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What is legal research?
"Legal research is the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a problem and concludes with the application and communication of the results of the investigation."
From: J. Myron Jacobstein and Roy M. Mersky, Fundamentals of Legal Research, 8th ed. (Foundation Press, 2002) p. 1.
This article focuses on the process of finding legal documents issued by courts, legislatures and other government entities in the United States
. Finding legal information in the United States can be challenging. Many lawyers use electronic databases such as LexisNexis
to access legal information. However, these resources may not be accessible to all. Special focus is given in this article to finding free legal materials on the Internet. As this article discusses a process, it is somewhat informal in tone.
The next section of this article provides necessary background for understanding the process of legal research. Concepts such as law, legal authority and jurisdiction are taught to law students during their first year in Law School
. The process of legal research is then discussed, followed by discussion of the primary sources of law (cases, statutes, and regulations).
What is the law?
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law defines the law as... Read More
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More info about the name "Dong"
Dong originates in Chinese language and means "born in the east". Initially, it was used as a surname and as a surname it functions until today, mainly in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese languages. As a masculine given name it is very rare in the United States. The Dong People are an ethnic group in China.
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Chronic pain in humans is associated with worse health and a shorter lifespan, but the molecular mechanisms underlying these clinical observations have not been clear. A study published by Cell Press May 22nd in the journal Cell reveals that the activity of a pain receptor called TRPV1 regulates lifespan and metabolic health in mice. The study suggests that pain perception can affect the aging process and reveals novel strategies that could improve metabolic health and longevity in humans.
"The TRPV1 receptor is a major drug target with many known drugs in the clinic that can affect its function," says senior study author Andrew Dillin of the University of California, Berkeley. "Finding that manipulation of this receptor can not only promote a youthful metabolism but also increase lifespan should be highly significant for age-related maladies, diabetes being a major one."
Past research has shown that mice lacking TRPV1 are protected against diet-induced obesity, suggesting that this receptor plays a role in metabolism. Intriguingly, diets rich in capsaicin--the active molecule of chili peppers that can overstimulate and kill TRPV1 neurons--have long been linked to lower incidents of diabetes and metabolic problems in humans. Moreover, disruption of sensory perception increases longevity in worms and flies. But until now, it was not known whether sensory perception also affects aging in mammals.
Addressing this question in the new study, Dillin and his team found that mice genetically manipulated to lack TRPV1 receptors lived on average nearly four months, or about 14%, longer than normal mice. The TRPV1-deficient mice also showed signs of a youthful metabolism late in life, due to low levels of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)--a molecule that increases blood glucose levels and thus could contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. Throughout aging, these mice showed improved glucose tolerance--the ability to quickly clear sugar from the blood--as well as signs that they could burn more calories without exercising more than normal.
Moreover, old mice treated with a compound that inhibits the activity of CGRP receptors showed a more youthful metabolic profile than untreated old mice. "Our findings suggest that pharmacological manipulation of TRPV1 and CGRP may improve metabolic health and longevity," Dillin says. "Alternatively, chronic ingestion of compounds that affect TRPV1 such as capsaicin might help prevent metabolic decline with age and lead to increased longevity in humans."
Cell, Riera et al.: "TRPV1 Pain Receptors Regulate Longevity and Metabolism by Neuropeptide Signaling."
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Janusz Korczak and his Army of Children.
According to the Talmud, the hidden saints are responsible for the welfare of the universe. The righteous are just 36 in number and are amongst us in every generation. At times of danger, they use their hidden powers to defeat enemies, and as mysteriously as they appear, they fade into obscurity.
One of the righteous is Janusz Korczak (1876-1942), a doctor and child psychologist from Warsaw, Poland, whose story I would like to share.
I first read about Dr. Korczak 20 years ago from an article in the New York Times. The accompanying picture was of a young, round-faced girl with a captivating expression. The article described the orphanage where she lived in Warsaw, named for Dr. Korczak, and described the theories of education Dr. Korczak had used with Jewish and Catholic orphans in the 1930s:
He envisioned a world in which children structured their own world and became experts in their own matters.
Peer and staff review maintained order, not harsh discipline or adult supremacy. Every week, a children’s court was scheduled to voice grievances and allow the accused to present evidence and mete out punishment, if necessary.
This reminded me of how Father Edward Flanagan disciplined his beloved urchins at Boys Town USA.
I was intrigued by the piece and wanted to learn more about Dr. Korczak.
Those bygone days were before the Internet and immediate responses to questions. My search entailed calling the Midtown Manhattan Library, which undertook a search of the literature available on this man. The materials that turned up were written primarily in Hebrew and Polish, neither of which was known to me.
Finally, two small booklets, printed in Israel and written in English, came into my hands. Dr. Korczak’s remarkable contributions to child welfare and sacrifice of this unique man rendered the search more than worthwhile.
Dr. Korczak was an exceptional human being and advocate for all children. He was an assimilated Polish Jew who had served in the Russian Army.
Born Henryk Goldszmit in Warsaw, Poland, in 1876, he coined the pen name of Janusz Korczak when, as a young man, he began publishing children’s stories. He went on to become a medical doctor and educator and had a popular radio program in which he offered advice to parents on child rearing.
Eventually, he gave up his medical practice and served as director of the Polish and Jewish orphanages in Warsaw. Never materialistic and disdaining pomp and artifice, he chose to live in a small room at the Jewish orphanage.
Dr. Korczak was known throughout Europe for training teachers in moral education and humanizing orphanages. His theories of education were child-centered and stressed tolerance and patience.
Many visitors came to the orphanage where he resided to observe the famous Dr. Korczak and found it difficult to distinguish him from the domestic staff.
Children sensed Dr. Korczak loved them and wanted to please him.
A shy and socially awkward man, he was most comfortable in their presence. The orphanage was a secure, safe and orderly place—the only home many of the children ever knew, and many remembered their time there as the happiest they ever knew. Eventually, most of the staff was comprised of people who grew up at the orphanages.
When Poland was invaded in 1939, he had many opportunities to emigrate to freedom on a kibbutz in Israel, but it was not in his character to seek personal safety when others had no recourse. Dr. Korczak and devoted members of his staff stayed in Poland, knowing full well those who remained put their own lives in jeopardy.
Soon, thereafter, the orphanage was moved behind the wall of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Dr. Korczak became a master of the black market, securing foodstuffs and medications that were necessary to keep the children as healthy as possible. The staff tried to keep the ghetto orphanage organized and adhered to the same routine that existed on the outside with few exceptions.
The children began to perform in plays that were opened to the public. The material chosen often had an underlying message of courage and fortitude.
August 1942, after two years of near starvation, declining health standards and privation in the ghetto orphanage, the end came. The children were ordered to report to the train station at Umschlagplatz for relocation to the East.
The night before the children were to be led away, they put on a performance of a one-act play by Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore entitled, “The Post Office.”
When Mahatma Gandhi saw this play in Calcutta in 1917, he wrote:
“I did not have enough of it, but what I did have had a most soothing effect upon my nerves which are otherwise always on trial.”
Irish poet W.B. Yates echoed these sentiments, noting:
“On the stage, the little play shows it is very perfectly constructed and conveys to the right audience an emotion of gentleness and peace.”
When Dr. Korczak was asked why he chose the “The Post Office,” he answered, “Eventually one had to learn serenely the angel of death.”
The audience was riveted by the play. Amal, a gentle, imaginative boy who has been adopted by a poor couple, is confined to his room with a serious illness. Forbidden by the village doctor to go outside, he is shut in from the world of nature, like the orphans awaiting an uncertain future.
The children at the orphanage were aware of their real destination; news of the extermination of the Jews had flooded Warsaw. Dr. Korczak and his staff were prepared.
Boldly and courageously, they led the “Army of Children” to overcrowded trains and certain death at Treblinka.
Jehoshua Perle later wrote an eyewitness account in his book, The Destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto:
“A miracle occurred, two hundred pure souls, condemned to death, did not weep. Not one of them ran away. None tried to hide. Like stricken swallows, they clung to their teacher and mentor, to their father and brother, Janusz Korczak.”
The children walked quietly to the station in clean and meticulously cared for clothes. German, Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish policeman fired upon their procession as they walked by them. Perle describes the last march of the orphans foreshadowed the destruction of the ghetto itself.
The memory of that sad day lives on memorialized. The Poles regard Dr. Korczak as a martyr, who, had he been born Catholic, would have been canonized a saint.
The Israelis revere Dr. Korczak as one of the “Thirty-Six Just Men” whose souls make possible the world’s salvation.
And when the notorious Treblinka was transformed from a vast crematorium into a memorial rock garden with 17.000 thousand stones representing the millions of men, women and children that died there, there was only one that was given a personal inscription
Janusz Korczak and the Children.
Prepared by Lorin Arnold / Brianna Bemel
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**Posted by Phineas
I mean, when one of the central tenets(1) of your faith is shown to be wholly, absolutely wrong and all you can do is stand there slack-jawed and watch like a Philistine as the temple comes crashing down around you, it can be a bit… disheartening.
Truth hurts, doesn’t it? (Emphases added)
NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth’s atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted, and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed.
Study co-author Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and U.S. Science Team Leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer flying on NASA’s Aqua satellite, reports that real-world data from NASA’s Terra satellite contradict multiple assumptions fed into alarmist computer models.
“The satellite observations suggest there is much more energy lost to space during and after warming than the climate models show,” Spencer said in a July 26 University of Alabama press release. “There is a huge discrepancy between the data and the forecasts that is especially big over the oceans.”
In addition to finding that far less heat is being trapped than alarmist computer models have predicted, the NASA satellite data show the atmosphere begins shedding heat into space long before United Nations computer models predicted.
The new findings are extremely important and should dramatically alter the global warming debate.
Yeah, you bet they will, if they hold up.(2) Key to the “science” of dangerous man-caused climate change is the idea that the carbon-dioxide man dumps into the atmosphere, rather than being beneficial to plants and otherwise harmless, throws the Earth’s thermostat off and causes dangerous levels of warming — seas rising, ice caps melting, deserts expanding, etc. But not because the CO2 directly warms the atmosphere, though it may do that a teensy bit, but because it traps heat indirectly that should otherwise radiate to space by causing an increase in humidity and cirrus clouds.
See where this is going?
By discovering that the Earth releases far more heat than the UN’s models and releases it far earlier in the process than assumed(3), the central driving mechanism of anthropogenic global warming is shown to be nothing more than a myth, a chimera.
It is shown to be wrong, and with it the whole structure of dangerous man-caused climate change collapses.
Not that this will end this nonsense overnight. Too many people, businesses, and governments have too much false pride, money, and political objectives staked on AGW being true. The British government is enthusiastically driving its economy back into the dark ages in the name of solving a problem that does not exist. The Obama administration is grasping for control over the US economy via EPA regulations meant to control “carbon pollution.” Alarmist scientists are desperate to preserve their reputations and grant money, and companies like GE and BP are investing a lot to profit from the “green technology” that’s supposedly meant to save us from global warming — and in government mandates that force us to use that technology.
Then there’s the question of faith, coming back to the title of this post. For many, “Green” or “Gaea” is a religion, though most might deny it. Full of loathing for capitalism and seeing an out of control climate as fit punishment for what we’ve done to the Earth, it’s important to them that carbon dioxide really be a demon, rather than plant food. Living the “green life,” rather than simply being sensible stewardship of the environment and not fouling one’s own nest, becomes a quest for virtue and atonement. And, like any zealot, they have to make sure we live their faith, too, whether we want to or not.
Thus Spencer and Braswell’s findings have to be devastating to alarmists who stop to think about them, and I almost feel sorry for them. Almost.
(1) Pet peeve: people who either misspell the word as “tenent” or misuse “tenant.”
(2) Yes, if. Science is about testable hypotheses, not consensus or settled science. Spencer and Braswell’s results have to be subjected to falsification.
(3) All the UN/IPCC computer models are based on boatloads of assumption, guesswork, and very little (and that often “adjusted”) empirical data, unlike the study at hand. That’s not science, that’s a rigged game.
(Crossposted at Public Secrets)
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Being a change agent is one of the major roles of the nurse in the health care system. The nurse takes effect on the transformations of different lives, for both ill and well, through the various functions they perform. Chin and Benne in 1985 formulated a theory on the strategies in effecting changes to other people and to one’s self. The General Strategies for Effecting Changes in Human Systems—namely, the Empirical–Rational Strategies, Normative–Re-educative Strategies and Power–Coercive Strategies—which are approaches to realize planned social and organizational change (Añonuevo et al., 2000; Walls, 1976).
Self-interest primarily drives people to act, and they do so rationally (Chin & Benne, 1985). Every individual has the capacity to make decisions and to act—based on one’s will, motivation and perseverance—to change. When the proper information is emphasized in a convincing and engaging way, people will discover the reason of the change and act in line with such intent (Chin & Benne, 1985). Motivation pushes an individual’s desire to change. The nurse can assume the role of instructor-facilitator-motivator.
Credibility and reliability of the change agent are very vital to properly motivate and push a person to truly change. Of course, it would be very difficult (or impossible) to effect change if the agent is not credible and reliable. Brevity, clarity and some level of vigor are also essential factors in the transfer of information.
To ensure accuracy, specialists should gather information, which must reflect up to date methodological methods. Once gathered information is transferred, such process involves a one-way process, where the change agent actively facilitates the transfer, reception and understanding of the information (Chin & Benne, 1985).
Dialogue should support the process of understanding, not changing or redefining the facts as determined and advanced by specialists (Chin & Benne, 1985). Empathy best describes this. The most important principle here is that you want to change the person with thorough understanding, not merely because it is the right thing to do. A person should change not because you want to or he/she needs to and he/she has to, but because it is for his/her own good. Dialogue should not be done with force that must be followed, but an understanding to communicate that you make a person feel the freedom to choose and to decide. Encouragement should always promote democracy and autonomy.
Intelligence is social—not individual—in realm. People are directed in their behaviors by a normative culture, or socially endowed and communicated norms, meanings, and institutions. Within a person, internal values, habits and meaning guide his/her actions. Thus, any change in the behavior or actions is a change, not only in the rational communication tools, but also at the personal level, namely in his/her values and habits. Likewise, any change in a person also affects the social level, bringing forth changes which provide alternatives in institutionalized relationships and roles, normative structures, and perceptual and cognitive orientations (Chin & Benne, 1969).
All those involved in the system of change carry-out transformations based on their own direction (Chin & Benne, 1985). Support system is very vital for a person who wants to realize change. However, change is not easy to attain, and problems are encountered along the way. One way to address this is through a change in values, attitudes, relationships and norms between members of the system, as well as between the system and the external environment (Chin & Benne, 1985). Mutual collaboration is imperative among the members of the health care team in creating the final method to create change—no member of the system should dominate or use power on the others (Chin & Benne, 1985). Parts of the change process that must be assessed include the dynamics of the system (personality, privilege and power) and the deeper level of assumptions (Chine & Benne, 1985). One of the secondary objectives of the change process is to enhance the system’s general skills to manage its own change process in the future (Chin & Benne, 1985).
Power is legal and power has its privileges, so people must respect those in power (Chin & Benne, 1985). The nurse has the legitimate right and power to lead another person’s desire to change. Nurses have the power and responsibility to direct those in the system. In cases of non-compliance to directives, meting out reprimand is necessary (Chin & Benne, 1985).
Observing the organizational structure, particularly following the orders of one’s superior is crucial to address the best interest of the organization. Most mid-level and top-level leaders have more experience, and thus, naturally mean that they know better, if not the best (Chin & Benne, 1985).
Summary and Conclusions
The basic assumption underlying the empirical-rational model is that individuals are rational and will follow their rational self-interest. Thus, if a change “for the better” is suggested, people of good intention will adopt the change. This approach posits that change is created by the dissemination of innovative techniques. A primary strategy of this model is the dissemination of knowledge gained from research.
In the normative-re-educative approach, the individual is seen as one actively in search of satisfying his/her needs and interests. The individual does not passively accept what comes to him/her, but takes action proactively to advance his/her goals. Further, changes are not just rational responses to new information but occur at the more personal level of values and habits. Additionally, the individual is guided by social and institutional norms. The overarching principle of this model is that the individual must take part in his/her own (re-education) change if it is to occur. The model includes direct intervention by change agents, who focus on the client system and who work collaboratively with the clients to identify and solve their problems.
Two strategies are germane to the normative-re-educative model. First is the scheme to focus on improving the problem-solving capabilities of the system. Next is the strategy to release and foster growth in the persons who compose the system. There is no assumption that better technical information can resolve a client’s problems. Rather, the problems are thought more likely to be within the attitudes, values, or norms of various client-system relationships. The assumption of this model is that people are naturally capable and creative and, if obstructions are removed, will rise to their highest potentials. The model’s strategies are based on the potentials that are already inherent in people and the system for change; thus it is not necessary that change be leveraged from outside the system.
The power-coercive approach relies on influencing individuals and systems to change through rules, policies and external leverage, where power of various types is the dominant factors. Power-coercive strategies emphasize political, economic, and moral sanctions, with the focus on using power of some form to “force” individuals to adopt to change. Its perspective is grounded in concepts of power, authority, and competing interests, with an image of negotiation.
“Nothing is constant in this world but change.”
- Añonuevo, C.A. et al. (2000). Theoretical Foundations of Nursing. Los Baños, Laguna: UP Open University, 268–270. Chin, R., & Benne, K.D. (1985).
- General Strategies for Effecting Changes in Human Systems. W.G. Bennis, et al., The Planning of Change 4th Edition. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 22–45. Chin, R. & Benne, K.D. (1969).
- General Strategies for Effecting in Human Systems. W.G. Bennis (ed.), The Planning of Change, 2nd Ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1969), 32–59. Walls, D.S. (1976).
- Models of Poverty and Planned Change: A Framework for Synthesis. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 5(3), 316–325.
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Myrrh is the dried resin of the tree Commiphora myrrha . Native to Somalia and eastern Ethiopia, myrrh has a long history of traditional use in perfumes and incense. Additionally, it has perhaps an equally long history as a medicinal treatment, primarily for conditions of the mouth, such as canker sores , gum disease , halitosis, and sore throat .
What Is Myrrh Used for Today?
Modern herbalists continue to use myrrh for its traditional uses related to the mouth. In addition, it has been advocated for treatment of eczema and stomach ulcers . However, there is no meaningful scientific evidence that the herb provides any benefits when used for these or any other purposes.
When used for mouth conditions, tincture of myrrh may be applied directly to canker sores or inflamed gums. It can also be diluted in water and used as a gargle. When taken internally, a typical dose of myrrh is 1 g of resin 3 times daily.
In studies of myrrh for treatment of schistosomiasis, no significant side effects were identified. However, comprehensive safety studies have not been performed. Maximum safe doses in pregnant or nursing women, or people with severe liver of kidney disease have not been determined.
- Reviewer: EBSCO CAM Review Board
- Review Date: 12/2015 -
- Update Date: 12/15/2015 -
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INTRODUCTION: THE ULSTER STANDPOINT
Like all other movements in human affairs, the opposition of the Northern Protestants of Ireland to the agitation of their Nationalist fellow-countrymen for Home Rule can only be properly understood by those who take some pains to get at the true motives, and to appreciate the spirit, of those who engaged in it. And as it is nowhere more true than in Ireland that the events of to-day are the outcome of events that occurred longer ago than yesterday, and that the motives of to-day have consequently their roots buried somewhat deeply in the past, it is no easy task for the outside observer to gain the insight requisite for understanding fairly the conduct of the persons concerned.
It was Mr. Asquith who very truly said that the Irish question, of which one of the principal factors is the opposition of Ulster to Home Rule, “springs from sources that are historic, economic, social, racial, and religious.” It would be a hopeless undertaking to attempt here to probe to the bottom an origin so complex; but, whether the sympathies of the reader be for or against the standpoint of the Irish Loyalists, the actual events which make up what may be called the Ulster Movement would be wholly unintelligible without some introductory retrospect. Indeed, to those who set out to judge Irish political conditions without troubling themselves about anything more ancient than their own memory can recall, the most fundamental factor of all—the line of cleavage between Ulster and the rest of the island—– is more than unintelligible. In the eyes of many it presents itself as an example of perversity, of “cussedness” on the part of men who insist on magnifying mere differences of opinion, which would be easily composed by reasonable people, into obstacles to co-operation which have no reality behind them.
Writers and speakers on the Nationalist side deride the idea of “two nations” in Ireland, calling in evidence many obvious identities of interest, of sentiment, or of temperament between the inhabitants of the North and of the South. The Ulsterman no more denies these identities than the Greek, the Bulgar, and the Serb would deny that there are features common to all dwellers in the Balkan peninsula; but he is more deeply conscious of the difference than of the likeness between himself and the man from Munster or Connaught. His reply to those who denounced the Irish Government Act of 1920 on the ground that it set up a “partition of Ireland,” is that the Act did not “set up,” but only recognised, the partition which history made long ago, and which wrecked all attempts to solve the problem of Irish Government that neglected to take it into account. If there be any force in Renan’s saying that the root of nationality is “the will to live together,” the Nationalist cry of “Ireland a Nation” harmonises ill with the actual conditions of Ireland north and south of
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May 11, 2010
Restless Legs Syndrome Appears To Occur Within Families
Restless legs syndrome appears to aggregate in families, and the siblings of those who are severely affected appear to have an increased risk of developing the disease, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Restless legs syndrome is primarily based on patient reports of symptoms, including an irresistible desire to move the legs, according to background information in the article. Some previous studies have suggested that the condition clusters in families. "However, there has been a lack of large-scale systematic family studies and of full descriptions of the clinical features of familial restless legs syndrome," the authors write.Lan Xiong, M.D., Ph.D., of the Research Centre of the University of Montreal Hospital Centre, Montreal, Canada, and colleagues studied 671 individuals who met the current standard diagnostic criteria for restless legs syndrome. This included 192 individuals who were assessed at a specialized sleep center and 479 affected family members who responded to a structured questionnaire telephone diagnostic interview.
The condition appeared to aggregate in families, with a familial rate of 77 percent, the authors note. Siblings of an individual with the condition were about 3.6 times more likely to have the disease than those without an affected sibling, and offspring of parents with the condition had 1.8 times the risk.
"Familial restless legs syndrome is a chronic disorder with a mean [average] disease duration of 24 years and a wide range of age of onset (average 28 years), with most family members having early-onset disease but mild to moderate restless legs syndrome symptoms," the authors write. "Our clinical data also indicated that familial restless legs syndrome is more prominent among women who also had increased incidence of anemia/iron deficiency, arthritis and number of pregnancies."
Aggregation of disease in families could be due to genetic influences, environmental effects or the combination of both, the authors note. "The dissection of the underlying genetic and non-genetic composition of the outstanding familial aggregation observed in restless legs syndrome should be interesting to all concerned physicians, geneticists and epidemiologists," the authors write. "An enlarged, prospective population-based family study including exposure to environmental risk factors will allow a more precise quantification and delineation of the familiality of restless legs syndrome."
(Arch Neurol. 2010;67:617-622)
On the Net:
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For Immediate Release
Warren R. Froelich
When confronted with emergencies or natural disasters, such as the wildfires that raged through San Diego and Los Angeles counties last October or the tornadoes that hit the southern U.S. last week, residents often dial 9-1-1 as their first course of action.
Now, UC San Diego researchers from the San Diego Supercomputer Center and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, using 9-1-1 data from these wildfires and other emergency situations, have devised a method to analyze and visually display these calls to detect specific patterns. Their ultimate goal: to assist in developing an early warning system and coordinate responses on a wider scale that could one day save lives and limit property damage.
"Because of the time-critical element within the first responder community, this research could assist emergency service providers and organizations in allocating appropriate levels of both human and financial resources as part of their overall planning," said Chaitan Baru, SDSC Distinguished Scientist and one of the project's principal investigators.
Baru, along with researchers from Scripps Oceanography, developed the pattern-detecting method - a computer algorithm - after analyzing nearly three years of 9-1-1 call data from the San Francisco Bay area, and more than 20 months of similar data from throughout San Diego County.
The data included time/date/length of the emergency calls, how quickly each call was answered, and phone type (i.e. business, residence or wireless). To protect privacy, the 9-1-1 call locations were converted into latitude and longitude coordinates and then dithered, or randomly blurred, so that the precise location could not be recovered.
By combining the call data with topographic images from Google Earth, researchers conducted a spatiotemporal analysis - relating both space and time together - of typical call activity in order to set parameters that would automatically alert viewers of abnormally high call rates. These 'hotspots', or clusters of activity within certain areas and within predetermined lengths of time, were then directly correlated to specific events in those areas such as an earthquake, explosion or fire.
While SDSC researchers have been doing only retrospective analyses based on collected data, it is a vital first step to creating visual analyses in real time and on a much larger geographic scale, which would require supercomputing resources for data storage and graphics.
"We think this kind of research could enable a command center at the state or county level to complement their current 9-1-1 system with advanced visualization techniques and advanced clustering techniques," said Hector Jasso, a data mining specialist and SDSC co-researcher on the project, called "Spatiotemporal Analysis of 9-1-1 Call Stream Data."
Currently, California's 9-1-1 emergency phone system is overseen by the state's Department of General Services. The DGS coordinates with phone services such as Verizon and AT&T to route the calls to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), where an operator either provides direct assistance or redirects the call to an emergency service provider.
Despite a good level of coordination and emergency services response during the recent southern California wildfires, most PSAPs do not have the capability to coordinate visually via computer- generated images with other PSAPs in their area, and there is no system currently in place to automatically reroute an emergency call to another PSAP if the initial point is overloaded. In addition, calls are often transferred multiple times depending on the type of emergency, which affects overall response times.
Baru believes the SDSC/Scripps Oceanography project could also be beneficial to local governments, many of which are wrestling with budget constraints while striving to provide high levels of emergency service. "It could also allow more efficient coordination of similar services across a greater area in the event of a larger scale disaster," he said.
Moreover, the research may be useful in detecting the weaker links in any emergency response system such as dropped calls, or identifying areas that may be vulnerable to communication blackouts. "Creating some kind of load sharing strategy among the PSAPs certainly makes a lot of sense," said William Hodgkiss, a Scripps Oceanography professor and co-PI on the project.
Other participants in the 9-1-1 call analysis project include Tony Fountain, co-PI and SDSC research scientist. Public Safety Network, a Santa Barbara, Calif., company specializing in 9-1-1 emergency call information, also collaborated with researchers on the project. PSN is working at the local, regional and state levels to update and optimize the emergency call infrastructure.
The team will be presenting their latest findings at the URISA/NENA (Urban and Regional Information Systems Association and National Emergency Number Association) conference in Portland, Ore., April 7-10, and the Digital Government Society of North America's international conference to be held in Montreal, Canada, May 18-21.
The Spatiotemporal Analysis of 9-1-1 Call Stream Data research is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
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Spotting the space station, and why its clock ticks slower
In honor of our resumption of space shuttle flight, we are dedicating this column to space. Here are two of my favorite articles from the past — the first published originally in the year 2000 and the second in 2002 — updated to the present day.
Q: It seems that the space station, with its newly installed solar arrays should be visible to the naked eye.
• Is it visible to the naked eye?
• How bright, in comparison to the brightest planets Venus, Mars and Jupiter, is the space station?
• What is the celestial path of the space station and how can we calculate the next possible observation of it?
• When will the next sighting be possible from the northern hemisphere?
A: Yes, it is visible to the naked eye and best seen near dawn or dusk when the Sun lights the International Space Station (ISS) and you are in near darkness.
The Station is brighter sometimes than others, depending on its illumination and distance from us. It has a maximum brightness of -3.0 when it's fully lit and nearest (about 230 miles, i.e., 370 kilometers) to Earth. That's a little brighter than Jupiter (-2.5). When the Station is only halfway lit and 620 miles (1,000 km) distant, it's brightness is only +1.5—about as bright as a dim Mars.
Mars varies in brightness from -3.0 (outshining Jupiter) to +1.6. Venus has a magnitude of -4.4, which is the brightest object in the night sky, except for the full moon (-12.7). We measure star brightness with a logarithmic scale, similar to the way we measure earthquake magnitudes.
The Station's celestial path is an oval-shaped path—an elliptical orbit, which varies from 218 miles (351 km) to 221 miles (356 km) from Earth. Going about 17,200 miles per hour, the Station circles Earth 16 times a day at an inclination (a measure of the tilt of the ISS' orbital plane) of 51.6 degrees to the equator. The Station eventually crosses almost every point on Earth: flying over 85% of the globe and 95% of its population.
Actually, "the height of the ISS varies quite a bit over time due to air drag and corrective reboosts," says Christ Peat of Heavens Above. He built a chart so we can see this effect. Over last year, the height varied between about 217 to 226 miles (350 to 364 km) — repeatedly jumping up with a reboost and decaying back down due to the drag of the atmosphere. The decay rate, however, is not constant due to changes in the density of the "tenuous outer atmosphere", caused mainly by solar activity.
You can get tracking software to calculate the next sighting (see Further Reading) but it's easier to surf the web to any of several tracking sites. I like the Heavens Above site because it not only gives you the next sightings but it also grades the sightings, telling which is brightest.
You just enter the name of your city (or its latitude and longitude) and... Presto! The program displays screens giving several days of sighting times, how to locate the Station each time it passes, and how visible the Station is during the pass.
For example, I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I just had a good sighting on the 18th of July at about 21:45 MT (9:45 p.m.). I looked to the northwest (308 compass degrees) to see the Station rise above the horizon at 21:43:08. I followed the rising satellite to the northwest where it reached its maximum elevation (55 degrees up from the horizon — where 90 degrees is straight up, overhead) for this pass at 21:48:02, and then watched it set in the south at 21:48:43. The program provides all this information so I can tell where and when to look.
The next good one in Albuquerque will be on the 8th of August about 05:35 (5:35 a.m.), rising in the southwest. I can hardly wait.
Same clock, different times
Q: Since time and speed is relative, according to Einstein's theory of relativity, will an atomic clock on the International Space Station be slower than a synchronized atomic clock on the ground? (Yiu Wai Chan)
A: Yes, the clock on the International Space Station (ISS) will tick slower than the earthbound clock because of relativistic effects. However, two effects compete and complicate the picture.
The dominant effect on the ISS clock is, as you surmised, a slow down because the space station zings around Earth. Einstein figured out, back in 1905, that the speed of light is a constant for all frames of reference. Given that, an observer on Earth peering through a telescope at the ISS clock would see it running slow compared with his own clock. This is the same effect (the "time dilation" effect) that allows a returning space farer twin to be much younger than her earthbound sister, after the astronaut spends years blasting through space at near light speeds.
Our genius of the last century, Einstein, however, didn't stop with the Special Theory of Relativity. He went on to develop his General Theory of Relativity, which includes gravity effects. In 1915, he predicted that clocks run slower in high gravity fields. A clock on the Sun would run slower than an Earth clock, for example. Thus, the gravity effect causes the ISS clock to speed up, since the gravity field is slightly less for an object in orbit (more distant) than at the Earth's surface. We have competing effects.
The question is: which effect wins out — the speed or the gravity effect? Interestingly enough, the two effects cancel if you orbit Earth at a radius of 1.5 times Earth's radius. This is pretty far out: about 1,900 miles (3,100 kilometers) high. If the space station were to orbit this high, an observer on Earth peering through his telescope would see the ISS clock and his clock agreeing.
The lower the ISS, the faster it must orbit. Increased speed means a slower clock. Thus, orbiting below that 1900-mile height, speed dominates: the ISS clock ticks slower. Orbiting above 1900 miles high, gravity dominates: the ISS clock ticks faster. The ISS actually orbits only 220 miles (353 kilometers) high so the ISS clock does run slow: About 0.0000000014% slower.
Aerospaceweb.org: Emergency ISS-Shuttle Rendezvous
Discovery Channel: Inside the space station
Heavens Above, tracking site
NASA orbit trajectories and tracking software,
Austin Astronomical Society: How to estimate angles in the sky
ESA: Space station and useful terminology
NASA: International Space Station press kit
NASA: International Space Station
NASA/JPL: Primary Atomic Reference Clock in Space
April Holladay, science journalist for USATODAY.com, lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A few years ago Holladay retired early from computer engineering to canoe the flood-swollen Mackenzie, Canada's largest river. Now she writes a column about nature and science, which appears Fridays at USATODAY.com. To read April's past WonderQuest columns, please check out her site. If you have a question for April, visit this informational page.
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Hence, to demagnetize a magnet what you need to do is to cause disorder to the
... Similarly when we hammer or drop the magnet many times on the floor, the ...
is used to produce the magnetic field for recording becomes a strong magnet in ...
You would have to re-magnetize the magnet again, either in a solenoid or with ...
is transmitted through the material via a shock, such as being dropped or hit ...
Jan 30, 2014 ... When we say that magnets can become demagnetized, we mean that ... could
drop a magnetized nail several times (as refrigerator magnets ...
Nails and other steel objects can become magnetized when exposed to a
magnet. ... However, exposure to strong magnetic fields cause many of these
atoms to ...
As you heat further, individual spins within domains become more likely to point
opposite to ... Cooling the material will cause magnetic domains to form again at
the Curie .... As also explained in elevated temperatures induce demagnetization.
Apr 7, 2007 ... Permanent magnets can be demagnetized in the following ways: ... A magnet
being placed in a solenoid which has an alternating current being passed ...
range ordering disrupted, in much the same way that direct current can cause
ordering. .... just hit it with a hammer very hard or drop it down many times
Magnets cause this maglev train to speed along its track. .... If you stroke an iron
nail with a bar magnet, the nail will become a permanent (or at least ...
Permanent magnets can be demagnetized, however, if they are dropped or
heated to high ...
After the temperature drops below this value, it will still behave as it did before it
... Tcurie is the Curie temperature at which the magnet will become
demagnetized. ... cup with ice and adding just enough water to cause the ice to
start to float.
Steel can be magnetized to a certain degree by placing the bar N-S and
hammering it. Ships become magnetised in this way during manufacture, as the
... Hammering or even dropping a powerful magnet may cause the loss of some
of its ... Im actually looking for “electrical method of magnetization and
know that magnets can stick to things without directly touch- ing them—such as
.... The Cause of Magnetism. Some materials ... Dropping a magnet or hitting it
too hard can move the ... example, you can magnetize an iron nail if you rub it in
one direction ... the domains of the paper clip become scrambled again. Figure 6
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Linguistics 110 Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology
Also, if you find broken links or outdated or misleading information on this page, please send me an email.
The course syllabus has links to all of the handouts and lecture slides, as well as some section
handouts, and the homework assignments.
Get a detailed description of the course project
Get a copy of a final exam from a previous year..
|Sept. 11||Homework 1 is due.|
|Sept. 16||Homework 2 is due.|
|Sept. 23||Course project interim report is due.|
|Sept. 30||Homework 3 is due.|
|Oct. 14-18||Production exam (by appointment).|
|Oct. 21||Midterm exam.|
|Oct. 28||Homework 4 is due.|
|Nov. 25||Homework 5 is due.|
|Dec. 13, 5 pm.||Term Paper is due.|
|Dec. 19, 7-10 pm||Final Exam (location TBA)|
Visit the Course in Phonetics web page for sound files and movies related to A Course in Phonetics and much more.
Here are two examples of exceptionally good term project reports.
Will Chang project report
Daniel Bruhn project report
(many thanks to Will and Daniel for granting permission to post their papers here).
WaveSurfer - an open sourse tool for sound visualization and
manipulation. I like this one better than Praat.
2. Or download the Praat speech analysis software package.
3. Check out Keith Johnson's youtube channel.
1. The IPA website has a great tool for listening to the sounds of the IPA.
2. Hear Peter Ladefoged demonstrate the sounds on the IPA chart.
3. Here's a link to voice coach Paul Meier's IPA charts.
4. Get the SIL IPA phonetic fonts.
5. See the Course in Phonetics "extras" page for phonetic illustrations from around the world, extra transcription exercises, and MRI and ultrasound movies of the speaking vocal tract.
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Is time running out? In the certification world, TIC has a completely different meaning. What exactly is a tentatively identified compound (TIC), and what does this mean for you?
In the past, the detection of TICs extracted from drinking water treatment components and units was relatively uncommon. Advancements in technology and accuracy of instrumentation, however, have increased the sensitivity for detecting more compounds in test samples. Additionally, the recent rush to take manufacturing abroad has also led to a significant increase in the amount of TICs being detected.
If you have gone through NSF/ANSI standard certification, you undoubtedly have heard the acronym TIC.
When a product is undergoing the rigorous testing to meet the NSF/ANSI standards, extraction testing is required. The extraction testing protocol varies in length as well as type of water used to conduct the test based on a couple different factors.
The type of product that is being certified as well as the standard to which the product, component or chemical is being certified will dictate the precise protocol to be followed for extraction testing; however, the general concept that all extraction tests follow, regardless of product or standard type, remains the same. An extraction test quite simply can be described as the soaking of a product in water and analyzing the extraction water to ensure that the product itself does not introduce any harmful contaminants into the water.
When the chemical analysis is conducted, precision instruments such as a gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer are used to perform analysis of compounds in the test samples. While an initial toxicology review dictates analysis of some specific compounds based on the product composition, much of the chemical analysis is conducted by performing a general scan of regulated chemicals. For example, a volatile organic compound (VOC) scan is employed to target hundreds of thousands of organic compounds.
The NSF/ANSI standards include lists of acceptable levels for many of the chemicals that are evaluated within these scans; however, the scans also provide results for compounds that are not on the NSF/ANSI lists, and these are referred to as tentatively identified or unknown compounds.
In order to identify the compounds, their results are compared against results for hundreds of thousands of known compounds contained in databases. If the unidentified compound matches a known compound with high certainty, then the compound is tentatively identified as that known compound. If a match cannot be determined through this search, then the un-identified compound is classified as an unknown.
Once you understand where these TICs may evolve from, it is very easy to understand the reason you may see them on your extraction test reports. TICs can be detected from the materials the product is made out of—from artifacts that remain after shipment to the lotion used on a line worker’s hands when putting together a product—or even from the cleaning supplies used when the factories clean their equipment. The extraction water analysis is typically being reported to parts per billion and even parts per trillion. While these levels seem insignificant, it is imperative to understand that carcinogenic compounds have the ability to cause harmful effects even at levels this low.
When You Have TICs
So what happens when TICs have extracted from your unit? The first step is for the analytical laboratory to ensure that the TICs reported are accurate. Because TICs are tentatively identified, the analytical chemists must verify that the compounds are matched to a known compound with a high level of certainty. Once certainty has been determined, the TICs must undergo evaluation by a qualified toxicologist to determine if a safe level can be established for the TIC.
While some TICs are listed in the NSF/ANSI standards for comparison, many of the TICs are not listed and require scrutiny to verify how much of the compound is safe for human consumption.
In order to establish safe levels, toxicologists perform exhaustive research regarding a TIC’s chemical structure and its similarity to chemicals that have been evaluated for human exposure. Numerous articles and studies are accessed and compared, and then logical, qualitative assessments are made regarding the historical studies. From there, the toxicologist will make a recommendation regarding what concentration of the TIC would be safe for human consumption. If the TIC concentration from the product is below the safe level set by the toxicologist, the product will meet the requirements of the standard. If the concentration of the TIC is above the safe level, the product will require modification and retesting.
Certainly questions may be raised regarding the accuracy of the toxicologist and what allows any given toxicologist to make these kinds of evaluations and decisions. Each year, a peer review panel meets to discuss the work of fellow toxicologists to ensure accuracy and continued dedication to public health. In essence, the toxicologist’s work is reviewed to provide assurance that the work being completed is accurate.
TIC, TIC, TIC
TIC is the dreaded outcome from extraction testing. Of course, while no one likes to hear that their product extracts any TICs, at least now you know that just because there is a TIC, it does not automatically mean you have failed the testing. It simply means that a qualified toxicologist will become involved and take the needed step of protecting public health. With the expertise of toxicologists in the industry, TICs can be considered just another step toward certification as opposed to a stumbling block.
Author’s Note: The procedures noted in this article may not represent the precise process each certification agency uses when TICs are detected. These procedures accurately reflect the procedures used by the Water Quality Association (WQA). Currently, Thomas Palkon, director of product certification for the WQA, is chairing a committee to work with all certification agencies and public health officials to come up with a single procedure for all certification agencies to use regarding TIC extractants.
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Sustainable Photovoltaics – Foundations and Technology
The Institute of Energy Research 5 – Photovoltaic (IEK-5) focusses on researching new materials and innovative device architectures for sustainable photovoltaics based on thin films. The IEK-5 deals with the fundamental physics of partly disordered materials used in solar cells. These can be amorphous or microcrystalline silicon and its alloys, organic or hybrid (organic-inorganic) materials or various functional oxides. In addition, components and devices for new applications such as passivation and contact layers for high efficiency silicon heterojunction solar cells or multijunction solar cells for efficient water splitting are developed. At the same time, the IEK-5 develops the technology to fabricate solar cells with a particular focus on the industrial application and on issues of scaling up the technology. A central requirement for the successful development of materials, devices and production technology is an extensive set of characterization methods and simulation capabilities that are used to analyze the optoelectronic properties of thin-film materials and related devices. These activities include all relevant length scales from atomistic resolution of nanostructures and elementary processes up to the yield analysis of modules or photovoltaic systems.
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1. What is the Lindbergh kidnapping?
The Lindbergh kidnapping is a famous crime from the early part of the century that was, at the time, dubbed the trial of the century.
2. What is the difference between what the trial of the Lindbergh kidnapping centered on and what the story at the beginning of the book centers on?
The trial centered on the accused kidnapper, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, while the story at the beginning of the book claims that a boy, twelve years old, committed the crime.
3. What has happened to the claims, over the years, that Hauptmann wasn't the real kidnapper in the Lindbergh kidnapping?
Over the years, many people have claimed that Hauptmann wasn't the real kidnapper in the Lindbergh kidnapping; however, there has never been any evidence produced to show otherwise.
4. What does the introduction of the Lindbergh kidnapping at the beginning of the book suggest?
The use of the Lindbergh kidnapping at the beginning of the book suggests that the story of the book will center around the kidnapping of a child.
This section contains 2,400 words
(approx. 8 pages at 300 words per page)
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1 Answer | Add Yours
I tend to think that Thomas Gradgrind is one of the strongest symbols in Dickens' work. Dickens uses Gradgrind as the fundamental example of rationalist thought. Gradgrind is a symbol of the rationalist and industrialist setting. Dickens uses him as a symbol as all that is wrong with the individuals who take rationalism and industrialist thought to its logical conclusion. Dickens uses his character as a symbol of that which is wrong or limited with believing only in utilitarian thought, as driven by industrialism and rationalism. For Dickens, Gradgrind is a symbol. He is reflective of the beliefs pervading the social order of the time. Dickens uses him as a way to ensure that others understand the implications belief in such potent philosophies to an extent where no other thought can enter. It is for this reason that Gradgrind is someone that is seen in a sad light by the end of the novel. He is symbolic of the limitations of a world where industrialist thought and rationalism are taken to its extreme, a world where "fact not fancy" is the only guiding principle within it.
We’ve answered 327,777 questions. We can answer yours, too.Ask a question
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|Education Services home page|
ABS Video Tutorials
|These video tutorials will familiarise you with a range of ABS products that are useful in the classroom. You can view transcripts of each segment by clicking on the triangle next to its heading.|
On this page:
Includes: A brief introduction to, and aim of, the tutorial ABS Resources for Teachers.
|Segment 1: Tutorials Introductory Video|
Duration: 0:33 seconds
Tutorials Introductory Video
Includes: Introduction to the Census topics as well as what is not included in the video segments.
|Segment 2: Introductory video for Census topics|
Duration: 0:39 seconds
Size: 1.96 MB
Introductory video for Census topics
Includes: Searching for key summary Census data using QuickStats.
|Segment 3: Census product - QuickStats
QuickStats is designed to provide users with a summary of key Census statistics for a specific area and basic comparisons to Australian data. Start at the ABS homepage, click on 'Census Data' on the left hand navigation menu. Find 'QuickStats' in the body of the page and choose which year’s Census data you want displayed. You can search for a location by using any of the above tabs. Select a location from a series of lists or choose a location from a map. In this example we will type in ‘Fairfield’. Click on the ‘Search’ button and a list of all the places that include ‘Fairfield’ have come up. Click on the scroll bar and drag down to view all locations for your search.
If you’re having trouble choosing a location, click on the Information icon above your location search results list. This page contains descriptions of all the geographies available, to help you make your selection. Select your area of interest from the list. We will select 'Fairfield Local Government Area'. Once a selection has been made, a map appears to check it is the wanted area. If you are happy with the selection, click on the 'View QuickStats' button. You will see the major characteristics, such as population and country of birth, are displayed for your chosen area. For each characteristic, comparisons are also made to Australia as whole. A descriptive commentary on the characteristics is available at the bottom of each data table. Note the Information Icons against the Census Topics. Clicking on the icon will take you to further information about a particular Census variable.
QuickStats data are available for geography areas as large as Australia as well as local government areas, state suburbs and postal areas. Please note QuickStats only shows selected Census topics and the top 5 results for that topic. If you’re after more detailed data, you may prefer to use Census Tables instead. QuickStats is a great resource when students are studying their local community. Why not ask students to make a fact sheet or profile of their chosen area, using a QuickStats report.
Duration: 3:34 minutes
Size: 8.04 MB
Census product - QuickStats
Includes: Using MapStats to find Census data for your area of interest, that can be visually explored.
|Segment 4: Census product - MapStats|
Duration: 2:50 minutes
Size: 9.6 MB
Census product - MapStats
Includes: How to find Census data for your area of interest using Community Profiles.
|Segment 5: Census product - Community Profiles
Community Profiles allow you to investigate a diverse range of Census topics from six different perspectives. Each profile looks at a different population or respondent location and presents a comprehensive statistical picture of a particular area.
Start at the ABS website homepage and click on 'Census Data' on the left hand navigation menu. Find 'Community Profiles' in the body of the page and choose which year’s Census data you want displayed. As with QuickStats and MapStats, search for a geographic area by using one of the above tabs. In this example we will type in a keyword to search for our area of interest. Select a specific location from the results list. Scroll down to view all locations for your search. Let’s select Wyndham Local Government Area.
Once a selection has been made, a map of the chosen area appears. Check it is the wanted area. If it is, click on ‘View Community Profiles’. Depending on the area you select, there may be up to 6 types of Community Profiles available: the Basic Community Profile, the Indigenous profile, Time Series profile, Place of Enumeration profile which refers to the location of respondents on Census night, the Expanded Community profile which provides more detailed data than the Basic Community profile, and the Working Population profile.
Click on the Downloads tab to find the downloadable files for each profile. Open the profile you want to explore by clicking on the 'Free Download' link. You can choose to save the file to a specified location or simply ‘Open’ the file and save it later. The community profile will open in an Excel spreadsheet with a list of Tables. The tabs at the bottom provide links to further table topics, concepts and definition and individual tables. If you want to know more about this Census product, a separate tutorial on Community Profiles is available from the ABS suite of self-directed learning videos.
Duration: 2:45 minutes
Size: 7.58 MB
Census product - Community Profiles
Includes: How to find detailed Census data for your area of interest and downloading a Census table.
|Segment 6: Census product - Census Tables|
Duration: 4:56 minutes
Size: 13.5 MB
Census product - Census Tables National Statistics for Commerce and Economic teachers
Includes: Introduction to national statistics tutorials for Commerce and Economics teachers.
|Segment 7: Introductory video - National Statistics for Commerce and Economic teachers|
Duration: 0:23 seconds
Size: 1.13 MB
Introductory video - National Statistics for Commerce and Economic teachers
Includes: Finding Key National Indicators on the ABS website and a demonstration of how to access source publications.
|Segment 8: Key National Indicators
Start at the ABS home page. Note the quick links on the left hand navigation menu to access main economic indicators. If you need the latest CPI, Labour Force and National Accounts data, you can access them from here under National Statistics. A good starting point is Key National Indicators.
Key National Indicators present summary tables and graphs on the latest economic and social measures including GDP, CPI, Unemployment and Average Weekly Earnings. The link opens in the Summary tab. You will find tables of key economics and social indicators, and links to the full publication sources of this summary data. Note the summary data includes the latest figures for each indicator, as well as the percentage change from the previous quarter and the percentage change from the corresponding period last year.
Summary tables are a very useful resource for your class as they are easy to find and provide a quick snapshot of the latest key national data. You can switch to 'Graphs' for the same information in graphical form. Similarly, you can access links to source publications from this page. For example, click on the 'Labour Force' hyperlink and then open the publication Labour Force, Australia (cat # 6202.0). As with all ABS publications, it will open on the Summary page.
For more detail go to the Download tab and download the full publication in PDF format or open one of the Excel tables if you’re after a particular dataset. If you would like to view the Glossary, click on the Explanatory Notes tab. In most ABS publications, this is where you will find a brief introduction of the publication as well as a glossary of terms.
Duration: 2:25 minutes
Key National Indicators
Includes: Finding Consumer Price Index (CPI) on the website and a demonstration of how to access a CPI education resource from the ABS Education pages.
|Segment 9: Consumer Price Index|
Duration: 2:41 minutes
Size: 7.63 MB
Consumer Price Index
Includes: A demonstration of the National Accounts themes page and how to find quarterly and annual GDP data.
|Segment 10: National Accounts|
Duration: 2:46 minutes
Size: 8.41 MB
Key Products for Teachers
Includes: A description of some of the main features of the Australian Social Trends publication and where to find it on the ABS website.
|Segment 11: Australian Social Trends|
Duration: 3:09 minutes
Size: 9.00 MB
Australian Social Trends
Includes: How to find the Measures of Australia's progress publication and a brief demonstration of key features.
|Segment 12: Measure of Australia's Progress|
Duration: 3:02 minutes
Size: 8.75 MB
Measures of Australia's Progress
Includes: How to find the Yearbook Australia series and a brief demonstration of key features.
|Segment 13: Yearbook Australia|
Duration: 1:39 minutes
Size: 5 MB
This page last updated 19 June 2013
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According to the recent study, men who become fathers around age 25 have a 68 percent higher increase of depression compared to those who waited to have children at older ages. The depression or depression symptoms really hit hard during men’s first five years of being dads- especially if they live in the same household as their child or children. Researchers found in case studies that dads who didn’t live in the same household with their children didn’t show as much depression than their counterparts who’re living in the same household with their children.
Parents who’re showing signs of depression have already affected their children, and it does have a detrimental effect on children, especially during their first years of development. Even at children’s first few years, the parent and infant attachment is imperative, and the health of the parent is key in the health of the baby.
CDC (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) are reporting six most probable depression symptoms which have been reported as: changes in sleep pattern, eating patterns have changed, and changes in energy level; problems with concentrating or in thinking, and making decisions; being in a sad mood; loss of interest in fun activities or that once excited you; a feeling of worthlessness or carrying shame or guilt; and having thoughts that life isn’t worth living.
Researchers analyzed a collection of data from 10,623 men who participated in the study, and used 20 years of information provided by following dads at different stages of fatherhood, which was revealed in the study at the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
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Ask a complete question, like "How do I obtain my transcripts?"
GRADUATE PASS/FAIL (S/F)
- Graduate students registered for a course on a pass/fail basis will receive either a grade of S or F.
- A grade of S denotes the student has passed the course; a grade of F indicates failure.
- Grades of F count in computing grade point averages; S grades do not count. Instructors decide what constitutes a grade of pass for their courses.
- Workshops may be taken on a pass-fail basis. Other courses made available by departments on a pass-fail only basis are so indicated in advance in the Course Offerings portion of the Schedule of Classes.
- Since the decision whether a course taken on a pass-fail basis will count in a degree program rests with the major or emphasis department or college, students should attain appropriate permission prior to taking a course pass/fail.
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The Order of the Temple Service
Temple Functions and the Kohanim
A. The Kohen Gadol (High Priest)
1. From the time of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) through the time of the Second Temple, one Kohen was appointed by the Sanhedrin, the high court, to be the Kohen Gadol - the chief of the Kohanim. The Torah refers to the Kohen Gadol as the Kohen who is great (gadol) from among his brothers (Vayikra 21:10). From this we learn that the qualifications for this most honoured position included his being stronger, wealthier, wiser, and more handsome than his brother Kohanim. If an otherwise qualified candidate lacked wealth, the other Kohanim gave from their wealth to make him the wealthiest.
2. At the death of the Kohen Gadol, his son or next of kin was appointed in his place provided the relative was himself a worthy replacement.
3. A new Kohen Gadol would be initiated in a seven-day ceremony. Each day of the ceremony, he would be dressed in the eight garments of the Kohen Gadol and, when it was available, anointed with a specially prepared oil. When the oil was not available, wearing the garments would be sufficient to consecrate him. The new Kohen Gadol was required to bring a special Inauguration Mincha Offering upon entering his new position.
4. The Kohen Gadol acquired an extra level of holiness as was reflected in the additional Mitzvot associated with his office. For example, he was required to be married and, if he married while in office, he could only marry a virgin. He was not allowed to become spiritually impure through contact with death even for his closest relatives.
Another expression of his added holiness was that the Kohen Gadol was given quarters in the Temple complex and generally remained in the Mikdash all day.
5. The Kohen Gadol had the option of performing any or all of the duties in the Mikdash. He could choose, for example, to offer the Incense or Light the Menorah, to process any Korban, or take for himself any of the sacrificial portions eaten by the Kohanim.
6. The Kohen Gadol was responsible for the spiritual level of the Jewish People. He needed to pray for Divine mercy for his generation that no evil or misfortune befell. He bore the moral weight of the people on his shoulders and chest -- symbolized by the gemstones he wore displaying the names of the tribes of Israel.
7. On Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol alone performed all the essentials of the Service. He personally processed all of the sixteen animal offerings of the day. On this holiest of days, the Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies to offer the Incense before the place of the Holy Ark. The Service of Yom Kippur through the efforts of the Kohen Gadol brought atonement and spiritual cleansing for the people.
B. The Temple Administration
The Mikdash was a very busy place which required a thorough and efficient organization. The Kohanim families were organized in Mishmarot - service groups, and Batei Avot - family houses, each with its particular chief executive officer. The Temple administration was a hierarchical one descending in authority from the Kohen Gadol. The assistance to the Kohen Gadol was the Segan. Under the Segan was his assistant under whom were seven supervisors who held the keys to the inner courtyard. Three treasurers oversaw the donations and financial obligations of the Temple. Various essential operations of the Temple required full time officials and their staff. In the Second Temple, the following officiated:
a. The official time manager. He announced the times of the offerings for the Kohanim, Leviim, and Yisraelites to be prepared for their particular duties.
b. The official gatekeeper. Only upon his order were the gates of the Temple opened and closed accompanied by three trumpet blasts.
c. Chief of the watchmen. The Temple was guarded in three inner areas by Kohanim and in twenty-one outer areas by Leviim. Each night he would check on the guards. If he found anyone asleep on the watch, he could strike them or even set fire to their cloaks.
d. The choral master. He chose the Leviim who were to stand on the platform in the Inner Courtyard to recite Psalms accompanied by music while certain Communal Offerings were brought. At his signal, the music began.
e. The orchestra conductor. He appointed the players of musical instruments to accompany the Leviim singers.
f. Administrator of the draws. The Kohanim were appointed to their particular services through the use of a system of draws or lotteries. He was responsible for the four draws which took place each day.
g. The manager of bird offerings. He provided the doves and pigeons purchased by people wishing to bring a bird offering. He was regularly reimbursed by the Temple treasurer.
h. The director of the voucher system. When someone wished to bring an offering of either an animal or Mincha - flour and oil or wine - he would pay for the required items and receive a voucher. He would then present this voucher to have his particular offering processed by the Kohanim.
i. Gastrointestinal specialist. A stomach doctor and staff were required to treat the Kohanim who became ill due to the large quantities of meat they ate and the chill they contacted by going barefoot and wearing only relatively lightweight Kohen garments.
j. A water expert. His job was to provide sufficient clean water for the Temple use as well as for the residents and millions of visitors to Jerusalem each year.
k. The supervisor of the Showbread preparation. He oversaw the preparation and baking of the twelve loaves of Showbread which were placed on the Golden Table in the Sanctuary.
l. The supervisor of the Incense preparation. He was the keeper of the secret formula for the mixing and preparation of the Ketoret which was offered daily on the Inner Golden Altar.
m. The chief of tapestry weavers. There were thirteen very large woven curtains hanging at the various doorways in the Second Temple. Two of these, those above the entrance to the Holy of Holies, were replaced with new ones each year. The weaving of these enormous tapestries required great skill.
n. The supervisor of the Kohanims garments. He oversaw the weaving of the special clothing for the Kohanim as well as its distribution and storage.
The well-dressed Kohen - the Clothing of the Kohanim
1. The garments of the Kohanim were to be for honour and beauty (Shemot 28L2). They were to be physically beautiful and honourable to those who wore them. In particular, they were to give honour to G-d in Whose house and in Whose service they were worn.
2. There were three types of Kohanims garments:
a. the four garments of the regular Kohen
b. the eight garments of the Kohen Gadol
c. the four white garments worn by the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur.
3. The very making of the Kohens garments is itself a Mitzvah. They were made with materials purchased with public funds and woven to the particular measurements of each Kohen. The garments were woven completely on a loom rather than being sewn together, except for the sleeves of the Tunic. Each thread of the weave was spun from six separate strands. The following are the materials which were used in the making of the garments:
a. bod - natural white linen derived from the soaked and beaten stalk of the flax plant.
b. techelet - wool dyed dark sky-blue using a dye obtained from a Hilazon, a sea mollusk.
c. argamon - wool dyed scarlet red
d. tolat sheni - wool dyed dark red using a dye obtained from a type of worm.
4. The following are the garments of the regular Kohen:
a. ktonet - Tunic. The Tunic was a long pullover garment which reached to the Kohens ankle. The sleeves reached to the palm of his hand. It was made from linen in a textured weave.
b. michnasayim - pants. Linen knee-length pants were worn under the Tunic. They fastened at the waist by means of a drawstring.
c. Magbat - Turban. The head covering was formed from a strip of white linen which was approximately 8 yards long and 2 inches wide. This strip was wrapped to form a cone-shaped hat.
d. Avnet - Belt. The belt was a strip of material about 16 yards long and 2 inches wide wrapped outside the Tunic just below the level. The belt was made from pure linen or was an admixture of linen and wool.
5. The eight garments of the Kohen Gadol were known as the Golden Garments. Four of these were basically the same as the four garments of the regular Kohen. Those garments specific to the Kohen Gadol were as follows:
a. meil - This garment was similar to a long version of the Talit Katan which is worn today. It reached down to a few inches above the bottom of the Tunic. It was woven from twelve-stranded threads of pure sky-blue wool. At its bottom edge was an alternating series of small golden bells and woven pomegranates.
b. Ephod - This was a long vest or apron-like garment. It was worn above the Meil. At each shoulder was attached a gemstone. Inscribed on each gemstone were the names of six of the tribes of Israel. The Ephod was woven from seven-stranded threads of each of the four materials interwoven with a strand of gold to create a tapestry-like effect.
c. Hoshen - Breastplate. This remarkable garment was woven in the same manner as the Ephod. The Breastplate was rectangular in shape, about 18 inches long and nine wide. On its upper half were four rows of gold settings in which were mounted 12 gemstones. On each of the gemstones, was engraved the name of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. The bottom half was folded under to form a pocket into which were placed the Urim and Tumim. These were written names of G-d which gave the gemstones the energy to light up in response to questions posed to the Kohen Gadol who was wearing it. The Breastplate was attached by gold chains to the Ephod and was attached at the waist by two strands of sky-blue wool.
d. Tzitz - Golden Headband. This was a narrow string of gold which was worn on the forehead. It extended above one ear to the other. The phrase Holy to G-d was written on it in elevated letters. The Headband was tied to the Kohen Gadols forehead by means of sky-blue ribbons which were attached to the ends and at the middle of the Headband passing over the Kohens Turban.
6. For the Yom Kippur Service, the Kohen Gadol wore a set of four white linen garments. These were of the same types as the garments of the regular Kohen, but made of a specially prepared pure white linen.
7. The Kohen was only allowed to wear precisely these garments during his service. If he wore any other garment or lacked one of the required garments, his service was invalid. The garments also had to be worn with no extraneous object interfering between them and the Kohens body. While serving, Kohanim were allowed to wear head tefillin, but not arm tefillin.
8. The Kohen was required to don his garments in a specific order. The Regular Kohen first put on the Pants while still wearing his non-sanctified clothing. He then put on the Tunic and wrapped his belt around it. Lastly, he put on his Turban.
The Kohen Gadol would dress in his Pants, Tunic and Belt. Afterwards, he placed the Meil over these. He then dressed in the ephod tying it at the waist. He would then attach the Breastplate to the Ephod and tie its waistband. He would then place his turban on his head. Finally, he would place the Headband on his forehead.
9. Not only were the Kohens garments manufactured and worn according to exacting standards, but they were to be maintained to high standards as well. This was true to such an extent that if the garments were ill fitting, torn or soiled, the Service performed while they were worn was rendered invalid.
The garments of a regular Kohen, which became unsuitable for the Service, were made into wicks. The Pants and Belts were used for the large oil lamps of the Outer Courtyard and the Tunics for the Golden Menorah. The used garments of the Kohen Gadol were put away, never to be used again.
10. There was no footwear in the Temple. The Kohens feet had to be in direct contact with the floor of the sanctified areas. As with Moshe at the burning bush and Joshua in G-ds presence, wherever the Shechina, the Divine Presence is manifest, it is necessary to go without shoes.
11. The Kohens garments had spiritual qualities in themselves. Each garment was in itself an atonement for the sins of the people. The Tunic atones for wrongful shedding of blood. The Pants atones for immodest behaviour. The Turban atones for arrogance. The Belt atones for improper thoughts. The wearing of these unique garments was a necessary requirement for the Temple Service.
Only when a Kohen was dressed in his proper uniform was he permitted to serve in the Temple and any service performed by an improperly dressed Kohen was invalid.
Requirements for Kohanim to Service in the Temple.
1. The Sanhedrin HaGadol, the Supreme Court of the Jewish People, was located in the Temple complex. Among their main activities were to rule on topics connected with the Temple Service and to determine the genealogical suitability and fitness for service of the Kohanim. If the Sanhedrin, upon concluding its investigation, did not disqualifying a Kohen, he would dress in white and wrap himself in white (garments of a Kohen) and enter the Sanctuary to serve with his brother Kohanim.
A celebration would be made on a day that the Sanhedrin found no disqualifications among the Kohanim. thus they would say Bless be G-d, blessed be He, that no disqualification has been found in the sons of Aharon. Blessed be He who chose Aharon and his sons to stand and serve before Him in His most Holy Temple (Mishna Midot, 5:4).
2. Disqualifying Physical Blemishes
a. A Kohen, as a representative of G-d before the People and of the People before G-d, needed to be physically whole and without blemish to serve in the Temple. The Temple was a place of perfection, of raising physical life to the spiritual plane. Therefore, the Kohanim, as agents of this process, needed to be free of physical imperfections as well. Just as the Service vessels had to be whole and undamaged, so too the Kohen.
b. Source - He who has a blemish shall not approach to make offerings to G-d (Vayikra 21:17).
c. Both permanent and temporary blemishes disqualified the Kohen from serving. If a blemished Kohen did serve inside the holy area of the Temple, his service was disqualified and he was liable to be lashed.
d. If a Kohen who, although genealogically sound, was found to possess a physical blemish, he was assigned the task of checking wood outside the Inner Temple area. He was nonetheless entitled to a full share in eating the Kohens portions of the Offerings.
e. The list of disqualifying blemishes was a extensive one. According to Maimonides, based on the Mishna and Talmud, there was a total of 140 disqualifying blemishes: 90 unique to man and 50 which also disqualified sacrificial animals.
The general principle was that any abnormality of any bodily feature, even one involving a part of the body which is usually covered, would disqualify a Kohen. Only external blemishes would disqualify a Kohen, but not an abnormality in an internal organ.
f. In addition to such obvious conditions as a missing or deformed limb, bodily disqualifications include, for example, a completely bald head, a complete lack of facial hair, mismatched features, and a nose which is too long or too short. Generally, the right sized nose is equal to the length of the persons little finger.
g. Also a defect in some physical features, such as missing teeth, may disqualify a Kohen due to the problematic appearance it creates. It is told of Rabbi Kahaneman, a Kohen and the founder of the Ponevitch Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, that even at the age of eighty, he refused to have a painful tooth removed, not wanting to create a possible disqualifying blemish, in the hope that the Temple Service would be restored in his lifetime.
3. The list of factors which invalidate the Temple Service is not limited to the genealogy and the physical condition of the Kohen. According to Maimonides, the Temple Service is invalid if it is performed by:
a. one who is not genealogically a Kohen
b. one who has practiced idolatry
c. one who has one of the 140 specific physical blemishes
d. one who not circumcised
e. one who is spiritually impure
f. one who, having purified himself, must still wait until sunset before serving
g. one who, having purified himself, must still bring his required sacrifice
h. one who is involved with the burial of a close relative
i. one who is intoxicated
j. one who is lacking one of the required garments
k. one who is wearing more than the required garments
l. one whose garments are unkempt or disarrayed
m. one in need of a haircut
n. one who has not properly washed his hands and feet
o. one who performs the Service while sitting
p. one who has any object between his bare hands and Service vessels
q. one who has any object between his bare feet and the Temples floor
r. one who performs the Service with his left hand.
Gifts to the Kohen
1. Source - Devorim 18:3,4. And this shall be the Kohanims due from the People: (portions) from the slaughtered animals..., the first of your grains, wine and oil; the first fleece from your flock - give to him.
2. The Torah requires the Jewish people to give the Kohanim twenty-four classes of gifts. Most of these were connected with the Temple and the Service of the Kohanim at the Temple. Others were given to any kosher and Mitzvah-observant Kohen.
3. The descendants of Levi, unlike the other tribes of Israel, have no inherited portion in the Land. The cities of the Leviim, which served as refuge areas, were scattered throughout the tribes. Therefore, to allow the Kohen and the Levi to be free to perform their Holy Service in the Temple and to serve as teachers and leaders, it was necessary to provide them with a source of sustenance.
4. Support of the Kohanim by the people created a direct bond between the people and the Temple through the Kohanim.
5. The giving of these gifts gave the people an opportunity to elevate the fruits of their labour by returning a portion of their bounty to the service of G-d. Thus, they were encouraged to focus on G-ds involvement in their daily lives.
6. Each Kohen had an equal right to receive the gifts, though the giver could choose the Kohen to whom he would give them.
7. A Kohen also removed the gift portions from his produce after which he could take the gifts for himself.
8. The following is a list of the twenty-four gifts given to the Kohanim.
a. The gifts which must be given in the Temple area were certain portions of the following:
1. an animal brought as a sin-offering
2. a bird brought as a sin-offering
3. a burnt-offering
4. an offering for uncertain guilt
5. a peace offering
6. the olive oil offering of a Metzora
7. the two loaves of bread brought on Shavuot
8. the Showbread
9. the Mincha offerings
10. the Omer
b. The gifts which must be given within the walls of Jerusalem were:
11. the firstborn of any domestic kosher animal
12. the bikurim - first fruits
13. the inner organs of certain offerings
14. the skins of certain offerings
c. The gifts given also outside Jerusalem were:
15. truma - a portion of the Harvest
16. truma maaser - a tithe of the Levis tithe
17. challah - a portion of bread dough
18. the first shearing of the sheep
19. the right front leg, the jaw, and the stomach of all non-sanctified ritually slaughtered domestic animals
20. pidyon HaBen - five silver sheqels for the redemption of a firstborn Israelite son
21. a sheep or goat given for the redemption of a firstborn donkey
22. a property or possession dedicated to the Temple without specifying to which use it is to be given
23. inherited fields which were dedicated to the Temple and not reclaimed
24. theft repayment to a convert who has died leaving no heirs.
A life of Purity
A. The life of the Jewish nation, and particularly that of the Kohanim, Levim and their families, was and will be considerably different with the Temple standing. All Jews are required to come to the Temple at least three times a year, Pesach, Shavuot and Succot, to bring holiday offerings and to rejoice with all of Israel in G-ds presence. Kohanim and Leviim served in the Temple at least twice a year besides on the holidays. The City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount were filled with people making the pilgrimage and bringing their Offerings. Throughout the year, Jews needing to bring a Sin or Guilt-Offering or wishing to offer a Peace or Elevation-Offering would travel to the Temple.
In order to enter the Temple, and particularly to bring an Offering, a person had to be in a state of spiritual purity. As one came closer to the Holy areas of Jerusalem, The Temple Mount, The Temple Courtyard and the Inner Courtyard, increasingly stricter requirements of spiritual purity were in force.
The Torah outlines the particular situations which cause Tumah, spiritual impurity. These can be broadly classified as resulting from:
a. contact with death, human or animal
b. bodily discharges and skin conditions
c. ritual actions which cause impurity
The entire subject of Tahara and Tumah, ritual purity and impurity, is one of Divine decree beyond full comprehension on the mundane level. Generally, impurity is related to the loss of life-giving potential, causing a seeming void of spiritual presence, a seeming negation of Divinity. Therefore, a person needs to rectify his condition before he can approach the Temple or other sanctified objects.
Some conditions of Tumah are strong enough to spread a secondary or tertiary level of impurity. This contamination can be passed either by touching, carrying, being under the same roof, walking over, swallowing, or through sexual relations, depending on the source of the Tumah. People, vessels, clothing, food and dwellings are all liable to Tumah, again depending on the source of the impurity.
Each of these Tumah conditions has its specific remedy. For many Tumah conditions, the required remedy is immersion in a mikveh, a body of water from a natural source. At the time of the following sunset, a Tahor state was regained. A person or object which became impure through contact with a dead body, the most severe level of Tumah, was required to undergo a seven-day procedure which required the application of the waters-of-purity, a special purifying solution containing the ashes of a red heifer. He then immersed in a mikveh and with the sunset of the seventh day, became Tahor once again.
Another function of the Kohen related to the problem of Tumah is that of determining the existence of Tsarat, a spiritually caused condition which affected peoples skin or hair as well as clothing and dwellings. It was only a Kohen who could declare the condition of Tsarat. He also performed the purification procedure and it was he who could declare the condition as passed, restoring a status of ritual purity.
The life of the Kohen at the time of the Mikdash was greatly affected by the Laws of Taharah. A Kohen could not serve in the Mikdash if he was in a state of Tumah. The Truma, offerings of food from the people which were given to the Kohanim, had to be kept ritually pure and could only be consumed by a Kohen or members of his household who were in a Tahor state. This applied also to Kodshim, the meat of animals sanctified as offerings.
To live a life of ritual purity, it is necessary to have available the waters-of-purity, to have a mikveh available, and to avoid places and people which might cause impurity.
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Vegetables that prefer acidic soil are those crops that thrive in a soil with a pH level below 7 (neutral) on the pH scale; though the acidic measurements make up numbers below 7 on the scale, acidic-soil-loving vegetables generally prefer levels between 5 and 7. If your soil is too alkaline (a pH of 8 to 14), the Ohio State University Extension suggests adding sulfur to your soil to lower its pH.
Asparagus is a vegetable that prefers acidic soil. Thriving in full sunlight and deep, well-drained, sandy loam soil with medium-rich fertility, asparagus prefers a soil pH level of 6.0 to 6.7. Asparagus plants are hardy perennials that need to be mulched during the fall season and that should be cut once the spears reach a height of 6 to 8 inches, according to the Virginia Cooperative Extension.
Onions and Garlic
Onions and garlic both prefer acidic soil. These vegetables both thrive in full sunlight with a tolerance to partial shade and prefer moist, well-drained loam soil with a pH level of 5.5 to 7.0. Harvest onion plants when approximately two-thirds of the uppermost section of the plant begins to to lean or fall over. Harvest garlic bulbs when the top of the plant begins to dry out, as directed by the Virginia Cooperative Extension.
Cucumbers are vegetables that prefer acidic soil; cucumbers thrive in full sunlight and moist, well-drained soil with a pH level of 5.5 to 7.0. Cucumbers grow well with the addition of mulch as well as black plastic over the soil that keeps moisture in and warms the soil. Cucumbers are a very tender annual plant, according to the Virginia Cooperative Extension.
Tomatoes are vegetables that prefer acidic soil. Tomatoes thrive in full sunlight but need foliage to remain to prevent the occurrence of sun scald. Tomato plants prefer deep, well-drained loamy soil with a pH level of 6.2 to 6.8 for optimal growth. During harvest, pick tomatoes from the vine when red (or yellow-orange if temperatures have been above 86 degrees Fahrenheit); for green tomatoes or those that are not fully ripe, ripen by placing them in a shaded or darkened area away from sunlight, as suggested by the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service.
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Even though your compost might freeze solid and decomposition come to a complete stop, there is no need to stop composting. In fact, the freeze-thaw cycles will help to break down the materials that you are adding, so they will decompose even faster when the spring arrives. Here are a few of common things that people ask about when it comes to winter composting:
- The food materials will attract animals. There is no reason to cover the food scraps with leaves in the dead of winter because they will freeze very quickly and create little if any odour to attract animals. With smaller store-bought bins keep the lid on tightly and once the warmer weather arrives you can cover the food waste with some leaves or other brown materials. If you have a larger compost pile in your yard, save a few bags of leaves from your fall raking to cover food periodically throughout the winter or in the spring when things start to thaw.
- Walking out to the compost pile in winter is not much fun. If you have a small store-bought bin, you can place it in a convenient place close to the house so you don’t have to trudge through the snow to get to it. You can also consider using a 5 gallon pail or similar container to store your food scraps and make your trips to the compost when it is full. This way you can even pick a milder day to empty the compost. Keep the container in your garage or similar cold space with a lid on it and make far fewer trips to the compost pile in the cold.
- What if my compost bin fills up? If you harvest in the fall or if you have a larger compost pile, it is not likely that you will have this problem. With the colder temperatures, everything that you add will freeze so there is no reason to add extra leaves or browns, which can can fill your bin quickly. If it does fill up, you can always store compostable items in a separate container (pail or garbage can) and place the contents in the bin once things start to thaw in the spring.
Composting in winter is not really different than composting in the summer, it is just slower. Keep composting all year round to maximize your free soil amendment and at the same time minimize your impact on the environment.
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Definitions for school age
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word school age
The numerical value of school age in Chaldean Numerology is: 1
The numerical value of school age in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4
Sample Sentences & Example Usage
From school age, I thought there must be a solution to this problem.
In the refugee camps, thousands of school-age refugee children cannot attend school because of lack of classrooms and teachers.
The most recent influenza pandemic provided very strong evidence that school-age children are central to the spread of pandemic influenza, and that transmission was substantially reduced during times when schools were closed.
Images & Illustrations of school age
Find a translation for the school age definition in other languages:
Select another language:
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Joining coconuts, soy, rice hulls and recycled blue jeans, Ford has found another unexpected material that it can use to make car parts.
It's a byproduct in the production of ketchup. Yes, ketchup.
Ford says it has a deal with H.J. Heinz to use study whether the stuff left over from making ketchup, like dried tomato skins, seeds and stems, can be used to make composites. Sounds crazy? Well, Ford thinks the skins alone could make wiring brackets or center console storage bins.
Heinz has a lot of skins. It processes 2 million pounds of tomatoes a year.
"We are exploring whether this food processing byproduct makes sense for an automotive application," said Ellen Lee, plastics research technical specialist for Ford, in a statement. "Our goal is to develop a strong, lightweight material that meets our vehicle requirements, while at the same time reducing our overall environmental impact."
The idea is the outgrowth of a two-year collaboration between Ford and Heinz that also has included Coca-Cola, Nike and Procter & Gamble.
Heinz says it's happy to be participating in the search for the ability to make plastics entirely out of plant waste, not oil.
"The technology looks promising," says Michael Mullen, a Heinz senior vice president. "At Heinz, we know tomatoes are good for people. Now Ford will see if tomatoes can make its vehicles even more environmentally friendly."
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Grades 5 - 7
Grade level Equivalent: 5
Lexile® Measure: 790L
Guided Reading: U
- Adolescent Issues
- Middle School
- Living with Illness and Disabilities
- Pride and Self-Esteem
About This Book
August Pullman is not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. Sure, he's a huge Star Wars fan, he loves his dog, and he's got a pretty good sense of humor. But August was born with a craniofacial abnormality, a genetic defect that caused his facial features to be severely deformed. His life has never been "normal."
Despite his differences, August and his parents decide to transition him from home school to private school now that he's entering fifth grade. It's the start of middle school, they reason, so everyone will be new. But August has to deal with so much more than just being new. Will he make friends? Will he decide to stay at the school? And can the people around him learn to see past his appearance?
This brilliant, sensitive story, narrated not only by August, but also by his older sister, his classmates, and other kids in his life, takes an insightful look at how one person's differences can affect the lives of so many others.
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Antioxidants in Green and Black Tea
Tea is brimming with antioxidants, the disease-fighting compounds that help your body stave off illness.
By Jeanie Lerche Davis
Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
Read the tea leaves, caffeine lovers. Tea is gaining ground over coffee. Even Starbucks is bucking up its tea menu. The health benefits of tea are one compelling reason: Green and black teas have 10 times the amount of antioxidants found in fruits and veggies, by one estimate.
Studies of humans and animals show that the antioxidants in black and green teas are highly beneficial to our health, says 82-year-old John Weisburger, PhD, senior researcher at the Institute for Cancer Prevention in Valhalla, N.Y.
"I've published more than 500 papers, including a hell of a lot on tea," says Weisburger, who drinks 10 cups daily. "I was the first American researcher to show that tea modifies the metabolism to detoxify harmful chemicals."
Green tea, black tea, oolong tea -- they all come from the same tea plant, Camellia sinensis. The leaves are simply processed differently, explains Weisburger. Green tea leaves are not fermented; they are withered and steamed. Black tea and oolong tea leaves undergo a crushing and fermenting process.
All teas from the camellia tea plant are rich in polyphenols, which are a type of antioxidant. These wonder nutrients scavenge for cell-damaging free radicals in the body and detoxify them, says Weisburger. "Astounding" aptly describes tea's antioxidant power, he tells WebMD. "Whether it's green or black, tea has about eight to 10 times the polyphenols found in fruits and vegetables."
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The Druze Faith
|Author||Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah,
Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad,
Isma'il ibn Muhammad al-Tamimi,
Baha'uddin Ali ibn Ahmad as-Samuqi
|Original title||Rasa'il al-Hikma,
|Translator||Antoine Isaac, Baron Silvestre de Sacy,
Daniel De Smet
|Publisher||'Abd-Allah Al-Tanukhi in c. 1479|
|from c. 1009 till c. 1043|
Published in English
| Part of a series on
The Epistles of Wisdom or Rasa'il al-Hikma (Arabic: رسـائـل الـحـكـمـة) is a corpus of sacred texts and pastoral letters by teachers of the Druze Faith, which has currently close to a million faithful, mainly in Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Jordan.
The Druze canon
The full Druze canon or Druze scripture includes the Old Testament, the Qu'ran and philosophical works by Plato and those influenced by Socrates among works from other religions and philosophers. The Druze claim that an understanding of these is necessary, but that their al-ʻUqqāl (عقال), ("the Knowledgeable Initiates") have access to writings of their own that supersede these. The Epistles of Wisdom are also referred to as the Kitab al-Hikma (Book of Wisdom) and Al-Hikma al-Sharifa. Other ancient Druze writings include the Rasa'il al-Hind (Epistles of India) and the previously lost (or hidden) manuscripts such as al-Munfarid bi-Dhatihi and al-Sharia al-Ruhaniyya as well as others including didactic and polemic treatises.
The Epistles of Wisdom were revealed in the Arabic language and contain one hundred and eleven epistles in total. They are organised into six books first compiled by one of the greatest Druze sages 'Abd-Allah Al-Tanukhi in 1479 AD. According to oral traditions there were originally twenty-four books. Eighteen are reasonably assumed to have been lost, hidden or destroyed. Epistle number six is dated earliest and was written in July 1017 AD by Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad and he is specifically mentioned as the author of thirty more epistles in the first two books. Epistles 109 and 110 are dated latest, written by Al-Muqtana Baha'uddin in 1042 AD. Epistles 36 to 40 are attributed to Isma'il al-Tamimi ibn Muhammad. The first epistle opens with the goodbye message from Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the original teacher of the Druze. He details his efforts to assist his people's welfare and peace and urges them to remain upright.
The Druze religious establishment's interpretation of taqiyya (تقیة) and the esoteric nature of the faith led to the restriction of access, inquiry and investigation from even their own uninitiated Druze known as al-Juhhāl (جهال) ("the Ignorant") or jismaniyeen ("the Material Ones"). Such restrictions aimed to prevent possible damage to the individual and community if the writings were interpreted incorrectly, since the study of the Epistles of Wisdom is better accompanied by commentary texts and guidance from the higher ranking Druze Uqqal ("Knowledgeable Ones").
Druze manuscripts are generally written in a language, grammar and diction that, to the uninitiated is hard to understand and includes ambiguous words and highly obscure and cryptic phrases, in-addition to the extensive usage of symbology and numerology in much of the writings.
A Syrian physician gave one of the first Druze manuscripts to Louis XIV in 1700, which is now kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale. Local disturbances such as the invasion of Ibrahim Pasha between 1831 and 1838, along with the 1860 Lebanon conflict caused some of these texts to fall into the hands of academics. Other original manuscripts are held in the Robert Garrett collection at Princeton University. Sami Makarem has published sections of the works in English with commentary from a Druze compendium held in the Shaykh Nasib Makarem collection in Aytat, Lebanon. The first French translation was published in 1838 by linguist and orientalist Antoine Isaac, Baron Silvestre de Sacy in Expose de la religion des Druzes.
Another edition of the Rasa'il al-hikma was published by pseudonymous writers in Lebanon in 1986 as part of the highly controversial "The Hard Truth" series which included several anti-Druze, anti-Alawite and anti-Islamic books and was banned by the authorities for containing misleading information and hate speech, also an unpublished dissertation by David Bryer was prepared on the first two volumes. A French translation and critical examination of these first two volumes (epistles one to forty) from the Epistles of Wisdom was published in 2007 by Daniel de Smet who has provided a doctrinal introduction, notes, a description and inventory of the manuscripts and studies of their contents and characteristics.
The epistles contain philosophical discourses about Neoplatonic and Gnostic subjects, Ptolemaic cosmology, Arabic paraphrases of the philosophies of Farabi, Plotinus and Proclus, writings on the Universal Soul along with several polemic epistles concerning other faiths and philosophies that were present during that time and towards individuals who were considered renegades or those who tried to distort and tarnish the reputation of the faith and its teachings such as the "Answering the Nusayri" epistle and the fifth volume of the Epistles. Most of the Epistles are written in a post-classical language, often showing similarities to Arab Christian authors. The texts provide formidable insight into the incorporation of the Universal Intellect and Soul of the world in 11th century Egypt, when the deity showed itself to men through Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim and his doctrines. These display a notable form of Arabic Neoplatonism blended with Ismailism and adopted Christian elements of great interest for the philosophy and history of religions. It is believed by the Druze from interpretation of the epistles that Al-Hakim did not die, but merely withdrew into occultation and will return one day and reveal the Druze wisdom to the world in order to inaugurate a golden age.
On the concept of God, Hamza ibn Ali wrote
|“||If human minds would be given the knowledge of God without any familiarization and gradation, those human minds would swoon and fall down.||”|
|“||...the originator of the perfect Aql. He virtually bound within it all the created beings, so that nothing might be outside of it.||”|
On the concept of reincarnation and the universal soul, Baha'uddin wrote
|“||O you who are distracted, how can he who is devoid of his corporeal means obtain knowledge?
O you who are heedless, how can he who abandoned his sensual faculty reach ignorance?
And O you who are perplexed, how can the souls exist by themselves?
And how can they settle in their origin, and yet have a life and procure their pleasures?
|“||Believing in the non-existence negates existence as such. It is a way that leads to unbelief, atheism, and denial.||”|
Regarding the secrecy of the epistles of wisdom, Hamza ibn Ali wrote
|“||Protect divine knowledge from those who do not deserve it and do not withhold it from those who are deserving.
He who withholds divine knowledge from those who are worthy of it, will indeed desecrate what he has been entrusted with and will commit sacrilege against his religion;
and the conviction of him who divulges it to those who are not deserving will be diverted from following the truth.
Scripture must therefore be protected from those who do not deserve it.
However he did remark
|“||Protect yourselves from ignorance with the help of the knowledge of the unity of our Lord...||”|
|“||I enjoin you to safeguard your fellow men. In safeguarding them your faith reaches perfection.||”|
- Torki. Studia islamica. Maisonneuve & Larose. pp. 164–. ISBN 978-2-7068-1187-6. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- D. De Smet; Ismāʻīl Tamīmī; Ḥamzah ibn ʻAlī ibn Aḥmad (2007). Les Epitres Sacrees Des Druzes Rasa'il Al-hikma: Introduction, Edition Critique Et Traduction Annotee Des Traites Attribues a Hamza B. 'ali Et Isma'il At-tamimi. Peeters. ISBN 978-90-429-1943-3. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- Mordechai Nisan (2002). Minorities in the Middle East: a history of struggle and self-expression. McFarland. pp. 96–. ISBN 978-0-7864-1375-1. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- Me'ir Mikha'el Bar-Asher; Gauke de Kootstra; Arieh Kofsky (2002). The Nuṣayr−i-ʻalaw−i Religion: An Enquiry Into Its Theology and Liturgy. BRILL. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-90-04-12552-0. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- Mircea Eliade; Charles J. Adams (1987). The Encyclopedia of religion. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-02-909730-4. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- Grolier Incorporated (1996). The Encyclopedia Americana. Grolier Incorporated. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- Nejla M. Abu Izzeddin (1993). The Druzes: a new study of their history, faith, and society. BRILL. pp. 108–. ISBN 978-90-04-09705-6. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- Hitti, Philip K., Origins of the Druze People and Religion, CHAPTER V, DRUZE THEOLOGY AND ITS SOURCES, 1928.
- Sāmī Nasīb Makārim (1974). The Druze faith p.140. Caravan Books. ISBN 978-0-88206-003-3. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- Antoine Isaac, Baron Silvestre de Sacy, Expose de la Religion des Druzes (Paris, 1838; republ. Amsterdam, 1964)
- Traboulsi, Samer., Journal of the American Oriental Society, Article, Les Epitres sacrees des Druzes: Rasa il al-Hikma, volumes 1 et 2, July-Sept, 2009.
- Me'ir Mikha'el Bar-Asher; Gauke de Kootstra; Arieh Kofsky (2002). The Nuṣayr−i-ʻalaw−i Religion: An Enquiry Into Its Theology and Liturgy. BRILL. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-90-04-12552-0. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- Conférences de M. Daniel De Smet., Université Catholique de Louvain, p.149, 2008.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica; inc (2003). The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. ISBN 978-0-85229-961-6. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
- Ḥamza ibn ʻAli ibn Aḥmad from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim (1974). The Druze faith p. 61 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 35. Caravan Books. ISBN 978-0-88206-003-3. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- Ḥamza ibn ʻAli ibn Aḥmad from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim (1974). The Druze faith p.44 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 30. Caravan Books. ISBN 978-0-88206-003-3. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- al-Muqtana Baha'uddin from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim (1974). The Druze faith pp. 54-55 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 75. Caravan Books. ISBN 978-0-88206-003-3. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- al-Muqtana Baha'uddin from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim (1974). The Druze faith p. 102 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 61. Caravan Books. ISBN 978-0-88206-003-3. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- Ḥamza ibn ʻAli ibn Aḥmad from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim (1974). The Druze faith p. 100 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 33. Caravan Books. ISBN 978-0-88206-003-3. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- Ḥamza ibn ʻAli ibn Aḥmad from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim (1974). The Druze faith p. 101 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 6. Caravan Books. ISBN 978-0-88206-003-3. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- Ḥamza ibn ʻAli ibn Aḥmad from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim (1974). The Druze faith p. 99 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 33. Caravan Books. ISBN 978-0-88206-003-3. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
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Memory Cells for Future Computers
They are the top candidates when it comes to making computers and smartphones more powerful and above all more energy efficient: resistive memory cells. New findings by Jülich researchers could help to establish these nanoelectronic components as data storage units over the next few years. In the more distant future, they may even serve as artificial synapses modelled on biological neurons.
Jülich's first supercomputer constructed in the 1980s had a storage capacity of 16 megabytes. Today’s USB memory sticks have many times this capacity and they also fit into your pocket.
We have become accustomed to the fact that more and more information can be stored on increasingly smaller spaces. However, it cannot be taken for granted that this will go on forever: the miniaturization of existing data storage technologies may be approaching its natural limits. Moreover, none of the available data storage technologies is an all-rounder: ideally, they should work at breakneck speed but be energy-efficient at the same time, they should archive data permanently, and, in addition, they should be inexpensive. Information stored on the DRAM module of a computer’s working memory, for example, will disappear when the power is turned off. Hard drives and flash devices don’t have this problem, but they are comparatively slow.
ReRAM: New kind of data storage
For these reasons, researchers in science and industry worldwide are working on a new type of data storage referred to as ReRAM (resistive random access memory).
"In principle, ReRAMs should be able to store data on an even smaller space than flash memories, for example, and they should also be able to do so with far less power," says Prof. Rainer Waser, director at the Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich, and researcher and professor at RWTH Aachen University. He and his colleagues cooperate closely with companies such as Intel and Samsung Electronics and are considered pioneers in the area of resistive switching elements.
Resistive memory cells store the two basic elements of all computer languages – "zero" and "one" – in a way that is fundamentally different to hard drives or flash devices. In a hard drive, information is stored on the magnetic layer of a rotating disk, while flash devices store bits in the form of electric charges on a special transistor. A resistive memory cell, in contrast, saves a bit by using its electrical resistance, which can be switched between high and low values, – and the memory cell retains its state even when the external voltage is switched off.
Using ions instead of electrons
The resistive memory cells currently being produced and studied in laboratories all over the world have an edge length shorter than 30 nanometres, i.e. 0.00003 mm, or even smaller.
A common configuration of these cells consists of three thin layers of materials with different functions. The material in the middle, the electrolyte, is like the filling between two slices of bread in a sandwich. One of these "slices" is an active electrode made of metal, for example copper, and the other is a ounter electrode made from a chemically inert material such as platinum (see graphic). When a voltage is applied, positively charged copper ions are released from the active electrode and migrate to the counter electrode, where they gain electrons and form elementary copper atoms once again. The atoms form a narrow pathway through the electrolyte – experts refer to this as a filament. Once the filament has formed and an electrically conductive contact has been established between the two electrodes, the resistance of the entire cell is low and it is in the ON state. This corresponds to the "one" in computer language. The cell remains in this state until an appropriately high voltage of reverse polarity is applied. This causes the filament to dissolve and the cell resistance increases to a high value. The cell is now in the OFF or "zero" state.
Unlike conventional technologies, this way of storing information is based on ions. Ions are primarily responsible for forming and dissolving the filament, the switching processes, and therefore for information storage. This gives the technology a significant advantage over flash memory devices that store electrons, since the latter can easily find a way to break free, causing the information to be lost. Ions are easier to manage in comparison to electrons and they are therefore more suitable for reliable information storage.
In the past, scientists described resistive memory cells using "memristor" theory (memristor is a portmanteau word from memory and resistor). According to this theory, resistive memory cells are passive components just like capacitors, coils, and resistors, all of which neither amplify a signal nor have a control function. An important characteristic of passive components is that no current flows through them unless a voltage is applied. Conversely, no voltage can be measured without current flowing.
Research from Jülich, however, theoretically deduced that this is intrinsically different in resistive cells. The cells produce a voltage like a tiny battery. The scientists want to use this discovery of a battery voltage in ReRAMs to optimize the reading out of information from these cells.
Experts previously assumed that electric current is needed to determine whether resistive cells are in the ON or OFF state. However, this current could potentially alter the state of sensitive cells. The battery voltage, in contrast, can be measured without current in a nondestructive process. The researchers have already filed patent applications for the relevant methods. “Furthermore, the existence of a battery voltage must also be taken into consideration when connecting resistive memory cells or developing reliable ReRAMs,” says Dr. Ilia Valov, an electrochemist in Waser’s research group.
Integration of ReRAMs into existing semiconductor technology
Other scientists working with Rainer Waser in the Jülich Aachen Research Alliance are already building larger units from resistive memory cells and using computers to simulate the integration of ReRAMs into existing semiconductor technology. Panasonic has begun integrating ReRAMs into their microcontrollers. Despite this, Valov’s colleague Prof. Regina Dittmann is also convinced that further basic research into resistive memory cells is necessary to improve characteristics such as the durability and switching speed of ReRAMs. "Industry is continuously confronted with challenges in this respect that can only be overcome by improving our understanding of the basic principles,2 says Dittmann.
The scientists now have access to a new laboratory at Jülich’s Peter Grünberg Institute – the Oxide Cluster – for their fundamental experiments. The facility allows scientists to produce layers of materials and resistive memory cells and to use the latest methods in microscopy and spectroscopy, for example to observe the atoms and electrons during switching processes and therefore "at work" without the materials leaving the ultrahigh vacuum. This is important because contact with air would influence the processes that occur at the surface of these materials.
Parallels to synapses in the human brain
In principle, resistive memory cells do not just switch between two resistance values but rather between several. In other words, they can also assume intermediate states between "zero" and "one". This provides a good basis for creating computer systems capable of learning according to the model of synapses the interfaces between cells in the biological nervous system.
"There are also a number of parallels between how biological synapses and resistive components function," says Dr. Susanne Hoffmann-Eifert from Waser’s research group. For example, the functioning of both synapses and resistive cells is based on the movement of ions. Another similarity is that a connection between human neurons becomes stronger and more efficient the more frequently and intensively it is used.
"The more current that is transmitted through the conductive filaments in resistive memory cells, the stronger they become," says Hoffmann-Eifert. One day, this effect could help us to create computers capable of deviating from their programs independently if a connection is unexpectedly intensively used.
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Without a doubt, the #1 training error committed by marathoners is conducting their last long training run three weeks for before their race.
Research shows that even after three weeks, marathoners' leg muscles are not completely recovered from their last long run. Four weeks or even longer is required for full recovery.
During a long run, muscle fibres in your legs are damaged or destroyed. Leg muscles repair themselves during rest and recovery. Until the muscle tissue has repaired itself, the force that your leg muscles can apply is reduced, decreasing your ability to maintain running at race pace over long distance. We'll see that long runs result in far greater muscle fibre damage than speedwork.
A breakthrough Dutch research study found that two-thirds of marathoners already had significant amounts of muscular damage in their legs on race morning, even before they reached the starting line! They were not fully recovered from their last long run.
Many training programs call for running your last long run three weeks prior to your marathon. This is a glaring example of information in popular running media not reflecting what the research community already knows.
Running a personal best is challenging at any time. Running a personal best on legs that have not fully recovered from training is really tough.
This point is critically important for women runners over 40. Women over 40 require more recovery time than both men and younger women.
What to do?
Complete your last long run four weeks prior to your marathon. The four week gap would facilitate complete muscular recovery, toeing the starting line in peak condition and running your personal best.
But without a long run during the last four weeks, won't you lose fitness, compromising your ability to run the marathon at your true potential?
Don't worry! These four weeks provide the opportunity to continue high quality training. As you recover from your last long run, incorporate a variety of speed workouts (assuming they were part of your training program) that will result in improving other factors that will affect marathon performance, e.g. running economy, speed and VO2max (maximum capacity of an individual's body to transport and use oxygen during exercise).
Include a weekly intensity run of 40-60 minutes to improve your lactate threshold, the running speed at which lactate begins to accumulate in your bloodstream, a marker of muscle fatigue (that burning sensation in the legs we all know too well).
The same Dutch study quoted in the earlier article found that runs up to 15 kilometers (about 9.4 miles) produced little or no muscle damage. Runs exceeding this distance produced the greatest damage to muscle fibers. Therefore, no run during the last four weeks should exceed this distance.
Three weeks prior to the marathon, conduct a short easy run not exceeding 9.4 miles/15K. Two weeks before the marathon, run 15K (9.4 miles) at race pace.
During the last two weeks leading up to the race, there is very little that you can do to improve your preparedness for the race. However, there is much that runners can do to screw things up.
If you missed workouts during your training, resist the temptation to catch up by inserting extra distance or speed workouts (other than what your program calls for during your taper). This is a mistake that dramatically increases the chance of overtraining, fatigue and (worse) injury.
Following a training program that employs these strategies will help you arrive at the starting line in peak condition with an excellent chance of running your personal best marathon.
Marathoners, how much time do you leave between your last long run and race day?
© 2012 Savvy Runner Inc.
Bennett Cohen and Gail Gould are the Founders and Presidents of the International Association of Women Runners. For access to resources to help you reach your goals for running and racing, visit www.IAWR-Connect.com..
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This post is coauthored by Robert Brammer and Barbara Bavis, senior legal reference specialists.
We sometimes receive questions about communications sent to Congress by the president that concern legislation. Since this post pertains to legislative history, our focus is on executive communications, presidential messages, veto messages, and signing statements. If you would like to learn more about presidential proclamations and executive orders, these are covered in another Beginner’s Guide.
- Executive communications are statements or petitions presented to Congress by the executive branch or other organization that may affect appropriations.
- Presidential messages are written statements presented to Congress, which include the president’s Budget, State of the Union address, and messages regarding the need for legislation.
- Veto messages are messages sent to Congress when the president exercises his or her veto power over legislation.
- Signing statements express the president’s opinion on legislation and may include his or her interpretation on how the legislation may be enforced by the executive branch.
Congressional Record – The Congressional Record includes presidential messages, including veto messages. To learn more about the Congressional Record and its predecessors, check out our Beginner’s Guide on the topic.
House and Senate Journals – These journals include presidential messages. For more information about where to find these messages, look to the entry for “President of the United States” in each Journal‘s index.
Congress.gov – Congress.gov contains abstracts of executive communications, presidential messages, and petitions and memorials from the 100th Congress (1987-1988) to the present. To access executive communications, look under the Senate heading on the homepage and click on “executive communications.” You can search for a communication by citation or keyword via the search box at the top of the screen and can narrow down your result by Congress. You can also narrow your results or browse for an executive communication using the facets on the results page, which include Congress, communication type, and Senate committee. A reference to a Congressional Record date will appear on the abstract page for presidential messages. If you would like to view the message in its entirety, you can use this date to locate it in the Congressional Record.
Further, veto messages are linked in a bill’s summary and status page for affected legislation. Simply find the entry for the veto message on the bill’s “Actions” tab, click on the linked Congressional Record citation, and it will take you to the issue that contains the veto message.
Compilation of Presidential Documents – The Compilation of Presidential Documents consists of materials released from the White House press secretary and is published by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The Compilation is available on FDSys dating back to 1993. This compilation includes veto messages, signing statements, messages to Congress, and a list of acts approved by the president. There are finding aids available that include a list of acts approved by the president, a checklist of White House releases, a digest of other White House announcements, and nominations submitted to the Senate.
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents – This multi-volume set contains presidential messages from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge.
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States -The Public Papers of the Presidents begins with the Hoover administration. This set includes the president’s messages to Congress, including signing statements, public speeches, news conferences, and public letters. Note that prior to 1977, this set was an edited version of the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. This set does not include the papers of Franklin Roosevelt.
American Presidency Project – The American Presidency Project contains a great deal of information on the executive branch, including a collection of signing statements. It also includes “The Messages and Papers of the Presidents” (1789-1913), the “Public Papers of the Presidents,” and the “Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents” (1977-2009).
United States Code Congressional and Administrative News – This legislative history compilation set has reprinted signing statements since 1986.
The U.S. Serial Set – Presidential messages to Congress concerning the need for legislation may be published as House documents. House documents are available in the U.S. Serial Set and are discussed in a previous Beginner’s Guide
The White House Briefing Room – The White House may post press releases or fact sheets that, while not as formal as messages, contain arguments in support or opposition to legislation.
If you have a question, please contact us through Ask A Librarian.
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When the nerve of a tooth becomes infected, your Houston dentist may recommend
a root canal treatment in order to save the tooth. How do you know if you
have an infected tooth? Some of the signs are heat and cold sensitivity,
swelling and pain, or a bad taste in your mouth. Or, you may experience
no symptoms at all and not realize that you have a dental problem.
The white outside portion of a
tooth is called the enamel. Inside the enamel is another hard layer, the
dentin. There's a small chamber at the center of the dentin called the pulp
chamber. Inside the pulp chamber is the tooth pulp, a soft tissue made up of
nerves, arteries, and veins. The pulp extends from the pulp chamber all the way
to the tip of the root through a narrow channel called the root canal.
In general, teeth in the front of the mouth have only one root canal, while
teeth in the back have two, three or four root canals.
How do teeth become infected?
Deep cavities allow germs to get into the pulp chamber. These germs cause infection, and the pulp dies. The pus from the infection eventually builds up at the root tip and makes a hole in the bone. This is called an abscess.
A blow to a tooth may also cause the pulp to die and then become infected.
An infected tooth will never heal on its own, and as it gets worse, it
will continue to be a source of infection that weakens your immune system.
This can affect your entire body. This damage to the bone and the swelling
inside the bone can also be excruciatingly painful, and even life-threatening.
Years ago, an infected tooth would have to be extracted, but today, your
Houston dentist can save your tooth with root canal treatment.
You may also be interested in:
- Do I Need a Crown after Root Canal Treatment?
- Alternatives to a Root Canal
- Steps of Root Canal Treatment
- What is an apicoectomy?
- Post-Op Instructions: After a Root Canal
- I'd rather quit than get a root canal
- Do I need a crown after root canal treatment
- My tooth is killing me
- Dentoalveolar and periapical abscess
- Nonpyogenic soft-tissue odontogenic infections (cellutitis)
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Like a desert mirage, revolutionary new battery technologies always seem to be just beyond the horizon. New materials, nanotubes, and fuel cells all offer the promise of dramatically longer runtime and shorter (or nonexistent) recharges. But until that elusive day comes, we're going to have to contend with our existing battery technology. Recently, I offered some tips for dealing with your memory card, so this week I thought we should turn our attention to batteries. Here are a few tips for getting the most out of your batteries.
1. Check Your Batteries Before Hitting the Road
Batteries lose their charge continuously. That means you shouldn't charge up a battery, put it in your camera, and set it in the closet for 3 months. When you eventually reach for your camera, you might find that the battery is already dead, or nearly so--and you haven't taken a single picture.
If you've already had this happen to you, don't worry--it's the way that batteries work. All batteries slowly lose their energy when they're sitting idle, but how slowly depends upon the kind of battery. Alkaline batteries are extremely stable--they'll only lose 1 or 2 percent of their total capacity over an entire year. And that's a good thing, because they need to work well after sitting on a store shelf for a long time.
Rechargeable batteries, however, are far more volatile. Typical NiMH batteries, for example, can lose about 1 percent per day--so a fully charged battery will be depleted after 3 or 4 months just by sitting idle in your camera. Keep that in mind when you grab your camera bag before your next trip.
2. Store Batteries in the Fridge
You might have heard that batteries stay "fresh" longer when stored in the refrigerator or freezer. That's not a myth: It's absolutely true, but there are some caveats.
Freezing your battery works because the chemical reactions that generate electricity are temperature dependent. When you put a battery in cold storage, you impede the process, so the battery loses its charge more slowly. But remember how I said that alkaline batteries lose their capacity very slowly? That means there's essentially no advantage to putting store-bought batteries in the freezer. The best you can hope to recover is some fraction of a percent of its overall charge over the course of a year. The freezer space is better dedicated to frozen custard. (I recommend a batch from Shake Shack in New York.)
There's a lot of value in freezing rechargeable batteries, though. According to Greenbatteries.com, rechargeable batteries stored in a freezer will retain over 90 percent of their charge for a full month.
3. Warm Your Batteries for Better Performance
Shooting outdoors in the winter? Your battery might give up fairly quickly, leaving you with a camera-shaped paperweight. That happens for the same reason that freezing batteries make them keep their charge longer--the cold impedes the electricity-generating chemical reaction. Batteries discharge better when they're warm. So if your battery does quickly die due to the cold, remove it from the camera and warm it up using your hands inside your jacket. If you can raise the battery's temperature, it'll spring back to life and help you take a few more pictures.
4. Use Your Camera to Shoot Pictures--and That's All
Here's some advice that seems obvious, but still manages to regularly elude folks--even me. Everything you do with your camera uses battery power, so if you have only one battery and have no ability to charge up, don't use all the extra features on your camera. Specifically, don't use your camera to review photos, delete images from the memory card, or record audio annotations about each photo. Stick to the basics: Taking pictures.
Similarly, it's worth pointing out that long exposures--like you'd take to capture light trails in night photos and blurry waterfalls--use significantly more power than faster, ordinary snapshots. If you are trying to take special effects shots like those, know that you won't be able to capture as many photos as usual, and it is a good idea to carry a spare battery.
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1(Of growth or development) downwards towards the base or point of attachment. The opposite of acropetal.
- Expression of the DXR gene in adaxial phloem parenchyma cells was more pronounced in the young revoluted base of the leaves with a basipetal gradient decreasing toward the tips of older leaves.
- Lateral view of young inflorescence with basipetal initiation of flowers in the axil of bracts.
- Ellipsoidal microconidia and falcate macroconidia are formed from phialides by basipetal division; globose chlamydospores with thick walls are formed acrogenously from hyphae or by the modification of hyphal cells.
1.1(Of the movement of dissolved substances) inwards from the shoot and root apices.
- In every case, the basipetal movement was greater than the acropetal movement.
- From there they will flow to other parts of the shoot in both basipetal and acropetal directions.
- However, a continuous basipetal transport of auxin from the shoot to the rooting zone (upper part taproot) is required for adventious root formation.
- Example sentences
- The drag-induced bending moments and stresses (computed on the basis of empirically determined stem dimensions and wind speeds) increased basipetally toward the base of the tree.
- The hairs are oriented acropetally, while in the proximal part of the sac they grow basipetally, i.e., oriented toward the lemma-sac interface.
- When the exposure time was extended to 60 min, a large amount of phosphorus was transported basipetally to the shoot from root sections located 80 mm from the root tip, where the xylem is completely mature.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: ba¦sip|etal
Definition of basipetal in:
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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At its simplest, autism may be characterized by reduced activity of inhibitory neurons and increased activity of excitatory neurons in the brain. Balance can be restored with low doses of a well-known class of drug currently used in high doses to treat anxiety and epileptic seizures. The findings from laboratory mice point to a new way of treating autism.
Existing drugs used in a new way may be helpful
“These are very exciting results because they suggest that existing drugs-called benzodiazepines-might be useful in treatment of the core deficits in autism,” explained senior author Dr. William Catterall of the University of Washington, Seattle. Not only did researchers find that mice with autistic characteristics had an imbalance between the inhibitory and excitatory neurons in their brain, they also found that reducing the effectiveness of inhibitory neurons in normal mice also induced autism-like behaviors. When benzodiazepine drugs were introduced to the mice, they had the opposite effect. The drugs increased the activity of inhibitory neurons and lessened autistic behaviors.
New approach improves social interactions
“Our results provide strong evidence that increasing inhibitory neurotransmission is an effective approach to improvement of social interactions, repetitive behaviors, and cognitive deficits in a well-established animal model of autism, having some similar behavioral features as human autism,” noted Dr. Catterall.
Reduce activity of excitatory neurons while also increasing activity of inhibitory neurons
This new approach differs from current methods which, in animal studies or clinical trials, treat autistic traits by primarily focusing on reducing the activity of excitatory neurons. This approach has only had moderate success. Dr. Catterall and his colleagues suggest continuing with that approach but augment it by increasing the activity of opposing, inhibitory neurons. More studies are needed and one clinical trial is currently in progress.
Source: MedicalNewsToday, Neuron
Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/orofacial/ at flickr.com
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Understanding the accuracy of a given flowmeter is an important field but it can also be misleading as different specifications are used to explain how accurate a flowmeter measurement actually measures. This paper discusses the different specifications and interprets the impact of them.
Why deal with accuracy?
The reasons for dealing with flowmeter accuracy specifications are many-folded. One important reason is from an economical point of view. The more accurate a flowmeter can measure, the more money you will save as the medium is measured with only very little inaccurately.
E.g. If the medium is expensive such as oil, it is important to know exactly how much is consumed. This ensures it is being consumed as efficiently as possible. Another reason is in terms of dosing, where a given amount of a medium is added. This must be done with a high level of precision and the accuracy is thus important in order to dose correctly. This is critical in certain industries such as in pharma or chemical.01/25/2010
Protection from noise and ground loops due to ISO-Channel architecture.
Precision measurement systems are often limited in that all inputs are connected to a single ground. Typically, multiplexer input configurations are set up this way, since all signal inputs are connected to the same return. Even differential input configurations use the same ground reference. The result is that accuracy and flexibility for accurate measurements can be severely compromised when noise or common mode voltage is present.
Crosstalk from one input signal can easily be reflected onto another input. The design movement to an A/D per channel can help this problem. But that is not sufficient in many cases.
To minimize noise and ground loops, some newer systems offer isolation between the input signal ground reference and the computer ground. This effectively separates the computer ground from the measurement portion of the system. But still, there is no isolation between input sensor channels, which is a common source of error and frustration for user applications. Why?01/06/2010
AMS2750D Temperature Uniformity Surveys using TEMPpoint.
Industrial process furnaces and ovens require uniform temperature and heating; This is critical to repeatable product performance from batch to batch. These furnaces require periodic inspection for temperature uniformity.
Electronic and Mechanical Calibration Services, Millbury Massachusetts characterizes temperature uniformity in industrial furnaces and ovens for their customers. This is accomplished by measuring temperature in several locations throughout the furnace and monitoring temperature with thermocouples over time according to AMS2750D specifications.
The customer previously used chart recorders which require constant monitoring while the survey is running. Surveys can run anywhere from 35 minutes to several hours long depending on the industry specified requirements. With the TEMPpoint solution the operator can set it up and let it run unattended, freeing them up to multitask their time and work more efficiently. The shipping TEMPpoint application required very little modification using Measure Foundry and now fulfills customer's requirements.01/06/2010
Everyone is familiar with the concept of temperature in an everyday sense because our bodies feel and are sensitive to any perceptible change. But for more exacting needs as found in many scientific, industrial, and commercial uses, the temperature of a process must be measured and controlled definitively. Even changes of a fraction of a degree Celsius can be wasteful or even catastrophic in many situations.
For example, some biotech processes require elevated temperatures for reactions to occur and added reagents require exactly the right temperature for proper catalytic action. New alloys of metal and composites, such as those on the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, are formed with high temperature methods at exacting degree points to create the necessary properties of strength, endurance, and reliability. Certain medical supplies and pharmaceuticals must be stored at exactly the desired temperature for transport and inventory to protect against deterioration and ensure effectiveness.
These new applications have driven the hunt for more exacting temperature measurement and control solutions that are easy to implement and use by both novice users and experienced engineers alike. This is a challenging task. However, new equipment and standards, such as LXI (LAN Extensions for Instrumentation) offer a methodology to perform these exacting measurements in test and control applications.
Many LXI devices are available on the market today. But, what do you need to know to select the best temperature measurement solution for your test and control application? This paper describes the common pitfalls of precision temperature measurement and what you need to consider before selecting a temperature measurement solution.01/06/2010
Safety & Automation System (SAS) - How the Safety and the Automation Systems Finally Come Together as an HMI
Today we have clear guidelines on how the Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) and basic Process Control Systems (BPCS) should be separated from a controls and network perspective. But what does this mean to the HMI and the control room design?
Where do Fire & Gas Systems fit into the big picture and what about new Security and Environmental monitoring tasks?
What does the Instrument Engineer needs to know about operators and how systems communicate with them.
The evolution of the control room continues as Large Screen Displays provide a big picture view of multiple systems. Do rules and guidelines exist for this aspect of independent protection layers? What are today's best practices for bringing these islands of technology together.
This paper will review the topic and provide advice on a subject on which the books remain silent. Today's practices are haphazard and left to individuals without a systematic design or guidance.
Over the past 20 years the Safety System and the Automation system have been evolving separately. They use similar technologies, but the operator interface needs to be just one system. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the designs, this is not the case.
The automation system has been evolving since the introduction of the DCS and many Human Factor mistakes have been made. As we move towards new standards such as ISA SP 101 a more formal approach to HMI design is being taken.
The past widespread use of black backgrounds which cause glare issues in the control room and are solely responsible for turning the control room lights down to very low levels, or in some cases off, are being replaced with grey backgrounds and a new grayscale graphic standard replacing bright colors for a more plain grayscale scheme only using color to attract the operators' attention.
In having strong compliance schemes that restrict color usage to just a handful of colors, restricting the use of some colors that are reserved for important information such as alarm status, it appears that the automation system is being standardized and is starting to take advantage of new technology available to control room designers such as large screen displays.01/06/2010
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Ron Atlas: Sourcing bioterrorism
Dr. Ron Atlas is the co-chair of the American Society for Microbiology's task force on biological weapons. He is a professor of biology at the University of Louisville and the dean of the graduate school. Dr. Atlas has previously testified on the issue of bioterrorism before the United States Congress.
CNN: Welcome to CNN.com Newsroom Dr. Ron Atlas. Thank you for being with us today.
RON ATLAS: I'm Ron Atlas at the University of Louisville, and I'm happy to answer your questions.
CNN: New cases of anthrax exposure and infection continue to be reported. Do these new cases provide more evidence that helps authorities solve or find patterns to these crimes?
ATLAS: I'm sure that the new cases will help us find a pattern, although what we seem to be seeing, at least with the postal workers, is the route that the mail traveled. The question for some of us is how the spores are getting out of the envelopes and airborne along the route of travel. It may turn out within the postal system the way air is blown across, some of the air that is causing some additional problems, by getting spores airborne. That may help explain why some of the letters received by the media in New York are resulting in the skin form of anthrax, where in other cases we're seeing the more serious form of anthrax, the inhalation type.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: If spores are getting out of envelopes, can they hop a ride on other envelopes?
ATLAS: Once the spores get out of an envelope, they can spread and contaminate other surfaces. Usually, though, they settle and also become less concentrated. That greatly lowers risk of contracting anthrax, since it requires thousands of spores to cause an infection.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: Dr Atlas, is it possible for someone who has contracted the skin anthrax to later display symptoms of the inhalation anthrax?
ATLAS: The difference between skin anthrax and inhalation anthrax is how the spores enter the body. It is conceivable that someone would have some spores enter through a wound, causing skin anthrax, and also have inhaled spores, causing inhalation anthrax. The drug we use to treat both would be the same.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: Dr. Atlas, isn't it easy to make bacteria resistant to antibiotics?
ATLAS: Certainly, genetic engineering allows us to make bacteria resistant to antibiotics. That's a bit more difficult for a bacterium that causes anthrax, but a really technical person could have done that. That may tell us something about who is behind the current attacks. It may also be that anthrax is a sufficient threat, particularly to cause terror, without making it more draconian by introducing antibiotic resistance.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: My husband was in Desert Storm and was immunized for anthrax. Is it still effective? By the way...he is now a mailman.
ATLAS: I don't know how effective the anthrax vaccine is in terms of longevity. Many vaccines are effective for about ten years, at which time we often use booster vaccines to renew immunity.
CNN: What will authorities need to find in order to confirm or rule out Iraq's involvement?
ATLAS: There are several things that authorities would be looking at for determining whether a foreign power is responsible for these attacks. One will be the nature of the strain, which has been genetically fingerprinted. We then need to rely upon intelligence information to indicate whether Iraq had that particular strain. We may be able to conclude that they did not. Another thing that we look for is the uniformity of particle size, and the concentration of spores. If a major power is behind these attacks, we would expect very high concentrations of spores and a great uniformity of the particle size of the powder, specifically in the range that is likely to cause the most infections. If we don't see that, the evidence would be pointing away from Iraq.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: How would uniformity of spore size determine a location of manufacture?
ATLAS: The uniformity of spore size, or rather of the powder, not the individual spores, would indicate how sophisticated this operation was. If the powder is very uniform, and the spore concentration very high, it would indicate the sort of sophistication that existed in the former Soviet Union, or in Iraq's biological weapons program. That would indicate a level of expertise at least, which would narrow the field of potential perpetrators.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: What are the chances that Russia sold this anthrax to Iraq years ago? How then would you determine who is sending it?
ATLAS: There have been frequent concerns that individuals from the former Soviet Union provided expertise to Iraq. We can't eliminate that possibility, but it is equally possible that such experts have provided expertise within the United States. At this point, we are unable to determine who is behind the wave of anthrax attacks.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: How fast can anthrax be produced? How sustainable is this attack? ATLAS: Anthrax is a bacterium that can be grown quite rapidly. One could produce limited new supplies on a daily basis. So far, we seem to be seeing very limited amounts in envelopes, suggesting that this can be sustained for some period, until the perpetrators are identified.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: We typically think of anthrax spores as white. Does it need to be on a white powder, or can it be invisible?
ATLAS: The spores moving through the air would be invisible. They could be on a powder of any color. And in fact, the reports suggest that a number of the powders have not been white, but brownish in color.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: Does anthrax have a life time? ATLAS: Anthrax spores can survive essentially indefinitely, but contracting infections requires a high concentration. Therefore, if the spores are dispersed, the risk of disease becomes nil, even if the spores survive in nature.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: What is the potential threat of smallpox?
ATLAS: Smallpox has potentially a greater threat than anthrax because it is a communicable disease, meaning that it can spread from one person to another. It has a fatality rate of about 30 percent. The good news is that smallpox virus does not occur in nature, and therefore it is far less likely that anyone can gain access to this virus. In contrast, anthrax occurs all around the world, and anyone could have gained access to strains of this bacterium.
CNN: Would you advocate a renewed effort to vaccinate Americans against smallpox?
ATLAS: The question of renewing smallpox vaccinations is complicated. The vaccine is not without risks. If we introduce smallpox vaccination, some people will become ill and some will die from the vaccine. To undertake such a program requires that we really know that someone is about to attack us with smallpox, or that an attack has occurred. Short of that, the risk from the vaccine probably exceeds the cost we're willing to pay.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: If something like a cropdusting plane were to be used to spray smallpox over small areas of the population, would the CDC be able to quickly determine that what was sprayed was hazardous, and would they immediately inform the public? ATLAS: I think the CDC has been very up front with the public, and if smallpox was introduced by any means, would respond immediately by trying to vaccinate individuals in the region that might have been exposed. The current health plan is to use the available doses of smallpox vaccine to surround any regions where individuals may have been exposed.
CNN: Do you have any final comments for us today?
ATLAS: I think the American public should recognize that the public health system has been able to respond to the current threat. There are adequate antibiotics, and while a number of individuals have tragically been afflicted by this horrific attack, public health response has been able to protect many individuals who may have been exposed. I think the rest of us should take heart in knowing that we are on top of the situation, and providing adequate public health response. CNN: From: Thank you for joining our discussion today, Ron Atlas. ATLAS: Thank you very much. I look forward to at some point speaking to you again. Dr. Atlas joined CNN.com via telephone from Louisville, KY. CNN provided a typist. This is an edited transcript of the interview, which took place on Monday, October 22, 2001.
American Society for Microbiology
Dr. Ron Atlas
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Content-based Copy Detection is set of techniques that match duplicate (i.e. exact copies) or near-duplicate (i.e. some noise or a few changes) pairs of content. While it may seem like copy detection is a not difficult, given the ability to digitally copy video and audio files, this project aims to match content pairs that have undergone severe distortions, or in the case of pictures of real-world objects examples may not be exactly the same to begin with.
Although the differences between duplicate and near-duplicate content are slight, there is an easy way to make the classification. In video and multimedia, a duplicate pair exists if the pixels of the image that you see are the same in two sources. Real-world examples of duplicate content can be found in newspapers, books, even television broadcasts. If you purchased two of any of these objects from different locations, the content (i.e. images, audio, and text) will be exactly the same. A near-duplicate pair exists in video and multimedia if the subject matter of the content is the same, but it was captured differently or has been significantly altered by some processing step. One common real-world example of near-duplicate content is the different view points that one sees on television for public speeches at the same event.
This example demonstrates two possible near-duplicate pairs. The top was created by natural scene differences due to the point-of-view of the camera. The bottom pair was created by intentional processing and editing manipulations. For a content-based copy detection system to work in real-world conditions, both must be accounted for.
More information coming soon, thanks for your patience!
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Today the phrase “from the beginning of his/her biological development” accurately defines when the life of an individual human being begins to exist; the terms “conception” or “fertilization” do not.
We have learned this is so because the fact is that not all human beings begin through sexual means; some are reproduced asexually.
This concept is difficult to explain without a scientific background. I know this firsthand because my vocation is wife, mother, and grandmother, not geneticist. But it can be explained so that anyone gets it.
Follow me for a moment.
Sexual reproduction means “fertilization”—the union of a human sperm with a human egg resulting in the reproduction of a genetically distinct human being. This can happen naturally within a woman’s body, or artificially in an IVF (in vitro fertilization) or ART facility (artificial reproductive technology).
Asexual reproduction simply means “without the immediate use of fertilization”; it is the combining of parts of a human sperm, egg, embryo, or synthetic genes to reproduce a new human embryo. Most of the time this happens in IVF/ART facilities. But one kind of asexual reproduction takes place naturally in the woman’s body—monozygotic (identical) twinning. Monozygotic twinning, which is depicted in the diagram here, is a type of asexual reproduction, yet has been used in IVF cycles for decades. It is, in truth, a type of human cloning.
Other types of asexual reproduction take place artificially in IVF/ART facilities (e.g., cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer).
The “3-parent-embryo” now in the news involves the asexual reproduction of human embryos by several techniques (e.g., mitochondrial transfer, another kind of cloning). The mitochondria are found in the female’s oocyte (egg) and if they are defective, the mitochondria from a third party’s egg can be used instead. Thus three parents for one embryo!
These forms of asexual reproduction exist and do result in human beings whose lives should be protected by law and in the culture.
While some of us began to exist by means of fertilization, not all of us did. The terms “fertilization” or “conception” do not cover all human beings. Laws protecting only those reproduced by “fertilization” would not protect those asexually reproduced.
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Fighting Stereotypes in the Workplace
Stereotypes are perhaps the last word in social ignorance. They are always inaccurate, insulting depictions of social groups. Most people loathe their group's stereotype, and resent any implication that it reflects them, their social group or their values. Getting rid of stereotypical images is an essential part of creating effective workplace diversity and social interactions. Stereotypes can be real obstacles to any sort of workplace dynamic. They repel the people who are being stereotyped and prevent interaction. They also reflect a serious lack of social education on the part of those who believe in the stereotype.
Breaking down stereotypes
There are a series of steps required to destroy stereotypes as a problem in the workplace. The preliminary work will need to be done to ensure that the employer's policy on multiculturalism, workplace diversity and Equal Opportunity is unequivocally understood. This can be done with a simple issue of guidelines. Guidelines should state the employer's policy, and notifying staff that any grievances or disputes will receive attention from senior management.
Group everyone together for a "Get to know you" meeting: Introduce each person; give some background to other staff. Ask them to give a quick introduction for themselves, their interests, and their career objectives. The aim of this exercise is to remove the stereotype and replace it with a person. People's social instincts work on recognition skills, and this introduction establishes an identity with the rest of the workforce. Familiarity with that person will also alter perceptions over time, making the stereotype largely irrelevant in practical terms.
The workforce should receive continual positive reinforcement of multicultural and workplace diversity values. The policy and its principles must be seen to have good practical applications. There are a lot of ways of doing this:
- Staff recognition, like Employee Awards: These have personal value, and are particularly effective when given to those who everyone recognizes deserves them.
- Praise should be given where due to all staff: without favoring any group, but establishing clear values for staff to see consistency in policy. This establishes a fair practice regime, and makes the stereotypes even less relevant to the realities of the workplace.
- Promotion and bonuses on merit and performance: These are true reflections of Equal Opportunity, and performance is a real measure of success. Stereotypes are meaningless in terms of actual performance. High achievers and performers are also the exact diametric contradiction of stereotypes.
After Stage 2, any surviving stereotypes, or related discrimination, represent a potential ongoing problem. There may be some remnants of the stereotyped mindset remaining. Most people react positively, and reorient themselves to a diversified workplace pretty easily. Those that don't, however, can cause serious fractures in the workplace, particularly if they don't respond to the intensive education and orientation of Stages 1 and 2.
Employers cannot support any form of discrimination by anyone in the
workplace. It's illegal, as well as regressive, behavior. It may be
necessary to terminate any person, of any group, refusing to comply
with the requirements of the workplace.
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Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture
by Erez Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel
Scientists Aiden and Michel invented the Google Ngram Viewer, which allows users to analyze the evolution of language as captured in the millions of books Google has digitized. In Uncharted, they tell the story of how they developed this tool, explain some of their most trenchant findings, and demonstrate the potential of this data to illuminate the world we’ve created.
Blue Future: Protecting Water for People and the Planet Forever
by Maude Barlow
Everything about our contemporary world—from global politics to food production technology—has made our water supply unsustainable, argues Canadian activist Barlow. She calls for clean water to be recognized as a human right and a public resource.
Tomorrow-Land: The 1964-65 World’s Fair and the Transformation of America
by Joseph Tirella
Urban planner and master builder Robert Moses wanted the 1964-65 World’s Fair, which took place in Flushing, New York, to showcase the future. Instead, according to writer and editor Tirella, it portrayed a messy present, where art and civil rights, music and international relations, technology and architecture were undergoing a massive overhaul.
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OMAHA RACE RIOT
"Rioters on the south side of Douglas County Courthouse,Omaha, Nebraska,September 28, 1919." (NSHS RG2281-72). (nebraskastudies.org)
During the frenzy of a riot in Omaha, Nebraska, on September 28, 1919, Will Brown, an African American, was lynched near the Douglas County courthouse. He was accused of raping Agnes Loebeck, a white woman. Identified by Loebeck and Milton Hoffman, the young man with her on the night of the alleged attack, Brown had been taken to the police station and then transferred to the courthouse jail. On Sunday morning, the twenty-eighth, a crowd of mostly young men gathered at a school on the south side and was led downtown by Hoffman, adding followers as it progressed.
Earlier in the afternoon the situation seemed nonthreatening, but it turned ugly as time passed and more people appeared on the scene. From 300 at the school, the crowd increased late in the day to an estimated 4,000 at the courthouse. Demanding that Brown be handed over to them, the demonstrators turned on the police and set the courthouse on fire. When firefighters appeared, their hoses were cut into pieces by rioters who had broken into nearby hardware stores and stolen axes as well as firearms. Mayor Edward P. Smith was at the scene and came out of the courthouse at about 10:30 p.m. to try to restore order. He became a target of the mob and was nearly lynched himself before being rescued.
The mob then turned its attention back to Brown, who along with other prisoners had been taken to the roof of the courthouse as the fire spread. Finally the rioters achieved their goal and Brown was taken and reportedly handed over the heads of the rioters down the stairs. By the time the ground floor was reached, he had likely been beaten to death. Hoisted into the air on a lynch rope, his swaying body was then riddled with bullets. Not yet satisfied, the crowd pulled his corpse to a nearby intersection where he was burned, and what remained of Will Brown was then towed about downtown Omaha. The victim's death certificate gave his age as "about 40," marital status unknown, birthplace left blank, and the principal cause of death bullet wounds and strangulation.
During the night federal troops restored order, and in the morning, armed with machine guns, they guarded downtown streets. Several arrests were made in the following days for complicity in the riot, but a grand jury's deliberations resulted in only a few indictments of little consequence.
Omaha was not the only city where rioting blighted the summer and fall of 1919. Chicago and Washington dc, among others, had outbreaks of racial violence and deaths. But in Omaha racial tensions may have been orchestrated for political purposes. A reform movement's candidates had been elected in 1918, defeating the political machine headed by Thomas "Old Man" Dennison that had dominated city hall for two decades. Direct accusations by church leaders and an assessment by Gen. Leonard Wood assigned responsibility for the lynching to political ambition. They asserted that to discredit the reformers, Dennison and his newspaper ally, the Omaha Bee, exaggerated crime and racial tensions to create the atmosphere that exploded on September 28, 1919. Two years later voters restored the Dennison slate to office. Will Brown appears to have been the victim of political machinations as well as racial prejudice.
See also CITIES AND TOWN: Omaha, Nebraska.
Orville D. Menard University of Nebraska at Omaha
Menard, Orville D. Political Bossism in Mid-America: Tom Dennison's Omaha. Lanham MD: University Press of America, 1989.
Menard, Orville D. "Tom Dennison, the Omaha Bee, and the 1919 Omaha Race Riot." Nebraska History 68 (1987): 152–65.
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|From Irish Book of Arms Plates 85, 92 130, 137.|
Lowery, Lavery, Loughry
Irish families of the Lowry or Lavery name descend from the O Labhradha, a sept of the province of Ulster anciently. In the later days the are found in County Down near Moira.
Three branches of the name are of record. that of Trin-Lavery (which has also been translated as Armstrong - from trean - meaning strong), that of Roe-Lavery, from rua meaning red, and from Baun-Lavery, from "ban" meaning white.
These Iris families above have remained in the province of Ulster into modern times for they are found in counties Armagh, Antrim, and Down in the 1890 birth index. Laverty was located mainly in Ulster as well at that time.
The "Lowry" surname is also found in Ulster as a result of 17th century settlers arriving there from Scotland. Scottish families are found here under the spelling of Laurie as well. The Earl Belmore family is recorded as arriving from Scotland at the time and settling in County Tyrone, and he was said to be of the Laurie family of Maxwelton.
In 1659 Lowry and O'Lowry are found as principal names of Atrim and Donegal respectively. The name is as well given in Fermanagh and Down among other locations.
Numerous listings in the Irish Book of arms are given, including Lowry of Pomeroy House, Co. Tyrone; Lowary of Rockdale, Co. Tyrone, and those of Robert Swinborne Lowary.
* The above Coat of Arms and text on O'Lowry are from "Book of Irish Families, great and small" by O'Laughlin, page 182. Used with permission from Irish Genealogical Foundation.
As a side note: It has been pointed out to me that a lot of information
on Ireland was established by English researches who were not Gaelic speaking
and also subject to British bias. "The Name Lowry meaning 'SPOKESMAN'
derives from the Gaelic word 'LOWREEM' which means 'TO SPEAK'.", and that
the "O LABHARADH, LAVERY, ARMSRTONG" references, at least by one researcher
have not been found to be part of the the whole Low?ry name saga.
They may at one time have been connected through marriage/village/district.
(contiributed by: Paddy Lowry)
Since I'm only quoting from the book above and don't have time or the language knowledge to do this kind of research I'd welcome comments, and especially links or a point to a reference source that that backs either opinion. Just drop me an eMail!
Many Thanks! and especially to those who contribute!!
To steal a phrase from yet another Low?ry, Slan agus beannacht
(Health and Happiness)
Return to Lowary Home Page!
Copyright and credit information for these pages.
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It may surprise you that modern nursing -- the care and competency we've come to expect from our medical professionals -- is less than 150 years old in America. Not so long ago, many people preferred to forgo formal health care, considering nurses and hospitals to be far less safe than tending to illness or injury at home.
There was a time that nursing duties fell to nuns, or -- during wars -- to the military. Before the end of the 19th century, most nurses didn't have any formal training -- and many lacked any education at all. Nurses were typically women who provided the sick, injured and wounded with comfort, but not necessarily good -- or any -- medical care. It wasn't until the extraordinary women and men on our list advocated for change and pioneered a path for nurses from bedpan to bachelor's degree that the seeds of modern nursing were born.
Let's kick off our list of famous nurses with the woman who introduced nurse-midwifery to the United States.
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Op-Ed: Pacific Warrior Day, March 2, 2013
For the past two years the, American Samoa 350 Environment Club, has been working hard to educate the youth of our Territory on the science and history of climate change and how the melting polar caps will effect the weather, sea level rise, as well as economy. Not only will our Island be affected, but also other Islands, and coastal communities around the globe.
There is no need to go on about the fires, storms, temperature increases, sea level raise and the other phenomenon resulting from burning fossil fuels. We are living and experiencing those effects right now. It is obvious we need to stop and reconsider our life styles.
This is the primary reason 350. org and pacific.350. org, are working with youth around the world. They are the ones who will have to live with the mess they have inherited and it isn’t like we haven’t been warned.
In 1965 President Lyndon Bains Johnson (LBJ) addressed a joint session of congress concerning the burning of fossil fuel and the problems it would bring to future generations. The exact quote: “This generation has altered the composition of the atmosphere on a global scale through . . . a steady increase in carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels”
No one paid attention
In 1986 Dr. Jim Hansen, Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, “that by the year 2050 we’re going to have tremendous climate changes, far outside what man has ever experienced.”
No one paid attention
In 1992 the first United Nations Climate Conference (Kyoto) using climate information gathered from a 1990 study of global emissions concluded that climate change was a serious threat to mankind and steps were necessary to reduce the burning of fossil fuels. The largest fossil fuel consumers never ratified the treaty or reduced their burning of fossil fuels.
No one paid attention
Several International Conferences later (the latest being in Rio de Janeiro, June 2012) and after much deliberation the results turned out to be about the same as 1992. The difference being that there are close to one and a half billion more people on the planet. (in 1992 there were 5.480 billion, in 2012 the world population exceeded 7 billion)
Perhaps, President Obama paid attention (Remains to be seen)
There was, however, one important event that came from that the last meeting ― the youth movement. And it became vocal, demanding accountability from world leaders. Seventeen year old Brittany Trilford from New Zealand stood before this world body of leaders and declared…
“You have made great promises, promises that, when I read them, still leave me feeling hopeful. These promises are left – not broken, but empty. How can that be? When all around us is the knowledge that offers us solutions. Nature as a design tool offers insight into systems that are whole, complete, that give life, create value, allow progress, transformation, change. We, the next generation, demand change. We demand action so that we have a future and have it guaranteed. We trust that you will put our interests ahead of all other interests and boldly do the right thing. Please, lead. I want leaders who lead.”
Powerful stuff coming from a teenager and that’s the point of the American Samoa 350 Environment Club. Our young people are beginning to grasp the problems of the climate change situation. They are learning the science and the politics that will directly affect their future. We adults need to applaud and support them.
So on Saturday, March 2, 2013 at Utulei Beach Park, a declaration of war will be announced in conjunction with Fifteen other Pacific Island Nation Monday, February 25, 2013’s youth. The theme is: 2013 We are Pacific Island Warriors and together we will tackle 2013 Climate Change.
We are being funded by UNESCO and the Pacific Voyagers Foundation and we will be shooting a video to be submitted along with the other Island groups showing their efforts. It will be edited by professionals in New Zealand and shown around the world by UNESCO.
I say all of this because we want the word to get out about "Climate Change" and how it will and is affecting our collective futures.
Besides, the rest of the world should know that we are here. And though what lies ahead for us is uncertain, we are "Pacific Warriors" and we will confront our future, not armed with spears, but with knowledge.
So on Saturday we are planning clean ups in the morning around the island. Then festivities at Utulei Beach Park will be starting around noon and they include games, traditional dances, speeches, hot dogs, etc.
Stand with our young people and the community this Saturday and attend Pacific Warrior Day.
You can contact Sandra Purcell, (Youth coordinator) at 258-8095 or me (Dale Long @ 733-2014)
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It’s almost become a type of cliché in science fiction: colonizing Mars and other celestial bodies so that the human race can propagate and populate the galaxy. Unfortunately, according to NASA scientists, reproduction while in space will hamper future colonization and population efforts.
According to NASA Ames Chief Life Scientist Tore Straume (seen left with a villainous goatee), the radiation generated by cosmic rays and solar flares will make it difficult to conceive during interplanetary travel. Moreover, any child conceived during spaceflight could become sterilized due to the radiation. This conclusion is based on multiple studies conducted on “non-human primates” (read: “monkeys”) that were given doses of radiation and saw that the eggs of female fetuses began to die off during the second half of pregnancy, resulting in a sterile female when the fetus is finally birthed.
Straume says, “One would have to be very protective of those cells during gestation, during pregnancy, to make sure that the female didn’t become sterile so they could continue the colony.”
Similar problems could be seen in men, with the radiation damaging the male’s sperm. It’s also believed that in addition to the sterilization issues, other mental and physical defects could result from the radiation’s effects on a fetus.
Once the colonists reach Mars, the combination of the planet’s atmosphere and shielding from the structures that will almost certainly be built on the planet’s surface will provide some shielding against the radiation.
Seeing as how it’s calculated that any manned mission to Mars would take roughly 214 days, this could be seen as more of an issue for colonization outside of the Solar System. After all, there are D&D fans (including this writer, sadly) that have gone longer than seven months without making the beast with two backs, so one would think that trained astronauts could easily practice self-restraint while hurtling towards the Red Planet.
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Environmental Factor, March 2009, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Glutathione Synthetase Linked to Arsenic Susceptibility in Fruit Fly Model
By Brian Chorley
NIEHS grantee Iain Cartwright, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, his former student, Jorge Muñiz Ortiz, Ph.D., and two co-authors recently reported a surprising genetic twist regarding arsenic susceptibility in the February 2009 issue of Toxicological Sciences. He and his research team discovered evidence that gene sequence variation of Drosophila glutathione synthetase (GS), which encodes an enzyme responsible for the final step in gluthathione synthesis, may be a more likely explanation for differential arsenic sensitivity and exposure risk than previously thought.
In an editorial appearing in the same issue, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Research Toxicologist David Thomas, Ph.D., lauded the study's (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18779381?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum) significant contribution to unraveling the arsenic-glutathione connection. "Additional information [of this kind] on the relation between the GS genotype and the phenotype for response to As may help to reduce some of the uncertainties in the risk assessment for this metalloid and assist regulators in their task of protecting public health."
Arsenic is a metalloid that forms various compounds readily in nature. At high dosage, arsenic is extremely toxic to many organisms and has been used as an active ingredient in insecticides and herbicides. For example chromated copper arsenate (CCA), an arsenic compound, was once heavily used as a wood preserver because of its toxicity to insects, bacteria, and fungi. Subsequently, due to potential environmental and human health impact concerns, CCA has been banned from use in the U.S. and other countries.
Naturally occurring arsenic contamination in well water used by Bangladesh and neighboring countries is a current health concern that has the potential to affect tens of millions of people. Chronic ingestion of arsenic has been linked to numerous diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and respiratory ailments; however, epidemiological evidence has demonstrated that arsenic sensitivity varies from individual to individual and population to population. This variation suggests there may be a strong genetic component to arsenic toxicity.
Drosophila, or the fruit fly, is a common model for genetic research for which Cartwright is certainly an advocate. "The use of simpler, but genetically highly amenable, model eukaryotic systems in toxicology has much to recommend it, both from a cost-effective and time-critical perspective," he explained.
By measuring egg-hatching rates in progeny of two different Drosophila strains that were respectively resistant and sensitive to arsenic and using a combination of genetic analysis techniques, Cartwright's team narrowed their focus to a region in the X-chromosome. This region of the X-chromosome coded a gene of particular interest, glutathione synthetase - an enzyme involved in glutathione biosynthesis. It has been known since the beginning of the early 1920's that glutathione could protect from arsenic toxicity, and it was used as an antidote to the arsenical war gas Lewisite. Since these initial observations, several studies have demonstrated that glutathione protects by facilitating both breakdown and transport of arsenic out of the cell.
What is surprising about Cartwright's finding is that glutathione synthetase is not considered the rate-limiting step for gluthathione biosynthesis and that partial deficiency in this enzyme is not thought to compromise gluthathione production. The research team used an RNA interference technique to demonstrate, however, that flies exhibiting partial reduction of this enzyme, showed significantly increased arsenic susceptibility. A possible explanation, suggested by the researchers, is that a stressed system may struggle to meet the demand of glutathione, thereby allowing other points of control, such as glutathione synthetase, to potentially limit overall biosynthesis rates.
"Given the intense interest in inter-individual variability in response to arsenic in studied human populations exposed to arsenic-laden water," Cartwright commented, "this work adds an additional dimension to the metabolic and biosynthetic pathways deserving scrutiny as potential arbiters of differential susceptibility based on genetic polymorphism."
(Brian Chorley, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow in the NIEHS Laboratory of Molecular Genetics Environmental Genomics Group.)
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The next thing Republicans in Congress did was to write the Fourteenth Amendment . It was a powerful amendment meant to change the Constitution as it was. It said: "No State shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws ."
It says that the states must provide equal protection of the law to all their citizens. But suppose they don't? The South had fought for states' rights. Many Southerners thought each state should be free to make its own decisions. If a state wanted an aristocratic society with layers of privilege and unfairnesswell, if that was what the majority of its people wanted, why shouldn't they have it? This was what one famous judgeOliver Wendell Holmes had to say about that: "The history of most countries has been that of majoritiesmounted majorities, clad in iron, armed with deathtreading down the tenfold more numerous minorities."
The Constitution makers had realized that majorities are sometimes tyrannical. The Bill of Rights was meant to protect minorities from abuses by the majority. But it only covered federal laws. The Fourteenth Amendment protected citizens from tyranny by the states. If states pass unfair laws then Congress can override them. That's what the Fourteenth Amendment said. It took power from the states and gave power to the federal government. Andrew Johnson didn't like it a bit.
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To understand what anterolisthesis means it is first
necessary to understand the meaning of the word
vertebrae. Vertebrae are bones that form an opening in
which the spinal cord passes. These bones are stacked
one on top of another, as shown in the picture below.
Each individual bone that makes up the vertebrae is
called a vertebra. The thick, drum-shaped part of the
bone that forms the front part of the vertebra is known as
the vertebral body. In the picture above, the vertebral
bodies are located in the front part of the picture,
between the red areas. The red areas are discs.
Because these discs are positioned between the
vertebrae, they are known as interverterbral discs. The
discs are flat and cushiony and act as shock absorbers.
Normal appearing vertebrae.
In anterolisthesis, the upper vertebral body is positioned abnormally compared to the
lower vertebral body. More specifically, the upper vertebral body slips forward upon the
one below it. The amount of slippage is graded on a scale from 1 to 4 (or I to IV in
Roman numerals). Each grade (starting at grade I) means that the slippage has
increased another 25% of the vertebral body. So Grade I anterolisthesis means that
there has been 25% slippage, Grade II antherolisthesis means there has been 50%
slippage, Grade III anterolisthesis means there has been 75% slippage, and Grade IV
anterolisthesis means there has been 100% slippage. Thus, Grade I anterolisthesis is
mild and Grade IV anterolisthesis is severe. Anterolisthesis is often caused by bone
"Where Medical Information is Easy to Understand"™
WHAT DOES ANTEROLISTHESIS LOOK LIKE?
A picture of normal appearing vertebrae appears above. Below it a
HOW IS ANTEROLISTHESIS TREATED?
If the condition is bad enough and has not responded to
conservative treatment such as rest and physical therapy,
anterolisthesis is treated through a surgical technique known as
In this technique, an incision is made in the back, through the middle layer of muscles and ligaments
that sit on either side of the spine. A ligament is a tough band of tissue that attaches to joints and holds
them together. A joint is a place where two bones contact each other.
Cutting into the above areas frees the attachments to the spinous processes
and laminae. Spinous processes are the bony parts that project out from the
back of the vertebrae. Some of the back muscles are attached to the spinous
processes. The laminae are the thin, flattened part of the vertebral arch. The
vertebral arch is the ring of bone that, together with the vertebral bodies,
surrounds the spinal cord. A picture of a lamina is included below. The areas
projecting outwards are the spinous processes.
A small instrument is then used which removes small bits of bone from the
lamina until the nerves can be seen. The nerves are moved slightly to expose
the intervertebral discs (see above). Using various instruments, the disc is
removed through the right and left side of the spinal canal. The spinal canal is
the space between the spinal cord and the bony structure that surrounds it.
Once the disc is removed, the doctor aligns the vertebrae. The empty space where the disc used to be
is then filled with bone. The bone is taken from other parts of the body. In some cases, the space is
filled with artificial bone, which is known as a bone block. With the space between the vertebrae being
filled, the vertebrae are fused together. Thus, the vertebrae can no longer slip forward on the one below
it. The fused vertebrae are often stabilized further with hardware such as screws.
More recently, doctors have been implanting a device known as a spinal cage in the space between the
vertebrae. A spinal cage is literally a small threaded cage that is filled with small pieces of natural bone.
The packed cage is then capped and implanted between the vertebrae. As natural bone grows through
holes in the cage to fuse with the natural bone inside it, permanent fusion and stability is accomplished.
WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM, ANTEROLISTHESIS?
Anterolisthesis comes from the Latin word "ante" meaning "front," and the Greek word "listhesis"
meaning "to slide down a slippery path." Put the words together and you have "to slide down a slippery
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ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, videos, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you.
Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals.
Teacher Resources by Grade
|1st - 2nd||3rd - 4th|
|5th - 6th||7th - 8th|
|9th - 10th||11th - 12th|
When I Was Young In...A Literature to Language Experience
|Grades||6 – 8|
|Lesson Plan Type||Unit|
|Estimated Time||Seven 40- to 60-minute sessions|
Peaks Island, Maine
English-language learners (ELLs) are best served when provided with the same authentic literacy experiences as their English-speaking peers. Aimed at ELLs and also appropriate for students in third through fifth grades, this lesson will help all students develop an understanding of the experiences students bring from their native communities. A read-aloud of When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant triggers memories and helps students discover the appropriate use of the past tense. Students then explore the story further by researching the author before writing and sharing their own stories based on the same format.
Flip Book: Writing and publishing their own stories is a breeze when students use this interactive online tool.
Mohr, K.A.J. (2004). English as an accelerated language: A call to action for reading teachers. The Reading Teacher, 58(1), 18–26.
- English-language learners (ELLs) are best served by accelerated language instruction in both the context of the regular classroom and during sessions with ESL teachers. Teachers should have the same expectations of ELLs as of other students, but should scaffold their learning and differentiate their activities to give them the support they need.
- Lessons for ELLs should be literature based to provide them with information, language patterns, and vocabulary; facilitate the enjoyment of literature; and give opportunities for conversations.
- ELLs should be expected to use English in relevant and grammatically correct ways.
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Distributism is not a new idea—it wasn’t conceived by G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. As Belloc explains in The Servile State, their idea was a return to certain economic principles of medieval Europe—a guild system, wider ownership of the means of production, etc.—in order to right the injustices of capitalism. But distributism goes back further than that, to Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus in the second century B.C., and the theory’s proponents would do well to learn from the tragic failures of the Gracchi.
Plutarch tells us that the two brothers were among the most virtuous men of their day. Tiberius, ten years older than Gaius, served with great distinction in the army and showed himself not only an excellent tactician but, in his famous dealings with the Numantines, a peacemaker also. He then returned to civilian life and was elected a tribune—a representative of the interests of the common man and one of the highest offices in the Roman Republic.
As Rome grew the army was no longer made up of farmers who tilled their fields six or nine months out of the year, so that by the time of the Gracchi, the citizen farmer class upon which the Republic had been built was basically extinct. The rich could buy out the farms of whomever they wished, and more and more common families left their lands and moved to the capital, where they lived as dependents on the public.
In an attempt to save the Republic, Tiberius moved to redistribute the land and prevent the rich from buying it up in large tracts. Whatever Tiberius’s intentions—and they were certainly noble—this was revolution, and the Senate reacted. Tiberius, who had with such skill arranged peace between his army and a barbarian tribe, became swept up in the political repercussions of his attempt to return Rome to her former glory, and was assassinated.
Gaius tried to accomplish the leveling that his brother had not, but he too made an enemy of the Senate and died violently. Plutarch says of them in his account:
What could be more just and honorable than their first design, had not the power and the faction of the rich, by endeavoring to abrogate that law, engaged them both in those fatal quarrels?
In his defense of distributism for the journal Dappled Things, John C. Medaille argues that it is the only political-economic system capable of rendering distributive justice which is not a “cure worse than the disease.” Substantial government intervention or workforce unionization present dangers too “massive,” he says, to consider. But if there is anything to be learned from the failure of the Gracchi, it is that a distributist system is, if not totally impossible to implement, certainly a cure worse than the disease.
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Basing Informed Decisions on Reliable Research
Panama Canal Expansion
The expansion of the Panama Canal promises implications for global shipping patterns, including those influencing Texas ports. By any measure, those ports are critically important to the Texas economy, accounting for nearly 1.4 million jobs and more than $82 billion in personal income each year. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) formed the Panama Canal Working Group in 2012 and sponsored a research study conducted by TTI to assess opportunities associated with the canal expansion, particularly the potential impacts on ports and landside infrastructure, including roadways, railroads and intermodal facilities. TTI examined previous studies on the canal expansion and heard from shippers, ports, carriers, industry groups and other stakeholders at a series of meetings. The overarching finding from the study is that the Panama Canal expansion — coupled with continued population grown in Texas, energy-sector developments and the emergence of new trading partners throughout the world — represents opportunities to expand Texas’ position as a global gateway for the nation. By providing a low-cost, reliable, safe, secure, multimodal and environmentally sustainable supply chain, the state can increase its global trade, create new jobs, and expand the state and national economies.
Impact of the Energy Sector on Roadways
It’s hard to overstate the energy sector’s impact in Texas. The industry directly employs nearly 225,000 Texans in oil and gas exploration and production, accounting for almost 13 percent of all new jobs added in the state over the past year. The rapid growth of wind-power generation has further bolstered the energy sector’s contributions. But impacts can also be negative. Countless trucks carrying construction materials, heavy equipment, fracking water, petroleum products and other supplies strain roadways literally to the breaking point, necessitating extensive and expensive pavement repairs. Many truckloads are overweight, further exacerbating the problem. TTI researchers have worked with TxDOT to measure and project the impact of this wear and tear, which TxDOT estimates at roughly $2 billion per year for state and county road systems. TTI recommendations included donation agreements with energy companies, procedural changes related to early notification of development activity, and better coordination of road maintenance and repair.
Mobility Investment Priorities
Traffic congestion in Texas is choking our highways and economy. In our most congested cities, lost time and wasted fuel now cost us nearly $10 billion a year. However, this is not just a big-city issue. Stop-and-go traffic that slows down freight in our major cities will make small-town Texans pay more for groceries, clothes and countless other goods. Recognizing the growing urgency of this problem, the Texas Legislature set aside $300 million to get the state’s highest-priority roadway projects moving. TTI was assigned to help TxDOT and local agencies advance those projects with the most potential to improve mobility and strengthen local economies in the most congested regions of the state, as well as to help identify the most publicly acceptable options to pay for those projects. The Lone Star State’s population is growing, while transportation revenues are shrinking. TTI’s Mobility Investment Priorities project is assisting state leaders in closing that gap.
My 35 Expansion Project
In one of the most ambitious roadway improvement projects in the state’s history, TxDOT is expanding a 96-mile section of I-35 in Central Texas from four to six lanes. The effort is designed to alleviate traffic congestion that wastes both fuel and time for motorists, businesses and shippers. In addition, the expansion will help accommodate future increases in population, traffic volume and commercial activity as Texas continues to grow at a rapid pace. The collection of 17 separate but integrated construction projects will require $2.5 billion and five more years to complete. The massive effort also requires getting information — lots of information — to drivers and shippers planning trips and navigating lane closures and work zones characteristic of roadway expansions. To that end, TTI is providing TxDOT with a first-of-its-kind traveler information system that integrates three methods for capturing traffic data and forecasts congestion to provide that information to anyone who needs it.
Border Security and Mobility
For border-crossing users, time delays are inconvenient and costly. More accurate border wait times can help users plan additional travel times or adopt alternatives to reduce delays. Using radio frequency identification tags, researchers at TTI’s Center for International Intelligent Transportation Research in El Paso developed a website that combines delay performance measures with economic factors. Combining this information allows users to determine departure time and port-of-entry selection to help reduce delay costs. The website’s information also benefits policy makers by providing a way to track and analyze trends associated with delay costs at ports of entry.
Measuring the “Cost of Doing Nothing”
As Texas grows, demand for roadway space grows with it — even as available revenue and funding options become more limited. The cost of meeting future mobility needs is substantial, but the consequences of doing nothing to meet them are even greater. TTI calculated that expense in a number of ways, illustrating what life would be like in a state without transportation investment:
- Over the next 15 years, congestion would cost the state an average of $20 billion each year.
- Over the same time period, the delays experienced by commuters would double from 37 hours to 74 hours each year.
- The additional 37 hours of delay would cost each household another $800 annually, increasing with each passing year.
Conversely, for every dollar spent on transportation, the state realizes at least $6 in economic benefits.
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Detection and Diagnosis
Detecting brain and spinal cord cancers is based on the symptoms or problems that bring the patient to the doctor. After examination, the doctor gathers more information and special imaging techniques are used to locate and determine if cancer is present. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are the imaging methods usually used. The diagnosis is made by obtaining tissue either by biopsy or resection. In some cases, a spinal tap is done, as in primary central nervous system lymphoma, in order to make a diagnosis. Spinal fluid is removed and cells are studied under the microscope. By looking at the cells a neuropathologist may determine the type and grade of the cancer.
Brain and spinal cord tumors cause a wide variety of symptoms. Often these symptoms are a result of the pressure of the tumor on healthy tissue. This occurs because of the confined space of the brain and spinal cord. Both are contained by bone structures.
There are many reasons for the symptoms with brain cancer. Some examples include:
- Compression (pressing) by the cancer on the brain may cause symptoms of weakness, loss of sensation, problems with vision or talking.
- Seizures, cause by the cancer which may irritate the brain.
The cancer may cause increased pressure in the skull or block the flow of spinal fluid through the brain ventricles. This may cause symptoms of headaches, confusion, problems with bladder control, walking, or balance.
Common symptoms of brain tumors include:
- Nausea and/or vomiting
- Vision or hearing problems
- Change in personality
- Problems talking
- Problems with memory
- Problems writing
- Balance problems
- Trouble walking
- Muscle weakness
Common symptoms of spinal cord tumors include:
- Sensitive to temperature
- Muscle weakness
- Problems with bowel or bladder function
- Spastic muscles
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Violence and Exploitation Against Women and Girls, Volume 1087
January 2007, Wiley-Blackwell
Contributors place violence against women and girls within a variety of cultural and religious perspectives and also present theories of violence, the role of stereotyping, and the effect of violence in the larger community. The recent emergence of cyber violence, particularly against adolescents, is addressed, and several violence prevention programs are described.
Violence against elderly women, disabled women, and pregnant women are addressed, as are the public health issues related to violence against women. The final section of the book expands the cultural perspective through chapters on domestic violence in Latin America, South Asia, Israel, and among ethnic enclaves within the United States. A report on female genital mutilation is included. The role of the United Nations and non-governmental organizations in preventing violence against women globally concludes the volume.
NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas.
ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member
Part I: Conceptualizing Violence and Exploitation Against Females:.
1. The History of Violence: Barbara Welter.
2. Theories of Violence: Herbert Krauss.
Part II: Violence Against Girls, Adolescents, and Young Women:.
3. Sexual Aggression Towards Women: Reducing the Prevalence: Gwendolyn L. Gerber, Lindsay Cherniski.
4. Adolescent Girls Speak About Violence in their Community: Roseanne Flores.
5. Who Wins in the Status Games? Violence, Sexual Violence, and an Emerging Single Standard Among Adolescent Women: Beatrice Krauss.
6. Cyber Violence Against Adolescent Girls: June Chisholm.
7. Early Violence Prevention Programs: Implications for Violence Prevention Against Girls and Women: Barbara Mowder, Michelle Guttman, Anastasia Yasik.
8. International Perspectives on Sexual Harassment of College Students: The Sounds of Silence Michele Paludi, Eros DeSouza, Liesl Nydegger, Rudy Nydegger, Sarah Bennett.
Part III: Violence Against Women:.
9. Intimate Partner Violence: New Directions: Irene Frieze, Maureen McHugh.
10. Battered Women Syndrome: Empirical Findings: Lenore Walker.
11. Aging Women and Violence: Margot Nadien.
12. Violence and Exploitation against Girls and Women with Disabilities: Daniel Rosen.
13. Violence Against Pregnant Women in Northwestern Ontario: Josephine Tan, Kate Gregor.
14. Intimate Violence against Women and Unwanted Pregnancy: Nancy Russo, Angela Pirlott.
15. Re-Victimization of Rape Victims by the Criminal Justice System: Mary P. Koss.
16. Violence against Women as a Public Health Issue: Joan Chrisler, Sheila Ferguson.
Part IV: Cultural and International Perspectives on Violence Against Women:.
17. Cultural Beliefs and Domestic Violence: Madeline Fernandez.
18. Violence Against Adolescents and Women in Mexico: Conceptualization and Program Application: Susan Pick.
19. Domestic Violence in the Chinese and South Asian Immigrant Communities: Elizabeth Midlarsky, Anitha A. Kothari, Maura Plante.
20. Domestic Violence in Israel: Changing Attitudes: Varda Muhlbauer.
21. An Exploration of Female Genital Mutilation Erika Baron, Florence L. Denmark.
22. International Sexual Harassment: Janet Sigal.
23. United Nations Measures to Stop Violence Against Women: Eva Sandis.
Epilogue: Vita Rabinowitz.
Index of Contributors
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noun (plural taxes /ˈtaksiːz/)
3 [mass noun] Linguistics The systematic arrangement of linguistic units (phonemes, morphemes, words, phrases, or clauses) in linear sequence.
- The only remaining factor to which the difference in meaning between (1) and (2) can be ascribed is the arrangement of the morphemes (the taxis).
Words that rhyme with taxisanaphylaxis, axis, praxis
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: taxis
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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But what about the bees in Paris?
What happens to the bees during the winter and how do they defend themselves from the cold?
When the thermometer goes below zero the bees in the more than 50 apiaries in Paris adopt a range of behaviors that enable the colony to spend the winter and grow again in the spring. They stockpile pollen and honey in the summer. Beekeepers estimate that it takes twenty pounds of honey in the hive at the entrance of the winter to cover the needs of the colony.
Here's the beehives on the roof of the Institute for the Deaf in the Latin Quarter. In the fall, the bees in the hive decrease from say 50,000 workers in May and June to 20 000 bees in December or January. That's a lot fewer mouths to feed. Winter bees with abundant fat reserves live about 6 months, gradually replacing the short-lived bees.
Even more remarkable is how the bees warm each other and protect the queen. For this they get together, shake against each other to form a kind of ball known as the cluster. At the same time, they consume honey and vibrate their muscles like little helicopters. This produces heat which maintains the center of the cluster to a temperature close to 30 ° C. And a rotation similar to that of Emperor penguins forming a turtle on the ice to defend against blizzard. So within the cluster their heat radiates and all are warmed.
These are the tilleul - lime - trees on the Marais street near ma tante which the bees frequent.Cara- Tuesday
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In 1758 the Swedish taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus dubbed our species Homo sapiens, Latin for “wise man.” It’s a matter of open debate whether we actually live up to that moniker. If Linnaeus had wanted to stand on more solid ground, he could have instead called us Homo megalencephalus: “man with a giant brain.”
Regardless of how wisely we may use our brains, there’s no disputing that they are extraordinarily big. The average human brain weighs in at about three pounds, or 1,350 grams. Our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, have less than one-third as much brain - just 384 grams. And if you compare the relative size of brains to bodies, our brains are even more impressive.
As a general rule, mammal species with big bodies tend to have big brains. If you know the weight of a mammal’s body, you can make a fairly good guess about how large its brain will be. As far as scientists can tell, this rule derives from the fact that the more body there is, the more neurons needed to control it. But this body-to-brain rule isn’t perfect. Some species deviate a little from it. A few deviate a lot. We humans are particularly spectacular rule breakers. If we were an ordinary mammal species, our brains would be about one-sixth their actual size.
Competing theories seek to explain the value of a big brain. One idea, championed by psychologist Robin Dunbar of the University of Oxford, is that complicated social lives require big brains. A relatively large-brained baboon can make a dozen alliances while holding grudges against several rivals. Humans maintain far more, and more complicated, relationships.
Managing a social network can yield significant benefits: When a fight breaks out, it pays to have friends at your back. But keeping tabs on one’s social life requires effort. Dunbar and his colleagues have found that it takes longer for people to answer questions when they have to think about what’s going on in other people’s minds. And the more “mind reading” a question requires, the more it activates the brain.
A different perspective comes from Daniel Sol of the Center for Terrestrial Ecology and Applied Forestries in Barcelona, Spain, who studied the introduction of animals to new habitats. Comparing successful and unsuccessful invaders, he found that in both birds and mammals, big-brained species are more likely to be successful than are small-brained ones. This research suggests that larger brains are more adept at problem solving, which translates into a better chance of survival.
It is possible that both Dunbar and Sol are at least partially correct. But no matter how the debate resolves, a puzzling question remains: If big brains are so useful, then why are they relatively rare? The answer is that nothing in nature comes for free - and where the brain is concerned, the cost can be enormous. In fact, scientists are discovering that a lot of human biology has reorganized itself to cope with the burden of an oversize brain.
In 1995 Leslie Aiello, then of University College London, and Peter Wheeler of Liverpool John Moores University offered the first possible reason for the rarity of big brains. Neurons, they pointed out, have a voracious appetite. They require lots of energy to produce their voltage spikes and to release neurotransmitters. They get that energy from oxygen and food, mostly glucose. A three-pound human brain burns up to 20 times as many calories as three pounds of muscle.
We cannot ignore this demand, even for a moment. A few minutes without oxygen may not do too much damage to our muscles but can irreparably harm the brain. The brain also requires a constant supply of food. Twenty-five percent of all the calories you eat each day end up fueling the brain. For a newborn infant, with its little body and relatively large and fast-growing brain, that figure leaps to 87 percent.
The brains of our ancestors more than 6 million years ago did not impose such brutal demands. Our forebears stood only about as tall as a chimpanzee and had brains the size of a chimp’s. For the next 4 million years, our ancestors remained small-brained. Then, around 1.8 million years ago, Homo erectus evolved. The first members of our genus that looked like us, H. erectus stood about as tall as modern humans, with brains that weighed around 900 grams. A half-million years ago, the brains of our ancestors started to grow again; 200,000 years ago they finally reached about the same weight as Homo sapiens brains today.
Aiello and Wheeler noted that this dramatic increase in brain size would seem to have required a dramatic increase in metabolism - the same way that adding an air-conditioning system to a house would increase the electricity bill. Yet humans burn the same number of calories, scaled to size, as other primates. Somehow, Aiello and Wheeler argued, our ancestors found a way to balance their energy budget. As they expanded their brains, perhaps they slimmed down other organs.
The scientists compared the sizes of organs in humans and other primates. Relatively speaking, our liver is about the same size as a baboon’s. Our heart is on par with a gorilla’s. But our guts have shriveled. They weigh only 60 percent of what you’d expect in a primate of our size. Intestinal cells also need a lot of energy, because they are highly innervated. Losing such a big portion of their guts could have allowed our ancestors to compensate for much of the brain’s extra energy demand.
Aiello and Wheeler christened their idea “the expensive tissue hypothesis.” To test it, they compared the size of brains and guts in a range of primate species. They found that the bigger a primate’s brain relative to the species’s overall body size, the smaller the guts tend to be. This consistent trade-off suggested that trimming our guts was essential to supersizing our brains.
Then William Leonard, a biological anthropologist at Northwestern University, put the expensive tissue hypothesis to a new test. Instead of correlating brain and gut size across primate species, Leonard decided to look at mammal species overall. Beyond the primates, he found, there existed no correlation whatsoever between brain size and gut size.
This suggested that the gut-shrinking phenomenon within the primate groups was probably too subtle to explain our increase in brain size completely. Something else had to be going on as well. That something, Leonard says, is diet. After studying the diets of primate species and tallying the quantity and quality of food consumed, Leonard found a switch from lower-energy diets of bark and leaves to higher-energy cuisines of seeds, tubers, and meat in the brainier species. As brain-to-body ratio increases, presumably, the denser calories supply the additional needed fuel.
Greg Wray, an evolutionary biologist at Duke University, is finding secrets to big brains in an entirely different place: the human genome. One of the genes involved in feeding the big brain, called SLC2A1, builds a protein for transporting glucose from blood vessels into cells. It is vital to the brain’s well-being. Mutations that reduce the number of transporter proteins in the brain lead to disorders such as epilepsy and learning disabilities. If one copy of the SLC2A1 gene is completely dysfunctional, the results are devastating: The brain develops to only a portion of its normal size. If neither copy of the gene works, a fetus simply dies.
Wray and his colleagues compared SLC2A1 in humans and other animals. They discovered that our ancestors acquired an unusually high number of mutations in the gene. The best explanation for that accumulation of mutations is that SLC2A1 experienced natural selection in our own lineage, and the new mutations boosted our reproductive success. Intriguingly, the Duke team discovered that the mutations didn’t alter the shape of the glucose transporters. Rather, they changed stretches of DNA that toggled the SLC2A1 gene on and off.
Wray guessed that these mutations changed the total number of glucose transporters built in the human brain. To test his theory, he looked at slices of human brain tissue. In order to make glucose transporters, the cells must first make copies of the SLC2A1 gene to serve as a template. Wray discovered that in human brains there were 2.5 to 3 times as many copies of SLC2A1 as there were in chimpanzee brains, suggesting the presence of more glucose transporters as well.
Then he looked at glucose transporters that deliver the sugar to muscles. The gene for these muscle transporters, called SLC2A4, also underwent natural selection in humans, but in the opposite direction. Our muscles contain fewer glucose transporters than in chimps’ muscles. Wray’s results support the notion that our ancestors evolved extra molecular pumps to funnel sugar into the brain, while starving muscles by giving them fewer transporters.
Becoming Homo megalencephalus was hardly a simple process. It was not enough for evolution to shrink our gut and shift our diet. It had to do some genetic engineering, too.
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DEFINITION OF INDIGENOUS
1 The term Indigenous is used in this publication to refer to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. All ABS Indigenous population statistics are based on responses to the ABS standard question for Indigenous identification, which is used in self-enumerated collections. The same Census question has been used to determine Indigenous status (but not its component peoples) since the 1981 Census. The standard question format for Indigenous identification in the Census, that is shown below, was first used in this exact format in the 1996 Census, and was repeated in the 2001 and 2006 Censuses.
2 For more information on definitional changes and Census questions, refer to Occasional Paper: Population Issues, Indigenous Australians, 1996 (cat. no. 4708.0) or the Census Dictionary, 2006 (cat. no. 2901.0).
SCOPE AND COVERAGE
3 The 2006 Census of Population and Housing was held on 8 August 2006. Australia's first national Census was held in 1911 and since 1961 a Census has been taken every five years, the frequency specified in the Census and Statistics Act 1905. The objective of the Census is to count the number of people in Australia on Census Night, identifying their key characteristics and those of the dwellings in which they live.
4 Following changes to the Australian Constitution as a result of the 1967 Referendum, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were included in official estimates of the Australian population. As a consequence, from the 1971 Census onwards, the ABS has developed and improved strategies to count the Indigenous population throughout Australia.
5 The Census aims to count every person who spent Census Night in Australia. This includes Australian residents in Antarctica and Other Territories-Jervis Bay, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island. The other Australian External Territories (Norfolk Island and minor islands such as Heard and McDonald Islands), are outside the scope of the Australian Census. The only people who are in Australia on Census Night but who are excluded from the Census are foreign diplomats and their families.
6 The Census includes people on vessels in or between Australian ports as well as people on board long distance trains, buses or aircraft. Also included are those people outside Australia who are not required to undertake migration formalities, such as those on oil and gas rigs or on Australian Antarctic bases. People entering Australia before midnight on Census Night are counted while people leaving an Australian port for an overseas destination before midnight on Census Night are not. Visitors to Australia are included regardless of how long they have been in the country or how long they plan to stay. However, for people who intend to be in Australia less than one year, only basic demographic data are available. The Census includes homeless people and people camping out.
7 All occupied dwellings are counted in the Census with the exception of diplomatic dwellings. Unoccupied private dwellings are also counted, with the exception of unoccupied dwellings in caravan parks, marinas and manufactured home estates (self-contained dwellings that are built off-site and then transported to the estate for installation). Unoccupied residences of owners, managers or caretakers of such establishments are counted.
8 In the 2006 Census, Interviewer Household Forms were used in discrete Indigenous communities where literacy and language problems made the self-enumeration procedure impractical. They were designed to be more culturally appropriate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as well as easier for interviewers to use. They covered the same topics as the Census standard forms.
9 In the nominated discrete Indigenous communities, where possible, local Indigenous people were recruited to act as supervisors and interviewers. Locally appointed staff helped in the enumeration of these communities by liaising with the communities, assisting in planning workloads and, where necessary, assisting in the recruiting and training of interviewers. Urban Indigenous communities and Indigenous people residing outside these communities were counted on standard Census Household Forms using self-enumeration procedures. In these areas, assistance was offered to households experiencing difficulties with self-enumeration.
10 The Census in discrete communities was conducted over a period of weeks around the Census date. This is known as a 'rolling enumeration', and meant some communities were enumerated at different times.
11 Details about the 2006 Census content, collection, confidentiality and privacy protection, processing and evaluation activities are contained in 2006 Census of Population and Housing: Nature and Content (cat. no. 2008.0).
LIMITATIONS OF CENSUS DATA
12 Census data are subject to a number of inaccuracies resulting from mistakes by respondents or mistakes in collection or processing. While many of these are corrected by careful processing procedures, some remain undetected. The effect of the remaining errors on the quality of Census data is slight overall, although it may be greater for some population groups. The main kinds of data quality issues are:
- Partial non-response: Where a form is incomplete, answers are imputed for non-response to age, sex, marital status and place or usual residence. In all other cases, including Indigenous status, a 'not stated' code is allocated during processing.
- Processing error: Much of the recording of Census information from forms is now automatic, using scanning, Intelligent Character Recognition, and other automatic processes. Quality management procedures are used to identify and correct error introduced by such processes.
- Respondent error: While processing procedures can detect and repair some errors made by people in completing the forms, some remain in final data.
- Random adjustment: Table cells containing small values are randomly adjusted or suppressed to avoid releasing information about particular individuals, families, or households. The effects of these adjustments are statistically insignificant.
- Undercount: Although the Census aims to count each person, there are some people who are missed and others who are counted more than once. The data in this publication are not adjusted for the net undercount, with the exception of population estimates presented in table 1.
Further information on data quality is provided progressively in Census Update newsletters and in 2006 Census Data Quality Working Papers. These are available on the ABS web site <www.abs.gov.au/census>.
14 See Chapter 2: Interpreting the Data in this publication for a discussion of the quality issues associated with Indigenous data from the 2006 Census.
15 Information is also available in Occasional Paper: Population Issues, Indigenous Australians, 1996 (cat. no. 4708.0).
DATA PRESENTATION CONSIDERATIONS
16 The proportions of the population with a particular characteristic shown in the tables in this publication include 'not stated' responses in the denominator. For example, the proportion of people in Australia who are of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin would be calculated by dividing the number of persons identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander by the total population, and expressing the result as a percentage. The 'total population' includes records coded to 'not stated', representing the 'status unknown' category.
17 In some tables there are apparent discrepancies between percentages and their sum total. These are due to rounding.
18 Random adjustment of the data is considered to be the most satisfactory technique for avoiding the release of identifiable Census data. When the technique is applied, all cells may be slightly adjusted to prevent any identifiable data being exposed. These adjustments introduce small random errors. However the information value of the table as a whole is not impaired. For more details, see Introduced Random Error in Census Dictionary, 2006 (cat. no. 2901.0).
Usual residence and place of enumeration
19 The type of data used in each cell is clearly noted in the table or footnotes. In most cases, usual residence Census counts are shown.
Missing usual residence data
20 Some records do not have usual residence data, i.e. the person has not recorded a usual residence. For records with insufficient usual address information, the usual address is imputed. For more information on usual residence coding issues in the context of the Australian Indigenous Geographical Classification (AIGC), see Appendix 5: Usual Residence Coding and Edits in this publication.
21 Tables which present population counts at Indigenous Region (IREG) level or lower are affected by the absence of usual residence information for some records. These counts are presented in tables 4-42, and 46. Records without sufficient usual residence information to enable them to be coded to the levels in each table are excluded, with the exception of tables 4 and 45 (where they are separately identified) and tables 5 and 46 (where they are not separately identified).
Indigenous Location counts
22 In tables 6-42, Indigenous Location counts are not separately presented if the geographic area and corresponding counts are equivalent to the Indigenous Area already included.
Indigenous Regions (IREG)
23 For further information refer to Appendix 1: AIGC Structure.
24 Refer to Appendix 4 for more detail about Census products and services. Other ABS releases that may be of interest to users of this publication include:
Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0)
Census Dictionary, 2006 (cat. no. 2901.0)
Census of Population and Housing: Indigenous Profiles (cat. no. 2002.0)
Census of Population and Housing: Population Growth and Distribution, 2006 (cat. no. 2035.0) - expected release August 2008
Census of Population and Housing - Undercount, 2006 (cat. no. 2940.0)
Experimental Estimates and Projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 1996 to 2016 (cat. no. 3238.0) - expected release August 2009
How Australia Takes a Census, 2006 (cat. no. 2903.0)
Information Paper: Measuring Net Undercount in the 2006 Population Census (cat. no. 2940.0.55.001)
Occasional Paper: Population Issues, Indigenous Australians, 1996 (cat. no. 4708.0)
Population Characteristics, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2006 ( cat. no. 4713.0) - expected release March 2008
Population Distribution, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2001 (cat. no. 4705.0)
Regional Population Growth, Australia: 1996 - 2006 (cat. no. 3218.0)
Social Atlas Series (cat. nos. 2030.1 - 8) - expected release early 2008
Statistical Geography Volume 1 - Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2006 (cat. no. 1216.0)
Statistical Geography: Volume 2 - Census Geographic Areas, Australia, 2006 (cat. no. 2905.0).
Statistical Geography: Volume 3 - Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Urban Centres/Localities, 2006 (cat. no. 2909.0) - expected release late 2007
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Babb, Stanley E. Fifty years ago Galveston suffered hardest blow. Galveston, 1950
Cline, Isaac Monroe. Storms, Floods and Sunshine, New Orleans: Pelican, 1945
Cline, Isaac Monroe. Storms, Floods and Sunshine: An Autobiography. Gretna: Pelican Pub. Co, 2000: HB, 2nd printing, 352pp.
Cline, Joseph L. When the Heavens Frowned. Dallas: Mathis, 1946
Coulter, John ed. The complete story of the Galveston Horror. N.P., United Publishers of America, 1900: a contemporary account ofthe deadliest storm in history.
Crosthwait, William L, MD and Rischer, Ernest G, The Last Stitch, Memoirs of a Texas Doctor, Philadelphia, J. B.Lippincott, 1956: HB.
Dexter, W. W. Galveston: the day before and the day after the storm. Houston: Berleth, 1901
Doyle, D. S. The Great Galveston Storm, September 8, 1900. Houston: Southwest Publishing, 1900
Green, Nathan C. ed. Story of the Galveston flood. Baltimore: Woodward, 1900
Green, Nathan C., (ed): Story of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, Gretna: Pelican Publ Co., 2000: HB, 366pp.
Halstead, Murat. Galveston: the Horrors of a Stricken City. Chicago: American Publishers Association, 1900: HB, 368pp.
Jones, Martha Tannery, Terror from the Gulf: A Hurricane in Galveston, Dallas, Hendrick Long Publ. Co., 1999: HB
Larson, Erik, Isaac's Storm, New York, Crown Publishers, 1999. HB, 323pp. Also available as audio cassette and in Large Print.
Lester, Paul. The Great Galveston Disaster: containing a full and thrilling account of the most appalling calamity of modern times including vivid descriptions of the hurricane. Chicago: Kuhlman, 1900
Lester, Paul. The True Story of the Galveston Flood as told by the survivors: containing a full and thrilling account of the most appalling calamity of modern times including vivid descriptions of the hurricane. Philadelphia: American Book & Bible House, 1900: HB, 516pp.
Marshall, Logan. The true story of our national calamity of flood, fire and tornado. Philadelphia: Winston, 1913.
Mason, Herbert Malloy. Death from the Sea: our greatest natural disaster, the Galveston hurricane of 1900. New York: Dial Press, 1972: 260pp.
McNeir, Forest W. Forest McNeir of Texas. San Antonio: Naylor, 1956
Ousley, Clarence. Galveston in Nineteen Hundred: the authorized and official record of the proud city of the Southwest as it was before and after the hurricane of September 8, and a logical forecast of its future. Atlanta: W. C. Chase, 1900: 346 pp..
Pastoriza, Joseph J. Souvenir of the Galveston storm. Houston: J. J. Pastoriza, Printing, 1900: 1 vol. unpaged.
Pauls, Katherine Vedder. Florence M. Veder, 1861-1934. Houston: LK&R Reproductions, 1970
Southwest Publishing. Illustrations of the Galveston Cataclysm: a sad souvenir. Houston: Southwest, c. 1900.
Stevens, Walter B. The Story of the Galveston Disaster. New York: Munsey, 1900
Stevens, Walter B. The Story of the Galveston Disaster. (introduction by Robert A. Nesbitt), Galveston, San Luis Press, 1975: Reprinted from Munsey's magazine, Dec. 1900, 22pp.
Weems, John Edward. A Weekend in September. New York: Holt, 1957: HB, 180pp
Winchester, James H. Hurricanes, storms tornadoes. New York: Putnam, 1968
Zebrowski, Ernest. Perils of a restless planet: scientific perspectives on natural disasters. New York: Cambridge University, 1997
Rozelle, Ron, The Windows of Heaven, 2000, Texas Review Press, Huntsville: Historical novel, winnter of the 2000 Texas Review Fiction Prize. Softcover, 240 pgs, First Edition, $16.95 new.
Wingate, Anne: The Eye of Anna, N.Y., Walker, 1989: HB, hurricane & murder.
Adams, I. P., "The Great Galveston Storm: a memorial in rhyme" in Short poems of light verse, Galveston, Keystone Printing, 1916: 36pp.
American Heritage Series, "When the Hurricane Struck" (Galveston, September 8, 1900), October, 1968.
Francaviglia, Richard V., From Sail to Steam (four centuries of Texas maritime History, 1500-1900), Austin, University of Texas Press, 1998, HB, 324pp.
Harrowing, Frank T. The Galveston storm of 1900: a thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of history, the University of Houston, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Houston, 1950
Hoehling, Adolph A. Disaster: Major American Catastrophes. New York: Hawthorn, 1973: HB 208pp.
Lindsey, Therese (Kayser), "A Tale of the Galveston Storm", a poem, Dallas, The Kaleidograph Press, c1936: First prize winner in 1925 Poetry Society of Texas contest, 40pp.
Needs of Galveston: synopsis of proposed legislation for the rehabilitation of the municipality; "we have a city to preserve as well as a city to reform." Galveston: Clarke & Courts, 1901
Original Stereocard Photograph: Galveston Disaster, "Corner 35th Street and Avenue O--the site of homes and happiness before the terrible storm", N.P., Underwood & Underwood, 1900.
(Planet Earth Series)--Storm, (including Galveston Hurricane of 1900), N.P., Time-Life Books, 1982: HB, 176pp.
--The Texas Experience, (including coverage of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900), College Station, Texas A & M Press, 1986: HB, 180pp
United States, Army Corps of Engineers, Mouth of Brazos River, Texas: Showing effects of hurricane of Sept. 8, 1900; to accompany report of Board of Engineer Officers submitting projects for necessary repaires, etc/ prepared under direction of C. S. Riche, Washington, D. C., Corps of Engineers, 1900: map.
Check out Web Links to information on the Great Galveston Storm of 1900.
Return to Pomerosa Press home page or to Pasadena, The Early Years
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New research has shown for the first time that the amount of water flowing through rivers in snow-affected regions depends significantly on how much of the precipitation falls as snowfall. This means in a warming climate, if less of the precipitation falls as snow, rivers will discharge less water than they currently do.
The study by PhD student Wouter Berghuijs and Dr Ross Woods, Senior Lecturer in Water and Environmental Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Bristol together with a colleague from Delft University of Technology is published online in Nature Climate Change.
The researchers, using historical data from several hundred river basins located across the United States, investigated the effect of snow on the amount of water that rivers discharge.
How river flow is generated in snowy areas is poorly understood due to the difficulty in getting appropriate measurements. Previous studies have mostly focused on the role of snowfall for the within-year distribution of streamflow - how much water is there in the river during a particular period of the year - and assumed that there was no important effect of snow on the average streamflow. This study is the first to focus on the role of snow for how much water is on average available in rivers.
With data from 420 catchments located throughout the United States the researchers show that snowiness is an important factor for the average river discharge.
Global warming is very likely to reduce the amount of snow significantly in snow-affected catchments, even if temperatures rise only two degrees Celsius. The new research suggests that the amount of water in rivers will be reduced as a result of the decrease in snow.
The authors of the study said: "With more than one-sixth of the Earth's population depending on meltwater for their water supply, and ecosystems that can be sensitive to streamflow alterations, the socio-economic consequences of a reduction in streamflow can be substantial.
"Our finding is particularly relevant to regions where societally important functions, such ecosystem stability, hydropower, irrigation, and industrial or domestic water supply are derived from snowmelt."
Given this importance of streamflow for society, the researchers propose that further studies are required to respond to the consequences of a temperature-induced precipitation shift from snow to rain.
Paper: A precipitation shift from snow towards rain leads to a decrease in streamflow, W. R. Berghuijs, R. A.Woods and M. Hrachowitz, Nature Climate Change, Vol 4, June 2014.
Notes to editors:
About Nature Climate Change
Nature Climate Change is a monthly journal dedicated to publishing cutting-edge research on the science of climate change, its impacts and wider implications for the economy, society and policy and is currently ranked as the top journal in environmental research.
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When you send some kind of radio signals at some frequency say 5 GHz to a repeater and it transmits it back at higher power, what change is made to the radio signal? For example: Will it be transmitted back at higher frequency or in what terms it is said to be amplified? How do you measure its strength?
All electromagnetic signals that leave an antenna have an amplitude, i.e. there is power propagating as they spread.
The signal which the waves are carrying is a pattern on this propagation of energy. As energy is transmitted from the original antenna, the power falls as 1/r^2, so, as the distance grows the signal also becomes weaker in strength/energy, smaller in amplitude.
A repeater boosts the power once more, keeping the signal shape on the electromagnetic carrier wave but restoring the amplitude to levels detectable by radio/tv/mobiles...
The frequency pattern is kept unchanged because it is the one carrying the message and the tunability.
This is basically the same as Anna's answer but worded differently;
A radio wave is characterised by two parameters, it's frequency and it's amplitude. The amplitude is the "strength" of the wave i.e. if you connect a multimeter to an aerial then the greater the wave amplitude is, the stronger will be the voltage you measure on your multimeter.
So a repeater just retransmits the signal at the same frequency but with the amplitude multiplied by some factor. The more powerful the repeater the more it multiplies the strength of the signal.
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Florida's history doesn't start in Tallahasee, but the capital city area played a vital role when Spain's Ponce De Leon arrived in 1513. Tourism officials are hoping to show off the rich history of the area to tie in with the Viva Florida 500 campaign.
CG:Gary Stogner/Leon County Tourism and Development AT:
"It's kind of a gift of history for us. It's what we can do to showcase what we have here from the Spanish Colonial period all the way up to modern times," said Leon County Tourism and Development's Gary Stogner.
The Museum of Florida History features the sights and sounds of when settlers first encountered Indian tribes. History buffs can also check out where Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto set up camp in 1539. The site features holiday ties as well, as historians say that perhaps the first North American Christmas took place there.
"It probably wasn't a very "merry" Christmas, because they were under constant attack from the Apalachee who's town they had occupied and who's territory they were invading. It probably wouldn't have been a celebration, although they probably would have commemorated it," said archaeologist Daniel Seinfeld.
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To provide an estimate of inflation we have given a guide to the value of $100 US Dollars for the first year in the decade to the equivalent in today's money If you have $100 Converted from 1930 to 2005 it would be equivalent to $1204.42 today "If You Had 1 billion dollars then it would now be worth 12 billion dollars." In 1930 average new house cost $7,145.00 and by 1939 was $3,800.00 More House Prices In 1930 the average income per year was $1,970.00 and by 1939 was $1,730.00 In 1930 a gallon of gas was 10 cents and by 1939 was 10 cents In 1930 the average cost of new car was $640.00 and by 1939 was $700.00
A few more prices from the 30's and how much things cost Firestone Tyre 1932 from $3.69 Single Vision Glasses 1938 $3.85 Complete Modern 10 piece bedroom Suite $79.85 Steak 1938 1LB 20 cents New Emerson Bedroom Radio 1938 $9.95 History of Radio Shaefer Pens 1933 from $3.35 Plymouth Roadking Car 1938 $685 Emmerson 5 tube bedroom radio $9.95 Howard Deluxe Quality silk lined hat $2.85 Cotton Chiffon Volle Girls Frock $2.98
Chevrolet 1935 Master Deluxe
New Master De luxe Chevrolet with improved master blue flame engine, pressure steam oiling , cable brakes and shock proof steering
Shantytowns form consisting of wood and cardboard in the United States. They are often referred to in history as Hoovertowns after President Hoover
The 30's were a time when the depression caused by the wall street crash in late 1929 caused the world to undergo a fundamental change in lifestyles , and as part of the change some new radical politics became popular as seen in the rise of Fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism
The 30's also provided a strange phenomenon never repeated where bank robbers and murderers were thought of as celebrities ( a sort of modern Robin Hood ) which in truthfulness they did not rob from the rich to give to the poor just to rob and murder any who got in their way.
The wearing of Sunglasses became popular in the 30's
Big band or swing music becomes popular (from 1935 onward)
The Film Wizard of OZ Gone with the Wind Action Comics continued to grow and Superman is seen in a comic for the first time
Some of the Most Well Known Movie Stars of the Thirties Clark Gable couple of his films from the 30's Gone with the Wind and Mutiny on the Bounty Shirley Temple couple of her films from the 30's Stand Up and Cheer! and Bright Eyes Joan Crawford couple of her films from the 30's Forsaking All Others and Possessed Will Rogers couple of his films from the 30's Judge Priest and Life Begins At Forty Fred Astaire couple of his films from the 30's Swing Time and Follow the Fleet Ginger Rogers couple of her films from the 30's 42nd Street and Flying Down to Rio
Sporting Changes In The 30'S
Baseball National Baseball Hall of Fame starts with the first players to be chosen Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Babe Ruth Joe DiMaggio starts his career at the New York Yankees taking the crown over from Babe Ruth who retires. To help with falling attendance due to the depression, night games are started. Live Radio broadcasts of baseball games begin to encourage fans to help sell tickets Basketball National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA holds first championship tourney in 1939 which Oregon won. Association Football (Soccer) As it's popularity grew, teams in Britain and later the rest of the world bought in managers who instituted a greater degree of Professionalism, tactics and stricter Training regimes taking the game to new levels. The first world cup is played in Uruguay in 1930 which the home team won. American Football Goalposts were moved from the back of the end zone to the front of the Endzone NFL Championship game Introduced Between Eastern and Western divisions The NFL Draft Introduced Ice Hockey Toronto Maple Leafs Win Stanley Cup Great 30's Depression Hits Ice Hockey Teams For More Sporting history, Origins, Events and Changes, Please Check Out Our New Sports History Section.
After the fast pace of technology change in the 20's the 30's did still see some advances including The Jet Engine Tea Bags Are introduced and sold Commercially The First Photocopier Invented but not commercial available till 1948 The BBC broadcasts a wider range of Television Programmes until the Outbreak of War in 1939 and TV stays off the air until 1946 , many of the technical staff are used during for the development of Radar for the war effort The continued increase in use of Radio for entertainment and the refinement of the Airplane for travel 1930's when the airships LZ127 Graf Zeppelin and LZ129 Hindenburg operated regular transatlantic passenger flights between Germany and both North and South America.
Inventions The Year Invented Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use )
Ballpoint Pen ----- 1938 Hungary by Laszlo Biró - also called a biro (UK) BBC Television ----- 1932 England first regular TV broadcasts (London) Catseyes ----- 1934 England by Percy Shaw - for lighting roads Electric Razor ----- 1931 USA by Jacob Schick Electron Microscope ----- 1933 Germany by Ernst Ruska Frequency ModulationFM ----- 1939 USA by Edwin H Armstrong - sound by radio waves Helicopter ----- 1936 Germany by Heinrich Focke Jet Engine ----- 1930 England by Frank Whittle Nylon ----- 1931 USA by Wallace Corothers - artificial silk Magnetic Recording ----- 1936 USA audio tapes Photocopier ----- 1938 USA by Chester Carlson Polaroid ----- 1932 USA by Edwin Herbert Land Radar (for Aircraft) ----- 1935 Scotland by Robert Watson-Watt Radio Telescope ----- 1932 USA by Karl Jansky Sticky Tape ----- 1930 USA
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|Constancea 83, 2002|
University and Jepson Herbaria
P.C. Silva Festschrift
Vegetative and reproductive phenology of two intertidal red macroalgae: Chondrophycus perforatus (Bory) Nam and Laurencia viridis Gil-Rodríguez & Haroun (Rhodomelaceae, Rhodophyta) were compared between sites on the northern and southern shore of Tenerife Island (Canary Islands). Several biometrical parameters were obtained over a period of 24 months. Physical and chemical characteristics of the two sites were determined. Chondrophycus perforatus, a perennial, reaches maximum size in early summer (June to July) in the north, winter (December to March) in the south. Tetrasporophytes are most abundant in the north during summer, while they are most abundant in the south in autumn and winter. Female gametophytes were not found; male gametophytes were rare. Laurencia viridis, an annual, appears in the north in autumn (September to December), reaches maximum size in spring and early summer (June), and disappears in July, while in the south, it carries out its life history one to two months earlier. Tetrasporophytes dominate in the spring to early summer at both sites. Male plants appear early at the southern site and continue growing throughout the winter at both sites. Cystocarpic plants are present during the period December to June in the north, November to May in the south. The differential growth of both species in the two locations are discussed in relation to key environmental parameters, such as temperature and light regime. The higher sea surface temperature and irradiance encountered in the southern site may explain the early development of the populations of both species.
Members of the Rhodomelaceae, including among others the genera Laurencia, Chondrophycus, and Osmundea, are important components of the intertidal flora in warm temperate coasts. About twenty species belonging to these red algal genera are known from the Canary Islands (Gil-Rodríguez and Haroun 1993; Afonso-Carrillo and Sansón, 1999). Recently, Garbary and Harper (1998) proposed the elevation of the subgenus Chondrophycus to generic level based on a cladistic analysis of the Laurencia complex, while Nam (1999) gave several morphological and anatomical details to support that change and transferred among others, Laurencia perforatus (Bory) Montagne, to the new genus. In a previous paper, Haroun and Gil-Rodríguez (1995) described the vegetative growth process of Chondrophycus perforatus (as L. perforata), a widespread intertidal species in the Canarian coasts, as well as discussing spermatangia.
Taking into account climatological differences between the northern and southern intertidal shores of the Canary Islands, we decided to find out if differences existed between the structure and the dynamics of macroalgal populations growing at two sites with different oceanographic conditions. The present paper reports the results of a study on two rhodomelacean species, Chondrophycus perforatus and Laurencia viridis, in which growth, reproductive and seasonality are compared between two intertidal sites on Tenerife Island, one (site N) on the north coast, the other (site S) on the south coast.
The location of the two study sites is shown in Figure 1. Site N is Punta del Hidalgo (28RCS707618 UTM) while site S is Pariso Floral (28RCS253117 UTM). Samples were collected (1500 in all) monthly from October 1988 to September 1990 by scraping off all organisms from a 25 cm2 area, fixing them in a 4% formalin-seawater solution, and sorting them in the laboratory. Ten randomized plant replicates were collected at each site each month. Samples in the Chondrophycus perforatus zone were not taken at site N in October and November 1989 due to heavy surf. The study sites comprised intertidal areas with basaltic substratum of different degrees of inclination, moderately to highly exposed to the wave action. In the Canarian coasts, the tides are semi-diurnal, with a maximum tidal range of 2.8 m. Lower tides during noon time, which expose the target macroalgal species to bright sunlight, are more frequent in the summer months (July to September). Daylength varies from 9.5 h in winter (December) to 14.5 in summer (June) (Haroun, 2001).
In the laboratory, individuals of the two rhodomelacean species were separated from the rest of the scraped material, and some biometrical parameters such as total length and diameter of the main axes were measured with the aid of an electronic gauge (Trimes Sylvac®). The data were analyzed with computer programs (Lotus-1-2-3, v. 3.1®, and Microsoft® Powerpoint®97). For this study, the monthly maximum, minimum, and mean values of the thalli length were graphed. Additionally, the reproductive status of the specimens (sterile, male gametophyte, female gametophyte including carposporophyte, and tetrasporophyte) was noted.
To characterize the oceanographic conditions of the two sites, physico-chemical parameters were measured. Seawater temperature and salinity were measured using a microprocessor conductivity meter (MTW LF-196®). Density and pH were also determined (Wiss. Techn. Werkstätten D,812 Weilheim meter®). Photon flux density was measured with a spherical sensor LI-COR LI 1000® at similar times of day at both localities, choosing days with same weather conditions.
This species, which was originally described from the Canary Islands (Bory 1803: 305, pl.V: fig 1, as Fucus perforatus Bory), has been reported from warm-water coasts in all major oceans, including Brazil (Oliveira 1969), tropical West Africa (Lawson and John 1982), Marshall Islands (Taylor 1950), northeastern Australia (Cribb 1958, 1983), Ceylon (Durairatnam 1963), and Tanzania (Jaasund 1970, 1976). In the Canary Islands, it is quite common on intertidal platforms, growing in semi-exposed and exposed points, mainly in rock fissures where water movement is almost continuous (Haroun and Gil-Rodríguez 1995; Masuda et al., 1998).
The morphological features of C. perforatus were confirmed in this study: thallus perennial, cartilaginous, reddish purple to olive green when living, forming tightly intricate turf averaging 1.53.0 cm (range 0.75.2 cm) high; main axes attached to substrate by discoid holdfast; branches cylindrical, arcuate, and decumbent, creeping by apical rhizoidal attachments. Reproduction seems to be chiefly vegetative, as previously noted (Haroun and Gil-Rodríguez, 1995). Tetrasporophytes and male gametophytes with cup-shaped spermatangial receptacles were observed, but no female plants were found.
This species was described (Gil-Rodríguez and Haroun 1992) from the Macaronesian Region (Azores, Madeira, Selvages, Canaries, and Cape Verd). It is mainly restricted to exposed low intertidal sites, growing on rocks with strong wave action.
The morphological features of this species are the following: thallus annual, cartilaginous, mainly greenish with pink tips, with erect axes averaging 48 cm (range 215 cm) long, having alternate or helicoid branching only in the upper 2/3 of the thallus; ovoid spermatangia produced in cup-shaped receptacles; cystocarps urceolate and sessile; tetrasporangia in parallel abaxial rows.
Mean values of the oceanographic parameters analyzed at the two sites are given in Table I. There are only two significant differences, both of which favor site S for growth of warm-water organisms. At site S irradiance is twice that at site N, while surface seawater temperature are 23°C higher at site S than at site N.
The highest value of the mean size of C. perforatus was attained in June to July: 3.13.9 cm (a maximum size of 5.2 cm was reached during early summer, June 1990), but most of the year the mean thallus size was about 23 cm (Fig. 2a). Plant abrasion occurs during the autumn (October to November), leaving short turfs in December and January. Growth resumes in the spring (March to May). Vegetative thalli were present throughout the year.
Reproductive effort (Fig. 2b): Tetrasporophytes were found in the warmest months of the year (not observed between November and February), and peaked in late summer, while male gametophytes were found only in summer months (June to August) with the exception of one collection in February 1990. No female gametophytes were detected. There was a steady increase of tetrasporophytes from late winter to summer months.
In this location, the greatest mean size of C. perforatus was attained during the winter months: 3.23.4 cm (the maximum size 4.4 cm was reached in December 1988 and January 1990), but most of the year the mean size was about 2.42.5 cm (Fig. 3a). Due to high insolation in spring months, plants started to die, and remained small until next autumn (September to November), when the growth began again.
Reproductive effort (Fig. 3b): The maximum numbers of fertile plants was observed after the summer months. There was a clear increase of tetraspore formation towards late autumn (August to December). Only 34% of the total samples collected were tetrasporophytes, the remainder were sterile plants. In this site, no male or female gametophytes were detected despite a careful check of all specimens collected.
Comparing the two sites, maximum size is reached in the summer (June to September) at site N, whereas at site S reached it was in winter (December to March). In relation to the reproductive status of the plants, tetrasporophytes dominate at site N in summer (June to August) but are most abundant at site S during autumn (September to November). Male plants were found only at site N, and only at low frequencies. Female plants and carposporophytes were never found at either site.
Discernible thalli appeared in the autumn (November), grew slowly in winter, and reached a maximum size of 8.39.2 cm in spring (April) and early summer (June) (Fig. 4a). They disappeared by the end of August. Tetrasporophytes peaked in the spring and early summer (August) .
Reproductive effort (Fig. 4b): Male and female plants were found earlier than tetrasporangial plants. Sexual plants started to appear in late autumn and female plants lasted until late spring (May 1989); tetrasporophytes were found two months later. In summer, only tetrasporophytes were found. Of the total samples from site N, 23% were tetrasporophytes, 5% male gametophytes, 6% female gametophytes, and 66% sterile plants.
Thalli appeared at the beginning of September and grew rapidly during autumn and winter, reaching a maximum size of 1215 cm in spring (March to May). They began to disappear at the beginning of July, with a new annual cycle starting at the beginning of September (Fig. 5a).
Reproductive effort (Fig. 5b): Tetrasporophytes were first detected in January and persisted until the end of June, reaching maximum size in the spring (March to June). Spermatangia develop in autumn (November) and winter (December to February), reaching a maximum in December to January. Female gametophytes were first detected during November, peaked in March, and persisted throughout April and May. Of the total sample from site S, 40% were tetrasporophytes, 8% male gametophytes, 9% female gametophytes, and 43% sterile plants.
There are some clear differences between the two sites. Thalli appeared in autumn (November) at site N, growing continuously through the winter (January) and spring (April), reaching maximum size in early summer (June), and disappearing at the end of summer (August). At site S, the growth cycle of the thalli started and finished earlier, appearing at the end of summer (September), attaining maximum size in spring (March to May), and started to disappear at early summer (July).
The relevance of vegetative propagation has already been remarked by other authors for diverse intertidal macroalgae (Lobban and Harrison, 1994). In Laurencia crustiformans McDermid which is also a intertidal and shallow subtidal (down to -1.5 m) species, sexual plants are rather uncommon (McDermid, 1989); only a few female plants have been observed. In another rhodomelacean species, Acantophora spicifera (Vahl) Børgesen, Kilar and McLachlan (1986) showed that fragmentation in this species was an effective mechanism of plant propagation in a wave exposed zone. Also, Braga (1990) described turf-forming populations of Gigartina teedii (Roth) Lamouroux on the subtropical coast of Brazil that persisted mainly through vegetative propagation. In our study, after two years' monthly sampling of the two intertidal macroalgae, vegetative propagation of C. perforatus is confirmed (Haroun and Gil-Rodríguez, 1995).
Our failure to detect female gametophytes of C. perforatus probably indicates that they are absent or rarely fertile. Male gametophytes (although presumably less conspicuous than female ones) were detected in several months. It seems unlikely that the female gametophytic stages would appear and disappear in the short intervals between the sampling times, but this possibility cannot be ruled out. In the literature, spermatangial branches were described for this species only twice (Cribb 1958; Haroun and Gil-Rodríguez 1995) and no other fertile gametophytic material has been described yet. Another possibility, suggested by Dyck et al., (1985) in their study of the reproductive phenology of Iridaea cordata (Turner) Bory along the Pacific Coast of North America and also by Braga (1990) with Gigartina teedii (Roth) Lamouroux in the subtropical Brazilian coast, is that a successful vegetative reproduction of any life-history stage on the available substrate may preclude the development of other stages. Only local catastrophes or the senescence of the dominant life-history stage would allow the growth of the other stage.
We would like to express our gratitude to Dr Paul C. Silva for his critical review of the manuscript. We feel also indebted to Drs. M. Chacana and M. Medina, and Lcda. M. C. Hernández-González for their help with the field work, as well as Dr F. Valdés.
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The White-footed Frog or White-footed Trilling Frog (Neobatrachus albipes) is a species of frog in the Myobatrachidae family. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, intermittent freshwater marshes, and seasonally flooded agricultural land.
- Hero, J.-M. & Roberts, D. 2004. Neobatrachus albipes. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 22 July 2007.
|This Myobatrachidae article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|
|This Western Australia article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|
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Sample The Willoughby Family's Journey to Saskatchewan Worksheet
Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Build a printable worksheet with the complete story and puzzles
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The Willoughby Family's Journey to Saskatchewan
By Elizabeth Phipps
1 In the late 18th century, many families from all over the world came to live in the region now known as Saskatchewan. Under the Dominion Land Act, the Government of Canada offered settlers a one quarter square mile, or 168 acres, of land to make a farm. These farms were called homesteads.
2 One family that settled near Saskatoon was the Willoughbys. Their journey began in southern Ontario. The following is an account of their trip from Moose Jaw in Southern Saskatchewan to their homestead.
3 In April of 1883, the Willoughby family stepped off the westbound train in Moose Jaw. The weather was very chilly as they unloaded their belongings out of the train onto the train platform. At dawn the next day, the family loaded everything they owned onto a horse-drawn cart they brought from eastern Canada. Once the carts were loaded, they set off with a group of settlers on a trail to their new home. Although the weather was cold it was clear, and spirits were high. The first two days went by quickly, although travel was very slow because the horses were not used to walking on the prairie trails. On the third day, however, the Willoughby's group found themselves in a terrible spring blizzard. The travelers were not dressed or prepared for such weather, and they had to stay in their summer-weight tents for three days until the snow ended.
Paragraphs 4 to 6:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2007 edHelper
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The Emperor Moth is a widespread, but never very common, moth of heathland, moorland, woodland rides, sand dunes and grassland scrub. A very large moth, the female has a wingspan of up to 10cm; the male is smaller, with large feathery antennae. During the day, males can be seen flying swiftly about and can be mistaken for butterflies. The females rest in low vegetation during the day, releasing a special scent to attract males. The caterpillars feed on woody plants such as heather, Bramble and Blackthorn, and overwinter as chrysalides, sometimes for two winters.
How to identify
Unmistakeable: a beautiful, fluffy moth which is grey-brown with big peacock-like eyespots on all four wings and pinky-red markings at the wingtips. It is the only large moth with eyespots on all four wings. The smaller Eyed Hawk-moth has two large eyespots on the hindwings only.
Where to find it
When to find it
How can people help
The Wildlife Trusts manage many heathland, grassland and coastal habitats sympathetically for the benefit of all kinds of moths, including the Emperor Moth. We are also working closely with farmers, landowners and developers to promote wildlife-friendly practices. We have a vision of a 'Living Landscape': a network of habitats and wildlife corridors across town and country, which are good for both wildlife and people. You can support this greener vision for the future by joining your local Wildlife Trust.
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March 18th in baseball history: 1st franchise move in 50 years
Submitted by BTGrimes on Wed, 03/18/2015 - 10:00am
Braves' move signals major shift
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA | MARCH 18, 1953 - The Boston Braves got official permission from the other MLB owners on this date in 1953 to relocate to Milwaukee. It was the first franchise move in major league baseball since 1903 when the Baltimore Orioles moved to New York City to eventually become the Yankees. It opened the flood gates.
Expansion and relocation were in the air. As Braves owner Lou Pernini put it, "The country has changed in the last 75 years. You can't deny Los Angeles and San Francisco are major league in every respect, and so are Montreal, Baltimore and some other cities."
The next season the St. Louis Browns packed up and moved to Baltimore to become a reincarnation of the Orioles. By 1958 the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants had moved to Los Angeles and San Francisco respectively. The Milwaukee Braves moved again in 1966 to Atanta, where they remain. Montreal and several other cities, such as Seattle, Anaheim and San Diego eventually got new teams. By 1972 there were 30 major league teams in two leagues, more than double the number the two leagues started with.
Pernini also thought back in 1953, "A third major league is the only answer for the future." That has not come about. In fact, in 2001 there was discussion among the owners about contraction - eliminating teams. That has not occurred either.
This daily dose of baseball history is brought to you by TODAY in BASEBALL.
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The trend in row crop farming in the Southeast is to get bigger to compensate for dwindling profit margins. Fewer farmers and larger acreage farms create some interesting challenges that farmers in other parts of the country have faced for years, but are becoming more critical for Southeastern growers.
Except for availability of land and money, the biggest obstacles for getting bigger are labor, management and equipment.
Crop consultants have been a part of some Southern farming operations for years, though usually more for crop scouting than crop management. Certified crop consultants, who are fully capable of helping a large acreage farmer produce a comprehensive farm plan and manage the problems associated with crop production are few.
In the Midwest, organizations, like Dodge City, Kan.-based Crop Quest have been in existence for over 20 years. Crop Quest provides agronomic, pest management, water management and even high tech precision agriculture assistance to their growers.
Large, comprehensive crop management companies, like Crop Quest simply don't exist in the Southeast.
Large farming operations in the Southeast typically began as a small family farm, as sons and daughters came back to the farm to work, the need was there to get larger to support several families. At the same time, many row crop farmers were getting out of farming for myriad reasons, usually retirement. The result has been an opportunity for well-managed farming operations to grow dramatically in size.
Typically, labor is a chronic problem in larger farming operations. Most of the work is done by a few people, and that work runs the gamut from fixing a tractor to marketing a crop. When pushed for time, too many farmers use averages for crop production.
Even if a farmer splits a 7,500 acre farming operations into 500-700 acre farms, which is typical, he may apply nitrogen to a 500 acre farm based on an average of soil samples over the entire 500 acres. If the average calls for 100 pounds per acre of N, restricted by time and management input, too many growers would apply 50,000 pounds of N to the entire farm.
Data from grid sampling or zone sampling, even higher tech electronic conductivity of the soil can be used to build computer-generated farm-wide soil variability maps. Combined with variable rate application equipment, such maps could easily save the grower 25 percent on volume of fertilizer applied and 25 percent on efficacy of fertilizer applied.
Large acreage farmers fully understand the concept of grid and zone sampling, but too many simply don't have the time, or the equipment to incorporate sampling techniques with sophisticated precision application techniques.
Even fewer growers have the time to install and use yield monitors. As Calvin Perry, an ag engineer at the University of Georgia recently pointed out, getting high tech equipment, like yield monitors to show them off to the neighbors and grandchildren hurts rather than helps make farm decisions. Investment in precision agriculture takes more than money, according to Perry, it takes a commitment of time to learn how to most efficiently adapt precision ag technology to a particular farming operation.
For farmers who are getting larger and older (the average age of a farmer in the Southeastern U.S. is 57.4 years of age), including high tech and precision ag technology into a growing farming operation is difficult, but vital to sustainability of the operation.
Variable rate application technology, for example, can save growers huge amounts of money on everything from fertilizer to irrigation water, but this technology requires huge investments in time.
Reduced-tillage, fueled by the development of cotton, corn and soybean varieties tolerant of glyphosate has allowed many growers to increase the size of their operation without increasing the size of their labor force. However, increases in size do require increases in size of equipment. Larger tractors, larger combines, etc, are critical to increasing acreage.
Strip-tillage, no-tillage, even never-till have all caught on in varying degrees throughout the Southeast. Though these tillage practices aren't new, factors like tractor/implement balance, size of tires, configuration of tires are things large acreage growers in other parts of the country have faced for years, but have not been management considerations on the typically smaller Southeastern farms.
Paul Sparenberg, product marketing specialist for AGCO's new Challenger MT900B four wheel drive tractors, says matching the tractor to the job is critical in larger farming operations. He points out that growers who are buying larger, four wheel drive tractors have to look at keeping the power on the ground. When the tractor and implement is balanced properly slippage is reduced by as much as 50 percent.
Sparenberg says that a tractor that is not precisely aligned with weight dispersal and tires may have 16-18 percent slippage. This would be equivalent of jacking the tractor up on blocks and revving up the engine and letting it run for about 10 minutes out of every hour.
Conversely, proper tires and proper weight alignment can reduce slippage to 6-8 percent. Spread out over a 7,000-8,000 acre operation and multiple passes in many cases, reducing slippage is a critical money-saving factor that is well within the grower's ability to control.
Larger, heavier, high horsepower tractors that can generate in excess of 500 horsepower are coming onto the market. These monsters will have more power, torque and slip than smaller tractors, unless they are properly calibrated, Sparenberg adds.
For growers in the Southeast, especially large acreage row crop farmers, a four-wheel drive tractor with horsepower in the 400 range may be all that is needed to replace several older, less efficient tractors, he contends.
The major tractor manufacturers all have tractors exceeding 500 horsepower, but in many cases row crop farmers don't need this much horsepower. The key, Sparenberg says is to increase the size of implement, along with the increase in horsepower of a tractor. If a farmer can triple the size of his implements, he can easily pull this larger equipment with four-wheel drive, high horsepower tractors.
With labor available and qualified to drive a $250,000 piece of equipment hard to find, replacing two or three tractors with one is often an economic saving, despite the high initial cost of the tractor.
Tire size, configuration, even air pressure are factors that few growers in the Southeast have had to consider. When going from a 1,000 acre operation to a 5,000 or 6,000 acre operation, the performance of every piece of equipment becomes incrementally more important as the acres go up.
On the lighter, sandier soils typical of the Southeast larger, high horsepower tractors are likely to use big dual tires to provide for optimum flotation. Simply setting air pressure properly can increase the size of the footprint of the tire across the field and dramatically increase the amount of time a farmer can spend working in a wet field.
Bob Rees, technical survey manager for Michelin Ag Tires, says the new Michelin line of Axio tires, which utilize the company's new Ultraflex technology, can dramatically improve a farmer's ability to stay in a field longer under wet conditions and get back into the field early after rainfall.
“We have these new tires (the new Axios will be available in January 2007) out in tests in the Midwest, and one of our cooperators, who grows about 3,000 acres of grain crops reported that he saved eight days planting and harvesting crops, simply by putting these new tires on his tractor” Rees notes.
Kevin Lutz, agricultural technical manager for Michelin, says that farmers, regardless of the size of their operation, need tires that cause less soil compaction, better traction, increased productivity, better load carrying capacity, long tire life and a better ride.
“The tractor and the tires it rides on are directly related to the comfort factor for a farmer. If that grower has to cover large acreages in a short period of time, the limiting factor is often going to be how comfortable he or she is,” Lutz notes.
He adds that the Nationwide trend in farms getting larger is creating a nationwide demand for more efficient and more comfortable tractors.
Not many farmers would likely notice a difference between a 42 and 23 degree angle of the bars of a tractor tire. “It makes a huge difference in the ride comfort of the tire,” Lutz points out. The steeper angle, that is part of the new Michelin Axio tires provides more comfort and generally produces a bigger footprint than conventional tires.
“There is a big difference between the new tires, using new radial technology than the tires we currently market and those marketed by competitors,” Lutz contends. These tires are manufactured primarily for the larger 500-plus horsepower tractors that are coming onto the market, he adds.
Regardless of whether working with crop consultants, equipment dealers, university or USDA personnel or others with specialized information, the key to getting bigger and more profitable is managing information and putting it to use on a particular farm.
If the trend to larger and larger farms continues in the Southeast, the availability and reliability of management information will be increasingly valuable components of a successful farming operation.
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Signing: To sign good, take your outstretched hand with fingers together. Start with your fingers on your chin and move your hand out and down in an arc.
The sign for good is a bit like you are blowing out a kiss, but your hand is a little lower down.
Usage: Use good with things that your baby enjoys, particularly food. When your baby is visually pleased by an experience, use the good sign. When you say emotional signs like good, use a rising inflection to help communicate the meaning to your baby.
Flash Card: Click the link to view the Good Baby Sign Language Flash Card. The flash cards are printable and available in both U.S. Letter and A4 sizes.
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Five Ways to Become a Better Leader
When you get a MBA degree, among other topics, you’ll learn about marketing, analytics, finance, and economics. However, cross-functional knowledge is not the only thing you’ll need to succeed in the business world. Knowing how to lead effectively is an essential management skill regardless of whether you are in charge of an entire company — or just a single project.
Confidence and assertiveness are positive traits. But, when assertiveness tips over into arrogance, supervisors end up blaming others for mistakes and refusing to apologize when their actions cause problems.
Failing to be accountable at the top has a ripple effect of undermining company morale, stressing employees, and hindering clear communication. True leaders admit when they are wrong and earn the respect of the whole team in the process.
It can be tough to let go when you are the one in charge. Knowing when to let members of your team perform the tasks for which they are trained is an essential leadership skill.
Delegating has the following positive consequences:
- It allows you to prioritize your time and focus on confidential tasks.
- It motivates your team.
- It builds the team’s skill level, boosting the overall productivity of your workforce.
Cultivate the Right Leadership Style
Kurt Lewin, a psychologist, identified three main leadership styles: authoritative, democratic, and laissez-faire.
- Authoritative leaders don’t give their workers a lot of freedom for creativity, but are good at shepherding the business in times when quick decisions are essential.
- Democratic leaders offer guidance but always reserve the right to make the final decision. They are generally considered the most effective type of leader because they encourage input and foster good group dynamics.
- Laissez-faire leaders don’t provide clear direction and leave subordinates to perform tasks alone. This type of leadership only works when team members are highly skilled and work best independently.
Knowing how to find the right balance in your own personal style is an important part of becoming an effective leader.
Image via Flickr by Nguyen Vu Hung (vuhung)
Being a true leader is more than giving commands and making sure that you are heard. It also means knowing when to listen.
Empathetic listening requires honing your emotional intelligence and really paying attention to your workers’ feelings and insights. Leaders who are able to empathize and listen well inspire trust and loyalty. They also really become acquainted with the people who work for them, which can help when assigning tasks and delegating responsibilities.
Since the global marketplace is evolving so fast, leaders can’t afford not to embrace and cultivate innovation in the workforce. A few ways leaders can help members of the team become bold thinkers include risking experimentation, taking time to reflect on the direction of the business together, and focusing on mentoring creative minds in the organization.
Do you think you have what it takes to be one of the leaders of tomorrow? Pursuing an accredited online MBA degree from a top-ranked program, like Washington State University, can teach students the skills they need to be successful in today’s competitive business world.
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Government Information on the Web
FDSYS - Federal Digital System - A service of the U.S. Government Printing Office to provide electronic access to information products produced by the Federal Government. The information available on this site is the official, published version and the information retrieved from GPO Access can be used without restriction, unless specifically noted. This free service is funded by the Federal Depository Library Program.
FedWorld Information Network - An online locator service from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) of the Department of Commerce providing a comprehensive inventory of information disseminated by the Federal Government.
FedStats - More than 70 Federal agencies produce statistics of interest to the public. The Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy maintains this site to provide easy access to the statistics and information produced by these agencies for public use.
Thomas - Legislative information on the web
CQ Library - Publications from Congressional Quarterly. Weekly Report covers legislative news and analysis. Researcher offers in-depth analyses of current and controversial issues, along with bibliographies of more extensive sources.
The Documents Center from the University of Michigan - a central reference and referral point for government information, whether local, state, federal, foreign, or international. Its web pages are a reference and instructional tool for government, political science, statistical data, and news.
Supreme Court opinions from Cornell University contains all opinions of the court issued since May of 1990, along with many of the most important historical decisions of the Court.
Statistical Abstract of the United States - online version of the annual summary of US statistics, from the 1995 edition to the present. Select "Adobe Acrobat PDF Files" for full text access. Use the "index" section to find specific table numbers, then select the appropriate "section"; or, browse an individual section for appropriate statistical lists.
County and City Data Book - online access at the Geospacial and Statistical Data Center at University of Virginia.
Country Studies / Area Handbooks - Online books published by US Govt Printing Office and Dept of the Army. Each book covers a particular foreign country, describing and analyzing its political, economic, social, and national security systems and institutions, and examining the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural factors.
Background Notes - Brief summary information on individual countries and and international organizations, published by the US Dept of State.
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By Thea Skinner
Special to the Triplicate
Most field trips involve a lengthy journey to a museum, but local residents only need to travel a few minutes to enrich themselves.
Free at Last: A History of the Abolition of Slavery in America, a traveling exhibit stopping at 66 sites in 28 states, will give Del Norte County students and teachers a history lesson without a long journey.
The exhibit is a timeline that traces the history of the movement to abolish slavery from the Constitution through the Civil War.
"It illuminates shades of opinion within the ranks of the famous and ordinary, free and slave, men and women to come to see slavery as incompatible with the ideals upon which the nation was founded," according to a press release from The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, a New York-based collection of political and social historical documents.
The exhibit is brought to the public through a grant partnership between The Del Norte County Unified District Curriculum and Instruction Center and The Gilder Lehrman Institute.
The Del Norte Teaching American History Grant Program is a competitive federal grant. Bess Maxwell Elementary School Principal Steve Godla brought the exhibit to students and teachers by writing the grant.
"Most of our teachers and students have not been to the East Coast," Godla said. "We are trying to increase teacher's content knowledge and student performance and knowledge of history."
The grant partnership offers Del Norte County teachers the opportunity to participate in a three-day workshop this summer in New York City. While there, teachers will meet and talk with the authors of text books that the institute provides to teachers. The institute also will give teachers a comprehensive historical text for instructional use.
"The starting point is the collection," said Eric Sharfstein, communications manager at The Gilder Lehrman Institute. "We bring primary source material in front of the students and teachers. At a given point in history things are etched in stone. A letter, photograph or a map gives a sense for that particular moment in time. We put these documents in front of people rather then letting them collect dust."
Godla said, "We partner with 5 museums that are part of the grant. Half of the teachers are from Oregon and half are from California." The museum partnership includes the Del Norte, Siskiyou, Coos, Josephine, and Curry counties' museums.
"The exhibit will provide a rotating block to fifth-, eighth- and 11th-grade students studying history," said Don Olson, Del Norte County assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. "That is almost a quarter of K through 12 students."
Three more exhibits will grace the center this year along with five exhibits each year after 2007. The Frederick Douglas: from Slavery to Freedom: The Journey to New York City exhibit is the first one to come to Crescent City and is on display at the Instructional Multimedia Center.
The exhibit also is an effort to introduce students to exhibits and museums. The goal of the exhibit is to have students engage in a dialogue about slavery through visuals.
The exhibit correlates most closely to the lessons of fifth- and eighth- grade students, as they learn about the move to abolish slavery. Fifth-grade students study the first Americans through the Revolutionary War and eighth grade students study colonialism through reconstructionism or history past the Civil War, but Godla said, "The exhibit is applicable to everyone."
Crescent City's first reported medical doctor arrived in 1853, after serving as a physician to a wagon train that traveled from Missouri.
Edgar Mason would also hold the title of court judge.
Mason chaired a meeting to set a trial for three Indian men accused of murdering a white man in 1854, according to A.J. Bledsoe's "History of Del Norte County." A jury deliberated for an hour and ordered the three men hanged near Battery Point.
He acquired quite a bit of land in Crescent City, giving parcels for a school house, civic center and a masonic temple, as well as two blocks for a city plaza.
During the Civil War, Mason sent money to the Confederacy and the family lamented President Lincoln's election, according to Marin County Free Library's history project.
Mason presided over a public vote in Crescent City on whether or not to enforce a law that prevented businesses from operating on Sundays, according to Bledsoe's book. Proponents of the measure distributed petitions, as bars and other businesses racked up fines for staying open. The public voted the measure down, letting businesses operate on Sundays.
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|HOMOSEXUALITY AND GOSPEL TRUTH:
TOWARDS EFFECTIVE PASTORAL CARE
|by Fr Robert A. Gahl, Jr.
Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
|1. Human Love and Sexuality
"It is not good that the man should be alone" (Gn 2:18). With these words, the Book of Genesis introduces the creation of Eve, the first woman. The inspired creation story explains the origin of the difference between man and woman by indicating that human beings, made in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gn 1:26), are called to loving communion. In addition, according to the Genesis account, the complementarity between man and woman, a reflection of "the inner unity of the Creator", is directed towards this communion.1 Ever since the creation of our first parents, sexual intercourse was always meant to be a beautiful expression of human love for the sake of bearing fruit within a family and for unifying husband and wife. The Church therefore "celebrates the divine plan of the loving and life-giving union of men and women in the sacrament of marriage".2 Consequently, in accord with natural law, the Church teaches that any use of the sexual faculty outside of conjugal intercourse is sinful and thus can only lead to frustration and remorseful separation from the divine Creator.
2. Homosexuality: Definition and Evaluation
When Adam and Eve misused their freedom by disobeying God, they committed the original sin which wounded human nature. The effects of original sin are experienced by each one of us. Sin obscures man's likeness to God, clouds our perception of the spousal meaning of the human body, and makes difficult the permanent, self-giving love between husband and wife.3 Because of original sin, human nature is wounded in the natural powers proper to it and inclined to sin.4
Homosexuality is one of the many manifestations of the disorder in human inclinations introduced by original sin. Homosexuality is the condition of those "who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction towards persons of the same sex".5 Like any other disorder brought about by the wounds in human nature, the experience of homosexual inclinations is a summons to spiritual battle.6 The Church distinguishes between inclinations and the active following through on those inclinations. The Church therefore also distinguishes between persons who experience homosexual temptations and homosexual activity. Men and women who experience sexual inclinations directed predominantly towards members of the same sex are considered homosexual persons. Voluntary sexual activity, or any form of sensual contact for the sake of sexual gratification, between persons of the same sex is considered homosexual activity. While original sin is the remote cause of homosexuality, the proximate cause seems to be a combination of various phenomena not totally understood by science.
Because they contradict the plan of the Creator, homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. Anyone who freely consents to homosexual activity is personally guilty of grave sin.7 Homosexual activity nullifies the rich symbolism, meaning and purpose within the Creator's design. In its intrinsic sterility, homosexual activity thwarts the call to a life of loving self-gift expressed by the complementary conjugal union between man and woman.8 Homosexual activity lacks the essential finality indispensable for the moral goodness of sexual acts. Sacred Scripture condemns homosexual activity as a serious depravity and even "as the sad consequence of rejecting God"9 (cf. Rom 1:24-27). The Church helps homosexual persons to struggle courageously against disordered inclinations and to conform themselves to the splendour of truth found in Jesus Christ (cf. Jn 14:6). By "rejecting erroneous opinions regarding homosexuality" the Church "defends personal freedom and dignity".10 Social harmony depends, in part, on the proper living out of the mutual support and complementarity between the two sexes, which is why the Church cannot support civil legislation protecting "behaviour to which no one has any conceivable right".11
While denouncing homosexual activity, the Church also defends homosexual persons from those forms of discrimination which are unjust12 and seeks to help them find joy and peace in living the virtue of chastity. Those who suffer from homosexual inclinations are not necessarily responsible for their condition. No one ought to judge such persons as inferior. The Church's long experience proves that with the help of the grace of Jesus Christ, frequent reception of the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion, ascetical struggle, andin some casesmedical treatment, they can avoid sin and make progress on the path towards holiness. All must struggle to do what is right, and it is only with God's grace and great effort that men and women succeed in achieving their own inner integrity. The Church recognizes the equal dignity of all persons and offers a maternal welcome to those who experience homosexual inclinations. Likewise, the Church absolutely condemns all malice in speech or action towards homosexual people and teaches that such behaviour endangers the most fundamental principles of a healthy society. Consequently, the Church teaches that human law should promote respect for the intrinsic dignity of each person .13
3. Guidelines for Ministry to Homosexual Persons
Through her apostolic action, the Church opens her arms to all men and women. "The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation".14 "All salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body".15 With creative initiative motivated by charity, and without any fear, the Christian faithful express God's fatherly love for all by seeking them out and meeting their desire for salvation. Believing that the salvific perfection of human freedom may be found only in the truth of Jesus Christ, the Church must always courageously proclaim Christian morality, even when facing opposition or, in extreme cases, persecution and martyrdom.16
Therefore, any Catholic ministry or apostolate to homosexual persons should fulfil the following conditions.
1) Respect for the equal dignity of homosexual persons requires recognizing that sinful actions, such as homosexual acts, are beneath human dignity. The Church's ministers therefore must ensure that no homosexual persons in their care are misled by the widespread erroneous view that homosexual activity is an inevitable consequence of the homosexual condition .17
2) To be effective, authentic and faithful, all pastoral care of homosexual persons must convey the serious sinfulness of homosexual behaviour. Without driving away anyone of good will, ministry to homosexual faithful must communicate, as soon as possible, the demanding yet attractive requirements of moral truth. Since some people may feel rejected by the Church, pastoral care of homosexual persons is most effective by helping them to recognize that the Church accepts them as persons, while also helping them to understand the Church's teaching.
3) With their effort to live according to the Gospel, homosexual persons gain peace and mastery of their disordered tendencies. They are encouraged to learn that with the love of Christ, "they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection".18 All pastoral outreach to homosexual persons should therefore privilege personal ascetical struggle, generous acceptance of God's will, recognition of being a child of God, and the joining of their sufferings and difficulties to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross.19 With compassionate understanding, the Church's ministry should encourage homosexual faithful to hope in the power of the Lord's Resurrection, with the confidence that the Holy Spirit will produce in them "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Gal 5:22). As St. Paul admonished the Galatians: "Those who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires" (Gal 5:24). Homosexual persons, therefore, should make use of the proven means for growing in the virtue of chastity, including frequent reception of the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion.
4) The authenticity of the Church's public proclamation of the Gospel must be guaranteed by assuring that all involved in ministry to homosexual persons, especially clergy and religious, be personally convinced of the Church's teaching and ready to profess the Church's teaching as their own. The public accountability of ministers of the Church requires that they believe and profess the teachings of the Church. Attracting new members to the Church requires firm personal conviction and dedication. An effective apostolate to homosexual persons, even to those who may feel ostracized from the Church, requires readiness to communicate the Church's moral teaching with personal adherence. Reluctance to express the whole of Christian morality only hinders the pastoral care of homosexual persons and thereby does them a serious injustice.
5) All public ministry to homosexual persons should be done in very close unity with and under the guidance of the local Bishop in order to guarantee that the ministry will always reflect the fullness of Catholic teaching.
6) Ministry towards homosexual people should courageously speak against the claim that the condemnation of homosexual activity is a kind of unjust discrimination of homosexual persons or a violation of their rights.20 Those who accept the homosexual condition as though it were not disordered and condone homosexual activity "are guided by a vision opposed to the truth about the human person, which is fully disclosed in the mystery of Christ".21 Even without recognizing it, their approval of homosexuality reflects "a materialistic ideology which denies the transcendent nature of the human person as well as the supernatural vocation of every individual".22
7) To avoid misunderstandings or confusion, ministry to homosexual persons must always be entirely independent from any group which favours a "gay life-style" or claims that the homosexual condition is equivalent or somehow superior to the chastity lived in marriage or celibacy. Church ministries to homosexual people should not associate with organizations that promote changes in civil legislation which would jeopardize the juridical recognition of marriage and family by giving equivalent status to homosexual unions.23
The Church is conscious of the responsibility to preserve the priceless gift of revelation and to defend it against every harmful influence. Pastoral programmes, when undertaken in conformity with the truth of revelation, contribute to the human and spiritual benefit of homosexual persons, and to the integrity of society. It must never be forgotten that "departure from the Church's teaching or silence about it, in an effort to provide pastoral care, is neither caring nor pastoral. Only what is true can ultimately be pastoral. The neglect of the Church's position prevents homosexual men and women from receiving the care they need and deserve".24
1 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter Homosexualitatis problema (1 October 1986), n. 6.
2 Homosexualitatis problema, n. 7.
3 Cf. Homosexualitatis problema, n. 6.
4 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church (15 August 1997), n. 405.
5 Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2357.
6 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 405.
7 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2396.
8 Cf. Homosexualitatis problema, n. 7.
9 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration Persona humana (29 December 1975), n. 8.
10 Homosexualitatis problema, n. 7.
11 Homosexualitatis problema, n. 10.
12 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2358. However, "there are areas in which it is not unjust discrimination to take sexual orientation into account, for example, in the placement of children for adoption or foster care, in employment of teachers or athletic coaches, and in military recruitment" (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Some Considerations concerning the Response to Legislative Proposals on the Non-Discrimination of Homosexual Persons, in L'Osservatore Romano, 24 July 1992, n. 11).
13 Cf. Homosexualitatis problema, n. 10.
14 Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 845.
15 Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 846.
16 Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis splendor (6 August 1993), n. 91.
17 Cf. Persona humana, n. 8.
18 Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2359.
19 Homosexualitatis problema, n. 12.
20 Cf. Homosexualitatis problema, n. 9.
21 Homosexualitatis problema, n. 8.
22 Homosexualitatis problema, n. 8.
23 Cf. Homosexualitatis problema, n. 9.
24 Homosexualitatis problema, n. 15.
Weekly Edition in English
14 July 1999, page 10
L'Osservatore Romano is the newspaper of the Holy
The Cathedral Foundation
Provided Courtesy of:
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If you missed the other articles in this series please go read:
- An Introduction to Wireless Networking (Part 1) - 802.11 Overview
- An Introduction to Wireless Networking (Part 3) - Security, General Tips and Tricks
Windows 2003 and Wireless Networking
Through its improved security and performance features, Windows 2003 makes usability and deployment of wireless local area network services easier. Such features include authentication, authorization and automatic key management.
IAS (Internet Authentication Service)
An improved feature in Windows 2003 is the Internet Authentication Service which takes over from RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service) found in Windows 2000. It performs centralized account management, authorization and authentication for many types of networks, including wireless. IAS uses the authentication protocols within PPP to authenticate users. These include the CHAP (Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol) and the Microsoft version, MS-CHAP. EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) is another method of authentication which is used for smart cards, certificates and one-time passwords.
The kind of hardware you would need to setup a wireless network depends on what the scale of the network will be. However you will almost certainly always need an access point and a wireless network interface card. If you want to setup a temporary network between two computers then two wireless NIC cards are enough. If you wish to share a broadband internet connection then speeds of a 512k and above are required. Lower bandwidth will work but only result in slower or unacceptable performance.
This piece of hardware acts as a bridge between the wired network and wireless devices. It allows multiple devices to connect through it to gain access to the network. An AP can also act as a router; a means by which the data transmission can be extended and passed from one access point to another.
Fig. 1: an example of an access point
Wireless Network Card
A wireless network card is required on each device on a wireless network. A laptop usually has an expansion (PCMCIA) slot which the network card would fit in to. A desktop computer would need an internal card – which will usually have a small antenna or an external antenna on it. These antennas are optional on most equipment and they help to increase the signal on the card.
Fig. 2: an example of a wireless network card (NIC)
Other than this you would obviously need a desktop computer or laptop to which this hardware would be attached.
Wireless Network Setup
There are two types of wireless network types. These will be explained below.
Also referred to as a “hosted” or “managed” wireless network – it consists of one or more access points (know as gateways or wireless routers) being connected to an existed network. This will allow wireless devices to make use of resources on the network such as printers and the Internet.
Also referred to as an “unmanaged” or “peer to peer” wireless network – it consists of each device connecting directly to each other. This will allow someone sitting outside in the garden with a laptop to communicate with his desktop computer in the house and access the Internet, for example.
Once you have acquired the necessary wireless networking hardware then the next step is to connect it all together to form a network and allow each device to communicate. The instructions below will act as basic guidelines of what needs to be done.
Note: Before you carry out any kind of installation, make sure you have the latest information and drivers from the hardware vendor.
You should keep these considerations in mind:
- the distance between each computer should be below 100 metres
- each computer should be on the same floor
- using the same vendor for the network card and access point will have it’s advantages and disadvantages (compare and contrast the options available to you when it comes to purchasing the hardware).
Having said this, it is possible for these conditions to be stretched and the network still to work well, but this depends on the environment and is different for each situation.
For this type of installation I will assume that you already have a wired network set up and that the wireless network will be implemented so that wireless devices (i.e.: laptop) can join the existing network.
- Plug the access point into the power outlet and existing Ethernet jack on the network
- Configure the access point (usually via a web browser) to been seen by your existing network – this will differ depending on the brand of your access point
- Configure the client computers with the appropriate network settings required to be able to communicate with the access point.
Refer to the user manual of your hardware for the exact settings. If you are using the same vendor for all the wireless networking hardware then using the default settings will usually work! I recommend that you try these out first before you move into the customization or more advanced techniques stage of the settings.
The Future of Wireless Networking
About twenty per cent of homes with broadband Internet have WLANS, and this number is set to increase. It is predicted that worldwide hotspots have now reached 30,000 and will grow to about 210,000 within the next five years. Most large hotels already offer Wi-Fi and with business travellers being the ones who are willing to pay for wireless access, it is most likely that the hotel industry will be the next big growth area for hotspots.
802.11n, the next Wi-Fi speed standard, is set to offer a bandwidth of around 108Mbps and is still under development. Wi-Fi security should be bettered with the release of the 802.11i standard which will be out in the third quarter of this year. If you are after assured quality of service then the 802.11e standard will be of interest to you – this will ensure that packets are delivered in a timely fashion. With speeds of 70 Mbps and a range of up to 30 miles, the 802.16 standard – better known as WiMAX, is sure to be a hit. This should make an impact within the next two years, although Intel have announced they will start shipping WiMAX enabled chips in the second half of this year.
After having read this article (part one and two) you should have a general understanding of what wireless networking is and what it involves. There is a lot in store for wireless networking; and wireless in general. The introduction of WiMAX is just one of the things to look forward to. I can foresee the use of wireless networking technology expanding, so much so that it will continue to become an important, if not essential, part of business and individuals alike. Needless to say, wireless networking is an exciting aspect of Information Technology!
If you missed the other articles in this series please go read:
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While books printed in Braille have afforded blind and visually impaired people with the ability to “read, it has many limitations regarding what is readable in a world filled with forms and other important paperwork, which up until now had either had to be read to them by a sighted person, or first translated into the coded system of raised dots that form words. However, a team at MIT, known as the Fluid Interface research group is currently working on new technology involving an audio reading device equipped with a small camera that scans texts and then translates it aloud, making reading “as easy as pointing a finger.”
According to the project’s founder and lead research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Pattie Maes, the device is worn on the index finger. As the person scans the page, a synthesized voice quickly reads the words out loud, whether it is a contract, restaurant menu, forms in a doctor’s office, instruction manual, personal correspondence, or any other material any place, at anytime in “real time.” The process is accomplished through special software that “tracks the movement of the finger, identifies words and then processes the information quickly. It also is equipped with vibrator motors that alert the reader when he/she has strayed from the script,” added Roy Shilkrot, who has been developing the device with the use of a 3-D printer at the MIT lab for the past three years.
Although he states that there is still a lot of work to be done before the Finger Reader is ready for the marketplace, its developers expect it to be readily available at affordable prices, However, they declined to estimate what that cost might be. In the meantime, Shilkrot and Maes emphasized that their device was not “meant to replace Braille, but to give visually handicapped people access to texts not available in it.”
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Rosemary is a sweet scented evergreen shrub which grows upto two metres high. Its leaves are narrow and resemble curved pine needles. They are green on top and grey underneath. The small pale blue flowers grow in little dusters up the stems. Dried leaves of rosemary are used for commercial purposes. Dried herb is brownish green in colour. The leaves have a tea-like fragrance. Crushed rosemary, however, has spicy camphoraceous aroma and a pungent, bitter taste.
Rosemary has long been regarded as the herb for remembrance. Mystically, it symbolises loyalty. love and immortality. It was once believed to strengthen the heart as well as memory.
The Greeks and the Romans prepared a fragrant distilled water from the flowers and inhaled the odour so that the evils were destroyed from the mind and the memory no longer played tricks. In ancient Greece, students preparing for examinations threaded sprigs of rosemary in their locks to induce dear thinking and a good memory.
Rosemary is a native of southern Europe and grows wild on dry rocky hills in the Mediterranean region. It is cultivated across in Yugoslavia, Spain, Portugal, and the U.S.A. In India, it is cultivated in gardens in cool dimates for its pleasantly fragrant leaves. It is suitable for cultivation in the temperate Himalayas and Nilgiri hills which have dry to moderately moist climate.
Dried rosemary leaves, on fractional distillation, yield I to 2 per cent of a volatile oil which is used in perfumery and medicine. They also contain several acids and other chemical substances. A fraction of phenolic possessing anti-oxidant properties has been isolated from the leaves and its oil.
Rosemary is an antidote to mental fatigue and forgetfulness. A tea made from the herb is a good natural remedy for bringing added mental agility. It is believed that if the crushed leaves of rosemary are inhaled with the eyes closed, the mind becomes clear as the vapour courses through the brain cells.
The plant has been found useful in atonic dyspepsia, that is, indigestion and stiffness in the stomach. It is specially valuable in the digestion of starchy foods and vegetables like egg-plant and lima beans besides rich meats like pork, beef and lamb.
Its oil is used as an ingredient in rubefacient liniments. Rosemary is formally recognised as a drug in some of the pharmacopoeias. It is mildly irritant and is used to relieve flatulence.
Rosemary oil induces copious perspiration. It can be beneficially mixed in hot water and taken as a drink in colds and chills. The oil is obtained by fractional distillation of the leaves, flowering tops and twigs of the plant. This emulsion is prepeared by mixing oil in hot water. The emulsion is used as a gargle for sore throat. The oil exhibits antibacterial activity.
The flowering tops and leaves have a camphor-like odour, which induce copious perspiration. They are used for vapour baths in rheumatism.
Heart Stimulant: A few drops of rosemary oil are taken internally as a heart stimulant. A five per cent tincture prepared by mixing oil of rosemary in alcohol, is used as a cirrulatory and cardiac stimulant. Dandruff: Shampoos and hair lotions containing the pure extract of rosemary rejuvenate the scalp and hair while preventing dandruff and premature baldness. A lotion from leafy rosemary branches can be prepared by simmering them in water for 30 minutes before straining and cooling. It can be used as the final hair rinse.
Fresh tender tops are used for garnishing and flavouring cold drinks, pickles, soups, and other foods. Its leaves are used as a condiment. Dried and powdered, they are added to cooked meats, fish, poultry, soups, stews, sauces, garnishings, preserves and jams.
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Citation: Antonovics J, Abbate JL, Baker CH, Daley D, Hood ME, Jenkins CE, et al. (2007) Evolution by Any Other Name: Antibiotic Resistance and Avoidance of the E-Word. PLoS Biol 5(2): e30. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050030
Published: February 13, 2007
Copyright: © 2007 Antonovics et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
The increase in resistance of human pathogens to antimicrobial agents is one of the best-documented examples of evolution in action at the present time, and because it has direct life-and-death consequences, it provides the strongest rationale for teaching evolutionary biology as a rigorous science in high school biology curricula, universities, and medical schools. In spite of the importance of antimicrobial resistance, we show that the actual word “evolution” is rarely used in the papers describing this research. Instead, antimicrobial resistance is said to “emerge,” “arise,” or “spread” rather than “evolve.” Moreover, we show that the failure to use the word “evolution” by the scientific community may have a direct impact on the public perception of the importance of evolutionary biology in our everyday lives.
To establish whether the word “evolution” is used with different frequency by evolutionary biologists versus researchers in the medical fields, we searched scientific journals published since 2000 for research papers and reviews dealing with antimicrobial resistance. To find these papers, we used standard search engines and databases to identify papers with “antimicrobial resistance” or “antibiotic resistance” (or with names of specific antibiotics) in the titles or abstract. We deliberately did not include the word “evolution” in the searches, so as not to bias our findings in favor of articles with this word. However, we chose for further analysis only those articles that were obviously describing the evolution of antimicrobial resistance, and excluded those that described, for example, the biochemical basis of resistance or the pharmacology of antimicrobial agents. The articles were chosen in an unbiased manner by several readers who each independently read the first papers they found that met these criteria. We compared 15 articles that were primarily published in evolutionary journals (such as Evolution, Genetics, and Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B) with 15 articles that were published in primarily medical journals (such as The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, and The Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy). (A list of the papers and articles that are the basis of the results reported here is available in Text S1.)
Each reader then read the articles in their entirety. In each paper we explicitly noted and counted the words or phrases (see below) that were used to describe the evolutionary process, in order to obtain the proportion of times that the actual word “evolution” (or its lexemes such as “evolutionary” or “evolving”) was used when reference was being made to the evolutionary process. Although we deliberately read equal numbers of articles in the two types of journals, we actually found that by far the majority of publications on the evolution of antibiotic resistance are in the medical field, and not in academic evolutionary biology or genetics journals. The evolution of antibiotic resistance, while critically important from a medical viewpoint, is no longer in and of itself a novel finding in evolutionary biology.
The results of our survey showed a huge disparity in word use between the evolutionary biology and biomedical research literature (Figure 1). In research reports in journals with primarily evolutionary or genetic content, the word “evolution” was used 65.8% of the time to describe evolutionary processes (range 10%–94%, mode 50%–60%, from a total of 632 phrases referring to evolution). However, in research reports in the biomedical literature, the word “evolution” was used only 2.7% of the time (range 0%–75%, mode 0%–10%, from a total of 292 phrases referring to evolution), a highly significant difference (chi-square, p < 0.001). Indeed, whereas all the articles in the evolutionary genetics journals used the word “evolution,” ten out of 15 of the articles in the biomedical literature failed to do so completely. Instead, 60.0% of the time antimicrobial resistance was described as “emerging,” “spreading,” or “increasing” (range 0%–86%, mode 30%–40%); in contrast, these words were used only 7.5% of the time in the evolutionary literature (range 0%–25%, mode 0%–10%). Other nontechnical words describing the evolutionary process included “develop,” “acquire,” “appear,” “trend,” “become common,” “improve,” and “arise.” Inclusion of technical words relating to evolution (e.g., “selection,” “differential fitness,” “genetic change,” or “adaptation”) did not substantially alter the picture: in evolutionary journals, evolution-related words were used 79.1% of the time that there was an opportunity to use them (range 26%–98%, mode 50%–60%), whereas in biomedical journals they were used only 17.8% of the time (range 0%–92%, mode 0%–10%).
The left-hand pair of bars show percentage use of the word “evolution,” and the right-hand pair of bars show percentage use of the words “emerge,” “arise,” or “increase.” Data shown are unweighted means and standard errors, based on 15 papers in evolution or genetics journals and 15 papers in biomedical journals.
In spite of the disparity in word use, we found that the papers in the medical literature generally included professional and competent descriptions of evolutionary processes. At times words such as “develop” or “acquire” did creep in, but egregiously misleading phrases were relatively rare. For example, once we found the wording “bacteria had learned to resist antibiotics” and at another time “the activity of antimicrobial agents had decreased” (which, if read literally, implies that the antimicrobials themselves were changing rather than that the pathogens were evolving). But these were exceptions.
In reading these papers, we found no evidence that deliberate efforts were being made by medical researchers to deny that evolutionary processes were involved in the increase of antibiotic resistance. The frequent use of the term “emergence” rather than “evolution” seemed more to be the result of a simplified phraseology that has “emerged and spread” out of habit and repeated usage. It may also be that many nonprofessional evolutionary biologists consider “evolution” to be a rather nonspecific word meaning “gradual change,” and that “emergence” more explicitly incorporates the component aspects of the evolutionary process, namely, mutation, recombination, and/or horizontal transfer of resistance. The word “spread” may, similarly, appear to incorporate the component processes of transmission, horizontal transfer, and increase in allele frequency. While these processes are recognized by professional evolutionary biologists as important aspects of evolutionary change, biomedical researchers may have the sense that the word “evolution” is itself too imprecise. Indeed, evolutionary biologists are sometimes accused of focusing too much attention on “change in gene frequency” rather than on the origin of variants by mutation and recombination, or on the consequences of changes in allele frequency for numerical abundance and distribution.
There is also the possibility that the failure to use the word “evolution” may reflect the mistaken sense that evolution implies processes that are long past, slow, and imperceptible. This is more worrying, as it fails to acknowledge the importance of evolution as a powerful force in present-day populations of all organisms, and not only microbes.
A critical question is whether avoidance of the word “evolution” has had an impact on the public perception of science. To investigate this, we examined whether the use of the term “evolution” in the scientific literature affects the use of this word in the popular press, i.e., whether there is evidence for “cultural inheritance” of word use. We searched articles on antimicrobial resistance in national media outlets, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, and the BBC (Text S1). Our results showed that the proportion of times the word “evolution” was used in a popular article was highly correlated with how often it was used in the original scientific paper to which the popular article referred (Figure 2). This clearly shows that the public is more likely to be exposed to the idea of evolution and its real-world consequences if the word “evolution” is also being used in the technical literature.
This graph shows the relationship between the frequency of use of the word “evolution” in popular press articles addressing antimicrobial resistance and the frequency of its use in the corresponding research article. Most of the articles included were in the biomedical literature (Text S1). The point at the origin represents nine pairs for which “evolution” was mentioned neither in the scientific nor in the popular version. The regression is highly significant (d.f. = 21, p < 0.0001, ß = 0.76; weighted arcsine square root transformed; points and fitted line in figure represent untransformed data).
We wondered whether these patterns were changing, so we carried out a survey of the use of the word “evolution” from 1991 to 2005 in the titles and abstracts of papers published in 14 scientific journals, as well as in the titles of proposals funded by both the US National Science Foundation (Division of Environmental Biology) and the US National Institutes of Health (National Institute of General Medical Sciences). The results showed that the use of the word “evolution” was actually increasing in all fields of biology, with the greatest relative increases in the areas of general science and medicine (Figure 3). This reflects the growing importance of evolutionary concepts in the biomedical field, and highlights even more the strange rarity with which the word “evolution” is used in the biomedical literature dealing with antimicrobial resistance. It has been repeatedly rumored (and reiterated by one of the reviewers of this article) that both the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have in the past actively discouraged the use of the word “evolution” in titles or abstracts of proposals so as to avoid controversy. Indeed, we were told by one researcher that in the title of one proposal, the authors were urged to change the phrase “the evolution of sex” to the more arcanely eloquent wording “the advantage of bi-parental genomic recombination.”
This figure shows change in the frequency of use of the word “evolution” in (A) paper titles and abstracts for journals classified by type and (B) titles of funded research proposals classified by US federal granting agency. Note that the data for general science journals and medical journals are shown at 10 and 100 times their values, respectively. Analysis of covariance (log of arcsine square root transformed data) showed that the rate of increase of use of the word “evolution” was significantly greater in the journal categories of general science and medical than in the evolutionary category (p < 0.002). Journal classification was as follows: evolutionary journals: Evolution, Genetics, Heredity, Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Journal of Molecular Evolution, Molecular Biology and Evolution; general science journals: Nature, Nature Genetics, and Science; medical journals: BMJ, Clinical Infectious Diseases, JAMA, The Lancet, and The New England Journal of Medicine. Funding data are from the online data retrieval systems of the National Science Foundation (Division of Environmental Biology) (NSF [DEB]) and National Institutes of Health (National Institute of General Medical Sciences) (NIH [GMS]).
Nowadays, medical researchers are increasingly realizing that evolutionary processes are involved in immediate threats associated with not only antibiotic resistance but also emerging diseases [1,2]. The evolution of antimicrobial resistance has resulted in 2- to 3-fold increases in mortality of hospitalized patients, has increased the length of hospital stays, and has dramatically increased the costs of treatment [3,4]. It is doubtful that the theory of gravity (a force that can neither be seen nor touched, and for which physicists have no agreed upon explanation) would be so readily accepted by the public were it not for the fact that ignoring it can have lethal results. This brief survey shows that by explicitly using evolutionary terminology, biomedical researchers could greatly help convey to the layperson that evolution is not a topic to be innocuously relegated to the armchair confines of political or religious debate. Like gravity, evolution is an everyday process that directly impacts our health and well-being, and promoting rather than obscuring this fact should be an essential activity of all researchers.
Text S1. Accessory Materials
(125 KB DOC).
We wish to thank Dr. Mark Courtney of the National Science Foundation for help with accessing and collating the word-use data for National Science Foundation grants.
- 1. Culotta E, Pennisi E (2005) Breakthrough of the year: Evolution in action. Science 310: 1878–1879.
- 2. Nesse RM, Stearns SC, Omenn GS (2006) Medicine needs evolution. Science 311: 1071.
- 3. Schwaber MJ, Navon-Venezia S, Kaye KS, Ben-Ami R, Schwartz D, et al. (2006) Clinical and economic impact of bacteremia with extended-spectrum-ß-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 50: 1257–1262.
- 4. Carmeli Y, Mozaffari E (2006) Health and economic outcomes of vancomycin-resistant enterococci. Arch Int Med 162: 2223–2228.
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David Bourget (Western Ontario)
David Chalmers (ANU, NYU)
Rafael De Clercq
Ezio Di Nucci
Jack Alan Reynolds
Learn more about PhilPapers
Fordham University Press (2014)
The thinking of Friedrich Nietzsche and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Chouraqui argues, are linked by how they conceive the question of truth. Although both thinkers criticize the traditional concept of truth as objectivity, they both find that rejecting it does not solve the problem. What is it in our natural existence that gave rise to the notion of truth? The answer to that question is threefold. First, Nietzsche and Merleau-Ponty both propose a genealogy of "truth" in which to exist means to make implicit truth claims. Second, both seek to recover the preobjective ground from which truth as an erroneous concept arose. Finally, this attempt at recovery leads both thinkers to ontological considerations, regarding how we must conceive of a being whose structure allows for the existence of the belief in truth. In conclusion, Chouraqui suggests that both thinkers' investigations of the question of truth lead them to conceive of being as the process of self-falsification by which indeterminate being presents itself as determinate.
|Keywords||Nietzsche Merleau-Ponty Truth Phenomenology Ontology|
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Tom Bailey & Simon Robertson (2014). Recent Books on Nietzsche. Journal of Nietzsche Studies 45 (3):373-386.
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No doubt genomics and the mapping of the human genome is one of the great triumphs of modern science, supplying remarkable insight into the function and design of the human body and paving the way for personal genetic testing. But can reading cells supply enough insight into human disease -- specifically cancer?
"What we are doing isn't working right now," said Hillis. "I'm going to say some pretty radical things about how we should think about cancer differently."
The problem with genomics, he explained, is that it's not really a blueprint of the body, but a list of "ingredients," and while those ingredients supply a look into the genetic makeup of a person's predispositions, their ability to help locate the cause of sickness is limited. Hillis explained:
Mostly what you need to know to find out if you're sick is not your predispositions but it's actually what's going on in your body right now ... you need to look at the things that the genes are producing, and what's happening after the genetics. And that's what proteomics is all about.
Proteins are the machines operating the body, and their actions make up the conversation that the body is constantly having, he continued. They are telling cells to grow, and to die. And cancer results when something has gone wrong in the conversation -- when communication breaks down.
Watch Hillis explain how he and his team are using proteomics to discover new pathways in cancer treatment, and why he believes cancer must be thought of as a "verb" instead of a "noun."
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Dr. Hager's bird-window research published
January 16, 2013
|Dr. Stephen Hager|
Dr. Stephen B. Hager, professor of biology at Augustana, has published research about the factors that cause birds to be killed by flying into windows.
“Window Area and Development Drive Spatial Variation in Bird-Window Collisions in an Urban Landscape” was published by PLOS ONE, an international, online scientific journal.
Dr. Hager, along with a small team of researchers and undergraduate students from Augustana, studied patterns of bird-window collisions (BWCs) from 20 buildings in a mix of habitats in Moline and Rock Island, Ill.
“We found that the number of collision mortalities was highly variable across the landscape, and the driving factors that influenced BWCs were the amount of windows in a building and proportion of development in which a building was found,” Dr. Hager said.
“For example, BWCs were highest at buildings, such as offices, with lots of windows — about 50 fatalities in a year — and no fatalities were found at small houses. Also, BWCs were highest at buildings in green space and non-existent in highly developed areas.”
Previously published reports suggested that BWCs occur wherever birds and windows co-exist, and that more birds die from window collisions than any other human-related threat. The most widely cited estimate asserts that 1-10 fatalities occur each year at every building in the United States, which estimates more than 1 billion birds die annually.
Dr. Hager said the new research points out that BWCs may not be as widespread and common as is currently believed — that only a small number of vulnerable species are affected in high-risk areas, and the results call into question the utility of broad-scale estimates of BWCs, e.g., 1-10 collision fatalities per building per year.
“Applying an overall mortality estimate for one large city or the entire United States distracts us from understanding the complex nature of this issue, that is the driving factors that create patches of hot spot areas for collisions,” said Dr. Hager.
“Despite these findings, we are obligated to reduce the impacts of windows on wild bird populations, and knowing of the driving factors of BWCs allows one to predict the magnitude of mortality for each building across the landscape. This is beneficial to bird conservationists because it allows them to focus conservation efforts in hot-spot areas and ignore buildings that that pose little risk of BWCs.”
Dr. Hager believes urban planners could minimize future collision mortality by constructing buildings in areas away from green space, and architects could design buildings with windows and BWCs in mind.
Working with Dr. Hager on the research team was Dr. Bradley Cosentino, a 2004 Augustana graduate who now is a biology professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, N.Y. Dr. Cosentino helped design the study and analyze the data.
Augustana students, including Kirsten Bjornson ’11, now in graduate school for neuropharmacology, worked as field technicians who surveyed the study buildings for carcasses resulting from window collisions.
Other contributors include Kelly J. McKay, Cathleen Monson, Walt Auurdeeg and Brian Blevins, local bird enthusiasts and experts who collaborated with Dr. Hager to design the experiment and complete the field work.
Published by PLOS, a nonprofit organization, PLOS ONE is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes reports on primary research from any scientific discipline. PLOS ONE is freely accessible online, offering fast publication times and community-based dialogue on articles.
Senior Communication Director
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Unable to be detected from the air until surfaced, it was perfect for ambushing seaborne convoys or defense of islands or costal regions. However, it had to be surfaced to use its weapons, and when surfaced, it was vulnerable to air attack.
The missiles could only target sea or land targets, but the laser cannon could target air units. Having no shields, the U-boat mainly relied on its hull armor for protection, but a determined strafing run by aircraft could still destroy the U-boat in one pass. When an attack was detected, the U-boat usually attempted a crash dive, as laser or blaster bolts could not harm it underwater.
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1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Brooklyn
BROOKLYN, formerly a city of New York state, U.S.A., but since 1898 a borough of New York City (q.v.), situated at the S.W. extremity of Long Island. It is conterminous with Kings county, and is bounded N. by the borough of Queens, from which it is in part separated by Newtown Creek; E. by the borough of Queens and Jamaica Bay; S. by the Atlantic Ocean; W. by Gravesend Bay, the Narrows, Upper New York Bay and East river, which separate it from Staten Island, Jersey City and the borough of Manhattan. It has a water-front of 33 m. and extends over an area of 77.62 sq. m. Pop. (1860) 279,122; (1870) 419,921; (1880) 599,495; (1890, then Kings county) 838,547; (1900) 1,166,582; (1905, state census) 1,358,686; (1910) 1,634.351. In 1900 only 310,501, or 26.6%, were native-born of native white parents; 355,697 were foreign-born, 18,367 were negroes, and 1206 were Chinese. Out of 332,715 males of voting age (21 years and over), 15,415 were illiterate (unable to write), and of these 14,159 were foreign-born.
Brooklyn is connected with Manhattan by three bridges across the East river—the lowest, known as the Brooklyn, opened in 1883; another, known as the Williamsburg or East River bridge, opened in 1903; and a third, the Manhattan, was opened in 1909. And a tunnel directly across from the south terminus of Manhattan was completed in 1907. Ferries ply at frequent intervals between numerous points on its west water-front and points in Manhattan; there is also ferry connexion with Jersey City. Brooklyn is served directly by the Long Island railway; by about fifty regular coast-wise and trans-Atlantic steamship lines; and by elevated or surface car lines on a large number of its streets. Subway lines, begun in 1904, connect Brooklyn with the subway system of Manhattan.
Streets and Buildings.—The surface of Brooklyn in the west section, from the lower course of the East river to Gravesend Bay, varies in elevation from a few inches to nearly 200 ft. above sea-level, the highest points being in Prospect Park; but steep street grades even in this section are rare, and elsewhere the surface is either only slightly undulating or, as in the east and south, flat. Most of the streets are from 60 to 100 ft. wide. The principal business thoroughfare is Fulton Street, which begins at Fulton ferry nearly under the Brooklyn bridge, runs to City Hall Park, and thence across the north central section of the borough. In the City Hall Park are the old city hall (now the borough hall), the hall of records, and the county court-house. Two blocks to the north (on Washington Street) is the post-office, a fine granite Romanesque building. The manufacturing and shipping districts are mostly along the west water-front. Here, on Wallabout Bay at the bend of the East river to the westward, is the New York navy yard, the principal navy yard of the United States, established in 1801, and commonly but incorrectly called the Brooklyn navy yard. It occupies altogether about 144 acres, contains a trophy park, parade grounds, the United States Naval Lyceum (founded 1833), officers' quarters, barracks, and three large dry docks (respectively 564, 465 and 307 ft. long), foundries and machine shops. A naval hospital (having accommodation for about 500 patients) to the east is separated from the navy yard by the largest and most interesting of Brooklyn's markets, the Wallabout (about 45 acres). The buildings of this market are Dutch in style and have a quaint clock tower. A little to the north of the navy yard are immense refineries of sugar. About 2 m. to the south, opposite Governor's Island, is the Atlantic Basin of 40 acres, with a wharfage of about 3 m. and brick and granite warehouses used largely for the storage of grain. A little farther south, on Gowanus Bay, is another basin, the Erie, of 161 acres, protected by a breakwater 1 m. in length, occupied by piers, warehouses, lumber depots and some of the largest dry docks in the United States; it also provides protection during winter to hundreds of canal boats. In this vicinity, too, are several yards for building yachts, launches and other boats. At the lower end of the west water-front, facing the Narrows, are a United States reservation and the harbour defences of Fort Hamilton.
For a considerable portion of its inhabitants Brooklyn is only a place of residence, their business interests being in the borough of Manhattan; hence Brooklyn has been called the "city of homes" and the "dormitory of New York." Residential districts with social lines more or less distinctly drawn are numerous. The oldest is that on Brooklyn (or Columbia) Heights, west of City Hall Park, rising abruptly from the river to a height of from 70 to 100 ft., and commanding a delightful view of the harbour. Here are hotels, large apartment-houses, many private residences and a number of clubs, including the Brooklyn, the Crescent, the Hamilton, the Jefferson and the Germania. On Park Slope, immediately west of Prospect Park, and St Mark's Avenue, in another part of the borough, are also attractive residential districts. The south shore of the borough has various summer pleasure resorts, of which Coney Island is the most popular.
Parks and Cemeteries.—One of the most attractive features of Brooklyn is Prospect Park, occupying about 516 acres of high ground in the west central part of the borough, on a site made memorable by the battle of Long Island. Its large variety of trees and shrubs, including oak, hickory, elm, maple, chestnut, birch, ash, cedar, pine, larch and sumach, its flower gardens, a palm house, ponds, a lake of 61 acres for boating, skating and curling, a parade ground of 40 acres for other athletic sports, a menagerie, and numerous pieces of statuary, are among its objects of interest or beauty. From the southern entrance to this park, Ocean Parkway, a fine boulevard, 210 ft. wide and planted with six rows of trees, extends 5½ m. south to Seaside Park (15 acres), on Brighton Beach, Coney Island. From the same entrance Fort Hamilton Parkway extends 4½ m. south-east to Fort Hamilton, and to Dyker Beach Park (144 acres) which face the lower end of the Narrows; and from Fort Hamilton, Shore Road and Bay Ridge Parkway extend north 4½ m. to Bay Ridge Park overlooking Upper New York Bay. From the northern entrance to Prospect Park, Eastern Parkway, another fine boulevard, 200 ft. wide, extends east 2½ m. to a point from which Rockaway Parkway runs 3 m. south-east to Canarsie Beach Park (40 acres), on Jamaica Bay; and extensions of Eastern Parkway run north-east through Highland Park (55 acres), to Brooklyn Forest Park (535 acres, on the border of the borough of Queens), abounding in beautiful trees and delightful views. Half a mile east of the borough hall is Washington or Fort Greene Park (30 acres), laid out on the site of earthworks (known as Fort Greene) constructed during the War of Independence, and commanding good views.Greenwood cemetery, one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the United States, ½ m. east of Prospect Park, occupies about 478 acres. Among the principal monuments are those erected to Roger Williams, S.F.B. Morse, Elias Howe, De Witt Clinton (colossal bronze statue by Henry Kirke Brown), Henry Ward Beecher, Peter Cooper, Horace Greeley, Henry Bergh, Henry George and James Gordon Bennett. At the main entrance is a beautiful gateway (of elaborately wrought brown stone), 142 ft. wide and having a central tower 100 ft. in height. Along the north-east border of the borough are Cypress Hills cemetery (400 acres), adjoining Brooklyn Forest Park, and the cemetery of the Evergreens (about 375 acres), adjoining Highland Park and partly in the borough of Queens.
In the plaza at the northern entrance to Prospect Park is a soldiers' and sailors' memorial arch (80 ft. in width and 71 ft. in height), adorned with high-reliefs of Lincoln and Grant on horseback (by O'Donovan and Eakins) and with three large bronze groups (by Frederick MacMonnies). Immediately within the park there is a statue (also by MacMonnies) of J.S.T. Stranahan (1808-1898), who did more than any other man for the development of Brooklyn's system of parks and boulevards. On the slope of Lookout Hill (185 ft.) within the park is a shaft erected in 1895 to the memory of the Maryland soldiers who valiantly defended the rear of the American army at the battle of Long Island. A bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln overlooks the lake. In Fort Greene Park is a monument to the memory of the soldiers who died in the British prison ships during the War of Independence, many of them having been buried in a vault below. Facing the borough hall is a statue in bronze (by J.Q.A. Ward) of Henry Ward Beecher, mounted on a granite pedestal with a figure at one side to commemorate Beecher's sympathy for the slave. A fine bronze statue of Alexander Hamilton (by W.O. Partridge, b. 1861) stands at the entrance of the Hamilton Club in Clinton Street and one of U.S. Grant (also by Partridge) stands at the entrance of the Union League Club in Bedford Avenue.
Education.—The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences embraces twenty-six departments, of which those of music, philology and the fine arts have each more than 1000 members; the total membership of all departments in 1906 was 5894. The museum building of this institution is in Institute Park, which is separated from Prospect Park on the north-east by Flatbush Avenue. It contains, besides paintings and statuary, special collections for service in nearly all of the departments; among its purely art collections the most notable is that of J.J.J. Tissot's water-colour drawings, to illustrate the life of Christ. Since 1890 the Institute has received appropriations from the city, but it is maintained chiefly by private contributions. It is the outgrowth of the Apprentices' Library Association, founded in 1824, of which General Lafayette laid the corner-stone on the 4th of July of that year. In 1888 Franklin W. Hooper (b. 1851), who did much to increase the efficiency of the work of the Institute, became director. Pratt Institute, founded in 1887 by Charles Pratt (1830-1891), and the residuary legatee of his wife, who died in 1907, is one of the most successful manual and industrial training schools in the country, and its kindergarten normal is one of the best known in the United States. The Polytechnic Institute, opened in 1855, is a high-grade school of science and liberal arts. It has two general departments, the college of arts and engineering and the preparatory school, which are conducted independently of one another. In connexion with the college there is provision for graduate study and for night courses, and there are teachers' courses to which women are admitted. The Packer Collegiate Institute, opened as the successor of the Brooklyn Female Academy, in 1854, and endowed by Mrs Harriet L. Packer, an institution for women, has primary, preparatory, academic and collegiate departments. Adelphi College, opened in 1896, is for both sexes and gives special attention to normal training; it is the outgrowth of Adelphi Academy, founded in 1869, now the preparatory department. St Francis' College, opened in 1858, and St John's College, opened in 1870, are institutions maintained by Roman Catholics. Here, too, are the law school of St Lawrence University, the Long Island Hospital Medical College, with a training school for nurses, the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy and several schools of music. Brooklyn's public schools rank especially high; among them there is a commercial high school and a manual training high school. Among the larger libraries of the borough are the Brooklyn public library, those of the Long Island Historical Society, on Brooklyn Heights, of Pratt Institute, and of the King's County Medical Society, and a good law library. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, which occupies an attractive building near the borough hall, has been a newspaper of strong influence in the community. It was established in 1841 as a Democratic organ, and Walt Whitman was its editor for about a year during its early history.
Brooklyn is well provided with charitable institutions, and has long been known as the "city of churches," probably from the famous clergymen who have lived there. Among them were Henry Ward Beecher, pastor of Plymouth church (Congregational) from 1847 to 1887; Lyman Abbott, pastor of the same church from 1887 to 1898; Thomas De Witt Talmage, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle (Presbyterian) from 1869 to 1894; Richard Salter Storrs (1821-1900), pastor of the church of the Pilgrims (Congregational) from 1846 to 1899; and Theodore L. Cuyler (1822-1909), pastor of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian church from 1860 to 1890.
Manufactures and Commerce.—The borough of Brooklyn is one of the most important manufacturing centres in the United States, most of the factories being located along or near the East river north of the Brooklyn bridge. The total value of the manufactured products in 1890 was $270,823,754 and in 1900, $342,127,124, an increase during the decade of 26.3%. In 1905 the total value of the borough's manufactured product (under the factory system) was $373,462,930, or 15% of the total manufactured product of the state of New York. Brooklyn's largest manufacturing industry is the refining of sugar, about one-half of the sugar consumed in the United States being refined here; in 1900 the product of the sugar and molasses refining establishments was valued at $77,942,997. Brooklyn is also an important place for the milling of coffee and spices (the 1905 product was valued at $15,274,092), the building of small boats, and the manufacture of foundry and machine shop products, malt liquors, barrels, shoes, chemicals, paints, cordage, twine, and hosiery and other knitted goods. Of its large commerce, grain is the chief commodity; it is estimated that about four-fifths of that exported from the port of New York is shipped from here, and the borough's grain elevators have an estimated storage capacity of about 20,000,000 bushels.
The water-supply system is owned and operated by the borough; the water is derived from streams flowing southward in the sparsely settled area east of the borough, and also from driven wells in the same region; it is pumped by ten engines at Ridgewood to a reservoir having a capacity of about 300,000,000 gallons, while a part of it is re-pumped to a high service reservoir near the north entrance to Prospect Park for the service of the most elevated part of the borough. Besides this system some towns in the south section recently annexed have their own water-supply.
History.—The first settlement within the present limits of Brooklyn was made in 1636, when some Dutch farmers took up their residence along the shore of Gowanus Bay. About the same time other Dutch farmers founded Flatlands (at first called Amersfoort), on Jamaica Bay, and a few Walloons founded Wallabout, where the navy yard now is. In 1642 a ferry was established across East river from the present foot of Fulton Street, and a settlement grew up here which was known as The Ferry. The next year Lady Deborah Moody with some followers from New England founded Gravesend near the southern extremity of the borough. Finally, in the year 1645, a settlement was established near the site of the present borough hall, and was called Breuckelen (also spelled Breucklyn, Breuckland, Brucklyn, Broucklyn, Brookland and Brookline) until about the close of the 18th century, when its orthography became fixed as Brooklyn. The name, Breuckelen, meaning marsh land, seems to have been suggested by the resemblance of the situation of the settlement to that of Breuckelen, Holland. Of the other towns which were later united to form the borough, New Utrecht was settled about 1650, Flatbush (at first called Medwoud, Midwout or Midwood) about 1651, Bushwick and Williamsburg in 1660. All of the settlements were for a long time chiefly agricultural communities. Flatbush was for a few years immediately preceding 1675 the largest; but Brooklyn was the first (1646) to have a township organization, and within a few years Wallabout, Gowanus, The Ferry, and Bedford—a new settlement to the south-east of Wallabout, established in 1662—were included within its jurisdiction. In 1654 the municipal privileges of Brooklyn as well as of two of the other towns were enlarged, but with Dutch rule there was general discontent, and when, in 1664, Colonel Richard Nicolls came to overthrow it and establish English rule these towns offered no resistance. Nicolls erected the region composed of Long Island, Staten Island and Westchester into a county under the name of Yorkshire, and divided it into three ridings, of which Staten Island, the present county of Kings, and the town of Newtown in Queens, formed one. In 1683 the present county of Kings was organized by the first colonial legislature. During the War of Independence the chief event was the battle of Long Island, fought on the 27th of August 1776. In 1816, when the population of the town of Brooklyn was about 4500, its most populous section was incorporated as a village; and in 1834, when its population had increased to 23,310, the whole town was incorporated as a city. By 1850 its population had increased to 138,882. In 1855 Williamsburg, which had been incorporated as a city in 1851, and the town of Bushwick were annexed. Other annexations followed until the city of Brooklyn was conterminous with Kings county; and finally, on the 1st of January 1898, the city of Brooklyn became a borough of New York City.
See S.M. Ostrander, A History of Brooklyn and Kings County (Brooklyn, 1894); H.W.B. Howard (ed.), History of the City of Brooklyn (Brooklyn, 1893); H. Putnam, Brooklyn, in L.P. Powell's Historic Towns of the Middle States (New York, 1899).
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Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch
Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch, suffrage leader, introduced innovative publicity, organizational, and political tactics to the lagging suffrage drive at a critical juncture, an effort that helped win suffrage in New York, the most populous state.
Born into the movement as Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s daughter, Harriot married and moved to Europe where she witnessed the radical tactics of British suffrage. Returning to the U. S. in 1902, she was convinced that organizing labor women was crucial to winning the vote. She founded the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women (1902), later the Women’s Political Union, whose membership of 20,000 women in factories and garment shops was its strength. The Equality League introduced outdoor meetings, suffrage parades, and sent working women to testify to the legislature. Finding it difficult to work with Mrs. Catt, Blatch’s group merged with the Congressional Union, later the Woman’s Party. Convinced that the U. S. should enter World War I, she directed the Food Administration’s Speakers Bureau and the Woman’s Land Army and published Mobilizing Woman-Power. Post war, she supported the Woman’s Party’s drive for the Equal Rights Amendment.
Influenced by socialism in England, she joined the Socialist Party and made several unsuccessful runs for public office in the 1920’s. She enjoyed a great celebration of her 80th birthday, as did her mother. She collaborated with her brother Theodore in editing the book Elizabeth Cady Stanton, As Revealed In her Letters, Diary and Reminiscences (a strangely edited work, expurgating many of her mother’s most radical views). Her daughter, Nora, and the women in generations since, provided staunch support for the woman’s movement.
Reprinted from NWHM Cyber Exhibit "Rights For Women"
Author Kristina Gupta
- PHOTO: Harriet Stanton Blatch , Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (LC-USZ62-116259)
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If you have experienced a persistent sad, low, anxious or empty mood in the last two weeks, and have some of the other warning signs, then you may be depressed, advises mental health charity Students Against Depression.
Counselling psychologist Denise Meyer, who is project manager for the organisation, says: "Only a doctor or other healthcare professional can officially diagnose depression. If you are at all concerned it would be best to seek professional advice.
"If you have found yourself considering acting on thoughts of death or suicide, even if you have not experienced any of the other warning signs, then it is very important to take appropriate action at once. Tell someone else and get help.”
First, ask yourself these two questions:
1. During the last month, have you often been bothered by feeling down, depressed or hopeless?
2. During the last month, have you often been bothered by having little interest or pleasure in doing things?
Is your answer to both is yes, then think back over the last couple of weeks and record how often you have experienced any of the other warning signs of depression:
• Lethargy or decreased energy
• Irregular sleep or a change in your sleep pattern
• Appetite or weight changes
• Increased tearfulness
• Poor concentration and difficulty making decisions
• Hopelessness and pessimism
• Feelings of helplessness
• Feelings of worthlessness or guilt
• Thoughts of death or suicide
For more details on this list. go to http://www.studentsagainstdepression.org/understanddepression/what-is-depression/depression-warning-signs/
DEPRESSION AT UNIVERSITY::
It is likely that depression is affecting you if you have experienced:
• a persistently sad, low, anxious or empty mood, plus
• at least 4 more of the warning signs, on most days over the last two weeks.
At studentsagainstdepression.org you will find self-help strategies, advice for healthier routines and a workbook to kick-start a campaign against depression in your own life.
Useful websites and helplines:
Samaritans, open 24 hours a day, on 08457 90 90 90
Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393
Students Against Depression, a website by students, for students.
HopeLine runs a confidential advice helpline if you are a young person at risk of suicide or are worried about a young person at risk of suicide. Mon-Fri 10-5pm and 7pm-10pm. Weekends 2pm-5pm on 0800 068 41 41
Mental Wealth UK To join the community or launch a student group contact the charity on firstname.lastname@example.org
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What is a Tracksite? A tracksite is an area where footprints and other trace fossils are preserved. Tracksites may cover only a few square yards or they may extend for miles. They tell stories about extinct animals that can't be read from body fossils such as teeth and bones.
Can you guess which dinosaur most resembles the dinosaur which walked on the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite?
Tracks, trackways, and tracksites - what are they? A track is a single footprint. A trackway is a row of two or more tracks made by a single animal walking across a surface. A Tracksite is an area where many tracks or trackways are preserved.
Why are the tracks important? Scientists are excited about this site for several reasons. First, this is the largest tracksite in Wyoming, and one of only a few worldwide from the Middle Jurassic Period (160 million to 180 million years old). For part of the Middle Jurassic, Wyoming was covered periodically the the Sundance Sea. Until the tracks were found, it seemed that only sea-dwelling creatures could have lived in the area, and there shouldn't be any footprints here at all!
But there's more to the mystery. What kinds of animals were making these tracks? Middle Jurassic dinosaur skeletons are extremely rare in North America, and there are only a few areas with similar tracks. With few fossils for comparison, the identity of the Red Gulch track-makers have not been identified. Scientists think that the footprints were made by small to medium sized bipedal dinosaurs (walked on their hind legs).
The site is interesting because it is so extensive and unusual in its age and geographic occurrence. Its location makes it easily accessible for scientific research. Even the geologic history of the area, once thought to be well understood, needs to be rewritten because of the tracks' discovery.
When was the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite found? The Tracksite was reported during the summer of 1997.
How old is it? The Tracksite is approximately 167 million years old. The rock layer that preserves the Tracksite was horizontal when the tracks were made. All sediments, such as sandstone, clay, limestone, or silt, are deposited as horizontal layers. Faulting and uplift may later bend, break, and tilt these layers.
Why is the rock layer tilted? The rock layer that preserves the Tracksite was horizontal when the tracks were made. All sediments, such as sandstone, clay, limestone, or silt, are deposited as horizontal layers. Faulting and uplift may later bend, break, and tilt these layers.
What kind of rock is this? The rock is limestone.
What did it look like when dinosaurs were walking here? The dinosaurs were walking across a flat, ripple-marked coastline much like those found in the Bahamas today.
What was the environment like then? Could dinosaurs live in Wyoming's winters? The environment was probably much warmer than present day Wyoming because North America was much farther south 167 million years ago. It was about as close to the equator as Florida is today.
How big were the dinosaurs? The hip-height of some dinosaurs can be estimated by multiplying the length of the footprint by 4 or 5. We think the theropods walked with the body leaning forward from the hips, and the heavy tail extended almost straight backward.
Were the dinosaurs running? Most of the dinosaurs appear to have been walking, not running.
How do we know that? The speed of a small dinosaur can be estimated by comparing its hip-height to its stride length (the distance between two consecutive footprints made by the same foot.) If the stride length is more than three times the hip-height the animal was probably running.
How old are some other fossils found in this area? The Allosaurus "Big Al" found north of Shell, Wyo. in 1991, is about 15 million years younger than the Tracksite. The plant fossils at Big Cedar Ridge, near Ten Sleep, Wyo. are about half as old as the Tracksite.
What are the oval shaped holes in the Tracksite surface? The oval shaped holes in the Tracksite may have been made by ancient shrimp, clams, or lugworms. One kind made vertical burrows and another made horizontal holes. Understanding this will help reconstruct the environment around the time the tracks were made.
How do scientists investigate the site? Science is a process that follows a few simple rules. Seen as a whole, science may look complicated and difficult, but the individual steps in the scientific method are very clear. Taken one at a time, in sequence, the steps can lead to an objective and defensible conclusion. The first step is observation.
Observation: Scientists who study the earth must learn from observation. Earth history can't be duplicated in an experiment, so geologists and paleontologists must look closely at rocks and fossils to gather information about them. The present is the key to the past. Geologists learn from studying modern systems, the way ancient systems worked.
Analysis: Information from observations is analyzed to learn whether it is meaningful to the study. Irrelevant information may be put aside. Analysis also shows if more information, or a different kind of information, must be gathered before going further.
Hypothesis: Scientists rely on their education and training to form ideas about what their observations have revealed. An idea that might explain their observations is called a hypothesis. Often more than one hypothesis is proposed, because there might be several possible explanations.
Testing: A hypothesis isn't an answer. Each must be tested to see if it explains what was observed. A hypothesis that doesn't provide a complete, objective explanation is rejected, and another must be chosen and tested.
Conclusion: The hypothesis that offers the best explanation of all the information observed and analyzed can become a conclusion. Often an early hypothesis must be modified to fully explain all the observations.
Science is an endless process. Conclusions reached in one study are not necessarily "the truth." They're just the best answer we can reach with the information at hand, and are often the basis for another study.
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What is in this article?:
- State Water Plan: Step in the right direction or political disaster?
- Critics of the bill warn that the proposed legislation supports water projects that can bring harm to the state’s rivers, streams and climate.
- The overall accumulated funding needed to support the 26 projects is estimated to be about $8 billion.
Water for agriculture irrigation is not a priority in Texas Water Plan.
The Good, the bad and the ugly...
When 16 regional water concerns were voiced in a series of meetings last year, the basis of the State’s Water Plan was made known to the Texas Water Development Board, which subsequently adopted a Water Plan that included some 26 high priority projects, most of them involving the construction of surface water reservoirs. Rounding out the list were a few groundwater and desalination projects.
While catching and storing water in reservoirs is one way to increase the state’s water capacity in the future, it comes with a price tag that goes beyond dollars and cents. Evaporation, water quality concerns and climate considerations surfaced as well as possible objections to the plan, one that seems to take a lot of the bang out of the buck. When environmental groups reviewed the short list of water projects proposed under the state’s first water plan, they found it short on conservation efforts, a measure they claim would be the best strategy of all, an effort that would conserve as much water as new water projects would provide. Conservation efforts, they claim, are much cheaper to implement as well.
In addition, most water projects adopted as part of a list of the high priority projects in the state water plan are for the direct benefit of cities and urban areas and would provide little help to agriculture or industry. In fact, the most expensive project on the list calls for $1.8 billion to construct a pipeline to South Texas for municipal water use in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The second priciest project on the list involves a $700 million-plus plan to buy irrigation water from South Texas for municipal use in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, mostly to facilitate landscape irrigation.
The Texas Water Development Board confirmed that some households in the Fort Worth area have provided irrigation of landscaped yards through the winter months in spite of the drought. In 2011, the state’s driest year on record, much of Fort Worth’s public water, estimated 45 percent, went to landscape watering. By contrast, the City of San Antonio estimated 25 percent of public water was used for watering and landscape purposes for the same period.
The overall accumulated funding needed to support the 26 projects is estimated to be about $8 billion.
Farmers and ranchers across Texas say so far there has been very little consideration for substantial relief for agriculture under the state water plan. The best solid plan so far (SB 22) has been offered by State Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, who wants 10 percent of the fund to go toward conservation and another ten percent to be directed toward rural areas.
State Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, said he wanted to prioritize funds to those agencies who are using water wisely.
“We want to make sure that projects we are going to fund use this money on maximizing conservation efforts,” Larson said. “If not, then why would we fund them?”
“Conservation is the most environmentally responsible path towards meeting our future water needs, [and] often the cheapest,” Luke Metzger, the director of Environment Texas, emailed in a statement last week. “The Texas Water Development Board should make sure we exhaust our potential to save water and set aside at least half of funding for conservation and re-use programs, reducing water loss, and to purchase water rights to guarantee we leave enough water in our rivers to protect wildlife and recreation.”
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|United Nations System-Wide
Working Party 3, New York, 17-18 January 1996
Working Paper UNEP/EWWP3/5/rev.1, 25 January 1996
I.1 Global systems for environmental observations began with the World Weather Watch of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1962. WMO established the Background Air Pollution Monitoring Network (BAPMon) in 1969, which with other systems became the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) in 1987. At the time of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972, plans were laid in the scientific and international communities for a more comprehensive Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS). This became one of the responsibilities assigned to the United Nations Environment Programme in its catalytic and coordinating role in the United Nations system. Despite success in particular areas like water pollution (GEMS/Water) and urban air pollution (GEMS/Air), the resources were never available to develop a truly global system for monitoring the environment. However within the last decade, with the rapid evolution of technologies for environmental observations and the political acceptance of the importance of global environmental problems, initiatives have been taken to plan and launch a set of Global Observing Systems. These are the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), and the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS), each focusing on one of the major compartments of the biosphere (see diagram). The origins, approach, objectives and present stage of development of each of these systems are summarized in the Annex.
I.2 GCOS is most advanced system with a plan approved for implementation. GTOS is second with a plan which has just been accepted in principle by the co-sponsors. GOOS has now established and given terms of references to all the bodies which should be involved in preparation of an overall plan.
I.3 As will become clear from the review of the systems in the Annex, the objectives of the above three observation systems are not based on the same fundamental approach and there is a risk of overlapping between the three systems. In several cases the same types of activities are proposed within more than one system, sometimes for different purposes but quite often for similar purposes. Because of the above situation, Mr. C.C. Wallen was requested by the UN System-wide Earthwatch Coordination office, on behalf of UNEP, to prepare a report on the present relationship between the systems and on possibilities for improved coordination, collaboration and mutual support between them. This paper is based on extracts from his report.
II.1 The three global observing systems, at present being launched, are not completely parallel to each other. Some global systems for the atmosphere (WWW and later GAW) have existed since the early 1960s, while global systems for the oceans (GOOS) and the land (GTOS), which cover the other major environmental compartments or media of the biosphere, are only now being developed. The World Hydrological Cycle Observing System (WHYCOS) is presently being developed in a few regions. The global system for climate (GCOS), the plan for which is ready and approved, is an issue-oriented system that draws from all the three basic systems for atmosphere, ocean and land.
Climate as a common element
II.2 As the overall climate system for the globe involves elements both from the oceans and the land, GCOS must, in addition to a fundamental part based on the existing global system for the atmosphere, obtain contributions from both the global ocean system and the one for the land surface. There has in fact been a continuing interchange between the observing systems, with the GCOS Joint Planning Office represented at all the scientific and technical planning meetings of GOOS and GTOS, and similarly representatives of the other systems attending all GCOS meetings.
The cross-linking elements have been developed by the Ocean Observation Science Development Panel (OOSDP) of GOOS and by the GCOS/GTOS Terrestrial Observations Panel (TOP) and will now go into the implementation phase of GCOS. Climate is an important element which is common to all three of the systems, and GCOS can be perceived as an integrated system of elements from all three of the basic environmental compartments. It should be noted in this context that the Intergovernmental Committee for GOOS (I-GOOS) at its second session in 1995 passed a Resolution that implementation of the GOOS climate element should have high priority and be pursued by the I-GOOS Technical Implementation Panel.
II.3 As GCOS together with the climate elements provided by GOOS and GTOS are now coming into the implementation phase, it is essential that there be increased coordination of these elements with the main GCOS system. GOOS through IOC has in fact provided an expert to the GCOS office in WMO for a year. Reciprocal arrangements from GCOS to the other systems' secretariats will presumably also be needed as they become operational.
Hydrology as a common element
II.4 A second element in common for the GCOS, GOOS and GTOS and for which data and information are required by all the three systems is hydrology (fresh water resources). However, the three systems in many cases will need different types of hydrological data and therefore it is not self-evident that all data can be furnished by one of the systems. Since GTOS explicitly covers surface and sub-surface hydrological information, it would logically be the system that should furnish all three systems with such hydrological information as required. The presently available international data centres for fresh water data: the Global Run-off Data Centre, Koblenz, Global Precipitation Centre, Frankfurt and Global Water Quality Data Centre, Burlington, Canada, should be used as necessary by the three systems. Hydrological data on soil moisture and evapotranspiration cannot at present be obtainedthrough standardized measurements as suitable instrumentation is not available. However, as these data are required both by GTOS and GCOS at a reasonably small scale, they must be calculated by mathematical models or otherwise by using available information. Progress is now being made on providing such calculations, and FAO is working on methodologies for such purposes in Africa which might become available at a later stage. Hydrology is a area where a joint panel or task force for the three observing systems may be required to solve their common needs.
II.5 WHYCOS, the World Hydrological Cycle Observing System being developed by WMO to provide hydrological data, should eventually furnish national data required for various global purpose. At present this system is ongoing in 18 Mediterranean countries as a pilot project funded by the World Bank. It is planned and funded in two other regions of Africa, and in countries around the Aral Sea. Further plans for Latin America are expected to emerge from a meeting in Costa Rica in April 1996. The World Bank and UNDP have expressed interest in this global project. Nevertheless the project will only come into implementation gradually, and will thus take time to be operational for the whole globe.
The Coastal Zone as a Common Element
II.6 The Coastal Zone is clearly a common area for GOOS and GTOS as well as partly also for GCOS. No detailed plans for GOOS and GTOS activities in the coastal zones are so far available. However, it is clear from the terms of reference of GOOS that it is responsible for the marine ecosystems and the marine living resources in the coastal zone.
II.7 The so far fruitful cooperation between UNEP and FAO on the implementation of coastal development projects like urbanization and port building should continue, with funding as far as possible from the World Bank and UNDP. There are in addition to such practical projects a number of ongoing research problems in the coastal zone which, at the moment, are shared by GOOS and GTOS in the sense that experts from both fields are working on them in close cooperation; a useful cooperation that will lead to proposals regarding more operational activities. UNEP has also been charged with secretariat functions under the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities, which links terrestrial and ocean problems. Under the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW), WMO has demonstrated the significance of atmospheric inputs to coastal pollution. All these activities can provide a basis for contributions to the observing systems.
II.8 It will be necessary at some stage to clarify the borderline between the responsibilities of GOOS and GTOS. It seems reasonable that clearly land based projects should be within the GTOS terms of reference while more water related ones dealing with marine ecosystems, water pollution in regional seas, coral reefs, etc., would belong to GOOS. A difficult area, which is shared with GCOS, is the problem of future sea levels which may change due to a climate change. As a sea level rise in itself will have all sorts of repercussions on both land based activities and marine ecosystems, careful consideration about how this problem should be shared is essential. To improve the coordination of the Coastal Zone element, UNEP, with its large experience of environmental problems in the coastal zone, might take a leading role through its oceans, coastal and freshwater programme. A joint task force on this subject with experts from the three systems and with clear terms of reference on the common problems seems necessary.
Data Management as a common element.
II.9 Although, in the original planning of the three systems, it seems to have been taken for granted that separate data management systems should be developed for each, it has become more and more obvious with the development of modern telecommunications that a common data management system or at least a common strategy could be used for them in their operational stage. It seems to be too early to propose how such a common system should be designed, although there are broader on-going efforts to streamline data and meta-data issues for global reporting among the major institutions involved (DPCSD, World Bank, UNEP, UNDP, WRI, etc.). Already both the GCOS and GTOS plans provide clear pictures of the needs for data management of those two systems.
II.10 For regional activities within a data management system, like harmonization of data, it would be preferable to use centres which have been established for other similar purposes and therefore are already furnished with modern telecommunications and computer equipment. There are a number of such systems, for instance GRID within UNEP, IODE in IOC, and WWW in WMO. Further investigations need to be undertaken to find out to what extent existing systems can be used for common data management. However, if data management for the three global systems is to take place at centres already available, each of the systems will have to provide experts to these centres for their special activities. The available staff at these regional centres would not necessarily be sufficiently familiar with the needs of each system to carry out harmonization of data and similar specific activities.
Space-based observations as a common element
II.11 In Version 1 of the GCOS plan for space-based observations, an excellent overview is presented not only of the GCOS needs for space-based observations of the atmosphere and the land surface but also for GCOS needs for the oceanic climate element. However similar information is lacking on the requirements of GOOS and GTOS for space-observations of the oceans and land surface for other purposes than climate. A Space Observation Panel has recently been proposed for GOOS.
II.12 It is obvious, however, that the space observations which are available or will be developed for the climate purpose will go a long way to meet other requirements under both GOOS and GTOS, so further coordination in this area is required. Experts on space-observations from GOOS and GTOS should study what space observations are available or will be developed for GCOS in the climate area and identify gaps that need to be filled for the special requirements of GOOS and GTOS. These experts could become adopted members of the GCOS panel on space-based observations. The combined needs of the three systems can then be fed into CEOS, where the partner organizations are all associates.
III.1 It is more realistic to aim for a common strategy for the three observing systems rather than integrating them into one single system. The basic reason is that each of the systems, although linked in various ways with the others, has its own characteristics which make it fundamentally different from the others, as follows:
III.2 To start with GOOS as the first system launched, the idea of developing an observation system for the oceans, which has been considered for about 100 years is, at this stage, mainly driven by practical needs and political considerations. While scientific issues have a role to play, the main problems for implementing a system today are related to the disparate views of governments on how to achieve what they feel essential for their needs.
III.3 Hence, GOOS is being established primarily for other purposes than those related to climate and GCOS. Continuous observations are needed of fish and other marine living resources and for environmental requirements such as the state of coral reefs and mangroves. GOOS should become the ocean observation system that would meet reporting requirements arising from the implementation of the Law of the Sea Convention for which a Secretariat has been established. The system is likely to become crucial for applications to the fishing industry and also to the possible future exploitation of the sea bed. The integration of GOOS with the other two systems is thus not feasible.
III.4 GTOS, as with GOOS for the oceans, is basically conceived as an independent observation system for the land surface, where most activities are of direct benefit to or linked to applications both at the national level and within international organizations (FAO, UNEP, UNESCO). There are many reasons to establish GTOS independent of its climate linkages with GCOS. The GTOS plan shows that the basic need for GTOS is to monitor changes in terrestrial ecosystems caused by anthropogenic or natural impacts, including changes in the local status and micro-climates of ecosystems. Providing information on the feedback of such changes to the overall climate system observed in GCOS is not the fundamental purpose for the establishment of GTOS. The practical usefulness of both GOOS and GTOS lies in their provision of data and information for direct applications concerning changes in both managed and natural ecosystems. These are needed not only for decision making at the national level but also for FAO for agriculture and forestry, UNEP on biodiversity, WMO on hydrology, and UNESCO which coordinates the MAB programme with its Biosphere reserves. With particular regard to the Biosphere Reserves, the UNESCO General Conference recently adopted standard regulations for Biosphere Reserves making them more useful for becoming involved with GTOS. Other activities under GTOS related directly to applications include i.a. observations of global forest cover, land degradation, soil cover and hydrological variables such as soil moisture and evapotranspiration.
III.5 GCOS is the one system that is oriented more towards an environmental and scientific issue, that of climate change, rather than an environmental compartment of the biosphere. Its basic aim is the generation of data to improve understanding of the complex climate system and its variability required by governments and users for three basic applications:
(1) Developing methods for and use in prediction of climate around the globe on a seasonal basis;
(2) Early detection of climate change;
(3) Securing data from all parts of the globe necessary for predicting the impact of climate, climate variability and change on national and regional socio-economic systems.
For the above purposes GCOS is closely linked to GOOS and GTOS, being dependent upon data both from the oceans and land, as well as atmospheric data from WWW and GAW. Therefore GCOS is the only system based on a real integration of the three environmental media, while in both GOOS and GTOS there are considerable data activities which are not related to the climate elements integrated in GCOS.
IV.1 In order to coordinate the activities of the three global observing systems with the above particular characteristics, the approach to the three systems needs to be harmonized. At present, the special objectives of the three systems dominate their approaches, they were launched at different times and are in many ways independent of each other.
IV.2 Obviously there is no reason to abolish or change the particular objectives which were the basis for launching each of the systems, but better coordination requires at least the development of an overall "raison d'être" for their common function.
IV.3 A basic problem with the existing objectives is that they reflect the main considerations for their launching: GCOS, although established also for practical needs, is basically driven by scientific requirements; GOOS has practical objectives and also involves political considerations; GTOS, as an observation system for the land surface, is much more directly related to human needs, although through IGBP, science has an important place.
IV.4 In finding common goals and aims, and ultimately a common strategy, for the three systems, it is necessary to review the needs of governments, policy makers and users in practical life for the data and information that the systems together will generate in their monitoring of global environmental changes over time. Only through demonstrating how important these needs are to the future of the world's governments and users can funding be obtained to implement the systems. GCOS has already established a Socio-economic Working Group to address this. The three systems should together develop a clear picture of how governments and user groups would be able to apply their data and information in decision making, for instance in the calculation of indicators for sustainable development as called for by the Commission on Sustainable Development. The proposed implementation of pilot projects to demonstrate the feasibility of GTOS, GCOS and GOOS can be useful in the development of a common strategy.
IV.5 To respond to the above concerns, the co-sponsors are considering the establishment of an umbrella group for the three systems to ensure continuing close synergy and a common broad strategy for the global observation systems and their applications. This group is expected to meet in June 1996.
of the Global Observation Systems
1. The Atmosphere
1.1 The first serious attempt to establish a global observation system was launched for the atmosphere by WMO in 1962 and was endorsed by the UN General Assembly the same year. It was given the name World Weather Watch (WWW), and was intended as a basis for weather forecasting around the world. The observations to be taken were of the physical parameters within the atmosphere relevant to the processes causing the variability of weather. The observation system is completed by a telecommunication system (GTS) which ensures a real time distribution of the ground observations around the world. Satellite observations, which had started to become available at about the same time, are gathered in World Meteorological Centres from where they are distributed worldwide.
In 1969 WMO launched a first attempt to observe changes in the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the establishment of a world wide system called the Background Air Pollution Monitoring Network (BAPMoN) where measurements of the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere are made at 10-15 base line stations and precipitation chemistry is observed at about 150 regional stations. In 1987 this observing system was joined with other existing systems for studies of chemicals in the atmosphere to create what is called GAW, the Global Atmosphere Watch.
1.2 In view of the growing importance of the world's climate and its possible change due to anthropogenic impact, and as a consequence of the Second World Climate Conference in 1990, WMO together with FAO, IOC, ICSU, UNEP and UNESCO decided to launch a global observation system for climate called GCOS. This observation system, planned to be based upon existing observation activities in the atmosphere, oceans and on land like WWW, GAW, IGOSS, SST, GIPME, MAB, GEMS/WATER, etc., is now coming into its implementation stage.
1.3 Approach to GCOS. The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) was launched in 1992, in order to define and specify an operational climate observing system for the next century. For this purpose the deficiencies in existing observation systems need to be identified, research stimulated and development enhanced. The needs for and benefits of a GCOS became even more clear after the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio in 1992 when the Framework Convention on Climate Change was launched and Agenda 21 was presented as a basis for global sustainable development in the next century. A Secretariat for GCOS was set up in WMO in 1992 to develop an operational plan for implementation, and a GCOS Joint Scientific and Technical Committee (JSTC) was established. The GCOS Plan, the Plan for Data and Information Management, and the Plan for Space-based Observations were all agreed at JSTC-IV in 1994 and published in 1995. The TOP Plan for Terrestrial Observations was agreed by the fifth session of the JSTC in October 1995.
1.4 Objectives of GCOS (as included in the above plan)
Systematic global observations of key variables within the global climate system should be made available to nations to enable them to:
- Detect and quantify climate change at the earliest possible time;
- Document natural climate variability and extreme climate events;
- Model, understand and predict climate variability and change;
- Assess the potential impact of climate and its variability on ecosystems and socio-economics;
- Develop strategies to diminish potentially harmful effects or amplify beneficial ones;
- Provide services and applications to national climate - sensitive sectors;
- Support sustainable development.
1.5 A new important support for GCOS and its objectives has recently been developed as a result of the WMO Intergovernmental Meeting on the World Climate Programme in 1993. In the document requested by that meeting: "The Climate Agenda", a proposal for an Integrated Framework prepared by FAO, ICSU, UNEP, UNESCO and its IOC, and WMO, dedicated observations of the global climate system is one of the four main thrusts.
1.6 Details outside the 1995 plan have been described in various GCOS publications issued over the last three years. According to the plan, GCOS is expected to provide the following deliverables:
(1) High quality, well-calibrated, long-term observations needed for
- seasonal to interannual climate projection
- early detection of climate trends due to human activities
- reduction of major uncertainties in long-term climate projection
- observational requirements of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change;
(2) Information to assist national economic and sustainable development;
(3) Increased capacity and involvement of developing countries to enable them to participate in both observational and analytic activities to better address national issues;
(4) Improved data and information services in support of climate research, climate services and climate impact assessments as foreseen in the "Climate Agenda".
1.7 Present State of Development of GCOS
The GCOS plan consists of four parts:
(1) A brief review of the climate issues which motivated the establishment of GCOS;
(2) The strategy for the development of the system;
(3) The scientific and technical issues associated with the development and initial implementation of the system;
(4) Management issues.
1.8 GCOS activities during the next step in the planning process are to :
(1) Design an effective, operational climate observing system;
(2) Establish, coordinate and manage an Initial Operational System by integrating and enhancing existing components;
(3) Develop new components to provide a comprehensive and responsive system to meet existing and future needs.
1.9 The following and final step is implementation, which is expected to take place in phases and require the participation of nations with both activities and funding. Selected implementation activities are:
(1) Select sites for inclusion in networks;
(2) Improve data access especially in developing countries, filling gaps;
(3) Integrate climate issues across disciplines;
(4) Promote international climate discussions.
2. The Oceans
2.1 Close relations between WWW and GAW on one side and oceanic observing systems on the other have existed since the early 1960s and earlier, as weather forecasting for many years has required observations from the oceans, like from the joint WMO/IOC IGOSS system. A system for monitoring the health of the oceans was launched in 1978 when GIPME was established by IOC. In 1989 IOC decided to launch the idea of a global observing system for the oceans and the marine ecosystem called GOOS, which is now in the planning stage.
2.2 Approach to GOOS
In 1990 the Second World Climate Conference reiterated the need for GOOS as providing a major element to the Global Climate Observing System. In 1992 IOC called for its Member States to support, in collaboration with WMO and UNEP, the development of GOOS as an important contribution to Agenda 21 from UNCED. In 1993 the Seventeenth Session of the IOC Assembly endorsed "The Approach to GOOS", a document that gives the broad lines for the planning and development of GOOS. The first session of the Intergovernmental Committee for GOOS (I-GOOS) was held in 1993 and a number of special Panels for GOOS Modules were agreed to be gradually established : Ocean Observing System Panel, Health of the Ocean Panel, Marine Living Resources Panel, Marine Services Panel, etc. These were later established by the Joint Scientific and Technical Committee for GOOS (J-GOOS). The first meeting of that body was held in 1994. A second session of J-GOOS was held in April 1995 and a second session of I-GOOS in June 1995.
2.3 GOOS will be developed in a phased approach as follows:
(1) Planning phase, design and definitions;
(2) Operational demonstrations; pilot phase;
(3) Implementation of permanent operations;
(4) Continued assessments by the use of data
2.4 Objectives (according to "The approach to GOOS")
"GOOS is a major endeavour of the ocean megascience activities for the next century to address issues such as global environmental and climate change as well as aspects of sustainable development in relation to rational use of ocean resources and integrated coastal zone management.''
"GOOS is a multi-disciplinary approach to systematic long-term observations of the World Oceans and requires close collaboration of various national agencies and institutions dealing with scientific research, operational services, technology development as well as explorationand exploitation of marine resources". The major activity elements of GOOS are:
(1) Operational, oceanographic and marine resource observations and analysis;
(2) Timely distribution of data and products;
(3) Data assimilation into numerical models for prediction;
(4) Capacity building within Member States.
2.5 User Interest of GOOS
GOOS will be divided in five interrelated modules which represent user interests:
(1) Monitoring of the Coastal Zone Environment and its changes;
(2) Climate Monitoring, Assessment and Prediction (a module in cooperation with GCOS);
(3) Marine Meteorological and Oceanographic Services;
(4) Assessment and Prediction of the Health of the Ocean;
(5) Monitoring and Assessment of Marine Living resources.
2.6 Present Stage of Development of GOOS
The first planning meeting of the IOC/WMO/UNEP Intergovernmental Committee on GOOS (I-GOOS) in 1993 was attended by 26 IOC-Member States. It recommended the establishment of:
(1) A Strategy Sub-Committee to advise I-GOOS on policy, marketing and fund related issues;
(2) An I-GOOS Panel on Technical Implementation to advise I-GOOS on implementation of an integrated ocean observation network to meet GOOS scientific and operational requirements;
(3) I-GOOS Panel on Products and Distribution to advise I-GOOS on products to meet user needs.
The twenty-seventh session of the IOC Executive Council in July 1994 approved the above recommendations and the above bodies were hence established.
The Planning Session also proposed the following list of priority actions for 1994-95:
(i) formulation of a general GOOS strategy;
(ii) development of a special coastal zone strategy for GOOS;
(iii) scientific design of GOOS;
(iv) support to the implementation of the post-TOGA Observing System;
(v) support to GOOS-related aspects of existing operational ocean observing and data management systems;
(vi) establishment of further I-GOOS panels as required.
The above scheme has on the whole been followed.
2.7 The first session of the IOC/WMO/ICSU Joint Scientific and Technical Committee for GOOS, the so-called J-GOOS, was held in May 1994. The first assigned task under this Committee, to formulate the conceptual scientific and technical design of an ocean climate observing system, as a basis for the climate module of GOOS and the ocean component of GCOS, was completed in December 1994.
Two other modules of GOOS under the J-GOOS are being designed at present by ad hoc panels on Living Marine Resources and on the Health of the Ocean Module under GIPME.
2.8 The main decisions from the second session of the IOC/WMO/UNEPIntergovernmental Committee for GOOS (I-GOOS) in June 1995 were as follows:
(1) A Resolution on the Implementation Responsibility of the common GCOS/GOOS Climate Module which referred the implementation to the I-GOOS Technical Implementation Panel for action with high priority;
(2) Six recommendations request
( i) I-GOOS Strategy Subcommittee to urgently submit a strategic plan for GOOS including basic policy for internal and external coordination. The Strategic Subcommittee was established and given terms of reference;
(ii) Establishment of I-GOOS Panel on Technical Implementation with terms of reference;
(iii) Establishment of I-GOOS Panel on Products and distribution with terms of reference;
(iv) That J-GOOS and its technical and scientific subgroup be invited to review the pilot activities related to the coastal zone environment and to give advice on their implementation. For further action support should be negotiated with UNEP and WMO.
(v) That IOC Assembly recognize the priority for GOOS development.
2.9 The second session of the J-GOOS which was held in April 1995 provided the following main results. The session dealt i.a. with the relationship between GOOS and GCOS, a subject of particular importance for the present report. J-GOOS agreed that there was much in common between the data management system outlined by GCOS and the one needed for GOOS. It was agreed that GOOS should be represented in the planning process of the data management system of GCOS. For the purpose of Space-based Observations for GOOS a Space Observation Panel was proposed. Its relation with GCOS activities in the same area is not yet clear.
The meeting supported the establishment of OOPC to follow upon the completion of the report of OOSDP. This was agreed by the JSTC for GCOS later in 1995 (see below).
The meeting also reviewed the status of the GOOS panels on Health of the Ocean, Living Marine Resources, Coastal Module and the Ocean and Marine Meteorological Service Module.
2.10 In view of the close relations between GCOS and GOOS, in particular regarding the climate element of GOOS, the further plans of GOOS, OOSDP and OOPC were thoroughly discussed in the JSTC meeting of GCOS in October 1995. Some of the recommendations important for further planning of GOOS were as follows:
- OOPC, which will supersede OOSDP, should assign priorities to the observational elements based on user needs and is encouraged to examine the importance of carbon flux to the ocean from rivers and estuaries. It will be jointly sponsored by GCOS, GOOS and WCRP.
- OOPC should consider the WOCE data quality assessment procedures for applicability to GCOS ocean data for climate.
- For implementation of the ocean climate component of GCOS the needs for continuing interaction between the GCOS Joint Planning Office and the GOOS Support Office were stressed.
An important outstanding question regarding the further planning and implementation of the climate element of GOOS is to which extent it should be funded by GOOS or GCOS. JSTC agreed to remind the IOC of their commitment to provide a significant financial contribution to GCOS for this purpose.
3. The Land
3.1 For the purpose of finding out long-term changes in terrestrial ecosystems no special system has existed until recently. Various activities have nevertheless been going on for several decades, such as observations of local and micro-climates for agricultural purposes by FAO/WMO, monitoring of the world's forests by FAO/UNEP and of desertification by UNESCO/UNEP, as well as various hydrological activities at the national level coordinated by FAO, WMO, UNESCO and WHO. UNEP, being concerned particularly with possible anthropogenic impacts on terrestrial ecosystem, studied for some years in the early 1990s the need for an observing system for the land surfaces and proposed in 1992, together with IGBP which was interested in a similar system from the scientific point of view, a planning group to be established for the purpose of developing a plan for a Global Terrestrial Observing System, GTOS. Such a planning group co-sponsored by FAO, ICSU, UNEP, UNESCO and WMO was established in 1993. A plan for GTOS was submitted to the co-sponsors at the end of 1995, and a support office for GTOS is now being established at FAO, with a Steering Committee to be named during 1966.
3.2 GTOS approach
UNEP had a mandate from its creation to coordinate and initiate global environment monitoring systems (GEMS), has over the years acquired considerable experience of such issues. In the 1980s, in cooperation with UNESCO and WMO, GEMS started a pilot project to develop methods for integrated monitoring of pollutants in various media at land stations. When around 1990 the question arose whether a global system was needed to monitor global changes of the terrestrial ecosystems, the above experience caused UNEP to call a series of meetings, which resulted in the establishment of a Scientific Advisory Committee on Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment (SACTEMA). As the IGBP programme had developed a subprogramme on Global Change in Terrestrial Ecosystems, IGBP in 1992 called a more scientifically oriented expert meeting on the same subject. These two approaches together led to the establishment in late 1993 of a joint committee, by co-sponsors FAO, ICSU, UNEP, UNESCO and WMO, to further study the question. This in turn resulted in the setting up of a planning group for a Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS). The planning group reported in early 1995 to the co-sponsors and its final report to them is expected at the end of this year.
3.3 GTOS objectives reflect the basic fact that there exist at the same time a clear interest of governments, policy makers and other users in obtaining continuous data on the impact of anthropogenic effects on terrestrial ecosystems, and a strong requirement from various groups of scientists involved in ecosystem research for a global observing system. According to the plan of 1995 the central mission and objectives are presented as follows:
3.4 The central mission of GTOS is to provide the data needed to detect, quantify, locate and give early warning of changes (especially reductions) in the national or global capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to support sustainable development and improvements in human welfare, and to help advance our understanding of such changes. To accomplish this, anintegrated and equitable partnership that meets both the immediate needs of national governments and the longer term needs of the global change research community will be developed.
The major objectives to be enabled by GTOS are:
(1) To identify and quantify the natural and anthropogenic factors that affect terrestrial ecosystem function and structure;
(2) To determine the relative importance of these factors at the national, regional or global level and their interactions;
(3) To distinguish short-term natural variations or perturbations from long-term
changes of anthropogenic origin;
(4) To assist modelling and multidisciplinary dynamic analysis of possible future changes in terrestrial ecosystems and their implications for sustainable development.
In order to accomplish these objectives GTOS will:
(1) Utilize data from the existing monitoring networks and bring them together into a global network to increase their utility;
(2) Support the upgrading of site instrumentation and management where appropriate, and establish additional monitoring sites to ensure adequate representation of the dominant or most sensitive managed agro-ecosystems, biomes, and ecotones;
(3) Develop a hierarchial system of sites, remote sensing imagery, and variables that can provide the data essential for the clarification of key questions and uncertainties on the vulnerability of terrestrial ecosystems to anthropogenic forces;
(4) Collect and assemble data through an international partnership between generators and users;
(5) Work to gain international acceptance for a common data management framework with internationally accepted protocols and procedures for the collection, harmonization and free exchange of compatible data;
(6) Support national monitoring systems in training, project preparation and the sourcing of external financial help.
3.5 Present stage of development of GTOS
The overall plan for a global terrestrial observation system (GTOS) was accepted in principle by the co-sponsors of GTOS in January 1996. In addition to this plan and as mentioned under GCOS, the GCOS/GTOS Terrestrial Observation Panel (TOP) has developed version 1.0 of a plan for the terrestrial requirements of GCOS and the climate observations of GTOS. This plan addresses three key areas: the biosphere, the hydrosphere and the cryosphere. The JSTC has requested a paragraph on socio-economic benefits to be added to the present plan. Particularly useful information in this document is the list of variables in GTOS observations that would be useful or needed for GCOS purposes such as for modelling the general circulation of the atmosphere.
3.6 The GTOS draft plan consists of two parts. The first contains an overall review of the proposed plan. The second gives details of user needs, products and services, the observation system proposed, data management requirements, support to national needs, and the coordination framework. Annexes give details on i.a. potential variables and prospective sites to be included in the observing system.
3.7 The GTOS plan was accepted in principle by the co-sponsors in a meeting on 7-8 January 1996 as a partnership of partnerships bringing together various existing observation networks, sites and research centres. A Steering Committee is being established to oversee the activities of GTOS. FAO will take on the day to day responsibilities for the implementation of the plan, with other agencies taking responsibilities for particular activities e.g. WMO for hydrology and UNESCO for use of biosphere reserves. Scientific and technical advisory groups to support the steering committee are also envisaged eventually. The plan finally foresees the need for some type of regional system of national bodies and contact points.
|TABLE OF ACRONYMS|
AGMET Agricultural Meteorology
BAPMoN Background Air Pollution Monitoring Network
DBCP Data Buoy Co-operation Panel
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
GAOS Global Atmosphere Observing System
GAW Global Atmosphere Watch
GCOS Global Climate Observing System
GEMS/WATER Global Environment Monitoring System/Water
GIPME Global Investigations of Pollution in the Marine Environment
GOOS Global Ocean Observing System
GOS Global Observing Systems
GRID Global Resource Information Database
GSO GOOS Support Office
GTOS Global Terrestrial Observing System
GTS Global Telecommunication System
ICSU International Council of Scientific Unions
I-GOSS Intergovernmental Committee for GOOS
IGBP International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme
IOC Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
JPO Joint Planning Office
J-GOOS Joint Scientific and Technical Committee for GOOS
JSTC Joint Scientific and Technical Committee
MAB Man and the Biosphere Programme
MARPOLMON Marine Pollution Monitoring
OCA/PAC Ocean and Coastal Areas Programme Activity Centre
OOPC Ocean Observing Panel for Climate
OOSDP Ocean Observing System Development Panel
SACTEMA Scientific Advisory Committee for Terrestrial Ecosystems Monitoring and Assessment
SST Sea Surface Temperature
TAO Tropical Atmosphere Ocean
TOP Terrestrial Observations Panel
UN United Nations
UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
WCIRP World Climate Impact and Response Strategies Programme
WCRP World Climate Research Programme
WCDP World Climate Development Programme
WHO World Health Organization
WHYCOS World Hydrological Cycle Observing System
WMO World Meteorological Organization
WOCE World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WCRP)
WWW World Weather Watch
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Why are animals used in research?
Most of the medicines we have come from animal research. Often science doesn’t need to use animals, but for many key questions they are crucial. They will help millions with conditions such as cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord damage and parasitic infections like malaria.
Please see below for your recommended content:
medical research has saved and improved the lives of millions of people
Find out about the animal research behind major medical advances
Animal research and testing for animal medicines and vaccines
A short questionnaire to find out how you feel about animal research
Stories from researchers and from patients who have reason to thank animal research
Animal research - in five languages
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As an arm-chair scholar of adulthood, I like to collect facts and figures about the different phases of adulthood. Even though I've said before that I think the stages of life are defined less by a number than by a feeling, I still think it's worthwhile to examine what the data are telling us about a given cohort. (Most recently, I did this when I presented five new facts about teenagers.)
In that vein, today's topic is that much-discussed Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation, young adults, under-30s or just "Gen Y." Gen Y is defined loosely by those people born between 1982 and 1991, which makes them (roughly) between the ages of 18 and 30.
About six months ago, The New York Times Magazine broke a feature story about the "new 20-somethings" who seem to be taking forever to grow up -- delaying marriage, changing careers several times, failing to achieve economic independence and other milestones of adulthood. Ever since then, there's been a lot of interest in this age group, both in what's driving their delayed adulthood and what else we know about this demographic.
Here are five new facts about Generation Y:
- Living at home longer may not be so bad. While one might be inclined at first blush to condemn Gen Y for failing to get its act together sooner, two new studies suggest that there may be advantages to delayed adulthood. One, from the University of Minnesota, argues that parental assistance in early adulthood actually promotes progress toward autonomy and self-reliance. The researchers found that while almost half of the young adults in their sample received either money for living expenses or lived with their parents (or both) in their mid-20s, only 10 to 15 percent received financial or housing help when in their early 30s. Moreover, as young adult children took on adult roles, such as earning higher incomes or forming families, parental support began to taper, regardless of age. Two sociologists from Oregon State additionally found that living at home longer may also foster closer bonds with one's parents.
- Millennials care more about parenting than getting married. A 2010 Pew Research survey found that 52 percent of Millennials say being a good parent is "one of the most important things" in life, while just 30 percent say the same about having a successful marriage. In other words, there is a 22 percentage point difference in the way Millennials value parenthood over marriage. When this same question was posed to 18- to 29-year-olds in 1997, the gap was just seven percentage points. Wow. Pew Research surveys also find that Millennials are less likely than adults aged 30 and older to say that a child needs a home with both a father and mother to grow up happily, and that single parenthood and unmarried couple parenthood are bad for society. Given that we also know that young men are lagging behind young women vis-à-vis jobs, income and graduate degrees, these attitudinal shifts may make a lot of sense. If these smarter, higher-earning young ladies want a kid, they may need to do it on their own.
- Gen Y is isolationist. The Brookings Institution recently surveyed more than 1,000 young leaders about their views on foreign policy. Among the more striking findings was how solidly isolationist this group was in its foreign policy leanings. A full 58 percent of young leaders say that America is "too involved in global affairs" and should focus more on issues at home rather than things like building a stronger military or reducing poverty in the rest of the world. I found these results to be particularly fascinating in light of a recent study by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, which found that college students today are 40 percent less empathetic than they were in 1979. According to the findings, today's students are generally less likely to describe themselves as "soft-hearted" or to have "tender, concerned feelings" for others. They are more likely, meanwhile, to admit that "other people's misfortunes" usually don't disturb them. In other words, while this is far the most connected generation vis-à-vis technology and the like, all that connectedness doesn't seem to be translating to genuine concern for the world and one another.
- Generation Y is changing its workplace priorities. While the initial take on Gen Y was that it was coddled, lazy and work-averse, that may turn out to be wrong. It's true that 40 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds either lack a job or underemployed. But according to an article in The Miami Herald, those who are working seem to be embracing a new, more humble and realistic attitude towards work, one fueled by the hard reality of the recession. In today's harsh new economic climate, Millennials realize that they can't make the demands for raises, promotions, time off and training that they might once have done only a few years back. Nor are they reaching for the brass ring; they're happy to do their best, wherever they are on the corporate ladder, and recognize that it may take a while to reach the top. This sea change is consistent with a recent article in The New York Times noting that Millennials are embracing different kinds of careers these days, often "doing good" in the public sector (where the jobs are) rather than trying to score high-paying, high-powered jobs in the corporate sector.
- Gen Y is more confident and optimistic. Another Pew Study, this one released last year, found that 18- to 29-year-olds remain optimistic, despite a job-killing recession, two wars and the threat of terrorism. In light of all the negative publicity around this generation, I, for one, was quite happy to hear this
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- freely available
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2013, 14(10), 19681-19704; doi:10.3390/ijms141019681
Abstract: ncRNAs are the most recently identified class of regulatory RNAs with vital functions in gene expression regulation and cell development. Among the variety of roles they play, their involvement in human diseases has opened new avenues of research towards the discovery and development of novel therapeutic approaches. Important data come from the field of hereditary muscle dystrophies, like Duchenne muscle dystrophy and Myotonic dystrophies, rare diseases affecting 1 in 7000–15,000 newborns and is characterized by severe to mild muscle weakness associated with cardiac involvement. Novel therapeutic approaches are now ongoing for these diseases, also based on splicing modulation. In this review we provide an overview about ncRNAs and their behavior in muscular dystrophy and explore their links with diagnosis, prognosis and treatments, highlighting the role of regulatory RNAs in these pathologies.
Transcription of the eukaryotic genome yields only 1%–2% of protein coding transcripts and the remainder is classified as non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). In other words, non-coding RNAs are the main output of the global transcription process, highlighting the idea that such an intense cellular effort cannot be just simple noise. Rather, it is reasonable to speculate that this underscored transcriptome possesses specific vital functions [1–3].
In general, non-coding RNAs are divided into structural and regulatory RNAs. The first ones include ribosomal, transfer, small nuclear and small nucleolar RNAs (rRNAs, tRNAs, snRNAs and snoRNAs respectively), which have been deeply characterized at the functional level. The second ones are a very broad class of RNAs whose main categorization essentially relies on their length.
Small ncRNAs are defined as transcripts shorter than 200 nucleotides. The most functionally characterized are microRNAs (miRNAs), piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), which are critical for the assembly and the activity of the RNA interference machinery.
RNAs longer than 200 nucleotides are named long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and are a very heterogeneous group of molecules. Because there is not an official way to classify them, they can be placed in one or more categories depending on their genome localization and/or on their orientation (sense, antisense, bidirectional, intronic or intergenic lncRNAs) [4,5].
In the past years, several reports have increased our knowledge about additional levels of regulation of many physiological processes that are mediated by ncRNAs. Even more interesting, these flexible molecules have been found to be dysregulated in many pathological human disorders.
In this review, we will focus on RNAs involved in human skeletal muscle dystrophies. There is a continuous flow of new scientific reports that underpin functional links between ncRNAs and skeletal muscle biology, suggesting that these molecules can play a crucial function both in physiological muscle development and in pathological muscle disorders.
Muscular dystrophies (MDs) are strictly inherited conditions recognized as a common pathogenic mechanism of disruption/impairment of the muscle cell membrane (sarcolemma) which causes a cascade of pathogenic events, including: inflammation, cell necrosis and cell death with progressive fibrosis replacing the muscle mass. MDs represent diseases of extraordinary interest both in medical genetics and biology. The high translational value of research about MDs has recently driven scientific findings toward precise genetic diagnoses as well as novel therapies [6–9].
There are more than 30 different types of inherited dystrophies that are characterized by muscle wasting and weakness of variable distribution and severity, manifesting at any age from birth to middle years, resulting in mild to severe disability and even short life expectancy in the worse cases. Clinical and pathological features are generally the parameters to classify the most common type of MDs. The broad spectrum of MDs arises from many different genetic mutations that reflect defects not only in structural proteins, but also in signaling molecules and enzymes. Dystrophin was the first mutant structural protein shown to cause MD. Mutations in the dystrophin gene lead to two more common type of dystrophy: the severe Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD OMIM 300677) due to out-of-frame mutations, and the milder Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD OMIM 300376) associated with in-frame mutations. Some “exceptions to the reading frame rule” are associated with intermediate phenotypes. The genetic causes of the highly heterogeneous Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophies (LGMDs) reside in many genes (such as α, β, γ, δ, and ɛ sarcoglycans) encoding for structural proteins that are part of the complex sarcolemma network and deeply involved, together with dystrophin, in force transduction [10,11].
There are other muscular dystrophies, such as the Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD OMIM 158900) and Myotonic dystrophies (DM1 and DM2, see below), that are due to mutations in genes with a main regulatory function. FSHD is due to deletions in non-coding RNA which cause modification of the chromatin assembly in the 4q34 chromosomal region; Myotonic dystrophies (DMs) are related to trinucleotide (DM1) and tetranucleotide (DM2) repeat expansions that produce toxic mutant mRNA with subsequent interference of RNA-splicing mechanisms [12,13].
Many lines of evidence reveal that aberrant expression levels of non-coding RNAs can result in novel types of defects that cause remarkable changes in processes such as mRNA maturation, translation, signaling pathways or gene regulation. To date, it is clear that there is involvement of several miRNAs in the muscular dystrophies, on the contrary, very little is known about the role of long ncRNAs .
In this review we try to recapitulate the emerging studies about this intriguing category of molecules, summarizing what is known in muscle, both in physiological and in pathological contexts; new insights are revealing that they are important players in processes such as cellular lineage commitment, growth and differentiation of skeletal muscle. Since muscle differentiation and regeneration are key features that require to be considered when designing novel therapies, addressing the role of ncRNAs in MDs is of high clinical relevance.
2. Muscle-Specific and Ubiquitously Expressed miRNAs in Skeletal Muscle
microRNAs control the stability and/or the translational efficiency of target messenger RNAs, thus causing post-transcriptional gene silencing. Mammalian miRNAs are transcribed as long primary transcripts (pri-miRNAs) and encode one or more miRNAs. Pri-miRNAs are processed by RNase III Drosha in the nucleus to generate stem-loop structures of ~70 nucleotides (pre-miRNAs) and then exported to the cytoplasm where they are further processed by RNase Dicer to yield ~22 bp mature miRNAs. A mature miRNA, incorporated into the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), anneals to the 3′ UTRs of its target mRNAs by its complementary strand, thus causing post-transcriptional gene silencing via translational repression or mRNA degradation. In the last years new paradigms of miRNA biogenesis are also emerging in which the processing of miRNA does not require all steps mentioned above .
Vertebrate skeletal muscle is derived from the somites, the first metameric structures in mammalian embryos, that progressively subdivide into embryonic compartments, thus giving rise to dermomyotome and subsequently to myotome to produce differentiated muscular tissue. The process of generating muscle—myogenesis—is highly complex and requires a broad spectrum of signaling molecules, either during embryonic development and in postnatal life, that converges on specific transcription and chromatin-remodeling factors, as well as on regulatory RNAs, to activate gene and microRNA expression program [16,17].
The fate of myogenic precursor cells is first determined by paired-homeodomain transcription factors, Pax3/Pax7, followed by regulation of highly conserved MyoD (also named MyoD1, myogenic differentiation 1), Myf5 (myogenic factor 5), MyoG (myogenin), and MRF4 factors, expressed in the skeletal muscle lineage and therefore referred as myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs). The MRFs differ in the timing and the stages of myogenesis, reflecting their different roles during muscle cell commitment and differentiation. MyoD and Myf5 are both considered markers of terminal commitment to muscle fate. Myf5 is the first MRF expressed during the formation of the myotome, followed by expression of MyoD. Specifically, in the majority of muscle progenitors, MyoD functions downstream from Pax3 and Pax7 in the genetic hierarchy of myogenic regulators, whereas Myf5, depending on the context, can also act in parallel with the Pax transcription factors [18–20]. Instead, MyoG and MRF4 act subsequently to specify the immature muscle cells (myoblasts) for terminal differentiation. Myoblasts exit from cell cycle after a defined proliferation time, to become terminally differentiated myocytes [21,22]. Muscle-specific genes such as myosin heavy chain genes (MyHC genes) and muscle creatine kinase (M-CK) are expressed in the last phase of this multi-regulated program, where mononucleated myocytes specifically fuse to each other to form multinucleated myotubes [22–28].
Dicer loss-of function studies clarified the importance of miRNAs in normal skeletal muscle development . miRNAs actively take part in the proliferation and differentiation of skeletal muscle cells as an integral component of genetic regulatory circuitries.
miR-1, miR-133a/b and miR-206 are largely studied and defined muscle-specific miRNAs (myomiRs). They are regulated in muscular transcriptional networks via MRFs and via others key-regulators of the myogenic program, MEF2 (myocyte enhancer factor 2) and SRFs (serum response factors). Recently, a new regulatory pathway, the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling was seen to regulate miR-1 expression and was also found responsible for MyoD stability [30–36]. It is possible to functionally define miR-133 as enhancer of myoblast proliferation while miR-1 and miR-206 as enhancers of skeletal muscle differentiation [37–40]. An up-to-date list of the identified targets of miR-1, miR-133 and miR-206, together with a plethora of specific muscular pathways they are involved in, is reported in a recent review and some of these will be also discussed in the next paragraph to highlight how these important families of miRNAs contribute to determine typical deficiencies occurring in a pathological muscular context. Intriguingly, these myomiRs have been shown to behave as serum biomarkers in DMD patients. They are released into the bloodstream as a consequence of fiber damage and their power as diagnostic tools is promising since increased miRNA levels correlate with severity of the disease, significantly better than other commonly utilized markers, such as creatine kinase (CK). Moreover, their major serum stability is another aspect that may make them useful not only for diagnosis but also for monitoring the condition of affected individuals after a therapeutic treatment [41,42].
miR-208b/miR-499, also named myomiRs because of their muscle-restricted expression, are produced from the introns of two myosin genes, β-MHC and Myh7b. They are functionally redundant and play a dominant role in the specification of muscle fiber identity by activating slow and repressing fast myofiber gene programs .
Interestingly, many miRNAs are defined as “non-muscle specific” (or also ubiquitously expressed), because essentially they are not exclusively expressed in muscular tissue. It has been, however, demonstrated that they play key-roles in modulating important pathways involved in the regulation of muscular metabolism and cellular commitment. Many miRNAs fall into this category and we report here a few relevant examples, providing for each miRNA the context in which they were studied and highlighting their global effects on muscular metabolism (Table 1).
Some of these miRNAs counteract the differentiation process since their activity is aimed to positively regulate the proliferation phase during muscular development.
miR-125b, one of the few down-regulated miRNAs during myogenesis, together with miR-221/222, negatively contributes to myoblast differentiation and muscle regeneration, taking part in the regulatory axis that includes mTOR and IGF-II [50–52]. Similarly, miR-155 mediates the repression of differentiation targeting MEF2A, a member of MEF2 family of transcription factors. By this negative regulation, miR-155 functions as an important regulator of muscle gene expression and myogenesis . miR-221/222 instead are involved in maintenance of the proliferative state promoting cell cycle progression. They are under control of the Ras-MAPK axis and inhibit the cell-cycle regulator p27 (Cdkn1b/Kip1). Their ectopic expression, indeed, lead to defects in the transition from myoblasts to myocytes and in the assembly of sarcomeres in myotubes .
In contrast to this set of miRNAs, many other “non-muscle specific” miRNAs exert an active role in muscle differentiation through different mechanisms: miR-24, for example, has been shown to be essential for the modulation of transforming growth factor β/bone morphogenetic protein (TGF-β/BMP) pathway, a well-known inhibitor of differentiation, although its specific muscular targets are yet unknown ; miR-26a is involved in TGF-β/BMP pathway, where it negatively regulates the transcription factors Smad1 and Smad4, critical components of that signaling; miR26a targets the polycomb complex member Ezh2, involved in chromatin silencing of skeletal muscle genes [45,46]; miR-27b promotes entry into differentiation program both in vitro and in vivo regenerating muscles by down-regulating Pax3 ; miR-29 in general is defined as an enhancer of differentiation. During myogenesis it is up-regulated by SRFs and MEF2, and in a self-regulatory manner, it suppresses YY1 and HDAC4 translation by targeting their 3′-UTRs [48,49]; miR-146a is another positive regulator of myogenesis, since it modulates the activity of NUMB protein, which promotes satellite cell differentiation towards muscle cells by inhibiting Notch signaling [55,56]; miR-181 is involved in skeletal muscle differentiation and regeneration after injury and one of its targets is Hox-A11, which in turn represses transcription of MyoD ; miR-214 was identified in zebrafish as regulating the muscle development. Here it is expressed in skeletal muscle cell progenitors and was shown to specify muscle cell type during somitogenesis by modulating the response of muscle progenitors to Hedgehog proteins signaling . Its involvement in muscle is also confirmed in C2C12 myoblasts and in skeletal myofibers of mouse where it promotes cell cycle exit and thus differentiation, targeting proto-oncogene N-Ras and the repressor of myogenesis Ezh2 respectively [62,63]; miR-322/424 and -503 promote myogenesis interfering with the progression through the cell cycle ; while miR-486 was reported to positively regulate myoblast differentiation targeting phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and Foxo1a, which negatively affect phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling and down-regulate the transcription factor Pax7, required only for muscle satellite cell biogenesis and specification of the myogenic precursor lineage [60,61]. All these data clearly show the vast scenario of functions in which miRNAs are involved and their specific activities they play in the skeletal muscle physiology (Figure 1).
3. miRNAs in Muscular Dystrophies
Muscle is a dynamic tissue that goes through many recurrent phases of degeneration and regeneration throughout an individual’s lifetime. During normal muscle development, specific molecular circuitries and signaling pathways control several events in different cell types such as activation of satellite cell proliferation, progenitor cell maintenance, myoblast differentiation, muscle cell homeostasis and immune cell recruitment. It is therefore not surprising that their deregulation heavily contributes to the degeneration of dystrophic muscles and is the object of intense research (Table 2).
Eisenberg et al. analyzing 10 primary muscular disorders (including DMD, BDM, LGMD and FSHD samples) have identified five miRNAs (miR-146b, miR-221, miR-155, miR-214, and miR-222) consistently deregulated in almost all samples taken into consideration, suggesting their involvement in common regulatory mechanisms. Other miRNAs however showed a disease-specific profile. Functional correlation between miRNAs and mRNA targets in DMD biopsies draw a tight posttranscriptional regulation network in secondary response functions and in muscle regeneration .
Greco and coworkers have divided a DMD-signature of miRNAs into three main classes relative to their functional link to specific muscular pathway. Regeneration-miRNAs were up-regulated (miR-31, miR-34c, miR-206, miR-335, miR-449, and miR-494), while degenerative-miRNAs (miR-1, miR-29c, and miR-135a) were down-regulated in mdx mice and in DMD patients’ muscles. The third class are named inflammatory-miRNAs, (miR-222 and miR-223), being expressed in damaged muscle areas only .
Muscle specific myomiR miR-1 and miR-133 and the ubiquitous miR-29c and miR-30c are down-regulated in mdx mice. It is possible to restore WT levels of these miRNAs by treating animals with an exon-skipping approach to restore a partially functional dystrophin protein, an experimental strategy that overcomes an out-frame mutation in the DMD locus. The same results are confirmed also in human DMD samples. These results corroborate the direct correlation between miRNAs levels and dystrophin protein levels. In contrast with the other myomiRs, miR-206 shows an increased expression in distrophic mdx muscle because it activates satellite cell differentiation program through Pax7 and HDAC4 repression. Another interesting target of miR-206 is Utrophin (Utrn), a dystrophin protein homolog, involved in a compensatory mechanism in DMD pathology [31,66,74].
miR-31-repressing activity seems to regulate muscle terminal differentiation directly targeting the 3′-UTR of dystrophin. Also miR-31, as miR-206, has a preferential localization in regenerating myoblasts, and is highly expressed in Duchenne muscles, probably due to an intensified activation of satellite cells. In both human and murine wild-type conditions its expression is detected in early phases of myoblast differentiation, supporting the idea that it contributes to avoid early expression of late differentiation markers. For this reason it is linked to a delay in the maturation program occurring in the pathological context .
Dystrophin is a structural protein that links the cytoskeleton to a large membrane-associated multiprotein complex (dystrophin-associated protein complex, DAPC) to stabilize the sarcolemma. Via Syntrophins (SNTA1, SNTB1, SNTB2, SNTG2), members of DAPC, the enzyme neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase (nNOS) is localized to the membrane of muscle fibers and regulates intramuscular generation of nitric oxide (NO) [75–77]. nNOS signaling determines the status of nitrosilation of Histone Deacetilases (HDACs) and thus their chromatin association to muscular specific gene-targets. Upon myoblast differentiation, HDACs are displaced from chromatin to promote muscle-specific gene transcriptional activation [78,79]. Some miRNAs involved in DMD pathology have been recently discovered to undergo this type of transcriptional regulation . The absence of dystrophin in DMD patients and mdx mice leads to a dramatic decrease of DAPC and a consequential impairment of NO production [80,81]. The expression of a specific subset of miRNAs is modulated by HDAC2 via Dystrophin/nNOS pathway. In particular the activation of both human and murine miR-1 and miR-29 is tightly linked to HDAC2 release from their respective promoters. The functional role of these two miRNAs in muscular metabolism is also been highlighted. miR-1 controls Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), a relevant enzyme involved in the response to oxidative stress while miR-29 controls fibrotic process since it targets the structural component of extracellular matrix, collagen (Col1a1) and elastin (Eln). Moreover, miR-222 targeting β1-Syntrophin (Sntb1) may also contribute to deregulation of the Dystophin-Syntrophins-nNOS pathway (Figure 2).
Myotonic dystrophy (DM) is the most common adult onset, progressive muscular dystrophy. DM is a multi-systemic disease and it is characterized by a generalized muscle weakness and wasting, associated with peripheral neuropathy, heart rhythm defects, and cataracts. The myotonia phenomenon is due to the peculiar muscle membrane depolarization activities. Two type of DM exist, type-1 (DM1, OMIM 160900) and type-2 (DM2, OMIM 602668). DM1 is caused by an expansion of the CTG triplet repeats in the 3′-untraslated region (UTR) of the Dystrophic Myotonic Protein Kinase (DMPK), while DM2 is caused by the expansion of a tetranucleotide repeat CCTG in the first intron of CCHC-type zinc finger nucleic acid binding protein (CNPB). These gene expansions do not disrupt the relative protein coding sequence, the repeats being in non-coding regions. However, both expanded RNAs accumulate in the nucleus and trigger a toxic gain of function that interferes with RNA splicing of other genes [82–86]. Perbellini and colleagues have performed expression analysis in DM1 biopsies obtained from 15 patients. They found specific deregulated miRNAs: miR-1 and -335 are up-regulated, whereas miR-29b, -29c and -33 are down-regulated compared to control muscles [67,68]. Gambardella and co-workers profiled a specific pattern of myomiRs involved in myogenesis of cardiac and skeletal muscle and found lines of evidence of miR-206 overexpression in five DM1 patients . A similar investigation has been made in DM2 patients. Eleven miRNAs have been shown to be deregulated. Nine displayed higher levels compared to controls (miR-34a-5p, miR-34b-3p, miR-34c-5p, miR-146b-5p, miR-208a, miR-221-3p and miR-381), while four were decreased (miR-125b-5p, miR-193a-3p, miR-193b-3p and miR-378a-3p). Moreover the potential involvement of these miRNAs in relevant skeletal muscle pathways and functions has been validated by bioinformatics analyses . Recently a novel therapeutic approach has been proposed to target the CTG repeat expansion on RNA using antisense oligonucleotides [8,87,88]. Therefore improving knowledge concerning the transcription regulation of the DMPK gene, also via ncRNAs, will greatly benefit this new therapy.
4. Long Non-Coding RNAs in Skeletal Muscle and Muscular Dystrophies
Increasing lines of evidence support the biological relevance of lncRNAs. They are regulated during development and involved in almost all levels of gene expression and cellular functions including chromosomal dosage compensation, chromatin modification, cell cycle regulation, control of imprinting, alternative splicing, intracellular trafficking, cellular differentiation, and reprogramming of stem cells . Recently, lncRNAs related to muscle are emerging both in physiological and pathological context (Table 3).
Key features of dystrophic muscle include central nuclei, small regenerating fibers and accumulation of connective tissue and fatty tissue. Muscle differentiation in vitro is a useful system to investigate the activity of long non-coding RNAs that show muscular specific pattern of expression. Recently, a new regulatory network involving cross-talk of several ncRNAs has been identified by Cesana and colleagues. Relying on ability of myomiRs to orchestrate muscular proliferation and differentiation, the genomic region of miR-206/-133b has been analyzed in detail. Thus a novel muscle specific transcript has been identified. Because of its non-coding potential and its activated expression upon myoblast differentiation it was termed linc-MD1. More specifically linc-MD1 is expressed in newly regenerating fibers and is abundant in dystrophic condition, however no expression is detected in mature differentiated fibers. linc-MD1 is localized in the cytoplasm and is a polyadenylated transcript. Through a series of functional studies it was possible to define its competing endogenous activity (ceRNA). linc-MD1 acts as a natural decoy for miR-133 and -135, thus interfering with miRNA repressing activity on the important targets involved in myogenic differentiation MAML1 (Mastermind-like 1) and MEF2, respectively .
Metastasis associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (Malat1) is a highly conserved 8.7 kb non-coding transcript that is abundantly expressed in cancer cells and a strong predictor of metastasis . Malat1 has been proposed to regulate alternative splicing , transcriptional activation and the expression of nearby genes [104,105]. Numerous experimental examples support its functional role in the regulation of cell growth, but the exact mechanism of action of Malat1 in different physiological and pathological conditions still needs to be elucidated. By a microarray data analysis obtained using skeletal muscle of mice (gastrocnemius muscle) treated with recombinant myostatin it was observed that the Malat1 expression levels are significantly decreased. Myostatin is a potent negative regulator of myogenesis that inhibits myoblast proliferation and differentiation [106,107]. Further expression analysis confirmed a persistent up-regulation of Malat1 during the differentiation of myoblasts into myotubes in C2C12 cells as well as in primary human skeletal muscle cells. Conversely, targeted knockdown of Malat1 using siRNA suppressed myoblast proliferation by arresting cell growth in the G0/G1 phase. These results reveal Malat1 as a novel downstream target of myostatin with a considerable ability to regulate myogenesis. Although Malat1 appears largely dispensable for normal mouse development [108,109] it is plausible that Malat1 has a role in the transition from the proliferative phase to differentiation in skeletal myogenesis, as well as in the commitment to muscle differentiation .
Many lncRNA have been discovered but not yet fully characterized, as for example Men ɛ/β lncRNAs. To date it is known that two long non-coding isoforms (Men ɛ/β lncRNAs) which are expressed in several human tissues, including muscle, arise from the Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia I locus (MEN1). Experimental lines of evidence show their up-regulation upon differentiation of C2C12 myoblats, although their biological role in muscular development is not yet clear. Men ɛ (also known as NEAT1) and Men β are transcribed from the same RNA polymerase II promoter and are both retained in the nucleus. Suwoo and colleagues formally demonstrated that Men ɛ/β transcripts are critical structural/organizational components of paraspeckles, organelles localized in the nucleoplasm close to nuclear speckles, where RNA-binding proteins and Cat2-transcribed nuclear RNA (CTN-RNA) are stored . Moreover, large-scale analysis revealed that many other lncRNAs are differentially expressed in C2C12 cells upon myoblast differentiation into myotubes, although their biological functions have not been investigated [92–94].
Between the many functions ascribed to lncRNA there are examples of lncRNAs modulating the activity of transcriptional activators or co-activators, directly or through the regulation of their sub-cellular localization . Two of these have been seen also in a muscular context. The steroid receptor RNA activator (SRA) RNA is a very peculiar transcript that exists as both a non-coding and a coding RNA (yielding SRA ncRNA and protein SRAP respectively). The SRA ncRNA is highly expressed in skeletal muscle and works as a co-activator of MYOD transcription factor, a master regulator of skeletal myogenesis. To address the significance of the enigmatic bifunctional property of this transcript, Hube and colleagues performed an exhaustive analysis clarifying the opposite function of non-protein coding SRA versus ORF-containing transcripts. The balance between coding and non-coding SRA isoforms changes during myogenic differentiation in primary human cells. In particular it is shown that an increased expression of SRA ncRNA and a parallel decrease of protein SRAP occurs during myogenic differentiation in healthy muscle satellite cells. This does not happen in cells isolated from DM1 patients, probably because of a delay in differentiation program. Remarkably, only the ncRNA species enhances MYOD transcriptional activity. The protein SRAP prevents this SRA RNA-dependent co-activation through interaction with its RNA counterpart [95–97]. However how this is achieved is not known.
Non-coding repressor of NFAT (NRON) is another case of lncRNA that shows a regulatory activity on a transcription factor. NRON is not highly expressed but it has a distinct tissue specific expression. It has been found enriched in placenta, muscle, and lymphoid tissues. NFAT is a transcription factor responsive to local changes in calcium signals. It is essential for the T cell receptor–mediated immune response and plays a critical role in the development of heart and vasculature, musculature, and nervous tissue. The first study about the role of NRON showed that it regulates NFAT’s subcellular localization rather than its transcriptional activity. Sharma and coworkers confirmed these data demonstrating that NRON takes part in a large cytoplasmic RNA-protein complex that acts as a scaffold for NFAT to modulate its nuclear trafficking and thus its response activity [98,99].
Little is yet known about the dystrophin gene regulation. DMD is the largest gene in the human genome that comprises 79 exons spanning >2500 kb on chromosome Xp21.2, which gives rise to 7 isoforms that are finely regulated in terms of tissue specificity . Mutations in the DMD gene range from single-nucleotide changes to chromosomal abnormalities ( http://www.dmd.nl/). Deletions encompassing one or more exons of the dystrophin gene are the most common cause of the severe Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) resulting in an absence of dystrophin or expression of a non-functional protein. Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) instead is a milder form of dystrophy because it is associated with reduction of wild-type dystrophin or expression of a partially functional protein. DMD is the most common inherited muscle disease affecting approximately one in 3500 males and is characterized by progressive muscle wasting during childhood. Heterozygous females for dystrophin mutations are named carriers of DMD mutations [112,113]. Many of them are asymptomatic, but a certain number, defined as “manifesting” or “symptomatic”, develop symptoms of the disease, which vary from a mild muscle weakness to a DMD-like clinical course. Despite intensively explored, the pathogenic mechanism underlying clinical manifestation in DMD female carriers still remains a controversial issue . For these reasons DMD regulation is a field of intense interest to shed light on this complex scenario.
Using a custom-made tiling array the entire DMD gene has been explored in the search for non-coding transcripts originating within the dystrophin locus. The major tissues of dystrophin synthesis, namely human brain, heart and skeletal muscle, were used as test tissues in array. The data analysis has highlighted a variety of novel long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), both sense and antisense oriented, whose expression profiles mirror that of DMD gene. Importantly, these transcripts are intronic in origin, specifically localized to the nucleus and are transcribed contextually with dystrophin isoforms or in fibroblast upon MYOD-induced myogenic differentiation. To characterize their possible functional role on the DMD locus three sense-oriented lncRNAs (lncINT44s, lncINT44s2 and lncINT55s) isolated from skeletal muscle were further investigated. Their forced ectopic expression in both human muscle and neuronal cells causes a negative regulation of endogenous full-length dystrophin isoforms, denoted B for brain (Dp427b), M for muscle (Dp427m) and P for Purkinje (Dp427p). Importantly, no variation was observed with regard to the ubiquitous Dp71 transcript, suggesting that the effect of sense lncRNAs on full-length dystrophin isoforms may be specific. In particular, reporter assay confirmed their repressive role on the minimal promoter regions of the muscle dystrophin isoform. A possible mechanism of action involves specific DMD lncRNAs that control muscle dystrophin isoforms by down-modulating dystrophin transcription levels. An inverse correlation between ncRNAs expression and muscle dystrophin has been also found in vivo, analyzing muscle samples of DMD female carriers, either healthy or mildly affected, reinforcing the idea that a negative relationship between lncRNAs and dystrophin mRNA levels may exist .
In severe DMD one third of patients display also mental retardation, but the pathogenesis is unknown. In a singular case of DMD complicated by mental retardation, an intra-chromosomal inversion (inv(X)p21.2;q28) has been identified. The genetic rearrangement has been molecularly characterized to find a possible disrupted gene because of the inversion, and that might be responsible for the neurological symptoms associated with dystrophy. A novel gene named KUCG1 was discovered at break point on Xq28. The 658-bp transcript displays an mRNA-like structure but not having coding potential is been classified as long non-coding RNA. KUCG1 lncRNA is expressed at low levels in a tissue-specific manner, as well in the brain. It is possible that the disruption of KUCG1 transcript contributes to the development of mental retardation in the index case since other experimental lines of evidence suggest that a subset of lncRNAs could contribute to neurological disorders when they become deregulated .
Polycomb (PcG) and Trithorax (TrxG) group proteins antagonistically act in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Typically, TrxG counteracts PcG-mediated epigenetic gene silencing. Among the many lncRNAs interacting with chromatin remodeling enzymes the most famous are Xist and HOTAIR, both acting as a negative regulators of gene expression by recruitment of PRC2 (Polycomb Repressive Complex 2) on PcG target genes [116,117]. Cabianca et al. were the first to discover an lncRNA interacting with the TrxG in the Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). FSHD is an autosomal-dominant disease characterized by progressive wasting of facial, upper arm, and shoulder girdle muscles. In up to 95% of cases, the genetic defect is mapped to the subtelomeric region of chromosome 4q35 containing a macrosatellite tandem array of 3.3 Kb long D4Z4 repeats. FSHD is caused by deletions reducing copy number of D4Z4 below 11 units rather than a classical mutation in a coding-protein gene. D4Z4 deletion is associated to a loss of repressive epigenetic marks and thus to a switch from a heterochromatic/close state to a more euchromatic/open conformation of chromatin structure. A novel long non-coding RNA, named DBT-E is produced selectively in FSHD patients. DBT-E is transcribed from D4Z4 repeats and is a chromatin-associated lncRNA that coordinates de-repression of genes located in the 4q35 region. DBT-E recruits the Trithorax group protein Ash1L to the FSHD locus driving histone H3 lysine dimethylation and thus chromatin remodeling .
It is surprising how ncRNAs are tightly interconnected with the main fundamental aspects of muscular tissue: development, differentiation and regeneration. At the molecular level miRNAs and lncRNAs take part in almost all levels of regulation in these key processes. Chromatin modifying enzymes, positive and negative transcription factors, cell cycle regulators, and enzymatic and structural proteins involved in signaling circuitries are under their fine-modulation. Moreover, ncRNAs are often found to be under the regulation of their own targets, thus determining feedback loops that drive developmental switches ensuring a perfect synergy between stimuli and responses. Both time- and tissue-specific gene regulation are the fulcrum on which the fine-tuning of a healthy organism is based. Disrupting the physiological pattern of expression not only in codifying genes, but also in regulatory RNAs, can heavily modify specific cell processes.
If this is true in physiological conditions, increased lines of evidence show that regulatory RNAs play a crucial role also in the etiology of many human diseases. Among these, muscular dystrophies represent a field of intense research, also because of the recent creation of novel experimental treatments. This has encouraged studies on expression regulation in diseases muscle cells, both in vivo (animal models) and in vitro. These studies have shown that mutant proteins in MDs result in perturbations of many cellular components. Indeed MDs have been associated with mutations in structural proteins, signaling molecules and enzymes as well as mutations that result in aberrant processing of mRNA or alterations in post-translational modifications of proteins. These findings have not only revealed important insights for cell biologists, but have also provided unexpected and exciting new approaches for therapy. Moreover, in muscular dystrophies as well as in other diseases, such as cancer, regulatory RNAs may serve as biomarkers, providing information on disease course, disease severity and response to therapies. miRNA dosing in serum is a very appealing field of investigation since they are easily accessible, peculiar to defined conditions and can facilitate the early identification of the muscular disease, potentially avoiding invasive techniques such as a biopsy, or in some cases to reduce the time and the costs of diagnosis. Biomarkers are particularly important in the field of personalized treatments. Pharmacogenomics aims at predicting which drug will be most effective and safe in the individuals. This can be established via genome sequence and SNP association (pharmacogenetics) and expression profiling. miRNAs have been shown to play a pivotal role in drug efficacy and toxicity, having powerful implications in personalized medicine . Indeed, as we have described, miRNAs can negatively regulate gene expression and can profile the disease severity, as in the case of myomiRs and DMD . miRNAs show a linear relationship with genes and drugs, since drug function can be influenced or even hampered by changes in genes expression level or in specific isoforms representation, as supported by several data on cancer . Many pharmacogenomically relevant genes are regulated by miRNAs, as summarized and shown in the Pharmacogenomcis Knowledge Base (PharmGKB, www.pharmgkb.org/), a very useful resource listing genes known to be relevant for drug response.
Conversely, miRNAs can vary in their expression level following drug treatments . Within the muscle field, we do have increased knowledge on the miRNAs network, especially those governing the muscle transcriptional network. It is clearly emerging how miRNAs can regulate differentiation and homeostasis of skeletal muscle progenitor cells, providing robustness to the MYOD-induced myoblast differentiation and myogenesis [121,122]. Disclosing the role miRNAs have in regulating the intermediate steps of the myogenesis cascade will be of outmost importance in identifying drugs that may act as adjuvants/enhancers of gene/protein re-synthesis in clinical trials, as for exon skipping therapies in DMD.
More complex is our current understanding of the role of lncRNAs in muscle biology and pathology. We have just started to explore the peripheral areas of this “terra incognita”. So far lncRNAs have been involved in numerous molecular processes such as remodelling of chromatin architecture, or regulation of gene transcription. For instance, some pharmacodynamic studies on corticosteroids, which represent the gold standard in the routine therapy of DMD, revealed that the steroid receptor RNA activator (SRA) transcript functions as both a lncRNA and template for synthesis of a protein (SRAP). Interestingly, the SRA ncRNA increases the activity of nuclear receptors (not only for corticosteroids) and acts as a master regulator of MYOD expression . lncRNAs can also exert their function through a more passive role. For instance they are valued for their ability to work as molecular sponges by annealing to small RNAs and thereby preventing them from their normal activity. Furthermore, in some other cases lncRNAs have been shown to provide a kind of structural backbone for the assembly of ribonucleic particles whose functions are still to be disclosed. In this respect, it has been crucial to determine in which intracellular compartments these RNA/protein particles form. Despite the fact that so far most investigated lncRNAs are confined to nuclei, a few recent studies have, indeed, shown that some lncRNAs can also abundantly localize inside the cytoplasm with functions that still remain to be determined.
Given that just a few lncRNAs have been tackled on functional levels and that the annotated ones are in the order of thousands with many more expected to be discovered, it is plausible to speculate that their involvement in novel functions and roles will be rapidly identified with repercussions on many fields of cell biology and pathology and with the possibility to potentially employ them as biological markers as well as drugs to treat major diseases such as muscular dystrophies.
Although in the majority of cases the etiology of muscular dystrophies is not ascribed to functional non-coding RNA molecules (with the exception of FSHD), they appear as powerful regulators of several key-pathways and show how actively they can contribute to the progression of disease. This reflects the strong ability of miRNAs and lncRNAs in the modulation of the phenotype of dystrophic affected individuals via fine regulatory pathways that can lead to increased transcript stability, mRNA splicing control, enhanced protein production, posttranslational protein modification and other mechanisms. These versatile roles support the idea to use regulatory RNAs as novel targeted molecules acting as enhancers or inhibitors in well-established therapeutic strategies (based both on drugs and gene therapies). After all, the general goal is to ameliorate the final output of the specific treatments.
|miRNA||Role in Muscle Metabolism [Refs.]||Tissue Expression|
|miR-1||enhancer of skeletal muscle differentiation [37–40]||muscle-specific|
|miR-133a/b||enhancer of myoblast proliferation [37–40]||muscle-specific|
|miR-206||enhancer of skeletal muscle differentiation [37–40]||muscle-specific|
|miR-208b||involved in specification of muscle fiber identity ||muscle-specific|
|miR-499||involved in specification of muscle fiber identity ||muscle-specific|
|miR-24||promotes myoblast differentiation ||ubiquitous|
|miR-26a||promotes myoblast differentiation [45,46]||ubiquitous|
|miR-27b||promotes entry into differentiation program ||ubiquitous|
|miR-29||enhancer of differentiation [48,49]||ubiquitous|
|miR-125b||negatively contributes to the myoblast differentiation and muscle regeneration [50–52]||ubiquitous|
|miR-155||represses myoblast differentiation ||ubiquitous|
|miR-181||regulates skeletal muscle differentiation and regeneration after injury ||ubiquitous|
|miR-146a||promotes satellite cell differentiation [55,56]||ubiquitous|
|miR-214||promotes cell cycle exit and differentiation ||ubiquitous|
|miR-221/222||promote cell cycle progression ||ubiquitous|
|miR-322/424; miR-503||promote myogenesis interfering with the progression through the cell cycle ||ubiquitous|
|miR-486||positively regulates myoblast differentiation [60,61]||muscle-enriched|
|miRNA/miRNAs||Deregulated in MDs [References]||Type of Deregulation||Muscular Targets/Process [References]|
|miR-1 (myomiR)||DMD [65,66]; DM1 [67,68]||down-regulated||HDAC4; Cx43; Pax7; c-Met; G6PD |
|miR-133 (myomiR)||DMD ||down-regulated||SRF; nPTB; UCP2 |
|miR-206 (myomiR)||DMD ; DM1 ||up-regulated||DNApolα; Fstl1; Utrn; Pax7; Cx43; HDAC4; c-Met |
|miR-29b/c||DMD [65,66]; DM1 ||down-regulated||YY1; Col1a1; Eln; HDAC4 [40,62,63]|
|miR-135a||DMD ||down-regulated||muscle degeneration |
|miR-31||DMD [65,70]||up-regulated||DMD |
|miR-34c; miR-449; miR-494||DMD ||up-regulated||muscle regeneration |
|miR-146b; miR-155||DMD; BMD; LGMD; FSHD ||up-regulated||-; MEF2A |
|miR-214||DMD; BMD; LGMD; FSHD ||up-regulated||Ezh2; N-Ras [40,62,63]|
|miR-221; miR-222||DMD; BDM; LGMD; FSHD ||up-regulated||p27(Cdkn1b/Kip1) ; Sntb1 |
|miR-223||DMD ||up-regulated||muscle inflammation |
|miR-335||DMD ; DM1 ||up-regulated||muscle regeneration |
|miR-34a-5p; miR-34b-3p; miR-34c-5p; miR-146b-5p; miR-208a; miR-221-3p; miR-381||DM2 ||up-regulated||-|
|miR-125b-5p; miR-193a-3p; miR-193b-3p; miR-378a-3p||DM2 ||down-regulated||-|
|lncRNA/lncRNAs [References]||Expression in Muscular Districts||Deregulated in MDs||Activity|
|linc-MD1 ||Expressed in newly regenerating fibers||DMD||natural decoy for miR-133 and -135 (ceRNA)|
|Malat1 ||up-regulated during the differentiation of myoblasts into myotubes||?||regulation of cell growth|
|Men ɛ/β lncRNAs [92–94]||up-regulated upon differentiation of C2C12 myoblats||?||critical structural/organizational components of paraspeckles|
|SRA ncRNA [95–97]||increased expression during myogenic differentiation||DM1||co-activator of MYOD transcription factor|
|NRON [98,99]||enriched also in muscle||?||regulates NFAT’s subcellular localization (scaffold)|
|lncINT44s; lncINT44s2; lncINT55s ||transcribed contextually with dystrophin isoforms and upon MYOD-induced myogenic differentiation||?||negative modulation of endogenous dystrophin full-length isoforms|
|KUCG1 ||expressed at low levels in the brain||DMD with mental retardation||possible candidate gene that contribute to develop of mental retardation in the index case|
|DBT-E ||not-physiological lncRNA||FSHD||coordinates de-repression of genes located in the 4q35 region|
The BIO-NMD EU project (N. 241665 to A.F.) is acknowledged.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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A San Diego-based human-rights group has released a video documenting atrocities committed by Joseph Kony, the leader of a Ugandan rebel group that has been hiding out and killing people in the Central African Republic. Now that the Central African Republic has our attention, one has to ask: How did that country get stuck with such a boring name?
French bureaucrats got involved. The Central African Republic was once a French colony known as Ubangi-Shari, because the land is split between the basins of the Ubangi and Shari rivers. The leader of the colony’s independence movement in the mid-20th century, Barthélemy Boganda, had a grand vision for post-imperialist Central Africa. He wanted to combine Ubangi-Shari with nine other countries in the region that spoke Romance languages, to form something called “the United States of Latin Africa.” Leaders of the neighboring regions, however, did not like his idea. When they declined to join, Boganda had to abandon the grandiose name. At one point, the outgoing French colonial administrator Pierre Kalck recommended that Boganda adopt the name République Centrafricaine to describe a stripped-down version of Boganda’s proposed union, including just Ubangi-Shari, Congo-Brazzaville (now the Republic of the Congo), Chad, and Cameroon. When those partners rejected the coalition, too, Boganda decided to keep the French-inspired name for what had become a freestanding, independent Ubangi-Shari.
Boganda didn’t explain why he abandoned the name Ubangi-Shari, but he may have hoped that his neighbors would eventually see the benefits of unity and join the Central African Republic. Boganda had a more cordial relationship with the colonial authorities than other African nationalists like Jomo Kenyatta and Patrice Lumumba, so he was probably more comfortable accepting a name proposed by the outgoing French administrator. And it’s not as though he was casting aside centuries of tradition: While Ubangi and Shari are indigenous words, the area was not known as Ubangi-Shari before the French arrived.
The Central African Republic did undergo one major name change in the years that followed. The country’s second president, the megalomaniacal Jean-Bédel Bokassa, declared himself Emperor Bokassa I in 1976, and started calling his domain the “Central African Empire” in the following year. The emperor’s predecessor, David Dacko, regained power in 1979 and restored the original name. (Boganda himself was never president of the country he worked so hard to found. He died under suspicious circumstances in 1959, one year before the republic gained full independence.)
The Central African Republic is just one of many perplexing country names in Africa. Ghana and Mali are named for pre-colonial empires that didn’t have the same borders as their modern-day namesakes. Cameroon is named after the Portuguese word for shrimp, which Europeans found in the country’s waters. And the names of both South Africa and Western Sahara are similarly bland, geographical descriptors.
Got a question about today’s news? Ask the Explainer.
Explainer thanks Richard Bradshaw of Centre College and co-author of the forthcoming fourth edition of the Historical Dictionary of the Central African Republic, Pierre Englebert of Pomona College, Terry Lynn Karl of Stanford University, Kairn Klieman of the University of Houston, and Daniel Lincoln of the University of Massachusetts.
Video Explainer: Can Animals Be Homophobic?
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Shakespeare's Characters: Friar Laurence (Romeo and Juliet)
From Romeo and Juliet. Ed. K. Deighton. London: Macmillan.
When first we meet the Friar, he is out in the early morning culling simples for use in medicine, a science he has deeply
and successfully studied. He has been Romeo's spiritual
adviser from early youth, his confidant in regard to
Rosaline, and his aid is now sought to solve the difficulty
of marriage with Juliet. A good old man who in his
youth has known stormy passions and the stress of life,
he has sought in religion and retirement the comfort he
could not elsewhere find; his great delight is to alleviate
suffering of whatever kind, and above all to promote
peace among his fellow-creatures. In the matter, however, before us, his pursuit of this goodly task masters his
sounder judgment, and with too ready compliance he
assents to Romeo's request. He in fact does evil that
good may come — and with the usual result of such
His piety, benevolence, and sympathy are
undoubted, but whereas in his solitary musings and his
priestly intercourse with human nature he thinks to
have garnered up the teachings of philosophy, he has
in reality missed true wisdom of life. Face to face with
Romeo's distress at the sentence of exile, he can indeed
reprove his despair with wholesome counsel, and by
reasonable argument bring him into a sounder frame of
mind. But when he has himself to act, his stored up
wisdom only leads him wrong. He errs in being a party
to the marriage, and his ingenuity and resource
suggesting an escape from the inconvenient consequences
of this step, he thinks to remedy his first error by a
stratagem in which the child-like Juliet is to be involved.
No doubt the courage to confess to the parents how
matters stand would bring down upon himself much
unpleasantness. It would bring down something worse
upon Romeo and Juliet, and this consideration we may
well believe weighs more heavily upon him than any
personal penalties. Still, his duty is or should be clear
before him. Even at the last when the tragic ending
has come, and he is forced to unburden himself of his
secret, though he palliates nothing, his confession of
error is only conditional; "if aught in this," he says,
"Miscarried by my fault, let my old life
Be sacrificed some hour before his time
Unto the rigour of severest law."
"If aught!" yet without his too facile compliance there
would be no tragedy to bewail! Hudson has "always
felt a special comfort in the part of Friar Laurence.
How finely his tranquillity contrasts with the surrounding agitation! And how natural it seems that from
that very agitation he should draw lessons of tranquillity!" Tranquillity, yes; but what if it be a tranquillity that differs not much from an easy-going evasion
of unpleasant realities, a tranquillity which is to be
maintained at the cost of three lives?
Gervinus, the Friar "represents, as it were, the part of
the chorus in this tragedy, and expresses the leading
idea of the piece in all its fullness, namely, that excess in
any enjoyment, however pure in itself, transforms its
sweet into bitterness; that devotion to any single
feeling, however noble, bespeaks its ascendancy; that
this ascendancy moves the man and woman out of their
natural spheres; that love can only be an accompaniment to life, and that it cannot completely fill out the
life and business of the man especially; that in the full
power of its first feeling it is a paroxysm of happiness,
the very nature of which forbids its continuance in equal
strength; that, as the poet says in an image, it is a
'Being smelt, with that part cheers each part;
Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart.'"
But surely Shakespeare means nothing of the kind.
Surely he does not seek to "moralize this spectacle"
through the agency of one who despite his long years,
his acquisition of knowledge, his experience of life, his
trusted philosophy, errs so grievously, errs in broad
daylight, and without the excuse of passion to disturb
his calm and tranquil mind. Shakespeare, it seems to
me, dramatizes Brooke's narrative in his own incomparable fashion, and he does nothing more.
From The Works of William Shakespeare. Vol. 8. Ed. Evangeline Maria O'Connor. J.D. Morris and Co.
Friar Laurence is full of goodness and natural piety, a monk such as Spinoza or Goethe would have loved, an undogmatic sage, with the astuteness and benevolent Jesuitism of an old confessor — brought up on the milk and bread of philosophy, not on the fiery liquors of religious fanaticism.
It is very characteristic of the freedom of spirit which Shakespeare early acquired, in the sphere in which freedom was then hardest of attainment, that this monk is drawn with so delicate a touch, without the smallest ill-will towards conquered Catholicism, yet without the smallest leaning towards Catholic doctrine — the emancipated creation of an emancipated poet. The Poet here rises immeasurably above his original, Arthur Brooke,
who, in his naively moralising "Address to the Reader,"
makes the Catholic religion mainly responsible for the
impatient passion of Romeo and Juliet and the disasters
which result from it.
It would be to misunderstand the whole spirit of the
play if we were to reproach Friar Laurence with the not
only romantic but preposterous nature of the means he
adopts to help the lovers — the sleeping-potion administered to Juliet. This Shakespeare simply accepted from his original, with his usual indifference to external detail.
The Poet has placed in the mouth of Friar Laurence a
tranquil life-philosophy, which he first expresses in general terms, and then applies to the case of the lovers. He enters his cell with a basket full of herbs from the garden. Some of them have curative properties, others contain death-dealing juices; a plant which has a sweet and salutary smell may be poisonous to the taste; for good and evil are but two sides to the same thing (II.iii): —
"Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied,
And vice sometimes 's by action dignified.
Within the infant rind of this sweet flower
Poison hath residence, and medicine power:
For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part;
Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart.
Two such opposed kings encamp them still
In man as well as herbs, — grace, and rude will;
And where the worser is predominant,
Full soon the canker death eats up that plant."
When Romeo, immediately before the marriage, defies sorrow and death in the speech beginning (II. vi.) : —
"Amen, Amen ! but come what sorrow can,
It cannot countervail the exchange of joy
That one short minute gives me in her sight,"
Laurence seizes the opportunity to apply his view of
life. He fears this overflowing flood-tide of happiness,
and expounds his philosophy of the golden mean — that
wisdom of old age which is summed up in the cautious
maxim, "Love me little, love me long." Here it is that
he utters the above-quoted words as to the violent ends ensuing on violent delights, like the mutual destruction wrought by the kiss of fire and gunpowder.
Brandes: William Shakespeare.
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The impact of World War II on the United States and the rest of the world has been well chronicled. However, few historians have explored the experiences of individual states during the turbulent war years. In this study, Jerry Purvis Sanson gives a comprehensive account of Louisiana’s homefront from 1939 to 1945, examining the developments in politics, education, agriculture, industry, and society that forever changed the Pelican State.
The World War II era, Sanson shows, was a particularly important time in Louisiana’s colorful political history. The gubernatorial victories of anti-Longites Sam Jones in 1940 and Jimmie Davis in 1944 reflected the wrath that greedy Longite politicians had incurred from the voters and heralded a changing of the guard in the statehouse. This created a system of active bifactional politics that lasted until 1960. The war transformed the state’s economy, as agricultural mechanization accelerated to compensate for a shortage of labor and industries increased production to meet wartime demands. Louisiana’s educational system modified its curriculum in response to the war, providing technical training and sponsoring scrap-metal collections and war-stamp sales drives.
Sanson closely examines the war’s effect on the everyday lives of Louisianians, showing how shortages, rationing, war bond and stamp sales, and scrap drives provided a sense of personal participation in the titanic effort against the Axis powers. He also points out that, while most found their lives limited by war, two groups—African Americans and women—enjoyed increased opportunities as they moved out of traditional low-paying jobs and into more lucrative positions vacated by white males who had departed for the service.
By examining World War II’s impact on the state level, this work provides a wide-ranging yet intimate look at how the war was brought home to the people of the Bayou State, filling a critical void in the annals of Louisiana history.
Found an Error? Tell us about it.
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now, plug in the x-coordinates of the points given and see if you get back the y-coordinates given, if you don't, then that point is not on the line.
example, try (c): plug in x = 0, we get:
since 2 was the y-coordinate given, this point is on the line. thus, this is not the point we are looking for
use the midpoint formula to find R.
2. P is the point ( 3 , 5 ). Q is the point ( -1 , 9 ). R is the midpoint of PQ.
Which of the following does R lie on?
a. y = x + 6
b. y = x + 8
c. y = x - 6
d. y = x - 8
Thanks in advanced to anyone who can help.
recall: the midpoint between two points and is given by:
once you have found R, do a similar procedure as in the previous problem
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[This entry contains three subentries, Introduction, Hebrew Bible and Jewish Scriptures, and New Testament.]
The term “rabbinic literature” refers to the writings produced from the second to the seventh centuries C.E. by sages who understood themselves to stand in a chain of tradition that stretched back to God's original revelation to Moses at Sinai, beginning in Exodus 19. In the view of the rabbis who emerged in the first centuries and beyond as leaders of the Jewish community, this revelation produced both the Written Torah, that is, the Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch, known to all of the people of Israel, and an oral Torah, passed down through a chain of tradition beginning with Moses and ending in the first centuries with the rabbis themselves. It is this tradition—the Oral Torah—that the rabbis understand themselves to have preserved in the books that today constitute rabbinic literature, specifically, the Mishnah, Tosefta, the Talmud of the land of Israel, and the Talmud of Babylonia, and a wide range of compilations of scriptural interpretation, called Midrash. Judaism thus deems the rabbinic writings to be more than simply the products of the distinctive approach to law and the interpretation of scripture of this literature's rabbinic authors. Rabbinic literature is believed, more importantly, to embody half of God's revelation to Moses at Sinai, to stand, this is to say, alongside and to be equally authoritative to the Written Torah, preserved in the Bible.
In line with rabbinic literature's claim to have the status of revelation, and in keeping with its rabbinic authors’ authority as leaders of the Jewish community, for almost two thousand years rabbinic literature has remained the central foundation of both practice and belief in Jewish communities throughout the world. The specific meanings of scripture, the characterization of scripture's law, and even the distinctive methods of legal and biblical exegesis set out by the rabbis stand behind subsequent statements of Jewish law and theology. Rabbinic literature thus continues today to serve as the foundation of the practices and beliefs of the Jewish people throughout the world.
The Documents of Rabbinic Literature.
Rabbinic literature comprises diverse documents marked by distinctive rhetorical styles and varied substantive programs and produced over a period of more than five hundred years in many different genres. Despite this literature's diversity, it can be most easily conceived as divided into two main categories. On the one side stand writings that are concerned with setting out scripture's law. The Mishnah is located at the foundation of this group, and it is followed by documents that interpret and develop the legal program initiated in the Mishnah, specifically, the Tosefta and the Talmuds. On the other side stand the midrashic writings, works that are entirely devoted to scriptural exegesis, including verse by verse and occasionally word by word interpretations of biblical books (e.g., in the Rabbah Midrashim), and books of exegesis organized around the lectionary cycle or the liturgical Torah readings associated with specific holidays (e.g., Pesiqta de Rab Kahana).
The division between legal and exegetical documents is not precise. The “legal” documents, especially the Talmuds, contain substantial amounts of midrashic interpretation of scripture, and some of the “exegetical” documents are dedicated to working out the sources and details of the law. Still, the distinction between legal and exegetical is useful in that it captures an important difference between the two categories of writing. The documents of the midrashic corpus focus directly on scripture, and they use a distinctive rhetorical approach designed to set out scripture's meaning, whether through sequential exegesis or in the examination of scripture's larger passages or themes. The legal literature, by contrast, explores legal topics from a perspective quite independent of direct interpretation of the scriptural passages from which the law might emerge. The Mishnah, which is the foundational document of this part of the rabbinic literature, seldom cites scripture at all, and the Talmuds are organized as commentaries on the Mishnah, not on scripture, as would be the case for midrashic texts. While the Talmuds cite scripture frequently, and reflect on it in order to explain or develop the Mishnah's ideas, scripture is not a sustained focus and does not serve as the document's organizing principle. This being the case, we would do well to examine independently these two categories of rabbinic writing, the Mishnah and its successor documents, on the one side, and the midrashic exegetical texts, on the other.
The Mishnah, the earliest document of rabbinic Judaism, is a discursive law code, composed in Hebrew, that preserves the legal opinions of rabbis active in the first two centuries C.E. In its completed form, the Mishnah is the product of significant editorial intervention, the work of authors who, in a manner not entirely known to us, collected and formulated into a cogent literary work the ideas and sayings of individuals who had lived over the preceding two centuries. As a result of these authors’ work, the Mishnah is rhetorically unified and topically organized. In it, a small number of fixed rhetorical forms serve to present the ideas of many different rabbis speaking on a wide range of carefully set-out themes. This means that the Mishnah does not preserve the actual words of those it cites, nor does it present anything near complete transcripts of the debates in which these rabbis had participated. We find here, rather, a highly formalized and rhetorical work that represents the topical and theoretical interests of those who formulated it, the result of editorial processes that took place as much as two hundred years after the lives of the people whom the Mishnah quotes.
The Mishnah was promulgated circa 200 C.E. under the auspices of Judah the Patriarch, the Roman-appointed Jewish authority of the land of Israel. In the following centuries, in particular as it became the foundation for rabbinic authority under the sponsorship of the Sassanian appointed Exilarch in Babylonia, it essentially became the constitution of rabbinic Judaism, the foundation of the mode of Judaism set out by the rabbis that took shape in this period and that has come to define Jewish practice to the present.
In its rhetorical form and substantive content, the Mishnah is different from what we normally expect of a legislative code. It is best conceived as a “philosophical” law code because, while the Mishnah deals with law, it does not set out that law in the manner expected of a book of legislation. Rather, in the Mishnah, named authorities (sages or rabbis, known in subsequent rabbinic documents as Tannaim, “repeaters,” or “memorizers,” for the form in which their sayings were transmitted) alongside anonymous sayings offer opinions on controverted questions of law. A defining trait of the Mishnah is that it almost never indicates which opinion regarding a disputed practice—whether it be in the area of ritual, tort, or criminal law—is correct and to be followed. Rather, the Mishnah's editor or editors set out the range of opinions on each topic, leaving it, presumably, to the reader and, especially, to later rabbinic tradition to determine the practical law. The Mishnah thus is as much an invitation for the reader to think about the law as it is a demand that the community observe the law in one way and not another.
The Mishnah encompasses six topical divisions (Sedarim), and each division is divided into between seven and twelve sub-units, called tractates (Masekhtot). This yields a total of sixty-three tractates dealing with individual themes relevant to the Mishnah's six larger topics. These topics are: (1) Agriculture (Zeraim), on growing foods in conformity with God's will, especially as this pertains to the laws of the sabbatical year, the prohibition against planting together mixed kinds of seeds, and the setting aside of tithes and other agricultural offerings that support the priests, Levites, and poor; (2) Holy Seasons (Moed), on the observance of holy days, including Sabbaths, pilgrimage festivals, and New Year and the Day of Atonement, with particular attention to the Temple rituals for these days; (3) Women (Nashim), the rules for marriage, divorce, and family affairs; (4) Damages (Nezikin), civil and criminal law and communal governance; (5) Holy Things (Qedoshim), the slaughter of meat for secular consumption and the conduct of the sacrificial cult in the Jerusalem Temple; (6) Purities (Torohot), ritual purity, as it applies in and outside of the Temple.
The sixth division, on Purities, comprises by size approximately a quarter of the Mishnah. In it, and in the other divisions as well, topics of interest to the priesthood and the Temple—priestly tithes, worship, management and upkeep of the Temple, and rules of ritual purity—predominate. Striking in this selection of topics is the Mishnah's focus on matters that were not, by the time of its formulation more than a century after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., matters of practical concern. Sacrifices no longer were offered, the system of Temple purity could not for the most part be maintained, the tithing law largely supported a Levitical class that no longer had a concrete role in the religious life of the nation, and, with Israel under Roman rule, even the system of courts and communal self-government was largely a matter of only theoretical interest. Like the Mishnah's rhetorical form, its content suggests that, more than a practical code of conduct intended as the foundation for governing the Israelite nation, the Mishnah is a utopian statement. In it, the rabbis assert that the divine law set out in scripture and once articulated in God's Temple and in the Israelite monarchy would some day again serve an Israelite nation sovereign in its own land and worshipping in a rebuilt Temple. In the view of the Mishnah's authorities, this messianic Israel would observe the law correctly and fully, in the manner in which that law was set out not by the priests who once controlled the Jerusalem cult but by the rabbis themselves, based upon their exclusive knowledge of the Oral Torah set out in the Mishnah.
The Post-Mishnaic Legal Literature: The Tosefta and Talmuds.
Upon its completion, the Mishnah apparently served as the law code of the administration of the Roman-appointed patriarch in the land of Israel and of his counterpart, the exilarch in Iranian-ruled Babylonia. In this period, rabbinic statements that had not been included in the Mishnah were organized in a parallel compilation. Edited about a generation after the Mishnah, circa 300 C.E., the Tosefta, which like the Mishnah is written in Hebrew, preserves supplementary sayings that are organized under the same rubrics—divisions and tractates—as the Mishnah itself. The Tosefta thus presents glosses, secondary paraphrases, and, in preserving Tannaitic legal materials not found in the Mishnah, a legal complement to the earlier document.
In the period following the completion of the Mishnah and Tosefta, a different rhetorical form developed and advanced the growing rabbinic agenda of setting out a system of law through which the rabbis could govern the Jewish people. This form appears in two separate rabbinic writings, both called Talmud, both written in Hebrew and Aramaic, and both presented as partial commentaries on the Mishnah that explain the Mishnah's law, identify the scriptural foundations of the Mishnah's statements, and illustrate the application of the Mishnah's principles in diverse situations not envisioned by the Mishnah's authorities themselves. The first of these two documents is the Talmud of the land of Israel, called also (incorrectly) the Jerusalem Talmud (Yerushalmi) and, sometimes, in English, the Palestinian Talmud, which reached closure circa 400, and which comments on most of the Mishnah's first four divisions. The second is the Talmud of Babylonia (Bavli), substantially completed circa 600, which provides a sustained commentary on most of the tractates of the Mishnah's second through fifth divisions. When reference is made to the Talmud without further specification, it is always the Bavli that is intended. The foundation of the later Jewish legal codifications and the main subject of study within the academies of Jewish learning from antiquity and until our own day, the Talmud of Babylonia is the magnum opus of rabbinic literary production.
While the two Talmuds are independent works (even the later Talmud of Babylonia does not know the earlier Talmud of the land of Israel), they have a largely shared purpose in interpreting the Mishnah. Jacob Neusner phrases matters as follows:In a word, the Talmuds propose to state in writing the basic rules of the social order and to show us how to discover the right rule, based on the principles God has made known in the Torah, for the affairs of everyday life. The Talmuds are documents full of debates on erudite and esoteric questions. But in the debates about fine points of law, ritual, and theology, “our sages of blessed memory” formulated through concrete examples the rules of right thinking and accurate formulation in words of God's will for the here and now. For they held that the Torah is given to purify the hearts of humanity and that what God really wants is the heart. But there, in the center of life, in the streets and homes of the holy community, Israel, what does that mean? It is through close and careful thinking about little things that “our sages” brought the Torah's great principles into the everyday world of ordinary people (Neusner 2000, pp. 102–103).
The Talmuds accomplish their purpose through sustained and systematic amplifications and analyses of sequential lines and passages of the Mishnah and, to a lesser extent, other Tannaitic teaching that do not appear in the Mishnah (some of these appear in the Tosefta; others, called baraita, while assigned to authorities from the period of the Mishnah are known only from the Talmuds themselves). Its ultimate achievement is to turn those esoteric debates and rhetorical arguments into paths to God's mind and concrete desires for the Jewish people.
Beyond their shared topical foci, the Talmuds for the most part share an exegetical program as well. Each seeks to identify the common principle of law that stands behind seemingly contradictory statements found in the Mishnah. Both seek to uncover the scriptural sources of the Mishnah's rules, thereby demonstrating that the Mishnah indeed comports with and so represents an equal part of the Sinaitic revelation. The two Talmuds even share a larger topical agenda, focusing on those sections of the Mishnah that have the greatest implications for post-Temple Jewish life: Holy Seasons, Women, Damages, in particular—in addition to individual tractates of immediate interest that are found in other divisions, for example, the one on prayer, in the Division of Agriculture, and the one that covers menstrual impurity, in the Division of Purities. (Note that the Talmud of the land of Israel comments on the entirety of the Division of Agriculture, pertinent to life in the land of Israel, while the Bavli covers only the first tractate of that division, on prayer. But the Bavli covers the entire Division of Holy Things, which, beyond the tractate on the slaughter of meat for secular consumption, has no contemporary practical relevance and which is not treated in the Talmud of the land of Israel at all). In all, we see in the Talmuds at least the beginning of the rabbis’ shift from the utopian and philosophical approach of the Mishnah to an approach to thinking about law that can ultimately regulate life in real Jewish communities dedicated to observance of the laws of Torah in the here and now.
Scripture and the Exegetical Tradition of the Written Torah.
The second stream of writings that constitute rabbinic literature consists of documents, like the two Talmuds written in Hebrew and Aramaic, dedicated to sustained commentary on the Written Torah. While, as noted above, episodic commentaries appear in the Mishnah and Tosefta and, more frequently, in the two Talmuds, in that literature, biblical commentary in no case serves as the organizing principle of these documents. By contrast, in the Midrash compilations that make up this segment of the rabbinic literature, each document is purposefully organized as a commentary on a book or part of a book of the Bible, whether one of the books of the Pentateuch or a biblical writing that plays an important role in the synagogue liturgy: Ruth (read in the synagogue on the holiday Shavuot), Lamentations (read on the Ninth of Av), and Song of Songs (read on Sukkot). A variety of such compilations was produced in the period under discussion here, the third century C.E. through the sixth or seventh century, the same period as the creation of the Mishnah and two Talmuds. But just as the legal work that comprises the Mishnah and Talmuds continued in the post-Talmudic period, yielding commentaries and legal codes, so too did the work of midrashic exegesis continue, in this case yielding a literature of scriptural exegesis that extends into the medieval period and, beyond, to modern times.
Exegesis of the Israelite scriptures as a way to undergird later articulations of Jewish practice and theology became a convention of the Jewish community even before the completion of the canon, and continued for the following hundreds of years and even up to our own day. Whether in the writings of the Essene community at Qumran, in the Gospels’ and early church's depiction of Jesus, or in the portrayal of Judaism by Hellenistic writers such as Philo and Josephus, descriptions of “authentic” Judaism always begin in an encounter with the Written Torah. What marks the work of the rabbis as distinctive and new is their program of organizing entire documents around the systematic interpretation of particular scriptural works, thereby creating an entire literature of biblical commentary such as exists in no other manifestation of Judaism in their period or before.
The earliest manifestation of the rabbinic proclivity for systematic exegesis of scripture responded to a question that was left open by the Mishnah itself. While plainly dependent on scripture for topics and underlying legal principles, the Mishnah only rarely indicates the specific statement of the Written Torah that accounts for its law. This fact—one might say, this problem—was addressed in the earliest midrashic compilations, products of the third century C.E., which deal with the legal materials found in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and which seek to show how, absent the specific statements of scripture, one could not through logic alone derive the rules codified in the Mishnah. Thus Sifra, on Leviticus, and the two compilations called Sifre, one on Numbers and the other on Deuteronomy, all support the centrality of the Written Law as the foundation of Judaism and make the case that, even in places in which the Mishnah does not indicate its basis in the Written Law, it does in fact reiterate a single and unitary revelation.
A similar approach to the sequential reading of verses of scripture is found in other early Midrash compilations, in particular Genesis Rabbah, which presents a verse-by-verse reading of the book of Genesis. This mode of exegesis stands alongside a different one, which, rather than a sequential treatment of the underlying text, uses that text as a stepping stone in the elaboration of independent propositions that emerge, for instance, from the needs of a specific holiday or liturgical occasion. Here a single verse might be the starting point for a long thematic discourse, with the result that the underlying text, as is the case in Pesiqta de Rab Kahana, is not so much interpreted as it is used in the setting out of a message and meaning quite unrelated to its own contextual sense. In this way Leviticus Rabbah, for example, presents topical essays, anchored to specific verses in Leviticus but ranging widely in the citation of diverse books of the Bible and in the making of its own point about themes—God's attitude towards the poor, the perils of drunkenness—that are separate from anything that Leviticus, as a cogent work of literature, presents as a sustained focus.
The Midrashic Compilations.
The main substantive and rhetorical traits of the Tannaitic midrashic compilations—Sifra, on Leviticus, and Sifre to Numbers and to Deuteronomy—are as indicated above. To those texts of the early period may be added the Mekilta of R. Simeon b. Yohai, a presumably Tannaitic commentary to the book of Exodus that in 1905 was reconstructed by David Hoffman, who used fragments interspersed in the medieval collection Midrash HaGadol and three sets of Cairo Genizah fragments. The existence and content of the Mekilta of R. Simeon b. Yohai has subsequently been verified by additional research into Cairo Genizah materials, which serve as the foundation for the edition of this text published in 1955 by J. N. Epstein and E. Z. Melamed. The following briefly reviews the midrashic texts of the later, Talmudic period; for more detail see Neusner and Avery-Peck, 2000.
A verse-by-verse interpretation, produced around 400 C.E. in the land of Israel, that reads the biblical book of Genesis as a sacred history of the people of Israel, their future as well as the past that is actually detailed in the biblical book. The book of Genesis thus is made to speak not only of the nation's historical enslavement and redemption but of the future Temple in Jerusalem and of the nation's exile and salvation at the end of time. Genesis Rabbah proclaims that history unfolds in a single line of development, leading to an end of time that will witness the salvation of the people of Israel and, through them, of all humanity. This message is achieved through the consistently applied perspective that the deeds of, and what happened to, Israel's patriarchs and matriarchs are paradigmatic of what is going to occur in the future. The biography of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob thus is read as a protracted account of the future history of the Israelite nation.
Unlike the verse-by-verse treatment in Genesis Rabbah, Leviticus Rabbah comments on episodic verses of the book of Leviticus, forming thirty-seven conceptual compositions that read Leviticus's rules of priestly sanctification as a statement about the salvation of all Israel. Leviticus is interpreted as the story of how the people of Israel, purified from sin and sanctified, will achieve salvation. At base the message of this Midrash compilation is that Israel's fate is controlled by its moral character. Leviticus Rabbah probably dates from the land of Israel in the fifth century C.E., though this is uncertain, and it may be later.
Pesiqta de Rab Kahana.
“The Chapters attributed to R. Kahana” is similar in rhetorical form to Leviticus Rabbah. Thirty-three (or thirty-four; the work appears in two different editions) propositional discourses range through assorted verses of scripture and ultimately arrive at the single verse that is meant to be the focus of the particular midrashic unit. Those verses are all tied to the synagogue lectionary calendar, signaling, that is, the Torah or Haftarah (prophetic) reading for special Sabbaths, holidays, and the prophetic readings for the periods of rebuke and comfort preceding and following the Ninth of Av. Pesiqta de Rab Kahana thus breaks from the more common midrashic model, in which the exegetical activity is fixed to a sequence of biblical verses or, at least, to a particular biblical book. Here, rather, the association is with the liturgical calendar and the life of the synagogue, the changing themes of which the Pesiqta identifies within the biblical texts chosen for reading on each particular day. Again, dating is uncertain, but the completed work appears to derive from before the end of the Talmudic period, in the fifth or early sixth century, probably in the land of Israel.
Song of Songs Rabbah.
A collection of love poems, the Bible's Song of Songs finds a place in scripture because the early rabbis understood it to speak metaphorically about the love between God and the people of Israel. Song of Songs Rabbah interprets the biblical book in ways that justify that reading, seeing in common human experiences, for instance, in the relationship between a husband and wife, an image of the relationship between God and the Jewish people. The love of Israel for God and vice versa is depicted here as urgent and profound, well represented by the longing for each other of the two lovers in the biblical book. Dating is uncertain, and Song of Songs Rabbah may not derive from before the end of the Talmudic period, in the land of Israel.
Focusing on the central theme of the biblical book of Ruth, Ruth Rabbah concerns the outsider who becomes the central figure in the history of Israel, the Davidic messiah whose ancestor was Ruth, a Moabite woman. According to Ruth Rabbah, such a transformation can occur only as a result of Israel's mastery of the Torah. Thus Ruth Rabbah sets out the idea that Israel must follow its appropriately determined leaders, that outsiders are accepted into the community according to the rules of the Torah, and that once accepted into the people of Israel, a proselyte is respected by God and must be treated as equal to all other Israelites. By taking shelter under God's presence, the proselyte comes to stand in the royal line of King David and, thus, of the messiah. This work appears to derive from the end of the Talmud period, 500–600 C.E. Its main sources are the Talmud of the land of Israel and other land of Israel midrashic texts.
Lamentations Rabbah (also called Eikha Rabbati).
Lamentations Rabbah focuses on Israel's relationship with God, showing that, even in the face of the apparent estrangement of God from Israel, depicted in the book of Lamentations, the covenant still and always governs that relationship. This suggests that everything that happens to Israel is meaningful, reflecting God's justice and larger plan for the Israelite nation. The people of Israel, accordingly, are not helpless. Rather, through their determination to abide by the covenant, they control their own destiny: the nation suffers as a result of the people's sins, but, as the covenant promises, God will respond to their atonement and to future faithfulness. In the end, when Israel has attained the merit that accrues through the Torah, God will redeem Israel. This message is presented through what is largely a verse-by-verse amplification, paraphrase, and exposition of the underlying biblical book. Lamentations Rabbah dates to the sixth century C.E., probably in the land of Israel.
Alongside these texts that are dated to the Talmudic period, a number of post-Talmudic midrashic collections, more broadly construed as part of rabbinic literature, deserve mention: Mekilta of R. Ishmael is a commentary devoted to the book of Exodus, probably compiled sometime after 600 C.E. (whether in the land of Israel or Babylonia is disputed); Pirqe de R. Eliezer, of the eighth century or later, possibly in the land of Israel, interprets the central events of history related in the Torah; the collections know as Tanḥuma, on the entirety of the Pentateuch, derive from no earlier than the ninth century. Finally, within the ten compilations designated Rabbah (“Great”) commentaries, only the ones referred to above are from the Talmudic period. Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy Rabbah all derive from the tenth to twelfth centuries.
The Rabbinic Literature as Oral Torah.
The rabbis of the first centuries understand that God taught the oral tradition to Moses on Mount Sinai, who repeated it to Joshua. After Joshua, the chain of tradition extended through “elders” and the biblical prophets. Ultimately, the oral materials were passed into the hands of rabbinic authorities (m. ʾAbot 1:1). To assure that this revelation would not be lost as a result of war, national strife, or other physical or intellectual calamity, beginning with the Mishnah in the second century C.E., the rabbis codified the oral materials and preserved them in written form.
In this theory, the rabbinic literature of which we speak here stands alongside the Written Torah as part of a single, uniform revelation. In the setting out of Jewish belief and practice, rabbinic literature thus is of equal authority and importance to the Written Torah. When a second-century rabbi in the Mishnah or a fifth-century sage in the Midrash or Talmud responds to a question from his own day, his judgment does not comprise his own thinking and analysis. Rather, it is part and parcel of the divine revelation of Torah at Sinai. Even though the sage's comment is expressed in his own words and responds to a question or issue raised in his own day, it is understood to derive, in detail, from what God told Moses at the time of the original revelation. The statement, like the document of which it is a part, in every respect has the authority of divine revelation.
This concept of Oral Torah is uniquely rabbinic; other postbiblical Jewish writings know of nothing comparable. This is evident, for instance, from the way in which non-rabbinic Jewish writers refer to the source and status of “traditions.” Writing in the first century C.E., in his Jewish War, Josephus describes the Pharisees, whom the later rabbis understand to be the direct recipients of the Oral Torah. But Josephus here says nothing about their knowledge of inherited traditions, only that, of the several Jewish philosophical schools, the Pharisees are the more accurate interpreters of Judaism's laws. Josephus's later work, the Antiquities, reworks his earlier descriptions, encouraging the Roman government to support the Pharisees as leaders of the Jewish people. To substantiate the case that the Pharisees are the nation's legitimate rulers, Josephus notes that they preserve and follow certain traditions developed in accordance with their distinctive philosophical doctrine:They follow the guidance of that which their doctrine has selected and transmitted as good, attaching the chief importance to the observance of those commandments which it has seen fit to dictate to them (Ant.13:171, in Marcus, p. 311).
A similar idea, that a group preserves and follows some traditions received from past generations, is found throughout the works of Philo, who focuses upon the Jews’ adherence to laws and traditions handed down from Moses, their law-giver. But this is different from the claim that stands at the foundation of rabbinic literature, that the legal and exegetical dicta produced and presented by the rabbis themselves derive from divine revelation. Outside of the rabbinic writings, such a notion is absent from Jewish discussions of tradition.
Clearly the rabbinic theory of Oral Torah legitimates rabbinic statements that set out the rabbis’ own understanding of the meaning of scripture and the content of Jewish law. Under the theory of Oral Torah, the canonical rabbinic literature has the authority of the word of God. At the same time, the concept of Oral Torah delegitimizes writings that derive from outside of rabbinic circles, which are viewed as (simply) the work of fallible human intellect. By establishing the rabbis as the only authoritative source for correct practice and understanding of the divine word, the rabbinic theory of Oral Torah and the literature that sets out that Torah promote and justify the rabbis’ leadership of the Jewish people.
Yet, as we have seen, what the rabbis conceive as an oral tradition originating at Sinai in fact takes the concrete form of arguments and discussions among rabbinic sages of the first six centuries C.E. The earliest of these discussions, found in the Mishnah, took place for the most part in the aftermath of the First Jewish Revolt against the Romans and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 C.E. and the Second Jewish Revolt of 132–135 C.E. During this decisive period in Jewish history, rabbinic sages studied and interpreted scripture, working out a program of ritual and legal practice that eventually reshaped Judaism according to the rabbis’ own ideals and aspirations. This is to say that the legal and exegetical statements under discussion and debate in the rabbinic documents described here only at some later point in the emergence of the rabbinic literature came to be associated with the Sinai revelation. As suggested by its statement of the process of transmission of this material from God and down to the rabbis, this point—the turning point in the rabbis’ own conceptualization of their work—appears to have been the promulgation of Mishnah Tractate ʾAbot, generally understood to derive from the very end of the period of the redaction of the Mishnah. But contrary to Mishnah Abot 1:1's claim of a tradition going back to God and Sinai, what later Jewish thinking imagines as Oral Torah in fact is substantially the product of the rabbis’ own day and of their own distinctive attitudes and philosophies.
This is not to suggest that traditions of law and exegesis were not known and incorporated into later rabbinic literature. From a variety of historical sources it is clear that, from the time of scripture itself, many Jews observed the laws introduced in scripture. However, since these biblical laws were often contradictory and incomplete, they had to determine what those laws meant and how they were to be followed. Indeed, the Mishnah for its part assumes a range of details not available in scripture and presumably transmitted to the rabbis from past generations. Accordingly it is clear that, at some point prior to the inception of the discussions later recorded in the rabbinic literature, unidentified individuals carefully read scripture and delineated the meanings of its often laconic statements.
Thus, it is not the case that traditions regarding ritual practice and the meaning of scripture did not in all probability exist in late antiquity and that some of these traditions did not in one way or another find a path into rabbinic literature. Yet, so far as the literary evidence indicates, the rabbis did not simply take up and preserve such traditions, using them as central, or even simply significant, components of their own legislation and biblical interpretation. Rather than a compendium of prior oral traditions, the rabbinic writings that have come down to us are the independent intellectual and literary creations of the rabbis themselves. These documents do not preserve an existing, ancient tradition of law and commentary, but, rather, develop themes and ideas suggested by scripture and worked out by the rabbis themselves in response to the distinctive needs and ideologies of their movement and of their own day.
In the minds of the rabbis, the Oral Tradition of Sinai took shape in the Mishnah and in the successive documents of rabbinic Judaism, in what we know collectively as rabbinic literature. But this rabbinic notion of Oral Torah cannot be equated in any concrete sense with a corpus of laws and interpretations that actually existed throughout Israelite history. Clearly, Jews in different historical periods and places observed scripture's dicta according to specific interpretations of the biblical text, some of which may have been transmitted from generation to generation. But there is no evidence that such traditions ever constituted a unitary tradition stretching back to Sinai. Rabbinic literature is, rather, the product of its rabbinic authors, lawyers and exegetes who pursued their own independent program in order to create a system of practice and belief that would undergird Judaism from their day to our own.
[See also TARGUMIM.]
- Albeck, Hanokh. Shishah sidre Mishnah [The Six Orders of the Mishnah]. 6 vols. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1952–1959.
- The Babylonian Talmud…Translated into English with notes, glossary, and indices under the editorship of I. Epstein. 35 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1961, Reprint. Available at: halakhah.com.
- Danby, Herbert. The Mishnah, Translated from the Hebrew with Introduction and Brief Explanatory Notes. Oxford: Clarendon, 1933.
- Epstein, J. N., and E. Z. Melamed. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Sim'on b. Jochai: Fragmenta in Geniza Cairensi reperta diggesit apparatu critico, notis, praefatione instruxit. Jerusalem: Meḳitse nirdamim, 1955.
- Hammer, R. Sifre: A Tannaitic Commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1986.
- Hoffmann, D. Z. Mekhilta de-Rabbi Simon b. Jochai: Ein halachischer und haggadischer Midrasch zu Exodus. Frankfurt am Main: Koyfmann, 1905.
- Josephus. Antiquities. Translated by Ralph Marcus. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1957.
- Lieberman, Saul. Midrash Devarim rabbah: yotse la-or pa'am rishonah ‘al pi ketav yad Okford kovets 147. Jerusalem: Sifre Ṿahrman, 1974.
- Lieberman, Saul, ed. The Tosefta According to Codex Vienna with Variants from Codex Erfurt, Genizah MSS. and Edition Princeps. 4 vols. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1955.
- Lieberman, Saul. Tosefta Ki-Fshuta: A Comprehensive Commentary on the Tosefta. 7 vols. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1955.
- Midrash Rabbah…Translated into English with notes, glossary and indices under the editorship of H. Freedman and Maurice Simon. 10 vols. London and New York: Soncino, 1983. (Genesis Rabbah is available at: www.archive.org/details/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp)
- Neusner, Jacob, et al. The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary. 22 vols. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2011.
- Neusner, Jacob. “The Canon of Rabbinic Judaism.” In The Blackwell Companion to Judaism, edited by Jacob Neusner and Alan J. Avery-Peck. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.
- Neusner, Jacob. The Components of the Rabbinic Documents. From the Whole to the Parts. I. Sifra. 4 vols. Atlanta: Scholars, 1997.
- Neusner, Jacob. Genesis Rabbah: The Judaic Commentary on Genesis: A New American Translation. 3 vols. Atlanta: Scholars, 1985.
- Neusner, Jacob. Judaism and Scripture: The Evidence of Leviticus Rabbah. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.
- Neusner, Jacob. Sifre to Numbers: An American Translation and Explanation. 2 vols. Atlanta: Scholars, 1986.
- Neusner, Jacob. The Talmud of the Land of Israel: A Preliminary Translation and Explanation. 35 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982–1994.
- Neusner, Jacob. The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew. 6 vols. New York: Ktav, 1977–1986.
- Neusner, Jacob, and Alan J. Avery-Peck, eds. Encyclopedia of Midrash: Biblical Interpretation in Formative Judaism. 2 vols. Leiden, Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2005.
- Rabbinics: Online Resources for the Study of Rabbinic Literature. www.rabbinics.org
- Talmud Babylonicum Codicis Hebraica Monacensis 95. Edited by Hermann L. Strack Leiden, 1912; reprint: Jerusalem, 1971.
Alan J. Avery-Peck
Hebrew Bible and Jewish Scriptures
The rabbis refer to scripture with a variety of terms. Two sets prevail: those related to the root ktb (“to write”), and those related to the root qr' (“to read”). Among the former, kitbê haqodeš (“holy writings”), hakātûb (“the scripture”), and the plural hakĕtûbîm (“the scriptures”) are common. These uses of the Hebrew root ktb underline the written nature of the biblical text. The term miqrā' (“that which is read, reading”), emphasizes the oral mode of study and the central role of public reading of the scriptures in the synagogue. The name Tanak (TaNaK), already found in rabbinic sources and increasingly popular in the Middle Ages, is an acronym of the first letters of each of the three sections that constitute the Jewish Bible: the Torah, the Prophets (Neviʾim) and the Writings (Ketuvim).
The Rabbinic “Canon” of the Bible.
The notion of a tripartite Bible must have originated in the last centuries B.C.E., or the first century C.E. Some early rabbinic sources (t. B. Meṣi‘a 11:23) refer only to “The Law and the Prophets,” as is also the case in the Prologue to Sirach, in many New Testament texts and in the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QS 1:2–3). In the rabbinic view, the Torah has a prominent place among the three parts of Tanak, because it is considered the direct word of God, received by Moses at the revelation on Mount Sinai (Exod 19–20). The books of the prophets are also considered divine revelation, but delivered by a human agent and “refracted through the human prism” (Paul 2007, p. 567). The extent and name of the third section seems to have remained uncertain for a longer time. The rabbinic discussions about the “canonicity” of some now-biblical books all deal with works that would become part of the third section of the tripartite canon. A variant name for Writings was “Psalms,” as is testified, among other places, by Luke 24:44. This indicates that the canonicity of the Psalms was established before that of some other works now known as “Writings.”
Even though the delineation of a canon of scripture is an important issue in rabbinic literature, there is no specific term for it—canon is a Greek term used in New Testament study, and was borrowed by Hebrew Bible scholars. An expression that is close to the idea of a canon is “works that defile the hands” (m. Yad. 3:5, 4:5, 6). It is this term that is used in the rabbinic discussion about the “holiness” of the books of Proverbs, Song of Songs, Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes), and Esther (m. ʿEd. 5:3; Yad. 3:5; ʾAbot R. Nat. 1:2). The explanation for the term stems from rabbinic law. According to it, hands that came into contact with any sacred book contracted uncleanness in the second degree, which could render the offering of the priestly tithe (tĕrûmâ) unclean if it were touched by these hands without prior ritual washing. This may also indicate that the writing of the Torah text, and the Torah scroll as an artifact, were perceived as venerated objects, containing symbolic and even magical powers.
The ongoing discussion about the status of some now-biblical works confirms recent scholarly insight that the alleged canonization of the Bible at the “synod” in Jamnia in the first century C.E. did not end rabbinic discussion as to which books were included and which not.
Readings from the Bible in the Synagogue in Rabbinic Times.
Evidence for regular readings from the Torah and the Prophets is found in first century C.E. sources (Philo, Josephus, New Testament), and it may go back earlier. By the third century C.E., the custom of readings as part of the synagogue service was fully established. The Mishnah reflects a regular pattern of Torah readings (e.g. m. Meg. 3:4, 6, 4:1–2) for the Sabbath morning, Sabbath afternoon, Monday, and Thursday. M. Meg. 4:10 and t. Meg. 3:4 imply that prophetic texts were also read on a lectionary basis. This does not mean that the division of the Torah text into lectionary sections (parashot), and the choice of prophetic readings (haftarot) were either fixed or the same in all locations.
Jews in Palestine in antiquity read the Torah according to a triennial cycle, finishing the entire Torah in three years. The reading was done by seven people who each read no less than three verses. According to b. Meg. 23a, the prophetic reading should be at least twenty-one verses long in order to correspond to the length of the Torah reading, though in later times this was not always practiced. The hegemony of the Babylonian Geonim in the Middle Ages led to the replacement of the triennial lectionary cycle by the Babylonian custom of an annual cycle in all but a few locations. Earlier scholars saw traces of a fixed triennial lectionary cycle in the division of the textual units in the Tannaitic as well as in much later Midrashim (Zunz 1832; Theodor 1885; Mann 1940). The midrashic evidence for a fixed triennial lectionary cycle, uniform in all locations, is, however, uncertain and needs to be treated with critical caution (Heinemann, 1968, 41; B.-Z. Wacholder, in Mann 1940, pp. xiii–xv; Teugels 2001, pp. xix–xxiii).
All rabbinic literature somehow relates to the Jewish Bible, be it in the form of interpretation of stories, or as explanation and actualization of the religious rules (halakah) laid down therein. The rabbinic sages themselves called these interpretations, additions, and actualizations “Oral Torah,” in contradistinction but also as a parallel to the “Written Torah.” According to the rabbinic tradition, besides the (Written) Torah, Moses also received some principles of interpretation of the Torah and some specific rules of the Oral Torah at Sinai (Neusner calls this the “Torah-myth involving the dual Torah”; see Neusner 2005, vol. 3, p. 1707). In m. ʾAbot 1, known as the manifesto of Oral Torah, the authority of the rabbis is demonstrated by means of a chain of tradition which links the rabbinic sages to Moses: “Moses received the Torah from Sinai and committed it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets committed it to the men of the Great Synagogue …Hillel and Shammai received the law from them.” Thus rabbinic literature is identified by the rabbis themselves as (part of) the Oral Torah. The concept of Oral Torah is first found in rabbinic literature. It was not used by the Pharisees or earlier Jewish groups such as the Essenes. Among the Pharisees, the term “traditions of the fathers” referred to their rulings and new interpretations of Torah, which coincides more or less with the Oral Torah of the rabbis. The term “traditions of the fathers” is attested by Josephus in his Antiquities 13: 297.
“Torah” and “Oral Torah” remain slippery categories. Depending on the date and nature of the rabbinic document in which the term Torah is found, it can refer to the two tablets of law received by Moses at Sinai, to the Pentateuch, to the whole Tanak, to the works of the rabbinical canon, to individual rulings therein, to certain principles of interpretation of the Bible, and even to what experienced students in the future are going to conclude, thus accentuating the fact that a definitive human interpretation of God's word is impossible in the rabbinic view.
Rabbinic Interpretation of Scripture.
Rabbinic literature is replete with passages that are inspired by scripture, or that draw in some other way upon scripture, such as apodictic rabbinic laws, anecdotes, and parables. These genres cross the borders between the rabbinic works and are found in the Mishnah, the Talmudim, and the Midrashim. They are forms of rabbinic responses to Torah that do not cite or explicitly refer to scripture. Midrash, which does explicitly cite scripture, is not the only form of rabbinic interpretation of scripture, but it is the most explicitly interpretational rabbinic form.
The Form “Midrash.”
“Midrash” derives from the verb daraš, meaning “to search out,” “to investigate.” The term midrash refers to at least three things: first, the process of scriptural interpretation; second, a single interpretation of a shorter or longer biblical passage (a midrash, plural: midrashim); and third, the compilations in which these single midrashim are collected (Midrashim). The latter category is treated elsewhere in this work. The first two, the process of rabbinic interpretation, and, to a lesser degree, its concrete result, the individual midrashic unit, are central to the discussion of the rabbinic relationship to scripture. They are the concrete textual reflection of the rabbinic way of relating to the Bible and therefore appear in all rabbinic works, not only in the collections called “Midrashim,” but also in the Mishnah and the Babylonian and the Palestinian Talmuds.
Characteristic of midrash is that the biblical text and the rabbinic interpretation are formally separated, often but not always through the use of various formulae that distinguish the biblical text from its rabbinic interpretation. In the form-analytical approach initiated by Arnold Goldberg (1999, p. 215 and passim) this is almost mathematically formulated as L:o: → D (a lemma [L] is interpreted by means of a hermeneutic operation [o], the result being a dictum [D], i.e., an utterance about the lemma). Even though the rabbinic mind cannot be squeezed into modern Western categories, let alone logical formulas, this formal delineation of midrash makes sense in that it highlights the specific rabbinic attitude to scripture that distinguishes between written and oral Torah. Early Jewish literature knows other forms of scriptural interpretation, notably the “rewritten Bibles” of the Second Temple period in which this distinction is not explicitly made (see Steven Fraade, “Rewritten Bible and Rabbinic Midrash as Commentary,” in Bakhos 2006, pp. 59–78). In midrash, a concrete textual sign (letter, word, sentence) in the biblical text, usually explicitly quoted, always triggers the interpretation: finding the textual “peg” may be hard but its presence is essential. With this formal distinction between lemma and interpretation, midrash resembles the pesher texts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The hermeneutical differences between the two genres are treated below in the section “Pre-Rabbinic Forms of Midrash?” Despite its formal appearance rabbinic midrash is at the same time exegesis and eisegesis. While interpreting biblical texts, the rabbis’ religious ideas about the nature of the Bible and their own contemporary social and ethical values are simultaneously “read into” the biblical text.
A very specific form of rabbinic scriptural interpretation is Targum, an interpretative Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible. Among the Targumim, various types can be distinguished, from almost “literal” translations to highly periphrastic renderings of the biblical text with many additions. Philip Alexander (1985) distinguishes between type A Targum, displaying a one-to-one base translation with explanatory additions (mostly in the pentateuchal Targumim), and a type B Targum (e.g. Targum Lamentations, Canticles) in which the biblical texts can hardly be distinguished from its targumic paraphrase. Translation, narrative additions, and interpretations are commingled, so that the interpretation cannot be formally distinguished from the biblical text. The fact that especially the latter type of Targum hereby appears to pass over the rabbinic distinction between Written Torah and commentary could be seen as a sign that the whole targumic text, translation and interpretation, both rendered in Aramaic, are marked as Oral Torah. However, unlike the Rewritten Bibles, which often paraphrase the source text, each and every element of the biblical text is present in Targum, although be it in translation.
In his treatment of Targum, Philip Alexander makes a useful distinction between the “midrashic form” and the “midrashic method” (1984, pp. 2–3). Much material is shared between the Targumim and the Midrashim, and the same general rabbinic view of the world and of scripture underlies both genres. The distinction made between the two rabbinic genres therefore purely concerns the “midrashic form.”
Similar to midrash, scholars have been discussing whether Targum originated in or outside the synagogue (see below “The Origins and Many Purposes of Midrash”). In his summary of the state of research on Targum, Willem Smelik (1994, p. 25) mentions three possible settings for Targum in general: private study, synagogue, and school and academy.
The Rabbinic View of the Bible and Its Effect on the Nature of Midrash.
The view of the Torah as the direct divine word has important implications for rabbinic interpretation, specifically in its midrashic form. Arnold Goldberg perceives this pointedly in his article Die Schrift der rabbinische Schriftausleger (included in his 1999 collection): because the Torah—and this is the case, with some modification, for the entire Tanak—is conceived as the literal word of God, much of rabbinic interpretation focuses on signs: letters, words, full or defective spelling, etc. Equally important is the notion that interpretation is the purpose of all “occupation with Torah” as the rabbis call it, and that it is a religious duty to do so, thereby contributing to the divine meaning of the text. Because of its density, its “gaps,” its at first view incomprehensible passages and seeming contradictions, the biblical text “calls out” to be interpreted by humans. As the word of God, such gaps, doublets or contradictions are always apparent and need to be “filled in” and explained. The fact that the biblical text was transmitted without vowels is also an important factor. Without vowels, it remains somewhat indeterminate, but because it is a divine text, it is also loaded with meaning. This explains the presence of multiple interpretations of the same passage by various sages in midrash: multi-interpretability is a necessary result of the character of the biblical text as perceived by the rabbis. On the one hand, no human is capable of grasping the entire meaning laid in the text by the divine and no human language is capable of expressing this. On the other hand, the notion of Oral Torah entails that the Torah has been given to humans to be interpreted and, in a sense, completed. This process is never finished. Therefore there cannot be one “final” interpretation of a biblical text.
Prerabbinic Forms of Midrash?
A textual corpus that is often seen as the closest precursor of midrash is the pesharim found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in caves at Qumran and dating from the last centuries B.C.E. to the first century C.E. Formally, the pesharim resemble rabbinic midrash in that the interpretation, introduced by pēšer (“interpretation”) or pĕšārô (“its interpretation”), follows the quotation of the biblical text. Hermeneutically, however, a very different worldview underlies the pesharim, which are generally apocalyptic and prophetical, relating the biblical text to the situation of the Qumran community that identified itself as an eschatological community. In other words, pesher is especially interested in how the biblical text's meaning is being actualized in the here and now.
The question as to the presence of midrash in the New Testament, which also predates rabbinic literature, is closely related to this. Much of the New Testament can be considered as early Jewish literature and it contains forms of biblical interpretation that are comparable to rabbinic interpretations of scripture. Some of these, notably the “formula quotations” in Matthew, closely resemble the midrashic form (see Stendahl 1954). The difference in religious outlook between these New Testament texts and rabbinic literature is similar to what was said about the Pesharim. For this reason, if not just for the sake of clarity, it is preferable to reserve the term “midrash” for rabbinic literature, where it was first used as a technical term. (In the Bible, it occurs only in 2 Chr 13:22, where it means something like “story,” and 24:27, where it probably means “commentary” or “expansion.”)
The Three-part Tanak and Some Formal Characteristics of Rabbinic Midrash.
A rabbinic hermeneutical principle frequently invoked by the rabbis is that there is “no before and after in the Torah” (e.g., b. Pes. 6b), meaning that texts can be called in to highlight and explain other biblical texts, even if they are in a different book, an entirely different context, and apparently unrelated to the topic at hand. For this reason rabbinic interpretation is sometimes called “atomistic” in that it treats textual elements quite isolated from their literary context. Torah texts and verses from the Writings and the Prophets are commonly used as prooftexts in the interpretation of texts from another section of the threefold Tanak. A famous adage that applies to this is Ben Bag Bag's in m. ʾAbot 5:22: “Turn it, and again turn it; for everything is in it.”
The idea of the congruency of the three-fold Tanak is reflected in the form of many Midrashim, on the level of the individual midrashic unit as well as on the level of larger units, such as homilies and even entire midrashic collections. A medieval rabbinic commentary on Genesis, Aggadat Bereshit is structured according to this threefold division, alternating chapters on “Torah” (Genesis) with chapters on “Prophets” and a chapter on “Writings,” which, as in the earlier sources mentioned above, in fact contains only Psalms. This highlights the interrelationship between the three parts of the Tanak in the rabbinic mind (Teugels, 2001, pp. xv–xvi).
The use of a “remote” prooftext to explain a verse from the Torah is institutionalized, as it were, in the form of the petiḥta, which often opens a large midrashic section. In a petiḥta, immediately after the quotation of the main verse to be interpreted (often the first verse of a parashah, a larger textual unit, identified with a Torah portion read in the synagogue), a second verse, often from a different section of the threefold Torah, is cited. After a frequently long elaboration of the second verse, the midrash eventually gets back to the original main verse, demonstrating the link between the two verses, and then goes on with the interpretation of the main text.
The Origins and Many Purposes of Midrash.
The occurrence of many petiḥta'ot in Midrashim has led scholars in the past (most notable Joseph Heinemann) to conclude that the phenomenon of midrash originated in the synagogue, the petiḥta being a mini-sermon or the introduction to a larger sermon. This opinion is, however, disputed by many modern scholars (for a short overview see Stemberger 1996, p. 245), who point to the highly intellectual and literary character of midrash, claiming that it must have originated in the rabbinic academies. Recently scholars have taken a more nuanced middle position and argue that the character, the date, and the literary features of each individual midrash should be taken into account (e.g., Anisfeld 2009, pp. 7–9).
This discussion about the Sitz im Leben or social setting of midrash is a consequence of the many facets and uses of rabbinic biblical interpretation. A common, though not watertight, distinction is that between “homiletical” and “exegetical” midrashim. This division bears on some formal characteristics of midrashic texts, but also on their alleged function. Roughly the oldest, Tannaitic Midrashim (Mekilta, Sipra, Sipre) and the earlier amoraic collections (Gen. Rab.) are more exegetical in nature: they follow the order of the biblical text and explain its verses accordingly. Homiletical Midrashim (Lev. Rab., Pesiq. Rab Kah., the Tanḥuma Midrashim, and Exod. Rab. and Deut. Rab.) use the first verse of a biblical pericope rather as a starting point for ethical or didactic exhortations, without bearing on the meaning of the following verses. Because of these different outlines and features, an academic context is usually assumed for the exegetical Midrashim, and a synagogue-context for the homiletical collections.
The individual midrashim, the smaller units of interpretation in those collections, can however deviate from the common nature of the collection, thus accounting for exegetical units in homiletical Midrashim and vice versa. This confirms a growing insight among scholars that rabbinic literature cannot be squeezed into the neat nineteenth-century categories of earlier scholars, and that we have to reckon with fluid boundaries between genres and schools.
Midrash Halakah and Midrash Haggadah.
Another common distinction is that between “halakic” (legal) and “haggadic” (nonlegal) midrash and midrashim. Halakah and haggadah are modes of text that are already found in scripture. Halakah refers to the legal parts of the scriptures, the laws and rules that are especially, but not exclusively, found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Haggadah refers to the narrative parts of scripture. Similarly, rabbinic literature contains halakah as well as haggadah, not all of it being midrash (biblical interpretation). Much halakah that is not midrash is found in the Mishnah and the Talmudim.
Midrash haggadah interprets and expands (usually but not always narrative) parts of scripture in a narrative way. For the rabbis, the biblical figures became paradigms and prototypes, examples to be followed or eschewed, often presented in black-and-white pairs, characterized with much sharper contrast than in the Bible (examples of good-and-bad pairs are Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Jacob and Laban; examples of rather neutral figures in the Bible that are portrayed in an unfavorable way in midrash are Laban and Balaam). Biblical stories likewise are “read” to display the ideals and institutions of the rabbinic world, such as the value of Torah study (e.g., the Torah school of Shem), the synagogue (hated by Esau even in his mother's womb), the persistence of God's love for Israel despite the calamities of the loss of the Temple and the dispersion, the eventual reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked, and the hope for messianic redemption. The division between haggadic and halakic midrash crosses the line between exegetical and homiletical midrash, even though most homiletical midrashim are haggadic in nature. This is especially striking in Lev. Rab., which is full of homiletical midrashim despite the fact that the biblical book of Leviticus contains mostly halakic material.
The function of midrash halakah is to extract halakah from the Bible by means of midrashic interpretation and to match the new rabbinic legal needs to the old biblical laws without abolishing them, which would be unacceptable as they are the word of God. Often the biblical laws will no longer function in the Roman-time rabbinic context; often not enough details are given in the Bible to make the laws applicable. Recent scholarship has shown, however, that midrash halakah is often a post-facto exercise, formally linking already existing rabbinic rulings found in apodictic form in the Mishnah and the Tosefta to scripture (Safrai 1987, pp. 154–155; Azzan Yadin, “Midrash and Halakhah in the Halakhic Midrashim” in Bakhos 2006, pp. 35–58). This shows that it became increasingly important for the rabbinic sages to demonstrate that scripture is the main source for rabbinic law-making, and that much effort was exerted to relate rabbinic laws to scriptural laws.
Rabbinic Hermeneutics and Hellenistic Parallels.
Much of midrashic methodology is a logical consequence of the rabbinic view of scripture as described above. Biblical passages are linked together, in order to explain one another. Interpretations are based upon analogy with another, more transparent, text. The rabbis themselves already tried to get a grasp on their own modes of interpretation of scripture by means of lists of rules called middot (see Stemberger, pp. 15–30; Jacobs and Derovan 2007, for extensive listing and discussion of the rules).
The Seven Rules of Hillel and the Thirteen Rules of Rabbi Ishmael.
The first lists were initially meant only for the regulation of halakic midrash, haggadic midrash allowing for much freer interpretation. The oldest list, mentioning seven rules, is attributed to Hillel (early first century C.E.). They are:
- 1. Inference a minori ad majus (also called an “a fortiori” argument; in Hebrew qal wāḥōmer)
- 2. Inference by analogy (gĕzērâ šāwâ)
- 3. Constructing a “family” on the basis of one passage (i.e., a specific regulation that is found in one biblical passage is extended and applied to more biblical passages; Heb. binyan ʾāb mikkātûb ʾeḥād)
- 4. Constructing a “family” on the basis of two passages (Binyan ʾab miššĕnê kĕtûbîm)
- 5. The qualification of the general by the particular and the particular by the general (kĕlāl ûpĕrāṭ ûpĕrāṭ ûkĕlāl)
- 6. Exposition by means of another similar passage (keyōṣēʾbô bĕmākôm ʾaḥēr)
- 7. Deduction from context (dābār hallāmēd mēʿinyānô).
These seven middot were not invented by Hillel but represent the main types of interpretational techniques current in the Pharisaic era. Many of them have close parallels in Hellenistic rhetoric and were also adopted in Roman legal interpretation (see Lieberman 1950, pp. 53–82; Stemberger, pp. 17–20). Thus the term gezerah shawah is explained by Lieberman, as the translation, etymologically and logically, of the Hellenistic expression synkrisis pros ison, which by the second century C.E. served as a technical term in the works of the Greek rhetoricians. Daube (1949) in particular, posits direct influence from the Greek rhetorical school of Alexandria on the rabbis. Direct influence, however, often cannot be established. Such parallels rather indicate a common milieu (Visotzky 1995, p. 9; Lieberman, 1950 pp. 54, 57, 61 and passim). Parallels between certain rabbinic hermeneutic methods and Mesopotamian interpretive principles have been established by Stephen Lieberman (1987). Based on these findings he argues that such techniques were not adapted synchronically from Greek culture but were already present, with a different name, in native Near Eastern cultures.
The list of thirteen rules attributed to Rabbi Ishmael (late first to early second century C.E.)—attached as a preface to the third-century Midrash on Leviticus, Sipra, as the so-called Baraita of Rabbi Ishmael—is well-known (a baraita is an “external” tannaitic tradition, i.e., an early rabbinic tradition that is not included in the Mishnah). Some of the thirteen rules are further developments of the seven rules of Hillel, notably the first two. These rules also have parallels to contemporary Hellenistic interpretation techniques. Lieberman refers to similarities with the Greek allegorical interpretation of Homer and Hesiod. In their reading of scripture, the rabbis were often confronted with the same problems as the Alexandrian philosophers, who could not identify with the atrocities and immoralities of the Greek gods. On both sides a system of allegorical interpretation was developed to explain away such passages. For the interpretation of legal texts, techniques similar to those used by the rabbis can be found in Roman legal classics. Hence the rabbis would certainly have been influenced by interpretational techniques used in non-Jewish sources that could help them make their point.
Rabbi Ishmael's contemporary, Rabbi Akiba, was famous for his far-reaching modes of interpretation. His exegetical techniques are nowhere listed but his reputation as an atomizer is legendary. Akiva saw scripture as a divine code of which the smallest signs and individual words should be interpreted individually. Examples of Akiba's hermeneutics are the rules of ribbûy and mi‘ût—attributing “reducing” meaning to such prepositions as ’ak (“but”) and raq (“only”), and “expanding” meaning to gam (also) and ’et (the definite object particle). Also famous are his interpretations based on the use of an infinitive absolute. For example the expression “utterly cut off,” Numbers 15:31, is construed in Hebrew by means of a double use of the same verb hikkārēt tikkārēt; Rabbi Akiva would see this as an indication that there is “additional meaning” conveyed in this expression, for example, “cut off in this world and cut off in the coming world.” See Visotzky 1995, p. 32 about Sifre Num 112 which contains a discussion between Rabbi Ishmael and Rabbi Akiba about such an interpretation.
The Methods of Midrash Haggadah.
The techniques used for haggadic midrash were less restricted because haggadah, in contradistinction to halakah, was considered nonbinding. Many different readings of the same texts are accepted as equally valid, demonstrating one aspect of what the divine author intended, as long as the rabbinic view of the world, God, and the nature of scripture was not violated (the latter serves as an important limit to the so-called open-endedness of midrash that is sometimes seen as a model for modern forms of interpretation by postmodern theorists). A selection of the rules for haggadic interpretation was laid down in a medieval list of thirty-two middot attributed to the second-century Rabbi Eliezer. These rules also include modes of interpretation known from Hellenistic sources such as notarikon (which treats a word as shorthand for several words or a phrase). The thirteen rules of Rabbi Ishmael were also applied in haggadic interpretation. However, many techniques are found in midrash that are not included in any list or do not fall into one neat category. The main purpose of midrash is to make a point (eisegesis) based on a reading of scripture (exegesis). If this could be attained by using a certain technique, it was done, regardless of the originator or the list in which the technique belonged.
Rabbinic and Patristic Interpretations of Scripture: Schools, Common Features, and the Question of Interaction.
The saying attributed to Jesus in Matthew 5:18 that “not one jot, not one tittle (lit.) will pass from the law until all is accomplished” testifies to the early Jewish attitude that nothing in scripture is arbitrary. If the meaning of a text is not immediately clear, it asks to be discovered. Among various rabbinic sages, however, there is some difference of opinion as to how far one should go in this. According to Rabbi Akiba and his school, the “Torah speaks in a divine language,” which means that each sign, even one that looks redundant in human eyes, and each word, even one that does not seem to have much meaning such as a preposition, bears meaning and is the possible object of interpretation (see above). The Talmud relates that Rabbi Akiba extracted from each and every tittle in the text piles and piles of halakot (b. Menaḥ. 29b). According to the school of Rabbi Ishmael, “the Torah speaks in human language” (b. Ber. 31b), meaning that God used human speech to convey his message to people; otherwise they wouldn't understand it. Thus, the text may not be analyzed in as close a fashion as advocated by Akiba's school. (Interestingly enough, the list of thirteen middot of Rabbi Ishmael mentioned before is found in the Sipra, a work that is traditionally attributed to the school of Rabbi Akiba).
A similar difference in opinion about the use of far-fetched exegetical techniques to extract meaning from the biblical text developed among Christian exegetes in the third century. Notably Origin explicitly favored interpretational techniques that rabbinic literature identifies with the school of Rabbi Akiba. He wrote that “there is not one jot and tittle written in the Scripture, which, when men know to extract the virtue does not work its own work.…The saint is a sort of spiritual herbalist who culls from the sacred Scriptures every jot and every common letter, discovers the value of what is written and its use, and finds there is nothing in the Scripture superfluous” (Philocalia 10.1, 10.2, quoted by Visotzky 1995, p. 30). In line with Akiba's school, he attributed extra meaning to an infinitive absolute (references in Visotzky, p. 32). Philo of Alexandria (20 B.C.E.–50 C.E.), the Greek Jewish interpreter who was an important influence on Origin and other early church fathers, is known to have used the same technique. Scholars distinguish between an “Alexandrian school” of patristic exegetes, and an “Antiochene school” that arose in the late fourth to early fifth century in opposition to what they considered the far-fetched allegorical interpretations of the Alexandrian school. The difference of opinion is similar to that between the schools of Rabbi Ishmael and Rabbi Akiva.
It is, however, unlikely that there was direct significant interaction between the parallel rabbinic and patristic schools: apart from the fact that rabbinic legend has it that Akiba visited Antioch and not Alexandria (Lev. Rab. 5:4), the reaction of both more literal schools is logical in view of the often far-fetched interpretations of the allegorizers who hung entire theories upon a “jot or a tittle.” Moreover, the division of both schools on the rabbinic and patristic side was not so neat as scholars might have it: interpretations using “Ishmaelian” techniques are frequently attributed to Rabbi Akiba and vice versa, and the Antiochene and Alexandrian church fathers agreed on more scriptural interpretations than they disagreed. The techniques of Greek interpretation that were part of the cultural baggage of the time inspired Jewish scholars as well as early Christian exegetes.
Tanak; Rabbinic Canon of the Bible
- Beckwith, Roger T. “Formation of the Hebrew Bible.” In Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, edited by M. J. Mulder, pp. 39–136. Compendia rerum iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum 2.1. Assen and Maastricht: Van Gorcum, 1988.
- Paul, Shalom. “Prophets and Prophecy.” In Encyclopaedia Judaica, second ed. edited by Michael Berenbaum, vol. 16, pp. 566–580. New York: Macmillan, 2007.
- Sanders, James. “Canon: Hebrew Bible.” In The Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, vol. 1, pp. 837–852. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
- Sarna, Nachum. “Bible: The Canon, Text and Editions.” In Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2d ed., edited by Michael Berenbaum, vol. 3, pp. 574–579. New York: Macmillan, 2007.
- Teugels, Lieve M. Aggadat Bereshit. Translated from the Hebrew with an Introduction and Notes. Jewish and Christian Perspectives 4. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2001. The introduction treats the unity of the tripartite Tanak in midrash and the role of extant Midrashim in the establishment of the Triennial Lectionary Cycle.
Lectionary Cycle; The Relation of Midrash to Synagogue Homilies
- Aageson, James W. “Lectionary. A. Early Jewish Lectionaries.” In The Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, vol. 4, pp. 270–273. New York: Doubleday, 1992. See also the bibliography for the different opinions about the Jewish Lectionary Cycles (Buchler, Heinemann, Jacobs).
- Heinemann, J. “The Triennial Lectionary Cycle.” Journal of Jewish Studies 19 (1968): 41–48.
- Mann, J. The Bible as Read and Preached in the Old Synagogue: A Study in the Cycles of the Readings from Torah and Prophets, as well as from Psalms, and in the Structure of the Midrashic Homilies. 2 vols., Reprint New York: Ktav, 1971. Vol. 1 reprint from the Cincinnati 1940 edition, with Prolegomenon by Ben Zion Wacholder. Vol. 2 reprint from the 1966 edition, which was completed by I. Sonne.
- Perrot, Charles. “The Reading of the Bible in the Ancient Synagogue.” In Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, edited by M. J. Mulder, pp. 137–149. Compendia rerum iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum 2.1. Assen and Maastricht: Publisher, 1988.
- Theodor, J. “Die Midrashim zum Pentateuch und der dreijährige palestinensische Cyclus.” Monatschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums 34 (1885): 351–366.
- Zunz, Leopold. Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden historisch entwickelt. Frankfurt a. M., 1832 (Reprint Hildesheim 1966). The pioneer work on rabbinic midrash by one of the founders of the Wissenschaft des Judenthums.
- Hezser, Catherine. “4. Religion and Literacy. A. The Written and the Oral Torah.” In Jewish Literacy in Roman Palestine, edited by Catherine Hezer, pp. 190–209. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 81. Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2001. This chapter contains overviews of the discussion as to whether Judaism is a “book religion,” the complex relation between oral and written transmission of the Bible and rabbinic sources, and about the so-called canonization of the Bible at Javne. The whole book gives a good overview of the impact of literacy on the early Jewish relation to the biblical text and the Bible as an articfact.
- Neusner, Jacob. “Midrash and the Oral Torah: What Did the Rabbinic Sages Mean by ‘the Oral Torah’?” In The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, edited by J. Neusner et. al., vol. 3, pp. 1707–1716. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2005.
Rabbinic Interpretation and Midrash
- Alexander, Ph.S. “Midrash.” In A Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation, edited by R. J. Coggins and J. L. Houlden, pp. 452–459. London: Trinity, 1990
- Anisfeld, Rachel. Sustain Me With Raisin-Cakes: Pesikta deRav Kahana and the Popularization of Rabbinic Judaism. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, 133. Leiden, Netherlands, and New York: Brill, 2009.
- Bakhos, Carol. Current Trends in the Study of Midrash. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2006. Collection of essays by specialists on various aspects of midrash. Includes Bakhos own “Methodological Matters in the Study of Midrash.” Especially relevant for this entry are Azzan Yadin “Resistance to Midrash? Midrash and Halakhah in the Halakhic Midrashim;” Steven Fraade, “Rewritten Bible and Rabbinic Midrash as Commentary;” and Burton Visotzky, “Midrash, Christian Exegesis and Hellenistic Hermeneutics.”
- Elon, Menachem. “Interpretation.” In Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2d ed., edited by Michael Berenbaum, vol 9, pp. 814–821. New York: Macmillan, 2007.
- Goldberg, Arnold. Gesammelte Studien II. Edited by M. Schlüter & P. Schäfer. Tübingen: Mohr, 1999. Many of the studies included in this volume were previously published as articles in the Frankfurter Judaistische Beiträge. Includes the English article “Form-Analysis as a Method of Description,” pp. 80–95.
- Jacobs, Louis, and David Derovan, “Hermeneutics.” In Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2d ed., edited by Michael Berenbaum, vol. 9, pp. 25–29. New York: Macmillan, 2007. Extensive listing and discussion of rabbinic hermeneutic techniques and lists of such techniques.
- Safrai, Shmuel, ed. The Literature of the Sages. First Part: Oral Torah, Halakha, Mishna, Tosefta, Talmud, External Tractates. Compendia rerum iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum 2, 3a. Assen and Maastricht: Van Gorcum, 1987. Includes Safrai's chapters “Oral Torah” and “Halakhah.”
- Safrai, Shmuel, Zeev Safrai, et. al. The Literature of the Sages. Second Part: Midrash and Targum, Liturgy, Poetry, Mysticism, Contracts, Inscriptions, Ancient Science and the Languages of Rabbinic Literature. Compendia rerum iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum 2, 3b. Assen and Maastricht: Van Gorcum, 2006. Especially relevant for this entry are the chapters “The Halakhic Midrashim”(Menahem Kahana) and “Aggadic Midrashim” (Marc Hirshman).
- Sarason, S. Richard. “Midrash.” In Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation, edited by John H. Hayes, vol. 2, pp. 155–157. Nashville: Abingdon, 1999.
- Stemberger, Gunther. Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash. 2d ed., translated and edited by Marcus Bocknuehl. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1996. The standard compact reference work for rabbinic literature.
- Visotzky, Burton L. “Hermeneutics, Early Rabbinic.” In The Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, vol. 3, pp. 154–155. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
- Zimels, Abraham. “Bible: Exegesis and Study: Talmudic Literature.” In Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2d ed., edited by Michael Berenbaum, vol 3, pp. 640–641. New York: Macmillan, 2007.
- Alexander, Philip. “The Targum and the Rabbinic Rules for the Delivery of the Targum.” In Congress: Volume Salamanca 1983, edited by J. A. Emerton, pp. 14–28. Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 36. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1983.
- Fraade, Steven. “Rabbinic Views on the Practice of Targum, and Multilingualism in the Jewish Galilee of the Third-Sixth Centuries.” In The Galilee in Late Antiquity, edited by Lee I. Levine, pp. 253–286. New York and Jerusalem: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1992.
- Safrai, Zeev. “The Targums as Part of Rabbinic Literature.” In The Literature of the Sages. Second Part: Midrash and Targum, Liturgy, Poetry, Mysticism, Contracts, Inscriptions, Ancient Science and the Languages of Rabbinic Literature, edited by Shmuel Safrai, Zeev Safrai, et. al., pp. 243–278. Compendia rerum iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum 2, 3b. Assen and Maastricht: Van Gorcum, 2006.
- Samely, Alexander. “Is Targumic Aramaic Rabbinic Hebrew? A Reflection on Midrashic and Targumic Rewording of Scripture.”’ Journal of Jewish Studies 45 (1994): 92–100.
- Smelik, Willem. The Targum of Judges. Leiden and New York: Brill, 1995. The first part, “The Present State of Research Reviewed,” gives a good general overview of Targum and Targum studies in general, including many relevant bibliographical references.
- Smelik, Willem. “Translation and Commentary in One: The Interplay of Pluses and Substitutions in the Targum of the Prophets.” Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods 29 (1998): 245–260.
Pesher and New Testament Parallels to Midrash
- Alexander, Philip S. “Midrash and the Gospels.” In Synoptic Studies. The Ampleforth Conferences of 1982 and 1983, edited by C. M. Tuckett, 1–18. Journal for the Study of the New Testament: Supplement Series 7. Sheffield U.K., 1984.
- Brownlee, W. H. The Midrash Pesher of Habahuk. Missoula, Mont. 1979.
- Stendahl, K. The School of St. Matthew. Acta Seminarii Neotestamentici Upsaliensis 20. Uppsala, 1954.
Rabbinic and Hellenistic Interpretation
- Daube, David. “Rabbinic Methods of Interpretation and Hellenistic Rhetoric.” Hebrew Union College Annual 22 (1949): 239–264.
- Lieberman, Shaul. “Rabbinic Interpretation of Scripture.” In Hellenism in Jewish Palestine, 47–82. New York: The Jewish Theological Seminary, 1994 (reprint of the 1950 edition). Hellenism in Jewish Palestine is still the classical work on the relation between Judaism and Hellenism. Some of it needs reconsideration in view of more recent works such as Visotzky (below).
- Lieberman, Stephen, “A Mesopotamian Background for the So-Called Aggadic ‘Measures’ of Biblical Hermeneutics?” Hebrew Union College Annual 58 (1987): 157–225.
- Visotzky, Burton. “Midrash, Christian Exegesis and Hellenistic Hermeneutics.” In Current Trends in the Study of Midrash, edited by Carol Bakhos, 111–132. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2006.
- Visotzky, Burton L. Fathers of the World. Essays in Rabbinic and Patristic Literatures. Tübingen: Mohr, 1995. See especially “Fathers of the World: An Introduction” (pp. 1–27) and “Jots and Tittles. On Scriptural Interpretation in Rabbinic and Patristic Literatures” (pp. 28–40).
Lieve M. Teugels
Among the greatest accomplishments of New Testament scholarship during the twentieth century was the rediscovery of the Jewish cultural context of its composition. Lost for centuries under the debris of interreligious conflict, the Jewish matrix of Christianity came to the fore of critical discussion just as the state of relations between Jews and Christians was reaching its historical nadir. Although initiated before the Holocaust, the discussion took on a distinct sense of urgency in the wake of its horrors, as scholars both Jewish and Christian looked to the early church as an unlikely common ground between their estranged theological traditions. Occupying a pivotal role in the conversation has been the literature of the early rabbinic sages, whose writings, once a source of bitter contention between Jews and Christians, were transformed into the fabric of a rich and exquisitely textured Jewish archetype of the formative Christian faith.
The idea of a deep intellectual kinship between the rabbis and the authors of the New Testament presents obvious advantages both to the critical historian and to the theologian sympathetic to its conciliatory premise. Unfortunately, the tendency of those scholars who have proffered this view to rely on outmoded critical assumptions about the nature of the classical rabbinic literary tradition has complicated the reception of their work among leading scholars of ancient Judaism. Consequently, the results of their great comparative project have yet to make significant headway into contemporary scholarship on the literature and culture of the early rabbinic sages. Nevertheless, recent efforts by scholars attentive to the critical demands of both fields of study have set a course for a promising new assessment of the literary and conceptual relationships between the New Testament and the early rabbinic tradition. The following survey will compare this new analytical approach to its predecessor while providing some of the more salient examples of its application in current scholarship.
During the early modern era, most of the scholarly conversation as to the application of rabbinic texts toward New Testament exegesis revolved around the discomfiting topic of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. The Mishnah, rich in material on ancient Jewish jurisprudence, and the Babylonian Talmud with its infamous slurs against Jesus fueled endless speculation among eighteenth- and nineteenth-century subscribers to the discipline of Christian Hebraism as to the value of the rabbinic tradition as a witness to the gospels. Efforts by nineteenth-century Jewish scholars such as Abraham Geiger and Heinrich Graetz to advance the discussion beyond this provocative subject matter went largely unnoticed in European and North American academies still largely inattentive to the emerging academic discipline of Jewish studies.
Not until the early twentieth century did the move toward a more comprehensive awareness of the classical rabbinic literary tradition come to the fore of New Testament scholarship. The roots of this movement are typically traced to two major contributions of the period. Published between 1922 and 1928, Strack and Billerbeck's Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch (Commentary on the New Testament from Talmud and Midrash) presented a running commentary on the Christian scriptures drawn from passages and concepts spanning the length and breadth of the rabbinic tradition. Despite displaying an impressive breadth of knowledge on their part, Strack and Billerbeck established an unfortunate precedent in their thoroughgoing lack of consideration for the unique literary and socio-rhetorical qualities of the rabbinic books from which they pieced together their commentary. Its effect, therefore, is that of a bizarre simulation of the New Testament, offering little insight onto the world of the Jewish sages who wrote the rabbinic texts at issue. The authors’ lack of sympathy for the culture of the ancient rabbis was undoubtedly a function of their common disdain for the contemporary practice of Judaism. Strack and Billerbeck did not hide their evangelical motivations in drawing parallels between what they cast as the enlightened Judaism of the ancient rabbis and the similarly idealized Judaism of Jesus and his apostles. This, in contemporary perspective, casts further doubt over the intellectual integrity of their appeals to the ancient Jewish tradition.
A more sympathetic early effort to turn a Jewish light on the New Testament was the American scholar George Foot Moore's equally influential Judaism in the First Three Centuries of the Christian Era (1927–1930). Like his German counterparts, Moore combed the rabbinic tradition for parallels to the New Testament, without consideration of the contexts or functions of the texts he cited. Yet where Strack and Billerbeck aimed to demonstrate the consistency of the New Testament with early Jewish thought, Moore's goal was to articulate a standard of ancient Jewish belief against which to assess the innovative qualities of the formative Christian doctrine. Moore's conception of early rabbinic Judaism as a normative reflection of the religious system behind the New Testament and the early Christian tradition represented a marked improvement over the approaches of earlier scholars such as Wilhelm Bousset and Adolf Harnack, who had construed the Judaism of the rabbis as an errant bastardization of the enlightened Second Temple Judaism of Jesus’ day. But Moore's obvious admiration for the rabbinic sages did not make up for his tendentious use of their writings. His work, therefore, though a worthy counterpoint to that of Strack and Billerbeck, was no less questionable in its method.
The method of selective comparison conceived by Strack and Billerbeck and by Moore set the agenda for the great comparative project that would take hold of New Testament scholarship in the wake of the Holocaust. Its potential for theological controversy effectively neutralized, the notion that the literature of the Jewish sages took shape in the same general environment as the New Testament became a virtual axiom of both their studies. Vital contributions by scholars of diverse disciplines helped shape a new, open academic conversation focused largely on undoing past efforts to erase the common history of the Jewish and Christian faiths. Taking their cues from the fields of history, philology, and literary theory, these scholars and others undertook to explore corresponding aspects of the early Jewish and Christian traditions typically ignored or suppressed in partisan theological scholarship. W. D. Davies, for instance, called attention to the manifest similarities between Paul's rationalization of his mission to the gentiles and the efforts of the early rabbinic sages to define their own religious agenda. David Daube, a legal historian by vocation, explored the halakic precedents behind the conflicts between Jesus and the Jewish communal authorities of his day as recounted in the gospels. Birger Gerhardsson, arguably the most influential of the three, focused on rabbinic exegesis, explaining the varied literary forms and functions of the Christian scriptures as products of the same interpretive genius that yielded the books of the classical midrash.
In these early reassessments of the Jewish background of the New Testament, simply mapping out the appropriate avenues of inquiry was a groundbreaking venture. It was productive as well. Through the decades following World War II, New Testament scholars turned with increasing frequency to the rabbinic tradition as witness to all manner of subjects native to their own discipline. Comparing the Judaism of the New Testament to the Judaism of the early rabbinic sages became a growth industry. In time, however, the analytical presuppositions underlying the project they had initiated would fall under considerable scrutiny. As scholars of the Bible grew ever more wary of the historiographical qualities of its texts, critical readers of the rabbinic tradition began to question the idiosyncrasies of its texts as well. Although customarily transmitted as records of a multifarious oral tradition dating back to the age of Moses, the Mishnah, the Talmud and the midrash were taken to task by those seeking more scientific theories of their origins. Notably, it was the now controversial biblical scholar Morton Smith who first drew attention to the synoptic parallels in the classical rabbinic corpus and their negative implications toward the comparative project already becoming a fixture of New Testament research (1951). Much like the synoptic parallels in the gospels, observed Smith, to acknowledge the very existence of these rabbinic examples naturally compromises the documentary qualities of each.
It was Jacob Neusner, however, a student of Smith, who definitively changed the equation. In a series of case studies (1984–1985), Neusner demonstrated a general absence of consistency between corresponding rabbinic texts as to the identities of the sages who reportedly spoke the words that fill their pages. Where one document, for example, may attribute opinion X to rabbi Y, another may attribute the same opinion to rabbi Z. This simple observation makes it impossible to discern whether opinion X was actually issued by rabbi Y, or, for that matter, by rabbi Z. Given, therefore, our inability to measure the accuracy of a given rabbinic attribution, to construe that attribution as authentic to any socio-rhetorical context but that of the document in which it is preserved would be methodologically unsound. Or, stated differently, one must not presume to locate a given rabbinic passage in history strictly on the basis of the rabbinic authorities named therein. Considering, therefore, that the very earliest documents of the rabbinic tradition—the Mishnah, the Tosefta, and the Tannaitic midrash—were not written until the third century C.E., it is impossible to ascertain whether the ideas, ritual conventions, or cultural values attributed to the Jewish sages in these, and even more so in later rabbinic texts such as the Babylonian Talmud, accurately reflect the Judaism behind the New Testament.
The continuing efforts of scholars since Neusner to refine the critical discourse on the classical rabbinic tradition have helped diminish its once pervasive influence over the field of New Testament studies. In view of these efforts, one can no longer simply cite “the rabbis” as witnesses to the early Christian tradition, nor even quote a specific rabbinic authority without encroaching upon the integrity of its textual source. And the newfound necessity to analyze every passage, every word of the rabbinic tradition in the compound contexts of its received literary traditions is undoubtedly forbidding to those not equipped with the specialized linguistic and philological tools required for rabbinic text criticism. Comparing, therefore, the current situation to that of fifty years ago, it seems that many of today's responsible New Testament scholars would prefer to avoid the ancient rabbis altogether rather than risk offending the critical sensibilities of their colleagues in the field of Jewish studies.
Despite these deterrents, constructive steps toward reassessing the relationship between the New Testament and the rabbinic tradition are now being undertaken. In view of the realization that rabbinic texts cannot be read as background for the New Testament, several scholars have begun to explore the possibility of the inverse association, asking whether the New Testament may be read as background for early rabbinic Judaism. E. P. Sanders, for instance, has offered the Christian scriptures as representative documents of first-century Judaism, comparing their statements on Jewish practice and belief with corresponding witnesses in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the works of Philo and Josephus (1992). The composite evidence suggests a “common” Judaism, widely practiced during the late Second Temple period, that influenced both the early Christian tradition and the formative rabbinic tradition that succeeded it. Daniel Boyarin has interpreted the seemingly radical reinvention of Jewish belief advocated by Paul as an early example of the ambivalent discourses on Jewish identity that pervade the rabbinic literary corpus (1994; 2004). These and other contributions conducted along similar lines of inquiry have helped pave the way toward a more general revival of interest in rabbinic literature among leading New Testament scholars. This development may well result in a comprehensive critical reassessment of the relationship between these two seminal textual traditions.
Jewish Law before the Halakah.
Proper understanding of the chronological relationship between the New Testament and the rabbinic tradition allows us to discern in the Christian scriptures valuable witnesses to the evolution of the halakah, or the rabbinic way of the Torah. Although the ideology of the halakah was itself a product of early rabbinic intellectual culture, many of the beliefs and ritual conventions inscribed in its program originated prior to the rabbinic movement itself. Pre-rabbinic examples of rituals and beliefs later articulated as aspects of the halakah abound in Jewish texts of the Second Temple period. That such examples also appear in the New Testament suggests that some of its authors were attuned to the foundational legislative discourse that would later give rise to the rabbinic legislative project. Rather, therefore, than read the legal discourses of the New Testament against the grain of the halakah, one would do better to locate the roots of the halakah itself amidst the legal discourses of the New Testament. This interpretive principle is especially useful in reference to the background of the Mishnah, the early third-century code of Jewish law which is generally regarded as the earliest surviving document of the rabbinic tradition. A few examples will suffice to illustrate.
The doctrine of the oral Torah is one of the principal tenets of the halakah. The rabbis famously imagined the folk customs of the Jewish people as “Torah of the mouth,” which is to say an orally transmitted companion to the actual Torah, the five books of Moses. This oral Torah, like its written counterpart, was supposedly dictated by God to Moses at Sinai and transmitted in oral form by Jewish sages from generation to generation before finally being recorded in the Mishnah, Talmud, and midrash (cf. m. ʾAbot 1.1–2.8). The effect of this dual-Torah ideology is an epistemic equivalency between the ritual ordinances actually recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures and the popular Jewish folkways that the rabbis wished to project as normative. Although the concept of an oral Torah is not articulated as such in any known Jewish texts predating the rabbinic movement, its basic ideology is famously expressed by Josephus in his conception of the paradosis (tradition) of the Pharisees, the putative intellectual forebears of the rabbis (Antiquities 13.297; cf. Antiquities 10.51). The same terminology is applied to the traditions of the Pharisees in the New Testament by Paul (Gal 1:14) and by the evangelists Matthew (15:2, 3, 6) and Mark (7:5, 8, 9, 13). It therefore appears that these apostolic authors bear witness to the currency of the idea of oral Torah among the Pharisees who preceded the rabbis and their conception of the halakah.
The reference to the Pharisaic paradosis in Matthew and Mark is occasioned by a debate with Jesus over the necessity to wash one's hands before eating. This practice, attributed in the gospels to the Pharisees, is also attested in the first two chapters of the Mishnaic tractate Yadayim (Hands) along with a number of other postbiblical Jewish ritual conventions regulating contact with objects deemed unclean. This was reportedly an area of debate between the Pharisees and Sadducees (cf. m. Yad. 4.6–8). While the ritual theory behind the early rabbinic legislation on what constituted cleanliness is not spelled out in the Mishnah itself, it is articulated in the gospels. There, Jesus pronounces that it is not what goes into a person's mouth but what comes out that causes defilement (Matt 15:11; Mark 7:11). It seems that the evangelists understood the Pharisaic practice of ritual purification as a defense against moral impurity, which they reasonably believed to be contracted not through physical contact but through reprehensible speech or behavior. Whether this erroneous equation was native to Pharisaic practice or simply assumed by the evangelists is unclear. But in any case, the antithesis ascribed to Jesus between ritual impurity and moral impurity provides critical insight onto the ideological framework of the early rabbinic halakah.
According to Josephus, another major point of controversy between the Pharisees and the Sadducees was the doctrine of the immortality of the soul (War 2.163–66; Antiquities 18.12–17). The Pharisees reportedly endorsed this belief while the Sadducees did not. This debate appears to be reflected in a noted opinion in the Mishnah condemning those who would deny the eschatological resurrection of the dead (m. Sanh. 10.1). What precisely was at issue in this controversy is stated neither by Josephus nor by the anonymous author of the rabbinic ruling. Yet the stakes in the debate are clearly articulated in the New Testament. The sectarian conflict over the doctrine of resurrection is mentioned in the synoptic story of Jesus’ encounter with the Sadducees (Matt 22:23–33; Mark 12:18–27; Luke 20:27–40) as well as in the account of Paul's hearing before the Jerusalem council in the book of Acts (22:6–10). Both Jesus and Paul are said to assume the position of the Pharisees, each asserting God's prerogative to raise the dead. The gospel account, moreover, suggest that the Sadducean dissent was due the lack of clear support for the doctrine of resurrection in the laws of the Torah. This reasoning sheds light on the background of the Mishnah's ruling, to say nothing of the report of Josephus. This point of agreement between the Christian and the rabbinic traditions suggest some commonality in the first-century Jewish folkways that nourished them both.
One of the best known legal innovations of the gospel tradition is the prohibition of groundless divorce, attributed to Jesus in the gospel of Matthew (Matt 5:32; 19:9). On the surface, this ruling appears to contradict the pentateuchal legislation allowing a man to send away his wife without reservation (Deut 24:1). Jesus, according to Matthew's gospel, stipulated that divorce is to be initiated only if one's wife is found to be unchaste. This sentiment is echoed in the Mishnah in an opinion attributed to the first-century Pharisaic sage Shammai (m. Giṭ. 9.10; cf. t. Soṭah 5.9). His typically more liberal colleague Hillel is said to have allowed one to divorce his wife even if she so much as burns his dinner, a position, of course, considerably more obliging to the husband than to the wife. In the Mishnah, Hillel and Shammai are said to have based their respective rulings on disparate exegeses of Deut 24:1. But as for Shammai's argument, the gospel account provides another explanation. Perhaps the opinion of Shammai, like that ascribed to Jesus, was meant to protect the woman's interests. By restricting a man's right to initiate divorce to cases of his wife's infidelity, the seemingly stricter interpretation of the Torah is actually more liberating than the obvious sense of the verse. The egalitarian ethos behind Shammai's ruling, something rarely seen in the Mishnah itself, is easily discernable when read in the context of Jesus’ social preaching.
The premise of tracing the origins of the rabbinic halakah to first-century texts like those of the New Testament presupposes a coherent exegetical discourse behind those texts. The early rabbinic sages believed the authority of the halakah to derive directly from the divine authority of the Torah. Their efforts to justify their own practices and beliefs as well as those of their forebears relied on scriptural interpretation. The results of these exegetical efforts constitute a genre of rabbinic literature commonly known as midrash, a term connoting the pursuit of a text's meaning. To infer, therefore, a proto-rabbinic halakah behind the texts of the New Testament would necessitate an interpretive agenda corresponding to the exegetical mindset that characterizes the classical works of midrash.
Unfortunately, the existence of a coherent Jewish exegetical agenda prior to the rabbinic movement has proven difficult to ascertain. In the past, for instance, scholars often sought to explain the obscure scriptural hermeneutics practiced by Jesus and Paul on the basis of the lists of exegetical principles or middot attributed in the rabbinic tradition to the first-century sage Hillel (t. Sanh. 7.11; ʾAbot R. Nat. A 37) and the second-century sage Rabbi Ishmael (Sipra, proem). Thus, for instance, scholars have cited the rabbinic principle of gezera shawah (verbal equivalence) as the basis of Paul's intertextual allusions to the Hebrew scriptures in his letter to the Romans (e.g., Rom 4:7–8; 11:7–10). Likewise, the principle of qal wa-ḥomer (light and heavy) is typically cited in reference to the argumentation a fortiori occasionally favored by Paul (Rom 5:10; cf. 2 Cor 3:7–11) and ascribed in one instance to Jesus (Matt 7:11). These, along with many other examples of New Testament exegesis, are often thought to indicate a linear development of exegetical thought between the Jewish interpretive traditions current to the age of the apostles and those later manifest in the classical midrash.
Further research, however, into the functions of these lists has weakened this thesis. In practice, the authors of the classical midrash applied the principles ascribed to Hillel and Ishmael neither systematically nor even on a regular basis. It seems, rather, that the lists were meant to enumerate examples of interpretive tropes rather than to prescribe formal guidelines for reading the Hebrew scriptures. The actual principles of interpretation employed in the midrash are often as obscure as those employed in the New Testament. The tropes, moreover, although ascribed to rabbinic luminaries, appear to derive from the techniques of the Hellenistic grammarians active during the times of the early Jewish sages (Daube, 1953). Consequently, whether there was anything characteristically Jewish about the textual assumptions of rabbinic exegesis is a matter of debate. In any case, to cite the tropes enumerated in these lists as guiding principles of pre-rabbinic Jewish exegesis would require further justification than the lists themselves have to offer.
The interpretive issues affecting the application of these principles toward decoding the exegesis of the New Testament are symptomatic of a more comprehensive critical reassessment of the origins of the midrash itself. Where scholars once assumed that some methods of textual analysis behind the midrash were characteristic to Second Temple Judaism, continuing efforts to demonstrate this hypothesis have yielded few positive results. The Dead Sea Scrolls, for example, although rich in examples of scriptural interpretation, evince few of the assumptions vis-à-vis the relationship between the text of the Torah and its interpretation that would come to characterize rabbinic exegesis. Consequently, the writings of the Qumran sect reveal little of substance about the origins of rabbinic exegesis. The premise of reading pre-rabbinic Jewish texts as witnesses to the evolution of the classical midrash is further complicated by the lack of positive evidence of its unique literary forms. While it is clear that Jewish authors of the Second Temple period were familiar with interpretive tropes later attested in the midrash, it is far from clear whether these tropes were the results of the same exegetical impulses that drove the rabbis. To acknowledge, therefore, a given example of pre-rabbinic Jewish exegesis as an unqualified example of midrash would be methodologically unsound. This, in the final analysis, is what renders the prospect of reading the exegeses of the New Testament in light of subsequent rabbinic models so dubious.
The uncertain nature of the relationship between early Christian exegesis and rabbinic midrash does not necessarily preclude discussion of their commonalities. While the exegeses embedded in the Christian scriptures resemble midrash neither in their forms nor certainly in their rhetorical functions, they often appear to preserve early examples of specific interpretive tropes later attested in the classical midrash. Therefore, much as we have seen in reference to the beliefs and ritual practices underlying the halakah, passages in the New Testament may be read as witnesses to the stock of Jewish folk traditions later drawn upon by the rabbinic sages in their formulations of midrashic narrative. The common threads behind these traditions are not always easy to trace given the disparate genres of the texts in which they are preserved. Their obvious similarities, however, are suggestive enough to warrant some speculation as to their common origins. A few examples will suffice as illustration.
The gospel of John presents a figurative interpretation of the biblical story of the manna widely regarded as an example of pre-rabbinic midrash. In the Exodus narrative, God is said to have delivered this heavenly food to the Israelites during their sojourn in the wilderness (Exod 16; cf. Ps 78:23–25). Jesus, after providing his followers with bread, refers to this episode as a means of explaining his own role as the bread of heaven, sent by God to give life to his people. Those who eat his “manna,” Jesus promises, will attain eternal life (John 6:25–51). In addition to its characteristically midrashic form, the sermon of Jesus outlines a theology of the manna echoed in later rabbinic exegesis of the Exodus narrative. The idea that the manna signified God's spiritual nourishment of Israel in addition to his physical nourishment appears in both versions of the early midrashic treatise Mekhilta (to Exod 13:7; 16:4) and the medieval midrashic compilation Exodus Rabbah (25.7, 9). In these passages, the manna is likened to the Torah, which occupies an ontological role in the rabbinic tradition analogous to that of Jesus in the gospel tradition. Where this notion was once posited as a template of John's theology, the chronological priority of the gospel to its midrashic parallels suggests a connection between the two traditions as to the source of this exegetical motif.
In Paul's letter to the Galatians, the apostle to the gentiles articulates his conviction that God prefers genuine faith to perfunctory obedience to the laws of the Torah (Gal 3:6–9, 15–18). Central to his argument is his insistence that true believers need not undergo ritual circumcision in the traditional Jewish fashion. To this end, Paul submits the patriarch Abraham, who according to the biblical tradition achieved favor in the eyes of God (Gen 15:6) before his own circumcision (Gen 17) and centuries before the Torah's legislation. Rejecting circumcision of the flesh as a prerequisite of faith, he calls upon his readers to undergo circumcision of the spirit in Christ enabling one to experience the world anew (Gal 6:12–13; cf. 3:3). Paul's allegorical exposition of circumcision as a sort of spiritual awakening is mirrored in the late ancient midrashic treatise Genesis Rabbah (48.1; cf. Num. Rab. 12.10). In the midrash, circumcision is said to have been a precondition of God's revelation to Abraham, whose eyes were opened to the divine presence just as his flesh was exposed by the excision of his prepuce. While the message of the rabbinic homily appears to contradict Paul's argument, their common conception of circumcision as a means toward personal renewal speaks to a deeper intellectual sympathy between the two.
The parables attributed to Jesus in the gospels are well known for their thematic similarities to the rabbinic mashal (parable). While their respective didactic aims coincided only on occasion, the evangelists and the rabbis shared a fondness for illustrating their lessons with examples drawn from a common wellspring of Jewish folk wisdom of indeterminate antiquity. Consequently, while the rabbis typically did not say the same things as Jesus, they often constructed their parables using terms similar to those attributed to Jesus. For example, the synoptic parable of the wicked husbandmen (Matt 21:33–41; Mark 12:1–9; Luke 20:9–16) tells of an absent landlord victimized by his tenants. The force of Jesus’ story is to warn that God had revoked his covenantal promise to the Jewish people on account of their reckless behavior. The image of the Jews as tenant farmers working the land of God likewise appears in the early midrashic treatise Sifre, where God is said to favor Israel as the landlord favors his own son over his inconsiderate tenants (Sipre to Deut 312; cf. y. Ber. 2.7 [5c]; Exod. Rab. 30.6). That the author of the rabbinic text applied the imagery to the opposite effect as the evangelists naturally connotes their divergent rhetorical objectives. Yet the fact that they framed their messages in the same parabolic narrative once again suggests a common source somewhere deep in the consciousness of the pre-rabbinic Jewish culture whence they both derived.
The revised consensus as to the relative dating of the classical texts of the rabbinic tradition has prompted a major critical reevaluation of the anti-Christian sentiment occasionally exhibited in these texts. Where scholars once tried to read the rabbinic references to the life of Jesus as witnesses to apocryphal gospel traditions, it is now generally agreed that these tendentious biographical sketches originated well after the first century and, moreover, with little or no direct knowledge of early Christian culture. Schäfer (2007) has demonstrated that the notorious depictions of Jesus once stricken from the Babylonian Talmud were founded in polemics postdating the era of Constantine and the rise of imperial Christendom. That this development negatively affected the common life of the Jewish people helps explain why the authors of the Talmud might have felt compelled to paint an unflattering portrait of the ostensible founder of the Christian faith. Boyarin has made a similar case for the occasional examples of rabbinic exegesis found in the Talmud and midrash that evidently engage aspects of the formative Christian doctrine. Christianity's emergence as the dominant religion in the world of the rabbinic sages apparently stimulated a discourse concerning Jewish self-definition commensurate with that of Christian self-definition practiced by the church fathers. That each party to the debate took aim squarely at the other speaks to the theoretical challenges faced by each in defining the interrelated theologies of Judaism and Christianity as distinct and mutually exclusive articles of religious identification.
As a result of these developments, to interpret the New Testament in light of any given rabbinic passages implicitly or explicitly referring to Jesus or Christianity must be done with the utmost critical caution. For instance, the Tosefta's identification of Jesus as a teacher of the Torah and magical healer does not necessarily indicate that the early rabbinic sages were intimately familiar with his ministry or its record in the canonical gospel tradition. It simply suggests that they were apprised of Jewish followers of Jesus, whom they dubbed minim, or heretics, who publicly espoused these aspects of Jesus’ career (t. Ḥul. 2.22–24). Likewise, the strange Talmudic story of Jesus’ discipleship under the second-century B.C.E. Pharisaic sage Joshua Ben Peraḥiah, although echoing aspects of the established gospel narrative, must be read as an effort of the anonymous rabbinic author to parody the life of Jesus rather than an authentic document thereof (b. Sanh. 107b; b. Soṭah 47a). The story of Rabban Gamaliel's confrontation with an unnamed philosopher in which the first-century Jewish sage cites a saying of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew clearly suggests the author's previous knowledge of the Christian scriptures (b. Šabb. 116a–b; cf. Matt 5:17). It certainly does not indicate that Gamaliel himself was a witness to the teachings of Jesus.
Acknowledging the complex polemical interplay between the New Testament and the early rabbinic tradition furthermore helps dispel popular misconceptions as to the common history behind them. Such is the case for the birkat ha-minim, the notorious blessing-cum-curse of Jewish heretics attested in several classical rabbinic texts (t. Ber. 3.25; y. Ber. 4.3 [8a]; y. Taʿan. 2.2 [65c]; b. Ber. 28b–29a). Although not originally directed against followers of Jesus per se, the birkat ha-minim came to incorporate an explicit denunciation of Christians, or noṣĕrim, at some point in late antiquity, as attested by Jerome (Epistle 112.13) and in a series of early medieval manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah. That the original formula is said in the Babylonian Talmud to date to the late first century has fueled speculation among many New Testament scholars as to whether the rabbinic enactment of the malediction helped exacerbate the tensions between the proponents of the apostolic mission and their fellow Jews evident in the later gospel tradition (see., e.g., John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2). In view, however, of recent scholarship, the likelihood that the Babylonian narrative postdates the gospels by several centuries would seem to diminish their basis of historiographical comparison. Even if the birkat ha-minim was originally intended in part as an anti-Christian measure, the absence of reliable evidence as to its original phrasing or function, much less to its precise date of composition, precludes any firm conclusions as to its heuristic relevance toward the New Testament.
Similarly, the Tosefta's ruling as to the sacred status of gospel texts, or gilyonim (cf. Greek euangelia), tells us little about what the anonymous rabbinic author knew of their contents aside from their references to God (t. Šabb. 13.5; cf. y. Šabb. 16.1 [15c]; b. Šabb. 116a). Despite the tempting premise, the precise objects of reference in this ruling are too obscure to permit assessment of its meaning toward the Jewish reception of the early gospel tradition. While it would be irresponsible to dismiss these passages as irrelevant to the study of the New Testament, neither is it especially easy to articulate their relevance with enough precision to warrant the type of speculation that has characterized their treatment in some scholarly circles.
- Alexander, Philip S. “Midrash and the Gospels.” In Synoptic Studies: The Ampleforth Conferences of 1982 and 1983, edited by C.M. Tuckett, pp. 1–18. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series 7. Sheffield, U.K.: JSOT Press, 1984. The second essay, focusing on the analytical implication of the term midrash and its relevance to the gospels.
- Alexander, Philip S. “Rabbinic Judaism and the New Testament.” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche 74 (1983): 237–246. The first of two related methodological essays on the application of rabbinic texts toward the critical interpretation of the New Testament.
- Bieringer, Reimund, Florentino García Martínez, Didier Pollefeyt, and Peter J. Tomson, eds. The New Testament and Rabbinic Literature. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2010. A collection of essays reflecting on recent critical developments in study of rabbinic literature and their implications toward the comparative study of the New Testament.
- Boyarin, Daniel. Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. An exploration of the common intellectual currents evidently underlying key generative concepts of the early rabbinic and apostolic traditions.
- Boyarin, Daniel. A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. An innovative effort to locate Paul's uniquely Jewish theology within the epistemological boundaries of classical rabbinic thought.
- Catchpole, David R. The Trial of Jesus: A Study in the Gospels and Jewish Historiography from 1770 to the Present Day. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1971. A critical review of early modern scholarship predicated on mining the classical rabbinic tradition for testimony to the life and death of Jesus.
- Daube, David. “Alexandrian Methods of Interpretation and the Rabbis.” In Festschrift Hans Lewald, pp. 27–44. Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1953. Reprinted in Essays in Greco-Roman and Related Talmudic Literature, edited by Henry A. Fischel, pp. 165–183. New York: Ktav, 1977. An exploration of the Hellenistic background of the exegetical principles traditionally ascribed to the rabbinic sages Hillel and Ishmael.
- Daube, David. The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism. London: University of London, Athlone, 1956. A collection of topical studies interpreting notable features and concepts of the gospel tradition in light of biblical and early rabbinic jurisprudence.
- Davies, W. D. Paul and Rabbinic Judaism: Some Rabbinic Elements in Pauline Theology. London: SPCK, 1948, 2d ed. 1955. An early and highly influential effort to draw thematic parallels between Paul's construction of formative Christian doctrine and the theology of the early rabbinic sages.
- Gerhardsson, Birger. Memory and Manuscript: Oral Tradition and Written Transmission in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity. Translated by Eric J. Sharpe. Lund, Sweden: Gleerup, 1961. An influential early study on the rabbinic ideology of midrash and its heuristic application toward decoding early Christian modes of scriptural interpretation.
- Herford, R. Travers. Christianity in Talmud and Midrash. London: Williams and Norgate, 1903. An outdated yet still widely read effort to collect and analyze passages from the classical rabbinic corpus alleged to refer to Jesus, Paul, and the early Christian tradition in general.
- Heschel, Susannah. Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. A study of the life and work of the influential nineteenth-century German Jewish scholar and the impact of his work on the fields of Jewish studies and New Testament studies.
- Moore, George Foot. Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era: The Age of the Tannaim. 3 vols. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1927–1930. An early and influential effort to view the world of early Christianity through the lens of the classical rabbinic literary tradition.
- Neusner, Jacob. From Mishnah to Scripture: The Problem of the Unattributed Saying with Special Reference to the Division of Purities. Brown Judaic Studies 67. Chico, Calif.: Scholars, 1984. A series of case studies demonstrating the inferior documentary qualities of anonymous pronouncements in classical rabbinic texts.
- Neusner, Jacob. In Search of Talmudic Biography: The Problem of the Attributed Saying. Brown Judaic Studies 70. Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1984. A corresponding series of case studies demonstrating the inferior documentary qualities of specifically attributed pronouncements in classical rabbinic texts.
- Neusner, Jacob. The Peripatetic Saying: The Problem of the Thrice-Told Tale in Talmudic Literature. Brown Judaic Studies 89. Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1985. A series of case studies demonstrating the inferior documentary qualities of pronouncements independently attested in multiple classical rabbinic texts.
- Saldarini, Anthony J. “Judaism and the New Testament.” In The New Testament and Its Modern Interpreters, edited by Eldon J. Epp and George W. MacRae, pp. 27–54. The Bible and its Modern Interpreters 3. Atlanta: Scholars, 1989. A survey of modern scholarship predicated on reading the New Testament in light of early Judaism, including but not limited to the Judaism of the early rabbinic sages.
- Sanders, E. P. Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE–66 CE. London/Philadelphia: SCM Press/ Trinity Press International, 1992. A compendious series of topical discussions on the rituals and beliefs of the Jews during the late Second Temple period as viewed through the lenses of the New Testament, the classical rabbinic tradition, and other early Jewish texts and artifacts.
- Schäfer, Peter. Jesus in the Talmud. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2007. A vital reassessment of the classical rabbinic polemic against Jesus and Christianity reflecting recent critical advances in the study of the Babylonian Talmud and related literature.
- Smith, Morton. Tannaitic Parallels to the Gospels. Philadelphia: Society of Biblical Literature, 1951. An important early demonstration of the methodological pitfalls inherent to the textual parallels pervading the classical rabbinic literary corpus.
- Strack, Hermann L., and Paul Billerbeck. Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch, 6 vols. Munich: Beck, 1922–1928. An influential attempt at compiling a comprehensive Jewish commentary on the New Testament, and particularly on the gospels, on the basis of corresponding passages picked from the pages of classical rabbinic texts.
As no comprehensive critical treatment of the relationship between rabbinic literature and the New Testament yet exists, readers are referred to the methodological studies of Alexander and Saldarini listed below as well as the more recent topical essays collected in Bieringer et al.
Joshua Ezra Burns
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1862 – He was born on the 27th of September.
1897 – He became a member of the parliament of Transvaal, representing the district of Vryheid.
1902 – He was the chief representative of his countrymen in the peace negotiations.
– He later worked towards peace with the British, representing the Boers at the peace negotiations.
1907 – His war record made him prominent in the politics of Transvaal and he was a major player in the postwar reconstruction of that country, becoming Prime Minister of Transvaal on the 4th of March.
1911 – Together with another Boer war hero, Jan Smuts, he formed the South African Party, or SAP.
1919 – He died on the 27th of August.
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June 6, 1933 marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the first drive-in movie theater in Camden, New Jersey.
The facility was the brain child of Richard M. Hollingshead, an avid film buff and theatergoer, who invented the concept due to his mother’s discomfort of being seated in a traditional movie theater. Working as manager in his father’s auto parts business (Whiz Auto Products), Hollingshead creatively devised the method for people to watch films in the comfort of their own automobiles. He began the experimentation by projecting his first film in the driveway of his home on 212 Thomas Avenue, by using the hood of his car to mount a 1928 Kodak movie projector. He then projected the film on sheets that he hung between two trees. He meticulously made every effort in perfecting the quality, going so far as parking multiple cars on his lawn and in the driveway to test the visibility of the screen from every angle of each car. He then built concrete ramps for the cars in the back row to be elevated on so that there would not be one bad view on the lot, and it worked. He tested a series of ways to produce the sound quality as well and placed a radio near the screen that acted as speakers to play the film’s score, which was not of the best quality, but still made the films audible. His pursuit to find the perfect balance was indefatigable. He tested the sound with the windows rolled down and with them rolled up. He used his lawn sprinklers to simulate rain to see what would happen during inclement weather.
When Hollingshead felt that he had achieved the desired effects he was seeking, he applied for a patent for his invention on August 6, 1932. It was granted on May 16, 1933
and became the first patent to be issued for a Drive-In Movie Theater.
Eager to get his new venture off of the ground, less than one month later Hollingshead opened Park-In Theaters, Inc., on Admiral Wilson Boulevard at the Airport Circle in Pennsauken. Park-In provided up to 400 available car slots with a 40- by 50-foot movie screen. Spending an estimated $30,000 worth in advertising, Hollingshead’s popular slogan was, “The whole family is welcome regardless of how noisy the children are.” The cost was 25 cents per car and per person, with no one spending more than $1. The first film to be shown, “Wives Beware” with Adolphe Menjou, was a hit amongst the patrons, and Hollingshead’s vision began to catch on and other drive-in venues started springing up.
A 1935 Popular Mechanics piece summed up best the progression of sound as more drive-ins evolved: “Solving the problem of sound control, the proprietor of a drive-in movie theater has installed individual loud speakers for every car that parks for the show. The low-volume bucket-shaped magnetic speakers, numbering 460, are attached to railings directly in front of the parking rows. They aim the sound at the spectators through the radiators of the cars and can be turned off in any unoccupied sections of the ten-acre enclosure. For merely three huge dynamic speakers, twenty-two feet long and seven feet across the openings were used, but their sound production could not be controlled and they were sometimes heard blocks away. At a capacity of more than 2,000, motorists can enjoy the movies at this theater. The spectators’ cars are placed on a slight incline so that the backseat patrons may view the picture with ease. The screen is forty feet by fifty feet and set in a structure seventy feet high and 132 feet wide.”
It would not be until the 1940s that the in-car speakers were produced by RCA, allowing the patrons to have control of the volume for the film.
As drive-ins began to increase in number across the nation, the lots increased in size. Complete with concession stands, the drive-in became a comfortable environment for families and an increasingly popular hang out amongst teenagers who would use the venue for dates and romantic trysts.
In the 1950s and 1960s, drive-ins began to spread like wildfire, increasing to more than 4,000 locations. The new sites may have begun as a venue to watch films, but interestingly, the main films that were shown were mostly considered to be B films. Patrons enjoyed them regardless and remained enthralled with what they saw – so much so that the drive-in became a part of American culture where people came together to socialize with each other. It was an experience all of its own and today is an important part of Americana. Despite Hollingshead seeing his dream skyrocket, unfortunately when he licensed the concept, he had trouble collecting his royalties. Taking the party to court only resulted in the loss of his patent and his original being considered invalid. Regardless of this incident, thanks to Hollingshead and doing it for Mom, drive-ins are forever etched in our culture not only in the United States, but globally.
The decline of the drive-in movie theaters came in the late 1970s and 1980s. As a result, proprietors had to show adult content during off hours to try to keep their businesses financially solvent, while also facing the rise in real estate costs and loss of patronage to the newer forms of entertainment such as the VCR and Cable Television.
My grandmother, Josephine Brotherton, experienced the drive-ins firsthand in their heyday and marvels to this day how fun they were: “The drive-in cinema was a beautiful experience for me. I remember everyone attending would arrive early to secure the most coveted spot close to the concession stand to get their snacks and drinks; the restrooms were always convenient. It was such a happy atmosphere and the parking spots filled quickly. It appeared there wasn’t one vacancy! Cars would still come when there were no more spots available, viewing as best they could in the distance without the speakers, trying to listen from those attached to other cars. People could not seem to get enough of this entertainment. It was cozy to be able to sit in your car and pick up the adjustable speaker from its metal stand and clip it to your window to hear the movie. I loved watching
a film under the stars and breathing in the fresh air. You could even get out of the car to stretch your legs and still hear the movie. The environment provided much more freedom than an indoor theater, and people appreciated the intermissions. It was just a delightful experience, and I would love to have drive-ins thrive once again like they used to.”
Today the remnants of many closed drive-ins serve as reminders of a bygone era. Many locations have been turned into storage spaces or flea markets. The Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop is known to have been the largest drive-in in the world, and is now dubbed as the world’s largest flea market.
After the year 2000, individuals have tried reviving the glory days of the drive-in cinema, but to date, they still haven’t gained enough in popularity, leaving many enthusiasts disappointed. Fewer than 400 are currently in operation across the United States. That number is about to get smaller, because after 2013, movie production companies will no longer circulate movies as 35mm film; cinemas, whether traditional or drive-in, must convert to digital or go dark. Carrying an expense of up to $80,000, many operations running on a small margin may have to call it quits.
However, moviegoers remain grateful to the proprietors who are keeping the drive-in theaters open so today’s society can enjoy the benefits of this 80-year-old tradition, including a unique entertainment experience, quality family time, and intimate evenings creating fond memories lasting a lifetime.
Drive-in Movie Theaters still in operation:
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In the Garden:
Coastal and Tropical South
Mother Nature's laboratory can be a wild, disturbing place.
Plants for Wild Life
Put down that cellphone! Stop texting 24/7! Take a break to walk in the garden everyday -- you might be surprised how much natural excitement there is out here. Sheer beauty, yes, but also surprising -- and sometimes shocking -- realities.
The popular cliche calls this a "dog eat dog" world. In the garden, however, it's stinkbug eat stinkbug, but also mantis eat butterfly and lizard eat aphid. Many of these natural predators can be encouraged to take up residence, but others are introduced directly when prized plants are threatened. For example, the classic control for stinging and other caterpillars is Bt (Bacillus thuriengensis), commonly sold as Dipel dust and Thuricide spray. It is formulated from a bacterium that naturally eats the caterpillars for lunch. The products work slowly so are best used in conjunction with an aggressive "stomp and squish" physical control routine. Since they are effective against all larvae of the Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) family, it's crucial to target the pests that are actually devouring your plants and not the caterpillar population in general.
Not all of us are lucky enough to have both good and bad stinkbugs in residence. Since they look alike, it's best to observe their behavior before starting to stomp them. If there's stinkbug cannibalism happening on your tomato leaf, be glad.
A nectar-filled garden bed or border gets crazier than a freeway at rush hour when bees get busy. It's not unusual for several scores to gather, feasting on chaste tree flowers in summer as they did on ligustrum blooms in spring. Whether it's honeybees or bumblebees, they move pollen. Both will be more attracted to your garden if you plan for such areas of mass blooms in every season. Get the bees on your side and you'll enjoy their acrobatics as much as the flowers themselves. Do the same to encourage other pollinators and the clean-up crew of ladybugs and birds that eat insects. When you envision perennials in bloom, see them by the calendar and plant for long bloom times, plus big shows in each season and at different heights. The more attractive the setting, the more pollinators will find it.
Places for wildlife to rest and nest are essential to healthy backyard habitat, otherwise known as cool, safe shade. The toad that lives under a huge, seldom-pruned spirea like mine has those needs met, as well as damp soil to burrow in for much of the year. In neater gardens, choose a thicket-forming plant to leave mostly to its own devices to create such a haven. Cast iron plant, perennial fern, and even a tree like possum haw will soon make a dark, dank oasis for toads, lizards, and a host of other wildlife.
At the other end of the spectrum, butterflies and dragonflies need places to bask. A flat rock at the edge of a bed and tall flowering plants in full sun can be community centers for them, especially after a rainstorm. Set up a small platform on top of a fence post or keep an area clear of vegetation on a low cinder block wall. However you do that, give dragonflies and butterflies a warm spot out in the open where they can relax and still keep an eye out for the inevitable threats lurking in the garden. You keep an eye out, too, for wild days and nights in your own backyard.
Care to share your gardening thoughts, insights, triumphs, or disappointments with your fellow gardening enthusiasts? Join the lively discussions on our FaceBook page and receive free daily tips!
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