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Number Theory (find the smallest prime divisors)
I am only stuck on part c), but I will show you parts a) and b) to see where this question is coming from.
a) Prove that if p and q are odd primes and q | a^p - 1, then either q | (a - 1) or q = 2kp + 1 for some integer k.
b) Use part a) to show that if p is an odd prime, then the prime divisors of 2^p - 1 are of the 2kp + 1.
c) Find the smallest prime divisors of the integers 2^17 - 1 and 2^29 - 1.
I proved parts a) and b) and tried applying these to part c). For 2^17 - 1 I let a = 2 and p = 17 in parts a) and b). Thus, the prime divisors of 2^17 - 1 are of the form 34k + 1. How do I find the smallest prime of this form that divides 2^17 - 1. If I let k = 3, then I get 103, which is prime, but 103 does not divide 2^17 - 1.
The back of the book has answers for these but I do not know how to get there:
2^17 - 1 is prime
233 | (2^29 - 1)
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Photo: David Reeves (flickr)
Have you heard that hot peppers might be the key to a new type of anesthetic that blocks pain without making you numb or paralyzed?
Researchers in San Francisco discovered that capsaicin, the compound that gives hot peppers their heat, binds to certain ion channels on the surface of pain-sensing neurons called nociceptors.
Most local anesthetics work by blocking the activity of all neurons, including nociceptors, but also neurons that sense touch or control muscles. So the pain sensation is effectively blocked, but so is all the feeling in that area.
A later study at Harvard Medical School found that when capsaicin is bound to the channels on nociceptors, it causes those channels to open like pores in the neuron’s membrane. They discovered that the pores were just large enough for molecules of an anesthetic called QX-314 to enter and block the neuron’s activity.
The capsaicin and QX-314 combo was successfully tested in mice, but scientists are still not sure if it will work for humans. They hope that this discovery will ultimately lead to a way for doctors to block pain without generalized numbness or paralysis.
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Fresh smelling flowers in all colors of the rainbow brighten up our gardens but, despite what we might think, they have some ulterior motives. Flowers are up to some very important business: they are reproducing! The fact that they can't move from place to place like animals leaves them with a problem. They need help in their sneaky business. In this activity, find out who the flowers' “partners in crime” are by being a flower spy!
What You Do:
- Draw a chart like the one below. You will be using this chart to collect evidence in your investigation. Leave room for 6 different flowers to be charted.
| Color of Flower
|| Does it have a nice scent?
|| Insect or animal that visits it
|| Number of visits
- To do this activity, you will need a patch of flowers of different types and colors. You can do this in your garden or at the local park. A sunny day in late spring or early summer will work best.
- Sit down next to the flowers that you want to observe. Choose one type of flower and observe it for 10 minutes. Be very quiet and still. During that time, observe and write down which animals visit the flower and the number of times that they visit. Every time it lands on the flower, it is counted as one visit. After 10 minutes, choose a different color flower and repeat the same thing.
- Keep your eyes open for other observations. Record them as notes with your evidence collected in the chart.
- After an hour, take a look at the evidence you've collected. See if you can make any conclusions about the kind of animals that are helping the different types of flowers. Does it have anything to do with color or scent?
What did you find out? Are you a good flower spy?
Lauri Kubuitsile is a former science teacher turned fulltime writer living in Botswana. She has taught at preschool through high school grade levels both in Botswana and in America.
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|Scientific Name:||Eudorcas rufifrons|
|Species Authority:||(Gray, 1846)|
Gazella rufifrons Gray, 1846
|Taxonomic Notes:||The number of subspecies recognized has varied in the past depending on whether this species was treated as conspecific with related forms, namely the Thomson’s Gazelle E. thomsonii, and the Mongalla Gazelle E. albonotata (Gentry 1972, Kingdon 1997, East 1999). Furthermore, the form tilonura, from east of the Nile River, is either considered a subspecies of E. rufifrons (e.g., Grubb 2005), or a distinct species (Groves in press). This treatment follows Grubb (2005), with E. rufifrons occurring west of the Nile River, except for the subspecies E. r. tilonura.|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Vulnerable A2cd ver 3.1|
|Assessor(s):||IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group|
|Reviewer(s):||Mallon, D.P. (Antelope Red List Authority) & Hoffmann, M. (Global Mammal Assessment)|
Red-fronted Gazelle populations have been reduced to scattered remnants over most of its range by illegal hunting, competition with domestic livestock and habitat degradation, and this reduction is estimated to be greater than 30% over the last three generations (15-18 years). Some populations in protected areas have increased, but the majority of the population resides outside of protected areas. If present trends continue, the Red-fronted Gazelle’s distribution and numbers will probably decline further until its status becomes Endangered or Critically Endangered, e.g., at present less than 10% of its total numbers occur in populations which are known to be stable or increasing.
|Previously published Red List assessments:|
|Range Description:||This species formerly occurred throughout dry grasslands and sahelian bushlands from Mauritania and northern Senegal to the western side of the Nile River in Sudan, with Heuglin's Gazelle (E. r. tilonura) ten ranging east of the Nile between the southern part of the Red Sea hills in Sudan and the southern foothills of the Ethiopian massif in western Eritrea and north-western Ethiopia (East 1999; Scholte and Hashim in press; Hashim in press). It is likely to be extinct in Ghana.|
Native:Burkina Faso; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Mali; Mauritania; Niger; Nigeria; Senegal; South Sudan; Sudan
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||The available information on this species’ numbers is based mainly on informed guesses. East (1999) produced an estimated total population of about 25,000, which includes an estimated 3,500-4,000 Heuglin’s Gazelles. At the time of East's (1999) estimate, large numbers were known to survive in Niger (ca, 4,000) and Mali (ca. 3,000). Population trends are generally downwards.|
|Current Population Trend:||Decreasing|
|Habitat and Ecology:||Formerly widespread in the Sahel zone in the sahelian grasslands, savannas and savanna woodlands, and shrubland. They range up to 1,400 m in the savannas of north-western Ethiopia (Yalden et al. 1996). It is able to adapt to human occupation of its habitat to some extent, e.g., it is known to re-occupy fallow land if sufficient cover is available. It occurs locally in small to moderate numbers in areas of largely unexploited rangeland. They are known to make seasonal movements, although these are increasingly restricted by human settlement.|
|Major Threat(s):||Red-fronted Gazelle populations have been reduced to scattered remnants over most of its range by illegal hunting, competition with domestic livestock, and habitat degradation resulting from drought, overgrazing of livestock and clearance of land for agriculture.|
Approximately 15% of the total population of this species occurs in protected areas (East 1999), in particular W N.P. (Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin), Waza N.P. (Cameroon) and Zakouma N.P. (Chad) (East 1999; Scholte and Hashim in press). Heuglin's Gazelle is protected in Dinder N.P. in Sudan, but East (1999) noted that it does not receive effective protection here, as the sites that it prefers are utilized intensively by camel herders who trespass into the park in the dry season and destroy the gazelle’s favourite shade trees to feed their camels and goats.
The extension of effective protection and management to additional populations besides those in areas such as Zakouma, Waza and Dinder National Parks is necessary. Development and implementation of land use plans which allow for the needs of wildlife outside protected areas in countries such as Chad and Sudan would also be of major benefit to many of the remaining populations of this species (East 1999).
A limited number of Red-fronted Gazelles are maintained in captivity, but without formal breeding programmes.
|Citation:||IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group. 2008. Eudorcas rufifrons. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T8973A12943749.Downloaded on 02 July 2016.|
|Feedback:||If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please provide us with feedback so that we can correct or extend the information provided|
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How can parents help their children get the most out of Primary Achievement Days, and what kinds of activities are appropriate for those days?
, Primary president, Las Cruces First Ward, Las Cruces New Mexico Stake.
In a Church statement announcing that the Primary Achievement Days program would be broadened to include Primary children ages 8 through 11, parents were reminded of the increasing need to spiritually strengthen children at an early age against the world’s immoral influences (see “Policies and Announcements,” Ensign, Dec. 1994, 72).
Primary Achievement Days are designed to help children “become the kind of person [they] and Heavenly Father would like [them] to be” (My Achievement Days [booklet, item no. 35317], 1). Achievement Days activities help children develop their testimonies, live gospel principles, grow close to their families, learn new skills, make friends, and learn how to set and complete goals. These midweek activities may be held twice each month in the ward meetinghouse or in the homes of Primary teachers, leaders, or children (see My Achievement Days, 17).
In many areas boys can achieve these objectives through Scouting activities. The original instructions to priesthood leaders on Achievement Days said, “Scouting programs will continue to be the achievement days activities for boys in areas where the Scouting program is available” (Ensign, Dec. 1994, 72). But in areas where Scouting is not available, leaders have found that young boys as well as girls get significant growth through Achievement Days activities.
Activities should focus on the application of gospel principles taught in Sunday Primary lessons in order to strengthen children in meeting daily challenges and living gospel principles in the home.
Ideas suggested in the My Achievement Days booklet include activities centering on spirituality, arts and crafts, education and scholarship, family history, home and family skills, health and personal grooming, hospitality, outdoor fun and skills, personal preparedness, safety and emergency preparedness, service and citizenship, and sports and physical fitness.
Activities can include job fairs, which allow Primary leaders and teachers to demonstrate skills, share work experiences, and stress the importance of education; music fairs, which showcase the musical talents of parents and children; heritage days, which highlight the lives of children’s forefathers; and missionary preparation activities, which introduce children to the importance of sharing the gospel as well as to food, clothing, customs, and languages from different nations.
Children get the most out of Achievement Days activities when parents are supportive, enthusiastic, and actively involved in their children’s gospel education.
Church leaders have counseled parents to assume a major role in teaching their children the principles and ordinances of the gospel. Achievement Days can help parents fulfill this responsibility if they will encourage their children to attend, help them set realistic goals, and volunteer time, talents, and knowledge to help make those activities successful.
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Nancy Rabalais, the marine ecologist who has overseen mapping of the low-oxygen “dead zone” off the coast of Louisiana for 27 years, and executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie, has been named a 2011 recipient of a $100,000 Heinz award. “Dr. Rabalais’ hard work, research and courage have driven remarkable discoveries in what we know about ‘dead zones’ — one of the most significant environmental problems facing the oceans,” said Teresa Heinz, chairman of the Heinz Family Foundation. “She simultaneously advances the state of our knowledge of the causes and consequences of dead zones and helps develop public and private responses to those challenges.”
The 17-year-old Heinz Awards honor individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the environment. Rabalais is one of 10 people given awards this year totaling $900,000.
“It was quite a surprise and quite an honor,” said Rabalais. She said the award reflects not only her own research, but that of other scientists and graduate students who have participated in the study of hypoxia — low levels of oxygen — and its effects on marine life along Louisiana’s coast.
Rabalais’ mapping cruise this summer found a 6,765-square-mile area west of the Mississippi River with oxygen levels below 2 parts per million in water. Fish avoid such areas, and the lack of oxygen can kill organisms that live in bottom sediment.
Her team mapped a second area of low oxygen east of the Mississippi River, stretching from Mobile Bay to the Chandeleur Islands.
The low-oxygen areas are formed when Mississippi River water rich in fertilizer and other nutrients from the Midwest enters the Gulf of Mexico, where it feeds large blooms of phytoplankton, microscopic plants, which die and sink to the bottom. Their decomposition uses up oxygen, and the river’s freshwater forms a layer above the Gulf’s heavier salt water that blocks more surface oxygen from reaching the ocean floor.
Rabalais’ research has helped guide efforts by states along the Mississippi and the federal government to find ways of reducing the river’s nutrient load, part of a long-term effort to reduce the size of the annual dead zones, and similar efforts to reduce dead zones elsewhere.
The unrestricted Heinz grant came just weeks after LUMCON was awarded a three-year, $11.7 million grant from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. That was set up by BP to pay for research into the fate of oil spilled after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion, the spill’s effect on the coastal environment, the development of new spill tools and technology and ways to better restore damage caused by oil.
The Gulf initiative grant is administered by a scientific board independent from BP.
“There’s a difference between the two grants,” Rabalais said. “One is to honor past work and the other is to fund future work, but all still in the realm of environmental science.”
Rabalais said she plans to use the Heinz grant to pay for research expenses not covered by other grants, including travel and equipment.
In addition to hypoxia, Rabalais’ research areas include the study of larval blue and stone crabs, the effects of salinity and temperature on coastal environments, and the effects of oil and gas production on bottom-living organisms.
She often advises and assists graduate students, often during research cruises from LUMCON.
“I’m out there slinging the mud with them, measuring things at 2 in the morning,” she said.
Rabalais took over as LUMCON’s executive director six years ago, helping the marine laboratory’s full-time researchers apply for grants and overseeing educational programs for elementary and secondary school and college students.
“We open up the realm of marine science and the marine environment to many students who would not have the ability for such studies otherwise,” she said.
Mark Schleifstein can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or 504.826.3327.
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Nearly All Oklahoma Quakes Are Near Injection Wells, But So Is Most of the State
The Oklahoma Geological Survey — which monitors seismic activity in the state — continues to acknowledged in a Feb. 17 position statement that “both fluid injection and withdrawal in the subsurface can trigger earthquakes,” but stopped short of blaming the oil and gas industry for increased temblors in recent years.
The vast majority of Oklahoma quakes happen within a few miles of injection wells, but the statement throws some cold water on a connection between the two.
About 80% of the State is within 15 kilometers (9 miles) of an Underground Injection Control (UIC) Class II water disposal or enhanced oil recovery injection well. For this reason, identifying possible induced or triggered seismicity requires more scientific evidence than simply identifying spatial correlations. It is also important to note that about 99% of the earthquakes that have occurred in Oklahoma over the past few years also lie within 9 miles of a UIC Class II well.
That doesn’t mean injection wells aren’t the cause of the earthquake uptick, just that there are too many injection wells to be sure, and more evidence is needed.
But while OGS gathers more evidence, many scientists have seen more than enough to convince them of a link, as StateImpact has reported.
University of Oklahoma seismologist Katie Keranen, who has studied a 5.6 earthquake that hit Oklahoma in November 2011, found the link between the “zone of injection” and the seismic activity “compelling.” There are three deep injection wells within two-and-a-half miles of that quake’s epicenter, according to Energy Wire.
And if you really want to wrap your head around how injections wells might cause earthquakes, check out StateImpact reporter Joe Wertz’ handy video on the issue.
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A smear is among the simplest of propaganda techniques. It can take the form of repeated, unapologetic, systematic name-calling, or otherwise implying or asserting that opponents are bad, evil, stupid, untrustworthy, guilty of reprehensible acts, or part of some undesirable category.
A smear might be conducted subtly or vaguely so the target cannot seek legal action against a slander or libel, which must be specific and believable to be legally actionable. False implications can be masked by otherwise truthful statements. Truth is usually a defense against libel in most jurisdictions.
An archetypal implicit smear is the question, "When did you stop beating your wife?" Whatever the answer, the question accuses the person of prior domestic violence. Smears might use oxymoronic language, broad generalizations, false characterizations, irrelevant information and loose associations. Smears appeal to emotion and discourage reasonable discussion.
Public officials, politicians, media representatives and advocates tend to disagree at times about when accusations of impropriety are relevant and when they are intended to smear.
A slime is someone who smears others. Smearing is detrimental to a civil discourse, and thus explains the pejorative name given to those engaged in this type of activity.
Examples of smears
- allegations of homosexuality, in institutions which explicitly refuse to employ gays or lesbians, or in cultures with social or legal sanctions against homosexuality - (see also outing)
- Republican Party smears against Democrats as the "Party of Treason" in the 1950s.
- allegations that someone is a convicted pedophile (this is an oxymoron - a felon is convicted of specific acts, but a pedophile is a term from psychiatry describing not acts but desires - for which there is no legal liability - although some jurisdictions do define habitual offenders, they do not in fact convict them of "being a pedophile")
Smears don't always work. Straightforward claims that one's opponent is morally bad may sometimes backfire:
- assertions that choice between one politician and another is a choice between good or evil, as Albert Gore Jr. did against George W. Bush - claiming the mantle of good for oneself while describing one's opponent as being evil. In a close election, dogged by a third party implying both parties are so bad they are about to destroy life's chances on earth, Gore's claim found little purchase.
- more specific allegations that one's opponent is an evil reptilian kitten eater from another planet - a stunt unlikely to be repeated, given that Ernie Eves (who used it against his opponent Dalton McGuinty) lost that election.
For a moral smear to be effective, the association with evil probably needs to be believable, though like any rule, there are likely exceptions (see big lie). A morally demeaning word merely introduced in an innocuous context might tend to cast a cloud of doubt over an opponent, if the audience is not alert to the device. In 1988, the George H. W. Bush campaign associated the Democrat opponent with an implicitly dangerous criminal released on parole.
Repulsive imagery conveyed in a smear or ritual defamation might extend or reinforce a more general moral appeal. If so, approaches like the "evil reptilian kitten eater from another planet" appeal might be effective if they don't backfire and if other circumstances don't overshadow the effect.
In the United States, Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush have exploited the concept of evil to dehumanize an enemy. Speaking to the nation in a widely broadcast message, Reagan blasted the Soviets as an "evil empire". G.W. Bush presaged aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq with identification of what he called an "axis of evil."
The concept of evil is rooted deeply in religious and secular lore throughout the U.S., allowing the presidents to allege evil both as a direct appeal to supporters swayed by religious propagandists, and to offer a psychological justification for secular listeners who might follow leaders' instructions to dehumanize an enemy that they might not otherwise despise.
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Friday, June 15, 2012
Daily 5 & Houghton Mifflin
This is the schedule of my day and how I use Houghton Mifflin along with Daily 5.
We have a phonics program and I use it first thing in the morning 8:45. I spend about 12 minutes teaching and then for 10 minutes the students are doing workbook pages. While they are doing their workbook pages I'm checking homework, doing lunch count, and taking attendance. This is the warm up part of our day. At 9:00 we stop because my kids switch classes for enrichment time. On my team we split up the kids that are below, on, and above grade level and give them reading enrichment/interventions during this time.
At 9:30 I get my class back and we start with whole group reading for 30-45 minutes so we end around 10:00. This is the time that I do Houghton Mifflin. I start with a quick phonemic awareness or phonics activity, teach the words to know, and mostly teach the comprehension strategy of the week. I know there is so much more in Houghton Mifflin but I take out what I think is important. On Monday I do a read aloud to model the comprehension strategy, Tuesday I read the story of the week or we listen to it online, Wednesday we read the story of the week together, Thursday my students buddy read the story, Friday my students read on their own. I teach the comprehension strategy before and we discuss how we used it after reading. I of course ask questions throughout the reading as well. After we read the story of the week they do their workbook pages. (I know this will change some next year because we have to align to the Common Core but this is the method I have been using.) I give 10 minutes for the workbook pages and if they aren't finished then they may finish up in Word Work before they play any games or take out any activities.
Then we start the Daily 5 around 10:00. I remind them quickly of the rules during Daily 5, remind them of our comprehension strategy, and then let my students pick where they want to go. During this time I pull groups for guided reading/book studies/assessments/one-on-one reading help. I use HM leveled readers and reading records in small group with the kids. We have one hour to complete all 5 so they are in each one rotation for 12 minutes. This is perfect for the beginning of the year and then towards the end I will cut it down to 4 rotations for 15 minutes. Since they only get to choose 4 I have them pick their 5th choice 1st the next day. (So if they completed read to self, read to someone, word work, and listening then they would start with writing the next day.) I ring a bell to let the students know it is time to switch and they all clean up and meet me on the floor to pick again and continue. So yes it would take the place of literacy centers/stations. After the last rotation we clean up and go to lunch at 11:10. I know it is not exactly how the framework of Daily 5 goes but it is what works for me within the constrictions of what I have to do at my school.
After lunch we have writing for 45 minutes and then go to recess for 20 minutes. Then we come back in from recess and have math for one hour. I split my math up into whole group math for 30-45 minutes and then small group/centers for 30-45 minutes. After math we have science or social studies (Science M, Tu, Th) (Social Studies W, F). Then my students have specials for one hour. After they come back we pack up, eat snack, read a story, and go home.
I hope this helps you out and again feel free to ask any questions I may have not answered.
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Pinnacles National Monument
Pinnacles National Monument is a United States National Monument that protects a wilderness area containing the remains of half of a long-extinct volcano. It offers rugged hiking trails over high rock formations and through talus caves. Located approximately two hours (by car) south of San Jose in California's Central Coast region, the park is remote enough to avoid massive throngs of visitors, but close enough to the Bay Area to be a good day-trip option.
The initial 2,060 acres of Pinnacles National Monument was set aside in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt to preserve the unusual rock formations and the talus caves found in the park. The Civilian Conservation Corps began developing some of the trails and facilities in the park between 1933 and 1942, including the distinctive tunnel that is found on the tunnel trail. Today the park has been expanded to contain 24,265 acres and attracts over 150,000 visitors annually.
The pinnacles for which the park is named are the remains of a 23 million year old volcano. Located along the San Andreas fault, half of the volcano was pulled 195 miles to the northeast as the tectonic plate on which it sits shifted. The current rocky outcroppings have been eroded to approximately one-third of the volcano's original height, but still offer a challenging vista for hikers and rock climbers.
Flora and fauna
The park is home to 149 species of birds, 49 mammals, 22 reptiles, 6 amphibians, 68 butterflies, 36 dragonflies and damselflies, nearly 400 bees, and many thousands of other invertebrates.
The endangered California condor, the largest flying land bird in North America, has recently been re-introduced into the park and can occasionally be seen gliding on updrafts near the rocky cliffs. Turkey vultures are commonly seen, and the park is also home to golden eagles, prairie falcons, Cooper’s hawks, and sharp-shinned hawks. Mammals in the park include black-tailed deer, bobcat, gray fox, raccoon, jackrabbit, brush rabbit, ground squirrel, chipmunk, and several kinds of bats.
The climate of Pinnacles is typical of the Mediterranean climate of California, with cool wet winters and hot dry summers. Summer temperatures of over 100°F are common, but coastal fog will often come into the valleys at night. Nighttime summer temperatures of 50°F are common, making for enormous daily temperature swings.
Winter climate is akin to the California deserts, with mild days and nights often dropping into the low 20s °F. The average precipitation is approximately 16 inches (400 mm) per year. Nearly all of the precipitation is in the form of rainfall, with the majority occurring from December to March. Snowfall is rare, but does occur in significant amounts about every 10 years.
An automobile is the only practical means to reach Pinnacles National Monument. Park entrances on the east and west sides are not connected to each other by a through-road. The west entrance can be reached via U.S. Route 101 near the town of Soledad, then east along California Route 146 to the Chaparral area. The east entrance is reached via California Route 25, south from the city of Hollister or north from the town of King City, then west on California Route 146.
If unsure which side of the Monument to visit, be aware that a foot trail system connects both sides of the park. For those wanting to visit a talus cave, the west side trail heads are closest to the Balconies Cave Loop. For views of the High Peaks without leaving your car, the rock formations are also visible from the west parking area. However, the road to the west side of the monument is winding and narrow, and may not be the best option for those traveling in a motor home or similar recreation vehicle.
All private vehicles entering the park must pay a $5 entrance fee that is valid for seven days. For individuals traveling by foot, bike or motorcycle the fee is $3, also valid for seven days. Those with an America the Beautiful Pass ($80, allows entrance to all national park areas for one year) do not need to pay the entrance fee. The Pinnacles Annual Pass, which costs $15, also waives all entrance fees.
The park has two entrances, Pinnacles East and Pinnacles West, which are not connected by roads. Parking areas just inside the park entrance often fill during the Spring, and it is therefore advisable to try to arrive early. On some weekends during the spring a park shuttle may be available on the east side of the monument to take visitors from overflow parking areas to trailheads and the visitor center.
The park offers 30 miles of hiking trails, easily accessible from the parking areas inside of both entrances and ranging in difficulty from easy two-mile loops to trails leading across high cliffs and over rocky outcroppings.
Bicycles are allowed only on paved roads within the park. Bicycles and motorcycles are not allowed on trails.
There have been over 140 species of birds documented in the park, but for the average visitor the most interesting will be the California condor, the largest flying bird in North America. Nearly extinct, condors were reintroduced to the park in 2003. These giant birds can live as many as sixty years and are often confused with turkey vultures, but can be distinguished by their bald, pink heads and small patch of white feathers on the leading edge underside of their wings. Other notable birds likely to be seen by casual birders include the prairie falcons that nest on the high cliffs, as well as golden eagles and red-tailed hawks.
The rock in Pinnacles is volcanic in origin, and may pose difficulty for climbers used to granite. Park regulations are as follows:
The visitor centers sell postcards and books of local interest, but otherwise there are no items for sale within the park. Nearby towns have grocery stores and can provide any needed supplies.
There is no food sold in the park. Water is available at visitor centers. Nearby towns have restaurants, bars, and grocery stores.
There is no lodging within the park. The closest lodging is the Inn at Pinnacles (www.innatthepinnacles.com), located four miles from West Pinnacles. Rates start at $200 per night, and it is only open on weekends (typically Friday through Sunday).
Camping is allowed at Pinnacles Campground, which, as of April 2006, is part of Pinnacles National Monument. The campground is located just outside of East Pinnacles on California Route 146, and is operated by a concessioner for the National Park Service. This campground offers camping for $10 per person per night, with a maximum charge of $35 per site per night. RV sites are available for $15 per person per night, with a maximum charge of $40 per site per night. A charge of $5 per extra vehicle may also be assessed.
Overnight camping is not allowed in the backcountry of Pinnacles National Monument, although the east side of the park is now open 24 hours a day for hiking.
The park is a relatively safe place, but there are a few issues to be aware of. For one, when hiking through Balconies Cave or Bear Gulch Cave, bring a flashlight; a headlamp is recommended to leave one's hands free. The caves are dark, footing is uneven, the rock may be slippery, and ceilings can be low. Avoid unnecessary noise in the cave which can be disturbing to wildlife and visitors.
During the summer and early fall temperatures may exceed 100°F, making sun protection and adequate water absolute necessities. Drinking water is only available in the developed areas -- there is no water available on any of the trails. In addition, hikers should wear proper footwear to avoid slipping or twisting an ankle.
Rock climbers should remain alert for rocks that may become dislodged or equipment that may be dropped onto unwary hikers below. Existing protection hardware is not maintained by the park and should be tested before using. Clean-climbing practices means removing slings, etc. after use. Be aware of advisories concerning cliff-nesting birds.
Dangers from the local flora and fauna are limited. Poison oak can cause a nasty rash; wetter areas may have thick stands of this shrub, while hotter, drier areas tend to be devoid of this noxious native species. Stay on trails to avoid encounters with this plant, and learn to recognize it ("Leaves of three, let it be"). Stinging nettle is another annoyance. Touching the plant will cause a burning sensation with all leaf hairs sticking to the skin. Watch for this tall plant in moist areas such as cave entrances and along stream edges. The only poisonous snake in the park is the Pacific rattlesnake; keep to trails, avoid heavy brush, and watch where hands and feet are placed in rocky terrain to avoid this snake. Rattlesnake bites require prompt first aid, so keep an eye and ear out for these animals. The last rattlesnake bite was in 1995, and the animal is protected in the park.
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By Dennis Klein
Usually numbness is a defense against the deluge of traumatic shock. It is the psychological response of anyone who ever experienced the ravages genocide. But genocide seems to have a numbing effect on distant observers as well.
We are wired, it seems, to react only to threats that are immediate. Egypt’s worsening political conflict engenders headlines, but even though the International Crisis Group calls it a “risk alert,” it doesn’t seem a risk to us. Syria seems like another world, and, in truth, it is. It is easy to gloss over the reality of some 100,000 deaths and 700,000 fugitives in what we prefer to regard as a local civil war.
We have generally settled into a comfortable remoteness from the 250,000 Dafuris who have perished since the United States Congress declared a genocide there in 2004. Who is paying attention today to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the deadliest since World War II?
Genocide Watch identifies 18 more countries of conflict bending toward genocide. If we are aware of the social disease of genocide, we are thankful it’s not our concern.
The problem is that any reference to genocide abroad, as easy as it is to parry, is morally impossible to dismiss. Genocide is, in Nicholas Kristof’s view, “the worst evil of which human beings are capable.”
Of course, there are many ways to explain genocide or its preconditions away: Syria’s conflict is an internal, national catastrophe; conflicts in Darfur and the DRC are rooted in historical, perhaps inevitable tribal rivalries; the current assault on Muslims in Egypt is defensive and therefore justifiable; and so forth. Moreover, appeals for action and intervention are widely regarded as hopelessly quixotic. But dissimulation cannot expunge realities that just won’t go away.
Are there viable alternatives to evasion? The best alternative is delegating responsibility to government commissions such as the United States’ Atrocities Prevention Board or post-genocide truth commissions; intergovernmental agencies including the United Nations and its genocide conventions; and to nongovernment organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Save Darfur.
But like a kind of democracy that Alexis de Tocqueville observed in the United States when citizens delegated responsibilities to official agencies, ceding jurisdiction over genocide prevention and punishment to our leaders eviscerates the potency of public opinion to exert relentless pressure on our leaders to act effectively. U.S. presidents since Jimmy Carter have surely declared the mantra “never again,” but as Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, observed, “No U.S. president has ever suffered politically for his indifference to (genocide’s) occurrence.”
If prodding and coaxing grass-roots remonstrations fail to produce an echo, maybe defining political penalties for the failure of our leaders to rally against genocide is an answer. Maybe not. We have only to look at the U.S. sequestration debacle that points fingers without solving problems to see how accountability can falter.
One more promising method of civic engagement is currently languishing on the sidelines: the humanities.
Even this proposal sounds insipid: The liberal arts hardly seem capable of solving problems the way the sciences or the applied arts do. But the humanities offer something exceptionally qualitative: They are prone to instilling a culture of worldly compassion and an awakening to unfamiliar circumstances.
Exposure to the grist of literary narratives or to myriad historical encounters forms habits of generosity that cannot tolerate indifference to human disgrace. Telling stories of individual lives negotiating trains us to think broadly and about others. It inspires the magic of transforming the distant and invisible into the palpable. It transforms apathy into a reflex. Action replaces reaction.
Perhaps it is natural to keep our own house in order and distance ourselves from harsh and unpleasant realities. One thing is for sure: Given our ardent creativity for rationalizing inaction in the face of genocide and for entrusting the task of human betterment to our leaders, no one can doubt the tenacity of moral purpose.
Why not, then, parlay all that energy devoted to evasion into daily acts of human support at home and abroad? Getting there, however, requires a new normal based on a more worldly orientation. The humanities is our best bet and it deserves renewed commitment.
If we are to restore a sense of human kinship and repossess our moral agency, if we are to think in a way that makes genocide unthinkable, we must seek ways to instill a culture of normal, common concern for others in distress.
Dennis Klein is a professor of history and director of the Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Kean University. He is a senior fellow with the university’s Center for History, Politics, and Policy.
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90 Mile Beach Sea Spurge Suppression!
Last weekend was spent by VMLCG volunteers at Loch Sport, working on the 90 Mile Beach to eradicate emerging infestations of Sea Spurge (Euphorbia paralias) which has been making its way from the tideline through to the iconic dunes that make up this beach. It is a highly adaptable pest, invading the dunes and displacing native grass species. It originates from the bilge water tanks of ships visiting us from the northern climes and just loves our environment. The Hooded Plover is one nesting bird of the dunes that is threatened by the colonisation of the dunes by Sea Spurge, but there are others as well.
The plant is easy to treat before it gets too large: a single tap root makes hand pulling of the weed a relatively easy task. More difficult are the larger, established plants, where breaking the tap root below the sand as you hand pull is a major issue. We had plenty of both size plants, including huge mature plants that had grown out, been buried deep by the shifting sands, only to emerge again and hence be impossible to extract. All we could do was deny the plant the ability to set seed this this year by removing all flowerheads!
As a result of our observations, we are working on a proposal to Parks Victoria on a revised treatment strategy for these populations.
There is nothing like a day on the beach and walking. To do this and make a small difference through the detection and removal of this pest made the weekend that much more profitable on a number of levels. We'll be running more of these trips as the treatment time can be almost any time of the year with autumn/winter/spring being great times for VMLCG work and relaxing in one of the best spots in Victoria.
If you want to know more about Sea Spurge, try here.
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Running a successful business means making profit. To make profits, a business calculates production cost and uses manufacturing overhead rate to set price on their product. Manufacturing overhead rate is calculated before the production process starts. Manufacturing overhead is a cost calculated to cater for all any indirect factors of production; the calculation is done on top of other direct costs such as labor and raw materials. Here are the factors used to determine predetermined manufacturing overhead rate.
Projection of expense is the first step in determining predetermined manufacturing overhead rate. A company projects expected expenses for a whole year. In projecting expenses, a company can rely on actual expenses and production costs the company has set for the year. While forecasting your expenses, consider other internal and external factors likely to impact the company’s expenses. Some of these factors include salaries review, economic environment, machine breakdowns and increase and decrease of sales.
Allocation base is the activity of production that will be used to calculate overhead rates. It is a cost allocated to the production hours that a company uses. Production hours are calculated in terms of direct labor hours in case of a company that uses manual labor, while machine hours are used in case of automated systems of production. For example, a beverage company bottling 1,000 bottles per hour and operates for 8 hours a day for six days. The company bottles 2,496,000 beverages in a year. The company therefore uses this as total production hours to apply its overhead rate.
Indirect cost is a major component of predetermined manufacturing overhead rate. Overhead rates are calculated on all indirect costs; these are costs that are not directly incurred in the production process. Examples of indirect costs include organizational salaries, machine maintenance, marketing and insurance of equipment.
Type of Products
The type of products your organization manufactures determines the number of overheads calculated. If a company manufactures multiple products or uses many production stages, it needs to calculate overhead rate per product type or per equipment. If the company deals with one product and uses single equipment, then only one overhead rate is calculated. For example, if you run a simple ice-cream parlor, one overhead rate is effective but if operating a beverage bottling company, multiple overhead rates for cleaning the plant and bottling equipment are necessary.
Calculating Overhead Cost
To calculate predetermined manufacturing overhead rate, a company divides all indirect expenses with the total estimates of production hours. To determine the final charge on a product or service, the company accounts for direct costs such as the cost of raw material, it then adds predetermined overhead rate on each product. If the total direct cost per product is $10, the company’s predetermined overhead rate is $3. The company must set its price above $13 per product in order to make profits.
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In the Book of Genesis, God creates a lush world thick with birds, fish, animals and every good thing, and entrusts this sacred gift to man. This environmental stewardship motivates “green” Pope Benedict’s activism, from installing solar panels in the Vatican to urging a response to global climate change. It is our religious obligation to protect the planet. St. Francis and the Animals, with gentle rhymes by Alice Joyce Davidson and accessible art by Maggie Swanson (Regina Press, 2006), provides a lovely introduction for young children to the Franciscan call to creation-care.
A host of books for young readers explore green themes. A new children’s picture book, richly illustrated by Jim Arnosky, offers a revision of this Genesis moment in all its primeval, Garden-of-Eden grandeur. In Man Gave Names to All the Animals (Sterling Publishing, 2010, ages 1-6 years), Arnosky illustrates the lyrics to “Man Gave Names to All the Animals,” by the Pulitzer Prize-winning songwriter Bob Dylan. You do not have to be a Dylan fan to appreciate Arnosky’s realistic pencil and acrylic paintings of 170 animals (all named on the back page) and the subtle message they send of our responsibilities as stewards of creation. If you are a Dylan fan, however, you will appreciate that the book comes with a CD of the song, a great way to turn story time into a sing-along.A Classic
Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax (Random House, ages 4-8) also opens with echoes of Eden. But the primeval forest as imagined by Dr. Seuss (a k a Theodore Geisel) is composed of Truffala trees, rendered in eye-popping colors and improbable shapes. The Lorax is Seuss’s 20th-century adaptation of the Fall in Genesis. In Geisel’s version, mankind destroys paradise not by eating forbidden fruit but by chopping down all the fruit trees, a severe violation of Judaic law, bal tashchit.
Marking its 40th anniversary this year, the children’s classic is (unfortunately) just as topical today. The original tree-hugger, the Lorax, and his fantastic Seussian companions, the Brown Bar-ba-loots, the Swomee-swans and the Humming-fish, live in a “glorious,” balanced eco-system until the arrival of the Once-ler, who is “crazy with greed.” The Once-ler chops down the Truffala trees to make Thneeds, a consumer product of marginal utility; but, as the Once-ler crows, “You never can tell what some people will buy.” The Lorax argues for environmental protection and for the prophetic responsibility to speak on behalf of the voiceless. “I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues. And I’m asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs” to stop the eco-genocide.
The Once-ler, intent on profit, retorts that “business is business! And business must grow!... I have my rights, sir, and I’m telling you, I intend to go on doing just what I do!” He does not heed the Lorax’s dire warnings, or even believe them, until it is too late.
As the tragedy unfolds, Seuss’s color palette fades from bold colors to grimy tones until Eden has been destroyed. But Dr. Seuss places his hopes in our children, giving them the last Truffala seed, and a mission; “UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” That is a wonderful line that I use in my classes at Catholic University. It will soon come to life in the 3D movie now in production, starring Mr. DeVito as the voice of the Lorax, Zac Efron as the boy given the last Truffala seed (named Ted in honor of Theodore Geisel) and with some new characters added, like Betty White as the boy’s grandmother. It speaks to our climate-changed, post-BP oil spill world. As Danny DeVito noted in an interview in USA Today, “We’ve got to wake up and smell the oil burning.”
Kevin Henkes, a Caldecott Medal-winning children’s book artist and author, playfully conveys the joys of nature and tending the earth in My Garden (Greenwillow Books, 2010, ages 4-8). In a perfect match of simple, poetic text and navy outlines with bright Easter egg colors, Henkes does not preach, but invites children to ponder the creative bounty of the earth. A young girl considers the wonders of her garden. “In my garden, there would be birds and butterflies by the hundreds, so that the air was humming with wings,” and “a great big jellybean bush.” Henkes plants seeds of the love of creation-care, covers them with dirt and pats “down the dirt with my foot.... Who knows what might happen?”Gardens and Animals
In Let’s Save the Animals (Candlewick Press, 2010, ages 3-8), Frances Barry uses textured, cut-paper collages and ingenious layouts (the open book creates an oval shape, so readers hold the world in their hands) to urge her young readers to save the endangered species illustrated throughout the book. In large text she simply describes the animals in their habitats: “I’d save the orangutan, stretching from branch to branch and swinging through the tropical rain forest.” In smaller text creatively intertwined with the art, she offers more details about the causes of the animals’ demise. The lift-the-flap format not only invites reader participation but also underscores the book’s theme of these species’ precarious fate: “Now you see them, now you don’t.” Black animal cutouts against black backgrounds illustrate their absence. The final page spread lists 10 simple ways children can help protect endangered species.
A non-fiction picture book by Jeanette Winter, Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa, (Harcourt, 2008, ages 4-8), tells the inspiring story of Wangari Maathai, awarded the Nobel Prize for her Green Belt Movement. To combat deforestation in her native Kenya, she enlists local women to plant more indigenous trees. Trees help the land and the farmers avoid desertification and poverty, and they also build peace, as environmental degradation spurs violent conflicts over scarce farmland and resources. Her movement has spread to 30 African countries, helping poor, African women farmers, the poorest farmers on the earth (according to the U.N. World Food Program). Simple text and pictures clarify the intersections of environmental damage, poverty and violence. Imprisoned for her activism, Wangari is not the only to have been imprisoned. “Talk of the trees spreads over all of Africa, like ripples in Lake Victoria...until there are over 30 million trees where there were none.” Winter’s words are complemented by her bright colors and repetitive patterns that conjure up the beauty of Africa.Now to Florida
The world is funnier with Carl Hiassen in it. A persistent and ironic investigative reporter, Hiassen has been writing exposés about corruption in South Florida for The Miami Herald for nearly 40 years. He weaves his stories with an honest, satiric wit reminiscent of Mark Twain. Recently, he has adapted his talent to middle school and teen fiction, with great success. In a trio of novels, kids become “everyday environmentalists,” sometimes reluctantly. They do not set out to save Florida’s wetlands and endangered species, but a funny thing happens on the way to school. They uncover corporate pollution and coverups and decide they must respond, while the adults around them are often either unable or unwilling to take on the issues. The quirky characters and deadpan descriptions of the good, the bad and the crazy in South Florida are as thick as Spanish moss in a Florida swamp, so real you will practically feel the mosquitoes bite.
In Hiassen’s Scat (Knopf, 2009, ages 9-12), a class field trip to the Black Vine Swamp goes unexpectedly awry, as their feared battle-axe of a biology teacher (the aptly named Mrs. Starch) and the class underachiever and arsonist, Smoke, go missing in a suspicious fire at the swamp. An oil company illegally drilling in the swamp set the fire in an attempt to cover their tracks and frames Smoke for the fire. But the persistence and ingenuity of the classmates Nick and Marta exonerate Smoke, find Mrs. Starch (actually an environmental activist) and save an endangered Florida black panther and her cub along the way. The pace, characters, sense of place and poignant humor of the novels alone make them essential reading. The green themes are a bonus. The author’s tongue-in-cheek humor and sunny Florida settings nicely balance the more serious ethical and environmental challenges. Readers familiar with Hiassen’s profanity-laced crime novels for adults can rest easy; these books are profanity-free.It’s Easy Being Green
Because the specifics of creation-care can be complicated, a host of new non-fiction books clarify these issues for elementary-school age through teenage children and their parents and teachers. Three in this category stand out. What’s the Point of Being Green?, by Jacqui Bailey (Barron’s, 2010, ages 9-12), clearly explains environmental issues without talking down to children. Organized in useful blocks from “What’s the Problem?” and “How Did It Get So Bad?” to “So What Can We Do?”—suggestions for action at the individual, community and international levels—the book deftly weaves photos, facts and tips for action. The sections “Why Do Some People Go Hungry?” and “How Wealthy Are You?” are by themselves worth the price of the book, as many green books do not mention that the poor suffer most from environmental damage.
Earth in the Hot Seat: Bulletins from a Warming World, by Marfe Ferguson Delano (National Geo-graphic Society, 2009, ages 9-12), combines superb National Geogra-phic photography and compelling comments from scientists, like: “Things that normally happen in geologic time are happening during the span of a human lifetime. It’s like watching the Statue of Liberty melt.” The photos memorably tell the story, including before-and-after pictures of melting glaciers and representations of the carbon emitted by a sport utility vehicle.
A Kid’s Guide to Global Warming: How It Affects You and What You Can Do About It, by Glenn Murphy (Weldon Owen, 2008), also clearly explains climate change with fascinating pictures and graphs; but except for a photo in the disease section, the book overlooks the disproportionate effect of climate change on the world’s poor.
All these books shine a bright light on environmental pain, while urging individual and collective action to resurrect our suffering planet—a fine message for Earth Day and every day.
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When Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s diaries came to light in 2004, it was an indisputably historic event. His daughter, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, had the notebooks—their pages by then brittle and discoloured—carefully transcribed and later translated from Bengali into English.
Written during Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s sojourns in jail as a state prisoner between 1967 and 1969, they begin with his recollections of his days as a student activist in the run-up to the movement for Pakistan in the early 1940s. They cover the Bengali language movement, the first stirrings of the movement for Bangladesh independence and self-rule, and powerfully convey the great uncertainties as well as the great hopes that dominated the time. The last notebook ends with the events accompanying the struggle for democratic rights in 1955.
These are Sheikh Mujib’s own words—the language has only been changed for absolute clarity when required. What the narrative brings out with immediacy and passion is his intellectual and political journey from a youthful activist to the leader of a struggle for national liberation. Sheikh Mujib describes vividly how—despite being in prison—he was in the forefront of organizing the protests that followed the declaration of Urdu as the state language of Pakistan. On 21 February 1952 the police opened fire on a peaceful student procession, killing many. That brutal action unleashed the powerful movement that culminated in the birth of the new nation of Bangladesh in 1971. This extraordinary document is not only a portrait of a nation in the making; it is written by the man who changed the course of history and led his people to freedom.
Penguin Books India
18 Jun 2012
352pp with 16pp B/W illustrations
World except Pakistan and Bangladesh
Non-Fiction, Memoir, Politics
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The port from which a ship originates.
- HMS Sheffield has set sail from her home port of Plymouth and is steering a course for sunnier climes at the start of a six-month deployment to the Caribbean.
- Normally based at HMAS Waterhen in Sydney, it will still be several months before the 11 sailors reach their home port.
- HMS Cornwall put to sea for the first time in almost a year as her refit in her home port of Devonport came to a close.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: home port
Definition of home port in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
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Greater than 20 Percent of Malware Articles Miss the Point
I take issue with the virus metaphor. Comparing malware with a virus tends to suggest that they are somehow more what they are: a program.
Malware is just an application which performs instructions outlined by an attacker. The attacker needs to get the user to launch the application and often desires to prevent the user from terminating the application. Malware does not need to be visible; often much development time is spent writing malware that is as hidden as possible. It is much easier to exploit a user who is complacent -- so why advertise that the user has a reason to not trust you?
You better be clicking here before clicking on an Antivirus installer.
If the attacker cannot convince you to launch the virus they must convince something on your computer to launch it.
One common attack is to create an image or applet which loads in a specific web browser or a plugin installed on it. If the attacker knows vulnerabilities for that specific browser or plugin version they can exploit that vulnerability and convince the application to execute instructions in the data that the attacker added exactly where the vulnerable program would accidentally look. Those instructions would have the same permissions as the vulnerable program because the computer could not tell that it is not the vulnerable program. These vulnerabilities are regularly patched which would make you immune to those attacks.
((Technically, DEP might have a chance at stopping it... but only conditionally and it is beyond this article.))
A major problem occurs if you are behind on your updates: you are vulnerable to publicly known exploits. The publicly available patch had to have fixed something, right?
I'm no security phoney...
Mobile devices are just as at risk. The phone creator gives you reduced permissions to attempt to prevent you from installing untrusted code. If you have ever heard of someone jailbreaking their phones then you know that there exists a process to remove admin privileges from the phone creator and give them to yourself. Jailbreakme.com allows you to seize permissions from your iOS device just by browsing a website -- imagine a different website which gave the permissions to someone other than you?
A few years ago, iOS had an error in the way that they handle SMS text messages. It was entirely possible for someone to send you a series of text messages and take over your phone. After all, text messages are just data which originates from an untrusted source. If the phone is not patched against that weakness then you are vulnerable.
Thankfully, that just has not happened on a massive scale yet. Just do not be complacent and believe it cannot happen.
As for malware itself, it exists for many purposes:
- Delivering pop-up or spam advertisements to you (not so much any more)
- Extort website owners with threats of flooding traffic from thousands of infected PCs to block legitimate users
- Steal information such as credit card numbers and contacts to scam them posing as you/vice versa
- Lock the infected PC and demand money to clean it
- Government espionage
… and so forth.
In almost every case the attacker intends to use your device for financial gain. That is why people do these sorts of things: to make money. Attacks will become progressively less profitable as users become progressively more aware about the situations they face. Eventually most, but not all, attackers will simply find a better job somewhere else -- hopefully this time more legal.
Read on to see what antimalware does about this problem and what you can do, yourself.
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<urn:uuid:a2bba080-a12b-484e-a31a-bd6249478583>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Editorial/Greater-20-Percent-Malware-Articles-Miss-Point/Malware-explained?pcper_ajax_tabs_block_tab=0&referer=node%2F54266&args=
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en
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The connection is not the new type of CyberTracker system used by park rangers, although that can easily accommodate all four features.
The connection is a diminutive elephant researcher with a fistful of blue dental cement and a desire to get stuck into her research - stuck all the way up to her armpits in a sleeping elephant's mouth.
For the last four years the Save the Elephants Transboundary Elephant Research Programme has been collaring elephants to learn more about elephant movements and behaviour between the Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) and the Kruger National Park.
Each time vet Cobus Raath darts an elephant for Drs Michelle and Steve Henley, they have fitted a tracking collar and recorded their subject's vital statistics such as foot size, tusk size, body length and shoulder height. As science advanced, blood and hair samples were also taken to provide genetic and dietary information.
Ever keen for more information, the researchers have taken it one step further and decided to find out exactly how old their subjects are - and this involves a good look at the elephant's teeth. Just as horses can be aged by looking at the wear on their teeth (hence 'never look a gift horse in the mouth'), so can elephants, who work their way through six sets of teeth into eventual old age.
Seeing as a firm 'open wide' will not work on a sleeping elephant, another plan has to be made. The plan involves Whaledent, a blue putty-like dental epoxy that sets in minutes to produce a cast of the teeth it is pressed up against. When the teeth belong to an elephant, things get interesting. Michelle describes the experience.
"Getting the jaw open was no easy task and sticking your arm next to the tongue to reach for the teeth towards the back of the jaw was slightly intimidating. One movement of the jaw could mean a few missing fingers. The breath and saliva smelt like grated carrots which helped us feel less scared as a meaty breath would have been difficult to face and stomach."
Once set, the moulds are removed and filled with plaster of paris, producing an exact replica of the teeth in the elephant's mouth, and ones that can be measured at leisure when the elephant is back on its feet. Although ageing elephants by their teeth is not a new thing, with the classic scientific paper being published in the 1960s, it is not surprising that few free-ranging elephants have been aged in this way prior to their death.
Last year Save the Elephants researchers in Kenya published a paper on their successes with dental moulds and immobilised elephants. Encouraged by this, Steve and Michelle teamed up with Dr Andre Ganswindt and Stefanie Münscher who had been practicing the technique on elephant jaws at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute.
Given the size of elephant teeth, they were grateful to Leon Coetzer for his generous donation of enough Whaledent to get the job done. The last six elephants that have been collared by the researchers have all been fitted with GPScellphone collars, and have had 'blue tooth' technology applied to their molars.
One cow showed signs of stirring during the attempt to get the tooth moulds, and the researchers decided that knowing her age was less important than reanaesthetising her, and so like a real lady, her exact age will remain a mystery. The other elephants collared have been aged at 14, 18, 24, 36 and 43 years each, with the possibility of each animal being one or two years older or younger.
The Transboundary Elephant Research Programme now keeps tabs on 14 male elephants and eight female elephants. The project is teaming up with other elephant researchers from The Elephant Movements and Bio-Economic Optimality Programme (Tembo) and sharing data with them.
Most of the elephants are collared with GPS - cellphone collars, which send location readings from the GPS via the cellphone network to the researchers. Two bulls that often wander out of cellphone range send their GPS readings to the researchers via a costly satellite linkup.
Michelle says, "We have deployed collars within three different groups as each category has shown distinctive patterns of movement - that is, prime bulls over 35 years of age with regular annual musth cycles, young bulls dispersing from their breeding units and females within breeding herds."
She says that most of the collars are sponsored by donations, with Marlene MacKay from Tanda Tula Safari Lodge being a constant supporter of the project from the beginning. The Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa has also been sponsoring the service fees for the GPSsatellite collars for over two years, as well as providing GPS-cellphone collars for more elephants to be collared.
By Melissa Wray
In Kruger National Park
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.krugerpark.co.za/krugerpark-times-3-16-elephant-bluetooth-23455.html
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EXPANDING THE PROBLEM
This technique can be proved useful when trying think deeper into the solution of things. Like when reading if the character does something you don't understand, you could look back or try to think about what you have been previously reading. You will be trying to find more information, and will try to have a greater understanding. When you find a reason for the characters baroque act you just EXPANDED THE PROBLEM.
You have a situation were you need to use or find information in your job. Say if you were a banker and a man walked in and wanted to see how his money has grown and you tell him it has grown 25% in the last month. You could think by the end of the year, and the current month was January, you could tell him that by the end of the year his money would have grown 300%.
A little boy is looking out a window at the black night sky, he is contemplating the stars. He wonders about what the stars do up in outer space. He wonders and wonders, and contemplating like an eager bee looking for honey. Contemplating means wondering while very relaxed.
While reading the book The Invention Of Hugo Cabret, I thought deeper and tried to figure out would happen next. HYPOTHESIZING is when you try to think what will this character do next or something like if I take this train I might be a few minutes late and if I take this one I might be a little early.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://kidblog.org/Crozet5thgrade/evans24/thinking-with-more-understanding/
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Submitted to: Agricultural Water Management
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: June 20, 2002
Publication Date: August 15, 2003
Citation: Anderson, R.L., Tanaka, D.L., Merrill, S.D. 2003. Yield and water use of broadleaf crops in a semiarid climate. Agricultural Water Management. Interpretive Summary: Producers are changing their crop rotations in the Northern Great Plains because of no-till and minimum-till systems. To aid in managing pests and nitrogen fertility, producers are seeking broadleaf crops, both legume and oilseeds, that can be rotated with the cereal grains, wheat or barley. We tested seven broadleaf crops for adaptability to our semiarid climate. Dry ypea, sunflower, and dry bean were the most favorable crops based on water conversion into grain. Broadleaf crops will enable producers to improve grain yield of cereals as well as aid management of pests. A key component of successful semiarid rotations will be the sequencing of crops; mixing broadleaf and grass crops in a cycle-of-four rotation will accrue multiple benefits for producers in devising alternative rotations. The legumes, dry pea and dry bean, by supplying nitrogen to the soil, will help producers to reduce input costs related to fertility management.
Technical Abstract: The predominate crops grown in the northern Great Plains of the United States are cereal grains, which are well-adapted to the region's semiarid climate and short growing season. However, rotations are changing because minimum- and no-till production systems improve precipitation-use- efficiency. Therefore, producers are seeking diversity in crop choices to improve the design of their rotations. Our objective with this study was t examine water relations and agronomic performance of seven broadleaf crops in a semiarid climate. Dry pea (Pisum sativum L.), dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) were the most favorable for this region considering grain yield, water-use-efficiency, and gross economic return. Soybean (Glycine max L.), crambe (Crambe abyssinica Hochst), canola (Brassica rapa L.), and safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) were less successful. Water use for grain production ranged from 23 cm to 37 cm among crops whereas water-use-efficiency varied threefold. Economic return for grain production per cm of water use also varied threefold among crops. Integrating oilseed and legume crops with cereal grains in a cycle- of-four rotation will aid producers in managing diseases and weeds, as well as improve grain yield due to the rotation effect.
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<urn:uuid:53020baf-f715-4a07-a97d-3370faef418a>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=126695
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en
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With digital games making our kids more and more attuned to 'quick fix' entertainment, origami can be a rewarding way to help them improve their focus and attention to detail. This step by step video shows you how to make an origami windmill.
Number of players:
What you need:
- 1 x two-sided square of origami paper (approx 23cm x 23cm)
- 1 x wooden chopstick (disposable takeaway ones are ideal)
- 1 x drawing pin/tack
Fold the square diagonally one way. Open it out and then fold it diagonally the other way.
Open it out again.
Using the fold marks as a guide, fold the lower left-hand corner to the centre mark and do the same with the upper right hand corner.
Turn the paper over. Sit it on the table at a 45 degree angle. Fold the left flap to the centre. Fold the right flap to the centre. (see video)
There will now be a tab at the bottom and one at the top. Fold both tabs behind.
You should now have a square shape with an alternate coloured square pattern. Turn it over.
Pull out the paper from the middle: squash fold each corner (see video) to make the windmill's wings.
Push the pin through the centre of the windmill and attach it to the chopstick.
Blow gently to make the windmill spin.
Still not sure? Just watch the video.
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<urn:uuid:0a42dd29-5401-4b5d-a419-75ed05978e1b>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.kidspot.com.au/kids-activities-and-games/Art-and-craft+1/Origami-windmill+11911.htm
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en
| 0.859357
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Methodology: As Greeks head to the polls, the Twitter conversation differs by language
This analysis of the Twitter discussions surrounding the 2015 Greek referendum employed media research methods that combined Pew Research’s content analysis rules with computer coding software developed by Crimson Hexagon (CH). This report is based on examination of about 2.5 million Twitter statements that were identified as being about the Greek developments in light of the July 5th referendum. An additional analysis of about 300,000 tweets was conducted examining the sentiment toward Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, following the referendum. The primary searches were conducted in English and Greek. The data were gathered and analyzed by Michael Barthel and Katerina Eva Matsa.
Crimson Hexagon is a software platform that identifies statistical patterns in words used in online texts. Researchers enter key terms using Boolean search logic so the software can identify relevant material to analyze. Pew Research draws its analysis sample from all public Twitter posts. Then a researcher trains the software to classify documents using examples from those collected posts. Finally, the software classifies the rest of the online content according to the patterns derived during the training. While automated sentiment analysis is not perfect, the Center has conducted numerous tests and determined that Crimson Hexagon’s method of analysis is among the most accurate tools available. Multiple tests suggest that human coders and Crimson Hexagon’s results are in agreement between 75% and 83% of the time. (For a more in-depth explanation on how Crimson Hexagon’s technology works click here.)
Greek is considered an “unsupported language” in Buzz monitors, which are not being used in this analysis. Opinion monitors, which we are using, are trained by a researcher fluent in the language.
This study contains an analysis of the sentiment or tone of the conversation on Twitter.
All tweets analyzed in this report were collected between 12 am EDT, June 26, 2015 to 11:59 pm EDT, July 1, 2015 and between July 6, 2015 to 11:59 pm EDT, July 12, 2015.
Each Boolean search used keywords in English and Greek only.
The Boolean searches used for each monitor included a variety of terms relevant to the subject being examined.
For example, the search used to identify tweets in English about the recent developments in Greece was: (Crisis AND Greece) OR (Greece AND EU) OR (Greece AND European) OR (Greek AND crisis) OR (Greek AND European) OR (Greek AND EU) OR (Greek AND IMF) OR (Greece AND IMF) OR Greece OR debt OR bankruptcy OR default OR bankrupted OR referendum OR grexit OR greferendum OR Eurogroup OR Tsipras OR Syriza OR (Greece AND Europe) OR (Greek AND Europe) OR yeseurope OR oxi
And the search used to identify tweets in Greek about the recent developments in Greece was: Κρίση OR κριση OR Ευρώπη OR Ευρωπη OR ΕΕ OR “Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση” OR “Ευρωπαικη Ενωση” OR Ελλάδα OR δημοψήφισμα OR δημοψηφισμα OR κρίση OR κριση OR χρέος OR χρεος OR Σύριζα OR Συριζα OR κυβέρνηση OR κυβερνηση OR αντιπολίτευση OR αντιπολιτευση OR Τσίπρας OR Τσιπρας OR θεσμοί OR θεσμών OR θεσμοι OR θεσμων OR Τρόϊκα OR Τροικα
All tweets were put into one of four categories: positive, neutral, negative or off topic. Depending on the search, a tweet was considered positive if it clearly supported the Yes in relation to the referendum, and considered negative if it clearly supported No.
References to debt or the default were only included in the study if the tweet was clearly focused on Greece. The algorithm was trained to consider references to other debts or defaults, such as in Puerto Rico, as off-topic, and were excluded from the study.
CH monitors examine the entire Twitter discussion in the aggregate. To do that, the algorithm breaks up all relevant texts into subsections. Rather than the dividing each story, paragraph, sentence or word, CH treats the “assertion” as the unit of measurement. Thus, posts are divided up by the computer algorithm. Consequently, the results are not expressed in percent of newshole or percent of stories. Instead, the results are the percent of assertions out of the entire body of stories identified by the original Boolean search terms. We refer to the entire collection of assertions as the “conversation.”
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<urn:uuid:1d8fa551-3df6-429d-b4de-d31fdb9ba7ad>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.journalism.org/2015/07/03/methodology-as-greeks-head-to-the-polls-the-twitter-conversation-differs-by-language/
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00052-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.920698
| 1,145
| 2.625
| 3
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1Known about by many people; renowned: he is famed for his eccentricities
More example sentences
- The Regent Chiang Mai Resort and Spa offers shelter in an area famed for its distinctive culture.
- Also known as the Jersey Royal, this is a waxy salad potato famed for its distinctive flavour.
- As a mathematician Carlyle is famed for his English translation of Legendre's éléments de géométrie.
famous, celebrated, well known, prominent, noted, notable, renowned, respected, esteemed, acclaimed;
Middle English: past participle of archaic fame (verb), from Old French famer, from Latin fama.
For editors and proofreaders
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed.
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<urn:uuid:be9fde6c-84fc-49e0-b560-51dbfe5c6ef0>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/famed
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.91667
| 173
| 2.65625
| 3
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Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. They are used to build tissues, enzymes, skin, hair and many other functions in our bodies. The structure of every amino acid is similar in that they contain an amino group (-NH2) and a carboxylic acid group (-COOH). Amino acids have different side groups attached which are called R groups. The R group determines whether the amino acid is polar, non-polar, acidic, basic, or neutral.
Chromatography is a technique used to separate and identify components in a mixture. In today’s experiment, you will be separating the amino acids present in the artificial sweetener aspartame (Nutrasweet). In chromatography, a solvent is allowed to flow up a paper chromatogram like a wick. The solvent is the mobile phase because it moves, and the paper is the stationary phase because it does not move. When the amino acids are "spotted" on the chromatogram, they will travel up the chromatogram with the solvent at different speeds depending on their polarity/solubility. The amino acids that are more soluble in the solvent will move higher on the paper. The amino acids that are less soluble in the solvent will be more attracted to the paper and will remain closer to the original starting point. As a result, a mixture of amino acids can be separated using this technique.
Rf Values: The Rf value is calculated from the chromatogram and can be used to help identify unknowns. The Rf value is the relationship of the distance traveled by he sample compared to the distance traveled by the solvent.
Rf = distance traveled by the sample
distanced traveled by solvent
To determine the distance traveled by the sample, measure the distance in centimeters from the starting line to the center dot of each spot. To determine the distance traveled by the solvent, measure the distance (in cm) from the starting line to the solvent front line. Note: You will have two Rf values for the NutrasweetÒ sample since it contains two amino acids.
In the example above, the solvent front traveled 8 cm, the one component in A traveled 4 cm, and the one component in sample B traveled 5 cm. By comparing the Rf values for each sample, it can be seen that component C1 is identical to sample A and that component C2 is identical to sample B. Assuming that the identity of sample A and B are known, then the identity of the two components in sample C can be determined.
A. Chromatography of Amino Acids
1. Preparation of Developing Chamber:
Place 15 mL of developing solvent into a 400-mL beaker.
Cover the beaker with plastic wrap and secure it with a rubber band. This is your developing
chamber. Label the beaker with your name and place it in the hood.
2. Preparation of Chromatogram:
a. Using plastic gloves, obtain a piece of
Whatman No. 1 chromatography paper. (Be sure not to
touch it with your bare hands because amino acids from your skin can be transferred to the
paper.) Use a pencil to draw a line across the paper that is about 2 cm from the long edge of
the paper (see diagram below). Make a small "x" at eight points along that line equal distance apart
and label them as shown in the figure below. Put your initials in the upper right-hand corner of the paper.
b. Sample Application: Using the capillary tubes
provided, apply a small amount of each of the
following amino acids to the appropriate "x" (Your instructor will demonstrate the proper
technique for applying the samples to the chromatogram.):
an unknown (Ukn) (Be sure to record your unknown number!)
aspartic acid (Asp)
glutamic acid (Glu)
3. Developing the Chromatogram: Once the sample spots
dry, roll the paper into a cylinder and
staple the edges. Do not let the edges overlap. Stand the cylinder next to the beaker and check
to see that the sample spots are higher than the level of the solvent in the beaker. If the solvent
level is higher than the level of the spots, use a pipette to remove some of the solvent from the
beaker until the level is lower than that of the spots. Remove the plastic wrap "lid" and carefully
lower the paper cylinder into the developing chamber (beaker) with the spotted edge down. Do
not allow the paper to touch the sides of the beaker. Cover the beaker with the plastic wrap and
leave undisturbed. Allow the solvent front to rise until it is approximately 2-3 cm from the top
edge of the paper. Do not let the solvent run over the top of the paper.
4. Visualization of Amino Acids: When the solvent level is
2-3 cm of the top edge, remove the
paper from the developing chamber. Remove the staples and spread the chromatogram out on a
paper towel. Immediately, mark the solvent front with a pencil. Allow the chromatogram to dry
completely. In the hood, spray the paper lightly with ninhydrin solution. Allow the solution to dry
completely. You will be able to see distinct colored spots where the ninhydrin reacted with the
amino acids. (The NutrasweetÒ should show two spots.)
5. Recording your data: Outline each spot with a pencil and
a dot at the center of each spot.
Record the color of each spot. From the chromatogram, calculate the Rf values for the known
amino acid samples, the unknown, and the NutrasweetÒ spots.
6. Identifying your Unknown Amino Acid: Compare the
and Rf values of your unknown
amino acid to those of the known amino acids. Identical amino acids will travel the same
distance, have similar Rf values, and form the same color with ninhydrin. From these
comparisons, identify your unknown amino acid. In the same manner, identify the two amino
acids present in the NutrasweetÒ .
B. Using your text book as a reference, draw the structures of
the amino acids you used in this
experiment. Label them as polar, non-polar, acidic, basic, or neutral.
Issues to be addressed in your conclusion...
What order did the known amino acids travel up the chromatogram.
Do you see a trend between the order that the amino acids traveled and their polarities?
Explain how you determined the identity of your unknown.
What amino acids are present in the NutrasweetÒ
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<urn:uuid:a2a81fae-a632-4b77-a436-e9e36fa8bb16>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www2.volstate.edu/CHEM/1030/Labs/Amino11.htm
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00180-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.899967
| 1,408
| 4.0625
| 4
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Edwards Plateau municipalities in heavily infested juniper country lose much of their annual rainfall before it ever hits the ground, according to two Texas A&M University scientists.
“Thick stands of mature juniper (commonly called cedar trees) can actually intercept 40 percent of an area’s natural rainfall,” said Keith Owens, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station range researcher at Uvalde. “The percentage lost increased dramatically if the rainfall is light.”
Owens and colleague Robert Lyons, Texas Cooperative Extension range specialist at Uvalde, spent three years studying the evaporation and interception water loss from juniper trees across Edwards Aquifer Recharge area.
“This project proves what many have long suspected – too much juniper exacts a heavy toll on the Texas water supply. “Look closely at a juniper tree sometime. They are ideally made to catch rainfall and redirect it to the base of the tree. The water actually hits the tree and runs back toward the trunk. Often no moisture gets to the ground until the tree is hit by a hard rain of an inch or more.”
The two scientists conducted the study in areas averaging 24 to 34 inches of annual rainfall. The project was conducted at 10 locations in eight counties (Bexar, Blanco, Comal, Hays, Kendall, Kerr, Medina and Uvalde). The test area stretches across the Edwards Aquifer recharge and drainage area. Extension agents in these counties assisted in locating and establishing the test plots.
“During one year of observation, the Hays County site received over 36 inches while the Kendall County site got just 10.12 inches,” Owens said. “ But no matter how much or how little fell, the amount of rain falling and the percent intercepted by the trees were about the same across the board. “At the end of the three-year study, we averaged all of the 2,700 total rain events, both heavy and light, that fell over the 10 sites. We found that 35 percent of all the precipitation that falls on juniper trees hits the canopy and evaporates, the litter beneath the trees intercepts 5 percent, and 60 percent actually reaches the ground surface. Of that 60 percent, much is taken up by the tree for growth that leaves little or no water left for aquifer recharge in the heavier juniper-infested areas.
“This research shows that in an area which receives 30 inches of rain in a year, only 18 inches of that total actually reaches the ground surface under a juniper tree. That means 12 inches of rain a year does not reach the ground for either plant growth or potential aquifer recharge.”
Individual storm data generated from this study is available at: http://uvalde.tamu.edu/intercept
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<urn:uuid:3ad9ed3c-cf47-43f2-ba01-a178eb507ecd>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://southwestfarmpress.com/juniper-infestations-intercept-much-areas-natural-rainfall
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en
| 0.931532
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| 3.265625
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Sneezes Hiccups, and Reflexespublishdate
Newborns may sneeze, and this is typically attributed to the irritation of their nasal passages. The most common irritants, explains Dr. Iannelli, are smoke (and simply smoking outside is not enough), animal dander from pets in the house, dust mites, and mold. During the winter, if the heat is on in the
house, the dry air can contribute to nasal irritation and sneezing. If the sneezing becomes a problem, it can be treated with saline nasal drops and suctioning. A cool mist humidifier may also be beneficial.
Hiccups are not abnormal in newborns and infants. One measure to help reduce the likelihood of hiccups is to make sure your baby is burping well and is not swallowing a lot of air when he eats. While hiccups are usually not a problem and do not need treatment, you can ease the discomfort of them by
letting your baby breastfeed or drink a few ounces of formula.
Among the common newborn reflexes are the rooting reflex, which causes the baby to turn his head when his cheek is stroked; the sucking reflex, which evidences itself as newborns attempt to suck on whatever is put into their
mouths; and the grasp reflex of the fingers and toes. Your pediatrician will also assess the symmetric Moro (startle) reflex.
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— Winston Churchill, radio address in 1939
A couple of weeks ago, Graph of the Week published an article describing the significant improvement in medals won by the host country as opposed to how that country ‘normally’ performs when not hosting. We concluded that Great Britain (the host country) would end up with between 53 and 70 medals (roughly 1.5 – 2.0 times more than ‘normal’). As it turns out, they won 65.
The Winter Olympics may not be until 2014, but why not make another prediction for the host country? So, Russia, let’s take a look at you and see what we can surmise.
Fact: Russia has never hosted the Winter Olympics – nor had the Soviet Union. That seems a bit odd seeing that the Russians usually do well in these games. There is probably another story lurking around there, but we’ll let someone else field that one.
Friends and Family Winter Plan
“When Coubertin revived the Olympic Games, only summer sports were included. In the 1920’s, however, snow and ice sports began to enjoy soaring popularity. A number of IOC members decided to react to this new phenomenon. In 1924, it was decided to hold an International Winter Sports Week in Chamonix (France): 258 athletes from 16 countries (mainly in Europe and North America) attended.
The week was a great success and, two years later, it was retroactively named the first Olympic Winter Games. The future of an Olympic event dedicated exclusively to snow and ice sports was assured.”
Just like the Summer Olympics, the Winter Olympics have also had their share of scandals, controversies and boycotts which affect the results (and any statistics derived from those results).
For the sake of consistency, we’ll re-quote what was stated in the Summer Olympic article about the well-known ‘home court advantage’ noted by Harvard researcher Jeremy P. Jamieson, PhD, in the Journal of Applied Psychology:
“A significant advantage for home teams was observed across all conditions (Mp = .604); and time era, season length, game type, and sport moderated the effect.”
While the number of total events in the Winter Olympics is small when compared to the Summer Olympics, this number has risen steadily over the years. Looking at the graph below, a rather sharp increase in the number of events starts in 1992, continuing through 2010. Back in 1924, there were only 16 events, but that number will rise to 98 for the 2014 games.
And like their summer counterpart, this provides more opportunity for the local fans to show up and cheer on their athletes, providing a mental edge in all events for the host country.
But, like the summer games, it’s difficult for any country to be proficient in every event. This is especially true for countries with financial difficulties or environments not conducive to Olympic sport (although that doesn’t stop the Jamaicans!). So, while there are more opportunities to have the home court advantage, there are also more opportunities for other countries to win.
Not as many countries participate in the Winter Olympics when compared to the Summer Olympics. In fact, 28 countries (out of 80) won medals in 2010 (compared to 79 countries (out of 204) winning medals in the 2012 Summer Olympics). That being said, the number of countries which win medals has steadily increased from 10 to the aforementioned 28 as shown in the chart below.
Since more countries are producing Olympic-level athletes, it follows that the host country’s medal count would be reduced due to the stiffer competition. While that was true for the Summer Olympics, it isn’t very true for the Winter Olympics. In the first half of the modern Winter Olympic era (through 1968), the host country winning percentage was about 10%. During the second half (since 1972), that percentage only dropped to 9% (for comparison purposes, these percentages were 24% and 9%, respectively, for the Summer Olympics).
So, while the smaller countries are winning more medals, they aren’t doing so at a rate that significantly affects the host country’s winning percentage.
In our previous article about the Summer Olympics, we estimated that the host country advantage for those games was between 1.5 and 2 times better than what we considered ‘normal’ (using the last three Olympics to determine ‘normal’).
Does that hold true for the Winter Olympics?
No, not to that degree.
This median winning percentage of all host countries – when hosting – is approximated at 7.7%. For these same countries, that drops to 5.0% when not hosting (for the Summer Olympics that is 8.5% and 3.4%, respectively). When attempting to predict how many medals Russia will win using this method, we take 7.7% of the estimated 294 medals awarded (usually more due to ties) which will net them 23 medals.
However, the Russians already get about 6.7% of the medals (when averaged) when taking the last three Winter Olympics into consideration:
|Year||Medals Awarded||% of Total|
So, the host country advantage for Russia, using the above method, is only 1 percentage point higher (they would get 23 medals instead of 20 for 2014). That doesn’t seem like much of an advantage. We suspect that they will obtain more than 23 medals. Or perhaps the host country advantage isn’t as great for the ‘big dogs’ in the Olympics – those that finish with high medal counts every year.
If we multiply the expected amount (when not hosting) by 1.5 as pointed out by Stephen Clarke for the Summer Olympics, Russia would end up with about 30 medals for 2014.
In this excellent paper written specifically for the Winter Olympics, authors Madeline Andreff and Wladimir Andreff predict Russia will win between 21 and 27 medals, using 24 as the target. Using some very sophisticated techniques and taking into account a great many variables (like economic indicators, government types, etc.), their research is probably more accurate than anything else floating around out there. That being said, they summarize any attempt to predict Olympic performance nicely:
“For the time being our recommendation is: do not bet that Russia will win 24 medals at Sochi Winter Olympics!
But, if Russia makes it with more than 27 medals you would be allowed to conclude that she performed very well, better than expected with an economic model, and that this must be due to exceptional efforts of Russian athletes and coaches before and during Sochi Games.
If Russia would win less than 21 medals, you could join Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev in complaining that the Russian winter sports squad should really have done better – or that it was unexpectedly bad lucky.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
As concluded in our Summer Olympics article, there are many attempts to quantify home-court advantage. The best ones will give a range of performance rather than a specific number due to the large amount of variables involved. And as the Andreffs point out above, do not bet that Russia will win 24 medals on the nose. Rather, enjoy watching the Olympics for what they represent.
Of course, it is fun to play around with predictions, so Graph of the Week will use a combination of the above efforts and estimate that Russia will win between 24 and 31 medals. This is a bit higher than most predictions, but then again Russia has never had the home country advantage in the Winter Olympics. We suspect they will rise to the challenge with a chance to grab even more.
1) Why has Russia (or the Soviet Union) never hosted the Winter Olympics in the past?
2) Will future warfare and politics affect the Olympic games as in the past?
3) Will Russia’s performance decline in 2018?
1st graph: ggplot(olympics.melt.hosting.frame, aes(x=Country, weight=(value*100), fill=variable, group=variable)) + geom_bar(position="dodge", color="black") + ylab("Percentage (%) of Medals Won\n") + xlab("Host Country") + scale_fill_manual(values=palette) + opts( plot.title=theme_text(size=24, family='Segoe'), title = "Winter Olympics:\nHost Country Advantage", legend.title = theme_blank(), panel.background = function(...)pngob, title="library(png)", axis.line = theme_segment(), axis.text.x=theme_text(size=12, family='Segoe', angle=90), axis.text.y=theme_text(size=12, family='Segoe'), axis.title.x=theme_text(size=14, vjust=-0.4, family='Segoe'), axis.title.y=theme_text(size=14, hjust=0.5, angle=90, family='Segoe'), plot.margin = unit(c(1, 1, 1, 1), "cm")) 2nd graph (3rd graph code is the same in structure): ggplot() + geom_bar(data=event.counts.frame, aes(x=factor(Year), weight=Events), fill="dark red", color="black", alpha=0.6) + geom_smooth(data=event.counts.frame, aes(x=factor(Year), y=Events, group=1), color="blue", method="lm", fill=NA, size=1) + ylab("Number of Events") + xlab("Year") + opts( plot.title=theme_text(size=24, family='Segoe'), title = "Winter Olympics:\nNumber of Events", legend.title = theme_blank(), panel.background = function(...)pngob, title="library(png)", axis.line = theme_segment(), axis.text.x=theme_text(size=12, family='Segoe'), axis.text.y=theme_text(size=12, family='Segoe'), axis.title.x=theme_text(size=14, vjust=-0.4, family='Segoe'), axis.title.y=theme_text(size=14, hjust=0.5, angle=90, family='Segoe'), plot.margin = unit(c(1, 4, 1, 1), "cm"))
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International Astronomy Day
Do you have a little one who loves outer space? Many children love to learn about space and are curious about what else may exist in our universe. To celebrate a love for space all around the world, various schools and astronomy clubs are looking forward to celebrating International Astronomy Day on April 28. To help making your outdoor event even more fun, wouldn't it be great to have a little outdoor gathering as everyone enjoys watching the stars together? Below, we have tips for creating a fun night or camping trip for International Astronomy Day!
International Astronomy Day: Things You Need
If you are planning on having a little gathering for International Astronomy Day, make sure you have everything you need ahead of time. Since you want to be somewhere that is dark, you want to be in a park, or a very dark backyard. Along with a telescope, this is the best way to look at the stars or even go searching for planets! If you are going to have children at the event or outdoor party, make sure to bring flashlights and books so that you can teach them about the different constellations and things that can be found in the sky. Some learning and party stores even have workbooks or activity books to make learning even more fun for kids!
Of course, any outing needs good food! More than likely, you are going to be outside for hours. Consider filling a cooler with drinks and packing some snack food. You can even make decorative cupcakes using outer space cupcake picks or other decorations to get your favorite food in the spirit for some outer space exploration. As well, you can also bring space themed candy to give as prizes to kids who are able to find various constellations in the sky. Kids will be excited to get candy that is made to look like astronauts, planets, or even aliens if you want to get really creative! If you want to avoid candy, you can also purchase space themed pencils and other outer space toys.
For those who are deciding to camp out, make sure you have plenty of activities planned to keep children interested throughout the night. While they will love looking at the stars, make sure to have things to keep them occupied. For example, consider playing flashlight tag or other traditional camping games with kids. Since it can still get cold at night, make sure to bring plenty of blankets, even if you aren't planning on staying outdoors with kids for the entire night. With the right food and games, it is easy to make International Astronomy Day fun for the entire family!
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When not committing crimes against humanity, Hitler committed smaller ones against aesthetics. But while we owe him thanks for rendering toothbrush mustaches eternally unsavory, the man was a semiotic son of a bitch for taking the innocent swastika—a millennia-old symbol associated with power, energy, luck, divinity, and the life-giving sun—and turning it into a symbol of unfathomable evil. Argue all you want by citing which way the arms spin, Native American handicraft, and disconcerting/hilarious vintage photos, when most people see that crippled cross, their heads will fill with visions of jackboots and death camps. Naturally, that makes it all the more startling when the symbol turns up in our local architecture.
Until Hitler and his thugs reversed and dubbed it the Hakenkreuz (“hooked cross”) the swastika was a perfectly nice symbol. Historically and worldwide, it pops up in every culture. Deriving its name from the Sanskrit svastika—meaning “well-being” per Merriam-Webster—while modern folks immediately picture a cross with four branches bent at 90° angles, “turning” rightwards, the swastika comes in assorted shapes and sizes. You’ll find it in Buddhist and Hindu rites and temples; British heraldry; ancient Greek, Trojan, and Roman buildings and mosaics; native American arts and crafts (where it’s known as the “whirling log” among the Navajo); and, in its allegedly oldest incarnation, a 10,000 year old carving on a Ukrainian mammoth tusk. Sometime between the 1890s and 1920s, the symbol began to appear in company logos, clothing, medals, and elsewhere across North America. Architecture did not go unstamped.
There’s no hard and fast reason why the swastika became so popular back then. Contemporary archaeological digs may have had a hand in it, as 1890s and 1900s discoveries spurred revivals in decoration and forms. Explorations of the Pharaohs’ tombs in 1920s Egypt inspired Chicago’s Graceland and Rosehill Cemeteries’ obelisks, pyramids, and sphinx-attended mausoleums and tombs, and more eye-poppingly at the Reebie Storage Warehouse on North Clark Street. Swastikas were likewise carried over with the day’s humdrum obsession with neoclassicism/Italian renaissance revivalism. Rich folks requested their own (fingers crossed!) eternally standing Egyptian, Roman, and Greek edifices, so architects of the day carried over the conceits of the aforementioned styles. Others probably supported the symbol’s status as a good luck symbol—but why we don’t see horseshoes, four leaf clovers, and rabbit feet around town is unclear. Perhaps the swastika, like egg and dart patterns and dentils, was a simple yet striking way to decorate borders, friezes, and cornices. It may well be that people just thought the swastika looked awesome—though not in the way today’s racists do.
Tastes shifted. Sometime in the 20s, European nationalist groups adopted the symbol. Among these was the National Socialist Party, regrettably headed by a leader with art school background. Imagine the dismay of the world’s designers, companies, and architects, who’d placed swastikas every which way before Hitler came to power (though some showed feisty adherence to their brands). During the build-up to the war, materials with swastikas on them were often destroyed in shows of patriotism, while post-WWII the stigmatized swastika was obliterated or redesigned on many public and private buildings. Not everywhere. Cost, tradition, and a lack of angry protesters and the desire to deface public structures saved some swastikas—and it probably helped if they were the “good” left-rotating kind. Detroit’s Penobscot Building, for example, features a Native American tribute motif with legitimate, left-rotating swastikas.
In Chicago there aren’t many swastikas adorning public structures, but they’re there if you look for them. And you HAVE to look—usually up and out of the way.
Tessellating friezes are the most common way for the swastika to hide in plain sight in the Windy City. The proper term is the meander or Greek key design. Most often meanders appear in structures from the 10s and 20s, usually running the building’s perimeter a floor or three up amidst less memorable ornamentation. The middle building in the Gage Group (24 S. Michigan Ave.) features one, which most people probably miss while gazing at Louis Sullivan’s facade next door at 18 S. Michigan Ave. Evidence of Chicago architectural firm Holabird and Roche’s National Socialist sympathies? Not in the 1890s when they were built.
Columbia College’s Congress-Wabash Building (33 E. Congress Building), designed by Alfred S. Alschuler (who turns up later in this article), not only has a stylized swastika pattern but a set of terra-cotta Roman fasces for good measure.
Metropolitan Tower (formerly the Straus Building when constructed in 1924 by the firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White) at 310 S. Michigan Ave. features another Greek key border, though these are broken up by squarish flower ornaments. The Tower is a swirl of symbology that would keep any conspiracy theorist awake at night. Aside from the swastikas, the building is capped by a pyramid topped by four bison statues holding a 20-foot glass ornament in the shape of a beehive on their backs. The “beehive, “symbolizing industry, is actually a multifaceted light fixture containing six 1,000 watt bulbs. Unless you have binoculars, none of this is viewable from the ground, but the beacon’s glow continues to burn blue each night.
Meanwhile, in an opposite corner of the Loop, the Builder’s Building (222 N. LaSalle) bears markings similar to the Metropolitan Tower’s. Not surprising, since they shared a firm in Graham, Anderson, Probst & White. Perhaps they bought in bulk.
Elsewhere, at Navy Pier, Bubba Gump shrimp-seeking tourists may double-take at the meandering swastikas decorating the towers of the Charles Sumner Frost designed building (1914). Only a few are visible, the rest of the frieze covered by a shield ornament.
Arguably, Greek key/meanders are swastika-inspired, perhaps, but not swastikas proper. Some meanders go without the distinctive broken cross shape (see the Marquette Building’s second floor for an alternate pattern).
Those seeking singular swastikas, however, must crane their necks to see them. The Baha’i House of Worship up in Wilmette is one place. It features swastikas (closer to fylfots than Hakenkreuz) toward the tops of its nine pillars, representing both Buddhism and Hinduism and sharing each pillar with a Christian cross, Hebrew Star of David, Muslim star and crescent, and the Baha’i nine pointed star.
Back downtown, the Bank of America Building’s (230 S. Clark St.) meanders periodically turn into left-spinning swastikas, with two set off at each corner. Once again, another 20s building (1924) built by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White.
At the northeast edge of the Loop, we find an even more surprising swastika-decorated structure. Fans of Perfect Strangers—may God forgive you—will recognize Balki and Cousin Larry’s workplace the “Chicago Chronicle,” in Alfred S. Alschuler’s London Guarantee Building (360 N. Michigan Ave). Credit sequence footage and cutaway shots likely never showed the men gaping up with shock at the very distinct swastikas in the meander running across the building’s Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue sides. At the time of writing, most of the swastikas are covered by trellises, but if you stand beneath them on the Wacker Drive side you can see a few. Alshuler, interestingly, was a student of Dankmar Adler’s, and also designed several Chicago synagogues (among other buildings), including the sanctuary for Hyde Park’s KAM Isaiah Israel synagogue.
If there’s a category for “lost” swastikas, Huehl and Schmidt’s 1912 Medinah Temple (600 N. Wabash Ave.) would head it. The Shriner clubhouse’s floors once featured good luck swastikas inlaid in the floor tiles before being carpeted over at some point. I recall visiting and seeing them in the late 80s. Photographic evidence has yet to turn up, but the swastikas have been noted elsewhere. I have no idea if Bloomingdale’s preserved them under the current flooring, and I doubt a phone call would garner further information.
Leaving downtown (and aside from the Baha’i House of Worship mentioned above) swastikas are scarce. Who’s to say how many were demolished, painted, or bricked over before and after the war? However, two surprising examples stand out in Logan Square. One house that likely continues to startle passers- and drivers-by is 2711 N. Kimball. A cheerful little red-bricked building with a charming peaked facade and not one but eight chipper little swastikas skipping above the lower cornice. The house was built in 1906, and while I’m no expert, owing to Logan Square’s formerly large Scandinavian population, I’d say it was designed by some jolly burgher to emulate architecture from the old country.
A similar house turns up a few blocks away on Central Park Ave. Built in 1916 or 1920 (sources vary), it’s basically the same design, though it lacks 2711 N. Kimball’s panache. The peaked facade is absent, the bricks a duller shade, and the swastika in the southeast corner is weirdly muddled. A failed attempt to eliminate the symbol’s stigma? Not the first, and probably not the last, attempt to do so in this town or elsewhere.
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The type of display used in a calculator depended on the technology available at the time, the cost of the display, the power consumption of the display if being used in a portable machine, and the legibility of the display.
Early 1960s - (1) Cold-cathode numerical display tubes, such as the "Nixie" tube, (2) cathode ray tubes (CRTs), and (3) incandescent filament lamps were the only display technologies available.
About 1967 - (4) Vacuum fluorescent display tubes were pioneered by Sharp.
1971 - (5) Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) first used in a commercial calculator - the Busicom LE-120 "Handy".
1971 - (6) First-generation Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) used in a commercial calculator - Rockwell.
1973 - (7) Second-generation Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) introduced.
On this page, click on an item in the list below to go to that section
See also the excellent article by Rick Furr "Electronic Displays - An Overview of Technology" in the Collecting Calculators section of this site.
The cold-cathode display tubes of an Anita 1011LSI calculator in use. Note also the small neon lamps used to indicate the decimal point (the third from the right is energised).
Cold-cathode display tubes were developed in the early 1950s and were used in the first electronic desktop calculator, the Anita Mk VII of 1961. Requiring high voltages and having a high power consumption they continued to be used into the early 1970s in AC powered calculators. Their use in battery powered calculators is rare, see Anita 1011B LSI.
The cold-cathode display tube and the neon lamp operate on the same principal.
The simple neon indicator lamp consists of a sealed glass tube with two closely spaced non-heated electrodes, an anode and a cathode. The tube contains neon gas at very low pressure together with a small percentage of mercury vapour. They are often used in AC power sockets to indicate that they are switched on.
The gas in the tube initially acts as an insulator and as the voltage between the anode and cathode is increased practically no current flows. However, a little of the gas in the tube will be ionised by naturally occurring cosmic rays, radioactivity, or ambient light into positive ions and negative electrons. The electric field being applied to the electrodes will cause the positive ions to move towards the cathode and the electrons towards the anode. As the applied voltage is increased so these will start to move faster and faster, colliding with other gas atoms and ionising them by knocking off electrons.
At the "striking" or "ignition" voltage the ions and electrons move which such high speeds that an avalanche of further ions and electrons is produced by all the collisions. This leads to a high current flow, which is kept in check by an external resistor in series, and an amber glow at the cathode.
The cold-cathode display tube is a neon lamp with multiple cathodes. Each cathode is shaped like one of the digits 1 to 9, and they are mounted in a closely spaced stack.
In front of the stack is the anode, formed from an open mesh grid visible in the photograph above. When the striking voltage is applied between the anode grid and any of the cathodes a discharge is formed and the gas around the cathode glows. Since the cathode is shaped like a digit the glow is also in the shape of that digit - see the photographs.
In use it can be seen that the numbers are in a stack since some numbers appear further forward in the tube than other numbers.
The life performance of a numerical display tube depends to a great extent on the length of time the discharge is maintained on a single cathode (ie. number). This is because in any gas-discharge device the cathode is subjected to
constant ion bombardment which removes material from the cathode and deposits it elsewhere in the tube. This "sputtering" is unavoidable, but is limited by keeping the peak current as low as possible, consistent with visibility of
If a display tube is kept with one cathode constantly glowing (ie. one number displayed all the time) then material is sputtered from that cathode. This only affects the glow of that cathode a little, but the sputtered material lands on the other cathodes and affects the current required to make them glow, and can lead to uneven illumination.
If the discharge is cycled between characters regularly, this gives a much improved life since each cathode, although receiving some sputtered material, is subjected to the cleansing action of bombardment.
The normal figures quoted in published data for the life of a numerical indicator tube is 5,000 hours with a continuous display of one character, and 30,000 hours when sequentially changing from one digit to the next every 100 hours or less.
Cold-cathode numerical display tubes are often called "Nixie" tubes though this was a trade name of Burroughs Corporation which was an early developer of this technology. Other names used are Pixie tube and Numicator tube.
Several Sanyo models of the early 1970s use a type of discharge tube, shown above and below, which at first sight appear to be filament lamps. However the shiny wires are actually electrodes, with the surrounding black metal being the other electrode. These operate in the same way as small neon lamps, so with an applied voltage of about 60v an amber discharge is generated around the energised wire electrode, as shown below.
The cost of a Burroughs Nixie tube in 1971 was about $2 for lots of 10,000, which made them very competitive. However their size and high power and voltage requirements were disadvantages.
Around this time Burroughs introduced the "Panaplex" display providing multiple digits in a single planar tube, see below. Also based on cold-cathode technology, it used the familiar 7-segments to produce each digit, and required less manual assembly during manufacture and so was cheaper per digit. It also made more efficient use of space so that more digits could be packed into a smaller size. Although more common in desktop calculators the Panaplex was also used in some hand-held calculators. See the Compucorp 324G and Keystone 88.
Above is a Burroughs Panaplex display in use in a Keystone 88 hand-held calculator of about 1974. The digits are larger than those of LEDs of the time.
The sandwiched glass plates of a Panaplex display. The rear has a sealed glass nipple where the vacuum was achieved during manufacture.
This photograph illustrates that depending on how the ambient light falls on an unlit Pananplex display it characteristically shows the individual 7 segments of each digit or the cell of each digit.
Above is another, less common, amber gas-discharge display. This example is made by NEC (Nippon Electric Company) and is in a Sanyo ICC-809 hand-held calculator.
A Friden EC-132 calculator showing the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display and 4 lines of a calculation.
The cathode ray tube has been in use since the 1920s and was used in televisions, radar displays, and oscilloscopes. Its first use in a desktop calculator was in the Friden EC-130 (1963) and EC-132 (with square root).
Although they can display several lines of a calculation they are bulky and have high power requirements, which restricted their use to a few AC powered desktop calculators of the mid to late 1960s.
The four lines on the crt of an EC-132.
The photograph above shows the typical bottle shape of the early instrument type CRT and its metal shielding casing. Anyone who has seen inside a modern television or computer monitor (danger - very high voltages present when in use) will have seen the much fatter, squatter versions which are still used.
On the right of the tube is the electron gun, where a heated filament produces a cloud of electrons. These are focused into a beam and accelerated towards the fluorescent display screen on the left by an anode with a high positive voltage. The beam is deflected to write the electron beam on the fluorescent display and so produce the visible numbers.
These CRT display tubes were used in a few calculators of the mid to late 1960s, including Friden EC-130, Friden EC-132, Hewlett Packard HP9100A.
Incandescent filament lamps were employed in two different methods
Method 1 - Seven-segment displays.
Each digit makes use of 7 separate filaments arranged in the familiar pattern so that all numbers 0 to 9 can be displayed. Very few calculators used this type of display which can easily be confused with the amber-coloured cold cathode numerical display tubes shown above in Section 1.
Method 2 - "Light-Pipe" Display Modules.
Each digit consists of a stack of clear, flat plastic sheets each with one digit (0 to 9) inscribed. When a sheet is illuminated at its end by a small filament lamp the light is piped along the sheet and is scattered by the engraved number which then can be seen quite brightly.
The "light-pipe" display modules of a Canon Canola 130S, from about 1968.
Different numbers being displayed by the "light-pipe" display modules of a Canon Canola 130S.
The photographs below are of a similar, though larger, "light-pipe" display module to those in the Canon Canola 130S, which are of a more compact design but work in an identical way.
Removing the cover reveals the stack of plastic light-pipe sheets, one for each number 0 to 9 in this module. Decimal points sheets could also be fitted.
Each sheet carries its number marked out in an array of conical pits in its surface. When a light is shone into the edge of the short side of a sheet the light is piped round the corner, as with fibre optics, and illuminates the pits and so the number is seen.
The bottom of the module can be removed to allow replacement of the tiny filament lamps. There is one lamp to illuminate each "light-pipe" sheet.
These "light-pipe" numerical display modules only require the low voltage drive of the filament lamps. But the lamps have the disadvantages of high power consumption (though not much of a problem in an AC-powered calculator), short operating life, and a slow response. They were only used in a handful of AC powered desk calculators in the late 1960s early 1970s.
Vacuum fluorescent displays in Japanese calculators made in the late 1960s & early 1970s often have stylised digits and half-height zeros. This one shows 1234567.0. The half-height zeros make the display more readable when the calculator has no leading-zero suppression.
Vacuum Fluorescent Displays were developed in Japan jointly by Hayakawa (Sharp) and the Ise Electronics Co. These "Digitron" tubes were used first in the Sharp Compet CS-16A, launched at the end of 1967.
These tubes had stylised digits, as shown above, which are often found in Japanese calculators of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
"Electronics" journal explained: "For the desk calculator, the digit patterns of the tubes were redesigned for better readability. The "0", for example, has only half the height of other digits. That way, the string of "0's" before the first significant number in the display is no longer a nuisance and there's no need to blank them out."
In June 1967 "Electronics" reported that Japanese calculator manufacturers were battling the high royalties that Burroughs Corporation was asking for them to produce copies of its Nixie tubes. This was one of the reasons for them developing the vacuum fluorescent display.
Their use continues to this day in calculators, video recorders, Hi-Fi systems, and other equipment where the display glows. These displays are quite bright and their power/voltage requirements are moderate so they were used widely in AC and battery powered calculators, but are now confined almost exclusively to AC calculators.
First generation vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) using a separate tube for each digit. Each tube shows the fluorescent anodes arranged in the standard 7 segments, together with a decimal point, and an extra short segment so that "4"s look better.
Vacuum Fluorescent displays (VFDs) can be considered to be flattened cathode ray tubes (see section above).
In the original design each digit of a display required a separate tube. At the front two fine parallel wires stretching the height of the tubes form the cathode and are heated just to the point where they emit electrons but do not glow. Typically there are seven anodes arranged in the typical 7-segment pattern so that all numbers 0 to 9 can be generated.
By applying a voltage between any anodes and the cathode electrons are attracted to the anode and to accelerate high speed. The anodes are coated with a fluorescent coating which glows brightly when struck by the electrons. The colour produced is typically green or blue, though modern displays for Hi-Fi systems produce other colours such as white, red, yellow.
Between the anode and cathode is an open grid. Applying a negative voltage to the grid switches the digit off completely.
Originally each digit of the display required a separate display tube - these were used in both AC and battery powered models.
The next development was to reduce costs by squeezing all the digits into one long horizontal tube. The final developments were to do away with the tube and pack everything into a flattened glass package.
Second generation vacuum fluorescent display with all the digits in a single round tube.
Third generation vacuum fluorescent display with the digit assembly sandwiched between bonded glass plates.
Fourth generation vacuum fluorescent display in a flattened package made by welding a domed piece of glass onto a flat piece.
Vacuum fluorescent displays have been developed much further as can be seen in the photograph above of the display from a modern hi-fi sound system.
An LED display with its intense red colour.
The LED (Light Emitting Diode) display appeared commercially in the late 1960s. American Calculator Corp., of Dallas, announced the first use of LED displays in a calculator in late 1970. "Electronics" journal stated that it "employs eight Monsanto gallium arsenide phosphide light emmitting diodes in its display". However, in April 1971 it was announced that the company had gone bankrupt, so it may never have sold any commercially. The first calculator with LED display to be successfully marketed was the small Busicom LE-120 "Handy" in early 1971.
Being based on semiconductor materials, the LED display is very compatible with calculator integrated circuits and has a moderately low power consumption.
The initial problems were high cost and small size. With large scale production the price rapidly reduced. The small size was alleviated by placing moulded plastic magnifying lenses in front, as can be seen below, however this gives a narrow viewing angle. Due to the small size of LED displays they were very rarely used in desktop calculators of the 1970s.
The LED eventually lost out to the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD, see below) which has a much lower power consumption (it is passive and does not emit light) and has a larger size at little extra cost.
Early 8-digit LED display in a Commodore Minuteman 2 using individual 7-segment array modules. The ninth module on the far left provides "-" sign and overflow indication.
Early 8-digit LED display. This has nine bare 7-segment array LED chip dice mounted on two carriers, and does not use magnifying lenses. The die on the far left provides "-" sign and overflow indication.
LED module showing the typical plastic moulding with magnifying lenses.
LED module showing the 7-segment LED arrays viewed through the magnifying lenses.
LED module showing the number 12345678 being displayed. The array on the left is used for displaying the minus sign and other characters, such as to indicate overflow.
First Generation LCD with silvery digits against a dark background.
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Thomson-CSF of France was one company involved in their development and demonstrated a calculator with a 16-digit LCD in early 1971 (photograph in "Electronics", May 24 1971). However, they were selling the display at a price of $10 per digit at that time so it would have been expensive and was probably not sold commercially. Busicom announced a LCD version of the LE-120 (itself the first successful LED calculator) in 1971, but it too appears to have never been sold commercially.
The first successful use of LCD displays in calculators appears to have been in models made by Rockwell for Lloyds (Accumatic 100), Rapid Data (Rapidman 1208LC), and Sears in 1972. These use displays which operate in the transmissive mode and require a backlight, so removing much of the advantage of low power consumption.
Sharp were also pioneers in calculators using LCD displays, and in 1973 introduced their COS (Crystal On Substrate or Calculator On Substrate) technology in the Sharp EL-805.
The true COS calculator has a circuit board which appears to be made of glass, as shown on the left, viewed from the rear of the calculator. The LCD display is formed directly on this circuit board, which also carries at least two layers of conductive tracks, separated by a white, insulating lacquer, and the electronic components. The user actually looks through the circuit board when viewing the display. Note that the glass circuit board has no holes in it, all of the components being surface-mount types.
The use of the glass circuit board was a dead-end in the development of calculators. Subsequent models from Sharp with this type of display have conventional circuit boards, though their LCD display modules have a similar construction to the display section on the glass circuit boards.
LCDs have the great advantage of very low power consumption since they are passive displays, altering the reflection of ambient light rather than actively generating light.
There was a lot of discussion about the stability of the early liquid crystal material, which was justified since many calculators of the period with this type of display no longer show the numbers properly.
Second Generation LCD with black digits and a yellow background - the yellow is actually a filter in front of the display to absorb damaging Ultra Violet light and prolong the life of the liquid crystal material.
Advances in the liquid crystal material greatly improved its stability, removing the need for the yellow, ultra-violet absorbing filter. These third generation LCDs are used for the displays of modern hand-held calculators and in conjunction with modern integrated circuit techniques result in calculators running for years on one button cell or just on solar power.
Third generation LCD with black digits on grey background.
The display technology used in the 1960s was overwhelmingly the cold-cathode discharge numeric display tube, typified by the Burroughs "Nixie" tube, with its amber colour. By 1971 tubes of this type could be bought in quantity for US$1-to-$2-per-digit 1.
A few calculators, mostly from Friden, used cathode ray tubes (CRTs) which could economically give several lines of digits.
In the late 1960s vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs), with a green/blue colour, were pioneered by Sharp. Having a reduced power/voltage requirement and a bright display these took over from the cold-cathode tube, especially among Japanese manufacturers, in the 1970s.They were also widely used in hand-held calculators till the late 1970s, and they remain the only light-emitting displays still used, in some AC powered desktop calculators.
Light emitting diode (LED) displays were introduced commercially in 1967, but were initially very expensive, costing about US$60 a digit. By 1971, in quantities of 1,000, 1/8 inch high LED displays could be
bought for US$3.95 each 1.
Although more expensive than the numeric display tube the LED had the advantages of small size, low voltage, and lower power consumption, which made it very suitable for the newly appearing miniature pocket calculators. Although expensive at first, the price of LEDs soon dropped as production quantities increased and competitors entered the market. Within a year or two of their introduction in calculators in 1971 they were used extensively in hand-held calculatorafter till the late 1970s when they were largely replaced by liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
All of the light emitting displays have the disadvantage that they are difficult to read in bright ambient light. They must also use energy to generate light, but power consumption could often be reduced by pulsing them, which could give the same apparent brightness at a lower average current.
The liquid crystal display (LCD), also introduced in calculators in 1971, required a less technical production environment and cheaper materials than the LED, and so could be made much cheaper. It also had tiny power requirements, and being reflective was easily readable at all normal office lighting levels and in full sunlight. However, early manufacturing problems, the slow response speed of early liquid crystals, and concerns about the life and temperature stability of the liquid crystal material held up its wide acceptance till the mid 1970s. Then there was no stopping the LCD and by 1978/9 it dominated the calculator market and allowed credit card-sized calculators to be produced.
1) Electronics, May 1971.
A) If the digits glow -
There is no known calculator with a green LED display - green LEDs were developed after the red variety and were more expensive.
LED displays were very rarely used in desktop calculators.
B) If the digits do not glow then the calculator has a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).
See also the excellent article by Rick Furr "Electronic Displays - An Overview of Technology" in the Collecting Calculators section of this site.
© Text & photographs copyright Nigel Tout 2000-2016 except where noted otherwise.
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Take a sneak peek at the new NIST.gov and let us know what you think!
(Please note: some content may not be complete on the beta site.).
We have designed a new type of neutron interferometer, which will be less sensitive to slow vibrations.
Single crystal neutron interferometers are extremely sensitive to environmental noise, including vibrations. Sensitivity is a result of 1) many wavelengths combined in interferometer, 2) slow velocities of neutrons, 3) long measurements times. Most neutron interferometers require vibration isolation, which is usually a big and massive system (especially for low frequency vibrations). We have designed a new type of neutron interferometer, which will be less sensitive to slow vibrations. Not only will this design improve the interferometer contrast but it will also make it easier to adopt the use of it in many systems.
We made a five blade single crystal interferometer that incorporates both the MZ and DF geometries in one single perfect silicon crystal. By removing or adding neutron absorbing cadmium beamblocks we can choose either the MZ or DF equivalent (see Figure 1). This allows us to compare the MZ and DF under the same conditions.
Calculations show that the DF configuration is much less sensitive to low frequency vibrations. For the DF configuration the contrast does eventually fall off at high frequencies, which can be easily damped with small, commercially available systems. The decrease in sensitivity to vibrations in the DF case is due to the fact that any change in momentum caused by vibrating blades in the first loop is compensated by the same change in the second loop. In the MZ case this is not true. Figure 2 shows interferograms for the two cases. For the MZ case the fringe visibility becomes zero at only 8Hz while at the same frequency the DF still has optimal visibility.
These results demonstrate a concrete example of how quantum information theory can control the effects of noise on useful macroscopic quantum devices. They validate our expectations that a quantum code can improve coherent control in neutron interferometry. The DF interferometer's insensitivity to vibration will enable it to be placed closer to the guide, thereby recovering neutron intensity by having a larger solid angle reach the detector. We anticipate relying on this and related quantum information theory approaches to construct a new series of compact neutron interferometer setups tailored to specific applications.
Figure 1: A schematic diagram of the 5-blade neutron interferometer. By changing the location of Cd beam blocks we can switch from a MZ and DF type interferometer without having to use completely different interferometer crystals.
Figure 2: The fringe visibility for the MZ (top) and DF (bottom) type geometries. The DF type is insensitive to vibrations while MZ is clearly not.
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Parents of children in the palliative stage of cancer favour aggressive chemotherapy over supportive care compared with health care professionals, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.
Cancer is the second most common cause of death for children aged 5 to 14 in North America. When it is unlikely the cancer will be cured, parents and health care professionals must often choose between continuing aggressive treatments or providing supportive care alone to alleviate discomfort.
"The choice between palliative chemotherapy and supportive care alone is one of the most important and difficult decisions for parents of children whose disease cannot be cured," writes Dr. Lillian Sung, Division of Haematology/Oncology, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Toronto, with coauthors.
The researchers sought to compare preferences between parents and health care professionals in making these decisions. They included 77 parents whose children (under the age of 18) had no reasonable chance of recovering from cancer as well as 128 staff physicians, senior fellows, nurses and social workers who work with pediatric cancer patients.
They found that 55% of parents favoured chemotherapy over supportive care compared with 16% of health care professionals. Health care professionals viewed supportive care more positively than parents did. The researchers suggest that "parents may focus more on hope for their child compared with health care professionals, who are more aware of eventual outcomes given their experiences with many similar children."
"Despite the high importance ranking they assigned to their child's quality of life, parents reported that they would accept chemotherapy even if it reduced both quality of life and survival time," write the authors. "This finding shows the complexity of decision-making."
They conclude that it is important for health care professionals to be aware of differing attitudes to aggressive chemotherapy and to gather and communicate information to parents regarding quality of life and survival during decision-making.
In a related commentary http://www.
"This study is important because it highlights the incongruity between the preferences of parents and health care workers," state the authors. "However, it may be that this incongruity masks a greater concern: miscommunication or unrealistic expectations."
Sung adds that the findings provide an opportunity "to educate families that chemotherapy and palliative care do not have to be mutually exclusive. We aim to work with families to maintain hope while optimizing the child's quality of life."
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This is a course in general education, meaning that the content should be basic to all that you learn in college. Because the goal is to teach you something about social interaction processes, it is one of the most important courses we can offer.I expect to give you usable knowledge, knowledge on which you should rely every day in all your interactions with other people. You come here with ideas about how to interact. You have formed those ideas without even being aware of forming them. In class discussions, we will talk about the ideas you have and the ideas other men and women, black, white, brown, yellow and all other colors and races and ethnic groups have had on the same ideas. You are not expected to exchange your own ideas for theirs. You are expected to question your own ideas, to see whether you find them tenable in the cold light of logic brought to bear by other people. You are here this semester to question, not to answer. Your grades will be based on the sophistication and thoroughness of your questions, whether or not you have any answers. Classroom rules: Because this is a class to explore your own beliefs and question them, in the light of the whole body of knowledge of all humans, I will not permit an argument in the classroom where anyone claims to have the only true and correct answer. If you wish to express an opinion, you may do so in one of two ways: 1. You may say I think "..." because of .... authority and ... authority. The authority itself may range from the authority to tradition, a Bible, for example, to research authority in the latest articles on the subject. or 2. You may say "I believe "..." but I cannot explain why I believe it." If you choose the first method, we will examine your authorities and compare them to others. You do not have to choose. You are required to learn that authorities differ on everything! If you choose the second, we will explore the authorities together that could have led you to the belief. There will be no "I'm right. You're wrong." in this classroom. I, the teacher, have no divine right claim to truth. All I have is a very good knowledge of sources of authority. Right and wrong lie within the realm of some greater being, if there is such a greater being. It has not been given to us to "know" the universe with any certainty. Beliefs are not knowledge. Beliefs, once questioned and examined by knowledge, are the business of faith. It has been said that there are three primary ways of knowing: intuition, authority, scientific knowledge. The great leaps of knowledge have usually come of intuition, such as Galileo's discovery that the earth is not flat. I accept, on authority and scientific knowledge that the earth is round. I cannot intuit it. Intuition, though important, immensely important, cannot be tested, sometimes cannot be shown. I am not asking you to reject your beliefs [such as that God exists or does not exist] on the basis of authority or scientific evidence. I am asking you to become aware of which beliefs are founded on intuition and which on authority and scientific method. I can see how someone could still doubt that the earth is round. Sure looks flat. But that's a scientific and authoritybased fact that has been shown scientifically to be wrong. There is, however, a flat earth society, whose members believe the earth is flat. They are entitled to that belief. But they should know that their belief now counters both scientific knowledge and overwhelming authority. That doesn't mean that education can or should change their belief. As in the "Twilight Zone," they may be right. Galileo was, when everyone's senses told them he was wrong. And he was the only one who dared to believe he was right. The second Hollis Professor of Natural Sciences at Harvard was almost fired because he preached that hurricanes or earthquakes were not God's mysterious punishment visited upon man, but could actually be explained by the physics of meteorology and electricity. [Samuel Eliot Morrison, Three Centuries of Harvard] The impossible is what does not fit into our present belief system. The only sure way to stop us from threatening the lives of those like Galileo, who have remarkable insights, is to learn to allow ourselves to question. We must learn to respect intuition, as well as authority and scientific experimentation. And we must learn tolerance in our belief systems.
Updated August 23, 1999
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- freely available
Viruses 2013, 5(11), 2796-2802; doi:10.3390/v5112796
Abstract: The past pandemic strain H1N1 (A (H1N1)pdm09) has now become a common component of current seasonal influenza viruses. It has changed the pre-existing immunity of the human population to succeeding infections. In the present study, a total of 14,210 distinct sequences downloaded from National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database were used for the analysis. The epitope compositions in A (H1N1)pdm09, classic seasonal strains, swine strains as well as highly virulent avian strain H5N1, identified with the aid of the Immune Epitope DataBase (IEDB), were compared at genomic level. The result showed that A (H1N1) pdm09 contains the 90% of B-cell epitopes for broadly cross-reactive antibodies (EBCA), which is in consonance with the recent reports on the experimental identification of new epitopes or antibodies for this virus and the binding tests with influenza virus protein HA of different subtypes. Our analysis supports that high proportional EBCA depends on the epitope pattern of A (H1N1)pdm09 virus. This study may be helpful for better understanding of A (H1N1)pdm09 and the production of new influenza vaccines.
A novel H1N1 virus variant, A (H1N1)pdm09, initiated in Mexico and USA in April 2009 and caused the first 21st century pandemic influenza. Currently, this virus, as a regular seasonal influenza virus, is co-circulating in many parts of the world along with classic seasonal influenza viruses, so that the current seasonal virus composition (classic seasonal viruses and new pandemic virus) has apparently changed due to the pandemic outbreak. The data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that the pandemic strains accounted for 26.5% and 4.3% of the “influenza A” infection cases in USA respectively in the 2010–2011 and 2011–2012 influenza seasons . This trend leads to a possible change of pre-existing immunity in human population to subsequent infections. Therefore, the comparison of B-cell epitope composition of A (H1N1)pdm09 with other human influenza strains at genomic level could provide valuable reference data for the control of new influenza infection.
2. Results and Discussion
The epitope composition comparisons among A (H1N1)pdm09, recent classic seasonal influenza strain, swine strains and “bird flu” virus (H5N1 in human) were performed, as shown in Table 1. All detected epitopes (21) in the novel pandemic strain were conserved in the swine viral group due to its swine origin. The 12 epitopes were shared by all the viral tested groups. The 85% (18/21) of epitopes from A (H1N1)pdm09 were shared with H5N1, consistent with the previous experiments on the antibodies produced from the patients infected by A (H1N1)pdm09 or the people inoculated with A (H1N1)pdm09 vaccines [2,3]. The comparison of the amino acid sequences of NA from different strains also showed that pandemic strains have more similarity of NA to H5N1 strains than to classic swine strains and human seasonal strains. They even have a slightly higher identity with H5N1 strains than with the H1N1 strains circulating in 1918 and in 1934, indicating that more epitopes on NA could be shared between the A (H1N1)pdm09 and H5N1 strains. Indeed, the A (H1N1)pdm09 also shared five epitopes on HA protein with H5N1 strains, although they belong to different serotypes (H1 and H5). These five epitopes were also shared with the strains seasonal H1N1, swine H1N1. Two epitopes on HA in the pandemic strains were shared with the strains seasonal H1N1, seasonal H3N2 and swine H1N1. It can thus be inferred that a majority of epitopes (90%) (19/21) in A (H1N1)pdm09 are the epitopes for inducing broadly cross-reactive antibodies (EBCA) (Table 1). If the epitopes with nested sequences in the database were considered to be the same epitopes, a similar result was still obtained in which 88.9% (16/18) of the epitopes in A (H1N1)pdm09 are EBCA (Table S1). The 82% (9/11) of epitopes on NA, HA and M2 of A (H1N1)pdm09 could induce the broadly cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies. Due to the presence of highly proportional EBCA epitopes, it is understandable why A (H1N1)pdm09 produced cross-reactive antibodies that can bind H1, H5 and H3 influenza viruses [2,4]. This feature in A (H1N1)pdm09 is distinctive from the classic seasonal strains. Therefore, a question arises: is this feature a typical inherent trait for A (H1N1)pdm09 or just a consequence of distinct immune response from humans to new strains?
|pH1N1||SIV||7 (1 dis)||3||1||2||5||2||1||21|
*: pH1N1 indicates novel pandemic H1N1 strain. The similar signals are: sH3N2, human seasonal H3N2 strains; sH1N1, human seasonal H1N1 strains; SIV, swine influenza A strains; H5N1, human highly virulent “bird flu” strains; dis, discontinuous epitope.
Our genomic analysis support the proposal that this feature is an attribute of A (H1N1)pdm09. This means that the high proportional EBCAs principally depend on the epitope pattern (epitope composition and immunogenic strengthen of epitopes) of virus. To date, the research focuses more on the most important immune protein, HA. More studies on the identification of new epitopes from HA and from other proteins are needed. Such information should be very helpful to provide a conclusive answer to this question. On the other hand, it could be a distinct immune response of humans to a new strain. A model for human immune response induced after infection or vaccination with this pandemic strain has been proposed . When the epitope composition of A (H1N1)pdm09 in comparison with that from recent seasonal influenza A viruses was dramatically altered and a considerable proportion of dominant and variable epitopes recognized by the majority of preexisting influenza-specific memory B cells were missed, there is a greater probability to activate the rare memory B cells that recognize conserved HA epitopes because of less competition for this recognition. This hypothesis needs to be confirmed with other antigenic shift strains.
EBCAs have the following characteristics. First, they are sited at the conserved region. These epitopes in different strains need to keep similar conformation that could be recognized by the same antibody. Therefore, they are usually located at the sites with strong functional constrains, as a consequence of purifying selection processes that limit diversity. Second, these epitopes usually produce low antibody titers. It can be inferred that if they have strong immunogenicity, the different groups of strains might fuse into the same serotype. Third, the immune response to such epitopes depends on the individuals, indicating that the components or conditions for immunogenic response differ among individuals [5,6,7,8].
Most epitopes in A (H1N1)pdm09 were located at the stem region of HA. The epitopes on the stem and proximal-membrane regions of surface proteins are more conserved and prone to induce the broadly cross-reactive antibodies [9,10,11,12]. However, some EBCA epitopes were recently found to be located at the head of HA [4,13]. Meanwhile, experiments on mice confirmed the cross protection by cross-reactive monoclonal antibody or vaccines [10,14,15,16]. All the aforementioned information suggest the possibility to produce a universal vaccine in the future. However, some characteristics of EBCAs still remain a challenge in terms of obtaining the effective prophylaxis and therapy. Currently, the research and application of such epitopes have already produced a promising result [17,18].
The sequences for test were downloaded from the Influenza Virus Resource in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) . The search for epitopes was based on each chromosomal fragment, not on complete genome, in order to include more information. The following parameters for each viral protein of A (H1N1)pdm09 were used.
Virus Species = Influenza A AND (Subtype = H1N1).
Host = Human
Year FROM 2009 TO 2010
Complete sequences only
INCLUDE = Pandemic only
EXCLUDE = Lab strains
EXCLUDE = Flu Project
Collapse similar sequences
In order to search for the sequences in the other groups of strains, it is necessary to change the corresponding parameters. After elimination of identical sequences, a total of 14210 distinct sequences, including the 1148 distinct fragments from A (H1N1)pdm09, were downloaded for the present study. The sequences of recent seasonal influenza strains (sH1N1 and sH3N2) were collected from the strains circulating in the previous 20 years (1988–2008) before the pandemic .
The epitopes of influenza strains were extracted from the Immune Epitope DataBase (IEDB) . All epitopes present in IEDB have been confirmed by experiments. All sequences of each viral protein were used to search for epitopes with the help of epitope conservancy analysis tool provided by IEDB. Considering that the structural constraints associated with their immune recognition could be similar across species due to B-cell epitopes generally defined in different species , B-cell epitopes identified in the context of any host organism were included. The epitopes with nested sequences were considered as separate epitopes because they could represent different epitopes (some epitopes in IEDB contain more than 40 amino acids). Even though the nested epitopes represent a unique individual epitope, the result of epitope comparison among strains would not be affected because the tests for all viruses were performed under the same condition. The shortest analyzed sequence of epitope was limited to be ≥ 5 residues for linear epitopes and ≥ 4 residues for discontinuous epitopes. After obtaining the required B-cell epitopes in the group of strains at certain duration, the comparisons of epitopes on specific protein among the groups of strains were manually implemented. Only the epitopes with 100% identity were considered. If the same protein of influenza A strains, such as H1, H3 and H5, has the identical amino acid sequence of an epitope, these strains share the epitope. If the same proteins from the same serotype of influenza A strains has the exact amino acids at the exact sites of a discontinuous epitope, the strains share the discontinuous epitope. For example, some discontinuous epitopes on H1 from A (H1N1)pdm09 were shared with some epitopes on H1 from the classic seasonal strains.
Our analysis showed that EBCAs are predominant in A (H1N1)pdm09, corresponding to the recent reports on the experiments for identification of new epitopes or antibodies. It seems to be an attribute of A (H1N1)pdm09. This result could provide reference to design strategies for effective prophylaxis and therapy.
This work was supported by the Secretaría de Investigación y Posgrado del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, México (Grant Numbers: 20101372 and 20110896) and by the Fondo Mixto de Fomento a la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, CONACyT-Gobierno del Estado de Oaxaca (Grant Number: 122497). We thank Monsuru Adebayo Adeleke for checking the last version of the manuscript. Xianwu Guo, Mario A. Rodríguez-Pérez and Ma. Isabel Salazar hold scholarships from the Comisión de Operación y Fomento de Actividades Académicas and the Estímulos al Desempeño de los Investigadores/Instituto Politécnico Nacional.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National and Regional Level Outpatient Illness and Viral Surveillance. Available online: http://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/fluview/fluportaldashboard.html (accessed on 10 November 2012).
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© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
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If an electron absorbs a photon to get exited to a higher energy level, it should either come back to same state or any other lower state by emitting the required photon. How then can there be a net transfer of energy to the atom? Heating up means increase in kinetic (vibrational) energy of the atoms. If the energy absorbed by a photon is re-emitted as a photon then how do atoms extract energy from incident photons?
Let us clear some misunderstandings:
It is not the electron that absorbs the photon to go to a higher energy level. It is the whole atom, which is represented by a potential well with energy levels filled by electrons up to a point. A photon with the correct energy, i.e. an energy that covers the difference of the level where the electron is and a higher energy empty level, will be absorbed by the whole atom. The electron will decay with a characteristic decay time from the higher energy level to a lower one and a photon will take up the energy again. It can happen that cascades of photons may take up the energy.
Again, it is the system nucleus+electrons that absorbs and emits quantized photons.
In this case, ( of absorption and emission), little kinetic energy is transferred to the atom, from momentm conservation within the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
I hope it is clear that it does not. It could happen that, for example, the dipole field of an atom interacts with the field of another atom and transfers kinetic energy it has received, but it will be from an almost continuum scatterings, where the photons are off mass shell (virtual). Black body radiation agrees for large wavelengths between classical and quantum forms. The need of quantization appears at higher energies to avoid the ultraviolet catastrophy.
No, photons from the continuum can interact with the dipole and quadrupole moments of the atoms and transfer energy there. Infrared photons of the continuum can scatter off the left over fields of the atoms/molecules transferring momentum /kinetic energy and increasing temperature. It is a continuum process, not a quantized one. Relaxation of the vibrational levels of the lattice will release quantized photons.
right but also of kinetic energy
They do not, they gain it from the continuum of infrared photons interactions with the left over fields of the atoms and molecules.
Essentially what you are asking about is the "photoelectric effect". The intensity of the light does not contribute to energy needed for the material to expel a photon.
The Minimum energy needed to release a photon is given by the work function $\Phi=hf$ where h is Planck's constant and f is frequency.
Here is a flash simulation of what is going on.
What the affect the intensity has is that it will change the number of electrons that are excited by the incident light which is different.
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John Paul II, (18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005), reigned as the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City from 16 October 1978, until his death, almost 27 years later. His was the second-longest pontificate after Pius IX’s 32-year reign. He has been the only Polish pope, and was the first non-Italian pope since the Dutch Adrian VI in the 1520s.
John Paul II was Pope during a period in which the Catholic Church’s influence declined in developed countries but expanded in the Third World. During his reign, the pope traveled extensively, visiting over 100 countries, more than any of his predecessors. He remains one of the most-traveled world leaders in history. He was fluent in numerous languages: his native Polish and also Italian, French, German, English, Spanish, Croatian, Portuguese, Russian and Latin. As part of his special emphasis on the universal call to holiness, he canonized a great number of people.
He once said “The Prayer I like the most is the Rosary”
John Paul II will always be remembered for His outstanding contributions to the Church.
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Ghuznee Medal, 1839
The North West Frontier was a constant source of trouble to the British Empire in India. An expedition to Afghanistan in 1839, commemorated in the Ghuznee Medal showing a key fortress in the Khyber Pass, led to the massacre of a British army in 1841 and the siege of Jellalabad.
The medal bears no name, but its award to Brigadier George Warren of the European Regiment has been reliably verified. It belongs to the Watson Collection, but the details of its acquisition are not recorded.
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Dear Dish-It: Do I Tell My Friends About My Disorder?
I have a syndrome called blind rage syndrome. I found out two years ago when I first started feeling the effects and I'm afraid of what my friends will think of me if they find out.
The first thing you need to know and remember is that nobody's perfect, not even your friends. Chances are they've got things about them that they don't want you or anyone else to know, or that they're afraid of revealing because they're not sure how other people will react. You're not alone.
If you choose to talk to your friends about your syndrome (and that's something that's 100% up to you), know that it's probably not going to be a very easy discussion. The first thing you need to do is assess your friendship with each person when you're deciding whether you want to tell them or not. How much do you trust the person? Can you trust the person with your emotions? Will this person spread your feelings around the school?
If you feel you can trust the person, your next step is to assess how much the person actually knows about your specific disorder or dealing with a disorder of some kind in general. You are best to assume they know nothing at all on this topic and you should tell them in simple terms.
What To Do: Tell them you suffer from a lifelong disease that affects your moods. Tell them what it's like to live with your syndrome. After you describe what it is like having this disorder, make it clear to them that people with your disorder can and do live successful lives. It is important they understand that you are still a normal kid. You just have this disease that affects your brain. Stress that most of the time you will behave like every other normal kid and blend in, but you will also have the mood episodes that come with having blind rage syndrome.
Having friends who understand your disorder can be a great support system. They can be a terrific sounding board if they are capable of understanding what you go through and if you can trust them. Often, your friends can provide a level of support and point of view your parents, doctors and therapists are not able to provide.
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We may tend to view fires as the bane of cities and wilderness areas, but they actually play an integral part in the evolution and ecology of the world’s “Mediterranean-type climate” regions — dry, temperate coastlands that cradle and nurture world cities such as Los Angeles, Santiago, Cape Town, Perth and Athens.
Exploring the impact of fire on Mediterranean-type ecosystems and plant communities is the focus of a new book, “Fire in Mediterranean Ecosystems,” published by Cambridge University Press. The book’s host of international authors is led by fire ecologist Jon Keeley of the U.S. Geological Survey.
“Understanding the relationship between wildland fire and healthy ecosystems is an essential ingredient in being able to effectively manage wilderness areas," said USGS director Marcia McNutt. "Similarly, understanding what steps communities and homeowners can take to provide a safety buffer from these frequent fires should be the responsibility of all those who live in these very desirable regions.
“We are providing in-depth reviews of the role fire plays in each of the geographically separate regions, like Chile and southern California,” says Keeley, who is also an adjunct professor at University of California-Los Angeles. “These form the basis for a synthesis of how fire has shaped these environments.
The book provides new perspective on the global importance of fire, and a unique view of how fire has shaped Earth’s ecosystems. The five Mediterranean-climate regions of the world provide a framework for understanding a diversity of fire regimes and how those regimes have affected the evolution of plant traits and plant communities.
Binding these Mediterranean-climate regions together is the pattern of mild, wet winters alternating with hot, dry summers, Keeley says.
Such conditions lead to dense fuels — comprising highly flammable plant leaves and twigs — that are conducive to severe wildfires on an annual basis. Subtle differences in climates and geology of each region provide a framework for understanding how diverse fire environments shaped the evolution of plants and plant community assemblages. The authors also challenge the belief that climate and soils alone can explain the convergent characteristics of these ecosystems.
No less important is the discussion of humans, who have long been attracted to Mediterranean climate regions — but have not always successfully adapted to these fire-prone landscapes.
“Urban populations have been highly vulnerable to wildfires in some Mediterranean-type climate regions, with differences in vulnerability between regions being due largely to innate differences in fuel loads of indigenous vegetation types and profound differences in population density,” says Keeley. “This book explores how innate differences in vegetation and patterns of human development have molded fire management responses.”
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Porcelain saucer. The saucer has yellow enamel over plain felspathic glaze. There is an inscription on the base, which is glazed. The glaze on the interior of the base has burnt brownish in some places.
- Made in: Jingdezhen
- (Asia,China,Jiangxi (province),Jingdezhen)
- Height: 41 millimetres
- Diameter: 201 millimetres
Inscription CommentSix-character Chenghua mark in a double ring in underglaze blue.
Published PDF date : Ming ChenghuaRoom 95 label text:
Dish with yellow glaze
This dish demonstrates an attractive use of a monochrome yellow glaze at Jingdezhen. This colour glaze was used to decorate court porcelain for some five hundred years of the imperial era in China from AD 1403 to AD 1911. Potters fired the dish twice, first at a porcelain temperature of around 1280 to 1320 °C and then in a second, lower-temperature firing to vitrify the lead-fluxed, iron-pigmented glaze. The base has a six-character underglaze blue reign mark of the Chenghua period.
Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue mark, transparent and yellow glazes
Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province 江西省, 景德鎮
Ming dynasty, Chenghua mark and period, AD 1465–1487
On display: G95/dc41/sh3
Porcelain dish. Covered in yellow enamel over plain felspathic glaze. Plain glazed base, with inscription. Glaze on the inside of the base has burnt brownish in some places.
Copyright SOAS All rights reserved
If you’ve noticed a mistake or have any further information about this object, please email: email@example.com
Object reference number: RRC39417
British Museum collection data is also available in the W3C open data standard, RDF, allowing it to join and relate to a growing body of linked data published by organisations around the world.
The Museum makes its collection database available to be used by scholars around the world. Donations will help support curatorial, documentation and digitisation projects.
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The poem opens in a green valley, and that image is really crucial for establishing the mood at the beginning. We tend to have such cheerful, happy associations with green valleys that it's hard to imagine anything bad happening there—and for a while, at least, nothing does. Finally, though, the happy story of the valley gets quite a bit darker, setting up a stark contrast that makes the impact of the poem's conclusion all the more forceful.
- Line 1: Here's the happy first appearance of the valley. It's actually the first real image we get in the poem, and it's a pretty pleasant one. It also seems to us that calling it the "greenest" valley is maybe a little bit of a poetic exaggeration (also known as hyperbole). How would you even know which of "our valleys" was greenest? Measure with a color ruler?
- Line 17: Here the speaker just comes out and calls this a "happy valley." Now it's even clearer that the image of the valley is here to make us feel good, to reinforce our positive feelings about the way the palace used to be. Be sure to notice the enjambment, too (that's the way this sentence is cut off by the end of the line). Poe uses that particular technique like it was going out of style.
- Line 41: Ugh. Suddenly this valley's not such a happy place. It's not clear if the valley itself has changed, but its main feature—the palace—sure isn't what it used to be. We also think it's significant that people going through the valley used to be called "wanderers" (17) but now they are "travelers," which sounds a lot less relaxed to us.
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Internet Resources for Celebrating Mexico
Introduce students to the cultures and history of Mexico.
- Grades: 3–5, 6–8
Bring Mexico to life with the following web resources!
"Cinco de Mayo" — which translates literally as the "Fifth of May" — is a very important day for Mexico and Mexicans. The significance of Cinco de Mayo lies in the mid-19th century, when the French occupied Mexico — which had been a republic since 1823 — and hoped to turn it into an empire under Napoleon III. Though poorer and ill-supplied, Mexico's army defeated the French on May 5, 1862. Cinco de Mayo became a holiday to celebrate Mexico's unity and its desire to be free of foreign conquerors.
Start an exploration of Mexico's cultural geography at the site of the Mexican Tourism Board, where you can get an overview of the country's past through its archeological zones or learn about its cities and states today.
Mexico's diversity has roots in the indigenous peoples who settled there before European colonization, such as the Aztecs and the Toltec. Inhabiting what is now southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, the Maya were the first group of people in the New World to keep historical records. Learn more about the Mayan civilizations of ancient Mexico on KidsKonnect.com.
Take your students on a tour of the remains of pyramids and temples of the Mayans at Chichen Itza through an online visit to the archeological site Mysterious Places.
Mexico's rich culture can be understood through its painting, literature, dance, and other areas of everyday life. This culture has become part of the mosaic of the United States.
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Learn something new every day
More Info... by email
High density lipoproteins (HDL) and low density lipoproteins (LDL) are types of cholesterol made by the body. HDL is often referred to as good cholesterol and LDL as bad cholesterol. Researchers have shown that dietary intake plays a big role in reducing and/or controlling cholesterol levels. In addition to exercise or weight loss, eating low density lipoprotein foods such as nuts, whole grains, and good fats may help lower cholesterol.
Pistachios, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, and pecans are low density lipoprotein foods. Components of these nuts are made into helpful omega-3 fatty acids by the body. Research links the consumption of only 1.5 ounces (42.5 grams) of these nuts with a lower risk of coronary disease.
Whole grains are LDL foods, and the soluble fiber they contain is beneficial for lowering cholesterol levels. Oatmeal has the highest amount of soluble fiber compared to other whole grains. As oatmeal or oat bran is being digested, the soluble fiber turns into a gel-like substance. Scientists think that the cholesterol sticks to the gel in the gut and is prevented from being absorbed by the body.
Good fats are also low density lipoprotein foods and may be used in place of high cholesterol saturated fats such as lard or butter. Olive oil, a monounsaturated fat that is vitamin-E rich, has been shown to help lower LDL cholesterol. These good fats should be used in moderation because they are very high in calories. In general, people need only 2 tablespoons of oil per day.
Sterols and stanols are components in oils, seeds, nuts, and other vegetables that have been shown to lower bad cholesterol up to 17%. According to the American Heart Association, those with high cholesterol should consume 2-3 grams of sterols and stanols every day. These compounds are routinely added to some LDL foods such as margarines, orange juice, granola bars, and cheese. There does not seem to be a preventative cardiac benefit when people with normal cholesterol eat foods with added sterols and stanols, however.
Eating foods with low density lipoproteins is important, but is not going to cure high cholesterol alone. In general, everyone should exercise and eat a balanced diet with plenty of low density lipoprotein foods such as fruits and vegetables. It is essential to lower fat consumption overall and saturated fat specifically. Choosing lean cuts of meat, or no meat at all, substituting brown rice for white rice, herbs and spices for cheese sauce, or using uncooked oatmeal in place of bread crumbs when making meatloaf are simple tricks that can help foster an overall healthy diet.
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK!
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New Zealand researchers have cracked what seems like modern-day alchemy, transforming one kiwifruit into 100 plastic spoons and Rotorua's sewage into electricity.
Scion, a Crown research institute in Rotorua, has developed technology to make many products out of organic materials and waste.
It has created compostable bioplastics from kiwifruit waste, which will be used to make combined spoon and knife utensils known as "spifes".
Researcher Martin Markotsis said the secret was a chemical process that made kiwifruit melt like plastic in standard factory equipment.
"We do a 'reactive transformation' - that sounds pretty magical, doesn't it? We're checking whether we can get a patent.
"If we say too much, we can't patent it," Dr Markotsis said.
Small batches of prototypes have been made, mixing different amounts of kiwifruit, corn and other secret, but organic, additives.
The project is now picking the best mixture - with the right strength and flexibility - and ramping up production to a commercial scale. One piece of fruit, about 90g, can make more than 100 of the utensils.
The utensils will be included in kiwifruit packages sold overseas by Zespri.
Dr Markotsis said other fruit could be put through the same process to make all sorts of plastics.
Scion Research this week also received a $1 million government grant to transform sludge from Rotorua's sewers into marketable products.
A pilot plant will be built by the beginning of next year, turning biosolid waste headed for landfill into industrial chemicals and energy-rich gases such as methane. Heat and gases released by the process will generate electricity to help power the plant.
More than 20 tonnes of sludge pouring into landfill every day will be diverted, saving up to $900,000 a year in costs - a total of $4 million a year in benefits to the town.
The technology will transform up to 97 per cent of the sludge. Another innovation at the research centre is the "biopeg", tent pegs that can be left in the ground to eventually decompose into the soil.
The global market for bioplastics is expected to grow 20-fold in a decade, with overseas rivals building mobile phones from cashew nut shells and corn.
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Definitions of rimer
n. - A rhymer; a versifier.
n. - A tool for shaping the rimes of a ladder.
The word "rimer" uses 5 letters: E I M R R.
No direct anagrams for rimer found in this word list.
Words formed by adding one letter before or after rimer (in bold), or to eimrr in any order:
f - firmer i - mirier rimier k - mirker m - rimmer p - primer s - rimers t - retrim trimer
Shorter words found within rimer:
em emir er err ire me mi mir mire re rei rem rim rime
List shorter words within rimer, sorted by length
Words formed from any letters in rimer, plus an optional blank or existing letter
List all words starting with rimer, words containing rimer or words ending with rimer
All words formed from rimer by changing one letter
Other words with the same letter pairs: ri im me er
Browse words starting with rimer by next letter
Previous word in list: rimed
Next word in list: rimers
Some random words: odograph
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Located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, Baguio City is a tropical city with a relatively cool climate for the area. Nevertheless, temperatures do not descend below 64 degrees F, which makes Baguio City an excellent place to grow any of a large number of tropical fruit trees.
The avocado tree is medium sized, reached up to 30 feet in height. It is evergreen and produces a delicious oily fruit. This fruit will not ripen until after picking. The fruit is technically a berry, though it does not resemble the most common types of berry. They do well in warm areas like Baguio City.
Historically, coffee has been one of the biggest crops in the Philippines. Currently the industry is in decline due to the rampant spread of a fungal disease called coffee rust. However, if measures are taken to protect the trees then coffee will do well in Baguio City due to its tropical climate.
This tree grows up to 20 feet in height and produces coconuts. The trees have a wide spread. The meat and juice of the coconut can be used to make coconut milk, coconut flakes and copra, which is processed into coconut oil. The Philippines are second in the world in terms of coconut products produced; fully one quarter of land used for agriculture is planted with coconut trees, and 3.5 million individuals are coconut farmers.
Guyabano fruits, also known as soursops, have an unusual appearance. The fruit is large and green, studded with soft spike-like appendages all over the skin; fruits can weigh up to 5 lbs. The tree, however, is fairly small; it will not exceed 20 feet in height. The fruit can be eaten raw, used to make beverages or put in desserts as a flavoring.
The mango is an evergreen and produces the delicious yellow-orange fruit we all know as mangoes. These trees grow very well in the Philippines; indeed, the nation is Asia's largest producer of mangoes. The variety most grown in the Philippines is the Carabao mango, which is known for its exceptional taste. These fruits are generally picked in the summer months.
Papaya plants are fairly small, growing to only 12 feet in height. The fruits average about one pound, turning yellow when ripe. The fruit is sweet and juicy, with flesh ranging from pink to orange in color. It is also known as a tree melon.
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Renaissance panel ceiling by Baldassare Peruzzi entitled "The Rape of Ganymede." ( c. 1509-14). Villa Farnesina, Rome, Italy.
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy of PhotoDisc, Inc. All rights reserved. Images provided by (c) 1995 Fototeca Storica Nazionale.
Ganymede was a son of Tros, first king of the classical land known as Troy.
One day Jupiter caught a glimpse of the young boy as he was tending sheep on Mt.
Ida, and was suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to bring Ganymede to Olympus to serve
as the cup bearer of the gods. Jupiter
thereby changed his shape into that of an
eagle, swooped down onto the craggy slopes of Ida, and carried the boy off to Mt. Olympus,
home of the gods, to serve as the cup bearer of the gods. Now it so happens that this position was already filled by
Hebe,the daughter of Jupiter and his wife Juno.
Once Ganymede arrived at the royal court a competition began between Hebe and Ganymede
for the honor of serving the gods. Eventually Ganymede won the post, and stayed on
also as the favored companion to Jupiter. To honor the events surrounding the elevation of Ganymede to "cup bearer and servant of
the gods," Jupiter placed the eagle, a shape he assumed when abducting Ganymede to
Olympus, into the heavens as the constellation Aquila
(eagle), and immortalized
Ganymede as the constellation Aquarius (water bearer).
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en
| 0.972191
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| 2.890625
| 3
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Radio is the ultimate auditory display: all information is conveyed aurally to a listener. Sound from a radio invokes visual images in the imagination of a listener, the theatre of the mind. Listening to a radio voice creates images of a person talking from a studio live to their audience, providing information and entertainment. However, much radio is pre-recorded, produced in a radio studio at a different time and replayed on cue, often controlled by sophisticated computer systems. The art of radio production relies on developing excellent listening skills. The craft of radio production now relies extensively on digital audio technology. How has the process of radio production changed with the introduction of new technology, particularly the visualization of audio on a computer screen? Have these changes affected the listening skills of radio producers and has this affected the quality of radio production? This paper explores these issues based on individual interviews with experienced radio producers and the author’s experience in training new producers.
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<urn:uuid:4937718c-863d-46d4-9965-915b2322ead8>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/swin:3455?f0=subject%3A%22220000+Social+Sciences%2C+Humanities+and+Arts+-+General%22
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en
| 0.932882
| 189
| 2.8125
| 3
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What makes food grow - and why that matters
There’s a lot of attention paid to where food comes from nowadays. Less attention has been paid to what helps that food grow, but that’s an important part of the equation. Whether organic or conventionally grown, the tomatoes, lettuce, plums and other food we eat rely on nutrients in order to grow. One of the most important nutrients for plant productivity is nitrogen.
Nitrogen, which is ubiquitous in our atmosphere in a relatively inert, gaseous form, is not available to most plants unless it is transformed into a reactive form and added to soil, where plants can use it to grow. Most often nitrogen is applied to fields in the form of synthetic fertilizer, although organic production relies on other nitrogen sources, such as cover crops, manure, fish meal and poultry waste.
Agricultural production depends on nitrogen in order to grow reliable, high yielding crops. But this nitrogen, when it is applied to fields in the reactive form that plants can use, also tends to leak out into air and water and cause pollution when all the nitrogen applied to the field is not used up by the plants.
The California Nitrogen Assessment, a project of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at UC Davis, is taking a hard look at the whole system of nitrogen use in California. While nitrogen is hugely important to producing the food and fiber that we all need, there may be ways to use it more efficiently and reduce the pollution problems it can cause. These problems include air and water pollution, which can have negative consequences for human and environmental health in California.
Since nitrogen is so important to producing the food that all of us eat, the Agricultural Sustainability Institute’s team has involved stakeholders from all around the agricultural system. The assessment team has sought insight from farmers and economists, policy makers and public health groups, and Californians whose drinking water has been polluted by nitrogen, forcing them to buy bottled water on a regular basis. There are many diverse perspectives and ideas about how nitrogen should be managed in California’s future. The assessment will provide a synthesis of the most up-to-date scientific knowledge on science, policy and practice to inform decision making on how to improve nitrogen management.
Thinking about where food comes from is one important part of understanding the food system. Learning about the trade-offs involved in other key agricultural inputs is another.
Find out more about nitrogen and the California Nitrogen Assessment at its website. If you are interested in becoming involved in the assessment as a stakeholder participant, visit the website for more information to learn how you can get involved.
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<urn:uuid:7ab8b47e-c947-4f1d-a3c1-7be21794c91a>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://ucfoodsafety.ucdavis.edu/?blogpost=3430&blogasset=43457
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| 3.78125
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by Dott. Giuliano Bettini
Retired. Earlier: Selenia SpA, Rome and IDS SpA, Pisa
Also Adjunct Professor at the University of Pisa
Adjunct Professor at Naval Academy, Leghorn (Italian Navy)
In the present article I would like to answer a question posed by L. Kowalsky in a recent paper: how can 30% of nickel in Rossi’s reactor be transmuted into copper? “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”, says a guy. I apologizes if I am too simplistic here.
The interest on Andrea Rossi’s Nickel-Hydrogen Cold Fusion technology is accelerating . However, Rossi says that about 30% of nickel was turned into copper, after 6 months of uninterrupted operation. Kowalski . says that “this seems to be impossible because the produced copper isotopes rapidly decay into Ni”. But how it works?
How it works
Following Focardi Rossi . a Ni58 nucleus produces a Copper nucleus according to the reaction
Ni58 + p → Cu59
Copper nucleus Cu59 decays with positron (e+) and neutrino (ν) emission in Ni59 nucleus according to
Cu59 → Ni59 + ν + e+
Then (e+) annichilates with (e-) in two gamma-rays
e- + e+ → γ + γ
Starting from Ni58 which is the more abundant isotope, we can obtain as described in the two above processes Copper formation and its successive decay in Nickel, producing Ni59, Ni60, Ni61 and Ni62. Because Cu63, which can be formed starting by Ni62, is stable and does not decay in Ni63, the chain stops at Ni62 (i.e. Cu63). Each process means some MeV.
Of course how can a proton p gets captured by the Ni58 nucleus? (and subsequent Ni59, Ni60, Ni61 and Ni62). Following Stremmenos . a neutron-like particle, an electron proton pair, a mini-atom, a proton masked as a neutron, gets captured by the Ni58.
If the masked proton becomes a neutron the result is Ni59.
In order to have Cu59 (increase of atomic number from 28 to 29) the electron (of the masked proton) gets ejected from the nucleus. The masked proton becomes a proton.
The same process holds for all the subsequent transformations, until Cu63.
It remains to be understood the issue of the gamma radiation in the MeV range.
I am an electronic engineer, so I need easy numbers in order to understand.
However “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”, says a guy. Maybe I am too simple here.
MeV for each Ni transformation
I read that starting from Ni58 we can obtain Copper formation and its successive decay in Nickel, producing Ni59, Ni60, and Ni62. The chain stops at Cu63 stable.
For simplicity I assume all the Nickel in the reactor in the form Ni58.
For simplicity I suppose for each Ni58 the whole sequence of events from Ni58 to Cu63 and as a rough estimate I calculate the mass defect between (Ni58 plus 5 nucleons) and the final state Cu63.
Ni58 mass is calculated to be 57.95380± 15 amu
The actual mass of a copper-Cu63 nucleus is 62.91367 amu
Mass of Ni58 plus 5 nucleons is 57.95380+5=62.95380 amu
Mass defect is 62.95380-62.91367=0.04013 amu
1 amu = 931 MeV is used as a standard conversion
0.04013×931 MeV=37.36 MeV
So each transformation of Ni58 into Cu63 releases 37.36MeV of nuclear energy.
According to many blogs in the Internet “One hundred grams of nickel powder can power a 10 kW unit for a minimum of six months”.
How much of Ni58 should be transformed, in six months of continuous operation, in order to generate 10 kW?
I follow a procedure outlined in .
10 kW is thermal or electrical (?) power. The nuclear power must be larger. Assume a nuclear power twice:
20 kW = 20,000 J/s = 1.25 x 10**17 MeV/s.
Each transformation of Ni58 into Cu63 releases 37.36MeV of nuclear energy.
The number of Ni58 transformations should thus be equal to (1.25 x 10**17)/37.36 = 3.346 x 10**15 per second.
Multiplying by the number of seconds in six months (1.55 x 10**7) the total number of transformed Ni58 nuclei is 5.186 x 10**22.
This means 5 grams.
The order of magnitude is not exactly the same but seems to be plausible. This means also 5 grams of Nickel in Rossi’s reactor transmuted into (stable) Copper after six months of continuous operation at the rate of 10 kW.
Rossi says that about 30% of nickel was turned into copper, after 6 months of uninterrupted operation. At first glance this seems to agree with calculations based on simple assumptions.
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The Grace of Doing Something in Syria
On Sunday, September 1st, Pope Francis called for a Day of Prayer and Fasting on Saturday, September 7th, for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world. With “utmost firmness,” the pope condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria: “I tell you that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart. There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions which are inescapable!” Francis’s words echo those of Gaudium et spes from the Second Vatican Council in connection with total war: “Any act of war aimed indiscriminately at the destruction of entire cities or of extensive areas along with their population is a crime against God and man himself. It merits unequivocal and unhesitating condemnation” (#80). Any war tactic that intentionally kills and harms civilians is murder and a grave sin, whether done with conventional weapons or weapons of mass destruction—though these latter weapons are inherently indiscriminate and indeed maliciously intended to be used that way in their very design. Catholics, both pacifists and just war proponents, should agree on this point.
Yet, rather than expressing support for military intervention against the Syrian regime by the United States or anyone else, Francis pleaded “for peace to rise up and touch the heart of everyone so that they may lay down their weapons and let themselves be led by the desire for peace.” Indeed, the pope repeated a refrain, “War never again! Never again war!” which, as Michael Peppard has correctly noted, goes back to 1965 when Pope Paul VI uttered these words at the United Nations General Assembly. This does not mean that the Catholic Church is now pacifist (yet).
Indeed, in recent years, especially in view of humanitarian crises such as in Rwanda and Kosovo, the Church has used the language of “legitimate defense” of the innocent as a just cause for forceful intervention. When people suffer at the hands of their government or due to the lack of the ability of their government to protect them, Pope John Paul II claimed that other nations “no longer have a ‘right to indifference’ [and it] seems clear that their duty is to disarm this aggressor if all other means have proven ineffective” (Pope John Paul II, “Principles Underlying a Stance Toward Unjust Aggressors,” Origins 22, no. 34 [28 January 1993]: 587). Similarly, Pope Benedict XVI , in his second World Day of Peace message, devoted attention to “certain recent situations of war” (par. 14), calling on “the international community [to] reaffirm international humanitarian law, and apply it to all present-day situations of armed conflict, including those not currently provided for by international law…” (par.14). He encouraged the world’s nations to establish “clearer rules” and “norms of conduct” for defending the innocent and limiting “the damage as far as possible,” while he concurrently repeated the refrain that “war always represents a failure for the international community and a grave loss for humanity” (par. 14). What might these “clearer rules” or “norms of conduct” look like? Here Benedict footnoted the section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (par. 2307-2317) that lists (in small print) “the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the ‘just war’ doctrine” (par. 2309), and that Benedict regarded as offering “strict and precise criteria” (endnote 7).
As I (here and here) and many other theologians and ethicists have noted over the last several days, although the horrific murders of Syrian civilians, including children, is a just cause for possible military intervention, other criteria of the just war tradition (which also are found in the framework of “the responsibility to protect” or R2P) must also be taken into consideration. To date, most (not all) Catholic theologians and ethicists have expressed serious doubts that a military strike by the US at this time would be consonant with just war jus ad bellum principles such as last resort, legitimate authority, probability of success, right intent, and proportionality. There are also concerns raised about the jus in bello criterion of discrimination and the “collateral damage” that is likely from even “surgical” air strikes, especially if chemical weapons depots are bombed. As I have noted, this is an agonizing case where a just war approach, at this time, given what we know (or don’t know), says “no” to military action.
But this doesn’t mean that we advocate “doing nothing” either. Yes, the present situation seems very much like what H. Richard Niebuhr wrote concerning possible military intervention in the Sino-Japanese conflict in the early 1930s in his famous Christian Century essay, “The Grace of Doing Nothing”: “We are chafing at the bit, we are eager to do something constructive; but there is nothing constructive, it seems, that we can do.” For him, the problem was “that of a choice between various kinds of inactivity rather than of choice between action and inaction.” But I would not assume that non-military or non-forceful practices are necessarily “kinds of inactivity” or “doing nothing.” Indeed, as I suggested in my article in the August 31 issue of The Tablet, we Christians can and should pray. That is not inaction.
The Trappist nuns from Azeir, Syria, have eloquently and prophetically petitioned, “To those who truly have a heart for Syria (for mankind, for truth…) we ask for prayer…abounding, heartfelt, courageous prayer.” And, writes Peppard, “Like these nuns, Pope Francis embodies prophecy and prayer.” The pope’s call has meant a lot to religious leaders throughout the world, including the Grand Mufti of Syria, Ahmad Badreddin Hassou, the spiritual leader of Sunni Islam in Syria, who expressed his desire to join with the vigil in Rome. As Peppard writes, “While that joint prayer is not likely to happen, the sentiment was significant. And though prayer does not seem a realistic response for many in positions of power, it is the way being led by Pope Francis.”
Pope Francis adds, “Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace! I ask all the local churches, in addition to fasting, that they gather to pray for this intention.” Here Francis echoes John Paul II, who similarly called for “gestures of peace”: “Gestures of peace spring from the lives of people who foster peace first of all in their own hearts…. Gestures of peace are possible when people appreciate fully the community dimension of their lives, so that they grasp the meaning and consequences of events in their own communities and in the world. Gestures of peace create a tradition and a culture of peace” (“Pacem in Terris: A Permanent Commitment,” America 188, no. 4 [10 February 2003]: 22; italics in original). Gestures of peace, such as the passing of the peace at Mass, are significant.
So, my family and I (and our parish) plan to fast and pray on Saturday.
However, I am also reminded of something Abraham Joshua Heschel, who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, once said, “I felt my legs were praying” (quoted in Darrell J. Fasching, Dell deChant, and David M. Lantigua, Comparative Religious Ethics: A Narrative Approach to Global Ethics, 2nd edition [Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011], p. 223). In other words, prayer is necessary, but I worry that it is not sufficient. Maybe there is grace to do that and more for the sake of the suffering children of Syria.
Calls for dialogue and negotiation alone also seem hollow. Something needs to be done to move the involved parties to talk in the first place—a lesson that Martin Luther King Jr. learned from Gandhi (and Reinhold Niebuhr).
Interestingly, as Peppard observes (I think rightly, though it is too soon to tell for sure), judging “from Pope Francis’s statements and previous writings, he leans away from the ‘just war’ discourse and toward the just peacemaking school of thought—or outright pacifism.” Just peacemaking refers to a paradigm or framework that pacifists and just war theorists in recent years have identified (see, for example, Just Peacemaking: The New Paradigm for the Ethics of Peace and War, edited by Glen H. Stassen [Pilgrim 2008]). It includes nonviolent practices that have been shown to be effective, including in very violent conflicts. Over a year ago, Eli McCarthy called for “A Just Peace Response to Syria,” in which he included recommended (among other practices) nonviolent direct action, which includes the practice of protective or interventionist accompaniment (Stassen, Just Peacemaking, pp. 53-54). Witness for Peace did this when thousands of unarmed volunteers placed themselves in harm’s way during the Contra war in Nicaragua during the 1980s. There are serious risks obviously involved for those who participate (as there are for the military in an armed intervention), but any harm to such accompanying human shields would further undermine the cause of either the rebels or the regime.
As I said in my Tablet article, I wish that pacifists and other just peacemakers would do something like this right now as President Obama, Congress, the US public, and the world deliberate about what should be done. This might add “teeth” to their claims that just peacemaking “realistically” endeavors to make just war truly a “last resort.” The primary proponent of just peacemaking, Glen Stassen, has also suggested another possible way to address the problem of Syria’s possession of chemical weapons. McCarthy has written more recently, again in America magazine, on just peacemaking and Syria, too.
As a just war leaning Catholic theological ethicist, I will pray and fast, as Francis asked (and Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Pates; the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has also issued an Action Alert calling on American Catholics to call or write their Congressional Representatives and Senators, asking “them to support U.S. leadership, in collaboration with the international community, for an immediate ceasefire in Syria and serious, inclusive negotiations for peace”), with others here and around the world on Saturday—and I will pray also that such nonviolent just peacemaking alternatives materialize for Syria.
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Nuclear regulatory authority
Nuclear safety regulation in Malta is the responsibility of the Radiation Protection Board .
There are no nuclear power plants or research reactors. Radioactive sources are medical and industrial.
Radioactive waste and spent fuel management
Main legal instruments
Legal notice 44/2003 (Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Regulations) transposes Malta’s obligations under the BSS, Outside Workers, CPPNM and sets up the Radiation Protection Board. Malta does not have a specific regulation for providing general radiation/nuclear public information other than Legal notice 2445/2002 Radiological Emergency (Information to the Public) Regulations which deals with radiological emergencies.
The existing pop-up refers to the Occupational Health and Safety Authority which is incorrect. Also in the list of national regulators the link should be to the Radiation Protection Board and not to the Occupational Health and Safety Authority.
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| 0.869116
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Sunday, May 26, 2013
A Little Jacksonian Tyranny Never Hurt Anybody
On this date in 1830, the House of Representatives pased "An act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the States or Territories, and for their removal West of the river Mississippi" by a 102-97 vote. Dissenters included Congressman Everett (presumably anti-Jacksonian Edward of MA and not his cousin, anti-Jacksonian Horace of VT), who spoke among other things about the great cost of the endeavor: a total of $24M ($1.1M would come from MA, over $500k from tiny VT).
A more famous opponent, who essentially lost his political career in fighting President Jackson, was Davy Crockett, who is reported to have said on May 19:
He had always viewed the native Indian tribes of this country as a sovereign people. He believed they had been recognised as such from the very foundation of this government, and the United States were bound by treaty to protect them; it was their duty to do so. And as to giving to giving the money of the American people for the purpose of removing them in the manner proposed, he would not do it. He would do that only for which he could answer to his God.
No man could be more willing to see them remove than he was if it could be done in a manner agreeable to themselves; but not otherwise. He knew personally that a part of the tribe of the Cherokees were unwilling to go. When the proposal was made to them, they said, ``No; we will take death here at our homes. Let them come and tomahawk us here at home: we are willing to die, but never to remove.'' He had heard them use this language.
If this bill should pass, the same plan would be carried further; they would send and buy them out, and put white men upon their land. It had never been known that white men and Indians could live together; and in this case, the Indians were to have no privileges allowed them, while the white men were to have all. Now, if this was not oppression with a vengeance, he did not know what was. It was the language of the bill, and of its friends, that the Indians were not to be driven off against their will. He knew the Indians were unwilling to go: and therefore he could not consent to place them in a situation where they would be obliged to go. He could not stand that.
A few years later he wrote:
The time has Come that man is expected to be transfarable and as negotiable as a promisary note of hand, in those days of Glory...I am truly afread that a majority of the free citizens of these united States will Submit to it and Say amen Jackson done it. It is right If we Judge by the past we can make no other Calculations.
I have almost given up the Ship as lost. I have gone So far as to declare that if he martinvanburen is elected that I will leave the united States for I never will live under his kingdom. before I will Submit to his Government I will go to the wildes of Texas. I will consider thatgovernment a Paridice to what this will be. In fact at this time our Republican Government hasdwindled almost into insignificancy our [boasted] land of liberty have almost Bowed to the yokeof of Bondage. Our happy days of Republican principles are near at an end when a few is to transfer the many.He died at the Alamo in 1836 (ostensibly fighting for liberty, as far as his legend goes), a couple years after that letter, having seen three tribes forced to relocate. My Cherokee began their Trail of Tears in 1838.
That's real oppression, as opposed to having extra IRS forms to fill out or being taxed a miniscule amount to provide health insurance for your fellow Americans.
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Wrestling is a national traditional art in Vietnam, that attracts many audiences.
The National Wrestling Championship is often held in different provinces in Vietnam on a beautiful spring day. A light breeze blows over the multicoloured traditional flags planted at the four corners of the arena where the finalists of the event are about to compete.
Were it not for the dry rhythm of the drum and the overheated ambiance appropriate for sporting events, the surroundings might be a set for an artistic performance, insofar as Vietnamese traditional wrestling (“dau vat”) resembles dancing. Indeed, the most impressive aspects of this extremely popular sport are its picturesque and well-choreographed qualities.
Wrestlers waiting for the fights to begin sit around a "carpet." There is no ring or rope. Using lime, villagers have drawn a square of around 10m on each side. The audience sits around the square, watching with anticipation as wrestlers rub their sweaty hands on the earth, all the while watching their opponents out of the comers of their eyes.
"Toong! Toong! Toong!" The drum calls two competitors to the fight. Like all traditional Vietnamese sports, a drum, a gong or sometimes both accompany wrestling. The drum adds rhythm and stimulates the athletes. A speaker announces the competitors, who stand up and step forward to the middle of the "carpet." They are barebacked and wear red shorts with a silk belt around their waist, red for one contestant and yellow for the other.
They dance with light footsteps recalling those of birds. Their arms make supple and undulating movements, displaying their musculature. Then go the warm-up stage, a spectacle full of panache and rich in colour. Normally, this lasts two minutes while the drums continue beating. Although the performances vary according to schools of martial arts, ail warm-up dances must match the drum's rhythm. Once the wrestlers have finished their warm-up, the principal referee introduces the wrestlers by raising their arms as in boxing. Then the wrestlers turn away, facing opposite sides of the arena. The drum resumes with well-spaced rolls. The two adversaries turn, face to face, and shake hands. Then, with hands on their hips, they stare at each in defiance. As the drum gives a dry beat, they turn and step away from each other. They take further steps as the drum continues, this time at a greater and greater speed. With this, the "artistic" part of the match ends. There are no gifts once the fight officially begins. The wrestlers turn around. They bend their backs and, lowering their knees until they almost crouch, extend their arms. Eyeing one another, they advance toward each other as if gliding, preserving their equilibrium for the first strike.
The beating of the drum regulates the fight. The rhythm accelerates as soon as one of the adversaries initiates a hold. It returns to normal once danger has passed, as if the drum wants to let the wrestlers recover their breath and preserve their guard. When a wrestler falls, the rhythm accelerates, becoming more and more pressing. A finishing stroke of the drum puts an end to the combat when the loser's shoulders touch the ground. The winner and loser stand up, applauded by a prolonged drum roll.
Each wrestler has his own holds, passed down by his coach, who is the only person who knows these secrets. The winner is the wrestler who turns his adversary with his "face to the sky" and forces his shoulders to touch the earth. Under modem regulations, a match is composed of three four-minute rounds. But traditional matches often lasted for hours, since the rules did not allow a draw.
Attending the national traditional wrestling championship, you will be able to enjoy the exciting atmosphere, rather like the hot air of a football match.
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The Arabic numeral system
|Arabic index||History Topics Index|
The Indian numerals discussed in our article Indian numerals form the basis of the European number systems which are now widely used. However they were not transmitted directly from India to Europe but rather came first to the Arabic/Islamic peoples and from them to Europe. The story of this transmission is not, however, a simple one. The eastern and western parts of the Arabic world both saw separate developments of Indian numerals with relatively little interaction between the two. By the western part of the Arabic world we mean the regions comprising mainly North Africa and Spain. Transmission to Europe came through this western Arabic route, coming into Europe first through Spain.
There are other complications in the story, however, for it was not simply that the Arabs took over the Indian number system. Rather different number systems were used simultaneously in the Arabic world over a long period of time. For example there were at least three different types of arithmetic used in Arab countries in the eleventh century: a system derived from counting on the fingers with the numerals written entirely in words, this finger-reckoning arithmetic was the system used for by the business community; the sexagesimal system with numerals denoted by letters of the Arabic alphabet; and the arithmetic of the Indian numerals and fractions with the decimal place-value system.
The first sign that the Indian numerals were moving west comes from a source which predates the rise of the Arab nations. In 662 AD Severus Sebokht, a Nestorian bishop who lived in Keneshra on the Euphrates river, wrote:-
I will omit all discussion of the science of the Indians, ... , of their subtle discoveries in astronomy, discoveries that are more ingenious than those of the Greeks and the Babylonians, and of their valuable methods of calculation which surpass description. I wish only to say that this computation is done by means of nine signs. If those who believe, because they speak Greek, that they have arrived at the limits of science, would read the Indian texts, they would be convinced, even if a little late in the day, that there are others who know something of value.
This passage clearly indicates that knowledge of the Indian number system was known in lands soon to become part of the Arab world as early as the seventh century. The passage itself, of course, would certainly suggest that few people in that part of the world knew anything of the system. Severus Sebokht as a Christian bishop would have been interested in calculating the date of Easter (a problem to Christian churches for many hundreds of years). This may have encouraged him to find out about the astronomy works of the Indians and in these, of course, he would find the arithmetic of the nine symbols.
By 776 AD the Arab empire was beginning to take shape and we have another reference to the transmission of Indian numerals. We quote from a work of al-Qifti Chronology of the scholars written around the end the 12th century but quoting much earlier sources:-
... a person from India presented himself before the Caliph al-Mansur in the year [ 776 AD] who was well versed in the siddhanta method of calculation related to the movment of the heavenly bodies, and having ways of calculating equations based on the half-chord [essentially the sine] calculated in half-degrees ... This is all contained in a work ... from which he claimed to have taken the half-chord calculated for one minute. Al-Mansur ordered this book to be translated into Arabic, and a work to be written, based on the translation, to give the Arabs a solid base for calculating the movements of the planets ...
Now in (where a longer quote is given) Ifrah tries to determine which Indian work is referred to. He concludes that the work was most likely to have been Brahmagupta's Brahmasphutasiddhanta (The Opening of the Universe) which was written in 628. Irrespective of whether Ifrah is right, since all Indian texts after Aryabhata I's Aryabhatiya used the Indian number system of the nine signs, certainly from this time the Arabs had a translation into Arabic of a text written in the Indian number system.
It is often claimed that the first Arabic text written to explain the Indian number system was written by al-Khwarizmi. However there are difficulties here which many authors tend to ignore. The Arabic text is lost but a twelfth century Latin translation, Algoritmi de numero Indorum (in English Al-Khwarizmi on the Hindu Art of Reckoning) gave rise to the word algorithm deriving from his name in the title. Unfortunately the Latin translation is known to be much changed from al-Khwarizmi's original text (of which even the title is unknown). The Latin text certainly describes the Indian place-value system of numerals based on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0. The first use of zero as a place holder in positional base notation is considered by some to be due to al-Khwarizmi in this work. The difficulty which arises is that al-Baghdadi refers to the Arabic original which, contrary to what was originally thought, seems not to be a work on Indian numerals but rather a work on finger counting methods. This becomes clear from the references by al-Baghdadi to the lost work. However the numerous references to al-Khwarizmi's book on the Indian nine symbols must mean that he did write such a work. Some degree of mystery still remains.
At first the Indian methods were used by the Arabs with a dust board. In fact in the western part of the Arabic world the Indian numerals came to be known as Guba (or Gubar or Ghubar) numerals from the Arabic word meaning "dust". A dust board was used because the arithmetical methods required the moving of numbers around in the calculation and rubbing some out some of them as the calculation proceeded. The dust board allowed this in the same sort of way that one can use a blackboard, chalk and a blackboard eraser. Any student who has attended lectures where the lecturer continually changes and replaces parts of the mathematics as the demonstration progresses will understand the disadvantage of the dust board!
Around the middle of the tenth century al-Uqlidisi wrote Kitab al-fusul fi al-hisab al-Hindi which is the earliest surviving book that presents the Indian system. In it al-Uqlidisi argues that the system is of practical value:-
Most arithmeticians are obliged to use it in their work: since it is easy and immediate, requires little memorisation, provides quick answers, demands little thought ... Therefore, we say that it is a science and practice that requires a tool, such as a writer, an artisan, a knight needs to conduct their affairs; since if the artisan has difficulty in finding what he needs for his trade, he will never succeed; to grasp it there is no difficulty, impossibility or preparation.
In the fourth part of this book al-Uqlidisi showed how to modify the methods of calculating with Indian symbols, which had required a dust board, to methods which could be carried out with pen and paper. Certainly the fact that the Indian system required a dust board had been one of the main obstacles to its acceptance. For example As-Suli, after praising the Indian system for its great simplicity, wrote in the first half of the tenth century:-
Official scribes nevertheless avoid using [the Indian system] because it requires equipment [like a dust board] and they consider that a system that requires nothing but the members of the body is more secure and more fitting to the dignity of a leader.
Al-Uqlidisi's work is therefore important in attempting to remove one of the obstacles to acceptance of the Indian nine symbols. It is also historically important as it is the earliest known text offering a direct treatment of decimal fractions.
Despite many scholars finding calculating with Indian symbols helpful in their work, the business community continued to use their finger arithmetic throughout the tenth century. Abu'l-Wafa, who was himself an expert in the use of Indian numerals, nevertheless wrote a text on how to use finger-reckoning arithmetic since this was the system used by the business community and teaching material aimed at these people had to be written using the appropriate system. Let us give a little information about the Arab letter numerals which are contained in Abu'l-Wafa's work.
The numbers were represented by letters but not in the dictionary order. The system was known as huruf al jumal which meant "letters for calculating" and also sometimes as abjad which is just the first four numbers (1 = a, 2 = b, j = 3, d = 4). The numbers from 1 to 9 were represented by letters, then the numbers 10, 20, 30, ..., 90 by the next nine letters (10 = y, 20 = k, 30 = l, 40 = m, ...), then 100, 200, 300, ... , 900 by the next letters (100 = q, 200 = r, 300 = sh, 400 = ta, ...). There were 28 Arabic letters and so one was left over which was used to represent 1000.
Arabic astronomers used a base 60 version of Arabic letter system. Although Arabic is written from right to left, we shall give an example writing in the left to right style that we use in writing English. A number, say 43° 21' 14", would have been written as "mj ka yd" in this base 60 version of the "abjad" letters for calculating.
A contemporary of al-Baghdadi, writing near the beginning of the eleventh century, was ibn Sina (better known in the West as Avicenna). We know many details of his life for he wrote an autobiography. Certainly ibn Sina was a remarkable child, with a memory and an ability to learn which amazed the scholars who met in his father's home. A group of scholars from Egypt came to his father's house in about 997 when ibn Sina was ten years old and they taught him Indian arithmetic. He also tells of being taught Indian calculation and algebra by a seller of vegetables. All this shows that by the beginning of the eleventh century calculation with the Indian symbols was fairly widespread and, quite significantly, was know to a vegetable trader.
What of the numerals themselves. We have seen in the article Indian numerals that the form of the numerals themselves varied in different regions and changed over time. Exactly the same happened in the Arabic world.
Here is an example of an early form of Indian numerals being used in the eastern part of the Arabic empire. It comes from a work of al-Sijzi, not an original work by him but rather the work of another mathematician which al-Sijzi copied at Shiraz and dated his copy 969.
The numerals from al-Sizji's treatise of 969
The numerals had changed their form somewhat 100 years later when this copy of one of al-Biruni's astronomical texts was made. Here are the numerals as they appear in a 1082 copy.
The numerals from al-Biruni's treatise copied in 1082
In fact a closer look will show that between 969 and 1082 the biggest change in the numerals was the fact that the 2 and the 3 have been rotated through 90°. There is a reason for this change which came about due to the way that scribes wrote, for they wrote on a scroll which they wound from right to left across their bodies as they sat cross-legged. The scribes therefore, instead of writing from right to left (the standard way that Arabic was written) wrote in lines from top to bottom. The script was rotated when the scroll was read and the characters when then in the correct orientation.
Here is an example of how the text was written
Perhaps because scribes did not have much experience at writing Indian numerals, they wrote 2 and 3 the correct way round instead of writing them rotated by 90° so that they would appear correctly when the scroll was rotated to be read.
Here is an example of what the scribe should write
and here is what the scribe actually wrote
The form of the numerals in the west of the Arabic empire look more familiar to those using European numerals today which is not surprising since it is from these numerals that the Indian number system reach Europe.
al-Banna al-Marrakushi's form of the numerals
He gave this form of the numerals in his practical arithmetic book written around the beginning of the fourteenth century. He lived most of his life in Morocco which was in close contact with al-Andalus, or Andalusia, which was the Arab controlled region in the south of Spain.
The first surviving example of the Indian numerals in a document in Europe was, however, long before the time of al-Banna. The numerals appear in the Codex Vigilanus copied by a monk in Spain in 976. However the main part of Europe was not ready at this time to accept new ideas of any kind. Acceptance was slow, even as late as the fifteenth century when European mathematics began its rapid development which continues today. We will not examine the many contributions to bringing the Indian number system to Europe in this article but we will end with just one example which, however, is a very important one. Fibonacci writes in his famous book Liber abaci published in Pisa in 1202:-
When my father, who had been appointed by his country as public notary in the customs at Bugia acting for the Pisan merchants going there, was in charge, he summoned me to him while I was still a child, and having an eye to usefulness and future convenience, desired me to stay there and receive instruction in the school of accounting. There, when I had been introduced to the art of the Indians' nine symbols through remarkable teaching, knowledge of the art very soon pleased me above all else and I came to understand it, for whatever was studied by the art in Egypt, Syria, Greece, Sicily and Provence, in all its various forms.
References (6 books/articles)
Other Web sites:
- Astroseti (A Spanish translation of this article)
- Islamic City
Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson
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1 Answer | Add Yours
In Joyce's short story "Eveline," the main character of this name sits in at the window in the waning evening reflecting upon her equally grey existence. For, reflective of the invading dusk come Eveline's memories and impressions that intrude upon her consciousness. For instance, she recalls the field in which she played with other children when her mother was alive and her father "was not so bad." But, now, Eveline contemplates leaving, although there is some indecision as she reflects,
Perhaps she would never see again the familiar objects from which she had never dreamed of being divided.
Another division she will make if she departs with her sailor is from the shop where she is employed. Eveline wonders what the gossip about her will be when she leaves; yet, she feels her employer, Miss Gavan, will be glad.
She had always had an edge on her, especially when there were people listening.
That is, Eveline is subservient even at work and allows herself to be belittled before other employees and customers. She reflects that she "would not cry many tears at leaving the Stores" because she will be relieved of the scoldings of Miss Gavan [the lines quoted above] meant to give her "an edge" by demeaning Eveline with corrections on what she perceives as her laziness.
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Learning letters is a huge accomplishment for your child and a huge task for you. It'll take a lot of work and patience, but your child can get to this milestone with your help. Dedicate a little time every day to the task, and he'll have it before you know it.
Before your child can learn about each letter, she needs to know about the alphabet in general. Start with the alphabet song. Sing it in the car, in the bathtub and while you put her shoes on. Sing that song every time you get a chance. Eventually, she'll know the song by heart. From there, teach her to say the letters without singing.
Once he can say his letters, teach your child to write them. Write the letters yourself, one at a time, and have him follow your lead by first tracing what you wrote, then making his own. Buy lined paper, or draw your own lines on a chalk or dry-erase board. Start with only capital letters, because she'll get confused if you try to teach both at the same time. The fact that "A" and "a" is the same letter is confusing.
Focus on one letter at a time. Pick a letter each day and work toward mastering it. Draw and sound out the letter; have her do the same. Spend some time thinking of words that start with that letter, and hunt for items that begin with it all day long. At the end of the day, if she seems like she's mastered the letter, move on to the next in the morning. If she's not quite grasping it, there's no harm in spending another day on that letter.
Buy them or make your own out of index cards or construction paper. Start by asking her only to name the letters. Once she can do that easily, take it to another level by asking her to tell you what a letter sounds like or to name a word that starts with each letter. Later on, use the flashcards to have your child match up capital and lowercase letters.
Practice letters throughout your day, whenever you get a chance. Point to letters on magazine covers in line at the grocery store or the doctor's office and ask her to name them. When you're in the car, name a letter and have her spot something out the window that begins with that letter. Make cookies in the shapes of letters and have her tell you which letter she'd like.
Gather your kids and sing along!
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Record-breaking rains triggered so much new growth across Australia that the continent turned into a giant green carbon sink to rival tropical rainforests including the Amazon, our new research shows.
Published in the international journal Nature, our study found that vegetation worldwide soaked up 4.1 billion tons of carbon in 2011 – the equivalent of more than 40% of emissions from burning fossil fuels that year.
Unexpectedly, the largest carbon uptake occurred in the semi-arid landscapes of Australia, Southern Africa and South America.
It set a new record for a land-based carbon sink since high-resolution records began in 1958, in a remarkable example of ecosystems working to stabilise the Earth’s climate.
And that had a global impact. While atmospheric carbon dioxide still rose in 2011, it grew at a much lower rate – nearly 20% lower – than the average growth over the previous decade.
Almost 60% of the higher than normal carbon uptake that year, or 840 million tons, happened in Australia. That was due to a combination of factors, including geography and a run of very dry years, followed by record-breaking rains in 2010 and 2011.
Yet our research raises as many questions as it answers – in particular, about whether the Earth’s natural climate control mechanisms could prove even more volatile than previously thought.
The rain that made the world’s ocean fall
From October 2010 to March 2011, an extraordinary rainfall event occurred over most of Australia, which resulted in three-quarters of Queensland being declared a flood disaster zone – an area as big as France, Germany and Italy combined.
Averaged across Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology recorded rainfall of 703 millimetres for 2010 and 708 mm for 2011. That was well above the long-term average of 453 mm for the period of 1900 to 2009.
Excess rain reached most parts of the continent, in what proved to be the wettest two years combined since national climate records began in 1900.
Queensland was the worst affected area, with 35 people killed in floods that broke more than 100 river height records, and damaged 30,000 homes and businesses in cities and towns including Brisbane, Ipswich and Toowoomba. (You can see ABC News images of Brisbane before and after the floods here.)
The big rainfall event was part of a global phenomenon called the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which reflects atmospheric pressure changes across the tropical Pacific Ocean, in its La Niña phase. It brought above-average rainfall not only to Australia but also to other parts of the world, particularly in southern Africa and northern South America.
The power of La Niña to evaporate water from the oceans was boosted by the ongoing high sea-surface temperatures that are part of a long-term trend of ocean warming. That trend has been shown to be associated with the release of greenhouse gases from the combustion of fossil fuels and deforestation.
This massive rain event was so significant that sensors on-board the twin satellites GRACE estimated a decrease in ocean water mass of 1.8 trillion tons. That remarkable finding was measured by changes in the Earth’s gravitational field, brought about by the transfer of water from the ocean to the atmosphere and land surface.
This made the ocean’s sea level fall by 5 millimetres from the beginning of 2010 to mid-2011, going against the average sea-level rise of 3mm a year over the previous 18 years associated with global warming.
Australia played a major role in this sea-level fall, for several reasons. It was partly due to vast amounts of rain that fell over Australia. The continent’s hydrological characteristics also played a role, with large impediments for rainfall to flow quickly back to the ocean, such as the large continental interior basins.
And Australia was a country in need of a big drink. The parched continent was emerging from a multi-year drought, particularly in the south-east region, meaning the land acted as a huge sponge, soaking up the heavy rainfall.
Seeing the Earth change colour from above
As a result of the unusually heavy rains, the Earth’s vegetation “greened” in 2011 in ways not measured over the previous 30 years, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere dryland ecosystems.
This global greening was detected by satellites, which observed increases in canopy foliage extent and vegetation water content, which both imply vegetation growth.
Combined, these measurements indicated that the world’s annual production of new plant matter significantly increased in 2011 when compared to the previous decade.
Regions in the Southern Hemisphere including Australia, southern Africa, and temperate South America contributed 80% of the change, especially their savannas and other semi-arid areas.
That winter, June to August 2011, Australia was the greenest that it has ever been seen in the satellite period (since 1982).
Our new study in Nature also shows how fire emissions – normally a big factor in reducing Australia’s capacity to store carbon – were suppressed by about 30%, contributing even further to the continent’s greening.
In addition to the unprecedented vegetation greening of Australia during 2010 and 2011, we also observe a greening trend over the continent since 1980s, particularly during the months of the Australian autumn (March, April, and May).
That has happened for a number of reasons, including increased continental rainfall over the past few decades; plants growing in an atmosphere with increasing carbon dioxide using water more efficiently; and changes in land management such as fire suppression, expansion of invasive species, and changes in livestock grazing that have led to more woodland.
The upsides of going green
Despite recurrent drought conditions in some regions, there is a current greening trend over Australia.
Overall, satellites show Australian landscapes are greener now than they have been over the past 30 years.
A greener Australia has a number of environmental and other benefits, including better protection for soils, increased soil-water holding capacity and soil fertility, and more plant feed to sustain larger animal populations.
However, more vegetation can lead to less water being available to replenish water tables and feed rivers, even though Australia loses more than 50% of all the rainfall to the atmosphere as soil evaporation, without contributing to vegetation growth.
This is in sharp contrast to temperate and tropical ecosystems, where a large part of the water is returned to the atmosphere via vegetation.
Fire, drought and rapid carbon release
However, we now need to consider whether this growing accumulation of carbon in semi-arid regions of the Southern Hemisphere could become a future climate liability through fire and drought.
Land and ocean carbon sinks absorb around half of the world’s emissions from burning fossil fuels each year, which helps to slow the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations from human activities.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report found that we are likely to see an increase in climate variability that includes drier, more fire-prone conditions across large parts of the Southern Hemisphere’s semi-arid regions, including Australia.
That’s a vital trend to consider, because it could lead to a more vulnerable global carbon reservoir.
While we might see more carbon stored in new vegetation growth and soil when extra water is available in semi-arid regions, as happened in 2010-2011, the risk is that more fires and droughts would end up rapidly releasing that carbon back to the atmosphere.
It is likely that the large carbon uptake during 2011 was short-lived, as suggested by a rapid decline of the sink strength in 2012. Future research will be able to confirm if this was the case.
Arid and semi-arid regions currently occupy 40% of the world’s land area. More work is urgently needed to research the best ways to manage these areas, and whether we can increase their soil and vegetation carbon stores as part of our climate mitigation efforts.
While tropical forests like the Amazon remain vitally important as major carbon sinks, this new study and others indicate that semi-arid regions like Australia will also play a growing role in the Earth’s carbon cycle.
Increasingly, semi-arid regions are driving variability in how much carbon dioxide remains in the Earth’s atmosphere each year. And that has major implications for the long-term, including whether future climate change will slow down or accelerate further.
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This demonstration helps students understand how catalysts work on the nanoscale. This is a great way to introduce or review reactants, catalysts, and adsorption, desorption, and diffusion. Use this demonstration after the Surface Area-to-Volume Ratio of Nanoparticles lab.
- Nanometer-sized things are very small, and often behave differently than larger things do.
- Scientists and engineers have formed the interdisciplinary field of nanotechnology by investigating properties and manipulating matter at the nanoscale.
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Помогите!!!Explain why:1English has become a world language2people who speak English have better job opportunities3we use dictionaries to learn a fore
1)English has become a world language
2)people who speak English have better job opportunities
3)we use dictionaries to learn a foreign language
4)it's important to talk to native speakers whose language you are learning
5) So many people in Russia are learning English now.
- 1. English has become a world language because of recognition of English as "official" language of computing, sciences, technologies, aviation, etc. and success of music in English not just from the UK and US, but also from countries where English is not an official language.
2. People who speak English, have more opportunities to get success in different areas of employment.
3. We use dictionaries to find out the translation of the words of a foreign language, because the language is not our first language.
4. It contributes to the development of your speech and the perception of a foreign language quickly and efficiently.
5. Russian people are learning English now, because this language is a world language, we need to know English if we want to get success.
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Political moderation is the touchstone of democracy, which could not function without compromise and bargaining, yet it is one of the most understudied concepts in political theory. How can we explain this striking paradox? Why do we often underestimate the virtue of moderation? Seeking to answer these questions, A Virtue for Courageous Minds examines moderation in modern French political thought and sheds light on the French Revolution and its legacy.
Aurelian Craiutu begins with classical thinkers who extolled the virtues of a moderate approach to politics, such as Aristotle and Cicero. He then shows how Montesquieu inaugurated the modern rebirth of this tradition by laying the intellectual foundations for moderate government. Craiutu looks at important figures such as Jacques Necker, Madame de Staël, and Benjamin Constant, not only in the context of revolutionary France but throughout Europe. He traces how moderation evolves from an individual moral virtue into a set of institutional arrangements calculated to protect individual liberty, and he explores the deep affinity between political moderation and constitutional complexity. Craiutu demonstrates how moderation navigates between political extremes, and he challenges the common notion that moderation is an essentially conservative virtue, stressing instead its eclectic nature.
Drawing on a broad range of writings in political theory, the history of political thought, philosophy, and law, A Virtue for Courageous Minds reveals how the virtue of political moderation can address the profound complexities of the world today.
Aurelian Craiutu is professor of political science at Indiana University, Bloomington. His publications include Liberalism under Siege: The Political Thought of the French Doctrinaires, Tocqueville on America after 1840: Letters and Other Writings (edited and translated with Jeremy Jennings), and America through European Eyes (edited with Jeffrey C. Issac). He has also edited the political works of François Guizot and Madame de Staël.
"Aurelian Craiutu's book is a fine study of a neglected subject. Unlike so many studies that, in our age of academic specialization, restrict themselves to limited time frames such as the Old Regime or the Revolution or Napoleon or the Restoration, Craiutu's book covers all of these. . . . Aurelian Craiutu has produced a well-researched and clearly written study of an important subject."--Harvey Chisick, American Historical Review
"For those looking for a spirited argument for the emergence of moderation as a formal body of thought in mid-eighteenth century France and a vigorous defense of moderation as a valid and sophisticated form of political thinking relevant even for the politics of contemporary America, this is your book."--William Olejniczak, H-France Review
"Craiutu's splendid study joins recent books by Harry Clor and Peter Berkowitz that recover appreciation for the moral, political, and philosophical venue of moderation. Clor and Berkowitz do not share Craiutu's emphasis on the indeterminacy of the political good, instead valuing the traditional ideals of the golden mean and the happy medium as indicating a higher path to justice. Such debate about moderation, and its import for a free politics, is a breath of fresh air in our public discourse."--Paul Carrese, Springer Science+Business Media
"Craiutu's . . . book will be read with interest, particularly as a contribution to the constitutional history of the period."--C. P. Courtney, French Studies
"[A] rich historical feast and fascinating interpretation of moderate French political thought . . . Craiutu provides us with in this wonderful book."--Benjamin Hill, Review of Metaphysics
Table of Contents
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Date: 05/28/2003 at 02:41:14 From: David Subject: Cardinal/ordinal number systems If there are ordinal number systems like 1st, 2nd, 3rd, why isn't there a numbering system for groups like trilogies? I've heard of quintologies and hexologies but these words don't appear in the dictionary, (and I've checked many). If a trilogy is possible, why not a quadrilogy? In the dictionary a trilogy is defined as a series or group of three. But I can't find any terms for a group of four, five, six, seven, etc. Are there terms for number groups other than three? Thanks for your time.
Date: 06/04/2003 at 16:10:22 From: Doctor Peterson Subject: Re: Cardinal/ordinal number systems Hi, David. There are several different sets of terms for groups of three, depending on what you are counting: "trilogy" for books, "trio" for musicians or other people, "triplet" for children or generic groups, "triple" for numbers, "triad" for musical notes and so on. Each of these types of words can be found for other numbers: 3 trio triplet triple triad 4 quartet quadruplet quadruple tetrad 5 quintet quintuplet quintuple pentad ... As for four books, considering the fact that trilogy comes from Greek roots, the proper word would be not "quadrilogy" but "tetralogy"; and in fact my dictionary lists that. It does not, however, list "pentalogy" for five books. The following gives one of these possible lists: Naming Nine Things http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/62004.html This lists the Latin and Greek prefixes used to make such words: Prefixes in Math http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/57196.html - Doctor Peterson, The Math Forum http://mathforum.org/dr.math/
Date: 06/05/2003 at 12:36:46 From: David Subject: Thank you (Cardinal/ordinal number systems) That's perfect. Thank you for this service. It's been very helpful.
Search the Dr. Math Library:
Ask Dr. MathTM
© 1994-2015 The Math Forum
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Heart Attack Signs
What You Need to Know
If you think you are having trouble with your heart, it is imperative to talk to a health professional about the symptoms. There are many different heart problems that may affect you. From a heart attack to arrhythmia (an irregular heart beat), we are going to go into some of the classic heart attack signs. Knowing what these are will help make sure you are prepared and know what to do should a problem arise. Again, when dealing with the heart it is important to talk to a health care professional about any symptoms you may be facing.
We are going to next go into some of the most common signs of a heart attack. It is important to heed the warning signs if they appear. After this, we will look at some other common heart problems people have. Finally, we will take a look at some tips and suggestions for living healthy and having a happy heart. By the time you are done reading, you should have a very good idea of what you should do if the heart attack signs appear in you or someone you love. Having this information is a good way to make sure you survive a heart attack.
Common Heart Attack Signs and Symptoms
These are some of the basic signs that appear before a heart attack commences.
- Chest Discomfort – Pain in the center of the chest area that lasts for more than a few minutes is one of the biggest signs of an impending heart attack and should be taken seriously.
- Shortness of Breath – Whether it becomes before or after chest pain or discomfort, there is likely to also be shortness of breath when a heart attack is approaching.
- Upper Body Discomfort – In addition to shortness of breath and discomfort in the lungs, general upper body pains may also be a sign of a heart attack.
- Cold Sweat – This is a minor symptom, but it may be present in someone who is about to suffer from a heart attack.
- Light Headedness & Nausea – Additionally, nausea and feeling light headed are other signs that should be taken seriously.
Even if a person has no history of heart problems, it is important to know and watch out for any of these signs as they may point to a heart attack.
Other Heart Problems
While a heart attack is serious, there are other heart related problems that may appear. Here is a look at some of them.
- Congestive Heart Failure – When the heart is unable to pump enough blood to supply oxygen to the body, it is known as congestive heart failure or CHF. It is primarily caused by diseases that affect the muscles of the heart or the body, requiring the body needing more oxygen, which the heart can’t keep up with. Congestive heart failure can actually affect a lot of different parts of the body. Fatigue is one of the early signs of CHF, as well as sleeplessness, increased urination and more.
- Heart Murmurs – These are abnormal sounds that appear during your heartbeat cycle. The sounds are able to be heard with a stethoscope and are caused by blood near or in the heart not acting as it should. While most heart murmurs are harmless, there are some cases where they may be an indicator of other heart problems, which is why they should be taken seriously.
Surviving a Heart Attack
If you want to survive a heart attack, you must pay close attention to the signs if they appear and take action quickly! Acting fast and getting medical attention is the best way for you to survive the effects of a heart attack. Here are some tips to help you survive a heart attack.
- Plan Ahead – Preparation is important when dealing with a heart attack. Because it happens so fast, it is a good idea to have a plan in place and put it into action when the time arrives.
- Delays are Deadly – The longer you delay, the more serious the possible consequences when dealing with a heart attack. The moment you see the first signs of a heart attack, you need to take action immediately.
- Medical Personnel – Having all your medical information handy for the paramedics, nurses and doctors is a very good idea. These days there are many different ways you can keep this information close at hand for times of emergency.
Better Heart Health
Here are some ideas that may be recommended by your doctor or physician.
- Blood Thinning Medication – There are a variety of medicines that may be used to thin your blood so that your blood has less of a chance of clogging and causing you problems. These will be prescribed by a doctor. You should follow their directions carefully when taking any medication to thin the blood – and be aware of any possible side effects.
- Medicine to Lower Cholesterol – This is another option that your doctor or health care professional may take to help lessen the chance of a heart attack. When taking this medication, it is important to follow the prescription carefully.
- Eat Healthy – Eating healthy foods in moderation can go a long way in making sure your body is healthy and your heart doesn’t need to work harder than it should to pump blood through your body.
- Exercise – This is another common sense item, but when you are talking about avoiding a heart attack, you want to make sure you come up with an exercise routine that will not cause you problems.
There are many other things you should put into place to avoid problems with your heart, but knowing the major heart attack signs and having a plan in place to deal with them when they appear is crucial if you want to survive a heart attack.
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Childhood as we know it is over and children of future generations could enter adulthood lacking vital life and social skills because of a lack of ‘free’ play, according to a study released by Persil.
The global report, which marks the launch of Persil’s Every Child Has The Right campaign, was conducted in conjunction with leading experts in youth development and highlights the erosion of childhood. The report found 85% of UK mums are concerned that children are growing up too quickly and 64% believe children are being deprived of childhood through lack of free play.
In response to this study, Persil is launching its Free Play Initiative 2008, a nationwide scheme aimed at helping parents find inspirational ways for their children to express themselves through imaginative, unstructured play. This culminates in the support of Playday, the national annual celebration of children’s right to play, on 6 August 2008.
Produced for Persil.
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Ancient China for Kids
A superstition is a belief people have that is not based on any knowledgeable explanation, but people believe it anyway. The ancient Chinese had many superstitions. Here are a just a few of them.
The ancient Chinese invented umbrellas. One superstition the ancient Chinese believed about umbrellas is that you can never open your umbrella inside your house. If you do, this will bring bad luck into your house. If someone opened an umbrella, either on purpose or accidentally, the women grabbed their brooms and swept the bad luck out the door immediately!
Speaking of doors, the ancient Chinese believed the front door of their home should always face south. This brought benevolence into their home.
If a bee entered your home in ancient China, it would bring good luck as long as you allowed the bee to leave alive. If you killed the bee inside your house, you would have bad luck. This was also true of ladybugs.
On Chinese New Year Eve, parents encourage children to stay awake as long as possible, because an old ancient Chinese superstition said the longer children stayed awake on Chinese New Year Eve, the longer their parents would live.
The ancient Chinese kitchen god was a bit of tattletale. Each year, right before the new year, the kitchen god was suppose to report all the behavior of the household to his boss, the Jade Emperor. The ancient Chinese believed if you left sweets as offerings for the kitchen god on the kitchen hearth right before he gave his report, his report would be glowing! The Jade Emperor would reward the family's good behavior with good luck. Since the kitchen god could not eat these treats, the family could eat them after they were offered to the kitchen god.
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The word fasting comes from the root word, "fast". To fast is to abstain from eating or avoid certain foods.
Fasting is often used in religious ceremonies, preparation(s), and/or ritual(s). The custom of fasting has, at one point or another, been a practice of every religion.
There are many purposes for fasting. In some religions, fasting is used as a means to cleanse sinful deeds from your soul. Fasting is also observed as a mourning ritual (in some cultures/religions). More commonly, in religious practice, fasting is used as a preparation for the obtainment of an "enhanced spiritual state."
It is argued, by spiritual types, that fasting leads to an enhanced perception of the divine. By depriving the body of food (and sometimes water), it is believed that one is sacrificing earthly needs in an effort to reach higher spiritual connections.
- Jewish laws order a fast on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Orthodox Jews often order brides and grooms to fast on the day prior to their wedding.
- Many Christians fast during Lent, the period of forty days that Jesus supposedly fasted in the wilderness.
- Muslims fast during Ramadan, the ninth month of their year.
- Buddhists, especially, fast to attain a higher sphere of "enlightenment" or spiritual alertness.
Believers often report that they feel "lighter". They ascribe this purity to the absolution of sins from fasting.
After several days of fasting, some religious groups believe that one is primed to see/her God.
It should be noted that multiplicities of stupid behaviors, or the fact that they've been done since man could think of fasting, does not make fasting a healthy behavior.
The only "good reason" to fast is on the advisement of your physician in preparation for diagnostic testing or surgery. Even in those cases, fasting is rarely prescribed beyond approximately six hours (long enough for any food matter to have passed through the stomach. This helps lessen the incidence of the patient vomiting during anesthesia and aspirating food particles into the lungs.
If a deity wants you to reach a higher spiritual plane, why can't he dial direct? Even if you subscribe to the assumption that God created you, he obviously created you to eat. On that assumption, he also gave you the sensation of hunger to guarantee that you would eat. In reality, the human body, through the process of evolution and a mechanism geared toward survival, has encoded "hunger cues" into your physiological profile.
When you skip meals, your stomach muscles kick into action and begin contracting. This is what is known as "hunger pangs". At first, these contractions are limited to the stomach and consist of paristaltic contractions. When deprived of food, these contractions can last for 2-3 minutes. These contractions can be painful! These contractions are instigated by a drop in blood sugar.
Regarding weddings: As if the "drop count" wasn't high enough, due to stress and excitement, God is now asking the soon-to-be-wed to not eat, too! Nice God!
Obviously mere humans should not fast for forty days in a row. When you fast for a long period of time, your body goes into a state known as ketosis. Ketosis is the process in which your body burns fat and releases ketones (ketones are highly acidic molecules produced by the body as it burns fat). This is dangerous.
During the first stages of ketosis, individuals often feel as if they are more alert and/or able to perform physical tasks better. In reality, this stage is temporary and a dangerous signal that the body is trying to release any and all of it's glucose stores. Your brain requires a continue supply of fresh glucose in order to retain optimal mental accuity. If one wanted to be more "in touch" with a spiritual realm, or even their own body, one should heed the signals that the body is giving. Long term fasting is completely and totally illogical.
Lightness: In reality, the believer's body, having depleted fat and taxed the body's glucose stores, has resorted to cannibalism. Without fat, the body will next attack stored protein to maintain a minimal blood glucose level. This creates a chemical imbalance: the ratio of glucose to insulin is screwed up. During this dangerous state, the following CLINICAL side effects might occur:
- General discomfort, uneasiness, or ill feeling (malaise)
- Irritability, or even aggression
- Cold sweats
- Rapid heart rate
- Blurry or double vision
Why would anyone who has another human's best interests in mind subject another human being to such dangerous side effects?
Unfortunately, visions are purely the result of the brain's lack of fuel. Individuals suffering from the complete and total starvation often report the following symptoms:
- Excessive sweating
- Sleeping difficulty
- Muscle pain
- Memory loss
- Palpitations, or feeling your heartbeat (heartbeat sensations)
- Different size pupils
- Decreased consciousness
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- Vitamin Guide
- Health Conditions
- Health Centers
- Diet & Weight Loss
- Herbal Remedies
- Current News
- Food Guide
Human breast milk is the best food for newborn babies. In December 1997, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement advocating breast milk as the ideal, exclusive food for babies in the first six months of life. They also recommended that breast-feeding continue for at least 12 months or longer if mutually desired.1
In the United States, only about 50% of new mothers giving birth in a hospital breast-feed their babies. This number declines rapidly, with only about 20% of women still breast-feeding at six months.2 There is a large body of evidence on the benefits of breast-feeding for both mother and infant. With adequate support and good information on preventing some of the common problems associated with breast-feeding, a woman’s chances of successfully breast-feeding her new baby are greatly improved.
Breast feeding provides significant benefits for baby and mother.
Human milk contains the ideal balance of nutrients, enzymes, and anti-infective and immune supportive agents for babies.3, 4 There are two kinds of breast milk: colostrum and mature milk. Colostrum, which is produced in the first few days after birth, has higher concentrations of protein and immune-enhancing agents and less sugar and fat than mature milk.5 Mature human milk differs greatly from both infant formula and either cow or goat milk. Human milk, made specifically for the nutritional needs of the newborn, is superior to all alternatives.
One significant advantage of human breast milk is its abundance of immune-protective and anti-infective agents, including immunoglobulins (primarily immunoglobulin A, or IgA), lactoferrin, Bifidobacterium bifidum, white blood cells, and other factors. These agents are known to help the newborn fight a wide variety of illnesses. Many scientific studies in the United States and other developed countries have demonstrated the health protective benefits of breast milk.
Breast-feeding has been found to help prevent: diarrhea,6, 7, 8, 9, 10 lower respiratory tract infection,11, 12, 13, 14ear infections (otitis media),15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 meningitis,21, 22urinary tract infection,23 and other serious infections (botulism, necrotizing enterocolitis, bacteremia).24, 25, 26, 27, 28 In addition, breast-feeding may possibly help prevent: sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS),29, 30, 31 insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus,32, 33Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis,34, 35cancer (lymphoma),36, 37 allergic diseases,38, 39, 40 and other chronic digestive diseases.41, 42, 43 Breast-feeding may also enhance cognitive development.44, 45
The protein composition of breast milk is perfect for growing babies and is easy for them to digest. Breast milk also provides absorbable nutrients; the iron and zinc found in human milk is extremely easily absorbed (bioavailable) compared with iron and zinc from other foods. When infants are exclusively breast-fed, 50% of the iron is absorbed. By comparison, absorption of iron from cow’s milk and iron-fortified commercial formula is much lower, only 10% and 4%, respectively.46
Breast milk is also quick, easy, and cost-effective. It’s always available and does not need to be prepared, and the cost of providing the necessary additional nutrition to a breast-feeding mother is about half the cost of commercial formula.47, 48, 49 And breast-feeding promotes bonding, allowing a mother and her baby to be in close physical contact, enhancing the formation of a close mother-baby bond.50
Breast-feeding a new baby has many important health benefits for the mother as well. Breast-feeding immediately after childbirth causes the release of a hormone called oxytocin, which causes the uterus to contract. This results in less postpartum (after pregnancy) blood loss and a more rapid return of the uterus to its pre-pregnancy size.51 While breast-feeding, most women will not immediately resume their ovulation and menstrual periods. Delaying the return of ovulation may extend the time between pregnancies.52, 53 Women who breast-feed for at least six months lose weight more quickly than women who continue breast-feeding for less than three months.54 And, while breast-feeding can cause a short-term loss of bone density, it also seems to improve the body’s ability to rebuild bones postpartum.55 In addition, women who have breast-fed their babies may have fewer osteoporosis-linked hip fractures after they’ve passed through menopause.56 Breast-feeding has also been associated with a lower risk of ovarian cancer and a reduced risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women.57, 58
It is best to avoid all unnecessary medications, herbs, and nutritional supplements when breast-feeding. Most prescribed and over-the-counter medications, when taken by a breast-feeding mother, are considered safe for the infant. However, a doctor should always be consulted before any medication is taken. There are a few medications that mothers may need to take that may make it necessary to interrupt breast-feeding temporarily.
Caffeine, which is considered a drug, is excreted into breast milk. It is estimated that an infant receives 1.5 to 3.1 mg of caffeine after the mother drinks a cup of coffee (a cup of coffee typically contains 60 to 50 mg of caffeine). Because this amount is fairly low, a morning cup of coffee is not likely to cause any problems. However, if the mother is a heavy caffeine user, caffeine can accumulate in the infant.66 Infants have immature livers that are unable to adequately process caffeine. A baby who is irritable and sleeping poorly may be reacting to caffeine in the mother’s diet. A woman can switch to decaffeinated coffees and teas to effectively reduce the amount of caffeine her baby receives through her milk.
Alcohol reaches maternal milk in concentrations similar to those in the mother’s blood.67 It is therefore best for breast-feeding mothers to minimize or eliminate alcohol consumption. It is commonly believed that drinking beer can increase a woman’s milk supply. In fact, drinking beer intake does increase secretion of prolactin (the hormone that stimulates production of breast milk) in both men and women.68 However, research has shown that infants breast-fed after their mothers drank alcoholic beer consumed less milk than when their mothers drank non-alcoholic beer.69
Breast-feeding mothers should not smoke. Nicotine passes to the baby through the breast milk and can cause feeding problems and illness, especially in newborns. Babies should also be protected from the dangers of second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke has been shown to increase the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)70, 71, 72, 73, 74 and colic in newborns.75
There are many reasons why women decide not to breast-feed or discontinue breast-feeding earlier than the recommended six months. These include a lack of family, societal, or medical support;76 misinformation or lack of education about breast-feeding;77 marketing of commercial formulas to new mothers;78 and the difficulties often encountered in returning to work or school.79 In addition, there are some common difficulties that could interfere with a healthy breast-feeding relationship. These include fear of not having enough milk to nourish the baby, sore nipples, engorgement, and mastitis (inflammation of the breast, frequently caused by infection).
A new mother should try to breast-feed her baby as soon as possible after delivery, ideally within the first hour of life.80 An infant should be fed on demand. A hungry infant will first get fussy, with increased activity and rooting (a reflex wherein the infant appears to be searching for the breast with his or her mouth) or mouthing behavior. Crying is a late sign of hunger. To get into the habit of feeding their babies, new mothers are often instructed to follow a schedule of breast-feeding every four hours around the clock. However, these imposed schedules, if followed beyond the first few weeks of life, often lead to frustration and confusion. The only infant who needs to be breast-fed on such a schedule is the infant who does not demand to be fed. Feeding on demand is the best way to increase milk supply. Most infants will empty the breast in 10 to 15 minutes. Some doctors advise gradually increasing the duration of breast-feeding over the first week of life. If this regimen is followed, it is important to breast-feed for at least five minutes on each side to get the benefit of the let-down reflex (which promotes the release of milk from the storage ducts in the breasts).81
Infants need no additional foods or liquids, if exclusively breast-feeding. Early introduction of these items may make successful breast-feeding difficult. Most breast-fed infants will not require any supplemental vitamins or minerals to meet daily requirements until at least six months of age.82Vitamin D may be required for infants whose mothers are vitamin D-deficient or those infants not exposed to adequate sunlight. Iron may be required for infants with low iron stores or anemia.83
Breast milk is made on demand. The more often a baby feeds, the more milk will be produced. If breast-feeding sessions are frequent and long enough, the milk supply will rarely be inadequate. Parents can be reassured that their infants are receiving enough milk if they have six or more wet diapers a day while exclusively breast-feeding. If a parent still feels anxious about the adequacy of the nourishment provided by breast-feeding alone, weekly weighing may allay fears. A weight gain of 0.38 pound (190 grams) per week is evidence of sufficient nourishment and growth.
Some low-birth-weight infants will require intensive care and ventilation in the hospital. Mothers of these infants often have difficulty continuing to produce breast milk. These mothers must rely on expressing breast milk manually because their babies cannot effectively breast-feed. Pumping milk is much less efficient than breast-feeding. Due to the inadequacy of pumping milk, milk production can decline. In low-birth-weight infants in an intensive care setting, skin-to-skin holding over a four-week period postpartum has increased a mother’s milk supply.84 In contrast, women who did not participate in skin-to-skin holding of their low-birth-weight infants did not experience an increase in milk production. These findings may have implications for all mothers experiencing a diminishing milk supply. In addition, some doctors will prescribe a day of rest to busy mothers whose milk supply seems to be lessening.85 Spending a day in close and relaxed contact with one’s newborn, with its associated increase in frequency of feedings, can effectively increasing milk supply.
Stress and fatigue can greatly inhibit the let-down reflex, lessening the production of milk. In a clinical trial involving mothers of premature infants, mothers who listened to an audiocassette tape based on relaxation and imagery techniques increased milk production by more than 60%, compared with mothers not listening to the tape.86 Whether relaxation techniques would increase milk supply in the mothers of full-term infants is not known.
Copyright © 2015 Aisle7. All rights reserved. Aisle7.com
The information presented in Aisle7 is for informational purposes only. It is based on scientific studies (human, animal, or in vitro), clinical experience, or traditional usage as cited in each article. The results reported may not necessarily occur in all individuals. Self-treatment is not recommended for life-threatening conditions that require medical treatment under a doctor's care. For many of the conditions discussed, treatment with prescription or over the counter medication is also available. Consult your doctor, practitioner, and/or pharmacist for any health problem and before using any supplements or before making any changes in prescribed medications. Information expires June 2016.
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Contained Databases in SQL Server 2012
Applies to: Microsoft SQL Server 2012.
Contained databases are a new feature in SQL Server 2012 and are defined on MSDN
Library as ”a database that is isolated from other databases and from the
instance of SQL Server that hosts the database”.
The containment setting of a database can be NONE, PARTIAL or FULL. But only
NONE and PARTIAL are supported on SQL Server 2012.
Benefits and characteristics.
The following are some of the benefits and characteristics that contained
They make easier to migrate databases from one server to another. Errors related
to orphan users are no longer an issue with contained databases, since a
contained database user can now be created without an associated login.
Authentication can now occur at the database level.
Contained database users can be Windows and SQL Server authentication users.
A contained database user can access only contained database objects. They
cannot access system databases and cannot access server objects.
Metadata is stored on the contained database and not stored on system databases.
This makes contained databases more portable than the databases we know.
Disadvantages and limitations.
Some disadvantages and limitations are the following:
There are some security concerns. A database owner can create contained database
users without the permission of a DBA. The possibility of denial of service
attacks exist with contained databases using AUTO_CLOSE option. For security
best practices about contained databases, please see the references shown at the
end of the article.
Partially contained databases cannot use replication, change data capture,
change tracking, numbered procedures, schema-bound objects that depend on
built-in functions with collation changes. You may find more limitations on the
references shown at the end of this article.
Requirements of contained databases.
It is required to enable contained databases on the instance.
The contained database needs to be added to the connection string or specified
when connecting via SQL Server Management Studio.
Step-by-step instructions on how to create a contained database.
To be able to create contained databases on a SQL Server 2012 instance, we need
to enable the contained database authentication option on the instance.
Open SQL Server 2012 Management Studio, connect to the instance, make a right
click on the name of the instance on Object Explorer, select the Advanced page
on the "Select a page" panel, and set to true the "Enable Contained Databases"
Alternatively, you can use sp_configure system stored procedure to enable
contained databases on the instance, as shown below.
'contained database authentication',
When a database is created the "Containment type" should be set to "partial" to
make the database a contained database, as shown below.
This can be done using T-SQL too, as shown below.
A contained database allows the creation of a database user that is not
associated to an instance login. A contained database user can be created
expanding the Security folder on the contained database, making a right click on
the Users folder and selecting the "New User" option.
Next, set the user type to "SQL user with password", assign a user name, set the
password for the database user and specify the default schema for the user.
Specify the roles for this user on the database and click OK.
If you would like to create the contained database user using T-SQL, please see
the example below.
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The Aging Equine
We've all heard the statistics about aging America--as the population of baby boomers rounds the curve of 40, the average age of our society is inching its way up. In recent years, horses have experienced a similar population shift. While 100 years ago they were primarily beasts of burden, seldom kept around once their most productive years were over, now our horses are not only work and athletic partners, but are our companions. It has become increasingly important to us to preserve their good health through their "golden years" and to extend their lifespans as long as they can enjoy a "quality" life. Modern veterinary science has provided a vast array of knowledge and techniques that can assist us.
As horses get older, they experience a number of gradual, irreversible changes.
A large proportion of the equine population now remains active, to one degree or another, into their 20s and 30s, and their contributions to us are invaluable. Not only are older horses generally calmer than their younger brethren, their experience, education, and wisdom make them ideal teachers and wonderful friends. Ask anyone who owns an older horse; he or she likely will tell you he's worth his weight in gold.
Horses do age differently than humans. By comparison with us, they have quite abbreviated childhoods, lengthy and active adulthoods, then decline rapidly to succumb to some brief terminal illness. The average lifespan of a horse is said to be about 24 years; but as with humans, a horse's chronological age isn't always a good indicator of how old he really is. Some horses still are active at the age of 35, while others suffer significant signs of aging at 15.
Genetics plays a role--most of us know that ponies, on the whole, are longer-lived than horses, and that certain breeds (such as the Arabian) have a reputation for longevity. But good management is important in determining a horse's lifespan. Those horses which have had the benefit of good preventative health care--including vaccinations, dental care, good nutrition, and in particular, a rigorous parasite control program--throughout their lives, reap the benefits in old age. (Many researchers suspect that modern deworming drugs have probably contributed more to the horse's increased lifespan than any other single factor.)
That's not to say that all older horses remain problem-free where their health is concerned. Researchers have found that more than 70% of horses over the age of 20 have some sort of age-associated condition that requires special care. And indeed, it's quite reasonable to assume that your older horse is likely to suffer from some of the same bothersome symptoms that we aging humans experience. But we're really just beginning to understand all of the physiological changes involved in the equine aging process.
Until quite recently, research into geriatric equines was virtually non-existent, but a team led by Karyn Malinowski, PhD, at Rutgers University in New Jersey, has now spent several years investigating older equines with the help of a herd of 20-something ex-broodmares (mostly Standardbreds) maintained at the university.
"The focus is to improve the well-being of the geriatric horse," she says.
Malinowski notes that her research has important implications not only for helping horses lead longer and healthier lives, but also for providing information about the aging process in humans. Horses, as it turns out, provide a good model for the changes Homo sapiens experience, because their aging process is only about three times as fast as our own, and because like us, they tend to exercise voluntarily, and they sweat. Lab animals such as rats, on which aging research traditionally has been based, are poorer models because, says Malinowski, "they hate to exercise, and they age about 30 times faster than we do." The link between aging humans and aging horses might mean that we can look forward to a great deal more information to evolve from her research in the near future.
When Horses Age
As horses get older, they experience a number of gradual, irreversible changes. On the outside, the weakening of collagen, the body's protein "scaffolding," contributes to sagging skin and that characteristic loose lower lip. The downward migration of the roots of the teeth, combined with the atrophy of the postorbital fat around the eye sockets, gives an older horse's face a hollowed appearance and those typical depressions above the eyes. As the collagen continues to degrade, and muscle degeneration begins, he'll develop a sagging topline (sometimes resulting in a sway back). Many older horses also display gray (actually white) hairs around the eyes, temples, and nostrils.
It's relatively common for older horses to develop cataracts, but these rarely cause complete blindness. They do create a loss of transparency in the eye's lens. Because vision is a less important sense to horses than smell or hearing, older horses with some impairment of vision usually cope very well.
On the inside, more changes are occurring. Although the timing differs from horse to horse, aging inevitably results in reduced cardiopulmonary function, a decreased capacity for exercise, and impaired nutrient utilization (more on that in our companion article, Feeding the Geriatric Horse, on page 75). Some researchers feel aging takes the hardest toll on the digestive tract and on the skeletal system. The immune system also takes a hit, becoming less able to defend the horse against viral and bacterial challenges, so older equines might become more prone to respiratory diseases, allergies, infected wounds, and even surface conditions like thrush.
Arthritis, an inflammation or degeneration of the tissues associated with the joints, eventually catches up with almost every horse. A chronic degenerative condition of the cartilage associated with the ends of bones, arthritis compromises the ability of the joints to flex or to bear weight. Arthritis can be crippling, although if caught in its early stages, it can successfully be managed with injectible therapies such as polysulfated glucosaminoglycans (PSGAGs--brand name Adequan) or sodium hyaluronate. For some older horses, the symptoms remain mild--perhaps a little stiffness on cold mornings or after a night of inactivity in a stall, which they will warm out of as they begin to move. For others, arthritis can express itself in lameness-causing conditions such as ringbone and spavin.
Anti-inflammatory drugs, certain changes in foot care, and extra-deep bedding (and soft footing if he continues to work) can do much to make an old and arthritic horse more comfortable. Providing a maximum amount of turnout also is important for arthritic horses, since moving about helps them lubricate their joints. It's crucial that you not let an arthritic animal become obese, as the extra weight only increases the stress on the legs.
In addition to arthritis in the joints, the tendons and ligaments of older horses often lose elasticity, while cartilage replacement in the joints slows. All these conditions can interfere with an older horse's mobility, enthusiasm for exercise, and stability. Lean muscle mass also tends to decline, leaving the horse with a "saggy" outline.
Loss of condition is a major concern for older horses. Poor dental health, poor parasite control, and debilitating disease all can contribute. The digestive system's gradual decline in nutrient utilization (caused by chronic parasite damage earlier in life, or by subtle alterations in the digestive process) doesn't help matters. On top of this, many older horses lose their enthusiasm for feed, a condition called anorexia. Once an older horse starts to become ribby, it can be very difficult to persuade his system to put the weight back on.
Strict attention to the older horse's dental health is crucial. A horse's teeth are designed to continue growing throughout his life, but often the rate of wear outstrips any new growth. As a result, he might find himself with such worn-down molars that he has nothing with which to grind his feed. Those being fed dry hay and grain will need more frequent attention than those on lush pasture, but any older horse should have his teeth checked, and the sharp points floated, at least once every six months. You also should watch for other dental problems, such as broken or missing teeth and mouth abscesses. Because dental problems will compromise how well horses chew their food, owners should be vigilant about colic and choke (when food becomes lodged in the esophagus). Very aged horses might have to be kept off forages altogether; fortunately, it's frequently possible to maintain even the most toothless quite well on hay cubes, beet pulp, and grain pellets, all of which can be soaked in water to make a gruel or a mush.
Next on the list of common problems are tumors of the pituitary and thyroid glands. A 1989 study by Sarah Ralston, VMD, PhD, ACVN, and her colleagues indicated that more than 70% of horses over the age of 20 had at least subclinical signs of one or the other--that is, there were no obvious symptoms, but blood analysis revealed telltale alterations in the blood glucose and cortisol levels. Thyroid tumors appear to be more common in geldings, while mares are more likely to suffer pituitary tumors. Both are usually benign and slow-growing, but because they alter the secretion of certain hormones, they can have profound effects on the older horse's health. They both can cause glucose intolerance and decreased sensitivity to insulin, the hormone that regulates sugar levels in the bloodstream. As a result, blood levels of both glucose and insulin become abnormally high, and the horse usually experiences increased thirst and urination.
A horse with a thyroid tumor is at increased risk of obesity and founder, and might develop a swelling in the throat area (this can be surgically removed if it becomes very large, but this is rare). The implications of a pituitary tumor can include weight loss, a compromised immune system, increased thirst and urination, and a characteristically heavy (and often curly) hair coat that fails to shed in the summer--in other words, Cushing's disease.
Although both types of tumors eventually can progress to the point where they are life-threatening (and pituitary tumors, at least, are considered inoperable), the good news is that many horses do well for many years after symptoms develop. Appropriate care--which might include clipping the heavy coat of a Cushing's horse--and oral medications can help treat the symptoms and restore the older horse to an active and normal lifestyle for some time. The horse with a thyroid tumor will test positive for hypothyroidism and usually will respond well to powdered thyroxin, while horses with pituitary trouble might rally with the help of cyproheptadine or pergolide.
Generally speaking, it's safe to assume that some sort of tumor is present in the majority of horses over the age of 20. Other common types include abdominal fat lipomas, which are not malignant, but can cause problems because they tend to grow on slender stalks that can wrap around portions of the intestine and obstruct the flow of blood and abdominal contents. (These sometimes can be removed laparoscopically.)
The abdomen also might be the site of widespread cancers such as lymphosarcoma. Skin melanomas, particularly in gray (and occasionally pinto) horses, are a common problem. It's estimated that nearly 80% of gray horses over the age of 15 are affected by melanomas; fortunately, they usually are benign, but they do turn malignant and invasive on occasion. If a melanoma spreads to the abdominal region (its usual location), a horse could begin to lose weight and condition, become debilitated, and suffer from fluid collection in the abdomen. Large growths might impinge on the blood supply, the nerves, or the intestinal tract.
Liver and Kidney Problems
Next on the list of age-related complications are liver and kidney problems. While these are not as common in horses as they are in aging dogs and cats, they do occur, and once begun, they are progressive and irreversible. Their progress can be slowed, and their symptoms managed to some degree with dietary changes.
Liver failure is characterized by weight loss, lethargy, jaundice (a yellowing of the mucous membranes and in the whites of the eyes), loss of appetite, and an intolerance for fat and protein in the diet. It if becomes severe, it can trigger behavioral changes. Affected horses become irritable (as might we all), and can sometimes be witnessed aimlessly circling or pressing their heads against objects.
Since the liver is a site of synthesis of vitamins B and C, it's also common for affected horses to have deficiencies of these vitamins (both of which can be supplemented orally). A horse with liver failure needs increased levels of sugar in his diet to help maintain healthy blood glucose levels, so he should be fed a diet high in carbohydrates and low in protein and fat (more on this in our nutrition article, page 75).
Weight loss and anorexia can result from reduced kidney function, and these problems can be fatal. Horses are unique among animals in that they get rid of excess dietary calcium in the urine rather than in the manure. But when the kidneys don't function as they should, calcium (in the form of calcium oxalate) can build up in the kidney tissue, the urethra, or the bladder, as "stones" rather than being excreted. These stones can be extremely painful, and of course they often interfere with normal urinary function.
Those in the bladder or urethra sometimes can be surgically removed, but those in the kidney are inoperable.
A potentially lethal buildup of calcium in the bloodstream is possible when horses suffer kidney failure.
Reproductive function is one thing that tends to decline slowly in horses. Many equines remain fertile well into their late 20s, but eventually, a reduction in endocrine (hormone) efficiency compromises the reproductive capacity and leads to low sperm counts in stallions and an inability to "catch" or become pregnant in mares. On a related note, older geldings sometimes develop infections and swelling in the sheath, the result of their being less likely to "drop" to urinate. Regular sheath cleaning with surgical soap can help keep bacterial populations down and edema to a minimum.
Hoof growth is another area that isn't changed much by the aging process. Hooves generally keep growing at their usual rate even well into old age. In fact, if an older horse is working less (or not at all), he might actually wear the hoof horn down less vigorously and need more frequent trimming than when he was younger. If your older horse is not likely to be encountering hard surfaces or carrying much weight, it's often best to pull his shoes and let him run barefoot.
Other effects of aging are relatively subtle. It's been found, for example, that older horses tend to thermoregulate (maintain their internal body temperatures) less well than their younger counterparts. In extremes of heat or cold, they might become severely stressed. Therefore, it's essential to shelter an older horse from heat or humidity with adequate shade and shelter (and perhaps a fan in the barn aisle), and to blanket him warmly in winter and shelter him from cold snaps and high winds.
Geriatric horses also might need more calories to fuel their internal temperatures in bone-chilling weather. They can be encouraged not to become dehydrated by being offered warm water several times a day.
Aging and Athletic Capacity
One need look no further than the Olympic Games to get a reminder that a horse's peak athletic years might not be when he is five, or eight, or even 10. Horses in their teens abound in the highest levels of competition. It's not unheard of for some, like Lisa Jacquin's amazingly athletic show jumping partner For the Moment, to still be going strong in international competition at the age of 20. A remarkable number of older horses remain active and useful well into their 20s or even 30s, although for most the level of intensity gradually declines.
It's estimated that as the lean body mass (muscle) decreases, and tendons and ligaments lose elasticity, speed is the first to go, followed by agility, strength, and finally, endurance. If so, then it's a good idea to tailor your demands to your horse's changing athletic abilities. Your jumper might not, for example, be able to generate the speed needed for timed jump-offs anymore, but he could find a happy home in the hunter ring. Later still, he could continue to be productive as a school horse, teaching young riders the ropes.
Provided your horse still is basically sound, it's valuable to keep him working (at an appropriate level). He will maintain his condition better, keep his joints lubricated--and most horses seem to be happier when they have a job to do. As Eleanor Kellon, VMD, writes in her book The Older Horse, "Rule number one is that if you want the horse to continue to be active, it is best (and sometimes imperative) never to 'let him down' completely. This means avoidance of long periods of inactivity."
While stall rest is not advised for the typical healthy geriatric, she notes in her book, even turnout can lead to a significant loss of condition, depending on the horse's personality and the conditions of the turnout.
An older horse which loses significant condition also is at increased risk of injury.
In a study published in the December 1997 issue of the American Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Malinowski and colleague Kenneth Harrington McKeever, PhD, measured the exercise capacity of young vs. old Thoroughbred and Standardbred mares. They did this by using an incremental exercise test on a treadmill set at a 6% grade. Measurements of maximal oxygen uptake, blood lactate, and packed cell volume in the blood were examined and compared for the young mares (average age about five years) and the old ones (average age about 22 years--the human equivalent would be approximately 60-78 years). The conclusion was that older mares have a substantially (24%) lower maximal aerobic capacity. Some portion of the difference might be due to older horses' "being laid-back, so they don't tend to work as hard," according to Malinowski. The findings were consistent with expectations--especially since an older horse's maximal heart rate also seems to decline gradually, an observation similar to the decrease in cardiovascular function seen in humans.
"Compared with other species, however, older horses still have a tremendous innate aerobic capacity," she says.
In the discussion portion of the paper, authors Malinowski and McKeever remark that several questions about the older horse's athletic ability still remain to be answered. For example: at what age does aerobic capacity first begin to decrease in horses? (In humans, noticeable changes are first seen between 40 and 50 years, but no one has yet established the parameters for horses.) Another burning question: what amount of exercise will most enhance an older horse's cardiovascular health and aerobic capacity, without over-stressing him or putting him at risk of injury?
"The ultimate goal of all these studies," the authors note, "would be to adjust the exercise amount to meet the needs of the growing population of athletically active older equine athletes. These data are needed as many horse owners continue to train their older animals by use of exercise training protocols that, although appropriate for a younger animal, may not be appropriate for older equine athletes."
When is it time to retire your older horse from working? "There's no set age for retirement," says Ralston, who is also an equine nutrition expert and partner in the research studies on aging horses at Rutgers.
"Basically, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" she says. "The worst thing you can do is just retire (an older horse) because he's reached a certain age."
Provided your horse basically is sound, keeping him going with some level of gentle exercise will be good for both his body and his mind. If, however, lameness, respiratory problems such as heaves, or other medical conditions compromise his ability to exercise cheerfully, it's probably best to retire him to a turnout situation. Keep in mind, however, that just because a horse is retired, doesn't mean he should be forgotten. He'll still need diligent care in order to retain quality of life.
Routine Health Care
Although their laid-back temperaments make up for a lot, older horses are somewhat higher-maintenance than their younger brethren. Because their immune systems aren't as efficient as they used to be, geriatric horses are vulnerable to disease and infection, and should be monitored closely for any sign of infectious illness. Vaccinations should be diligently administered, and it might be wise to include regular vaccinations for influenza, strangles (consider the new intra-nasal vaccine), and equine herpesvirus, even if you didn't give these when he was younger. Just as older humans often line up for "flu" shots because a dose of the disease will hit them harder than younger adults, so, too, aged horses might need some help to fend off disease foes.
It's also vitally important to maintain a regular deworming schedule, and to examine the older horse's teeth at least once every six months for signs of decay or excessive wear. In addition, if you notice your older horse going off his feed or looking unusually subdued, it's worth running a blood test to detect early signs of liver or kidney dysfunction, or pituitary or thyroid problems.
Providing appropriate nutrition in an easy-to-chew format also is a pivotal part of maintaining an older horse. Because they grind and digest their feed less efficiently than younger horses, aging equines are at increased risk of both choke (when food gets lodged in the esophagus) and colic.
Chronic diarrhea, possibly resulting from a more fragile population of gut microflora and a decreased amount of digestive enzymes, also can occur and can be difficult to manage. Stress, feed changes, or intestinal infections might trigger diarrhea, and some horses might need fluid and electrolyte therapy to help them recover. Probiotics can be of great benefit to older or stressed horses. Or, to help older horses replace the gut microorganisms, you can allow them to graze in a field heavily used by other horses. The manure of these other horses will contain large populations of the bacteria, and your horse might pick them up in the same way a foal populates his gut, through coprophagy (eating manure). If worst comes to worst, your veterinarian might decide to stomach-tube your horse with fluid strained from normal manure in an attempt to repopulate his intestinal tract with the beneficial organisms.
Sensible management also includes protecting your older horse from undue stress. For example, he might not be able to hold his own with rambunctious youngsters in the pasture anymore, and would be happier in a field with his peers, who won't run him ragged. Because an older horse usually is less aggressive, you might find that in a group feeding situation, he gets chased away from his meal by bullying younger horses. It's best to provide him with a stall or separate paddock in which to eat, so he doesn't have to compete for his calories.
A Fountain Of Youth
A new hormone therapy designed for older horses, recently licensed for use in Australia, might in the near future change the way we manage our aging equines. EquiGen, an injectible form of the hormone somatotropin, promises to improve the nitrogen balance (and thus protein absorption) of older horses. Recent studies by Malinowski and her colleagues indicate that it might, in fact, do much more. It might improve the utilization of a number of other nutrients, making it easier for an older horse to keep good condition. It also seems to have a remarkable capacity to improve muscle tone and appearance.
Somatotropin, sometimes called growth hormone (although it has been demonstrated to have many roles in addition to its involvement in growth) normally is secreted by the pituitary gland. But as with most hormones, its level in the bloodstream undergoes a gradual, natural decline as a horse ages. Because somatotropin (the equine version of which is abbreviated eST) affects virtually every part of the body, its absence seems to allow the decline of many other systems.
"Once you take away somatotropin," says Malinowski, "there is a dramatic decrease in the condition of the horse."
In clinical trials conducted by BresaGen, the company that manufactures the recombinant version of the hormone, horses treated with EquiGen did show endocrine changes that are associated with improvements in nitrogen balance and therefore protein metabolism. The amount of nitrogen in their urine also was reduced, an indication that the treated horses were able to absorb more protein from their diets. It is for its role in improved nutrient utilization that EquiGen has been licensed for use in older horses...but it likely will have a number of other beneficial effects as well.
Somatotropin therapy has a precedent in other species, including dogs and humans. In dogs, ST administration partially restored immune function, and in geriatric humans, regular doses of ST improved body condition, musculature, and some elements of immune function, as well as decreasing adipose (fat) tissue mass and providing a sense of well-being. In one study on aged human males, somatotropin also improved strength and the ability of the subjects to perform a number of weight-lifting exercises. All of these effects are leading researchers to have high hopes for the hormone's use in horses.
Malinowski's team tested EquiGen injectible eST on a group of 16 Standardbred and Thoroughbred mares, which were 20 years old or older, giving daily injections for a period of six weeks. The aim of the initial study was to determine whether aged mares responded to the hormone with changes in feed intake, body weight, body condition score (based on fat cover), or immunocompetence (strength of the immune response).
The results of the study, says Malinowski, were dramatic. The mares given EquiGen developed greater muscle definition than the control mares. Although body condition scores and body weights did not alter, "eST helped the skinny mares retain their condition better, and heavier mares became trimmer."
The greater muscle definition observed in these mares by Malinowski's team appeared to come at the expense of fat deposits, without altering nutrient intake. The overall effect was that the mares looked toned and younger. (The team was quick to note, however, that increased muscle tone does not necessarily translate to improved strength.)
Another finding was that eST did, indeed, have a beneficial effect on certain portions of immune response. Mares given eST did respond by producing a greater number of total circulating leukocytes (a type of white blood cell), although lymphocyte numbers and efficiency were not altered.
"There was a dramatic increase in the number, but not the function, of certain white blood cells," says Malinowski, "specifically neutrophils. We think that might be significant; the animal might be a little better protected (against invading pathogens) because there are more (white blood cells) circulating."
Interestingly, two weeks after the treatment ceased, the eST mares did demonstrate a twofold improvement in the lymphocyte response to several deliberately introduced irritants (such as pokeweed pollen). This indicates that certain immune mechanisms--but not the immune system as a whole--might respond favorably to regular injections of eST.
These results were encouraging. For Malinowski's team, the next logical question was: will eST improve aerobic capacity or exercise tolerance in aging horses? Certainly if it did have that effect, it would be a major improvement in the quality of life for older equines.
In a paper recently published in The Veterinary Journal, that very question was examined by challenging 15 healthy, aged mares (with the definition of "aged" in this case being 20 or more) with a standardized exercise test (SET) on a high-speed treadmill. The mares were unfit at the start of the study, and received eST for a total of 89 days, with exercise tests performed before, during, and after the treatment period at 21 days, 43 days, 89 days, and 127 days. While they were exercising, measurements of oxygen uptake, blood lactate levels, and plasma protein, hematocrit (a measure of the volume of red blood cells compared to the total volume of blood), and the concentrations of certain enzymes that indicate muscle damage and possible "tying-up" were taken.
In this case, the results were disappointing. The mares given somatotropin demonstrated no improvement in either aerobic capacity or exercise tolerance when compared to the control mares. Whether eST will have an effect on the strength of older horses remains to be seen. But the result of this study should be important from a regulatory standpoint, as it is evident that the hormone is probably not an ergogenic (performance-enhancing) substance.
Malinowski hints that eST might still have some other, unexplored benefits.
"I'm predicting that eST will have a beneficial effect on uterine tone and fertility in older mares," she says.
In any event, the beneficial effects of eST appear to last only as long as the drug continues to be administered.
"They look great when they're on it," says Malinowski, "but within two weeks after they go off the drug, they look like old ladies again. And their blood levels (of somatotropin) return to pre-treatment levels."
Although the drug currently is available only as a daily injectible, Malinowski suspects that it might not need to be administered every day to be effective; that question is currently under investigation. However, it's relatively clear that once a horse is put on somatotropin, for best benefit he or she should remain on it for life.
Also being explored are other methods of delivering the drug. Should an oral format be developed, it might very well change the entire way we manage our older horses. Of course, EquiGen is not yet available in North America, and Malinowski believes that it will be a few years before the regulatory bodies in the United States and Canada give their thumbs-up.
Such Sweet Sorrow
Although our focus in this article has been the successful management of the aging process, there comes a time for every horse when the accumulated wear and tear become too much. A dwindling appetite, chronic pain, immobility (or a lack of desire to move), and self-imposed isolation from the herd and from humans--any or all of these symptoms can tell you that your horse's systems are shutting down. When that fateful day is reached, humane euthanasia is the most generous final gift you can give your old friend (see related article on page 41). As Ralston observes, "He's not writing his memoirs. He doesn't have any affairs to put in order. Though it may be wrenching personally to let go, euthanasia is the kindest thing for a horse who no longer enjoys any sort of quality of life."
But just so we don't finish on that sad note, remember that horses which have been gently started, well cared for throughout their lives, and exercised consistently (but not overworked) can enjoy longer and healthier lives than ever before. As the years go by, you might have to adapt your demands to your horse's capabilities, but any diminished performance ambitions will likely be more than compensated for by the enjoyment you get out of your relationship with an older horse. My own two are 15 and 27 years of age and are still both actively working, and I can honestly say they bring me more joy with each passing year.
About the Author
Karen Briggs is the author of six books, including the recently updated Understanding Equine Nutrition as well as Understanding The Pony, both published by Eclipse Press. She's written a few thousand articles on subjects ranging from guttural pouch infections to how to compost your manure. She is also a Canadian certified riding coach, an equine nutritionist, and works in media relations for the harness racing industry. She lives with her band of off-the-track Thoroughbreds on a farm near Guelph, Ontario, and dabbles in eventing.
POLL: Stocking Up On Hay
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This virtual manipulative represents three sets as overlapping
circles. You can use it to represent set operations such as intersections, unions,
The goal for each exercise is to shade the portion of the
diagram corresponding to the given set. You may begin by shading one or more
entire sets (A, B, or C) and then clearing portions. When you have only the
desired portion shaded, click the
Shade a region of the diagram
- Click one of the texture buttons at the top left (the left-most button is
already selected when the activity opens).
- Click in a region to fill (shade) with your selected texture.
- For additional regions, you can keep your selected texture or choose another.
- Click on a set button (A, B or C) to shade the entire set.
Ctrl+Click a set button to shade the complement of the set (everything not
in the set).
Clear a region of the diagram
- Shift+Click in a region to clear its shading. Ctrl+Shift+Click
on a set button clears the complement.
button clears the entire diagram.
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Though the individual pieces and parts can (and do) vary to an astonishing degree according to the computing platforms...
that participate in making Voice over IP work, there's no inherent reason why automated text-to-speech translation software can't plug into this equation to enable VoIP users to listen to e-mails, text messages, or other forms of textual information (including documents of many kinds) instead of reading such information in textual form on a visual display device of some kind. As you can imagine, this can be particularly helpful for those using hand-held devices with only limited screen real estate, and equally limited text display capabilities.
Understanding what's involved in text-to-speech also helps to highlight some of the potential technical hurdles involved. This technology also goes by the name of speech synthesis and involves numerous interesting components. The process of converting text into sound tends to work something like this:
- Some applications generate a text file that serves as the input to the speech synthesis process.
- A special program called a speech synthesis engine converts words into phonetic (sound elements) and prosodic (speech elements for emphasis and inflection) symbols.
- The phonetic and prosodic elements are rendered into a digital audio stream.
- A sound card converts the digital audio stream into an acoustical audio stream.
- The audio stream is played back through an amplifier and delivered through one or more loudspeakers (which may be in a handset or headset, especially for VoIP related uses).
The interesting parts of the process that come into play with VoIP require some understanding of the type of access and services involved. Given the right kind of hardware and services on the call handling end (where the VoIP user goes to pick up data), text-to-speech may be performed on demand and on the fly (when requested), or may be performed in advanced and stored in audio format (when pre-defined services exist, and may be configured to perform such work in advance) .
Because the space required to store audio files for text data is high, and it's not possible to predict that a user will always want certain files delivered in audible rather than visual form, the overwhelming technology emphasis is on performing text-to-speech conversion in real time, initiated by a user's specific request for such service. It's only for eminently predictable and manageable text-to-speech conversions—such as time reporting, for example—that it proves to be worthwhile to generate the library of possible utterances in speech form in advance and then stitch them together upon user requests for the time.
Possible uses for this technology are legion, but the most commonly available implementations stick to widely used, obviously important things such as accessing text e-mail messages in voice form via telephone (and VoIP) connections. Thus, Outlook Exchange savvy messaging environments such as Asterisk, Cisco Unity (through the somewhat paradoxically named ViewMail facility), and Avaya Unified Messenger, all provide varying degrees of capability to enterprises. For those with needs at a more modest scale, numerous voicemail plug-ins for Outlook such as CallAudit Voice, PhoneMax, RVS-COM, and Simply BitWare, all offer varying degrees of e-mail and voice integration for phone access to Outlook inbox contents.
But a key ingredient in the underlying technology that makes such solutions work comes from rendering text into speech, and that's where speech synthesis engines come into play. To some degree, listening to text data through a VoIP link simply represents remote access to such capability, but at the lowest level of detail there's much more to it than that.
About the author
Ed Tittel is a regular contributor to numerous TechTarget Web sites, and the author of over 100 books on a wide range of computing subjects from markup languages to information security. He's also a contributing editor for Certification Magazine, and edits Que Publishing's Exam Cram 2 and Training Guide series of cert prep books.
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An article by Doctor Cheryl Reichert
Montana’s Priceless Blue Sky trumps the Highwood Coal Plant
Great Falls currently boasts the fourth cleanest air of any metropolitan area in the country. Growing up under the Big Sky, I assumed that clean air and blue skies were a birthright. It wasn’t until I left Montana to pursue my professional education that I appreciated the clean air that I had taken for granted.
As a pathologist and biochemist, I’m an advocate for public health. I’ve examined lung tissue from more than a thousand individuals. It’s easy to distinguish the pink healthy lung tissue of a newborn from the blackened lung of heavy smokers. More surprising is the gray lung tissue of non-smokers who simply breathe dirty air.
I returned to live in Great Falls two decades ago. I am reminded of the blessing of our clean air whenever I travel to other cities that are encased in haze of brown-tinged smog. Airborne contamination finds its way deep into the air sacs of our lungs, where it contributes to asthma and respiratory distress. Some of the particles are so small (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns) that they find their way into our circulatory system. These particles are a fraction of the diameter of a strand of hair and are so small several could fit inside a single red blood cell.
I’m sensitive to the practical concerns of those who would profit from jobs at the Highwood coal plant, and I certainly understand the growing electrical needs of our neighbors in southeastern Montana. However, I believe it’s reasonable to expect energy developers to give a hard look at non-polluting alternatives to coal, and if they must use coal to employ the latest technology to protect our air quality.
To its credit, Southern Montana Electric (SME) has listened to the community’s concerns about mercury emissions and promised to install activated carbon injection to improve the capture of this potent neurotoxin. However, SME has not given serious consideration to “clean coal” technology that is based upon coal gasification, which has greater potential to capture harmful pollutants and greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Highwood Generating Station (HGS) clearly doesn’t fall within the accepted definition of “clean coal technology”. It’s true HGS’s “circulating fluidized bed” is cleaner than Colstrip, but it’s still an old technology that burns rather than gasifies coal.
The annual combustion of 2.6 billion pounds of coal by HGS will add smog and acid rain to our Big Sky. The Highwood coal plant is permitted each day to release approximately one TON of breathable invisible particulate matter. This coal plant will also produce the greenhouse gas equivalent of more than 500,000 cars.
Due to the limited 400’ height of the proposed stack, variable local wind patterns, an upper air inversion cap that periodically prevents adequate dispersion of pollutants, and the baffle effect of the Highwood Mountains, a local meteorologist expects the air in our area will be degraded about 25% of the time. Why would we do this to our children, our planet, and ourselves when there are more modern, cleaner energy alternatives?
Are you and your family ready to be part of the “collateral damage” of Southern Montana Electric’s ambitions? If HGS is built, north-central Montana will experience an increased incidence of chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Infants, children, the elderly, and those with cardiopulmonary disease are among the most susceptible to adverse health effects from air pollutants. Children have increased exposure to air pollutants compared to adults because of higher ventilation rates, higher levels of physical activity, and because they spend more time outdoors. Children in communities with higher levels of air pollution (acid vapor, nitrogen dioxide, PM 2.5) have decreased lung function.
In 2006 area volunteers formed a grassroots organization, Citizens for Clean Energy Inc. (CCE). One of its missions was to partner with the Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC) to legally challenge the Air Permit for HGS that was issued by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The Air Permit did not specifically address PM 2.5, and this was a serious deficiency. By using a much larger and less dangerous particle (PM10) as a surrogate marker for PM2.5, DEQ didn’t ensure the maximum achievable reduction in PM2.5 emissions from a major polluting facility. By analogy, if SME’s proposed baghouse filter were a large kitchen strainer into which I poured a cup of flour (PM2.5) and a cup of marbles (PM 10), the strainer would very effectively retain the marbles, but not the particles of flour that are of much greater concern.
PM2.5 is a “pollutant subject to regulation” under the Federal Clean Air Act. Therefore “best available control technology” (“BACT”) requirements under state and federal law apply. SME and Montana DEQ should have undertaken a BACT analysis for PM2.5 and identified control technologies that have a greater potential for reducing PM2.5 emissions. On April 21, 2008, the Montana Board of Environmental Review acknowledged this deficiency in a landmark ruling. Additional studies will now be required before the Highwood coal plant can go forward.
Recent medical research expanded the list of health effects associated with fine particulate matter and identified health effects at lower exposure levels than previously reported. As a result, new federal air quality standards to safeguard human health took effect in December 2006. Under the revised standards, the 24-hour fine particle standard was nearly halved, from 65 micrograms per cubic meter to 35 micrograms.
An important recent study on the adverse effects of PM 2.5 air pollution was published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine. Among a large group of middle age women, each increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of PM 2.5 was associated with a 76% increase in the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. The risk of stroke was also associated with increased levels of PM 2.5.
Unfortunately, current air permitting regulations by the Montana DEQ do not require specific measurements of some of the heavy metals that will come from the coal plant, (including 540 pounds of arsenic and 560 pounds of lead).
Our Montana Constitution not only guarantees its citizens a right to a “clean and healthful environment” (Art. II, Section 3) but also creates an obligation to “maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment ...for present and future generations” (Art. IX, Section 1). The proposed coal plant violates these tenets. Interference with the fundamental right to a clean and healthful environment receives the highest level of judicial scrutiny: state action may impede the right only if the state demonstrates a compelling interest.
In addition to important public health concerns, there is an economic risk that is more significant than the temporary construction boom and 65 permanent jobs that the coal plant will bring. By using up available transmission capacity for our area, HGS will impede future development of cleaner, sustainable energy alternatives and will discourage those who value clean air from locating or remaining in Great Falls.
A moratorium on construction of all new coal-fired power plants is currently working its way through Congress. How sad it would be for America’s last old-technology coal plant to be built in the middle of “the Last Best Place”.
Cheryl Reichert, M.D., Ph.D. is a Great Falls native. Contact her through Citizen for Clean Energy’s website, www.cce.mt.org.
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Use of the euro
The euro was launched on 1 January 1999, when it became the currency of more than 300 million people in Europe. For the first three years it was an invisible currency, only used for accounting purposes, e.g. in electronic payments. Euro cash was not introduced until 1 January 2002, when it replaced, at fixed conversion rates, the banknotes and coins of the national currencies like the Belgian franc and the Deutsche Mark.
Today, euro banknotes and coins are legal tender in 19 of the 28 Member States of the European Union, including the overseas departments, territories and islands which are either part of, or associated with, euro area countries. These countries form the euro area. The micro-states of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City also use the euro, on the basis of a formal arrangement with the European Community. Montenegro and Kosovo likewise use the euro, but without a formal arrangement.
Interactive map of the euro area
Fixed euro conversion rates
|1||BEF 40.3399 (Belgian francs)|
|1||DEM 1.95583 (Deutsche Mark)|
|1||EEK 15.6466 (Estonian kroon)|
|1||IEP 0.787564 (Irish pound)|
|1||GRD 340.750 (Greek drachmas)|
|1||ESP 166.386 (Spanish pesetas)|
|1||CYP 0.585274 (Cyprus pound)|
|1||FRF 6.55957 (French francs)|
|1||ITL 1936.27 (Italian lire)|
|1||LVL 0.702804 (Latvian lats)|
|1||LTL 3.45280 (Lithuanian litas)|
|1||LUF 40.3399 (Luxembourg francs)|
|1||MTL 0.429300 (Maltese lira)|
|1||NLG 2.20371 (Dutch guilders)|
|1||ATS 13.7603 (Austrian schillings)|
|1||PTE 200.482 (Portuguese escudos)|
|1||SIT 239.640 (Slovenian tolars)|
|1||SKK 30.1260 (Slovak koruna)|
|1||FIM 5.94573 (Finnish markkas)|
Cash flows in euro area
Euro banknotes (and coins) circulate widely in the euro area mainly because of tourism, business travel and cross-border shopping. To a much more limited extent, national banknotes, before the introduction of the euro, also “moved” across borders and then had to be “repatriated”, mainly through the commercial banking system, to the central bank that issued them. Such returns are not necessary with the euro. However, since large quantities of euro banknotes do not remain in the country where they were issued but are taken to other euro countries, and spent there, the central banks have to redistribute them in order to avoid a banknote shortage in one country and a surplus in another. These bulk transfers are coordinated centrally and financed by the ECB.
The importance of cash and its unique features
Since the introduction of euro cash in 2002, the value and the number of euro banknotes in circulation have risen steadily. Cash is by far the most widely used means of payment for retail transactions in the euro area in terms of the number of transactions, although in terms of value it has a significantly smaller share. In both respects, however, the role of cash has been gradually declining in recent decades, while the use of debit and credit cards has been growing, a trend that is expected to continue.
As a payment instrument, cash has some unique features:
- it is the most widely usable and fastest payment instrument for retail transactions and it is the most important contingency payment instrument;
- it is considered the cheapest instrument for small retail payments – the average overall cost per transaction for small payments is lower for cash than for comparable electronic payment instruments;
- it is “inclusive”: people who have no bank accounts or limited access to them or who are unable to use electronic forms of payment can still make payments;
- it enables people to keep a close check on their spending;
- it is both a payment instrument and a store of value; and
- it has proved to be secure in terms of fraud/counterfeiting resistance.
In view of these features, society is not ready to do without cash. Cash will remain indispensable as a payment instrument for many years to come.
Eurosystem position on cash as a means of payment
One of the basic tasks of the Eurosystem under the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU is to promote the smooth operation of the payment system. The Eurosystem is neutral with regard to the different payment instruments. It does not favour one instrument over another. However, the Eurosystem central banks have a special responsibility for cash, as they are the official issuers of euro banknotes. In addition, most of them put into circulation the euro coins, which are issued by the Member States. Therefore, the Eurosystem is committed to supporting cash as a generally available, easy-to-use, reliable and efficient means of payment for retail transactions. Within its sphere of competence, the Eurosystem monitors and continuously seeks to promote the safety, resilience and efficiency of the euro area cash cycles.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is another article on Findlay area history adapted from a series written from 1959 to 1974 by the late R.L. Heminger, publisher and editor of The Courier.
This is the third article in a series of four dealing with Findlay public schools in the late 1890s. A school manual which belonged to the late Earl Wall provides the information.
By R.L. HEMINGER
The McGuffey readers were long used in the Findlay schools and the school manual prescribed just how much was to be read each year by the pupils in each of the readers.
There were three terms in each school year. The first four months went until the Christmas holidays; the second, of three months, continued through March; and the third term was made up of the last two months.
Schools took up at 8:30 a.m. and lasted until 3:30 p.m. On Fridays, schools were dismissed a half hour earlier at 3 p.m. each week. This custom of early Friday dismissal continued until around 1920, when it was abandoned.
The school calendar listed the fall term as starting the first Monday in September and school closing May 20. Holidays included Friday of county fair week, Thanksgiving and the Friday following, the Christmas vacation and Washington’s birthday.
“Teachers must explain the meaning of these holidays the previous day,” said the manual.
Under the subject “Remarks on Courses of Study,” this statement is made under the topic “Morals and Manners”:
“Aside from the suggestions made throughout the course as to the teaching of morals and manners, it should not be forgotten that the great textbook on morals is the Bible. It is the only book that tells us the origin and destiny of man. Its pages are replete with inspiring hopes and lofty aims of life. Its language is a model of clearness and simplicity. Many of its lessons touch and awaken the finer feelings and moral nature as no other book does.
“Carefully selected lessons from the Bible should be read daily, not occasionally, as a part of the morning exercises.
“Nothing should be offered as a substitute for these Bible lessons. Nothing should take the place of ‘the book of books’ in the morning exercises.”
A suggested course for the primary grades dealt with nature study. For each of the four primary grades, there were definite outlines of study covering all forms of nature. In the A primary grade, the study of trees was suggested as well as a study of spring flowers. In the D primary grade, it was suggested that there be study of the cat and the dog. A beginning study of various forms of weather was suggested.
In a discussion of the importance of memory work, the manual said, “all the grades from the B primary on up are to memorize the words of ‘America,’ so thoroughly that pupils can reproduce them from memory orally or by writing, any time after November.”
The matter of discipline is taken up in the manual. Under the subject “corporal punishment,” this statement is made: “Whenever it is necessary to resort to corporal punishment, the same under ordinary circumstances shall be with a whip and shall not be inflicted on the head or hand of the pupil.”
The manual describes the courses of study for each grade in the elementary schools and in the high schools. The progress that was expected of each grade at various times of the school year is spelled out.
There were three courses of study in the high school. One was the classical, which all expecting to go to college were required to take; another was the Latin-English and the third was the German-English. Subjects to be taken in each of the four years were listed.
Some subjects were offered then that in subsequent years were dropped and sometimes later reinstated. Among them were physiology, botany, astronomy and Greek.
Texts to be used in school work were listed not only for the high school, but for the grades as well.
For the elementary grades, the manual has a timetable that teachers were to follow, each day, taking up new subjects at a specified time.
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Lithuania is building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at the port of Klaipeda.
The project, which is expected to be operational by 2014, will give the Baltic nation access to the world’s LNG market. Today, the nation’s existing natural gas infrastructure consists of a single pipeline owned by the Russian-government-controlled energy giant Gazprom.
The Lithuanian terminal would have a maximum capacity to re-gasify and supply 11 million cubic meters of gas per day, or 4 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year. The project includes a floating storage and re-gasification vessel, a new jetty and pipeline, and dredging of the port. The vessel itself is being built in South Korea and will be able to receive and process LNG from oceangoing supertankers.
Having a facility that can receive these LNG shipments is crucial to Lithuania’s energy future. Lithuania, which gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, is still almost entirely dependent upon foreign energy resources. Following the closure of Lithuania’s Ingalina nuclear power plant in 2009, the nation has had to rely upon natural gas and petroleum imports from Russia. Currently, 100 percent of Lithuania’s natural gas and 90 percent of its oil imports come from its eastern neighbor.
All three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) consumed a combined 5.6 bcm in 2011, so the project is capable of providing for most of the three countries’ natural gas consumption, provided all three agree on construction of a new gas pipeline that would free them (along with Poland) from their Soviet-era strategic dependence on Russia. The opening of the new LNG terminal is expected to reduce Lithuanian imports of Russian natural gas by 50 percent.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskait? underscored this theme in her 2013 State of the Nation address:
If we fail to break the shackles of energy dependence, we will continue to be economically vulnerable. Because energy is the most dangerous geopolitical instrument used to belittle our economic, social and even political independence.
The United States could potentially help supply Lithuanian energy needs in the future. A bipartisan bill has been introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate that would lift restrictions against the export of U.S. natural gas to NATO allies, including Lithuania. The bill is a big step in the right direction. However, as Heritage’s Nicolas Loris explains, the U.S. should go further by treating LNG like any other good traded around the world and lifting export restrictions.
In addition to providing geopolitical benefits from allowing access to multiple gas sources, the new terminal is also expected to provide an economic benefit to Lithuanian citizens. Currently, Gazprom charges Lithuania a significantly higher price for its gas than it does other consumer nations such as Germany. When the terminal opens, Lithuanians will likely start to pay market rates for natural gas, allowing the country to breathe a little easier.
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Despite their name, and the common conception that a centipede has 100 legs, this is in fact not true. The centipede has pairs of legs that run the length of the body of the centipede, which are normally between 15 and 30 pairs of legs in total and not 50.
There are thought to be around 8,000 species of centipede worldwide, although only about 3,000 have actually been properly documented and undergone intense studying in the scientific world.
The centipede can be found worldwide and has even been spotted inside the Arctic Circle. The centipede can range in size from a few millimetres to 30 cm long. The centipede has a bite that will be painful to humans but not fatal unless the human is allergic (like with wasp/bee stings).
The centipede is usually found on land in moist habitats usually under rocks, leaf litter, logs and occasionally in burrows in the ground or rotting wood. The centipede favours damp environments and so is rarely found in the hot and dry desert regions.
The centipede is one of the most dominant predators of the insect world, having claws on their first body segment is one of the centipedes noticeable traits. The centipede is a carnivorous animal and is therefore a pure meat-eater. Centipedes mainly prey on insects, spiders, earthworms and other small invertebrates although some large species of centipede have been known to prey on small mammals and reptiles.
The centipede has a number of predators in it's natural environment although all the animals that generally prey on the centipede are relatively small. Birds, toads, frogs and small mammals such as shrews and mice are the most common predators of the centipede. The centipede is also seen by humans in certain cultures.
Female centipedes lay an average of 60 eggs per clutch which are coated in a sticky substance for protection. The female centipede usually buries her eggs in the soil and some species of centipede are known to nurse their eggs and baby centipedes but not all.
The centipede is one of the oldest animals on Earth having evolved into the form it is today, millions of years ago. The centipede has been found in fossils dating over 400 million years old.
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Brook Trout Survey Project 2016
The Remote Pond Survey Project is a collaborative effort that began in 2011, and seeks to recruit volunteer anglers to identify previously undocumented wild brook trout populations in remote Maine ponds. Maine brook trout are a special resource, and we need to know where they are before we can protect and manage them appropriately. The information collected by volunteer anglers, verified by biologists, will help inform future fisheries management decisions.
Volunteer Anglers Needed in 2016
The largest reservoir of native salmonid diversity in the country… Maine has the most extensive distribution and abundance of brook trout throughout their native range in the United States, and has been designated as the last true stronghold for wild brook trout. It is estimated that Maine contains over 97% of the remaining brook trout lakes and ponds in the country. Maine has over 6,000 lakes and ponds, but prior to the launch of this project in 2011, close to 1,000 of those waters had never been surveyed by fisheries biologists. These ponds have also never been stocked before, and most are small and very remote. Maine is the only place in the contiguous US where biologists are still discovering previously unknown populations of native salmonids.
We need your help! Thanks to the overwhelming response from anglers and the conservation community, we are pleased to announce the launch of the sixth consecutive year of the Remote Pond Survey Project. There are lots of exciting places to explore this year, and we are seeking new and returning volunteers to assist with this effort. You too can be part of this exciting conservation effort and backcountry adventure!
For more information or to sign up to volunteer, please contact Emily Bastian at Maine Audubon at 207-781-2330 x207, or email@example.com.
Learn more about the Coastal Stream Survey.
You’re invited to a special event on April 14: “Protecting Maine’s Brook Trout”
Come spend an evening with other brook trout enthusiasts and learn about Maine Audubon’s work to protect wild and native brook trout in Maine.
Learn more about Protecting Maine’s Brook Trout and REGISTER.
Make a Donation – 100% of proceeds will directly benefit the Brook Trout Survey Project!
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- Year Published: 1908
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: England
- Source: Ball, W.W.R. (1908). A Short Account of the History of Mathematics. London, New York: Macmillan.
- Flesch–Kincaid Level: 12.0
- Word Count: 1,392
Ball, W. (1908). British Contemporaries of Newton, Taylor, Maclaurin and Simpson. A Short Account of the History of Mathematics (Lit2Go Edition). Retrieved July 01, 2016, from
Ball, W.W. Rouse. "British Contemporaries of Newton, Taylor, Maclaurin and Simpson." A Short Account of the History of Mathematics. Lit2Go Edition. 1908. Web. <>. July 01, 2016.
W.W. Rouse Ball, "British Contemporaries of Newton, Taylor, Maclaurin and Simpson," A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, Lit2Go Edition, (1908), accessed July 01, 2016,.
It was almost a matter of course that the English should at first have adopted the notation of Newton in the infinitesimal calculus in preference to that of Leibnitz and consequently the English school would in any case have developed on somewhat different lines to that on the continent, where a knowledge of the infinitesimal calculus was derived solely from Leibnitz and the Bernoullis. But this separation into two distinct schools became very marked owing to the action of Leibnitz and John Bernoulli, which was naturally resented by Newton's friends; and so for forty or fifty years, to the disadvantage of both sides, the quarrel raged. The leading members of the English school were Cotes, Demoivre, Ditton, David Gregory, Halley, Maclaurin, Simpson, and Taylor. I may, however, again remind my readers that as we approach modern times the number of capable mathematicians in Britain, France, Germany and Italy becomes very considerable, but that in a popular sketch like this book it is only the leading men whom I propose to mention.
To David Gregory, Halley and Ditton I need devote but few words.
David Gregory, the nephew of the James Gregory mentioned above, born at Aberdeen on June 24, 1661, and died at Maidenhead on Oct. 10, 1708, was appointed professor at Edinburgh in 1684, and in 1691 was on Newton's recommendation elected Savilian professor at Oxford. His chief works are one on geometry, issued in 1684; one on optics, published in 1695, which contains [p. 98] the earliest suggestion of the possibility of making an achromatic combinations of lenses; and one on the Newtonian geometry, physics, and astronomy, issued in 1702.
Edmund Halley, born in London in 1656, and died at Greenwich in 1742, was educated at St. Paul's School, London, and Queen's College, Oxford, in 1703 succeeded Wallis as Savilian professor, and subsequently in 1720 was appointed astronomer-royal in succession to Flamsteed, whose Historia Coelestis Britannica he edited; the first and imperfect edition was issued in 1712. Halley's name will be recollected for the generous manner in which he secured the immediate publication of Newton's Principia in 1687. Most of his original work was on astronomy and allied subjects, and lies outside the limits of this book; it may be, however, said that the work is of excellent quality, and both Lalande and Mairan speak of it in the highest terms. Halley conjecturally restored the eighth and lost book of the conics of Apollonius, and in 1710 brought out a magnificent edition of the whole work; he also edited the works of Serenus, those of Menelaus, and some of the minor works of Apollonius. He was in his turn succeeded at Greenwich as astronomer-royal by Bradley.
Humphry Ditton was born at Salisbury on May 29, 1675, and died in London in 1715 at Christ's Hospital, where he was mathematical master. He does not seem to have paid much attention to mathematics until he came to London about 1705, and his early death was a distinct loss to English science. He published in 1706 a text book on fluxions; this and another similar work by William Jones, which was issued in 1711, occupied in England much the same place as l'Hospital's treatise did in France. In 1709 Ditton issued an algebra, and in 1712 a treatise on perspective. He also wrote numerous papers in the Philosophical Transactions. He was the earliest writer to attempt to explain the phenomenon of capillarity on mathematical principles; and he invented a method for finding the longditude, which has been since used on various occasions.
Roger Cotes was born near Leicester on July 10, 1682, and died at Cambridge on June 5, 1716. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, of which society he was a fellow, and in 1706 was elected to the newly-created Plumian chair of astronomy in the university of Cambridge. From 1709 to 1713 his time was mainly occupied in editing the second edition of the Principia. The remark of Newton that if only Cotes had lived "we might have known something" indicates the opinion of his abilities held by most of his contemporaries.
Cotes's writings were collected and published in 1722 under the titles Harmonia Mensurarum and Opera Miscellanea. His lectures on hydrostatics were published in 1738. A large part of the Harmonia Mensurarum is given up to the decomposition and integration of rational algebraical expressions. That part which deals with the theory of partial fractions was left unfinished, but was completed by de Moivre. Cotes's theorem in trigonometry, which depends on forming the quadratic factors of xn - 1, is well known. The proposition that "if from a fixed point O a line be drawn cutting a curve in Q1, Q2, ... , Qn, and a point P be taken on the line so that the reciprocal of OP is the arithmetic mean of the reciprocals of OQ1, OQ2, ... , OQn, then the locus of P will be a straight line" is also due to Cotes. The title of the book was derived from the latter theorem. The Opera Miscellanea contains a paper on the method for determining the most probable result from a number of observations. This was the earliest attempt to frame a theory of errors. It also contains essays on Newton's Methodus Differentialis, on the construction of tables by the method of differences, on the descent of a body under gravity, on the cycloidal pendulum, and on projectiles.
Abraham de Moivre was born at Vitry on May 26, 1667, and died in London on November 27, 1754. His parents came to England when he was a boy, and his education and friends were alike English. His interest in the higher mathematics is said to have originated in his coming by chance across a copy of Newton's Principia. From the éloge on him delivered in 1754 before the French Academy it would seem that his work as a teacher of mathematics had led him to the house of the Earl of Devonshire at the instant when Newton, who had asked permission to present a copy of his work to the earl, was coming out. Taking up the book, and charmed by the far-reaching conclusions and the apparent simplicity of the reasoning, de Moivre thought nothing would be easier than to master the subject, but to his surprise found that to follow the argument overtaxed his powers. He, however, bought a copy, and as he had but little leisure he tore out the pages in order to carry one or two of them loose in his pocket so that he could study them in the intervals of his work as a teacher. Subsequently he joined the Royal Society, and became intimately connected with Newton, Halley, and other mathematicians of the English school. The manner of his death has a certain interest for psychologists. Shortly before it he declared that it was necessary for him to sleep some ten minutes or a quarter of an hour longer each day than the preceding one. The day after he had thus reached a total of something over twenty-three hours he slept up to the limit of twenty-four hours, and then died in his sleep.
He is best known for having, together with Lambert, created that part of trigonometry which deals with imaginary quantities. Two theorems on this part of the subject are still connected with his name, namely, that which asserts that sin nx + i cos nx is one of the values of (sin x + i cos x)n, and that which gives the various quadratic factors of x2n - 2pxn + 1. His chief works, other than numerous papers in the Philosophical Transactions, were The Doctrine of Chances, published in 1718, and the Miscellanea Analytica, published in 1730. In the former the theory of recurring series was first given, and the theory of partial fractions which Cotes's premature death had left unfinished was completed, while the rule for finding the probability of a compound event was enunciated. The latter book, besides the trigonometrical propositions mentioned above, contains some theorems in astronomy, but they are treated as problems in analysis.
Maclaurin was succeeded in his chair at Edinburgh by his pupil Matthew Stewart, born at Rothesay in 1717 and died at Edinburgh on January 23, 1785, a mathematician of considerable power, to whom I allude in passing, for his theorems on the problem of three bodies, and for his discussion, treated by transversals and involution, of the properties of the circle and straight line.
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Can Hormones Protect Women From Dementia?
April 18, 2001 -- In a disappointing turn of events, a drug that is similar to the female hormone estrogen does not seem to protect women from declines in their mental functioning and memory as they age.
Because the drug acts like estrogen in many ways and because estrogen itself seems to provide a mental boost to some -- but not all women -- who take it, scientists had hoped that it would have the same benefits on the brain for women who were already taking the drug to prevent osteoporosis.
But a new study of over 7,700 women published in Thursday's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine shows that the estrogen-like drug known as Evista hasn't lived up to its promise.
After taking it in one of two different dosages for three years to prevent the brittle-bone disease osteoporosis, postmenopausal women on Evista performed no better on tests of their mental abilities than a similar group of women taking a placebo.
If you would like to discuss these findings, or other issues surrounding menopause, go to WebMD's Women's Health: Menopause board.
Study author Kristine Yaffe, MD, says the results, while disappointing, don't close the door on the possibility that estrogen and other estrogen-like drugs such as Evista might offer protection against mental decline for some, but not all, women.
"I think women at risk for [mental] decline, either because they are older or have already some mild problems [with their memory], may benefit the most but we need more data on this," Yaffe, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, tells WebMD.
She says certain factors that are still unknown may play a role in determining if hormones such as estrogen help individual women stave off memory loss and dementia. Those factors may include the age at which the hormone therapy is started, the length of time a woman takes the therapy, and the individual genetic make-up of the woman.
In an earlier study, Yaffe found that women with a specific genetic profile were more likely than those without that profile to get some mental benefits from taking estrogen after menopause. Other experts have suggested that specific subgroups of women may emerge over time whose brains are most likely to benefit from estrogen.
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Many parts of the US experienced scorching temperatures over the past six months, so it may come as no surprise that the first half of 2012 was the warmest on record. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) State of the Climate Report, published on July 9 found that not only did the last two weeks of June alone see “170 all-time high temperature records broken or tied,” but the first half of 2012 was the warmest January-June period for the Lower 48 States since records began in 1895.
The report also revealed that a total of 28 states, all east of the Rocky Mountains, also had a record warm first six months of the year. Another 15 states had their top 10 warmest for the months January-June. Interestingly, only Washington state recorded a cooler-than-average first half of 2012.
These record-breaking temperatures have brought about speculation over the role of global warming. Andrew Freedman, writing for Climate Central expressed that while the heat wave is certainly historic and record breaking, it is perhaps not unprecedented. Freedman notes that current warming trends could make heat waves such as this more common in the future: “it’s reasonable to think that while a record-breaking heat wave used to require a massive, unusually powerful dome of high pressure in order to occur, now the same record could be set with a weaker weather system.”
Many other scientists have come out in agreement that this heatwave is more than just “summer,” as some have tried to claim. Speaking to The Guardianwith Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado “We are certainly seeing climate change in action,” he said. “This year has been exceptionally unusual throughout the United States.”
While June has seen record temperatures in New York, it is actually only the 14th warmest on record for the Lower 48 States in 118 years of records. However Colorado has recorded its record hottest June, while claims that all-time state records have been set in South Carolina (113) and Georgia (112) are currently under review by the U.S. State Climate Extremes Committee.
The increased heat has also seen an expansion of the drought in the nation’s heartland. In fact, January-June 2012 was among the top 10 driest such periods on record in 14 states, primarily in the Plains states, with Delaware recording the driest period. Of course, the heat has lead to Wyoming, Colorado and Utah recording the driest months in June with the dry conditions leading to wildfires.
It wasn’t all heat however—Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington had one of their top 10 wettest January-June periods on record in 2012. However NOAA’s report is alarming if 47 of the 48 contiguous states are warmer than average over the past 12-month period (apart from Washington).
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FAO Releases Climate Change Mitigation in Agriculture Learning Materials
November 2012: As part of the global learning efforts on sustainable agriculture to help meet climate change mitigation goals, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released the materials and presentations from the 11 webinar sessions held during the month of September 2012 on "Conservation agriculture for climate change mitigation."
The learning event was organized by the community of practice for climate change mitigation in agriculture. It explored issues related to: organic carbon accumulation and emissions from conservation agriculture; the relevance of conservation agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas; and suitable machinery for climate-smart conservation agriculture. [FAO Learning Event on Conservation Agriculture for Climate Change Mitigation]
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Mild winter on the cards
Temperatures may be slightly higher than normal for most of New Zealand this winter, with El Nino conditions ''increasingly likely'' this year.
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) has issued a seasonal climate outlook for the weather patterns over the next three months.
Highlights of its latest outlook include:
- For 16 consecutive months the sea has been warmer than normal
- Winter temperatures are likely to be normal or slightly higher than normal
- El Nino is coming, just not quite yet
- Despite a lot of recent rain, soil moisture levels are still well below normal in parts of the country
From May to July average temperatures were most likely for the west of the South Island and above average temperatures were expected for the east of the North Island, NIWA said.
For the rest of the country, there was a 40 to 45 per cent chance of average or above average temperatures. But don't go ditching the winter woolies yet.
"Cold snaps and frosts can still be expected in some parts of the country as autumn advances into winter," it said.
NIWA said above normal sea surface temperatures along the equator now covered a significant part of the central and far eastern Pacific, and the warm anomalies were consistent with developing El Nino conditions.
It said 11 of the 14 models it monitored were predicting El Nino conditions in August, September and October.
For New Zealand, that usually meant stronger or more frequent winds from the west during summer.
That could lead to drought on the east coast and more rain in the west of the country.
- The Press
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When the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was signed into law, there was much rejoicing. After all, it took more than nine years for those of us pushing for passage to prevail. A landmark bill, the FMLA provides up to three months of job-protected leave to workers taking time off to tend to a family medical problem, their own medical needs, or to care for a new baby. It has been used over 100 million times in its 21-year history. FMLA applies to public agencies, including public schools and local, state, and federal employers, and to private employers of 50 or more.
But the truth is that while job security is certainly helpful to those needing a temporary break from work, the fact that the leave granted is unpaid makes using it untenable for many who are most in need. Only 12 percent of workers have paid leave available through an employer, leaving the rest of us in a bind. The absence of paid leave has left too many workers forced to choose between, for example, caring for a sick parent with cancer or paying the rent -- it's as basic as that.
Aside from the personal, there is a wider economic impact caused by the lost job or lost wages that accompany unpaid leave. Dollars not earned and not spent slow down growth and job creation for everyone. For those living on the economic edge, a loss of income can start a spiral into debt or poverty that is very difficult to reverse and adversely affects whole communities. Low-wage workers -- the majority of whom are women -- are already the least likely to have access to paid leave and are often most in need of financial resources when a family or medical need arises. Nearly half of workers in the lowest quarter of income earners have no paid leave of any kind; in contrast, 94 percent of those in the highest paid quartile have at least one type of paid leave.
Paid leave isn't welfare. It isn't a government handout. It's a much needed bridge to provide partial wages to workers when they face inevitable demands of family crises or life events. The proposed Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act, or FAMILY Act, would provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave each year to qualifying workers for the birth or adoption of a new child, the serious illness of an immediate family member, military leave, or a worker's own medical condition. Workers could apply for benefits up to two-thirds of their typical monthly wages. Put forward by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the FAMILY Act would establish a self-sustaining fund through employee and employer payroll contributions of just 0.2 percent of wages, or two cents for every $10 earned. The money would go into an independent trust fund within the Social Security Administration that would collect fees and provide benefits. The average contribution would amount to approximately $2 per week per worker from a worker's paycheck. This fund would provide workers at every business -- no matter the size, number of employees, or hours worked -- with the security that an emergency or life event will force them out of a job or into poverty.
As we prepare for the White House Summit on Working Families June 23, with its focus on creating a 21st century workplace that works for all Americans, we need to put paid family and medical leave high on the agenda. It's time to provide the programs that today's workers and their families need to succeed -- and that we need to achieve the just and humane society we all strive for.
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The Boer War of 1899 was a dirty little conflict which involved all the Boer Republics and the British empire. It started a result of cultural resentment between the Boers (Dutch settlers) and immigrating British. It began as an uprising of British immigrants against the Boer government. The British Empire, seeing their subjects misteated, decided to get involved. At first the war was fought with the honor typically associated with the British, but, in the end, it turned nasty.
Problems began with the discovery of gold in the Transvaal. Thousands of British miners flooded into the Boer culture, almost overnight. This disruption caused the Boers to resent the new immigrants. They decided to make the British second-class citizens; paying high taxes and not getting the right to vote. The British miners understandably unhappy with this situation. They decided to follow the example set by the French and Americans, they revolted. If it had stopped there, the Boer War would have been nothing but an obscure trivia question, but it didn't; the British empire chose to get involved. British troops began building up on the uprising of British immigrants against the Boer government. A threat was made, a threat was ignored, and a war began.
At first, the war went well for the Boers. These Dutch farmers handily beat the famous British army in several encounters, yet their success would not last. The better trained British army captured the capital of the Orange Free State, Johannesburg and Pretoria. The British had claimed yet another victory for the crown. The Boers though, refused to admit defeat.
Upon their devastating defeats at the hands of the British, the Boers realized that a new strategy had be developed if they were to have a prayer of defeating the British. The Dutch farmers couldn't win in a stand up fight against the better trained British soldiers. Taking a queue from the American Revolutionaries, the Boers began successfully using guerrilla tactics against the British. The British soon realized that harsh means would have to be used in order to crush the motivated Boers.
In a despicable move, the normally morally stalwart British began imprisoning Boer women and children in concentration camps. Over 26,000 of these innocent civilians died in the British concentration camps. The Boers were broken.
A treaty was signed at Vereeniging. The defeated Boers had no choice but to submit to the British demands. The Treaty of Vereeniging made the Transvaal and the Orange Free State into British colonies. The Boers have never forgotten the British cruelty, and until recently the Boers had almost totally isolated themselves from other cultures. The British victory was a bitter pill for the Boers to swallow.
In: Other Entertainment, Other
Tags: boer war, boer republics, british empire, uprising, British immigrants, Boer government, transvaal, miners, high taxes, capital, Orange Free State, Johannesburg, Pretoria, dutch farmers, British concentration camps, broken, treaty, signed, Vereeniging
Location: Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa (load item map)
Views: 2830 | Comments: 3 | Votes: 1 | Favorites: 3 | Shared: 1 | Updates: 0 | Times used in channels: 3
|Liveleak on Facebook|
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Welcome to the Companion Website for Instructional Strategies for Middle and High School 2e!
Instructional Strategies for Middle and High School is an accessible, practical, and engaging methods textbook that introduces pre-service teachers to various instructional strategies and helps them to decide how and when to use these methods in the classroom. In their book and with this website, veteran teacher educators Bruce Larson and Timothy Keiper offer practical suggestions and tools for integrating effective classroom management and valid assessment techniques with each instructional strategy.
On this website, students and instructors will find the following resources that will help students review material from the text and assist in their development as an educator. This site contains:
- Interactive Videos of Instructional Strategies
- Useful templates
- Useful weblinks
- State Standard Assessments
- 10 current truths about effective teaching
- Interactive real classroom videos of the instructional strategies from the text
- Discussion questions.
About the Authors:
Bruce Larson teaches courses in curriculum, instructional strategies, classroom management, assessment, and social studies methods. His research interests integrate teacher education and computer technology related to curriculum development and classroom instruction. His work has been published in journals such as: Theory and Research in Social Education; Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education; The Social Studies; Journal of Curriculum and Supervision; and Social Education. He has published numerous curriculum guides and contributed chapters about teacher education and social studies education.
Tim Keiper is Associate Professor of Secondary Education at Western Washington University’s Woodring College of Education. He recently was a Fulbright Award grantee and lived in Tanzania for an academic year where he taught teacher preparation and studied resiliency factors unique to youth in rural semi-nomadic cultures.
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Date of this Version
A major goal in robotics is to develop machines that perform useful tasks with minimal supervision. Instead of requiring each small detail to be specified, we would like to describe the task at a high level and have the system autonomously execute in a manner that satisfies that desired task. While the single robot case is difficult enough, moving to a multirobot behavior adds another layer of challenges. Having every robot achieve its specific goals while contributing to a global coordinated task requires each robot to react to information about other robots, for example, to avoid collisions. Furthermore, each robot must incorporate new information into its decision framework to react to environmental changes induced by other robots since this knowledge may effect its behavior.
Date Posted: 05 May 2008
This document has been peer reviewed.
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The just-published NIPCC reports may lead to a paradigm shift about what or who causes current climate changes. All the evidence suggests that Nature rules the climatenot Man.
Watch for it: We may be on the threshold of a tipping point in climate history. No, Im not talking about a tipping point in the sense that the Earth will be covered with ice or become hellishly hot. Im talking about a tipping point in our views of what controls the climatewhether its mainly humans or whether its mainly natural. It makes an enormous difference in climate policy: Do we try to mitigate, at huge cost, or do we merely adapt to natural changesas our ancestors did for many millennia?
Such tipping points occur quite frequently in science. I have personally witnessed two paradigm shifts where world scientific opinion changed rapidlyalmost overnight. One was in Cosmology, where the Steady State theory of the Universe was replaced by the Big Bang. This shift was confirmed by the discovery of the microwave background radiation, which has already garnered Nobel prizes, and will likely get more.
The other major shift occurred in Continental Drift. After being denounced by the Science Establishment, the hypothesis of Alfred Wegener, initially based on approximate relations between South America and Africa, was dramatically confirmed by the discovery of sea-floor spreading.
These shifts were possible because there were no commercial or financial interestsand they did not involve the public and politicians. But climate is a different animal: The financial stakes are hugein the trillions of dollars, and affect energy policy, and indeed the economic wellbeing of every inhabitant of the developed and developing world. For example, the conversion into ethanol fuel of a substantial portion of the US corn crop raised the price of tortillas in Mexico and caused food riots.
Nevertheless, I believe the time is right for a paradigm shift on climate. For one, there has been no warming now for some 15 yearsin spite of rising levels of greenhouse (GH) gases. Climate models have not come up with any accepted explanation. This disparity, of course, throws great doubt about any future warming derived from these same models, and indeed also about policies that are being advocatedprincipally, the mitigation and control of Carbon Dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.
Next year, in Paris, the UN will try to reconstitute the basic features of the (1997-2012) Kyoto Protocolan international treaty of participating nations to limit their emissions of CO2. They may succeedunless the current paradigm changes.
We can already see the pressure building up for such a treaty. The big guns of international science are actively promoting climate scares. The Royal Society and US National Academy of Sciences have published a joint major report, containing no new science but advocating a need for action. The AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), the largest scientific organization in the United States, is promoting the same policy, again without a shred of science in their slick pamphlet. Even the once-respected Scientific American magazine has gotten into the act and openly advocates such policies.
All of these Establishment groups, it seems, have a keen eye open for government fundingnot only for research but also the actions that go with such policies. They all accept the climate science as propagated by the three volumes of the 5th Assessment Report (AR5) of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Volume #1, dealing with physical science, was published in Sept 2013; volumes 2 and 3, dealing with impacts and mitigation, will be published in March and April of 2014.
But now, for the first time, we have NIPCC (Non-governmental International Panel on Climate Change) as a counter to the IPCC, as an independent voice, a second opinion, if you willsomething that was advocated by the IAC (InterAcademy Council on Science). We now have a credible number of studies, which the IPCC chose to ignore in reaching their conclusion about anthropogenic global warming (AGW). The NIPCC reports were also published in September 2013 (Physical Science), and in March and April of 2014 (Biological Impacts and Societal Impacts).
The NIPCC, in particular its Summary for Policy-Makers (SPM) of Vol 1, looks critically at the evidence that the IPCC uses to back up their claim of AGW. NIPCC notes that the evidence keeps changing over time. The first IPCC report (1990) used an improbable statistical method to suggest that the warming of the early part of the 20th century was due to human-produced GH gases; no one believes this anymore.
The second assessment report of 1996, which led to the infamous 1997 Kyoto Protocol, manufactured the so-called HotSpot, a region of increased warming trend, with a maximum in the equatorial troposphere. That evidence has also disappeared: a detailed analysis (published in Nature 1996) showed that the hHotspot doesnt even exist. In addition, the assumption that it constitutes a fingerprint for AGW is in error.
As a result of these two failed attempts to establish some kind of evidence for AGW, the third IPCC report (2001) latched on to the so-called Hockeystick graph, which claimed that only the 20th century showed unusual warming during the past 1000 years. However, further scrutiny demonstrated that the Hockeystick was also manufacturedbased on faulty data, erroneous statistical methods, and an inappropriate calibration method. Even purely random data fed into the algorithm would always produce a hockeystick.
In its most recent AR5 of 2013, the IPCC has dropped all previous pieces of evidence and instead concentrates on trying to prove that the reported surface warming between 1978 and 2000 agrees with a warming predicted by climate models. This so-called proof turns out to be a weak reed indeed. The reported warming applies only to surface (land-based) weather stations and is not seen in any other data set; the weather satellite data that measure atmospheric temperature show no significant trendneither do proxy data (from analysis of tree rings, ocean/lake sediments, stalagmites, etc)
It can therefore be argued that there has been no appreciable human-caused warming in the 20th century at alland that the warming effects of rising GH-gas content of the atmosphere have been quite insignificant. (See "IPCCs Bogus Evidence for Global Warming.")
But what about future global temperatures? Opinions differ sharplyall the way from another Little Ice Age (a calamity, in my opinion) to a resumption of warming (aided by the missing heat that some alarmists are sure is hiding somewhere). Personally, I dont do forecasts since I know too little about the Suns interior; I simply try to understand and explain the past climate. But if pressed, I would go with historic cycles, like the observed 1000-1500-yr cycle; it suggests a modest warming over the next few centuries, perhaps in fits and startsunlike computer models that yield a steady increase in temperature from a steady increase of GH-gas levels.
Will nations accept any treaties emanating from the 2015 Paris Conference? So far, only Western Europe seems to be keen on ratifyingand even there, doubts are developing. Eastern Europe is definitely against any new Protocol, as are Japan, Australia, and Canada. And what about the Chinese, the worlds largest emitters of CO2? They gain a competitive advantage if their commercial competitors accept the Treatys restrictions, which raise their cost of energy.
The United States may be in a transition modeand thats where a paradigm shift could really make a global difference. According to the latest Gallup poll, the US public ranks Global Warming almost at the bottom of twenty issues, mostly concerned with economics. The White House, however, seems to be gung-ho for climate alarmism. President Obama is planning new climate initiatives, based on advice from his Science Adviser, John Holdren, an erstwhile disciple of Population Bomb Paul Ehrlich. John Podesta has come aboard as counselor and special assistant to the President to push climate initiatives. And of course, the rest of the Administration is in tune with the White House.
Secretary of State John Kerry considers AGW the greatest challenge to US securityin spite of having his plate full of foreign-policy problems: the Iran nuclear negotiations, the Syrian civil war, a developing Sunni insurgency in Iraq, the Arab-Israel peace negotiations, and the Russian annexation of Crimea.
In mid-2014, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will issue its opinion on the EPAs mis-guided and unscientific efforts to limit or even abolish the use of coal for electric generation. If SCOTUS can become aware of the NIPCC conclusions, they will surely decide against EPA and therefore the WH. Such an event may become the trigger for a cataclysmic paradigm shift in US policy on energy and climate. The November 2014 elections could tip the balance and finally kill the myth of Global Warming catastrophes in the US and throughout the world.
NIPCC Conclusions in Brief
Backed by thousands of peer-reviewed studies, are in striking contrast to the IPCCs alarmist predictions:
**Climate data tell us that the human impact on Earths climate is very small and that any warming due to GH gases will be so small as to be indiscernible from natural variability.
**The net impacts of modestly rising temperatures and higher carbon-dioxide levels on plants, animals, wildlife, and human welfare have been positive so far and are likely to continue to be positive.
**The costs of trying to mitigate climate change by reducing emissions vastly exceed the benefits. Annual cost per US household would run to some $3,900; would destroy millions of jobs.
**In light of the new science and economics of climate change, thousands of laws passed at the height of the global warming scare need to be re-evaluated, modified, or repealed.
|Atmospheric physicist S. Fred Singer is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, and former founding Director of the U.S. Weather Satellite Service. He is author of Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warmings Unfinished Debate (The Independent Institute).|
HOT TALK, COLD SCIENCE: Global Warmings Unfinished Debate
Distinguished astrophysicist S. Fred Singer explores the inaccuracies in historical climate data, the limitations of attempting to computer climate models, solar variability, the effects of clouds, ocean currents, and sea levels on global climate, and factors that could mitigate any human impacts on world climate.
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hen Jane Eyre returns to Thornfield at the end of the novel, the reader waits anxiously for her to catch a glimpse of the house, for this view will surely foreshadow the fate that has befallen Mr. Rochester. "The lawn, the grounds were trodden and waste: the portal yawned void. The front was, as I has once seen it in a dream, but a shell-like wall, very high and very fragile looking, perforated with pane-less windows: no roof, no battlements, no chimneys--all had crashed in" (374). This view is far from what Jane expected as she anticipated the "bold battlements that will strike the eye nobly at once" (372).
When Jane later observes Rochester, she notices a similar change in him. Just as Thornfield was perforated with pane-less windows, Rochester has sightless eyes. The shell-like walls of Thornfield reflect the change in countenance that Jane observes in her lover, "he looked desperate and brooding--reminded me of some wronged and fettered old beast or bird, dangerous to approach in his sullen woe" (379). The connection between Rochester and his home creates suspense and depth for this crucial scene in the novel. The link also serves to strengthen the impact of Rochesters' suffering, thereby suggesting that the depth of despair that Rochester felt at Jane's departure was enough to destroy a strong, majestic house.
Content last modified December 1993
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As a specialized agency of the United Nations, UNESCO’s contributes to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information. This contribution is ensured by anchoring UNESCO’s programmes in Internationally Agreed Development Goals, which UNESCO and its Member States contributed to formulate through numerous international conferences concerning the Organization’s fields of competence.
UNESCO’s top priority is to offer support to Member States in achieving quality Education for All (EFA), a collective commitment made at the World Education Forum (Dakar, 2000). Education is also fundamental for the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals, of which two (MDG 2 and 3) concern education directly.
The natural sciences are essential for achieving the goals of the World Conference on Science, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Mauritius Strategy and the MDGs, particularly MDGs 1, 6, 7 and 8.
The Millennium Declaration strongly emphasizes the role of human rights, and the values of freedom, justice, solidarity and shared responsibility. Through its work on Social and Human Sciences, helping to interpret the social, cultural and economic environment, UNESCO proposes social and economic development policies that support equitable and inclusive growth and confirm the values and goals of the MDGs.
Although culture is not explicitly mentioned among the eight MDGs, the September 2010 MDG Summit Outcome Document, emphasizes the importance of culture for development and its contribution to the achievement of the MDGs, and encourages international cooperation in the cultural field, aimed at achieving development objectives. More recently, in December 2010, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution entitled “Culture and Development” that reaffirms the role of culture in development and calls for its integration in global development policies.
The contribution of culture to the MDGs is particularly relevant with regard to MDGs 1 (eradicating extreme poverty), 3 (promoting gender equality and empowering women), 6 (combating HIV/AIDS), 7 (ensuring environmental sustainability) and 8 (developing a global partnership for development).
UNESCO’s communication and information programme focuses on helping to create, access, utilize, share, and preserve information and knowledge. As recognized by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), information and communication, particularly through new technologies, contribute to the achievement of the MDGs and enable individuals, communities and countries to achieve their full potential.
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Measuring weight is a crucial element in many industries. Shipping companies, grocery stores, airlines, and more depend on having accurate weight readings to determine the right price for their customers. Weight has especially come to the forefront in recent months, with one airline charging customers by the pound (or kilogram, in this case), rather than by the seat.
With such a strong emphasis on the numbers of a scale, it is more important than ever to have an accurate reading to go by. But how do you guarantee a correct result?
Test weights are a great way to make sure a scale is properly calibrated. For a visual of how they work, consider the image below. In this simple scale, the object you are weighing would be in one tray, while the test weight would be in the other. Since you already know the value of your test weight, you can judge the weight of the object in question.
For more high-tech scales, a test weight serves as a base for external recalibration when internal recalibration options are not provided. It’s important to regularly recalibrate scales to ensure an exact reading. Just make sure the test weight is not heavier than the capacity of the scale. If the scale is only capable of weighing 50lbs., don’t use a 100lb. test weight.
By keeping your scales in check, you’ll be able to accurately measure whatever you need at your next weigh-in. Whether it’s for airline passenger luggage, freight cargo, or customer groceries, test weights help ensure you have a precise number to work with.
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The George L. Waite “Desert Sheiks” Lantern Slides consists of 47 lantern slides, some hand-colored, made by George L. Waite, photographer and cinematographer on the 1930 Beloit College Logan Museum Expedition to Algeria. The set appears to have been made to illustrate a talk by Waite entitled, “Desert Sheiks.”
George L. Waite was a photographer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the spring of 1930 when he was about 60 years old, Waite volunteered as photographer for the sixth Beloit College Logan Museum of Anthropology Algerian expedition, led by Alonzo W. Pond. His primary role was to provide photographic and cinematic documentation of the excavation activities and daily lives of the 20 expedition members.
The collection consists of 47 lantern slides, some hand-colored, that appear to have been made to illustrate a talk by Waite entitled, “Desert Sheiks.” Images show Algerian nomadic people, their camps, and activities including animal husbandry, Algerian towns and villages, and views of the Algerian countryside. Included are several images of the Beloit College expedition camp and participants, including one photograph of George Waite taping up film cans.
The collection was donated to the National Anthropological Archives in 2010 by Ty Lindberg, who purchased the lantern slides at a flea market.
The Human Studies Film Archives at the Smithsonian holds several films relating to the 1930 expedition to Algeria and George L. Waite’s role as photographer (HSFA 82.5.1, HSFA 82.5.2-1, HSFA 82.5.2-2, HSFA 82.5.8).
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In the Upper Peninsula rock exposures may be found in every county - sandstones in northern Chippewa and limestones in the southern part of the county; limestones, some gypsum, and shale in Mackinac; sandstones in Luce, Alger, Marquette, Baraga, Keweenaw, Ontonagon, Gogebic, Dickinson and Iron; limestones in Menominee, Dickinson, Delta and Schoolcraft counties. The igneous and metamorphic rocks, with their wealth of copper, silver, and iron ore, crop out to make the wild and picturesque scenery and the gorges of Keweenaw, Houghton, Marquette, Dickinson, Baraga, Iron, Ontonagon and Gogebic counties as well as the highest peaks in the State-the Huron and Porcupine mountains. In the dumps and rock piles of the mines, minerals and rocks from far underground may be found.
Throughout your tour of the Upper Peninsula you will want to look for Lake Superior agates, found on the shore of Lake Superior, especially after storms. Besides their inherent hardness and fine luster, concentric banding (eastern Upper Peninsula and the Keweenaw) is a definite clue to the identity of specimens. Agates feel waxy to the touch.
If you walk on private property along the Lake Superior beach, you should obtain permission of the property owner. His rights extend to the water's edge, regardless of water level fluctuations. Permission is not required, however, if you wade in the water, just off the beach. Submerged bottomlands of the Great Lakes are open to the public.
Starting at the Straits of Mackinac your route turns westward. Stop at Pointe Aux Chenes about ten miles west of St. Ignace. Look in piles of stone along the highway. You may find some mottled brown and white gypsum or some beautiful specimens of very fine needle-like crystals with a satiny luster. This variety of gypsum is called satin spar.
If you have time it would be worth while to make a side trip to a quarry about nine miles east of Trout Lake where excellent and abundant samples of chert and flint can be obtained. Chert and flint can also be obtained in the old quarries at Manistique if your route is along the northern shore of Lake Michigan.
Tours of the Upper Peninsula often take the vacationer by one route and return him by another. If you go first by the route along Lake Superior, stop in the Whitefish Point area and check the beaches for agates. Banded agates can be found in the Eastern U.P., especially in places such as the beaches of Paradise and Whitefish Point and the beaches north of Newberry (food and lodging).
Excellent specimens of "bog iron" ore, limonite, can be found about three-quarters of a mile south of Seney and also along the highway west of Seney, (Food and Lodging) near the Seney National Wildlife Refuge.
At Marquette you enter the iron-mining district and the region of igneous and metamorphic, or the crystalline rocks which make up the western half of the Upper Peninsula. Veins of green epidote, an inch or more in width, show in the granite cuts of Sugar Loaf Mountain a few miles northwest of Marquette and in the granite outcrop near the Dead River Bridge not far from the ore docks in Marquette.
Nearly two billion years ago, the area west of Marquette was very likely as high as the Alps. The rocks you see along the lakeshore are part of the eroded roots of a mountain system similar to alpine-type mountains. Geologists speculate that this region may even have been as high as the present-day Himalaya Mountains, the tallest peaks in the world.
In the Marquette area, at the Superior Mine and the Jackson Mine Locations, you should fine druses of Goethite.
When you're in Marquette, go northwest on Presque Isle Avenue to the end. At the point you will find agate, fortification (Lake Superior); Calcite; Chalcedony geodes to 5" in diameter and Jasper.
At Ishpeming (Food and Lodging) you really get into the "mineral country." Beautiful light green talc, a very soft greasy-feeling mineral, can be obtained near the Ropes Gold Mine, a few miles north of Ishpeming. At the same locality, serpentine, a much harder dark green mineral, that may be streaked with white dolomite, can be found. Mixtures of serpentine and dolomite, calcite or talc are known as "verde antique marble". Vein quartz is abundant at the Michigan Gold Mine a few miles west and north of Ishpeming.
Some fragments of quartz contain tourmaline, a black shiny mineral in long needle-like crystals. Other minerals such as barite, a white platy heavy mineral, and manganese-bearing minerals such as pyrolusite, manganite, and psilomelane, can be collected near Ishpeming. Specimens of iron ore, hematite, can be obtained at any mine.
"Jasper Hill," in Ishpeming, is a convenient place from which to obtain specimens of beautifully banded jasper and specular hematite, known as jaspilite. Be sure to see Jasper Knob, the worlds largest gemstone which is composed completely of jaspilite. Jaspilite probably creates the most beautiful and interesting rock formations in the entire state of Michigan.
In the Ishpeming area, there are several old mine sites that will attract your attention.
While still in Ishpeming, take SR-28 and Division Street through the city then turn right at the foot of Jasper Hill. You will see Hematite; Red Jasper, and Jaspilite.
For the Ropes Gold Mine, go west from Ishpeming on US-41 to Cooper Lake Road, turn right and go 2.5 miles, left on CR-572 for less than 1 mile, walk 0.3 mile to Ropes Gold Mine. You will also see Serpentine here.
In Negaunee a monument has been erected marking the place where the Jackson Mining Company discovered iron ore in 1845, the year following the first discovery of iron ore in the Upper Peninsula (September 19, 1844). The monument is made of every kind of rock, ore, and mineral found in the Iron Country.
In the Negaunee area, stop at the Baltic Mine dump for massive Rhodochrosite, check at the Cambria Mine for Hematite, kidney, massive, specular and Steatite (Soap stone).
Also in the Negaunee area at the Lucy Mine, search for Barite, nice crystals; Manganite, metallic gray-black in blocky crystal clusters.
After leaving the Ishpeming-Negaunee area, take highway M-95 to Republic, eight miles south of Champion. (Lodging) This trip may add several minerals to the collection. Specular hematite and magnetite are abundant on the old mine dumps. You may find crystallized quartz in openings in the specularite, and occasional crystals of staurolite in a light-colored mica schist. Good specimens of feldspar can be found at several places. A lead-colored, soft, foliated (in scales or leaves) mineral, molybdenite, has been found in quartz veins near Republic, but it is in too small amounts to make a search for it really worth while.
In the Republic area you should also find Beryl, Red Jasper, Jaspilite and Tourmaline.
Your next stop should be at Champion. (Lodging for the Champion and Republic mine sites) On the old rock piles on Beacon Hill a number of minerals can be obtained. Specular hematite, a variety composed of thin, very lustrous, scales of hematite closely pressed together, is the type of iron ore found at this locality. Magnetite is abundant and dark red garnet crystals are partially embedded in lumps of magnetite. Long, slender interlaced prisms of black tourmaline have also formed on the magnetite. Tourmaline crystals, when broken, show a spherical triangular cross section, that is, the prisms have three sides but the sides are curved. Fine parallel lines are on the long prism faces. Be sure to pick up fragments of quartz from the Champion rock piles. In many of these quartz crystals you will see slender prisms of tourmaline. A brown mineral with cleavage like that of calcite is occasionally found at Champion. This is siderite, a carbonate of iron. At the Champion Mine, it is possible to find sapphire and sericite.
Head for the Athens mine near Champion. There the red and dark brown of the heaps of iron ore minerals are in striking contrast to the yellow and buff surface clays, once the deposits on the bed of an old glacial lake. The red mineral is hematite. Some hematite is dense, hard, and crystallized in long fibers. Masses of large fibers are known as "pencil ore." Some crystals arrange themselves in oddly shaped masses of concretions know as kidney ore. Some hematite is soft, as you will find when your clothing is soiled if you are not careful how you handle the powdery, non-lustrous ore. Goethite, a brown iron mineral that is really hematite plus water, may be found in beautiful orthorhombic crystals in cavities. Nearby is another dark brown mineral, never found in crystals. It is known as limonite. It may not be a separate distinct mineral but a fine-grained goethite.
Leaving Champion, go west to Michigamme. (Lodging) Five minerals are found in the rock piles of the old mines on the north side of the main road opposite the village. Much of the rock on these dumps is a dark green, soft chlorite which is peppered with small octahedral crystals of martite and often filled with large crystals of dark red garnet. The garnet crystals can be broken out of the chlorite rock by careful chipping with a hammer. The garnets range in size from crystals about one half inch to crystals two inches in diameter. They are not "fresh" like the garnets found at Champion as they have been changed to the green chlorite which encloses the crystals, but the Michigamme garnet shows excellently the twelve-sided crystal habit of the mineral. Magnetite is abundant at this location. On one side of an old pit you may notice an outcropping ledge of rock which contains magnetite mixed with a silky looking, asbestos-like mineral known as grunerite.
Now take a short side trip through the village of Michigamme, cross the bridge at Michigamme Beach and follow the road on the south side of Lake Michigamme for about one and one-half miles. You will see a rock-cut on the north side of the road in which the dark-colored schist rock has a pimply appearance due to small crystals of staurolite which are harder than the body of the rock and stand out in relief as the rock is worn by wind and weather. The staurolite can he easily recognized because so many specimens have two crystals crossed (twinned) to form an X.
Garnet may be found in the Michigamme area at the Mount Shasta mine.
Should you return from the Upper Peninsula by way of the Southern Route (U.S. 2) attractive mineral specimens can be obtained in the marble quarries at Randville and Felch in Dickinson County (Lodging). Slender white satiny-looking prisms of tremolite and grass-green blades of actinolite are found in the white crystalline dolomitic marble. At Felch a pink feldspar can be obtained from a dike rock which cuts across the marble. Where the dike is in contact with the marble, brown and blackish serpentine is found.
The Iron County mine rock piles have Hematite and Specularite. The mines are near Amasa, Crystal Falls, Iron River, Mineral Hills and Stambaugh.
Much of this information is from Rocks and Minerals of Michigan
By O. F. Poindexter, H. M. Martin and S. G. Bergquist, Michigan
Department of Natural Resources, 1971 and
Copyright 1999 by the webmaster for Exploring the North. All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, as Amended, this web site may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any manner. Unless authorized by the webmaster of Exploring the North, Inc., reproduction of any web page or pages on the Exploring the North website for placement on the internet is a copyright infringement. All right, title and interest in and to the material on the web pages, the web site, in whole or in part, and in and to this url and the urls contained within, is the property of vivian wood, the webmaster for Exploring the North, Inc. Web site created on an Apple G-4.
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Latest update: May 10th, 2013
In an age plagued by narcissism, it is no wonder that “selfishness” has become a derogatory word. Too many leading figures have burned us with their greed and self-centeredness. The Bernie Madoffs of the world have compelled many of us to place more of a stress on altruism, philanthropy, and a rededication to the welfare of the world and its inhabitants.
But is selfishness a wholly negative trait? Should parents and educators strike it from their vocabulary and lesson plans? Or can selfishness ever be good and constructive?
“As a general rule, there are no attributes of the soul that are good or bad,” my dear teacher Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz once wrote. “There is no attribute that lacks its injurious aspect, its negation and failure, just as there is no attribute – even if connected with doubt and heresy – that has not, under some circumstances, its holy aspect.”
Since no attribute is essentially negative, none can justifiably be disqualified. Moreover, any attempt to do so would be a terrible injustice toward God, the very creator of those virtues and traits.
Further, the virtue of selflessness is profoundly connected with the virtue of selfishness. One can only give that which he has acquired, innately or extrinsically. For example, only the wise who selfishly acquire wisdom, and the talented who selfishly develop their talents, can contribute significantly to society. Thus the more selfish one is in building a good, solid self the more capable one will be in giving to his surroundings.
One of the leading rabbis of the nineteenth century, Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Pshischa, once addressed his disciples with a surprising yet important request: “Write two truths on two separate notes,” he told them. “Let one state the teaching of our Sages ‘For my sake the world was created [Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 37b].’ The other should state the verse uttered by our forefather Abraham ‘I am dust and ashes [Genesis 13:27].’
“Now place these two notes in your pockets. When you are feeling useless, take out the note that states ‘the world was created for you.’ But if your achievements engender arrogance, take out the second note and remember that you are but ‘dust and ashes.’ ”
It is time for society to restore selfishness and channel it in the right direction. Unfortunately, because of the overemphasis placed on outward performance and achievement, we’ve often overlooked that which truly cries out for our selfish attention. Let us therefore effect a change of outlook and actions vis-à-vis two fundamental areas that necessitate selfishness more than ever: our marriages and our children.
Too often marriages end in divorce because the initial bond, the first encounter, is based on a misguiding and essentially unserious connection. We have forgotten that the success of marriage depends a great deal on the way it is formed. It is never enough to marry a person just because he is physically attractive, prosperous, or comes from a good family. And the information a person may obtain from prior conversations and excursions with a potential spouse, in private or public, is never enough to shed light on the totality of one’s being and personality.
Hence, two steps must be introduced: First, individuals have to study themselves thoroughly and selfishly. Second, they must study potential spouses thoroughly and selfishly too. This will enable couples to see if their own pieces of their puzzle fit well together. And if they are selfish enough throughout this process, they will be able to give of themselves to their marriage lovingly and selflessly.
The family unit is yet another area that must be addressed. The research here is astounding. Studies show that the less often a family eats together, the worse the experience is likely to be and the more meager the talk. They also show that children who eat most often with their parents are 40 percent more likely to get mainly A’s and B’s in school than are children who have two or fewer family dinners a week.
The conclusion is clear and obvious: a healthy family is one whose children are a foremost priority. Parents in a healthy family never compromise on the education of their children – not in their determination to find the best school for their children, regardless of their level of religious observance or income; not when they find their children watching a destructive TV program; not when their children are seduced by a harmful idea. They are always there to show the way, to sound the lucid voice of morality, because they know their children deserve the best education and guidance.Rabbi Pinchas Allouche
About the Author: Rabbi Pinchas Allouche is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Tefillah in Scottsdale, Arizona. He is a popular educator, lecturer, and author of many essays on Judaism and social analysis.
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Natural Area Inventory
The Natural Heritage Program has a team of biologists that collects data on rare species and natural areas. Activities include:
- Completing natural area inventories for all 100 North Carolina counties
- Site-specific surveys at North Carolina's military installations
- Searches for especially rare species
- Searches for high-quality examples of natural communities
A statewide network of biologists also shares data with the Natural Heritage Program to promote conservation across North Carolina. Some of these partners include:
- Biologists at state and federal agencies
- Private contract biologists
- Environmental consulting firms
- Academic researchers
- Citizen naturalists
Surveys of natural areas are a primary function of the
Natural Heritage Program
The program’s conservation work begins with surveys of natural areas, with the goal of finding and documenting locations of rare species and high quality natural communities. These observations are used to assess the rarity and habitat needs of North Carolina’s rarest species.
Natural Areas inventories are also used to identify NHP natural areas, places on land or water essential for supporting North Carolina’s rare species and more common elements of the state’s natural heritage.
Observations of rare species and natural communities are documented in reports and can be queried using our Database Search and Map Viewer. These records, maps and reports are then shared with partners for a wide variety of conservation and planning projects.
The County Inventory Status map shows which counties have been completed as of November 2012. These inventories are in progress:
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Photo: DeusXFlorida (flickr)
If you’re a true sports fan, you’ve probably lost sleep wondering if jet lag affects the performance of your favorite teams.
You’re not the only one. To answer this important question, scientists analyzed three years of major league baseball games to see if they could find a link between jet lag, and home field advantage.
They discovered that baseball teams playing at home won over half the time. However, if the visiting team had just traveled eastward, say, from L.A. to New York, the home team scored more runs. If the visiting team had just traveled west, this didn’t affect the point spread.
These findings support other studies that show that traveling east is harder on your body than traveling west.
Why? Well, your body is tuned to what are called circadian rhythms which determine things like when you fall asleep, and when you wake up. If you lived under a rock, your body’s natural cycles would be slightly longer than 24 hours.
However, exposure to factors like daylight, temperature, and other people fine-tunes your body’s cycles to your local time zone. When you travel, this tuning is thrown out of whack, and it takes your body time to readjust. This adjustment is easier if you’re heading west because this lengthens your day in the natural direction of your internal clock. However, if you’re heading east, you’re compressing your day, and working against your internal clock, which makes adjustment more difficult.
While none of this bodes well if you’re a die-hard Dodgers fan, it may be worth remembering the next time you participate in the office pool.
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Argumentative Thesis Statement, Learn 8 Significant Tips Of Writing Argument Thesis Statement.
What Is An Argumentative Thesis Statement?
An argument thesis statement is a logical statement that could be argued. It is developed considering the topic whether it has a point to be argued about or not.
Argument Thesis IS NOT
It is a misconception if you think every thesis statement is an argumentative thesis statement. You can’t argue every statement. So beware of “what an argument thesis statement is not” when you write your argumentative thesis statement.
An argument thesis statement is not:
- A question
- A fact
- A baseless feeling
How To Write An Argumentative Thesis Statement?
- Firstly, decide what sort of argumentative thesis statement you want to write about. (Opinion, policy proposal, evaluation, interpretation, etc.)
- After selecting the type, choose your topic.
- Now brainstorm the topic to explore the possible aspects of it.
- Divide all the brainstormed ideas into positive and negative columns. Use the following table to do so.
Point # 1
Point # 1
Point # 2
Point # 2
Point # 3
Point # 3
- Now select a point and argue for and against it.
- If you can find strong reason to expand it further and support it convincingly, you have found your argumentative thesis statement.
- Avoid using repeatedly used and general terms in argument thesis.
- You argumentative thesis statement should not be ambiguous.
Questions to check whether your argumentative thesis statement is good enough or not:
- What is my claim?
- What type of claim is it?
- What reasons do I have in favor of my claim?
- What could be the possible counter-arguments?
Examples Of Argumentative Thesis
There are some examples of good and bad argumentative thesis statements.
Argumentative Thesis Statement Example #1
Bad Thesis statement: “Population of the world is increasing dramatically.”
It is a bad thesis statement because it is a fact. Therefore it can’t be argued.
Argumentative Thesis Statement Example # 2
Good Thesis statement: “Global warming is a myth.”
It is a good thesis statement because it has a precise subject which is arguable. Every reader would not agree with it and there is a chance for the writer to support his statement with strong evidence.
Argumentative Thesis Topics
Now you are well aware of the fact that argumentative thesis topics must have some aspects to be disagreed so you can take the discussion further. This list contains examples of argumentative thesis topics.
- Humans can do without eating meat to be healthy because they can obtain meet all their food needs from meatless foods, and a vegetarian diet can fulfill it quite sufficiently. Agree or disagree with reasons.
- We are becoming overwhelmingly dependent on computers. Is this dependence on computers a good thing or should we be more suspicious of their benefits?
- Should restrictions be placed on the use of mobile phones in public areas like restaurants and theaters?
- The mass media, including TV, radio, and newspapers influences people greatly especially younger generation. It plays a vital role in shaping the views and positions of the younger generation. Argue for or against this statement.
- It is a common practice in scientific research to use animals for experiments and it sometimes harms the animals? Do you think it should be stopped or continue?
- Why do you think drivers of automobiles should be prohibited from using cellular phones?
For more help on writing argumentative statement, Click Here.
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Towards predicting late-stage radiation toxicity
Radiation is a brutal and in many cases necessary part of cancer therapy. More 50% of cancer patients receive radiotherapy as part of their treatment, and many experience concurrent negative side effects. In addition, a smaller fraction of patients develop severe late radiation toxicity, months or years after their treatment in normal tissues near the tumor site. For example, in prostate cancer--a tumor in the prostate gland that lies between the bladder and the rectum--late radiation toxicity affects rectal, bladder, and sexual function in 5–10% of patients. A new study by Micheline Giphart-Gassler (Leiden University Medical Center) and colleagues published in the international open-access journal PLoS Medicine now suggests that in the future scientists might be able to tell who is at higher risk for such late toxicity and adjust treatments accordingly.
Scientists don't know why some patients develop late radiation toxicity, but one theory is that some patients have a genetic predisposition. Giphart-Gassler and colleagues tested this by comparing radiation-induced changes in the gene expression profiles in blood cells from 21 patients who had late radiation toxicity after radiotherapy with the changes seen in cells from patients who did not developed such complications. Irradiation with X-rays induced the expression of numerous genes in the cells, including many known radiation-responsive genes. From those, the researchers derived a gene expression profile (or molecular signature) that was associated with late radiation toxicity. A signature based on the radiation response of 50 individual genes correctly classified 63% of the patient population in terms of whether they had developed late radiation toxicity. A signature based on the radiation response of gene sets containing genes linked by function or cellular localization correctly classified 86% of the patient population.
While these results are not robust enough to apply them in a clinical setting, they support the idea that some patients are genetically predisposed to develop late radiation toxicity and also provide clues about which cellular pathways might be involved. The study suggests that it might one day be possible to predict which patients are at high and at low risk for late-radiation toxicity, respectively, and adjust their treatment accordingly. The results also point to certain molecular pathways involved in response to radiation which might be targets for interventions that protect against the toxic side effects of radiation.
As Adrian Begg (Radboud University Medical Center) states in an accompanying Perspective article, these are intriguing, preliminary results on an important question that has been difficult to answer. Future studies are needed to determine whether expression profiles such as this one can serve as robust predictors of late radiation toxicity.
* * * * * * * * EMBARGO: MONDAY, 30 October, 5 P.M. PDT * * * * * * * * *
PLEASE MENTION THE OPEN-ACCESS JOURNAL PLoS MEDICINE (www.plosmedicine.org) AS THE SOURCE FOR THESE ARTICLES AND PROVIDE A LINK TO THE FREELY-AVAILABLE TEXT. THANK YOU.
Citation: Svensson JP, Stalpers LJA, Esveldt–van Lange REE, Franken NAP, Haveman J, et al. (2006) Analysis of gene expression using gene sets discriminates cancer patients with and without late radiation toxicity. PLoS Med 3(10): e422.
PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030422
PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-03-10-giphardt-gassler.pdf
University of Amsterdam
Academic Medical Centrum
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland 1105 AZ Netherlands
Leiden University Medical Center
Leiden, Zuid-Holland 2300 RC Netherlands
Related PLoS Medicine Perspectives article:
Citation: Begg AC (2006) Can the Severity of Normal Tissue Damage after Radiation Therapy Be Predicted? PLoS Med 3(10): e440.
PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030440
PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-03-10-begg.pdf
The Netherlands Cancer Institute
All works published in PLoS Medicine are open access. Everything is immediately available without cost to anyone, anywhere--to read, download, redistribute, include in databases, and otherwise use--subject only to the condition that the original authorship is properly attributed. Copyright is retained by the authors. The Public Library of Science uses the Creative Commons Attribution License.
About PLoS Medicine
PLoS Medicine is an open access, freely available international medical journal. It publishes original research that enhances our understanding of human health and disease, together with commentary and analysis of important global health issues. For more information, visit http://www.plosmedicine.org
About the Public Library of Science
The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 30 Apr 2016
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
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Quality of Life and Bipolar Disorder
If you have the illness, you know that you suffer emotionally, mentally, socially, and physically.
Medically, the diagnosis is associated with impaired functioning.
For instance, if a woman develops bipolar disorder at the age of 25, she could lose up to 9 years of her life because of cardiovascular and other medical problems.
She may also lose up to 14 years of productivity, and 12 years of good health.
A study by Greg Murray, PhD and Erin E. Michalak, PhD (2007), examined quality of life in patients with bipolar disorder. I take a look at this study in this article, also gleaning information from experience and facts I have received along the way.
The lifetime suicide rates of patients with bipolar disorder (treated or not) is as high as 15%.
Increasingly, studies are trying to access more details about quality of life impairment experienced by people with bipolar disorder.
Quality of life in populations with bipolar disorder appears to fall far below that observed in general population samples.
The medical outcome survey, or SF-36, is the most widely used quality of life measure in the bipolar population to date. Most quality of life studies have been done on populations such as those with unipolar depression.
The SF-36 contains 8 subscales. They assess physical functioning, social functioning, physical role limitations, emotional role limitations, pain, mental health, general health, and vitality.
Results indicate that quality of life in patients with bipolar disorder tends to be significantly compromised in all areas except for physical, compared with the general population.
As noted in the 2007 article, a study from the Netherlands compared SF-36 scores in people with bipolar disorder with scores found in people with a variety of other psychiatric disorders (anxiety disorders, substance abuse issues, depression, and no psychiatric disorder).
The participants with bipolar disorder were significantly more impaired in most SF-36 domains compared to the other participants.
Scores in general health, social functioning, physical roles, and emotional roles were consistently lower in the group with bipolar disorder than the group with unipolar depression; however, those with unipolar disorder showed more impairment in the bodily pain domain.
However, much of the morbidity and mortality in bipolar disorder appears to be in the depressive phase, rather than the defining manic or hypomanic phases.
Among a sample of 129 patients, those who experienced an acute depressive episode or mixed episode were at significantly higher risk for suicide, panic disorder, and psychosis than patients experiencing purely manic episodes.
And, odds of experiencing significant impairment of role functioning with patients with depressive symptoms were 3 to 6 times greater than for those who were not depressed.
Growing evidence for the marked association between depressive episodes and lowered quality of life in patients with bipolar disorder is clinically significant.
This is especially important in that depressive symptoms predominate over manic symptoms in patients with bipolar disorder I and particularly bipolar disorder II .
A large portion of the quality of life challenge therefore evidently stems from the depressive side of bipolar disorder.
One criticism that experts have is that certain elements of bipolar disorder such as financial indiscretion and hypersexuality when hypomanic demand specific instruments not already accounted for.
For this reason, clinicians are now trying to develop disorder-specific scales for bipolar disorder.
These two PhDs who wrote the article developed a scale that measured a variety of factors, including adverse affects of medications, occupation, level of education, environment, and sexuality.
Even though many of the patients were functioning very well despite their diagnosis, they all mentioned several years of hardship and adjustment before getting “back on track”.
The emerging body of research suggests that the factor of quality of life in patients with bipolar disorder should be carefully evaluated and brought into the holistic picture of treatment.
Experts encourage therapists and psychiatrists to continuously evaluate quality of life in patients with bipolar disorder to enrich understanding of patient progress.
With this as a tool, clinicians can tailor treatment regimens, considering the important aspects of a person’s life.
People with bipolar disorder deserve to know more about how to make all facets of their lives better, along with what medicines to take and how to change their thought patterns.
We need guidance on why we aren’t doing well and how to stay well. This would go a long way in prolonging and enriching the lives of those with bipolar disorder.
What is the biggest obstacle you struggle with in the 8 subscales of the SF-36? What do you think your clinicians can do to help you increase your quality of life? What can you do for yourself?
Murray, G., & Michalak, E. E. (2007). Quality of life in patients with bipolar disorder: Defining and measuring goals. Psychiatric Times, Retrieved from http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/bipolar-disorder/content/article/10168/54001?pageNumber=1
Dawkins, K. (2013). Quality of Life and Bipolar Disorder. Psych Central. Retrieved on July 1, 2016, from http://blogs.psychcentral.com/bipolar-life/2013/05/quality-of-life-and-bipolar-disorder/
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Some blind people are able to use the sound of echoes to "see" where things are and to navigate their environment. Now, a new study finds that these people may even be using visual parts of their brains to process the sounds.
The study finds that in two blind men who can echolocate, brain areas normally associated with vision activate when they listen to recordings of themselves echolocating.
To study EB and LB's echolocation abilities, the researchers recorded their clicks and echoes as they sat near an object (in this case, a screen). The researchers then played those clicks and echoes back as the men lay in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. The fMRI measures blood flow to different areas of the brain, providing a real-time look at brain activity.
The researchers found that as the men listened to the echoes, the primary visual area of their brains, known as the calcarine cortex, became more active. When the researchers played sounds with echoes and sounds without echoes, they found that the blind men's calcarine cortex responded based on the presence of echoes, while the auditory cortex, used to process sounds, did not respond differently either way.
The same tests performed on two sighted men without echolocation abilities turned up no such calcarine cortex activity.
Blind people often show reorganized brain processing compared with their sighted counterparts, so more research is needed on larger groups of people to tease out exactly what's going on in the brain, the researchers wrote. Ideally, researchers may be able to compare not just blind echolocaters and sighted non-echolocaters, but also blind people who don't echolocate and sighted people who do.
According to study researcher Stephen Arnott of the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto and his colleagues, the study is a first step in understanding how the brain processes an ability that seemingly melds sound and sight.
"There is the possibility that even in sighted people who learn to echolocate, visual brain areas might be recruited," Arnott said in a statement.
Related on LiveScience:
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Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, the Spanish American War."Remember the Maine" was the battle cry of that war. Only problem was that it was later proven that Spain had nothing to do with the destruction of the battleship. The war was to protect U.S investments, primarily in Cuba. In the process of the war we also took over the Philippines and killed thousands of Filipinos. We wanted the Philippines to guard our investments in Hawaii as well as to have a military site in the Pacific.Originally posted by Dave:
I happen to prefer the Roosevelt approach (Teddy that is).
Sure Dave, send them. I have read a few sites as well as print material. It is a fascinating time period to study.Originally posted by Dave:
If you want to know the real story about the Spanish American War I can give you a number of very interesting references that will explain the real reasons for the conflict.
Users browsing this forum: FAST Enterprise [Crawler] and 9 guests
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