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With major shifts in cannabis legalization, it is no surprise that there has been pushback from groups around the country. The most common reason for opposing cannabis legalization (both recreationally and medicinally) is that youth populations will be severely impacted due to increased exposure to a drug they should not be using. But according to data from the recent round of the Monitoring the Future survey, adolescents are reporting cannabis accessibility at the lowest levels in the past quarter century! Even as the rest of the country increased cannabis use and availability, middle school and high school students are not a part of that trend. According to a spokesperson for the Marijuana Policy Project:”Every time a state considers rolling back marijuana prohibition, opponents predict it will result in more teen use. Yet the data seems to tell a very different story.” Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said her commission’s review of the Monitoring the Future survey was surprising due to the reported stagnation and decrease of young people experimenting with cannabis. The rates for cannabis use are highest among adults 18 through 24, and many opposed to cannabis argue that this behavior starts at an earlier age. When reviewing the results of the survey, there is clear evidence that cannabis use among youth populations is not increasing substantially as a result of states passing laws to make cannabis more available. While there was a brief bump in the numbers during the 2010 to 2012 period, the number of students using cannabis in that period was still 5 percent lower among 8th and 10th graders since 1996. High school seniors are still the most prevalent users of cannabis among youth populations, although they have only fluctuated 3 points on either side of 35 percent (38% in 1997, 32% in 2006). Experts cannot be certain that cannabis legalization is the source of this decline in drug use, since drug use in general has plummeted among youth groups as well. However, there is now a clear indication that cannabis legalization, even for recreational adult use, does not in fact make it easier for young people to obtain and experiment with the drug. Still, detractors of cannabis continue to push the narrative that cannabis harms youths. Thankfully, regulators in every state that has since legalized cannabis for recreational use has made certain to stress the importance of education programs and agencies that would keep growing minds from abusing cannabis. The important takeaway from the Monitoring the Future survey results is that legalization is not impacting young people in a substantial way, but we also should not be crediting cannabis laws for the decline in use among teens. Most opponents of cannabis see their movement dwindling, but their concerns are valid and we should make sure that no matter what, cannabis laws do not negatively affect a very impressionable group. Please also remember that when cannabis affects kids, it hits them hard. Recent news reports highlight those concerns, with children being hospitalized for unknowingly consuming cannabis. Many states are considering a complete ban on cannabis-infused products that might appeal to children, or be mistaken as a non-medicated sweet. It’s easy to get involved in our community. You can sign-up for our newsletter to receive updates on our services and events. We also encourage you to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep up to date on all of the information and opportunities we offer. And of course, you can explore the cannabis available at Yerba.org!	33,553
Music: Cimarron Sunset by E. Carlos Nakai \|Playing a Trick On the Moon A Snoqualmie Legend Long ago, Snoqualm, or Moon, was chief of the heavens. One day he said to spider, "Make a rope of cedar bark and stretch it from the earth to the sky." Soon Fox and Blue Jay found the rope and climbed it. Late at night they came to the place where it was fastened to the underside of the sky. Blue Jay picked up a hole in the sky, and the two of them crawled through. Blue Jay flew to a tree, and Fox found himself in a lake. There he changed himself into Beaver. Moon had set a trap in the lake, and Beaver got caught in the trap. Next morning Moon took Beaver out of the trap, skinned him, stretched his skin out to dry, and threw the body into a corner of The next night Beaver waited until Moon was asleep and snoring loudly. Then he got up, took his skin from the place where it was stretching, and put it back on. While Moon was still snoring, he examined the house and the sky world. Outside he found a great forest of fir and pine and cedar trees. He pulled some of them up by their roots and then, with his spirit powers, made them small enough to carry under one arm. Under his other arm he put Moon's tools for making daylight. He took some fire from below the smoke hole, put ashes and leaves and bark around it, and carried it away in his other hand. Then Beaver found the hole Blue Jay made, changed himself back to Fox again, and went down the rope to the earth. There he gave the fire to the people. He set out the trees. He made the daylight. He set the sun in its place so it would give light and heat to all. The people were happy because of the things Fox brought from the sky. By this time Moon had awakened. When he found the beaver skin gone and the sun stolen, he was very angry. He knew that one of the earth people had tricked him. Noticing footprints around the house, he followed them to the top of the rope Spider had made. "I'll follow him to the earth world," Moon thought. But as he started down, the rope broke. Both Moon and rope fell down in a heap and were transformed into a mountain. Today the peak is called Mount Si. The face of Snoqualm, Moon, can still be seen on one of it's rocky walls. The trees which Fox brought down from the sky and planted have become the great forests of the Cascade Mountains. All Rights Reserved	9,427
What kind of private meerkat business takes place below the ground in their tunnels and dens — places that have never been observed firsthand by humans? What does a fish-hunting ocean dive look like to a penguin, and what's a chimpanzee’s view from the treetops? These and other questions about the previously unknown habits of wildlife are answered for the first time in "Animals with Cameras, A Nature Miniseries," produced by the BBC. The first episode will air nationwide in the U.S. tonight (Jan. 31) on PBS at 8 p.m. EST. [Photos: Hidden Cameras Find Diverse Animals in Tropical Forests] In this pioneering three-part documentary, filmmakers and camera designers partnered with biologists to capture unprecedented animal perspectives on land and in the oceans — including cheetahs, bears, seals and devil rays — using custom-built equipment. By outfitting animals with wearable cameras that were smaller, lighter, more sensitive and more durable than ever before, they captured high-definition footage that allows viewers to see the world through a wild animal's eyes. To reveal habitats from an animal's point of view, the filmmakers turned to a new generation of cameras, which were designed to be comfortable for a range of animal species to wear; tough enough to withstand "exploration"; and with enough battery life to shoot for hours at a time, Chris Watts, cameraman at British Technical Films and camera designer for "Animals with Cameras," told Live Science. Wearability and battery longevity were especially important for opening a window into the animals' interactions with each other, he explained. "A lot of thought went into the camera mounts, and how they would attach and drop off. And the weight of cameras — we had to keep them as light as possible," Watts said. For animals that were habituated to humans, such as the meerkats, the cameras could be attached and removed by hand, while with others — bears and devil rays, for example — the cameras were collected after a timed release. Technical challenges and unexpected discoveries In the first episode, cameras were fitted to meerkats in the Kalahari Desert, Magellanic penguins in South America and chimpanzees in Cameroon. Each group presented technical challenges — for the meerkats, the cameras had to be small enough for the animals to carry, but had to have enough battery life to shoot for hours in dim tunnels underground. Meanwhile, the penguin cameras, which had to be small and light, too, also had to be capable of shooting the penguins' speedy, ocean-foraging dives in deep, dark water. But only the chimpanzees were so curious about the cameras — which hung around their necks — that they fought over who would get to wear them, "because everyone wanted one," Buchanan recalled. "We had to create dummy cameras, so that every chimpanzee could get one," he said. The team also needed to repeatedly update the cameras' designs to keep the chimps interested, Mimi Swift, a chimpanzee caregiver with the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center, told Live Science in an email. "They got bored of them as soon as they had been thoroughly investigated and strength tested/destroyed, which meant we had to constantly modify them purely to keep them interesting to the chimps," she said. But it was worth the effort. Footage of the chimps high in the treetops revealed an unprecedented glimpse of foraging and nest-building behavior, and showed the young chimpanzees developing important social skills, Swift wrote in the email. [Photos: Hidden Cameras Find Diverse Animals in Tropical Forests] Meerkat pups and penguin dives The meerkat footage also held surprises for the scientists. Underground at night, they were found to be unexpectedly active and vocal, calling to locate their pups and other adults, Laura Meldrum, project manager of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, told Live Science. But the most exciting discovery was the sight of meerkat pups that were only a few hours old. Previously, the youngest pups ever seen by researchers were at least 2 to 3 weeks old, Meldrum said. And witnessing real-time, high-definition hunting footage of Magellanic penguins as they dove after their prey was "like taking off a blindfold," Rory Wilson, a professor of zoology at Swansea University in the U.K., told Live Science. A swimming penguin is near-impossible to observe from a boat or even from the water — "they whizz right past you," he said — and while it's possible to attach devices to the birds that gather data on their movements, underwater footage has traditionally been very poor, according to Wilson. "It gets too dark very rapidly, it's blurry, and it makes you sick to watch it," he said. But the new footage was exceptional. Seeing what the penguins saw as they were hunting provided critical missing information about their choices between different prey animals in the open ocean, offering a vital clue to understanding their impact on marine environments, Wilson said. Connection and protection Footage that captures these rare and exciting glimpses of animals' hidden habits is important to scientists, but documentaries like "Animals with Cameras" also resonate with audiences, connecting them with the beauty — and peril — of wildlife in their natural environments. Forging these connections is especially vital now, when so many creatures' habitats worldwide are threatened by human activity and human-driven climate change, wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan told Live Science. "We can only truly protect something if we know how it lives on this planet," he added. "Animals with Cameras, A Nature Miniseries" airs nationwide in the U.S. on Wednesdays from Jan. 31 through Feb. 14, 2018, at 8 p.m. EST on PBS (check local listings). Each episode will be available to stream the following day at pbs.org/nature and on PBS apps. Original article on Live Science.	199
Much of the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa Biodiversity Hotspot's original forests have been lost to agricultural conversion and urbanization; only about 10 percent of the original vegetation remains in pristine condition. The remaining habitat is limited to more than 400 patches of lowland forest, covering about 6,259 square kilometers. The most significant current threat to the hotspot is the expansion of agriculture. Because the soil is poor and can only support subsistence agriculture, most agricultural development involves short-term shifting cultivation concentrating on food crops such as cassava, maize, banana, pawpaw and coconut. The human population is increasing, and the demand for additional farmland increases every year. Commercial agricultural development, in the form of coconut, sisal, clove, cardamom and cashew nut plantations, has also led to the loss of lowland coastal forests and other natural habitats. Burning of woody plants for charcoal production causes major habitat loss near coastal towns and alongside main roads in Tanzania, while the collection of firewood poses a threat in areas away from towns and roads. Forests close to tourist areas, such as Arabuko-Sokoke Forest near Malindi and Watamu in Kenya, suffer from the high demand for wood carving (Brachylaena huillensis) and timber for the construction of hotels, private residences and tourist attractions. Uncontrolled burning to clear farmland, to drive animals for hunting, to collect honey and to reduce tsetse flies also threatens lowland coastal forests and thicket patches, often replacing rare, endemic coastal forest species with more common wide-ranging, fire-adapted species. Illegal logging using pit-sawing techniques is also a problem in almost all coastal forests where timber trees still remain, particularly in northern Mozambique and southern Tanzania. In addition to important biological resources, the countries of eastern Africa are endowed with a wealth of mineral resources; in coastal areas these include gas, gemstones, iron, titanium, limestone and kaolin. Destructive mining practices can destroy large areas of natural habitat. The coastal sands contain titanium and the mining of this ore destroys the natural vegetation. High-grade silica sands for glass manufacture are mined from deposits in Msambweni, while iron and manganese are mined on a small scale in the Kwale Kaya forests of coastal Kenya. There are also extensive areas of limestone along the coast, and rubies and other precious stones in some of the coastal forests of Tanzania. Read about threats in the former Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests Hotspot in our ecosystem profile (PDF - 3.4 MB), which lies within two newly classified hotspots: the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa and the Eastern Afromontane.	12,447
What is the definition of [ noun ] (chemistry) gene that produces its characteristic phenotype only when its allele is identical "the recessive gene for blue eyes" To share this definition press "text" (Facebook, Twitter) or "link" (blog, mail) then paste	39,489
Uterine Fibroids are the most common non cancerous tumors in women of child bearing age. These uterine fibroids are also called Uterine Leiomyomas or even myomas. Contrary to common fears, they do not normally convert into cancer. Uterine fibroids may be single in number or multiple. Most of the women don’t come to know that they have uterine fibroids because they may not have any visible symptoms. They are discovered only during a routine check up. What are Uterine Fibroids Uterine fibroids are benign smooth muscle tumors present in the uterus. These are made up of muscle cells of the uterus. The size of fibroids varies a lot. They may be as small as a seedling. In some cases they may become quite large, so much so that take up almost a complete wall of the uterus. In extreme cases large uterine fibroids have been known to push the uterus up till the rib cage. Usually large fibroids push against the urinary bladder. What are the causes of Uterine Fibroids The exact cause of uterine fibroids is unknown. What is known is that the fibroids develop when the cells in the muscles of the uterus begin to overgrow. The growth of the uterine fibroid is influenced by the presence of the hormones estrogen and progesterone. The level of these hormones is the highest during the child bearing age. Therefore the incidence of uterine fibroids is more during this time. Once menopause occurs, the levels of estrogen and progesterone decline and therefore the fibroids start shrinking on their own. In some cases the fibroids disappear completely after menopause. A few of the factors that have been known in the incidence of uterine fibroids are – - Obesity- Being overweight is a major risk factor in the development of uterine fibroids. - Heredity- If one or more of your family members like your mother or sister has or had fibroids, the chances of your having fibroids are much higher. - Race- Black women are more likely to have fibroids and that too at a younger age. - Diet- Having a diet high in red meat content and low in fruits and vegetables may contribute to fibroids. At the same time intake of alcohol may also increase risk of uterine fibroids. - Vit D Deficiency- The deficiency of Vit D may also increase your risk of having uterine fibroids. - PCOS – Presence of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome can also predispose you to uterine fibroids. - Diabetes- It is another common predisposing factor. - Hypertension- Presence of high blood pressure can also predispose you to fibroids. Symptoms of Uterine Fibroids Most of the uterine fibroids, particularly the smaller ones are asymptomatic. This means that there are not too many symptoms. One cannot often diagnose or point towards presence of fibroids from clinical observation. More often than not, small fibroids are found accidentally during routine ultrasounds. In cases where there are symptoms, the development of symptoms varies from patient to patient. In some patients, the symptoms are very slow to develop. It takes years to develop the symptoms. In some other cases, the symptoms develop very fast in just a couple of months. The common symptoms of uterine fibroids are- - Abnormal bleeding during menses- The most common symptom is a change in the normal menstrual bleeding pattern. In some cases, the bleeding may be profuse and protracted. This may last for more than a week. In yet some other cases, the bleeding may be intermittent and start mid cycle. - Pain during menses- Another common symptom is the presence of pain during menses. This pain may be felt in the lower back, lower abdomen and pelvis. - Pain during intercourse – There may be pain during intercourse. - Infertility – In some cases, more so when the fibroids are large, there may be infertility. In other cases, there may be miscarriages. - Fullness in the lower abdomen – Some females may even feel fullness or bloatedness in the abdomen. - Anaemia- Profuse bleeding may cause anaemia. Treatment of Uterine Fibroids The traditional or allopathic treatment of uterine fibroids is not very effective. Usually some medicines are given that interfere with normal hormonal secretion. These medicines have side effects as they disturb the hormonal balance of a female. The common advice of gynaecologists is to go in for surgery. This is more so if the female is not thinking of having children any more. A complete hysterectomy is often advised. This means that the uterus is completely removed. This causes immediate cessation of menses. Artificial and sudden onset of menopause often leads to complications. Homeopathic treatment of uterine fibroids Homeopathy is much more effective in treatment of uterine fibroids. Out of all possible alternatives, Homeopathy is the best non surgical treatment for fibroids. The homeopathic medicines slowly but surely retard the growth of fibroids. Over a period of time, the fibroids disappear completely. This is a far more effective and the most convenient treatment of fibroids. Uterine Fibroids – 5 best Homeopathic medicines for fibroids There are more than a dozen homeopathic remedies that are used in the treatment of fibroids. All of them are equally effective when they are indicated. The indications of the homeopathic medicines depend upon matching the symptoms of the patient with that of the medicines. Once there is a good matching, the indicated remedy will surely cure the patient. Having said that, I can say with a good degree of confidence that some medicines are far more commonly indicated. These 5 best medicines for uterine fibroids are 1. Phosphorus – best medicine for fibroids with profuse and protracted bleeding 2. Sabina- best medicine for fibroids with clotted bleeding 3. Calcarea Carb- best medicine for uterine fibroids with chilliness 4. Sepia – best remedy for uterine fibroids with irritability, indifference and bearing down pains 5. Thyroidinum- best medicine for fibroids with obesity A brief description of the 5 best medicines with their symptoms is being given below- 1. Phosphorus- best homeopathic medicine for fibroids with profuse and protracted bleeding When there is prolonged and profuse bleeding with uterine fibroids, Phosphorus is one of the best homeopathic medicines for uterine fibroids. There may even be bleeding in between menses. The mood of the patient is pensive and even weeps before menses. 2. Sabina- best homeopathic medicine for uterine fibroids with clotted bleeding When there is discharge of dark or black clots with blood, Sabina is one of the best homeopathic medicines for fibroids. The menses are profue and bright. The bleeding is worse from motion. There is pain from the sacral region going down to the pubis in the front. The uterine pains often extend downwards and to the thighs. 3. Calcarea Carb- best homeopathic remedy for fibroids with chilliness When there is chilliness and cold sweating with uterine fibroids, Calcarea Carb is one of the best homeopathic medicine for fibroids. A Calcarea Carb patient is usually fat, flabby, fair and perspires a lot. There may be sour smell about the patient. The menses may be too profuse and last too long. There is burning and itching of vulva before menses. There may be cutting pain in the uterine region during menses. 4. Sepia – best homeopathic medicine for uterine fibroids with irritability, indifference and bearing down pains. When the mental symptoms of irritability and indifference to close family members is present, Sepia is one of the best homeopathic medicines for uterine fibroids. There are bearing down pains present in the lower abdomen. The patient feels as if everything would escape through vulva. She feels as if she must cross her legs to prevent protrusion of the contents. The periods are too late and scanty. There may be pain in the vagina during coition. 5. Thyroidinum – best homeopathic medicine for uterine fibroids with obesity When there is obesity along with uterine fibroids, Thyroidinum is one of the best homeopathic medicines for fibroids. The thyroid gland is often underactive. The tumors may also be present in the breasts.	42,724
Importance of Co-Curricular Activities Looking at the list of various types of activities, the question will arise in your mind is how do these activities help us in achieving the objectives of education. Also what is the need and importance of these activities? Let us first discuss the advantages. Curricular activities have a number of values like; 1. Educational value, 2. Psychological Values, 3. Development of Social Values, 4. Development of Civic Values, 5. Physical Development Values, 6. Recreational Values, 7. Cultural Values, Let us discuss them one by one. 1. Educational Value These activities have great "educational" potential. All classroom teaching is theoretical. Practical knowledge can be imparted through co-curricular activities. Excursions and tours provide firsthand experience and reinforce classroom knowledge in subjects like history, geography, nature study etc. Language and expression improves through debates and recitations. . Teaching of History gets vitalized by dramatization. Practical lessons in civics can be given through student self-government. School magazines teach students the art of writing forcefully and effectively. Celebration of functions develops organizational capacities and leadership qualities in students. Projects provide direct learning opportunities. 2. Psychological Value These activities as the name suggests meet the psychological needs of the students, mainly with reference to social demands of the pupils. They help in expressing personal behavior and provide a vehicle for creative thinking. a) These Activities act as Agent for Sublimation of the Instincts Co-curricular activities are a means of channelizing students' instincts into healthy and fruitful channels e.g. instinct of curiosity can be fruitfully channelized by library, stamp and coin collection etc. The instinct of gregariousness can be directed through self-government, social service and other group work. b) Emotional 'Health A student is a bundle of innate urges or drives. It is natural for him/her to be curious, to show off, to master, to be loyal and to be sympathetic. Co-curricular activities provide valuable opportunities in which these drives may be capitalized for educational benefit. But fortunately or unfortunately, they may not come up to the required expectation e.g. some students who are backward in studies develop inferiority complex and find school life disgusting and can get emotionally unbalanced. Such activities provide a means of emotional adjustment for students. C) To’ Increase the Interest of Students A student who gives his time and effort to his school is, therefore, more interested in it, because of his contributions e.g. the athlete talks about school spirit. d) Recognition of Individual Differences Co-curricular Activities By providing a number of co-curricular activities, we can ensure the expression of potential capacities of each individual e.g. writing, public speaking, dramatics, painting, different games and sports, organization of functions etc. which provide training in different aspects of personality of students. These activities, thus, cater to aptitude, interests and abilities of students and sometimes act as a determining factor for the choice of future vocation. 3. Development of Social Value Social cooperation is recognized as one of the important demands of citizenship. It is difficult to teach through school subjects like Languages, Mathematics or Social Sciences. By 'participating in group activities, students learn good manners and develop a sense of cooperation. Membership in a club, student council, dramatic cast or an athletic team requires co-operation. Students learn to appreciate the relationship of an individual to the social group. Through team activities, students learn social cooperation. They develop group spirit, 'we' - feeling, belongingness, unity and ability to be co-operative. 4. Development of Civic Value In group activities students learn the value of doing one's duty. For example, students' self-government in schools provides an excellent training in exercising one's franchise and shouldering responsibilities. These activities train the students for good citizenship. Co curricular activities offer many opportunities for the development of self-discipline e.g. NCC and ACC. They develop in students a spirit of toleration of others' views, healthy exchange of ideas, fellow feeling and accepting victory and defeat with grace. Secondly, the school is a miniature society and the activities of the school should have direct relations with the activities of the society. Qualities like initiative and leadership are not always developed in a classroom. On the playground, students get opportunities to develop leadership qualities like initiative, decision-making, judgment, tolerance etc. These qualities are required for a democratic society. Many girls and boys have little practice in controlling themselves and in directing their own affairs. They have not developed the ability to do these things. As a result, when they are placed in settings that demand self-direction, they are lost. Co-curricular activities provide numerous situations in which students may gradually get increasing responsibilities for their own direction. The settings for developing these carry-over values must be definitely provided. A school must be a workshop in democracy. The traits and qualities of leadership are developed in students, when they organize these activities by themselves under the guidance of teachers. Students learn to plan, organize and I execute the plan that has been developed. This develops in them initiative, planning, thinking and power of independent judgment. These activities provide excellent moral training. Through these activities are learnt the importance of obeying the law, rules and regulations, love for truth and above all, these activities develop moral consciousness by providing moral experiences. For example, a boy in charge of finances has to act honestly. On the play field, one has to show sportsman spirit. 5. Physical Development Value While games, sports and athletics directly contribute to physical development of students, other co-curricular activities also indirectly contribute to it. These activities provide a useful channel for the growth and development of the body. 6. Recreational Value Lack of ability and training in proper utilization of one's leisure time is one of the major defects in our present system of education. By providing and organizing various activities, we provide wholesome opportunities to our students, rather than to spend their spare time in undesirable activities e.g. Movies, TV, idle talk etc. Hobbies developed at the secondary school stage become lifelong habits. 7. Cultural Virtue Some co*curricular activities are of tremendous value, as they help in providing opportunities for better understanding of our cultural heritage and traditions, for example, activities like dramatics, folk songs, dance, folk music, exhibitions and celebration of various religious and social festivals provide better knowledge and understanding of our culture, foster cultural tastes and awaken cultural interests among students. Student would appreciate to learn all these though our language, religion, culture, food habits, dress etc. are different but we are one, and that we are leman beings of the same universe. Thus, co-curricular activities will help in developing national and international understanding. We can concede by saying that co-curricular activities cater to the development of a child's entire personality, draw out the latent powers of children of different temperaments, supplement academic work, develop social and civic sense. Without these activities students would be mere book-worms. These activities are really important as they have a potential of developing the intellect of a student which is always not possible with theoretic procedures. For this co-curricular activities need to be effective so that they can give the right exposure to the mind. When effective these activities provide a practical hands-on approach to the students which provide similar experiences which they will face in the outside world. Such experiences go a long way in producing multi-faceted personalities which, in due course of time may bring honor to the country as well. Students have a right to a broad education. A wide range of experiences prepare students better for the future, especially in today’s uncertain world. Broad education can provide better preparation for life in a society where an individual may need to change career several times in their life. Student minds aren't mature enough to ascertain what's good and what's bad for them? Their decisions may be influenced by peer pressure etc. but at the same time these activities should not be forced. Co-curricular activities need to be more refined, varied and interesting so as to be widely accepted and successful. A successful co-curriculum builds links between the school and the wider community, bringing local enthusiasts in to work with students, and sending students out to work on community projects. Many children have talents in all sorts of different areas, and it is wrong to force them to specialize too early. A career is not the only part of an adult’s life – school needs to make sure they have interests and skills that will help them in their family and leisure lives too. Through equal balancing of academic and co-curriculum, the students have the chance to exercise their rights and the opportunity to be multi-talented. Role of Co-Curricular Activities in a Student's Life - It helps to develop the all-round personality of the students to face the undaunted task and turbulent world of future. Experience and accolades gained through many of these activities help during internships and other school sponsored work programs. - The aim of curricular activities is to make the students fit for the future time and to develop a sense of competitive spirit, co-operation, leadership, diligence, punctuality, and team-spirit as well as to provide a backdrop for the development of their creative talents. Whenever someone is chosen as a head boy or is given leadership in certain matters, it boosts self-confidence and sense of achievement. - Extra activities for school students are a means to enhance social interaction, leadership, healthy recreation, self-discipline and self-confidence. Competitions may also be organized to create a competitive environment and groups with an objective to work towards a better society and the world as well. - In today's competitive world, percentage makes a lot of difference during admission into various courses. Such students are given preference as compared to non participants. These may make a difference when the students are considered for the most popular courses. - When the students in their early teens are given some responsibilities like giving first aid they acquire a sense of responsibility. - Some tasks require precision, management and organizational and such activities provide training to prepare students for the outside world. - In polytechnics and universities, certificates of such activities are given weight age by potential employers. - Students in the form of Alumni etc., act as counselors or guides in their respective institutions in such matters. They impart what they have learned to their juniors. Whilst doing so they are imparting knowledge and helping in the development of a productive society. - Such activities divert student's attention from harmful activities like drugs, crime etc. It channelizes their energies in fruitful activities. - Physical activities like running, football etc. help not only in the physical fitness they also refresh the burdened mind. - Success in organizations requires more than high intellect. Thus, college recruiters commonly examine job candidates' extracurricular activities in search of well-rounded, emotionally intelligent, and interpersonally skilled students. Intuitively, extracurricular activities are like valuable student experiences. Scope of CCAs · The scope of CCAs is wide due to a nearly inexhaustible list of interests. Some of the major groups include Computer Club, Art Club, Dance Club, Swimming, Basketball and Photography Club. Uniformed groups include the St. John Ambulance Brigade (SJAB), Red Cross, Military Band, The Singapore Scout Association, Girl Guides Singapore, National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) and National Cadet Corps (NCC). Performing arts groups are also included, with Chinese Orchestra, choirs, bands and Dance Clubs among such CCAs. · CCAs are held outside standard curriculum hours and the activities partaken depend on the nature of CCA. For example, uniformed groups do foot drills and team-building exercises while competitive sportsmen spend most of the time training and learning techniques from their instructors. · In the first year, the students are required to pick one or more interest group to join. While the choices available to students differ from school to school, there are national requirements for the different levels of education. · In some primary schools, students may choose not to join a CCA. In primary school, Brownies are likened to junior Girl Guides. · There is a wide choice of CCAs in schools, for which students can sign up based on their interest and ability. · In secondary schools, CCAs are treated more seriously. Belonging to a Core CCA is compulsory, and the students may choose a second CCA if they wish. At the end of the fourth/fifth year, 1 to 2 'O' Level points are removed from the examination aggregate (a lower aggregate indicates better marks). Although the marks are few, it is believed by many that they may make a difference when the students are considered for the most popular tertiary school courses. For example, to enter RIJC via the 'O' Levels requires a perfect score as well as removal of points. In addition, as the students are in their early teens, they are given some responsibilities. Red Cross and SJAB members, for example, are often required to render first aid at public events. Most uniformed groups require precision, management and organizational skills, providing training to prepare students for the outside world. In polytechnics and universities (tertiary education institutes), CCA records are considered by potential employers. · CCA groups are mostly groups catering to specific interests. Such groups would elect from among themselves a Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, among other positions. The National Police Cadet Corps has started a few Open Units in the tertiary institutions, recruiting members to serve as student leaders in the secondary school units. · Many former students return to their alma mater after graduation to help impart what they have learned to their juniors. Some do so within a formal framework, such as those in the uniformed groups (where ex-cadets are appointed as cadet officers), or the Voluntary Adult Leader scheme (for those above age 20). Others do so on a casual basis. · Competitions may also be organized to create a competitive environment and provide such CCA groups with an objective to work towards. In Singapore, there are competitions at the zonal and national level. These include the Annual Zonal and National Sporting Competitions for sportsmen and the bi-annual Singapore Youth Festival for the Aesthetics-related CCAs. · Co-curricular activities are those activities which fall outside the regular academic curriculum. They are also know as 'Extra-curricular' activities. Most of the educational organizations in various different parts of the world facilitate these activities for school and college students. Faculty is mostly involved in organizing and directing these activities in schools while it maybe independent from faculty in universities or colleges. Extracurricular activities exist at all levels of education, from 4th-6th, junior high/middle school, high school, college and university education. These activities are compulsory in some institutions while in others it's voluntary. Where these are compulsory all school students must participate them alongside the standard study curriculum. At higher levels of education student participation generally include academic points in lieu of the efforts put by a student in a particular activity. These are held outside standard curriculum hours and the activities partaken depend on the nature of the institute and occasion. Catholic convents schools have generally have Christmas celebration as a major part of the co-curricular activities due to catholic significance. While some schools are more inclined towards annual function. Some give significance to both. Today these activities have become more profound than ever before. Most of the institutes highlight them as a crucial advertising factor in their prospectus or advertisements in order to attract parent-students attention. Though not all of these activities may pursued with great enthusiasm these are however popular and leave a life long lasting experience for most. These activities are not examined in the same way that the academic curriculum is, and because most of them take place outside lessons, such activities have less status in education than the main curriculum. However, they are often held to be very important to the wider education of young men and women. Co-curricular activities form the core of students' life. Many schools and colleges have different units like clubs or houses in which all the students have been divided into four houses. Each house has a house Master & staff of the school to guide the students for various internal competitions	10,822
St. Zoe with her husband and sons Holy Martyr Zoë was the wife of St. Hesperus. They suffered in the second century during the persecutions under Emperor Hadrian. Zoë and Hesperus had been Christians since their childhood, and they also raised their children, Cyriacus and Theodulus, in the Faith. They were all slaves of an illustrious Roman named Catullus, who lived in Asia Minor. While serving their earthly master, the saints never defiled themselves with food offered to idols. Once, Catullus sent Hesperus on business to Tritonia. Sts. Cyriacus and Theodulus decided to run away, unable to endure the constant contact with pagans. However, Zoë, did not bless her sons to take this action. They returned and asked their mother’s blessing to confess their faith in Christ openly. When the brothers explained to Catullus that they were Christian, he was surprised, but he did not deliver them to be tortured. Instead, he sent them with their mother to St. Hesperus at Tritonia, hoping that both parents would persuade their children to deny Christ. At Tritonia, the family lived in tranquility, but prepared for martyrdom. All the slaves returned for the birthday of Catullus’ son, and a feast was prepared at the house in honor of the pagan goddess Fortuna. Food was sent to the slaves from the master’s table, including meat and wine that had been sacrificed to the idols. However, Zoë and her family refused to eat the food. She poured the wine on the ground and threw the meat to the dogs. When he learned of this, Catullus gave orders to torture Zoë’s sons. The brothers were stripped, suspended from a tree, and raked with iron hooks before the eyes of their parents, who counseled their children to persevere to the end. Sts. Hesperus and Zoë were then subjected to terrible tortures. Finally, all four martyrs were thrown into a red-hot furnace, where they surrendered their souls to the Lord. Their bodies were preserved in the fire unharmed, and angelic singing was heard, glorifying the confessors of the Lord. By permission of the Orthodox Church in America (www.oca.org)	49,498
\|Are you bored with your workouts? Is your workout so redundant that you need to force yourself to the gym or out for a run, swim, or bike? Do you remember someone telling you "variety is the spice of life?" The above saying applies to exercise in the same manner that it does to food selection. Nutritionally speaking, it means balancing your intake of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in proper proportion. In exercise, variety is identified by the name "cross-training". Just What is Cross Training? What is cross training? Simply stated, it refers to training for more than one sport at the same time, or training for several different fitness components (such as endurance, strength, and flexibility) at one time. When combined efficiently, they may simply provide a more complete body workout. For example, runners need more upper body workout, so swimming and/or weightlifting would be great complementary activities. Cross-training can provide whole body benefits. Many people find a cross-training program more interesting and beneficial than participating in the same sport every time. Another advantage is that cross training may reduce overuse injuries. When the same muscles and joints are continually stressed, the risk of injury increases. However, by alternating activities that stress different major muscle groups and joints, you give your body a much-needed rest and decrease risk of injury due to over training and overuse. Furthermore, with cross training, if you do injure yourself, you limit lost training time by merely changing your workout emphasis in those activities that will not exacerbate your condition. Improve Your Primary Exercise Activity Cross training can make you stronger in your primary exercise activity. Even though your favorite activity may be tennis or racquetball, stationary cycling, jogging, or aerobics a couple of times per week will really help your overall game. Your general overall fitness will improve, you will perform and feel better and maybe even want to participate in new activities. Aerobic or fitness classes are changing to meet the varying needs of different age groups and different conditions. High impact, low impact, kickboxing, step, sculpt, indoor cycling, yoga, Pilates, aqua and circuit classes are available to suit the needs and demands of our more educated population. Remember, keep variety in your workout, stay active, and do everything in moderation. Cross training will allow you to keep your workout's fun, safe, effective and always different. Stay healthy, be happy and remain fit. Cross training helps to keep your workouts fun, safe and effective.	4,144
Hexadecimal is a number system that uses 16 symbols to represent values, instead of the 10 symbols used in decimal (base-10) system. In hexadecimal, the symbols used are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, where each symbol represents a specific value. For example, in decimal the number 10 is represented as 10, whereas in hexadecimal it is represented as A. Hexadecimal is commonly used in computer science as it allows binary data to be represented in a more compact and human-readable form. Each hexadecimal digit represents 4 bits of binary data, which can make it easier to work with and manipulate binary values. In addition to its use in computer science, hexadecimal is also used in other fields such as color representation in web design, where it allows for more concise and intuitive representation of color values. The use of hexadecimal as a number system can be traced back to the ancient Babylonians, who used a number system based on 60, which can be seen as a type of sexagesimal (base-60) system. However, the modern use of hexadecimal as a compact representation of binary data can be traced back to the development of early computers, when the need arose for a more concise and human-readable representation of binary values. It is not clear who first thought of using hexadecimal for this purpose, but its use became widespread in the computer science community in the mid-20th century, as computer technology advanced and the need for more efficient ways to represent and manipulate binary data became increasingly important. Since then, hexadecimal has become an indispensable tool for computer programmers and engineers, and continues to be widely used in various fields, such as cryptography and web design. Hexadecimal is primarily used by computer programmers and engineers, as well as other technical professionals, such as web developers, who work with binary data. Its compact representation of binary values makes it easier for these professionals to understand, manipulate, and debug binary data. Additionally, hexadecimal is also used in certain other fields, such as cryptography and color representation in web design, where its compact representation of numerical values can be useful. In short, hexadecimal is for anyone who needs a more concise and human-readable representation of binary data or numerical values, including computer programmers and engineers, web developers, cryptography experts, and others working in related technical fields. Hexadecimal is important for several reasons, including: Compactly Representing Binary Data: Hexadecimal allows binary data to be represented in a more compact and human-readable form. This makes it easier for computer programmers, engineers, and other technical professionals to understand and manipulate binary values. Efficient Debugging: Hexadecimal representation of binary data makes it easier for technical professionals to identify and debug issues with binary values. Human-Readable Representation: Hexadecimal provides a human-readable representation of binary data, making it easier for people to work with and understand binary values. Web Design: In web design, hexadecimal is important as it allows for more intuitive and efficient representation of color values, making it easier for web developers to specify and work with color values. Cryptography: In cryptography, hexadecimal is important as it allows for more compact representation of large numerical values, making it easier for cryptography experts to work with and manipulate these values. In short, hexadecimal is important because it provides a more compact, human-readable representation of binary data, making it easier for technical professionals to understand, manipulate, and debug binary values, and it is used in fields like web design and cryptography to efficiently represent numerical values. Hexadecimal is widely used in many fields, including: Computer Science: Hexadecimal is commonly used in computer science to represent binary data in a more human-readable form. For example, it is used to represent memory addresses, data stored in memory, and values in programming languages. Web Design: Hexadecimal is also used to represent color values in web design. Each color can be represented as a six-digit hexadecimal code, making it easy for web developers to specify and work with color values. Cryptography: Hexadecimal is used in cryptography to represent large numerical values in a more compact form. Digital Electronics: Hexadecimal is also used in digital electronics to represent binary values in a more compact form, making it easier for engineers to understand and manipulate binary values. Other Technical Fields: Hexadecimal is also used in other technical fields, such as computer networking, where its compact representation of binary values can be useful. In short, hexadecimal is used in a variety of fields where a compact and human-readable representation of binary values is needed, including computer science, web design, cryptography, digital electronics, and other technical fields. You can learn more about hexadecimal by following these steps: Read introductory materials: Start with introductory articles or chapters in computer science or programming books that explain the basics of hexadecimal and how it is used to represent binary data. Practice conversions: Try converting binary numbers to hexadecimal and vice versa to gain a better understanding of how the two number systems relate to each other. Study examples: Look at examples of how hexadecimal is used in computer science and other technical fields, such as web design, cryptography, and digital electronics. Take online courses or tutorials: Consider taking online courses or tutorials focused on computer science, programming, or related subjects to learn more about hexadecimal and its applications. Join online forums: Join online forums or discussion groups focused on computer science, programming, or other technical fields to discuss hexadecimal and ask questions of more experienced professionals. Experiment: Try experimenting with hexadecimal representation in a programming language or on a calculator to gain hands-on experience with the number system. By following these steps and actively seeking out opportunities to learn, you can gain a deeper understanding of hexadecimal and its uses.	36,958
created 2008 · complexity basic · author Sightless · version 7.0 Often when you enter a blank line by pressing Enter twice in insert mode, Vim removes the indent from the blank line and your cursor moves back to column 1. Likewise, if you position the cursor on a blank line and press letter o to open a new line below it, Vim does not open that line with any indent. Often, though, you want to use the same indent as the preceding non-blank line. There are two ways to achieve this. If you can tolerate lines in your files that contain only whitespace, you can simply put this in your vimrc: :inoremap <CR> <CR>x<BS> Vim doesn't delete the indent if you type something, even if you delete that something, and this mapping simulates your typing something even if you didn't, and deletes it before proceeding to the next line! This approach is not recommended, though, as it is generally considered poor practice to have lines that contain only whitespace. Another approach is to save the following in a .vim file in your ~/.vim/plugin (or $HOME/vimfiles/plugin on Windows) directory, or add it to your vimrc: function! IndentIgnoringBlanks(child) let lnum = v:lnum while v:lnum > 1 && getline(v:lnum-1) == "" normal k let v:lnum = v:lnum - 1 endwhile if a:child == "" if ! &l:autoindent return 0 elseif &l:cindent return cindent(v:lnum) endif else exec "let indent=".a:child if indent != -1 return indent endif endif if v:lnum == lnum && lnum != 1 return -1 endif let next = nextnonblank(lnum) if next == lnum return -1 endif if next != 0 && next-lnum <= lnum-v:lnum return indent(next) else return indent(v:lnum-1) endif endfunction command! -bar IndentIgnoringBlanks \ if match(&l:indentexpr,'IndentIgnoringBlanks') == -1 \| \ if &l:indentexpr == '' \| \ let b:blanks_indentkeys = &l:indentkeys \| \ if &l:cindent \| \ let &l:indentkeys = &l:cinkeys \| \ else \| \ setlocal indentkeys=!^F,o,O \| \ endif \| \ endif \| \ let b:blanks_indentexpr = &l:indentexpr \| \ let &l:indentexpr = "IndentIgnoringBlanks('". \ substitute(&l:indentexpr,"'","''","g")."')" \| \ endif command! -bar IndentNormally \ if exists('b:blanks_indentexpr') \| \ let &l:indentexpr = b:blanks_indentexpr \| \ endif \| \ if exists('b:blanks_indentkeys') \| \ let &l:indentkeys = b:blanks_indentkeys \| \ endif augroup IndentIgnoringBlanks au! au FileType * IndentIgnoringBlanks augroup END You can change the * in the au command at the bottom to make it apply to only the filetypes you want, or put the part after the * in after scripts instead of with the above. :help after-directory It works by 'wrapping' your indentexpr in another. The script sets the indentexpr to its own function, which adjusts the cursor position and variables as if you were inserting directly after the last non-blank line, not after the blank line, and then evaluates the original indentexpr. - See :help prevnonblank(). It should greatly simplify your method. Regarding :help prevnonblank(): Rather than simplifying it, this function would make the script more complicated; what we need is not a non-blank line but a line preceded by a non-blank line; we also need the cursor moved. Sightless 23:26, 12 February 2009 (UTC) - I don't understand. Don't you just want to set the current indent to be the same as the indent level of the previous line that isn't blank? This is easily done using prevnonblank, with an example given in the help: " let ind = indent(prevnonblank(v:lnum - 1))". Won't this work? Am I missing something? --Fritzophrenic 19:45, 16 February 2009 (UTC) Yeah, it's not that simple. What we want to do primarily is trick the syntax-specific indentexpr so it thinks it's opening a line below a correctly indented line, not below a blank line, and leave it to calculate whatever complicated indent change it wants to. Sightless 15:04, 17 March 2009 (UTC) The script seems fairly solid. It should now behave the same as Vim when there are no blank lines involved. When blank lines are involved, and 'autoindent' would otherwise be in effect, the script takes the indent from whichever non-blank line is closest. This will usually be what the user wants. It can't second-guess indent expressions' intentions, though, so it may be slightly out in some cases. Sightless 15:04, 17 March 2009 (UTC) This approach is not recommended, though, as it is generally considered poor practice to have lines that contain only whitespace.The thing is, using indented blank lines is useful. One example is diff'ing files often result to much cleaner and understandable diffs if blank lines are indented instead of empty. The main problem I have with the current system is that it makes trailing whitespace removal a mandatory and always-active part of the indenting system. An option would be good, but maybe the best thing would be to remove the option from the indenting and create a trailing-spaces removal system that allows to remove whitespace automatically all the time, and not in some specific conditions (i.e. blank lines if the blank line has not been modified). 23:54, October 15, 2011 (UTC)	43,106
The increasing immigration of America by Europeans forced the nation to begin expanding the land it needed. The idea of Manifest Destiny was prevalent throughout the citizens of the US, and each wanted his/her piece of land so they could start living out their lives. Florida was one the most lush and fertile areas in the country, and was prime location for more settlers who wanted to acquire property so that they could make some money. However, there was a large Native American population that had been living there for centuries. So, something had to give, and it ended up being the Native Americans. For the Seminole Indians of Florida, this was a serious issue. Formed during the 18th century by Indians from Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and former members of the Creek nation. When they were told to relocate, thousands did so, but several hundred stayed behind to stay and fight the settling whites as well as the government forces. During what is known as the Seminole Wars, the tribe fought, and killed, over 1500 American soldiers. This group can still be considered unconquered, because they were never truly defeated. In 1853, the Governor of Florida passed a bill stating that any Indian captured in Florida would be sent west of the Mississippi. This was a major moment for Anglo-Indian relations in Florida, because it was the first document forced relocation in Florida history. It caused thousands of Seminoles to leave, and for those who stayed, they were forced to accept land that was a pittance compared to the land they had previously overseen. - "No title," New York Times, February 21, 1853. - Library Of Congress, "Immigration Native American", Library Of Congress, http://international.loc.gov/learn/features/immig/native_american2.html (accessed November 5th, 2008).	38,695
Monday, 01 Oct 2018 Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican holiday for celebrating and honoring those who have passed. One tradition includes building ofrendas (altars) honoring the deceased using brightly colored skulls, marigolds, and possessions of the departed. Instead of sugar, our skulls are paper mache, but we invite you to decorate them in the spirit of Dia de los Muertos using paint, glitter, gems, flowers and other adornments. How can an evidence-based approach to implicit bias promote greater equity and inclusion within STEM teaching and learning? Join us on Mondays in October to explore this question in depth alongside future faculty from all disciplines, levels, and roles within STEM. While the current bodies of literature on implicit bias are extensive, fewer studies focus on its scope in STEM teaching and learning. In the first session of this CIRTLCast series, invited speakers will discuss the prevalence of implicit bias in STEM, particularly in the context of higher education. We will define and discuss key terms, such as equity, oppression, privilege, and microaggressions. "Get Out the Vote Plays," Tiffany Antone, lecturer in music and theatre will curate short, nonpartisan plays. This lunchtime series features facets of composition and art through a series of readings or performances curated by Iowa State faculty. Bring your lunch or stop by Bookends Café on your way. What defines effective teaching, and how do we measure it? These questions are critically important to the teaching mission and to faculty careers. The ISU Faculty Handbook states that "When teaching is part of the faculty assignment, effectiveness is an essential criterion for advancement." CELT will be hosting two nationally recognized scholars who will share their research on Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness, with particular focus on: Learn the fundamentals of woodworking equipment while creating a tool carrier. Leave class with knowledge of proper machinery use, and, most importantly, woodshop safety. 4 weeks beginning Monday, October 1, 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. Join professional photographer and instructor Mark Stoltenberg for a four-part class covering the basics of photography including equipment (and how to use it), depth of field, aperture, light, composition, finding your subject & "tips and tricks". Flowing, graceful, and distinctive are just a few words to describe the wonderful group of garden plants known as ornamental grasses.	6,188
After a short winter with plentiful rain, the valley of the sun's mountains and desserts are filled with wildflowers and plump cactus. With a beauty unlike anything seen elsewhere, and some that are just bazaar, it is natural to desire a means of identifying these unique flowering plants. Given the limited amount of flowering plants in the Arizona, this is not a difficult task. Identify whether the plant is a cactus or another variety of plant. Cactus and succulents will have thick, strange-shaped leaves, and many have needles. If the flower is on top of a very tall cactus, this is a saguaro. If it is on a short ovular-shaped cactus, it belongs to the barrel family. The barrel family has hybrids available that produce bright pink and orange flowers. If it has long, thick looking leaves, it is either an agave or an aloe vera. Determine whether the other variety of plant is a ground cover or a shrub. A ground cover is a plant that spreads out along the ground and usually produces small clusters of flowers. The most common ground cover plants found in Arizona include lantana, sandpaper verbena and trailing dalea. Lantana produces tiny flower clusters that are usually yellow, orange or purple. Sandpaper verbena produces circular clusters of bright purple flowers. Trailing dalea's flowers are deep purple and about the same size as the plant's leaves. Identify the color and size of the shrub's blooms. Common Arizona shrubs include the Mexican bird of Paradise, which has bright red and yellow flowers, and the Green Feathery Cassia, which has showy yellow flowers. It may also be Mexican Honeysuckle, which has orange tubular flowers, or the Chaparral Sage, which contains purple spikes of flowers.	1,414
Created with Grolier Online, Scholastic’s “Research Starters: The Anasazi and Pueblo Indians” offers students a jump-start on their research papers about these Native American cultures. In addition to a brief introduction, students will find a glossary of terms to know, and links to 12 Scholastic reading activities on related subjects, from the Natural Bridges National Monument to Kivas (sacred ceremonial chambers of present-day Pueblo Indians). Plus, Scholastic culled the Web and tracked down 32 helpful, interesting sites related to Native Americans, including: • Native American Home Pages: Award-winning database of Native American Web resources covering individual nations, organizations, colleges, arts, languages, native businesses, and more. Maintained by Lisa A. Mitten, bibliographer at the Univ. of Pittsburgh. • National Museum of the American Indian: This Smithsonian Institution site contains information about the museum's exhibitions and research as well as an annotated listing of other Native American sites on the Internet. • Collapse — Why Do Civilizations Fall?: This Web site, from the Annenberg/CPB Project, presents theories and methods used by archaeologists to study the decline of societies. A journal allows users to record clues and reach conclusions regarding the collapse of individual civilizations.	18,471
National Water Policy 2012 It's main emphasis is to treat water as ECONOMIC GOOD which the ministry claims to promote its conservation and efficient use. Features of National Water Policy: - To ensure access to a minimum quantity of potable water for essential health and hygiene to all citizens, available within easy reach of the household. - To curtail subsidy to agricultural electricity users. - To keep aside a portion of the river flow to meet the ecological needs and to ensure that the low and high flow releases correspond in time closely to the natural flow regime. - To give statutory powers to Water Users Associations to maintain the distribution system. - Project benefited families to bear part of the cost of resettlement & rehabilitation of project affected families. - To remove the large disparity between stipulations for water supply in urban areas and in rural areas. - To support a National Water Framework Law. Major Provisions Under this policy are: - Envisages to establish a standardized national information system with a network of data banks and data bases. - Resource planning and recycling for providing maximum availability. - To give importance to the impact of projects on human settlements and environment. - Guidelines for the safety of storage dams and other water-related structures. - Regulate exploitation of groundwater. - Setting water allocation priorities in the following order: Drinking water, Irrigation, Hydropower, Navigation, Industrial and other uses. - The water rates for surface water and ground water should be rationalized with due regard to the interests of small and marginal farmers.	29,282
Monitor for Leafrollers and Other Caterpillars Bloomtime applications of Bacillus thuringiensis for peach twig borer help to keep leafroller and other caterpillar populations under control. Leafroller damage is not a problem for prunes grown for the dried market, but needs to be monitored on fresh market prunes so that prompt action can be taken if damaging populations develop. Monitor for the presence of caterpillars from the beginning of bloom (green fruitworm) through petal fall (leafrollers), looking for any species that may cause fruit damage. Carefully check young leaves and shoots for the presence of peach twig borer and leafroller larvae and leaf damage. Use a beating tray to catch green fruitworm larvae that drop from the tree as you shake blossom clusters. Use the photos below to identify caterpillars that are present in the orchard at this time of year. Names link to more information on identification and management.	15,177
Could The Science Behind Jurassic Park Save Our Insects? You all know about the premise for Steven Spielberg's 1993 Jurassic Park, and hopefully you also know about the global effort going on to the reverse the impending extinction of Bees on Earth , but do you know what they have in common? It turns out that both are rooted in one scientist's discovery in Lebanon during the 1980s. The story of this elusive discovery began in Jezzine, a small town within the Mt-Lebanon mountain range in southern Lebanon. Once upon a time, during the mid 1980s, an amber expert from the American University of Beirut named Afti Marka uncovered some 130-150 million year old amber fragments while excavating the rock underneath the cliffs of Mt-Lebanon. Marka discovered that these fragments contained a number of well-preserved Jurassic-period insects. Amazed by what he found, he began studying the samples and developed a tentative hypothesis about what the potential for such well-preserved samples might be — a hypothesis that we all know so well thanks to Michael Crichton's classic tale, Jurassic Park. Unfortunately, Marka soon disproved his own theory, limiting its influence to the world of science fiction. The tragedy of this story actually lies in all of the hype and excitement that the film and the novel created around the fictionalization of the research, and the subsequent shadow that was cast upon other directions that Azar's findings could have taken. Once scientists put the fictionalized pseudo-scientific speculations to rest concerning dinosaurs, they moved on from Azar's exceptional fossils, leaving them behind to be forgotten. Such is the nature of over-kill. Although it has been thoroughly proven by now that we will never be able to recreate dinosaurs, or at least not by the methodology used in Crichton's Jurassic Park - the initial research might soon be making a prominent comeback to the forefront of biological/paleontological research. This time, though, it will be paying more attention to the preserved insects that started it all. Scientists believe that one of the big riddles of the 21st century will be the increasing threat to the survival of insect species that are essential to the balance of Earth's ecosystems. More to the point, the human race's survival is heavily tied to the survival of insect species. Einstein is rumored to have believed that the human race could only survive about 5 years past the extinction of bees and, whether or not he did predict this, the fact remains that the environment as we know it is completely dependent on the various insect species who all perform specific duties that are crucial to the survival of the human race on Earth. By examining these Jurassic period insects that have been so well preserved, researchers hope to discover information about the mysterious history of insect evolution that could guide us towards a future direction of insect extinction prevention. It could be that these ancient little creatures hold the key to the elusive insect resilience that allowed many species to survive the various extinction events of the last 200 million years. So, if scientists can figure out a way to use this key to unlock a solution to the future doom of insects, it could be that the same discovery that inspired a fictional tale of bringing an extinct species back to life will save our species from extinction in the future.	34,304
We are committed to choosing suppliers that have recycling systems in place and reuse their materials. Glass Bottles: Our bottles are made from recycled glass, which helps to reduce the amount of silica sand extracted and thereby decreases soil erosion in Chile’s coastal zones. Did you know that Recycled Cardboard boxes: We use suppliers that manufacture boxes from recycled cardboard to help save trees and reduce cellulose production, which can pollute the environment when contaminants are discharged into rivers. Plastic containers: We choose suppliers that reuse their packaging materials to reduce polluting the land with polyethylene which does not biodegrade but takes 200 years to decompose. WE ONLY PRINT MATERIAL WHEN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY and we reuse sheets of paper by printing on the back. Did you know that one tree produces about 20 reams of paper? That is quite a lot, right? 20 x 500 = 10,000 sheets of paper. If 10,000,000 people printed one less page per day, we would save 1000 trees each day. These are some of the actions we carry out to care for our planet, and every day we look for ways to conserve resources such as water, gas, and electricity, and separate our garbage for recycling and reuse.	12,609
The heating of the ingot is not uniform, the heating temperature is too high or too low, the tube and bar extrusion tube or piercing needle is too smooth, the piercing needle is cracked or the extruded product is not cut clean, and delamination is formed after further stretching and rolling. The surface of the product is in contact with the surrounding medium, chemical or electrochemical reaction takes place, and the process of forming a product film on the surface is called corrosion. After corrosion, the surface loses its metallic luster and forms corrosion spots of different colors. The causes of corrosion are: the surface of the product is not clean, there are residual liquid such as water and emulsion, or improper storage, wet climate or water droplets invade the surface; there is a corrosive atmosphere in the environment. At higher temperatures, products come into contact with oxygen to form oxides called oxidation. After oxidation, it shows different oxidation color, loses metal luster, and serious oxide scale appears. The main causes of oxidation are: oxidizing atmosphere in annealing furnace, natural oxidation of surface due to high annealing temperature or long exposure time in air, and high residual temperature of rolled piece, oxidation is formed after coiling or stacking. The local rupture on the surface of the product is called peeling. The appearance of a needle-like metal filament on the surface of the product is called prickling. Peeling or prickling is generally distributed continuously or intermittently along the rolling direction, and there are often oxide scale or other dirt, inclusions and so on. The peeling of tube and bar generally forms tongue-like and fish-scale-like warping along the processing direction, which seriously runs through the whole product, and local serious scarring is formed. Prickling often occurs in the last process of rolled products. The main reasons for peeling are: defects in ingots and uneven surface; surface defects caused by oxidation or previous process caused by high processing temperature; dirt such as water and oil on rolls, extruding cylinders and piercing needles; defects in processing tools and mechanical damage in the machining process. The main causes of prickling are: roll cracking, uneven edge of billet, irregular depression and so on. The surface of the product is uneven, with light microwave depressions and protuberances called wrinkling. Wrinkling is generally consistent with the rolling direction or oblique distribution, showing a single or more uplift, feel more smooth, larger area. The main causes of wrinkling are: uneven rolling piece, or poor unidirectional bending flatness; uneven tension (uneven tension roll or tension sleeve); poor plasticity and serious eccentricity of tube billet; uneven or excessive deformation of thick-walled tube; poor roll adjustment and other process defects. The rough surface with tiny point-like depression and uneven surface is called hemp surface. Hemp noodles are distributed locally or continuously, individual ones are called pockmarks, and serious ones are called pockmarks. The hemp caused by coarse grains is commonly known as orange peel. The main causes of hemp surface are: too high annealing temperature, too long time, coarse grains; over pickling; too small processing rate, non-smooth surface; uneven roll surface hardness, serious wear, rolling tool corrosion, oxide scale or foreign metal. The external force acts on the surface of the product or the dislocation between the plate and foil layers, resulting in strips, bundles, pits, sharp grooves and other shapes of scars, such as scratches, scratches, bruises and bruises. The phenomenon that there are great differences in chemical composition in different parts of the product after rolling or annealing is called uneven composition. Uneven composition can cause differences in color or deformation characteristics, macroscopic examination can see the composition segregation point or segregation area, microstructure and properties are different, and even cracking.	12,144
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) has two important functions associated with site security and integrity: • When your SSL certificate is digitally signed by a trusted third party certificate authority, it helps to verify that your site is identifying itself correctly • SSL encrypts all communications between the user and your site, making it difficult for somebody to extract anything useful even if they are able to intercept the communication Every site that is owned by a business, non-profit organization, or government agency should have an SSL certificate. The only exception is where your site does not collect or disseminate any sensitive information. When you have an SSL certificate, users can connect to your site via the HTTPS protocol. The “S” in HTTPS stands for “secure”. Although we use the term “SSL”, which is the one most people are familiar with, the standard has actually been superseded by something called TLS (Transport Layer Security). But you don’t need to worry about this because TLS is going to be enabled by default on any modern web server. Even though the technology is enabled by default, sites that have an SSL certificate still need to set the HTTPS version of their site as the default protocol for inbound connections. A 2014 survey by Moz showed that less than 18% of respondents were already using HTTPS, and as recently as 2015, it was found that less than 2% of the top 1,000,000 sites had HTTPS set as the default protocol. As a user, you can ensure that HTTPS is used whenever possible regardless of a site’s default settings by installing the HTTPS Everywhere plug-in. Using SSL may give your site a boost in Google rankings. In August 2014, Google announced that it would take SSL into account as a ranking factor. It also must be considered that HTTPS does slightly lower the speed of a site, so if your site is already slow (which it shouldn’t be – fix it!), you could see your rank actually slip as a result of adding HTTPS. It will really come down to the differential between the benefit from HTTPS and the benefit from having a fast site. Google wants sites to use HTTPS because it makes it easier to verify the integrity of a site, but that doesn’t automatically mean you need to do it. Most sites will benefit from having HTTPS, but because SSL certificates aren’t free, you might choose not to have one if the cost can’t be justified. Risk vs. reward: the privacy and security advantages of SSL You have to think about the financial cost of purchasing and renewing your SSL certificate. If there’s nothing on your site that needs to be confidential, you may not need to go to the trouble. But if your site collects personal information from the user, has password authenticated log-ins, or engages in any sort of e-Commerce, you absolutely must have SSL if you want to avoid problems and retain the full confidence and trust of your users. How to get an SSL certificate Buying an SSL certificate is not like a regular purchase, because there are a few tests and checks that have to be done before a certificate can be issued. This is for the protection of everyone, including you. Usually the easiest way is to get your Hosting company or SEO manager to obtain the certificate for you, because this will simplify the process greatly. If you’d prefer to do it entirely on your own, your first step is to generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) on your server. This is a block of encrypted text that looks similar to a PGP signature. What you need to type to generate the request depends on what server software your web host is running. Most websites are hosted on Apache servers, and Apache uses a service called OpenSSL to generate a CSR. Here’s an example of how to generate a CSR for a company called Widgets-R-Us Inc, with domain widgets.com, based in Los Angeles: openssl req -new -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -out widgets_com.csr -keyout widgets_com.key -subj “C/=US/ST=California/L=Los Angeles/O=Widgets R Us Inc./CN=widgets.com” The section that’s relevant about the company is the -subj section. This contains a string value with specific values, as follows: • C is a 2 digit country code, for example: US, UK, IE, FR, DE, BE, and so on. • ST is the state or province • L is the city • O is the organization name • CN is the “common name”, which is a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). There’s an optional value called OU that can appear between O and CN, but it is rarely used, and can cause problems. Currently (at the time of writing) the SSL certificate of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is affected, for example. OU stands for “organizational unit” and means a department within the organisation. After generating the CSR, it would look something like: —–BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST—– MIIHVjCCBj6gAwIBAgIQVXENtd02KRwAAAAAUNuvdTANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFADCB ujELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxFjAUBgNVBAoTDUVudHJ1c3QsIEluYy4xKDAmBgNVBAsT H1NlZSB3d3cuZW50cnVzdC5uZXQvbGVnYWwtdGVybXMxOTA3BgNVBAsTMChjKSAy MDEyIEVudHJ1c3QsIEluYy4gLSBmb3IgYXV0aG9yaXplZCB1c2Ugb25seTEuMCwG A1UEAxMlRW50cnVzdCBDZXJ0aWZpY2F0aW9uIEF1dGhvcml0eSAtIEwxSzAeFw0x NzAzMDIyMjA5MzNaFw0xODAzMDIyMjM5MzFaMIGNMQswCQYDVQQGEwJBVTElMCMG —–END CERTIFICATE REQUEST—– In this case it is contained in the generated file “widgets_com.csr”. You need to open that file in a text editor, then cut and paste all the text (including the begin and end instructions) into the online form of the SSL certificate authority you are ordering from. Do not confuse the csr file with the key file. Once the certificate authority has validated your domain and company, it will email you a copy of your SSL certificate, which you then need to install on your server. Due to the complexity involved, most people prefer to have professional assistance rather than opting to do it themselves.	6,113
Terminator-style lenses a step closer Terminator lenses The latest steps in the development of a computerised contact lens that could be used for navigation, health monitoring or even to sneak access to information, has been unveiled by US researchers. A paper describing the lens appears in the latest issue of the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. "Some day maybe we'll have full-fledged streaming in your contact lenses," says co-author Associate Professor Babak Amir Parviz, from electrical engineering at the University of Washington (UW). Parviz along with an international team of engineers has constructed a contact lens embedded with a tiny LED that can light up when a wireless signal is sent to it. He collaborated on the device with UW ophthalmologist Tueng Shen and researchers from Aalto University in Finland led by optoelectronics professor Dr Markku Sopanen. Parviz's group specialises in incorporating miniaturised devices into unconventional materials and has been working on functional contact lenses for a while, he says. "If we can make very small devices of various sorts, if we have the ability to put them into different materials, what can I do with this contact lens that I stare at every morning?" The engineers took an extremely small custom-designed LED made with sapphire and embedded it in the centre of a plastic contact lens. They also embedded a circular antenna around the inside lip of the lens. A miniature integrated circuit connects the antenna and the blue LED. Using remote radio frequency transmission, the group was able to control a single pixel. With this setup, a human eye still wouldn't be able to distinguish that pixel due to the minimum focal distance required to see anything clearly. With that in mind, the researchers created a separate, non-computerised contact lens containing an array of special flatter, thinner lenses known as Fresnel lenses, each less than a micron thick. The array successfully focused light from the LED. Testing on rabbits Once the researchers had determined that the experimental lenses were safe in the lab, they tested them on live rabbits. After wearing them for a short period, the rabbits didn't have any abrasions or thermal burning. "We have been able to build the whole system and test it on rabbits, on live eyes, and show that this works and it's safe," says Parviz. Being able to display information and images directly into the field of vision via contact lens would be useful in a number of ways, according to the engineers. The devices could be used for navigation, for gaming, and even as a way to monitor someone's health and safety. It could also be a super sneaky way to access info while carrying on a conversation. This early system is still extremely rudimentary, says Parviz. The computerised lens is made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a hard plastic that doesn't allow airflow to the eye, limiting usage to only a few minutes. Although the device could be powered from about three feet away when outside the eye, that distance narrowed to below a few centimetres when the contact was in an actual eye. While a single pixel lighting up could potentially be useful as a warning, without the focusing micro-lenses, the rabbits only saw a blurry shadow. The researchers are planning to tackle these challenges. They are working on combining the flat micro-lens technology that can focus light with the computerised device in the lab. They would like to increase the pixel count, refine the antenna design, widen the wireless range, and get the components into a softer, more flexible material. "If we can make them as comfortable as normal contact lenses, you don't feel you're wearing them," says Parviz. Contacts would allow users to take their displays with them anywhere, hands and headset-free, he adds. "In a sense, it's the ultimate electronic gear that is totally unnoticeable." More integration needed Dr Arnaud Bertsch is a microsystems researcher at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland who previously worked on incorporating sensors into a soft contact lens for glaucoma detection. That project resulted in a commercial product now sold by the Swiss company Sensimed. "There's still a little more integration to do to have something that can be used as a device for projecting an image onto the retina, but basically the concept is here," he says of the new contact lens. Bertsch thinks that it could take 10 years to achieve fully functional computerised contact lens displays, but adds that the field has taken big steps forward with help from miniaturisation. "Five years ago, it was something like science fiction. When we started to discuss integrating things into a contact lens, people were laughing," he says. "Now it's real."	15,908
Airborne contact dermatitis Allergic contact dermatitis to aerosol substances can produce an eruption on exposed skin that resembles a photodermatitis. Involvement of typically sun-spared areas such as upper eyelids or submental areas suggests airborne contact dermatitis. Typically, relatively sheltered areas are spared. A careful history is necessary to delineate it from other causes of eruptions of exposed skin. Patch testing to contact allergens is indicated. - Removal of the offending allergen, followed by topical mid-strength topical steroids is quite effective. - Chronic allergic contact dermatitis of the face can lead to thickening of the skin, requiring more potent topical steroids. - Close follow-up is necessary when potent topical steroids are used or atrophy may occur. Back to Skin Care Glossary - A Index \| Back to Skin Care Glossary Index	821
One of the most important consequences of ecosystem dynamics in terms of human impact is biomagnification. Biomagnification is the increasing concentration of persistent, toxic substances in organisms at each successive trophic level. These are substances that are fat soluble, not water soluble, and are stored in the fat reserves of each organism. Many substances have been shown to biomagnify, including classical studies with the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), which were described in the 1960s bestseller, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. DDT was a commonly used pesticide before its dangers to apex consumers, such as the bald eagle, became known. In aquatic ecosystems, organisms from each trophic level consumed many organisms in the lower level, which caused DDT to increase in birds (apex consumers) that ate fish. Thus, the birds accumulated sufficient amounts of DDT to cause fragility in their eggshells. This effect increased egg breakage during nesting and was shown to have devastating effects on these bird populations. The use of DDT was banned in the United States in the 1970s. Other substances that biomagnify are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), which were used as coolant liquids in the United States until their use was banned in 1979, and heavy metals, such as mercury, lead, and cadmium. These substances are best studied in aquatic ecosystems, where predatory fish species accumulate very high concentrations of toxic substances that are at quite low concentrations in the environment and in producers. As illustrated in a study performed by the NOAA in the Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron of the North American Great Lakes (Figure 20.8), PCB concentrations increased from the producers of the ecosystem (phytoplankton) through the different trophic levels of fish species. The apex consumer, the walleye, has more than four times the amount of PCBs compared to phytoplankton. Also, based on results from other studies, birds that eat these fish may have PCB levels at least one order of magnitude higher than those found in the lake fish. Other concerns have been raised by the biomagnification of heavy metals, such as mercury and cadmium, in certain types of seafood. The United States Environmental Protection Agency recommends that pregnant women and young children should not consume any swordfish, shark, king mackerel, or tilefish because of their high mercury content. These individuals are advised to eat fish low in mercury: salmon, shrimp, pollock, and catfish. Biomagnification is a good example of how ecosystem dynamics can affect our everyday lives, even influencing the food we eat. - 2919 reads	15,118
Photo Credit: ERIKA SANTELICES/ One Island, But Different Worlds: The History Of Haiti And The Dominican Republic Haiti and the Dominican Republic (DR) may occupy the same island of Hispaniola on the Caribbean Sea with nearly the same populations hovering around 10 million people, but the similarities between the two stop there. “Culturally, we’re different,” said Frantz G, who was born and raised in Haiti for 15 years until moving to the United States and settling in the Midwest with his family. “A lot of that has to do with the fact that we were colonized by the French and the Dominican Republic was colonized by the Spanish. We speak more of a French creole in Haiti and people from the Dominican Republic speak Spanish.” The history of oppression and colonization has played a significant role in both countries and their differences span beyond the language barriers and political border boundaries. Colonization, in part, is one reason why Haiti continues to struggle economically when compared to the Dominican Republic. The economy in the DR is reportedly 10 times larger than Haiti’s. Spanish and French Rule Tension between the Spanish and French is what eventually led to the division of the island. Spain had claimed the entire island but in the 1600s, France took over the western part of the island from Spain. Haiti officially gained its independence from France in 1804 by self-liberated slaves who were anti-colonialism through what is known today as the Haitian Revolution. After breaking away from French rule, the country claimed the title as the world’s first Black republic in the Western hemisphere. That independence has proven to come with consequences as Haiti was ordered to pay France, its colonizers, approximately 90 million gold francs over 30 years to compensate former plantation owners who lost their property as a result of Haiti’s newfound independence. Another cost was isolation from the rest of the world as there were growing concerns that slaves from other countries in the Americas would rebel as well. And across the border, the Dominican Republic gained independence from Spain in 1844. How Colonization Impacted Economic Freedom In Haiti Before Haitian slaves rebelled against French occupiers, the French exploited the land for its sugar cane and coffee to make Haiti an economic hub. The Spaniards, however, had a different approach that didn’t involve exploiting the land and eventually integrating with the indigenous people on the DR side through marriage and developed political systems, according to Vox Borders. According to Restavek Freedom, the geographic makeup of the island puts Haiti at a disadvantage. On the western side, the mountains block the rainfall needed to grow essential crops and sustain livestock. But on the eastern side of the island, the rain is in DR’s favor making the soil healthier and better to grow essential crops and more. Haiti simply didn’t have a fair chance at gaining economic freedom because by the time Haiti became independent, the land was already exploited, therefore destroying the fertility of the land, which was not the case in the Dominican Republic. One Island But Two Worlds The average Haitian is reportedly nearly 10 times poorer than the average Dominican, and much more likely to be unemployed. The infant mortality rate is double the rate in Haiti. When it comes to food security, Haiti has more people to feed than the DR but less food. Despite the odds, Haiti continues to forge toward a better tomorrow.	13,466
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the US regulatory authority that ensures compliance with the principles of net neutrality, which were established by the Commission’s Open Internet Order in February 2015. Net neutrality means that all content on the internet shall enjoy the same priority, i.e. Internet service providers and any authority regulating the Internet should treat all data on the Internet equally and not discriminate or charge differently based on user, content, website, etc. Net neutrality is considered a vital component of the concept of Open Internet. The FCC has set forth the following three rules in order to ensure net neutrality: - No Blocking: Broadband providers may not block access to lawful content, applications, services or unharmful devices. - No Throttling: Broadband providers may not deliberately target some lawful internet traffic for slower delivery to users than other traffic. - No Paid Prioritization: Broadband providers may not favor some internet traffic in exchange for consideration of any kind- in other words, no “fast lanes.” Internet service providers are also banned from prioritizing content and services of their affiliates. Restoring the Freedom of the Internet? On May 1st, nine Republican senators submitted a legislation proposal with the title: A bill to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from reclassifying broadband internet access service as a telecommunications service and from imposing certain regulations on providers of such service (“Restoring Internet Freedom Act”). The proposed bill aims at preventing the FCC from classifying Internet Service Providers as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act and it would prohibit the FCC from exercising the part of their regulatory authority that allowed the Commission to issue net neutrality rules (the full bill text is not available yet). Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) stated that the internet “is threatened by the Federal Communications Commission’s 2015 Open Internet Order, which would put federal bureaucrats in charge of engineering the Internet’s infrastructure.” During the announcement, co-sponsor of the bill, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) repeated his charge that net neutrality is “Obamacare for the Internet”. Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai had previously launched an initiative to roll back the net neutrality regulations. Coincidental Court Ruling On the same day, the United States Court of Appeals for the Columbia District Circuit denied the United States Telecom Association’s petition for a rehearing of their action against the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order (the net neutrality rule), which had been dismissed on appeal. The court has confirmed the lawfulness of the FCC’s net neutrality rules at this point. However, the reason for the denial of the rehearing was that a review of the case would be particularly unwarranted at present in light of the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the FCC’s Order as the Commission would soon consider adopting a notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would replace the existing rule with a markedly different one. It remains to be seen what this markedly different rule will look like – that is, if the new bill will not by then have taken away the FCC’s authority to issue such rule. If broadband internet access service no longer is classified as telecommunications service, then privacy rights pertaining to telecommunications services, such as the secrecy of communication, may no longer apply to internet communication.	26,497
Nepal’s Rhino Population Up By 16.5 Pc In Last 5 Yrs The number of one-horned rhino in Nepal has increased by 16.5 per cent in the last five years, despite an increase in cases of natural death and incidents of poaching. A census conducted between March and April revealed that the number of endangered species has increased by 107 in the last 5 years despite a surge in natural deaths and incidents of poaching. One-horned rhinoceros, also known as Indian rhinoceros, is a rhino species native to the Indian subcontinent. It is listed as ‘vulnerable’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. In the earlier census conducted in 2015, the population of one-horned-rhino stood at 645 which in a span of five years has increased to 752, Nepali officials announced. “The number of rhinos has increased by 107, now the total number stands at 752 in various protected areas of Nepal. The highest number of rhinos are now residing in Chitwan National Park where the number stands at 694. Likewise, 38 are in Bardiya National Park, 17 in Shuklaphanta National Park and 3 in Parsa National Park,” Dr Bishwa Nath Oli, Secretary at Ministry of Forests and Environment told ANI over the phone. Of them, 146 are male, 198 are female whereas 408 have not been identified sex-wise. Based on the age, there are 520 adult rhinos, 96 semi-adults and 136 calves. Earlier, the count of the endangered one-horned rhinoceros remained constant from 2019 to 2020 due to the budget crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last five years, a total of 161 rhinos were found dead in and around Chitwan National Park out of which five were killed by poachers whereas the remaining died due to natural causes. Originally published at Ani	42,111
If you’ve looked up at the night sky recently, you might have been surprised to see a train of bright lights moving across from one side to the other. What's going on? The lights appear in groups of up to 60 in a long line. There have been numerous reports from places like the U.S. and U.K. of people seeing them, with explanations ranging from UFOs to an alien invasion. Of course. But fear not. These lights are actually satellites, launched into space by the U.S. company SpaceX, run by South African entrepreneur Elon Musk. And they're a bit controversial. The satellites are part of something called Starlink. This is a project by SpaceX to launch thousands of satellites into orbit, and beam the internet to Earth from space. SpaceX hopes to use this to fund missions to Mars. Since the first launch in May 2019, SpaceX has launched about 360 of these satellites. Each weighs about 260 kilograms and is roughly the size of a flattened car, with a large solar panel that reflects sunlight. SpaceX’s ultimate goal is to blanket the space around Earth in these satellites. They plan to operate 12,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, and potentially up to 42,000. This is known as a mega constellation. The satellites are launched in batches of 60, with SpaceX aiming to launch roughly two batches very month – although they haven’t quite achieved that frequency yet. Each time the satellites are launched, on the company’s own reusable Falcon 9 rockets, they are placed into orbit about 290 kilometers above the surface of Earth. The satellites then use their onboard ion engines to raise their altitude up to their operational orbits of between 340 and 550 kilometers. This can take several months to do. During these months, the satellites can appear very visible in the night sky when they fly over your location because of their reflective surfaces. After dusk and before dawn, when the Sun has dipped just below the horizon, the satellites reflect the Sun’s light back onto the ground, making them shine quite brightly. As they pass overhead, they appear like a bright train of lights as the satellites follow one after the other in orbit. SpaceX’s goal with Starlink is to beam high-speed internet to every single location on Earth, from London to Antarctica. People will then pay a fee to access the service, with speeds estimated to be slower than fibre broadband but faster than existing satellite internet services. However, people have raised concerns about the number of satellites SpaceX is launching. Today only about 2,000 active satellites orbit Earth; SpaceX will increase this by six times, and possibly by 21 times. This poses a considerable risk for satellites colliding in Earth orbit. If two satellites collide, they can explode and produce thousands of small pieces of debris. This happened in 2009 between a U.S. and Russian satellite. Each of these pieces of debris can then also impact other satellites. This could lead to a worst-case scenario where parts of Earth orbit become unusable, known as the “Kessler syndrome”, and popularized in the movie Gravity. Another concern is that the satellites are very bright, outshining 99 percent of all other satellites in the night sky. Because of this, astronomers have reported that the satellites are hampering their ability to study the universe. The satellites can appear as bright streaks in telescope images, ruining observations of galaxies and stars. With many more satellites set to be launched, astronomers have raised concerns about the number of satellites that will be visible in the night sky. By some estimates, hundreds of Starlink satellites could be constantly visible in the night sky from any location on Earth. This could ruin the natural beauty of the night sky, and make astronomy much more difficult. Currently there are no laws or regulations that protect the aesthetic of the night sky. But some people are looking to change that, and potentially take legal action against SpaceX. SpaceX, for its part, says it is addressing these concerns. Regarding collisions, its says each of its satellites is equipped with an automated system to dodge other satellites. However, in September 2019 this system failed, leading to a close call with a European science satellite. The company also says it is trying to make the satellites less bright. In January 2020, it launched a Starlink satellite that had been coated in a darkened paint, to try and lower its reflectivity. Early results suggest that, when it reached its operational orbit, this satellite did appear dimmer than other Starlink satellites. However, it still appeared bright in the months it took to reach this orbit. The company is also working with astronomy groups to try and figure out ways to lower the impact of Starlink satellites on the work of astronomers. Elon Musk, however, has said he thinks there will be "zero" problems. So far SpaceX has launched 3% of its initial planned constellation of 12,000 satellites, and 0.9% of the potential 42,000 satellites it might launch. There are some arguments that many of the problems with the satellites should have been sorted out before SpaceX started launching them. However, for the time being, there are no rules or regulations stopping SpaceX from launching more and more Starlink satellites into orbit. Before the coronavirus pandemic emerged, the company planned to launch about 1,500 Starlink satellites by the end of 2020, bringing its service online in the U.S. and Canada first. That may now change. But for the time being, you will likely continue to see these trains of satellites in the night sky. You can use websites like Find Starlink or this handy tool to see when they will be visible above your location. SpaceX's next Starlink launch, its seventh, is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, April 22 from Cape Canaveral in Florida.	30,188
This glossary has been compiled from various different sources. Some of the terms have been reproduced with kind permission from the Stanley Gibbons Philatelic Terms Illustrated by James Mackay. If you think a term is missing please e-mail us. Red Cross Stamps Stamps either commemorating the Red Cross or bearing a premium in aid of the Red Cross. Printing plates used for making Penny red stamps of Great Britain in 1841 (q.v Black Plates). A new printing of a stamp whose design differs in some detail from the original while retaining its principal features. Stamps printed by presses using continuous reels of paper. Picture postcards issued by the various regional postal boards in the UK. Postal stamps issued by the British Post Office for use in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. Following the postal independence of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man, stamps issued for use in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are now described as "Country Issues" q.v. Any marking in the sheet margin in the form of lines, dots and arrows, placed as a guide to colour registration. Special Envelopes pioneered in GB in 1878 for registered packets and distinguished by crossed blue lines. Special marks applied to registered packets to indicate greater security in transit. Labels affixed to mail to show that it has been registered. Service now replaced in the United Kingdom by "Royal Mail Special Delivery" with delivery guaranteed by either 9.00am or 12 noon, the following day. Special adhesive stamps or postal stationery denoting that the registration fee has been paid. A stamp whose original gum has been lost and which has been issued with a fresh layer applied. Maybe also re-gummed to simulate original gum that was earlier removed in use to increase its possible market value. (German) Imperial Post. A stamp or series of stamps brought back into general use after being withdrawn. Printing from raised type often referred to as letterpress. Unsold stamps on hand after an issue has been taken off sale. Correction of a damaged or faulty printing plate, cylinder, die or perforation pins. A stamp which has had a fault or defect hidden in order to increase its possible market value. A stamp which has had perforation applied unofficially to an imperforate or damaged margin. Copy or imitation of the design and colour of a stamp.	37,237
Through the Geographic Information Systems - Cartographic Specialist program you can become a proficient GIS practitioner, visual designer and communicator - creating a variety of customized maps and other products for the many users of geographic information. Please note: this program is 10 months duration. Cartography - known as the art and science of making maps, has come a long way since the efforts of early mapmakers who worked with pen and ink. While cartography still relies on many of the traditional principles, mapmaking now requires incorporating the best of modern research and technology. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allows today's "cartographer" to store geographic data in an organized way, to allow for quick access, correlation, and analysis. This system also facilitates the development of cartographic displays. By using GIS, cartographers are able to collect, store, and combine data about a given area, subject, or region being researched. GIS helps planners working on environmental, public health, municipal planning, and natural resource projects (to name a few uses) monitor change, predict trends and manage resources using current relevant data. The GIS Cartographic Specialist program is an advanced post-graduate program, building on your existing, related skills. - Fleming's leadership in this field has been recognized by industry, government and business through their support in establishing the Geomatics Institute at Fleming. - These strong partnerships offer students access to the latest software packages and data resources as well as unprecedented learning and employment opportunities. - Most GIS programs focus on geographic analysis and application - but the Fleming Cartographic Specialist program is based on a dual approach which is truly unique. - You will become a proficient GIS practitioner, as well as a visual designer and communicator - using GIS data and software to create a wide variety of customized maps and other products for users of geographic information. Not sure which of our two GIS Ontario College Graduate Certificate programs is right for you? The common first semester in the GIS Cartographic Specialist and GIS Applications Specialist programs gives you a good overview and understanding of the technologies and diverse skills particular to careers in these fields. Subject to enrolment capacity, you can choose which area of specialized study you will pursue in semester two. In addition to acquiring a hands-on, firm foundation using Cartography, digital mapping and GIS technology skills and tools, you will have many opportunities to build on your teamwork, team building, project management, problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Since employers are seeking these broad-based transferrable skills, this experience working in technology teams will give you an edge in the workplace. This three-semester (10-month) program starts in September with a 15-week semester ending in December, continues in January with another 15-week semester ending in April, and concludes with a seven-week semester starting in May and ending in June. Why Choose Fleming Graduates of Fleming's cartographic programs have earned a reputation for excellence through their achievements in the workplace, and through cartographic and GIS competitions. Over the years, they have captured 80 American Congress on Surveying and Mapping awards in annual competitions (student category), as well as numerous awards from the Canadian Cartographic Association and the Canadian Institute of Geomatics. Graduate Meghan Miller is featured in a January 2012 article of GoGeomatics with an interview describing her experience in the program and her career path since graduation. Meghan now works for Canadian Cartographic Corporation (CCC) : http://www.gogeomatics.ca/magazine/?s=meghan+miller. Adam Thom, 2010 program graduate, won the Arthur Robinson Award for Best Printed Map at the 2011 Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS) Map Design Competition. The award is sponsored by the National Geographic Society and Avenza-MAPublisher. You'll spend a significant part of your time in the program doing experiential work - putting theory into practice. A co-operative GIS project in the final semester involves cross-disciplinary teams from the GIS Cartographic Specialist and Applications Specialist programs working together on a project for a business, government, or industry client. Is this You? While not prerequisites, there are a few skills and abilities that will help you to succeed in this program. These include: - good creative thinking skills - strong oral and written communication skills - excellent time management skills - analytical skills - computing skills With your GIS-Cartographic Specialist certificate, you will be able to pursue a variety of exciting, responsible positions within GIS and digital mapping environments, such as: - provincial and federal government mapping agencies - municipal utility, engineering, and planning departments - private sector mapping, planning, consulting, utility, and natural resource firms Minimum Admission Requirements - A university degree or college diploma, or equivalent education or work experience. On rare occasions, substantive work experience in the field of Geomatics will be considered as equivalent to a degree or diploma, and these cases will be reviewed on an individual basis. Although traditionally GIS training accompanied a degree or diploma in natural resources, with exponential growth in the field of GIS sciences, applicable backgrounds now range from forestry to marketing, from resource extraction to municipal planning, from health care to law enforcement. Previous GIS experience, while helpful, is not required for admission. Since GIS is a field of study that makes extensive use of computer hardware and software technology, students entering the GIS-Cartographic Specialist program must be familiar with computers. You can obtain a Trent University Honours Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts Degree in either Geography or Environmental Science/Studies and a Geographical Information Systems Ontario College Graduate Certificate in four years, with the third year spent studying at Fleming College. In other words, get both qualifications in four years - instead of five. For details, see Trent/Fleming Joint Degree, Geographical Information Systems Special Emphasis. School of Military Mapping, Mapping & Charting Establishment of the Canadian Armed Forces If you are a graduate of the Geomatics Technician program from the School of Military Mapping, Mapping & Charting Establishment of the Canadian Armed Forces, at the QL5 Level, you are eligible to apply for advance standing into the second semester of the three-semester Geographic Information Systems - Applications Specialist or Geographic Information Systems - Cartographic Specialist graduate certificate programs. For complete details see Transfer Credit Articulation Agreement. If you have significant difficulty perceiving distinctions between colours you will experience greater challenges in map-making. Plan to spend about $1000 for books and supplies. Every attempt is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on our website and in our publications. The College reserves the right to modify or cancel any course, program, fee, timetable, or campus location at any time.	33,109
Katie is an adorable 7-year-old who was adopted from China. She’s an affectionate child with a great sense of humor who loves to draw and go to the playground. However, socks really bother her. After she puts them on, Katie feels her socks for hours, and if they have seams or little pills on them, they annoy her all day long. Katie also cannot tune out the casual touch sensations that are an everyday part of life. The breeze outside gently blowing on her arms feels like little insects. And while Katie is a gentle, kind child who loves her classmates, a child might accidentally brush against her, so she avoids sitting right next to other children and pushes them away if they get too close. Better to sit a bit on the sidelines than be worried about getting in trouble for pushing. Katie loves reading, but is comfortable handling only certain types of paper. Some types of paper send chills up her spine. She hates getting glue on her skin and refuses to finger-paint. She can hear a dog bark outside from the 28th floor of her apartment building. She is terrified of fire drills-and was hugely relieved when her school agreed to having the classroom aide take her outside before to the alarm rings. With all of these bothersome sights, sounds, and touches all day, it’s no wonder Katie gets so cranky in the evening. When it’s finally bedtime and lights out, her body just doesn’t feel right. Most nights, she thrashes around in her bed for 30 minutes or so until she finally falls asleep. What is going on with Katie? She shows signs of sensory integration issues. What is Sensory Integration? All of us learn about and comprehend the world through our senses. We see things, we hear things, we touch things, we experience gravity, and we use our bodies to move around in it. All of the sensory input from the environment and from inside our bodies works together seamlessly so we know what’s going on and what to do. Sensory integration is something most of us do automatically. Usually, sensory input registers well, gets processed in the central nervous system and then hooks up seamlessly with all of the other senses. This lets us think and behave appropriately in response to what’s going on. Kids with sensory integration (SI) dysfunction experience the world differently. They don’t take in and use sensory information the same way. Their central nervous system responds to sensory input differently, so they’re not always getting an accurate, reliable picture of their bodies and the environment. Think of sensory integration like an orchestra. You need the woodwinds section, the strings section, the percussion, the piano to all be in tune, playing in key at the right volume, all perfectly coordinated with each other. With SI dysfunction, the conductor isn’t controlling the music well. Different sections in the orchestra are out of tune and out of sync so it doesn’t sound right. For a child with severe sensory issues, walking into the supermarket can feel like walking into a rock and roll concert. Such a child may be able to see and hear the fluorescent lighting flicker, a squeaky shopping cart may sound like thunder, the meat department may smell like a garbage dump, and navigating the aisles and other shoppers may feel like being on a bumper car ride. What seems normal to us can easily overwhelm a child with sensory problems. Common Signs of Sensory Integration Dysfunction • Out of proportion reactions: over or undersensitivity to touch, sounds, sights, movement, tastes, or smells • Problems with vestibular (movement) and proprioceptive senses (body awareness) • Bothered by particular clothing fabrics, labels, waistbands, etc. • Avoids or excessively craves intense movement — slides, swings, bouncing, jumping • Resists grooming activities such as brushing teeth and washing hair • Avoids foods most children enjoy • Gets dizzy easily-or never at all • Seems clumsy or careless • Often “tunes out” or “acts up” • Poor attention and focus • Uncomfortable in group settings • Very high or very low pain threshold • Squints, blinks, or rubs eyes frequently (may have an undiagnosed vision problem) What causes sensory problems? Sensory problems result from neurological differences, and new research is being done to confirm this. It’s a difference in how the brain and nervous system are wired. Sensory problems are quite often seen in children born prematurely (especially the smallest and the youngest), those adopted from overseas, children who have experienced birth trauma or prolonged hospitalization, and those exposed to heavy metals. Sensory problems are common symptom of other special needs diagnoses. However, a child can have sensory problems and nothing else. What about sensory integration in children adopted from overseas? Children who have been adopted are at increased risk for sensory problems, with those adopted from overseas orphanages at significantly higher risk. The conditions in these orphanages vary greatly, but all too often facilities have limited resources, poor nutrition, lack of sensory stimulation, and limited social interactions that can lead to developmental delays, medical problems, emotional difficulties, and yes-sensory issues. Many children placed in overseas orphanages may have been born prematurely or with low birth weight to begin with. So it’s a double whammy to be predisposed to problems and then be placed in an institutional environment. What’s more, the biological mother may have been malnourished and had limited or no access to prenatal care. So much-but certainly not all-depends on prenatal factors, birth, and environment. Sensory problems make adjusting to a new family and a new culture even harder. Katie lived in a Chinese orphanage for eight months, where she had limited sensory experiences: a monotonous daily routine, and rarely being held, rocked, cuddled, feeling different clothing, being carried around in someone’s arms or moving in a stroller or car, rarely being outdoors, being bottled propped, and looking at the same bare walls and toys month after month. She certainly wasn’t used to being hugged and smothered with kisses by her adoring new parents, getting bounced on someone’s lap, being pushed around the park on a sunny day looking at animals at the petting zoo with the sound of a fire truck in the background and lots of people laughing and talking and brightly colored toys dangling from her stroller. Her brain and body never had that kind of exposure, and she hadn’t yet built the neural connections for that kind of thing. The Good New: There is help for sensory integration problems! With appropriate interventions and time, most children develop needed central nervous system connections and sensory input starts getting more familiar and more comfortable. Not always, but most of the time, children can overcome their sensory problems, especially with parents who develop their own “sensory smarts.” If you are concerned about whether your child has sensory integration issues, the first step is to get an evaluation from a qualified health care professional. This may be a developmental pediatrician or an occupational therapist who has special training and experience in this area. If your child is under age 3, you can get a multidisciplinary evaluation through your state’s Early Intervention program (see www.sensorysmarts.com for a link to your state’s EI program). If your child is over age 3, you can request an occupational therapy evaluation from your school district. You also have the option of hiring an OT privately, which may be covered by your health insurance. Lindsey Biel, OTR/L is the co-author of Raising A Sensory Smart Child… For more information on sensory integration issues, practical solutions, finding professional help, advocating with schools, and more, see Raising A Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with Sensory Integration Issues, by Lindsey Biel, OTR/L and Nancy Peske (foreword by Temple Grandin). Also visit www.sensorysmarts.com.	36,480
One of the big worries about climate change is that organisms will be unable to migrate or adapt quickly enough to deal with all the coming changes to their environments, which could lead to a lot of extinctions. But a new study led by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which appears in Molecular Biology and Evolution, shows that some plants may be able to adapt more quickly than expected due to epigenetics. In traditional genetics, adaptation occurs through the development of random mutations in DNA and the survival, through natural selection, of those better fit for an organism's environment. It is a slow process. But the genetics of organisms are actually far messier, and the DNA sequence of a gene is only one part of the picture. For instance, with DNA methylation, a methyl group attaches to DNA and results in less expression of that gene. Epigenetic effects like this can be directly influenced by an organism's environment, and they can be quickly passed on to subsequent generations. The new study focused on three recently formed species of European marsh orchids of the Dactylorhiza genus. The three species are very similar genetically, but have different appearances (though they're all purple) and live in different environments. The researchers determined that the three orchid species diverged so quickly not because of changes in DNA sequence, but because of epigenetic variation. "Our results show the importance of the environment in altering inherited traits in these orchids and also contributing to biodiversity," said leader researcher Ovidiu Paun. "The epigenetic level of natural variation can be adaptive and has the potential to be rapidly released, in a few generations, in contrast to genetic variation." This means that plants, at least, may be able to adapt to a new environment more quickly than scientists had thought. However, Paun warns that these results also imply that trying to save threatened species by relocating them to places like botanical gardens for preservation could backfire. The plants could just as quickly lose the traits that made them so well adapted to their home ecosystem. Check out the entire collection of Surprising Science’s Pictures of the Week on our Facebook page.	24,148
When workers in Connecticut clock in for the day, they expect to be greeted with a safe environment. However, workplace hazards can exist in any job. Knowing how to identify the core or root hazards in one’s place of work can do wonders when it comes to preventative actions to avoid accidents. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has a segment on hazard identification which can be used by workers of all types. This includes a lot of prep work like collecting information on known hazards, and inspecting the workplace in full to identify health hazards or other possible accident sources. Once these issues have been identified, it’s then possible to create plans to circumvent them. There are also plenty of lists focusing on common workplace hazards, like the Safety and Health Magazine’s list of seven common hazards that can lead to injury. Some of these issues just come along with the territory of a job, such as forklifts or working at tall heights. Others, like extension cords or general clutter, are preventable hazards. Improper preparation or a lack of correct teaching on how to handle dangerous situations ranks in the same category. Workers should take their health and safety and work seriously, whether they’re in an industry job handling heavy chemicals every day or an office worker who risks repetitive stress injury. Know the risks that are unique to one’s own job and know how to minimize those risks and dangers, or spot them when they begin to emerge.	5,503
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz \|Born\|\|1 July 1646\| \|Died\|\|14 November 1716 (aged 70)\| \|Doctoral advisor\|\|Erhard Weigel\| \|Doctoral students\|\|Jacob Bernoulli\| Christian von Wolff \|Metaphysics, Mathematics, Theodicy\| \|Infinitesimal calculus, Monadology, Theodicy, Optimism\| Leibniz formula for pi Leibniz harmonic triangle Leibniz formula for determinants Leibniz integral rule Principle of sufficient reason Notation for differentiation Proof of Fermat's little theorem Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (also Leibnitz or von Leibniz) 1 July 1 (21 June OS) 1646 – 14 November 1716) was a German intellectual who wrote mostly in French and Latin. He played an important role in both philosophy and mathematics. He invented calculus independently of Newton, and his notation for derivatives is the one in general use since then. He also invented the binary system, foundation of modern computers. Works[change \| change source] He was taught law and philosophy. He served as secretary to two major German noble houses: one became the British royal family while he served it. Leibniz played a major role in the European politics and diplomacy of his day. Philosophy[change \| change source] In philosophy, he is most remembered for optimism. He thought our universe is the best possible one God could have made. He was one of the great 17th century rationalists. René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza are the other two. His philosophy also both looks back to the Scholastic tradition and anticipates modern logic and analysis. Technology[change \| change source] Leibniz also made contributions to physics and technology, and anticipated ideas which surfaced much later in biology, medicine, geology, probability theory, psychology, and information science. He wrote on politics, law, ethics, theology, history, and philology. Sometimes, he even wrote in verse. His contributions are scattered in journals and in tens of thousands of letters and unpublished manuscripts. There is no complete edition of Leibniz's writings, and a complete account of his accomplishments is not yet possible. Leibniz is sometimes known as the last "universal genius". Leibniz is perhaps most famous for his involvement in development of calculus independent of Isaac Newton and creation of Leibniz Notation which is the standard form of calculus today. Related pages[change \| change source] References[change \| change source] - ↑ IPA pronunciation: /'laɪpnɪts/. - ↑ "List of Calculus and Analysis Symbols". Math Vault. 2020-05-11. Retrieved 2020-10-14. - ↑ Copleston, Frederick C. 1958. The history of philosophy, Vol. IV: Modern philosophy: from Descartes to Leibniz. London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne. - ↑ Look, Brandon C. (2020). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2020 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.	3,918
Pattani was a seat of the Sailendra power during the Sailendra domination of the Malay Peninsula and later was the center of a Malay state, which was drawn into the Thai orbit. With Ayutthaya , it was one of the first places in Siam opened to the Portuguese in the 16th cent. At first bound only by tenuous links of suzerainty to the courts of Ayutthaya and Bangkok, against which it was several times in revolt, the Pattani sultanate was annexed in 1902. The region has been the scene of attacks by Malay separatists (in the 1970s and 80s and again in the early 21st cent.). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: Thai Political Geography	38,478
The development and advancement of technology has led to the discovery of more efficient methods of dealing with various life-threatening diseases, including cancer. However, even though today’s generation is well aware of cancer and is well acquainted with the precautions as well as its symptoms, it has still caused 46,880 deaths in Australia. How to Cure it? Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are just 2 solutions to this one deadly disease. However, the decision of which one to use as your treatment method is made by your doctor. So, what exactly is the difference between the two when it comes to curing cancer? Chemotherapy involves the usage and administration of a high dosage of a drug that is used to treat cancer. This is because the high dosage quantity and intensity facilitates in the destruction of cancer-producing cells in the body. However, one should be aware that this is a blind drug; it hunts down cancer-producing cells as well as the healthy cells! There are a number of side-effects of chemotherapy as well which affect; - Platelet Count: A reduced platelet count results in a slow skin healing process and frequent bleeding. - White Blood Cell Count: These cells are responsible for protecting us from infections and diseases. A low white blood cell count results in the weakening of the immune system and heightened vulnerability to attacks from infections. - Red Blood Count: These cells are responsible for circulating oxygen throughout your body. Having a lack of red blood cells will make a person feel tired and suffer from heart contractions and other sombre complexities. - The Hair: Causing a condition known as alopecia, the strong chemo drugs cause the fragile hair cells to be damaged beyond repair, resulting in increased hair fall and breaking of one’s hair from the roots. It may also lead to partial or complete baldness. - Stomach Cells: Once affected, these cells can cause digestion problems and lead to instances of diarrhoea and puking. As mentioned by Morgan G., Ward R., and Barton M. in their article titled, “The contribution of cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adult malignancies”, the overall effectiveness of chemotherapy in Australia stands at a meagre 2.3%. Radiation therapy is an x-ray-based treatment is which external beams target the cancer-affected area with high levels of domestic energy as prescribed by a radiotherapist. This is one of the few reasons why it has fewer side effects than chemotherapy. Usually, the side effects of radio therapy are directly linked with the concerned area, sparing other organs from being affected. More than this, radiation is also a very cost effective treatment. It is used; - In the early stages of treatment of cancer to make the tumour more fragile - If case of relapse - If the cancer is strong and needs to be monitored to prevent it from spreading. The success rate of radiation therapy is far greater than that of chemotherapy. This is because radiation therapy does not damage any internal organs, unlike chemo, which affects and kills any cells that it finds. This is why chemotherapy is more hazardous than effective and is never preferred, unless it is in combination with radiation therapy.	21,123
stub(redirected from counterfoil) Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Legal, Financial. in microwave engineering, a section of transmission line that is joined to a main line and through which microwave energy is transmitted from an oscillator to a load. The transmission line may be a hollow-pipe wave guide, a dielectric wave guide, a strip transmission line, a coaxial cable, or a two-wire line. A stub is regarded as a type of two-terminal network with a specified inductive or capacitive reactance. It may be connected to a load either serially or in parallel. A variable-impedance stub may be designed either as a short-circuited or open-circuited section of transmission line of variable length or as a section of transmission line of fixed length with a variable capacitive or inductive reactance. In microwave engineering, stubs are frequently used to match lines and loads. A stub is connected to a load in parallel in a section of a main line where the conductance of the main line is equal to the line’s characteristic admittance 1/ρ, where ρ is the line’s characteristic impedance. The susceptance of the main line is balanced by the admittance of the stub, which is equal in magnitude but opposite in sign. Examples of two-wire matching stubs are the Tatarinov stub and the Nadenenko stub. Quarter-wave stubs, which have a very high input impedance, are used in coaxial and strip transmission lines as quarter-wave isolators. Systems of open-circuited and short-circuited stubs are employed in the technology of strip-line and coaxial electric filters. Variable-impedance stubs, which can be moved along a line (especially in coaxial and two-wire lines), and systems consisting of several stationary variable-impedance stubs are used as general-purpose impedance transformers; a system of several stationary stubs usually consists of three stubs separated from one another by a distance of λ/8, where λ is the wavelength in the line. Variable-impedance stubs with a short-circuiting plunger, which are usually coaxial or wave-guide stubs, are widely used to measure the characteristics of microwave four-terminal networks. Stubs with a variable reactive load are very promising in the technology of adjustable strip-line and coaxial phase shifters, switches, and attenuators. In such stubs, the reactive load may be a p-i-n diode, a varactor, or an electrical component containing a ferroelectric. Systems of stubs in combination with certain types of ion devices are used in antenna switches to switch antennas from the receiving mode to the transmitting mode. The ion devices change the reactive load in the stubs as a function of the power level of the oscillations in the line. REFERENCESValitov, R. A., and V. N. Sretenskii. Radioizmereniia na sverkhvysokikh chastotakh. Moscow, 1951. Matthaei, G. L., L. Young, and E. M. T. Jones. Fil’try SVCh, soglasuiushchie tsepi i tsepi sviazi, vol. 2. Moscow, 1972. (Translated from English.) Bova, N. T., P. A. Stukalo, and V. A. Khramov. Upravliaiushchie ustroistva SVCh. Kiev, 1973. R. I. PERETS	49,717
Total Eclipse of the Moon \|Play ScienceCast Video\|\|Join Mailing List\| Dec. 2, 2011: Waking up before sunrise can be tough to do, especially on a weekend. On Saturday, Dec. 10th, you might be glad you did. A total eclipse of the Moon will be visible in the early morning skies of western Northern America. The action begins around 4:45 am Pacific Standard Time when the red shadow of Earth first falls across the lunar disk. By 6:05 am Pacific Time, the Moon will be fully engulfed in red light. This event—the last total lunar eclipse until 2014—is visible from the Pacific side of North America, across the entire Pacific Ocean to Asia and Eastern Europe: global visibility map. For people in the western United States the eclipse is deepest just before local dawn. Face west to see the red Moon sinking into the horizon as the sun rises behind your back. It’s a rare way to begin the day. Not only will the Moon be beautifully red, it will also be inflated by the Moon illusion. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. In fact, a low Moon is no wider than any other Moon (cameras prove it) but the human brain insists otherwise. To observers in the western USA, therefore, the eclipse will appear super-sized. It might seem puzzling that the Moon turns red when it enters the shadow of the Earth—aren’t shadows supposed to be dark? In this case, the delicate layer of dusty air surrounding our planet reddens and redirects the light of the sun, filling the dark behind Earth with a sunset-red glow. The exact hue (anything from bright orange to blood red is possible) depends on the unpredictable state of the atmosphere at the time of the eclipse. As Jack Horkheimer (1938-2010) of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium loved to say, "Only the shadow knows." Atmospheric scientist Richard Keen of the University of Colorado might know, too. For years he has studied lunar eclipses as a means of monitoring conditions in Earth's upper atmosphere, and he has become skilled at forecasting these events. "I expect this eclipse to be bright orange, or even copper-colored, with a possible hint of turquoise at the edge," he predicts. Earth's stratosphere is the key: "During a lunar eclipse, most of the light illuminating the moon passes through the stratosphere where it is reddened by scattering," he explains. "If the stratosphere is loaded with dust from volcanic eruptions, the eclipse will be dark; a clear stratosphere, on the other hand, produces a brighter eclipse. At the moment, the stratosphere is mostly clear with little input from recent volcanoes." That explains the brightness of the eclipse, but what about the "hint of turquoise"? "Light passing through the upper stratosphere penetrates the ozone layer, which absorbs red light and actually makes the passing light ray bluer. This can be seen as a soft blue fringe around the red core of Earth's shadow." Look for the turquoise near the beginning of the eclipse when the edge of Earth's shadow is sweeping across the lunar terrain, he advises. A bright red, soft turquoise, super-sized lunar eclipse: It’s coming on Saturday, Dec. 10th. Wake up and enjoy the show. A Dawn Eclipse of the Moon -- timetables and more information from Sky and Telescope Dec. 10, 2011, Lunar Eclipse -- NASA home page for this event The Animated Eclipse -- created by graphic artist Larry Koehn of ShadowandSubstance.com	42,294
The Millionaire Who Took on McCarthyRoundup tags: McCarthy, William Benton A melodramatic mix of half-truths, rants, and innuendoes made Wisconsin’s junior Senator Joseph P. McCarthy powerful and intimidating. By 1951, he had cowed some of the Senate’s all time all stars, including Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Estes Kefauver, Robert Taft, J. William Fulbright, and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. The rare senator willing at that time to confront this “hit and run propagandist of the Soviet type” was a rookie senator from Connecticut. For introducing a resolution to expel this blathering bully, William Benton suffered McCarthyite blowback, including a $2 million libel suit. Many also believe Benton’s heroism lost him his Senate seat in 1952. Still, Benton insisted: “Somebody had to do this job.” Years later, as his legend grew, he would demur: “Well of course I like to think I did a lot of things that showed courage in the Senate.” But he admitted, it may have been “in part because of my political inexperience.” This political amateur also had something his other colleagues lacked: a real life awaiting back home. As a millionaire adman, publisher of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and owner of the Muzak Corporation, Benton could afford to be daring. Professional politicians, he would lament, “too often underestimate the long-range values of boldness and stubbornness in defense of an ideal.” As America’s new leaders take office, they should remember William Benton’s courage, deciding what ideals they will champion, no matter what. Born in 1900 in Minneapolis, Benton was a true child of the 20th century who would master the business of mass communication. He was also the kind of preacher’s kid like Woodrow Wilson and John Foster Dulles who retained their parents’ puritan moralism even in the dirty world of politics. At Yale, class of 1921, he often felt treated like a Midwestern rube. After learning how to sell at the National Cash Register Company, Benton entered the world of secular American evangelism—advertising—working for 1920s’ legendary agency, Lord and Day. In 1929, Benton launched Benton and Bowles with his former assistant Chester Bowles. Among the first to use consumer research surveys and radio advertising intelligently, they gave the world radio soap operas—and jingles. Six years later, despite the Great Depression, “rags-to-riches” Benton sold his share in what was now America’s sixth largest agency for $1 million. ... comments powered by Disqus - Support grows for Smithsonian museum of women’s history - History Lesson: How the Democrats pushed Obamacare through the Senate - Oldest women’s college in US – Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia – seeks to atone for Ku Klux Klan’s legacy - Ancient Egyptian Writing: New Symbols Reveal Development Of Hieroglyphics - Dr. Suess museum chided for failing to address head-on his racist statements during WW2 - Lonnie Bunch says the nooses found at the Smithsonian recently show why black people cannot get over the past - It’s Time for Historians of Slavery to Listen to Economists - Researcher: "Actually, Yes It Is a Discovery If You Find Something in an Archive That No One Knew Was There." - The Trump team is obsessing over Thucydides, the ancient historian who wrote a seminal tract on war - Historians defend scholar who studies Poland and Holocaust	47,609
the Fourth Week of Lent Thibaut de Champagne The Catholic Encyclopedia Thibaut IV, count of Champagne and King of Navarre, a French poet, b. 1201, at Troyes; d. 8 July, 1253. He was the posthumous son of Thibaut III, Count of Champagne and Blois, and Blanche, sister of Sancho VII, King of Navarre. He had to defend his rights to his countship first in 1221 against his uncle, Count of Brienne, and later against his aunt, Alice, Queen of Cyprus. During the minority of Louis IX, he first sided with the nobles against Blanche of Castile, but he soon separated from them, and being attacked by them, he was defended by the queen. In 1234, his uncle Sancho VII having died childless, he succeeded him as King of Navarre. He was the leader of the crusade organized in 1239 by Gregory IX, and landed at Acre on the first of September, fought several unsuccessful battles, and after his troops were decisively defeated at Gaza, he left Syria on 1 September, 1240. In order to arouse the zeal of the nobility for the defence of the Holy Land, he composed four songs, known as Crusade songs, which rank among his best; their literary value is equal to their Christian inspiration. Very little is known of his life after he returned from his campaign in Palestine. There is some uncertainty concerning the place where he died, at Provins, Troyes, or in Navarre. He is regarded as one of the greatest lyrical poets of the thirteenth century. His rhythm are most harmonious, his combinations of metres show a real skill, while his expressions are full of refinement and true sentiment. His verses have been published, under the title of "Poésies du Roi de Navarre", by Lévesque de la Ravallière (Paris, 1742). They consist of sixty-six poems, divided as follows: thirty-nine love sings, twelve jeux-partis, or debating songs, four Crusade songs, and eight serventois. Dante spoke of him in most laudatory terms. D'ARBOIS DE JUBAINVILLE, Hist. des comtes de Champagne (Paris, 1866); PETIT DE JULLEVILLE, Hist. de la langue et de la litterature francaise, II (Paris, 1894); BEDIER, Chansons de croisade (Paris, 1909). These files are public domain. Obstat, Nihil. Lafort, Remy, Censor. Entry for 'Thibaut de Champagne'. The Catholic Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/t/thibaut-de-champagne.html. Robert Appleton Company. New York. 1914.	11,076
Freedom Riders: Art and activism 1960s to now The starting point for the exhibition FREEDOM RIDERS: Art and activism 1960s to now is a major portrait, Charlie Perkins, 1986, by Aboriginal artist Robert Campbell Jnr in the University Union Art collection. Perkins was the first Aboriginal graduate at the university and a key figure in the Freedom Ride, a historic intervention initiated by Sydney University students in 1965. The Freedom Ride focused unprecedented attention on the systematic racism experienced by Aboriginal communities in regional towns across New South Wales. Campbell’s art played a pioneering role in exposing the social and political realities of NSW Aboriginal people. His Perkins portrait and the Freedom Ride provided an historic framework for the work of six Aboriginal artists Karla Dickens, Adam Hill, Jonathan Jones, Michael Riley, Elaine Russell and Christian Thompson. As featured on the ABC's 7:30 NSW, Friday 1st July 2011: FREEDOM RIDERS Click here for the pdf of the exhibition catalogue	41,514
Why are hermit crabs hairy? Why are hermit crabs hairy? Those little ‘hairs’ you see all over the body and chelipeds of your hermit crab are not hairs at all. They are an extension of the exoskeleton and are called setae. A seta is an elongate projection with a more or less circular base and a continuous lumen; the lumen has a semicircular arrangement of sheath cells basally. Revising the definition of the crustacean seta and setal classification systems based on examinations of the mouthpart setae of seven species of decapods A. GARM Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 142, Issue 2, October 2004, Pages 233–252 What inRead More →	22,062
View Full Size Pictured holding his iconic walking stick, Zeedyk is a riparian restoration expert here to teach Montana managers his unique methods for repairing meadows like this one in sagebrush country. Pictured holding his iconic walking stick, Zeedyk is a riparian restoration expert who recently taught Montana managers how to cost-effectively repair wet meadows like this one in sagebrush country. Story and photos by Sarah Keller for the Intermountain West Joint Venture On an overcast fall afternoon in southwest Montana, nearly two dozen land managers and conservationists are gathered in the sagebrush around a vertical face of eroding soil. During spring runoff, wet meadows like these green up and become a vital food source for wildlife. But as livestock and people create trails through these broad catchments, among other factors, the trails erode into deep gullies and headcuts like the one the group is observing. It’s a problem here in Montana, as well as around the West. Low-tech watershed restoration efforts, like using Zeedyk structures, benefit both working lands and wildlife. “With a headcut such as this one, if you don’t treat it, it’s going to keep going,” said Bill Zeedyk, as he gestures at the exposed earth with a walking stick. “There’s no natural process to stop it. You have to be proactive.” Soon the crew surrounding him moves into action to start clearing soil away and stacking rocks. Zeedyk is a riparian restoration expert here to teach Montana managers his unique methods for repairing meadows like this one in sagebrush country. In the case of this headcut, it is part of a wet meadow that begins on Bureau of Land Management public land and continues onto the private Hansen ranch. The restoration of this site means building a series of three rock steps against it to slow the flow of runoff. Like all of Zeedyk’s techniques, it’s a simple, elegant structure designed to work with water to catch sediment, and level out the meadow so runoff can spread over it again. Everyone here pitching in to stack rocks is part of a multi-day workshop learning about these habitat restoration techniques. The pervasiveness of degraded wet meadows seems like a daunting problem. But many land managers see restoring them as a conservation opportunity, particularly when the methods are simple and cost-effective, like Zeedyk structures. Read more >> See the full story at PartnersInTheSage.com Learn more about Zeedyk structures Read SGI’s wet meadow restoration strategy	9,413
Hyperglycemia in diabetes High blood sugar (hyperglycemia) affects people who have diabetes. Several factors can contribute to hyperglycemia in people with diabetes, including food and physical activity choices, illness, nondiabetes medications, or skipping or not taking enough glucose-lowering medication. Early signs and manifestations: Recognizing early side effects of hyperglycemia can offer you some assistance with treating the condition immediately. Look for: Frequent pee, Increased thirst, Blurred vision, Fatigue, Headache. Later signs and indications: If hyperglycemia goes untreated, it can bring about harmful acids (ketones) to develop in your blood and pee (ketoacidosis). Signs and manifestations include: Fruity-noticing inhale, Nausea and heaving, Shortness of inhale, Dry mouth, Weakness, Confusion, Coma, Abdominal torment. Get physical. Regular exercise is often an effective way to control your blood sugar. However, don't exercise if ketones are present in your urine. This can drive your blood sugar even higher. Take your medication as directed. If you have frequent episodes of hyperglycemia, your doctor may adjust the dosage or timing of your medication. Follow your diabetes eating plan. It helps to eat less and avoid sugary beverages. If you're having trouble sticking to your meal plan, ask your doctor or dietitian for help. The numbers are staggering, and it is estimated that there are approximately 175 million worldwide sufferers.According to statistics, 67 percent of women with excessive sweating seek treatment, while only 32 percent of men with the condition do so.In all suffering from the condition the disease was bilateral, the mainly affected locations being: hands (35.7%), legs (21.4%), axilla (17.9), face (10.7%), back (7.1%), chest (3.6%) and abdomen (3.6%). There was no predominance regarding gender, age or BMI. We found a positive relationship with BMI and observed a prevalence ratio of 2.48 higher in overweight students than in normal weight or underweight ones.	38,340
Over a half century has passed since the end of World War II, but some Japanese leaders continue insisting their nation did nothing wrong by invading China or attacking the United States. This month, General Tosho Tamogami was fired for an essay in wrote in which Japan is the innocent victim and the United States and China are the culprits in World War II. According to the general, the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was a trap set the by the Americans and Japan’s brutal invasion of China which resulted in the death of over four million Chinese really wasn’t that bad. Japanese peace activists are shocked by the essay because it reveals there are still many people who work hard to justify murder, brutalization, and aggression. A recent film, “We Won’t Forget” portrays the Japanese nation as being forced to invade China, kill millions, and attack the United States. It would be beneficial for Japanese educators to study from German educators who have developed extensive programs to teach their children the truth about Nazism and its brutality. German students learn about the Holocaust unlike Japanese students who do not learn about the killing and raping by Japanese soldiers in Nanking. Perhaps, the Japanese government should invite German educators to assist their school system in developing educational programs that do not justify war and brutality. In the end, the truth is the best weapon to prevent future wars.	30,263
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes Updated January 2016 Barbara Higham, Wharfedale, UK Photo: Erin White What’s in it for mothers? Mothers know breastfeeding is good for babies. It’s the natural thing to do: human milk provides optimal nutrition and strengthens immune systems. We know too that formula-fed babies suffer more illnesses than breastfed babies. But how often do mothers hear about the advantages that exist for their own short and long-term health? The reporting of these ‘selfish’ benefits is often limited to the perk of speedier weight loss postpartum. Any discussion of the emotional pluses tends to focus primarily on the baby and the ease of bonding with a more settled child. Mothers want what’s best for their babies, whose needs will come first. But painting a one-sided picture of breastfeeding as an ideal gold standard gift means many mothers think it’s an unattainable ideal—on a par with never eating sugar or using silk diapers—rather than the biological norm, something that is simply meant to happen. We are designed, like all mammals, to breastfeed and not doing so may have far-reaching consequences for both babies and their mothers. Breastfeeding is a two-way relationship, not a sacrificial gift. Women need to be well and content in order to be up to the job of mothering. It can be such hard work and personal rewards definitely help. Women should be entitled to good health information and that includes what’s in it for us (free from misleading commercial promotion) when we are deciding how we want to feed our babies. Good for mothers too Following birth, immediate skin-to-skin contact and the baby’s suckling release oxytocin from the mother’s pituitary gland. This hormone signals the breasts to let down milk to the baby and simultaneously produces contractions in the uterus to expel the placenta naturally, helping prevent hemorrhage and promoting uterine involution. As long as a mother breastfeeds without substituting formula, food or pacifiers for feedings, the return of her menstrual periods is delayed. (Why does no one tell women that?) As natural family planning for the first six months, breastfeeding according to these criteria is considered up to 99% effective when used correctly (Kennedy et al 1992). Lactational amenorrhea is variable, with some women reporting their first postpartum menses as late as 42 months. (I enjoyed 24 months with no periods following the birth of each of my children.) Natural child spacing ensures both the optimal survival of each child and the mother’s physical recovery between pregnancies. In contrast, the formula-feeding mother requires contraception within six weeks of the birth. The amount of iron a mother’s body uses in milk production is much less than the amount she would lose from menstrual bleeding, decreasing her risk of anemia. The suppression of a woman’s menstrual cycle by exclusive breastfeeding reduces her lifetime exposure to estrogen, which ‘feeds’ cancers. The recent research is particularly convincing. In 2009, The American Institute for Cancer Research (a member of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the World Health Organization) released the largest review of research into lifestyle and breast cancer ever conducted, which reinforced previous findings that women can reduce their risk by maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active, drinking less alcohol, and breastfeeding their children. In an eight-year study of over 60,000 women who had given birth, having breastfed at all provided up to a 59% reduction in the risk of developing pre-menopausal breast cancer in women with a family history of the disease (Stuebe et al 2009). That means, for women with a family history of breast cancer, breastfeeding can reduce the odds of developing pre-menopausal breast cancer by more than half. Another meta study (compiling data from 47 smaller studies) concluded that a woman who breastfed for 12 months in her life reduced her risk of developing breast cancer by 4.3%. This benefit can be multiplied as a mother breastfeeds one child or several children. For example, a mother who has two children and breastfeeds each for two years can realize a 17.2% reduction in her risk of developing breast cancer later in her life (Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer 2002). The cumulative protective effect of lactation is one explanation for why developed countries, whose mothers breastfeed for shorter durations (or not at all) and have fewer children in their lifetimes, have higher rates of breast cancer. The most recent review and meta-analysis (Islami et al. 2015) found that breastfeeding reduced the risk of hormone receptor negative tumors, a very aggressive type of breast cancer, by up to 20%. Even a brief period of breastfeeding reduced the risk of the tumors, which are more common in younger women. Breastfeeding also lowers a mother’s risk of developing other cancers including ovarian, uterine and endometrial (Cramer 2012). Production of milk is an active metabolic process, requiring the use of calories. Like any biological process, this varies from person to person, but if a mother exercises and eats a healthy diet, nature intends for her to lose the extra weight she puts on during pregnancy in the few years it intends her baby to get breast milk. The reduction in BMI associated with just six months’ breastfeeding could importantly reduce women’s risk of obesity-related disease and their costs as they age (Bobrow et al 2013). The findings of one study suggest that women who breastfeed have reduced amounts of abdominal fat, even decades later. Middle-aged women who consistently breastfed their children had waist circumferences that were an average of 2.6 inches smaller than women who had never breastfed (McClure et al 2010). Since the belly is the least healthy place for women to store fat, this is a compelling incentive to breastfeed. Lactation may have persistent favorable effects on women’s cardiometabolic health, which is good news for diabetic mothers (Gunderson et al 2010) and an important consideration for all since heart attacks are the leading cause of death in women. Breastfeeding substantially reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes in later life. (Liu et al 2010). Researchers (Erica et al. 2015) evaluated nearly 1000 mothers from diverse backgrounds who had developed gestational diabetes during their pregnancies and monitored them closely for two years after the birth. Nearly 12% had gone on to develop type 2 diabetes. Those who breastfed for more than ten months cut their risk of a diabetes diagnosis by almost 60% in the two years they were followed. Of the women who only breastfed and used no formula for the first two months of the baby’s life, 8% developed diabetes, compared with 18% of the mothers who did not breastfeed and only used formula. Calcium is necessary in the production of milk. Because women lose calcium while lactating, many people wrongly assumed an increased risk of osteoporosis for women who breastfed. However, current studies show that lactation is associated with greater maternal bone size and bone strength later in life (Wiklund et al 2012). Women who breastfed had higher adjusted total body bone mineral content, total hip bone mineral density and lower fat mass than did parous non-breastfeeders (Paton et al 2003). Chantry et al (2004) concluded that breastfeeding may be protective to the bone health of adolescent mothers. Women who had breastfed for 13 months or longer were half as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis as those who had never breastfed. Those who breastfed for between one and 12 months had a 25% decreased risk (Pikwer et al 2008). Breastfeeding mothers exhibit a less intense response to adrenaline (Altemus 1995). Breastfeeding compels mom to relax. For a start she is sitting or lying down. With an increase in maternal levels of natural opiates during lactation, the release of oxytocin (the hormone of love) followed by a release of prolactin (the milk-making and calming hormone), there comes a letting go, followed by a blissful serenity that helps her slow down to adopt this new pace of life, to cope and enjoy mothering. All this is quite apart from the personal satisfaction and peace of mind she may have from doing what is best for her child, who will suffer fewer illnesses and will cost her nothing to feed for at least the first six months. One study found that breastfeeding may protect against negative moods and stress. Breastfeeding mothers had more positive moods, reported more positive events and perceived less stress than formula-feeders (Groër 2005). Doan et al (2007) found that mothers who exclusively breastfed slept an average of 40 minutes longer than mothers who supplemented with formula. Breastfeeding mothers are less tired and get more sleep than their formula or mixed-feeding counterparts and this lowers their risk of depression (Dorheim et al 2009). Doan and colleagues noted that supplementing with formula as a coping strategy for minimizing sleep loss can actually be detrimental because of its impact on prolactin production and secretion. Maintenance of breastfeeding, as well as deep restorative sleep stages, may be greatly compromised for new mothers who cope with infant feedings by supplementing in an effort to get more sleep. A mother who feels that breastfeeding is the only thing that is working well in her life does well to continue if she chooses to take medication to treat her depression. Most antidepressants prescribed nowadays are compatible with breastfeeding, though not all GPs are aware of this. Mothers who breastfeed may have a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease in later life (Fox et al 2013). The link may be down to breastfeeding’s action in restoring insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance, which is significantly reduced during pregnancy. More research is needed to investigate the relationship between breastfeeding physiology and cognitive health. The list of good things for mothers’ health resulting from breastfeeding is far from comprehensive and all women deserve to know about these very significant benefits. From a mother’s perspective breastfeeding is a shared gift: one she gives to herself as well as to her baby. Altemus, M. et al. Suppression of hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to stress in lactating women. J Clin Endocrinal Metab 1995; 80:2954. Bobrow, K. et al. Persistent effects of women’s parity and breastfeeding patterns on their body mass index: results from the Million Women Study. International Journal of Obesity 2013; 37, 712–717. Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer. Breast cancer and breastfeeding: collaborative reanalysis of individual data from 47 epidemiological studies in 30 countries, including 50302 women with breast cancer and 96973 women without the disease. Lancet 2002; 360, 187–95. Cramer, D. The epidemiology of endometrial and ovarian cancer. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am 2012; 26(1):1–12. Doan, T. et al. Breastfeeding increases sleep duration of new parents Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing 2007; 21(3), 200–206. Dorheim, S. et al. Sleep and depression in postpartum women: A population-based study. Sleep 2009; 32(7), 847–855. Fox, M. et al. Maternal breastfeeding history and Alzheimer’s disease risk. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 2013; DOI 10.3233/JAD-130152. Freudenheim, J. et al. Exposure to breastmilk in infancy and the risk of breast cancer. Epidemiology 1994; 5, 324–331. Gunderson, E. et al. Duration of lactation and incidence of the metabolic syndrome in women of reproductive age according to gestational diabetes mellitus status: a 20-year prospective study in CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults). Diabetes 2010; 59(2):495–504. Gwinn, M. et al Pregnancy, breast feeding, and oral contraceptives and the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer. J Clin Epidemiol 1990; 43: 559–68. Hunziker, U. et al. Increased carrying reduces infant crying: a randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics 1986;77(5):641–8. Kennedy, K. et al. Contraceptive efficacy of lactational amenorrhoea. Lancet 1992; 25;339(8787):227–30. McClure, C. et al. Presentation, American Heart Association’s Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Annual Conference, San Francisco. 2010. Paton, L. et al. Pregnancy and lactation have no long-term deleterious effect on measures of bone mineral in healthy women: a twin study. Am J Clin Nut 2003; 77: 707–14. Stuebe, A. et al. Lactation and incidence of premenopausal breast cancer: a longitudinal study. Archives of Internal Medicine 2009; 169, 1364–1371. World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective Washington, DC: AICR, 2009. Zinaman, M. et al. Acute prolactin and oxytocin responses and milk yield to infant suckling and artificial methods of expression in lactating women. Pediatrics 1992;89 (3): 437–40. Barbara Higham has been a La Leche League Leader since 2004 and is managing editor of Breastfeeding Today for La Leche League International. She lives with Simon and their three children in Ilkley, Yorkshire, UK.	41,252
Cloud Computing the ‘Future of the Future At the National ICT Business & Innovation Symposium recently, Jeremy Geelan, president of 21st Century Internet Group Inc concluded his keynote address by saying, “Cloud computing allows you to create and if you can create, you can be what’s next.” The lecture, entitled The New Cloud Enabled World, aimed to illustrate the many benefits of cloud computing. Geelan, who is also the conference chair of the International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo, refers to himself as a “domain expert on the future of the future” ie The Cloud. Cloud computing is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage and process data rather than a local server or a personal computer. When he rhetorically asked the audience, “Why move to cloud?” his answers included these reasons: unlimited processing and storage, elasticity, maximised revenue, reduced cost, expedited time and the ability to do more projects. To support his claims, Geelan provided some statistics on Internet usage. According to Geelan, in the early days of the Internet during the 1990s, there were approximately ten million users. Now, the Internet has more than one billion users, he said. This growth is also visible by looking at Web sites: a little over a decade ago there were one million Web sites—a number which has now leaped to 100 million. The number of Internet connected devices now stands at five billion and Geelan believes that estimate is conservative. As further evidence, Geelan pointed out that the file-hosting site Dropbox, founded only in 2007, had 100 million users with one billion files saved every two hours. One of the possibilities Geelan posed to the audience was the problem solving power of using cloud: “If every car in T&T had an IP address it might be very easy to figure out why traffic is such a problem,” he suggested. The cloud-enabled concept car, Evos, revealed by US motor company Ford earlier this year can track driver preferences, work schedules, music and weather information and it also allows for coal data to be shared through vehicle-to-vehicle communication. While Geelan offered examples of many businesses and organisations that were 100 per cent cloud operated such as Amazon, Coca Cola, Maersk and even the US Central Intelligence Agency, Guardian technology columnist Mark Lyndersay believes the road to full cloud dependency is still far reaching, particularly in T&T. “Now that enterprise is looking into the cloud model for more everyday tasks, there are a number of issues that are coming to the forefront. Data security, broadband accessibility and reliability, and depth of Internet penetration become critical factors in doing business this way, which is quite a conceptual jump from individuals making use of services on the web,” he said via e-mail. “There’s a huge conceptual jump between having a Facebook page and running your business off a cloud based service and that’s where the evangelising of cloud computing solutions has become critical.” Apart from security risks, Lyndersay also pointed out that cloud computing was not exactly a new phenomenon. “The real challenge that cloud computing proponents face is that they aren’t really introducing a new product. The concept of cloud computing has been growing around us for several years now, long before it was formalised as a name and a decade’s worth of young people and reasonably experienced web users have come to expect data held on servers on the Internet as part of the overall computing experience.” Geelan proffered that cloud computing was an example of the “democratisation of IT” making access to services, learning and even funding easier, particularly for those living in T&T’s rural areas. He said T&T may be ahead of the curve because business technology is now becoming social technology and the high saturation of smart phones in T&T could be the turning point. However, Lyndersay was not convinced that the proliferation of smart phones and other mobile Internet connected devices was a sure sign of progress. “I’m not sure that it’s true to describe T&T as being ahead of many countries in the saturation of smart phones. Such devices only get their intelligence with a broadband connection and that’s still quite far from reaching saturation point,” he said. Cloud computing is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage and process data rather than a local server or a personal computer. The name comes from the use of a cloud shaped symbol used to represent the complex infrastructure it contains in system diagrams. Cloud computing entrusts remote services with a user’s data, software and computation. Consumers access cloud based applications through a Web browser or a light-weight desktop or mobile application while the business software and user’s data are stored on servers at a remote location. Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and economies of scale similar to a utility, like electricity, over a network.	14,644
Dog with Rabies "Dog with Rabies is very unusual. Vaccination protects against the disease. There is no cure for this virus." A dog with rabies is rare in the U.S. It is more common in some other parts of the world, such as Asia. All warm-blooded animals can get rabies including humans. All dogs should be vaccinated for rabies at age 12 – 16 weeks and again at age one year. After that, they should be vaccinated on a regular basis. There is no cure for rabies, so vaccination is critical. Rabies is transmitted through a bite by an infected animal. However, not all bites by infected animals result in infection. Only about 15% of bites result in transmission of the disease. If you are bitten by a dog or suspicious animal seek immediate treatment and read our guide to dog bite rabies. Canine Rabies SymptomsWhen an infected animal bites a dog, the rabies virus moves along the nerves toward the brain. It is a slow-moving virus and there is an incubation period of 3 – 8 weeks before symptoms are shown. There are three stages of rabies symptoms. The first is the prodromal stage. This stage usually lasts for 2 – 3 days. Dogs become nervous and may avoid contact with people. They often run a fever. They will lick the site of the bite excessively. The second stage is the furious stage. This lasts for anywhere from 1 – 7 days. Dogs become irritable and aggressive. They are hypersensitive to auditory and visual stimuli. The third stage is the paralytic stage. Nerves of the head and neck are affected. The dog becomes unable to swallow and so begins to salivate and drool. Dogs may make a choking sounds and it may seem as if something is lodged in their throats. Labored breathing and dropping of the jaw occur as the muscles of the diaphragm and face become more and more paralyzed. The dog will get weaker and weaker and eventually die of respiratory failure. Canine Rabies Diagnosis Currently the only way to make an accurate diagnosis of rabies in a dog is to examine the brain. This means the dog must be dead. Researchers are working on developing blood tests to test for the disease. A tentative diagnosis can be made based on the symptoms described above. A dog with rabies symptoms should be treated as if he may have the disease and be isolated from other animals. Canine Rabies Treatment There is no dog with rabies treatment. The disease is fatal. That’s why it is so important to have your dog vaccinated. There are both a one-year vaccine and a three-year vaccine available. Talk to your veterinarian about which vaccine is best for your dog. Clinical Diagnosis for Rabies in Live Dogs Tesumethanon, Veera, DVM, Lumlertdacha, Boonlert, DVM, Mitmoonpitak, Channarong, DVM, Wilde, Henry, MD	26,335
More than 20 years after seaweed farming was introduced on the island of Zanzibar, it is still predominantly portrayed as a success. Arguments such as job creation for women and increased household income prevail and used as justifications for both corporate and developmental projects. But a more nuanced picture is required. Overlooked, but no longer In a study recently published in Aquaculture, centre researcher Maricela de la Torre-Castro together with colleagues from Stockholm university and University of Dar es Salaam has identified serious health problems among female seaweed farmers on the island. This has been largely overlooked in previous research. A largely female occupation, seaweed farmers considered their health significantly poorer than non-seaweed farmers and reported issues like back pain, allergies, musculoskeletal pain, hunger, respiratory problems, eye related problems, injuries from hazardous animals and sharp shells. "These problems are clearly associated with poor working conditions, intensive work and long exposure to sun, wind and seawater," says de la Torre-Castro. In their study, a list of health problems was developed and an analysis was done to identify to what extent these health problems are present among seaweed farmers compared to non-seaweed farmers. This was then tested by interviewing 140 women from seven different villages. An intergenerational trap The most common response from the women was that seaweed farming was energy consuming and physically hard compared to the low income it generates. In fact, most seaweed farmers' earnings were below the absolute poverty level but a lack of stable economic activities and the abandoning of traditional activities force the women to continue. Although 75 percent of the women clearly demonstrated a wish for their children to get an education in order to have a good job so as to avoid getting involved in the farming, most young girls follow the same path as their mothers. The tragic irony of it all is that the mothers continue working to support their childrens' education. The women also fear seaweed farming have negative health effects on their children. Mothers reported how children show symptoms such as coughing and fever when seaweeds are stored at home. A possible explanation to these problems could be the exposure to toxic vapours released from the algae during the drying process. It could still be a success story De la Torre-Castro and her colleagues are not calling for the abolishment of seaweed farming, but rather to encourage changes towards better working conditions for the farmers. "Since seaweed farming has implications for thousands of poor households worldwide and the Zanzibar case is normally used as a positive example, our study should provide a more nuanced picture to help improve the working conditions of this important livelihood," de la Torre-Castro says. Source: Fröcklin, S., M. de la Torre-Castro, L. Lindström, N.S. Jiddawi, and F. E. Msuya. 2012. Seaweed mariculture as a development project in Zanzibar, East Africa: A price too high to pay? Aquaculture356—357:30—39	28,102
Earthquake off the Coast of Venezuela A strong earthquake struck off the Venezuelan coast on September 12, 2009. The magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurred underneath the Caribbean Sea near the city of Puerto Cabello. According to reports from Reuters some buildings in the Venezuelan countryside were damaged, but there were few injuries. The United States Geological Survey indicated that the earthquake epicenter was in the region of the San Sebastián and El Pilar faults, both of which are seismically active. The fault zone is near the boundary of the South American and Caribbean tectonic plates. The Caribbean plate is moving 20 millimeters (0.8 inches) per year with respect to the South American Plate. Previous earthquakes in the region occurred in 1989 and 1967. This image originally appeared on the Earth Observatory. Click here to view the full, original record.	17,523
Shuyak Island Cultural History Although Shuyak’s wooded shores are quiet today, with no modern communities, the island was once an integral part of the Alutiiq nation. The Alutiiq people are the original residents of the Kodiak archipelago. Anthropologists believe they settled here more than 7,500 years ago, traveling by boat from the Alaskan mainland. At least 30 archaeological sites record the prehistoric cultures of Shuyak. Like other regions of the archipelago, Shuyak sites date to three major cultural periods, each representing a unique way of living. Early sites in protected places like the shores of Big Bay date to the Ocean Bay tradition (ca. 7500 – 4000 years old) and likely represent the camps of families pursuing sea mammals and marine fish. By about 4,000 years ago, Native people began living in sod house villages and storing quantities of fish. Sites of this era, belong to the Kachemak tradition (ca. 4000 – 900 years old) on Shuyak. They have small single-roomed houses surrounded by deposits of ancient garbage. By 900 Alutiiqs lived in larger villages with multi-roomed houses. Koniag sites are the most common on Shuyak, reflecting growth of the regions population. Historical records indicate that Shuyak was home to at least two Alutiiq communities when Russian traders arrived in the late eighteenth century. Russian entrepreneur Gregorii Shelikov established trading relations with the chief of one of these villages, although the Alutiiq settlements were soon destroyed or abandoned following conflicts with the traders. In the twentieth century, Alutiiq families salted salmon on Shuyak for both human consumption and to produce animal food for the fox farming industry. In the 1930, fish processing expanded with the development of a cannery in Port William. Other enterprises, including mining, logging, and bear hunting are also part of Shuyak’s more recent history. Cabin foundations, mineshafts, historic garbage, a shipwreck, and the remains of a World War II era air navigation facility are some of the historic features that document the island’s recent past. Visitors to Shuyak Island State Park should remember that state laws protect archaeological sites. Enjoy viewing the evidence of past settlers as you explore the island, but do not disturb or collect anything. For more information on Alaskan archaeology the laws that protect archaeological sites, please visit the Alaska Office of History and Archaeology’s web site at: http://www.dnr.alaska.gov/parks/oha/index.htm Return to Kodiak State Parks Recreation Guide	24,712
Contact: (Media Inquiries Only) The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced today that the agency has released a white paper on the use of patent pools as one way to address the issue of access to vital patented biotechnology products and processes. "Biotechnology, an increasingly important industry to the American economy, is heavily dependent on patent protection to maintain viability. While most biotechnology companies are responsible corporate citizens, offering reasonable access to their patented inventions, one concern about broad patenting in biotechnology, especially regarding genomic inventions, is the ease and cost of licensing multiple patents," noted Q. Todd Dickinson, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. "Patent pools can allow reasonable access to patented genomic inventions, thereby promoting research and development while also promoting competition through patenting." A patent pool is an agreement between two or more patent owners to license one or more of their patents to one another or third parties. A patent pool allows interested parties to gather all the necessary tools to practice a certain technology in one place, e.g., "one-stop shopping," rather than obtaining licenses from each patent owner individually. The USPTO white paper defines a patent pool, summarizes their history in the United States, addresses the legal implications of patent pools, and analyzes their potential benefits. The white paper is available here. # # #	40,485
The Oldest Neighborhoods in Chicago Chicago has roots back to the late 17th century when French explorers and missionaries first made contact with the Potawatomi natives. The Battle at Fort Dearborn caused the early settlers to leave the area. From there, real estate was built very quickly because of the desire for easy access to transportation. After that, Chicago quickly became a melting pot and diverse cultural area. Here are some of the oldest neighborhoods that may resemble what life was like back then. Old Town is also known as “The Cabbage Patch” because original German immigrants were attracted to the area for the farming. Old Town houses many beautiful Victorian style homes. It has preserved by the Chicago Historic District since 1977. One of the most notable events in Old Town was that it was designated as a neighborhood defense unit by Chicago’s Civil Defense Agency during World War II. Currently old town is popular due to the comedy shows and family owned restaurants. The town celebrates and recognizes small family owned stores and steers clear of corporate chain stores. Old Town also hosts one of America’s oldest art fairs, the Old Town Art Fair which has been around since 1950. The art fair also has live music, which brings many to enjoy over 200 artists. St Charles was believed to host locations in the underground railroad during the slavery abolishment era. Many community leaders of St. Charles were known slavery abolitionists. Many of the older homes still have evidence of the underground railroad. St. Charles is home to a famous historic building called the Collins House. The Collins house was built around 1836 and there is evidence of a trap door which was believed to help aid those using the underground railroad to reach freedom. The Hotel Baker was opened in 1928 and attracted many tourists as a popular romantic vacation hotel destination. Lake forest remained inaccessible to early farmers looking to settle in Chicago. Railroads were built in 1855 that allowed transportation to Lake Forest and it was first settled by Presbyterians in 1857. The neighborhood was designed by many famous land and home architects. The landscape design was purposely engineered to be secluded from the rest of the rest of Chigaco due to conflicting religious and social beliefs of the residents from the rest of the Chicago area. Norwood Park was formed in 1872 after the railroads started to extend their reach and allow for easier transportation to and from the area. The neighborhood was named after a town in a famous novel by Henry Ward Beecher. Norwood Park is home to one of the oldest farmhouses in Chicago, the Wingert House. The house was home to John Wingert and was built in 1854. John Wingert fled Germany to escape religious persecution. Chicago’s oldest house also resides in Norwood Park, The Clarke House. The Clarke House is now a museum located in the Chicago Women’s Park. If you are fortunate enough to live near these historic neighborhoods, it’s always a treat to stop by and learn more about their history. If you are planning on visiting the Chicago area, it is a really great place for history fanatics.	3,850
In 1975 Fred Whipple questioned the possibility of a comet striking Tunguska. He estimated that if we take the mass of the comet as 1 million tonnes, as suggested by Fesenkov, the chance of such a comet striking Earth every 100 years would be about 1 in 20,000. 'It appears unlikely, therefore, that the Tunguska explosion was produced by a bona fide active comet a hundred or so meters in dimension ... more likely, however, the Tunguska object was an inactive, low-density, friable body ... There is no reason to suspect it was interstellar.' Most contemporary scientists also reject the idea of a comet. 'Comets are fluffy in comparison with asteroids and burn up quickly in the atmosphere', Richard Stone writes in Discover magazine. 'For one to have produced an explosion as big as the one over Tunguska, it would have started out as a million-tonne object. The vast swath of gas and dust left by such an object on its way down might well have shut out the sun or altered the climate.' Zdenek Sekanina, an expert on comets at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, agrees: 'The effect on life on Earth would have been horrendous. It would have been a global catastrophe, comparable to nuclear winter. The effects on mankind would have been so overwhelming that we could not discuss the topic, because we would not be here.' You and I are still discussing the topic; therefore, the Tunguska fireball was not a comet. QED. Although the probability of such low-density objects colliding with Earth is obviously quite small, there is still hope for the comet theory - and it comes from Down Under. Assuming a speed of 108,000 kilometres per hour, as the Australian scientists Duncan Steel and Richard Ferguson present their case, seven hours before the impact the Tunguska object would have been about 750,000 kilometres from Earth. Active comets produce tails that stretch millions of kilometres away from the Sun, so it is possible that there could have been an encounter between Earth and the tail of the comet. This encounter could produce an aurora in the hours before the impact. But did anyone observe an aurora seven hours before the Tunguska blast? Steel, a well-known authority on the threat posed by asteroids, was at a conference on asteroids, comets and meteors in Sweden in 1989, when the Russian scientists Nikolai Vasiliyv and G. Andreev circulated a short report on Soviet research on Tunguska. He was intrigued by the following paragraph in the report: A special item in this respect could be the search for the original diary entries by Mouson who observed auroras from near the Erebus volcano at Antarctica during the summer of 1908. There is information in Shackleton's accounts that on June 30, Mouson registered an aurora which he visually considered to be anomalous. Unfortunately, Shackleton's accounts do not contain further details. Steel soon figured out that 'Mouson' was 'Mawson', after transliteration from the Latin script to Cyrillic and then back again, and 'the summer of 1908' was in fact 'the Antarctic winter of 1908'. Coincidentally, at that time Steel was at the University of Adelaide, where Mawson's notebooks from the Antarctic Expedition of 1907-09, led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, are archived in the Mawson Institute for Antarctic Research. Mawson (later Sir Douglas Mawson) was a young geologist on the expedition, and kept a diary of his observations. Steel and Ferguson made extensive searches of Mawson's diaries and all other expedition papers, but failed to find any record of aurora australis at the time of the Tunguska blast. However, they found a record of an exceptional aurora seven hours before the blast. Was this aurora caused by the Tunguska fireball? If yes, then the fireball was, as Mawson would have said, a fair dinkum (genuine) comet. Was this article helpful?	40,040
How polar bears got their white coat remains a scientific mystery, but newly published research suggests a way they could turn brown again. One of the study’s authors says that’s what might eventually happen to some groups of modern bears as climate change alters their habitat. “It’s not something that happened in the past and might happen in the future — it’s happening today,” said Beth Shapiro, one of the authors of the study published in the journal PLOS Genetics. Shapiro and her colleagues were looking for insight into the evolutionary past of bears. The researchers were trying to understand when black, brown and polar bears diverged from each other and developed their modern appearance. Scientists still don’t know when polar bears acquired their distinctive coat. The oldest remains only date from about 110,000 years ago, by which time the species was already well-developed. “This 110,000-year-old bone probably isn’t the earliest polar bear,” said Shapiro. “We have no idea how early polar bears diverged from brown bears.” But there is one group of brown bears that has shown signs of mixed heritage — the so-called ABC bears on the Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof Islands off the coast of Alaska. Previous studies of some of their DNA have shown the ABC bears are more closely related to polar bears than they are to other browns. Shapiro and her team decided to look more closely at the ABC bruins. They employed sophisticated DNA analysis to look deeply into their past. What they found is that ABC bears are genetically close to polar bears because that’s what they used to be. Shapiro’s paper suggests that the ABC bears are a remnant of an ancient population of polar bears that lived in the area during the last Ice Age. As that period ended and the ice slowly retreated, the ABC population got cut off from other polar bears. “They couldn’t mate with any more polar bears,” Shapiro said. “As the weather started to get warmer and warmer, brown bears — males, as it turns out — could swim across the channel that separated the ABC islands from the Alaskan mainland and colonize these islands. There they ran into this isolated, trapped population of polar bears and they started hybridizing with them.” That scenario conforms to modern bear behaviour, in which it is the young males that set out from their birth range in search of new territory. It’s also borne out in the DNA evidence. The team found the greatest percentage of polar bear genetic material in the female X chromosomes of the ABC bears. “All of the DNA that’s shared between mom and dad has about 1 to 4 per cent polar bear remaining in it,” Shapiro said. “The X chromosomes have a lot more — up to around 15 per cent.” That isn’t enough for the ABC bears to have maintained their original genetic identity, she said. “In that particular location, they were converted into brown bears.” Shapiro said something similar is happening today as climate change reduces sea ice and changes the habitat of some polar bears to look more like that of their southern cousins. “We’ve seen that polar bears are hybridizing with brown bears now, at the edge of their range in Canada. “I guess it means if we destroy all their habitat, and the only habitat that’s left for polar bears looks like brown bear habitat, then they’re just going to hybridize with brown bears and turn into brown bears.” If that were to happen, it would take thousands of years, Shapiro hastened to add. But it does prove how adaptable polar bears can be — to the point of adapting themselves out of existence. “Because they still retain the ability to hybridize with brown bears, they’re still pretty environmentally adaptable, which is kind of a shame for polar bears.”	15,267
He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed--but he marches on forever. Habakkuk 3:6 Just how old are the hills? An online search says the earth is 4.54 billion years old. I wonder how the all-wise ones figured it out to two decimal places? Were there mountains in the original creation? Or did they come about as a result of the flood? In geology class we learned that there are two kinds of mountains, volcanic and upthrust. Fuji is a perfect example of a volcanic cone, so symmetrical, and so Japanese. Of course the Rockies are upthrust. On our honeymoon my wife and I drove through the Rockies. There was an area to pull off so the geo types could take pictures of some tilted bedding planes. These are considered as unusual to some people, though they exist in many places. But almost all consider mountains as very, very old. When Noah's ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, the highest land in the time of the flood, where was Everest? Could it be that Everest was formed after the flood? Absolutely. Atop the highest mountains we find fossils from the sea bed. Even the most ardent evolutionist does not claim that these creatures climbed up there. So the mountains rose up, taking the fossils with them, after the flood. The great hydrologist Henry Morris, co-author of The Genesis Flood, writes that the geologic strata and the upthrust mountains were formed by the flood, when incredible amounts of water pressed down upon the earth. This really bothers many geologists. It's way too recent. Billions of years are needed for man to have evolved. But, increasingly, people are catching on. The Biblical time-line is being proven to be true. The Earth is not billions of years old, so neither are the hills.	49,146
As the chill wet of winter settles in and the incidence of coughs and colds grows it’s time to get serious about natural alternatives to prescription antibiotics. One natural remedy that has been around for thousands of years to fight winter viruses is the garlic. The humble garlic has enjoyed a long and illustrious reputation as a heal-all, and rightly so. Garlic has been used for healing since the time of the ancient Egyptians. Now science has confirmed that garlic deserves its status and is indeed the medicinal giant it was always held to be. Garlic was used by both the ancient Greeks and Egyptians to treat a range of health problems. From Egypt it spread through Pakistan and India into China. In many different cultures garlic was used to treat very similar ailments, including respiratory, digestive, fevers and rheumatism. In ancient Greece Hippocrates, the father of medicine, used garlic in the treatment of many diseases. As a culinary herb garlic is relatively new and throughout history was more likely to be used for its medicinal properties. For a plant that offers so much to invigorate your palate, it seems almost too generous for it to have powerful healing properties as well. It is the active ingredient in garlic, allicin, a sulfur compound, that holds all the healing power, and allicin is the same ingredient that gives garlic its strong odour and taste. This compound is produced when the clove surface is exposed to the air by crushing or cutting the clove. Garlic acts as a broad spectrum antibiotic and is able to kill a wide variety of bacteria. Unlike chemical antibiotics that kill off millions of friendly bacteria that your body needs, Garlic only targets the invading bacteria, and even promotes and increases your healthy bacteria. Garlic is also a powerful anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-protazoal and antiparasitic, efficient at destroying antigens, pathogens and any harmful micro-organism. To gain the benefit of garlic it needs to have a strong garlic-y smell released by the active allicin. Without this aroma it won’t do you much good. The cut surface of the garlic needs to be exposed to the air while it is raw. If you are going to cook with it make sure it is crushed and left to sit for a while first. HOW GARLIC HEALS Some of the healing effects of garlic are: Cardiovascular: Cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer in the world and hypertension is an important indicator. Garlic acts powerfully on the circulatory system, helping to lower hypertension and regulate cholesterol. A 2013 study* found that taking a daily dose between 600-1500mg of aged garlic extract was as effective as the hypertensive drug Atenolol in reducing blood pressure over a 24 week period. It does this by widening the blood vessels By lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol garlic reduces the risk of heart disease. However it doesn’t seem to affect triglycerides or HDL levels. Skin: Although you won’t find garlic in your skin cream it is a strong acting topical treatment for acne. It possesses excellent anti-microbial properties to kill bacteria and works effectively to kill radicals swiftly. Chronic fatigue syndrome: In many ancient cultures garlic was used to improve the capacity of labourers to work longer and harder by reducing fatigue. Today it can be used to relieve the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome as well as to improve physical endurance, although no studies have been done into this use. Respiratory: Asthma and Bronchitis – Garlic is known to have a strong action on the respiratory system and is a useful treatment for asthma and bronchitis. As well as being very effective in treating the common cold by reducing its duration, garlic can also be used to ward off colds and other viruses. Immunity: Garlic is known to boost immune function to reduce the incidence of colds as well as dramatically reduce the duration of colds by up to 70%. This wonderful bulb is a true superfood, containing many trace nutrients to strengthen immune function. Garlic is high in manganese, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Selenium and fibre. It also contains decent amounts of potassium, calcium, phosphorous, iron, copper and vitamin B1 as well as small amounts of other nutrients. Detox: In high doses it has been shown that garlic can protect against heavy metal toxicity as well as reducing many signs of heavy metal toxicity. Food Poisoning: It has been suggested that fresh but not aged garlic may be capable of killing certain bacteria including E. coli. Hair Loss: Garlic contains keratin in the sulfur it contains which both stimulates hair growth and strengthens the hair. Vaginitis and candida Plus many, many more ailments from the prevention of tick bite to diabetes. HOW TO REAP GARLIC’S BENEFITS When a cold first begins its assault on you one of the easiest ways to fight it off is to chew or swallow a raw clove of garlic in which a strong garlic aroma has developed. The effect of garlic can be quite dramatic even eradicating the cold. Cut the clove open first and leave to sit in the air for a few minutes before you eat it. The healing power strengthens when the cut clove is exposed to the air. Some people have no problem with eating cloves of raw garlic but for others it’s not so easy. When I need a dose of garlic I crush it and use it on top of my meal. That way I can eat it with the first mouthful – the garlic is still raw but easier to take with a mouthful of food. Don’t shy away from raw garlic. Garlic only affects your breath if you chew it. Instead you can cut the clove up and swallow each piece without chewing. Plus there are plenty of delicious foods such as fresh hommus or guacamole that contain lots of garlic in its raw state. As a bonus garlic is not only very nutritious it is also low in calories. Another way to take your garlic is through your skin. Your skin absorbs what is put on it and this goes for garlic as well as expensive skin products. Crush a few cloves of garlic and cover them with some carrier oil that is suitable for applying to the skin, such as olive oil, jojoba, almond or other food grade oil. Allow the mix to steep for at least half an hour. Don’t be tempted to heat the garlic as even short-term heating reduces the anti-inflammatory effects. The carrier oil holds the allicin from the garlic clove. Once the oil has finished steeping apply it to the soles of your feet. Put on some socks to protect the oil and relax while the oil is absorbed through the pores of your skin. Once in your body it is carried throughout the body. If you prefer you can rub the cut garlic clove directly onto the soles of your feet. It will still be absorbed through your skin. But be warned. You will probably develop a garlic taste in your mouth, or your breath may start to smell of garlic about twenty to thirty minutes after applying the garlic to your soles. This indicates that the garlic has been absorbed and carried through your body. It would be wise not to do this immediately before going out socialising. If you simply cannot face raw garlic you can always take your garlic as a supplement, in the form of a powder, an extract or oil. However there is a great difference between garlic supplements. The amount of allicin they contain is dependent on the way in which they are prepared. Unfortunately, allicin is not stable and can change quickly, reducing the effectiveness of the preparation. If the supplement is odourless its effectiveness is compromised. To reach therapeutic levels you need at least two to three cloves each day. Don’t be afraid to use this smelly treasure and hold back, as the body can tolerate up to four grams or about four cloves each day. But, there are some people who are allergic to garlic. And you need to be careful with garlic if you suffer from a bleeding disorder or are taking blood thinning medications. *Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Studies. All information and opinions presented here are for information purposes only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before following any of the treatment suggested on this site, particularly if you have an ongoing health issue.	30,001
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition - n. The greatest possible quantity or degree. - n. The greatest quantity or degree reached or recorded; the upper limit of variation. - n. The time or period during which the highest point or degree is attained. - n. An upper limit permitted by law or other authority. - n. Astronomy The moment when a variable star is most brilliant. - n. Astronomy The magnitude of the star at such a moment. - n. Mathematics The greatest value assumed by a function over a given interval. - n. Mathematics The largest number in a set. - adj. Having or being the greatest quantity or the highest degree that has been or can be attained: maximum temperature. - adj. Of, relating to, or making up a maximum: a maximum number in a series. Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia - n. The greatest amount, quantity, or degree; the utmost extent or limit: opposed to minimum, the smallest. - n. In mathematics, that value of a function at which it ceases to increase and begins to decrease. - Greatest: as, the maximum velocity. - n. The highest limit. - n. mathematics The greatest value of a set or other mathematical structure, especially the global maximum or a local maximum of a function. - n. analysis An upper bound of a set which is also an element of that set. - n. statistics The largest value of a batch or sample or the upper bound of a probability distribution. - n. colloquial, snooker A 147 break; the highest possible break. - n. colloquial, darts A score of 180 with three darts. - n. colloquial, cricket A scoring shot for 6 runs. - adj. To the highest degree. GNU Webster's 1913 - n. The greatest quantity or value attainable in a given case; or, the greatest value attained by a quantity which first increases and then begins to decrease; the highest point or degree; -- opposed to - adj. Greatest in quantity or highest in degree attainable or attained - adj. the greatest or most complete or best possible - n. the greatest possible degree - n. the largest possible quantity - n. the point on a curve where the tangent changes from positive on the left to negative on the right - French from Latin maximum. (Wiktionary) - Latin, from neuter of maximus, greatest; see meg- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition) “This is an interactive kinda thing, as he challenges his readers, Reply with a title maximum of four words about which you'd like me to write a fast fiction of exactly 200 words, together with a single word you want me to include in the text of the tale.” “POMEROY: Well, as far as tonight goes, we already were at what we call maximum deployment.” “National police commissioner George Fivaz said he agreed farmers should take what he described as maximum self-defence steps, but within the ambit of the law.” “Very little drop in maximum velocity and very accurate.” “The maximum is a year in jail, but the new law would have permitted up to five years.” “Micro-usb is far inferior in maximum bandwidth, electrical interference, and physical strength.” “And even if the official bearish projections turn out to be true, the shortfall could be made up easily by subjecting investment income to Social Security taxes, and by eliminating the cap that exempts wage income above a certain maximum ($68,400 in 1998).” “And Fed officials framed their decision as being designed to fulfill its "dual mandate" to maintain maximum employment and stable prices.” “So locking someone up in maximum security and putting them on trial for mass murder or attempted mass murder (with the death penalty as a potential outcome) is treating them “nicely”?” “I believe that once a few corporate executives are found guilty and sent to be rehabilitated for dozens of years in maximum security federal prisons, existing companies will be far more careful about how they conduct business.” These user-created lists contain the word ‘maximum’. Budgetese - not a sexy topic but a very comprehensive list of words and collocations used in EU circles. Budgeting experts please comment and expand. heading, across-the-board ..., emergency reserve, frontload, mopping-up, performance reserve, positive margin, negative margin, public finances, structural operat..., administrative ex..., management of EU ... and 657 more... additionality, audit trail, accounting standards, auditing standards, general audit obj..., a posteriori audit, a priori audit, above board, acceptable error ..., access rights, accountability, accountable entities and 1283 more... Use these and get promoted All words of the Lisbon Treaty (Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r... Very basic words for ESL students. This is a list of academic words for students learning English as a Second or Foreign Language. It includes 570 word families that often appear in academic texts. It does not include words that are... Looking for tweets for maximum.	45,926
It is unacceptable that 843 million people in developing and transition countries continue to suffer from hunger and that more than 1 billion still live on less than 1 dollar a day. Effective action against hunger and poverty has been impeded by a lack of political will to tackle the problem and, consequently, to provide the required resources. However, following the adoption of the Millennium Declaration, the formulation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their reaffirmation at the Monterrey Summit in 2002, there are now encouraging signs of a strengthening of resolve to fight poverty and hunger. Developing countries are acknowledging the need to commit more resources for development activities that benefit the poor. Donor countries are taking steps to increase official development assistance (ODA) to countries committed to poverty and hunger reduction. The work of non-governmental and civil society organizations is creating a groundswell of public opinion in developing and developed countries alike. The United Nations Millennium Project Report, Investing in Development, and the Project's various task force reports to the Secretary-General call for specific steps to achieve the MDGs, while the Report of the Commission for Africa calls for a doubling of ODA to Africa by 2015. The activities of private foundations as providers of funds for critical initiatives are also worth noting. However, one segment of international aid is decreasing; that is global food aid, which plummeted by almost 30 percent from 2003 to 2004. The international community should provide sufficient food aid that targets vulnerable and food-insecure households. There is an emerging consensus on effective strategies for poverty and hunger reduction: a twin-track approach is required that combines investments in productive activities with targeted programmes to provide the neediest with direct and immediate access to food as well as other basic goods and services. With about 75 percent of the poor and hungry in developing countries living in rural areas, promoting investments in agricultural and rural development is fundamental. This twin-track approach was first presented by FAO, IFAD and WFP at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, in March 2002. It was further elaborated in FAO's Anti-Hunger Programme publication in 2003, and its main elements are reiterated in the report of the Hunger Task Force of the UN Millennium Project. However, for implementing the twin-track strategy, three urgent requirements remain: that hunger reduction be recognized as a key component of all national poverty reduction strategies; that agricultural and rural development be recognized as key engines of pro-poor growth and hunger reduction; that consensus on strategies to reduce poverty and hunger be translated into concrete action at the scale required.	43,824
Today is a day off. And as Samantha has told us about 400 times, it is because of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. When asked why we celebrate his birthday with a vacation day she answered that he was "a good and generous man". Huh?!? Is that what they are teaching these days? We've made it so politically correct that we don't even discuss civil rights or equality under the law with second graders? Neither Samantha nor Rachel could state one thing that Mr. King had done other than the title of his famous speech. So we talked about race, slavery, unfair laws, prejudice, bias, Jim Crow, and Rosa Parks. Today we will read a book about Mr. King's life. A book that talks about police dogs, fire hoses, separate drinking fountains, and little girls going to school with police escorts. If our children aren't taught the truth of our American history, how are they going to keep from repeating it? Persecution comes in many forms, not just skin color. Mr. King fought against all persecution and prejudice. We live in a world where my children's christian beliefs are challenged and denied on nearly a daily basis. If we, as a people, don't teach our children how to stand up for our beliefs, then we will soon be without the right to believe. Mr. King stood up for his beliefs and tried to use the life of Jesus Christ as his model. There is something to be learned from that.	17,240
In his book, Orality and Literacy, Walter J. Ong compares the differences between how oral and literate cultures communicate knowledge. Chapter 3 specifically addresses the qualities of primary oral cultures in contrast to the chirographic, typographic and literate cultures of today. Ong notes the difficulty a literate person has understanding primary oral culture. Literate culture depends on looking up and documenting information to preserve knowledge whereas oral culture relies on memory. A major focus of this chapter is the examination of the linguistic features associated with characterization in oral storytelling. Traditional narratives remain in tact due to situational concepts, formulaic structure and reference to the human world. The classic stories from our childhood and the historic narratives we studied in university have endured due to oral preservation, as well as the increased distribution of print text. Ong highlights oral culture’s reliance on memory. In an oral culture, the lack of visual aids, such as text requires verbal thinking to take place in the form of patterns, and mnemonic terms. Systemic repetition and linguistic embellishment is used to ensure that information will be passed on to the next generation. Epithets bring colour and richness to speech through descriptions of “bizarre figures” that “add another mnemonic aid” (p.69). Although the prolixity of oral narration is often rejected by high literacy, the attention to vibrant character description offers a rich platform for a variety of the modern day story genres. The scene of an oral tale is most commonly known for the description of physical and often violent behaviour. The elaboration of story elements create a “highly polarized, agonistic, oral world” where language is used to juxtapose “good and evil, virtue and vice, villains and heroes” supporting the memory of the oralist (p.45). By referencing classic tales, Ong confirms that oral culture depends on memory to pass down knowledge from generation to generation. Oral cultures refer to human experience in order to pass on knowledge to the younger generation. Ong explains the importance put on real life experience by describing the way in which job skills are acquired through apprenticeship training as opposed to print manuals. Oral cultures see the importance of “observation and practice with only minimal verbalization,” a practice that would certainly involve the development of problem-solving skills in real-time settings (p. 43). For the oral mind, the acquisition of knowledge is most commonly situated “within the context of a struggle” (p.43). The element of everyday struggle is documented in texts, such as the Iliad and Beowulf and associates the oral world with an endless sense of hardship. Among all of the memory aids, Ong suggests that the epithet creates a strengthened formula that, once an “expression has been crystallized, had been best kept intact” (p.39). Even today, timeless sayings such as “beautiful princess,” “brave soldier” and “sturdy oak” cannot break away from their descriptors (p.38). Modern literacy views “epithets and other formulary baggage which high literacy rejects as cumbersome and tiresomely redundant” (p.38). Literate culture would contest that the act of writing frees the mind of memorizing but for primary oral culture, it was thought to “downgrade the figure of a wise man” (p.41). Oral culture unites groups of people who receive and respond to information in the same physical place, at the same time. Narrators can bring new variations to a story based on the audience they are speaking to. It is far too difficult to question the stories of a narrator because once a word has been spoken, it “soon vanishes” (p.41). A literate culture enables the distribution of current information in print while documenting events that can be retrieved at a later date. Once written text has been received, literate cultures have more freedom to react or objectify the news differently. Oral culture would say that this form of distribution isolates literate people, giving them the ability to have differing opinions towards a situation. Ong implies that although epithets transmit orally, they are protected under the authority of orality and therefore cannot be forgotten. In oral culture, knowledge is dependant on what an educated person can recall. In contrast, a literate person would surely ask how a person recalls information without reference to text. Ong develops the idea that literate culture anticipates a set of writing conventions because of the way writing shapes the brain. Although Ong spends much of the chapter drawing attention to the differences between oral and literate culture, he ends by noting the evolutionary changes in verbal and written communication that make it impossible for either to exist independent from the other. From the beginning of chapter 3, Ong explains the difficulty a literate person has understanding the psychodynamics of primary oral culture, yet he manages to give ample explanation as to how certain memory tools bring structure to oral culture. Ong, W. J. (2002). Orality and Literacy. London: Routledge.	4,892
Mesoamerican coffee: building a climate change adaptation strategy In Mesoamerica, coffee production is an important part of economies and societies, forming the backbone of thousands of families’ livelihoods and contributing significantly to national agricultural GDPs. Yet it is in Mexico and Central America that climate forecasts predict severe impacts from climate change. Climate models and crop-niche suitability predictors show considerable changes in both the quality of coffee beans and the altitudinal zones suitable for production. Unless additional efforts are made to strengthen adaptive capacity today, there will likely be heavy economic losses across the coffee supply chain, as well as the disappearance of important ecosystem services. Läderach, P.; Haggar, J.; Lau, C.; Eitzinger, A.; Ovalle, O.; Baca, M.; Jarvis, A.; Lundy, M. Mesoamerican coffee: building a climate change adaptation strategy. International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali, Colombia (2013) 4 pp. [CIAT Policy Brief No. 2]	725
Pergidae of the World An online catalogue of the sawfly family Pergidae (Hymenoptera, Symphyta). by Stefan Schmidt & David R. Smith The Pergidae are, after the Tenthredinidae and the Argidae, the third largest family of Symphyta. Their morphology, habits, and food plants exhibit a diversity which is not found in any other family of the Symphyta. The Pergidae show a Gondwanan distribution, with the majority of species occurring in South America and Australia, but no species known from Africa. They are the dominant sawfly family in Australia and, with the Tenthredinidae and Argidae, are one of the major families in the Neotropics. This website provides full information on original descriptions, synonymy, and taxonomic changes, subsequent references, recorded distributions, parasite and food plant data, and remarks on the biology, and taxonomy of certain species. For a few, mainly Australian species images are available. Totals in this catalogue are 34 valid genera and 276 valid species for the Western Hemisphere and 26 valid genera and 163 valid species for the Australasian Region (see summary table of species in the world). Of the 163 Australasian species, 140 species occur in Australia and 23 species are confined to Indonesia (Sulawesi, West Papua) and Papua New Guinea. The information provided in this website is based on the following print publication and includes additional information that became available after the catalogue was published: Schmidt, S. & Smith, D.R. (2006). An annotated systematic world catalogue of the Pergidae (Hymenoptera). Contributions of the American Entomological Institute 34(3): 1-207. The print catalogue is available for download as PDF (1.3MB). Please note: the catalogue has been published as a Contribution of the American Entomological Institute, the only definitive repository for the content that has been certified and accepted after peer review. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by the American Entomological Institute. This material may not be copied or reposted without explicit permission. Copyright © 2006 by American Entomological Institute. Schmidt, S. & Smith, D.R. 2006. Pergidae of the World - an online catalogue of the sawfly family Pergidae (Insecta, Hymenoptera, Symphyta). World Wide Web electronic publication. www.pergidae.net [accessed 2-Feb-2009]* *replace with date of access The Illustration on this page were taken from: Bennett, G. & Scott, A.W. 1859. Description of a species of Perga, or Saw-fly, found feeding upon the Eucalyptus citriodora of Hooker, or wide bay Lemon-scented Gum-tree. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 27: 209-212.	22,949
Chain Rule Examples Examples using the Chain Rule Chain Rule Examples ⇐ Use this menu to view and help create subtitles for this video in many different languages. You'll probably want to hide YouTube's captions if using these subtitles. - I'm now going to do a bunch more examples - using the chain rule. - So let's see. - Once again. - If I had f of x is equal to, let's see, I don't like this - tool that I'm using now, let's have one of these. - f of x is equal to, say, x to the third plus 2x squared - minus, let's say, minus x to the negative 2. - We haven't put any negative exponents in yet, but I - think you'll see that the same patterns apply. - And all of that to, let's say, the minus seven. - We want to figure out what f prime of x, what the - derivative of f of x is. - So this might seem very complicated and daunting to - you, and obviously to take this entire polynomial to - the negative seventh power would take you forever. - But using the chain rule, we can do it quite quickly. - So the first thing we want to do, is we want to take the - derivative of the inner function, I guess - you could call it. - We want to take the derivative of this. - And what's the derivative of x to the third plus 2x squared - minus x to the negative 2? - Well, we know how to do that. - That was the first type of derivatives we - learned how to do. - It's 3x squared and 2 times 2, plus 4x to the first, or just - 4x, and then here, with a negative exponent, we do - the exact same thing. - We say negative 2 times negative 1, right, there's a 1 - here, we don't write it down. - So negative 2 times negative 1 is plus 2 x to the, and then we - decrease the exponent by 1, so it's x to the - negative 3, right? - So we figured out what the derivative of the inside is, - and then we just multiply that, that whole thing, times - the derivative of kind of the entire expression. - So then that'll be, we take the minus 7, let me - do a different color. - So this is the entire thing. - So then we take minus 7, so it's times minus 7, this - whole expression, I'm going to run out of space. - x to the third plus 2x squared minus x to the minus 2. - That's minus x to the minus 2. - And all of that, we just decrease this exponent - by 1, to the minus 8. - So let me write it all down a little bit neater now. - So we get f prime of x as the derivative of f of x is equal - to 3x squared plus 4x plus 2x to the minus third power, I - don't know why did that. - That's minus 3. - Times minus seven times x to the third plus 2x squared minus - x to the minus two, all of that to the negative eight power. - And we could simplify it little bit. - Maybe we could just multiply this minus 7, times, we could - distribute it across this expression. - So we'd say, that equals minus 7, so this equals minus 21 x - squared, minus 28 x minus 14x to the negative 3. - All of that times x to the third plus 2 x squared minus x - to the minus 2 to the minus 8. - So there we did it. - We took this, what I would say is a very complicated function, - and using the chain rule and just the basic rules we had - introduced a couple of presentations ago, we were able - to find the derivative of it. - And now, if we wanted to, for whatever application, we could - find the slope of this function at any point x by just - substituting that point into this equation, and we'll get - the slope at that point. - Let me do a slightly harder one, to show you that the chain - rule, you can kind of go arbitrarily deep in - the chain rule. - So let's say I had, let me see if I can write it - a little bit thinner. - If I had f of x, I don't know if you can see that, I'm going - to do it a little fatter. - f of x is equal to, I want to make it a little bit more - complicated this time. - 3x to the minus 2 plus 5 x to the third minus 7x, all of that - to the fifth, and then this whole expression to - the third power. - So I imagine you saying, Sal, you're starting to go nuts, - this is going to take us forever. - Well, I'll show you, using the chain rule, it will - not take that long. - So the way I think about it, so-- f prime of x, - f prime of x equals. - I start off kind with the innermost function. - So let me see if I can use colors to make it - a little bit simpler. - Let's take the derivative of this innermost function first. - Actually, let me give you the big picture. - We want to find the derivative of the innermost function, and - then a little bit bigger, and then a little bit - more big than that. - I know that's not precise mathematical terms, but - you'll get the point when I show you this example. - So first we'll do this inner function, this - inner expression. - And the derivative of that's pretty easy, right? - It's 15x squared minus 7, right? - that was pretty straightforward. - And now we're going to want to multiply that times this - entire derivative here. - So let me circle that in a different-- so then - we want to do this. - We're going to multiply that times this entire derivative. - Well, that's just times 5. - And we just pretend like this is just an x here, right? - Because the derivative of x to the fifth is 5x - to the fourth, right? - But instead of an x, we have this whole expression, 5x - to the third minus 7x. - So we'll write that. - 5x to the third minus 7x. - Now the exponent here goes down by one. - So it's 5 times 5x to the third minus 7x, all that - to the fourth power. - So we figured out the derivative of this so far, and - then we want to figure out the derivative of this, so we'll - add it, right, because we're trying to figure the derivative - of this entire expression. - So this is an easy one. - Let me draw that in a different color. - So we want the derivative of this. - So that's negative 2 times 3, so that's negative - 6x to the minus three. - So what have we done so far? - We've so far figured out the derivative of this entire - expression, right? - The derivative of that entire expression using - the chain rule is this. - And now, we're almost done. - We just have to multiply that. - So I'm going to just, I've run out of space on that line, but - let's just assume that the line continues. - So that's times. - And now we just take the derivative of kind of - this whole big thing. - And now it's going to be the derivative of, I'm going - to use this brown color. - So it's a whole big expression to the third power, right? - So that becomes times 3 times the whole expression, right? - That's 3 times, now I'm going to write the whole thing, 3x to - the minus 2 plus 5 x the third minus 7x, that to fifth, and - then you decrement this by 1, to the second power. - That was an ultraconfusing example, and this is probably - the hardest chain rule problem you'll see in a lot of - the questions you'll have on your test. - You see, it wasn't that difficult. - We just kind of went to the smallest possible function, and - actually the smallest possible function would have been one of - these terms, but we just found the derivative of this, which - was 15 x squared minus 7, and then we just used the principle - that the derivative of kind of a function is just the - derivative of each of its parts-- well, actually, the - derivative of-- we figured out the derivative of this inner - piece, which was 15x squared minus 7, and then we multiplied - it times the derivative of this slightly larger piece, which is - 5 times this entire expression to the fourth, then we added it - to the derivative of 3x to the minus 2. - And then that whole thing, and actually I should put a big - parentheses around here, that whole thing, we multiply it - times the derivative of this larger expression. - I think I might have confused you, so I apologize if I have, - and in the next presentation I'm going to just do a bunch - more chain rule problems, and at some point, it should - start to make sense to you. - I think it's just a matter of seeing example, after - example, after example. - I'll see you into the next presentation, and I apologize - if I have confused you. Be specific, and indicate a time in the video: At 5:31, how is the moon large enough to block the sun? Isn't the sun way larger? Have something that's not a question about this content? This discussion area is not meant for answering homework questions. Share a tip When naming a variable, it is okay to use most letters, but some are reserved, like 'e', which represents the value 2.7831... Have something that's not a tip or feedback about this content? This discussion area is not meant for answering homework questions. Discuss the site For general discussions about Khan Academy, visit our Reddit discussion page. Flag inappropriate posts Here are posts to avoid making. If you do encounter them, flag them for attention from our Guardians. - disrespectful or offensive - an advertisement - low quality - not about the video topic - soliciting votes or seeking badges - a homework question - a duplicate answer - repeatedly making the same post - a tip or feedback in Questions - a question in Tips & Feedback - an answer that should be its own question about the site	34,657
LA’s Coal-Free Ambitions Lack A Clear Plan This article first appeared April 12, 2011 on NBCLosAngeles.com under the title, "LA Faces Tough Energy Challenge." Case in point: nearly two years ago Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pledged to make Los Angeles a coal-free city by 2020, but little progress has been made. Romel Pascual, deputy mayor of environmental issues, acknowledged the lag. “That commitment is still there,” Pascual said. “The goal is still there. How quickly we’ll get there, I suppose, is the biggest issue.” Right now 76 percent of the electricity provided by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is generated from coal and natural gas, according to the mayor’s office. The DWP, the largest city-owned utility company in the country, supplies power to 1.45 million customers annually, with roughly 40 percent of L.A.’s energy coming from coal-fired power plants. To put that in perspective, L.A. burns about 12,000 tons of coal every day and more than 4 million tons per year to generate electricity, according to the Sierra Club-backed Beyond Coal Campaign. “We aren’t on track because there is currently no plan in place,” David Graham-Caso, associate press deputy for the Sierra Club, said. “There was no schedule laid out. There was a date and an end goal, but no concrete plan.” L.A. owns shares in two out-of-state coal plants – the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona and the Intermountain Power Project in Utah – which released a combined total of more than 36 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2006, according to the Beyond Coal Campaign’s website. Late last year the DWP released an integrated resource plan or IRP addressing the city’s current coal consumption. Included in the IRP was a stipulation to sever ties with the Navajo Generating Station by 2014, which would reduce the DWP’s emissions by 10.5 million metric tons – equivalent to removing 350,000 cars from the road. But the IRP suggested 2027 as the planned split from the coal power plant in Utah, the year DWP’s contract with the facility expires... To read the rest of the article, click here. To reach Benjamin Gottlieb, click here. Follow him on Twitter @benjamin_max.	37,213
On the 2nd of June 1533, Jane Seymour made her first appearance as royal Consort. While never crowned, she was Henry’s unofficial Queen and the mother of his son, making her his beloved wife and the woman he chose to be buried next to. Henry VIII proposed to Jane Seymour right after Anne Boleyn had been executed. This was seen as tactless by many people, including some of Catherine of Aragon’s female relatives. Nevertheless, Henry VIII was King and Head of the Church which made him infallible in the eyes of the state. And Jane, much like Anne, had no friends in high place. While her mother was related to the Howard clan, she wasn’t closely related to them as Anne was, making her position less stable than her predecessors. In her documentary, the Secrets of the Six Wives (Six Wives in the UK) which aired on PBS 2016, Dr. Lucy Worsley is fair in her assessment of Jane, neither favoring nor faulting her for choosing to play along. She says: “if I were her, I would’ve probably done the same.” She goes on add, “her motto says everything: Bound to obey and serve. She was the typical English rose and English roses aren’t too interesting … She chose to be passive … I would do the same thing if I was married to Henry VIII, to be meek and mild even if I wasn’t to stay alive. Jane was a peacemaker, she improved Henry’s relationship with his children … For a long time, he had been estranged from his daughter Mary … She persuaded Henry to meet Mary once again.” The man Jane married was far less stable than the young boy who fancied Catherine of Aragon and thought himself as a knight rescuing his fair maiden princess from near penury, or the chivalrous lover who fancied himself in love with the most virtuous of his wife’s ladies. Now at mid-age, Henry was a moody and dangerous bedfellow who was congenial one moment and hostile the next. As a result, Jane thread carefully. She watched everything she said and made sure that her words were subtle so she wouldn’t get in trouble, in case her family’s enemies, primarily the staunch Protestant faction or the pro-French Catholic one, were looking for ways to bring her down. Luckily for her, thanks to her brothers, Edward and Thomas Seymour, she didn’t have to worry about the former. Edward wasn’t as educated as her predecessor’s brother, but he had a keen eye for detail and was just as dedicated and hardworking as George Boleyn, and by the time his sister had become Henry’s wife, he had already shown a deep interest in Protestantism. It would be over a decade, after his royal brother-in-law died and Jane’s son was crowned King, that his sympathies would become more obvious and he’d try to reconcile every religious faction by making the Anglican Church more Protestant -yet not enough (for many of his initial supporters) so it wouldn’t anger the Catholics. Edward’s scheme would fail. Unlike his sister, he wasn’t keen on playing the nice guy, but neither was he eager to become everyone’s most hated man. Like Jane, he was eager to please but unfortunately, it didn’t work for him. Jane however, being a woman and one whose position was highly dependent on Henry and who had previously served two queens, was observant enough to know what personae she had to play to appease Henry’s royal sensibilities. Jane and Henry were married on the 30th of May 1536 in the Queen’s Closet at Whitehall Palace. The ceremony was officiated by none other than the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, who had been Anne Boleyn’s chaplain. The wedding, according to biographer Antonia Fraser, was done “quickly and quietly” to avoid more controversy. Jane quickly established herself in her new role. Although she wasn’t as vociferous as her predecessors, Jane did voice her opinion on several occasions. Biographers Elizabeth Norton and the late David Loades in their respective biographies of her and the latter’s biography on her family, noted that she was a good masker. They also inferred that if she lived, she would have taken on a more prominent role as mother of the future king. Three days after Henry and Jane’s wedding, Jane made her debut at Greenwich, one of Henry VIII’s favorite residences and the place where he and his daughters were born. According to Sir John Russell from a letter to Lord Lisle: “The Queen sat abroad as queen, and was served with her own servants. And they were sworn that same day. And the King and Queen came in his great boat to Greenwich the same day, with his Privy Chamber and hers, and the ladies in the great barge. I do ensure you, my Lord, she is as a gentle lady as ever I knew, and as a fair queen as any Christendom. The king hath come out of hell into heaven, for the gentleness of this, and the cursedness and unhappiness in the other.” Jane made a good impression, and began to assemble her household at once. She proved herself worthy of her new role, and as her predecessors, she was very strict with her ladies. While Chapuys remarked that she possessed little wit, he noted that she was very observant. Two days later, on Whitsunday, the 4th of June, Jane was officially recognized as Henry VIII’s new queen in the same royal residence. A procession was held, with Jane at the front with her husband by her side and her ladies falling in line behind them. When they reached the palace of Placentia, the royal couple dined under a cloth of state. Jane’s star was rising and so was her family. Her older brother, Edward Seymour, was created Viscount of Beauchamp. His wife and Jane were very close; the two women also had one common friend and that was the lady Mary, Henry VIII’s estranged daughter. While Jane showed very little interest for her rival’s daughter, she showed a lot of sympathy for Mary whom she probably regarded as Henry’s true heir, at least until she bore him a son. However, Mary’s return to court not only depended on Jane but on her willingness to sign the Oath which labeled her a bastard born of incest and referred to her mother as the King’s mistress. When Mary finally signed the Oath, and she returned to court, Jane made no secret of her happiness at seeing the former princess again. It is not known what her view of Mary’s half-sister was. Did she hate her or view her as a threat? Possibly not, and most certainly no. If anyone would have been a threat to her future offspring, it would have been Mary (who in the eyes of many was Henry’s trueborn daughter). But due to her faith and her attachment to her mother, Jane didn’t it see it that way. As for hating Elizabeth, Jane would have no reason to hate her except if she thought Elizabeth was somehow responsible for Mary’s humiliations when she was forced to serve her. In which case, the blame would lay with Anne and Henry than with their daughter. Jane showed no hostility towards her youngest stepdaughter, nor did she try to prevent Mary from convincing her father to welcome her back, or use some of her new income to pay for Elizabeth’s new clothes and ensure that her sister was also being treated with the respect she deserved as the daughter of a king. Jane’s first and only act of defiance against the King came during the Pilgrimage of Grace at the end of that year. Henry VIII reminded her to keep her opinions to herself by saying two simple words: Anne Boleyn. Jane became even more complacent after that, concerning herself with keeping her husband happy, being a good hostess, and praying for a son so she could get to keep her head and her family could keep on rising. These last months were trying moments for Jane. Not only did she have to act more congenial so she would avoid another moment of awkwardness with Henry like when she tried to convince him to be merciful towards the rebels, she also had to face the sudden loss of her father, Sir John Seymour. He died on the 21st of December, he was buried on the Church of St. Mary in Great Bedwyn. Today visitors can see a memorial for Jane’s father who was 62 at the time of his death. Jane didn’t have to mourn her father for long, or distress herself about what her future would be if she didn’t give Henry what he desired the most because the following year, she became pregnant. On the 27th of May 1537, her pregnancy became public. “The 27th of May 1537, being Trinity Sunday, there was Te Deum sung for joy of the Queen’s quickening, my lord chancellor, lord of the privy seal, with diverse other lords and bishops being then present; all gave loud praise to God for joy of the same; the Bishop of Worcester made an oration before all the lords and commons after Te Deum was song, showing the cause of their assembly, which orations were marvelous to the spectators; also the same night diverse great bonfires were lit in London, and a hogshead of wine at every fire for poor people to drink as long as it would last. I pray Jesus that he sends us a Prince.” -The Wriothesley Chronicle She went into confinement months earlier, delivering a healthy baby boy on the 12th of October. Her labor was long and arduous, lasting over two days. Jane however, appeared to be in good health when three days later she and Henry saw their son again after the christening ceremony was over. But complications arose once again, and like her late mother-in-law, she became ill and died of puerperal fever (also known as childbed fever) on the 24th of October, twelve days after she had given birth to Edward. Masses were conducted in her honor. She was buried on St. George’s Chapel in Windsor where her husband would join her less than ten years later. In fiction, Jane is generally shown as a bland or insipid character. A lesser figure when compared to her mistresses, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. But there are notable exceptions, and not just in TV and film, but int historical fiction as well. Janet Wertman offers a sympathetic portrayal of Jane Seymour that doesn’t negate her flaws, or put her on a pedestal (as it is often done with many queens from this period); Diane Haeger also offers a fair portrayal of Jane in her novel, and so did Frances Betty Clark with her novel that ties in with the 1972 movie Henry VIII and his Six Wives starring Keith Michell as Henry VIII and Jane Asher as Jane Seymour, and Lauren Gardnier with the novel “Plain Jane”. Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies which have been on the mouths of everyone lately, also offer a generous portrayal of Jane, without overlooking her family’s ambitious or her own. - Norton, Elizabeth. Jane Seymour: Henry VIII’s true love. Amberley. 2009. - Loades, David. Jane Seymour: Henry VIII’s Favourite Wife. Amberley. 2013. - Fraser, Antonia. The Wives of Henry VIII. Penguin. 1993. - “Beheaded, Died.” Six Wives with Lucy Worsley, written by Chloe Moss, directed by Russell England, BBC, 2016. - Licence, Amy. The Six Wives and the Many Mistresses of Henry VIII. Amberly. 2014. - Seymour, William. Ordeal by Ambition: An English family in the shadow of the Tudors. Sidwig & Jackson. 1972.	20,304
Terrorism is the use of force or violence against persons or property in violation of the criminal laws of the United States for purposes of intimidation, coercion or ransom. Terrorists often use threats to create fear among the public, to try to convince citizens that their government is powerless to prevent terrorism, and to get immediate publicity for their causes. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) categorizes terrorism in the United States as one of two types--domestic terrorism or international terrorism. Domestic terrorism involves groups or individuals whose terrorist activities are directed at elements of our government or population without foreign direction. International terrorism involves groups or individuals whose terrorist activities are foreign-based and/or directed by countries or groups outside the United States or whose activities transcend national boundaries. BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS Biological agents are infectious microbes or toxins used to produce illness or death in people, animals or plants. Biological agents can be dispersed as aerosols or airborne particles. Terrorists may use biological agents to contaminate food or water because they are extremely difficult to detect. Chemical agents kill or incapacitate people, destroy livestock or ravage crops. Some chemical agents are odorless and tasteless and are difficult to detect. They can have an immediate effect (a few seconds to a few minutes) or a delayed effect (several hours to several days). Biological and chemical weapons have been used primarily to terrorize an unprotected civilian population and not as a weapon of war. This is because of fear of retaliation and the likelihood that the agent would contaminate the battlefield for a long period of time. The Persian Gulf War in 1991 and other confrontations in the Middle East were causes for concern in the United States regarding the possibility of chemical or biological warfare. While no incidents occurred, there remains a concern that such weapons could be involved in an accident or be used by terrorists.	15,269
The following risk factors increase your risk of coronary artery disease and angina: April 09, 2016 - Tobacco use. Chewing tobacco, smoking and long-term exposure to secondhand smoke damage the interior walls of arteries — including arteries to your heart — allowing deposits of cholesterol to collect and block blood flow. - Diabetes. Diabetes is the inability of your body to produce enough insulin or respond to insulin properly. Insulin, a hormone secreted by your pancreas, allows your body to use glucose, which is a form of sugar from foods. Diabetes increases the risk of coronary artery disease, which leads to angina and heart attacks by speeding up atherosclerosis. - High blood pressure. Blood pressure is determined by the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries. Over time, high blood pressure damages arteries. - High blood cholesterol or triglyceride levels. Cholesterol is a major part of the deposits that can narrow arteries throughout your body, including those that supply your heart. A high level of the wrong kind of cholesterol, known as low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol), increases your risk of angina and heart attacks. A high level of triglycerides, a type of blood fat related to your diet, also is undesirable. - History of heart disease. If you have coronary artery disease or if you've had a heart attack, you're at a greater risk of developing angina. - Older age. Men older than 45 and women older than 55 have a greater risk than do younger adults. - Lack of exercise. An inactive lifestyle contributes to high cholesterol, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and obesity. However, it is important to talk with your doctor before starting an exercise program. - Obesity. Obesity raises the risk of angina and heart disease because it's associated with high blood cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and diabetes. Also, your heart has to work harder to supply blood to the excess tissue. - Stress. Stress can increase your risk of angina and heart attacks. Too much stress, as well as anger, can also raise your blood pressure. Surges of hormones produced during stress can narrow your arteries and worsen angina. - Angina. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/angina/. Accessed Nov. 18, 2014. - Papadakis MA, ed., et al. Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2014. 53rd ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2014. http://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/book.aspx?bookId=330. Accessed Nov. 18, 2014. - Stock EO, et al. Cardiovascular disease in women. Current Problems in Cardiology. 2012;37:450. - Angina in women can be different than men. American Heart Association. http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/WarningSignsofaHeartAttack/Angina-in-Women-Can-Be-Different-Than-Men_UCM_448902_Article.jsp. Accessed Nov. 18, 2014. - Kannam JP, et al. Stable ischemic heart disease: Overview of care. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed Nov. 18, 2014. - Meisel JL, et al. Differential diagnosis of chest pain in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed Nov. 18, 2014. - Jneid H, et al. 2012 ACCF/AHA focused update of the guideline for the management of patients with unstable angina/Non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (updating the 2007 guideline and replacing the 2011 focused update): A report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on practice guidelines. Circulation. 2012;126:875.	22,367
We are delighted to dedicate our Wednesdays to featuring nonfiction titles, as per usual. We would also be linking our nonfiction choices with our reading theme throughout the year, when we can. This year, we hope to feature books that fit any of the following criteria: Postcolonial literature and/or [pre/post] revolutionary stories Stories by indigenous / first-nation peoples / people of colour Narratives of survival and healing, exile and migration, displacement and dispossession Books written or illustrated by people who have been colonized, oppressed, marginalized IntersectionAllies (Amazon \| Book Depository) Written by Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council, Carolyn Choi Illustrated by Ashley Seil Smith Published by: Dottir Press (2019) ISBN: 1948340089 (ISBN13: 9781948340083) Bought a copy of the book. Book photos taken by me. I teach the intersectionality framework to my doctoral students in the university. Hence, I am glad to see that there is a version for young people that has been created to make them understand how “all of the different parts of a person combine to affect their life experiences and personal identity.” I could appreciate how it must have been challenging to distill such an abstract idea to something that young people can relate to. While the authors are definitely experts in their own right when it comes to diversity, feminism, social justice – this appears to be their first children’s book publication. It would have been great if they collaborated with children’s book authors who have found tools to navigate complex issues while also engaging the attention of young readers – without necessarily resorting to rhyming text. I loved how the Foreword and the Afterword emphasized the theme of “making room for all” – it could have been the running theme in the narrative text as well – although I can see why the authors decided to focus more on introducing the group of diverse friends individually. One thing that makes children’s books work is the repetition and rhythm (that again do not have to be seen through rhyme), thus there could have been a pivot back to the main message of making room for all, which is definitely a concept that young people are able to grasp. That being said, this is a book that I will unreservedly recommend – as there is no picturebook as yet that boldly takes on the challenge of introducing such a complex framework to young children. Here’s to making room for all. #DecolonizeBookshelves2022 Update: 49 out of target 100 0 comments on “[Nonfiction Wednesday] On Allies and Solidarity Among People Of Color”	42,684
Certain algebras possess an important classifying property known as a grading. This essentially amounts to being able to express these algebras as a special kind of direct sum that respects multiplication. Definition[Graded Algebra]: An algebra over a field is said to be graded if, as a vector space over , can be written as the direct sum of a family of subspaces – i.e. and such that multiplication behaves according to , for all In classical mechanics, one deals with smooth manifolds. To understand what these are we need some definitions. Definition[Chart]: Let be a manifold of dimension . Then a chart is a pair , where is open and is a homeomorphism to some open . The collection of all charts such that each belongs to some chart is called an atlas. An atlas characterizes a manifold. More formally, Definition[Atlas]: An atlas on a topological space is a collection of charts where the are open sets that cover , and for each index is a homeomorphism of onto an open subset of -dimensional Euclidean space. Definition[Smooth Atlas]: An atlas is called smooth if for all we have that is a diffeomorphism. Definition[Diffeomorphism]: Given two manifolds and , a differentiable map is called a diffeomorphism if it is a bijection, and its inverse is also differentiable. Now, a manifold may not be generated by a unique atlas. To account for this, we seek a preferred atlas known as a maximal atlas. In defining such a thing, we need to know what it means for atlases to be compatible. Definition[Compatibility]: Let and be two smooth atlases. Then and are called compatible if and only if is again a smooth atlas. This notion of compatibility is actually an equivalence relation. The union over an equivalence class of atlases gives us our maximal atlas. If we denote an equivalence class by , then we have Definition[Maximal Atlas]: A maximal atlas for a manifold is the union of all smooth atlases in an equivalence class – i.e. This maximal atlas is said to be the differentiable structure of the manifold. We are now ready to understand the idea of a smooth manifold. Definition[Smooth Manifold]: A smooth manifold is a pair where is a manifold and is a differentiable structure of . Smooth manifolds are important in classical mechanics because they allow us to do calculus on them. Now, to return to the original topic, we are also interested in the graded algebra of smooth differentiable forms on a smooth manifold with respect to the wedge product, which is denoted by – Differential Forms – For now, let’s restrict our focus to what are called differential -forms, or just -forms. According to one source, “Informally, a differential form is what can be integrated along a path.” Starting in , let be some open subset of and let be two real-valued functions defined on . Then an expression of the form is called a differential -form on . A particularly important example of a differential -form is the total differential of a real-valued function defined on some open subset . Definition[Total Differential]: Let by a real-valued function defined on an open subset of . Then its total differential is defined by This can also be expressed as a kind of dot product of vectors, namely , where is the gradient of . Note that in this case we have and . -forms can be defined similarly for higher dimensions. For instance, a differential -form on an open subset of is an expression of the form where and are real-valued functions on . Again, if is a function defined on , then the total differential is an example. In general, a -form on an open subset of is an expression of the form or simply . If we let , then we can write a -form even more succinctly as So, if is a real-valued function defined on , the the general total differential is Note that each is a -form. These are defined by the property that for each vector Clearly, these form a basis for the -forms on . Definition[Smooth -Form]: A smooth -form on is a real-valued function on the set of all tangent vectors to , i.e. – with the properties that - is linear on the tangent space for each – i.e. if and ,then . - For any smooth vector field , the function is smooth. A smooth -form on an -dimensional manifold is defined similarly. Note: Another source simply says that a smooth -form on an open subset of is given by an expression To better understand the graded algebra of smooth differential forms on with respect to the wedge product we need to understand that the -forms on are part of an algebra called the algebra of differential forms on . Multiplication in this algebra is known as the wedge product and is denoted by the symbol ““. It has the property of being skew-symmetric or anti-commutative: From this it follows that , which implies that (provided we are not working over a field with characteristic 2). This means that the wedge product is alternating. From here we can build up -forms on . If each summand of a differential form contains ‘s, then is called a -form. Note: Functions are considered to be -forms. is a basis for the -forms on . Thus, every -form can be expressed in the form where ranges over all multi-indecies of length . The Exterior Derivative The exterior derivative is an operation that sends a -form to a -form. Definition[Exterior Derivative (-Form)]: Let be a -form (function). Then its exterior derivative is the -form Note that this corresponds to the total differential of . Definition[Exterior Derivative (-form)]: Let be a -form. Then its exterior derivative is the -form obtained from by applying $lated d$ to each of the functions involved in . Definition[Directional Derivative]: Let be a differentiable function defined on a region in . Let be a vector based at the point . Then the derivative of along , denoted , is defined as follows. Let . Then Theorem: Let be a differentiable function defined on a region of . Let be defined on tangent vectors to points of by Let be a vector based at a point of with coordinates . Let have coordinates . Let be the th unit vector. Then Next, let’s evaluate where we recall that . So, really, we should write . Now, is actually a composition of two functions, , where . If we now apply the chain rule, then we get But , so . Therefore, This finishes the proof. The exterior derivative obeys both the Leibniz rule and the chain rule: - Leibniz Rule - Chain Rule If is a -form and is a -form, then the Leibniz rule takes the form Theorem: For any differential form , (Or more succinctly, ). First, let be a function (i.e. -form). Then since mixed partials commute. Now, since actually means , where is the -th coordinate function, we have that . Let [By the Leibniz Rule] Per the reasoning above with functions, this is clearly . Much of the above has been described in terms of differential forms on . Most of it transfers fairly seamlessly to general manifolds (i.e. the concepts are defined similarly). So, to tie this all back to the graded algebra given above, we should understand to be (i.e. the -forms on ) and to be the algebra of smooth differential -forms on . We’ll look more at graded algebras in the next post.	46,734
The Associated Press Scientists have taken a key step toward revealing the causes of prostate cancer, finding that a combination of five gene variants dramatically raises the risk of the disease. Added to family history, they accounted for nearly half of all cases in a study of Swedish men. The discovery is remarkable not just for the big portion of cases it might explain, but also because this relatively new approach — looking at combos rather than single genes — may help solve the mystery of many complex diseases like cancer and diabetes that are thought to involve multiple genes or interactions between them. "It gives us a new way of looking at genetic risk factors," said Dr. Teri Manolio of the National Human Genome Research Institute, the federal agency focused on such work. It also might lead to a blood test to predict who is likely to develop prostate cancer. These men could be closely monitored and perhaps offered hormone-blocking drugs like finasteride to try to prevent the disease. The Swedish results must be verified in other countries and races, where the gene variants, or markers, may not be as common. Researchers already have plans to look for them in U.S. men. Unfortunately, the markers do not help doctors tell which cancers need treatment and which do not — they turned out to have nothing to do with the aggressiveness of a tumor, only whether a man is likely to develop one. Nor did they correlate with levels of PSA, a blood substance often used to gauge cancer risk. PSA is a notoriously imprecise measure, so a gene test that independently predicts risk would be very valuable, experts said. This "eyebrow-raising study" should quickly spur more research, particularly in blacks, who have a higher incidence of prostate cancer, said Dr. Howard Sandler, a cancer specialist at the University of Michigan and spokesman for the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The study was led by doctors at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., and involved Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Results were published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men and arguably the most mysterious. Unlike breast cancer, where variants in single genes like BRCA are known to confer greater risk, few have been discovered for prostate cancer. In the past year, other researchers identified five, but none individually seemed to raise risk very much. Combinations of them did, the new work reveals. It involved 2,893 men with prostate cancer and 1,781 similar men who did not have the disease. Sweden was chosen because the population is so ethnically similar and well suited to gene studies. Researchers looked for "hot spots" of differences in genes of the men with cancer compared to the others, then focused on the five most common variants, which were single letter changes in the gene's usual DNA alphabet. When four or five variants were present, men were more than four times more likely to develop prostate cancer than those with none of the markers. When family history was added in, men with five of the six factors were more than nine times more likely to develop the disease. These six factors accounted for 46% of the prostate cancer cases in the study. "That is a lot," Manolio said, but added, "you have to take those estimates with a grain of salt" because less than 2% of men had all of the variants. Still, some are very common — one is estimated to occur in 60% of men. Government and cancer groups in the U.S. and Sweden funded the work. Some of the U.S. researchers are seeking patents to develop a blood test using the results. However, scientists must prove that any such blood test does not give too many false alarms, Dr. Edward Gelmann of Columbia University Medical Center writes in an editorial. In the Swedish study, 2% of the men without prostate cancer had four of the five gene variants purported to raise risk. Until more is known, men should talk with their families about any history of prostate cancer, Sandler and Manolio suggested. The U.S. Surgeon General and various federal health agencies recently launched the U.S. Surgeon General's Family History Initiative to encourage people to learn more about their family health history. A website for the project gives families an Internet tool and advice on how to track this information. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.	11,732
Where do cancer cells get the nutrients they need to survive? Answer by CancerQuest - a cancer education project based at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Our goal is to empower cancer patients and caregivers with reliable information that is presented in an easy-to-understand way. A: Cancer cells, like all cells, need a source of energy (sugar, fat, etc.) and building blocks to make more cells and cell parts. They get their supplies from the same places that other cells do, the space around them. Nutrients and oxygen are carried in the blood and then released into the areas around the blood vessels. Like smoke moving across a room, the nutrients and oxygen float away from the blood vessels and are taken up by the cells. The cells also produce waste products that go the other way (CO2 and other products). The waste is eliminated in our breath, urine or feces. The need for nutrients is a crucial factor in the growth of tumors. Tumors can not get large enough to cause problems unless they develop their own blood supply, a process known as angiogenesis. The quest for nutrients and/or oxygen also stimulates cancer cells to move and can lead to cancer spread (metastasis). Learn more about angiogenesis:http://www.cancerquest.org/angiogenesis.html Learn more about metastasis: http://www.cancerquest.org/how-cancer-spreads-introduction.html Lastly, many cancer cells DO seem to use energy differently than normal cells. While most of our cells use two different steps to get energy from sugar, cancer cells rely more on the first one (called glycolysis) and don’t use the second (called oxidative phosphorylation). This means that they are less efficient in extracting energy than normal cells. To survive, they need much more sugar. It is like a car getting less miles per gallon of fuel. They need more fuel to do the same thing (i.e. drive the same distance). This difference is currently being examined as a potential target for cancer treatment. It is also part of the reason why some cancer imaging methods, like PET scans work. PET scans begin with the patient being infused with radioactive sugar. The sugar accumulates in the cells that need it the most…cancer cells.	18,619
I’m videochatting with Dr. Glenn Gaudette at his biomedical engineering laboratory at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, when he swings the camera around to show me his lab’s pride and joy. Ghost-like spinach leaves hang dripping in individual plexiglass chambers. Each one is connected by its stem to something that looks like an IV needle, a syringe that slowly infuses it with detergents, rinsing away its living cells and leaving behind only the vacant cell walls. One day, Gaudette hopes, these decellularized leaves will form the scaffolds for living human heart tissue, a “green” technology for patching damaged hearts. These spinach leaves aren’t just a potential biomedical breakthrough. They may also hold a clue to solving one of the biggest remaining hurdles in the race to create truly meat-like lab-grown meat. Drawing on the techniques developed in Gaudette’s lab and other related work in the field of regenerative medicine, researchers are attempting to mimic the flavor, form, and texture of meat by growing animal cells on decellularized plants—not just spinach, but celery, artichoke, mushrooms, and jackfruit. Venture-backed lab-grown meat companies—including Memphis Meats, Mosa Meat, Just Inc., and Finless Foods—have spent hundreds of millions of dollars learning to cultivate cow, chicken, pig, and fish cells in specialized vats known as bioreactors. The hope is that one day, they’ll be able to grow animal cells at a large enough scale to provide a competitively priced, less resource-intensive alternative to traditional stockyards, factory farms, and fisheries. Although many questions remain unanswered—including what exactly to call these foods— it’s almost certain that if and when the first generation of motherless meats arrive in grocery stores, they will not be steaks, chops, or filets. They will be meatballs, sausages, and extruded nuggets—processed foods that combine laboratory-raised cells with plant proteins, grains, and other ingredients. This is because cultured meat research has, up until this point, operated largely in the realm of the two-dimensional—growing animal cells, rather than simulating entire animal tissues. When we eat meat, what we’re really doing is consuming muscle tissue, an organized community of cells that includes not only skeletal muscle cells, but also fat cells, collagen, nerves, blood, and blood vessels. This supporting structure of sinew and vasculature is what produces the full sensory experience of meat, and is the difference between a muscle-cell slurry and a steak. But growing three-dimensional meat is a challenge. Typically, animal cells must be within 200 microns from a nutrient supply in order to survive; that’s about the width of a human hair. This is known as the diffusion limit, and it’s why you see cells growing along only the surface of a petri dish, rather than in heaps and piles. In living animal bodies, an extracellular matrix of collagen supports the development growth of complex muscle tissues. “It’s literally the scaffold that positions cells in a particular pattern within tissues, that allows them to mature and become functional in a tissue-specific manner,” says Jessica Krieger, a PhD student in biomedical sciences at Kent State University in Ohio. Krueger has worked on tissue engineering in both regenerative medicine and cultured meat laboratories. To build muscle tissues without a body, researchers must develop their own scaffolds. One approach is to create custom-made scaffolds “from scratch,” using tools either from chemical and bioengineering to rig up nano-structures from synthetic polymers such as PLGA, or from naturally occurring materials, including bacterially produced collagen and cellulose, carrageenan, zein (a corn protein), silk, and alginate. Although this can be technically difficult, it remains the most common strategy. Plant-based scaffolds represent another approach, one that has recently begun to gain more attention. You can think of them as botanical ready-mades—“found” scaffolds that do not need to be built entirely from scratch. This makes them much more affordable to work with than engineered bioscaffolds. New Harvest, a New York City-based nonprofit promoting research in cellular agriculture, currently funds a fellowship to advance this field of study. (Full disclosure: I was a speaker at the New Harvest 2018 conference, though otherwise have no connection to the organization.) Andrew Pelling’s augmented biology laboratory at the University of Ottawa in Canada is one recipient of New Harvest funding. His lab has been tinkering with plant-derived scaffolding since 2011, and has succeeded in growing human skin cells on decellularized apples carved into the shape of ears. I ask Pelling where he first got the idea. “Have you ever seen Little Shop of Horrors?” he replies. The cult-classic 1986 musical comedy features a mouthy plant named Audrey II, who feeds on blood. “She was an interesting biological entity,” Pelling laughs, “part plant, part animal. Could we grow Audrey II? That was our goal at the time. We failed at making Audrey II, but we did come up with a somewhat new approach to scaffolding material.” Their inadvertent discovery: a new way of using plant-derived cellulose for animal tissue engineering. To be clear, Pelling and other scientists are not creating plant-animal chimeras like Audrey II, uncanny beings that intermingle the DNA of plant and animal kingdoms. The plants’ DNA and all the other stuff inside its living cells get washed away by detergents and solvents during the decellularization process. But the remaining husks of evacuated cell walls, largely composed of cellulose, remain more or less intact—becoming, in theory, a vessel to fill with meat. The trick, then, is to hijack the natural formations of leaves, fruits, and stalk, and co-opt them into approximating animal functions. Gaudette’s tissue engineering laboratory began its work with spinach because the dense network of fine veins resemble the vasculature of the human heart. Parsley stems have been tested as scaffolds for blood vessels; bamboo for bone grafts. His lab recently began working with decellularized broccoli florets; their shape echoes the alveoli within human lungs. Cultured meat researchers also look for structural rhymes between plant and animal kingdoms. Last year, when she worked in Pelling’s lab, Krieger began working with decellularized celery stalks, hoping to persuade muscle cells to organize themselves as they do in living bodies. “In the body, you have these elongated muscle fibers that are arranged in parallel in muscle tissue,” she explains. “If we could fill the celery channels with [growing] muscle cells, we would have essentially the same tissue structure.” Unlike their peers in regenerative medicine, cultured meat researchers have to consider flavor as well as function. Marie Gibbons, a graduate student working in George Church’s lab at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, has successfully cultured turkey muscle cells on artichoke and jackfruit. “They have a very similar appearance, and very similar texture to meat,” she says. Jackfruit, in particular, which is already commonly eaten as vegetarian meat substitute, can enhance the overall impression of meatiness. In Pelling’s lab, graduate student Santiago Campuzano is continuing Krieger’s work with celery, and also culturing meat in decellularized mushrooms, chosen for their textural resemblance to pulled pork. So far, there’s nothing particularly special about the plants used in these experiments. The first set of spinach leaves decellularized in Gaudette’s lab were bought from the Subway sandwich shop down the street; they are currently sourced from the supermarket. “In the early days,” Pelling tells me, researchers in his lab “would go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of fruits and vegetables and decellularize them all. You can look out the window and find all sorts of plants to play with.” Yet here, too, is an opportunity for innovation. Gaudette talks about collaborating with botanists to develop specialized varietals—veinier spinach leaves, for instance. Plants could also be genetically engineered to increase their suitability for scaffolding, for instance, by introducing genes for proteins that would facilitate animal cell binding and growth. This would be welcome. In animals, the extracellular matrix is largely made of collagen; muscle cells thrive most enthusiastically on this material. A major ongoing challenge for researchers working on plant-based scaffolds is coaxing animal cells to penetrate—the technical term is “perfuse”—the matrix of cellulose plant walls, and fill out the empty spaces rather than clinging to the edges. That’s one problem that Campuzano, in Pelling’s lab, is currently working to solve. I wonder if Pelling and Campuzano have sampled the meat-shrooms and celery-meat they’ve been sowing in Ottawa. “Have you tried any of these?” I ask, “Can you describe what they taste like?” There’s a long pause, and then Pelling and Campuzano begin to set me straight. First of all, their lab is not working with cells from cows, chickens, or other ready-to-eat animals. They’re using an immortalized mouse-stem-cell line—“a very good model for skeletal muscle research,” Campuzano tells me—as they work out the fundamentals of the technique. In other words, the meat growing in Pelling’s lab is not really edible—and not just because a mush-mouse burger isn’t all that appetizing. The process of decellularizing plants and culturing cells involves compounds whose safety hasn’t been established, and which may in fact pose a risk to human health—detergents, antibiotics, antifungals. “I would never want my students risking their health and safety,” Pelling says. “Those sorts of violations are exactly the kind of thing that would get my lab shut down.” But Gibbons, whose experimental protocol did not include detergents or antibiotics, has sampled her turkey-jackfruit creation, which she affectionately calls a “nug.” “It tasted a lot like a chicken nugget,” she assured me, though she also admitted that she might not be the best person to make that call. She’s been vegan for five years and vegetarian for longer than that. “The important thing is that it didn’t taste like jackfruit,” she says. “It definitely tasted meaty.” Plant-based scaffolds are not the only promising technology out there, and may not be the ultimate fix. They don’t necessarily solve the problem of delivering nutrients deep into tissue. Recent advances in 3D-bioprinting may make it feasible to design complex collagen scaffolds. Fungal mycelium, which can be grown into pre-fab shapes, is also a potential ready-made scaffold. Meanwhile, the many other challenges facing the cultured meat industry may affect the viability of certain approaches to scaffolding: scaling up production, finding an alternative to the bovine fetal serum which most companies use to feed their growing cells, and actually making good on the promises of waste and energy-use reduction. What’s clear is that as founders and researchers master the two-dimensional aspects of cultured meat fabrication—selecting stem cell lines, inducing differentiation—they are increasingly focused on finding solutions that will help them conquer the third dimension. In other words, getting cells to replicate isn’t necessarily the hard part anymore—it’s about delivering the full taste and textural experience we associate with meat. “A truly good product may depend as much on the extracellular matrix as on the [cultured] cells themselves,” Aryé Elfenbein, co-founder of Wild Type, a San Francisco, California-based start-up working to produce cultured salmon, told me at the New Harvest conference earlier this month. Must the meat we grow duplicate, in every aspect, the meat that comes from traditional animal agriculture? As Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab and advocate for cellular agriculture recently wrote in Wired magazine, the future of lab-grown meat may in fact be “post-meat,” “a completely new food system with a diversity of inputs and completely new outputs,” creating foods unlike anything that currently exists and which unleash “a culinary bonanza of nutritional, flavor, and texture options.” Plant-based scaffolds fit right into this vision of futuristic meat: technologically sophisticated, gustatorily promising, and utterly unprecedented. For Gibbons, plant-based scaffolds represent something else: the viability and vitality of small-scale, DIY approaches to biotechnology. “These things are literally just growing on trees,” Gibbons says of the jackfruit she uses in her research. Likewise, she envisions a future not only of large-scale commercial cultured meat factories, but of countertop bioreactors, where individuals will be able to cultivate their own meat at home, experimenting with cell lines, growth media, and scaffolds the way home brewers mess around with yeast and hops. “Depending on how into it you are, you can play around with the different cell types and the different species,” she suggests. “Can you imagine turducken, on a cellular level?” “It’s a new technology, and everyone makes it out to be extremely complicated—like you have to be super smart, with several PhDs, and an IQ of 170 to understand all this stuff—but it doesn’t have to be,” she says. “Everyone should be able to do this one day. People should be able to grow a perfect protein in their own homes.”	48,492
New Multimodel Estimates of Aerosol Radiative Effects Atmospheric aerosols are emitted by fossil fuel combustion and other human activities and affect climate by scattering (cooling) or absorbing (warming) incoming solar radiation. This effect depends on the particles’ chemical composition. While the net effect has been estimated to be cooling, the exact size of the effect is poorly constrained. A recent multimodel study, including contributions from U.S. Department of Energy researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, used 15 detailed global aerosol models to simulate and document changes in aerosol distribution and impact on the Earth’s energy balance over the industrial era. The direct aerosol effect (DAE) due to scattering and absorption of solar radiation by anthropogenic sulfate, black carbon (BC), organic aerosols, and other species from fossil fuel, biofuel, and biomass burning emissions was estimated by contrasting simulations using emissions for the years 1750 and 2000. Comparing these new model results to previous model versions from the team, they found very similar spreads in both total DAE and individual aerosol component radiative forcing. However, the radiative forcing of the total DAE is stronger negative, and radiative BC forcing from fossil fuel and biofuel emissions is stronger positive in the present study than in the previous one. Furthermore, models having large forcing for absorbing components also have large forcing for scattering components. The authors argue that the net aerosol forcing uncertainty is less than for individual aerosol components. Myhre, G., B. H. Samset, M. Schulz, Y. Balkanski, S. Bauer, T. K. Berntsen, H. Bian, N. Bellouin, M. Chin, T. Diehl, R. C. Easter, J. Feichter, S. J. Ghan, D. Hauglustaine, T. Iversen, S. Kinne, A. Kirkevåg, J. F. Lamarque, G. Lin, X. Liu, M. T. Lund, G. Luo, X. Ma, T. van Noije, J. E. Penner, P. J. Rasch, A. Ruiz, Ø. Seland, R. B. Skeie, P. Stier, T. Takemura, K. Tsigaridis, P. Wang, Z. Wang, L. Xu, H. Yu, F. Yu, J. -H. Yoon, K. Zhang, H. Zhang, and C. Zhou. 2013. “Radiative Forcing of the Direct Aerosol Effect from AeroCom Phase II Simulations,” Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 13, 1853–77. DOI: 10.5194/acp-13-1853-2013.	26,803
1960s in Hong Kong \|This article is part of a series on the\| \|History of Hong Kong\| 1960s in Hong Kong continued with the development and expansion of manufacturing that began in the previous decade. The economic progress made in the period would categorise Hong Kong as one of Four Asian Tigers along with Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Economically, this era is considered a major stepping stone for Hong Kong. It is considered the first turning point for Hong Kong's economy. The per capita GDP was still relatively low in 1960. It was approximately the same as Peru, South Africa and Greece in the same decade. By comparison, Argentina had two times and Venezuela had three times the GDP of Hong Kong. The living standard was rising steadily, but low wages continued. The number of registered factories increased from 3,000 in 1950s to 10,000 in 1960s. Registered foreign companies increased from 300 to 500. There were demands for labour in every sector of the economy. Politically, however, this era is marked by the political chaos in mainland China. Hong Kong's population in the 1960s is estimated at 3 million. Half of the population was under the age of 25 and the group became Hong Kong's baby boom generation. The surge of refugees continued to come in from China. The past generations of Chinese families were deeply rooted in family affairs. The long hours in the factories would break apart that traditional structure when most people spend far more time working in factories than at home. But people lived under a strong willingness to bear sufferings. This was slightly compensated by their close relationship within the community, and cheerful talks in their spare times. Work places mainly served as educational hubs or the "second home". Women also joined the work force in larger numbers, becoming working daughters or working mothers. The government pursued an ambitious public education programme, creating over 300,000 new primary school places between 1954 and 1961. By 1966, 99.8% of school-age children were attending primary school, though the primary schools were not free. From 6 to 15 December 1969, the first Hong Kong Festival was launched after 7 months of preparation work with HKD $4 million of funding. It originated after the 1967 riots in hopes that people unleash their energy toward a better cause instead of communists' riots. The number of participants reached more than 500,000 including foreign tourists. The 1960s cinema films were still rooted in a Chinese tradition, though Hong Kong would have one of their first pop culture teen idol, Connie Chan Po-chu. The arrival of broadcast television would become the first format brewed in Hong Kong to be marketed toward the people of Hong Kong directly. TVB station was founded in 1967 and made the first free-over-the-air broadcast. Law and order The first disturbance in the 1960s was the Hong Kong 1966 riots over the rising fares of the Star Ferry. A petition was created with 20,000 signatures in protest against any increases in transportation costs. The result led to the arrest of 1,800 people, but the end came swiftly. Other riots include the Hong Kong 1967 riots which began when internal conflict within the Communist party in China resulted in the Cultural Revolution. Pro-communist leftists in Hong Kong challenged British rule. Demonstrations were held, the red guards would take shape in Hong Kong carrying Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong in their left hands shouting communist slogans. The People's Daily in Beijing ran editorials supporting the leftist struggle. Rumors spread that China was preparing to take over the colony. Political tension soared. The riots only came to an end in December 1967 when Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai ordered the leftist groups in Hong Kong to stop. After the riot, the government made an effort to clean up any existing communist networks. The radio host Lam Bun was also murdered. In 1963 and 1967, serious droughts affected Hong Kong. Water supply was unable to support the needs of the rapid population growth. The government introduced a water restriction policy. There were periods when water supply was restricted to 4 hours per 4 days. People had to save water for 4 days of usage. Water shortages, however, were mainly created by the politics (see resource section). In 1960, Typhoon Mary affected Hong Kong, causing 45 deaths and 127 injuries. It also destroyed about 10,000 homes. In 1962, Typhoon Wanda affected Hong Kong, causing 130 deaths. 72,000 people left homeless. It was one of the most disastrous typhoons to ever affect Hong Kong. The construction business would also continue to increase along with the demand of highways, buildings, tunnels, and reservoirs. In 1962, the director of public works questioned where to go after the development of Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan. The construction expansion went west to Tuen Mun and north to Sha Tin. The first post-World War II documentation to provide detailed information about the territory came in 1969 in a guide titled the "Colony Outline Plan". It was the first paperwork to outline strategies to house a million people with low-cost public housing, along with defining tight regulations and guidelines on how to construct among the high density population. While many companies were beginning to diversify in the products it manufactures, the entire success of the Hong Kong colony rested on the textile industry. An estimated 625,000 residents were supported directly or indirectly by this one industry. The government was depending on its Shanghai entrepreneurs and the industry collectively ran in 3 shifts around the clock. It was from this point that the cheap low-grade products became high-quality products with the "Made in Hong Kong" label. By 1968, factories employing less than 100 workers accounted for 42 percent of Hong Kong's domestic exports to the UK, amounting to HKD $1.2 billion. Hospital and hospitality From 1960 to 1965, the executive council tried to revamp the medical system to provide some form of low cost health care directly or indirectly to large sections of the population. Staff at the medical and health departments were outlining proposals to estimate demands for the next 15 years. The Hong Kong Flu of 1968 would infect 15% of the population. During the beginning of the Vietnam War, the U.S. made Hong Kong a frequent stop for resting troops in the Asian region. It was considered one of the neutral zones not affected by the communists despite all the political riots taking place. The main source of water in Hong Kong was China. A contract was signed in 1964 when Hong Kong purchased 15,000 gallons of water a day drawn from China's East river. When political turmoil came to Hong Kong, China turned off the supply periodically and caused water shortages. Rationing was imposed by the government. - Dorn, James A. (1998). China in the New Millennium: Market Reforms and Social Development. Cato Institute. ISBN 1-882577-61-2 - Manion, Melanie. (2004). Corruption by Design: Building Clean Government in Mainland China and Hong Kong. Harvard University press. ISBN 0-674-01486-3 - Salaff, Janet W. (1995) Working Daughters of Hong Kong: Filial Piety Or Power in the Family. Columbia University. ISBN 0-231-10225-9 - EhNet. "EhNet Archived 13 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine." "Hong Kong article." Retrieved on 20 February 2007. - Ma, Eric Kit-wai. Ma, Chieh-Wei. (1999). Culture, Politics, and Television in Hong Kong. United Kingdom: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-17998-X - Buckley, Roger. (1997). Hong Kong: The Road to 1997 By Roger Buckley. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-46979-1 - Starling, Arthur. (2006) Plague, SARS, and the Story of Medicine in Hong Kong. HK University Press. ISBN 962-209-805-3 - Wiltshire, Trea. [First published 1987] (republished & reduced 2003). Old Hong Kong - Volume Three. Central, Hong Kong: Text Form Asia books Ltd. Page 5. ISBN Volume Three 962-7283-61-4 \|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hong Kong in the 1960s.\|	44,305
Not just Robinson Crusoe You’ve read Robinson Crusoe, haven’t you? Do you remember who wrote the book? No? Daniel Defoe. He wrote that one book, a long time ago, and it became a Classic. That’s the general impression most people have about the man who wrote Robinson Crusoe. But it’s totally misleading. Daniel Defoe, who was born in about 1660 and died in April 1731, was probably one of the most prolific writers of his day. He wrote at least seven novels, and a total of several hundred published works of all kinds. Robinson Crusoe was his first novel, published in 1719, and may have been the first novel written and published in English. Defoe had a very colorful life, as a businessman, a convict, a spy, and a political campaigner. Today I want to talk about one of his lesser known novels. The Life Adventures and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton was first published in 1720, a year after Robinson Crusoe. Defoe wrote it as a first person narrative, the memoirs of a retired pirate. Captain Singleton is not as unreadable as many 18th century books. True, Defoe loves long sentences, but the structure of these long sentences is usually simple, and the vocabulary consists mainly of short words. He uses few obscure words. The book excels at development of memorable characters. Though most of the characters are villains, many of them are likeable villains. Singleton himself, kidnapped as a small child, at sea by age twelve, captured on his first voyage by Algerian pirates and set ashore in Portugal alone, manages to retain the reader’s sympathy. But the most interesting character is William Walters, the Quaker pirate. The action takes place throughout the known world (in 1620) and a fair bit of the unknown world. Defoe manages to give quite accurate depictions of places known, such as parts of the coasts of Madagascar, Africa, and India, and then gives totally erroneous descriptions of the blank areas on the maps of the early eighteenth century. An expedition across Africa, from Mozambique to Ghana (modern names), crosses deserts where we know today there is jungle. A voyage from the Philippines to Madagascar finds a new land roughly where Queensland is, but then sails through open ocean where the Simpson Desert lies. A sailor will appreciate Defoe’s realistic pictures of life at sea. He obviously spent time at sea himself. I hope I have whetted your appetite for this forgotten book. Now, where do you get it? There are paper copies, available, though you are unlikely to find it in stock at your local bookstore. Why not download it from Project Gutenberg? It is available there in formats for e-readers (Kindle, Nook, and others) and computers.	47,522
Presentation on theme: "Mrs. Williams’ Literature Study. Day 1: Journal Prompt How did you feel the first day of school? Did you know anyone in your new class? Tell me all about."— Presentation transcript: Day 1: Journal Prompt How did you feel the first day of school? Did you know anyone in your new class? Tell me all about your first day of school. Narrative narrative writing tells a true story about an event or a series of events. It can be about a personal experience or something that happened to somebody else, such as a parent or friend. A hint that it is a narrative is the word “I” Chapter 1 Vocabulary ferocious: marked by extreme and violent energy triumphant: joyful and proud especially because of triumph or success fuming: be mad, angry, or furious Day 2: Journal Prompt Danny is bullying Ramona at school. Have you ever been picked on? Tell about it. Chapter 2 Vocabulary horrid: extremely disagreeable; offensive, dreadful. dismount: 1. To get off or down, as from a horse. 2. To get out of a vehicle. seized: to grasp suddenly and forcibly; take or grab, or to take custody of. Contractions A contraction is a shortened form when two words are put together. Some of the letters are left out and are replaced by an apostrophe. should not = shouldn’t The “o” in not is replaced by an apostrophe. Compare and Contrast Ramona Me Both of us Writing in complete sentences compare you to Ramona. Chapter 3 Vocabulary fad: popular at the time aloof: distant physically or emotionally; reserved and remote: commotion: disturbance or upheaval Compound Words A compound word is a word that is formed by two words that are put together. The compound word usually gets its meaning from the two combined words. sand sandbox a box with sand in itbox Day 4: Journal Prompt Have you ever eaten anything unusual? Are there any unusual foods that you would like to try? Chapter 4 Vocabulary quarrel: an dispute or an argument cross: angry or mad Day 5: Journal Prompt Would you like to make a meal for your parents? What would you make? Chapter 5 Vocabulary complimented: an expression of praise, admiration, or congratulation. edible: fit to be eaten, especially by humans frantic: highly excited with strong emotion or frustration Past or Present Tense Verbs Present tense are verbs that are happening right now. Examples: walks eating Past tense verbs are verbs that happened in the past. Examples: walked ate Chapter 6 Vocabulary sober: plain or serious scant: barely sufficient or falling short pediatrician: a doctor for children Quotation Marks Quotation marks are used to show when someone is talking. When writing, quotation marks go around the part that is being said. Add quotation marks to the right places in these statements: I’m playing my video game replied Brad Hello, Sara he said How are you Chapter 7 Vocabulary indignant: angered at something unjust, unfair, or wrong installment: a portion of something brooded: to be deep in thought or depressed Personification Personification is a type of language that gives human characteristics to things that are not human. Examples: My computer hates me. The camera loves me. The sun greeted me this morning. The flowers were crying for my attention. The stars winked at me. Chapter 8 Vocabulary thrive: to grow vigorously; flourish beckoned: to make a signaling or summoning gesture or to be inviting. accuracy: precision; exactness mischievous: playful in a naughty or teasing way. Chapter 9 Vocabulary dismal: gloomy; miserable sullenly: in a bad-humored way, not happily, gloomily pelting: beating against again and again balked: to stop short and refuse to go on	32,207
is a genus of New World army ants (subfamily Ecitoninae ) containing about about a dozen species, including Eciton burchellii (common name army ant), considered to be the “archetypal”, and one of the best studied, army ant. Eciton species are found in different habitats from Mexico through Argentina. While some species, notably E. burchellii and E. hamatum have enormous colonies, sometimes containing more than a million individuals, and are active in enormous raiding swarms out in the open during the day, other species forage and carry out raids and other behaviors only at night or under cover and thus less is know of the behavior and diets of these other species. E. burchellii and E. hamatum are generalists, eating just about anything they can catch or find. Like Old World army ants Eciton ants do not construct permanent nests, rather the individuals in a colony periodically come together in a giant ant mass (called a bivouac) in the middle of which the queen lays her eggs. Eciton ants alternate between a more stationary period, where they return to their temporary bivouac every night and an active, nomadic phase where the ants swarm and move the colony regularly. New World army ants were historically thought to have evolved independently (convergently) from the Old World army ant lineage, but new molecular evidence indicates that they share a common ancestor in the times of Gondwanaland (100 million years ago). (Brady 2003; Snelling and Snelling 2002 ; Wikipedia 2011a ; Wikipedia 2011b	2,530
Learning to read is a complex process. Reading has been described as the ability to construct meaning from written text. The text itself, the interaction of the reader with the text, and the context in which reading takes place all play a role in the reading process. Together, this adds up to more than simply decoding letters and words on a page … it means that the student is able to make sense of, or comprehend, what those letters and words mean. According to an article entitled “Yes, Teaching Reading IS Rocket Science” (www.aft.org/pdfs/teachers/rocketscience0304.pdf) published in 1999 by the American Federation of Teachers, reading instruction should include: - Vocabulary building Reading instruction should also incorporate a variety of texts such as authentic materials, novels, poetry, text books, etc. Although the above article was written for teachers of children, the same concepts apply to the teaching of adults. However, there are also important differences between teaching adults and teaching children: - Adults bring life skills and knowledge to the learning situation that children do not possess. Their skills and knowledge can then be incorporated into direct teaching by using words and concepts from students’ everyday - Similarly, adults may bring a good deal of “baggage” to the program with them, especially if their early school experiences were negative. - Also, in our day-to-day lives, adults solve problems and make decisions based on the analysis of a given situation. Adult learners can be shown how to transfer these critical thinking skills to the learning environment to develop learning strategies. - Adults can relate to their teachers as peers/partners. - Adults usually take courses with a specific purpose in mind. In other words, they are goal-directed. Most research into how reading happens has involved children. Research on how adults read is harder to come by, but it is available and continues to be developed and expanded. However, that research does show us that using prior knowledge to identify words and construct meaning from those words is an effective and essential learning strategy. For example, good readers may be able to decode a word like durian but if they do not know the meaning of that word, their decoding skills are not of much value. (Durian is a foul-smelling tropical fruit.) The advantage to this approach is that it is based on a positive (what learners already know) rather than on a negative (what they don’t know). When developing reading activities, instructors should keep in mind that they don’t necessarily have to create documents at a certain level; rather, they should identify tasks to be accomplished at a certain level. For example, a workplace memo or a novel may be written at a Level Five, but Level One reading tasks can be assigned such as identifying sight words. This is particularly important when working with workplace literacy because few authentic workplace documents are written at Level One. So, rather than adapt them to meet the learner’s current skill level, it is better to identify appropriate tasks that can be accomplished using the authentic document. The Ontario Literacy Coalition’s Level Descriptions Manual (www.nald.ca/fulltext/levels/cover.htm) includes summary statements for each of the five reading levels. These statements clearly show the progression from a beginning reader to a fluent one. The manual also includes possible performance indicators for each Level One: The reader locates, understands and responds to simple, concrete ideas and sequential information in graphics, sentences and very short, simple texts about familiar topics. To do this, the reader uses basic reading strategies, personal experience and familiarity with some common forms and conventions of simple texts. Level Two: The reader locates, understands, and begins to interpret concrete and some inferential meaning in short, uncomplicated texts about familiar topics. To do this, the reader uses various common reading strategies, personal experience, and knowledge, as well as familiarity with some forms and conventions of more formal texts.	17,746
THE GRATEFUL BULL There is an old Buddhist tale about "The Grateful Bull" that explains perfectly the mindfulness concepts of patience, trust and letting go. All three of these concepts are crucial when embarking on a self-compassionate parenting path. Patience, trust and letting go of both our kids mistakes and behaviors and our own mistakes and behaviors is crucial to find peace both with each other and inside ourselves. Here is the story. Delightful was a big strong bull who lived on Farmer Bruni's farm. Farmer Bruni was a poor but kind man. Everyday Farmer Bruni did kind and loving things for Delightful and for all his animals. He was a good owner. Because of this Delightful was very grateful for Farmer Bruni and he wanted to thank him. As Farmer Bruni and Delightful were going out to the fields to work he said to the farmer, "You have always been so kind to me all these years. I want to do something to repay you and I have thought of an idea. I would like to challenge Amos, our wealthy neighbor's strongest bull to a tug of war contest. We could have a prize for the winner, and I am sure that I could win the contest for you." The farmer loved the idea and that afternoon went over to Farmer Chang's to propose the idea to him. Farmer Chang also loved the idea and suggested that the prize needed to be very good, "A hundred gold pieces would make an excellent prize for the winner." he said greedily. This was a lot of money for Farmer Bruni, but he trusted in Delightful and his great strength. News of the contest spread far and wide and when the day came for it there were many farmers who had come to watch. The two big bulls stood in the middle of the field with a rope stretched between them, tied to their harnesses. Farmer Bruni held his arm in the air and said to the bulls "When I lower my arm on the count of three, I want you to both pull as hard as you can. One, Two, Three, go!" and the bulls immediately began to pull. They pulled the rope tight between them and heaved and strained against each other but neither of the bulls seemed to be able to tug the other more than a little way. After a couple of minutes Farmer Bruni thought to himself, "Delightful should be winning by now." and he began to worry that his bull was going to lose. Panicking, he picked up a stick from the ground and hit Delightful on his back. "Pull harder, you lazy bull!" he shouted, "Put your back into it or you will lose!" Delightful was so shocked and upset by the farmer's words and actions that he just stopped pulling all together and did not even try at all. "This was my idea to help the farmer," he thought. I have never done anything bad to him, so why is he hitting and insulting me?" Seeing that Delightful had stopped pulling, Amos, the other bull pulled harder and Delightful was dragged forward until Amos won the contest. Farmer Chang cheered and patted his bull triumphantly while Farmer Bruni painfully counted out the one hundred gold pieces and handed them over to Farmer Chang. Then he walked over to Delightful and shouted, "You gave up! You didn't even try, and now I've lost one hundred gold pieces! Are you trying to ruin me?!" Delightful shook his head and said sadly, "But you called me lazy, and you beat me with a stick. What have I done to deserve such treatment?" This question shocked the farmer, when he thought about what he had said and done he realized that he had wronged Delightful. He hung his head in shame and said "I'm so sorry. I panicked because I was frightened you would lose." Delightful considered this for a moment and he felt sorry for the farmer. "I understand and I forgive you." "We can still win though! Go to Farmer Chang and suggest another contest with an even bigger prize of two hundred gold pieces. But you must promise to be kind to me." Full of admiration for Delightful's compassion, Farmer Bruni arranged with the greedy Farmer Chang to have another tug of war between the two bulls. The day of the second contest came and this time Farmer Bruni really encouraged Delightful. He cheered him on calling, "Come on Delightful! You can do it, my strong, wise bull!" and he patted him on the back to show his affection and support. Delightful pulled with all his might, and slowly and gradually he pulled the exhausted Amos over the line to win. Farmer Bruni jumped with joy and hugged his kind bull. "Thank you for doing this for me. I am so proud of you." he exclaimed while Farmer Chang stood frowning and looking shocked at having lost the contest. After the prize money was collected by Farmer Bruni, the first thing he did was to go and buy a cozy, warm blanket for Delightful to keep him warm at night. That evening they held a big party to celebrate their good fortune and the farmer promised to never mistreat Delightful again. It can be so easy to lose our patience with our loved ones, especially if we become panicked that their behavior might be embarrassing or make us look bad. But if we can remember that showing kindness and compassion is the most effective way to bring out the best in others we will find more peace with each other and within ourselves.	8,270
June is National Aphasia Awareness Month. If you have had a senior loved one that has had a stroke or brain injury, you may be very aware of aphasia. Aphasia is “an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write.” Below are some great resources about aphasia: - What's New In Aphasia Research? - New Therapies to Help Stroke Survivors Recover Language Years After Injury - National Aphasia Association - Aphasia is a little-known, yet growing, health problem Freudenthal Home Health is always available to help you care for your senior loved one. From 10 minutes a day to 24 hours a day, from personal care to physical therapy to speech therapy and skilled nursing, from Medicaid to Medicare to private pay to Veterans, we have so many different options to consider. Please call Shelbe today at 816-676-8050.	15,079
1. In the second year of Darius, in the eighth month, the word of Yahweh was addressed to the prophet Zechariah (son of Berechiah), son of Iddo, as follows, 2. 'Yahweh was deeply angry with your ancestors. 3. So say this to them, "Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Return to me -- Yahweh Sabaoth declares -- and I will return to you, says Yahweh Sabaoth. 4. Do not be like your ancestors when the prophets in the past cried to them: Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Turn back from your evil ways and evil deeds -- they would not listen or pay attention to me -- Yahweh declares. 5. Where are your ancestors now? And the prophets, do they live for ever? 6. But did not my words and statutes, with which I had charged my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors just the same?" ' So they repented and said, 'Yahweh Sabaoth has treated us as he resolved to do, and as our ways and deeds deserved.' 7. On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (the month of Shebat), in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh was addressed to the prophet Zechariah (son of Berechiah), son of Iddo, as follows, 8. 'I had a vision during the night. There was a man riding a red horse standing among the deep-rooted myrtles; behind him were other horses-red, chestnut and white. 9. I said, "What are these, my lord?" And the angel who was talking to me said, "I will show you what they are." 10. The man standing among the myrtles then replied, "Those are they whom Yahweh has sent to patrol the world." 11. They reported to the angel of Yahweh as he stood among the myrtles, "We have been patrolling the world, and indeed the whole world is still and at peace." 12. The angel of Yahweh then spoke and said, "Yahweh Sabaoth, how long will you wait before taking pity on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, on which you have inflicted your anger for the past seventy years?" 13. Yahweh then replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was talking to me. 14. The angel who was talking to me then said to me, "Make this proclamation: Yahweh Sabaoth says this: I am burning with jealousy for Jerusalem and Zion 15. but am deeply angry with the nations now at ease; before, I was only mildly angry, but they contributed to the disaster. 16. So now Yahweh says this: In compassion I have returned to Jerusalem; my Temple will be rebuilt there -- Yahweh Sabaoth declares -- and the measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem. 17. Make this proclamation too: Yahweh Sabaoth says this: My cities are once more to be very prosperous. Yahweh will comfort Zion once again, and again make Jerusalem his choice." '	13,624
David M. Perry: How History Can Help Us Predict the Next PopeRoundup: Historians' Take tags: The Atlantic, popes, papacy, Vatican, David M. Perry On Thursday, February 28, at 8:00 P.M. local time, Pope Benedict XVI resigned. For now, the seat of St. Peter is vacant. But soon, the Cardinals will enter the Sistine chapel and the master of the Papal Ceremonies will cry, "Extra Omnes!" -- everybody out, and seal the door... What changes will mark the Catholic church of tomorrow? Just as the past helps us understand Benedict's resignation, we can use our knowledge of history to shed some light on what the Cardinals might be doing behind those sealed doors. 1) Voting is medieval. Voting is a quintessentially medieval activity. Sure, popular representations of the Middle Ages focus on kings and knights, princesses and peasants, but medieval people, especially in cities, loved to vote. They organized themselves into groups - guilds, religious fraternities, charitable organization, drinking societies - and wrote complicated bylaws governing elections. Many cities embraced various kinds of representative government during the High Middle Ages. Even the army outside the walls of Constantinople in 1204 took time to develop a voting system to elect the next emperor.... comments powered by Disqus - Congress Has a History of Legislating in Secrecy - At James Madison’s home, slaves’ lives matter as much as the man who owned them - Destroying Great Mosque of al-Nuri 'is Isis declaring defeat' - At Watergate, Recalling a Burglary That Toppled a President - Hidden Trove of Suspected Nazi Artifacts Found in Argentina - Researcher: "Actually, Yes It Is a Discovery If You Find Something in an Archive That No One Knew Was There." - The Trump team is obsessing over Thucydides, the ancient historian who wrote a seminal tract on war - Historians defend scholar who studies Poland and Holocaust - Max Boot Says "Donald Trump Is Proving Too Stupid to Be President" - Historians called on to write books that impact the public	30,638
Albania’s Sworn Virgins Who Pursue A True Man’s Path An ancient practice that can be traced all the way back to medieval times continues to baffle all who hear about it. The tradition consists of women choosing to become ‘burrneshas’ or sworn virgins in order to gain access to certain privileges and rights that are normally reserved for men in this deeply patriarchal society. The word burrnesha is derived from the Albanian word ‘burr’ which means man. The custom originated with the medieval behavior code known as Kanun, which regulated every aspect of life. The code called for every family to have a male representative. However, if for some reason such as disease or death a family failed to have one such male, a female could assume the role. The Kanun is said to be very respectful of the women who decide to become burrneshas. The sacrifice is held in high regard. At first the journalists have a very hard time finding a burrnesha that was willing to tell her story. Apparently the sworn virgins also took a vow of silence. But finally they come across some who wanted to speak. The vow was usually taken at a very young age. Probably long before the girl was mature enough to understand what she was getting herself into. The women talk about gaining immediate freedom that was only available to men at the time. They were not required to be involved in any domestic chores like cooking and cleaning, but they were expected to live and work alongside men in the village and defend women and children. A burrnesha literally becomes the head of the family and is expected to provide everything a male would provide, such as financial stability and safety from enemies. She begins to dress like a man, cuts off her hair, and is even allowed to carry a gun. One woman never thought it was something she would do until her brother died and she had to step in and become a father to his children. So she became a burrnesha, moved in with the brother’s wife, and educated his children. Another one became a burrnesha after her three brothers died one after the other. She did it to restore the position of heir. Some believe that the tradition is dying and there’s a lot that is still not known about it, especially because few are willing to talk. Find out more now. Leave a Reply	30,440
On March 25, 1911, flames rapidly consumed everything within the Triangle Waist Company factory, killing 146 workers. The victims, mostly young Jewish and Italian immigrant women, died needlessly due to unsafe working conditions, such as locked or blocked doors, narrow stairways, faulty fire escapes, and a lack of sprinklers. Until September 11, 2001, the Triangle fire was the deadliest workplace disaster in New York City history. Mass grief and outrage spread from New York's Lower East Side across the country. Garment union membership swelled, and New York politics shifted dramatically toward reform, paving the way for the workplace standards expected today. With many historic images, this book honors the victims' sacrifice and serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for the dignity of all working people. Softcover, 6 x 9, 128 pgs top of page	36,056
At Gubbio (Iguvium; see umbrians) were discovered, in 1444, seven bronze tablets of varying sizes (the largest measure 86 x 56.5 cm, or 33 x 22 inches, the smallest 40 x 28 cm or 16 x 12 inches), engraved on one or both sides with Umbrian texts, partly in the native alphabet (normally transcribed in bold), partly in the Latin alphabet. These are the famous Iguvine Tables. They range in date probably from c. 200 bce to the early 1st century bce and are the main source of our knowledge of Umbrian (see Sabellic languages). The texts contain the proceedings and liturgy of a brotherhood of priests, the frater atiersiur [Atiedian Brethren], not unlike the Roman arval brethren (see fratres arvales). The name is clearly to be linked with atiieřiate (dat. sg.), the name of one of the social groupings within Iguvine society; it had two subdivisions, which may correspond to two gentes mentioned in rituals as having sacrifices performed on their behalf (petruniaper natine, vuçiiaper natine). The ceremonies include the purification of the ocre fisiu (dat. sg., often taken as “the Fisian mount,” but probably the actual name of the city of Iguvium), in which sacrifice is offered to the triad Jupiter Grabovius (iuue grabouei dat. sg.), Mars Grabovius (marte grabouei dat. sg.), and Vofion(us) Grabovius (uofione grabouie dat. sg.; cf. the Roman triad Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus) before the three gates of the city and to Trebus Iovius (trebo iouie dat. sg.), Fisus Sancius (fiso sansie dat. sg. or fisoui sans̀i voc. sg., cf. Lat. Dius Fidius, Sancus), and Tefer Jovius (tefrei ioui dat. sg.) behind the three gates of the city; the lustration of the poplom(acc. sg.) of Iguvium (the army, the original meaning of Lat. populus), in which sacrifice is offered to the triad Çerfus Martius (s̀erfe martie dat. sg., on phonological and theological grounds not to be connected with Lat. Ceres), Prestota Çerfia of Çerfus Martius (prestote s̀erfie dat. sg. s̀erfer martier gen. sg.), and Torsa Çerfia of Çerfus Martius (turses̀erfie dat. sg. s̀erfer martier gen. sg.; these and other double names probably mark functional or ideological connections rather than genealogical relationships), and a threefold circuit of the assembled poplom is made (cf. the Roman lustratio, in which sacrifice was offered to Mars with its threefold circuit); sacrifices in the event of the commission of a ritual fault offered to Vestiçius Sancius (vestiçe saçe dat. sg.), Jupiter (iuvepatre dat. sg.), Iovius (iuvie dat. sg.), Dicamnus Jovius (tikamne iuvie dat. sg.), Ahtus Jupiter (ahtu iuvip abbreviated dat. sg.), and Ahtus Mars (ahtu marti dat. sg.); a sacrifice of a puppy on behalf of the petrunia natine to Hondus (cf. Greek χθόνιος, and see chthonian gods) Jovius (hunte iuvie dat. sg.); sacrifices at the festival on behalf of the fameřias of the Iguvine people offered to Jupiter and Sancius (saçi dat. sg.); a procession through the fields to a grove where sacrifice is made to Jupiter, to Puemu (or Puemunus) Pupřikus (puemune pupřike dat. sg.), and to Vesuna of Puemun(us) Puprikus (vesune puemunes pupřiçes), possibly as part of a new year festival. In scope, content, and antiquity the Iguvine Tables surpass all other documents for the study of Italic religion (see religion, italic) even though the interpretation of many passages remains uncertain. In many details, they show resemblance to Roman ritual and cult, but such analogies must be used with extreme caution. Devoto, Giacomo. Tabulae Iguvinae.. 3rd ed. Rome: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, 1962.Find this resource: Poultney, James Wilson. The Bronze Tables of Iguvium. Baltimore: American Philological Association, 1959.Find this resource: Prosdocimi, Aldo. Le Tavole Iguvine 1 (1984); 2 (2015). Florence: Leo S. Olschki.Find this resource: Weiss, Michael. Language and Ritual in Sabellic Italy. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2010.Find this resource:	42,651
The CHALDEAN BABYLONIAN NEW YEAR FESTIVAL 5300 BC – Present * Amer H. Fatuhi * Celebrating Mesopotamian New Year on April 1 is dateable to the Babylonian First Dynasty, early second millennium BC. This Amorite/Proto-Kaldi dynasty is known for many great kings, including the legendary Hammurabi. In that era, religious, economical, and social aspects of life were modified and transformed from their earlier inherited patterns following the Babylonians' own culture and fundamental values. However, before that era, celebrating Akitu /Akiti in Sumerian marked one of the two major festivals, Akitu and Zagmuk (religious calendar vs. agricultural cycle), observed by the mid-southerners since the time of Eridu, 5300 BC. These two festivals were of particular significance in Kish, Ur, and Uruk before the Sumerian cultural influence around 2800 BC, particularly in central and southern Mesopotamia throughout the Neo Sumerian Empire/Third Dynasty of Ur (2112–2004 BC). Ur city and its God Nannar played a significant role in those celebrations, especially during the 2nd Mesopotamian Empire. Ancient mid-centrists/southerners, whether Proto-Kaldi or during the influential Sumerian culture, adopted the fall equinox, Zagmuk, as the beginning of the New [ZAG] Year [MUK]. It coincided with harvesting dates. They celebrated both spring and fall equinoxes with the same vigor and importance. However, the beginning of the year/literal translation of the Sumerian word Zagmuk was observed by the Proto-Kaldi. The festival's ceremonies concentrated on praising the date palm's sanctity, fertility, and the renewal of life "nature." Holy Matrimony, Hashadu, in the Babylonian period, stood for the sacred marriage of Marduḫ, the national God and his wife, Ṣarpanitum. Every year, their wedding was reenacted by the Babylonian king and the temple's high priestess, the divine lady, Entum. During the Babylonian First Dynasty, Zagmuk merged with Akitu and became part of the Akitu rituals. As stated by Bidmead, Zagmuk and Akitu were initially derived from an idea of agricultural-religious roots. "The ancient viewed each as the onset of a six-month equinox year." Akitu festival of the first month, Nisanu, lasted at least from the beginning to the fifth of Nisanu, as noted in a series of tablets dating from Ibbi-Sin of Ur's reign. In contrast, the Zagmuk-Akitu festival of the fall lasted for twelve days, starting September 15. On the eighth day of the ceremony, Tammuz is liberated from the underworld, which coincides with the fall/autumn solstice on September 23 and the harvesting date. "The season of harvesting dates starts in mid-September and ends in mid-October." The name Akitu is derived from a very ancient name, a-ki-ti-še-gur10-ku5. It was the festival of sowing, harvesting, and wool shearing. It was celebrated in antiquity from March/Addaru to April/Nisannu, as well as from mid-September/Elulu to October/Tišritu. To the public, it also meant the beginning of the New Year, especially in the pre-Sargonic significant era, wherein Akitu was first celebrated as stated in the tablet obtained from Girsu, in the city of Ur of the Chaldeans. After the official festivities ended, it was celebrated in Nippur city. With the Proto-Kaldi/Amorites' predominance, Akitu started to be recognized as the beginning of the year, Reš šatti(m), in ancient Babylonia. Hence, Akitu ended up being recognized as the official Babylonian New Year festival. The Babylonians alone celebrated the eleventh day festival of Akitu on April 1 of each year. While elsewhere in Mesopotamia, particularly the northern Shubaru region/Assur, it was celebrated on subsequent dates. Traditionally, celebrating Akitu was mainly to acknowledge the supremacy of God Marduḫ. However, when Babylon was plundered by the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 689 BC, Babylon's magnificent celebrations came to an on-hold state in Babylonia for a few decades. Sennacherib celebrated Akitu in his capital, Nineveh, making Assur the focal point of the festival, especially after stripping the idol of God Marduḫ from the É-sagila, Babylon. Sennacherib's sons turned against him for the destruction he inflicted on Babylon; his other son Esarhaddon, who succeeded his father, immediately had Babylon rebuilt and reinstated the celebratory ceremonies of the supreme ancient Babylonian God Marduḫ. Cambyses II, son of the Persian king Cyrus II, was the last king who took part in the rituals of taking the hand of the supreme God in Babylon in 529 BC. In the Achaemenid king's reign, Xerxes I, Babylon was destroyed, the Ziggurat and the É-sagila temple were severely demolished in 482 BC. However, celebrating Akitu continued in the Babylonian region up to the mid-second century BC, as indicated in the tablets excavated in Uruk's city. People waited eagerly for April 1 since the Old Babylonian period. The Proto-Kaldi flocked to Babylon, the land's official and legitimate capital, where lavish celebrations took place. These vast gatherings and pilgrims came from all over ancient Mesopotamia, including Ahwaz, and the sea strip stretching up to Qatra/Qatar and the high Euphrates area as far as Haran. Akitu was celebrated in two stages and two locations—in the temple of God Marduḫ, Ésagila in Sumerian É-SAĞ-ÍL.LA, "the house that raises its head," situated in the Babylonian Ziggurat, the loftiest part of the É- temen-an-ki tower, foundation house of heaven and earth. The other location was Beth Akitu temple, located northbound outside the walls of the city. It is worth mentioning that since the early first millennium BC, God Marduḫ was usually called Bel, or the Lord because his real name was considered too holy to be pronounced. Similar to the Lord God epithet used by the Old Testament's scribes for Elohim, the Hebrew God. Akitu begins on April 1 and lasts for eleven days. Some scholars consider the twelfth day that marks the day where the hosted gods and goddesses returned to their cities as part of the official ceremony. On the first day, the Urigallu priests would recite sad prayers in the É-sagila temple. In their sad prayers, the priests would ask for Marduḫ's forgiveness. On the fourth day, a high priest, Sheshgallu, recites the creation epic Enuma elish in praise of Marduḫ. As Sheshgallu performs this essential function in the Nisannu/April ritual, he is customarily accompanied by musicians Kalu and Naru, actresses—Mummeltu and actors - Mummelu, who played the events of the epic. After reciting the epic, the king heads to the temple of the God of writing, Nabu, son of God Marduḫ, to receive the high priest's sacred scepter. Then he travels to Borsippa, which is seventeen kilometers downstream from Babylon. He spends his night at the temple of the city's patron god, Nabu, revered by both Babylonians and Assyrians. Therein, Sheshgallu recites the epic of creation at the house of the New Year/Beth Akitu. The implication of the king's visit to God Nabu's temple is to help him release Marduḫ from captivity inside a mountain in the underworld, Kur, land of the netherworld. On the fifth day, the king returns carrying Nabu's statue, which he eventually leaves behind at the southwestern Urash gate. Then he lays down his crown, scepter, and the sword by the gate of Ésagila temple. After a series of ceremonies, he is returned his royal insignia after cleansing him and them with the holy water. Returning the crown to the king means his power was renewed by Marduḫ to be allowed to enter the temple to complete the celebratory ceremonies. The remaining part of the fifth day is dedicated to offerings and incantation rituals carried out by the Mashmashshu priest. He slaughters a ram and sweeps the temple walls with its blood and then throws its head in the river as a kind of scapegoat that casts out demonic powers. The king performs another ritual in the afternoon of the fifth day. He is accompanied by Sheshgallu as well. That ritual mainly revolves around a wild white bull. Meanwhile, the crowds would be fully excited, especially after Marduḫ's chariot passes in the streets without its driver, as a sign of dreading chaos that might befall the land before Marduḫ sets the universe in order. On the seventh day, the statue of Marduḫ and the other gods' statue is cleansed and clothed in new attires. Following that, Nabu visits the warrior god Ninurta in his temple. Together they join forces in a ceremonial play where Nabu and Ninurta's statues defeat two symbolic golden figures from the netherworld. Then the priests depart with Nabu and Ninurta's statues to É-sagila temple to join the Supreme God's statue, Marduḫ. And during the next two days, barges arrive at Babylon, carrying statues of gods from Ur, Sippar, Kutha, Kish, Uruk, Nippur, Borsippa, and the other cities. Next, the barges are placed on horse-drawn chariots. On the eighth day, after the liberation of Marduḫ, the population's outbursts of rejoicing intensify. The statues of gods are assembled in the Chamber of Destinies in the order of their ranks, substantially to confer their combined strength on the restored God for the conquest of hostile forces and give Marduḫ the right to determine the destinies. This ritual takes place to renew fruitfulness and life for the coming year. This ritual is performed by the king who enters the great hall, grasping the hand of the great Lord Marduḫ, as he places him in the main courtyard of É-sagila, where all gods grant Marduḫ absolute authority and recite his fifty compound names. After that, the parliament representative announces the next year's policy, just like the state of the union address. This policy always contains blessings, fortunes, and successes. At a later time, the king goes in procession from É-sagila riding the chariot of Marduḫ glowing in gold and silver, followed by the other gods' chariots while aromatic herbs burn with fragrance. They would head toward the river along with singers and musicians playing flutes. The gods' adoring devotees kneel in front of them. Finally, the procession would leave Babylon, heading toward the temple of Beth Akitu. After a short tour alongside the Euphrates, it reaches Beth Akitu, decorated with green foliage. The king then carries the statue of the state of the union. He brings it inside Beth Akitu, where ceremonial hymns are chanted, including the ones dedicated to Ishtar, goddess of sex and war, and the songs devoted to God Ea, father of Marduḫ and protector of Eridu. The last song is an alternating hymn in which the gods are asked why they are not in their temples. They reply that they had to be with Mardukh at that momentous event. More offering ceremonies are performed, and the sacred marriage, Hashadu, enacted on the ninth and tenth days in a chamber called Gigunu/Gagum at É-sagila. It is designated to the high priestess. On day twelve, at É-sagila temple, once more prayers and good wishes are recited for the New Year at the presence of all gods that participated in the procession. Afterward, the celebrations are concluded with a lavish public banquet for all Babylonians and the pilgrims from other cities while singers recite hymns and play musical instruments. The performers who partake in these celebrations are Astalu, the musician, Huppu, the dervish or performer of religious dances, Assinnu, the designated boy, Qapistu, the characters' caster, Quluu, the back chanters, Kur garru, the lamenter and one of the religious servants, Mubabbilu, the funny jester, Mummelu and Mummeltu, the actor and actress, Mustapsu, the wrestler, and Zammeru, the flutists and singer. On that last day, statues of the gods promising to protect Babylon, consolidate its rule, and have leniency on its people, are returned to Marduḫ's temple. The first statue to depart Babylon is of God Nabu's, followed by the other gods' statues. Similarly, priests return to their temples, and daily life resumes in Babylon and the rest of the land. Amer Hanna Fatuhi, Ph.D. Visual Artist & Historian www.ChaldeanLegacy.com \| www.NativeIraqis-Story.com Nabu, The Book of Zagmuk, Vol. 2, March 21, 2016 Bidmead, Julye, The Akitu Festival: Religious Continuity And Royal Legitimation In Mesopotamia, Gorgias Press, January 1st 2004, P. 119	36,803
Which programming language should you learn? Choose the language you want to learn based on your tech interest Programming languages are evolving rapidly nowadays. As new programming languages and frameworks are stepping into the industry, each one of them has something new and unique for developers and learners to thrive on. If it turns out to be a successful language, developers put those languages into action and create innovative applications. After all, that’s what’s happening from past to present. Each programming language suits a category. For example, certain languages are specialized for web applications, game development, mobile applications, dynamic platforms, and many more! In this guide, we’ll walk through some of the most important languages and their specializations. Based on your goals and interests, you could pick out the best ones. The following are some of the languages making an industrial change: Python is a fast-moving language. Are you interested in being a machine learning engineer or data scientist? Or maybe you want to develop websites fully or games? This is a perfect programming language to get started. It is the best programming language among all the languages on this list. Perhaps it is because it is fast, easy to learn as well as easy to deploy. This is widely used among scalable web applications and artificial intelligence applications. Moreover, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and many more giant applications are built using Python. Even if you still don't know which language to choose, Python is the perfect choice for you. I would highly recommend starting with Python if you're searching for the first programming language to learn. Mobile apps and web apps made by JS are very interactive and innovative. They are also intelligent in their way. NodeJS is a popular and growing run-time environment for JS. Organizations are loving the easy-to-use and handle features of NodeJS. It supports running server-side scripts through dynamic web page creation. This is the secret behind JS being user-friendly for both server-side and client-side users. It has a simple implementation feature, and the work behind the screen is exceptional. It is known as a long-existing and demanding language as well. An interesting fact that is worth mentioning is that SpaceX used JS for their Dragon Flight, imagine where JS is going to be in near future! Highly recommended for beginners. I started learning Swift immediately after Apple Launched it in 2014 targeting the future market, and today I create exceptional iOS applications. Indeed, I love my job as a Swift developer. iOS applications are popular as the field is growing wilder. As well, there is an increasing user turnover every year towards iOS applications. So, the demand for the application would also increase. Apple’s iPhone users have a great demand in the market. This has taken a significant place in the mobile market’s demand. Let us not forget that it is a product of Apple. Therefore, it has automatic memory management as well. Also, it is a high-level language with memory access capabilities and consists of high-level abstraction. Also, I would say to Apple fans, get-go with Swift. It will turn your life swiftly towards a life-changing point as well. The only disadvantage I would say is, that you need to move completely to Apple Ecosystem, which is known as really pricy. I have many friends and colleagues who are Android developers. They started off targetting the market way back and today they are making remarks. Kotlin gained its popularity by building Google applications. It is known as the functional programming language scaling through different frameworks. For an intermediate to advanced programmer, Kotlin is undoubtedly a great choice. It is also interoperable with the Java language creating a great market for Kotlin developers. If you are in love with Android application development, Kotlin will pave the way for you. One extra note, Kotlin, and Swift have very similar syntax, so it's really easy to jump from one language to the other one. Do you want to create platform-independent applications? Well, Java is the best choice for it. Though it is an old language, it has survived in the market for decades. It is probably widely used in large enterprise applications since it is stable in the industry. There is an abundance of open-source libraries to make coding an easy task. It follows the Object Oriented paradigm and has the highest degree of platform independence. It is also known for its security building. If you have an interest in getting a software development job role in a large organization, Java is a must-learn language. Also, Java can help if you plan to become a Game Developer in the future. If you're looking for the first language to learn, then I would not suggest starting with Java. C# is a language to excel for developing Web-based and Windows applications. Perhaps C# is widely used among backend developers. This is also turning into one of the most competitive programming languages in the world. This language is fully integrated with the .NET library. There is an ease of execution in handling and type safety in C#. It is a component-oriented and object-oriented language and supports a wide range of development applications. It has strict nature of code and consistency to maintain applications. C# supports interoperability and accesses codes of any .NET compliant language. The class inheritance is an excellent feature of C#. C# is the best choice for a desktop applications developer. Besides that, it's worth mentioning that a lot of high graphics games are developed with C# and Unity. Backend developers are very intelligent, and if you fall behind, catch up with PHP. PHP is a tough competitor among the fast-moving languages. Day by day, PHP developers are growing as well. Moreover, one of the strengths of programming languages is PHP. It is easy to learn and easy to code as well. It has a great debugging link with Xdebug. The community support is very handy and has a great ecosystem. This is an object-oriented programming language that is marking its footsteps in the market. One of the perfect languages for backend developers would be PHP. Since Ruby is an open-source, free language, you can start studying it right away. Additionally, it is a cross-platform programming language, so it makes no difference if your machine runs Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux. On your computer, Ruby code will be executable. The C language is known for developing embedded systems. Are you interested in innovating in embedded systems? The C language consists of amazing features as well. It is also a widely used and faster-executed language among embedded systems. It consists of a higher level of portability and efficiency. The level of abstraction is low, which makes it easy to handle system hardware effortlessly. The C language is implemented as a subset of C++, which means it’s also easier to learn and use and is excellent for embedded systems. Do you want to create code-based digital art? Whoa! Processing is one of the enormous languages to get it in the best way. It is a high-level programming language, handy for both artists and technology experts. It started back then with a target to support artists to attract non- programmers to promote visual art. The developers wanted it to be a sketchbook of art. Today, they are doing an amazing job of growing in the market. The essential part of the Processing language is that it is embedded in an integrated development environment. Many prominent artists took this program as a base for their art. If you have a great interest in making visual art, Processing would be a wonderful opportunity for you. Would you like to give it a go for numerical analysis and computational science? Wow! Julia would be the most appropriate choice. From the get-go, it was designed to be a high-performance language. It has an effective native code platform across multiple platforms as well. It has an interactive procedure and the ability to recreate reproducible environments. Then, Julia consists of pre-built libraries which are supported across multiple platforms. Another amazing feature is that it is open-source and MIT licensed as well. If you’re a deep lover of Julia, check out its source on GitHub. Julia is an amazing choice for numerical analysis and computational science-related app developers. In conclusion, we learned the top programming languages based on their expertise. Each language has its unique specialization. We can choose the best programming language for our needs. Programming languages are diverse, and for every need, there is a language to represent it. To stay in the industry and grow, learning them has become a top priority. So, get started based on your interest and make the biggest impact on your target organization. If you want to read more about the compensation of each programming language, then you should read this article. If you want to read more such articles, make sure you clap on this article and follow me.	48,224
Carbohydrates are the components grains, produce and dairy that break down into glucose, or sugar, in your bloodstream during digestion. Glucose, the main source of energy for your body, feeds your muscles and cells to keep you healthy and active throughout the day. Some carbohydrate foods contain the amino acids phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan, which are precursors that synthesize into dopamine and serotonin, chemical transmitters in the brain. About Serotonin and Dopamine Brain chemicals, or neurotransmitters, are chemical communicators that send or receive messages telling your body how to feel emotionally, cognitively and physically. Serotonin is the calming chemical that helps you feel relaxed or content; it plays a role in storing memories, learning new information, sleep and triggering your appetite. Dopamine induces motivation, alertness and pleasure arousal but it is also important for helping you remember information, manage anxiety-producing situations and controlling muscle coordination. Various factors, including poor nutrition habits, drug or alcohol abuse, sedentary lifestyle or medical illness can deplete you of these important chemicals. The Role of Carbohydrates Carbohydrates alone may not restore normal levels of dopamine or serotonin if you have a serious condition causing deficiency, but a nutritious diet that includes healthy carbohydrates may help. As you digest carbohydrate-containing foods, your pancreatic gland is triggered to release insulin into your bloodstream. The insulin removes most amino acids out of your blood but leaves tryptophan, the precursor to serotonin. This paves the way for tryptophan to enter your brain and convert to serotonin. Serotonin production is increased from consuming carbohydrates more than dopamine. However, protein-containing foods that also have carbohydrates generally contain phenylalanine, the amino acid precursor to tyrosine that converts to dopamine in your brain. According to a 2003 study in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," high carbohydrate breakfast foods like waffles and orange juice given to study participants effectively increased serotonin levels. However, these foods were also complemented with high protein foods like eggs, cheese and turkey. Increase serotonin levels while eating healthy by choosing whole grains such as brown rice or wheat bread, leafy green vegetables and colorful fresh fruits. Enhance the availability of serotonin production in your brain by combining carbohydrates with lean protein, notes Simon N. Young, editor-in-chief of the "Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience." Since phenylalanine is the key component to raising dopamine production, choose carbohydrates rich in this amino acid. Navy, pinto, black and kidney beans as well as almonds, cashews, macadamia and pecans are good dopamine boosters that also supply you with a lean source of protein. Bran cereal, egg noodles and wild rice are also options. Dairy contains carbohydrates although it is more commonly associated as a protein source. Milk, yogurt and cheese can raise your dopamine but to maintain a healthy diet choose low-fat versions. The Cleveland Clinic notes for best results in raising your dopamine and serotonin, choose various combinations of whole grains, beans, lean proteins and plenty of fruits and vegetables throughout the day.	29,226
A reading chair reclines at a comfortable angle. Spectacles lie within arm's reach. Old teak consoles with black marble tops line the room, which is dominated by book-crammed cupboards. Old frescoes of Hindu gods accentuate the sacred emotion of reading and growing with each book. An old hookah and an ebony-and-ivory chess board add to the personal sense of the space. Thakur Amar Singh could have just left his library for a spin around his estate at Kanota. Though he died more than 70 years ago, there's no mistaking the stamp of personality Amar Singh (b.1878, r.1924-42) left behind on every object and objet d'art at the General Amar Singh Museum and Library. His collection of old books, manuscripts, diaries, maps, photographs was thrown open amid the sound of bagpipes and the presence of royalty late in January. By all accounts, Amar Singh was a remarkable man: The grandson of the founder of Kanota thikana, Zorawar Singh (b.1827, r.1862-1908), and a protégé of Idar's Maharaja Pratap Singh, his military career straddled the British Raj and free India, taking him to service locations in China, France and Afghanistan. Balancing his itinerant lifestyle was a deep love of reading and writing. Few associated the Rajput Thakur with reading till Kanota\'s Amar Singh established region\'s first library in 1878. The Period Room, which houses the library, dates back to 1898. It began life as a study and grew into a personal library, as Amar Singh's collection of books began to expand. The family, especially Amar Singh's younger brother Shivnath Singh, was encouraged to develop an interest in the library; this interest percolated down to his grandson Thakur Man Singh, who helped realise this shrine to learning and life. The pride of place in the library goes to Amar Singh's diaries: He started writing them in his Meerut College exercise books and didn't miss an entry for a single day between 1898 and 1942 except for one, when he was unconscious after a fall from a horse. The 89 volumes of Amar Singh's writing make up the world's longest diary. The observations of daily life, social, political, military and family affairs, provide captivating insights into life in the princely states during the British Raj. While researchers can access the microfilmed diaries, Amar Singh's Waterman-penned entries are open for the visitor to read. Museum-keepers plan to switch around the diaries and change the display to reveal new dimensions of Amar Singh's writing. For preservation, it is a good idea, since constant exposure to lights can damage the diaries. Besides the diaries, there are 5,000 books currently available in the library. The collection provides an idea of the range of his interests: From Thomas Carlyle to Jane Austen, and from A Bad Boy's Diary to Tales of Three Centuries, they all find a place here. Restored by Eka Archiving, the library is located over the taikhana (the underground apartment where residents took refuge during the hottest months), with the imposing facade of the 19th century Castle Kanota on the left. Astonishingly, Amar Singh never seems to have photographed his beloved library. The only visual reference the archivists found was a photograph taken in 1970 by a Mr Robin von Breton; the room was recreated after this fashion. While every Rajasthan thikana has its collections of paintings and arms and some might have archives of manuscripts and documents, none has a library, indicating that bookish learning was not a priority for the erstwhile royals. The closest parallel to Amar Singh's collections would possibly be the large country house libraries in the UK, typically built by generations of a family. Amar Singh's library, on the other hand, is the work of one man. Besides the historical value, the library is a valuable resource as it includes first editions, out-of-print books and rare titles. The museum is warm, welcoming, interactive and alive with an energy that, to me, seemed to be exuded by the books, maps, photographs and memorabilia. The laboratory at Mehrangarh Museum, Jodhpur, worked on conserving the photographs, albums and maps, carefully peeling photos off crumbling albums and mounting them afresh in the original sequence, and stabilising maps on acid-free backed mounts. The diaries are being similarly conserved in small batches. Since conservation and restoration are expensive, the Kanota family is looking to split the costs with the National Mission for Manuscripts. The books, luckily, are in a reasonably good condition. "Getting a sense of the collection, its size and range, is the first challenge," says Pramod Kumar AG of Eka Archiving, "and working out how to catalogue and classify it is the next. It's important to keep storage concerns in mind. A collection spends most of its time that way, so it makes sense to document it in groups that will be viable to store. Size forms the basis of the groups or lots we make, but we allow for cross-referencing and thematic documentation. We use a simple but effective system of keywords for this. With a period library like this one, the books are treated as objects in a museum would be-since they won't be circulated, as in a lending library-so we don't use the Dewey decimal system, but accession numbers." Life and style To the left of the Period Room is the War Room, with a recreated version of the uniform worn by Amar Singh as part of Lord Curzon's Imperial Cadet Corps. Old photographs provide a picture of the period's military culture. Amar Singh and his circle at Jodhpur were fervent about polo and horseback riding. He stoked his enthusiasm with reading, eventually owning nearly 100 books on sport, hunting and animals, in addition to subscriptions to several magazines on the subject. The trophies in the Sports Room, located beyond the Period Room, are replicas of only two of the many won for a range of sports, from polo and showjumping to pigsticking. Also on display are polo garments and accessories, including a replica jersey of the eagle-embroidered Jodhpur polo team uniform, in which Amar Singh played-and won-his first serious match. Displayed in a replica period gun cabinet are some of the rifles Amar Singh cherished and used. Also exhibited are a few of the long spears used in pigsticking. "In the evening, I went for lawn tennis at Col Jacob's house. [Colonel Samuel Swinton Jacob was Jaipur State's Chief Engineer] I played one game of it but was quite out of practice and could hardly hit in the right place. I had also two games of badminton in which I played a little better than I expected." (Jaipore, Thursday, 5th April, 1900) In the taikhana, which served as Amar Singh' living quarters, a writing table stands in the left corner. It has been recreated from an old photograph. A Waterman Ideal Fountain Pen with a 22-carat gold nib lies on the table. A glass cupboard next to it houses his collection of ink wells. A photograph of Amar Singh perched on a cliff reading a book while a lackey holds an umbrella over him catches the eye. One section of his bedroom retells his fascination for photography. Ilford Empress glass negatives, a projector, photographs of his family, childhood, camel races, horse races line the walls. No originals are displayed-mostly small prints, these are preserved in family albums-but the high-quality reproductions have been carefully selected to complement the storyline. One hundred and fifty maps make up the maps collection. Some of them feature in Colonel Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, while others are khasra maps of agricultural land divisions. Since Amar Singh and, before him, Narain Singh and Zorawar Singh had judicial powers, the maps document topographical and revenue details. The library has 50 European cookbooks in addition to the family's collection of 44 volumes of recipe diaries in Hindi. Food and hospitality was yet another of Amar Singh's passions. His interest in food extended from cooking and savouring it to the origins of recipes, food history and culture. The taikhana displays a collection of tea sets, pickle jars, liqueur glasses, rare whisky bottles, old tiffins and other utensils. A man's passion for scholarship of all hues laid the foundation for a treasure trove for scholars and travellers who wish to peek into the past. But the unique library at the Kanota thikana would have been unrealised if it were not for Man Singh. "General Amar Singh was my grandfather," he says, "and it was my father's dream to build a museum and library around his unique personality. Amar Singh's documentation of his socio-historical milieu is a benchmark for the Kanota family and needs to be opened up to the world." - How Sports Can Cure India's Health Problems - Household Exotica - Using Social Media For Social Good	5,633
Table of Contents \|\|\| Chirobase Home Page Not every poem's good because it's ancient, Nor mayst thou blame it just because it's new, Fair critics test, and prove, and so pass judgment; Fools praise or blame as they hear others do The origin of bonesetting -- treatment and replacement of joints -- is lost in the mist of antiquity. In the historical development of medicine, there are many references to the practice of bonesetting by both qualified and unqualified practitioners. (In using the term "unqualified," we refer to those who take up the practice of healing without having had any formal training in the accepted medical procedures of the day.) In some of the early hospitals, bonesetting was the duty of a few members of certain religious orders. These manipulations were no doubt performed with various religious incantations to their respective Gods. One of these religious bonesetters, Friar Moulton, of the order of St. Augustine, wrote a book entitled the Compleat Bonesetter, which was revised in 1656 by Robert Turner and which is presently in the library of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. It is interesting to note that Turner, in his introduction to the book, mentioned that the book was intended to be a guide for "the use of those Godly Ladies and Gentlewomen, who are industrious for their talent God has given them, in helping their poor sick neighbors." This seems to indicate that bonesetting was a practice commonly employed in the homes of England in the 17th century, and, curiously enough, primarily by women. One of the most famous lay bonesetters in the history of bonesetting was a woman: Sally Mapp, the daughter of an English bonesetter of the 18th century. In addition to the use of manipulation as a method of setting fractures, reducing dislocations, and restoring mobility to an injured or diseased joint, there is considerable evidence that many ancient cults and individuals attempted to treat disease by ceremoniously manipulating or popping the joints. This was especially true among those groups and civilizations that routinely employed massage in their treatment methods. The ancient Chinese were experts at massage. (In China today, however, the practice of massage has been relegated to the duties of blind and old women.) During the Neolithic period (the latter part of the Stone Age), massage was part of the culture of coastal inhabitants of the Mediterranean races, of India, up the Pacific coast of China, and of the inhabitants along the coast of Mexico and Peru . The art of massage and bonesetting are too closely allied to assume that those who practiced massage did not apply forceful movement and pressure to the joints-especially when the joints seemed to be disturbed in their functions. We cannot, of course, attempt to give a complete history on the origin and ancient use of joint manipulation and massage, since such information in its entirety is not readily available and is not entirely within the scope of this book. Only a few examples will be necessary to demonstrate the ancient nature of a physical treatment that is obviously as old as the human race itself. Some claim that the American Indians practiced a form of spinal manipulation (for centuries) that is similar to the ancient and present-day forms of spinal "bonesetting." It is well known that general bonesetting was skillfully practiced by Indian tribes all over the continent, particularly the Sioux Indians, the Winnebagos, the Creeks of the southeastern United States, groups of the north Pacific Coast, and certain Brazilian tribes. (3-G) One author relates the story of having witnessed an Indian hunter reduce a dislocation in his own hip after catching his leg in a tree. Since it would seem to be a natural tendency for man to attempt to "replace" a joint that was obviously out of its normal position, such has probably occurred from time immemorial notwithstanding man's ignorance. Claudius Galen, in his 2nd-century work, On the Natural Faculties, wrote of Amazonian women who purposely dislocated the hips of some of their male children in order to compel them to undertake certain types of work that an able-bodied man would normally refuse to do. When Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez invaded Mexico in the 16th century, Aztec doctors were "concerting the bones," or manipulating the joints, as an essential requirement of the more qualified doctor's duties. Trying to trace the origin of joint manipulation and massage would probably be quite impossible, for both have undoubtedly existed in one form or another since the beginning of man. It is a natural tendency for one to massage and manipulate an aching muscle or limb. Everyone, at some time or another, has felt the urge to throw back his shoulders and relieve the binding of spinal fatigue. It is not too much to assume that primitive man devised methods of accomplishing the instinctive tendency to massage and manipulate his fatigued and aching muscles and joints in order to maintain a desired flexibility. I can recall seeing pictures of a primitive native tribe giving exhibitions of one of their favorite sports whereby practiced natives climbed atop a high perch and then proceeded to dive head-first onto a padded area on the ground. If any of these daring sportsmen suffered ill-effects from their feat, they submitted to the manipulations of a female bonesetter who quickly "jerked out the kinks." Most of us have known individuals who, without ever having seen a spinal manipulation performed, were able to "crack" their own spines. We have all had the experience of inadvertently snapping our joints while luxuriously stretching our fatigued frames. Although primitive man may have interpreted these sounds to be some mysterious spiritual phenomena, the more modern man began to assume that "little bones" were simply snapping back-into-place-or out-of place. Ancient Babylonian healers stroked the patient seven times (a magic number) in order to rid the body of a demon of sickness. When pain was present, the healer placed the head of the patient lower than his feet and kneaded or struck the back while repeating the incantation "It shall be good." No doubt, this manipulation, employed to drive evil spirits out of the body, occasionally caused the spine to snap-a sound that was probably often interpreted as the sudden exit of an unwanted spirit. The sense of well-being associated with mechanical treatment of the body's structures probably gave such treatment priority consideration in the limited armamentarium of ancient physicians who did not possess today's knowledge of specific treatment for disease. In modern medical care, massage and manipulation play important parts in the treatment and rehabilitation of crippled and bedridden patients. In keeping with ignorance and human nature, however, such treatment is still the "panacea" of various cults that have not changed their ancient methods of treatment in order to keep pace with the developments of medical science. The tremendous psychological influence of "popping bones back-into-place" has been a potent factor in maintaining such practice as a general treatment for disease-hiding the real value of such treatment under a fog of ignorance. In addition, the theory of a "bone-out-of-place," interfering with nerve or blood supply, was beautifully simple and logical to the uninitiated mind; so much so that an inadequate basis for placing limits upon the theory also served as a cover over any real reason why the theory should have any value at all. Today, those who promote the use of spinal manipulation as a supreme treatment for disease confuse the picture by contending that medical science recognizes the claims of such treatment when a physician, or other practitioner, prescribes manipulation for a binding joint, a herniated intervertebral disc, or a selected condition that is actually related to a spinal disorder or a structural derangement. Actually, the treatment of joint conditions as specific entities, by scientific manipulation, does not, in any way, validate the use of such treatment as the most important treatment for disease. As we shall see, the use of scientific manipulation has been part of legitimate medical practice for centuries, while, likewise, many cults and laymen have used the treatment without recognizing or exercising any limitations in its application. In any event, the relationship of the body's structures to disease is being carefully studied and recorded in scientific publications-notwithstanding the extravagant claims of those who believe excessively in that approach to the treatment of disease, or the dubiousness of those who are confirmed skeptics. My father, who grew up in Czechoslovakia, told me that, in his homeland, families had used spinal manipulation in the home for centuries. As a child, he was regularly commissioned to walk barefoot up and down the spine of his father. Following a day in the fields, laboring under the pull of the earth's gravity, this, no doubt, was a beneficial and relaxing form of treatment. Some "professional spinal manipulators" of that day trained small bears to walk up and down a man's spine, and offered such services for a fee. The additional weight of the bear no doubt "popped" the bones more readily than many were able to do by other means-although probably not without considerable risk to the patient. In Hawaii today, in Japan, and in a few other countries, masseurs still practice a crude form of spinal manipulation-handed down from generation to generation-by walking over the patient's back while holding to an overhead bar. In the Netherlands Indies, babies born feet-first on the island of Nias are still believed to have special talents for manipulating the joints. The Ancient Egyptians left scrolls describing methods of treating fractures, dislocations, and injuries resulting from falls or blows. The Edwin Smith Papyrus, for example, described a method of setting the collarbone as follows: If thou examinest a man having a break in his collarbone ... thou shouldst place him prostrate on his back, with something folded between his two shoulder blades; thou shouldst spread out his two shoulders in order to stretch apart his collarbone until that break falls into place . While a joint that is only partially misplaced or subluxated can often recover without any special treatment, joints that have been dislocated obviously cannot always recover without special manipulative treatment. Recognizing this, ancient physicians have probably always attempted to replace those joints they thought were out of socket. This also resulted in the manipulation of many joints that were not actually dislocated. As the techniques of joint manipulation were passed down through the ages, however, the physician began to manipulate more specifically for the dislocated joint or fractured bone, while lay bonesetters began to employ the manipulations for a wide variety of conditions . . . thus obscuring the value of the treatment for specific conditions other than actual dislocations. The extreme and sharp division of the bonesetters' activities from those of the physician-and the value found between these extremes-is essentially the basis for this text. German physicians report that some forms of manipulation resembling modern chiropractic manipulations still persist in the folk medicine of Germany. It was stated that, in addition, such treatment was once part of the official medicine of Germany, and that, although it was forgotten over the years, it is now being reclaimed by the physician-for what value it has-and incorporated into the practice of medicine. Cato the elder, a Roman statesman (234-149 BCE) practiced bonesetting during the time of the Roman republic. In his De Re Rustica, we note that he reduced dislocations while reciting the following incantation: "Haut hanat ista pista sista damiate damnaustra." This fearful sounding invocation no doubt sounded like the last rites to many a frail individual submitting a painfully dislocated joint to Cato's manipulations. During the time of Cato, Roman physicians were few and poorly trained. The practice of medicine for a fee was not a dignified profession in warlike Rome, and the head of each family was more or less compelled to look after his own. There was a God for every disease, and most Romans depended upon these Gods to help them through their illnesses. The Greeks, on the other hand, were organizers of culture. There were many good physicians in Greece, the most notable of whom was to be Hippocrates. Modern medicine is said to have originated in Greek medicine. Some of the Greek physicians moved into the virgin territory of Rome and started a practice; many of them, however, were quacks who simply hung out signs and solicited patients -- treating them with any method at their disposal. Cato, the most tyrannically influential man in Rome, spoke out against the use of physicians, especially Greek physicians, advising his followers that they had "got on for six-hundred years without physicians" and that there was no need for them now. Thus, while Cato's advice may have saved some from the ministrations of the many quack physicians migrating to Rome from Greece, his advice also delayed the acceptance of high-quality Greek medicine so badly needed by the Roman citizens. No doubt Cato's influence had much to do with the manner of treatment used in the homes of Rome. One of his favorite treatments, in addition to bonesetting performed with incantations, was that of applying cabbage to the body, both internally and externally. Fearful of quack physicians, and under the influence of Cato "the bonesetter," many Roman families continued to employ their old methods of treatment "with the help of their Gods." Eventually, however, Greek medicine came to be accepted in Rome, and physicians were appointed to fill positions in the cities under the auspices of the Roman government. But the advance of Greek medicine was soon halted; for after the Roman Empire fell and Greek medicine deteriorated, rational medicine was again replaced by superstition, and the influence of theology crushed all traces of the advanced medicine of ancient Greece. There were centuries of struggle between science and religion before the teachings of Hippocrates and other Greek physicians were resurrected. Before the reign of Hippocrates, Aesculapius, an ancient Greek physician (often referred to as "the first physician"), supposedly employed methods of treatment such as bonesetting. Priests, under the direction of Aesculapius, conducted sleep cures in elaborately constructed temples. Aesculapius himself would advise patients under treatment as they lay with their eyes closed. This was probably a very powerful and effective form of autosuggestion. While the patients slept in the temple, the sacred serpents of healing were supposed to appear and lick their lesions, thus curing them of their diseases. Before patients left the temple, they read testimonials and accounts recorded on temple tablets by other patients who had supposedly suffered similar diseases but who had been cured of their afflictions by the temple treatment. This phase of Aesculapius' treatment was obviously a form of suggestion and hocus-pocus, but the treatment became very popular nevertheless. The very atmosphere of the beautiful temples undoubtedly had a beneficial effect upon the minds of those who went there for treatment. Not all of the intelligent Greeks were fooled by this type of ministration, however, for many recognized the falsehoods of the "sleep cure" and the "healing serpents." As a result, the temples of Aesculapius gradually began to include the use of special baths, exercises, and other forms of treatment, of which, it is suspected, bonesetting was a part. Today, interestingly enough, more than 2,000 years after the time of Aesculapius, there are still some practitioners who are exercising unreasonable faith in the efficacy of single or obsolete methods of treatment, and who are being forced by time and consumer intelligence to add additional methods of treatment to their procedure. This is particularly true among those who practice spinal manipulation as a sovereign method of treating disease. Many of these practitioners still prescribe a "rest treatment" following "bone adjustment" -- placing the patient upon a couch in a quiet room and asking him to remain there half-an-hour or more so that the treatment "will be more effective." In many cases, especially with the nervous patient, the rest and suggestion of such a procedure are probably more beneficial than the actual treatment. Much mythology surrounds the story of Aesculapius, so much so that some doubt that he actually existed. After his death he was made a God of Medicine and was worshipped in Grecian temples. The religious followers of Aesculapius continued to practice the .,sleep cure" and other forms of cult healing, while his more scientific descendants followed more progressive methods of healing -- culminating in modern medical science. Today, the symbol of Aesculapius -- two serpents twined on a staff (the caduceus) -- remains as the symbol of modern medicine. It was not until the influence of Hippocrates prevailed, however, that religious superstition was separated from the practice of medicine. Hippocrates (460 B.C. - 375 BCE), the greatest of the Greek physicians, is known today as "the father of medicine." He left many volumes of work on the observation and treatment of disease. Many of his descriptions of disease have been changed but little. In the treatment of his patients, Hippocrates recommended such simple measures as rest, sunlight, exercise, and diet. Not using an excessive amount of drugs, he altered the environment contributing to sickness and treated the patient as a whole; he laid the foundation for the practice of modern, rational medicine. Hippocrates completed at least three works on the bones and joints, these three of which were entitled: On Fractures; On the Articulations; and On Setting Joints by Leverage. The aphorism "look well to the spine for the cause of disease" was reported to have been written by Hippocrates. He apparently recognized the existence of symptoms that coursed over the spinal nerves making their exist near diseased vertebrae, as well as certain paralytic symptoms caused by severe injuries to the spinal column. In spite of the fact that little was known of the correct anatomy in the time of Hippocrates, Hippocrates himself made amazingly accurate diagnoses and devised commendably skillful methods of manipulating- the joints. Many of his methods of reducing dislocated limbs are similar or much the same as methods used today. With practiced observation and clinical art, Hippocrates examined the joints in a manner that compensated for his imperfect understanding of the actual anatomy. "A dislocation may be recognized by the following symptoms," he wrote in his treatise, On the Articulations. "Since the parts of a man's body are proportionate to one another, as the arms and the legs, the sound should always be compared with the unsound, and the unsound with the sound, not paying regard to the joints of other individuals (for one person's joints are more prominent than another's) , but looking to those of the patient, to ascertain whether the sound joint be unlike the unsound." Although many early chiropractors claimed that the founder of chiropractic was the first to recognize the fact that subluxations (displacements that are not luxations or dislocations,) occur in the body's joints, especially in the spine, we note with considerable interest that Hippocrates himself recognized the difference between subluxated and luxated joints. In his work On the Articulations, for example, he advised fellow physicians that ". . . luxations and subluxations take place in different degrees, being sometimes greater and sometimes less . . . but when the bone has slipped, or been displaced to a less extent, it is easier to reduce such cases than the other." Thus, we learn from Hippocratic writings that physicians more than 2,000 years ago recognized various degrees of displacement in the spinal joints and attempted correction accordingly. In reading the work of Hippocrates, we gather that a good many physicians of his time were attempting to correct spinal disorders, many of whom apparently were ignorantly or intentionally taking credit for correction of "spinal dislocations" that were actually subluxations, strains, and other less serious conditions. In noting Hippocrates' impatience with such practitioners, many of whom, he said, "are ignorant, and profit by their ignorance, for they obtain credit from those about them," he might be astonished to learn that human nature has changed but little, or none, in this time remote from his own observations. For today, charlatans still falsely obtain credit from those about them in the eternal perpetuation of quackery. Strangely enough, Hippocrates' admonitions concerning improper interpretation of spinal treatment are as applicable today as they were when they were first spoken. Although Hippocrates was quite unaware of the cause in most cases, he did note that "humps" in the spinal column, especially when they were accompanied with "tubercules in the lungs," were quite impossible to correct. "The vertebrae of the spine when contracted into a hump behind from disease, for the most part cannot be remedied, more especially when the gibbosity [hump] is above the attachment of the diaphragm to the spine." Today, of course, physicians recognize some of these "humps" as being tuberculous infection of the thoracic vertebrae, a condition that should not be treated forcefully under any circumstances. In fact, unrecognized tuberculous joint disease, ultimately resulting in a deterioration of the infected bone, has become the bugaboo of every conscientious joint manipulator, whose treatment, when applied in such conditions, could result in complete destruction of the forcefully moved joint. It was also an opinion of Hippocrates that the sudden appearance of gross deviations in the spine, following severe injuries or falls, were also incorrectable in many instances, probably as a result of compression fracture of one or more vertebrae, or dislocation of a spinal articulation. "When the spine protrudes backward, in consequence of a fall," he advised, "it seldom happens that one succeeds in straightening it." Since most dislocations of the spine, with the possible exception of atlanto-occipital (the skull and Ist vertebra) or atlanto-axial (Ist and 2nd vertebrae) dislocation, are associated with bone -- fracture and tearing of the spinal ligaments, modern orthopedic surgery now plays an important role in the reduction of vertebral dislocations, thus removing pressure upon the spinal cord. In many types of spinal injury, however, even in compression fracture of a vertebra, spinal traction or spinal extension, and other conservative measures, often provide correction without resort to the use of surgery. As far back as the latter part of the 12th century, Gilbertus Anglicus made practical suggestions for correction -- without the use of surgery -- of a "broken neck" when it involved dislocation of the atlas-axis articulation. He suggested that the patient be placed upon his back on the floor so that the surgeon, passing a strip of cloth under the patient's chin, could place his feet upon the patient's shoulders and reduce the dislocation by exerting heavy traction upon the patient's neck. His work, entitled Compendium, also prescribed treatment for many other types of dislocations, along with a description of conditions contemporary with his own lifetime -- approximately 1170 to 1230. Since spinal surgery, as we know it today, was not part of the armamentarium of Hippocrates, this great physician was compelled to select for treatment only those cases he thought could benefit without further unnecessary injury to the patient. One of the most popular methods of treating spinal injuries among the contemporaries of Hippocrates was a method of "succussion," that is, tying the patient outstretched upon a ladder and shaking him vertically so that the weight of the body could stretch the spine in a corrective manner and reduce existing "dislocations." Although Hippocrates described this method of treatment in his writings he used it sparingly, probably because, as we shall see, there were better ways known to adjust the spine, and because "succussion" was a treatment routinely employed by the quacks of his time. In his treatise, On the Articulations, he explained: Wherefore succussion on a ladder has never straightened anybody, as far as I know, but it is principally practiced by those physicians who seek to astonish the mob -- for to such persons, if they see a man suspended or thrown down, or the like; and they always extol such practices, and never give themselves any concern whatever bad or good. But the physicians who follow such practices, as far as I have known them, are all stupid. The device, however, is an old one, and I give great praise to him who first invented this, and any other mechanical contrivance which is according to nature. For neither would I despair, but that if succussion were properly gone about, the spine, in certain cases, might be thereby rectified. But, indeed, for my own part, I have been ashamed to treat all such cases in this way, because such modes of procedure are generally practiced by charlatans. In this interesting statement by Hippocrates, we find an analogy more than 2,000 years old that might appropriately describe a situation existing today in regard to medical interpretation of chiropractic activity. For example, while there are a great many medical practitioners who see values in the use of spinal manipulation, when it is "properly gone about," many qualified physicians hesitate to prescribe or use certain manipulative procedures that have so long been employed by medically unqualified practitioners. This peculiar situation will be greatly clarified in the closing chapters of this book. In spite of the fact that Hippocrates favored somewhat different methods in treatment of the spine (to be described later), writers often attribute ancient use and origin of succussion on a ladder to the originality of Hippocrates who, as we have shown, stated that the practice was in use many years before his own time. Misinterpretation of the Hippocratic writings is often brought about by the fact that these writings are among the oldest in medical literature, thus leading many persons to believe that everything Hippocrates wrote was quite original. Actually, much of what he wrote, regarding various treatment methods, was an accumulation of knowledge and ideas passed down through centuries of unrecorded medical practice. In any event, Hippocrates described the practice of succussion on a ladder as follows: The ladder is to be padded with leather lined cushions, laid across, and well secured to one another, to a somewhat greater extent, both in length and breadth, than the space which the man's body will occupy; he is then to be laid on the ladder upon his back, and the feet, at the ankles, are to be fastened, at no great distance from one another, to the ladder, with some firm but soft band; and he is further to be secured, in like manner, both above and below the knee, and also at the nates [buttocks); and at the groins and chest loose shawls are to be put round in such a fashion as not to interfere with the effect of succussion; and his arms are to be fastened along his sides to his own body, and not to the ladder. When you have arranged these matters thus, you must hoist up the ladder, either to a high tower or to the gable end of a house; but the place where you make the succussion should be well instructed, so that they may let go their hold equally to the same extent, and suddenly, and that the ladder may neither tumble to the ground on either side, nor they themselves fall forward. But, if the ladder be let go from a tower, or the mast of a ship, fastened into the ground with its cordage, it will be better, so that the ropes run upon a pulley or axle-tree. But it is disagreeable even to enlarge upon these matters; and yet, by the contrivances now described, the proper succussion may be made. These matters should be thus arranged, if recourse is to be had at all to succussion on a ladder; for it is disgraceful in every art, and more especially in medicine, after much trouble, much display, and much talk, to do no good after all . When the "hump," or other disturbance, was "lower down" in the spine, the ladder was dropped vertically from a height, with the patient bound to it in a "feet-first" position, so that when the bottom of the ladder struck the pavement the effect was much like that of the jar experienced by a parachutist. When the disturbance was higher up in the spine, or in the neck, the patient was placed upon the ladder in an "up-side-down" position, so that the force of gravity, suddenly multiplied when the ladder struck the pavement, could stretch the suspended spine. As we noted earlier, Hippocrates was not enthusiastic about the use of the ladder in treatment of spinal disorders. For the most part, he seemed to favor methods requiring controlled traction (applied from each end of the body) combined with specific corrective movements applied directly to the involved joints. For example, in the treatment of spinal curvatures, he recommended that the patient be placed face-down upon a bench "covered with robes, or any thing else which is soft, but does not yield much," with straps placed under the arm pits and across the chest, and around the knees and ankles, so that traction ("extension") could be applied from both ends of the bench while the correction was being made. ... the physician, or some person who is strong, and not uninstructed, should apply the palm of one hand to the hump, and then, having laid the other hand upon the former, he should make pressure, attending whether this force should be applied directly downward, or toward the head, or toward the hips. This method of applying force is particularly safe; and it is also sale for a person to sit upon the hump while the extension is made, and raising himself up, to let himself fall again upon the patient. And there is nothing to prevent a person from placing a foot on the hump, and supporting his weight on it, and making gentle pressure; one of the men who is practiced in the palestra would be a proper person for doing this in a suitable manner . Here we have evidence of the use of spinal manipulation by medical practitioners hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, indicating that such practices, were probably commonly used many hundreds of years before the first written evidence indicating the use of such. The method above, as described by Hippocrates, offers a practical technique of spinal correction that has changed but little in modern orthopedic practice. (Modern orthopedic surgeons still employ combinations of traction and manipulation in the reduction of certain types of vertebral fractures not corrected by suspension or extension of the spine. "The majority of vertebral fractures may be reduced by suspension without manual manipulation at the point of fracture. Manipulative reduction under anesthesia is indicated only when ordinary suspension does not result in complete disappearance of the kyphos and should be done only by surgeons with experience." ) In principle, in fact, it has not changed at all. There are many chiropractic and osteopathic manipulations that are still quite similar in technique.. Hippocrates described another method of spinal correction that he considered to be the "most powerful of the mechanical means." Essentially, it was performed by placing heavy padding over the area of the spine to be treated (while the patient was face-down and under traction) and then ramming the padded area with a wooden beam guided in direction by an overlying, slotted, wooden plank. No doubt the spine responded to such forceful thrusts with resounding "pops" -- much like the "popping" one hears today when witnessing or experiencing certain osteopathic and chiropractic manipulations. Reminiscent of this ancient method of adjusting the spine, it is interesting to note that one chiropractic college -- only a few years ago -- devised a method of spinal adjusting employing the use of a mallet and a rubber-tipped driving rod; the rod was placed against the spinous process of the offending vertebra and then tapped by the mallet in a corrective direction. This method did not prove to be popular among chiropractors, however, and it was soon forgotten. Another method described by Hippocrates, with which he himself had little success, but which was a less drastic method of adjusting the spine, was that of placing the patient on his back upon a deflated air bladder, and then inflating the bladder while traction was being applied from either end of the spine. Hippocrates complained that this method was rather ineffectual because the patient kept "rolling off" the expanding bladder. Although modem orthopedic measures sometimes employ this principle of spinal correction by applying turn-buckle corsets about the patient's trunk, it would appear that the ancient method of inflating an air bladder under a spine held fast on either end, with the patient placed deep within a trough to prevent movement from side to side, would actually be desirable in cases that would not permit the roughness of physical contact with solid objects. There was one other method commonly used by the contemporaries of Hippocrates in an effort to make corrections in the spine. This was the application of suction cups to the spine so that vertebrae that have "protruded forward" could be "drawn back" into their proper positions. Considering belief in the efficacy of this method to be an error of judgment, Hippocrates looked upon use of the suction cups as a method without any value whatsoever. ". . . Displacements forward are of a fatal and injurious nature," he said, "but ... displacements backward, for the most part, do not prove fatal, nor occasion retention of urine nor torpor [paralysis] of the limbs, for they do not stretch the ducts [nerves?] leading toward the intestines, nor occasion obstruction of the same; but displacements forward produce both these bad effects, and many others in addition. And truly they are more apt to lose the power of their legs and arms, to have torpor of the body, and retention of urine, who experience no displacement either forward or backward, but merely a violent concussion along the spine, while those who have displacement backward are least subject to these symptoms." Thus, it appears that Hippocrates, who recognized spinal dislocation largely by clinical signs, was quite selective in the application of spinal treatment measures, since he believed that efforts to reduce the more rare spinal dislocation were often both futile and dangerous. Under such circumstances, it seems that the greater part of successful spinal "succussion" experienced in ancient medical practice probably stemmed from correction of spinal subluxations and other such disorders. The fact that mechanical treatment of the spine was both popular and prevalent in ancient medical practice is indicated by Hippocrates' hesitancy to describe "other modes of succussion" in which he had little or no confidence. "I could tell of other modes of succussion than those formerly described, which one might fancy would be more applicable in such an affection [spinal]," he wrote in On the Articulations, "but I have no great confidence in them, and therefore I do not describe them." Since very little was known about the human body 400 years before the birth of Christ, the genius of Hippocrates was forced to start literally from "scratch." As a result, many of his theories and techniques were naturally quite crude when compared with present-day knowledge and skills. Certain of his methods of setting the joints of the spine, for example, may have been a shocking experience to some of those who underwent his treatment. Although Hippocrates seldom used the ladder method of "succussion" in treatment of the spine, he did recommend that certain patients with dislocated vertebrae be subjected to this method of treatment. Ambroise Pare, the famous French surgeon of the 16th century, in noting such recommendations in the literature of Hippocrates, wrote: In outward dislocation of the vertebrae Hippocrates commands to bind the man straight on a ladder, the arms and legs tied and bound, then after having raised the ladder to the top of a tower or ridge of a house, with a great cable in a pulley, let the patient fall like lead on the firm pavement, which Hippocrates said was done in his time. But I do not teach any such way of giving the strappado to men, but I show the surgeon in my works, the method of reducing them safely and without great pain . Very likely, Pare attempted to press the dislocated vertebrae into place with his hands while the patient's spine was being placed under traction, much like methods that had already been described by Hippocrates himself. As already pointed out by Hippocrates, however, a severe injury would be required to dislocate a vertebra (often resulting in paralysis), and not all of these could be reduced by traction or manipulation. "Cutting upon the patient," or surgery, would be required to correct such injuries among patients who, in years past, simply died of their injuries. Probably a great many of the "dislocations" that were mechanically replaced by Hippocrates and Pare were actually subluxations, or vertebrae that were only partially dislocated. Ancient Egyptian physicians used a method similar to the ladder method described by Hippocrates in attempts to reduce spinal fractures and dislocations. One wrote that those patients with spinal fractures not accompanied with paralysis could be helped by tying the patient's feet to one end of a ladder and then turning the ladder and the patient upside down, shaking the ladder in order to straighten the patient's spine . If, however, the patient was paralyzed (recognized today as indicating severe spinal damage with nerve injury), the doctor was advised not to disturb the patient with such treatment lest his reputation be ruined by the patient's failure to recover. Undoubtedly, many of the less severe spinal "dislocations" treated by Egyptian physicians were, in reality, subluxations and other less serious conditions of the spine. Pare was one of the first surgeons to break away from many erroneous concepts of Hippocrates and Claudius Galen (two of the greatest physicians in the history of ancient medicine), whose works had bound the medical profession for centuries. Pare was responsible for a departure in ways from many detrimental and crude surgical techniques that had been handed down over the centuries without question. The trials and tribulations of medical progress went on, resulting in an ever-changing and ever-better medical practice, but human ignorance maintained many practices and cults unchanged from the most ancient times.... As continued ignorance followed a path parallel to continued progress, the scope of medical science expanded. Claudius Galen, born about 500 years after the death of Hippocrates, gave the first correct anatomical description of the spinal column and its articulations. It was he who divided the spinal column into cervical, dorsal, and lumbar regions, designating the correct number of vertebrae. Galen's teachings on fractures and dislocations far surpassed those of Hippocrates. Although Galen died in the year 200 A.D., his authority was almost undisputed until the 16th century. It was Andreas Vesalius who first recorded the correct anatomy of the entire human body with publication of his work, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, in 1543 -- based on actual dissection of the human cadaver. By the turn of the 18th century, when correct anatomy was common knowledge to every qualified medical practitioner, and medical science was still on the threshold of better days, many unorthodox practitioners were enjoying much popularity around the world. "Crazy" Sally Mapp, for example, was touring London from her home in Epsom, where she was paid to reside, "setting bones and curing disease." Sally Mapp was the daughter of an English bonesetter, whose technique of practice had been handed down through the centuries almost exclusively through family contacts. In 1736, the Gentlemen's Magazine wrote of Sally Mapp: . . . The attention of the public has been taken off from the wonder working of Mr. Ward to a strolling woman now at Epsom who calls herself "crazy Sal"; and had performed cures in bonesetting to admiration, and occasioned so great a resort that the town offered her 100 guineas to continue there a year . Joshua "Spot" Ward (so named because of a birthmark on his face) and many other practitioners were busy dispensing nostrum pills, "laying on their hands," conveying "magnetic healing power," "setting bones," and fabricating hundreds of worthless methods of treating disease-most of which seemed to enjoy considerable popularity, even among the nobility and the literate. While medical science was making considerable progress in its methods of treatment, the public was still many years behind in knowledge of what was contained in the books of medical universities. Although quackery ran rampant in the 18th century, in bonesetting and in every other conceivable approach appealing to human credulity, qualified practitioners were busy making contributions in the treatment of bones and joints through the field of orthopedics. Dr. John Hunter, for example, a qualified medical contemporary of "Crazy Sal," was busy teaching the value of movement of joints after injury in order to prevent stiffness and adhesions. There is no doubt that many bonesetters, such as Sally Mapp, actually did accomplish some good by breaking down adhesions in some of the joints they manipulated, even though they manipulated, without sufficient knowledge of the joints, tuberculous and infected joints alike with disastrous results. While John Hunter would have recognized the existence of adhesions in a joint that might have benefited from manipulation, as opposed to the use of such treatment in the presence of a disease process, the bonesetters always manipulated for a "bone-out-of-place," regardless of the patient's condition. Essentially, this is still the difference between the practice of the qualified and the unqualified manipulator. Sir James Paget, a famous surgeon and authority on bone diseases in the 19th century, was one of the qualified practitioners who observed that there was actually some value in many of the manipulations performed by the bonesetter; for in a lecture entitled "Cases That Bonesetters Cure," published in the British Medical Journal, January 5, 1867, he stated: Few of you are likely to practice without having a bone-setter for a rival; and if he can cure a case which you have failed to cure, his fortune may be made and yours marred.... Learn, then, to imitate what is good and avoid what is bad in the practice of bone-setters. (9-F) From this statement by Dr. Paget, we get an idea of the prevalence of bonesetters who practiced during the year of that lecture. Probably, in 1867, when few specific remedies for disease were known, and public ignorance was quite pronounced, the spectacular practice of the untrained bonesetter posed a real economic threat to the more conservative and legitimate physician. Many of the early bonesetters, having little knowledge of the anatomy of the bones and joints, frequently adjusted "a little bone back-into-place" where there was, in fact, no joint at all. Up until the 16th century, when Vesalius gave a correct anatomy of the entire human body, the numbers of bones in the human frame were given in widely varying figures, which usually included a "nucleus bone," generally known as the "bone of Luz," from which it was believed that the body would be resurrected. The Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans believed that the coccyx (tail bone) was the "resurrection bone" because it seemed to be the most indestructible of the bones. Others believed that the sacrum was the "regeneration bone," or the bone from which the body was to be reborn. Hippocrates counted only 91 bones in the body (111 including the fingernails). Later physicians, by boiling the flesh from the bones of executed young persons, counted as many as 252 bones. This excessive number was due to the fact that many of the bones in a young frame still present growth-centers, thus dividing what was actually one bone into two or more. There are 206 bones in the mature human skeleton. Although qualified medical practitioners had access to the correct anatomy of the body after the time of Vesalius (of the spinal column after the work of Galen), lay bonesetters continued to manipulate under false impressions of human anatomy. Like "cutting for the stone," much of the bonesetter's treatment was applied to imaginary lesions. In the area of a disturbance, the tissues were simply manipulated under the false belief that a little bone was being put back into place. Many manipulations upon joints for what were supposedly "dislocations," or "bones-out-of-place," were more often performed upon real and imaginary conditions short of actual dislocations. The pain caused by partial dislocation or subluxation of a joint was probably always attributed to alleged dislocations. No doubt, however, the bonesetter treated both imaginary and real "bones-out-of-place" with both tragic and beneficial results. Much of the value found in the bonesetter's practice was yet to be widely employed in medical practice, even though several prominent medical practitioners had published descriptions of the use and the limitations of manipulative treatment. There is much literature in old medical writings on the subject of reducing dislocated and partially dislocated joints. Although qualified medical practitioners did not dwell upon the treatment of such imaginary processes as "a-little-bone-out-of-place," there is no doubt that "subluxated" joints were treated in the same manner as those that were actually dislocated, since the symptoms are similar and the difference in displacement only one of degree. In 1871, Wharton Hood, M.D., published a treatise (On Bonesetting) after observing the methods used by a contemporary bonesetter. Hood, who discovered that there was a great deal of value in manipulating certain joint conditions in addition to those that presented actual displacement, published a series of articles in a British journal explaining the methods of bonesetting he had learned from Robert Hutton, a well-known bonesetter in London. In describing his own findings, Hood stated: The whole mystery of "bone-setting," precisely what it could do and where it was injurious, was laid open to the medical profession in the plainest language . In the history of medical orthopedics, there are many other practitioners who championed more and better use of joint manipulation in medical practice. Because of the ignorant beliefs prevalent among those who practiced bonesetting exclusively, however, many members of the medical profession were slow in recognizing the real value or manipulation in correcting joints stiffened by adhesions and other correctable disorders. Even today, as a result of the efforts of spinal manipulators to cure all or most disease by manipulating the spinal joints (correcting a "bone-out-of-place"), the stigma upon manipulative treatment remains to a great degree. In spite of the fact that joint manipulation is now recognized as an important branch of orthopedic work, many physicians, in observing the doctrines and the practice of non-medical practitioners who employ manipulation, refuse to consider the value of manipulation as defined by qualified medical authority-even though treating a sacroiliac condition by manipulation, for example, is quite remote from treating a case of appendicitis by the same treatment. There were apparently a large number of bonesetters practicing many years before the professions of osteopathy and chiropractic appeared on the horizon. Although the early history of bonesetting (as practiced among the ranks of laymen and as promoted by medical men) seems to come predominantly from England, it is a peculiar fact that the nonmedical professions stressing joint manipulation as a sovereign method of treating disease today exist almost entirely in America. There are no nonmedical chiropractic schools, for example, outside the boundaries of the United States. Canada has one chiropractic college that has been approved by the National Chiropractic Association. Although bonesetters once existed in large numbers in England (while America was being plagued by magnetic healers, faith healers, mind-cure practitioners, and so forth), the practice of bonesetting in osteopathy and chiropractic eventually became illegal in that country. According to Hill and Clegg (What Is Osteopathy), osteopathy, attempting to "erect a new theory of health and disease on an imaginary pathology and unproved hypothesis," was refused recognition in England in 1937. Today, many fine publications on joint manipulation come from the pens of orthopedic specialists in England. It was not until 1874, under the teachings of Andrew Taylor Still, in the United States, that the art of bonesetting was organized into an independent professional practice that attempted to uniformly treat disease according to basic principles and a specific theory in competition with medical practice. As we shall note in a later chapter, however, the practice of osteopathy has branched out into the field of medicine and is, today, essentially the practice of medicine. The original tenets of osteopathy were based upon the belief that misplaced or maladjusted joints interfered with the nerve and blood supply, causing disease, and that it was only necessary to manipulate the joints to cure this disease. Twenty-one years after osteopathy was founded, D. D. Palmer, a magnetic healer of Davenport, Iowa, announced his "discovery" of chiropractic. It seems, however, that there was little or no difference between the practice of osteopathy and chiropractic, both being merely terminological adaptions of the bonesetting that was then becoming very popular in America. While the osteopaths and chiropractors in America conveyed some value in their treatments, and originated certain uses and techniques of joint manipulation that were later recognized to be of some value, the employment and development of joint manipulation in medical quarters was to be unnecessarily delayed by the activities of these two cults that contended that all disease was the result of misplaced joints interfering with blood and nerve supply. However, some contend that the activities of the osteopath and the chiropractor speeded the recognition of manipulative therapy in the treatment of certain conditions other than dislocated or stiffened joints. As it stands today, pure bonesetting, as a general treatment for disease, is found only in some little-changed chiropractic colleges. Along with a slow recognition of joint manipulation (in medical specialties) in America, a situation, relative to the existence of the profession of chiropractic, has developed that is quite worthy of study. Chiropractors, for the most part, have not limited themselves to values of manipulation as known by medical science, but rather continue in their efforts to treat disease. In our analysis of the situation, we shall attempt to determine, to some degree, whether the existence of the chiropractor as a physician is based upon values unrecognized by medical science or upon public ignorance . . . irrespective of what chiropractic might become in the future. As we have stated elsewhere, there are probably many good chiropractors who limit their activities according to the standards of medical science rather than according to the tenets of the chiropractic creed. Whether chiropractic becomes a practice cooperative with medical science as the specific values of manipulation become more widely known, or whether its doctrine will weigh it into the depths of oblivion, is a subject for much speculation. Although much of the metaphysical concept was removed from the practice of bonesetting in the theory of osteopathy and chiropractic, an equally erroneous concept was established that was better suited to the changing times. While the chiropractic theory seems to have been patterned after the osteopathic premise, it is interesting to note that the founder of osteopathy claims to have originated the practice according to "divine inspiration" from the "God of Nature." "God is the Father of osteopathy," said Still, "and I am not ashamed of the child of His mind." Still's apocalyptic style of describing the origin and purpose of the practice of osteopathy provided an irresistible attraction to thousands of excessively religious Americans; thus, the practice of osteopathy was a guaranteed success. As in the days of Sally Mapp, the treatment appeared to be quite successful in a great many conditions because of the unrecognized effects of suggestive therapy. Even today, many careless and poorly-trained practitioners fail to distinguish the nervous and psychosomatic conditions (commonly called "functional" conditions) from physical diseases so that treatment may be properly evaluated. Fifty years ago, before medical science had uncovered many specific causes and cures for human ailments, probably one treatment was as good as another if neither was of much value. As a result, many incompetent healers, bonesetters included, became real competitors of the medical physician in the treatment of disease. As medical science progressed, however, the physician's practice changed and enlarged to include the latest skills and knowledge, while the cults remained limited by their creeds. Factually, the claims and scope of each "panacea" were narrowed as science advanced -- although new facts were and still are slowly assimilated by an apathetic public. Those who were educated 50 years ago labored under many delusions that have since been expelled in modern education. The present-day scientific student begins with an entirely different concept than did those who, years ago, did not have access to today's accumulated volumes of knowledge. True cultism hinges primarily from ignorance of this source of knowledge. Inasmuch as the practice of early osteopathy -- and later chiropractic -- was opposed to the practice of medicine, the practice became quite popular among those who were excessively religious and who objected to the methods and practice of medicine. In addition, the simple theories of the spinal manipulators appealed to an ignorance that greatly prevailed in the 19th century and that still extends into the 20th century -- an ignorance of the progress and the scientific principles of modern medical science. Although the theory of osteopathy -- that misaligned bones interfered with blood and nerve supply, causing disease -- might actually have been original with its founder, there is much evidence to indicate that manipulation of the joints as a treatment for disease had been used for quite some time in America before the conception of the osteopathic doctrine, especially in some religious groups that practiced faith healing by the "laying on of hands," In the middle of the 19th century, for example, the Mormon leader, Joseph Smith, Jr., practiced faith healing employing the use of bonesetting. One of his elders advertised to "set bones through faith in Christ," stating that, "while commanding the bones, they come together, making a noise like the crushing of an old basket." Only the joints of the spine can be made to give out with such sounds as the "crushing of an old basket." Obviously, the laying on of hands in this faith-healing procedure was performed with considerable force. It probably amounted to nothing more or less than the chiropractor's adjustment of the spine as it is used today. Smith and his "manipulators" failed as healers, however, when Asiatic Cholera broke out among his followers. No doubt, today's "manipulators" -- those who contend that adjustment of the joints is superior to the practice of medicine in the treatment of disease -- would also fail in the treatment of such disease if given an opportunity to administer to an epidemic and try out their theories. Fortunately, however, medical science has effectively curbed most of the epidemic-type diseases, and when they do occur, effective means are usually available to prevent their spread. In the history of medicine, comparatively little is said about the use of bonesetting in the treatment of disease, primarily, I believe, because such practices were used by lay and religious groups more often than by medical practitioners who left records of their activities. Although there is an abundance of literature on "setting the bones" in ancient and recent medical writings, such treatment was reserved primarily for the treatment of actual joint disturbances. In religious and lay groups, on the other hand, bonesetting and the laying on of hands was a practice routinely performed, often with incantations, on many real and imaginary conditions alike in an effort to obtain some mysterious effect or result according to an all-inclusive though highly unlikely theory. As in the case of Joseph Smith, who set bones "through faith in Christ," and "Crazy Sally Mapp," who "performed cures in bonesetting to admiration," many lay bonesetters inadvertently did some good -- and a great deal of harm -- while manipulating for quite another reason. Undoubtedly, the activities of many of these unqualified practitioners uncovered certain values in the use of manipulation that were soon recognized by medical science, although manipulation of the joints in the treatment of joint conditions per se was nothing new in medical practice. In many underdeveloped parts of the world, where qualified doctors are scarce and disease prevalent, bonesetters and other practitioners of folk medicine still command great popularity. In a 1961 Saturday Evening Post article, for example, Dr. Allan M. McKelvie, of the Orthopedic Letters Club Overseas Project, stated that: "When OLCOP alumni get together nowadays, there is always one point of agreement -- the scourge of the Middle East is 'The Bonesetter.' Apparently his profession goes back into the mists of history and sometimes is handed down from father to son. In cities he is of ten a butcher by trade. After business hours his patients come to the stable yard to have their ailments treated. Barbers and undertakers also ply this medicine-man trade." (Post, July 22, 1961) In the Holy Bible, there are many references to the "laying on of hands" as a treatment for disease. Although such 'cures were obviously those of faith, and not necessarily the results of manipulation, a few modern-day spinal manipulators have interpreted such references to imply that "Jesus Christ was a chiropractor." Interestingly enough, in addition to the treatment of disease, there is at least one example in the Bible of the correction of an apparent back condition by the "laying on of hands." We note in St. Luke, Chapter 13, verse 11-13: And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, "Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity." And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. Thus, under some religious interpretations, some bonesetters were simply carrying out the performance of the only treatment Jesus Christ considered worthwhile -- that of "laying on of hands." We do not have the space to consider all the forms of bonesetting and cultism that preceded the cultivation of scientific manipulative therapy. We have, however, cited sufficient example to construct the barest outline of the antiquity of joint manipulation. In our discussion of the status of chiropractic and its differences with medical science, we will explore the mystery of the chiropractor's treatment and the bonesetter's success -- giving credit where I feel credit is due and discredit where such is due. There are an endless array of qualified medical references describing the use of scientific manipulative procedures, many of which were written in the early part of the 19th century. We cannot, of course, mention more than a few of these. Most of our examples will be drawn from the very latest writings of qualified orthopedic authorities. Today, cultism (in bonesetting) and medical science still run on opposite tracks, each, of course, in opposition to the other. Although bonesetters have increased in numbers through the development of osteopathy and chiropractic, much of their future existence seems to depend upon the addition of accepted medical procedures to a practice that must be hidden with explanations, borrowed accomplishments, and personality courses. While certain factions of those who practice manipulative therapy (treating disease in competition with medical practice) seem to be undergoing an evolution for the better, there are equal numbers who still believe that joint manipulation (removing nerve interference) is the superior therapy in the treatment of disease and who cling tenaciously to their tenets and to their inheritance. Next Chapter \|\|\| Table Chirobase Home Page	5,987
“Gulf lesson one is the value of air power… (it) was right on target from day one… Our air strikes were the most effective, yet humane, in the history of warfare.” President George Bush, 29 May 1991 The most important lesson of the second Gulf war is that a small group of guerrillas, armed with the right strategy, can keep a nation in perpetual failure. Iraq’s Baathists did learn lessons from the first Gulf war that altered their strategy for the second -- this is another demonstration that war is a contest of minds and to a lesser extent merely a clash of weaponry and formations on the field of battle. 1991’s Gulf War taught the Iraqi leadership that its military wasn’t a match for the US war machine. It would lose quickly and badly. Secondly, and less obviously, the first Gulf War taught the Iraqi leadership the power of systems disruption. The US air campaign during the first Gulf War was the first of its kind -- it completely shut down the functions of a semi-modern nation-state. For example: - Oil and gasoline. 500 sorties and 1,200 tons of bombs were used to shut down Iraq’s oil and refining system. 80% of its refining capacity was directly impacted. The remaining 20% was preventatively closed to avoid damage. Iraq was left only with those fuel reserves produced before the war. - Electricity. Attacks against Iraqi power production and switching facilities first shut down its effective use and then collapsed the entire system. This shutdown cascaded throughout the country as systems reliant on the national grid were forced to depend on unreliable ad hoc power generation. - Telecommunications. The national telephone system was attacked on an ongoing basis. The ability to rapidly repair the network, its built-in redundancy, and numerous difficult to destroy wireless nodes forced the campaign’s planners into a series of repeated attacks to cause the needed disruption. - Transportation. Numerous bridges, railroads, and roadways were interdicted to prevent the transportation of supplies and the normal functioning of the economy. Transportation connections from Baghdad to southeastern sections Iraq were successfully severed. At the point when the first coalition ground forces entered Iraq (and Kuwait), Iraq was the hollow husk of a nation-state. All of its vital systems, necessary to support its status as a state let alone a state at war, were broken. As President Bush (see quote) and the entire world noted, the air campaign was devastatingly effective. However, this analysis misses the point. It wasn’t the air power that was so effective; it was systems disruption that accomplished the task. The devastation of Iraq’s infrastructure won the war before the ground invasion confirmed the process. The important thing to understand is that method of accomplishing this systemic collapse, air power, was coincidental to the outcome.	48,063
The Academic's Role The Academic's Role (accessible teaching and learning) How does one interpret the word "reasonable"? The general interpretation is what would be reasonably expected from the establishment concerned taking into consideration the financial resources of the establishment as a whole and the time constraints of the individuals concerned. Back to Top Making Word documents more accessible Nowadays, any information that is imparted to either the public, or within UCL should be made as accessible and as usable as possible. This includes signage, information on the web, handouts, leaflets, booklets etc. Handouts created in Word Printing handouts on off-white paper will considerable help colour sensitive users and dyslexics as it removes the glare of black text on white. Font size should be no smaller than 12 points but according to the latest research it is not thought that the style of font will affect reading of hard copies. However, it is now commonly thought that a sans serif font such as Arial or in particular Verdana are far easier to read when viewing on screen. Long documents should have a Table of Contents added so that students can see at a glance the structure of the contents. This will not only help dyslexics who respond better to learning in small chunks, but ALL students will find this will enhance their absorption of the material they are reading. There are other functions in Word that will make learning easier, e.g. cross-references, an index. Additionally, all handouts should be made available electronically, in order that disabled students, such as those with dyslexia or who are visually impaired, are able to customise documents to their own requirements. For example, they can change the background and the font colour to avoid the glare caused by black text on white. They can also change the line spacing, the font, the size of font and modify the styles of the original document. So you might ask yourself what is left for the originator to do? In point of fact the one thing that will really contribute to making an electronic version of a Word document more usable is to ensure that it is easy to navigate. So how is this done? The answer is to use an appropriate hierarchy of styles so that the user can navigate the document using Document Map view. In order to do this all headings should have a style allotted to them in the relevant hierarchy, i.e. Heading 1 for the main headings, heading 2 for the sub-headings and heading 3 for the sub-sub-headings and so on. Body text should be set to Normal with only the occasional emphasis using italics or bold, never underlining to avoid confusion with hyperlinks. Word has built in styles The option arrow in the Style box in the Formatting toolbar with all the default styles available, e.g. Heading 1, 2 and 3 and Normal. The Clear Formatting option will attribute text with Normal style. All you have to do is… Place the cursor within the heading text, select the appropriate heading from the Style box within the Formatting toolbar. You can change the default heading styles if you wish by clicking on the relevant style in the Styles and Formatting Task Pane and clicking on the Modify… option. Once you have attributed the various heading styles within the document it should then be possible to view those headings in Document Map view. To access Document Map View you will need to go the View menu and select Document Map. The entire document, no matter how many pages can be quickly navigated by clicking on the various headings. By doing this not only will you be helping students who are experiencing fine motor difficilties and would find it difficult to scroll through many pages, but those students who have been diagnosed as dyslexic. All this will the added benefit that everyone will find it easier to identify the structure of the document and navigate quickly to pertinent sections. By adopting styles and a Table of Contents (TOC) you will have created a Word document which if converted to a PDF will then also be accessible in that format as well. Back to Top Making PowerPoint presentations more accessible All students would benefit from having the speaker’s notes added to each slide which is a built-in function within PowerPoint. One would then have to ask the question as to how many academics would have the time to ‘write up’ their annotations. However, if notes in the form of a crib sheet are already available then it is a simple case of copying them to the notes section of the relevant slides. If no notes are available then the very least the originator, or the person responsible for publishing the PowerPoint presentation, should do is copy all the text from each slide and paste it into the relevant Notes section. This is necessary because if a vision impaired user is “listening” to the presentation through specialist software the actual slides become graphics when either Impatica is used or the presentation is converted to a PowerPoint show. All you have to do is… Adjust the PowerPoint Screen so that the Notes area is in view by dragging on the grey bar between the slide window and the Notes window. Print Notes Pages Paste text into the area where “Click to add notes” is displayed prior to any text appearing in the Notes window. You can format this text using bullets and numbering just as you can within Word. The Notes pages can then be printed/published/downloaded separately. The secret to making PDFs more accessible is to ensure that prior to conversion the original document was made accessible.	1,812
The surface of a stone may be finished in a variety of ways. Below are some typical terms: - Polished finish – a glossy surface which brings out the full color and character of the stone. - Hone finish – a satin smooth surface finish with little or no gloss. This is recommended for commercial floors. - Thermal finish – a surface treatment applied by intense heat flaming. - Diamond sawed – finish produced by sawing with a diamond toothed saw. - Rough sawn – a surface finish resulting from the gang sawing (or frame saw) process. - Brush-hammered – a mechanical process which produces textured surfaces. Texture varies from subtle to rough. Dimension stone requires some specialized methods for cleaning and maintenance. Abrasive cleaners should not be used on a polished stone finish because it will wear the polish off. Acidic cleaners can not be used on marble or limestone because it will remove (i.e. dissolve) the finish. Textured finishes (thermal, bush-hammered) can be treated with some mildly abrasive cleaners but not bleach or an acidic cleaner (if marble or limestone). Stains are another consideration; stains can be organic (food, grease, or oil) or metallic (iron, copper). Stains require some special removal techniques, such as the poultice method. A new method of cleaning stone on ancient buildings (medieval and renaissance) has been developed in Europe: sulfur-reducing bacteria are used on the black gypsum-containing crusts that form on such buildings to convert the sulfur to a gas that dissipates, thus destroying the crust while leaving the patina produced by aging on the underlying stone. This method is still in development and not yet commercially available.	27,578
The indigenous kids in the streets of San Cristobal de las Casas are not beggars, they are workers. They walk through the streets in coordination with their mothers or siblings and they sell textiles, little painted clay animals, key chains, snacks, trinkets, or an assortment of other indigenous handicrafts to tourists or anyone else passing by. These kids are often friendly as they go about selling their wares, and they stop to chat with tourists and pose for photos, and they appear to at least make subsistence level earnings. When walking through the streets of this small city in Chiapas state you are not accosted by street kids with their upturned palms being shoved up towards your face; no, you are met by little vendors selling handicrafts and snacks. Outside of the Western or OECD world, children are often important wage earners in their families. Though it is not my impression that they are often expected to make as much money as an adult, they are allowed the responsibility to at least earn their keep. Often, these children work in agriculture , a factory, in a family businesses, or take to the informal economy selling miscellaneous products in the streets. These kids are not beggars, they are workers. Throughout San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico they can be seen cruising the streets with wicker baskets tucked under their arms, selling handmade items from their villages. I was standing in the pedestrian section of Guadalupe street when an interaction caught my attention. From seemingly out of nowhere an older, foreign woman made a beeline for an indigenous boy who was resting on a curb. The boy was around five years old, his skin was dirty, his clothes were torn, he wasn’t wearing shoes. I have to admit that he was a little grubbier than most of the other kids in his trade. The boy was either taking a break or was finished with his day of work, as his little wicker basket was empty. Nothing here was out of the ordinary. But the old tourist must have taken offence to this boy, as she attempted to thrust a 20 peso bill in his face. She apparently mistook him for a beggar, and what was worse is that she treated him as such. The tourist was smiling big as she was shoving money-for-nothing into the boy’s face, and was attempting to explain to him in non-threatening way what he should do with it. The little boy was not smiling, he looked nervous, apprehensive, he refused to reach out for the money. He looked to his left and his right, seemingly not wanting to look at the white haired foreigner that was looming over him. Eventually, the do gooder grabbed the little boy by the hand and forced her 20 peso bill into it. The boy just sat there frozen, not clenching his fingers over the offering. The old women helped him by rolling his hand shut over the bill and then sticking it into the front pocket of his worn and stained sweat shirt. The boy put up no resistance, allowing his hand to be manipulated by the woman as she deposited the bill into his pocket. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, the old woman — who was now smiling huge in her do-gooder frenzy — reopened the boy’s hand and began depositing coins into it one by one, couting aloud as she did so. Thus removed of her pocket change, her donation to the poor completed, the old woman walked back across the street and rejoined her compatriots, who were sitting at an outside table of a fancy and expesive cafe. Her companions congradulated her on the good deed, they were smiling big, she was smiling big, they all were satisfied with a job well done. The little boy waited for the coast to clear, and only when the woman was firmly planted in her seat did he make a break for it. Walking fast past the table of do-gooders he did not flash a glance at them until he was well on his way down the street. The group of tourists contiued applauding the woman who traveled to the other side of the earth, found a little laborer, and left him a beggar.	16,823
Carbon in Soil Plays a Role in Global Change A research team has discovered that a source of carbon emissions could help scientists understand past and future global change. While earlier studies have found that erosion can bury carbon in the soil, acting as a carbon sink, this new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that part of that sink is only temporary. The researchers estimated that roughly half of the carbon buried in soil by erosion will be re-released into the atmosphere within about 500 years, and possibly faster due to climate change. Climate change can speed the rate of decomposition, which aids in the release of buried carbon. As a case study, the researchers used radiocarbon and optical dating to calculate the amount of carbon emissions captured in soils and released to the atmosphere during the past 6,000 years along the Dijle River in Belgium. The study's long time scope—from 4000 BC to AD 2000—allowed the researchers to notice the gradual reintroduction of buried carbon to the atmosphere. Significant agricultural land conversion began primarily in the past 150 years, well under the researchers' time frame of 500 years. Therefore, most carbon sequestered in the soil during the past 150 years of agricultural history has not yet been released but may become a significant carbon source in the future. "Our results showed that half of the carbon initially present in the soil and vegetation was lost to the atmosphere as a result of agricultural conversion," said study co-author Gert Verstraeten, a professor at KU Leaven, Belgium. The researchers noted that erosion could be minimized by no-till and low-till agricultural methods, as well as by cover cropping, which can ensure that soil is not left bare.	3,928
- Rodentia -this order contains between 2000 and 3000 species of rodent—roughly half of all mammal species. - Lagomorpha -this order contains Leporidae (hares and rabbits) and Ochotonidae (pikas). - Scandentia -this order contains the family Tupaiidae, the tree shrews. - Primates -this order contains lemurs, monkeys and apes (including humans). - Dermoptera - this order is small, containing Colugos, arboreal gliding mammals found in South-east Asia. Formerly known as flying lemurs, there are just two species in a single genus, which makes up the entire family Cynocephalidae.	37,286
Natural disasters hurt incumbents As Hurricane Sandy leaves millions without power across the East Coast, many commentators have argued that at least one person may benefit from the storm: President Barack Obama. But seeing Sandy as only an electoral benefit for the president ignores accumulating evidence on how “acts of God” influence elections. That evidence shows that voters often punish the incumbent party for adverse events, even events seemingly beyond any president’s control. For example, one of us was part of a team that examined how tornadoes affect voting behavior. We found that voters in counties which sustained damage in election years were 1 point to 2 percentage points less likely to vote for the incumbent. While most states affected by Sandy are reliably Democratic, even small changes could affect close House and Senate races in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, or in a swing state such as Virginia.Continue Reading A Princeton study found that American voters punished the incumbent presidential party for droughts, flu epidemics and even shark attacks. In 1916, in some of the very same New Jersey beach communities devastated by Sandy, shark attacks cost incumbent Woodrow Wilson up to eight percentage points. In recently published research, we looked at decades of weather data and hundreds of elections in India. We found that incumbents fare much worse at the polls when droughts or floods — events over which the government has no control — occur. An adverse weather event cost incumbent parties about six percentage points at the polls. While the United States is not India — our population of farmers is smaller — the study provides two important lessons. First, the electoral effect is much more pronounced when the weather shock occurred in an election year. Second, voters voted against the incumbent ruling party, rather than against their individual legislators.	25,045
As well as the factors we have looked at, which are all indicated on the box the film comes in, there are other aspects of film you may want to consider. Basically this is the amount by which you can over or under expose your film yet still get an acceptable result. Different types of film have differing degrees of latitude. Standard colour negative film of 100/200 ASA , the stuff most people use, can yield a reasonable enprint (6x4) from a negative 1 stop under exposed to 3 stops over exposed. Black and white negative film from 1 stop under to 2 stops over and transparency film from 1/2 stop under to 1/2 stop over. At the extremes of film speed, very low or very high, latitude may be reduced. As you can see colour negative film is very forgiving of exposure errors and will compensate for short comings in your exposure metering technique. On the other hand, if you would like to work with transparency material you must be able to expose accurately. Many people make the change from print film to transparency and are very disappointed with the results which are usually down to poor exposure technique which was not apparent using print film. A films exposure latitude is not there to make up for your mistakes, although it helps, and you will always get the best results from accurate exposure. Film consists of a layer or layers of emulsion containing light sensitive silver halide crystals coated onto a plastic base. Over or Under Exposure. This is just a quick look at the effect of under and over exposure on your photographs with different types of film. We are not talking about gross errors just what happens when you start to drift away from the correct exposure. Black and White Negative. - Over Exposure. Loss of highlight detail. Although the detail will be present in the negative special printing techniques will be required to render it correctly. - Under Exposure. Loss of shadow detail. Unlike over exposure if there is insufficient exposure to record shadow detail nothing can be done to retrieve it. - As above but with the added 'bonus' that under exposed shadows may have a colour cast. Transparency or Reversal Film	15,727
Kindergarten is under way and it’s been smooth sailing so far. Your child loves his teacher and all his new friends. He is happily leaving you at the door, eager to enter the classroom and start his day. That is, until one day he comes home quiet, sad, or visibly upset. What happened to the joyful glee of school? After a little poking and prodding you find out he's having problems with a classmate. Playground politics, at five? It's heartbreaking to see your kindergarten kid distraught over one of his first friendship dilemmas, but resist the urge to jump to your child's defense and get upset right along with him, says Rhonda Armistead, M.S. past president of the National Association of School Psychiatrists. While they can be painful for parents to witness, problems with peers are good opportunities to teach your child an essential life skill: how to deal with conflict. “You want your child to learn to be an effective problem solver," Armistead says. And social conflicts provide the perfect learning opportunity. Karen Burnett, children's author and former elementary school counselor, agrees. “Every conflict your child has, with other children, siblings or even adults, is an opportunity to teach and encourage personal understanding and respect, communication and negotiation skills," she says. No one is born with negotiation know-how, it's learned. Yes, you can teach your child to become a little more playground savvy, outlining the rules for engagement. But you'd be missing the point. “Teaching is not about telling, it’s about guiding,” Burnett says. So how exactly do you guide a five-year-old to learn how to handle conflict? By walking her through the process for a while, so she'll eventually learn to solve problems on her own. Here are 8 steps: Ask Specific Questions. When a problem arises, ask pointed questions to get to the heart of what happened. For example, “Were you physically hurt? Did he hurt your feelings? Or both?” Try to stick to the facts: What happened first? Then what happened? What did your child do and what did the other child do? Help your child lay out exactly what occurred, from his point of view, without getting into why it happened or who was at fault. Put Words In Her Mouth. Once you've talked about the facts, talk about how your child is feeling. This can be easier said than done, because one thing many kindergarten aged kids are missing, is the vocabulary to describe how they're feeling or what is happening to them. Help your child talk about the problem by guiding her with phrases such as, “You seem upset. Tell me about it." Or "How do you feel about that? If that had happened to me I think I might feel …” Giving children names to fit their emotions helps them learn to communicate more effectively and defuse future problems. Empathize, Don't Sympathize. Sympathy is the wrong tactic, Burnett stresses. Instead, parents need to empathize with their kids. "Empathize means, you are trying to understand how your child feels, sounding something like, 'That must be hard. I’ll bet you were upset.' Sympathize says, 'Poor you. That is terrible. It shouldn’t be happening.' You want to give your child the power to change the situation, not to feel like a victim," Burnett says. Read About It And as with many situations with young children, books are an excellent way to give kids a script of sorts for proper behavior. Reading stories is an age appropriate way to give children the language they need to deal with their own conflicts, as well as labels for the emotions they are feeling. Try these children’s books that deal directly with common childhood problems: - Simon’s Hook by Karen Gedig Burnett, deals directly with teasing and put-downs - Three Monsters by David McKee, a book about acceptance and sharing - The Little Giant by Sergio Ruzzier, a story about peace, friendship, and differences - Trouble in the Barker's Class, by Tomie de Paola, a tale about a class bully - T-Rex Is Missing! by Tomie dePaola, a lesson about jumping to conclusions Parents need to be aware of age-appropriate expectations for behavior so they can explain things to their kids. When another child acts in a less-than-ideal way, explain to your child that everyone has things he's still working on, and that it's a process that takes time. “It’s important that your child understands that the undesirable behavior, like teasing or not sharing, is the other child’s problem not his,” Armistead says. Point out that the other child is still learning how to behave. Maybe they haven’t learned how to share yet, but they will. Don't refer to the other child in a harsh or negative tone. That will only make the problem seem more unsolvable. Know the Lingo Don’t just wait until your child comes home with a problem to start thinking about conflict solutions. Be proactive and you might even be able to ward off some potential playground problems. Most schools offer some kind of school-wide character development or conflict resolution program. Find out the buzzwords that your child’s teacher uses to handle conflict. Then work them into your family conversations at home. This will give your child more practice with the phrases and help her to access them when she needs to. Just don't be surprised when she uses some of this new vocabulary on you! Armistead believes in a 3-step formula for resolving kid conflict. The first step is for parents to acknowledge that they hear their child is upset and communicate that the problem is solvable. The second step is identifying the problem from your child's perspective. That brings us to the third step: empowerment. What are the choices? What can your child do now to solve the issue? Armistead suggests using an analogy to a board game: what's the next move. Try to elicit three solutions that might be acceptable to your child, then ask him to pick the best move. At this age, problems can generally be solved with a little help from you and your child’s teacher. But if the conflict persists or the other child’s aggression seems to escalate, it may be necessary to involve the school counselor and possibly the other child’s parents. If that is the case you should always initiate this through the teacher first. You should never attempt to make contact with the other child’s family on your own. It can be difficult as a parent to watch your child endure the inevitable aches and pains of life. But as difficult as it may be, it's a part of kindergarten development, and part of life. “Learning to handle problems at a young age prepares children to hand problems they will inevitably encounter as adults," Burnett says. "The more we help them learn to navigate around or through these bumps, the happier our children will be in the long run.”	29,600

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