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Mosaicism in the mouse trophectoderm
The issue of mosaicism in the mouse trophectoderm is examined by reviewing two sets of evidence: one arguing for a mosaic, the other for a non-mosaic character. Evidence for mosaicism includes documented cellular contribution from the inner cell mass to the trophectoderm, and data that reveal the gradual pace of the allocation process that separates the inner cell mass and trophectoderm lineages. Evidence suggesting a non-mosaic character for the trophectoderm is based on the polarization process undergone by exterior cells in the eight-celled embryo, the heritability of the changes brought about by this process, and the formation of gap junctions between the resulting apolar, trophectoderm progenitor cells. Since inner-cell-mass cells are developmentally labile, spatially heterogeneous and translocate to the polar trophectoderm, it is concluded that the polar trophectoderm is a mosaic tissue.
Cruz, Y.P. 1990. "Mosaicism in the mouse trophectoderm." Tissue and Cell 22(2): 103-111.
Tissue and Cell
Mosaicism, Cell allocation, Mouse embryo
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Designing a More Connected World
It has become increasingly clear that youths’ experiences in schools do not match the kinds...
In a challenging time for our democracy, how can we help students prepare for civic and political life in the digital age? The Educating for Democracy Deep Dive from Teaching Channel and the Civic Education Research Group collects case studies and resources.
Teresa Chin works with youth in downtown Oakland, Calif. at Youth Radio — a media production company driven by young people. One thing she works with youth on is the development of first-person commentaries. She wants them to learn how to draw on their life experiences in order to share their perspective on a societal issue with a broad audience. As Teresa explains, “Commentaries are a really powerful tool for civic engagement. Your story is how you can get people to build empathy and understanding.” Here is a video of how Teresa does this as well as related curriculum materials: Writing Commentaries: The Power of Youth Voice.
Chela Delgado teaches high school at Coliseum College Preparatory Academy in Oakland. She has her students research an issue they find compelling and study its root causes. They then develop a theory of change, engage in an action project, and present their findings to the community. As part of this effort, she has her students learn to create infographics. She wants them to develop skills to communicate their perspective succinctly and to clarify their theory of change. Her broader goal is to help students come to see themselves as informed and effective actors in their community and beyond. See how Chela makes this happen and check out her lesson plan in this video:
Teresa and Chela are focused on different kinds of civic media skills. Teresa works in a youth organization while Chela teaches high school. But, they share a core commitment — preparing students to be active participants who can help strengthen our democracy.
The need to strengthen our democracy feels more acute today than it has in decades. Our government is supposed to be of the people, by the people, and for the people. Unfortunately, in a 2017 national survey, just 20 percent of Americans said they trusted the government to do what is right. Something significant is wrong.
Indeed, only about one-third of younger adults said they are optimistic about the nation’s future. To make matters worse, an increasing number of young people do not believe democratic processes are a good way to respond. In 1995, for example, Foa and Mounk found that 16 percent of young Americans believed that democracy was a “bad” political system for their country. In 2011, 24 percent of U.S. millennials considered democracy to be a “bad” way of running the country. That’s a 50 percent increase in a generation — and we suspect the number is higher today.
To be sure, these problems have multiple roots and will require action on many levels. But, as educators, it’s incumbent on us to ask what we can do. And countless educators, like Chela and Teresa, working in schools and in youth organizations, are doing just that. One thing that makes these efforts exciting is that many educators are recognizing that educating for democracy in the digital age needs to be different because the practice of politics is changing. Supporting youth to build the critical skills and capacities needed in the digital age is not easy, but its import is clear.
For these reasons, we are thrilled to announce the new Educating for Democracy Deep Dive developed by the Teaching Channel and the Civic Engagement Research Group at the University of California, Riverside. The Deep Dive is a curated collection of videos accompanied by educational resources, blogs, and articles related to preparing youth for civic and political life in the digital age. It provides educators with the opportunity to see key aspects of civic learning and digital media learning in action. It also provides avenues for educators and their students to explore the ways in which our civic, political, and digital lives are inextricably linked in the 21st century.
For example, there are videos and resources that highlight various ways educators can integrate civic learning in line with the following essential questions:
New content will be added to the Deep Dive on an ongoing basis, so follow @Ed4Democracy on Twitter and sign up for the Educating for Democracy newsletter or regular updates.
We hope this collection is helpful and please let us know your thoughts or ideas in the comment section below.
By Erica Hodgin and Joseph Kahne
Originally Posted at DML Central
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Springtime is a perfect time to start a NATURE JOURNAL Nature is waking up after a long winter sleep, and new life is coming back into the garden. Keeping a Journal increases our appreciation of nature and deepens our connection with the Earth.
It’s different to a Garden Diary which is about recording all the little jobs we DO in the garden ie sowing, planting, harvesting etc. A NATURE JOURNAL is more about BEING. It’s about discovering the secrets of nature, and recording what we find.
- Go out into the garden and take your Journal with you. Stand or sit silently/ lie down on the grass or take a leisurely stroll.
- Begin each entry with a date, time and place so when you look back you will remember.
- Observe what’s happening all around you or focus on a particular plant, insect or bird and their behaviour.
- Write down what you see, hear, smell, touch, taste. How it makes you feel.
- Take photos. (Pick a nature buddy you can share them with).
- Write a poem or draw a picture.
- Remember, it’s not about doing or changing anything but about witnessing.
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Sex education lacks representation of Black and Brown people, research finds.
In recent years, attention to diversity of images in visual media—TV, movies, stock photos, children’s books, and more—has increased.
The new paper investigates skin color and skin tone diversity in anatomical diagrams within contemporary human sexuality textbooks. Their findings appear in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy.
The research team found that only 1.1% of diagrams represented dark skin tones, while 83.5% represented light skin tones. Their findings are based on analysis of skin tone and skin color diversity in 182 anatomical diagrams and images from eight contemporary, college-level human sexuality textbooks.
“Our findings demonstrate a pattern of staggeringly uneven representation of darker skin tones in comparison to lighter skin tones,” says Deana Williams, a doctoral student in the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington.
“And in some images where skin colors commonly associated with Black and Brown people were presented, the hues were noticeably washed out or lightened with white shading.”
“Sex research and education materials—including human sexuality textbooks—rarely reflect racial or skin tone diversity and inclusion in their anatomical imagery,” says Yael R. Rosenstock Gonzalez, also a doctoral student at the Center for Sexual Health Promotion.
The most frequent skin color coded was white with pink undertones, which comprised 42.3% of the anatomical images. The second most prevalent color was pinkish brown, at 29.1%.
While skin color and skin tone alone are not necessarily definitive indicators of race, they are what we use to quickly categorize individuals, the researchers say. Depicting light skin tones as normative perpetuates not only racism but also colorism, which privileges light skin over dark skin.
“Racism and colorism perpetuate body ideals that have implications for self-esteem, disordered eating, and mental health and well-being, as well as sexual and reproductive health,” says Debby Herbenick, the center’s director and a professor. “Our findings demonstrate the perpetuation of colorism within sexuality education, and how colorism becomes part of institutional structures and systems of formal education.”
The researchers note that such skin color bias has a negative impact on the health outcomes of people with dark skin tones, who may avoid or delay sexuality education opportunities or clinical care if they do not see themselves represented in recommended resources, thereby endangering their sexual and reproductive health.
“Sexuality authors and educators as well as sexuality textbook editors and publishers need to recognize the ways that white supremacy culture affects sexuality education materials and reevaluate how we can create richer, more holistic representations,” Rosenstock Gonzalez says.
The university’s Racial Justice Research Fund supported the work.
Source: Indiana University
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What do we mean by egress?
1 : a place or means of going out : exit. 2 : the action or right of going or coming out. egress. verb.
What is the opposite of egress?
The act of entering something — like a building or a highway — is called ingress (antonym “egress”).
What is an example of egress?
The definition of an egress is the way out or act of going out. An example of egress is the exit at a movie theater.
What is the synonym of egress?
In this page you can discover 24 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for egress, like: departure, exit, emergence, escape, passage, way-out, doorway, outlet, exodus, going and withdrawal.
What is ingress and egress?
Ingress refers to the right to enter a property, while egress refers to the right to exit a property. For example, a driveway provides ingress and egress from roadways to houses and businesses.
What is VPN egress?
A network set up as a VPN Egress will be the destination that Cloud routes all the internet traffic entering the VPN from other Hosts, Networks and User Groups that have split tunneling OFF. Access Networks and edit the network that is to be set up as VPN Egress.
Is Ingressed a word?
Simple past tense and past participle of ingress.
Is egress and exit the same?
As nouns the difference between egress and exit is that egress is an exit or way out while exit is a way out.
Does egress mean exit?
A means of egress is an unobstructed path to leave buildings, structures, and spaces. A means of egress is comprised of exit access, exit, and exit discharge.
What is the synonym of egregious?
Who can use egress?
We’ve therefore introduced an easy to use piece of software that will help ensure that any information sent by email is secure. Is Egress free to use for service users and other recipients? Yes. All recipients can view and securely reply to emails sent via Egress from Cafcass for free.
What is an egress rule?
An egress rule is required to allow API request that accesses a Google Cloud resource inside the perimeter (in this case the BigQuery dataset) and a resource outside the perimeter (in this case the BigQuery job).
What is the meaning of means of egress?
means of egress. DEFINITIONS -1910.35 — Means of Egress: A means of egress is a continuous and unobstructed way of exit travel from any point in a building or structure to a public way and consists of three separate and distinct parts: the way of exit access; the exit; and the way of exit discharge.
Is it illegal to reduce the width of a means of egress?
It shall be unlawful to alter a building or structure in a manner that will reduce the number of exits or the minimum width or required capacity of the means of egress to less than required by this code. This section has been amended at the state or city level. Means of egress shall be maintained in accordance with the Fire Code of New York State.
What is the meaning of the Korean term shawol?
Definition of Shawol. Shawol. the fan base for the Korean band SHINee. It is derived from a hybrid of the words “SHINee” and “world”. Last edited on Mar 28 2013.
Which is an accessible means of egress in an elevator?
The IBC (2003) permits one accessible means of egress from: wheelchair seating in assembly areas with sloped floors where the common path of travel meets aisle requirements for assembly areas and mezzanines served by an enclosed exit stairway or elevator equipped with standby power.
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Query XIII: Constitution Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIII: Constitution 1
Virginia, the most populous state, adopted its state constitution in 1776, a month before the Declaration of Independence passed Congress. Jefferson, Virginia's governor from 1779 to 1781, addressed the problems that plagued the state's first attempt at self-government in his 1784 book, Notes on the State of Virginia.
The Constitution of the State and its Several Charters
...This constitution was formed when we were new and unexperienced in the science of government. It was the first, too, which was formed in the whole United States. No wonder then that time and trial have discovered very capital defects in it.
1. The majority of the men in the ...
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While the holiday season is a wonderful time for families, we often hear parents express concern that their kids are too focused on the presents they’re receiving, instead of on the meaning of and spirit behind the season.
Christmas provides an ideal time to teach kids about the importance of being grateful. It’s a lesson that can transform their behavior and attitudes, and it’s one they can carry into their adult lives. That’s important, because studies have shown that being grateful leads people to live happier lives with greater personal satisfaction, and to be more empathetic toward other people. Gratitude builds stronger and deeper relationships with others.
One way to share the value of gratitude with your kids is to make sure they know you’re grateful that they’re in your life. You probably tell them you love them every day, but when was the last time you told them what makes them special in your eyes? That message will mean more to them and last longer than the toys under the tree.
Find teachable moments during your daily life where you can point to something you’re grateful for. It can be as simple as the beauty of a sunset or time spent talking with a friend. After you’ve pointed these things out to them for a few days, start asking what they’re grateful for.
Encourage them to thank others. It’s one thing to simple say “thank you,” but writing a note to a teacher or a grandparent to share what makes them grateful will be far more meaningful for the recipient, and it will help your child become more attuned to gratitude.
It can also be valuable to connect gratitude with your faith. Instead of telling the kids they “have to” come to church, explain that it’s a privilege to join with others in a faith community to learn about Jesus and serve those around them. Tell them how your faith has supported you in life and what you’ve seen it do for others. Encourage them to participate in service projects and mission trips and ask them how what they’ve learned will affect their lives.
Of course, the best way to encourage your children to live lives of gratitude is to model those behaviors yourself. Our children hear our words, but they pay closer attention to our actions and our behavior. If they see us showing gratitude for life’s wonders and demonstrating it to those around us, they’ll be more likely to carry that attitude of gratitude into adulthood and, one day, share it with your grandchildren.
Do you find it difficult to communicate your values with your kids? Are they resisting your efforts to raise them the way you feel is best? Our professional counselors have extensive experience at helping parents and children develop more meaningful and effective connections. Contact us today to set a convenient time to talk.
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IS shorn of their territory
The Kurdish-led forces in Syria pronounced the death of the IS caliphate after raising their flag in Baghouz, a remote riverside village, where jihadists of different nationalities made their last desperate stand against the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. IS had managed to occupy large swaths of land in Syria and Iraq before being pushed back and ultimately losing all its claimed territories. Now that the group has been uprooted from its base of operations in the Middle East, what does it indicate about what is to come?
For one, members of the terror group are likely to disperse and seek safe haven elsewhere. Nations across the world should be wary of further threats of violence and be willing to combat the other threats they carry.
As it was observed after the Soviet-Afghan War, the ideology espoused by extremist groups do not tend to die out simply with the end of physical violence, but has to be overcome in other ways also. It has to be recognised that the philosophy of IS has nothing to do with Islam, but is instead a perversion of both scripture and religion. However, because the very nature of such extreme ideologies does not allow them to co-exist with other viewpoints, it is incumbent upon the international community, especially the Muslim world, to organise a common front against them.
There is no cause for celebration yet; several battles may have been won but the war is not over yet. While collective effort is necessary to ensure full victory over radicalism, individual introspection is also necessary to understand what prompted such ribald extremism to rear its ugly head in the first place.
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Wherever you travel within the United States you are going to discover pests and ants. To be more specific, harvester ants. It doesn’t matter if you visit the suburbs or a farm; ants are going to be a common sight. Let us begin by explaining what a Harvester Ant is.
What are Harvester Ants?
Foraging food is a typical trait for the harvester ant workers. They sometimes consume insects, however, this is not always popular. Their main food source is plants and mushrooms, and they also like seeds. Below are some specific attributes characteristic to the harvester ant:
- Their color varies from a dark brown to black to red or orange
- The harvester ant has 6 legs
- Harvester ants have two antennae
- Their body is comprised of two small segments
- There is a single pair of spines, making up the midsection of the harvester ant body
- The head of a harvester ant is barbatus- having long hairs on it in the shape of a beard
- Harvester ants can be discovered west of the Mississippi River
What is Pogonomyrmex spp?
This is the scientific term for harvester ant. Seeds are an essential part of their food as their common name indicates. The Harvester ant Pogonomyrmex worker ants are continuously patrolling for dead insects. There are numerous subfamilies of genera that make up the harvester ant Pogonomyrmex such as Ponerinae, Formicinae, and the Myrmicinae.
Where is Harvester Ants Pogonomyrmex Most Common?
Harvester ants are most commonly seen as pests that are a stinging hazard within North, Central, and South America. In North America alone, there are seven species of harvester ants that are small but pose a stinging threat. Some typical names like the red harvester ant, also, include the California harvester ant, and the western harvester ant.
Harvester Worker Ants
A Pogonomyrmex worker ant measures in at around 10 mm long. The harvester ant's pogonomyrmex color is brown or light red. Although a few species are black or a darker brown. One might recognize the bottom of these ants' heads has a hair like fringe known as psammophore. Many species utilize this for nest excavation, enabling them to spread along with the nesting material like a bulldozer.
Species of Harvester Ants
Often Red Harvester ants are confused with the fire ant. However, the harvester ant species and the fire ant species are of no relation.
The Harvester Ant Nesting Site
Harvester ants live in heavily concentrated colonies within the western United States. They build their nests in soil that is mostly sandy, hard, and dry. The entryway to harvester ant nests has a pyramid-shape or pit in the middle. This slight hill is intricately enclosed by an accumulation of small pebbles.
Suitable Nesting Site for a Harvester Ant
During the spring and summer months, many species of swarming female and winged males work hard searching for a suitable nesting site. This is most common following a rainy period when the ants begin to establish a new nest.
Climate Preference of the Harvester Ants
Sometimes with harvester ants residing in hot climates, the chance for a mound is scarce. Instead, the workers are forced to tunnel their nests which will spread up to five miles or more in-depth.
Size of a Harvester Ant Nest
These nests may also have a diameter of one to ten miles. There is usually no vegetation in the surrounding areas around the nest of the harvester ant. As many as 10,000 worker ants occupy a single colony. These colonies have a survival rate ranging from 14 to 50 years. There may be more than 80 nests within each hectare, depending on the density of each nest.
How Harvester Ants Forage for Food
When Harvester workers are foraging for a food source these food trails can go out 60 miles or more from the entrance. The trails ants make while foraging for resources can be as long as 60 miles and last for years and years. When thicker nests are present in an area there is an increased chance of less vegetation. Because of this type of ant obsession with vegetation and seeds, the areas used for grazing cattle may become severely damaged. This is when the need arises to exterminate an ant or other pest infestation.
The harvester ants' activity of foraging for food sources is helpful in the sense that this is oxygenating the terrain. Affording enhancement, which advances the germination of new vegetation growth because of the seeds they store. Their nests are customarily located in locations that are sunny and have lots of resources. Sometimes the areas where their nest is located are shadowed by new growth or increased human action. This forces the relocation of ant colonies.
The Queen and Her Colony
Every colony of Pogonomyrmex harvester ants has a designated “queen ant” polymorphism ant. While the worker ants are heterozygous hybrids, the queens are consistently homozygous.
Mating within the Colony
S. xyloni colonies of ants have several queens; she has a specific male with which to mate with. This union creates a new queen ant. On the other hand, worker ants are created when she mates with a male that is S. geminala. Larvae are completely dependent on worker ants for their care. Therefore, the actions of the worker ants are a dominating force regarding caste determination.
Reproduction & Mating
After a male finishes mating with a single queen, this male will soon die. After dropping her wings, the ant will bear some eggs in the tunnel she has recently borne. There are several stages a harvester ant must go through from larvae to pupate to finally becoming an adult. For the colony to continue, she must be allowed to lay eggs during her entire life cycle.
Caste Determination of Harvester Ants
This caste determination is usually established according to the endocrine and nutritional components. This is the eventual deciding factor used in the analysis of the ant larvae as it evolves.
Red Harvester Ants
In this country, there are 22 species of harvester ants, a lot of these species can be found in the desert. Many are, also, found near wooded areas too. Red Harvester Ants are one of these species. If the nest of Red Harvester Ants is threatened, they will defend it by aggressively stinging the source. Another common name of Red harvester ant is the California harvester ant.
The Red Harvester Ant
This is a more recognizable ant mostly because of its large size. The scientific name for a red harvester ant is genus Pogonomyrmex. There are eleven species of this ant which is popular in the state of Texas. The Red Harvest ant workers measure at around a quarter to a half an inch long. They are reddish to darker brown in color and have a head that is square-shaped. The body of the Red Harvester Ants has no spine. Ten of the 22 species of harvester ants are located in Texas.
Is it a Bite or Sting?
Although some call it an “ant-bite” harvester ants actually stings. Additionally, in the southwestern region of the country the ones you come across carry very arduous stings. However, it is rarely dangerous to humans unless you have an allergy to the stings of an insect, specifically an ant. If you have this allergy, ensure to take extra caution in case you interact with them. Most harvester ants do not behave in a contentious manner around humans. However, if you pose a threat to them or their nests they will sting to protect the colony.
The Painful Sting of the Harvester Ant
Generally, nobody wants to come upon a colony of harvester ants suddenly. Though these pests are smaller in comparison to a human, they are prepared to fight. The sting from any of these pests can create a great deal of pain. However, due to the noticeability of their nests, and their large size, you will want to bypass their nest. The bite of a harvester ant may circulate through the lymph channels and may require medical attention.
The sting of a harvester ant creates discomfort and pain that can feel almost like fire, yet rarely will it cause death. Being stung several times by an ant can create a painful sting that is intense, causing a deep redness to form around the sting. If there is a lot of poison released, by the ant, you may discover a sticky, watery seepage, and you may also experience chills and fever.
Foraging Trails Harvester Ants
The foraging trails of harvester ants are large and generally go two ways. Certain species will enter or exit the nest and forage around individually, often breaking up to branch out in various areas. The temperature underground is kept regulated because the worker ants keep their nesting area clear of vegetation.
Getting Rid of Harvester Ants
Generally, when attempting to get rid of ants or pests you should only do so with nests that are threatening pets or people. Ensure to check out the area to determine which pesticides and treatment you should use. You can use pesticide bait that is specifically labeled for the removal of the ant nests. Hydramethylnon is one active ingredient that is quite popular for this use. You can find it in a garden center and hardware store. It is advisable for use in areas that are non-cropped, driveways, and other landscapes where you have found some evidence of a nest.
The best time to spread pesticides is during the warmest times of the day. The reason for this is because it is when the ants are least active. In addition, you should hire a licensed professional to apply pesticide products to rid your property of pests.
Remember when watching an ant in action it is imperative to understand and appreciate the role they play. Ants are especially important because they keep the soil aerated for efficient plant growth.
To get rid of a colony of ants or other insects, reach out to a licensed professional pest control company. The pest control company you call has the knowledge needed to get rid of ants and insects safely.
Finally, please remember the importance of engaging in “A.N.T. Pest Control” for your Harvester ant removal needs.
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Wondering what are smart goals in education? Get started setting goals for your students that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound with this comprehensive guide.
Checkout this video:
Smart goals are those that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. They are an important tool that can be used by educators to set and achieve targets in their classrooms. This article will explore what smart goals are and how they can be used effectively in education.
What are SMART goals?
SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-limited. They are often used in education to help students set and achieve their goals. Let’s take a closer look at each of these elements.
To create a SMART goal, you must start with a specific target. What do you want to accomplish? When do you want to achieve it? Why is this goal important to you or your organization? These are the types of questions that will help you create a specific goal.
Smart goals in education are ones that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. In other words, they are goals that you can track and measure progress on. This can be helpful for both teachers and students in setting and achieving goals.
To be achievable, a goal must be realistic and attainable. It’s important to set goals that are not too easy, or they won’t challenge you enough. At the same time, your goal also shouldn’t be impossible or so difficult that it’s unrealistic. A good way of thinking about whether a goal is achievable is to ask yourself whether you can do something within the time frame you have set.
Realistic: The goal setter has the ability to complete the task, given the time and resources available.
The goal is important to the goal setter.
There is value in completing the goal.
The goal is measurable.
The first quality of a SMART goal is that it is time-sensitive, meaning that it has a deadline. This can be either an internal deadline, by which the goal must be completed in order for it to be considered successful, or an external deadline, such as a date by which the goal must be met in order to receive funding or other support. Having a deadline ensures that the goal is given a sense of urgency and reduces the likelihood that it will be forgotten or put off indefinitely.
Setting SMART goals in education
One important part of being successful in achieving goals is to set SMART goals. Smart goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. In education, setting SMART goals can help students, teachers, and parents track progress and ensure that goals are being met. Let’s take a closer look at how to set SMART goals in education.
In order to achieve success in education, it is important to set specific goals. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Below are some tips on how to set SMART goals in education:
-S: Set realistic and achievable goals that are specific to you and your situation.
-M: Make sure your goals are measurable so you can track your progress.
-A: Make sure your goals are achievable and realistic.
-R: Set goals that are relevant to your long-term educational and career aspirations.
-T: Make sure your goals are time-bound so you can stay on track.
Measurable goals are those that can be quantified or qualified. In order to be measurable, a goal must contain certain characteristics:
-A goal must have a start and an end date
-A goal must have specific task(s) to be completed
-A goal should have clear indicators of progress
-A goal should be realistic and achievable
For example, a measurable goal in education might look like this:
-By June 30th, I will have completed all tasks necessary to earn my degree.
Achievable goals are those that are realistic and attainable. They challenge you without overwhelming you. When setting achievable goals, consider your experience, skills, knowledge, and available resources. Also, think about the timeframe in which you want to achieve the goal.
For example, if you’re new to teaching, you might set a goal to create a lesson plan for each of your classes. Alternatively, if you’ve been teaching for awhile and want to try something new, you might set a goal to create a unit plan for one of your courses.
To increase the chances of success, your goals should also be realistic. When you set a goal that is too difficult, you may become discouraged and give up. When you set a goal that is too easy, you may not see the need to put forth much effort. A realistic goal is one that is achievable and challenging.
One way to create realistic goals is to break down a larger goal into smaller, more manageable goals. For example, if your goal is to improve your grades, you could break this down into smaller goals such as studying for one hour each night or getting help from a tutor once a week.
Another way to create realistic goals is to consider your current situation and level of ability. For example, if you are currently failing a class, it may not be realistic to set a goal of getting an A in the class. However, it may be realistic to set a goal of passing the class or improving your grades by 10%.
When setting goals, it is important to consider what is realistic given the time frame that you have to achieve the goal. If a goal is not timely, it may be difficult to measure progress and gauge whether or not you are on track to achieve it. Unreasonable timelines can also lead to frustration if a goal seems unattainable.
Some factors to consider when setting timely goals include:
-The age of the student
-The complexity of the skill or task
-The amount of time available to complete the goal
-Previous experience with similar goals
It is important to create goals that challenge students without being so difficult that they are discouraged. A good way to gauge the appropriateness of a goal is to ask yourself if it is something that you would reasonably expect a student at that age and level of ability to be able to accomplish in the time frame that you have set.
To sum up, “SMART goals in education are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound goals that educators set for themselves and their students to improve educational outcomes.”
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Pediatric Otitis Media – Prevention – Vaccination with pneumococcal and influenza vaccine..
Pediatric Otitis Media: Treatment, Diet and Home Remedies
Pediatric Otitis Media – Treatment Using Home Remedies, Yoga, And Diet – Foods to be given: Breast milk, Vitamin A, Vitamin C,
Pediatric Otitis Media: Symptom and Causes
Pediatric Otitis Media – Symptoms – Fever, Ear pain, Fluid or pus in the middle ear, Loss of hearing. Pediatric Otitis Media – Causes – Bacterial and viral infection (cold, flu or allergy)..
Pediatric Otitis Media: Meaning, Diagnosis and Overview
Otitis media is an infection of the middle ear common in younger children. It occurs more in children of age 6-18 months but anyone can get this disease.Otitis media can be broadly divided into 4 types, acute otitis media, otitis media without effusion, otitis media with effusion and chronic otitis media. Acute otitis media is the most common type.
Otalgia: Meaning, Diagnosis and Overview
Otalgia is pain in the ear. It is commonly referred as ear ache. Primary otalgia is ear pain that originates inside the ear. Referred otalgia is ear pain that originates from outside the ear. Otalgia may be acute (short-term), chronic (long-term) or recurrent.
Otalgia: Symptom and Causes
Otalgia Symptoms – A person with acute otalgia may have ear drainage, feeling of fullness in the ear, nasal congestion, fever or headache.. Otalgia Causes – Arthritis of the jaw, Tooth infection, Sore throat, Sinus infection.
Otalgia: Treatment, Diet and Home Remedies
Otalgia Treatment Using Home Remedies, Yoga, And Diet – Vitamin C taken internally is a very good supplement to increase the immune system of the body and thereby prevent ear ache. The natural sources of Vitamin C are found in guava, lemon, capsicum orange and tomato.
, Zinc again is an effective remedy for ear ache. It must be taken internally from natural sources like the cashew nets, wheat germ, pine nuts, pecan nuts etc.
, Refined and processed foods, spicy or fatty foods
Otalgia: Prevention and Complications
Otalgia Prevention – Avoid smoking. Keep ear clean and dry..
Otitis Media: Prevention and Complications
Otitis Media – Prevention – Maintain good hygiene by washing your hands frequently, Avoid exposure to smoke including second-hand smoke, Have your child vaccinated regularly.
Otitis Media: Treatment, Diet and Home Remedies
Otitis Media – Treatment Using Home Remedies, Yoga, And Diet – Foods to be taken: Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and healthful snacks, such as homemade smoothies and dried fruits. Vitamin C aids immune health by helping the white blood cells to destroy germs faster. Include vitamin c rich foods like peppers, green leafy vegetables, berries etc. Vitamins A and Zinc (carrots, tomatoes) also reduce ear infections due to their antioxidant properties.
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Charcot Marie Tooth Disease
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease usually begins in childhood and early adulthood. The disease usually begins with the foot creating a high arch that causes difficulty with walking. Very young children may have difficulty learning to walk. The movement disorder specialists at Cook Children are very experienced in the diagnosis of this disease and in providing a treatment that can help improve your child's symptoms so they can participate as much as possible in their day to day life.
Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is a group of genetic disorders that affects movement and feeling in the limbs. The disease progresses slowly and causes damage to the peripheral nerves. These nerves control muscles and transmit sensation.
CMT can be classified in a number of ways:
- Type I (demyelinating)–This type affects the coating of the nerve called the myelin sheath, causing nerve impulses to travel more slowly. It usually occurs in childhood or the teen years. It is the most common type of CMT.
- Type II (axonal)–This type affects the part of the nerve called the axons. Although the speed is normal, the size or amount of impulses is less than normal. This type of CMT is less common and occurs after the teen years.
- Type III–Also called Dejerine-Sottas disease, this is a rare, severe, early onset form of CMT. It is sometimes considered to be a subtype of CMT Type I. Symptoms may include:
- Delayed ability to walk due to weakness of the leg muscles closest to the trunk
- Severe sensory problems
- Hearing loss
- Type IV (demyelinating autosomal recessive)–This is similar to Type I, but often less severe. It is less likely to be inherited by an affected individual's children.
The primary risk factor for developing CMT is having family members with this disease. If you have CMT or have risk factors, you may want to talk to a genetic counselor.
CMT is caused by defects in specific genes.
Usually, symptoms first appear in children and young adults. The first sign of CMT is often a high arched foot or difficulty walking. Other symptoms may include:
- Hammer toes
- High arched heels
- Decreased sensation in the feet and legs
- Muscle cramping in legs and forearms
- Flexed toes
- Difficulty holding the foot up in a horizontal position
- Frequent sprained ankles and ankle fractures
- Problems with balance
- Muscle weakness in the lower extremities–can spread to the upper extremities later in life
- Reduced ability to detect hot and cold, vibration, and position
- Difficulty writing, fastening buttons and zippers, and handling small objects
- Delay in learning how to walk–Type III
- How is it diagnosed?
- The doctor will ask about your symptoms and medical history. A physical exam will be done.
- You may have your nerve and muscle function tested. This can be done with:
- Nerve conduction study
- Electromyogram (EMG)
Although there is no cure for CMT, treatment may help to improve function, coordination, and mobility. Treatment is also vital to protect against injury due to muscle weakness and reduced sensation. Treatment may include:
- Physical and occupational therapy
- Moderate exercise
- Braces on the lower legs
- Shoe inserts to correct foot deformity
- Foot care and routine exams with a foot specialist
- Orthopedic surgery
We're here to help.
If your child has been diagnosed, you probably have lots of questions. We can help. If you would like to schedule an appointment, refer a patient or speak to our staff, please call our offices at 682-885-2500.
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NASA’s massive new space telescope is getting colder.
while the James Webb Space TelescopeNASA officials wrote that the slow cooling process is coming to an end UpdateThere is no set timetable for when all components of the observatory will meet operating temperatures. That’s because most of this phase of the telescope’s months-long operating period goes back to physics, as mission managers wait for the mirrors to naturally cool to a temperature to allow the alignment to continue.
All observatory instruments are at their final temperature, including the mid-infrared instrument (MIRI), which is very sensitive to heat and gets some help from cryogenics to stay within 7 degrees Kelvin (minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 226 degrees Celsius) . Webb needs to keep ultra-cold temperatures to detect infrared light at emitting wavelengths.
Mirrors “are not quite there yet,” Jonathan Gardner, deputy chief scientist for the Web project, said in the update published Thursday (April 21).
Live updates: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope mission
Related: How does the James Webb Space Telescope work?
That’s because the eighteen hexagons of the primary mirror, as well as the secondary mirror, are all made of beryllium and coated with gold. “At very cold temperatures, beryllium has a long thermodynamic time constant, which means it takes a long time to cool down or heat up,” Gardner explained.
Since then, the $10 billion telescope has started to cool off launch it It’s December 25, 2021, Gardner said, and he’s making good progress so far. All parts of the primary mirror are below the 55 K mark (minus 360 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 218 degrees Celsius) needed to run MIRI. More cooling “will only enhance its performance,” Gardner said.
Of the 18 primary mirror pieces, only four are above the 50 K mark (minus 370 F or minus 223 C). Since all of these parts have some mid-infrared radiation reaching the MIRI detectors, the agency said, officials would prefer to see them cool off an additional 0.5 to 2 Kelvin each before beginning the next stage of the alignment.
Gardner noted that these temperatures are subject to fluctuations. The telescope and the sun shield work together when the telescope is pointed at an object. There is “a tiny amount of residual heat,” he says, that can travel through the five-layer sun visor to the primary mirror depending on what angle the sun visor is to the sun, or position.
“Because the temperatures of the mirror part change very slowly, their temperatures depend on the average position over several days,” he said. In fact, Webb spent most of the commissioning period pointing to the poles of the ecliptic, or the plane at which Planets of the solar system revolve around the sun.
This polar position, Gardner said, “is a relatively hot one.” But he added that this is temporary. “During scientific operations, starting this summer, the telescope will have an even distribution of signals over the sky. The average heat input for the warmer parts of the mirrors is expected to decrease slightly, and the mirrors will cool slightly more.”
Soon after the start-up, Gardner added, the team plans to test Webb’s ability to go from a “hot situation” to a “cold situation.” This heat flow process “will inform us of how long it will take for the mirrors to cool or heat up when the observatory has been in these positions for any given period of time.”
Gardner said Webb’s run still needs to be completed around June. “Is Webb at his final temperature? The answer is roughly,” he concluded.
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The Leaky Soyuz spacecraft leaves the space station and returns to Earth in a rapid descent
Scientists hack into the early stage of photosynthesis in biofuel breakthrough
SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 5-5 rocket launch
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A beginners Guide
By Dunken Francis
Wooden Dragon Press
30 pages, Illustrated, 11 ¾" x 8 ¼"
$19.95 Paper Original
Aikido means "the way of harmony (of spirit)." Morihei Ueshiba created a martial art he believed was capable of uniting the world - the principles of non-violence, conflict resolution and harmony at its center.
People of all ages, shapes and sizes can practice aikido as the techniques and movements do not rely on strength or force; the movements themselves encouraging increased flexibility and strength, as well as boosting self-confidence.
Contents: Introduction, Aikido, Dojo Etiquette, Safe Stretching, Tai no henko, Key Shapes of Aikido Techniques, Wrist Strengthening Exercises, Knee Walking, Aikido "Attacks," Tegatana, Seiza, Counting in Japanese, Suwari Waza ("sitting technique"), Basic (Kihon) Technique , Ukemi, Atemi, Ki, The Riai System, Practice with the Bokken (wooden sword), Practice with the Jo (wooden staff), Seminars, Triangle, Circle, Square, Aikido in Daily Life, Useful Japanese Words & Phrases, History of Morihei Ueshiba, Founder of Aikido.
Return to main page of Trans-Atlantic Publications
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Today we mentioned concrete admixture again, so first of all we need to understand what is concrete admixture. The so-called concrete admixture refers to the chemical substance that is mixed in the process of mixing concrete and accounts for less than 5% of the cement quality. It can significantly improve the performance of concrete. Adding admixtures to concrete has low investment, quick effect, and technical economy. Significant benefits.
It is precisely because of this that admixtures have been used more and more. With the development of science and technology, admixtures have also changed with each passing day, and various new products have emerged in an endless stream. Let us understand the following types of concrete admixtures at home and abroad, as well as the characteristics and scope of application of various admixtures.
Our news today is for a clearer understanding of concrete plasticizer.
Concrete plasticizer is a kind of newest concrete admixture made by a variety of natural polymer materials. It is an environmentally-friendly new building material product. It can be widely used in masonry mortar and plastering mortar. Improve the strength of concrete, improve the workability of concrete, reduce bleeding rate, improve frost resistance and impermeability, etc., which can effectively reduce the phenomenon of cracks, shelling and hollowing during construction, and improve the compressive strength of concrete And bonding strength, reducing construction costs. Suitable for all kinds of industrial and civil construction projects.
High-efficiency concrete plasticizer is a new type of cement mortar mixture additive. Its blending can not only significantly improve the workability and water retention of building concrete, but also significantly improve the performance indicators of cement mortar and improve construction Environment, reduce labor intensity.
Concrete plasticizer is an anionic surfactant synthesized by chemical saponification, which can significantly increase the strength of concrete, improve the workability of concrete, reduce bleeding rate, and improve frost resistance and impermeability.
What we mentioned above are the most common concrete additives in the concrete and building construction process, concrete plasticizer. If you want to know more detailed information and how to purchase polycarboxylate superplasticizer products, please contact us directly for more information. http://www.dongkepce.com/
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How to Focus a Canon Camera
Teknoto.Net - How to Focus a Canon Camera - Sharpness in photos is an important aspect of photography. This technique in aiming must focus on the object. There are two types of focus in photography, namely manual focus (MF) and autofocus (AF). focus bracket which will help you when using MF. You can find it in the viewfinder when you shoot an object.
Tips for setting up MF
Make sure the diopters on your camera are set correctly. The diopter is a slider next to the viewfinder with a - / + sign to adjust the display of the focus bracket and data in the viewfinder so that they are visible to your eye - if it is blurry, it will need to be reset. Set focus mode. If you are using an AF-S lens, switch the focus mode to 'Single Area' to Focus the Camera.
How to focus a Canon camera?
This will allow you to control the focus bracket when using a manual lens. Use the Confirm Focus feature. This is the green dot at the bottom left of the viewfinder that will light up when the focus is correct. If the dot flashes it means the focus is slightly lost. Remember to check the focus bracket. You can also check it at the bottom left of the LCD. Use technique.
The more stable your hand is, the easier it will be to get the right focus. Use zoom in to check sharpness. After adjusting the exposure, use live view to zoom in and see if the focus is sharp, then adjust the focus from there. Shoot with a high aperture.
Most lenses will provide the sharpest images at f/5.6 to f/11. Try using a tripod. For manual focus practice, you can use a tripod as an aid. Use the correct manual focus lens. Such lenses have a finer focus ring for high sharpness. Autofocus, Users can select the focus point by simply touching the LCD screen which can be rotated to get images from low angles.
This method can be tried on the Canon Mirrorless M100 Camera. When shooting photos in AF mode, all it takes is a light press of the shutter button to activate the AF and AE functions, and the camera will complete its next action. Once focus is established, press the shutter button. That's how to focus a Canon camera, hopefully, it will be useful.
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Published On January 15, 2009
THE DISCOVERIES OF MANY TREATMENTS for disorders of the brain resulted from happenstance. Iproniazid, the first modern antidepressant, was originally designed as a tuberculosis drug, while a second-generation antidepressant, imipramine, represented a failed attempt to treat schizophrenia. But levodopa, or L-dopa, was meant for exactly the purpose it serves: helping people with Parkinson’s disease overcome the tremors, rigidity and problems with balance that stem from the loss of specialized neurons that produce dopamine. Levodopa replenishes depleted dopamine, a brain chemical crucial for motor control, to dramatic effect.
During his residency in the 1970s, Warren Olanow, now a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, was amazed to see patients, nearly paralyzed by Parkinson’s, stand up and walk after taking the drug. But miraculous as it may be, L-dopa has a serious side effect: dyskinesia, jerky movements that can be as disturbing as the original problems of Parkinson‘s. What’s more, the longer a patient has lived with this progressively degenerative disease, the shorter the drug’s good effect lasts. Still, the temporary balm of L-dopa raises an intriguing possibility that has preoccupied Olanow and others. Could the brain itself be restored, not just by adding a missing chemical but by replacing lost cells and rebuilding decaying neural circuits?
For years the less favored alternative to L-dopa was surgery. To alleviate both the rigidity of Parkinson’s and the dyskinesia caused by L-dopa, the overly active globus pallidus, located deep within the brain in the basal ganglia, was lesioned in a procedure called a pallidotomy. To quell tremors, part of the thalamus, at the top of the brain stem, was destroyed in a thalamotomy. Other brain disorders were treated surgically as well: To subdue severe epilepsy, surgeons targeted the tissue in which seizures arise, usually in one of the temporal lobes. For major depression and other severe psychiatric diseases, the approach was to cut out tissue with a cingulotomy, usually in the anterior cingulate cortex, which was thought to be the emotional center of the brain. Some of these procedures are still used, though recently a few have been supplanted by deep brain stimulation, in which implanted electrodes inactivate specific brain regions.
Cutting away parts of the brain—or turning them off—carries the risks of major surgery and may come with such side effects as memory loss and depression. But until recently, there seemed little point in trying to save aberrant tissue, because scientists thought it was irreparable. As Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1906, said of neurons, “Everything may die; nothing may be regenerated.” The dogma held that people are born with a given number of neurons that, unlike most cells in the body, cannot divide or be replenished.
That outlook changed when Fred H. Gage of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., demonstrated that neurons in certain brain regions can sometimes reproduce themselves, in a process called neurogenesis, raising the possibility that aberrant brain tissue isn’t beyond help after all. “Now, instead of removing or disabling parts of the brain, neuroscientists can think about restoring the malfunctioning organ, either by recruiting the body’s own regenerative capabilities or by adding therapeutic cells and molecules to discrete regions,” says Miles Cunningham, a neuropsychiatrist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass.
The first clinical attempts to restore the brain using transplanted neurons actually started during the late 1980s, even before the revelations about neurogenesis, but the growing understanding of the brain’s innate powers is improving these efforts and expanding the arsenal of restorative neuroscience. So far most studies have focused on such neurodegenerative conditions as Parkinson’s, stroke, spinal cord injuries and epilepsy. But Cunningham is interested in using restorative methods to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders.
PARKINSON’S DISEASE, BECAUSE ITS DESTRUCTIVE effects are quite localized, was a logical first target for testing the possibility of restoring lost brain function. Dopamine-producing neurons in the upper brain stem, in a region called the substantia nigra, progressively die. Normally these neurons extend into structures deep in the midbrain called the striatum (and also the basal ganglia), where they release dopamine. Other neurons in the striatum respond to that dopamine, regulating body movements.
If dopamine-producing neurons could be transplanted into the striatum, scientists speculated, they might accomplish biologically what L-dopa does pharmacologically. Achieving that effect, though, has proved difficult. The most extensive data comes from unblinded trials in which tiny flakes of solid tissue from the fetal brain containing very young dopamine-producing neurons were implanted in the striatum. Researchers were initially encouraged by reports of significant improvement among treated patients. But in 2001 and 2003, two placebo-controlled, double-blind trials (begun in the 1990s) compared the introduction of fetal tissue with sham surgery and failed to show significant differences between the groups. Those studies also revealed an unexpected but familiar side effect: dyskinesia, the same problem encountered by patients on L-dopa. “If results were not any better than with the placebo,“ says Mount Sinai’s Olanow, who led the 2003 trial, “why operate on the brain when there’s a drug that can help just as much?“
Olanow has stopped doing cell transplantation for Parkinson’s, though he might be coaxed into trying again. It appears possible that the early methods used in the trials were partly to blame for the trials’ failure and that newer techniques could prove more successful. For one thing, tissue flakes don’t appear to meld as well in the brain as do fetal neurons that are injected in a suspension. Recent trials have used suspended cells, but definitive results are not yet in. Adult stem cells, which weren’t available when the trials began in the 1990s, as well as other immature, undifferentiated cells (further along in the progression from stem cells to specialized cells), might work best of all, but so far that’s still hypothetical. Olanow also notes that even a successful approach would not alleviate the symptoms that aren’t related to dopamine, such as falling and dementia.
Another reason the early trials failed may be that even though the damage wrought by Parkinson’s happens in only a few brain regions, within those regions the brain degenerates in highly individualized patterns. So it’s possible that therapy needs to be customized, suggests Stephen Dunnett, a cell transplantation researcher in Cardiff, Wales, who thinks that distributing new cells to correspond to each individual’s disease pattern—another untried approach—might improve results.
Refined surgical techniques could also help. Some trials may have plunked too many cells into too concentrated a location using a thick, rigid cannula that traumatized the brain and elicited an inflammatory response that killed many of the new cells. “Cell transplantation requires a different technique from clinical neurosurgery, which aims to get in and out of the brain as quickly as possible,” Dunnett says. “These fragile cells need to be injected very slowly. They get smashed up if you push them into the brain too fast.” Those realities might favor newer techniques and devices such as an ultrathin, flexible microinjection tool that Miles Cunningham has developed.
BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH JUST TO ADD neurons to the brain. The immature cells have to differentiate into cells with the correct characteristics, such as neurons that produce dopamine. Then they need to migrate to where they are needed in complex brain circuitry and form connections with the correct combination of other neurons. Only those that make good connections can survive, and then they have to function, explains Jeffrey Macklis, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital–Harvard Medical School Center for Nervous System Repair.
To help that happen, scientists need to remind the ailing brain how it formed functioning neural circuits in the first place. “We now know that, as an embryo develops, there’s an orchestrated sequence of brief, interacting molecular signals that controls which of many possible developmental paths the newborn neurons take,” Macklis says. “After a while, the developmental score falls silent in most areas, but in a few regions where adult neurogenesis occurs, it is replayed.”
Those areas are normally confined to one small region of the hippocampus (the dentate gyrus) involved in learning and memory, and to the olfactory bulb, which responds to odors. However, “progenitor” cells (often called adult stem cells) capable of differentiating into several types of higher-level neurons also exist in other brain areas, in which they have untapped restorative functions. Macklis is trying to exploit those functions by learning the developmental score for specific neuron types and then activating them, along with the signaling molecules and other factors—for growth, protection and gene transcription (turning genes on and off)—that help neurons survive, specialize and migrate.
In the hippocampus, neurogenesis is stimulated by exercise, antidepressants and physical and cognitive therapy. Seizures, strokes and Alzheimer’s and other degenerative diseases may also result in the creation of a small number of new nerve cells, though in a disorganized and ineffectual way. It’s as if an injured or diseased brain were calling upon its inner reserves—the progenitors—to heed its distress. “But the complexity of injury or degeneration in such disorders confuses the progenitor response, and it doesn’t lead to the birth or incorporation of functional neurons,” Macklis says.
His group has shown that it’s possible to direct the precise repair of specific brain circuits. In experiments with mice, the team implanted progenitor cells into the cerebral cortex—which doesn’t normally support new neural growth—and provided developmental signals instructing the new neurons to form connections with distant parts of the brain. Macklis spurred the reactivation of those signals by inducing the cell-suicide program called apoptosis in one population of neurons at a time. Healthy neighboring neurons that lost their circuit partners emitted a call to arms that the injected progenitor cells heeded. That caused the new neurons to fill the old ones’ roles and to restore the lost connections in the neural circuitry. This works, Macklis says, because only one neuron type is formed at a time. He found he could also activate those signals to induce existing precursors in the mouse cortex to undergo neurogenesis and extend their own connections.
Macklis is now focused on learning the signals to induce neurogenesis in the types of neurons that degenerate in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Huntington’s disease or that are damaged in spinal cord injuries and in some forms of cerebral palsy—work that has progressed to animal studies.
Despite these advances, Macklis thinks that inducing neurogenesis to good clinical effect in people lies further in the future than cell transplantation. Already, though, knowledge gained from studying neurogenesis is improving cell transplantation techniques and could enhance their therapeutic effects. In addition, newer transplantation studies are adding protective agents to try to prevent damage rather than just repairing it once it has occurred.
This accumulating knowledge also means that cell transplantation is no longer simply about replacing lost cells with cells that perform the identical function. It may be possible to add cells that perform new roles. For example, some transplanted cells could produce growth signals to encourage the formation of neural networks, while others could generate protective factors to improve the survival prospects of newborn neurons, and still others might manufacture hormones and other brain chemicals to stabilize moods. Eventually, Dunnett suggests, cell transplantation coupled with gene therapy might be able to keep a neurodegenerative disease from progressing.
The idea that such ongoing therapies are needed was bolstered by Olanow’s May 2008 report of a Parkinson’s patient who had received a transplant of fetal tissue 14 years before her death in 2007. At first doctors found her symptoms had been dramatically reduced, but then her condition worsened, and she continued to deteriorate until her death. A postmortem study revealed that the grafted cells had indeed formed working connections with the brain’s circuitry. But eventually the new cells began to show the same pathology—sticky clumps of protein called Lewy bodies—that characterizes Parkinson’s.
“This tells us a great deal about the disease: that it results from an ongoing process, not a one-time event, and that it can overtake even implanted neurons,” Olanow says. Finding out why that happens is the current focus of his research.
It’s too early to tell whether a similar process overwhelms implanted neurons in Huntington’s disease (trials to treat that condition don’t yet have such long-term follow-up) or will thwart attempts at restorative neuroscience for other conditions. Even so, many people might consider the alleviation of symptoms for several years at least a partial success.
THE PHYSICAL DYSFUNCTIONS OF PARKINSON’S—among them, tremors, rigidity and problems with balance—that have been the subject of human trials of restorative neuroscience are debilitating. Even worse are cognitive deficits and mood disorders. The same holds true for Huntington’s disease and many other neurological and psychological disorders. In cognition, neural circuits and the interplay of brain chemicals are devilishly complex, and those involved with mood and emotion are even more elusive. But new techniques in restorative neuroscience may help researchers learn more about these brain systems and even to intervene therapeutically.
In late 2007, McLean’s Cunningham published a preliminary study applying the transplantation of neural stem cells to a neuropsychiatric disorder. In a rat model of depression and anxiety, Cunningham had used various growth factors to cue the stem cells to differentiate into two types of neurons. One type of cell produced serotonin, the “feel good” neurotransmitter that Prozac and other antidepressants elevate; the other made dopamine, which also plays a role in mood.
Using his intracerebral microinjection instrument, Cunningham infused these neurons into an area of the brain related to emotions—the rat version of the human anterior cingulate cortex, which has shown irregular activity in imaging studies of depressed patients. Deep brain stimulation usually targets the anterior cingulate cortex, which in past years has been surgically altered in cingulotomies to treat major depression.
Six weeks after infusing the new neurons, Cunningham ran his rats through a forced swim test, a standard procedure for inducing “learned helplessness,” a well-studied surrogate for depression in humans. He compared the performance of rats that had received transplanted cells with that of other groups that had gotten sham surgery, antidepressants or no treatment. Only the rats on antidepressants and those with the transplanted serotonin and dopamine neurons rebounded from their depression, in equal measure. Postmortems showed that a greater proportion of the implanted cells survived than has been typical of cells sent into the brain, and Cunningham thinks that might be because his device, with a needle the diameter of a horsehair, caused less damage to brain tissue than the traditional coffee-straw-size wand. Molecular and genetic analyses also indicated that the cells had indeed produced the desired neurotransmitters, calming the activity of fear circuitry (in the amygdala) that increases during anxiety and depression.
“So we think it’s the activity of the transplanted cells that resulted in the rats’ behavioral improvements,” Cunningham says. “We’re very excited because this is the first time that embryonic stem cells have been used to achieve a therapeutic effect in a psychiatric disease.” Now Cunningham’s team is expanding its studies to investigate links among stress, fear and depression. Eventually this work could open the door to entirely new methods for treating mental illness, he says. These approaches to restorative neuroscience still require surgery to get therapeutic agents into the brain. But today’s surgery is intended to rebuild neural circuits, not dismantle them, and the possible uses for these therapies are expanding as scientists learn more about how the normal brain functions and how diseases and disorders affect specific brain regions and their connections to other regions.
In the passing era of neuroscience, lesion studies in animals—in which discrete brain sections were disabled to help researchers understand their functions—and studies of people with localized brain damage contributed great swaths of understanding about the brain. As a result, physicians were able to treat severe disorders surgically or with deep brain stimulation. Now that process could be reversed. Investigations that consider the ways that manipulating brain circuitry affects behavior, cognition and mood may ultimately lead to ways to repair actual lesions and restore normal activity to the misbehaving brain.
“Adult Neurogenesis and Cellular Brain Repair With Neural Progenitors, Precursors and Stem Cells,” by U. Shivraj Sohur, Jason G. Emsley, Bartley D. Mitchell and Jeffrey D. Macklis, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, September 2006. A discussion of how disturbances of the brain’s natural ability to repair itself contribute to neural disorders.
“Stem Cell Transplantation for Neurodegenerative Diseases,” by Anne E. Rosser, Rike Zietlow and Stephen B. Dunnett, Current Opinion Neurology, December 2007. The authors present early evidence that adult neural stem cells and other immature neurons can be transplanted into selected brain regions to restore functions lost as a result of neurodegenerative diseases.
“Antidepressant Effect of Stem Cell-Derived Monoaminergic Grafts,” by Miles G. Cunningham et al.,NeuroReport, October 2007. This study of rats extends the hopes for cell transplantation in restorative neuroscience to a neuropsychiatric condition: depression.
Stay on the frontiers of medicine
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Socio-technical systems are complex adaptive systems. Therefore, in order to attempt initiating and steering system innovations, we must understand what complex adaptive systems are and how they do behave.
Defining complex systems is not an easy task. As a starting point, complex systems are what simple systems are not. The major distinguishing characteristics of simple systems are predictable behaviour, small number of components with few interactions among them, centralised decision-making and decomposability (Casti, 1986). Therefore, through negation of these characteristics, the major characteristics of complex systems are identified as unpredictable behaviour, large number of components with many interactions among them, decentralised decision-making and limited or no decomposability. A distinction between complicated and complex systems is also useful here. Cilliers (1998) argues that if a system has a very large amount of components but yet can still be fully analysed, the system is complicated rather than complex. A complex system, on the contrary to a complicated one, has intricate sets of non-linear feed-back loops so that it can only be partially analysed at a time. In this sense a machine of any kind with large quantity of parts is complicated whereas a human being or an ecosystem is complex.
Funtowicz and Ravetz (1994) classify complex systems as ordinary and emergent. They argue that ordinary complex systems tend to remain in a dynamic stability until the system in overwhelmed by perturbations such as direct assaults like fire or invaders. Conversely, in emerging complex systems there is continuous novelty and these systems cannot be fully explained mechanistically or functionally since some of their elements possess individuality, intention, purpose, foresight and values. Any system involving society is thus an emergent complex system.
Hjorth and Bagheri (2006) state that complex systems cannot be fragmented without losing their identities and purposefulness. Similarly, Linstone (1999) refers to the general illusion or misassumption that we can break complex systems into parts and study these parts in isolation. He calls this as ‘a crucial assumption of reductionism (p.15)’ and points to the fact that such implied linearity is not a characteristic of complex systems. Indeed, in complex systems, the complexity is not determined by the characteristics of the components of the system but rather the relationships and the interaction between the components (Manson, 2001). The interaction between the components is not necessarily physical but can be in the form of information exchange as well (Cilliers, 1998). Mant (1997) gives an illustrative example of irreducibility of complex systems in his frog and bike analogy. One can dismantle a bicycle, carry out maintenance and reassemble it. The bicycle is still a bicycle and works perfectly. Nevertheless, if you separate a part of frog for any reason and keep on breaking it apart, the frog will perform unpredictable adjustments to survive until a time comes and the system (i.e. frog) tips over into collapse. Therefore, it is not possible to study complex systems meaningfully by breaking them into their components. At times when there is a need to define system boundaries, this should be done acknowledging how the part under study relates to the rest of the system.
In addition to irreducibility and emergent behaviour, the other characteristics of complex systems are self-organisation, continuous change, sensitivity to initial conditions, learning, irreducible uncertainty, and contextuality (Cilliers, 1998; Gallopín, Funtowicz, O’Connor & Ravetz, 2001; Manson, 2001; Cooke-Davies, Cicmil, Crawford & Richardson, 2007). Complex systems in general are hierarchic or have multiple-levels and each element is a subsystem and each system is part of a bigger system (Casti, 1986; Gallopín et al. 2001; Holling, 2001; Gallopín, 2004). Hierarchical structures have adaptive significance (Simon, 1974). This adaptive significance is not due to a top-down authoritative control but rather due to the formation of semi-autonomous levels which interact with each other and pass on material and/or information to the higher and slower levels (Holling, 2001).
It is impossible for an analyst to understand a complex system totally and correctly. However, some requirements can be extracted with references to characteristics counted above. First, emergent behaviour, sensitivity to initial conditions and learning which takes place by system components imply time-dependency of complex systems. This time-dependency is two-fold; both history of the system and the particular moment the analysis is undertaken will affect the outcome. Since context is important to understand adaptive systems, and there are multiple-levels in a system, an analysis should include more than one level as well as the different perspectives present in the system (Gallopín et al. 2001; Gallopín, 2004). For an effective analysis, the analyst needs to oversee the (sub)system being analysed from a vantage point. This vantage point should be at a higher or preferably meta-level to identify a context specific perspective while still acknowledging the interconnections between the (subsystem) being analysed and the rest (Espinosa, Harnden & Walker, 2008).
The three major subsystems of the meta-system (i.e. ecology, economy, society) and most of the sub-systems of these components (e.g. evolutionary processes, market operations, individual animals, companies, etc.) are classified under a special category of complex systems terminologically known as complex adaptive systems (CAS). The distinguishing feature of CAS is that ‘they interact with their environment and change in response to a change (Clayton & Radcliffe, 1996, p.23)’. They are resilient; therefore, they ‘can tolerate certain levels of stress or degradation (p. 31)’. As a result, sustainability of a CAS can be achieved if the adaptive capacity of it is not destroyed.
The sustainability of a single entity is dependent on and determined by sustainability of the other components with which that single entity has interactions. Together all these components form a system, and therefore, sustainability can only be achieved using non-reductionist, dynamic systems thinking. The subsystems of a system should be adaptable to changes which occur both in the other subsystems, and as a result, in the entire system. The subsystems must co-evolve to render sustainability possible.
The term co-evolution was first coined by Ehrlich and Raven in 1964 to explain the mutual evolutionary processes of plants and butterflies (Ehrlich & Raven, 1964). Even though the term first emerged in the area of evolutionary biology, it spread in other, especially interdisciplinary, domains studying interactions between natural and human-made systems (Norgaard, 1984, 1995; Winder, McIntosh, & Jeffrey, 2005; Rammel, Stagl, & Wilfing, 2007). Some of the other domains which use the co-evolutionary approach to explain, analyse and manage interacting natural and social systems include technology studies, organisational science, environmental and resource management, ecological economics and policy studies (Rammel et al., 2007; Kallis, 2007a).
It is important here to note that, despite many similarities between biological evolution and social, cultural, technological and economic change, there are differences as well (Rammel & Van Den Bergh, 2003; Kallis, 2007b). In the wider context of sustainable development, co-evolutionary change does not necessarily happen on a reactionary basis as generally happens in ecosystems. Rather, in socio-economic or socio-technical levels, it can also be deliberately aimed at both the individual and collective levels by system components in accordance with changing system conditions (Holling 2001; Cairns Jr, 2007; Kemp, Loorbach, & Rotmans, 2007). Co-evolution is reflexive and refers to the mutual change of all system components. During this mutual change, one component may or may not dictate a change over other(s).
References used in this post:
Cairns Jr, J. (2007). Sustainable co-evolution. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 14(1), 103-108.
Casti, J. L. (1986). On system complexity: identification, measurement and management. In J. L. Casti & A. Karlquist (Eds.), Complexity, Language and Life: Mathematical Approaches (pp. 146-173). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Cilliers, P. (1998). Complexity and postmodernism: understanding complex systems. London; New York: Routledge.
Clayton, A. M. H., & Radcliffe, N. J. (1996). Sustainability: a systems approach. London: Earthscan.
Cooke-Davies, T., Cicmil, S., Crawford, L., & Richardson, K. (2007). We’re not in Kansas Anymore, Toto: Mapping the Strange Landscape of Complexity Theory, and Its Relationship to Project Management. Project Management Journal, 38(2), 50-61.
Ehrlich, P. R., & Raven, P. H. (1964). Butterflies and Plants: A Study in Coevolution. Evolution, 18(4), 586-608.
Espinosa, A., Harnden, R., & Walker, J. (2008). A complexity approach to sustainability – Stafford Beer revisited. European Journal of Operational Research, 187(2), 636-651.
Funtowicz, S., & Ravetz, J. R. (1994). Emergent complex systems. Futures, 26(6), 568-582.
Gallopín, G. C., Funtowicz, S., O’Connor, M., & Ravetz, J. (2001). Science for the twenty-first century: From social contract to the scientific core. International Social Science Journal, 53(168), 219-229.
Gallopín, G. (2004). Sustainable Development: Epistemological Challenges to Science and Technology. presented at the meeting of the Workshop on Sustainable Development: Epistemological Challenges to Science and Technology, Santiago, Chile.
Hjorth, P., & Bagheri, A. (2006). Navigating towards sustainable development: A system dynamics approach. Futures, 38(1), 74-92.
Holling, C. S. (2001). Understanding the complexity of economic, ecological, and social systems. Ecosystems, 4(5), 390-405.
Kallis, G. (2007a). Socio-environmental co-evolution: some ideas for an analytical approach. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 14, 4-13.
Kallis, G. (2007b). When is it coevolution? Ecological Economics, 62(1), 1-6.
Kemp, R., Loorbach, D., & Rotmans, J. (2007). Transition management as a model for managing processes of co-evolution towards sustainable development. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 14(1), 78-91.
Linstone, H. A. (1999). Decision Making for Technology Executives : Using Multiple Perspectives to Improved Performance. Norwood, Mass.: Artech House.
Manson, S. M. (2001). Simplifying complexity: A review of complexity theory. Geoforum, 32(3), 405-414.
Mant, A. (1997). Intelligent leadership. St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.
Norgaard, R. B. (1984). Coevolutionary Development Potential. Land Economics, 60(2), 160-173.
Norgaard, R. B. (1995). Development Betrayed: The End of Progress and a Coevolutionary Revisioning of the Future. London; New York: Routledge.
Rammel, C., Stagl, S., & Wilfing, H. (2007). Managing complex adaptive systems — A co-evolutionary perspective on natural resource management. Ecological Economics, 63(1), 9-21.
Rammel, C., & Van Den Bergh, J. C. J. M. (2003). Evolutionary policies for sustainable development: Adaptive flexibility and risk minimising. Ecological Economics, 47(2-3), 121-133.
Simon, H. A. (1974). The organization of complex systems. In Pattee, H. H. (Ed.), Hierarchy theory: the challenge of complex systems. New York: Braziller. p. 3-27.
Winder, N., McIntosh, B. S., & Jeffrey, P. (2005). The origin, diagnostic attributes and practical application of co-evolutionary theory. Ecological Economics, 54(4), 347-361.
One thought on “Complexity and co-evolution”
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Hundreds of COVID trials could provide a deluge of new drugs
Updated: May 24, 2022
Since some people end up getting COVID-19 despite being vaccinated, we need effective treatments. The development efforts for both the vaccines and drugs started simultaneously providing us with few good therapeutic options. There are hundreds of COVID-19 drug trials underway and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) ACTIV program has included more than 30 studies looking at possible treatments chosen from a list of 800 candidates. Some trials are also looking at a range of repurposed treatments, including the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin, an inhaled steroid called budesonide and the antidepressant fluoxetine, with the hope to pump out novel treatments and fresh uses for familiar therapies.
Early into the pandemic, the focus of many treatments was to treat people who were seriously ill to save lives and ease pressures on hospitals. This led to the development of many therapies, mostly parenteral and expensive. Since COVID-19 took the global precedence, scientists realized the need for effective, easy to use and widely accessible therapies, and many of the ongoing trails are focused on this. Whether it is new innovative trial or a trial for reuse and repurpose, the main goal remains in developing an easy to use, cheap and widely accessible therapy.
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Which planet is suitable for life?
Which planet is suitable for life?
A 2015 review concluded that the exoplanets Kepler-62f, Kepler-186f and Kepler-442b were likely the best candidates for being potentially habitable. These are at a distance of 1,200, 490 and 1,120 light-years away, respectively.
How the universe and the earth was formed?
Our universe began with an explosion of space itself – the Big Bang. Starting from extremely high density and temperature, space expanded, the universe cooled, and the simplest elements formed. Gravity gradually drew matter together to form the first stars and the first galaxies.
Where is mercury right now?
Mercury is currently in the constellation of Pisces.
Why do we need to study the beginning of the universe?
For humans, any step closer to figuring out the origin of universe means one step closer towards understanding ourselves better. Human beings possess an intrinsic need to explore the world. Studying the origins of the Universe and exploring it helps us build our civilization.
Why is Earth perfect for life?
What makes the Earth habitable? It is the right distance from the Sun, it is protected from harmful solar radiation by its magnetic field, it is kept warm by an insulating atmosphere, and it has the right chemical ingredients for life, including water and carbon.
What makes life possible on Earth?
Earth’s amazing gaseous atmosphere is responsible for making life possible on this, the third planet from the Sun. Our atmosphere contains water vapor which helps to moderate our daily temperatures. Our atmosphere contains 21% oxygen, which is necessary for us to breathe, 78% nitrogen, and . 9% argon.
What are the 4 requirements of life?
It is useful to categorize the requirements for life on Earth as four items: energy, carbon, liquid water, and various other elements. These are listed in Table 1 along with the occurrence of these factors in the Solar System (2).
Is mercury hot or cold?
On its sunny side, Mercury can reach a scorching 800 degrees Fahrenheit! (But Mercury is not the hottest planet in the solar system. The hottest planet is Venus.) On its dark side, Mercury gets very cold because it has almost no atmosphere to hold in heat and keep the surface warm.
How the universe and Earth was formed Brainly?
Answer. How the universe and earth was formed? Earth formed around 4.54 billion years ago, approximately one-third the age of the universe, by accretion from the solar nebula. Volcanic outgassing probably created the primordial atmosphere and then the ocean, but the early atmosphere contained almost no oxygen.
Can we live on Venus?
Nothing could live on what passes for land on Venus; its smooth volcanic plains are a scorching hellscape hot enough to melt lead, where the temperatures exceed 800 degrees Fahrenheit. High in the clouds, however, the pressures and temperatures and acidity levels would be less intense — though still vile.
Can humans live Mercury?
Tough Place to Live No evidence for life has been found on Mercury. Daytime Temperatures can reach 430 degrees Celsius (800 degrees Fahrenheit) and drop to -180 degrees Celsius (-290 degrees Fahrenheit) at night. It is unlikely life (as we know it) could survive on this planet.
How was the Earth formed in 5 steps?
Starting 6600 million years ago, the stages involve the formation of the core, the formation of the mantle, the formation of oceanic-type crust, the formation of ancient platforms, and consolidation (the present stage) after which there will presumably be no more earthquakes or volcanic activity.
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After World War II, there was hope that core principles of international law and human rights would become universal, but increasingly these standards have suffered from selective application and propagandistic manipulation, causing a loss of credibility in these key precepts, as Lawrence Davidson notes.
By Lawrence Davidson
The traditional criterion for state legitimacy was very simple. If a state and its government could hold and govern territory, it was legitimate, at least in the eyes of other governments. The form of government and its behavior did not matter in this definition – Stalin’s USSR, Mussolini‘s Italy, Hitler’s Germany – these regimes held territory and ruled as surely as did the ones in Britain, France and the United States. And, in each others’ official eyes, one state was as legitimate as the next.
This outlook began to change in 1945. Just before and then during World War II, fascist behavior in general and Nazi behavior in particular was so shocking that many post-war governments became convinced that state legitimacy required well-defined codes of national behavior enshrined in international law.
Therefore, right after the war, human rights became a recognized standard by which to judge states and their governments. This new standard, which was implied in the Nuremberg trials, was soon articulated in such documents as the International Declaration of Human Rights and endorsed by the United Nations. It was simultaneously reinforced by a worldwide process of decolonization that focused the international community on issues of human rights, particularly as they touched on the practice of racism and apartheid.
Most importantly, this process led growing segments of civil society to support human rights law as a standard by which to judge state legitimacy. In one case, pressure from civil society worldwide was applied on apartheid South Africa throughout the 1970s and 1980s with sufficient force to help change not only the nature of that country’s government, but its national culture and therefore the character of the state itself. By 1994, South Africa was no longer an apartheid state.
New Attack on Human Rights
Recently things have not gone so well. There has been a tendency for the lessons learned about the importance of human rights to fade with time, particularly from the institutional memories of state bureaucracies. The proclivity of all state apparatuses to behave in a Machiavellian way has reasserted itself, particularly in the foreign policies of Western democratic states and their subsequent alliances with all manner of horrid right-wing dictatorships the world over.
This complicity with oppressive regimes produced inevitable anti-Western sentiment culminating in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. Subsequently the United States declared a “war on terror,” and this effort seems to excuse everything that the U.S. government has done, from indefinite detention and torture to assassinations and invasions.
To accommodate this revival of amoral statecraft, there is now an effort to rewrite international law in a way that restricts or eliminates the human rights standard of behavior for state legitimacy. The end game here is to get the international community to recognize as “legal” actions by certain great powers and their allies that include the intrusion into the territory of other states and peoples in order to change governments, control populations, capture or kill wanted individuals, and destroy installations and other property.
This is carried out by various means ranging from invasion, enforced apartheid regulations and assassination. At the forefront of this effort are the policies and actions of the United States and its prime ally, Israel.
How is this effort to override international human rights law rationalized? Essentially, what the governments of the United States and Israel – as well as their neoconservative and Zionist supporters – say is that all of their enemies can be classified as terrorists, and because terrorists do not adhere to the standards set by international law, they (the U.S. and Israel) are forced to adopt wartime measures in combating these enemies.
The cornerstone of this approach is the practice of “extraterritorial targeted killing.” Just listen to the well-known Zionist lawyer Alan M. Dershowitz, who has proclaimed that “at the moment our legal system is playing catch-up with military technology.” What he finds “imperative” is that drone attacks and the like be made legal by, for instance, allowing someone in the government to obtain a warrant that allows an assassination (and its “collateral damage”) to take place.
Dershowitz is referring to the U.S. government but, the precedent having been set, his scenario for “legal” murder could be adopted by any government – certainly the Israelis have elevated “targeted killing” to a high art.
There is nothing in international law that substantiates this position, and it certainly violates core tenets of international human rights law as well as aspects of the Geneva Conventions. Nor can this behavior be passed off as part of a “just war,” for it fails to meet several accepted qualifications for such a venture as comparative justice and last resort.
Nonetheless, an array of criminal practices have been put into practice under the assumption that “if you do something long enough, it becomes accepted standard practice.” In other words, in Washington and Tel Aviv, the hope is that what starts out as a corruption of the law eventually becomes the law.
Standing Up for the International Law
There is now a struggle going on that will determine both the viability of international human rights law and the role of civil society in defining state legitimacy. Should states that adopt practices such as “extraterritorial targeted killing” or adhere to the racist practices of apartheid continue to be regarded as legitimate, or should they be seen as criminal “rogue states” by virtue of their violation of international human rights law?
In this struggle those who stand in support of human rights should not be underestimated. They are serious, numerous, worldwide in scope, and well organized. But, they are not governments; they are elements of the general population. They are civil society.
This contest may have still greater implications. It may really come down to the fate of the rule of law itself. If we allow international law, and particularly international human rights law, to be marginalized or even done away with, we will return to same international conditions that destroyed the League of Nations, facilitated the rise of the fascists, Nazis and Stalinists, and allowed for the prolonged existence of apartheid South Africa.
In each case the lack of effective international human rights law helped lead to a drastic deterioration in the domestic rule of law in countries like Italy, Germany, Russia and South Africa. And, today we can see signs of deterioration of the rule of law in countries such as Israel and, to a lesser but still real extent, the United States.
There is a lot at stake here and we can be thankful that even as the majority of people blithely go about their daily affairs, a growing minority has become aware of what their governments are doing and its implications for everyone’s future. We should be thankful and supportive – actively supportive.
Lawrence Davidson is a history professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. He is the author of Foreign Policy Inc.: Privatizing America’s National Interest;　America’s Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood; and Islamic Fundamentalism.
@ Vesuvius on October 7, 2014 at 7:16 am
Vesuvius what an excellent post and I would like to know your secret in getting it published.
My comment in reference to the “inevitable anti-Western sentiment culminating in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.â€was NOT allowed.
@Hillary, No secret at all, I just posted my little comment, and there were no problems. Again, I recommend the reading I suggested. I have studied the Zionist problem in the U.S. (and elsewhere) for some time now, but there is still some work to be done before I hit the “professorial grade”. Anyway, good luck to you!
Vesuvius on October 10, 2014 at 1:03
Thank you ,Vesuvius , your link of course is excellent & Alison Weir is also excellent.
I hope that The “Your comment is awaiting moderation” — for my comments will cease & free speech will prevail .
The link for you I am sure you know well already is
The author is making good points, but mentioning Stalin and Hitler in the same sentence is hardly justified. Stalin’s abuses have been greatly exaggerated by cold warriors. If we look at documented evidence, there are about 700,000 executions registered in KGB archives. Yes, this sort of political repressions are a horrible crime, but this figure is nowhere near the 50 million deaths that most people in the West attribute to Stalin. Brainwashing and falsification of history by Western governments are well established phenomena.
Other deaths that cold warriors routinely add to the 700,000 figure, such as famine and deaths in Gulags can be disregarded as intellectually dishonest. The US has the highest percentage of its population behind bars and how many people die in prisons each year? Should these people be considered “victims of a murderous regime”? Over 20 million people died of famine in the colonies controlled by “liberal democracies” in the 20th century; about 18 million people died of Spanish flu during WWI. Should we consider these people also “victims of a murderous regime”? Don’t even get me started on the millions of people who died in various wars waged by “liberal democracies” on their colonial subjects.
So if the Palestinian government were to use drones to kill important Israeli politicians, intelligence officials, and military personnel – that would also be OK? Or, if not, it would suddenly become OK if the UN were to recognise Palestine as a nation.
Certainly, any reputable nation (no matter how small) could do the same. For instance, important people in the USA might be assassinated by the government of Nicaragua… or Vietnam… or Iran… or Pakistan… or any of the nations that have been attacked and harmed by the USA. My, that’s an awful lot of nations!
Maybe it would be wise to rethink this whole matter before it’s too late.
http://veragraziadei.wordpress.com/2014/10/02/emperor-obamas-old-new-clothes-and-the-us-energy-war/ Good article guys!
Professor Davidson, thank you for this very relevant and disturbing article.
Thanks toF.G. Sanford on the question of whether 9/11 was a false flag operation. It is becoming more and more difficult to deny these suspicions. I recommend the work done by Mr Christopher Bollyn, “Solving 9/11”. Note that even if you don’t Believe his theory on who did it, his catalog over Zionists abundant in an amazing lot of important positions in America is quite overwhelming.
Also, thanks to JWalters for the link to Warprofiteerstory. In this context I recommend http://www.ifamericansknew.org and Alison Weirs book “Against Our Better Judgment, How the U.S. was used to create Israel”.
The larger problem here is of course: How can the U.S.A. free itself of the Zionist grip over Congress, The White House, Universities, media etc. If you haven’t read “The Israel Lobby” by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt (2007), please do!
Evidence connecting the US government [Pentagon, Joint Chiefs] and Israeli agents in the events of 9/11 are so abundant that anyone claiming 9/11 informs the “clash of the civilizations” narrative [itself hatched by Jewish neocons] can not be taken as both honest and well-informed.
Anyone doubting it ought to spend 2 hours on the web searching for Israeli links to running the 9/11 false flag. You have to wade through some naked hate and nonsense, but in the end the coincidences, the motive and opportunity… is too much to continue to pretend otherwise, although one must, of course, avoid the wrath of the ADL.
For the ADL, which is really an agent of Israel, no c riticism of Israel is allowed.
Which is why the Fox piece on Israeli spying around 9/11 was yanked so swiftly.
A very good article. I would simply revise the statement “At the forefront of this effort are the policies and actions of the United States and its prime ally, Israel.”
It should read “At the forefront of this effort are the policies and actions of Israel and its prime slave, the United States.”
JWalters as you know AIPAC has spend a lot of money over many, many years to purchase their ever so grateful USA government stooges. They have swayed more than one US politician in their favor.
Yet, I wonder if the day will ever come when another foreign, or maybe not foreign lobby will just flat out, out bid them? Would that not be the shock doctrine in reverse? May not we have something to wish for?
Why people still use to read news papers when in this technological world everything is presented on web?
History, as they say, is written by the historians. That sounds facile, redundant and maybe even infantile. We’re living through an epoch in which ideology and ideals have been sacrificed to partisanship and pragmatism. The politics of fear, the attendant propaganda and the inevitable indictments against those who are “with us or against us” have become the norm. Demagogues have always succeeded with that strategy, but the historians will have the last word.
I read two recent articles on “Alternet”, a publication which, like NPR, proffers itself as a “progressive” news outlet. One article broadly equates Warren Commission detractors with theories about “alien abductions”, “Reptilians” and “Illuminati”. It conveniently ignored the fact that, according to the House Select Committee on Assassinations, the “official” government position is that the assassination was a “conspiracy”. The second article lamented the blurring of the line between “conspiracy” and “skepticism”. This was a convoluted rationalization to excuse draconian policies which may justify government secrecy and repressive policies as pragmatic steps intended to protect the populace. It accused skeptics of seeing “conspiracy theory” behind legitimate attempts by the government to “do good”.
Oddly, the second article finishes with the notion that, when faced with real (or manufactured?) threats, governments may justifiably infringe human rights based on – THEIR WORDS, NOT MINE, the so-called “State of Exception”. Apparently, American progressives have never heard of Carl Schmitt. The “state of exception” is a legal rationalization concocted to justify the most famous 20th Century example of state sanctioned non-judicial execution. The public got to read about it in the papers when suspicion began to mount. Dear old Carl wrote an article called, “The Führer Upholds the Law”. Citing a threat to destabilize the government by subversives led by Ernst Roehm, it justified the murder of about 150 “browns shirts”. But by piggy-backing and settling of old scores, the actual death toll may have exceeded 800. Such laws are ALWAYS abused.
Also interesting is the fact that Alberto Gonzales and his cronies dragged out Schmitt’s juridical opinions to bolster their justifications for NDAA, the “Torture Memos”, and a host of other deviations from U.S. Constitutional law.
The real question is whether or not we have slipped irreversibly into fascism. While the general public remains divided, there is a growing coterie of serious historians and scholars who are convinced that our own Reichstag Fire, the “New Pearl Harbor”, was a fraud. There seems to be more than a little skepticism among foreign academics. We in America have disdain for history of other nations, but abroad, not so much. I recommend Michael Parenti’s lecture on the murder of Julius Caesar (Youtube) for an archetypal analysis of “State Crimes Against Democracy”. When the history of America’s loss of moral authority and legitimacy is finally written, the historians who write it will not spare any animus. They will note only that Americans had not the courage to defend their own ideals.
I listened to Michael Parenti point out how we must ‘learn to read history against the grain’. I agree with the policy of not only reading the history, but knowing something about the historian presenting us with the history.
Last year on JFK’s 50th anniversary of his assassination I could not get over the many media hacks (Bill O’Reilly, Chris Mathews, a few others) who had to make sure when they mentioned Kennedys name made sure to recall JFK’s womanizing. They also weren’t reluctant to bring up JFK’s slow response, has it were to Martin Luther Kings civil rights demands. Same pundits made sure on the Civil Rights Acts 50th anniversary to credit LBJ as being one who got that bill passed. Never a mention about LBJ’s womanizing (even though in real life he bragged about his many a conquest), but there these so called journalist of our day made sure they applauded ever so loudly LBJ’s War on Proverty’…as if everyone since has gotten rich since that war was declared!
As much as you losing your civil rights…well then just look around you & that will be your answer.
The world could now only be so lucky as to get another Julius Caesar!
Listen to Michael Parenti on the JFK assassination:
I recently saw a cartoon of three men sitting in a bar, each with a glass of liquor. The first, labelled an optimist, saw the glass as half-full, the pessimist saw his as half-empty, and the one labelled “pragmatist” asked the bartender if he could get a twist.
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Many people think that bad breath is merely an inconvenience and something that’s socially unacceptable. While both of those hold true, bad breath can actually be a major warning sign of a serious dental health issue or general health issue. The team at Gallegos Family Dentistry would like to take a moment right now to look at some of the basics concerning bad breath, what its causes are, and how it can best be treated by skilled dental care professionals.
Common Causes of Bad Breath
The most common cause of bad breath is the bacteria that is naturally found in the mouth. This bacteria causes both tooth decay and gum disease to occur. In addition, bad breath can be caused by issues with the sinuses, infections of the tonsils, respiratory conditions, and health problems related to the digestive tract.
When you meet with Dr. Gallegos at Gallegos Family Dentistry, you will be thoroughly examined in order to account for various causes of bad breath.
How can bad breath be treated?
The best treatment for bad breath is related to the root cause of the bad breath. Once the exact cause or causes have been identified, we can then determine the kind of treatment that is just right for you. Below are just some possibilities that may be considered.
Treating Tooth Decay
Since tooth decay and bad breath are often related, treating the tooth decay is a great treatment option to consider. For minor tooth decay, the best option is traditional fillings. For more serious tooth decay, inlays, onlays, or Albuquerque dental crowns would be a better option to consider.
Treating Gum Disease
For bad breath caused by gum disease, it’s important to get the infection under control first through periodontal therapy and gum treatment. Once the infection is successfully treated, we will then work on restoring the condition and appearance of the gum line.
Proper Oral Hygiene
One of the easiest things that you can do to eliminate gum disease is to brush your teeth at least twice a day and floss every night. Removing food particles from the teeth means less chance for the bacteria in the mouth to create malodorous smells. In addition, we recommend that patients use a tongue scraper to remove food particles that may be caught on the tongue.
Regular Dental Health Visits
Going in for general dental care twice a year is an ideal way to make sure you have a healthy smile that looks great as well. We can monitor you for possible dental problems and address them in a timely fashion.
Dealing with Other Underlying Issues
When restorative dentistry isn’t the answer, medical treatments may be required, particularly in cases where the bad breath is a symptom of another condition.
Learn More About Advanced Dental Care Treatment
If you would like more information about the causes of bad breath and the many different options for treatment, be sure to contact Dr. Gallegos at Gallegos Family Dentistry. By getting in touch with us as soon as possible, we will be able to figure out a dental care solution or help you get the underlying systemic issue addressed as soon as possible.
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This is a review of a lecture about Rousseau by Jonathan Steinberg from his Great Courses Series ‘European History and European Lives: 1715-1914, Rousseau was a key figure in the expression of the modern enlightened man, who influenced both the American and French Revolutions and other key thinkers of the Enlightenment.
Category: History Readings
I thought it would be interesting to learn a little about the history of the land of my paternal ancestors, Sicily. For my first reading I picked a book called Sicily: The History and Legacy of the Mediterranean’s Most Famous Island by Charles River Editors. In this blog I write about the various important points in Sicilian history from 3.3 million years ago through early settlement to Ancient Greek and Roman times, and through changes from Arab to Norman to German to Spaniard to Angevin to Bourbon to Italian unification and finally to the development of the mafia. Showing the connection to migration that occurred mostly in the late 19th century.
Just a few readings and activities I have been pursuing recently. I may have more to write about these in future posts.
Researching this blog I learned a little about why slavery and the social construct of racism developed strongly in the USA from the founding of slavery in 1619 in Jamestown, Virginia.
First part of the public health research history that can be learned from reading Polio, An American Story by David M. Ochinsky. This part reviews insights about developing sources of funding, evolving status of intellectual property, and the role people disabled from poliomyelitis had in advocacy for the disabled.
First part of the public health research history that can be learned from reading Polio, An American Story by David M. Ochinsky. This part includes discussion of the history of the largest clinical trial in the U.S. and clinical research ethics.
The Plantagenet Dynasty of England lasted from Henry II who ascended in 1154 to the deposition of Richard II in 1399. This blog explains why this story is important in the history of the world.
What are some learnings to be gained from the announcement for the Salk Vaccine study, the largest public health clinical trial made, and what were the reactions?
Some resources that I have been reading, listening to or viewing about the history of Britain from the Mesolithic to Modern periods.
A review of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown with my impressions about the effect of settlement of North America by European immigrants.
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by Lori Wolfe, Guest Columnist
As elementary teachers we are always looking for and finding strategies to use with our students that broaden and deepen their understanding when reading. We know that when students, especially second language learners, can distinguish between the shades of meanings of related words, then they can be more precise and imaginative in their writing. Shades of meaning are the small differences among words that are related to a specific topic or idea. The Common Core Language Standard L.5 requires students to distinguish shades of meaning among words beginning in Kindergarten and continuing through elementary grades.
What are Semantic Gradients?
If you don’t know about semantic gradients, let me introduce you! Semantic gradients are powerful tools to teach elementary students the differences between related words and increase their vocabulary. This method of improving reading comprehension works with both English Language Learners and native English speakers and offers classroom teachers a vehicle to reach the needs of all of students. This type of gradient helps students distinguish between the subtle nuances of meaning of related words and broadens their understanding of connected words. Furthermore, gradients show all students how to use vocabulary precisely when expressing themselves in speaking and writing.
What is a Semantic Gradient?
If you would like a free copy of the black line of the gradient I use in my classroom, click here!
Semantic gradients are lists of related words that have similar meanings placed on a continuum moving from one word to its opposite. It is a continuum that order related words by degree.
- These gradients use anchor words (words and their opposites) at each end of the gradient.
- The words used in between gradually shift in meaning.
For example, freezing and sweltering would be the anchor words for a semantic gradient of temperature words that included the following: freezing, cold, cool, warm, hot, roasting, and sweltering.
How do you use a Semantic Gradient?
- Identify your 2 anchor words by choosing a word and finding its opposite.
- Find synonyms for each of those words and order them to create your word list.
- Students then order the words to create a gradient or continuum.
Where can I get more information about Semantic Gradients?
Reading rockets has an excellent, clear and informative video on using semantic gradients in an elementary classroom.
This is a quick and effective resource on semantic gradients:
Let me know if you use semantic gradients with your students!
About the Author
Lori Wolfe has taught English Language Development, bilingual 1st & 2nd grades, and as a Title I Reading and Math specialist. She also presents professional development workshops, develops curriculum and blogs. Follow her blogs at Fun To Teach ESL and Fun To Teach Math Blog for more great teaching ideas, tips, freebies and more. You can also find Fun To Teach on Facebook.
Carolyn Wilhelm says
Thank you so much for the explanation, links to more information, and your free download page!
Rebecca Wilson says
This information was very helpful.
I appreciate this information about semantic gradients. I teach English Language Learners and look forward to using this information with my students. I looked around for more information related to semantic gradients and found this website http://www.cocostudio.com/studio/website.html. Click on “watch” to see it in action and to practice yourself.
Thank you for the post!
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Metal Fabrication and Engineering
Have you ever wondered how tools, equipment, and different products are made in bulk? Did you ever imagine and think about how they were made in a fast and in an abrupt manner? Metal fabrication is a process that involves the procurement and the creation of certain metal parts and tools.
Metal fabrication, simply, is the process of manufacturing and creating processes that create shape, and produce different products made out of steel and metal.
We here at Ohio Contract Manufacturing Specialists are the company you can count on in terms of metal fabrication and engineering. Whatever type of metallic product you need, we’re sure that we’ll be able to help you with it.
The Usual Products Metal Fabrication Produces
What do you think are the usual products and equipment that the metal fabrication process produces? Some of the most common examples of products made from this process include:
- Enclosures and Brackets
- Hand Tools
- Bolts and Nuts
- Screws and Screwdrivers
- Metallic Pipes and Fittings
- Car Parts and Bodies
- Equipment Attachments and Add-ons
- MRI Equipment
- Ultrasound Equipment
- And many more
Our company is the one company you can lean on if you want mass production with the highest quality – and we can give you the guarantee that it’s all going to be what you ever needed.
Our Fabrication Engineers
A fabrication engineer is in charge of leading the construction, designing, the implementation, as well as the enhancement and improvement of certain manufacturing systems and processes. Technically, they’re in charge of optimizing and maximizing the metal fabrication processes, procedures, and methods.
Our engineers will make sure that everything is set in place – from the laser metal cutters, the design, to the welding, and the finishing/polishing of your product or output. The vision that our fabrication engineers have is to make sure that:
- Every step and phase in the metal fabrication process is maximized
- Accuracy and precision are seen and observed even in the smallest detail
- The final product would be what you intended to be
- The materials to be used in the procedure would be everything that’s needed
Metal Fabrication Types We Do
More often than not, several contract manufacturers would focus on just one type out of the three (3) industries of metal fabrication, namely: Commercial, Structural, and Industrial. However, when you work with us, you can bank on us that we’ll help you with anything you need.
Commercial fabrication is the category or the type in which the final output is a commercial product – this is the category in which home and handmade tools fall under. They’re the goods that are specifically designed to be bought and purchased by consumers.
Structural fabrication, on the other hand, is the metalwork that is completed and finished in order for it to be a part of a bigger and more grand building process. Usually, they’re used to be a part of larger-scale industries such as buildings, skyscrapers, aircraft, etc.
Lastly, industrial fabrication deals with the equipment and the tools that are used by other manufacturing companies. When completed, they are sold to a manufacturing company of the same kind or the different kind – with the goal to perform and to create products for other businesses and companies or for consumers.
The metal fabrication and engineering skills that our experts and licensed professionals possess here at Ohio Contract Manufacturing Specialists would be everything you need. You can bank on us as we are flexible – flexible in terms of the workload, the type of work, the industry, and even the output and the products you need.
Our flexibility alone is enough evidence to support the success and the skills we have accomplished in the industry.
Choosing the Manufacturer
We’re not going to lie, there might be some other contract manufacturing companies that you need and in order for you to work with the company you really need, you need to look at a couple of factors and considerations before choosing:
Capacity and Capability
What can the company do for you? To what extent are they willing to work with you even after they’re done with their main job? There are some, if not a lot of companies that turn their backs when their jobs are finished.
When you work with us, you can count on us to help you even with the littlest of detail; from the design that you need to be accomplished, to the slightest measurements, you need to adjust.
Pricing and Cost
At Ohio Contract Manufacturing Specialists, you can get the smallest and the most reasonable costing for your project. You might think that our labor is high but we can guarantee that we can get you a draft and a plan that would be more cost-effective for your business in the long-run.
We’ll help you select the best, the most feasible, and the least expensive materials for your product – we’ll even go up to the standard of giving you alternatives!
All our clients commended us not just because of the product and the output we produced, but also because of the work ethics and the attitude that our professionals have. All our experts on the field are trained and prepared to give the highest form of customer experience and you can count on them to be with you each and every step of the way.
Ohio Contract Manufacturing Specialists is truly a company that you can trust and lean on with everything you need. If you want to work with a company that has a well-structured and a well-engineered metal fabrication procedure and system, going with us is the best option.
Experience outsourcing like you’ve never before! Work with us and get everything you need in the cheapest and yet most flexible payment plans and prices! Get the products you need within the given timeline and allow us to help you in developing and improving your planned fabrication production!
Unlike other contract manufacturers that focus on just one specific type of service, we are a company skilled and experienced to perform a large scale of services. Our focus and attention to detail on your project and task goes above and beyond. We exceed the expectations to all of our clients daily.
Our core offerings and services at Ohio Contract Manufacturing Specialists includes, but is not limited to, the following below:
We service multiple cities throughout the state of Ohio. We provide all the services listed above, and much more in every city throughout Ohio.
If you don’t see your city listed or a specific service listed, don’t worry. All you have to do is contact us by either giving us a call or filling out our online contact form. Then we’ll discover what are some of the top solutions for you, your business, and executing a solid solution.
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Determining Power Factor Using the Two-Wattmeter Method
The ratio of true power to apparent power is called the power factor of the load. When the two-wattmeter method is used to measure the power dissipated in a balanced load, the power factor of the circuit can also be determined from the meter readings.
What is Power Factor?
Power factor is the ratio between the true power in watts and the apparent total power in volt-amps of an electrical load or system. Power factor is a measure of how efficiently the line current of a load or system is being converted into useful work output. The ideal power factor is unity (1 or 100%). Anything less than 1 means additional power is required to accomplish the actual task.
The power triangle below in Figure 1 illustrates the phase angle (θ) between true and apparent power. The cosine of the phase angle is known as the power factor (PF), and its value is inversely proportional to the amount of reactive power. The smaller the angle θ, the less reactive power present and the greater your power factor is.
Figure 1. Power factor triangle. Image used courtesy of Allaboutcircuits
Apparent power (VA) is equal to or greater than the true power (watts), depending on the power factor (PF). Therefore, when sizing circuits or equipment, you must size the circuit equipment according to the apparent power (volt-amperes) and not the true power (watts). Formulas that can be used for determining apparent power are as follows:
\[Apparent\,Power(VA)=1.732\times Volts\times Ampere(Three\,Phase)\]
True power (watts) is the energy consumed by the resistive part of an AC circuit. The true power of a circuit that contains inductive and/or capacitive reactance in addition to resistance is measured with a wattmeter and can be calculated by use of one of the following formulas:
\[True\,Power(W)=Volts\times Ampere\times Power\,Factor(Single Phase)\]
\[True\,Power(W)=1.732\times Volts\times Ampere\times Power Factor(Three Phase)\]
Reactive power (VARs) is power supplied to a reactive load. Almost all AC circuits include reactive power in the form of inductive reactance and/or capacitive reactance. Inductive reactance is by far the most common since all motors, transformers, solenoids, and coils have inductive reactance. The formulas for determining reactive power are:
\[Reactive\,Power(VARs)=Volts\times Ampere\times Sinθ(Single\,Phase)\]
\[Reactive\,Power(VARs)=1.732\times Volts\times Ampere\times Sinθ(Three\,Phase)\]
Power factor (PF) is the ratio of true power (watts) to apparent power (VA) and is expressed as a percentage that does not go above 100 %. Power factor measures how far the current and voltage are out of phase with respect to each other. Unity power factor (1 or 100%) can only occur if the AC circuit supplies resistive loads or when capacitive reactance (XC) is equal to inductive reactance (XL). When the power factor is less than 100 percent, the circuit is less efficient and has a higher operating cost because not all current performs useful work.
The formulas for determining the power factor are
Power Factor Determination
Consider the phasor diagram for a balanced Y-connected load, as shown in Figure 2. The phase voltages EAN, EBN, and ECN, have 120° phase differences and line voltages EAB, EBC, and ECA are 30° ahead of EAN, EBN, and ECN, respectively. The line currents IA, IB, and IC (also the phase currents in a Y-connected load) each lag the related phase voltage by phase angle φ.
Figure 2. Phasor diagram for a two-wattmeter power measurement method with a balanced Y-connected load. The load power factor can also be determined from the meter readings. Image used courtesy of Amna Ahmad
Now, look at the circuit diagram in Figure 3. The current coil of wattmeter W1 carries line current IA, and the potential difference across its voltage coil is line voltage EAB. The phase difference between EAB and IA is (30°+φ) (see Figure1). Consequently, the power indicated by W1 is
Because EAB is line voltage VL, and IA is line current IL,
Figure 3. The two-wattmeter method is most often used for measuring three-phase power. It is appropriate for Δ- or Y-connected, balanced or unbalanced loads. The load power is determined by adding the meter readings. Image used courtesy of Amna Ahmad
In Figure 3, the current flowing in the current coil of wattmeter W2 is line current IC. The potential difference across its voltage coil is -EBC. If the voltage coil of W2 had been connected with its ± terminal to line B, the voltage would be +EBC. But when connected as illustrated, the voltage coil potential difference is -EBC. As shown in the phasor diagram in Figure 2, there is a 30° difference between -EBC and ECN. Because IC lags ECN by angle ф, the phase difference between –EBC and IC is (30°- φ). The power indicated by W2 can now be written as
In deriving Equation 3, it was assumed that ф is less than 60°. When ф is greater than 60°, (30°+ф) exceeds 90°, and cos (30°+ф) becomes a negative quantity, making the reading on wattmeter W1 negative. As noted, to get a positive indication, the connections to either the current coil or the voltage coil must be reversed, and the power measured by the wattmeter must be recorded as a negative quantity.
The two-wattmeter method does not indicate whether the calculated power factor is leading or lagging. This must be determined by considering the load. A largely inductive load has a lagging power factor, and a predominantly capacitive load has a leading power factor.
The readings of the two wattmeters connected to measure the total power in a three-phase wye-connected 400-Volts system are 4 kW and 6 kW. Calculate the power factor.
Wattmeter 1 reading = P1 = 4000 W
Wattmeter 2 reading = P2 = 6000 W
Voltage = VL = 400 V
Using equation 3,
Key Takeaways of the Two-wattmeter Method
The two-wattmeter method is most often used for measuring three-phase power. It is appropriate for Δ- or Y-connected, balanced or unbalanced loads. When this method is employed to measure the three-phase power dissipated in a balanced load, the power factor of the circuit can also be computed from the meter readings. In the two-wattmeter method, there is no indication of whether the power factor calculated is leading or lagging. This must be determined by considering the load.
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Women’s History Month US
Women’s History Month happens in March every year. It began as a national celebration in 1981 that was held in one week. It has since grown to a full-month commemoration from 1987 onwards.
Women’s History Month is a celebration of women’s and transwomen’s contributions to arts, history, culture, society, and technology. Though it has been observed annually in the United States since 1987, Women’s History Month is also celebrated globally.
The month of March is also special for women’s celebration for another reason. International Women’s Day happens on March 8th. It is a day that was first celebrated in 1911 and was part of the reason Women’s History Month was chosen to be held in March. International Women’s day both celebrates women’s achievements and reflects on the work that still needs to be done for gender equality around the world.
There are plenty of opportunities to celebrate women and every sort of female experience in March, but that doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate and commemorate women throughout the year. 😉
The Importance Of Women’s History Month
The fight for women’s and trans rights has been an ongoing process throughout history. Women have fought for equality, marriage rights, education, their bodies, and even for access to the workplace.
The term feminism refers to the belief in advocating for the equality of the sexes. This means working for social, economic, and political equality for women.
Our current views of women’s and transwomen’s rights are due to the legacy of those who were politically or socially active in specific waves of history. That is why it’s so important to read and learn the history of all those who have worked for your rights! 🤝
|Waves of feminism||Focus of the wave||Main theorists or figures|
|First-wave||With origins roughly in the French Revolution and the Women’s Rights Convention (1848), this wave aimed for legal issues such as women’s right to vote, property rights, and education.||Mary Wollstonecraft, Virginia Woolf, Sojourner Truth, Dorothy Day, Emmeline Pankhurst, The Suffragettes.|
|Second-wave||This wave lasted between the 1960s to the 1970s. Women fought to enter the workplace and not be confined to the roles of housewives and mothers.||Gloria Steinem, Simone De Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, Sheila Rowbotham, Germaine Greer, Hélène Cixous, and Shulamith Firestone|
|Third-wave||During the 1980s, women focused on reproductive rights and making choices over their own bodies. This wave also moved away from white, middle-class concerns to focus on experiences faced by trans people, people of color, the working class, and queer people.||Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Toril Moi, Judith Butler, Maud Ellman, Maya Angelou|
|Fourth-wave or the #MeToo movement (2017)||Though highly debated, this wave began in 2012 and focuses on female empowerment, sexual harassment, and intersectionality. Internet activism has become a prominent tool for this wave.||Roxanne Gay, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Rebecca Solnit, Malala Yousafzai, Tarana Burke.|
Intersectional feminism is an important brand of feminism today. Intersectionality focuses on the overlap of discrimination that people uniquely experience. Overlaps include gender, race, class, and sexual orientation. Intersectionality explores the ways these overlaps interact to create systems of oppression and discrimination.
If you want to read further about these waves, check out our articles below!
- First-wave feminism
- Second-wave feminism
- Third-wave feminism
Did you know? Martha Weinman Lear’s article ‘The Second Feminist Wave: What Do These Women Want?’ coined the terms first-wave and second-wave in the New York Times Magazine in 1968.
Women’s History Month: Events
There are so many Women’s History Months events for you to explore, learn, and empower your bookshelves or podcast library! 💪If you are not sure where to start, here are some ideas of events you can attend:
- Comedy shows
- Book clubs
- A feminist festival
- History of women’s rights chats or classes
- Female-owned business conferences
- Museum and archive talks
- Support women artists by going to art exhibitions
- Women author panels
- Virtual events such as writing workshops
- Women in tech discussions
You should also check out Eventbrite for any Women’s History Month events in your local area!
Why only attend these events? You can also organise them yourself with your friends, schools or universities, or your workplace. Sometimes, sharing knowledge to empower women and learn about female experiences starts with you!
Women’s History Month: Facts
Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day have been around long enough to earn their own pub quiz category. Here are 10 facts for you to ace any Women’s History Month quiz event you find in your area!
- International Women’s day was first celebrated in 1911.
- Women’s History Month began in 1987.
- Women’s History Month has an annual theme. The first theme was ‘Generations of Courage, Compassion, and Conviction’ in 1987.
- New Zealand was the first self-governing country that allowed women the right to vote in 1893.
- The pill was introduced in the 1960s and was seen as a revolution for female empowerment and sexual liberation.
- Ada Lovelace is considered the first computer programmer.
- The Tale of Genji (early 11th century) by Murasaki Shikibu is often considered to be the world’s first novel written by a woman.
- The first woman to achieve a medical degree in the United States was Elizabeth Blackwell in 1849.
- Katherine Johnson was a pioneering mathematician whose calculations lead to the success of the first US spaceflights.
- The first woman to run and finish the Boston Marathon in 1966 was Roberta Gibb.
Women’s History Month’s 2023 Theme
The National Women’s History Alliance sets a yearly theme for this celebration.
The theme of Women’s History Month for 2023 is ‘Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories’.
The 2022 theme was ‘Providing Healing, Promoting Hope’.
Memoirs have become a popular medium for women to tell their stories. These stories are often very relatable and share some valuable insights into all sorts of female experiences. The following memoirs may contain some sensitive content. However, it is important to celebrate all women’s experiences and recognise that sharing such personal stories is empowering for these women writers too.
- Know My Name (2019) by Chanel Miller. A gut-punching and powerful Miller’s account of her sexual assault at Stanford University in 2015. The memoir is Miller’s reclamation of her story and name from the media, emerging from the label ‘unconscious intoxicated woman’.
- I Am Malala (2013) by Malala Yousafzai. This is the story of Malala Yousafzai’s activism for female education in Pakistan and the assassination attempt made by the Taliban. Malala has stood up for Education ever since and has become a prominent women’s rights figure.
- I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (1969) by Maya Angelou. Angelou’s thoughtful and vulnerable autobiography tells of her experiences of racism and sexual assault between the ages of 3 to 17. The memoir is studied today as a breakthrough of black women’s voices, cementing Angelou as a prominent women’s rights activist.
- My Life on the Road (2015) by Gloria Steinem. Known for being a leader of the second-wave feminism movement, Steinem’s memoir talks of her activism, travels around the world, and how the feminist movement has changed over the years.
- Becoming (2018) by Michelle Obama. An inspirational and personal memoir of Michelle’s early life, career, and time as First Lady at the White House.
- In Order to Live (2015) by Yeonmi Park. Park’s touching and provoking account explores her family’s escape from North Korea to China and her experience with human traffickers. Park now works to promote human rights in North Korea while living in the United States.
The Best Books To Read For Women’s History Month!
We at StudySmarter love to read and have a list of books to share regarding Women’s History Month. Here are a few to add to your Goodreads list!
|Genre||Book and Author||Explanation|
|Fiction||The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood.||Perhaps her most famous work, Atwood’s novel explores the complexities of reproductive rights for women in a dystopian world.|
|Fiction||The Vanishing Half (2000) by Brit Bennet.||Bennet’s novel explores a complex relationship between sisters living in the United States during the 1940s and 1990s.|
|Fiction||Sula (1973) by Toni Morrison.||While any Morrison works are perfect for Women’s History Month, Sula holds a special place. The story revolves around two black women friends and the impact of racism on their community in Ohio.|
|Fiction||Kindred (1979) by Octavia Butler.||Credited as the first science fiction work written by a black woman, Butler’s pioneering work explores the impact of time-travelling to the era of slavery and meeting your enslaved ancestors.|
|Fiction||Detransition, Baby (2021) by Torrey Peters.||This novel is a sensitive look at the experiences of transwomen in the twenty-first century.|
|Poems||The Sun and Her Flowers (2017) by Rupi Kaur.||Known for her Instagram poems, Kaur’s second poetry collection explores trauma, love, and healing.|
|Poems||Ariel (1965) by Slyvia Plath.||Confessional and deeply personal, Plath’s poems are powerfully symbolic of her experiences as a woman and mother.|
|Autobiography||The Woman Warrior (1976) by Maxine Hong Kingston.||Kingston’s work mixes her life as a first-generation Chinese American with Chinese folktales.|
|Nonfiction||Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (2019) by Caroline Criado Perez.||This pioneering work explores gender bias in data collection.|
|Nonfiction||A Decolonial Feminisim (2019) by Françoise Vergès.||A powerful work that argues against feminists’ involvement in capitalism, racism, and imperialism.|
|Nonfiction||The Authority Gap (2021) by Mary Ann Seighart.||An optimistic but determined perspective that challenges the unseen biases in the workplace and everyday life.|
If you want to read further about women’s writing, check out the article on women’s fiction!
Women’s History Month: Podcasts
We also have a few podcasts for you to listen to and share with your friends! 🎧
- Stuff Mom Never Told You by hosts Samantha McVey and Anney Reese, who talk about the challenges women have faced in history and today.
- Women Who Code is a podcast that is perfect for women who want to pursue careers in technology.
- The History Chicks by hosts Beckett Graham and Susan Vollenweider. This podcast introduces female figures throughout history, whether it is factual or fictional!
- The Profess-Hers Podcast by hosts Misty Wilson-Mehrtens and Allegra Davis Hanna. The hosts provide feminist perspectives on your favourite shows and movies.
- The Guilty Feminist by host Deborah Frances-White. The host and guests explore the question of what it means to be a feminist and whether it’s possible to be a better feminist.
Our Final Say For This Year’s Women’s History Month
Women’s History Month can be more about posting on social media to promote awareness. It is a month that can be celebrated by all genders, sexes, and bodies that want to be a part of the conversation for equal rights. It is also a time to find and create new communities, promote artists and scientists, and be at the forefront of current debates and discoveries. This month is yours to celebrate the amazing women who have made an impact on your life! 🎉🥳
About the author
Dr. Lily Hulatt is a University of Durham PhD graduate from Northern Ireland. Her research interests are in Historical Fiction, Postmodern Realism, and the development of Irish Diasporic Women’s Literature. In her spare time, she rows, does creative writing, and attempts ice swimming with mixed results.
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English: Black-billed Capercaillie
Russian: Каменный глухарь
French: Tetras a bec noir
Mongolian: Нургийн сойр
Japanese: オオライチョウ (O-raicho)
Body Length: 68-79 cm
Wing span: 75-115 cm
Breeding season: April-August
Egg number: 6-9
Egg colour: Yellowish-buff with fine
speckling and more small blotches.
Brood: 1 per year
Global status: Least concern
Regional status: Least Concern
Food: Seeds, needle leaves, buds, dried
fruits, insects and wheat grains.
Habitat: Nests on the ground with dense
vegetation in mountain forest shrubs and bushes in coniferous and mixed
forests. They remain in family groups, joining larger flocks in the autumn.
Large flocks move down to river valleys and wheat fields near forests. They
flocks move down to river valleys and wheat fields near forests in winter and
stay in deciduous forests and the edges of forests.
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Not everyone comes out in the same way. And not everyone comes out to everybody in their lives, or comes out to everybody at the same time. There’s no one right way to come out.
What does it mean to “come out”?
Coming out refers to the process that people who are LGBTQ go through as they work to accept their sexual orientation or gender identity and share that identity openly with other people. Coming out is a very brave thing to do, and it’s extremely personal and different for everyone. Your emotions when coming out may range from scared and anxious to elated and relieved. There’s no one right way to come out. It can feel better to be open and honest about your sexual orientation than to hide it, but there are many factors to consider before coming out. Coming out is a process. Often the first step is coming out to yourself. This happens as you recognize your sexual orientation and begin to accept it. Next, you might choose to tell your family, friends, and people in your community — sometimes right away, and sometimes later. You might decide to be open with some people in your life, but not with others. Coming out isn’t a one-time thing. Because many people assume that everyone they meet is straight, coming out is a constant process. Every time an LGBTQ-identified person meets someone new (friends, co-workers, nurses and doctors, etc.), they have to decide if, when, and how to come out.
Choosing to come out depends on the situation. The coming-out process can be freeing and can bring you closer to the people you love. But it can also be stressful or even risky or dangerous. You may feel safer not coming out in certain situations. You don’t have to be out everywhere, all the time. You can decide what’s best for you.
Coming out can have benefits and risks. If you’re wondering whether to come out, there’s a lot to consider. Does coming out mean that you risk losing emotional or financial support from your family? Could coming out put you in physical danger? Will your family try to pressure you into being someone you’re not? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may want to wait until you’re in a different situation or have more support.
You, and only you, are in charge of your coming out experience. It\’s up to you to choose how, where, when, and with whom to be open about your sexual orientation (and gender identity). It may feel safer to start by being open with other people who also identify as LGBTQ. This could be online, in community centers, at an LGBTQ club or group, or with a few close friends.
How do I come out to my parents and friends? There’s no single, correct way to come out to your family and friends. You’re the expert in what feels right to you, and who it feels safest to tell.
Here are some suggestions that might make the conversation easier:
- When you decide that you’re ready to come out, give yourself some time to practice how you’ll do it and what you’ll say.
- Identify the people or person in your life that you think will be the most okay with the news, and come out to them first. You can often get a sense of how friendly someone is to LGBTQ people by how they react when the topic comes up in conversation.
- Do some research so that you have information about being LGBTQ in case your loved one has questions or doesn’t have the facts.
- You may be more comfortable coming out by writing a letter or e-mail rather than telling someone in person. That’s totally fine.
- After you decide who you’ll come out to, what you’ll say to them, and how you’ll say it, be prepared to wait as they digest and accept the new information. Give them the time they need.
Don’t assume that everyone will react with prejudice — go in with an open mind. Some people may surprise you with their openness and acceptance, and many folks already know other LGBTQ people in their lives.
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Sunday, August 19, 2018
Between 1845 and 1849 the Irish Potato Famine claimed 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 lives and caused a mass emigration from the country. Many of the refugees came to Montreal and Toronto seeking free land and a chance to provide for their families. Arriving in Toronto the ships docked at The Queen’s Pier (also known as Queen’s Wharf and today Bathurst Quay). This was the third wharf in the city built by the military and it stood near the mouth of Garrison Creek at Fort York. The wharf was buried in 1917 as part of a large in-filling project and is today remembered by Queen’s Wharf Road which runs where it used to extend into the lake. The 1842 map below shows the wharf at the foot of Bathurst Street with the Garrison Hospital and the military cemetery, Victoria Square both circled. This is what the city would have looked like when the refugees arrived.
The idea for Ireland Park started when 7 statues were placed near the dockside in Dublin, Ireland in 1997. This was the 150th anniversary of the famine. The Toronto park opened ten years later on June 21, 2007 with the president of Ireland doing the honours. The Irish sculpture is known as Departure while the Toronto one is called Arrival. The seven statues in Ireland have been reduced to five in Toronto signifying the horrible loss of life that occurred. The first statue is a triumphant man who stands with his arms raised in thankfulness as he surveys the city of Toronto across the water. In 1847 there were only 20,000 people in Toronto but they will handle 38,560 refugees, many of whom will pass through the hospital to the graveyard.
A second statue is of a pregnant lady who stands looking up and clutching her belly. She faces a new life in a new land with a new life inside her. Like the others, she looks like she has worn the same clothes for the entire journey and that they may not have been the best to start.
The little boy that stands to the rear of the woman appears to be unsure of what the future holds as he timidly clutches his hands before himself. He may represent those children who arrive alone, having lost their family either on the journey or shortly after arriving.
This individual is known as Pius Mulvey and was inspired by a character in the book Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor.
The fifth sculpture depicts a woman lying on the ground. She is in the last moments of life and represents the hope that was never realized for so many. Seven departed, five arrived and only four survived to become part of the fabric of the city.
The emigrants that fled from Ireland in 1847 were packed into crowded ships with poor hygiene for weeks during the passage. The result was an outbreak of typhus on the ships with so many dying on board that they became known as coffin ships. Upon arrival, the sick were taken to the Garrison Hospital. When this facility was full they were put into fever sheds. Within weeks of arriving 1186 of them had died and some were taken to the burial grounds at Victoria Square. The limestone for the wall pictured below was quarried in Kilkenny, Ireland and stands in the park as a tribute to the people who perished after they arrived in Toronto.
So far, the names of 675 of the people who died upon arrival have been recovered and engraved on the walls. The names can be found in the narrow slots between the stones.
The tower of glass bricks represents hope and is lit up at night. The spaces between the sections of limestone wall where the names are carved are also lit at night to illuminate the names. After dark, spotlights on the statues cast eerie shadows onto the abandoned silos behind. The silos represent storage facilities for grain during abundant times and stand in contrast to the poverty that the refugees were fleeing from.
The Canada Malting Company located a set of concrete silos at the foot of Bathurst Street in 1928. The waterfront had been used for heavy industry for decades and at one time Polson’s Shipbuilding Yards were located here. Polson’s Pier in The Port Lands is named after this enterprise. Storage silos had disappeared from the city because they were made of wood and had a lifespan of about ten years due to the fact that they were severe fire hazards. The Canada Malting Company used concrete silos to store barley in before it was turned into malt. The original silos near the lake were 120 feet tall and more storage was added in 1944 in the form of 150-foot tall silos.
The malt was sold for beer and other uses and the operation continued until 1987 when it was closed. The city has spent the last 25 years looking for a good way to re-purpose the silos as they have a heritage designation being one of the last two remaining on the waterfront. Some of the silos have been demolished and the remaining ones are crumbling badly but suggestions for their preservation include turning them into a luxury hotel. It has also been suggested that they may make a good hotel for the dead in a mausoleum with room for 6,500 coffins and niches for an additional 5,000 urns.
This immigrant statue surveys the skyline of Toronto and raises his arms at the prospects before him. It would have looked considerably different in 1847 without the towers crowding out the shoreline.
Ireland Park is a very small location with a very big story to tell and because it is hidden there was no one here during my visit making it perfect for contemplation of this chapter in our history. It also looks like an interesting place for an evening visit to see the lighting.
Google maps link: Ireland Park
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Follow us at http://www.hikingthegta.com
Pingback: Toronto Historic Places | Hiking the GTA
I will definitely out this spot on my “must visit” list.
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Do you ever notice that your dog seems to lie in the sun a lot? You may assume that it’s just because of the comforting warmth, but it goes beyond that!
The sun provides living beings with vitamin D, which is an important vitamin that we need enough of in order to maintain good health. Dogs who lie in the sun are actually stocking up on vitamin D! The fact that it feels nice and relaxing is just an added bonus.
Vitamin D is fairly important for dogs, especially given the fact that it is considered a pro-hormone, meaning its function is more similar to that of a hormone than a typical vitamin. Still, it has many important vitamin functions, such as:
- It helps dogs absorb calcium, which they cannot do without vitamin D
- It regulates the balance of phosphorus and calcium for canines
- It aids in nerve and muscle control, as well as the formation of bones
For humans, vitamin D absorption is easy – the UV rays of the sun break down our skin oils, building vitamin D3 in the process, all within 20 minutes. But for dogs, their fur prevents this from happening, and they often wind up with vitamin D3 on their fur that gets ingested with they groom themselves. As such, they lay in the sun in order to build up that vitamin to “eat” it later!
Feature Image Source: Pixabay
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With more and more kids bringing cell phones to the classroom, there are concerns if they distract or improve their learning. There is a thin line between focus and distraction when it comes to Smartphones in the classroom. With one child, a cell phone can be an effective learning tool, while to the next kid; it can divide their attention, causing them to perform poorly. So many kids watch their grades drop as they enjoy video games, laugh at new memes, watch a video on YouTube or chat endlessly with their friends on social media networks. Others successfully use Google and phone apps to research, study, and manage their time, hence improving their grades.
What does Research Say about Cell Phones in Class Room?
A study published in the Journal of Media Education states that students check their phones and other digital devices about 11 times during classroom hours. The study further noted that students use phones for 20% of the overall class time on activities unrelated to learning. According to a study published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, students with cell phones during learning hours scored 5% lower on exams than those who did not have phones.
Further, a report by the Pew Research Center state that 90% of teens own a Smartphone or have access to one. The study further stated that 50% of teenagers between the age of 13 years and 17 years use Facebook, a lower rate than those who use Snapchat, Instagram, and YouTube. The research also indicates that 45% of teens are online regularly. In this research, 31% of the teens said that smartphones positively affect their lives, while 24% said that phones negatively affect them. Nevertheless, 45% reported that smartphones neither had negative nor positive effects on their lives.
Pros of Cell Phones in Classrooms
Access to Educational Apps
One of the benefits of cell phones is that they offer to learn apps and tools that can help students excel in their studies. Some apps teach students time management, organization, and better study skills. Dictionary and/or Online Thesaurus apps are also crucial since they help children improve their writing and reading.
Access to Digital Learning Groups
Social media networks, which can be accessed through smartphones, provide students with many learning platforms. For example, students can participate in group discussions where they share ideas and thoughts on different subjects. Such platforms are most beneficial to students that are shy in class or are in homeschooling programs.
Digital Materials can Improve Learning.
Students can use their smartphones to explore more resources on topics they learn in class. This may include accessing online discussion groups, videos, news stories, and research journals. If properly utilized, they can improve their understanding of challenging topics, close some learning gaps and boost their confidence in class.
Easy Access to Information
Accessing a topic on a smartphone is easier than accessing the same content in textbooks. Cell phones also provide students with more information about a topic in a simplified manner.
Cons of Cell Phones in Classrooms
Cell phones are distracting when students use them to chat with friends or access sites unrelated to learning during class hours. The distraction affects not just the user but also other students and, eventually, the teachers as they try to control the use of the devices in the classroom.
Students with smartphones can access answers to questions during the exam, leading to cheating. While they may not be caught, constant cheating can affect their learning and understanding abilities in the future. Cheating is also unfair to students who seriously revise and work hard in class.
Cell phones contribute significantly to bullying among students. Cyberbullying is dangerous since it is not as apparent as other forms of bullying. As such, it can be ongoing without the notice of parents and teachers.
A closer look at the pros and cons shows that smartphones can be effective learning tools if well utilized. Schools and parents should set policies and clear guidelines for their proper use. Schools and parents should educate students on how to use their phones positively.
What’s more? Self-discipline is critical in the effective use of smartphones in the classroom.
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Sports are a great way to have fun while staying fit. Sports also teach important life lessons like: working as a team learning how to be a good sport overcoming challenges controlling emotions taking pride in accomplishments But it's not always easy to keep it together when it feels like winning is everything. Having a healthy attitude about sports and learning to deal with the stress that comes with competing can help you perform your best. Check Stress Levels Competing always leads to some stress. And that can be good — a little stress helps the body face a challenge. But too much stress can take the fun out of a sport and make it hard to perform. Besides competing, other things can make athletes feel stressed out, such as: too much pressure from parents or coaches to win having too much on the schedule not wanting to play the sport If you think there might be too much stress around competing, talk to your parents and coach. Making some changes can help, such as: Change your focus from winning to putting in the best effort and having a positive attitude. Take a look at your schedule. If you have too much going on, think about limiting practice time or only doing one sport or activity per season. If you don't want to play the sport anymore, talk to your parents about your feelings and make a decision together. Ways to Deal With Stress in Sports There will always be some stress in sports, so it's important to know how to deal with it. Trying different ways during practice helps you know what will work best for you during competition. You can try: Deep breathing: Take a deep breath and hold it in for about 5 seconds, then release it slowly. Repeat five times. Muscle relaxation: Contract (flex) a group of muscles tightly. Keep them flexed for about 5 seconds, then release. Repeat the exercise five times, then move to a different muscle group. Going to a happy place: Picture a peaceful place or event. Imagine stress flowing away from the body. Visualizing success: Imagine completing a pass, making a shot, or scoring a goal. Mindfulness: Focus on the present instead of worrying about the future or the past. Having a routine: Focus on the routine to keep stress in control. Thinking positively and developing positive self-talk: Say "I learn from my mistakes," "I'm in control of my feelings," "I can make this goal!" to help keep the negative thoughts away. To keep stress levels down when you aren't competing: Eat well and get enough sleep, especially before games. Do something fun and relaxing. Take a break from competing and go for a walk, ride a bike, see a movie, or hang out with friends. Remember, no one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes in sports — it's part of the game. Be quick to forgive mistakes and move on. Sports are about staying active, feeling proud, developing as a player, and making friends. Above all, whether you play on the varsity team or at a weekend pick-up game, the point is to have fun. By keeping that as the priority, you can learn to handle the stress that is a natural part of competition. Back to Articles Related Articles Sportsmanship Some people define good sportsmanship as treating the people that you play with and against as you'd like to be treated yourself. Learn more about what good sportsmanship is all about. Read More Sports and Exercise Safety Playing hard doesn't have to mean getting hurt. The best way to ensure a long and injury-free athletic career is to play it safe from the start. Find out how. Read More Stress There's good stress and bad stress. Find out what's what and learn practical ways to cope in this article. Read More A Guide to Eating for Sports You've prepared for the game in almost every way possible: but now what should you eat? Read about performance foods, nutritional supplements, and more. Read More Sports Center This site has tips on things like preparing for a new season, handling sports pressure, staying motivated, and dealing with injuries. Read More Are Steroids Worth the Risk? Will using steroids transform you into the most powerful athlete your coach has ever seen? Read this article to learn the facts on steroid use. Read More 5 Ways to Prepare for Your Sports Season How can you get ready to play your best season ever? Read these tips for teen athletes. Read More Dealing With Sports Injuries You practiced hard and made sure you wore protective gear, but you still got hurt. Read this article to find out how to take care of sports injuries - and how to avoid getting them. Read More Note: All information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor. © 1995-2021 KidsHealth®. All rights reserved. Images provided by The Nemours Foundation, iStock, Getty Images, Veer, Shutterstock, and Clipart.com.
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Online education is altering the dissemination of information across communities, states, and cultures. With greater Internet accessibility, individuals are more eager than ever for knowledge. It is expanding rapidly, with millions of people of all ages, nationalities, and genders from around the world enrolling in courses.
Individuals may study any fields they want, anytime they need, with the accessibility of the Internet. This article will explore the advantages that led students to favour online education over traditional methods of teaching.
Learning in the digital era
Online learning facilitates students access to well-designed course materials. By combining distance learning with computer technology, online education provides learners with adaptability and engagement in studying.
Students can enrol in an online course and advance at their preference of learning, frequently with self-assessment tools and instantaneous feedback. Using this strategy, you may connect with an expert in a novel and engaging way.
As opposed to reading a book, taking notes, or watching a film, you are in the present with a “live” someone. This experience animates the material. And bringing something to life makes it much simpler to recall.
For a broader perspective of online learning methods, you can visit here.
5 Benefits of online education for students.
Due to technological advancements, the traditional approach to teaching has altered considerably. Various platforms have been developed to facilitate online learning. In addition, top colleges worldwide now offer various online learning programs, allowing more individuals to access education.
Here are some of the benefits of online education for students, including a more convenient learning environment, greater time flexibility, and a broader approach to knowledge.
It’s a flexible educational option
Flexibility is vital in online learning. Students can enrol in any course from the comfort of their homes using the Internet. Students can avoid travel or transportation or wait for the schedule. Online learning enables you to study whenever and wherever you like.
Different methods and styles to choose from
Conveniently, online instruction provides a variety of instructional methods and styles to pick from. When it comes to virtual education, students may select from various practical and efficient learning methods.
Online education includes a variety of teaching methods, including interactive teaching, and gaming-based instruction, among others.
Online education fosters student to think critically.
Online education is the ideal instrument for developing and practising critical thinking skills. It improves our cognitive abilities so that we may interact with difficult circumstances better.
For example, students can pause videos when studying online and searching for further information. The discussion could happen if they learn through synchronous online learning; teachers can answer their questions instantly.
It is not surprising that online courses are gaining popularity among students, business owners, entrepreneurs, startup innovators, and other industry leaders.
Enjoy a broader perspective of diverse topics.
It is typical for students to be taught a subject from a narrow perspective in today’s educational system. Online education broadens the scope of the student’s perspective by delivering information from several professors and resources. Internet-based education provides students with access to more global resources and tutoring.
Widen your networking opportunities
When learning online, you can meet individuals from all over the world who are doing the same course as you. This is because online learning is accessible to people from other nations, which can increase exposure and widen a person’s viewpoint on culture and society.
In addition, online education facilitates connections between students and instructors. This approach exposes students to the many backgrounds, settings, and experiences that other students bring to the course. Equally, exposure to fresh ideas from foreign specialists enhances your creativity and worldwide relevance.
Online education is suitable for everyone, but student must consider their taste and the course they are applying for. To determine if online learning will work for them, they can take free trial courses online to see if it is right for them. Students will decide whether to attend afterwards.
Paris-U is the first liberal arts university for postgraduates to provide an online education approach to students. Students can visit here to learn more about the variety of taught programs.
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“A cup of coffee” can be more than a beverage–it’s a lifeline. Many people claim that they can’t wake up without their morning cup of coffee, others say that they can’t stop drinking it because caffeine is what keeps them creative. And the list of those people is anything but short, containing the names of Honore de Balzac, who drank 50 cups of coffee each day, and Beethoven, who drank his brew made with exactly 60 coffee beans. Not a bean less, nor a single one more.
It is not really known where the history of the coffee begins but there is the world famous legend about Kaldi, a herdsman from Ethiopia who was the first to discover the effects of the coffee beans. According to the legend, around the year 850 AD Kaldi noticed that whenever his sheep ate the red berries that grew on a particular bush, they became excited and more energetic, to the point that they didn’t sleep at night.
One day the herdsman decided to try the red berries himself–and felt the same effects. He then brought the berries to a local monastery, where the monks were convinced that Kaldi had discovered a most unusual fruit.
Soon word of the energizing berries spread and caught the interest of the Galla tribe in Ethiopia. They invented a kind of a power bar that was prepared with clarified butter and the berry. It was the food of the warriors and it apparently made them invincible. Energizing bars based on coffee berries are still a common snack in Sidamo and Kaffa.
However, the first written sources about coffee date from 1000 AD, when the medical purposes of beans are described by the Persian polymath Avicenna. It took 100 years for Arab traders to transport the coffee from Ethiopia to present-day Yemen, where they started cultivating the plant. It appears that the first coffee plantations were created in Yemen, and it was the Arabs who invented the hot black beverage made from the red berry. It was called “qahwa,” which meant “that which prevents sleep.”
If we’re talking legends, then we can rely on one to tell us the first known story about coffee; it originates in the 15th century, when Sheik Gemaleddin Abou Muhammad Bensaid, the Mufti of Aden, visited Ethiopia. At the time he was feeling ill, and a cup of the drink made of coffee beans made him better. He brought the drink, the berries, and the seeds back home to Yemen, where drinking coffee became a custom in the shortest period of time. Everyone loved it, especially those who wanted to stay awake because of working or studying.
By the late 15th century coffee had become a common beverage in the Near East, but the Ottoman Turks had mastered the art of it. They prepared the coffee with cinnamon, anise, cardamon, and cloves. And this spicy version is still available in some places in Turkey. It is no wonder that they drink coffee after coffee when they prepare each cup with so much love and attention.
Coffee shops were opened all around Constantinople, and functioned as the center of people’s gatherings, political debates, discussions, and critical thoughts. All around were cups of coffee. It became so deeply incorporated into the Turkish culture that a law was created that gave any woman the freedom to divorce her husband if he didn’t provide her with the necessary amount of coffee. It might sound crazy, but any coffee lover would easily understand it.
For a brief period in the early 16th century, coffee was banned. The Governor of Mecca, Khayr Bey, feared that the lively discussions that took place in the coffee shops all around, every day, might decrease the power of his word and enforce the critical thoughts of people who…drank coffee together. So he shut down all coffee shops. And there might have been a coffee revolution if the Sultan of Cairo had not intervened, defending coffee as sacred to his people and their culture.
Coffee culture spread around Europe with the spread of the Ottoman Empire. What is known as Turkish coffee is still present in the Balkans, while in Europe the art of coffee flourished, leading to those other dimensions known today as espresso, macchiato, cappuccino, etc. However, when coffee was introduced in Venice by the Turkish traders, it was denounced as the “bitter invention of Satan” by the Venetian clergy, who tried to ban it again. But Pope Clement VIII reportedly could not resist the obscure charms of the drink.
Read another story from us: A brief history of the Rainbow Flag
There have been three other attempts to ban the drinking of coffee that proved fruitless. In the end, everyone loved coffee, from Kaldi’s sheep to the Pope. Today, coffee is the fourth most consumed beverage in the world, ranking after water, milk, and tea.
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What does it mean to be linked?
What does it mean to be linked?
Linking (from English to link connect, connect) stands for: hyperlink, linking of web files. Link (computer), English link or shortcut, links to objects, resources or places.
What should be considered when using links on websites?
If the content you want to link to is freely accessible, you can do so at any time. In the so-called Paperboy decision, the BGH ruled that the setting of a link to a third-party site does not constitute an act relevant to copyright or competition law.
What is a disclaimer site?
Literally translated, the verb means to deny or deny. It is therefore obvious that the term disclaimer in Internet law represents an exclusion of liability. It is regularly placed in the imprint on websites. In doing so, he makes it clear that he is denying (civil) legal liability.
Is a disclaimer necessary?
In any case, such a disclaimer is neither necessary to “secure” existing copyrights, nor is it suitable for establishing copyright protection for content that is not worthy of protection (e.g. too flat descriptive text that does not reach the level of originality required for copyright protection).
Who is responsible for a website?
In principle, there are always two responsible bodies for a website, with largely disjunctive areas of responsibility. The operator is responsible for the actual content of the website, i.e. the published information, the web host is responsible for the (technical) availability of the website.
What must legally be on a website?
The legislator has mainly defined in § 5 TMG which information the imprint must contain. The identity of the website operator must be disclosed, i.e. in the case of a legal entity the company, legal form, address and full name of the authorized representative.
What has to be on a website?
Every business website requires a so-called “imprint” with information on the identity and contact details of the website provider. The imprint should appear on a separate subpage as a recurring link labeled “Imprint”.
What must be in the imprint of a website?
An imprint contains a summonsable address of the owner of a website so that legal claims against him can be enforced in court. The obligation for the so-called “provider identification” (imprint obligation) results from § 5 TMG and § 55 RStV.
What has to go into the imprint 2020?
What must be stated in the imprint? The site operator’s full name, address and contact information. Companies must also state the legal form and, if available, the VAT ID and the entry in the register.
How do I set up my own homepage?
Steps to creating a website Decide what content you need for your website. Choose the best website builder or CMS for your project. Create the content (e.g. text and images) for each page. Add your website content and optimize SEO.
How to create your own website for free?
Build a website with Wix’s free website builder in just 5 easy steps: Sign up for a free Wix account. Choose the type of website you want to create. Answer a few simple questions and let Wix ADI build you a website.
How do I program my own website?
In order to learn how to program a website, you must at least learn HTML and CSS languages. HTML and CSS ensure that the website is displayed correctly. If you want to program a dynamic website, then you should also know PHP and SQL.
How do I create a website for free?
Build your website for free in just a few stepsCreate your Jimdo account.Click on “New website”.Design your website step by step in your browser, without additional software.Choose a design and determine the look exactly the way you want.Done!
What do you need for your own website?
What you need to create a websiteGet a domain name. Choose a hosting provider. Communicate professionally with your own email address. Build your site. Use an SSL certificate.
How long does it take to create a website?
For a standard HTML website with a size of approx. 15 pages, you can expect a duration of approx. 1-3 weeks, depending on the scope of the design and the frequency of changes.
Visit the rest of the site for more useful and informative articles!
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Lobster is a big deal up in Maine where they catch a bunch of the gross looking critters and then ship them all around the country for folks to boil up and eat. Maine also apparently cans lots of lobster too and the shells left over from that canning are generally tossed in the trash.
The University of Maine has found a way to put those lobster shells to use – and the use for them is an obvious choice. OK, it’s not really obvious, it’s actually rather odd. The researchers found a way to use those lobster shells to make golf balls; more specifically, golf balls that are biodegradable. The shells are held together with a biodegradable binder and coating. Presumably they will just melt away to lobster dust over time in the environment.
The balls sell for a bit under $1 each and cost 19 cents to make. The catch is that the balls don’t fly as far as a normal ball, and if don’t wrap them with rubber bands they might pinch your finger off.
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Create your free survey, form or poll now
What are “Likert Scales” questions
When surveyors want to measure respondents’ attitudes or behaviours, Likert scale questions are very popular choices. A Likert Scale reliably measures people’s attitudes and behaviours by giving them several selection choices, associated with items they can choose from.
You have definitely seen questions with scaled answers such as “Not at all likely <— to —> Extremely likely”. These are typically used in Likert Scale questions.
As mentioned before, Likert Scale questions consist of several items that respondents express their opinions about. These are called “Likert Items”, and should not be confused with the “Likert Scale” itself.
Likert Scale questions are reliable and great tools, because they enable you to get an image of degrees of people’s opinions; unlike a simple “yes / no”, or other rating question types. Such questions will empower you to identify areas that need improvements, and also measure challenging topics.
However, to create these questions correctly and gather highest quality of data, we recommend you to read the following guide. Also, you can find more information about how to use our Liker Scale feature in our user guide.
Making reports with Likert Scale questions
Traditionally, researchers make a sum of all items’ scores in each Likert Scale question, to evaluate a specific trait (e.g. is the participant generally “Satisfied” or “Dissatisfied”, after a purchasing experience). For a deeper analysis, researchers may cross-tabulate the score mean with contributing factors.
The word “Scale” used in the name, refers to the total sum of all Likert Items used in the question. For example, in a question with 5 Likert Items and 4 Selection Choices, each item has answers from 1 to 5, but the scale for this question is between 4 to 20. Four is the sum of all items, if all of them get 1 point from a respondent; and 20 is the sum, if all get 5 pints.
Making Likert Scales correctly
Ask about the same topic
Likert Scaled questions are useful for overall measurements about specific topics, opinions, or categories; when all items in the same question are related to each other.
But if you use a mixture of unrelated items in the same survey, keep in mind that you are not making a Likert Scaled question, therefore, you cannot use the total score of that question as a reliable data source. You may have other intentions for mixing the questions and combining them into one; but be carefully with analysing the data.
Use “labels” instead of “numbers”
It might be easier for you to evaluate the answers, by calculating numbers. But for respondents it is very hard to relate to numbers when they are trying to answer your questions.
For example, when you ask about the quality of different aspects of your service, it is easier to let the respondents choose an item between these labels (Poor, Fair, Good, Very good, Excellent), than asking them to choose a number between 1 to 5.
Use odd options
Scales with an odd number of values have a midpoint, which makes them easier to analyse (e.g. 0 to 2, or 1 to 7).
Avoid giving more than 7 options
Studies show that giving more than 7 choices to respondents in Likert Scale questions may result in low quality data. The reason is that people tend to choose a random answer, when there are too many choices. Perhaps because it is usually hard for most people to keep a meaningful concept of more than 7 items in their short memory.
Include all possible answers
Scales should cover the entire span of responses. For example, if a question asks “How delicious was our ice-cream?” and the answers range from “Extremely delicious” to “Moderately delicious”, respondents who think your ice-cream was “Not delicious at all”, do not have the right choice and cannot answer correctly.
When formulating the response options, make sure that the logical distance between scale points is equal.
This can be difficult when using words instead of numbers. If you need some inspirations about different ways of making Likert-type response options for different topic, we recommend you to have a look at the following guide. This will help you easily choose the right wording and phrasing for each subject.
Using N/A choices
Sometimes, researchers provide an extra selection choice for respondents who do not have any specific opinion about the Liker Items presented. This extra item is phrased differently, but usually is written as “N/A”, “Not sure”, “Not sure yet”, “Does not apply”, or similar.
Earlier, we talked about using “labels” instead of “numbers” for selection choices, but we also mentioned that selection choices are scaled, and therefore each choice would get a specific number which is used to calculate the sum of all items in the degree.
However, there is no reason to show these numbers to the respondents and they should be used when you analyse the data and make your survey reports. One additional reason for not showing any numbers to respondents is that there are no rules for choosing the number in your scale. In some cases, you may want to use 0 as “Strongly disagree” and “10” as “Completely agree”. So your data have a natural but unseen midpoint and a base 10 foundation.
But if you add the extra choice of N/A to your responses, you usually do not need to give it a number (11 in this case). Keep in mind that this “undecided” states are not usually considered as real options. This is usually just a way for respondents to skip answering, if they don’t feel they have or know the right answer.
All in all, it is up to you how to analyse these collected data. In some situation, for example if you write “I don’t know” or “I don’t want to say” for your N/A choices, respondents answer to that question may bear an interpretable meaning.
Need to know more?
With SurveyLegend, you easily can make Likert Scale questions which are responsive and can beautifully adjust even to small screen of mobile phones. You can have literally unlimited number of response choices, and even add pictures to your Likert Scale questions. Have a look at our user guide, and learn more about all your legendary powers ; )
Learn to make Likert Scale questions…
Also, writing Likert-type responses (selection choices) can sometimes be tricky. It is important to formulate your selection choices correctly, when you need to get an overall measurement of a particular topic, opinion or experience from your survey respondents. The following guide will give you a useful set of examples for Likert-type responses, covering different topics.
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The Importance of Pet Exams from Animal Health and Medical Center
The vast majority of pet owners would not hesitate to bring their pets to see us if they were sick or injured; however, we also want to see pets when they are healthy. Just like people, it is important pets have regular checkups. There are several reasons why visits to our veterinary facility are so important. At the Animal Health and Medical Center, our veterinary professionals are here to serve the pets of Abilene.
The Importance of Pet Exams
It is important for pets to see the vet at least once per year. If your pet is younger, they need to come more often. In addition to making sure your pet is growing and developing appropriately, prevention through annual or regular pet exams can help indicate signs of injuries and illnesses before they occur. Unlike people, pets cannot speak to us when something is wrong. Therefore, they need to have an annual exam.
Topics Covered at an Annual Exam
During an annual exam, we will perform the usual physical exam, but we also discuss a variety of important topics. Some of the topics the vet will mention include:
- Dental Health: The vast majority of pets will have a dental disease at some point in their life. It is important to make sure dental care is controlled. Otherwise, this can lead to serious issues not only orally but can lead to fatal issues for your pet.
- Behavior: We know that many pet owners have concerns about the way their furry friend is behaving. This visit is a perfect time to discuss these topics. Sometimes, your pet’s behavior can be a sign of health issues that have occurred.
- Nutrition and Exercise: While obesity is a major problem in people, it is also a concern among pets. This is a chance for the veterinary team to review the pet’s diet and make sure that they are exercising as they should.
These are a few of the most important topics that are covered at a pet wellness exam.
Come and visit the Animal Health and Medical Center Today
At the Animal Health and Medical Center, we are here to serve the pets of Abilene. At our veterinary center, we are led by Dr. Allen Bolt and we are happy to take care of you and your pet. At our medical center, your pet is our top priority. Call (325) 695-7140 today to make an appointment!
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Mold on drywall or inside walls is common anywhere moisture or condensation is present. When moisture is present in drywall mold and fungus can form over a short period of time.
Finding Mold on Walls in Metro Vancouver
In most cases mold on walls or drywall will show water staining or greyish black discolouration if mold is present on the surface. Mold may be hidden inside the wall or on the back side of the drywall if the moisture source is coming from behind or above. This mold may be difficult to detect. Mold growth on drywall or inside walls can be the result of numerous sources. These include building envelope issues, roof failure or elevated humidity levels. Mold on walls can quickly become an indoor air quality problem if not addressed.
Assessing Drywall Mold
ABM Environmental can examine the area to quickly determine if there is mold present and the source of the mold. First, a thermal imaging camera scans the area of concern. This quickly and accurately locates sources of moisture. Moisture in the area is measured to determine if there is an active water source present within the building. Relative humidity in various areas of the building are mapped and the ventilation systems are assessed to determine if they are functioning properly.
Testing Drywall Mold
Surface mold tests can find the species of mold present. Air samples can be taken to determine the levels of mold in the air. ABM Environmental uses state of the art testing equipment to sample the air. Even mold hidden behind walls or floors can be detected in the air sample. We identify the different types of mold and determine the exact quantity of mold in the air.
Mold Drywall Solutions Vancouver BC
ABM Environmental specializes in assessing mold and moisture problems on drywall and inside walls. Call us for a free phone consultation at (604) 568-5177 or fill out the Online Assessment Form to receive more information. See Mold Inspections & Testing to learn more about the ABM Environmental mold inspection process.
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Under Chinese law, employment conflicts include disagreements with employees over issues such as termination or dismissal, wage and benefits, and adherence to working hours, leave, and other worker safeguards.
Labor disputes in China are becoming reasons for employers to terminate contracts with employees, but this can only cause more problems with the Chinese law because this one protects more the employees than the employers.
Avoiding the risks of having a labor dispute is now becoming increasingly important for foreign companies having a business in China.
What is a labor dispute in China?
A labor dispute is when a disagreement arises between two parties in an organization, usually the employer and the employee.
The labor dispute in China can involve different things but usually, it is related to salary, benefits, taxes, leaves, conditions of employment, hours worked.
Companies’ underestimating or ignorance of China’s labor rules frequently leads to labor disputes.
Employers may save a lot of time and money by staying up to date on China’s labor laws and taking the necessary procedures to avoid labor disputes.
When businesses arrive in China, they are anxious to hire employees and get up and running.
Unfortunately, companies’ enthusiasm to hire people might lead to them failing to take the necessary precautions when creating employment contracts.
Including all essential information in the contract will go a long way toward avoiding misunderstandings and perhaps costly labor disputes.
It’s vital to note that in China, the burden of proof is always placed on the employer in the event of a dispute.
Types and causes of labor dispute in China
The majority of labor disputes fall into one of two categories:
- Interest disputes: These are conflicts that result from differences in interests, like as pay, bonuses, and vacation time.
- Workplace disputes: These are conflicts that develop as a result of workplace expectations such as fair compensation, working conditions, and opportunity.
In order to resolve a labor dispute in China, it’s critical to determine what’s causing it. The following are some of the most typical reasons for labor conflicts:
- Economic causes: these are mainly related to the salary, bonuses, and working conditions in general.
- Psychological causes: these causes can also bring difficult situations to handle for the employer. Differences in motivation, lack of appreciation, and feelings of not being treated in a fair way are all examples of these causes.
- Management causes: communication problems with the management, concerns about job security, differences in leadership styles are reasons why labor disputes are started.
Disagreements about salary expectations are one of the most common reasons of labor disputes.
Compensation is the monetary value assigned to an employee’s work. Different remuneration expectations or appraisals between the employer and the employee can lead to labor conflicts.
How to avoid labor disputes
A labor dispute is the last thing any business owner wants, especially when things are going well and sales are up.
You must realize that most labor conflicts are caused by a breakdown in communication, and that a positive two-way dialogue will almost certainly assist you in reaching an acceptable resolution.
I want to give you some tips that will help you to avoid a labor dispute in China:
1) Provide your employees with the resources they require to complete their tasks
Who is to blame if your personnel are unable to complete the task because they lack the necessary tools (or training)? Before assigning the next task, double-check that the necessary equipment is on hand.
2) Evaluate wages and salaries
Ensure that they are in accordance with current market trends and that inflation patterns are followed.
3) Provide a clear employment contract
Employment contracts are mandatory in China since 2008 and not having them can result in problems with the law and the employees. You have to make sure that employment contracts are also correctly filed and stored.
4) Provide the employee handbook
The employee handbook is a document that the firm provides to new employees before they begin work. It contains information on the company’s culture, rules, regulations, and processes, as well as employee rights and responsibilities.
5) Deal properly with overtime and leaves
Leaves and overtime work are often cause of labor dispute. Be clear in the contract and handbook about these regulations and put in place actions to request approval for leaves and overtime.
Mediation is the first step of a labor dispute
If a labor dispute arises within a company, either the employer or the employee may seek mediation assistance.
The article 10 of the chapter 2 of the Labor Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Law states that when a labor dispute arises, the parties may apply for mediation to the following mediation institutions:
- labor-dispute mediation commissions of enterprises;
- people’s mediation institutions at the grass-roots level established in accordance with law;
- organizations with the function of labor-dispute mediation established in towns, townships or neighborhoods.
The labor-dispute mediation commission of an enterprise shall be composed of representatives of employees and of the enterprise. The representatives of employees shall be trade union members or be chosen by all employees, and the representatives of the enterprise shall be designated by the leading person of the enterprise.
Any mediation agreement(s) must be documented in writing and signed (or stamped with an official seal) by the employer, the relevant employee, and the mediator, and this will be legally binding upon the parties.
Arbitration in China
Under the labor dispute law in China, the parties to a labor dispute can choose to go straight to arbitration instead of going through the mediation process.
Alternatively, a labor dispute may be resolved first through mediation and then through arbitration if the following conditions are met:
- The parties failed to reach a mediation agreement within 15 days of the corresponding mediation committee’s acceptance of their application for mediation assistance.
- Any parties fail to carry out their obligations under a Mediation Resolution
The New Labor Dispute Law makes the outcome of arbitration for two types of labor disputes (the “Expedited Type,” as defined below) immediately effective and enforceable upon the issuance of the related arbitration ruling.
The Expedited Types of disputes are:
- Labor disputes involving the failure to pay an employee earned work compensation or other incurred economic loss, or to pay for any damage corresponding to an employee’s work-related bodily injury or any related loss if the amount of the dispute is less than or equal to the local annual minimum wage.
- Labor disputes over the implementation of national work time, break time, vacation, or social insurance rules.
The role of trade unions in China
In China, every worker has the right to create or join a trade union. However, that right is severely limited because all enterprise unions must be linked with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, which is a legally mandated organisation (ACFTU).
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is the People’s Republic of China’s national trade union center. With 302 million members in 1,713,000 primary trade union groups, it is the world’s largest trade union. There are 31 regional federations and ten national industrial unions that make up the ACFTU.
The ACFTU is organized into a hierarchy of local and regional union federations that follows the Party’s and government’s organization.
Local trade union officials, in conjunction with management, usually form enterprise unions (the grassroots enterprise unions at the bottom of the above chart), rather than the employees.
Enterprise unions are more like social welfare groups than true trade unions that serve the interests of their members.
In recent years, the Chinese government has noticed inequality in the treatment of workers and it has called for reforms also in the ACFTU to try to improve the organization and how the officials carry out their work.
Specifically, the reform initiative had two main goals:
- remove four barriers to the ACFTU’s work: regimentation, bureaucratization, elitism, and frivolity;
- strengthen the organization’s three good attributes: political awareness, progressiveness, and public legitimacy.
To minimize labor disputes when doing business in China, it is critical for a firm to foresee and build up a comprehensive personnel management system, which includes entering into official labor contracts with employees and getting certificates for international employees operating in China, creating a clear employee handbook and pay social security and housing fund for employees.
I hope this article helped you to understand more about the risks of a labor dispute in China and how to avoid them.
Contact us if you need help to hire and manage HR for your employees in China!
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The 1929 Plane-Train Hybrid That Almost Was
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a… railplane?
George Bennie wanted to revolutionize transport. In 1920, while examining an early engine, he decided that trains would move more efficiently if they abandoned coal power for propellers. Further: he wanted this new vehicle to ride above the ground, so that other traffic could not slow it down.
Nine years later, in the heat of a massive advertising blitz, Bennie began testing his eponymous George Bennie Railplane outside of Glasgow. Two propellers, one on each side, pushed the Railplane, while two bogies—frameworks with wheels, also known as “trucks”—attached to the top rail held it in place. A series of electric motors provided the power. To brake, the propellers would be reversed, and the Railplane would slow to a halt.
Though the test track proved too small to allow such speeds, Bennie estimated that, in full operation, his invention could reach 120 miles per hour, meaning that the Railplane could shuttle passengers between Glasgow and Edinburgh in 20 minutes—quite a feat, considering even today that trip takes 50 minutes by train.
There were also plans to extend the Railplane into London, even into Paris. One such proposal boasted a three-and-a-half hour trip between London and Glasgow—two hours faster than it takes by rail today.
The fact that Bennie planned to build his Railplane above existing train lines would have also minimized both the cost and the environmental implications of the project, and would have allowed Railplane passengers to avoid the congestion caused by freight trains on the more typical rail lines.
Bennie’s Railplane even promised luxury: it had carpets, plush chairs, carpets, and curtained, stained-glass windows.
But the project never received the financing it needed to take off. Apparently, one reason is that railroad companies feared Bennie’s invention was too efficient, and they fretted over the potential revenue hit their other lines would take.
By 1937, Bennie had spent all of his own money promoting the Railplane, eventually going into bankruptcy. Though the test track has since been scrapped, the shed in which the Railplane was first built still stands today—with a plaque in Bennie’s honor.
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Communication is vital for us to carry out our daily activities. Anything that hinders the passing of information efficiently is a barrier. A barrier can be caused by a couple of things. Firstly it's the environmental barriers, semantic barriers, socio-psychological barriers, and physiological barriers. This paper will emphasize the physiological barriers in communication. Physiology relates to how well our body mechanisms function. If our body mechanism is not functioning optimally it can lead to difficulty in communication. As such, physiological barriers in communication can be defined as the inability of an individual to pass information to another person due to his physical condition. The physical condition here relates to performing bodily functions. They include sensory and physical dysfunction. For information to be imparted effectively, the senses of the sender and receiver should function congruously (Abdin, 2013). For instance, if anybody part of an individual is not functioning the information will not reach the recipient.
Causes of physiological barriers in communication
If the person responsible for hearing the communication is impaired aurally then it means he cannot acquire the audio message. The same applies to the sender. If the sender is aurally impaired he will not be in a position to receive any audio feedback. As such this condition is a major impediment to productive communication.
Visual impairment is also another form of physiological barrier that can impact communication. Eye contact plays a pivotal role when communicating. It is quite for one to read the mind of the receiver or sender to see if he has understood the message passed. Visual impairment can be caused by conditions such as myopia.
We also have speech disorder as an obstacle to communication. As a tool of communication, speech plays a significant role in communicating. Some of the orders make fluidity of communication difficult while in others one cannot communicate all together. For information to be received and interpreted well, it needs to be clear. A disorder like stuttering will interfere with clarity. Example of speech disorders includes muteness and apraxia.
Selective perception is another form of physiological barrier to communication. It relates to an individual state of mind during the time of communication. One might have been undergoing emotional trauma thus cannot intercept or pass the information efficiently. An individual mind tends to stray away in such a situation. For instance, when one is in involved in a car accident and the police are inquiring information from him, he might be disoriented. The above scenarios can hamper communication.
Some other individuals have a poor memory. They cannot retain what they have been told for long. Such people will forget to send back feedback as they have forgotten it altogether. As such, retaining information is key for communication to take place smoothly. Lastly, we have the physical condition aspect. It is also a physiological barrier to communication as it interferes with the functioning of the body mechanism. When one is suffering from an ailment he cannot communicate fluidly. Some organs which are key in communication might have been affected by the disease. When one is sick the method via which communication is passed can be changed thus affecting the quality of information. Also, when one has a sore throat the clarity of the voice is affected thus the recipient might not get the required information.
Abdin, J. (2013). The Barriers of Communication & Guidance of Effective Communication. SSRN Electronic Journal. Doi: 10.2139/ssrn.1133343
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At the end of apartheid in 1994, only 36% of households in South Africa were electrified, with almost all white households having electric power and most Black households having no access to electricity. Ten years later, more than 80% of households were electrified. This was an important achievement, albeit one that mostly left out the residents of the rapidly growing shantytowns across the country.
But this progress came to a halt in 2007 when South Africa first began to endure “load shedding”, which is cutting power supply to different areas on a rotational basis. Load shedding, implemented when the state-owned electricity company Eskom is unable to provide power to the whole country and the electricity grid needs to be kept stable, seems to have reached a new nadir in recent days with most areas going without power for up to 12 hours a day. There have been warnings that total blackouts may be necessary.
Eskom has been unable to provide a stable supply of electricity for 15 years due to a lack of investment in keeping infrastructure up to date and its poor maintenance, a period of plunder under the kleptocratic regime of former President Jacob Zuma, and a longstanding state austerity program that has resulted in general disinvestment from state-owned companies.
The energy crisis has been very damaging to an economy already reeling from socially devastating deindustrialisation, state austerity, and the increasing hold of political mafias over economic life. It has been estimated that load shedding has led to the economy losing R500 billion (just over $28 billion) since 2018, working out to about R1 billion per stage, per day.
South Africa has much higher rates of electricity connections compared to the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, where about 90% of the children who are able to afford a primary school education attend schools that do not have electricity. But with load shedding causing power to be off for much of the day, many people in South Africa can often face similar conditions to those living in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. Given that South Africa is currently the most unequal country in the world, the deepening energy crisis further widens the gulf between the rich and the poor, with the latter being overwhelmingly Black and comprising a largely female population.
According to the latest reports, more than 30.4 million people in South Africa live below the poverty line, out of a current population of 60.6 million. About 50% of the population lives on R1,335 a month, or approximately US$75 a month. The basic cost of electricity for a low-income household is approximately between R1,100 and R1,500, which is already higher than what half the population subsists on.
Along with widespread food insecurity, it is likely that the same population of more than 30 million South Africans also concurrently experience “energy poverty”, a term used to describe a situation in which electricity, gas and other sources of energy bills make up a larger percentage of the household expenditure, making it difficult for South Africans to cover other costs such as food, rent, and clothing.
Also, the reduced use of energy in households and workplaces has a negative impact on their physical and mental health. In shack settlements, the lack of electricity has long meant that people cook using candles and gas to light up their homes while living in cramped conditions resulting in regular fires, which are often devastating. With frequent load shedding, fires are now likely to become more common in other types of housing also.
Moreover, South Africa had the eighth highest murder rate in the world in 2020, and the fourth highest rate of gender-based violence in the world, according to 2016 figures. The increased hours of load shedding and the radical decrease of access to electrification will make this pervasive violence worse. A 2017 study carried out in Brazil on the socioeconomic impact of electrification found that it results in a significant decrease in gender-based violence due to better lighting in public spaces.
The burden of social reproduction has always largely fallen on the shoulders of women. Access to electricity can reduce this. An important 2021 study, titled “Powering Households and Empowering Women”, found that by freeing up women’s time, poverty is reduced by creating opportunities for women and girls to develop livelihoods, enter the labour force, or focus on school. It can also reduce exposure to harmful indoor air pollutants, improve maternal health, and reduce gender-based violence.
Demand for the resolution of the electricity crisis has been one of the few issues that have helped bring the poor, the working class, and the middle class together. But, so far, the demands for the resolution of the crisis are not well organised and have been met with little more than platitudes by the ruling elites, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The African National Congress’s (ANC) commitment to neoliberal austerity has meant that there is insufficient investment in the state electricity company. Their only proposal is to move from state-owned coal-fired power stations, which are highly polluting, to privately owned renewable forms of energy. Currently, one of the best-placed people to benefit from this is the president’s billionaire brother-in-law, Patrice Motsepe, given his investments in renewable energy.
Trade unions in South Africa have insisted that while a move to renewables is welcomed, undertaking it via privatisation will raise the costs of electric power for the poor and the working class and result in a bias toward serving the needs of the capitalists and the rich. They have proposed that renewables should be socially owned and managed.
The proposals from the unions have been ignored, austerity continues, and there has been minimal movement toward private electricity production. The situation is one of stasis.
Experts believe that very high rates of economically and socially damaging load shedding are likely to continue for at least the next three to four years. Many analysts have argued that this is likely to hit the ruling ANC very hard in the next presidential election, scheduled for 2024. A crisis in terms of electric power could lead to a loss of political power. With right-wing and xenophobic parties rapidly advancing, this is not cause for easy optimism.
South Africa will not move into the light until the social value of access to electricity is affirmed. The proposal by the trade unions for a shift to socially owned and managed renewable energy is the best option on the table. We need a solution that is for the majority and not the few.
[This article was produced by Globetrotter. Vashna Jagarnath is an academic, director of Pan Africa Today, deputy general secretary of the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party, and works in the office of the general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa.]
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The hardest wood in America is hickory. Hickory is a hardwood that is difficult to work with and is often used in the construction of cabinets and furniture. The wood is also used for smoking meats and making charcoal.
Thuja Plicata. A real giant of a tree, available in wide boards and very easy to work
The Thuja Plicata, also known as the Western Red Cedar, is one of the hardest woods in America. It is a real giant of a tree, and its wide boards are very easy to work with. The Thuja Plicata is native to the Pacific Northwest region of North America, and it is one of the most popular trees in that area. The tree can grow to be over 200 feet tall, and its trunk can be up to 12 feet in diameter. The Thuja Plicata has a deep red color that makes it one of the most beautiful woods available. It is also one of the most durable woods, and it is resistant to rot and decay.
Alnus glutinosa, also known as alder, is a deciduous hardwood tree native to North America. Alder is one of the hardest woods in America and is often used in construction and furniture making. The wood is hard and dense, with a fine grain that makes it resistant to wear and tear. It’s also easy to work with, making it a popular choice for carpenters and woodworkers.
The flowers are in cory mbs of ten to 25 blooms together; they are yellowish-green and lack petals; flowering occurs in early spring before the leaves emerge. The fruit is a pair of samaras 3 cm (1¼ in) long by 2 cm (⅔ in) broad on long pendulous stems; they spin as they fall and can be dispersed up to 180 m (600 ft). Sugar maples typically grow best on well-drained soils that are slightly acidic though it can tolerate many different soil types including heavy clay soils as long as there is good drainage. It thrives in full sun though it will also tolerate some shade especially when young which makes it an excellent choice for planting beneath power lines where other trees would quickly outgrow them.
Sugar maple prefers mesic conditions which means that it does not like extremely dry or wet conditions. It will grow well even on sites that receive only 500 mm (20 inches) of annual precipitation but requires more than 700 mm (28 inches) for best growth especially if site conditions are hot and dry. In terms .
Swietenia macrophylla is one of the primary commercial sources of mahogany timber grown in Latin America. It is classified as “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List due to overexploitation leading to population declines throughout its range.
Teak wood has been used in India for centuries for making furniture, boats, and other wooden items. The wood is very strong and durable, resistant to rot and insect attack. Teak is also used for making outdoor furniture because it does not splinter or crack easily from exposure to the sun or rain.
Indian laurel is a wood that is prized for its strength and durability. It is often used in construction and furniture making because of its resistance to rot and insects. Indian laurel is also one of the heaviest woods, which makes it ideal for use in outdoor applications where weight is a factor. The wood has a dark brown color with a grain that is typically straight and consistent.
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Heuristic (adjective): relating to or based on experience or trial and error.
In computing, a heuristic is an approach to problem solving that employs a simplified, trial-and-error method in order to find a solution that is fast and effective, but not necessarily optimal. Heuristics are typically used when an exact, step-by-step method is not feasible or when no known algorithm exists for solving the problem at hand.
Heuristics are often used by computer programs to quickly find a solution that is good enough, even though it may not be the best possible solution. For example, a heuristic might be used to quickly find a route between two points on a map, even though there may be a more efficient route that could be found with more time and resources.
Heuristics can be either general or specific. A general heuristic is a broad, rule-of-thumb approach that can be applied to a wide range of problems. A specific heuristic is a more narrow, targeted approach that is designed for a specific type of problem.
Heuristics can be either deterministic or probabilistic. A deterministic heuristic always produces the same results for a given input, while a probabilistic heuristic produces results that are not always the same but are often close to the optimal solution.
Heuristics can be either static or dynamic. A static heuristic is one that does not What is the heuristic meaning? The heuristic meaning is the meaning that is conveyed by a heuristic. A heuristic is a rule of thumb or an intuitive judgment that is used to make a decision. Heuristics are often used when precise calculations are not possible or when they are too time-consuming.
What are the 3 types of heuristics?
There are three types of heuristics:
1. Algorithmic heuristics: These are heuristics that are based on an algorithm, or a set of rules, that can be followed to solve a problem.
2. Heuristic functions: These are mathematical functions that can be used to evaluate the quality of a solution to a problem.
3. Heuristic search: This is a type of search that uses heuristics to guide the search process.
What does heuristic mean in psychology?
A heuristic is a mental shortcut that allows us to make decisions quickly and efficiently. Heuristics are often used when we don't have time to think through all the options, or when the decision is relatively unimportant.
There are a few different types of heuristics that psychologists have identified:
1. The availability heuristic is when we base our decision on the information that is easiest to recall. For example, when asked to estimate the percentage of African countries that are members of the United Nations, we are more likely to overestimate the number because we can easily think of a few African countries that are members (e.g., Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria).
2. The representativeness heuristic is when we judge something to be more likely if it is similar to something else we know. For example, we might think that a student who is quiet and studious is more likely to be a good student, even if we don't know anything else about them.
3. The anchoring heuristic is when we rely too heavily on the first piece of information we receive when making a decision. For example, if we are asked to estimate the percentage of African countries that are members of the United Nations, and we are given the number 10%, we are likely to anchor our estimate to that number, and not consider other possible estimates.
4. The sunk cost fallacy is when we continue to invest in something, even though it
What is another word for heuristic?
There is no one word that has the same meaning as heuristic, but there are several words that have similar meanings, such as:
What is the opposite meaning of heuristic? The opposite meaning of heuristic would be "algorithmic." Heuristic refers to a method of problem-solving that is based on making decisions that are not necessarily optimal, but are good enough to arrive at a solution. Algorithmic refers to a method of problem-solving that is based on a set of rules that guarantee an optimal solution.
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The term sleep hygiene was coined by the psychologist Peter J. Hauri in 1977, as a term for the good habits that help a person get the right amount of good-quality sleep. Principles of sleep hygiene revolve around avoiding stress and distractions at bedtime, avoiding things that could disrupt your sleep, and keeping regular, consistent routines that can remind your body when it’s time to sleep.
What Is Sleep Hygiene
Risk Factors For Sleep Hygiene
It’s up to you to take care of your own sleep hygiene, but poor sleep habits may not always be your fault. Many people develop bad sleep habits because of circumstances in their lives such as college, a change in work schedule, or the birth of a new child. Common influences in your life that could disrupt your sleep habits include:
- Stress at work or at home, including both ordinary stresses such as a tight deadline and major events such as a divorce or the death of a loved one. Stressful events may also include some happy occasions, such as planning a wedding.
- A changing schedule at work or at home.
- Travel to a different time zone or an unfamiliar location.
- Stimulants, such as coffee, caffeinated sodas, tea, or cigarettes.
- Alcohol, which may help you fall asleep but can make your sleep less restful.
Diagnosing Sleep Hygiene
If you need to improve your sleep hygiene, the best indicator may be that you’re tired during the daytime. You don’t need a diagnosis from a doctor to start developing healthy habits, but a visit to a doctor may help you make sure that the problem with your sleep isn’t caused by a medical issue, such as sleep apnea or restless legs syndrome.
If you go to your doctor, the visit may start with questions about your sleep habits and possible causes that may disrupt your sleep, such as stress at work or disorder in the home. A physical exam may be necessary to check for medical problems. Your doctor may also ask you to keep track of your sleep habits and patterns in a sleep diary. In a few cases, an overnight sleep study may be necessary, although sleep studies aren’t usually required when sleep hygiene is the only issue.
Symptoms of Sleep Hygiene
The main symptom of poor sleep hygiene is trouble sleeping at night. You may have trouble getting to sleep, or you might wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep. Alternately, you may have an irregular sleep pattern, where you go to bed at different times from one night to the next, and you can’t predict when you will wake up in the morning.
Trouble sleeping often leads to being unusually tired during the day. This can lead to changes in mood or other symptoms, such as:
- Low energy
- Trouble concentrating
- Daytime naps
Your body needs sleep to function properly. Failing to get enough sleep can lead to serious health problems. Over time, inadequate sleep hygiene may lead to serious health problems, such as depression, heart disease, and diabetes. Missing sleep can also put you at risk for serious accidents. Drowsy driving kills 1,500 people every year in the United States.
One study found that people who sleep less than 6 hours per night or rely on sleeping pills die at an earlier age, on average, than those who get 7 hours of sleep per night.
Living With Sleep Hygiene
Improving your sleep hygiene is largely a matter of changing your own habits. Your doctor can make suggestions, and refer you to a cognitive therapist or other help if you have a lot of trouble getting on track, but your sleep hygiene is mostly up to you. Here are some things you can do to improve your sleep hygiene:
- Stay on a sleep schedule. Go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning–even on weekends. This helps you train your body’s internal clock to know when it’s time to sleep and when to wake up.
- Keep a bedtime routine. Even run-of-the-mill routines like brushing your teeth can help tell your body that it’s time to sleep, if you make sure to do the same thing every night. If you still have trouble sleeping, try something that relaxes you, such as yoga, a hot bath, or reading a good book, every night before bedtime. Having a routine helps get your mind and your body ready for sleep.
- Don’t overeat at bedtime. Avoid heavy late-night meals. A light snack is OK, if the alternative is going to bed hungry, but eating just before bed can lead to heartburn that wakes you from sleep.
- Also stay away from alcohol, caffeine, or cigarettes in the evening. Caffeine or nicotine can make it hard to get to sleep. Alcohol may put you to sleep more easily, but too much of it can lower the quality of your sleep so that you don’t wake up feeling rested.
- Exercise every day. An active body is better at sleeping. Aim for 20 minutes to half an hour of vigorous exercise in the afternoon, at least 5 to 6 hours before bedtime.
- Avoid naps, especially in the afternoon or evening.
- Make sure your bed is comfortable, and your room is dark and quiet, to make it easier to fall asleep.
- Don’t take your work to bed. Distractions such as televisions, computers, or work should be kept out of the bedroom.
- Don’t force it. If you can’t sleep, go to another room and do something else for a while. Come back later when you’re ready to sleep, and try again.
- Get natural daylight. Get out in the sunlight in the daytime, especially in the early morning. Avoid too much bright light in the evening. The natural rhythms of day and night help your body remember when it’s time to sleep.
Lack of sleep can be a serious problem, but not all doctors screen for sleep hygiene issues. If you are having trouble getting enough sleep at night, or if it’s hard to you to stay awake in the daytime, talk to your doctor before it becomes a more serious problem. Your doctor has several questionnaires and screening tools available, including:
- The Sleep Hygiene Self-test, a 30-question survey you can use to assess your own sleep habits, originally developed for combat veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder
- The Sleep Hygiene Awareness and Practice Scale, which tests your knowledge of sleep hygiene and also asks about your personal habits that may impair or improve your sleep
- The Sleep Hygiene Index, a set of 15 questions about habits that may disrupt your sleep
- The Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale, designed to measure sleep hygiene in teens
Preventing Sleep Problems
The good sleep hygiene habits you can use to help get your sleep back on track can also help you keep your sleep habits on track from the start, if you begin practicing them before you have a problem with your sleep. These include:
- Go to bed at the same time every evening, even on weekends, and wake up at the same time every morning.
- Make your bedroom a calm, relaxing space
- Practice a relaxing daily routine before going to bed.
- Exercise every day for 20 minutes to half an hour, 5 hours or more before your bedtime.
- Avoid things that can disrupt your sleep, such as cigarettes, alcohol, coffee, or large meals just before bedtime.
- Avoid daytime naps, especially in the afternoon or the evening.
- If a medicine makes it hard for you to sleep, ask your doctor if there’s something else you can take instead.
- Get natural sunlight in the daytime.
- Use stress management to get any anxiety under control.
Medication And Treatment
There are medical treatments to help you sleep, but you should not rely on sleeping pills as a first resort. Short-term use of sleep aids can help some people get their sleep on track, but long-term reliance on sleeping pills may lead to addiction or dependence, and get in the way of developing the good habits you need for long-term sleep hygiene.
If your sleep habits are off kilter and sleep hygiene alone doesn’t seem like enough to help you get yourself back on track, there are some treatments your doctor can prescribe or refer you for. These treatments include:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy, a type of psychotherapy designed to help you replace bad habits with healthier behavior
- Light therapy using natural sunlight or a light box to synchronize your body’s rhythms with the natural cycle of day and night
- Specific techniques that run counter to most people’s expectations, such as sleep restriction, which involves getting sleep for a while to make you more tired, or paradoxical intention, in which you go to bed and try to stay awake until you can’t.
If sleep hygiene and behavioral therapies aren’t enough, then short-term medication may help, but most doctors recommend limiting sleep aids to just a few weeks, until you get your sleep schedule back on track.
Complementary and Alternative Treatment
In addition to behavioral therapies, lifestyle changes, and medical sleep aids, there are many complementary and alternative treatments that may also help you sleep.
Relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises or progressive relaxation are a mainstay of sleep medicine. These include:
- Progressive relaxation
- Breathing exercises
Some studies have found acupuncture to be very helpful with sleep disorders, possibly in as many as 9 patients out of 10, although more research is still needed.
Another popular approach is melatonin, a sleep hormone your body produces naturally. Melatonin supplements appear to be effective for some specific sleep disruptions, such as jet lag.
Other complementary and alternative approaches that may help you sleep include:
- Herbal treatments such as valerian, kava kava, or chamomile
- Tart cherry juice
- Vitamins A, B, C, and E
- Other supplements, such as L-tryptophan, coenzyme Q10, or omega 3 fatty acids
- Homeopathic medicine
- Chiropractic adjustments
Always talk to your doctor about any treatments you use, including alternative and complementary treatments. Many herbal medicines and supplements may cause side effects or interact with other medicines you take.
When To Contact A Doctor
Lack of sleep can be devastating to your overall health and the quality of your life. Practicing good sleep hygiene is something you can start on your own, but if it’s hard to change your habits, or if good habits aren’t enough, then there’s no shame in asking for help. If poor sleep makes it hard for you to function during the day and trying to improve your sleep hygiene doesn’t help, or if you have trouble sleeping 3 or more nights a week for 3 months or longer, talk to your doctor.
Questions For A Doctor
When you go to see your doctor, it’s good to have a list of the questions you’d like to have answered. Take a moment to write down some of the things you want to know. Your questions for your doctor might include some of these:
- What do you think is making it hard for me to sleep?
- What are the most important changes I can make in my day-to-day life?
- Is there anything else I should know about good sleep hygiene?
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Definition: Neptune-like exoplanets are similar in size to Neptune or Uranus in our solar system. They generally lie in a mass range between Super-Earths and Jupiter-like planets, so roughly between ten and a hundred times the mass of Earth.
Their deep interior are thought to consist primarily of rocks, as well as materials like water and methane, with a thick outer envelope dominated by hydrogen and helium.
Since planets close to their star are relatively easy to detect with the standard methods of transit and radial velocity, we would expect to find also close-in, so called “hot”, Neptune-sized planets. We have, however, only found very few such hot Neptunes, a phenomenon sometimes called the “Neptune Dessert“. One proposed explanation is that the intense radiation of the star strips away the outer gaseous envelope and just leaves behind the smaller core of the planet.
One of the few exceptions is NGTS-4 b, a 20 Earth-mass planet that orbits its star in just slightly over one day, with a calculated outer temperature of about 1500°C.
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What is elearning?
E-learning, a form of distance learning, is a formalized teaching and learning system specifically designed to be carried out remotely with the use of electronic communication.
What is elearnSCI.org?
elearnSCI.org is a web-based teaching and educational resource. It has been designed to specifically address the current lack of professional development opportunities for medical and other professionals involved in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Management. This is in part due to the limited access of up-to-date SCI training and learning materials/ resources. The content has been developed by over 330 leading International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) SCI professionals and educators from around the world. It is based on up-to-date SCI research. The content is appropriate for both high and low resource settings.
What is the aim of elearnSCI.org?
The aim of elearnSCI.org is to provide comprehensive information on SCI management to students and junior clinicians from all medical and paramedical disciplines involved in SCI care. It comprises 7 modules each consisting of various sub-modules. The "Overview for the Whole Team" module provides basic information of SCI Management for all disciplines involved in SCI management. Five other modules cater to the needs of various disciplines i.e. Doctors, Nurses, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists/Assistive Technologists and Psychologists/Social Workers/Peer Counselors. It is recommended that users go through the first module, "Overview for the Whole Team," before they access their discipline specific modules. The 7th module is devoted to the prevention of SCI.
What is the structure of each sub-module?
Each sub-module covers a specific component of SCI management and includes:
- A presentation giving an overview of the topic
- Activity based learning exercises
- Self Assessment questions
What is the difference between a module and a sub-module?
There are 7 modules. Each of the 7 modules comprises between 6 and 25 sub-modules. For example, the overview for the whole team module has 25 sub-modules. Each sub-module covers an important aspect.
Who initiated elearnSCI.org?
elearnSCI.org is a global educational initiative of the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS). The Asian Spinal Cord Network (ASCoN), Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC), Livability and the Lifetime Care and Support Scheme partnered with ISCoS to develop this resource, with financial support from Access to Health Care.
Who is elearnSCI.org appropriate for?
elearnSCI.org is appropriate for all medical and other health disciplines involved in SCI management whether a student, somebody new to the field of SCI or an SCI practitioner. Thus it will be of interest to doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, assistive technologists, psychologists, social workers and peer counselors. There is a section on the Prevention of SCI which is appropriate for policy makers.
Is elearnSCI.org appropriate for people with SCI and non professionals?
elearnSCI.org was not specifically designed for consumers, caregivers, health-service providers and policy makers. However, these individuals are welcome to access the content. They are encouraged to focus on the "Overview for the Whole Team" module.
Is there a minimum educational level required to access elearnSCI.org?
There is no minimum educational level required to access elearnSCI.org although it is assumed that users have (or are in the process of attaining) a medical or paramedical undergraduate qualification.
What is the best way to use the resource?
The best way to use the resource is to start with the first module, "Overview for the whole team" before accessing the discipline specific modules. Users may wish to access the 7th module which is on prevention of SCI at any time.
Is elearnSCI.org especially designed for any specific region, country or resource group?
elearnSCI.org is appropriate for people from all countries. The content reflects the realities of managing people with SCI in high and low resource settings globally.
Do I have to pay to access elearnSCI.org?
Everybody can access the website free of charge. This policy has been implemented to ensure that everybody can have access to this educational resource on comprehensive management of SCI regardless of economic background.
How do I register for elearnSCI.org?
To gain full access to all the learning content and modules of the website you have to go through the following steps:
- Register by creating your profile and agree to the disclaimer.
- Create a login id and password for subsequent visits to the website (please note that you will need to provide your email address and this will require verification).
Is the content for a beginner or an experienced clinician?
The content of elearnSCI.org is specifically written for beginners. However, there is content that will be relevant to experienced clinicians, especially content not from the user’s discipline. For example, an experienced physiotherapist may benefit from the nursing modules and visa versa.
Are there self assessments?
Yes, there is a self-assessment with each sub-module. The questions cover content covered in the sub-module.
How will I know my score?
At the end of each sub-module, you can complete an online self assessment. Once you have answered all the questions you can instantly receive a score by clicking the submit tab. You will also be told which questions you answered correctly and which questions you answered incorrectly. Your score will be stored on your profile page. You can access your profile page at any time and see a history of all the self-assessments you have completed, your average score and your maximum score. You can re-take the self-assessments at any time.
Can I get a copy of the report of my score or send it to my Teacher / Guide?
Yes, you can elect to send the results of any self-assessment to yourself or to your teacher/supervisor. This feature is accessed on your profile page. The report will give the score of your best attempt.
How many attempts am I allowed for self assessment?
There is no restriction on the number of attempts. You can try it as many times as you want.
Can I review the content of the modules while I am answering the self assessment questions?
It is best not to access the content of the modules during a self-assessment and the system has not been designed for this; however, there is nothing to stop you from opening a second window and searching the content for answers.
Can I download the content of a module?
No, you cannot download the content of a module. You can, however, print out the screens.
Is there a time-frame in which I must finish the modules?
No, there is no time-frame since elearnSCI.org is designed as an educational resource and not a course. You may access the resource as many times as desired and over what-ever time period you like.
How long does it take to complete a module?
This is variable and will depend on the user’s prior knowledge. Some modules are longer than others and may take a beginner up to 8 hours to complete. Others may only take an hour or two.
Can I jump between screens?
Yes, there is a feature which enables users to jump to specific screens. To access this feature, look for the drop down menu bar just below the word "screen". This sits just above the title of the module (top left of screen containing the content)
What if I see a mistake?
Please tell us if you see a mistake. To do this, click on the "comment" button below the specific screen with the mistake. Then please provide details about the mistake.
Are any comments I submit anonymous?
No, any comment submitted through the "comment" icon is linked to your log on. This in turn is linked to your name.
What if I want to provide general feedback?
We welcome all feedback. You can provide general feedback through the "contact us" page.
Do I have to go through all the modules in one sitting?
No, you do not need to complete all modules in one sitting. You can access the modules, or parts of the modules, at any time and as many times as you wish.
Do I get an acknowledgement or certificate on completion of the course?
No, you will not receive a certificate on completion of the course. elearnSCI.org is designed as an educational resource and not as a course. You can only get a report of your scores.
Why does the system keep logging me out?
The system will log users out if they do not do anything for 10 minutes (eg. change screens or view videos).
How can I change my password?
You can change your password on the profile page (http://www.elearnsci.org/profile.aspx) where this option is available.
What do I do if I forget my password?
If you forget your password, you can retrieve it via the "forgot password" feature on the Login page (http://www.elearnsci.org/login.aspx). The system will email your password to you on your registered email ID.
How are the videos streamed?
The videos are all streamed through vimeo.
What are the system requirements to use elearnSCI.org?
A PC with Internet Explorer, or any other browser (any dial-up connection) is required.
What if the pages are not displaying properly on my computer?
The pages have been tested on most browsers, however, the pages will not display properly on very old browsers (eg. Internet Explorer V6 and earlier). To overcome this problem, you will need to update your browser or try using a different browser (eg. Firefox or Chrome). If problems persist, please let us know.
Will I need to buy and learn to use complicated software?
You will not need to buy or learn to use complicated software. The website is user friendly and does not require advanced IT skills.
Who will help me if I run into a technical problem?
If you experience a technical problem, you can get help through the contact us tab or by sending an email to administrator at email@example.com
Do you have consent from the individuals to use their images on the site?
Yes, every identifiable person on the site has provided written consent to have their images used.
Are the names of people with SCI real?
No, the names of all people with SCI have been changed, unless the individual requested that his/her real name be used.
Do I need to report any erratum in the course material? If so, how can I do it?
As you move through the modules you can comment on any screen at any stage. You will see a "comment" button. If you click on this your comment will be linked to the screen you are currently viewing. Or else you can direct your erratum either through the "contact us" tab or to the elearning administrator at firstname.lastname@example.org
Whom can I contact if I have any further questions?
If you have any questions pertaining to the educational resource or its use you can direct them to the elearning administrator either through the "contact us" tab or at email@example.com
Can I use this material for my presentations?
You should feel free to quote reasonable excerpts and reprint figures and/or tables from its content with due acknowledgement of the source i.e. elearnSCI.org and with the following copyright note in the specific syntax: "Copyright © of ISCOS 2012, www.elearnsci.org". Permission to quote large excerpts or to reprint should be obtained directly from the website administrator. However such use should be restricted for educational activities only and not for commercial purposes.
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An elderly resident of Gettysburg in 1863, this veteran of the War of 1812 took his musket and powder horn and walked out of town to fight beside United States troops on July 1, 1863. Suffering several wounds, he made his way home where he was left unmolested by Confederate occupiers of the town. Burns became a national hero after the battle and was the first resident of the town that President Abraham Lincoln stated he wished to meet during his trip to dedicate the Soldiers' National Cemetery that November.
Elizabeth Salome (Sallie) Myers
With little warning, this 21-year-old Gettysburg schoolteacher was suddenly thrust into the role of a nurse, tending to injured soldiers at her father's home and in the Catholic church where hundreds of wounded US and Confederate soldiers were hospitalized. She later provided food and nursing assistance at Camp Letterman General Hospital east of town. Despite her claim that she could not stand the sight of blood, Sallie selflessly gave of herself in the hospitals at Gettysburg.
A Gettysburg teenager in 1863, Skelly was a clerk at the Fahnestock Dry Goods Store on Baltimore Street. Skelly watched as Confederate soldiers camped on the street outside of his home while Federal soldiers, cut off from friendly lines, hid in cellars and outbuildings. Assisted by his mother, he helped tend wounded soldiers in homes and churches in town. In 1932 he published "A Boy's Experiences During the Battle of Gettysburg," an outstanding civilian account of the battle from the perspective of an old gentleman who witnessed the true terror of war for the first time in his home town.
Mary Virginia "Jennie" Wade
Confined to her sister's home on Baltimore Street due to the battle raging through and around the town, Jennie Wade was instantly killed by a bullet that passed through two doors and struck her in the back as she mixed bread dough in the kitchen. Buried by United States soldiers in the yard of the home, she was later moved to Evergreen Cemetery where a monument and flag mark her final resting place. Hers was the only civilian death at Gettysburg, made even more tragic when it was discovered that Jack Skelly, her childhood friend and betrothed serving in the 87th Pennsylvania Infantry, had been mortally wounded at Winchester the week before.
This 15-year-old left town with her family to escape the battle only to find herself, in the end, nursing the sick and injured at the J. Weikert farm south of town. She continued caring for wounded soldiers upon returning to the family home on Baltimore Street. Among those she nursed was Colonel William Colvill of the 1st Minnesota Infantry. Tillie later wrote about her experiences in an article, "What a Girl Heard and Saw at the Battle."
A 40-year-old lawyer and hard-line Republican, McConaughy provided intelligence about Confederate troops to the Federal government during the Gettysburg Campaign. After the battle, he focused his attention on developing the national cemetery until differences with another Gettysburg lawyer forced him out of the project. McConaughy then became a driving force in establishment of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association, which purchased portions of the battlefield to preserve it as a memorial to the United States Army that fought there.
A prominent Gettysburg attorney, Wills was appointed as the state agent to oversee the establishment and construction of the Soldiers' National Cemetery, a final resting place for the United States dead at Gettysburg. Wills also arranged the dedication ceremony, inviting orator Edward Everett to speak and the president to attend. Lincoln accepted and spent the night before the ceremony at Wills' home on the square in Gettysburg.
Dr. J.W.C. O'Neal
A Gettysburg physician and outspoken Democrat, Dr. O'Neal tended to the wounded of both sides during the Battle of Gettysburg. Afterward he maintained a journal that listed identities, regiments and locations of Confederate graves in and around Gettysburg. His work proved invaluable in the removal of Confederate dead to southern cemeteries beginning in 1870.
A prosperous businessman in Gettysburg, Kendlehart was president of the city council on June 26 when Confederate Maj. Gen. Jubal Early entered Gettysburg and demanded goods and money from the local government. Kendlehart refused but offered for the stores to be opened so the town's civilians could supply what they could of the general's demands. He later slipped out of town and maintained a low profile during the battle until the morning of July 4 when he entered Federal lines and informed Maj. Gen. George G. Meade of the Confederate withdrawal from the streets of Gettysburg.
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We may hat rats and really want them to be gone. However the choice to use glue traps may be one of the more inhumane ways of getting rid of rats. Before we come to a complete conclusion that they are not humane ways, we need to remember hear that a quick death is better than a slow one. Towards understanding why we conclude that glue traps are inhumane we need to learn how they work.
How do glue traps work
Glue traps are cardboard blocks that are mounted with strong glue that when a rat walks over, traps the rat and entangles it.
• Because they are placed on the rats’ route and are unnoticeable to the rats, rats will continue to walk by without detecting the danger involved.
• By stepping on the trap, the rat is stuck and in the ensuing struggle to free itself may tangle itself further and finally suffocate.
• Even if its body is not tangled and it suffocates, it may spend several days on the board and finally starve to death.
Why it is not humane.
A humane and efficient trap will kill the animal fast, or simply not kill it and the animal is set free. Unfortunately for the rat on a glue trap;
• Getting its body entangled in the glue will ensure that finally it will block its nose and mouth and hence suffocate. This is definitely not humane because it will die over a long period of time.
• Even if it is able to breath, it is stuck, and will eventually die of starvation and thirst. Obviously this will be over a period of time and not instantaneous.
• Even if a kind soul decides to rescue it, it may suffer mortal wounds from trying to remove the trap from its bodies. This too doesnot sound any kinder as it will be ill and maydie anyway.
Are there more humane ways to reduces rat populations?
• You can simply exclude them from your home by making it rodent proof.
• You can use live traps which trap the animal live and you can choose better places to get rid of them like in the woods.
• Or you could kill them in a faster manner like using snap rat traps.
Do we really need to get rid of rats?
You do. It will save you.
• Attracting dangerous animals like snakes.
• Contaminated food and drinks.
RAT CONTROL: We specialize in rat control projects. Call us now for rat control in your city or town.
Go back to the How to get rid of rats page to learn more about An analysis of inhumane glue traps for rats
To find out our prices for rat control, visit our rat removal prices page.
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The Chilean Flamingo is a large type of flamingo found in parts of South America, where it is the most abundant and widespread of all flamingoes. It is considered to be Near Threatened with a decreasing population trend. It faces threats to its breeding habitat.
The Chilean Flamingo can be identified by its pink plumage, greyish legs, and pink "knee" joints.
Flamboyance of Flamingos Coloring Page
This coloring page features each of the world's six flamingo species. A group of flamingos is known as a flamboyance. This flamboyance includes the following flamingo species: Andean Flamingo, Greater Flamingo, Lesser ... more
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Citizen science is current science – atlasing the birds of Kerala
Kerala Bird Atlas is an ambitious citizen science project to map the distribution and abundance of birds of an entire Indian state. Envisaged as a five-year activity starting 2015, the field surveys for the Kerala Bird Atlas closed on the 13th of September 2020. Over 1000 volunteers systematically surveyed 4,000 locations in each of two seasons across Kerala over 600 days across five years.
This data was analyzed to understand the patterns of species richness and abundance across Kerala, as well as recommendations, were made on how to conduct similar surveys in other parts of the country. The scientific merit of this dataset was tested and results were published in a peer-reviewed, open-access journal Current Science, published from Bangalore. Recognizing the impact of such citizen-science-based research, the journal has put up this multi-author work on the cover page of its latest edition.
What the Kerala Atlas team has achieved is, arguably, the largest citizen science bird project in the Asian continent in terms of spatial coverage, species monitored, and a number of volunteers or citizen-scientists. This exercise generated voluminous data consisting of over 3 lakh records of 380 species. The data consists of the presence records of these species in two seasons across 4000 sites in Kerala.
Approx 70% of the Kerala bird species were recorded during the Kerala Bird Atlas. Ten most abundant species contributed 31% while 94 very rare species contributed 0.1% to the entire dataset. The northern and central Kerala host higher species richness than southern Kerala. Most of the endemics were concentrated in the Western Ghats, but threatened species were as likely to occur along the coasts as in the Ghats. The Kerala Bird Atlas dataset is a very useful tool for research and conservation and can act as a prototype for a national bird atlas.
“When an organization used citizens to collect data, it used to be called citizen science. With Kerala Bird Atlas, we defined a new meaning for citizen science. Here, the citizens actually did the science as well. Citizen scientists of the project are elated to see their earnest efforts bear fruit with this publication in the most well-respected scientific journal in the country”.Praveen J, one of the state coordinators of this project.
“I was personally there at Thrissur when the Kerala birdwatchers brainstormed their plans for the bird atlas in 2015. We at IBCN/BNHS seed-funded the effort for the very first year and I am excited to see the scientific outputs of this massive effort. Biodiversity data at this fine-scale is the need of the hour for policy and management of wildlife in India. Atlases like this also show us the important places that need conservation. At the time of climate change, it’s so heartening that birders in Kerala have made such an important contribution to our understanding of both birds and their habitats”.Neha Sinha, a conservation biologist and author at the BNHS, India.
“As a mega biodiverse nation, India has a key role to play in conserving global biodiversity. We currently lack data on the current population status of our fauna. These atlases provide baseline information on the status and distribution of bird species. This will help us monitor their populations over years and identify the impact of global warming, pollution, or land-use changes on biodiversity. With this information in hand, we can take conservation actions on time and prevent biodiversity loss.”Ashish Jha, Research Scientist who analyzed the Kerala Bird Atlas and is the corresponding author for the scientific paper.
“I would like to warmly congratulate the Kerala Bird Survey team who systematically carried out detailed surveys of 380 bird species in Kerala. This resulted in mapping the distribution densities of these species in the state – an impressive achievement by Citizen Science work. A huge dataset was accumulated which is an invaluable baseline on which to assess future changes in bird distribution and density in Kerala. Birds are now facing enormous challenges including loss and deterioration of their habitats and the still poorly understood impacts of climate change. A similar distribution survey in the future would undoubtedly reveal changes in species’ occurrence and density. The data could be used to produce a Red List for birds in Kerala as was achieved in Nepal in 2016, based on a Citizen Science approach. This Red List could be valuable in assessing priorities for bird conservation action.”Carol Inskipp, author of many popular field guides on the birds of the Indian subcontinent.
“This is a milestone achievement in Indian Ornithology and for the future of citizen-science activities in the country. Currently, several citizen-science programs are being run in the nation, largely at the city level. The Kerala Bird Atlas and the resulting peer-reviewed publication will definitely inspire researchers and nature enthusiasts in other states to come together and conduct similar programs. It is heartening to see that the citizens who contributed to this exercise are co-authors in the scientific publication.”Suhel Quader a the Scientist Nature Conservation Foundation which is a part of Bird Count India.
“Bird atlas of this extent has not been attempted anywhere in Asia. The next step is to utilize the potential of this voluminous dataset and derive academic and conservation-oriented inferences. The data has been made publicly available. Our manuscript lists potential uses of this dataset. We invite students and researchers to use this dataset. I am positive that the Kerala Bird Atlas will create momentum for citizen-science and open science in the country.”P.O.Nameer, Dean, College of Climate Change and Environmental Science, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara
How were the atlas locations selected?
Kerala has first divided into many cells of size 6.6 x 6.6 km. Each cell was divided into four quadrants of size 3.3 x 3.3 km. Each quadrant was divided into nine 1.1 x 1.1 km sub-cell. Among the nine subcells in each quadrant – one subcell was randomly selected. Hence, each cell has four sub-cells.
Who lead the atlas bird surveys?
Every district had a team led by one or two senior bird-watchers. They conducted meetings and planned the coverage of subcells in their respective districts and kept in touch through Whatsapp groups. Some districts sub-divided themselves into clusters and each cluster was owned by a few bird-watchers. Forest surveys were planned by district leaders inviting birdwatchers from all parts of the state and sometimes from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Which groups and organizations were involved in the survey?
Following organizations were involved in the field surveys
Alappuzha Nature History Society (ANHS), Birders Ezhupunna, Birdwatchers of Kerala, Chilla Nature Club (CNC), Cochin Natural History Society (CNHS), Hume’s CEntre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology (HCEWB), Idukki Natural History Society (INHS), Kasaragode Birders, KeralaBirder, Kidoor Birders, Kole Birders Collective, Kollam Birding Batallion, Kottayam Nature Society (KNS), Malabar Natural History Society (MNHS), Malappuram Birders, Natural History Society of Palakkad (NHSP), Pathanamthitta Birders, Tropical Institute of Ecological Sciences (TIES), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and Young Birders Club, Palakkad.
Following organizations provided technical support
Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), Bird Count India (BCI), and Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON).
Following organizations provided financial support
Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust, Gujarat funded the data analysis and publications.
Antrix Corporation provided funds for the printing of the Atlas book
Dr. Jayan Thomas provided funds for the printing of Kannur bird atlas
CGH Earth provided funds for the printing of Alappuzha bird atlas
Indian Bird Conservation Network BNHS provided a small grant in the first year of the study.
What was the role of the Kerala Forest Department in Kerala Bird Atlas?
PCCF (Wildlife) and the Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala State Forest Department, accorded sanction for the bird surveys in protected areas and reserve forests for the atlas. The Forest department supported these surveys, which were mostly run for four days, in accessing interior locations and arranged stay and services of forest staff. In some non-forest regions, the Social Forestry wing of the Forest department helped volunteers to reach far-off places where no other volunteers lived.
What technology was used to do atlasing?
When will the report be released?
District atlases of Alappuzha, Thrissur, and Kannur have already been formally released in 2020. Draft reports of Kottayam, Kozhikode, and Kasaragod have been submitted to the Kerala Forest Department.
The State Bird Atlas under the title ‘An atlas of birds of Kerala’ was released on Feb 25, 2021.
We expect the final report ‘The Kerala Bird Atlas: features and insights’ to be released by March 2022.
What do you expect as results from the Kerala Bird Atlas bird surveys?
‘An atlas of birds of Kerala’ provides the season-wise distribution map for 382 species.
The upcoming report The Kerala Bird Atlas: features and insights will have the following.
- Current distribution of ~150 widespread and abundant birds of Kerala
- Consolidated distribution of bird communities in Kerala (e.g. waterbirds)
- Predicted distribution of the bird communities in the next 25 years under different climate and land use change scenarios.
- Predicted distribution of certain key species in these declining and increasing bird communities in the next 25 years.
- Hotspots for endemic and threatened bird diversity
- Identification of key focus areas outside the Protected Area network for conservation action.
Appendix: Useful Websites & News links
https://birdcount.in/kerala-bird-atlas/ [Home page of Kerala Bird Atlas]
Slides & Talk
For More Information
Dr. P O Nameer, Special Officer, Academy of Climate Change Education and Research, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, KAU P.O., Thrissur Kerala 680656. Email: firstname.lastname@example.org. Whatsapp No: 94465 73106
Praveen J, Bird Count India. Email: email@example.com Whatsapp No: 99000 28479
Vishnupriyan Kartha, Cochin Natural History Society. Whatsapp No: 94464 37410 [Ernakulam District]
E S Praveen, Kole Birders Collective. Whatsapp No: 94474 67088 [Thrissur District]
Praveen V, Natural History Society of Palakkad. Whatsapp No: 98405 45268 [Palakkad District]
Dr. Jishnu R, Kollam Birding Battalion. Whatsapp No: 94471 50300 [Kollam District]
Hari Mavelikkara, Pathanamthitta Birders. Whatsapp No: 94472 24651 [Pathanamthitta District]
AK Sivakumar, WWF-India, Thiruvananthapuram district. Whatsapp No: 94473 86978 [Thiruvananthapuram district]
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Covid-19 has caused hunger that will last at least a decade, according to the UN Rapporteur on the Right to protect citizens from hunger, saying dealing with this must be the highest priority for governments.
In his first report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, (UNHCR) the rapporteur Michael Fakhri said the number of people suffering from acute hunger has doubled in the pandemic, rising from 130 million in 2019 to 265 million by the end of 2020.
Also, as a result of the pandemic, half of the world’s 3.3 billion global workforce is at risk of losing livelihoods. Informal economy workers, migrant workers and other marginalised people lack social protection and access to quality health care.
The UN Human Rights Council responded with a resolution re-affirming the right to food, and supporting Michael Fakhri’s emphasis on the role of governments in meeting this right.
Michael Fakhri had conducted a survey, held consultations, received reports and studied research into the range of measures that have been effective in ensuring people’s right to food is fulfilled during the pandemic.
He said, “Employers must provide workers in all parts of the food system with safe working conditions, such as personal protective equipment, distancing measures, clear health and safety guidelines, paid sick leave, adequate sleeping, eating and sanitary facilities and a quarantine shelter.
“States should connect local food producers to people in need”
“Safe working conditions also include respecting the right of all workers to organise and to make all the arrangements necessary to care for their families during the crisis.
“States must provide workers with adequate social protection and actively enforce occupational safety laws and standards. All workers should be protected equally.
“States should connect local food producers to people in need by supporting local markets and local procurement programmes for schools, hospitals, prisons and nursing homes.
“States must protect local farmers’ and peasants’ land tenure.
“States must ensure that food from public stocks is distributed fairly and transparently. States without such programmes should consider developing public food stocks sourced by local producers.
“States are encouraged to provide direct cash transfers when possible, since they are proving to be the most effective measure to prevent a hunger crisis.”
Women contribute more than 50 per cent of the world’s food and account for 70 per cent of the world’s hungry
The report tackled the Food Systems Summit, saying it must “bring about real change in the lives of people, realising their right to food without discrimination, with dignity and equality.”
The new UN resolution calls on governments to co-operate with Michael Fakhri in his efforts.
It expresses concern that, while women contribute more than 50 per cent of the food produced worldwide, they also account for 70 per cent of the world’s hungry… and that almost twice as many women as men suffer from malnutrition.
It stresses that the primary responsibility of states is to promote and protect the right to food, including in humanitarian emergencies.
The international community should provide assistance to increase food production and access to food, through development, technology, food crop rehabilitation and food.
And it asks the rapporteur to report annually on the implementation of the right to protect citizens from hunger.
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Scientific Name: Cistothorus palustris
This small, singing bird clings to stalks of tall grasses and cattails, its tail poking straight up. The courting male builds several crude nests which are used, if at all, only for roosts. Later, the wren pair cooperates in construction of a proper nest—a ball woven of cordgrass leaves, lined by the female with shreds of vegetation, feathers, or other soft materials.
Size: 4 to 5.5 in. (10 to 14 cm)
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Children have been extensively involved in many wars, both by tribes and governments for political and social purposes. They have been abused by militaries and for propaganda. Sara Abbasian has adopted an approach to man’s behavior and attitude in wars that is similar to her earlier dark, poignant, largely symbolic series, namely “The Night-Blind Do Not Show Mercy to Each Other,” “Imperishable Gravity,” and “Epidemy”: invasion, aggression, ravenousness, and mass murder. In one of the series, she sees the night-blind creatures as decadent cannibals. In another, turtles become a symbol for regression and petrification. She also depicts a battlefield in which saprozoic creatures intermingle with humans. Despite its appealing title, “White Rose” is about flower buds with coarse, fat thorns that intertwist around the bodies of children, immediately stealing the sense of fragility and freshness away from both flowers and children. “White Rose” is an explicit, extensive, fierce, and melancholic gesture against war and the conscious and deliberate use of children in this social and political phenomenon.What Abbasian is addressing has an alternative significance. Sending white flowers has always been used to substitute symbolism for words, by lovers and others, who want to communicate their message of love, hope, and even death. In this series, however, we see the heads and bodies of newborn children with closed eyes, wreathed into the stems of giant white roses, tangled up in a ferocious field of conflict. These entities are those countless child soldiers that do not necessarily carry guns or have military training, but are used for porterage, carrying messages, espionage, provoking public empathy, political propaganda, and a means to satisfy sexual desires.Among the remarkable features of Abbasian’s recent drawings is the frameless, white surfaces that have become an arena for the invasion of semi-human bodies and symbolic animals. Abbasian is an aggressive artist who invades the texture of paper with a passionate fury in her drawings, frantically grinding the black of his pen against the white of paper to show blackness victorious; this is the moment in which all light is absorbed and captured.
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By Jean English
Looking for free “fertilizer” for your lawn or garden? Look to leaves!
Leaves that drop in the fall can supply all the nutrients needed in a vegetable garden. They’ll even supply a wider range of essential nutrients than a bag of 10-10-10 synthetic fertilizer, because tree roots draw over a dozen plant nutrients up from the soil and deposit them in leaves. Bags of synthetic fertilizer, on the other hand, often contain just three essential plant nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
|Photo by Jean English.|
So, instead of thinking of leaves as waste that needs to go “away,” think of your yard as a source of nutrients, a green manure crop, for your garden.
The University of Florida found that “good yields of such crops as cucumbers, tomato and greens can be expected after 2 to 3 years of applications of at least 20 tons [of oak leaves] per acre annually.” That’s a little under 1 pound per square foot per year.
Some people worry that adding leaves to the garden will tie up nitrogen that crop plants need. This won’t be a problem if you add leaves as a mulch in the fall (especially if you’ve shredded the leaves by running over them with a lawnmower), so that soil organisms and weather move them into the soil slowly. Also, including grass clippings with leaves adds nitrogen to the mix, further reducing the chance of nitrogen deficiency, as does mulching the garden with additional grass clippings throughout the summer.
If you don’t have a garden to receive leaves, or you don’t have a lawn mower that catches clippings and leaves, just leave the leaves on the lawn, mowing them a few times during the fall to shred them. Denise Ellsworth of Ohio State University Extension writes, “Research has shown that lawns can absorb many pounds of shredded leaves with no detrimental effects.” She says that Purdue researchers mowed 2 tons of leaves per acre into turf grass annually for five years. They saw no increase in disease or weed problems and no pH or nutrient-availability issues. Microbial activity did increase—a sign of improved soil quality. (“Leaves benefit gardens as compost and mulch,” Akron Beacon Journal, Nov. 10, 2007).
Decomposing leaves improve soil structure so that it absorbs more moisture during rains and holds that moisture better during dry spells. Your lawn will stay greener longer in the summer.
If you don’t want to mow and shred leaves, you can rake them into compost piles and make leaf mold—a good substitute for peat moss in the garden and in potting mixes.
This article is provided by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), PO Box 170, Unity, ME 04988; 207-568-4142; [email protected]; www.mofga.org. Joining MOFGA helps support and promote organic farming and gardening in Maine and helps Maine consumers enjoy more healthful, Maine-grown food. Copyright 2008. If you reprint this article, please include this reference, and please let us know that you have reprinted. Thanks!
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The Bunlotl is a mysterious creature. Manipulated in a lab, mixed with various species and partially released into a green environment to see how they’d manage in the wild.
“To everyone’s great surprise the Bunlotl is the most social and loveable animal to ever exist. Not only towards humans, but also to others of its kind. This is my research to these amazing animals and my findings. There is a lot about them that’s still unknown, but this will certainly give an impression on how amazing these creatures are.” – Misaki Moonwing
Let’s start at the very beginning: this being the egg. A Bunlotl can lay 3 to 5 eggs each time. An egg takes 20 days to hatch, which the Bunlotl can do in two different ways: in the water, or on dry soil.
In the wild: The eggs are laid in shallow waters. When possible camouflaged by plants against predators. The sun shining on the water is enough warmth to let the embryos develop. The membrane of the egg remains soft and the fluid inside takes a blue color. The embryo takes a milky white color with blue spots from the developing organs. The baby Bunlotl hatches from the egg by nipping at the membrane until it breaks. The membrane is then consumed by the baby.
In captivity it’s suffice to leave the egg in an 11 liters freshwater aquarium.
On dry soil
In the wild: By a lack of available water the Bunlotl places her eggs on a soft, but dry soil. She then creates a nest in the middle of the group with whatever soft materials she can find, among which dirt, and puts the eggs in there. The eggs dry out because of the sun and dry air, but the membrane hardens to the state of glass. The fluid inside of the egg will turn blue here as well, and the embryo turns a milky white color with blue spots where it’s organs are developing. The baby Bunlotl hatches from the egg with the help of the mini-gem on its forehead and will drink the fluid that’s left over in the egg’s shell.
In captivity a soft surface like a pillow or a folded towel will suffice. Make sure the egg can’t roll off or damage in any way.
A baby Bunlotl starts it’s life with a standard, milky white color. Just like it’s embryo phase. It will later develop its own color that matches its surroundings. In the wild the most common colors are blue and earthy colors which blend in with murky water or tall grass.
In its first few days the head will grow, giving them a chibi-like, non-proportional size. The gem on their forehead will remain round until the baby has grown into adulthood.
After that the back legs start growing, allowing them to maintain balance a little better, but are also used to jump and run away from danger. Lastly the body will start to grow and the tail with develop fully, making the Bunlotl an amazing swimmer.
At the same time the rabbit-like ears will grow to the right size. Despite having 6 ears they have an amazing hearing, and can communicate with each other flawlessly. They also use their ears for other purposes. When the Bunlotl can’t reach a nut or berry they jump and move their ears so fast they can fly short distances and levitate. Something they can maintain for up to 30 seconds.
Now the baby is ready for its final phase: the social part.
IDuring the final days of its baby phase the Bunlotl also develops it’s characteristics, which are determinative for how the gem will develop.
The breed lives in groups, in which the characteristics develop in a natural, but really unique way. The baby Bunlotl develops it’s characteristics depending on the needs of the group. If for example a baby Bunlotl detects the group needs more leadership, a trillion gem will develop. This happens both in the wild and in captivity.
In captivity the Bunlotl explores it’s environment first. The Bunlotl will also focus more on the person it communicates with the most. When it becomes clear to the baby what it’s buddy needs the most, the last development phase starts and the gem starts to change.
If the group exists out of multiple people and/or multiple Bunlotl, the human(s) will be seen as members of the Bunlotl group and will take the role that’s needed for the group at that time. A Bunlotl will keep the role it takes when reaching adulthood for the rest of its lifetime.
I’m here for you when you feel unwanted and alone.
I’m here for you when you feel dull and conventional.
I’m here for you when you feel chased and anxious.
I’m here for you when you feel unsafe and suppressed.
I’m here for you when you feel timid and insecure.
When there is a lack of communication the Bunlotl will take the role to protect itself and survive. When the Bunlotl feels alone it will search for another group to increase its chances of survival and to fulfill its goal within a group.
Bunlotl that no longer have or didn’t find a group their role fits with segregate and will lose their gem eventually, also losing the communication with others of their species. On the spot where the gem once was, something else will grow instead.
A young girl locked her Bunlotl in a room with a unicorn theme for an extended period of time. The Bunlotl felt lonely because the girl didn’t show interest in the poor creature, but there was no option to find another group. The gem came loose, and a small horn started to grow in its place.
Ever since the girl has developed an interest in the Bunlotl, and everything worked out between the two. Another story is the finding of a white Bunlotl with a ghost-like skin, and a third eye on the spot where the gem once was.
How this has happened is unexplainable at this time, and research is being conducted.
The communication between the creatures goes through the gem, regardless of the size and shape, but how this works exactly is still a mystery. Ultra small soundwaves have been detected coming from the gems on their forehead, so it is speculated that the soundwaves are the way of communication, but we do suspect that these creatures have evolved even further and make use of telepathy. Research is still being conducted.
Communication with other creatures that don’t belong to their own kind is done through a small beep and swallow noises they’re able to produce. The tone, length and pattern of the squeaking shows their mood and what they need. They also really love music, and are happy to sing along in their own way.
Compared to an axolotl and a rabbit, the Bunlotl has a relatively small mouth without any teeth, which is a bit of a downside. This is why it stuffs whatever fits food wise in there. Luckily the Bunlotl has two different saliva glands, one with enzymes and one with acid. When the food is placed in the mouth the Bunlotl will make a chewing motion, stimulating both glands and causing the acid and enzymes to break down the food partially already. It moves it’s good around the mouth with its tongue, making a kneading motion. Because of this it gets soft and small enough to swallow.
Favorite snacks (in the wild) are: Berries, nuts and small fish.
The feces are wet, long granules with puddles of moisture. Since the Bunlotl only has one exit, all waste fluids are exerted at the same time. It’s recommended for Bunlotl that are kept in captivity to learn them to make use of a litter box at an early age.
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Is fluoride in water naturally? Well, actually there are some areas in the world where the natural water supply will have a certain amount of fluoride in it. Fluoride is often found naturally in soil and rock too. There is usually only a trace in natural water and a trace is all we need!
What is fluoride?
For those that are interested, fluorine is a really nasty element and fluoride is a derivative of it. Fluorine is the most reactive element in the periodic table. It is first in the halogen series at element number 9, with other halogens being chlorine (17), bromine (35), iodine (53) and astatine (85). Continue reading Is Fluoride In Water?
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Fennec foxes have gotten an increasing number of fashionable as pets within the United States. They are identified for his or her distinctive, batlike ears and pale, fluffy coats. Native to North Africa, fennec foxes occupy an unforgiving habitat. So how do they survive? Is the fennec fox endangered?
The fennec fox’s present conservation standing is “Least Concern”, however they do have protected standing in some areas. There are nonetheless quite a few threats to fennec foxes, together with human encroachment, illness, local weather change, and poaching – for the pet and fur trades.
Fennec foxes are fascinating for pet homeowners, as a result of they’re playful and lovely. So it is very important perceive how they survive within the wild. They are endangered, but listed as ‘Least Concern’. They should survive quite a few threats to their existence, but they appear to be doing nice. What would occur in the event that they went extinct? All these questions and extra – learn on!
When was the fennec fox found?
The fennec fox, or Vulpes zerda, was formally labeled in 1780. But its taxonomical classification has been topic to debate. It is normally assigned to the genus Vulpes, indicating that it’s a species of fox.
However, that is debated because of variations between the fennec fox and different species of fox. It was beforehand labeled as Fennecus, implying that it belongs to its personal genus.
Fennec foxes have an extended historical past. The indigenous peoples of North Africa prize its fur, as a result of it’s so lustrous and smooth.
How many fennec foxes are left on the earth in 2020?
Little is thought about wild fennec fox populations. Precious inhabitants figures are usually not identified, and are as a substitute based mostly on educated guesswork.
Population scientists make estimates based mostly on the frequency of sightings – that are unusual. Fennec foxes are nice at hiding, and infrequently roam in the course of the day. Basically, the inhabitants is assumed to be ample based mostly on observations of the merchants that generally entice fennec foxes for exhibition or sale.
Despite being listed as ‘least concern’ on the IUCN Red List, the fennec fox is listed as as a CITES Appendix II species. This implies that though it isn’t essentially threatened with extinction, fennec fox commerce should be managed to keep away from utilization incompatible with its survival.
Since it’s virtually not possible to watch fennec foxes in the course of the daytime, information of their social interactions can also be restricted. Biologists can solely collect data from captive animals. Of course, fennec foxes in zoos solely account for a fraction of the world’s complete fennec fox inhabitants!
Why is the fennec fox endangered?
Like different foxes, the indigenous peoples of the Sahara and Sinai areas prize fennec fox fur. It can also be turning into more and more regular for ‘intrepid’ pet homeowners to need unique pets. For these causes, fennec foxes are trapped and poached by hunters in North Africa, and bought to the native fur commerce and worldwide pet commerce.
There are additionally animals that hunt fennec foxes. While its important predator is the eagle owl, varied different terrestrial mammals are thought to hunt fennec foxes for meals. These embrace caracals, striped hyenas, jackals and the Saluki, a home canine native to the world that’s much like a greyhound.
You would possibly assume that fennec foxes are additionally hunted for his or her meat. However, the proof doesn’t counsel this. In southern Morocco specifically, fennec fox meat is taken into account to be foul smelling.
How do people have an effect on Fennec foxes?
It is difficult to seek out an animal that isn’t affected by people – whether or not it’s encroachment of humam civilization, deforestation for agriculture or business, or attempting to find worldwide commerce. Fennec foxes are usually not resistant to the devastating results of human exercise.
Encroachment into fennec territories leads to smaller out there ranges for fennec fox habitation. Furthermore, the desertification of big swathes of northern Africa expands the arid areas whereas not really increasing the liveable areas for fennec foxes.
Hunting and poaching for the worldwide pet commerce additionally has a detrimental affect on fennec fox populations. The similar goes for the native fur commerce.
What are another causes of loss of life of fennec foxes?
You may be stunned to know that dehydration could be very not often a killer of fennec foxes. Desert dwellers must be extraordinarily properly tailored to residing in such dry environments. Fennec foxes aren’t any exception.
Fennec foxes can dwell with out free water. They owe this to their hardy kidneys, that are tailored to limit water loss. A fennec’s burrowing also can trigger the formatiom of dew, or condensation from water vapour in the course of the cooler hours of the evening. Fennecs additionally forage for fruits, greens, leaves and roots, which give hydration.
Besides the threats already talked about, tourism and growth affect negatively on fennec fox habitats. These elusive creatures don’t wish to dwell inside vary of human populations, so any human exercise in an space is more likely to pose a risk.
Much of what we find out about fennec fox populations is conjecture, estimation or guesswork. There is a good information deficiency in the case of fennec foxes, which makes it laborious to know something for certain.
What would occur if fennec foxes went extinct?
It is difficult to know precisely what would occur if any single animal went fully extinct. Even intensive research come to wildly completely different conclusions. One factor we will be certain of is that any sudden extinction occasion would have knock-on results for all of the animals that share the fennec’s meals chain.
Its prey animals could be advantaged, whereas its predators could be deprived. Everything could be thrown out of steadiness, a minimum of till a brand new established order emerged.
We have no idea simply what number of fennecs there are within the wild. They are elusive, predominantly nocturnal, and really delicate to noise, so we don’t know a lot about them in any respect!
What we do know, nonetheless, is that that is an animal properly price retaining. So unfold the phrase – if there’s a conservation undertaking you’ve gotten entry to, donate what you possibly can!
Did we miss something? Do you’ve gotten something so as to add to the combination? Let us know within the feedback under!
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A History of Tolerance
Cannabis wasn’t a big deal in Maine until 1913. That’s when a lot of states across the country began curtailing usage. A federal ban didn’t come until 1937. This still allowed medical use but seriously curtailed the recreational kind.
In 1970, the federal government placed cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act. It was classified as a schedule I narcotic, many say erroneously. This designation indicates the plant as one of the most dangerous substances known to humans, and without any medical benefit. Recently uncovered documents find that President Richard Nixon had cannabis placed at this classification, not for any scientific reason, but to punish young radicals and others who voted against him in the previous election.
What’s interesting is, Maine didn’t remain obstinate like other states. It softened its approach, way before it was popular to do so. In 1976, the Pine Tree State decided to decriminalize possession of small amounts. Few other states were bold enough to do so. Maine was also among the first to adopt a medical cannabis program, back in 1999. This was just three years after California’s Compassionate Use Act, the first medical cannabis law in the country.
Maine’s medical law allowed patients who are seriously and chronically ill access to the plant. Patients were and are allowed to grow their own and use it to help alleviate symptoms associated with their condition. Qualifying conditions included cancer, glaucoma, chronic pain, extreme and persistent nausea, and HIV/AIDS.
In 2009, the state expanded its program via a voter referendum called Question 5. This allowed for the cultivation, distribution, and dispensation of medical cannabis to patients on a retail basis. Democratic Governor John Baldacci established a task force to see what the best way was to set up such a program.
After receiving their input, the state opened the first eight dispensaries in 2010, each serving one of the state’s eight districts. This law allowed those patients with a medical card to possess up to 2.5 ounces at any given time. Patients or primary caregivers could also cultivate up to six plants on their own property.
Medical Law Reform
In December 2018, the state’s medical program was further expanded. This reform allowed municipalities to say whether they would allow cannabis-based businesses within their communities. It also put into place protections for patients. Today, medical patients cannot be arrested or prosecuted for medical usage. It also made medical products safer, as it allows authorities to inspect cultivators and providers without notice.
Safety, testing, and compliance regulations were updated. Now, seed-to-sale tracking is mandatory. Products must be properly labeled in terms of contents and dosage, and on-site bookkeeping and security regulations are more stringent. Lab verification of label information is also required.
The reform also eliminated qualifying conditions. Now, if a doctor decides cannabis is right for a patient, he or she can just prescribe it. What’s more, a medical card is no longer required if the patient is over age 21. The reform law also increased protections for patients. They may not be denied any privileges from schools, landlords, or employers for being such a patient.
A voter referendum in 2016 saw the approval of Question 1, legalizing recreational cannabis in the state, and allowing for retail sale and taxation. The law also allowed municipalities to decide whether they wanted recreational cannabis-based businesses within their boundaries. Lawmakers had trouble implementing the program, however. On January 2017, the legislature put a moratorium on implementation until the rules and regulations were worked out.
A special legislative committee was formed to address the unresolved issues. Ever since then, Maine has struggled to put into place a regulatory structure. The state had a bid to hire a consultant to help shape the program. They hired one Los Angeles consultant after a bidding process but rescinded the hire. He was going to help focus on rules for sales and packaging.
No recreational dispensaries are open, currently. Legislators are hoping to get the rules sorted out, so they can have recreational shops open by this year’s summer vacation season. Some say that’s unlikely. Currently, the law allows adults age 21 and over to possess up to 2.5 ounces, which can be used on their property, such as at home, or in licensed social clubs–which are not yet established.
With more operations poised to take root in Maine, Ai Vacuum is there to offer the highest-quality post-processing equipment and the best customer support. This is the premier post-harvest equipment provider in the industry. Processors interested in rotary evaporators, glass jacketed reactors, vacuum ovens, short path distillation kits, and more, should feel free to contact us.
Our sales representative for Maine, Patricia Miguel, can be reached at 1-888-988-0899 ext. 116. Or email her at firstname.lastname@example.org
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Surface and interfacial phenomenon:
Liquid interface, surface & interfacial tensions,surface free energy, measurement of surface & interfacial tensions, spreading coefficient, adsorption at liquid interfaces, surface active agents, HLB Scale, solubilisation, detergency, adsorption at solid interface.
Surface tension occurs whenever there is an interface between a liquid, a solid or a gas. Surface tension of water is an important property in situations where small volumes of liquid occur, or the liquid is in contact with small diameter tubes or porous media. The behaviour of
molecules at boundaries between two immiscible phases is different from their behavior in the bulk of the phases, which has implications for the physiology of the human body as well as for pharmacy. Interfacial phenomena affect drug delivery systems. For example, solubilization and dispersion of drugs, suspension or emulsion stability, and adsorption of drugs on different substrates are all affected by the interfacial properties of drugs and their environment.
After studying the contents of the chapter, students are expected to:
• Understand types of interfaces and describe relevant examples.
• Understand the terms surface tension and interfacial tension and their application in pharmaceutical sciences.
• Understand the concept of surface and interface tensions, surface free energy, its changes, work of cohesion and adhesion, and spreading and methods of their measurements.
• Understand the mechanisms of adsorption on liquid and solid interfaces.
• Differentiate between different types of mono-layers and recognize basic methods for their characterization.
1. What are surface, interface and surface?
2. What are units of surface tension and interfacial tension?
3. Explain the terms surface excess and surface pressure.
4. Enlist methods to determine surface tension of liquids and solids.
5. Describe capillary rise method for determination of surface tension of liquids.
6. Describe drop method to determine surface tension of liquid.
7. Why drop of liquid hanging in air is spherical in shape?
8. What is effect of surfactant concentration and solute on surface tension of liquids?
9. Write about first tensiometer developed and used to determine surface tension.
10. Explain bubble pressure method to determine surface tension.
11. Classify surfactants based on their HLB values.
12. Write note on HLB system and its applications.
13. A polyhydric fatty acid ester has saponification number 48 and acid number 280. What
will be HLB value of ester?
14. Draw HLB scale stating different HLB value ranges for surfactant for their application.
15. Enlist factors affecting HLB value of surfactant. Write on drawbacks of HLB.
16. What is surface free energy? Explain methods to determine it.
17. Elaborate the statement ’Surface tension decreases with increase in temperature’.
18. At 20°C the same volume of water and oil produced 20 and 60 drops using
Stalagmometer. If surface tension of water is 72.8 dynes/cm at same temperature, at which density of oil is 0.872 g/mL; calculate surface tension of oil.
19. The surface excess of long chain amphiphile in water was 3 x 10-9 mol/cm2; calculate area
occupied by each molecule at the surface.20. The surface excess of amphiphile is 5.49 × 10-9 mol/cm2
at a bulk concentration of
3 × 10−3 mol/L; calculate area occupied by each amphiphile molecule at the surface.
(N = 6.02 × 1023)
21. What are wetting agents? Explain their mechanism of action.
22. What is critical micelle concentration? Explain the changes observed on properties of
surfactant solutions at CMC.
23. What are pharmaceutical applications of critical micelle concentration?
24. Enlist methods other than surface tension to determine CMC of surfactant solution.
26. What is adsorption? Differentiate between physisorption and chemisorption.
27. Write characteristics of physisorption and chemisorption.
28. What are assumptions of Langmuir’s adsorption study?
29. Describe Langmuir’s adsorption isotherm to determine the constants ‘log k’ and ‘b’ in the
30. Explain Freundlich adsorption isotherm.
31. Write short on Langmuir adsorption isotherm.
32. What is spreading coefficient? Obtain expression for the same.
33. Derive an equation of spreading coefficient. What is its significance in pharmacy?
34. How knowledge of surface tension does helps in understanding of spreading coefficient?
35. Addition of solid particles in to a liquid vehicle is critical step in the preparation of pharmaceutical dispersions. Explain this statement with spreading wetting.
36. When two immiscible liquids are mixed together they fail to remain mixed. Explain.
37. Surface tension of water is 77.8 dyne/cm and that of benzene is 27.1 dyne/cm while interfacial tension between them is 35 dynes/cm then what was the initial spreading coefficient? After establishment of equilibrium, surface tension of water reduces to
62.2 dynes/cm and that of benzene it becomes 27 dynes/cm. What was the final spreading coefficient?
38. Draw different type of adsorption curves and discussion their applications.
39. How you will determine cross sectional area per molecule form adsorption studies?
40. Draw schematic of film balance. Explain the concept of surface pressure.
41. A 5 mL of an oil having molecular weight 300 and density 0.9 g/mL is placed on half an acre (2 × 107 cm2) of pond; calculate length and cross sectional area of the oil molecule.
42. Explain phenomenon of wetting and spreading with the help of suitable contact angle measurement.
43. Explain mechanism of Cosolvents in improving solubility of solutes with suitable examples.
44. Solubility of majority of the drugs in water is influenced by the pH of the system. Explain with suitable example.
45. Describe use of surfactant to solubilize insoluble solutes.
46. Altering chemical structure of the molecule changes solubility of solute in the same solvent. Explain.
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Mental stress, pollution causing heart attack incidences: (Prof) Dr Neeraj Pandit
Rising incidences of heart attacks and heart diseases among youngsters in India have become a worrying trend. Unhealthy lifestyle habits such as eating fast food, alcohol consumption, smoking, obesity, sedentary lifestyle and diseases including diabetes and hypertension are major risk factors for heart diseases, also known as cardiovascular diseases.
Drug Today Medical Times spoke to Prof. (Dr) Neeraj Pandit. Prof Pandit is the Head of the Department of Cardiology at Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital in Delhi and has many research papers with over 130 citations.
DTMT: What are the common risk factors for heart attacks?
Prof Pandit: High blood pressure and diabetes, deposition of cholesterol in blood vessels, smoking, and environmental exposures, including passive smoking and air pollutions are major risk factors for heart attacks and heart diseases.
The World Health Organisation considers air pollution as a major risk factor for heart attacks. Moreover, multiple research has now established the fact that air pollutants indeed aggravate the plaque building in the arteries,
In developing countries like India, the air pollution level is very high and the pollutants stay in the air throughout the year for a long duration. You must have noticed that during winters, they remain suspended at lower levels and appear as thick fog, especially during the morning hours. These small particulate matters enter our blood vessels and shrink them.
Many a time, it has been observed that heart attacks have been reported within one to two hours of exposure to air pollution. Research has proved it.
We advise our patients that they should refrain from moderate to high exercise during winter when the air pollution becomes worse. Patients with heart disease must refrain from going for early morning walks given worsened air pollution.
DTMT: What are the signs and symptoms of heart attacks?
Prof Pandit: Usually, one does not get a signal that he or she is going to suffer from a heart attack, but some indications such as heaviness in the chest, nausea, difficulty in breathing while taking a walk and excessive sweating occur in the event of a heart attack.
Such symptoms subside when the person rests but starts redeveloping when the person starts walking as it presses on the heart during a walk.
Pain, which happens in the heart, does not need to move into the left arm, contrary to popular perception, and even static chest pain could be because of a cardiac arrest.
If a person suffers from intense pain in the chest, and if this pain persists for more than 20 minutes, then the possibility is high that it could be because of a cardiac arrest and in such situations, efforts must be ensured to seek expert medical care immediately.
Long breathing, pressing of the chest and coughing do not have any impact on the heart as the heart is a very well-packed internal organ and cannot be reached from outside.
DTMT: Are favourable blood reports enough to predict that there will not be a heart attack?
Prof Pandit: Some patients say that they had good blood reports and they underwent angiography tests to rule out the possibility of a heart attack. Yet they suffer from the attacks.
Though it may sound contradictory, it has a certain answer in cholesterol deposition.
Deposition of cholesterol begins from the age of two years, which keeps on increasing with age. These depositions do not interfere with blood flow till more than 70% of the arteries get blocked.
However, one should be careful as fat deposition in the arteries to the tune of even 50% could trigger the deposits to chip off from the internal walls of blood vessels and develop blood clots, which would deprive the heart of its blood supply, thereby forcing them to work harder leading to heart attacks.
DTMT: What are major lifestyle issues that can trigger a heart attack?
Prof Pandit: Uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes, obesity, lack of physical activities, bad eating habits like excessive eating of junk food and smoking and last but not least mental stress are major lifestyle issues that can trigger a heart attack.
Researchers are now certain that mental stress is as big a factor as smoking in triggering a heart attack. Added to that high salt intake is mostly found in processed or packaged food, and the use of hydrogenated vegetable oil (Vanaspati) is detrimental to cardiac health.
DTMT: How does stress affect our cardiac health?
Prof Pandit: It has been found in research that people who suffer from an episode of a heart attack had intense mental stress either at the workplace or some issue in the family for the preceding six months of such an event.
Whenever anyone continues to suffer from mental stress, the body releases hormones that increase the risk of deposition of cholesterol, while the level hormones that relax coronary arteries are released in lesser quantities.
DTMT: How do you perceive the issue of drinking alcohol and its effect on cardiac health?
Prof Pandit: In India and some other countries, there is a common belief that alcohol is good for the heart, but I am afraid to say that it is not so. In India, people have different tendencies toward drinking. Some days, people indulge in binge drinking, which means that they take large amounts of alcohol while some days they do not drink at all.
People must realise that excess alcohol in the blood triggers an attack in the brain known as a paralytic attack, which is very common in India. Alcohol increases blood pressure, weakens the heart muscles and makes the heart beat irregular.
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Created on Tuesday, 12 August 2014 22:29
The late Carl Sagan said (and it is related to this documentary):
“We’ve arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We’ve also arranged things so that almost no one understands science or technology. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later, this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces”.
This documentary film poses the question: Are we making “Holes in Heaven”?
HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is a very controversial high frequency radio transmitter, or “ionospheric heater,” which is believed to be descended from the works of Nikola Tesla, and is operated by the U.S. Navy/Air Force and Phillip Laboratories in remote Gakona, Alaska. Using HAARP, the military can focus a billion-watt pulsed radio beam into our upper atmosphere, ostensibly for ionospheric research.
However, several researchers have already indicated that HAARP poses many dangers, including blowing thirty-mile holes in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. They also warn of possible disruption of the subtle magnetic energies of our Earth and ourselves.
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Childhood cancer, a public health problem in the world
The most frequent are leukemias, brain tumors, and lymph node lymphomas. Some are curable in 90 percent of cases. The International Day for the Fight against Childhood Cancer is commemorated on February 15.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death of children and adolescents in the world. Every year, globally, more than 400 thousand children are diagnosed with this disease, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
In the American continent, it is estimated that there were 32,065 new cases in 2020, in children from 0 to 14 years of age, and 8,544 deaths were recorded in children under 15 years of age; while in Latin America and the Caribbean, the proportion was 20,855 new cases and 7,076 deaths.
WHO-PAHO report that most children with the disease live in low- and middle-income countries, where they face unacceptable inequities in aspects such as early detection, diagnosis, and access to quality treatment and palliative care.
On the occasion of the International Day for the Fight against Childhood Cancer, which is commemorated on February 15, pediatric oncologist Marta Margarita Zapata Terrés, professor and tutor of the Master's and Doctorate Program in Medical Sciences at the Graduate Studies Division of the Faculty of Medicine (FM) of the UNAM, points out that in infants, leukemias, which originate in the bone marrow, are more frequent; then brain tumors and then lymphomas, tumors that originate in the lymph nodes.
Then several tumors develop in any part of the body: bone, muscle, liver, and various organs. In general, they produce common symptoms of which we are not very alert, that is why it is essential to be informed. Cancer in childhood is the first cause of death by disease. This makes it a public health problem in Mexico and the world in which we must be involved; besides, with early detection, some types are curable in 90 percent of the cases.
In leukemia, fever, pallor, and bone pain are present. The important thing is to give it importance, as moms and dads, if these symptoms last more than a week, then it is necessary to consult a pediatrician. Prolonged headaches (even with the use of analgesics), visual disturbances such as blurred vision or double vision, dizziness, and walking complications are associated with brain tumors. In these cases, there is an urgent need to see a doctor.
Lymph node lymphomas and other tumors such as bone tumors are associated with pain and an increase in volume in that area of the body. When those lumps we have in the neck, armpits, and groin swell more than one centimeter, they should be studied, because they can grow due to an infection, but also due to cancer. Being ill-considered allows physicians to detect childhood cancer in early stages.
The diagnosis of childhood cancer cannot be made by the pediatrician or first contact family physician, but the first symptoms can be detected to refer the patient to a pediatric oncologist, who is the specialist. It is important that as adults, we believe in children. "If they tell us that they feel bad, that they don't want to eat or that they have a headache, we should not think that they are lazy or that they are manipulating us because many times these behaviors of adults delay early diagnoses".
Of the cancers manifested at any age, childhood cancer represents only five percent of the cases and is one of the most curable. In countries where there is a quick referral and early access to curative treatments, there are diseases such as retinoblastoma that have a one hundred percent cure rate; others such as lymphomas also have a very high cure rate; even leukemias in some cases have a rate of over 90 or 95 percent, which is very good.
These children, in most cases, will not become adults with cancer. Long-term follow-ups have been done all over the world and there are many survivors. Less than 10 percent of childhood tumors are associated with cancers in adulthood. The main measures for early detection are education, that is to say, at a societal level, and especially doctors, parents, and teachers should be aware that cancer exists in childhood.
Communication between hospitals, because sometimes there is a suspicion of cancer but there are numerous intermediate steps that it takes to be sent to an oncology area. These patients with suspicions should have facilities to reach a tertiary hospital, where a diagnosis can be confirmed or ruled out.
International Childhood Cancer Day is commemorative to raise awareness that this disease exists so that we commit to small actions that can change the course of these patients. In September 2018, the WHO issued the global initiative on this issue, to address inequalities in countries to achieve early treatments. It seeks to achieve at least 60 percent survival of children with cancer by 2030 and reduce suffering for all. Consequently, to increase the capacity of nations to provide quality services to patients and to prioritize childhood cancer at the national, regional, and global levels.
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The e-ROSA project seeks to build a shared vision of a future sustainable e-infrastructure for research and education in agriculture in order to promote Open Science in this field and as such contribute to addressing related societal challenges. In order to achieve this goal, e-ROSA’s first objective is to bring together the relevant scientific communities and stakeholders and engage them in the process of coelaboration of an ambitious, practical roadmap that provides the basis for the design and implementation of such an e-infrastructure in the years to come.
This website highlights the results of a bibliometric analysis conducted at a global scale in order to identify key scientists and associated research performing organisations (e.g. public research institutes, universities, Research & Development departments of private companies) that work in the field of agricultural data sources and services. If you have any comment or feedback on the bibliometric study, please use the online form.
You can access and play with the graphs:
- Evolution of the number of publications between 2005 and 2015
- Map of most publishing countries between 2005 and 2015
- Network of country collaborations
- Network of institutional collaborations (+10 publications)
- Network of keywords relating to data - Link
THE CONSTRUCTION OF INTELLIGENT AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS BASED ON THE INTERNET OF THINGS AND KNOWLEDGE BASE
Agriculture as a basis for relations with people's livelihood industries, its information and intelligence level is particularly important. The Internet of Things has a thorough perception of technology and a wide range of interoperability, and it makes the collection and transfer of agricultural data between heterogeneous systems more convenient and more efficient. Knowledge of agriculture is the core of intelligent agriculture decision_support systems and expert systems. Model base and inference engine is the key algorithms of the intelligent agricultural decision_support systems and expert systems. Agricultural decision_support system for ago-technical staff with expertise provides decision-making in agricultural production. Agricultural expert system for ordinary provides farmers of decision-making reference in agricultural production. This article focused on the architecture and key technology of intelligent system of agriculture.
Inappropriate format for Document type, expected simple value but got array, please use list format
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Youth and Road Safety: Championing Safer Road Users
Road traffic injuries claim 1.35 million lives each year with a disproportionate impact on health and development. They are the ninth leading cause of death across all age groups globally and the leading cause among young people aged between 15 and 29 years, costing governments approximately 3% of GDP and 5% in low- and middle-income countries (World Health Organization, WHO 2018).
The e-learning course aims to raise awareness and build capacity among the youth to be safer road user champions. It sheds light on the importance of road safety measures and provides core skill sets and knowledge on safer road behaviours. It also explores various different ways to help combat road traffic injuries and death. The course aims to achieve the following objectives:
- To raise awareness on the need for road safety measures.
- To Highlight the risk factors associated with road traffic crashes.
- To develop core skill sets and knowledge on safer road behaviours.
- To explore and analyze different ways to combat road traffic injuries and death.
The Course includes 3 modules:
- Module 1 - The Global Framework of Road Safety
- Module 2 - Youth and Road Safety: Background and Context
- Module 3 - Championing Safer Road Users: Young Leaders
The 3 modules of the course comprise short self-paced interactive lessons having the following learning components:
- User friendly and interactive e-lessons and videos
- Illustrative activities designed to enable the practical application of concepts and tools learned in the lessons
- Fun quizzes to measure learning.
Online as well as offline materials and resources such as the course lessons in printable version (pdf), to ensure flexibility of learning.
The course is designed for Youth aged 15 – 24.
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A serendipitous scientific discovery by researchers at the National University of Singapore could potentially revolutionize the way water is broken down to release hydrogen gas.
The team found that light can trigger a new mechanism in a catalytic material used extensively in water electrolysis, where water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen. The result is a more energy-efficient method of obtaining hydrogen.
The team detailed their discovery in a research paper published in the scientific journal Nature.
The team, led by Associate Professor Xue Jun Min, Dr Wang Xiaopeng and Dr Vincent Lee Wee Siang from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering under the NUS College of Design and Engineering (NUS CDE), found that light can trigger a new mechanism in a catalytic material used extensively in water electrolysis.
This breakthrough was achieved in collaboration with Dr Xi Shibo from the Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR); Dr Yu Zhigen from the Institute of High Performance Computing under A*STAR; and Dr Wang Hao from the Department of Mechanical Engineering under the NUS CDE.Assoc Prof Xue said, “We discovered that the redox center for electro-catalytic reaction is switched between metal and oxygen, triggered by light. This largely improves the water electrolysis efficiency.”
The groundbreaking discovery made by Assoc Prof Xue Jun Min (center) and his team could improve affordability of hydrogen as source of clean energy. Image Credit: National University of Singapore.
The new finding can potentially open up new and more effective industrial methods of producing hydrogen and putting this environmentally friendly source of fuel within the reach of more people and industries.
The accidental breakthrough
Under normal circumstances, Assoc Prof Xue and his team may not have been able to come across such a groundbreaking discovery. But an accidental power off tripping of the ceiling lights in his laboratory almost three years ago allowed them to observe something that the global scientific community has not yet managed to do.
Back then, the ceiling lights in Assoc Prof Xue’s research lab were usually turned on all 24 hours a day. One night in 2019, the lights went off due to a power off trip. When the researchers returned the next day, they found that the performance of a nickel oxyhydroxide-based material in the water electrolysis experiment, which had continued in the dark, had fallen drastically.
Assoc Prof Xue noted, “This drop in performance, nobody has ever noticed it before, because no one has ever done the experiment in the dark. Also, the literature says that such a material shouldn’t be sensitive to light; light should not have any effect on its properties.”
The electro-catalytic mechanism in water electrolysis is a very well researched topic, and the nickel-based material is a very common catalytic material. Hence, in order to establish that they were on the verge of discovering something groundbreaking, Assoc Prof Xue and his team embarked on numerous repeated experiments. They dug deeper into the mechanics behind such a phenomenon. They even repeated the experiment outside of Singapore to ensure that their findings were consistent.
Now three years into the research Assoc Prof Xue and his team were finally able to share their findings publicly in a paper.
With their findings, the team is now working on designing a new way to improve industrial processes to generate hydrogen. Assoc Prof Xue is suggesting making the cells containing water to be transparent, so as to introduce light into the water splitting process.
“This should require less energy in the electrolysis process, and it should be much easier using natural light. More hydrogen can be produced in a shorter amount of time, with less energy consumed,” said Assoc Prof Xue.
Food companies use hydrogen gas to turn unsaturated oils and fats into saturated ones, which give us margarine and butter. Hydrogen is also used to weld metals together, as it can generate a high temperature of 4,000° C. The petroleum industry uses the gas to remove the sulfur content from oil.
Hydrogen can potentially be used as a fuel. Long-touted as a sustainable fuel, hydrogen fuel produces no emissions as it burns upon reacting with oxygen – no ignition is needed, making it a cleaner and greener fuel source. Once the storage issues are worked out hydrogen could be more reliable than solar-powered batteries.
Considering incoming light as an accelerant to a catalyst sounds like a fake. But three years of testing and experimentation seems justified and was duly undertaken.
Congratulations are in order. The team showed great situational awareness from the power outage by not just blowing off the anomaly of the running test and chasing the facts to the optimum conclusion.
By Brian Westenhaus via New Energy And Fuel
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
- Saudi Arabia Cuts Oil Prices For Asia
- Oil Shortage Forecasts Clash With Grim Economic Projections
- Low Prices And Tanker Traffic Leave $2 Billion Of LNG Floating Off Europe
Now, how is all that hydrogen going to be stored?
And how much will that storage cost?
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Supersonic flight is set to make a comeback and go further than ever before in this decade. Today the Federal Aviation Administration published new guidance to support this effort by clarifying existing policy and potentially streamlining the regulatory side of supersonic testing.
The Department of Transportation currently does not authorize supersonic flight by default. This means developing and testing technology like Boom’s XB-1 supersonic jet will require special authorization from the DOT and FAA to fly over Mach 1 speeds.
The FAA published a new document it calls the final rule “to facilitate the safe development of civil supersonic aircraft.” While the document does not contain new policy, it does provide a modern interpretation on regulation that dates back to the 1970s. The final rule is based on FAA conclusions reached while considering feedback from aviation companies and local governments alike.
National Environmental Policy Act
In the final rule, the FAA includes arguments made by Boom on ways to speed up supersonic testing applications while complying with the National Environmental Policy Act:
Boom initially presents two factual conclusions. Boom’s first conclusion is that FAA would be unlikely to identify any significant sonic boom noise impacts for individual supersonic flight test programs under the FAA’s threshold of significance for noise impacts in its NEPA procedures (FAA Order 1050.1). Boom’s second conclusion is that the FAA programmatically could examine all supersonic test flight campaigns covering all applicants in a single year without the impacts triggering the FAA’s threshold of significance for noise.
Boom supports these conclusions with metrics from previous flights of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy landings and operations of the Concorde. Based on its conclusion that impacts of special flight authorizations would never reach FAA’s threshold of significance for noise impacts, either individually or cumulatively on an annual basis, Boom proposes a series of qualifying criteria that, if met, should lead FAA to presume no significant impacts exist.
The FAA did not bite, nor did it accept an argument that pre-approved circumstances could be determined that would expedite supersonic testing approval.
Supersonic flight testing
The final rule does provide companies testing supersonic flight with some clarifications that simplify which steps of testing must receive approval and where tests can be conducted. Here’s a breakdown of some of the highlights:
- Takeoff and landing testing does not require special approval since neither occurs at supersonic speeds that create environmental noise concerns
- Companies are allowed to share locations for supersonic testing versus establishing separate test sites, although each party will require FAA approval before testing
- Approved supersonic testing locations are not required to be military operation areas that could limit civil supersonic test opportunities
- Companies are encouraged to use software models for predicting sonic boom ground impacts
The FAA also clears the way for approving supersonic tests focused on gathering noise data. The idea here is that you can’t measure real noise levels from supersonic flight without actually conducting a test flight first. Because there are no standards for assessing noise level during supersonic flight, this is an area that will likely gain more direction in the future.
Over ocean required
Existing supersonic flight authorization requires tests to be conducted over oceans and not land in part to isolate the sound of a sonic boom from reaching land. The document cites arguments from Boom that seek to remove this requirement in future authorizations, but the FAA decidedly objected to Boom’s argument:
Boom raised economic concerns with the overocean provision. Boom stated that FAA’s 1970s-era economic rationale for the prohibition on supersonic overland flight and application process for overland testing is not valid because it was based on a market assessment of supersonic aircraft that did not materialize.
Boom also stated that the overocean requirement is not economically reasonable because testing supersonic aircraft over the ocean would require manufacturers located farther from the U.S. coastline to incur enormous expenses to set up additional test facilities with closer proximity to the ocean. Boom added that “for such an enormous expense, the public may be spared a few dozen half-second disturbances per year.” […]
Rather, Boom’s comment suggests that the requirement could pose a financial obstacle to Boom’s particular business plans, not that the regulation in general is economically unreasonable.
Each supersonic test application will still require the applicant to provide a reason why over ocean testing isn’t possible for each specific test before approval is considered. For now, supersonic testing on land will be limited to specific instances like measuring sound which couldn’t be conducted over oceans.
Heavily cited in the final rule document, Boom Supersonic unveiled the design of its XB-1 test plane in October and plans to conduct multiple test flights with the hardware this year. Read the full document here.
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Dunmoochin, built around 1858, was originally the home of Irish emigrants John and Honora Griffin and their three children. It is an example of the many workers’ cottages once built in the West End.
Under a system devised by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the city of Adelaide was divided into lots, which were sold cheaply and then subdivided. The profits from the sales were then used to pay for assisted passages for emigrants to the colony. Maud Street forms a boundary for one of the original lots.
The Griffin Family
John Griffin, a labourer, and his wife Honora arrived with their son Martin in South Australia in 1852. Thanks to the labour shortage in South Australia due to the Victorian Gold Rush, the Griffins were able to save enough money to buy an allotment of land for £12 in 1856. They built their 9.6 x 6 metre cottage using Mount Lofty bluestone, with an iron lean-to creating a third room. Martin, who worked as a saddler and collar-maker, and his younger sister Mary, inherited when John Griffin died. Martin lived there until his death in 1913.
Mary’s husband, a builder, may have built the back verandah which was added and used as a laundry and bathroom space before being converted to the kitchen.
The Wilson Family
Dunmoochin was sold to a labourer, J Burns, in the mid-1920s. The house was re-sold to Ernest Roy Wilson and his wife Norah Magdalene in 1942. The Wilsons, an Aboriginal couple who were raised on Koonibba, a Lutheran mission, moved to Adelaide to improve their children’s educational opportunities. Very few Aboriginal people lived in Adelaide at the time due to laws restricting their movement around the state. Those who did live in the city often moved to the West End. By this time the house was ridden with salt damp.
Dilapidation and Heritage Listing
Dunmoochin was sold twice more, firstly to Clementine Taylor in 1948 and then to Nellie Grace Hill in 1951, before finally being sold in 1987 for $57,000, despite being listed as substandard housing under the Housing Improvement Act (1941). It is also on the South Australian and City of Adelaide Heritage Lists.
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Safeguard your teeth against tooth decay.
Many factors can lead to tooth decay, but bacteria plays the most significant role. That said, it is essential to understand that all of us have bacteria inside of our mouths. When this bacteria is left to sit on our teeth, it starts to form plaque, a white film composed of tons of bacteria. When we don’t take the appropriate steps to care for our oral health, the bacteria can begin to produce acids that eventually erode our tooth enamel. And when these acids come into contact with the outer layer of our teeth, they start to create cavities.
Of course, if you are like most adults in Buxton, Maine, you don’t want a cavity. So what are the best ways to prevent them and tooth decay from starting in the first place? By adopting these 10 strategies, you will do your mouth and whole body good and considerably lessen any future tooth decay risks.
1. Brush your teeth twice daily with a fluoride toothpaste.
If you’re wondering when and how often you should brush your teeth each day, the answer is simple. The American Dental Association suggests brushing your teeth at least twice per day with fluoride toothpaste. But, not only that, be sure to brush for at least two minutes each time you brush. Brushing your teeth, especially after eating or drinking sugary beverages, helps remove food and plaque.
2. Floss your teeth once per day.
Though brushing your teeth twice a day is critical to maintaining good oral health, it’s not enough. It is also essential that you floss your teeth each day and make sure to get that floss between all of your teeth, even those far in the back. Flossing helps you get to places your toothbrush can’t. And it ensures that tiny food particles get removed from in between your teeth.
3. Rinse your mouth with a fluoridated mouthwash after brushing and flossing.
After brushing and flossing your teeth, be sure to rinse with a fluoridated mouthwash. Using mouthwash each day helps reduce the bacteria inside your mouth, and as a result, it reduces the amount of dental plaque that forms. Using a fluoridated mouthwash regularly also helps prevent periodontal disease.
4. Visit your dentist regularly.
Any good family dentist will suggest a trip to the dentist’s office twice per year. Seeing the dentist every six months helps them catch tooth decay early on before it gets too severe. Preventive dentistry can help save you time, money, pain, and discomfort in the future. During your visit, you will receive a thorough dental cleaning that will help remove set-in stains and plaque between your teeth and underneath your gums. After your visit, your teeth will look better, and your breath will smell better too.
5. Get cavities filled right away.
Another benefit of seeing your dentist twice per year is that they can identify cavities early on and fill them right away. Dental fillings can restore the shape and stability of your teeth and help prevent further damage such as tooth decay or tooth loss. Dental fillings are used to fill cavities, repair injured or broken teeth, and restore worn-out or eroded teeth.
6. Drink plenty of water.
You’ve probably read several articles about how much water you should drink each day. For example, the Mayo Clinic suggests that we drink between 11.5 to 15.5 cups of water per day, based on our sex and weight. Drinking water helps keep our bodies running efficiently and effectively and helps keep our mouths clean and healthy by washing away food particles left behind in our mouths. Quite simply, water is the best beverage for your teeth.
7. Eat crunchy fruits and vegetables.
If you’re like most adults, you grew up with your parents reinforcing the importance of eating fruits and vegetables. Not only do fruits and veggies help provide us with essential vitamins and minerals, but they also help fill us up without causing us to consume excess calories. But aside from the vital role fruits and veggies play in our diets, crunchy fruits and vegetables can help clean our mouths. Consuming fruits such as apples and pears or veggies like celery and broccoli give our mouths a workout and help clear away plaque and bacteria.
8. Avoid frequent snacking or sipping on sweet beverages throughout the day.
There are many medical opinions out there on how often you should eat throughout the day. Most medical professionals suggest that six small meals per day are best, but three well-portioned meals throughout the day will suffice. The challenge for our mouths comes in when we snack throughout the day in addition to our meals. Every time we put something into our mouth, we risk leaving more food particles behind. And when we drink sugary beverages like cola or fruit juice, that sugar gets dumped on our teeth too. So, too much snacking throughout the day can not only lead to weight gain but also increases our risk of developing dental caries (cavities).
9. Chew sugar-free gum.
If you like to snack or have a lot of nervous energy, chewing on gum can help satisfy those needs. But gum tends to have a lot of sugar and can be bad for our teeth. On the other hand, chewing sugar-free gum can satisfy those needs and stimulate saliva production, which aids in washing away bacteria or food particles. This said we’d be remiss if we didn’t reiterate that chewing sugar-free gum is not a replacement for daily toothbrushing and flossing.
10. Consider sealants or fluoride treatments.
During your next trip to the dentist, ask about sealants or fluoride treatments for your teeth. Sealants can help preserve your teeth, and though they are not a cure-all, they are cost-effective and can help control tooth decay in certain areas of your mouth. Fluoride helps prevent tooth decay by making your teeth more resilient to plaque bacteria and the resulting acids. And, depending on your bite, your dental sealant can last for years and years.
Let the Tory Hill Dental team help you prevent cavities and tooth decay
By following the above suggestions, you can significantly reduce your risk of developing cavities and tooth decay. And, when our mouths are healthy, we are less likely to need to make a trip to the emergency dentist. So, if you need a dental cleaning or have a cavity that requires a filling, now is the time to request an appointment with the best dentist in Buxton, Maine.
We look forward to seeing you and helping you protect your smile.
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The 55th Virginia Infantry was assembled from local militias from Middlesex and Essex County. These counties are located in the Tidewater area of Virginia along the Rappahannock River. Several companies had come into existence in response to John Browns raid on Harpers Ferry in October 1859. These citizen soldiers took part in the imprisonment and trial of John Brown. Subsequent to the initial formation of the regiment, additional companies were attached including soldiers from Lancaster, Spotsylvania and Westmoreland counties. The rank and file of the regiment held few slaves; they enlisted to protect their homes from invasion. The people instrumental in the formation of the regiment included: Major (Reverend) William N. Ward, Major Thomas M. Burke (KIA at Fraysers Farm 6/30/1862), and Colonel (Dr.) William S. Christian (WIA numerous times). Allen C. Redwood a member of company C, wrote many articles about his experience, which included being wounded several times, and as a POW. Many of his stories about life in the Confederate Army can be found in Harpers, Century and Scribners Monthly. In addition, Allen C. Redwoods Type III Richmond Depot uniform has been preserved at the Museum of the Confederacy.
The 55th Virginia Infantry served the Confederate States of America with distinction. Among the battles they fought were: Leading rolls in the battles for Richmond in June 1862 including Gaines Mill, Mechanicsville and Fraysers Farm; Cedar Mountain, August 1862; 2nd Manassas, August 1862; Harpers Ferry, September 1862, Sharpsburg, September 1862; Fredericksburg, December 1862; Chancellorsville, May 1863; Gettysburg, July 1863; Wilderness, May 1864; Spotsylvania Court House, May 1864; North Ana River, May 1864; The defense of Richmond/Petersburg: Weldon Railroad, August 1864; The Retreat to Appomattox: Saylers Creek, April 1865 and Appomattox Court House, April 1865.
The regiment served under a veritable whos who of the Confederate Army. In general, the 55th Virginia Infantry served in the Army of Northern Virginia. In the initial stages of the war, the regiment served under General George E. Picket in defense of the Lower Rappahannock River. Under Charles Field, they were organized into a brigade consisting of the 40th, 47th and 55th Virginia Infantry Regiments. The Brigade was assigned to General A.P. Hills famous Light Division during the June 1862 Peninsular Campaign. After the Peninsular Campaign, Hills Division was assigned to the command of General "Stonewall" Jackson. After General "Stonewall" Jacksons death in May 1863, the division command was assigned to General Henry Heth. The brigade started the battle of Gettysburg while attempting to search for shoes. In the defense of Petersburg, the 55th was assigned to General Richard Ewell, then to General Seth Barton and finally to General G.W. Custis Lee. The regiment ceased to exist as an organized force after Saylers Creek (April, 1865) however about 22 men were able to escape and joined the rest of the army in the retreat and surrender a few days later at Appomattox Court House.
Among the 1181 soldiers who served in the 55th Virginia Infantry, at the end of the war 375 of the men were still serving, 26% of the original men were dead, 20% had left the service for reasons of wounds, health or transfers and 17% of the men had deserted. While the end of the war brought poverty to their area of Virginia, the men knew that they had helped make the reputation of a great army and few men could have done more.
Early in the war, the 55th Virginia served as a home guard for the Tidewater area along the lower Rappahannock River. Based primarily at Urbanna and Fort Lowry, they served to guard the river ports from attack by the Union gunboats. With the regiment's reorganization in 1862, the 55th left its home base, 950 strong, to join the brigade of General Charles Field defending Fredericksburg from the advancing Union army. They would not return until the end of the war.
The 55th was to spend most of the period from April through June reorganizing and training. Elections were held and capable leaders were ousted including Major William Ward. In April 1862, the Federal commander, General George McClellan, planned to march the Army of the Potomac up the Peninsula and attack Richmond. To counter this threat, the Confederate commander, General Joseph E. Johnston, decided to concentrate the Confederate Army of the Potomac for the defense of Richmond. Field's brigade was combined along with four others to form a new division under the command of General A.P. Hill - the soon to be famous Light Division.
On June 25, 1862, Johnston decided to strike against the Federal forces near Richmond. The ensuing action at Seven Pines (Oak Grove) was a confused and minor affair, except for two important consequences. First, Johnston was wounded and replaced as commander by General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate force was christened the Army of Northern Virginia. Second, the battle of Seven Pines marked the end of McClellan's creeping advance on Richmond and the opening of the campaign known today as the Seven Days' Battles (June 25 - July 1, 1862). It was this campaign that marked the first engagement for the 55th Virginia.
The opening action for the 55th occurred as they marched through the town of Mechanicsville to assault the Union batteries behind Beaver Dam Creek (June 26). They became bogged down in the woods and swamp to their front while suffering from a severe cannonading. The 55th, along with Hill's entire division, had been caught in a trap and had no chance of reaching their target. At Gaines' Mill (June 27) the 55th participated bravely in the final charge that broke the Union lines. At Frayser's Farm (June 29) the 55th captured an enemy artillery battery but suffered heavy casualties in the process. The 55th was spared the devastation of Malvern Hill (June 30) as it arrived on the field too late in the day to participate. The Seven Days' Battles were over and the 55th was covered in glory, Colonel Mallory being praised by Hill for his conspicuous gallantry, but the regiment had suffered severe casualties, especially among the officers. With the close of this campaign, the Light Division, now six brigades strong, was transferred to "Stonewall" Jackson's corps. This was a result of a feud between General A.P. Hill and General James Longstreet.
With the failure of McClellan's Peninsula campaign, Washington brought General John Pope from out west and created a new army to send south against Richmond. Jacksons Corps fought an engagement at Cedar Mountain, where the Corp routed the Federals. However, the enemy regrouped and moved forward. As the Union army advanced, Jackson moved with incredible speed - marching over 56 miles in as many hours - to put himself in Pope's path at the old battlefield of Manassas (Bull Run). In the battle known as Second Manassas, the 55th was not engaged during the fighting at nearby Groveton (August 28), but was heavily engaged the next day along the railway cut where Jackson had deployed his forces. General Field was seriously wounded and replaced by Colonel John M. Brockenbrough of the 40th Virginia. On the 30th, further Union attacks were driven off, but Starke's Louisiana Brigade on the right ran into difficulty when it ran out of ammunition. Brockenbrough's Brigade, led by the 55th, charged into the Union forces to save the day. Ammunition was scarce and for a time the regiment threw rocks at the Federals. Meanwhile, Longstreet's corps struck the southern flank of Pope's army and routed it. The regiment went into battle with a strength of 82 members. It suffered 3 killed, 22 wounded and 5 missing in action. The Confederates pursued to Ox Hill (Chantilly) where, on Sept. 1, the 55th was engaged in heavy fighting against the Federals. During the early evening, General Phil Kearny, the Union commander, was killed by skirmishers of the 55th Virginia.
Following Second Manassas (Second Bull Run), the Army of Northern Virginia proceeded to move northwards and invade Maryland. The troops were exhausted and up to 20,000 men had left the army and gone home (the 55th had at most 200 men), but the army move into Maryland to find fresh supplies and search for new recruits. The Army of Northern Virginia split in two, with Lee heading north and Jackson heading for the Federal depot at Harpers Ferry. There on September 13 to 15, Jackson pulled off one of the greatest coups of the war: for the loss of hardly a man he captured 11,000 infantry, 13,000 rifles and 73 pieces of artillery. The depot was ransacked as the hungry Confederates searched for food and supplies. Jackson then hurried off to help Lee, who battled McClellan at Sharpsburg (Antietam) on September 17. The 55th was near the rear of the column and arrived around 3:00 PM and was used to cover the extreme right flank of the army. Hill's division formed the rearguard to cover the retreat south after the battle.
The 55th was a shadow of its former self, much like the rest of the army, with fewer than 150 men in the ranks. Luckily, McClellan gave the Army of Northern Virginia a much-needed rest in which it could recuperate. Within three months the 55th would number almost 400 effectives. In December, the Army of the Potomac, under yet another commander, General Ambrose E. Burnside, advanced on Fredericksburg. There on December 13 he proceeded to assault the Confederates entrenched just outside of the city. The 55th Virginia manned the far right of the Confederate Army. The Union forces were decisively defeated in front of Marye's Heights, but they were more successful downstream however. The Federals broke through the first Confederate line and were only stopped by a vigorous Southern counterattack in which the 55th participated (55th position highlighted on photograph). After Burnsides aborted "Mud March," both sides then settled in for the winter.
The new year of 1863 dawned with the 55th engaged in rather colorless picket duty along the Rappahannock River. With the coming of summer however, and another new commander for the Army of the Potomac in the person of General Joseph 'Fighting Joe' Hooker, things began to heat up quickly. Feinting at Fredericksburg, Hooker marched the bulk of his army behind Lee into an area of Spotsylvania County (home of the 55th Virginias Company M) known as the Wilderness and camped around Chancellorsville (April 29). Lee turned to face Hooker and dividing his army in two on May 2, sent General Jackson around the Union right flank. The 55th was at the forefront of Jackson's sweeping assault that destroyed two Union corps that evening. During the Confederate assault on May 3, Colonel Brockenbrough, previously of the 40th Virginia and no brigade commander, failed to exercise proper control over his brigade, leaving the 55th Virginia to attack the Union lines single-handed. The regiment was decimated. The regiment had performed admirably during the battle but suffered devastating losses including around 60% of its officers, among them the colonel, lieutenant colonel and every company commander. Benjamin Warner Pritchett, great great grandfather of the ACWAs 55th Virginia, David Engel was severely wounded in the resulting fire from Brockenbroughs error and T.J. "Stonewall" Jacksons foray between the lines.
Two momentous events occurred in the presence of the 55th on May 2. The first was the celebrated final meeting between Lee and Jackson. The 55th marched by Lee and Jackson as they met for what turned out to be their last meeting. The second was the shooting of General Jackson by his own men later that night. Members of the 18th North Carolina, in formation adjacent to the 55th Virginia fired on Jackson and A.P. Hill during their reconnaissance between the lines. It was Benjamin Wright, Assistant Surgeon of the 55th, who first attended to the mortally wounded Jackson.
As a result of severe losses and the death of General Jackson (May 10), Lee reorganized the Army of Northern Virginia. Hill was promoted to command the new III Corps, with his old division, which included the 55th Virginia, being commanded by Henry Heth.
The Confederates invaded Pennsylvania in June and collided with the Army of the Potomac, under its next commander General George G. Meade, at Gettysburg (July 1). General Lee had ordered that there to be no general engagement, but Heths Division attempted to march into Gettysburg in an effort to acquisition shoes. Lee reconsidered and gave battle. The 55th gave an excellent account of itself on the first day, helping to sweep the Union forces off Herr's Ridge following the rout of Archer's Brigade. They captured the colors of the 149th Penn. and as well as many prisoners. As a result of the division commander, General Henry Heth suffering a head wound and the regiments heavy losses it did not participate in the battle on July 2.
During Pickett's Charge (July 3) the regiment was on the far-left side of the Confederate advance. The brigade was subject to a surprise enfilading fire and failed to keep up with the rest of the division, a further result of Colonel Brockenbrough's incompetence, and went to ground in a hollow when it became apparent that the charge was a failure. They suffered only seven casualties that day. Hill's corps provided the rearguard for the Confederate army as it retreated southwards. As punishment for its poor performance on July 3, Brockenbrough's brigade was the rearguard of Hill's corps.
At Falling Waters (July 14), the Union cavalry was not recognized and fell upon the rearguard and routed it, capturing 650 Southern troops, among them 74 members of the 55th and its colors. Sgt. Charles M. Holton of the 7th Michigan Cavalry captured the units battle flag. This flag is currently held by the Museum of the Confederacy. On May 1, the 55th had numbered around 480 effectives, now all that remained was about 130 men - the regiment was shattered. As usual, the Union army gave the Army of Northern Virginia a chance to recuperate so that they, and the 55th, would be a well organized foe come the next summer. Brockenbrough was replaced by a new brigade commander, Henry H. Walker, who was to successfully rally and revitalize the brigade.
Throughout the rest of July until the end of November, the two armies would feel one another out as Meade probed Lee's lines. In November Meade made an attempt to turn the Confederate flank at Mine Run but was stopped cold by Walker's brigade and the excellent defensive position of the Army of Northern Virginia. After Mine Run, most of the Army of Northern Virginia went into winter quarters. However, the 55th Virginia continued fighting. From December until the end of February the next year, the 55th served in the Shenandoah Valley defending against Union cavalry raids.
1864 saw the 55th struggling to survive alongside what remained of the Confederacy. While the situation was worsening, the troops morale was high. The Army of Northern Virginia knew it had repulsed every Union foray into Virginia. Furthermore, in the spring of 1864, Lincolns reelection considered unlikely. The Union armies were now under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant's plan was simple: march south, pin the Army of Northern Virginia in place and wear it down through attrition, while advancing on Richmond. The 55th was to face some of the toughest fighting in the war.
Grant began marching south in May. On May 5, the two armies collided in the dense woods of the Wilderness. For the next month, the armies would be fighting in Spotsylvania County, home to the men of the 55ths Company M. The men would literally defend their homes from the enemy. Heth's division was leading the III Corps advance with Walker's brigade on the right flank (he formed the extreme right flank of the entire army). The 55th was initially pushed back, losing its colors in the process. But the regiment rallied and inflicted severe losses on the enemy. The Federals broke through on May 6, routing much of the III Corps, but the timely arrival of Longstreet's corps saved the day. The Army of the Potomac marched out of its trenches and headed south on May 8.
The two armies again collided at Spotsylvania Court House (May 9) where for the next three days they hammered away at each other. Heths Division and the 55th was picked by Lee for his lone offensive operations. The division turned the Union right flank and met a Union attempt to turn the Confederate left flank. In this engagement, on May 10, the 55th exacted revenge for its defeat at Falling Waters, inflicting tremendous casualties while suffering little themselves. General Walker was wounded however and replaced by Colonel Mayo of the 47th Virginia. The brigade was to suffer from six changes of command within nine months, a situation that contributed greatly to sagging morale. The 55th was deployed in a salient on the east face of the "Muleshoe Salient" occupied by the main army. This portion of the Spotsylvania battlefield is known as "Heths Salient." There the 55th decisively defeated the Federal attacks on May 12. Heths Salient was named the "Dead Angle" by the Yankee troops. On May 20/21 both armies moved out of their trenches to continue the race south.
The 55th played minor roles in the Battle of the North Ana River. In the Battle of Cold Harbor, the 55th played a supporting role and was not seriously engaged. The brigade had to rush south to save Petersburg in June when the Union army appeared outside the city. The 55th was not engaged in the famous "Battle of the Crater" (July 30), but was deployed in the defenses to the right of the "Crater" just after the failure of the Union assault. Throughout the rest of the year, the Union forces attempted to move around the south flank of the Confederate lines at Petersburg trying to stretch Lee's lines and cut the railway links south. When the Union forces struck at the Weldon Railroad (Aug. 18-21) outside of Petersburg, the 55th and its brigade were at the forefront of the Confederate counterattack. After fierce fighting, in which the 55th distinguished itself, the Union advance stalled, but they had managed to cut the railway line. This left the South Side Railroad was the only supply line for the city. It was along this line that the 55th would defend for the rest of 1864.
The Yankees struck at the South Side Railroad on Sept. 30. At Pegram Farm (Sept. 30 - Oct. 1) the 55th was heavily engaged trying to drive away the Union troops, again distinguishing itself. While the attacks failed, the Union drive was stalled and the railroad was saved. For the rest of the year the 55th was deployed in the trenches along the Boydton Plank Road south of the railway.
With the coming of the new year of 1865, the 55th Virginia, along with the rest of its brigade, was transferred to General Ewell's Richmond Defense Force. The troops began to suffer from the virtual collapse of the Confederate supply system, showing the physical effects of starvation and reduced to wearing shabby uniforms or captured Union equipment.
" . . . in their pinched and withered faces . . . something indescribable which does not belong to youth or old age, but resembles some miserable travesty of the latter. It is a look which once seen is not easily forgotten; - which characterizes a strong man in whose experience the aging influences properly belonging to a lifetime have been compressed within the compass of a few years. Their hair and beards are dry and harsh; their skins of the peculiar reddish-gray which comes of the combined effects of exposure and insufficient nutrition, and a feverish light in their sunken eyes tells more eloquently still of daily hunger which is never quite appeased."
an unknown visitor to Company C, 55th Virginia in January, 1865.
Following the failure of the peace talks at Hampton Roads in March, desertion became rampant as many saw the cause as hopeless and gave up. Up to one-fifth of the regiment's manpower disappeared overnight. The Confederates had to abandon Richmond on April 3 following the Union breakthrough at Five Forks (April 1), south of Petersburg. During the disastrous retreat the rearguard of Lee's army, of which the 55th was a part, was overrun at Sayler's Creek. At Saylers Creek, the brigade was down to five hundred members due to straggling and desertion. The brigade crossed the Creek at 3 o'clock p.m. on April 6,1865. They marched up the slope beyond the creek to erect breastworks and watched as the enemy closed upon their position. After a brief skirmish, General George Pickett became heavily engaged. The 55th Virginia Infantry and her sister units were posted in the center of Pickett's line with Crutchfield's cannonless artillerymen, and the Naval brigade to their right. Confident of their superior numbers, the Federals attacked only to be beaten back by the determined Southerners. The Southerners counterattacked. The Federals rallied, however and launched another assault which crushed the Confederate line. The day ended as a disaster for the brigade with most of it killed or captured. Over 7000 Confederate soldiers surrendered including Corps commander General Ewell, several generals and numerous colonels. Twenty-two survivors of the 55th, including Benjamin W. Pritchett, rallied to the main army only to surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9.
The regiment, like its country, had fought to the bitter end. The veterans would now return home to rebuild their shattered world.
We have gathered the sacred dust, of warriors tried and true.
Who bore the flag of our nations trust, and fell in the cause.
Tho lost, still just, and died for me and you.
-Monument inscription at the Confederate Cemetery, Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia (May 12, 1918).
History of the 55th Virginia Infantry compiled by David Engel
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León Cathedral Webcam
The Leon Cathedral isn’t only the outstanding historic building in the city of Leon in northern Spain. There’s lots of them and they’re all exceptional.
This massive cathedral’s construction began at the beginning of the 13th century and took over one-hundred years to complete with additional parts being added during later times.
Competing with the cathedral’s Gothic spires for attention from visitors to Leon’s historic center are two more buildings of note. The Palacio de los Guzmanes, a 16th century castle-like structure with towers and an inner courtyard and the elaborate Casa de Botines designed by the famous Barcelonian architect, Antoni Gaudi.
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THE ROMAN CONQUEST.
CAESAR'S INVASION.-BRITISH INDEPENDENCE AND CYMBELINE. THE CLAUDIAN CONQUEST.-CARACTACUS.-THE REVOLT OF BOADICEA.-WARS AND PUBLIC
POLICY OF AGRICOLA.-SEVERUS.
CESAR'S sudden invasion of Britain, 55, must be ascribed to purely personal motives. Whatever legends were rife in Italy, of Phoenician and Carthaginian trade in years gone by with the tin-producing island, the Roman general at least can have had no illusions. In fact, the commerce of the island was already in the hands of one who commanded the ports of Gaul. Nor was the Republic constrained to enlarge its boundaries for its own safety. The harvest of conquest and oppression was enjoyed peaceably; no man foresaw the retribution which was one day to visit the Romans by the inroad of barbarous tribes and the insurrection of outraged nationalities. But Cæsar wished to add the romance of a brilliant adventure to the fame of great campaigns. Viewed thus, his expedition is only important as affording us the first certain knowledge of Britain, and because it designated the island as the prey of future conquests. The first expedition only proved that in Britain as in Gaul the undisciplined valour of barbarians was incapable of resisting the Roman legions. The second does not seem to have carried the conqueror farther than to the mouth of the Medway. Even that success had been almost bought with the
1 Universal Review, March, 1860.
ruin of the army. Cassibellaun, the chief of the BritannoBelgic confederacy, had the instincts of genius, and attempted to burn the Roman fleet, that the invaders might be shut off from a retreat. He failed, and consented to purchase peace by submission, and a nominal tribute. A few hostages, a girdle of British pearls for Venus, and a splendid triumph, were the only fruits which Cæsar reaped from his victory.
During nearly a hundred years, no Roman soldier set foot on the English shore. The fear of a fierce people and the tradition of a poor country proved stronger than the lust of territorial conquest. Three several times did Augustus resolve to enforce the promised and intermitted tribute; but, delayed by revolts in the empire, or appcased by an embassy from Britain, he never executed his intention. The mad expedition of Caius Caligula to the shore of Boulogne, had the joint object of restoring an exiled prince to his country, and of asserting foreign dominion. Probably the Britons offered submission as they had before done to Augustus ; they may even have paid tribute; but the whole transaction has been disguised by the boastful exaggerations of the Emperor, and the hatred of his historians. It is difficult to believe that the rough veterans of the German wars consented to pick up shells on the coast; and the experience of the Britons might well have taught them to avert attack by a submission which left them free. During all this interval the island seems to have flourished. The partial supremacy of a Belgic prince had been shaken off; and Cunobelin, king of the Trinobantes in Essex and Hertfordshire, had established a federal jurisdiction, which was probably recognized by all the island south of the Humber. Camulodunum, near Colchester in Essex, was his capital, but London seems to have been the real centre of trade. From it highways radiated across the island, especially along the Anglian and south-eastern
1 Merivale's Romans under the Empire, vol. v. chap. 48.
2 His coins have been found as far north as Norwich and Chester. Akerman on the condition of Britain from Cæsar to Claudius.-Archæologia, vol. 33. More than forty varieties of this king's coins still exist, and attest his importance.-Mon. Brit., pp. cliii., cliv.
THE KINGSHIP OF CYMBELINE.
coasts, where the commerce with the north and with Gaul was already important. A small custom's duty was levied at the Roman ports, and apparently paid without difficulty. The rude coinage, copied from Macedonian money, was replaced by more elaborate imitations of the Roman mint. To strengthen the feeling of common nationality, religious fugitives from the province of Gaul came over to the sacred island, where no prætor could forbid their bloody sacrifices, and no foreign soldier invade their sacred groves.
This tranquillity was not destined to endure. Neglecting the precedents of the first two Emperors, who had seen the danger of extending their boundaries, Claudius sent an army into Britain. So high was the reputation of British valour, that four legions under an able commander, Aulus Plautius, were considered necessary for the enterprise, and the mere announcement of the service required, at first caused a mutiny in the camp. Nevertheless, the Roman army was unopposed on the southern strand, and advanced, after two slight victories, to a river, probably the Medway. Plautius sent his horse across the stream and followed up his victory to the Thames. There he halted, and sent to Claudius for support. The Emperor, probably not unprepared for the call, responded to the summons in person. Camulodunum was invested by the imperial army, and the Trinobantes, routed before their entrenchments, were panic-stricken and surrendered. Claudius retired to enjoy a triumph and the surname of Britannicus. But the sovereignty of Cunobelin had been too firmly established to be destroyed by a defeat, even at the gates of his capital. His son, Caractacus, to whose share the western part of the kingdom had perhaps been assigned at his father's death, took up the struggle in which his brother, the partner of his throne, had fallen.3 Vespasian, the best
1 Hawkins on English Silver Coins.
2 Can BOATHOI, in Dion, be a clerical error for PEгHOI? Some such correction is necessary for the sense, but perhaps it is safer, with Mr. Merivale, simply to regard Dion as inaccurate.
3 The loyal support which the Silures lent to a prince not of their own race seems to imply a close previous connection with him as a governor.
general of the age, beat the British prince before him to the hills of Wales, in a bloody conflict which cost more than thirty battles, and the storming of more than twenty towns. Britain, south of the Thames, was then Roman, but Caractacus was unsubdued. For nine years he hung upon the onward Roman march, never able to advance far from his Welsh stronghold, and from the tribes still faithful to his cause, never willing to intermit the contest, and live unmolested in a mountain principality. Such a struggle could only have one end. In an attempt to intercept Ostorius Scapula, who had penetrated into North Wales, Caractacus sustained a decisive rout. The worthless Queen of the Brigantes, to whom he fled for shelter, betrayed him to the invader. Caractacus graced a Roman triumph; but his courage commanded the respect of his enemies, and he and his family were allowed to live in an honourable captivity.
The fortified towns of the Romans, more numerous relatively in Britain than in any other province of the empire, attest the obstinate nature of the struggle by which their dominion was won inch by inch from the foe. The strength of the national movement lay in Druidism; the professors of that faith could not hope for tolerance from Roman contempt. Human sacrifices were forbidden in Gaul: the very possession of a Druidical amulet had been punished by Claudius with death. Accordingly, eleven years (A.D. 61) after the capture of Caractacus, the new præfect, Suetonius Paulinus, penetrated to the sacred island of Mona, exterminated the priests and whiterobed Sibylline women who thronged the shores, and cut down the sacred groves. Druidism disappears from this time as a historical religion. It is probable that it was still a recognized faith in Ireland, and that it lingered on in England, for centuries after altars had been raised to other faiths, a superstition without temples or rites. The Bards, whom Roman policy
1 Pliny, lib. xxix., s. 12; lib. xxx., ss. 3-4. Suetonius, i., lib. v., c. 25. It is worth while to observe that the Romans, much to their honour, put down human sacrifices in Africa as well. We must not, therefore, assume any exceptional hatred to Druidism. Compare Juvenal, Satire xv., 1. 115-119.
THE REVENGE OF BOADICEA.
proscribed as vigorously as the Druids, re-appear to exult in the fall of the Roman empire; but the priestly caste, if it was ever distinct from the poetical, perished absolutely.1
During the absence of Paulinus in the west, a rebellion had broken out which threatened to sweep the invaders back into the sea. During twenty years of dominion, the Romans had organized tyranny till it became insufferable. Independent princes were controlled by Roman residents; the flower of the British youth was drafted into the legions; heavy taxes were exacted from a people little accustomed to bear taxation; and money lent out on usury to the needy provincials by rich capitalists, such as Seneca, the moralist and the sycophant, was recovered by the stringent processes of Roman law. So complete was the subjugation of the conquered, that Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, inscribed the republic as his heir, in the hope of securing an honourable provision for his wife and daughters. That hope was deceived. Boadicea, the widowed queen, was publicly scourged, and her daughters given to the camp. Roused by this unutterable shame, and fired by the passionate eloquence of their Queen, the Iceni sprung to arms. Roman colony of Colchester, deceived by the Trinobantes with friendly assurances, was stormed on the second day of the siege, and the happiest of its defenders were those whom the sword did not spare for the torture. The insurrection was now national, and the British forces successively sacked Camulodunum (Lexden), Verulam, and London, turning round fiercely on the ninth legion, which hung in their rear, and defeating it at Wormingford on the Stour. The commander of the second legion was panic-struck, and remained inactive at Caerleon (Isca Silurum). But while the insurrection wasted its strength in storming towns, Suetonius, rapidly marching up from
1 Villemarqué's Bardes Bretons, pp. xxii., xxiii. Mr. Davis denies the extinction of Druidism, but I think on insufficient grounds. The "rusticus Aruspex," who misled Severus, can hardly have been a Druid, if the word is construed literally, and was probably either the "spae man" of the district, or the priest of an imported religion.-Crania Brit., Decade v., pp. 120, 121.
2 Quarterly Review, vol. xcvii., "The Romans at Colchester."
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Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000)
Despite violating the Fourteenth Amendment by using disparate vote-counting procedures in different counties, Florida did not need to complete a recount in the 2000 presidential election because it could not be accomplished in a constitutionally valid way within the time limit set by federal law for resolving these controversies.
In the 2000 election between Republican candidate George W. Bush and Democrat candidate Al Gore, Florida reported that Bush had won the state by 1,784 votes. (All of the state's electors are assigned to the winning candidate.) Since this margin was less than one-half of one percent, Florida law required an automatic machine recount. Two days later, the machine recount showed that Bush's margin of victory had shrunk to 327 votes. In this situation, a candidate may request a manual recount under Florida state law. Gore requested a manual recount in the four traditionally Democrat-leaning counties of Volusia, Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade.
While the counties began to comply with this request, they became concerned that they could not meet the state deadline for certifying election returns to the Florida Secretary of State within seven days of the election. The Florida court upheld the deadline but allowed the counties to amend their returns and found that the Secretary of State could use the amended returns. Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade Counties missed the seven-day deadline. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris required counties seeking to make a late filing to submit a written explanation for why it was necessary. She found that none of the explanations met the criteria that she had imposed on herself for determining whether late filings would be admitted. Harris thus certified Bush the winner of the election in Florida after receiving overseas absentee ballots.
A few weeks later, Gore's campaign obtained an order from the Florida Supreme Court for a statewide manual recount. On the next day, December 9, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a stay of the recount. Writing for the five-Justice majority, Antonin Scalia argued that the votes that were ordered to be counted were not legally cast, and thus a recount could cause irreparable harm to Bush and the legitimacy of the democratic process. The dissenters felt that not ordering a recount would undermine the legitimacy of the democratic process and that the Court should be careful about taking actions that could determine the result of an election, which lay outside the judicial power.
- Theodore Olson (Bush)
- David Boies (Gore)
Seven Justices agreed that a manual statewide recount would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, although only five agreed on the appropriate remedy. The Court emphasized that standards for manual recounts varied arbitrarily across counties and even precincts, so individual voters could not be sure that their participation in the democratic process would be given the proper weight. Florida's rule that a clear indication of the intent of the voter was required to make the vote count seemed too vague to be uniformly applied. However, the Court carefully limited its judgment to these specific circumstances. Since the state could not finish the recount within the deadline set by state law, the recount was ended and the case remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with the opinion. Gore thus had the opportunity to continue pursuing litigation at the state level.
- William Hubbs Rehnquist (Author)
- Antonin Scalia
- Clarence Thomas
Generally reiterating the logic of the dissenters in the Florida Supreme Court, Rehnquist pointed out that federal courts do not usually have the authority to determine whether a state supreme court has properly interpreted a state statute. He felt that the per curiam opinion appropriately refrained from making that judgment.
- David H. Souter (Author)
- Stephen G. Breyer
- John Paul Stevens
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
While they agreed with the majority that the previous recount had violated the Equal Protection Clause, these dissenters felt that the Court should remand the case to the state courts and allow them to craft more uniform, detailed guidelines for another recount. They did not feel that the recount needed to be stopped. (Stevens and Ginsburg did not join with respect to Part C.)
- John Paul Stevens (Author)
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Stephen G. Breyer
Concerned that the majority had violated federalism principles separating the federal government from the states, Stevens argued that the decision had undermined the authority of the state court system. He felt that popular confidence in the impartiality and competence of state judges would be unnecessarily eroded.
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Author)
- John Paul Stevens
- David H. Souter
- Stephen G. Breyer
Souter and Breyer joined this opinion only with respect to Part I.
- Stephen G. Breyer (Author)
- John Paul Stevens
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- David H. Souter
Stevens and Ginsburg did not join this opinion with respect to Part I-A-I, while Souter joined only with respect to Part I.Case Commentary
The speed with which the Court needed to arrive at this decision resulted in a fragmented set of opinions that illustrated the deep ideological divides among the Justices. Some observers felt that partisan support for Bush caused the Republican Justices to halt the recount based on flimsy logic, but this claim has been disputed and has been viewed as unlikely to apply to at least Scalia and Thomas. (None of the Justices recused themselves, and ethics experts generally agree that recusal was not necessary.) While the opinion explicitly states that it applies only to the unique circumstances of this election, it has been cited in cases at the lower levels of federal courts on election law and procedures.
Ironically, many legal scholars and political figures felt that the Court had gone too far in addressing something outside its power under the political question doctrine, while others felt that it had not gone far enough in pointing out the need for nationwide electoral reform.
OCTOBER TERM, 2000
BUSH ET AL. v. GORE ET AL.
CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA
No. 00-949. Argued December 11, 2000-Decided December 12,2000
On December 8, 2000, the Florida Supreme Court ordered, inter alia, that manual recounts of ballots for the recent Presidential election were required in all Florida counties where so-called "undervotes" had not been subject to manual tabulation, and that the manual recounts should begin at once. Noting the closeness of the election, the court explained that, on the record before it, there could be no question that there were uncounted "legal votes"-i. e., those in which there was a clear indication of the voter's intent-sufficient to place the results of the election in doubt. Petitioners, the Republican candidates for President and Vice President who had been certified as the winners in Florida, filed an emergency application for a stay of this mandate. On December 9, this Court granted the stay application, treated it as a petition for a writ of certiorari, and granted certiorari.
Held: Because it is evident that any recount seeking to meet 3 U. S. C. § 5's December 12 "safe-harbor" date would be unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause, the Florida Supreme Court's judgment ordering manual recounts is reversed. The Clause's requirements apply to the manner in which the voting franchise is exercised. Having once granted the right to vote on equal terms, Florida may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person's vote over that of another. See, e. g., Harper v. Virginia Bd. of Elections, 383 U. S. 663, 665. The recount mechanisms implemented in response to the state court's decision do not satisfy the minimum requirement for nonarbitrary treatment of voters. The record shows that the standards for accepting or rejecting contested ballots might vary not only from county to county but indeed within a single county from one recount team to another. In addition, the recounts in three counties were not limited to so-called undervotes but extended to all of the ballots. Furthermore, the actual process by which the votes were to be counted raises further concerns because the court's order did not specify who would recount the ballots. Where, as here, a court orders a statewide remedy, there must be at least some assurance that the rudimentary requirements of equal treatment and fundamental fairness are satisfied. The State has not shown that its procedures include the necessary safeguards. Upon due consideration of the difficulties identified to this point, it is obvious that the recount cannot be conducted in compliance
with the requirements of equal protection and due process without substantial additional work. The court below has said that the legislature intended the State's electors to participate fully in the federal electoral process, as provided in 3 U. S. C. § 5, which requires that any controversy or contest that is designed to lead to a conclusive selection of electors be completed by December 12. That date is here, but there is no recount procedure in place under the state court's order that comports with minimal constitutional standards.
772 So. 2d 1243, reversed and remanded.
Theodore B. Olson argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the brief were Douglas R. Cox, Thomas G. Hungar, Benjamin L. Ginsberg, Michael A. Carvin, Barry Richard, Miguel A. Estrada, George J. Terwilliger III, Timothy E. Flanigan, William K. Kelley, John F. Manning, and Bradford R. Clark. Joseph P. Klock, Jr., argued the cause for Katherine Harris et al., respondents under this Court's Rule 12.6 in support of petitioners. With him on the brief were John W Little III, Alvin F. Lindsay III, Ricardo M. Martinez-Cid, and Bill L. Bryant, Jr. Briefs in support of petitioners were filed by William Kemper Jennings for Glenda Carr et al.; by Robert A. Destro for Stephen Cruce et al.; and by George S. LeMieux and Frederick J. Springer for John E. Thrasher, all respondents under this Court's Rule 12.6.
David Boies argued the cause for respondents Gore et al.
With him on the brief were Laurence H. Tribe, Andrew J. Pincus, Thomas C. Goldstein, Jonathan S. Massey, Kendall Coffey, and Peter J. Rubin. *
*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the State of Alabama by Bill Pryor, Attorney General, and Charles B. Campbell, Scott L. Rouse, and A. Vernon Barnett TV; Assistant Attorneys General; for the Florida House of Representatives et al. by Charles Fried, Einer Elhauge, and Roger J. Magnuson; for William H. Haynes et al. by Jay Alan Sekulow, Thomas P. Monaghan, Stuart J. Roth, Colby M. May, James M. Henderson, Sr., David A. Cortman, Griffin B. Bell, Paul D. Clement, and Jeffrey S. Bucholtz.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law by Burt Neuborne; and for Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General of Florida, by
99 with the requirements of equal protection and due process without substantial additional work. The court below has said that the legislature intended the State's electors to participate fully in the federal electoral process, as provided in 3 U. S. C. § 5, which requires that any controversy or contest that is designed to lead to a conclusive selection of electors be completed by December 12. That date is here, but there is no recount procedure in place under the state court's order that comports with minimal constitutional standards. 772 So. 2d 1243, reversed and remanded. Theodore B. Olson argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the brief were Douglas R. Cox, Thomas G. Hungar, Benjamin L. Ginsberg, Michael A. Carvin, Barry Richard, Miguel A. Estrada, George J. Terwilliger III, Timothy E. Flanigan, William K. Kelley, John F. Manning, and Bradford R. Clark. Joseph P. Klock, Jr., argued the cause for Katherine Harris et al., respondents under this Court's Rule 12.6 in support of petitioners. With him on the brief were John W Little III, Alvin F. Lindsay III, Ricardo M. Martinez-Cid, and Bill L. Bryant, Jr. Briefs in support of petitioners were filed by William Kemper Jennings for Glenda Carr et al.; by Robert A. Destro for Stephen Cruce et al.; and by George S. LeMieux and Frederick J. Springer for John E. Thrasher, all respondents under this Court's Rule 12.6. David Boies argued the cause for respondents Gore et al. With him on the brief were Laurence H. Tribe, Andrew J. Pincus, Thomas C. Goldstein, Jonathan S. Massey, Kendall Coffey, and Peter J. Rubin. * *Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the State of Alabama by Bill Pryor, Attorney General, and Charles B. Campbell, Scott L. Rouse, and A. Vernon Barnett TV; Assistant Attorneys General; for the Florida House of Representatives et al. by Charles Fried, Einer Elhauge, and Roger J. Magnuson; for William H. Haynes et al. by Jay Alan Sekulow, Thomas P. Monaghan, Stuart J. Roth, Colby M. May, James M. Henderson, Sr., David A. Cortman, Griffin B. Bell, Paul D. Clement, and Jeffrey S. Bucholtz. Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law by Burt Neuborne; and for Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General of Florida, by
100 Per Curiam PER CURIAM. I On December 8, 2000, the Supreme Court of Florida ordered that the Circuit Court of Leon County tabulate by hand 9,000 ballots in Miami-Dade County. It also ordered the inclusion in the certified vote totals of 215 votes identified in Palm Beach County and 168 votes identified in Miami-Dade County for Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., and Senator Joseph Lieberman, Democratic candidates for President and Vice President. The State Supreme Court noted that petitioner George W. Bush asserted that the net gain for Vice President Gore in Palm Beach County was 176 votes, and directed the Circuit Court to resolve that dispute on remand. Gore v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1243, 1248, n. 6. The court further held that relief would require manual recounts in all Florida counties where so-called "undervotes" had not been subject to manual tabulation. The court ordered all manual recounts to begin at once. Governor Bush and Richard Cheney, Republican candidates for President and Vice President, filed an emergency application for a stay of this mandate. On December 9, we granted the application, treated the application as a petition for a writ of certiorari, and granted certiorari. Post, p. 1046. The proceedings leading to the present controversy are discussed in some detail in our opinion in Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd., ante, p. 70 (per curiam) (Bush I). On November 8, 2000, the day following the Presidential election, the Florida Division of Elections reported that petitioner Bush had received 2,909,135 votes, and respondent Gore had received 2,907,351 votes, a margin of Mr. Butterworth, pro se, Paul F. Hancock, Deputy Attorney General, Jason Vail, Assistant Attorney General, and Kimberly J. Tucker. Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the National Bar Association by David Earl Honig; for Robert Harris et al. by Bruce J. Terris, Carolyn Smith Pravlik, Kathleen L. Millian, Sarah A. Adams, and Roger J. Bernstein; and for Michael F. Wasserman, pro se.
101 1,784 for Governor Bush. Because Governor Bush's margin of victory was less than "one-half of a percent ... of the votes cast," an automatic machine recount was conducted under § 102.141(4) of the Florida Election Code, the results of which showed Governor Bush still winning the race but by a diminished margin. Vice President Gore then sought manual recounts in Volusia, Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade Counties, pursuant to Florida's election protest provisions. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.166 (Supp. 2001). A dispute arose concerning the deadline for local county canvassing boards to submit their returns to the Secretary of State (Secretary). The Secretary declined to waive the November 14 deadline imposed by statute. §§ 102.111, 102.112. The Florida Supreme Court, however, set the deadline at November 26. We granted certiorari and vacated the Florida Supreme Court's decision, finding considerable uncertainty as to the grounds on which it was based. Bush I, ante, at 78. On December 11, the Florida Supreme Court issued a decision on remand reinstating that date. Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd. v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1273, 1290. On November 26, the Florida Elections Canvassing Commission certified the results of the election and declared Governor Bush the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes. On November 27, Vice President Gore, pursuant to Florida's contest provisions, filed a complaint in Leon County Circuit Court contesting the certification. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.168 (Supp. 2001). He sought relief pursuant to § 102.168(3)(c), which provides that "[r]eceipt of a number of illegal votes or rejection of a number of legal votes sufficient to change or place in doubt the result of the election" shall be grounds for a contest. The Circuit Court denied relief, stating that Vice President Gore failed to meet his burden of proof. He appealed to the First District Court of Appeal, which certified the matter to the Florida Supreme Court. Accepting jurisdiction, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part. Gore v. Harris, 772
102 Per Curiam So. 2d 1243 (2000). The court held that the Circuit Court had been correct to reject Vice President Gore's challenge to the results certified in Nassau County and his challenge to the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board's determination that 3,300 ballots cast in that county were not, in the statutory phrase, "legal votes." The Supreme Court held that Vice President Gore had satisfied his burden of proof under § 102.168(3)(c) with respect to his challenge to Miami-Dade County's failure to tabulate, by manual count, 9,000 ballots on which the machines had failed to detect a vote for President ("undervotes"). Id., at 1256. Noting the closeness of the election, the court explained that "[o]n this record, there can be no question that there are legal votes within the 9,000 uncounted votes sufficient to place the results of this election in doubt." Id., at 1261. A "legal vote," as determined by the Supreme Court, is "one in which there is a 'clear indication of the intent of the voter.'" Id., at 1257. The court therefore ordered a hand recount of the 9,000 ballots in Miami-Dade County. Observing that the contest provisions vest broad discretion in the circuit judge to "provide any relief appropriate under such circumstances," § 102.168(8), the Supreme Court further held that the Circuit Court could order "the Supervisor of Elections and the Canvassing Boards, as well as the necessary public officials, in all counties that have not conducted a manual recount or tabulation of the undervotes ... to do so forthwith, said tabulation to take place in the individual counties where the ballots are located." Id., at 1262. The Supreme Court also determined that Palm Beach County and Miami-Dade County, in their earlier manual recounts, had identified a net gain of 215 and 168 legal votes, respectively, for Vice President Gore. Id., at 1260. Rejecting the Circuit Court's conclusion that Palm Beach County lacked the authority to include the 215 net votes sub-
103 mitted past the November 26 deadline, the Supreme Court explained that the deadline was not intended to exclude votes identified after that date through ongoing manual recounts. As to Miami-Dade County, the court concluded that although the 168 votes identified were the result of a partial recount, they were "legal votes [that] could change the outcome of the election." Ibid. The Supreme Court therefore directed the Circuit Court to include those totals in the certified results, subject to resolution of the actual vote total from the Miami-Dade partial recount. The petition presents the following questions: whether the Florida Supreme Court established new standards for resolving Presidential election contests, thereby violating Art. II, § 1, cl. 2, of the United States Constitution and failing to comply with 3 U. S. C. § 5, and whether the use of standardless manual recounts violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses. With respect to the equal protection question, we find a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. II A The closeness of this election, and the multitude of legal challenges which have followed in its wake, have brought into sharp focus a common, if heretofore unnoticed, phenomenon. Nationwide statistics reveal that an estimated 2% of ballots cast do not register a vote for President for whatever reason, including deliberately choosing no candidate at all or some voter error, such as voting for two candidates or insufficiently marking a ballot. See Ho, More Than 2M Ballots Uncounted, AP Online (Nov. 28, 2000); Kelley, Balloting Problems Not Rare But Only in a Very Close Election Do Mistakes and Mismarking Make a Difference, Omaha World-Herald (Nov. 15,2000). In certifying election results, the votes eligible for inclusion in the certification are the votes meeting the properly established legal requirements.
104 Per Curiam This case has shown that punchcard balloting machines can produce an unfortunate number of ballots which are not punched in a clean, complete way by the voter. After the current counting, it is likely legislative bodies nationwide will examine ways to improve the mechanisms and machinery for voting. B The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States unless and until the state legislature chooses a statewide election as the means to implement its power to appoint members of the electoral college. U. S. Const., Art. II, § 1. This is the source for the statement in McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U. S. 1, 35 (1892), that the state legislature's power to select the manner for appointing electors is plenary; it may, if it so chooses, select the electors itself, which indeed was the manner used by state legislatures in several States for many years after the framing of our Constitution. Id., at 28-33. History has now favored the voter, and in each of the several States the citizens themselves vote for Presidential electors. When the state legislature vests the right to vote for President in its people, the right to vote as the legislature has prescribed is fundamental; and one source of its fundamental nature lies in the equal weight accorded to each vote and the equal dignity owed to each voter. The State, of course, after granting the franchise in the special context of Article II, can take back the power to appoint electors. See id., at 35 (" '[T]here is no doubt of the right of the legislature to resume the power at any time, for it can neither be taken away nor abdicated''') (quoting The right to vote is protected in more than the initial allocation of the franchise. Equal protection applies as well to the manner of its exercise. Having once granted the right to vote on equal terms, the State may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person's vote over that
105 of another. See, e. g., Harper v. Virginia Bd. of Elections, 383 U. S. 663, 665 (1966) ("[O]nce the franchise is granted to the electorate, lines may not be drawn which are inconsistent with the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment"). It must be remembered that "the right of suffrage can be denied by a debasement or dilution of the weight of a citizen's vote just as effectively as by wholly prohibiting the free exercise of the franchise." Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U. S. 533, 555 (1964). There is no difference between the two sides of the present controversy on these basic propositions. Respondents say that the very purpose of vindicating the right to vote justifies the recount procedures now at issue. The question before us, however, is whether the recount procedures the Florida Supreme Court has adopted are consistent with its obligation to avoid arbitrary and disparate treatment of the members of its electorate. Much of the controversy seems to revolve around ballot cards designed to be perforated by a stylus but which, either through error or deliberate omission, have not been perforated with sufficient precision for a machine to register the perforations. In some cases a piece of the card-a chad-is hanging, say, by two corners. In other cases there is no separation at all, just an indentation. The Florida Supreme Court has ordered that the intent of the voter be discerned from such ballots. For purposes of resolving the equal protection challenge, it is not necessary to decide whether the Florida Supreme Court had the authority under the legislative scheme for resolving election disputes to define what a legal vote is and to mandate a manual recount implementing that definition. The recount mechanisms implemented in response to the decisions of the Florida Supreme Court do not satisfy the minimum requirement for nonarbitrary treatment of voters necessary to secure the fundamental right. Florida's basic command for the count of legally cast votes is to consider the "intent of
106 Per Curiam the voter." 772 So. 2d, at 1262. This is unobjectionable as an abstract proposition and a starting principle. The problem inheres in the absence of specific standards to ensure its equal application. The formulation of uniform rules to determine intent based on these recurring circumstances is practicable and, we conclude, necessary. The law does not refrain from searching for the intent of the actor in a multitude of circumstances; and in some cases the general command to ascertain intent is not susceptible to much further refinement. In this instance, however, the question is not whether to believe a witness but how to interpret the marks or holes or scratches on an inanimate object, a piece of cardboard or paper which, it is said, might not have registered as a vote during the machine count. The factfinder confronts a thing, not a person. The search for intent can be confined by specific rules designed to ensure uniform treatment. The want of those rules here has led to unequal evaluation of ballots in various respects. See id., at 1267 (Wells, C. J., dissenting) ("Should a county canvassing board count or not count a 'dimpled chad' where the voter is able to successfully dislodge the chad in every other contest on that ballot? Here, the county canvassing boards disagree"). As seems to have been acknowledged at oral argument, the standards for accepting or rejecting contested ballots might vary not only from county to county but indeed within a single county from one recount team to another. The record provides some examples. A monitor in Miami-Dade County testified at trial that he observed that three members of the county canvassing board applied different standards in defining a legal vote. 3 Tr. 497, 499 (Dec. 3, 2000). And testimony at trial also revealed that at least one county changed its evaluative standards during the counting process. Palm Beach County, for example, began the process with a 1990 guideline which precluded counting completely attached chads, switched to a rule that consid-
107 ered a vote to be legal if any light could be seen through a chad, changed back to the 1990 rule, and then abandoned any pretense of a per se rule, only to have a court order that the county consider dimpled chads legal. This is not a process with sufficient guarantees of equal treatment. An early case in our one-person, one-vote jurisprudence arose when a State accorded arbitrary and disparate treatment to voters in its different counties. Gray v. Sanders, 372 U. S. 368 (1963). The Court found a constitutional violation. We relied on these principles in the context of the Presidential selection process in Moore v. Ogilvie, 394 U. S. 814 (1969), where we invalidated a county-based procedure that diluted the influence of citizens in larger counties in the nominating process. There we observed that "[t]he idea that one group can be granted greater voting strength than another is hostile to the one man, one vote basis of our representative government." Id., at 819. The State Supreme Court ratified this uneven treatment. It mandated that the recount totals from two counties, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach, be included in the certified total. The court also appeared to hold sub silentio that the recount totals from Broward County, which were not completed until after the original November 14 certification by the Secretary, were to be considered part of the new certified vote totals even though the county certification was not contested by Vice President Gore. Yet each of the counties used varying standards to determine what was a legal vote. Broward County used a more forgiving standard than Palm Beach County, and uncovered almost three times as many new votes, a result markedly disproportionate to the difference in population between the counties. In addition, the recounts in these three counties were not limited to so-called undervotes but extended to all of the ballots. The distinction has real consequences. A manual recount of all ballots identifies not only those ballots which show no vote but also those which contain more than one,
108 Per Curiam the so-called overvotes. Neither category will be counted by the machine. This is not a trivial concern. At oral argument, respondents estimated there are as many as 110,000 overvotes statewide. As a result, the citizen whose ballot was not read by a machine because he failed to vote for a candidate in a way readable by a machine may still have his vote counted in a manual recount; on the other hand, the citizen who marks two candidates in a way discernible by the machine will not have the same opportunity to have his vote count, even if a manual examination of the ballot would reveal the requisite indicia of intent. Furthermore, the citizen who marks two candidates, only one of which is discernible by the machine, will have his vote counted even though it should have been read as an invalid ballot. The State Supreme Court's inclusion of vote counts based on these variant standards exemplifies concerns with the remedial processes that were under way. That brings the analysis to yet a further equal protection problem. The votes certified by the court included a partial total from one county, Miami-Dade. The Florida Supreme Court's decision thus gives no assurance that the recounts included in a final certification must be complete. Indeed, it is respondents' submission that it would be consistent with the rules of the recount procedures to include whatever partial counts are done by the time of final certification, and we interpret the Florida Supreme Court's decision to permit this. See 772 So. 2d, at 1261-1262, n. 21 (noting "practical difficulties" may control outcome of election, but certifying partial Miami-Dade total nonetheless). This accommodation no doubt results from the truncated contest period established by the Florida Supreme Court in Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd. v. Harris, at respondents' own urging. The press of time does not diminish the constitutional concern. A desire for speed is not a general excuse for ignoring equal protection guarantees.
109 In addition to these difficulties the actual process by which the votes were to be counted under the Florida Supreme Court's decision raises further concerns. That order did not specify who would recount the ballots. The county canvassing boards were forced to pull together ad hoc teams of judges from various Circuits who had no previous training in handling and interpreting ballots. Furthermore, while others were permitted to observe, they were prohibited from objecting during the recount. The recount process, in its features here described, is inconsistent with the minimum procedures necessary to protect the fundamental right of each voter in the special instance of a statewide recount under the authority of a single state judicial officer. Our consideration is limited to the present circumstances, for the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities. The question before the Court is not whether local entities, in the exercise of their expertise, may develop different systems for implementing elections. Instead, we are presented with a situation where a state court with the power to assure uniformity has ordered a statewide recount with minimal procedural safeguards. When a court orders a statewide remedy, there must be at least some assurance that the rudimentary requirements of equal treatment and fundamental fairness are satisfied. Given the Court's assessment that the recount process underway was probably being conducted in an unconstitutional manner, the Court stayed the order directing the recount so it could hear this case and render an expedited decision. The contest provision, as it was mandated by the State Supreme Court, is not well calculated to sustain the confidence that all citizens must have in the outcome of elections. The State has not shown that its procedures include the necessary safeguards. The problem, for instance, of the estimated 110,000 overvotes has not been
110 Per Curiam addressed, although Chief Justice Wells called attention to the concern in his dissenting opinion. See 772 So. 2d, at 1264, n. 26. Upon due consideration of the difficulties identified to this point, it is obvious that the recount cannot be conducted in compliance with the requirements of equal protection and due process without substantial additional work. It would require not only the adoption (after opportunity for argument) of adequate statewide standards for determining what is a legal vote, and practicable procedures to implement them, but also orderly judicial review of any disputed matters that might arise. In addition, the Secretary has advised that the recount of only a portion of the ballots requires that the vote tabulation equipment be used to screen out undervotes, a function for which the machines were not designed. If a recount of overvotes were also required, perhaps even a second screening would be necessary. Use of the equipment for this purpose, and any new software developed for it, would have to be evaluated for accuracy by the Secretary, as required by Fla. Stat. Ann. § 101.015 (Supp. 2001). The Supreme Court of Florida has said that the legislature intended the State's electors to "participat[e] fully in the federal electoral process," as provided in 3 U. S. C. § 5. 772 So. 2d, at 1289; see also Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd. v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1220, 1237 (Fla. 2000). That statute, in turn, requires that any controversy or contest that is designed to lead to a conclusive selection of electors be completed by December 12. That date is upon us, and there is no recount procedure in place under the State Supreme Court's order that comports with minimal constitutional standards. Because it is evident that any recount seeking to meet the December 12 date will be unconstitutional for the reasons we have discussed, we reverse the judgment of the Supreme Court of Florida ordering a recount to proceed.
111 Seven Justices of the Court agree that there are constitutional problems with the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court that demand a remedy. See post, at 134 (SOUTER, J., dissenting); post, at 145-146 (BREYER, J., dissenting). The only disagreement is as to the remedy. Because the Florida Supreme Court has said that the Florida Legislature intended to obtain the safe-harbor benefits of 3 U. S. C. § 5, JUSTICE BREYER'S proposed remedy-remanding to the Florida Supreme Court for its ordering of a constitutionally proper contest until December 18-contemplates action in violation of the Florida Election Code, and hence could not be part of an "appropriate" order authorized by Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.168(8) (Supp. 2001). *** None are more conscious of the vital limits on judicial authority than are the Members of this Court, and none stand more in admiration of the Constitution's design to leave the selection of the President to the people, through their legislatures, and to the political sphere. When contending parties invoke the process of the courts, however, it becomes our unsought responsibility to resolve the federal and constitutional issues the judicial system has been forced to confront. The judgment of the Supreme Court of Florida is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. Pursuant to this Court's Rule 45.2, the Clerk is directed to issue the mandate in this case forthwith. It is so ordered. CHIEF JUSTICE REHNQUIST, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA and JUSTICE THOMAS join, concurring. We join the per curiam opinion. We write separately because we believe there are additional grounds that require us to reverse the Florida Supreme Court's decision.
112 I We deal here not with an ordinary election, but with an election for the President of the United States. In Burroughs v. United States, 290 U. S. 534, 545 (1934), we said:
"While presidential electors are not officers or agents of the federal government (In re Green, 134 U. S. 377, 379 [(1890)]), they exercise federal functions under, and discharge duties in virtue of authority conferred by, the Constitution of the United States. The President is vested with the executive power of the nation. The importance of his election and the vital character of its relationship to and effect upon the welfare and safety of the whole people cannot be too strongly stated."Likewise, in Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U. S. 780, 794795 (1983) (footnote omitted), we said: "[I]n the context of a Presidential election, state-imposed restrictions implicate a uniquely important national interest. For the President and the Vice President of the United States are the only elected officials who represent all the voters in the Nation." In most cases, comity and respect for federalism compel us to defer to the decisions of state courts on issues of state law. That practice reflects our understanding that the decisions of state courts are definitive pronouncements of the will of the States as sovereigns. Cf. Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U. S. 64 (1938). Of course, in ordinary cases, the distribution of powers among the branches of a State's government raises no questions of federal constitutional law, subject to the requirement that the government be republican in character. See U. S. Const., Art. IV; § 4. But there are a few exceptional cases in which the Constitution imposes a duty or confers a power on a particular branch of a State's government. This is one of them. Article II, § 1, cl. 2, provides that "[e]ach State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct," electors for President and Vice President. (Emphasis added.) Thus,
113 the text of the election law itself, and not just its interpretation by the courts of the States, takes on independent significance. In McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U. S. 1 (1892), we explained that Art. II, § 1, cl. 2, "convey[s] the broadest power of determination" and "leaves it to the legislature exclusively to define the method" of appointment. 146 U. S., at 27. A significant departure from the legislative scheme for appointing Presidential electors presents a federal constitutional question. Title 3 U. S. C. § 5 informs our application of Art. II, § 1, cl. 2, to the Florida statutory scheme, which, as the Florida Supreme Court acknowledged, took that statute into account. Section 5 provides that the State's selection of electors "shall be conclusive, and shall govern in the counting of the electoral votes" if the electors are chosen under laws enacted prior to election day, and if the selection process is completed six days prior to the meeting of the electoral college. As we noted in Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd., ante, at 78:
"Since § 5 contains a principle of federal law that would assure finality of the State's determination if made pursuant to a state law in effect before the election, a legislative wish to take advantage of the 'safe harbor' would counsel against any construction of the Election Code that Congress might deem to be a change in the law."If we are to respect the legislature's Article II powers, therefore, we must ensure that postelection state-court actions do not frustrate the legislative desire to attain the "safe harbor" provided by § 5. In Florida, the legislature has chosen to hold statewide elections to appoint the State's 25 electors. Importantly, the legislature has delegated the authority to run the elections and to oversee election disputes to the Secretary of
114 State (Secretary), Fla. Stat. Ann. § 97.012(1) (Supp. 2001), and to state circuit courts, §§ 102.168(1), 102.168(8). Isolated sections of the code may well admit of more than one interpretation, but the general coherence of the legislative scheme may not be altered by judicial interpretation so as to wholly change the statutorily provided apportionment of responsibility among these various bodies. In any election but a Presidential election, the Florida Supreme Court can give as little or as much deference to Florida's executives as it chooses, so far as Article II is concerned, and this Court will have no cause to question the court's actions. But, with respect to a Presidential election, the court must be both mindful of the legislature's role under Article II in choosing the manner of appointing electors and deferential to those bodies expressly empowered by the legislature to carry out its constitutional mandate. In order to determine whether a state court has infringed upon the legislature's authority, we necessarily must examine the law of the State as it existed prior to the action of the court. Though we generally defer to state courts on the interpretation of state law-see, e. g., Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U. S. 684 (1975)-there are of course areas in which the Constitution requires this Court to undertake an independent, if still deferential, analysis of state law. For example, in NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson, 357 U. S. 449 (1958), it was argued that we were without jurisdiction because the petitioner had not pursued the correct appellate remedy in Alabama's state courts. Petitioner had sought a state-law writ of certiorari in the Alabama Supreme Court when a writ of mandamus, according to that court, was proper. We found this state-law ground inadequate to defeat our jurisdiction because we were "unable to reconcile the procedural holding of the Alabama Supreme Court" with prior Alabama precedent. Id., at 456. The purported state-law ground was so novel, in our independent
115 estimation, that "petitioner could not fairly be deemed to have been apprised of its existence." Id., at 457. Six years later we decided Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U. S. 347 (1964), in which the state court had held, contrary to precedent, that the state trespass law applied to black sit-in demonstrators who had consent to enter private property but were then asked to leave. Relying upon NAACp, we concluded that the South Carolina Supreme Court's interpretation of a state penal statute had impermissibly broadened the scope of that statute beyond what a fair reading provided, in violation of due process. See 378 U. S., at 361362. What we would do in the present case is precisely parallel: hold that the Florida Supreme Court's interpretation of the Florida election laws impermissibly distorted them beyond what a fair reading required, in violation of Article 11.1 This inquiry does not imply a disrespect for state courts but rather a respect for the constitutionally prescribed role of state legislatures. To attach definitive weight to the pronouncement of a state court, when the very question at issue is whether the court has actually departed from the statutory meaning, would be to abdicate our responsibility to enforce the explicit requirements of Article II. 1 Similarly, our jurisprudence requires us to analyze the "background principles" of state property law to determine whether there has been a taking of property in violation of the Takings Clause. That constitutional guarantee would, of course, afford no protection against state power if our inquiry could be concluded by a state supreme court holding that state property law accorded the plaintiff no rights. See Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U. S. 1003 (1992). In one of our oldest cases, we similarly made an independent evaluation of state law in order to protect federal treaty guarantees. In Fairfax's Devisee v. Hunter's Lessee, 7 Cranch 603 (1813), we disagreed with the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia that a 1782 state law had extinguished the property interests of one Denny Fairfax, so that a 1789 ejectment order against Fairfax supported by a 1785 state law did not constitute a future confiscation under the 1783 peace treaty with Great Britain. See id., at 623; Hunter v. Fairfax's Devisee, 1 Mum. 218 (Va. 1809).
IIActing pursuant to its constitutional grant of authority, the Florida Legislature has created a detailed, if not perfectly crafted, statutory scheme that provides for appointment of Presidential electors by direct election. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 103.011 (1992). Under the statute, "[v]otes cast for the actual candidates for President and Vice President shall be counted as votes cast for the presidential electors supporting such candidates." Ibid. The legislature has designated the Secretary as the "chief election officer," with the responsibility to "[o]btain and maintain uniformity in the application, operation, and interpretation of the election laws." Fla. Stat. Ann. § 97.012 (Supp. 2001). The state legislature has delegated to county canvassing boards the duties of administering elections. § 102.141. Those boards are responsible for providing results to the state Elections Canvassing Commission, comprising the Governor, the Secretary of State, and the Director of the Division of Elections. § 102.111. Cf. Boardman v. Esteva, 323 So. 2d 259, 268, n. 5 (1975) ("The election process ... is committed to the executive branch of government through duly designated officials all charged with specific duties .... [The] judgments [of these officials] are entitled to be regarded by the courts as presumptively correct ... "). After the election has taken place, the canvassing boards receive returns from precincts, count the votes, and in the event that a candidate was defeated by 0.5% or less, conduct a mandatory recount. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.141(4) (Supp. 2001). The county canvassing boards must file certified election returns with the Department of State by 5 p.m. on the seventh day following the election. § 102.112(1). The Elections Canvassing Commission must then certify the results of the election. § 102.111(1). The state legislature has also provided mechanisms both for protesting election returns and for contesting certified
117 election results. Section 102.166 governs protests. Any protest must be filed prior to the certification of election results by the county canvassing board. § 102.166(4)(b). Once a protest has been filed, "[t]he county canvassing board may authorize a manual recount." § 102.166(4)(c). If a sample recount conducted pursuant to § 102.166(5) "indicates an error in the vote tabulation which could affect the outcome of the election," the county canvassing board is instructed to: "(a) Correct the error and recount the remaining precincts with the vote tabulation system; (b) Request the Department of State to verify the tabulation software; or (c) Manually recount all ballots," § 102.166(5). In the event a canvassing board chooses to conduct a manual recount of all ballots, § 102.166(7) prescribes procedures for such a recount. Contests to the certification of an election, on the other hand, are controlled by § 102.168. The grounds for contesting an election include "[r]eceipt of a number of illegal votes or rejection of a number of legal votes sufficient to change or place in doubt the result of the election." § 102.168(3)(c). Any contest must be filed in the appropriate Florida circuit court, § 102.168(1), and the canvassing board or election board is the proper party defendant, § 102.168(4). Section 102.168(8) provides that "[t]he circuit judge to whom the contest is presented may fashion such orders as he or she deems necessary to ensure that each allegation in the complaint is investigated, examined, or checked, to prevent or correct any alleged wrong, and to provide any relief appropriate under such circumstances." In Presidential elections, the contest period necessarily terminates on the date set by 3 U. S. C. § 5 for concluding the State's "final determination" of election controversies. In its first decision, Palm Beach Canvassing Bd. v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1220 (2000) (Harris 1), the Florida Supreme Court extended the 7-day statutory certification deadline estab-
118 lished by the legislature.2 This modification of the code, by lengthening the protest period, necessarily shortened the contest period for Presidential elections. Underlying the extension of the certification deadline and the shortchanging of the contest period was, presumably, the clear implication that certification was a matter of significance: The certified winner would enjoy presumptive validity, making a contest proceeding by the losing candidate an uphill battle. In its latest opinion, however, the court empties certification of virtually all legal consequence during the contest, and in doing so departs from the provisions enacted by the Florida Legislature. The court determined that canvassing boards' decisions regarding whether to recount ballots past the certification deadline (even the certification deadline established by Harris 1) are to be reviewed de novo, although the Election Code clearly vests discretion whether to recount in the boards, and sets strict deadlines subject to the Secretary's rejection of late tallies and monetary fines for tardiness. See Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.112 (Supp. 2001). Moreover, the Florida court held that all late vote tallies arriving during the contest period should be automatically included in the certification regardless of the certification deadline (even the certification deadline established by Harris 1), thus virtually eliminating both the deadline and the Secretary's discretion to disregard recounts that violate it.3 Moreover, the court's interpretation of "legal vote," and hence its decision to order a contest-period recount, plainly departed from the legislative scheme. Florida statutory law cannot reasonably be thought to require the counting of im- 2We vacated that decision and remanded that case; the Florida Supreme Court reissued the same judgment with a new opinion on December 11, 2000, Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd. v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1273. 3 Specifically, the Florida Supreme Court ordered the Circuit Court to include in the certified vote totals those votes identified for Vice President Gore in Palm Beach County and Miami-Dade County.
119 properly marked ballots. Each Florida precinct before election day provides instructions on how properly to cast a vote, Fla. Stat. Ann. § 101.46 (1992); each polling place on election day contains a working model of the voting machine it uses, Fla. Stat. Ann. § 101.5611 (Supp. 2001); and each voting booth contains a sample ballot, § 101.46. In precincts using punchcard ballots, voters are instructed to punch out the ballot cleanly:
"AFTER VOTING, CHECK YOUR BALLOT CARD TO BE SURE YOUR VOTING SELECTIONS ARE CLEARLY AND CLEANLY PUNCHED AND THERE ARE NO CHIPS LEFT HANGING ON THE BACK OF THE CARD." Instructions to Voters, quoted in Brief for Respondent Harris et al. 13, n. 5.No reasonable person would call it "an error in the vote tabulation," Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.166(5) (Supp. 2001), or a "rejection of ... legal votes," § 102.168(3)(c),4 when electronic or electromechanical equipment performs precisely in the manner designed, and fails to count those ballots that are not marked in the manner that these voting instructions explicitly and prominently specify. The scheme that the Florida Supreme Court's opinion attributes to the legislature is one in which machines are required to be "capable of correctly counting votes," § 101.5606(4), but which nonetheless regularly produces elections in which legal votes are predictably not tabulated, so that in close elections manual recounts are regularly required. This is of course absurd. The Secretary, who is authorized by law to issue binding interpretations of the Election Code, §§ 97.012,106.23, rejected this peculiar reading of the statutes. See DE 00-13 (opinion of the Division of Elections). The Florida Supreme Court, 4 It is inconceivable that what constitutes a vote that must be counted under the "error in the vote tabulation" language of the protest phase is different from what constitutes a vote that must be counted under the "legal votes" language of the contest phase.
120 although it must defer to the Secretary's interpretations, see Krivanek v. Take Back Tampa Political Committee, 625 So. 2d 840, 844 (Fla. 1993), rejected her reasonable interpretation and embraced the peculiar one. See Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd. v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1273 (2000) (Harris III). But as we indicated in our remand of the earlier case, in a Presidential election the clearly expressed intent of the legislature must prevail. And there is no basis for reading the Florida statutes as requiring the counting of improperly marked ballots, as an examination of the Florida Supreme Court's textual analysis shows. We will not parse that analysis here, except to note that the principal provision of the Election Code on which it relied, § 101.5614(5), was, as Chief Justice Wells pointed out in his dissent in Gore v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1243, 1267 (2000) (Harris II), entirely irrelevant. The State's Attorney General (who was supporting the Gore challenge) confirmed in oral argument here that never before the present election had a manual recount been conducted on the basis of the contention that "undervotes" should have been examined to determine voter intent. Tr. of Oral Arg. in Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd., O. T. 2000, No. 00-836, pp. 39-40; cf. Broward County Canvassing Board v. Hogan, 607 So. 2d 508, 509 (Fla. Ct. App. 1992) (denial of recount for failure to count ballots with "hanging paper chads"). For the court to step away from this established practice, prescribed by the Secretary, the state official charged by the legislature with "responsibility to ... [o]btain and maintain uniformity in the application, operation, and interpretation of the election laws," § 97.012(1), was to depart from the legislative scheme. III The scope and nature of the remedy ordered by the Florida Supreme Court jeopardizes the "legislative wish" to take
121 advantage of the safe harbor provided by 3 U. S. C. § 5. Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd., ante, at 78 (per curiam). December 12, 2000, is the last date for a final determination of the Florida electors that will satisfy § 5. Yet in the late afternoon of December 8th-four days before this deadline-the Supreme Court of Florida ordered recounts of tens of thousands of so-called "undervotes" spread through 64 of the State's 67 counties. This was done in a search for elusive-perhaps delusive-certainty as to the exact count of 6 million votes. But no one claims that these ballots have not previously been tabulated; they were initially read by voting machines at the time of the election, and thereafter reread by virtue of Florida's automatic recount provision. No one claims there was any fraud in the election. The Supreme Court of Florida ordered this additional recount under the provision of the Election Code giving the circuit judge the authority to provide relief that is "appropriate under such circumstances." Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.168(8) (Supp. 2001). Surely when the Florida Legislature empowered the courts of the State to grant "appropriate" relief, it must have meant relief that would have become final by the cutoff date of 3 U. S. C. § 5. In light of the inevitable legal challenges and ensuing appeals to the Supreme Court of Florida and petitions for certiorari to this Court, the entire recounting process could not possibly be completed by that date. Whereas the majority in the Supreme Court of Florida stated its confidence that "the remaining undervotes in these counties can be [counted] within the required time frame," 772 So. 2d, at 1262, n. 22, it made no assertion that the seemingly inevitable appeals could be disposed of in that time. Although the Florida Supreme Court has on occasion taken over a year to resolve disputes over local elections, see, e. g., Beckstrom v. Volusia County Canvassing Bd., 707 So. 2d 720 (1998) (resolving contest of sheriff's race 16 months after the
122 election), it has heard and decided the appeals in the present case with great promptness. But the federal deadlines for the Presidential election simply do not permit even such a shortened process. As the dissent noted:
"In [the four days remaining], all questionable ballots must be reviewed by the judicial officer appointed to discern the intent of the voter in a process open to the public. Fairness dictates that a provision be made for either party to object to how a particular ballot is counted. Additionally, this short time period must allow for judicial review. I respectfully submit this cannot be completed without taking Florida's presidential electors outside the safe harbor provision, creating the very real possibility of disenfranchising those nearly six million voters who are able to correctly cast their ballots on election day." 772 So. 2d, at 1269 (opinion of Wells, C. J.) (footnote omitted).The other dissenters echoed this concern: "[T]he majority is departing from the essential requirements of the law by providing a remedy which is impossible to achieve and which will ultimately lead to chaos." Id., at 1273 (Harding, J., dissenting, joined by Shaw, J.). Given all these factors, and in light of the legislative intent identified by the Florida Supreme Court to bring Florida within the "safe harbor" provision of 3 U. S. C. § 5, the remedy prescribed by the Supreme Court of Florida cannot be deemed an "appropriate" one as of December 8. It significantly departed from the statutory framework in place on November 7, and authorized open-ended further proceedings which could not be completed by December 12, thereby preventing a final determination by that date. For these reasons, in addition to those given in the per curiam opinion, we would reverse.
123 JUSTICE STEVENS, with whom JUSTICE GINSBURG and JUSTICE BREYER join, dissenting. The Constitution assigns to the States the primary responsibility for determining the manner of selecting the Presidential electors. See Art. II, § 1, cl. 2. When questions arise about the meaning of state laws, including election laws, it is our settled practice to accept the opinions of the highest courts of the States as providing the final answers. On rare occasions, however, either federal statutes or the Federal Constitution may require federal judicial intervention in state elections. This is not such an occasion. The federal questions that ultimately emerged in this case are not substantial. Article II provides that "[e]ach State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors." Ibid. (emphasis added). It does not create state legislatures out of whole cloth, but rather takes them as they come-as creatures born of, and constrained by, their state constitutions. Lest there be any doubt, we stated over 100 years ago in McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U. S. 1, 25 (1892), that "[w]hat is forbidden or required to be done by a State" in the Article II context "is forbidden or required of the legislative power under state constitutions as they exist." In the same vein, we also observed that "[t]he [State's] legislative power is the supreme authority except as limited by the constitution of the State." Ibid.; cf. Smiley v. Holm, 285 U. S. 355, 367 (1932).1 The legislative power in Florida is subject to judicial review pur- 1 "Wherever the term 'legislature' is used in the Constitution it is necessary to consider the nature of the particular action in view." 285 U. S., at 366. It is perfectly clear that the meaning of the words "Manner" and "Legislature" as used in Article II, § 1, parallels the usage in Article I, § 4, rather than the language in Article V. U. S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U. S. 779, 805 (1995). Article I, § 4, and Article II, § 1, both call upon legislatures to act in a lawmaking capacity whereas Article V simply calls on the legislative body to deliberate upon a binary decision. As a result, petitioners' reliance on Leser v. Garnett, 258 U. S. 130 (1922), and Hawke v. Smith (No.1), 253 U. S. 221 (1920), is misplaced.
124 suant to Article V of the Florida Constitution, and nothing in Article II of the Federal Constitution frees the state legislature from the constraints in the State Constitution that created it. Moreover, the Florida Legislature's own decision to employ a unitary code for all elections indicates that it intended the Florida Supreme Court to play the same role in Presidential elections that it has historically played in resolving electoral disputes. The Florida Supreme Court's exercise of appellate jurisdiction therefore was wholly consistent with, and indeed contemplated by, the grant of authority in Article II. lt hardly needs stating that Congress, pursuant to 3 U. S. C. § 5, did not impose any affirmative duties upon the States that their governmental branches could "violate." Rather, § 5 provides a safe harbor for States to select electors in contested elections "by judicial or other methods" established by laws prior to the election day. Section 5, like Article II, assumes the involvement of the state judiciary in interpreting state election laws and resolving election disputes under those laws. Neither § 5 nor Article II grants federal judges any special authority to substitute their views for those of the state judiciary on matters of state law. Nor are petitioners correct in asserting that the failure of the Florida Supreme Court to specify in detail the precise manner in which the "intent of the voter," Fla. Stat. Ann. § 101.5614(5) (Supp. 2001), is to be determined rises to the level of a constitutional violation.2 We found such a viola- 2 The Florida statutory standard is consistent with the practice of the majority of States, which apply either an "intent of the voter" standard or an "impossible to determine the elector's choice" standard in ballot recounts. The following States use an "intent of the voter" standard: Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 16-645(A) (Supp. 2000) (standard for canvassing write-in votes); Conn. Gen. Stat. § 9-150a(j) (1999) (standard for absentee ballots, including three conclusive presumptions); Ind. Code § 3-12-1-1 (1992); Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 21-A, § 1(13) (1993); Md. Ann. Code, Art. 33, § 11-302(d) (2000 Supp.) (standard for absentee ballots); Mass. Gen. Laws § 70E (1991) (applying standard to Presidential primaries); Mich.
125 tion when individual votes within the same State were weighted unequally, see, e. g., Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U. S. 533, 568 (1964), but we have never before called into question the substantive standard by which a State determines that a vote has been legally cast. And there is no reason to think that the guidance provided to the factfinders, specifically the various canvassing boards, by the "intent of the voter" standard is any less sufficient-or will lead to results any less uniform-than, for example, the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard employed every day by ordinary citizens in courtrooms across this country.3 Compo Laws § 168.799a(3) (Supp. 2000); Mo. Rev. Stat. § 115.453(3) (Cum. Supp. 1998) (looking to voter's intent where there is substantial compliance with statutory requirements); Tex. Elec. Code Ann. § 65.009(c) (1986); Utah Code Ann. §20A-4-104(5)(b) (Supp. 2000) (standard for write-in votes), §20A-4-105(6)(a) (standard for mechanical ballots); Vt. Stat. Ann., Tit. 17, §2587(a) (1982); Va. Code Ann. §24.2-644(A) (2000); Wash. Rev. Code §29.62.180(1) (Supp. 2001) (standard for write-in votes); Wyo. Stat. Ann. §22-14-104 (1999). The following States employ a standard in which a vote is counted unless it is "impossible to determine the elector's [or voter's] choice": Ala. Code § 11-46-44(c) (1992), Ala. Code § 17-13-2 (1995); Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 16-610 (1996) (standard for rejecting ballot); Cal. Elec. Code Ann. § 15154(c) (West Supp. 2000); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 1-7309(1) (1999) (standard for paper ballots), § 1-7-508(2) (standard for electronic ballots); Del. Code Ann., Tit. 15, § 4972(4) (1999); Idaho Code § 341203 (1981); Ill. Compo Stat., ch. 10, § 5/7-51 (1993) (standard for primaries), § 5/17-16 (standard for general elections); Iowa Code § 49.98 (1999); Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 21-A §§ 696(2)(B), (4) (Supp. 2000); Minn. Stat. §204C.22(1) (1992); Mont. Code Ann. § 13-15-202 (1997) (not counting votes if "elector's choice cannot be determined"); Nev. Rev. Stat. § 293.367(d) (1995); N. Y. Elec. Law § 9-112(6) (McKinney 1998); N. C. Gen. Stat. §§ 163-169(b), 163-170 (1999); N. D. Cent. Code § 16.1-15-01(1) (Supp. 1999); Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 3505.28 (1994); Okla. Stat., Tit. 26, § 7-127(6) (1997); Ore. Rev. Stat. § 254.505(1) (1991); S. C. Code Ann. § 7-13-1120 (1977); S. D. Codified Laws § 12-20-7 (1995); Tenn. Code Ann. §2-7-133(b) (1994); W. Va. Code § 3-6-5(g) (1999). 3 Cf. Victor V. Nebraska, 511 U. S. 1, 5 (1994) ("The beyond a reasonable doubt standard is a requirement of due process, but the Constitution neither prohibits trial courts from defining reasonable doubt nor requires them to do so").
126 Admittedly, the use of differing sub standards for determining voter intent in different counties employing similar voting systems may raise serious concerns. Those concerns are alleviated-if not eliminated-by the fact that a single impartial magistrate will ultimately adjudicate all objections arising from the recount process. Of course, as a general matter, "[t]he interpretation of constitutional principles must not be too literal. We must remember that the machinery of government would not work if it were not allowed a little play in its joints." Bain Peanut Co. of Tex. v. Pinson, 282 U. S. 499, 501 (1931) (Holmes, J.). If it were otherwise, Florida's decision to leave to each county the determination of what balloting system to employ-despite enormous differences in accuracy 4-might run afoul of equal protection. So, too, might the similar decisions of the vast majority of state legislatures to delegate to local authorities certain decisions with respect to voting systems and ballot design. Even assuming that aspects of the remedial scheme might ultimately be found to violate the Equal Protection Clause, I could not subscribe to the majority's disposition of the case. As the majority explicitly holds, once a state legislature determines to select electors through a popular vote, the right to have one's vote counted is of constitutional stature. As the majority further acknowledges, Florida law holds that all ballots that reveal the intent of the voter constitute valid votes. Recognizing these principles, the majority nonetheless orders the termination of the contest proceeding before all such votes have been tabulated. Under their own rea- 4 The percentage of nonvotes in this election in counties using a punchcard system was 3.92%; in contrast, the rate of error under the more modern optical-scan systems was only 1.43%. Siegel v. LePore, 234 F.3d 1163, 1202, 1213 (charts C and F) (CAll 2000). Put in other terms, for every 10,000 votes cast, punchcard systems result in 250 more nonvotes than optical-scan systems. A total of 3,718,305 votes were cast under punchcard systems, and 2,353,811 votes were cast under optical-scan systems. Ibid.
127 soning, the appropriate course of action would be to remand to allow more specific procedures for implementing the legislature's uniform general standard to be established. In the interest of finality, however, the majority effectively orders the disenfranchisement of an unknown number of voters whose ballots reveal their intent-and are therefore legal votes under state law-but were for some reason rejected by ballot-counting machines. It does so on the basis of the deadlines set forth in Title 3 of the United States Code. Ante, at 110. But, as I have already noted, those provisions merely provide rules of decision for Congress to follow when selecting among conflicting slates of electors. Supra, at 124. They do not prohibit a State from counting what the majority concedes to be legal votes until a bona fide winner is determined. Indeed, in 1960, Hawaii appointed two slates of electors and Congress chose to count the one appointed on January 4, 1961, well after the Title 3 deadlines. See Josephson & Ross, Repairing the Electoral College, 22 J. Legis. 145, 166, n. 154 (1996).5 Thus, nothing prevents the majority, even if it properly found an equal protection violation, from ordering relief appropriate to remedy that violation without depriving Florida voters of their right to have their votes counted. As the majority notes, "[a] desire for speed is not a general excuse for ignoring equal protection guarantees." Ante, at 108. Finally, neither in this case, nor in its earlier opinion in Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd. v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1220 (2000), did the Florida Supreme Court make any sub- 5 Republican electors were certified by the Acting Governor on November 28, 1960. A recount was ordered to begin on December 13, 1960. Both Democratic and Republican electors met on the appointed day to cast their votes. On January 4, 1961, the newly elected Governor certified the Democratic electors. The certification was received by Congress on January 6, the day the electoral votes were counted. Josephson & Ross, 22 J. Legis., at 166, n. 154.
128 stantive change in Florida electorallaw.6 Its decisions were rooted in long-established precedent and were consistent with the relevant statutory provisions, taken as a whole. It did what courts do 7-it decided the case before it in light of the legislature's intent to leave no legally cast vote uncounted. In so doing, it relied on the sufficiency of the general "intent of the voter" standard articulated by the state legislature, coupled with a procedure for ultimate review by an impartial judge, to resolve the concern about disparate evaluations of contested ballots. If we assume-as I dothat the members of that court and the judges who would have carried out its mandate are impartial, its decision does not even raise a colorable federal question. What must underlie petitioners' entire federal assault on the Florida election procedures is an unstated lack of confidence in the impartiality and capacity of the state judges who would make the critical decisions if the vote count were to proceed. Otherwise, their position is wholly without merit. The endorsement of that position by the majority of this Court can only lend credence to the most cynical appraisal of the work of judges throughout the land. It is confidence in the men and women who administer the judicial system that is the true backbone of the rule of law. Time will one day heal the wound to that confidence that will be inflicted by to day's decision. One thing, however, is certain. Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's Presidential election, 6 When, for example, it resolved the previously unanswered question whether the word "shall" in Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.111 (Supp. 2001) or the word "may" in § 102.112 governs the scope of the Secretary of State's authority to ignore untimely election returns, it did not "change the law." Like any other judicial interpretation of a statute, its opinion was an authoritative interpretation of what the statute's relevant provisions have meant since they were enacted. Rivers v. Roadway Express, Inc., 511 7 "It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is." Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137, 177 (1803).
129 the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law. I respectfully dissent. JUSTICE SOUTER, with whom JUSTICE BREYER joins, and with whom JUSTICE STEVENS and JUSTICE GINSBURG join as to all but Part III, dissenting. The Court should not have reviewed either Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd., ante, p. 70 (per curiam), or this case, and should not have stopped Florida's attempt to recount all undervote ballots, see ante, at 102, by issuing a stay of the Florida Supreme Court's orders during the period of this review, see Bush v. Gore, post, at 1046. If this Court had allowed the State to follow the course indicated by the opinions of its own Supreme Court, it is entirely possible that there would ultimately have been no issue requiring our review, and political tension could have worked itself out in the Congress following the procedure provided in 3 U. S. C. § 15. The case being before us, however, its resolution by the majority is another erroneous decision. As will be clear, I am in substantial agreement with the dissenting opinions of JUSTICE STEVENS, JUSTICE GINSBURG, and JUSTICE BREYER. I write separately only to say how straightforward the issues before us really are. There are three issues: whether the State Supreme Court's interpretation of the statute providing for a contest of the state election results somehow violates 3 U. S. C. § 5; whether that court's construction of the state statutory provisions governing contests impermissibly changes a state law from what the State's legislature has provided, in violation of Article II, § 1, cl. 2, of the National Constitution; and whether the manner of interpreting markings on disputed ballots failing to cause machines to register votes for President (the undervote ballots) violates the equal protection or
130 due process guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. None of these issues is difficult to describe or to resolve. I The 3 U. S. C. § 5 issue is not serious. That provision sets certain conditions for treating a State's certification of Presidential electors as conclusive in the event that a dispute over recognizing those electors must be resolved in the Congress under 3 U. S. C. § 15. Conclusiveness requires selection under a legal scheme in place before the election, with results determined at least six days before the date set for casting electoral votes. But no State is required to conform to § 5 if it cannot do that (for whatever reason); the sanction for failing to satisfy the conditions of § 5 is simply loss of what has been called its "safe harbor." And even that determination is to be made, if made anywhere, in the Congress. II The second matter here goes to the State Supreme Court's interpretation of certain terms in the state statute governing election "contests," Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.168 (Supp. 2001); there is no question here about the state court's interpretation of the related provisions dealing with the antecedent process of "protesting" particular vote counts, § 102.166, which was involved in the previous case, Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd. The issue is whether the judgment of the State Supreme Court has displaced the state legislature's provisions for election contests: is the law as declared by the court different from the provisions made by the legislature, to which the National Constitution commits responsibility for determining how each State's Presidential electors are chosen? See U. S. Const., Art. II, § 1, cl. 2. Bush does not, of course, claim that any judicial act interpreting a statute of uncertain meaning is enough to displace the legislative provision and violate Article II; statutes require interpretation, which does not without more affect the legislative char-
131 acter of a statute within the meaning of the Constitution. Brief for Petitioner in Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd., O. T. 2000, No. 00-836, p. 48, n. 22. What Bush does argue, as I understand the contention, is that the interpretation of § 102.168 was so unreasonable as to transcend the accepted bounds of statutory interpretation, to the point of being a nonjudicial act and producing new law untethered to the legislative Act in question. The starting point for evaluating the claim that the Florida Supreme Court's interpretation effectively rewrote § 102.168 must be the language of the provision on which Gore relies to show his right to raise this contest: that the previously certified result in Bush's favor was produced by "rejection of a number of legal votes sufficient to change or place in doubt the result of the election." Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.168(3)(c) (Supp. 2001). None of the state court's interpretations is unreasonable to the point of displacing the legislative enactment quoted. As I will note below, other interpretations were of course possible, and some might have been better than those adopted by the Florida court's majority; the two dissents from the majority opinion of that court and various briefs submitted to us set out alternatives. But the majority view is in each instance within the bounds of reasonable interpretation, and the law as declared is consistent with Article II. 1. The statute does not define a "legal vote," the rejection of which may affect the election. The State Supreme Court was therefore required to define it, and in doing that the court looked to another election statute, § 101.5614(5), dealing with damaged or defective ballots, which contains a provision that no vote shall be disregarded "if there is a clear indication of the intent of the voter as determined by the canvassing board." The court read that objective of looking to the voter's intent as indicating that the legislature probably meant "legal vote" to mean a vote recorded on a ballot indicating what the voter intended. Gore v. Harris, 772
132 So. 2d 1243, 1256-1257 (2000). It is perfectly true that the majority might have chosen a different reading. See, e. g., Brief for Respondent Harris et al. 10 (defining "legal votes" as "votes properly executed in accordance with the instructions provided to all registered voters in advance of the election and in the polling places"). But even so, there is no constitutional violation in following the majority view; Article II is unconcerned with mere disagreements about interpretive merits. 2. The Florida court next interpreted "rejection" to determine what act in the counting process may be attacked in a contest. Again, the statute does not define the term. The court majority read the word to mean simply a failure to count. 772 So. 2d, at 1257. That reading is certainly within the bounds of common sense, given the objective to give effect to a voter's intent if that can be determined. A different reading, of course, is possible. The majority might have concluded that "rejection" should refer to machine malfunction, or that a ballot should not be treated as "reject[ed]" in the absence of wrongdoing by election officials, lest contests be so easy to claim that every election will end up in one. Cf. id., at 1266 (Wells, C. J., dissenting). There is, however, nothing nonjudicial in the Florida majority's more hospitable reading. 3. The same is true about the court majority's understanding of the phrase "votes sufficient to change or place in doubt" the result of the election in Florida. The court held that if the uncounted ballots were so numerous that it was reasonably possible that they contained enough "legal" votes to swing the election, this contest would be authorized by the statute. * While the majority might have thought (as *When the Florida court ruled, the totals for Bush and Gore were then less than 1,000 votes apart. One dissent pegged the number of uncounted votes in question at 170,000. Gore v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1243, 1272-1273 (2000) (Harding, J., dissenting). Gore's counsel represented to us that the
133 the trial judge did) that a probability, not a possibility, should be necessary to justify a contest, that reading is not required by the statute's text, which says nothing about probability. Whatever people of good will and good sense may argue about the merits of the Florida court's reading, there is no warrant for saying that it transcends the limits of reasonable statutory interpretation to the point of supplanting the statute enacted by the "legislature" within the meaning of ArticleII. In sum, the interpretations by the Florida court raise no substantial question under Article II. That court engaged in permissible construction in determining that Gore had instituted a contest authorized by the state statute, and it proceeded to direct the trial judge to deal with that contest in the exercise of the discretionary powers generously conferred by Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.168(8) (Supp. 2001), to "fashion such orders as he or she deems necessary to ensure that each allegation in the complaint is investigated, examined, or checked, to prevent or correct any alleged wrong, and to provide any relief appropriate under such circumstances." As JUSTICE GINSBURG has persuasively explained in her own dissenting opinion, our customary respect for state interpretations of state law counsels against rejection of the Florida court's determinations in this case. III It is only on the third issue before us that there is a meritorious argument for relief, as this Court's per curiam opinion recognizes. It is an issue that might well have been dealt with adequately by the Florida courts if the state proceedings had not been interrupted, and if not disposed of at the state level it could have been considered by the Congress in any electoral vote dispute. But because the course of relevant figure is approximately 60,000, Tr. of Oral Arg. 62, the number of ballots in which no vote for President was recorded by the machines.
134 state proceedings has been interrupted, time is short, and the issue is before us, I think it sensible for the Court to address it. Petitioners have raised an equal protection claim (or, alternatively, a due process claim, see generally Logan v. Zimmerman Brush Co., 455 U. S. 422 (1982)), in the charge that unjustifiably disparate standards are applied in different electoral jurisdictions to otherwise identical facts. It is true that the Equal Protection Clause does not forbid the use of a variety of voting mechanisms within a jurisdiction, even though different mechanisms will have different levels of effectiveness in recording voters' intentions; local variety can be justified by concerns about cost, the potential value of innovation, and so on. But evidence in the record here suggests that a different order of disparity obtains under rules for determining a voter's intent that have been applied (and could continue to be applied) to identical types of ballots used in identical brands of machines and exhibiting identical physical characteristics (such as "hanging" or "dimpled" chads). See, e. g., Tr. 238-242 (Dec. 2-3, 2000) (testimony of Palm Beach County Canvassing Board Chairman Judge Charles Burton describing varying standards applied to imperfectly punched ballots in Palm Beach County during precertification manual recount); id., at 497-500 (similarly describing varying standards applied in Miami-Dade County); Tr. of Hearing 8-10 (Dec. 8, 2000) (soliciting from county canvassing boards proposed protocols for determining voters' intent but declining to provide a precise, uniform standard). I can conceive of no legitimate state interest served by these differing treatments of the expressions of voters' fundamental rights. The differences appear wholly arbitrary. In deciding what to do about this, we should take account of the fact that electoral votes are due to be cast in six days. I would therefore remand the case to the courts of Florida with instructions to establish uniform standards for evaluating the several types of ballots that have prompted differing
135 treatments, to be applied within and among counties when passing on such identical ballots in any further recounting (or successive recounting) that the courts might order. Unlike the majority, I see no warrant for this Court to assume that Florida could not possibly comply with this requirement before the date set for the meeting of electors, December 18. Although one of the dissenting justices of the State Supreme Court estimated that disparate standards potentially affected 170,000 votes, Gore v. Harris, 772 So. 2d, at 1272-1273, the number at issue is significantly smaller. The 170,000 figure apparently represents all uncounted votes, both undervotes (those for which no Presidential choice was recorded by a machine) and overvotes (those rejected because of votes for more than one candidate). Tr. of Oral Arg. 61-62. But as JUSTICE BREYER has pointed out, no showing has been made of legal overvotes uncounted, and counsel for Gore made an uncontradicted representation to the Court that the statewide total of undervotes is about 60,000. Id., at 62. To recount these manually would be a tall order, but before this Court stayed the effort to do that the courts of Florida were ready to do their best to get that job done. There is no justification for denying the State the opportunity to try to count all disputed ballots now. I respectfully dissent. JUSTICE GINSBURG, with whom JUSTICE STEVENS joins, and with whom JUSTICE SOUTER and JUSTICE BREYER join as to Part I, dissenting. I THE CHIEF JUSTICE acknowledges that provisions of Florida's Election Code "may well admit of more than one interpretation." Ante, at 114 (concurring opinion). But instead of respecting the state high court's province to say what the State's Election Code means, THE CHIEF JUSTICE maintains that Florida's Supreme Court has veered so far from the ordinary practice of judicial review that what it did cannot
136 properly be called judging. My colleagues have offered a reasonable construction of Florida's law. Their construction coincides with the view of one of Florida's seven Supreme Court justices. Gore v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1243, 1264-1270 (Fla. 2000) (Wells, C. J., dissenting); Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd. v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1273, 1291-1292 (Fla. 2000) (on remand) (confirming, 6 to 1, the construction of Florida law advanced in Gore). I might join THE CHIEF JUSTICE were it my commission to interpret Florida law. But disagreement with the Florida court's interpretation of its own State's law does not warrant the conclusion that the justices of that court have legislated. There is no cause here to believe that the members of Florida's high court have done less than "their mortal best to discharge their oath of office," Sumner v. Mata, 449 U. S. 539, 549 (1981), and no cause to upset their reasoned interpretation of Florida law. This Court more than occasionally affirms statutory, and even constitutional, interpretations with which it disagrees. For example, when reviewing challenges to administrative agencies' interpretations of laws they implement, we defer to the agencies unless their interpretation violates "the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress." Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S. 837, 843 (1984). We do so in the face of the declaration in Article I of the United States Constitution that "All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States." Surely the Constitution does not call upon us to pay more respect to a federal administrative agency's construction of federal law than to a state high court's interpretation of its own State's law. And not uncommonly, we let stand state-court interpretations offederal law with which we might disagree. Notably, in the habeas context, the Court adheres to the view that "there is 'no intrinsic reason why the fact that a man is a federal judge
137 should make him more competent, or conscientious, or learned with respect to [federal law] than his neighbor in the state courthouse.'" Stone v. Powell, 428 U. S. 465, 494, n. 35 (1976) (quoting Bator, Finality in Criminal Law and Federal Habeas Corpus for State Prisoners, 76 Harv. L. Rev. 441, 509 (1963)); see O'Dell v. Netherland, 521 U. S. 151, 156 (1997) ("[T]he Teague doctrine validates reasonable, good-faith interpretations of existing precedents made by state courts even though they are shown to be contrary to later decisions.") (citing Butler v. McKellar, 494 U. S. 407, 414 (1990)); O'Connor, Trends in the Relationship Between the Federal and State Courts from the Perspective of a State Court Judge, 22 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 801, 813 (1981) ("There is no reason to assume that state court judges cannot and will not provide a 'hospitable forum' in litigating federal constitutional questions."). No doubt there are cases in which the proper application of federal law may hinge on interpretations of state law. Unavoidably, this Court must sometimes examine state law in order to protect federal rights. But we have dealt with such cases ever mindful of the full measure of respect we owe to interpretations of state law by a State's highest court. In the Contract Clause case, General Motors Corp. v. Romein, 503 U. S. 181 (1992), for example, we said that although "ultimately we are bound to decide for ourselves whether a contract was made," the Court "accord[s] respectful consideration and great weight to the views of the State's highest court." Id., at 187 (citing Indiana ex rel. Anderson v. Brand, 303 U. S. 95, 100 (1938)). And in Central Union Telephone Co. v. Edwardsville, 269 U. S. 190 (1925), we upheld the Illinois Supreme Court's interpretation of a state waiver rule, even though that interpretation resulted in the forfeiture of federal constitutional rights. Refusing to supplant Illinois law with a federal definition of waiver,
138 we explained that the state court's declaration "should bind us unless so unfair or unreasonable in its application to those asserting a federal right as to obstruct it." Id., at 195.1 In deferring to state courts on matters of state law, we appropriately recognize that this Court acts as an "'outside[rJ' lacking the common exposure to local law which comes from sitting in the jurisdiction." Lehman Brothers v. Schein, 416 U. S. 386, 391 (1974). That recognition has sometimes prompted us to resolve doubts about the meaning of state law by certifying issues to a State's highest court, even when federal rights are at stake. Cf. Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona, 520 U. S. 43, 79 (1997) ("Warnings against premature adjudication of constitutional questions bear heightened attention when a federal court is asked to invalidate a State's law, for the federal tribunal risks friction-generating error when it endeavors to construe a novel state Act not yet reviewed by the State's highest 1 See also Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U. S. 1003, 1032, n. 18 (1992) (South Carolina could defend a regulatory taking "if an objectively reasonable application of relevant precedents [by its courts] would exclude ... beneficial uses in the circumstances in which the land is presently found"); Bishop v. Wood, 426 U. S. 341, 344-345 (1976) (deciding whether North Carolina had created a property interest cognizable under the Due Process Clause by reference to state law as interpreted by the North Carolina Supreme Court). Similarly, in Gurley v. Rhoden, 421 U. S. 200 (1975), a gasoline retailer claimed that due process entitled him to deduct a state gasoline excise tax in computing the amount of his sales subject to a state sales tax, on the grounds that the legal incidence of the excise tax fell on his customers and that he acted merely as a collector of the tax. The Mississippi Supreme Court held that the legal incidence of the excise tax fell on petitioner. Observing that "a State's highest court is the final judicial arbiter of the meaning of state statutes," we said that "[w]hen a state court has made its own definitive determination as to the operating incidence, ... [w]e give this finding great weight in determining the natural effect of a statute, and if it is consistent with the statute's reasonable interpretation it will be deemed conclusive." Id., at 208 (citing American Oil Co. v. Neill, 380 U. S. 451, 455-456 (1965)).
139 court."). Notwithstanding our authority to decide issues of state law underlying federal claims, we have used the certification device to afford state high courts an opportunity to inform us on matters of their own State's law because such restraint "helps build a cooperative judicial federalism." Lehman Brothers, 416 U. S., at 391. Just last Term, in Fiore v. White, 528 U. S. 23 (1999), we took advantage of Pennsylvania's certification procedure. In that case, a state prisoner brought a federal habeas action claiming that the State had failed to prove an essential element of his charged offense in violation of the Due Process Clause. Id., at 25-26. Instead of resolving the state-law question on which the federal claim depended, we certified the question to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for that court to "help determine the proper state-law predicate for our determination of the federal constitutional questions raised." Id., at 29; id., at 28 (asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court whether its recent interpretation of the statute under which Fiore was convicted "was always the statute's meaning, even at the time of Fiore's trial"). THE CHIEF JUSTICE'S willingness to reverse the Florida Supreme Court's interpretation of Florida law in this case is at least in tension with our reluctance in Fiore even to interpret Pennsylvania law before seeking instruction from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. I would have thought the "cautious approach" we counsel when federal courts address matters of state law, Arizonans, 520 U. S., at 77, and our commitment to "build[ing] cooperative judicial federalism," Lehman Brothers, 416 U. S., at 391, demanded greater restraint. Rarely has this Court rejected outright an interpretation of state law by a state high court. Fairfax's Devisee v. Hunter's Lessee, 7 Cranch 603 (1813), NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson, 357 U. S. 449 (1958), and Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U. S. 347 (1964), cited by THE CHIEF JUSTICE,
140 are three such rare instances. See ante, at 114-115, and n. 1. But those cases are embedded in historical contexts hardly comparable to the situation here. Fairfax's Devisee, which held that the Virginia Court of Appeals had misconstrued its own forfeiture laws to deprive a British subject of lands secured to him by federal treaties, occurred amidst vociferous States' rights attacks on the Marshall Court. G. Gunther & K. Sullivan, Constitutional Law 61-62 (13th ed. 1997). The Virginia court refused to obey this Court's Fairfax's Devisee mandate to enter judgment for the British subject's successor in interest. That refusal led to the Court's pathmarking decision in Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, 1 Wheat. 304 (1816). Patterson, a case decided three months after Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U. S. 1 (1958), in the face of Southern resistance to the civil rights movement, held that the Alabama Supreme Court had irregularly applied its own procedural rules to deny review of a contempt order against the NAACP arising from its refusal to disclose membership lists. We said that "our jurisdiction is not defeated if the nonfederal ground relied on by the state court is 'without any fair or substantial support.''' 357 U. S., at 455 (quoting Ward v. Board of Commr's of Love Cty., 253 U. S. 17, 22 (1920)). Bouie, stemming from a lunch counter "sit-in" at the height of the civil rights movement, held that the South Carolina Supreme Court's construction of its trespass laws-criminalizing conduct not covered by the text of an otherwise clear statute-was "unforeseeable" and thus violated due process when applied retroactively to the petitioners. 378 U. S., at 350,354. THE CHIEF JUSTICE'S casual citation of these cases might lead one to believe they are part of a larger collection of cases in which we said that the Constitution impelled us to train a skeptical eye on a state court's portrayal of state law. But one would be hard pressed, I think, to find additional cases that fit the mold. As JUSTICE BREYER convincingly explains, see post, at 149-152 (dissenting opinion), this case
141 involves nothing close to the kind of recalcitrance by a state high court that warrants extraordinary action by this Court. The Florida Supreme Court concluded that counting every legal vote was the overriding concern of the Florida Legislature when it enacted the State's Election Code. The court surely should not be bracketed with state high courts of the Jim Crow South. THE CHIEF JUSTICE says that Article II, by providing that state legislatures shall direct the manner of appointing electors, authorizes federal superintendence over the relationship between state courts and state legislatures, and licenses a departure from the usual deference we give to state-court interpretations of state law. Ante, at 115 (concurring opinion) ("To attach definitive weight to the pronouncement of a state court, when the very question at issue is whether the court has actually departed from the statutory meaning, would be to abdicate our responsibility to enforce the explicit requirements of Article 11."). The Framers of our Constitution, however, understood that in a republican government, the judiciary would construe the legislature's enactments. See U. S. Const., Art. III; The Federalist No. 78 (A. Hamilton). In light of the constitutional guarantee to States of a "Republican Form of Government," U. S. Const., Art. IV, § 4, Article II can hardly be read to invite this Court to disrupt a State's republican regime. Yet THE CHIEF JUSTICE today would reach out to do just that. By holding that Article II requires our revision of a state court's construction of state laws in order to protect one organ of the State from another, THE CHIEF JUSTICE contradicts the basic principle that a State may organize itself as it sees fit. See, e. g., Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U. S. 452, 460 (1991) ("Through the structure of its government, and the character of those who exercise government authority, a State defines itself as a sovereign."); Highland Farms Dairy, Inc. v. Agnew, 300 U. S. 608, 612 (1937) ("How power shall be distributed by a state among its governmental organs is commonly, if not always, a question
142 for the state itself.").2 Article II does not call for the scrutiny undertaken by this Court. The extraordinary setting of this case has obscured the ordinary principle that dictates its proper resolution: Federal courts defer to a state high court's interpretations of the State's own law. This principle reflects the core of federalism, on which all agree. "The Framers split the atom of sovereignty. It was the genius of their idea that our citizens would have two political capacities, one state and one federal, each protected from incursion by the other." Saenz v. Roe, 526 U. S. 489, 504, n. 17 (1999) (citing U. S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U. S. 779, 838 (1995) (KENNEDY, J., concurring)). THE CHIEF JUSTICE'S solicitude for the Florida Legislature comes at the expense of the more fundamental solicitude we owe to the legislature's sovereign. U. S. Const., Art. II, § 1, cl. 2 ("Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct," the electors for President and Vice President (emphasis added)); ante, at 123-124 (STEVENS, J., dissenting).3 Were the other Members of this Court as mindful as they generally are of our system of dual 2 Even in the rare case in which a State's "manner" of making and construing laws might implicate a structural constraint, Congress, not this Court, is likely the proper governmental entity to enforce that constraint. See U. S. Const., Arndt. 12; 3 U. S. C. §§ 1-15; cf. Ohio ex rel. Davis v. Hildebrant, 241 U. S. 565, 569 (1916) (treating as a nonjusticiable political question whether use of a referendum to override a congressional districting plan enacted by the state legislature violates Art. I, § 4); Luther v. Borden, 7 How. 1, 42 (1849). 3 "[B]ecause the Framers recognized that state power and identity were essential parts of the federal balance, see The Federalist No. 39, the Constitution is solicitous of the prerogatives of the States, even in an otherwise sovereign federal province. The Constitution ... grants States certain powers over the times, places, and manner of federal elections (subject to congressional revision), Art. I, § 4, cl. 1 ... , and allows States to appoint electors for the President, Art. II, § 1, cl. 2." U. S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U. S. 779, 841-842 (1995) (KENNEDY, J., concurring).
143 sovereignty, they would affirm the judgment of the Florida Supreme Court. II I agree with JUSTICE STEVENS that petitioners have not presented a substantial equal protection claim. Ideally, perfection would be the appropriate standard for judging the recount. But we live in an imperfect world, one in which thousands of votes have not been counted. I cannot agree that the recount adopted by the Florida court, flawed as it may be, would yield a result any less fair or precise than the certification that preceded that recount. See, e. g., McDonald v. Board of Election Comm'rs of Chicago, 394 U. S. 802, 809 (1969) (even in the context of the right to vote, the State is permitted to reform "one step at a time") (citing Williamson v. Lee Optical of Okla., Inc., 348 U. S. 483, 489 (1955)). Even if there were an equal protection violation, I would agree with JUSTICE STEVENS, JUSTICE SOUTER, and JusTICE BREYER that the Court's concern about the December 12 date, ante, at 110-111, is misplaced. Time is short in part because of the Court's entry of a stay on December 9, several hours after an able circuit judge in Leon County had begun to superintend the recount process. More fundamentally, the Court's reluctance to let the recount go forward-despite its suggestion that "[t]he search for intent can be confined by specific rules designed to ensure uniform treatment," ante, at 106-ultimately turns on its own judgment about the practical realities of implementing a recount, not the judgment of those much closer to the process. Equally important, as JUSTICE BREYER explains, post, at 155 (dissenting opinion), the December 12 date for bringing Florida's electoral votes into 3 U. S. C. § 5's safe harbor lacks the significance the Court assigns it. Were that date to pass, Florida would still be entitled to deliver electoral votes Congress must count unless both Houses find that the votes "ha[d] not been ... regularly given." 3 U. S. C. § 15. The statute identifies other significant dates. See, e. g., § 7 (spec-
144 ifying December 18 as the date electors "shall meet and give their votes"); § 12 (specifying "the fourth Wednesday in December"-this year, December 27-as the date on which Congress, if it has not received a State's electoral votes, shall request the state secretary of state to send a certified return immediately). But none of these dates has ultimate significance in light of Congress' detailed provisions for determining, on "the sixth day of January," the validity of electoral votes. § 15. The Court assumes that time will not permit "orderly judicial review of any disputed matters that might arise." Ante, at 110. But no one has doubted the good faith and diligence with which Florida election officials, attorneys for all sides of this controversy, and the courts of law have performed their duties. Notably, the Florida Supreme Court has produced two substantial opinions within 29 hours of oral argument. In sum, the Court's conclusion that a constitutionally adequate recount is impractical is a prophecy the Court's own judgment will not allow to be tested. Such an untested prophecy should not decide the Presidency of the United States. I dissent. JUSTICE BREYER, with whom JUSTICE STEVENS and JusTICE GINSBURG join except as to Part I-A-l, and with whom JUSTICE SOUTER joins as to Part I, dissenting. The Court was wrong to take this case. It was wrong to grant a stay. It should now vacate that stay and permit the Florida Supreme Court to decide whether the recount should resume. I The political implications of this case for the country are momentous. But the federal legal questions presented, with one exception, are insubstantial.
145 A 1 The majority raises three equal protection problems with the Florida Supreme Court's recount order: first, the failure to include overvotes in the manual recount; second, the fact that all ballots, rather than simply the undervotes, were recounted in some, but not all, counties; and third, the absence of a uniform, specific standard to guide the recounts. As far as the first issue is concerned, petitioners presented no evidence, to this Court or to any Florida court, that a manual recount of overvotes would identify additional legal votes. The same is true of the second, and, in addition, the majority's reasoning would seem to invalidate any state provision for a manual recount of individual counties in a statewide election. The majority's third concern does implicate principles of fundamental fairness. The majority concludes that the Equal Protection Clause requires that a manual recount be governed not only by the uniform general standard of the "clear intent of the voter," but also by uniform subsidiary standards (for example, a uniform determination whether indented, but not perforated, "undervotes" should count). The opinion points out that the Florida Supreme Court ordered the inclusion of Broward County's undercounted "legal votes" even though those votes included ballots that were not perforated but simply "dimpled," while newly recounted ballots from other counties will likely include only votes determined to be "legal" on the basis of a stricter standard. In light of our previous remand, the Florida Supreme Court may have been reluctant to adopt a more specific standard than that provided for by the legislature for fear of exceeding its authority under Article II. However, since the use of different standards could favor one or the other of the candidates, since time was, and is, too short to permit the lower courts to iron out significant differences through ordi-
146 nary judicial review, and since the relevant distinction was embodied in the order of the State's highest court, I agree that, in these very special circumstances, basic principles of fairness should have counseled the adoption of a uniform standard to address the problem. In light of the majority's disposition, I need not decide whether, or the extent to which, as a remedial matter, the Constitution would place limits upon the content of the uniform standard. 2 Nonetheless, there is no justification for the majority's remedy, which is simply to reverse the lower court and halt the recount entirely. An appropriate remedy would be, instead, to remand this case with instructions that, even at this late date, would permit the Florida Supreme Court to require recounting all undercounted votes in Florida, including those from Broward, Volusia, Palm Beach, and MiamiDade Counties, whether or not previously recounted prior to the end of the protest period, and to do so in accordance with a single uniform standard. The majority justifies stopping the recount entirely on the ground that there is no more time. In particular, the majority relies on the lack of time for the Secretary of State (Secretary) to review and approve equipment needed to separate undervotes. But the majority reaches this conclusion in the absence of any record evidence that the recount could not have been completed in the time allowed by the Florida Supreme Court. The majority finds facts outside of the record on matters that state courts are in a far better position to address. Of course, it is too late for any such recount to take place by December 12, the date by which election disputes must be decided if a State is to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of 3 U. S. C. § 5. Whether there is time to conduct a recount prior to December 18, when the electors are scheduled to meet, is a matter for the state courts to determine. And whether, under Florida law, Flor-
147 ida could or could not take further action is obviously a matter for Florida courts, not this Court, to decide. See ante, at 111 (per curiam). By halting the manual recount, and thus ensuring that the uncounted legal votes will not be counted under any standard, this Court crafts a remedy out of proportion to the asserted harm. And that remedy harms the very fairness interests the Court is attempting to protect. The manual recount would itself redress a problem of unequal treatment of ballots. As JUSTICE STEVENS points out, see ante, at 126, and n. 4 (dissenting opinion), the ballots of voters in counties that use punchcard systems are more likely to be disqualified than those in counties using optical-scanning systems. According to recent news reports, variations in the undervote rate are even more pronounced. See Fessenden, No-Vote Rates Higher in Punch Card Count, N. Y. Times, Dec. 1, 2000, p. A29 (reporting that 0.3% of ballots cast in 30 Florida counties using optical-scanning systems registered no Presidential vote, in comparison to 1.53% in the 15 counties using Votomatic punchcard ballots). Thus, in a system that allows counties to use different types of voting systems, voters already arrive at the polls with an unequal chance that their votes will be counted. I do not see how the fact that this results from counties' selection of different voting machines rather than a court order makes the outcome any more fair. Nor do I understand why the Florida Supreme Court's recount order, which helps to redress this inequity, must be entirely prohibited based on a deficiency that could easily be remedied. B The remainder of petitioners' claims, which are the focus of THE CHIEF JUSTICE'S concurrence, raise no significant federal questions. I cannot agree that THE CHIEF JUSTICE'S unusual review of state law in this case, see ante, at 135-143 (GINSBURG, J., dissenting), is justified by reference either to Art. II, § 1, or to 3 U. S. C. § 5. Moreover, even were such
148 review proper, the conclusion that the Florida Supreme Court's decision contravenes federal law is untenable. While conceding that, in most cases, "comity and respect for federalism compel us to defer to the decisions of state courts on issues of state law," the concurrence relies on some combination of Art. II, § 1, and 3 U. S. C. § 5 to justify its conclusion that this case is one of the few in which we may lay that fundamental principle aside. Ante, at 112 (opinion of REHNQUIST, C. J.). The concurrence's primary foundation for this conclusion rests on an appeal to plain text: Art. II, § l's grant of the power to appoint Presidential electors to the state "Legislature." Ibid. But neither the text of Article II itself nor the only case the concurrence cites that interprets Article II, McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U. S. 1 (1892), leads to the conclusion that Article II grants unlimited power to the legislature, devoid of any state constitutional limitations, to select the manner of appointing electors. See id., at 41 (specifically referring to state constitutional provision in upholding state law regarding selection of electors). Nor, as JUSTICE STEVENS points out, have we interpreted the federal constitutional provision most analogous to Art. II, § 1Art. I, § 4-in the strained manner put forth in the concurrence. Ante, at 123, and n. 1 (dissenting opinion). The concurrence's treatment of § 5 as "inform[ing]" its interpretation of Article II, § 1, cl. 2, ante, at 113 (opinion of REHNQUIST, C. J.), is no more convincing. THE CHIEF JusTICE contends that our opinion in Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd., ante, p. 70 (per curiam) (Bush 1), in which we stated that "a legislative wish to take advantage of [§ 5] would counsel against" a construction of Florida law that Congress might deem to be a change in law, ante, at 78, now means that this Court "must ensure that postelection state-court actions do not frustrate the legislative desire to attain the 'safe harbor' provided by § 5." Ante, at 113. However, § 5 is part of the rules that govern Congress' recognition of slates of electors. Nowhere in Bush I did we
149 establish that this Court had the authority to enforce § 5. Nor did we suggest that the permissive "counsel against" could be transformed into the mandatory "must ensure." And nowhere did we intimate, as the concurrence does here, that a state-court decision that threatens the safe harbor provision of § 5 does so in violation of Article II. The concurrence's logic turns the presumption that legislatures would wish to take advantage of § 5's "safe harbor" provision into a mandate that trumps other statutory provisions and overrides the intent that the legislature did express. But, in any event, the concurrence, having conducted its review, now reaches the wrong conclusion. It says that "the Florida Supreme Court's interpretation of the Florida election laws impermissibly distorted them beyond what a fair reading required, in violation of Article II." Ante, at 115 (opinion of REHNQUIST, C. J.). But what precisely is the distortion? Apparently, it has three elements. First, the Florida court, in its earlier opinion, changed the election certification date from November 14 to November 26. Second, the Florida court ordered a manual recount of "undercounted" ballots that could not have been fully completed by the December 12 "safe harbor" deadline. Third, the Florida court, in the opinion now under review, failed to give adequate deference to the determinations of canvassing boards and the Secretary. To characterize the first element as a "distortion," however, requires the concurrence to second-guess the way in which the state court resolved a plain conflict in the language of different statutes. Compare Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.166 (Supp. 2001) (foreseeing manual recounts during the protest period) with § 102.111 (setting what is arguably too short a deadline for manual recounts to be conducted); compare § 102.112(1) (stating that the Secretary "may" ignore late returns) with § 102.111(1) (stating that the Secretary "shall" ignore late returns). In any event, that issue no longer has
150 any practical importance and cannot justify the reversal of the different Florida court decision before us now. To characterize the second element as a "distortion" requires the concurrence to overlook the fact that the inability of the Florida courts to conduct the recount on time is, in significant part, a problem of the Court's own making. The Florida Supreme Court thought that the recount could be completed on time, and, within hours, the Florida Circuit Court was moving in an orderly fashion to meet the deadline. This Court improvidently entered a stay. As a result, we will never know whether the recount could have been completed. Nor can one characterize the third element as "impermissibl[e] distort[ion]" once one understands that there are two sides to the opinion's argument that the Florida Supreme Court "virtually eliminat[ed] the Secretary's discretion." Ante, at 115, 118 (REHNQUIST, C. J., concurring). The Florida statute in question was amended in 1999 to provide that the "grounds for contesting an election" include the "rejection of a number of legal votes sufficient to ... place in doubt the result of the election." Fla. Stat. Ann. §§ 102.168(3), (3)(c) (Supp. 2001). And the parties have argued about the proper meaning of the statute's term "legal vote." The Secretary has claimed that a "legal vote" is a vote "properly executed in accordance with the instructions provided to all registered voters." Brief for Respondent Harris et al. 10. On that interpretation, punchcard ballots for which the machines cannot register a vote are not "legal" votes. Id., at 14. The Florida Supreme Court did not accept her definition. But it had a reason. Its reason was that a different provision of Florida election laws (a provision that addresses damaged or defective ballots) says that no vote shall be disregarded "if there is a clear indication of the intent of the voter as determined by the canvassing board" (adding that ballots should not be counted "if it is impossible to determine the elector's choice"). Fla. Stat. Ann. § 101.5614(5) (Supp. 2001). Given
151 this statutory language, certain roughly analogous judicial precedent, e. g., Darby v. State ex rel. McCollough, 75 So. 411 (Fla. 1917) (per curiam), and somewhat similar determinations by courts throughout the Nation, see cases cited infra, at 152, the Florida Supreme Court concluded that the term "legal vote" means a vote recorded on a ballot that clearly reflects what the voter intended. Gore v. Harris, 772 So. 2d 1243, 1254 (2000). That conclusion differs from the conclusion of the Secretary. But nothing in Florida law requires the Florida Supreme Court to accept as determinative the Secretary's view on such a matter. Nor can one say that the court's ultimate determination is so unreasonable as to amount to a constitutionally "impermissible distort[ion]" of Florida law. The Florida Supreme Court, applying this definition, decided, on the basis of the record, that respondents had shown that the ballots undercounted by the voting machines contained enough "legal votes" to place "the result[s]" of the election "in doubt." Since only a few hundred votes separated the candidates, and since the "undercounted" ballots numbered tens of thousands, it is difficult to see how anyone could find this conclusion unreasonable-however strict the standard used to measure the voter's "clear intent." Nor did this conclusion "strip" canvassing boards of their discretion. The boards retain their traditional discretionary authority during the protest period. And during the contest period, as the court stated, "the Canvassing Board's actions [during the protest period] may constitute evidence that a ballot does or does not qualify as a legal vote." Id., at 1260. Whether a local county canvassing board's discretionary judgment during the protest period not to conduct a manual recount will be set aside during a contest period depends upon whether a candidate provides additional evidence that the rejected votes contain enough "legal votes" to place the outcome of the race in doubt. To limit the local canvassing
152 board's discretion in this way is not to eliminate that discretion. At the least, one could reasonably so believe. The statute goes on to provide the Florida circuit judge with authority to "fashion such orders as he or she deems necessary to ensure that each allegation ... is investigated, examined, or checked, ... and to provide any relief appropriate." Fla. Stat. Ann. § 102.168(8) (Supp. 2001) (emphasis added). The Florida Supreme Court did just that. One might reasonably disagree with the Florida Supreme Court's interpretation of these, or other, words in the statute. But I do not see how one could call its plain language interpretation of a 1999 statutory change so misguided as no longer to qualify as judicial interpretation or as a usurpation of the authority of the state legislature. Indeed, other state courts have interpreted roughly similar state statutes in similar ways. See, e. g., In re Election of U. S. Representative for Second Congressional Dist., 231 Conn. 602, 621, 653 A. 2d 79, 90-91 (1994) ("Whatever the process used to vote and to count votes, differences in technology should not furnish a basis for disregarding the bedrock principle that the purpose of the voting process is to ascertain the intent of the voters"); Brown v. Carr, 130 W. Va. 455, 460, 43 S. E. 2d 401, 404-405 (1947) ("[W]hether a ballot shall be counted ... depends on the intent of the voter .... Courts decry any resort to technical rules in reaching a conclusion as to the intent of the voter"). I repeat, where is the "impermissible" distortion? II Despite the reminder that this case involves "an election for the President of the United States," ante, at 112 (REHNQUIST, C. J., concurring), no preeminent legal concern, or practical concern related to legal questions, required this Court to hear this case, let alone to issue a stay that stopped Florida's recount process in its tracks. With one exception, petitioners' claims do not ask us to vindicate a constitutional
153 provlSlon designed to protect a basic human right. See, e. g., Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U. S. 483 (1954). Petitioners invoke fundamental fairness, namely, the need for procedural fairness, including finality. But with the one "equal protection" exception, they rely upon law that focuses, not upon that basic need, but upon the constitutional allocation of power. Respondents invoke a competing fundamental consideration-the need to determine the voter's true intent. But they look to state law, not to federal constitutional law, to protect that interest. Neither side claims electoral fraud, dishonesty, or the like. And the more fundamental equal protection claim might have been left to the state court to resolve if and when it was discovered to have mattered. It could still be resolved through a remand conditioned upon issuance of a uniform standard; it does not require reversing the Florida Supreme Court. Of course, the selection of the President is of fundamental national importance. But that importance is political, not legal. And this Court should resist the temptation unnecessarily to resolve tangential legal disputes, where doing so threatens to determine the outcome of the election. The Constitution and federal statutes themselves make clear that restraint is appropriate. They set forth a roadmap of how to resolve disputes about electors, even after an election as close as this one. That roadmap foresees resolution of electoral disputes by state courts. See 3 U. S. C. § 5 (providing that, where a "State shall have provided, by laws enacted prior to [election day], for its final determination of any controversy or contest concerning the appointment of ... electors ... by judicial or other methods," the subsequently chosen electors enter a safe harbor free from congressional challenge). But it nowhere provides for involvement by the United States Supreme Court. To the contrary, the Twelfth Amendment commits to Congress the authority and responsibility to count electoral votes. A federal statute, the Electoral Count Act, enacted
154 after the close 1876 Hayes-Tilden Presidential election, specifies that, after States have tried to resolve disputes (through "judicial" or other means), Congress is the body primarily authorized to resolve remaining disputes. See Electoral Count Act of 1887, 24 Stat. 373, 3 U. S. C. §§ 5, 6, and 15. The legislative history of the Act makes clear its intent to commit the power to resolve such disputes to Congress, rather than the courts:
"The two Houses are, by the Constitution, authorized to make the count of electoral votes. They can only count legal votes, and in doing so must determine, from the best evidence to be had, what are legal votes ....
"The power to determine rests with the two houses, and there is no other constitutional tribunal." H. R. Rep. No. 1638, 49th Cong., 1st Sess., 2 (1886) (report submitted by Rep. Caldwell, Select Committee on the Election of President and Vice-President).The Member of Congress who introduced the Act added:
"The power to judge of the legality of the votes is a necessary consequent of the power to count. The existence of this power is of absolute necessity to the preservation of the Government. The interests of all the States in their relations to each other in the Federal Union demand that the ultimate tribunal to decide upon the election of President should be a constituent body, in which the States in their federal relationships and the people in their sovereign capacity should be represented." 18 Congo Rec. 30 (1886) (remarks of Rep. Caldwell).
"Under the Constitution who else could decide? Who is nearer to the State in determining a question of vital importance to the whole union of States than the constituent body upon whom the Constitution has devolved the duty to count the vote?" Id., at 31.
155 The Act goes on to set out rules for the congressional determination of disputes about those votes. If, for example, a State submits a single slate of electors, Congress must count those votes unless both Houses agree that the votes "have not been ... regularly given." 3 U. S. C. § 15. If, as occurred in 1876, a State submits two slates of electors, then Congress must determine whether a slate has entered the safe harbor of § 5, in which case its votes will have "conclusive" effect. Ibid. If, as also occurred in 1876, there is controversy about "which of two or more of such State authorities ... is the lawful tribunal" authorized to appoint electors, then each House shall determine separately which votes are "supported by the decision of such State so authorized by its law." Ibid. If the two Houses of Congress agree, the votes they have approved will be counted. If they disagree, then "the votes of the electors whose appointment shall have been certified by the executive of the State, under the seal thereof, shall be counted." Ibid. Given this detailed, comprehensive scheme for counting electoral votes, there is no reason to believe that federal law either foresees or requires resolution of such a political issue by this Court. Nor, for that matter, is there any reason to think that the Constitution's Framers would have reached a different conclusion. Madison, at least, believed that allowing the judiciary to choose the Presidential electors "was out of the question." Madison, July 25, 1787 (reprinted in 5 Elliot's Debates on the Federal Constitution 363 (2d ed. 1876)). The decision by both the Constitution's Framers and the 1886 Congress to minimize this Court's role in resolving close federal Presidential elections is as wise as it is clear. However awkward or difficult it may be for Congress to resolve difficult electoral disputes, Congress, being a political body, expresses the people's will far more accurately than does an unelected Court. And the people's will is what elections are about.
156 Moreover, Congress was fully aware of the danger that would arise should it ask judges, unarmed with appropriate legal standards, to resolve a hotly contested Presidential election contest. Just after the 1876 Presidential election, Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana each sent two slates of electors to Washington. Without these States, Tilden, the Democrat, had 184 electoral votes, one short of the number required to win the Presidency. With those States, Hayes, his Republican opponent, would have had 185. In order to choose between the two slates of electors, Congress decided to appoint an electoral commission composed of five Senators, five Representatives, and five Supreme Court Justices. Initially the Commission was to be evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, with Justice David Davis, an Independent, to possess the decisive vote. However, when at the last minute the Illinois Legislature elected Justice Davis to the United States Senate, the final position on the Commission was filled by Supreme Court Justice Joseph The Commission divided along partisan lines, and the responsibility to cast the deciding vote fell to Justice Bradley. He decided to accept the votes of the Republican electors, and thereby awarded the Presidency to Hayes. Justice Bradley immediately became the subject of vociferous attacks. Bradley was accused of accepting bribes, of being captured by railroad interests, and of an eleventh-hour change in position after a night in which his house "was surrounded by the carriages" of Republican partisans and railroad officials. C. Woodward, Reunion and Reaction 159-160 (1966). Many years later, Professor Bickel concluded that Bradley was honest and impartial. He thought that "'the great question' for Bradley was, in fact, whether Congress was entitled to go behind election returns or had to accept them as certified by state authorities," an "issue of principle." The Least Dangerous Branch 185 (1962). Nonetheless, Bickel points out, the legal question upon which Justice
157 Bradley's decision turned was not very important in the contemporaneous political context. He says that "in the circumstances the issue of principle was trivial, it was overwhelmed by all that hung in the balance, and it should not have been decisive." Ibid. For present purposes, the relevance of this history lies in the fact that the participation in the work of the electoral commission by five Justices, including Justice Bradley, did not lend that process legitimacy. Nor did it assure the public that the process had worked fairly, guided by the law. Rather, it simply embroiled Members of the Court in partisan conflict, thereby undermining respect for the judicial process. And the Congress that later enacted the Electoral Count Act knew it. This history may help to explain why I think it not only legally wrong, but also most unfortunate, for the Court simply to have terminated the Florida recount. Those who caution judicial restraint in resolving political disputes have described the quintessential case for that restraint as a case marked, among other things, by the "strangeness of the issue," its "intractability to principled resolution," its "sheer momentousness, ... which tends to unbalance judicial judgment," and "the inner vulnerability, the self-doubt of an institution which is electorally irresponsible and has no earth to draw strength from." Id., at 184. Those characteristics mark this case. At the same time, as I have said, the Court is not acting to vindicate a fundamental constitutional principle, such as the need to protect a basic human liberty. No other strong reason to act is present. Congressional statutes tend to obviate the need. And, above all, in this highly politicized matter, the appearance of a split decision runs the risk of undermining the public's confidence in the Court itself. That confidence is a public treasure. It has been built slowly over many years, some of which were marked by a Civil War and the tragedy of segregation. It is a vitally
158 necessary ingredient of any successful effort to protect basic liberty and, indeed, the rule of law itself. We run no risk of returning to the days when a President (responding to this Court's efforts to protect the Cherokee Indians) might have said, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!" D. Loth, Chief Justice John Marshall and The Growth of the American Republic 365 (1948). But we do risk a self-inflicted wound-a wound that may harm not just the Court, but the Nation. I fear that in order to bring this agonizingly long election process to a definitive conclusion, we have not adequately attended to that necessary "check upon our own exercise of power," "our own sense of self-restraint." United States v. Butler, 297 U. S. 1, 79 (1936) (Stone, J., dissenting). Justice Brandeis once said of the Court, "The most important thing we do is not doing." Bickel, supra, at 71. What it does today, the Court should have left undone. I would repair the damage as best we now can, by permitting the Florida recount to continue under uniform standards. I respectfully dissent.
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“It’s easy to imagine that a system like mass incarceration can’t be dismantled. The same was said about slavery, the same was said about Jim Crow. —Attorney and author Michelle Alexander
President Barack Obama gave considerable attention to criminal justice reform during his two terms, commuting the sentences of dozens of nonviolent drug offenders, presenting his vision for the future of the criminal justice system to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and becoming the first sitting president to visit a federal correctional facility. Under his leadership, the White House’s Data-Driven Justice initiative fostered the recognition and replication of successful state and community-based efforts.
While the election of President Donald Trump may signal a shift away from federal reform, there are signs that the momentum of local reform will continue. In the 2016 election, voters in Oklahoma reclassified minor drug possession and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, and channeled the cost savings to mental health and drug treatment services. Voters in New Mexico supported changing the state constitution in order to prevent detention of defendants solely due to their inability to post bail. Voters across the country opted to legalize recreational use of marijuana or facilitate medical applications of the drug. Many communities elected reform-minded district attorneys who campaigned on platforms of less incarceration and less punitive sentences.
What this means for society
Criminal justice reform has been prioritized by the international community as part of efforts to help postconflict societies reestablish the rule of law. These efforts acknowledge reform must be grounded in respect for human rights and reshaping public attitudes toward law enforcement as well as specific changes to policing and incarceration.
Many Americans believe that criminal justice and mass incarceration are the civil rights issue of our times. In the United States, blacks are much more likely than whites to see racial bias in the justice system, and for good reason: the overlap of poverty, race, and incarceration is hard to overstate. Indeed, these issues are essentially facets of the same problem, since the criminal justice system as currently constituted perpetuates racial disparities in wealth, education, and opportunity. The US criminal justice system has been used for many decades as a substitute for a comprehensive system of support for people in need of medical treatment for mental health issues or drug dependence. See, for example, how a range of laws about public behavior and the use of public space effectively criminalizes homelessness.
Formerly incarcerated men and women experience high levels of unemployment, which particularly injures women and families, as feminized professions such as retail and caregiving routinely require criminal background checks. The direct and indirect costs of becoming entangled in the justice system weigh most heavily on the poor, often miring families in ongoing cycles of debt. It also damages the economy as a whole: economists estimate that such barriers to employment reduced the US GDP by $78–$87 billion in 2014.
Mass incarceration has created what has been called “felony disenfranchisement”: 6.1 million Americans are unable to vote due to state policies barring felons from voting. Twelve states carry lifetime voting bans for men and women with felony convictions. Permanently removing the right to vote from people who have first-hand experience with the injustices of current policies makes it that much harder to enact reform.
Youth incarceration is particularly problematic, as early imprisonment has lifelong effects on a young person’s education, well-being, and attainments. This practice also disproportionately affects people of color, who are more likely to be charged and more likely to get harsh sentences. This inequity reflects deeper attitudes in our society that emerge as early as preschool, when teachers’ unconscious bias leads to black boys being disciplined at higher rates than their white and female peers, and sets the stage for what has been dubbed the “school to prison pipeline”—a system in which zero-tolerance policies in education funnel children out of school and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
Deconstructing the US system of mass incarceration will require deconstructing the economy that has grown up around it. Many municipalities rely on fines from law enforcement as a major source of revenue, often selling these debts to private businesses that increase the debt via fees and interest. So called “profit-based policing,” which incentivizes overenforcement in mostly poor, politically disempowered neighborhoods, helped create the tensions that led to widespread protests after the police killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. (Court fines and fees are Ferguson’s second largest source of income.) In 2014, the private prison industry was a $4.8 billion business with profits of over $629 million, housing nearly 20 percent of federal prisoners and 7 percent of state prisoners. Involuntary servitude of prison populations is legal in the United States, and incarcerated workers are often forced to work for little or no pay through in-prison business or via “convict leasing” to external for-profit companies. The pricing and profits of companies such as AT&T, Victoria’s Secret, McDonald’s, and BP (British Petroleum) are, effectively, subsidized via incarceration.
What this means for museums
Museums’ communities are being buffeted by the economic, cultural, and political fallout from current inequities in the justice system. Increasingly, museums are being called on to play a role in addressing these tensions through serving as venues for dialogue, as places of healing, or by acting as advocates for social justice.
Museums can help society reexamine the history and current practice of justice in the United States. They can create exhibits and programming that respond to current and local events and shape the discussion of how to move forward.
Even as museums become more conscious of the need for security in the face of domestic and international terrorism, they need to be aware of the message that security sends to portions of our communities. Adding officers and bag checks can make some people feel less secure, not more.
As the museum field commits to diversifying its own workforce, it needs to consider the effects of excluding people with criminal records. Besides disadvantaging a population that needs employment opportunities, this treatment also impedes progress toward racial diversity, given the disproportionate number of people of color with criminal convictions.
Museums might want to…
- Address issues related to criminal justice explicitly in their exhibits and programming.
- Create ways to connect the public with incarcerated or formerly incarcerated people in order to promote empathy and foster understanding.
- Go beyond neutrality and take a position on the negative effects of current systems and the need for reform.
- Examine their own hiring practices, especially with regard to criminal background checks. The federal government and over 150 cities and counties in the United States have adopted so-called “Ban the Box” policies and “fair chance” employment laws barring employers from asking about a candidate’s criminal record at the beginning of the application process. Even if a museum operates in a city or county that does not ban the box, it can voluntarily foreswear using previous convictions to weed out job applicants early in the search process. Museums can also choose to proactively assist formerly incarcerated people by providing job training and experience, and encouraging them to apply for museum positions.
- Revisit their own security practices, with awareness of how their policies and procedures may intimidate or exclude some audiences.
In creating the exhibit “Prisons Today: Questions in the Age of Mass Incarceration,” staff of the Eastern State Penitentiary museum shifted from their historic position of neutrality on the subject of prison reform. The exhibit opens with the phrase “MASS INCARCERATION ISN’T WORKING” in 400-point font; videos feature bipartisan statements on reform; visitors are asked to admit whether or not they have broken the law, and, if so, to leave a written confession. Staff see the exhibit as a call to empathy, reminding visitors of how they can influence the future of criminal justice in the United States.
The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is identifying, documenting, and memorializing sites of more than 4,000 lynchings of African Americans across 12 Southern states between 1877 and 1950. EJI plans to create a memorial and museum called From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, opening in 2017. The names of over 4,000 victims will be engraved on concrete columns representing each county in the United States where these lynchings took place. Counties across the country will be invited to retrieve and display a duplicate of their column. These installations will highlight the historical connection between these lynchings, the current application of the death penalty, and mass incarceration.
Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, South Africa, is a museum sited in a former prison that incarcerated, among many notable inmates, civil rights activists Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Joe Slovo, Albertina Sisulu, and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. The stories the museum tells remind visitors how the justice system can be used to enforce oppression and maintain the status quo, but also demonstrate the power of activism. This “living museum” is also home to South Africa’s Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land, charged with protecting the rights of all citizens.
At the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, RAISE: Responding to Art Involves Self Expression is an alternative sentencing program that works with high school students referred to the museum by the Berkshire County Juvenile Court. Over a five-week period, participating youth engage in group meetings that include writing and self-awareness exercises, gallery talks, and the use of art as a catalyst for examining their lives and their potential. Since its inception in 2006, the program has served over 120 youth and documented significant improvements in student behavior and in their attitudes toward themselves and toward art.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander. The New Press, 2012. Alexander documents the effects of the US criminal justice system, arguing that “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.”
The Sentencing Project has been working on US criminal justice issues for 30 years, promoting reforms in sentencing policy, addressing unjust racial disparities and practices, and advocating for alternatives to incarceration. Their website (sentencingproject.org) provides a number of fact sheets and Web tools, including state-level data on criminal justice.
The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. Their website (eji.org) includes videos, reports, and news briefs on racial justice, children in prison, mass incarceration, and the death penalty.Skip over related stories to continue reading article
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Welcome to Spring 2021 Environmental Science-Pathways
"You'll never get bored when you try something new. There's really no limit to what you can do." Dr. Suess (pronounced Zoyce, did you know that? I just learned that and see how old I am. Oh, and he was not a Dr., he just put that in front of his name because his father wanted him to become a doctor. Hmmm)
Information About Your Course
Environmental Science l and ll are courses that provides a one semester science credit each for graduation requirements for high school.
The curriculum follows the DVUSD guidelines which are aligned with the Arizona State Standards. Students will be encouraged to develop critical thinking skills, which are essential to learning. Reading skills and strategies will be part of instruction and student practice.
Environmental Science is an applied science based on experimentation and observation. It strives to solve environmental problems that relate to resource depletion, pollution, and extinction. This science takes a global perspective focus on both developed and developing countries.
HOW TO GET STARTED
Arrive promptly at 6:00 pm at the Barry Goldwater High School campus or if we are virtual, in our Zoom meeting. We dismiss promptly at 8:45 pm. For the week of January 19th, students will access the course via Zoom during Virtual for All learning mode. A code will be sent to registered students only.
Login to Canvas online or with the Canvas app (iOs/Android).
Parents can also login to Canvas to observe classes and student progress. Parents even have their very own app: Canvas Parent.
Learn more about accessing Canvas as a Parent!
TIPS FOR SUCCESS
Bring your iPad fully charged and bring your charger to class. Be prepared to work on our assignments without the distraction of your cellphone.
Find out more about DVUSD Technology. Still need TECH Support? Click Here
Click HERE to access your grades in Powerschools.
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Control unwanted pests in your lawn with an all-natural, safe product known as diatomaceous earth (or "DE"). Diatomaceous earth forms from the remains of a class of algae found in freshwater and marine environments. This silica substance, when finely ground, has tiny razor-sharp edges that cut the bodies of insects that touch or ingest the powder, which dries their bodies and kills them. When sprinkled over lawns and gardens, diatomaceous earth powder will repel and control many types of pests, including ticks, fleas, slugs, ants, termites, grasshoppers, lawn grubs and many more.
Apply the dust on a calm day. Dampen the lawn where you wish to apply the diatomaceous earth powder. Use the garden hose to spray a light mist on the grass and surrounding flowers or plants. The light misting of water will help the diatomaceous powder to stick to the leaves of your grass.
Video of the Day
Wear protective clothing such as a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, eye goggles and a face mask. Diatomaceous earth is not poisonous to humans or animals, but the fine powder dust can blow into your eyes and the mucous membranes of your nose and mouth, causing irritation.
Fill the dust sprayer with diatomaceous earth powder. Close the dust sprayer tightly. Pump the handle located on top of the dust sprayer. Point the sprayer tip downward toward the grass, keeping it at about 6 inches above the lawn.
Spray the diatomaceous earth powder onto the lawn in a thin and even coat. Continue to use the dust sprayer until you have covered the entire lawn area and surrounding perimeter sections.
Apply diatomaceous earth powder to the lawn after each hard rain or at least once every month.
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Life is lived more and more online these days. For better or for worse, the boundaries between digital life in virtual worlds and physical life in the real world is getting thinner and thinner. One evidence of this is found in the rise of cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency is digital currency. There are no metallic coins or bills of paper. FINRA, our government regulator, defines it as “a digital representation of a stored value secured through cryptography.”1 Investopedia adds: “Many cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks based on blockchain technology—a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers.”2
Clear as mud? I thought so. Maybe Katie Haun, a former federal prosecutor of crimes that took place in the crypto space and who now serves on a board of a cryptocurrency exchange, can help. She described the blockchain that cryptocurrencies are based on in her appearance on the Tim Ferris podcast like this:
“…it is a massive ledger that keeps track of who owns what. And instead of some central entity keeping track, it’s instead done by what are called nodes all over the world. And these nodes, in the case of the Bitcoin blockchain, are called miners.
And the best way to think of them in my mind is, think of miners like the workers who are performing computing work to secure the system that keeps track of this ownership. So it’s this decentralized, not centrally controlled, big huge ledger that keeps track of who owns what.”3
Since cryptocurrencies are not regulated by any governing authority, it is simultaneously endowed with allurement and risk. An unregulated asset that is exchanged beyond nation-state borders may have benefits to democratize currency, but the unregulated nature of it and its impact upon geopolitics also carries a ton of risk. There is a “dark side” to cryptocurrency too. It has been used for nefarious purposes on the dark web. But let’s be honest, so has—wait for it—any kind of money.
There are many kinds of cryptocurrencies and time will tell which one might rise above the others in a lasting way or if they all go to zero, but the one you’ve probably heard of is bitcoin. It gets the most press and currently is valued the highest. It has only been around since 2009 and is shrouded in some mystery being that it was created by an anonymous person or group of people named “Satoshi Nakamoto”. Bitcoin continues to receive increasing attention as Tesla recently bought a bunch of it and plans on accepting it as payment4, and cryptocurrencies in general can be exchanged on PayPal.5
Occasionally we are asked by our clients if they can invest in bitcoin in their accounts that we manage. For now, the answer is, “No.” Since it’s unregulated and highly speculative it is not something that our compliance department approves, and this article itself is purely for informational purposes only and does not represent any kind of investment advice.
But who knows what might develop in the future with cryptocurrency? With life being lived more online and the acceleration of digital technologies, whether its unregulated like bitcoin or Ethereum or a government sanctioned digital asset yet to be created, cryptocurrency may be something that is more widely accepted and held more broadly in investment portfolios. We will have to wait and see.
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What Is A Business Journal Entry And How Is It Used?
Being a small business owner, you typically divvy up your time in every facet of your business. Whether you have one employee or thirty, business owners are busy. To maintain and/or thrive, your finances need to be in order. Poor financial management is one of the top reason’s small businesses plummet or dissolve quickly. What can you do to avoid that from happening to you and your business? Knowing about journal entries and how to use them correctly. They are a way of keeping a pulse on your financial state from day-to-day.
What Are Journal Entries?
As stated previously, journal entries are the way you record transactions day-to-day. They’re your “rough draft” about your finances; whereas your “final draft” is your general ledger that comes later. These entries must be accurate and detailed for your future reference if need be. It should be a daily requirement to enter in all transactions before you call it quits at the end of the day. Journal entries are summarized to create your general ledger, which shows how your business is currently performing.
Both journal entries and general ledgers are used to prepare critical financial statements (i.e. income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement). All of those financial statements are necessary for filing taxes. This is why it is crucial to have accurate journal entries from the beginning. If you enter incorrect information or forget to add a transaction, it could throw off the rest of your financial statements. You could be making business decisions based on unsound information. Make sure you or whoever is managing your finances are diligent with your entries.
How To Use Them
If you are unfamiliar with bookkeeping, there are two methods for journal entries: single and double. We recommend sticking to the most common method, which is double entry. In the double entry method, there are two categories that we split into, which are a general journal and special journal.
- General journal: Any entry that does not fit in your special journal i.e. income or expenses from interest. Could be used to record adjusting entries (changes to already recorded journal entries).
- Special journal: Day-to-day transactions. These are also known as accounts, and special journals should be listed in your chart of accounts. Special journal entries cover these common transactions for your business:
- Accounts receivable (money you’re owed)
- Sales (income recorded from sales)
- Sales returns (sales you’ve refunded)
- Purchases (payments you’ve made)
- Cash receipts (money you’ve received)
- Accounts payable (money you owe)
- Equity (retained earnings and owners’ investment)
Knowing your company’s current financial state should be the utmost priority. The day-to-day journal entries may seem tedious, but they are the trajectory for your future. If you have fallen behind or can’t handle your bookkeeping much longer, Steph’s Books can get you back on track. We come alongside our customers in an effort to alleviate any stress and time surrounding their financial statements. Our goal is to allow you the freedom to focus on your business and family more. Contact us today for more information!
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9 March, 19:27
Why don't asteroids have atmosphere
9 March, 19:46
Asteroids are too small to have atmospheres
9 March, 21:20
They are too small an object has to be big enough to have gravity
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» Why don't asteroids have atmosphere
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Khmer is a Mon-Khmer language spoken mainly in Cambodia, and also in Vietnam and Thailand. In 2015 there were about 16 million Khmer speakers in Cambodia, and there were about 1.2 million speakers of the language in Vietnam in 2009. In Thailand a variety of Khmer known as Northern Khmer is spoken by 1.4 million people. This is considered a separate language by some people.
Khmer shares many features and much vocabulary with Thai as a result of centuries of two-way borrowing. There are also borrowings from Sanskrit, Pali, French and Chinese in Khmer.
Khmer is also known as Cambodian. The official name of Cambodia is the Kingdom of Cambodia (ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា [Preah Reachanachâk Kampuchea]). In the past it has been known as the Khmer Republic (1970-1975), Democratic Kapuchea (1975-1979), the People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979-1989) and the State of Cambodia (1989-1993). The name Kampuchea comes from the Sanskrit कम्बोजदेश [Kambujadeśa] - "land of Kambuja") [source]. The name Cambodia is an English version of the French Cambodge, which is a version of Kampuchea [source].
Varieties of Khmer include:
The Khmer alphabet is descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India by way of the Pallava script, which was used in southern India and South East Asia during the 5th and 6th Centuries AD. The oldest dated inscription in Khmer, found at Angkor Borei in Takev Province south of Phnom Penh, dates from 611 AD.
The Khmer alphabet closely resembles the Thai and Lao alphabets, which developed from it.
There are a number of ways to Romanize Khmer. The transliteration used here is the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) system, a group of experts that deals with the national and international standardization of geographical names.
mnoussa teangoasa kaetamk mean seripheap ning pheap smae knea knong setthi ning sechakdeithlaithnaur. mnoussa krobroub sotthote mean vichearonanhnhean ning satesambochonhnh haey trauv br pru td champoh knea towvinhtowmk knong smartei reaban knea chea bangobaaun.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
See more videos like this on Wikitongues
Information about Khmer | Phrases | Numbers | Family words | Tower of Babel | Learning materials
Information about the Khmer language
Online Khmer lessons
Online Khmer dictionaries
Online Khmer news and radio
Free Khmer fonts
Information about Khmer Unicode
Khmer character picker
Ahom, Aima, Arleng, Badagu, Badlit, Basahan, Balinese, Balti-A, Balti-B, Batak, Baybayin, Bengali, Bhaiksuki, Bhujimol, Bilang-bilang, Bima, Blackfoot, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese, Carrier, Chakma, Cham, Cree, Dehong Dai, Devanagari, Dham Lipi, Dhankari / Sirmauri, Ditema, Dives Akuru, Dogra, Ethiopic, Evēla Akuru, Fraser, Gond, Goykanadi, Grantha, Gujarati, Gunjala Gondi, Gupta, Gurmukhi, Halbi Lipi, Hanifi, Hanuno'o, Hočąk, Ibalnan, Inuktitut, Jaunsari Takri, Javanese, Kaithi, Kadamba, Kamarupi, Kannada, Kawi, Kerinci, Kharosthi, Khema, Khe Prih, Khmer, Khojki, Khudabadi, Kirat Rai, Kōchi, Kulitan, Kurukh Banna, Lampung, Lanna, Lao, Lepcha, Limbu, Lontara/Makasar, Lota Ende, Magar Akkha, Mahajani, Malayalam, Manpuri / Meitei (Modern), Manpuri (Old), Marchen, Meroïtic, Masarm Gondi, Modi, Mon, Mongolian Horizontal Square Script, Multani, Nandinagari, Newa, New Tai Lue, Ojibwe, Odia, Pahawh Hmong, Pallava, Phags-pa, Purva Licchavi, Qiang / Rma, Ranjana, Rejang (Kaganga), Sasak, Savara, Satera Jontal, Shan, Sharda, Siddham, Sinhala, Sorang Sompeng, Sourashtra, Soyombo, Sukhothai, Sundanese, Syloti Nagri, Tagbanwa, Takri, Tamil, Tanchangya (Ka-Pat), Tani, Thaana, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tigalari, Tikamuli, Tocharian, Tolong Siki, Vatteluttu, Warang Citi
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How (un)healthy is spicy food?
Some love it, others get heartburn. We’re referring to the spiciness of food caused by the addition of chilli, pepper etc. What makes food spicy, and what healing properties are associated with this “sensation”?
Unlike sweet or sour substances, pungent substances are not identified by the taste buds on the tongue. Instead, they stimulate the heat and pain receptors in the mouth. The sensations range from warming and astringent (contracting) to painful. Thus, sharpness is not a flavour, but a reaction to pain. The active ingredients of these stimulants irritate the nerve cells in the oral mucosa, which are also activated when you burn your mouth. This explains the burning sensation of spicy food. The hotter the spicy foods are when eaten, the more intense the pain. Which spices trigger this stimulus?
From "mild" to "hot"
The following agitators are known:
- Capsaicin in chilli
- Piperine in pepper
- Mustard oil in horseradish and mustard
- Allicin in garlic
- Gingerol in ginger
In capsicum plants, such as chillies, capsaicin is responsible for the pungency. This substance is a strong cause of a burning sensation in the mouth. Water does not help against the burn caused by chillies because capsaicin is fat-soluble, not water-soluble. Piperine, found in pepper, is milder. When horseradish, mustard or garlic are heated, some of their pungency is lost, as they are sensitive to heat. Capsaicin and gingerol are heat resistant.
Pungency is measurable
Pungency can be determined by Scoville Heat Units (SHU). The Scoville scale indicates how many millilitres of water are needed to dilute the concentration until the “heat” can barely be detected. For example, to neutralise 1 ml of Tabasco sauce (4,500 SHU), one would need 4.5 litres of water. At the end of this text you´ll find a table about the scoville scale of some products.
Spice makes us happy
The pungent substances cause the “hot” taste, while the resulting irritation of the mucous membranes and pain receptors in the mouth and stomach leads to the release of neurotransmitters (messenger substances), causing a strong dilation of the blood vessels and an increase in the permeability of the vessel walls, resulting in increased blood flow to the tissues. To endure the pain, endorphins (happy hormones) are released. Blood circulation is stimulated, the heartbeat is increased and digestion is stimulated by increased acid secretion and salivary production. Fatty foods, in particular, are easier to digest with a little spiciness. Those who frequently eat spicy foods can “harden” their pain receptors and get used to the pungency. Several studies have also shown that pungent substances have anti-carcinogenic, anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects.
Take care with sensitive stomachs
People with sensitive stomachs should enjoy spicy foods with caution. Those who suffer from heartburn, irritable bowel, kidney or bladder disease risk increasing the discomfort on already irritated gastric mucosa or on the kidneys. Small children should also not eat spicy foods, since their digestive tracts must gradually become accustomed to sharper food.
Cools and preserves
Agitators (especially capsaicin) also promote perspiration. Sweating lowers the body temperature and cools the body. This positive cooling side effect is particularly beneficial for people in warm climates. In Mexico and Thailand, between 25 and 200 mg capsaicinoids are consumed daily through the consumption of chillies. By contrast, in Central Europe, the value is only 1,5 mg per day. In addition, the pungent substance in chillies has an antibacterial effect. Thus, in the storage of food, the development of microorganisms is inhibited.
The positive effects of pungent substances clearly outweigh the negative. So, if you like hot spices like chillies, pepper etc., you can keep using them with a clear conscience. Those who rarely eat sharp foods should try to slowly increase their intake.
If you are looking for more information on this topic, the following links are worth looking at www.nutrition-and-you.com/healthy_spices.html or www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-is-it-that-eating-spi/
Do you have an other questions? Please write an e-mail to email@example.com.
Mag. Gerda Reimann-Dorninger
Table: Scoville Scale
|0 to 10||Sweet peppers|
|100 to 500||Hot peppers|
|2.500 to 8.500||Tabasco sauce|
|100.000 to 250.000||Habanero chilli|
|2 million||Commercial pepper spray|
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With the growth of trade and commerce around the world, countries are increasingly looking to a trade-free world, where imports and exports can help every potential nation grow in revenue and resources. Analyzing the current problem, Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, emphasized the importance of free trade and said that if countries removed trade barriers and allowed free flow of goods from one country to another then countries would invite and fulfill greater prosperity. The interests of its citizens.
However, the free flow of goods can violate the rights of the owner of an original product somewhere, because counterfeiting and forgery of goods is an unwanted evil that afflicts the notion of free trade and commerce. Thus, the rights of the owner of a product need to be protected so that the products are not counterfeit and as a result are not sold, the owner’s rights and revenue are lost and new and noble ideas are threatened.
The process of selling goods across the border through registered or unregistered trade channels, but also known as parallel imports without the consent of the product owner. For example, a book will sell for Rs. 500 in India alone according to the wishes and fancy of the owner of the book. However, the author wants the same book to be sold in Bangladesh at a relatively low price. 250.
Now, the book sold in Bangladesh can be easily bought and imported by traders in India and as a result is sold at a relatively low price of Rs.500. Thus, the following may infringe the author’s rights, although the books were the same, but they were meant to be sold in two different jurisdictions. But, due to the parallel import of goods, traders can create a gray market which leads to violations. Intellectual property rights Extensive revenue denting from the owners and them.
But, the owner cannot enjoy absolute autonomy over his rights as it would again be detrimental to business and business. For example, a car manufacturer loses its rights to its products as soon as it sells the car from the factory. Subsequently, it cannot claim rights and revenue after every car sale in the market. Thus, after being sold from the factory, the car can be sold to the retailer, then to the customer, through whom it can be used for several years and then sold to another person, but the company cannot claim infringement after each sale. , Since the rights expire after the first sale.
Following the above, there are mainly three types of rights termination, namely regional fatigue where the following system restricts the movement of a product in a particular region or area. If the owner restricts the circulation and sale of his goods within the territory of a particular country, restricts the import and export of goods, then the following measures are known as national fatigue. After all, in international fatigue the owner cannot limit the trade and sale of his product once it is promoted or launched anywhere in the world.
The regional fatigue system follows the most restrictive system, whereas the international fatigue system follows the least restrictive system. Different countries around the world follow different patterns when dealing with the current problem. Several African countries, such as Ghana, Liberia and Tunisia, follow the national execution system of the Philippine rights in Asia. It is only the European Union that follows the cessation of territorial rights while countries like China, India and Malaysia follow a system of international fatigue.
In India, Article 29 (1) of the Trademark states that “a registered trademark is infringed by a person who is not a registered owner or is using it in an authorized manner, Uses During a trade, a mark that is identical or deceptively identical to a trademark related to the product or service, about which the trademark is registered and may be used as a trademark to render the use of the mark. ” Uses If a registered sign: –
- Import Or Export Product under mark;
Thus, the import and export of a trademark is considered as the use of a mark. Now, this use is made by any person, whether authorized or unauthorized, i.e. if a person imports or exports a trademark-like product without the prior consent of the owner, it will be considered a trademark infringement in accordance with section 29 (1). Section 29 (6) (c). In Bangladesh, for example, A sells printers for Rs. 2,000 B, a businessman in India, buys the printer and sells it in India. 5,000 There is no trademark infringement in the current situation, but, if the printer is for sale in Bangladesh only, it is a trademark infringement.
Article 30 (3), on the other hand, refers to exceptions to trademark infringement. It states that “where goods bearing a registered trademark are legally acquired by an individual, selling the goods in the market or otherwise transacting those goods by or under the person or under the person claimed by him is not a trade violation. –
- The goods have been put on Market Trademarks registered by the owner or with his consent. “
Thus, there will be no trademark infringement if the products are marketed with the prior consent of the owner and then the products are sold to another person. For example, a company certifies A as a product owner in the market. Now, A sells it to a retailer who sells the product to the customer through it. Now, Company B cannot be sued for trademark infringement because Company A has lost its rights at the moment it sells its products.
The current situation in India has been simplified through lawsuits like Kapil Wadhwa v. Samsung Electronics., And Western Digital Technologies v. Ashish Kumar, where the court said that after analyzing India’s communications in the WTO Uruguay Round in 1985 and the report of the Standing Committee on Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010, it is clear that India follows the international fatigue concept. Further, the court said that it cannot ban parallel imports in the country, as it follows the provisions of termination of international rights and secondly, parallel imports will help create a competitive market that will ultimately benefit consumers.
However, in doing so, the merchant should provide a message when selling the product that the owner of the product will not be liable for any inconsistencies in the product. For example, if Samsung printers are sold through parallel imports, the seller will provide a message at the time of sale of the printer that if there is any discrepancy in the product, Samsung will not be responsible for the defective product. This will preserve the reputation of the product owner, and will relieve them of any liability arising at the time of sale through parallel imports.
Although the position of the judiciary is clear in the current situation, the government should introduce more rules and policies that can prevent the import of counterfeit goods into the market. Custom security and tracking of counterfeit products should be strengthened to protect the rights of innocent and hardworking companies.
Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations”, Oxford, England, 2002.
Christopher Heath, “Parallel Imports and International Trade”, WIPO Journal,
Shyamlima Sengupta and NV Saisunder, “The Concept of Parallel Imports and Territorial Execution of Rights under the Indian Trademarks Act, 1999”, Lexology, March 30, 2020.
“Legalization of parallel imports as opposed to trademark law”, August 21, 2018.
2013 (53) PTC 112 (Del) (DB).
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They both refer to a type of thickening agent or thickener, which is made from the kernels of the grain sorghum (Zea mays). You cannot use cornstarch to thicken a dish that contains a high concentration of acids or of sugars. So which to use? Flour is a complex substance that has lots of protein, fat, and even a bit of sugar, while cornstarch is made from pure starch. ⦠Usually, though not always, corn flour-the coating-is written as two words while cornflour-the other name for cornstarch-is written as one word. How to substitute: Flour wonât thicken as well as cornstarch, so use twice as much flour as cornstarch. However, they do need to be dissolved in fluid first. Ideally, stick to 1â2 tablespoons (8â16 grams) at a time and consider swapping in some other cornstarch substitutes, such as arrowroot, wheat flour⦠Cornstarch is a pure starch derived from the endosperm of the corn kernel. Wheat flour and cornstarch are the two most common forms of grain starches we use in our cooking. As nouns the difference between flour and cornstarch is that flour is powder obtained by grinding or milling cereal grains, especially wheat, and used to bake bread, cakes, and pastry while cornstarch is a very fine starch powder derived from corn (maize) used in cooking as a thickener, to keep things from sticking, or as an anti-caking agent. They also thicken at a somewhat lower temperature and do not need to be pre-cooked, like roux. The main difference between the two is that baking powder is a mixture of baking soda, acid and cornstarch. Both starches produce a thickened liquid that is clearer than liquids thickened with wheat flour; however, potato starch will be the clearer of the two. The easiest way to thicken a sauce with plain flour is to make a flour slurry. 1 tablespoon of cornstarch or fine tapioca = 4 teaspoons of cassava flour. When the kernels are used as a whole and ground into a fine powder it forms cornflour, cornstarch on the other hand is the result of the grinding of the endospermic region and removal of fiber and protein. Corn starch is somewhat flavorless, silky and thickens the pie filling at boiling point. Corn flour is a powdery agent made from corn and comes in white and yellow colour. Heat two minutes more in order to completely cook the cornstarch. It's more of a cake/cookie gateau/dessert-type thing, and is very tasty. Both flour and cornstarch are bomb ingredients for thickening sauces. However, arrowroot does not thicken up the way cornstarch does, so donât use in a pie that needs to be thicken enough to slice (e.g., coconut cream pie). Cornstarch is gotten from the endosperm of corn bit while corn flour is finely ground cornmeal. Although flour is the traditional thickening agent in most cooking, cornstarch, also known as cornflour, is a fine, powdery flour ground from the endosperm, or white heart, of the corn kernel. If your recipe requires one, can you use the other? You also need less of the ingredient; when using cornstarch, use half of the amount you would use for flour. Tapioca has more calcium and vitamin B-12 than corn starch. In the American South, corn flour is something quite different from cornstarch, and the two are not interchangeable. In most cases, these two starches are interchangeable as thickeners. Flour starts to thicken at a lower temperature (126 F), but it needs to be cooked ⦠Flour is the main ingredient in baked goods, for example, while cornstarch is rarely on the ingredient list for cookies and cakes, except in certain shortbread recipes. This probably leads to the greatest confusion among what differences are between cornmeal, corn flour and cornstarch. Thickening a sauce with cornstarch is very similar to using flour, you just need different quantities. For best results, use all-purpose flour as opposed to whole-wheat flours because of their higher starch content. Like flour, cornstarch can be used in thickening sauces, deep-frying, and baking.However, how much to use, how to use it, and its effects can differ greatly. If you have a liquid that you would like to thicken into gravy (say from a pot roast), I would heat it, then add a water/cornstarch goop to it while stirring. As for the difference between cornstarch and flour: both are starches, but cornstarch is pure starch, while flour contains gluten. Flour works best when it's first mixed with some fat, usually by combining flour with fat or drippings from meat or poultry. However, unless the recipe specifically states that cornstarch should be used, I wouldn't advise it, as the results will be very different to the intended ones. Tapioca Starch. They are both thickeners made from corn. Baking soda by itself usually leaves a finished baked good tasting overly bitter. While they have slightly different functions and uses, they both are capable of thickening a sauce to perfection when used appropriately. Some other nuances also identify these thickeners from one another. While researching about the differences between cornstarch and corn flour, I found that some people were saying things like: âWhen I was in England, what I call 'corn starch' was labeled 'corn flour.' Although flour is the traditional thickening agent in most cooking, cornstarch (also known as corn-flour) is a fine, powdery flour ground from the endosperm, or white heart, of the corn kernel. Difference Between Flour and Cornstarch: Corn floor is made by grinding corn kernels into a fine powder while cornstarch has undergone more refining and addition of vital nutrients. Corn starch VS Cornflour Difference. A mixture made with flour and fat, typically butter, is called a roux. Sugar is another ingredient that can affect its thickening ability as a high concentration of sugar limits the ability of corn starch granules to swell and thicken a liquid. This is a starch made from the root of a ⦠The Difference Between Corn Flour And Cornstarch. Flour works well to thicken stews, gumbos and gravies, even the lower-starch bread flour version. Because it is almost pure starch, cornstarch is a more efficient thickener than wheat flour. Cornstarch and rice flour are both suitable thickening agents for soups, gravies and other dishes. 1 tablespoon of cassava flour = 2 1/2 teaspoons plus 1/4 teaspoon of cornstarch or fine tapioca. Thickening Adeena Zeldin. As a verb flour Cornstarch lacks a taste and, when added to a sauce, it'll create a glossy appearance while thickening. You will still have to be mindful of the differences above. The cornstarch to flour ratio youâll want to stick with is close to 1:2, or half of the amount of flour your recipe calls for. It is important to keep in mind that, although these thickeners all produce the same effect of thickening a pieâs filling, they work in different manners. Arrowroot works similarly to cornstarch. The powder is used as a thickening agent in certain foods, providing twice the thickening power of corn flour. On the other hand, cornstarch is another name for corn flour. However, in some European countries but predominantly the United Kingdom corn flour is used to describe what is known in the United States as corn starch. Arrowroot has a more neutral taste; it doesnât taste âstarchyâ like grain starches (cornstarch, flour). It is important to know that the flavor of these two thickeners isnât the same.Corn flour has a notably weaker taste than cornstarch. Cornstarch and arrowroot will thicken more efficiently than flour since they contain no protein. Despite used for the same purpose of thickening of food items, there are some basic differences between Tapioca starch and cornstarch that need to be kept in mind when using them for thickening of recipes. All purpose flour is the most popular food thickener, followed by cornstarch and arrowroot or tapioca. Simply mix equal parts of flour and cold water in a cup and when smooth, stir in to the sauce. The difference between Corn flour and Cornstarch is the way both are processed.Cornflour is the outcome when corn kernels at mature and dry state are ground to their entirety, whereas cornstarch, just like any flour is a ground powder, but a refined version with removed protein and fiber parts. Cornstarch. Both are medium-sized starch granules that gelatinize at a higher temperature than root starches. Bring the contents to a simmer for 5 minutes to cook away the raw flour taste. Examples of thickening agents include: polysaccharides (starches, vegetable gums, and pectin), proteins (eggs, collagen, gelatin, blood albumin) and fats (butter, oil and lards). Corn flour is an even finer milled or ground version of cornmeal. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cornstarch is a starch obtained from the endosperm of a corn kernel. Arrowroot does freeze and thaw without change, unlike cornstarch. Weâre sharing the differences between the two thickeners and which is best. All of these thickeners are based on starch as the thickening agent. News CORN FLOUR (2) OR CORNFLOUR (1): WHAT A DIFFERENCE ⦠They have 50 to 100% more thickening power than flour and thus, less of them is needed. The most common thickeners that people use are flour, cornstarch, and arrowroot. Second , youâll want to cook things a bit differently. In contrast, the other ingredients in baking powder help counterbalance the taste. Cornstarch. All said the same thing: Corn flour and cornstarch are one and the same, a finely powdered corn product, used primarily for thickening sauces. Itâs commonly used as a thickener or anti-caking agent. On the other hand, corn flour is also used as a thickener in the absence of cornstarch. Cornstarch is produced using endosperm of the corn as starch constitutes the endosperm of the corn. They are used for thickening agents. The powdery substance forms a slurry when mixed with water. Corn flour and cornstarch are the same thing. 'Corn meal' was 'polenta' (slightly different, dent corn and flint corn, respectively), and I couldn't find corn flour or grits anywhere.â This is the main difference between cornstarch and corn flour. Corn flour and corn starch are two terms used interchangeably in cooking. It is interesting to note that cornstarch is used as a thickener. The main difference between Corn flour and Cornstarch is the processing that goes into it. People often wonder what the difference is between cornstarch and flour. Cornstarch will thicken stew similar to flour, but has the added benefit of being flavorless and wonât cloud the liquid as much. Both are commonly found in processed foods such as ⦠For utilizing corn flour as thickener you have the need of its amount two times of the cornstarch. Typically, pie thickeners will fall under the family of flours and starches. Rice flour is more expensive than cornstarch, but you need so little of either thickener to get results that the cost difference is unlikely to break your budget. It depends on the technique you are using. Be sure to thoroughly mix the cornstarch and water together, then pour into your sauce. Pie Thickeners in detail Cornstarch â Pie Filling Thickener.
Kitchenaid Oven Temperature Problem, Dark Souls Black Knight Halberd Build, Customer Service Director Skills, Destiny Number 5, Strawberry Vodka Cocktail, Bosch 800 Series Oven Slide-in Range,
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GIVE YOUR STUDENTS AN INNOVATIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE!
If you work in education, you've certainly heard of Active Learning: kids, teenagers, university students are much more capable of learning when they feel engaged and have an active role in the process.
With our experiences we can create scenarios based on any level or subject, from history to math, science, literature or so on.
Plus, the students develop the fundamental soft skills they will need to work and in life. Our enigmas will enhance their ability to communicate, set goals, solve problems, find different solutions using logic or creativity!
And last but not least, they realize learning can be a fun process, knowledge is power and team work leads to success.
As we always like to quote:
"Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I learn."
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Kids love to mimic adults. Preschool journal time is a great way to expand on this interest.
You can tell I am a list-maker, because my kids are always using the big pads of paper to “write,” “draw,” and “make lists” for fun. It is pretty entertaining how early kids start wanting to explore writing.
This is why I incorporate preschool journal time in our preschool at home activities.
There is nothing complicated about it-if you have been reading my blog for a while you know I don’t do complicated kids activities. I just don’t have time for them. My kids are creative on their own, and I find teaching the basics is simple to do with limited supplies.
Making a Journal for Preschool Journal Time
For our preschool journal time, we used both a spiral notebook, and then when she filled that up, a yellow notepad (bought in bulk at Costco). You can use notebook paper in a 3-ring binder or folder with prongs. You can even staple together some lined paper and use construction paper as a cover. Simple!
Using two pieces of construction paper, and about 20 pages of lined notebook (or plain paper) create a book. The construction paper makes up the front and back covers, and the lined pages get stapled inside.
For my second child, who did all of her preschool at home, I used a spiral notebook and then a yellow notepad. That is what we had at the time, and she liked it because she always saw me jotting down blog post ideas on my own yellow pad.
You can order blank books like this idea for keeping preschool journals shared by Teach Preschool.
Good old store bought composition books are a great idea from Teaching 2 and 3 year olds.
Whatever you have, or can afford, works. It is not about “cute” it is about the experience and exploration of writing.
How We Use Preschool Journal Time
Almost every day of our preschool at home time, I ended our time together in focused work with some journaling. My daughter would often ask to write in her journal, so this was a fun activity for her at 4 years old.
Sometimes I would write letters in it for her to trace.
Other times I would write her name with highlighter so she could practice writing with upper case and lower case letters.
She drew pictures on her own, or after reading a book as a mini book report (her idea).
Other times she just scribbled or practiced writing that was meaningful to her, but maybe was not quite legible.
There is not an objective every time a preschool child does journal time. It is a time to teach that writing is part of learning, writing is fun, and that writing and reading are connected.
The twins even asked for paper and pencils when they saw their big sister practicing her writing skills. This was so fun to watch! It kept them busy for a while.
Have you started preschool journal time with your child? What form of journal do you use?
Enjoy your time at home!
Hi! This website is so useful for my little one and I and I’m absolutely loving all the tips, tricks, activities and schedules you have on here for someone like myself to use. The only thing I’m having a hard time finding is some highlighted things are no longer available to view on a page. I was just wondering what the Letter Binder is because I feel like that would be useful in our day to use. Please let me know as soon as you can. Thank you!
Jaimi Erickson says
All the links seem to be working for me. The Preschool Activities page will have other ideas for you. 🙂
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If you’re a film photographer or an avid collector of decades-old photography gear, chances are, you’ve run into some or heard about radioactive lenses. Or, you could be actively shooting with them right now and are completely unaware of it. Puzzled? Afraid? Curious? Let’s get to the truth of the matter.
French photographer Mathieu Stern gets this question a lot: What do you think of radioactive lenses? Then comes a barrage of follow up questions like, “Do you think they are dangerous?” “Can I get cancer?” “You would never use that, right?” To put an end to these questions, he just had to put his answer up on YouTube for everyone to watch.
So, there you have it, film snapping, vintage-loving folks. Some lenses from the 1960s to the 1970s (some say all the way to the 1940s, actually), are radioactive because the coating contains a radioactive element called Thorium (specifically, a compound called Thorium oxide). Thoriated glass was particularly used to make high quality lenses with increased refractive index, which means they get more light inside the glass. Over time, lenses with Thorium coating or glass elements get a yellow or yellowish-brown tint, which is an indicator of its radioactivity.
Oh no, so you think you have some radioactive lenses? As Mathieu pointed out in his fun video, a radioactive lens contains only approximately 0.01 milliroentgen per hour (mR/hr). Camera-wiki states that it approaches 1 mR/hr at the surface of the lens and decreases rapidly with distance. For reference, at typical chest X-ray exposes you to around 10 mR, a round-trip cross country airline flight would expose you to 5 mR, and a full set of dental X-rays would expose you to 10 – 40 mR.
Kodak has been found to have widely produced radioactive lenses from the 1940s to the 1960s. However, several other non-Kodak lenses were also reported to be radioactive. Camerapedia has an extensive list here. Still, we wouldn’t worry if you find yours on the list, as the only real danger would be if you use cameras with thoriated glass viewfinders, which is very rare.
Want to find out more about radioactive lenses? You can check out this article by Oak Ridge Associated Universities on Thoriated lenses, and this article by NASA scientist Michael Briggs on the Aero-Ektar lenses by Kodak.
Bottomline: keep shooting and collecting those lovely vintage lenses!
Screenshot image from the video by Mathieu Stern
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On Demand Definition and Legal Meaning
On this page, you'll find the legal definition and meaning of On Demand, written in plain English, along with examples of how it is used.
What is On Demand?
Condition to make payment to the holder of a note when he makes a request or demands payment of the amount due for which he has legal rights.
History and Meaning of "On Demand"
The term "On Demand" refers to a condition in a legal agreement wherein payment must be made to a holder of a note or an investor in a security upon demand or request. This means that the holder of the note or security has the legal right to demand payment at any time, without needing to wait for a specified date or event.
This term is commonly used in the context of financial transactions, such as loans or bonds. It allows the holder of the note or security to have more control over their investment and ensures that they can receive payment when they need it.
Examples of "On Demand"
- A borrower takes out a loan with an "On Demand" clause requiring them to repay the loan as soon as the lender demands payment.
- A bond issuer includes an "On Demand" provision in the bond agreement, allowing bondholders to demand repayment of the principal amount before the maturity date.
- An investor purchases a security with an "On Demand" feature, which allows them to sell the security back to the issuer at any time for the full purchase price.
Legal Terms Similar to "On Demand"
- Demand Note: a promissory note that requires the borrower to pay the loan amount upon demand rather than at a specified date.
- Call Option: an agreement that gives the holder the right (but not the obligation) to purchase an asset or security at a specified price at any time before a pre-determined expiration date.
- Put Option: an agreement that gives the holder the right (but not the obligation) to sell an asset or security at a specified price at any time before a pre-determined expiration date.
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Classic Monty Hall
You are on a gameshow hosted by a man named Monty Hall, where you are faced with three doors: behind two of them are goats and behind one is a car. You choose a door; when it is opened, you win the prize behind it. Before it’s opened, Monty (who knows what is where) opens a door. You know he will open a door with a goat behind it; if there are two goats, Monty picks one at random. You have the option to stick with your door or to switch. What should you do?
See the first article ‘Monty Hall Revisited‘ for the answer to the classic problem (and a bonus extension problem where Monty always opens the left door).
Heads or Tails
Now there are only two doors. The producers flip a coin, and if it’s heads they put a goat behind the first door; if tails, a car. They flip again for the second door. You are blindfolded; Monty opens both doors, shuts them again, and tells you that there’s a goat behind one of the doors. What is the probability that there’s a car behind the other door? What if, instead, Monty just opens one door, and tells you there’s a goat behind it?
The obvious answer is that we know that one of the doors hides a goat, but that doesn’t give us any information about the other: the choices were made independently, so there’s an even chance of a goat or a car behind the other.
Fortunately for us, that’s not true: it’s twice as likely as not that there’s a car behind the other door. The reason the argument above doesn’t work is that we don’t know which door Monty is talking about: although the doors don’t affect each other, the information we’ve been given is a fact about both of them combined—one of them hides a goat, but we don’t know which.
Let’s apply Bayes’ Theorem to the case where Monty opens both doors: the probability we’re interested in is the probability that there is one of each, given that Monty saw a goat. We’ll start with the probability that there’s one of each, before any doors were opened: that’s
Why? There are four equally likely possibilities: car then car, goat then goat, goat then car and car then goat. (Or you can think about it in terms of the coin tosses instead.) Since two of those give one of each prize, we get a probability of 2 ÷ 4, or ½.
Now, what’s the probability that Monty tells us there’s a goat behind one of the doors, given that there’s one of each? We’ll assume Monty doesn’t lie (after all, even though we can’t ask the audience, we’ll assume they’d call him out on the lie), though we could easily extend the problem to the case where there’s some probability that he’s fibbing. In that case, we have that
Now we just need the probability that Monty says there’s a goat. This is the same as the probability that there is a goat for him to tell us about, which happens in three out of the four cases above. So we have that
Then, using Bayes’ Theorem, we get that
Now what if Monty only opened one door? We don’t know which door he opened, or how likely he was to pick each one. It doesn’t matter, though: if we knew it was the left, there’d be a fifty-fifty chance of a car on the right, and vice versa (because of the coin toss). So either way, there remains a fifty-fifty chance of a car behind the other door—and that would have been true if he’d seen a car too.
So if Monty has seen both doors and told us there’s at least one goat, there’s a greater chance of there being a car than if he’s only opened one door. How can that make a difference to the odds? The difference comes when we think about how likely it was that Monty would say “goat” in the first place. In case number one, if there’s a goat, he’ll always say so. Whereas in case number two, sometimes he doesn’t because he doesn’t see it. Necessarily, those are the cases where there’s a car and a goat. So the event we’re conditioning on (that Monty says “goat”) happens less in exactly the case whose probability we’re interested in.
Double or half
Now Monty dispenses with the goats. There are still two doors, behind each of which is a pile of counters, each worth one point. (There may also be fractions of counters.) The only thing you know is that one door hides twice as many counters as the other; the producers choose the amounts, and then choose at random which way around they’ll go. You can open one door, and then can choose to keep that or switch to whatever’s behind the other door. You’re going to play this game lots of times, to try and accumulate the most points (because points mean prizes). Is there a good strategy for this game?
The clue is in the way the question is phrased: “Is there a good strategy?” The answer is “no”—or, at least, not that we can determine from the information we have. Before either door is opened, of course there is a fifty-fifty chance of the larger pile being behind either door. Afterwards: well…
An answer that’s sometimes presented (as a claimed paradox) is that it’s better to switch whichever door you pick first. Why? Well, the claim goes, suppose you find 100 counters when you open the first door. Then, there is a probability of ½ that this is the larger amount, so there are 50 behind the other door. And there is a probability of ½ that this is the smaller amount, so there are 200 counters behind the other door. That means that your “expected amount” from switching (the average amount you’d get, if you played out this exact scenario lots of times) is 50 × ½ + 200 × ½, which amounts to 125—and so more than the 100 you get when you stick with the door you opened. Since the same argument can be made however many counters you saw, you should always switch.
Your first choice clearly doesn’t matter, so suppose you initially pick the left door each time. Then, with this strategy, you will always end up with the amount behind the right door. But then you get the same amount of money as if you’d picked the right door each time and stuck, which we’ve just said is the worst strategy. Quite the paradox, isn’t it?
Well, not if Mr Bayes has anything to say about it. The problem is in the calculation of the expected amount behind the other door. Our paradox-proposing pal has told us, correctly, that the two possible amounts of counters behind the other door are 50 and 200, given that we saw 100. But if we’re trying to get an expected amount based on that, we’ll also need the probabilities of seeing each of those, given that we saw 100. And that’s where things get murkier.
Let’s look at Bayes’ Theorem again. Suppose we chose to open the left door (like I said, it doesn’t make a difference to the calculations).
It’s definitely true that the initial probability that the left door’s amount is the larger one is ½. But now we need the probability of seeing 100 given that we know this is the larger amount, which is a statement about how the producers chose the amounts. And there’s not enough information in the question to determine this.
In fact, we can take some simple examples to show how the producers’ choices affect our conditional probability, without needing to use Bayes’ Theorem. For instance, suppose we knew that the producers only had a stock of 200 counters. Then, given that we saw 100, it’s impossible for this to be the smaller box: they would need 300 counters in total to do that, and they don’t have enough. Similarly, if we knew that one of the boxes always contained at least 75 counters, we’d know that the other box must be larger, and we should switch.
If we don’t know anything for certain, what we could do is use our beliefs about what numbers of counters we think the producers will pick to assign probabilities to them. For instance, we might decide that we think the larger number of counters will always be a whole number, and that it’s going to be somewhere between 1 and 1000, being equally likely to be any of those numbers. This is called choosing a prior distribution; we then use Bayes’ theorem to update this given the information we have, forming a posterior distribution. A major field of statistics, called Bayesian statistics, does just that—but usually with more important things than fictional game shows…
To learn more about the history of the problem click here.
For an explanation of the original problem click here.
[…] Monty Hall extended—Tom Rocks Maths […]
[…] For some fun extensions to the classic problem click here. […]
[…] For some more fun extensions to the classic problem click here. […]
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1.4.1 Rationale for health education
In the previous section you have learned something about the concept of health education. In this section you will learn about the rationale for health education.
Read this quotation from Dr Hiroshi Nakajiima who was the Director-General of the World Health Organization.
‘We must recognise that most of the world’s major health problems and premature death are preventable through changes in human behaviours and at low cost. We have the know-how and technology, but they have to be transformed into effective action at the community level.’
From your experience in your own community do you think that he is correct? If so think of some examples from your own experience.
Examples might include the treatment cost and possible disability due to malaria, and think of the reduction to exposure to malaria by ITNs.
You will learn more about the treatment and prevention of malaria in the Communicable Diseases Module of this curriculum.
The rationale for health education is as follows:
- To address the spread of communicable and non-communicable diseases within the community where you are working using health education principles
- Health promotion and disease prevention are strategies to address the health problems in a cost-effective manner as compared to the cost spent for treatment
- Most health problems in developing countries are easily preventable through awareness creation and community involvement
- The cause of most health problems (for example, the spread of HIV/AIDS) is human behaviour and the way to prevent these health problems is also through influencing human behaviour
- In the community where you are working currently, health education is an instrument to help people with symptoms of disease to seek treatment
- Health education methods and principles are important to help to steer adolescent and young children away from harmful practices and behaviours like substance abuse, teenage pregnancy etc.
These topics are discussed in detail in the Module on Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health, in this curriculum.
Read the list again. This important list outlines the rationale for health education activities. Which items on the list do you think will be the most important for you in your role as a health worker in your community?
In fact all these items are important and together they make up the rationale for making an effort in health education (Figure 1.4). Of course in some communities certain health issues are more important than others.
1.4 Health education
1.5 Health promotion
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Time: 62 hours
Effective writing skills are necessary for success in college and in your future career. This course is designed to improve your writing ability. Pre-College English coursework focuses on active reading and analytic writing, with an emphasis on organization, unity, coherence, and development. It also includes an introduction to the expository essay and a review of the rules and conventions of standard written English.
In Unit 1, you will learn the basics of active reading and how active reading is paramount in your success as a student and beyond. You will also learn how to identify the main idea in a piece of writing and how to create a topic sentence that conveys the main idea in your own writing. You will discover the benefits of prewriting and will learn prewriting techniques that can be used at the onset of any writing project. In Unit 2, you will delve deeper into the main idea by learning the basics of thesis statements, while developing strong thesis statements of your own. You will also learn the value of outlines in writing, and some techniques to help you outline effectively. Units 3 and 4 continue to explore active reading by focusing on making inferences and paraphrasing material for use in your own writing. Unit 5 wraps up the writing process by providing strategies for writing introductions and conclusions. You will explore various types of essays, and you will apply skills and strategies from across the course to craft an essay of your own. All of the units include grammar basics to facilitate your continued growth as a writer. Each unit will also include active reading practice, allowing you to apply learned skills throughout the course.
First, read the course syllabus. Then, enroll in the course by clicking "Enroll me in this course". Click Unit 1 to read its introduction and learning outcomes. You will then see the learning materials and instructions on how to use them.
Unit 1: Active Reading
You will begin this course by reviewing the benefits of active reading. Successful students – and successful readers – approach reading with strategies to help them get the most out of their reading. These students actively look for main ideas and major themes, words they do not understand, and the purpose (why the piece was written) of what they are reading. In this unit, we will cover strategies to improve your active reading skills. Active reading will help you increase reading comprehension and will ensure that you retain the content. This unit will also cover creating a basic sentence and prewriting techniques to help improve your writing.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 14 hours.
Unit 2: Combining Ideas
In the previous unit you mastered different prewriting strategies. These strategies will help you discover information, but a paragraph isn't merely a list of facts. A paragraph presents your ideas about a topic and then uses specific examples from other sources to structure your information, develop your ideas, and support your conclusions. In order to do this, the sentences in a paragraph must work together. When sentences work together, the writing flows effortlessly and makes it easier for your audience to read your work and understand the development of your ideas. This unit will teach you how to compose effective paragraphs. It will also discuss the power of an effective thesis statement and will give you the information you need to create powerful thesis statements in your own writing.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 13 hours.
Unit 3: Making Inferences
In this unit, you will discover the importance of making inferences. Making inferences is a reading comprehension strategy that will help you learn, remember, and apply what you've read. Another way of thinking about making inferences is learning to read between the lines. In other words, you will learn to draw conclusions from what the author has implied. What are the relationships between the main ideas and the subordinate ideas? Writers often convey meaning beyond the actual words. This unit will also continue to add to your grammar knowledge by introducing the semicolon and colon and showing how these types of punctuation can help you to convey your points. This unit will also discuss proofreading and enable you to read between the lines of your own writing.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 9 hours.
Unit 4: Transitions and Summarization
Whether your goal in a particular piece of writing is to persuade, inform, or entertain your readers, you need to help readers understand how your arguments, evidence, and conclusions fit together. This unit will teach you about transitions. Transitions are words and expressions that signal logical relationships between ideas in a text. When a writer uses transitions effectively, they guide the reader through the text and the reader understands how each piece of information relates to other information they've read. This unit will focus on transitions and summarization to organize your writing and orient your readers. You will also learn about plagiarism and how to avoid plagiarism in your writing. Grammar practice in this unit will focus on the use of quotation marks and apostrophes.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 13 hours.
Unit 5: Introductions and Conclusions
We've come full circle in our writing lessons. We will now discuss effective strategies to write introductions and conclusions, which can be the most difficult parts of papers to write. While the body is often easier to write, it needs a frame around it. An introduction and conclusion frame your thoughts and bridge your ideas for the reader. In this unit, you will learn the importance of effective introductions and conclusions, and techniques that will leave your audience with a great impression. You will also learn about different kinds of academic essays and strategies for revising drafts of your writing. We will conclude by combining all of the skills and strategies you've been practicing to plan, develop, write, and revise an essay of your own.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 12 hours.
This study guide will help you get ready for the final exam. It discusses the key topics in each unit, walks through the learning outcomes, and lists important vocabulary. It is not meant to replace the course materials!
Course Feedback Survey
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If you come across any urgent problems, email firstname.lastname@example.org or post in our discussion forum.
Certificate Final Exam
Take this exam if you want to earn a free Course Completion Certificate.
To receive a free Course Completion Certificate, you will need to earn a grade of 70% or higher on this final exam. Your grade for the exam will be calculated as soon as you complete it. If you do not pass the exam on your first try, you can take it again as many times as you want, with a 7-day waiting period between each attempt.
Once you pass this final exam, you will be awarded a free Course Completion Certificate.
- Receive a grade
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At the end of Parashat Ekev, as Moses is exhorting the Israelites to remain faithful to God and the covenant, he makes a speech that may sound familiar:
וְהָיָ֗ה אִם־שָׁמֹ֤עַ תִשְׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־מִצְוֹתַ֔י אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם לְאַהֲבָ֞ה אֶת־י-ְהוָֹ֤ה אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶם֙ וּלְעָבְד֔וֹ בְּכָל־לְבַבְכֶ֖ם וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁכֶם:
“Now it shall be, if you listen to my commandments which I command to you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all of your hearts and with all of your souls…” (Deut. 11:13)
We know this passage as the second paragraph of the shema. It is the one that we usually recite silently. Notice that it is not the language of prayer at all. It is Moses telling the Israelites to listen to and serve God. If they do, they will be rewarded with abundance.
So how did it come to be included, not just in our prayers, but in the Shema, which serves as the central biblical passage of Jewish worship, the anchor of our service?
The answer is found in the Talmud (BT Ta’anit 2a). The word avodah, meaning service, usually refers to the Temple rituals: Priests and Levites offering daily animal sacrifices. But here, Moses modifies the usual expression when he speaks to the Israelites: וּלְעָבְד֔וֹ בְּכָל־לְבַבְכֶ֖ם — “to serve Him with all of your hearts.” He is not talking about Temple rituals and animal sacrifices. The Talmud cites this phrase and then asks: Eizo hi avodah she-hi ba-lev? What kind of service is performed in the heart? Hevei omer: zo tefilah. You must say that this is referring to tefilah — prayer.
Maimonides summarizes the matter succinctly, as usual. He declares that “It is a positive commandment to pray every day, as it says: and you shall serve the Lord your God” (Ex. 23:25). He then cites this passage in the Talmud to explain that the service in question is the service of the heart; that is to say, tefilah.
The Torah is silent regarding the specific content of our prayers. Nowhere does it say that we need to recite these particular words that appear in the prayer book. Our siddur is the product of human beings striving to express themselves to God.
So what is tefilah? What is prayer?
There are a few examples of prayers in the Torah. As it so happens, one of them appears earlier in this morning’s Torah portion.
As Moses continues his recounting of the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness over the previous forty years, he comes to the episode of the Golden Calf. As you may recall, the Israelites encountered God at Mount Sinai. That is when they received the Ten Commandments. We read them in last week’s parashah. The first two commandments are: I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before Me. And, Don’t worship idols.
Forty days later, there is a bit of confusion about when—or whether—Moses is coming back. So what do the Israelites do? The obvious thing: build a statue of a golden calf and start worshipping it.
For those keeping track, they have just broken commandment numbers one and two. Not a good start. It sure didn’t take them long, did it?
Now, Moses has to intercede on the people’s behalf to prevent God from annihilating them. He describes what happened in his own words: וָאֶתְנַפַּל֩ לִפְנֵ֨י יְהֹוָ֜ה — “I threw myself down before the Lord like the first time; forty days and forty nights, bread I did not eat, and wine I did not drink, on account of all your sins that you committed…”
The Torah likes to the play with language. It is full of puns and patterns. Hebrew is built on three letter root words. Most verbs, nouns, and adjectives are constructed by manipulating those three letters in various ways. In this case, the root for אֶתְנַפַּל is נפל, which in english means “fall.” אֶתְנַפַּל makes it reflexive and forceful – I threw myself down.
While נפל is a pretty common root word in the Bible, אֶתְנַפַּל is not. Moses did not just fall to the ground. He threw himself to the ground. But there is more. God was also furious with Aaron for his role in constructing the Golden Calf. Moses again describes his courageous actions: וָאֶתְפַּלֵּ֛ל גַּם־בְּעַ֥ד אַהֲרֹ֖ן — “Then I prayed on behalf of Aaron…”
Here, the word is אֶתְפַּלֵּל. Sounds a lot like אֶתְנַפַּל. But with one letter different. Instead of נפל, the root is פלל, which in English means “intercede” or “pray.”
A few verses later, Moses recites the actual prayer that he had used to intercede for the Israelites and for Aaron. Again, he pairs the words אֶתְנַפַּל and אֶתְפַּלֵּל. “When I threw myself before the Lord… because the Lord was determined to destroy you, I interceded to the Lord and said…” and so on.
The Torah, very deliberately, juxtaposes these two nearly identical words to tell us that there is a connection between praying and throwing oneself on the ground.
It is clear, from this and other passages, that tefilah involves directing one’s words to God. Looking at the various prayers that appear in the Bible, they tend to involve consistent themes. The worshipper praises God, reflecting on God’s power and might. Usually God is addressed as compassionate and forgiving. Those are the qualities the worshipper is hoping to awaken. After praise comes request. The worshipper asks for something: a child, healing, mercy, victory.
In this passage, Moses asks God to have mercy on the Israelites and Aaron and forego the plan to destroy them. But with the added element that he physically throws himself on the ground.
What does throwing oneself on the ground mean? It is the most extreme form of bowing: full prostration, which nowadays we only perform during the High Holidays. It is a physical expression of humility: to lower oneself as close to the ground as possible. It would certainly convey that message to the recipient of the prayer.
Think also about the effect that it would have on the worshipper. How is the meaning of Moses’ words enhanced by him saying them with his face in the dirt, as opposed to if he had been standing tall?
To really pray, we have to first become aware that we are, in fact, powerless before our Creator. The true act of service of the heart, real prayer, can only come from a position of losing oneself, of putting everything on the line, honestly and openly.
Moses’ throwing himself on the ground is his way of praying with his whole self. Literally, his entire body. His physical posture contributes to his emotional state. Ironic that, in order to most fully serve God with his heart, he has to also use his body.
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Face masks have become a vital tool in slowing the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. They help filter or block spit or mucus droplets that carry infectious particles. Even homemade fabric masks can do a good job. But many are not very durable. Now, researchers have come up with a new sort of filter for use in masks. Made of copper, it’s sturdy and lightweight. The sponge-like material also is easy to clean and can be recycled. In tests, it outperformed the filtering ability of a standard N95 mask. It might even trap and kill bacteria, its developers say.
Masks to guard against viruses can be made of many different materials. Some fabric ones even use extra layers — often cotton, silk or some synthetic — to boost their filtering prowess. Others use paper similar to coffee filters. With so many people now being asked to wear masks during the pandemic, researchers began scrambling to identify new and better filters. Kai Liu was among them.
This materials scientist thought his team at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., had a head start. They already had been testing materials to filter small particles out of polluted air.
Recalls Liu, “We saw that small droplets carrying viruses were the same size as some atmospheric pollutants.” Right away, he says, “we thought we should check our materials to see if they might make good filters for face masks.”
Liu’s team soon began cranking out new batches of a material they call copper foam.
They started with templates to make copper nanowires. The diameter of each wire was typically about 200 nanometers, says Liu — or less than one-millionth of an inch. After dumping those wires into ultrapure water, they flash-froze the mix in liquid nitrogen. Afterward, they put the copper-filled ice in a vacuum chamber. It drove off the water to freeze dry the now loosely packed mass of tiny copper wires. Finally, they heated the mass of wires to 300° Celsius (572° Fahrenheit). This fostered chemical reactions that helped bind them into a mesh.
Unfortunately, that mesh was super flimsy, says Liu. Tests showed it would collapse if someone breathed on it. Obviously, that would not work well in masks. So, the researchers kept tweaking the process.
They bathed the weak mesh in a liquid that included copper ions. Then they sent an electric current through this chemical bath. That deposited more copper onto the nanowires, thickening them. Liu says it also helped weld the wires at points where they touched. In tests, some samples of this material could now support about 10,000 times their own weight without collapsing. That was true even when the material was 85 percent air.
More importantly, this 85-percent-air foam filtered out tiny particles. A sample 2.5 millimeters (0.1 inch) thick captured 97 percent of particles between 0.1 to 0.4 micrometers in diameter. Such super-small particles not only are the hardest to trap but also the size of aerosol droplets that can carry virus particles. These particles don’t get trapped by the material’s tiny pores, Liu explains. The particles are instead attracted to the enormous surface area that the nanowires provide. They get stuck there on it as they try to move through the wire maze between the outer and inner edges of the filter. Liu and his colleagues described their innovative new foam April 14 in Nano Letters.
The Georgetown team developed “an interesting and innovative way to produce their material,” says Semali Perera. She’s a chemical engineer at the University of Bath in England. She wonders, however, if it would be hard to scale up the process to make really big batches and large pieces of the thin foam for use in masks.
Perera’s team is taking a different approach to germ filters. Theirs were initially targeted to collect and kill bacteria. Now they’re being designed to trap viruses, too.
One promising material her team is exploring is a plastic-like foam made out of a polymer called polyimide. To give it a germ-killing punch, the researchers added copper and nickel. Nickel helps slow the growth of bacteria, and copper helps kill them. Those metals make up about 80 percent of the material, says Perera. The plastic-like polymer helps bind the metal atoms together.
Instead of using a multi-step process to make its material, this group mixes its ingredients in one container all at once. A chemical reaction that generates large amounts of carbon dioxide makes the material frothy, Perera notes. As it foams, it expands into a mold. Within three seconds it hardens into its final shape. To make big batches, the researchers merely mix more of the ingredients and then cook them up in a bigger pot.
Perera and her team are working with companies to design new products. One potential use for their material might be filters for home air-conditioners.
This is one in a series presenting news on technology and innovation, made possible with generous support from the Lemelson Foundation.
Source: Read More: Copper ‘foam’ could be used as filters for COVID-19 masks
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Nearby galaxy centres with unusual populations of very massive stars
A new study of galaxies with data from the MaNGA survey shows that the initial mass function of stars, i.e. the mass distribution when they initially form, might not be as universal as widely assumed. The MPA study found an excess of very massive stars in some galaxies. An excess of radio sources in the sample might be an intriguing hint that a hidden population of black holes may exist in these galaxies.
How the first black holes in the Universe form is one of the key unanswered question in astrophysics. The main triggering processes that drive subsequent episodes of black hole growth also remain a mystery. Models for seed black hole formation generally fall into two categories: 1) direct collapse of low angular momentum gas clouds, 2) mergers and accretion in dense stellar clusters.
MPA's scientists have been using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to gain insights into the processes that drive black hole growth for almost 20 years. The latest data from the “Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO” (MaNGA) survey promises to open up a new domain in such studies. Unlike previous surveys carried out by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey consortium, which obtained spectra only at the centers of target galaxies, MaNGA obtained spectral measurements across the face of each of ~10,000 nearby galaxies.
The MaNGA program used 17 simultaneous "integral field units" (IFUs), each composed of tightly-packed arrays of optical fibers. From this data a multitude of galaxy parameters can be derived: two-dimensional maps of stellar velocity and velocity dispersion, mean stellar age and star formation history, stellar metallicity, information about the abundance of different chemical abundances, stellar mass surface density, ionized gas velocity, ionized gas metallicity, star formation rate and dust extinction.
The models used to derive many of these quantities usually assume that the initial mass function (IMF) of stars is the same everywhere, i.e. there is a uniform mass distribution of stars when they initially form. But is this really true? The most generally accepted evidence that the IMF may deviate from the standard form for the most massive stars comes from studies of star clusters near our own Galactic Center. These reveal an excess of massive and young Wolf-Rayet and O- and B-type stars that are partitioned between two rotating disk-like structures. Because of the young ages (6-8 Myr) of these stars, they are believed to have formed within very dense, accreted gas. Massive stars end their lives as black holes rather than neutron stars, so their existence at the Galactic Center is of particular interest for black hole formation processes in extreme environments.
In a recent study carried out during long months at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Guinevere Kauffmann used early release MaNGA data to carry out a systematic search for galaxy centers with clear indications of unusual stellar populations. In particular, she looked for systems, where the initial mass function was flatter than the standard assumption at high stellar masses.
In a sample of 668 face-on galaxies with masses within a factor of 10 of that of the Milky Way, 15 galaxies were identified with clear young massive star excesses. To reach this conclusion, Kauffmann used a variety of observable indicators such as a very high luminosity Hα emission arising from gas excited by ultraviolet radiation from young stars, as well as features characteristic of outflowing, helium-enriched material from Wolf-Rayet stars. The strength of such features increased systematically towards the centers of the galaxies, reaching levels incompatible with a standard IMF.
The study also concluded that if black hole formation was ongoing in these galaxies, it would be difficult to detect unambiguously at optical wavelengths. The ratios of the strongest emission lines in 14 out of the 15 galaxies did not provide any evidence for ionization from "hard-spectrum" sources – as might be expected if significant, unobscured black hole accretion was occurring. Only one object showed clear evidence for such accretion, along with accompanying signatures of large-scale perturbations of the ionized gas in the galaxy. However, the study also revealed an excess of radio sources in the sample compared to control samples of similar galaxies with a normal young stellar population. This is an intriguing hint that a hidden population of black holes may exist in these objects. Unlike UV and optical emission, the radio emission from relativistic particles in the vicinity of black holes would not be heavily absorbed by dust.
Efforts to probe more deeply into the mysterious range of phenomena seen in these unusual galactic centres are currently ongoing and a variety of different strategies are being employed. Stay tuned for more results...
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By Canadian Centre for the Great War
Canadian Centre for the Great War
Cyclists in War
Since the Boer War, cyclists worked with cavalry units to carry out duties requiring troops to dismount. “The act of dismounting deprived a cavalry unit of the services of the men detailed to care for the horses…A cyclist unit, however, did not have to worry about its mounts running off on their own accord or being hit by stray small-arms fire.” Source: Croker, F.P.U. “The Man-Powered Military Vehicle.” The Army Quarterly and Defence Journal 101, No. 4 (July 1971).
Like their British counterparts, most Canadian Cyclists rode 24-inch Birmingham Small Arms Company (B.S.A.) Mark IV bicycles in the Great War. Standard issue were clips for mounting a .303 Hotchkiss Portable Machine Gun “over the handlebar (for short distances when going into action)” and another for carrying the gun “through the frame for long distances, on the march.” Source: Skennerton, Ian. “Pedal Power: The British Military Bicycle.” Arms & Militia Collector 5, No. 2 (1991).
"Remembrance Day Special: Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion"Original Source: Accessed 28 June 2018.
Recruiters for the five original Cyclist companies advertised for “men with a fair education … as some knowledge of map reading is desirable. Young fellows who have had experience in surveying, engineering or such office work as is performed by bank clerks have proved useful men in the Cyclist Corps.” Source: Unknown. “Cyclists in Demand to Chase the Huns.” The Globe, December 1, 1916.
Cyclist Recruiting PosterCanadian Centre for the Great War
No 9 Platoon, Cyclist Corps, Exhibition CampCanadian Centre for the Great War
Before heading oversees, many Canadian soldiers took basic training at Camp Exhibition in downtown Toronto. “If our training bore little relationship to the type of warfare then being waged in France, where so-called ‘mounted troops’ were fighting grimly in the trenches of Sanctuary Wood, it was interesting training anyhow!” Source: Quoted in Ellis, W.D., and J. Gordon Beatty. Saga of the Cyclists in the Great War, 1914–1918. Toronto: Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion Association, 1965.
Battle of the Humber
A recurring training exercise for soldiers at Camp Exhibition was the “Battle of the Humber.” For one such Battle in 1915, “the enemy was supposed to be retreating from [an offensive force] composed of the 10th Battalion, two batteries of artillery and the Divisional Cyclist Corps. The scene of the engagement covered a space of some three square miles, three-quarters of a mile on each side of the Old Mill.” Source: Unknown. “Realistic Battle along Humber River.” The Globe, March 25, 1915.
After basics in Canada, Cyclists and the rest of Canadian troops bound for the Great War headed to England for advanced training. In the fall of 1914, heavy rains turned camp at Salisbury Plain, England, “into a quagmire.” The “terrible mud” made advanced training difficult for the First Division, with cycling in particular “out of the question most of the time.” Source: Bush, Major Clayton E., and C.S.M. Fred V. Delavigne. “History of the First Divisional Cyclist Company.” In Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion Association, 1914–1918, edited by W.D. Ellis, Toronto: The Association, 1950.
For most of the Great War, Canadian Cyclists performed few of the specialized duties they were trained for. During the Battle of Ypres in 1915, for example, the Cyclists were assigned to “guarding prisoners, guarding important crossings and bridges, as well as for obtaining information and acting as dispatch riders.” Source: Everall, Lieutenant. “Precis written by W.M. Everall, 1st Divisional Cyclist Co. July 1915, and submitted to HQ 1st CDN Division.” Cyclone 3, Issue 8 (October 1970).
Hundred Days Campaign
Canada’s Cyclists came into their own as part of Brigadier-General Raymond Brutinel’s Canadian Independent Force during the Hundred Days Offensive (August-October 1918). Working closely with armoured cars, motorized machine guns and trench mortars, cavalry, motorcycles, and engineers, the Cyclists helped the Canadian Corps develop and execute the combined arms strategy and mobile warfare doctrine it became famous for. Source: Glenn, Ted. Riding Into Battle: Canadian Cyclists in the Great War. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2018.
The Battle of Amiens (August 1918) was a particular significant victory for Canadian Cyclists as it marked the first time they “finally came into their own. The open warfare gave them a chance to carry out the work for which they were enlisted, namely, as advance patrols and general troubleshooters.” Source: Quoted in Ellis, W.D., and J. Gordon Beatty. Saga of the Cyclists in the Great War, 1914–1918. Toronto: Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion Association, 1965.
The Canadian Corps returned to Arras on August 26 to begin the push for Cambrai. “The Cyclists, on wheels again, did considerable reconnaissance work and assisted the infantry in the fighting for such places as Villers-les-Cagnicourt where 22 of our officers and other ranks became casualties in a very brief engagement, seven being killed outright.” Source: Ellis, W.D., and J. Gordon Beatty. Saga of the Cyclists in the Great War, 1914–1918. Toronto: Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion Association, 1965.
Pursuit from the Sensée
During the Pursuit from the Sensée Canal (October 1918), the Cyclists got in “perhaps their most telling work…Being out in advance most of the time we never knew when we were going to run into trouble and lost quite a few men killed and wounded. Sometimes it would be snipers; sometimes machine guns; sometimes field artillery using “open sights,” that is, firing directly at us from positions in the open.” Source: Ellis, W.D., and J. Gordon Beatty. Saga of the Cyclists in the Great War, 1914–1918. Toronto: Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion Association, 1965.
On October 31st, Canadian Cyclists reached the Canal de l’Escaut on the outskirts of Valenciennes where “all the bridges had been blown up” and established a bridgehead across a lock gate. After the engineers put out fires set by the retreating Germans, the Cyclists “proceeded on through Valenciennes, clearing out snipers and machine-gun nests. They were officially recorded as the first British troops to go through the town.” Source: Quoted in Ellis, W.D., and J. Gordon Beatty. Saga of the Cyclists in the Great War, 1914–1918. Toronto: Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion Association, 1965.
By November 11, the Canadian Corps had reached Mons, Belgium. “On November 11th there was naturally a big celebration in Mons, including a march past, but some of our men who were then over three miles past Mons did not know that the war was actually over at 11 o’clock until a German official car came through to arrange the take-over by the British.” Source: Quoted in Ellis, W.D., and J. Gordon Beatty. Saga of the Cyclists in the Great War, 1914–1918. Toronto: Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion Association, 1965.
In 1937, Dick Ellis — the unofficial guardian of the Cyclists’ legacy after the war — donated a bottle of Pol Roger to the Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion Association and charged that it be drank by the last two surviving members. Incredibly, Ellis shared that bottle with fellow Cyclist Billy Richardson in 1992. Ellis died in 1996, the sole surviving Canadian Cyclist, at the very good age of 100.
Champagne bottle by Canadian War MuseumCanadian Centre for the Great War
The Hundred Days Offensive of the Great War proved that Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie’s Canadian Corps had evolved into an innovative, efficient, and highly professional fighting force. Riding Into Battle (Dundurn Press, 2018) tells the story of how Canadian Cyclists made small, but deadly contributions to that evolution: Out of a total enlistment of 1,138, 261 were killed or wounded, a casualty rate of 23 percent. Source: Glenn, Ted. Riding Into Battle: Canadian Cyclists in the Great War. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2018.
“They were typical Canadian Cyclists to a man. They lived hard — fought hard — and died hard, when they came to it.”
Ellis, W.D., and J. Gordon Beatty. Saga of the Cyclists in the Great War, 1914–1918. Toronto: Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion Association, 1965.
The Canadian Centre for the Great War would like to thank the following individuals and organisations for their support:
Author Ted Glenn
A. Chan - Exhibition Design
The Dundurn Press and M. Melski
Library and Archives Canada
MilArt Photo Archives
Arms & Militia Collector
City of Toronto Archives
The Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review
Canadian War Museum
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In a study published in the journal Nature Plants, researchers at Princeton University and Northwestern University proposed a new way to increase crop yields, taking a hint from a fast-growing green algal species. The species has a unique carbon-concentrating mechanism that molecular biologists think could be engineered into crops like rice and wheat to accelerate their growth, increasing crop production and potentially food supply.
The algae, known as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, contain an organelle called the pyrenoid that speeds up the conversion of carbon from the air into a form that the organisms can use for growth. The researchers used molecular modeling to identify the features of the pyrenoid that are most critical for enhancing carbon fixation, and then mapped how this functionality could be engineered into crop plants. The aim is to boost the growth rates of these essential food crops.
“This work provides clear guidance for engineering a carbon-concentrating mechanism into plants, including major crops,” said Martin Jonikas, a senior author of the study who is an associate professor of molecular biology at Princeton.
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How do you prevent allergic reactions?
You may not be able to prevent an allergic reaction. But there are steps you can take to prevent allergic reactions in the future. After you identify your allergies, you can:
- Avoid exposure to allergens.
- Seek medical treatment if you have allergens. You can buy the medicine for allergic treatment at the Canadian Pharmacy.
- Bring medicine to treat anaphylaxis.
How to treat allergic reactions?
If you experience an allergic reaction and you don’t know what caused it, you might need to check with your doctor to determine what your allergies are. If you have allergies and experience recognizable symptoms, you may not need to seek medical treatment if symptoms occur mildly. In most cases, commercially available antihistamines can effectively control mild allergic reactions. If you’re looking for the best allergic medical, you should visit canadapharmacy.com.
If you or someone you know has a severe allergic reaction, you should seek emergency medical attention. Check if the person is breathing, take it to the hospital, and give cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if needed. People with severe allergies often carry emergency medication with them such as EpiPen, who injects epinephrine. Epinephrine opens the respiratory tract and increases blood pressure. This drug is called a rescue drug. If the person is unable to use the drug, help him or her to use it. If the person is unconscious, you must:
- Lay the person flat on his back
- Lift the person’s leg
- Cover people with blankets
This method will help prevent shock.
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As the world continues to face up to the effects of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, the global shipping industry has been turning its attention to its own contribution to the problem. And a sizeable contribution it is too, with today’s maritime CO2 emissions of around a billion tonnes a year accounting for three percent of the global emissions total. Emissions from marine transport are also predicted to rise to between two and three billion tonnes by 2050.
With shipping volumes expanding in step with growing global trade demand, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) responded to the emissions challenge in July 2011 with the creation of the world’s first mandatory, global greenhouse gas reduction scheme for an entire industry sector.
The expanded MARPOL Annex VI is a sure sign that the winds are changing for marine carbon emissions, with national and international bodies such as the European Union starting to tighten their own emissions limits. The industry’s focus on emissions reduction, on top of rising fuel costs, is spurring a new wave of carbon-efficient marine propulsion technologies and initiatives, including a steady shift away from heavy fuel oil and towards more efficient liquefied natural gas (LNG).
While today’s maritime efficiency drives predominantly centre on incremental improvements that are feasible with present-day technologies and financial constraints, a few projects are looking to the future with more radical ideas that could shape eco-friendly shipping in decades to come.
One such project was recently completed by Norway’s innovative classification society and risk management specialist Det Norske Veritas (DNV). The conceptual project, which was carried out in collaboration with UK modelling software company Process Systems Enterprise (PSE) and led by DNV’s head of research and innovation for Greece, Dr. Nikolaos Kakalis, aimed to gauge the theoretical feasibility of implementing carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology onboard large vessels.
Onboard CCS: the concept
Carbon capture and storage is a complex, emerging process currently being put through its paces at various pilot power plants around the world. In its originally intended form, the basic CCS process involves the separation of CO2 from a fossil fuel power station’s post-combustion flue gas, removing its emission from the power generation cycle and transmitting it for storage or industrial use.
Given that CCS is still a relatively unproven concept, even in the large onshore power plants it was designed for, the idea of transplanting this complex system to the constantly moving, space-constrained confines of a vessel seems ambitious in the extreme. In essence, DNV’s project was searching for a way to take the land-based CCS process and adapt it to separate the CO2 from a vessel’s main engine exhaust and store it for offloading at a port.
The advanced and hugely expensive implications of maritime CCS meant that DNV’s feasibility project was always going to be a theoretical exercise, involving modelling the hypothetical design and operation of a ship-based CCS concept, rather than attempting to develop a physical prototype. Even so, Dr Kakalis notes that when DNV and PSE originally applied for funding from the European Commission for the project, the reaction was emphatic. “We got [funding] without any negotiation because the actual concept is very radical and innovative,” he says.
Designing a feasible onboard CCS system
DNV’s research team was aware of the major challenges of the project from the outset. The project was simplified somewhat by taking an existing onshore carbon capture unit design and adapting it for maritime use, as well as the choice of a very large crude carrier (VLCC) as the hypothetical host, because of its size and relative abundance of deck space. Nevertheless, a number of conceptual challenges were unavoidable, as Kakalis explains.
“The big challenges are that you have a limited amount of space, a limited availability of resources, and of course the constant movement of the vessel,” he says. “All these together create a very strong requirement for extra safety and risk management. That’s where DNV comes into the game, because we are an expert when it comes to safety and risk management in shipping.”
Fortunately, safety concerns about the storage of liquefied CO2 on a moving vessel turned out to be covered by DNV’s existing rules and standards for gas carriers. Actually fitting the CCS system – mainly composed of two towers for CO2 separation and liquefaction, as well as cryogenic tanks for storage – onto a standard VLCC design represented the project’s primary design task.
“What we managed to do was get a standard design of a chemical absorption carbon capture unit and scale it down, not only to fit into the constrained space but also to adapt it to the smaller amounts of CO2 that are emitted in comparison to a power plant onshore,” says Kakalis. “The first question was where to place the carbon capture unit – the absorption unit and the regeneration column. In this particular concept, we placed them aft of the funnel, so behind the accommodation space of the vessel, on a raised deck. This, according to our calculations, is a good option as there is no obstruction to the rest of the machinery space or any other equipment or facilities.
“The other question is where do you store the liquefied CO2? We used a couple of cryogenic tanks that are placed on the deck. This is a concept that DNV has used before in another vessel concept called DNV Triality, which is similar to CO2 but for LNG tanks. So placing the CO2 tanks on the deck and not having them inside the actual hull means that you don’t compromise the carrying capacity of the vessel. You don’t lose cargo space.”
Benefits and obstacles: the reality of onboard CCS
So DNV’s finalised concept, published in February 2013, did manage to prove the fundamental viability of maritime CCS, at least on paper. Indeed, the researchers’ analysis of the system’s potential benefits yielded some impressive results – onboard CCS would reportedly be capable of reducing ship CO2 emissions by up to 65%, which for a VLCC would be the equivalent of taking more than 70,000 tonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere every year.
Perhaps the most exciting advantage of the CCS concept is what could be done with the CO2 after it is successfully separated and stored. Given the expanding industrial uses for CO2, ship operators would be able to transform their waste exhaust into a commodity to tap into profitable new sectors. For example, liquid CO2 could be transmitted to the oil and gas industry, where it is used as an injected medium in enhanced oil recovery operations for ageing fields.
The option that offers the neatest environmental symmetry would be to sell the CO2 to the increasingly large-scale producers of eco-friendly, algae-based biofuels, the production of which uses CO2 as a catalyst. So the harmful exhaust from vessels could theoretically be recycled as a component in the development of green fuel for ships or other vehicles.
“I think this is the most innovative part of this project, and the whole idea,” says Kakalis. “The fact that you emit less, so you limit your harm to the environment, and at the same time, you can transform these harmful emissions into something that is useful and that can be traded, can become a commodity.”
But for all the system’s benefits, and however theoretically possible it might be, DNV’s CCS concept is still confined to the drawing board. Bringing carbon capture into the real world requires the jumping of a major obstacle – the huge upfront investment that would be required to develop a prototype, and the uncertainty that reliable markets exist to buy the CO2 by-product and offset that investment.
“It all comes down to the investment,” Kakalis says. “Someone will need to go through the building of a prototype unit, find out more about the real cost and then see what could be a break-even selling price for the CO2. From what we know of onshore CCS, it costs a lot. This concept will require something like a more integrated value chain, so that somebody could present some contracts selling this CO2 to the oil and gas industries or to big companies that are producing algae-based biofuel. So someone really needs to have forward contracts to make this a reality.”
Against the backdrop of a shipping industry that is still suffering the effects of the global downturn and soaring fuel prices, cautious shipowners clearly need time to catch up with an idea as radical as onboard CCS.
But DNV’s project sets a solid foundation for the further development of the concept in the future. And as Kakalis notes, the very existence of a potentially revolutionary concept such as this does engender a little optimism for the future, both financial and environmental. “We are in difficult times for shipping, mainly due to the very high fuel prices and the pressure of [environmental] regulations. It’s good to see that technology could bring some answers to the table.”
Electrically-efficient biofuels: the benefits and drawbacks
Despite biofuels promising to be more environmentally-friendly, critics have condemned their efficiency, labelling the technology too immature to be relied upon.
Sail of the century: a new generation of marine engine designs
The need for operationally-dependable and financially-efficient ships has led to rapid innovation in marine propulsion during recent years.
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A driver’s license, seat belt or ABS is something so common these days. car driving that we forget that at that time they did not exist as such. Moreover, it is surprising that the General Directorate of Traffic did not force the use of safety belt in Spain until 1974 on the road. And in urban areas until 1992. In the same year, he was also forced to use rear seat belt. But technology is advancing and making driving safer. Forcing, in turn, to update the current rules for avoid accidents. And the nth change is due to Speed limit. To keep an eye on this, the cars of tomorrow will include what is known as isa system.
Actually, this is not something exclusive to the General Directorate of Road Traffic, a state body created in the summer of 1959. The ISA system came to us from Europe, or rather, from the European Commission. ISA is an acronym for Intelligent speed adaptationwhat can we translate as intelligent speed adaptation. In Spain, the DGT itself has taken to calling it the intelligent speed assistant. Or also an intelligent speed assistant ISA. Paradoxically, in English this concept coincides with the abbreviation ISA, therefore it is used in both cases.
But let’s get down to business. What is an ISA system? dohow will it affect you as a driver and/or vehicle owner? How much time do I have to solve this driving problem that will affect Spain and Europe generally?
ISA system and speed limit
We said that ISA is an acronym for Intelligent speed adaptation, in Spanish Intelligent speed adaptation. As the European Commission itself explained on its official website, the ISA system is integrated into the vehicle and assistance to drivers keep the speed limit. Interestingly, the acronym itself is also applied to an intelligent speed assistant or Intelligent speed assistant.
In short, ISA is a rate limiter. A security system available on some car models, but like many other technologies, not yet in all. car park. There are technically different ways to make the ISA system possible. In short, with this help integrated into the car, we get visible or audible warning when we’re speeding. This is if the system is open. We can also find the closed ISA mode, which automatically limit speed. In the middle is the ISA system, which increases the pressure on the accelerator pedal when we exceed the speed.
Regardless of the ISA system built into the vehicle, it is currently an add-on reserved for mid or high ranges From cars. In most cases, the driver himself enters the speed limit manually. In newer models, information is external or given built-in cameras in the car. Be that as it may, it is not present on all models. This is where the European Union and, as such, the Spanish Directorate General of Road Traffic comes into play.
From Complement to Commitment
As indicated by the General Directorate of Road Traffic in its official Twitter account, as of 2022. new approved vehicles in Europe” you will need to “carry the intelligent speed assistant ISA”. And since 2024 new cars sold within European borders. The commentary itself states that the chosen ISA system “warns the driver when he exceeds legal limits.” In other words, the European Commission has chosen an open ISA system. notify the driver speeding, but the driver himself must reduce the speed.
It is speed limiting that is one of the easiest measures to implement and gives the best results in terms of accident reduction on the highway or in urban areas. at a lower speed great responsiveness in the event of a possible accident, collision or other unforeseen incidents that the driver may encounter on a daily basis.
Thus, the European Parliament approved in 2019 a new regulation introducing the ISA system. It also lists some of the minimum requirements that vehicles must meet, circulate throughout the European territory. Among the requirements, the system must warn the driver your speeding. Also, should allow shutdown and, in turn, are activated when the car is started. Another requirement is that speed limit information be obtained from road signs or electronic map data. Or both. And finally, it should not prevent the driver from exceeding the speed limit.
Thus, the ISA system will provide the driver with information about the speed limit, but he will be the one to make the final decision. Even if the implemented system independently limits the speed, the last word will be with the driver. and you can disable this lock. From there, the relevant laws and regulations will lead to sanctions or warnings from the authorities.
Additional tools for accident prevention
The ultimate goal of implementing an ISA system and thus strengthening enforcement of the speed limit is avoid traffic accidents, especially those that end in deceased. As we have said, at a lower speed there are more chances to avoid an accident. But if this is the case, then at a lower speed it is more likely that victims survive.
According to the European Parliament, this measure could prevent up to 25,000 deaths and more than 140,000 serious injuries on European roads in the next 18 years. And there are more elements to achieve this than make driving a less dangerous task. Or at least warn the driver.
And it lies in the fact that, according to the Main Directorate of Road Traffic itself, as of May 2021, the average speed with which drivers reported exceeding exceeded 29 kilometers per hour up to the legal limit. So in Spain since May speed limit on city roads It is from 20 to 50 kilometers per hour. According to the DGT, this would “reduce the risk of being killed in an accident by 80%.”
Together with the ISA system, technologies aimed at improving driving safety will be introduced from 2022. Of these, the rear camera that detects cross trafficdetector fatigue, drowsiness, or loss of focus driver, emergency braking and lane change alert. The vehicle lock will also be enabled if the driver tests positive for alcohol consumption and one black box making it easier to investigate after a car accident. And finally, the alarm for unfastened seat belts in the rear seats. In fact, most of these measures are already included in certain car models. But the ultimate goal of the European Union is to must be enabled in any vehicle circulating in Europe.
This is an updated version of an article previously published in Hipertextual.
Source: Hiper Textual
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