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The drawing shows a 'typical' demand flow pump installation for a residential sewage system in Virginia. For many years this was essentially the only type of pump system available to homeowners. It's still a very common type of system so we will use it as the starting point for explaining how pump systems work.
The system consists of several important parts. Let's start with the pump chamber. 1,200 gallon septic tanks are commonly used but depending on what you are trying to accomplish the tank may be larger or smaller. Effluent flows into the pump chamber from the septic tank. In this case the septic tank is located off to the left out of sight. The septic tank liquifies the wastewater and retains most of the solids. This is important because most effluent pumps cannot pass large solids and in any event, we don't want to send solids to the drainfield where they can damage the absorptive interface of the soil.
The blue box like object at the bottom of the tank is the pump. These vary in size depending on how far you will be pumping, how high you need to lift the effluent, and the reason you are pumping. Some systems just need to overcome an elevation difference while other systems use the pump to distribute effluent evenly. These later systems usually need to have a little more power to pressurize piping. In general, it's rare to see a pump smaller than 1/4 horse power or larger than 1/2 horse power on a residential system.
Next to the pump are three float switches. The lowest float is the "pump enable/off" float. In the 'up' or 'on' position it enables the pump to run. This means the pump can run when the middle or pump 'on' float also tips to the on position. After the pump 'on' floats tips back down the pump will continue to run until the lower float turns the pump off. In normal operation, effluent from the septic tank fills the pump chamber and the pump controls keep the effluent between the two lower floats.
These floats are typically set to discharge a volume of effluent somewhere between the daily flow from the house and one-quarter of the daily flow. For a four bedroom house this means between 150 and 600 gallons of effluent per dose. This volume is set by changing the distance between the two floats. Since most 1,200 gallon septic tanks have a liquid depth of 48", each inch of liquid depth amounts to about 22 gallons. This means the floats should be set between 7 and 22 inches apart.
Normally the floats are closer to 7" distance than 22" value . The reason is one of the other goals in designing the system is keeping the pump constantly submerged. Sewage is somewhat corrosive but sewer gasses are even more corrosive. Keeping the pump covered with effluent slows the corrosion process. A bigger tank would allow a greater pumping volume but the larger tank is more expensive and there is no advantage to a bigger dose, only greater cost.
The top float is a high water alarm. If for some reason the pump does not start when the 'on' float tips up, the high water alarm will give an audio visual alarm to signal the user that there's a problem. In Virginia, systems are designed to have one quarter of a day storage above this alarm. With strict water conservation methods this can be stretched to a day or more. Exactly how long until the tank fills depends on the number of people using the system, the size of the tank, how strict the users are with their water use and other variables. | <urn:uuid:f54c9c89-3c7f-404a-ba72-4cd2cbe06038> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/EnvironmentalHealth/Onsite/howsystemsworks/pumpsystem.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394937.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941998 | 735 | 3.5 | 4 |
Karl Barth’s rediscovery of Anselm’s works could rightfully be said to be the turning point in Barth’s pursuit of a means to DO theology. It was after moving to Munster and in preparation for lectures that Barth studied Anselm and eventually produced “Anselm: fides quarens intellectum,” which was considered by Barth to be his most important book. It was Anselm’s definition of God that became the springboard for Barth’s theology. Anselm said, “God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.”
Sum of all possible perfections. Existence follows. It only works in this instance (Contra. Caunilo). Follows from common reason. | <urn:uuid:e5d735b5-aae9-432e-b5b9-6436ced746e7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sententias.org/2012/06/01/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393518.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00007-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977141 | 161 | 2.640625 | 3 |
The Last Wild Places In the Ocean Webcast
The ocean is not as natural as it once was. Where there used to be large predators that we took for sea monsters, now there are tiny fish and jellyfish. But there are a few untouched places left in the ocean, remote oases of life where sharks are the kings of the underwater world. These last wild places can show us what we have lost, but also help us understand how the ocean works and how to preserve it.
To celebrate World Ocean Day, National Geographic Ocean Fellow Enric Sala takes us on a virtual expedition of the biologically-rich waters of Chile, Costa Rica, and Kiribati. Sala is a marine ecologist who dedicates his career to restoring ocean health. A former professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, his work includes exploration, research, communication, and policy.
This webcast was recorded at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History on June 9, 2011. | <urn:uuid:d9819111-824e-48ef-bb9d-68d77d9f5a27> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-videos/last-wild-places-ocean-webcast | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00055-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957508 | 198 | 3.0625 | 3 |
a journal of analysis and comment
advancing public understanding of religion and education
Vol. 33 No. 3
the Myth of Human Superiority
want to challenge the widely-accepted myth found throughout our culture that
implies that humankind is very special and that we are somehow created greatly
superior to all other life forms. This
myth has seeped deeply into our souls. If
we define religion in terms of our ultimate view of reality then the myth I am
talking about takes on a deeply religious aspect.
There are several lines of evidence that suggests this myth needs to be
are stories that help guide our lives from within and in many cases reflect the
wisdom of generations of humans who have gone before us.
Some myths inform us about such mundane things as economics and politics.
Some, such as romantic fairy tales, inform relations between lovers.
Some myths serve more as entertainment and community cohesion through
shared ceremony and beliefs. Many
myths, if not outright beneficial, are neutral in their overall effect.
However, some myths have outlived their usefulness or have been
destructive from their beginning. But
one thing all myths share is that they are rarely questioned.
Judeo-Christian thought, humans are made in the image of God.
In thinking this way, we elevate ourselves to a special level in the
cosmos. We think we are indeed
superior. Humans hold this myth
partly because no other group of organisms can share their perspective and argue
against our arrogance.
the United States of a half-century ago, some white, heterosexual men knew they
were superior to women, blacks, and gays. To
preserve that myth, women, blacks, and gays weren't allowed to disagree.
Hearing no disagreement - or any that they recognized - the myth remained
intact until challenged by the civil-rights, woman's liberation, and gay-rights
myths have played and continue to play destructive roles in society, but what
gives these myths life and influence, I would claim, is not some cosmic evil,
but the thinking that comes from within isolated groups.
The evil coming from destructive myths is the result of the myth, not the
other way around. Any group will
generate stories that tell something about themselves and their relationship to
other people. The group may consist
of men, women, accountants, farmers, truck drivers, college professors, or
members of particular religious or ethnic groups.
As long as the group fails to take into account the thinking of others,
myths of various kinds will spring up. The
myths may or may not be harmless. I
have no doubt that members of the Klu Klux Klan truly believe in their racial
superiority. The ideas, the myths,
upon which the KKK act did not arise from the entire community of U.S. citizens,
but from some whites culturally and socially isolated through ignorance and
economic situation. I use this
example of how myths take on a life and how they parallel the one I want to
the idea of human superiority runs deeply in our culture can be demonstrated
several ways. Elizabeth Dodson Gray
criticizes hierarchical thinking in her book1 by use of a diagram similar to
It's a triangle sitting on one of its sides labeled "nature"
and the upward thrust point is labeled "God".
Inside the triangle there are the words, starting at the top,
"men" "women" "children" "animals" and
"plants." When I use this
in class, I add "dirt" to the bottom.
After all, how much lower can one get than dirt?
Many of my students don't like the hierarchical arrangement of "men,
women, and children", but when these words are replaced by
"humans" they think the diagram reflects reality.
I suspect many Humanists would accept this symbol if the word God is also
removed. Most people see no problem
with this symbol if modified in these particular ways.
Humans are clearly superior to other animals, plants, dirt, and nature -
that is, humans are inherently worth more than all other life forms and natural
entities. The argument is that we
are made in God's image and we have a spirit; something other animals don't
have. We hear no dissent!
Cats and dogs and diatoms and toadstools are all silent.
the more scientific-minded, we know that biological evolution is how life
developed on this planet. Figure 2
shows the general course of evolution through time as presented in many older
science textbooks. We know that
"higher" life evolved from simpler organisms as shown.
And humans, being the most complex and "highest" form of life,
are placed at the top, just as in Elizabeth Dodson Gray's diagram. Do
we hear any dissent? I hear nothing
from the whales, monkeys, pine trees, or jellyfish.
assume that humans represent the apex of some four billion years of organic
evolution on this planet, then we are obviously the goal of the very process of
evolution. We are a self-aware
species that looks out over the rest of the universe and is conscious of it like
no other species that ever lived. We
clothe ourselves and we build fire. We
have great cities and civilizations. We
have language, books, artists, philosophers, and scientists.
There is not a problem we can't solve [except war, poverty, racial hate,
and general ignorance]. We are
pretty great! No other species comes
close. We hear no dissent from
camels or snails or grasshoppers.
kill off whole species, chop down rain forests, and destroy ecosystems.
But that is all right because we are meant to do that.
If we need any excuse, beside our own convenience, we can turn to the
Bible and read that we "have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."
Humans are special. Humans
are so special that some would not even want to interfere with the development
of an unborn human embryo anyplace on the planet.
Some are told that even birth control measures constitute a sin.
We are that special!!
could make a rather long list of human characteristics that seem to argue for
why we are superior to other life forms, as well as nature as a whole.
But the list shares the weaknesses of IQ tests.
Who is making up the test and what do they want to prove?
The list is biased in favor of the list maker. It is easy to demonstrate
our differences from other creatures, but not our superiority.
And even some of the items once on such lists are now shown to be false.
Self-awareness and language, for instance, have been touted as uniquely
human characteristics for a long time. But
serious study of other primates has shown that they also share these attributes.
Their brains can manipulate symbols and communicate in pretty advanced
ways. They do lack the vocal
apparatus to talk like us. But does
that make them inferior? A child
born without normal vocal apparatus is not regarded as sub-human.
Why should some primates? The
making and using of tools is another characteristic that has been shown to not
be uniquely human. Then there are
those characteristics that have always been left off such lists because we are
definitely inferior in those areas: eyesight
- eagles can see better that we can; the sense of smell - dogs are more
sensitive than we are; and the ability to sense under-water electrical currents
- we can't do that but fish can; and we cannot do photosynthesis, but broccoli
and diatoms can. The trouble is, the
lists we use are self-selected. It
is like a KKK member demonstrating white superiority by citing white skin.
White skin can be used to show differences, but not superiority.
Just as having white skin is of no special significance, language and
culture and college professors may not be anything special when it comes to some
universal, cosmic evaluation of our species' worth.
not saying that humans are the same as other species.
Certainly, we are very special to ourselves.
I am glad to be a human. I
want to make a distinction between how we find each other meaningful, worthy,
and of value and how the great cosmos may find us.
We must act in the first sense of value toward each other (that each of
us is special) and in the second sense of value (that we are just another
species) toward the rest of creation. It
is in this distinction that there needs to be a lot of work done by the
[To Read More] | <urn:uuid:e772fb98-b5ce-4166-b20d-ffd988c3693b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.uni.edu/coe/jrae/Fall%202006/Brant%20Excerpt%20Fall%202006.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00010-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941405 | 1,870 | 2.65625 | 3 |
This example explores how to find the day of a month and the day of a week This example sets the year as 2007 and the day as 181. The example finds the day of a month and the day of a week by using get(field_name) method.
The Calendar class extends Object class. It is an abstract base class and converts a Date object into a set of integer fields. Calendar class provides a getInstance() method that returns a Calendar object whose time fields are initialized with the current date and time.
The methods used:
getTime(): This method is used to get current time from calendar.
getInstance(): This method gets a calendar using the default time zone , locale and current time.
The fields used:
WEEK_OF_MONTH: This field is used to get and set the week indicating the week number within the current month.
DAY_OF_WEEK: This field gets and set the day indicating the day of the week. This field takes values SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY, and SATURDAY.
The code of the program is given below:
The output of the program is given below:
The date of Calendar is: Sat Jun 30 17:03:01 GMT+05:30 2007 The day of month: 30 The day of week: 7
Posted on: July 6, 2007 If you enjoyed this post then why not add us on Google+? Add us to your Circles | <urn:uuid:4d7daff4-ae97-482f-afba-65841dca3c78> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://roseindia.net/java/beginners/DayYearToDayMonth.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00150-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.792871 | 315 | 4.0625 | 4 |
In late January, I attended the 9th annual California Rangeland Conservation Coalition summit in Oakdale. The Coalition, which includes ranchers, environmentalists, agency staff and academics, was formed out of recognition of our common interest in conserving California rangelands for their ecological and economic values. This unlikely combination of folks has actually agreed that ranching - grazing livestock - is essential to protecting wildlife habitat, enhancing watershed function and managing invasive plants. While past summits have focused on the threats posed by real estate development, this year’s event focused on a different, and for me, unexpected threat - the conversion of our rangelands to orchards and vineyards.
What’s so bad about turning unirrigated rangelands into irrigated almond and walnut orchards or vineyards, you might ask? As it turns out, there’s plenty to worry about - increased competition for limited water resources, impacts to native species, destruction of vernal pool and other rangeland habitats, and fragmentation, just to name a few. But there’s more to the issue than these directly observable effects.
After returning home from this year’s summit, I happened to start watching Ken Burns’ latest PBS documentary, The Dust Bowl. As I watched, I was struck by the similarity between the attitudes and actions of farmers in the Southern Plains in the years leading up to the Dust Bowl, and our own efforts to convert “unproductive” grasslands into intensively farmed orchards. At the risk of being melodramatic, I think we should consider the lessons of the Dust Bowl and the parallels with today’s grassland conversion.
According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, rangeland is defined "as a land cover/use category on which the climax or potential plant cover is composed principally of native grasses, grasslike plants, forbs, or shrubs suitable for grazing and browsing, and introduced forage species that are managed like rangeland. This includes areas where introduced hardy and persistent grasses, such as crested wheatgrass, are planted and such practices as deferred grazing, burning, chaining, and rotational grazing are used, with little or no chemicals or fertilizer being applied. Grasslands, savannas, many wetlands, some deserts, and tundra are considered to be rangeland. Certain communities of low forbs and shrubs, such as mesquite, chaparral, mountain shrub, and pinyon-juniper, are also included as rangeland."
My own "cowboy" definition of rangeland is any land that is too steep, too dry, too wet, too "something" for cultivated agriculture. Pre-historically, our rangelands were grazed by wild ungulate (hooved) animals, and today, California's rangelands are the foundation of our livestock industry - cattle and sheep have grazed on rangelands in California for more than two and a half centuries. Rangelands continue to provide habitat for an incredible array of wildlife and native plants - everything from raptors to reptiles and the majestic oak to the smallest wildflower. Scientists are increasingly convinced that well-managed livestock grazing is crucial to the health of the native flora and fauna on our rangelands. And ranching, as an economic endeavor, is crucial to keeping these rangelands intact – itseems that ranching and wildlife both require large, contiguous tracts of open land.
The Southern Plains - that area roughly centered around the Oklahoma panhandle and adjacent states (Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas) - are also an important rangeland ecosystem. Donald Worster, a Professor of American History at the University of Kansas, says, “Nature took several million years to find a solution to these unstable soils, these high winds, these turbulent weather conditions, which was the grasses.”
In the first half of The Dust Bowl, writer Dayton Duncan explains, along with Worster and survivors of the Dust Bowl, how the wheat boom resulted in the plowing of native prairie and planting of wheat on millions of acres in the Southern Plains. The price of wheat, driven up by World War I, seemed to be on an endless upward path. Even though the Plains were prone to periodic drought, Worster says, “Promoters promised that the very act of farming would increase the precipitation - the rain follows the plow.” Wayne Lewis, who grew up on a farm in the Oklahoma panhandle, adds, "In the late 20s, the crops were good, the prices were good and so everybody...the thing to do was to break out everything and get it in wheat." Indeed, from 1925-1929, Southern Plains wheat farmers busted sod on an area equal in size to the state of New Hampshire.
Technological advancements, unusually wet weather and government policy facilitated the wheat boom. “Modern machinery made wheat farming more efficient and profitable even if prices fell to $1 per bushel," writes Duncan. According to The Dust Bowl, an unidentified federal agency claimed that "the soil is the one indestructible, immutable asset that the nation possesses." And the weather cooperated. “The great plow-up had going for it ample rainfall for a period of 10-15 years and it just kept encouraging more and more," says Worster.
Like the economic bubbles of my own lifetime, not everyone was convinced that the wheat boom was beneficial or sustainable. According to Duncan, “A handful of old timers, especially the cattlemen who had been there through those droughts, weren’t so sure [about sod-busting the Plains]. To them, the Southern Plains were a grassland and the sod should never be turned.” Calvin Crabill, who grew up on a ranch in southeastern Colorado, recalls that his father, a cattle rancher, took a night job plowing the prairie. "He knew that buffalo grass was the natural turf of that country - it was grazing country. He didn't stay with the tractoring thing too long because I think it just got his heart. He was a stockman and he knew it was all wrong and he paid the price for it later," says Crabill.
Crabill's father and the other stockmen were right. Following the stock market crash in 1929 and several years of record wheat crops, the price of wheat crashed. As prices fell, the federal government encouraged farmers to plant less. On the contrary, everyone planted more - to make up for lower prices with higher volume. Farmers needed the income to cover their mortgages and equipment loans. "The answer [was] always more, regardless of the problem," says Worster. By 1931, the price of wheat had dropped to approximately half the cost of production. And then it stopped raining.
With no moisture to germinate wheat (or any other) seeds, there were no longer any roots to hold the fragile Plains soils in place when the winds blew. One dust storm in particular, in March 1935, finally got the nation's attention. Dust from the Plains eventually blew through Washington DC and 300 miles out to sea in the Atlantic. America's greatest economic disaster became its greatest ecological disaster - due, at least in part, to the conversion of rangeland to cropland.
So how does the wheat boom of the 1920s and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s in the Great Plains relate to rangeland conversion and orchard development in 21st century California? To me, there seem to be a number of similarities. At last week's summit in Oakdale, Roger Duncan, the UC Cooperative Extension Horticulture and Pomology Advisor for Stanislaus County, gave a presentation about trends in tree crop production. Between 1992 and 2012, almond acreage in California has increased by 74 percent. Pistachio acreage is up by 108%, and vineyard acreage has increased by 66%. While some of these plantings have occurred on vegetable and field crop land, the greatest impact has been to rangeland.
Like the mechanization that played a role in the wheat boom, new technology is making orchard development on formerly unirrigated rangelands possible. The hardpan, common to so many of our rangeland soils, once made orchard production impractical. Bigger tractors and six to eight foot deep ripping allows farmers to break up this hardpan before planting trees. The University of California and private industry are developing new tree varieties that allow orchards to thrive under a wider range of growing conditions. The ability to access deep aquifers (some orchard wells are 16 inches in diameter and descend more than 500 feet below the surface) allows farmers to tap into new water sources.
This conversion is being driven by economic factors. In general, a rancher needs approximately 12 acres of unirrigated rangeland to support one cow and her calf for a year. For a 300 cow operation, the annual net return per acre is $1.02 (2008 Beef Cost and Returns Study, UCCE) . Planted to almonds, this acre of land would produce an annual net return of $195 per acre (2012 Almond Costs and Returns Study, UCCE) - and walnuts would generate annual net returns of $1,442 per acre (2012 Walnut Costs and Returns Study, UCCE). According to Duncan, 82% of the world's almonds are grown in California. In 2013, Blue Diamond Almond reported that "demand will continue to outstrip supply." At the end of his presentation, Duncan showed a slide that asked, "When will the madness end?" He concluded that conversion would stop only when California runs out of land and water.
Once again, the government is complicit in these conversions as well. When a rancher dies and the value of his or her estate is determined by the IRS, the land is appraised at its highest and best use - which is orchard production (at least from an economic perspective). Since the estate taxes are calculated on this higher amount, many families have no choice but to convert part of the ranch just to pay the tax.
At least to me, the situation on California's rangelands seems eerily reminiscent of the situation on the Great Plains in the late 1920s. And now it's stopped raining.
In some respects, this conversion is too recent to fully understand the ecological and community implications. Anecdotally, however, some impacts are already being felt. Lower groundwater tables have created conflicts amongst landowners in Stanislaus County. In Merced County, land subsidence is apparently linked to groundwater overdraft from deep wells in orchards. Other impacts, like those to rangeland vegetation and wildlife, have not been studied yet, to my knowledge.
Fortunately, many of the academics, ranchers and environmentalists who are part of the California Rangeland Conservation Coalition are starting to search for answers. Sheila Barry, a livestock and natural resources advisor with UC Cooperative Extension in the Bay Area, focuses on the economics. "The disparity is so great [between rangeland livestock production and orchard production]," she says, "that progress towards a level playing field will only come from finding ways to pay for non-production values [like wildlife habitat] produced by ranchers and ranches." She adds, "We have to find ways to reduce the cost of doing business, too - estate tax policy shouldn't be pushing people to convert the ranches." The afternoon session at the Oakdale summit was devoted to examples of efforts in other states (most notably Colorado and Montana) to pay for non-production values.
Finally, I'll admit to mixed feelings about this trend. I've always viewed residential development as the greatest threat to our rangeland agriculture. At least an orchard keeps land in agriculture. I've started to realize, however, that our society is wonderfully adept at figuring out how to do things - we've figured out how to grow orchards on lands that we once thought were unsuitable to orchard production. We are less adept at asking ourselves, "Should we do this?" Thankfully, the California Rangeland Conservation Coalition, and many of its members, is asking this very question. | <urn:uuid:eaa38436-8cb0-4b35-a7aa-e91e34c9be8f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://flyingmule.blogspot.com/2014/03/lessons-from-dust-bowl.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00078-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961817 | 2,522 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Robots are taking over the world!
OK, I’m overreacting, a little, but I can’t help it. This week has me thinking about robotics and the many ways in which machines make our lives better.
So get with the programming and involve your pack, troop, team, or crew in National Robotics Week activities.
Combine the annual event with the new Robotics merit badge, and you’ve got the perfect excuse to tell your Scouts about this field that goes hand in hand with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
How do you flip the “on” switch this week for your Scouts? Begin by finding an event near you. Here’s how:
Click here for the National Robotics Week event page. There are 144 events nationwide, including at least one in all 50 states.
Troops in Oregon, for example, can visit the FIRST LEGO League Expo. Scouts near Florida International University can explore a robotics discovery lab. And Chicago units can check out the Greater Chicago Botball Tournament, which is free and open to the public.
Check out the link above to find your local event — a free way to spark an interest in this burgeoning field.
What do you think?
How will you use National Robotics Week to bring robotics or Robotics merit badge to your Scouts? Leave your thought below. | <urn:uuid:d8e0841c-7487-4263-a468-ab65cdfb8790> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2012/04/09/resistance-is-futile-during-national-robotics-week/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00012-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914262 | 282 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Related to the lily, this underground bulb is prized around the world for the magic it makes in a multitude of dishes with its pungent flavor and odor. There are two main classifications of oniongreen onions (also called scallions) and dry onions, which are simply mature onions with a juicy flesh covered with dry, papery skin. Dry onions come in a wide range of sizes, shapes and flavors. Among those that are mild flavored are the white or yellow Bermuda onion, available March through June; the larger, more spherical Spanish onion, which is usually yellow skinned (but can be white) and typically in season from August to May; and the red or Italian onion, which is available year-round. The stronger-flavored globe onions can have yellow, red or white skins. They can range from 1 to 4 inches in diameter and in flavor from mildly pungent to quite sharp. Among the special onion varieties are three exceedingly juicy specimens. The Maui onion, hailingas its name impliesfrom the Hawaiian island of the same name, is sweet, mild and crisply moist. It can range in color from white to pale yellow and is usually shaped like a slightly flattened sphere. The Maui onion's season is from April to July. Vidalia onions are the namesake of Vidalia, Georgia, where they thrive. At their best, these large, pale yellow onions are exceedingly sweet and juicy. They're usually available much of the year in the regions where grown and from May through July elsewhere. The state of Washington is the source of Walla Walla onions, named after the city of the same name. Large, round and golden, they're in season from June to September but are often available outside their growing area only by mail order. Oso Sweet onions hail from South America and, as their name suggests, are extremely succulent and sweet and, in fact, contain almost 50 percent more sugar than Vidalias. They're available in specialty produce markets from January through March. Another import is the Rio Sweet onion, which is predictably sweet and available from October through December. Tiny pearl onions are mild-flavored and about the size of a small marble. They can be cooked (and are often creamed) and served as a side dish or pickled and used as a condiment or garnish (as in the Gibson cocktail). Boiling onions are about 1 inch in diameter and mildly flavored. They're cooked as a side dish, used in stews and pickled. When buying onions, choose those that are heavy for their size with dry, papery skins with no signs of spotting or moistness. Avoid onions with soft spots. Store in a cool, dry place with good air circulation for up to two months (depending on their condition when purchased). Humidity breeds spoilage in dry onions. Once cut, an onion should be tightly wrapped, refrigerated and used within four days. Most onions cause tearing (caused by sulfuric compounds) to some extentsome just watery eyes, others giant crocodile tears. Freezing the onion for 20 minutes before chopping helps, but then so does wearing safety goggles. Dried or freeze-dried onion by-products include onion powder (ground dehydrated onion), onion salt (onion powder and salt), onion flakes and onion flavoring cubes. Onions are also sold canned or pickled (usually pearl onions) and frozen (whole or chopped). Onions contain a fair amount of vitamin C with traces of other vitamins and minerals.
From The Food Lover's Companion, Fourth edition by Sharon Tyler Herbst and Ron Herbst. Copyright © 2007, 2001, 1995, 1990 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. | <urn:uuid:d17ad818-8740-4683-aa9e-252e3cce32f3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.foodterms.com/encyclopedia/onion/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00053-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959309 | 753 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Good handwriting always gives an upper hand to a student, but that doesn't mean that poor handwriting always costs. Actually what matters is writing neatly, make sure that examiner understands what you have written.
1. Use Black pen to write title and subtitles.
2. Give diagrams wherever necessary.
3. Wherever possible use scale for drawing.
4. Underline the key words.
5. Always start a new question on a new page.
6. If there is any mistake don't make it look shabby by scratching it many times; just put a line over it.
Follow the above points you’ll definitely earn 5 to 6 marks more than expected. | <urn:uuid:2f3f26f6-a12b-47d5-bef1-a1e1653a65f1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://cbse-sample-papers.blogspot.com/2009/01/importance-of-good-handwriting-in-exams.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00191-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914692 | 139 | 2.96875 | 3 |
The Struggle for Democracy in "the State of Greater Israel"
In 1967, a new state was born in the Middle East on territory that was known by the Jews as the "Land of Israel" and by the Arabs as "Palestine." This state was established as an outcome of the forced unification of a number of territories that before then had been ruled by different states. The three most populated areas in the new state were: the territory ruled by Israel from 1948-67, the West Bank, formerly under Jordanian rule, and the Gaza Strip, formerly under Egyptian rule.
The administrative and symbolic contiguity that was established between the state of Israel and the new state caused many to assume that these two political bodies were identical. In fact, June 1967, led to such a qualitative change that it is necessary to look at the new body as a different state entirely. This is in reference not only to the tremendous territorial gains nor to the fact that its population was about 1/3 the size of the state of Israel. The most important element of all was the complete renunciation by the new state of its ambition of being for the most part a democratic state. In truth, the state of Israel was not a model of democracy. A military government ruled over its Arab citizens and they suffered discrimination in contrast to Jewish citizens. That being said, the declaration of independence, which was the closest thing to a constitution for the young state, expressed a declared readiness to found a democratic regime that protected the rights of all persons irrespective of race or religion. In that context, the end of the military government in 1966 ushered in the possible beginning of a process that would have turned the state of Israel into the only democracy in the Middle East.
The new state that was established, "the State of Greater Israel," was not bound by the declaration of independence of the State of Israel and did not aspire to be a democratic state. The borders of this state as
presented, for example, on the weather forecasts in the press, radio, and television, included the entire territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. In geography and "Homeland" classes, students in public schools of this state learned about the borders of their country that extended from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. Afterwards those same students learned about the principles of democracy in civics classes: the form of government in which the people elects its rulers. What was never taught in those schools was the simple fact that the system of democratic rule was applicable only vis-?-vis part of the territories that the state ruled. The fact that about ¼ of the residents of the new state were denied civil rights, could not elect their rulers or be elected, and lived under military rule was left out of the lesson plan.
Over time it has become clear that the distinction between the two forms of rule is not necessarily territorial. A significant number of residents from the territory under the authority of an elected parliament moved into the areas under military rule—the West Bank and Gaza Strip. And miracle of miracles, those residents continued to preserve their right to elect and be elected as well as other rights—for example freedom of expression and freedom to organize—which were kept from the older residents. This is how two groups came to be in the areas under military rule—Jews, who enjoyed full civil rights, and in contrast, Palestinian Arabs (upon whose
confiscated land the new residents settled), who were denied all civil rights, including the right to immigrate to the civil part of the state. At the schools of those with rights they continued to teach that
discrimination on the basis of racial, ethnic, national or religious background is a horrible thing against which human beings must struggle. In that context many hours were devoted to studying the racism that was aimed at the Jews in Europe, yet no classes were devoted to discuss the condition of the non-citizens of the state, residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The uprising of the deprived habitants of "the Greater State of Israel" in 1987 was inevitable and self-evident. Since then, some serious attempts have been made to settle the issue. These attempts failed because of the shortsightedness and irresponsibility of leaders from both the deprived and the privileged camps. However, until now, the deprived habitants are still desperately demanding their rights. The obvious facts that their uprising includes hideous assaults against innocent privileged people do not subtract from the legitimacy of their claim for freedom from non-elected rule.
The people upon whom the responsibility for suppressing the uprising has been inflicted are the students of the confusing educational system of "the Greater State of Israel." That system on the one hand preached democracy and condemned discrimination based on racial origin, yet on the other hand drew maps that gave legitimacy to a non-democratic racist regime. Today, hundreds of diligent students who learned the essence of democracy in civics classes are demanding to implement its principles in reality, or at least not to demand that they defend in practice the existence of a non-democratic regime. By this deed they are accused by the right wing of treachery and by the left wing of undermining the principles of a democratic regime (!)
There are those who do not rank civic equality and democracy high on their list of values. With those people, of course, I can hardly establish a dialogue. It is still possible to argue with those who still believe in democracy about the desired form of implementing its principles. One large state in which all of its citizens would enjoy equal rights, or division into two independent states in which its own citizens will enjoy equal rights. Yet there is one thing about which there can be no argument: whoever refuses to take part in denying civil rights to millions of people does not endanger democracy, rather he fights for it. Tamir Sorek | <urn:uuid:37ebeb9f-ffde-4d1c-acce-9e26ad3e16d7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://israel-academia-monitor.com/index.php?type=large_advic&advice_id=5794&page_data[id]=4338&cookie_lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00194-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978431 | 1,172 | 3.3125 | 3 |
What is computer peripheral device?
A “peripheral device” or “computer device” is a hardware component that is attached to a computer in order to expand its abilities and performing additional features. Computers are able to interact with its external world using the peripherals as mice, monitors, plotters, keyboards, and printers.
Peripheral means “additional but not essential”, so peripherals are not part of the essential computer as are the processor, and the memory. Some peripherals are mounted in the same case with the main part of the computer as are the hard disk drive or CD-ROM drive. If a peripheral device is disconnected, the computer will still be able to work. Other peripherals are outside the computer case, such as the printer and image scanner, attached by a wired or wireless connection.
Peripheral devices can also include other computers on a network system. A device can also refer to a non-physical item, such as a pseudo terminal, a RAM drive, or a network adapter.
Peripheral can be internal or external devices. It is important to have in mind, when selecting GIS software to ensure that it is compatible with any existing peripherals you use.
Most devices, whether peripheral or not, require a program called a device driver that acts as a translator, converting general commands from an application into specific commands that the device understands. | <urn:uuid:c1528748-4b29-4758-9a37-cd2e3300290f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cavsi.com/questionsanswers/what-is-computer-peripheral-device/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961011 | 290 | 4.03125 | 4 |
Dystocia refers to a difficult or abnormal birthing process due to abnormal fetal conditions or complications with the pregnant dam. Dystocia affects the dam during delivery and can endanger the lives of the newborn pups. The risk of dystocia is greater in first-time dams, especially if they are still puppies themselves. Dystocia poses a risk to both dam and puppies, often requiring immediate veterinary attention.
The causes of dystocia can be maternal or fetal in nature. Maternal causes may include poor uterine contractions, infection or inflammation of the uterus, gestational diabetes, abnormal pelvic canal, small pelvis, abnormal vaginal vault or vulvar opening, insufficient dilation, uterine rupture or uterine cancer, cysts or adhesions. The age, breed and weight of the dam also contribute to the risk of dystocia. Fetal causes include large puppies, the position or posture of the fetus in the birth canal, or death of the fetus before delivery.
Puppies reach full size, or adulthood, between their first and second years, depending on the breed. However, female puppies reach sexually maturity before adulthood, most of the around 6 months of age, making it possible for a young pup to become a first-time mom. A female dog’s first litter increases the risk of dystocia because of inexperience. Add to that the fact that the young pup is not yet fully grown and the risk increases even more.
Dystocia can occur in dams of any age and breed, but certain breeds are more prone to difficult births. Brachycephalic breeds, or those with the short, flat faces, seem to be more prone to dystocia. Such breeds include Boston terriers, boxers, bulldogs, Pekingese, pugs and Shih Tzus. Toy breeds, such as Chihuahuas are also at increased risk.
When it comes to dystocia, you are looking for signs of distress more than any specific, finite symptoms. The first sign of dystocia is nothing happening. The normal gestational period for a dog is 63 days. If your puppy’s pregnancy has gone past 72 days, something is likely wrong. Before a dog goes into labor, rectal temperature drops below 99 degrees. Contractions should begin within 24 hours. If contractions fail to start, contact a veterinarian. Other signs, once contractions begin, include more than 30 minutes of strong contractions without delivery, more than two hours between puppy deliveries, bloody discharge or obvious signs of pain. A greenish-black discharge before the delivery of the first puppy is another sign, indicative of premature placental separation.
If your puppy or adult dam shows signs of dystocia, contact your veterinarian immediately to reduce the risk to the dam and newborn puppies. Depending on the cause, medications, such as oxytocin to stimulate contractions, may be necessary. If fetal positioning is causeing dystocia, digital manipulation or forceps assistance may help to deliver to the pup. In cases where the health of the mother or pups is at risk or the delivery is just not progressing, a Caesarean section may be necessary.
- Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images | <urn:uuid:73e0e80c-8a3d-41dd-a09c-8d6b88c11c68> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/dystocia-puppies-4435.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913293 | 679 | 3.421875 | 3 |
FineSoccer Drill 18 - Conditioning Games
The last drill in this progression is actually quite simple. Set up a field like an American football field with 10 yard end zones. (see diagram below)
To score a goal, a team has to receive a ball in the end zone they are attacking. A player can NOT dribble into the end zone. The thing that makes this extremely interesting is that offside does apply in this game.
Both teams will be encouraged to try an offside trap, and this will allow players to see the advantages (and disadvantages) of this.
After a goal is scored, the team that scored plays the ball to the opposing team just, like a kickoff in American Football.
Some variations on this drill includes not allowing any players to dribble forward at all. Or you can put a limitation of 2 touch to eliminate this problem completely.
It's extremely important to have someone calling offside from the sidelines as this becomes an important part of the game. You can play to a certain score (first team to 5 wins) or for a specified time period.
Some of the things this works on are through passes (one and two hole passes, see below for an explanation), offside traps, beating offsides traps, communication, conditioning, short passes, support and much, much more. An added bonus is that it's a fun game and the players will have no idea just how hard they will be working.
One Hole and Two Hole Pentrating Passes and Runs
First I would like to define the terms one hole and two hole pass. A two hole pass is when a player runs on one side of the defender and the through ball is played on the other side of the defender. A one hole pass is one where the runner and the through pass are both on the same side of the defender.
Let's start with the assumption that the ball is with the right midfielder and we are looking into the runs of the left midfielder or forward who is on the left side of the field. If the runner is pushed up and is taking into consideration the last defender the first thing she needs to do is look at the depth of this last defender. If the last defender is pushed up and toward the middle of the field, the runner should look to make a two hole run since she will be able to run along the offside line and still make it difficult for the defender to see both the runner and the ball. Obviously, the timing will have to be just right in order for the runner to stay onside. As the runner is going along this horizontal line even with the last defender in order to stay onside, she would need to make eye contact with the passer who would play the ball past the last defender. As soon as the ball is played, the runner can cut behind the defender, receive the ball and go to goal. If the defender is deep, then the run must go in front of the last defender and the pass will be played for a one hole pass. The reason for this decision is that it is extremely difficult to successfully complete a two hole pass when the defender has good depth and is central.
This type of understanding will enable runners to make better diagonal runs as well as to beat an offsides trap. It requires communication (although much of the communication will be non verbal such as eye contact). If this communication is not done properly it will most likely result in an offside call. From a coach's standpoint, it's extremely important that if this timing is messed up, the players must be encouraged to keep trying these type of runs. There is a tendency to yell at these players to stay onside while it is my contention that these players who are trying things should be encouraged to continue their attempts at making runs. With help, these runs will be made effectively and consistently.
Login to leave a comment | <urn:uuid:9379d423-ce94-4b8d-a08f-09c7cec3fcaf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ayso104.org/coach/drills/show_drill.php?id=19 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00032-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974518 | 787 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Polio eradication emergency declared after 17 cases are detected in SyriaListen /
A polio eradication emergency has been declared in all countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region after 17 cases of polio were confirmed in Syria.
The cases are due to the wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), a highly infectious and crippling viral disease, the agency notes.
15 cases had already been reported in the Deir Al Nour province, and now 2 additional cases have been confirmed, one each in rural Damascus and Aleppo.
WHO and UNICEF say they are ready to work with relief agencies to ensure all Syrian children are vaccinated no matter where they live.
The response to the outbreak is expected to continue for at least six to eight months, depending on the area and the evolution of the disease.
The risk that the wild poliovirus could spread across the region is considered to be high, given the frequent population movements of Syrians across the region and immunity gaps in key areas.
WHO says a surveillance alert has been issued for the region to search for additional potential cases in addition to carrying out large-scale immunization campaigns with oral polio vaccine.
Jocelyne Sambira, United Nations. | <urn:uuid:0003581e-825f-440c-964f-f655872a2574> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2013/11/polio-eradication-emergency-declared-after-17-cases-are-detected-in-syria/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946461 | 251 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Are honorifics used for dead people? For example, would チンギス・カン have something after the name (presumably not just a mere さん!) when you're not referring to the dish?
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Since honorifics generally apply when you are interacting directly with that person, they usually aren't used for people that have died (Maybe spiritual mediums do something different because they are supposedly 'interacting directly' with the deceased, but I don't know).
Think of great people from Japanese history: 織田信長（おだのぶなが） 徳川家康（とくがわいえやす） 聖徳太子（しょうとくたいし）, all of them are referred to just by their name. Deceased former prime ministers are simply referred to by their name. Deceased Emperors are called by their reign (i.e. what we call Emperor Hirohito is just 昭和天皇（しょうわてんのう） the Showa Emperor in Japanese), while the current living Emperor Akihito is referred to in Japanese by 天皇陛下（てんのうへいか） or His Majesty the Emperor.
Going closer to home, people refer to their deceased relatives the same way they did while they were alive. Buddhist beliefs give the deceased a new name for the afterlife, but I have never heard of this new name actually being used to refer to the deceased.
You could use the prefix
例： 故斉藤氏 → The late Mr. Saito
BTW, thanks for making me hungry for ジンギスカン （ブツブツ）...
I would say yes. For example, if you were talking about a deceased teacher, it would be perfectly natural to say (for instance) 先生が亡くなられた後..., which uses an honorific. The honorific 先生 would also be used.
If a person personally knew and had a relationship of some kind with 岸信介, I suggest that even now such a person would talk of 岸さん and use appropriate honorifics. History books, on the other hand, would refer to him as 岸.
Genghis Khan and other long-dead historical personages don't count, unless you happen to belong to a group that sees itself as directly (religiously?) connected to Genghis Khan. It's the relationship that's important, not whether they are alive or not. | <urn:uuid:a6f63744-2e6e-451b-96ab-f47b544a0746> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/4206/are-honorifics-used-for-dead-people/4224 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00077-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964814 | 624 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day we feature a different image or photograph
of our fascinating universe, along with a brief explanation written by a
November 10, 1995
Lightning and the Space Shuttle
There are many things about
that are not understood. Lightning has been seen in the atmospheres of
Saturn. A leading theory is that collisions of
particles in clouds cause large areas of positive and negative charge.
When large oppositely charged areas get close enough together, electrons
and/or ions race between them and create a path where more charged
particles can follow - lightning. On average, over 100 lightning strikes
occur every second over the surface of the
Earth. Here lightning strikes
near a Space Shuttle before
launch. Lightning can be
extremely dangerous -
stay out of open areas during thunderstorms.
Tomorrow's picture: Red Sprite Lightning
| About APOD |
Authors & editors:
NASA Technical Rep.:
Specific rights apply.
A service of: | <urn:uuid:bf36b616-7b5e-4fa5-8a9a-6ada51ad54bc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap951110.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00021-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.832961 | 213 | 3.703125 | 4 |
by Austin Bay
May 3, 2011
Osama Bin Laden's death is the result of American
persistence and American military professionalism.
For at least a century, America's enemies and their
propagandists have portrayed the United States as lacking the will to engage in
an extended struggle. The roots of this myth actually extend into the 18th
century, but with the 20th century and the global proof of America's economic,
political and cultural success, the accusations of spinelessness and
fecklessness became more elaborate and insistent.
America can be blamed for giving its critics a basis for
their argument. On a daily basis, an open society with freedom of expression
offers domestic and international observers diverse, multifarious and totally
contradictory images. The libertine and decadent are real enough. Jazz Age
drunks in speakeasies morph to '50s beatniks, '60s hippies, then '90s dot-com
zillionaires on skateboards.
If your current vision of America is shaped by TV programs
like "The View" or "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,"
it would be reasonable to conclude that America is an utterly decayed nation of
sexually frustrated gossips and sadomasochists -- in other words, an easy enemy
that will cower and capitulate.
However, if your vision of America is shaped by the Wright
Brothers, Thomas Edison, the building of the Panama Canal, the Battle of
Belleau Wood, the Battle of Okinawa, the Manhattan Project, the Apollo program,
the Internet and similar endeavors, a nation of genius, courage and persistence
emerges -- a nation to emulate, not injure and anger.
An interpretation of Vietnam informed Saddam Hussein's
February 1990 speech in Amman, Jordan, in which he sketched his vision of
recent history. After World War II, France and Britain "declined."
Two superpowers arose, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. Suddenly, the Cold War ended.
Saddam then proceeded with a rambling proposition that America was
"fatigued" and would fade, but "throughout the next five
years," the U.S. would be unrestricted.
He implied defeating the U.S. entailed exploiting the scar
of Vietnam and threatening massive U.S. casualties. "Fatigue" and
domestic self-recrimination would stall U.S. power.
Saddam miscalculated. America responded to his invasion of
Kuwait with Desert Storm. Bin Laden's America as a "weak horse"
metaphor echoed Saddam. Bin Laden focused on America's hasty withdrawal from
Somalia after the Blackhawk Down fiasco.
Both men ignored the more telling lesson of Nov. 9, 1989,
the day the Berlin Wall cracked. From 1947 until 1989 -- despite the
inconclusiveness of the Korean War, despite the existence of Cuba as a Soviet
satellite 90 miles from Florida, despite draft dodgers and Weathermen
terrorists, despite the American retreat from Vietnam, despite the Watts riots
of 1964, despite Watergate, despite the humiliating 1979 occupation of the U.S.
embassy in Tehran -- the U.S. successfully contained and defeated the U.S.S.R.
in the Cold War's long and tedious struggle.
That took extraordinary persistence. It took resilient,
adaptable, creative and able American military and security services. Most of
all, it took the basic, consistent support of the American people, the ones who
go to work, pay the bills, wear the police and military uniforms, and, to
paraphrase John Kennedy, will "bear any burden ... to assure the survival
and the success of liberty."
As the Cold War ended, another twilight struggle began, one
America didn't notice and didn't want. Al-Qaida attacked the World Trade Center
in 1993. Al-Qaida operatives attacked U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998. The
attack on the USS Cole was an al-Qaida operation.
America, however, did not ignore the horror of 9-11. Another
long struggle for the terms of modernity had begun, one that would pit
multifarious America and its radical experiment in liberty against murderous
religious fanatics whose vision of the future linked 21st century technologies
with 12th century feudalism, 20th century dictatorships and tribal misogyny.
The religious fanatics bet on their will to win, their will
The U.S. special operations team that killed bin Laden in
Abbottabad, Pakistan, was the tip of a very long spear made of intelligence
agencies, military services and police departments. It is a spear wielded by
the American people.
The bottom line to bin Laden's death is this: Don't attack
America. The line above the bottom line? Don't underestimate America. | <urn:uuid:9ae7788f-90d8-46ac-9ca5-d91793837b15> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.strategypage.com/on_point/2011050305419.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00192-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91918 | 1,038 | 2.5625 | 3 |
The handwriting in manuscript documents and volumes written in Scotland
between 1500 and 1750 is usually a mixture of formally taught handwriting
styles. One such form Italic, is, by and large, fairly easy to read, since
its letter forms are very similar to modern letters. However, in the sixteenth
century a form of handwriting was developed, which became known as Secretary
Hand, and this was an administrative/business 'shorthand' used throughout
western Europe. Some Secretary Hand letters are characteristically different
from the modern equivalents and must be memorised.
This tutorial introduces the novice palaeographer to commonly occurring
Secretary Hand letters.
1. What Secretary Hand looks like
2. Key letters - the Secretary Hand e and
3. Other commonly-occurring Secretary Hand letters:
a, b, c, d, h, r
4. Phonetic spelling and Scots words
5. 'Sic braw secretarie hand'
6. Short test in identifying Secretary Hand letters
You can also print all 6 steps
of the 1 hour tutorial (Acrobat PDF, 1.10MB, opens in new | <urn:uuid:e81a22e0-a2fd-43c2-b671-9d76427091f3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.scottishhandwriting.com/1hour.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00029-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924143 | 235 | 3.328125 | 3 |
The latest news about environmental and green
technologies – renewables, energy savings, fuel cells
Posted: Sep 13, 2013
Reusable materials from metallurgical plant dumps reduces imports of raw material
(Nanowerk News) Metallurgical plant dumps harbor important raw materials such as metals and minerals that often have not been used yet. The reason: comprehensive data regarding the exact reusable material potential of these dumps is missing. To close this gap, Fraunhofer UMSICHT is coordinating the "REStrateGIS" project. The objective is to develop a multi-scalar resource register for metallurgical plant dumps.
Metallurgical plant dumps are anthropogenic deposits for minerals and metals.
Germany is, to a high degree, dependent on imports of raw materials, in particular for high-tech products. There are still a lot of not yet utilized anthropogenic deposits for metals and minerals. This includes metallurgical plant dumps for residues such as dusts, sludges, non-utilised slags and other metallurgical debris. These are all too rarely utilised because for one, the basic data regarding their specifically contained reusable material potential are missing.
For another, new concepts for recovery of the reusable materials are necessary. Here is where the collaborative project "REStrateGIS", sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF - Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung) program"r³: Innovative Technologies for Resource Efficiency – Strategic Metals and Minerals", comes into play. Over the course of three years, the work will be performed in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach by four partners (Halle-Wittenberg University, EFTAS GmbH, FEhS-Institute e.V. and UMSICHT) and supported by a Project Advisory Board (PAB) – consisting of representatives from industry, politics, science and associations.
Detecting dumps via remote sensing data
To close the data gaps regarding reusable material potentials in dumps via the multi-scalar register, the team is prototypically reviewing archive data and applying methods of remote sensing as well as innovative laboratory methods.
The multi-scalar register provides mapping at three spatial dimensions. The spatial and content resolution as well as depth of detail increases from level to level. The top level is comprised of the concept design and development of a Germany-wide overview register that is made available online. In the register, data from various sources regarding existing dumps in Germany is presented in an overview style. The register contains a spatial component – the dumps are presented as objects within an interactive map application.
In addition to the research at government agency archives, remote sensing is also a tool of choice. Here, a methodology is being developed - applied in two test regions / to detect dumps by means of remote sensing data. On the second level, the resolution is increased. In a region with a high density of dumps, information regarding location, size and areas of origin of the deposited materials is modeled in a geographical information system (GIS).
The third level, with the highest spatial resolution, describes a dump body in detail. For this, a 3D image of the dump is created with a GIS.
New processes for reusable material recovery
Furthermore, concepts for the recovery of reusable materials are developed based on chemical and pyro-metallurgical laboratory tests which then, in combination with an obstacle analysis are incorporated into the utilisation strategies.
In addition, the researchers test the dump's deposited material. These tests also include methods of terrestrial reflection spectrometry, in addition to laboratory analyses. The tests are rounded out by an airborne hyper-spectral flyover. The results of the tests and the flyover are combined with the 3D model of the dump in the GIS. The recorded data and the derived information constitute the foundation for the development of methods for the recovery of reusable materials.
Source: Fraunhofer-Institut für Umwelt-, Sicherheits- und Energietechnik
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Check out these other trending stories on Nanowerk: | <urn:uuid:054f515b-6c9b-4d28-bce7-e951392f38bf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/green/newsid=32263.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00052-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901821 | 873 | 2.796875 | 3 |
If this view of the bird is insufficient to identify the bird then consider what other information may be available to you. The coloring of the bird tends to blend in nicely with the dry grass, so it looks like it belongs in this habitat. Knowing where it lives tells us something about what it likes to eat. Grassland tends to support small rodents, mammals, insects and some small birds.
Historically, our mystery bird has been seen a handful of times in the Union Bay Natural Area, at Discovery Park and a bit more often at another Seattle park. Lately, there have been a number of sightings at this third location. Almost all of the visits have been during the late fall or winter. eBird shows no documented cases of this type of bird in Seattle in the summer.
If you would like a bit more information take a closer look at the next photo.
The brown bars on the tail and the cream coloring on the wing should help a bit, still a side view would provide even more information.
That flat face is a real give away isn't it? We are clearly looking at some type of owl. The question is which type? The body coloring is not barred enough to be a Barred Owl.
Plus the Barred Owl tends to hunt among the trees more than the open spaces or fields.
On the other hand the coloring is a bit too dark when compared to the Snowy Owl.
The owl we are focused on is by far the most active of the three owls. It will spend hours circling and turning just a few feet above the grass in an open field. It seems as though it usually keeps one wing parallel to the ground while using the other wing like a rudder. In addition it constantly alternates which wing is parallel and which is up in the air.
It will dive repeatedly and only occasionally will it actually catch its prey.
However this approach has turned out to be very effective as this bird, including all the sub-species, is found in North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Europe and even in Hawaii.
Our mystery bird is the Short-Eared Owl (SEO).
The small ridge of feathers sticking up on top the head is what gives the SEO its name. However they are not ears and in fact they are not usually visible. Yesterday, one of these birds was seen by Doug Schurman at Magnuson Park. It might be worth it to take a walk in the park.
Here are a few more shots to help inspire you to get out into the cold and the fog.
Aren't you glad you are not the small creature at the other end of that focused stare.
By the way Marcus Roening, my master birding friend, was the one who first took me to the fields near Stanwood, where many of these photos were taken and he continues to inspire my birding efforts today. If you are up for a road trip the large open areas near Fir Island and Eide Road provide many excellent Short-eared photo opportunities.
My true hope is that we all get a chance to see the Short-eared Owl right here in Seattle.
Odds and Ends:
For those who realize a bird must eat, here is an early attempt at video that turned out to be slightly out of focus, which actually makes the viewing a bit less graphic.
In the Comments below Penny mentioned that the SEO can make a sound similar to a dog barking. Here is a link to the Cornell site, the second sound track is as Penny described it. | <urn:uuid:d2dd7133-de43-48c4-92db-d71011c7f77d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://unionbaywatch.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-mystery-bird.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393533.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00059-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97222 | 723 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Markings on highways have important functions in providing guidance and information for the road use. Major marking types include:
- pavement and curb markings
- object markers
- colored pavements
- channelizing devices
In some cases, markings are used to supplement other traffic control devices such as signs, signals and other marking, while other times markings are used alone to effectively convey regulations, guidance or warnings in ways not obtainable to the use of other devices.
Pavement markings can enhance roadway delineation with the addition of audible and tactile features such as bars, differential surface profiles, raised pavement markers or other devices intended to alert the road user that a delineation on the roadway is being traversed. | <urn:uuid:63bec355-d721-4d63-97aa-8315032ceda3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D11/Pages/PavementMarkings.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00108-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908279 | 141 | 3.359375 | 3 |
It is the most widely used measure for representing the entire data. It is average value of all items of a series. It is also called Mean.
For example if we record ages of persons and those are 25, 22, 18, 16, 17, 22, 23, 25, 19, 18, then Mean of these 10 values of the age variable will be given by Definition. "Arithmetic mean is defined as sum of the different values of an item of a series divided by total number of items."
Types of Arithmetic Mean
Arithmetic mean is of following two types.
1. Simple Arithmetic Mean:
In simple arithmetic mean, all items of a series are given equal importance.
2. Weighted Arithmetic Mean:
Under weighted A.M. different items of the series are assigned weights according to their relative importance.
Methods of Calculating Arithmetic Mean
Arithmetic mean can be determined by the following series. (i) Individual Series (it) Discrete Series and (Hi) Continuous Series. Let us study these three series one by one. | <urn:uuid:4b59f9c7-796f-4236-9b80-b0569309aac3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.preservearticles.com/201107189312/what-are-the-important-types-of-arithmetic-mean.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00063-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935265 | 221 | 4.15625 | 4 |
Back to Home Page or Contents Page or Buddhism or Index
The skepticism about creator god in Indian religions was even carried to further extremes in Buddhism. The gods, and there are many in Buddhism, are subject to death and rebirth, thus making them incapable of creating anything, especially the cosmos. In Buddhism this is emphatically emphasized, although there are some stories concerning Buddha, a kindly and well-disposed deity, who deceived himself into thinking he might be the cosmic creator (Digha Nikaya 1. 18); but, some hold, such stories were told to illustrate that the gods need just as much enlightenment as everyone else.
Buddhism inherited the cosmography that envisions a series of levels,
all of which are open to the process of reappearance: at the summit are
the four realms of purely mental rebirth (arupa-avacara); below them
are the realms of pure form (pupa-avacara) where the gods dwell in
sixteen heavens, five of which are known as pure abodes (suddhavasa),
the remaining eleven arise out of the jhanas (meditational states).
Lower still are the sense-desire heavens, including those of the Tavatimsa
gods (the thirty-three Vedic gods, the chief
of whom, Indra,
known as Sakka, has become a protector of Buddhism) and of the Tusita gods
(where bodhisattvas spend their penultimate birth, and in which Maitteya
now dwells). In the sense-desire realms are the levels on which live the
asuras, humans, and animals. Below these are
pretaloka and the hells of torment (niraya/naraka).
All worlds are composed of transient and impermanent moments, and are therefore
the product, neither of a creator, nor even of some eternal process, as
in the interaction between Purusa and Prakrti in Samkhya. The world is simply a process,
passing through cycles (kappa) of immense length. In the Mahayana,
beyond the three domains, karma, rupa, and arupa, there is an additional dimension of
Buddha-ksetras (Buddha-fields). A.G.H.
Bowker, John, The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions,
New York, Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 240-241 | <urn:uuid:0e6639f6-ee27-4cdc-bbf0-4968f32bee6d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/c/cosmology_buddhism.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00076-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930261 | 513 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Last week, we began following the fascinating, dramatic, and compelling story of insurance from its inception around 3000 BC.
But that was so BC. This week we’re blazing into AD, from the relatively boring (insurance-wise) Dark Ages to the (riveting) mid-14th century, when the makings of modern-day insurance really started to develop.
In case you’re late to the party and missed Part 1, you can check it out here.
Dark Ages — Insurance takes a nap
Recent archaeological and historical research has revealed that the so-called Dark Ages were actually a vibrant, colorful period of history…just not for insurance. No insurance records have been found in or around King Arthur’s Camelot, but that doesn’t mean actuaries stayed at home during jousting tournaments.
1343 — Contract year
Genoa’s famous salami may not have originated in Genoa, but modern maritime insurance certainly did. The world’s first written insurance contract was signed in this seaside city-state, ironically the same year as the devastating earthquake of 1343 near the port city of Naples. (I bet merchants wished they had those contracts a year earlier, eh?) Similar to ancient contracts, it was essentially a promise to loan, with an important clause attached — if the ship sank, the loan was forgiven.
Contracts like this one made it easier to spread risk among multiple investors, which was a crucial development that fueled the expansion of European trade over the next several centuries.
1600s — The Michaelangelos of risk assessment
The Renaissance is most famous for its scientific advances, and the world of insurance had its fair share. In fact, the 17th century marks the golden age of insurance innovations, in which big-time world players like Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat calculated a way to quantify probability (taking some of the guesswork out of risk). And Renaissance man Edmund Halley of Halley’s Comet fame advanced life insurance through the world’s first “mortality table.”
1666–1700 — The City
1665 was a plague year in London, which was bad enough, but 1666 managed to be even worse. Of the half-million people living in the greater London area at the time, roughly 80,000 lived in the City of London, and the Great Fire (which wasn’t that great, by the way) destroyed the homes of around 70,000 of them. The response to the blaze was so slow that the famous diarist (early blogger) Samuel Pepys wrote, “People do all the world over cry out of the simplicity [the stupidity] of my Lord Mayor in general.”
Less simple was Nicholas Barbon, who opened the first fire insurance company in response to the catastrophe. The Fire Office, founded in 1680, specifically insured brick and frame homes and was the first private company of its kind. (But believe it or not, that was only the second-most notable thing about Nicholas If-Jesus-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barbon. Seriously.)
After recovering from the fire, the London of the 1680s was a booming international center of trade. Where there’s trade, there’s risk, and where there’s risk, there’s insurance. And where there’s insurance, naturally, there’s Mr. Edward Lloyd.
Mr. Lloyd owned a coffee house that was a popular hangout for sailors, merchants, and ship owners. He noticed that his fine establishment was becoming a business destination for those wishing or willing to underwrite cargoes and ships before a journey. Capitalizing on this opportunity, he founded Lloyd’s of London, which is still one of the world’s leading insurance marketplaces.
1752 — Benjamin Franklin (surprised?)
Of course he was involved! The 10th son of a soap maker, Franklin had an unprecedented knack for improving the world around him. When he wasn’t inventing political cartoons, coining phrases (a penny saved is a penny earned), publishing almanacs, launching the first subscription library, inventing a heat-efficient stove, swim fins, and bifocals, discovering electricity through kite experiments, enjoying beer, or helping draft the Declaration of Independence, he founded the Philadelphia Contribution for Insurance Against Loss by Fire, which is still in business.
What have you done today?
1800s — Full steam ahead
The first accident insurance, which insured against railroad and steamboat accidents and injuries, was available through the Franklin Health Assurance Company after 1850.
Twenty-one years later, the Great Fire of Chicago (again, not that great) drained insurance companies of their reserves and ability to pay claims, and so reinsurance was conceived. (As they say, for every insurance, there’s reinsurance.) Reinsurance distributed losses between a number of insurance companies, and quickly became a central component for any insurance business.
1900s — On the road to Esurance
So, there you have it. Take a deep breath, and revel in your newfound wealth of insurance knowledge. Now that you have the Insurance BC and AD highlights, tune in next week for the amazing true story of car insurance — from the first handwritten auto policy to online quoting and purchasing. | <urn:uuid:feca2a13-9bc5-4fdc-91ef-007c3ab90b73> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.esurance.com/the-history-of-insurance-ad-edition/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00192-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959207 | 1,131 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Calcutta (today Kolkata), capital of West Bengal State, N.E. India. The earliest association of Jews with Calcutta goes back to transient Jewish merchants, especially from Fort St. George (*Madras) who toward the end of the 17th century established commercial contacts with Bengal. One of the most prominent was
Alvaro de *Fonseca
. In the second half of the 18th century, Abraham Jacobs distinguished himself by providing food for the survivors of the "Black Hole" tragedy (1756). He is also mentioned as a confidential agent of the East India Company there. A permanent Jewish settlement came into existence only at the beginning of the 19th century when Arabic-speaking Jews from Syria and Iraq who had previously resided in
settled in Calcutta. The first Jewish merchant to settle there was Shalom b. Obadiah ha-Cohen (d. 1836), originally from Aleppo, who, after a successful stay in Surat, arrived in Calcutta in 1798 and developed a profitable trade there in jewels and precious stones. In 1816 he became the court jeweler of the Muslim ruler Ghāzī al-Dīn Ḥayḍar and his son at Lucknow. Shalom ha-Cohen was soon joined in Calcutta by members of his family and business associates from Surat and
*Bombay, among whom Jacob Ẓemaḥ Nissim figured prominently. With the arrival of Moses b. Simon Duwayk ha-Cohen and his family from Aleppo, Calcutta began to develop into one of the most prosperous and flourishing cultural and economic centers of Jewish life in India. Jews from Cochin and Yemen flocked there and took an active part in its development. There was a small
community in Calcutta as well.
The first synagogue built in 1831 in Calcutta was called Neveh Shalom in honor of its founder, Shalom ha-Cohen. It was followed by the Beth El in 1856 and then by Magen David, built in 1884 in memory of David
(d. 1882). Probably the largest synagogue in the East, it was an imposing landmark distinguished by its beautiful architecture, and had a fine collection of Torah scrolls. Elijah b. Moses Duwayk ha-Cohen served as spiritual leader of the Magen David congregation for over 50 years. Glimpses into the internal communal life are offered by the Judeo-Arabic diaries (Naurooz) of Shalom ha-Cohen, of Moses b. Simon Duwayk ha-Cohen (d. 1861), and of Eleazar b. Aaron Saadiah ʿIrāqī ha-Cohen (d. 1864), all preserved in the Sassoon Library, as well as by the accounts of Western visitors such as
(1859ff.), Solomon Reinman (1884), and later emissaries and travelers. A central role in the development of Jewish life was played for many decades by Sir David and Lady Ezra and communal leaders such as Elias Meyer, the families Jehuda, Masliah, Jacob,
, Elias, Kurlander, and others. Hospitals, synagogues, boys' and girls' schools, and other educational and charitable institutions were established. Calcutta Jewry included prominent lawyers, physicians, industrialists, and artists.
Prior to World War II, the Jews of Calcutta numbered around 5,000. In 1947, the violence of partition in which British India was divided into the then Dominion of Pakistan (later Pakistan and Bangladesh) and India was worse in Calcutta than in most parts of India. The Hindu-Muslim carnage, and the coinciding creation of the State of Israel in 1948, sent great numbers of Indian Jews into a migration West. The trend never reversed and in 2010 fewer than three dozen of Calcutta's over 12 million residents were Jewish.
The first Hebrew printing press in Calcutta was founded in 1840 by Eleazar b. Aaron Saadiah ʿIrāqī ha-Cohen and continued until 1856. A scholar and poet, ʿIrāqī was an expert printer who probably cast his own type. The products of his press, some of them his own writings, are comparable with the best European productions of the time. Another press, operated by Ezekiel b. Saliman Hanin from 1871 to 1893, printed the Judeo-Arabic weekly Mevasser in Hebrew type from 1873 to 1878. This paper was followed by Peraḥ (1878–88), printed from 1871 by Elijah b. Moses Duwayk ha-Cohen. Two further weeklies, Maggid Meisharim (1889–1900) and Shoshannah (1901), were edited and printed by R. Solomon Twena, author of almost 70 works published by his own press.
Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group.
All Rights Reserved.
I.A. Isaac, Short Account of the Calcutta Jews (1917); Ezra, in: South African Jewish Chronicle (Oct. 1929), 13–15; D.S. Sassoon, Ohel David, 2 (1932), 113 (Hebrew section); idem, in: JQR, 21 (1930/31), 89–150; idem, History of the Jews in Baghdad (1949), 209–16; A. Yaari, Ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Arẓot ha-Mizraḥ, 2 (1940), 9–51; Fischel, in: REJ, 123 (1964), 433–98 (Eng.); idem, in: PAAJR, 33 (1965), 1–20. F. Elias and J.E. Cooper The Jews of Calcutta, An Autobiography of a Community, 1798–1972 (1974); E.N. Musleah, On the Banks of the Ganga – the Sojourn of Jews in Calcutta (1975); M. Hyman, Jews of the Raj (1995). The Jerusalem Report.
Photo courtesy of HaChayim HaYehudim Jewish Photo Library (© Jono David Media) | <urn:uuid:c6ace84e-bc70-4527-a5ff-7f99a7b298a5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0004_0_03845.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393518.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949224 | 1,307 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Feature Article: Temperature and the Reef Aquarium
I know what you have to be thinking… An article about temperature. For Pete's sake, reef aquaria have been popular for at least 20 years in the U.S., and one would think we've got a handle on proper temperature values. Just keep the water temperature between 70° F and 80° F, right?
Now, imagine this scenario: One visits the doctor's office, and it is time to get your temperature taken. The nurse waves the thermometer in the air, and records the number. She has to be kidding - that's not representative of your temperature! But this is analogous, in some cases, to what we're doing when we simply make a water temperature measurement in an aquarium! Granted, the water temperature will be valid and truly represents the water at that particular spot and likely the temperature of most corals within the aquarium. However, there may be coral 'hot spots' if one is lighting the captive reef with high wattage lamps using pendent fixtures (especially those pendents made of aluminum and/or with a polished internal reflective surface). Not surprisingly, those corals most affected will be those directly under and closest to the lamp and they can be much warmer than the ambient water temperature indicates.
The implications are obvious. Coral bleaching could possibly occur in a few corals while the simply measured metric - water temperature - indicates conditions are within an acceptable range.
This article will convey the results of simple experiments and will combine this information with important results recently published in the respected journal Limnology and Oceanography. We will also briefly discuss observations made of pendent luminaire temperatures and how to potentially limit thermal transfer from the lamp to the aquarium.
A 100-gallon RubberMaid tub (holding 75 gallons of natural seawater) was maintained in a darkened, air-conditioned room. Two 400-watt metal halide lamps in pendent luminaires provided light to captive corals (mostly 'lobe coral' - Porites lobata - and Pavona varians). These corals were maintained for an experiment examining the effects of red light wavelengths on zooxanthellae. While checking different parameters for standardization, it was discovered that the two luminaires were operating at different temperatures. Not only that, but the corals directly beneath the one of the light fixtures appeared to be warmer (sometimes much warmer) than the water temperature.
This procedure utilized an infrared thermometer to monitor temperatures. While there was little doubt that temperatures measured on the luminaires were correct, there was some question about the ability of this device to accurately gage temperatures of objects submerged in water (albeit shallow water. Only 3 to 6 inches of water covered these corals. The bottom of the light fixture was another 6 inches or so above the water). This information (concerning temperature) was presented at the Washington DC MACNA. The testing protocol was questioned during the presentation.
Although I felt comfortable with the information, I decided to repeat the procedure. Two experiments were conducted - one experiment monitored coral and water temperatures with 'good' water motion, and the second focused on coral/water temps with 'reduced' water flow. Instead of using an infrared thermometer, I used two thermistors and a data logger from Spectrum Technologies. Holes just slightly larger than the outside diameter of the thermistor were drilled with a masonry bit into the bottom of thePorites corals. These holes extended to within an estimated 3-4 mm of the top coral surface. The thermistor fit snugly into the hole and measured temperature just below the porous tissue/skeletal interface of Porites corals. The corals rested on eggcrate material which conveniently allowed water circulation (provided by a 5-gallon Carlson Surge Device, or CSD) around, over and under the corals. It also allowed the thermistor wiring to remain under, and out of the way, during the experiment. The data logger was programmed to measure temperature and PAR every minute for the duration of the 3.0 - 3.5 hour experiments (this article will discuss only the temperature readings). Once everything was in place, the data logger began recording information and the 400 watt lamp was ignited a few minutes later. Temperatures were measured within the coral and immediately below it (in a shadow). Water temperature was also monitored with a calibrated mercury 'lab' thermometer. Accuracy of the two thermistors had previously been checked by placing the two sensors into a stirred and heated water bath and observing delta temperature across a broad range. The sensors' responses as displayed in the data logger LCD were compared to a calibrated laboratory thermometer. Both thermistors were in agreement with the 'lab' thermometer to within 0.1°C (0.18° F) from ~20°C to ~40ºC. Engineers at Spectrum approved the thermistors and cords for immersion in seawater for a period not to exceed ~24 hours.
Coral temperature rose more quickly than water temperature under the conditions of these experiments. Figure 1 charts the temperatures of the coral and water with 'good' water motion. Figure 2 demonstrates temperatures with 'reduced' discharges from the Carlson Surge Device.
It is apparent that the coral warmed more quickly than the water during the course of both experiments, and the temperature differed by as much as 1.6°C (2.88°F, with 'reduced' flow) and 0.8C (1.4°F, with 'good' flow). Note that, under the circumstances of these experiments, it was possible to modify only the periodicity of the CSD discharge, and not the velocity (which, of course, remains the same).
A digital water velocity meter recorded velocity at a maximum of 42 cm/sec (~17 in/sec) and a period of 30 seconds for 'good' flow and ~1.5 minutes periodicity for 'reduced' flow. The periodicity of the 'good' CSD discharge is approximately that seen on Hawaiian reefs on a calm day, but velocity is 3 times that experienced by corals under 'normal' conditions. It is not unreasonable to have anticipated that the coral temperature and water temperature would have remained the same - they did not.
This raises the question about the effects of solar warming on corals on natural reefs. Katharina Fabricius (a name familiar to serious hobbyists for her work with soft corals) reports in a 2006 article that corals can indeed become warmer than the surrounding water. Further, she reports that the color of the coral can determine how it absorbs irradiance and hence influence the magnitude of temperature gain. The implications of her work are staggering - seawater surface temperature has been the metric to determine thresholds of coral bleaching. Fabricius' work suggests that other factors are in play, and coral pigmentation could play an important role in determining if a coral survives an El Nino warming episode.
Luminaire Construction and Heat Transfer
Luminaire construction can make a profound difference in focusing of light and reflection of ultraviolet radiation and infrared radiation. This became very apparent during recent experiments. I used two pendent luminaires - one had a painted interior, and the other internal surface was polished aluminum. The polished aluminum, possibly along with minor differences in pendent construction geometry, reflected visible radiation at a much more efficient rate than the pendent with the white paint interior. Apparently, it also reflected infrared radiation at a much higher rate (as evidenced by higher temperatures of corals kept under it).
Clearly, this arena requires further research before we have a good understanding of thermal transfer from lamps to corals, and how we can avoid problems. For hobbyists, it is not possible to utilize an infrared thermometer in most cases and it is certainly impractical to use thermistors to monitor temperatures. At this point, the best we can do is look at those things we can do to minimize heat transfer to the aquarium. This leads us to a discussion of other things noted during this series of experiments.
The luminaire with the polished interior surface was not originally equipped with an acrylic 'splash guard.' This is unfortunate since no protection is afforded against lamp breakage due to thermal shocks caused by splashing water (it also allows potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation into the aquarium). The lens or splash guard will also absorb some infrared radiation. In order to standardize UV radiation (that is to say eliminate it) during the experiments, an appropriately sized lens was cut from a sheet of Lexan and installed on the luminaire.
With the chance of updraft through the lighting fixture eliminated by the installation of the lens, the temperature of the luminaire quickly rose and was as much as 97.7º C (209°F) at the top. This problem was overcome by simply drilling five ¼" holes in the lens and thus allowing airflow upwards through the luminaire and venting the hot air through the top. Figures 3 and 4 are representative of temperatures with a 'closed' and 'open' luminaire. Figure 3 shows the luminaire temperatures (°F) 'before' the holes were drilled and Figure 4 demonstrates °F 'after' the holes were drilled, and the resulting drop in luminaire temperature.
Perhaps the most dramatic observation was the superior efficiency of the polished aluminum surface as opposed to the luminaire with the internal surface painted white. The performance of the aluminum surface was great enough to allow dropping a full wattage level (i.e. 400-watt to 250-watt) and still get comparable light intensity. Imagine the reduction in the utility bill this 'watt shaving' could provide - all by simply choosing a lighting fixture with an efficient reflective surface.
These observations go well beyond a coral simply being a few degrees warmer than the ambient water temperature. It goes to the heart of one of the true challenges of maintaining a reef aquarium - that of expense. It is possible, under some circumstances, that proper selection of lighting equipment could in turn reduce or perhaps even eliminate the cost of purchasing and maintaining a water chilling device.
Ironically, in our attempts to create what we perceive as 'natural' and 'proper' conditions for symbiotic invertebrates, it is the use of high wattage lamps that potentially push the boundaries of corals' thermal tolerances and could spell the doom of those animals unfortunate enough to be within the luminaire's 'hot spot.'. The solution is, in some cases, not a chiller but an effective and efficient lighting fixture resulting in utilization of lower wattage lamps.
It should also be obvious that 'good' water motion can ameliorate coral temperature increases. This is a double-edge sword since submersible pumps can add heat to the aquarium water. By the same token, it is potentially possible that low velocity water motion resulting in poor flushing could result in temperatures higher than those noted here. However, it is not the intent of this article to either examine all scenarios in which temperature could become a critical factor or look at other available options for reducing aquarium temperature. The scope is to establish that corals can, under certain conditions, gain heat from lighting sources. Corals directly under high wattage (400 or 1000) should be monitored closely for signs of decreased pigmentation. What we once attributed to bleaching caused by high PAR values may actually be a result of a synergistic effect of the 'terrible 3': Light, heat and (if the lamp isn't shielded as it should be) UV radiation. However, it is possible that temperature alone could trigger a bleaching event.
Perhaps this article reflects the state of reef-keeping. We're focusing on minutiae - we have solved most major problems. But it is the little things that could make the difference in a thriving coral or a dead one, or potentially the difference between acceptable and outrageous monthly maintenance costs in the form of electrical utility bills. We can congratulate ourselves on the advances the hobby has made over the last two decades. By the same token, it reflects that we have a lot to learn.
- Fabricius, K., 2006. Effects of irradiance, flow, and colony pigmentation on the temperature microenvironment around corals: Implications for coral bleaching? Limnol. Oceanogr., 51(1): 30-37. | <urn:uuid:57d52751-4648-428e-b46f-263a9c1c2ebd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/2/aafeature2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00010-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9443 | 2,532 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Backyard Bird Count for 2006
Here is an excerpt from "The Great Backyard Bird Count for 2006":
The Great Backyard Bird Count for 2006 is coming up this weekend, February 17-20. The GBBC is one of several "citizen science" projects that are coordinated by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Like the Christmas Bird Count and mid-winter counts run by local birding clubs, the GBBC aims to establish bird population and distribution. What sets the GBBC apart is that this count provides a nationwide picture of bird populations over a single weekend, rather than the two-week period of the CBCs or the local picture of the mid-winter counts. The late February date places the GBBC at a time when most birds are on their wintering ground - after fall migration is done and before spring migration is taking off.
Technorati Tags: [Blue Ridge][Bird Count][Birds][Washington DC][Ornithology][Cornell][National Audubon Society] | <urn:uuid:ed45fd10-f281-4c5a-9f64-928ca94c5966> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blueridgegazette.blogspot.com/2006/02/backyard-bird-count-for-2006.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00185-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9347 | 213 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Software design tools can help simply the challenge of creating subharmonic mixers that provide the full advantages of their unique characteristics.
Subharmonic mixers are attractive for millimeter-wave systems, at frequencies where signal generation is expensive. Such mixers are often used in applications above 30 GHz, such as digital microwave radios, and even called upon in support of scientific applications working as high as 200 GHz. While the design of subharmonic mixers is relatively difficult, optimizing their performance can be greatly facilitated by the use of electronic-design-automation (EDA) tools. To illustrate how these tools can benefit the design process, a subharmonic mixer with an RF output of 28.1 GHz was created using the Ansoft Designer™ suite of software tools.
Subharmonic mixers benefit from the capability of working with a local-oscillator (LO) frequency that is a fraction of the frequency of incoming RF signals. For example, a system operating at 38 GHz with a second-subharmonic mixer requires an LO of only 19 GHz, which is considerably easier to design and less expensive to obtain than an LO operating closer to the nominal RF. To operate with even lower-frequency LOs, higher-order subharmonic mixers can also be used. In this same example, a fourth-subharmonic mixer would require an LO of only 9.5 GHz. Subharmonic mixers inherently provide 50-to-60-dB rejection of the even harmonics of the LO signal at the RF output, which reduces the amount of LO rejection (filtering) that must designed into in the circuit. A typical subharmonic mixer spectrum is shown in Fig. 1.
Although offering obvious cost benefits, subharmonic mixers have been traditionally difficult to design. They have inherent characteristics that must be accommodated in order to achieve the desired performance. For example, subharmonic mixers have higher conversion loss than their single- or double-balanced counterparts, and the higher-order spurious responses that they produce must be minimized. Nevertheless, through careful design aided by electromagnetic (EM) simulation, conversion loss can be controlled to only slightly more than that of balanced mixer designs, and their spurious responses can be well characterized, allowing the significant benefits of this type of mixer to be realized to their fullest.
Subharmonic mixers use an antiparallel diode pair to generate a nonlinear conductance waveform at twice the frequency of the LO signal. Since the LO frequency is one-half the RF, isolation between the RF and LO ports is simple to achieve. The matching of these diodes is essential for optimization of the circuit, since attenuation of even harmonics is determined in large measure by diode balance.
The higher-order spurious responses can be dealt with via nonlinear simulation in order to thoroughly characterize harmonic content and achieve accurate harmonic balance. Since the spectral location of the responses must be found, the harmonic-balance software engine can be set to address them. In order that all of these low-level harmonic responses are properly identified, the simulation software must have an extremely low noise floor.
A mixer for study was chosen to be on a 5-mil-thick alumina substrate, using a flip-chip-mounted diode pair and spiral inductors. Selecting the diodes requires an analysis of their responses as functions of voltage and other parameters. Such mixer diodes are widely available in surface-mount-technology (SMT) beam-lead, and flip-chip versions and, since they are obtained from adjacent sections of the wafer, their characteristics are generally quite well matched. SPICE parameters for such diodes are generally available from most manufacturers. Modeling data for all package types can be imported into the simulation software, parameterized if desired, and two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) layouts can be realized. For this example, SMT Schottky diodes from Skyworks Solutions (Woburn, MA) were selected, accompanied by SPICE parameters for modeling purposes.
Ansoft Designer makes it simple to create nonstandard components, in this case an antiparallel diode pair. While diode manufacturers generally supply five or six key parameters, only three characteristics—series resistance, junction voltage, and junction capacitance—have a substantial effect on diode balance, so the remainder of the parameters can be considered constant from diode to diode in the SPICE model. Each diode is given different value of each critical parameter so that the variations can illustrate their effect on reduction of the 2LO signal. Since the netlist is SPICE compatible, a custom diode can be built and any type of layout can be incorporated.
The arbitrary parameter sweep function within Ansoft Designer can be used to sweep the properties of diodes, and 3D visualization can be employed to show output power as a function of junction capacitance and series resistance (Fig. 2). A very simple circuit created in Ansoft Designer can be used for the analysis, and variables are set up for junction capacitance, series resistance, and forward voltage. The first diode uses these variables, and the accompanying diode in the pair can be characterized as a "percent difference" from the first. The percent difference in each parameter is then varied and plotted in both 2D and 3D formats.
The 3D plot in Fig. 2 clearly shows how output power varies with junction capacitance and series resistance. One axis is the junction capacitance and the other is series resistance and output power. The spike at the center of the output power is the precise point at which the diodes are perfectly balanced (and maximum rejection of even harmonics occurs). Performance drops off precipitously as series resistance and junction capacitance increase.
The upconverting subharmonic mixer configuration that was modeled in this article features an LO frequency of 14 GHz, RF output of 28 GHz, intermediate-frequency (IF) input of 100 MHz, a bandpass filter at the LO frequency, phased properly with the diode pair, output stubs for rejection at the LO and 3LO frequencies, a stub for rejection of 3LO frequencies at the input port, and an LC filter in the LO arm terminated at the RF arm in order to screen IF input signals.
Creation of several mixer components is aided by Ansoft Designer's Solver on Demand technology. This is a particularly important capability when creating microstrip coupled-line steps and transitions, which are traditionally limited to the tried-and-true shapes that have served designers for decades.
Ansoft Designer's embedded planar EM solver also aids creation of several mixer components. Using the unique Solver-on-Demand technology, engineers can directly define and model circuit components based on arbitrary geometries and insert these components into their larger networks. This allows engineers the freedom of utilizing novel, better-performing topologies without paying the price of uncertain model behavior. This is a particularly attractive feature when creating optimum performing microstrip coupled-line steps and transitions that traditionally are based on abrupt step changes due to modeling concerns.
Since abrupt steps are undesirable at high frequencies, a designer wishing to create a nonstandard topology normally must rely on a tedious trial-and-error process. In addition, the orientation step in the layout process can also be time-consuming. With the Solver-on-Demand technology, designers can quickly create custom shapes represented by accurate models, eliminating the need to rely on circuit equivalents. Solution caching in Ansoft Designer automatically embeds planar EM solutions for all instances of that Solver-on-Demand component in a network with the results of a single EM simulation, reducing the overall simulation time.
An edge-coupled filter provides an excellent example of this capability. A coupled-line filter always has a critical junction, the effect of which must be minimized usually through a step that often still results in an undesirable discontinuity. Since the Solver-On-Demand technology allows any type of component or model to be created, a custom taper can be used instead of a step.
By defining a microstrip coupled line with a custom width and separation that is layout compatible (allowing it to transition into the next section), the effect of this junction on performance can be significantly minimized. Since Ansoft Designer is netlist based, a circuit equivalent can be created that contains common components for faster analysis. This netlist fragment is part of the component definition. The netlist shows four step discontinuities with a coupled line in between to produce a multiple-line netlist for association with the component. The layout and netlist assigned to a component is shown in Fig. 3. The components were used for the design of an LO filter (Fig. 4).
Design of the stubs is also critical to ensure that the LO signal remains in the diodes and is not present in the output signal, which should be purely 2LO±RF. At the mixer input, the 3LO signal will tend to be reflected back and must be restricted, while at the output strong signals will exist at LO and 3LO, which must also be reflected back into the diode. The stubs for these frequencies allow the angle of reflection to be optimized.
Via-hole modeling is an important consideration in the stub design, and Ansoft Designer incorporates many 2D and 3D arbitrary-shaped via holes (Fig. 5). Its cosimulation capability allows custom via holes to be defined with no restrictions on layers or geometry. Spiral inductors on 5-mil alumina are used in this design, and while they have low quality factor (Q), any adverse effect is mitigated by the fact that higher-order products are handled by the stubs and filter.
After the stubs have been created, the circuit can be assembled with the stubs in the intended locations, along with the SMT or chip capacitor, diodes, LO filter, and grounded stub for the DC return (Fig. 6). Various basic performance measurements can then be performed, including output power versus LO input power, output power versus RF input power, output power versus frequency, and harmonic output. The harmonic output measurement reveals that even harmonics are not present, verifying that diode balance is excellent. A 3D plot of IF power versus length and width dimensions shows how varying these parameters affect circuit performance, a comparison that would be difficult to interpret in a 2D plot (Fig. 7).
Ansoft Designer allows the completed mixer to be inserted into another circuit or even a system-level circuit to provide accurate system simulation. The software's system tool automatically extracts the necessary parameters from the mixer circuit for use in the system simulation. | <urn:uuid:a632e1b9-8bbd-4f9c-b60f-7624b28f0f69> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mwrf.com/test-and-measurement/optimize-benefits-subharmonic-mixers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00146-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924022 | 2,183 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Universal National Service is a Tax, and a Bad One –Becker
Universal service usually means that young persons, say 18 year olds, can either be drafted into military service for a specified period, say a year or two, or instead they can work for a similar period in one among a number of qualifying occupations. In Germany qualifying occupations include menial jobs in hospitals or nursing homes, while France has qualified working overseas in a French company. This approach to service has been advocated mainly by persons who would like all young persons to serve in the military, but reluctantly recognize that this is impracticable because of the small size of the peacetime armed forces compared to the much larger number of young persons available.
In effect, such compulsory service is a tax on those serving that has many of the characteristics of a very bad tax. It is a tax in kind, on the time of young persons, rather than a tax on income, wealth, or spending. A tax in kind limits the ability of those taxed to respond by substituting toward a more efficient allocation of their resources. In-kind taxes also limit how governments can spend their tax receipts since these tax receipts are not general purchasing power. Universal service is also a narrow-based rather than a broad-based tax. Broad based taxes, such as a general value added tax on all transactions, are better because marginal tax rates, and hence the inefficiency caused by the tax, can be lower for a given level of receipts since the base being taxed is more extensive. By contrast, narrow taxes have high marginal rates for any given revenue, and hence generally distort behavior much more. In the case of service, young individuals who have much better opportunities in school or at jobs that do not qualify will be taxed heavily, as would young persons who greatly dislike spending all their time either in military service or at one of the recognized alternatives.
Narrow-based taxes often are enacted because of the weak political power of those being taxed compared to groups who benefit either directly or indirectly from such taxes. For there is no argument based on efficiency why young persons should be the primary suppliers of the resources needed to fund peacetime armed forces. The effects on efficiency would be better during a major war since then the social cost of the taxes needed to get enough young volunteers for the armed forces may exceed the social cost of a draft.
The logic of combining a military draft for young persons with an alternative of compulsory service at other occupations is questionable also on grounds other than being a bad tax. If greater employment at hospitals or other tasks has social value beyond the private value to those working there, it would be better to subsidize anyone who works at these tasks than to require young persons to work there. With subsidies, the general taxpayer would finance any desired greater output in these sectors rather than young persons doing their compulsory service. Furthermore, a subsidy would attract workers of all ages, and so would be much less socially costly than compulsory service applied only to a single age group.
As Posner indicates, one possible justification for compulsory universal service is the belief that it is good for young men (and women as well?) to serve with low pay in the military or other specified occupations. The argument might be that such service makes them better citizens, perhaps because they would then appreciate the hardships of the poor. (Does that mean that the poor should be exempt from this service?) Even accepting this argument, which I do not, compulsory service is a bad policy. A better way to achieve service with low pay would be to combine a ceiling on the earnings of young persons- the opposite of a minimum wage- with a subsidy to employers if they hired these persons at the desired occupations. This approach would have the advantage over compulsory service of allowing young men (and women) to avoid the military and other specified options if they had much-preferred alternatives even for the same pay. Although I have shown that compulsory service is partly equivalent to a ceiling on the earnings of young people, would politicians or anyone else who advocate compulsory service call explicitly for such a ceiling? I very much doubt it! | <urn:uuid:0f5da189-ceef-4422-a230-206e413744b4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2007/09/universal-national-service-is-a-tax-and-a-bad-one-%C3%A4%C3%ACbecker/comments/page/1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00095-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969116 | 830 | 2.953125 | 3 |
A long, long time ago after Odysseus AND HIS CREW HAD DEAFETED POLYPHEMUS LATLY AFTER THE TEN YEARS BATTLE OF THE TROJEN WAR. POSEIDON HAD PLANNED HIS REVENGE. HE WAS GOING TO MAKE a huge storm and blow Odysseus and his crew away to an unknown island with Catophemus, a terrifying beast!
The next day Odysseus and his crew were sailing in a mid-afternoon there was a huge storm which blew them away to a weird island. Early in the morning, Odysseus woke up and heard a terrifying roar! Odysseus and his men explored the island. It was coming towards night and Odysseus found a huge cave that they would spend the night in.
The next morning they saw a huge cat in front of them with 3 eyes, 3 sharp and pointy teeth, his claws were sharp and glistened in the sunlight. His fur was a dirty old orange colour with deep scars across his belly. Odysseus had realised that 10 of his men were missing the cat must of ate them. He drew his sword out and said
“I am Odysseus and I will defeat you!” he shouted. The cat tried to poison Odysseus with his glistening claws but Odysseus flung his sword in front of him to protect him. With 2 mighty blows of his sword the monster was killed.
Odysseus saved his men again . Poseidon was very angry with this and what he saw. | <urn:uuid:ae2a65ca-76a1-42ca-b492-637515bf5925> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://myths.e2bn.org/mythsandlegends/userstory19598-greek-adventure.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00186-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986985 | 338 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Physical Science, Radio, Electromagnetic Propagation, Electronics
$25 or less
None, unless soldering is done.
Available in kit form, or as components, such as from Radio Shack
Less than 1 hour
To demonstrate basic radio communications.
Note: Many moderately priced kits are available and come with all the necessary parts. These can be found online, at stores such as Radio Shack, hobby stores, and many other places. This is the recommended method for those with limited access to electronic components.
Also easily available online, from the library, etc. are dozens of circuit designs. Most are very similar and will give a specific parts list for that design. If the student chooses to make the receiver without a kit, additional research will be needed to buy or build the components for that particular circuit.
If built from components, the connections can be made by twisting bared wire together, or made more secure with solder. Actual connectors, solderless or soldered, may also be used.
In general, a crystal radio consists of:
- Coil of wire (a cardboard tube and fine gauge wire can be used)
- Capacitor, sometimes variable (tunable)
- Extra wire to make connections
- Length of wire for the antenna (the longer, the better)
The basic radio circuit consists of a tuned circuit, in which a coil and a capacitor resonate at a particular frequency. A diode acts as a rectifier to change the AC current of the radio wave to the DC current used by the earphone.
Dozens of possible crystal radio circuits are easily available. The student will select one of these and use that circuit diagram, plus the assembled radio, for illustration. If the recommended method of using a kit is chosen, the kit will almost certainly come with its own circuit diagram. Note that with so many different kits and possible circuits, the student may wish to build more than one crystal radio and compare them.
Optional drawings could include those of radio wave propagation, frequency vs. wavelength, antenna construction, etc.
- What is a radio wave?
- How are frequency and wavelength related?
- What is a tuned circuit?
- What is the function of a diode in a simple crystal radio circuit?
- Why is “grounding” so important for a crystal radio?
- frequency: the number of cycles per second
- wavelength: the distance the wave travels from one peak to the next peak
- inductor: usually, a coil of wire
- capacitor: an electronic device that can store an electric charge, and can also pass an AC signal while blocking a DC signal
- detector: a diode rectifier
The electromagnetic spectrum is measured in frequency (cycles per second, or hertz) and in wavelength. The higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength. “Bands” of frequencies have different characteristics.
Questions to Start Background Research
- What is electromagnetic propagation?
- What is AM, and what is FM?
- How does a tuned circuit work?
- How does an antenna work?
- Gather the materials (depending on the design used)
- Build each of the components (if necessary)
- Assemble the components | <urn:uuid:5fda14ca-8369-4e46-b745-8628c67c3af6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.education.com/science-fair/article/build-basic-radio/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396224.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00045-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914054 | 666 | 4.0625 | 4 |
In this article we move on to syllables. The concept of syllables becomes especially important while writing metered poetry. A meter of a poetry is the number of lines in each line of the poem. All the lines of a metered poetry generally have the same meter.
We speak little chunks of sound called syllables. In my column 'Poetry Tool-kit' I gave a very technical definition of syllables and left it at that, but judging from the crux of the mails I got I realized that though many people understood what a syllable meant they ran into difficulties while breaking a word into syllables. So this column mainly deals with syllables, their use, recognition, significance and forms or types.
A syllable is a sound. Generally a sound ends with a vowel. Consider 'ta', 'ru', 'di', 'po', 'fe'. The only exception to this is the letter 'y', which also acts similar to a vowel when forming a sound. 'dy' is still a single sound. For the purpose of this column, whenever I say vowel, I include 'y' as one of the acting vowels for the purposes of this column.
There are two methods I like, of breaking a word into syllables. Here, I am going to discuss both of them in some detail. Before venturing in writing form poetry, it becomes extremely important to understand syllables completely, so I hope you will pay extra attention to this week's column. If you any doubts, don't hesitate to mail them to me or post them on the forum.
Now pick any word. Pick a long word, so that we have a few syllables to play around with. Lets say IndiaNest.
Say the word aloud and break it into individual sounds in the way you say it. This is an intuitive way of doing it and everyone may not get it at first try. Carefully and slowly say it out aloud. Halt at end sound and write it down if you want or count them on your fingers if you prefer. Here is how I say it.
In | dia | nest
Which makes it a three syllable word.
This method takes a little more time, but it is much easier once you get the hang of it.
Here I would like to introduce the concept of vowel islands. A vowel island is a string of alphabets ending with a vowel. If there are more than one vowel occurring consecutively, it comes under the same island. Now break the word into vowel islands.
In our word IndiaNest the first vowel island would be I the second would be dia and the third ne ' I | ndia | ne
Again coming to 3 syllables.
The string of consonants at the end is called a consonant island. We don't count consonant islands while counting syllables as they depend on a vowel island to complete their sound.
Note here that if a vowel is silent or unpronounced in a word we don't count as an island. For example, take the word lane. Though technically speaking it has two vowel islands, since the last 'e' is unpronounced it is discarded, so lane remains a single syllable word. Similarly, Jane, tame, fame and so on. This generally occurs only when there is an 'e' at the end.
Lets consider a few more examples
En | joy | ment ' 3 syllables
E | njoy | me ' vowel islands
Nt -' consonant island
Method 1 ' eu | pho | ria ' 3 syllables
Method 2 ' eu | pho | ria ' 3 syllables
Try out a few words in whichever method you prefer and check your answers with the dictionary. Though there are online resources available to help you find the number of syllables in a word, it is much easier if you know it yourself. Over time it becomes as intuitive as the spelling of the word itself and your poetic flow will not interrupted by constant verification.
Now let me introduce the concept of open and closed syllable here.
Listen to this word 'do'. Say it aloud. Do you hear a vowel or consonant sound at the end? This is a open syllable because there is no consonant closing the syllable at the end of the word. Think of our vowel islands. Each of them is a open syllable. Of course 'y' is not a vowel here. That was only for the purpose of identifying h syllables.
Now listen to the word 'dot'. It is a closed syllable, as there is a consonant binding the syllable as the end.
Now listen ot the word 'lane' do you hear a vowel sound or a consonant sound? You hear a consonant sound making you think it is a closed syllable but look at the written word, the 'e' at the end says it is an open syllable.
It can be a little confusing in the beginning but with time it gets easy.
Syllables can stressed or unstressed. Also known as strong or weak syllables, I prefer to think of them as harsh and soft syllables.
In a stressed syllable, that syllable is spoken strongly and most often than not louder than the second syllable. Re-TURN, WAG-on, NUM-ber, PIC-ture and so on. Close your ryes and say them aloud, you will be able to judge the strong syllables. Strong syllables are generally closed syllables, though just being a closed syllable doesn't make them strong ones. It all lies in the way it is pronounced.
Now look at the re part of re-TURN. It is a weal syllable, meaning it is unstressed when spoken and spoken with a soft or neutral sound. In a strong syllable the vowel is strong, and in a weak syllable the vowel is weak and neutral, i.e., the schwa sound
Iambic meter poetry is a form of poetry in which the strong and weak syllables alternate making the word sound kind of sing-song when read aloud. May poets like Shelley, Keats and Shakespeare used a lot of iambic meter in their poetry.
The following part taken from Shelley's Ode to The West Wind is an example of an iambic poetry. It is a terza rima written in iambic pentameter
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odors plain and hill:
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh, hear!
I hope I have made the concept of syllables clear enough. If you have any doubts, post me a comment.
Till next week, have a great creatively fulfilling week.
Image (c) Gettyimages.com | <urn:uuid:3a755e84-37ef-4f89-8db2-2bac7fa561df> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=KnowledgeZone&KnowledgeZoneID=7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00016-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935402 | 1,550 | 3.625 | 4 |
4. Any solid spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectile of lead or iron, to be discharged from a firearm; as, a cannon ball; a rife ball; often used collectively; as, powder and ball. Spherical balls for the smaller firearms are commonly called bullets.
9. The globe or earth. Move round the dark terrestrial ball. (Addison) ball and Socket Joint, a joint in which a ball moves within a socket, so as to admit of motion in every direction within certain limits. Ball bearings, a mechanical device for lessening the friction of axle bearings by means of small loose metal balls. Ball cartridge, a cartridge containing a ball, as distinguished from a blank cartridge, containing only powder. Ball cock, a faucet or valve which is opened or closed by the fall or rise of a ball floating in water at the end of a lever. Ball gudgeon, a pivot of a spherical form, which permits lateral deflection of the arbor or shaft, while retaining the pivot in its socket. Knight. Ball lever, the lever used in a ball cock. Ball of the eye, the eye itself, as distinguished from its lids and socket; formerly, the pupil of the eye. Ball valve, a sort of iron ore, found in loose masses of a globular form, containing sparkling particles. Three balls, or three golden balls, a pawnbroker's sign or shop.
Synonym: see globe. | <urn:uuid:0a0919dc-90cb-452e-a746-ea08b1ce41f2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.biology-online.org/bodict/index.php?title=Ball&oldid=4562 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00039-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917234 | 298 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Pressure with Height
pressure decreases with increasing altitude
The pressure at any level in the atmosphere
may be interpreted
as the total weight of the air above a unit area at any elevation. At
higher elevations, there are fewer air molecules
above a given surface than a similar surface at lower levels.
For example, there are fewer molecules above
the 50 km surface than are found above the 12 km surface,
which is why the pressure is less at 50 km.
What this implies is that atmospheric pressure decreases
with increasing height.
Since most of the atmosphere's molecules are held close to the earth's
surface by the force of gravity, air pressure decreases
rapidly at first, then more slowly at higher levels.
Since more than half of the atmosphere's molecules
are located below an altitude
of 5.5 km, atmospheric pressure decreases roughly
50% (to around 500 mb) within the lowest 5.5 km.
Above 5.5 km, the pressure continues to decrease but at an increasingly | <urn:uuid:a3047091-2349-48bf-8a3c-7eb01c20e8b2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/prs/hght.rxml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00104-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906137 | 213 | 3.578125 | 4 |
The German Romantic movement that inspired him was a national cultural renaissance as important and significant as any of the developments to come out of England or France in the early 19th century, but it wasn't the product of a single country. The Germany of Schumann's birth in 1810 was a collection of independent puppet states loyal to Napoleon, either out of political expedience or military duress. After the Congress of Vienna redrew its map in 1815, the German Confederation remained a loose-knit alliance of northern Lutheran kingdoms and southern Papal bishoprics. But out of a shared mindset, it created a single nationalist brand of Romanticism guided partly by reason and newfound respect for individual rights; a little more by the medieval superstitions of the populace; and more still by deep-running sentiment for German unification. Its greatest flowering was in philosophical, literary and musical thought. While Georg Hegel mapped out his dialectical formula of human progress, Joseph von Schelling laid out a philosophy of the senses that inspired Englishmen like Wordsworth and Coleridge. While Karl Gauss expanded the tools of mathematics for later generations of scientists, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm whetted the national appetite for mythical tales; Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano gathered material for Des Knaben Wunderhorn; and polymath Ernst Theodor Wilhelm (later Amadeus) Hoffmann split his time between music, botany and fantastic lore. While Beethoven was producing the cerebral works of his final period in total deafness, Carl Maria von Weber was busy linking music with patriotism for a hungry national audience. His opera Der Freischütz was first performed on June 18, 1821 (the anniversary of Waterloo) and was Germany's militant answer to the popular Italian-French tradition of Gioachino Rossini and Gaspare Spontini. Schumann had hoped to begin studies with Weber, but the composer's death in June, 1826 at age 39 deprived the young Saxon of a mentor and must have confirmed the perception that good Romantics die young.
In 1834, Schumann co-founded the progressive journal Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik with colleagues and fellow pianists Julius Knorr, Ludwig Schunke and Friedrich Wieck. Good Romantics the lot, they were on a mission from Apollo to promote intellectual seriousness in music and carry on Weber's quest to make war on the shallow and backwards influences of the day. High on their hit list were the villainous Rossini, salon music and the empty showmanship of virtuoso instrumentalists. Chopin, they admired as much for the national spirit in his music as for the imagination of his keyboard technique; Schumann had already written, in 1831, his famous rave over Poland's native son: "Hats off, gentlemen. A genius!" Liszt, on the other hand, was more of a borderline case.
Schumann and his circle of friends wrote fiery and flowery essays under fanciful bylines, some taken from characters in Richter's stories. Schumann himself used the bipolar pen names of "Florestan" and "Eusebius," representing the stormy and gentle sides of his personality. Felix Mendelssohn went by "Felix Meritis." Hungarian pianist Stephen Heller was "Jeanquirit." Schumann's pupil and future wife, Clara Wieck, wrote under the guises of "Chiara," "Chiarina" and "Zilia." The sobriquet "Meister Raro" has been attributed both to Friedrich Wieck (Clara's father) and to Robert Schumann, and it seems to borrow syllables from "Clara" and "Robert."
Their loose society, of which Schumann was the moral leader, called itself the Davidsbund or "League of David" because its members saw themselves in the righteous role of the Biblical David fighting the banal Philistines of art and music. Collectively, they were Davidsbündler. To be fair, the ancient Philistines were probably no more evil than any other Bronze Age society and owed their tarnished reputation principally to having been vanquished by the Israelites, who got the privilege of writing the book on them. The new musical Davids fully intended to follow suit. In any case, the Davidsbündler long anticipated English literary critic Matthew Arnold's "coinage" of the term philistine as pertaining to enemies of art and culture.
Schumann immortalized his associates in his piano fantasies Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, and Carnaval,
Op. 9, in which he wrote descriptive character pieces portraying the individual Bündler as well as caricatures
of celebrities of his time like Chopin and Paganini.
If the Davidsbündler movement was influential, it was probably no more so than in anointing as its spiritual heir (or at least calling early attention to) Johannes Brahms, who in turn anointed Antonín Dvorák as his own heir. Ultimately, as happens with well-intentioned revolutions, their "progressive" movement would come to be associated with arch-conservativism. In her later years, Clara Schumann held Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner in open contempt. Brahms, her lifelong friend, was eventually cast as upholder of the classical tradition after Beethoven (the dead icon, not the living revolutionary). In their frontal assault on the hoary Philistines and later (after Schumann's death) their strategic defense against the Wagnerite progressives, the Davidsbündler tried to establish theirs as the dominant musical voice of the time by distinguishing themselves from the others. In retrospect, the distinctions look insignificant compared to what followed in the 20th-century, and ultimately the Romantic era was big enough to hold Beethoven, Schubert, Rossini, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Liszt, Wagner, Verdi and Tchaikovsky.
It may be that the Davidsbündler have left us a more pernicious legacy -- one that erects barriers, encourages
closed minds and promotes internecine hostility or outright declarations of war between musicians. It's true there
were musical rivalries and revolts before the 19th-century Davids hurled their first stones at the lumbering Goliaths
of their day. Handel against Gluck. Rameau against Lully. Beethoven against everyone. But something was unleashed
when the Neue Zeitschrift first went to press, and the venom hasn't stopped spilling. It continued in the ugly
exchanges between the rival Brahms and Wagner camps and possibly in the riots that greeted new works early in the
20th-century. We may still hear its echo in the factionalism of neo-classicism versus serialism, serialism versus
minimalism, uptownism versus downtownism or even in the posthumous, post-Soviet accusations flying around over
Dissident Shostakovich versus Fireman Shostakovich. The Davidsbündler erected monuments to gods, created new
myths out of old ones (Schumann wrote that Brahms came into the world like Minerva in full armor from Jupiter's
brow) and declared a state of war in the music world. It's fun to write about musical warfare. There's drama
without the nuisance of a body count. But that thinking neglects the longer perspective, that despite the rivalries
and militating and segregation between musics, eventually they somehow dovetail to define the era they share and
trace an arc of history and cultural evolution that makes benign sense to later generations. In music, "Make Love,
Not War" isn't a bad motto.
It's not obvious why pseudonyms were popular with the Davidsbündler or why they were only used for writing critical essays but not for writing music. Brahms (who did not write critiques) did publish some early musical works under the name of "G.W. Marks." The anti-Brahms, pro-Wagner music critic George Bernard Shaw wrote his scorchers with the whimsical byline "Corno di Bassetto." In contrary with respect to the Davidsbündler, the British composer and critic Philip Heseltine wrote criticism under his real name and applied colorful pen names to all his musical works. He was best known as "Peter Warlock" but also went by "Prosdocimus de Beldamandis, Junior" (after a medieval doctor of music and mathematics), "Rab Noolas" (that's "Saloon Bar" spelled backwards) and Huanebango Z. Palimpsest. It seems that people who use pen names share a sense of humor. In the case of Heseltine, his multiple identities have always fueled the Romantic notion that he had a schizophrenic disorder and that his suicide by gassing in 1930 was the murder of the gentle Heseltine by the spiteful Warlock side of his personality. Like Schumann, Heseltine suffered from depression (possibly from bipolar disorder). The rest is speculation.
I began using a pen name in 1983 after my first professional article came out with my real name misspelled. I think I was attracted to an alternate identity for various reasons. Maybe it was because I grew up watching Clark Kent and Superman on TV as a kid. Maybe because I knew that almost nobody reads bylines and in any event, my readership wouldn't know the real me from Jack-in-the-Box. Or maybe because I could use a pen name to say something about myself, declare my intentions, tell a joke. My editor wouldn't let me use "Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum" because (a) I only had a Master's degree, not a PhD; and (b) it sounded too silly. So I hit on "David Bündler," and that's who I've been ever since. Contrary to first impression, it's not because I have any affinity for Schumann or his intentions. It just seemed like the perfect name for a music critic.
~ David Bündler
The Davidsbündler homepage
A brief history of the Davidsbündler
The Clara Schumann homepage | <urn:uuid:4f6411ab-2750-4551-815e-ce171dda53a1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.angelfire.com/music2/davidbundler/davidsbundler.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393518.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00154-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960544 | 2,135 | 3.984375 | 4 |
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This House Belives that wind power should be a primary focus of future energy supply.
This House Belives that wind power should be a primary focus of future energy supply.
Whether as a result of global warming or of the increasing cost of fossil fuels it is increasingly clear that alternative sources of energy are going to be required. Debate increasingly surrounds the appropriate mix of energy sources creating a balance of fossil fuels, renewables and nuclear power. The whole discussion about energy supply creates incredibly high tempers and is a miasma of fact, theory, speculation, assumption and prejudice. Wind power raises additional passions depending on whether or not the person concerned is going to be living within sight of the farms required to produce the energy, or of pylons used to transport it to the consumer.
Wind energy also creates divisions within the environmental movement itself. On one hand there are energy environmentalists or ‘light greens’ and conservation environmentalists or ‘dark greens’. Because wind turbines need to be built in remote areas or at sea, there are concerns, held by conservationists, about the impact that the turbines have on local wildlife and their habitat. Energy campaigners on the other hand tend to both reject the idea that the alleged impact is that significant and also suggest that the potential impact of climate change is a considerably greater threat to habitats.
There is a difficulty for Opposition in any debate on energy which is that there are simply so many alternatives. It makes it very difficult for Opposition to identify one alternative. By contrast, Proposition has the difficulty of tackling the fact that, inevitably, all forms of energy production have strengths and weaknesses and Prop has to be able to defend the weaknesses of one form against the strengths of all of the rest.
Key issues in this debate are the impact of wind farms, consistency of supply, are turbines as environmentally friendly as their supporters claim in terms of the CO2 impact of their construction, and the usefulness of the forms of energy wind can produce. Of all the renewables, wind is, in some ways, perhaps both the most established and certainly the most visible. As a result there is a huge amount of data available. In 2010 installed wind power represented about 195 giga-watts[i] or roughly 2 percent of energy output. Of course that ignores more direct use of wind energy such as sailing ships. It is worth mentioning briefly that all debates on energy have a tragic tendency to conflate the terms ‘energy’ and ‘electricity’. The two are different, or rather, electricity is a small component of energy. This allows proposition to widen the debate - or at least have a little fun.
|Points For||Points Against|
|Wind energy is an economic form of energy generation reducing both running costs and environmental harm||Wind energy is unreliable and provides only an irregular source of supply – and even then only in some countries|
|Wind energy provides a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels and nuclear power||Wind turbines represent a threat to the local wildlife habitat|
|Wind energy provides for price stability in the long-term, wind will be with us for the duration||The financial support required to further develop wind technology would be better deployed in more consistent processes such as geo-thermal and nuclear|
Remember to choose a winning argument!
Wind energy is an economic form of energy generation reducing both running costs and environmental harm
The installation costs of an entire wind farm are, admittedly, fairly high – although they pale into insignificance compared to an oil station or a nuclear plant – but after that there is almost no associated cost whatsoever. In addition to which farms can be built incrementally; a half completed wind farm is simply one that is half its original size for virtually any other form of power generation it’s an all or nothing proposition[i].
Furthermore, many experts agree that so-called micro-renewables will play an increasingly important role in the energy future of the planet and wind energy is the example par excellence of how this can be done; the most basic homemade windmill can power a generator and wind power predates electricity – offshore and on – by centuries.
The pro-wind lobby always dismisses the externalities of wind power when discussing it. No other form of power requires quite so much space to create so small an amount of energy, an average of between 22.4 and 34.5 hectares per MegaWatt.[i]
In some countries that may be an appropriate use of land but in many others it is simply a waste of space. It is interesting that those countries that have moved toward wind energy – Denmark, Spain, Germany, Portugal and Ireland – are all in Europe. Geographically small nations with economies that can support an interesting experiment and with an infrastructure that allows for diverse additions to their power supplies.
Wind is simply not a serious option for most of the world, it is a rich nation’s toy. In most nations, either where land is a premium or where development costs for the transition between technologies are prohibitive, wind cannot be the solution.
Wind energy provides a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels and nuclear power
There is little doubt that the current mix of energy provision is simply unsustainable. Fossil fuels are simply too damaging to the environment and nuclear is just too expensive. Wind power is an established technology providing, for example, 21% of electricity in Denmark.[i]
The research is already done and can be made available around the world.
Once externalities are taken into account nuclear energy is the single most expensive way of producing a therm. Clean coal is, frankly, a myth and the trend for oil and gas is constantly upwards in term of price.
Other renewables are embryonic technologies fraught with development costs whereas wind is an established technology already providing a significant share of the energy mix in several developed economies.
No renewable energy is going to provide the sheer quantity and variety of energy needed to power a developed society. Wind suffers from being unreliable – producing either too little or too much – and as a result would be a bad choice to be the core technology.
The basic staple of the energy supply needs to be predictable as well as clean. Wind may well have a useful role providing a surplus that can be tapped in to at times of high demand. However, it is simply not reliable enough to be the mainstay of the energy blend.
It is worth noting that wind energy requires government subsidies which is simply not viable in the long term, people are unlikely to be keen on the idea of paying for their energy twice; once through their power bill and then again in their taxes[i].
Wind energy provides for price stability in the long-term, wind will be with us for the duration
The critical, and increasing, issue of a reliance on fossil fuels is that the price is not only increasing but is doing so in an unpredictable manner. Oil and gas in particular are subject to the political whim of some of the world’s most unpredictable regimes. Wind, by contrast, is produced domestically or, where it is exported, is produced in stable European nations.
Given the choice between negotiating with Chavez’s Venezuela or Putin’s Russia for oil and gas or with Belgium or Germany for wind energy is really not a difficult choice.
Critically, in addition, any form of mineral-dependent energy is based on a resource that will deplete – be that coal or uranium. Wind, by contrast, is the ultimate sustainable resource.Improve this
The difficulty with wind energy is not whether it will be here in 500 years, it’s whether it will be here next Tuesday. Relying as a long term prospect on something so unreliable is simply building fallibility into the future.
A short term reliance on wind would be risky enough, building it in for the long term would be incredibly dangerous.
This is particularly true in countries where the weather is considerably less reliable that it is in Europe. Not only does wind face the risk of a shortfall but it also risks surges to the network at times of high wind. Denmark which pioneered wind energy in Europe, and remains the largest producer, is compelled to export much of that energy to Norway and Sweden because production frequently outstrips demand. That’s fine if one nation in the region is relying on the technology; if everyone is then the capacity simply isn’t there[i].
Wind energy is unreliable and provides only an irregular source of supply – and even then only in some countries
Wind will only ever be a useful additional technology to provide extra capacity at time of high demand. We know it to be both unreliable and unpredictable. We know that unreliable technologies are fraught with expensive difficulties. As a result relying on such a technology would be reckless.
To take one example, the only way of building in a capacity for wind into a regular energy network would require the construction of ‘battery capacity’ such as hydro-power. Developing such a capacity would be both hugely expensive and unreliable – it’s useful if the wind fails to blow for a few hours, if the doldrums last for a few days, then everything grinds to a halt.Improve this
Nobody disputes that any energy strategy will have to include a shift away from the way much of the developed world depends on energy. Clearly energy conservation must be part of the process, but so should micro-renewables. In both categories wind power is the best available option – cheap to build and easy for small scale energy users to use as an when they need it and when built in the right place is reliable, in the UK wind energy is generating 75-85% of the time.[i] Moreover any worries over reliability can be alleviated by building numerous wind farms over a wide area as the wind is always blowing somewhere.[ii]
Battery capacity is easier to build on a smaller scale and surplus can be exchanged internationally relatively easily. All power supplies require backup[iii]. Power outages apply just as much in the supposedly stable world of fossil fuels; surplus capacity is built into any system.
Wind turbines represent a threat to the local wildlife habitat
There are also indirect impacts on local populations of wildlife as a result of the disturbance caused to otherwise remote wildlife communities as a result of the construction and maintenance of wind power sites.
Wind farms impact on migratory routes as they need to be based in areas where there is little human habitation or activity. This is simply humans as a species taking over land which has been the preserve of other creatures which already have few enough areas to live in, away from the voracious implications of human consumption.
Experience teaches us that the natural environment responds to changes in human activity and rebalances itself. By contrast a shift in the entire climate, driven by human activity, would have devastating implications for all species. We know that migration routes can change over time and that, for example, bat colonies can move. However, a shift in climatic process would destroy migration patterns[i] and cause untold damage to wildlife populations.
Dealing with the effects of climate change is not just a responsibility that humanity needs to take on for itself but for all species on the planet. The tiny impact of individual wind farms on local populations is as nothing compared to the catastrophic implications of a significant and mostly unpredictable shift in the climate of the globe.
The financial support required to further develop wind technology would be better deployed in more consistent processes such as geo-thermal and nuclear
Realistically, there is a set pot of funding to deal with this energy crisis and it is essential to use on technologies that have long term benefits. Several environmentalists have talked about the difference between ‘bridge’ technologies which can provide a temporary solution and long term, sustainable technologies.
There is a broad agreement that nuclear fills the first category and geo-thermal and tidal powers fulfil the latter. Wind simply doesn’t feature.Improve this
Both tidal and geo-thermal are untried technologies and have significant environmental implications in their own right.
It also seems highly unlikely that deploying nuclear as a ‘bridge’ technology would be anything like that, certainly the history of energy production does not suggest that industries are likely to plan for their own extinction in favour of more environmentally sensitive technologies.
This is especially true of nuclear power; it simply is not a short-term technology as the reprocessing and containment schedules are enormous. A decision to use nuclear even for a matter of decades would have implications that would run for longer than the history of human civilization to date.
Wind, by contrast, is a developed technology that has no implications for future generations.Improve this
Curate this debate
If you are an academic or highly knowledgeable about a particular debate could you give an hour or two a month to curate a debate?
Be a debatabase editor
Idebate needs editors from around the world to check, moderate and create content for debatabase and the site more generally. Editors are vital in making the site run smoothly and ensuring that debates are as informative as possible. | <urn:uuid:9c70da75-2ceb-4921-81d5-cf9614725ddc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/environment-animal-welfare/house-belives-wind-power-should-be-primary-energy-supply | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00038-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9452 | 2,785 | 2.78125 | 3 |
March 15, 2013
Powerful Coronal Mass Ejection Erupts On Sun’s Earth-Facing Side
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online
A powerful solar eruption occurred on the surface of the sun at 2:54 a.m. (EDT) this morning. The eruption, called a coronal mass ejection (CME), occurred on the Earth-facing side of the sun and may have released billions of tons of solar particles into space racing their way toward Earth, potentially making impact within three days.Once particles from this CME event hit Earth, electrical systems in orbit, in the sky and on ground can be affected, with disruptions in service from such an event lasting anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.
NASA research models, based on observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and from ESA´s and NASA´s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), show that the CME left the sun at speeds in excess of 900 miles per second, a pretty good clip for CME standards. Historically, CMEs at this speed have in the past caused mild to moderate effects on Earth.
The models show that the CME may pass the Spitzer and Messenger spacecraft. NASA has alerted mission operators of both spacecraft about the impending storm of racing particles. However, only minor particle radiation is associated with this event, which could relieve stress from spacecraft operators who fear the effects of the storm of radiation could damage onboard electrical systems.
A CME is a solar phenomenon that can cause another type of space phenomenon known as a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when it connects with the outer edge of the Earth´s magnetic envelope, the magnetosphere. When this contact occurs for an extended time, it can cause havoc on systems that rely on the magnetic field of the planet.
NOAA´s Space Weather Prediction Center is the US´s official source for forecasting space weather and issuing alerts and warnings of potential damaging solar storms.
NOAA and NASA said updates will follow if needed. | <urn:uuid:93e407ae-0fdc-490d-8a96-6129f6c83b2c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112804345/coronal-mass-ejection-erupts-solar-particles-earthbound-031513/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92362 | 427 | 3.625 | 4 |
[True or False]
"You become a member of the Deaf Community simply by losing your hearing?"
In regards to a culture test she recently took,
a student (Karen) wrote:
<<My sister and her friend, who are
both hoh [hard of hearing], answered TRUE when I asked them how they'd answer
that question. I answered, "FALSE." My reason for answering false was because it seems to me that
someone has to make an effort to be involved in the community...although
they're still "in" the community, aren't they? What is the reason?">>
Let me suggest a comparison: Suppose I buy myself a fast car and sit in it.
Am I now a member of the "racing community?"
Your answer "false" was correct (in my opinion). Let's analyze it a
bit and see what we can come up with.
We need to look at
According to my American Heritage Dictionary:
"The process by which the culture of a particular society is instilled in a
A person who has recently lost his (or her) hearing has not yet gone
through the acculturation process. You become a member of the Deaf Community
when the culture of the Deaf Community has been instilled within you. The
day after a person "loses his hearing," he still has the culture of a
hearing person. He tends to be angry or depressed about the "loss." He
doesn't know ASL yet. He doesn't yet subscribe to Deaf newsletters or have
bookmarks for "vlogs." His TV
doesn't have close captioning (if it is an older model) or it is not
turned on. He is still a member of a Hearing social club or church
congregation. He doesn't have the relay number memorized or at least on
speed dial. He doesn't own (dedicated) video phone (or in the "old days" a
"TTY.") Most if not all of his friends are Hearing. Given a choice he would
take his hearing back instantly. Even though his ears are deaf--he is still
hearing in his mind.
Such a person is not (yet) a member of the Deaf
is a member of the Hearing World who happens to not be able to hear. Given enough time and
opportunity he might very well become Deaf in mind and in heart as well as
in his ears. He can change. He can learn ASL. He can form new friendships
with Deaf people. He can tie into the community. He might even marry a Deaf
lady and give birth to deaf children. Thirty years later, if offered a magic
pill that "cures" deafness--there is a strong chance he would turn it down. | <urn:uuid:a1f866a3-a09e-48a2-9f2c-93e2b1760074> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.asluniversity.com/asl101/pages-layout/culture2.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00136-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985287 | 591 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Reducing harmonics with IEEE 519 practices, procedures
Technology Update: Industrial facilities should include a system evaluation, including a harmonic distortion analysis, while planning facility construction or expansion. Vendors of nonlinear loads, such as variable frequency drives, can provide services and recommend equipment that will reduce harmonics to comply with IEEE 519.
With increased use of nonlinear loads, power supply harmonics are more noticeable than ever. Controlling and monitoring industrial system designs and their effects on utility distribution systems are potential problems for the industrial consumer, who is responsible for complying with the IEEE 519 recommended practices and procedures. Industrial facilities should include a system evaluation, including a harmonic distortion analysis, while planning facility construction or expansion. Vendors of nonlinear loads, such as variable frequency drives, can provide services and recommend equipment that will reduce harmonics to comply with IEEE 519 guidelines.
Generally, at any point of common coupling (PCC), the measured value of total harmonic voltage distortion should not exceed 5% and that of any individual harmonic voltage distortion should not exceed 3% of the fundamental value of the line voltage. Normally, in typical applications, the harmonics are measured up to 25th order, but in critical applications, those are measured up to 50th or 100th order.
There are many harmonic mitigation methods available for individual applications (for example, per drive) and for "global mitigation" (such as a common harmonic mitigation solution for a group of nonlinear equipment). A particular type of harmonic mitigation solution can be used depending upon the application and desired level of attenuation to meet the limits given in IEEE 519.
Control of harmonics, IEEE 519-1992 Guidelines
IEEE 519 was initially introduced in 1981 as an "IEEE Guide for Harmonic Control and Reactive Compensation of Static Power Converters." It originally established levels of voltage distortion acceptable to the distribution system for individual nonlinear loads. With the rising usage of industrial nonlinear loads, such as variable frequency drives, it became necessary to revise the standard.
The IEEE working groups of the Power Engineering Society and the Industrial Applications Society prepared recommended guidelines for power quality that the utility must supply and the industrial user can inject back onto the power distribution system. The revised standard was issued on April 12, 1993, updating the 1992 version of IEEE 519 that established recommended guidelines for harmonic voltages on the utility distribution system as well as harmonic currents within the industrial distribution system. According to the standard, the industrial system is responsible for controlling the harmonic currents created in the industrial workplace. Since harmonic currents reflected through distribution system impedances generate harmonic voltages on the utility distribution systems, the standard proposes guidelines based on industrial distribution system design.
In 2004, an IEEE working group named "519 Revision Task Force (PES/T&D Harmonics WG)" was created to revise the 1992 version of IEEE 519 (Recommended Practices and Requirements for Harmonic Control in Electric Power Systems) and develop an application guide IEEE 519.1 (Guide for Applying Harmonic Limits on Power Systems). A revision to IEEE 519 includes the changes based on the significant experience gained in the last 20 years with regard to power system harmonics, their effects on power equipment, and how they should be limited. In addition, this document contains certain material dedicated to the harmonization of IEEE and other international standards where possible.
The application guide IEEE 519.1 contains significant rationale for and numerous example scenarios of the limits recommended in IEEE 519 and provides procedures for controlling harmonics on the power system along with recommended limits for customer harmonic injection and overall power system harmonic levels.
Both documents, revised IEEE 519 and the application guide IEEE 519.1, are considered complementary.
Evaluation of system harmonics
To prevent or correct harmonic problems that could occur within an industrial facility, an evaluation of system harmonics should be performed if:
- A plant is expanded and significant nonlinear loads are added
- Power factor correction capacitor banks or line harmonic filters are added at the service entrance or in the vicinity
- A generator is added in the plant as an alternate stand-by power source
- The utility company imposes more restrictive harmonic injection limits to the plant.
Often, the vendor or supplier of nonlinear load equipment, such as variable frequency drives, evaluates the effects that the equipment may have on the distribution system. This usually involves details related to the distribution system design and impedances, similar to performing a short circuit study evaluation.
[This article online, below, explains various harmonic mitigation methods and provides 7 more online figures for connections of passive harmonic filter, 12 pulse converter front end, 18 pulse converter front end, active filter, and active front end, along with a values table of harmonics corrections for different types of front ends.] | <urn:uuid:18bc00d8-408a-40a4-b8e5-cdcc36dc1902> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.controleng.com/single-article/reducing-harmonics-with-ieee-519-practices-procedures/5cd1abb5097c4542f65d51bf79e316b1.html?OCVALIDATE= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00101-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915128 | 971 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Before we can change human behavior, we need to understand the human. Our recent research on sanitation successes in developing countries shows the sector needs a different way of thinking.
We know that about 68 percent of the world’s population has access to improved sanitation facilities, from a low of 7 percent in South Sudan to 100 percent in developed countries, according to the World Bank. But we don’t know how many people actually use these toilets, or whether they use them hygienically. And the little evidence that we do have suggests that many people don’t use a toilet even when one is available.
It seems obvious that toilets must be used to be effective. But only about 5 percent of the 180 studies and reports we found even reported on latrine use.
It seems obvious that toilets and latrines must be used to be effective in keeping feces out of the environment and preventing the spread of disease. But only about 5 percent of the 180 studies and reports we found even reported on latrine use. And when they did, it was usually reported at the household rather than individual level.
If we can learn why and how people use toilets, then we can think about improving the user experience, and thus increase hygienic use. The research we found suggests that regular, hygienic latrine use depends on these factors:
Differences within households
Surveys often assume one household respondent’s answer represents the activities of the whole household. But one study in India found that more than 40 percent of households with a working latrine have at least one member who defecates in the open (Coffey, et al., 2014).
Men or women
One study in Ethiopia showed differences between use by men, women, girls, and boys (Fry, et al., 2013). In India, women are more likely to use latrines than men (Odhiambo, 2015).
Young or old
Use of toilets by children and disposal of children’s feces is a particular area of concern. Many mothers believe children’s feces are harmless (Kathuni, 2015), and practice unsafe disposal even in households with access to improved sanitation facilities (Majorin, et al., 2014). For example, in Cambodia, only 20 percent of children’s feces were disposed of in an improved sanitation facility, according to the 2010 Demographic and Health Survey (Miller-Petrie, Voigt, McLennan, Cairncross, & Jenkins, 2015).
In fact, children’s feces may be more likely than adult’s to be contaminated with pathogens that cause diarrhea (Majorin, et al., 2014). Burying of child feces is especially common in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Disposal of child feces with garbage (e.g., in a diaper) is widely practiced in middle- and high-income countries and is becoming increasingly common in urban areas of low-income countries. An expert consultation on the safety of these two child feces disposal methods found almost unanimous agreement these should be considered neither safe nor improved (Bain & Luyendijk, 2015).
Where you go
Another study in Ethiopia found a distinct difference between how people use latrines at home and away from home. About 33 percent of adults practiced open defecation while based at home, but 77 percent practiced open defecation at a workplace (Tincani, Ross, Mujica, McIntosh, & Burr, 2015).
Religion and culture
Several studies have found that providing toilets does not ensure use when there are significant and culturally ingrained behavioral barriers to using latrines (Routray, Schmidt, Boisson, Clasen, & Jenkins, 2005). In yet another study in Ethiopia, cultural and religious reasons were given for why households did not have hand-washing facilities at the latrines (Tyndale-Biscoe, Bond, & Kidd, 2013).
Studies found that providing toilets does not ensure use when there are culturally ingrained behavioral barriers to using them.
In India, a survey of around 3200 households found that having a household latrine is widely seen to damage the purity of the home. Most Hindus are opposed to emptying their own latrine pits (Coffey, et al., 2014; Odhiambo, 2015). People from the lowest “untouchable” castes resist emptying latrine pits because this work is widely seen as degrading and reinforces their low social status (Coffey, et al., 2015). These factors can lead rural Indians to build latrines with very large pits that require emptying infrequently, if at all. In Nigeria, men might not want to share latrines with women and excretion is considered to compromise the purity of those with Voodoo powers (WaterAid, 2011). In parts of Eastern Africa, myths hold that men do not defecate, and that in-laws should not use the same site for defecation (Murigi, Stevens, Mwanzi, & Pasteur, 2015).
Dry or wet
In the Middle East, sanitation is primarily water-based; in the Jordan Valley, 97 percent of households – including the poorest – have installed their own pour-flush latrines. Dry sanitation would not be acceptable in this environment, or many other primarily Muslim settings (SANDEC, 2000). Customs and beliefs that have been enshrined in tribal life and societies of most West African countries affect technology choice, hygiene behaviors and the general institutional set up of actors (Awuah, 2009). WaterAid Nigeria found that “a low-quality toilet is an embarrassment for the family.” Instead, “people have a strong desire for an ‘ideal’ water-based toilet”, because it is easily cleaned, connected to modern urban life and aesthetically pleasing. But a water-based toilet is often too expensive, costing between 44 percent and 77 percent of an average family’s annual income.
Wiping vs. washing
Another reason why building toilets is not enough to lead to hygienic use is how people clean themselves after defecation. Some people wipe using paper or some other substance. Other people wash, using water and their hand. Thus, not only is a water supply is needed for cleaning and handwashing; but also possibly for flushing, anal cleansing (Tyndale-Biscoe, Bond, & Kidd, 2013) (Rosensweig, Perez, & Robinson, 2012).
Given the many human factors to consider when coming up with sanitation options that people can and will use, we need a new way of thinking. Design thinking combined with using the science of behavior change might be better ways forward than any infrastructure-focused approach.
Awuah, E. (2009). Sustainable Sanitation and Hygiene Delivery in West Africa. West Africa Regional Sanitaion & Hygiene Symposium. Accra, Ghana.
Bain, R., & Luyendijk, R. (2015). Are burial or disposal with garbage safe forms of child faeces disposal? An expert consultation. Waterlines, 34(3).
Coffey, D., Gupta, A., Hathi, P., Khurana, N., Srivastav, N., Vyas, S., & Spears, D. (2014). Open Defecation: Evidence from a New Survey in Rural North India. xlix(38).
Coffey, D., Gupta, A., Hathi, P., Spears, D., Srivastav, N., & Vyas, S. (2015). Culture and the health transition: Understanding sanitation behaviour in rural north India. International Growth Centre.
Colin, J. (2009). Sustainability and equity aspects of total sanitation programmes: A study of recent WaterAid-supported programmes in Bangladesh. WaterAid.
Ecopsis. (2013). Evaluation of the WASH Sector Strategy “Community Approaches to Total Sanitation” Sierra Leone FINAL VERSION (CATS). UNICEF.
Evans, B., Colin, J., Jones, H., & Robinson, A. (2009). Sustainability and equity aspects of total sanitation programmes: A study of recent WaterAid-supported programmes. Global Synthesis Report. WaterAid.
Fry, D., Freeman, M., Abaire, B., Feyisa, Y., Mideksa, D., Cunliffe, K., & Ambelu, A. (2013). Sustained Use, Utilization, and Diffusion of the Arborloo in Rural Ethiopia. Millennium Water Alliance Ethiopia Program.
Hanchett, S., Khan, M., Krieger, L., & Kullmann, C. (2011). Sustainability of sanitation in rural Bangladesh. Loughborough UK: 35th WEDC International Conference.
Hanchett, S., Krieger, L., Kahn, M., Kullmann, C., & Ahmed, R. (2011). Long-Term Sustainability of Improved Sanitation in Rural Bangladesh. WSP.
Kathuni, S. (2015, July 21). Sanitation Resolution Interview. (S. Davis, Interviewer)
Majorin, F., Freeman, M., Barnard, S., Routray, P., Boisson, S., & et al. (2014). Infant and Young Child Faeces Management: Potential enabling products for their hygienic collection, transport, and disposal in Cambodia. PLOS One 9(2): e89551.
Miller-Petrie, M., Voigt, L., McLennan, L., Cairncross, S., & Jenkins, M. (2015). Infant and Young Child Faeces Management: Potential enabling products for their hygienic collection, transport, and disposal in Cambodia. WaterSHED Asia.
Murigi, P., Stevens, L., Mwanzi, P., & Pasteur, K. (2015). Lessons Learnt in urban community-led total sanitation from Nakuru, Kenya. 38th WEDC International Conference. Loughborough, UK: WEDC.
Odhiambo, F. (2015, June 30). Sanitation resolution interview. (S. Davis, Interviewer)
Rosensweig, F., Perez, E., & Robinson, A. (2012). Policy and Sector Reform to Accelerate Access to Improved Rural Sanitation. Water and Sanitation Program.
Routray, P., Schmidt, W.-P., Boisson, S., Clasen, T., & Jenkins, M. (2005). Socio-cultural and behavioural factors constraining latrine adoption in rural coastal Odisha: an exploratory qualitative study. BMC Public Health, 15:880.
Ryan, P. (2014). Madagascar WASH Sector Sustainability Check. UNICEF.
SANDEC. (2000). Summary Report of Bellagio Expert Consultation on Environmental Sanitation in the 21st Century 1 – 4 February 2000. Duebendorf Switzerland: EAWAG.
Tincani, L., Ross, I., Mujica, A., McIntosh, K., & Burr, P. (2015). Improving VFM and sustainability in WASH programmes (VFM-WASH):Report of a WASH sustainability survey in Ethiopia. Oxford, UK: Oxford Policy Management.
Tyndale-Biscoe, P., Bond, M., & Kidd, R. (2013). ODF Sustainability Study. Plan International.
WaterAid. (2011). Revitalising Community-led Total Sanitation: A process guide. | <urn:uuid:6210676c-790e-46f3-b317-beb9ea3ca410> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.engineeringforchange.org/we-need-to-learn-why-people-use-toilets-before-we-can-change-behavior/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00010-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.87565 | 2,422 | 3.34375 | 3 |
2 Answers | Add Yours
The Federal Reserve (the Fed) is in charge of the country’s monetary policy. It has three tools that it can use to carry out monetary policy and, thereby, to influence the economy.
The first, and least important, of these is the required reserve ratio (RRR). When people deposit money in banks, the banks are required to keep a certain percentage of the deposits in reserves. The percent they must keep is called the RRR. When the Fed increases the RRR, banks must keep more money and loan less. This reduces the supply of money in the economy and can slow the economy down. Conversely, lowering the RRR can stimulate the economy.
The second tool is the most publically visible tool. This is the Fed’s ability to change interest rates. When interest rates are lowered, people and businesses are more able to borrow. When they can borrow more easily, they can also consume or, in the case of businesses, invest more. This stimulates the economy. If the economy is overheated, the Fed is more likely to raise interest rates to cool it down.
Finally, there is the tool that the Fed engages in most frequently. This is not typically done in the public eye. This tool is called “open market operations” and it consists of buying and selling government securities. If the Fed wants to increase the money supply, it buys governmental securities from banks. Because it does so by “printing” money, it increases the money supply. The Fed uses these transactions to fine tune the supply of money.
These are the Feds three tools of monetary policy.
The fed can control monetary policy in order to increase the money supply, aggregate demand and in the long term, the quantity of loanable funds. The three ways the fed can use monetary policy is to change the discount rate, change the reserve requirement or to perform open market operations. the discount rate is the rate at which banks can get an overnight loan from the fed. The reserve requirement is the amount a bank has to keep separate from money in circulation. Open market operations are buying or selling t bills or bonds, in order to increase or decrease the money supply.
We’ve answered 328,296 questions. We can answer yours, too.Ask a question | <urn:uuid:c705053b-ec16-4687-a592-5bec910a09a5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/fed-controlled-by-congress-executive-branch-384486 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00102-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958564 | 474 | 3.5 | 4 |
Being pregnant means you will experience changes in your body, more than just appearance. You will have a lot of changes in your metabolism and hormonal balance throughout your pregnancy. That is why gestational diabetes blood sugar levels chart is important because one of the side effects of being pregnant is the fluctuation of blood sugar level. Left untreated, this may lead to a permanent type 2 diabetes later on in life.gestational diabetes blood sugar levels chart
To make sure you have a steady and healthy blood sugar level, you must do a regular check of your blood sugar and record it into a gestational diabetes blood sugar levels chart. Here is how.
Your doctor will ask you to check your blood glucose on the following schedule: when you wake up in the morning, at a time right before every meal usually three times a day, and then after each meal. Depending on your specific condition, your doctor may ask you to check your blood glucose 1 or 2 hours after breakfast, 1 or 2 hours after lunch, and 1 or 2 hours after dinner. This way you will be able to tell how much spike of blood sugar level you have throughout the day.gestational diabetes test
Based on this information recorded in your own gestational diabetes blood sugar level chart, you can then make adjustments on your lifestyle, for instance if you need to improve your diet and eat better and more balanced food.
Below is a sample of acceptable gestational diabetes blood sugar levels chart as a guidance:
|Time of blood test||Target blood sugar level|
|When you wake up||95 mg / dl|
|Before breakfast||95 mg / dl|
|1 hour after breakfast||140 mg / dl|
|2 hours after breakfast||120 mg / dl|
|Before lunch||95 mg / dl|
|1 hour after lunch||140 mg / dl|
|2 hours after lunch||120 mg / dl|
|Before dinner||95 mg / dl|
|1 hour after dinner||140 mg / dl|
|2 hours after dinner||120 mg / dl|
In the first column, you have the schedule of when you should measure your blood sugar level. The second column is where you put down your blood sugar levels.
Ask your doctor whether these targets are right for you.
Each time you check your blood sugar level, write down the results in the right column, next to the appropriate time of blood test. Ask your doctor for a gestational diabetes blood sugar levels chart or record book. This is actually the same as any other blood sugar record book. All you need is to make sure you check your blood sugar levels according to the schedule mentioned above.pregnancy gestational diabetes
Usually you will need to see your doctor for a blood sugar check approximately 12 weeks or earlier after you give birth to make sure your diabetes is gone. In general the gestational diabetes will disappear almost immediately after pregnancy, but there have been cases where the diabetes stays, in about 5 to 10% of women you experience gestational diabetes. That is why having a gestational diabetes blood sugar levels chart and use it as reference is critical to your health and well being. | <urn:uuid:184a25fc-c19b-439f-a777-c4b8a622a529> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://diabetesmyway.com/276-gestational-diabetes-blood-sugar-levels-chart.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00158-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.898074 | 652 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Essay Topic 1
Discuss the use of symbolism and motif in Desire Under the Elms. What predominant motifs are described in the text? What themes do these symbolic images illuminate?
Essay Topic 2
Compare the characters of Ephraim and Eben in Desire Under the Elms. How are these men alike? How are they different? What actions does each commit through the play?
Essay Topic 3
Describe the plot arc of the play, Desire Under the Elms. Who is the protagonist of this play, and in what ways do the events revolve around this character? Define Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution in your answer.
Essay Topic 4
Compare the themes of Desire Under the Elms to those of Strange Interlude. What themes exist in both plays? How do they differ thematically?
Essay Topic 5
Discuss the style and use of soliloquy in Strange Interlude. How is this play stylistically different than the...
This section contains 653 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) | <urn:uuid:fb2bac34-3d86-47e4-aec9-f96b9aec0a14> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/lessonplan/three-plays-oneill/essaytopics.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402699.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00033-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.880925 | 227 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
The Planets in Our Solar System (1981)
References to this work on external resources.
Wikipedia in English
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 006445178X, Paperback)
Where is it partly cloudy and 860°F?
Venus. Read about the eight planets in our solar system and Earth's special place in it. This book also includes instructions for making your own solar system mobile, and on the new "Find Out More" page learn how to track the moon and visit the best plant web sites.
(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:21:20 -0400)
Describes the nine planets and other bodies of the solar system; includes directions for making models showing the size of the planets and their distance from the sun.
Is this you?
Become a LibraryThing Author. | <urn:uuid:245b30a9-56ed-4c37-b48b-5432478a1b78> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.librarything.com/work/322220 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.853721 | 188 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Social work transformed help into
a professional activity. Because social workers have been the rank
and file workers in the world of adoption, endowing them with authority
and expertise was a prerequisite for the professionalization of
adoption. Making sure that family-formation would be overseen by
professionals was an important part of making adoption modern.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, social work did not yet exist
as a professional community. The first social work school in the
country, the New York School of Applied Philanthropy (which later
became Columbia’s School of Social Work), opened its doors
in 1904. In 1915, there were only five independent and two university-affiliated
social work programs in the United States. In 1921, the American
Association of Social Workers was founded and, in the 1920s, the
Russell Sage and Commonwealth Foundations offered crucial financial
support for institution-building in the new field. Yet amateur workers
remained the backbone of many child welfare organizations long after
formal training opportunities were established, and the shortage
of social work personnel remained a chronic problem for agencies
involved in child placement and adoption.
The first true professional in the world of adoption, Sophie
van Senden Theis, graduated from college in 1907. She never
earned a social work degree. Other important figures in adoption
history were members of the pioneering generation of social work
educators, including Jessie Taft (University
of Pennsylvania), Charlotte Towle (University of Chicago), and Dorothy
Hutchinson (Columbia University). Social work was a female-dominated
occupation from the start.
Social workers experienced gender troubles in their efforts to
professionalize child welfare. Although
a number of leaders in children’s work were men—C.C.
Carstens, Hastings Hart, and William Henry Slingerland among them—it
was not always clear why women would need specialized training to
do work that simply extended their natural, maternal responsibilities
to other people’s children. The first social work generation
was also frustrated by the tradition of nineteenth-century “friendly
visiting,” which defined helping as the responsibility of
all women with the means to do it. Social work was an expression
of women’s intuition and moral superiority, according to this
way of thinking, not a professional job.
In order to professionalize, social workers set out to affiliate
the work they did with science. In placing-out,
this often took the form of psychiatric casework and outcome
studies. By importing psychodynamic theories from medicine and
embracing sophisticated research methods as their own, social workers
hoped to turn ordinary care-taking tasks into authoritative, if
not actually masculine, careers. Therapeutic perspectives on child
placement and adoption grew out of this convergence between social
work and science.
The progress of social work was geographically and culturally
lopsided. It advanced most rapidly and effectively in cities in
the east and north. Professionally staffed agencies were still rare
or nonexistent in many parts of the country during the first half
of the century. In these places, most adoptions were still independently
arranged by relatives, doctors, midwives, lawyers, orphanage staff,
and other baby brokers who operated according to rules of commerce
and sentiment rather than a professional creed. | <urn:uuid:e9fbc174-7526-457b-81b5-8eb4218a1cb0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adoption/topics/socialwork.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00157-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95414 | 704 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Birbal The Wise - XVII
Many 'Situation Puzzles' are not designed to be answered by themselves. The idea is for one person to know the answer and other people in a group to try and guess it using yes or no questions. The first person to get the answer is the winner.
Emperor Akbar once ruled over India. He was a wise and intelligent ruler; and he had in his court the Nine Gems, his nine advisors, who were each known for a particular skill. One of these Gems was Birbal, known for his wit and wisdom. The story below is one of the examples of his wit. Do you have it in you to find the answer?
Once, Birbal was invited to Persia by the Persian king. He was honoured with celebrations in his honour and many presents and gifts were heaped on him.
After a few days of revelry and enjoyment, it was time to head back home. On the eve of his departure, a nobleman of Persia asked him how he would describe the king of Persia in comparison to his own king.
"Your king is the full moon," said Birbal. "Whereas mine is like the quarter moon."
The Persians were very happy with this answer and sent Birbal off with great pomp and gaiety.
But when Birbal got home, he found that Emperor Akbar was furious. It was obvious that information about his "praise" of the Persian king had preceded his own arrival.
"How could you belittle your own king?" demanded a furious Emperor Akbar. "You are a traitor!"
Birbal objected to this and said that he had, in fact, praised his own king! How did Birbal explain this to the king?
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Copyright © 2003 | <urn:uuid:03cbf775-80b1-4c81-b4e0-e468c004e4d7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.braingle.com/palm/teaser.php?id=36800 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00061-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992998 | 379 | 2.9375 | 3 |
“Athena”—the female peregrine falcon at the High Bridge power plant nest box—laid her first egg of 2007 on Sunday, April 15. Peregrines usually lay three or four eggs each year, so we'll be watching for more in the next few days.
The male and female falcons share the 33-day incubation duties, which include turning the eggs regularly. (The birds don't incubate the eggs in earnest, though, until they've laid all the eggs they're going to lay.) If all goes well, the baby peregrines will hatch sometime in the second half of May.
You can get daily updates here on Science Buzz, or get hourly updates by visiting Xcel Energy's High Bridge daily photos page. | <urn:uuid:3cfdf174-7413-4fbb-9a55-3aed1dee309d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sciencebuzz.org/buzz_tags/egg | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00159-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943683 | 161 | 2.953125 | 3 |
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Originally posted by Lilith27
I stumbled across this today and it got me thinking....
I am such a novice here its blush worthy so please be patient.
I was wondering though if this technology was being used for major faults of concern across the globe to monitor and maybe predict future quake activity.
Is it available online?
Is the data useful?
How could it be used to predict future quakes?
I know,I posted before USGS reported.
for your emsc 5.4, which they have now downgraded even further to 5.3
TextMagnitude Mw 6.0 Region FIJI REGION Date time 2012-02-10 01:47:33.0 UTC Location 17.94 S ; 178.52 W Depth 570 km Distances 323 km E Suva (pop 199,455 ; local time 13:47:33.5 2012-02-10) 277 km SE Labasa (pop 33,397 ; local time 13:47:33.5 2012-02-10) 44 km NE Tubou (pop 578 ; local time 13:47:33.5 2012-02-10)
and don't remember when there were that many plus mag 3's
However, due to the fact that the ring of fire has been so active in the last 100 years
Perhaps PuterMan should answer that question, seeing as he doesn't believe in tectonics theory
Lokon-Empung Volcano Eruptions
2011-12, 2000-03, 1991-92, 1988, 1986-87, 1984?, 1975-80, 1973-74, 1971, 1969-70, 1966, 1965, 1963-64, 1962, 1961, 1958-59, 1951-53, 1949, 1942, 1930, 1893-94, 1829, 1775, 1375
Originally posted by JustMike
However, when a subduction zone lets go and much of the stress along that boundary is relieved in a huge quake, could it be that as the plate is now de-stressed (so to speak), then a greater proportion of the energy from the expanding ridge gets transferred to that plate. I'm thinking of the "path of least resistance" concept, which is commonly observed in nature. Yes, some energy is still going into the other plate, but as it's already under greater stress than the one that just let go, it gets less of it.
Where you have magma forcing its way to the surface and pushing a plate apart, this energy is directional. However, does it stop at any given point....probably not if current tectonic theories are true. It heads in a direction and keeps going until contained.
Originally posted by PuterMan
Thinking out loud also, North and South America are travelling SW, a fact that most seem to forget when jumping up and down about cold sinking bits of broken plate and subduction zones.
The evidence in the line of caldera at Yellowstone shows this. Maybe the JDF plate is not being pulled down but is being forced down by the big bully America riding straight over the top of it? | <urn:uuid:02ecdc9a-c729-4102-aec8-4d97a0726a98> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread789176/pg37 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00184-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930064 | 694 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Mies Van Der Rohe is the talk of the internet this Tuesday thanks to a Google doodle celebrating his 126th birthday, architectural accomplishments and legacy, but it is quite possible that the search giant's Mountain View campus is a more apt tribute, influenced as it is, by the modernist thought that Van Der Rohe, along with Le Corbusier and Gropius popularized in America.
By replacing the ornamental with plate glass and steel, the modernists created an international style based on a visual language of simple, clean gestures. More than most of his contemporaries, Van Der Rohe left a swathe of must-see buildings across Europe including the Villa Tugendhat in the Czech Republic and the Barcelona Pavilion.
Part of the reason Van Der Rohe work has long been so popular with culture-minded travelers is that there is so much of it in so many places. Because the great architect emigrated from Germany after the Nazi regime's rise to power, Chicago can boast to possessing many of his masterworks. The Illinois Institute of Technology and the Farnsworth House are particularly famous attractions in the Midwest because of Frank Lloyd Wright's apparent influence on their construction, but New Yorkers will recognize the Seagram building, which was constructed both to be functional and as a prototype of what a modern skyscraper could be.
Van Der Rohe famously claimed that, "Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space" and to see his work is to travel back in time to the era just before the modern took on frightening, nuclear undertones, when the West looked toward the future without trepidation. To stand in or near a Van Der Rohe is to be cut free from the tangle of the post-modern -- everything Google represents -- and have the world simplified into practical, graceful parts.
Here are a few destinations for would-be appreciators of the modern: | <urn:uuid:c6b93574-8b87-47fa-93d2-b850759f477e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/27/mies-van-der-rohe_n_1382025.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956002 | 387 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Organic food has become very popular, as a health conscious momentum continues to grow, in an effort to fight obesity, often linked to unhealthy eating habits. Consumers eat pesticide-free foods to reap major health benefits, but British researchers suggest organic doesn’t necessarily mean healthier. The study published in the British Journal of Cancer found women who eat organic and those who eat conventionally produced foods, face the same likelihood of developing cancer regardless of pesticides.
"This study adds to the evidence that eating organically grown food doesn't lower your overall cancer risk,” said Dr. Claire Knight, a health information manager for Cancer Research UK, in the press release. A large number of cancer-related deaths have been linked to dietary factors, such as smoking, drinking, a lack of exercise, and overall unhealthy eating habits like not eating enough fruits and vegetables. Now a team of researchers at Oxford University believes cancer risks are not about whether or not we choose to eat organic, but rather whether we’re getting enough fruits and vegetables in our diet.
To examine whether eating organic food reduced the risk of common cancers such as soft tissue sarcoma, breast cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, researchers used the Million Women Study to observe approximately 600,000 women aged 50 and over. The large cohort of women were asked whether they ate organic foods and were followed for cancer incidence over a period of nine years. Researchers would compare between 180,000 women who never ate organic food and 45,000 who “usually” or “always” chose organic, to compare the cancer risk of both groups.
The findings revealed there was no difference found in the overall cancer risk between women who eat organic foods and those who eat conventionally produced foods. The researchers were surprised to find there was a small increased risk of breast cancer in organic consumers, but they remain hesitant to establish this as a direct association. This incidence could be due to other factors like lifestyle or family history, or simply pure chance. Although choosing organic produce was associated with an increased risk for breast cancer, the study found a decreased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in consumers. However, the researchers remain cautious in establishing a direct link between eating organic and the lessened risk of this cancer.
The UK study does present limitations that affect the charity’s findings. The researchers did not monitor the women’s weight and physical activity on a regular basis throughout the study. Lifestyle and other factors are influential players when it comes to our health and cancer risk. A self-reported diet from the participants would’ve provided better insight into dietary factors that can or cannot reduce the risk of cancer since the development of the disease can occur throughout a prolonged period of time.
"In this large study of middle-aged women in the UK we found no evidence that a woman's overall cancer risk was decreased if she generally ate organic food,” said Professor Tim Key, a Cancer Research UK-funded scientist at Oxford University, The Telegraph reported. "More research is needed to follow-up our findings of a possible reduction in risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma." Cancer Research UK’s dismissal of the 21 percent decrease found in non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer in women who eat organic food has raised some eyebrows from organic food supporters like Peter Melchett, director of policy at the Soil Association. Melchett believes the charity has a “poor understanding of what pesticides are found in and how pesticides get into food.”
For the pesticide-conscious, Knight suggests “it’s a good idea to wash them before eating,” but this isn’t always feasible due to the presence of systematic pesticides. In conventional food production systems, systematic pesticides are in the plant, and not on it, which means we can’t wash or peel them away when we prepare food, according to Mother Earth News. The UK study seems to underscore the health problems pesticides may pose for us.
In the U.S, pesticides are regulated to ensure that it does not pose unreasonable risks to human health and to the environment. Several studies have shown that pesticides can cause health problems, such as birth defects, nerve damage, cancer, and other effects that might occur over a long period of time. However, this is all contingent on how toxic the pesticide is and how much of it is consumed.
Organic foods reduce pesticide exposure and increase nutritional quality by keeping us healthy and eliminating the toxic effects of chemical agriculture. Also, pesticide-free foods contain higher antioxidant capacity, total polyphenols, flavonoids quercetin, and kaempferol, all which are nutritionally significant.
Source: Balkwill A, Beral V, Bradbury KE, et al. Organic food consumption and the incidence of cancer in a large prospective study of women in the United Kingdom. British Journal of Cancer. 2014. | <urn:uuid:1094090f-7d2a-428e-a1fb-a47157f0dcf0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medicaldaily.com/eating-organic-foods-may-not-lower-womens-cancer-risk-do-pesticide-free-foods-provide-any-273152 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00125-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962793 | 1,010 | 3.375 | 3 |
It is often claimed that the Anglo-Saxons did not have queens. Instead, Matilda of Flanders, the wife of William the Conqueror is credited with being the first queen of England. While most Anglo-Saxon king’s wives failed to rise to the status of queen, some did. The most prominent in the tenth century was Elfrida, who was also the first woman to be crowned as Queen of England.
Elfrida (or Aelfthryth to use her more correct, but less easy to pronounce, name) was the third wife, but only queen, of King Edgar. She was born in the mid-940s, probably in Devon, where her father, a nobleman, held considerable lands. Elfrida grew to be a beautiful women, with stories claiming that her first husband, an ealdorman named Ethelwold, fell in love with her at first sight. Post-Conquest sources also claimed, probably with no evidence, that Edgar murdered Ethelwold after also falling under Elfrida’s spell.
The couple married in around 964, as soon as Edgar had divorced his second wife, Wulfthryth, by sending her to Wilton nunnery. They were committed to their marriage in the face of ecclesiastical censure from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan, who burst into their bedchamber one morning to berate them for committing adultery. It is, perhaps, no surprise that Elfrida and Dunstan later became sworn enemies.
Elfrida’s most important political contribution during her husband’s reign was as part of the tenth century religious reform. Monasticism in England had been largely destroyed during the Viking attacks of the late ninth century, with many houses occupied by secular clerks, rather than men living under a monastic order. By the mid-tenth century there was a growing Continental movement to introduce the rule of St Benedict, with leading English churchmen, such as Dunstan of Canterbury, Oswald of York and Ethelwold of Winchester, helping to bring this to Edgar’s kingdom. Edgar himself also heartily believed in reform, as did Elfrida.
Elfrida was strongly linked politically to Bishop Ethelwold of Winchester and, even before her marriage, she had used her influence with Edgar to persuade him to sell land at Stoke to the Bishop to benefit a reformed house. It was Ethelwold who made the arrangements for the retirement of her predecessor as Edgar’s wife to Wilton. Early in their marriage, Edgar and Elfrida jointly commissioned an English translation of the Rule of St Benedict from Ethelwold and the queen was prominent at a council held at Winchester in which a famous document, the Regularis Concordia, was produced.
The Regularis Concordia, which was drafted by Bishop Ethelwold, was a statement by the reformers, setting out how monks and nuns were expected to live. It is remarkable for the prominence it gives to Elfrida as queen, providing her with the first specified political role for a queen consort in English history: that of protectress of the nunneries. This role effectively made Elfrida chief-abbess in England, something which cannot have pleased her predecessor as king’s wife, Abbess Wulfthryth of Wilton. That it was no empty appointment can be seen in the fact that Elfrida later stepped in to expel the Abbess of Barking from her monastery. Many of the scurrilous stories about Elfrida seem to have originated in the nunneries – probably due to the resentment that her ‘interference’ in their affairs caused.
Elfrida’s religious work was also not confined to the nunneries and, during the reign, she felt able to boast that she had been responsible for expelling the secular clerks from the New Minster at Winchester, as the king had done at the Old Minster, and establishing monks in their place.
Elfrida was a consort, but she was a powerful one, with Edgar supporting her position and seeking to demonstrate that she, of all his wives, was his legitimate one. In the charter for the re-foundation of the New Minster in 966, Elfrida witnessed as ‘the legitimate wife of the king’, while her eldest son by Edgar, who was still an infant, witnessed as ‘the legitimate son of the king’. Tellingly, he also witnessed before Edgar’s eldest son, Edward, who was described merely as ‘begotten by the same king’. Edward was the son of the king’s first wife, Ethelflaed, who was probably repudiated in order to allow the king to marry Wulfthryth.
Elfrida may, perhaps, have been crowned soon after her marriage. She was certainly crowned with Edgar in 973 when he underwent a second, imperial, coronation at Bath to highlight his considerable prestige. There had never before been a queen consort of England as prominent or influential as Elfrida.
It was a shock for Elfrida when, on 8 July 975 her husband, who was still only in his thirties, died suddenly. Her eldest surviving son by Edgar, Ethelred, was then aged only seven, while the eldest prince, Edward, was in his teens. Although Elfrida and her supporters campaigned for Ethelred, his youth made his candidacy all but impossible. With Edward’s election, Elfrida retired to her home at Corfe with her son.
It is for the murder of her stepson, Edward the Martyr, in March 978 that Elfrida is chiefly remembered. The evidence of her involvement is debateable and there is another, more plausible candidate, as set out in my earlier article here. Elfrida was, however, the person who benefitted the most. With the coronation of her son, she was able to rule England, effectively, as regent, until finally banished from court in 984 when Ethelred attempted to assert his own political dominance. Even then, Elfrida was not an entirely spent force. She regained some influence in the 990s, as well as involving herself in legal disputes concerning her kin. She died aged around sixty – an advanced age for the period – in 1000, 1001 or 1002.
Elfrida ranks as one of the most powerful people in tenth century England, male or female. She rose from obscurity to become a major participant in the tenth century religious reform movement, as well as greatly extending the role and power of a queen consort. Finally, she was the virtual ruler of England for some years, presiding over the last few years of peace before Ethelred the Unready began his disastrous personal rule of England. | <urn:uuid:a803bbff-611c-47cd-87af-d3be95937a54> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://royalcentral.co.uk/blogs/history/elfrida-the-first-crowned-queen-of-england-19109 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989143 | 1,420 | 3.8125 | 4 |
- Year Published: 1900
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States of America
- Source: Baum, F. L. (1900). The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. New York: George M. Hill.
- Flesch–Kincaid Level: 6.0
- Word Count: 941
Baum, L. (1900). Chapter 21: “The Lion Becomes the King of Beasts”. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Lit2Go Edition). Retrieved July 02, 2016, from
Baum, L. Frank. "Chapter 21: “The Lion Becomes the King of Beasts”." The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Lit2Go Edition. 1900. Web. <>. July 02, 2016.
L. Frank Baum, "Chapter 21: “The Lion Becomes the King of Beasts”," The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Lit2Go Edition, (1900), accessed July 02, 2016,.
After climbing down from the china wall the travelers found themselves in a disagreeable country, full of bogs and marshes and covered with tall, rank grass. It was difficult to walk without falling into muddy holes, for the grass was so thick that it hid them from sight. However, by carefully picking their way, they got safely along until they reached solid ground. But here the country seemed wilder than ever, and after a long and tiresome walk through the underbrush they entered another forest, where the trees were bigger and older than any they had ever seen.
“This forest is perfectly delightful,” declared the Lion, looking around him with joy. “Never have I seen a more beautiful place.”
“It seems gloomy,” said the Scarecrow.
“Not a bit of it,” answered the Lion. “I should like to live here all my life. See how soft the dried leaves are under your feet and how rich and green the moss is that clings to these old trees. Surely no wild beast could wish a pleasanter home.”
“Perhaps there are wild beasts in the forest now,” said Dorothy.
“I suppose there are,” returned the Lion, “but I do not see any of them about.”
They walked through the forest until it became too dark to go any farther. Dorothy and Toto and the Lion lay down to sleep, while the Woodman and the Scarecrow kept watch over them as usual.
When morning came, they started again. Before they had gone far they heard a low rumble, as of the growling of many wild animals. Toto whimpered a little, but none of the others was frightened, and they kept along the well-trodden path until they came to an opening in the wood, in which were gathered hundreds of beasts of every variety. There were tigers and elephants and bears and wolves and foxes and all the others in the natural history, and for a moment Dorothy was afraid. But the Lion explained that the animals were holding a meeting, and he judged by their snarling and growling that they were in great trouble.
As he spoke several of the beasts caught sight of him, and at once the great assemblage hushed as if by magic. The biggest of the tigers came up to the Lion and bowed, saying:
“Welcome, O King of Beasts! You have come in good time to fight our enemy and bring peace to all the animals of the forest once more.”
“What is your trouble?” asked the Lion quietly.
“We are all threatened,” answered the tiger, “by a fierce enemy which has lately come into this forest. It is a most tremendous monster, like a great spider, with a body as big as an elephant and legs as long as a tree trunk. It has eight of these long legs, and as the monster crawls through the forest he seizes an animal with a leg and drags it to his mouth, where he eats it as a spider does a fly. Not one of us is safe while this fierce creature is alive, and we had called a meeting to decide how to take care of ourselves when you came among us.”
The Lion thought for a moment.
“Are there any other lions in this forest?” he asked.
“No; there were some, but the monster has eaten them all. And, besides, they were none of them nearly so large and brave as you.”
“If I put an end to your enemy, will you bow down to me and obey me as King of the Forest?” inquired the Lion.
“We will do that gladly,” returned the tiger; and all the other beasts roared with a mighty roar: “We will!”
“Where is this great spider of yours now?” asked the Lion.
“Yonder, among the oak trees,” said the tiger, pointing with his forefoot.
“Take good care of these friends of mine,” said the Lion, “and I will go at once to fight the monster.”
He bade his comrades good-bye and marched proudly away to do battle with the enemy.
The great spider was lying asleep when the Lion found him, and it looked so ugly that its foe turned up his nose in disgust. Its legs were quite as long as the tiger had said, and its body covered with coarse black hair. It had a great mouth, with a row of sharp teeth a foot long; but its head was joined to the pudgy body by a neck as slender as a wasp’s waist. This gave the Lion a hint of the best way to attack the creature, and as he knew it was easier to fight it asleep than awake, he gave a great spring and landed directly upon the monster’s back. Then, with one blow of his heavy paw, all armed with sharp claws, he knocked the spider’s head from its body. Jumping down, he watched it until the long legs stopped wiggling, when he knew it was quite dead.
The Lion went back to the opening where the beasts of the forest were waiting for him and said proudly:
“You need fear your enemy no longer.”
Then the beasts bowed down to the Lion as their King, and he promised to come back and rule over them as soon as Dorothy was safely on her way to Kansas. | <urn:uuid:dfa6e4d2-2eb4-43b8-9347-be0997ed847f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/158/the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz/2770/chapter-21-the-lion-becomes-the-king-of-beasts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982995 | 1,367 | 2.8125 | 3 |
In C++, an array type is not qualified; rather the type of the array
elements is qualified. This situation is reflected in the intermediate
representation. The macros described here will always examine the
qualification of the underlying element type when applied to an array
type. (If the element type is itself an array, then the recursion
continues until a non-array type is found, and the qualification of this
type is examined.) So, for example,
CP_TYPE_CONST_P will hold of
const int (), denoting an array of seven
The following functions and macros deal with cv-qualification of types:
TYPE_UNQUALIFIEDif no qualifiers have been applied. The
TYPE_QUAL_CONSTbit is set if the type is
TYPE_QUAL_VOLATILEbit is set if the type is
TYPE_QUAL_RESTRICTbit is set if the type is
const-qualified, but not
volatile-qualified; other cv-qualifiers are ignored as well: only the
const-ness is tested.
A few other macros and functions are usable with all types:
INTEGER_CST. For an incomplete type,
TYPE_DECL) for the type. (Note this macro does not return an
IDENTIFIER_NODE, as you might expect, given its name!) You can look at the
TYPE_DECLto obtain the actual name of the type. The
NULL_TREEfor a type that is not a built-in type, the result of a typedef, or a named class type.
void *. You may use
TYPE_PTROBV_Pto test for a pointer to object type as well as
The table below describes types specific to C and C++ as well as language-dependent info about GENERIC types.
TREE_TYPEis a pointer to data member type, then
TYPE_PTRDATAMEM_Pwill hold. For a pointer to data member type of the form ‘T X::*’,
TYPE_PTRMEM_CLASS_TYPEwill be the type
TYPE_PTRMEM_POINTED_TO_TYPEwill be the type
classtypes in C and C++. If
TYPE_PTRMEMFUNC_Pholds, then this type is a pointer-to-member type. In that case, the
POINTER_TYPEpointing to a
METHOD_TYPEis the type of a function pointed to by the pointer-to-member function. If
TYPE_PTRMEMFUNC_Pdoes not hold, this type is a class type. For more information, see Classes.
typename T::A. The
A. If the type is specified via a template-id, then
NULLif the node is implicitly generated in support for the implicit typename extension; in which case the
TREE_TYPEis a type node for the base-class.
TYPE_FIELDSis the expression the type of which is being represented. | <urn:uuid:12110c27-9dc5-459f-8f60-9bcbf1936649> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/Types-for-C_002b_002b.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00175-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.750081 | 654 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Simple and Compound interest[change | change source]
If the interest charged on $100 is 1 percent per year then every year the borrower must pay $1. If the $1 is not added to the amount owed then the borrower is paying simple interest. If simple interest of 1 percent is paid each year at the end of 100 years the borrower would have paid $100 in interest, $1 each year, and would still owe $100. If the $1 is added to the $100 the amount owed will increase to $101. 1 percent interest on $101 will be more than $1. This is called compound interest. Compound interest will cause the amount to grow each year. As the amount grows larger more is paid as interest each year and added to the total. If compound interest of 1 percent is paid on a loan of $100 each year the amount of interest paid will slightly increase and after 70 years the amount owed will have grown to $200 and the interest payment will have increased to $2.
Rule of 72[change | change source]
1 percent compound interest on $100 will cause the amount to double to $200 in about 70 years. That is called the rule of 72 which can be used to figure out how fast something grows. The rule can be used to figure out how fast anything that always grows at the same rate will double in size. Suppose a kangaroo grows 10 percent a year; dividing 10 into 70 gives 7, so the kangaroo will double in size in 7 years. If the kangaroo grew 7 percent a year it would take 10 years for its size to double. If it only grew 2 percent it would take 35 years for its size to double.
Usury[change | change source]
At some times in the past, or in some places today, it has been illegal to make a person pay interest on a loan. It was, or is, against some religious rules. If the interest that a person must pay is too high, this is called usury. This is often illegal today, even when lower interest is legal.
Other meanings of interest[change | change source]
Interest can also be the care or concern that someone has for something or someone. If someone cares about something, they "have an interest" in that thing, or they "find it interesting". If something is beautiful, or funny, or new, that might make the thing interesting. However, a very important concern, for example love or hate, is more than an interest. An interest can also be a task that someone likes to do or watch, like a game or a hobby.
If someone has a legal right to something (usually money or property) they have an interest in that thing. This is also true for someone who shares a right with others, or a person who has a future right to something. For example, if some brothers and sisters will be given a house after their parents die, each of them "has a financial interest" in the house, even if the parents are still living. | <urn:uuid:3df32f9b-997d-4f29-b39c-cd18284170c3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00131-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966646 | 625 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Hindu Rage Against Muslims Transforming Indian Politics
By EDWARD A. GARGAN,
Published: September 17, 1993
NEW DELHI, Sept. 16— Slowly, gradually, but with the relentlessness of floodwaters, a growing Hindu rage toward India's Muslim minority has been spreading among India's solid middle class Hindus -- its merchants and accountants, its lawyers and engineers -- creating uncertainty about the future ability of adherents of the two religions to get along.
Along with their hostility toward Muslims, Hindus are gripped by more and more anxiety about who they are, where they are going and what is going to be there in the end.
One result of the unease is that in the last four years, India's political landscape has shifted profoundly. The Congress Party, which led the country to freedom from the British, is disintegrating amid charges of corruption, incompetence and the collapse of its grass-roots organization. A Major Political Force
And in its place is rising a party of revivalist Hinduism, the Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P. Hindu nationalism has surged and ebbed through this century, but never before has it manifested itself as a major political party.
The party has grown, from a handful of seats in Parliament just a few years ago, to become the country's largest opposition party, one that many people believe could end the long rule of the Congress Party.
If an election were held today, according to a recent poll by India Today, the country's foremost news magazine, the B.J.P. would come within 32 seats of Congress Party in Parliament; today that gap is 130 seats. Only two years ago, the party held only two seats in Parliament. An Appeal to Prejudices
But it has grown not merely by pointing to the weaknesses of the Congress Party, but more important, and more effectively, by pitting Hindus against Muslims, by appealing to widespread and deeply seated Hindu prejudices.
Deep in the sprawling suburbs of southern New Delhi, for example, where jumbles of cement-walled houses crowd into one another like a clutter of wooden blocks spilled from a bag, Dhirendra Kumar Bhatia settled himself behind a scarred metal desk in his television shop. An overhead fan futilely stirred the city's baking air.
"I am a Hindu," he declared "When you are a Hindu, people should not be ashamed to call themselves Hindu. They were not so assertive about being Hindus."
"Hindus were a majority," he said, resorting to the past tense typical of much of Indian spoken English, "but they were not given their rights." Echoing the comments of others, he said the Congress Party had appeased and catered to Muslims.
He acknowledged that India's 105 million Muslims pose no real threat to the dominance of India's more than 700 million Hindus, but insisted they are the root of many of India's problems. 'An Indian First'
"Yes, they're a minority," he said. "But even a small thing can disturb a large thing. A dirty fish in a big pond can dirty the water. They must know they are an Indian first, and a Muslim later. They must be taught to be loyal to India. The B.J.P. can help them do this."
B.J.P. leaders have never discussed in detail what policies they would pursue if they came to power. But in public statements and conversations, certain of their policies are clear.
At the top of the B.J.P. agenda is to declare India a nuclear-weapons state, a decision they say would enhance the country's international stature. The party would also sharply restrict foreign investment, particularly in consumer goods and services. Instead, party leaders profess, only high-tech investments would be permitted. Fast-Rising Population
The party appears unconcerned about India's growing population, now 880 million and increasing by 2.1 percent annually. A poll of B.J.P. legislators found that only 2 percent regarded population control as necessary.
Even India's high illiteracy rate -- more than half the population cannot read -- is not a dominant concern of the party. On the other hand, party leaders have promised that they would subject Muslims to a common civil code.
Since independence and partition with Pakistan in 1947, India's Government has professed an allegiance to a broad secular idea, one that at least formally did not favor Hindus over Muslims. But for many Hindus, the B.J.P. represents both an assertion of Hindu identity and a revival of a culture that they believe has been trampled by modernity and corrupt politics. The Rule of Hindus
For them, this idea is embodied in the idea of the Hindu raj, the rule of Hindus -- sometimes called the Ram raj after the Hindu deity named Ram. It is a reign in which Hindus would control Indian life and Government, where Hindu religious customs and practice would suffuse society and where Islam would be in retreat.
"I am not a religious person myself," said Lal Krishna Advani, the party president. "But at the same time, talking about Ram, talking about Ram raj, that makes any person, whether he subscribes to ritual or not, whether he subscribes to a swami or not, whether he belongs to a cult or not, feel that it is something elevating."
For many Hindus, the onset of the Ram raj began in December in the north Indian town of Ayodhya, when hundreds of young men, part of a crowd of more than 100,000, clambered over steel pipe and barbed wire fences and, with sledge hammers, crow bars and their bare hands, began destroying an undistinguished 16th century mosque. In a matter of hours, the three-domed structure was reduced to a pile of rubble.
The mosque was erected during the reign of the first Mogul emperor, Babur, whose conquest of India is regarded by Hindu militants as a period of repression. Conversion to Islam | <urn:uuid:49da4d34-f5c2-4c79-91b1-635012e38dbc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/17/world/hindu-rage-against-muslims-transforming-indian-politics.html?src=pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00056-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971778 | 1,238 | 2.640625 | 3 |
"My Favorite Museum Exhibit" is a series of posts aimed at giving BoingBoing readers a chance to show off their favorite exhibits and specimens, preferably from museums that might go overlooked in the tourism pantheon. I'll be featuring posts in this series all week. Want to see them all? Check out the archive post. I'll update the full list there every morning.
This is a 300-year-old chunk of beeswax, housed at the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum in Tillamook, Oregon. That part alone is pretty nifty, but it's the background that really makes this specimen sing. According to Roger Peet, who sent me this photo, the beeswax comes from the wreck of a Spanish galleon that washed ashore north of Tillamook long before any other European settlers had ever visited the area—probably around 1700 or so. Pollen analysis indicates that the beeswax actually came from the Philippines. How cool is that?
Here's an excerpt from an archaeological report on the wreck that Peet sent along with the photo:
Native oral histories and the earliest accounts of Euro-American settlers on the Northwest Coast refer to a wrecked vessel (or several wrecked vessels) at the beach of Nehalem, as being the source of an abundant supply of beeswax that the local Indians used and traded prior to and after the time of Euro-American settlement. The first written accounts of the wreck come from Astoria fur trader Alexander Henry in 1813, who reported that great quantities of beeswax were dug out of the sand at the spit and that the Indians brought the wax to Astoria to trade. As the 19th century progressed, numerous accounts of the presence of both beeswax and teak lumber at Nehalem and reports of intact pieces of wreckage appeared in various newspapers and books, and such reports continued into the early 20th century.
The wax and its origin were widely discussed throughout the 19th century, both locally in Oregon and in newspapers from California, the Midwest, and even New York. Beeswax was found in such abundance that, for a brief time, some non-residents were convinced it was actually a petroleum product that indicated large oil deposits were in the area (Chicago Daily Tribune 1891; Christian Science Monitor 1909), and a short lived oil boom occurred despite the Indian accounts of the wreck and the presence of candles and wax blocks with carved symbols on them. | <urn:uuid:1d2dd90a-2da6-4fca-b181-ece17e01712c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://boingboing.net/2012/01/30/my-favorite-museum-exhibit-8.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00073-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972414 | 496 | 2.828125 | 3 |
The system entails various levels of ingress protection identified by the letters "IP" followed by three numerals. The first numeral represents the degree of protection afforded against solid objects, while the second numeral signifies the degree of protection against the ingress of water. The third numeral is seldom specified in the ratings of an object. It represents the degree of impact an object may sustain and still function normally.
In general, higher numbers identify more stringent protection from a particular environment. Additional suffix letters attached to the rating specify variations from the standard, again typically to a higher level. However, these ratings tell nothing about how well devices react to the introduction of outside variables such as temperature fluctuations.
Proximity sensors and other electronic sensing devices are typically rated between IP65 and IP69K. In this case, the first numeral "6" indicates that the equipment is dusttight. The second numeral rates the amount of water ingress allowed:
IP65 signifies protection against low-pressure water jets from all directions for 1 min with limited ingress permitted. IP66 signifies protection against strong jets from all directions for 1 min with limited ingress permitted. IP67 signifies protection against the effects of immersion from 15 cm to 1 m for 30 min without water ingress. IP68 signifies protection against complete continuous submersion in water without water ingress under conditions specified by the manufacturer. IP69K is a special designation for devices subjected to high-pressure and temperature wash-downs, such as those found in food processing. Its use identifies protection against hot-steam-jet cleaning per EN 60529 and DIN 40050-9. The rating's K suffix means the sensor must withstand direct application of extremely high-pressure water jets. Water at a pressure of 100 bar (1,450 psi) blasts the sensor at angles of 0, 30, 60 and 90° for 30 sec at each point (120 sec total time) at a temperature of 80°C. Absolutely no water ingress is permitted in devices that obtain this rating.
Ratings are often misunderstood and misapplied. For example, many assume that a rating of IP67 or IP68 means the device functions under water for the time specified by the IP rating. This is not the case. The rating only means the device functions properly after removal from water.
Another misconception is that an ingress protection rating of IP69K automatically complies with IP67 and IP68. While IP69K-rated parts can withstand pressure and jet spray, the sensor is still unsuitable for use under water. Thus IP69K sensors typically serve in wash-down environments such as breweries, car washes, and food and beverage applications, not where the sensor spends any time underwater.
To be rated IP68 a sensor must also meet the requirements of IP67. But its manufacturer determines what additional ingress protection the device must meet for the IP68 rating. The component maker additionally determines any temperature constraints that, if exceeded, might affect proper operation.
Some manufacturers produce components that meet only minimal requirements above IP67 for their IP68 rating while others far exceed IP67. Turck Inc., for instance, requires its IP68-rated proximity sensors meet the following specifications: full IP67 protection; 7 days submerged 1 min in water at a constant temperature; 24 hr at 70°C; 24 hr at 25°C; and 10 cycles of temperature fluctuation between 70 and 25°C with a minimum of 1 hr at each temperature.
Specifications for other IP68-rated sensors may not match those of Turck or of any other manufacturer. Yet manufacturers can use the IP68 rating as long as their product exceeds the IP67 rating. The differences between IP68 sensor ratings may lead to sensor comparisons that are not apples-to-apples.
Turck Inc. (turck.com)provided information for this article. | <urn:uuid:831c4521-3387-4b9d-a94b-83ac2ff1b199> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://machinedesign.com/print/technologies/sensor-sense-ip-ratings-sensors | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914865 | 790 | 2.546875 | 3 |
|Covalent Bonding in Actinide Sandwich Molecules|
Glenn Seaborg was one of the first scientists to recognize that differences in the degree of covalent bonding in lanthanide and actinide compounds could have profound consequences for their unique chemical reactivity and physical properties. Now, researchers working at ALS Beamline 11.0.2 have found evidence for unexpected bonding interactions in two organometallic actinide "sandwich" complexes that have been lightning rods in discussions of covalent bonding since their discovery by Berkeley researchers in the 1960s. Certain organometallics, which have multiple, highly covalent metal–carbon bonds, are vital as industrial or bioinorganic catalysts and as precursors for nanomaterial synthesis. The work at the ALS also provides conclusive evidence for a new form of bonding, proposed in theoretical studies but never observed experimentally, that is strictly a unique capability of lanthanide and actinide elements.
Organometallic chemistry has furnished powerful industrial catalysts, enabled new organic transformations, and is at the heart of functionality in bioinorganic molecules (vitamin B12, for example). Yet in many cases, the models of electronic structure used to describe bonding in organometallics are at frequently at odds with classical coordination chemistry, in that they invoke a covalent bond between the metal and the carbon-based ligands. By combining the synthesis of organometallics with techniques that can probe metal–carbon covalent bonding, researchers can develop fundamental insights that help interpret chemical phenomena across the periodic table.
In recent years, x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) measurements at the ligand K-edge have provided quantitative information regarding covalent bonding and electronic structure in a wide variety of molecules and materials. The presence of covalent mixing is observed as a pre-edge feature by ligand K-edge XAS; it appears only if the vacant metal orbitals contain a component of ligand p-orbital character. Until now, successful application of this technique at the carbon K-edge to study organometallic bonding has been thwarted by weakly penetrating soft x-ray radiation (about 280 eV) that is often susceptible to surface contamination and saturation effects from the samples. Interpreting carbon K-edge XAS results for organometallics is also challenging and requires a comprehensive theoretical effort to deconvolute spectra composed of numerous electronic transitions.
Challenges associated with quantitative carbon K-edge XAS were recently overcome by conducting XAS measurements in transmission using state-of-the-art soft x-ray instrumentation and techniques pioneered at Beamline 11.0.2, the Molecular Environmental Sciences beamline at the ALS. Accurate measurement of pre-edge peak intensities was ensured by preparing thin microcrystalline samples of the air-sensitive and radioactive materials on silicon nitride substrates, which were analyzed using the scanning transmission x-ray microscope (STXM). Samples included actinide sandwich complexes—thorocene [(C8H8)2Th] and uranocene [(C8H8)2U]—"textbook" molecules that have played a central role in the development of theories of covalent bonding in organometallic chemistry. A concomitant hybrid density functional theory (DFT) study provided confidence and credibility for interpretation of the complex spectra.
Results from the detailed experimental and theoretical study showed two contrasting trends in orbital mixing, suggesting that covalent bonding does not increase uniformly as the actinide series is traversed from left to right on the periodic table. And while most chemical structures are composed of σ and π bonds (involving s and p atomic orbitals), the carbon K-edge XAS spectrum of thorocene represents the first experimental evidence of a measurable φ orbital interaction, corresponding to the overlap of f atomic orbitals.
This work supports many theoretical analyses that predict that the lanthanide and actinide elements are uniquely capable of participating in these unconventional bonding interactions because of the increased size and nodality of their 4f and 5f orbitals. Such discoveries have important implications for the design of actinide-selective extraction processes and may be necessary in efforts to improve on the properties of advanced materials incorporating lanthanide elements.
Research conducted by: S.G. Minasian (Los Alamos National Laboratory and Berkeley Lab); J.M. Keith, E.R. Batista, K.S. Boland, D.L. Clark, S.A. Kozimor, and R.L. Martin (Los Alamos National Laboratory); D.K. Shuh (Berkeley Lab); and T. Tyliszczak (ALS).
Research funding: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Operation of the ALS is supported by DOE BES.
S.G. Minasian, J.M. Keith, E.R. Batista, K.S. Boland, D.L. Clark, S.A. Kozimor, R.L. Martin, D.K. Shuh, and T. Tyliszczak, "New evidence for 5f covalency in actinocenes determined from carbon K-edge XAS and electronic structure theory," Chem. Sci. 5, 351 (2014).
ALS Science Highlight #290 | <urn:uuid:7e471fab-4ee5-4d13-94c1-cd94eb765af8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www-als.lbl.gov/index.php/user-information/prospective-users/924-covalent-bonding-in-actinide-sandwich-molecules.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00147-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911063 | 1,120 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The mystery of why dogs are man’s best friend, while their wolf cousins are seen as feral beasts may have been solved.
It takes 90 minutes for a dog to get used to a human, but 24 hours for a wolf
When wolves begin exploring their world they are still blind and deaf
Research from the University of Massachusetts has found that wolves develop faster than dogs.
And although the animals are almost identical on a genetic level, these early experiences and developmental differences define their personalities, the researchers say.
Evolutionary biologist Dr Kathryn Lord studied how seven wolf pups and 43 dogs reacted to smells, sounds and visual stimuli.
She discovered both animals develop their senses at the same time.
The sense of smell at two weeks; hearing at four weeks; and vision by six weeks, on average.
However, the two subspecies enter what’s called the ‘critical period of socialisation’ at different stages.
This period of socialisation is when animals begin exploring their world without fear.
All the smells, sights, tastes and noises these animals experience during this time become familiar and safe.
As the period progresses, fear increases and once the window of socialisation has closed new sights, sounds and smells will be seen as unfamiliar and scary.
For wolf and dog pups this period of socialisation lasts for four weeks.
During this time, dogs are usually introduced to humans and other animals so will be comfortable with them forever.
Wolves traditionally are not, and this makes them consider humans as threats when and if they do eventually come into contact with them.
The study also found that wolves enter this period of socialisation when they are two weeks old, whereas dogs don’t enter it until they’re four weeks.
This means that when wolves begin exploring their world they are still blind and deaf.
By the time a wolf pup’s sight and hearing has fully developed, they are closer to the end of their socialisation window so their levels of fear are heightened.
This means that even if they come into contact with humans during this period, they may still be wary and fearful of them.
Dr Lord says, ‘No one knew this about wolves, that when they begin exploring they are blind and deaf and rely primarily on smell at this stage. This is very exciting.
The difference may not be in the gene itself, but in when the gene is turned on.
The data may help to explain why, if you want to socialise a dog with a human, all you need is 90 minutes between the ages of four and eight weeks.
But with a wolf pup, achieving even close to the same fear reduction requires 24-hour contact before they reach three weeks old.
And even then you will not get the same attachment or lack of fear.'
Dr Lord's research studied the behavior of three groups of young animals: 11 wild wolves from three litters, and 43 dogs total.
Of the dogs, 33 border collies and German shepherds were raised by their mothers.
A control group of 10 German shepherd pups were hand-raised, meaning a human was introduced soon after birth.
She believes this new information has implications for managing wild and captive wolf populations. | <urn:uuid:7d3ece4e-68c2-45eb-8d2d-9ed5628af979> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2013/01/scientists-find-out-why-dogs-become.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00137-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959824 | 667 | 3.21875 | 3 |
This entry is a summary of talks presented at the Interiors session July 24th, 2013, during the Pluto Science Conference in Laurel, MD being held this week July 22-26, 2013.
Christophe Sotin (JPL) began the session with a talk entitled “Processes involved in the evolution of Pluto’s interior Structure.” He started his talk with a comparison of model of the interiors of Ceres, Callisto, Enceladus, Pluto (McCord & Sotin, 2005; McKinnon & Mueller, 1986; and Simonelli & Reynolds 1989). More recent models propose the existence of a liquid layer between an icy surface and a rocky core (Hussman et al 2006). This layer of liquid changes the way heat is transferred to the ice crust. If liquid methane could form at the base of the ice layer, forming a “sub surface ocean”, it would react with water and form stable methane clathrates. The presence and thickness of the “clathrate layer” affects the thickness of the ice crust above it.
Conclusions. In their interior models, minor components (e.g. NH3) play important roles in both the characteristics (e.g. thickness) and dynamics of the ice crust. They need laboratory experiments to study the relative stability of the clathrate hydrates. Hydrated silicates (e.g. antigorite) are likely to be the make-up of the Pluto core. It will undergo dehydration some 100 Myrs to Gyrs after accretion. Convection within the core. The presence of a subsurface ocean depends on the presence of minor components.
The term clathrate is used to describe a structure that consisting of a lattice that traps or contains molecules.
Francis Nimmo (UC Santa Cruz) followed to provide some suggestions of surface observational evidence to probe the “Interiors of Pluto and Charon.”
Shape is Important. Shape tells us whether a body responds like a fluid. If the body behaves like a fluid (i.e., behaves hydrostatically), you can compute the moment of inertia. This, in turn can tells us something about the interior (i.e., is it differentiated or not). There is a caveat that differentiation can also occur due to radioactive decay. Differentiation happens when ice melts, so it tells us about thermal evolution.
Comparative study of other bodies in the outer solar system and what we know about their interiors.
Evolution of Shapes. Early on, Pluto & Charon are rotating quickly, and are distorted. Pluto and Charon change shapes in the first few to 100 Myr if fluid or elastic, respectively, as their spin rate slows down and Charon moves outward. The spin rates influence their shapes.
What leads to Oceans? A conductive (no convection) ice shell is required to make an ocean (Desch et al 2009). This shell basically lets the heat out from the core. This heating then melts the bottom of the ice shell creating an ocean. The presence of an ocean changes the stress history. In the creation of an ocean, you are replacing low-density ice with higher density water and this introduces compression stresses. If you see things like the Tyre crater on Jupiter’s moon Europa, a multi-ring impact that implies there was an ocean. Whether or not an ocean is present has important astrobiology & geophysics consequences. If you introduce an ocean, you never have a fossil bulge. If you do not have an ocean, you could get a fossil bulge.
A fossil bulge is a bulge that froze into shape before the satellite synchronized its rotation.
Martin Paetzold (Universitat zu Koln, Germany) spoke about “Mass Determination of Pluto and Charon from NH’s REX Radio Science Observation.” During the fly-by, Pluto will perturb the New Horizons spacecraft velocity just slightly and this will be recorded as a tiny Doppler shift of the X-band (8.4 GHz) radio carrier frequency. This information will be used to measure the mass, or more specifically, the product GM (universal gravity constant times the mass), of Pluto. There are two different ways to obtain this data during the New Horizons mission: (1) Using two-way ranging a week before the encounter and week after the encounter, and (2) During the encounter, the REX uplink instrument (operating at 7.1 GHz) will have a series of measurements during the days around closest approach. They hope to obtain 0.15% accuracy for the first method and 0.04% for the second method. The best results utilize both methods potentially deriving an estimate of Pluto & Charon masses with an accuracy of 0.01%. They are currently looking at the small forces file, which is the measure of the attitude performance during thruster firing.
James Roberts (JHU/APL) spoke about “Tidal Constraints on the Interiors of Pluto and Charon.” Thermal evolution of Pluto & Charon is a key question for scientists to answer. But thermal models are dependent on interior structure. At present we do not know whether Pluto or Charon are homogeneous (i.e. same material throughout) or differentiated (split into a core and crust, or maybe core, subsurface ocean and crust). Typical methods used to probe interiors are Kepler’s 3rd Law, Bulk density, Moment of Inertia, Gravity, Magnetism, Radar, Seismology, Tides. For New Horizons, as the fly-by is not that close, Gravity is not a viable method; the lack of a magnetometer aboard rules out Magnetism, and Seismology requires the spacecraft to land, also not possible. He described their approach that will use Shape Modeling to measure a Tidal Bulge. Both Pluto and Charon may each raise a tidal bulge on the other. He cautioned that we may not be able to determined the existence of an ocean using a shape model.
Steve Desch (Arizona State University) spoke on “Using Charon’s Density to Constrain Models of the Formation of the Pluto System.” The unique Pluto-Charon system has been modeled as arising from the impact of two large Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). This had been presented on July 23rd by Robin Canup. Steve Desch’s model takes two differentiated KBO bodies (but they must have a thick crust) in a disk and collides them. Parts from the bodies’ inner core, plus some ice, forms Pluto and the outer icy mantles form Charon & the other moons. He addressed that the initial differentiated KBOs with r=600-1200 km could exist (Desch et al 2009, Rubin et al 2013). The outcomes of this model create a dense Charon (density= 1.63 g/cm3) because Charon would have been formed from the outer regions of the initial KBOs, and those objects are characterized with thick crusts. This is the alternative model that was not preferred by Robin Canup in her talk yesterday. This remains an active area of study.
Wrapping up this 3rd day of a dynamic conference we learned that we still have a lot more questions about the formation and the interior or Pluto, Charon or any of these icy bodies in the Outer Solar System. New Horizons will indeed bring an revolutionary dataset to allow to direct investigation of surface features, overall shapes, masses, and orbital dynamics, all which will constrain models of what these bodies are made of and how they formed. | <urn:uuid:a2bbc233-dfc3-4c74-ad8e-b6556ed35434> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.nasa.gov/mission-ames/2013/07/26/its-more-than-skin-deep-interiors-of-pluto-and-charon-a-discussion/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00152-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921552 | 1,590 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Chelyabinsk Asteroid and Meteorite
October 28, 2013
Photographer: Mila Zinkova; Mila's Web site
Summary Author: Mila Zinkova
On February 15, 2013, Yulia Karbysheva was teaching her class at a primary school in Chelyabinsk, Russia, when there was an extremely bright explosion in the morning sky. It occurred at 9:20 a.m. local time and was brighter than the morning Sun. She ordered her students to duck under their desks. A minute passed, then two. The children wanted to look out the windows, but Ms. Karbysheva wisely instructed them to keep covered; and then it came - an enormous shock wave blew out the school’s windows. Thanks to the actions of Ms. Karbysheva, there were no major injuries to any of her students. However, others weren’t as lucky. There were at least 1,500 people injured by the blast in Chelyabinsk.
So what actually exploded in the Chelyabinsk's sky? In mid February of this year, many astronomers were excited about asteroid 2012 DA14, predicted to pass closer to the Earth than even many man-made satellites. However, scientists now know that the object that exploded over Chelyabinsk was a small asteroid that wasn’t in any way connected to 2012 DA14. Coincidentally, it traveled along its own orbit independent of 2012 DA14 but was missed by astronomers because it was hidden by the glare from the Sun. The Chelyabinsk asteroid belonged to the Apollo asteroids group, near-Earth asteroids having orbits that cross the orbit of the Earth. Actually, Earth crashed into this tiny asteroid -- it seems as though it crossed right in front of us. Thanks to many Russians’ “obsession” with dash cameras the Chelyabinsk asteroid event has became the best documented Earth/asteroid collision ever recorded.
A small piece of the Chelyabinsk asteroid (meteorite) is shown at top. It weighs approximately 0.3 oz (7.7 grams) and is about 2 in (5 cm) across. A blowup of a portion of this bear-faced meteorite is shown at left. It has a rather unusual feature -- the yellowish inclusion. According to Dr. Alan Rubin, the inclusion is likely a large chondrule exposed at the meteorite’s surface. The red lines may be due to a fusion crust that penetrated the chondrule. Alternatively, they could be fractures in the chondrule that were quickly altered or oxidized, producing minor amounts of hematite. | <urn:uuid:64956295-747f-445a-96d7-4efb1b15d61a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2013/10/chelyabinsk-asteroid-and-meteorite.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00022-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974107 | 546 | 3.0625 | 3 |
No doubt the following narrative will be received: with entire incredulity, but I think it well that the public should be put in possession of the facts narrated in “An Antarctic Mystery.” The public is free to believe them or not, at its good pleasure.
No more appropriate scene for the wonderful and terrible adventures which I am about to relate could be imagined than the Desolation Islands, so called, in 1779, by Captain Cook. I lived there for several weeks, and I can affirm, on the evidence of my own eyes and my own experience, that the famous English explorer and navigator was happily inspired when he gave the islands that significant name.
Geographical nomenclature, however, insists on the name of Kerguelen, which is generally adopted for the group which lies in 49° 45′ south latitude, and 69° 6′ east longitude. This is just, because in 1772, Baron Kerguelen, a Frenchman, was the first to discover those islands in the southern part of the Indian Ocean. Indeed, the commander of the squadron on that voyage believed that he had found a new continent on the limit of the Antarctic seas, but in the course of a second expedition he recognized his error. There was only an archipelago. I may be believed when I assert that Desolation Islands is the only suitable name for this group of three hundred isles or islets in the midst of the vast expanse of ocean, which is constantly disturbed by austral storms.
Nevertheless, the group is inhabited, and the number of Europeans and Americans who formed the nucleus of the Kerguelen population at the date of the 2nd of August, 1839, had been augmented for two months past by a unit in my person. Just then I was waiting for an opportunity of leaving the place, having completed the geological and mineralogical studies which had brought me to the group in general and to Christmas Harbour in particular.
Christmas Harbour belongs to the most important islet of the archipelago, one that is about half as large as Corsica. It is safe, and easy, and free of access. Your ship may ride securely at single anchor in its waters, while the bay remains free from ice.
The Kerguelens possess hundreds of other fjords. Their coasts are notched and ragged, especially in the parts between the north and the south-east, where little islets abound. The soil, of volcanic origin, is composed of quartz, mixed with a bluish stone. In summer it is covered with green mosses, grey lichens, various hardy plants, especially wild saxifrage. Only one edible plant grows there, a kind of cabbage, not found anywhere else, and very bitter of flavour. Great flocks of royal and other penguins people these islets, finding good lodging on their rocky and mossy surface. These stupid birds, in their yellow and white feathers, with their heads thrown back and their wings like the sleeves of a monastic habit, look, at a distance, like monks in single file walking in procession along the beach.
The islands afford refuge to numbers of sea-calves, seals, and sea-elephants. The taking of those amphibious animals either on land or from the sea is profitable, and may lead to a trade which will bring a large number of vessels into these waters.
On the day already mentioned, I was accosted while strolling on the port by mine host of mine inn.
“Unless I am much mistaken, time is beginning to seem very long to you, Mr. Jeorling?”
The speaker was a big tall American who kept the only inn on the port.
“If you will not be offended, Mr. Atkins, I will acknowledge that I do find it long.”
“Of course I won’t be offended. Am I not as well used to answers of that kind as the rocks of the Cape to the rollers?”
“And you resist them equally well.”
“Of course. From the day of your arrival at Christmas Harbour, when you came to the Green Cormorant, I said to myself that in a fortnight, if not in a week, you would have enough of it, and would be sorry you had landed in the Kerguelens.”
“No, indeed, Mr. Atkins; I never regret anything I have done.”
“That’s a good habit, sir.”
“Besides, I have gained knowledge by observing curious things here. I have crossed the rolling plains, covered with hard stringy mosses, and I shall take away curious mineralogical and geological specimens with me. I have gone sealing, and taken sea-calves with your people. I have visited the rookeries where the penguin and the albatross live together in good fellowship, and that was well worth my while. You have given me now and again a dish of petrel, seasoned by your own hand, and very acceptable when one has a fine healthy appetite. I have found a friendly welcome at the Green Cormorant, and I am very much obliged to you. But, if I am right in my reckoning, it is two months since the Chilian twomaster Penãs set me down at Christmas Harbour in mid-winter.”
“And you want to get back to your own country, which is mine, Mr. Jeorling; to return to Connecticut, to Providence, our capital.”
“Doubtless, Mr. Atkins, for I have been a globe-trotter for close upon three years. One must come to a stop and take root at some time.”
“Yes, and when one has taken root, one puts out branches.”
“Just so, Mr. Atkins. However, as I have no relations living, it is likely that I shall be the last of my line. I am not likely to take a fancy for marrying at forty.”
“Well, well, that is a matter of taste. Fifteen years ago I settled down comfortably at Christmas Harbour with my Betsy; she has presented me with ten children, who in their turn will present me with grandchildren.”
“You will not return to the old country?”
“What should I do there, Mr. Jeorling, and what could I ever have done there? There was nothing before me but poverty. Here, on the contrary, in these Islands of Desolation, where I have no reason to feel desolate, ease and competence have come to me and mine!”
[P. 5] “No doubt, and I congratulate you, Mr. Atkins, for you are a happy man. Nevertheless it is not impossible that the fancy may take you some day—”
Mr. Arkins answered by a vigorous and convincing shake of the head. It was very pleasant to hear this worthy American talk. He was completely acclimatized on his archipelago, and to the conditions of life there. He lived with his family as the penguins lived in their rookeries. His wife was a “valiant” woman of the Scriptural type, his sons were strong, hardy fellows, who did not know what sickness meant. His business was prosperous. The Green Cormorant had the custom of all the ships, whalers and others, that put in at Kerguelen. Atkins supplied them with everything they required, and no second inn existed at Christmas Harbour. His sons were carpenters, sailmakers, and fishers, and they hunted the amphibians in all the creeks during the hot season. In short, this was a family of honest folk who fulfilled their destiny without much difficulty.
“Once more, Mr. Atkins, let me assure you,” I resumed, “I am delighted to have come to Kerguelen. I shall always remember the islands kindly. Nevertheless, I should not be sorry to find myself at sea again.”
“Come, Mr. Jeorling, you must have a little patience,” said the philosopher, “you must not forget that the fine days will soon be here. In five or six weeks—”
“Yes, and in the meantime, the hills and the plains, the rocks and the shores will be covered thick with snow, and the sun will not have strength to dispel the mists on the horizon.”
“Now, there you are again, Mr. Jeorling! Why, the wild grass is already peeping through the white sheet! Just look!”
“Yes, with a magnifying glass! Between ourselves, Arkins, could you venture to pretend that your bays are not still ice-locked in this month of August, which is the February of our northern hemisphere?”
“I acknowledge that, Mr. Jeorling. But again I say have patience! The winter has been mild this year. The ships will soon show up, in the east or in the west, for the fishing season is near.”
“May Heaven hear you, Atkins, and guide the Halbrane safely into port.”
“Captain Len Guy? Ah, he’s a good sailor, although he’s English—there are good people everywhere—and he takes in his supplies at the Green Cormorant.”
“You think the Halbrane—”
“Will be signalled before a week, Mr. Jeorling, or, if not, it will be because there is no longer a Captain Len Guy; and if there is no longer a Captain Len Guy, it is because the Halbrane has sunk in full sail between the Kerguelens and the Cape of Good Hope.”
Thereupon Mr. Atkins walked away, with a scornful gesture, indicating that such an eventuality was out of all probability.
My intention was to take my passage on board the Halbrane so soon as she should come to her moorings in Christmas Harbour. After a rest of six or seven days, she would set sail again for Tristan d’Acunha, where she was to discharge her cargo of tin and copper. I meant to stay in the island for a few weeks of the fine season, and from thence set out for Connecticut. Nevertheless, I did not fail to take into due account the share that belongs to chance in human affairs, for it is wise, as Edgar Poe has said, always “to reckon with the unforeseen, the unexpected, the inconceivable, which have a very large share (in those affairs), and chance ought always to be a matter of strict calculation.”
Each day I walked about the port and its neighbourhood. The sun was growing strong. The rocks were emerging by degrees from their winter clothing of snow; moss of a wine-like colour was springing up on the basalt cliffs, strips of seaweed fifty yards long were floating on the sea, and on the plain the lyella, which is of Andean origin, was pushing up its little points, and the only leguminous plant of the region, that gigantic cabbage already mentioned, valuable for its anti-scorbutic properties, was making its appearance.
I had not come across a single land mammal—sea mammals swarm in these waters—not even of the batrachian or reptilian kinds. A few insects only—butterflies or others—and even these did not fly, for before they could use their wings, the atmospheric currents carried the tiny bodies away to the surface of the rolling waves.
“And the Halbrane” I used to say to Atkins each morning.
“The Halbrane, Mr. Jeorling,” he would reply with complacent assurance, “will surely come into port to-day, or, if not to-day, to-morrow.”
In my rambles on the shore, I frequently routed a crowd of amphibians, sending them plunging into the newly released waters. The penguins, heavy and impassive creatures, did not disappear at my approach; they took no notice; but the black petrels, the puffins, black and white, the grebes and others, spread their wings at sight of me.
One day I witnessed the departure of an albatross, saluted by the very best croaks of the penguins, no doubt as a friend whom they were to see no more. Those powerful birds can fly for two hundred leagues without resting for a moment, and with such rapidity that they sweep through vast spaces in a few hours. The departing albatross sat motionless upon a high rock, at the end of the bay of Christmas Harbour, looking at the waves as they dashed violently against the beach.
Suddenly, the bird rose with a great sweep into the air, its claws folded beneath it, its head stretched out like the prow of a ship, uttering its shrill cry: a few moments later it was reduced to a black speck in the vast height and disappeared behind the misty curtain of the south. | <urn:uuid:6abe69da-b2db-4fbc-b9e2-ea5d8d927731> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://jv.gilead.org.il/badquaker/sphinx/01.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00181-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975467 | 2,767 | 3 | 3 |
TUESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- HIV-positive teens and young women are more likely to get pregnant and to have pregnancy complications than are those who do not have HIV, a new study finds.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins analyzed the records of 181 HIV-positive female patients, aged 13 to 24, who had been treated at four hospitals over 12 years. More than a third of them became pregnant, some more than once, for a total of 96 pregnancies.
The rate of premature births among the HIV-infected mothers was 34 percent, compared with 22 percent for mothers in the general population, the study reported in the Feb. 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Those with HIV who became pregnant also had a higher rate of miscarriage than pregnant women in the general population -- 14 percent vs. 9 percent.
Pregnancies occurred in 28 of the 130 females who were infected with HIV at birth and in 38 of the 51 who became HIV-positive through high-risk behavior such as unsafe sex or injection drug use. The pregnancy rate of those infected through high-risk behavior was seven times higher than that of those who were infected with HIV at birth, the study found.
Those who'd acquired HIV through high-risk behavior also had more repeated pregnancies than did those who were infected at birth -- 37 percent vs. 14 percent. Females infected at birth were four times more likely to terminate a pregnancy than were those with behaviorally acquired HIV -- 41 percent vs. 10 percent.
The findings raise a number of concerns, the researchers said. They show that HIV-infected teens and young adults continue to have unsafe sex and that pregnancies place these already vulnerable young women and their fetuses in serious danger for complications.
The findings also "suggest that teens who were infected with HIV later in life may engage in different sexual behaviors than those infected at birth," Dr. Kelly Gebo, an infectious disease specialist and the study's senior investigator, said in a Hopkins news release.
"Further analysis into these differences will help us find ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies and avoid complications from planned ones," Gebo said.
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has more about HIV and pregnancy.
-- Robert Preidt
SOURCE: Johns Hopkins Children's Center, news release, Feb. 1, 2011
All rights reserved | <urn:uuid:3e7cb381-7eb0-47b2-9be6-2d1828e13ab8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/HIV-Linked-to-Higher-Pregnancy-Rate-in-Young-Women-78883-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00165-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974999 | 482 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Western Australian researchers hoping to demonstrate improved cardiovascular function among coffee lovers have found that drinking too much of the popular brew may actually be linked to worsening of the metabolic syndrome.
The collaborative study by researchers from The University of Western Australia's School of Plant Biology and the Institute of Agriculture in conjunction with the School of Medicine and Pharmacology and its affiliate the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) into a compound found in coffee, known as Chlorogenic Acid (CGA), has been published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
"Studies have shown that coffee consumption lowers the risk of developing type 2 diabetes," School of Medicine and Pharmacology Professor Kevin Croft said. "This also included research on decaffeinated coffee, which suggested that the health benefits are from a compound in coffee apart from caffeine.
"With this in mind, we studied the effects of Polyphenols, or more specifically CGAs, which are very rich in coffee but also found in tea and some fruits including plums. The CGAs were previously known for their health benefits, increasing insulin sensitivity and reducing blood pressure and body fat accumulation," he said.
"However, this study proved the opposite in dosages equivalent to five or six cups of coffee per day," co-author WAIMR Assistant Professor Vance Matthews said.
The researchers found that the equivalent dose of CGA fed to laboratory mice affected the utilisation of fat in the liver and caused abnormal retention of fat within cells. The obese mice also had a tendency for a higher degree of glucose intolerance and increased insulin resistance.
It's not all bad news for coffee lovers, though. According to the researchers it's still okay to drink moderate amounts.
"It seems that the health effects are dose-dependent. A moderate intake of coffee, up to three to four cups a day still seems to decrease the risk of developing diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes," Assistant Professor Matthews said.
The researchers also found that CGA does not prevent weight gain in obese laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet when used at higher doses. | <urn:uuid:f439d017-f05e-43a9-af5a-d15b964ff7d0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201305305718/research/right-amount-coffee | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00043-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970253 | 423 | 3.125 | 3 |
| Home | Back to Goldfish |
Good comets seem to be rare these days, having been more popular 10-20 years
ago; not many are presented at shows now. Comets need pointed tail lobes, as
in an open pair of scissors, and the tail and its carriage are the most important
features of the type. They are fast swimmers and do well in ponds.
Comets were probably first produced in USA (or possibly in Europe). They are
known as swallowtails in the Far East.
The comet standard is as follows:
- Depth of body to be between 3/7ths and 3/8ths of body length
- Pectoral and pelvic fins to be paired, dorsal and anal fins to be single
- Caudal fin to be single, deeply forked and well spread
- Length of dorsal lobe of caudal fin to be greater than 3/4 of body length
- Extremities of fins to have a pointed appearance
- At least 25% of the body to be blue in calico fish
- Minimum body length to be 7.5 cm (3 inches)
The fish should be bright and alert with the caudal fin carried high without
drooping or overlapping. The body should be long and slender with a smooth outline.
Quality fish will have high colour intensity extending into the fins.
The colour may be metallic (self-coloured or variegated in a pleasing pattern
and similar on each side) or calico. Metallic colours should appear as burnished
metal, extending into the fins. Calico fish should have a blue background with
patches of violet, red, orange, yellow and brown, spotted with black.
Ideal profiles are illustrated below:
Mature adults, self-coloured red metallic
Red comet shown at BAS 2004.
Red comet shown at BAS 2001.
Mature adults, self-coloured yellow metallic
Self-coloured metallic yellow comets are less common than reds. The top fish
was shown at BAS 2007, the centre fish at BAS 2004 and the bottom fish (the camera caught the fish with tail folded) at BAS 1999.
© Bristol Aquarists' Society | <urn:uuid:4b369c7f-88a7-4acf-9c91-4574dbf34d6e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bristol-aquarists.org.uk/goldfish/comet/comet.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00165-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93072 | 460 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
- Characteristics and Behavior of POPs
- Health Effects of POPs
- Treatment Technology Reports
- Additional Resources
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are toxic chemicals that originate from man-made sources associated with the production, use, and disposal of certain organic chemicals. Many of the chemicals were produced commercially for pest and disease control, crop production and industrial use. Some of the POPs such as pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are intentionally produced, while others such as dixion and furans are unintentional by-products of industrial processes or result from the combustion of organic chemicals.
Under the Stockholm Convention on POPs (Stockholm Convention), which was adopted in 2001 and enacted in 2004, parties committed to reduce or eliminate the production, use, and release of the 12 POPs of greatest concern to the global community. In October 2008, the Stockholm Convention’s subsidiary body – the POPs Review Committee (POPRC) held its fourth meeting (POPRC-4) and an outcome of that meeting was that it recommended to the Conference of the Parties (COP) that nine (9) additional chemicals be added to the Stockholm Convention. In October 2009 at POPRC-5 meeting, several chemicals underwent a review process by the Committee.
The 24 POPs currently within the scope of the Stockholm Convention (or under review) include 14 pesticides and 10 industrial chemicals or by-products.
The 14 pesticides targeted by the Stockholm Convention were produced intentionally and used on agricultural crops or for public health vector control.; Over time, significant human health and environmental impacts were identified for these pesticides.; By the late 1970s, these pesticides had been banned or subjected to severe use restrictions in many countries.; However, some of these 14 pesticides are still used in parts of the world where they are considered essential for protecting public health.
The 10 industrial chemicals and by-product POPs within the scope of the Stockholm Convention include PCBs, dioxins, furans, brominated flame retardants (BFRs), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), and pentachlorobenzene. PCBs were produced intentionally but typically have been released into the environment unintentionally. Most countries stopped producing PCBs in the 1980s; for example, equipment manufactured in the US after 1979 usually does not contain PCBs.; However, older equipment containing PCBs is still in use. Dioxins and furans are usually produced and released unintentionally. They may be generated by industrial processes or by combustion, including fuel burning in vehicles, municipal and medical waste incineration, open burning of trash, and forest fires.
Another treaty regulating POPs internationally is the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (Basel Convention). In response to Stockholm Convention provisions requiring coordination with the Basel Convention on POPs waste issues, the Basel convention developed guidance on the environmentally sound management of POPs waste. In 2004, the Basel Convention invited signatories of the Stockholm Convention to consider its recommendations on environmentally sound management for POPs wastes. The US is a signatory to the Basel Convention on POPs – but has not yet ratified the Convention.
In addition to the Stockholm Convention, the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP), a regional international treaty addresses environmental issues of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) with a primary focus on air emissions. The LRTAP Convention has been extended by eight (8) Protocols that include specific requirements for countries to reduce air pollution including long-range air pollution. In 1998, the LRTAP Convention adopted a Protocol on POPs to regulate the production and use of 16 chemicals that were singled out according to agreed risk criteria. The table below lists all of the 26 chemicals identified under the Stockholm Convention on POPs and the LRTAP’s Protocol on POPs - both currently listed and under review.
|Stockholm Convention||Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution Convention|
|Currently Listed||Under Review (2009)|
Industrial Chemicals or By-Products
|Pentabromodiphenyl ether (penta-BDE)||√||√|
|Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)||√||√|
|Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)||√||√|
|Polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCN)||√|
|Short-chained chlorinated paraffins (SCCP)||√||√|
Note: Nine additional chemicals that were recently listed by the Stockholm Convention in May 2009 are shown in bold. | <urn:uuid:5407c4e2-882a-484e-a376-10ad2e9f0215> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.clu-in.org/contaminantfocus/default.focus/sec/Persistent_Organic_Pollutants_(POPs)/cat/Overview/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00032-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911858 | 995 | 3.734375 | 4 |
Long-beaked common dolphin are known to be taken in bottom-set gillnets and purse seine fisheries off southern California, but potential impacts are uncertain. Some bycatch has also been documented in drift gillnets off California (Carretta et al. 2005). They are only occasionally involved as bycatch in the eastern tropical Pacific tuna fishery. They are present off Japan, and some have been taken in drive fisheries there. There are anecdotal reports of potentially large numbers of dolphins, including long-beaked common dolphins, killed for bait in some coastal fisheries off Baja California, Mexico (K. Forney pers. comm.). Long-beaked common dolphins have been taken opportunistically by harpoon in northeastern Taiwan and are caught incidentally by oceanic driftnets off eastern Taiwan (J. Wang pers. comm.). There is a large direct kill around Margarita Island, off eastern Venezuela, in which dolphins are harpooned in large numbers (Romero et al. 2001). In the Indian Ocean and Chinese waters, they are taken in gillnets, trawls, and purse seines. There is growing concern about the large numbers of long-beaked common dolphins killed off Peru and used for human food or shark bait (K. Van Waerebeek pers. comm.). Incidental catches of Delphinus sp. in pelagic driftnets in southern and south-eastern Brazil have been recorded (Zerbini and Kotas 1998), but no current estimates of bycatch are available. Given that this fishery occurs in the presumed range of the species, some of these individuals may belong to this species. | <urn:uuid:7b8a3013-b1cf-4f6a-bd23-71c637559dc5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eol.org/data_objects/18831907 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00120-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952097 | 332 | 3.140625 | 3 |
As concerns continue to grow about economic conditions, families continue to prioritize and strategize the best solutions for their families. With competing priorities such as food, housing and monthly bills, one’s health may not always rise to the top. For people with diabetes, this strategy can be dangerous.
With planning and prevention tactics, good health can be maintained despite hard economic times. And for those with diabetes, planning and prevention is imperative to ensure diabetes complications are kept to a minimum. If you have diabetes and are feeling the penny pinch, consider these tips to keep you healthy and well:
•If you are struggling to purchase diabetic supplies, ask your healthcare team or look online about patient assistance programs from the makers of the diabetes medications you take. Many programs are available to help people when they cannot afford their medications.
•Resist the temptation to quit checking your blood glucose altogether. Instead, pick the times that will give you the most information to help you manage diabetes the best.
•Take advantage of sale items at the grocery and use local farmers markets to buy less expensive, local produce.
•Walk to the store if you are able – this saves gas and helps your body use glucose for energy.
•Try using barter services for things you need. You may be able to do yard work or housework in exchange for fresh vegetables from your neighbor’s garden.
•Join a support group to network with others to share ideas. You may find solutions that have benefitted others.
•Take time to be grateful. This helps to lower stress.
•Learn as much as you can about diabetes and how to stay well. Call Mount Nittany to schedule a time with a diabetes educator or check out www.diabetes.org.
In addition, Mount Nittany Medical Center offers diabetes self-management classes for those with diabetes and their loved ones to learn about the disease and how to manage and cope with the disease. Taught by a certified diabetes educator, the classes are recognized by the American Diabetes Association. Classes are forming now. Call Amy Leffard at 814.231.7095 to register or for more information.
Amy Leffard, RN, is a certified diabetes educator at Mount Nittany Medical Center. | <urn:uuid:b117ab49-2e30-467c-95de-9361655d4b23> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mountnittany.org/articles/prioritize-diabetes-care-during-difficult-economic-times | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00014-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94039 | 460 | 2.671875 | 3 |
October 14 2012
By Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY
The pizza has been cleared away and the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade girls in Mawiayah Fields' classroom at South Shore School are ready to learn how to write computer code.
But first, a dozen or so volunteers, who have taken time off work to help on this September afternoon, introduce themselves with stories of how they found their professional calling.
"I come from a dysfunctional family, so I like to fix things," Vazjier Rosario, 27, a Microsoft engineer and mother of three, told them.
Sekela Rabb, 33, says that as a kid she "loved to press buttons … to see what was going to happen." That curiosity has led her to pursue an associate's degree in network engineering at a community college.
And pink-haired Martine Stillman, 31, a mechanical engineer at Synapse, a local firm that develops cool stuff for Nike, Samsung and other companies, says a college professor inspired her.
He said, "You're never going to be an engineer." To which she said, "You wanna bet?"
Amid concern that the nation isn't preparing enough students for the high-tech workforce of the future, accomplished tech-savvy women are emerging as a force aimed at unleashing the untapped potential of girls. The first step: disproving a stereotype that computing is a guy thing.
"If you look at the media, and who we worship in this tech space, it's Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg," says Ruthe Farmer, director of strategic initiatives for the National Center for Women & Information Technology, based in Boulder, Colo. "We want girls to see women, to see a possible glimpse of their future," Farmer says.
Women graduate from college in larger numbers than men, but they fall behind when it comes to degrees in some of the fastest-growing -- and most lucrative -- fields. Not only did just 18% of bachelor's degrees in computer science go to women in 2010-11, their numbers are down from 38% in 1985, Education Department data show.
The center, a coalition of 300 corporations, colleges, government agencies and non-profits, was created in 2006 to promote efforts to reverse that decline. It has been helped along by member organizations such as the Girl Scouts, the Computer Science Teachers Association and this program, called Inspiring Girls Now in Technology Evolution, or IGNITE, offered through Seattle Public Schools since 1999.
A growing number of women who have advanced into high-profile, high-tech positions are encouraging women to follow in their footsteps. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has been particularly vocal, as has Yahoo President Marissa Mayer. Even foes of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education programs, say private support of such programs is commendable.
"You're going to be hard-pressed to find anybody who doesn't think it's a wonderful idea to have role models and outreach programs to help mentor women in science, or any gender or any profession," says Carrie Lukas, managing director of the Independent Women's Forum, a conservative think tank in Washington.
Even so, she questions whether males are being similarly encouraged to pursue fields traditionally filled by women such as nursing. "I find it strange that we continue to have an obsession" about women in science, technology, engineering and math, "which are essentially the only disciplines left where women aren't outperforming men."
The push to engage more girls is not just about filling jobs or earning better salaries. In a speech this summer at a conference hosted by Australia's Radio National, Intel Corp. trend-watcher and anthropologist Genevieve Bell said her research shows that women in their 40s, 50s and 60s are the lead adopters and heaviest users of new technology.
Companies that fail to consider the female perspective may be at a competitive disadvantage, says Microsoft's Rane Johnson, who helps lead efforts to grow the pipeline of women in science, engineering and research. At Microsoft, where about 24% of the company's employees are women, "our challenge today is we don't have enough diverse teams," Johnson says.
Power in networking
Women who have achieved success in computer science and engineering are eager to reach out to younger girls, IGNITE founder Cathi Rodgveller says. Each year, more than 200 women in the Seattle area participate in some aspect of the program, which includes workshops, job shadows and internships.
Since 1999, when Rodgveller had 14 professional volunteers, female participation in high school technology classes has risen from 10% to 50%, she says. The program also has spread to other states and abroad.
"Women sharing their stories, that's really the heart of why we're so successful," Rodgveller says.
A new online mentoring program with ties to the national center follows a similar theme. Nearly 600 women have pledged to spend at least an hour this fall offering advice to female college students considering careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Since the program began Oct. 1, students have raised topics on a range of issues, including graduate programs and how to respond to inappropriate remarks.
The idea for the online discussion was to make it easy for professional women, who "are some of the busiest people on Earth," to get involved, says Maria Klawe, president of California's Harvey Mudd College, a co-sponsor of the project and member of the center's executive advisory council. "Many of them are very aware of how much help they have gotten from other people," she says.
Joy of discovery
That message comes through in this noisy Seattle classroom, as volunteers oversee pairs of girls as they program computers to make a tiny turtle paint a line while walking across their computer screens. First, the girls make the turtle draw a square, then a pink square, then a multicolored polygon. By the end, the girls squeal upon figuring out how to make the turtles walk in a spiral or make a starburst.
"At first, I thought it was going to be boring but, once I got the hang of it, it was fun," says seventh-grader Tyra Roberson, 12. For her, the big lesson of the day was that "no matter where you come from, you can do what you always want to do."
It's too soon to know whether a career in computer science is in her future. Right now, Tyra's sights are set on being a lawyer.
Rodgveller, who has heard that kind of response before, isn't fazed. "We're just starting with them," she says. "Talk to them again in a couple of years." | <urn:uuid:b57228bd-2fd9-46cc-afc8-3fc7c2dcbf94> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://iwf.org/media/2789561/USA-Today:-Steering-more-girls-to-science | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00020-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972018 | 1,387 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Part II, Chapter 1
OF THE LAW OF NATURE
Q. What is the law of nature?
A. It is the constant and regular order of events, by which God governs the universe; an
order which his wisdom presents to the senses and reason of men, as an equal and
common rule for their actions, to guide them, without distinction of country or sect,
towards perfection and happiness.
Q. Give a clear definition of the word law.
A. The word law, taken literary, signifies lecture,* because originally, ordinances and
regulations were the lectures, preferably to all others, made to the people, in order that
they might observe them, and not incur the penalties attached to their infraction: whence
follows the original custom explaining the true idea.
The definition of law is, "An order or prohibition to act with the express clause of a
penalty attached to the infraction, or of a recompense attached to the observance of that
* From the Latin word lex, lectio. Alcoran likewise signifies lecture and is only a literal
translation of the word law.
Q. Do such orders exist in nature?
Q. What does the word nature signify?
A. The word nature bears three different significations.
1. It signifies the universe, the material world: in this first sense we say the beauties of
nature, the riches of nature, that is to say, the objects in the heavens and on the earth
exposed to our sight;
2. It signifies the power that animates, that moves the universe, considering it as a distinct
being, such as the soul is to the body; in this second sense we say, "The intentions of
nature, the incomprehensible secrets of nature."
3. It signifies the partial operations of that power on each being, or on each class of
beings; and in this third sense we say, "The nature of man is an enigma; every being acts
according to its nature." | <urn:uuid:b646939b-6688-4b47-ae3e-ed2c5fdb6218> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.free-ebooks.net/ebook/The-Ruins/html/159 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00000-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927215 | 424 | 3.046875 | 3 |
NASA and its commercial allies are on track to launch astronauts into space from U.S. soil by 2017, unless the government's sequester delays their efforts.
"We're still marching along on our 2017 initial flight for a crewed vehicle," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in a teleconference Thursday about the recent SpaceX resupply mission to the International Space Station.
"So far, we don't see any significant impact with the rest of this fiscal year, but if we can't get out of this sequester condition, it could slow down our progress on a commercial crew... We already are talking to our partners about delays in milestones if we don't get the funding that we want," Bolden said.
The sequester did not affect the SpaceX mission, which ended with a successful splashdown of the Dragon capsule on Tuesday, Bolden said.
The Dragon ferried about 1,200 pounds of supplies and scientific experiments to the International Space Station earlier this month. After 23 days docked with the orbiter, the spacecraft returned to Earth, carrying finished experiments and space station trash.
Bolden said he doesn't foresee any delays or problems for NASA caused by the sequester, a set of automatic spending cuts that are set to last until 2021, for this year. However, he said that could change if the sequester goes on longer than this year.
"It could have downstream impact on everything we do," he added.
Bolden also used the teleconference as a reminder about the importance of a commercial cargo program.
He noted that Orbital Sciences Corp., a Dulles, Va.-based company that specializes in the manufacture and launch of satellites, is building and testing a new rocket and cargo spacecraft for its own resupply missions to the space station.
Orbital Sciences is scheduled to launch its first test flight in mid-April. A demonstration mission is planned for this summer and its first official resupply mission is set for the fall.
SpaceX, the Hawthorne, Calif., company that completed the recent mission, is expected to launch its third official resupply mission later this year.
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, said during the teelconference that the company is on track to unveil a spacecraft later this year that could land on solid ground, as opposed to the Dragon capsule, which splashed down in the ocean.
"We're working with NASA on an unveiling," he added. "We started off landing in water because it was the easiest thing to do, and we really didn't know what we were doing at the beginning. We didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. Now we want to push the envelope and take the tech to where it hasn't been before."
Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin, on Google+ or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed. Her email address is firstname.lastname@example.org.
Read more about emerging technologies in Computerworld's Emerging Technologies Topic Center. | <urn:uuid:89b51d44-69b8-4456-a4da-f61cd28ed512> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/457619/nasa_sequester_could_delay_u_plan_launch_astronauts_by_2017/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00083-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965553 | 636 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Create a package named cs520.hw4.part2. Using this package, create the following classes.
1. Create a class named Student as follows. The class keeps track of the student√Ę‚?¨‚?Ęs homework grades.
a. The instance (or member) private variables √Ę‚?¨‚?? name (String), homework1, homework2, homework3, homework4, homework5 and homework6 (all of type integer).
b. A single constructor with name as its argument.
c. The public set methods for the six homework instance variables. The get methods are optional.
d. A public computeAverage method which takes no arguments and returns a double showing the average homework grade for this student.
e. Override the toString method to return the string representation of this object in the format √Ę‚?¨Ň?The
Display the string representation of the currentStudent object to the console.
Sample Input data.txt file:
Alice,44,79,85,72,77,57 Bob,79,94,70,71,71,51 Charlie,95,99,41,55,65,50 Dave,87,89,88,55,74,63 Ed,82,51,44,67,73,49
Alice's average grade is 69.00 ..... | <urn:uuid:0f9609a6-3f5b-4990-9eb8-118f14e87927> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.roseindia.net/answers/viewqa/Java-Beginners/28478-Java.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.822286 | 294 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Alcohol is the single largest cause of fatal crashes. Alcohol-related fatalities accounted for nearly 38 percent of all highway fatalities in 2000.
Fatalities include those arising from motor vehicle related crashes in which the driver and/or a fatally injured pedestrian or other nonmotorist had a measured or estimated blood alcohol content of 0.01 grams per deciliter or greater.
|Alcohol-Related Highway Fatalities||1999||2000|
|Alcohol-Related Highway Fatalities percent change from previous year||-1.46||1.79|
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Center for Statistics and Analysis, Traffic Safety Facts 1998, DOT HS 808 983 (Washington, DC: October 1999), table 13, and personal communication, Sept. 11, 2000. 2000 data: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2000 Early Assessment. | <urn:uuid:2362eb95-3eed-4ad7-94a6-8e53c9860c16> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/transportation_indicators/august_2001/Safety/html/Alcohol_Related_Highway_Fatalities.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00177-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.865171 | 189 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Project Lifecycle Definition
The term project lifecycle models how a project is planned, controlled, and monitored from its inception to its completion.
Over the years, a number of different models have been developed, beginning with the oldest and simplest being the Waterfall Model. However, as software has become larger and more complex, this method of development has been found to be counter-productive, especially when large teams are involved. More iterative approaches have been developed such as Rapid Application Development, Rational Unified Process, and Scrum.
The level of formality and complexity of the lifecycle for each project is constrained by any number of factors, including budgetary constraints, project team experience, project size, and project complexity.
Some experienced and highly respected project leaders and programmers consider rigid application of lifecycle plans to be a theory that does not work well in practice. Linus Torvalds, the very highly regarded project leader of the Linux kernel, made the following statement on the Linux kernel mailing list:
“No major software project that has been successful in a general marketplace (as opposed to niches) has ever gone through those nice lifecycles they tell you about in CompSci classes.”
While there is a lot of truth to what Linus Torvalds, many of the problems have to do with choosing the
wrong methodology, applying the methodology incorrectly, or following a methodology too rigidly.
I've also put together a short online course that describes project management fundamentals if you're interested in learning more about this profession. | <urn:uuid:1b0928e5-f5e6-4962-8825-bb65d5911395> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://infolific.com/technology/definitions/pm-definitions/project-lifecycle/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957152 | 316 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Couple of points:
-Japan's land army was in decent shape, most of their loses was in naviation and navy
-there are 4 or 5 spots where invasion similar to Normandy would be possible, and they're all much more defensible.
-firebombing of Tokyo had more dead than both atomic bombs combined, conventional invasion would have inflicted staggering casualties on japanese people
-fanaticism of japanese troops, banzai charges are very well documented, even their wounded used hand grenades to take as much enemies as possible
-America wanted unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan, Supreme Council would continue to wage war as long as it hoped to force something else
-War was ended without additional allied casualties, huge impact on Truman's decision
There are lot more similar points for both sides of argument, just one thing; both Nagasaki and Hiroshima were targeted because they were average cities, not too small, not too big, with military presence to justify using the bomb, there were quite a few other candidates. In the end, there is no right decision, war had to be won, and price would be big in any case. | <urn:uuid:ff63ef42-5730-4b05-a820-7e954b20b009> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1205722-Morally-ambiguous-situations-in-history/page3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00198-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985462 | 234 | 2.671875 | 3 |
by Staff Writers
Paris (ESA) Mar 24, 2016
Living in space is a wonderful experience but it can take its toll on an astronaut's body - half of astronauts return with weaker immune systems from the International Space Station. ESA astronaut and medical doctor Andre Kuipers remembers his six-month mission: "Back on Earth, I felt a hundred years old for a few months."
Many ESA experiments are looking into why this happens and the most recent - Immuno - reveals some striking changes in astronaut immune systems.
Stress is a response of the body as it adapts to hostile environments. This broad definition includes stress from speaking in front of an audience, stress from a wound or stress from living in weightlessness in a fragile spacecraft far from home.
The "feelings" are produced by the central nervous system working closely with our immune system. Stress in the central nervous system invariably influences the immune system and vice versa - people with stressful jobs seem more likely to get sick.
The Immuno experiment had a triple-pronged approach: a questionnaire asked astronauts to assess their own levels of stress while stress-related hormones were measured through saliva and urine samples, and blood samples were taken to analyse immune cell reaction to such environmental stress.
From astronauts to newborns
Through necessity, the researchers developed new ways of analysing small quantities of blood, now being shared with the medical community.
"Our methods would interest doctors that care for newborns, who have little blood to give for analysis," notes Prof. Alexander Chouker, the lead investigator. His team recently completed a clinical study in adults suffering from inflammation using these tests.
Rambo-style vs paralysed immune response
"What was striking and unexpected," says Prof. Chouker, "was the ambiguous immune response we saw in the astronauts' blood - we saw an over-reaction coupled with severe immune suppression in some areas."
Small quantities were frozen in space and analysed back on Earth, while more samples of fresh blood taken from the cosmonauts back on Earth were contaminated with common illness-causing pathogens such as fungi, bacteria and herpes.
The researchers found that the immune system reacted heavily to some new threats.
"What would form a mild immune response in blood of a healthy person on Earth seems to cause immune cells in astronauts to go haywire, overreacting to some of the foreign threats."
The reason is unknown but the implication is that the immune system adapts to the germ-free environment on the Space Station while staying extra alert, possibly due to the unique environmental stress.
Further research is concluding with subjects in similar situations on Earth to rule out the effect of weightlessness. Data are being collected from volunteers in remote research bases in Antarctica and a follow-up study is being prepared that will analyse astronaut blood onsite after being taken in space.
Human Spaceflight Research
Space Medicine Technology and Systems
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9,087,000 military personnel served
on active duty during the Vietnam Era (5 August 1965-7 May 1975)
8,744,000 personnel were on active duty during the war (5 August 1964-28
3,403,100 (including 514,300 offshore) personnel served in the SE Asia
Theater (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, flight crews based in Thailand and sailors
in adjacent South China Sea waters).
2,594,000 personnel served within the borders of South Vietnam
( I January 1965 - 28 March 1973)
Another 50,000 men served in Vietnam between 1960 and 1964
Of the 2.6 million, between 1 and 1.6 million (40-60%) either fought in
combat, provided close combat support or were at least fairly regularly
exposed to enemy attack.
7,484 women served in Vietnam, of whom 6,250 or 83.5% were nurses.
Peak troop strength in Vietnam was 543,482, on 30 April 1969.
Hostile deaths: 47,359
Non-hostile deaths: 10,797
Total: 58,156 (including men formerly classified as MIA and Mayaguez casualties).
Highest state death rate: West Virginia--84.1. (The national average death rate for males in 1970 was 58.9 per 100,000).
WIA: 303,704 - 153,329 required hospitalization, 50,375 who did not.
Severely disabled: 75,000, 23,214 were classified 100% disabled. 5,283 lost
limbs, 1,081 sustained multiple amputations. Amputation or crippling wounds to the lower extremities were 300% higher than in WWII and 70% higher than in Korea. Multiple amputations occurred at the rate of 18.4% compared to 5.7% in WWII.
POW: 766, of whom 114 died in captivity.
Draftees vs. volunteers: 25% (648,500) of total forces in country were draftees. (66% of U.S. armed forces members were drafted during WWII)
Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam.
Reservists KIA: 5,977
National Guard: 6,140 served; 101 died.
88.4% of the men who actually served in
Vietnam were Caucasian, 10.6%
(275,000) were black, 1.0% belonged to other races
86.3% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasian (including Hispanics)
12.5% (7,241) were black.
1.2% belonged to other races
170,000 Hispanics served in Vietnam; 3,070 (5.2%) of whom died there.
86.8% of the men who were KIA were Caucasian
12.1% (5,711) were black; 1.1% belonged to other races.
14.6% (1,530) of non-combat deaths were black
34% of blacks who enlisted volunteered for the combat arms.
Overall, blacks suffered 12.5% of the deaths in Vietnam when the percentage
of blacks of military age was 13.5% of the population.
76% of the men sent to Vietnam were from
75% had family incomes above the poverty level
23% had fathers with professional, managerial, or technical occupations.
79% of the men who served in 'Nam had a high school education or better.
63% of Korean vets had completed high school upon separation from the service)
82% of veterans who saw heavy combat
strongly believe the war was lost because of a lack of political will. Nearly
75% of the general public (in 1993) agrees with that.
The average age of the G.I. in 'Nam was
19 (26 for WWII) 97% of Vietnam era vets were honorably discharged.
91% of veterans of actual combat and 90%
of those who saw heavy combat are proud to have served their country. 66% of
Viet vets say they would serve again, if called upon. 87% of the public now
holds Viet vets in high esteem.
Helicopter crew deaths accounted for 10% of ALL Vietnam deaths. Helicopter losses during Lam Son 719 (a mere two months) accounted for 10% of all helicopter losses from 1961-1975.
* 2nd Lt. Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba
* 2nd Lt. Elizabeth Ann Jones
Lt. Drazba and Lt. Jones were assigned to the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon. They died in a helicopter crash near Saigon, February 18, 1966. Drazba was from Dunmore, PA, Jones from Allendale, SC. Both were 22 years old.
* Capt. Eleanor Grace Alexander
* 1st Lt. Hedwig Diane Orlowski
Capt. Alexander of Westwood, NJ, and Lt. Orlowski of Detroit, MI, died November 30, 1967. Alexander, stationed at the 85th Evac., and Orlowski, stationed at the 67th Evac. in Qui Nhon, had been sent to a hospital in Pleiku to help out during a push. With them when their plane crashed on the return trip to Qui Nhon were two other nurses, Jerome E. Olmstead of Clintonville, WI, and Kenneth R. Shoemaker, Jr. of Owensboro, KY. Alexander was 27, Orlowski 23. Both were posthumously awarded Bronze Stars.
* 2nd Lt. Pamela Dorothy Donovan
Lt. Donovan, from Allston, MA, became seriously ill and died on July 8, 1968. She was assigned to the 85th Evac. in Qui Nhon. She was 26 years old.
* 1st Lt. Sharon Ann Lane
Lt. Lane died from shrapnel wounds when the 312th Evac. at Chu Lai was hit by rockets on June 8, 1969. From Canton, OH, she was a month short of her 26th birthday. She was posthumously awarded the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm and the Bronze Star for Heroism. In 1970, the recovery room at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, where Lt. Lane had been assigned before going to Viet Nam, was dedicated in her honor. In 1973, Aultman Hospital in Canton, OH, where Lane had attended nursing school, erected a bronze statue of Lane. The names of 110 local servicemen killed in Vietnam are on the base of the statue.
* Lt. Col. Annie Ruth Graham, Chief Nurse at 91st Evac. Hospital, Tuy Hoa
Lt. Col. Graham, from Efland, NC, suffered a stroke in August 14, 1968 and was evacuated to Japan where she died four days later. A veteran of both World War II and Korea, she was 52.
U.S. Air Force
* Capt. Mary Therese Klinker
Capt. Klinker, a flight nurse assigned to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, was on the C-5A Galaxy which crashed on April 4 outside Saigon while evacuating Vietnamese orphans. This is known as the Operation Babylift crash. From Lafayette, IN, she was 27. She was posthumously awarded the Airman's Medal for Heroism and the Meritorious Service Medal.
Back to Navy/Army Main Index | <urn:uuid:06315d89-1f16-44e2-a3b1-132527d72386> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mrfa.org/vnstats.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00147-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980905 | 1,564 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Son of Solomon by the Ammonite princess Naamah (1 Kgs. 14:21, 31), and his successor in the kingdom (1 Kgs. 11:43). During his reign the division took place between north and south (1 Kgs. 12), being mainly the result of an old rivalry between Judah and Ephraim, which Rehoboam tried to pacify by going to Shechem to be crowned. Much discontent had also been caused by the rigor of Solomon’s government, and by Rehoboam’s refusal to relieve the burdens placed upon the people (1 Kgs. 12:1–11). An invasion by Shishak, king of Egypt, also weakened Rehoboam’s power (1 Kgs. 14:21–31). See also 1 Kgs. 15:6; 1 Chr. 3:10; 2 Chr. 9:31; 10–12; 13:7; Matt. 1:7. | <urn:uuid:ca467b36-82f2-40ab-a77b-f549eafb4e2b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/rehoboam?lang=eng&letter=r | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00039-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963441 | 206 | 2.875 | 3 |
LEGENDS & MYSTERIES
La Llorona -
Weeping Woman of the Southwest
<< Previous 1
(pronounced "LAH yoh ROH nah"), Spanish for the Weeping Woman, has been a
part of Hispanic culture in the Southwest since the days of the
conquistadores. The tall, thin spirit is said to be blessed with
natural beauty and long flowing black hair. Wearing a white gown,
she roams the rivers and creeks, wailing into the night and searching for
children to drag, screaming to a watery grave.
one really knows when the legend of
began or, from where it originated. Though the tales vary from source to
source, the one common thread is that she is the spirit is of a doomed
mother who drowned her children and now spends eternity searching for them
in rivers and lakes.
La Llorona, christened "Maria", was born to a peasant family in a
humble village. Her startling beauty captured the attention of both the
rich and the poor men of the area. She was said to have spent her days in
her humble peasant surroundings, but in the evenings, she would don her
best white gown and thrill the men who admired her in the local
Tolby Creek in
Canyon, Kathy Weiser, July, 2003
| The young men anxiously
waited for her arrival and she reveled in the attention that she
La Llorona had two small sons who made it difficult for her to
spend her evenings out, and often, she left them alone while she
cavorted with the gentlemen during the evenings. One day the two
small boys were found drowned in the river. Some say they
drowned through her neglect, but others say that they may have died by
her own hand.
Another legend says that
La Llorona was a caring woman full of life and love, who married
a wealthy man who lavished her with gifts and attention. However, after she bore him two sons, he began to change, returning to
a life of womanizing and alcohol, often leaving her for months at a
time. He seemingly no longer cared for the beautiful Maria, even
talking about leaving her to marry a woman of his own wealthy class. When he did return home, it was only to visit his children and the
devastated Maria began to feel resentment toward the boys.
One evening, as Maria was strolling
with her two children on a shady pathway near the river, her husband
came by in a carriage with an elegant lady beside him. He
stopped and spoke to his children, but ignored Maria, and then drove
the carriage down the road without looking back.
After seeing this Maria went into a
terrible rage, and turning against her children, she seized them and
threw them into the river. As they disappeared down stream, she
realized what she had done and ran down the bank to save them, but it
was too late. Maria broke down into inconsolable grief, running
down the streets screaming and wailing.
La Llorona mourned them day and night. During this time,
she would not eat and walked along the river in her white gown
searching for her boys -- hoping they would come back to her. She cried endlessly as she roamed the riverbanks and her gown became
soiled and torn. When she continued to refuse to eat, she grew
thinner and appeared taller until she looked like a walking skeleton. Still a young woman, she finally died on the banks of the river.
long after her death, her restless spirit began to appear, walking the
banks of the
Santa Fe River when darkness fell. Her weeping and wailing
became a curse of the night and people began to be afraid to go out after
dark. She was said to have been seen drifting between the trees
along the shoreline or floating on the current with her long white gown
spread out upon the waters. On many a dark night people would see
her walking along the riverbank and crying for her children. And so, they
no longer spoke of her as Maria, but rather,
the weeping woman. Children are warned not to go out in the dark,
La Llorona might snatch them, throwing them to their deaths in the
Though the legends vary, the apparition is said to act without hesitation
or mercy. The tales of her cruelty depends on the version of the legend
you hear. Some say that she kills indiscriminately, taking men, women, and
children -- whoever is foolish enough to get close enough to her. Others
say that she is very barbaric and kills only children, dragging them
screaming to a watery grave.
When Patricio Lugan was a boy, he and his family saw her on a creek
New Mexico. As the family was sitting outside talking, they saw a tall, thin woman
walking along the creek. She then seemed to float over the water,
started up the hill, and vanished. However, just moments later she
reappeared much closer to them and then disappeared again. The
family looked for footprints and finding none, had no doubt that the woman
they had seen was
has been seen along many rivers across the entire Southwest and the legend
has become part of Hispanic culture everywhere. Part of the legend
is that those who do not treat their families well will see her and she
will teach them a lesson.
Another story involved a man by the name of Epifanio Garcia, who was an
outspoken boy who often argued with his mother and his father. After
a heated argument, Epifanio, along with his brothers, Carlos and Augustine
decided to leave their ranch in Ojo de La Vaca to head toward the Villa
Real de Santa Fe. However, when they were along their way, they were visited by a tall woman
wearing a black tapelo and a black net over her face. Two of the
boys were riding in the front of the wagon when the spirit appeared on the
seat between them. She was silent and continued to sit there until Epifanio finally turned the horses around and headed back home, at which
time she said "I will visit you again someday when you argue with your
In Santa Fe,
the tall wailing spirit has been seen repeatedly in the PERA Building
(Public Employees Retirement Association), which is built on land that was
once an old Spanish-Indian graveyard, and is near the
River. Many people who have been employed there tell of hearing cries
resounding through the halls and feeling unseen hands pushing them while
on the stairways.
has been heard at night wailing next to rivers by many and her wanderings
have grown wider, following Hispanic people wherever they go. Her
movements have been traced throughout the Southwest and as far north as
the banks of the Yellowstone River.
The Hispanic people believe that the
Woman will always be with them, following the many rivers looking for
her children, and for this reason, many of them fear the dark and pass the
legend from generation to generation.
of America, updated December, 2012.
See Readers' Stories of La Llorona Next | <urn:uuid:2412a794-2ba6-4f09-b9c1-fe3e925008d3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.legendsofamerica.com/gh-lallorona.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00168-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978354 | 1,528 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Committees are the true engines of the Legislature that drive the lawmaking process and allow legislation to be passed in as timely a manner as possible. The committee process is the basic structure by which lawmakers discuss, debate, research, amend, and in some cases, originate legislation. Any lawmaker can draft and introduce a bill but the committees are where the details get hashed out and where the ideas in the bill come to life.
If it were not for committees, there would be no such thing as a part-time Legislature. It would be virtually impossible for House and Senate members to accurately and efficiently pore over the minutiae in every bill while scrutinizing the details and hearing advice from experts in a 60-day time frame.
Fortunately, the workload in both the House of Delegates and the State Senate is divided among several subunits, focused on specific topics relative to its area of expertise, called standing committees. For example, members of the House Standing Committee on the Judiciary look over legislation relating to civil and criminal proceedings, while the Senate Standing Committee on Finance addresses bills generally relating to taxes, revenue and budgetary concerns.
After a bill is introduced on the floor, it is assigned to one or more committees for further study. These committees can recommend the bill for passage, sending it on to the next committee assignment or back to the floor for a vote, or the committee can choose not to take up the bill, effectively killing it.
In addition to the basic function of studying and developing legislation, committees also operate as symposiums of ideas, welcoming knowledgeable advice from experts on the topic of study and listening to concerns from the public. During session, committee leadership invites experts, advocates, concerned stakeholders and citizens alike to address the committee and discuss issues in-depth. This component of the committee process allows lawmakers to hear statistics, expert explanations, and personal testimony relating to an issue, as well as to gauge how those that would be most affected feel about proposed legislation.
Already this session, Finance and Economic Development Committees have heard testimony with regard to the cracker plant bill and how tax incentives from within that bill would make West Virginia a very viable competitor to land a cracker plant. In the past month, the Senate Standing Committee on the Judiciary has heard ample expert testimony from State Police troopers while trying to decide whether to make a ban on texting while driving a primary or secondary offense.
Often times, particularly when proposed legislation receives a lot of media attention or has become a polarizing issue with the public, committees will hold public hearings. These hearings allow concerned members of the public to voice their concerns and publicly support or oppose the legislation in question.
As legislation moves through the committee and legislative processes, the House and Senate may find themselves at loggerheads, unable to reach an agreement on every provision considered in a piece of legislation. When neither body will recede or retract its provisions to a bill, the legislation is referred to a conference committee. Conference committees are appointed by both the Senate President and the House Speaker and are comprised of members from both bodies, with an equal number from each. These committees are formed to resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill. If a compromise is reached, each body will either pass or reject the conference committee bill. If they are unable to reach a compromise, the bill dies.
All committee meetings and public hearings are open to the public. For more information on attending or participating in committee meetings or public hearings, contact your local lawmaker, committee chairs, or visit the 80th Legislature on the web.
Senate Bill 31 would increase the limit on the size of voting precincts to 5000 registered voters and increase the size of standard receiving boards in enlarged precincts.
Senate Bill 161 would make it mandatory to report child abuse or neglect. The bill would also increase penalties for those who do not report it.
Senate Bill 165 would create a criminal offense for sexual contact on incarcerated persons by correctional employees, regardless of consent.
Senate Bill 167 would authorize counties and municipalities to accept credit or check cards as payment. County officers may set a fee to be added to each transaction equal to the charge paid by the county officers for the use of the credit or check card by the payer.
Senate Bill 202 would permit the Division of Forestry to enter into stewardship contracts with U. S. Forest Service.
Senate Bill 209 would substitute community service for confinement in jail for people who are under the age of 21 and purchase, consume, sell, serve or possess alcoholic liquor. This bill would also apply to those who misrepresent their age to purchase alcoholic liquor.
Senate Bill 221 would create the Jason Flatt Act of 2012. The bill would require the Center for Professional Development to provide routine education of all professional educators and certain service personnel on warning signs and resources for suicide prevention.
Senate Bill 224 would change the name of the Division of Banking to the Division of Financial Institutions and the titles of Commissioner of Banking and Deputy Commissioner of Banking to Commissioner of Financial Institutions and Deputy Commissioner of Financial Institutions.
Senate Bill 331 would provide notice and the ability to be heard during certain criminal and parole hearings to persons who have resided with a victim for at least one year prior to the crime.
Senate Bill 367 would outline when a possessor of real property would be subject to liability for physical injury or death to a trespasser.
Senate Bill 382 would clarify that a sex offender must register with the State Police in the county of his or her residence. The sex offender must also keep the State Police informed of any change to the required registration information.
Senate Bill 385 would update and expand the definition of computer as it relates to preparing, distributing or exhibiting obscene matter to minors.
Senate Bill 469 would relate to other post employment-benefits. This bill would create a plan to fund the state portion of the health care benefits to for state retirees. This will potentially eliminate the remaining $5 million unfunded liability. This bill includes a multi part provision. These provisions include a plan that will take $35 million a year from personal income tax collections. Under the proposal, $30 million a year would go into a fund to pay down the remaining $5 billion of long-term OPEB liability.
Senate Bill 327 would provide an exemption for the official mascot of Parkersburg South High School, commonly known as “The Patriot”, to carry a musket on school grounds when the mascot is acting in his or her official capacity. This is the same exemption that is granted to the West Virginia University Mountaineer.
Senate Bill 332 would require pawnbrokers to register with the State Police and collect certain information from their customers. The bill would give rule-making authority to the State Police to direct how pawnbrokers are to submit information collected to the State Police.
Senate Bill 341 would create the Restroom Access Act. This bill would provide access to private employee restrooms for persons with certain eligible medical conditions.
House Bill 4062 would ensure that in-home care workers are certified and are registered in the state of West Virginia. In-home care workers must meet all eligibility requirements according to the provisions of this bill including educational and certification requirements and the completion of a criminal background check.
House Bill 4103 would authorize the Division of Motor Vehicles to take a lead role in planning and coordinating the consolidation of government services and enforce laws currently administered by various state agencies pertaining to the motor carrier industry.
House Bill 4107 would provide online training for firefighters as well as provide them with proper safety equipment. The bill would require the State Fire Commission to establish the training requirements for volunteer firefighters by legislative rule, on or before July 30, 2012.
House Bill 4125 would amend the date of annual notice to parents and guardians of students at school, and alert them to the existence of the school’s crisis response plan. It would also alter a school’s ability to review a redacted copy at the offices of the county board.
House Bill 4238 would establish an Address Confidentiality Program for voters on the absentee voting list. It also establishes certain methods and procedures of ballot provision and application that would serve to protect a program participant’s location information.
House Bill 4250 would alter the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act. The bill specifies the meaning of terms related to the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act, and also clarifies the allowance of documents to be signed electronically.
House Bill 4251 would amend the Uniform Commercial Code. The bill would specify that the term “Public organic record” mean a record that is available for public inspection, and is generally making technical changes and providing transitional rules.
House Bill 4291 would determine the appropriate number of law libraries being used in the state. The number of libraries would be determined by the Supreme Court of Appeals and would also expend money to be used for the purchase of books and materials to be used in the libraries.
House Bill 4301 would reimburse patients for medical records. The bill would require that one copy of medical records be provided to the patient at no cost, and the patient is limited to one set of copies.
House Bill 4310 would prohibit sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of the outer perimeter of a school, childcare facility, playground or a victim’s home. In addition it puts further restrictions on sex offenders.
House Bill 4316 would restrict any new permits, permit modifications, and permit renewals that would allow for underground injection of coal slurry.
House Bill 4340 would be meant to inform parents, coaches, and youth about the dangers of a concussion or head injury during athletic events. Prior to each athletic season, parents or guardians and young athletes would be required to sign a concussion and head injury information sheet before the initiation of any athletic practice or event. A youth athlete who is injured during an athletic event would be removed from play and would not be allowed to resume until a licensed health care provider issued written clearance.
House Bill 4341 would allow employees to donate leave to another employee who requires an extended absence to care for a member of his or her household in the event of a medical emergency.
House Bill 4344 would control potentially dangerous wild animals. The bill specifies what types of animals are to be considered wild, and also details the situations when it is legal to harbor a wild animal. Some exceptions include wildlife refuges, circuses, and people who are temporarily harboring a dangerous wild animal through the state if the transit time does not exceed 24 hours.
House Bill 4346 would exempt disabled veterans who have become permanently and 100 percent disabled from service from state income tax as certified by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs of West Virginia. | <urn:uuid:14d46ac6-ec85-4d95-8936-32f5716af21b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Wrapup/2012/issue_03/wrapup.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00136-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958443 | 2,169 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Who knew that plants could perform calculations that many humans might struggle with. From Reuters:
Plants do complex arithmetic calculations to make sure they have enough food to get them through the night, new research published in journal eLife shows.
Scientists at Britain’s John Innes Centre said plants adjust their rate of starch consumption to prevent starvation during the night when they are unable to feed themselves with energy from the sun.
They can even compensate for an unexpected early night.
“This is the first concrete example in a fundamental biological process of such a sophisticated arithmetic calculation,” mathematical modeler Martin Howard of John Innes Centre (JIC) said.
During the night, mechanisms inside the leaf measure the size of the starch store and estimate the length of time until dawn. Information about time comes from an internal clock, similar to the human body clock…
[continues at Reuters]
Latest posts by majestic (see all)
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- Making Contact (In The Desert) - Jun 16, 2016 | <urn:uuid:1896a2ed-8f57-49f6-bb6b-889b34d7e3a4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://disinfo.com/2013/06/plants-do-math/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00157-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912342 | 246 | 3.625 | 4 |
Registered Nurse Info
Registered Nurse Summary:
A Registered Nurse is a health care professional who also acts as a patient advocate while assisting with a patient's care and recovery. The role of a Registered Nurse is to assess a patient's condition and implement a plan of action so that they can recover more quickly. Registered Nurses also provide emotional support and education to family members on how to cope with and treat a patient's condition once they are at home.
Registered Nurse FAQs:
What is a
A Registered Nurse is a nurse that works with patients during their care and recovery. Registered Nurses make sure patients receive professional care.
What type of care do Registered Nurses offer?
Registered Nurse duties include updating medical records, administering medications, helping to perform diagnostic tests, and helping with rehabilitation.
Where does a Registered Nurse work?
Besides hospitals, a Registered Nurse can be employed by physicians, attorneys, schools, fire departments and other private industries.
What types of Registered Nurses are there?
A Registered Nurse can specialize as an ambulatory nurse, critical care nurse, holistic nurse, home care nurse, infusion nurse, long-term care nurse, psychiatric nurse, surgical nurse, radiology nurse or a transplant nurse.
What are the duties of a Registered Nurse?
Some of their duties include:
- Reviewing patient's charts and implementing a plan of action to treat conditions and speed up recovery
- Supervising other nurses and nursing assistants with their duties
- Administering medications and treatments
- Assisting with rehabilitation and providing follow up treatment and advice
- Educating patients and families on managing an illness, condition, or disease.
Registered Nurse Related Terms:
registered nurse, nursing, rehabilitation, diagnostic testing | <urn:uuid:71a010a5-62ca-4165-8abb-6c9868e1c5a7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wellness.com/find/registered%20nurse/vt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951793 | 353 | 3.25 | 3 |
X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis
Comparison between EDXRF and WDXRF
The principal difference between ED and WDXRF techniques lies in the achievable energy (spectral) resolution. WDXRF systems can routinely provide working resolutions between 5 eV and 20 eV, depending on their set up, whereas EDXRF systems typically provide resolutions ranging from 150 eV to 300 eV or more, depending on the type of detector used.
The higher resolution of WDXRF provides advantages in reduced spectral overlaps, so that complex samples can be more accurately characterized. In addition, with high resolution backgrounds are reduced, providing improved detection limits and sensitivity.
However, the additional optical components of a WDXRF system (eg, diffracting crystal and collimators) means that it suffers from greatly reduced efficiency. Typically this is compensated for by high powered X-Ray sources, which can have a significant impact on cost and ease of use. The additional optical components of WDXRF also effect the cost, and make for a relatively expensive instrument.
The final difference lies in spectral acquisition. With an EDXRF system such as one of the XGT systems an entire spectrum is acquired virtually simultaneously, so that elements from across most of the periodic table can be detected within a few seconds. With WDXRF spectrum acquisition is either made in a point by point fashion (which is extremely time consuming), or else has a very limited number of simultaneous detectors (which is an expensive option). | <urn:uuid:aede7ef6-04e1-4418-ab85-e54f4f0037bf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.horiba.com/in/scientific/products/x-ray-fluorescence-analysis/tutorial/comparison-between-edxrf-and-wdxrf/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00006-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955678 | 303 | 2.625 | 3 |
This is a new column that will track developments in WebRTC, but more importantly the webification of communications. WebRTC is a new communications standard and implementation, started by Google (News - Alert), that is picking up huge momentum in the industry.
WebRTC takes the components of a typical VoIP media engine into a browser or any other peer endpoint with a simple API that a web server can control. The base technology has been open sourced by Google and is based on the company’s purchase of Global IP Solutions, a company that provided the same technology to most of the large VoIP companies (Avaya, Cisco (News - Alert), Nortel, etc.). The thing that is really exciting about WebRTC is that, in addition to enabling a website to enabling two peer endpoints begin a rich media session (voice, video, data, etc.) with a relatively simple set of instructions, WebRTC is the initial technology showing the change coming in the industry, the webification of communications.
With WebRTC any website can host a communications event for two peers. While today those peers involve typical browser devices running Chrome, Firefox or Opera, the future could see this happen on virtually any devices. A typical peer-to-peer session involves both peer nodes of the same server. What is interesting is to contrast this with a trapezoid model enabled by the WebRTC standard in which each peer is represented by a separate server and the servers negotiate between them on behalf of the peers.
Today, virtually all communications today requires that I have a server that represents me outbound when I want to communicate with someone else. While we often call these service providers or Peas, the function is the same. Not only do they represent me for someone trying to reach me, they also represent me when I want to reach out. Contrast this to the web of information where I am not represented when I go to a website; I go directly to that site and have a one-on-one event interaction with that site. The beauty of the web that was created by the CERN team and Tim Berners-Lee was that it enables us to find the resource where we need information and go directly there for a connection. Google (or Bing or Yahoo or any other search engine) gives me a path to the location of the information I seek, but Google does not take me there, it sends me there and is not part of the furthered interactions.
The webification of communications is not a single technology, but rather a transformation of the basics of communications. Instead of having a single server that manages all of my communications, the webification process will free me to interact directly with millions of web servers to manage a succession of independent communications events, each tuned to the specific needs and requirements of the event, not an arbitrary vendor paradigm. Just as we all have hundreds of different web information experiences monthly, each web communications experience can be defined by the suite hosting the event.
For existing service providers, moving beyond a model of outbound representation to new models of better inbound services and new capabilities like personal agents, adaptive intelligence availability, and other services will be critical. For enterprise vendors, new technologies like representation portals and new customer interaction services will define the new horizons. For both end users and companies, understanding and using this transformation will be critical as well.
In this column we will try to move beyond the technology to how the webification of communications is emerging, illustrating the new applications and capabilities that are coming into the market, and the technologists who are creating the innovations that will fuel the transformation. We will identify the companies that are driving the transformation: the service providers, the enterprise technology vendors, and new entrants creating disruptive change. Finally, we will talk to the individuals who are driving the change through their leadership and innovation. As with all disruptive transformations, the webification of communications promises to be a bumpy ride, with peaks of transformed value and user experience as well as valleys of frustration and challenge, but as with all great changes, the ride will be interesting and the results will astound us all. I look forward to having you along for the ride.
Phil Edholm (News - Alert) is the president and founder of PKE Consulting LLC (www.pkeconsulting.com) and
works with INTERNET TELEPHONY parent company TMC (News - Alert) to stage the WebRTC Conference & Expo, which will be held next time from June 17 to 19 in Atlanta.
Edited by Maurice Nagle | <urn:uuid:9ba1604f-bc9e-4f0e-83c1-2ef0908eee85> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/columns/articles/378460-webification-communications.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00066-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933565 | 928 | 2.90625 | 3 |
The Story of BABAR and the B's
by Judy Jackson
Much of the buzz in particle physics these days comes from B's. More specifically, from B's and B-bars. That's because experiments studying these particlesóB mesons and their antimatter counterparts, anti-B mesonsóare on the verge of generating dramatic new insights into the enigmatic asymmetry between matter and antimatter. The buzz will reach a crescendo when the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's BABAR collaboration announces major new results at physics conferences next month.
"We've already written the paper; we just have to fill in the numbers," said collaborator David Hitlin, a physicist from the California Institute of Technology and BaBar's founding spokesman. "We know the statistical error."
The "numbers" Hitlin and his collaborators will fill in for the worldwide gathering of B physics experimenters refer to the value of something called "sine two beta," a measure of the difference in the behavior of subatomic particles known as B mesons and their antimatter counterparts, "B bars," or anti-B mesons. The value of sin2b can vary from zero, indicating no difference in how B's and B-bars behave, to plus or minus 1, the maximum difference. The Standard Model, the theory that serves as the particle physicist's playbook, allows for a value somewhere between 0.5 and 0.9. Earlier results from BaBar and other experiments, including Fermilab's CDF, have not yet pinned down a value. Physicists everywhere will be listening eagerly for BaBar's latest results.
They should be interesting. That's because BaBar is up to its collaborative ears in what scientists live for: data. Since the experiment began operating in January, 2000, particle collisions have poured into BaBar's detector at a rate beyond the experimenters' wildest dreams. Those billions upon billions of electron-positron collisions from SLAC's new B Factory accelerator mean that BaBar experimenters can close in on the key matter-antimatter difference they are seeking with an ever-diminishing margin of error. The more collisions, or integrated luminosity, the BaBar detector records, measured in units called "inverse femtobarns," the more accurate will be the determination of sin2b.
"BaBar has recorded 23 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity," said BaBar spokesman Stew Smith of Princeton University. "The results announced in February will be based on 20 inverse femtobarns in the upsilon 4S resonance, [the principal pattern of B meson behavior observed by the experiment] as well as another 15 percent of off-resonance data."
In fact, Smith explained, BaBar's wealth of data amounts almost to an embarrassment of riches. In contrast to the experience at many new particle accelerators, which often start slowly and gradually approach their design luminosity, the B Factory immediately began delivering particle collisions "like a firehose," in Smith's phrase.
"This flood of data creates pressure on the experiment to deal with it all," Smith said. "The biggest stress is on off-line computing. We have much more data to deal with than we expected. We're a victim of our own success, which is a nice problem to have but is still a major challenge."
BaBar appears to be up for the challenge. In something of a departure from earlier SLAC experiments, BaBar set out from its start in 1993 to create a thoroughly international collaboration. The 554 members of BaBar are evenly split, with 277 from U.S. institutions and 277 from abroad. Universities and laboratories from Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Russia and Taiwan make up exactly half of BaBar's 74 member institutions.
"This international aspect is absolutely crucial to the success of the experiment," Smith said. "The costs of building the detector were split about 60/40 between the U.S. and other countries, but we share the costs and responsibilities 50/50 when it comes to detector operation, data analysis, technical coordination and leadership of the collaboration."
International relations extend, in fact, beyond the collaboration itself to a "collegial" relationship with BaBar's main rival in the B physics enterprise, the Japanese experiment Belle, said Caltech's Hitlin.
"There is a fair amount of contact between the BaBar and Belle collaborations," Hitlin said. "But the value of having two experiments is to have two independent measurements, so collegiality ends where the data begins. However, relations between the two experiments are very good."
Belle has so far recorded about 11 inverse femtobarns of luminosity to BaBar's 23, but "Belle is breathing down our neck," Smith said. "In their best week, they recorded 800 inverse picobarns. BaBar's best week was 970."
Belle will also report results at the BCP4 conference.
At a collaboration meeting at SLAC last month, BABAR seemed as busy as a highly successful beehive, and one on the edge of yet more success. True, the collaboration has a swarm of technical problems to solve. Bakelite panels in a detector component called the flux return have begun to deteriorate, for example; and computing needs have risen faster than budgets based on Moore's law of shrinking computing costs allowed for. BaBar collaborators must plan for dealing with still moreómuch, much moreódata in the near future, and for upgrading their detector for the long haul. But for the moment, at their December meeting, they were savoring the enviable and imminent prospect of announcing results that will significantly change the scientific understanding of the way the universe behaves.
"It's a tremendous thrill to have come so far in so short a time," said SLAC Director Jonathan Dorfan. "February 2001 will usher in an exciting new era of discovery from the B factories."
That's the buzz from BABAR and the B's.
|last modified 1/19/2001 email Fermilab| | <urn:uuid:89cf2773-ae1c-4143-8e98-389f5efb20c1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fnal.gov/pub/ferminews/ferminews01-01-19/p1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00032-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956037 | 1,260 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Games Of Wit
( Originally Published 1906 )
City Chains.—Two groups of players face each other, and one group names a city. Be-fore the umpire has measured off a quarter of a minute the other group must name a city beginning With the last letter of the first-named city, and so it goes till one side fails and loses a member to the other side, when a new chain is started.
Lawyer.—Each person playing chooses a lawyer. One stands in the centre and asks questions of the different players in as natural and brisk a way as possible. No one must reply, on penalty of a forfeit, but his lawyer, on the same penalty, must at once reply for him. If he fails, he takes the questioner's place.
Proverbs.—Doubtless well known. A player is sent from the room, and the words of a proverb are assigned to the members of the company, in order. The player returns and asks questions of the others, each reply to intro-duce the assigned word till the proverb is guessed.
Shouting Proverbs.-This is like the above, except that when the player returns to the room, on a given signal every person shouts his word at the top of his voice, and this is kept up till the proverb has been guessed.
Matched Proverbs.—Choose sides. One side thinks of a proverb and tells its leading word. If the other side cannot name the proverb, they lose a member. On the contrary, they gain one from the other side for every proverb they can name that contains the word proposed.
Snap Proverbs.—Send one player out and arrange the rest in a row, giving each a word of a proverb. The player returns and asks the first player his word. When it is given, he at once turns to another player and requires him to name five—minerals, artists, cities, whatever he pleases—that begin with the same initial. if the player succeeds before the leader counts thirty, he goes to the head of the line. If he fails, he goes to the foot.
Acted Proverbs.—Played like charades, except that a proverb is the theme, and there is usually only one scene.
Pro and Con.—The players face one an-other in two lines. The first on one side gives a word beginning with "pro," and his antagonist must give one beginning with "con" before the umpire counts ten, or, failing, leaves the ranks. Thus it goes on till only one is left. No word may be given twice.
Theatrical Adjectives.—One player retires, and in his absence the others hit on an adjective. On his return he asks questions, and the company will answer in the manner pre-scribed by the adjective, that is, for instance, in a " lazy " fashion, or a " brisk " fashion, or an "indignant " way. The person whose action gives the guesser his clue takes his place.
Definitions.-One player thinks of a word, as, "tree," and tells a word with which it rhymes, as, " bee." The other must try to guess the word, but instead of asking, "Is it `sea' ? " etc., they must use definitions, and ask, " Is it a very large body of water ?" and the leader must reply, " No, it is not a sea." Thus proceed till the word is guessed, the guesser then propounding a new word.
Who Are You ?—A player leaves the room and a historical character is chosen. On his return he is bombarded with questions ad-dressed to him as if he were the person thought of, this being continued till he has guessed who he is.
Who Am I?—In this game one player chooses his character, and acts it out till the rest of the company have guessed it.
Progressive Spelling.—Put the players in a row. The first thinks of a word and tells its first letter. He thinks of " cat," we will say, and gives " C." " H," adds his neighbor, thinking of "chair." "I," continues the third player, thinking of " chisel." " C," says the fourth, thinking of chicken." " A," adds the fifth, having in mind "chicanery." If any one fails, his neighbor has a turn, and he is dropped from the line unless it turns out that no one is able to add another letter. f, on being challenged, a player is found to have added a let-ter without having in mind any corresponding word, he is dropped. Continue till one only remains.
Who Knows That Nose ?—Put half of the company in one room and half in the other, hanging a sheet in the doorway. Through a hole in the sheet one player thrusts his nose, the room in which he stands being dark. If he is not guessed after three guesses, one player is chosen from the other side. f guessed, he goes to the other room, which then takes its turn, darkening its own lights.
Significant Initials.—Take turns propounding descriptions of famous people beginning with their initials, such as, " Comical Delineator " (Charles Dickens).
A Senses Test.—Fill ten little numbered bottles with substances of various odors, each player being required to smell them and make a list of the substances. Do the same with ten little dishes whose contents must be deter-mined by sight—powdered sugar, white pep-per, ground cinnamon, sand, and the like. Ten sounds as different as possible are made simultaneously in a neighboring room, and each must make a list of the ten "instruments" from which the sounds proceed. Let the company file slowly past a table covered with a great variety of things, and then write down as complete a list as possible. Ten substances, disguised to the eye, will then be passed to be tasted. Finally, the room being darkened, ten objects will be passed from hand to hand to be determined by feeling, the names being written when the lights are restored.
Teapot.—Banish a player and choose a word of several significations though the same sound. The player returns and asks each of the others a question, to which he replies with a sentence bringing in the word agreed upon, except that the place of the word is to be taken by the word, " teapot." If the word is "pair, pear, pare," and the question, "Have you ever seen a lover?" the answer might be, " Yes, a teapot of them." The person whose reply gives the clue becomes guesser in a new round.
No-horned Lady.—The players sit in a circle and one turns to his right-hand neighbor and says, as rapidly as possible, "I, a no-horned lady, always no-horned, come to you, a no-horned lady, always no-horned, to say that this no-horned lady (referring to his left-hand neighbor), always no-horned, has a house with a table (or any other article the speaker may think of) in it." The formula is then passed on, each speaker adding a new article till it becomes a long list. For every mistake made a lamplighter is stuck in the hair, and the unfortunate player becomes a " one-horned Lady," a "two-horned lady," etc., and must always be thus described, on penalty of receiving one's self an additional horn.
Literati.—One withdraws, and the company think of some famous man, each taking a letter of his name. Returning, the leader questions the player that has the first letter, who re-plies, having in mind not the person to be guessed, but some historical character beginning with his letter. f Lincoln is to be guessed, he may answer with Lowell in mind ; the next player may answer with Isaac in mind, the next thinking of Noah, and so on. Whoever gives the final clue must become guesser in his turn.
Throwing light.—Thinking of a word of several meanings but the same pronunciation, the leader begins to talk about it, speaking of it in its various significations at random, the company interjecting guesses, until some one guesses correctly, and then starts a new puzzle himself.
What 18 It like ?—A player who has left the room returns to guess some object fixed upon in his absence. "What is it like ? " he asks. "Like a door, because it has four corners." " Like our Bridget, because it is green." Thus the answers may run until he discovers the word, " greenback." '
Advertisements.—Mount upon squares of pasteboard a series of well-known advertisements, leaving no proper names—nothing but the pictures, "catch " phrases, and the like. Number these, and pass them around for the company to make out a correct list.
Quotations.—Arrange the company in two rows facing each other. The leader of one row gives a quotation, and the leader of the opposite row must name the author or pass over to the side of his opponents. The quotations are proposed by each side alternately.
Catches.—A book might be written upon these forms of diversion. They are amusing, but a little of them goes a long way. For ex-ample, it is proclaimed that Mrs. Brown does not like tea, and it is asked what she does like, the players being required to suggest articles of food. if they mention " toast, potatoes, tomatoes," and so on, they are sent indignantly from the circle, but if they name " bread, milk, horseradish," and so on, they are warmly approved, and it will be some time before they discover that Mrs. Brown's aversion is to the letter " t."
" AEsop's Museum " is similar, AEsop asking each player what animal he has been eating lately, and permitting him uncondemned to eat any animal provided there is no " o " in its name. Then there are catches of the practical-joke type, like " Farmyard." Each player is given some animal whose characteristic noise he is to make as loudly as possible when the leader's hand is raised, but he is to be silent instantly as soon as the leader's hand is lowered. These instructions are whispered; but the unfortunate person who has to imitate the donkey is not given the latter half of the instructions, so that he innocently and vigorously brays out a solo.
" Pansy " is not unlike this. The leader whispers to each the name of some flower, and says that as each flower is named in the course of a story he will relate, the corresponding player must try to escape from the room be-fore he can be caught. After several narrow escapes the company is all eager attention, sitting on the edges of the chairs. Calmly the story-teller introduces the word, " pansy," whereupon there is a wild rush from the room of everybody but himself. All but two or three had been assigned the same flower.
Forms of "mind-reading," dependent upon some signal given by a comrade, are numerous and puzzling. Perhaps the most obscure is this : Each player writes some word on a piece of paper, which is folded and placed with the others in a box. The mind-reader draws a slip and rubs it mysteriously across his fore-head, naming at last some word. His reading is at once confirmed by one of the company, whose word has been agreed upon beforehand, and whose slip is folded in such a way as to be avoided till the last. The mind-reader opens the slip to make sure he is right, and reads, of course, a new word. Taking another slip, he proceeds to draw this word from it by his vast mental powers, much to the mystification of the company. Of course he may do without the accomplice and name first what he himself wrote, having marked his own slip.
My list of games of wit might be largely in-creased, and I fear I am not safe in taking it for granted that all my readers will know the good old games of " Clumps," " Twenty Questions," Beast, Bird, and Fish," " How, Where, and When," "Boston," "Traveler's Alpha-bet," " Steamboat's Coming," " I Love My Love," " Apprentice My Son," and " Buzz." f any of these names is unfamiliar, I advise you to discover its meaning without delay, and straightway practise it ! | <urn:uuid:8bdb636c-44c3-4c7f-ae74-c29ff4484466> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oldandsold.com/articles27n/how-to-play-31.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00083-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976334 | 2,630 | 2.609375 | 3 |
In his response to the those of us who self-identify as Climate Blasphemers on the issue of the change in NASA's data at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) showing that 1998 is no longer the warmest year in United States' recorded history - 1934 is - head of the GISS, celebrity scientist James Hansen has this to say:
What we have here is a case of dogged contrarians who present results in ways intended to deceive the public into believing that the changes have greater significance than reality. They aim to make a mountain out of a mole hill. I believe that these people are not stupid, instead they seek to create a brouhaha and muddy the waters in the climate change story. They seem to know exactly what they are doing and believe they can get away with it, because the public does not have the time, inclination, and training to discern what is a significant change with regard to the global warming issue...The proclamations of the contrarians are a deceit, but their story raises a more important matter...That paragraph could well have been written by any of the now majority of people who doubt the sound scientific basis of the global warming argument.
Hansen then posts two graphs, shown below, with before and after plots to demonstrate how minor the changes to the temperature record really are with the implication being that it's all much ado about nothing. On the left is the global record and on the right is the US record. As you can see, the change in global temperature shows a quite dramatic rise while the US change is less so. Putting the graphs side by side puts into context how meaningless any change in the US temperature record really is. Right?
Here's an expanded view of the global temperature graph...
...and here's the expanded US graph:
Notice anything? Anything at all?
James Hansen, head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a man who wrote (as quoted above) that we "...dogged contrarians...present results in ways intended to deceive the public into believing that the changes have greater significance than reality..." has, in fact, done exactly that.
The global temperature graph above is plotted using a 1C range (-0.4 to +0.6) while the US temperature graph is plotted with a 3C range (-1.5 to +1.5). The effect is to flatten out the US graph while making the global one more visually dramatic.
Hansen is simply a politician dressed up as a scientist - and not a very good scientist at that it seems. He has deliberately tried to - let's paraphrase his words - present results in ways intended to deceive the public into believing that the changes have less significance than reality.
I've said it before and I'll say it again now - the damage being done to the reputation of science and the public's perception of it, and trust in it, by Climate Brown Shirts such as Hansen is incalculable.
UPDATE: Steve McIntyre has an important piece on Hansen's and Schmidt's talking down of the significance of the change. CO2science.org also has a terrific rebuttal of Hansen's position. | <urn:uuid:108503ea-bde8-42ca-b0b5-d680125a8444> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jacklacton.com/2007/08/james-hansen-deceitful-climate-change.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00121-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962141 | 649 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Eugene O'Neill's America
Desire Under Democracy
In the face of seemingly relentless American optimism, Eugene O’Neill's plays reveal an America many would like to ignore, a place of seething resentments, aching desires, and family tragedy, where failure and disappointment are the norm and the American dream a chimera. Though derided by critics during his lifetime, his works resonated with audiences, won him the Nobel Prize and four Pulitzer, and continue to grip theatergoers today. Now noted historian John Patrick Diggins offers a masterly biography that both traces O’Neill’s tumultuous life and explains the forceful ideas that form the heart of his unflinching works.
Diggins paints a richly detailed portrait of the playwright’s life, from his Irish roots and his early years at sea to his relationships with his troubled mother and brother. Here we see O’Neill as a young Greenwich Village radical, a ravenous autodidact who attempted to understand the disjunction between the sunny public face of American life and the rage that he knew was simmering beneath. According to Diggins, O’Neill mined this disjunction like no other American writer. His characters burn with longing for an idealized future composed of equal parts material success and individual freedom, but repeatedly they fall back to earth, pulled by the tendrils of family and the insatiability of desire. Drawing on thinkers from Emerson to Nietzsche, O’Neill viewed this endlessly frustrated desire as the problematic core of American democracy, simultaneously driving and undermining American ideals of progress, success, and individual freedom.
Melding a penetrating assessment of O’Neill’s works and thought with a sensitive re-creation of his life, Eugene O’Neill’s America offers a striking new view of America’s greatest playwright—and a new picture of American democracy itself.
Introduction: Knowers Unknown to Ourselves
1. The Misery of the Misbegotten
2. The Playwright as Thinker
3. Anarchism: The Politics of the "Long Lonliness"
4. Beginnings of American History
5. "Lust for Possession"
6. Possessed and Self-dispossessed
7. "Is You a Nigger, Nigger?"
8. "The Merest Sham": Women and Marriage
9. Religion and the Death of Death
10. "The Greek Dream in Tragedy Is the Noblest Ever"
11. Waiting for Hickey
Conclusion: The Theater as Temple
“Biographers have published dozens of books on Eugene O’Neill over the last 50 years in an attempt to explain the complexities of America's 20th-century ‘master playwright.’ What makes Diggins’s thoroughly researched effort particularly effective is his use of political, philosophical, social, psychological, and religious themes in his discussion of O’Neill’s life and plays within the context of a dynamic American society. Diggins begins with a narrative describing O’Neill’s troubled early personal life and follows with thematic chapters discussing the major influences on the playwright’s writing, from contemporary philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche to the ancient Greek tragedians. Diggins generously illustrates each theme with multiple examples from O’Neill’s plays and correspondences. Particularly insightful are his comparisons of O’'Neill’s work with that of other great writers on the theme of American democracy, including Alexis de Tocqueville, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Abraham Lincoln. This book offers the reader a lot to think about, regarding not only O’'Neill’s life and work but also American society at large.” | <urn:uuid:680c2c02-a035-4019-849e-2bd5760b8617> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo5298918.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940667 | 777 | 2.6875 | 3 |
90° Phase Control of SCR.
In ac circuits, the SCR can be turned on by the gate at any angle a with respect to the applied voltage. This angle α is called the firing angle. Power control is obtained by varying the firing angle and this is known as phase control. In the phase-control circuit given in fig. 1, the gate triggering voltage is derived from the ac supply through resistors R1, R2 and R3. The variable resistance R2 limits the gate current during positive half cycles of the supply. If the moving contact is set to the top of resistor R2, resistance in the circuit is the lowest and the SCR may trigger almost immediately at the commencement of the positive half cycle of the input. If, on the other hand, the moving contact is set to the bottom of resistor R2, resistance in the circuit is maximum, the SCR may not switch on until the peak of the positive half-cycle. By adjusting R2 between these two extremes, SCR can be switched on somewhere between the commencement and peak of the positive half-cycle, that is between 0° and 90°. If the triggering voltage VT is not large enough to trigger SCR at 90°, the device will not trigger on at all, because VT has the maximum value at the peak of the input and decreases with the fall in voltage. This operation is sometimes referred to as half-wave variable-resistance phase control. It is an effective method of controlling the load power.
Diode D is provided to protect the SCR gate from the negative voltage that would otherwise be applied during the negative half cycle of the input. It can be seen from the circuit diagram shown in fig.a, that at the instant of turning on of the SCR gate current flows through RL and diode. So
VT=VD + VG + IGRL
180 degree Phase Control.
The circuit shown in figure, can trigger the SCR from 0° to 180° of the input waveform. In the circuit shown here, the resistor R and capacitor C determine the point in the input cycle at which the SCR triggers. During the negative half cycle of the input, capacitor C is charged negatively (with the polarity shown in the figure) through diode D2 to the peak of the input voltage because diode D2 is forward-biased. When the peak of the input negative half cycle is passed, diode D2 gets reverse-biased and capacitor C commences to discharge through resistor R. Depending upon the time constant, that is CR, the capacitor C may be almost completely discharged at the commencement of the positive half cycle of the input, or it may retain a partially negative charge until almost 180° of positive half cycle has passed. So long as the capacitor C remains negatively charged, diode D1, is reverse-biased and the gate cannot go positive to trigger the SCR into conduction. Thus R and /or C can be adjusted to affect SCR triggering anywhere from 0° to 180° of the input ac cycle.
Pulse Control of an SCR.
The simplest of SCR control circuits is shown in figure. If SCR were an ordinary rectifier, it would develop half-wave rectified ac voltage across the load RL. The same would be true if the gate of the SCR had a continuous bias voltage to keep it on when the anode-cathode voltage VAK goes positive. A trigger pulse applied to the gate can switch the device at any time during the positive half-cycle of the input. The resultant load waveform is a portion of positive half cycle commencing at the instant at which the SCR is triggered. Resistor RG holds the gate-cathode voltage, VG at zero when no trigger input is present. The instantaneous level of load current can/be determined from the following relation | <urn:uuid:38c08238-4b74-4b15-9e34-584b1fb472ce> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.circuitstoday.com/scr-control-circuits | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00118-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935296 | 790 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Camels are mentioned as pack animals in the biblical stories of Abraham, Joseph, and Jacob. But archaeologists have shown that camels were not domesticated in the Land of Israel until centuries after the Age of the Patriarchs (2000-1500 BCE). In addition to challenging the Bible's historicity, this anachronism is direct proof that the text was compiled well after the events it describes.
Now Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef and Dr. Lidar Sapir-Hen of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures have used radiocarbon dating to pinpoint the moment when domesticated camels arrived in the southern Levant, pushing the estimate from the 12th to the 9th century BCE. The findings, published recently in the journal Tel Aviv, further emphasize the disagreements between Biblical texts and verifiable history, and define a turning point in Israel's engagement with the rest of the world.
"The introduction of the camel to our region was a very important economic and social development," said Dr. Ben-Yosef. "By analyzing archaeological evidence from the copper production sites of the Aravah Valley, we were able to estimate the date of this event in terms of decades rather than centuries."
Copper mining and camel riding
Archaeologists have established that camels were probably domesticated in the Arabian Peninsula for use as pack animals sometime towards the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. In the southern Levant, where Israel is located, the oldest known domesticated camel bones are from the Aravah Valley, which runs along the Israeli-Jordanian border from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea and was an ancient center of copper production. At a 2009 dig, Dr. Ben-Yosef dated an Aravah Valley copper smelting camp where the domesticated camel bones were found to the 11th to 9th century BCE. In 2013, he led another dig in the area.
To determine exactly when domesticated camels appeared in the southern Levant, Dr. Sapir-Hen and Dr. Ben-Yosef used radiocarbon dating and other techniques to analyze the findings of these digs as well as several others done in the valley. In all the digs, they found that camel bones were unearthed almost exclusively in archaeological layers dating from the last third of the 10th century BCE or later - centuries after the patriarchs lived and decades after the Kingdom of David, according to the Bible. The few camel bones found in earlier archaeological layers probably belonged to wild camels, which archaeologists think were in the southern Levant from the Neolithic period or even earlier. Notably, all the sites active in the 9th century in the Arava Valley had camel bones, but none of the sites that were active earlier contained them.
The appearance of domesticated camels in the Aravah Valley appears to coincide with dramatic changes in the local copper mining operation. Many of the mines and smelting sites were shut down; those that remained active began using more centralized labor and sophisticated technology, according to the archaeological evidence. The researchers say the ancient Egyptians may have imposed these changes - and brought in domesticated camels - after conquering the area in a military campaign mentioned in both biblical and Egyptian sources.
Humping it to India
The origin of the domesticated camel is probably the Arabian Peninsula, which borders the Aravah Valley and would have been a logical entry point for domesticated camels into the southern Levant. In fact, Dr. Ben-Yosef and Dr. Sapir-Hen say the first domesticated camels ever to leave the Arabian Peninsula may now be buried in the Aravah Valley.
The arrival of domesticated camels promoted trade between Israel and exotic locations unreachable before, according to the researchers; the camels can travel over much longer distances than the donkeys and mules that preceded them. By the seventh century BCE, trade routes like the Incense Road stretched all the way from Africa through Israel to India. Camels opened Israel up to the world beyond the vast deserts, researchers say, profoundly altering its economic and social history.
American Friends of Tel Aviv University supports Israel's leading, most comprehensive and most sought-after center of higher learning, Tel Aviv University (TAU). Rooted in a pan-disciplinary approach to education, TAU is internationally recognized for the scope and groundbreaking nature of its research and scholarship -- attracting world-class faculty and consistently producing cutting-edge work with profound implications for the future. TAU is independently ranked 116th among the world's top universities and #1 in Israel. It joins a handful of elite international universities that rank among the best producers of successful startups. | <urn:uuid:df0a19cb-ea22-4897-aff0-9b9c63f5735e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-02/afot-fif020314.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959134 | 953 | 4.15625 | 4 |
Definition of Life - VIRUSES LIVE OK!!!!
Herbert Martin Sauro
hrs at aber.ac.uk
Wed Feb 9 17:16:48 EST 1994
I think viruses are 'live' entities because they have a set of
instructions but they have this neat ability to exploit another hosts'
machine so that they don't have to carry their own machine around with
them. Since they retain the instructions part within themselves they
will experience evolution.
I would also add entities such as tierran organisms to the 'live'
category although their evolution is quite constrained by the world they
occupy (compared to earth based life). Tierran organisms are a bit odd
though because although the instructions form part of the organim the
machine part appears to be actually a part of the physical world they
live in, i.e the virtual computer. Although thinking about it, the tierran
instructions are also part of the machine. I guess its the same with earth
based organisms in the sense that part of the machine resides in the laws
of nature and the other part in the way the machine is built from
More information about the Bioforum | <urn:uuid:5786a0da-29fc-4583-b922-33377e79af28> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/bioforum/1994-February/007638.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00015-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942965 | 246 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Saskatchewan group pushes for lower carbon emissions
SASKATOON – A Saskatchewan environmental advocacy group is calling on the provincial government to tackle climate change by working toward reducing its carbon emissions after the federal government pledged to do so in an international agreement last week. The federal government recently pledged to reduce its emissions to 30 per cent lower than they were in 2005.
Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES) officials say they want the province to do the same and presented a number of reduction measures it believes will complete the task at a press conference Tuesday morning.
“We’re just saying Saskatchewan should do its share,” said Peter Prebble, SES director of environmental policy.
“We shouldn’t grind our hands over this; we should get on with emissions reduction.”
To achieve the same goal that Ottawa has set, the province would need to reduce carbon emissions by 26 million tonnes a year, according to Prebble. To put it in perspective, the SaskPower carbon capture project at the Boundary Dam reduces one million tonnes a year.
The SES is advocating for a number of cross-sector measures to be implemented to achieve this goal. Officials are pushing to offer financial incentives for those purchasing energy-efficient cars, or outfitting their homes with solar panels. Phasing out Saskatchewan’s coal fired power plants and enacting a “revenue-neutral” carbon tax are also among the ideas.
“There would be reductions in sales tax, there would be reductions in income tax, and there would be a corresponding increase in tax related to fossil fuel consumption,” said Prebble of the tax plan.
“The intent of this would be to discourage fossil fuel consumption … and to encourage energy efficiency.”
Prebble said a carbon tax plan should be formed after the policy that’s implemented in British Columbia. It’s an idea that could work in Saskatchewan, according to resource economist Joel Bruneau. He added that the measure hasn’t hurt B.C.’s economic activity.
“There’s always winners and losers in any policy that you generate, but the net effect seems to be almost zero,” said Bruneau.
Saskatchewan is one of the highest carbon emitters per capita in the country, according to national statistics. Bruneu said the province’s characteristics and its resource driven economy will always put it towards the front of the pack in this category, but measures can still be taken to reduce the footprint.
“The question is, can we be above average, but not that much above average,” said Bruneau.
“Can we bring our averages down to something that’s more reasonable?”
© 2015 Shaw Media | <urn:uuid:47d041e4-9aec-4552-aaf1-21090630deb2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://globalnews.ca/news/2403283/saskatchewan-group-pushes-for-lower-carbon-emissions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00153-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941469 | 580 | 2.5625 | 3 |
"The test launch of the Max Launch Abort System, or MLAS from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility has been delayed to no earlier than 20 June due to weather issues. Here's a look at the vehicle itself courtesy of NASA and what it is supposed to accomplish - plus some pictures you have probaby never seen before.
Mission Information: The NASA Constellation Program is developing an astronaut escape system for its Orion spacecraft, designed to carry humans to the International Space Station by 2015 and to the lunar surface by 2020. In a parallel effort, another NASA team, led by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC), is preparing to demonstrate an alternate escape system to explore different technological approaches to the same task. The alternate escape system, called Max Launch Abort System (MLAS), is a risk mitigation effort on behalf of Orion. MLAS was named after Maxime (Max) Faget, a Mercury-era pioneer. Faget was the designer of the Project Mercury Capsule and holder of the patent for the "Aerial Capsule Emergency Separation Device," which is commonly known as the escape tower." | <urn:uuid:93433a68-74c3-47f2-91c4-73c533cbd639> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://nasawatch.com/archives/2009/06/getting-to-know-max.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959017 | 227 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Taking Political Responsibility
What political responsibility does a government have to its people? In President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address earlier this week, he spoke of the role of the federal government in the United States.
“Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune,” said President Obama on Monday. “Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone.”
This week, REACT to FILM takes a look on how a country’s government responds to its issues ranging from voting to national disasters.
Filmed during the 2012 Presidential Election, Electoral Dysfunction takes a humorous and nonpartisan look at the American voting system and the government it reflects.
On the MSNBC morning show Morning Joe earlier this week, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the Republican Party needs to be more inclusive when it comes to voting at the poll. Stricter voter ID laws, according to Powell, tend to target minorities.
Though voter ID laws affect those on both sides of the political spectrum, Powell sees it as the Republican Party not being inclusive enough.
“Should we really have gone after reducing the turnout of voters in those places where we thought it would make a difference?” he asked. “The Republican Party should be a party that says, ‘We want everybody to vote,’ and make it easier for people to vote and give them a reason to vote for the party, and not to find ways to keep them from voting at all.”
REACT to Electoral Dysfunction:
UNDERSTAND voting requirements in your state by visiting your local Secretary of State website.
ENGAGE young people to vote and build their political power through resources such as Rock the Vote.
ACHIEVE systemic change on voting rights and reform through groups like The Advancement Project and the Fair Elections Legal Network.
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom takes a look at the aftermath of the 2011 Japanese tsunami, following the lives of the disaster’s survivors.
According to the Associated Press and Komo News, eight American sailors who served on a humanitarian mission to Japan in the wake of the 2011 tsunami-triggered Fukushima nuclear reactor crisis, are suing the utility company that operates the power plant.
The sailors claim the Japanese government repeatedly said there was no danger to the carrier crew “all the while lying through their teeth about the reactor meltdowns” causing rescuers to “rush into an unsafe area.”
The U.S. Navy allegedly relied on information from the Japanese government, which only belatedly admitted that radiation had leaked into the atmosphere from the damaged power plant.
In months after the devastating tsunami, former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that he wanted his country to learn from its ongoing crisis and become less reliant on nuclear energy.
“We should seek a society that does not rely on nuclear energy,” Kan said. “We should gradually and systematically reduce reliance on nuclear power and eventually aim at a society where people can live without nuclear power plants.”
REACT to The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom:
DONATE to Japan’s Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund through various outlets such as Global Giving and Save the Children.
SIGN this petition for the Japanese Government to stop the construction of the Ōma Nuclear Power Plant and for the country to look into safer energy alternatives.
VOLUNTEER with an international environmental organizations such as Friends of the Earth International to support global awareness of environmental issues. | <urn:uuid:4b9d33f6-78dc-4f42-9b8a-968ddf1e2526> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://reacttofilm.com/taking-political-responsibility/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00187-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951731 | 767 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Начало 1, Lesson 3, Part 4. Dialogue templates. (#0278)
Asking about location of places. Prepare a dialogue according to the template.
Places: почта, магазин, автобусная остановка
Location: направо, налево, рядом, далеко, недалеко
A. Do you happen to know where the place is?
B. Here it is, location.
A. And where is the place?
B. The place is location.
A. Is the place near|far?
B. Yes|no, it's near|far.
A. Thank you.
B. You're welcome.
Content based on text, audio and video sources in the Начало
Textbook and Workbook (1st and 2nd edition) package by Lubensky, Ervin, McLellan, Jarvis.
Copyright © 2001, 1996. McGraw-Hill
. All Rights Reserved.
Web content Copyright © 2005. George Mitrevski
. Auburn University. | <urn:uuid:1aadb190-07ad-43d0-bdb1-5b951a0c498b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.auburn.edu/~mitrege/russian/exercises/0278.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00148-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.675574 | 287 | 2.984375 | 3 |
In the past few years we've seen a huge rise of successful systems built following a Document Object Model (DOM) type of architecture. By that I mean: open systematized models of complex domains that are easy for applications to specialize and extend in a cooperative manner.
The olden days of interface writing is represented by the applet. You combine all your libraries into a single application and download it to an interpreter. This is basically the same as compiling to an image and running the resulting executable on your favorite OS.
Look how different is your browser's DOM based approach. The DOM provides a really rich and functional model of a document, your web browser, which is made available to all applications running in your browser. Multiple libraries can be directly loaded into the browser and build on layers of each others functionality. Applications can add new methods, events, and properties directly to the model. And powerful meta tools like jQuery are creatable because of the dynamic power and regularity the browser environment provides.
One of the most stunning success stories is Eclipse's DOM type architecture of an IDE. If you would have told me you could make a world class development platform by defining a plugin architecture and then weaving together a myriad of plugins from a bevy of developers, I would have said you are crazy. But it works and Eclipse is now the premier IDE on the market. They succeeded by creating an IDE model, which in my world is a DOM, and then made the IDE buildable by composing parts formed from a generic plugin architecture. That this works so well was surprising to me and very enlightening.
Another interesting application of the DOM type model is in CMSs like Drupal and Joomla. A CMS is like a big web site construction kit allowing you to create your personal idea of a website from the work of 100s of other people. Drupal makes this possible through their module system that allows modules to be composed together. Drupal's role is to provide an open model of what it means to be a CMS, a set of standards about how everyones modules can play nicely together, and mechanisms for composing the modules together in meaningful ways.
For example, forum systems allow readers to make comments on posts. Usually that comment system only works for forum posts, but Drupal takes it one step further and allows the ability to create a comment module that can be attached to any other part of the system, like blogs or polls.
Taking extension yet another step beyond is the Content Construction Kit (CCK) module for Drupal. CCK allows you to create new content types and extend existing content types with new features in a type specific manner that is understandable by Drupal.
For example, let's say I am creating an event system and I want my event to support geolocation. With geolocation we can show events on Google maps and do other cool operations like calculate how far apart events are. Traditionally I would build location attributes and functionality into my event system and this would take a long time, even using a third part library. I would have to change the database, make a module, make it configurable, add theming, and so on.
With CCK I don't have to start from scratch anymore. I can fold into my event the nifty preexisting location module that already exists. CCK will add the location fields, hooks, and widgets into my event in such a way that Drupal can see them as one thing, even though they aren't one thing.
I can take this even further. Let's say I want people to be able to comment on my event, so we weave in a comment module. I also want people to rate the event, so we weave in a rating module. Next I want people to able to submit events like Digg and vote them into a front page, so we weave in the voting module.
A very complex event has been created by weaving in different aspects together in a unified whole. This may sound a bit like AOP but it is much more powerful because what is being weaved together happens within a complete CMS system model. New content types are natively able to take advantage of CMS features like theming, installation, configuration, upgrading, security, user permissions, and database configuration. It's not just AOP's attachment of a bit code at an insertion point, you are creating a niche in a complete interdependent ecosystem.
So what is an event really if it's defined primarily by weaving together different aspects? Here's where we get to the "Identity Based Programming" (IBP) part of our tour. Why IBP? Because all programming ideas these days have to have 3 letter acronyms where the middle letter is preferably a "D" for driven or "O" for oriented. I am really bucking the trend here using "B" for based.
An object is usually said to have identity, state, and behavior. I have always contended an object simply has identity, state and behavior arise from relationships with other objects. For example, the date of an event is usually considered an attribute of an event object and this is part of its state. But in reality the date is in a 1-1 relationship with the object and thus isn't part of the object. This is the same for all attributes of the event, like location, comments, votes, and ratings, along with their associated behaviors. What ties the state and behaviors together is the identity of the event they are in relationship with.
And here's where DOM type architectures and IBP meet. A DOM sets up the system model, the extension points and facilitation protocols. The process of composing and gluing them together to create new applications is what I am calling Identity Based Programming. Applications in Eclipse, your browser, and Drupal are all built this way.
You can say I am not brining anything new to the party and you are absolutely right. I just think it's very interesting to see this approach evolve separately and almost independently in several different application spaces. This approach is fundamentally different than what has gone before, but it's very difficult to pin down exactly what is different. I just thought I would take a stab at defining what is different and to me one of the most important ideas is that identity is what holds all this independent parts together when traditionally we have tried to force these parts to be one whole object.
Biological life works by accretion. Parts keep being added on to existing systems rather than being thrown away and redesigned from scratch. In your brain you'll still find the brain of the lizard, mammal, and the primate. Human brains were made by adding on. With Identity Based Programming we see the same process happening in building software.
Update: Greasemonkey allow users change the UI of an application directly. You can't extend the back-end functionality but you can change the front-end so it's more like what you want. It goes beyond just changing colors. You can weave in new widgets and do things like add comment boxes and links where you want them, not just where the designer put them. | <urn:uuid:50604d8f-ecd5-4c6f-8ae9-76f53e973a86> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://possibility.com/blog/content/all-world-dom-rise-identity-based-programming | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394937.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00009-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948211 | 1,438 | 2.6875 | 3 |
By Russell Kirk
Edmund Burke was at once a chief exponent of the Ciceronian doctrine of natural law and a chief opponent of the “rights of man.” In our time, which is experiencing simultaneously a revival of interest in natural-law theory and an enthusiasm for defining “human rights” that is exemplified by the United Nations’ lengthy declaration, Burke’s view of the natural juridic order deserves close attention.
Unlike Bolingbroke and Hume, whose outward politics in some respects resembled the great Whig statesman’s, Burke was a pious man. “The most important questions about the human race Burke answered . . . from the Church of England’s catechism.”1 He takes for granted a Christian cosmos, in which a just God has established moral principles for man’s salvation. God has given man law, and with that law, rights; such, succinctly, is Burke’s premise in all moral and juridical questions. The religion of Edmund Burke is a very interesting topic which cannot be examined in detail here; but it needs to be mentioned before any consideration of Burke’s political fundamentals, for he was as devout as his Tory friend Johnson. Leslie Stephen’s observation that Whigs were invincibly suspicious of parsons does not apply to the greatest Whig of all. God gives us our nature, said Burke, and with it he gives us natural law. But that law, and the rights which derive from it, have been misunderstood by the modern mind—thus Burke continues:
The rights of men, that is to say, the natural rights of mankind, are indeed sacred things; and if any public measure is proved mischievously to affect them, the objection ought to be fatal to that measure, even if no charter at all could be set up against it. If these natural rights are further affirmed and declared by express covenants, if they are clearly defined and secured against chicane, against power, and authority, by written instruments and positive engagements, they are in a still better condition: they partake not only of the sanctity of the object so secured, but of that solemn public faith itself, which secures an object of such importance. . . . The things secured by these instruments may, without any deceitful ambiguity, be very fitly called the chartered rights of men.2
So Burke, between two revolutions, spoke of these claims of rights which were about to convulse the world. One notes a certain reluctance to embrace abstract and undefined rights and a contrasting affection for prerogatives definitely guaranteed by prescription and charter. Burke would soon be compelled to make his distinctions more emphatic.
Just as purpose is to be discerned, however dimly, in the procession of history, Burke contends, so there exist irrevocable enactments of Divine authority which we can endeavor to apprehend through observing humanity living and humanity dead. Man’s rights exist only when man obeys God’s law, for right is a child of law. Very different all this is from the “natural rights” of Locke, whose phraseology Burke often adopts; and we need hardly remark that this concept of natural right is descended from sources very different from Rousseau’s, the great equalitarian’s homage to the Divinity notwithstanding. Rousseau deduces natural right from a mythical primeval condition of freedom and a psychology drawn in large part from Locke; Burke’s natural right is the Stoic and Ciceronian jus naturale, reinforced by Christian dogma and English common-law doctrine. Now Hume, from a third point of view, maintains that natural law is a matter of convention; and Bentham, from yet another, declares that natural right is an illusory tag. Burke, hostile toward both these rationalists, says that natural right is human custom conforming to Divine intent.
The Whig statesman did not look upon natural right as a weapon in political controversy: he had too much reverence for its origin. Whether in the role of reformer or of conservator, he rarely invokes natural right against his adversaries’ measures or in defense of his own. He dislikes, indeed, to define it very closely; natural right is an Idea comprehended fully only by the Divine intellect; precisely where it commences and terminates, we are no fit judges. We would be presumptuous to think that divine law could not operate without the sanction of our temporal legislation. But so far as we can delineate the features of natural justice, Burke suggests, it is the experience of mankind which supplies our partial knowledge of Divine law; and the experience of the species is taught to us not only through history, but through tradition, prejudice, prescription.
From the beginning to the end of his career, Burke detested the idyllic fantasy of a free, happy, lawless, and unpropertied state of nature which Rousseau popularized. Neither history nor tradition, Burke thundered, sustain this idea of a primeval condition in which man, unfettered by convention, lived contentedly according to the easy impulses of natural right. Natural law can exist in our cognizance only so far as it is embodied in social prescription or charter. We know God’s law only through our own laws that attempt to copy His; for he has given us no facile covenant, no utopian constitution. (One may remark here the strong tinge of Aristotle in Burke’s first principles.) Most certainly, as Cicero demonstrates, human law is not sufficient unto itself; our imperfect statutes are merely a striving toward an eternal order of justice; but God seldom literally writes upon a wall. We grope toward His justice slowly and feebly, out of the ancient imperfections of our nature.
Although it is foolish to believe that man can follow natural law without the definitions of social law, Burke implies, it is quite as conceited to attempt defining in statutory enactment the whole of natural law. God, and God’s nature (for Burke would have reversed the Jeffersonian phrase) can indeed guide us to knowledge of justice, but we need to remember that God is the guide, not the follower. Vainglorious man in the role of guide, equipped with a map compiled from his own abstractions, would lead society to destruction. The work which first brought Burke to public notice was his Vindication of Natural Society, that burlesque both of rationalism and of the idyllic fantasy; and the Regicide Peace, glowing with his dying brilliance, is emphatic in its distinction between the real and the pretended rights of men. Burke was always on his guard against concepts of natural law that were dangerously vague and concepts that were fatuously exact.
Like Dr. Johnson, Burke loathed the idea of nature unrefined; for “art is man’s nature,” he wrote. In Burke’s view, as in Aristotle’s, human nature is man’s at his highest, not at his simplest. “Never, no never, did Nature say one thing and Wisdom say another. Nor are sentiments of elevation in themselves turgid and unnatural. Nature is never more truly herself than in her grandest forms. The Apollo, of Belvedere (if the universal robber has yet left him at Belvedere) is as much in nature as any figure from the pencil of Rembrandt or any clown in the rustic revels of Teniers.”3
Not “natural” man, but civilized man, is the object of Burke’s solicitude. And if we apply the “natural rights” possessed by a hypothetical savage to the much more real and valuable privileges of an Englishman—why, terrible risk is the consequence:
These metaphysic rights entering into common life, like rays of light which pierce into a dense medium, are, by the laws of nature, refracted from their straight line. Indeed in the gross and complicated mass of human passions and concerns, the primitive rights of men undergo such a variety of refractions and reflections, that it becomes absurd to talk of them as if they continued in the simplicity of their original direction. The nature of man is intricate; the objects of society are of the greatest possible complexity: and therefore no simple disposition or direction of power can be suitable to man’s nature, or to the quality of his affairs. When I hear the simplicity of contrivance aimed at and boasted of in any new political constitutions, I am at no loss to decide that the artificers are grossly ignorant of their trade, or totally negligent of their duty.4
Social primitivism, the persistent error of so many modern sociologists, never was demolished more cogently. Burke returned to the subject in his Tracts on the Popery Laws (published posthumously):
Everybody is satisfied, that a conservation and secure enjoyment of our natural rights is the great and ultimate purpose of civil society; and that therefore all forms whatsoever of government are only good as they are subservient to that purpose to which they are entirely subordinate. Now, to aim at the establishment of any form of government by sacrificing what is the substance of it; to take away, or at least to suspend, the rights of nature, in order to an approved system for the protection of them . . . is a procedure as preposterous and absurd in argument as it is oppressive and cruel in its effect.5
The common sense Burke so often praises is displayed to advantage in all, his arguments concerning natural right; for they were drawn from a common-sense piety. In defending class and order, he attacks once more the equalitarian assumption that a state of natural anarchy was beneficent:
The state of civil society, which necessarily generates this aristocracy, is a state of nature; and much more truly so than a savage and incoherent mode of life. For man is by nature reasonable; and he is never perfectly in his natural state, but when he is placed where reason may be best cultivated, and most predominates. Art is man’s nature. We are as much, at least, in a state of nature in formed manhood, as in immature and helpless infancy.6
Here as elsewhere, Burke is readier to say what the laws of nature are not than to tell what they are; nor does he attempt hiding his reluctance to enter into exact definition. He writes of his enemies, the equalitarian metaphysicians:
The pretended rights of these theorists are all extremes: and in proportion as they are metaphysically true, they are morally and politically false. The rights of men are in a sort of middle, incapable of definition, but not impossible to be discerned. The rights of men in government are their advantages; and these are often in balances between differences of good; in compromises between good and evil, and sometimes between evil and evil. . . . Men have no right to what is not reasonable, and to what is not for their benefit. . . .7
Natural right, he goes on to explain, is not identical with popular power; and if it fails to accord with justice, it ceases to be a right. For the administration of justice (although justice itself has an origin higher than human contrivance) is a beneficial artificiality, the product of social utility. The chief purpose of social compacts is to facilitate this administration of justice. To obtain it, “natural” man gave up long ago (and by his implied assent continues to surrender) the anarchic freedom which is inconsistent with justice. This social compact is very real to Burke—not an historical compact, not a mere stock-company agreement, but rather a contract that is reaffirmed in every generation, in every year and day, by every man who puts his trust in another. For our common welfare, our ancestors agreed, and we agree today, and our descendants will agree, to yield up an unrewarding natural “freedom” in order to receive the benefits of trust enforced by justice. Accordingly, no natural right exists which excuses man from obedience to the administration of justice:
One of the first motives to civil society, and which becomes one of its fundamental rules, is that no man should be judge in his own cause. By this each person has at once divested himself of the first fundamental right of uncovenanted man, that is, to judge for himself, and to assert his own cause. He abdicates all right to be his own governor. He inclusively, in a great measure, abandons the right of self-defense, the first law of nature. Men cannot enjoy the rights of an uncivil and of a civil state together. That he may obtain justice, he gives up his right of determining what it is in points the most essential to him. That he may secure some liberty, he makes a surrender in trust of the whole of it.8
A surrender in trust, we note: violation of that trust can justify resistance, but nothing else can. Not only the dictates of justice bind man to mutual dependence, but the dictates of general morality also. Neither the savage nor the civilized man can help elbowing his neighbors; and whatever he does, in some degree his “natural” freedom must be restrained, for it endangers the prerogative of others. The French devotion to “absolute liberty”—still demanded without qualification by Lamartine, half a century after Burke wrote—was historical and social nonsense:
As to the right of men to act anywhere according to their pleasure, without any moral tie, no such right exists. Men are never in a state of total independence of each other. It is not the condition of our nature: nor is it conceivable how any man can pursue a considerable course of action without its having some effect upon others; or, of course, without producing some degree of responsibility for his conduct.9
And natural rights do not exist independent of circumstances; what may be a right on one occasion and for one man may be unjust folly for another man at a different time. Prudence is the test of actual right. Society may deny men prerogatives because they are unfit to exercise them. “But whether this denial be wise or foolish, just or unjust, prudent or cowardly, depends entirely on the state of the man’s means.”10
All of these things, natural right is not. Of what, then, does it consist? Of very practical and indispensable benefits, Burke declares, the preservation of which is the chief aim of this mundane order.
* * *
Burke’s best description of true natural right occurs in the Reflections:
Far am I from denying in theory, full as far is my heart from withholding in practice, (if I were of power to give or to withhold,) the real rights of men. In denying their false claims of right, I do not mean to injure those which are real, and are such as their pretended rights would totally destroy. If civil society be made for the advantage of man, all the advantages for which it is made become his right. It is an institution of beneficience; and law itself is only beneficience acting by a rule. Men have a right to live by that rule; they have a right to do justice, as between their fellows, whether their fellows are in public function or in ordinary occupation. They have a right to the fruits of their industry, and to the means of making their industry fruitful. They have a right to the acquisitions of their parents; to the nourishment and improvement of their offspring; to instruction in life, and to consolation in death. Whatever each man can separately do, without trespassing upon others, he has a right to do for himself; and he has a right to a fair portion of all which society, with all its combinations of skill and force, can do in his favor. In this partnership all men have equal rights; but not to equal things. He that has but five shillings in the partnership, has as good a right to it, as he that has five hundred pounds has to his larger proportion. But he has not a right to an equal dividend in the product of the joint stock; and as to the share of power, authority, and direction which each individual ought to have in the management of the state, that I must deny to be amongst the direct original rights of man in civil society; for I have in my contemplation the civil social man, and no other. It is a thing to be settled by convention.11
In all Burke’s works, the passage above is perhaps his most important contribution to political thought. Equal justice is indeed a natural right; but equal dividend is assuredly no right at all. The laws of nature, ordained by Divine wisdom, make no provision for sharing good without regard for individual energies or merits, nor is political power naturally equalitarian. How far economic and political leveling should be carried is a question to be determined by recourse to prudence, Burke’s favorite virtue. Security from trespass is a natural right; power to trespass is none. To assure the reign of justice and to protect the share of each man in the social partnership, government is established. Government is a practical creation, to be administered according to practical considerations; for Burke distinguishes between the “state,” or social being, which he says is ordained by God, and “government,” or political administration, which is the result of utility:
The foundation of government is . . . laid, not in imaginary rights of men, (which at best is a confusion of judicial with civil principles,) but in political convenience, and in human nature; either as that nature is universal, or as it is modified by local habits and social aptitudes. The foundation of government . . . is laid in a provision for our wants, and in a conformity to our duties; it is to purvey for the one; it is to enforce the other.12
Infatuation with abstract right in the practical concerns of government must end in anarchy, in a fiery and intolerant individualism. Even parliaments cannot endure if the doctrinaires of natural right are triumphant, for any form of representative government is in some degree an invasion of “absolute liberty.” Here Burke assails Rousseau’s inchoate vision of a general will, in which all men participate without the interposition of parliamentary institutions.
. . . they who plead an absolute right cannot be satisfied with anything short of personal representation, because all natural rights must be the rights of individuals; as by nature there is no such thing as politic or corporate personality; all these things are mere fictions of law, they are creatures of voluntary institution; men as men are individuals, and nothing else. They, therefore, who reject the principle of natural and personal representation, are essentially and eternally at variance with those who claim it. As to the first sort of reformers, it is ridiculous to talk to them of the British constitution upon any or upon all of its bases; for they lay it down that every man ought to govern himself, and that where he cannot go himself he must send his representative; that all other government is usurpation; and is so far from having a claim to our obedience, it is not only our right, but our duty, to resist it.13
Such a fanatic determination to participate personally in the complexities of government is sure to undo the very “natural rights” for which it is so zealous; since before very long, government so conducted tumbles into anarchy, right of any sort dissolves, Burke pronounces. To such catastrophes the confusion of pretended rights of men with their real rights always tends.
For Burke, then, the true natural rights of men are equal justice, security of labor and property, the amenities of civilized institutions, and the benefits of orderly society. These are the purposes for which God willed the state, and history demonstrates that they are the rights desired by the true natural man, man civilized and therefore mature, the civil social man. These genuine rights, without which government is usurpation, Burke contrasts with the fancied and delusory “rights of men” so fiercely pursued across the Channel—“rights” which really are the negation of justice, because (impossible contingency) if actually attained, they would immediately infringe one upon another and precipitate man into moral and civil chaos. “Absolute liberty,” “absolute equality,” and similar fancies, far from being natural rights, are conspicuously unnatural conditions (using the term “nature” in Rousseau’s sense) for they can exist, even temporarily, only in highly civilized states. In confounding matters of social convenience and convention with the subtle and almost indefinable natural order of God, the philosophers of the Enlightenment and the followers of Rousseau threaten society with the dissolution of artificial institutions.
Upon these grounds, Burke rejects contemptuously the arbitrary and abstract “natural right” of the metaphysicians of his century, whether adherents of Locke or of Rousseau. Yet natural principle society must have, if men are to be saved from their passions. What other basis exists for realizing the natural moral order in society? “Reason,” Voltaire might have answered; “Utility,” Bentham was to declare; “material satisfaction of the masses,” the Marxists would reply half a century later. Burke looked upon reason as a feeble prop, insufficient to most men; utility was for him a test only of means, not of ends; and material satisfaction he thought a grossly low aspiration. Another foundation for social principle is Burke’s. “Obey the Divine design”—so one might paraphrase his concept of obedience to a natural order. How do we find the means of dutiful obedience? By a proper regard for prescription and prejudice. The collective wisdom of the species, the filtered experience of mankind, can save us from the anarchy of “rights of man” and the presumption of “reason.”
True obedience to the dictates of nature requires reverence for the past and solicitude for the future. “Nature” is not the mere sensation of the passing moment; it is eternal, though we evanescent men experience only a fragment of it. An enthusiast for abstract “natural right” may obstruct the operation of true natural law; we have no right to imperil the happiness of posterity by impudently tinkering with the heritage of humanity.
. . . a nation is not an idea only of local extent, and individual momentary aggregation; but it is an idea of continuity, which extends in time as well as in numbers and in space. And this is a choice not only of one day, or one set of people, not a tumultuary and giddy choice; it is a deliberate election of ages and of generations; it is a constitution made by what is ten thousand times better than choice, it is made by the peculiar circumstances, occasions, tempers, dispositions, and moral, civil, and social habitudes of the people, which disclose themselves only in a long space of time. It is a vestment, which accommodates itself to the body. Nor is prescription of government formed upon blind, unmeaning prejudices—for man is a most unwise and a most wise being. The individual is foolish; the multitude, for the moment, is foolish, when they act without deliberation; but the species is wise, and, when time is given to it, as a species it always acts right.14
So much for Burke’s general view of the natural-rights controversy. Enunciating general principles only with reluctance and impatience if they were divorced from particular practical questions, Burke applied these views immediately to the great equalitarian movement of his time. Social and political equality, he declared, do not fall within the category of the real rights of men. On the contrary, hierarchy and aristocracy are the natural, the original, framework of society; if we modify their influence, it is from prudence and convention, not in obedience to “natural right.” These are the premises upon which he rests his case against leveling and his praise of natural aristocracy.
* * *
Is any sort of equality consequent upon the nature which God has bestowed on us? One sort only, says Burke: moral equality. God judges us not by our worldly condition, but by our goodness, and this, after all, transcends a mundane political equality. Reproaching the French, Burke expresses this opinion in a passage full of that beauty of pathos he frequently employed:
. . . you would have had a protected, satisfied, laborious, and obedient people, taught to seek and to recognize the happiness that is to be found by virtue in all conditions; in which consists the true moral equality of mankind, and not in that monstrous fiction, which, by inspiring false ideas and vain expectations into men destined to travel in the obscure walk of laborious life, serves only to aggravate and embitter that real inequality, which it never can remove; and which the order of civil life establishes as much for the benefit of those whom it must leave in a humble state, as those whom it is able to exalt to a condition more splendid, but not more happy.15
In nature, obviously men are unequal: unequal in mind, in body, in energies, in every material circumstance. The less civilized a society, and the more will and appetite prevail unchecked, the less equal is the position of individuals. Equality is the product of art, not of nature; and if social leveling is carried so far as to obliterate order and class, reducing a man to “glory in belonging to the Chequer No. 71,” art will have been employed to deface God’s design of man’s real character. Burke loathed the barren monotony of any society stripped of diversity and individuality; and he predicted that such a state must presently sink into a fresh condition of inequality, that of one master, or a handful of masters, and a people of slaves.
And majority rule is no more a natural right than is equality. When we accept the principle of majority rule in politics, we agree to it out of prudence and expediency, not because of an abstract moral injunction. Possessing the franchise, holding office, and entrusting powers to the people—all these are questions to be settled by practical considerations, varying in time, circumstances, and the temper of a nation. Democracy may be wholly bad, or admissible with certain modifications, or wholly desirable, according to the country, the age, and the particular conditions under which it is adopted. Burke cites Montesquieu in support of this position. Moreover, he says, if we appeal to the natural order of things, we will destroy majority rule, because this mode of decision is a highly elaborate artifice:
We are so little affected by things which are habitual, that we consider this idea of the decision of a majority as if it were a law of our original nature: but such constructive whole, residing in a part only, is one of the most violent fictions of positive law, that ever has been or can be made on the principles of artificial incorporation. Out of civil society nature knows nothing of it; nor are men, even when arranged according to civil order, otherwise than by very long training, brought at all to submit to it. . . . This mode of decision, where wills may be so nearly equal, where, according to circumstances, the smaller number may be the stronger force, and where apparent reason may be all upon one side, and on the other little else than impetuous appetite; all this must be the result of a very particular and special convention, confirmed afterwards by long habits of obedience, by a sort of discipline in society, and by a strong hand, vested with stationary, permanent power, to enforce this sort of constructive general will.16
As the most eloquent champion of parliamentary liberties, Burke believed in majority rule, properly understood. But expediency always puts the question, what constitutes a true majority? Dismissing the “natural right” of men to exercise political power as a fiction without historical or physical or moral foundation, Burke maintains that a proper majority can be drawn only from a body qualified by tradition, station, education, property, and moral nature to exercise the political function. In Britain, this body, “the people,” included some four hundred thousand persons, Burke said; and a competent majority should be a majority of these men, not merely of the whole population taken indiscriminately. Sharing in political power is no immutable right, but rather a privilege to be extended or contracted as the intelligence and integrity of the population warrant: “It is perfectly clear, that, out of a state of civil society, majority and minority are relations which can have no existence; and that, in civil society, its own specific conventions in each corporation determine what it is that constitutes the people, so as to make their act the signification of the general will. . . . And I see as little of policy or utility, as there is of right, in laying down a principle that a majority of men, told by the head, are to be considered as the people, and that as such their will is to be law.”17
If natural right be called into question, indeed, men do possess a natural right to be restrained from meddling with political authority in a fashion for which they are unqualified and which could bring them nothing but harm. The nature which God has given us is not simply a nature of license; it is also a nature of discipline. Not every real natural right which man possesses is at all times palatable to him; but the limitations of our nature are designed for our protection.
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Men have a right that these wants should be provided for by this wisdom. Among these wants is to be reckoned the want, out of civil society, of a sufficient restraint upon their passions. Society requires not only that the passions of individuals should be subjected, but that even in the mass and body, as well as in the individuals, the inclinations of men should frequently be thwarted, their will controlled, and their passions brought into subjection. This can only be done by a power out of themselves; and not, in the exercise of its function, subject to that will and to those passions which it is its office to bridle and subdue. In this sense the restraints on men, as well as their liberties, are to be reckoned among their rights. But as the liberties and restrictions vary with times and circumstances, and admit of infinite modifications, they cannot be settled upon any abstract rule; and nothing is so foolish as to discuss them upon that principle.18
Burke’s denial of the theory of omnicompetent majorities and the one-man, one-vote idea of democracy is at its most vigorous in an earlier passage from the Reflections: “It is said, that twenty-four millions ought to prevail over two hundred thousand. True; if the constitution of a kingdom be a problem of arithmetic. This sort of discourse does well enough with the lamp-post for its second.”19
Though Burke’s political principles have so largely given ground before utilitarian and equalitarian ideas in our age, his penetrating criticism of the natural-rights concept of democratic political authority has vanquished the abstractions of his opponents. Intelligent supporters of democracy in this century find the basis for a wide diffusion of political power in expediency, not in a natural law of equality. David Thomson expresses this prevailing opinion, which Burke and Disraeli impressed upon political thought: “The case for universal suffrage and political equality does not rest on any superstition that all men, by acquiring the vote, will become equally wise or equally intelligent. It rests, both historically and philosophically, on the belief that if any section of the community is deprived of the ability to vote, then its interests are liable to be neglected and a nexus of grievances is likely to be created which will fester in the body politic.”20
Political equality is, therefore, in some sense unnatural, Burke concludes; and aristocracy, on the other hand, is in a certain sense natural. The Whig leader admired aristocracy only with numerous and large reservations: “I am no friend to aristocracy, in the sense at least in which that word is usually understood.”21 Unchecked, it is “an austere and insolent domination.” “If it should come to the last extremity, and to a contest of blood, God forbid! God forbid!—my part is taken; I would take my fate with the poor, and low, and feeble.”22 But nature has furnished society with the materials for a species of aristocracy which the wisely-conducted state will recognize and honor—always reserving, however, a counterpoise to aristocratic ambition. Just as it is a fact of nature that the mass of men are ill-qualified for the exercise of political power, so it is written in the eternal constitution of things that a few men, from various causes, are mentally and spiritually and physically suited for social leadership. The state which rejects their services is doomed to stagnation or destruction. These aristocrats are in part “the wiser, the more expert, and the more opulent,” and they are to conduct, enlighten, and protect “the weaker, the less knowing, and the less provided with the goods of fortune.”23Birth, too, Burke respects; but he mentions more particularly the clergy, the magistracy, the teachers, the merchants: nature, not the accident of birth, has made these men aristocrats. It is wise and just and in accord with the real law of nature that such persons should exercise a social influence much superior to that of the average citizen. There is that noble passage which has exerted so considerable an influence upon subsequent thought, and may have had some share in preserving British and American constitutional democracy:
A true natural aristocracy is not a separate interest in the state, or separable from it. It is an essential integrant part of any large body rightly constituted. It is formed out of a class of legitimate presumptions, which taken as generalities, must be admitted for actual truths. To be bred in a place of estimation; to see nothing low and sordid from one’s infancy; to be taught to respect one’s self; to be habituated to the censorial inspection of the public eye; to look early to public opinion; to stand upon such elevated ground as to be enabled to take a large view of the wide-spread and infinitely diversified combinations of men and affairs in a large society; to have leisure to read, to reflect, to converse; to be enabled to draw the court and attention of the wise and learned wherever they are to be found;—to be habituated in armies to command and to obey; to be taught to despise danger in the pursuit of honor and duty; to be formed to the greatest degree of vigilance, foresight and circumspection, in a state of things in which no fault is committed with impunity, and the slightest mistakes draw on the most ruinous consequence—to be led to a guarded and regulated conduct, from a sense that you are considered as an instructor of your fellow-citizens in their highest concerns, and that you act as a reconciler between God and man—to be employed as an administrator of law and justice, and to be thereby amongst the first benefactors to mankind—to be a professor of high science, or of liberal and ingenuous art—to be amongst rich traders, who from their success are presumed to have sharp and vigorous understandings, and to possess the virtues of diligence, order, constancy, and regularity, and to have cultivated an habitual regard to commutative justice—these are the circumstances of men, that form what I should call a natural aristocracy, without which there is no nation.24
The ascendancy of this class is truly natural; domination of society by mediocrity is contrary to nature as Providence has revealed human nature to us throughout history. One of the duties of a statesman is to employ the abilities of the natural aristocracy in the service of the commonwealth, rather than to submerge them unnaturally in the mass of the population.
Burke’s system of natural rights, in short, is much like that of the Roman jurisconsults. “All human laws are, properly speaking, only declaratory; they may alter the mode and application, but have no power over the substance of original justice.”25 “Nature” is the character of man at his highest, impressed upon him by God. Man’s rights are linked with man’s duties, and when they are distorted into extravagant claims for a species of freedom and equality and worldly advancement which human character is not designed to sustain, they degenerate from rights into vices. Equality in the sight of God, equality before the law, security in the possession of what is properly one’s own, participation in the common activities and consolations of society—these are the true natural rights. The presumptuous demands of Rousseau, Condorcet, Helvetius, and Paine for absolute liberties and prerogatives which no state in history ever has been able to accord are the very reverse of natural justice; they are unnatural because impious, “the result of a selfish temper, and confined views.” In the political sphere, these claims are absurd, for the exercise of any right must be circumscribed and modified to suit particular conditions.
Real harmony with the natural law is attained not by demanding innovation and structural alteration, Burke wrote, but through moulding society upon the model which eternal nature, physical and spiritual, sets before us:
By a constitutional policy, working after the pattern of nature, we receive, we hold, we transmit our government and our privileges, in the same manner in which we enjoy and transmit our property and our lives. The institutions of policy, the goods of fortune, the gifts of providence are handed down to us, and from us, in the same course and order. Our political system is placed in a just correspondence and symmetry with the order of the world, and with the mode of existence decreed to a permanent body composed of transitory parts; wherein, by the disposition of a stupendous wisdom, moulding together the great mysterious incorporation of the human race, the whole, at one time, is never old, or middle-aged, or young, but, in a condition of unchangeable constancy, moves on through the varied tenor of perpetual decay, fall, renovation, and progression. Thus, by preserving the method of nature in the conduct of the state, in what we improve, we are never wholly new. . . .26
Political reform and impartial justice conducted upon these principles, said Burke, embody the humility and prudence which men must cultivate if they are to form part of a purposeful moral universe. These profound observations, and this theory of natural law and natural rights, made Burke the founder of philosophical conservatism.
Ross Hoffman and Paul Levack, Burke’s Politics (New York, 1949), xiv–xv.
“Speech on Fox’s East-India Bill,” Works of Burke (Bohn edition), II, 176.
“Letters on a Regicide Peace,” Works, V, 278.
“Reflections on the Revolution in France,” Works, II, 334–335.
“Tracts on the Popery Laws,” Works, VI, 29–30.
“Appeal from the New Whigs to the Old,” Works, III, 86–87
“Reflections on the Revolution in France,” [cite obscured in original]
Ibid., Works, II, 332–333.
“Letters on a Regicide Peace,” Works, V, 216.
“Speech on the Petition of the Unitarians,” Works, VI, 124.
“Reflections on the Revolution in France,” Works, II, 331–332.
“Appeal from the New Whigs to the Old,” Works, III, 109.
“Speech on the Reform of Representation,” Works, VI, 145.
“Speech on the Reform of Representation,” Works, VI, 146–147.
“Reflections on the Revolution in France,” Works, II, 310.
“Appeal from the New Whigs to the Old,” Works, III, 82–83.
Ibid., 85.
“Reflections on the Revolution in France,” Works, II, 333
Ibid., 325.
Thomson, Equality (Cambridge, England, 1949), 68.
“Thoughts on the Present Discontents,” Works, I, 323.
“Speech on a Bill for Repeal of the Marriage Act,” (1781), Works, VI, 171.
“Appeal from the New Whigs to the Old,” Works, 111, 85.
Ibid., 85–86.
“Tracts on the Popery Laws,” Works, VI, 22.
“Reflections on the Revolution in France,” Works, II, 307. | <urn:uuid:991f672a-6bdb-4b2f-9e78-a21d2e01719f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.kirkcenter.org/index.php/detail/burke-natural-rights-1951/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00191-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959378 | 8,640 | 3.03125 | 3 |
100 Poems From Tang And Song Dynasties
The Tang and Song Dynasties of China are often referred to as the high points of culture in the history of Chinese civilization. The hundred poems featured in this book have been carefully selected by the author Qiu Xiaolong and represent the most famous and poignant of these poems. The Tang Dynasty poets were known for their distinctive personal styles and their rich and textured poems, while the Song Dynasty poets were known for their lyricism and the depiction of town life.
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SIDS infants show abnormalities in brain area controlling breathing, heart rate
Serotonin-using brain cells implicated in abnormalities
Infants who die of sudden infant death syndrome have abnormalities in the brainstem, a part of the brain that helps control heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, temperature and arousal, report researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The finding is the strongest evidence to date suggesting that innate differences in a specific part of the brain may place some infants at increased risk for SIDS.
The abnormalities appeared to affect the brainstem's ability to use and recycle serotonin, a brain chemical which also is used in a number of other brain areas and plays a role in communications between brain cells. Serotonin is most well known for its role in regulating mood, but it also plays a role in regulating vital functions like breathing and blood pressure.
The study appears in the November 1 Journal of the American Medical Association and was conducted by researchers in the laboratory of Hannah Kinney, M.D., at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School as well as other institutions.
"This finding lends credence to the view that SIDS risk may greatly increase when an underlying predisposition combines with an environmental risk--such as sleeping face down-- at a developmentally sensitive time in early life," said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of the NIH's National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
SIDS is the sudden and unexpected death of an infant under 1 year of age, which cannot be explained after a complete autopsy, an investigation of the scene and circumstances of the death, and a review of the medical history of the infant and his or her family. Typically, the infant is found dead after having been put to sleep and shows no signs of having suffered.
In previous studies, researchers have hypothesized that abnormalities in the brainstem may make an infant susceptible to situations in which they re-breathe their own exhaled breath, depriving them of oxygen. This hypothesis holds that certain infants may not be able to detect high carbon dioxide or low oxygen levels during sleep, and do not wake up.
To conduct the current study, researchers examined tissue from the brainstems of 31 infants who died of SIDS and 10 infants who died of other causes. The tissue was provided by the office of the chief medical examiner in San Diego, California, and was collected from infants who died between 1997 and 2005.
The lower brainstem helps control such basic functions as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and arousal. The researchers found that brainstems from SIDS infants contained more neurons (brain or nerve cells) that manufacture and use serotonin than did the brainstems of the control infants, explained the study's first author, David Paterson, PhD, a researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston.
Serotonin belongs to a class of molecules known as neurotransmitters, which serve to relay messages between neurons. Neurons release neurotransmitters, which fit into special sites, or receptors, on surrounding neurons, somewhat like a key fits into a lock. Once in place, the neurotransmitter either promotes or hinders electrical activity in the receiving neuron--next in line in a particular brain circuit--causing it to release its neurotransmitters, which either excite or inhibit still more neurons, and so on.
Although the brainstem tissue from the SIDS infants contained more serotonin-using neurons, these serotonin-using neurons appeared to contain fewer receptors for serotonin than did the brainstems of control infants. Dr. Paterson noted that there are at least 14 different subtypes of serotonin receptor. In their study, the researchers tested the infants' brainstem tissue for a serotonin receptor known as "subtype 1A."
Tissue from both the SIDS infants and the control infants contained roughly equal amounts of a key brain protein, serotonin transporter protein. This protein recycles serotonin, collecting the neurotransmitter from the surrounding spaces outside the neuron and transporting it back into the neuron so it can be used again. Dr. Paterson explained, however, that because the SIDS infants had proportionately more serotonin-using neurons than did the control infants, they would also be expected to have more serotonin transporter protein. So even though they had equal amounts of serotonin transporter protein, the levels were nevertheless reduced--relative to the increased number of serotonin-using neurons-- and, for this reason, unlikely to meet the needs of these cells.
Dr. Paterson added that from the observations in this study it was not possible to determine how much serotonin the infants' brainstems contained when the infants were alive. He noted, however, that the pattern of abnormalities--more serotonin neurons, an apparent reduction of serotonin 1A receptors, and insufficient serotonin transporter--suggested that the level of serotonin in the brainstems of SIDS infants was abnormal.
"Our hypothesis right now is that we're seeing a compensation mechanism," Dr. Paterson said. "If you have more serotonin neurons, it may be because you have less serotonin and more neurons are recruited to produce and use serotonin to correct this deficiency."
The researchers also found that male SIDS infants had fewer serotonin receptors than did either female SIDS infants or control infants. The finding may provide insight into why SIDS affects roughly twice as many males as females.
"These findings provide evidence that SIDS is not a mystery but a disorder that we can investigate with scientific methods, and some day, may be able to identify and treat," said Dr. Hannah Kinney, the senior author of the paper.
A large body of research has shown that placing an infant to sleep on his or her stomach greatly increases the risk of SIDS. The NICHD-sponsored Back to Sleep campaign urges parents and caregivers to place infants to sleep on their backs, to reduce SIDS risk. The campaign has reduced the number of SIDS deaths by about half since it began in 1994. The campaign also cautions against other practices that increase the risk of SIDS, such as soft bedding, smoking during pregnancy, and smoking around a baby after birth.
Despite the fact that the Back to Sleep Campaign recommendations had been widely distributed by the time the study began, a large proportion of the SIDS cases in the study by Drs. Paterson, Kinney and their coworkers were correlated with known SIDS risk factors: 15 (48 percent) were found sleeping on their stomachs, 9 (29 percent) were found face down, and 7 (23 percent) were sharing a bed, at the time of death.
"The majority (65 percent) of the SIDS cases in this data set, however, were sleeping prone or on their side at the time of death, indicating the need for continued public health messages on safe sleeping practices, the study authors wrote."
Backgrounder: Searching For Those At Greatest Risk For SIDS
The current study, appearing in the November 1 Journal of the American Medical Association, provides additional evidence that brainstem abnormalities may impair an infant's ability to sense high carbon dioxide and low oxygen levels. Such impairment would put an infant at risk in situations in which they breathe in their own exhaled breath, depriving them of oxygen. The study represents the latest in a body of research begun in the mid 1980's and initiated by study senior author, Hannah Kinney, .M.D. Dr. Kinney is a longtime grantee of the NICHD. In 1983, when she was a fellow in pathology, Dr. Kinney published a study describing subtle scarring on the brainstem of a number of infants who died of SIDS, corroborating isolated observations by other researchers at the time. During the 1990s, Dr. Kinney and her coworkers examined brainstem tissue from SIDS infants, comparing them to brainstem tissue from controls, to determine which of 6 neurotransmitter systems might potentially be involved in the disorder.
The researchers learned that a region at the surface of the brainstem using glutamate and acetylcholine--both neurotransmitters thought to be involved in sensing carbon dioxide levels in the blood--were abnormal in SIDS cases. However, the greatest involvement appeared to be with a wider brainstem network relying on the neurotransmitter serotonin, thought to play an even greater role in regulating breathing. Infants who died of SIDS appeared to have fewer serotonin receptors than did infants who died of other causes. At the time, multiple subtypes of the serotonin receptor had not yet been identified.
In the current study, Drs. Kinney, Paterson, and their colleagues took advantage of more refined methods to examine the pattern of the serotonin receptor 1A subtype. They were also able to count serotonin-using cells, and estimate their prevalence in the brainstem, something that had not been possible previously. In future studies, the researchers plan to examine the role of other serotonin receptor subtypes in both lab animals and in SIDS cases.
"Our goal is to find a way--a diagnostic test--to identify these defects in living infants and then find a way to correct these defects by drugs or other means as the infant passes through the first six months of life, the period of greatest risk for SIDS," Dr. Kinney said.
Along with providing funding for Dr. Kinney's laboratory, the NICHD funds a wide range of research projects in sudden infant death syndrome. The Back to Sleep Campaign, which urges parents and caregivers to place infants to sleep on their backs, has greatly reduced the SIDS rate. However, the practice cannot eliminate all SIDS deaths.
"Back sleeping is an intervention for all babies, but we still can't target high risk babies because we can't identify them," said Marian Willinger, PhD. "There are still babies who die of SIDS after being placed on their backs."
The NICHD supports a broad portfolio of SIDS research, which includes research on the brain, biological and behavioral markers of abnormal brain function, along with research on prenatal, genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors that may increase SIDS risk. The NICHD also supports technology development to detect potential abnormalities in infants at risk for SIDS.
"Eventually, we hope to have an understanding of the developmental disease process underlying SIDS, so that we can identify infants at highest risk and provide them with appropriate intervention," Dr. Willinger said.
The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Institute's Web site at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 30 Apr 2016
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:6de2fd3b-a1a1-46d5-9cc7-c36c96cf671b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychcentral.com/news/archives/2006-10/nioc-sis102606.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00201-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959484 | 2,284 | 3.265625 | 3 |
There are fewer than 20 described living species of Priapula (or Priapulida), although additional species are known that await formal description. Priapulans are free-living benthic marine worms with an eversible proboscis. They range in size from 1 mm (early instars may be as small as 50 µm) to more than 40 cm in length . They can be found from polar seas to the tropics and from ocean trenches to the intertidal zone. Some species can occur in extremely high densities. Sexes are separate and in at least one family sexual dimorphism is evident. Males spawn first, then females; fertilization is external. Nearly all species have a non-swimming benthic larval stage, which apparently may last as long as one to two years. Larvae live in mud and are probably detritivores. The body of a priapulan is cylindrical and includes an introvert (retractable and invertible proboscis), a neck-like collar, a trunk, and sometimes a "tail". The introvert has spines resembling those on the introvert of kinorhynchs and loriciferans. Large priapulans burrow actively in relatively fine marine sediments, primarly in boreal and cold temperate seas. A few species construct tubes. Small priapulans burrow or live interstitially among sediment particles. Priapulans are relatively common in the fossil record and may have been important predators in Cambrian seas. Most priapulans today live in soft sediments and feed on soft-bodied invertebrates such as polychaete worms and other priapulans. During feeding, a portion of the toothed pharynx is everted through the mouth at the end of the extended introvert, then retracted together with the prey item. (Brusca and Brusca 2003; Shirley 2009 and references therein; Margulis and Chapman 2010).
The Priapula are believed to be closely related to the Kinorhyncha and Loricifera, with which they are often grouped in a clade referred to as Scalidophora; some authors include the Nematomorpha as well in a clade referred to as Cephalorhyncha (Aleshin et al. 1998 and references therein; Halanych 2004 and references therein). Sørensen et al. (2008) present data that they argue supports a sister relationship for Loricifera and Nematomorpha, which would render the Scalidophora paraphyletic. As of 2010, relationships among phyla within the Ecdysozoa remain poorly resolved, so it is difficult to know which groups will eventually win wide acceptance by specialists as convincingly monophyletic.
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