebd9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/04/18/allergy-season.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00095-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948374 | 4,255 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Part 1: The Early Years
Joseph Fielding Smith was born July 19, 1876, near the end of President Brigham Young’s administration. In 1875, the year previous to Joseph Fielding Smith’s birth, the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Temple Square was dedicated. Five days after his birth, thousands of Latter-day Saints assembled in their new Tabernacle to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the arrival of the pioneers in the Great Salt Lake Valley.
Joseph Fielding Smith saw and knew every previous Church President except Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and he also knew those who became President after him up to and including President Gordon B. Hinckley. In his youth he loved to hear the testimonies of Presidents John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow. Joseph Fielding Smith spent many hours listening to his father, President Joseph F. Smith, tell of his experiences with the Prophet Joseph Smith and other early pioneers.
Events, Highlights, and Teachings
Joseph Fielding Smith was a grandson of Hyrum Smith.
Write the following on the board:
Explain that Joseph Fielding Smith was a grandson of Hyrum Smith and a grandnephew of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Joseph Fielding Smith was the firstborn son of Joseph F. and Julina Lambson Smith. His father was an Apostle and a counselor in the First Presidency when he was born.
Remind students that Hyrum Smith had served as Assistant President of the Church, counselor in the First Presidency, Apostle, and Patriarch to the Church. Joseph Fielding Smith and his father served as Apostles for a combined unbroken span of more than 100 years, from 1866–1972.
Ask: How might Joseph Fielding Smith’s family heritage have helped prepare him for his future service in the Church?
His birth came as an answer to prayer.
Have students turn to 1 Samuel 1and briefly review the story of Hannah and her prayer and promise to the Lord about having a son. Then ask:
What was Hannah’s great desire? (see 1 Samuel 1:11).
What was she willing to do if she could have a son?
Share the following description of Joseph Fielding Smith’s mother:
“Like Hannah of old, mother of the Prophet Samuel of biblical fame, Julina Smith had greatly longed for and prayed for a son, promising the Lord that if he would so bless her she would do all possible to see that the boy was reared to serve God, to be a credit to the Lord and to his own father. And like Samuel, Joseph Fielding took the agreement between mother and God seriously” (Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. and John J. Stewart, The Life of Joseph Fielding Smith , 20).
Ask students: In what ways do you think Joseph Fielding Smith’s knowledge of his mother’s promise may have influenced him?
He was “born with a testimony.”
Invite one or two students to share briefly the circumstances that helped them gain a testimony. Have them include how old they were when they knew that the restored gospel was true. Review and discuss with students “I Was Born with a Testimony” in the student manual (p. 164). Ask:
Why may some be “born with a testimony,” others gain a testimony gradually, and still others learn the truth in a dramatic fashion?
What is the relationship between feelings and knowledge as they relate to testimony? (see D&C 8:2–3).
What recommendations do you have for those who do not feel that they have a testimony?
Joseph Fielding Smith loved and studied the scriptures all his life.
Read the following recollection by Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
“I am grateful that I have been born of goodly parents who taught me to walk in the light of the truth. From my earliest recollection, from the time I first could read, I have received more pleasure and greater satisfaction out of the study of the scriptures, and reading of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the work that has been accomplished for the salvation of men, than from anything else in all the world” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1930, 91).
Ask a student to read the statement by Elder Bruce R. McConkie in “He Was a Latter-day Scholar” in the student manual (p. 167). Then ask:
How might these two statements be related?
In what ways do our early decisions and interests prepare us for future responsibilities and service?
Share the following statement by President Joseph Fielding Smith, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
“One of the responsibilities which the Lord has placed upon the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that they search the scriptures and lay up a store of knowledge, otherwise they cannot have the guidance of the Holy Ghost, notwithstanding they have been baptized and confirmed. Those who are ignorant of the gospel truths and unacquainted with the teachings that the Lord gave to the Fathers, cannot have the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord. Such people leave themselves open to temptation and deception by wicked, unscrupulous souls and are in grave danger of being led into folly and forbidden paths because they have no foundation in faith on which to build” (“Baptism before the Coming of Our Savior in the Flesh,” Improvement Era, Mar. 1964, 159).
Ask students: What are the dangers we face by not following President Smith’s counsel?
He learned to be responsible through hard work.
Prior to class, invite one or more students to read “He Helped His Mother,” “He Was an Early Riser,” and “He Was a Hard Worker” in the student manual (pp. 164–65) and report what they learned about young Joseph Fielding Smith. After their reports, discuss the following questions with students:
Why did Joseph Fielding Smith in later years say that his shoulders were “a little out of kilter”?
What did you learn about the kind of older brother he was?
In what ways do you think his experiences in his youth influenced his attitude toward work?
His patriarchal blessing guided his life.
Tell students about when you received your patriarchal blessing and why it is important to you. Explain that when Joseph Fielding Smith was 20 years old, he received a patriarchal blessing from John Smith, Patriarch to the Church. Share the following excerpt from Joseph Fielding Smith’s blessing:
“Thou art numbered among the sons of Zion, of whom much is expected. Thy name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and shall be registered in the chronicles of thy fathers with thy brethren. It is thy privilege to live to a good old age and the will of the Lord that you should become a mighty man in Israel. Therefore, I say unto thee, reflect often upon the past, present, and future. If thou shalt gain wisdom by the experience of the past, thou shalt realize that the hand of the Lord has been and is over thee for good, and that thy life has been preserved for a wise purpose. Thou shalt realize also that thou hast much to do in order to complete thy mission upon the earth. It shall be thy duty to sit in counsel with thy brethren and to preside among the people. It shall be thy duty also to travel much at home and abroad by land and water, laboring in the ministry, and I say unto thee, hold up thy head, lift up thy voice without fear or favor as the Spirit of the Lord shall direct, and the blessing of the Lord shall rest upon thee. His Spirit shall direct thy mind and give the word and sentiment that thou shalt confound the wisdom of the wicked and set at naught the councils of the unjust” (in A. William Lund, “Elder Joseph Fielding Smith,” Improvement Era, Apr. 1950, 315).
Discuss the following questions:
What promises in his blessing can you identify as being fulfilled? (List them on the board.)
In what ways does personal obedience relate to patriarchal blessings?
Joseph Fielding Smith served a mission in England.
Have students list on the board what they believe are important qualities of effective missionaries. Summarize the points you feel are important from “He Was Married before He Served a Mission” in the student manual (pp. 165–66). Explain that Joseph Fielding Smith encountered many challenges on his mission; many people at that time were antagonistic to missionaries and Church members. But Elder Smith chose to be faithful. He wrote:
“I know that the work I have been called to do is the work of God or I would not stay here one minute. … I know that our happiness is dependent upon my faithfulness while I am here. I should be willing to do this much for the love of mankind when our Savior could suffer as he did for us. … I am in the hands of our Heavenly Father and he will watch over me and protect me if I do his will” (in Smith and Stewart, Life of Joseph Fielding Smith, 114–15).
Ask students to recall the descriptions of John Taylor’s and Wilford Woodruff’s missions to England and contrast their experiences with that of Joseph Fielding Smith’s. Discuss the following questions:
Why is it inappropriate to measure the success of a mission by the number of people baptized?
What attitudes did Elder Smith indicate contributed to his success as a missionary?
Joseph Fielding Smith’s father taught him to seek excellence.
If available, bring to class and display several books by Joseph Fielding Smith, or you may want to list on the board the following titles of works by him:
Doctrines of Salvation
The Restoration of All Things
The Way to Perfection
The Progress of Man
Answers to Gospel Questions
Essentials in Church History
Church History and Modern Revelation
Man, His Origin and Destiny
The Signs of the Times
Seek Ye Earnestly
Explain to students that Joseph Fielding Smith wrote 25 books on the gospel and Church history.
Joseph F. Smith was recognized as a gospel scholar and spent a large amount of time responding to the questions his son Joseph Fielding asked. Invite students to read “His Father Expected Excellence” and “He Learned Much from His Father” in the student manual (p. 166) and look for additional influences Joseph F. Smith had on his son. Ask:
What subjects interested Joseph Fielding Smith?
In what ways do you think Joseph Fielding’s interest in the gospel and Church history was influenced by his father?
Joseph Fielding Smith was known as a defender of the faith.
Ask students where they turn for help when others ask challenging or critical questions about the Church and its doctrine. Ask: In addition to the scriptures and personal prayer, why are published talks and writings of the General Authorities helpful in answering difficult questions?
Explain that during his younger years Joseph Fielding Smith observed the heavy persecution of the Church when his father, Joseph F. Smith, was President. Joseph Fielding Smith had many opportunities to defend the Church. Invite a student to read “He Was a Defender of the Faith” in the student manual (pp. 166–67).
Tell students that for many years Joseph Fielding Smith wrote a monthly column for the Improvement Era, answering questions submitted by Church members. He was recognized as a great defender and teacher of gospel truths. His answers provided much help. The collection of answers was later printed in a five-volume series entitled Answers to Gospel Questions. If you have a copy available, you may want to read students a brief question and answer from one of its volumes.
Part 2: The Later Years
When Joseph Fielding Smith became President of the Church in 1970, he had served as an Apostle for almost 60 years and President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for 18 years. When he became President of the Church, he was 93 years old, older at the time of ordination than any previous or subsequent Church President.
In 1970 the 500th stake of the Church was organized and the first stakes were formed in Asia (in Tokyo, Japan) and Africa (in Johannesburg, South Africa). There were just over 14,000 missionaries serving around the world. Church membership reached 2.9 million, with 537 stakes, 92 missions, and 13 temples. During the year of his death, in 1972, Church membership reached 3.2 million, with 592 stakes, 101 missions, and 15 temples (see 2003 Church Almanac , 473, 632).
Events, Highlights, and Teachings
Joseph Fielding Smith was married and widowed three times.
Write the following on the board:
Louie Emily Shurtliff (April 26, 1898–March 30, 1908), 2 children
Ethel Georgina Reynolds (November 2, 1908–August 26, 1937), 9 children
Jessie Ella Evans (April 12, 1938–August 3, 1971)
Explain to students that Joseph Fielding Smith married Louie Emily Shurtliff on April 26, 1898, when he was 21 years old. They had two children before she died on March 30, 1908. On November 2, 1908, he married Ethel Georgina Reynolds, when he was 32 years old. They had nine children before she died on August 26, 1937. At age 61, on April 12, 1938, he married Jessie Ella Evans. She died on August 3, 1971.
Joseph Fielding Smith was known for his love of family. Read and discuss with students “He Found a New Wife and Mother for His Children” (p. 167) and “His Wife Described Him” (p. 169) in the student manual. Review and discuss “Jesse Evans Helped Add Much to His Zest for Living” in the student manual (pp. 169–70).
Share the following description of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s feelings for his wife Jessie when she passed away:
“From the pulpit he admonished husbands to be loving and devoted to their wives. But the sermon that touches me is his climbing nine blocks up Salt Lake City’s steep north avenues to the Latter-day Saint Hospital on a hot July day in 1971 and spending his 95th birthday anniversary sitting at the bedside of his sick wife Jessie. As her condition worsened, he stayed right with her day and night for several weeks … giving her what comfort and encouragement he could to the end. …
“The night Jessie died he kneeled in prayer with a son and poured out his heart to God. ‘It was a beautiful prayer,’ his son later commented. ‘There was no bitterness, no venting of grief, only a deep expression of thanks that he had been blessed to have Aunt Jessie, that now she was free from pain, and his gratitude that they would be together again one day.’
“… A few days after Jessie’s death a son was staying with him in his apartment. There was music playing on the radio. Joseph Fielding managed a smile and danced a little jig to the music, to show that his spirit was not vanquished. Upon his return home from a trip a few weeks later, his children had taken care to have the apartment look just like Aunt Jessie would have it for him. ‘See, Father, it is just the same.’ ‘No,’ he said, ‘it is not the same. Not the same. But it will have to do’” (Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. and John J. Stewart, The Life of Joseph Fielding Smith , 11–12).
He was called as an Apostle.
Tell the students that as Joseph Fielding Smith attended the last session of the April general conference in 1910, one of the doorkeepers asked, “Well, Joseph, who is the new Apostle to be?” Joseph Fielding replied, “I don’t know. But it won’t be you, and it won’t be me” (see Smith and Stewart, Life of Joseph Fielding Smith, 175). He then went into the meeting and sat down.
His father, President Joseph F. Smith, opened the meeting. Following the opening hymns and prayer, Elder Heber J. Grant, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, presented the names of the General Authorities for a sustaining vote. Less than a minute before Elder Grant read the name of the new Apostle, Joseph Fielding Smith suddenly knew that he would fill the vacancy. (In the early days of the Church, calls were often given without a previous interview.) Discuss with students “He Was Called as an Apostle” and “Others Knew That He Would Be Called as an Apostle” in the student manual (pp. 167–68).
He served as Church historian.
Write the following scripture references on the board: Doctrine and Covenants 21:1; 47:1, 3; 69:3. Ask students to read them to see what commandment the Lord gave early Church leaders. Have them list reasons for keeping accurate Church records.
Explain that Joseph Fielding Smith helped record Church history for nearly 70 years, from 1901 to 1970, which represents more than one-third of the Church’s history. In 1901 he began working in the Church Historian’s Office. He served as assistant Church historian from 1906 to 1921 when, at the death of Anthon H. Lund, he was called and sustained as Church historian. He served in this position for 49 years, longer than any previous historian.
He became President of the Church at age 93.
Discuss the answers to the following questions:
Which of the Church Presidents was the youngest when he began to serve? How old was he? (The Prophet Joseph Smith was sustained as First Elder of the Church on April 6, 1830, at age 24, and he was sustained as President of the high priesthood on January 25, 1832, at age 26.)
Who was the oldest when he started serving, and what was his age? (Joseph Fielding Smith became Church President on January 23, 1970, at age 93, and he was sustained on April 6, 1970.)
At age 93, President Joseph Fielding Smith was well prepared for this high calling, having served for nearly 60 years as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one else has become President of the Church in this dispensation at such an advanced age.
Hard work was an important part of Joseph Fielding Smith’s life.
Write the following statement by President Joseph Fielding Smith on the board. Invite students to discuss what this statement might reveal about him:
“No one should ever retire. I’ve known men who announced their retirement, and nature took them at their word!” (in Smith and Stewart, Life of Joseph Fielding Smith, 3).
Tell students that even at his advanced age, President Joseph Fielding Smith continued to work hard and was recognized for accomplishing much each day. Share the following from one biographer:
“At 95 he was still his own best sermon on non-retirement. I remember early one winter morning driving to Salt Lake City long before daylight. As I turned a corner near Temple Square, the headlight of my car brought into view an elderly man out walking in the cold, snowy air. It was Joseph Fielding. He was up every morning well before 6 o’clock, and put in a heavy day’s work. It was a lifelong habit, and one that he also instilled in his children. ‘People die in bed,’ he cautioned them. ‘And so does ambition.’” (Smith and Stewart, Life of Joseph Fielding Smith, 3; see also “He Enjoyed an Active Lifestyle” in the student manual, pp. 170–71).
Family home evening was emphasized.
Read the following promises to students, and ask them to identify what the First Presidency in 1915 counseled Church members to do:
“If the Saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations which beset them” (in James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. [1965–75], 4:339).
Remind students that during the presidency of Joseph F. Smith, the First Presidency introduced family home evening and recommended that Church members hold it regularly (see “Family Home Evening Was Introduced” in the student manual, pp. 101–2). Ask: In what ways can an effective family home evening give power to “combat the evil influences and temptations” we face?
Write the following dates on the board:
1915—family home evening was introduced; stake and ward leaders were encouraged to set aside at least one evening each month for home evening.
1965—weekly family home evenings were instituted and supported with lesson manuals.
1966—stakes were urged to avoid scheduling activities on a night they select for family home evenings.
1970—under the direction of President Joseph Fielding Smith, Monday night was designated as the uniform time throughout the Church for holding family home evening.
Ask a student to read the following counsel from President Joseph Fielding Smith, and have students suggest how regular family home evenings can help parents fulfill the responsibilities described in his statement:
“To all the families in Israel we say: The family is the most important organization in time or in eternity. Our purpose in life is to create for ourselves eternal family units. …
“To parents in the Church we say: Love each other with all your hearts. Keep the moral law and live the gospel. Bring up your children in light and truth; teach them the saving truths of the gospel; and make your home a heaven on earth, a place where the Spirit of the Lord may dwell and where righteousness may be enthroned in the heart of each member.
“It is the will of the Lord to strengthen and preserve the family unit” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1972, 13; or Ensign, July 1972, 27).
Discuss the following questions:
What kind of emphasis does family home evening receive from current Church leaders?
How does family home evening strengthen families?
Joseph Fielding Smith urged Church members to prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Review with students “We Must Prepare for the Lord’s Coming” and “Christ Will Come in a Day of Great Wickedness” in the student manual (pp. 172–73), and discuss how the “earth is full of calamity.” Discuss:
What indications do we have that the “signs that have been pointed out are here”?
What responsibility do Church members have during this time of calamity and wickedness?
Ask a student to read aloud “We Must Raise a Voice of Warning” in the student manual (p. 173). Ask: How can we raise this voice of warning to Church members and people outside the Church?
Review with students “The Worldly Ignore the Warnings” and “The Saints Can Escape Only through Obedience” in the student manual (pp. 173–74). Ask: What specific things should we do to have peace during these times of calamity?
Joseph Fielding Smith was a special witness of Jesus Christ.
Explain to students that for 60 years as an Apostle and for 3 years as Church President, Joseph Fielding Smith was a special witness of Jesus Christ. President Smith knew his callings came from God and took his responsibilities very seriously. He urged Church members and all people to come to Christ and conform their lives to the Master’s teachings. To the joy and blessing of the Saints, he taught and restated the principles of the gospel with exactness and clarity. He was truly a defender of the faith as foretold in his patriarchal blessing:
“I say unto thee … lift up thy voice without fear or favor as the Spirit of the Lord shall direct, and the blessing of the Lord shall rest upon thee. His Spirit shall direct thy mind and give the word and sentiment that thou shalt confound the wisdom of the wicked and set at naught the councils of the unjust” (in A. William Lund, “Elder Joseph Fielding Smith,” Improvement Era, Apr. 1950, 315).
Write on the board “His interest was in and not in or .” Study with students “He Was True and Steady to the End” from the student manual (p. 176). As you review this section, have students fill in the blanks and discuss what they learned about President Smith.
Share the following warning from Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, about those who knowingly teach false doctrine:
“I tell you that these men who stand up and say that Jesus is not the Christ, that he was a great teacher, but not the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father, and thus lead many to deny the power of the resurrection and the divinity of Christ, are taking upon themselves a most terrible responsibility that should cause them to fear and tremble. I could not stand it to know that I had taught an untruth that would lead people to destruction. And when these men realize what they have done and that, not only their own souls have not been saved, but they have been the means of destroying the souls of other men, leading them away from truth and righteousness, I tell you that it shall be hard with them, and their punishment shall be most severe in eternity” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1923, 138–39).
On another occasion he testified:
“I know absolutely that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, the Savior of men insofar as they will repent of their sins and accept the gospel. Through his death he redeemed all men and took upon him that sacrifice which would relieve us of our sins that we may not answer for them if we will accept him and be true and faithful to his teachings. …
“I am grateful for my membership in this Church, for the opportunity that has been mine to serve. My desire is to prove true and faithful to the end” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1956, 58–59).
Share your testimony with your students. | <urn:uuid:1abafe6b-7fbc-4518-ab83-7775b0390b80> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.lds.org/manual/presidents-of-the-church-teacher-manual-religion-345/joseph-fielding-smith-tenth-president-of-the-church?lang=eng | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00006-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973401 | 5,606 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Before discussing the origin of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) we need a little background information. There are three different reactions catalyzed by enzyme complexes resembling the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. For example, one of the reactions of the citric acid cycle is the conversion of 2-oxoglutarate (α-ketoglutarate) to succinyl-CoA. As you can see from the reaction below it is very similar to the pyruvate dehydrogenase reaction. The main difference is that the substrate, 2-oxoglutarate, has five carbons while pyruvate only has three. The part of the molecule that reacts is the top part with a carboxyl (-COO-) that is lost as CO2 and a keto (-C=O) that ends up being attached to coenzyme A via a sulfhydryl linkage.
It should come as no surprise that this reaction is catalyzed by an enzyme called 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (OGDH, also known by its old name: α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase) (EC 126.96.36.199) that's almost identical to pyruvate dehydrogenase. In fact, both PDC and OGDH evolved from a common ancestral enzyme. We know that the citric acid cycle enzyme is a late comer because many species of bacteria don't have it. Indeed, they don't even have a citric acid cycle.
So we need to look elsewhere if we are going to find the source of PDC. The most primitive enzymatic reaction is almost certainly one that's required in amino acid metabolism.1 In this case it's a reaction involved in the degradation of the branched chain amino acids; leucine, valine, and isoleucine. Look at the pathway below.
The first step in the degradation is the removal of the amino group (-NH3+) and its replacement with an oxygen to form a keto (-C=O) group. This creates three similar 2-oxo acids (α-keto acids) all of which resemble 2-oxoglutarate and pyruvate. All three of the 2-oxo (α-keto) acids are acted upon by the same enzyme called branched chain 2-oxoacid dehygrogenase (OADH, BCOADH, α-ketoacid dehydrogenase) (EC 188.8.131.52) to create an acyl-CoA product. This is the same reaction as that catalyze by the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex except that the R group in pyruvate is -CH3 while in the case of the branched chain dehydrogenase it's a three, four, or five carbon branched structure.
BCOADH is found in all species. It is the most "primitive" enzyme. Like PDC it has a complex structure with three different subunits. E1 catalyzes the decarboxylation reaction. E2 catalyzes the formation of acyl-CoA—it has the lipoamide swinging arm. E3 catalyzes the oxidation of the lipoamide and the reduction of NAD+.
It looks like the "primitive" BCOADH could also catalyze the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate. In fact some of the modern enzymes still have residual activity towards the other substrates. Over time, the genes for some of the subunits duplicated and the two enzymes (PDC and BCOADH) diverged as they became more specialized for their modern substrates.
We can see the result if we look at the phylogenetic tree for the E2 subunit (below). This figure is from a paper by Scharrenberger & Martin (2002). They use a slightly different nomenclature (PDH=pyruvate dehydrogenase complex). This is an unrooted tree so you can't really tell which enzyme came first but, as I explained above, there is good reason to believe that the E2 from PDC and the E2 from OGDH evolved from the E2 gene for BCOADH via successive duplications.
Recall that the E2 subunits form the core of the complex (left). They contain the lipoamide swinging arm that carries substrate to three different active sites. The E3 subunits of the three enzymes are identical. There is only one E3 gene and it supplies the dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase activity for BCOADH, PDC, and OADH.
The situation with the E1 subunit is more complicated. This is the part of the enzyme that recognizes the different types of substrate (e.g. pyruvate, 2-oxo acids, 2-oxoglutarate) so it makes sense that the three enzymes have different E1 subunits. All the eukaryotic versions of the PDC E1 subunit are related to the E1 subunit from BOADH. So are most of the bacterial versions. Other bacterial versions of the PDC E1 subunit are not related to those of the other enzymes (Schreiner et al. 2005).
The conclusion from the molecular data is that the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex evolved from the branched chain 2-oxo acid complex about 2 billion years ago. Subsequently, in some bacterial lineages a different E1 subunit replaced the one that's homologous to the BCOADH subunit. The α-proteobacteria and cyanobacteria lineages that gave rise to mitochondria and chloroplast respectively, retained the PDC E1 subunit that is related to BCOADH enzymes. This explains the eukaryotic versions of PDC.
1. This is a common theme in the evolution of metabolic enzymes. The evidence suggests strongly that amino acid metabolism is more ancient than most carbohydrate metabolism.
Schreiner, M.E., Fiur, D., Holatko, J., Patek, M. and Eikmanns, B.J. (2005) E1 enzyme of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex in Corynebacterium glutamicum: molecular analysis of the gene and phylogenetic aspects. J Bacteriol. 187:6005-18.
Schnarrenberger, C. and Martin, W.. (2002) Evolution of the enzymes of the citric acid cycle and the glyoxylate cycle of higher plants. A case study of endosymbiotic gene transfer. Eur J Biochem. 269:868-83. | <urn:uuid:1bb97aca-c5a6-4a79-ba55-b40b5a92dc9c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2007/04/pyruvate-dehydrogenase-evolution.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933333 | 1,397 | 3.21875 | 3 |
FORUM: Art in World History
Imperial Attire and National Identity in Ancient Assyria, Qajar Iran and Qing China
This article is an expanded version of an introductory exercise used in World History classes to show that concepts of national identity and royal entitlement can be explained visually without the need for excessive memorization of political events. Through the examination of portraits of monarchs attired in regal garments, world historians can access ideas about social status, wealth, religion, and royal ideology.
From the beginnings of civilization royal images were considered to be a necessary part of the regalia of kingship. In a world where literacy was minimal, the image itself could in fact be a substitute for the ruler's physical presence. In Qajar Iran, a portrait of the ruler demanded homage even when moved through the streets in a box! According to a report by Sir John Malcolm, an English ambassador to the Persian court during the early 19th century, 1
[envoys] carried, among other presents to their Prince [of Sind], a picture of His Majesty, Fatteh Ali Shah. This painting was carefully packed in a deal box; but the enclosed image of royalty could not be allowed to pass through his dominions without receiving marks of respect hardly short of those that would have been shown to the sovereign himself. The governor and inhabitants of Abusheher went a stage to meet it: they all made their obeisance at a respectful distance. On its entering the gates of the city a royal salute was fired; and when the Envoys who had charge of it embarked, the same ceremonies were repeated, and not a little offence was taken at the British Resident because he declined taking a part in this mummery.
In a world where few were literate, portraits, especially those that portray the ruler, were also designed to convey significant messages of superiority, might and under certain circumstances, piety. When royalty was depicted dressed in special attire with symbols of imperial authority, the image and hence the person became more powerful. When the ruler was shown participating in the proper performance of cultic ceremonies, special attire often with a decorative pictorial vocabulary, conveyed messages of sanctity that associated the ruler through ritual with religious activities necessary to maintain the proper balance between heaven and earth. A royal portrait could also communicate a memory of a past historical achievement, a set of customs, a celebration of a prior way of life or a link to heroic cultural figure as continuity with the past was seen as an important imperial cultural value. An image of royalty is therefore not a replica of representation (i.e., a portrait in the western sense), but a culturally coded multi-dimensional signifier of ideals and cultural values.
In this study we will examine images of three rulers from different cultures and chronological periods of time, each of which was associated with dynastic change. 2 An analysis of their portraits can reveal how visual imagery served to venerate and tie their rule to past traditions and illustrate how each used a similar template of attire and accessories to express ideas about royal responsibilities, ideologies and legitimacy.
Neo-Assyrian Royal Portraits & Costume
Artisans employed in the royal court of the ancient Neo-Assyria empire (ca. 934-610 B.C.E.), pictured their ruler with the outsized physical perfection of a muscular heroic figure in order to emphasize his superiority and associate the king with mythological warrior deities such as Marduk and Ashur.3 In Fig. 1, the 9th century B.C.E Assyrian ruler Ashurnasirpal is shown on a stone palace wall relief wearing a ceremonial robe and sporting a large, curled, well-kept, black-painted beard, a mark of his fecundity.4 His bulging forearm muscles and tendons bear witness to his superhuman strength and prowess as hunter and fighter. He wears a conical shaped hat with a projecting peak, a symbol of his royal authority. Tassels emerge from the end of a cloth headband wound around the hat and stream down his shoulders. He holds a backward facing bow in his left hand and a ceremonial bowl in his right hand. A gold coiled armband is wrapped around each of his bare arms. In some reliefs these bands are terminated at either end with the head of a lion, signifying the ruler's power, military achievements, and control over the forces of unrest and chaos. On his wrist the king wears a three-strand gold band attached to a 16 pointed rosette thought to be a symbol of the goddess Ishtar. Ishtar was known as a goddess of war as well as an embodiment of the planet Venus, the morning and evening star. The king also wears gold earrings and a gold chocker. 5
Tucked into his waistband are two daggers and a ceremonial sword sheathed in a scabbard with an image of opposing lions carved into the ends of the scabbard, all indicative of his power and achievements in battle. The weapons reflect in part, the Assyrian practice of presenting swords and bracelets of gold to soldiers as a reward for heroic achievement in battle.6
According to the cuneiform inscription carved into the stone on the lower half of the relief, the king himself had been chosen by the gods to be their avenger, their "destructive weapon" who acted in battle with the support of his deities.7 This collaborative relationship between king and deity in which in the king garnered the gods' gift of prosperity in return for his piety and achievements is reflected in the images and designs woven into full-length Neo-Assyrian royal robes (Fig. 3).
In the middle image we see the Assyrian king grappling with a lion, a sign of his power, courage and ability to control to forces of chaos.8 In the register above, two bird-headed genii enact a ritual in which they tend to a sacred tree, a symbol of prosperity. On both garments and in Neo-Assyrian reliefs the figures shown with bucket and purifier are apkallu-sages in bird/human guise.9 Similar figures are found in foundation deposits used to protect houses and palaces. According to a ritual, clay apkallu-figurines were made by exorcists as part of purification and dedication rites to offer protection from demonic forces. 10
Seven apkallu-figurines of clay (variant: whose clay is mixed with wax), with bird faces and wings, holding in their right hands a mulillu-purifier, in their left hands a banduddu-bucket . . . you shall make.
In the ritual images shown on the royal garment the winged figures hold a banduddu-bucket in their left hand and a cone purifier in their right hand. The mulillu-purifier is either a fir cone of a date palm or a clay replica of the cone. In Assyria as one's right hand was considered male and the left female, the (female) metal bucket was a seen as a receptacle. It probably contained holy water. During the ritual the supernatural figure would dip the cone into the bucket and then sprinkle holy water onto the tree buds to protect them from destruction by demonic forces. On other Neo-Assyrian reliefs the apkallu-figures are shown purifying the king with a mulillu-cone in their right hand. According to the text of a ritual,
Take the bucket, the hoisting devise with the wooden bail, bring water from the mouth of the twin rivers, over that water cast your holy spell, purify it with your holy incantation and sprinkle that water over the man, the son of his god."11
The ritual complete, the trees and by implication all of the lands of Assyria flourish, as can been seen in the depiction of hearty trees with sprouting buds shown throughout the image.12
Assyrian stone reliefs which adorned the walls of Ashurnasirpal north-west palace at Nimrud depict a narrative of royal conquest, power and ritual activities, the mixture of the political and the religious. The king in the above [Fig. 1] relief is shown accompanied by a court eunuch and supernatural figures. The scenes carved on the stone and embroidered on his garment express the ideology that the king with guidance from above, has established through defeat of the forces of anarchy, an orderly stable world, governed by a ruler who is both powerful and pious. Through the performance of ritual obligation and political achievement, the king has pleased the gods, his mentors, who in turn ensure prosperity and plenty for his land. The king, either by himself or assisted by cultic personnel, had through ritual united heaven and earth. And through his actions as conqueror and protector had established his authority and forged a link between the needs of his people and the realm of the gods.
Lying beneath this royal ideology is a clear iconographic connection to the past. The imagery and theology of the sacred tree ritual harkens back to prototypical scenes found on cylinder seal carvings in the expansive territorial empire of the Middle Assyrian monarchs (ca. 1390-1076 B.C.E ). Ashurnasirpal, following upon a period of decline and loss of territory, became the first of the Neo-Assyrian kings to aggressively consolidate and re-extend the boundaries of his empire. On his wall reliefs he claims legitimacy via his imagery, and thereby be connected to the previous dynasty. Rather than being different from those who came before, he asserts not just monarchic descent, but an acknowledgment that the past and present are linked through a visual ideological bond.13
Qajar Royal Portraits & Costume
Almost two thousand years later in Iran, Fath 'Ali-Shah of the Qajar tribe ascended the throne following the assassination of his uncle Aqa Muhammad Shah in 1797.14 Through three years of fighting, political marriages and alliances he was finally able to consolidate his power. Here we see him in his first royal portrait (1797-98)15seated on a carpet set on top of a platform.16 He wears a turban decorated with a plumed jiqqa (of heron feathers) in a revised style of previous Zand rulers.17 The headgear is black with a red top matching his black beard. The hat is a sign of new era while his prominent beard indicates rectification of the indignity heaped on his beardless and castrated uncle after his capture by the Zand as a child.18
His jewels recall his portable wealth, most important for a tribal chief.19 The encrusted scepter, dagger and sword designate his authority and role as conqueror and protector as do his jewel bedecked armbands, set with pearls, emeralds, diamonds and polished red spinels, a practice common among early 18th century Mughal rulers.20 Fath 'Ali Shah's armbands have been interpreted as a reference to the subordination of the Zands, and Lutf Ali Khan in particular.21 His full length, long sleeved, deep blue silk outer gown decorated with an all-over flower design was also worn by the Zand elite.22
The ruler, proudly displaying his wealth, is shown seated on his knees with his legs tucked under his hips as if he were receiving an audience in his tent. Beneath him is a sumptuous knotted silk carpet, with a red field and a broad border of curving intersecting vines or tendrils joined by flowers on a blue ground, the vines and flowers all woven with precious jewels.23 Beneath the carpet, shown with its end jutting out beneath the carpet's edge, is a luxurious felt or takya-namad. Namads, made of undyed brownish sheep's wool, originally were used to cover the cold ground in tents to add insulation and keep the tent dwellers warm and dry. Here, the high quality felt, shown with a finial design enclosed in a red outline with an outer plain red stripe, would functionally have kept the carpet from sliding.24 However, the takya-namad, no longer merely a symbol of tribal origins, was now a royal symbol, a prestige item, having been a feature in Iranian court decoration dating back to Safavid and Timurid periods in the 15th and 16th century. A painting (Fig. 4) of Karim Khan Zand (c. 1705- 1779) also depicts the Zand ruler seated with bent knees on a fine quality red-brown felt known as a takya-namad, depicted folded under his body with a flowered design in its field.
Royal floor rugs were not only used for warmth or as measures of status and wealth, they could also embody symbols of the royal presence. Several paintings depict Fath 'Ali Shah seated on a small-sized rug known as a masnad. When the Shah travelled without his throne on a royal tour or on a hunt, the masnad acted as a substitute throne. This type of rug was woven with silk, gold or silver thread. Its small size (ca. 80-90 x 60-70 cm.) was just large enough to accommodate the king and a bolster.25
Returning to the portrait of Fath 'Ali Shah, note the ornate European pocket watch at his foot with the dial showing 2:30, a reference to the time of his coronation corresponding to the vernal equinox of 1798 and the celebration of the New Year, an auspicious time for the accession of the Persian king.26 Here also is portrayed a young man with large black eyes, fair complexion, bushy eyebrows, thin face and vivid large black beard. Napoleon's French enjoy to the Persian court described the Persian ruler as follows: "He is of tall stature and has a very strong constitution. His physiognomy is that of the men of Turkestan, from whence he comes and whose language he speaks; his fiery deep eyes are overshadowed by very thick eyebrows. He has a long thick beard like all Persians, which he carefully dyes to make it even blacker than his natural color."27
But where is the famous Qajar crown worn by his uncle predecessor and why is he sitting like a tribal chief on a carpet rather than raising himself in a glorious throne? According to one source he had retrieved the Kayanid crown in August 1797 long before his coronation in March 1798. However, other sources state that the crown was not retrieved until three months after the coronation.
The powerful Sadiq Khan,chief of the Kurdish Shaqaqi tribe, the last ruler of the Zand dynasty, had in fact harbored the two assassins who had murdered Fath 'Ali Shah's uncle and had stolen his royal Kayanid crown. According the the Qajar chronicler, 'Abd al Razzaq Dunbuli, the assassins "secretly took the royal crown together with other implements and furniture of kingship such as the bejeweled armbands, the decorated foe-exterminating sword, the jewelry chest, and other items—every part of which as a an ornament on the body and shoulders of the world rulers of the time—and offered it to Sadiq Khan."28 According to another chronicler they also took the famous Kuh-i Nur diamonds which the Shah, always afraid of their being stolen, took with him and kept in his tent during all of his campaigns.29
Once he had the Mughal jewels safely in his hands, Fath 'Ali Shah decided that he needed a different type of crown, one that didn't recall his brutal treatment of the Zands and his usurpation of the dynasty. A new cylinder-style Kayanid crown was commissioned to replace the older Zand turban style headdress. Over time the crown became more elaborate and included a wide band of precious stones surrounded by pearls. In its final version the crown incorporated 300 large emeralds, rubies, 1500 red spinels, hundreds of diamonds, and 1800 pearls all sown with string onto a velvet body [Fig. 000].30
Military success after success followed as he consolidated his throne by defeat of all rebellions. To celebrate and symbolize his new authority he declared himself "king of kings" (shahanshah) recalling the tiles of his Achaemenids and Sassanians forebears and indeed had his image carved on cliff rock faces next to images of ancient illustrious rulers.31
In 1815 Fath 'Ali Shah commissioned Hajji Mirza (Muhammad) Husayn Isfahani to construct a Sun Throne to replace the now lost or destroyed Mughal Peacock throne (Takht-i-Nadir) stolen by Nadir Shah.32 Portraits show him seated on this jewel encrusted throne dressed in his royal oriental regalia and wearing an even larger and more elaborate headdress. He wears high-heeled footwear with an upturned pointed toe beneath floral patterned hose. A long jeweled Qajar-style strap hangs from his elaborate belt. The painting, an image of splendor together with symbols of his supreme power (i.e., the dagger and sword), was given to the French envoy Amédée Jaubert to be brought back to Europe and presented as a gift to Emperor Napoleon.33 For the Qajar ruler the sense of awe embodied in his portrait should have been sufficient to impress the rulers of Europe that he indeed was the mighty, Shahanshah, the king of kings, the descendent of the great Achaemenid and Sassanian rulers.
These portraits may have dazzled his domestic contemporaries but had little political influence upon the emerging European powers. Soon after the turn of the 19th century Persia became embroiled in European politics. To the north Russian forces were advancing towards the Persian borders and the Shah realizing that he needed to gain alliances, sent his ambassadors to both England and France in search of military support.34 Royal paintings of the Shah now began to place more emphasis on foreign elements. Instead of blue sky [Fig. 6] in the background, a European style landscape appears in court paintings as if viewed through an open window behind the royal figure [Fig. 7].
Painted by the Tehran artist Mihr 'Ali [Fig. 6] in 1813-14, this portrait was given to the French envoy to take back to France in order to show Europeans that Persia was not only a great Near Eastern country whose history went back thousands of years, but also a great modern nation open to alliance with its European brethren. But it didn't work, a putative alliance with Napoleon to stop the Russian advance of the borders of the kingdom, soon turned sour as Napoleon in 1807 entered into an alliance with Russia. Russian armies twice crossed the border in the Russo-Persian Wars (1804-1813, 1826-27) annexing northern portions of the empire, and instead of being the "King of Kings" Fath 'Ali Shah had had become in the eyes of Europeans a small time ruler, obsessed with pomp and jewels and reigning over a decaying and declining kingdom.
Qing Dynasty Royal Costume
Fath 'Ali Shah, the second Qajar monarch, ruled from September 5, 1772 to October 23, 1834. In China nearly two centuries earlier a peasant revolt led to the sack of Beijing in 1644. When the last Ming emperor died by his own hand, a newly united group of Manchu warriors seized the opportunity to attack and control the capital. The new rulers acutely aware of their cultural distinctiveness as horsemen and archers had several important decisions to make. Would they restore the old imperial order and continue the civil service system or establish a Manchu form of government? Would they declare themselves worthy inheritors of the Mandate of Heaven? Would they stress Confucian values and integrate themselves into the native Han culture by continuing old customs and rituals? In some cases the Manchu chose to impose such social habits as the mandating the queue, the braiding of men's hair and shaving the forehead. But in most cases the Qing like the Qajar and Assyrian monarchs chose to associate themselves with their country's past and in China the new rulers preserved the administrative structure, translated Chinese classics into Manchu, adopted age-old Chinese symbols and actively participated in traditional rituals, all in order to stress their legitimacy.
In their official attire, the Qing rulers realized that costume needed to be a defining characteristic their dynasty. Thus in the early 17th century C.E. when Jurchens clans from northeastern China (Manchuria), who traced their ancestry back to traditions of hunting, horsemanship and archery, replaced the Ming dynasty, they were faced with the issue of how to appear at court and in ritual ceremonies. For attire denoted kinship, rank, and most importantly cultural identity. Any variation from a previous norm according to a tradition that dated back to the Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050-256 BCE) and recorded in the Shujing (Book of History) would be noticed as a mark of change that could lead to rebellion. How then could the foreign Manchus who brought to China their own writing system and language maintain their own distinctiveness and yet be accepted by the native Han as legitimate leaders?
In 1636 soon after the founding of the Manchu dynasty the Hongtaiji emperor (r.1635-1643) said to his various lords and princes, "Our nation is one of horsemen and archers. If we now rashly adopt the customs of the Han (the native Chinese) people, we shall become unfamiliar with the bow and arrow. How then will we remain prepared for battle?"35 In 1650, the Emperor Shunzhi stated, "Our dynasty was founded on martial prowess. After years of war and conquest, we have finally won, thanks to our native equestrian and archery skills. Today we enjoy peace and have accomplished our great goal. Although the country is united, we should never forget the importance of practicing our martial arts, continue to emphasize prowess in archery and riding in order to excel in war."36
In order to maintain the independent spirit of their Jurchen Manchurian tribal origins the new alien rulers made a conscious symbolic effort to avoid looking and dressing like the ethnic Han Chinese.37 For in China as in ancient Assyria and Qajar Iran, official attire was a clear visual mark of a ruling elite's political philosophy. Official costume reflected the myth of state, their own heritage and relationship, depending on circumstances, to the forces of the divine or to the peoples they governed. The costumes and accessories chosen to be seen in ceremonies and in royal portraits carried iconography symbolic of hierarchy and their associations with the past.
State ritual in China as well as in ancient Assyria affected the balance between an unseen heaven and the tangible world assuring social harmony and political stability. According to Zhou royal custom, ceremonial and ritual clothing, together with a rich variety of accessories and furnishings, were regarded as absolutely necessary to maintain the proper hierarchical order in society. The Zhouli (Book of Rites of the Zhou) described the rulers clothing, listing nine sets of ceremonial attire as well as clothes for attending to government affairs, clothes for hunting and clothes for warfare. From the Confucian perspective, proper clothing ensured that virtue was recognized and praised so that commoners would not encroach upon their superiors. 39
Ceremonial costumes worn by the Ming elite were characterized by their voluminous loose-fitting, wide-sleeved robes. The full-length robe with wide sleeves was symbolic of both the Confucian gentleman and Han ideals of cultural superiority. The use of this form of clothing which dates back to the Han dynasty stressed continuity with the past and evoked memories of grand achievement. Constructed with up to twelve meters of heavy silk, the robe limited movement when worn during court ceremonies in accordance with Confucian ideals of proper behavior. The exaggerated width of the heavy sleeve partially covered the hands making any quick movement such as an attempted assassination instantly recognizable as one hand was needed to lift the sleeve prior to any aggressive movement. For the Ming this loose-fitting robe reflected the rejection of the alien style wear of the Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties while patterning those used in the Song dynasty. In contrast the traditional Manchu form-fitting knee-length coat with belt (to conserve body heat) together with its tight fitting sleeves cuffed at the wrist and flared skirt, was suitable for riding and quick handling of a bow.
If we were to adopt the Han type of dress, it was asked, "how could we defend ourselves against attack? It would be like waiting to be mutilated and devoured piece by piece!"40 But the new rulers also recognized that they needed attire that symbolized their new social status as rulers, so they kept the Manchu close-fitting and narrow-sleeved garment that was practical and well-adapted to the needs of riding and archery and combined it with traditional Chinese ornamentation.
In contrast to Ming and older style court robes41, the Manchu ruler wore a newly designed formal ceremonial costume known as a chaofu ("court robe" or "audience robe")42 worn at important rituals and at state assemblies.43 The costume, made of silk, was comprised of several units.44 A knee-length skirt was attached to a jacket-robe with long narrow sleeves terminated with horse-hoof cuffs .45 Worn on top of this robe was a knee length coat or gunfu. This dark blue coat had sleeves that extended only as far as the elbow so as not to cover the hoof-shaped cuffs of the chaofu which was worn underneath. During the cold months, a winter version was worn lined with fur. Five-clawed dragons were depicted on the shoulders, chest and back, each embroidered in gold. The emperors wore this outfit over trousers and long boots, a reminder of their horse riding origins in the steppes of northeastern China.
The chaofu was also worn with an embroidered shoulder cape (piling), faced with various furs, depending on the rank of the user. Sable was reserved for the exclusive use of the emperor and his consort. In nomadic society the cape may have originally been used as hoods.
On festive occasions such as birthdays and weddings and during imperial banquets the emperor wore a less formal coat known as the jifu, which in the West is commonly referred to as the "Dragon Robe." This robe could on occasion also be worn with a surcoat on top.
The royal robes were each worn with a set of accessories. Hats, both in summer and winter were worn on all public occasions as symbols of status. A Manchu festive winter hat was made of sable (from the Sino-Siberian border) or sea otter fur, the summer variety was fashioned out of straw, rattan or bamboo strips. The wide upturned brim of the close fitted winter hat with a rounded crown was based on a nomadic shape wherein the brim could be turned down for face protection. The emperor's hat worn during formal occasions was topped with a jeweled finial set with pearls set in gold. When dressed in his jifu the emperor wore a hat containing a large "Eastern pearl" imported from his Manchu homeland. Other types of garments were worn on hunting expeditions and during official tours. There was also special attire for military occasions and for daily activities.
The color, designs and figures on Qing royal garments also illuminates aspects of cultural identity. In 1636 the emperor Hongtaiji decreed that only the ruler could wear yellow robes (the color of the earth),46 and the five-clawed traditional dragon motif (symbolizing potent power), first found on Tang imperial coats, could not be used by anyone of lower standing than those of the Imperial Consorts of the First Rank (in contrast to the European dragon associated with evil power). In 1723 it was further provided that the emperor's ceremonial robe be decorated with three types of designs, and nine dragon roundels, with each dragon holding a pearl in its mouth (an ancient Chinese symbol associated with royalty).47 Elaborate rules for dress ornamentation were designed for all other ranks from the brothers of the Emperor down to military and civilian officials, princesses, regional lords, and even for the wives of officials and noblewomen.
The Dragon robe (jifu) can be read as a cosmic vision, a schematic diagram of heaven and earth. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art robe a series of undulating parallel diagonal lines are found on the lower border and above are pictured rounded billows representing the universal ocean surrounding the earth. Placed at the four axes of the robe are cascading prism-shaped rocks that symbolize the earth-mountains that emerge above the earth. In Chinese thought, mountains were a manifestation of the sacred vital powers of nature (qi). Waves breaking against rocks are depicted along the lower edges of the decorative areas. This Ming innovation creates, along with the cloud and symbolic motifs in the field, a cosmic landscape for the imperial dragon.48 In this firmament, nine five-clawed mythical dragons, the symbols of imperial authority since Yuan times, coil and twist. When the Qing emperor dones the coat his body unites all elements. He becomes the unifying pillar that links heaven and earth. His head emerging out of the neck-opening reaches through the symbolic gate into the center of heaven and the world beyond. Twelve symbols of authority which first appear on Manchu clothing in 1759 are dispersed throughout the field. Bat motifs (fu) representing happiness and prosperity are placed amidst the clouds. The twelve symbols which can be traced back to the Han dynasty reflect notions of ritual and sacral obligations as well as the political intention of linking the new dynasty to the ancient Chinese past.
Even though the Qing emperor and the Assyrian monarch lived in different worlds, separated by culture, geography, religion and time both were viewed as trustees of their respective deities, chosen to unite heaven and earth and bring stability to their lands. Both were expected to be pious, to offer sacrifices, ensure prosperity and wear attire on sacred occasions that was appropriate to their prestige and symbolic of their roles as mediators between the gods and the human world. Their imperial attire worn as part of ritual performances stressed how each brought order and harmony to their own religious and political worlds, bearing testimony to the civilizing nature of their powers. These royal garments were an essential part of the dynamic cultic performance rituals associated with kingship. In contrast the Qajar ruler whose nomadic desires for wealth resulted in an ostentatious display (while ceding many aspects of religious leadership to the ulema)49, stressed in his attire his superiority, his military prowess, his political strategy, and although a bit player, a desire to be viewed by others as an important player in world politics. Common to all three rulers was the notion that the fate of their countries rested upon themselves. To reinforce this idea of superiority, all dressed in garments of royal splendor with either iconographic designs or associated objects that tied them as heirs to an idealized past and reflected ideas about their present rule. The garments, an extension of both person and office, projected images of reverence, continuity between the past and present, and where necessary, concepts of change. In a world where images served as a presence of reality, indeed as the manifestation of reality itself, attire and accessories were signs that conveyed ideas beyond their superficial appearance, being vital elements of national identity and heritage.
In addition, a costume's decorative patterns and color when worn during ceremonies or rituals projects both the psychological power of imperial authority and submissiveness. Embodied within the design are concepts of political ideology, the oneness of the ruler and historical tradition. Changes in the cut, materials, design and colors of royal costume do not simply reflect changes in taste, but as we have seen, embody fundamental beliefs about political hierarchy.
Cultural memories honoring the past which are usually associated and preserved in religious traditions, epics and oral traditions also survive in attire. In China, vestiges of the lifestyles of ancient steppe riders and hunters who wore animal skins were preserved in a much altered but still recognizable form in Qing dynasty robes, hats, collars and other forms, bearing witness to ethnic and political identity. The namad in use as floor coverings in Zand and Qajar palaces were no longer seen as a casing to provide warmth in cold tents, but were now symbols of wealth while still preserving elements of a tribal past. In ancient Assyria the sacred tree ritual linked the king to the imperialistic territory ideology of the previous Middle-Assyrian dynasty. And in all three of our examples images of royalty dressed in hunting apparel killing or grappling with animals all evoked historic pictorial and oral traditions of cultural identity dating back to a distant age. This veneration of the past gave justification for present policies and practices.
It is my hope that by bringing attention to the symbolic meaning of attire though the cross-cultural analysis of royal garments as depicted in imperial portraits, that world historians can gain an additional mode of insight and understanding into the world of past cultures and at the same time recognize that the similarity of patterns of imperial ideology as reflected in portraits and dress are also an important element in the study of world history.
Ira Spar is Professor of Ancient History at Ramapo College of New Jersey and Research Assyriologist in the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City where he has written and edited a four volume edition of the Museum's collection of cuneiform tablets. From 1987 to 1997 he co-directed the Tel Aviv University-New Jersey Archaeological Consortium excavations at Tel Hadar in Israel. Dr. Spar is also the author/narrator of an on-line children's story "Marduk, King of the Gods," available on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website. He teaches world history from the perspective of the visual arts and is presently preparing a World Civilization textbook based on visual source materials.
1 Cited by Willem Floor in, "Art (Naqqashi) and Artists (Naqqashan) in Qajar Persia," Muqarnas 16 (1999), p. 135, from Anonymous (Sir John Malcolm), Sketches of Persia, 2 vols. (London, 1828), 1:84; Moritz von Kotzebue, Narrative of a Journey into Persia, (London, 1820), pp. 248-49.
2 Ashurnasirpal, king of Assyria (r. ca. 883-859 B.C.E.), the Qajar Fath 'Ali Shah (r. 1797-1834 C.E.) and Chinese Manchu emperors from the early Qing dynasty (r. 1644-1911 C.E.). Each of these rulers traced their ancestry back to tribal or non-urban roots. For Neo-Assyrians who claimed descent from those "who lived in tents," see Jean-Jacques Glassner, Chroniques Mésopotamiennes (Paris, 1993) translated as Mesopotamian Chronicles, Writings from the Ancient World, Society of Biblical Literature, (Leiden, 2005). The late 18th and early 19th century Iranian ruler, Fath 'Ali Shah was a Qajar tribal leader and the non-Chinese Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty traced their origins to non-urban tribal confederations.
3 A court eunuch is shown next to the king holding a saucer in his left hand and a flywhisk in his right hand. He also wears a garment embroidered with ritual scenes.
4 For further information on Ashurnasirpal reliefs see, Ada Cohen, Steven E. Kangas (eds.), Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural Biography, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College (Hanover, N. H., 2010); Mehmet-Ali Ataç, The Mythology of Kingship in Neo-Assyrian Art (Cambridge/New York, 2010); Samuel M. Paley, King of the World: Ashur-nasir-pal II of Assyria, 883-859 B.C., Brooklyn Museum of Art, (Brooklyn, 1967); Julian E. Reade, "Ideology and Propaganda in Assyrian Art," in Mӧgens T. Larsen (ed.), Power and Propaganda: A Symposium on ancient Empires (Copenhagen, 1979), pp. 329-43.
5 Recent Iraqi excavations at ancient Nimrud have uncovered graves of four Assyrian queens. Several of the graves contained hundreds of pieces of gold jewelry. See, Muayad Said Basim Damerji, Graeber assyrischer Koeniginnen aus Nimrud, Mainz 1999. An English edition is now in preparation to be published by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
6 See Karen Radner, "War Heroes: Royal Recognition for Assyrian Soldiers," [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sargon/essentials/soldiers/warheroes/] and Karen Radner,, "Fame and Prizes: Competition and War in the Neo-Assyrian empire', in N. Fisher and H. van Wees (eds.), Competition in the Ancient World (Swanse, Wales, 2011), pp. 37-57.
7 See Albert Kirk Grayson, Assyrian Royal Inscriptions Part 2: From Tiglath-pileser I to Ashur-nasir-apli II, Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia 1, (Wiesbaden, 1976), pp. 113-211.
8 Depictions of kings as warriors and hunters are known from the very beginnings of Near Eastern history dating to the early third millennium B.C.E. and continued in the Near East well into the 19th century (for third millennium B.C.E. Sumerian representations of the "Priest King" as warrior and hunter, see Joan Aruz (ed.), Art of the First Cities, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 2003), pp. 22-24). Mural paintings decorating the palaces of Persian Qajar rulers during the 19th and late 18th century C.E. depict battles, hunting scenes and historical events. On one wall of his Sultaniyya palace Fath 'Ali Shah was shown spearing a wild ass. See Willem Floor, "Art (Naqqashi) and Artists (Naqqashan) in Qajar Persia," Muqarnas 16 (1999), p. 136 and p. 152 n. 126. Royal portraits also show the Shah dressed in hunting outfits. Qing emperors wore special travel attire during the hunt.
9 According to Babylonian traditions the apkallu, pictured in Neo-Assyrian art as part animal/human, were ancient sages who lived before the flood. Their inclusion in on wall reliefs from Ashurnasirpal and depictions on his garments, link the king to ancient wisdom traditions and to an idealized past that existed in the distant antediluvian age. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the apkallu are said to have constructed the walls of Uruk.
10 See, F. A. M. Wiggermann, Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts (Groningen, 1992).
11 Ibid., p. 66
12 Other figures with horns, a sign of a deity, are shown purifying sacred trees.
13 See E. Porada and D. Collon, with contributions by W. G. Lambert and M. Sax, Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum. Cylinder Seals IV. The Second Millennium BC (Continued from Cylinder Seals III), (London, forthcoming)
14 Aqa Muhammad Khan (r. 1785-97), having defeated the last of the Zand forces in 1794 reunited the country and established the Qajar dynasty which ruled in Iran until 1925.
15 Ca. 15 monumental portraits are extant, most designated to be presented as gifts to European ambassadors. Other royal images were placed in wall niches in his palaces. European envoys to the Qajar court commented on the accurate depiction of person and attire in the paintings. See for example, S. G. W. Benjamin, Persia and the Persians, London, 1887, p. 77. For Qajar period paintings see, Layla Diba and Maryam Ekhtiar eds., Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch, 1785-1925 (New York, 1988).
The Assyrian wall reliefs which decorated the palaces of Assyrian kings also served as visual propaganda for royal ideology. For the placement of Assyrian wall reliefs and their meaning see, John Russell, Sennacherib's "Palace without Rival" at Nineveh (Chicago,1991); The Writing On the Wall: Studies in the Architectural Context of Late Assyrian Palace Inscriptions, Mesopotamian Civilizations (Winona Lake, Ind., 1999).
16 Carpet production in 18th century Iran included both folk crafts and royal commissions. The Zand ruler 'Ali Mardan Khan (r. 1781-85) is known to have donated gold-threaded carpets to shrines in Karbala and Najaf in Iraq.
17 For examples of Zand turbans as shown in miniature paintings, see Hadi Maktabi, "Under the Peacock Throne, Carpets, Felts, and Silks in Persian Painting, 1736-1834," Muqarnas 26, (2009), pp. 328-29 and http://ismaili.net/histoire/history07/history751.html
18 In the Near East dark prominent beards are a signal of virility and fecundity. See Fig. 1 and note that Assyrian ruler's beard on the stone wall relief was originally painted black.
19 In tribal cultures possession of large amounts of jewels was a sign royal power and prestige. They are an easily concealed and portable. Gift giving and exchange of jewelry was an important element in international politics, well documented throughout Near Eastern history. For ancient sources of exchange in precious materials, see, Joan Aruz et al (eds.), Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C., The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 2008).
20 Note the similar symbolic meaning associated with the gold arm bands worn by the Assyrian ruler in Fig. 1.
21 See Abbas Amanat, "The Kayanid Crown and Qajar Reclaiming of Royal Authority," Iranian Studies 34 No. 1/4 (2001), pp. 24-25. For the diamonds set into the armbands and a detailed description of the jewels set into his regalia, see V. B. Meen and A. D. Tushingham, The Crown Jewels of Iran, Toronto, 1968 and Patricia Jellicoe, "Crown Jewels of Iran," Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VI, Fasc. 4, pp. 426-430, updated version Nov. 2, 2011 at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/crown-jewels-of-persia-the-assemblage-of-jewels-collected-by-the-kings-of-persia-kept-now-in-the-bank-e-markazi-e-iran-
22 For Qajar period fashion, see Patricia L. Baker, "Following Fashion: Qajar Dress Observed," Hali Anniversary Issue, July/August (2004), pp. 100-109.
23 The blue border and red field colors were a popular combination in 19th century court carpets and those in possession of high office. The bejeweled carpets were known to foreign visitors as "Pearl Carpets."
24 See further Hadi Maktabi, "Under the Peacock Throne, Carpets, Felts, and Silks in Persian Painting, 1736-1834," Muqarnas 26, (2009), pp. 318-337.
25 See Parvis Tanavoli, Afshar: Tribal Weaves from Southeast Iran (Tehran, 2010) and Parvis Tanavoli, "The Persian use of Masnads: Carpets for Kings and Guests," Ghereh 9 (1996), pp. 19-29 and p. 20 for an illustration of Fath 'Ali Shah seated on a masnad.
26 Abbas Amanat, "The Kayanid Crown and Qajar Reclaiming of Royal Authority," Iranian Studies 34 No. 1/4 (2001), pp. 24.
27 Jaubert Pierre-Amédé, Voyage en
Arménie et en Perse, fait dans les années 1805 et 1806 (Paris, 1821) as
cited at: http://louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226047&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3
28 Abbas Amanat, "The Kayanid Crown," p.19.
29 The jewels, probably the most valuable collection in the Islamic world, had originally been plundered by Nadir Shah from the treasuries of the Mughal rulers in his Indian campaign of 1739 with other jewels coming from looting of Safavid treasures. Aqa Mohammad Shah took them from Lutf Ali Khan Zand, the last of the Zands in 1792. After capture of Lutf Ali, Mohammad Shah was tortured, sodomized, blinded and carried to Tehran to be executed in Aqa Muhammad Shah's presence. His wife and daughter were raped and given as captives to "the scum of the earth". His young son was castrated.
30 At least one version of this crown resides in the collections of the Bank of Iran in Tehran, Iran.
31 See Judith A. Lerner, "A Rock Relief of Fath 'Ali Shāh in Shiraz," Ars Orientalis, 21 (1991), pp. 31-45.
32 The throne was constructed of wood, covered with gold, and encrusted with over 27,000 jewels. For an eyewitness description of the original Peacock throne see Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Travels in India, English translation by Valentine Ball, Oxford, 1925
33 Note the visual reference to the power of the sun expressed by the jeweled sunburst roundel placed atop the back of the ruler's chair.
34 For a watercolor of a wall painting (ca. 1815) at the Negārestān Palace near Tehran which depicts foreign emissaries at the Qajar court of Fath 'Ali Shah each wearing red cloth boots as required according to court etiquette, see Patricia L. Baker, "Following Fashion: Qajar Dress Observed," Hali Anniversary Issue, July/August (2004), pp. 100-101.
35 Da Qing Taizong Wen huangdi shilu太宗文皇帝實錄]. 32.8-9b; 34.26b-27 Taipei, Taiwan Hua wen shu ju, 1964 (reference courtesy of John Volmer).
36 Da Qing Shizu Zhang huangdi shilu大清世祖章皇帝實錄]. 54.18b. Taipei: Xin wen feng chu ban gu fen you xian gong si, Vol 1, 1978 (reference courtesy of John Volmer). See also Zhang Qiong, "Ceremonial Armour of the Qing Emperors," in Ming Wilson (ed.), Imperial Chinese robes from the Forbidden City (London, 2010) and Zong Fengying, "Introduction," in Heavenly Splendour: The Edrina Collection of Ming and Qing Imperial Costumes(in Chinese and English), Hong Kong, 2009.
37 In the preface to the 1759 costume edit (The Illustrated Precedents for the Ritual Implements of the Imperial Court) issued on behalf of the Qianlong emperor, it was stated that it would be an offense to the Qing ancestors if official clothing were to revert to the Ming style.
38 See http://asianart.com/exhibitions/forbiddencity/index.html#4 for additional images of the Qianlong emperor seated and attired in a chaofu.
39 Confucius maintained that proper attire was a reflection of a person's virtue (Analects 2.9-10). Proper clothing was a requisite part of the Confucian concept of etiquette, a necessary component of rule. During the Han dynasty, the historian Ban Gu (d. 92 CE) wrote in the Book of Han, "The ancients used clothing for the purpose of distinguishing between the noble and the common and to illustrate virtue so as to encourage the imitation of good example."
40 Da Qing Taizong Wen huangdi shilu[太宗文皇帝實錄]. 32.8-9b; 34.26b-27 Taipei, Taiwan Hua wen shu ju, 1964 (reference courtesy of John Volmer).
41 According to John Volmer, "In traditional Chinese clothing, the Chinese robe (pao), a full length coat with a seam at the back was originally produced during the Han Dynasty. Two broad lengths of fabric were brought over the shoulder, seamed under the arms, leaving the front open in a kimono-like construction. Sleeves were added lengths of material joined to the side edges at the shoulder. The sleeves functioned independently of the body and could be extended to any dimension. Additional fabric was sewn on the front edges to provide an overlap for more secure closure and better body covering. . . The pao was always worn over layers of underrobes, and during the hot, humid summers a bamboo mesh undershirt helped keep the robes from sticking to the body." JohnVolmer, Ruling from the Dragon Throne: Costume of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), (Berkeley/Toronto, 2002), p. 27.
42 The court robe was only worn at annual state sacrifices, at the emperor's birthday celebration, and during formal audience assemblies with courtiers. See http://asianart.com/exhibitions/forbiddencity/index.html#4 for additional images of the Qianlong emperor seated and attired in a chaofu.
43 Court assemblies were held at the southern end of the Forbidden City in the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihe dian) with the emperor dressed in his full official attire. During other important occasions such as the emperor's ascension ceremonies, his birthday, wedding ceremony, New Year and Winter Solstice celebrations, and acts of sending troops off to battle, the emperor also wore his official attire.
44 From at least the Shang dynasty, silk has been the preferred fiber for status garments. Followers of Confucius taught that a ruler should wear silk in order to distinguish between the noble and the commoner. Silk also expressed ideas of refinement and virtue.
45 Prototypes of garments that exhibit the distinctive Qing feature of long narrow tapering sleeves with flared cuffs, elements not found on Ming robes, have been excavated from Yuan tombs of the 14th century CE. Both the Yuan and the Manchu originated in regions to the north of China where each were known for their superb skills as riders and archers. See Mary M. Dusenbury, Flowers, Dragons, and Pine Trees: Asian Textiles in the Spencer Museum of Art (New York, 2004), pp. 104-105. When the Ming took control of China from the Yuan in the early 14th century CE, they deemed it important to distinguish themselves from the previous "barbarian" rulers. Ming costume designers looked for inspiration to earlier Han (206 BCE), Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) garment constructions.
46 Beginning with the Han Dynasty color became a distinguishing mark of the ruling elite. For the Qing, the red court dress of the Ming (fire) was replaced by yellow representing the earth. Use of yellow as the royal color also linked the emperor back to Huangdi , the legendary Yellow Emperor, thought to be the founder of Chinese civilization. All members of the royal family were to wear various shades of yellow during court ceremonies. Blue ground jifu-robes such as the magnificent 18th century one in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pictured in fig. 000, were only worn during the fast period prior to the biannual sacrificial ceremonies conducted at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest at the Temple of Heaven.
47 In 1748 the Qianlong emperor commissioned a review of all previous costume regulations enacted during the reigns of the first three Qing emperors. The review culminated in the promulgation of a comprehensive set of costume edicts in 1759.
48 Only the emperor was permitted to wear a robe with twelve sacred symbols. The symbols of the sun, moon, constellation, mountain, dragon, flowery creature, axe head, back—to-back ji character, sacrificial vessels, waterweed, flame and grain have ancient associations. For the Qing use of these ancient symbols tied their dynasty to both their Ming predecessors and to ideas of rule associated with classic Chinese civilization dating back to at least the Han dynasty. The sun, moon and constellation were symbols of the unity of the heavens. The mountain, dragon and flowery creature, depicted as a multi-colored pheasant recalled the earth. The axe-head, back-to-back ji characters and sacrificial vessels stressed continuity with age old ideas of ancestor worship. The waterweed, flame and grain represent three of the traditional Chinese notions of the five basic elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water.
49 See Robert Gleave, Religion and Society in Qajar Iran (London, 2009).
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“In 1478 at the request of the Spanish sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella, Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84) issued a papal bull allowing for the creation of the Spanish Inquisition. It lasted until it was “abolished” in 1834, although its most fervent activity was during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Spanish Inquisition is the notorious for two reasons. First, it was more cruel precisely because it was administered by the secular government. Second, it was concerned, in large part, with the conversos. These were Jews who had converted either under duress or out of social convenience, and were suspected of secretly practicing the Jewish faith.”
“The Spanish Inquisition was particularly terrifying because of its inherent characteristics. The accused never knew who their accusers were. Once arrested, the accused heretic’s properties were seized. These properties were then administered at first by the Crown, and later by the General Inquisitor. This fostered the means for anyone to accuse for personal reasons, or to get gain. In many areas, ‘. . . men began to wonder whether a man’s worldly wealth, as well as his descent, was now become [sic] an incriminating circumstance’ (Roth, 1964, The Spanish Inquisition. United States of America: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. p. 60). The Inquisition certainly did not limit itself to purifying only those of the Jewish faith. This was especially true if the accused was found to have any Jewish blood in his ancestry. Even if the accused was now a devout Christian, he was tried as severely as possible because of his roots. The accused was also not allowed to have a lawyer or counsel for his defense, and the names of all witnesses were kept secret from him.”
“More than 13,000 Conversos were put on trial during the first 12 years of the Spanish Inquisition. Hoping to eliminate ties between the Jewish community and Conversos, the Jews of Spain were expelled in 1492.
“The next phase of the Inquisition began around 1531, when Pope Leo X extended the Inquisition to Portugal. Thousands of Jews came to Portugal after the 1492 expulsion. A Spanish style Inquisition was constituted and tribunals were set up in Lisbon and other cities. Among the Jews who died at the hands of the Inquisition were well-known figures of the period such as Isaac de Castro Tartas, Antonio Serrao de Castro and Antonio Jose da Silva. The Inquisition never stopped in Spain and continued until the late 18th century.
“By the second half of the 18th century, the Inquisition abated, due to the spread of enlightened ideas and lack of resources. The last auto-da-fe in Portugal took place on October 27, 1765. Not until 1808, during the brief reign of Joseph Bonaparte, was the Inquisition abolished in Spain. An estimated 31,912 heretics were burned at the stake, 17,659 were burned in effigy and 291,450 made reconciliations in the Spanish Inquisition. In Portugal, about 40,000 cases were tried, although only 1,800 were burned, the rest made penance.”
In 1497 all Jews living in Portugal were forced to convert to Christianity. These Jews were known as “New Christians” or Marranos. Despite the obvious dangers involved, a considerable number of these New Christians while outwardly professing to be devout Catholics, secretly kept as many mitzvos as possible. They remained loyal Jews for hundreds of years, and married only other “New Christians” who did the same. Of course, if at all possible, these New Christians sought ways to flee from Portugal. Their goal was to go to a country that would allow them to openly practice Judaism. Very few families actually succeeded in doing this.
A Daring Escape
“Dr. Samuel Nunez – was an eminent physician in Lisbon during the Inquisition. They, although of the Jewish persuasion – had long been professing Christianity, but by pursuing their religious devotions privately, were enabled to remain secretly true to the faith of their ancestors.
The Doctor was one of the court physicians, but even this did not save him from the wrath of the Grand Inquisitor when it was ascertained that his Christianity was but a pretense; he, with the members of his family, was cast into prison, and remained there until the medical services of the Doctor being called into requisition, they were liberated by the Ecclesiastical Council upon the advice of the Grand Inquisitor, on condition, however, that two officials of the Inquisition should reside in the family as spies upon their religious practices.” “The Doctor had a large and elegant mansion on the banks of the Tagus, and being a man of large
fortune he was in the habit of entertaining the principal families of Lisbon. On a pleasant summer day (in 1726) he invited a party to dinner, and among the guests was a captain of an English brigantine anchored at some distance in the river. While the company were amusing themselves on the lawn, the captain invited the family and part of the company to accompany him on board the brigantine and partake of a lunch prepared for the occasion. All the family, together with the spies of the Inquisition and a portion of the guests, repaired on board the vessel, and while they were below in the cabin enjoying the hospitality of the captain, the
anchor was weighed, the sails unfurled, and the wind being fair, the brigantine shot out of the Tagus, and was soon at sea, and carried the whole party to England. It had been previously arranged between the Doctor and the captain, who had agreed for a thousand moidores in gold to convey the family to England, and who were under the painful necessity of adopting this plan of escape to avoid detection. The ladies had secreted all their diamonds and. jewels, which were quilted in their dresses, and the Doctor having previously changed all his securities into gold, it was distributed among the gentlemen of the family and carried around them in leathern belts. His house, plate, furniture, servants, equipage, and even the dinner cooked for the occasion were all left, and were subsequently seized by the Inquisition and confiscated to the state.”
In this manner Dr. Nunez, his wife Rebecca, his mother Zipporah, his two sons Daniel and Moshe, and his daughter Sipra (Zipporah) escaped from Portugal to London. As was the case with many New Christian men who escaped from the Iberian Peninsula, he and his sons were no doubt circumcised shortly after their arrival. On the 11th of Av, 1726, Dr. Nunez remarried his wife Rebecca according to Halacha. On July 11, 1733 Dr. Nunez and his family (except for his wife who had apparently died while they were living in London) arrived in Savannah, Georgia.
Zipporah Nunez (1714-1799) “was a young lady nineteen years of age when she arrived from abroad with her father. Zipporah [apparently originally named Maria] had been born in Portugal, a Catholic, and she grew up in this land to marry [in 1733] a ‘rabbi,’ Mr. [David Mendez] Machado, the hazzan of Shearith Israel [Synagogue in New York]. Her contemporaries agreed that Zipporah Machado was an unusual woman, charming and cultured, mistress of six languages. Her charity, which she bestowed as her means permitted, was ‘unbiased by national or sectarian prejudices.'” Zipporah “was a woman of many accomplishments, conversant with several languages, and until her death maintained a lofty
dignity, and was known in her earlier years as a great beauty.” “She was the mother-in-law of a Revolutionary veteran (Jonas Phillips) and the great-grandmother of a commodore in the United States Navy (Uriah P. Levy) and of a Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall (Mordechai M. Noah), all Jews.” She was also the great-grandmother of Raphael Jacob Moses. Raphael Moses was a successful businessman and a staunch fighter for the South during the Civil War. He had the distinction of carrying out the last order issued by the Confederacy. Many members of his extended family were all observant Jews.
Family History of the Reverend David Mendez Machado, N. Taylor Phillips, Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, 1894; 2, AJHS Journal page 45. This article is available online from AJHA at http://www.ajhs.org/reference/adaje.cfm.
Ibid., pages 46 – 47 quoting Statistics Of The State Of Georgia: Including an account of Its Natural, Civil, and Ecclesiastical History; Together with a Particular Description of Each County, Notices of the Manners and customs of Its Aboriginal tribes, and a Correct Map of the State, George White. Savannah: W. Thorne Williams, 1849.
New Light on the Jewish Settlement of Savannah, Malcolm H. Stern, Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, volume 52, 1963. Reprinted in The Jewish Experience in America edited by Abraham J. Karp, Ktav Publishing House, New York, 1969, page 72.
The Record Book of the Reverend Jacob Raphael Cohen, Allen D. Corr? with biographical annotations by Malcolm H. Stern, Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, volume 59, 1969, footnote 105. This article is available online from AJHA at
Early American Jewry, Volume II: The Jews of Pennsylvania and the South, 1655 – 1790, Jacob Rader Marcus, The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1953, page 335.
Family History of the Reverend David Mendez Machado, page 50.
Early American Jewry, Volume II: The Jews of Pennsylvania and the South, 1655 – 1790, page 335.
The Last Order Of The Lost Cause: The Civil War Memoirs Of A Jewish Family From The ‘Old South’: Raphael Jacob Moses, Major, C.S.A., 1812-1893, Mel Young, University Press of America, 1995, New York, page 334.
About the Author: Dr. Yitzchok Levine served as a professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey before retiring in 2008. He now teaches as an adjunct at Stevens. Glimpses Into American Jewish History appears the first week of each month. Dr. Levine can be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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The scene is downtown Baltimore; the time is the afternoon of April 19, 1861. A week earlier, Fort Sumter had fallen to the Confederacy. Virginia was on the brink of secession from the Union. President Abraham Lincoln had called for troops to reinforce Washington, D.C.
At that time, Baltimore was the hub of the nation's railroad system (which, to an extent, it still is, as the Howard Street Tunnel fire proved). A municipal law forbade the operation of steam engines within the city limits. So when the 6th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia arrived at President Street station to the east of what is now called the Inner Harbor, they had transfer to horse-drawn cars to ride westwards across Pratt Street to the station at Camden Yards.
Despite having the nation's greatest population of free blacks, Baltimore was full of Confederate sympathizers and Maryland was a slave state. A mob gathered and barricaded the tracks; the soldiers got out of the cars and started marching instead. The crowd began pelting them with stones, oysters, and anything else handy. At Gay Street the mob erected another barricade, and some of the soldiers lost control and began firing into the crowd. All hell broke loose.
The best estimate has 16 killed (12 rioters, 4 soldiers) and more than 100 wounded in the initial confrontation. The soldiers made it to Camden Yards and steamed out of the city for Washington. Then the mob turned on the nearly 1000 soldiers from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania still waiting in a train at President Street. Pro-Union Baltimoreans turned out to join the fun. More casualties. Some soldiers hid with sympathizers in the city; others walked back to Pennsylvania.
As Fort Sumter had surrendered without casualties, the first blood of the American Civil War was spilled in Baltimore. By the end of May, both Baltimore and Annapolis were under Union control and kept under martial law, with habeas corpus suspended per Lincoln's orders. Marylanders fought on both sides of the war.
Some information taken from http://www.citypaper.com/2001-04-18/feature.html | <urn:uuid:997beb1e-5049-4938-ba0b-f1f83e91c84b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://everything2.com/title/Pratt+Street+Riots?author_id=3670 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00183-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963317 | 428 | 3.28125 | 3 |
On today's Mooney Goes Wild, with Aonghus McAnally,
The Mountain Gorilla, the Giant Panda and the Siberian Tiger are all in danger of extinction - we find out how much money would need to be spent to save all threatened species. Ken Whelan tells us why so little is known about the distribution and survival of salmon once they leave their home rivers and enter the Atlantic Ocean, and we find out about the “Accelerating Science” exhibition taking place in Salthill.
Pelagic fish are those who swim near the surface of the sea - like mackerel and herring. When you think of salmon you might think about them leaping up a river, against the flow, to spawn at the place where they once hatched. And, indeed, we’re getting close to the time of year to see that beautiful phenomenon happen. December and January are the prime months.
But, to get to the rivers they must come from the sea – and much less is known about salmon at sea than salmon in rivers. Professor Ken Whelan, who is Director of Research of the Atlantic Salmon Trust, is keen to know more - he comes into studio to tell us why today... To find out more about salmon at sea, click here. Ken also talks about his forthcoming visit to China, where he will be finding out more about aquaculture and fish farming...
US$80 billion a year to stop extinction
It’s rare enough for world governments to agree on anything, but when the shared issues ensure the survival of our threatened species or protection of our environment – the stakes are high.
Two years ago, environment ministers from almost 200 nations met in Japan and committed to a set of 20 targets aiming to stem the continuing loss of life on earth and the destruction of biodiversity.
The Giant Panda is in danger of extinction
It was hoped that by 2020 we would have halted over-fishing, controlled invasive species, reduced pollution and taken pressure off the coral reefs to name but a few of the goals.
So far – so good...but two years later these governments have not managed to talk money. It seemed many of the richer countries came with empty pockets, and no clear guidelines on financing were agreed. That’s where BirdLife International comes in. Not willing to let anyone off the hook they have published a study presenting the hard figures on what needs to be spent if genuine progress is to be made. To explain more, Aonghus is joined by Birdlife International’s Global Research Co-ordinator Stuart Butchart.
This week, Mooney Goes Wild reporter Terry Flanagan went searching for mushrooms with Debbie Nelson, Chairperson of the Northern Ireland Fungus Group. The International Mushroom Festival takes place in Killegar, Co. Leitrim, this weekend, Saturday October 13th and Sunday October 14th. For further information, visit www.internationalmushroomfestival.com.
CERN "Accelerating Science" Exhibition
We’ve talked about the Large Hadron Collider on this programme before, but don’t worry we’re not going to bamboozle you with talk of sub- atomic particles and Quarks!
The Large Hadron Collider is part of CERN’s work in what is a very large laboratory in Geneva and that renowned body of scientists (CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear research) is behind a very interesting exhibition taking place in Salthill, Galway at the moment.
It’s called “Accelerating Science” and it runs for another three weeks. Ronan Rochford is a Phd student in Astro Physics at NUI Galway, and is a Facilitated Guide who provides tours to the public and school students who visit the exhibition - he tells Aonghus what they will find there... The exhibition runs until November 2nd; entry from Monday to Friday is solely for Secondary School Students, with General Admision on Saturday and Sunday (with the exception of the Mid-Term Break, October 29th-November 2nd, which will be General Admission). For more information, click here.
Placentophagia (Eating Placenta)
We spoke during the week to an English woman, Kirsty Martell, who had updated Facebook throughout the birth of her baby son.
Many of you thought it was exhibitionist behaviour and the conversation turned to tales of giving birth – and placentas came up in the discussion, specifically eating placentas.
And we promised we would return to the topic on today’s Mooney Goes Wild....
Placentophagia is the act of mammals eating the placenta of their young after childbirth. Most mammals do it, except marine mammals whose primary concern is to get the pup to the surface after childbirth so it doesn’t drown.
But why do they do it? Well the reasons have only come to light in recent years and Mary Kingston has been finding out more about it. She first spoke to Jim Stephens, Animal Behaviourist and counsellor at The Pet Behaviour Centre about why mammals eat placentas... Mary also called into Oliver McCabe of Select Stores Healthfood who is also a Nutritionist with Irish Parent Magazine. Oliver has several placenta recipes and says the placenta is the ultimate “superfood”...
App Article: Bats (by Eanna ni Lamhna)
Looking at all the Hallowe'en stuff in the shops, I wonder how all this mish–mash of cultures came to be so mixed up. A Celtic festival of the dead is mixed with a native American harvest festival and the results beggar belief. At least they do if you are a scientist. We are meant to believe that scary things will be out and about on Hallowe'en - chief among them being bats. Well actually bats will all be fast asleep in hibernation by then. In fact the one thing that you definitely won’t see on Hallowe'en night is a bat. I am going to spoil a good story with the facts.
To find out more, download the Mooney app, for iPhone and Android phones, to read the rest of Eanna's article, and much more!
Lipdub For Big Music Week!
Next Monday, October 15th, sees the start of RTÉ's Big Music Week, Ireland's biggest, most varied, most accessible music festival! To celebrate and launch the event, a Libdub was filmed in the grounds of RTÉ - a spectacular, one-take video with groups and stars lip-syncing to Brewing Up A Storm - click below to be amazed!
The Island Landscape
RTÉ Television, in association with Mooney, is currently producing a major new documentary series on the history of the Irish landscape. The series will tell the story of how our landscape was created after the last major climatic event – the end of the last Ice Age, over ten thousand years ago.
And we want your help! Would you like to contribute video towards the TV series? Click here to find out what we're looking for! | <urn:uuid:f3cebd3d-8683-43f1-9b5e-0e0bf5ac0e3a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rte.ie/radio/mooneygoeswild/fp2012/oct12.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951164 | 1,475 | 3.03125 | 3 |
First Person: Julius Blank
Detail of a core memory plane. Magnetic core memory was an early form of random access computer memory and a precursor to semiconductors like those engineered by Blank. The fine mesh grid had to be assembled by hand under a microscope. CHF Collections, Photo by Gregory Tobias.
Julius Blank, a co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor, passed away last month. In his obituary The New York Times described Blank as one of the two key engineers who built the microchip machinery that continues to power our world.
Born in 1925, Blank received much of the training he later employed at Fairchild while working his way through school. Blank’s first job, as a fifteen year old college student at CCNY, was in a factory. The work motivated him to expand his education; in his 2006 oral history he explained, “I decided I needed to get a little bit more knowledge about practical matters and I wanted to become a machinist. While I was going to school I went to another school at night at Brooklyn Tech where I learned how to operate lathes, machines, read blueprints, and that kind of stuff. I got a job as a machinist after that."
With little spare time between his job, classes at City College, and classes at Brooklyn Tech, Blank still found some time to learn informally about chemical processes and chemical engineering. He did not have time to choose a major, however; the U.S. had entered Word War II in 1941, and, Blank remembered, “On my eighteenth birthday I got a letter in the mail, ‘Please report for active duty on 5 July 1943,’ which I did.”
Blank’s enlistment in the Army provided him with more engineering opportunities. After being injured in December 1944 during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, Blank was transferred to the Air Corps to serve as a machinist for airplane parts at what was then the biggest engine overhaul base for radial engines in the world, based in the Midlands. He was transferred numerous times, including a stint as store-room manager. The breadth of the roles he held during his service, Blank explained, taught him much about general engineering, especially the importance of interchangeable parts.
When he finally finished his education in 1950, ten years after he started, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, which he described as “probably the broadest one of all the engineering disciplines. Since I didn’t have any particular fondness for chemical, mechanical, electrical, or civil, and I figured that’s the mother of all of them anyway.”
Seven years later Blank put all his experience to a grueling test: engineering, along with Eugene Kleiner, the mass production of silicon chips from the ground up.
Hilary Domush is a program associate in oral history at CHF. "First Person,” which highlights one of CHF's over 400 oral histories, appears the third Friday of every month.
First Person: Donald Noyce [Periodic Tabloid]
First Person: Ernest H. Volwiler [Periodic Tabloid] | <urn:uuid:245e62d4-0282-4a7d-8466-6072849ed27e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/media/periodic-tabloid/archive/2011-10-21-first-person-julius-blank.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00104-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980857 | 660 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Portland, Ore. - The Department of Defense is attempting to leverage silicon-germanium ICs to create a low-cost, high-performance technology to handle radar and communications on earth and radiation-hardened electronics in space.
The program represents a new research strategy for the DOD, which traditionally has funded expensive new technologies that had a low probability of seeing the light of day because of their exorbitant development costs. In a reversal of that trend, the Pentagon now is looking to develop less-expensive solutions with the potential for commercial as well as military applications.
In particular, the program has the potential to lead to the development of cheap silicon-germanium chips for less-expensive weather radar for aircraft or as collision-avoidance radar for automobiles.
"We've teamed up to work on a new approach that could revolutionize the way radar systems are built," said professor John Cressler, an EE in the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Cressler heads a team at Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and the Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC). Cressler's GTRI-GEDC group claims to be the largest university-based silicon-germanium research group in the world, with 20 scientists and graduate students involved in research on the emerging technology.
"Silicon germanium is an enabler for rethinking the way business-as-usual is done across a wide array of electronics applications-that makes it really exciting to work on," said Cressler.
The program, called the Silicon-Germanium Transmit-Receive Module Project by the DOD, should dramatically lower the cost of modern phased-array radar systems. And since a specially equipped vehicle would no longer be needed just to transport the antenna, it should also enable the systems to be portable.
If the silicon-germanium chips work as well as the researchers hope, then the naturally radiation-hardened chips could also downsize and lower the cost of critical space applications.
"By putting all the functionality of those complex modules onto a single chip, we are essentially reaching for the same level of integration in radar systems as in consumer electronics," said co-principal investigator Mark Mitchell, a GTRI senior research engineer.
Researchers have been studying silicon germanium as an alternative to gallium arsenide since the early 1980s. The problem has always been that silicon has an indirect bandgap, as opposed to a direct bandgap, like gallium arsenide.
Direct-bandgap materials enable the extra energy to be injected electrically to boost gallium-arsenide electrons into larger, higher-energy orbits. Then when the energized electrons fall back to their normal, smaller-sized orbits, they directly translate the extra energy into emitted photons. Indirect-bandgap material like silicon, on the other hand, tends to shed extra injected energy stored in higher-electron orbits into phonons-lattice vibrations-instead of photons. The Georgia Tech researchers are taking a different tack by doping silicon with germanium so it can imitate a direct-bandgap material.
"Silicon-germanium devices enable conventional silicon integrated circuits to use nanotechnology techniques to introduce germanium inside the silicon on an atomic scale," explained Cressler. "Silicon-germanium layers can double or even triple chip performance with no cost penalty."
Silicon-germanium devices are not likely to replace gallium-arsenide devices for most optical applications, however, because their power-handling capabilities are about 10-fold lower than for high-power gallium-arsenide discrete devices. But for low-power applications like radar, the ability to integrate the silicon-germanium optics on the same chip with pure-silicon electronics could enable developers to dramatically lower the cost.
Potentially, silicon germanium could be 100- to 1,000-fold less expensive, even though silicon-germanium circuits need more devices per function than pure-silicon circuit elements. They also require very large antennas, but since they can be very thin, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is also funding an effort to make foldable antennas for portable phased-array radar systems.
The natural radiation hardness of silicon germanium, plus its ability to work in the -230 Kelvin of space, has spawned other projects at Georgia Tech. One program for NASA aims to simplify interplanetary space probes as well as landers designed for lunar and Martian exploration. | <urn:uuid:a2d0884e-0209-43cb-81e0-b04978a3a070> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1158535&piddl_msgorder=thrd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925399 | 935 | 2.828125 | 3 |
The basic problem is this: "I have this number x and I ask you to give me another number y. If the number you give me is some percentage c different than my number then I do not want it." Given that you will know x and c, how do you calculate whether or not I should take y?
The naive approach I came up with is to just divide y / x < c but this fails for obvious reason (try y bigger than x).
The next approach I is that the percentage difference is really just a ratio of the smaller number divided by the larger number. So thereforce we could try min(x, y) / max(x, y) < c. However this does not work, here is an example:
x = 1.2129 y = 1.81935 c = 50%
If we do the above we get 1.2129 / 1.81935 = 0.67 which is greater than 0.50. The problem here is that I obtained y by multiplying 1.2129 by 1.5, therefore y is only 50% greater than x. Why? I still don't understand why the above formula doesn't work.
Eventually through some googling I stumbled accross the percentage difference formula but even this doesn't suit my needs. It is abs(x - y) / ((x + y) / 2). However, this does not yield the result I am looking for. abs(x - y) = abs(1.2129 - 1.81935 ) = 0.60645. (x + y) / 2 = 3.03225 / 2 = 1.516125 0.60645 / 1.516125 = 0.4
Eventually I ended up writing some code to evaluate x * c < y < x * (1 + c). As the basic idea is that we don't want any y that is 50% less than my number, nor do we want any number that is 50% greater than my number.
Could someone please help me identify what I'm missing here? It seems like there ought to be another way that you can calculate the percentage difference of two arbitrary numbers and then compare it to c. | <urn:uuid:2dc939ca-4825-4549-bb13-76fd69321e29> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/110503/calculating-the-percentage-difference-of-two-numbers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398873.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00059-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956187 | 456 | 3.234375 | 3 |
The conservation of genetic resources is vital to the maintenance of biodiversity and to the world’s ability to feed its growing population. There are now more than a thousand genebanks worldwide involved in the ex situ (meaning “away from the source”) storage of particular classes of crops. Since the 1970s, the eleven genebanks maintained by the centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) have become pivotal to the global conservation effort. However, key policy and management issues – usually with economic dimensions – have largely been overlooked. This provided the impetus for a series of detailed economic studies, led by IFPRI, in collaboration with five CGIAR centres: CIAT(based in Colombia), CIMMYT (Mexico), ICARDA (Syria), ICRISAT (India) and IRRI(Philippines). This book reports these studies and discusses their wider implications. | <urn:uuid:c119fe67-3648-4993-8979-bd8dafc0ac59> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ifpri.org/publication/saving-seeds | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00077-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923699 | 184 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Wild Onion (Allium spp.)
| Description | Distribution | Conditions of poisoning | Control | Toxic principle | Clinical signs | References
Wild onion (A. validum or A. canadense) is a bulbous herb of the Amaryllis family and is a close relative of cultivated onion (Allium cepa L.). It has a distinct onion odor. It has slender grass-like leaves and reaches about 2 feet in height when flowers appear in late summer. Leaves are narrow, long, and with parallel edges arising from the small underground bulb. Flowers, varying in color, depending on the species, from white to pink, appear at the top of a leafless stem and eventually become bulblets which drop to the ground and propagate.
It is thought that the name Chicago is derived from the smell of wild onions:
"Indians, mainly Potawatomi, who were the most powerful tribe around the south end of Lake Michigan, hunted, traded furs, and occasionally camped in the area they called "Checagou," evidently referring to the garlic wild onion smell which permeated the air."
Encyclopedia of Illinois, 2nd. Edition. Somerset Publishers, New York, 1994. p. 138.
Wild onion is found in meadows and woodlands in the northeastern and north central United States. Other species grow throughout the western United States. Several species of wild onion are found in Illinois with Allium canadense found in all counties.
Cattle are susceptible to onion poisoning and eating large amounts of this plant can cause death in this species. In areas where culled onions are grown commercially, they can be fed to cattle with few problems when the feed is mixed with ample amounts of other feed components. Poisoning may occur when cool spring weather delays growth of grass and wild onions are available in comparatively large amounts for cattle to graze. Horses and sheep are less susceptible, with goats being the least susceptible. In some cases, sheep may eat onions and show nothing more than slight hemoglobinemia.
Both wild and cultivated onions contain the same toxic principle, N-propyl disulfide which primarily affects erythrocytes. The principle effects are related to hemolysis (rupture of red blood cells). This is believed to be secondary to oxidant-associated effects, and Heinz bodies may sometimes be evident in red blood cells. Other compounds are believed to be responsible for the lacrimator (tear producing) and antithrombotic (anti-clotting) effects associated with onions and garlic. Various sulfur-containing metabolites are probably responsible for the odors associated with ingestion of onions and garlic.
Urine discoloration may vary from red wine to almost black. Muscle weakness, rapid breathing, and a rapid heart rate may be noted if hemolysis is sufficiently severe. Some animals may be icteric (jaundiced) and/or have a characteristic onion odor to the breath. Loss of weight and appetite may also occur. Although severe toxicoses may be lethal, doses may cause only taste and odor problems in the milk of dairy cows.
Allium entry in Wikipedia
Back to Top | Plants Toxic to Animals | Plant Lists: Scientific or Common | | <urn:uuid:726d42b1-2e42-49b6-be94-893bbffc23b4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.library.illinois.edu/vex/toxic/wonion/wonion.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00073-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931904 | 662 | 3.5625 | 4 |
As highlighted here previously and, as promised, here is the pterosaur Rhamphorhynchus muensteri in all its glory and what a spectacular specimen it is. This particular specimen, of course, is from the Upper Jurassic lithographic limestone of Solnhofen in Germany, around 155 million years old, and is arguably one of the finest examples of its kind ever recovered.
As I mentioned in my previous SVP report, the levels of preservation in the Solnhofen quarries are often spectacular. The limestones were laid down in lagoons that became cut off from the sea as coral reefs rose from the sea floor. It seems likely that salinity increased as a result and these isolated lagoons became toxic and depleted of oxygen which, although not very good for life at the time, proved to be excellent news for palaeontologists.
Any organism that ended up dead in the lagoons would have sunk softly into the muds and, because the isolated toxic environment prevented the carcasses being disturbed or dismembered, the preservation of many fossils is exquisite hence my previous comments regarding the somewhat problematic suggestion that R. muensteri may have displayed a sagittal cranial crest.
However, back to this fantastic specimen and some detail. The overall wingspan of this pterosaur is 725mm and the skull is 100mm long. Bone preservation is incredible and the vertebral processes remain intact – in fact all of the bone in this specimen is exactly as prepared and there are no composite pieces whatsoever. The preparator has done an excellent job.
However, there is a sting in the tail regarding this specimen and that is the fact that it is held in a private collection and I am not sure if it will ever be made available for study or public display. This is unfortunate and, as you are all aware, somewhat commonplace these days which is why I have kept these images for future reference. That still doesn’t take away the fact that this is a quite wondrous and superb specimen.
Coming next – a Spinops exclusive! | <urn:uuid:01aee96a-b894-48ad-bafd-c2a12f921e3b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://saurian.blogspot.com/2011/12/pterosaur-revealed.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396027.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00016-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965175 | 428 | 2.6875 | 3 |
In the early European histories of the New World, there are numerous accounts of African slaves accompanying explorers and colonists.
Now, digging in a colonial era graveyard in one of the oldest European cities in Mexico, archaeologists have found what they believe are the oldest remains of slaves brought from Africa to the New World. The remains date between the late-16th century and the mid-17th century, not long after Columbus first set foot in the Americas.
The discovery is to be reported in an upcoming edition of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology by a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Autonomous University of the Yucatan.
The African origin of the slaves was determined through the reading of telltale signatures locked at birth into the tooth enamel of individuals by strontium isotopes, a chemical which enters the body through the food chain as nutrients pass from bedrock through soil and water to plants and animals. The isotopes found in the teeth are an indelible signature of birthplace, as they can be directly linked to the bedrock of specific locales, giving archaeologists a powerful tool to trace the migration of individuals on the landscape.
The new study, which was supported by the National Science Foundation, draws on isotope ratios found in the teeth of four individuals from among 180 burials found in a multiethnic burial ground associated with the ruins of a colonial church in Campeche, Mexico, a port city on the Yucatan Peninsula.
The new isotopic studies are important, according to the new report's authors, James Burton and T. Douglas Price of UW-Madison and Vera Tiesler of the Autonomous University of the Yucatan, because they provide the earliest definitive physical link between the African Diaspora and the New World. Over a span of nearly 400 years, as many as 12 million people were placed in bondage and brought across the Atlantic under horrific conditions to work, primarily, in the mines and plantations of the New World.
"This is the earliest documentation of the African Diaspora in the New World," says Price, a UW-Madison professor of anthropology. "It does mean that slaves were brought here almost as soon as Europeans arrived."
In early colonial Mexico, Campeche was an important Spanish gateway to the New World. It served as a base for exploration and conquest and was a key defensive outpost in a region infested with pirates. Presumably, slaves from the infamous West African port of Elmina were shipped to Campeche where they may have been used as domestic servants.
The discovery of the remains of slaves born in Africa from such an early date shows that slavery became an integral aspect of the New World economy not long after the Conquistadors completed the subjugation of Mexico, says Price.
Archaeological and historical evidence, including a map of colonial Campeche, suggest the graveyard was in use from about 1550 to the late 1600s. It was uncovered, along with the foundations of a colonial era church, in 2000 by construction workers digging around Campeche's central park. The site was excavated under the direction of Tiesler.
The archaeologists were drawn to some of the individuals buried in the colonial cemetery because of distinctive dental mutilations, a decorative practice characteristic of Africa.
Burton and Price, in collaboration with Tiesler, are conducting a much broader study of human mobility in ancient Mesoamerica using isotopic analysis. They conducted a blind study of the isotopic content of teeth from 10 individuals from the Campeche churchyard. Four of the samples, says Burton, "were like something we'd never seen."
The ratios, he explains, were well off the charts for anyone born in Mesoamerica. Instead, they reflected the geology of West Africa, which is underlain by a massive shield of ancient rock, much older than the geology of Mexico and Central America.
The chemical analysis, combined with the distinctive dental mutilation, provides strong evidence that "these folks were born in Africa and brought to the New World," says Price. " The thing that impresses me is that it was happening so early. "
African slaves were brought to the New World as the Spanish needed labor to harvest timber and work in the mines that enriched Spain. Early in their rule, the Spanish enslaved Indians to perform heavy labor, but they turned to the African slave trade as diseases introduced by Europeans decimated native peoples.
- Terry Devitt, 608-262-8282, firstname.lastname@example.org
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