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Specifies the axis type for the X and Y-axes of a Series. Assembly: System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization (in System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.dll) The enumeration represents the axis type used for the X and Y-axes of a Series. A Series is plotted using two axes, with the exception of pie and doughnut charts. Th... |
the axes used for plotting the associated data points of the series. For all charts except for bar, stacked bar, pie and doughnut types, the primary and secondary axes are as follows: Bottom horizontal axis. Top horizontal axis. Left vertical axis. Right vertical axis. Bar and stacked bar charts have their axes rotated... |
Tenaim: The Conditions of Marriage Contemporary couples are reinterpreting an old ceremony that set the financial and logistical arrangements for an upcoming marriage The author provides a historical context for |
the Jewish tradition of tenaim where the families of prospective bride and groom would meet to set primarily financial and logistical "conditions" for an upcoming marriage; in a small number |
of communities, tenaim are still practiced this way. In the spirit of the contemporary trend toward developing new Jewish ceremonies, the author then describes how a modern "tenaim" ceremony might |
work. The contemporary version is, for all practical purposes, a new ceremony based broadly on the notion that certain "conditions," albeit primarily personal ones, are set in anticipation of the |
upcoming marriage. Excerpted with permission from The New Jewish Wedding (Simon & Schuster, Inc.). The decision to marry is one of life's momentous choices. Some couples have made it the |
occasion for a celebration based on the Ashkenazic custom of tenaim--literally, the "conditions" of the marriage. Every engagement announces that two people are changing their status; the public declaration of |
their decision instantly designates them bride and groom. Tenaim kicks off the season of the wedding, officially and Jewishly. An Old Ceremony From the 12th to the early 19th century, |
tenaim announced that two families had come to terms on a match between their children. The document setting out their agreement, also called tenaim, would include the dowry and other |
financial arrangements, the date and time of the huppah [the actual wedding ceremony], and a knas, or penalty, if either party backed out of the deal. After the document was |
signed and read aloud by an esteemed guest, a piece of crockery was smashed. The origins of this practice are not clear; the most common interpretation is that a shattered |
dish recalls the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and it is taken to demonstrate that a broken engagement cannot be mended. The broken dish also anticipates the shattered glass |
that ends the wedding ceremony. In some communities it was customary for all the guests to bring some old piece of crockery to smash on the floor. There is also |
a tradition that the mothers-in-law-to-be break the plate--a symbolic rending of mother-child ties and an acknowledgment that soon their children will be feeding each other. After the plate breaking, the |
party began. Possibilities for Celebration of Tenaim Today Tenaim is not required by Jewish law, and as family-arranged weddings became a thing of the past, the ceremony lost much of |
its meaning and popularity. The signing of traditional tenaim remains a vestigial practice in some Jewish communities, where the agreement to marry is signed on the day of the wedding |
Heaven and Hope The Wilderness Society 2010-2011, “Heaven and Hope” written by Jeff Rennicke The lands that belong to all Americans have long provided wilderness, recreation, and heavenly scenery. Now, |
scientists say, protecting them just might hold our best hope of saving the planet. “As confusing as these numbers seem, one number is increasingly clear, says Harvey Locke of The |
WILD Foundation: 50 percent. For decades, according to Locke, conservationists pushed for protection of 10 to 12 percent of the Earth as a “politically acceptable” goal. “When those other targets |
were set they were bold and visionary,” he says, “but the world has changed and those…targets no longer conform to what we’ve come to understand scientifically nor to the current |
very serious conditions that exist around the world for nature.” His ambitious goal is the target of a new program called “Nature Needs Half,” which seeks the designation of at |
least 50 percent of the world’s terrestrial surface to a level defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. That would require the protection of some tribal, corporate, and |
Gold has been known since prehistory. The symbol is derived from Latin aurum (gold). AuI 9.2 eV, AuII 20.5 eV, AuIII 30.0 eV. Absorption lines of AuI In the sun, the equivalent width of AuI 3122(1) is 0.005. Behavior in non-normal stars The probable detection of Au I was announced |
by Jaschek and Malaroda (1970) in one Ap star of the Cr-Eu-Sr subgroup. Fuhrmann (1989) detected Au through the ultimate line of Au II at 1740(2) in several Bp stars of the Si and Ap stars of the Cr-Eu-Sr subgroups. The presence of Au seems to be associated with that |
of platinum and mercury. Au has one stable isotope, Au197 and 20 short-lived isotopes and isomers. Au can only be produced by the r process. Published in "The Behavior of Chemical Elements in Stars", Carlos Jaschek and Mercedes Jaschek, 1995, Cambridge University Press. |
Both devices rely on injectable solutions of radiopharmaceuticals, which are drugs that are labeled with radioactive isotopes. As the solution circulates throughout the body, it tends to accumulate in malignant cells. The congregated radiopharmaceuticals emit gamma-rays, which are sensed as |
light by the devices and then converted into electronic signals that can be rendered as a visible image. "What we will be looking to do is develop minimally invasive instrumentation," Keppel says. "We want to be able to locate and |
diagnose cancers more effectively. Everything coming out of the Center, at least in the immediate future, will be focused on finding better ways to locate or image those radiopharmaceuticals." Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) in Norfolk will be joining with |
CAMI to establish a graduate program in medical physics. It will be the first such program in Virginia, and the first in the country at an historically black college. Any devices resulting from the collaboration will be evaluated both nationally |
and in clinical programs conducted at Tidewater-area hospitals. Keppel is in the process of writing proposals that would fund Center personnel in medical physics, engineering and applied technology. In addition to five students and two part-time administrative assistants, Keppel expects |
up to 10 individuals from Hampton University, the Lab, and EVMS to staff CAMI. "We pool expertise in one place and we get the word out," she says. "The idea is to become an international resource for medical physics and |
to invite physicians, companies and patient advocacy groups to partner with us." Groundbreaking for a new CAMI research facility on campus at Hampton University is scheduled for later this spring. When complete in 2003, the Center will enclose 12,000 square |
This week marks the anniversary of the first time a human, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, went into space. It's also the anniversary of the inaugural launch of NASA's space shuttle program. We've assembled a slideshow representing some of the spacecraft |
used for manned space travel in the past, present, and future. Seen here is Gagarin before he took off on his 108-minute orbit around the Earth, an event that shocked the world and accelerated the space race between the Soviet |
Using voting records, the researchers found out political party affiliation for 35 of the men and 47 of the women in that study. Political parties aren't a perfect match with |
ideology, but they come very close, the researchers wrote Feb. 13 in the journal PLOS ONE. Most Democrats hold liberal values, while most Republicans hold conservative values. Comparing the Democrat |
and Republican participants turned up differences in two brain regions: the right amygdala and the left posterior insula. Republicans showed more activity than Democrats in the right amygdala when making |
a risky decision. This brain region is important for processing fear, risk and reward. Meanwhile, Democrats showed more activity in the left posterior insula, a portion of the brain responsible |
for processing emotions, particularly visceral emotional cues from the body. The particular region of the insula that showed the heightened activity has also been linked with "theory of mind," or |
the ability to understand what others might be thinking. While their brain activity differed, the two groups' behaviors were identical, the study found. Schreiber and his colleagues can't say whether |
the functional brain differences nudge people toward a particular ideology or not. The brain changes based on how it is used, so it is possible that acting in a partisan |
way prompts the differences. The functional differences did mesh well with political beliefs, however. The researchers were able to predict a person's political party by looking at their brain function |
82.9 percent of the time. In comparison, knowing the structure of these regions predicts party correctly 71 percent of the time, and knowing someone's parents' political affiliation can tell you |
It's a look that's been painted and photographed untold times: a mother gazing deep into her infant's eyes while the two smile and kiss. Psychologists believe this interplay helps a child's emotional and cognitive development. The behavior was thought to exist only in humans and to a lesser extent in our closest kin, c... |
expressions in monkeys. And that means, the researchers say, that this kind of maternal communication dates back at least 30 million years. Although scientists have studied rhesus macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatto) in the lab and field for more than 50 years, they missed this key behavior. "Previous researchers were look... |
Ferrari, a neuroscientist at the University of Parma in Italy, not what happens when they're together. But plenty occurs between the two, as Ferrari and his team observed. In a semi-free-range environment at the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology, part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, the sci... |
when the infants were a few hours old. The team watched each pair one to three times a day for 15 minute sessions while they were awake. Infants sleep 50% to 75% of the time, which may be another reason the emotional gazing was previously missed. As the macaque mothers looked into their babies' eyes, they "actively sea... |
to engage their babies," says Ferrari. For instance, a mother might hold her baby's head and pull the child's face toward her own or bounce her own head up and down, all while gazing directly into the infant's eyes. Other times, mothers would smack their lips in an exaggerated manner and kiss their babies' faces--remin... |
The infants often responded by imitating their mothers' lip-smacks or using lip-smacks of their own to get her attention, the team reports today in Current Biology. As in humans, these actions are likely important in the baby rhesus macaque's emotional development, says Ferrari. Unlike in humans, however, the shared be... |
independent. Please download the latest version of the free Flash plug-in. "It's a very interesting study of a neglected, or misjudged, topic," says Frans de Waal, a primatologist at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. It demonstrates that "the true observer can still di... |
says. Because rhesus macaques are born with the capacity to communicate, Ferrari says, “We can now explore the roots of interpersonal communication, maybe even the mutual appreciation of others' intentions and emotions." |
Floaters are deposits of various size, shape, consistency, refractive index, and motility within the eye’s vitreous humour, which is normally transparent. At a young age the vitreous is perfectly transparent but, during life, imperfections gradually develop. The common type of |
floater, which is present in most people’s eyes, is due to degenerative changes of the vitreous humour. The perception of floaters is known as myodesopsia. Floaters are visible because of the shadows they cast on the retina or their refraction |
of the light that passes through them, and can appear alone or together with several others in one’s field of vision. They may appear as spots, threads, or fragments of cobwebs, which float slowly before the observer’s eyes. Since these |
Adult survival rates of Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis), Common Guillemot (Uria aalge), Razorbill (Alca torda), Puffin (Fratercula arctica) and Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) on the Isle of May 1986-96 Harris, M. P.; Wanless, S.; Rothery, P.. 2000 Adult survival rates of Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis), Common Guillemo... |
2. 133-150.Full text not available from this repository. On the Isle of May between 1986 and 1996, the average adult survival of Shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis was 82.1%, Common Guillemots Uria aalge 95.2%, Razorbills Alca torda 90.5%, Puffins Fratercula arctica 91.6% and Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla 88.2%. Shags, Razo... |
In contrast, Kittiwake survival declined significantly over the period and there was evidence that substantial non-breeding occurred in several years. Breeding success of Kittiwakes also declined, which gives rise to concern for its future status. Given a high enough level of resighting, return rates (the proportion of... |
These two group activities use mathematical reasoning - one is numerical, one geometric. EWWNP means Exploring Wild and Wonderful Number Patterns Created by Yourself! Investigate what happens if we create number patterns using some simple rules. Place this "worm" on the 100 square and find the total of the four |
Mutualism is very common: the classic example is the relationship pollinators and their plants. Around 70% of land plants require other species to help them reproduce via pollination. Often, the |
pollinators, like bees and wasps, gain food from the plant while the plant benefits by getting to mix its genes with other plants - a clear win-win for both. But |
both have to give up something, too, and whenever there is a cost to a relationship, both sides have good reason to cheat. When I say cheat, I mean a |
species not keeping up their half of the deal. A species would gain something if they could maintain the positive benefits provided by another other species without having to expend |
whatever cost is associated with their side of the mutualistic bargain. A plant would benefit, for example, if it could attract its pollinators without having to make nectar or pretty |
flowers to attract them. So how is mutualism maintained when there is strong evolutionary pressure to cheat? In some cases, it's by nature of the relationship. In the example above, |
it's simply hard for the plant to cheat because skimping on the goods directly affects how the other side acts - no nectar-laden flowers, no reason for a bee or |
other bug to stop and get covered in pollen. But some mutualist relationships are easier to cheat on - take the case of fig wasps. Fig wasps are wasps that |
lay their eggs in fig flowers. As these flowers turn into fruits, the wasp larvae are protected and fed by the fig, costing the tree resources. This relationship looks parasitic |
at first glance: the wasp gets healthy babies while the fig gets its fruit ruined. But the wasp has a promise it must keep to the tree: when it lays |
its eggs, it has to pollinate flowers so the tree can produce seeds. There are actually two kinds of fig wasps: one that pollinates passively and one that pollinates actively. |
The passive pollinators collect pollen on their extremities and, while climbing around to deposit eggs, pollinate the trees' flowers without even thinking about it. Passively pollinating wasps do not expend |
extra energy to pollinate, and they cannot easily avoid carrying pollen, so there's no real way or reason for them to cheat. David Attenborough explains their relationship rather nicely: The |
active pollinators are much more deliberate about things: female wasps specifically collect pollen in specialized pouches (see R) and deposit it on another tree's flowers by choice when they lay |
their eggs. Active pollinators don't have to pollinate, per se - they can, and do sometimes, flit around without collecting pollen and bring it to another tree. After all, it |
costs the wasp time and energy to go about collecting and lugging around pollen, so why bother if they don't have to? Instead, the female wasps just infect flowers with |
wasp eggs, acting more like a parasite than a mutualist. Clearly, there's an easy, good reason for the wasp to short-change the tree. But, if there's good reason for the |
wasps to cheat, there is equally good reason for the trees to catch them, evolutionarily speaking. Having a cheating wasps' young growing in its fruit does the tree no good |
whatsoever. But can the trees spot cheaters and somehow punish them for it? That's the question that biologists K. Charlotte Jandér and Edward Allen Herre wanted to answer. To find |
out, they carefully watched six different species of figs, four that had active pollinating wasps and two that had passive pollinating wasps. They wanted to see if the actively-pollinated trees |
somehow reacted differently to loyal wasps who pollinated like they're supposed to and cheaters. Since it's hard to tell if a wasp is doing its job, instead, the researchers intentionally |
manipulated the wasps. For each fig tree–pollinator species-pair, they experimentally produced pollen-carrying and artificially pollen-free wasps, which, because they had no pollen, played the role of cheaters. They then waited |
to see how well the cheaters larvae survived. They found that the passively pollinated figs had no system in place to protect against cheaters - which is exactly what you'd |
expect, since it's basically impossible for a passive-pollinating wasp to get around on the flowers without pollinating, meaning that cheating is not likely. The actively pollinated figs, on the other |
hand, all punished cheaters. First off, the figs carrying cheater offspring were aborted more frequently. When a fig aborts a larvae-containing fruit, it kills all of the larvae inside. One |
active species only kept around 3% of the number of figs that the passive pollinated species did. But to punish them even more, the fig also manipulated the conditions within |
the growing fruits which contained cheating larvae - per fruit, fewer cheater adults emerged than non-cheating ones. In one species of fig, almost no cheaters survived to adulthood - just |
5% of the number that emerged from passively pollinated figs. How exactly the fig changes the condition of the fruit to harm the growing larvae isn't yet known. This made |
the scientists wonder how common cheaters were in the wild, and whether the species that strongly reacted to cheating were plagued by more cheaters. As expected, they didn't find any |
pollen-free passive pollinating wasps, but they did find active pollinating ones that weren't carrying the goods. They also found that the species that cheated the most lived on the fig |
tree that punished them the least. These data strongly support consistent coevolution between the fig wasps and their trees. If the tree doesn't catch cheaters, the wasps exploit their longtime |
friends, and since cheating isn't punished, cheating young grow up and continue cheating, leading to high frequencies of cheaters. This rapidly degrades their relationship from mutualism to parasite-host. However, if |
the trees respond by culling free-riders, they reduce the number of wasps inclined to cheat and maintain the true mutualism that the two have had for around 80 million years. |
Mutualism is often portrayed as "playing nice", a beautiful harmony between species. Just listen to how the relationship between active pollinating fig wasps and their trees is portrayed in this |
PBS special: How sweet. Too bad it's totally not true. Just like the arms races between predator and prey or parasite and host, mutualist species constantly adapt to try get |
the upper hand in their relationship. There is still a battle going on between even the best of friends to gain an evolutionary advantage, and just like other interactions, mutualists |
have to constantly evolve to maintain the status quo. Jander, K., & Herre, E. (2010). Host sanctions and pollinator cheating in the fig tree-fig wasp mutualism Proceedings of the Royal |
Two fishing cats born at National Zoo9:02 am - 06/16/2012 Looks like the National Zoo has two new young additions! Twin fishing cats were born May 18, marking an important milestone for the endangered species. The twin kittens were the first-ever fishing cats to be bred and produced in the D.C. area — making future bre... |
option. Just 27 of out of 30 fishing cats in North America are considered reproductively viable. The fishing cat population has decreased 50 percent over the past 18 years due to poaching in Southeast Asia, and scientists are working hard to help this endangered species thrive in the future. Named for their hunting tec... |
majority of their diet living in water. These kittens are going through procedures most human babies experience after birth — physical examinations and vaccinations. They are being closely monitored by specialized scientists. They will make their first public appearance late this summer, but their father, 2-year-old Le... |
has heightened maternal instincts and doesn’t let the twins go too far. Apparently the zoo originally planned to pair Electra with another male, but the original pair showed no interest in each other. When Electra met Lek, they instantly showed their affection by nuzzling and grooming each other. The match made in heav... |
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