text stringlengths 59 1.12k |
|---|
the simple process of taking two oscillator inputs and multiplying them against each other depending on their frequencies. Because of the non-harmonic result, this is a good technique for creating dissonant, percussive sounds. |
The online news portal of TV5 MANILA, Philippines -– Pascual, a man in his 50s, had been undergoing dialysis treatment for nearly nine years -– undoubtedly causing a major dent in family savings -– when the end came. He was among at least 10,000 Filipinos, some hobbled by unhealthy eating |
habits, who each year require kidney replacement, according to the Quezon City-based National Kidney and Transplant Institute. While Pascual, by his own account while living, never had any bad habits in the dining room or elsewhere, did not risk kidney transplant, the stretch he went through the treatment spoke volumes |
about kidney failure affecting a rising segment of the country’s population of some 98 million. According to medical sources, kidney failure has become the ninth leading cause of death among Filipinos at present. Majority of the patients are said to survive less than two years because of cardiovascular disease that |
increases due to renal failure. One trouble faced by medical care givers is that some people display no visible symptoms, at least in the initial stages, suggesting the symptoms may be subtle. Among those with acute kidney failure, the following may be recognized: decreased urine production; body swelling; problems concentrating; |
confusion; fatigue; lethargy; nausea; vomiting; diarrhea; abdominal pain; and metallic taste in the mouth. Seizures and coma may jab in very severe acute kidney failure, according to medical sources. Many are asking what the kidneys are for. Medical sources say the kidneys have the ability to monitor the amount of |
body fluid, the concentrations of electrolytes like sodium and potassium, and the acid-base balance of the body. They filter waste products of body metabolism, like urea from protein metabolism and uric acid from DNA breakdown. Two waste products in the blood can be measured: blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine |
(Cr). These are initials in a doctor’s slip that are not always explained during an executive medical check. According to medical sources, when blood flows to the kidney, sensors within the kidney decide how much water to excrete as urine, along with what concentration of electrolytes. For example, if a |
person is dehydrated from exercise or from an illness, the kidneys will hold onto as much water as possible and the urine becomes very concentrated. When adequate water is present in the body, the urine is much more dilute, and the urine becomes clear, the sources say. This system is |
controlled by renin, a hormone produced in the kidney that is part of the fluid and blood pressure regulation systems of the body. At the same time, kidneys have a vital function, being the source of erythropoietin in the body, a hormone that stimulates the bone marrow to make red |
blood cells. Medical sources paint a grim picture of less than 90 per cent only of Filipinos with kidney failure can undergo dialysis and the remaining per cent only can afford transplants because of the rather prohibitive expenses. Sources say, without dialysis or kidney transplant, patients with kidney failure can |
die. Why is dialysis important? Sources say dialysis helps the body by performing the functions of failed kidneys. One of the essential jobs of the kidney is to regulate the body's fluid balance by adjusting the amount of urine that is excreted on a daily basis. On hot days, the |
body sweats more. Thus, less water needs to be excreted through the kidneys. On cold days, the body sweats less. Thus, urine output needs to be greater to maintain the proper balance within the body, according to medical sources. According to the Philippine Renal Disease Registry, the top causes of |
kidney failure in the Philippines is diabetes (44.6 percent), followed by high blood pressure (23 percent), and inflammation of the kidneys (19.3 percent). To avoid kidney failure, medical sources say the public must eat healthy and avoid drinking too much alcohol, as well as having a yearly urinalysis and blood |
sugar level tests. Keeping the blood pressure at normal level will also prevent or delay development of kidney problems, they add. Meanwhile, the cold figures are sending ripples across the archipelago – from Batanes to Tawi Tawi. |
On this day in ... ... 1828, Russia declared war on Turkey, asserting that the latter had breached the 2-year-old Treaty of Akerman. Eventually Turkey's sultan would yield to Russia's tsar. The ensuing 1829 Treaty of Adrianople resulted in entrenching Russia's hold on Caucasus and Danube territories. ... 1248, the Gothic structure in Paris known as La Sainte-Chappelle was consecretated. |
It was built as the royal chapel for the "ultra-devout" King Louis IX, and its stories-tall stained-glass windows (above) are, even today, a sight to behold. (Prior April 26 posts are here and here.) |
This article was published originally on 3/17/2010 Broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower are members of the cabbage family. They are also referred to as cole crops. Cole crops are cool season vegetables which grow best at temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees F. When planted in spring, these crops produce good quality heads before the arrival of hot summer weather. While |
cole crops are cool season vegetables, they should not be planted when temperatures are consistently below 50 degrees F. Broccoli and cauliflower plants exposed to prolonged periods (four or more days) of temperatures below 50 degrees F may form heads prematurely. This premature head development is called buttoning. Buttoning occurs when plants are exposed to stressful conditions, such as prolonged |
periods of cold temperatures, dry conditions, and infertile soils. Also, large plants are more likely to button than young plants. Plants that button do not form usable heads. In central Iowa, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower should be planted in mid-April. Start plants indoors 5 to 6 weeks before planting outdoors or purchase young, stocky transplants at your local garden center. |
Harden the transplants outdoors in a protected location for a few days prior to planting. Cole crops perform best in fertile, moist, well-drained soils. When planting these crops, space transplants 18 to 24 inches apart within the row. Rows should be approximately 30 to 36 inches apart. At transplanting, apply 1 pint of a starter fertilizer solution to each plant. |
A starter fertilizer solution can be prepared by placing 2 tablespoons of a complete analysis fertilizer, such as 10-10-10 or 12-12-12, in one gallon of water. Three to four weeks after transplanting, sprinkle 1 or 2 tablespoons of the complete fertilizer around each plant. Broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower require approximately 1 inch of water per week. Water plants once a |
week during dry weather. Cultivate lightly around cole crops as they have a shallow root system. These crops can also be planted in mid-summer for a fall crop. Start the seed indoors in early July. Transplant the seedlings into the garden 5 to 6 weeks later. Suggested broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower varieties for Iowa include: Arcadia, Goliath, Green Comet, Packman, |
and Premium Crop Bravo, Charmant, Green Cup, Head Start, and Stonehead Red Acre, Regal Red, and Ruby Perfection Savoy Ace, Savoy Blue, and Savoy King Andes, Fremont, Snow Crown, and White Sails |
LOFT, the Large Observatory For X-ray Timing, is a newly proposed space mission intended to answer fundamental questions about the motion of matter orbiting close to the event horizon of |
a black hole, and the state of matter in neutron stars. Why X-ray timing? High-time-resolution X-ray observations of compact objects (as the Galactic and extraGalactic neutron stars and black holes) |
provide a unique tool to investigate strong-field gravity, and give direct access to measurements of black hole masses and spins, and to he equation of state of ultradense matter. A |
10 m2-class instrument in combination with good spectral resolution is required to exploit the relevant diagnostics and answer two fundamental questions of ESA's Cosmic Vision Theme Matter under extreme conditions, |
namely: Does matter orbiting close to the event horizon follow the predictions of general relativity? What is the equation of state of matter in neutron stars? Thanks to an innovative |
design and the development of large monolithic silicon drift detectors, the Large Area Detector (LAD) on board the Large Observatory For x-ray Timing (LOFT) achieves an effective area of ~10 |
m2 (more than an order of magnitude larger than current spaceborne X-ray detectors) in the 2-30 keV range (up to 80 keV in expanded mode), yet still fits a conventional |
platform and small/medium-class launcher. With this large area and a spectral resolution of <260 eV over its entire band, LOFT will revolutionise the study of collapsed objects in our galaxy |
In a couple of months, Israelis and Jews around the world will celebrate Purim, marking the deliverance of the Jews of the Persian Empire from extinction 2,300 years ago. In Iran, the center of the ancient Persian Empire, the date will be marked with mourning and anger. For years already, Iran has been teaching schoolchildren that Purim marks the massacre of 75,000 Persians by |
the Jews under the command of Queen Esther. It is presented today as an ancient Iranian holocaust perpetrated by the Jews. The Iranian version leaves out the part where Haman, the royal advisor, convinces the Persian king to sign a decree permitting the wholesale slaughter the Jews of the empire. When Esther reveals her Jewish background to the king and reveals that Haman was |
tricking him, the king issues a second decree, allowing the Jews to defend themselves. By God’s grace, the Jews are largely spared, while their enemies are slaughtered. This year, Iran may go further than simply revising the biblical account. Iranian authorities have decided to downgrade the status of the “Tomb of Esther and Mordechai the Jews” in the city of Hamadan in central Iran. |
The tomb had previously enjoyed that status of an official pilgrimage site. Following the downgrading, the Iranian news agency Fars began pushing the idea that Esther and her uncle Mordechai were responsible for a massacre of Iranians, and that their burial place had merely been tolerated until now. The Iranian news agency MEHR reported reported that a couple of weeks ago, a group of |
Exploratory Data Analysis 1.3. EDA Techniques 1.3.3. Graphical Techniques: Alphabetic Check If Two Data Sets Can Be Fit With the Same Distribution The quantile-quantile (q-q) plot is a graphical technique for determining if two data sets come from populations with a common distribution. A q-q plot is a plot of |
the quantiles of the first data set against the quantiles of the second data set. By a quantile, we mean the point below which a given fraction (or percent) of points lies. That is, the 0.3 (or 30%) quantile is the point at which 30% percent of the data fall |
below and 70% fall above that value. A 45-degree reference line is also plotted. If the two sets come from a population with the same distribution, the points should fall approximately along this reference line. The greater the departure from this reference line, the greater the evidence for the conclusion |
that the two data sets have come from populations with different distributions. The advantages of the q-q plot are: The q-q plot is similar to a probability plot. For a probability plot, the quantiles for one of the data samples are replaced with the quantiles of a theoretical distribution. This |
q-q plot shows that Quantiles for Data Set 1 Versus Quantiles of Data Set 2 The q-q plot is formed by: Both axes are in units of their respective data sets. That is, the actual quantile level is not plotted. For a given point on the q-q plot, we know |
that the quantile level is the same for both points, but not what that quantile level actually is. If the data sets have the same size, the q-q plot is essentially a plot of sorted data set 1 against sorted data set 2. If the data sets are not of |
equal size, the quantiles are usually picked to correspond to the sorted values from the smaller data set and then the quantiles for the larger data set are interpolated. The q-q plot is used to answer the following questions: |Importance: Check for Common Distribution||When there are two data samples, it |
is often desirable to know if the assumption of a common distribution is justified. If so, then location and scale estimators can pool both data sets to obtain estimates of the common location and scale. If two samples do differ, it is also useful to gain some understanding of the |
general purpose statistical software programs, including Dataplot. If the number of data points in the two samples are equal, it should be relatively easy to write a macro in statistical programs that do not support the q-q plot. If the number of points are not equal, writing a macro for |
Photo Credit: Gettty Images What are the Benefits of Feeding Expressed Milk? Providing expressed breastmilk is a wonderful choice when breastfeeding does not work out. There are many advantages to |
providing breastmilk over formula. The risks of formula are well documented. They seem to be cumulative, meaning the more the baby gets, and the sooner the baby gets it, the |
more likely he is to experience the associated problems. Breastmilk -- whether expressed or offered from the breast -- offers health benefits. You are most certainly reducing the increased risk |
of these diseases, known to be more common in formula-fed infants: sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), ear infection, respiratory infection, meningitis, Type I diabetes, childhood lymphomas, leukemia, diarrhea, reflux disease, |
allergies and asthma just to name a few. Watch Video: Why should I nurse? Though most research has been done comparing infants exclusively breastfed for three to six months to |
formula fed babies, I think it is reasonable to assume that many of the advantages of expressed breastmilk over formula are nearly the same as breastfeeding. There also seems to |
be a dose-dependent aspect, meaning the more formula received, the more likely the baby is to experience the risks of formula. (Kristine, et al 2000) One study even showed that |
Jane Austens politics have formed one of the most persistent battlegrounds of modern criticism of her novels. The question of whether her novels advocate conservative Toryism or a more subversive position (feminism or broader Jacobinism) is one of the main planes of cleavage along which one can divide Austen scholarship. |
Northanger Abbey, as the earliest of Austens novels to be completed and the one that refers most overtly to its political context, is an ideal site for observing the competition of these schools. Almost everyone agrees that Northanger Abbeys basic function is to educate the reader. Terry Castle provides a |
good summary of the "educational" or "dialectic" reading in her introduction to the novel. She describes Austen as using Northanger Abbey as "an instrument of enlightenment" in which we as readers observe Catherine Morlands intellectual development and grow along with her (xxv). Catherine begins the novel as a defective reader |
of Gothic, and ends it as an accurate reader of something more important: human nature. Henry Tilney teaches her to read by indirection and irony; and Austen teaches us as well, by the same method, so "that we might indeed become, male and female alike, that ideal reader for whom |
she writes"one who notes every detail and can interpret life correctly (xxv). What critics disagree on, however, is just what Catherine (or the reader) is being educated to see. Each political school of Austen critics substitutes a different educational agenda. Traditional Janeite conservatism sees Austen as resisting the Romantic artistic |
impulses of her time, inventing realism as a means of inculcating good middle-class morality into land-owning gentry. Northangers parody of Gothic romantic excesses aligns quite neatly with such views. Feminist scholars read the novel against the grain, seeing its seemingly conservative deconstruction of Gothic as ironic (after all, Catherine is |
correct about General Tilneys character, even if she detects the wrong crime). Other critical approaches are more complicated, and require more mental gymnastics on the part of the reader. Marilyn Butler, for example, argues for a sort of "conservative feminism" approach in Jane Austen and the War of Ideas, pointing |
out that contemporary feminism was often rationalist and anti-Jacobin, and thus the invention of realism can be both feminist and Tory. Foucauldian critics see the novels politics as both complicated and sinister. Northanger Abbey exemplifies, perhaps unconsciously, the panopticism of the industrial capitalist society that was coming into being during |
its periodthis is how Paul Morrison describes the novels embodiment of the "domestic carceral." Thus Catherine is educated into being a good subject of the state without Austen intending it. Even more recent critics have given up on deciding whether or not the novel intends anything; such a hyper-postmodern approach |
notes both the possible conservative and subversive meanings of the novel, but contends that the ironies of the text are too numerous and too reversible to allow a reader to find any stable position. The verbs used by such critics reveal the difficulties of reconciling an agentless view of literature |
with the urgent political agenda they usually also espouse. Joseph Litvak concludes his "Charming Men, Charming History" with the sweeping judgment that Henry Tilneys dark side, and Austens later demotion of charming men like him to the status of villains, is the beginning of a "dreary cultural project," the "homophobic |
aversion therapy of nineteenth-century fiction" (269). But as a good Foucauldian he cannot say that Austen intends such a project, merely that it happens somehow, and so he is forced to say that "Northanger Abbey . . . intimates the logic of this revulsion" (269, emphasis added). Edward Neill is |
driven back on an even more startling equivocation about meaning and agency: in his conclusion, Northanger Abbey actually "secretes" meaning, as it "appears to seek to repress" (29) knowledge that would undermine the conservative ideology Henry espouses, but fails to do so. When disentangled from its double negations Neills position |
fits within the Austen-as-subversive school, and yet that entanglementthe sense of layers of irony endlessly reversing themselves beyond the possibility of interpretationis essential to his articles larger thesis. This method of equivocation allows critics to discern a political effect without having to subscribe to any outmoded ideas about stable meaning |
or the educational function of literature. In the process, they construct a new and sinister Austen, complicit with or unaware of the ideologies her novels espouse. The act of bracketing intention or authorial political awareness works to make Austen a conservative by default. Is it really necessary to give up |
on the possibility of extracting clear meaning from Northanger Abbey, reinforcing the myth of the politically naive Austen in an access of postmodern indeterminacy? On the contrary, the political meaning of the novel is admirably clear, although in its pessimism it may be no more palatable to contemporary readers than |
any previous suggestions. We can begin explicating this meaning from the very description of the novels structure that has led at least one critic to assert its indeterminacy. Margaret Kirkham argues, in Jane Austen, Feminism, and Fiction, that the novel is "a test of the literary intelligence of the hero |
and heroine"; Catherine responds with "a childish confusion of life and art" while Henry "shows his superiority," but in the end the author "shows that there is a further truth which neither of them has quite seen. This modifies and corrects the schema, but at risk of confusing readers" (90). |
Northanger Abbey does indeed educate the reader, both in literary and political issues. In achieving this education the ideal reader would surpass not only Catherine, but also Henry (whom many readers have regarded as Austens mouthpiece in the novel). But so far from being confusing, or a series of endless |
reversals of the type envisioned by Neill, the structure of the readers education is a simple progression. We move from one stage to the next, in sequence, and arrive at an admirably clear final lesson: that the world is full of tyranny, and that in order to survive emotionally in |
such a world it is necessary to learn to be ironic. This is not morality (morality, in this novel, is never learned, but is rather instinctive), but rather a prescription for survival in a politically dark world. Henry Tilney teaches Catherine how to be ironic, how not to see the |
world only in the most straightforward way. Catherines evolving attitude toward the Gothic during the course of the novel is one example of her progress in learning irony. Only by comparing novels with real life experiences can a reader judge either correctly and thus learn from them. Catherine is so |
inexperienced that she swallows everything she reads uncritically. Henry will help to teach her the need for critical reading and the perception of meanings beyond the surfaces of life, which is the essence of irony. He himself, however, sometimes fails to maintain the rationally correct detached perspective of irony. As |
soon as he descends into an uncritical acceptance of ideology (as he does in the oft-quoted "Remember that we are English" speech), he becomes the object of the narrators irony, just as Catherine was earlier because of her uncritical acceptance of Gothic. Both Henry and Catherine must learn a second |
lesson, that "real" English characters can be worse than romanticized Gothic ones. General Tilneys behavior after he learns that Catherine is not wealthy is reprehensible, but not Gothic (it is mercenary but not supernaturally one-sided). Thus the novels attack on the exaggerations of romance remains in place, but the characters |
learn that realism is more frightening than romance, and that ironic perception must be applied even to the political assumptions that seem "safe" and "realistic." Catherines Gothic sensibility (which depends on an instinctive morality of sentiment) is not wrong, but merely incomplete without the balancing intellectual perspective of irony. The |
reader of Austens novel must be enlightened in stages, first along with Catherine and then along with Henry, finally surpassing both characters (neither of whom becomes the ideal reader that the novel strives to mold). Even after achieving the ideal balance of heart and head, sentiment and irony, however, Austens |
reader is not equipped to right the wrongs of the world. Northanger Abbey (and the larger project of novelistic realism) is a survival manual, not a revolutionists handbook. After all, even in the most famous passage of Northanger, the defense of the novel, the narrator claims only that a novel |
provides "the most thorough knowledge of human nature" (38). Knowledge might make one a better navigator of the shark-infested waters of English society, but will not transform that society for the better. Austen unflinchingly exposes the realities of English life under counter-revolutionary Toryism, but offers a solution only for alleviating |
ones personal experience of that lifean ironic detachment. The problem with Gothic novels is not necessarily a moral one, and the ability to be ironic is not a moral skill. In fact, Catherines romantic temperament, her "intuition," is right in all her basic judgments, as many critics have pointed out. |
Her moral compass remains essentially unchanged throughout the novel: just as she instinctively refuses to renege on a promise as a matter of principle in something so trivial as a social engagement (101), later she will unerringly divine that General Tilney is an unsavory character. The General is not merely |
a domestic autocrat, but a tyrant of the same sort as the French revolutionaries that Gothic novels always draw on as the subtext of their xenophobic horrors, as Shinobu Minma argues in "General Tilney and Tyranny" (504-510). Catherines intuitive goodness is therefore political as well as moral. Austen consistently portrays |
Catherines politico-moral instincts as innate, or even genetic. At the end of the novel her parents judge Henry Tilney in exactly the same way she has judged people throughout the novel, with "[g]ood-will supplying the place of experience" (249). Learning to think ironically will not make Catherine moral. Isabella Thorpe, |
who is arch in every word she speaks, and never really means what she says, is not a better person because she can perceive irony. In fact, if Isabella truly understood the novels she claims to read, she might be made a better person, since Gothic novels, despite their one-sidedness, |
usually portray sincere sentimentality as a heroines source of virtue. Radcliffes novels (the most prominent Gothics in Northanger) perfectly illustrate the doctrine of sensibility, that morality proceeds from instinctive sympathy with others. Innate sensibility is the one trait of Gothic heroinehood that Catherine Morland really does possess. Unfortunately, however, instinctive |
goodness does not suffice to keep one happy and sane outside the one-sided world of Gothic novels. Henry Tilney teaches Catherine, through conversation, not to believe everything she reads, and also how to speak ironically in everyday life. That is the purpose of some of the most famous and most |
comical set-pieces in the novel, like Henrys comparison of dancing and marriage (Volume I, Chapter Ten), or his caricature of a Gothic story (Volume II, Chapters Five and Six). Catherine never completely learns to apply his lessons. She manages, by the end of the novel, to understand all of the |
discourse that surrounds her, but she is not quite able to produce it herself. When she must write to Eleanor after her dismissal from the Abbey, she struggles over how to express her feelings, and finally concludes that "to be very brief was all that she could determine on with |
any confidence of safety" (235-36). Henry, at first, seems to be a more promising model for the reader. Whenever he remains witty, Henry acts as the voice of the author, as many critics have pointed out. But Henry himself is not capable of keeping out of the trap of uncritical |
thinking, and his one major slip provides both an example to the reader of the dangers of losing rational detachment, and also a clear picture of Austens broader political view. The English Gothic novel is excessively nationalistic in the assumptions it makes about human nature, and in its technique of |
defusing content that might otherwise be shocking by placing it in foreign Catholic settings. The ideal reader of Gothic is one who understands these assumptions so as to be attracted but not drawn in, not fooled into seeing the excesses of Gothic as representative of English life. Such xenophobia was |
politically charged during the 1790s, when Austen first wrote the noveljingoism was a foundation stone of anti-Jacobinismand Northanger Abbeys parody of Gothic undermines Tory nationalism by implication. Catherine is so defective a reader to begin with that she does not even understand the basic nationalism of Gothicbut the accomplished reader |
Henry Tilney does. When Catherine merely believes in his trumped-up tale about ebony cabinets, he is entertained; but when she creates her own Gothic tale he is shocked, because she violates the conventions of the genre by imagining that such events could really take place in a contemporary English setting. |
In the crisis of Catherines education, when he explains the circumstances of his mothers death and remonstrates with Catherine over her inability to discipline her imagination, Henry articulates the ideology behind the Gothic: Here his assumptions are clear. One can only properly appreciate the Gothic if one understands that it |
is not to be taken as a delineation of the English character, but of the depraved human nature to be found elsewhere. English society is different (it is "a country like this" to distinguish it from that), and superior. Early Austen critics take Henrys statement at face value, as a |
delineation of the authors ideology (just as Henry is often taken to be her mouthpiece elsewhere in the novel). Thus this passage is seen as consistent with the assumption that Austen was a political conservative, here a patriotic anti-Jacobin. However, even among early critics, interpretation is not unanimous, and it |
has become even less so. While Gary Kelly and Diane Hoeveler can both cite Henrys speech as evidence of Austens conservative ideology as late as 1995, their view is uncommon. Since Lionel Trilling it has been more common to emphasize dramatic irony and the inadequacy of Henrys point of viewCatherine |
turns out to have assessed the Generals character correctly, perhaps despite herself (207). It is too easy to take a "dramatic irony" reading as critical only of the General, a failure of a particular patriarch and not patriarchy or nationality itself. Alistair Duckworths combination of an acknowledgment of the irony |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.