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Climate change will bring more monster winter storms
The massive snowfall currently blanketing large swaths of the US East and Midwest are exactly what climate models predict in a warming world, scientists say.
No single weather event can be directly attributed to climate change. But as the globe warms up, Americans can expect more storms like the one bearing down on much of the United States, scientists say.
That's not because the Feb. 1 storm can be linked to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels or increasing global temperature – again, such a connection is impossible to make – but, according to climatologists, an increased propensity for winter storms is exactly what you'd expect in a warming world.
"There's no inconsistency at all," Michael Mann, the director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center, told LiveScience. "If anything, this is what the models project: that we see more of these very large snowfalls."
Climate versus weather
Questions about climate often pop up when the weather is extreme. Droughts and heat waves trigger comments on the scourge of carbon dioxide. During winter storms like the one currently lashing much of the East and Midwest, skeptics question why they have to dig out their car from snowdrifts in a supposedly warming world.
Pinning climate change angst on a single weather system makes no sense, climatologists say.
"Climate is the statistics of weather over the long term," Ken Caldeira, a senior scientist at the Carnegie Institute for Science at Stanford University, told LiveScience. "No specific weather event can by itself confirm or disprove the body of scientific knowledge associated with climate change."
Instead, Mann said, climate change is like a pair of loaded dice. If you erase the 5 on one side of a die and replace it with a 6, you'll roll twice as many 6s. There's no way of knowing which of those 6s you would have rolled without loading the die, just as there's no way of knowing which hurricane would have fizzled without climate change.
In the long term, though, the global warming trend becomes clear.
"Climate change is an intrinsic part now of every roll of the die," Mann said. "We've stacked the odds."
But stacked the odds for what? Models suggest the answer is bigger storms. Warmer air in the atmosphere can hold more moisture, Mann said, and the condensation of that moisture puts more energy into storm systems.
"It's sort of a double whammy," Mann said. "The storms become more powerful and they contain more moisture."
In the United States storms might track a bit more northward, and the East Coast might see more Nor'easters, Mann said. North America isn't going to get so warm that snow disappears, he said, and when cold air hits extra-moist air, snowfalls are likely to get larger. Some research has suggested that global warming could fuel bigger thunderstorms as well.
There's still a lot of noise in the data that needs to be sorted out before climatologists can predict localized weather effects from climate change, said Rutgers University professor David Robinson, who is the state climatologist of New Jersey.
"How many major floods do we have to have in a 20-year period before we say, 'Well, that's unprecedented'? And then you have to ask, 'But could it still happen naturally?'" Robinson said. "That could take years. That could take decades."
Slow and steady
Robinson is currently looking into whether severe winter weather has changed over the past century. He and his colleagues are analyzing records of major winter snowfalls.
"The tricky part is we could actually have the snow signal temporarily hidden by the fact that you could have some larger snows that would keep your annual averages commensurate with what they had been in the past, even though change is occurring," Robinson said. "So you have to look at the change in the way the snow is falling, not necessarily the quantity of snow."
All of this work takes time, Robinson said. Major changes will become apparent more quickly, he said, while subtle signals may take half a century to detect.
"Meteorologists get instant gratification or instant disdain," Robinson said. "The one thing that is required of climatologists is patience."
- Earth in the Balance: 7 Crucial Tipping Points
- 10 Surprising Results of Global Warming
- The World's Weirdest Weather | <urn:uuid:af04b95b-79c4-4a18-9d09-9fd1892122a7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://m.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0202/Climate-change-will-bring-more-monster-winter-storms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00149-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960852 | 915 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Found this type of toothed fungus growing alone on a fallen tree in a part of the Coronado National Forest. Known also as: the Pom Pom Mushroom, the Lion's Mane Mushroom/Lion's Mane Hericium, the Bearded Tooth, a Hedgehog Mushroom, a Satyr's Beard, the Bearded Tooth Fungus, Bearded Hedgehog Mushroom -- you get the idea.
Growing alone on fallen trees up at elevations over 5,000 feet. H. erinaceus occurs in temperate regions of the world, from North America and Europe to Japan and China. It thrives off of dead or chopped hardwoods (as in this case), including beech, maple, walnut, and oak. Fruits from spring to winter.
Mildly entertaining. As a medicine (see http://www.cordycepsreishiextracts.com/h...), H. erinaceus has been used to combat many ailments. In China, it is prescribed (as an extract) to patients suffering from digestrive tract issues, such as stomach and liver cancer. In Japan, it has shown to stimulate nerve growth while also healing myelin and nerve tissue. In modern use, it has been used to treat patients with gastritis and hepatoma and has shown positive results. Aside from all these nice benefits, this mushroom has a reputation for being delicious in meals as well. Its strange stringy texture is described as resembling seafood, and it is in high cultivation to meet a common market in China. Those small noodle-like "strings" are used for cooking, as the base is much too hard and tough to be of any other use besides slingshot ammo.
Lat: 31.73, Long: -110.88
Spotted on Aug 28, 2011
Submitted on Aug 28, 2011 | <urn:uuid:ad28c563-9ef7-4a5e-8b1b-d1428c397d88> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/7128518 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94055 | 383 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Why don't most physics programs study the primary sources? In other words: Why don't they include Newton's Principia, Lagrange's Analytical Mechanics, etc., in the curricula?
Much of Physics is now far better understood than when it was first formulated. For example, if you wanted to learn Maxwell's equations you are far better off using a modern textbook than going back to Maxwell's original work. Likewise Einstein's General Relativity. You mention Newton, but he used a notation that would flummox most modern students.
There are exceptions, for example Dirac's book on quantum mechanics is widely regarded as a classic and valuable even for modern students. However, apart from these exceptions the original documents are of most interest to historians of science.
The reason is that this is too time-consuming. The old papers are very difficult to read, because they have suboptimal presentation. Newton's Principia is not written well for the purposes of teaching mechanics. It is designed to emulate Aristotle in scope and completeness (but with the advantage of being correct physics), and it is optimal for the goal it served historically, getting Aristotle out of physics. It's absurd latin and old-fasioned geometrical phrasing with Greek-style geometry is suboptimal for pedagogy and clarity. One needs to use coordinate geometry and vector components in a modern presentation, there is no advantage to the old style.
In order to assign the Principia, one needs a modern translation of all the ideas in it. This is not provided by any source. Such a translation would keep all the arguments, but rearrange the order and the phrasing to be in common language and using modern calculus and vector component notation. This is very simple to do for someone who knows any physics, and Chandrashekhar did something like this in his annotated Principia (this is a very nice and respectful presentation). But Chandrashekhar wasn't writing an introductory physics book, rather he was trying to place the Principia's monumental achievement in historical context, to let modern readers know exactly what Newton was doing.
But I think it is possible to assign the Principia as an elementary physics book, if the translation is authentic and modernized. It requires rewriting the whole thing from scratch, but without throwing away any of Newton's insights. These insights are mostly contained in the special problems he solves.
I tried to provide an example of how to do this for less difficult things. The oldest is Archimedes "The Method of Mechanical Theorems", and you can read the gloss on Wikipedia, under Archimedes' "The Method". Using modern calculus, you can explain what Archimedes is doing in two minutes, and you can see exactly why his paper is so laborious--- he didn't have an algebraic notation or a standardized way to talk about infinitesimals. One should do a similar thing for "on floating bodies", "the equilibrium of planes" (this is simple to do, since it is all center-of-mass results which are trivial with modern calculus), "on the sphere and cylinder" (also simple, but it requires summing the squares, which is simple with modern calculus of finite differences), and the other works. All physics comes from Archimedes originally, especially the concept of force and torque.
One of the ideas in "the method" is the observation that certain integrals involving boundaries which are curvilinear algebraic varieties end up being polynomials in certain plane slicings, and so give rational number integrals. The simplest example he gives is of two cylinders intersecting at right angles. The question of which figures enclose rational volumes has never been investigated again, as far as I know, although it is interesting. It is similar to the question of periods, but it is different because of the slicing freedom. If people are familiar with the method, maybe there is interesting mathematics left undiscovered here.
With Newton, people keep the statement of the three laws of motion (the least important part of the Principia) and throw away all the special problems Newton analyzes. This is exactly the opposite of what they should be doing. One can state Newton's laws today as follows:
That's it. That's Newton's three laws. There is a further result
If you add the assumption that all matter is composed of points with pairwise forces which are attractions and repulsions, you get Newton's model of the world. The division of the laws into "1st law" "2nd law" "3rd law" is arbitrary and unnecessary, and only of historical interest. If you start with these two assumptions, you can state the three laws and show why and how they work, and the angular momentum law, and how and why it works, and then you can go to the special problems.
Newton's argument using infinitesimal triangles that the angular momentum is conserved during a radial attraction/repulsion event is essential, and it needs to be preserved unchanged. Newton's argument about the parabolic shape of spinning water needs to be preserved, although one should use the notion of potential energy in the argument. Newton's derivation of the speed of sound needs to be transmitted with both a derivation of the wave equation and an explanation of the adiabatic/isothermal distinction. Newton's analysis of the orbits of the planets is a little difficult to translate--- Feynman attempted to do this in "The Lost Lecture", but this is a place where improvements are possible, because one wants to use the modern insights about the central force, while keeping Newton's insights about the inverse-square special case. I don't know how to best present this.
All these things are usually skipped in elementary books, and instead you get an endless stream of unimaginative problems that are copied from one book to the next. These can be summarized in about a dozen or two orthogonal mechanical problems.
Regarding Laplace, the issue here is that the method of secular perturbations is greatly clarified by using action angle variables, and some special transcendental functions which flip from angle to time. The presentation in Laplace (which I haven't read) is not going to be optimal.
Translating Maxwell is going to be a pain, because you need to keep the modern insight that E and B (and A and $\phi$) are fundamental, not E and H. Maxwell is mislead by the fact that it wasn't appreciated that electric fields come from point sources, while B fields come from currents, so he wants the continuity conditions across material boundaries to be the same for the electric and magnetic field, and this picks out E and H as analogous and fundamental. This disease infects the literature right up to the 1950s, it is only fixed in the 1960s (and Feynman and Landau and Lifschitz help here).
The insights in Maxwell are so enormous that it is impossible to describe what is lost. These are the material dielectric and magnetic properties that are described phenomenologically. In my opinion, a good translation of Maxwell is essential to keep the 19th century E&M thinking alive.
For thermodynamics the problem is more severe, because the original authors did not understand that entropy was statistical, and energy was fundamental. They thought that the energy was the fundamental thermodynamic function, not the entropy. Here, one can start with stat mech, explain the thermodynamic potentials, and then go back and translate all the old papers into modern notation. These are all enormous projects, however. Thermodynamics has not been transmitted well--- most of the old thinking is lost. Statistical mechanics has been transmitted well, and includes the old thinking in principle, but the intuitions are different. If you don't believe me, look at any 19th century physics journals where they are busy measuring the heat capacities of materials at different temperatures, nd there are dozens of annoying thermodynamic identities you have to internalize. There is no way that studying this nonsense is productive, but it needs to be translated to modern language. The chemistry departments are responsible for this, and I don't think they are doing a great job of this.
Regarding 20th century physics, it is essential to modernize the treatment of Bohr, so that old-quantum theory is preserved. This is done in a wonderful way by Ter-Haar in the 1950s in a little book called "Old quantum theory". The Wikipedia pages on Adiabatic Invariant, Correspondence principle, and Old quantum theory try to present the results in a modern translation, without fussing over the ambiguities that are now known to be caused by working to leading order in h-bar.
Some things missing from all modern books:
There are a bunch of other things that can be dispensed of quickly today, I can't think of them at this moment.
So the main reason is that the historical documents need to be modernized to be pedagogical, and nobody does this. The only person who (secretly) did this is Feynman! He would rework the results with incredible fidelity to the historical literature, but without saying he is doing history. Almost all his elementary textbook arguments are reworked forgotten results from the old literature, done in his own way. This is why they are such classics, in my opinion, they are extremely historically faithful.
Because it's in Latin.
That is not the only reason though, just read for yourself a relative modern translation:
I personally think this is not a straightforward way to express a physical law. As an undergraduate I would have really disliked to read such a text, even if it is written by Newton himself. As our knowledge advances we can connect different areas of physics, these connections might have not been obvious at all at the time of their discovery. Compare this with the lecture from Feynman (can be found online) about the same law.
It's because knowledge is being continually updated and errors corrected. Newton's Principia Mathematica doesn't even contain his second law where force is proportional to the rate of change of momentum. Lagranges's Analytical Mechanics is very difficult to follow where he used concepts such as "the living force" to represent $mv^2$ and levers and pulleys to justify his use of the principle of virtual work. Both these books can be summarised in a few pages without losing the basic principles of what they were doing.
Productive young people at the cutting edge of research are lead by their peers and modern textbooks. Please, please don't look at the old text books until you understand the modern ones, otherwise you'll end up on a merry go around in the past, convinced you've discovered something new. | <urn:uuid:32f90c92-4c62-4c3c-98e3-da053b661523> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/30629/why-dont-most-physics-programs-study-the-primary-sources/30639 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00106-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960286 | 2,215 | 2.578125 | 3 |
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Awabi is a type of sushi made using the sea animal of the same name, which is a Japanese term for an animal also known as abalone. While the colorful appearance of the inside of the shell may initially suggest that the abalone is similar to an oyster or clam, it is actually a type of snail that is capable of very slow movement along the ocean floor. Awabi is typically served raw or only slightly cooked, and is often served on the shell in a way similar to oysters, often with only a little soy sauce for flavor.
Fresh abalone are typically harvested from the ocean floor, especially in fairly shallow areas, and are gathered not only to be eaten but for the shells in which they are found. The opalescent qualities of abalone shell have been venerated for use in jewelry and similar applications for many years. Though abalone are frequently eaten in America, the preparation of awabi as a type of sushi is an exquisite form of Japanese cuisine enjoyed both in Japan and America.
Awabi has a noted flavor that is fairly distinct though slightly subtle, making it a favorite treat for people who appreciate such delicate tastes. The texture of the creature is slightly rubbery, and cooking the awabi only increases the toughness and makes it somewhat less palatable. This is why it is a fairly perfect food for use in sushi, as keeping it raw or only lightly cooked does not further increase the rubbery quality.
The awabi is typically separated from its shell and may be cut thinly against the grain of the meat. This is often done with cuts of meat that can be potentially tough or chewy, to increase the tenderness of the cut. The grain typically indicates long bunches of tough muscle, and cutting with the grain would preserve the cut meat as long pieces of muscle. Cutting against this grain, however, creates cuts of meat that consist of short bits of muscle that can be easily chewed and broken down, making them more tender.
Awabi can also be slightly scored with a knife to similarly increase the tenderness of the dish. This also creates a rougher surface that the soy sauce can better coat. The awabi is usually served on the shell, though the nicest looking shells are typically selected, so it may not be served on the shell from which it was originally separated. Farm-raised abalone are typically preferable since they are more sustainable, and wild abalone are often overly harvested.
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THE CUSTODIANS OF MONASTIC DISCIPLINE
II. The Custodians of Monastic Discipline: The Hierarchy.
III. The Problems of Seniority and Succession.
IV. The Units or Church Groups.
We have so far surveyed the preliminary field for the study of Jaina monastic jurisprudence. We have seen the nature of the canon, the controversy about it, the texts essential for the study of the topic in hand, the spirit which underlies the formulation of rules of monastic conduct and -the nature and meaning of transgressions and exceptions.
We now get into the core of the subject and see the nature of the principle prayascittas, the custodians and judges of monastic conduct or the hierarchy, and the rules regarding their qualifications.
The Custodians of Monastic Discipline: The Hierarchy
While dealing with the nature and meaning of transgression and exception, it was made clear that only a person who was a giyattha (gitartha) or well-versed in monastic discipline could be taken to be the best judge in deciding whether a particular transgression was committed or otherwise.
Naturally the question arises here as to who the person or persons were, who were so authorized by virtue of their disciplined mode of life and seniority to act as custodians and judges of the rules of monastic jurisprudence. What were the essential qualifications for such persons? What were the rules about seniority? To what factors was it related? The answers to all these questions will unfold the nature of the Jaina church hierarchy, the various units and their inter-relation.
Candidates fit for monastic life:
Let us begin at the beginning and see which persons were fit for entry to the rigors and discipline of monk life. The Thanangasutta ( p. 146b) gives a list of twenty persons who were not allowed to enter the order. The list as it stands is based on commonsense as also considerations, which avoided the entanglement of the church into non-monastic affairs. For instance, rules which barred the entry of persons such as eunuchs, very old persons, children under eight, the sick, robbers, madmen, pregnant women etc., are obviously based on practical commonsense as these persons are likely to be a nuisance to the smooth working of monastic discipline. On the other hand, a person who was the declared enemy of a king (rayavagari), a slave (dasa), a person in debt (anatta), an attendant (obaddha), a kidnapped person (sehanipphediya) and a servant, were disallowed to enter monk-life for the obvious reason that their entry was bound to be embarrassing in political, social and other fields which naturally fell beyond the ambit of monarchism. It may be noted that this list of persons not fit for entry to monkshood or nun-hood is identical for the Svetambaras and the Digambaras. (Jain, C. R., Sannyasa Dharma, pp. 24-25.)
A person having entered monkshood remained as one under probation till he was confirmed ('uvatthaviya' Than. p. 240a). Such a seha, antes or samanera had to prove himself worthy of monk-life and had to show implicit obedience to his senior. The period of probation depended on his behavior and his senior's opinion regarding it. This period lasted either for six or four months or even for one week.
The Thananga refers to four categories of antevasins based on their initiation and confirmation by one and the same or other acarya.
The next to be mentioned is the Thera. He was elder Let us begin at the beginning and see what persons to others both in age as well as in standing as a monk. This seniority of standing as a monk was expressed by the term 'paryaya'. Another expression denoting the senior monk was 'rainiya'. The commentator to the Thanangasutta explains the term 'rainiya' as ratnanee bhavto gyanadeeni tai vyvahrati iti ratnik pryajyeshth iti' (p. 240a). Thus seniority seems to have depended mostly on the scholarship and self-control or the proper following of discipline. From this point of view, a monk of less standing was designated as 'omarainiya', whereas one with a greater standing or seniority was termed 'aharainiya'.
That there was a clear-cut evaluation of and differentiation between age and standing is further corroborated by the terms 'jai Thera' and 'pariyaya there', the former denoting a monk of the age of sixty and the latter a monk of twenty years' standing in monk-hood. Besides these two important categories, other Theras are also referred to. These include the kula-thera, Gana-Thera, samgha-thera and the saya-thera. The first three were those who were in charge of the management of either a kula or a Gana or a samgha, while the suya-thera was one who was well versed in the texts like the Samavayangasutta, etc. (Than., p. 516a).
These texts by themselves are silent about the qualifications and differentiation between these categories of a Thera. However, the commentaries explain the various categories and that too briefly. As the case stands, therefore, we are not in a position to state the inter-relation between these various types of Theras nor are we certain about the nature of duties assigned to them. Whatever they might have been, the juniors were asked to show complete regard to the Theras. (Samavayanga, p. 59ab).
The next officer was the uvajhaya. His chief duty was to give proper reading of the sutra to the junior monks. (Upetyadheeyte smadityupadhya Than., p. 140a). It is evident that such a person was expected to be well- versed in sacred texts. However, no details regarding him, his qualifications and his exact relative position in the hierarchy are to be found in older texts like the Ayaranga and the Suyagadanga.
The ayariya-uvajjhaya is again a problematic designation and it is not clear whether it denoted two officers or one. However on the basis of the five privileges (aisesa) he enjoyed by virtue of his qualifications and position, he seems to have been an important officer in the church hierarchy. The very nature of these privileges was such that he seems to have been a man of perfect self-control and a master of monastic discipline. For instance, he was allowed to stay outside the monastery or to live alone in it for a night or two; he might or might not wait upon somebody; he could clean and wipe his feet in the monastery and lastly he could ease nature in the monastery (Than., p. 329ab). That these things were not allowed to any other junior officer speaks for the high confidence placed in the self-control and integrity of the person of the ayariya- uvajjhaya.
The next important officer of the church was the ayariya. The qualifications expected of him were of academic and moral nature. For example, he was to be a person endowed with jnana- acara, darsana-acara, caritra acara, tapa-acara and viryo-acara; besides equanimity of mind, character and intellect. As such he stood at the head of a group of monks and all those under him were expected to show him utmost regard. Besides this, he enjoyed the same privileges as the ayariya-uvajjhaya. Front the details given in the Thanangasutta (PP. 239b, 240a) it seems that besides controlling and guiding a group of juniors under him, the acarya was to initiate and confirm (pavvayana and uvatthavana) a candidate.
The gani is yet another officer. He was a person who was endowed with the eight-fold ganisampad. These make him ideal in conduct, scholarship, physique, intellect, instructions, debate, organization and monastic discipline. The sangrohasampad expects him to be a person with all the knowledge pertaining to ideal residence for younger monks,-rules of begging alms and requisites and the code of perfect moral conduct and self-control (Than., p. 422b). From the qualifications and the nature of duties assigned to him, the ganin may be equated with the acarya. This is also supported by the commentary to the Thanangasutta.
Along with all these, there is mentioned yet another officer termed as Ganavacchedaka. The information regarding his qualifications and duties cannot be had in the Anga texts at all. The only information that is given is that he was the head of the part of a Gana or a group of monks (Than., p. 245a).
Further amplification regarding the qualifications and the duties of these various officers can be had only when we come to the Cheyasuttas. In these texts, all these— and some more, — officers of the church are mentioned. For instance, the Vavahara (X, 14), gives three categories of a Thera. First, the jai Thera: He was so called because he was sixty years old. The 'pariyaya Thera' was one who had at least twenty years' standing as a monk. The 'suya Thera' was well versed in the Thananga and the Samavayanga suttas. Besides this, the same text gives details of the privileges, which were enjoyed by the Thera. For instance, very old monks or jai Theras were allowed to take rest while others begged alms for them. Similar concessions regarding the deposition of requisites were also allowed to them in case they were unable to carry these. (Vav. VIII, 5).
In the case of the uvajjhaya, besides the knowledge of the scriptures, monastic etiquette and practice of self-control, the person had to be such as had at least three years' standing (tivasapariyaya). However, a mere three years' standing was deemed of no avail if the person was not well versed in ayarapakappa or the code of monastic conduct. Moreover, he was to be a person who was smart and organizational enough to enroll new members to the fold. His duties were mainly academic, though he had to look after the nuns as well. (Vav. III, 3, 4,12).
The ayariya-uvajjhaya had to be endowed with at least five years' standing along with the knowledge of the suyak khandha and dasa-kappa Vavahara i.e. the three texts of the Cheyasuttas.
As the qualifications and the length of paryaya stand, this officer seems to have been senior to the uvajjhaya. With all these details, however, the exact nature of the duties of this officer are not clearly set forth anywhere. As I have suggested in my 'History of Jaina Monarchism from Inscriptions and Literature' (p. 220), this officer might be acting in a dual capacity, both as an uvajjhaya and an ayariya when need arose due to the absence of any one of these.
Eight years' standing and the knowledge of Thananga and Sasnavayanga were required of a person to designate him as a Ganavaccheiya, (Vav. III, 7). However, no clear statement about his duties is available.
The qualifications required of an ayariya were identical with those in the case of the ayariya uvejjhaya given above. Besides this, a high standard of moral conduct was expected of him (Vav. III, 7). The acarya seemed to act as the supreme head of a group of monks. For the juniors had to take permission from him for all the important items of daily routine. Besides that he was one of the supervisors of the nuns as well. (Vav. III, 12).
The cheyasuttas refer to other officers like vayaga, (Kappa. IV, 5-6) and pavatti (Kappa. IV, 15) whereas the Ohanijutti mentions 'vasaha' (V, 125). The 'vacaka' probably gave reading of texts to the junior monks. The 'pravartin' probably looked after the administrative routine of a group of monks, whereas the vrsabha, on the basis of the commentary, seemed to be a person looking after the ill and waiting upon them. Save in the case of vacaka, who was to be a person of manners, who avoided excitement and atoned for every transgression, the qualifications of others are not to be found.
Besides those mentioned so far, the Brhathalpabhasya refers to abbiseka' and 'spardhakapati' (IV, 433; III, 213236) In the case of the former, he was sometimes equated with the Upadhyaya (III, 2405, 2411) and sometimes deemed fit for acarya-hood as well (IV, 4336). The spardhakapati, as the designation stands, seems to have acted as the head of a phaddaa or a small sub-group in a gaccha (laghutaro gacchadega eva: Ova. p. 86). The Ovavaiyasutta tells us that this group was headed by a Ganavacchedaka. Does it mean, then, that the spardhakapati and the Ganavacchedaka were identical?
The foregoing discussion proves that the officers of the church were persons of moral discipline and academic and practical scholarship. These qualities were essential for those who were the custodians of monastic discipline and its proper working among the subordinates.
The Officers of the Nuns:
The organization of the nuns was done under their own officers all of whom were subordinate to the officers of the monk order. The acarya, the Upadhyaya and the pravartin were the protectors (aryikapratijagaraka) of the orders of nuns. This subordination was so supreme and final that a monk even of three years' standing could become the Upadhyaya of a nun of thirty years' standing and a monk of five years' standing could become the Upadhyaya of the nun with sixty years' standing, as laid down in Vavaharasutta (VII, 15, 16). This echoes faithfully the smashing rule of the Cullavagga of the Buddhists which lays down that a nun of even a hundred years' standing should bow down to a monk of recent entry to the order! The final blow comes from the Digambaras who hold that a woman, even when she becomes a nun, is not eligible for liberation unless reborn as a man. (Pravacanasara, III, 7).
This avowed inferiority is reflected even in the administration and control of the order of nuns. For the rule held that the nuns were not to live at any time without the association of either an acarya or an Upadhyaya or a pravartin. The last of these stood at the lowest stage, subordinate both to the acarya and the Upadhyaya. (Vav. III, 12).
The hierarchical list amongst the nuns corresponded to that amongst the monks. Just as there, were officers like the acarya, ganin, pravartin, Ganavacchedaka, abbiseka and Thera, the order of nuns had ganini, pravartin, Ganavacchedini, abhiseka and theri.
The ganini was the highest officer in the cadre and headed the Gana or the group or unit of nuns. She practically did the duties, which an acarya did for his group. She was expected to be a person of high moral standard, equanimous, energetic and fond of study, able to execute stern discipline and having organizational drive (Gacchayara, 127-28). No details regarding her paryaya or academic standard are available.
The next in the cadre was the pravartin often referred to in the Cheyasuttas. The exact position of her in relation to other officers, is a matter of uncertainty, However, a nun aspiring for this office was required to have a full knowledge of the 'ayarapakappa' as also organizational tact and command. In spite of this, she was never allowed to stay alone (shiv. V, 1, 2, 9, 10). With the help of an acarya, whose duty it was to let her know the details about transgressions which nuns were not to commit, the pravartin was the officer who was responsible for the moral discipline of nuns under her care.
The Ganavacchedin~ was one who controlled a part of a Gana as her male counterpart the Ganavacchedaka did. No details regarding her academic qualifications or administrative duties can be had.
Similar is the case of the ahisega. The Brhatkalpabhasya (III, 2410, comm.) sometimes identifies her with the ganini, whereas sometimes she is taken to be fit to occupy the office of the pravartin (IV, 4339, comm.).
The theri, though not clearly evaluated, possibly had the same qualifications as the Thera. Since these designations follow closely the pattern of the monk-order, it would not be wrong to presume that the same categories like the jai-theri, pariyaya-theri; so on and so forth, were possibly current.
The mahattariya mentioned in the Gacchayara (V, 118) was possibly a nun who was respected due to her learning and moral integrity. She is not mentioned in any of the earlier texts. As for her duties, we have no information.
The khuddiya possibly denoted the nun confirmed. She is explained as 'bala' in the Brhatkalpa-bhasya (IV, 4339).
The Digambaras texts like Mulacara, Pravacanasara, and others do not differ much in giving the list of the officers of the church hierarchy. They refer to sahu, Thera, uvajjhaya, airiya, Ganahara, suri and pavatta (Pry. III, 47-52; Mull 7, 10; 4, 195, etc.). The term indicative of a senior monk is referred to in the Anagaradharmamrita (8, 50) and is the same as 'ratnika'.
However, in none of the texts referred to above further details regarding the academic qualifications and the nature of duties of these officers can be had. It is more than likely that the duties and nature of qualifications of these various officers was probably the same for the Digambaras and Svetambaras texts.
The Problems of Seniority and Succession
Thus the main qualifications of the officers of the Jaina church hierarchy consisted of moral integrity and the knowledge and proper practice of the rules of monastic conduct.
It would be wrong, however, to suppose that the organizers of the church hierarchy were indifferent to other considerations. This is evidenced by the several rules and regulations that guided the considerations of seniority and succession. These considerations were essentially important for the proper working of the monastic order as also to keep up the morale of the juniors and the seniors. For if nepotism, and favoritism succeed in an ill, or had entered in house holding again. But in order to have no occasion for favoritism by which there was a chance of unfit persons stepping into office, the rest of the monks were given supreme powers to ask the newly appointed successor to quit office if they thought that he was unfit for the post. If he relinquished the office, well and good; then he was not to undergo any punishment.... But, if in spite of the request of the rest of the monks, he persisted to hold on, then that person had to undergo cut in seniority or isolation. Thus it may be said that the working of the Church was based on purely democratic lines even in the modern sense of the term."
Similar rules guided the seniority and succession in the order of nuns. As in the case of monks, the nuns also had a right to ask the unfit nominee of a pravartin to withdraw from office (Vav. V, 13-14). The appointment to office after re-learning the texts, expulsion and debarring due to offenses done while holding office and holding allegiance to the nun of senior standing by the disciples of one of less standing,— all these rules tally ad verbatim with those in force for the monks.
The Units or Church Groups
The various officers and juniors bound by these rules of academic and moral qualifications and the laws of seniority and succession, resolved themselves in different groups which conformed generally to the rules of monastic jurisprudence as a whole but were guided by their own rules of internal working.
These groups facilitated the supervision of the systematic working of monastic discipline as also the development of solidarity and the furtherance of the proper study of texts by a group.
To start with, these groups served the purpose very well. But later on with an enormous growth in the Gacchas, it seems to have resulted in differentiation of
Monastic practices as also a sort of isolationism, which are not good for the homogeneity of any church.
Be that as it may, the early texts of the canoes refer to various units or formations of monks under a senior.
The first and the foremost was the Gana which is said to have consisted of three kulas (Bhag. coma., p. 382b). Some texts do not give this specific number but say that a Gana is a group of kulas. On the other hand, the Brhatkalpa says that a Gana was formed of several sambhogas (IV, 18-20). The Digambaras text Miblacara explains the Gana as a group of three monks (traipqlrusiko Ganah, Mill. 10, 92; comm. p. 193).
Whatever it may be, the formation of a Gana under a senior officer took place for the express purpose of gaining higher knowledge or to practice a more rigorous mode of discipline, etc. Thus considerations of purely academic and monastic discipline seem to have led to the formation of a Gana (Than., p. 381a).
Nobody was allowed to change his Gana often. This was taken to be a major fault. However, the change of Gana after some period was allowed for several reasons For instance, for the obtainment of alms jointly With the members of the other Gana, and for the sake of making an advanced study of a particular text known to those who belonged to another Gana, a monk or an officer was allowed to change his Gana with the express permission of his senior and after laying down office in the present Gana. (Sm,v. 39ab, 40b; Kalp. IV, 18-24, V, 5).
None was allowed to change the Gana for avoiding atonement for a fault. Similarly a person could be allowed entry into the Gana after his dismissal for a grave offense, only if the other members expressed their confidence in him. So also the change over from a Gana of greater standing to that of a less standing was prohibited (N:s. 16. 15).
The next group was designated as the kula, which however has not been satisfactorily explained in any text. However, it has already been seen that the kulas formed the Gana (Aup., com -. 81). The Bhagavai commentary (p. 382b) explains it as 'egayariyassa santai' (also Mull I, p. 143), or the disciples of a particular acarya. This, however, fails to explain the kula and the rules of its formation and working. It is likely that a kula was headed by a junior officer and a group of such hulas and their heads were responsible to the acarya.
The sambhoga is yet another formation referred to in early texts. This has been variously explained as 'a group taking food together' (Utter. comm. p. 333a), or as a group having a common samacari and taking food together' (Patga., p. 1062) or as "a group of monks begging alms in one district only" (Jacobi, See, XIV, P. 167, In. 1). The unit is also referred to in the inscriptions from Mathura.
The exact purpose for the formation of the sambhoga is not explicit though it is said that it facilitated exchange of requisites, common study of texts, exchange of food, attending the ill, etc. (Smv. 21b). It is doubtful whether it was a unit in the real sense of the term.
The most important unit is the gaccha, which is even now current in Jaina church. It is remarkable to note that it does not occur in the early texts of the Svetambaras canon but comes into constant reference in the Nijjuttis. As a matter of fact an entire text among the Painnayas, the Gacchayarapainnaya, deals with the gaccha.
There is no unanimity regarding the information as given about the gaccha. For instance, the Ovavaiya (p. 86) explains the gaccha so as to mean the following of one acarya. The Chedasutras do not mention the gaccha, whereas the Mulacara commentary makes it a group of seven monks (saptapurusiko: pt. I, p.133). In several texts and commentaries, it is equated with the Gana. The information as given in the Marinara makes it a unit of bigger strength than the gang, as the latter required only five people for its formation. On the whole it is not clear what relation gacchos and Gana had between them. Later on, however, the Gana went out of vogue, giving place to or identifying itself with the gaccha, which arose in a fairly large number. (DEO, op. cit., pp. 519ff).
The Ohanijjutti (116-117) enjoins every monk to be a member of some gaccha. Later inscriptions show that there was an enormous increase in the number of the Gacchas, which were formed on regional, personal and incidental basis as also on the strength of some monastic practice. However, since the Gana was equated with the gaccha in later days, it would not be incorrect to assume that the rules and regulations pertaining to discipline were the same.
There are other minor units, which find mention in the Ovavaiyasutta. For instance, it refers to 'gamma' and the commentator explains it to be a part of a gaccha controlled by the Upadhyaya (p. 86). No other information is available regarding this unit.
Similar is the ease of yet another unit designated as ‘phaddaga’, which was a small part of a gaccha and was in charge of the Ganavacchedaka (Ova. p. 86). This involves contradictions as it makes the Ganavacchedaka subordinate to the Upadhyaya whereas the Chedasutras lay down identical qualifications for the Ganavacchedaka and the acarya, the latter being definitely senior to the Upadhyaya. On the basis of this discrepancy, Schubring (Die Lehre der Jainas, article 140) doubts whether these were technical divisions at all.
Schubring’s remarks seem to hold good even in the case of the mandali (Ogha. N. 522, 547, 561). This implied the formation of a group of monks for the purpose of waiting upon the ill or for helping the new young entrant to the order etc. The Thera or the elderly monk who headed such a group was called the mandali- Thera.
The Saka or sakha was not a unit in the strict sense of the term. JACOB' points out that "it is not quite clear what is meant by Gana, kula and sakha. Gala designates the school which is derived from one teacher; kula, the succession of teachers in one line; sakhathe lines which branch off from each teacher". (SBE, XXII, p. 288, In. 2).
The details so far given, though not exhaustive, are sufficient to give an idea about the custodians of monastic conduct, the qualifications required for various positions in the church hierarchy, the rules and regulations which were enjoined upon them and the various groups which formed the monk-order as a whole.
Having known the inter-relation between the various officers and the groups they headed, let us now pass on to the actual enactment of the rules of monastic conduct and the application or enforcement thereof by those who were qualified and authorized to do so. | <urn:uuid:59ca9f60-f92d-4eb9-b7e9-46b779108ff1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jainworld.com/jainbooks/images/27/THE_CUSTODIANS_OF_MONASTIC.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971351 | 6,227 | 2.75 | 3 |
Harnessing collective intelligence to address climate change: MIT’s Climate CoLab
Robert Laubacher and Thomas W. Malone
How the Climate CoLab works
Climate change is a problem of vast scope and complexity. The past decade, however, has seen the
emergence of new forms of Internet-enabled collaboration in which large numbers of people, from all
around the world, can work together to tackle big problems. Notable examples include Wikipedia and open
source software. Inspired by these systems, the Climate
CoLab, a project of the MIT Center for Collective
Intelligence, applies this approach to develop proposals for what to do about climate change.
The Climate CoLab is an online platform where people can create, analyze, and select detailed proposals for
what humanity can do to address global climate change. Anyone who is interested can join the Climate CoLab
community. Activity on the site is structured through online contests.
In these contests, community members are invited to submit proposals that address key aspects of climate
change. In 2010, for example, the contest focused on international climate diplomacy; last year’s
contests addressed the transition to a green economy.
Proposals may be developed by individual community members or by teams. Each proposal describes a set of
actions to address climate change: what actions should be taken, how they can be achieved, why they would
represent a desirable path forward. Proposal authors have access to computerized simulation models that can
project the environmental and economic outcomes of their proposed actions.
Once proposals are submitted, other members of the community can support or comment on them. After an initial
phase of proposal creation, a panel of judges then selects the most promising entries. Many of the judges are
members of the Climate CoLab’s Expert Council, a group of
distinguished climate scientists, economists, and policy experts.
After initial winnowing, authors have an opportunity to refine their proposals. Then the community is invited
to vote for the final proposals they like best, with the top vote getters receiving Popular Choice Awards.
The judges also name Judges’ Choice Awards, and all the winning proposals are presented to policy
What we’ve done so far
The Climate Colab was launched in 2009. Since then, nearly 40,000 people from 167 countries have visited the
web site. More than 3,600 of those visitors have registered as members of the community.
The Climate CoLab’s 2010 contest posed the question, What international climate agreements should the
world community make? The contest attracted 29 proposals from North America, Europe, and Asia. Three winners
were selected: one focused on a North/South approach for negotiating agreements on emission reductions;
another advocated less stringent mitigation targets, at least initially; and a third called for technologies
and policies that not only reduced emissions but also removed greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. In
December 2010, the winning teams presented their proposals to the UN Secretary General’s Climate Change
Support Team and to staff members of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming of the
U.S. House of Representatives.
Inspired by the green economy, one of the key themes of the Rio+20 conference, the 2011 contest addressed the
topic: How should the 21st century economy evolve bearing in mind the risks of climate change? More than 60
proposals were received from every inhabited continent except South America. Six winning proposals were
chosen in global and national categories. Members of the winning teams hailed from the United States,
Australia, India, and Nigeria.
The winning global proposal in 2011 combined the top ideas from the 2010 contest, as described above. The
global runner up called for reduced meat consumption to lower emissions of methane and carbon black in the
short term and transform land now used for grazing into forest over the long term.
In the national category, the proposal with the most votes called for rapid deployment of next generation
nuclear power technology by the United States. The runner up outlined a plan for reducing India’s
future emissions and using computer technology to monitor compliance. The national category also had two
Judge’s Choice awards. One called for university students to help subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan
Africa to adapt their agricultural practices to changing climatic conditions. The other called for
construction of personal rapid transit systems, powered by magnetic levitation, in United States
Last January, winners of the 2011 contest presented their ideas in a series of briefings with policy makers,
including Daniele Violetti and other members of the UNFCCC staff; UN Undersecretaries General Brice Lalonde
and Elizabeth Thompson, executive coordinators for Rio+20; and Edward Markey, the ranking Democratic member
of the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee.
Plans for the future
In 2012, the Climate CoLab will break down the large, complex problem of climate change into a series of
sub-problems. These sub-problems will be defined by three key dimensions:
- What actions will be taken to address climate change?
- Where will these actions be taken?
- Who will take the actions?
The What dimension describes the kinds of interventions that can occur, for example, physical actions like
mitigation and adaptation or actions in the human realm like adopting new policies. The Where dimension takes
into account that proposed actions can be focused at different geographic locations and levels:
international, national, state/provincial, city/metro region, neighborhood, even household. The Who dimension
describes the primary social group or person expected to undertake the proposed action; it encompasses
government, business, and civil society organizations,as well as individual citizens. Based on input from
members of the Expert Council, a preliminary taxonomy
of the What, Where, and Who dimensions has been developed and is now being discussed by the Climate CoLab
Sub-problems will be defined for 2012 by describing combinations of What, Where, and Who. Sample sub-problems
include: How can homeowners increase building efficiency in developed countries? How can utilities, working
in tandem with government and business, decarbonize the electric power sector in the US, China, EU, and
India? How can city governments in Japan prepare for the risk of sea level rise? How can universities,
churches, and NGOs in Brazil change cultural norms about energy efficiency?
Starting in the spring of 2012, the CoLab will invite community members to submit proposals that address a
broad range of such sub-problems. After the community has developed focused solutions in these areas, there
will be a subsequent round of activity, starting next fall, to assemble combinations of point solutions into
broad, integrated proposals. The plan for 2012
activities is now posted on the site, and community members are invited to comment.
Long term aspirations
At the very least, we believe the Climate CoLab can help to educate citizens around the world about global
climate change. But if the project achieves our highest aspirations, it will also engage a broad range of
scientists, policy makers, business people, and concerned citizens, in helping to generate—and gain
support for—proposals to address climate change that are better than any that would have been developed
otherwise. We invite you to join our community at http://climatecolab.org.
About the Authors | <urn:uuid:7444f66c-ef0c-4e47-831a-e477a872f1a3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://unfccc.int/press/news_room/newsletter/items/6847txt.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00031-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931748 | 1,536 | 3.125 | 3 |
Edward T. Hall in The Silent Language examines the many influences we face each day, influences that are silent in that they are not verbal but that are quite loud in terms of the effects they have on our development, our relationships, and so on. Hall finds that many of these influences are cultural, attitudes and behaviors we inherit from our surroundings and that decide out behavior even when we may not consciously see the source of the prescription or even that there is one. What Hall presents in this book is a comprehensive view of how we relate to our environment, how we are shaped by the experience, and how we may shape others through the same silent language.
Hall further makes the observation that formal training in language, history, government, and customs is only the beginning of an understanding of how culture shapes us and how we shape culture. And he rightly points out that the silent language, the nonverbal language of the country, is a major influence that needs to be analyzed, studied, and understood. This is a language we use every day, and yet we have only a dim awareness of it. Indeed, Hall sees the silent language in many situations as more real and more truthful than verbal language, as he notes when he writes: "In addition to our verbal language, we are constantly communicating our real feelings in the language of behavior" (xiii).
While Hall talks about American culture in this book, his conception of the silent language applies to any culture, though the norms communicated and the behaviors involved would be different in a different cultural setting. Hall understands his own culture and the meanings ascribed to behaviors and actions, and he describes these in this book. A commentator from another culture would find similar processes with different behaviors and actions as well as different messages, but the underlying concept would be the same.
Hall identifies a number of different dimensio... | <urn:uuid:2982edb0-d056-4df9-844b-31b48690420d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1692221.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966763 | 373 | 3.796875 | 4 |
Romeo and Juliet Theme of Gender
There's more machismo in Romeo and Juliet than the worst stereotype of a football locker room. Romeo and Juliet uses malehonor—and male sexual posturing as comedy, but it also sets up the play's tragedy. What drives the rivalry between Verona's two warring families, the Montagues and the Capulets? Testosterone-charged fighting between the young men of each family. Not to mention that Romeo Montague is constantly torn between his bros and his—well, let's just say his ladies, particularly Juliet. And she has some gender challenges of her own: how can she become a woman if her parents keep bossing her around?
Questions About Gender
- How do the young (and old) men of Verona prove their masculinity?
- What is the relationship between honor and masculinity in Romeo and Juliet?
- Do the values of masculinity come in conflict with other values in the play?
- Often in literature, male friendship is threatened by the intrusion of a woman. What are the tensions between love and friendship in Romeo and Juliet? How are they resolved?
- What kinds of challenges does Juliet face as a young daughter? How does her gender shape her experiences with her family?
Chew on This
In Romeo and Juliet, the pressure to be a "man" leads Romeo to kill Tybalt in a duel and causes much of the play's tragedy
Romantic love triumphs over male friendship in Romeo and Juliet—but only barely. | <urn:uuid:403d3dfb-57bc-4dc1-943f-932e4c937e44> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.shmoop.com/romeo-and-juliet/gender-theme.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00057-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964491 | 312 | 3.765625 | 4 |
2012 Kia Rio SXEnlarge Photo
According to a recent study by Pike Research, the fuel-saving technology which will be most prevalent in green cars by 2015 isn’t the current offering of hybrid drivetrains, fully electric cars or even hyper-efficient, four-cylinder engines, but stop-start technology.
But will it really catch on as quickly as Pike Research says it will, and will the U.S. ever really embrace this cheap way to save fuel?
As we told you yesterday, consumers are more interested in fuel economy and gas mileage than ever before -- and automakers know it. In response, they are working hard to produce a wide range of cars that produce as little tailpipe emissions and get as good a gas mileage as possible.
Although hybrid and electric drivetrains have the biggest impact on emissions from a single car, the lower cost of developing and implementing stop-start technology means that more car buyers are likely to embrace the technology, meaning a larger overall emissions reduction across thousands, or millions of cars.
What is it?
Simply put, stop-start (or start-stop) works by cutting off the engine when a driver brakes below a certain speed or stops the car altogether. Then, when the foot is lifted from the brake pedal and onto the accelerator, a high-power alternator or motor spins the engine back up to speed, restarting the engine and allowing the driver to pull away.
Much like hybrid drivetrains, this means cars with stop-start technology do not idle in stationary traffic after reaching optimum operating temperature, saving both fuel and tailpipe emissions.
Volkswagen Golf Mark VI to feature stop-start techEnlarge Photo
Is it really coming?
As we’ve said last year, the U.S. hasn’t been particularly quick to adopt start-stop technology in the past, with the technology historically occupying a space reserved for luxury, premium and hybrid vehicles.
But this year we’ve seen the first examples of compact and even sub-compact cars adopting stop-start technology, showing that the technology has a place in cars often aimed at cash-strapped and fuel-conscious younger buyers.
In fact, although Detroit isn’t particularly happy about the latest high-mileage fleet-wide economy targets set by the Federal Government, it now views start-stop technology as a cheap way to get improve fuel consumption.
In it’s most basic form, stop-start technology is cheap
Because of the relative simplicity behind the most basic stop start system -- essentially replacing the starter motor and alternator with an uprated motor/generator and adding some extra computer control circuitry -- start stop systems are much cheaper to produce than a full-blown hybrid drivetrain.
In fact, in Europe, where 3 million stop-start cars were sold in 2011 to date, many automakers sell stop start as an option on everything from Smart Cars through to SUVs as a way of increasing fuel efficiency without having to design brand-new, complex hybrid drivetrains.
It’s that success in Europe, combined with the cost of developing the systems that explain why Pike Research -- and even parts of the auto industry -- are predicting a healthy future for stop-start systems.
Smart Fortwo to get stop-start technologyEnlarge Photo
A long way to go
In 2012, Pike Research says that only 1% of all cars sold in the U.S. will include stop-start technology. Three years later, it predicts that 25% of all new cars in the U.S. will feature the technology. Globally, it predicts that 25 million cars will be sold in 2017 which use the technology, versus just a few million hybrid cars.
But while the U.S. is starting to gain interest in the technology, it is still the slowest adopter of start-stop worldwide when compared with Europe’s already healthy stop-start sales and the burgeoning interest from the Asia Pacific regions.
Will stop-start play as important a role as Pike Research predicts? Possibly, but only if automakers can refine the technology to make it less jerky than some of the current offerings on the market. | <urn:uuid:c4bfff8a-7c3f-4073-af31-bc58c0ebe9df> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1068037_in-2015-one-in-four-u-s-car-engines-will-stop-when-you-do---on-purpose | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00153-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932481 | 860 | 2.875 | 3 |
Everybody who grew up in Cape learned about Fort D. Maybe you even went on a field trip there.
If that was D, were there Forts A, B, C and E? Well, there wasn’t a Fort E, but A, B and C existed.
Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders wrote about efforts to preserve Fort A, which was atop the bluff at the end of what is now Bellvue Street. Her research, as always, is worth reading. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)
She’s not a dry historian, either. she likes to toss in tidbits like, “A 1922 story reports 12-year old Wilson Gibbs chased a rabbit into a a cave at the site. While the rabbit made its escape, Gibbs did stumble upon two jugs of moonshine. A law-abiding youth, Gibbs turned the illegal liquor in to Justice of the Peace C.M. Gilbert. There’s no mention of whether anyone claimed the whiskey.”
Scenic lookout proposed
In 1960, Sharon reports, there was talk about creating a scenic overlook/turnaround at the end of Bellvue. The project never got anywhere.
Here’s what’s on the right side of the street today. That apartment building has been there since at least the mid-60s, because Missourian reporter Arlene Southern lived in one of the first floor apartments.
Fort B became SEMO
If you have good eyesight, you MIGHT be able to spot a gray marker in the median of Normal Avenue just east of the red brick crosswalk between Kent Library and Academic Hall. That marker notes the location of Fort B, which was to guard the Perryville and Jackson Road approaches to Cape Girardeau.
St. Francis Hospital site was Fort C
The old St. Francis Hospital site in the middle of the marked streets was the location of Fort C. It’s occupied by the Fort Hope housing development today.
I’ve written about some of the landmarks in this photo. | <urn:uuid:c0506014-f566-45cf-b085-bc3e0e18fce1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape-photos/civil-war-fort-a/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397567.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00031-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968065 | 429 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Your Brain Health
The single greatest system ever designed in the history of the universe is your brain. Your brain is responsible for your every thought, emotion and behavior. Unfortunately we humans do not know much about our brains, and it is time to change that.
- Your brain weighs two to four pounds.
- Your brain is comprised of 60 percent fat and is the fattiest system in your body.
- Your brain consumes 25 percent of the blood from every heartbeat.
- Your brain has two sides or hemispheres: the left hemisphere helps you with language, detail, and analysis; the right hemisphere helps you with faces, spatial orientation and sounds.
- Your brain has a cortex and subcortex: your cortex is conscious and helps you learn, remember, communicate, read, write, orient to space and process sensory information, and gives you personality; your subcortex processes subconscious motor or procedural behaviors such as dressing, driving and typing on your computer. Your cortex and subcortex interact as a beautiful symphony.
- Your hippocampus is the structure in your brain that enables you to learn. It sits in the middle of each temporal lobe just under each temple on your skull.
New Ideas about Your Brain
- The human brain (like the animal brain) can generate new brain cells. This new brain cell development (neurogenesis) occurs in the hippocampus.
- The human brain is now thought to have “neural plasticity” or be a system that is highly dynamic, constantly reorganizing and malleable. It is shaped by environmental input.
- Our brains need exposure to environments that are enriched, complex and novel. Environments that are passive and rote do not help the health of your brain.
- Exposure to enriched environments across your lifespan will lead to new brain cell development and increased cellular connections (“synaptic density”). Synaptic density or brain reserve may help to delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Five Domains of the ‘Brain Health Lifestyle’
Brain health begins in the womb and needs to be promoted across your lifespan. Consider the following “Brain Health Lifestyle” to build up your brain reserve:
- Do not isolate or segregate as you get older.
- Join groups and social organizations in your community.
- Maintain and build your friendship and family network.
- Be forgiving.
- Develop hobbies.
- Do not retire.
- Walk between 7,000 and 12,000 steps daily. Walk several times a week. Buy yourself a pedometer to remind yourself to walk and to keep track of your daily steps.
- Do gardening.
- Do aerobic exercise.
- Use both sides of your body more often: become ambidextrous.
- Learn a second language.
- Read and write (use your nondominant hand) on a daily basis; the more complex, the better.
- Learn sign language.
- Play board games.
- Play a musical instrument.
- Listen to classical music.
- Problem solve.
- Pray on a daily basis.
- Regularly attend a formal place of worship.
- Learn to meditate.
- Learn relaxation procedures with deep breathing and muscle relaxation.
- Slow down.
- Do not be afraid to say no.
- Eat 80 percent of what you intend to eat at each meal.
- Eat with utensils so you eat less.
- Eat healthier foods.
- Increase your intake of Omega 3 fatty acids, walnuts and unsalted nuts.
- Increase your intake of antioxidants.
- Eat colored fruits (grapes, apples, cantaloupe and berries) and vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends five servings of fruit and vegetables a day.
- Decrease your intake of processed foods and red meats.
- Eat one sit down meal a day with others.
Contributed by Paul D. Nussbaum, Ph.D., AFA's senior brain health advisor. | <urn:uuid:8b8f86f5-72d5-40ff-917d-8b2066efb8ed> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.alzprevention.org/Printablepages/prevention-and-dementia.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00022-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897014 | 855 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Scientists are hoping to discover exactly how oily fish can protect against Alzheimer's disease.
Eating oily fish 'won't harm anybody', the researchers say
It is known that eating fish such as salmon, sardines and mackerel appears to cut the risk of developing dementia.
But now, Cardiff University researchers funded by £300,000 from the Alzheimer's Research Trust are to investigate how this might help.
In the meantime, the researchers say people should eat oily fish at least twice a week.
The three-year study will be carried out on mice which have been genetically designed to have an Alzheimer's-like disease.
Researchers will monitor the effects of different diets on the mice.
Preliminary research has shown that feeding the mice oily fish improved their brain function.
'Easy thing to do'
Professor John Harwood, who is leading the research, said: "We put the mice through a maze, and the ones with normal brain functions learn quickly when to turn left and right, but the Alzheimer's mice are absolutely hopeless at remembering.
"When we put them on a diet rich in these fatty oils, their ability to learn improved greatly."
It is suggested that the omega 3 oils contained in the fish could prevent the build-up of a protein called amyloid, which grows like a plaque on the brain of Alzheimer's sufferers, and slows down brain functions.
Professor Harwood added: "There have already been a number of studies showing that people who consume a significant amount of oily fish or fish oil capsules seem to have a smaller incidence of Alzheimer's disease.
"A study in Chicago last year showed people who included oily fish in their diet had 60% less chance of developing Alzheimer's.
"Including oily fish in the diet is a very easy thing that anybody can do, without going to a hospital.
"It won't cure Alzheimer's but the evidence is it will slow the rate of deterioration, and it should stop you getting the disease if you don't already have it."
He added: "Eventually, it's possible people will be advised to take fish oil capsules.
"It's difficult to know the exact amount of omega 3 you are getting in your diet, where you would know how much you were getting if you took capsules
Harriet Millward, of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said "We are funding 25 research projects in all, but the oily fish study looks very promising.
"We hope the research into the biology of Alzheimer's disease will give us a greater understanding of how the disease develops and lead to other new treatments."
The trust is also funding research into how B vitamins produced by the body contribute to the development of Alzheimer's, and a second on the use of computer-aided drug design. | <urn:uuid:72bff336-c9a7-4707-aeaa-73f5d801fa8b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4434085.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00082-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967483 | 569 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Sunscreen is not just to prevent sunburn. More importantly, it protects against skin cancer which is one of the common types of cancer these days. It only takes one severe sunburn to potentially double your child’s chances of getting melanoma later in life. My kids hated sunscreen when they were little. Now as they are older they understand and though they do grumble, they slather it on. What if you could eat your sunscreen. Believe it or not – you can !! Certain foods have a strong sun- protective factor and when eaten on a regular basis can be as effective as physical sunscreen. Using sunscreen and eating these foods will provide you double insurance against sunburn I experimented this summer and ate these foods as often as I could. It worked! Although I have been out in the sun a lot without protection and even went to the beach the last weekend, I did not get as sunburned as I would normally do. It’s all healthy food, so take a shot at eating more of these foods ! You can eat any one of the foods everyday or almost everyday to get sun protection.
Load up on these food ! They have serious SPF !!!
Click on these foods to view a slide show!
Olive oil : 2 tbsp/ day to get the sunscreen effect. Drizzle over salads and bread. Use in dips, cooking, sauteing, stir fry etc.
Tomato : high in lycopene a colorful carotenoid which is responsible for sun protection. You can get the amount of lycopene needed by consuming 4 tsps tomato paste, 1/2 cup pasta sauce or 4 tomatoes.
Watermelon : packed with lycopene that might lower your sunburn risk. In order to get the benefit of you will have to drink one watermelon smoothie or eat 2 cups of watermelon/Day !
Grapefruit : also packed with lycopene and vitamin C. Eat 2 pink grapefruit to get the sun protection benefit !
Vitamin E : supplemental vitamin E has sun protection benefits ! 400 IU / day is the required amount.
Pomegranatee : said to strengthen the skin and protect it from burning. 4 oz of juice or one pomegranate fruit.
Green and black tea : antioxidants in tea are protective against skin cancer and prevent the skin from burning up. 2-3 cups /day.
Keeping you and your kids safe in the sun is simple and can be fun !! Load up on these healthy foods for extra sun protection !! | <urn:uuid:302652ff-b781-4df4-b479-1a438708f70e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.suesnutritionbuzz.com/2012/08/14/edible-sunscreen-foods-that-may-protect-you-from-sunburn-skin-cancer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00079-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94904 | 517 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Writing and using computer-aided assessment (CAA) in mathematics for economics first years
Martin Greenhow, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Brunel University
Published May 2012
Computer-aided assessment (CAA) now forms a significant part of many students’ experience of higher education, especially for subjects with a significant mathematical/analytical content. Several mature technologies now exist that can reach beyond their intended audience and discipline, meaning that CAA looks likely to be increasingly pervasive, at school or for in-service training. Such assessment should not simply grade students, but should promote learning, which means that effective questions will need to be based on sound pedagogic principles.
Greenhow and Zaczek (2011) discuss the processes of writing objective questions and exploiting the computer medium: we note here their main points. Given its immediacy, it is clearly essential to write clear and full feedback. Moreover, questions should also include random parameters, so that many thousands or millions of realisations are generated by underlying encoded algorithms. The randoms are carried through to all parts of the question (stem, key, distracters and feedback) and equations (via MathML) and accurate diagrams (via SVG), so that that all element of the question are generated at runtime. These parameters usually generate different numbers, but can also generate random words or question scenarios.
The question author is then required to encapsulate the algebraic and pedagogic content of all questions of a certain class, a process quite unlike the setting of paper-based tests. This usually involves reverse engineering the question from the answer’s requirement to have certain characteristics e.g. whole numbers, easy fractions etc. The pros and cons of various question types also need consideration, especially the merits of responsive numerical or responsive word input questions where mal-rules can be programmed ‘behind the scenes’ to produce predictable wrong answers that, if input by the student, will trigger bespoke feedback.
Of course, even sound and robust CAA will only be effective if students engage with it. A practical strategy for enforcing this is to make a genuine exam pass mandatory rather than an overall pass with CAA marks included. This forces students to focus on the learning process right to the end of the module. Even with engaged students, the efficacy of CAA needs to be examined, both in terms of their perception of the tests (very positive but not presented here) and the actuality of their learning, see below. Although the limitations of CAA are readily acknowledged, the results below indicate a strong case for including CAA within the overall (blended) assessment strategy.
Most of the 2000 questions (each producing thousands of realisations) that form the above CAA system are now available via a new (and free) web application Maths E.G. at: http://www.mathcentre.ac.uk:8081/mathseg/ (student interface – see figures 1 & 2) and http://www.mathcentre.ac.uk:8081/mathsegteacher/ (teacher interface).
Figure 1 The Maths E.G. student interface, showing the topic tree comprising circa 2000 questions and a question’s feedback screen, selected from Economics. Here the numbers are randomised and used in the MathML equations and in the SVG diagram; both are created on the fly when the question is loaded (neither is a fixed graphic). The question was developed under the Metal Project: http://www.metalproject.co.uk/
Figure 2 The maths e.g. student interface, showing the topic tree and a (randomised) question selected from Statistics showing Excel and Clipboard buttons and Google’s translator into circa 50 languages. The colour scheme/font size are under the student’s control which is probably useful for partially-sighted or dyslexic students. The question and the interface was developed under the DeSTRESS Project: http://economicsnetwork.ac.uk/statistics
Case study: EC1005 Mathematics for Economics
In 2006-07 the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Brunel University was asked by our Economics Department to share the teaching of their first year mathematics and statistics/research methods modules (EC1005 & EC1006). Given that I was writing the CAA material for the FDTL5 Metal Project, I welcomed the chance to teach the group without A-level mathematics (typically about half the cohort of about 340 students aged 18-20 years, 55% male) since I anticipated using the CAA to replace the two class tests. In fact this did not happen until 2008-09 (for the both cohorts); in addition to saving me about 8 solid days marking, the exam and overall performance of the students then increased substantially: see figure 3. During these three years the performance of the two groups (with/without A level) was indistinguishable at the end of the year, and it was felt that the weaker students benefitted relatively more from the CAA.
In 2009-10, I took over the entire cohort and the admissions policy changed to require at least AS level mathematics. In fact, about half of the cohort had the full A-level at grade B or above, and the qualifications for this year (2010-11) comprise grades A*(3%), A(12%), B(50%), C(21%), D(4%) with the rest having AS grades A(3%), B(4%) and C(3%). It is gratifying that very few students that took AS level mathematics did not continue to the full A-level. Given the enhanced mathematical preparedness of the students since 2009-10, the low exam average was somewhat disappointing. It can be explained by the fact that I set the exam for the first time and overestimated the speed with which students could do the questions (corrected in 2010/11, although the exam is still undoubtedly harder than those set in 2006/7 & 2007/8).
The overall average slightly increased, but some 70 students had to resit the examination in September 2010 since a genuine pass in the exam component was introduced as a module requirement (in addition to the exam being weighted at 70%). Of the 2009/10 resitters about 50 passed. Results for 2010/11 are encouraging across all grades and of 55 resitters, 50 passed (helped no doubt by the continued use of the CAA over the summer for revision purposes).
Figure 3 Year-on-year overall grades (% of students), and exam and overall averages (% marks).
Greenhow M. and Zaczek K.(2011) Embedding computer-aided assessment of mathematics and statistics for first year economics students Proc ICTMT10 Conf, Portsmouth http://ictmt10.org/ (accessed 17/2/12) | <urn:uuid:a3aeade1-b560-421a-a8da-6b4b05c76e02> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://economicsnetwork.ac.uk/showcase/greenhow_mathseg | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00153-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936261 | 1,392 | 3.109375 | 3 |
In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Alderbury like this:
ALDERBURY, a village, a parish, a subdistrict, a hundred, and a district in Wilts. The village stands on the river Avon, near the Salisbury branch of the South-western railway, 3 miles SE of Salisbury; and has a post office under Salisbury.The parish includes also the chapelries of Pitton and Farley. Acres, 4,332. Real property of Alderbury, Whaddon, and West Grimstead, £4,270; of Pitton and Farley, £2,921. Pop. of the parish, 1,334. Houses, 288. The property is divided among a few. ...
Alderbury House, the seat of the Forts, in the vicinity of the village, was built of materials from the ancient belfry of Salisbury cathedral. Ivy-Church, some remains of which exist in a school-house on an eminence, was an Augustinian priory founded by King Stephen. The living of Alderbury is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; and includes the curacies of Pitton and Farley. Value, £477. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is excellent. There are a Wesleyan chapel, and charities £16.-The subdistrict comprises five parishes, part of another parish, and three extra parochial tracts. Acres, 24,551. Pop., 4,357. Houses, 924.-The hundred comprises most of the parishes and tracts of the subdistrict, and includes so many others as to be more extensive. Acres, 32,790. Pop., 4,877. Houses, 1,019.The district comprehends the subdistrict of Alderbury, containing the parishes of Alderbury, Winterslow, West Grimstead, Whiteparish, and Landford, part of the parish of West Dean, and the extra-parochial tracts of Clarendon-Park, Melchet-Park, and Earldoms; the suh-district of Downton, containing the parishes of Downton, Standlinch, Nunton-with-Bodenham, Odstock, Homington, Coombe-Bissett, and Stratford-St.-Anthony; and the subdistrict of Britford, containing the parishes of Britford, West Harnham, Laverstock, Stratford-under-the-Castle, and Fisherton-Anger, part of the parish of St. Martin, the liberty of Salisbury Close, and the extra-parochial Old Sarum. Acres, 53,490. Poor-rates in 1866, £11,086. Pop. in 1841, 14,174; in 1861, 14,770. Houses, 2,977. Marriages in 1866, 91; births, 472, -of which 26 were illegitimate; deaths, 337,-of which 82 were at ages under 5 years, and 8 were at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,069; births, 4,550; deaths, 3,365. The places of worship in 1851 were 23 of the Church of England, with 4,827 sittings; 1 of Independents, with 35 s.; 7 of Baptists, with 894 s.; 12 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 1,346 s.; and 2 of Primitive Methodists, with 822 s. The schools in 1851 were 27 public day-schools, with 1,633 scholars; 17 private day schools, with 325 s.; 36 Sunday schools, with 2,317 s.; and 5 evening-schools for adults, with 86 s. The work house is in Britford.
A Vision of Britain through Time includes a large library of local statistics for administrative units. For the best overall sense of how the area containing Alderbury has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Salisbury. More detailed statistical data are available under Units and statistics, which includes both administrative units covering Alderbury and units named after it.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Alderbury, in Salisbury and Wiltshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
Date accessed: 29th June 2016
Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Britain through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Alderbury". | <urn:uuid:4a51324f-ab93-4360-bdc0-db58ef59ec08> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=11485 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00112-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937786 | 968 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Francis Le Clair was born in Montreal, Canada, January 1st, 1819. Came to Mendota, Minnesota, in 1849, and made
a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, which he sold a few months later. He, however, invested in another farm
of ninety two, acres in Eagan township, in 1859, where he has since lived as a tiller of the soil. Miss Eliza Labrie,
a native of Montreal, became his wife August 25th, 1857. Eight children have been born to them. The living are
Mary Ann, Edward, Sellena, Frank, Norman and Nelson.
The History of Dakota County and the City of Hastings.
By J. Fletcher Williams.
North Star Publishing Company.
Dakota County, MN
Names A to E
Names F to I
Names J to P
Names Q to Y | <urn:uuid:6101bbf3-3296-457e-9373-1e67e10f6457> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.onlinebiographies.info/mn/dakota/leclair-f.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00148-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932585 | 185 | 2.515625 | 3 |
April 9, 2013
Ecosystem Chemistry Better Predicted By Plant Species
Carnegie scientists have found that the plant species making up an ecosystem are better predictors of ecosystem chemistry than environmental conditions such as terrain, geology, or altitude. This is the first study using a new, high-resolution airborne, chemical-detecting instrument to map multiple ecosystem chemicals. The result, published in the April 8, 2013, Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is a key step toward understanding how species composition affects carbon, nitrogen and other nutrient cycling, and the effects of climate change, land use, and other ecosystem pressures.Two important ecological goals are to understand the distribution and diversity of plants in their environment and how nutrients and energy flow through ecosystems. Both are essential to predict how the environment may change in the future, but untangling the relative importance of different influences has remained challenging.
Lead author Kyla Dahlin explained: "We used the high-resolution mapping capabilities of the Carnegie Airborne Observatory Airborne Taxonomic Mapping System (CAO AToMS), and found that the plant communities that make up Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve in Northern California were the strongest predictors. They explained 46% to 61% of the variation in plant chemical traits, and these traits hold the key to how ecosystems function."
The plant communities at Jasper Ridge include savanna/grasslands, evergreen oaks and chaparral, wetland ecosystems, and more. The researchers measured four traits mapped with CAO AToMS from the air: leaf nitrogen, leaf carbon, leaf water concentration, and canopy water content.
The researchers combined the airborne data with maps of known environmental regulators, such as terrain and geology, and maps of plant communities and land-use history to ask whether environmental conditions or plant communities were more indicative of the chemical variation of the vegetation. They found that environmental conditions played a role, but that plant communities were the stronger predictor.
Co-author Greg Asner, principal investigator of the CAO, commented, "The results are a powerful demonstration of the use of the latest airborne spectroscopic mapping techniques to understand the multiple chemicals in the foliage of vegetation, allowing us to relate the chemical information to biodiversity and environment. These are the tools of the future for ecological research and conservation science."
"This study is especially exciting for Carnegie because it answers questions about the roles of landscapes and plant communities that were posed by Carnegie investigators in the early decades of the 20th century," said co-author Chris Field, director of the Department of Global Ecology.
On The Net: | <urn:uuid:29c3c700-8f7c-49e8-be0e-23ccd4380e4b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112818971/ecosystem-chemistry-predicted-plant-species-040913/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00002-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927694 | 528 | 3.21875 | 3 |
We are losing 1% of our topsoil per year. You may think that this problem is confined to farmers and that they are going to have to be the ones that deal with it, but erosion affects everyone, especially if you are a gardener or a lawn enthusiast. Luckily, most lawn erosion problems are preventable.
9 ways to Prevent Erosion
1. Employ a rain barrel or other form of water catchment system. Divert water to the garden or store it.
3. Grow plants on slopes. Grass does not stop erosion on slopes.
4. Plant a rain garden to soak up excess moisture and stop runoff.
5. Use mulch whenever possible.
6. Bald spots in your yard or garden are bad news. Cover them with mulch and get something growing there ASAP.
7. Build terraces or a retaining wall. Any mid-yard structure will do a good job of stopping water and soil from leaving your yard.
8. Plant native plants with absorbent root structures.9. Leave your yard untilled. | <urn:uuid:08097f75-c2a0-4ca9-852f-f420c7377c69> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://home.howstuffworks.com/green-living/inexpensive-prevent-erosion.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929404 | 218 | 2.875 | 3 |
In August of 2008, a Consumer Reports investigation revealed that the federal government is among the worst offenders when it comes to data breaches.
CR analyzed records of publicly reported data breaches compiled by the nonprofit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and found that more than 230 security lapses by federal, state, and local government from 2005 through mid-June 2008 resulted in the loss or exposure of at least 44 million consumer records containing Social Security or driver license numbers and other personal data.
In late 2006, the House Committee on Government Reform issued a report entitled "AGENCY DATA BREACHES SINCE JANUARY 1, 2003". The conclusion of the report was as disturbing as it was terse.
Taken as a whole, the agency reports outline hundreds of instances of data breaches involving sensitive personal information since January 1, 2003. The reports show a wide range of incidents, involving employee carelessness, contractor misconduct, and third-party thefts. The number of individuals affected in each incident ranges from one to millions. However, in many cases, the agency does not know what information was lost or how many individuals potentially could be affected. Few of these incidents have been reported publicly, and it is unclear in many cases whether affected individuals have been notified or whether remedial action has been taken.
Data held by Federal agencies remains at risk. In many cases, agencies do not know what information they have, who has access to the information, and what devices containing information have been lost, stolen, or misplaced. In addition, in almost all of the reported cases, Congress and the public would not have learned of each event unless the Committee had requested this information.
Finally, each year, the Committee releases information security scorecards. This year the scores for many departments remained low or dropped precipitously. The federal government overall received a D+.
Among the incidents the report described:
• A laptop containing personal information on 30,000 applicants/LEADS, recruiters, and prospects fell off a motorcycle belonging to a Navy recruiter.
• A CD containing 30,000 veterans’ names and addresses was lost by a Government Printing Office subcontractor.
• A thumb drive containing personal records on approximately 207,570 enlisted Marines who served between the years of 2001 to 2005 was lost. A notification letter was sent to the affected individuals and the Marine Corps.
• A systems administrator discovered potential unauthorized access to the Air Force Personnel Center Assignment Management System containing personal information on 33,000 military members.
Other, more recent incidents of note include:
• Sensitive information on about 1,000 patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military hospitals was exposed in a security breach, sparking identity theft concerns and an investigation by the Army.
• The IRS hired a firm that had experienced several serious data breaches of customer information to manage and secure sensitive data.
Feel better about that giant database of sensitive health care information that the tax-and-spend Democrats want to create when they nationalize health care?
The feds holding your family's most personal information?
What could possibly go wrong?
Update: Clarice Feldman writes: "What, indeed? And then there's the inclination of so many to spy on their political opponents and their families." | <urn:uuid:20a568fc-047e-4855-91e0-57a746153c3d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/10/coming-soon-giant-federal-health-care.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00016-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954947 | 657 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Leptospirosis is a bacteria spread through the urine of infected animals, which can get into water or soil and survive there for weeks or months. Humans become infected through contact with urine or with the water, soil, or food contaminated with the urine of the infected animals.
Animals such as cattle, pigs, horses, dogs, rodents can carry the bacterium. Symptoms can vary in range, from light to severe: high fever, headache, chills, muscle aches, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and rash are common initial symptoms. The disease may also have a second phase, which can lead to kidney or liver failure or meningitis.
Information for the General Public
Information for Healthcare Professionals
- Laboratory Submissions
- Technical Information for Healthcare Workers
- U.S. Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service | <urn:uuid:8784c515-4437-4a8d-973b-8d03c6be7ab9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://health.utah.gov/epi/diseases/leptospirosis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925252 | 172 | 3.625 | 4 |
Thousands of hospital staff fled Liberia during its brutal civil war. Channel 4 News reports on how the critical lack of anaesthetists is contributing to almost 2,000 women dying in childbirth a year.
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It has been seven years since the end of a civil war which wrecked Liberia. During the fighting half a million people fled - including thousands of hospital staff.
One of the most critical absences is anaesthetists. There are less than two dozen left for the whole country. It's one of the reasons maternal deaths have doubled in the last decade.
Jane Deith has been to Liberia to meet one man who's trying to train the anaesthetists Liberia needs to save the lives of its mothers and babies:
Anaesthetist Wilmot Fassah is 57. He has diabetes and cataracts and would dearly love to retire and get some rest. But he has to keep going, because he is trying to train enough anaesthetists for Liberia.
At the moment there isn't enough for one for each hospital. There are just 22 anaesthetists across the whole country - most of them old men now, working 24 hours a day. They are the anaesthetists who weren't killed - or didn't flee - during Liberia's long civil war.
They're so few, that in most hospitals anaesthetic is given by people who're not qualified. Wilmot Fassah says he knows they are making mistakes and it is killing people.
"Before you give anaesthetic, you have to know what you're doing. If you don't know what drugs to give people, or you don't know when something's going wrong in theatre, patients die."
Wilmot Fassah has created a school of anaesthesia at Phebe Hospital, five hours north of the capital Monrovia. But he says he's chronically underfunded. He has to rely on visiting American doctors to bring the drugs he needs. He often runs out of oxygen, and he and his students have to operate without it - which is very dangerous.
He's managing to turn out a few newly trained anaesthetists each year. But some of graduates are giving up after only a few months - scared by the risks they're forced to take in hospitals which can't afford to buy drugs.
While we were filming at Phebe Hospital, we heard that one of Wilmot's former students had just resigned from his first job at Saniquelle in the north of the country.
We tracked down Prince Julutoe and he told us why he quit. He said he couldn't cope with working alone in a busy hospital, without supervision or help. He said he had to leave - before someone died.
"It was like crucifying yourself. You go to work in the morning, you don't stop. You don't eat all day. There were a lot of emergencies and I was the only anaesthetist - working day and night.
"Some days your brain just freezes and you make mistakes. I was just fortunate not to have caused any deaths. It was a very difficult decision to walk out, because I went into anaesthesia to save lives and I know my absence will cost someone's life."
Liberia's health system can't afford to lose people like Prince Julutoe, because so many were killed during the civil war - when fighters tore through hospitals. In one attack at Phebe Hospital in 1994, 160 staff and patients were murdered.
Liberia's Minister of Health Waltyer Gwenigale used to be a surgeon at Phebe and is frank about the problem:
"It was like crucifying yourself. You go to work in the morning, you don't stop. You don't eat all day. There were a lot of emergencies and I was the only anaesthetist - working day and night."
"The country is trying to come back from the war. Before, our health budget was $500 million. Now it's $80 million. We don't have the money for a lot of things. We don't have enough anaesthetists, but we are training some. But the reality is, is you have one anaesthetist in a hospital, you are lucky.
"There are many hospitals that don't have any anaesthetists at all."
The shortage of anaesthetists, not to mention surgeons and nurses, is one of the reasons why operations like caesareans are so rare in Liberia. The country has one of the worst rates of maternal death in the world. In Labour, when women go into labour, they don't know if they'll come out of it alive.
The war has destroyed so many of even the most basic health clinics, that women have been left even further away from medical help. During the second period of the war, the number of women dying in childbirth doubled.
We heard about the loss felt when a mother dies, when we travelled to the village of Gillipa in the remote interior of the country. It used to have a health clinic, but it was destroyed in the war. Now they live five hours walk from the nearest road - and the chance of a lift to a hospital an hour away We sat down with the women of the village, while mother after mother told us with devastating composure - that their daughters had died giving birth.
Yemen Bomo is grieving for her daughter Patience.
"My eldest daughter Nowai gave birth to a baby girl. But the placenta didn't come out ...and she died. My second daughter Nemah died before her baby came"
"Patience, was five months pregnant with twins when she started getting terrible pains. We put her in a hammock and carried her as far as the next village - where someone gave her some glucose - but she miscarried on the way back. We carried her to the hospital the next day, but she died there."
Dinga Belai had watched both her daughters die in childbirth.
"My eldest daughter Nowai gave birth to a baby girl. But the placenta didn't come out ...and she died. My second daughter Nemah died before her baby came. She was suffering great pain, so we carried her towards the road...but she died before we got there."
In Ganta hospital two hours away, Rebecca Saye is having the life saving surgery the women in Gillipa don't get. An isolated project run with $1 million from US AID has paid for an ambulance which can get out to women in some targeted villages. Rebecca has been brought to Ganta for an emergency caesarean. This is a rare event in Liberia. Having a qualified anaesthetist is even rarer. But Rebecca's anaesthetist, Wanleye Wilyam, was trained by Wilmot Fassah, and the surgeons are able to safely deliver her baby - a boy, weighing 10 pounds.
The anaesthetist was only one part of Rebecca and her baby's survival...and the shortage of them in Liberia is only one of the problems making giving birth here so dangerous.
But 22 ageing anaesthetists is not enough - if Liberia is going to rebuild its health service from the wreckage of war.
12 January 2011
08 February 2011
06 April 2011 | <urn:uuid:43411670-6b6c-4d5b-9ad1-0f9fb5199d26> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.channel4.com/news/liberias-desperate-need-for-anaesthetists | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987329 | 1,533 | 2.515625 | 3 |
10 Ways Academics Say Comedians Make Us Laugh
Hey, what’re you laughing at? Psychologists debate whether humor arises simply from absurdity and incongruity, from a need to relieve tension, or from a desire to feel superior. Academics have identified 41 humor techniques, 10 of which are listed below. See which psychological motives you think are at play in the following examples.
Taking things over the top can make for hilarious absurdity. In “A Night at the Opera,” Groucho Marx’s stateroom was crowded. How crowded? Take a look.
Speeding up or slowing down speech or actions can make them “funny strange” and “funny ha-ha.” Gilbert and Sullivan’s patter songs, like “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” from The Pirates of Penzance, set the bar for speed talking. When it comes to slow delivery, pauses are key. Listen to the notoriously stingy Jack Benny’s pause in “Your Money or Your Life.”
In Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, when the horses rear up and whinny the first time the forbidding Frau Blucher (Cloris Leachman) gives her name, it’s ominous. Afterward, however, every time her name is mentioned, no matter how casually, the horses never miss their cue. Repetition makes what was once frightening ludicrous.
This form of buffoonery takes its name from the slap-stick, or pair of wooden slats fastened at one end, used by clowns since the days of commedia dell’arte to make a loud slapping noise without inflicting real injury. When the top-hatted banker is brought low by a pratfall or a pie in the face, you can believe the desire-to-feel-superior theory. But in slapstick comedies, everyone takes a few knocks or tumbles. Maybe it’s just the absurdity of the goings-on that makes them so sidesplitting. You can’t talk about slapstick without mentioning the classic vaudeville skit, “Slowly I Turned,” performed here by the Three Stooges. It employs repetition and, like any good slapstick routine, it uses timing with precision.
Malapropism means substituting a word that sounds like the one you want but means something completely different. The word derives from Mrs. Malaprop, a character in The Rivals, Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 play, who said things like “pineapple” when she meant “pinnacle.” Here’s comedian Norm Crosby slinging the malapropisms in a 1987 Red Lobster commercial. Malapropisms can be silly, like Crosby’s, or they can be satirical barbs. On a recent edition of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, “Senior Legal Analyst” Aasif Mandvi explains that the recent Supreme Court decision loosening restrictions on campaign contributions is just what the “funding fathers” had in mind.
Like, I’m sure you have no clue what that means and I’m going to have to define it for you. Lewis Black yells and throws up his hands as he pours undiluted sarcasm over his political targets. According to Black, Iran is working on a nuclear bomb that they will eventually put into a missile “and 500 Iranians will throw it at us.” Brian Regan teases the absurdity out of everyday subjects with a lighter brand of sarcasm.
When two people try repeatedly to communicate but keep talking at cross-purposes, hilarity results. The classic example of failed communication is Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First,” but Key and Peele are great as a man who takes a doctor’s concerns about his mother’s health as an insult competition in “Yo Mama Has Health Problems.”
In misdirection, or “garden path sentences,” the humorist leads listeners in one direction, then pivots, forcing them to rethink the beginning of the sentence. In the 1960s, in a discussion on the challenges of machine translation, someone brought up this sentence: “Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana.” That wasn’t one of Groucho Marx’s lines, but his writers did love garden path sentences, now sometimes known by the pseudo-Greek term “paraprosdokians.” In Animal Crackers, writers George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind gave Groucho some choice lines. His character, Captain Spaulding, says, “One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I dunno." In A Night at the Opera (also by Kaufman and Ryskind), Groucho’s character, Otis B. Driftwood, remarks, “I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn’t it.”
Parodists imitate the style of a certain writer, artist or genre but exaggerate for comic effect. The Onion is hysterical because of how precisely it mimics the language, graphics and tone of print and TV news while conveying outrageous “facts.”
Comic impressions or impersonations parody a particular person or type and have long been a staple of political satire. Increasingly in recent decades, women have come to the fore as impressionists. Tina Fey nailed Sarah Palin’s distinctive mannerisms, accent, and recursive sentence structure. In an exaggerated but authentic-sounding accent, Margaret Cho lovingly lampoons her Korean-immigrant mother. The incongruity of Whoopi Goldberg’s (presumably blonde) surfer girl elicits laughs, which die away at the disturbing ending of the monolog. Tracey Ullman fearlessly impersonates people, real and imagined, of both sexes and various races. | <urn:uuid:569dfaa2-9a24-4681-b8c1-b0a1513e957e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mentalfloss.com/article/56139/10-ways-academics-say-comedians-make-us-laugh | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00088-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919594 | 1,274 | 2.96875 | 3 |
From the DNR
Unseasonably warm weather has brought loons back to Minnesota almost three weeks earlier than usual.
At least six of the 29 loons that have had radio and satellite telemetry devices placed in them by researchers have returned to their breeding lakes in Minnesota as of April 11, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
One of the loons, known as “M2,” returned to Big Mantrap Lake in northern Minnesota March 29.
“This is a very exciting time in science exploration,” said Carrol Henderson, supervisor of the DNR’s Nongame Wildlife Program. “We have been able to learn more about our fabulous state bird than we have ever known before.”
During the last two years, the loons were equipped with satellite transmitters in an effort to study their migratory movements and foraging patterns while migrating.
Most of the loons that are part of this research project left Minnesota in October and spent about a month on Lake Michigan before departing for the Gulf of Mexico in early December.
“Before using the technology of these devices, scientists had no idea that most Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan loons ‘stage’ on Lake Michigan together before flying south to the gulf,” Henderson said.
The satellite transmitters send a signal about every other day that allows researchers to see exactly where the loons are during their travels around the country.
The research project is being done by the Minnesota DNR’s Nongame Wildlife Program in cooperation with scientists from the United States Geological Survey and the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center in La Crosse, Wis.
Donations to the Nongame Wildlife fund on Minnesota tax forms helped to fund this project.
Funding for the project also comes from the Minnesota Natural Resource’s Trust Fund.
To watch the migratory patterns of loons from Minnesota and the other Great Lakes states, visit http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/terrestrial/migratory_birds/loons/migrations.html.
Learn more about Minnesota’s loon monitoring program by visiting http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/nongame/projects/mlmp_state.html.
Upcoming events at Waverly Gun Club
Below is a list of the upcoming events at the Waverly Gun Club. For more information, go to www.waverlygunclub.org.
• Handgun league starting Wed., May 2 for four weeks rom 5 to 8 p.m.
• Summer league for teams and individuals starting Thursday, May 3 and begins at 6:30 p.m.
• Merchandise shoot it is Sunday, May 6 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and lunch is available.
• Women’s pistol league starts Tuesday, May 6, and continues the second Tuesday of the month throughout the summer.
Campaign helps teens meet toms during wild turkey season
From the DNR
Getting more adults to take young wild turkey hunters into the field is the goal of a $10,000 grant from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Grant funds were used to create a 30-second radio promotional spot and purchase air time during prime drive time on country music radio stations in Brainerd, Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, Lake City, Mankato, Rochester, Wadena and St Cloud.
The radio spots aired on the two Thursdays and Fridays preceding the April 18 opener.
The spots let hunters know that youth can buy a turkey license for any date or area without being part of the lottery and encourages them to take a youth hunting.
An email message sent to 9,800 past licensed turkey hunters older than 18 also was part of the campaign.
Like the radio spots, the email encouraged adults to help teens buy a license and take them into the field.
“Having adult hunters take a teen out hunting is one of the best legacies they can pass on,” said Jenifer Wical, DNR customer enhancement and marketing manager for the Fish and Wildlife Division. “We know they best way to increase participation in hunting is through family or adults taking youth into field and forest to learn.”
Effective with the spring 2010 season, youth 17 and younger who meet firearm safety requirements were exempt from the spring wild turkey lottery, allowing them to purchase a license for any area and date during the spring turkey hunt.
DNR seeks input on deer populations
From the DNR
Public input on revised deer population goals in southwestern and north-central Minnesota is being collected through an online survey on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) website at www.mndnr.gov/deergoals.
Earlier this year, the DNR worked with three stakeholder teams to help re-determine deer population goals in 12 permit areas in the southwest and 10 permit areas in north-central Minnesota.
The teams represented such interests as deer hunters, landowners, businesses, counties and conservation/environmental groups, and met to recommend if deer populations should be increased, decreased or stabilized for each of the selected permit areas.
The online survey allows the public to react to team recommendations and inform the DNR on their point of view regarding deer populations.
A similar process was used as a final step to gather public input in 2008.
This information, along with the stakeholder team recommendations, will be used to set the 2012 deer season.
Deer population goals for the remainder of the state will be revaluated in the next year or two.
“Back in 2008, hundreds of people provided us input using the internet,” said Steve Merchant, DNR Wildlife Population Program manager. “This year we expect that level of public participation to increase even more.”
Public comment will be accepted through Monday, May 1.
Once public input is complete and results are analyzed, a decision on deer populations will be made for each permit area and the 2012 deer season harvest strategies will be adjusted accordingly.
Written comments may be mailed to: Steve Merchant, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Box 20, 500 Lafayette Road, Saint Paul, MN 55107.
CO weekley reports
From the DNR
• CO Rick Reller (Buffalo) gave presentations at Firearms Safety classes in Buffalo and St. Michael.
Reller also assisted with the CO Academy at Camp Ripley.
Reller also inspected several shoreline violations with enforcement action to follow.
Angling activity slowed some this week with the cooler temps.
Enforcement action was taken for angling without a license and angling with extra lines.
• CO Jackie Glaser (Mound) assisted Three Rivers Park District with a call involving a person disturbing goose nests and taking eggs.
She worked a detail at Fort Snelling State Park.
Time was spent at lake accesses checking boaters for invasive species and drain plug violations.
Shore fishermen were checked around the Lake Minnetonka area finding violations of no fishing license, bass out of season, litter, and a warrant arrest.
• CO Steve Walter (Waconia) returned calls on the fishing opener on Lake Waconia.
AIS enforcement was worked at public lake access sites.
A VIP detail was worked at Fort Snelling State Park with District 13 officers.
• CO Wayne Hatlestad (Litchfield) checked angling, boating, and ATV activity.
Additional time was spent checking and advising boaters of invasive species laws, and enforced state forestry fire laws.
Hatlestad also spoke to a FAS class in Buffalo Lake, presenting two 50 year instructor awards.
Time was also spent attending required meetings.
• CO Brett Oberg (Hutchinson) spent time working shore anglers and ATV riders.
Officer Oberg had a booth and answered questions at a local sportsmen’s banquet.
CO Oberg also assisted the McLeod County Sheriff’s Office.
Question of the week
From the DNR
Q: A recent newspaper article indicated that the timber harvest in Minnesota dropped significantly in recent years.
In light of this, how has management of state-owned forests changed?
A: To provide a predictable and sustainable supply of wood from DNR-administered forest lands that help support Minnesota’s forest products industry and the state’s economy, a DNR goal is to offer for sale at least 800,000 cords of wood per year.
State land sustainable harvest levels are based on long-term forest management plans that consider current and desired future forest conditions and the need to provide for a wide range of social, economic and environmental values.
(See Page 51 in a pdf file of section three of the DNR’s Conservation Agenda Report, by going to http://go.usa.gov/mdf).
While timber harvest has decreased on private lands in recent years, the volume of timber harvested from state lands has increased.
During the past five years, an average of 800,000 cords of timber was harvested per year from DNR lands.
The previous five years (2002-2006) averaged 700,000 cords harvested per year. | <urn:uuid:9acae30f-77f1-4fcf-bfaa-0ce47a32805c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.herald-journal.com/sports/outdoors/2012/cs042312.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942851 | 1,930 | 2.75 | 3 |
Watching kids trying to create super bubbles reinforces the importance of hands-on learning for this science mom—and reminds her that parents should watch but not take over.
Last week I was at a local science museum with my kids. As they explored a nearby exhibit, I sat on a bench to wait and ended up watching a group of students who were crowded around a table filled with giant bubble solution and a variety of metal rings. This hands-on exhibit is a perennial favorite. One of my sons always ends up stationed here, and despite the generous size of the table, which invites and enables several kids to get their hands in the bubble liquid at a time, there is always a crowd. For kids of all ages, it seems there is something irresistible about bubbles, especially the allure of creating giant ones. But it's a process that can be more difficult than it looks.
Time and time again, as I watched, kids swished their rings around in the liquid, lifted, and pulled, hoping to drag a ring full of solution from the tray and release an amazing bubble into the air. From where I sat, it was easy to see when someone was pulling too quickly or at the wrong angle. There's definitely a try and try-again mentality needed to figure out what works and what doesn't. As an adult, I felt certain I could have gone over, swirled a ring in the liquid, and pulled up a giant bubble. I probably couldn't have, but I'm sure other parents watching over their children's shoulders felt the same thing. I could see it in their faces. Some of them clearly wanted to step in, to put their own hands on the rings, to guide the process to an exciting conclusion—a beautiful bubble.
But for the student, the hands-on process of interacting with the bubble solution, maneuvering the metal rings, and experimenting with the timing and angle of their movements to find the balance necessary to successfully lift a ring full of the solution from the table and create a bubble is a wonderful learning opportunity. Left to explore, to troubleshoot what was happening when the bubbles popped instantly or when none of the liquid stayed on the rings, gave them the chance to question, to problem solve, to hypothesize (even in their heads), to test (try again), and to learn (whether they realized it or not). Stepping in and creating a wonderful bubble for them might garner some oohs and ahhs, but it wouldn't offer the same moment of experiential learning.
An Important Reminder for Parents
Sitting there and watching the maneuverings at the bubble table was a wonderful diversion. I leaned forward many times, breath held, hoping for a bubble to succeed, and when one of my sons took his place at the table, I watched as he tried several times. I watched, too, as he stopped and watched another kid, a few years older, who was successfully creating some spectacular glycerin displays. My son watched, and then tried again, clearly trying to deduce the difference between that student's technique and his own. From my vantage, it seemed the difference might have something to do with where they were positioned around the table—and possibly from which direction air might have been circulating. I did try and get his attention to suggest he move around the table when another spot opened up, but otherwise, I just watched, enjoyed the momentary pit stop on the bench, and thought about how important it is for parents to support the scientific process without taking over.
When we moved to the Tinkering Studio where the kids build marble runs by connecting a variety of odds-and-ends to a peg board, my involvement was needed by one of my sons. He needed me to stand nearby and tear masking tape. That was all. With a marble run, you can test as you add each new element and make adjustments to ensure the marble drops through, finds the next tube, funnel, or railway, and continues to the next step. When something doesn't work out, you move it, alter the angle, change the distance, tighten the tape or holding pegs, or you try another arrangement. He didn't need me to solve what wasn't working. What he needed was a person who could tear tape. The design, the learning, the ultimate vision, and the invention of steps necessary to bring the marble run to fruition were his tasks—and he was up to the challenge.
A Take-Away Lesson
An afternoon at the science museum is always fun for them. Whether they spend time at favorite exhibits or try new ones, they always find plenty to excite and inspire them. They always touch, feel, see, observe, and, most importantly, ask questions. But our afternoon in the giant repurposed airplane hangar where the museum sits was important for me as well. My oldest student is doing his very first school science project this year. For the first time, I am a parent overseeing my own student's science project, most of which needs to be completed at home. On paper, I know the boundaries. I know where to draw the line. I know how the process should go. But when it's your own student, the entire issue of parent involvement takes on new life, and the stumbling blocks seem very clear.
Being the parent supporting and shepherding a student's science project is an interesting position, but it can be a difficult one for parents because it's far too easy to be too involved or too controlling. It's also easy to expect too much, and it can be tempting, sometimes, to try and guide a student's interest during the selection process into an area of parental interest (or expertise). In reality, when a student chooses a project that is about something in which she is interested, and chooses a project that is appropriate for her grade level, skill set, and assignment, she should be able to do most of the project on her own. She may need you to sign the credit card slip for supplies or chauffer her around for materials or a research trip to the library. She may need help with safety steps and with planning. But mostly, her science project should be one she can do independently. Even if a parent itches to be more involved, really, the best thing to do might be to stand back and tear the tape.
A Focus on Hands-on Science
With all of the national attention on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education in recent months, chances are higher than ever before that your K-12 student will be required to do a science project, most of which will be conducted out of the classroom. Given the importance of engaging in hands-on science exploration, this is a wonderful opportunity for students to investigate a scientific question, formulate a hypothesis, run an experiment, and see what happens. As Courtney Corda, Science Buddies Vice President and "Science Mom" recently wrote in an article on parent involvement for PBS Parents, "When your child works on a science project, she is putting the scientific method into action and learning more about how to actively understand the world around her. Her assignment is clear, but as a parent, how involved should you be?"
Science Buddies' Helping at the Right Level at Every Step chart is designed to help parents better understand how to successfully support and encourage a student's science project without stepping over the line and being "too" involved. We've all seen examples of projects (in every academic area) where it is clear that a parent has been heavily involved. Don't be that parent. Know that by letting your student do the work, your student will learn more and will, hopefully, enjoy the process. Don't worry that your student's project, done by your student, might not look as accomplished as another project for which an adult has taken the lead. Science projects shouldn't turn into a competition between parents! Trust that your student's teacher can evaluate your student's project in terms of the assignment and grade-appropriate expectations. The results might not be as perfect as if you'd done the project yourself. That's to be expected. The display board might not look like a professional designer put it together. That's to be expected. The hypothesis might not have been proven true. That happens, and it's absolutely okay! And the project might not be worthy of Nobel attention. Most aren't.
Understand the End Goal
Keep in mind what the K-12 science project is all about. Often the end result of a science project is a small measurable result or confirmation of a single scientific principle. The size of the outcome isn't what's important. Instead, the value comes from seeing the science unfold, putting a question to the test, and examining and interpreting the results. The motor a student makes as a first electronics project may not power a household appliance, but it will teach her about fundamental electronics principles, ones she might use as a launching point for her next experiment or invention.
So, tear the tape if it's needed, help with the procurement of supplies, be available as a sounding board and to help with suggestions when troubleshooting might be required, realize that you may need to assist your student in learning how to pace the stages of the project between the assignment and due dates, and certainly be prepared to join in at any aha moments or when something particularly cool happens in the experiment. But don't take over. It's not your science project. It's your student's. And remember, throughout the process, you get to do something amazing: you get to watch and enjoy seeing your student engage in the scientific process with enthusiasm and confidence. It may be a sideline job, but it's an important one!
(Please see Courtney's full article at PBS Parents: "How to Help Children with Science Projects Without Doing It for Them.") | <urn:uuid:a6380651-0f77-4db7-b048-021e55a95d02> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sciencebuddies.org/blog/2012/05/parent-perspective-understanding-your-role-in-your-students-science-project.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00079-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971729 | 2,008 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Submitted to: Wisconsin Fertilizer Aglime and Pest Management Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: January 15, 2003
Publication Date: January 21, 2003
Citation: Russelle, M.P. 2003. The role of perennial forages in prevention and remediation of nitrate impacts. Wisconsin Fertilizer, Aglime and Pest Management Conference. p. 59-63. Technical Abstract: The American public is concerned about water and air quality, agrees that stricter regulations are needed to protect the environment, and supports incentives to farmers who adopt improved management practices. Perennial forages, such as alfalfa, other clovers, and forage grasses, have traits that make them highly effective tools to protect and improve soil and water quality. Their long season of growth reduces nitrate leaching to sensitive drinking water aquifers and streams. Some species have deep roots that can remove leached nitrate after other crops or even from fertilizer spills. Ecological benefits can be maximized by planting perennial forages in strategically selected fields. Agricultural consultants should be knowledgeable about these benefits and the management approaches needed to optimize them, and farmers who grow perennial forages should be recognized for the environmental benefits they provide to the nation. | <urn:uuid:66cd15fd-3f31-476e-be5a-f3c863ef387b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?SEQ_NO_115=144896 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00069-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919604 | 263 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Nevi’im (Prophets) presents Israel's history as a nation on its land. The Israelites conquer and settle; they are beset by local enemies and eventually by imperial powers. Political and prophetic leaders vie for hearts; the supporters of God's covenant do battle against the paganism of neighboring groups and among the Israelites themselves. A kingdom, a capital, and a Temple are built and eventually destroyed. At the end of Nevi’im, prophets who experienced the exile teach a renewed monotheism to a chastened Israel.
Historically, Nevi'im begins with the conquest of Eretz Yisrael under the leadership of Joshua, Moses' successor (c. 1200 BCE) and concludes with the prophecies of Malachi to those rebuilding the Temple after their return from Babylonia (c. 515 BCE). Jewish convention divides the books into Nevi’im Rishonim, "Former Prophets,"and Nevi’im Aharonim, "Latter Prophets." Nevi’im Rishonimconsists of prose works built around a historical narrative--Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. Nevi’im Aharonim encompasses the "literary prophets," such as Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah.
Two voices are heard in Nevi’im Rishonim. One is a nationalist voice, trumpeting heroic leaders such as Joshua and David and the empire briefly consolidated under Solomon. More dominant is a covenantal voice, which explains the fortunes of leaders and the nation on the basis of their fidelity to God.
Scholars refer to Nevi’im Rishonimas the "Deuteronomic History"--history from the perspective of the thinkers behind the book of Deuteronomy. All together, the Nevi’im Rishonim describe the transition from a loose tribal confederation to a monarchy under Saul and David, the division into two kingdoms after Solomon, the conquest of the northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE, and the end of the southern kingdom of Judah at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE
Within the narrative of Nevi’im Rishonim we encounter the first individual prophets, known to scholars as "preclassical" prophets. Samuel was known as a "seer"; Elijah and Elisha foretold drought and famine and called forth miracles from God. What links these prophets with the classical prophets of the Nevi’im Aharonim is their role vis-a-vis the political leaders of Israel. Nathan confronted David over his affair with Bathsheba; Elijah stood against Ahab when the king confiscated Naboth's vineyard.
Nevi’im Aharonim contains the prophecies and teachings of individual prophets, mostly recorded in verse. The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel are the longest. They are followed by the books known collectively in Jewish tradition as the Trei Asar, "the 12"--shorter books of other prophets such as Amos, Micah, Hosea, and Jonah.
Amos and Hosea were prophets in the northern kingdom of Israel. Both prophets warned the nation that its turn away from God's covenant would lead to destruction by the Assyrians. Isaiah and Micah carried a similar message in Judah. Jeremiah delivered his prophecies of doom as the Babylonians approached and captured Jerusalem.
From exile in Babylonia, Ezekiel envisioned the restoration of Israel to its land. The last half of the book of Isaiah contains words of comfort and promise from one or two anonymous prophets speaking in exile. The last prophets spoke in Judea to those who had returned to rebuild the Temple.
The prophets before the exile spoke against idolatry and injustice. They saw God's people trusting in the Canaanite god Baal, in alliances with foreign powers, and in the power of Temple sacrifices to manipulate God's protection. They targeted the corruption of kings and elites who were recreating Egyptian oppression in the Promised land. They critiqued not only the monarchies but the Temple cult as well, with the message that without justice and fair treatment in society, God would find sacrificial devotion to be hypocrisy.
Yet the prophetic role in the Nevi’im Aharonimwas not simply to critique leaders and society. The prophets intercede with God on behalf of the people and argue their case. They imagine the eventual revival of Israel in a messianic future of peace and justice--though to some later prophets, an unsparing divine judgment would come first.
With exile and the destruction of the "House of the Lord" came a theological crisis: Had Israel's God been defeated? Had God abandoned the nation? Out of catastrophe, the last of the prophets worked out a new monotheism: Israel's God was the creator of the cosmos, not merely the protector of a small nation. God's order was built on justice and faithfulness--and if Israel lived up to these demands, she would be safe in God's favor. For centuries afterward, the Jewish people would see God's judgment in its national fortunes.
Sources: Reprinted with permission from MyJewishLearning.com | <urn:uuid:22e04f7c-0532-441c-8e48-04f8dfbc7598> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/neviim.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00100-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948779 | 1,079 | 3.875 | 4 |
Music thought to enhance intelligence, mental health and immune systemA recent volume of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences takes a closer look at how music evolved and how we respond to it. Contributors to the volume believe that animals such as birds, dolphins and whales make sounds analogous to music out of a desire to imitate each other. This ability to learn and imitate sounds is a trait necessary to acquire language and scientists feel that many of the sounds animals make may be precursors to human music.
Another study in the volume looks at whether music training can make individuals smarter. Scientists found more grey matter in the auditory cortex of the right hemisphere in musicians compared to nonmusicians. They feel these differences are probably not genetic, but instead due to use and practice.
Listening to classical music, particularly Mozart, has recently been thought to enhance performance on cognitive tests. Contributors to this volume take a closer look at this assertion and their findings indicate that listening to any music that is personally enjoyable has positive effects on cognition. In addition, the use of music to enhance memory is explored and research suggests that musical recitation enhances the coding of information by activating neural networks in a more united and thus more optimal fashion.
Other studies in this volume look at music's positive effects on health and immunity, how music is processed in the brain, the interplay between language and music, and the relationship between our emotions and music.
The Neurosciences and Music II is volume 1060 of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences .
Media wishing to receive access to this volume may contact [email protected]
Linda Mehta is available for media questions and interviews. She can be contacted by email at [email protected]
Since 1817, the New York Academy of Sciences has been bringing together scientists of different disciplines from around the world. Their purpose is to advance the understanding of science, technology, and medicine, and to stimulate new ways to think about how their research is applied in society and the world. For information on becoming a member of the Academy, visit: www.nyas.org/membership
Blackwell Publishing is the world's leading society publisher, partnering with 665 academic and professional societies. Blackwell publishes over 800 journals and, to date, has published more than 6,000 books, across a wide range of academic, medical, and professional subjects.
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 30 Apr 2016
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:5fc73b4d-59b9-438e-87ad-aeec672f3829> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychcentral.com/news/archives/2006-06/bpl-mtt062206.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00128-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944259 | 516 | 3.375 | 3 |
You might care a lot about what happens to polar bears, or pandas, or cheetahs. These are adorable animals that you can see on TV frolicking and playing. You might even visit them in a zoo. Marine life is a little harder for people to connect with. Under the ocean’s surface, who knows what’s happening? And who cares, really, if someone is doing bad things to a shark or a fish? That’s a perception that Sea Shepherd—an ocean conservation organization that takes aggressive, sometimes violent action to stop people from harming ocean life—wants to change. Buzzfeed has collected ads for the organization from around the world that aim to get you amped up about the need to save the whales, and to make you realize that the death of a whale is just as bad as the death of a cuter, more relatable animal.
Some of the ads feature bears and pelicans getting harpooned, to show that when we kill all the fish, we’ll actually be killing all the animals that eat fish. There’s a secondary message, as well: If people stuck harpoons down a grizzly bear’s throat during the salmon runs we’re all familiar with from nature films, there would be a far greater outcry than there is about whaling. In fact, Sea Shepherd today appealed to the Supreme Court to lift an injunction that prevents them from getting near enough to Japanese whalers to stop them from killing whales. The outcry is minimal.
Whales aren’t the only focus on Sea Shepherd. The global shark population has been decimated, partially because of the demand for shark fin soup as a delicacy in Asia. These ads depict a wedding party standing on the bodies of all the sharks that were killed for their shark fin soup.
And then there’s tuna, a fish we’ve eaten almost to extinction. Ask yourself: Would you eat tuna if they were as cute as pandas? | <urn:uuid:3da27dcd-1763-4f62-a782-8a9e9427e5c8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681380/these-incendiary-ads-will-make-you-want-to-save-the-whales | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00066-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957402 | 413 | 2.515625 | 3 |
BY CHET RAYMO
The last monarch
butterfly of the season. We watched it flit across the meadow, a
protein matchstick with wings. No, not wings, but gaudy flags, orange
and black, semaphoring southward, Mexico bound. We stood in rapt
contemplation until it disappeared beyond the brook. Adiós,
amigo. Hasta la vista. See you next year, or rather your nieces
and nephews of the next generations.
The monarchs arrive in our New England meadows in late spring and
early summer. They mate and lay eggs on the leaves of milkweed,
and milkweed only. The eggs hatch a few days later, and the larvae
feed on milkweed leaves. The leaves contain poisons, but these seem
not to bother the monarch caterpillars. They store up the toxins
in their bodies, which deters birds from eating them. The yellow-white-and-black
striped caterpillars molt a few times, then pupate. Inside the chrysalis
the larva rearranges its molecules, maintaining the toxins. The
caterpillar's six stumpy front feet are turned into the butterfly's
slender legs. Four bright wings develop, as do reproductive organs.
The caterpillar's chewing mouth parts become adapted for sucking.
A few weeks later the adult butterfly bursts forth with its glorious
flags and toxic flesh. Few birds are dumb enough to take a bite.
There may be three or four monarch broods in a summer. Then, in
September or early October, the last generation of adults heads
south. No one knew where they went until 1975, when Canadian zoologist
Fred Urquhart discovered hoards of monarchs roosting in a few patches
of mountainous forest in central Mexico. Adult butterflies from
all over eastern North America congregate in these clumps of trees
and rest through the winter, as thick as leaves. The migration of
the monarchs is one of the epic journeys of the animal kingdom.
They fly by day and rest by night, singly or in groups. Millions
finally arrive in Mexico. We talked of this epic journey as we watched
the last monarch of autumn drift out of the meadow, beyond the brook,
sunward, southward, called by some mysterious inner voice to a clump
of fir trees thousands of miles away. Why didn't earlier broods
of summer hear the call? A seasonal trigger, certainly. A chill
in the air. The waning sun. And then the voice, speaking a language
whose words are chemical, compelling, irresistible: "Take wing.
Follow me. Down along the spine of the Appalachians, across the
flat croplands of the Gulf Coast, into the mountains of Mexico."
How do they do it? How does a butterfly that has never made the
journey know when to depart and where to go? That tiny pinch of
toxic flesh with bright postage-stamp wings? This much seems certain:
The call, the map, the navigational skills were there in the egg,
somehow encoded in the monarch's DNA. Not, of course, in the way
maps and directions are stored in the memory of an automobile or
airplane navigation system. It is far more subtle than that. What
the DNA encodes for are proteins. The proteins are a language of
chemical geometry that speaks through the monarch's nervous system:
"Ven, sígueme! Come, follow me." No one
knows how the language evolved, nor does anyone yet understand the
vocabulary or syntax. A butterfly's DNA is more voluminous than
our own, 40 times more voluminous! Most of the butterfly's DNA is
probably junklong strands of useless garble, the derelict
residue of the butterfly's evolutionary history. Other parts code
for the successive body designs of an insect that goes through metamorphosis.
Somewhere in that encyclopedia of information is the invitation
to a journey whose origin is lost in the depths of time.
The migration of the monarchs is just one of the many miracles of
life that await explication by science. Make no mistake, someday
the miracle will be unraveled, the DNA sequenced, the proteins decoded,
the subtle environmental signals and their receptors mappedif
only the monarch survives long enough for its secrets to be exposed.
Its survival, of course, is in jeopardy. Those patches of Mexican
forest where the monarchs roost are threatened by logging. Only
a few sanctuaries are protected, and those precariously. The noxious
chemicals we put into the air and soil here at home don't help.
Our milkweed meadows are giving way to suburban housing and commercial
"parks." That we might willfully delete from the universe
so wondrous a thing as the monarch migration is a possibility too
sad to be reckoned. In The Magic Mountain, the novelist
Thomas Mann defines life this way: "It was a secret and ardent
stirring in the frozen chastity of the universal; it was a stolen
and voluptuous impurity of sucking and secreting; an exhalation
of carbonic gas and material impurities of mysterious origin and
composition." Gushy, over-the-top prose, yes, but why not?
Life is gushy and over-the-top. What could be more over-the-top
than those clouds of colorful flyers, pumpkin and salmon and flame,
beating their way from our northern meadows to havens of fir trees
A few years ago it was my privilege to visit the Mexican monarch
sanctuaries. Getting there wasn't easy: a six-hour drive west from
Mexico City over sometimes frightening mountain roads, with an overnight
stay along the way in Zitácuaro. A mile-long climb by foot
along a rugged trail deep in volcanic dust to 10,500 feet, then
a drop into a canyon forested with firs. We had seen a hint of what
we were looking for as we passed through the mountain village of
Angangueo on our way to the refuge: hundreds of bright orange monarch
butterflies dancing in the air, casting fluttering shadows on walls,
faces, pavement. The villagers went about their business as if these
angelic presences were the most normal thing in the world. But nothing
could have prepared us for what we saw when we finally got to the
tiny patch of forest where 20 million monarchs covered the trees.
When, occasionally, sunlight flooded through a break in the clouds,
the butterflies took flight in their billowing millions. If you
listened carefully, you could hear the soft rush of their wings.
As I watched, wide-eyed and dropped-jawed, it occurred to me that
among this teeming mass of monarchs might be one of those we had
watched the previous fall in New England meadows.
To certain people, these few patches of Mexican forest are merely
stands of lucrative timber. Threatened by conspiracies of greedy
landowners and corrupt politicians, they are what monarch expert
Lincoln Brower calls the insect's "Achilles' heel." Not
long after the discovery of the monarch roosting places, conservationists,
led by Mexican poet Homero Aridjis, pressured the Mexican government
into establishing small sanctuaries enclosing the principle areas
of congregation and holding the logging interests at bay. But now
the butterflies face another threat, and I was part of it as I scrambled
under the fluttering trees with my camera: ecotourism. Today, growing
numbers of sightseers troop through the forest to see one of the
great wonders of the natural world. Can the refuges sustain such
As I made the long climb along the dusty trail that led to the clustered
butterflies, I observed the other people who made the trek. A few
were Yanqui tourists like myself, with our fanny packs,
Vibram soles, expensive cameras and binoculars. But the great majority
of folks along the trail were Mexican, and, as far as I could see,
they were not the sort of affluent, middle-class sightseers you'd
meet in Yellowstone or Yosemite. They were people of all agesold
men and women, children, and everyone betweenapparently country
people or city dwellers who had not yet abandoned country ways.
Like the rest of us, they struggled along the steep trail, choking
I don't want to condescend or romanticize: It may be that these
people were propelled toward the insects by the same combination
of curiosity and wonder that motivates visitors to Old Faithful
or the Grand Canyon. But I don't think so. The only place I have
seen similar assemblies of trekkersthe very old and the very
young making a difficult climbis on the holy mountains of
western Ireland on the annual days of religious pilgrimage. As we
reached the tiny clump of trees festooned with butterflies as thick
as jungle foliage, we Yanks buzzed about, snapping pics, taking
notes, storing up impressions with which to later regale our friends
back home. The Mexicans by and large sat silently in the forest,
kids in laps, eyes somberly fixed on the massed monarchs. It was
difficult to read their emotions, but I saw these same expressions
25 years ago among the traditional faithful on the summit of Ireland's
I can't prove this, but I believe that many of the Mexican visitors
to the Chincua Monarch Sanctuary were driven by the same urge that
might have led them on another weekend to the Virgin's shrine at
Guadalupe: a sense of the holy. And further, I think that unless
those of us with our Vibram soles and fanny packs can reclaim a
sense of the holy, the monarchs don't have a chance. I don't mean
to sound mystical. The "holy" thing I am talking about
is not some supernatural intrusion into creaturedom. Whatever it
might be, it resides in the ceaselessly spinning DNA and chemical
machinery that causes a creeping caterpillar to rearrange its molecules
into a winged angel, and sends the angel beating down across a continent
to a patch of trees it has never seen before.
The philosopher William James said, "At bottom, the whole concern
of religion is with the manner of our acceptance of the universe."
What I think I saw on the faces of the Mexican visitors to the Chincua
Sanctuary was a dignified and unquestioning acceptance,
an understanding that what they saw was natural and right and utterly
essential to the completeness of creation. The poet E. E. Cummings
wrote of acceptance "for everything which is natural which
is infinite which is yes."
Science and politics alone will not save the monarchs any more than
they will save other threatened species and habitats, any more than
they will save the northern milkweed meadows. What is required is
something that we have by and large lost in the high-tech, high-velocity,
virtual world of the developed countries: a deeply felt, unintellectualized,
instinctive "yes"that behind the gaudy delight of
20 million butterflies hanging on fir trees, there is a holy power
of which we are a part, and from which we separate ourselves at
Chet Raymo is professor emeritus of physics at Stonehill College
and science columnist for the Boston Globe. This essay is adapted
from The Path: A One-mile Walk Through The Universe, to
be published in April 2003 by Walker & Company. Published by arrangement
with Walker & Company.
Gary Wayne Gilbert. | <urn:uuid:1388afe3-1b9a-4887-b118-49623feb1da5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://bcm.bc.edu/issues/fall_2002/features.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00063-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943918 | 2,509 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Simple Definition of conventional
: used and accepted by most people : usual or traditional
: of a kind that has been around for a long time and is considered to be usual or typical
: common and ordinary : not unusual
Full Definition of conventional
1 : formed by agreement or compact
3 a : according with a mode of artistic representation that simplifies or provides symbols or substitutes for natural forms b : of traditional design
4 : of, resembling, or relating to a convention, assembly, or public meeting
conventionalismplay \-nə-ˌli-zəm\ noun
conventionalistplay \-list\ noun or adjective
conventionalizationplay \-ˌvench-nə-lə-ˈzā-shən, -ˌven(t)-shə-nə-\ noun
conventionalizeplay \-ˈvench-nə-ˌlīz, -ˈven(t)-shə-nə-\ transitive verb
Examples of conventional in a sentence
The number sign is the conventional symbol for labeling something measured in pounds.
While microwaves heat up food more quickly, most food tastes better when it is cooked in a conventional oven.
Most of her books are conventional detective stories.
His views on dating are more conventional than those of some of his friends.
First Known Use of conventional
Synonym Discussion of conventional
CONVENTIONAL Defined for Kids
Definition of conventional for Students
1 : following the usual or widely accepted way of doing things <a conventional wedding ceremony>
2 : used or accepted through general agreement <conventional signs and symbols>
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up conventional? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible). | <urn:uuid:78968870-39fc-4490-bcb2-60aa54cafc37> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conventional | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00185-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.86165 | 386 | 2.890625 | 3 |
To compute its taxable income, a business must first deduct from its receipts the cost of purchasing or producing the goods it sold during the year. Determining those costs requires that the business identify and attach a value to its inventory. Most companies calculate the cost of the goods they sell in a year using the accrual method of accounting, adding the value of the inventory at the beginning of the year to the cost of goods purchased or produced during the year and then subtracting from that total the value of the inventory at the end of the year.
The tax code allows firms to choose among several approaches for identifying and determining the value of the goods included in their inventory. For itemizing and valuing goods in stock, firms can use the "specific identification" method. That approach, however, requires a very detailed physical accounting in which each item in inventory is matched to its actual cost. An alternative approach--"last in, first out" (LIFO)--also allows firms to value their inventory at cost but, in addition, permits them to assume that the last goods added to inventory were the first ones sold. Under that assumption, the cost of those more recently produced goods should approximate current market value (that is, the cost of replacing the inventory).
Yet another alternative approach--"first in, first out" (FIFO)--is based on the assumption that the first goods sold from a business's inventory have been in that inventory the longest. Like firms that adopt the LIFO method, firms using the FIFO approach can also value their goods at cost. But firms that use the FIFO approach have still another choice--the "lower of cost or market" (LCM) method. Instead of assessing their existing inventory at cost, they can assess that inventory on the basis of its market value and then choose whichever valuation is lower. In addition, if a business's goods cannot be sold at market prices because they are damaged or flawed, firms that use the FIFO approach can qualify for the "subnormal goods" method of inventory valuation.
This option would eliminate the LIFO method of identifying inventory, as well as the LCM and subnormal- goods methods of inventory valuation. Businesses would be required to use the specific-identification or FIFO methods to account for goods in their inventory and to set the value of that inventory on the basis of cost. Those changes--which would be phased in over a period of four years--would increase revenues by $72 billion from 2012 through 2016 and by a total of $98 billion over the 2012-2021 period.
The main rationale for this option is to align the tax accounting rules with how businesses probably sell their goods. Under many circumstances, firms probably prefer to sell their oldest inventory first--among other reasons, to minimize the risk that the product becomes obsolete or damaged during storage. Under those circumstances, allowing firms to use alternative methods to identify and to value their inventories for tax purposes allows them to reduce their tax liabilities without any change in their economic behavior.
An argument for eliminating the LIFO method is that it allows companies to defer taxes on real (inflationadjusted) gains when the prices of their goods are rising relative to general prices. Firms that use LIFO can assume that the goods that are sold are from newer--and costlier--inventory when, in fact, the items may have been in inventory for some time and were produced when costs were lower. By deducting those higher costs as the price of production, firms are able to defer taxes on the amount by which the value of their goods has appreciated, until those goods are sold.
An argument against disallowing the LIFO accounting method is that such a policy change could also result in the taxation of income that arises from inflation. The gains that would be taxed if the LIFO method was terminated could be attributable to inflation and, therefore, would not represent real changes in a firm's resources and its ability to pay taxes. However, other elements of the corporate income tax do not correct for inflation and therefore gains attributable to inflation are taxed.
An argument for eliminating the LCM method of inventory valuation under FIFO is that, when prices are falling, it provides a tax advantage for goods that have not been sold. The LCM method allows a business to compare the market value of each item in its inventory with the item's cost and then set the lower of the two as the item's value. The year-end inventory will have a lower total value under LCM than under the cost method if the market value of any item in the inventory is less than its cost. Using the LCM method when prices are falling allows the firm to claim a larger deduction for the costs of goods sold, causing the firm's taxable income to fall as a result. In effect, that method allows a firm to deduct from its taxable income the losses it incurred from the decline in the value of its inventory. (That deduction is allowed even though the firm has not sold the goods.) A firm, however, is not required to recognize gains in the value of its inventory when prices are rising, which means that gains and losses are taxed differently. Similarly, firms that use the subnormal goods method of inventory valuation can immediately deduct the loss, even if the company later sells the good at a profit. | <urn:uuid:37c4ed68-c8d9-4a18-9553-73afb30bd62a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.holyhog.com/deficit_hawk/TAX20.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00087-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968365 | 1,089 | 2.875 | 3 |
ANNUAL CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY
FT. SNELLING MN
The 1827 Ft. Snelling climatological record consists of fixed time temperature readings taken daily at or about 0700, 1400 and 2100 hours local solar time; single daily entries indicating the prevailing direction of the wind and the general condition of the sky; intermittent records of snowfall and/or snow cover; episodic records of phenological, hydrological, astronomical and/or other natural events (windstorms, prairie fires, etc.); descriptive entries indicating the general duration (and, in some instances, the intensity) of precipitation; precipitation type ; and special atmospheric phenomena (fog, smoke, etc.). So far as can be determined, all 1827 observations were taken within the Ft. Snelling enclosure(on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers) .
Analysis of the relationship between 0700, 1400 and 2100 readings indicates that the station thermometer was probably exposed to direct morning and/or afternoon sunlight during the warm months of 1827. Specifically, 1827 summer temperature records (late May through early August) include numerous 0700 readings exceeding or equalling 2100 readings (thereby reversing or nearly reversing normal summertime diurnal patterns). Such patterns obviously suggest that 1827's warm season average temperatures were elevated by direct exposure to early morning sunlight: the original record indicates, for example, that May, June and July 1827 temperatures averaged about 61 F, 71 F and 73 F, respectively (as adjusted by Fisk, cited below), values which, when further adjusted for the probable effects of sun contamination , are reduced to about 60 F, 70 F and 72 F, respectively.
The foregoing 1827 temperature record includes both unadjusted (UNADJ) and adjusted (ADJ) mean temperatures. Unadjusted values are the averages of fixed time readings taken daily at 0700, 1400 and 2100 hours . Adjusted averages are from Charles J. Fisk's 1984 "Reconstruction of Daily 1820-1872 Minneapolis-St. Paul Temperature Observations". These values were obtained by averaging statistically derived estimates of daily maxima and minima that would have been recorded had the Ft. Snelling station been equipped with self-registering thermometers read and re-set at midnight . The foregoing 1827 record also includes both the monthly and annual extreme temperatures (highest daily minimum, lowest minimum, etc.) estimated by Fisk and the monthly extremes actually recorded/observed (OBSRV) by fort observers. All 1827 temperature distributions (e.g. days 90 F or higher, 32 F or lower, etc.) are based on Fisk's estimates of daily maxima and minima.
In an apparent effort to conceal the loss of whatever original records may have been kept during that month, fort surgeons "faked" the October 1827 record with values transcribed from the October 1826 record. The resulting gap in the 1827 temperature record was filled by Fisk (op. cit.) with regression derived values based on October 1827 temperature records kept at Ft. Howard (Green Bay) WI.
Although no quantitative precipitation records were kept at Ft. Snelling during 1827, extant records do, as noted, contain entries indicating precipitation type and, in some instances precipitation intensity (e.g. light snow, heavy rain, etc.). These records are the basis of the foregoing 1827 precipitation frequency record (e.g. number of days with snow, etc.) . Prevailing wind values, similarly, are based on entries indicating the predominate direction of the wind on each day of the month. Prevailing monthly winds indicate the direction most frequently observed/recorded during any given month.
Mid-January cold wave followed by late January warmth. Fourteen cloudy days recorded. Southwesterly of westerly winds prevailed on twenty days during January. Very mild, sunny (twenty one clear days) February. Afternoon readings in the mid to high 40's F on many days. Snowstorm with high winds on 27 February. Prevailing southwesterly or westerly winds on twenty three days during February. Windy, snowy March. Snow storms with high winds on 17, 27 March. Reading of 56 F at 1400 on 5 March. Cloudy (seventeen cloudy days) and windy April. Prevailing winds from the west or southwest on twenty one days during April. Sunny (twenty two clear days) and windy May. Reading of 86 F at 1400 on 12 May. Cloudy (sixteen cloudy days), warm June. Reading of 85 F at 0700 on 28 June . Reading of 56 F at 1400 on 21 June. Prevailing winds from the southern quadrant on twenty one days during June. Warm July. "A gale from the southeast accompanied by torrents of rain" on 12 July. Probable maxima near 100 F on several days at the end of July. Cool, cloudy early August followed by warm, sunny late August. Heavy mid-August rains. Summery conditions during the first week of September: 90 F recorded at 1400 on 5 September. Northeasterly "gale" on 11 September followed by rain "all day" on 12 September. Rain "all day and night" on 15-16 September. Very cold late September: frost on 23, 24, 25, 26, 37 and 30 September with probable overnight minima in the high 20's F on 27 September. Reading of 46 F at 1400 on 30 September. Dry, sunny October (so far as can be determined: as noted, original October 1827 record is missing). Sunny, warm early November: 62 F recorded at 1400 on 9 November. Cloudy, cold late November. Prevailing winds from the west or southwest on seventeen days during November. Cold, cloudy (eighteen cloudy days) December. Snow accompanied by "northeast gale" on 6 December (following rain and sleet on 5 December). | <urn:uuid:1b71135f-bd78-4c8b-b5c2-b5b70e735bcd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.climate.umn.edu/doc/twin_cities/Ft%20snelling/1827sum.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00046-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938643 | 1,221 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Tulip Garden Update: September 12, 2003
Today's Report Includes:
Follow the Wave of Spring
It's Time to Dig In! This fall, plant a Journey North Tulip Garden so you can proclaim the official arrival of spring in your community.
By sharing observations over the Internet, students across North America will follow the wave of spring as it moves northward and measure its pace from distant places.
Two Stand Alone
The first 2 gardens of 2003 have been planted! Early birds from Lexington, KT and Gallatin, MO got a jump start on the season. How is your garden planning going?
Look Closely Before Planting
But before you take your last look, maybe there are some important things you should know about them:
Your bulbs are the tools you're trusting to gauge spring's arrival. So get to know them before planting.
Teacher Tip: Organizing the Tulip Project
Each year that Journey North is presented we welco me many first-time teachers and classrooms. In an effort to make managing our projects easier for all participants and especially new ones, we have asked some of our “seasoned” teachers for tips. Here’s a tip to help you get organized:
Find more helpful tips here:
Thanks to Our Original Gardeners!
Study each school's location information:
Then try this:
Seasons and Cycles: Plants as Metaphors for Growth and Change
Planting a garden is a new and exciting experience each year. You get to be outside and dig in the soil. You take something packaged neatly inside a little seed or bulb, and you give it a chance to root and grow into something big and wonderful.
In a way, life is kind of like a garden. As you plant your garden think about the changes that will happen to the garden and in your life this year. During this cycle, how will you grow and change? How will you be different next spring the day you find your flowers in bloom?
Classroom Experiments Wanted
Here’s how you can tap into some new technology:
Then share some of your ideas here:
Going to Extremes: The Annual Microclimate Challenge
Today more than ever we hear about downsizing to micro, nano and pico size. What is a microclimate? If you're looking for ideas for an Experimental Garden, explore the concept of a microclimate and try your skills at our Annual Microclimate Challenge?
Here is the challenge: Cause two tulip bulbs to bloom as many days apart as possible.
2) First learn about "microclimates."
3) Then find two areas whose microclimates are as different as possible. Find places where climatic differences are the most extreme. (Think about ALL of the factors that might affect the rate of tulip growth as you search for your two sites. Consider everything that will affect your bulb, from the moment you put it into the ground.)
How to Report to Journey North
Simply press the
"Owl" button to report from your site. (From the same button,
you can also "Go to the Sightings Database" and read comments
from all gardeners.
How to Respond to Today's Challenge Question
IMPORTANT: Answer only ONE question in each e-mail message.
an e-mail message to: email@example.com
Copyright 2003 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.
Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form | <urn:uuid:36b38e99-81cc-42fd-bdc9-20e81ea08b95> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.learner.org/jnorth/fall2003/tulip/Update091203.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00195-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915382 | 727 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Since everyone knows that books and journal articles are great sources for research papers and projects, many students start their research by looking for books and articles. This is often a bit premature. You can save a lot of time by scanning synthesized treatments of topics —like encyclopedia articles—before committing to a topic and delving into the primary literature.
• Wikipedia. You've heard it before and we'll say it again: Wikipedia is an acceptable place to begin your research, but not to end it. What appears in Wikipedia may or may not be factual, so you can't use it as a source - but sometimes the sources listed in Wikipedia bibliographies are acceptable for academic work. Use with caution, and don't spend too much time here. Wikipedia is a stepping stone. Keep on moving!
• Why I ♥ academic encyclopedia articles
- They present concise summaries (aka, SHORT - not a lot to read)
- Academic encyclopedia articles are written by scholars who are experts in their fields, scholars whose work you may want to use
- These articles often include short bibliographies that identify the most important works on a topic (again, you may want to cite these in your work)
- Scholarly encyclopedia articles are a quick way to get up to speed on subject-specific jargon, important people and places, critical events, etc.
• How to find great subject-specific encyclopedias
- Search MUSCAT (our library catalog) and limit results to items in the reference collection
- Search our online encyclopedias and dictionaries - most (but not all) are concentrated in Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) and Oxford Reference Online (ORO)
- Check the research guide for your department to learn about any major reference sources in that field (ex: Grove Dictionary of Art & Artists is THE source for visual art research)
- Ask a librarian or your professor what the most important reference work is for this class!
• Timesaver! Remember, even if you can't use an encyclopedia article as a source for your final project, encyclopedias can give you a jump start, lead you to quality sources you CAN cite, and save a lot of time!
• For upper-division science and social science students: consider seeking a review article on your topic. A review article is akin to the book reports you did in elementary school, only much more thorough - the author reads all the research published to date on a topic and synthesizes it in a single article. Review articles have lengthy bibliographies that are gold mines for student writers. If you can find a review article on your topic, read it early in your research process. Where can you find review articles?
- Search the Annual Reviews database - all articles in this database are review articles, and they are all fulltext
- Review articles are also in subject-specific databases, and often you can specify that you want review articles as the publication type. Check! Every discipline has a subject-specific database; if you're not sure what it is, see the library research guide for the discipline. Or, just ask a librarian or your professor.
Evaluating your sources
You should think critically about the information sources you're using in your work, especially if you're citing them in a research paper or presentation. It's one thing to use the Internet when looking to buy a cell phone, but it's another thing when you're finding sources for an academic paper.
A few of the things to consider when evaluating sources:
- Who is the author? What do you know about them?
- What audience is the information intended for?
- Is the information appropriate for the topic that you're researching?
- Is the information up-to-date? (This won't always matter!)
- Are sources cited either in the text or in a bibliography at the end? (Sometimes this is important. Sometimes it isn't. It depends on the type of source and your information need.)
Scholarly vs. Popular Sources
Video Source: North Carolina State University Libraries, "Peer Review in 5 Minutes."
For much of the research that you do at Gettysburg College, professors will request that you use scholarly articles (from peer-reviewed journals, rather than popular magazines and websites.) If you need help telling the difference, see our guide on the library website (PDF).
We know that the Internet is more than old music videos on YouTube. There is also a lot of academic information available. While the great thing about the Internet is that anyone with a little time, some knowledge, and a small amount of money can make a webpage, we have to keep in mind:
- No person, persons, or organization reviews the content on the Internet.
- Search engines retrieve pages based on the page content, not the relevancy or quality of the page.
- Have you seen a webpage from 1996? It's not pretty. A lot of pages are not updated regularly.
If you need help evaluating websites, check out the CRAAP test. The test guide will help you wade through the muck you pick up when searching the web. | <urn:uuid:5e496043-c773-47cb-a151-ff089ba28ea0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gettysburg.edu/library/research/doingresearch/background.dot | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00177-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926531 | 1,060 | 3.671875 | 4 |
cloth, 647 pp., $79.95
A lifetime project of the author, this reference work includes a study of the history of the landscape of Northern Lancashire and its flora. The author draws attention to the changes in vegetation over time and its impact on humans. Greenwood discusses different habitats and plant communities; accompanying photographs in the text illustrate an intriguing variety of environments that must have fascinated the author in the creation of this important contribution to botanical literature. A catalogue of plants depicts the characteristics of individual northern Lancashire flora and its distribution in the region. A section of the study is devoted to research examining the regional introduction and extinction of individual species. Despite differences in climate and scenery, this book serves as a model for creating a comprehensive record and analysis of regional landscapes, vegetation, and flora everywhere.
— Marilyn K. Alaimo, garden writer and volunteer, Chicago Botanic Garden | <urn:uuid:4d6d3981-3792-42d1-9360-94736a93e311> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chicagobotanic.org/book/flora_north_lancashire | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00184-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914745 | 181 | 2.84375 | 3 |
|Title||Use VBA to compare two lists in Excel and highlight the cells in the second that are not in the first|
|Description||This example shows how to use VBA to compare two lists in Excel and highlight the cells in the second that are not in the first.|
|Keywords||Excel, VBA, compare lists, compare, lists|
Sheet1 and Sheet2 contain two column lists. The code highlghts entries in Sheet2 that do not appear in Sheet1.
The code loops through the entries on Sheet 2. For each entry, it loops throuh Sheet1's list looking for it. If the code doesn't find the entry, it highlights the entry on Sheet2.
Private Sub cmdCompare_Click()
Dim first_index As Integer
Dim last_index As Integer
Dim sheet1 As Worksheet
Dim sheet2 As Worksheet
Dim r1 As Integer
Dim r2 As Integer
Dim found As Boolean
Dim rng As Range
Set sheet1 = Worksheets(1)
Set sheet2 = Worksheets(2)
' Set first_index and last_index somehow. If you know
' what they are, just enter them. Otherwise search the
' cells or use UsedRange or something.
first_index = 1
last_index = 5
' For each entry in the second worksheet, see if it's
' in the first.
For r2 = first_index To last_index
found = False
' See if the r1-th entry on sheet 2 is in the sheet
' 1 list.
For r1 = first_index To last_index
If sheet1.Cells(r1, 1) = sheet2.Cells(r2, 1) _
sheet1.Cells(r1, 2) = sheet2.Cells(r2, 2) _
' We found a match.
found = True
' See if we found it.
If Not found Then
' Flag this cell.
sheet2.Cells(r2, 1).Interior.ColorIndex = 35
sheet2.Cells(r2, 2).Interior.ColorIndex = 35
See also Use VBA to compare two Ranges in Excel and highlight the cells that are different. | <urn:uuid:67d8a25f-3253-47be-b089-2921477a36ab> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://vb-helper.com/howto_excel_compare_lists.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00162-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.762332 | 494 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Click on the panorama for a larger view of Hawk Mountain's North Lookout.
Some other prominent features of Hawk Mountain's geography include:
A quarry of Martinsburg Shale 1.5 miles southeast of the North Lookout. Shale from Aspen Cut was used during the construction of the new Hawk Mountain Road in the 1950s. A campground is maintained here for sustaining members.
A promontory at the western end of Shochary Ridge, eight miles southeast of the North Lookout in the Kempton Valley, midway between the Kittatinny Ridge and the Pinnacle.
A 1,519-foot Sanctuary ridgetop dominated by Eastern Hemlocks, 1.3 miles south of the North Lookout and west of Owl's Head.
Several large, conspicuous fields in the valley floor, northeast of the North Lookout.
The endless mountain of the Lenape Indians. The ridge is a major “leading line” for southbound migrating raptors each autumn.
Little Schuylkill River.
A small river almost 1,000 feet down-slope, north of North Lookout.
A small town in Schuylkill County, 3.2 miles northeast of North Lookout.
The official, 1,521-foot, count site at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary; one mile from the Visitor Center.
Numbers 1 through 5.
High points or knobs on the ridge read from right to left while looking east, 1.3 to 4.2 miles east of North Lookout.
A 1,460-foot Sanctuary promontory, 1.8 miles southeast of North Lookout, and east of Hemlock Heights.
A 1,615-foot, thrust-fault promontory of the Kittatinny Ridge, 4.5 miles southeast of North Lookout. The Pinnacle offers one of the best views on the Appalachian Trail.
River of Rocks.
A 2/3-mile-long boulder field at the head of the Kempton Valley southeast of North Lookout. More than 30-feet deep in some places, it was formed 10,000 to 15,000 years ago when boulders slid from the ridgetops to the valley floor during the most recent Ice Age. Lowest elevation is 625 feet.
A wheelchair accessible, 1,383-foot Sanctuary hawkwatch promontory, one quarter mile from the Sanctuary’s Visitor Center. South Lookout was established in 1967. | <urn:uuid:aa01b592-d699-4021-a60b-c5b90f10e47d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.hawkmountain.org/raptorpedia/geography-of-hawk-mountain/page.aspx?id=517 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00135-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895316 | 511 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Plant Cell & Molecular Biology
The complete sequencing of the three plant genomes has opened up a new era of plant cell and molecular biology. The course provides an overview of the dynamics of plant cell organisation and current understanding of subcellular structure and function at the molecular level. Plant cell and molecular biology is particularly concerned with cell signalling and the genomic regulation of cellular processes, growth and development, and plant-microbe interactions. Plant genetic engineering is an important tool for utilising genomic information for understanding plant processes and for practical application in plant improvement. Plant cells are totipotent, having the ability to produce an entire new plant, and it is this capacity which greatly facilitates genetic engineering in plants. Mechanisms and applications of plant genetic engineering, functional genomics and plant-microbe interactions are molecular topics that are the focus of this course, and are presented using a thematic approach.
- Semester 1 - 2016
On successful completion of the course students will be able to:
1. An understanding of the dynamics of plant cell structure and function;
2. An understanding of the genomic regulation of plant cellular processes, growth and development, and plant-microbe interactions;
3. The capacity to apply molecular knowledge to plant cell function and and plant biotechnology;
4. The ability to utilize genomic data bases in problem solving;
5. An understanding of the process of transgenesis and its application;
6. Developed of an understanding of the philosophy and practice of the scientific method;and
7. Development of an appreciation of relevant bioethics and biohazards.
There are seven major topics.
- Dynamics of plant cell organisation - endomembrane system and cytoskeleton
- Cell signalling systems in plants
- Plant/microbe interactions and plant defense mechanisms
- Mechanisms of plant transformation for genetic engineering
- Applications of plant genetic engineering
- Functional genomics and gene identification strategies
- Issues in bioethics and biohazards relevant to plant genetic engineering
Quiz: On-line Quizzes
Presentation: Oral Presentation
Formal Examination: Exam
Face to Face On Campus 3 hour(s) per Week for 8 Weeks
Face to Face On Campus 3 hour(s) per Term
Seminar time is for student presentations.
Face to Face On Campus 2 hour(s) per Week for 8 Weeks | <urn:uuid:79722dc2-a3c5-48ea-a237-263e8a9e87c9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.newcastle.edu.au/course/BIOL3310 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.867157 | 486 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Prunus caroliniana (Cherry Laurel)
*Click on picture for more images of this species.
- USDA Hardiness Zone: 8A - 10A
- Mature Height: 25 to 40 ft
- Mature Spread: 20 to 35 ft
- Growth Rate: Moderate to fast
- Availability: Generally available in small sizes
- Drought Tolerance: High
- Salt Tolerance: Moderate
- Light Requirements: Full sun to partial shade.
- Native Origin: Native to Florida.
- Soil Drainage: Needs a well-drained site.
- Foliage: Evergreen tree with no showy fall color.
- Flowers: White, showy, fragrant flowers in the spring.
- Pests: The main insect pests are mites, borers and caterpillars. The main diseases are leaf spot, fire-blight and stem canker.
Description: A dependable North American native, Cherry Laurel is densely foliated with glossy, dark green, evergreen leaves. It can reach 40 feet in height with a 35-foot-spread though is often seen smaller when grown in the open. Cherry Laurel will create a very dense screen or hedge with regular pruning but is also attractive when allowed to grow naturally into its upright oval, dense form. Properly trained to a central leader, the plant could make a good small to medium-sized street tree. The tree usually maintains a good central leader and small-diameter, strong lateral branches following one or two proper prunings before the tree is 8 to 10-years-old. It was widely planted in Texas until the severe drought of the early 1950's weakened them. Many of these weakened trees eventually died from borers. However in Florida drought stricken trees pulled through the 2002 drought very well.
In springtime, tiny, creamy-white showy flowers appear in dense, fragrant clusters and are followed by small, shiny, black cherries which are quite attractive to wildlife. The flowers attract lots of bees and insects. The great quantity of fruit may create a short-term litter problem if the trees are located near a patio or walkway but the fruit is small and washes away quickly. The quick growth and ease of maintenance makes Cherry Laurel ideal for naturalizing and for low maintenance gardens except that hundreds of seedlings can be found beneath the crown each year from germinating seeds. Of course, this would not be a problem in a street tree planting or in an area such as a lawn or highway median which is mowed regularly.
Though the crushed leaves and green twigs give off a delicious maraschino cherry fragrance, they are quite bitter and possibly poisonous. Root systems are often quite shallow but usually they are not aggressive and do not cause problems. Preferring ample moisture while young, Cherry Laurel is otherwise well-suited to sun or shade locations on any average, well-drained soil. Once established, it is salt- and drought-tolerant requiring little or no irrigation. Over-irrigating can cause chlorosis and death, especially in containers. Do not plant in wet, soggy areas. The tree adapts well to soils with high pH. Clay soil is fine as long as water doesn't stand after it rains.
Gainesville Observations: This tree has grown very well after planting. It is easy to prune into any shape including a dominant leader and should make a good small shade tree for dry sites. Trunk develops plenty of caliper when pruned in the typical manner leaving low branches along the trunk. It is hard to know why this tree is not grown more. Fruit could be messy for a while if canopy grows over a hard surface such as a sidewalk. | <urn:uuid:9a213a2c-542e-4b67-9dcf-f279ad8dea0a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/treesandpowerlines/prunus_caroliniana.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937911 | 769 | 2.796875 | 3 |
A mystical, mythical, or legendary creature is a creature from mythology or folklore (often known as "fabulous creatures" in historical literature). Examples of legendary creatures can be found in medieval bestiaries. Many mythical creatures have supernatural powers (some good, some evil), powers that even in contemporary times have no physical explanation. In these cases the creatures bear more similarity to spiritual beings, such as angels, in religious thought. Often legendary creatures came to symbolize vices or virtues, or the power of good or evil. In many cases, their actual existence was secondary to the moral of the tale in which they featured.
Legendary creatures have often been incorporated into heraldry and architectural decoration. This is particularly the case with those symbolizing great strength or other power. In contemporary times, many legendary creatures appear prominently in fantasy fiction. These creatures are often claimed to have supernatural powers or knowledge or to guard some object of great value.
Mythical creatures have been part of human culture throughout the ages and across all parts of the world. They are not just the "talking" creatures, animals able to communicate using language and also rather clever, as in Aesop's fables. Mythical creatures are in themselves beyond normal reality, often composites of existing animals or animals and humans.
Some of these creatures may have existed in the past, and many believers have produced fossils and other evidence for their previous existence. Some, such as the Loch Ness Monster or Sasquatch, continue to be "sighted" and sought to this day. While the origins of these fabulous creatures are varied, and often disputed, they have played significant roles in human society. They have been educational, helped parents to discipline their children and to inculcate cultural values and norms, and have served to stimulate the imagination and desire that is ingrained in human nature to experience more than this physical world. Whether they truly exist in physical form is indeed secondary to their existence in the minds of so many people throughout the world and through history.
Detail of fifteenth century tapestry
Some mythical creatures — such as the dragon or the unicorn — have their origin in traditional mythology and were at one time believed to be real creatures. Greek mythology, for example, features many creatures connected to the gods—harpies were beasts sent by Zeus to exact punishment. In mythology and folklore the world over "wonder beasts" can be found representing the powers of good and evil, the virtues and vices of human nature, and the temptations into which human beings fall. Often incorporated into stories for children, "fairy tales" and the like, these "fabulous creatures" were more real in what they represented than in their physical form.
Others were based on real creatures, originating in garbled accounts of travelers' tales; such as the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, which supposedly grew tethered to the earth (and was actually a type of fern).
Conversely, some creatures downplayed as just storytelling, have been rediscovered and found to be real in recent times, such as the giant squid.
Did you know?
Mythical creatures are often chimeras,
composed of parts of two or more animals
Mythical creatures are often chimeras, composed of parts of two or more animals. Some of these are the combination of a human being and one or more other creatures. For example, a centaur is a combination of a man and horse, a minotaur of a man and bull. It should be noted that these were not always intended to be understood as literal juxtapositions of parts from disparate species. Lacking a common morphological vocabulary, classical and medieval scholars and travelers would attempt to describe unusual animals by comparing them point-for-point with familiar: the giraffe, for example, was called cameleopard, and thought of as a creature half-camel, and half-leopard. In other cases, the beast was merely an exaggeration that made for exciting story-telling of adventures from far-off lands.
Many mythical creatures have supernatural powers (some good, some evil), powers that even in contemporary times have no physical explanation. In these cases the creatures bear more similarity to spiritual beings, such as angels, in religious thought.
Cryptozoology (from Greek: κρυπτός, kryptós, "hidden"; ζῷον, zôon, "animal"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge" or "study" – c.f. zoology) is the search for animals believed to exist, but for which conclusive evidence is missing. Among these are included some of the legendary creatures. The field also includes the search for known animals believed to be extinct. While cryptozoologists strive for legitimacy – some of them are respected scientists in other fields – and discoveries of previously unknown animals are often subject to great attention, however, cryptozoology has not been fully embraced by the scientific community.
Most criticism from the scientific mainstream is directed at proponents for the existence of the more famous "cryptids" (like Bigfoot, the Yeti, and the Loch Ness Monster), whose existence remain unproven, despite numerous purported sightings, and is considered highly unlikely by scientists, biologists, and zoologists alike. In fact, many of the sightings of such creatures were found to be hoaxes, which further discredits cryptozoology.
There are many types of mythical creatures, following are the main divisions with some examples of each.
Birds and serpents
- Most often depicted as a reptile, the basilisk is reputed to be king of serpents. One of the most feared of all mythological beasts, a basilisk is said to have the power to cause death with a single glance. In this aspect it bears similarity to the Gorgons of Greek mythology.
- Chinese dragon
- Also appearing in other East Asian cultures, it is also sometimes called the Oriental (or Eastern) dragon. The Chinese dragon is easily recognizable for its long serpentine body that is generally wingless, and its anthropomorphic face, complete with beard. The oriental dragon is generally considered a supernatural or spiritual symbol of heavenly power.
- Typically depicted as a large and powerful Serpent or other reptile it has magical or spiritual qualities, the most famous being the ability to breathe fire from their mouths. More often than not dragons were considered malevolent, associated with evil supernatural forces and the natural enemy of humanity.
The phoenix from the Aberdeen Bestiary.
- Sometimes called the Chinese Phoenix, the feng-huang is a symbol of summer and spiritual balance, and along with the dragon, qilin and tortoise, is one of the most high revered creatures in Chinese tradition. Its appearance is said to indicate some great event, or to bear testimony to the greatness of a ruler. It is often viewed as the sacred union of male and female, Feng being male and Huang female, but also the Feng-Huang can be regarded as a female entity in relation with the male dragon.
- In Slavic folklore, the Firebird is a magical glowing bird from a faraway land. Usually described as a large bird with majestic plumage that glows brightly emitting red, orange, and yellow light, the Firebird is both a blessing and a bringer of doom to its captor. The feathers of the Firebird continue glowing when removed, and are able to provide light for a large room. Thus, the Firebird is much prized and often the object of a difficult quest in fairy tales.
- Characterized as a bird with brightly colored plumage, after a long life the phoenix dies in a fire of its own making only to rise again from the ashes.
- A giant bird in Jewish mythology, the ziz is the counterpart in the air of the Behemoth (giant creature of land) and Leviathan (giant creature of water). The Ziz is said to be large enough to be able to block out the sun with its wingspan.
Lake monster or loch monster is the name given to large unknown animals which have purportedly been sighted in, and/or are believed to dwell in freshwaters, although their existence has never been confirmed scientifically. They are generally believed not to exist by conventional zoology and allied sciences, and are principally the subject of investigations by followers of cryptozoology. Sightings are often similar to some sea monsters.
Of these, Nessie of Loch Ness is almost certainly the most famous, and is promoted heavily in the area's tourist industry.
Loch Ness Monster (Oilpainting)
Other well known lake monsters include:
- Behemoth is the primal unconquerable monster of the land, as Leviathan is the primal monster of the waters of the sea and Ziz the primordial monster of the sky. There is a legend that the Leviathan and the Behemoth shall hold a battle at the end of the world. The two will finally kill each other, and the surviving men will feast on their meat.
- Leviathan is a Biblical sea monster, referred to in sections of the Old Testament. It is regarded as the monster of the waters, while the Behemoth and the Ziz are regarded as monsters of the earth and the air, respectively.
Chimeras and hybrids
In Greek mythology, the Chimera is a monstrous creature that was composed of several different animals. Other hybrids exist as combinations of human beings with animals and/or birds, as well as a variety of humanoid creatures.
- The catoblepas is a legendary creature from Ethiopia, described first by Pliny the Elder and later by Claudius Aelianus. Its head is always pointing downwards, hence its name which means "to look downwards" in Greek. The creature is said to have the head of a hog and the body of a buffalo with scales on its back. Its stare or breath could either turn people into stone, or kill them. The catoblepas is often thought to be based on real-life encounters with wildebeest.
- The griffin has the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. Seen as guardians of secretly buried wealth, the griffin evolved from a ferocious animal of antiquity to become a symbol of strength and valor.
- A Hippogriff is a chimeric legendary creature, supposedly the offspring of a griffin and a horse, specifically a male griffin and a mare (female horse).
Pegasus and Bellerophon, from Hamilton Wright Mabie, ed. Myths Every Child Should Know
- Pegasus is the famous winged horse of Greek mythology. Riding on Pegasus Bellerophon was able to defeat the chimera. However, Bellerophon tried to fly to Mount Olympus, the realm of the Gods, on Pegasus' back. Pegasus threw Bellerophon from his back for such blasphemous behavior, and was awarded his own place in Mount Olympus.
- The unicorn, usually depicted with the body of a horse, but with a single—usually spiral—horn growing out of its forehead, is one of the most revered mythical beasts of all time. Appearing in numerous cultures, the unicorn has come to be a symbol of purity and beauty, and is one of the few mythical creatures not associated with violence, danger, and fear.
The Vegetable Lamb in a seventeenth century illustration
- Vegetable Lamb of Tartary
- The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary (Agnus scythicus or Planta Tartarica Barometz) is a mythical plant of central Asia, believed to grow sheep as its fruit. The sheep were connected to the plant by an umbilical cord and grazed the land around the plant. When all the grazing material was gone, both the plant and sheep died. In the medieval period, the plant was said to explain the existence of cotton.
- The Adlet (or Erqigdlet) in the Inuit mythology are a race of fabulous creatures with dogs' legs and human bodies. The lower part of the body is like that of a dog, the upper part is like a man's. Inuit in Labrador and Hudson Bay also use this term to refer to inland native American tribes, but the Inuit from Greenland and Baffin Land, who have no such neighbors, regard Adlet as part-human part-dog.
- In Greek mythology, the centaurs are a race of mythical creatures that are half human and half horse. They are depicted as the head and torso of a man with his waist joined to the horse's withers, where the horse's neck would be.
- In Greek and Roman mythology fauns are forest spirits that may help or hinder humans. They are half human - half goat, human from the head to the waist, apart from the addition of goat's horns, and with the lower body of a goat. They are often associated with the Greek god Pan and satyrs.
- In Greek mythology, the Gorgons were three vicious female mythical creatures that lived on an island and possessed the ability to turn a person to stone by looking at them. They possessed both beautiful and hideous traits, the most famous being their head of coiled snakes instead of hair. Of the three, Medusa is perhaps the most famous of the Gorgons, being the only one of the three who was mortal. She, like many such creatures, met her doom at the hands of a hero aided by the gods.
Harpy in Ulisse Aldrovandi, Monstrorum Historia,
- Harpies in Greek mythology were winged-beasts that were sent down by Zeus to punish, most famously the prophet Phineus. Like many other second-tier Greek creatures, the Harpies were more prominent in art works than in mythological literature, and while they may occasionally be used in popular culture today, they are most widely remembered for their part in the legendary adventures of Jason and the Argonauts.
- The manticore of Central Asia is a kind of chimera, that is sometimes said to be related to the Sphinx. It was often feared as being violent and feral, but it was not until the manticore was incorporated into European mythology during the Middle Ages that it came to be regarded as an omen of evil.
- (mer is the French word meaning "sea.") A mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and torso of human female and a fish-like tail. The male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman," and the gender-neutral plural is merfolk or merpeople. Merfolk appear in a plethora of cultures worldwide—legends often tell of mermaids singing to sailors, enchanting them, and luring them to their death.
- In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was part man and part bull. It was kept by King Minos of Crete in the center of a "labyrinth," an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus specifically to hold the Minotaur. According to legend, the Minotaur required human sacrifices on a regular basis. Theseus volunteered to be sacrificed, and with the help of Daedalus, was able to slay the Minotaur and escape the maze.
- In Greek mythology the Sirens were creatures who lived on a remote island surrounded by rocky cliffs. The Sirens lured passing sailors by their singing, which would enchant any sailor listening to the point that he would lose all will-power, and crash his ship upon the Sirens' rocky shore and cliffs, killing all the men aboard.
on tomb in Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans
- The sphinx has had a long history of secrecy and intrigue, being viewed by many cultures as guardians of knowledge and as speaking in riddles. The sphinx varies in physical features, but is almost always a composite of two or more animals, and some versions are part-human part-animal. Whatever the form, the sphinx embodies paradox, beautiful and alluring, she is also dangerous even deadly; encountering a sphinx is described as confusing and destructive and requires great caution when approaching.
- Tengu ("heavenly dogs") are a class of supernatural creatures found in Japanese folklore, art, theater, literature, and religious mythology. These Japanese spirits were originally thought to take the forms of birds of prey, such that they are traditionally depicted with both human and avian characteristics. In the earliest sources, tengu were actually pictured with beaks, but, in later depictions, these features have often been anthropomorphized into unnaturally long noses. These crafty (oftentimes dangerous) bird-men were long held to be disruptive demons and harbingers of war (much like their Chinese prototypes). Over time, this overtly negative evaluation was softened somewhat, as the Buddhists came to acknowledge the popular conception of these spirits as morally-ambivalent protectors of the mountains and forests, who were as likely to bring windfalls as calamities to humans intruding upon their domains.
- A banshee is one of many spirits of Irish and Scottish folklore. Banshees are omens of death and messengers from the afterlife who would appear and wail under the windows of a house where a person was about to die.
- A brownie is a legendary household spirit popular in folklore around Scotland and Northern England. They are said to inhabit houses and aid in tasks around the house. However, they do not like to be seen and will only work at night, traditionally in exchange for small gifts or food. They usually abandon the house if their gifts are called payments, or if the owners of the house misuse them.
- A dwarf, appearing most frequently in Norse mythology, is humanoid in form, but short and stocky. They are connected with the Earth and are often said to be miners, engineers, and craftsmen.
- The elf is found in Norse mythology and still survives in northern European folklore. Elves can be depicted as youthful-seeming men and women of great beauty living in forests and other natural places, or as small trickster creatures. In early folklore, elves were generally possessed of supernatural abilities, often related to disease, which they could use for good (healing) or ill (sickening) depending on their relationship toward the person they were affecting. They also had some power over time, in that they could entrap human beings with their music and dance. Some elves were small, fairy-like creatures, possibly invisible, whereas others appeared human-sized. Generally they are long-lived, if not immortal.
At that moment she was changed by magic to a wonderful little fairy
by John Bauer
- A fairy is a spirit or supernatural being, based on the fae of medieval Western European folklore and romance. Sometimes the term is used to describe any mystical creature of humanoid appearance, including goblins or gnomes, and at other times only to describe a specific type of more ethereal creature. Many folktales are told of fairies, and they appear as characters in stories from medieval tales of chivalry, to Victorian fairy tales, and up to the present day in modern literature.
- The gnome is a class of creatures that has taken on many different meanings, but most generally refers to very small people, often men, that live in dark places, especially underground, in the depths of forests, or more recently in gardens. Most European ethnic groups have had some kind of gnome legends with local variations, some helping plants and animals, some helping humans, some reclusive ones staying underground or in dark forests, perhaps hoarding treasure, and others interacting mischievously or even harmfully with humans. Modern traditions portray gnomes as small, old men wearing pointed hats and living in forests and gardens. Despite varying forms, gnomes have the common attribute of being able to move through the earth as easily as humans move atop it.
- The goblin is of Germanic and British folklore, often believed to be the evil or merely mischievous opposite of the more benevolent faeries and spirits of lore. There is no single version of a goblin; the term is more generic for those small creatures that live in dark places and cause trouble, but in more recent years the term has come to refer to creatures that live in caves and terrorize children. Despite local variations, goblins have almost universally been described as troublemakers. They are either simply tricksters and mischievous, like immature children, or actually malevolent, evil-doers, dangerous to human beings.
- A gremlin is an English folkloric creature, commonly depicted as mischievous and mechanically oriented, with a specific interest in aircraft. Legends concerning gremlins arose from airmen who claimed that failures in their craft were due to sabotage by gremlins.
depiction of a leprechaun of the type popularized in the twentieth century.
- The most famous, recognizable, and misrepresented symbol of Irish mythology is the leprechaun. They have origins stretching back to before the arrival of the Celts. The leprechaun has evolved in popular conception from a species of faerie to an almost cartoonish caricature of Irish culture that can both celebrate and belittle the Irish.
- The Nix is the most popular term for the shapeshifting water spirits of Germanic and Nordic folklore. Often times they appear as humans, and are sometimes linked with such similar creatures as the Greek Sirens or the European Mermaids; however, more often than not they are closer to nymphs or sprites in both demeanor and appearance. The Nix may take different forms, but their message is one of warning of impending death by drowning.
- In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of female nature entities, either bound to a particular location or land form, such as mountains, groves, springs, rivers, valleys, and cool grottos, or joining the retinue of a god, such as Dionysus, Hermes, or Pan, or a goddess, generally Artemis. Nymphs were the frequent target of lusty satyrs, their male counterpart. Worshipped by the ancient Greeks and said to come from the earth, they were seen to be care givers of the land and life in general. Although not immortal, they lived extremely long lives.
"Puss in Boots" outwits the Ogre by Gustave Doré
- An ogre is a large and hideous humanoid monster often found in fairy tales and folklore. While commonly depicted as an unintelligent and clumsy enemy, it is dangerous in that it feeds on its human victims. The idea of the ogre has been used as a method of instilling good behavior in children by suggesting that bad behavior attracted and excited ogres, who would then attack, kidnap, or even eat the perpetrator.
- Orc refers to various tough and warlike humanoids in various fantasy settings, particularly in the stories of Middle-earth written by J. R. R. Tolkien and derivative fictions. Often barbaric and unintelligent, Orcs are usually seen as the most war-mongering and violent of all mythical creatures.
- Pixies are creatures of English folklore. They are considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas the downs and moors of Devon and Cornwall. Like sprites and other different types of English faeries, pixies are often considered mischievous, but not overtly malevolent creatures of nature. Their most commonly depicted image is a wingless and pointy-eared fairy-esque creature dressed in green.
- Sasquatch, colloquially known as "Bigfoot," is a primate-like animal believed to inhabit the forests of North America, although people claim to have sighted the creature in every part of the United States and most of Canada. Akin to the infamous Yeti of the Himalayan Mountains, Sasquatch lore dates back to the earliest Native American tribes.
Trolls with an abducted princess (John Bauer, 1915)
- The troll is of Scandinavian origin but has international popularity in the realms of legend, folklore, and fantasy. One of the most anthropomorphic fantasy creatures, trolls have been depicted in vastly different ways. Generally considered somewhat dangerous, whether through their larger than human size and strength or through more magical means, trolls are recognizably similar to human beings.
- In Norse mythology the valkyries are a host of female figures who decide who will die in battle. The valkyries bring their chosen warriors to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, which is ruled over by the god Odin. There they become the deathless einherjar ("lone fighters") prepared to fight at Odin's side during the eschaton (Ragnarök).
- Vampires are folkloric beings that subsist on the life force of a human being and/or animal. In most cases, vampires are represented as reanimated corpses who feed by draining and consuming the blood of living beings. Bram Stoker's Dracula has arguably been the definitive version of the vampire in popular fiction.
- A werewolf in folklore is a person who shape-shifts into a Gray Wolf or wolf-like creature, either purposely, by using magic, or after being placed under a curse, often at the time of a full moon. Given that they were a threat to people, tales often focus on methods of revealing werewolves, protecting oneself from them, and killing them.
- The Wendigo is a malevolent cannibalistic spirit into which humans could transform, or which could possess humans, appearing in Algonquian mythology. Humans who indulged in cannibalism were at particular risk, and the legend appears to reinforce this practice as taboo.
- The yeti, also known as the "Abominable Snowman," is an alleged ape-like animal said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal and Tibet. Most mainstream scientists, explorers, and writers consider current evidence of the yeti's existence to be weak and better explained as a hoax, legend, or misidentification of known species.
"Boy on white horse" by Theodor Kittelsen.
- Cerberus is a multi-headed (usually three-headed) dog. In Greek and Roman mythology it guards the gates of Hades, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping.
- The chupacabra (from the Spanish chupar "to suck" and cabra "goat", literally "goat sucker"), is a legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas. The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. It is supposedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail.
- The kelpie is a supernatural shape-shifting water horse from Celtic folklore that is believed to haunt the rivers and lochs of Scotland and Ireland. It generally has grayish black fur, and will appear to be a lost pony, but can be identified by its constantly dripping mane. Its skin is like that of a seal but is deathly cold to the touch.
- Ashman, Malcolm and Joyce Hargreaves. 1997. Fabulous Beasts. Overlook. ISBN 978-0879517793
- Barber, Richard. 2006. Bestiary: Being an English Version of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Bodley 764. Boydell Press. ISBN 978-0851157535
- Borges, Jorge Luis. 2005. The Book of Imaginary Beings. Amazon Remainders. ISBN 0670891800
- Conway, D.J. 2001. Magickal Mystical Creatures: Invite Their Powers Into Your Life. Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 156718149X
- Costello, Peter. 1979. The Magic Zoo: The Natural History of Fabulous Animals. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312504217
- Dubois, Pierre, Claudine Sabatier, and Roland Sabatier. 2000. The Great Encyclopedia Of Faeries. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684869578
- Eason, Cassandra. 2002. A Complete Guide to Faeries & Magical Beings: Explore the Mystical Realm of the Little People. Boston, MA: Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 978-1578632671
- Ellis, Richard. 2006. Monsters of the Sea. The Lyons Press. ISBN 978-1592289677
- Evans-Wentz, W. Y. 2004. The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. New Page Books. ISBN 978-1564147080
- Hassig, Debra. 2000. The Mark of the Beast: The Medieval Bestiary in Art, Life, and Literature. Routledge. ISBN 041592894X
- Keightley, Thomas. 2000. The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves & Other Little People. Gramercy. ISBN 0517263130
- Nigg, Joe. 1995. Wonder Beasts: Tales and Lore of the Phoenix, the Griffin, the Unicorn, and the Dragon. Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 156308242X
- Nigg, Joseph. 1999. The Book of Fabulous Beasts: A Treasury of Writings from Ancient Times to the Present. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0195095616
- Nigg, Joe. 2001. The Book of Dragons & Other Mythical Beasts. Barron's Educational Series. ISBN 978-0764155109
All links retrieved December 18, 2014.
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Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1972
Administration of the Ryukyu Islands
On May 15, 1972, responsibility for governing the Ryukyu Islands reverted to Japan, bringing an end to twenty-seven years of U.S. administration conducted by the Army. The transfer of responsibility followed ratification by the United States Senate and the Japanese Diet of the Okinawa Reversion Treaty, which had been signed on June 17, 1971.
Because of its responsibility for governing the Ryukyus during the entire period of U.S. tenure, the Army, both at Washington and in the field, was closely involved with the treaty negotiations and ramifications.
The Army provided extensive staff support in virtually all facets of these complicated proceedings, whereby the United States fulfilled its longstanding pledge to honor Japan's residual sovereignty over Okinawa by returning it to Japanese rule.
Under terms of the new treaty, the United States government has relinquished, in favor of Japan, all rights and interests in the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands. The United States retained its military base on Okinawa under provisions of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security and related agreements. The Japanese government must now, however, be consulted before major changes are made in the deployment of U.S. forces and weapons, and before U.S. bases on Okinawa may be used to support combat operations elsewhere.
For its part, Japan has agreed to provide the necessary facilities and areas for U.S. forces stationed on Okinawa in support of U.S. treaty commitments in the Far East. Also, the Japanese will soon assume responsibility for the immediate defense of the Ryukyus. More fundamentally, the entire reversion arrangement includes a clear recognition by Japan of its stake in the collective security of the Far East.
At the end of its 27-year administration of the Rykyus, the Army could look with pride at its role in improving the welfare and well-being of the Ryukyuan people and in promoting their economic, educational, and social development.
When American troops first occupied Okinawa in the summer of 1945, following a grim 93-day battle in which about 200,000 noncombatants, 110,000 Japanese defenders, and 49,151 Americans were killed or wounded, Okinawa was virtually devastated. Its economy was
ruined, and its population was without means of subsistence. The return of some 180,000 repatriates to Okinawa from Japan and the South Pacific further aggravated a critical situation. For the first two years after the war, the Army provided food and clothing for all, medical care for the sick and wounded, seeds and tools for farmers, and other needed assistance. Congress appropriated $148 million during the seven years of occupation to finance the relief and rehabilitation of the Ryukyuans.
The Army's efforts in behalf of the Ryukyuan people continued after the Treaty of Peace took effect in 1952. During this period of Army administration, Congress provided an additional $280 million in economic aid. In addition, the U.S. military presence brought added benefits; some 40,000 Ryukyuans were employed, and goods and services were purchased on the local economy. These outlays provided an indirect form of financial assistance that ultimately amounted to more than $250 million annually.
In addition to achievements in the economic area, notable contributions were made in other areas of Ryukyuan life during the period of Army administration. The Army provided extensive funds for the expansion of the Ryukyuan educational system and founded the University of the Ryukyus, the first institution of higher learning in the archipelago. The university now has an enrollment of 4,000; many teachers in the public school system have been trained there, and its influence continues to expand. There have also been significant advances in the field of public health. Malaria, once prevalent, has been stamped out, and other diseases have been brought under control. The lifespan for women has advanced since 1952 from an average of 52 years to more than 75, while that for men has advanced from 47 years to nearly 70.
In regaining the Ryukyu Islands, Japan reacquired a prefecture which is in vastly better shape than in prewar years. The Okinawan economy is thriving, and the destruction caused by the last great Pacific military campaign has been erased from the landscape. Many public utilities, hitherto unknown, have been developed. An area that was predominantly agricultural has undergone an economic revolution, and an emerging industrial and commercial society has evolved. The population has almost doubled, from about one-half million to one million, and the standard of living is now at an all-time high, being exceeded in all of Asia only by that of some of Japan's other prefectures.
Administration of the Panama Canal
By authority delegated to him as the personal representative of the President, the Secretary of the Army has special responsibilities for Panama Canal matters which include operations of the Canal Zone government and the Panama Canal Company. The Canal Zone govern-
ment is administered under the supervision of the Secretary of the Army by the governor of the Canal Zone, who is appointed by the President. Management of the Panama Canal Company is vested in a board of directors appointed by the Secretary of the Army as "stockholder" representing the interests of the United States as owner of the corporation. The Secretary of the Army has appointed the Under Secretary of the Army as a member and chairman of the board.
These arrangements derive from the 1903 treaty which gave the United States the right to maintain, operate, and defend a canal in Panama in perpetuity, and the right to act "as if it were the sovereign" within a ten-mile-wide zone embracing the canal.
On June 29, 1971, after a four-year lapse, the United States and Panama resumed formal negotiations for a new Panama Canal treaty. The Deputy Under Secretary of the Army co-ordinates with the State Department in negotiations on military matters, as chairman of the Panama Canal Negotiations Working Group, which was established by Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird in August 1971; and for nonmilitary matters in his role of assisting the Secretary of the Army in the supervision of Canal Zone government affairs.
During fiscal year 1972, 14,238 ocean-going ships, including 413 United States government vessels, passed through the canal. Toll revenues were approximately $101.5 million, including credits for transits of the United States government vessels. The 1972 toll figure represented an increased of almost $1 million over 1971 revenues. Panama Canal revenues are applied against operating and capital expenses of the canal enterprise. Detailed financial statements are published in the annual reports of the Panama Canal Company and the Canal Zone government.
Promotion of Rifle Practice
The National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice (NBPRP) was established by congressional action in 1903. Marksmanship programs sponsored by the NBPRP are conducted by the Office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship.
The current civilian marksmanship program provides support to junior boys between the ages of 12 and 19. The Army loans .22-caliber rifles to participating clubs, provides .22-caliber ammunition and small-bore targets, and awards qualification badges to individuals who meet approved courses of fire on the range.
As in previous years, the NBPRP has authorized the National Rifle Association (NRA) to conduct four of the five National Trophy Matches at the Annual NRA National Rifle and Pistol Championships. In August 1971, a total of 58 teams, including 35 civilian teams, and
975 individuals competed for service rifle and service pistol trophies and medals at the NBPRP National Trophy Matches.
Appropriated funds for NBPRP programs were increased in fiscal year 1972 to $126,000, thus permitting the Office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship to maintain support of the civilian marksmanship programs at levels authorized by Army regulations.
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Last updated 27 August 2004 | <urn:uuid:a443cf53-880f-492f-b78b-68623fdbbf4f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://history.army.mil/books/DAHSUM/1972/ch12.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00078-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966346 | 1,606 | 2.90625 | 3 |
American Regionalist artist Thomas Hart Benton adapted this print from his mural Politics, Farming and Law in Missouri, which is located in the State Capitol in Jefferson City. Benton believed in creating a uniquely American art that represented the country’s heartland. His paintings and lithographs record common scenes from the lives of working Americans.
In this organic, rhythmic composition all parts of the farmstead -- a mule-powered sorghum mill, out-buildings, workers and animals -- relate to the whole. As Thomas Craven wrote of Benton in 1934, “the form that he has developed is almost a perfect equivalent of the realities of American life. The tumultuous forces of America, its manifold dissonances, and its social anarchy, are perfectly expressed in the restless counterplay of his forms.”
John deMartelly’s print is representative of his 1930s and 1940s Regionalist work. Epitomized in the art of Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, this style recorded small-town and rural American life with nostalgic reverence. DeMartelly taught at Michigan State University from 1943 to 1979.
With a kiln behind him, a brickyard worker takes a break as he gazes across the lush, unending fields. While teaching in Kansas City, Missouri, deMartelly visited local brickyards “to watch the workers who were all black men. They were just fantastic in the way they handled the brick and tiles.” The lithograph also recalls the fertile land at a time when parts of the Midwest were reduced to dust bowls and further devastated by the Great Depression.
Stevan Dohanos’ depiction of a farmer is typical of the Regionalist art movement’s rural subject matter, as well as its general treatment of the figure and the land. Here the farmer’s close-up, rather severe and gaunt image reflects the widespread hardships endured in middle and rural America in the midst of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Dohanos painted murals in 1936 under the WPA’s Federal Art Project and later was a founding faculty member of the Famous Artists School of Westport, Connecticut. In the 1940s and 50s, his paintings of slices of American life graced more than 100 covers of The Saturday Evening Post.
Johnny Appleseed is a nearly forgotten character in American history. Born in 1774 as John Chapman, he planted his first apple seeds in 1797. He had with him only what he needed and, as the story goes, was shoeless. Walking between the Allegheny and Mississippi Rivers, he planted thousands of apple trees before he died in 1845. Here Johnny Appleseed is a bearded, barefoot old man who reads while walking. The pack animal carries a load of saplings to be planted.
Karl Knaths’ semi-abstract paintings were calm and grounded at a time when this was rare and refreshing. In 1919, he joined other modernist radicals at the Provincetown Art Association in the battle against traditional painting.
Marion Post Wolcott had a lifelong interest in social issues. Teaching in a private school during the early 1930s further engendered her concerns about social inequality. Photography for her started off as a hobby, but Paul Strand and Ralph Steiner quickly recommended her to the FSA where she was assigned to record specifically positive images of its programs.
“Biscuit Lady” reveals a world in the details. You don’t need to see the woman’s face to know her. Her strong back, girth and simply-styled dress, the way she kneads the dough, and the functional kitchen speak of a sympathetic and straightforward person. | <urn:uuid:5271dbae-076d-4027-9f66-3978cba09845> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://artmuseum.msu.edu/exhibitions/online/workers/farming.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00166-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970769 | 768 | 3.109375 | 3 |
But you already know that, right?
So instead of preaching about the benefits, I’ve compiled a list of really interesting facts about running that are sure to make you think twice about surfing the Web all day!
1. Short interval training is an excellent way to burn fat. Sprinting for 8 seconds and then doing a slow run for 12 seconds in the span of 20 minutes can burn 5x more fat than jogging for 40 minutes in uniform speed.
2. After studying about 300,000 Chicago Marathon performances, professors Eric Allen and Patricia Dechow have concluded that women are more likely to achieve negative splits than men. Women often run the first half conservatively, run faster in the second half, speed up in the last 2 kilometers and finish strong.
3. Runners who wear red clothing are more likely to win during competitions. Researchers from the University of Durham conducted a study on this phenomenon and concluded that the color red signals dominance and higher testosterone levels.
4. According to the American Heart Association, you can prevent cardiovascular diseases by running for a total of 75 minutes each week. That’s just an hour and fifteen minutes of running.
5. The New York Times reported that Alzheimer’s disease can be prevented through running. According to the report, a study made by Washington University scientists found that elderly mice put on a running program experienced less dementia than those that didn’t run.
6. Exercise in general is known to improve bone health and increase bone density. University of Michigan researchers conclude that running as little as 12 – 20 minutes 3x a week can lead to greater bone density.
7. Running can keep you healthy and strong. However, running too much can also make you sick. Those who log at least 80kms per week doubles their risk of respiratory illness. Those running 20-30kms a week have better immune systems and less likely to get sick.
8. Men run faster than women due to a number of factors : they have more muscle mass, bigger lung capacity, a slightly higher hemoglobin in average and higher levels of sex hormones such as testosterone. Running economy, however, tend to be similar.
9. On the other hand, women who get in shape through running, quickly experience big changes. Their legs and back become toned more quickly and they also lose a few inches off their waists faster than men.
10. Drinking water within an hour before a long run will likely lead to a bathroom break during your run. If you’re joining a competition, you could lose precious minutes just waiting in line for your turn in the loo. However, it’s a good idea to drink 4-8 ounces of water about 5 minutes before you start.
11. Eating less and running more is never a good idea. The body burns more fat during and right after a run so if you eat less while increasing mileage, you could force your body into hibernation. That is, it will conserve (instead of burn) calories thereby ruining your plans of losing weight.
12. Exercise breast milk doesn’t taste good. It contains large amounts of lactic acid, making it taste quite sour. If you are breastfeeding, it’s best to nurse your little one before your run, or collect milk to feed your child later.
13. A 160-pound individual could burn as much as 606 calories/hour running at a speed of 5 miles/hour. The heavier you weigh, the more calories you burn.
14. Running boosts your sex drive. Two and a half hours of running per week increases testosterone levels by 15% in men. Women, on the other hand, experience arousal and organism due to the increased blood circulation.
15. Running works better at lowering your blood pressure levels than drugs and diet. Studies have shown that running for an hour a few times a week can lower your BP readings by as much as 12mgs.
16. The world record holder for the fastest mile run is Hicham El Guerrouj, at 3:43.13. For women, the title belongs to Svetlana Masterkova, at 4:12.56.
17. The longest distance ever run in a year (365 days) was 27,011 kilometers and the title belongs to Serge Girard, a French ultramarathoner, who ran around 25 countries in EU, everyday for one whole year.
18. The world’s fastest runner is Usain Bolt. He’s a 27-year-old Jamaican sprinter who holds the world record for 100m (9.58s) and 200m (19.19s) dash. This guy’s a 4-time Olympic gold medalist, and earns $20.3 million a year making him the 63rd highest paid athlete in the world.
19. The 2013 New York City Marathon had 50,304 finishers making it the largest ever based on the number of runners who reached the finish line. On the other hand, the largest half marathon based on the number of participants is the Gothenburg half marathon in Sweden with 59,417 registered runners and 43,026 finishers.
20. In the United States, there were 44.6 million pairs of running footwear sold in 2012 amounting to $3.04 billion in sales. It’s also been estimated that about 1 billion running shoes are sold around the world annually.
21. Wilson Kipsang is the world record holder for the fastest marathon time at 2:03:23 which he achieved in the 2013 Berlin Marathon.
22. Paula Radcliffe holds the women’s record with a time of 2:15:25 which she set in the 2003 London Marathon.
23. The youngest marathon runner is Budhia Singh who started training at age 3 and completed 48 marathons before he reached the age of 5. The oldest is Fauja Singh who ran the 2011 Toronto Marathon at age 100.
24. 45% of runners have completed between 2-5 half marathons while 50% never tried a full marathon.
25. There are about 570 marathons held in the United States every year and approximately 0.5% of the US population has run a marathon.
26. Some of the world’s famous celebs and politicians who’ve ran a marathon include Oprah, Sean Combs, Katie Holmes, Will Ferrell, and George W. Bush.
27. Runners who played sports when they were young are 50% less likely to suffer from fractures and injuries.
28. Of the top 20 distance runners in the world, 12 are members of a Kenyan tribe known as Kalenjin. Experts have attributed their speed and endurance to the shape of their bodies; they have thin ankles and calves. Their success in the sport can also be due to their traditions and practices that made them not only physically strong but also mentally tough.
29. The yearly average injury rates of runners is between 24-68%. About 2% – 11% involve the hips while 13% – 17% are shin splints.
30. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, running as well as other types of vigorous physical activity reduces a person’s overall risk of a heart attack by as much as 50%. They are also less likely to suffer from strokes, diabetes, and other lifestyle diseases.
31. Running 20 miles per week will increase your chances of living longer. A study made by researchers at the University of South Carolina found that there’s a 20% lower mortality rate for those who run 20 miles or less each week.
32. 20% of the world’s population don’t have the “marathon gene.” A study by Loughborough University scientists found that 20% of people are simply not able to run a marathon in a good time despite having sufficient training.
33. According to the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the risk of a heart attack during a marathon event is 1 in 75,100. However, a London study says the risk is much lower, at 1 in 89,000 or 8 deaths among a total of 712,000 runners. You’re more likely to die riding a car (1 in 6,535).
34. Wearing cheap running shoes lowers your risk of injury. A researcher from the University of Bern analyzed 4,358 runners and found that shoes that cost over $95 had double the chances of injury than those who wore shoes that cost $40 or less. The Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise also had similar findings, and further stated that runners who wore shoes with features like added cushioning were likelier to get injured.
35. Running (and preparing for) a marathon improves job performance. Running is an excellent way to become healthy but according to a Rhode Island College research, it can also boost your productivity and increase your creativity. Additionally, because preparing for a marathon requires planning, discipline, dedication and perseverance, it also leads to a significant improvement on your overall personality and character.
36. The “runner’s high” or that natural high you feel after a run is a real phenomenon. The Oxford Journal published a study in which 10 athletes were analyzed at 2 different occasions at rest and after 2 hours of running. It was found that the level of euphoria was increased significantly after running.
37. Runners’ bodies have the ability to store 2,000 calories worth of glycogen, which is enough to fuel 18-20 miles of running.
38. The world’s oldest and biggest ultramarathon event is held in South Africa, it’s known as the Comrades Marathon, a 90km distance event that attracts over 20,000 participants.
39. Running works out 26 bones, 33 joints, 112 ligaments and a whole network of tendons, nerves and blood vessels. And we’re only talking about the feet here.
40. Compression garments are effective. Runners who wear compression socks that are knee-length reported to have run faster on the treadmill by at least 6% whereas sprinters reported 43% less soreness after a workout.
41. The world record holder for the fastest marathon wearing a suit and tie is Adam Campbell who finished at 2:35. Another fella, Vinny O’Neill won the title fastest marathon in full rhinoceros costume complete with horns, at 4:17:27.
42. The fastest animal on earth is the cheetah and the slowest is the garden snail.
43. You’ll know when you’re running too fast when you can hardly complete a sentence. However, when you can maintain a conversation while running, you may need to push the gas pedal a little.
44. Not all top runners are under a hundred pounds. Peter Maher, who weighs 210lbs, finished a 2:11 marathon.
45. Running in cold weather is safer than running on a hot day. This is because you are likely to become dehydrated when running with the sun over your head; sweating out 3-4 pints of fluid every hour.
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9-12 Learning Results
This section has been updated to include the new Maine Learning Results, "Parameters for Essential Instruction," which were adopted by the state legislature in 2007. They are presented at the level of Development Standards. The 1997 Performance Indicators have been condensed slightly to conserve space.
The Common Core State Standards were added in November 2012.
Career Preparation 1997
A-3: Relationship between the changing nature of work and educational requirements.
C-3: How humans change and adapt technology to their benefit.
Common Core State Standards-English Language Arts 2012
Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies
Key Ideas and Details
2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source;
- provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text (grades 9-10)
- provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas (grades 11-12)
3. Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them (grades 9 – 10)
3. Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
Craft and Structure
4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science (grades 9-10)
4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
7. Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text (grades 9 – 10)
7. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem (grades 11 – 12)
Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies
Text Types and Purposes
2. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/experiments, or technical processes
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation
Health and Physical Education 1997
A-3: Short- and long-term effects of risky behavior.
D-1: How different cultures affect health beliefs and practices (gender equity).
Health and Physical Education 2007
A3. Diseases/Other Health Problems
D1. Influences on Health Practices/Behaviors
F-2: Formulas for area, surface area, and volume of many types of figures.
G-1: Create a graph to represent a real-life situation and draw inferences.
B2. Correlation, cause and effect
B3. Descriptive statistics for data
C4. Surface area and volume of three-dimensional objects.
Common Core State Standards-Mathematics 2012
Number and Quantity
- Reason quantitatively and use units to solve problems
- Create equations that describe numbers or relatiosnhips
- Geometric Measurement and Dimension
Statistics and Probability
- Interpreting Categorical and Quantitative Data
Science and Technology 1997
B-4: Impact of human and other activities on the type and pace of change in ecosystems.
I-4: How forces affect fluids (e.g., air and water).
M-2: Importance of resource management, controlling environmental impacts, and maintaining natural ecosystems.
M-4: Impacts of various scientific and technological developments.
M-5: Historical relationships between prevailing cultural beliefs and breakthroughs in science and technology.
Science and Technology 2007
A3. Constancy and Change
B2. Skills and Traits of Technological Design
C3. Science, Technology, and Society
C4. History and Nature of Science
Social Studies 1997
Civics and Government
B-1: Compare and contrast the purpose and the structure of the U. S. government with other governments (parliamentary, dictatorship, monarchy) with respect to ideology, values, and histories.
D-1: Processes used to develop foreign policy.
D-4: Benefits and difficulties of international cooperation, using examples.
A-1: Major events and people that characterize each of the significant eras in the U. S. and world history.
B-7: Benefits and conflicts resulting from encounters among cultures.
C-1: Evaluate and use historical materials to formulate historical hypotheses regarding a specific issue and to make predictions about its future.
C-2: Examine and analyze primary and secondary sources: differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations, and support or reject historical hypotheses.
C-4: Compare/contrast reliability of information received from multiple sources to assess an historical issue.
B-2: Cultural characteristics that make specific regions of the world distinctive.
B-3: How technologies contribute to cultural sharing and separation; identify examples of the spread of cultural traits.
B-4: How conflict and cooperation among peoples contribute to the division of the earth’s surface into distinctive cultural and political regions.
B-1: Factors that impact the development and distribution of a product.
C-1: Impact of cultural values on economic decisions.
D-2: Effect on international trade of domestic policies which either encourage or discourage exchange of goods and services (e.g., quotas, tariffs, skilled labor, and stable government).
Social Studies 2007
A1. Researching and Developing Positions on Current Social Studies Issues
A2. Making Decisions Using Social Studies Knowledge and skills
A3. Taking Action Using Social Studies Knowledge and skills
Civics and government
B1. Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and Patterns of Civics/Government
B3. Individual, Cultural, International, and global connections in civics and Government
C1. Economic Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and Patterns
C2. Individual, Cultural, International, and Global connections in Economics
D1. Geographic Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and Patterns
D2. Individual, Cultural, International, and Global Connections in Geography
E1. Historical Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and Patterns
E2. Individual, Cultural, International, and Global Connections in History
Visual and Performing Arts 1997
B-2: Compare and contrast characteristics of visual and/or performing arts within a particular historical period or style with concepts about the period or style from other content areas.
B-3: Common characteristics and purposes of various visual and/or performing art works across time and among cultural and social groups: how these characteristics and purposes fulfill social, religious, or ceremonial functions in a particular cultural and historical context.
B-4: Create works that reflect concepts, theories, approaches, and styles from own and other cultures.
C-2: Research the work of critics, historians, aestheticians, and artists to analyze and interpret works; compare critiques of the same visual and performing works.
Visual and Performing Arts 2007
E1. The Arts and History and World Cultures
E2. The Arts and Other Disciplines | <urn:uuid:55ad57e2-3732-4d67-a64b-be361d652d24> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://penobscotmarinemuseum.org/pbho-1/maine-and-orient/9-12-learning-results | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00127-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.863488 | 1,571 | 3.65625 | 4 |
Concept & Creation
The concept of the Capsules were first shown in Akira Toriyama's one-shot The Adventures of Tongpoo, which was a precursor to the Dragon Ball series. The Capsules in The Adventures of Tongpoo work differently, they are small pill-like objects that had to be boiled in water to activate.
Throughout Dragon Ball, numerous objects, from airskis and hovercars, to entire homes, and even organic corpses and house plants, have been seen contained in capsules. The only things that have never been shown in capsules are living sapient organisms.
This single apparent limitation is explored in the Gameboy Advance video game Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II, where an optional side-quest has Gohan tracking down a spy in Capsule Corporation, Newman, who was trying to find the formula that Dr. Brief was using to create these capsules for Pod Corporation, one of Capsule Corporation's major competitors. Also in this game, the Janitor of Capsule Corporation explains that he used to work as an inventor and once invented a capsule that went inside another capsule, and that the results were catastrophic. This info is also in its sequel Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury, where an Orange Star High School teacher says at the end of his lesson that a capsule should never, ever been put inside another capsule.
Capsules are identified by various classes, one of which is known to be 'M'. Highly experimental prototypes of capsule appear in The Legacy of Goku II, the Golden Capsules that take the user back to the World Map when used in a city or a wasteland (it does not work inside buildings or caves). In the game, Dr. Brief lost 25 of them while he was conducting an atmospheric experiment and asks the Z Fighters to retrieve all of them. Once done, he allows the Z Fighters to keep and use one of the Golden Capsules as many time as they want.
Capsules are distributed by vendors throughout the Earth, although the pricing varies depending on what it contains. It is possible to have an object adapted to turn into a capsule. Capsules are also featured in various Dragon Ball video games as a mean of customizing playable characters. Although capsules are made on Earth by Dr. Brief, in the 2010 Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans, Dr. Raichi uses one before Dr. Brief would have been born. It could, however, be possible that capsules were created using similar technology on other planet(s). Also given the fact the Tuffle where a scientifically advanced race and developed sophisticated technology such as Scouters and weapons capable of combating the Saiyans during the Saiyan-Tuffle war, it is highly likely they could develop Capsules or similar devices, or it is also possible that Capsule used by Dr. Raichi was his own invention, which may explain the Saiyan's and Frieza Force's lack of capsule technology, though they may have simply failed to grasp how Capsule technology could be used militarily, unlike the Earthlings who throughout the series have demonstrated the usefulness of Capsules in combat, allowing military organizations and other groups such as the Pilaf Gang, Red Ribbon Army, presumably Earth's Military to carry large numbers of vehicles, weapons, and supplies on their person. Various members of the Dragon Ball Gang, Z Fighters, and their supporters have used capsule technology to assist them in defending the Dragon Balls and the Earth countless times throughout the series. The Time Patrol uses Capsule technology provided by Future Trunks' Capsule Corporation to assist its members in protecting history. Earth Criminals such as Launch, Hasky, and Yamcha (during his bandit days) have used capsules to carry an assortment of weapons and vehicles which they use to assist them in their criminal activates. In addition to normal civilian applications, Bulma has as been known to carry weapons (such as Guns and even a robotic exo-suit), Battle Armor (developed for use by Vegeta, Future Trunks, and the other Z-Fighters), and vehicles (from bikes, cars, aircraft, and spacecraft) used while on adventures with Goku and the Z Fighters showing that even a member of the Brief family has realized the combat applications of Capsule technology. In various video games like Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 and Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, Capsules are used as healing items or to provide other uses in battle.
Capsule Corporation Capsules contain all kinds of products from hovercars to refrigerators.
Capsule Corporation's line of capsules
- 1 – Capsule House that Bulma and Goku stayed in near Skull Valley, the Kame House is one, and Bulma stays in one on planet Namek. Also the number on Trunks' Time Machine.
- 2 – Electric Rice Cooker used by Tien Shinhan.
- 3 – Electric Rice Cooker used by Master Roshi.
- 4 – Silverstar 4, a hovercar used by Yamcha and Puar to track Goku, Bulma and Oolong from Fire Mountain to Pilaf's Castle.
- 5 – Capsule Houses in Aru Village, but it is a hydrojet in Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies.
- 6 – Archeological Evacuation Robot
- 7 – Time Machine (as seen on its capsule, as well as on the machine itself in one frame; all other frames show number 1 on the machine). In Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, the seventh Capsule is used by Videl and contains an airplane.
- 8 – Boat
- 9 – Motorcycle Goku used to save Bulma from the pterodactyl.
- 14 – Motorcycle Bulma used to go to Aru Village.
- 19 – Small Pirate Submarine
- 21 – Mines
- 21 - Quest Information Building
- 22 - Battle Information Building
- 23 - Team Reception Building
- 29 - Clothing Shop Building
- 030 - Accessory Shop Building
- 36 – Mai's powersuit
- 39 - Mix Shop Buildings
- 43 – Messerschmitt KR owned by Goku and Chi-Chi.
- 61 – Airplane
- 67 – Hoverbike Bulma used on Namek (pink version), as well as in a cinematic in the video game Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Son Goku Densetsu (white version).
- 69 – Pilaf's powersuit
- 80 – Submarine
- 82 – Submarine / flying vehicle
- 85 – West City Police scooter
- 87 – Jet-copter used by Bulma to go Kame House before Raditz's arrival
- 88 - Skill Shop Building
- 096 - Spatiotemporal Delivery Service Buildings
- 103 – Airplane
- 115 – Airplane with the capabilities of having at least 4 passengers.
- 116 – A hot air balloon shown on the cover to the chapter "Onward to Fry-Pan..."
- 192 – Large airship with 8 seats and medium sized area used to transport Goku and the others who were killed or injured after the fight with Nappa and Vegeta.
- 239 – Large plane used by Tien Shinhan to go to King Castle.
- 240 – Large plane
- 333 – 'Penguin 333' fridge. Seen in the Kame House in Gohan's Metamorphosis.
- 339 – Airplane
- 341 – A flying vehicle owned by Bulma, and shown on a chapter cover.
- 462 - Item Shop Buildings
- 576 – A VTOL Plane flown by Krillin, Yamcha, and Bulma.
- 673 – A yellow van owned by Yamcha, and shown on a chapter cover.
- 991 – Airplane
- 1138 - Capsule Corporation spaceship used by Goku. Number only shown in the toy version of the ship's capsule.
- 2031 – Caps.Fridge
- 2150 – West City taxi
- 2402 – Great Saiyaman Watch
Below are products whose Capsule number is unknown.
- Capsule Capsule (in Legacy of Goku II)
Red Ribbon Army line of capsules
Below is the Red Ribbon Army's line of known capsules.
- 3 – RRA large fighter jet used by Goku to go to Jingle Village
- 4 – RRA tanks, seen when used against Ox-King's Village
- 5 – RRA jet-copter
- 6 – RRA small fighter jets, seen the attack on the Ox-King's Village
- 8 – RRA tanks, seen in The Path to Power
- 11 – RRA jet-copter
- 14 – RRA jet-copter
- 16 – RRA jet-copter
- 20 – RRA jet-copter
- 23 – RRA jet-copter
- 27 – RRA jet-copter
- 29 – RRA jet-copter
- 31 – RRA jet-copter
- 41 – RRA Armored Vehicle
- 55 – RRA jet-copter
- 57 – RRA jet-copter used by Scout 0-1
- 72 – RRA jet-copter
- 84 – RRA jet-copter, two of this number have been seen even though one was destroyed not long before
- 87 – Portable RRA house, Colonel Silver's personal house
- 108 – Portable RRA house of Silver's henchmen
- 112 – RRA jet-copter
- 115 – RRA jet-copter
- 157 – RRA jet-copter
Appearances in Video Games
Capsules appear in the Legacy of Goku RPG series as part of side quests. They are equipable items in the Budokai fighting game series and Dragon Ball Heroes, allowing its user to use different techniques and powers up. Special "Breakthrough Capsule" and "Memories of... Capsules" also appear in the Budokai games. A capsule is used to access to the menu in Dragon Ball: Origins 2.
In Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, Capsules are used as healing items that can be used in battle by the Future Warrior to restore health, Ki, Stamina, heal certain status effects, and even revive the user if they are knocked out like a Senzu Bean. There are four item slots that each hold a single capsule (if used in battle any capsule of the same capsule assigned to that slot will replace it with one from the inventory after the battle is over, though if their are no extra capsules of that kind in the inventory then the slot will remain empty till another capsule is assigned to it). Capsules can be found during Parallel Quest missions, rewards for completing Parallel Quests & Master Training missions, received from NPCs, and/or purchased at the Item Shops in Toki Toki City's Industrial Sector. It is also possible to create capsules by mixing Material Mix Capsules (empty capsules) with Material items that have been obtained and/or purchased. Mixing Materials causes the Material Item to be sealed inside the selected Material Mix Capsule. Healing capsules can be created via the Mix Shops located in Toki Toki City's Industrial Sector. Unlike traditional capsules these capsules have symbols on them instead of being numbered.
List of Capsules in Xenoverse
- Mix Capsules
- A capsule that can hold all sorts of powers.
- Small Mix Capsule - Small and cheap, its performance is iffy.
- Med. Mix Capsule - Medium-sized with decent performance.
- High Mix Capsule - Amplifies the powers inside it.
- Ultimate Mix Capsule - Maximizes the powers inside it.
- Energy Capsules
- Energy Capsule S - A small capsule with a healing effect. Recovers a little of your Health.
- Energy Capsule M - A capsule with a healing effect. Recovers your Health.
- Energy Capsule L - An effective capsule with a healing effect. Recovers a lot of your Health.
- Energy Capsule Z - The ultimate healing capsule. Recover all of your Health.
- All-Energy Capsule S - A small capsule that scatters a healing effect. Slightly recovers all allies' Health.
- All-Energy Capsule M - A capsule that scatters a healing effect. Recovers all allies' Health.
- All-Energy Capsule L - An effective capsule that scatters a healing effect. Greatly recovers all allies' Health.
- All-Energy Capsule Z - The ultimate capsule that scatters a healing effect. Fully recovers all allies' Health.
- Regen Capsules
- Regen Capsule S - A small capsule that gradually heals you. Recover Health slowly for a little while.
- Regen Capsule M - A capsule that gradually heals you. Recover Health slowly for a while.
- All-Regen Capsule S - A capsule with a continual healing effect. Gradually recover all allies' Health for a little while.
- All-Regen Capsule M - A capsule with a continual healing effect. Gradually recover all allies' Health for a while.
- Power Capsules
- Power Capsule S - A small capsule with the power of Ki inside. Charge your own Ki slightly.
- Power Capsule M - A capsule with the power of Ki inside. Charge your own Ki.
- All-Power Capsule - ''A small capsule that scatters the power of Ki. Slightly charge all allies' Ki.
- Aura Capsules
- Aura Capsule S - A small capsule with defensive power inside. Recover your own Stamina slightly.
- Aura Capsule M - A capsule with defensive power inside. Recover your own Stamina.
- Aura Capsule L - A effective capsule with defensive power inside. Recover a lot of your own Stamina.
- All-Aura Capsule S - A small capsule that scatters defensive power. Slightly recover all allies' Stamina.
- All-Aura Capsule M -' 'A capsule that scatters defensive power. Recover all allies' Stamina.
- Mr. Antidote Capsules
- Mr. Antidote S - A small capsule that neutralizes poison and immunizes you for a short while.
- Mr. Antidote M - A capsule that neutralizes poison and immunizes you for a while.
- Mr. Antidote L - An effective capsule that neutralizes poison and immunizes you for quite a while.
- Mr. Shape Up
- Mr. Shape Up S - A small capsule that cleans slime from your body and keeps it from slowing you down for a short while.
- Mr. Shape Up M - A capsule that cleans slime from your body and keeps it from slowing you down for a while.
- Mr. Shape Up L - An effective capsule that cleans slime from your body and keeps it from slowing you down for quite a while.
- Senzu Capsule
- Senzu Essence Capsule - A capsule filled with extracted Senzu Bean power. Use it to recover from a KO.
- Within the series, Capsules serve as a form of Hammerspace allowing characters to carry a large assortment of items, vehicles, and weapons on their person regardless of the objects size and mass. They also provide a convenient practical in-universe explanation as to how females like Bulma and Bad Launch can suddenly as if from out of nowhere pull out a firearm to comically attack other characters when angered or annoyed by the actions/inactions of their male counterparts such as Goku, Master Roshi, and/or Krillin.
- This also applies to various Dragon Ball video games (from fighting games to RPGs), providing a convenient in-universe explanation how the characters are able to carry large numbers of items and equipment.
- In Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, several buildings in Toki Toki City city have numbers on them that indicate they are a type of Capsule House used by the Time Patrol as shops and other facilities used in their Time Patrol duties. This may explain how Toki Toki City is able to be rebuilt so quickly after Demigra's attack as any buildings/facilities damaged during the attack could be replaced with spare buildings stored in capsules and/or that the building could be stored in capsules during emergencies such as Demigra's aforementioned attack. These Capsules where presumably provided by Future Trunks' Capsule Corporation, which is said to supply the technology, robot, Time Machines, gear, and items used by the Time Patrol.
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, 2015
- ↑ Dragon Ball chapter 7, "Yamcha and Pu'ar"
- ↑ Dragon Ball chapter 8, "One, Two, Yamcha-Cha!"
- ↑ Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, 1993
- ↑ Dragon Ball Z episode 69, "Incredible Force!"
- ↑ Dragon Ball Z episode 107, "Goku's Alive!!"
- ↑ Dragon Ball chapter 93, "Goku's Charge"
- ↑ Dragon Ball chapter 130, "The Fist of the Sun"
- ↑ Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors, 2002
- ↑ Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury, 2004
- ↑ Dragon Ball episode 35, "Cold Reception" | <urn:uuid:18e71cd6-d8ee-4297-9beb-355814fcb6f2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Capsule | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909259 | 3,613 | 2.5625 | 3 |
by Mathias Aarre Maehlum
Shading, ownership issues, limited space and many other factors means that most American households simply aren’t suitable for solar panels. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimated that as much as three-quarters of residential buildings have physical restrictions to going solar.
However, in the last few years, new creative models such as “solar gardens” have started appearing all over the country, enabling those who otherwise were ineligible for solar, to participate in going green. What exactly is a community solar garden and how “big” will these become in the future?
To go deeper into how community solar gardens actually work, we first need to take a look at net metering (or feed-in tariffs in some countries). These schemes allow homeowners who have invested in solar panels to put their excess electricity production back onto the utility grid. Depending on the framework of the scheme, these homeowners will receive direct payments for every kWh they “overproduce”, or get credited accordingly on their electricity bill.
There are usually certain caps and limits involved; nevertheless, these schemes are all superior to a domestic battery storage system. Along with financial state and government rebates, net metering or FIT-schemes, provides the foundation for affordable solar.
Virtual net metering takes it one step forward. This allow multiple homeowners to participate in the same net metering system, which ultimately means people can “get” solar panels without having them on their own rooftops – in other words, vastly increasing the domestic solar market.
Virtual net metering is not necessarily an intrinsic part of solar community gardens or “shared solar”. Independent companies or the utility could install, operate, and manage “subscribers”, making solar gardens simpler and even more attractive for the average Joe.
Community solar gardens have seen good growth in only a couple of years. Maybe there are solar gardens up and running in your area? Head over to Solar Gardens Institute for a map over already established solar gardens.
Mathias is studying energy and environmental engineering at The Norwegian University of Science & Technology and writes about solar and clean technologies at Energy Informative. | <urn:uuid:a496556a-f7c8-46b9-b9df-b097bd4f65ef> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ecopolitology.org/2012/08/15/solar-panels-seeing-the-light-in-community-solar-gardens/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00053-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948081 | 450 | 3 | 3 |
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and how do you use it to analyze and evaluate stocks for ...
Stockholders' equity is the book value of shareholders' interest in a company;
these are the components in its calculation. | <urn:uuid:e87157ce-3727-45e0-9005-6e101ab9a3c1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ask.com/web?qsrc=3053&o=102140&oo=102140&l=dir&gc=1&qo=popularsearches&ad=dirN&q=How+to+Calculate+Book+Value | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00090-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.855279 | 379 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Table of Contents | Message Board | Printable Version | MonkeyNotes
Every Thursday morning Emma makes the trip from Yonville to Rouen. After she has been cloistered in a small town all week, her arrival in the big city fills her with excitement. She meets Leon in a hotel room and they embrace passionately, telling each other how miserable they've been all week. Do Emma's feelings, at this point, seem genuine? Does her private world with Leon make her happy? Is her affair with Leon what she's been looking for all this time?
Emma and Leon's affair differs in many regards from Emma's affair with Rodolphe. With Leon, Emma seems to be playing the dominant role, or teacher, whereas with Rodolphe the roles were reversed. Emma introduces Leon to the pleasures of sensuality, just as Rodolphe had done with her. Some readers feel that Emma is teaching Leon everything she learned from Rodolphe. In what other ways are the two relationships different? In what ways are they similar?
Some nights, on her return trip to Yonville, Emma sees a blind old beggar roaming the countryside. As the carriage passes, she can hear his song: "The heat of the sun on a summer day / Warms a young girl in an amorous way." Why does this song affect Emma so intensely? Sometimes the beggar grabs on to the side of the cab and when the coachman realizes this, he strikes the beggar with his whip until the helpless old man falls into the mud at the side of the road.
The blind beggar symbolizes the depth of misery to which a person
can sink. The sound of his voice "descended into the depths of her
soul." Is it possible that Emma sees in the beggar a reflection of
herself? Emma will soon be a beggar herself. Having run up enormous debts
with Lheureux, she will be forced to beg for money to repay these debts.
Flaubert uses the blind old beggar to foreshadow Emma's upcoming disaster.
He is also a symbol of the moral and intellectual blindness of the main
characters to their own natures and to others' needs.
The days between visits to Leon grow more and more intolerable. One night, Charles informs Emma that Mademoiselle Lempereur-the piano teacher-says that she has never heard of Emma. Emma tries to conceal her deception by saying that the teacher probably forgot her name. It's an unlikely story, but Charles is ready to believe anything. Emma pretends to search frantically for the nonexistent receipts, and a few days later Charles "finds" the receipts-obviously forged by Emma-in one of his boots.
One day, leaving the hotel in Rouen with Leon, she meets Lheureux. The greedy merchant realizes that, if necessary, he can blackmail Emma by telling Charles about her affair with Leon. He uses this knowledge to get more money out of her. In a complicated transaction, he convinces her to give him a piece of property that her father-in-law had owned. He has her sign four new promissory notes [written promises to pay a specified sum of money at a stated time] and tells her that she can keep the money from the sale of the house. With this money she pays most of her old debts. The fourth note arrives when Charles-who knows nothing about any of these financial arrangements-is at home. She sits on his lap, caresses him, and tries to explain how the money was spent. Charles, not knowing what to think, writes his mother for advice. The old woman arrives and immediately begins to complain about Emma's extravagant tastes. An argument ensues between the two women, and for the first time in his life, Charles takes his wife's side. His mother, enraged, leaves, threatening never to return to her son's house.
Her triumphs at home make Emma even more reckless in her behavior. She no longer fears compromising herself and walks openly with Leon through the streets of Rouen. One night, when Emma decides not to return to Yonville, Charles takes a carriage to Rouen in the middle of the night and searches for her. They meet accidentally on a street near the piano teacher's house, and Emma lies to him again, saying that she'd been feeling ill and that Charles shouldn't worry every time she stays out late. Charles blindly accepts her explanation, and after this incident, Emma begins going to Rouen whenever she pleases.
Emma's life is rapidly disintegrating. Any control she had prior to her Rouen visits is now dwindling to nothing as her financial problems multiply and her marriage falls apart. Any vestiges of respect for the marital structure are now gone. She parades openly with Leon, maintains a hectic extramarital affair, and lies guiltlessly to her husband when questioned about her actions. The roller-coaster ride has begun, and it's only a matter of time before Emma completely destroys herself. | <urn:uuid:3e7cd855-85ef-4a15-a17e-9c7db52616a1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/mbovary38.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00138-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963842 | 1,035 | 2.5625 | 3 |
As cybersecurity concerns increasingly become front-page news, there is a burgeoning effort to combat cyberattacks with the same defensive tactics employed in traditional warfare. There is, however, a novel complication—finding the attackers in the first place—but should security efforts concentrate on naming names or taking immediate action?
A number of countries are known for their extensive cybercrime networks—notably Russia, China, and Turkey, where organized crime members have grasped onto the lucrative possibilities of exploiting the internet. It’s difficult, though, to pinpoint the exact perpetrators of the crime, particularly if the countries themselves refuse to contribute their resources for whatever reason. As international governments wade into uncharted waters in dealing with issues of cybersecurity, some experts are questioning the status quo. Jeff Moss, founder of Black Hat, proposes that we turn our sights to containing and minimizing attacks. He argues that extradition for black hat hackers is unlikely, even more so is war, thus energy should be placed elsewhere.
Even in the United States, domain name registrars can be slow to respond to reports of abuses, and security researchers are quick to point out that it is the registrar’s responsibility to shut down malicious sites. Crackers (criminal hackers) often use fast flux service networks to cover and complicate their attacks by essentially hiding the original server. Rather than waste time rooting through proxies, researchers recommend going straight to the source of the domain name.
Computerworld contributor Patrick Thibodeau mentions that the much-publicized Google-China back-and-forth is small potatoes compared to what domain registrar GoDaddy.com deals with in trying to police legitimate domains. With a staff of 19 trying to address hundreds of thousands of cybercrimes, it’s no wonder that attackers have plenty of time to carry out their schemes. It seems that, going forward, security consultants and strategists will have to revise their notions of offense and defense for a complicated battlefield.
Info about US domain name registrars, SFGate, Difficulties of tracking cybercriminals, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/02/03/urnidgns852573C400693880002576BF00837B9B.DTL&feed=rss.news
Jeff Moss quote, Computerworld, At Black Hat, a search for the best response to China, http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9151018/At_Black_Hat_a_search_for_the_best_response_to_China_?taxonomyId=17&pageNumber=1 | <urn:uuid:16c2eba4-9a15-47ad-b6ab-dcd133232df1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pctools.com/security-news/tracking-down-cybercriminals/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00200-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907981 | 544 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Green schools are inarguably the right decision for our children and the environment. Though up-front costs are higher, green buildings save enough in operation and maintenance expenses to pay for their original construction in a matter of months. The money saved on energy bills (the annual energy savings from a single green school is generally in the 6-digit range) can be reallocated to pay for important school initiatives, additional teachers, better computers, or thousands of textbooks. Green schools also prevent the unnecessary production of millions of tons of CO2. Overall, buildings are the largest contributors to US CO2 production. Renovations and new school construction represent the largest construction sector in the U.S.—$80 billion in 2006-2008, about 27% of the US construction market (source: McGraw-Hill).
Given the enormous financial and environmental benefits, green schools seem an obvious choice, but red tape, laws and up-front costs often prevent their construction. The highly localized nature of school budgets creates a bureaucratic disconnect between capital funds (used for construction) and operating funds (used for utility bills). The difference in funding sources makes it difficult for schools to realize the potential operating-cost savings of a green building investment.
To help school boards realize the financial and environmental benefits of green building, The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has launched the “Green Schools Advocate” Program. The program will select and train national volunteers to advocate green schools to local school boards and state boards of education.
About 75 advocates will be chosen and will be invited to attend a two-day training camp at the USGBC’s headquarters in Washington, DC. Training camp will cover the benefits of green schools, LEED for Schools certification, and tactics to propel the decision-making process of building, renovating, and maintaining green schools. Advocates will learn to present the case for green schools to district governments, the local media, and other stakeholders including PTA groups.
The “Green Schools Advocate” program is a rare opportunity to make an impact in a range of causes. Green schools provide healthier learning environments for our children and reallocate money squandered on energy bills for better educational initiatives. To boot, green schools act as community exemplars, teaching tools and levers for mainstreaming green building practices into homes and offices around the US. Most of all, green schools would save millions of unnecessary tons of CO2.
If you want to get involved or think you might make a stellar “Green Schools Advocate” email The United States Green Building Council at [email protected] Or visit the USGBC’s Green Schools Website buildgreenschools.org for more information. | <urn:uuid:45f9d4b4-db71-4eb9-bccc-ec8ff054d424> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://eco-chick.com/2008/05/1111/green-schools-101/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941939 | 554 | 3.28125 | 3 |
While grow pipes are considered expensive, they have been shown to increase fruit temperature, reduce the humidity inside the crop canopy (which in turn reduces the incidence of Botrytis) and increase fruit yield without increasing energy consumption. However, proper placement of the pipes is critical.
Dr. Xiuming Hao of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre (GPCRC) in Harrow, Ont., and Shalin Khosla of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, which is co-located at the centre, are world experts on grow pipes. According to Khosla, there were no greenhouse vegetable growers in Ontario using grow pipes 10 years ago, but their use today (almost all on tomatoes) totals about 166 acres. This represents approximately 16 per cent of the total greenhouse tomato production area in Ontario.
|Research at the Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre in Harrow, Ont. (Courtesy Xiuming Hao/AAFC.)|
Grow pipes are much more suited to vegetables than potted ornamental crops because vegetables are tall crops with a lot of canopy. “To prevent heat loss to the greenhouse roof, the grow pipe needs to be fully covered by crop canopy,” Hao explains. “In-floor heating systems for potted ornamentals can play a similar role for ornamentals as grow pipes do for vegetable crops.”
Hao began his grow pipe studies at the GPCRC on greenhouse tomatoes because the raised-gutter production of this crop has become very popular in Ontario. “Compared to conventional greenhouse tomato production on the ground, this system changes the microclimate profile in the greenhouse,” Hao explains. “The growing media and crop canopy are further away from the floor heating pipes, which can lead to more heat being needed in order to maintain adequate plant microclimate and to prevent pathogen infections. Grow pipes mitigate this need for more heat, but must be placed properly.”
Grow pipe studies
At the GPCRC and a commercial tomato greenhouse in Ruthven, Ont., in 2004 and 2005, Hao and his colleagues tested how grow pipe placement affects plant microclimate, incidence of Botrytis, plant growth, tomato yield and energy consumption. The project, which was supported by the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) and AAFC’s Program on Energy Research and Development, found that pipes placed at 55 cm or 150 cm above the raised gutter in the centre of a double row of tomato plants improved microclimate, reduced the incidence of Botrytis, and increased early and total fruit production compared to plants grown without pipes. “Since grow pipes at 55 cm had the higher early and seasonal total fruit yield (3.2 kg m2 or a six per cent increase) and required less energy consumption than those at 150 cm (2.1 kg m2 or a four per cent increase) we concluded that this placement location is better,” Hao adds.
“Most of the yield increase with grow pipes was in the early production period,” he explains. However, “the grow pipe can’t be used too early when the plants is very small just after planting in December. More energy could be used if the crop canopy has not covered the grow pipe yet, but once the grow pipes are covered by the canopy, energy use should be the same or less.”
He adds that in the fall when grow pipes instead of ground heating pipes were used for greenhouse dehumidification, about 10 per cent energy was saved, and the monthly average humidity in crop canopy was reduced by about five per cent. “That reduced incidence of Botrytis,” he notes. “For example, in July the incidence in the grow pipe section was only between three and four per cent, while it was 12 per cent in the control section.”
|Traditional grow pipe heating. Below the grow pipe is the CO2 dosing hose. (Courtesy John Lelie/Enertec Mechanical.)|
Further development in heat placement and energy conservation were evaluated by Haoand his colleagues in 2005. They devised a second set-up called new heat placement by placing the main heating pipes underneath the raised trough. “This way, the heat is forced to go through the canopy to warm up the plants instead of the air, and that’s important because it’s the plant temperature that directly affects plant growth.” Hao notes that this set-up is especially useful for greenhouses that still have a steam heating system, because steam pipes can be placed underneath the raised trough and used as a second stage of heating. This new heat placement increased early fruit yield without more energy use.
In 2008 and 2009, Hao also did research (again supported by OGVG and AAFC) on the use of grow pipes in mini-cucumber production. “We compared the use of a 2.1 cm diameter grow pipe placed just below the harvesting fruit to no grow pipe heating, and found that having the grow pipes significantly improved fruit yield,” Hao says. “Marketable fruit yield (Jawell and Picowell averaged) with grow pipes was 16.3 kg/m2 and without, 14.56 kg/m2.”
Challenges to adoption, and options
Grower desire for energy efficiency will lead to more grow pipe adoption in the future. John Lelie, owner of Enertec Mechanical in Beamsville, Ont., agrees. “Grow pipes do not usually produce enough heat for the entire greenhouse during winter months,” he says, “but their use can boost boiler efficiency. By using grow pipes with a flue gas condenser, the boiler doesn’t need to be set so high. A lower temperature of the stack means more heat is pulled from the stack and efficiency is increased.”
Enertec has worked on two greenhouse projects where the dual rail transport and heating system was removed, and two sets of grow pipes were placed close to roots and near top of canopy, as Hao has researched. This system is able to heat the cucumber plants adequately during the winter months. “Cost return is not determined with these projects, but both operators feel they can grow a better product, and more cucumbers,” Lelie says.
He adds, “A lot of people heat their greenhouses with steam, and say therefore that they can’t have grow pipes because they have no hot water. However, if they implement a flue gas condenser, they can have grow pipes, and recover CO2 from that (saving on liquid CO2), while increasing boiler efficiency about 12 per cent.” He says that cost return in this situation is achieved in three to five years, depending on CO2 and fuel costs.
Hao believes grow pipe use will become more widespread. “The price for grow pipes has increased and much experience and skills are required to use them properly,” he notes. “However, there is a great deal of knowledge now about grow pipes. Talking to the experts and visiting the facilities where grow pipes have been used is always a good place to start.”
|Grow pipes are becoming increasingly popular in the province. (Courtesy Xiuming Hao/AAFC.)| | <urn:uuid:40d4b606-613d-4ddd-8393-51c4eae50eaf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.greenhousecanada.com/energy-edge/efficiency/grow-pipes-the-energy-advantage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958315 | 1,533 | 3.25 | 3 |
Week of Sept. 24
Introduction. Simulation, computation, and generative models. Probability and belief.
Homework: Excercises on Scheme Basics and Generative Models.
- Scheme Basics
- Generative Models
- How to grow a mind: structure, statistics, and abstraction. J. B. Tenenbaum, C. Kemp, T. L. Griffiths, and N. D. Goodman (2011). Science.
- Internal physics models guide probabilistic judgments about object dynamics. Hamrick, Battaglia, Tenenbaum (2011).
- Optional: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. (This is an amazing intro to computer science, through Scheme.)
- Optional: Some Scheme tutorials.
- Optional: Sources of uncertainty in intuitive physics. Smith and Vul (2012).
Week of Oct. 1
Conditioning and inference. Causal vs. statistical dependency. Discussion on levels of analysis.
Homework: Excercises on Conditioning.
- Patterns of Inference (first few sections)
- Predicting the future. Griffiths and Tenenbaum (2006).
- Chapter 1 of "The adaptive character of thought." Anderson (1990).
- Optional: Chapter 1 of "Vision." Marr (1982).
- Optional: Ten Years of Rational Analysis. Chater, Oaksford (1999).
- Optional: The Knowledge Level. Newell (1982).
- Optional: Ping Pong in Church: Productive use of concepts in human probabilistic inference. Gerstenberg and Goodman (2012).
Week of Oct. 8
Patterns of inference. Sequences of observations.
Homework: Excercises on Patterns of Inference, also work on mini-project.
Mini-project for class on thursday.
- (Remainder of) Patterns of Inference
- Models for sequences of observations
- Causal Reasoning Through Intervention. Hagmayer, Sloman, Lagnado, and Waldmann (2006).
- Optional: Children's causal inferences from indirect evidence: Backwards blocking and Bayesian reasoning in preschoolers. Sobel, Tenenbaum, Gopnik (2004).
- Optional: Bayesian models of object perception. Kersten and Yuille (2003).
Week of Oct. 15
Inference algorithms and process models.
- Algorithms for Inference
- One and done: Globally optimal behavior from locally suboptimal decisions. Vul, Goodman, Griffiths, Tenenbaum (2009).
- Burn-in, bias, and the rationality of anchoring. Lieder, Griffiths, and Goodman (2012).
- Optional: Perceptual multistability as Markov chain Monte Carlo inference. Gershman, Vul, Tenenbaum (2009).
- Optional: A more rational model of categorization. Sanborn, Griffiths, Navarro (2006).
- Optional: Theory acquisition as stochastic search. Ullman, Goodman, and Tenenbaum (2010).
- Optional: Exemplar models as a mechanism for performing Bayesian inference. Shi, Griffiths, Feldman, Sanborn (2010).
Week of Oct. 22
Homework: Excercises on Inference about Inference, also work on project proposals.
- Inference about Inference
- Goal Inference as Inverse Planning. Baker, Tenenbaum, Saxe (2007).
- Optional: Cause and intent: Social reasoning in causal learning. Goodman, Baker, Tenenbaum (2009).
- Optional: Reasoning about Reasoning by Nested Conditioning: Modeling Theory of Mind with Probabilistic Programs. Stuhlmueller and Goodman (2013).
- Optional: Young children use statistical sampling to infer the preferences of other people. Kushnir, Xu, and Wellman (2010).
Week of Oct. 29
Social cognition (continued). Natural language pragmatics.
Project proposals due Friday!
- Quantifying pragmatic inference in language games. Frank and Goodman (2012).
- Optional: Teaching games: statistical sampling assumptions for learning in pedagogical situations. Shafto and Goodman (2008).
- Optional: Knowledge and implicature: Modeling language understanding as social cognition. Goodman and Stuhlmueller (2013).
- Optional: Probabilistic Semantics and Pragmatics: Uncertainty in Language and Thought. Goodman and Lassiter (Aug 2013 draft).
Week of Nov. 5
Learning as inference.
- Learning as Conditional Inference
- A rational analysis of rule-based concept learning. Goodman, Tenenbaum, Feldman, and Griffiths (2008).
- Optional: Rules and similarity in concept learning. Tenenbaum (2000).
- Optional: Learning Structured Generative Concepts. Stuhlmueller, Tenenbaum, and Goodman (2010).
Week of Nov. 12
Hierarchical models. Occam's razor.
- Hierarchical Models
- Occam's Razor
- Structure and strength in causal induction. Griffiths and Tenenbaum (2005).
- Optional: Bayesian modeling of human concept learning. Tenenbaum (1999).
- Optional: Word learning as Bayesian inference. Tenenbaum and Xu (2000).
- Optional: Word learning as Bayesian inference: Evidence from preschoolers. Xu and Tenenbaum (2005).
- Optional: Learning overhypotheses. Kemp, Perfors, and Tenenbaum (2006).
- Optional: Object name learning provides on-the-job training for attention. Smith, Jones, Landau, Gershko-Stowe, and Samuelson (2002).
Week of Nov. 19
Mixture and non-parametric models.
- Old pages on Mixture and Non-parametric models: Mixture Models, Non-Parametric Models.
- Learning systems of concepts with an infinite relational model. Kemp, C., Tenenbaum, J. B., Griffiths, T. L., Yamada, T., Ueda, N. (2006).
- Optional: Learning to learn causal models. Kemp, C., Goodman, N., Tenenbaum, J. (2010).
Week of Nov. 26
Week of Dec. 3
Presentations will be Dec. 3, 1:00-3:30p. Each project team will present a short summary. We'll go in alphabetical order.
Project reports are due Saturday, Dec. 7, by midnight. | <urn:uuid:095f44de-c6b0-46c1-8906-b316fae5c76e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://stanford.edu/~ngoodman/psych204/calendar.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00054-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.78383 | 1,363 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Behaviour Disorders are conditions that are more than just disruptive behaviour. They are related to mental health problems that lead to disruptive behaviour, emotional and social problems. Attention Deficit Disorder [ADD] is an example of a behaviour disorder. Children with behaviour disorders typically need a variety of professional interventions including medication, psychological treatment, rehabilitation, or possibly other treatments. 1
As indicated on the Special Education home page, inclusion is a preferred educational option wherever this is possible and every effort is normally made to achieve this. Where this is not possible, special classes or special schools involving curriculum and staffing modification are used.
This page looks at associations, selected educational sites, children’s sites, parent sites, government bodies, conditions, strategies, software, magazines, journals, resources, technology and other information.
The Special Education Resources page provides further options from Australia and overseas.
- Australian Psychological Society [APS]
Community information, Psychology Topics [including ADHD], publications, find a psychologist, more.
- Emerging Minds
‘Emerging Minds is committed to advancing the mental health of infants, children and adolescents’.
- ADDults with ADHD [NSW]
‘Addressing the needs of adults with ADHD and other related conditions, and their families’.
- Attention Disorders Association of South Australia
- Canberra & Queanbeyan ADD Support Group
- Ed-u-cate [Vic.]
Includes material on Support Groups for ADHD, LD & Spectrum Disorders, Teaching Links and AD/HD.
- Learning & Attentional Disorders Society [WA]
- Association for Positive Behaviour Support
‘Promoting research-based strategies that combine applied behaviour analysis and biomedical science with person-centred values and systems change to increase quality of life and decrease problem behaviour’.
- Attention Deficit Disorder Association [USA]
‘Providing information, resources and networking opportunities to adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder [AD/HD]’.
- Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
‘The nation’s leading non-profit organisation serving individuals with AD/HD and their families’. USA.
- Council for Children with Behavioural Disorders
US. ‘Promoting and facilitating the education and general welfare of children and youth with emotional or behavioural disorders’.
Check other relevant state/territory links on the main Special Education page.
- ACT Special
Special schools, especially Behaviour oriented sites, contact details, other information.
- Behaviour Management [SA]
Policies, guidelines, Support [including Behavioural Intervention Service], Bullying.
- Behaviour Management Policies [WA]
- Behaviour Programs [NSW]
Behaviour Resources and Support
Department of Education, Northern Territory.
- Behaviour & Wellbeing Programs
Links to information and centres for Primary and Secondary levels. Access a a Primary Behaviour Centre Information Brochure and a Secondary Behaviour Centre Information Brochure [MS Word format].
- Behaviour Support [Education Queensland]
- Positive Behaviour Support
‘Uses preventative, teaching and reinforcement-based strategies to achieve meaningful and durable behaviour outcomes’.
- Primary Welfare Officer
‘To support students who are at-risk of disengagement from school and who are not reaching their educational potential’.
- Regional Support Services [SA]
- Safe Schools NThas a section on Positive Behaviour Management. Information about Positive Learning Centres is found here.
Selected Schools, Teaching Centres & Specialist Services
- Arndell School
One of multiple schools in the NSW Department of Education and Communities. Others include Casuarina School, Coffs Harbour Learning Centre and Highlands School.
- Berry Street
‘Too many of the young people with whom we work are either excluded from, or have dropped out of, school’. Victoria.
- Better Behaviour Centres [SA]
- The John Berne School
Run by Marist Brothers for children with emotional, social and behavioural problems who may not otherwise complete schooling. NSW.
Attention Deficit Disorder
- 10 Best ADHD Videos of 2015
‘Check out these videos about ADHD to get an in-depth overview of the disorder and learn ways you can get help’.
US National Institute of Mental Health. Use options for types of publications at the top of the page.
- ADHD - A Guide for Families
Guidebook in multiple sections. Access to a video.
- ADHD Fact Sheet
From the Learning Difficulties Coalition of NSW.
- ADHD Information Sheets
‘Dedicated to providing additional resources for your information’. Multiple Information Sheets, resources, YouTube channel, more.
- ADHD News
‘The latest ADHD News articles published daily. Includes news on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder’.
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD]
Australian Psychological Society. Resources, publications and other links.
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder [Raising
What it is, signs & symptoms, diagnosis, factors affecting, everyday life, ADHD and teenagers, links.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Explained
Better Health, Victoria Fact sheet. Links to related fact sheets.
- ADD/ADHD Medications
: Are ADHD Drugs Right for You or Your Child ?
What you need to know, stimulant medications, safety concerns, non-stimulant medications, other options, medication and your child, more.
- ADHD - Stimulant Medication
RCH, Melbourne. Treatment, how do stimulants work, what types are available, side effects, key points to remember, more.
ADHD - Therapies
Better Health, Victoria. Medication, side effects, non-medication therapies, diet and ADHD, where to get help, things to remember, more.
- ADHD Treatments
Extensive listing of topics covering medications and related ADHD factors.
NIMH - Medication
Brief overview as part of a larger site on this topic.
- Bipolar Disorder [Healthdirect Aust.]
Overview, Living With, Facts & Figures, more.
- NIMH - Bipolar Disorder
NIMH. What is Bipolar Disorder ?, Causes, Signs & Symptoms, Who Is At Risk ?, Diagnosis, Treatments, Living With, more.
- Bipolar Disorder [Sane
What it is, symptoms, causes, how many sufferers, finding out more.
- Conduct Disorder
Better Health, Victoria. Characteristics, influence of the family, other factors, diagnosis, treatment, where to get help, more.
Disorder Resource Centre
Introduction, about, clinical resources, Facts for Families, FAQs, getting help, research.
- Conduct Disorder Information Sheet
- Conduct Disorders
Overview, what you can do, South Australian resources, further information links.
Oppositional Defiant Disorder
- ODD : A Guide
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Better Health, Victoria. Characteristics, diagnosis, treatment, family life and ODD, where to get help, more.
Defiant Disorder [Mayo Clinic]
Definition, symptoms, causes, risk factors, tests and diagnosis, lifestyle and home remedies, coping and support.
- Behaviour & Discipline
‘Learn about the basic discipline philosophies, and find out which is best for your child’.
- Behaviour Basics : A
E-ssential guide with articles and resources.
- Behaviour Disorders
Information includes education and medication.
Behavioural Disorders in Children
Better Health, Victoria. Good introduction.
- Child Behaviour Disorders [MedlinePlus]
Basics, specific conditions, related issues, research, reference shelf, for children, for teenagers, handouts.
- Emotional Disturbance Fact Sheet
Definition, characteristics, educational implications, resources and organisations, links. A PDF Version is available.
- Getting the Balance Right
Early Childhood Australia. ‘The challenge of balancing praise and correction for early school years children who exhibit oppositional and defiant behaviour’./li>
- Parenting in Practice
‘A book which offers supportive advice to parents of children and adolescents. It demonstrates common sense strategies to parenting through detailed text, examples, and scenarios’. Purchase from The John Berne School.
Resources for Professionals
‘Hundreds of classroom interventions to help elementary school, and high school students with ADD or ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder’. Canada.
- Behaviour Management Tools
TES Australia. ‘Useful hints and tips and and easy to use Individual Behaviour Plan/monitoring chart’. Multiple documents [MS Word].
- Behaviour Resource Bank
Special Education Support Service. ‘Advice Sheets which present some of the many strategies that may assist schools to meet the needs of pupils who display challenging behaviour related to special educational needs ’. Ireland.
- Classroom Strategies For Students with Attention Difficulties
‘Reworded from Strategies by Dr. Rick Jarman [Royal Children’s Hospital, Melb.] by Judie Gade’.
Behaviour Management : Additional Resources
Part of the Safe Schools Toolkit.
- Student Discipline & Behaviour Management Help and Advice
Behaviour Strategies and Case Studies. Note the acknowledgement requirement.
RMIT. Strategies, classroom management, reflection, student feedback, more. PDFs, sites with videos.
- Whole School Behaviour and Classroom Management
Resources - TES
Select topic from options. ‘2 719 Free teaching resources : lesson plans, worksheets, teaching ideas and much more’.
Tools, Techniques & Strategies
- Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Strategies covering this condition. While Canadian, it should be applicable in most educational settings.
- Behaviour Contracts
to Support Good Behaviour
Overview, suggestions, further reading, related articles, information on positive consequences. A related link provides Behaviour Contract Printables. MS Word and PDF formats.
- Behaviour Management v.
‘We sometimes make the mistake of interchanging the terms “behaviour management” and “classroom management”. The two terms are related, one might even say intertwined, but they are different’.
- Behaviour Modification Plan
For teachers or parents. Description, related articles, samples, links.
- Behaviour Tips & Tricks
Links to specific areas, articles, resources.
- A Formative Study on Teacher
Practice for Students with Emotional-Behaviour Problems
Amy Handy, Wendi Beamish & Fiona Bryer. ‘The aim of this study was to document actual teacher practice for young students with EBP’.
- Managing Challenging Behaviours with Children who have Additional Needs
2010, Megan Shaw. ‘Suggestions for managing with the behaviour of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Sensory Processing Disorder and Oppositional Defiance Disorder’. PDF document.
- Behaviour Page
- Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports
Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education. ‘To give schools capacity-building information and technical assistance for identifying, adapting, and sustaining effective school-wide disciplinary practices’. Their Research Base is good.
Government Agencies & Bodies
State and federal and both agencies and government-related groups.
- Emotions & Behaviour
‘Topics on issues relating to the emotional health of children and young people, and common behaviour problems’. Child and Youth Health, South Australia.
- Parenting WA Line
‘Free Telephone Service providing information and advice for people caring for children and teenagers up to 18 years of age’. Who can call and how they can help. Other links.
Magazines & Journals
For all educational journals, see the Education Journals page.
1. Behaviour Disorders. About.com : Secondary Education, 30 Oct. 2009. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. http://712educators.about.com/od/specialeducationglossary/g/bd.htm. | <urn:uuid:e2695860-26ae-4ccc-bfab-4cd699fdd258> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.aussieeducator.org.au/education/specificareas/specialeducation/behaviour.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00068-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.821096 | 2,550 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Dissertation writing is definitely an action which needs proper understanding and understanding about any given subject. It should be creatively created and correctly organized. There are certainly a number of essay writing kinds, like detailed essay, contrast essay, narrative essay, etc. Consequently combined with subject, it is furthermore essential for an individual to comprehend the kind of essay he or she must write. A/argumentative composition shows a disagreement or a situation in regards to a given issue for your reason of persuasion. Every time a person sits to write an argumentative article, it is very important for him/her to discuss and provide a bilateral matter. The discussion that will be discussed has to essay writing for me be understandable, precise and correctly targeted.
It should not be basic and easy in its content.
The significant aspect of engaging composition is the fact that it should encourage the followers to know an impression and should also convince them to take some measures. Though planning, the writers must ensure it is a spot that the viewers feel very robust regarding the center point of the discussion. A great comprehension about the readeris beliefs and prejudices could aid the authors to convince the viewers to trust and take the authoris opinion which are unlike from their own. Which means that the authors need to nicely research the topic, understand present viewpoint, find out about the normal morals on the topic, and examine whether all of the oppositions concerning the topic are effective. The writeris info must strongly support their arguments otherwise they will not be ready to properly place across their belief. An/argumentative composition includes preliminary part which claims the thesis statement. Ultimately in conclusion must once-again restate the view-point.
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Comments are closed. | <urn:uuid:e92ffa23-75f0-4def-875c-b5ca6cfeac01> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.reisezielartikel.de/how-to-create-a-paper-9181/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00001-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932476 | 363 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Over the past few years, single-serve coffee makers have revolutionized the way we drink coffee but they come with a steep price of increased waste as each individual pod goes straight to landfills. However, there may be a solution to our love of the single cup coffee maker as a UK natural plastic developer, Biome Bioplastics, has developed a biodegradable coffee pod. This is just the latest of many great recycling achievements coming out of the UK, which include more biodegradable Medium Density Fiberboards and a machine that recycles shoes.
Every year, it is estimated that 9.1 billion single-serve coffee pods end up in U.S. landfills. The New York Times reports in 2011 alone seven percent of all cups of coffee consumed in the United States were made with a single-serve coffee maker.
The problem is only getting worse as the single-serve coffee maker’s popularity spreads worldwide. In Britain, single-serve coffee makers usage has increased by 45.1% from February 2012 to 2013, resulting in 186 million pods in landfills.
Biome Bioplastics’s new coffee pod is made of a combination of renewable natural resources, including plant starches and tree byproducts. This combination of resources will allow the pod to easily degrade into compost.
Biome Bioplastics CEO, Paul Mines told FoodBev, ”The challenge is to reduce environmental impact through packaging optimization without impacting on food quality or safety, or inconveniencing the customer. Bioplastics are an important part of the solution.”
This is great news for coffee lovers who love the efficiency of single-serve coffee makers but hate the waste it produces. Although consumption of coffee looks to be more environmentally friendly, let’s not forget growing coffee itself has environmental impacts! Until then, enjoy the knowledge that one day soon your coffee pods will make great additions to your compost pile and not your landfill! | <urn:uuid:81ce7f5f-0aaf-42cc-ba3d-f89e85e790d5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/coffee-lovers-rejoice-the-coffee-pod-is-now-biodegradable/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9431 | 411 | 2.546875 | 3 |
But a fundamental empirical observation about many markets for newly produced goods and services, especially in industrial markets, is that prices are administered or set by corporations and businesses, according to normal production costs plus a profit markup.
Some observations on this follow:
(1) often business leave their prices unchanged for significant periods of time, from three months to a year, despite changes in demand (Gu and Lee 2012: 462). When prices are adjusted this is the result of changes in factor input costs, including raw materials and labour. Changes in the profit markup result from competition and need for profit.
(2) The profit markup is itself often stable as well, which leads to some degree of stability of profits that results from price administration (Gu and Lee 2012: 461). Stable profits in turn allow stable margins for internal financing of investment (Melmiès 2012).
(3) the advantages of price setting to businesses include the reduction of the occurrence of price wars, goodwill relationships with customers, and stable selling costs (Gu and Lee 2012: 461).
(4) empirical studies show that, outside given limits, businesses find that variations in their set prices produce no significant change in sales volume, and, above all, when prices are cut, this does not necessarily lead to changes in short term market sales (Gu and Lee 2012: 462). And experiments with prices adjusted downwards to a significant extent show that this causes a severe blow to profits, so severe indeed that enterprises quickly abandon all such experiments (Gu and Lee 2012: 461).
Gu, G. C. and F. S. Lee. 2012. “Prices and Pricing,” in J. E. King, The Elgar Companion to Post Keynesian Economics (2nd edn.). Edward Elgar, Cheltenham. 456–463.
Melmiès, J. 2012. “Price Rigidity,” in J. E. King, The Elgar Companion to Post Keynesian Economics (2nd edn.). Edward Elgar, Cheltenham. 452–456. | <urn:uuid:2058e1d6-30f5-47e5-8833-9e7ede335f69> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://socialdemocracy21stcentury.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397567.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00106-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917758 | 427 | 2.71875 | 3 |
March 23, 2009
Alcohol ‘flush’ signals cancer risk
A red flushing facial response from drinking alcohol may signal a genetic susceptibility to esophageal cancer risk, U.S. and Japanese researchers said.
Heavy alcohol consumption greatly increases the risk for esophageal cancer among such individuals, who comprise about 8 percent of the world's population, Warren said.
It is very important for clinicians who treat patients of East Asian descent to be aware of the risk of esophageal cancer from alcohol consumption in their patients who exhibit the alcohol flushing response, so they can counsel them about limiting their drinking, Kenneth R. Warren, acting director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism said in a statement.
First author Philip J. Brooks, of NIAAA's Laboratory of Neurogenetics, and colleagues note that a clinician can reliably determine whether a patient is at risk simply by asking about previous episodes of facial flushing after drinking alcohol.
Cancer of the esophagus is particularly deadly, with five-year survival rates ranging from 12 (percent) to 31 percent throughout the world, Brooks said.
We estimate that at least 540 million people have this alcohol-related increased risk for esophageal cancer, and we hope that, by raising awareness of this important public health problem, affected individuals who drink will reduce their cancer risk by limiting their alcohol consumption.
The review appears in the journal PLoS Medicine. | <urn:uuid:06ce634d-37ac-4e5d-8164-aef4d01b2545> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1659003/alcohol_flush_signals_cancer_risk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946897 | 297 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Every year, thousands of reindeer migrate from Norway to Finland.
This year, a whopping 3,500 of them are making the trip, accompanied by dozens of Sami herders — indigenous Scandinavians traditionally linked to reindeer herding.
The journey begins in the Sami capital of Karasjok in northern Norway. The reindeer spend two months crossing icy plains, where temperatures can easily reach -15 degrees Fahrenheit.
Herder Jan Helmer Olsen took this footage with his drone, and said "My footage felt very special as nobody ever manages to see how the herd moves as one body from the air. It's [like] watching a huge flock of birds in flight."
Story and editing by Ben Nigh | <urn:uuid:5b767b87-0f85-473e-828c-f8db54651ba4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.businessinsider.com/great-reindeer-migration-2016-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957261 | 151 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Posted by Paige on Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 6:39pm.
Joe weighs 30 lbs less than twice ken's weight. If ken gains 10 pounds then together they would weigh 250 pounds. How much does each of them weigh? let x be ken's weight.
- Math - bonjo, Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 6:46pm
Joe weighs 30lbs less than 2wice kens weight
ken gains 10lbs, then 2gether would weigh 250
(x+10)+J = 250
solve them simultaneously..
hope that helps
- Math - Paige, Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 6:48pm
im confused can you explain a little more cause i need a full equation and im really confused
- Math - bonjo, Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 7:10pm
you need to construct simultaneous equations from the information;
first equation is from; Joe weighs 30lbs less than 2wice kens weight. and x is ken's weight. so twice kens weight is 2x. 30lbs less than twice kens weight is 2x-30. these equals to Joes weight
we cannot work with this equation alone because, there are two unknowns J and x. so we need another equation which is obtained from; If ken gains 10 pounds then together they would weigh 250 pounds.
i.e. if ken gains 10lbs (x+10), then together (with J) will equal to 250.
(x+10)+J = 250 (2)
Now we can solve for each weight either by substitution or elimination method..
Answer This Question
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An end to road deaths in our towns and cities. Not such a utopian idea as it sounds; in Pontevedra, Galicia, it's already coming to pass thanks to the imposition of a 30 kilometer per hour (km/h) speed limit there. Evidence from around the world shows that pedestrians stand a 95-percent chance of surviving being hit by a car at that speed; at 50 kilometers an hour, the figure drops to 55 percent; and above 70 km/h, death is the most likely outcome. So why not apply a 30 km/h speed limit in all built-up areas?
The first step has been taken within the EU: a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) called "30 km/h - Make Our Streets Livable!" made up of members from Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Spain and the UK has submitted a proposal for a speed limit of 30 km/h in European cities and municipalities to the European Commission.
If the Commission accepts this direct democracy initiative, the next step will be to gather signatures online or on paper. One million signatures from seven EU countries would be needed over the next year to enable the European Commission to move ahead with passing legislation.
Pedestrians stand a 95 percent chance of surviving being hit by a car at 30 km/h
Heike Aghte, the German coordinator of the campaign, says: "Our proposal is for a 30 km/h speed limit in urban areas unless another speed is set by the local authority. The scheme is simple, effective and cost-efficient. Long experience with 30 km/h zones throughout Europe has proven that the number and severity of accidents decreases significantly, and that noise and exhaust emissions decrease. Flow of traffic and conditions for pedestrians and cyclists improve. Environmentally friendlier modes become more attractive with an EU-wide speed limit of 30 in cities and municipalities."
She says that although the default speed limit would be set at 30 km/h in built-up areas, local authorities would have the final decision to set other speed limits or measures that improve road safety and create a healthier environment: "Cities and municipalities are in the best position to know where exceptions should be made."
In Spain, the initiative is supported by Ecologists in Action, Stop Accidentes, Andando, and Conbici, which began gathering signatures on December 4 under the banner: "For more habitable, safe, and less-contaminated cities."
Cities are in the best position to know where exceptions should be made"
The European Commission's own data shows there is room to improve the safety and air quality of our cities. Two-thirds of road deaths in Europe - around 20,000 a year - occur in built-up areas, while 48 percent of victims are cyclists or pedestrians.
As regards air pollution: in Spain 94 percent of the population breathes air that exceeds the contamination levels recommended by the World Health Organization, according to a report issued by Ecologists in Action in October. Even by the EU's less-stringent levels 22 percent of the population in this country, or 10.4 million people, live in areas where those levels are exceeded.
"The main contributor to air pollution is traffic," says Ecologists in Action, adding that cleaner air would come in the medium to long term, as more people leave their cars at home and move around on foot or by bike.
In Spain 94 percent of people breathe air that exceeds WHO contamination limits
"The crux of the matter is that by driving at 30 km/h we reduce the danger that cars present, because aside from almost removing the possibility of death in the event of an accident, the injuries are always going to be less serious," says Mariano González of Ecologists in Action. He says that among the many benefits associated with slower traffic speeds is that "people walk more or get on their bicycles: the cyclist's biggest fear is being hit by a car."
Manuel Martín of Conbici, a group that promotes cycling in cities, largely agrees: "Streets with 30 km/h limits feel safer, but what people really need to see are cycle lanes, which are relatively expensive: until that happens, these 30 km/h zones are a cheap solution."
Slowing traffic down in urban areas would also make our cities quieter places: Germany's Environment Council says that driving at 30 km/h instead of 50 km/h would lower noise levels by three decibels.
Drivers realize they can get around quicker because there are fewer jams"
Both of Spain's leading motorist organizations - the Royal Automobile Association and the CEA - support imposing a 30 km/h speed limit in built-up areas used by cyclists and pedestrians: "This is an initiative that would apply to residential areas," says a CEA spokesman, adding: "We would only be against this if the speed limit were to be applied in blanket fashion throughout the city, for example on main roads."
According to the organizers of the EU-wide proposal to lower the speed limit, opposition has come mainly from the public. "People automatically assume that they will be forced to drive too slowly, because they tend to drive at twice the legal limit, but the evidence shows that once the 30 km/h limit is introduced, drivers realize that they can get around more quickly because there are fewer traffic jams," says Aghte.
- According to the European Council of Transport Safety, in 2011 30,108 road deaths were reported throughout the EU, 940 less than in 2010, a drop of 3 percent. Approximately 14 percent of traffic deaths in the EU involve pedestrians being hit by cars.
- There were 30,000 road accidents involving a death in 2011 in the EU, according to the European Commission.
- In Spain last year, 2,060 people died in road accidents. Of those, 457 died in accidents in built-up areas, and 217 of them were pedestrians hit by cars.
- There was a slowdown in the reduction of traffic deaths in Europe in 2011 compared to the trend over the previous three years. In countries that joined the EU prior to 2004, the number of deaths fell by 2 percent. In the rest, there was a 1 percent increase.
- The countries that achieved the biggest drop in road deaths in 2011 were Norway (20 percent), Latvia (18 percent), Spain (17 percent) Bulgaria (15 percent), and Romania (15 percent).
- More than 324,000 people were seriously injured behind the wheel in 2011. "These deaths are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the total number of traffic accidents," says the European Council of Transport Safety.
- According to the EC, for every death on Europe's roads there are an estimated 4 permanently disabling injuries such as damage to the brain or spinal cord, 8 serious injuries and 50 minor injuries. From 54,000 traffic accident deaths in 2001, the figure dropped to 30,500 in 2011.
This has been proven in the UK, where 34 cities have already introduced a 30km/h limit. According to a survey carried out by the British government, 75 percent of the public supports the limit; as do 72 percent of drivers.
Pontevedra's pedestrians-first policy dates back to 1999, when extensive areas of the Galician city were cut off to through traffic, pavements were widened, and the main roads were turned into one-way systems with the idea of discouraging people from driving around the center of the city.
But it was only in September 2010 that the authorities there decided to impose a 30 km/h speed limit. "It's not just about the speed limit, we have had to post traffic police at strategic points," says a spokesman at City Hall, pointing out that the only death in Pontevedra over the last four years was the result of a road accident outside the pedestrianized areas.
Growing numbers of Spanish cities are increasing the amount of 30 km/h streets, but few have applied it to entire zones. Valencia has done so throughout its old quarter, while part of Malaga's city center is a 20 km/h area. In Santiago de Compostela, the old quarter is pedestrians only.
Other European cities, such as Paris, say that they are extending the number of 30 km/h streets. In Spain, the Directorate General of Traffic aims to introduce legislation in the coming weeks that would extend a 30 km/h limit throughout all towns and cities. The institution's boss, María Seguí, says she intends to "end the long-standing privileges associated with the automobile" and allow pedestrians and cyclists more room.
Motorists are not entirely to blame for accidents in built-up areas, at least according to a study by insurers Mapfre published at the beginning of 2012, which shows that pedestrians failing to look properly when crossing roads were among the three main explanations for accidents, along with motorists breaking the rules and speeding.
"Drivers are not the only guilty parties," says a spokesman at the CEA. Its policy is for solutions that "allow for all road users, along with pedestrians, to get along."
Mariano González of Ecologists in Action says that to achieve that, "we need to transform the way we design our cities, as well as the way that we move around."
P. R. B., Madrid
In the summer of 2011, the European Parliament discussed a report on improving road safety between then and 2020. One of the debates was about the need to extend the 30 km/h limit in European cities.
Heike Aghte attended the debate, and soon after began looking into using the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), a direct democracy measure introduced in April 2012, to get the law changed to allow for a 30 km/h speed limit in all built-up areas throughout the EU.
Question. How did the idea to present a European Citizens' Initiative come about?
Answer. The European Parliament approved by a huge majority the proposals for improving road safety. This sent out a strong message, and we needed another. We had to convince the European Commission to approve the proposal for a 30 km/h limit. And that signal would be the ECI, in other words, civil society demanding it.
Q. An ECI has to involve at least seven countries. How did you get other EU states on board?
A. It took us a year to put this together. I contacted a lot of organizations, who in turn contacted others. The network grew rapidly.
Q. Do you think that you will get the million signatures you need?
A. A million signatures is a lot. And it isn't simply a question of getting people to sign. It is much harder, because people who sign have to provide a lot of personal information, and not everybody wants to do that. What's more, you have to use special software to register the signatures, and the forms are quite complicated and technical, which makes it hard for people to do unless they have plenty of time. If the signatures are not presented properly, the European Commission can invalidate them.
Q. Do you think that people really want more stringent speed limits in our cities?
A. I don't think that a majority of people want a 30 km/h speed limit at the moment. We know this because the same thing always happens: before the limit is introduced in a street, there is opposition. Then, a few months afterwards, people like it. This is our experience in places where speed limits have been imposed.
Q. Aside from your online campaign, what other initiatives are underway to spread awareness of this?
A. We are considering organizing street marches, but not in winter. In any event, our members in each country are free to do what they think is best.
Q. If you obtain a million signatures, how likely do you think it is that the European Commission will go ahead with changing the law?
A. That is part of the experiment: nobody knows how the Commission will react, because this is the first ECI. But it cannot ignore a petition of one million people. According to the law, the Commission can refuse to impose a speed limit. But it is obliged to debate the proposal, and the European Parliament will organize a presentation where we can put forward our arguments and the Commission then has to explain in detail what it is going to do. I am convinced that something will come out of this.
Q. Do you think that European governments are ready to reduce traffic speeds in cities?
A. I am convinced that they are aware of the problem. At the local level a lot is happening. One Italian city has already imposed a 30 km/h limit, another 34 have done so in the UK or are in the process of doing so. There is Graz in Austria, some French cities... It's just a question of time. | <urn:uuid:3030fbe1-26eb-4ee7-8641-7be873ea2e8b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/01/02/inenglish/1357132774_629057.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00059-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969125 | 2,647 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Students should read the lesson, and complete the worksheet. As an option, teachers may
also use the lesson as part of a classroom lesson plan.
Excerpt from Lesson:
Exploring Dependent Clauses
- Although containing a verb and subject like an independent clause, dependent clauses do not form complete thoughts.
- They can't really exist on their own, and they need the help of an independent clause in order to function properly in a sentence.
- Dependent clauses are used to expand the meaning of the independent clauses.
- In this lesson, you will learn about dependent clauses.
English and Language Arts Lesson Plans, Lessons, and Teaching Worksheets
teaching material, lesson plans,
lessons, and worksheets please go back to the InstructorWeb home page. | <urn:uuid:15619090-7b90-4862-a19c-532894207ef6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.instructorweb.com/lesson/dependentclause.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00166-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.877894 | 166 | 4.75 | 5 |
Insomnia: Symptoms and Causes
Insomnia is a sleep disorder that is characterized by difficulty falling and/or staying asleep. People with this sleep disorder have one or more of the following insomnia symptoms:
Insomnia can be its own medical problem (primary insomnia) or it can be caused by a separate issue (secondary insomnia) such as depression or side effects from medication. Insomnia may be an acute (short-term) problem, meaning it lasts less than 1 month, or it can be chronic, lasting 1 month or longer.
Situations that may cause a period of acute insomnia can include:
Causes of chronic insomnia include:
Reviewed by: The Sleep Medicine Center at The Cleveland Clinic.
Reviewed by Cynthia Dennison Haines, MD
SOURCES: The National Sleep Foundation. American Insomnia Association.
Last Editorial Review: 4/2/2007 | <urn:uuid:d8504d44-1952-4139-a53d-180481f8be7c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=80195 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00192-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905665 | 181 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Advanced Analysis: Deriving the formula for g
We can understand the discrepancy because the larger the relative velocity between the two observers, the larger the disagreement in the times they measure.
What happens when the observer and the observed are traveling in the same frame of reference? This means that their relative velocity is 0, and therefore g will be 1. That is what is should be; both observers are in the same frame of reference, so no corrections are needed! When the velocity between observers is not zero, g > 1. When velocity is small compared to the speed of light (such as in everyday situations), g is close to 1, and the correction factor is insignificant. | <urn:uuid:30ecd1f4-bcfc-4233-908b-6d082045575f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ed.fnal.gov/data/phy_sci/relativity/student/simplify1.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00031-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94009 | 136 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Late last year, 48 scientists from 50 U.S. institutions proposed the "Unified Microbiome Initiative," a national effort to decipher the nature, and applications, of microbiomes, ecosystems of microscopic life forms such as bacteria, viruses, archaea and fungi. Other scientists from the United States, Germany and China echoed that call. Ultimately, the researchers hope to harness microbiomes to cure disease, fight drug resistance, reclaim exhausted farmland, reduce (or even eliminate) the use of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, and produce chemicals using synthetic biology.
Scientists can now identify microbes by the organisms' DNA, and have thereby discovered that microbiomes are far more diverse than anyone ever imagined. Each microbiome potentially includes hundreds of thousands of microbial species, all interacting with one another. In fact, wherever scientists have looked, they have found influential microbiomes: In the human gut, microbes not only aid digestion, but also affect obesity, allergies and even brain development; beyond people's bodies, microorganisms have created the Earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere, and also enable plant and ocean life to thrive.
But DNA testing cannot explain how microbial genes function and how these organisms work together. Only with that level of understanding, will scientists be able to harness microbiomes to improve human health and the environment.
On Tuesday, Jan. 19, from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. EST (10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. PST), the Kavli Foundation will host a live webcast about the potential of nature's microbiomes and how humanity can tap into that potential.
Submit questions ahead of and during the webcast by emailing email@example.com or by using the hashtag #KavliLive on Twitter or Google+.
About the participants:
- Janet Jansson is chief scientist of biology in the Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Washington state and sector lead for PNNL research in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Biological Systems Science Division. She coordinates two of PNNL's biology programs: the Microbiomes in Transition (MinT) initiative, to study how climate and environmental changes affect natural and human microbiomes, and the DOE Foundational Scientific Focus Area Principles of Microbial Community Design.
- Rob Knight is the founder of American Gut, an open-access project to survey the digestive system's microbiome and its effects on human health and development. He holds appointments at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Department of Computer Science and Engineering, where he develops bioinformatics systems to classify and interpret large sets of biological data.
- Jeff Miller is director of the California NanoSystems Institute, a multidisciplinary research organization, and the corresponding author ofthe consortium's Science paper. Based at University of California, Los Angeles, Miller holds the Fred Kavli Chair in NanoSystems Sciences and is a professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics.
- Alan Brown (moderator) is a freelance journalist and writer who specializes in science, engineering and technology. He has been covering nanoscience and nanotechnology for more than 25 years.
Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Live Science. | <urn:uuid:555cd7b2-3ffa-4bb0-a8a9-20d2fcfaa098> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.livescience.com/53343-tapping-the-human-microbiome-upcoming-live-roundtable.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00039-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915563 | 716 | 3.34375 | 3 |
You are here: Home > The Importance of Playtime for Homeschooled Kids
The Importance of Playtime for Homeschooled Kids
Most of us reflect back fondly on the ease of childhood, the ease in which we sought amusement. The daily activities of following our imagination outside of the lines, climbing in the treehouse to escape to another jungle world, playing catch in the park, testing measurements of ingredients for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. These types of unstructured playtime are not just memories that reside in our subconscious; they are essential to a child’s social development to understand and grow into our adult years. Such is why it is critical to incorporate playtime into the daily life of homeschooled children, as playtime is also foundational to learning.
While homeschooled children may have a different lesson plan than the typical elementary student play is still key to the educational environment. In fact, there is information and value in almost any type of activity. Not all concepts come from a textbook: the act of hitting a baseball across the yard can relate to current or future lessons. Through this, children begin to learn about physics by examples of measurements, distance, and speed.
Board games also afford opportunity for children to engage and learn while simultaneously being entertained. Mastering simple games invokes curiosity to ask questions, and in return seek more answers in a stimulating environment. Games allow for dialogue, discussion and understanding rules and it is simple to relate broader lessons of problem solving. It also allows children to bond with other children and exercise their learning about the people around them. They build relationships which is something that homeschooled children could potentially lack in comparison to the average student. Playing with friends exhibits extroverted behavior: sharing, cooperation, and team-building are skills one does not simply grow into but acquires with experience and over time. Many parents join homeschooling lunchtime activity groups in order to promote more social interaction for both themselves and their children.
Along with social interaction, play encourages the use of imagination and the strengthening of passions. Students test and develop their personal interests by exploring the possibilities of creating, building, writing, cooking. This imagination turns into creativity, which is boundlessly rich in value for any developing child. Creativity is one key root factor in education so that as children mature into adulthood they exercise these hobbies that shape them into individually unique characters.
Being outdoors is a place homeschooled children can adventure freely and is another critical factor to the overall well-being of a child’s growth. If a child is inactive from early-age, this inactivity will likely follow them through adulthood. As a consequence they run the risk of obesity, stroke, diabetes, and high blood pressure, according the the American Heart Association. For this reason alone, it is recommended for children to participate in daily physical activity. In relation to homeschooling, experts agree that the great outdoors has huge health benefits for children, including concentration and social development. CNN.com reports that, “a recent multicenter study of more than 11,000 eight- and nine-year-olds, led by pediatric researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in New York, showed that kids who had at least 15 minutes of recess a day behaved better in class.” The outdoors is also a classroom for the weather, animals, and plants.
It is true that learning is rooted in play and is necessary for homeschooled children. It gives both the children and their parents the chance to exercise, relax, and rejuvenate. And as we grow older with more understanding of the world through knowledge and education, it serves as a beautiful past time to reflect upon.
As Albert Einstein once said, “play is the greatest research.” | <urn:uuid:42463fc6-5404-4e69-b706-319232738787> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.douglascuddletoy.com/k/the-importance-of-playtime-for-homeschooled-kids | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962888 | 769 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Overwintering fuchsias seems to be one of the biggest hurdles for the newcomer. So much so that they tend to be treated as annuals, bought in Spring and thrown out after the Summer.The truth is they can be kept quite easily over the winter and will lead to bigger and better plants the following year and will supply you with cutting material just by following 2 golden rules.Do not let the frost get to them. Do not let them dry out
During the winter, fuchsias can be kept two ways - DORMANT. This means that plants are kept in a cool enough (not freezing) environment that inhibits any growth at all and will look much like the one on the right for the duration of the winter. 2 or 3 degrees above freezing will keep these plants dormant.SEMI DORMANT. This is where growers have the benefit of a moderately heated greenhouse and are able to keep plants in growth through the winter. A temperature of 42 - 45 degrees Fahrenheit will keep plants ticking over and growing very slowly through the winter.Whichever method you choose, your plants should receive the same preparation for winter and that is being being pruned back and de-foliated. Pruning means that plants will be shaped and tidied up and can be stored closer together, whilst removing all leaves ensures you get rid of any bugs or diseases. Just when plants being kept DORMANT are prepared, depends entirely on when the first frosts come. In 2010 they came in November in our area with a vengeance with temperatures down to 17 degrees F. (-8 degrees C.) so don’t leave it too late.Ideally you should cut back on the watering a few days before pruning leaving the root ball just moist. Doing this avoids ‘DIE-BACK’. If too much water is present at the roots then it is drawn up in the usual way but appears at each cut as droplets (as seen on the left) which will rot the end which in turn will die back for about an inch or so. If the cut has been made just above a pair of leaves then any future growth will be lost. Some growers use Copydex to seal each cut, I generally prune well above a pair of leaves, these tips can always be tidied up later
Below I have used a standard as an example of pruning and de-leafing which is usually done in that order. To make it easier to see what is going on I have de-leafed first. Each leaf has been cut, (not pulled) from the branches and whilst it may seem an arduous task it is a necessary one as the plant needs to be as clean as possible. The middle picture show the framework built up during the summer whilst the one on the right shows it after roughly one third has been trimmed off including any weak growth. Again cutting back to a good inch or more above a leaf joint (or where the leaves where) this is where the new growth will come from.
The same method applies to whatever fuchsias you have been growing. If they have been in hanging baskets with lobelia, etc then dig them out remove most of the old compost and re-pot them into fresh compost in a pot big enough to take the root ball. Trim roughly a third off and de-leaf them.
For plants that are going to be allowed to go DORMANT you now have to make sure they are packed away somewhere frost free. One way is to take a cardbox box lined with several layers of newspaper, put 3 inches of moist peat in the bottom, place your fuchsias on their sides into it (still in their pots) and cover them with more peat. The polystyrene boxes used by fishmongers are ideal for this. They should now go into a shed or garage or an unheated greenhouse. They have to be accessible as they need to be checked out on a weekly basis to make sure they have not dried out, water should be given sparingly making sure the root ball is just moist. More fuchsia are lost through the winter through over or under-watering than through frost. To check they are still alive scrape the bark, if it shows green underneath then all is well. Don’t be tempted to bring them into the house onto the kitchen windowsill. They will be far too warm and, because of the lack of light levels, will produce long leggy growth which is of no use at all.Because or their size, standards can be more difficult to accommodate over the winter and should really go into a heated greenhouse or maybe a cool conservatory (or your friendly neighbour’s). As an added protection, use foam pipe insulating on the stem, wrap the pot in bubble wrap and cover the head with horticultural fleece.
I prefer to keep my plants SEMI DORMANT and to do so they are kept in the greenhouse at 42 - 45 degrees Fahrenheit, if possible. I say if possible because the last 2 winters were so severe that it was a case of considering the cost of keeping the electric fan heater running against the cost of restocking in spring, which I ended up doing. The problem is, because we are losing fuchsia nurseries, it becomes harder to find the varieties needed for the showbench, so this year it is fingers crossed for a milder winter. (Written Oct 2011)I aim to have my plants cut back by the end of September, By doing so I know they will be back in growth before the winter sets in. The greenhouse is 14 feet by 8 feet and is lined with bubble insulation. The plants are still in the same compost that they have been in all Summer and won’t be re-potted until Spring. I will now switch back to a high nitrogen feed which is given with every watering which won’t be much, again keeping them just moist.
Above is the same standard about 4 weeks after pruning and now putting on some nice new growth. It’s also trying to flower here and there, but these are removed a soon as possible.On the right above is a half basket, again with lots of new growth.On the right is a pot which was cut hard back taking almost two thirds of the top away. I wanted this as a stock plant and again it’s producing lots of new cutting material.
It’s amazing how tough some varieties can be. On the left is a basket of Trudi Davro which, after thinking about space in the greenhouse, I intended to throw out so I cut it back right down to compost level. It then got left and forgotten down the side of the green house and left to fend for itself.I guess it won itself a reprieve, at least all those cuttings its producing have and I won’t be any better off for room!
Any young plants i.e Summer cuttings or last minute bought plants are treat differently. These still usually have quite soft growth, so a light trimming all round is done and all the leaves are left on.
It looks like Spring all over again!
There is a list of recognised hardy fuchsias which are quite happy left to their own devices in the garden and can be cut down to ground level in Spring once all signs of frost have passed, but any which have been grown in pots should be given the same treatment as above. In the garden their roots are deep enough to come to no harm but in pots they are open to the elements.If you still prefer to go out and buy your plants each year then all well and good but there is only so much growth you can get off one plant bought in Spring. Try over wintering at least 2 or 3 and see the benefits of a second year plant and feel the satisfaction of keeping fuchsias through one of the worst times of the year. | <urn:uuid:7c08b01b-91b5-4c94-8a89-d845cf6f4771> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fuchsiaflower.co.uk/overwintering.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00111-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967143 | 1,623 | 2.8125 | 3 |
From Our 2014 Archives
Doctors Regrow Large Areas of Muscle Lost in Injured Soldiers
Latest MedicineNet News
WEDNESDAY, April 30, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors now can grow back large amounts of muscle lost to a traumatic injury, using tissue drawn from pigs as a "homing beacon" to coax the body's own stem cells into repairing the wound.
Five patients with huge wounds in their leg muscles -- including three injured during military service in Iraq and Afghanistan -- experienced substantial regrowth following treatment with the pig tissue and intense physical therapy, a new study reported.
Three of the five patients had at least a 25 percent improvement in function following the treatment, and all five reported improved quality of life, the researchers noted.
The findings were published April 30 in Science Translational Medicine.
Trauma caused by a car crash or an explosive device can cause irreparable damage to a person's muscles if too much muscle mass is torn away, said lead author Dr. Stephen Badylak, a surgical professor at the University of Pittsburgh and deputy director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
"When you lose so much muscle that the gap is too large for the normal restorative processes to occur, the end result is typically filling that gap with scar tissue," Badylak said in a Tuesday journal news briefing. The scar tissue causes a loss of function in that muscle, he said, potentially disabling the patient.
Badylak's team hit upon the idea of using an "extracellular matrix" drawn from pig tissue to promote regrowth of muscle. Extracellular matrix is a component of body tissue that functions outside of the body's cells. Made mostly of collagen, the extracellular matrix provides structural and biochemical support to surrounding cells.
Such materials already are used in hernia repair and breast reconstruction, to provide structural support and protection for surgical sites, study co-author Dr. Peter Rubin, chair of the department of plastic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, said in the news briefing.
But researchers discovered that the implanted pig tissue promotes healing by releasing biochemicals called peptides into nearby human tissues.
"These peptides that are released serve as a homing device for the body's own stem cells," Badylak said. Stem cells located in nearby human tissues are drawn to the site of the wound, where they begin replacing the lost muscle.
After testing the process on mice, doctors started a clinical trial involving five men aged 27 to 37. All had lost between 58 percent to 90 percent of muscle in one of their legs.
The men underwent surgery that cut away all the scar tissue from the wound location, and then surgeons implanted the extracellular matrix into the wound.
The patients all started aggressive rehabilitation within two days of the surgery, Badylak said. This was done to provide the stem cells guidance in the repair of muscle.
"When those cells get there, they depend upon local environmental cues to say, 'OK, now that I'm here, what do you want me to do?' One of the most important cues are the mechanical forces that are asked of the site," he said.
The goal was to improve their ability to perform day-to-day tasks such as walking up stairs, getting out of a chair and raising a leg to a sitting position.
One of the patients, Nick Clark, lost massive amounts of muscle and nerve tissue from his left leg in a 2005 skiing accident. He had terrible balance in his left leg, he said, and sometimes relied on canes or ankle braces to stabilize his stride.
Clark underwent the experimental surgery in 2012. "The second day I was in the hospital, they had me walking up and down the halls of the hospital," he said in the news briefing. "It was pretty tough. It was painful. But it was worth it."
He now can balance on his left leg for several minutes at a time, and has more strength pushing off with his left foot.
"My balance is still not 100 percent, but it's improved quite a bit," said Clark, 34, of Youngwood, Penn. "Now I can almost keep pace with a normal person walking, maybe 90 percent. Before the surgery, I had about half the pace of a normal walk."
The procedure represents an important medical advance, according to a trauma expert who was not involved in the study.
"I think it will set a new treatment paradigm in people with significant muscle injury, which we in the trauma world see quite frequently," said Dr. David Lowenberg, an orthopedic surgeon at Stanford School of Medicine. "They took something that's a huge problem and found a way to fix it relatively inexpensively, and it's not technically difficult to do."
Lowenberg helped train military doctors to deal with such large wounds as part of a distinguished scholars program, and saw firsthand the physical trauma caused by war. "The number of large muscle defects in our wounded warriors is real," he said.
The cost of the procedure could decline even more in coming years. "There are new ways to manufacture these scaffolds that are even more cost-efficient and you won't have to depend on the animals to process from," Lowenberg said.
For now, study author Badylak said, the research serves as "a demonstration of the true movement of bench-top basic science through preclinical animal work to treatment at the bedside."
He said the next step is to train surgical and physical therapy teams at other leading institutions on the process. "That way we can show this is an approach that can work," Badylak said.
Once the procedure is proven effective, Badylak believes it could be used by any surgical hospital as a low-cost way to heal wounds that were previously thought irreparable.
"The approach we've taken is intended to be the type of approach that can be utilized anywhere that good surgery is available," he said.
SOURCES: April 29, 2014, Science Translational Medicine news briefing with: Stephen Badylak, D.V.M., Ph.D., M.D., surgical professor, University of Pittsburgh, and deputy director, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Peter Rubin, M.D., F.A.C.S., chair, department of plastic surgery, University of Pittsburgh, and Nick Clark, 34, Youngwood, Penn.; David Lowenberg, M.D., orthopedic surgeon, Stanford School of Medicine, California; April 30, 2014, Science Translational Medicine | <urn:uuid:f98aa939-be37-4659-9a95-47e991a4b03a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=178213 | 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 | 0.970608 | 1,343 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Marx, Durkheim and Weber on the Development of Modern Industrial Society
Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber are the dominant classical voices when studying or analyzing the emergence of society from a more cooperative, collective feudal society to a modern capitalistic society. All three of these sociological philosophers contributed to the nature of society and social change. Each of them eventually surmised that the relationship between individuals and their fellows and individuals and their world was directly related to their relationship to economic conditions. Whether referencing Marx and his concept of “alienation”, Durkheim and his thoughts on social solidarity or Weber and rationalism and disenchantment, the outcome for the modern citizen was not naturally grounded in humanitarianism or connectedness with his fellows, rather it was grounded in the division of labor and relationship to modern capitalism and the means of production. No matter how profound the differences in viewpoints, they were acutely concerned with the evolving market society and its effect on society and human interaction. Moreover, none of the three saw capitalism as a system without serious downfalls and consequences to human relationships with their world, their fellows and themselves.
Marx theoretic endeavors are clearly influenced by the history of his time. His works show a shift from more philosophical influences to more economically based studies. The antecedent of Marx studies was the move from feudal society to a society based on capitalism. In analyzing Marx, his belief that the move into capitalism was a necessary step in societal evolution is primary. In identifying the issues of class based in economics and the exploitation of workers, Marx sought to explain and change the social scheme of society. The shift to an owner /worker society would inevitably lead to alienation of the worker. The end result, according to Marx, was revolution as a result of the... | <urn:uuid:e42fb8ae-f374-4f64-be3a-4219a4b230e2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.essaydepot.com/doc/58958/Marx-Weber-Durkheim | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00166-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963687 | 362 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Boolean values are the two constant objects
True. They are used to represent truth values (although other
values can also be considered false or true). In numeric contexts
(for example when used as the argument to an arithmetic operator),
they behave like the integers 0 and 1, respectively. The built-in
function bool() can be used to cast any value to a Boolean,
if the value can be interpreted as a truth value (see section Truth
Value Testing above).
They are written as
See About this document... for information on suggesting changes. | <urn:uuid:a465bafc-f34e-4dd7-8846-e95543b783ad> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wingware.com/psupport/python-manual/2.5/lib/node34.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00096-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.82189 | 116 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Competition, Deregulation Can Make Health Insurance Affordable
Public officials and health care experts have recently suggested a number of reforms to reduce the cost of individual health insurance. Most of the proposals fail to address the contribution of mandated benefits to the high cost of insurance in many states.
Mandates Increase Costs
Differing regulations and mandates among the states cause wide variations in individual health insurance rates. The federal McCarran-Ferguson Act, which permitted states to set their own requirements for coverage, has protected state markets from competition and led to an assortment of mandates—many of which the insured do not want or need. For example:
* About one-fourth of states require health insurance to cover acupuncture and marriage counseling.
* More than half of states require coverage for social workers, and 60 percent mandate coverage for contraceptives.
* Seven states require coverage for hairpieces, and nine for hearing aids.
In all, there are more than 1,900 state mandates across the United States. Some legislators contribute to this excess by giving in to special interests’ demands that insurers cover their specific services and providers. The result is higher premiums for consumers—pricing an estimated one-fourth of the uninsured out of the market by this means alone.
Although most insurers operate in multiple states, their plans must be tailored to each state’s specific requirements.
As a result, there is no competitive national market for individual health insurance. Instead, there are fragmented markets and large price differences. (See Figure 1.)
* A family purchasing a health insurance policy in Wisconsin would pay about $3,087, but that policy would cost $10,398 in New Jersey.
* A similar policy in Utah would cost $3,259, but $12,254 in New York.
* A family policy in Michigan would cost $4,118, but an astronomical $16,897 in Massachusetts.
The difference in premiums is largely the result not of regional variations in health care costs, but of state mandates.
Raise Prices, Uninsurance
Recent proposals advocating universal state-run or -mandated care—including those of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and legislators in California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania—all include two regulations consistently shown to raise health care costs: guaranteed issue and community rating.
Guaranteed issue means insurance companies offering policies must sell coverage to all who apply, regardless of medical condition.
While this sounds like it protects consumers, it actually harms them. For example, it has driven up premiums in Massachusetts and New Jersey.
When insurance companies are forced to accept all applicants, they raise premiums to guard against losses. As a result, health insurance becomes a poor value for everyone except those with serious health conditions. Business dwindles as demand decreases, insurers leave the market, and rates increase even more from a lack of competition. This pattern has occurred in every state that requires guaranteed issue.
Community rating means insurers cannot adjust premiums to reflect the individual health risks of consumers. When everyone pays similar premiums, healthy people are charged more than they otherwise would be, and sick people are charged less. Therefore, premiums rise for the majority who are healthy.
Because of the higher cost, younger (or lower-income) individuals with few health problems tend to drop insurance, leaving an increasingly unhealthy risk pool. This drives premiums even higher—and fewer and fewer people can afford coverage.
Interstate Competition Cuts Prices
To remedy this situation, Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) has proposed interstate competition at the federal level with the Health Care Choice Act (HR 4460).
The bill would allow consumers to shop for individual insurance on the Internet, over the telephone, or through a local agent. Insurers would still be subject to the regulations of their home state, but residents of any state would be free to choose among policies from insurers in any state.
Consumers who do not want expensive health plans that pay for benefits they do not need—such as acupuncture, fertility treatments, or hairpieces—could buy from insurers in states that do not mandate such benefits.
With interstate competition, consumers would be more likely to find a policy that fits their budget, which would give more people access to affordable insurance. A recent University of Minnesota study found approximately 12 million additional people would be covered if health coverage could be purchased in a competitive national marketplace. Consumers in currently highly regulated states would benefit most.
Other Reforms Needed
In addition to interstate competition, insurers should be allowed to experiment with innovative products such as limited benefit plans, often known as “mini med” plans, which generally provide coverage for a limited number of physician visits each year, a limited amount of inpatient care, and sometimes coverage for prescription drugs.
Other reforms, such as mandate-free policies that take advantage of cross-border providers, would also provide consumers with a greater range of options and affordability.
Protection from interstate competition allows special-interest lobbyists to impose expensive mandates. Allowing people to purchase coverage across state lines would create more competitive insurance markets, and letting insurers experiment with different designs to create innovative and cost-effective health plans also would help decrease the number of people who cannot afford care.
Devon Herrick (email@example.com) is a senior fellow and Ariel House (firstname.lastname@example.org) is a junior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis. First published on September 9, 2008 as NCPA Brief Analysis No. 630; reprinted with permission. | <urn:uuid:4a3cf7e2-423b-457a-a877-21d0e19af500> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2008/11/01/competition-deregulation-can-make-health-insurance-affordable | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00023-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958043 | 1,124 | 2.59375 | 3 |
High School District 219
Health / Wick
There are a wide range of sources available to you as you research the topic of Depression. Please look below for books and links to online resources.
Mental Health Information for Teens → R616.89 MEN
Depression: What you Need to Know → 616.85 HYD
Monochrome Days: A Firsthand Account of one Teenager’s Experience with Depression → 616.85 IRW
Understanding Teenage Depression → 616.852 EMP
Depression and Bipolar Disorder → 616.85 THA
When Life Stinks → 305.23 PIQ
Opposing Viewpoints (Search on “depression”)
Offers a wide range of articles on depression, including pros and cons of issues such as medication and treatment.
GVRL (Gale Virtual Reference Library) (Search on “depression”)
Provides a large number of articles from reference books.
A comprehensive overview of depression provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
A good overview with access to statistics, videos, clinical trial information, research, articles, and more.
- Summer School | <urn:uuid:45fe932e-1cf4-4379-9771-85e91504b95c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.niles-hs.k12.il.us/north/students/irc/depression | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00127-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.848421 | 248 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Evidence disputes Mars water, let alone life. It’s looking like a toxic place. Besides, where would the water come from?
The big mound in Gale Crater, site of the Mars Curiosity Rover, looked like a tantalizing place to look for habitability. Mt. Sharp, as it is called, appeared to be a mountain laid down by water. Now, however, it looks more likely it was built by wind. Astrobiology Magazine shared the bad news from Princeton: “If correct, the research could dilute expectations that the mound holds evidence of a large body of water, which would have important implications for understanding Mars’ past habitability.”
Where would the water have come from, anyway? Live Science proclaimed that Mars and the core of Jupiter formed from “large space crashes.” The energy of impacts would seem to obliterate volatile compounds (including water). That’s why cosmogonists try to find other sources for Earth’s oceans, assuming it crashed into existence similarly. The highly speculative theory proposed by U of Chicago scientists, given credence in the article, relies on numerous improbabilities, among them: (1) dust particles sticking together to make planetestimals, (2) sufficient numbers of planetesimals colliding and accreting together instead of breaking up into fine particles, and (3) sufficient time before all the planet-forming ingredients are expelled from the system.
Michican State scientists are divining the meaning of Martian meteorites again, but they admit the conclusions are unclear: “most meteorites that originated on Mars arrived on Earth so long ago that now they have characteristics that tell of their life on Earth, obscuring any clues it might offer about their time on Mars,” a researcher confessed. Given the confusion, they are only “laying the groundwork for future researchers to answer this age-old question.” In other words, they have nothing to say.
Mars must certainly not be a lively place now, given what landers have found. There are “pesky perchlorates all over Mars, ” Science Magazine said. The chlorine compounds not only erase carbon compounds by converting them to gas, they make living on Mars dangerous. The perchlorates and other chemicals like gympsum get into fine dust that blows all over the planet, making it a dangerous place to send humans. New Scientist described how “Toxic Mars could hamper planned human missions.” The fine dust could harm the lungs and thyroid glands of future astronauts. Even in the safety of spacesuits, the electrified dust would stick to everything, making its way unavoidably into astronaut living quarters.
The bad news is not stopping children of the Star Trek generation, though. Some 78,000 have applied to go on a proposed one-way trip to Mars, New Scientist reported elsewhere. Hopefully they won’t find out too late that it’s a suicide mission.
Mercury is a sterile hell, Venus is a sterile hell, Mars is a toxic wasteland, and so on out. In between Venus and Mars lies this blue jewel we call Earth, blessed with abundant water, greenery, and life in almost every nook and cranny. It has the right magnetic shield, the right solar energy, the right continental minerals, the right atmosphere, the right carbon/oxygen/water/nitrogen cycles — the right everything. Doesn’t that send a message we should heed? Maybe the Creator gave us all these other worlds to examine, so that we would appreciate all the more how well designed our Earth is. For those not drunk on Darwine, that has been the primary benefit of the planetary exploration program. | <urn:uuid:c76e7ea6-14ee-4f23-987a-967493968659> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://crev.info/2013/05/trouble-for-mars-lifers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00187-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941248 | 766 | 3.8125 | 4 |
SummaryJohn Calcott Horsley was the nephew of the landscape painter Augustus Wall Callcott and was educated at the Royal Academy. The famous Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel was Horsley's brother-in-law.
Horsley began his career as a portrait artist but later painted frescoes for the Houses of Parliament. His style was influenced by 17th century Dutch painting. In the 1840s Horsley is credited with designing the first Christmas card, setting off a tradition we still follow today.
With fellow artists Thomas Webster, G.B. O'Neill and F.D. Hardy, Horsley formed the Cranbrook colony, meeting every summer to paint in the village of Cranbrook in Kent.
From 1875-1890 Horsley was rector of the Royal Academy, where he campaigned against French influences and the use of nude female models. This earnt him the nickname 'Clothes Horsley'. | <urn:uuid:877fd39b-1169-4d12-86af-89933fb30352> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/john-callcott-horsley | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00175-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980162 | 195 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Map of Japanese provinces (1868
) with Satsuma Province highlighted
Satsuma Province (薩摩国 Satsuma-no Kuni) was an old province of Japan in the area of Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Its abbreviation is Sasshū (薩州).
In the Meiji period, the provinces of Japan were converted into prefectures. Maps of Japan and Satsuma Province were reformed in the 1870s.
Hirasaki jinja and Nitta Hachiman-gū were the chief Shinto shrines (ichinomiya) of Satsuma.
Media related to Satsuma Province at Wikimedia Commons | <urn:uuid:37185304-1628-49c8-aeb8-ce6e49ccd36f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satsuma_Province | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00058-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915047 | 153 | 2.921875 | 3 |
October 1, 2012
Researchers Discover Mysterious Seed Fern
Recently, a mysterious seed fern, Lepidopteris baodensis sp. nov., dating to more than 251 million years ago (Ma), was discovered at the Baijiagou of Baode, Shanxi, China, from the Upper Permian Sunjiagou Formation. This discovery completely changed the understanding of the stratigraphic distribution of the genus Lepidopteris in China and promoted the taxonomic study of late Paleozoic plants.
Since Schimper erected the genus Lepidopteris in 1869, its epidermal structure of subepidermal swellings (formerly called "blisters") had long been an unsolved mystery. Excitingly, we found subepidermal swellings not only on the lower surfaces of the ultimate rachis and midrib, but also on the lower surfaces of secondary veins. In addition, the unique epidermal structures of subepidermal swellings on the ultimate rachis, midrib and secondary veins were revealed. The epidermis of a subepidermal swelling on an ultimate rachis was composed of ordinary epidermal cells and stomatal apparatuses forming longitudinal rows and numerous groups. The epidermal cells and stomatal apparatuses in each group were set in a concentric pattern. The epidermis of a subepidermal swelling on the midrib was also composed of ordinary epidermal cells and stomatal apparatuses that formed only 3 | <urn:uuid:cdee426c-e0e6-4ab5-8f4e-6ee4e89c32df> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112704237/researchers-discover-mysterious-seed-fern/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00162-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925784 | 313 | 3.296875 | 3 |
The desire for goods from Asia and advances in shipping first brought Europeans to the Australian continent. From at least the first century BC, European merchants travelled overland to China and South East Asia seeking spices, tea, porcelain and other luxury goods.
By 1500, advances in shipping opened a faster and more profitable sea route to Asia. Spanish, Portuguese, English and Dutch vessels regularly sailed south from Europe, around the Cape of Good Hope and across to India and the East Indies. If ships did not turn north soon enough, they risked being wrecked along Australia's perilous western coast.
Right: The French map Cosmographie Universelle, 1555, shows the spice trade in the Moloccas (Maluku Islands, Indonesia).
Courtesy: Historique de l'Armée de Terre, France/Giraudon/The Bridgeman Art Library.
The Zuytdorp Cliffs in Western Australia are named after a Dutch East India Trading Company ship wrecked on this coast in 1712. Photo: Kevin Whelan.
This is a view of the harbour at Batavia, Dutch East Indies (Jakarta, Indonesia), about 1700. Courtesy: The Print Collector. | <urn:uuid:3865f357-582b-4326-adac-8775a136b3e9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/collection_interactives/european_voyages/european_voyages_to_the_australian_continent/trade | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00146-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.877859 | 247 | 3.75 | 4 |
Cattle classified as temperamental appear to be less susceptible to lung damage and related respiratory diseases and have decreased yield grades, but at the same time may produce lighter weight carcasses with decreased quality grade.
Researchers used 2,800 cattle at a commercial feedlot to determine cattle temperament solely by exit velocity upon arrival to identify the impact temperament had on feedlot performance. Infrared sensors were attached to the processing chute and alleyway and used to time how fast cattle exited the processing chute. Once exit velocity was determined, within each pen the fastest 20 percent were classified as temperamental and the remained deemed non-temperamental.
Exit velocity was used as a measurement of temperament because it is the only objective and practical measurement of temperament that can be applied in a commercial setting. Scientists sought to evaluate the impact of temperament on animal health and carcass merit with an eye toward using the data as a sorting tool within feedlots.
After scientists determined exit velocity, the cattle were maintained in their original pens, not sorted based upon temperament, and finished. At the end of the finishing period, the research team followed the cattle to the packer and evaluated lung damage, liver abscesses and collected all the variables for carcass data.
One of the major findings of the trial was the difference in lung damage associated with respiratory disease. The results suggest that the non-temperamental cattle had more observable damage to the lung, indicative of the animal being impacted by respiratory challenge, when compared to cattle classified as temperamental.
Research has suggested that temperamental cattle have an altered immune response and display limited clinical symptoms of illness and this altered immune response may be a more resilient immune response compared to non-temperamental.
The studies also found that cattle classified as temperamental had lighter carcass weight at harvest and decreased quality grades. More than 53 percent of the non-temperamental cattle received a quality grade of choice, compared to 49 percent of the temperamental animals.
The findings suggest that utilization of temperament may be a viable management tool for feedlots. It might provide for a unique management strategy that might increase returns on these temperamental animals. With the difference in lung damage in the temperamental cattle at the time of harvest, and previous research indicating limited clinical signs of illness in temperamental cattle, segregation may allow for some modifications to the processing procedures and management of these cattle to take advantage of this alterations.
Ty Schmidt, Ph.D., assistant professor, animal science, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 402-472-6772; Jeff Carroll and Jeff Daily of USDA-Agricultural Research Service; Justin Waggoner of Kansas State University.
Artwork: Cattle Feedlot
Animal Husbandry and Livestock Books
Feed & Hay | <urn:uuid:22cecf25-70ee-49ed-add8-0eb395d60911> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://husbandryblogger.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00201-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935184 | 563 | 2.625 | 3 |
That's odd, I was lead to believe that Arctic Ozone holes were the direct result of Humans?
I guess someone's not quite telling the entire truth:
Nitrogen oxides generated by solar particles are bad news for ozone.
A stream of particles from the Sun, in combination with extreme weather conditions, caused an unprecedented thinning last year of the upper Arctic ozone layer.
Scientists have been puzzled by the chemical processes that destroyed up to 60% of ozone molecules in the lower mesosphere and upper stratosphere (the atmospheric layers that lie 30 to 40 kilometres above ground) in the first months of 2004. Reactions with chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), the compounds responsible for ozone depletion in the lower stratosphere, could not explain the decline in higher layers.
The article also goes on to say:
"Ozone is a form of oxygen that shields the Earth from dangerous ultraviolet radiation from space. Ozone holes were first detected in the 1980s above the South Pole. Soon afterwards, CFCs were phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol. Ozone holes do still occur regularly in the Antarctic, but at high northern latitudes they are observed only in particularly cold winters."
So now we can start wondering, was there an Ozone hole BEFORE we had satelites to measure the Ozone layer?
WHat did the know, and when did they know it? | <urn:uuid:7ec861b4-0453-481d-952f-b308b495b365> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://atrainwreckinmaxwell.blogspot.com/2005/03/thats-odd-i-was-lead-to-believe-that.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00102-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958883 | 286 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Smokestack Lightnin' Home Page -- The Blues Profile Page
Boogie-woogie is a style of piano-based blues that became very popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but originated much earlier, and was extended from piano, to three pianos at once, guitar, big band, and country and western music, and even gospel. Whilst the blues traditionally depicts a variety of emotions, boogie-woogie is mainly associated with dancing. It's believed boogie-woogie gave birth to the earliest versions of up-tempo music. The lyrics of one of the very earliest, "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie", consist entirely of instructions to dancers:
It is not strictly a solo piano style, but is also used to accompany singers and as a solo part in bands and small combos. It is sometimes called "eight to the bar", as much of it is written in common time (4/4) time using eighth notes (quavers) (see time signature). The chord progressions are typically based on I - IV - V - I (with many formal variations of it, such as I/i - IV/iv - v/I, as well as chords that lead into these ones.
For the most part, boogie-woogie tunes are twelve-bar blues, although the style has been applied to popular songs like "Swanee River" and hymns like "(Just a) Closer Walk with Thee."
The origin of the term boogie-woogie is unknown, according to Webster's Third New International Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary states that the word is a redoubling of boogie, which was used for rent parties as early as 1913.
However, Dr. John Tennison, a San Antonio psychiatrist, pianist, and musicologist has suggested some interesting linguistic precursors. Among them are four African terms, including the Hausa word “Boog” and the Mandingo word “Booga,” both of which mean “to beat,” as in beating a drum. There is also the West African word “Bogi,” which means “to dance,” and the Congo term “Mbuki Mvuki,” which means “shucking off one’s clothes so as to be able to better dance or perform.”
The meanings of all these words are consistent with the percussiveness, dancing, and uninhibited behaviors historically associated with Boogie Woogie music. Their African origin is also consistent with the evidence that the music originated among newly emancipated African-Americans.
In the sheet music literature prior to 1900, there are at least three examples of the use of the word “Bogie” in titles of music in the archives of the Library of Congress.
As of 1901, “Hoogie Boogie” appears in the title of published sheet music. This is the first known instance where the word “Boogie” occurs in the title of published music.
As far as audio recordings are concerned, the first appearance of “Boogie” in the title of a recording appears to be a “blue cylinder” recording made by Edison of the “American Quartet” performing “That Synchopated Boogie Boo” in 1913.
“Boogie” next occurs in the title of Wilbur Sweatman’s April 1917 recording of “Boogie Rag.” However none of these sheet music or audio-recording examples contain the musical elements that would identify them as “Boogie Woogie.”
The 1919 recordings (2 takes) of "Weary Blues" by the Louisiana Five contain the same Boogie Woogie bass figure as appears in the 1915 "Weary Blues" sheet music by Artie Matthews. Dr. John Tennison has recognized these 1919 recordings as the earliest sound recordings which contain a Boogie Woogie bass figure.
Blind Lemon Jefferson used the term “Booga Rooga” to refer to a guitar bass figure that he used in “Match Box Blues.” Jefferson may have heard the term from Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, who played frequently with Jefferson. Leadbelly, who was born in Mooringsport, La. and grew up in Harrison County, Texas in the community of Leigh, said he first heard Boogie Woogie piano in the Caddo Lake Area of northeast Texas in 1899. He said it influenced his guitar-playing. Leadbelly also said he heard Boogie Woogie piano in the Fannin Street district of Shreveport, Louisiana. Some of the players he heard were Dave “Black Ivory King” Alexander, or possibly another Dave Alexander known as “Little Dave Alexander” and a piano player called Pine Top (not Pine Top Smith, who wasn’t born until 1904, but possibly Pine Top Williams or Pine Top Hill.) and Lead Belly was among the first guitar-players to adapt the rolling bass of Boogie Woogie piano.
Texas as the state of origin became reinforced by Jelly Roll Morton who said he heard the boogie piano style there early in the century; so did Leadbelly and so did Bunk Johnson, according to Rosetta Reitz.
The first time the modern-day spelling of “Boogie Woogie” was used in a title of a published audio recording of music appears to be Pine Top Smith’s December 1928 recording titled, “Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie” a song whose lyrics contain dance instructions to “boogie woogie.”
Earliest Attempts to Determine a Geographical Origin for Boogie Woogie
The earliest documented inquiries into the geographical origin of Boogie Woogie occurred in the late 1930s when oral histories from the oldest living Americans of both African and European descent, revealed a broad consensus that Boogie Woogie piano was first played in Texas in the early 1870s. Additional citations place the origins of Boogie Woogie in the Piney Woods of northeast Texas. "The first Negroes who played what is called boogie woogie, or house-rent music, and attracted attention in city slums where other Negroes held jam sessions, were from Texas. And all the Old-time Texans, black or white, are agreed that boogie piano players were first heard in the lumber and turpentine camps, where nobody was at home at all. The style dates from the early 1870s."
The “Fast Western” Connection to Marshall & Harrison County, Texas
Max Harrison (in the book Jazz edited by Hentoff and McCarthy in 1959) and Mack McCormick (in the liner notes to his Treasury of Field Recordings, VOL. 2) conclude that "Fast Western" was the first term by which Boogie Woogie was known.
Also, "In Houston, Dallas, and Galveston — all Negro piano players played that way. This style was often referred to as a 'fast western' or 'fast blues' as differentiated from the 'slow blues' of New Orleans and St. Louis. At these gatherings the ragtime and blues boys could easily tell from what section of the country a man came, even going so far as to name the town, by his interpretation of a piece.”
According to Dr. John Tennison, when he interviewed Lee Ree Sullivan in Texarkana in 1986, Sullivan told him that he was familiar with "Fast Western" and "Fast Texas" as terms to refer to Boogie Woogie in general, but not to denote the use of any specific bass figure used in Boogie Woogie. Sullivan said that "Fast Western" and "Fast Texas" were terms that derived from the "Texas Western" Railroad Company of Harrison County. The company was formed on February 16, 1852, but did not build track from Swanson’s Landing at Caddo Lake to Marshall, Texas, until after changing its name to "Southern Pacific" on August 16, 1856. This Texas-based "Southern Pacific" was the first "Southern Pacific" railroad, and was not connected to the more well known "Southern Pacific" originating in San Francisco, California. The Texas-based Southern Pacific Railroad was bought out by the newly-formed Texas and Pacific Railroad on March 21, 1872.
Although the "Texas Western" Railroad Company changed its name to "Southern Pacific," Sullivan said the name "Texas Western" stuck among the slaves who constructed the first railway hub in northeast Texas from Swanson’s Landing to the city of Marshall
The Railroad Connection to Marshall & Harrison County, Texas
A key to identifying the geographical area in which Boogie Woogie originated is understanding the relationship of Boogie Woogie music with the steam railroad, both in the sense of how the music might have been influenced by sounds associated with the arrival of steam locomotives as well as the cultural impact the sudden emergence of the railroad might have had on newly emancipated African Americans.
The railroad did not “arrive” in northeast Texas as an extension of track from existing lines from the north or the east. Rather, the first railroad locomotives and iron rails were brought to northeast Texas via steamboats from New Orleans via the Mississippi and Red Rivers and Caddo Lake to Swanson’s Landing, located on the Louisiana/Texas state line. Beginning with the formation of the Texas Western Railroad Company in Marshall, Texas, through the subsequent establishment in 1871 of the Texas and Pacific Railway company, which located its headquarters and shops there, Marshall was the only railroad hub in the Piney Woods of northeast Texas at the time the music developed. The sudden appearance of steam locomotives, and the building of mainline tracks and tap lines to serve logging operations was pivotal to the creation of the music in terms of its sound and rhythm. It was also crucial to the rapid migration of the musical style from the rural barrel house camps to the cities and towns served by the Texas and Pacific Railway Company.
"Although the neighboring states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri would also produce boogie-woogie players and their boogie-woogie tunes, and despite the fact that Chicago would become known as the center for this music through such pianists as Jimmy Yancey, Albert Ammons, and Meade 'Lux" Lewis, Texas was home to an environment that fostered creation of boogie-style: the lumber, cattle, turpentine, and oil industries, all served by an expanding railway system from the northern corner of East Texas to the Gulf Coast and from the Louisiana border to Dallas and West Texas." Alan Lomax, wrote: "Anonymous black musicians, longing to grab a train and ride away from their troubles, incorporated the rhythms of the steam locomotive and the moan of their whistles into the new dance music they were playing in jukes and dance halls. Boogie-woogie forever changed piano playing, as ham-handed black piano players transformed the instrument into a polyrhythmic railroad train."
In the 1986 television broadcast of Britain's "South Bank Show" about Boogie Woogie, music historian Paul Oliver, noted: "Now the conductors were used to the logging camp pianists clamoring aboard, telling them a few stories, jumping off the train, getting into another logging camp, and playing again for eight hours, barrel house. In this way the music got around -- all through Texas -- and eventually, of course, out of Texas. Now when this new form of piano music came from Texas, it moved out towards Louisiana. It was brought by people like George Thomas, an early pianist who was already living in New Orleans by about 1910 and writing "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues," which really has some of the characteristics of the music that we came to know as Boogie."
Paul Oliver also writes that George W. Thomas “composed the theme of the New Orleans Hop Scop Blues – in spite of its title – based on the blues he had heard played by the pianists of East Texas.” On February 12, 2007, Paul Oliver confirmed to John Tennison that it was Sippie Wallace who told Oliver that performances by East Texas pianists had formed the basis for George Thomas's "Hop Scop Blues."
George Thomas and his brother Hersal Thomas migrated from Texas to Chicago, and brought Boogie Woogie with them. They were an immense influence on other pianists, including Jimmy Yancey, Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons and many others. Many elements that we now know as elements of "Boogie Woogie" are present in Hersal and George Thomas' "The Fives." According to Dr. John Tennison, "although some Boogie Woogie bass figures were present in prior sheet music, the thing that made 'The Fives' so special was the greater amount and variety of Boogie Woogie bass figures that were present in the music as compared to Boogie Woogie bass figures that had been present in previously published sheet music, such as the 1915 “Weary Blues” by Artie Matthews.
"Albert Ammons and Meade 'Lux' Lewis claim that 'The Fives,' [copyrighted in 1921 and published in 1922] the Thomas brothers' musical composition, deserves much credit for the development of modern Boogie Woogie. During the twenties, many pianists featured this number as a 'get off' tune and in the variations played what is now considered Boogie Woogie."
Indeed, all modern Boogie Woogie bass figures can be found in "The Fives," including swinging, walking broken-octave bass, shuffled (swinging) chord bass (of the sort later used extensively by Ammons, Lewis, and Clarence "Pine Top" Smith), and the ubiquitous "oom-pah" ragtime stride bass.
T&P Stops Associated With Names for Boogie Woogie Left-hand Bass Lines
Early generation Boogie Woogie players recognized basic Boogie Woogie bass lines by geographical locations with which they associated them. Lee Ree Sullivan identified a number of these left hand bass lines for Dr. John Tennison in 1989. From the primitive to the complex, those identifications indicate that the most primitive form of the music was associated with Marshall, Texas – and that the left-hand bass lines grew more complex as the distance from Marshall increased.
The most primitive of these left hand bass lines is the one that was called “the Marshall.” It is a simple, four-beats-to-the-bar figure The second-most primitive bass-line, called “the Jefferson,” is also four-beats-to-the-bar, but goes down in pitch on the last note in each four-note cycle. It has been suggested that this downturn in pitch reveals a possible New Orleans influence. Jefferson, Texas, about 17 miles north of Marshall, was the westernmost port of a steamboat route that connected to New Orleans via Caddo Lake, the Red River, and the Mississippi River.
The remaining bass lines rise in complexity with distance from Marshall, Texas as one would expect variations and innovations would occur as the territory in which the music has been introduced expands. (A complete list and the musical notations for each may be seen in "BOOGIE WOOGIE: Its Origin, Subsequent History, and Continuing Development -- by John Tennison (A.K.A. Nonjohn) -- Updated November 3, 2010, at www.bowofo.org .)
Other Indications Marshall & Harrison County Texas is the most likely point of origination of Boogie Woogie Music.
In January, 2010, Dr. John Tennison summarized his research into the origins of Boogie Woogie with the conclusion that Marshall, Texas is "the municipality whose boundaries are most likely to encompass or be closest to the point on the map which is the geographic center of gravity for all instances of Boogie Woogie performance between 1870 and 1880."
Dr. Tennison states: "Given the account of Elliot Paul, and given that Lead Belly witnessed Boogie Woogie in 1899 in the Arklatex; and given the North to South migration of the Thomas family; and given the Texas & Pacific headquarters in Marshall in the early 1870s; and given that Harrison County had the largest slave population in the state of Texas; and given the fact that the best-documented and largest-scale turpentine camps in Texas did not occur until after 1900 in Southeast Texas, it is most probable that Boogie Woogie spread from Northeast to Southeast Texas, rather than from Southeast to Northeast Texas, or by having developed diffusely with an even density over all of the Piney Woods of East Texas. It would not be surprising if there was as yet undiscovered evidence of the earliest Boogie Woogie performances buried (metaphorically or literally) in Northeast Texas."
On May 13, 2010, the Marshall City Commission enacted an official declaration naming Marshall as the “birthplace” of Boogie Woogie music, and embarked on a program to encourage additional historical research and to stimulate interest in and appreciation for the early African-American culture in northeast Texas that played a vital role in creating Boogie Woogie music.
The City of Marshall, Texas is committed to cooperating with any and all efforts to unearth Boogie Woogie history and to honor, celebrate, and re-create the vibrant environment that was catalytic to the creation of the most entertaining, revolutionary, and influential of all American musical forms.
Development of modern Boogie Woogie
'The Fives', which was composed by George and Hersal Thomas from Texas, was copyrighted in 1921 and published in 1922, deserves much credit for the development of modern Boogie Woogie. All modern Boogie Woogie bass figures can be found in "The Fives," including swinging, walking broken-octave bass, shuffled (swinging) chord bass (of the sort later used by Ammons, Lewis, and Clarence "Pine Top" Smith), and the ubiquitous "oom-pah" ragtime stride bass.
A song titled "Tin Roof Blues" was published in 1923 by the Clarence Williams Publishing Company. Compositional credit is given to Richard M. Jones. The Jones composition uses a boogie bass in the introduction with some variation throughout. In February of 1923 Joseph Samuels' Tampa Blue Jazz Band recorded the George W. Thomas number "The Fives" for Okeh Records, considered the first example of jazz band boogie-woogie.
Jimmy Blythe's recording of "Chicago Stomps" from April 1924 is sometimes called the first complete boogie-woogie piano solo record.
The first boogie woogie hit was "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" by Pinetop Smith (1928 in music) recorded in 1928 and first released in 1929. Pinetop's record was the first boogie-woogie recording to be a commercial hit, and helped establish boogie-woogie as the name of the style. It was closely followed by another example of pure boogie-woogie, "Honky Tonk Train Blues" by Meade Lux Lewis, recorded by Paramount Records; 1927 in music, first released in March of 1930. The performance emulates a railroad trip, perhaps lending credence to the 'train theory'.
Late 1930s: Carnegie Hall
These three pianists, with Turner, took up residence in the Café Society night club in New York City where they were popular with the sophisticated set. They often played in combinations of two and even three pianos, creating a richly textured piano performance.
The trickle of what was initially called hillbilly boogie, or Okie boogie (later to be renamed country boogie), became a flood beginning around late 1945. One notable country boogie from this period was the Delmore Brothers "Freight Train Boogie", considered to be part of the combined evolution of country music and blues towards rockabilly. In 1948 Arthur Smith achieved Top 10 US country chart success with his MGM Records recordings of "Guitar Boogie" and "Banjo Boogie", with the former crossing over to the US pop chart, introducing many people to the potential of the electric guitar. The hillbilly boogie period lasted into the 1950s, the last recordings of this era were made by Tennessee Ernie Ford with Cliffie Stone and his orchestra with the great guitar duo Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West. Bill Haley and the Saddlemen recorded two boogies in 1951.
The boogie beat continued in country music through the end of the 20th century. The Charlie Daniels Band (whose earlier tune "The South's Gonna Do It Again" uses boogie-woogie influences) released "Boogie Woogie Fiddle Country Blues" in 1988, and three years later in 1991 Brooks & Dunn had a huge hit with "Boot Scootin' Boogie".
More representative examples can be found in some of the songs of Western swing pioneer Bob Wills, and subsequent tradition-minded country artists such as Asleep At The Wheel, Merle Haggard, and even George Strait.
The popularity of the Carnegie Hall concerts meant work for many of the fellow boogie players and also led to the adaptation of boogie-woogie sounds to many other forms of music. Tommy Dorsey's band had a hit with "T.D.'s Boogie Woogie" as arranged by Sy Oliver and soon there were boogie-woogie songs, recorded and printed, of many different stripes. Most famously, in the big-band genre, the ubiquitous "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," which was revamped recently by Christina Aguilera as her 2006 hit, "Candyman".
In the many styles of blues, especially Chicago blues and (more recently) West Coast blues, most pianists were influenced by, and employed, the traditional boogie woogie styles. Some of the earliest and most influential were Big Maceo Merriweather and, later, Sunnyland Slim (perhaps the greatest of all Chicago blues pianists). Otis Spann and Pinetop Perkins, two of the best known blues pianists, are heavily boogie-woogie influenced, with the latter taking both his name and signature tune from Pinetop Smith.
The boogie-woogie fad lasted from the late 1930s into the early fifties, and made a major contribution to the development of jump blues and ultimately to rock and roll, epitomized by Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis. Boogie woogie is still to be heard in clubs and on records throughout Europe and North America. Big Joe Duskin displayed on his 1979 album, Cincinnati Stomp, a command of piano blues and boogie-woogie, which he had absorbed at first hand in the 1940s from Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson.
In classical music, the composer Conlon Nancarrow was also deeply influenced by boogie-woogie, as many of his early works for player piano demonstrate. "A Wonderful Time Up There" is a boogie woogie gospel song. Povel Ramel's first hit in 1944 was Johanssons boogie-woogie-vals where he mixed boogie-woogie with waltz. John Lee Hooker took the Boogie-woogie style over to guitar from piano, creating the Boogie song "Boogie Chillen".
Beginning in the 1970s, and continuing to this day, artists such as George Frayne (Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen), keep (mostly) traditional boogie style alive with songs such as "Rock That Boogie", "Too Much Fun", "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar", and others. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century Jools Holland has been instrumental in keeping the boogie-woogie tradition alive. Also, multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee experimented with boogie-woogie in his 2006 soundtrack for the game Bully, in the song "Fighting Johnny Vincent". | <urn:uuid:770bdebb-cd9e-4496-814f-c80e904d26ee> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.smokestacklightnin.com/AreaBlues/Boogie-woogie.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00064-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968719 | 4,992 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Ancient Myths in Modern Movies
by Dr. Cora Angier Sowa
The Old West is the setting of many movies, with an enduring place in the mythology of America. (Illustration: "Blackfeet Indians--Three Buttes," engraving from the United States Pacific Railroad Explorations & Surveys--47th & 49th Parallels, ca. 1855, collection of C.A. Sowa.)
Ancient and mediaeval epic tales like the Iliad and Odyssey, Gilgamesh, and the Chanson de Roland had plots made up of modular elements taken from traditional themes or story lines. Among these themes were The Hero's Life, The Journey, The Marriage of the Fertility Goddess, The Epiphany of a God, and Invention of Technology. These same themes, with the same panoply of elements, as outlined in the following essay, have persisted through many civilizations, and can be found in our own movies. Such survivals appear not just in self-conscious imitations of Greek and other myth like O Brother Where Art Thou (which purposely adapted plot elements from the Odyssey) but in movies like The Godfather, Jaws, The Phantom of the Opera, and even Lassie Come Home. The same characters also recur in the stories, like The Goddess Across the Water, the Two Helpers, The Substitute Who Dies, and The Trickster-Inventor. We act out the plots of our myths, too, as can be seen in some poignant moments from our space program.
The essay that follows was originally delivered as a lecture at the Center for Coördination of Ancient and Modern Studies at the University of Michigan on February 21, 1973, and was subsequently used in a training course in personal development at IBM. The movies named are ones that were current in theaters or on television at the time. Later readers can fill in the blanks with movies of other eras, finding in them the same themes and the same recurring characters.
Identifying the elements of myth: The Godfather and Odysseus
Blood spurting from his chest, the young Italian writhes in a dance of death, his body jerking to the rhythm of the machine gun bullets. A shark's ragged jaws open, red and mangled with the flesh of victims, and a man disappears screaming into the bloody throat. Do these scenes, from The Godfather and Jaws, represent an American myth of cruelty and violence? Or should the word "myth" be reserved for more austere and decorous tales, like those we associate with the gods and goddesses of an idealized Greek and Roman antiquity, leaving us to dismiss The Godfather and Jaws as gruesomely hypnotic stories? (A third definition of "myth" would simply say that it is "something that isn't so," which gets us off the hook without supplying an explanation.)
Many people are surprised to learn that ancient myth was often at least as violent, if not more so, than the mayhem of our modern fantasies. The Greek god Kronos castrated his father with a pruning hook, then swallowed his own children; later, he was forced to vomit them up. The accursed hero Atreus cut the children of his brother Thyestes into little pieces, then served them to their father at a banquet. So much for the austere and decorous. But mythologers today define "myth" in a more subtle and discerning way, to include both the Corleone family and the shark, and Kronos and Thyestes, as well as gentler products of the human imagination. Myth is the system of recurring patterns and themes that people use to make sense out of the world. Significantly, ancient and modern patterns often turn out to be the same, even in small details; in their universality, they seem to have an intimate connection with the way all human beings think. The Godfather, and its companion, Godfather II, have been justly praised for excellence in such technical matters as acting and direction; their popularity is enhanced by less pleasant preoccupations: a lust for violence accentuated in recent years; an obsession with the details of organized crime; a cynical belief that only small distinctions separate lawless behavior from ordinary business practice. But deeper, more archaic reasons lie back of the Mafia saga's tremendous vogue. These reasons have to do with the film's mythic content.
The Succession Myth, or the cycle of older and younger generations
The basic myth of The Godfather is the Succession Myth, one of mankind's oldest myths, found in the literature of the Greeks and Babylonians and other ancient peoples. The typical Succession Myth covers three generations--grandfather, father, and son. Or the succession might be a series of female characters, grandmother, mother, and daughter. It chronicles the passage of power from generation to generation. A typical ancient example is the Theogony of Hesiod, a contemporary of Homer: Ouranos, the Sky God, was castrated by his son Kronos; Kronos, in turn, was overthrown by his youngest son Zeus, who became king of the gods. This story, with its Oedipal associations, describes the basic facts of family descent and competition.
Like Zeus, The Godfather's Michael Corleone is a youngest son, who inherits his aging father's position as head of an organized crime family. He is the youngest of three sons: the eldest brother, Sonny, is a hot-head who gets himself killed, and Fredo, the second brother, is disqualified by his stupidity, making way for Michael to head the family. This variation in which the youngest and least-favored ends by being the most successful, is known from folklore as The Tale of the Three Brothers. The female equivalent is Cinderella. The birth of Michael's son, who is present at the old Don's death, supplies the third generation of the Succession myth.
It is the way of mythic stories to combine more than one myth; the basic theme is extended with subplots from other mythic themes. This gives greater length and variety. The story of the son who overthrows his father in the Succession Myth generally includes the Hero's Birth and the Hero's Consolidation of His Power--themes found both in the Theogony and in The Godfather. Born in secret, the infant Hero is hidden from hostile members of the older generation. In ancient stories, the hostile figure may be the Hero's wicked stepmother or his father, who does not want his son to rob him of his power. Zeus's father Kronos swallowed all of Zeus's brothers and sisters, and would have swallowed Zeus, too, if he had not been tricked into swallowing a stone wrapped in blankets, baby-fashion. But the Hero grows miraculously fast, or attains prodigious strength at an early age, and so is able to save himself. Zeus grew quickly under the care of the Nymphs, and forced his father to vomit up all his brothers and sisters, whom he had swallowed--demonstrating that we moderns have nothing on the ancients when it comes to action and violence. When he is older, the Hero performs the Great Exploit, which confirms him as a mature Hero. Always one of the most popular parts of the Hero myth, this is the part where the Hero kills the Monster, or performs some equivalent feat. The world has always loved a good monster. Zeus destroyed Typhoeus and the Titans, but the Exploit proliferates easily into a whole series, like the Twelve Labors of Herakles. After the Exploit, the Hero consolidates his power by distributing rewards and positions to his friends and punishing his enemies.
In The Godfather, Michael's comfortable upbringing precluded the element of secrecy we find in many Heroes' origins; but Godfather Part II, while adding little in most respects to Part I, supplied this crucial element. Part II's flashbacks show us the darker side of the Hero's origins, in young Vito Corleone's secret flight from the Sicilian Mafiosi who killed his parents. Part II also makes Michael the third generation, as the young Hero of the Succession Myth ought to be. His children are the fourth--Zeus, too, had many sons. Michael's Great Exploit--the combat with the Monster--is the killing of his first cop.
The Journey: the Goddess Across the Water, the Two Helpers, and the Death of the Substitute
The Hero often goes on a Journey. Michael goes to Sicily to escape the cop-killing rap. The Journey theme has always been a favorite one for story-tellers everywhere, as a metaphor for life and its experiences. It was a favorite among the Greeks, who were a seafaring people; Homer's Odyssey has given its name for all time to every great journey. It is popular with us, too, for Americans are also a mobile people. From Huckleberry Finn to Easy Rider and Harry and Tonto, we see constant proof of its popularity.
"Come stay with me and be my husband," the Goddess says to the Hero, "and I will make you immortal." She is the Goddess Across the Water, and the Hero's encounter with her is one of the incidents that appear almost without fail in every Journey story. But the relationship of man and Goddess is doomed, for the Hero returns to his human wife. The Hero also meets two Helpers, one female, the other male, an aged or immortal seer. The First Helper may be the same as the Goddess Across the Water, and the second Helper is sometimes her father. On his return, the Hero loses someone near and dear to him, the Substitute Who Dies in place of the Hero. The Substitute may be the Hero's best friend, his mother, or even his dog. In The Godfather, Apollonia, the beautiful girl described as "looking more Greek than Italian," is the Goddess with whom the Hero lives but with whom he cannot stay. The Sicilians call Michael's sudden infatuation with Apollonia "the thunderbolt," reminding us of another ancient myth; for in Greek epic, men who slept with goddesses were often punished by Zeus's thunderbolt. Iasion, beloved of Demeter, suffered this punishment; Anchises dared not reveal his afternoon of love with Aphrodite for fear of it. But in The Godfather it is Apollonia herself who is killed, by a bomb in their car intended for Michael. Tragedy for the goddess was always implicit in the theme; for though immortal, the ancient goddess was touched by death by losing her mortal lover. With the mortal Apollonia, the motif is made explicit. Michael goes back alone to America, where he marries his back-home girlfriend, Kay Adams. Kay's role is that of the human wife, to whom the Hero returns after his adventure with the Goddess. She is Penelope to Apollonia's Circe. But Michael's absence is marked by another loss, for while he is away, his oldest brother, Sonny, the hot-head, is ambushed and killed. This is the Death of the Substitute, without which the Hero cannot return from the great Journey.
The Journey theme is a myth of Death and Resurrection. Throughout mythology, there are many death and resurrection myths, sometimes literal, as in Christian mythology, but also including journeys to the Underworld of the Dead, journeys up to Heaven and back, and other lengthy absences from society. A woman or young person occupying the role of Hero may experience "death" by being raped or kidnapped--an involuntary journey. But usually the Journey is motivated by a felt lack or longing, and there is good reason to think the basic longing is for immortality. A myth even older than the Greek, the Sumero-Babylonian Gilgamesh epic, illustrates this clearly. Gilgamesh crossed the sea in search of immortality. Arrived at the other side, he was told that if he could stay awake for six days and seven nights, he would become immortal, but he fell asleep. He was given another chance to become immortal, if he could pluck and eat the magic plant that grew at the bottom of the sea. He plucked the plant, but before he could eat it, a snake ate it, and became immortal instead of Gilgamesh. The Search for the Secret of Life is not unknown to us: it appears in the anti-utopian film Soylent Green, where the inhabitants of an overpopulated future are living on little wafers called Soylent, which everyone thinks are made out of soybeans and lentils. A detective named Thorn (Charlton Heston) sets out to learn the secret that he knows the authorities are hiding from the people. Thorn's Journey to the Land of the Dead is his secret journey to the factory where the wafers are made. Helped by a beautiful girl and an old man, appropriately named Solomon, Thorn learns the secret, which is that the wafers are made from human corpses. But he cannot bring back the secret; he is murdered by the authorities before he can tell the people what they are eating.
But the Journey Myth, in common with other Death and Resurrection myths, may have less to do with literal dying and its literal aftermath than with the psychological coming to maturity of the individual, who must give up his infantile belief in his own immortality and omnipotence, and confront his own mortality. It is an experience from which he emerges a sadder but wiser person. This is why the Substitute must die: No one can return from the Land of the Dead without losing some part of himself; no one can reach maturity except at great cost. Or perhaps: nothing can survive without changing. The Death of the Substitute is so important that it often appears even in stories that lack an explicit Journey. War stories frequently have both the meeting with the goddess and the Death of the Substitute. In such movies as The Big Parade, Wings, Task Force, and many others, the hero goes overseas to war, falls in love with a girl (often French or Oriental), and his best buddy gets killed. In the war movies, the hero sometimes gets the girl at the end and sometimes not, but someone important to the hero always dies.
Michael Corleone's Journey, then, is another aspect of his initiation into life, which began with his Great Exploit. The cop-killing provides the motivation for the Journey, and this, too, is thematically correct; a Journey required as expiation for a murder is a variation known from many ancient examples. Apollonia, the Goddess, represents both sexual initiation and that life-enhancing touch with mysterious forces that we often, for lack of a better explanation, ascribe to a supernatural agency. But Michael cannot remain forever isolated from real life in his idyllic Sicilian hideaway. Like all of us, he returns to the responsibilities of his mature life. On his return, he consolidates his position by distributing positions and power to his friends and punishing his enemies, completing his role in the Succession myth.
Why would a film about the Succession Myth be popular in the 1970's? (A Godfather III is already being readied for television.) We have had other Succession stories; the familiar show-business story about the aging star who is being displaced by the younger, more glamorous star is another version of the same myth. The most famous examples are A Star is Born, which has just been remade again, and All About Eve, recently revived on Broadway under its original name of Applause. All About Eve has the classic three generations; it ends with the younger actress' own stardom being threatened by the schemes of an even younger woman. Fellini's Oscar-winning Amarcord follows the same cycle of generations. In a story framed by the cyclic year that begins with the burning of the Witch of Winter, an old woman dies, a young woman marries, and a little girl catches the bridal bouquet. The 1960's and 70's have been a time of massive changes, when old ways of looking at things and doing things have been called in question, and the younger generation has tried to reshape the world in its own image. 1972, the year the original Godfather was released, also gave us the film version of Fiddler On The Roof and TV's All In The Family, both of which also derived their dramatic tension from the conflict of the generations. The myth of Ouranos, Kronos, and Zeus is old, but it seems to have a particular applicability to our own times. The Succession and the Journey, two powerful themes, combine to give The Godfather a strong mythic foundation, on which its other messages--about law and order, American business ethics, and the problems of America's immigrant ethnic minorities--can be laid.
Widening our search for mythic themes: sharecroppers, suburbanites, and movie Westerns
If we can apply this kind of mythic analysis to The Godfather, can we do the same for other movies? Indeed we can, and a look at some other movies from this point of view gives a deeper understanding of both the movies and the myths. Some movies use the myths already found in The Godfather, but other themes appear, too, illuminating other aspects of our personal and social lives. For the mythic themes have to do with the universal life crises--birth, maturation, survival, sickness, death, and those moments when human beings confront the inexplicable forces of the universe. The myths separate and interweave, even as the events of which they are stylized versions touch us in changing patterns during our real lives. The myth that is the "frame" in one story may supply the subject for another and vice versa. In The Godfather, the frame, or basic myth, was the Succession, and the Journey was the subsidiary theme. But the Journey could just as well be, and often is, the frame, into which other myths are fit as details.
Sounder: the heroic dog as injured Substitute
Sounder, the highly acclaimed Black movie, used the Journey as the basic myth, combined with the Son's Search and the Return of the Hero. In structure, it is almost identical to Homer's Odyssey, which also featured a long-gone father and the son who goes looking for him. Odysseus spent ten years getting home from the Trojan War, which had itself lasted ten years. Telemachos, his son, seeking to oust the wicked barons who had usurped his father's lands and who planned to force his mother into marriage with one of their number, goes looking for his father. In Sounder, Nathan Morgan, the Black sharecropper, is sentenced to a work camp for a petty theft. And this, on the same day that he had proved his prowess in an American heroic activity, the local baseball game. Things go badly at home in Nathan's absence, too, without Nathan to help bring the crops in. His son David goes looking for him. As in the Odyssey, the son does not find his father, though in both stories the father eventually returns. David's journey, like that of Telemachos, serves instead as a vehicle for his own attainment of maturity. David meets the Two Helpers, but instead of male and female, they are both female--but one is White, the other Black. Returning, like Odysseus, injured and in rags, the father--again like Odysseus--is recognized first by his dog on his return. Sounder lacks the Odyssey's bloody Revenge scene--none is necessary--but Nathan's return sets the family fortunes happily to rights.
Who is the Substitute Who Dies in Sounder? Actually, nobody dies, but Sounder, the dog, comes to mind, especially when we remember how Odysseus' old hunting dog, Argos, dies after greeting his master one last time. Sounder is injured by the sheriff's men and disappears for a while, though he returns to accompany the son on his Search. But father and son return home injured, too, and a close look reveals a recurring symbolism: Three Journeys, from which each character--man, dog, and boy--returns damaged in some way, as the price of his return. And this is the basic meaning of the Death of the Substitute, that no one can return from the Land of the Dead except at the loss of some part of himself.
The Swimmer: paddling home to a ghostly house
The Rip Van Winkle motif, where the long-gone Hero returns to find conditions of change and devastation at home, is prominent in Sounder. It is almost the whole story in a curious and little-noticed movie called The Swimmer, based on a story by John Cheever. A Connecticut suburbanite (played by Burt Lancaster) decides to go home by swimming across all his neighbors' swimming pools. He arrives, through a series of more and more dreamlike sequences, to find his once-lovely house mysteriously vacant, a ghostly ruin. Devastation at home during the Hero's absence is, in a way, the other side of the Death of the Substitute, and almost as necessary. Even in The Godfather, the Corleone family is diminished and failing in strength on Michael's return from Sicily, and needs to be put to rights by him. No one can reach maturity without changing, but life changes around us, too. The old secure world of the home dies, and a new life must be created anew by each adult for himself.
The Creation Myth and the Cattle of the Sun in the Old West
The Creation myth itself provides a frame for certain stories, notably cowboy and Western movies. The connection between cattle and creation did not begin with the Old West. As we look into ancient mythology, we find an important connection between the two, especially involving the Cattle of the Sun. In the mythology of ancient India, Indra, the young Hero-god, kills the demon of darkness, Vritra, who had imprisoned the Cows of the Waters, whose moisture is necessary for creation. Indra frees the cows and impregnates them, and they give birth to the Sun, which provides warmth for creation. Indra and Varuna then create the world. Cattle have always occupied an important place in the mythologies of people who keep cattle, as symbols of fertility, virility, and creation--as well as being one of the oldest forms of property. Stories about cattle--the stealing of cattle as a heroic enterprise, and the taking of cattle from an enemy settlement--are prominent in their epic. In our own culture, too, cowboy stories are a Creation myth. While the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock have never caught on as a popular subject, the Western has thrived as our myth of nation-building--"How the West Was Won."
The Virginian, whose 1929 version, starring Gary Cooper, is the most familiar, is a good example of the straight Western, with no irony, no questioning of the epic myth, and humor only of a fusty sort. Cattle-stealing is the film's heroic activity. A changed ethic no longer allows cattle-stealing as a legal activity, carried out against enemy towns or an unpleasant cattle baron like Vritra; it is a crime, for which Gary Cooper's friend is hanged (by a posse led by Cooper himself), thus providing the story with its Death of the Substitute. Gary Cooper gets the girl, with whom both men were in love. This is the Contest, where the girl must choose the best from among many suitors. The girl, a transplanted New England schoolteacher, is a typical epic heroine--her role is to mourn over the fallen and to refuse to accept the cruelties of the heroic code. The survivor guilt inevitably associated with the Death of the Substitute is rationalized, as it usually is, by Cooper's role in his friend's death. Before he marries the girl, Cooper avenges the loss of his friend by killing the chief rustler, who led his friend astray. This, too, is an epic motif, the Hero who refuses to consummate his marriage, until he has settled a score. We see the same sequence of events--the hero and his friend in love with the same girl, the friend killed through the agancy of the hero--in war movies like Wings and Chain Lightning, with the heroic acitivity changed from cattle-herding to flying. In Chain Lightning, Humphrey Bogart and his friend are test pilots; the friend dies in an accident. "We drove him to it," says the girl to Bogart, and Bogart "avenges" the other man's death before marrying the girl; flying grimly through the thunderstorm on an almost empty gas tank, he ejects successfully from the same experimental escape system that killed the other pilot.
Very different in its irony from the naive seriousness of The Virginian is the later Western The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean; yet its use of myth is, if anything, richer. For it gives us the opening of the West and the founding of its towns as the frame, with elements of the Succession, the Journey, the Goddess, the Substitute, the devastated home, and the Son's Revenge, which has become, for the purpose of this movie, a Daughter's Revenge. Roy Bean, a desperado who has just robbed an bank, comes into a little Texas town bragging of his deed. He is beaten, robbed, and left to die by the keepers of the local brothel. With the help of a young girl (indispensable in many a heroic tale; she later becomes his wife), he comes back and murders the robbers. He converts the brothel into a saloon; and having found a copy of the Laws of Texas in the place, sets himself up as Judge Roy Bean, the Law West of the Pecos, with several other desperadoes as his marshals. In this we see the Hero of hidden origins who performs the Great Exploit and consolidates his power by rewarding his friends and punishing his enemies. But Bean's saloon is also a shrine to actress Lily Langtry, with whose portraits Bean papers the walls. The ritual of the shrine is poker, which is played at critical moments in the story. "It was," as someone in the movie says, "like a religion to them." A surprise for the mythologist; although the heroes of ancient epic not infrequently confirmed their power by founding shrines, the motif is unusual in the movies.
The Epiphany of Lily Langtry as Deus ex Machina
Lily Langtry, the goddess figure in Roy Bean, occupies a central place in the film's mythology, thought she appears in person only at its conclusion. Played by legendary glamour queen Ava Gardner, she is a true descendant of Homer's Athena, making her presence felt even when absent. Of Bean's many adventures, one is the Journey to the Land of the Goddess. Bean goes to the big city to see her perform on stage, but is unable to get a ticket to her show, is robbed and returns without having seen her--the relationship with the Goddess is doomed. The Substitute Who Dies is the Watch-Bear, a fearsome animal who, abandoned by his former owner, terrified the town. The beast stayed to become a pet and guardian for Bean and his family, and dies defending his masters against the villains--the friend who later dies for the Hero often begins as the Hero's adversary. On the untimely death of his wife, Bean withdraws and disappears for many years. When he returns, he finds that his town--the settlement he had once envisioned as a city with marble courthouses--has been taken over by a crooked oil speculator and his henchmen. Like Odysseus, he is joined by his only child--his daughter, Rose--and by his old retainers, in a great battle in which they kill or drive out the usurpers. The battle scene is pure Odyssey, as Bean, like Odysseus, "leaps upon the great threshold and shouts" to his enemies.
But the most remarkable mythic echo is saved for the end: Bean is dead, and his saloon has been converted into the Judge Roy Bean Museum. One day, Lily Langtry herself descends from her private railroad car to visit the Museum. This is the Epiphany of the Goddess, and, as in Greek Tragedy, she comes at the end, as a deus ex machina. Now we understand why she comes; for the appearance of the deus ex machina always represents a kind of putting in divine perspective of everything that has happened.
The Goddess has her own point of view in her encounter with the Hero
The Hero's encounter with the Goddess can also be told from the Goddess' point of view, and in such stories the tragic element often predominates. The ancient Greek Hymn to Aphrodite told of the goddess' love affair with the mortal Anchises, whom she wished to make immortal, but could not. Mourning her lost love and her shame, she becomes by him the mother of the hero Aeneas, later the hero of Vergil's Aeneid. Goddesses, like Aphrodite, who seduce Heroes, often appear in disguise; only later do they reveal their true identity to the Hero. A movie example is the 1936 film Dracula's Daughter, in which "Countess Ileska" entices the hero to her Transylvanian castle, where she offers him immortality--by turning him into a vampire like herself. He refuses her offer, and goes back to his human sweetheart, while the vampire loses both his love and her own life. The same feeling for the Goddess' tragic loss comes out in episodes of Star Trek, where the hero is beguiled by a Princess from an Alien Planet.
Death Takes a Bride
Modern treatments of the Goddess' love affair with a man are generally remarkable for the polarization of the two female roles, the Goddess and the Wife. Where the ancient epic gave the Goddess a believably nuanced personality, and provided the wife, like Odysseus' Penelope, with a vitality and intelligence equal to her husband's, the movies usually offer us an intelligent but malevolent goddess (an amalgam of Goddess and monster), in contrast to a weak and vapid human sweetheart. Women in myth are not infrequently faced with a similar choice between a supernatural lover and a human lover, and the same opportunity for polarization arises. Like the Goddess, the supernatural lover tends to be the more interesting of the two, played off against a weak juvenile lead. The Phantom of the Opera, whose literal humanness does not detract from his supernatural role, is a more compelling character than the "hero" who rescues the girl. But some girls abandon the human lover for the supernatural lover, a variation we call Death Takes a Bride, like the heroines of Death Takes a Holiday (1934) and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947).
The Deathly suitor takes many shapes, some frankly monstrous, like as not the same monster that the Hero slays as his Heroic Exploit. Monsters, both ancient and modern, are projections of our own fears and hostile impulses, which we exteriorize in order to disown them. Monsters that menace entire towns and communitites (the Things, Blobs, and yes, giant sharks) are projections of the antisocial impulses of an entire society. It is likely that the monster from whom the Hero rescues the girl is her own feared sexuality--the shark on the poster for Jaws is poised beneath the swimming girl like a giant male organ. The monster frequently turns into the Hero--the Beauty and the Beast or Frog-Prince motif. This variation supplied the plot for I Married A Monster From Outer Space, in which a monster "occupies" a man's body; the monster's death leaves the man outwardly the same, but returns him to his human identity. Has the woman worked through her own fears and accpted the "monster" as human? The monster within the human body reappears in The Exorcist; despite its occult trimmings, this film was basically an ordinary monster picture, except that the creature menaced the heroine not from the outside but from the inside.
The best of all modern monster pictures is still King Kong. Its success is due to the unusually sympathetic role given the monster throughout. While there is a conventional hero who rescues Fay Wray from the giant gorilla, Kong himself is a tragic hero who rescues the heroine from the tyrannosaurus and other perils of his prehistoric jungle. When, like a grotesque Christ or Herakles, he dies his heroic death at the top of the Empire State Building, we feel a sense of loss and tragedy.
The Mad Inventor as bringer of civilization, destroyer of the Golden Age
I Was A Teenage Werewolf is a monster story in a different frame. It had all the cliches of the 1950's, including the confessional title and the misunderstanding between disturbed teenagers and their ineffectual parents (much better done in Rebel Without A Cause). But it is worth mentioning because it combined the Monster theme with the Myth of the Golden Age and the Mad Inventor. The Encounter with the Goddess and the Combat With the Monster are just two of the themes that describe the play of mysterious forces in our lives. Stories of invention and the origins of civilization have a supernatural element, too. In folklore, such things as the use of fire are not attributed to human invention, but are regarded as having come from the gods. (Erich von Däniken's travelers from outer space in Chariots of the Gods? have revived the idea in our own day.) The ancient exemplar was Prometheus, a god of the older generation deposed by Zeus, who stole fire from the ruling gods and gave it to mankind. The culture-bringer is traditionally a trickster-hero, whose gift is a theft. Ambivalent feelings of gratefulness and guilt color our attitude toward technology even today. The trickster-inventor lives on vestigially in our movies as the Mad Scientist.
Civilization was preceded by the Golden Age, when everything man needed was supplied by the gods. This is the Age of Kronos of the Greeks and the Garden of Eden of the Bible. The Mad Scientist of I Was A Teenage Werewolf rather inconsistently tries to use science to get back to the Golden Age. He injects drugs into the title character in an attempt to regress him back to his genetic origins. Worse still, he has designs on the whole human race, which he thinks can only be saved by a fresh evolutionary start. He succeeds only in turning the boy into a wolf-like monster who murders maidens, fellow-students, and eventually the scientist himself. The film's somewhat muddled message is conveyed in the final words of the reporter who covers the case (this is a newspaper picture, too): "It's not for man to interfere in the ways of God."
The myth of the Golden Age has been a dominant myth in America since its beginning. The founders of American were haunted by the idea that by coming to a new place, they could build a new Paradise, with a new Adam, free from all the problems of a decadent Europe. Today's utopians leave the cities to seek Eden in the suburbs. But as American novelists from Hawthorne to Fitzgerald have recognized, there can be no Eden without a Fall, and the innocent new Adam must eventually confront the realities of the adult world or be destroyed--another myth of coming to maturity by facing one's own limitations and the limitations of life.
This was the myth of The Great Gatsby, one of those stories that crystallize an entire idea and symbolize it forever. The movie version did not fail, as some have said, because it suffered from a story that would not transfer well to film. Its theme was that of Eden lost, of the innocent new Adam in his tragic confrontation with the real world. By changing his name and assuming a new identity, Gatsby thinks he can make a fresh start, and regain Paradise by recovering a lost relationship. Biblical scholars tell us that the apple of the Tree of Knowledge (of good and evil), which Eve gave Adam, is historically the same as the magic plant that Gilgamesh plucked from the bottom of the sea. The Tree is the Tree of Life, and its fruit was supposed to grant immortality. But it granted knowledge instead--knowledge of the human condition and man's mortality. Lured by Daisy's green light instead of an apple, Gatsby longs for a fantasy that cannot be fulfilled because it never existed. As a film, The Great Gatsby failed because its makers failed to comprehend the theme, and tried to turn it into an ordinary love story. Sam Waterston's portrayal of Nick Carraway, the narrator who is forced to confront the same reality, but survives the confrontation, did achieve much of the quality of disillusionment and acceptance that is inherent in the theme, and as a result was one of the best performances in the film.
The transformations of the mythic themes are endless, and once the viewer starts looking for them, they fairly leap out from the screen. Deliverance, which was supposedly about whitewater canoeing, has the Journey, the aspect of sexual initiation (with a homosexual rape replacing the visit to the Goddess), and the Death of the Substitute. The Substitute is Drew, the nice guy who is either shot by the cretinous mountain man or drowned, one is never sure which. In Lassie Come Home, that classic of sentimentalized animal pictures, we have the Journey with a dog as protagonist. The female helper is the old lady who wants Lassie to stay with her; the male Helper is the old man with the cart who makes a living exhibiting his trick dog. The trick dog dies, providing an appropriate Death of the Substitute. The journey in American Graffiti takes place mostly in cars in a constant state of "cruising," but ends with the real departure of Curt for the East. The Goddess is the mysterious Blonde in the White Thunderbird. Wolfman Jack is the Wise Old Man. His supernatural identity is evident in his maniacal cry, "THE WOLFMAN IS EVERYWHERE!" Since no one dies in the picture, the Substitute must die in an epilogue that tells what happened to the characters afterwards. Walking Tall, with its Southern sheriff coming home to clean up the town, featured the Hero's Homecoming and Revenge. Bang the Drum Slowly was an entire movie built around the Death of the Substitute. The spate of disaster pictures--The Poseidon Adventure, the Airport films, Earthquake, The Towering Inferno, The Hindenburg--are a new type of monster picture. In them, too, our dark anxieties are given a palpable shape, reduced to physical objects that can be dealt with positively and thus exorcized.
Why the movies are so mythic
What is there about the movies that makes them outstanding carriers of mythic themes, that attracts these remnants of an ancient imagination, buried within our brains? The answer lies partly in the nature of the medium itself. The movies are the modern equivalent of one of the world's oldest art forms, the oral epic. In ancient Greece and Mesopotamia, Egypt and India, the oral bard brought his stories to every corner of the inhabited world, just as movies and TV bring all the latest fact and fiction to us today. The oral epic is traditional and formulaic; unlike most modern poetry, which is composed in writing, it is improvised live before an audience. Like the movies and TV, it is an audio-visual experience that is both a form of public entertainment and a vehicle for popular education. The motion picture resembles the oral epic both in form and function; small wonder that the same themes can be found in both.
We know the scene from descriptions in Homer: Roast meat and a goblet of wine comfortably at his elbow, the bard strikes a tune on the lyre's responsive strings, and begins his song of Troy and godlike heroes. We may take Homer himself and his contemporary, Hesiod, as prototypes of the oral bard. Both lived around 750 B.C., just about the time writing was introduced into Greece, yet it is unlikely that either of them ever learned to write. They recited their poems--or rather sang them to the accompaniment of the lyre--at banquets, weddings, funerals, and at the many religious festivals. If two or more well-known bards were present on the same occasion, there might be a contest between them to see who could sing the best song, often on the same subject. Such a contest is said to have taken place between Homer and Hesiod; Hesiod won. The bard received free food and drink, and perhaps a more substantial payment, like an expensive drinking bowl or metal tripod.
The oral bard's stories were traditional. Subjects included the cosmic and the heroic--the origins of the world, the deeds of gods and heroes--but they also included more practical matters, like how to navigate a ship, run a farm, or choose a wife. The poet sang the same songs wherever he went, and the same stories were used by one poet after another. Many different audiences heard these stories, just as movies are shown in town after town. But the same story was never sung the same way twice, even by the same poet; perhaps we should compare different performances to movie remakes. For the bard does not memorize his songs verbatim; like the jazz musician, he recomposes his song each time he sings it, using formulaic expressions. Phrases like "godlike Achilles" or "Then, when rosy-fingered Dawn appeared" were Homeric favorites. The same story might be longer one time, shorter another, depending on the interest shown by the audience. Even so do television networks shorten--but usually do not lengthen--movies, to suit the time requirements of the sponsors.
Improvisation in movies and epic
Movies are improvised, too. The amount of improvisation differs from one picture to another, and some filmmakers make few changes in the script once shooting has started; but more than one director has begun with only a vague idea of how the picture was to proceed, and then allowed either himself or his actors to improvise the rest. The large number of people involved in the creation of a movie--screenwriter, producer, director, actors, cameramen, and even the audience, whose tastes dictate what is to go into a movie--gives the project a communal aspect. This is similar to the oral epic, to whose construction many generations of bards and audiences have contributed. Such community projects are likely to be reduced to a common denominator of formulaic and traditional material. The actual reuse of film footage from one "B" movie to another is a manifestation of this--the same wheel falling off the same stage coach; the same aerial dogfights reappearing in epics of World War I. But the most important traditional elements are the mythic themes.
"If this story isn't true, it should be"
Whatever is told using the themes becomes distorted to fit them. James Notopoulos, who studied and recorded the songs of modern oral Greek poets, still practicing in remote mountain villages, reported a Cretan bard's version of the Nazi invasion of Crete. In his song, the German general (who really came in a tank) entered the village on a white horse, because that's the way the theme goes. As it said at the beginning of The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, "If this story isn't true, it should be." The same thing happens in the movies, especially where the movie has been made from a book or written play. Writing is the product of a different sensibility, which puts a premium on the individual, the quantifiable, and the discrete. Where a book is made into a movie, the story is generally changed in the direction of the mythic, with elements that differ from the myth being replaced by more mythic ones. In Chinatown, the director changed a written screenplay to make it more mythic. Screenwriter Robert Towne gave the story a happier ending, which director Roman Polanski changed to one of unmitigated defeat. But the finale of Chinatown is mythically correct; the detective (like Thorn in Soylent Green) who discovers the Great Secret is never able to enoy his secret or communicate it to others. Mythically, Towne was wrong, Polanski was right.
Oral epic included both tragedy and comedy, just as our movies do. The Battle of the Frogs and Mice mocked the Iliad in the same way that Blazing Saddles parodies our Westerns, and Woody Allen's Sleeper (with its Journey into the future and its earnestly vacuous goddess figure) pokes fun at the Journey theme. Laughter allays our anxieties, and it is no wonder that the mythic themes, which grew out of the anxieties of the life crises, should also produce some of the best comedy.
The characters of oral epic supply role models of what to be. (Be like Odysseus and Penelope; don't be like the Wicked Suitors). The mythic themes, with their unchanging sequence of events, supply action models of what to do. Generations of young Greeks and Babylonians got their ideas of how to cope with life by listening to the oral bard, just as our children learn what the world expects of them (and what to expect of the world) by watching movies and TV. Many of our ideas about right and wrong, responsible behavior, and the relationship between men and women can be traced to mythic themes dispensed by our media.
Are the themes inborn, a part of our brain structure, or are they inherited as part of our culture? Science has given us no answer as yet; in the absence of hard evidence, a middle view seems preferable. The tendency to form myths, to form patterns for organizing reality, is probably inborn. The content of the patterns is due to our common biological heritage: we all are born, we all die, we all eat, we all encounter things we don't understand. This inner reality may be more faithfully represented by a mythic story than are the outward events supposedly described in the story. Nor do we know what alternatives there are to thinking in these patterns. Perhaps it is up to such systems as psychotherapy, Zen, and art itself, whose aim is to break down our usual modes of conceptualization, to provide evidence that there is an alternative to mythic thinking.
The "Fallen Astronaut" on the moon
The impact of the mythic themes is best seen when we act them out. When the astronauts went to the moon, they went on a great Journey. And on that Journey they learned the lesson of all great Journeys, the Secret of Life, which is precisely the fact that we are mortal. The astronauts has almost universally testified to the poignant understanding they gained not only of their own mortality but of the fragility of the entire Earth. Like all those who make the Journey, they were never fully able to communicate that vision to the rest of us. On the moon they left a little statue, the "Fallen Astronaut," commemorating the astronauts and cosmonauts who have died in the space program. The gesture perhaps seemed silly, a bit sentimental, but it is thematically correct. The statue represents the Substitute Who Dies, without whose death no one can return from the Land of the Dead.
Social planners like to talk about the need for "imaginative solutions
for modern problems." Implicit in this phrase is the assumption that the
problems of our age are unique, and that we must seek new and
unprecedented ways of dealing with them. But the old gods have not died;
from the fictional Godfather to the space program, they continue
to vigorously assert their existence, guiding our perceptions and shaping
our actions. The world must change in order to survive--is that not the
message of the Death of the Substitute? But the constant regeneration of
the ancient myths should contain a warning for anyone who tries to change
the world by forcing a new world view upon it; for the new world view
just might turn out to be, in a new guise, the old world view.
Copyright © 2001, Cora Angier Sowa. All rights reserved.
Send e-mail to Cora Angier Sowa.
Return to Minerva Systems home page. | <urn:uuid:be206157-b7ef-4174-87f0-cfc9c2c65ed7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.minervaclassics.com/movimyth.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00039-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967644 | 10,098 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Atomic Number: 48
Atomic Symbol: Cd
Atomic Weight: 112.411
Melting Point: 609.92 F (321.07 C)
Boiling Point: 1,412.6 F (767 C)
Word origin: Cadmium comes from the Latin word cadmia, Greek kadmeia. This is the ancient name for calamine, or zinc carbonate. Cadmium is so named because of its similarities to zinc.
Discovery: Friedrich Stromeyer, a German chemist, discovered cadmium in 1817 while he was analyzing an impurity of zinc carbonate (ZnCO3).
Properties of cadmium
Cadmium is a soft, bluish-white metal that can be easily cut with a knife. It is similar to zinc in many aspects. [See Periodic Table of the Elements]
Cadmium and solutions of its compounds are toxic.Failure to take care when handling cadmium can cause exposure to dangerous fumes. Cadmium poisoning is a serious health problem that can occur from long-term exposure and work with cadmium-plating baths.
Silver solder also contains cadmium and should be handled with care.
Exposure to cadmium dust should not exceed 0.01 milligrams per cubic meter per 40-hour workweek. The maximum concentration for a period of 15 minutes should not exceed 0.14 mg/m3. Cadmium oxide fume exposure should not exceed 0.05 mg/m3, and the maximum concentration should not exceed 0.05 mg/m3per eight-hour day, 40-hour workweek. These values are currently being restudied and recommendations have been made to reduce the exposure.
Sources of cadmium
Cadmium does not abundantly occur natively. Greenockite is the only mineral of any consequence that bears cadmium. It is most often found in small quantities in zinc ores, such as sphalerite (ZnS). Cadmium mineral deposits are found in Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Washington and Utah, as well as Bolivia, Guatemala, Hungary and Kazakhstan. Almost all cadmium in use is a by-product of treating zinc, copper and lead ores.
Uses of cadmium
In 1927, the International Conference on Weights and Measures redefined the meter in terms of the wavelength of the red cadmium spectral line. This definition has since been changed.
Cadmium is used in many types of solder, including for standard E.M.F. cells, for nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) batteries, and as a barrier to control nuclear fission. It is a component in low-melting alloys, including bearing alloys that have low coefficients of friction and great resistance to fatigue.
Cadmium's greatest use — about 60 percent — is electroplating.
Cadmium compounds are used in black-and-white television phosphors and in blue and green phosphors for color TV tubes.
Cadmium forms several salts, of which sulfate is the most common. Cadmium sulfide is used as a yellow pigment in oil painting.
(Source: Los Alamos National Laboratory) | <urn:uuid:238a4937-d4d4-4548-b95b-91a36b4d89e2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.livescience.com/37044-cadmium.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00042-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923224 | 686 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Shortly after the 2011 earthquake in Japan, the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant experienced equipment failures that prompted radioactive leaks. Those leaks, scientists now say, are much worse then imagined. “We’ve been saying since 2011 that the reactor site is still leaking whether that’s the buildings and the ground water or these new tank releases. There’s no way to really contain all of this radioactive water on site,” Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution told the BBC. Norma Field, professor emeritus of Japanese Studies at the University of Chicago, gives us an overview of the situation. (Photo: AP Images).
Listen to the program at Radiation leaks at Fukushima are unquantifiable, scientists say | <urn:uuid:eeb40a05-553d-40d1-875b-9b3c9b84878e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/atomicage/2013/08/22/audio-radiation-leaks-at-fukushima-are-unquantifiable-scientists-say-via-wbez/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00092-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918077 | 153 | 3.125 | 3 |
Lavonne M. Adams, PhD, RN, CCRN
Disasters and infectious disease outbreaks over the last several years have demonstrated the importance of emergency preparedness for large-scale events affecting many people. The ability to respond effectively to events producing a massive influx of patients that disrupt daily operations requires surge capacity. Key components of surge capacity include the four S’s: ‘staff,’ ‘stuff,’ ‘structure,’ and ‘systems.’ As experts in planning and coordinating patient care, nurses have a crucial role to play in disaster planning. Nurses must become familiar with the concept of surge capacity and understand both how it relates to the health and safety of communities and how it is applicable to their nursing practice. This article explores the concept of surge capacity and describes how surge capacity can be useful in various aspects of emergency preparedness planning.
Citation: Adams, L. M. (March 31, 2009) "Exploring the Concept of Surge Capacity" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing; Vol. 14 No.2 .
Key Words: disaster, disaster planning, disaster preparedness, emergency preparedness, nursing role in surge capacity, surge capacity
Anthrax. Severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (SARS). Katrina. Ike. Pandemic influenza. All these words highlight the importance of local, regional, and national emergency planning. Since 2001, efforts at emergency planning have increased in the United States (U.S.), and various organizations have made recommendations for emergency preparedness and emergency management plans. For example, The Joint Commission (TJC, 2003) has made emergency planning, based on hazard vulnerability analysis, a requirement. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (U.S DHHS, 2008), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ, 2005), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2008) have begun to emphasize emergency preparedness in their research agendas. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS, 2008) has funded initiatives designed to improve emergency preparedness.
A critical component of the ability to respond to large-scale disasters is surge capacity. Effective emergency preparedness in the healthcare arena requires planning for large-scale events that affect many people. These events may include chemical, biological, radiological, or natural disasters. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina provides a vivid example of a large-scale, natural-disaster event. Infectious disease outbreaks, such as severe acute respiratory distress syndrome or pandemic avian flu, provide yet other examples of potentially, large-scale events. A critical component of the ability to respond to large-scale disasters is surge capacity.
The study of surge capacity is a relatively recent science, studied most commonly in the fields of military and emergency medicine and public health. Few nurses outside of these arenas are familiar with the concept; and even within these arenas, the definition of surge capacity remains elusive. As surge capacity becomes a greater focus of discussion and research in the realm of disaster planning and emergency preparedness, it is crucial that nurses understand the concept of surge capacity and its relevance to their practice. One way to achieve this increased awareness is through the use of concept analysis.
Concept analysis is a process that examines the basic elements of a concept, describes the meaning and use of the word or terms expressing the concept, and explores how the concept’s terminology is similar to, or different from, related words. Concept analysis assists in clarifying the meaning of concepts so that subsequent terminology usage is consistent. The process leads to an operational definition of a concept, which allows questions to be more clearly defined for study and more readily tested (Walker & Avant, 2005). The purpose of the concept analysis presented in this article is to help nurses grasp the meaning and implications of surge capacity so as to improve their clinical practice and facilitate research in this area.
As surge capacity becomes a greater focus of discussion and research in the realm of disaster planning and emergency preparedness, it is crucial that nurses understand the concept...and its relevance to their practice. Developing standardized terminology and establishing clear questions regarding the concept of surge capacity are essential for effective disaster planning and preparedness. Because surge capacity has not yet been clearly defined, its study and measurement is challenging. Currently it is difficult for a healthcare organization or region to know what it must do to achieve surge capacity for large-scale events or how plans will need to change based on the type of event, be it a widespread infectious disease, natural disaster, or radiologic event. Optimal clinical outcomes require answers to such questions. To ensure optimal outcomes in disaster preparedness, surge capacity must be operationalized effectively across the full spectrum of healthcare (Barbisch & Koenig, 2006). Nurses can play a crucial role in this effort by developing a clear understanding of the concept that can lead both to expansion of nursing knowledge through research and improved clinical outcomes through more effective disaster planning based on evidence.
Walker and Avant (2005, p. 65) have described one of the most frequently utilized nursing frameworks for concept analysis. This framework provides guidelines that are valuable because they serve as prompts to consider a concept from multiple perspectives.
The procedures in their framework include the following:
- Selection of a concept
- Determination of the aims or purposes of the analysis
- Identification of all uses of the concept
- Determination of defining attributes
- Identification of a model case
- Identification of borderline, related, contrary, invented, and illegitimate cases
- Identification of antecedents and consequences
- Definition of empirical referents
Walker and Avant’s framework guides the concept analysis described in this article. In place of identifying a single model case, as proposed in the Walker and Avant framework, the author will discuss implications of surge capacity for disaster planning by healthcare organizations and nursing administrators.
Review of Literature
No single definition or measurement standard for surge capacity exists in the realm of healthcare or disaster planning. A keyword search for “surge capacity” using PubMed, CINAHL, SOCIndex, and PsychInfo revealed 225 articles that addressed the topic. An additional search was performed using the reference lists from articles located in the surge capacity search. Most articles focusing on surge capacity are located in emergency medicine journals. The few nursing articles that have addressed surge capacity, as an element of disaster preparedness, were located in journals focusing on emergency nursing (Chapman & Arbon, 2008; Jagim, 2007) and public health nursing (Jakeway, LaRosa, Cary, & Schoenfisch, 2008; Kuntz, Frable, Qureshi, & Strong, 2008).
It is helpful to start the exploration of surge capacity with a look at common meanings of the terms. Webster’s Online Dictionary (2009b) defines surge as “a sudden forceful flow” or “a sudden or abrupt strong increase” and defines capacity (2009a) as the “ability to perform or produce” or “the maximum production possible.”
No single definition or measurement standard for surge capacity exists in the realm of healthcare or disaster planning. One general description of surge capacity is the “ability to manage a sudden, unexpected increase in patient volume that would otherwise severely challenge or exceed the current capacity of the healthcare system” (Hick et al. 2004, p. 254). The Joint Commission (2008) has defined surge capacity as “the ability to expand care capabilities in response to sudden or more prolonged demand” (p.19). Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has attempted to describe surge capacity in terms of numeric benchmarks; it has defined regional surge capacity as the ability to triage, treat, or reach a disposition of 500 cases per million for infectious diseases, and 50 cases per million for each of the following incidents: chemical toxicity, burns or trauma, and radiation (HRSA in Schultz & Koenig, 2006). The Task Force on Mass Casualty Critical Care suggested that hospitals planning to provide emergency mass critical care (EMCC) for a total critically ill patient census be able to triple their usual Intensive Care Unit (ICU) census for as long as 10 days without external support (Rubinson et al., 2008b).
Surge capacity has been studied more thoroughly in regard to emergency departments (ED) and out-of-hospital response than for inpatient hospital care. This gap is of concern because “the ability of hospitals to accommodate new inpatients is crucial for the maintenance of ED functions in a mass-casualty incident” (Kanter & Moran, 2007, p. 314). Until more published data on the balance between projected disaster needs and existing hospital resources are available, planning will be difficult (Kanter & Moran). This concern has begun to be addressed with the formation of a Task Force on Mass Casualty Critical Care to develop a framework for delivery of emergency mass-critical care. The Task Force is a broad-based group made up of healthcare experts from a variety of fields, such as critical care, emergency medicine, disaster medicine, and public health, and from a variety of organizations, including the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Defense (DoD), CDC, and DHS.
Hospitals of all sizes and in all settings face challenges...to meet surge demands. Large hospitals... typically operate “at or near capacity...". Smaller hospitals...are faced with limited availability of resources and outside support... Hospitals of all sizes and in all settings face challenges to their ability to meet surge demands. Large hospitals, particularly those who anchor community safety nets, typically operate “at or near capacity, so their ability to serve a large influx of critical patients is limited” (Katz, Staiti, & McKenzie, 2006, p. 953). Smaller hospitals, particularly those in rural areas, are faced with limited availability of resources and outside support, including smaller or nonexistent local public health departments, limited communication technology, reliance on volunteers, poorly equipped medical transport units, and greater distances from other potential lifesaving or supportive resources (Manley et al., 2006, p. 80).
Surge capacity is addressed in several state-of-the-science or conceptual articles that have been published primarily in emergency medicine journals. Barbisch and Koenig (2006) have described essential elements of surge capacity. Bonnett et al. (2007) have proposed a conceptual framework to increase understanding of surge capacity. Phillips (2006) reported on research supported by AHRQ. Experts at a medical conference on surge capacity met in a breakout session to identify priority research topics; the results of this session were published by Rothman, Hsu, Kahn, and Kelen (2006). The Task Force on Mass Casualty Critical Care has produced several reports addressing current capabilities for care of the critically ill during a disaster and factors affecting these capabilities (Christian, Devereaux, Dichter, Gerling, & Rubinson, 2008; Rubinson et al., 2008a; Rubinson et al., 2008b). In a conceptual analysis of emergency preparedness, Slepski (2005) advocated the need for “development of systems of metrics for measuring capacity and performance” (p. 427).
Components of Surge Capacity
...general agreement does exist on [surge capacity] key components, which are referred to as...‘staff,” “stuff,” “structure,” and “systems.”...Systems receive the least attention of all the “S’s”...Although no single definition or measurement standard for surge capacity exists, general agreement does exist on its key components, which are referred to as the “4 S’s” of ‘staff,” “stuff,” “structure,” and “systems.” Staff refers to personnel, stuff consists of supplies and equipment, structure refers to facilities, and systems include integrated management policies and processes (Barbisch & Koenig, 2006; Phillips, 2006; Schultz & Koenig, 2006). These key components may be described as “defining attributes,” which are the cluster of attributes most frequently connected with the concept (Walker & Avant, 2005).
In the world of healthcare, staff refers to clinical personnel, such as nurses, physicians, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, and technicians. Staff also refers to a host of other personnel necessary for the functioning of a given healthcare facility or entity, such as clerical support personnel, security specialists, and physical plant specialists.
Healthcare stuff includes durable equipment, such as cardiac monitors, defibrillators, intravenous (IV) pumps, ventilators, blood glucose monitors, wheelchairs, and beds. Stuff also includes consumable supplies, such as medications, oxygen, sterile dressings, intravenous fluids, IV catheters, syringes, sutures, and personal protective equipment.
Hospitals are the first structures that come to mind in healthcare, although extended care facilities, community health centers, laboratories, and public health departments also comprise the structure component of surge capacity. Hospitals are the first structures that come to mind in healthcare, although extended care facilities, community health centers, laboratories, and public health departments also comprise the structure component of surge capacity. A more comprehensive view of structure will also include “buildings of opportunity” that preferably will have capacity to hold more than 1000 people. Such buildings include hotels, convention centers, and gymnasiums (Barbisch & Koenig, 2006, p. 1000).
Systems for healthcare organizations include integrated policies and procedures that link departments within the healthcare facility. Additionally, systems can refer to policies and procedures that can link the healthcare facility with other aspects of healthcare, such as out-of-hospital emergency medical services (EMS), home healthcare, and physician offices. The Joint Commission has recommended cooperation with community organizations to enhance surge capacity in case of a disaster. This would require expanding systems to include cooperative agreements developed with the healthcare organizations and local voluntary organizations active in disaster (VOAD). Systems receive the least attention of all the “S’s” and in fact, this “S” is sometimes left out of the list, leaving “3 S’s” of staff, stuff, and structure.
Indicators of Surge Capacity Need
A “surge generating event” must occur before surge capacity can actually be put to the test...Surge generating events can be contained or population based. Surge generating events can be contained or population based. A “surge generating event” must occur before surge capacity can actually be put to the test. Events, such as disasters or other emergencies, can be described as “antecedents” (Walker & Avant, 2005). Surge generating events can be contained or population based. A contained event has a distinct geographic focus, even if the focus is very large. The incident site is integral to a contained event. A population-based event is not geographically defined and can spread infectiously.
The type of surge-generating event will play a major role in how surge capacity will be developed. Depending on the need, surge capacity may be developed from several perspectives, including intrinsic, extrinsic, or evacuee-related. Intrinsic surge capacity considers the local resources and strategies that healthcare facilities and communities near a disaster can implement to expand operations (Bonnett et al., 2007). Extrinsic surge capacity may employ strategies that include bringing outside assistance into an affected area and evacuation of survivors to unaffected areas (Bonnett et al.). Evacuee surge capacity is developed from the perspective of an unaffected area. Planning from this perspective considers the community’s capacity for a variety of resources including transportation, shelter, food, and healthcare. The goal of planning from this perspective is to distribute evacuees in such a way that relatively normal operations can be maintained (Bonnett et al.). This approach may be critical for prevention of a shift to EMCC.
What Surge Capacity Is Not
Surge capacity is not a single component; it is not static; and it is not standard daily operations. It is sometimes easier to describe what surge capacity is not, rather than to define what it is. Surge capacity is not a single component; it is not static; and it is not standard daily operations. When we discuss these examples of what surge capacity is not, we are often describing borderline cases or contrary cases. A borderline case is an instance containing some, but not all, of the key components or antecedents of surge capacity (Walker & Avant, 2005). A contrary case is an example that truly does not illustrate the concept of surge capacity (Walker & Avant). Borderline cases, the dynamic nature of surge capacity, and contrary cases will be discussed below.
Borderline cases of surge capacity result from consideration of fewer than each of the defining attributes of surge capacity. Often borderline cases result from consideration of only one component of surge capacity. It is important to remember that surge capacity is not simply one component. In the hospital setting, surge capacity has often been measured through the use of inpatient occupancy rates and the number of empty beds that would be immediately available in an emergency (DeLia, 2006; Taylor, 2003). Although hospital-bed statistics are readily available and easy to calculate, they do not take day-to-day census variations or within-year bed availability changes into consideration. Failure to consider these variations can lead to an inaccurate picture of actual day-to-day availability of maintained beds. Furthermore, this measurement is too simplistic because it is limited to one aspect of surge capacity. It does not take into account the healthcare staff that would be required to provide care for patients being placed in the beds; nor does it take into account availability of supplies such as medications, oxygen tubing, and intravenous catheters required for the care of the patients.
Surge capacity...has multiple components and each...can vary in different ways at different times. As the demands...change, so does an organization’s surge capacity. Surge capacity is not static. Rather it has multiple components and each of these components can vary in different ways at different times. As the demands on the individual components change, so does an organization’s surge capacity. For example, a hospital that typically operates at full census and treats 180 people in its emergency department each day may see 150 additional people following a train derailment that has caused a toxic-gas release. At least 100 people may need to be admitted due to respiratory complications. They all require cardiac monitoring; yet all the telemetry beds in the hospital are full. This hospital may have adequate surge capacity for most disasters, but may not have the capability of handling this very specific disaster. The hospital’s structure and stuff components of surge capacity are altered by the disaster’s unique demands combined with day-to-day patterns.
Surge capacity is not standard daily operations. Some authors (Asplin, Flottemesch, & Gordon, 2006; Jenkins, O’Connor, & Cone, 2006; McCarthy, Aronsky, & Kelen, 2006) refer to “daily surge” when describing spikes in patient volume during routine operations. Other authors (Bonnett et al., 2007) emphasize that if standard op...if standard operations can address the situation, it is not truly surge. To use the same term for both daily operations and disaster operations leads to confusion. erations can address the situation, it is not truly surge. To use the same term for both daily operations and disaster operations leads to confusion. Bonnett et al. point out that “a system is either functioning under normal daily operations or it is not” (p. 300). Rubinson et al, (2008b) make a similar point with respect to critical care, indicating that EMCC is a departure from everyday function and should be used only when the number of critically ill patients exceeds the capability of the usual system.
Furthermore, attention has recently focused on the need to adopt altered standards of care during disaster response (AHRQ, 2005; DoD, 2008). Healthcare personnel responsible for emergency planning are now faced with mandates to find different ways to allocate scarce resources while providing care to an influx of casualties (AHRQ, 2005; DoD, 2008). In such an event, sufficiency of care becomes the expectation; sufficient care is that which is provided to meet individuals’ immediate needs, but not necessarily meet standard care or ideal care needs. When a disaster requires a healthcare system to move beyond the threshold of providing standard care to an environment of sufficient care, surge becomes applicable (Bonnett et al.).
A number of related concepts exist, some of which have been used interchangeably with the term surge capacity. Related cases or concepts are similar to surge capacity but differ in some way (Walker & Avant, 2005).
Emergency preparedness is an example of a related concept. A recently proposed definition of emergency preparedness is “the comprehensive knowledge, skills, abilities, and actions needed to prepare for and respond to threatened, actual, or suspected chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive incidents, man-made incidents, natural disasters, or other related events” (Slepski, 2005, p. 426). Surge capacity clearly plays a crucial role in emergency preparedness but is not specifically addressed or illustrated by this definition.
Other examples of related concepts include various phrases that include the word surge. They include surge readiness, surge protection, and surge capability. Surge readiness has occasionally been used as a synonym for surge capacity (Taylor, 2003). Surge protection is “the ability to expand the capacity of [the] system to triage or treat more patients in a staff-challenged environment” (Taylor, p. 92). Surge capability is a concept that best describes specialized resources or skills needed to address special needs for specific populations (Bonnett et al., 2007). Examples may include individuals requiring dialysis or ventilatory support.
Proposed Definition of Surge Capacity
Based on the previous analysis, surge capacity may be described in the following manner:
The ability to obtain adequate staff, supplies and equipment, structures and systems to provide sufficient care to meet immediate needs of an influx of patients following a large-scale incident or disaster.
This definition must be further refined based on the type of surge-generating event and on the perspectives from which it is viewed: intrinsic, extrinsic, or evacuee-related. Further exploration into these areas may be helpful in establishing more specific measurements of surge capacity.
Implications for Disaster Planning in the Healthcare System
Healthcare personnel...are now faced with mandates to find different ways to allocate scarce resources while providing care to an influx of casualties...Plans that collect dust on the shelf and are understood by only a few key staff will be of little use in...an actual disaster. For disaster plans to be effective, they must be dynamic as well as common knowledge for staff. Plans that collect dust on the shelf and are understood by only a few key staff will be of little use in the event of an actual disaster. Nurses should make every effort to be thoroughly informed about their organization’s disaster plan and to advocate for disaster drills that include a cross-section of personnel on a variety of shifts.
Nurses who are involved in disaster planning should guard against merely making static resource lists. Whether the lists are of staff, supplies, or additional facilities available for emergency treatment, the tendency is to assume that the staff will respond when called, the supplies will be in place whenever they are needed, and the most desirable building-of-opportunity will be unoccupied. Those assumptions are often wrong, even in small- or moderate-scale disaster events. To avoid being unprepared when disaster strikes, nurses should anticipate the need to plan creatively for the 4 S’s of surge capacity.
Planning for Staff
...shared staffing [and] cross training [may] maximize the number of trained staff available...All nurses should develop a personal disaster plan so as to be part of the solution to staffing needs in a disaster event. In addition to calling in staff members and changing staff schedules, it will be important to seek supplemental staff support from other organizations (Christian et al., 2008). Examples include Emergency Systems for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR VHP), Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), the American Red Cross, public health departments, and/or schools. Additional support may come from faith-based community members and voluntary organizations active in disaster (VOAD) (Cantrill, Bonnett, Hanfling, & Pons, 2007; Hick et al., 2007; Katz et al., 2006; Koenig, 2007). Healthcare facilities may wish to consider shared staffing of specialty staff with other hospitals or healthcare organizations (Rubinson et al., 2008b). Cross training may maximize the number of trained staff available, especially in the event of a large-scale disaster. Nurses should be aware of barriers that may affect the willingness and ability of staff to report for duty following a disaster (Qureshi et al., 2005). Nursing administrators, managers, and team leaders should consider ways to alleviate the barriers to adequate staffing within the organization or partner with other organizations that can help alleviate these barriers (Christian et al., 2008; Qureshi et al., 2005). All nurses should develop a personal disaster plan so as to be part of the solution to staffing needs in a disaster event (Adams, 2009; Phillips & Knebel, 2007).
Planning for Supplies and Equipment (Stuff)
Nursing staff should be prepared to function effectively in situations that require altered standards of care...[and be able to] perform manual blood pressures, take temperatures without electronic thermometers, and administer IV drips via gravity infusion. Nursing staff should be prepared to function effectively in situations that require altered standards of care. Clinical educators should make sure staff can perform manual blood pressures, take temperatures without electronic thermometers, and administer IV drips via gravity infusion. For staff to be able to do so, facilities will need to obtain alternate equipment such as sphygmomanometers, battery-operated thermometers, and micro drip tubing. Staff will also have to consider how to reuse disposable equipment, such as gloves, gowns, and masks (Rubinson et al., 2008a). During a disaster, healthcare personnel will need to allocate beds, ventilators, and other supplies in a manner consistent with the goal of saving the most lives (AHRQ, 2005). Nursing administrators may need to plan for means to supply alternate-care sites with oxygen, point-of-care testing equipment, walkers, wheelchairs, personal protective equipment, and other supplies. It will be important to ensure that a supply chain exists, especially for pharmaceuticals (Cantrill et al., 2007; Christian et al., 2008). Not only will this include establishing alternate sources for medications and potential stockpiling, it may also include retrieving medications from an electronic system, such as a Pyxis system, in the event of a power outage and finding alternate storage sites for controlled substances.
Planning for Structure
Nurses in administrative or managerial roles should consider alternate uses of existing facilities of opportunity that can be adapted into surge hospitals because of their size or proximity to a medical center (Cantrill et al., 2007). Examples include on-site recreational centers, churches, community centers, schools, sports facilities, and hotels. Staff nurses, team leaders, and supervisors need to be aware of patients that can be discharged or moved to other units to free up beds. Managers should be aware of additional in-network facilities such as sub acute units and skilled-nursing facilities (Hick et al., 2004; Phillips, 2006) Administrators should plan to develop partnerships with nearby organizations, such as community centers, hotels, or schools (Cantrill et al., 2007; Hick et al., 2007). It will be important to consider mobile and portable facilities, although experts predict that most alternate-care sites will be facilities of opportunity because of the potential challenges of staffing and/or supplying other alternate-care sites (Cantrill et al., 2007).
Planning for Systems
Effective systems planning will consider internal and external communication processes. When communication systems are disrupted due to power outages, circuit overload, or cellular tower losses, it will be crucial to have alternate plans in place (Cantrill et al., 2007). Nurses need to be familiar with communication plans so that they can communicate effectively with outside entities such as EMS, nursing homes, and public health officials, if necessary. They also need to be familiar with alternate communication devices within the facility, such as two-way radios (International Nursing Coalition for Mass Casualty Education, 2003). Basic questions that must be answered in any disaster include:
- When are standard operations overwhelmed?
- When is it appropriate to alter standards of care?
- When do providers need to strive to provide sufficient care, rather than standard or ideal care?
As these questions are asked and answered, it is vital to know who is responsible for making those decisions and communicating the answers both to the staff and to the community (Hick et al., 2007; Jakeway et al., 2008).
Effective systems planning supports development of decision-making capacity...Disasters do not always occur during the standard business week or day; they often occur during off-shifts, weekends, and holidays. It is crucial for healthcare institutions to be prepared...when the usual personnel to lead a critical event are unavailable. Effective systems planning supports development of decision-making capacity. This includes having effective decision-making processes in place, with multiple staff members prepared and empowered to make key decisions as needed (Hick et al., 2007). Disasters do not always occur during the standard business week or day; they often occur during off-shifts, weekends, and holidays. It is crucial for healthcare institutions to be prepared for events when the usual personnel to lead a critical event are unavailable. Realistic disaster drills should occur in real-time with no warning; they should engage a wide variety of personnel (Bergin & Khosa, 2007). It is essential for disaster drills to occur during off-shifts and on weekends and holidays to fully test the system.
Another element of systems planning is the relationship of the healthcare institution with the surrounding community and region. Mutual-aid relationships may need to be established within the community, the region, and the state (Rubinson et al., 2008b). Nurse leaders and managers should anticipate being involved in negotiations for such relationships. Nurses at all levels of a healthcare organization will play a role in operationalizing the relationships.
Advocating for effective disaster planning that maximizes surge capacity is a logical extension of the nurse’s role as patient advocate. The last several years have shown that emergency preparedness is essential to respond to a variety of hazards. Part of the ability to respond to disasters and other emergencies involves surge capacity. Surge capacity is relevant to the nursing role in a variety of settings, and nurses must become aware of the concept and how it relates to the health and safety of the community. As experts in planning and coordinating patient care, nurses have a crucial role to play in developing effective disaster plans within their organizations. Advocating for effective disaster planning that maximizes surge capacity is a logical extension of the nurse’s role as patient advocate. Nurses should therefore become active in the study of and planning for surge capacity as it becomes a topic of greater discussion and research.
This manuscript was developed as part of a project partially funded through the Alma and Robert D. Moreton Research Award (2007-2008). The author wishes to thank Orpheulia Davis, RN for assistance with the literature search for this manuscript.
Lavonne M. Adams, PhD, RN, CCRN
Lavonne M. Adams, PhD, RN, CCRN, is an Assistant Professor in the Texas Christian University Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences. She served as the chair of Tarrant County Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) from 2006-2008, as a Disaster Health Services Volunteer for the American Red Cross since 2005, as the Adventist Community Services Disaster Response (ACS-DR) representative to Tarrant County VOAD since 2004, and a volunteer and trainer for ACS-DR since 2003. Dr. Adams’ clinical background includes critical care and emergency nursing, and she continues as an instructor in BLS and ACLS. She holds a degree with a focus in Leadership from Andrews University (Michigan), an AS in Nursing from the Kettering College of Medical Arts (Ohio), a BSN from Wright State University (Ohio), and an MS in Nursing from Andrews University.
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DeLia, D. (2006). Annual bed statistics give a misleading picture of hospital surge capacity. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 48, 384-388.
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Hick, J.L., Kelen, G., O’Laughlin, D., Rubinson, L., Waldhorn, R., & Whalen, D.P. (2007). Hospital/acute care. In Phillips, S.J., Knebel, A. (eds.) (2007). Mass medical care with scarce resources: A community planning guide. (AHRQ Publication No. 07-0001, pp.53-74). Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Hick, J.L., Hanfling, D.G., Burstein, J.L., DeAttley, C., Barbisch, D., Bogdan, G.M., et al. (2004). Health care facility and community strategies for patient care surge capacity. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 44, 253-261.
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Jagim, M. (2007). Emergency preparedness response: Building infrastructure. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 33, 567-570.
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Jenkins, J.L., O’Connor, R.E., & Cone, D.C. (2006). Differentiating large-scale surge versus daily surge. Academic Emergency Medicine, 13, 1169-1172.
Kanter, R.K., & Moran, J.R. (2007). Hospital emergency surge capacity: An empiric New York statewide study. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 50, 314-319.
Katz, A., Staiti, A.B., & McKenzie, K.L. (2006). Preparing for the unknown, responding to the known: Communities and public health preparedness. Health Affairs, 25, 946-957.
Koenig, H.G. (2007). Emergency response system in the United States. Southern Medical Journal, 100, 924-925.
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Manley, W.G., Furbee, P.M., Coben, J.H., Smyth, S.K., Summers, D.E., Althouse, R.C., et al. (2006). Realities of disaster preparedness in rural hospitals. Disaster Management & Response, 4, 80-87.
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© 2009 OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing
Article published March 31, 2009
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SummaryThis page gives some insight into the potential for reducing bovine TB through culling badgers first when culling is carried out reactively and locally and then when carried out proactively in a thorough manner over a large area. Finally it looks at how long the impact of that thorough culling lasted.
In this instance badgers were gassed using hydrogen cyanide between 1975 and 1981. Local reactive culling was carried out across South West England and wide area proactive culling was carried out in the district of Thornbury which is also located in South West England.
Gassing of badger settsPublic scepticism about the role of infected badgers in transmitting disease to cattle and criticism of the practice of gassing led to the Minister of Agriculture in 1979 asking Lord Zuckerman to review the problem and make recommendations. Gassing operations ceased at the start of the Zuckerman review until October 19801,8.
Zuckerman concluded that the high density and close proximity of the cattle and badger populations in parts of South-West England favoured the transmission of the disease both from badgers to cattle and from one infected group of badgers to another and that the disease seemed to have spread since control measures had been halted in October 1979. In the Iight of these findings he recommended that gassing operations be resumed as soon as possible and that these should be monitored to assess their impact on prevalence of the disease in cattle and badgers1,8.
In accordance with another recommendation by Lord Zuckerman the concentrations of hydrogen cyanide gas needed in the air of a sett to kill badgers quickly and humanely were investigated . This investigation cast doubt on the humaneness of this method of killing because research showed that badgers did not die immediately underground. Gassing was therefore replaced in July 1982 with live trapping followed by humane killing (usually shooting)1,8.
The main technical issue with gassing is the difficulty of gases spreading through complex tunnel systems containing blind-ends. No information on the proportion of animals likely to suffer exposure to sub-lethal concentrations is available, but this risk is considered to be significant and needs to be assessed in combination with the consequences of sub-lethal exposure to toxins2.
In view of this, it was discovered that there are no research organisations in the UK who are willing to support or carry out field trials using carbon monoxide, which in terms of effectiveness and humaneness is considered to be the most viable gas to use2, without first undertaking lengthy, extensive and costly experimental studies under rigorously controlled conditions. All research organisations capable of carrying out field evaluation in badgers who were contacted declined to offer advice or discuss the potential opportunity for such evaluation3.
How MAFF carried out gassing between 1975 and 1982Ministry for Agriculture and Food became responsible for badger culling operations in 1975, which it implemented by gassing badgers in their setts using cyanide gas. Under this policy gassing operations were conducted in a total of 166 areas, averaging 7km2, throughout the South West of England.5
Herd incidence is shown in the following graph which was taken from numbers presented in the table of Appendix 2 on Page 141 of Reference 1.
Once a breakdown had been attributed to badgers, populations were sampled, normally up to one kilometre from the farm boundary, to identify infection status. Setts of infected social groups identified and other in-contact social groups were then gassed. However, the methodology for identifying social groups was not sufficiently rigorous to ensure that these were always precisely identified. Gassed setts were revisited for up to two years after initial gassing to prevent immigrant badgers from contracting infection from contaminated setts or bringing in new infection.
Initially, gassing operations were subject to agreement by the occupiers of the land. New legislation was subsequently introduced (Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976; and the Badgers (Control Areas) Order 1977)providing powers of entry in four defined areas for badger investigation, surveillance and control operations. Outside these statutory areas, badger control operations were subject to the voluntary agreement of the occupier.1
The influence of MAFF gassing operations in the South WestIn the top graph, whenever gassing was applied, the number of reactor cattle dropped, and whenever gassing was stopped, the number of reactor cattle increased. Also in the above graph shown in Fig 72, herd incidence dropped more rapidly when the ministry started its gassing operations in 1975. Both these graphs suggest that the gassing operations as applied by the ministry had a major impact on reducing bovine TB. Did they? This section takes a closer look.
Reference 6 points out that in 1975/76, in addition to the ministry starting its gassing operations, which were confined to the South West, two other events occurred in England and Wales.
Firstly, under a European Commission Directive, the human tuberculin used in the skin test on cattle was changed for a bovine tuberculin on 1st March 1975. This was partly because of improved specificity for discriminating against skin tuberculosis. It was argued that use of this tuberculin would reduce the number of false positive reactors detected. The new tuberculin was more sensitive for detecting M bovis and caused the number of reactors to climb. The initial increase in the number of herd breakdowns in 1975 can be seen in Fig 91 below. Twelve months after the tuberculin was changed, the test protocol was changed to compensate. This change in protocol probably over-compensated and caused the number of detected reactors to drop.11
Secondly, in 1976, additional control measures were imposed to reduce the risk of importing infected cattle into Great Britain from Ireland. The yearly incidence of herd infection from Irish bred cattle was reduced but little effect would have been seen in South-West England since the majority of imported Irish cattle went to North-East England and Scotland. Such cattle only accounted for 0.33% of infected herds in Gloucestershire, Avon and Cornwall, before the introduction of these control measures.6
Let us now take a closer look at how the drop in herd incidence in the South West compares with that in the rest of England and Wales. This can be done by taking the incidence in one year as reference. Let us do this by settting the incidence in 1974 in both regions to 100%. The graph below shows relative to 1974 the extent to which herd incidence dropped in both regions in subsequent years.
Evidently herd incidence relative to the level in 1974 dropped no more rapidly in the South West, where MAFF gassing opertions were confined, than in the rest of England and Wales. Gassing of badgers obviously would not have had any impact on the drop in disclosed levels in the rest of England and Wales because in the rest of England and Wales no gassing took place. This suggests that factors which caused the drop in levels in the rest of England and Wales, such as the change in the tuberculin, for example, may have contributed to the apparent drop seen in the South West.
So this begs the question, what impact may the gassing of badgers have?
The influence of gassing operations at ThornburyReference 6 casts some light on the impact of gassing badger setts by looking at the incidence of herd infection in a 104 km2 area in the parish of Thornbury which formed part of the counties of Avon and Gloucestershire. In this area the entire badger population was killed between 1975 and 1981. Thornbury was selected as the area in which to take extensive action because
- incidents of herd infection with M. bovis continued at an unexpectedly high frequency, even after Great Britain became an attested area in 1960,
- M. bovis infection had been identified in the local badger population, and,
- unlike most areas subject to statutory badger removal operations, the area had clearly defined geographical boundaries which would hinder recolonization by badgers
Thornbury was too small an area to support a large enough number of herds (circa 130 in 19926) to reveal with confidence the impact of the more extensive gassing operations year by year. However when results are collected over the course of 5 years the averaged numbers are more meaningful. The graph in Fig 92 compares the proportion of herds which are infected in the Thornbury area with that in all of the South West in each 5-year period from 1966 to 1990 when the proportions in the period 1971 to 1975 are used as reference.
Data shown in the above graph were taken from Tables 2 and 3 in Reference 6. It should be noted from the large confidence intervals up to the 1976 to 1980 period that there is some uncertainty regarding the true herd incidence in the Thornbury area. In fact if this data were to be re-acquired many times, on 95% of these occasions the Thornbury levels in the 1971 to 1975 period would be expected to lie within about plus or minus 24% of the levels shown in Fig 92.
Badgers in Thornbury were killed between 1975 and 1981 and it can be seen in Fig 92 that in the 10 years from 1981 to 1990, incidences in Thornbury appear to be about a quarter of these in the whole of the South West when levels in both areas are expressed as a proportion of what they were in 1971 to 1975. These are total incidences which include unconfirmed incidences which account for about half of the cases. If only confirmed incidences are looked at, Reference 6 reports that no confirmed incidences were found for 10 years after the last badger was killed.
Fig 98 below shows that it has taken about 35 years for infected herd numbers to get back to what they were before the cull started. During this time infected herd numbers in the whole of the South West have more than quadrupled. If account is taken for the test protocol change, recovery in the Thornbury district took about 25 years .
Data shown in the above graph were taken from Tables 2 and 3 in Reference 6 and the additional data supplied by DEFRA in Reference 10.
The large reduction in cattle incidence in Thornbury compared to all of the South West suggests that the reason why M. bovis continued at an unexpectedly high frequency in Thornbury after Great Britain became an attested area in 1960 was because of cross-infection from badgers. These results support the following statement made in the European Commission guidance report7 which was published in 2006.
The elimination or reduction of the risk posed by an infected wildlife reservoir enables the other measures contained in the programme to yield the expected results, whereas the persistence of TB in these wildlife populations impedes the effective elimination of the disease.
Is gassing effective and what efforts are being made to test and develop different gassing approaches?Reference 9 reports that during the Thornbury cull, one sett had to be revisited 19 times! (Badgers in the Thornbury district were gassed using a commercial product called Cymag.12 According to Reference 20, Cymag is a powder which produces hydrogen cyanide gas when placed on moist earth. Storage and use of Cymag was withdrawn by the European Community (EC) review programme on 31st December 2004.13) As referred to above, the main technical issue with gassing is the difficulty of gases spreading through complex tunnel systems containing blind-ends. According to Reference 18, DEFRA do not appear to have (current 24th June 2013) any research and development projects investigating alternative culling methods, and as such no trials of alternative culling methods are being run. However according to Reference 16 which was published on 23rd May 2013 (paradoxically earlier than the FoI request response in Reference 18), DEFRA are currently looking into other forms of gassing. [Start of editor note added on 6th July 2013] Perhaps DEFRA are NOT currently looking into different gassing methods but are currently considering whether to start such an investigation.[End of editor note] In fact the DEFRA draft strategy published on 4th July 2013 in Reference 19 states the following
Further research into alternative population control methods (e.g. sett-based culling methods and non-lethal methods) is also under consideration. This includes a potential investigation into the use of anoxic gas or gas-filled foam as a sett-based means of humane culling.
According to Wikipedia, "anoxic" means the total depletion in the level of oxygen.
Badger protection legislationIn the UK under Section 3 PBA 1992, it is an offence to wilfully kill, injure or take a badger, or to attempt to do so.14 It is also an offence to either intentionally or recklessly interfere with a badger's sett.14 On 18th March 2004 Ken Bradshaw, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary for DEFRA replied in a response to a Parliamentary Question that it was current policy not to issue any licences under sub-section 10(2)(a) to prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis, except for animals held in captivity.17
However European law applies no such restrictions so the UK is at liberty to amend these laws as it sees fit. Indeed in 1997 it was reported that in Europe, the following countries permitted hunting during an open season: France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, the Slovak Republic, Romania and Bulgaria. In addition to this Hungary and Luxembourg were said to be reconsidering their protected status for the badger.15 In recent years, Germany have shot about 66,000 badgers each year29. In 2013 and 2014, England shot 1,000 and 300 respectively. For the 2013 figure, please see Section 4.3.1 on Page 11 of Reference 30 and for the 2014 figure, please see Page 1 of Reference 31.
Regarding the extent to which wildlife may be controlled under European Union law, the Bern Convention allows for the regulated management of badgers for the purpose of preventing serious damage to livestock provided this is not detrimental to the survival of the population concerned21,22. According to Ref 23, the Bern Convention was adopted in Bern, Switzerland in 1979, and the UK government ratified the convention in 1982.
Survival of the badger populationBadgers may be managed provided this is not detrimental to the survival of the population concerned.21,22 The following is advice offered by the Science Advisory Council concerning proposals in 2010 by the Conservative government to cull. The advice refers to recovery in the Thornbury district. The Science Advisory Council (SAC) provides Defra with independent advice on science policy and strategy. The council advises the Chief Scientific Advisor and through him to ministers.27
On the issue of local extinction, repopulation following complete clearance of badgers from a single area (Thornbury) took a long time (~10 years). However, this recovery was characterised by a rapid initial partial re-population through immigration, followed by a slower increase through breeding.25
The cost of gassingAlthough materials available today are easier to handle and hopefully more efficient, gassing as deployed in the Thornbury district to achieve a thorough cull did have significant financial cost. In fact the total cost of the national badger control strategy from 1975/76 to 1983/84 came to £11.3 million pounds in 1983/84 prices. However, this presumably included some cage trapping (because gassing stopped in 1982) and included gassing operations in the 166 areas of South West England (as referred to above). Of these costs, one half were accounted for by staff and support expenditures for field operations and supervision. Two thirds of this cost were attributable to the South West region. The other major cost element was research and development which came to £3.6 million24.
In a DEFRA funded research programme in 2006 (SE3117) the total cost of gassing was reported to be about half of that of trapping per square kilometre. (See Table 1 on Page 58 of Ref 26)
Annex B of the government's approach to tackling the disease and consultation on a badger control policy published in September 2010 states the following.
The cost of conducting five annual culls over a 150 km2 area, 75% of which was accessible for culling, is estimated as £2.14 million for cage-trapping (as undertaken in the RBCT) at £3,800/km2/year, or £1.35 million for snaring or gassing at roughly £2,400/km2/year. The predicted annual cost of a farmer-led culling operation is estimated to be around £562,500 at £1,000/km2/year.28
One square kilometre equals 247 acres.
Is Thornbury of any relevance today?Although the Thornbury cull was conducted more than 30 years ago, the following issues should be considered when assessing the value of what happened during and after the Thornbury cull. These conclusions take account of recent data in Fig 98 which shows how herd incidence in the South West of England between 1981 and 2010 has increased substantially more than that in the Thornbury district.
- TB in the Thornbury district was persistent. In fact the area had a long history of TB. At the time, levels were very high compared with levels in the rest of the country and cattle measures were failing to control these levels.8
- The proportion of cattle herds infected in the Thornbury district prior to the cull was about 8.6% (see Table 3 in Reference 6 for years 1971 to 1975). The proportion across the South West in 2012 averaged about 25% so is a lot higher. (See this graph). Since the level of infection in badgers and cattle tend to influence each other, it is likely that badgers are infected to a level in South West England which is substantially higher than what they were at Thornbury during the cull. As such, any control measures today will probably need to address a much higher level of disease.
- If account is taken of confidence intervals, when the drop seen in detected levels in the Thornbury district is compared with the drop in the whole of the South West, culling in the Thornbury district reduced herd incidence by at least a half (see Fig 92).
- The number of infected herds in the Thornbury district did not return to numbers prior to the cull for many years (about 25 years) whereas the number of infected herds in the South West increased by about four times during the same period (see Fig 98).
Conclusions drawn from ThornburyIn essence, in a hot spot area where a high level of disease exists in badgers and cattle control measures are not working, it is likely that TB levels of cattle in that area will be substantially reduced if all badgers in that area are cleared and then left to recolonize. This conclusion is based on the results of the exercise at Thornbury and in this exercise, recolonisation of badger setts was prevented for just less than 4 years after 2 years of extensive and intensive gassing. It follows that the culling was very thorough.
If disease dynamics in the Thornbury district were representative of the dynamics which exist in persistent areas today, the results of the Thornbury trial suggest that if thorough culling of badgers were to be implemented today, this should bring a long lasting return. This assumes that (a) current cattle measures are sufficiently robust to cope with current circumstances (b) cattle testing standards have not significantly declined in the last 10 years and (c) spread to other species such as deer are only causing localised problems. Certainly if such a culling strategy had been implemented 25 years ago in the worst affected areas, it is likely that (based on TB levels in the Thornbury district in the last 35 years) TB levels in England and Wales would be substantially less today.
Future prospectsIn 2010, areas of persistent TB covered most of the South West, Wales and West Midlands, and in the 5 years leading up to 2010, have covered a steadily increasing proportion (as shown in these interactive maps) of the East Midlands and the North West, East and South East regions of England. Unless bold steps are taken now to reduce the badger element, the reinforcement and establishment of this spread through cross-species transfer is likely to continue.
- Krebs, J.R., Anderson, R.M., Clutton-Brock, T., Morrison, W.I., Young, D. and Donnelly,C.A., Bovine tuberculosis in cattle and badgers, MAFF Publications, PB3423, London.(1997)
- Review of effectiveness, environmental impact, humaneness and feasibility of lethal methods for badger control
- Fumigation as a badger culling technique
- TB reactors in Great Britain from 1956 to 1997. DEFRA response to a request for information. 7th Oct 2011
- Final Report of the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB
- The occurrence of Mycobacterium bovis infection in cattle in and around an area subject to extensive badger control. R S CLIFTON-HADLEY et al. Epidemiology Department, Central Veterinary Laboratory, Surrey. Accepted 3 October 1994.
- Eradication of Bovine Tuberculosis in the EU
- Badgers, Cattle and Tuberculosis. Zuckerman O.M. MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FISIIERIES AND FOOD. August 1980.
- Bovine Tuberculosis in Badgers. Report by the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food. November 1976.
- Number of herd incidences of TB in the South West and Thornbury. FoI to DEFRA. RFI 5287. 5th April 2013.
- Animal health: the report of the Chief Veterinary Officer. 1971 to 1977. (Bovine TB sections only)
- Bovine TB: badger culling. Sixth Report of Session 2005-06. EFRA. Published on 15 March 2006.
- Expiry of approval for storage and use of Cymag. Health and Safety Executive. http://www.hse.gov.uk. 4 January 2005.
- Wildlife Offences: Legal Guidance: The Crown Prosecution Service. http://www.cps.gov.uk. Downloaded on 20th June 2013.
- The conservation and management of the European badger (Meles meles). Nature and environment, No. 90. Council of Europe. Authored by H.I Griffiths and D.H Thomas. 1997.
- DEFRA looks again at gassing setts to fight TB. Farmers Weekly. Published on 23rd May 2013.
- Policy on issuing of licences to kill badgers. Badgers/Bovine TB. Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Written Answers on 18 Mar 2004.
- ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF CULLING. ccu.correspondence @defra.gsi.gov.uk. RFI 5525. 24 June 2013.
- Draft Strategy for Achieving "Officially Bovine Tuberculosis-Free" Status for England. www.defra.gov.uk. 4th July 2013.
- PESTICIDE and COSHH - Rabbit and mole products. http://www.dshearer.co.uk. Jan 2010.
- Controlling the Spread of Bovine Tuberculosis in Cattle in High Incidence Areas in England: Badger Culling. A consultation document issued by DEFRA. Consultation Issued: 15 December 2005.
- Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. Bern, 19.IX.1979.
- Ratification of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats in th UK. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. June 2013.
- BADGERS AND BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS - REVIEW OF POLICY. MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD. G M Dunnet, D M Jones, J P Mclnerney. March 1986.
- Science Advisory Council/Bovine Tuberculosis Science Advisory Body Joint Group on Defra's Bovine TB consultation
- Review of the bovine tuberculosis (bTB) research programme. DEFRA, Veterinary Exotic Diseases, Research and Official Controls Division. 3rd-6th July 2006.
- Science Advisory Council
- DEFRA consultation Sept 2010: Annex B - Scientific evidence on culling
- Jahresstrecke Dachse. (Annual number of badgers shot in Germany from 2002 to 2013) www.jagdverband.de
- Pilot Badger Culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire. Report by the Independent Expert Panel. Chair: Professor Ranald Munro. Presented to DEFRA Secretary of State Owen Paterson MP, March 2014.
- Summary of badger control monitoring during 2014. DEFRA. December 2014.
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A disaster can be caused by humans or nature. Disasters are events that are sometimes unpredictable. It is important for any government to manage disasters. Government provides legislation, allocates resources and does rational planning and sustainable development. Disaster management and planning is a key part of government work.
This guide includes the following:
- The importance of disaster management plans
- The role of municipalities in disaster management
- What does it mean when a place is declared a disaster area?
- Identifying potential disaster hazards in your area
- Preventing disasters in your households and communities: What to do
- How can we prevent fire disasters?
The importance of putting disaster management plans in place
Disasters are events that have a huge impact on humans and/or the environment. Disasters require government intervention. They are not always unpredictable. Floods take place in valleys and flood plains, droughts in areas with unstable and low rainfall, and oil spills happen in shipping lanes. This predictability provides opportunities to plan for, prevent and to lessen the impact of disasters.
Disasters arise from both natural and human causes, and the responses needed could stretch community and government capacity to the limit. For example, during 2000 we saw a series of disasters in South Africa: huge floods devastated the Limpopo Province, Mpumalanga and neighbouring countries; massive fires and an oil spill threatened Cape Town; and separate floods hit rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. In 2004 Cape Town experienced a drought disaster attributed to global warming. From April 2004 to January 2005, the province experiences 376 disasters, mostly fire and flood.
Disasters are inevitable although we do not always know when and where they will happen. But their worst effects can be partially or completely prevented by preparation, early warning, and swift, decisive responses.
Disaster management aims to reduce the occurrence of disasters and to reduce the impact of those that cannot be prevented. The government White paper and Act on Disaster Management define the roles of Local Authorities as well as Provincial and National government in disaster management.
The role of municipalities in disaster management
Every municipality must have a disaster management plan as part of its Integrated Development Plans, according to the Municipal Systems Act.
Structure and Mechanism: This plan must set up the structure and mechanisms for dealing with disasters and it must anticipate future disasters. Plans must be developed to deal with disasters that occur regularly - for example flooding of informal settlements and roads.
Protection Services Department: In each municipality, the Protection Services department is responsible for Disaster Management. The department usually deals with traffic policing, fire brigades, law enforcement, and sometimes ambulances on an agency basis for provincial government, The role of Disaster Management is to coordinate the response to disasters and emergencies, ensuring that resources are applied effectively, whatever it may be. Fire services, ambulance services, emergency medical services, engineers and traffic services can all become involved in Disaster Management.
Capacity: When a disaster exceeds the capacity of a local authority, the district, province or national can become involved, coordinating and facilitating the response and efforts of various local authorities. Other parties such as the SANDF as well as volunteer organizations such as the Red Cross, St John's and the National Sea Rescue Institute can also be drawn in if needed.
Disaster Management Activities: Disaster Management Activities include the co-ordination of disaster response agencies, the compilation and exercising of contingency plans, and Disaster Management education and training.
Funding: Following the finalisation of the Act, the national government will announce on a funding mechanism for provinces and municipalities to finance their comprehensive disaster management plans.
What does it mean when a place is declared a disaster area?
The disaster management policy and legislation makes provision for government to declare disaster areas, and allow for resources to be allocated for immediate relief, as well as reconstruction. This includes things like food, blankets and medical supplies as relief and building materials for reconstruction. The local and provincial government have to prepare the submission to the national Department of Provincial and Local Government for this to be done speedily.
The Disaster Management Act focuses on speeding up response and cutting red tape to ensure that disasters are dealt with efficiently and effectively - by giving clear guidelines for the classification of disasters and the declaration of states of disaster.
Identifying potential disaster hazards in your area
These can include all or some of the following:
- Mass-event situations (concerts, sport, other social gatherings - for example the 2001 Ellis park disaster during the Pirates-Chiefs game)
- Storms and storm damage;
- Fires: Domestic, mountain and veld;
- Oils spills, at sea, on land;
- Transport accidents;
- Hazardous material spills (spilling of chemicals, etc from factories, trucks);
Preventing disasters in your households and communities:
What to do
"In South Africa, it is not necessarily the 'classic', comparatively rare events - which receive massive media coverage - that we should be focusing on, but rather on building alert, informed, self-reliant and resilient communities who have the capacity to withstand, cope and recover from these relatively less spectacular events which affect them on a regular basis"
Pat Reid, former president of Disaster Management of Southern Africa. (SAPA. 3 January 2004)
Role of organisations and community workers
Here are some of the things development workers can advise communities to prepare and deal with disasters:
- Know the emergency numbers. Remember that all municipalities have emergency centers - get these details!
- Report incidents - don't take it for granted that someone else has already reported it;
- Do not build houses in unsafe areas - for example close to a river-bed (even if it has been dry for years) or on dolomite invested areas;
- Keep a bucket of sand next to your door so that any small fires can be put out quickly - sand works on paraffin and electric fires, water does not.
- Gain knowledge of basic first aid, fire training and CPR;
- Remember that swimming pools, dams and rivers are a danger to children;
- Always follow the rules when: swimming in rivers, dams, pools and the ocean; camping and making fires;
How can we prevent fire disasters?
A very important way of preventing fire disasters is to have a good disaster plan in place. The emphasis should be on public education, prevention and containment.
One of the common disasters in poor areas and informal settlements are fires. These fires are often caused by accidents with paraffin or candles. The Paraffin industry is involved in the "Ufudo" campaign. Because of the building practices in informal settlements, and the building materials used in these settlements, everyday tools such as a primus stove, paraffin lamp or candle can become extremely dangerous if used incorrectly. The "Ufudo" kits provide tools to make primus stoves, paraffin lamps and candles more stable and less prone to fall over.
The Paraffin Safety Association also promotes safe storage and use of paraffin through safe bottles and dispensers - any registered dealer can get access to this.
People in informal settlements should be educated about leaving enough space between houses to prevent the spread of fires and to allow emergency vehicles into the area. Fire fighting volunteers can also be trained.
SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
Cape Metropolitan Council Public Safety Advisories. Frequently Asked Questions on Disaster Management
South African Health Review 2000. Chapter 24-Disaster Management.
Local Economic Development (LED) | Life Long Learning and the World of Work | Land Reform | Health | Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment | Small Business Development | Disaster management | Infrastructure Development | Safety and Security | Combating Poverty: Social Development and Grants | Education Policy: Admissions and school fees | School Governing Bodies | The Expanded Public Works Programme | Housing subsidies and support services | Basic Services | Workers’ rights | Environmental Health and Safety | Disability Policy and Services | Children's Rights
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Vitamins and Calcium Supplements (cont.)
Betty Kovacs, MS, RD
Betty is a Registered Dietitian who earned her B.S. degree in Food and Nutrition from Marymount College of Fordham University and her M.S. degree in Clinical Nutrition from New York University. She is the Co-Director and Director of nutrition for the New York Obesity Research Center Weight Loss Program.
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD
Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.
In this Article
- What are vitamins, and why are they important?
- Vitamin D
- Folic Acid
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin B12
- Vitamin B6
- Thiamin (vitamin B1)
- Vitamin K
- Vitamins and Supplements FAQs
What is it, and what does it do?
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that is broken down into two categories: preformed vitamin A comes from animal foods, and provitamin A carotenoid comes from plant foods.
Vitamin A serves many functions:
- helps regulate the immune system to prevent and fight infections
- helps form and maintain healthy teeth, skin, and tissues
- produces the pigments in the retina of the eye
- promotes good vision
How much do I need to consume?
The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for vitamin A are listed as International Units (IU) of Retinol Activity Equivalents (RAE). This is done to account for the different actions of both forms of vitamin A.
RDA for vitamin A:
|1 to 3 yrs||1,000 IU||1,000 IU||N/A||N/A|
|4 to 8 yrs||1,320 IU||1,320 IU||N/A||N/A|
|9 to 13 yrs||2,000 IU||2,000 IU||N/A||N/A|
|14 to 18 yrs||3,000 IU||2,310 IU||2,500 IU||4,000 IU|
|19+||3,000 IU||2,310 IU||2,565 IU||4,300 IU|
There is insufficient information to establish an RDA for vitamin A for infants. In this case, an Adequate Intake (AI) has been established:
|Age||Males and Females|
|0 to 6 months||1,320 IU|
|7 to 12 months||1,650 IU|
What are sources of vitamin A?
Vitamin A can be found in animal and plant foods. The animal food sources are better absorbed and used by the body than the plant sources. There are also many foods that are fortified and enriched with vitamin A.
The content of vitamin A in animal and plant foods (from beta-carotene):
|Apricot nectar, canned||½ cup||1,651 IU|
|Cantaloupe||1 cup cube||5,411 IU|
|Carrot juice, canned||½ cup||22,567 IU|
|Carrots, boiled||½ cup slices||13,418 IU|
|Carrots, raw||1 - 7 ½ inches||8,666 IU|
|Cheese, cheddar||1 oz||249 IU|
|Kale, frozen, boiled||½ cup||9,558 IU|
|Liver, beef, cooked||3 oz||27,185 IU|
|Liver, chicken, cooked||3 oz||12,325 IU|
|Milk, fortified skim||1 cup||500 IU|
|Oatmeal, instant, fortified||1 cup||1,252 IU|
|Papaya||1 cup cubed||1,532 IU|
|Peach||1 medium||319 IU|
|Peas, frozen, boiled||½ cup||1,050 IU|
|Pepper, red, raw||1 ring||313 IU|
|Spinach, frozen, boiled||½ cup||11,458 IU|
|Spinach, raw||1 cup||2,813 IU|
|Vegetable soup, canned||1 cup||5,820 IU|
Do I need to take a vitamin A supplement?
Vitamin A is stored in the liver, so there is a supply that can be used during short-term periods when intake is not adequate to meet your needs. People with medical conditions that interfere with the absorption of vitamin A may need to take a supplement. These conditions include celiac disease, Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and pancreatic disorders. Because vitamin A can be toxic at high levels, it's best to discuss supplements with your physician.
What happens if I don't have enough vitamin A?
Early vitamin A deficiency leads to impaired night vision, and advanced vitamin A deficiency can lead to corneal ulcers, xerophthalamia (dry eye), scarring, night blindness or total blindness. In developing countries, vitamin A deficiency is an important cause of blindness among children. Children with vitamin A deficiency are also more likely to develop diarrhea and respiratory infections than children who are not vitamin A deficient. Vitamin A deficiency is rare among healthy adults in the United States.
Is there such a thing as too much vitamin A?
When excess amounts of vitamin A are being stored in your body, the condition is called hypervitaminosis A. The harmful effects of hypervitaminosis A are birth defects, reduced bone density that may result in osteoporosis, central nervous system disorders, and liver abnormalities.
Acute vitamin A toxicity may result from consuming very large quantities of vitamin A over a short period of time. The symptoms are nausea, vomiting, irritability, drowsiness, altered mental status, anorexia, abdominal pain, blurred vision, muscle pain with weakness, and/or headache. Elderly people and people who drink alcohol heavily are more susceptible to vitamin A toxicity.
The Institute of Medicine states that "beta-carotene supplements are not advisable for the general population," although they also state that this advice "does not pertain to the possible use of supplemental beta-carotene as a provitamin A source for the prevention of vitamin A deficiency in populations with inadequate vitamin A."
The Tolerable Upper Limit (UL) for vitamin A is:
|Age||Males and Females||Pregnancy||Lactation|
|0 to 1 year||2,000 IU||N/A||N/A|
|1 to 3 years||2,000 IU||N/A||N/A|
|4 to 8 years||3,000 IU||N/A||N/A|
|9 to 13 years||5,610 IU||N/A||N/A|
|14 to 18 years||9,240 IU||9,240 IU||9,240 IU|
|19+ years||10,000 IU||10,000 IU||10,000 IU|
In the ATBC trial, subjects given beta-carotene had a higher incidence of lung cancer than subjects not given beta-carotene. The Institute of Medicine did not set ULs for carotene or carotenoids. However, the recommendation is that beta-carotene supplements are not advisable for the general population.
Next: Vitamin C
Find out what women really need. | <urn:uuid:c659d32d-65bb-4357-bd9e-1717b9dd86b2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rxlist.com/vitamins_and_calcium_supplements/page6.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393463.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00146-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.87648 | 1,655 | 2.703125 | 3 |
What are the salient differences between Copper and
is the commonly used conductor. It has higher conductivity
and heavier compared to Aluminum, and usually costs
more. Although Aluminum has lower cost, greater size
or cables of Aluminum is needed to match the conductivity
offered by copper. Either way the cost offsets.
Do solid conductors have better conductivity than the
to a certain extent, although the variation is considered
to be negligible.
The choice would depend on the level of flexibility
needed in the application of wires and cables. Stranded
conductors are more flexible and are more preferred
when applied to winding installation. Due to its lower
flexibility, solid conductors are usually produced
in smaller sizes, e.g. 8 AWG sizes and lower.
What is the importance of insulation in wires and cables?
electrical properties of the wires are significantly
influenced by the insulation. High-frequency communication
cables, for example, would have Polyethylene (PE)
as insulation because the capacitance and attenuation
are minimal if this type of thermoplastic were used.
On top of the wire and cable application, factors
such us heat and flame resistance; moisture resistance;
mechanical toughness; resistance to ionization; flexibility;
and the usage life determine the insulation. The other
insulation can be XLPE (chemically cross-linked PE
Compound), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), and Ethylene-Propylene
What are to be considered in selecting wires and cables?
selecting a wire, the following should be considered:
- the area of installation whether indoor, underground,
outdoor or aerial is critical in the choice of wire
because the exposures to various elements may affect
the performance and safety of the wire. This is where
the characteristics of insulation play an important
Rating - determines the size of the conductor,
and the thickness and type of insulation.
Size – the current load, KVA load, and
kilowatt load are governed by voltage drop besides
the heating and power factors. These must be known
before the conductor size can be determined.
Limitation– the maximum current a wire
or cable can safely carry without exceeding the capacity
of the insulation or jacketed material.
Condition - the presence of other sources of
heat located in the installation, such as pipes, corrosive
agents, structural materials, and other cables can
cause increase in the temperature of wire.
How to properly specify an order for wires and cables?
ordering wires and cables, the following should be
Number of Conductor (for Multicore)
Type of Insulation
Insulation thickness (Insulation Level for Power
Type of Protective Covering
Type of Conductor
b.) Solid or Stranded
Total length/individual cutting length
What are the commonly used lighting and fixtures wire
for residential, commercial, and industrial installation?
wires are most commonly used for lighting and fixture
What is the importance of colored insulation?
color of the insulation serves as a guide in circuit
indentification and for easy wiring connection.
What type of wire is used for extension purposes?
and Duplex Cord (SPT)
are used for extension purposes.
What is the recommended wire for outdoor wiring?
outdoor wiring, use PE insulated wire because of its
weather-resistant characteristics. On the other hand,
it is recommended to use PVC insulated wire for its
flame retardant properties for indoor wiring.
What are the general characteristics of a safe wire?
safe wire must have the following characteristics:
thickness of insulation
copper with 99.9% conductivity for copper wiring
have passed stringent quality control | <urn:uuid:9f74f8ed-6b91-46a2-bae6-9422ca049391> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.amwire.com.ph/pages/technical_guide.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00019-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.853103 | 778 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Utilizing wind energy is an
attractive alternative to traditional energy for many homeowners today. A wind turbine can be used to generate
a great deal of energy depending on a few different variables. The height you are able to reach with a
suitable tower for a wind turbine is probably the most crucial to the amount of
power it will generate. The
general rule of thumb is to have the turbine at least 30 feet above anything
within 500 feet of the tower to ensure the least turbulent wind. Wind becomes more turbulent the more
objects it travels around, across, or into.
There are many towers that
are used with wind turbines and are typically relative to the amount of space
you have and the budget available to the project. Guyed lattice towers are the least expensive, and are easy
to construct, but require a great deal of space to accommodate the down guy
cables that attach to them at three different points to provide their
stability. A guyed lattice tower
is usually constructed of steel angle iron and consists of three sides, which
are shored up using cross sections that provide a ladder effect from top to
A tilt-up tower is
constructed using metal tubing, is typically stabilized using 4 down guy cables
and functions just as its name suggests.
The tilt-up feature of these towers is more convenient for maintenance
purposes but a bit more expensive then the previous tower above. The four-guyed cables are used to
safely tilt the tower up from or down to the ground without the need for the
tower to be climbed. Monopoles are
the most expensive towers used for wind turbines and usually seen on large wind
farms, they consist of a single structured tube, which tapers in from the
ground up. Monopoles are the most
aesthetically pleasing option for wind turbines but require the most amounts of
steel, concrete and funds.
A small wind turbine for
home use can be purchased or constructed.
The cost of a pre-made wind turbine can be a substantial investment and
it is recommended to spend a period of time taking wind measurements using an
anemometer before deciding to buy.
However, if you wish to construct your own wind turbine the cost can be
reduced to only a few hundred dollars.
A wind turbine is a device which converts wind energy to electricity
using a low-RPM generator, therefore the most important aspect of constructing
your own hinges on finding a suitable generator which is capable of producing
30 volts at 300-350 RPMs or better.
The potential savings with
wind turbines for home use can be particularly substantial. With optimal conditions homeowners
could see an 80% to 90% decrease in energy costs, but this is dependent upon
consistent wind on the property.
Utilizing a wind turbine is a green option that many homeowners can
greatly benefit from making it an attractive decision not only for energy
conservation but for substantial potential savings on energy costs. | <urn:uuid:6eb61e7d-c2c0-4cb4-aee0-4ab751f1c1ce> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://windpower.ideastogogreen.com/tag/lattice-tower/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00052-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932556 | 621 | 2.890625 | 3 |
You Can’t Tell Your Funambulists from Your Kinkers without Knowing Your Circus Lingo
Behind the scenes and on the back lot of any circus is another world, complete with its own language or lingo. The “Merriam-Webster Dictionary” defines lingo as “strange or incomprehensible language or speech; a foreign language; the special vocabulary of a particular field of interest.” Knowing something about circus lingo will help collectors in their search for circus memorabilia. What follows is a partial list of words used in circus lingo:
This real photo postcard shows an Advertising Car for Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows. The year is prior to 1919 when Ringling Bros. was combined with Barnum & Bailey. There were 22 men assigned to this car.
Advance Department (also Advance Car or Advertising Car): Groups of men who traveled ahead of the circus to advertise the show and to make arrangements for the show’s arrival. Advance Cars were brightly painted and were usually brought to town by freight trains weeks before the show. Advance men on these cars contracted for advertising, pasted multi-sheet posters on buildings and traded tickets to merchants in exchange for hanging posters hung in their windows. The advance car crew also distributed heralds and couriers telling all the wonders of the show to come. For more about heralds and couriers see my articles: Heralds Promote Circuses Coming to Town, Tear Down ‘Inferior’ Competition and ‘The Circus Is Coming!’ Circus Couriers Whet Communities’ Appetites. Smaller shows would have only a single Advance Car but would often call it Car No. 2 to make the show appear larger. Larger shows might have as many as four Advance Cars.
Aerialist: A man or woman who performs on a trapeze, Roman rings or other such equipment. An aerialist in a flying trapeze act is called a flyer. The flyer swings from one trapeze bar to the hands of a catcher or sometimes to another bar. The flyer traveling from bar to bar is the way the act was originally performed. The catcher was not added until several years after the original flying trapeze act was invented.
Alfalfa: Paper money.
All Out and Over: After the performance has ended. It’s the time when the crew can begin tearing down or getting ready for the next performance.
Ankus: The dull hook on a stick used by elephant trainers to guide the elephant. Also called a bull hook.
Annie Oakley: A free ticket. Also called a ducat. Free tickets often had holes punched in them so they would not be mistaken for paid tickets. The hole was a reminder of Wild West show star Annie Oakley and her ability to shoot a hole in a playing card.
These are two postings of arrows for Carson & Barnes Circus at a recent (May 2010) appearance in Florida. The first group of arrows indicates the trucks are approaching the circus lot.
The second set tells the drivers to turn here to enter the circus lot.
Arrow: An arrow printed on a paper sign that was posted by the twenty-four hour man to mark the route between towns.
Artist: A circus performer.
Back Door: The performers’ entrance to the big top or arena.
Back Yard: The area behind the big top or arena where wagons, props, animals and performers get ready for the performance. It’s the home of the circus performers and workers, not open to the general public.
A spare bale ring still mounted on a circus truck.
A bale ring on a big top center pole. A worker is preparing a U.S. flag to mount on top of one of the big top poles. Both of these photos were taken in the 1970s on the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus.
Bale Ring: A large metal ring that encircles each of the center poles of a large tent. Canvas is spread out and laced to the Bale Rings and is pulled to the top of the center poles using blocks-and-tackle.
Ringling Barnum poster advertising the large number of horses traveling with the show.
Baggage Stock: Horses used for hauling wagons from the train to the circus lot or from town to town. Baggage stock horses were also used to pull parade wagons. In the 1920s Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey had a poster that advertised “740 horses – 350 of them performing in 5 Big Circus Rings and an Enormous Elliptical Equine Arena.” This would indicate the show had 390 Baggage Stock and 350 performing horses. Horses that perform are called ring stock.
Ballyhoo: A free show given outside the sideshow to attract attention.
Banner: Canvas paintings outside the sideshow with illustrations of the attractions inside.
Bibles: Programs or souvenir magazines.
Big Bertha: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Also called The Big One.
Big Top: The main tent used for the circus performance.
Bill: An advertising poster. Bill can also be used as a verb. To bill is to place posters around town.
Blow Off: The end of the show. This term is also used as the end of a clown gag.
Blow Down: When tents are blown down by a storm.
Blues: General admission seats.
Boiler Room: Method of selling advance tickets using groups of telephone salesmen. Also called a phone room.
Bugs: Chameleons or lizards sold as novelties.
Bull: An elephant regardless of sex. Most circus elephants are female but are still called Bulls.
Bull Tub: Pedestal on which an elephant sits or stands.
Butcher: Vendor who sell refreshments or souvenirs in the stands before and/or during the show.
Calliope: A musical instrument consisting of a series of whistles powered by steam or compressed air and played like an organ. Those in the circus pronounce it cally-ope not kuh-lahy-uh-pee. The word comes from the Greek goddess of music and dance, Calliope (Kalliope).
Catcher: The member of the flying trapeze act who catches the flyer after he has released himself from the bar in a flying return act. (See also Aerialist above.)
Cats: Any trained animals of the cat family such as lions, tigers, leopards, panthers, etc.
Cherry Pie: Extra jobs done by circus personnel for extra pay. Betty Hutton used the term in one of the final scenes in the movie “The Greatest Show On Earth.”
Clem: A fight, usually with “towners,” the people who lived in the town where the show was playing.
Clown Alley: The area where clowns store their props and where they put on their costume and makeup.
Come In: The time after the doors are open to the public and before the show begins.
Concert: Also called the Aftershow (one word). A performance after the main show ended. The public was charged an additional fee to remain in their seats and watch the performance. In most circuses, this was a Wild West performance, often featuring a famous cowboy.
Cookhouse: The tents where meals are cooked and circus personnel eat.
Day and Date: A battle where two different circuses play the same town on the same day.
Dog and Pony Show: A term used for a very small circus, usually making fun of that show. However there were small shows that were proud of the term and named their circus using the expression. Norris Bros. Peerless Dog and Pony Show and Gentry’s Famous Dog and Pony Show are two examples. The phrase has even entered the American lexicon sometimes being used to refer to a congressional hearing.
Doors: A call which indicates the public is being let into the tent or arena.
Dressage: An act by horses trained in dancelike, stylized movements where the animals’ paces are guided by subtle movements of the rider’s body.
Ducat: Free ticket. (See Annie Oakley above)
Equestrian Director: He manages the pacing of the show to make sure the acts appear when they are scheduled.
First of May: A name given those who are in their first season with a circus.
Flyers: The aerialist who leaps from one trapeze to another or to the hands of a catcher. (See Aerialist above).
Flying Squadron: The first train to arrive at a new town. This refers to those large railroad shows that had more than one train. In its heyday, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey had four trains.
Funambulist: Rope walker.
Gaffer: A circus manager.
Gag: A short clown trick.
Gallery: General admission seating.
Grease Joint: A concession trailer selling hot dogs and other fast food items.
Heralds: Circus advertisements measuring 9 x 20 inches and usually printed on both sides.
Hippodrome Track: The oval area between the audience and the performance area.
Home Run: Traveling from the last date of the season to winter quarters.
Home Sweet Home: The last date of the season.
Howdah: A seat on the back of an elephant or camel.
Human Oddities: Abnormal attractions in the Sideshow such as the giant or the midget family.
This photo of Charlotte Shive performing the Iron-Jaw act appeared in an article about the circus in the May 23, 1931 issue of “Colliers” magazine. The famous aerialist Lillian Leitzel called this a “tooth act.”
Iron-Jaw: An aerial act where the performer is suspended using the power of her jaw while biting down on an apparatus in the mouth. It is usually a strip of leather with a mouthpiece attached to it. To read more about the life of Charlotte Shive see my story entitled Fascinating Story behind Antique Sunburst Circus Wagon Wheel.
Jackpots: Telling stories about life in the circus. When circus people get together to talk about their time with the circus it is said they are cutting up jack pots or they are jackpotting.
Joey: A clown. The name comes from Joseph “Joey” Grimaldi an English clown from the 18th century.
John Robinson: To cut short an act or performance.
Jump: The distance between to two towns where the show is appearing.
Kid Show: The sideshow.
Kinker: A circus performer.
Liberty Act: Horses that perform without riders.
Little People: Midgets or dwarfs.
Long Mount: A line of elephants with each elephant placing the front legs on the back of the elephant in front.
Lot: The show grounds where the tents are erected.
Lot Lice: People from the local town who come to the circus lot to watch the activity of preparing for the show.
Mechanic: Safety harness used when practicing difficult or dangerous acts such as the flying trapeze, high wire, bareback riding, teeterboard, etc. Today, many acts use the mechanic during the actual performance.
Midway: The Midway is the area as you approach the main entrance to the show. It is lined with concessions, side shows.
Mud Show: A small circus that doesn’t travel on trains.
Opposition Paper: Advertising posters put up by competing circuses. The circus coming at a later date would often put up posters that say “Wait” or “Wait for the Big Show.”
Paper: Circus posters.
Pie-Car: The dining car of a railroad circus train.
Pie Car Jr.: Today’s Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey circus has a trailer called Pie Car Jr. located behind the area where circus performers and workers can grab a quick meal.
Quarter Poles: Poles placed between the center poles and the side poles to take up the slack in the canvas.
A large circus tent would have two sets of quarter poles-a smaller tent only one set.
Rat Sheets: Advance advertising, usually a handbill or herald with negative claims about opposition shows.
Rosinback: A horse used in a bareback riding act.
Roustabout: A workingman in a circus.
Route Book: Printed at the end of a season with a recap of major events, list of all those with the show, a list of all the towns where the show appeared and other pertinent information.
Route Card: A list showing the route the show would travel for a period of time. These were often printed on the back of a postcard so performers and workers could mail them to friends and relatives to let them know where they would be. At the end of the season many shows also printed a Route Sheet showing all the towns where the show appeared during the year.
Sixteen Wagon: The show office.
Spec: The term is short for spectacle: a production number featuring lots of animals, props and performers in colorful costumes. It usually has a theme. Today it is usually performed just before intermission but in earlier years it opened the show.
Stand: The town where the circus performs.
Star Backs: Reserved seats.
Straw House: A sell out. Because there are no empty seats, straw is put on the ground in front of the general admission section.
Stringers: General admission seats. Also called Blues.
Tail Up: Command to an elephant to follow the elephant ahead.
Talkers: The man who talks in front of the Side Show to attract attention. (Never called a “barker.”) The man who talks inside the Side Show to describe or introduce the attractions is called the Lecturer.
Towners: People from town. Outsiders.
Twenty-Four-Hour Man: The person who travels a day ahead (24 hours) of the circus to mark the route and make final arrangements.
Wildcat: Change the scheduled route of the show on short notice. This might be done because of competition from other circuses or floods or economic problems in the area where the show had planned to appear.
Windjammer: A member of the circus band.
Winter Quarters: Location where a show goes during its off season to prepare for a new year.
Larry Kellogg is a WorthPoint Worthologist specializing in circus memorabilia.
WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth Join WorthPoint on Twitter and Facebook. | <urn:uuid:5dcd10bf-2a0c-4284-94d5-596f434b8c45> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.worthpoint.com/blog-entry/know-your-circus-lingo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94107 | 3,071 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov. The Upland South: The Making of an American Folk Region and Landscape. Santa Fe and Harrisonburg: University Press of Virginia, 2003. xiv + 121 pp. $30.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-930066-08-3.
Reviewed by William Brown (North Carolina Office of Archives and History)
Published on H-South (January, 2007)
The Upland South: A Region Defined
Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov has attempted to argue that the region known as the "Upland South" is a unique and important geographic center in The Upland South: The Making of an American Folk Region. In his initial chapter, the author defines the Upland South as the region comprising of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and the Hill Country of Texas. This geographical region was extended eastward to Tennessee, and flowed briefly into the surrounding southern states. Jordan-Bychkov argued that this region is totally different from what traditionally has been known as the American South, and should be viewed as a different and distinct geographical area.
To support his thesis, the author chose a methodology of focusing on artifacts as evidence of the spread of the Upland South folk culture throughout this geographical region. The author notes that his work cannot be viewed as the last word on this topic, but it is clearly a labor of love with the region connected to his own family genealogy. Jordan-Bychkov chose a decidedly subjective process for understanding the scope of the Upland South, when he wrote, "I propose to sample a few items of folk culture and employ only one methodology" (p. 12). Through this process, he avoided the potential problems found in oral interviews, and instead focused on these artifacts as markers to show how this folk culture has spread through the Upland South.
Five of the seven chapters describe these markers for determining the spread of this unique folk culture. Jordan-Bychkov selected these artifacts due to their widespread use throughout the Upland South and their particular uniqueness to the region. These objects were the use of half-dovetailing on building construction, dogtrot cabins, transverse-crib barns, Shelbyville town square/courthouse design, and the employment of grave sheds throughout the region. Each chapter is a small case study on the representative artifact with supporting endnotes. These artifacts are described through the use of illustrations (diagrams and photographs) that document the development and use of the artifact within the region. The author's layout of illustrations, text, and endnotes is similar to East Tennessee Cantilever Barns, edited by Marian Moffett and Lawrence Wodenhouse (1993). In the final chapter titled "A Region Revealed," the author summarizes the arguments spelled out in the preceding chapters. Jordan-Bychkov does admit, however, that his methodology was "imperfect" (p. 82), but he believes that his research could be a conduit toward further research on this distant geographic area, which is as "American" (p. 85) as the American Midwest and West.
In his work, the author has effectively employed material culture as a useful tool to track the progress of a cultural identity through a geographic region. Jordan-Bychkov's thesis makes a strong argument that the American South is truly a sum of a number of unique cultures forged by different nationalities. The weakness of his work is found in the use of generalizations throughout the text to "hurry" the thesis along to the analysis found in the last chapter. One example is found in the author's generalization that Pennsylvania "Dutch" did not expand in substantial numbers beyond the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, except for the Moravians in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This statement ignores the German migration into the Catawba, Yadkin, and Pee Dee River basins in North and South Carolina, which appears in German-language churches and eighteenth-century court records in Lincoln County, North Carolina. Jordan-Bychkov is clearly enamored with the Upland South region of his family's roots, but his thesis would have been better served by fleshing out his text with stronger and more specific statements regarding the development of the American South.
If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at: https://networks.h-net.org/h-south.
William Brown. Review of Jordan-Bychkov, Terry G., The Upland South: The Making of an American Folk Region and Landscape.
H-South, H-Net Reviews.
Copyright © 2007 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:eba1446f-cbe4-49d7-93de-b056f478b4f2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=12751 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00113-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946912 | 1,047 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Caring for Your Dog
Print this information in
Man's Best Friend?
You can keep a dog's
alive with just food.
To keep a dog's SPIRIT
alive, s/he needs love and attention!
Dogs are pack animals.
In the wild, dogs play, eat, and sleep with company.
Your dog wants to be with his pack: YOU!
Teaching your dog to be a well behaved
family member will take time, but will be worth it as your dog
becomes a loved friend.
Dogs who have been chained can make great
house dogs, but will need extra training. Your "outside" dog will be
excited when first coming in. Donít give up! It will take some time
for your dog to calm down and become an indoor family member.
about rehabilitating a chained dog.
For more info, search online for terms such as, dog barking,
stop pulling on leash,
Dog Training are good resources.
- Barking: Chained dogs bark out of frustration and
loneliness. Just getting your dog off the chain will reduce barking.
Dogs who are exercised and happy are less likely to bark and will sleep instead!
Try teaching the word "quiet." When your dog barks, after two or three
woofs, praise her for sounding the alarm. Then say "quiet" and give a
treat. Most dogs stop barking because they can't eat and bark. During
this quiet time praise her, "Good girl, quiet." Each time she is told
"quiet" and succeeds, give a treat.
detailed article on reducing barking.
- Baths: You will enjoy spending time with your dog more if
she's nice and clean! The easiest way to bathe a dog outside is to tie
her to a deck, fence, etc. so she can't escape. You can loop a leash
through or around the deck rail, etc. I love the
Rapid Bath system which fits to your hose so the soap and water come
out together. Whenever you bathe your dog, throw the collar in the wash
to keep it soft and clean.
- Begging: Decide at the beginning that no one will feed the dog from the table.
Don't allow guests to break this rule. Feed him before your meal. If he
never gets to eat from the table, he won't try!
- Chewing/Mouthing: Dogs need to get used to the feel of human
skin, but also need to learn how to be gentle. When the dog nips on you,
yank back and say, "Ouch". Not the way a person would say it, but the
way a puppy would say it...high-pitched and loud! She will think she's
hurting you. If this escalates the mouthing, try pulling your hand away
and turning totally away from the dog for 5 seconds. Do this every time
she chews. She will learn that she gets ignored for chewing on you.
Replace whatever she was chewing on with a
rawhide or toy and praise her for playing with the toy.
A quick spritz in the face with a eater spray bottle will also help deter
Read detailed article about chewing.
- Destroying Things: Never leave your new dog alone in the
house. You are asking for trouble if you let an untrained dog have
full run of the house! A crate is best. Privileges are earned and your
new dog must be trained before having total freedom.
Keep plenty of chew toys and rawhides handy. A spray bottle with water
is a great way to stop bad behavior. When he starts to chew on the
furniture or act inappropriately, spritz him in the face with water.
Dogs hate this! After a few times you should be able to just hold up the
bottle to stop the behavior!
- Digging: If your dog is digging from boredom, walks and
coming inside will redirect his energy. If digging to escape,
bury chicken wire along the base of the fence. Dedicated diggers may
need a "digging zone" with loose soil or sand. Bury treats there to
encourage digging in that area. Read
detailed article about stopping digging.
- Jumping: When your dog jumps on you, quickly bring your knee
turn away. Donít say anything or look her in the eye. Your dog wants your attention
and will take negative attention as well as positive attention. Only give your dog attention
when all four feet are on the floor, or preferably when she is
Leaving and returning should be low-key. If you come home and greet your
dog loudly, excited, and full of energy, your dog will be excited, too.
Stay calm and encourage calm behavior before giving out treats and
- Leash Training: Start with short
walks, and don't get discouraged if it takes awhile for walks to become easy! I think a prong collar with retractable leash works best for
large, strong dogs. Prong collars
look fierce, but they don't hurt the dog if used correctly. (Try it on your own arm or
neck to see how it feels!
article). Harnesses are another good option.
Have him sit while being leashed. Keep the leash short and go at a
pretty fast pace to
keep him moving. Take some small treats or a cut-up
hot dog and offer them close to your side to encourage him to stay near
you. When he pulls, stop walking and pull him close
to your leg. Holding onto the prong collar lead, slowly start walking
again. Stop and bring him close every time he pulls.
Let the leash out longer when he is
walking easily. He will learn he gets more freedom when walking correctly.
Read detailed article.
- Introducing Two Dogs: Leave your current dog at home when
getting the new dog. Introduce them on neutral territory, such as
outside on the sidewalk, then take them on a walk to get used to each
other. Next, let them in the yard together on leashes, then let them run
around the yard. Next, go to a large room in the house where they can
keep some distance. Feed them separately for a few days and don't leave
treats or toys out they can fight over. Don't leave them in the same
room alone until you are confident they are getting along.
have to work out between them which is alpha or "the boss", so some
growling and posturing is natural. Keep that water spray bottle handy
and spritz in their faces if they get overly aggressive, then praise
when they act nicely!
Read detailed article.
- Sitting: Simply hold a treat in front of her nose, then above
her head until she sits back to follow the treat in your hand. Repeat
the word sit several times, then immediately give praise and the treat.
Most dogs quickly learn the combination of the word "sit" and a hand
motion above their head.
Read detailed article.
The Golden Rule of Housetraining is...
Never let an un-housetrained dog out of your sight while inside! Every time a dog relieves himself inside, it teaches him itís
OK. An un-housetrained dog should be either:
(1) Inside, with you watching him
(3) In a crate
If you follow these rules, your dog should be trained
in a week or two. Adult dogs can be housetrained, too!
- The best method is the crate training method. Buy a pet carrier
or cage big enough for your dog to stand up, turn around, and lie
down in. This will be the dog's ďdenĒ and sleeping place.
Dogs are clean animals and want to keep their home and sleeping area
clean. Even young puppies will try their best not to go inside their
- On the dogís first day home, let him wander in and out of the
crate. Put a towel and some treats in it. Put the crate close to
where the family hangs out, so your dog will feel like part of the
- Young puppies must go out many times a day, 30 minutes after eating or drinking. Older dogs need to go out
four or more times daily.
- Take the dog to the SAME spot outdoors. The smell will remind
him why he's there.
- When puppy relieves himself outside, PRAISE him, "Good Dog!!Ē
and give him a treat. Praise is the key to housetraining! Your dog
will learn that going outside means treats and will be eager to go
- If you're inside and notice your dog starting to sniff and
circle, grab him and take him out. If you catch him in ďmid-streamĒ,
startle pup with a noise and take him out.
- What if you notice a mess on the floor but didnít see your dog
do it? Clean up the mess without fussing at your dog. Dogs live in
the moment and wonít understand that you are punishing him for
something he did in the past. Rubbing your dogsí nose in the mess or
hitting him with a newspaper wonít work at this point.
- Use a cleaner that will kill smells and bacteria, such as Simple
Green (grocery stores), Natureís Miracle (pet stores), or vinegar
and water. If you donít clean the spot very well, the smell might
make him go there again.
- At bedtime, take your dog outside and then lock him in his crate
for the night. He'll make an effort not to foul his bed. Then take
him outside first thing in the morning. Some young puppies may not
have the muscle control to hold it all night and will have to go out
during the night.
- Donít feed your dog after about 6:00 p.m. This will help your
dog make it through the night.
- Dogs can be left in a crate 4-6 hours. Dogs should not be left
in a crate more than 8 hours. If you canít come home during the day,
consider leaving the dog outside.
- Tips: Hang a jingle bell on the door and jingle it when you take
your dog out. He will learn to ring the bell when he needs to go
Install a dog door. Dog doors are a wonderful invention! Dogs
quickly learn to come and go on their own. You can buy dog doors at
pet stores and discount stores.
Read a schedule of a typical day of crate training.
More articles and
advice on housetraining, including hard-to-manage cases.
- Anti-freeze (dogs love it but it is deadly)
- Blind cords (wrap or tuck them up high)
- Cleaning products
- Electrical cords and cables (Chewing them can be deadly. Tape them to the floor or cover with plastic tubes made for this
- Human medicine
- Insecticides - ant killer, roach bait, rat poison
- Plants -
Some can be poisonous, including tulip/daffodil bulbs, amaryllis,
poinsettia, lilies, sago palm
- Pins and needles
- String and ribbon
- Twist ties
Ensure no small pets are in your dryer before turning it on!
- Bowls for food and water - Stainless is easier to keep clean than
- Chew toys
- Food - Get a medium-priced brand if possible. The really cheap stuff
can be unhealthy.
- ID tag - I love
[Back to top] | <urn:uuid:919f9745-46ce-46ab-950b-284f8a93a114> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.unchainyourdog.org/Care.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940375 | 2,497 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Although the origin and manifestation of developmental disabilities and adverse health effects reflect complex interactions among many factors, the role of the environment cannot be ignored.
Environmental health scientists have long established that the developing nervous system is particularly vulnerable to environmental pollutants. Many substances easily penetrate the placenta during prenatal development, and because the fetal blood-brain barrier is not fully formed, toxicants can enter and impact brain development through direct toxicity or through altering critical regulatory systems in the body. In addition, environmental chemicals can interfere with fetal development by disrupting the growth of the placenta and affecting the transfer of nutrients from the placenta to the fetus.
This may result in genetic damage, which when acquired during the fetal period have the potential to have long term effects than those acquired later in life. They are less capable than adults are of detoxifying harmful substances and repairing damage as their biological defense mechanisms are still forming.
Young children also engage their environments differently than adults; they eat more, drink more, and breathe more than adults in proportion to their body weight. They place things in their mouths and play on the ground, thus increasing their exposure. Therefore, it is imperative that interventions are conducted in the earliest stages of a child’s life, in order to prevent the developmental and health deficits that our research has linked to common environmental hazards. | <urn:uuid:f184652d-1c34-4ace-ba8c-c743638cf50f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ccceh.org/our-research/health-effects | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00180-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966544 | 268 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Statistics for |
Developed by the U.S. Geological Survey for the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Low-flow statistics for approximately 2,800 ungaged bridge locations were determined using drainage-area ratios from 312 streamflow-gaging stations. Regulation and diversion of streamflow can significantly modify low-flow discharges. Regulation is defined for this website as a stream with an upstream flood-control reservoir(s) which controls 10 percent or more of the contributing basin. If regulation began while a gaging station was in operation, records were analyzed for pre-regulation, post-regulation, and entire period of record streamflow conditions. In the case of multiple upstream reservoirs controlling the streamflow, the year in which the reservoir was built that makes the cumulative controlled area equal to 10 percent determines the break in record. While statistics were computed for pre-regulation, post-regulation and the entire period of record for gages with upstream regulation, only the post-regulation conditions are transferred to bridges downstream of a flood-control reservoir. Below are instructions to transfer a different set of statistics to a bridge site.
1. Determine the drainage area (DA) ratio:
To review stream gage and bridge sites with available low-flow statistics, select either a county name, USGS quad name, or stream/basin name then click on the corresponding "View List" for selection). | <urn:uuid:765854d3-1341-4b8a-af81-045a50d33b74> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://paapps.er.usgs.gov/flowstats/lowflow.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00082-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943171 | 284 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Diseases such as kidney failure and endocrine tumors are among the suspects causing high blood pressure but could the common pain relievers in your medicine cabinet be the culprit?
According to Prof. Ehud Grossman of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sheba Medical Center, many common over-the-counter and prescription medications are underlying causes of hypertension, which is a major risk factor for stroke, heart attack, and aneurisms. The chemical components of the drugs can raise blood pressure or interfere with anti-hypertensive medications, he explains. And while many medications can cause this drug-induced hypertension, both patients and doctors remain dangerously uninformed.
His recent research was published in the American Journal of Medicine.
Weighing the treatment options
"In diagnosing the causes of hypertension, over-the-counter drugs like ibuprofen are often overlooked," says Prof. Grossman. Patients often assume that because a medication can be obtained without a prescription, it's relatively harmless. But that's not always the case.
Many of the medications that are linked with a rise in blood pressure are quite widely used, says Prof. Grossman, whose research provides an overview of which medications are related to high blood pressure. Examples include contraceptive pills, various anti-depressants, anti-inflammatory pills to control pain. and bacterial antibiotics.
Though high blood pressure is a known side effect of many of these medications, doctors do not always account for them in their treatment plans, and they don't inform patients of the potential risks associated with these medications. It's ultimately the doctor's responsibility to weigh treatment options and present the best course for their patient should issues of hypertension arise, Prof. Grossman says.
Doctors may be advised to decrease the dosage of the drug, or add an anti-hypertensive drug to the treatment regime, he says. In any case, awareness on the part of both doctors and patients needs to be raised. "Many physicians don't account for this, and some don't even know about it. It's their responsibility to be informed and make sure that their patients are aware that this is a possibility."
Cost and benefit
Though much of the time a course of treatment can be altered to account for the dangers of hypertension, that isn't always the case. For example, new anti-vascular endothelial growth factor drugs, which may increase blood pressure, block the formation of new blood vessels and arteries to solid tumors. Because the drugs are so effective in treating these malignancies, the benefit outweighs the cost, he believes.
But that doesn't mean that patients shouldn't be watched closely for signs of hypertension. "Once a patient has won a longer life with the use of these drugs, you don't want to expose them to problems associated with blood pressure, such as stroke," says Prof. Grossman. There are simple ways to counteract drug-induced hypertension, such as the thoughtful addition of anti-hypertensive medications to a treatment plan, he says.
|Contact: George Hunka|
American Friends of Tel Aviv University | <urn:uuid:faaa7229-3622-4c30-8201-aeb094d226e5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Pain-relievers-could-be-spiking-your-blood-pressure-89820-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00007-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956346 | 633 | 2.859375 | 3 |
THURSDAY, May 5 (HealthDay News) -- Babies who are still drinking from a bottle at 2 years of age may be prone to obesity by the time they turn 5, a new study suggests.
For the study, researchers analyzed data on 6,750 children who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, which included kids from around the United States born in 2001.
About 22 percent of the children continued to use bottles regularly at 24 months of age, meaning they mainly drank from a bottle or were put to bed with one.
At age 5 1/2, about 23 percent of the children who drank from a bottle at age 2 were obese, compared to about 16 percent of kids who'd stopped using a bottle by age 2, according to the study.
That makes children still using a bottle at age 2 about 33 percent more likely to be obese than children who were weaned sooner, the researchers said.
One likely explanation for the finding: kids who are still drinking from a bottle at age 2 are probably consuming more calories than they need, the study authors said.
"At older ages, the bottle is probably used for comfort and convenience rather than nourishment," said study lead author Rachel Gooze, a doctoral candidate in public health at Temple University's Center for Obesity Research and Education in Philadelphia.
The study will be published in an upcoming issue of The Journal of Pediatrics.
Children were considered obese if their body mass index [BMI, a ratio of weight to height] was at or above the 95th percentile for their age. The proportion of 5-year-olds in the study who were obese roughly tracked other national statistics that place obesity rates among pre-schoolers at about one in five, Gooze said.
Experts have long encouraged parents to wean children from the bottle around age one.
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry advises parents to wean children from a bottle at about ages 12 to 14 months, and to avoid putting a baby to bed with a bottle to avoid tooth decay.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has a similar recommendation, cautioning that "the bottle [should] be given up entirely at around age one and almost certainly by eighteen months."
Other research has suggested that prolonged bottle use may contribute to iron deficiency, according to background information with the study.
For the study, the researchers accounted for other factors that could influence obesity in 5-year-olds, including having an obese mother, socioeconomic status, whether kids were breast-fed as infants, and the timing of the introduction of solid foods. (They did not have information on the children's physical activity.)
Even when controlling for those factors, children who drank from a bottle at age 2 were more likely to be obese than kids who'd graduated to a cup, the researchers said.
Bottle-feeding or breast-feeding infants is necessary during the first year of life to provide adequate nutrition during a time of rapid growth, said Dr. Roya Samuels, a pediatrician at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York.
Between 4 and 6 months of age, babies should begin eating solid foods, which will gradually become the child's main source of nourishment, Samuels said. A typical 1-year-old needs only about 10 to 16 ounces of whole milk per day, in addition to a "healthy assortment of table foods," she said. Parents should limit fruit and vegetable juices to no more than 4 ounces a day and the remainder of liquids consumed should be water, she added.
"If parents continue bottle-feeding into the toddler period, it is likely children will be consuming too many calories during the course of the day, leading to excessive weight gain into childhood," Samuels said, noting that this new study is among the first to track children over time to determine how prolonged bottle use may affect their weight.
Wresting a bottle away from an opinionated and stubborn toddler isn't easy, especially if there is a younger sibling in the house who is getting a bottle.
Gooze recommends that parents discuss weaning strategies with their pediatrician, and also change their own mindset about the transition. Rather than think of weaning as taking something away from the child, look at it as a sign your baby is reaching another milestone, she said.
"We definitely recognize stopping the bottle at a year of age is not easy, and stopping it at 2 years of age may be even harder," she said. "It might be helpful to think of moving from a bottle to a cup as a developmental milestone, like moving from crawling to walking, which is something to celebrate, even if it has challenges."
The Nemours Foundation has tips for making the transition from bottle to cup.
SOURCES: Rachel Gooze, MPH, doctoral candidate in public health, Temple University, Philadelphia; Roya Samuels, M.D., pediatrician, Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York, New Hyde Park, N.Y.; The Journal of Pediatrics
All rights reserved | <urn:uuid:398ae4e5-040c-4f64-9fe2-b66a2fa7c255> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Prolonged-Bottle-Feeding-Boosts-Kids-Obesity-Risk-3A-Study-81656-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00189-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971283 | 1,038 | 2.625 | 3 |
!! History Commons Alert, Exciting News
Profile: Fidel Castro
Positions that Fidel Castro has held:
Fidel Castro was a participant or observer in the following events:
The CIA’s Technical Services Division (TSD) considers plans to undermine Fidel Castro’s charismatic appeal by sabotaging his speeches. At one point, there is discussion of spraying Castro’s broadcasting studio with a hallucinogenic chemical. The plan is taken of the shelf because the chemical is deemed unreliable. During this period, the TSD laces a box of cigars with a chemical that would produce temporary disorientation, hoping that he will smoke one of the cigars before giving a speech. In another instance, the TSD comes up with a scheme to dust Castro’s shoes with thallium salts during a trip outside of Cuba. The salts would cause his beard to fall out. The plan is abandoned when Castro cancels the trip. [US Congress, 12/18/1975]
A CIA official laces a box of Fidel Castro’s favorite cigars with botulinum toxin that is “so potent… a person would die after putting in his mouth.” The box of poisoned cigars is then delivered to an unnamed person who is instructed to deliver them to Castro. It is not known what happens to the cigars or if Castro ever receives them. [US Congress, 12/18/1975; Central Intelligence Agency Inspector General, 1/1996]
President Dwight D. Eisenhower and President-elect John F. Kennedy meet at the White House for a final briefing before Eisenhower leaves office. Eisenhower tells Kennedy that he must assume responsibility for the overthrow of Fidel Castro and his government in Cuba, and recommends the hastening of the proposed Cuban invasion. Eisenhower says, “[W]e cannot let the present government there go on.” [Gravel, 9/29/1967, pp. 635-637; National Security Archive, 3/23/2001]
The CIA’s Task Force W devises two plans to assassinate Fidel Castro. The first one, involving an exploding sea shell that would be placed where Castro regularly dives, is dismissed by the CIA’s Technical Services Division (TSD) as impractical. In the second plan, James Donovan (who has been negotiating with Castro for the release of prisoners taken during the Bay of Pigs operation) would present Castro with a contaminated diving suit. TSD decides to give the plan a try. It purchases a diving suit and laces its breathing apparatus with tubercule bacillus. The suit itself is dusted with a fungus that is known to cause a chronic skin disease. But the suit never leaves the laboratory. [US Congress, 12/18/1975; Central Intelligence Agency Inspector General, 1/1996]
While a US emissary is meeting with Fidel Castro to discuss the possibility of improved relations, a CIA official offers a poison pen to a Cuban, hoping that it will be used by Fidel Castro. [US Congress, 12/18/1975]
The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations releases its report, “Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders,” which finds “concrete evidence of at least eight plots involving the CIA to assassinate Fidel Castro from 1960 to 1965.” [US Congress, 12/18/1975]
Vice President George Bush hosts a secret meeting with his foreign policy adviser, Donald Gregg (see 1982), and former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez. The meeting is the first impetus of the National Security Council (NSC)‘s initiative to secretly, and illegally, fund the Nicaraguan Contras in an attempt to overthrow that country’s socialist government. Rodriguez agrees to run a central supply depot at Ilopango Air Base in El Salvador. In a memo to NSC chief Robert McFarlane, Gregg will note that the plan is rooted in the experience of running “anti-Vietcong operations in Vietnam from 1970-1972.” Gregg will also note that “Felix Rodriguez, who wrote the attached plan, both worked for me in Vietnam and carried out the actual operations outlined above.” [Spartacus Schoolnet, 12/28/2007] Rodriguez and Gregg, along with others such as Watergate burglar Frank Sturgis (see April-June 1972), were part of the CIA’s “Operation 40,” an assassination squad that operated in Cuba and the Caribbean during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Rodriguez tried at least once, in 1961, to assassinate Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. In 1967, Rodriguez interrogated and executed South American revolutionary Che Guevara. He was part of the infamous and shadowy Operation Phoenix during the Vietnam War. [Spartacus Schoolnet, 1/17/2008]
Entity Tags: Felix Rodriguez, Donald Gregg, Contras, Robert C. McFarlane, Fidel Castro, Frank Sturgis, George Herbert Walker Bush, Ché Guevara, ’Operation 40’, National Security Council, ’Operation Phoenix’
Timeline Tags: Iran-Contra Affair
National Security Council officer Oliver North, running the secret and illegal network that diverts funds from US-Iranian arms sales to the Nicaraguan Contras (see December 6, 1985 and April 4, 1986), has a phone conversation with CIA official Alan Fiers (see Summer 1986). A diary entry by North documenting the conversation reads in part, “Felix talking too much about V.P. connection.” “Felix” is CIA agent Felix Rodriguez, a key member of North’s network (see May 27, 1987). It is not clear whether the “V.P.” notation refers to Vice President George H. W. Bush or to former CIA official Donald Gregg, now Bush’s foreign policy adviser and a liaison to Rodriguez. In later testimony before the Iran-Contra Congressional committee (see May 5, 1987), Gregg will deny that Bush’s office was involved in recruiting Rodriguez to work with North. [Time, 7/22/1991] Gregg has a long and clandestine relationship with Rodriguez, going back as far as 1959, when the two were involved in “Operation 40,” a CIA-led attempt to overthrow Cuba’s Fidel Castro. [Spartacus Schoolnet, 2/3/2008] Gregg also worked with Rodriguez in covert operations during the Vietnam War. [Spartacus Schoolnet, 12/28/2007]
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is overthrown in a military coup. However, the coup collapses after two days, and Chavez returns to power. [BBC, 4/14/2002] Otto J. Reich, the US’s assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, is in contact with Chavez’s successor on the very day he takes over. The Bush administration claims Reich was pleading with him not to dissolve the National Assembly. [New York Times, 4/17/2002]
Senator Barack Obama, during a 2006 visit to Somalia. [Source: Associated Press]Conservative radio hosts such as Dan Caplis and “Gunny” Bob Newman use a photo of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wearing traditional Kenyan robes to imply that Obama has terrorist sympathies. As reported by progressive media watchdog site Media Matters, Caplis says the photo shows Obama wearing “the same type of turban and clothing that Osama bin Laden wears,” while Newman asks, “[W]hy do you think Obama really had the photo taken, dressed up as a Somali warlord?” The photo was taken during an August 2006 visit by Obama to Kenya, where his father was born. [Media Matters, 2/25/2008] It was published a few days ago by the conservative Drudge Report. According to Yusuf Garaad Omar, head of the BBC’s Somali Service, the robes are “the normal clothes that nomadic people wear. The head turban is especially used by elderly people as a suggestion of respect. It is something that has no meaning whatsoever in Somalia culture. If you see someone dressed like that in Somalia, you think it is a nomadic person—that is all. There is no religious significance to it whatsoever. It is mainly the nomadic people who use it. Some of them are religious, some are not. It is simply a tradition of the place where they are from. In this particular place, Wajir in north-east Kenya, the community is majority ethnic Somali.… This debate reminds me of people back home in Somalia, who say that women should not wear trousers, or other cultures who say men should not wear a tie. I just don’t think it makes sense.” [BBC, 2/26/2008] Caplis asks his listeners why Obama would “put on similar clothing to the outfit worn by the man who personally ordered thousands of Americans, including women and kids, to be burned to death,” and says that “it would be as if [former President] John Kennedy had gone out and thrown on the fatigues and the funny baseball hat that Castro wore.” Newman, like Caplis a nationally syndicated Clear Channel talk show host, tells his audience, according to Media Matters: “We were five years into the war on terror when Obama knowingly and willingly dressed up in Somali warlord garb to have his photo taken.” He asks if Obama wore the robes “to garner support from Muslim-Americans who ideologically support Muslim terrorists?” and then asks, “Would it have been right for [former President] Harry Truman to dress up like a Nazi in 1948?” Caplis also tells his audience, “[Obama’s] middle name is Hussein, which should not be held against him for a second; his last name rhymes with Osama, which should not be held against him for a second.” [Media Matters, 2/25/2008] Months later, Newman will tell his listeners that an Obama presidency will welcome “an invasion of Muslim terrorists” (see July 10, 2008).
Entity Tags: Bob Newman, Clear Channel Communications, John F. Kennedy, Media Matters, Barack Obama, Harry S. Truman, Dan Caplis, Osama bin Laden, Yusuf Garaad Omar, Fidel Castro
Timeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, 2008 Elections
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If you would like to help us with this effort, please contact us. We need help with programming (Java, JDO, mysql, and xml), design, networking, and publicity. If you want to contribute information to this site, click the register link at the top of the page, and start contributing. | <urn:uuid:64a2c96a-3661-439b-b9a5-3166340678ab> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=fidel_castro | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00179-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947931 | 2,261 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Pi Day Student Conference Information for Instructors
What is Pi-Day Student Conference?
Pi-Day Student Conference is a “For Students, By Students” event where students, guided by their instructor present their contextualized math projects and have them continue to:
- Promote the ownership of their math learning!
- Share their joy and promote the learning of math!
- Enhance their own learning in math courses!
- Enjoy contextualizing mathematics!
- Communicate across curriculums!
- Connect math with real-life applications!
- Celebrate their mathematical accomplishments!
- Discover ways to overcome their difficulties and anxiety in learning math!
Contextualized Math Presentation:
In order to have your students prepare their contextualized Math Presentation, you could ask students either to work individually or in groups (2-5 students). Each group will create a presentation (poster, media poster or other project) showcasing their research on a math or science topic that relates to the content being learned in class. It is recommended that each poster include the following components:
1. Project topic
2. Math or science principles involved in the research
3. Short demonstration or narrative describing project
4. Geometric interpretation if appropriate
6. Other applications (optional)
.Why would you include this event into your course?
That will help students to learn better while they connect what they learned in your course with Math or they realize the applications of Math in real life.
How to include this event into your course?
The following are some options:
- Make the research and presentation mandatory ( 3-5% of total grade)
- Make it not mandatory, but assign it as extra credit (3-5% of total grade)
- Make it voluntary and encourage your students to participate ( no extra credit assigned)
Regardless of whatever option you choose, all participants will receive certificates of participation.
Pi Day Student Conference will be held at the PCC Quad area
If the students creating the posters are not able to attend the Pi-Conference, their posters could still be presented by other students who are volunteer presenters. Instructors please email firstname.lastname@example.org for the number of your students who will attend the talk or any questions related to the Pi Conference. | <urn:uuid:cf96c928-b7f0-43e1-a6e9-0ed37997d9f5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pasadena.edu/pi/for-instructors.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00124-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941695 | 474 | 2.703125 | 3 |
By SoLA OGUNDIPE
Experts at the University of Sheffield, England and Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute, Moscow, have developed an enzyme treatment which could neutralise the effects of lethal chemicals known as Organophosphorus agents responsible for death of at least 200,000 persons each year across the world.
Organophosphorus agents are commonly used as pesticides in developing countries and acute poisoning is common because of insufficient control, poor storage, ready availability, and inadequate education amongst farmers.
Most of the deaths poisoning, through occupational exposure, unintentional use and misuse, mostly in developing countries like Nigeria and through deliberate terrorist activities.
Organophosphorus agents include compounds like Tabun, which was developed in 1936 by German scientists during World War II, Sarin, Soman, Cyclosarin, VX, and VR.
Using a modified human enzyme, scientist Professor Mike Blackburn from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology collaborated, in a consultancy role, with Professor Alexander Gabibov of the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute, Moscow, and Professor Patrick Masson of the Département de Toxicologie, Centre de Recherches du Service de Santé des Armées, to create a “bioscavenger” which was found to protect mice against the nerve agent VR and showed no lasting effects.
In studies performed at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry in Pushchino, Russia, a total of eight mice were treated with the new enzyme after being subjected to enough of the VR agent to kill several of the animals – about 63 mg per kilogram – and all survived.
“This current publication describes a novel method to generate a bioscavenger for the Russian VR organophosphorus agent with the key property of being long-acting in the bloodstream,” Blackburn stated.
“That has been achieved by a combination of chemical surface modification (polysialylation) and biotechnology of production (through the use of an in vitro CHO-based expression system employing genes encoding butyrylcholinesterase and a proline-rich peptide under special promoter control). | <urn:uuid:e5c51daa-f7ca-48b0-b88a-a00b781d93b3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/01/british-russian-scientists-develop-new-treatment-to-combat-deadly-chemical-agents/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00063-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910984 | 453 | 3.125 | 3 |
Corinthia, Sicyonia Phliasia, and Achaia, for the Travelsof Anacharsis.
1786 6 x 13 in (15.24 x 33.02 cm)
This lovely little map of Corinthia, Sicyonia and Achaia, in northern Peloponnesus of Ancient Greece, was prepared by M. Barbie de Bocage in 1786 for the 'Travels of Anarcharsis.' Taken from the early D'Anville map.
Jean Denis Barbie du Bocage (1760 - 1825) and his son Jean-Guillaume Barbie du Bocage (1795 - 1848) were French cartographers and cosmographers active in Paris during late 18th and early 19th centuries. The elder Barbie du Bocage, Jean Denis, was trained as a cartographer and engraver in the workshops of mapmaking legend J. B. B. d'Anville. At some point Jean Denis held the post of Royal Librarian of France and it was through is associations with d'Anville that the d'Anville collection of nearly 9000 maps was acquired by French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The younger Barbie du Bocage, Jean-Guillaume, acquired a position shortly afterwards at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, in time, became its head, with the title of Geographe du Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres.
Fine or Perfect condition. | <urn:uuid:b2b2758d-8278-4659-8643-dfb9d7b23775> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/Achaia-white-1793 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393463.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00100-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908603 | 304 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Kids who snore -- a lot and loudly -- may also be more likely to have behavioral problems, a small, new study suggests.
Researchers from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center found that kids who have persistent snoring are also more likely to be hyperactive, inattention and have symptoms of depression.
Persistent snoring that lasts for months "can be a sign of real breathing problems at night that are treatable," study researcher Dean Beebe, Ph.D., director of the neuropsychology program at the university, said in a statement. "I encourage parents to talk to their child's doctor about loud snoring, especially if it happens a lot and persists over time."
The Pediatrics study included 249 kids whose sleep and behavioral habits were reported by their mothers. The researchers found a link between loud snoring during ages 2 and 3 and behavioral problems, but no link with not snoring, or snoring at only age 2 or only at age 3.
The researchers found that not breastfeeding, or breastfeeding for only a short while, or having a low socioeconomic status seemed linked with persistent snoring in the study.
"This would suggest that doctors routinely screen for and track snoring, especially in children from poorer families, and refer loudly-snoring children for follow-up care," Beebe said in a statement.
Even though this particular study is small, it comes on the heels of a recent Pediatrics study also showing a link between kids' snoring and behavioral problems -- only that study included more than 13,000 kids, MSNBC reported.
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that sleep-disordered breathing -- which can manifest as snoring -- was a predictor of conditions like anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at age 7, according to MSNBC.
P.J. Skerrett, senior editor at Harvard Health, explained a possible reason for why snoring or sleep-disordered breathing might be linked to these sorts of problems:
The brain does a lot of growing and developing during infancy and childhood. It is possible that nighttime breathing problems during these formative years decrease the supply of oxygen to the brain. That could interfere with the development of pathways that control behavior and mood. It is also possible that breathing problems disturb sleep, and it’s the interrupted or poor sleep by itself that may cause trouble in the developing brain. | <urn:uuid:2630abad-25d0-4f9f-aadf-e85301ed71ca> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/13/snoring-behavioral-problems-kids-breathing-sleep_n_1761957.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00159-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96007 | 480 | 3.078125 | 3 |
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