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This morning’s New York Times contains a disquieting submission from two Harvard government professors. They began
Donald J. Trump’s election has raised a question that few Americans ever imagined asking: Is our democracy in danger? With the possible exception of the Civil War, American democracy has never collapsed; indeed, no democracy as rich or as established as America’s ever has. Yet past stability is no guarantee of democracy’s future survival.
We have spent two decades studying the emergence and breakdown of democracy in Europe and Latin America. Our research points to several warning signs.
Pre-eminent among those warning signs is the emergence and electoral success of what the authors call “anti-democratic” politicians, who can be recognized by their failure–or refusal– to reject violence, willingness to curtail civil liberties, and their attacks on the legitimacy of elected governments. As they illustrate, Trump fits the bill.
Another warning sign is the weakening of democratic institutions and norms.
Among the unwritten rules that have sustained American democracy are partisan self-restraint and fair play. For much of our history, leaders of both parties resisted the temptation to use their temporary control of institutions to maximum partisan advantage, effectively underutilizing the power conferred by those institutions. There existed a shared understanding, for example, that anti-majoritarian practices like the Senate filibuster would be used sparingly, that the Senate would defer (within reason) to the president in nominating Supreme Court justices, and that votes of extraordinary importance — like impeachment — required a bipartisan consensus. Such practices helped to avoid a descent into the kind of partisan fight to the death that destroyed many European democracies in the 1930s.
As the authors note, “partisan restraint” and other norms of democratic behavior have significantly eroded, replaced by naked power struggles.
The filibuster, once a rarity, has become a routine tool of legislative obstruction. As the political scientists Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein have shown, the decline of partisan restraint has rendered our democratic institutions increasingly dysfunctional. Republicans’ 2011 refusal to raise the debt ceiling, which put America’s credit rating at risk for partisan gain, and the Senate’s refusal this year to consider President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee — in essence, allowing the Republicans to steal a Supreme Court seat — offer an alarming glimpse at political life in the absence of partisan restraint.
The erosion of these governing norms did not happen all at once; the signs of growing dysfunction have been visible–especially at the federal level–for decades. Although Trump did not cause the weakening of these safeguards, he was a clear beneficiary.
In the wake of November 8, pundits have scrambled to “explain” the election results. As James Fallows writes in “Despair and Hope in the Age of Trump,” most of those explanations are wrongheaded.
Fallows, too, underscores the importance of democratic norms, and the implications of Trump’s contempt for rules of any kind.
The American republic is based on rules but has always depended for its survival on norms—standards of behavior, conduct toward fellow citizens and especially critics and opponents that is decent beyond what the letter of the law dictates. Trump disdains them all. The American leaders I revere are sure enough of themselves to be modest, strong enough to entertain self-doubt. When I think of Republican Party civic virtues, I think of Eisenhower. But voters, or enough of them, have chosen Trump.
Fallows dismisses two popular explanations of that choice: the belief that this was a sweeping “change” election, and the theory that the vote reflected the “desperation and fury” of citizens living away from the liberal coasts. Change elections drive waves of incumbents out of office; as he notes, that didn’t happen. The “rage” theory is similarly wanting. As Fallows says, that theory misses
the optimism and determination that are intertwined with desolation and decay in the real “out there.” I can say that because I have been out there, reporting with my wife, Deb, in smaller-town America for much of the past four years….
A Pew study in 2014 found that only 25 percent of respondents were satisfied with the direction of national policy, but 60 percent were satisfied with events in their own communities. According to a Heartland Monitor report in 2016, two in three Americans said that good ideas for dealing with national social and economic challenges were coming from their towns. Fewer than one in three felt that good ideas were coming from national institutions. These results also underscore the sense my wife and I took unmistakably from our visits: that city by city, and at the level of politics where people’s judgments are based on direct observation rather than media-fueled fear, Americans still trust democratic processes and observe long-respected norms.
It really is the media.
Count me among those who have become convinced that the decline of responsible journalism, the proliferation of “fake news” sites and the increasing sophistication of propaganda (Russian or homegrown)–abetted by a dangerous lack of civic literacy– are largely to blame for the disconnect between citizens and their national government, and for the erosion of those all-important democratic norms.
Fallows’ concluding paragraph is profound.
Nearly a century ago, Walter Lippmann wrote that the challenge for democracies is that citizens necessarily base decisions on the “pictures in our heads,” the images of reality we construct for ourselves. The American public has just made a decision of the gravest consequence, largely based on distorted, frightening, and bigoted caricatures of reality that we all would recognize as caricature if applied to our own communities. Given the atrophy of old-line media with their quaint regard for truth, the addictive strength of social media and their unprecedented capacity to spread lies, and the cynicism of modern politics, will we ever be able to accurately match image with reality? The answer to that question will determine the answer to another: whether this election will be a dire but survivable challenge to American institutions or an irreversible step toward something else. | <urn:uuid:07befd3e-ae1c-436d-8f95-397352aaac36> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://www.sheilakennedy.net/2016/12/about-those-democratic-norms/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251728207.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20200127205148-20200127235148-00255.warc.gz | en | 0.958559 | 1,263 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Where are racial gaps in school test scores worst? Ironically, where liberals are most dominant.
The new national database of school-district test scores created by education researchers at Stanford and Harvard reveals that the single widest white-black racial gap in American public school districts is in the city most synonymous with leftism since 1964: Berkeley, California.
How badly do blacks lag whites in Berkeley public schools? Berkeley’s white-black gap is 1.60 standard deviations. In other words, the median black student would score at only the 5th percentile if he were white.
Yet, Berkeley is ferociously antiracist. It was the first to have a Black Studies Department at the high school level. In the 2012 election, Berkeley voted for Obama over Romney 90 to 5. Berkeley Unified school-district administrators obsess over any data showing that black students get punished more than other races.
Still, the racial gap is bigger in Berkeley than anywhere else.
Nationally, the median gap between white and black test-takers within school districts is 0.61 standard deviations. Assuming a normal distribution of test scores, the average black student scores at what would be the 27th percentile among the white students in his district. That’s a noticeable gap, but not a gigantic one.
This 0.61 figure is smaller than the overall national white-black racial gap (which is around one standard deviation) because families tend to sort themselves into different school districts by housing costs. So for most public school students and their parents, the racial gap they experience in their daily lives isn”t as large as it is nationally, which probably helps Americans get along a little better.
Thus, in a run-of-the-mill school district, the racial equality glass is part empty and part full.
But in elite Berkeley, after a half century of hyper-liberalism, the racial equality glass is almost bone-dry. It’s as if liberalism isn”t really concerned with white-black equality as much as it’s preoccupied with proving white-over-white superiority.
This raises the question of whether Berkeley is so unequal because whites are doing well or because blacks are doing poorly. The answer in the case of Berkeley appears to be some of both.
The Stanford Education Data Archive, led by education professor Sean Reardon, has released data tables on the relative sizes of racial gaps in state test scores across thousands of school districts for grades 3 to 8 from 2009 through 2013. But they have not yet made available for download the absolute scores of racial groups.
Fortunately, they leaked some of that score data to The New York Times, however, which put together three spiffy interactive graphs. White kids in Berkeley averaged an impressive 2.7 grade levels higher than the national average across all races. But Berkeley’s Hispanics were 1.1 grade levels below the national average (all races) and Berkeley’s blacks scored 1.9 grade levels below the national average.
So, much of the reason for Berkeley’s immense racial gap (4.6 grade levels between whites and blacks) is because its white students, who tend to be the children of professors, Pixar employees, or the idle rich, score well. But Berkeley’s blacks do poorly, even by the standards of blacks in general, averaging below African-Americans in Chicago and Philadelphia.
One exacerbating factor might be that Berkeley’s schools have traditionally been run according to progressive education fads insisted upon by white leftists. For example, the Gates Foundation gave a million dollars to Bill Ayers” brother Rick Ayers, another “60s radical ex-fugitive, to work his “small learning communities” voodoo upon Berkeley High School, with an unsurprisingly disastrous impact on math test scores.
Frustrated black parents in Berkeley have at times organized protests in favor of “back to basics” education for their children.
(By the way, the Stanford database hasn”t published any Asian test scores. Ambitious Asian parents tend to avoid the Berkeley school district, presumably viewing Berkeley as being into a lot of white hippie head trips that won”t help their tiger cubs ace the SAT.)
Out of 2121 school districts with enough blacks and whites to generate fairly reliable results, the second-worst race disparity is in Chapel Hill-Carrboro, the home of the University of North Carolina. I don”t have the 2012 vote total for just Chapel Hill, but Orange County, N.C., voted for Obama 70 to 28 over Romney.
In the late 1990s, Shaker Heights formed a consortium with 14 other wealthy liberal school districts, such as Berkeley, Chapel Hill, Evanston, White Plains, and Amherst, to study why even privileged black students were lagging so far behind. Black parents in Shaker Heights brought in Berkeley anthropologist John Ogbu (1939″2003) to do fieldwork. A hardworking Nigerian, Ogbu discovered that Shaker Heights” black students goof off instead of doing their homework out of fear of being accused of “acting white“:
“What amazed me is that these kids who come from homes of doctors and lawyers are not thinking like their parents; they don”t know how their parents made it,” Professor Ogbu said in an interview. “They are looking at rappers in ghettos as their role models, they are looking at entertainers.”
The fifth-most severe race gap is in Evanston, Ill. (home of Northwestern U.), which voted 86.5% for Obama in 2012. Evanston’s chasm is 1.49 standard deviations, putting its average black student at the 7th percentile among its white students.
Evanston whites averaged an impressive 3.9 grade levels higher than the national average across all races, while Evanston’s Hispanics were 0.1 grade levels below the national average and Evanston’s blacks scored 0.6 levels below the national average.
Back in the 1990s, I knew a lot of people in Evanston, including a terrific black teacher who taught my son in kindergarten. She said that the problem with Northwestern public schools is that Evanston (at least back then) had a mini-hood of underclass blacks who screw up the public schools. (I”ve driven through the Evanston micro-ghetto and it’s a memorable few blocks of severe dysfunction in what’s otherwise an extremely genteel suburb.) So, many middle-class blacks in Evanston send their kids to Catholic schools to keep them away from the bad black role models.
Other liberal college towns with massive white-black gaps include Madison (U. of Wisconsin), Iowa City (U. of Iowa), Charlottesville (U. of Virginia), Austin (U. of Texas), Bernie Sanders” Burlington (U. of Vermont), Durham (Duke U.), and Ann Arbor (U. of Michigan). Palo Alto, next door to Stanford U., the sponsor of this research project, also has an intense white-black gap, but not enough blacks can afford to live in Palo Alto for it to make my sample-size cutoff for reliability.
Besides college towns, the largest race gaps tend to be found in liberal big cities.
The sixth-worst racial inequality out of 2,121 districts is in the black-ruled District of Columbia, which voted 91 to 7 for Obama. Eighth worst is in black-ruled Atlanta (middle-class blacks prefer Atlanta’s suburbs). Other big cities with extreme white-black gaps include Oakland, Seattle, Minneapolis, and San Francisco.
In contrast, the smallest white-black gap (only 0.04 standard deviations) is found in McDowell County, West Virginia.
This is a good example of why I find this Stanford database plausible. I”ve skimmed the scholars” article explaining the complex methodology by which they have tried to render scores on differing state-school achievement tests comparable across state lines. I can”t say whether they”ve done it perfectly or not, but their results seem pretty credible to me.
For instance, just as their choice for most unequal, Berkeley, was already notorious for its huge white-black gap, the Stanford researchers” most equal district, McDowell County, which JFK made into a symbol of Appalachian poverty, is notorious for having just about the worst whites in America. Male life expectancy in this coal county is only 63.3 years.
So one solution to racial inequality, evidently, is to have most of the whites with something on the ball, such as rocket scientist Horace Hickam, the McDowell County hero of the movie October Sky, move away. (The population of this coal-mining county has fallen by 80 percent since 1950.)
Something similar has happened in the city with the second-smallest white-black gap, Detroit, where the public schools are now only 3 percent white, and five out of every eight white children left in Detroit live in poverty.
Daily updates with TM’s latest | <urn:uuid:e732476f-1da6-4027-a550-69bf0b5a13ec> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://staging.takimag.com/article/crevasses_in_the_classroom_steve_sailer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243988850.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20210508061546-20210508091546-00433.warc.gz | en | 0.953119 | 1,882 | 2.59375 | 3 |
This involved designing the flapping mechanism, which combined the 4-bar linkage and pulley–string mechanism, such that it was able to flap the wings with a high flapping amplitude of approximately 192°, as shown in figure 7a. However, only the wing tips approximately touched at this flapping amplitude (figure 6a) exhibiting near-clap-and-fling case due to the limitation of the mechanism design . Moreover, the wings were flexible during the flapping motion creating a chordwise camber and spanwise twist (figure 7b,c). During the clap and fling, the effect of wing flexibility allowed the fling to act like a peel, such that https://hookupdate.net/talkwithstranger-review/ the wings separated along the wing chord from the leading edge to the trailing edge, and then clapped in a manner similar to a reverse peel [12,17,58]. Thus, the clap and fling in the FW-MAV developed in this study could be regarded as a near-clap-and-peel mechanism.
Owing to the presence of the mirror wing during the clap and fling, the airflow beneath the trailing edges was pushed downward throughout the period of clap and fling (figure 12a, t/T = 0
Both experiments and simulations were used to investigate the effect of the near clap and peel on the force enhancement at a relatively high Reynolds number of approximately 15 000. The measurement results showed that the clap and flings enhanced the vertical force by 16.2%, while the simulation indicated that the clap and flings increased the vertical force by 11.5%. This could be due to the slight difference between the fitted and the measured flapping angle at the end of each stroke (figure 7a). Although a fitted function consisting of eight terms was used, the peak-to-peak value of the fitted flapping angle was still approximately 3° smaller than the measured flapping angle. Therefore, the distance between the two wings at the ends of the strokes along the wingspan in the simulation exceeded that in the measurement. This could have reduced the effect of the clap and fling on the force generation in the simulation .
Hence, in this study, the clap-and-fling effect was implemented in a two-winged FW-MAV for the first time
The contribution of each phase to the augmented forces was considered in the developed FW-MAV. Several previous studies on insects and robotic wings at low Reynolds numbers (Re 10 000), the effect of clap was not considered or its contribution to the force enhancement was not significant . However, the study results indicated that the clap as well as the fling contributed significantly to the vertical force enhancement in a relatively high Reynolds number (approx. 15 000) environment. 96–1.12) providing an additional vertical force. The behaviour of this downwash differed from previous studies, in which the downwash was observed when the wings clapped together only [26,28,36,58]. In addition to fling phase, the IoA in the low-pressure region between the wings caused another increase in the vertical force. Therefore, the fling and the clap contributed to approximately 62.6% and 37.4% of the vertical force enhancement, respectively. There were two clap-and-fling mechanisms at the dorsal and ventral stroke reversals in the developed FW-MAV. As shown in table 2, the dorsal clap and fling at the end of the upstroke and beginning of the downstroke made a contribution to the enhanced vertical force by 53.1%, while the ventral clap and fling at the end of the downstroke and the beginning of the upstroke contributed to 46.9% of the vertical force enhancement. This slight asymmetric contribution could be the result of the asymmetry in the flapping motion, where the distance between the left and right wings at the dorsal stroke reversal was less than that at the ventral stroke reversal. | <urn:uuid:4f6efd05-c182-4856-a0df-e52f88cfd440> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | http://www.gfcarriers.com/this-study-was-inspired-by-the-flight-performance-3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337906.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20221007014029-20221007044029-00330.warc.gz | en | 0.958257 | 830 | 3.40625 | 3 |
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Using Improv to Develop Communication Skills for Medical Students
Strong communication skills are essential for clinicians, and clear and confident self-presentation is important for medical students. Techniques of improvisational theater have been adapted for use in many classroom ...
Using Improv as a Tool for Fostering Mentorship Among Medical and Pre-medical Students
PURPOSE: Advising for pre-medical students can be reinforced and strengthened by involving current medical students. Medical students can improve their own communication skills and give back to medical community by mentoring ... | <urn:uuid:cd0a0721-b866-4f39-b070-e22ad472df98> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://athenaeum.libs.uga.edu/handle/10724/2/discover?filtertype_0=author&filtertype_1=subject&filter_relational_operator_1=equals&filter_relational_operator_0=equals&filter_1=Improvisation+%28Acting%29&filter_0=Herring%2C+Kathleen&filtertype=author&filter_relational_operator=equals&filter=Feeney%2C+Jakob | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964359037.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20211130141247-20211130171247-00445.warc.gz | en | 0.938205 | 135 | 2.796875 | 3 |
The day when a ship may leave a port in New York without a crew member aboard is out there, although the exact date is still up in the air. According to IEEE Spectrum, designers are currently working on the technology to make unmanned cargo ships a reality, and trial runs have even been held. Proponents believe the safety benefits of a ship controlled by robotic and remote means could eliminate the thousands of mariner deaths each year.
While experts are seeking ways to make ships safer by eliminating the need for onboard crew members, companies are reducing the number of people manning the vessels without waiting for the technology to take up the slack. Marine Insight reports that this technique is one of the primary factors leading to crew member mistakes. Job duties relating to ship operations are shared among fewer and fewer workers, resulting in long and irregular hours. Often, the tasks are strenuous and physically taxing.
Crew members who suffer the physical and mental strain of overwork on cargo ships may engage in a number of negligent behaviors that put themselves and everyone on board at risk of serious or fatal injuries. For example, they may make careless mistakes or take shortcuts to try to finish one duty more quickly and move on to the next. They may develop anger and motivation issues over the frustration of trying to do more than they are physically able, and blame their co-workers for mistakes. The strain often also leads to substance or alcohol use while at sea. | <urn:uuid:3a6334ec-e948-4a72-ae52-d5ebec5ed1af> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://www.sealawyers.com/blog/2017/05/on-a-course-toward-unmanned-cargo-ships/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046155322.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20210805032134-20210805062134-00019.warc.gz | en | 0.969763 | 286 | 2.875 | 3 |
How Are Copper Ore Sizes Classified From A Mine Plant Design. Foskor has to debottleneck the extension 8 plant by adding a separate parallel tertiary crushing circuit to crush the ore from 125 mm down to about 16 mm a wet milling section as used elsewhere in the foskor plant has been added to reduce the ore particle sizes
The copper ore coming from the mine 0 5 1 Cu must be concentrated by beneficiation considerable differences in design especially in size and shape the copper blast furnace is lower and smaller and its cross section is rectangular from the blast furnaces three in each plant is mixed with the converter gases Hoboken.
The primary crusher at a copper mine. The truck dumps ore into the crusher which crushes the ore. Screens size and distribute the classified ore to a series of conveyors, like those above, for transportation to the mill for further processing.
Copper concentrators typically treat up to 100 000 t of ore per day. They are located directly at the mines to achieve low transport costs. The copper recovery efficiency is over 90 %. About 95 % of the ore input goes into the tailings, which are stored in large dams near the mine and are used for water recycling to the flotation stages.
Copper Ore Processing Methods. The four major steps in the production of marketable copper are mining, concentrating, smelting, and refining. In a few instances, however, leaching takes the place of concentrating, smelting, and refining. At present, although considerable leaching and direct smelting ores are produced, the bulk of the copper ore ... | <urn:uuid:ee6dd967-948d-4526-9b8b-32ead960d7a9> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://www.sitecoreblog.cz/2022-Jan-04/9_how-are-copper-ore-sizes-classified-from-a-mine-plant-design.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320304287.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20220123141754-20220123171754-00691.warc.gz | en | 0.941619 | 339 | 3.125 | 3 |
|Wind speed (Knots)
||Effect on sea
||Effects on land
||Sea like a mirror
||Calm. Smoke rises vertically.
||Ripples with the appearance of scales are formed, but without foam crests
||Wind motion visible in smoke.
||Small wavelets, still short, but more pronounced. Crests have a glassy appearance and do not break.
||Wind felt on exposed skin. Leaves rustle.
||Large wavelets. Crests begin to break. Foam of glassy appearance. Perhaps scattered white horses.
||Leaves and smaller twigs in constant motion.
||Small waves, becoming larger; fairly frequent white horses.
||Dust and loose paper raised. Small branches begin to move.
||Moderate waves, taking a more pronounced long form; many white horses are formed. Chance of some spray.
||Branches of a moderate size move. Small trees begin to sway.
||Large waves begin to form; the white foam crests are more extensive everywhere. Probably some spray.
||Large branches in motion. Whistling heard in overhead wires. Umbrella use becomes difficult. Empty plastic garbage cans tip over.
||Sea heaps up and white foam from breaking waves begins to be blown in streaks along the direction of the wind.
||Whole trees in motion. Effort needed to walk against the wind. Swaying of skyscrapers may be felt, especially by people on upper floors.
||Moderately high waves of greater length; edges of crests begin to break into spindrift. The foam is blown in well-marked streaks along the direction of the wind.
||Twigs broken from trees. Cars veer on road.
||High waves. Dense streaks of foam along the direction of the wind. Crests of waves begin to topple, tumble and roll over. Spray may affect visibility.
||Larger branches break off trees, and some small trees blow over. Construction/temporary signs and barricades blow over. Damage to circus tents and canopies.
||Very high waves with long over-hanging crests. The resulting foam, in great patches, is blown in dense white streaks along the direction of the wind. On the whole the surface of the sea takes on a white appearance. The 'tumbling' of the sea becomes heavy and shock-like. Visibility affected.
||Trees are broken off or uprooted, saplings bent and deformed, poorly attached asphalt shingles and shingles in poor condition peel off roofs.
||Exceptionally high waves (small and medium-size ships might disappear behind the waves). The sea is completely covered with long white patches of foam flying along the direction of the wind. Everywhere the edges of the wave crests are blown into froth. Visibility affected.
||Widespread vegetation damage. More damage to most roofing surfaces, asphalt tiles that have curled up and/or fractured due to age may break away completely.
||The air is filled with foam and spray. Sea completely white with driving spray; visibility very seriously affected.
||Considerable and widespread damage to vegetation, a few windows broken, structural damage to mobile homes and poorly constructed sheds and barns. Debris may be hurled about. | <urn:uuid:19ef1b36-facb-4c40-928a-f9b00ec10b8a> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://www.windfinder.com/wind/windspeed.htm?utm_source=forecast&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=homepageweather&utm_content=windspeed&utm_term=lsv-wunstorf.de&utm_source=www.windfinder.com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=redirect | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267165261.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20180926140948-20180926161348-00317.warc.gz | en | 0.887748 | 682 | 2.578125 | 3 |
There’s a growing need for services that help young people with autism to find and keep jobs, new research indicates.
Some 50,000 people with autism spectrum disorder turn 18 years old every year in the United States, and these “transition youth”—shifting from high school to adulthood—represent the largest group seeking vocational employment services in the growing autism population.
Yet transition youth are the least likely to get jobs, says Connie Sung, an assistant professor at Michigan State University who coauthored two studies, published May 16 and June 10 on the subject in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
“More focus should be put on the transition population with autism spectrum disorder, in addition to children and the adult population,” says Sung. “There’s a huge need for both vocational services and better coordination between the high schools and the vocational rehabilitation system to bridge the gaps.”
Transition youth with autism who don’t find work, she adds, face an increased possibility of sitting at home and developing secondary issues such as low self-esteem and depression.
47 percent employment
For one study, Sung and colleagues looked at 5,681 people with autism who used vocational employment services. While transition youth, or those aged 18 and younger, represented the largest group, only 47 percent of them secured employment after receiving services (compared to 55 percent for those aged 19-25 and 61 percent for those 26 and older). This held true despite all participants having previous work experience.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest estimate, 1 in 68 children are identified with autism spectrum disorder—which is 120 percent higher than the estimate in 2002 (1 in 150 children). Males are almost five times more likely to be diagnosed with autism.
“These children will grow and become adults, and what we realize is that more and more adults with autism spectrum disorder are facing significant issues with employment,” Sung says.
The other study looked at gender differences among 1,696 transition youth with autism when it came to finding employment. Males in particular had a difficult time finding a job when they also had anxiety or depression. Not surprisingly, they benefited more from guidance and counseling.
“When working with males, special attention should be paid to the unique gender differences and their effects on employment,” the study says. “Specifically, providing vocational counseling and guidance to teach interpersonal and behavioral skills are especially important.”
Sung says it’s also important to help young people secure internships or jobs before they leave high school—and to emphasize that work experience when looking for work in the transition phase.
Sung’s coauthors are from Michigan State, the University of Texas at El Paso, and the University at Buffalo.
Source: Michigan State University | <urn:uuid:7e11c2bc-9def-4450-b065-f72d2ff9e19b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://www.futurity.org/autism-jobs-969472/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572127.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20220815024523-20220815054523-00042.warc.gz | en | 0.952455 | 583 | 3.125 | 3 |
Water is essential to healthy life and our survival. Our bodies rely on water to hydrate us, while our food sources need water to grow.
Water is also vital in our day to day living for washing, powering electricity plants, supporting our natural environment, sewage treatment and firefighting. It also provides leisure activities such as swimming, fishing and sailing.
Each day, South East Water takes more than 565 million litres of water from the environment and supplies it to around 2.1 million customers in the South East. This water is taken principally from underground aquifers, but also from rivers and surface reservoirs, within strict limits set by the Environment Agency.
Our reliance on this valuable resource and the increasing changes in our society and environment mean we must take vital steps to conserve water and plan for secure supplies for the future. To do this we plan our water resources 25 years in advance to find the most sustainable options for providing water. Our approach is to manage customer demand for water and leakage, make better use of existing resources and identifying new resources such as reservoirs. | <urn:uuid:cf698bcf-c22a-4842-b6e2-a9a5b423d101> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://www.southeastwater.co.uk/our-environment/water-resources/water-update | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1408500800168.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20140820021320-00460-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948195 | 215 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
The Scarlet Letter
- Born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804, the fifth generation of his family to be
born in New England. His great-grandfather, one of the judges at the Salem
witchcraft trials; his father a ship's captain, who died of yellow fever on a voyage when
Hawthorne was four.
- Grew up in a large extended family of siblings, grandparents, and aunts and uncles, in
which environment his life-long habits of solitude, reading, and introspection were
- Entered Bowdoin College in 1821; graduated in 1825 and returned to Salem, where he lived
in semi-seclusion in his family home and wrote.
- Took a job in the Boston customhouse (1839-41); also experimented with communal living
for six or seven months at Brook Farm near Boston, but found it neither suited his
temperament nor allowed him time for writing.
- Married Sophia Amelia Peabody of Salem in 1842 and settled in Concord, Massachusetts at
a house called Old Manse, where they remained until 1845.
- Returned to government service in 1846 as surveyor of the Salem customhouse; lost that
job through a change in political administrations in 1849. Lived briefly in the Berkshires
near his friend and admirer, Herman Melville.
- Wrote the campaign biography of his college friend, Franklin Pierce (1852) and was
appointment consul to Liverpool, England, after Pierce's election to the presidency.
Served as consul until 1857, when he moved to Italy where he spent two years collecting
materials for The Marble Faun (1860).
- Returned to Concord (1860); died in Plymouth, New Hampshire, while traveling with
- Began writing (primarily historical and allegorical tales) soon after he left college;
many published anonymously in magazines like The Token, New-England Magazine,
and The Knickerbocker Magazine.
- First recognized as a leading writer with the publication of Twice-told Tales
(1837), a collection of several previously published stories, appearing under his own name.
- Continued his analysis of the Puritan mind in Mosses from an Old Manse (1846),
a collection of tales written during the time he lived at the Old Manse.
- Period of greatest productivity followed his dismissal from the surveyorship of the
Salem customhouse in 1849 and included, among other works, The Scarlet Letter
(1850), The House of the Seven Gables (1851), and The Blithdale Romance
- Although Hawthorne worked wrote diligently throughout his life and was recognized by
contemporaries as a major American author, none of his writing, not even The Scarlet
Letter, afforded him more than a temporary stay against the fear of poverty that
dogged him all his life.
Twice-Told Tales (1837)
Grandfather's Chair (1841)
Mosses from an Old Manse (1846)
The Scarlet Letter (1850)
The House of the Seven Gables (1851)
The Snow Image (1852)
The Blithedale Romance (1852)
Tanglewood Tales (1853)
The Marble Faun (1860)
Biographical and Critical Information
- Print resources for Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales : Authoritative Texts, Backgrounds, Criticism (Norton
Critical Edition), ed. James Macintosh, 1987.
The Scarlet Letter : An Authoritative Text Essays in Criticism and Scholarship
(Norton Critical Edition), ed. Seymour Gross, Sculley Bradley, and Hudson Long.
The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret B. Moore, 2001
Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Times, James R. Mellow, 1998.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's the Scarlet Letter : Bloom's Reviews Comprehensive Research
& Study Guides (Bloom's
Reviews), Harold Bloom, 1998.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (Modern Critical Interpretations),
Harold Bloom and William Golding, 1988.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arlin Turner, 1980.
The Shape of Hawthorne's Career, Nina Baym, 1976.
The Sins of the Fathers: Hawthorne's Psychological Themes, Frederick C. Crews,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Terence Martin, 1965, rev. 1983.
Retired Discussion Series | <urn:uuid:ceb45fe5-d90c-4b47-900d-5f3a94b63240> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://www.niobraracountylibrary.org/wch/series001/scarlet_letter.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394011129529/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305091849-00053-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920045 | 960 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Delores Archaimbault and
Copperhead was a pejorative epithet applied to Northern members of the Democratic party, also known as Peace Democrats, who criticized the presidential administration of Abraham Lincoln for its war policies and who sought an armistice with the Confederacy. A loosely-affiliated group, the Copperheads expressed their views on the war in the press, at political conventions, and in state legislatures. Their views struck a responsive chord among like-minded Democrats in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio in the period 1862 to 1864, while their Republican opponents considered their ideas and alleged actions as nothing less than treason. Not all those known as Copperheads supported the doctrine of secession, but as a group they found common cause in their objections to the actions of the Lincoln administration.
It is all too easy to overgeneralize and oversimplify when discussing the Copperheads' origin, beliefs, and motives. The derivation of the name Copperhead itself is uncertain. Some writers believe it referred to the copperhead snake, while others attribute it to the buttons cut from copper coins depicting the goddess of liberty that were worn by many Peace Democrats. It may also have been associated with the copperhead snakes of South Carolina, the hot bed of militant states' rights and secession. At any rate, Copperheads were uniformly depicted in Northern newspapers as copperhead snakes who wanted to make peace with the Confederacy at any price and on any terms.
But Copperhead views and objectives were often quite different from those attributed to them by Republican politicians and newspapers. Still there is little question as to why they so aggressively opposed the war.
Opposition to the war in some areas of Illinois arose over worsening economic conditions. The loss of Southern markets and the closure of the Mississippi River in 1861 lowered grain prices, and a bank panic occurred among Midwestern banks that based their paper money upon Southern bonds. Only 17 out of 112 banks in Illinois survived the creation of the Confederacy. The economic downturn in agriculture and banking also resulted in a commercial recession, which increased the number of those who opposed the war and criticized the Lincoln administration. Illinois' "Copperhead Legislature" of 1863 is a case in point. Much of the discontent expressed in the Illinois legislature of 1863 centered around economic grievances against railroads and the operators of grain elevators, anticipating the agrarian concerns that emerged as the Grange Movement of the 1870s. In the face of economic hardships, opposing the war for some Illinoisans was less a matter of disloyalty and more a bread-and-butter issue.
Economic issues, however, were not the only source of discontent. Existing political differences and partisan spirit in Illinois were greatly exacerbated by the Civil War. Illinoisans were not of one mind as to how the war should be conducted, nor was there consensus in all quarters if it could or should be won. Those differences became manifest when delegates convened the Illinois Constitutional Convention of 1862. Proponents of a new state constitution argued that the Constitution of 1848 was no longer adequate for a state whose population had doubled by 1860 and that paid its government officials at rates no longer considered adequate. The proposed convention had been approved by voters in 1860 and delegates were elected the following year.
Democrats controlled the convention and opted to draft a partisan document. With Samuel Buckmaster presiding over the convention, Democrats did all they could to
oppose the Republican party and Governor Richard Yates. The Democratic delegates conducted investigations into army appointments and purchases in an attempt to embarrass Yates, tried to strip the governor of military authority, proposed reducing his four-year term to two years, and shamelessly gerrymandered the boundaries of state legislative and congressional districts in their favor. The blatantly partisan nature of the delegates' actions and views at the convention doomed the so-called "Copperhead Constitution" of 1862. Illinois voters rejected the proposed constitution in a special June election by a margin of 24,515 votes.
Many of the Democrats at the Illinois constitutional convention were accused by Republicans of being members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret political society that allegedly conspired against the Union. Joseph K. C. Forrest, the Springfield correspondent of the Chicago Daily Tribune and a Republican crony of Governor Yates, made the charge in an effort to discredit the governor's Democratic critics. The Tribune even suggested that treason might be afoot. The Democratic delegates at the convention flatly denied the charges. A special bipartisan committee was appointed to investigate the matter. The committee found no evidence of the Golden Circle's existence in Illinois; Forrest admitted that his story was based upon rumor and unsubstantiated reports. Nonetheless, rumors about the Knights of the Golden Circle continued to swirl through Republican papers, which attempted to link the group with the "Copperhead Constitution."
The political contest between Illinois Democrats and Republicans continued in the fall election campaign of 1862. The upsurge in anti-administration sentiment in Illinois sent a Democratic majority to the state legislature in 1863. This was Illinois' so called "Copperhead Legislature." Governor Yates and the Lincoln administration were challenged on almost every front by the new Democratic legislature. The House of Representatives proposed that all spending for the war effort and the appointment of officers be assigned to a three-member commission. The House also aired a list of grievances against the president and the governor and brought forward the names of prominent Peace Democrats to serve as five of the six Illinois commissioners to a proposed peace convention at Louisville, Kentucky. Only the death of a Democratic senator (the Democrats held a slim 13 to 12 majority over Republicans in the Senate), prevented the Senate from taking similar action.
Tensions ran high on both sides of the aisle through the better part of 1863 before Governor Yates dissolved the legislature on a technicality. The Illinois Constitution authorized the governor to prorogue the legislature if the two houses could not agree on adjournment. So ended Illinois' "Copperhead Legislature" of 1863; not without protest, but without effective recourse against the governor's bold action. The stymied Democrats also seemed helpless to refute renewed accusations about the illusive Knights of the Golden Circle. Chicago Daily Tribune correspondent Forrest connected the Democratic-controlled legislature with the Golden Circle as he had with the state constitutional convention of the previous year. Forrest reported that the secret society was plotting the establishment of a "Northwest Confederacy" and hoped to drive Lincoln from office. The Illinois State Register at Springfield, a Democratic paper, was reported to be its official organ. That charge was quickly denied by the paper's editor. It would not be the last time that unsubstantiated claims about the activities of secret Copperhead societies would make their appearance in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.
Despite these political setbacks, Illinois Peace Democrats continued to dissent from the policies of the government regarding the war. At a large gathering held at Camp Yates outside of Springfield in 1863, Peace Democrats renewed their call for peace without victory. Among them were some of the most prominent citizens of the state, including civilians who had been released from Union military prisons. Those present affirmed their loyalty to the federal Constitution in peace and in war, pledged themselves to upholding the law, and squarely charged the Lincoln administration with undermining the Bill of Rights. They called for the return of the former Ohio Congressmen Clement Laird Vallandigham, whom Lincoln had arrested and banished to the Confederacy for publicly expressing sympathetic views toward the Southern cause. They also expressed their outrage over the arrest of William H. Carlin, son of a former Illinois governor, who denounced the government's use of martial law in certain areas of the North, and condemned
Governor Yates' proroguing of the state legislature as unconstitutional. The speakers on that occasion also rejected the legitimacy of secession, thus refuting the charge that all Peace Democrats or Copperheads were secessionists at heart. They desired a peaceful restoration of the South to the Union and called for a national peace conference toward that end. The soldiers who had served the Union cause could take pride in their service, but the war had to end short of victory.
What so many Northern Democrats decried as misrule and anarchy was the arbitrary arrest and trial of civilians by military authorities. The contest between civilian courts and military tribunals also occurred in Illinois. Circuit Judge Charles H. Constable of Mount Carmel, a Democrat, released four deserters who had been arrested by army sergeants acting on the orders of Colonel Henry H. Carrington, commander of the Indiana Military District. Constable argued that the army had no authority to arrest deserters from Indiana within the sovereign state of Illinois. Outraged by the judge's action, Carrington led a detachment of Indiana cavalry into Marshall, Illinois, in March 1863. There he arrested Judge Constable, who was then trying the two army sergeants on the charge of kidnapping. A federal judge ordered Constable's release on the.grounds that Carrington's cavalry had no authority to hunt deserters outside of Indiana, thus supporting Constable's earlier opinion. Constable's actions in this incident and his subsequent release from federal custody was something of a cause celebre among Illinois Peace Democrats.
Desertion from the Union Army and attempts to capture deserters also became a source of dissension on the Illinois home front. Opponents of the war often encouraged desertion, while the army's efforts to arrest deserters in southern Illinois sometimes met with civilian resistance. Deserters were concealed, and armed mobs often greeted their would-be captors. Mandatory enlistment under the Conscription Act of 1863 was extremely unpopular in Charleston, Jacksonville, and Vandalia. An armed mob drove Union officers in charge of enlistment from various parts of Fulton County in protest of the conscription law. The officers were actually attacked, and at least two fatal shootings were reported. Another mob at Olney threatened to burn the town if the local enrollment lists were not surrendered. In Union County, a guerrilla band assaulted Unionists and destroyed their property. Confederate sympathizers in southern Illinois sometimes practiced intimidation tactics, beating and shooting those who supported the Union war effort. Such vigilantism was practiced by both sides. One regiment largely comprised of soldiers from southern Illinois was arrested and placed under guard at Holly Springs, Mississippi, in March 1863 because so many had deserted and the remainder was fraternizing with the enemy. It has been estimated that in a five-month period, eight hundred deserters were arrested in Perry, Saline, Jackson, and Williamson counties and two thousand for Illinois as a whole. Such desertions and civil disturbance clearly indicate the unpopularity of the war in some sections of the state.
Especially unpopular in some areas of Illinois was the Emancipation Proclamation. Very few Illinoisans had enlisted in the army in 1861 to end slavery. The conflict ostensibly began as a war to save the Union, even though the issue of slavery cast a shadow over the decade of crises leading to secession and conflict. News of the preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862 was received with hostilities in several sections of the North and within some quarters of the Union Army. Union troops from western and southern Illinois were among them, reflecting attitudes toward slavery and African-Americans that were transplanted in these areas by migration from the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky. It should be remembered that in 1818 many Illinoisans favored repeal of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787's ban on slavery in the Northwest Territory and its future states. Although the movement to introduce slavery into Illinois was unsuccessful, the cultural origins of Illinoisans continued to condition their attitudes on questions of race. Slavery was as abhorrent to most Illinoisans as it was to other residents of the "free Northwest," yet there were communities where the majority opinion ran the other way.
Many Illinoisans were not prepared to grant African-Americans, whether enslaved or free, equal rights under the law. Copperheads had no desire to extend the benefits of American citizenship to African-Americans in their exclusionary concern over the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In denouncing the Emancipation Proclamation, for example, they uttered racist attitudes that would continue to trouble race relations in the Midwest for years to come. Abolitionists were sometimes more detested than slaveholders.
Opposition to the proclamation was also present in Coles County and in northwestern Illinois, although by no means were people in those areas of one mind. Anti-emancipation sentiments were more common in some Illinois counties than in others, and often opinions differed within a given county. The views of individuals in a particular locality largely correlated with the sources of migration to those areas. Those of Southern extraction were more likely to oppose emancipation, while those from New England tended to be for it. Copperhead activity in McDonough County, for example, was significant after 1863, but comparatively insignificant in neighboring Warren County. Similarly, a company within the 34th Illinois Regiment recruited from Randolph County in southern Illinois was anti-Lincoln. Other companies of the 34th, however, supported Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. Clearly, Illinois was a house divided on the issue of slavery. On balance, more Illinoisans favored emancipation than opposed it.
Attitudes toward the South and suspected Southern sympathizers hardened in 1864, when the prospect of a Union victory was clearly in sight. Soldiers on leave often demonstrated intolerance and outright enmity toward those suspected of being sympathetic to the Confederacy or critical of the government. Violence erupted in 1864 at Charleston, Illinois, a center of Copperhead sentiment. Six soldiers and three civilians were killed; another four soldiers and eight civilians were wounded in a riot on the courthouse square. Violence subsided when a detachment of federal troops arrived from Mattoon. Fifteen Copperheads were subsequently arrested, and all were turned over to civilian authorities by Lincoln's order. Two of the prisoners went to trial and were acquitted. The Charleston Riot, however, appears to have resulted more from personal animosities, taunting, and too much corn whiskey than from a deliberate conspiracy
or a spontaneous outbreak over strictly defined issues. Several indictments for murder were later issued, but no convictions were ever handed down. The trials could have been continued for years, but most Illinoisans, like Americans as a whole, were anxious to put the war behind them as quickly as possible after Appomattox.
Meanwhile, rumors about Copperhead conspiracies were again making the rounds. Governor Richard Yates, seeking re-election in 1864, resumed his collaboration with the Springfield correspondent of the Chicago Tribune in spreading those tales in an attempt to further discredit his Democratic opponents. The result was the "Camp Douglas Conspiracy," which asserted that Copperheads were planning to liberate 8,000 Confederate prisoners incarcerated at Camp Douglas near Chicago. Chicago was to be sacked and burned, the war carried to other Midwestern cities, and a Northwest Confederacy created. When rumors spread that Governor Yates was arming Union Leagues, Charles Walsh, an Irish-American Democrat implicated in the alleged Chicago conspiracy, began to gather muskets and revolvers in order to protect the polls. Walsh was arrested, the arms in his basement confiscated, and the existence of the "Camp Douglas Conspiracy" exposed in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Walsh and seven of his supposed cohorts were sent to Cincinnati, tried for treason by a military tribunal, found guilty, and sentenced to five years in prisonóbut with the recommendation that Walsh be pardoned.
Historians have been divided in their treatments of the Copperheads. Some have portrayed the Copperheads as willful obstructionists and conspirators, much as their detractors had during the Civil War. Other investigators, by contrast, see them as conservative and highly partisan dissenters whose often misguided actions fell short of treason. The thrust of recent scholarship supports the latter interpretation. Whatever the verdict on the Copperheads, the controversies that swirled about them defined the limits of dissent in the North during the Civil War. The larger questions they raised about the protection of civil liberties during times of civil strife, the relationship between rights and responsibilities, and the meaning of the United States Constitution are still of interest to historians and legal scholars. The history of the Illinois Copperheads is also a vivid reminder to all of the passion and intolerance that occurred in that crisis and the personal consequences of taking a stand.
Click Here for Curriculum Materials | <urn:uuid:67bf3a46-e1cf-4f78-9f31-b088b4fa898e> | CC-MAIN-2016-50 | http://www.lib.niu.edu/1996/iht319615.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698540409.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170900-00017-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975472 | 3,300 | 3.625 | 4 |
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, in the U.S. state of New York. Coextensive with Bronx County, it was the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated. Located north of Manhattan and Queens, and south of Westchester County, the Bronx is the only borough that is located primarily on the mainland. According to the 2010 United States Census, the Bronx's population was 1,385,108, which increased to a Census-estimated 1,418,733 by 2013. The borough has a land area of 42 square miles (109km2). Of the five boroughs, the Bronx has the fourth largest inland area, the fourth highest population, and the third-highest population density. The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a hillier section in the west, closer to Manhattan, and a flatter eastern section, closer to Long Island. East and west street addresses, however, are divided by Jerome Avenuethe continuation of Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. The West Bronx was annexed to New York City (then largely confined to Manhattan) in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River were annexed in 1895. The Bronx first assumed a distinct legal identity when it became a borough of Greater New York in 1898. Bronx County, with the same boundaries as the borough, was separated from New York County (afterwards coextensive with the Borough of Manhattan) as of January 1, 1914. Although the Bronx is the third most densely populated county in the U.S., about a quarter of its area is open space, including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo in the borough's north and center, on land deliberately reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed northwards and eastwards from Manhattan with the building of roads, bridges and railways. The Bronx River was named after Jonas Bronck, who created the first settlement as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639, and eventually lent its name to the entire borough. The native Lenape were progressively displaced after 1643 by settlers. The Bronx received many Irish, German, Jewish and Italian immigrants as its once-rural population exploded between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries. They were succeeded after 1945 by African Americans and Hispanic Americans from the Caribbean basinespecially Puerto Rico and later the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. In recent years, this cultural mix has made the Bronx a wellspring of both Latin music and hip hop.
The data relating to real estate for sale or lease on this web site comes in part from HGMLS. Real estate listings held by brokerage firms other than the publisher of this website are marked with the HGMLS logo or an abbreviated logo and detailed information about them includes the name of the listing broker. The information appearing herein has not been verified by the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, Inc. or the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors, Inc. or by any individual(s) who may be affiliated with said entities, all of whom hereby collectively and severally disclaim any and all responsibility for the accuracy of the information appearing at this web site, at any time or from time to time. All such information should be independently verified by the recipient of such data. This data is not warranted for any purpose. Copyright 2018 Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, Inc. All rights reserved.
Updated: 20th March, 2019 5:38 PM. | <urn:uuid:b3c2d1f2-6d7b-4a18-8e5e-6b53827e2917> | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | https://www.wrhh.net/area/bronx/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912202450.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20190320170159-20190320192159-00218.warc.gz | en | 0.96475 | 719 | 3.265625 | 3 |
How Long Before Cabbage Heads Form?
If you have a vegetable garden and enjoy strong-flavored foods, then don't overlook the simple-to-grow cabbage plant (Brassica oleracea, capitata group). Cabbage is an annual that can be grown in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 2 through 11. The length of time it takes a cabbage plant to form a head depends partly on the variety grown but also on the growing conditions.
Days to Maturity
The cabbage plant belongs to a species subgroup called capitata because it naturally forms a head. If you want to estimate the time it usually takes for a cabbage variety to form a harvest-ready head, then check that variety's seed packet or the label on a purchased seedling for the number of days to maturity. The number of days indicates the time it takes for a mature cabbage head to form under ideal conditions.
For example, the University of Illinois Extension website notes that the variety called 'Cheers' takes 75 days to mature while another green cabbage called 'Early Jersey Wakefield' is ready for harvest about 63 days after planting. Savoy cabbage, which has extra curly, wrinkled leaves, takes a bit longer, with 'Savoy Queen' needing about 88 days to mature.
Planting Time for Growing Cabbage
Grow cabbage plants in cool weather and are quite sensitive to excess heat. They don't perform well when temperatures are consistently above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, forming loose heads or no heads at all under those conditions. Avoid that problem by planting cabbage as early in spring as the soil can be worked and while weather is still cool so that the heads mature before summer heat arrives. Also, a fall planting can produce a good crop in midsummer. The Missouri Botanical Garden website recommends that you start cabbage seeds indoors in peat pots, and transplant the resulting seedlings into an outdoor garden in early fall.
Best Cabbage Growing Conditions
Cabbage plants are generally tough, but they require an even supply of moisture to form good heads. Water your plants regularly, giving them 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water each week it doesn't rain. Apply a 2- to 3-inch-thick layer of organic mulch, such as straw or grass clippings, on the soil around the plants, but not touching them, to help retain soil moisture and keep down competing weeds. Amending the soil at planting time with a high-nitrogen supplemental fertilizer for cabbage, such as cottonseed meal or composted manure, also boosts the plants' general growth and head formation.
Remove some seedlings to promote good air circulation for the remaining seedlings and to give the plants enough space for heads to grow; allow 12 to 18 inches of space in all directions around each plant.
Harvesting Your Cabbage
A cabbage is ready for harvest when its leaves have formed a tight, solid rosette, or head, that is surrounded by large, individual leaves. Harvest the cabbage heads when they feel firm to hand pressure. If you wait too long to harvest, they can split or crack, and exposed parts quickly become tough and inedible. Cut a head free from the rest of the plant by using a sharp knife, and disinfect the knife's blade by wiping it with rubbing alcohol between cuts.
If you leave the cabbage plant stumps and roots in place, small sprouts may appear between the remaining leaves and stem. Called cabbage sprouts, they can be harvested when they're 2 or 4 inches in diameter and firm to the touch.
Joanne Marie began writing professionally in 1981. Her work has appeared in health, medical and scientific publications such as Endocrinology and Journal of Cell Biology. She has also published in hobbyist offerings such as The Hobstarand The Bagpiper. Marie is a certified master gardener and has a Ph.D. in anatomy from Temple University School of Medicine. | <urn:uuid:88fcdc57-53ab-4f52-a609-2de1b23425b6> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://homeguides.sfgate.com/long-before-cabbage-heads-form-97107.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296950383.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20230402043600-20230402073600-00783.warc.gz | en | 0.946448 | 807 | 3.234375 | 3 |
The euro is the single currency shared by European Union countries that have adopted the euro. Some EU countries do not participate (Denmark and the United Kingdom through 'opt outs') or have not adopted the euro yet because the convergence criteria to join the euro are not met.
Official currencies, including the euro, consist in a monetary system designed and controlled by a state or, as regards the euro, by supranational structures.
Within the euro area, only the euro has the status of legal tender. Article 128 (1) TFEU lays down the legal tender status of euro banknotes, and article 11 of Regulation EC/974/98 does so with regard to euro coins. This means that in the absence of an agreement of the means of payment, the creditor is obliged to accept a payment made in euro which subsequently discharges the debtor from his payment obligation.
Yet, during transactions, contractual parties are free to use other official foreign currencies with legal tender status in the state of issuance (e.g. the pound sterling or the US dollar). The same applies to privately issued money like local exchange trading systems (e.g. voucher-based payment systems in certain communities) or virtual currency schemes (e.g. Bitcoin). Although these are not official currencies and have no legal tender status, parties can agree to use them as private money without prejudice to the official currency. In that way, these forms of private money can be considered as economic assets. Private money transactions and business are subject to the general rules of commodity trade such as taxation law, business law, anti-money laundering law or others. However, they are not official currencies and they are not governed by monetary law.
Practical questions about the euro
Although euro area countries share a single currency, interpretations of its legal tender status means still differ across countries. This may be a source of confusion and lead to questions such as
- can a retailer refuse payments in cash at all times?
- can shops refuse payments with high denomination banknotes?
- can surcharges be imposed on payments in cash?
Therefore, the purpose of the Commission recommendation on the scope and effects of legal tender of euro cash (2010/191/EU) is to provide guidelines on such issues with direct implications on peoples' daily lives. These guidelines are based on 10 principles
- banknotes and coins should be accepted for their full face value to pay for debts
- payments in cash should be the accepted rule. This should only be refused because of the 'good faith' principle - for example, if the retailer does not have enough change
- it should be the rule to accept high denomination banknotes
- no surcharges should be imposed on payments in cash
- countries should not adopt new rounding rules to the nearest 5 cent
- countries should prevent euro collector coins from being used as means of payment
- Stained banknotes should be brought back to the National Central Banks as they might be the product of a theft
- total destruction of banknotes and coins by individuals in small quantities should not be prohibited
- mutilation of banknotes and coins for artistic purposes should be tolerated
- the competence to destroy fit euro coins should not belong to national authorities in isolation anymore | <urn:uuid:f88943bc-b6df-4741-9526-ad23aa42473e> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/euro-area/euro/use-euro/euro-legal-tender_en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794867085.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20180525102302-20180525122302-00276.warc.gz | en | 0.945351 | 656 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Crime, especially violent crime, hurts individuals and society. Both direct and indirect victims of crime may suffer untold consequences that can endure for years and can even affect next generations. Those who do not suffer personally may nonetheless acquire negative perceptions of people or places because of criminal activity. The net effect of such perceptions can change societal attitudes creating a more negative environment. This is a loss for everyone. These perceptions can be disproportionately magnified by advocacy groups, media and political agendas.
Policy responses are often viewed in binary terms: tough or soft on crime. This simplistic duality has long had political resonance, but its impact on our prison system is a major concern. The New Zealand prison population is increasing and is one of the highest in the OECD at a time when crime rates are actually decreasing. This can only be explained by the systemic and cumulative impact of successive policy decisions over time, often in response to public demand and political positioning.
Successive governments of different political orientations have supported a progressively retributive rather than a restorative approach to crime with unsupported claims that prisons can solve the problems of crime. As a result, the costs of prisons far exceed those justified by the need to protect the public. We keep imprisoning more people in response to dogma not data, responding to shifting policies and media panics, instead of evidence-based approaches to prevention, intervention, imprisonment and rehabilitation. This does not diminish the importance of incarceration for a subset of individuals so as to protect the public.
The strong evidence base related to what fuels the prison ‘pipeline’ suggests that prisons are extremely expensive training grounds for further offending, building offenders’ criminal careers by teaching them criminal skills, damaging their employment, accommodation and family prospects, and compounding mental health and substance use issues. On release, even after a short period of imprisonment, for example on remand, offenders have been found to reintegrate poorly to the community. Furthermore, this does nothing to reassure victims that the risk of harm is being effectively managed by the justice system.
It is now well understood that prisons act as recruitment centres for gangs (especially for young offenders) and underpin the illegal drug trade. Imprisonment leaves those incarcerated with high rates of undiagnosed and untreated alcohol/drug addictions and mental illness. They have a negative impact on the next generation, given that a high percentage of people in prison are parents. These issues disproportionately affect Māori.
Other countries, such as Finland, have significantly reduced their incarceration rates without crime rates rising. There is strong scientific evidence for putting resources into crime prevention, early intervention (identifying and mitigating risk), and a smarter approach to rehabilitation and subsequent social inclusion for those already in the criminal-justice system – not for building more prisons.
To assist in such an approach, there must be adequate investment in piloting and evaluating early intervention and prevention initiatives. With leadership and knowledge, we can fundamentally transform the justice system, reduce victimisation and recidivism and make prisons only a part of a much more proactive and effective systemic response to a complex problem.
This is the first of two reports. The second report, which will be released within the next month, explores factors that are particularly relevant to youth offenders. | <urn:uuid:6c58b9c1-08d5-4fe7-864a-a25fd367b22a> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://apo.org.au/node/139026 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656104293758.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20220704015700-20220704045700-00599.warc.gz | en | 0.948039 | 657 | 2.984375 | 3 |
What is the connection between cancer and computer use? The answer is toxicity. Let me explain. The computer use environment is highly toxic which can subject humans to malfunctioning of organ and tissue cells. Operating computer create light pollution. They also result in environmental pollution. All this can lead to the formation of cancer cells. Read on to learn how
The human is a natural computer much like the one you are using right now only natural in connectivity and operation. It operates on an automatic system that begins to function upon conception and once it becomes a fetus it moves to a new stage of development as coded to produce organ and tissue forming cells. This activity is automatically guided by the code of operation placed in the earth’s system by our maker that enabled the production of the first human.
The earth was unable to automatically bring forth the human of itself it needed the help of our maker to mold the human and command the breath/wind of life to flow into him i.e. there was wireless connectivity with the source of life through the wind/air. That connectivity is passed through ionic oxygen which is encoded in air oxygen. This is the coded way of life operations on the earth. We must have oxygen encoded life to survive.
Because existence on earth is coded, it functions in a set pattern and any variation is pollution and toxic and can cause abnormal growth of cells which can multiply resulting in organ or tissue malfunction that can spread bodywide and cause death. This is what is called cancer. Cancers ares pollution effects and produce pollution syptoms.
Toxicity from computer light exposure can therefore result in cancer as cancer is abnormal growth Anything, therefore, that affects the automated system of cell multiplication based on the need for growth and cell repair and maintenance is a recipe for uncontrolled cell multiplication bypassing and overwhelming the natural automatic process.
This is why genetically modified foods GMO for example can lead to cancer as the automated process of growth is disrupted by the modification. That is because like anything else coded, it is only the programmer or someone with programming capability that can correctly modify a coded system without harming it.
Since the code of nature is the spoken word of our maker into the systems of the earth only He is able to make changes. The experimentation we do is not authorized and therefore cannot change anything it only pollutes resulting in toxicity and destruction. To learn more about the effect of human experimentation read this blog and get this seminar recording.
Let me explain this pollution effect or pollution symptoms further, estrogen production is what is responsible for cell multiplication. Estrogen is a neurotransmitter i.e. a biochemical. Progesterone controls the production of estrogen to form objects. These are all automated activities triggered by natural processes in the system of nature. The light that comes off the computer screen has an estrogen-mimicking property which is what enables it to be produced. This not being naturally generated is a pollutant and toxic.
It can easily throw off the body’s own natural estrogen:; progesterone balance especially in women resulting in abnormal multiplication of cells and cancer or fibroids. These are pollution effects and pollution symptions.Fibroids are abnormal multiplication that results in abnormal growth. If these cells now change and become abnormal it could result in cancer. If they remain normal cells but multiply more rapidly than is required for normal operations due to excessive estrogen production or presence we call that fibroid. They do not lead to death as long as they do not become abnormal but may result in unbearable pain discomfort that prevents normal life activities. You can call fibroids pollution effects or pollution symptoms.
Things like GMO are not part of the automated system and are achieved through osmosis ie. you put the seed in water or some other fluid to which you add something that has the property you want in the new seed. The new seed is now laden with the property which is now passed on to the food that grows from it. We keep on changing what we add until we get a seed that seems to have the property we want to be absorbed in it then we use that as a template to produce as much of the new variety as we want.
Since this is not the natural system coded into the seed, it is like a virus or spyware or malware sure to create havoc as the human body is not coded to use food laden with whatever we have poisoned it with. Because it is not a natural coding methodology, the process of production of estrogen which when the seed is placed in a water moist environment for planting does not produce the corresponding level of progesterone. Excess estrogen must be produced to enable the seed to grow in spite of the strange things added to develop this GMO. The normal estrogen: progesterone activity must take place and then excessive estrogen must be developed to enable the seed to grow with the experimentally added properties resulting in the development of cancer symptoms in people who eat them. If these symptoms overwhelm the body then a diagnosis of cancer is made. Listen to these life-changing seminars to avoid becoming a victim
Here is therefore the link between experimentation and cancer. Consequently, Excessive production of estrogen is the leading causative factor for cancer symptoms. Resulting in abnormal cell growth i.e. over multiplication of cells more than is required for normal growth and maintenance and repair. When the body is unable to reverse or accommodate it results in abnormal cell formation that destroys the internal organ or tissue systems of the body where they crowd out normal cells making normal bodily function impossible | <urn:uuid:246c4c0b-bbae-4659-b36c-09e36e532ffb> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://wiredlifesolutions.com/cancers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296943471.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20230320083513-20230320113513-00457.warc.gz | en | 0.944583 | 1,113 | 2.828125 | 3 |
BLACKSBURG, Va. — After years of lengthy research and experiments, leading scientists at Virginia Tech announced today that they’ve successfully developed renewable energy from the unstable forces of plans and events that were spontaneously cancelled. The discovery is being hailed by the scientific community as a landmark achievement in the never-ending search for more renewable energy sources. Miguel Chavez, a theoretical physicist from VT who’s been leading the study dubbed “The Abrogate Project,” says that whenever plans are cancelled between two organic sources, highly negative energies are often released. After repeated experiments involving two human subjects, Steve Kiretsu and Christa Thaler, the team was able to finally harness said negative ener0gies. “We began experimenting with the fusing of particles from Steve flaking out on his friends last Tuesday with the isotopes from Christa calling in sick to work yesterday,” Chavez explained. “The combined elements of the cancellation released a highly kinetic energy that we were able stabilize enough to a controllable rate. At joules equivalent to √2 ≈ 3.1 m/s., we were able to successfully power a toaster for two hours.” Chavez concluded his statement by revealing prospective future experiments involving a Tinder date no-show and an aborted Thanksgiving dinner, the latter of which may eventually be handled by VT’s nuclear energy lab. | <urn:uuid:cfb54fef-ef5d-47c4-8965-4980d640a8a7> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://thepeedmont.com/2017/04/27/scientists-create-renewable-energy-out-of-cancelled-plans/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703527850.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20210121194330-20210121224330-00643.warc.gz | en | 0.97416 | 287 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Difference Between Shrimp and Lobster
Shrimp vs Lobster
Differentiating a shrimp from a lobster is actually very easy. By simply looking at them side by side, even an elementary kid can spot that one is a shrimp and not a lobster and vice versa. Their disparities are a lot easier to distinguish than comparing a lobster with other creepy crawlers, let’s say the crayfishes.
Although both shrimps and lobsters are close relatives (both are classified as crustaceans) and share many similarities like having compound eyes and fused head to their bodies, a shrimp is a sea animal located in either freshwater or salt bodies of water. This is probably the single most important difference between the two because lobsters live in salt waters only. It is also important to note that there are almost 2,000 different species of shrimps worldwide yet about 20 of them are essential commercially.
With regard to physical attributes, shrimps are generally smaller when pitted against the lobster family. Even regular lobsters are somewhat bigger than most jumbo shrimps. As observed, shrimps can grow as much as 8 inches at an average although this can vary depending on the specific shrimp species being examined. If shrimps grow any larger than this (but usually not more than 12 inches), they are often regarded with another name ‘“ prawns.
The shrimps elongated body structure looks narrower than that of ordinary lobsters. Its exoskeleton (shell) is translucent in nature. They often shed this off as part of their normal growth cycle. Most shrimps have colors that vary from gray to white and even green. But some of them can readily change their outer color as a form of adaptation to their immediate surroundings.
Even if shrimps do seem to have minute leg-like structures called appendages (specifically termed swimmerets) beneath their bodies (abdomen ‘“ the part usually eaten), they actually don’t use these pair of mini legs to crawl; rather they use such fine structures for swimming. Their tails (telson) are often the primary player for locomotion on top of their normal gliding abilities with the water current. On the contrary, lobsters use their sets of appendages to crawl.
In addition, lobsters and shrimps also procreate differently. The former usually carry their eggs with them while the latter release the same to the open sea.
1. Shrimps live both in fresh and salt waters while lobsters live in salty waters only.
2. Shrimps swim while lobsters crawl.
3. Shrimps are generally smaller than lobsters.
4. Female lobsters carry their eggs with them while shrimps disperse their eggs to the sea.
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Liquid nitrogen ice cream
Liquid nitrogen ice cream sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie where people dress in reflective fabrics and wear HUD-enabled visors. Those unfamiliar to LN2 ice cream—as it is frequently abbreviated to—might even believe that eating liquid nitrogen ice cream includes eating nitrogen, a belief which in turn causes concern over one’s health. In reality however, LN2 ice cream is one of the safest, creamiest, tastiest and most natural ice creams available.
What is liquid nitrogen?
Liquid nitrogen is nitrogen, which has a chemical formula of N2, at its liquid state. Nitrogen’s gaseous state happens to comprise 78% of the Earth’s atmosphere by volume. You breathe in nitrogen on a daily basis, so nitrogen itself is perfectly safe to “eat.” Now, as you may know, compounds or matter have three states—solid, liquid, and gas. Solids are generally the coldest. Liquids are hotter than solids. Gasses are hottest. Matter shifts between each state depending on their temperature. What is unique about nitrogen is the fact that its liquid state turns to gas—boils–at -195ºC or -320ºF. Thus, liquid nitrogen is very cold, and by the time it reaches room temperature, liquid nitrogen will not actually be liquid anymore and have evaporated into the atmosphere.
Concept behind liquid nitrogen ice cream
Ice cream, by definition, is frozen cream, and generally, people make ice cream by exposing cream to a cold surface while stirring the cream in order incorporate air into the mixture. While the traditional method works well, liquid nitrogen provides an alternative and more exciting method of procuring ice cream. By mixing liquid nitrogen into the liquid cream mixture, you can freeze cream and turn it into ice cream without using any other cold surface. When the liquid nitrogen contact touches cream, the cream loses its heat energy to the liquid nitrogen, causing the cream to get colder and liquid nitrogen to get hotter. Once the liquid nitrogen has absorbed enough heat and reached a temperature high enough to boil, the liquid nitrogen turns into a gas and escapes into the atmosphere. The boiling away of liquid nitrogen also causes air cavities to form in the cream mixture, aerating the ice cream and making it more light and fluffy. The whole process can occur in a large metal pot.
How to make liquid nitrogen
You simply use a ratio of 1:1, all the way up to 1:5, ice cream mixture to liquid nitrogen ratio to make LN2 ice cream.
Mint Ice Cream Mixture
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
- Pour ice cream mixture into large metallic bowl.
- Gradually pour liquid nitrogen into bowl while stirring the ice cream and liquid nitrogen mixture.
- Keep adding and stirring until the ice cream reaches a desired creaminess.
Safety and Leidenfrost Effect
Working with liquid nitrogen can be dangerous. Though, it is no more dangerous than working with boiling water or a scalding hot pan. Due to the extremely low temperature of liquid nitrogen, frost-related injuries can occur. I have also heard that liquid nitrogen can freeze your hands off—not sure how valid such statement is however. Just remember to handle liquid nitrogen carefully!
Despite precautions necessary in handling liquid nitrogen, a phenomenon known as the Leidenfrost effect prevents liquid nitrogen from being too dangerous for household use. The Leidenfrost effect describes the phenomenon of liquids coming to contact with a surface that is so hot that part of the liquid instantaneously vaporizes to form a gas cushion between the liquid and the hot surface. For example, the Leidenfrost effect occurs when water droplets hit a scalding hot pan, and the droplets scatter or roll around the pan without boiling off immediately. The reason the water does not boil off is because only the very bottom layer of liquid boils. That layer does not boil “off” however, since it remains trapped between the pan and the liquid.
For liquid nitrogen, the room temperature is “hot” enough for the Leidenfrost effect to occur. Thus, when liquid nitrogen hits the skin, a protective layer of nitrogen gas separates the liquid nitrogen and the skin. The effect does not last forever, so it is still best not to come in contact with liquid nitrogen for more than a few seconds. Just know that liquid nitrogen will not burn you immediately upon contact.
Other applications of liquid nitrogen
Did you know that Dippin’ Dots, the novel dot-shaped ice cream is made by using liquid nitrogen? Droplets of liquid ice cream mixture fall into liquid nitrogen to instantaneously freeze into ice cream while preserving its shape. | <urn:uuid:3240e60a-5c4a-4f8f-bb7e-b70c1aa255bf> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | http://toastable.com/2011/liquid-nitrogen-ice-cream/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440645305536.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827031505-00237-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914237 | 1,013 | 3.046875 | 3 |
One of the joys of having a home that overlooks the Puget Sound is the wide range of shipping traffic that flows through the sound. Since we are on the path for ships going to and from the Bremerton Naval Ship Yard, it is always a treat to see these large beasts of the sea pass by our view.
The USS Missouri had a long history with the US Navy as the timeline below shows:
This website carries a brief history of the USS Missouri:
“The ship was built during World War II and is one of the Iowa-class battleships that were designed for speed and firepower. The Missouri was the last battleship ever built. The ship was part of the force of firepower in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. During the war’s final month, the “Mighty Mo” served as Adm. William “Bull” Halsey’s flagship for the Pacific Third Fleet.
- 887 feet in length: 209 feet from keel to mast
- It weighs 58,000 tons on a full load.
- It is 5 feet longer and 18 feet wider than the RMS Titanic.
- The ship could travel at 33 knots.
- It possessed 13.5 inch thick steel armor plating that protected the hull.
- It is also known for its 16-inch guns and twenty 5-inch anti-aircraft guns.
The last voyage of the USS Missouri was a reminder of all the valiant sailors that served aboard this massive battleship. We give you our eternal thanks.
For a humorous look at the wonderful world of innovation and new ventures, checkout Fl!p and the gang at Fl!p Comics. | <urn:uuid:d12bb9d0-7531-44f4-a24a-965932cdcec0> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | https://skipwalter.net/2013/09/30/lifelet-mighty-uss-missouri/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917123276.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031203-00163-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967939 | 352 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Describe the processes that occur within the atmosphere as water vapor is converted into precipitation.
1 Answer | Add Yours
The conversion of water vapour into precipitation is an exothermic process. It is exothermic because in order for gaseous water to convert into liquid water the system has to lose heat, hence releasing heat during the process of condensation. The approximate temperature at which water can condense from a gas to a liquid is called the dew point. The dew point raises as the amount of water vapour in the air increases. Water can also condense if the saturation point of the air has been met. What this means is that there is more water vapour in the air than the air can hold, and so the water is forced to condense.
It is important to note that water vapour requires a surface on which to condense, it does not spontaneously condense into a liquid unless the water vapour has become supercooled for several hours. In the atmosphere, this surface is called a cloud condensation nuclei. These particles are composed of a variety of things such as dust or sea salt.
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Join a community of thousands of dedicated teachers and students.Join eNotes | <urn:uuid:de13baa2-7ee4-4516-9ba2-fda5c8bd0600> | CC-MAIN-2014-52 | http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/describe-processes-that-occur-within-atmosphere-436835 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-52/segments/1418802770433.122/warc/CC-MAIN-20141217075250-00042-ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960043 | 254 | 3.578125 | 4 |
We’re in the sky above rolling clouds that remind us of the ocean waves we already miss. As we travel home today, I am going to condense a recent course reading which discusses assisted evolution on the reef.
Genetic enhancements, practiced for thousands of years by humans through selective breeding and similar techniques, are now being considered outside of the commercial realm by conservationists interested in preserving the reef.
As ocean temperatures and carbon dioxide emissions increase, coral reefs see disturbances; such disturbances may be minimized if coral is made more resilient with human aid.
Though there are concerns, primarily about the potential for coral with assisted adaptations to act as an invasive species on the reef, researchers continue to consider possible benefits to coral manipulation as there is not a foreseeable future where elements causing coral stress are significantly reduced or neutralized.
My source, http://www.pnas.org/content/112/8/2307.full, sheds far greater light on this subject that I could hope to with the interest of brevity; as always, I must encourage a thorough reading of the sourced article for a comprehensive understandings of presently unexplained intricacies.
If you have questions or suggestions of natural features or wildlife of Belize for me to discuss here, please contact me at [email protected] | <urn:uuid:b0263f1c-972c-4919-8635-316540761c9c> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | https://www.luther.edu/jtermblogs2018/latin-america-caribbean/belize/?story_id=802105 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676595531.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20180723071245-20180723091245-00422.warc.gz | en | 0.919461 | 261 | 2.71875 | 3 |
A young boy called Louis invented braille over 200 years ago in France.
When Louis Braille died in 1852 he must have wondered whether his reading and writing system would die with him. It certainly didn't!
Louis Braille's system of embossed type is now used by blind and partially sighted people for reading and writing all over the world. It has been adapted to almost every known language, from Albanian to Zulu. Over the years RNIB has continued to fight for braille and the rights of blind and partially sighted people to have access to information and the opportunity to express themselves in written word. Since our first braille book was published in 1871 our library now shares over 25,000 braille books and music scores with our members every year. We are the largest publisher of braille in Europe.
Today RNIB strives to keep braille alive in a number of ways:
Two centuries after braille was invented, it's still going strong. But the world changes and new technology develops. It will be interesting to see, and even to shape, what happens to braille in the future... | <urn:uuid:c469e909-4a63-4e60-8e06-2500e0532713> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://www.rnib.org.uk/practical-help/reading/braille-and-moon-tactile-codes/braille-past-present-future | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251690379.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20200126195918-20200126225918-00116.warc.gz | en | 0.976659 | 231 | 3.515625 | 4 |
The European Space Agency says that one of its research satellites that ran out of fuel will most likely crash into the ocean or one of the Earth’s polar regions sometime between the evening of November 10 and early the next morning.
The agency said the satellite will mostly disintegrate as it comes down and "only a few pieces which could be 90 kilograms at the most" could reach the Earth’s surface.
Experts say the statistical risk to humans is remote.
The satellite, called The Gravity Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE), is a low-orbit research craft launched in 2009 to monitor gravity variations and sea levels. It ran out of fuel on October 21 after performing for twice as long as originally predicted.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP | <urn:uuid:332d8fec-8000-40cb-89bd-a7ddc9542cfd> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.rferl.org/a/falling-european-satellite/25163869.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719646.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00242-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967046 | 155 | 3.28125 | 3 |
This book includes offline and online activities that develop students ability to read and analyse websites as they refine their online research skills for use in other subjects. Students are also introduced to online safety, netiquette and ethics to ensure they are confident, safe and effective internet users.
Enhances students online safety, including how to develop a strong password and understanding acceptable use agreements and phishing scams.
Introduces students to blogs and collaboration tools, and encourages them to use appropriate netiquette and ethics when using the internet.
Explores how websites are created for a specific purpose and audience, and how the features of online texts assist navigation and usability. | <urn:uuid:ac754aef-3bc9-43cd-bec7-7b6e99d6acbd> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | https://www.ricpublications.com.au/shop/developing-ict-skills-internet-literacy-year-3-to-year-6/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039747024.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20181121032129-20181121054129-00246.warc.gz | en | 0.924468 | 128 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Living Free, cosmopolitan amoebae from genus present a serious risk to human health. viruses, fungi, and protist. However, their anti-amoebic potential has not been fully tested yet. The aim of this study was to assess silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) anti-amoebic activity and influence on the amoebae adhesion to the surface of four different groups of contact lensesclassified according to the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) guidelines. The obtained results show that both tested nanoparticles were effective against trophozoites and decreased the amoebae adhesion to the contact lens surface. AgNPs demonstrated better anti-amoebic activity to cytotoxicity dependence and decreased amoebae adhesion within a wider spectral range of the examined contacts. Our research also verified that ionization following to hydration from the contact lens materials is an essential parameter influencing the adhesion towards the contact lens surface area. In conclusion, gold nanoparticles could be regarded as a book preventive agent against keratitis infections. genus have already been isolated from both manmade and environment resources including special and salty drinking water, soil, air, town fountains, and pools. Both spp. could cause a progressive, sight-threatening corneal infections referred to as keratitis (AK). The amount of world-wide diagnosed AK situations increases season by season and 90% of these relates to the lens make use of [1,2,3]. Improper administration of the contacts, cleaning them in plain tap water, or putting on them while going swimming may provoke contaminants with amoebae that may be easily transmitted towards the cornea. Amoebae primarily localized in the corneal epithelium surface area invade Pimaricin irreversible inhibition the root stroma and infiltrate through the corneal nerves quickly, leading to neuritis and necrosis [4,5,6,7,8,9]. Chlamydia is often one-side and manifests by nonspecific symptoms such as for example severe eye discomfort, blurred eyesight, and lachrymation. AK is misdiagnosed with bacterial or viral corneal attacks commonly. This leads to postpone of medicine mainly. Consequently, AK can result in blindness [1 quickly,10]. Current, there is absolutely no effective therapy available against AK completely. The therapeutic techniques recommended with the Centers for Disease Control and Avoidance (CDC) are chlorhexidine digluconate coupled with propamidine isethionate or hexamidine applications. Nevertheless, the extended treatment with these agencies is very poisonous to the attention and rarely qualified prospects to complete recovery of the individual [3,11,12,13]. Avoidance continues to be the primary aspect that limitations the amount of AK attacks. In recent years, fast development of medical nanotechnology has been observed. Nanoparticles are considered as new potential anti-microbial brokers. During this time, their activity has been confirmed against many bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoan species [14,15,16,17]. The entire mode of action of nanoparticles is still unknown. Recent studies have revealed that nanoparticles penetrate and disturb the structure of cell membrane, induce intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, disrupt respiratory chain enzymes, cause cell damage by DNA replication inhibition, affect secondary DNA structure, and inhibit ATP-dependent protein synthesis [18,19]. Silver nanoparticles anti-microbial activity has been described against and [20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27]. The anti-protozoal activity of AgNPs has been confirmed against spp., and spp. [14,28,29,30,31,32,33]. The activity of tannic acid-modified silver nanoparticles against spp. was also confirmed in our recent studies . Platinum nanoparticles have not been as extensively studied as silver nanoparticles but their anti-bacterial activity against and highly resistant strains has already been described [35,36,37,38,39,40]. Moreover, recent studies have shown that PtNPs may inhibit biofilm formation by . The anti-protozoal activity of PtNPs has also been investigated and confirmed against . Latest research using nanotechnologies possess centered on the anti-amoebic therapy development mostly. The AK infection prevention improvement using nanoparticles can be an innovative approach which has not been widely Pimaricin irreversible inhibition tested but still. DC42 Current studies also show that typically the most popular multipurpose Pimaricin irreversible inhibition lens disinfection systems, commonly based on anti-microbial and anti-fungal brokers, are not fully effective against. | <urn:uuid:00fdd340-827f-4700-8c99-6456216e5c9e> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | http://og-l002.com/%EF%BB%BFliving-free-cosmopolitan-amoebae-from-genus-present-a-serious-risk-to-human-health/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334591.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20220925162915-20220925192915-00507.warc.gz | en | 0.944257 | 981 | 3 | 3 |
Part of the design for The Triumph of Arts and Letters – Philosophers, Sages and Students for the Royal Albert Hall. Edward Armitage (1817-1896). c.1869-1870. Pen, ink & watercolour on paper. Full section on paper: H 32 x W 259 cm. Accession number: RAH/5/6/1/13. © Royal Albert Hall, by kind permission of the Royal Albert Hall Archives.
The whole section was to be one of Edward Armitage's two contributions to the enormous terracotta mposaic frieze running around the whole façade, below the dome of the building. The part shown here shows less than half of the twenty-three figures in the section. This small part not only gives an idea of the heroic scale of the enterprise but is of special interest because it shows students being taught by Sir Richard Owen (on the far right), who gestures towards a fossil specimen. The fact that one of these students is a young woman is also significant, as women students were only now entering academe (see Armitage 148). Two other young women can be seen here, one by the chemistry table and one curtseying to receive an award.
- The University of London and women students
- Archival resources relating to the higher eduction of women in England
Armitage, Jill. Edward Armitage RA: Battles in the Victorian Art World. Kilworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, 2017. [Review].
Created 13 October 2019 | <urn:uuid:eeae7279-625d-4af6-9460-a2372dd59461> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://victorianweb.org/victorian/painting/armitage/murals/2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780057524.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20210924110455-20210924140455-00488.warc.gz | en | 0.906599 | 323 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Teachers! Free English Lesson plan from Learn Hot English
Video meeting fails
Level: Advanced (C1) to Proficiency (C2)
Have you ever had a problem with a video meeting? What happened? What went wrong? How did you resolve it?
With Zoom and other online video meeting technology becoming more and more popular, this is a topical issue that your students will enjoy reading and talking about. This practical lesson will get your students using lots of useful language and all the essential skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing.
WARNING: the third story involves the mention of sex – just so you know (there’s nothing explicit). You might want to omit it with certain students.
Although we’ve set this lesson at a certain level, you could easily use it with other levels. For example, you could just use the middle story (about the robbery) as the language isn’t too challenging with an Upper Intermediate (B2) class.
Ask your students: What problems have you had with zoom or other video conferencing systems? What went wrong? Why? How did you resolve it?
Or, let your students watch the video (see link below) on Zoom mishaps. Ask them to answer these questions after watching it. One of the short clips is in Spanish but it’s very visual so it won’t matter: What goes wrong in each clip? Why is there a problem? What are the people trying to do? Why can’t they proceed normally? What happens in the end?
Tell your students to read over the stories and to make notes. Then, go through each story asking very general questions about what happened or the meanings of the words. Make this very communicative and dynamic. Choose any words or expressions you think students might not be familiar with. For example, from story 1, you could ask the following:
- What did the councillor in the first story do wrong?
- What do you think it means when they say that he was “blasted” for his actions?
- Specifically, what did he do that could be considered dangerous?
- What do you think it means when they say he “took his hands off the wheel”?
- What do you think of what he did? How serious an issue is it?
Tell your students that you’re going to get them to recreate the first story. So, give them a couple of minutes to read over that one again. Then, tell them to turn to the gapped version of the article and to try to complete it. You could do this as a class, or students could do it individually or in pairs.
A senior councillor who joined a virtual council meeting while driving a lorry has been blasted for putting himself and other road users in a ‘dangerous situation’. Councillor David Brown – who held the tourism, arts and culture brief on Boston Borough Council – appeared at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, September 9 from the cab of his moving vehicle.
His dangerous actions have been captured in a video which shows him driving while using a device to connect to the meeting and has sparked outrage. He is seen looking at the screen and adjusting it on several occasions as he drives and at one point even takes his hand off the wheel to wave at the device to show his attendance when he discovers his microphone is muted. He drove for at least 20 minutes before disappearing from sight – and then reappeared on the screen for the rest of the meeting after he seemingly parked up.
He has since quit his job with the council and the matter is being investigated by Lincolnshire Police and the council.
Assign a story to each student. Then, tell them to make notes (not write out sentences) that they can use to retell their story. Then, when they’re ready, students have to give an oral summary of their story, using as many of the words and expressions as possible. Other students listen, then ask questions.
If you have a large class, you could put your students into pairs or threes and get them to create a dialogue related to the story, with one or two students playing characters from the story, and another person acting as a journalist who asks questions. Other students listen to the dialogues and ask questions.
For lots more great material like this, get our fantastic Complete Teaching Product Pack.
Click here for more details: https://learnhotenglish.com/product/buy-all-our-teaching-products-and-get-a-35-discount/ | <urn:uuid:94fb9792-b355-450e-85d0-ff508ea5cf12> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://learnhotenglish.com/teachers-free-english-lesson-plan-when-video-meetings-fail/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335059.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20220927225413-20220928015413-00267.warc.gz | en | 0.97259 | 976 | 3.859375 | 4 |
The Hubble Space Telescope may be getting old, but it still has excellent spotting power — witness its discovery of a fourth moon of Pluto, which is between 8 miles and 21 miles in diameter.
P4 is located between the orbits of Nix and Hydra, both of which were discovered by Hubble in 2005. Charon was discovered in 1978 at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
All four of Pluto's moons are believed to have formed when Pluto and another planet-sized body collided in the early history of our solar system. Earth's Moon may have formed the same way.
P4 was first seen in a photo taken by Hubble on June 28 and was confirmed in subsequent Hubble pictures taken July 3 and July 18, NASA said.
But it still needs a better name than P4. Any suggestions? | <urn:uuid:c5c35f7d-c292-4417-abb0-076d275b8bdd> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://io9.com/5823332/plutos-newly-discovered-fourth-moon-is-roughly-the-size-of-trenton-nj?tag=moons | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398464396.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205424-00105-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986918 | 164 | 3.40625 | 3 |
School must make knowledge significant for students. In Calasanz Secondary Education, different subjects collaborate to create projects where students can use their knowledge to provoke reflection and give answers to today’s issues.
In Biology classes we studied the atmosphere and we realized how human activity is damaging and increasing the global warming effect. In English clases we learnt the vocabulary to talk about this problem, one of the world’s most worrying threats.
After we made mind map to show it and we discussed the possible solutions. Next step, we are recording our conclusions to concern other classes and take them into action. | <urn:uuid:97a1d043-e4b3-4dee-87a1-f4a3a2eb245b> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://calasanz.eus/take-action-because-there-is-no-planet-b/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296944606.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20230323003026-20230323033026-00507.warc.gz | en | 0.927624 | 122 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Climate Change Minister James Shaw says the just-published Greenhouse Gas Inventory, from the Ministry for the Environment, underlines the case for accelerated action to reduce emissions.
The report shows that the 2020 lockdowns had an impact on emissions. Gross emissions were down by 3 per cent between 2019 and 2020, mainly driven by less travel by road, air and sea, and reduced fuel use for manufacturing.
From 1990 to 2020 gross emissions have increased by 21 per cent.
The report clearly shows where New Zealand’s emissions are coming from and – by implication – the biggest opportunities to reduce them.
These include methane emissions from agriculture and carbon emissions from transport.
In 2020 –
- New Zealand’s gross greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 were 78.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2-e).
- Gross emissions comprised 44 per cent carbon dioxide, 44 per cent methane, 11 per cent nitrous oxide and 2 per cent fluorinated gases.
- The Agriculture and Energy sectors were the two largest contributors to New Zealand’s gross emissions in 2020, at 50 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively.
- New Zealand’s net emissions in 2020 were 55.5 Mt CO2-e.
- The Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector offset 30 per cent (23.3 Mt CO2-e) of New Zealand’s gross emissions in 2020.
Gross emissions since 1990
- Between 1990 and 2020, gross emissions increased by 21 per cent (13.6 Mt CO2-e). This is mostly due to increased methane from growth in the dairy cattle population and carbon dioxide from road transport.
- The Waste sector had the only overall reduction in gross emissions, with a decrease of 17 per cent (0.7 Mt CO2-e) due to ongoing improvements in the management of landfills.
Net emissions since 1990
- Between 1990 and 2020, net emissions increased by 26 per cent (11.5 Mt CO2-e), due to the underlying increase in gross emissions by 26 per cent (11.5 Mt CO2-e), due to the underlying increase in gross emissions.
- Since 1990, net removals from the LULUCF sector have increased by 10 per cent (2.1 Mt CO2e) largely due to an increase in the production of harvested wood products.
Trends between 2019 and 2020
- Gross emissions decreased by 3 per cent (2.8 Mt CO2-e).
- Net emissions decreased by 5 per cent (3.1 Mt CO2-e).
- Both changes are mainly due to decreases in fuel use from road transport, manufacturing industries and construction, and domestic aviation as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions.
James Shaw said the emissions reduction plan, to be released next month, will provide a comprehensive list of actions to drive transformative change.
“It will set out how we will meet our first emissions budget and include policies and strategies to reduce emissions in key sectors like transport, energy, waste, building and construction, agriculture and forestry,” Mr Shaw said.
“In ten years’ time the world will be a very different place. We need to secure our part in it by making sure the Aotearoa of the future is carbon-zero and climate-friendly, with fairness and opportunities for all,” said James Shaw.
Later this year, the Government will make a decision on how we measure, manage and price agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, he said.
“Whatever system we land on will have to create the right incentives for farmers to reduce emissions and move to more efficient, sustainable practices,” said James Shaw.
Minister Shaw noted the inventory provisionally indicates New Zealand will meet its international 2020 emissions reduction target under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
“As I’ve said many times, our climate targets are not optional, they are critical. Meeting the 2020 target is encouraging, but there are bigger, more important targets down the line.
“As the recent IPCC report made clear, the next three years are absolutely critical – the Emissions Reduction Plan, and the emissions budgets it will speak to, will set out how we will play our part in the global bid to tackle emissions and limit warming,” said James Shaw.
Sources: Climate Change Minister and New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-2020 | <urn:uuid:1a4966a7-860a-42aa-bce2-69f4863f5326> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://agscience.org.nz/why-the-agriculture-sector-should-brace-for-action-to-curb-greenhouse-gas-emissions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506320.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20230922002008-20230922032008-00894.warc.gz | en | 0.921911 | 922 | 3.34375 | 3 |
The Arizona Republic
Illness causing paralysis in kids puzzles experts
Rare, polio-like illness can paralyze children
Scientists are studying whether a rare but paralyzing illness that has afflicted scores of children this year is linked to a respiratory virus that circulates in late summer and early fall.
Scientists are studying whether the rare but paralyzing illness that has afflicted scores of children this year is linked to a respiratory virus that circulates in late summer and early fall.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week reported 386 cases of acute flaccid myelitis since August 2014. The illness mainly strikes children.
Cases are exceedingly rare; less than 1 in a million children are affected. But for a small number of children, the results are devastating.
It can paralyze a child’s arms and legs. Some who are stricken need ventilators to breathe. It can also cause muscle weakness, slurred speech, and difficulty moving eyes and swallowing.
CDC officials have not identified what causes AFM.
It’s described as a polio-like illness, but each confirmed case has tested negative for polio virus.
A strain of a respiratory virus called enterovirus has been detected in several cases, but federal health officials say they don’t have enough evidence to conclude a single culprit is responsible for AFM. They also are investigating whether genetic or environmental factors are involved.
“This is a mystery so far, and we haven’t solved it yet,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
The illness peaks every other year from late summer to early fall. Public health officials began tracking it in 2014 with 120 cases in 34 states. There were fewer than two dozen cases in 2015, but the illness surged again in 2016, with 149 cases in 39 states.
So far this year, 62 cases are confirmed in 22 states, and another 65 suspected cases are being investigated, according to the CDC.
Priya Duggal, a genetic researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, is studying the illness.
“It seems to be cyclical – it’s every two years,” she said. “It’s pretty tragic to see these families and to talk to these parents and realize how much their lives have been upended.”
Duggal’s study of about 60 families compares the genetic profile of children and adults in families stricken with the illness. In some families, parents and siblings recovered quickly from minor cold-like symptoms, while one child was paralyzed.
Duggal is looking for genetic clues to why some children are susceptible to the more severe effects of the disease.
Some researchers believe the illness may be linked to a strain of enterovirus called D68, which circulated widely in 2014 among children who went to hospitals with trouble breathing. The respiratory virus is spread through coughing, sneezing and unwashed hands.
Children’s Hospital Colorado noticed that a subset of children infected with D68 outbreak in 2014 developed muscle weakness.
Since then, the hospital has been tracking both the D68 virus and AFM.
“We have seen an every-other-year pattern in late summer to early fall of a surge in cases in acute flaccid myelitis,” said Kevin Messacar, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the hospital in Aurora. “It directly correlates with the time D68 has been circulating at our institution and reported by colleagues in other parts of the country.”
Messacar suspects the number of cases is likely higher than the confirmed total. Health professionals are not required to notify authorities when they encounter a case; reporting is voluntary.
To be confirmed as AFM, cases must meet a strict definition: signs of a weak or flaccid limb confirmed by MRI images of a patient’s spine.
If D68 continues to circulate every other year, Messacar said, public health officials may need to develop a vaccine.
The worst cases “are unmistakable,” he said. “They are paralyzed children that are not moving, and they don’t get better.”
Several states have reported cases of AFM this year. The Maryland Department of Health has confirmed six cases; the Minnesota Department of Health has confirmed seven, all in children under 10.
Jayne Griffith, an epidemiologist at the Minnesota Department of Health, said the afflicted typically develop the disease following a respiratory or stomach illness.
Messonnier said other common cold viruses also have been detected in some cases.
“There’s sort of a long list of other agents that we have found in one or two,” Messonnier said. “But if you are having the peaks of disease every late summer and early fall, you would think we are finding a single agent. That is what we are not finding.” | <urn:uuid:d293e0d6-1657-4eef-9f04-be627878e9e6> | CC-MAIN-2021-25 | https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-arizona-republic/20181021/281496457263195 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-25/segments/1623488519183.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20210622155328-20210622185328-00195.warc.gz | en | 0.957079 | 1,031 | 2.609375 | 3 |
By the 1840s, the gas lamp was the principal form of street lighting in the United States and remained dominant throughout the 19th century, even after the advent of electricity. These models appeared in an 1888 catalogue and represent a wide range of styles that appeared in the mid-to-late 19th century. Gas street lights generally had straight posts. Many electric lights from the 20th century were modeled after the designs of gas lamps, but notice that the gas lamp is open at the bottom to allow the lamplighter access the interior for lighting.
The appearance of a gas light in an historic image, without the presence of any electric street lights, would imply a pre-1890s date. If gas lights appear along side electric lights, particularly in commercial districts, a late-19th to early-20th century date is likely applicable. However, in many residential districts, gas lights were often not replaced until 1920s. | <urn:uuid:9dd84b3e-cc7f-46c3-a536-5c71f8ca2b9a> | CC-MAIN-2016-40 | http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/dating/street_lighting/gas_lights.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-40/segments/1474738661640.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160924173741-00201-ip-10-143-35-109.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981377 | 188 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Tags: A History of the Navy in 100 Objects, USS Kearsarge
The Navy underwent significant change in the years following the War of 1812. We have already discussed some of the significant technological innovations that came about during that period, so today we look at some of the results of those changes. New technologies created some new problems, and we address one of those problems today. Additionally, we think about how the fundamentals of naval warfare were changed by the steamship.
- On Midrats 11 October 15 -Episode 301: “Confessions of a Major Program Manager, w/ CAPT Mark Vandroff, USN”
- Rebuttal To “Advocating Naval Heresy” by Captain R. B. Watts, USCG (Retired) USNI PROCEEDINGS, June 2015
- The Perilous Price of Peace
- On Midrats 4 Oct 2015 – Episode 300: USS Neosho (AO-23),USS Sims (DD-409) and the Battle of the Coral Sea
- Should innovative organizations have an expiration date? | <urn:uuid:2dc44ac0-d87e-4639-af9c-df15045793ae> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://blog.usni.org/2013/12/13/a-history-of-the-navy-in-100-objects-23-engine-order-bell-and-telegraph-from-uss-kearsarge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443737962531.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001221922-00177-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944159 | 224 | 2.734375 | 3 |
U.S. Department of Health and Human
Administration on Children, Youth and Families
Administration for Children and Families
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
This report is available on the Internet at:
The U.S. Congress and legislatures in every State have established a public mandate to protect children from abuse and neglect.(1) Public child welfare agencies, of which child protective services (CPS) agencies are a part, are responsible for accepting referrals alleging child abuse and neglect, determining if the child has been or is at risk of being maltreated, and providing services to protect them.
|The purpose of CPS is to provide a prompt, effective
response to children who are in need of protection. We must have the capacity
to serve children and families who clearly require attention.
Patricia Schene Child Welfare Consultant
While there is considerable literature on the etiology, conditions, and consequences of child maltreatment, the literature on the organization and functions of the agencies that deliver CPS is sparse. The 2-year National Study of Child Protective Services Systems and Reform Efforts project aimed at addressing this gap in knowledge. The National Study was conducted to establish a snapshot of CPS throughout the country as of 2001.(2) Special attention was given to newly emerging or improved services for abused and neglected children and their families. In addition to a literature review, the National Study conducted an analysis of written CPS policy in all States and the District of Columbia, a survey of the practices of 300 randomly selected local CPS agencies, and site visits to some of the agencies that had reported innovative practices in the local agency survey. The three reports Literature Review, Review of State CPS Policy, and Findings on Local CPS Practices are available on the Internet.(3)
This paper summarizes key findings on practice and policy, and changes being undertaken, which were identified during the National Study. Topics include background information, screening and triage, investigation, collaboration with law enforcement, alternatives to investigation, collaboration in providing services, and looking toward the future. These findings were discussed at a symposium of persons knowledgeable of CPS policies and practices and their observations are included in this paper.
|David Berns, CO
Elizabeth Brandes, NC
Zeinab Chahine, NY
Jim Clark, FL
Betty Wade Coyle, VA
Mary Dibble, WI
Denise Gonzales, IL
David Heaton, IA
Elizabeth Humphrey, CA
|Rita Katzman, VA
Rosalyn Oreskovich, WA
Frances Rembert, OH
Nancy Rollins, NH
David Sanders, MN
Patricia Schene, CO
Kathryn Simms, OK
Esther Wattenberg, MN
Rhonda Wheeler, GA
Organizations Represented at the Symposium
Tommy Thompson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, declared The number of children who are being abused and neglected in this country is a daily tragedy.(4) During 2001, there were approximately 2.7 million referrals concerning 5 million children to CPS agencies by professionals and the public. Almost two-thirds of the calls were accepted for investigation or further assessment, while the remaining calls were screened-out as being inappropriate or better served by other agencies. CPS agencies conducted investigations or assessments for more than 3 million children, and 29 percent approximately 900,000 children were found to be victims of maltreatment.(5) (See figure 1.)
Dispositions of Children Who Received an Investigation or Assessment in 2001
Source: Child Maltreatment 2001
The survey of local agencies indicated that there are approximately 2,610 CPS public agencies. Every county in the United States is served by its own local CPS agency or shares an agency with one or more other counties. During 2001, there were an estimated 42,600 CPS caseworkers and supervisors (including part-time staff) in these agencies. Agencies ranged in size from less than 4 caseworkers to more than 17 caseworkers. Most caseworkers had a bachelors degree; some had advanced degrees such as a Masters of Social Work.
The local agency survey indicated that for approximately one-quarter of agencies, recent changes focused on infrastructure. Such changes included how staff are organized to provide services, the implementation of information systems, and the development of new training. These are important tools to address tensions between public expectations and available resources. Particularly in large agencies, issues of efficiency and attention to management information systems can be viewed as strategies to address workload constraints and the improvement of services.
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More than 25 years ago, the passage of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) resulted in most States implementing legislation that requires citizens and professionals to report cases of suspected child abuse and neglect to a designated public agency. Screening and triage of these referrals is the first core function of CPS because the process determines if the agency will conduct an investigation or assessment of the allegation (screened-in referrals) or not (screened-out referrals) and what type of response should be offered (triage). Decisions related to screened-in referrals are concerned with the type and urgency of investigation or assessment that will be conducted; decisions related to screened-out referrals consider if other appropriate agencies should be notified.Almost all State policies specifically referred to the statutory definitions of child abuse and neglect when identifying what types of referrals should be screened in.
In addition to the four major types of maltreatment neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional maltreatment some State policies identified other specific conditions that would be screened in. Such conditions included children younger than 13 years with sexually transmitted diseases, families who had another child removed by the child welfare agency and had a new baby, sexually aggressive youth, a referral by specific mandated reporters, and women who used drugs during pregnancy.
|The role of screening is to decide if it is an
appropriate case for CPS.
David Sanders, Director of Los Angeles Department of Children and Families
The survey of local agencies found that referrals were received from statewide or local hotlines. The screening process included additional activities. Automated information systems enabled local agencies to review existing CPS records on either the child or the perpetrator. In some cases, additional information may be sought from other persons. (See Figure 2.)
Source: Local Agency Survey
There was significant variation among States as to how quickly workers were required to make a response to a screened-in referral. Eighteen States specified one timeframe, most within 1 or 3 days. Twelve States specified two timeframes one for high-priority referrals and one for low-priority referrals. Twenty-one States made finer distinctions. For example, one States policies specified that the response to high-priority referrals should commence within 124 hours of receipt of the referral, within 272 hours for intermediate referrals, and within 37 calendar days for low-priority referrals. The actual determination of priority was commonly made by the local agency.
States policies also considered conditions that would not be appropriate to address through CPS. Families seeking housing, concerns about animals, some types of health issues, and issues related to adults, would be eligible for screening out. Other common reasons for screening out calls were that the allegation did not meet the State definition of abuse or neglect, the perpetrator was not a caregiver, or the child could not be located. Some States had policies for screening out children who had a low-risk of maltreatment. States differed greatly in their definitions of what was considered low-risk, and the methods for assessing low-risk during the screening process.
The majority of State and local agencies had policies and procedures for referring screened-out reports to the police or sheriffs office, another part of the child welfare agency, or to a local community agency based upon the nature of the allegation. For some States, diverting a referral to a local community agency meant that an offer of services would be made to the family, which the family could accept or not.
Several local agencies indicated that they had made recent changes or were planning to make changes to screening practices by increasing the use of additional tools by screening workers and by increasing training of potential reporters of abuse or neglect.
Innovations in Screening Practices
Screening practices are important to many advocates for an improved CPS system. Some suggest that more restrictive screening protocols will result in some cases being overlooked and ultimately in poorer outcomes for children. Others maintain that given the high proportions of screened-in referrals that are found not be substantiated, screening should be more stringent. While this study could not determine whether or not screening was being appropriately conducted, it did find that:
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It is difficult to make an assessment when workers cannot talk to
the principal parties directly or at the time of referral because it is a
potential criminal case situation.
Traditionally, CPS agencies have responded to screened-in allegations of abuse and neglect by conducting an investigation of the childs family environment. The goals of conducting an investigation are ambitious to determine if a child can safely live with his or her family, whether abuse or neglect has occurred, whether other children in the family are also victims of abuse or neglect, and whether there is a risk for future abuse or neglect. In other words, CPS workers have the difficult tasks of figuring out what has happened and predicting what will happen.
The majority of State policies specified that investigations require a determination of whether abuse or neglect has occurred or the child is at risk of maltreatment; a plan to assess and protect the child; and a determination of the need for services. Very few States identified that investigations were intended to maintain the family.
The focus of the investigation policy in most States was on whether or not abuse or neglect had occurred with some State investigation policies also explicitly addressing whether the child was at risk of abuse or neglect in the future. Assessments of imminent safety and risk of harm in the future were commonly included in policy directives. About one-half of the States also specified that determining the need for services was a purpose of the investigation or assessment.
States used different criteria for accepting that an allegation can be founded or substantiated. (See figure 3.) Almost one-half of the States used relatively high standards of evidence, such as preponderance or clear and convincing. Other States use lower standards such ascredible, reasonable, or probable cause. About one-fifth of the State policies did not explicitly provide the standard of evidence.
Standards of Evidence for Substantiation
Source: Review of State CPS Policy
State policies also differed in the timeframes for completing an investigation. (See figure 4.) Four States (8%) required investigations to be completed within 2 weeks; 20 States (39%) required investigations be completed within a 24 week timeframe; and 23 States (45%) allowed for longer timeframes.
Timeframes for Completing Investigations
Source: Review of State CPS Policy
There was a great deal of commonality among local agencies in investigation activities. When asked whether procedures would always, sometimes, rarely, or never be followed, more than two-thirds of agencies in the Nation were estimated to always include the following activities during an investigation:
There was, however, less commonality on other critical investigation parameters. Between 34 to 65 percent of agencies agreed that the following activities were always conducted:
Agency surveys indicated that there were many barriers to completing investigations. More than two-thirds of agencies always or sometimes had difficulties in the following areas:
Many local agencies reported recent changes in investigation practices including revising their interagency protocols, clarifying parental rights concerns, and changes to the collaboration with law enforcement.
Innovations in Investigation Practices
[Go To Contents]
The survey of local agencies found that for certain forms of maltreatment such as being at-risk of physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, or emotional maltreatment; moderate neglect; moderate or severe emotional maltreatment; and lack of supervision, abandonment, or drug- exposed infants the CPS agency was usually the lead agency. However, CPS agencies shared responsibility for the more severe forms of maltreatment. Less than one-third of CPS agencies shared responsibility or were the lead agency for investigating moderate or severe sexual abuse, severe physical abuse, and child fatalities with other agencies, primarily law enforcement. (See figure 5.)
CPS as the Lead Agency
Source: Local Agency Survey
|Social workers are driven by the needs of families;
law enforcement and others place greater evidence on gathering evidence of
maltreatment by caretakers.
Esther Wattenberg, Professor, School of Social Work and Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, University of Minnesota
Law enforcement has traditionally assisted with the removal of children from the home during an investigation. Indeed, policies in most localities stipulated that only members of the police or sheriffs office could remove children. Nationally, it is estimated that during 2001, 21 percent of victims were removed during or as an immediate result of an investigation, with State-level percentages ranging from 6 percent to 49 percent.(6) Thus, law enforcement may be involved often with CPS. In addition, there are emerging areas of cooperation between the two agencies including cases involving domestic violence and substance abuse.
Sixteen percent of agencies were either considering implementing changes or had implemented changes in working with law enforcement agencies. This may be a reflection of the increased attention to family privacy concerns, due process issues, and the rehabilitation versus deterrence continuum. It may involve a recognition that law enforcement is better able than CPS to address the issue of evidence gathering especially for certain forms of maltreatment, or that law enforcement has an increasing investment in community protection issues that involve maltreatment. Finally, a more precise specification of the arrangement between law enforcement and CPS may help CPS agencies to clarify and reemphasize their role in providing services to support families.
Agencies reported that they have made recent changes in how they work with law enforcement aimed at improving the sharing of information, colocation, and increasing training opportunities.
Changes in Working with Law Enforcement
During the symposium, several experts stated that standards of due process rights of parents are being addressed with increased attention in the States. For example, families may receive written documentation that outlines their rights and explains why an investigation is being conducted, how information will be used, with whom the information will be shared, and the notification process. To support family rights, interviews may also be taped and the families provided with written transcripts.
There was general agreement among the symposium participants that due process is an important area, because of the potential for removing a child from his or her parents. However, there was also a concern that this process will result in a more adversarial investigations. Potentially, there may be a negative impact on building relationships with families, which would increase the difficulty of gathering information on the status of the child. The involvement of law enforcement in protection of children has been called a collision of two cultures.
During the symposium discussion that focused on the legal procedural aspects of investigation, a few participants raised an issue central to the future reform of CPS. This concern was discussed in terms of whether it is necessary to make a determination if an allegation is substantiated or not. One participant stated that workers should not substantiate cases if the family cooperated with the agency. She suggested that there may be little value in establishing that the allegation can be substantiated because it might alienate the family from the worker, who is trying to help the family. Some suggested that the role of CPS should be to return to conducting good social work and documenting what happened instead of focusing on reaching a disposition. Another participant asked Should we not be assessing for needs instead of assessing to determine disposition?
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While most policies indicated that conducting a formal investigation as to whether a child has been or is at risk of being maltreated is a core function of CPS agencies, 20 States reported that they also had policies providing for an alternative response. Although the policy review indicated that in some States these program options were available only in demonstration or pilot sites, the local agency survey indicated that approximately two-thirds of local agencies (1,660 agencies) were conducting investigations and some alternative to investigation. Smaller agencies were more likely to be providing an alternative response than larger agencies.(See figure 6.)
States with Alternative Response Options
Source: State Policy Review
States policies indicated that these alternative response approaches were used with families who were at lower risk of harming their children or whose situations were less severe. Findings from the local agency survey indicated that more than half of the agencies would not provide alternative responses to cases of moderate or severe physical abuse, moderate or severe sexual abuse, severe neglect, status offenses, or child fatalities.
Most policy statements emphasized that the alternative response should be more family-oriented, less threatening or coercive, and more focused on services. Just under half of the States identified family preservation or family strengthening as a purpose. Some descriptions of alternative response objectives include the following:
In one site visit, the local agency had recently implemented an alternative response, which was used for children who were not in immediate danger. Three factors were used in determining whether an investigation or alternative response would be provided-the severity of the alleged maltreatment, the immediacy of child safety concerns, and overall family needs.
|I am optimistic that this approach will look at
and help families earlier.
CPS Program Manage, Virginia Department of Social Services
Alternative response options varied considerably among agencies that provided them. In some instances, policies allowed for more than one option, as discussed below.
Among agencies with alternative response options, only one-fifth of the agencies had specialized workers conducting the alternative response. In 42 percent of agencies, workers who conducted an alternative response also conducted screening; in 59 percent of agencies, alternative response workers also conducted investigations. However, agencies conducted fewer alternative responses than investigations. Compared to an average of 43 investigations a month, agencies typically completed 16 alternative responses a month. Because of the overlap in workers, the numbers and qualifications of workers were not very different from the numbers and qualifications of investigation workers.
The survey of local agencies detected very little difference in the overall set of procedures that workers used to complete an alternative response compared to an investigation. Virtually any procedure that was required for investigations could also be conducted as part of an alternative response. However, workers had more autonomy in deciding what activities to conduct as part of the alternative response compared to the investigation response. The local agency survey found that more than two-thirds of agencies that provided an alternative response option had a shorter list of basic requirements. The list included:
The alternative response option was less focused on determining whether maltreatment had occurred, arranging for legal action, or recording information on perpetrators.
Source: Local Agency Survey
CPS agencies tended not to assume primary responsibility for maltreatment that was addressed under the alternative response. For example, less than 10 percent of agencies always had the lead responsibility for all types of maltreatment under alternative response, compared to 17 percent of agencies that always took the lead responsibility for investigation. Law enforcement was also less involved in the alternative response option than it was for investigation. Approximately 39 percent of agencies shared responsibilities with law enforcement under alternative response, compared to 84 percent of agencies that shared responsibility with law enforcement for investigation.
In general, fewer agencies identified specific barriers they faced when conducting an alternative response. Only predicting what might happen to a child was found to be an obstacle for completing an alternative response in a timely manner by more than two-thirds of agencies.
Many agencies with an alternative response indicated that improvements to their alternative response approach including the possibility that cases can be transferred from alternative response to investigation and back, training workers to engage families, and assessing the community capacity to provide services have been made recently.
Improvements to Alternative Response Practices
As noted above, almost two-thirds of all agencies have implemented some form of alternative response to a CPS investigation. The number of agencies engaged in alternative response exceeded most expectations. What is also clear is that alternative response is not one approach, nor does it emphasize only one goal. For some agencies, it means a less formal alternative with consequently less attention to the formalities of the investigation process, including due process and the role of law enforcement. For many agencies, it serves as an opportunity to engage families more openly and to introduce more prevention services.
The alternative response utilized assessments that focused on family needs and family strengths. (See the below listed references of evaluations of alternative response.) Services were provided under this family empowerment model.
Evaluations of Alternative Response
[Go To Contents]
Approximately three-quarters of the States had policies requiring investigation workers to plan or assist with planning ongoing services. In 29 percent of agencies, the worker assisted a services worker with developing a service plan; in another 25 percent of agencies, the worker was a resource to the services worker. In 20 percent of agencies, workers would transfer cases for services with minimal involvement.
Twenty percent of agencies with alternative response required workers to assist with developing a service plan; in 16 percent of agencies the alternative response worker would be a resource for a service worker; and in 13 percent of agencies the worker would transfer the case with minimal involvement.
Agencies varied as to who would receive such services. (See figure 8.) Almost three-quarters of CPS agencies offered services regardless of the determination of the investigation; 15 percent of agencies offered services only if the referral was substantiated; and 11 percent of agencies did not offer any services at the conclusion of the investigation.
Provision of Services by CPS Agencies
Source: Local Agency Survey
In spite of this variation, there was some consistency in the services that were offered by CPS agencies. At least two-thirds of agencies providing either the investigation response or the alternative response were able to provide or arrange for parenting classes, grief counseling, marital counseling, family systems therapy, substance abuse programs, advocacy services, child care, and domestic violence services. Symposium participants also emphasized that at the postinvestigation phase, community partners could also include Medicaid, public health departments, and health care providers.
|"Community collaboration occurs at different levels-the
worker level, the community level, the system level, and at the State and
Deputy Executive Director, American Public Human Services Association
Based on the local agency survey, more than one-half of the agencies had some type of arrangement to provide services via other agencies. Usually these arrangements were available with several agencies, including mental health providers, substance abuse treatment providers, and others.
About 20 to 30 percent of CPS agencies reported increased collaboration efforts with domestic violence, substance abuse agencies, and other agencies. Domestic violence and substance abuse have been recognized concerns among families whose children were maltreated, but difficult for CPS to address because of differences in philosophy and service approach. To engage other agencies in the process of defining and redefining needs and interventions requires that the CPS system suspend at least some of its philosophy and orientation. Furthermore, successful interaction with external agencies requires sustained efforts. This direction of change may indicate that CPS agencies are expanding their mandates within the community and recognizing that the needs of children and families cannot be addressed by CPS alone.
Local agencies reported many efforts directed at improving community collaboration. Types of improvement included using service needs data, focusing on outcomes, and introducing performance-based contracting.
Improvements in Community Collaboration
The site visits also revealed emphases on developing new patterns of collaboration for addressing domestic violence and substance abuse. One-half of the sites were working with specialized programs to assist domestic violence victims. Shelters were involved in developing safety plans for children and families. Memoranda of understanding were developed in a number of the sites. CPS agencies also were developing working relationships with drug courts to assure that families received services and complied with case plans.
One concern identified during the site visits was that community organizations may limit their involvement due to the high-risk nature of CPS (i.e., where the safety of children is at stake). In one mid-sized community, when the community raised concerns about the effectiveness of CPS, the CPS director directly challenged the community to become involved in delivery of services. Collaboration was explored in a series of forums that revealed many organizations were reluctant to get involved with cases in which children were severely maltreated or were at high-risk of future abuse. By working together for a number of years, concerns about delivering services related to safety and security were allayed and the community decided to play an active role in the CPS process.
CPS has a pivotal role in impacting the well-being of children and
their families. We want a Nation in which every child can pursue his goals
and dreams without fear of want or abuse. Our national priority is the prevention
of child abuse and neglect.
[Go To Contents]
Child protective services is often described as the gateway to child welfare, because the majority of children who are served by child welfare are first identified through CPS referrals and assessed by CPS workers. The National Study demonstrated that CPS is more than a gateway. Rather, CPS is the bridge between child welfare and the public as it receives referrals from the public, is answerable to public opinion, and collaborates with community agencies either through diverting families in need to the community or by relying upon the expertise of other professionals. It is also tasked with addressing prevention of child abuse and neglect before cases are referred to the agency.
In functioning as a bridge, tensions that permeate child welfare services are first visible in the delivery of CPS. These tensions or competing interests include the following.
There are competing ideas of whether CPS should primarily function as a service to assist families in meeting the needs of their children or as an agency assisting law enforcement to gather the evidence to punish parents who do not meet societal norms of caring for their children. While this may be seen as a continuum of response, certain points along the continuum are highly problematical for all parties. This tension is reflected in the concerns over the due process rights of caregivers and children. Furthermore, concerns regarding legal rights extend not only to families, perpetrators, and children, but also to workers and agencies. This concern is being met, in part, by the instituting of alternative responses, which are focused clearly on helping families to meet their responsibilities towards their children.
While the mandate for CPS is to ensure the safety of the child, there are competing core issues at the local level. Some consider that because most of the several thousand families who need services in this county are poor, the challenge to CPS is to be fundamentally integrated with antipoverty programs. Others suggest that an emphasis on poverty alone cannot meet the psychological and social needs of children who have been maltreated. Another set of opposing views is that CPS should be an emergency response to crises facing children versus the view that many families cannot be patched up quickly and that CPS needs to work more closely with other service providers because of its expertise in the needs of children. A third perspective is that because of limited resources CPS agencies cannot widen the net and meet the needs of more families, but must consider whether it will be the agency of last resort. These tensions have not yet been resolved. However, the movement to increase collaboration with other agencies and to share responsibilities may improve the balancing act facing CPS.
Several participants identified a chasm between public expectations and the mandate and resources of child protective services agencies. Although there may be an expectation of an immediate response, the resources may not exist to provide a thorough and effective response for all children who are at-risk of being harmed. Addressing how the clarity of expectations can be improved was of central concern to many symposium participants. These experts suggested that improvement in this domain would require new approaches to communication and public relations, as well as increased dialogue with all collaborating agencies, State legislatures, and the public.
It is generally recognized that it would be desirable if CPS agencies operate consistently. However, there are barriers to consistency including differences in the level of resources, lack of clear laws and policy, and the competing desire for local autonomy of government functions. The outreach to additional panels and review teams, whether it be fatality review teams, citizen review panels, or external case reviews, is one means by which CPS agencies try to understand the standards of the community that they serve.
Based on the symposium discussion, there appears to be a new awareness of evidence-based input as a pathway for change. For example, the Childrens Bureau included two outcomes related to child protective services in the Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) Safety Assessment Profile. Two outcomes that are used for the CFSR are:
Nevertheless, based on the site visits, there appears to be only limited efforts at applying such a framework to a wide range of changes. The question can be raised as to whether the tests of effective change and reform should be based on outcomes and also whether such tests are feasible. Can the CPS system shift from a reliance on philosophy and begin to routinely consider whether changes in policies and practices make a difference in terms of outcomes? Participants at the symposium suggested that perhaps the future challenge of CPS will be to determine if the variations among local agencies result in different outcomes. For example, if there is no observable difference in outcomes, flexibility and variation may be embraced; if there is a difference and some resulting outcomes are not acceptable, then the evidence-based approach may offer a strong impetus for more consistent reform efforts.
[Go To Contents]
1. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) [42 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.].
2. The National Study of Child Protective Services Systems and Reform Efforts was conducted for the Childrens Bureau in the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, both in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Staff of Walter R. McDonald & Associates, Inc., in conjunction with staff of the American Humane Association, KRA Corporation, and Westat, Inc., comprised the Study Team, under contract number HHS-100-00-0017.
3. The reports from this study are available from the Child Welfare Information Gateway and on the Internet at http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/CPS-status03. Unless otherwise noted all data cited in this paper are from the National Study.
4. Press release from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. April 1, 2003.
5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. Child Maltreatment 2001. (Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 2003).
Top of Page
Contents of Report
National Study of Child Protective Services Systems and Reform Efforts
Human Services Policy (HSP)
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Last updated: 04/06/10 | <urn:uuid:d02ae9d6-54a2-4001-8c4f-9a0690a44f35> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/CPS-status03/summary/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207928423.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113208-00018-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961953 | 6,306 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Before Cuba suffered the attacks of the Spanish conquest and colonization, the aboriginal population that lived in it were without worries and in total freedom.
Legend has it that, in the current province of Cienfuegos, called Jagua at that time, lived an Indian called Apiri.
The story of Apiri and the evil spirit that punished her
This native was very pretty and was always given to dancing and parties without the need to worry about any responsibility.
One day, complying with the will of her parents, Apiri, who was still very young, married a man from her own tribe, who sustained himself by hunting and fishing.
Over the years, Apiri never abandoned her tastes for music and dance, and still married and with children, she left home to have fun, leaving the care of the little ones at the mercy of fate.
One day while her husband was working, she left her home in search of fun, as time went by the children began to cry from hunger.
The crying was so loud that with their moans they managed to wake up Mabuya, who was an evil deity who took advantage of carelessness to carry out his misdeeds.
The plants of Guao and the Witch Butterfly emerge
This, angered by the unstoppable crying of the little ones, went to their home to silence them and found no better solution than to secretly turn them into bushes of Guao, a poisonous plant with large thorns.
When he carried out his crime, Mabuya was pleased and in this way he not only sought to punish the children, but also their careless mother, who had left them alone and unprotected.
When Apiri returned to the house, she did not find her children anywhere, no matter how much she called them, they did not answer, she went out to the patio of the house and saw some strangers.añas wow flat and thought they had to be pruned.
She continued to call her children, until suddenly Mabuya came back angrily turning her into Tatagua, the well-known witch butterfly that we popularly name under that nickname.
From his new winged condition, he continued desperately searching for the children and legend has it that every day he goes to a different house to see if his little children are hidden there and to find a way to get them back.
Reminding mothers with their presence of the importance of taking good care of their little ones and never leaving them unprotected outside of their supervision. | <urn:uuid:af777571-3898-4d0f-b8bd-0e6207a2a4e2> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://ashepamicuba.com/en/tatagua/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510529.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20230929222230-20230930012230-00457.warc.gz | en | 0.989644 | 518 | 2.515625 | 3 |
For more information about the discovery of insulin we recommend you read our more recent post: Animal research and diabetes: Now the truth must be told Part 1 and Part 2
A mere one hundred years ago, when people were diagnosed with diabetes, they were handed down a death sentence. There was no treatment for the disease. Children would become skeletons and die of severe weight loss in front of their families.
The first breakthrough in the search for a treatment came in 1879 with the discovery by Von Mering and Minkowski that removing the pancreas in dogs led them to develop all the symptoms of diabetes and die shortly after. They proposed that the pancreas was involved in the metabolism of sugars.
In 1921, Banting and Best replicated this earlier result and took it a step further – working under the supervision of Macleod they showed that they could restore diabetic dogs to their normal state by injections of an extract of produced by the Islets of Langerhans obtained from healthy dogs.
With this result in a dog model of diabetes they subsequently recruited Dr. Collip, a biochemist, they who helped them extract a reasonably pure formula of insulin from the pancreas of cattle. This painstaking process of refinement of the technique for extracting insulin required many tests in rabbits in order to evaluate the potency and safety of the insulin preparations.
In January, 1922, the first human patient, a diabetic teenager named Leonard Thompson, became the first person to receive an injection of insulin. The improvement was so astonishing, nearly miraculous, that the news about this medical breakthrough traveled the world within days.
The University of Toronto gave pharmaceutical companies license to produce insulin free of royalties (would this count as an argument against the notion that universities merely seeking financial gain for their work?). In early 1923, just one year after the first test injection, insulin became widely available and has saved countless human lives since. Banting and Macleod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work.
This is only one of multiple stories about how animal research has benefited mankind. This is research that will benefit you, your children, and all future generations. An honest discussion of the use of animals in scientific research must acknowledge these facts, how we arrived at them, and recognize that despite the difficult ethical decision to use dogs in the discovery of insulin, today millions of humans are alive thank to the work of scientists engaged in biomedical research. | <urn:uuid:e9012f9a-5b81-4c39-afe5-7f1f899b1c0f> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://speakingofresearch.com/2011/08/03/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279489.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00192-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96478 | 488 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Becoming fluent in a second language requires commitment and patience, regardless of which language you’ve chosen to learn. However, English learners tend to excel at some more than others due to a number of factors, including shared vocabulary, grammatical similarities and familiar vowels and consonants. Here is a list of some of the simplest – and trickiest – languages for native English speakers to learn.
Because every word is written phonetically, vowel-heavy Spanish is considered one of the easiest languages to pronounce for non-speakers. Spanish has also had a major influence on modern English, particularly in the United States (which has the second highest number of Spanish-speaking citizens behind Mexico). As a result, many Spanish words sound similar – if not identical – to their English counterparts.
Just as Spanish influenced English, the Italian dialect set the standard for all of the Romance languages (including Spanish, French, Portuguese and Romanian). In fact, Italian has remained largely unchanged since the Middle Ages, and still retains many Latin words commonly spoken since the days of the Roman Empire. In addition, the Italian alphabet only has 21 letters. Italian is a popular ‘third language’ choice for people who are bilingual English and Spanish speakers.
Easiest: Norwegian and Swedish
Contrary to popular belief, Swedish and Norwegian are two distinctive languages – but both share characteristics that enable English speakers to learn them with relative ease. Like English, Norwegian and English are Germanic tongues, and governed by similar rules related to grammatical sequencing. But unlike other European Germanic languages (such as, uh, German), Norwegian and Swedish verb conjugation is quite simple; typically, the same verb is used regardless of the pronoun or tense. Anyone who has visited either country will attest to a native population with abnormally strong English proficiency.
Afrikaans is a hybrid language that mostly consists of simplified Dutch words with a little Bantu vocabulary thrown in for good measure. First uttered by 17th-century Dutch settlers in what is today South Africa, Afrikaans retains the Germanic grammatical conventions of its mother tongue without all of the odd consonant pairings that make many Dutch words appear all but unpronounceable to native English speakers. And like Norwegian and Swedish, most Afrikaans verbs are conjugated the same way regardless of the noun/pronoun or tense.
Hardest: Cantonese and Mandarin
Unlike other alphabets that utilize an alphabet that represents sounds or syllables, Chinese characters signify complex phonetic combinations that often denote specific words. No one knows for sure how many Chinese characters there are, but experts pin the number around 7,000; you’ll need to learn about half of them just to read the newspaper. Oh, and there are no fewer than eight sub-dialects of Mandarin, while Cantonese has at least two.
The Japanese writing system is divided into three categories. Kanji characters (Chinese origin) are logographic, which means they represent specific words or morphemes (such as prefixes and suffixes); it is estimated that Japanese writing uses more than 13,000 kanji. The other two groups, hiragana (native Japanese) and katakana (non-Chinese foreign origin) represent letter sounds or syllables and contain fewer characters, but many of them have multiple pronunciations. In addition, words aren’t separated with spaces and text wraps indiscriminately from line to line. Tryreadingt hissententenceandyouwillgettheidea.
As if learning a new alphabet wasn’t hard enough, those who study Hebrew must grow accustomed to reading and writing right-to-left. Furthermore, the native language of Israel features some unique grammatical conventions, such as word-specific single-letter prefixes or unordered word sequencing. Notable vocabulary omissions, such as words for “have” or “to be”, may add to the confusion as far as native English speakers are concerned.
Learning a language with a different alphabet is tricky, but at least some foreign lettering systems (such as Korean or Thai) correspond to English vowel and phonetic sounds. Arabic, on the other hand, uses an alphabet that consists of several consonants that are difficult for English speakers to pronounce – and very few vowels. Writing Arabic is similar to cursive, in that letters are generally connected, but the nature of these connections depends on each letter’s position in the word. Plus, very few Arabic words share any similarity whatsoever with their English counterparts.
By Brad Nehring | <urn:uuid:569ff5c4-5724-41fa-8423-2556f16239a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pacsafe.com/blog/the-easiest-and-hardest-languages-for-english-speakers-to-master/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700014987/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102654-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943398 | 939 | 3.4375 | 3 |
We all hear about the obesity epidemic a lot. I, for one, have done several previous posts on it myself. People are always discussing the causes or how to fix it and it seems like this epidemic is something that continues to plague the minds of the medical world. No pun intended. Just recently, the American Medical Association declared obesity as a “disease.” That means about one third of the people in the U.S. have a disease today that they didn’t have a few days ago. Citing several reason linking obesity to chronic disease, the AMA describe this move as an effort to urge physicians and insurers to recognize the need for obesity treatment. From this decision, a great deal of debate has erupted regarding the implications. So here I am to weigh out some of the pros and cons of defining obesity as a disease.
Pros. Obesity, like many other diseases, impairs the normal function of the body. Those who are obese have excess fatty tissue which can affect the regulation of food intake and energy expenditure. It can also decrease a person’s life expectancy or lead to death. Adult obesity can cut three years off someone’s life. There have been studies that show that obesity has inheritable aspects. That is, it is not alway the result of poor diet or low levels of exercise — sometimes it’s just in your genes.
The AMA believe recognizing it as a disease will change the way the medical community tackles the issues. Medical professionals may take it more seriously, be required to learn more about it and be prepared to treat people for it. It may also inspire new ways to address it, such as new treatments or prescription drugs. And lastly, at the moment treatments for obesity are not covered by many insurance companies but, with this decision, people may begin to receive the care they really need and have it covered.
Cons. Others argue that obesity itself does not impair the normal functioning of the body in the way other diseases do. There are people with BMIs that classify them as obese who are not physically unhealthy. They further argue that there are no signs or symptoms of obesity other than excess fat. These arguments are mainly based on the point that obesity is not a disease but a risk factor for other diseases. Just as smoking is a preventable risk factor for lung cancer, obesity is a preventable risk factor for diabetes, heart disease and the likes.
One of the issues opponents have with the decision to classify obesity as a disease is the way in which it is diagnosed. As mention, obesity is diagnosed when an individual’s BMI is over 30. However, the chart used to calculate can often misclassify healthy people as overweight and unhealthy people with high levels of fat and insulin as a healthy weight. These can lead to misdiagnoses and skewed statistics. Many also fear the disease classification may cause people to feel less in control of their weight and health, which can lead to self-defeating behaviors. They may simply write it off as an illness they have, and use it as an excuse.
There is also the matter of semantics in this debate. There are a few possibilities: 1) it’s not going to make a difference to patients whether obesity is classified as a disease or a condition 2) there could be less stigma because others might be more compassionate and recognize that obesity is not always someone’s choice to be lazy or unhealthy or 3) it might create more stigma by now labeling people with having a disease.
My personal opinion? I think the AMA’s decision was a necessary call to action. While this debate about whether it is really a “disease” may continue, the truth of the matter is that obesity is something that needs to be addressed. I believe that this is a step in the right direction — we are calling more attention to it. Good things can come from this. People will start getting the care they need as the medical world begins to tackle this issue with more force. Who knows, maybe your doctor will be writing you prescriptions for a healthy meal soon! | <urn:uuid:699bf357-a848-4266-a35a-22fe78c673af> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://notenoughgood.com/2013/06/obesity-as-a-disease/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267157503.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20180921190509-20180921210909-00387.warc.gz | en | 0.972926 | 834 | 2.9375 | 3 |
represents a cross-section of people from all political parties and
backgrounds who are united in the principles of individual liberty,
equal justice and the constitutional administration of government.
People are born with unalienable rights and government exists to
protect those rights. Rather than bureaucrats mandating
indoctrination programs, parents should direct the terms of their
child’s education. Rather than bureaucrats taking the use of private
property, the ideals of private property should be protected by
Our mission is
to advance the principles of freedom to individuals and government
through public discourse.
- Focus public attention on the
value of the freedoms protected
to Americans by the Declaration
of Independence, and encourage
individual and community
interest in protecting those
opportunities for discourse among organization participants and
- Promote and
strengthen government responsiveness to the principles of
- Inform the public
about local, national, and international threats to individual
Unite against the advance
of international collectivist movements that cause poverty,
oppression, and a degraded earth.
Blueprint to Advance Sustainable Development
By Daniel Beckett -
click here for complete story
In this straightforward expose of Agenda 21 -- the blueprint to
advance Sustainable Development -- Beckett examines the notion of
"sustainability". His conclusion: The American people need to be
better informed so they understand that Sustainable Development is a
pseudonym for centralized control over human life.
Santa Cruz County, CA
The policies of Sustainable Development are changing the very fabric
Sustainable Development entered the world officially in 1987 in a
report of the United Nations Commission on Environment and
Development entitled, "Our Common Future". This commission was
chaired by Gro Harlem Bruntland, Prime minister of Norway and
Vice-President of the World Socialist Party. A well known mantra
that originated from that report is "meeting today's need's without
compromising future generations to meet their own needs". If one is
to look, this mission statement has been incorporated into many
government and non-government organizations. Is it a surprise that
it was also reflected in the old Soviet constitution?
That part was fine - and just about right in terms of computer
education. But here is where the problem starts:
Then in 1992 the United Nations conference on "Environment and
Development" was held in Rio De Janeiro Brazil. This summit is
commonly referred to as the "Earth Summit". Then-President
George H. Bush signed what is commonly referred to as the "Rio
Accords". Out of this conference came the "Agenda 21" document.
Agenda 21 was adopted as a work plan to implement Sustainable
Development by 179 nations including our own.
The following year, newly-elected President Bill Clinton created
"The Presidents Council on Sustainable Development" through
executive order. This order created the framework for the
federal government to begin implementing sustainable development
programs nationwide. All of this has been moving forward with
virtually no legislative debate.
I first became aware of Agenda 21 in the summer of 2000 when I
was given a copy of the Santa Cruz Local Agenda 21 document, a
regurgitated version of the global document. This local plan was
endorsed by our esteemed Congressman Sam Farr on June 3rd, 1997.
Is it any coincidence that Mr. Farr flies the United Nations
flag at his Congressional office in Washington, DC?
So what could be wrong with the
idea of being sustainable? We don't want to be unsustainable, do we?
The problem with Sustainable Development is that it flies in the
face of man's will to advance. America is the greatest country in
the world. Why? Because its citizens were allowed the use of its
bountiful resources. There was no king or dictator to control man's
The idea behind Sustainable Development is to foster a mentality of
guilt in people over the use of natural resources. Every time one
starts their car... Every time one turns on a water faucet...
Remember, be sustainable! Don't exceed your allotment of
resources... Big Brother is watching you. We all must learn to live
the same, think the same and most importantly... be sustainable!
click here for complete story | <urn:uuid:ba633eb9-0f5c-4735-a9f4-8010407b16d5> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://www.teapartymedia.net/20120401/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1408500826259.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20140820021346-00154-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911969 | 891 | 2.703125 | 3 |
- Project plans
- Project activities
- Legislation and standards
- Industry context
Last edited 03 Dec 2020
Project teams for the future built environment
In 2011, the UK Government stated their intentions for enormous reductions in the time, cost and environmental impact of buildings. Automation, robots and immersive environments are suddenly becoming a reality. We are stepping out of our silos to collaborate, and to broaden our horizons beyond handover into building occupancy.
These technologies and whole-life approaches coming to the fore will inevitably impact on the shape of project teams in the near future. Employers will soon be seeking new skill sets to meet these demands. Three areas are considered below:
There is increasing pressure on building usage and design intent to be closer aligned. Buildings of the future will need to be managed closely to ensure they are performing as well as they should, and knowledge and skills in this area are likely to be highly valued by building owners.
As such, one of the key roles of the future project team will be to work alongside the building operators to assess the energy consumption and system operational data, and to advise on methods for improving performance.
Collecting this data will also be enormously helpful in improving early stage design, and will impact on existing roles too. In order to bridge the performance gap, design engineers need to have a more detailed understanding of how buildings are really being used.
Currently, a lot of evidence for comfort in buildings is just anecdotal and much more research is required about the real impacts on comfort. But data isn’t the end of the story – the way people interact with buildings is more about human behaviour than it is about system design.
Despite every engineer’s deepest desires, people are not machines, and their behaviour is not predictable; there are an infinite number of variables that determine someone’s happiness, comfort and health.
Environmental psychology holds a lot of answers for how people will interact with a building, so the inclusion of psychologists in the design team seems a logical next step in bridging the performance gap.
In educational psychology this is known as Collaborative Action Research, whereby researchers are embedded in school life, putting theories directly into practice and immediately measuring their impacts. This would be an opportunity to both improve building-user interaction, and inform future designs.
Technology and digitisation
However, this assumes that there are people in the team who know how to use the software, how to correctly apply it to the project, and increasingly how to adapt software through programming, coding and scripting. The project teams of the future will undoubtedly require much more of these skills in order to function at maximum efficiency and remain competitive.
Indeed, project teams of 2016 already require some of these skills, and in some cases bespoke software applications are already being routinely made for specific individual tasks. Expect to see more of these activities in building design, construction and operation soon, if you haven’t already.
Control systems are also becoming more advanced, and likely developments will lead to integrating wearable technology with localised comfort systems; a building could greet people as they enter, and recommend places to sit based on their preferences, body temperature, available spaces, and localised conditions.
One final area of expertise that will be necessary in future project teams will be in designing and maintaining diverse and variable comfort control systems. The systems may even be self-learning, so the skills needed in this area are likely to be programming-based as well as in building services design.
With increasing focus on smart cities, buildings will soon be interacting with infrastructure, the internet, each other, smart phones, taxis, lamp-posts, fridges, and maybe even the central heating... As such, building teams are going to be regularly collaborating with a whole host of other professionals from traffic strategists to local retailers.
Everything mentioned above is already a reality in some form or another, and it’s all gradually coming into the mainstream through a growing holistic and collaborative culture. One thing’s for sure: the changes we’re seeing now aren’t going to slow down, and project teams will need to be flexible, adaptable and constantly innovating to ensure they keep up with the latest developments.
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Click the button to subscribe. | <urn:uuid:4be1faab-9885-4649-9ac9-b44d6aacce56> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Project_teams_for_the_future_built_environment | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038469494.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20210418073623-20210418103623-00389.warc.gz | en | 0.946692 | 1,028 | 2.8125 | 3 |
The future is often war’s largest casualty. For some 8,000 Ukrainian civilians and 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers who have fought to preserve their homeland, the future no longer exists. Nearly 14 million civilians are now disconnected from their homes. The future of Ukraine stands on a knife’s edge; however, a year after Russia’s invasion, there is at least a future to discuss. Moreover, there is a growing consensus that Ukraine’s recovery requires planning right now.
On February 23, 2023, the United Nations called for an immediate withdrawal of all Russian forces from Ukrainian territory. Although Putin, known for his violations of international law, will almost certainly ignore the resolution, it does beg the question of what a post-war Ukraine would look like. As a result of the war, a third of the country lives in poverty, with another 60% at risk of falling into poverty should the conflict continue. The war has destroyed $100 billion of infrastructure and forced 50% of businesses to close.
Marshall Plan for Ukraine?
Given this financial and physical devastation, one may wonder exactly what the future of Ukraine is. Participants during the Davos 2023 Summit discussed that rebuilding the country would require a recovery program comparable only to the Marshall Plan after World War II. With that plan, the United States contributed the equivalent of almost $200 billion to western Europe in aid. A Marshall Plan for Ukraine would cost three times as much as the original and would have to overcome the hesitancy of nations like the U.S. to further involve themselves in the country.
Estimates for Recovery
In September 2022, the World Bank, the European Commission and the Ukrainian government place the recovery estimate at $349 billion, of which around $100 billion is needed for short-term recovery. This includes financing the rebuilding of hospitals, schools, roads and bridges. It also consists of the clearing mines that prevent the cultivation of Ukraine’s fertile soil. In a separate communication a few months earlier, Ukrainian President Zelensky declared the target figure at $750 billion, citing the need for repatriation, humanitarian assistance and modernization.
Commitment to Providing Aid
Although allies are shying away from direct military assistance, international aid is crucial in keeping Ukraine afloat. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) leads the charge, which provided $12 billion in 2022 and plans to augment that support in 2023. This aid goes primarily to health care workers and educators, protecting the future of Ukraine in the short and long term. Additionally, the World Bank provided more than $18 billion in grants and loans for Ukraine as of February 2023, the vast majority of which comes from the United States.
Supporting Ukraine: In the Best Interest for Europe and Beyond
The future of Ukraine remains incredibly uncertain. However, a consensus is emerging that the situation cannot remain fraught when the war comes to an end. A weakened or failed Ukraine is a security threat to Europe and would create a refugee crisis because Ukrainian refugees would have no need to return to their country. As the Financial Times wrote in December 2022, “The potential geopolitical cost of failure is high…The fighting continues, but the time to plan for peace is now.”
– Samuel Bowles | <urn:uuid:1669f53d-c4e8-4517-b8fb-904c1da4a9ee> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://borgenproject.org/tag/future-of-ukraine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296945376.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20230325222822-20230326012822-00528.warc.gz | en | 0.956991 | 674 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Purpose – Learner empowerment or learner autonomy is regarded by some theorists as the self-propelled, sole effort of the learner. However, in creating self-directed learners who are empowered to learn, the role of significant others such as the instructor is imperative. This study shows how a committed lecturer can play an instrumental role in facilitating self-directed learning among learners. Methodology – Learner autonomy in vocabulary learning was successfully facilitated among a group of Malay tertiary learners pursuing a Business Studies course in Malaysia. This qualitative study explored the lecturer’s proactive efforts and initiatives in raising learners’ confidence in learning vocabulary. Data were collected through reflective in-depth interviews with the lecturer and learners at the end of every week for one month to obtain insights into their learning experiences. Findings – The lecturer’s pedagogical approaches of providing sufficient learning opportunities in class, teaching vocabulary in context, using vocabulary lists and direct methods, and building lessons spirally to reinforce learning made complex tasks become manageable and achievable. These efforts were well-commended by the learners in this study. The lecturer's conscious decisions, namely, encouraging collaborative learning tasks and not forcing reluctant speakers were guided by her awareness of the learners’ cultural background which impinged on their learning preferences, thus, creating a non-threatening learning environment. Significance – This study establishes the case that learner empowerment is not teacherless learning but is fostered when the instructor is able to pitch the lesson at an appropriate level and create a conducive and positive learning environment to synchronise with the learners’ cultural traits. | <urn:uuid:ddad4ecd-e571-4267-8c15-e0cec161af23> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://www.scienceopen.com/document?vid=157821ad-178b-47c1-8a93-f18105ab57da | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703515075.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20210118154332-20210118184332-00553.warc.gz | en | 0.955803 | 322 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Here is an excerpt from an article by Christian Jarrett for 99U. To read, the complete article, check out a wealth of other resources, obtain subscription information, and learn more about 99U, please click here.
Illustration Credit: Atipus
* * *
Have you ever noticed that you find it difficult to ignore the chatter of a radio station playing in the background, or that your best ideas come not from where you were looking, but from something you saw out of the corner of your eye?
Your story fits with a new line of research that’s showing highly creative people tend to have minds that pay attention in a particularly “open” kind of way.
Specifically, psychologists say that people who’ve had creative success often have “leaky attention,” meaning that when they are concentrating on one thing, other irrelevant information can still seep into their consciousness (information that’s irrelevant to their current task, but potentially very useful longer term).
To switch metaphors, it’s as if creative types have an attentional system that’s less of a spotlight and more of a lantern that picks up a wide range of information (just as developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik says babies have). In contrast, most other adults have more of an attentional spotlight that zooms in on one thing at a time.
These laboratory findings could have real-life implications. If this idea of a leaky mind sounds like you, there could be simple ways you can exploit your mental style in some situations, while mitigating against it in others where it could be a drawback.
Let’s first look at the research. One relevant study published last month by psychologists at Northwestern University involved participants looking at a series of large letters made up of little letters on a computer screen (known as Navon figures), such as a large S made out of little Es or a large A made out of little Hs. Ahead of each one of these letter combos, a symbol appeared onscreen telling the participants whether to pay attention to the big letter or the little letters. The participants’ task was simply to indicate as fast as possible whether there was an S or H at the cued level – big or little.
This sounds super easy, but sometimes it was trickier than others because, for instance, the cue said to pay attention to the big H, but it happened to be made up of little Ss, rather than a neutral letter or, in the easiest version, little Hs. The key thing the researchers were interested in was how much the participants were affected by what was happening at the level they’d been told to ignore.
The important finding was that the more creative achievements that participants said they’d had in real life in 10 different domains including art, dance, and cooking, the more they tended to be distracted by what was happening at the level they’d been instructed to ignore. It’s as if the information at that level was leaking into their consciousness, even though to succeed at the task they needed to ignore it.
* * *
Here is a direct link to the complete article.
Christian Jarrett seeks out exciting new research and showcases its relevance for life. A psychologist turned writer, he’s editor and creator of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest blog, a columnist on personality for BBC Future, and author of The Rough Guide to Psychology and Great Myths of the Brain. On Twitter @Psych_Writer. Please click here to check out several of his articles. | <urn:uuid:5d17c9e4-232b-44ff-94e2-2bda8a2c0382> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://bobmorris.biz/how-to-use-distraction-to-your-advantage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233511361.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20231004052258-20231004082258-00294.warc.gz | en | 0.965103 | 731 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Have you heard of sungazing? It is actually like what its name suggests – you basically gaze at the sun. No, you don’t gaze it at midday; you’ll likely damage your eyesight that way. You do the practice during sunrise or sunsets when staring directly into the sun is not yet harmful to your eyes.
Before you start to wonder who started this latest sun staring fad, the practice has been around since ancient time. It was even widely practiced in ancient Egypt as is believed that diligently doing the art can even trigger the development of superhuman abilities. After all, the sun is indeed the true source of energy in our solar system, the true life-giving force to all lifeforms found on earth. To learn more about the practice, read the full article.
Sungazing is an ancient art that has been practiced by many different cultures. Even the Ancient Egyptians believed there was a great power within the Sun.
While Sungazing is not considered common practice in current times we could spiritually benefit from it, if we do it correctly. You have to be careful though, as the Sun can damage your eyes if you are not being careful. With the right method and enough practice looking into the sun is not as crazy as it sounds.
The best times to expose ourselves to the Sun is right after/during Sunrise and just before Sunset. Sunlight carries energy and this energy can be absorbed through Sungazing. The Sun is what gives life to just about everything on this planet. Without the Sun we would not survive for long. Through Sungazing, you can relieve stress and stimulate your pineal gland.
Many believe the Sun can be used to heal the body, mind, and spirit. There is only one real method to Sungazing and it is something that can be critiqued to fit the needs of any and everyone. This is the HRM method.
The HMR Method goes as follows:
Begin by spending a maximum of 10 seconds on the first day by looking directly at the Sun during the safe hours. When doing this, it is important that you are standing barefoot on the Earth. This helps you to remain grounded.
While looking at the Sun visualize the Sun’s energies coming into your body and filling you with their light. Each day increase your time gazing for 10 seconds but if you feel any discomfort at all during this time please remember to STOP. Do this daily over an extended period of time. After you do this each day, take a walk through nature.
Remain centered and grounded while you walk. Really take in the world surrounding you. This will allow you to reap the benefits of the energies you have absorbed. You will notice the benefits quickly.
This is known as the HMR method because it was coined by Hira Ratan Manekwho often goes by the title HMR. He has been researching and studying the practice of Sungazing for quite some time. He believes strongly in this method and Sungazes every single day. He claims to live mostly off of Sunlight and that he merely drinks coffee or tea on rare occasions.
His website SolarHealing goes over Sungazing as follows:
We have a supercomputer in our bodies given to us by nature, which is our brain. HRM (Hira Ratan Manek) calls it the “brainuator”. The brain is more powerful than the most advanced supercomputer. Each and every human being is gifted with innumerable talents, and infinite inherent powers by nature. Individuals should never underestimate themselves. Everyone is gifted. If we make use of these powers we can take ourselves to great levels. Unfortunately, these infinite inherent powers are programmed in that part of the brain that is largely dormant and goes unused. Even medical science agrees we hardly make use of the brain but about 5-7% – the most brilliant of humans like Albert Einstein is reported to have used only about 32% of their brains.
If we can activate the human brain and awaken these infinite powers inherent in ourselves then we can raise ourselves to higher levels. We can achieve any results we want. In order to operate the brain effectively, it needs to be activated. Being a holistic entity it needs a holistic power supply. Sun energy is the source that powers the brain, which can enter and leave the human body or the brain only through one organ that is the human eye. Eyes are the Sun Energy’s entry door to the human brain. They are also known as the windows of the soul. Recent research has found out that the eye has many functions other than vision. And more information is continuing to be revealed about the functions of the eye. The eyes are complex organs and they have 5 billion parts much more than a spacecraft that has about 6-7 million parts. By this, you can see the immense capacity of the human eye.
HRM asserts that the rainbow is in the eye not in the sky. The seven colors of the sun is only the reflection of what is in the eye. We can create a rainbow anytime we want – go to the garden, just observe below a source of flowing water as the sun moves above. There you will see the rainbow. The eye can receive the entire spectrum of the sunlight. It’s like having a glass window. The eye is the perfect instrument to receive all the colors of the rainbow. Since eyes are delicate parts of the body, we have to use them in such a way that they serve our purposes without getting damaged. Present day teachings and ideas such as don’t look at the sunlight at all –you will damage your eyesight; never go out in the sun as you will get cancer, are causing needless hysteria and paranoia. The more you are away from nature, the more there is a cause for illness and you will automatically support global corporations. There are definite foolproof ways of getting the benefits of nature without exposing ourselves to its adverse effects. It is also as intuitive as when the clouds gather we become gloomy. When we see the sun, we feel energetic.
via Awareness Act
She lets everyone become aware of what is happening to our beloved planet Earth and its inhabitants. She can take you beyond the space and find out how neighbor planets are doing. Moreover, she would open your eyes to the things what makes the Earth suffer including the living species and allow you to decide what you can do to help save the planet and the future generation. | <urn:uuid:313928bf-e667-44cb-8bc5-b79da5f8a7cf> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | https://homeplanetearth.org/ancient-technique-inner-healing-unleash-super-human-abilities/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578727587.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20190425154024-20190425180024-00116.warc.gz | en | 0.963647 | 1,307 | 2.71875 | 3 |
South Africa’s inclusive education policy currently under review must address the hindrances preventing children with disabilities from effectively access education in mainstream schools.
Developmental language disorder affects more than seven per cent of children, yet is not well known. If your child struggles in school, social interactions or reading, the underlying issue may be DLD.
Finger counting and struggling to tell the time or use a calendar are all typical signs of dyscalculia – sometimes called ‘maths dyslexia’.
Teachers’ understanding of dyslexia is mostly limited to behaviour, new survey finds.
Difficulty with English language can mask other difficulties culturally and linguistically diverse students may have, such as Austism or dyslexia.
Dyslexia affects up to 10% of the population, but until recently it was thought to be a pseudo-medical diagnosis used by parents to explain their children’s poor performance in reading. | <urn:uuid:fcb5e242-e483-4806-9d81-f492123e787f> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://theconversation.com/ca/topics/learning-difficulty-50674 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964363337.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20211207075308-20211207105308-00355.warc.gz | en | 0.947743 | 195 | 3.171875 | 3 |
The Smoking“Stoptober” campaign to try and encourage people to stop smoking by using e cigarettes has raised the issue of the unknown dangers of vaping.
Public Health England will be running a series of 30 second television adverts shortly in support of the Stoptober campaign.
The campaign has been successful in reducing the numbers of people smoking.
For the first time the adverts will encourage long-term smokers to use e-cigarettes as a way to try and quit smoking.
There are concerns raised in the media about this advice. Some medical research papers have said e cigarettes may have safety issues. These include connections from long-term use and heart disease and cancer. A USA study suggests that nicotine in the e-cigarette devices may cause an abnormal heart rate.
There are concerns that short term use of e cigarettes can cause immediate bodily changes.
The Smoking Statistics
The Stoptober campaign has been running for some years. It runs alongside the smoking ban introduced in 2007. This has helped reduce levels of smoking within the UK from 26.8% in 2000. it went down to 21% when the smoking ban was introduced. Currently only 15.5% of over 18’s in 2016 still smoke.
Statistics suggest that 79,000 people a year die in the UK due to smoking related illnesses. In addition for every death another 20 smokers are suffering from smoking-related disease.
Public Health England
Public Health England’s view is that e cigarettes are the most popular tool for people to stop tobacco smoking. They point to a University College London campaign about the use of e cigarettes. The research shows 20% of attempts to quit by this way were successful in the first six months of this year. The view is that the use of e cigarettes, along with other factors such as changed packaging and shop screening, all play a part.
NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence)
NICE have concerns and argue that there is little evidence of long-term effects of e cigarettes on human health. They argue that until more is known then they should not be recommended as a way of stopping smoking. The use of nicotine patches and other methods are suggested.
Smoking – Comment
The starting point to all of this is that smoking is harmful. Some 3 million people in the country now use e-cigarette devices. In our view any efforts to reduce the number of people smoking is welcome.
The medical evidence clearly shows that even long term smokers benefit if they stop. Accordingly our view is that anybody who has a long-term chest condition should try any method to stop smoking.
It is never too late.
The link to the Stoptober campaign is here http://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/stoptober/home?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3OSoori21gIVSrHtCh1kqQPaEAAYASAAEgJNSfD_BwE#RUD0IIEmWxA9rfwP.97
Our team deal with asbestos victims. For those people who smoke any effort to reduce one toxin in the body should be embraced. The relationship with asbestos and smoking is a complex one and any effort to cut down smoking will help a person’s health. We applaud the Stoptober campaign.
Call us now on 0800 083 7839 if you have lung cancer which might be due to something other than smoking. Our team can offer advice and help. our link to more information about lung cancer and smoking is here https://www.corries.co.uk/asbestos-claims/asbestos-deseases/lung-cancer/ | <urn:uuid:503422f7-edbf-4ee2-8932-58a184ddde08> | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | https://www.corries.co.uk/e-cigs-help-smokers-article/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570987756350.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20191021043233-20191021070733-00112.warc.gz | en | 0.958345 | 761 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Note On Emerging Science: Polar Bears Use Tools to Hunt Walruses
Air Date: Week of August 5, 2022
This illustration, from an 1865 book by adventurer Charles Francis Hall, depicts a polar bear using a rock to kill a walrus. (Photo: Charles Francis Hall, Library of Congress, Public Domain)
With large tusks and weighing over 2,000 pounds, walruses are a formidable foe for Arctic wildlife. But as Living on Earth’s Don Lyman reports, polar bears are utilizing tools such as ice blocks or large stones to hunt walruses as access to other food sources for the bears declines.
CURWOOD: Coming up – Bald eagle populations are on the rebound making them easy to spot even in the most unexpected places.
But first this note on emerging science from Don Lyman.
[SCIENCE NOTE THEME]
LYMAN: Weighing over 2,000 pounds, with large tusks and heavy skulls, walruses are a formidable arctic mammal. But research now suggests that polar bears may have found a way to kill the massive pinnipeds. For centuries, Inuit hunters in Greenland and the eastern Canadian Arctic have told stories about polar bears dropping large stones or blocks of ice onto walruses. Explorers and naturalists often dismissed these stories as myths. But the persistence of such stories, along with photos of a polar bear at a Japanese zoo using tools to obtain suspended meat, compelled biologists to investigate. Researchers reviewed historical and recent observations reported by Inuit hunters and non-Inuit researchers. They also looked at documented observations of polar bears and brown bears using tools in captivity to access food. The researchers concluded that “tool use in wild polar bears, though infrequent, does occur in the case of hunting walruses.” Tool use by animals to solve problems is generally regarded as a sign of higher intelligence, but studies on the cognitive abilities of polar bears are lacking. However, scientists say that a great deal of observational information suggests polar bears are very smart. Polar bears feed mainly on seals, which they hunt by looking for the seals’ breathing holes on sea ice. But climate change is melting Arctic Sea ice, so some scientists think that hungry polar bears may increasingly attack walruses for food. That’s this week’s note on emerging science. I’m Don Lyman.
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Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth | <urn:uuid:dd3e2e29-b81a-4f71-90de-dce40fb24c32> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=22-P13-00031&segmentID=2%2F | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500294.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20230205224620-20230206014620-00779.warc.gz | en | 0.920778 | 746 | 3.765625 | 4 |
Mennonites and Pennsylvania Germans
When they originated in Zurich in 1525 as the radical wing of the Protestant Reformation, Mennonites were known as as “Anabaptists”—re-baptisers—because of their emphasis on baptising believing adults. Today, “Anabaptist” describes a family of faith that includes Amish, Brethren in Christ, Church of the Brethren, Hutterites and Mennonites.
Mennonites got their particular name from Menno Simons, an early Dutch leader. Basic tenets of their faith, for which many Mennonites were executed, included nonviolence, voluntary church membership, practicing believers’ baptism and loving one’s enemy.
In America, both groups were part of a larger 18th and 19th century Pennsylvania German milieu that also included German Baptists, Lutherans, and Reformed Church members.
According to the 2000 Census, 17% of the U.S. population has German ancestry, making it the largest ethnic group in the country. Most Americans whose ancestors immigrated before 1892 (when Ellis Island opened) are of Pennsylvania German heritage.
According to Mennonite World Conference, as of 2006, there are about 1.5 million Mennonites and Brethren in Christ members worldwide. The United States had the highest number of Mennonites with 368,280 members. Of these, about 37 percent identify as either Conservative or Old Order Mennonite. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Canada have the next highest populations, respectively. Fewer than 55,000 members remain in Europe. | <urn:uuid:7cce7db2-c7c7-4b93-92f2-75cc8a3218d0> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | https://www.lmhs.org/about/mennonite-culture/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891813602.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20180221083833-20180221103833-00403.warc.gz | en | 0.966296 | 341 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Baltimore study links rats to depression
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health analyzed interviews regarding depressive symptoms conducted with 448 residents – 87.3 percent of whom were African American – from 2010 and 2011. The interviewees were mostly low-income, and just over half were male.
Around half of the interviewees reported seeing rats on their block at least once a week, and 35 percent reported seeing them daily. Thirteen percent said they had seen rats inside their homes at least once, while 5 percent reported daily rat sightings.
Baltimoreans who considered rat infestations in their neighborhood or home as a major problem were 72 percent more likely to experience symptoms of depression compared to those living in similar neighborhoods where rats were not considered as much of a problem, according to the study – called 'Exposure to Urban Rats as a Community Stressor Among Low-Income Urban Residents' – published in the Journal of Community Psychology.
“Nobody likes living around rats. This study provides very strong evidence that rats are an underappreciated stressor that affects how people feel about their lives in low-income neighborhoods,” said Danielle German, an assistant professor in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Bloomberg School and leader of the study.
“The good news is it’s modifiable. If we can do something to reduce the number of rats in these neighborhoods, we can improve people’s well-being,” German added.
The interviews showed that residents of low-income areas would consistently report rats and trash as big problems near their residences, German said, even as they faced many other issues in their neighborhoods, such as drugs, violence, vacant housing and more. She said the study might indicate that rats should be considered a link to depression more than just a nuisance or disease source.
Conventional thinking about rats "misses what it feels like to be a resident of a neighborhood where you see rats every day," she said. "There is no reason why rats should be inherent to areas of poverty.”
Municipal Trash Cans help keep rats away, and are making Baltimore residents feel better. https://t.co/NfA8T9F17A— BaltimoreDPW (@BaltimoreDPW) March 18, 2016
In recent weeks, the city of Baltimore has instituted a $10 million plan to distribute trash cans with lids to help eliminate rats, according to the Baltimore Sun. For fiscal year 2016, the city has allocated $1.1 million and 16 workers to fight rats.
“Yes, eradicating rats from Baltimore City is a hard goal, but making it so no neighborhood has to see rats every day is a goal we can strive for,” said German.
“It would go a long way toward improving the outlook of people who live in poor neighborhoods and may be a starting point for conversations about other community health priorities. These data suggest that we need to work together with community members to achieve these goals.” | <urn:uuid:65ec6b8a-a27d-4795-b066-731c0a83db26> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | https://www.rt.com/usa/336487-rats-depression-baltimore-study/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676589752.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20180717144908-20180717164908-00405.warc.gz | en | 0.97478 | 616 | 3.140625 | 3 |
SLOW GROWING AND FAST GROWING SPECIES:
Slow Growing Spp:
All softwood spp are slow growing. If we are selecting slow-growing spp then the following points should be kept in mind.
Low income on long return:
Because of their long rotation, there is always a fear whether the spp which we are going to plant will be beneficial after long rotation or not.
Unknown value of timber after long rotation:
It is always a problem to predict whether these spp will be of any use or not, whether after many years these spp are demanded by consumer or not.
Exposure of soil:
As we know that all softwood spp are planted for purpose of timber. They are slow growing; they are not planted over large scale because for a long time they do not cover the soil.
Fast Growing Spp:
Generally, all broad leaved spp are fast growing. They are generally used for small wood production and timber. E.g. Poplar is used in match industry and mulberry in the sports industry.
Fast growing spp are useful on account of following reasons.
Use for industrial purposes:
All fast growing spp are used for industrial purposes. Some of the fast-growing spp are: i) Eucalyptus spp ii) Simal iii) Poplar iv) Salix, etc.
No predictability problem:
As the rotation age of fast growing spp is short so there is no fear whether these spp will be demanded after rotation or not eg poplar of one year as well as of 6 years can be used for industrial purposes. Moreover, the rotation of mulberry is 15 years and that of Salmalia is 20 years.
Can be grown for multipurpose:
Sometimes one spp can be used for only one purpose where the industry is present. So if the industry is not present, those spp should be planted which can be used for multipurpose.
No Silvicultural Problems:
As the slow-growing spp have a long rotation so they require weeding, thinning, etc. on the other hand the fast-growing spp cover the ground rapidly so there is no need of such Silvicultural operations.
Proper Management is required:
Fast growing spp have irrigation problems. These spp always need management like the agricultural crops.
For correction and improvements please use the comments section below. | <urn:uuid:8c0aec98-1b17-40fe-8647-c8c4fdd9e41e> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://forestrypedia.com/slow-growing-vs-fast-growing-species/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337473.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20221004023206-20221004053206-00467.warc.gz | en | 0.909014 | 513 | 2.671875 | 3 |
It’s hard to imagine the landscape of the Netherlands without its dykes. But just how old are these typically Dutch earthworks? This is what Prof. Jakob Wallinga, Chair of Soil Geography and Landscape at Wageningen University & Research, will be investigating in the EARTHWORK project. Along with quite a number of external partners, he hopes to gain a better understanding of how and when our predecessors modified the landscape to improve their living conditions.
“Earthworks are monuments with which people have modified the landscape. They include dykes, dwelling mounds (terpen) and banks. They also include plaggen soils, which are elevated areas resulting from fields being fertilised over a long period of time. The soil was raised a little year by year,” explains Wallinga. “Earthworks are highly visible in the landscape and are made of natural material, such as sand or clay. But we often don’t know when these earthworks originated. We’d like to find out more about that.”
Dykes are an excellent example of earthworks. We can’t imagine our small country without them. “It’s interesting to look at their history: when were these dykes constructed? Building them requires some coordination; it’s not something you can do on your own,” says Wallinga. “You also need large quantities of turf sods, clay and sand from the surrounding area.”
But how do you date the earthworks? Nico Willemse from RAAP (an independent research and consultancy company for archaeology, cultural history and heritage and one of the partners in this research) explains how this normally works. “Archaeologists have different ways of dating layers and features in the soil – for example, on the basis of finds, such as pottery sherds or coins. But you don’t usually find those items in a dyke. Another method is radiocarbon dating, for which you need wood or other organic remains. We don’t usually find them in dykes either.”
Analysing grains of sand
In the EARTHWORK project, researchers are therefore using a different technique to date the earthworks. It’s called luminescence dating and Wallinga is the expert in this field in the Netherlands. He explains: “We determine when grains of sand were last exposed to light. We take samples from various depths in the dyke, making sure that no light gets in. We then take the samples to our laboratory, which is like a darkroom, but instead of developing photos, we analyse grains of sand. For each grain we investigate when it last saw light.
You have a mix of grains in a dyke: some were exposed to light when the dyke was built, while others weren’t. These would have been exposed at an earlier time. Grains can also become mixed up after an earthwork is built, for example as a result of the digging activity of worms. For each grain, we therefore measure when it was last exposed to light. This gives us an age distribution. We then use clever statistical methods to work out from this distribution when the earthwork was constructed.”
The study examines six types of earthwork. In the low parts of the Netherlands, these are dykes and dwelling mounds (also called woerden/wierden in Dutch). In the higher parts of the Netherlands, the researchers will focus on plaggen soils, banks and prehistoric ‘Celtic’ fields. Wallinga: “Another interesting object that we’re investigating is the Roman aqueduct near Nijmegen. That really appeals to the imagination. Attempts have previously been made to date it, but there were fewer opportunities then to conduct the analysis at the level of grains. In this project we hope to take the next step.”
Wageningen University & Research is collaborating with many different partners in the research project. Willemse explains: “We’re all helping each other in the research. Take RAAP, for example: we do a lot of soil research. If we’re investigating objects of interest, we can involve WUR. At the same time, we can use Wageningen’s knowledge in the fields of luminescence technology and landscape archaeology. That's how we learn from each other.” Several municipalities are also involved in the research. Willemse: “These municipalities are aware of the value of the earthworks and are keen to see research done on them.”
A unique feature of the project is the involvement of museums such as GeoFort, De Bastei and Museonder. Wallinga: “Archaeology really captures people’s imaginations. We want to share the results of our research with the wider public. And these partners can help us with that. By sharing the stories, the earthworks will come to life. People will start looking at their own environment in a different way.”
Impact on the present
With the research, WUR is connecting the past with the present. That’s because the earthworks that were constructed hundreds of years ago are still having an impact on the landscape of today. Wallinga again uses dykes as an example: “Normally, the land floods and the river deposits sand and clay. If you erect a dyke, the land behind it no longer floods, which means you can live there. But it also means that no new soil layers are deposited and that the land subsides when the soil compacts.”
Impact on the future
Today too, we are faced with challenges posed by the environment. Take climate change and sea level rise. Wallinga: “Like our predecessors, we will have to make modifications to the landscape to ensure that we human beings can continue to live here. We can be inspired by what people have done in the past. But we have to be very conscious about any adaptations we make. And we have to be aware that the changes we make to the landscape now are irreversible. Our actions today determine the landscape of the future. The EARTHWORK project connects the past, present and future. Isn’t that amazing?”
Wageningen University & Research has received a grant for the EARTHWORK project as part of the NWO programme ‘Future directions in Dutch archaeological research’. Prof. Jakob Wallinga’s research application was judged as ‘outstanding’. WUR will appoint two PhD candidates for the research study. | <urn:uuid:3b737e66-a54d-4c4f-9f47-583b1bacb448> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.wur.nl/en/research-results/research-institutes/environmental-research/show-wenr/earthwork-project-connects-the-past-present-and-future.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500140.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20230204142302-20230204172302-00781.warc.gz | en | 0.955289 | 1,399 | 3.625 | 4 |
Laura’s presentation was on The Seven Gates of Gondolin and Tuor and his coming to Gondolin.
THE SEVEN GATES OF GONDOLIN
The Gate of Wood was the first gate of the Seven Gates of Gondolin. It was placed at the end of the secret passage and the beginning of the Orfalch Echor, in an arch bordered by pillars. It was essentially a wooden portcullis that rose upon being touched in a certain place, an attribute which may have been cancellable in the case of siege.
The Gate of Stone was the second of the Seven Gates of Gondolin, standing half a league from the Gate of Wood. It was in form a wall with two stone towers. The gate was, in fact, a large, dark, and polished stone placed upon a pivot, above which was a bright lantern. When pushed upon on one side, the gate would swing until perpendicular to its previous position. This feature could doubtless be disabled in time of siege. The guards of the Gate of Stone were robed in grey.
The Gate of Bronze was the third of the Seven Gates of Gondolin, in shape a wall spanning the Orfalch Echor mounted by three square towers, roofed and “clad” in bright copper. The double-door hung with shields and bronze plates, wrought with many figures and strange signs. There were many red lamps along the wall, which made the copper and bronze shine like fire. The guards of this gate wore red mail, and carried red-bladed axes. These guards were mostly Sindar of Nevrast.
The Gate of Writhen Iron was the fourth of the Seven Gates of Gondolin. It spanned the highest point of the canyon; after this gate, it widened out and became somewhat green and dotted with uilos. The wall and four towers appeared to be wrought of iron, and no lanterns hung from the ramparts. The wall was the thickest of all the Seven Gates. Between the two inner towers was the iron image of Thorondor, King of Eagles. The gate itself was made of three layers, each of iron wrought in the shapes of trees bearing flowers and leaves. Through these could be seen the sky.
The Gate of Silver was the fifth of the Seven Gates of Gondolin, in shape a low and broad wall of white marble spanning the Orfalch Echor. The parapet was a trellis of silver between five great globes of marble. The gate was in shape as three parts of a circle, and wrought of silver and pearl, in the likeness of the Moon. Above the gate upon the midmost globe was an image of the white Tree Telperion, wrought of silver and malachite, with flowers made of great pearls of Balar. The archers who guarded this gate were robed in white. Beyond the gate were stationed 200 archers in silver mail and white-crested helms.
The Gate of Gold was the sixth of the Seven Gates of Gondolin. It was the last of the ancient gates of Turgon that were wrought before the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. The gate was similar in appearance to the Gate of Silver, however the wall was made of yellow marble, and the globes and parapet were of red gold. There were six globes, and in the midst upon a golden pyramid was set an image of Laurelin, with flowers wrought of topaz in long clusters upon chains of gold. The gate itself was decorated with many-rayed discs of gold, in likenesses of the sun, set amid devices of garnet and topaz and yellow diamonds. Beyond the gate were arrayed 300 archers with longbows, their mail was gilded and tall golden plumes rose from their helmets; and their great round shields were red as flame.
The Gate of Steel was the last of the Seven Gates of Gondolin, built some centuries after the other six as an ultimate defence after the disaster of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. The gate was like a great steel fence across the Orfalch Echor. The fence had seven great needle-like pillars of steel and between these pillars there were seven cross-bars of steel and forty-nine vertical rods with heads like broad blades of spears. In the centre, above the midmost pillar, was raised a mighty image if the king-helm of Turgon, the Crown of the Hidden Kingdom, set about with diamonds. The gate opened inward on either side of the pillar of the Crown. Though all but impassable to an enemy, the Gate ultimately failed to prevent the Fall of Gondolin. | <urn:uuid:93140514-67d8-4315-8ec3-c486a5136382> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | https://southfarthingmathom2012.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/lauras-presentation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128322870.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20170628050821-20170628070821-00696.warc.gz | en | 0.980421 | 969 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Organizational Theory & Practice
Previously people were less interested in an organizational culture. Cultural perspectives were not really important. When it comes to cultural change, leaders used to take an action at the end, at the time where company was facing bankruptcy, and they were not succeeded. Unlike now, culture is significantly important aspect in an organization. It shapes how people think and behave. Once an employee gets hired, firstly he or she tries to identify existing culture. This is important for a new employee because he or she will be able to adopt themselves to the new environment. On top of that, the practice of cultural change has become different. Leaders now, start changing an organizational culture to avoid bankruptcy occurs.
What do you understand by ‘corporate culture’?
There are many definitions that I can draw on to illuminate and deepen my understanding of the concept of corporate culture. Organizational culture or corporate culture can be defined as a personality of the organization. It consists of the attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values of an organization. (Carter McNamara, 2002) Generally it is concerned with beliefs and values of how people interpret experiences and behave, individually and in groups. Organizational Culture is, “A system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organization”. (Stephen P. Robbins, 2004) Another definition of organizational culture can be defined as atmosphere or environment that exists in large corporations which is reflected in people's dress, conduct, and ways of communicating. (http://www.quintcareers.com/career_doctor_cures/corporate_culture.html)
Gareth Morgan, professor at York University Toronto, takes a much better broader view of organizational culture when he writes: “When we talk about corporate culture, we are typically referring to the pattern of development reflected in a society’s system of knowledge, ideology, values, laws, and day-to-day”. (Culture, 2002) The term “corporate culture” can also be described as a system which includes 2 basic elements. They are inputs and outputs. Inputs are the feedback from, e.g., society, professions, laws, stories, heroes, values on competition or service, etc. The process is based on our assumptions, values and norms, e.g., our values on money, time, facilities, space and people. While outputs of a culture consist of organizational behaviors, technologies, strategies, image, products, services, appearance, etc. (Carter McNamara, 2002) The most widely definition of organizational culture is offered by Edgar Schein (1992), a professor at MIT who is considered one of the “founders” of organizational psychology, in his excellent book Organizational Culture and Leadership. He proposes that culture can be formally defined as: “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation of those problems”. Organizational culture consists of three important characteristics. First, organizational culture is transferred to new employees through socialization process. Second, as a result, the behavior of an employee gets influenced at work. The last characteristic is, organizational culture functions at different level. The theory of culture helps leaders to manage organization-wide change. Those who have practiced the theory realized that, changing the corporate culture is important besides changing structures and processes of organization. As defined above, depending where you look and who you listen to, organizational culture can be defined as any of the following.
The way we do things around here.
A set of norms that create powerful precedents for acceptable behavior within the...
References: • Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision, Carter McNamara, 2002, Authenticity Consulting- LLC
• Organizational behavior, Stephen P. Robbins, 2004, Prentice Hall
• Culture, John Middleton, 2002, Capstone Publishing
• Management and Organizational Behavior, Laurie J. Mullins, 2002, Prentice Hall
• Culture.com: Building corporate culture in the connected workplace, Peg C. Neuhauser, Ray Bender, Kirk L. Stromberg, 2000, J. Willey
• Organizational culture and leadership, Edgar H. Schein, 1992, Jossey-Bass
• The corporate culture survival guide: sense and nonsense about culture change, Edgar H. Schein, 1999, Jossey-Bass
• Corporate cultures: rites and rituals of corporate life, Terrence E. Deal, Allan. A. Kennedy, 2000, Perseus Publishing
• Managing Change: across corporate culture, Fons Trompenaars, Peter Prud’homme, 2002, Capstone Publishing
Please join StudyMode to read the full document | <urn:uuid:f83625cb-5007-44b5-9a90-7c4ca8a3c0ec> | CC-MAIN-2018-51 | http://a60607.com/essays/Organizational-Theory-And-Practice-157725.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376829115.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20181217183905-20181217205905-00159.warc.gz | en | 0.924787 | 1,002 | 2.625 | 3 |
What is Dagga (Marijuana/Cannabis)?
Dagga is the South African term for Marijuana or Cannabis. It is made from the leaves of the Cannabis hemp plant. The leaves (and sometimes the seeds, flowers and stems) are dried and rolled up in a type of cigarette called a joint.
It belongs to the depressant category of drugs, as it slows down communication between the brain and body.
In addition to being called dagga, marijuana, and cannabis, it’s also known as grass, pot, weed, dope, reefer, and ganja.
Cannabis plants are easily recognised by their seven leaflets gathered in star-like shape on a stem. They are usually a rich green. It’s these leaves that are dried to make marijuana, which looks like dried grass. The result is smoked in a joint or in a bong, and is sometimes baked in cakes.
Cannabis may take two other forms:
- Hashish – blocks of dried cannabis resin, which can be smoked or eaten.
- Hash oil – the oil extracted from hashish, which can be smoked, eaten, and vaporized.
Hashish and hash oil pack a stronger punch than the dried marijuana leaves.
Dagga is favoured for the feeling of relaxation that follows any kind of consumption. The feeling doesn’t last that long (two to three hours) and the intensity varies according to the person, the atmosphere, the size of the dose, and the blend.
Not all of the side-effects are pleasant, however, especially when it’s consumed in high doses.
Pleasant side-effects include:
- Feeling of supreme relaxation.
- Different way of thinking about the world – feeling of enlightenment.
- Altered sensory perceptions.
- Excitement for life – life is good.
- Hallucinations – which not everyone enjoys.
- The munchies.
Unpleasant side-effects include:
- Red eyes
- Loss of coordination
- The munchies
Not everyone believes that dagga has long-term side-effects. People who regularly use dagga certainly don’t think that it does them any harm. Studies have shown, however, that long-term use does it leave its mark on body and mind.
- Increased risk of respiratory diseases and lung cancer; essentially, similar effects as smoking regular cigarettes.
- Deteriorating memory and cognitive functions.
- Impaired hormone production.
- Increased risk for mental disorders, such as psychosis and schizophrenia.
Some people (regular users again) argue that dagga is not as addictive as other drugs and that use does not lead to physical or psychological dependence.
However, studies have shown that this is incorrect and that dagga is indeed addictive and can produce physical and psychological dependence. People also show an increased tolerance to the drug, which means that have consume more of it to get the same results.
Dagga withdrawal is perhaps the least testing of all the drugs. Ex-users have about a week of discomfort with symptoms that include:
Dagga use may not be considered as serious as other drug addictions, like heroin, but the effects are still serious enough that some people require help getting through withdrawal and rehabilitation.
FBTCC is registered with the provincial Department of Social Development | <urn:uuid:9f05e3b7-c600-4aec-9718-9488819eb7f8> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | http://www.falsebaytc.co.za/information/drug-information/dagga/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247495147.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20190220150139-20190220172139-00402.warc.gz | en | 0.950973 | 693 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Take Rande Gedaliah, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2003 and found she had muscle spasms, balance problems and difficulty walking. The disease eventually led to a serious fall in the shower. Things were looking pretty grim until one day she found out she could listen to music and suddenly be able to move with ease, the type of music determining the speed she walks at. We Are the Champions let her walk a slow clip and Born in the USA made her move faster still. Anything by Nickelback sent her spiraling into a rage.
Ancient warriors listened to their Nickelback equivalent, thrashing and scraping bones on rocks,
to produce a similar effect before combat.
How Does it Work?
When you're locked in your room, listening to your old N'Sync CDs, have you ever noticed your foot tapping on its own? That's not just because you have terrible taste in music. It's because the portions of the brain which deal with rhythm and movement are so automated that it requires no conscious attention to move to a beat. It's like your brain going behind your back to get things done because it knows it can't rely on you to bust an appropriate move when you hear "Bye Bye Bye."
This movement isn't handled by the same process as walking up the stairs or hilariously farting with your armpit. Suddenly, patients with bradykinesia--an inability to initiate movement--can move instantly as their brain interprets the music and sends movement signals to their legs, essentially tricking their bodies into moving. We'll say that again for you: Music can trick your broken, unresponsive body into obedience. Think about it: How many times have you thrown your hands in the air? When that happened, did you just not care? Science says that's because you had no control.
Music also helps other Parkinson's-related issues, including loss of balance and spasms. It's also been found that playing music creates an improvement in people with the disease, and drum circles are being used as treatment in music therapy groups, presumably because drums are cheaper than fancy-ass medical equipment, anyway.
When hippies become doctors.
Do you have something funny to say about a random topic? You could be on the front page of Cracked.com tomorrow. Go here and find out how to create a Topic Page.
For more things science is scratching its head about, check out 6 Things Your Body Does Every Day That Science Can't Explain. Or find out why you should punch your body right now, in Your Body Hates You: 6 Gruesome Disorders Anyone Can Get.
And stop by our Top Picks (Updated 2.5.2010) to see how music affects us in our pants.
And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get dick jokes sent straight to your news feed. | <urn:uuid:4c3b46b3-7115-46bc-aa67-dd06c15623e3> | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | https://www.cracked.com/article_18405_7-insane-ways-music-affects-body-according-to-science_p2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912202299.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20190320044358-20190320070358-00189.warc.gz | en | 0.966065 | 584 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Question: Where do organizational ethics come from Describe the contributions made
Where do organizational ethics come from? Describe the contributions made by the organization’s founder, managers, and workers as well as laws and social norms. Which do you think is most influential? Why?
Answer to relevant QuestionsThere are many worthy causes or programs that deserve support from socially responsible companies. In your opinion, which types of causes or programs are the most deserving? Explain your reasoning. Describe the four basic levels of international business activity. Do you think any organization will achieve the fourth level? Why or why not? You are the CEO of an up-and-coming toy company and have plans to go international soon. What steps would you take to carry out that strategy? What areas would you stress in your decision-making process? How would you ...What are the characteristics of a multicultural organization? Describe the nature of organizational goals. Be certain to include both the purposes and the kinds of goals.
Post your question | <urn:uuid:d38235f6-5cad-4c25-8e98-247f4fe8f972> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | http://www.solutioninn.com/where-do-organizational-ethics-come-from-describe-the-contributions-made | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917121665.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031201-00473-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964506 | 204 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Living in the shadow of her older sister, author Louisa May Alcott, could not have been easy for May Alcott. Especially when everyone thought of her as Amy, the selfish, superficial little sister in Little Women. Author Elise Hooper starts off her debut novel at the moment when Louisa receives the reviews for her landmark novel, which include some negative words for May’s illustrations in the book.
Hooper weaves a story around the facts of May’s life, creating a warm historical novel that delves into the complicated relationships between sisters. She deftly characterizes the push and pull of affection, ego, jealousy, and duty that both binds them tightly and frustrates their love for each other.
May decides to follow her own path as an artist, traveling to further her education while Louisa furiously writes her fiction. As she develops her talent, May makes friendships along the way, including famous artists of the time. Her path illuminates the human desire for individual identity, the sometimes inexplicable need to pursue art and beauty, and the difficulty of forging a way in a career that society reserved for men. Her relationship with Louisa shows the toll that resentment can take and the freedom that forgiveness offers. (William Morrow) | <urn:uuid:d5181b11-7c28-46bb-9536-bbaa2570f96b> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://www.thebanner.org/other/2017/09/the-other-alcott | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251802249.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20200129194333-20200129223333-00381.warc.gz | en | 0.972234 | 253 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Jump to navigation Jump to search
ethnolinguistic (not comparable)
- Of or pertaining to ethnolinguistics.
- 1994, Joshua Fishman, “On the limits of ethnolinguistic democracy”, in Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and Robert Phillipson, editors, Linguistic Human Rights: Overcoming Linguistic Discrimination, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 50:
- The principle of ethnolinguistic democracy does not require that all languages be declared equally important and equally privileged in all functions...
- (anthropology) Associated with a particular ethnicity and a particular variety of language.
- 1989, John Holm, Pidgins and Creoles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN:
- Baker (1972) identified four varieties of Mauritian creole associated with different ethnolinguistic groups. | <urn:uuid:5faae988-b3d6-4060-86c5-c10e8b2241b6> | CC-MAIN-2018-51 | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ethnolinguistic | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376823565.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20181211040413-20181211061913-00009.warc.gz | en | 0.666235 | 188 | 3.046875 | 3 |
A key to doing well on ACT English is being able to quickly identify question types and their rules/tactics. A common question type is the redundancy question. As long as you identify these questions correctly, they are relatively easy. But students often fail to identify them. For practice, I recommend going through a full English section (official exams only) and trying to spot every redundancy question. | <urn:uuid:028ba9c5-d303-4785-8f9b-2e611f2d8cb6> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://quizhacker.net/act-english-question-types-redundancy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400198887.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20200921014923-20200921044923-00668.warc.gz | en | 0.976612 | 79 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Aging dogs deal with many of the same problems as senior humans are faced with. They often develop arthritis just as people do, which slows them down a great deal. They also have significantly less energy than they did when they were younger, and they require much more sleep than they did before.
Caring for Senior Dogs
Of course, you want your cherished pet to live as long as possible and to be happy when it becomes older. Fortunately, there are many things that you can do to keep your dog fit, comfortable and happy during its senior years. Caring for senior dogs is quite different than caring for a younger pet as you will see in the passages below.
Is Your Pet a Senior?
First of all, it is essential to note that what may be considered “old” in one breed, may not be considered old in another. For example, while Pomeranians can live as long as 12 to 15 years or even longer, Saint Bernards have an average lifespan of only eight to ten years. Thus, a Pom may not enter its senior years until it is around 11 or l2.
On the other hand, a Saint Bernard may begin showing signs of aging around seven or eight. So, just how do you know whether or not your pet is a senior? The answer is to learn the signs of old age in dogs. While these signs may vary slightly from one pet to another, the most common signs of old age in dogs are as follows:
- Sleeping More Than Usual
- Slow and/or Stiff Gait
- Hesitancy to Navigate Stairs and/or Jump on Furniture
- Loss of Interest in Toys/Play
- Graying Around the Muzzle and/or Facial Area
- Decreased Appetite
- Weight Gain
- Housebreaking Accidents
- Blindness / Deafness (Partial or Complete)
- Confused Behavior
Visit Your Veterinarian Often
Adult dogs should have checkups with their vet at least once a year. However, since senior dogs typically develop more medical conditions than younger pets, they should see their veterinarians twice a year or more often. This allows the vet to catch any medical conditions before they become serious.
Alter Your Aging Dog’s Diet
As the activity level of aging dogs decline, they often begin putting on excess weight. This can become quite a problem as it may cause undo strain on the heart and joints. As such, it is best to feed senior pets a diet that contains fewer calories than what is required for growing puppies or young adults. Your senior pet will also need a healthy balance of fiber, fats and protein in its diet.
Take Your Senior Dog for a Daily Walk
Aging dogs may be tempted to spend much of their day sleeping; however, it is important that you ensure your pet gets appropriate exercise. Exercise can help your senior dog stay fit throughout its golden years and can help relieve pain from arthritic joints. While jogging and intense games of fetch may be out of the question for older pets, a daily walk around the block can help keep your older dog in good shape.
Provide Your Pet With a Warm Bed
Finally, just as with senior humans, senior dogs often have poor circulation, which can make them become chilled rather easily. To prevent your pet from getting too cold, place its bed away from doors, windows or other drafty areas. You can also line the bed with old blankets or towels. If you have a short-haired dog, you may want to consider purchasing dog sweaters or coats to help keep it warm.
For many people today, their dogs are not just pets: they are members of the family. With that said, when their beloved furry friends become old, they want to do everything they can to make them comfortable. Fortunately, caring for senior pets is easy when you make use of the tips described above.
Do’s and Don’ts of Caring for Senior Dogs
- Do Visit Your Veterinarian Often.
- Do Walk Your Aging Dog Daily.
- Do Provide Your Older Pet With a Senior Diet.
- Do Purchase Sweaters and Coats for Short-haired Senior Dogs.
- Don’t Let Your Arthritic Pet Jump.
- Don’t Place Your Aging Dog’s Bed Near Drafts.
- Don’t Let Other Pets or Children Disturb Your Senior Dog While it is Sleeping.
A condition that affects the brain of an aging dog is dog dementia, also called cognitive dysfunction in dogs. Now you know the signs of old age in dogs you can give your pooch the best possible care during its golden senior years. “ Blessed is the person who has earned the love of an old dog.” | <urn:uuid:84eb76d6-8d3d-4d1f-bd61-682f1ec828be> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://www.petpremium.com/pet-care/articles/proper-care-for-dogs-in-their-senior-years/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107894890.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20201027225224-20201028015224-00399.warc.gz | en | 0.966831 | 986 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Martin Luther King (15 January 1929 to 4 April 1968)
Martin Luther King
In April 1968 I was back at home in Birmingham for the Easter break; six months previously I had left home to study in London. I was politically naïve although I had attended my first large demonstration and had sold newspapers outside South Kensington tube station. This was International Times, an alternative rather than explicitly political newspaper although it presented itself as challenging authority and the establishment. I just hoped I might meet some friendly people.
There were two major events which changed my ideas about racism in that April fifty years ago; one in the USA and one in Britain. On 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King was murdered in Memphis Tennessee. On 20 April 1968, Enoch Powell made his ‘rivers of blood’ speech at the Midland Hotel in Birmingham, England.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who became a civil rights leader from 1954 to 1968. King led the 1955 Montogmery bus boycott and helped organise the nonviolent 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama. He also helped to organise the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
On October 14, 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1965, he helped organize the Selma to Montgomery marches. FBI agents investigated him for possible communist ties. In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People’s Campaign, when he was assassinated by James Earl Ray on 4 April.
Sharpeville 1960. The death of Hector Pietersen, one of 69 demonstrators shot by the police.
I had heard on the news how badly black people were treated in some countries. The Sharpeville massacre in South Africa, eight years previously, had introduced me to a new word, ‘apartheid’. This was an alien word from an alien culture. I thought South Africa was part of the British Empire but while we were handing back some countries to their black populations why were they being deprived here? Attempts by Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, to declare independence based on white minority rule, were not recognised so why should we allow South Africa to continue with apartheid?
We saw on the news how blacks were segregated in a similar way in the USA. Worse, they were treated as having no rights and genocidal murder was common. The news could in no way present the reality of life for black people in the southern states of America. But we saw on our news the fightback by communities, the demonstrations and the responses both non-violent and riot. There had been hope for improvement, especially when JFK was elected but his assassination ended those hopes. With Malcolm X also murdered and now Martin Luther King, there was despair that white power might prevail.
Birmingham, England was not Birmingham, Alabama. I knew there were a few black people in the north of the city, in Handsworth and Aston. But I never went there and I never saw anyone with a brown skin except a man in a turban who came door to door occasionally, selling brushes. The images on television or in the new Sunday paper colour supplements described an incomprehensible distant reality. There were plenty of jokes about other races, mostly of a patronising nature. But in Selly Oak in 1968, race did not appear to be an issue.
Enoch Powell in 1968
At least, not until Enoch Powell made his speech on 20 April 1968 predicting a bloody race war if we continued to allow immigration. Powell was born in Birmingham and made his speech at the Midland Hotel near New Street Station, ensuring local interest although the speech made news across the country. Edward Heath sacked him from his position as Shadow Defence Secretary in the Conservative opposition. However, dockers and meat porters in London came out on strike in support of him. Right wing groups were able to grow in this environment; Powell’s political career was finished but the spectre he raised continues to have appeal for racists.
Perhaps Powell had been considering the riots which had taken place in America the previous year. Over 100 cities had been hit by serious rioting, vandalism, looting and building fires during 1967. Some 90 people had died, hundreds were injured and over 11,000 people were arrested. These events were apocalyptic at the time but the riots had happened almost a year earlier. It could not be imagined on Britain’s streets; instead he talked of an insidious takeover of Britain in racist terms.
Kenyan Asians leave for Britain after expulsion 1968
Powell was not alone in panicking over mass immigration. Weeks before the speech, the Labour government had rushed through the Commonwealth Immigration Act which restricted immigration from Commonwealth countries to those with a direct connection with Britain, such as a grandparent. Previously, all were considered citizens of Great Britain and the Colonies, and so had a right to enter the UK. The prospect of up to 200,000 Asians who might be expelled from newly-independent Kenya coming to Britain led to the border gates being shut on anyone with a brown skin.
In 1968 I was 19 and I had not yet realised that any control of immigration is essentially racist. Neither had I worked out that welcoming fit, young, educated people who were willing to work would make this country better off. I could not yet dream of the cultural benefits which would enhance the lives of the British including myself; from chicken tikka masala, ska and reggae, khatak dance, fabulous fabrics, Bollywood, Chinatown, et al.
I had picked up some Malthusian ideas from my teenage reading that talked of limited resources being shared out amongst a population and how a sudden increase (by migration) would impoverish everyone. However, while there might be a short-term cost, instead of just mouths to feed a country would gain with more hands to work and more brainpower to think. I am proud of my later anti-racist activity but regret this early misconception.
Most of this section is from Wikipedia, with acknowledgements and no apologies; I have edited it to suit my purposes. I am a supporter of Wikipedia and make a monthly donation.
On 21 March 1960, up to 7,000 protestors went to the police station in Sharpeville, Transvaal to demonstrate against the pass laws. The police opened fire, killing 69 people, some in the back as they ran away,
Ghana in 1956 was the first black African nation to be granted independence by Britain.
Who also looked after their children and old people.
I speak from personal experience; I met and married someone from another culture. I have enjoyed and benefited from extended cultural horizons. | <urn:uuid:d2799b58-de9c-4c88-9d53-cc0bc4b60ca6> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | https://50yearsago.today/2018/04/04/diary-4-april-1968-race-awareness/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585371576284.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20200405084121-20200405114121-00105.warc.gz | en | 0.984336 | 1,368 | 3.15625 | 3 |
New website connects kids to the world of manufacturing
Dearborn, MI -- With the click of a mouse, young people can get a behind-the-scenes look into the significance and ...
Dearborn, MI — With the click of a mouse, young people can get a behind-the-scenes look into the significance and fascination of manufacturing. The website, Manufacturing is Cool (www.manufacturingiscool.com), was re-created by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Education Foundation with the goal of inspiring pre-teens and teens to pursue careers in engineering and manufacturing.
“If we are going to inspire enough young people to pursue careers in engineering in the coming decades, we have to show our kids how fascinating math and science can be,” said Glen Pearson, president of the SME Education Foundation. “With this website, we’re showing kids all the cool things they could do if they pursue a career in manufacturing.
Manufacturing is Cool provides an inside look at how kid favourites — such as snacks, fashion, cars and cell phones — are designed and produced by engineers. It also features video clips of peers creating radio-controlled airplanes and building computers at the Science, Technology & Engineering Preview Summer (STEPS) programs in the United States.
Additional site features include Moving Mechanical, which takes students behind the wheel, and Favorite Fashionista, which takes them to the world of cosmetics and apparel design. The activities and resources available will continue to evolve as new information is posted to the site.
Parents, teachers and students also can use the Manufacturing Is Cool website as a resource for information on the Foundation. There are also links to other interesting and fun manufacturing websites.
The Manufacturing Is Cool site is part of the Foundation’s larger initiative to address the shortage of skilled manufacturing workers. The foundation’s youth outreach programs inspire students’ interest in engineering and technology at the middle and high school age. This helps motivate students to take the advanced-level math and science courses during high school that are prerequisites for pursuing engineering degrees. | <urn:uuid:268dfdea-b38f-421d-873e-c0533c3e88da> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.mromagazine.com/2007/03/23/new-website-connects-kids-to-the-world-of-manufacturing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514572896.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20190924083200-20190924105200-00352.warc.gz | en | 0.947436 | 425 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Marijuana is a drug used both recreationally and medicinally.
Although this drug may be of benefit to some populations suffering from specific diseases, the adverse effects of recreational marijuana may outweigh the benefits.
One of these adverse effects could very well be hair loss.
So, how does marijuana cause hair loss? In this article, I’ll explore the preliminary research that suggests marijuana may lead to excess hair shedding.
What Is Marijuana?
Marijuana is a plant that contains cannabinoids. These are active phytochemicals that exert different effects on the body by interacting with molecular signaling systems.
Marijuana, in contrast to other Cannabis plants like industrial hemp, contains high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Unlike the other cannabinoids in marijuana, THC is psychoactive cannabinoid. This means that it impacts the way the brain functions.
THC also influences the body’s systems in other ways.
Key Takeaway: Marijuana contains phytocannabinoids and is specifically high in THC, a psychoactive cannabinoid.
The Endocannabinoid System
The endocannabinoid system is a group of receptors. It includes CB1 and CB2 receptors along with the families of TRPV and PPAR receptors.
All of these receptors are distributed throughout various tissues in the body.
When cannabinoids like THC enter the body, they bind to these receptors. As a result, they can change the ways cells function and communicate with each other.
THC and all the other cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant exert their effects on the body through this system of receptors.
- The endocannabinoid system contains CB1, CB2, and the families of TRPV and PPAR receptors.
- These receptors are distributed throughout the body, allowing cannabinoid like THC to influence the way the body functions.
Does Marijuana Cause Hair Loss?
Now that you know how marijuana influences the body’s systems, you can better understand how marijuana might cause hair loss.
Below, I’ll discuss the possible mechanisms behind marijuana-induced hair loss.
Combustion, Contamination, and Free Radical Damage
Whenever something is burned, it always creates combustion byproducts. The purity of the product will determine how toxic these compounds are. But, combustion byproducts always have some degree of toxicity.
This means that even the purest of marijuana can produce toxic compounds.
Marijuana is often smoked using marijuana cigarettes, bongs, or pipes. This is one of the preferred routes of administration because of its fast-acting effects. Absorption through the lungs enters the bloodstream very quickly.
The downside of this is that Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are produced as a result.
PAHs are fat-soluble compounds that easily pass through cell membranes (1). They are first metabolized by enzymes in the body that produce pro-carcinogenic metabolites.
These metabolites increase the free radical concentration within cells.
Free Radicals, Inflammation, and Hair Loss
So, what does this have to do with hair loss?
Hair follicle cells, especially the dermal papilla cells (DPCs; the cells responsible for signaling hair growth) are extremely sensitive to free radical damage (2). Once free radicals damage these cells, it impairs hair growth.
Free radical damage can also stimulate inflammation through the activation of NF-κB, a pro-inflammatory transcription factor (5). When free radicals activate NF-κB, this transcription factor moves to the nucleus where it influences the production of genetic material.
It shifts gene expression to pro-inflammatory by increasing the production of:
- Cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes which produce all the pro-inflammatory prostaglandins of the body
- Lipooxygenase (LOX) enzymes which produce pro-inflammatory thromboxanes and leukotrienes
- Pro-inflammatory cytokines which are signaling molecules that tell cells to upregulate inflammatory mediator production
Prostaglandins, thromboxanes, and leukotrienes are inflammatory mediators. Depending on what kind of mediators are produced, they can either have generally pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory effects.
In the presence of high levels of omega-6 fatty acids in the body, excess COX & LOX activity stimulated by free radical-induced NF-κB activation can mean massive amounts of inflammation.
The production of pro-inflammatory mediators can directly antagonize hair growth and produce more free radicals, creating a vicious anti-hair growth cycle (6).
Altogether, free radical damage, which can be upregulated by PAHs from marijuana combustion, and the subsequent inflammation may cause hair loss.
Street Marijuana Contamination
Additionally, street marijuana samples have been found to be contaminated with toxins like ammonia (9). Ammonia is required by the body in very small concentrations.
However, excess ammonia can be extremely toxic. Once ammonia gets inside cells, it can deplete adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency for the whole body (10).
This ATP depletion is directly toxic to the nervous system and the brain. But, it may also prevent hair growth.
ATP is produced by the mitochondria, tiny little organelles within all of our cells. While the exact role of mitochondria and ATP may play in hair loss is unknown, we can make some assumptions based off of the findings of one interesting animal study.
In mice who were depleted of mitochondrial DNA, the genetic material needed to assemble mitochondria, they exhibited classic signs of aging: hair loss and skin wrinkling (11).
Because mitochondria produce ATP for the cell, this suggests ATP production may be critical for hair growth. This is not surprising considering ATP fuels all cell functions and collective tissue actions like hair growth.
Interestingly, when researchers restored mice mitochondrial function, their hair regrew and skin returned to normal.
Considering the potential for ammonia contamination, some marijuana may cause hair loss through ammonia toxicity.
Toxic Compounds Associated with Marijuana Use May Cause Hair Loss
With the overall toxicity that can potentially occur as a result of marijuana use, it’s safe to say that it’s best to stay away. If you’re looking to grow your hair, marijuana may be a no-go.
- Even the purest marijuana, when smoked, creates combustion byproducts called PAHs. These elicit free radical damage which is directly toxic to hair growth. They can also upregulate inflammatory activity (mediators and cytokines) through NF-κB which produces more free radicals and has a direct antagonistic effect on hair growth.
- Some marijuana samples may also be contaminated with toxins like ammonia. Ammonia depletes ATP which is not only toxic to the nervous system but may also hamper hair growth. Evidence from animal studies suggest ATP depletion may cause hair loss.
- If you’re looking to grow your hair, marijuana may be a no-go.
THC, the Endocannabinoid System, and Hair Loss
Besides the potential toxicity of marijuana, THC may directly affect hair growth.
Researchers attempted to investigate the effects of THC on hair (12). To do this, they created a full hair follicle organ culture that allowed them to test the effects of THC on the whole follicle as opposed to single cells.
What they found was this: when THC was added to the organ culture, it dose-dependently inhibited hair elongation or growth.
After adding a CB1 receptor antagonist, it reversed the hair growth inhibition by THC. This means that the hair growth suppressant effect of THC is caused by its activation of CB1 receptors.
This doesn’t necessarily mimic the effects of marijuana when administered to the whole body because it’s not a direct application to hair follicles like in the study.
However, cannabinoids like THC are known to accumulate in the sebaceous glands of the hair follicle with marijuana use (13). This suggests that smoking marijuana could cause THC to infiltrate the hair follicle and possibly cause hair loss.
So, even when marijuana is ingested orally to avoid combustion products, it still may pose a risk to hair health due to the effects of THC.
- THC was shown to inhibit hair growth via the CB1 receptor in one organ culture study.
- This does not necessarily mimic how THC could affect the hair follicle when administered to the whole body. However, THC is known to accumulate in the sebaceous gland following marijuana use.
- Even when marijuana is ingested orally to avoid combustion byproducts, it may still pose a risk to hair health.
Does CBD Cause Hair Loss?
THC isn’t the only cannabinoid in marijuana. Albeit in lower concentrations, cannabidiol (CBD) is still present. There are also various other cannabinoids present, but their effects on hair have not been explored as of yet.
CBD is much more concentrated in hemp extracts that are produced from the low-THC industrial hemp plant.
CBD, unlike THC from marijuana, is not likely to have a negative effect on hair. This is because it doesn’t activate the CB1 receptor that inhibits hair growth.
In fact, CBD may have a protective effect on hair. Preliminary studies suggest that CBD may normalize sebum production (sebostatic effects) as well as exert anti-inflammatory action on the skin (14).
This is believed to occur as a result of CBD’s activation of certain TRPV receptors and inhibition of NF-κB activation. This leads to the reduction of sebum production and inflammatory gene expression.
This may be beneficial for one type of hair loss: AGA.
Although hormones play a distinct role in AGA, the effects of excess male hormone activity can also exacerbate the condition (15).
One of the hallmarks of AGA and a consequence of male hormones is excess sebum production. This provides the perfect conditions for bacteria like P. acnes to proliferate inside hair follicles.
As P. acnes continues to grow, it continues to produce more and more porphyrins which are potent inflammatory molecules.
More sebum also means more potential for sebum oxidation. Oxidized sebum contributes to free radical damage (16).
These combined effects can not only damage the skin around hair follicles but also directly stimulate hair shedding, as mentioned before.
With the collective anti-inflammatory and sebostatic effects of CBD, it may help intervene in the vicious cycle that underpins AGA.
So, although THC may be toxic to hair growth, the non-psychoactive CBD counterpart is likely not.
- Marijuana also contains lower amounts of CBD.
- CBD, unlike THC, is a CB1 antagonist. CB1 activation is what mediates hair loss caused by THC.
- Moreover, CBD may have protective effect on hair. It has both sebostatic and anti-inflammatory properties that may mitigate some factors in AGA.
- Although THC may be toxic to hair growth, CBD is likely not.
Other Side Effects of Marijuana: It’s Not Just Hair Loss
Beyond its possible negative effects on hair health, marijuana also results in a host of other adverse effects, such as (17):
- Impaired short term memory
- Altered judgment
- Impaired motor skills
- Increased risk of psychosis
When use begins in teenage years, chronic marijuana users may experience:
- Altered brain development
- Poor educational outcome
- Cognitive impairment
- Diminished life satisfaction
Contrary to how marijuana is often portrayed, it is not a benign, non-addictive substance. Chronic use, especially in adolescent years, can result in severe consequences.
- Marijuana is not a benign substance and its adverse effects extend beyond its potential impact on hair growth.
- Adolescents are seemingly at higher risk for the long-term adverse effects.
Can Marijuana Truly Contribute to Hair Loss?
Marijuana contains high levels of THC. It is much higher in concentration compared to other cannabis plants like industrial hemp.
Marijuana may contribute to hair loss in a few ways. The combustion byproducts that result from smoking marijuana can cause free radical damage that is directly toxic to hair growth. Additionally, free radicals stimulate inflammation that further exacerbates hair shedding.
This drug also has the potential to be contaminated with toxins like ammonia. Depletion of ATP by ammonia may contribute to hair loss, according to some animal research.
Additionally, THC is believed to directly antagonize hair growth through the activation of the CB1 receptor. Contrastingly, THC’s non-psychoactive counterpart, CBD, is a CB1 antagonist. This cannabinoid may even confer protective effects to hair.
Despite these consequences, marijuana is a drug that can have dangerous long-term downsides. Examination of the literature tells us that adolescents may be at a higher risk.
Whether you are experiencing hair shedding or not, rethinking marijuana use (especially recreational) is a good idea.
Have you experienced marijuana-related hair shedding? When did you begin to notice it? What was your experience? Leave a comment with your story below. | <urn:uuid:653166a1-5a50-4462-88db-87d2d1c3c46a> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://www.hairscience.com/does-smoking-weed-cause-hair-loss/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038119532.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20210417102129-20210417132129-00529.warc.gz | en | 0.925758 | 2,728 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Dry fruits, also known as nuts and dried fruits, have been known for their exceptional value and delicious flavors. Packed with essential minerals and vitamins, fats (healthy). These little wonders are a fantastic addition to any diet. However, the timing of when to consume dry fruits can significantly affect the benefit you reap.
Benefits of Eating Dry Fruits in the Morning:
Energy boasts: Morning can be tough, but a handful of dry fruits can provide the energy you need to start your day right. They are rich in complex carbohydrates, fiber and natural sugars that provide a good amount of energy, helping you stay alert and active throughout the day.
Weight Management: Dry fruits are nutrient-dense that help in weight management. It makes you feel full, reducing the likelihood of overeating during the day. This can be beneficial to help you lose weight and maintain a healthy diet.
Improved Digestion: Eating dried fruits in the morning or pre-breakfast can aid in better and healthy digestion. The fiber content present in the dry fruits helps regulate healthy bowel movement and prevent constipation, ensuring you start your day feeling comfortable and light.
Enhanced Nutrient Absorption: Consuming dry fruits in the morning can enhance the absorption of important nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, and iron. This is important for vegetarians who may have limited dietary sources of these essential nutrients
Healthy Skin: Dry fruits, especially anjeer (figs) and walnuts, are rich in antioxidants and healthy fats that promote skin health and wellness. Eating them in the morning can help make your skin more radiant.
Brain Function: Many dry fruits, such as almonds help provide essential nutrients such as omega-3 and other anti-oxidants that help support cognitive development. Eating them in the morning will boost your focus and mental clarity.
Benefits of Eating Dry Fruits at Night
Quality Sleep: Dry fruits like almonds and pistachios contain a hormone that helps regulate the sleep cycle. Consuming these nuts before going to sleep can help promote better sleep quality and help you fall asleep faster.
Stress Reduction: Dry fruits like cashew and almonds helps relax body muscles and reduce stress. Cashews and almonds are rich in magnesium which helps reduce stress in the body. Including them in your diet as a snack can have a calming effect and improve overall mental health.
Blood Sugar Regulation: Nuts like almonds and pistachios have a low GI, which means they have a minimal impact on blood sugar levels. This can be important for individuals who have diabetes or those who are looking to maintain stable blood sugar throughout the night.
Heart Health: Many dry fruits such as walnuts and peanuts, are heart-healthy as they contain monounsaturated fats, antioxidants, and fiber that help support cardiovascular health. Consuming them at night will help improve overall heart health.
Muscle Repair: Dry fruits are a great source of protein, which is essential for muscle repair and growth of the body. Eating them at night will help aid in post-workout recovery and support muscle maintenance.
Best Quality Nuts to Buy from Online Grocery Store
When it comes to choosing high quality dry fruits and nuts online, Himalayan Chef stands out as the best-trusted brand known for its commitment to quality and taste. Whether you’re a health-conscious snack lover or someone who wants to add nutritious nuts to your culinary creations, Himalayan Chef offers a range of premium options.
Himalayan Chef American Almonds
Himalayan Chef Almonds are a nutritional powerhouse. They are packed with proteins, vitamins, minerals, healthy fat, and fiber.
These Almonds are carefully sourced and selected to ensure a fresh and delightful taste.
Whether you enjoy them as a snack, add them to the salad, or use them in baking, shakes, or smoothies these almonds will offer a delightful taste and nutty flavor.
Himalayan Chef Walnuts
Himalayan Chef Walnuts are known for their brain-boasting properties and heart-healthy fats. They are premium quality and make a perfect addition to your daily diet.
They are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, minerals, and antioxidants, making them an excellent choice for promoting overall well-being.
Himalayan Chef Mixed Dry Fruits
If you cannot decide which dry fruit to choose, Himalayan Chef Mixed Dry Fruit I the best choice. It combines a variety of premium-quality nuts and dry fruits in one convenient package.
This mix typically includes almonds, walnuts, cashews, raisins, and more, providing a variety of nutrients.
Himalayan Chef Peanuts
Peanuts are a popular and affordable source of protein, and Himalayan Chef offers high-protein peanuts that can be the best snacking option.
They are roasted to perfection, giving them a delightful crunch and a delicious, slightly smoky flavor.
Peanuts are a versatile ingredient that can be used in both sweet and savory dishes.
Himalayan Chef Apricot
Himalayan Chef Apricots are carefully dried to preserve their natural sweetness and nutrients. They are full of nutrients such as protein, fats, and vitamins and minerals
They make for a healthy, guilt-free snack option or can be added to your oatmeal, trail mix, or baked goods to impart a delightful fruity flavor.
Himalayan Chef Anjeer (Figs)
Figs, or Anjeer as they are known in some parts of the world, are delectable and nutritious fruit, Himalayan Chef’s Anjeer is sourced with great care to ensure you get the best quality.
Figs are a good source of dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They are often enjoyed as a natural sweet treat or used in recipes like desserts and salads.
In conclusion, when you buy nuts and dry fruits online, quality matters, and Himalayan Chef Delivers the best quality dry fruits. Their commitment to providing and offering top-quality products makes them a reliable choice for health-conscious individuals and culinary enthusiasts alike. Whether you choose American Almonds, Walnuts, Mixed Dry Fruits, Peanuts, Apricots, or Anjeer, you can trust Himalayan Chef to provide you with premium nuts and dry fruits that are both delicious and nutritious. | <urn:uuid:d701e4e6-07a3-4b1c-9151-e69dbc6757a1> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://himalayanchef.pk/blogs/blog/the-best-time-to-eat-dry-fruits | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100290.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20231201151933-20231201181933-00142.warc.gz | en | 0.933486 | 1,294 | 2.71875 | 3 |
I looked over Jim’s collection of chalkboard shots, and thought a little about each one.
In the 70s, we see conditions developing – protocols (like FTP), applications (email, games), and personal computers (Apple II). These things are setting the stage for the Internet as we know it. Viruses are in there too, another part of the Internet as we know it. As Jim mentioned, personal computing and the internet were on separate paths. I suppose they needed to be at that point. The computer needed to develop as a household device so that there would be a broad user base to connect to the net.
The 80s saw a number of networks pop up – USENET, NSFNET, bulletin boards – and further infrastructure development with TCP/IP and DNS. Early in the 80s author William Gibson coined the term cyberspace. Some people in the science fiction community, like Gibson, imagined things to come. This was the Cyberpunk movement. One of Gibson’s famous quotes is “The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.” I see that idea manifested over and over again in this course. Everything was there long before most people knew about it. Everything has roots that go back much farther than we might expect.
The Web was born in the 90s. By that time, personal computers were commonplace in the workplace, and were becoming more common in the home. The net was becoming commercialized and ISPs like AOL were making home connections more affordable. Services like AOL and Geocities created communities where people could interact online. This led to explosive growth in computer sales. Amazon showed how businesses could exploit online communities, although I don’t think they were actually profitable at any point in that decade. The dot-com boom-bust came from that combination of explosive growth and elusive profitability. P2P and Craigslist, showing up late in the decade, had considerable impact on the offline businesses of music and newspapers respectively going into the next decade.
The 00s seem to be the decade of social media, with blogging, Myspace & Facebook, photo and video sharing, and other sites of that ilk. What’s notable about these, it seems to me, is not so much what people do with them as much as how many people are on them. And the information they have on all those people, which bleeds into the Big Data idea that takes hold more in the next decade. We also see legal mechanisms to deal with P2P, like DCMA and DRM, and extra-legal ways to deal with that, like Bittorrent and Tor. A major technological event was the introduction of the Iphone, spurring the mobile web.
And that takes us up to the current decade, with even more ubiquitous computing, like wearable tech and the internet of things. Since things are on the internet as well as people, all the possible IP addresses are getting used up, which necessitiates the move to IPv6.
And there’s the international internet – even though the internet always had international input – Davies and Berners-Lee, for example – it started out very US-centric, and a lot of what we’ve talked about in class has been US based even if it is a world-wide web. But if we look at the top sites as ranked by Alexa, only half of them are American. Some countries, like China and Iran, want more regulated communications more than the web was built for. And due to NSA activity, US based sites and servers are no longer considered as secure as they once were. Could this lead to a fracturing of the web? I don’t know, but the character of the internet, its ethos of openness, is changing. | <urn:uuid:194c51d8-4626-4b47-b197-f23bd73f3611> | CC-MAIN-2018-51 | http://blog.raptnrent.me/2014/05/28/chalk-talk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376827992.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20181216191351-20181216213351-00198.warc.gz | en | 0.979908 | 779 | 2.75 | 3 |
AN ELECTRICAL LINEMAN
mpuaImage: mpuaWhat Does an Electrical Lineman Do?Electrical linemen often rely on safety harnesses,no matter if they are climbing a ladder or in..An electrical lineman frequently works high above ground.Protective equipment for high voltage electric work may include hard hats and gloves.Electrical linemen are called on to diagnose and repair lines..
What Does an Electrical Lineman Do? (with pictures)
Was this helpful?People also askWhat does an electrical lineman do?What does an electrical lineman do?Electrical linemen are responsible for putting up power lines,doing work to keep them maintained and performing repairs. They work with electrical equipment like switches and transformersas well as use lifts connected to special vehicles to climb up to reach power lines and equipment.How Much Does an Electrical Lineman Make a Year?See all results for this questionIs an electrical lineman a good job?Is an electrical lineman a good job?Physical fitness is an important part of your job as an electrical line worker. A careful, detail-oriented personality is also a good quality to have since you will be working with high voltage, often in dangerous situations and bad weather conditions. Safety is a major element of line worker training.How to Become an Electrical Lineman | Career TrendSee all results for this questionHow many hours do electrical lineman work a week?How many hours do electrical lineman work a week?There are electricians who work for a specific company or facility (such as a hospital), who may have a set schedule every day and work exactly 40 hoursa week, and there are other electricians who go to many different jobs sites, and whose hours will vary slightly from job to job.What Hours Do Electricians Work? | Electrician Careers GuideSee all results for this questionWhat are the education requirements for a lineman?What are the education requirements for a lineman?In preparation to become a lineman,you should at least have a high school diplomaor documentation of an equivalent education.How Do I Become a Lineman? (with pictures) - wiseGEEKSee all results for this question
How to Become an Electrical Lineman | Career Trend
Dec 20, 2018How to Become an Electrical Lineman. The job of an electrical lineman is physically and mentally challenging. Jobs require work high in the air or underneath buildings and streets, crawling through small tunnels or climbing many different types of ladders. It takes years of training to get a job, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics considers it one..
How Much Does an Electrical Lineman Make a Year
Electrical linemen most often work for energy companies and firms that construct power lines, although some work for the government or offer services as electrical contractors. They perform demanding work that often involves working outside in hazardous and uncomfortable conditions and frequent driving and traveling to perform repairs and installations. | <urn:uuid:7c865063-7bf4-4109-be2f-a132744f1a0d> | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | https://app-wiringdiagram.herokuapp.com/post/an-electrical-lineman | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570986677884.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20191018032611-20191018060111-00442.warc.gz | en | 0.939431 | 579 | 2.625 | 3 |
Would you like to know how to minimize the radiation your cell phone puts out? If you live in San Francisco, you'll likely have to wait a bit longer.
A law requiring retailers who sell mobile phones to provide information about cell-phone radiation to consumers on how to minimize cell-phone radiation took effect on Monday, but compliance isn't required until Sept. 15.
An informal poll of one each of the top carrier stores in San Francisco - AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon - plus Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Staples, revealed that none of the stores contacted had the required information on hand. The law would require a poster warning of the dangers of cell-phone radiation, plus handouts describing how to minimize exposure. The handouts must be given to each customer who purchases a cell phone, and each shopper who requests one.
The posters and handouts must include statements that explain the cell phones emit RF energy that is absorbed via the head and body, as well as statements describing measures to reduce exposure to that cell phone radiation, including turning off cell phones when not in use, using a headset and speaker phone, and using the phone to send text messages rather than placing calls.
The law amends a previous ordinance that would have required retailers to post the specific absorption rate (SAR) for each phone sold, a measurement of the radiation each phone emits. The CTIA, which represents the telecommunications industry, sued to block the law.
Retailers contacted by PCMag.com said the lack of materials basically boils down to a lack of follow-through by their corporate infrastructure. "Basically, we can't publish any signage until it is approved and sent to us by corporate," one manager said, who asked not to be named.
There has been no definitive link that scientists have found linking the radiation emitted by cell phones to cancer. In late May, the World Health Organization classified mobile phones as a possible risk for a specific type of cancer in humans.
The WHO and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) jointly said that mobile phones show a limited evidence of carcinogenity, which the WHO defines as the following: "A positive association has been observed between exposure to the agent and cancer for which a causal interpretation is considered by the Working Group to be credible, but chance, bias or confounding could not be ruled out with reasonable confidence."
But the same classification has also been given to gasoline and coffee, among others.
However, the findings of the cell-phone ordinance said that the city of San Francisco believes it is better to err on the side of caution. "It is the policy of the City and County of San Francisco to adhere to the Precautionary Principle, which provides that the government should not wait for scientific proof of a health or safety risk before taking steps to inform the public of the potential for harm," it reads.
The city of Burlingame, Calif. has also implemented cell-phone guidelines modeled on the city's interpretation of the San Francisco law. "The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandates that all cell phone manuals caution users to hold the phone a short distance (.6 inch to 1 inch) from the body," the regulations note.
The city will also take the first steps toward drafting its own ordinance in an educational meeting on Oct. 5.
"Though potential elements of an ordinance will be discussed, no particular draft of an ordinance will be considered," the city says on its Web site. "With the information produced at the study session and with the input from the public, the Council will provide direction to staff for the preparation of an ordinance. The study session is the first step in the process."
For more from Mark, follow him on Twitter @MarkHachman. | <urn:uuid:aede4fac-6653-4cfe-ae59-0fa91b715501> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2394070,00.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396224.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952948 | 769 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Born: 13 February, 1879
Passed Away: 2 March, 1949
Naidu was truly one of the gems of the 20th century India. She was known
by the sobriquet "The Nightingale of India". Her contribution
was not confined to the fields of politics only but she was also a
renowned poet. The play "Maher Muneer", written by Naidu at an
early age, fetched a scholarship to study abroad. She briefed the
struggles of freedom for independence to the political stalwarts of
European nations, she had visited. She married Dr. Muthyala
Govindarajulu Naidu, a South India. The marriage took place at a time
when inter-caste marriage was not acceptable in the society. Her acts
helped in raising many eyebrows. In 1905, a collection of poems, she had
composed, was published under the title of "Golden Threshold".
Sarojini Naidu was born on February 13, 1879 in Hyderabad. Her father,
Dr. Aghornath Chattopadhyaya was a scientist, philosopher, and educator.
He founded the Nizam College of Hyderabad. Her mother, Varada Sundari
Devi was a Bengali poetess. Dr. Aghornath Chattopadhyaya was the first
member of the Indian National Congress in Hyderabad. For his
socio-political activities, Aghornath was dismissed from his position as
Since childhood, Sarojini was a very bright and intelligent child.
Though Aghornath wanted his daughter to become a mathematician or
scientist, young Sarojini was fond of poetry. At an early age, she wrote
a "thirteen-hundred-lines" long poem "The Lady of the
Lake". Impressed with her skills of expressing things with
appropriate words, Aghornath Chattopadhyaya encouraged her works. Few
months later, Sarojini, with assistance from her father, wrote the play
"Maher Muneer" in the Persian language.
Sarojini's father Dr. Aghornath Chattopadhyaya distributed some copies
of the play among his friends and relatives. He also sent a copy to the
Nizam of Hyderabad. Impressed with the works of the little child, the
Nizam granted her a scholarship to study overseas. At the age of 16, she
got admission in the King's College of England. There, she had the
opportunity to meet prominent English authors like Arthur Simon and
Edmond Gausse. It was Gausse who asked Sarojini Naidu to write on the
Indian themes like great mountains, rivers, temples, social milieu etc.
After returning to India, at the age of 19, Sarojini Naidu married
Muthyala Govindarajulu Naidu. He was a noted doctor from South India.
They were married by the Brahmo Marriage Act (1872), in Madras in 1898.
The marriage took place at a time when inter-caste marriages were not
allowed and tolerated in the Indian society. Her marriage was a very
happy one. They had four children.
Sarojini Naidu was moved by the partition of Bengal in 1905 and decided
to join the Indian freedom struggle. She met regularly with Gopal
Krishna Gokhale, who later introduced her to the stalwarts of the Indian
freedom movement. She met Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, C. P.
Ramaswami Iyer and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. With such an encouraging
environment, Sarojini later moved on to become leader of the Indian
National Congress Party. She traveled extensively to the United States
of America and many European countries as the flag-bearer of the Indian
1915, Sarojini Naidu traveled all over India and delivered speeches on
welfare of youth, dignity of labor, women's emancipation and
nationalism. In 1916, she took up the cause of the indigo workers of
Champaran in the western district of Bihar.
In March 1919, the British government passed the Rowlatt Act by which
the possession of seditious documents was deemed illegal. Mahatma Gandhi
organized the Non-Cooperation Movement to protest and Naidu was the
first to join the movement. Besides, Sarojini Naidu also actively
campaigned for the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, the Khilafat issue, the
Sabarmati Pact, the Satyagraha Pledge and the Civil Disobedience
In 1919, she went to England as a member of the all-India Home Rule
Deputation. In January 1924, she was one of the two delegates of the
Indian National Congress Party to attend the East African Indian
Congress. In 1925, she was elected as the President of the Indian
National Congress Party.
Besides her role and sacrifices in the Indian Nationalist Movement,
Sarojini Naidu is also commended for her contribution in the field of
poetry. Her works were so beautiful that many were transformed into
songs. In 1905, her collection of poems was published under the title "Golden
Threshold". Later, she also published two other collections called "The
Bird of Time", and "The Broken Wings".
Sarojini Naidu was the first woman Governor of Uttar Pradesh. Her
chairmanship of the Asian Relations Conference in 1947 was
highly-appraised. Two years later, on 02 March 1949, Sarojini Naidu died
at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
Sarojini Naidu was a noted activist of the Indian Nationalist Movement. She was equally praised for her work in the field of Poetry. To know more about Sarojini Naidu, read the brief biography and profile of Sarojini Naidu | <urn:uuid:a95ccdae-84de-4888-8525-1a2753d875f8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.culturalindia.net/leaders/sarojini-naidu.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972012 | 1,265 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Natural & Nature-Based/Green: either natural or nature-based features including as existing ecosystems or ecological features, as well as human-built interventions that are engineered to mimic the characteristics of eco-system services. Examples include beach nourishment, preservation or construction of wetlands, constructing and seeding oyster reefs.
Structural/Grey: traditional engineering approaches such as levees, barriers, seawalls, breakwaters.
Regulatory & Cultural/Non-structural: modifications in public policy, management practices, regulations, and design practices as well as local capacity building actions. Examples include information campaigns to increase local understanding of the role of mangroves in impact reduction; relocation of residents out of hazard zones; changes in building codes; investments in governance systems to enable implementation of plans.
Hybrid or Integrated: approaches that combine features of natural, nature-based, structural, regulatory, and/or cultural measures to reduce coastal risk. An example would be relocating houses out of a flood plain and replacing them with constructed wetlands and flood gates. | <urn:uuid:6f5a5423-1b1c-484e-b79d-293c1718985c> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | http://www.resilient-infrastructure.org/useful-definitions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178351374.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20210225153633-20210225183633-00458.warc.gz | en | 0.930439 | 212 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Siti Rahayu Nadhiroh
Departemen Gizi Kesehatan, Fakultas Kesehatan Masyarakat, Universitas Airlangga
Alamat korespondensi :
Lebak Regency is categorized as underdeveloped regency based onthe criterion of State Ministry for acceleration development backward regions.Therefore, healthy villages program have been launched in Lebak Regency as an intervention effort in health related sector. 3 of 5 pillars of healthy villages program are sanitation and clean water availability and balance nutrition. Balance nutrition consumption pattern will result good nutritional status. The aim of this research was to analize sanitation, clean water and nutritional status of under-five children profile in Lebak regency in the period 2009- 2013. This was an observational research using secondary data. This study was a part of
healthy villages program in 2014. Data obtained from health profile of Lebak regency in 5 years from 2009 to 2013 that published in 2014 Healthy Villages Report . Data were displayed in the form of graphics and tables to show the number and trends. Research result showed that there were increasing percentages of household who have accessed clean water in 5-year period. However,there were only 59,7% residents who could access the water in 2013. The percentage of sanitation access rose slightly from 46,19% in 2009 to 59,9% in 2013. There were missing data about severe underweight children percentagein 2012 and 2013. Fortunately, there were under red line data as a sign for underweight status. The percentage of under red line childrendropped dramatically along the period, started from 24.7% in 2009 to 1.3 % in 2013. It can be concluded that the increasing percentage of household who could access the clean water and sanitation run slowly during the period. In contrast, the percentage of underweight status for under-five children has been successfully reduced. It is recommended for local government to do acceleration efforts in increasing clean water and sanitation access as basic need of Lebak residents.
Keywords : Lebak Regency, sanitation, clean water, nutritional status | <urn:uuid:691b5fe5-fac6-4b06-81ca-476326015f26> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | https://fkm.unair.ac.id/profil-sanitasi-air-bersih-dan-status-gizi-balita-di-kabupaten-lebak/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583659417.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20190117224929-20190118010929-00067.warc.gz | en | 0.94514 | 436 | 2.84375 | 3 |
St Mary’s R.C Primary School
Primary Curriculum – PSHE
Although PSHE is not a statutory subject, the national curriculum states that PSHE is an important and necessary part of all pupils’ education. The National Curriculum does not provide a specific framework for PSHE to allow teachers to adapt the subject based on the needs of their students. At St. Mary’s we follow the PSHE association programme of study.
At St.Mary’s, through our PSHE and RHE curriculum, we enable our children to become happy, healthy, responsible and caring members of society. Our programme is question based and allows children to develop personally, socially, physically and mentally. We encourage children to have confidence in their own thoughts and believe that anything is possible if they put their mind to it. We promote respect, tolerance and equality for all members of our society. We believe it is important to promote diversity and as part of our PSHE curriculum, we encourage our children to ask questions and explore people and communities that are different to them.
We intend to teach these key skills through three key areas of learning:
The three key areas of learning are:
- Health and wellbeing
- Living in the wider world
At St Mary’s we teach PSHE through a question-based approach. From Nursery to Y6, children focus on key questions throughout the year that link to one of the three key areas of learning. Our curriculum is structured around an overarching question for each term or half term. In EYFS and KS1 these questions begin as ‘what?’ and ‘who?’ questions and build throughout KS2 into ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ questions. The teaching builds according to age and needs of the pupils throughout their primary school career. Additionally, our PSHE questions are cross-curricular and allow children to explore the key questions through a variety of different subjects.
PSHE should provide a platform where students feel safe to explore ‘Big Questions’ and through our teaching and discussions children will learn how to respond to scenarios as a healthy, responsible and caring members of our society. Teachers will also use their professional judgement to meet the needs of the students they are teaching. For example, when arguments in the playground are a daily occurrence teachers use these in their PSHE sessions as learning scenarios.
At the beginning of the term/ half term, children explore their termly or half termly question as part of a launch lesson. This allows the children to respond to the question initially without any prior knowledge or teaching. Throughout that term/half term teaching should have taken place to focus on the PSHE question. Once the term/half term is over, children will be asked the question again. This time children should be able to answer the question in more depth and with a better understanding.
PSHE Clubs at St Mary’s
- Yoga is provided in Y4 as a mindfulness club which promotes good mental health to the children who take part
- Well-being warriors – Y5 and Y6 children give up their lunchtimes to promote our three key areas of learning through games and activities for the younger children.
- Sports – there are a variety of sports clubs offered to children throughout the year promoting good mental and physical health and well-being through physical activity.
The teachings of Jesus are central to every aspect of our learning, so we:
- Our PSHE lessons teach children to accept everyone equally regardless of race, gender or sexuality. We follow the teaching Jesus taught us ‘love thy neighbour as thy self.’
- Our question-based PSHE curriculum allows us to focus on the question ‘what would Jesus do?’ This allows children to think about the gospel values of our school.
- Through our key areas of learning, we are able to draw on key messages from the Bible. Through these Bible references we provide children with the opportunity to explore the ‘Big Questions’ through a faith-based lens.
Key life skills for learningProvide a curriculum that will equip children with the values, skills and attributes needed to be independent thinkers and courageous learners, so we:
- We provide children with the opportunity to become independent thinkers.
- Children develop confidence through exploring and questioning.
- Our PSHE lesson teach children to be courageous and ask deep and meaningful questions.
Pupil Premium Grant:
Provide extended opportunities to experience a wide range of sites of historical importance which they might not otherwise have chance to access, so we:
- Remove the barriers for children accessing any trips that enhance their PSHE curriculum.
- Plan experiences that children might not usually experience, that allow children to explore their ‘big questions’.
- Provide children with equal opportunity to join clubs and sports teams throughout school.
Opportunities to embrace cultural capital
is part of our school ethos, so we:
- Celebrate diversity within our community. Such as: Black History Month; Day of the dead; ADHD awareness month; Science week; International day for the abolition of slavery; harvest festival
- Promote talking and learning about mental health through: Social media kindness day; Anti-bullying week; Mental health week
- Provide children with opportunities to learn about and ask questions to people with different cultural backgrounds.
Our PSHE curriculum is embedded within every curriculum subject which means that our children have a number of opportunities to be ‘thinkers’ and ask deep and meaningful questions. Children enjoy exploring and expressing their own opinions on a given topic.
Summative assessments in KS1 and KS2 are based on the children’s understanding of the ‘Big Questions’. At the beginning of each term/half term, children are asked to answer the big question without any prior teaching (although they may draw on knowledge from previous years). At the end of the termly/ half termly question, children are asked the same question in the hope that they will be able to answer with a much deeper understanding.
Summative assessment in EYFS, is measured in the same way. However, the children’s responses to the question are recorded by the teacher or TA who is discussing the question with a small group.
Formative assessments take place each lesson through quizzes, whiteboard work, teacher-student discussions. Where a child is showing that they do not have a full understanding of the lesson objective, a quick intervention takes place with the TA. During this 5-10mintue intervention the TA will have a 1:1 or group discussion with the child(ren) that need further clarification of the objective.
Pupil voice is an integral part of measuring impact of PSHE lesson throughout the school. Because our PSHE lessons are very discussion heavy, we rely on pupil voice to measure the impact of learning. | <urn:uuid:15d2e81c-bc68-42e3-9345-d31c61500532> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.stmarys-radcliffe.org.uk/page/pshe/105830 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652663048462.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20220529072915-20220529102915-00172.warc.gz | en | 0.953154 | 1,436 | 3.375 | 3 |
Answer to Question #1960 in Economics of Enterprise for Criss
First, there is the shady economy. If we talk about Eastern Europe or former Soviet Union, in these countries, this problem is very important. Accordingly a large amount of money, which must be paid as taxes, does not fall into the budget. This situation distorts the picture of the actual level of income and thus their standard of living
Another problem is inequality in income, in some countries, even very large, which makes it impossible to determine the actual standard of living of most citizens, and shows only generalized, aggregated index.
It should be noted that an important place has a migration, and the money that migrants send home. These funds are not always reflected in income and therefore not taxable, leading to a shortfall in state tax payments, which also affects the level of GDP, and hence the nominal standard of living, which under much different from the real.
Another problem is globalization and internationalization of economy and the world in general, which complicates the calculations under the relevant indicators. Cash flows intersect and merge, so the actual definition of standard of living is simply impossible.
This are the main problems involved in using national income measurement to determine living standards of a country.
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for any assignment or question with DETAILED EXPLANATIONS! | <urn:uuid:48a63c8d-56a2-4b4d-92c7-7e3b4c9fbeb4> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | https://www.assignmentexpert.com/homework-answers/economics/economics-of-enterprise/question-1960 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039745761.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20181119105556-20181119131556-00264.warc.gz | en | 0.941086 | 288 | 3.09375 | 3 |
The additive developed by the Office of Naval Research and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is called polyfibroblast, which allows scratches in vehicle paint to scar and heal before the effects of corrosion reach the metal beneath.
"Corrosion costs the Department of the Navy billions of dollars each year," said Marine Capt. Frank Furman, who manages logistics research programs for ONR's Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare and Combating Terrorism Department. "This technology could cut maintenance costs, and, more importantly, it could increase the time vehicles are out in the field with our Marines."
Polyfibroblast is a powder that can be added to commercial-off-the-shelf paint primers. The Navy said it is composed of microscopic polymer spheres filled with an oily liquid. When scratched, resin from the broken capsules forms a waxy, water-repellent coating across the vehicle's exposed steel. Many self-healing paints are designed for cosmetic purposes but polyfibroblast is being engineered specifically for tactical vehicles used in harsh environments.
The Navy said the cost of corrosion is $6 billion annually for the service and that half of that comes from damaged Marine Corps vehicles.
Development of polyfibroblast began in 2008 and work is continuing to improve its effectiveness. | <urn:uuid:0af3153a-f0ff-4363-aa19-5708d7e5dacb> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2014/03/19/Navy-announces-new-anti-corrosion-paint-additive/UPI-24261395251795/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510273350.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011753-00453-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953105 | 263 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Distribution of cephalopods from plankton surveys around the British Isles
Abstract:Cephalopods (n = 515) were identified from a series of plankton and fine meshed mid-water trawls, taken between 1977 and 1999, around the British Isles. The collections were not directed at cephalopods, but provide valuable information on the distribution of planktonic species and on the paralarvae of the benthic species. The most abundant species in neritic areas were the octopod Eledone cirrhosa and the sepiolids, Sepietta oweniana and Sepiola atlantica. Eledone cirrhosa were common in samples to the north and west of Scotland, particularly in early summer. The mantle lengths of E. cirrhosa were 4–8 mm, indicating a brief planktonic existence or, perhaps, net avoidance by larger specimens. In the shelf-break collections from the west of Scotland and Ireland the squids Brachioteuthis spp., Gonatus sp., Teuthowenia megalops and rynchoteuthions of the Ommastrephidae were abundant. Two types of rhynchoteuthion were found and were probably Todarodes sagittatus, Illex coindetii or Todaropsis eblanae. Despite the abundance of Loligo forbesi around the British Isles, it was rarely taken in plankton collections, probably indicating that it does not have a planktonic paralarva.
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: July 1, 2002
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Christ taught that we were to be unified. This should apply to our family, our organizations, our churches, and anyplace else we find ourselves. It doesn’t mean we all have to be identical, but we are to work together in a spirit of peace and love. This family night will help your family work to achieve unity in the home and in other places they spend their time.
Before the family gathers, think of something heavy in your home that can be moved somewhere else only if the entire family works together. As the family enters, hand them a slip of paper that says, “Tonight will be a moving experience. We are going to move something. When I ask everyone to help out, please help carry the _____ to the _____. Don’t tell anyone what this paper says.”
In the first blank, put the name of the item to be moved. In the second blank, list a place the item could be moved to. However, give each person a different location, so that when they start to move the item, they will all try to go in different directions. If you have children who can’t read, pull them aside and tell them what the note says.
Begin the lesson by asking one person to move the item alone. It should be someone who has no possibility of success. Suggest he might need a little help. Ask everyone to help you move the item. Remind them the location it’s going to is on their paper, and they should just get to work on it without talking about what they’re doing or where they are going. It will quickly be evident the effort isn’t going to be successful. Have them stop and ask them what’s wrong. When they complain everyone is going a different way, ask each person where their note said to move the item. When they have done this, say, “So, we all had different goals. Let’s try this differently. Let’s all work together to move it to ____________. What’s the best way to do it?” When the item has been moved, invite them all to take their seats.
Ask: Why couldn’t one person move the item alone? Why couldn’t we move it as a group the first time? Why were we successful the second time?
Explain: The first time, the group had different goals. They were all trying to get somewhere different from the rest of the family and for that reason, no one was successful. Once everyone was unified and working toward the same goal, it was an easy task. Just as we couldn’t move this item alone or when we all had different goals, we can’t successfully reach our goals in life alone. We need God’s help, and we need each other’s help. If we work together as a family, we can accomplish all sorts of wonderful things.
Give each member of your family a Bible verse about unity. You might want to use some of the following. (Scriptures are taken from the King James Bible.)
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (Psalms 133:1)
So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Romans 12:5)
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. (Acts 4:32)
27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; (Philippians 1:27)
As you read the scriptures, help the family note the elements of unity described in the scriptures you chose. Talk about some of the ways you could implement those ideas in your own family.
To help your family learn to apply this concept, try some case studies. If your children are younger, hide the questions around the room. Write the questions on colored paper or cardstock and assign each child a color. They can only find their own colors, and they mustn’t tell anyone when they find another color—unless they’re asked for help. If your children are older, let them take turns drawing a situation from a box or bag.
Create an ending to each story. After the family has discussed it, read what really happened.
Following are some sample stories. You may prefer to invent your own to meet the needs of your own family.
1. The family is deciding what to do this Saturday. Everyone has a different idea of what the family could do together. Katie really wants to go on a hike because she is starting a rock collection and thinks she could find interesting rocks that way. Jessica wants to play baseball. Alexander wants to go roller skating. The parents decided to let the children choose. The family has two choices—they can fight over it, or they can think about it in a unified way.
(Guide the children to recognize these points:
If they fight: Everyone will be angry, and no one will really want to be together on Saturday anyway. The “losers” won’t have any fun.
If they are unified: The rest of the week will be good and the family will enjoy the outing because they all planned it.)
Solution: At first, everyone wanted his or her own way. Then Jessica pointed out that she and Alexander just chose things that were fun. However, Katie’s new rock collection was really important to her. Since she had a special reason for her choice, the children decided to go on the hike and help Katie find rocks. They agreed the next trip would be Jessica’s choice and the one after that would be Alexander’s choice.
2. Alexander and Katie are playing together. They hear Jessica in her room, sounding upset. When they go in to check it out, they see she has tears in her eyes. She has to have her multiplication tables memorized for a test on Monday and she’s having trouble with them. Alexander starts to laugh at her because multiplication was easy for him to learn. What should he and Jessica do—go back to their game, or something else?
Solution: Multiplication was easy for Katie, too, but she notices how sad and worried Jessica is, and drags her brother into the hall. She suggests they need to be unified in helping their sister. The two put their game away and come back in to help Jessica make some really pretty flash cards. Then they help her drill and even think of some fun games they could play that help her learn while having fun.
3. Alexander’s Sunday School class is doing a service project, making things for children in a homeless shelter. Several of the boys are goofing off and a box of small beads gets knocked onto the floor. Everyone starts arguing over whose fault it is and who should pick them up. Alexander wasn’t one of the boys goofing off. What should he do?
Solution: While everyone else is arguing, Alexander remembers his family night lesson on unity. He wonders what Jesus would do. He knows Jesus wouldn’t argue about who should clean up. Jesus would just go to work, so Alexander quietly starts picking up the beads, even though it wasn’t his fault at all. Soon the other boys notice and stop arguing. Following Alexander’s example, they all go to work and soon the beads are cleaned up.
Ask your family to select one area of their home that could be improved through working in unity. Make a plan as a family to carry it out. Then ask them to each think of a way to build unity someplace else—at school, at church, or in their neighborhood—and work on it themselves or with others. | <urn:uuid:2c59040b-f86f-41df-834c-6441df7e561c> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://mormonfamily.net/creating_eternal_relationships/family-home-evenings/teaching-children-about-unity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514575484.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20190922094320-20190922120320-00052.warc.gz | en | 0.979288 | 1,676 | 3.125 | 3 |
Sierra Monitor knows the Wastewater application inside and out. Consider using Sierra Monitor’s expertise and products for your next wastewater project — instrumenting the wastewater plant with one of the most comprehensive gas detection, alarming, and mitigation systems available.
Although detecting hazardous gases within a wastewater treatment facility is important, integrating gas detection and alarm systems with SCADA’s, PLC’s, or BMS’s is equally as important. FieldServer protocol gateways are essential to integrating key wastewater facility automation systems to the cloud for remote monitoring, control, and big data analytics.
Wastewater is used water that has been adversely affected in quality by substances like human waste, food scraps, oils, and chemicals. Wastewater treatment, also known as sewage treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater through physical, chemical, and biological procedures. Wastewater treatment facilities clean used water for the benefit of our environment and personal health. However, the treatment process is chemically intensive and can pose a threat to the safety of personnel working at the facility. Consequently, the wastewater treatment facility manager must ensure that the facility’s safety is not compromised by instrumenting the plant with a comprehensive gas detection, alarming, and mitigation system.
Gas Detection and Alarming
The process of treating wastewater requires a plant to utilize many toxic and dangerous gases, which also causes the production of other toxic and combustible gases. Moreover, there are many enclosed spaces in a wastewater treatment plant where toxic gases can build up, or non-toxic gases can deplete oxygen to endanger plant personnel. To ensure maximum wastewater treatment safety, these hazardous gases must be accounted for:
Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)
Oxygen (O2) Deficiency
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
Processes within a wastewater treatment facility include pumping and lifting stations, influent screening, sludge processing, digestion, and final disinfection. Different processes within a wastewater treatment facility require different gas sensors. Areas with potential hazardous levels of gases include:
Pumping station and wet well – Combustible Gases, Oxygen Deficiency, Hydrogen Sulfide
Influent and barscreen room – Combustible Gases, Hydrogen Sulfide, Oxygen Deficiency
Barscreen and conveyor room – Combustible Gases, Hydrogen Sulfide
Barscreen container and grit screen room – Combustible Gases, Hydrogen
Primary Clarifier – Combustible Gases, Oxygen Deficiency, Hydrogen Sulfide
Primary wet wall – Combustible Gases, Oxygen Deficiency, Hydrogen Sulfide
Grit chamber and wet wall – Combustible Gases, Oxygen Deficiency, Hydrogen Sulfide
Sludge treatment – Combustible Gases, Oxygen Deficiency, Hydrogen Sulfide
Sludge incineration – Carbon Monoxide
Basement-generator area – Combustible Gases
Digester-basement – Combustible Gases, Hydrogen Sulfide
Digester-first floor – Combustible Gases, Hydrogen Sulfide
Odor removal equipment – Chlorine, Hydrogen Sulfide, Ammonia
Furnace room – Combustible Gases, Carbon Monoxide
Filtration room – Chlorine, Hydrogen Sulfide
Final disinfection – Chlorine, Ammonia, Sulfur Dioxide
Automation and Integration Strategies
Detecting hazardous gases and issuing alarms are important steps, but it is equally important to take remediation actions. This can be done through integrating the gas detection and alarm system with the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or the Building Management System (BMS) responsible for automating the larger facility. Other automation processes may include providing notifications as a local alarm to an employee’s phone, tablet, and/or PC.
As these systems are automated, the regulatory agencies require that the systems be “performance approved” and checked on a periodic basis. | <urn:uuid:545c6734-75ed-48f4-bee1-51f5d1452463> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | https://controltrends.org/by-vendor/sierra-monitor/05/sierra-monitors-featured-application-wastewater-treatment/?share=tumblr | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439740838.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20200815094903-20200815124903-00148.warc.gz | en | 0.857853 | 855 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Decolonizing is about reclaiming what was taken and honoring what we still have.
In this op-ed, Tina Curiel-Allen, a Xicana/Boricua poet, writer, and activist, explains decolonization for those who may not be familiar with the term or process. It is important to note that Tina is writing from California, in what is now known as the United States; her family comes from California, other parts of the U.S., and parts of Mexico. She is not attempting to speak for all peoples with regard to decolonization but rather for the community she is a part of, as well as the elders and teachers she says she’s fortunate enough to know.
To talk about decolonization, people need an understanding of what we are decolonizing from. Colonization is when a dominant group or system takes over and exploits and extracts from the land and its native peoples. Colonization has taken place all over the globe, through the stealing of lands; the raping of women; the taking of slaves; the breaking of bodies through fighting, labor, imprisonment, and genocide; the stealing of children; the enforcement of religion; the destruction—or attempts to destroy—spiritual ways of life. All of these things have left a psychological, spiritual, and physical imprint on indigenous peoples, and a governmental ruling system that we did not create, that was not made for us. These are the things we need to heal from, where we need to start reclaiming. This is where organizing and decolonizing comes in.
How do those who have been colonized go about decolonizing? It is in the interest of the colonizer to divide and conquer, to separate us from community, so speaking from a place of we is necessary when talking about decolonization. It is as political and communal as it is personal. | <urn:uuid:9b4488ab-60e8-43b9-8f77-5e76ebf7b201> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://unsettlingamerica.wordpress.com/2019/07/02/what-decolonization-is-and-what-it-means-to-me/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703519923.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20210120054203-20210120084203-00510.warc.gz | en | 0.972342 | 382 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Markey Oncologist Highlights Need for Neuroendocrine Tumor Awareness, Advancements
Neuroendocrine tumors develop from neuroendocrine cells found in the digestive tract, lungs, pancreas and other sites, and they can present unique diagnostic challenges. Though these cancers are often considered rare, they are now being diagnosed at a rate six times higher than roughly four decades ago.
In Kentucky, that problem is even more pronounced: a recent study led by Chauhan showed a 10-fold increase in NET incidence in the Commonwealth compared to four decades ago.
“In the op-ed, we highlight this growing burden of neuroendocrine tumors in the U.S.,” Chauhan said. “And in Kentucky, we’re diagnosing more of these at a higher rate than the national average.”
Because NETs are considered rare, funding for research into the disease is relatively small. Despite several high-profile patients in recent years – both Steve Jobs and Aretha Franklin died after being diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas – overall awareness of this type of cancer is low.
Through the op-ed, Chauhan hopes to raise awareness of the growing burden of NETs both across the country and in Kentucky. The goal is not just to increase funding for preclinical and clinical research, but also to educate physicians on diagnosis and appropriate management of NETs.
“Despite the slow-growing nature of this disease, progressive metastatic NETs are fatal,” Chauhan said. “This is a rapidly growing problem, and we need to find solutions.” | <urn:uuid:5a58251b-ae14-4d5b-ba67-9a0c9f41fb61> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | https://internalmedicine.med.uky.edu/news/markey-oncologist-highlights-need-neuroendocrine-tumor-awareness-advancements | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439737168.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20200810175614-20200810205614-00100.warc.gz | en | 0.940507 | 333 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Modern physics has disproved direct realism: There is no locally realistic description of our world possible. Although I have already explained this differently at several places, for example by refusing 'real stuff' as being a good explanation for what is ‘at the bottom’, it is worth to prove it once rigorously. Let me present the simplest established proof in the simplest possible version that I can come up with. Everybody claiming interest in the interplay between science and philosophy should have gone through this proof at least once and I did my utmost to make it as easy as possible: Only three angles are considered and probabilities almost completely avoided by instead talking about natural numbers like 50. What local realism actually refers to should become obvious along the way.
Imagine a source of pairs of photons (quanta of light). One photon is send to Alice who resides to the left. The second photon is send to Bob, who is far away to the right. Alice has a calcite crystal that has one input channel for her photon and two output channels: One output is labeled “Horizontal” or “H” and the other output channel is labeled “Vertical” or “V”. Photons exiting these channels are horizontally or vertically polarized relative to the crystal’s internal z-axis. Every photon either comes out of the H-channel, in which case her measurement is labeled “1”, or it comes out of the V-channel, in which case her measurement is “0”.
Bob has the same kind of crystal-thingy and so we will write every combined measurement as (A,B) with A being the value that Alice measured and B the value that Bob has gotten. So there are exactly four possibilities for every photon pair: (A,B) = (0,0), or (0,1), or (1,0), or (1,1).
The important point to understand is: Every photon pair is prepared in such a way that if the crystal axes of Alice’s crystal is parallel to that of Bob’s, only the measurements (0,1) and (1,0) ever result!
That such is possible has to do with the conservation of angular momentum of the photon pair and so on and is basic physics – no big mystery involved here. I am not going to somehow “prove” such basics, because you could in principle go into the laboratory and check it yourself. We accept these measurements and photon pair preparations as daily laboratory routine and go on to prove non-locality from it (not that the earth is round or that light velocity is constant or anything else, but only non-locality).
Now it may come in handy (but it is not necessary) if you know a little optics (skip this paragraph if you like): Linearly polarized light that has its polarization axis at an angle of δ (delta) to the vertical (z-axis) and that hits a linear polarizer whose polarization axis is along the vertical, will be attenuated. Why? The projection of the electrical field vector E of the light onto the vertical is proportional to cos(δ). The orthogonal sin(δ) component is absorbed and the left over energy is proportional to the square of E. Thus, the energy left after passing the polarizer is proportional to cos2(δ).
However, the more fundamental description rests on the fact that the discussed crystals do something very similar: If a linearly polarized photon is going into the entrance channel and the relative angle between a certain crystal axis and the photon’s polarization is delta again, the probability to exit as a horizontally polarized photon through the H-channel is cos2(δ), and the probability of going through the V-channel instead is sin2(δ). The combined probability cos2(δ) + sin2(δ) = 100%, as it of course it must be in order to account for all cases.
At 45 degrees input polarization, the probability to have the photon come out horizontally polarized is 50%.
With other input polarizations, the probability can be adjusted from zero to unity.
Let us recall the paragraph before the previous two: If Alice’s crystal has its internal z-axis at φ0 = 0º and Bob’s crystal is aligned with φ0 = 0º, too, then only the measurements (0,1) and (1,0) ever result! If the crystals are at an angle δ = (φBob – φAlice) relative to each other (twisted along the x-axis so to say), then the outcomes depend on the relative angle δ in precisely the way you would expect from usual optics: the results (0,0) and (1,1) become possible and their occurrence counts increase proportional to sin2(δ).
Say we do this experiment 800 times. Every experiment starts with the preparation of a pair of photons. When the photon going to the left is maybe about half way on its path to Alice’s crystal, Alice randomly rotates her crystal either so that the crystal's internal z-axis is at φ0 = 0º or at φ1 = 3π/8 = 67.5º. Similarly, after the preparation of the photon pair but before the photon going to the right is about to arrive at Bob’s crystal, Bob randomly puts his crystal either at φ1 or at φ2 = π/8 = 22.5º.
Didactic point: No other angles will be considered. The relative δ angles’ magnitudes are thus zero, one, two, and three times φ2, but realists claim that the photons only know about locally present absolute angles, and disproving them is the main issue! This is why I label henceforth with both φ instead of oversimplifying with a single δ label.
Alice and Bob pick the angles randomly. Each has two different angles to choose from, so there are four different combined choices, and they are all equally likely. Hence, out of the NTotal = 800 experiments, about 200 times, a quarter of all cases, Alice’s and Bob’s angles are in the configuration φAlice = φ0 while φBob = φ1. I write thus N0,1 ~ 200. The other three numbers are obviously N0,2 ~ 200, N1,1 ~ 200, and N1,2 ~ 200. Actually, since it is all random, numbers like 195 or 203 may often result instead of exactly 200. Thus, we do not use an equal sign “=” here, but a “~”, which means that the numbers will be pretty close to 200.
What about the outcomes of the measurements? Well, lets enumerate first the N1,1 cases, because for all of them the relative angle δ = (φ1 – φ1) is zero, and that means only (0,1) and (1,0) can result. We write, in surely obvious notation, the expected numbers as
N1,1(0,0) = 0
N1,1(0,1) ~ 100
N1,1(1,0) ~ 100
N1,1(1,1) = 0
The total is indeed 200. These numbers will not be important later on and serve merely as an introduction of the general method and its consistency. It helps to compare with the following four lines and appreciate the fact that the above four lines fundamentally result from them:
N1,1(0,0) = N1,1 * Sin2(0)/2 ~ 200 * 0
N1,1(0,1) = N1,1 * Cos2(0)/2 ~ 200 * 1/2
N1,1(1,0) = N1,1 * Cos2(0)/2 ~ 200 * 1/2
N1,1(1,1) = N1,1 * Sin2(0)/2 ~ 200 * 0
Lets enumerate the N0,1 cases where the relative angle δ is φ1. The expected numbers are
N0,1(0,0) ~ 200 * Sin2(3π/8)/2 = 85
N0,1(0,1) ~ 200 * Cos2(3π/8)/2 = 15
N0,1(1,0) ~ 200 * Cos2(3π/8)/2 = 15
N0,1(1,1) ~ 200 * Sin2(3π/8)/2 = 85
The total is again 200. Only N0,1(0,1) ~ 15 will be important.
The N0,2 cases are very similar. The relative angle δ is φ2, and so the expected numbers are
N0,2(0,0) ~ 200 * Sin2(π/8)/2 = 15
N0,2(0,1) ~ 200 * Cos2(π/8)/2 = 85
N0,2(1,0) ~ 200 * Cos2(π/8)/2 = 85
N0,2(1,1) ~ 200 * Sin2(π/8)/2 = 15
The total is again 200 and only N0,2(0,1) ~ 85 will be important.
Lastly, we enumerate the N1,2 cases. δ is now – π/4 = – 45º. The expected numbers are
N1,2(0,0) ~ 200 * Sin2(–π/4)/2 = 50
N1,2(0,1) ~ 200 * Cos2(–π/4)/2 = 50
N1,2(1,0) ~ 200 * Cos2(–π/4)/2 = 50
N1,2(1,1) ~ 200 * Sin2(–π/4)/2 = 50
Remember that every number counts particular outcomes in a total of 800 trials. The important end result is that N0,2(0,1) ~ 85 alone is by more than 20 occurrences larger than N0,1(0,1) and N1,2(1,1) combined, which only sum to 15 + 50 = 65.
What we have introduced here are the facts as they are experimentally observed. The next time, we will tentatively assume that the world is real and that everything depends only on what is locally present in the vicinity; that Bob’s random decision does not influence Alice’s random choice for example. We will try to reproduce the above result “classically”, so the next time will be much easier than today (the hard part is over!). We will discuss Bell’s famous inequality , which states something totally obvious, namely that (N5 + N7) alone is smaller or at most equal to (N6 + N7) + (N1 + N5) combined.
However, (N5 + N7) will equal our large N0,2(0,1) while (N6 + N7) will equal the tiny N0,1(0,1) and (N1 + N5) will equal the small N1,2(1,1). In other words: Local realism cannot possibly describe the world as it reveals itself to us in the laboratory. Put differently: Local realism demands that 85 is smaller than 15 + 50, which implies that local realism is reserved for the crazy among us and that the world is non-local and in a sense not real; it rather exists in our minds!
(That modified realism may be a better conclusion than non-locality is discussed in Part 3.)
J. S. Bell, "On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen paradox," Physics, 1(3) 1964 pp. 195-200. Reprinted in J. S. Bell, Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics, 2nd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004; S. M. Blinder, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004 pp. 272-277.
More appetite for reading about that reality does in a sense not exist? Here you go: | <urn:uuid:00c7022e-b142-4556-b5c7-bbd7fe1a4968> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.science20.com/alpha_meme/disproving_local_realism-79216 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514576355.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20190923105314-20190923131314-00306.warc.gz | en | 0.913514 | 2,587 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Nowadays, almost all the great powers consider foreign aid to be a way of showing off their capabilities and sense of responsibility toward international obligations. In recent years, China has made significant commitments to foreign aid. In fact, China and a number of African countries have forged strong relationships, and are now all-weather brothers. When Ebola broke out in March 2014, China was right at the forefront of offering medical support to affected countries. This is the largest-ever medical aid program implemented by China to date, and has created a new chapter in Sino-African friendship and the history of international aid.
Ebola is not a new disease. It has appeared several times since 1976. But the 2014 outbreak in countries such as Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and so on was unusual. On Aug 8 2014, the WHO determined that the Ebola epidemic was an international public health emergency. In just a few months, the death toll increased to thousands. The WHO sounded a global alarm, and China immediately deployed its emergency humanitarian relief mechanism.
“The situation is quite severe, far beyond the capability of those affected countries. Time is life. The international community should take action now,” said Wang Yi, foreign minister of China.
Over that summer, China’s efficiency wowed the world. The Chinese government rented 23 airplanes, flying over three continents and through the air space of 18 countries, to transport medicine, medical equipment, medical protective clothing and thermo-detectors to the affected countries. For those African nations, this was timely help. The WHO highly appreciated China’s actions.
This was China’s biggest emergency humanitarian health aid program to date, and the crisis was also unprecedented in scale. In the face of the most potent infections of the 21st century, more than a thousand Chinese experts and military medical staff went to the affected countries, risking their own lives to treat and cure local people.
In September 2014, China transported its P3 biology laboratory to Sierra Leone. This is the most advanced laboratory that China has ever transported to another country. In November 2014, the Ebola treatment center built by China was brought into use in Liberia.
The Chinese staff spent only 28 days constructing this 100-bed treatment center, which is the only Ebola treatment center run by a foreign country in Liberia. And Chinese medical teams in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone stayed in place in the face of the Ebola outbreak. Many Ebola patients were in critical condition when they arrived at the Chinese medical centers. But under the careful treatment of Chinese doctors, they recovered. The Chinese medical staff forged a common bond of affection with the local people and moved the leaders of those countries.
“You’ve been proven to be a friend in need. That’s the best friend you can have. It’s when you are down and out, when you are in trouble, when you feel hardships, and that person is still with you and comes to you, you really know that person is a true friend. Thank you so much. Convey it to the president, government and people of China that we are always with them,” said Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, president of Liberia.
“China is the first country that sent items to us ... They provided us with support,” said Ernest Bai Koroma, president of Sierra Leone.
“We do appreciate China, as a great power, standing with us while our country is in this severe situation. This means that the cooperation between the two countries will go much farther in the future,” said Alpha Conde, president of Guinea.
Four batches of humanitarian aid, and more than 1200 Chinese experts and medical staff have left China’s mark on Africa. In September 2015, the WHO declared that the Ebola outbreak would come to an end this year. But China’s efforts on the continent continue.
China is communicating with the affected African countries regarding their reconstruction needs after defeating the epidemic, and cooperating on other related issues. China will continue to play a constructive role in the development and revitalization of these countries.
Fighting Ebola has demonstrated China’s responsibility as a great power, and this kind of help is becoming all the more precious as catastrophes have occurred more frequently around the world in recent years. | <urn:uuid:87aba297-15f2-4b16-86d3-30884dadc6e4> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | http://english.gov.cn/news/video/2015/11/16/content_281475236018743.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948523222.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20171213123757-20171213143757-00013.warc.gz | en | 0.96531 | 877 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Effects of Concreteness and Contiguity on Learning from Computer-Based Reference Maps
Journal of Interactive Online Learning Volume 5, Number 3 ISSN 1541-4914
Today's technology has reached new heights that have not been fully implemented. One of the areas where technology has not yet reached its full potential is in education. This study examined the effects of concreteness of location names and contiguity of location names with textual information on learning from computer-based reference maps. The research was designed to be a 3 concreteness (concrete vs. abstract vs. non-familiar) X 2 contiguity (non-contiguous vs. contiguous) with six treatment levels. One hundred and sixty-seven college students studied a digital reference map presented to them. The results indicate that participants in the contiguous condition recalled significantly more feature-related facts than those in the non-contiguous condition. The results also indicate that the participants' performance in recall, matching feature-fact pairs, as well as in the inference was significantly more for concrete features names and abstract feature names than the non-familiar feature names. A significant interaction effect was also observed for the matching of fact-feature pairs. The findings are not thoroughly consistent with the concreteness and conceptual peg effects associated with Paivio's dual coding theory (DCT). More research needs to be done to continue investigating this phenomenon. However, this study will assist teachers and designers better understand how to design cognitive maps and spatial displays that facilitate learning.
Srinivasan, S., Lewis, D.D. & Crooks, S.M. Effects of Concreteness and Contiguity on Learning from Computer-Based Reference Maps. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 5(3), 243-254. | <urn:uuid:361ffd61-2a71-436c-8ba9-6e5ba297137a> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | http://www.learntechlib.org/p/161524/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540529955.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20191211045724-20191211073724-00319.warc.gz | en | 0.925539 | 361 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Definition of Isthmus of Kra
1. Noun. A narrow isthmus linking the Malay Peninsula to the Asian mainland.
Isthmus Of Kra Pictures
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Lexicographical Neighbors of Isthmus Of Kra
Literary usage of Isthmus of Kra
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General by Thomas Spencer Baynes (1888)
"AYU (" Malay Land "), the southernmost region in Asia, attached to Further India by the isthmus of Kra, in 10° N. 1st., whence it projects for about 600 ..."
2. Proceedings by Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain), Norton Shaw, Francis Galton, William Spottiswoode, Clements Robert Markham, Henry Walter Bates, John Scott Keltie (1883)
"Loftus, [Commander] AJ—Notes of a Journey across the Isthmus of Kra, made with the French Government Survey Expedition, January-April, 1883, ..."
3. The World Book: Organized Knowledge in Story and Picture edited by Michael Vincent O'Shea, Ellsworth D. Foster, George Herbert Locke (1918)
"The Isthmus of Corinth, connecting Morea (the Peloponnesus) with Northern Greece, and the Isthmus of Kra, connecting the Malay Peninsula with ..."
4. International Catalogue of Scientific Literature by Royal Society (Great Britain) (1906)
"Siam. ej. British India : Himalaya ; Burma ; Ceylon. eg. Malay Peninsula from Isthmus of Kra ; Malay Archipelago, including Halmahera ..."
5. The International Geography by Hugh Robert Mill (1915)
"... wide at the Isthmus of Kra, where a ship canal would greatly shorten the voyages from western to eastern Asia. The gulfs of Siam in the east and of ..."
6. Handbook of Commercial Geography by George Goudie Chisholm (1908)
"It is highly mountainous, and clothed with dense tropical forests, but at its northern end, at the Isthmus of Kra (between 10° and 11° N.), there is a gap ..."
7. The Geographical Journal by Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain). (1895)
"The strength of the monsoon on the eastern coast would have to be reckoned with in carrying out any Isthmus of Kra canal scheme, ..."
8. The Geographical Journal by Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain). (1895)
"The strength of the monsoon on the eastern coast would have to be reckoned with in carrying out any Isthmus of Kra canal scheme, for Chumpon Bay is fully ..." | <urn:uuid:e415a233-c07a-4164-877f-8be08a9f5efd> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | http://www.lexic.us/definition-of/Isthmus_of_Kra | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125937780.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20180420120351-20180420140351-00566.warc.gz | en | 0.854313 | 627 | 3.84375 | 4 |
PhilosophyCCBC Philosophy students study the greatest thinkers in human history. They learn to question all assumptions and to think objectively in the pursuit of truth, and they explore the history of ideas and how these ideas have shaped the world we live in today.
Philosophy can be defined in many different ways, including the following:
- The love of wisdom (translated from Greek).
- The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence.
- The study of the nature of reality and existence, of what is possible to know, and of right and wrong behavior.
ProgramAssociate of Arts
The CCBC Philosophy Program offers a variety of courses including:
- Introduction to Philosophy
- Critical Thinking
- Introduction to World Religions | <urn:uuid:c38d0bd2-3ad7-4ffa-ad57-452115f900fb> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | http://www.ccbcmd.edu/Programs-and-Courses/Schools-and-Academic-Departments/School-of-Liberal-Arts/Performing-Arts-and-Humanities/Philosophy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084892699.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20180123211127-20180123231127-00596.warc.gz | en | 0.906451 | 157 | 2.78125 | 3 |
As the tallest animals to cross this planet’s surface, giraffes are surprisingly vulnerable to predators. Adult giraffes' size intimidates many potential predators, so younger giraffes are more vulnerable. The giraffe’s most powerful protective asset is a powerful kick it gives with its front feet, with a force strong enough to kill a lion. Nature gave the giraffe several nonviolent characteristics that help it survive.
Height and Vision
The giraffe’s height is important to its survival. Besides making a giraffe appear to predators too big to tackle, the animal's height, combined with its extremely acute long-range vision, enables it to detect predators from great distances. They have long legs as well as necks, and the unique way they run -- both legs on each side leave the ground at the same time -- gives giraffes an impressively long stride, allowing them to cover long distances quickly and without expending much energy.
Head, Nose and Tongue
Giraffes typically have one or two horns on the tops of their heads. These don’t grow very big and aren’t sharp, but they do protect their heads in the occasional headbutting that occur among males. They have the ability to completely close their nostrils to keep sand and dust out during African dust storms. Their long tongues are not only long enough to reach the leaves they need but are also very tough, allowing them to eat thorns as well. They use their tongues to remove parasites from their faces, too.
Giraffes can go days at a time without drinking water. This matters to the giraffe's survival in a way other than hydration: Because giraffes must position their bodies in positions of vulnerability when they drink, they don’t do it often. If they sense any bit of danger, they’ll wait. Giraffes get water from the moisture contained in the leaves they eat and by consuming several gallons at a time when they do drink.
Other Protecting Features
When you’re as tall as a giraffe, you tend to stick out. But the giraffe's unique blotchy coloring camouflages the herbivore while it eats leaves off trees. Females travel together, along with young giraffes, which are especially vulnerable. Meanwhile, several species of birds provide a form of protection to giraffes by perching on them and picking at parasites that could potentially weaken and sicken giraffe hosts.
- giraffes image by Robert Ulph from Fotolia.com | <urn:uuid:e5dacdb6-8bf9-4e86-a808-1e4883eb98dc> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://animals.pawnation.com/giraffes-protect-themselves-1272.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246638571.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045718-00070-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946943 | 525 | 3.84375 | 4 |
28 February 2017
Every Celtic nation – and even beyond, including Germany and Persia, as well as Norse saga – appears to have a version of the Tristan and Iseult story in one form or another weaving through their mythology. Apart from anything else, this leads to a variety of spelling options for the protagonists’ names:
Tristram, Tristrem, Tristran, Trostan, Trystan
Isolde, Iseult, Yseult, Isoud, Isolt, Esyllt
Although not historical figures, in Cornwall, you will find places that take their names from the legend. There is a stone (from the 6th century) that bears Tristan’s name – Drustan (Drustan was apparently a real life figure, son of Cunomorus, a 6th century ruler) – near Fowey and the seat of King Mark. For this reason many believe that Cornwall may actually provide the origin of the legend.
But the stories appear in Scotland and Ireland and here in Wales too, and are taken up by Anglo-Norman storytellers, eventually becoming tied-in to the Arthurian legend, with obvious similarities to the love triangle of Lancelot, Guinevere and Arthur.
In Welsh folklore, in the ‘Welsh Triads’ (Trioedd Ynys Prydein), the ‘Red Book of Hergest’, the ‘Mabinogion’, the characters of Trystan, March and Esyllt all feature. Initially they are only mentioned separately, but from the latter half of the 14th century the love story itself emerges. The debate continues as to whether these inclusions originate from the Cornish tales.
Irish stories exist, like Deirdre (Deirdre of the Sorrows) and Naoise, a part of the ‘Ulster Cycle’ stories. Deidre’s beauty and the conflict it will bring, is foretold before she is born and the King of Ulster decides he will marry her when she grows up. She foresees that she will love Naoise, with his ‘hair like a raven’s, cheeks like blood and body like snow’. They meet and fall in love, escaping the King by fleeing to Scotland. The tale ends with Naiose being killed, Deidre ending up with the King for a time before killing herself. Sound familiar? The tale of Diarmuid and Gráinne is another version of the same ‘Tristan and Iseult’ storyline.
There are differences in the storylines in these tales, not only in the names, but in many of the details too. So for example, the length of time the potion has an effect differs from a limited time, to being forever until death. Also in the way the potion is taken. Was it deliberately given by Iseult to Tristan (instead of Mark), or accidently? Was the character/personality of Mark – heroic or bitter? All are slight variations but each follows the same general plot structure – lending weight to the thought of one original Celtic source. | <urn:uuid:270e353f-08b1-4a10-8f5c-9b10ed360307> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | https://www.wno.org.uk/news/legend-tristan-and-iseult | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125946314.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20180424002843-20180424022843-00290.warc.gz | en | 0.943396 | 657 | 3.125 | 3 |
Animals, like humans, are prone to disease or illness and need medicine to treat & prevent disease. Better animal health is an essential part of animal welfare. These medicines are categorized into three types: pesticides, biologics and pharmaceuticals. Pesticides are tick and flea products. Biologics are generally known as vaccines. In addition, pharmaceuticals cover several medicines for instance pain medications, heartworm preventatives, anesthetics, antibiotics, and chemotherapy drugs.
Animal medicines require approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The development of a new animal medicine or drug can take up to 10 years & cost up to $100 million prior to approval.
According to study, “Animal Medicine Global Market Report 2019” key companies operating in the animal medicine global market are Zoetis Inc., Ceva Sante Animale, Bayer HealthCare Animal Health, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Elanco Animal Health (Eli Lilly and Company), Merck Animal Health Ltd., Virbac S.A. Vetoquinol, Merial Animal Health, Novartis Global Animal Health, Vtoquinol S.A.
Based on product type, the animal medicine global market is segmented into vaccines, drugs and medicated feed additives. Vaccines include attenuated vaccines, inactivated vaccines and recombinant vaccines. Drugs include anti-inflammatory, anti-incentives and parasiticides (endoparasiticides, ectoparasiticides, and endectocides). Medicated feed additives include antibiotics and amino acids. Based on dosage form, the market is segmented into parenteral, oral and topical. Based on animal type, market is segmented into livestock animals and companion animals. Livestock animals include ruminants, swine, poultry, and fish, ruminants. Companion animals are further segmented into feline, canine, and equine. Rise in adoption of companion animals due to various advantages for instance greater psychological stability, lowered blood pressure, and reduced anxiety attacks are expected to create growth opportunities for the market over the forecast period. Based on distribution channel, market is bifurcated into e-commerce and retail. In addition, based on end-users, the market is segmented into veterinary clinics, point-of-care testing or in-house testing, veterinary hospitals, reference laboratories and pharmacies & drug stores.
The animal medicine global market is majorly driven by rise in demand for animal-based products, followed by increase in spending on animal healthcare by farm animal owners, increase in number of retail pharmacies, high convenience associated with online pharmacies, and growing trend of pet humanization in the region. However, lack of awareness towards animal health in emerging nations and high cost of animal health care restrain the market growth. Moreover, technological advancement for instance rises in therapeutically applications & balanced quality products provide various opportunities for market growth.
Recently producers have started using Stem Cell Therapy as an animal medicine owing to its excellent capabilities of healing arthritis & animal injury. Stem Cell Therapy is a procedure of injecting stem cell into the body of the animal to replace injured cells of the body. It enables to treat the bone & ligament injury, kidney & liver disease and some kinds of skin diseases.
The North-American region holds major market share of global animal medicine market due to consistently striving for extensive commercialization of products, followed by presence of established pharmaceutical companies. The Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to register higher growth rate owing to high prevalence of zoonotic diseases & efforts towards management of disease outbreaks, for instance swine influenza and Ebola.
For more information on the research report, refer to below link:-
Animal Medicine Global Market Report 2018Including: Veterinary Pharmaceuticals; Feed Additives Covering: Zoetis Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Bayer AG., Elanco Animal Health (Eli Lilly and Company), Ceva Sante Animale
Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications | <urn:uuid:9aa80dbb-9665-4cd2-8cc3-9b79e8531e9b> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.researchnewstoday.com/global-animal-medicine-industry-research-report-ken-research-64845.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514575515.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20190922135356-20190922161356-00477.warc.gz | en | 0.906707 | 822 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Your Safety is Important
We want you to be safe. By knowing how to use natural gas and electricity safely, you can also help ensure the safety and wellbeing of our customers and communities.
Be sure you know the keys to safety when a storm hits or an outage occurs in your area. Report and view outages here.
Always assume that downed powerlines are live, and be sure to follow important rules of safety when working around powerlines.
Natural gas is odorless, but we add a scent so you can detect if there’s a leak in your home. Take these immediate actions if you smell gas.
Helpful information and safety tips for emergency responders.
It’s never too early to warn kids about the dangers of gas and electricity. Educate them on some tips to always keep in mind.
Impersonators and Scams
Know a NIPSCO employee from an impersonator, and what to do if you suspect suspicious activity.
Unauthorized use of energy is unsafe and illegal. Know how to protect yourself.
Always maintain clear access and visibility to your meter. Learn why. | <urn:uuid:67ffbad2-c6a9-4ebe-b424-503903ca89e8> | CC-MAIN-2015-27 | https://www.nipsco.com/stay-safe | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-27/segments/1435375099036.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20150627031819-00028-ip-10-179-60-89.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89507 | 231 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Health and wealth
Riches were not always beyond reproach. The Puritans famously convicted Boston merchant Robert Keayne of “oppression,” having determined that he was charging too many shillings for a bag of nails. Such hard-line censure was always rare, but even two centuries later, at the dawn of what Mark Twain dubbed the Gilded Age, New Testament warnings about wealth continued to generate compunction. When Cornelius Vanderbilt, the 19th century’s richest American, died in 1877, many fretted about the fate of his soul—as had Vanderbilt himself, according to some reports.
This article is available to subscribers only. Please subscribe for full access—subscriptions begin at $2.95. Already have an online account? Log in now. Already a print subscriber? Create an online account for no additional cost. | <urn:uuid:02946efd-77b0-443c-bc97-82b983a35d09> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2013-08/health-and-wealth | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131296974.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172136-00260-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972641 | 178 | 2.640625 | 3 |
The Sarrus linkage, invented in 1853 by Pierre Frédéric Sarrus, is a mechanical linkage to convert a limited circular motion to a linear motion without reference guideways. The linkage uses two horizontal plates (red) positioned parallel to each other, one over the other. Two rectangular plates (green) with hinges at the middle connect the horizontal plates. The circular arc motion of a hinge produces a linear vertical movement. The upper plate moves vertically up and down, towards and away from the lower one. The Sarrus linkage is of a three-dimensional class sometimes known as a space crank, unlike the Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage which is a planar mechanism.
- pergatory.mit.edu – Sarrus' mechanism
|This technology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.| | <urn:uuid:b49456c7-80e8-48d5-bf19-b80e5b03552b> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarrus_linkage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207929012.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113209-00238-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.842603 | 178 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Osteoporosis is a common and potentially life-threatening condition that causes patients to suffer unusually low bone mass, making bones weak, brittle and susceptible to fracture. Thirty percent to 50 percent of all women and 15 percent to 30 percent of all men will face an osteoporotic fracture in their lifetimes. In Europe, there are approximately 4 million fractures as a result of osteoporosis every year. The condition results in disability and direct hospital expenses that cost €30 billion (approximately $38 billion U.S.) annually. With an aging population, the cost is set to double by the year 2050 (source: International Osteoporosis Foundation).
Current treatments for osteoporosis focus on fracture prevention through a risk assessment based on historical patient data from similar reference populations. VPHOP takes a different approach by personalizing risk assessment. The project will develop patient-specific computer models based on conventional diagnostic imaging methods, incorporating the results of engineering simulation studies using software from ANSYS, to predict the daily loading of the skeleton for normal and abnormal activities. The computer models will allow clinicians to predict the actual risk and location of fracture for each patient, currently and into the future.
“The current approaches to fracture risk assessment oversimplify what is an extremely complex and multifaceted problem,” said Dr. Marco Viceconti, coordinator of VPHOP. “These approaches are only 60 percent to 70 percent accurate. But by applying the latest technology and using the analysis procedures we are developing, in conjunction with current approaches, we believe we will be able to substantially improve this figure.”
“Our multiphysics engineering simulation software has enormous potential in the area of biomechanics and pharmacology. The fact that we can play an important role in VPHOP and help to improve and extend the lives of millions of people is both humbling and quite extraordinary,” said Jim Cashman, president and chief executive officer of ANSYS, Inc. “This project also demonstrates how our software can be a real driver in the development of patient-specific healthcare. Once you have the geometry of part of an individual’s anatomy — something easily available via CT or MRI scan — you also have the technology to run simulations of structural, fluid, and heat flows along with electric and magnetic fields, all of which are critical to the operation of the human body. The potential growth for engineering simulation in the healthcare industry is immense.”
VPHOP is being driven by a consortium of 19 European organizations, including ANSYS France. It is one of only a handful of studies to successfully gain funding from the European Commission for its research initiative, “The Virtual Physiological Human.”
Running for four years until 2012, the VPHOP consortium will enable clinicians to provide accurate prognoses and implement more-effective treatment strategies based on both drug treatments and forms of direct intervention treatment. A searchable database will be developed as part of this collaboration, which could later be used for any patient specific-modeling for applications ranging from osteoporosis to cardiovascular disease to cerebral aneurysm.
For downloadable images, visit http://www.ansys.com/newsimages.
VPHOP is a Collaborative Integrated Project co-funded by the European Commission (about 10MEuro) under the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme. The project runs for 4 years from September, 2008. Coordinated by Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, a scientific research hospital with a high degree of integration between healthcare and scientific research carried out in nine laboratories. The Project Consortium gathers 19 European organizations based in Italy, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Sweden and Iceland. Visit www.vphop.com for more information.
About ANSYS, Inc.
ANSYS, Inc., founded in 1970, develops and globally markets engineering
simulation software and technologies widely used by engineers and
designers across a broad spectrum of industries. The Company focuses on
the development of open and flexible solutions that enable users to
analyze designs directly on the desktop, providing a common platform for
fast, efficient and cost-conscious product development, from design
concept to final-stage testing and validation. The Company and its
global network of channel partners provide sales, support and training
for customers. Headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., with
more than 60 strategic sales locations throughout the world, ANSYS, Inc.
and its subsidiaries employ approximately 1,700 people and distribute
ANSYS products through a network of channel partners in over 40
for more information. | <urn:uuid:d8b63f10-a39a-4f7c-b948-91f288b03c59> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | http://www10.mcadcafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?section=CorpNews&articleid=640407 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128320545.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20170625170634-20170625190634-00498.warc.gz | en | 0.921182 | 958 | 2.796875 | 3 |
The State Lands Restoration and Enhancement category provides funding to two state agencies to help repair damaged plant and animal habitat. These grants focus on resource preservation and protection of public lands. Projects in this category help bring important natural areas and resources back to their original functions by improving the self sustaining and ecological functionality of sites.
L.T. Murray staff had archaeologist review the proposed project area for potential to affect cultural recourses and then worked with WDFW engineers who developed and carried out engineered planning specs. Nine short fences were constructed totaling 860′ to abandon12 miles of vehicle trails that access high value shrubsteppe habitat. The fences were strategically placed so that a person on the trail may not be able to tell where the fence ends but wildlife can easily walk around. 8 of the fences have gates for infrequent administrative or fire access and 6 of the fences have walkthrough gaps designed to allow foot or equestrian access. One deep erosion channel was filled in, two creek banks were enhanced, and 45 water bars/erosion control structures were installed in abandoned vehicle trails to divert rain and melt water, and reduce sediment delivery to local streams and protect seeded areas. Abandoned vehicle trails were seeded with native, locally adapted, grasses. One hundred basin wildrye plugs were planted across 4 acres in disturbed soil sites around and behind the new fences. Evidence of natural plant recruitment was occurring which scaled down the need for additional upland planting. Fourteen signs educating the public about restoration activities where installed in the project area. | <urn:uuid:1ab112b4-3159-458b-956a-2c61ce09e206> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://wildliferecreation.org/projects/quilomene-wildlife-area-restoration/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679103810.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20231211080606-20231211110606-00388.warc.gz | en | 0.966718 | 307 | 3.046875 | 3 |
1. WHAT IS AGENDA-SETTING?
- How would you define agenda-setting theory?
- What is the importance of
- What evidence exists of agenda-setting in our daily lives?
2. HOW IS AGENDA-SETTING AN EXERCISE IN POWER?
- Who are the key agenda-setting players?
- How is the agenda determined by those in a position of power?
- How can citizens define their own agendas?
- Who is
- Who holds the microphone? Which voice holds authority?
- Is there evidence of struggles between different agenda-setting individuals
- How is nationalism exported as an agenda?
- What is the time difference in agenda-setting processes? How long does it take for agenda-setting to take effect?
degree of power does public
- Who defines the public agenda?
- What is
the relationship between public opinion and the agenda?
- How credible is public opinion?
does Citizen Journalism inform agendas? Does Citizen Journalism set and
inform a better agenda?
3. TO WHAT EXTENT ARE THE MAJOR NEWS MEDIA CARRYING THE SAME AGENDA?
- How does the media determine the agenda?
- Should the media give consumers what they want by carrying the same stories? Is this effective or not?
- Consider the choice of news topics/stories by media. Are their choices appropriate? What kind of news should the media be providing for its audience if not?
- How does competition between various major news media effect the news?
- What is newsworthy?
- The role of citizen journalism
- How does citizen journalism play a role in agenda-setting?
- Can citizen journalism compete with major news media and if so, how?
- What determines access?
- How is citizen journalism news distributed? Should it be filtered? How does citizen journalism news inform so-called "expert" news?
- The influence of agenda-setting
- Why do you think certain issues, topics or stories are brought to public attention?
- How do you determine the importance of an issue, topic or story?
- Who decides what to bring to public attention and with what purpose?
4. WHO GETS TO CONTROL THE AGENDAS?
- Are there limitations to the degree of which people are exposed to agenda-setting in terms of their economic status, class, etc.?
- How does basic access to media determine the control of agenda-setters?
- Whose voices are lost?
- Do you agree with the statement that the youth are more susceptible to agenda-setting framing than others? If so, how?
- Is there a significant social gap between how agenda-setting influences different generations?
- Are agenda's fixed or dynamic?
- What is the motivation behind setting agendas?
5. HOW CAN NEWS OUTLETS ADDRESS CERTAIN EXCLUDED GROUPS? WHOSE ISSUES ARE NOT ON THE AGENDA?
- Which groups are dominant and are targeted by news outlets? Why do you think news outlets choose specific groups?
- How does one identify excluded groups?
- Who gets access to
- How does media literacy play a role in the exclusion of groups?
- Would it be fair to say that new technologies are a barrier to entry for excluded groups?
6. WHAT TOPICS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS IN AGENDA-SETTING?
- How are agendas created and framed?
- How does the press accept and reinforce framing?
- Consider soft news topics vs hard news topics. Which are more important? Which one is better suited for public interest?
- How do major new media treat topics?
7. HOW DO SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECT AGENDA-SETTING? HOW DOES AGE DEMOGRAPHICS INFLUENCE SOCIAL MEDIA?
- Is the youth favoured by social media agenda setting?
- Who holds the real power to set agendas? The youth or the owners of the outlet that the youth are using?
- Can the youth change the way that media builds the agenda?
- Can social media change the way news infiltrates through different mediums? If so, how? | <urn:uuid:71558b1c-f26f-4493-92a0-7758f31c9ede> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | https://sites.google.com/site/salzburg2010agendasetting/5-key-questions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443736676547.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001215756-00144-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.894367 | 880 | 3.390625 | 3 |
rea•son (r¶“z…n) n. 1. The basis or motive for an action, a decision, or a conviction. 2. A declaration made to explain or justify an action, a decision, or a conviction. 3. An underlying fact or cause that provides logical sense for a premise or an occurrence. 4. The capacity for logical, rational, and analytic thought; intelligence. 5. Good judgment; sound sense. 6. A normal mental state; sanity. 7. Logic. A premise, usually the minor premise, of an argument. --rea•son v. rea•soned, rea•son•ing, rea•sons. --intr. 1. To use the faculty of reason; think logically. 2. To talk or argue logically and persuasively. 3. Obsolete. To engage in conversation or discussion. --tr. 1. To determine or conclude by logical thinking. 2. To persuade or dissuade (someone) with reasons. --idioms. by reason of. Because of. in reason. With good sense or justification; reasonably. within reason. Within the bounds of good sense or practicality. with reason. With good cause; justifiably. --rea“son•er n.
1. (n.) Something that produces a result:
• cause • antecedent • determinant • occasion • source • root
2. (n.) A statement of causes or motives:
• explanation • rationalization • account • justification • rationale • why and wherefore • why
3. (n.) A fact or circumstance lending logical support:
• proof • basis • case • evidence • foundation • ground • justification • rationale
4. (n.) Something that influences a decision or moves to action:
• motive • cause • consideration • motivation
5. (v.) To use the powers of the mind:
• think • inquire • theorize • cogitate • contemplate • meditate • ponder • question • reflect • ruminate • speculate • study • deliberate • consider • rationalize • remember • recall
6. (v.) To exchange views: • discuss • consult • argue • confer • converse • debate • deliberate • palaver • parley • talk over • thrash out • chat • wrangle
7. (v.) To draw an inference on the basis of insufficient information:
• conjecture • feel • guess • infer • intuit • presume • sense • speculate • surmise • think • suspect • calculate • reckon * theorize • imagine • hypothesize • presuppose • fancy
log•ic (l¼j“¹k) n. Abbr. log. 1. The study of the principles of reasoning, especially of the structure of propositions as distinguished from their content and of method and validity in deductive reasoning. 2.a. A system of reasoning. b. A mode of reasoning. c. The formal, guiding principles of a discipline, school, or science. 3. Valid reasoning. 4. The relationship between elements and between an element and the whole in a set of objects, individuals, principles, or events. 5. Computer Science. a. The nonarithmetic operations performed by a computer, such as sorting, comparing, and matching, that involve yes-no decisions. b. Computer circuitry. c. Graphic representation of computer circuitry.
1. (n.) A line of reasoning:
• argument • defense • apologia (literary) • apology (literary) • case • plea • rationale
2. (n.) Logical and methodical reasoning:
• ratiocination • induction • deduction • dialectics • analysis • argument • syllogistic reasoning • inductive reasoning
Now in the Last Chapter we established that experience was the first place to look in the search for truth. Experience is the best place to start in finding the truth but it is a horrible place to finish. Since after all our experiences only tell us what we observe and there is no way of knowing if our experience is flawed if all we have to work with is our experience.
I believe that the next step to take in discovering the truth would be the test of logic. Now that we have a worldview from our experience to begin with we have to ask ourselves if our view are even valid to begin with. If our beliefs to not make sense and contradict each other then chances are we don’t have the truth from our experiences. But if we if our beliefs do match up with our logic then we have the ability to move on to the next step in pursuit of the truth.
When we look at logic I think it is good to notice the change in approach. When I speak of experience I am able to speak with a passion and the truth I seek is a hope that is personal to me. However as I pursue the truth in reason I clear my mind of emotions in order to focus on my ability to reason. My pursuit of truth is now in search for the accuracy of logic and logic is used as a measuring stick for the truth claims that I will purpose.
Before we find reason’s for what we believe we must delve into a little known subject called “epistemology”. Basically epistemology is the study of knowledge, how we can obtain knowledge, how we can verify it and where our intellectual starting point is to begin with.
In the modern world of scholastics there are two basic sources of knowledge. By logic or rationalism which is knowledge obtained by human reason. For instance through the outside world, we discover certain things like gravity and nature etc.
Through rational thought I can realize Laws like the Law of Non-contradiction (“a” doesn’t = “non a”) or the Law of Cause and Effect. The second way of obtaining information is by deduction in which one finds evidence through observation of the
However, let us ask ourselves, what makes these the only two sources of knowledge? One may say “There is no other natural way that for a person to obtain information.” But then, think about it there is no other natural way. You see if I am arguing for the possibility of miracles, and I do then why do I have to presuppose that the only way that I can obtain information is through natural processes. The fact is I don’t! This is a false pre-supposition made by those who are naturalist. However, the goal is to find out how to obtain knowledge. So I have the right to find what I believe is reliable in helping me to obtain knowledge. So I can presuppose revelation as a source of knowledge since it comes from God and since God knows everything then He would be the most objective source of truth. And in doing this I would pre-suppose the existence of God.
There are good reason’s to presuppose God’s existence. First of all God cannot be positively disproved. An atheist may disprove the need for God. But until one has an exhaustive knowledge of all things there is always the possibility that God can be found there. This holds especially true given the nature of God. The classic Definition of God’s shows Him to transcend time and space. Since man can only search things inside time and space then it is impossible to prove that God doesn’t exist even if we can not find him in the material universe. Secondly, the concept of God helps us to be assured of epistemology. Rene Descartes (father of Rationalism) and John Locke (father of Empiricism) held to the existence of God and based there assurance of there epistemological systems on the existence of God. Also, there are many in History who have or at least claimed to have knowledge based off of revelation and attest to it’s reliability. If this is a reliable source of information then we must first believe in God in order to accept it.
Some may think this concept of pre-supposing things as ludicrous. However I think that this is in fact probably the most honest of knowledge systems. The great 19th century Scottish philosopher Thomas Reid discussed this concept rather thoroughly. As opposed to skeptical philosophical systems like that of Philosopher Emmanuel Kant, where all information must be verified. Reid argued that we all have an inner rational knowledge built inside us simply titled “common sense”. It is true that there are things that people generally assume as true. You never have to teach a baby how to breathe and later on you never have to teach kids that is good to hold their breath. It also seems natural for people to want to live. People generally treat life with enough respect that they desire not to kill people. In saying this I am not trying to say this happens every time but I would say that it is so common and otherwise would be because of unnatural situation. For instance someone with an initiative to kill is not acting regularly but acting irregularly based on four occasions. They have mental disorders, they were not raised well, they been taught in some way that murder is ok on certain circumstances, they have deluded themselves. Otherwise, we tend to believe murder is wrong, possibly the worst ever. We also assume that people can be trusted to tell us the truth.
In order for us to function in this life we have to presuppose certain things otherwise we would not be able to function. Imagine a world where children could not seek medical attention because they didn’t understand the biology and medical science and therefore they couldn’t doctors. Imagine a world where we couldn’t go out to eat unless we knew what our food was made of. We couldn’t receive public education but would have to go out and rediscover all forms of knowledge and technology on our own. We couldn’t drive cars unless we checked it every time we used it. Obviously, this way of life has little or no practical value. Therefore, in order to simply live our lives we have to assume things.
I believe God is one of these things that are safe to assume. After all in the Western Court system in order to find the truth we always start from the notion of innocent until proven guilty.
Vrs. atheist, panentheist, dualist, and deist
Now, Moving along from the previous chapter’s discussion on experience I believe I have established the right to consider what experience has shown me to be true and that would be a Christian worldview. So now I look at the rationality of my faith. In observing a reformed epistemology I set forth the case that I have the right to presuppose my God’s existence and that God can not be positively disproved. From this point I will move on to set forth that the existence of God is necessary according to his definition.
Now when it comes to dialogue of a subject (discussion of something) the two parties need to have an identical definition. Otherwise communication is impossible. So if Existence was necessary to the definition of God. A person would have to believe in God in order to understand his definition. So first let us see why existence has to be necessary.
If God were the creator of everything then what would he be made of? The answer is Himself, in order for God to have created everything he would have to be made of himself. Otherwise there would be something responsible for his existence. Now as to why there can’t be an infinite number of causes as oppose to starting with God I will explain in more detail in the next argument for God. (The cosmological argument) Now if God’ s existence is based upon Himself, then his existence is necessary in order to understand his definition.
But how do we come upon this definition? Usually general acceptance, also by the revelation of the Hebrew God (Judaism which is one of the Oldest Religions in the world) are we normally to come to the subject. However, Rene Descartes was able to postulate the definition and existence of God logically. His purpose was to create an epistemology where we could reason an understanding of reality. Descartes started off with a skeptical point of view trying to find something that could not be doubted. However, he found himself doubting all reality. He was about to doubt his own existence when he realized that if he did not exist he would not be thinking about the problem. And so he established his first truth that he was a being. From there he observed that he was a limited being and that there were things that he lacked, also that he had a point of origin. He reasoned that only way that he would know that he was limited was if there was a perfect standard that he did not meet. This perfect standard had to be “ greater than that which can be conceived”. And so, Now he knew of this perfect standard. All that he knew of himself which was limited this being would have to have the absolute most (unlimited resource) of. And so Rene had limited power this being (God) was omnipotent. Rene had intelligence, while God was omniscient. Rene had a temporary existence, while God was necessarily existent. Now that he knew He existed and God existed. He knew God created this temporary reality and that God could be trusted in making Rene’s senses of reality real. Sense God was perfectly Honest, God could create things like Rene, and God did things for a reason. Also since Rene was a person and God was a person and God created Rene, God must be interested in Rene and would naturally make Rene capable of interaction.
Many non-theists (usually atheist) believe that all this was just an intellectual crutch that man naturally makes in order to gain assurance. However, this argument is only a counter to the construction of the ontological argument. This counter has remained unproven. Plus the non-theist in using this solution never actually even deals with the real argument. They never actually deal with the definition of God. Now let us look at the problem.
When we ask the question “Does God exist?” there are only 3 real alternatives. The 1st alternative would be that God is a contradiction. The 2nd alternative would be that God is a reasonable concept however he is not real and therefore a figment of the imagination. The 3rd alternative is that God in actuality is in fact real.
Let us investigate the 1st response. For God to be a contradiction he would have to be unreasonable. An example of a contradiction would be fire/ice (the image of ice on fire). Now although I can give a title to this concept and although I can fantasize about this concept I can’t truly conceive this concept because it is a contradiction. The fire may go against the ice and the ice may be thrown into the fire, but the result is either steam or water. The two items can in no way be fused together. Therefore I can not conceive truthfully of fire/ice.
While there are many Atheist who are passionate about their disbelief in God, very few of these would actually assume God was a contradiction. This is because of the common experience people have of the concept of God. Not only does people conceive God, but also there is an entire field of study on this subject. This is known as Theology. In this framework we come to realize that many ingenious men have spent years of time conceive of God. Besides, most philosophers who do not believe in God spend hours of time dealing with the subject. It seems rather obvious that God is conceivable. The trick is in the simple definition that was given by the Medieval Theologian Anselm. “That which is greater than can be conceived.” You see it is true that there are paradoxes in the concept of God, which are quite natural because His being is beyond our comprehension. However God is not inconceivable but his conception is far more advanced than our logic. In other words he is beyond us in his ways. Therefore we can discuss God although we can’t discuss God exhaustively.
Onto the 2nd response which is to say that while God is conceivable he is not real and is in fact simply a myth. To this we must look and see if God is a figment of the imagination. So is being a figment of the imagination compatible with being God? Because we must remember that in order to communicate we must remember to have the same concept of God. First God created the universe while the imaginary God created nothing. Secondly, God is Omni-benevolent (perfectly good) while the imaginary god only has good aspects attributed to Him sense He cannot act on His own. God immutable or unmoving the imaginary God changes according to whatever the person conceiving Him wants it to be. God is unlimited in Knowledge and yet God only knows what the person imagining him attributes to him. God is Omni-present (everywhere) but the imaginary god only resides in the mind. God is all-powerful but the imaginary God only has power that is attributed by those who conceive of Him. In fact the imaginary God has no free choice or will. God is necessarily existent while the imaginary God does not exist. Finally God is eternal while the imaginary God only has a presence when He is conceived. So nothing in fact in the definition of God actually matches up to an imaginary God. So this has nothing to do with the question of God’s existence because it has nothing to do with God. It is a different concept altogether. Therefore to can’t be correct.
The only answer left is the 3rd response “God is actually real”. After all it is part of God’s definition that he is necessarily existent. Besides the only others have been disproved.
Aquinas unmoved mover and movable universe.
In order for us to have reality there must be something sustaining it. That which sustains reality can’t change because if it changes then it can deteriorate and all reality would crumble. Yet we know that reality is still with us it has been since the beginning of civilization. (as well as before civilization). Some may say the laws of science is what holds reality in place but the laws of science are principles not real entities, beside these are only based upon human observation which is fallible. Even if Scientific laws were unmovable we would have to know what holds them in place since they are mindless principles. Time sustains much of our universe but times changes and we can’t receive the past so if everything is changing then what is that which is sustaining reality and never changing? The answer of course is God.
a. Aquinas version
One of the laws in philosophy is that every cause has an effect. In fact there is an almost identical Law in Science that states that “ every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” Another popular type of phrase is “if then” if I do ____ then ___ happens. It is a very simple principle and an obvious truth we learn in life that we live in a system of cause and effect. Causes and effects are inseparably linked together. So that if you have found a cause you will find it’s effect and if you find an effect you will find it’s cause. We live in a world full of effects. We see a world in which atoms constantly move and the world is always changing. S o that our entire reality is obviously the effect of something else. Every Cause that we come across has been changed by something else. Because of this what see to be causes are actually the effects of a greater cause. Its relation identifies something in our reality as a cause or effect. For instance a man might be a father to some and a Son to others. But ultimately everything in our reality must have a cause.
If this were not true then we would not have our reality. Because we just came to the realization that all our reality is the effect of something else. So there has to be an original cause to all reality. If not then why do we have the reality, which is an effect? So there has to be an ultimate cause or 1st Cause. Now the 1st cause must be unable to change, in other words immutable. After all if it is able to change then there must be a cause behind it. So there must be a 1st cause who is unable to change. If the 1st Cause is unchanging and is responsible for all reality then it must not have a Beginning. In other words the 1st cause must be eternal. These are all attributes of God.
Now let’s look at the only alternative. That instead of a 1st Cause we have an infinite number of causes and effects, what happens is that we travel down an infinite number of minor causes. Since we find no ultimate 1st cause then we have to question whether or not the law of cause and effect is valid since there is no cause for our effect. The result would be that the Laws of cause and effect are invalid and that there is no such thing as cause and effect. As a result our universe must therefore function in Chaos. So one must live their lives with no order to them since after all, to live in order is to admit that there is an effect to the actions they cause.
Now we are back to square one. Where we have a 1st cause who possesses at least some of the attributes of God (Creator, immutable, eternal). Now let me recap what we have done so far in the book. By my experience I came to find Christianity as the truth, so that for the test of logic I must start by testing my experiences. In the beginning I found that I can not logically disprove the existence of God and then I found that there is nothing with presupposing the existence of God in order to be assured of my epistemology (science of knowledge). So I can presuppose God exist. Then I learned through the definition of God that He must exist. Now I can confidently or positively believe in God as my presupposition. With God as my presupposition I find this argument to prove logically the following attributes and existence of God.
Vrs. eternity of matter and illusion
Now in the previous paragraphs I showed one aspect of this argument as displayed by the Catholic Theologian Thomas Aquinas. However there is another side to the argument. You see the Aquinas has dealt with the concept more in the form of the Law of Cause and effect theory. Now we will move to discussion more of the cosmos itself. This version is known as the “Kalaam” Cosmological argument. Originated by Aristotelian medieval Muslim scholars (try saying that 3 times fast!). I am using the structure of Christian Philosopher William Lane Craig.
Whatever begins to exist has a Cause. The key word in this sentence is Begins. As we demonstrated in the earlier version of the argument that every effect that we see has a cause. If something exist then it is an effect. For it to begin existing there has to be a cause.
The Universe began to exist. The universe exists and so presumably it must have began to exist. What helps this argumentation out is that the universe is expanding and therefore moving. (See next chapter on evidence) The vast majority of Cosmologists acknowledge this. And in most of them the whole universe begins from a single point.
In fact it is very possible from this to assess that the universe likely ceased to exist if we go back in time far enough.
Therefore the universe has a cause. And so we reach the conclusion that the universe, which is all that we know of reality, must have had a cause. Most likely the 1st Cause mentioned in Aquinas argument. Even the alternative (alternative dimensions) doesn’t make a great deal of sense because how would they have created a universe and how would they not need to be created themselves?
Aquinas Different universe:
Another way Aquinas observed that there was a God is by the differences in the universe. We have big and then small, short and tall, wide and thin, heavy and light, fast and slow, hot and cold light and darkness, strong and weak so on and so forth. These are measures of things. Why are there measures? In fact why is there a greater and less then? These measurements have to be based off a standard of some sort. The standard has to be that which is the most or greatest. If it were based on the least then it would have no basis. Why is that? Because the least is zero, since zero is nothing. Some would ask about negative numbers. However negative numbers are not numbers and they only count against a higher standard because then they can compare themselves. But other than that they don’t exist. If it counts at all it is a different measure. For instance a hole is not going to be -5ft high it is going to measure +5ft deep. So Zero is the smallest measurement since it does not have value. However 0 is nothing and you can’t base something off of nothing. If you want to measure things you observe by the greast or ultimate thing. God is the universal ultimate. Therefore all things having a measure testifies to God being a measure.
Obviously we are now moving from an internal logic to external logic a lot of this form of philosophy empowers empiricism. So a great deal of this philosophy has to do with the philosophies of men like John Locke.
A. Our senses
Now we can discuss logic that we have internally but how are we going to discuss knowledge with out the constant data that we receive through our senses? As far back as we can remember we were receiving data from the outside world. How do we get this data? There are certain things in our world that have to be in place for us to be capable of this. 1st of all the outside world has to exist. 2nd we have to exist. 3rd the outside world has to be capable of being observed. 4th we have to be capable of observing the outside world. The naturalist may have theories on how the outside world exists and we exist, but what about our ability to perceive? They may say that the ability to perceive which we have has evolved. However even if we have the ability to perceive what about matters ability to be perceived. Who says that matter has to have an odor or color or light or sound? These are things we take for granted about the universe. Then let’s look at the others again. What makes us evolve senses that help our mind work? Wouldn’t that take thought? Thought which nature is not supposed to have. Thought which we haven’t evolved yet. So who is giving design to us and our senses. Also if we look back at our prior argument we see that the world had to be created. Also we ourselves were created. Therefore the source of Creation would have designed us. Making God an Intelligent designer. Before I finish off this conclusion let me show different aspects.
Now there is a group of people from a modern worldview known as post-modernist. These people would place this subject at the very front of our exploration of truth. The post-modernist believes at the foundation of their core that no one is able to know or have truth. As a result of this they mostly do not believe in truth in general. They believe that the meaning of words is in a constant state of change. The definitions differ according to the person’s own perspective. Therefore our ability to communicate is totally untrustworthy. Therefore people are untrustworthy. If people are untrustworthy then trust is unattainable. Post-modernists then, go on to make the assumption that people only communicate as a ploy for manipulation. Therefore the truth is only what we can convince other people. Now I will go more extensively on the subject of post-modernism in my chapter on comparison. However lets look at their argument.
To presuppose that man is incapable communicating language is a tall order. First of all it goes against most anyone’s experience. It also goes against so many natural processes in our society. How can economics exist? After all, the whole process of economics is based on the principle that we can communicate exactly what we want to each other. Yet do you really think a post-modernist wouldn’t expect the economic system to work when they collect their paychecks. How about when they get robbed, are they going to accept the fact that criminal couldn’t help it being unable to understand that the postmodernist didn’t want their stuff taken?
What about the system of law, if that couldn’t be communicated then would a female post-modernist expect justice from the police and court system after being raped by a rapist? How could she do this consistently when she does not trust in their ability to understand language? She would have a hard enough time proving that her being raped was wrong. After all, there is no absolute right or wrong. And the rapist probably couldn’t understand her language.
Now I think I have made my point that words must have meaning. From here we must ask ourselves where did we get words. Some may say that they evolved from grunts. However a grunt can only express emotion. They can not identify a thing. Actually we are taught words growing up. Words go back with us through the generations. Now it is true that the meaning of words can change over the generations and the use by millions of people. There are two types of languages living languages and dead languages. Living languages are still in use while dead languages are no longer in use. Latin, which is a dead language, is used in theology, philosophy and law. The reason is because it is a dead language so that the meanings of Latin words are set in stone. Living languages have words that can change meaning.
Yet with words they have to be taught to us. We do not have words naturally. There have been cases were people have been neglected and were not taught any language and as a result have severe brain damage. Why? Because we use words to think about things without word it is hard to memorize and use logic. If I didn’t have words Math would be worthless. (Blah + Blah = Blah?). And so we are given words to empower us to think. So if people are not born with words where do they come from? Some may just say other generations but what I am asking is where do they originally come from? If no human were born with words, and animals do not use them where do they come from? The only possible answer is from an intelligent being. Then it wouldn’t be hard to see the Intelligent being identified as God. The only possible solution to the problem outside of God would be aliens. However not only are we not sure of their existence anyway, but then we are left to ask another question. Where did the aliens get language?
Throughout the universe we have order. Our universe is grouped together in galaxies. These galaxies are held together by gravity. They are composed of solar systems. Which center around stars. They have planets that rotate around them. ( along with comets, moons and asteroids) The planets contain their own gravity. The planets contains matter in the form of solids liquids and gases. These are composed of elements and molecules. The molecules are combinations of Atoms. Atoms are composed of protons, neutrons and electrons. Then they are composed of a material called quark. All of them are things that are contingent upon other things in order to exist. According to the theory of relativity Gravity and energy have to exist in order for time to even exist. Atoms are dependent on a connecting energy. Molecules are dependent on atoms Matter is dependent Molecules. Space is dependent on matter. Planets are dependent on gravity, Matter and stars. Stars are dependent on Hydrogen, gravity energy. Solar systems are dependent on planets and stars. Galaxies are dependent on solar systems. Finally the universe is dependent on Black matter, Galaxies, gravity, Light, matter etc. Notice that things like light, gravity and the connecting force of atoms do not even have a clear reason for their origins. Now we have not even to begun to talk about life yet. However the universe it seems is designed to run in a specific way because the chances of our current state to be naturally arranged is not very probable and can not even be complete in it’s explanation. For the universe must not only have a creator but it must be designed in order for it’s existence to be fixed. The basic frame of the universe provides a way of sustaining the planet earth. The planet earth is the only place in our universe that we know of that sustains life. With the possible exception of mars which may or may not contain bacteria. The fact is that the earth is the most unique planet in the solar system. And there have to be specific measures for the earth to exist. If the earth were any closer to the sun it would be too hot for life. If it were farther away it would be too cold for life. If it were not for the moon the ocean would not create waves which stir up the water. And the water would be poisonous for life. And our ozone helps create an Atmosphere for animals to breathe in. All these specific things have to be in place and all these things point to a design. As far as organisms there is so much structure in just the DNA molecules that scientist have only recently been able to understand the codes. Not to mention all the advance programming put into a cell itself. But our planet doesn’t just have one-celled organisms we have animals. And even intelligent creatures known as human beings. However more of this will be shown in the next chapter on evidence.
Now that we have an intelligent designer what does that mean? First of All we remember what we have established about God through him being 1st cause. He must be unchanging the creator of everything. He must be eternal and necessarily existent, now he must also be intelligence. If he sustains the universe he must have awareness of all of it and he must be intelligent over it. For him to go about creating the universe he must have power over the universe. So his power and intelligence is transcendent of the universe. From the ontological argument for us to recognize a limited creation we must have an unlimited standard. Therefore since God is this standard he is unlimited in all his ways.
Now we that we have established a case for God from the outside world we move into the area that is our inner-world. This area moves slowly into the spiritual. When we investigate the outside world we overview Human beings as organisms. Though we have not yet ventured into the area of humans as persons. Morality is an interesting aspect of life. It is the connection between the spiritual world, the material world, and the world of the individual. It has a way of determining value upon ourselves and other individuals. It is intensely personal and at the same time, intensely logical.
Because of an intense link between the rational material world and the subjective/spiritual world, many secular materialistic worldviews have trouble with the concept of moral law. First of all though we should understand what morality entails. Morality is the natural conscious law of humanity. Morality places rule over the way that we look at functioning in society, to functioning as an individual, to even having a certain personality and how to properly handle our relationships. Obviously morality is very dominating.
Those who want to deny moral law would tend to divide it up into different categories. Specifically they separate individual morals (personal preference) and social morals (laws) they also have a tendency to put relational morals into law as well. Those who deny absolutes in morality tend to speak against personal morality and shy away from law. The reason for this is very practical; if they were to break law they would be anarchist and be arrested or imprisoned. If one wants to challenge the status quo they ought to do it at a range or else not only will they be punished, but also they will be thought foolish.
However there is an obvious link in the morality of the society and the morality of the individual, they are linked for the simple reason that morality applies the same way to both. For instance the moral law, which stands against stealing, it is generally wrong for an individual to take another person’s property without permission. It is also considered wrong to take another societies property (usually land, rights) without permission. The United States waged war against Iraq in 1990. The United Nations approved of this based on the fact that the Iraqis were guilty of the moral law of taking over Kuwait for their oil rich land. And so you have an example of multiple societies in agreement with and holding each other accountable to Moral Law. We for instance judge the nazi society as evil according to moral law. The Nazis took over several countries by force and were responsible for the slaughter of half the Jewish race (just because of unmerited hatred of Jews) along with many other crimes. We recognize that racism, fascism, murder, and enslavement go against what is commonly accepted as moral law. Now we should remember that although I am arguing that moral Law is universally in place this is not to say that it is always adhered to. As humans we know that color exist since we can see it. However just because all people who are blind or color blind can not see color doesn’t mean that color is not a universally true concept. Therefore if there is a person or society that doesn’t accept moral law it is only because they are lacking in their perception of morality not because the morality doesn’t exist.
Another thing to notice is how morality does a good job relating to cause and effect as well as the law of non-contradiction. First let’s look at cause and effect. Murder is considered a moral wrong because it brings several bad effects. It devalues human life, which is a high principle of how to engage society. It destroys the life of the individual being murdered. It hurts the society since they can no longer benefit from the work of the murdered individual. Finally it puts the murderer in danger of retribution from either society or loved ones. Therefore because of these negative affects murder is naturally wrong. Let’s take a more difficult example like sexual promiscuity. What bad effects does the cause of sexual promiscuity bring. 1st it can psychologically problematic. Sex is a natural symbol of unity and ultimately and symbol of the bond of marriage which is the basis for a family. Therefore to have promiscuous sex is to devalue the family. In doing this, it also devalues the individual, especially for women. It often destroys families (adultery). This in turn disrupts society. Since single parent families make less money and are a burden on the culture. They hurt the economy, bring about many legal battles and psychologically damage family members. Promiscuous sex also becomes an addiction that enslaves people and can bring about sexually transmitted diseases. So from these effects even a debated moral like sexual promiscuity becomes a rational choice.
Those who try to blur the lines of morality more often than not want to deny the responsibility for there own immoralities. The problem is that this does not stop the laws of cause and effect. Ignoring the laws of morality is destructive and does not relieve the situation. Also those who break moral laws tend to break the laws of non-contradiction. One who steals lives in a contradiction when others steal from them. To ask for justice and break justice is a contradiction. Now if the circumstances make the act a different activity then that may be an exception. But if we are talking about the same activity then the law always stands. Let’s say you take a gun a go into someone’s house and shoot them to death that would be murder. However let’s say you have a gun, another person has a gun and they have shot in your direction and barely miss, so you proceed to shoot them to death. The circumstances have changed your activity to killing for self-defense as oppose to murder. After all the murder was a set forth choice in which you didn’t have to kill the other person. However in the case of self defense you had to defend your life and you had little or no time to react other than with lethal force. Now lets say instead of killing someone you did not know you went into the how of someone who treated you harshly through life and in some way abused you so you find them sleeping and shoot them to death. This activity is not motivated by self-defense it is now motivated by revenge and you did not have any need to preserve yourself by doing this, and so therefore it was murder.
So we have a logical element to morality. What about the individual element to morality? How can we say that morality is not just some obscure use of logic? This is where we start looking at the morality as it relates to the individual. What causes immorality in society that is obvious in it’s effects takes place within the individual. With out the individual participation the group never comes about. We ask ourselves the question “If there had been no man known as Hitler would there have been a World War two?” We knew that the atmosphere was made just right for a person like Hitler to rule. However Hitler was the organizing and original force behind the Nazis. It was his evil vision and his leadership that led to this historical monstrosity. This is an obvious case where the individual immorality provides a foundation for the social immorality. It is the individual who chooses evil acts and groups merely repeat their leaders. And so the individual’s morality is of primary importance since after all it is the cause of larger moral shifts and influence. So what is it that causes these building blocks to individual immorality? Answer: The immorality of our own characters. Our own identity powers our behavior and somewhere in our identity there are character flaws. Yet these flaws can actually change over periods of time for the better or worse.
Now that we have established that morality is personal in nature. What about the spiritual element to morality? How can we say that morality is not just some obscure use of logic? Morality 1st of all is universal showing allegiance for a Higher power. It also shows a conflict within because we have the concept of evil. Therefore we have the lawgiver (higher power) and a movement of disobedience to the law. Evil can be established as a universally destructive force just as much as a virus can be labeled a biologically destructive force. It may take place in many different forms but what it basically amounts to is rebellion against moral law and the destruction of whatever it touches. Once we establish that there is a difference between good and evil there are only three possible views of evil and good. The 1st option is the one least taken rationally, which states that evil, is superior to good. The problem with this view is that evil is a destructive force. Destructive forces are negative while good is a positive force. That which is greatest is the most positive. For instance between Forrest Gump and Albert Einstein we would conclude that Albert Einstein has the greatest intelligence. We would also conclude this since from his IQ being positive more than the 1st. That which is positive is greater. Also think about the mathematical signs (>less than)(
Therefore we end up with good being set up against evil, good being better than evil and evil only being a distortion of what is good. Not only is God the standard of measurement as argued by Aquinas but he is the standard of morality sense morality can be measured. God being “The greatest” is the most moral or the most good.
Now at this point we must ask the question if God is morally good then why is there evil and why is there suffering? After all, God is all powerful and in control of the universe. So why is not the universe good as well? Many people may have experience overwhelming aspects of evil and suffering in the world and these are very compelling in ways that are beyond a rational discussion. However, this is what we are dealing with, logic. So in answering this I want to express sympathy to those who have experienced this in massive ways like the Holocaust but we are going to go about this in a logical manner. Now the universe is different than God and possesses different properties than God. God did not make more of himself. He made things/the universe. The universe is not the ultimate. Therefore morally the universe is not going to be ultimate either. The universe is not going to appear as the ultimate and therefore our experiences in reality do not always reveal God’s nature but only pieces of reality. God also did not act directly in creating evil but allowed it’s existence. As a Bible believing Christian this is shown more relevantly. God initially created a morally “very good” universe (Gen. 1:31). However God created beings as free moral agents. Then due to the immorality of the serpent(Satan) and Adam & Eve evil (sin) entered into the universe. The Cause of Evil brings the Effects of Death (and suffering). So God only was responsible for the product of free moral agency. So was it immoral to create free moral agency? Let’s apply this to us. Would it be immoral of us to control other people? Many people call this type of act tyranny or slavery. When we take control of others we force them to follow our will. When we make them serve our will we disregard their will. In doing this we disregard their well fare for the sake of our well fare. We then steal their freedom. God is self-sufficient and so he is not interested with taking our freedom. God is good and he cares about our well fare. God desires us to follow him because his standard is better than ours. Yet God is not going force it upon us because that is not a God-like response. Now God is still active in the universe in the sense of Judging creation since he is the standard and the caretaker of creation. He therefore communicates what is right and wrong through the conscience and the consequences of immorality (death & suffering). He is also working the universe towards the ultimate good and will establish ultimate Justice in both the afterlife and at the end of time. Besides these evil things in the world establish proof of God because of their mere existence. They would not be recognized in any other system or dealt with as totally.
However why is evil organized? Why do we have networks of organized crime? Why do we have networks of drug dealers? What about terrorist organizations? What about evil empires? After all these are forms of immorality but the all have a design to destroy. Isn’t that positive? Why are there positive Negative forces in the world? If there is an organization then there must be an organizer. However this can’t simply be left to the individual organizers of each group. For the simple fact that they are not unique in there efforts. So what is the unifying factor between these various criminals? What could possibly link Al Capone to Absama Bin Laden? Nothing external, they come from different parts of the world, different countries, different time periods, different languages, different religions different race/ethnicity’s and different methodologies. It wouldn’t surprise me if they knew absolutely nothing about each other. What unifies them is internal. It is a drive, but not just an internal passion but a similar push, and even more important a similar charisma. They have the ability set the spirit not only in themselves but to cast it to others. These truths come together to spell out the fact that there is a negative spirit/spirits which organizes evil. The Biblical Christian has an answer for this. It is the devil and his demons. Spirits that rebelled against God and organize humanity in an effort to rebel against God as well. Also, there are secondary gods/spirits in our world that start good movements what about these? These would be
Vrs problem of evil and relativism
Human experience & the spiritual realm
In the investigation of the realm of morality we have discussed the spiritual realm. Does this realm even exist? The problem with the spirit realm has the same problem as the concept of God. This is that the spiritual realm is not visible. We can’t simply see the spiritual realm. We can however observe the effects of the spirit realm and show it’s necessity. There is however a popular worldview known as naturalism however. Fundamental to their belief system is that the supernatural does not exist. Since, the supernatural transcends common observational realm the naturalist is not going to recognize the supernatural realm even if it is exist, the naturalist will simply concoct a natural explanation. This is an obvious bias against supernatural events and the spirit realm. Not only is it bias but it only holds together through circular argument. Miracles/spirit world is impossible because it does not exist. To their credit they usually explain away the supernatural but this still can never prove that the spirit realm does not exist. After all you can only explain the incidents of supernatural activity that you know of and this leads to an endless argument as opposed to a proven position. If so, they would have to be practically omniscient. So now that we can see that the anti-supernatural argument is void. Is there any positive source of affirmation for the spiritual realm?
This can be found in experience. Now this has to be a universal source of experience. After all if we simply go by individual experience then we only have a subjective (opinionated) case which can be met by subjective anti-supernatural experiences. However there is a universal experience which all people have, and this is the need to transcend ourselves. Christians, Muslims, Buddhist, Hindus, Animist, New age, and Atheist all have a need to transcend themselves. Christians want to relate to God and go to Heaven. Muslims want to go to heaven. Animist and polytheist want to make it in the afterlife. New Ager’s seek to realize their godhood. Hindu’s want to get ahead in the caste system through reincarnation. Buddhist wants to transcend reincarnation in order to reach nirvana. Even the Atheist is seeking the next evolutionary leap. Atheists are constantly in search for what they consider most important. Whether it is science, aliens, government justice, world peace, romance, family, wealth or worldly pleasure they are constantly in search of that which is transcendent. Sadly theirs is a worldview with the least and so they are the hungriest. So why is it that mankind is seeking something that transcends reality? Why is this seemingly universal? If evolution were true then people would have had to evolve this trait. Yet if there were no spiritual or transcendent realm there would be no use in having these experiences in our psyche. If there is a creator then things happen for a reason and people have an urge to reach the transcendent because there was a transcendent. There is something out there beyond what we physically sense. Whether we deal with aliens, psychics, prophets or ghost there is a constant hype about the supernatural. In America over the last few years we have had a massive attempt to suppress this phenomena. However the non-stop attention these businesses (like psychic counseling) gain the more proof that there is something that they all are getting from these experiences that they need. Now this not to say that these experiences are always healthy. I would tend to believe the majority of which are not. However this does state that there is a real need for that which is spiritual. And those humans recognize intuitively the need for this spiritual realm.
We also recognize a spiritual leading in moral directions that was alluded to in our discussion of morality. When we have these massive political movements in a certain moral direction it can’t be pinned solely on the leaders of these movements because there must be people who are willing to be lead. And yet the ideology is leading the people aside from the people themselves. In fact these ideas take people over to the point where they are willing to risk their lives for their causes. Those independent causes of these movements are neither therefore the leaders nor the followers. So what about the ideas themselves? What would give these ideas the ability to act independently? After all they are simply fictitious concepts to help understanding. How can a concept have a drive when it has no independent movement? Plato wrote the book “ The republic” in which he described a utopian society. His idea was very well thought out and many people read his work, and for as many followers of his philosophy that there has been over the centuries no one that has decided to start a movement based on his concepts. On the other hand half of the world submitted to the communistic/utopian ideals of philosopher Karl Marx even with great criticism. Was Karl Marx a superior philosopher to Plato? Was his idea simply better? First of all it is hard to say since Plato’s ideas were never used. And although Karl Marx was a decent Philosopher the Majority of people have a tendency to rank Plato’s works higher than those of Marx. In fact without the communist system Karl Marx is not very well known in the world. (Although I would never want to place a specific rank.) It is my belief that there is a need for a spiritual movement ( secular philosopher Hegel would refer to a “spirit of the age”) in order to start these types of movements good or bad. This is especially seen in evil movements however. Since they are movements against the established Moral Law.
We see many times in a society that a society can be moved be an irrational movement as well. Sometimes moved in insane directions which lead to violent riots. Many of these riots have been caught on film and start from very simple gatherings. Like the Chicago citizens celebrating the Chicago bulls winning the national basket ball championship. But then sudden the crowds become uncontrolled and before you know it vandalism occurs. Stores are trashed, cars are set on fire and women are raped. And for what purpose, because their favorite team won a basket ball game? There is no positive motivation for that kind of activity. The riot must therefore, be driven by an unseen force. So now we have immoral spiritual activity. Sense these forces drive the masses in immoral directions. What about positive spirits do they exist? We already have reason for one definite good spirit and that would be God, sense God is spirit and God is the most good. However we do see good movements that oppose bad movements but do not display the sovereign control upon the situation that God would have. Take for instance American fundamentalism of the early 20th century. Their generation did not overcome the progressive liberal movement of American culture. They lost on political, education and intellectual ground thanks for the most part to the Scopes Monkey Trial. They obviously were at a loss in the area of popularity sense they had banned sensuality in all it’s forms. Plus the economic elite seemed not to favor them as well. And yet, they were a force that was extremely influential. They had briefly established prohibition, they had extremely powerful tent revivals, and they effected the walk and talk of the culture. So there are secondary God spirits in our world that start good movements what about these? These would be considered angels. There have been many sightings of angels of demons over the last several hundred years. In fact, in modern times there are millions of sightings of UFO’s. Would it be a stretch that some of these UFO sightings may indeed be visions of demons or angels? After all weren’t our reaction to these millions of sightings negative only because we do not believe in the supernatural? Granted that many of them are based off of hallucinations, but could not some of them be true. Some may say that these are only discussing aliens but which sounds more reasonable. Beings millions of light years away constantly hanging out above the earth with no desire to actually talk to us only to observe us? Or beings that are actually here on earth but invisible manifesting themselves and capable of interacting with humanity? Now of course both are out of the ordinary, however aliens would have to travel millions of light years and then return to and fro without much detection or interaction with humanity. On the other hand spirits have more motive for being invisible (their natural state being that they are not material). They do not have to travel millions of light years, just simply manifest themselves. But this is only speculation.
The great philosopher Plato made a good point in his discussions on the forms of reality. When we look at reality what make’s it real? What makes it have identity? For instance let’s consider a dog, now if we look at the dog when it is a puppy is it still a dog? Of course it is! If the dog were old would it still be a dog? Most would say yes. What if the dog had been missing a leg or an eye? The dog would still remain a dog. Now think about this, as the dog grows it eats food and then releases it in feces, the dogs body is constantly changing, old cells are dying and new cells are reproducing. The material of the dog is still changing however. So the dogs identity is based not off the material within it. Then what makes the identity of that creature? Plato would argue the form. In other words the ultimate idea that creates identity of the creature. Another term would be definition. However a living creature is more than just an idea however. You see the idea of something is only the shell of that actual creature. The idea of a creature is caused upon the observation of it. However this is the effect of the reality of the creature. So the identity of a creature like a dog is not only immaterial but is beyond a mere idea that we place upon it. The creature then has it’s own independent spirit which sets forth it’s idea and gives it it’s form. The spiritual realm now delivers a backbone to reality and how we are capable of viewing it.
Now that we have established the spiritual realm we must acknowledge that we have given greater argument for the concept of God. Since the spiritual world is essential
To the material world we should have no problem comprehending a spiritual God. If the material world has an intelligent design then this holds doubly true with the spiritual world. If the spiritual world was at heart a chaotic reality (as many from a pagan worldview would claim) then there would be no structure to the universe since the spiritual world is the backbone of what makes what we know as reality. Since the spiritual world must have a design then there is an intelligent designer who we know as God. Besides this it has already been evident that there is a moral standard in the spiritual realm. Although there are spiritual entities that do not live up to this standard it is still apparent that they are judged by this standard. Making all spiritual things subject to this standard and as we argue earlier God is the ultimate moral standard.
Many from more mystical or pantheistic world views often have confused the spiritual real with the subjective realm or the world of imagination. The realm of imagination consist of our fantasies and subconscious. Now it is apparent that our personal world of fantasy would be effected by the spiritual world. However they very distinct. The fantasy world is based upon our own imaginations and fantasy and it is entirely based upon our own mind. It is a world that is subjective to our own personalities. As oppose to a world that is objective and the same for everybody. The spiritual realm as I have argued is not only objective but it is ordered. The fantasy world can live in contradiction. The spiritual realm is not only ordered but it is the highest order. Therefore there is a definite distinction between the two. However as I noted earlier our spiritual states or the conditions of spirits can definitely affect our imaginations.
Vrs. Christianity as one of many
Now when we look at the world (especially the human world) we can notice that it is tainted and imperfect. Most people admit to this and even Buddhists recognize the poor state of the world as fundamental to their belief systems. Evil has tainted to some degree everything on earth. I believe that the best way of illustrating this is through a passage in the song “Life is a lemon” by the Jim Steinmen performed by Meatloaf.
“What about Love? It’s defective! It’s always breaking it in half!
What about Sex? It’s defective! It’s never built to really last!
What about your Family? It’s defective! All the batteries are shot!
What about your Friends? They’re defective! All the parts are out of stock.
What about Hope? It’s defective! It’s corroded and decayed
What about Faith? It’s defective! It’s tattered and it frayed
What about your gods? They’re defective! They forgot the warranty
What about your Town? It’s defective! It’s a dead end street to me.
What about your School? It’s defective! It’s a pack of useless lies!
What about your Work? It’s defective! It’s a crock and then you die!
What about your Childhood? It’s defective! It’s dead and buried in the past!
What about your Future? It’s defective! You can shove it up your *&@#!”
If I may I would like to comment on this argument by Meatloaf and Steinmen. From what I can tell neither has publicly claimed to be Christian. But I believe there is a good argument that they display. Love does not make life worth living since it is not guaranteed forever no matter what people intend and worse when it dies it destroys people inside. Sex is defective as an answer since it is a temporary high. Family is defective since they need a source of strength to stay together. Friends are defective in that they are not reliable in the long run. Hope is defective since there isn’t a specific hope set before us to attain. Faith is defective because it has been ripped apart with out the basis of hope. The religious god’s are defective since they are really based on imagination and not realty therefore they have no assurance to offer. Your town is simply a geographical location and ethnicity’s come and go. In the end patriotism is empty. School systems offer answers that are constantly changing and sometimes defective by the time you make it in the real world. Work and occupations can not satisfy this since all they really want is to you your abilities and time and then you are near death when you retire. Our upbringing and childhood doesn’t offer a great deal either since it is past and what we were doesn’t count for anything. Our future is now an abomination since we have no hope or purpose in who we are and where we go.
Basically there is nothing pure in the world. So if everything is evil and corrupted then how do we know what is right and true? We could say the easy answer through God and yet that leaves two extra arguments in front of us. The first is how do we know we can trust a God who is ultimately responsible for evil and the second is how do we know What God’s message is in a world that is entirely distorted. The first question I have dealt with in my argument from morality. This second question then is what we will deal with. How can we know what is ultimately true in a distorted reality? First of all it is good to point out that in order to come to this question we do realize that there is a principle of morality already in place since the world is evil or corrupted. The second thing is we look at the world-view systems. These systems are obviously flawed and they must be uniformly imperfect after all if humanity is distraught then obviously they must be flawed being that they are at the core of what motivates people. Also if a world-view is false it is obviously man-made since God is perfect. Some may object and bring up spiritual or demonic entities as the origin for teachings however man is ultimately responsible for his beliefs and demons are imperfect. Therefore these beliefs are ultimately evil and go away from the truth.
Therefore all beliefs except for the true belief as given by God are false. So how do we tell which belief is the truth and which beliefs are false? The first thing that we know is that the truth must be rare since all other worldviews are in some way, shape or form false. Therefore the truth must be unique to all other worldviews. The truth has to be separate from all other worldviews. Finally all other worldviews must be in opposition in some way or another to the truth.
Christianity fits this description from the outset. The concept of God is unique in Christianity because of the trinity. Three in one, no other concept like this exist in religion. Some think this is a contradiction but it is not. ( see trinity) It is however a paradox which makes it unique. The fact that it is a complex paradox and hard to imagine testifies to how transcendent and majestic God is. Sense common sense is agreeably flawed Confusion about God’s nature gives this argument proof. God should be beyond our imagination. The Lord Jesus is equally as complex a paradox being 100% Man and 100% God without being less of any and not part of one or the other. He is born Miraculously of a virgin. He is the only God that Dies and raises from the dead. In fact God’s creation is unique to the usual thought processes as well. Biblical creation took place at God’s very commands with out a hint of evolutionary process as opposed to some form of infinite regression. Salvation goes against traditions of all other religions and basis salvation on God’s grace as opposed to our works. Christianity also breaks against them in that it predicts the future and the end of the world. If Christianity were an imaginary concept then why can’t anyone find someone else who imagined the same concept? Not only is Christianity unique in these claims they are traditionally rigid. Biblical Christianity is exclusive in it’s claims and exclusive in it’s invitation. Most religions are inclusive of other religions if not pluralistic. Most religions have political agendas and yet Biblical Christians believe in religious liberty. All these difference set people up against Christianity. Yet if the world is corrupted and our worldviews are corrupted then maybe the animosity from false worldviews are a good thing. After all the regular religious systems fail. They are often legalistic and hypocritical since their rules cannot be followed by it’s followers. Religions that are more freedom based end up so liberal that they let there adherents slip into evil addictions. They do not answer very much in the area of morality. In the areas of assurance they offer even less. Faith for them is using the imagination that their beliefs are true as opposed excepting truths that are too complex to be understood.
Faith for the Christian is putting trust in an actual truth that is beyond (or more advanced than) our understanding. The truth is to complex for us but it is shown to us and we must trust it. Most other religions either try to make life incredibly simplistic. (Islam comes to mind) Or the just give up at understanding being to hard for us to grasp ( for instance Post-Modernism). The fact is that the truth is out there we live in a world with truth. But we can not fully comprehend what is ultimately true. This is where Christians bring up two concepts: faith and revelation. This argument obviously entails faith. In that Christianity is so unique in that it must be true and we need to put our faith in it as truth since it is unique in it’s essence. Since Christianity is unique and the rest of the world systems oppose it and are inherently flawed then Christianity has to be the truth.
A. Man can’t reach God, but God can reach man.
When we look at the relationship between man and God we must consider how they relate to one another. First of all the question is can man reach God? Many people have assumed this so in different mystery religions. In ancient pagan religions they attempted to do this. They would find blessings by deities by committing massive amounts of sex. They would sacrifice and murder their own children. They would chant phrases and dances. They would cut themselves and wail and scream. In order to make a god come and communicate with them. Now would these exercises and (in my opinion grotesque) acts make God communicate with them? If we are talking about the real God, then no. Why? Because God is sustained by himself and therefore he can not be compelled to do anything. Besides God is moral so immorality does not influence him. So what about moral acts? God is good, so he would definitely approve. However, humanity is tainted with evil and so God would not have anything to do with humanity based on there own moral behavior. Besides if God is the ultimate good he doesn’t need anything else to make him better.
Others claim to have supernatural psychic abilities to reach the great beyond. But unless God wants to be involved in communication it is purposeless. Besides if they were born with these abilities than their abilities are dependent on whether God gave this to them at birth. And there is no absolute measure of proving that they really have the abilities or are lying.
Therefore man of his own ability is incapable of reaching and starting communication with God.
B. Revelation is the most highest standard of information possible.
God having absolute foreknowledge, is the highest form of knowledge. He knows absolutely everything. There is no perspective that is greater than His is. His knowledge exceeds the space-time-mass-continuum. (Reality as we know it) Us on the other hand are very limited in our understanding. Many times our logic carries false premises. Our empirical knowledge is limited by what we can learn from the outside world, Our experiences are swayed by our emotions and personal feelings. Are ability to compared is swayed by our own stereotypes of every view but our own. And so man can not fully affirm any truth. In fact man can not even be sure of positively affirming even this truth.
C. It is only natural for God’s form of communication is inerrent.
God is the ultimate being and more importantly the ultimate person. God is limitless in his knowledge since he is the ultimate. Therefore he knows of knowledge without error. God is also ultimate in his morality. If God were not the ultimate in his morality then he would be imperfect and therefore not be God. After all there would be a standard at which God has failed Making God not ultimate and therefore not the God. Truth is one piece of ultimate morality since it does not respect other people and is done out of insecure motives. Since God is ultimate He has no motivation to lie.
D. God is the kind of God who would reveal himself because he has made other minds capable of receiving as well as creation capable of revealing information.
If there were a God, it would be obvious that he would reveal himself for several reasons. Number one God has made other minds (human) capable of communication. Therefore God has already created the possibility. Secondly, He has not hid his existence from reason. Otherwise none of my arguments would make sense. Now I am not saying that you have to believe every argument I make but I think it obvious that at least some of these arguments are very compelling. Being that they are compelling and if they are true then God has created a universe that gives these other minds clues to his existence and would show that God does have an interest in establishing communication. Thirdly, God has created a universe of other minds where people have the desire to have direct communication with God. We see this so obviously in my argument from human experience.
Fourthly, God has made a universe where there are claims made that he has shown his revelation. I will continue this argument more in the chapter on evidence. However the Testimony that He may communicated speaks volumes in favor for His existence and the possibility that he has indeed revealed Himself.
E. In order for God to communicate with man God uses man so that man will understand the words.
If God were to speak to humanity what language would he use? After all humanity have thousands of languages. What is God’s language? How could God who knows everything carry on a conversation of any type with mankind. Since God is miraculous and transcends space and time it is obvious that humanity does not understand Him. So how on earth could we understand His message if He gave it to us?
I think it is important to note that according to Genesis all people had one language and that God made communication, even with Him. Once again we must remember that revelation is possible by the effort of God and not the work of man. It is God’s moral principle to reach out to all people and not to push them to break his laws but to lead them to the truth. And so God decides to reach Humanity. There are barriers in language today, yet only because of man’s rebellion in the tower of Babel. However, the God of the bible breaks down those barriers through the supernatural use of the prophets. Then He carries out his message providentially through scribes, translators, and missionaries. And so the message of God’s word is carried out throughout the world. Even skeptics end up popularizing God’s Word because they have to explain it to complain about it.
One of the more controversial topics for the modernistic worldview to grasp is the concept of miracles. If a miracle happens then the law of cause and effect is somehow tampered with. If we can not trust the laws of cause and effect then we are unable to grasp anything. And the universe must therefore be chaotic.
However there are problems with this type of reasoning. First of all we are unable to fully trust the reliability of cause and effect even if the system is not tampered with anyhow. Why you might ask? Because we can only study so much material within our life times and since there is always something outside of what we know there is always a left over mystery. This mystery places an x-factor that could totally effect our entire understanding of the universe. Therefore we can not fully rely on our information that we gain from the universe based off of cause and effect theory. It is worth listening to no doubt, however it brings no assurance.
Therefore miracles can not be down played because they put the cause and effect system less reliable since this system is not perfectly reliable anyhow. However, with a theistic worldview the cause and effect system is sustained and upheld by God. While miracles may go against the normal cause and effect system of science it does not destroy the system since God upholds both. God is free to create as many miracles as he wants, however since creating the cause and effect system He respects it enough not to damage it. So with a God capable of creating miracles we also have the same God of order who respects creation since it was based on His own good purpose. With a God of order we have more confidence in reality than a universe with a closed system with out a God.
One thing we must note however is that there is no positive evidence for a closed system. Most of the evidence is through experience. However Even if we could prove that there are no miracles happening anywhere in our universe right now. We can never prove that miracles have never existed. One reason this is especially tough is that when we construct science and historical scientific test we always seek it within a closed system and our expecting only answers within a closed system where there are no possible miracles. So how can we discover a miracle that we can’t search for? The only way that we can verify a miracle is through personal experience or divine revelation. Because no record would be trust. Therefore if miracles happen today we are intellectually blinded from them.
Trinity) One Doctrine that has been universally held by Christians and universally condemned by non-Christian rationalist is the concept of the Trinity. Even people with a high view of scripture have a habit of rejecting it. In this doctrine God is three individual persons as well as one individual being. However wouldn’t this interfere with the law of non-contradiction? (A can not =non A) After all how can something be 3 individual things and one individual thing at the same time? It is not like all three are pieces of a pie because each piece is equal to all three pieces of the pie together. So what is going on?
The key issue with misunderstanding the doctrine of the trinity is the fact that the trinity is not the description of a thing but it is a description of God. God is Transcendent, which means that he goes beyond the boundaries of space and time. There were no scientific laws before God made them and therefore God is not subject to them. God does not have to go by the rules of created things because his existence is not based on nature. God is eternal meaning that He was never created. God is self-sufficient, meaning that God does not depend on anything else. With these two attributes in mind we realize that God does not have to follow the rules of human logic. When I say this I do not mean to say that God is illogical. What I mean to say is that since God is the ultimate being his logic is far beyond us and is not dependent on our poor and limited understanding of things.
Another issue that some non-Christian theist may bring up is that the word trinity is not in the bible. Therefore, this must be a philosophical distortion. Actually the bible refers to the trinity as the God head and leaves it mysterious because of the complexity of the subject. Problems arise however when different teachers would teach the Godhead in ways that were un-biblical such as the Father being a superior deity to the Son and the Holy Spirit. Or Jesus being a created being etc. The Bible is very specific that idols that portray God as a created thing is idolatry and the New Testament affirms that there is only one Lord in particular that we serve and doing other wise is sinful and destructive to God’s Word. Therefore they’re needed to be a definitive term in explaining the Godhead. And the term Trinity was the most accurate.
There are certain Facets of the Godhead, which may help an individual in understanding. First of all there can not be a true reality with 3 full-fledged different Gods. The reason is that each one of them is all-powerful and there fore they cancel each other out. After all what if they clash on an each issue? Neither one is limited in power, nor each is unstoppable. They wouldn’t even slow each down. Which is particularly hard to contradict each other they would no longer be God. So if there were two persons with the same God qualities they would have to be the same in being. Because they fill each other up.
Let us suppose the opposite in stead of three persons with God’s attribute what about a God with three personalities. If the person of God is omnipotent then the person of God is omnipotent. If God had three personalities they would be fully developed persons. The reason being that each personality is omnipotent and therefore they are no longer personalities but fully developed persons. For instance if a person with multiple personalities had 2 personalities and each wanted to act they would be limited to the one body they inhabit. But since God is unlimited each personality is unlimited and so therefore each personality is a fully developed person.
The only X-factor in proving the trinity to be true from a rational standpoint is determining how many persons the Godhead has. After all we could assume anywhere from 1 to 4 to 40! This knowledge of 3 persons in the Godhead is due to the divine revelation that God has revealed to us in scripture. However we do see from the different ways that we have come to knowledge of God evidence that could support this conclusion of God having 3 persons. When we look at the ontological and teleological we see a God who is transcendent and removed from the universe who is creator of all both good and evil. A theology based off of only these would see God as mysterious and hard to pin down as far as righteousness and virtue, yet obviously this God is Intelligent since he designed the universe and cares enough about his creation to sustain it. When we look at the moral argument as well as the moral argument we see God more immanently involved as the moral Law-giver and as uniquely good to an evil world. A theology based off of only these arguments would see a God who is more immanent showing what is evil being rejected for His unique goodness and still guiding humanity toward goodness and truth. From the ontological argument and the arguments from experience and revelation we see a God who is entirely personal and relational. We see God as the ultimate person and ourselves as incomplete in need of the God who is ultimately for us. In this theology God is transcendent in ultimate and intimate in being personal. From these 3 strands we can see 3 persons in the God head develop.
Incarnation & The Virgin Birth
There are many who also in History who have raised objection to the doctrine of the Incarnation. The word Incarnation means “in the flesh” and it refers to Jesus Christ being God in human flesh. There are many objections and questions raised here. How could a man become God? How can a man be fully God and still be fully human. How could Jesus have grown-up and learned things and asked questions with out being dishonest about his deity? If Jesus was God then didn’t God die on the cross? How could God obey other authorities without losing his sovereignty? Why did Jesus need helpers? Etc. So let us focus on these.
The first question is “How could a man become God?” The answer to this is both simple and complex. A man did not become God, God became a man. The second person of the Trinity known either as the Son or the Word, manifested Himself in the flesh. This is why Jesus says “before Abraham was I AM” the phrase I AM is a reference to Yahweh and so Jesus was declaring Himself to be God. But he was not saying that he became God He was stating that He was the eternal God without a beginning or an end. The Gospel of John states “In the Beginning was the Word…” “…and the Word was God” “…and the Word became Flesh.” These indicate that the incarnation of Jesus Christ was an act of God manifesting Himself as a human being. Since God can do all things this should not be difficult.
Another question posed is how can the incarnation be reconciled with being completely human since to be God is not to be human, it is not the definition of humanity. The problem with this lies in the question and so I must ask what is the definition of humanity? In the secular world this definition is constantly changing. This is why we squabble over euthanasia and abortion because we have no concept of what it means to be human. This is also the cause of confusion when it comes to animal rights and sexual ethics and medical ethics. Since there is no consistent authority on the definition of humanity , we should look to the biblical view/definition of humanity; someone created in the image of God. Humans initially were not plagued with death and disease and handicaps they were Adam in Eve God’s perfect creations. Since they were “in the likeness/image of God” they reflected all of God’s Attributes. Now what is so hard to imagine about God manifesting Himself as a reflection of Himself?
The next question is how could Jesus have handled being God and knowing everything in His discussions with people? What is even more perplexing is the fact that the Bible mentions that as Jesus grew up he learned things. How could an all-knowing being learn things? The Bible does not delve into that topic so it is really up for debate. . Theologians have offered the following explanation. That Jesus did not partake of His all-knowing qualities while growing up in order to identify Himself with the experiences of mankind. This process is called “Kenosis”. Jesus only partook of his omniscient attributes when he decided it necessary to reveal Himself.
Another factor is that Christian Theologians have been careful to explain the incarnation in terms of the crucifixion. Jesus deity or the “The Logos” (Greek for “the Word”) has been with God the Father since the beginning of time. While Jesus as a human has only existed for 2000 years. When Jesus died only the human nature of Jesus actually died although he was still one with his Deity. Because sense God is present everywhere God is present in the realm of death. Therefore the Logos was still unified with the human nature of Jesus (the human nature) even though Jesus as deity didn’t die Jesus as a human still died, but since the Logos is Omni-present (everywhere) He did not separate from his human nature He was still unified. Therefore God the Son experienced death and experienced the grave even though God the Son did not cease to exist. That may sound confusing at first read but it is totally consistent logic so just read it again to make sure you understand.
When Jesus lived on the earth the bible says “He humbled himself” meaning that it was not his goal to project his deity and make everyone but to play the part of a servant as an ultimate example to humanity. This can be seen in John 13 the story where Jesus washed the disciples feet. For Jesus to serve humans is an example of the fact that God does not need humans and since he doesn’t need people to serve Him Jesus has no problem being a servant to people in order to express and teach his message. For God to actually “humbles himself” shows that God is the ultimate good which fits the standard definition of God.
From there we get to the question of the virgin birth. How is it possible for Jesus to be fully human without a father? How could Mary give birth without sexual intercourse? Why is this even in the Bible?
First of all let us address the incarnation question about Jesus humanity. Jesus is fully human, but how could he get that just from a mother? Scientifically, people have just learned how to simulate that possibility through genetic cloning. In genetic cloning we can take the raw DNA of a cell to fertilize a female egg even them females own cell can be used in this process. Now before I go on I would like to say that the virgin birth was a miracles and it is impossible to fathom Jesus birth as some sort of cloning process. However my point in bringing this up is that it is scientifically possible for an infant to only have the genes for it’s mother. I am not saying that this is the process that God used however it does show that this is not a contradictory proposition for a person to capable of only one genetic relative. While some Christians have no answer to why God would use a virgin birth specifically, I believe that this was to affirm himself as different as those who are born of Adam. Also to make sure that it was clear that he was not under the spiritual headship of Adam and therefore inherit original sin. Another reason for the virgin birth is to show the uniqueness of the person of Jesus and the entry of the Messiah. As a sign that He was the Messiah. | <urn:uuid:e5cc7727-c354-421d-b05b-d8244b7a86ae> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | http://biblesmack.blogspot.com/2008/06/reasonthis-is-excerpt-from-book-i-never.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039742569.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20181115075207-20181115101207-00492.warc.gz | en | 0.971263 | 18,092 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Every year, we celebrate Valentine’s Day as a way of showing love and affection toward the amazing people in our lives. But did you know that countries around the world have different Valentine’s Day customs?
Here are some interesting international Valentine’s Day traditions from around the world:
In Germany, Valentine’s Day is known as “Valentinstag.” It’s celebrated similarly to how we celebrate here in the United States, with a focus on romantic love and relationships. Most commonly, people exchange gifts like flowers, chocolates, and small tokens of affection. Recently, there’s been a trend towards personalized, handmade and creative gifts! A unique tradition in Germany during Valentine’s Day is exchanging heart-shaped gingerbread cookies, known as “Lebkuchenherzen,” which are typically decorated with romantic messages or names!
In Brazil, Valentine’s Day is known as “Dia dos Namorados,” which translates to “Lovers’ Day” — but don’t expect to celebrate it on February 14th, as it is actually held on June 12th! Dia dos Namorados is a popular holiday and is traditionally celebrated by couples with a focus on romantic love. The most common way to celebrate is to give gifts like chocolates, flowers, and small tokens of affection called “presentinhos.” There are also regional festivals and parades, like “Festa Junina,” where there’s dancing, music, and other cultural activities.
In Colombia, Valentine’s Day is known as “El Día del amor y la amistad” or “Love and Friendship Day.” It’s a popular holiday celebrated not only by couples but also by friends and family. Unlike in the U.S. where Valentine’s Day is celebrated in February, the people of Colombia celebrate their holiday on the third Saturday of September, and the festivities often last the entire weekend! Most commonly, people will exchange small gifts like flowers or chocolates, but they also may attend parties or events — such as the “Feria de las Flores” in Medellín, which includes a parade of flowers and other cultural activities.
In Italy, Valentine’s Day celebrations are similar to what we’re used to in the United States, with a focus on romantic love and relationships, but there are also some unique traditions and celebrations. For example, in Verona (the city of Romeo and Juliet) there is an annual event called “Verona in Love,” which includes special concerts, shows, and events for couples. Another tradition in Italy is to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a romantic meal, often featuring special dishes like heart-shaped pasta or desserts.
In Turkey, many people celebrate Valentine’s Day similarly to how we do in the United States — exchanging flowers, chocolates, and other small sentiments. But another tradition is to attach love locks to bridges or other public spaces as a symbol of their love!
In Japan, Valentine’s Day is traditionally celebrated as a day for women to express their love and appreciation to their romantic partners or friends by giving them chocolates. Two types of chocolates are typically gifted: “Giri-choco,” which is for friends, colleagues or acquaintances, and “Honmei-choco,” which is meant as a romantic gesture. The receiver is expected to reciprocate their feelings one month later, on March 14th, which is known as “White Day.” On this day, that individual will typically give a gift to their romantic partner, often in the form of white chocolate, flowers, or other small presents. Overall, Valentine’s Day and White Day are viewed as important days of recognition for couples and a way to express their feelings to each other in Japan.
7. South Africa
In South Africa, Valentine’s Day is a popular holiday celebrated by couples, friends, and family members. People often give gifts like chocolate, teddy bears, and flowers. In recent years, there has been a trend towards personalized gifts, too! One unique custom in South Africa is for women to wear brightly colored dresses on Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day, known as “La Saint-Valentin” in France, is a celebration of love between couples. On top of the traditional exchange of small gifts or flowers, couples in some regions may also exchange “mignardises,” which are small treats like chocolates or macarons. Paris, the city of love, is particularly popular for romantic getaways on Valentine’s Day! Couples can enjoy a romantic walk along the Seine River, dine in quaint restaurants, and take in the city’s most romantic landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower and the Pont des Arts bridge.
In Poland, Valentine’s Day is not traditionally celebrated as much as in other countries. However, it has become increasingly popular in recent years as a way to express love and appreciation for romantic partners! Poland does have its own celebration of love, called “Andrzejki” or St. Andrew’s Day, which takes place on November 30th and has more cultural significance.
Valentine’s Day is uniquely celebrated in Thailand as “Wan Rak” day, which means “Love Day” in Thai. On this day, couples give each other gifts, like flowers and chocolates, and also release birds or fish as a symbol of love and merit-making. Additionally, many Thai couples choose to get married or make marriage proposals on this day!
Around the world, people from other countries and cultures have their own unique Valentine’s Day traditions.
Though our traditions may be different, the sentiment remains the same — celebrating love and admiration! | <urn:uuid:167c4387-a4d8-474b-9a2e-076af9f87722> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://blogs.aupairinamerica.com/2023/02/13/valentines-day-around-the-world/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233511406.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20231004184208-20231004214208-00630.warc.gz | en | 0.958482 | 1,288 | 2.5625 | 3 |
As reported August 15, 2011, by the MIT News Office, an international group of researchers, including members of the Optics and Quantum Electronics Group at the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics, RLE, led by Franz Kaertner, adjunct professor in the MIT EECS Department, have devised a way that could use lasers emitting pulses lasting a quintillionth of a second to characterize the behavior of individual electrons during chemical reactions.
Read the text of the MIT News Office article below:
In a paper published in the latest issue of Nature Photonics, an international team of researchers takes an important step toward giving physicists the ability to effectively make movies of individual electrons. If the approach pans out, it would provide a way to gather data of unprecedented detail about how individual molecules interact during chemical reactions, with ramifications for not only the basic sciences but chemical engineering and pharmaceutical research as well.
The researchers, eight of whom are from MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), describe a technique that should be able to produce bursts of laser light that last only attoseconds, or billionths of a billionth of a second. The electron in a hydrogen atom takes about 151 attoseconds to orbit the nucleus, so catching it in the act during a chemical reaction would require attosecond pulses.
"If you can generate a pulse that has a shorter duration, then you can investigate dynamics that happen on that time scale," says Franz Kaertner, the adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science who led the work. "That connects back to this work from [MIT electrical engineering professor Harold ‘Doc’] Edgerton, where he was able to make optical flash photography in the microsecond range and nanosecond range."
Attosecond pulses have been demonstrated in the lab before, but they didn’t have the intensity required for so-called time-resolved spectroscopy, the technique typically used to measure electron dynamics. Not only should the new approach boost the pulses’ intensity, but it should require a simpler setup, too, making it more practical.
The key to producing ultrashort bursts of light is to combine light waves of different frequencies. A wave can be envisioned as a regular, up-and-down squiggle, with the distance between the squiggle’s crests indicating its frequency. When two waves intersect, they reinforce each other where their crests overlap, but the trough of one can cancel out the crest of another. The right combination of waves can thus produce a new wave with a radically different shape.
Other researchers have tried to produce short bursts of light by combining laser beams, but they’ve used a separate laser for each beam. That makes it very difficult to synchronize the beams so that their troughs and crests coincide exactly where intended. The RLE researchers and their colleagues at the University of Sydney, Politecnico di Milano and Hamburg University instead pass a single laser beam through a crystal that splits it into beams of different frequencies. Because the beams are derived from a single source, they remain perfectly synchronized.
Short and shorter
Although this yields very short pulses of light, they’re still not on the scale of attoseconds. So the next step in the process would be to send the pulses through a gas. When particles of laser light — photons — strike the atoms of the gas, they’re absorbed, but usually, their energy is immediately re-emitted as new photons. Those photons, however, have frequencies that can be many times that of the original photons. And higher frequencies mean even shorter bursts of light.
The RLE researchers, however, have not yet performed this final step. Currently, they pass their laser beam through two amplifiers to increase its energy, but it needs more energy still to elicit enough higher-frequency photons from the gas. Adding another amplifier, the researchers say, should do the trick, but it does pose some engineering challenges.
Ian Walmsley, a physics professor at the University of Oxford and head of the university’s Ultrafast Quantum Optics Group, says that the modularity of the researchers’ design is one of its strengths. "The clever design that Franz and his collaborators have come up with is to use something where it’s very straightforward to have all of these boxes work in a sort of plug-and-play fashion, a synchronous fashion," Walmsley says. "This new approach, I think, is a very important one because it allows, in principle, the generation of much higher energies in these very short pulses."
Walmsley suspects, however, that adding the final step in the RLE researchers’ process "won’t be a trivial matter of turning up the pulse energy and getting shorter and shorter pulses." But, he adds, "there are some promising things that they can do with that, I think. It might be a bit of a challenge, but it could be done." | <urn:uuid:e395d155-cceb-45d5-88c6-e985ae203f24> | CC-MAIN-2014-42 | http://www.eecs.mit.edu/news-events/media/electrons-action-coming-closer-video-capture-based-work-kaertner-team | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1414637899702.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20141030025819-00013-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947205 | 1,025 | 3.625 | 4 |
Nara National Museum
One of the more outstanding art museums in Japan the Nara National Museum specialises in Buddhist arts and is located in the world famous Nara Park.
The museum is made up of a few buildings with the original museum dating back 1894 and classified as an important cultural property by the Japanese Government. This ornate building is built in a French Renaissance style and houses a wide variety of Japanese sculptures dating from the 6th to 14th centuries. The original museum building is connected to the new wings of the museum via an underground passageway that also houses a gift shop and restaurant.
The new wings are known as the West and East Wings and were built in 1972 and 1998 in a modern but also very Japanese style. The West Wing houses gallery space for paintings, archaeology, Calligraphy and Decorative Arts. The East Wing is mostly used as a gallery space for special exhibitions that are held throughout the year.
Behind the New Wings are the Hassoan Tea House, dating back to the Edo period the famous tea house was moved to the Museum in 1892 from its former location at Kofuku-ji Temple. A Conservation Centre and the Buddhist Art Library are also located behind the New Wings.
The Museum is open 9:30 to 17:00 everyday except Mondays (or Tue if the Monday is a Public Holiday) | <urn:uuid:93a3a32d-1176-4362-a9f5-061de20ac196> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.happyjappy.com/nara/nara-national-museum.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700871976/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104111-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975956 | 275 | 3.046875 | 3 |
A less disruptive eruption
Locally, the eruption of Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano was rather impressive, with a plume rising to the stratosphere and ash coating local farms and villages; much grander than the modest discharge from Eyjafjallajokull last year. But although its ash did interfere with some flights in the north of Europe, different weather patterns, larger particles and, crucially, a reluctance born of experience when it comes to closing down every airport in range made the long-distance effects much more tolerable this time.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline "A less disruptive eruption"
From the May 28th 2011 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the edition
The government must grapple with chronic issues
The ghost of 2009 haunts Europe
Division and disunity could rock her boat | <urn:uuid:b881ab46-3ca5-4bb3-bef7-1901973b8fcc> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.economist.com/europe/2011/05/26/a-less-disruptive-eruption | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499700.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20230129044527-20230129074527-00023.warc.gz | en | 0.943812 | 184 | 2.59375 | 3 |
February is all about your heart and not only because it is the host month of Valentine’s Day. February is American Heart Month, a declaration that was made by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and one which serves as a perfect opportunity to check in on your heart’s health.
Taking care of your heart means adopting practices that promote cardiovascular health as well as wellness. These new heart-healthy habits are probably ones you do or used to do, but with the renewed sense of motivation that February and a new year can bring, maybe some of them will earn their spot back at the top of your priority list!
Four Practices to Give your Heart the TLC it Deserves
Nourish with Nutrients
Your body, and therefore your heart, will thank you abundantly for nourishing it with the vitamins, minerals and nutrients it so desperately wants and needs. A diet high in a variety of plant-based foods that includes vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and whole grains, as well as the healthy fats from these sources has been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and promote heart health. 1 For a greater effect, slowly start to remove the foods that aren’t providing your body with positive and clean energy (e.g. many processed, packaged foods and greasy foods) so that your body can start to thrive.
Soak in the Sun
It feels good to let the sun’s rays warm your skin, but it also helps lift your mood. 2 Having a more positive mood can do wonders for relieving stress and reducing daily stress has been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular health conditions. 3 Not only will the reduced stress benefit heart health, the exposure to sunlight allows our bodies to produce Vitamin D which emerging research has found to be connected to reduced risk for cardiovascular disease. 4, 5
Move your Body
We always hear that exercise is good for the body. Well, that’s because it’s true. A sedentary lifestyle has been associated with obesity, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease. 6 Even just 75 minutes of exercise a week (that’s slightly less than 11 minutes a day) of vigorous activity has been shown to reduce one’s risk of cardiovascular disease and if you’re not into vigorous exercise, an average daily dose of 22 minutes of moderate exercise a day can lead to marked risk reductions. 6
Do What you Love to Do on a Regular Basis
If you love to knit, then knit. If you love cycling, then cycle. If you love cooking or reading or playing an instrument, then this should be a regular part of your week. You don’t have to knit every day nor do you have to play the piano for hours, but engaging in leisure activities that you enjoy is a great way to improve your mood and keep positivity in your daily life; it is also a great way to reduce stress. 7
- Hu FB. Plant-based foods and prevention of cardiovascular disease: an overview. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003; 78(3): 544-551. https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.nunm.idm.oclc.org/pubmed/?term=Plant-based+foods+and+prevention+of+cardiovascular+disease%3A+an+overview
- Jenkins TA, Nguyen JC, Polglaze KE, Bertrand PP. Influence of tryptophan and serotonin on mood and cognition with a possible role of the Gut-Brain Axis. Nutrients. 2016; 8(1): 1-15. doi:10.3390/nu8010056.
- Steptoe A, Kivimäki M. Stress and cardiovascular disease: an update on current knowledge. Annu Rev Public Health. 2013; 34: 337-54. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031912-114452.
- Dong J, Lau CW, Wong SL, Huang Y. Cardiovascular benefits of vitamin D. Sheng Li Xue Bao. 2014; 66(1): 30-6. doi: 10.13294/j.aps.2014.0005.
- Holick MF. Sunlight and vitamin D for bone health and prevention of autoimmune diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004; 80(6): 1678-88. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/80/6/1678S.long
- Shiroma EJ, Lee IM. Physical activity and cardiovascular health: lessons learned from epidemiological studies across age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Circulation. 2010; 122(7): 743-52. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.914721.
- Zawadzki MJ, Smyth JM, Costigan HJ. Real-Time associations between engaging in leisure and daily health and well-being. Ann Behav Med. 2015; 49(4): 605-15. doi: 10.1007/s12160-015-9694-3.
By Wilfredo Benitez | <urn:uuid:304465f3-b78f-47d4-9f7e-c1947c515c13> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://womeninbalance.org/2017/02/16/love-your-heart-four-easy-practices-to-give-your-heart-and-your-body-some-tlc/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267158320.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20180922103644-20180922124044-00278.warc.gz | en | 0.906314 | 1,083 | 2.5625 | 3 |
A time of enormous change and upheaval with the Berlin Wall going up, JFK entering office and Russia winning the space race, the 1960s saw huge achievements in technology.
From the invention of the computer mouse to the world's first video game console, great minds created things that you could not imagine living without today. Here are a few of the best...
1. The first video game console
Ahh, there's nothing like a rainy afternoon in with your console so we have a lot to thank Ralph Baer for when he envisioned the original in 1966. In May of 1967 he played the very first two-player video game, which he lost, and in 1968 he completed the working prototype.
FIRST CONSOLE: The original Brown Box itself may not look like much but it was Adam to the console of today [Image credit: Ralph Baer]
Known by fans as the Brown Box, this became commercially known as the Magnavox Odyssey when it hit the markets in 1972. "I came up with and worked on ideas using a TV set for playing games in 1966" explains Baer on his site RalphBaer.com.
2. The first computer mouse
Douglas Engelbart completely changed the way people interacted with computers when he invented the computer mouse in 1964. His creation was made from wood and had two gear-wheels that sat perpendicular to one another so as to allow movement on one axis. When you moved the mouse the horizontal wheel moved sideways and the vertical wheel slid along the surface. He filed for the patent in 1967 as the "X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System."
FIRST MOUSE: Douglas Engelbart holds the invention that computer users across the globe rely on every day to communicate with their PC [Image credit: Douglas Engelbart]
In a 90-minute demo showing how the computer mouse worked in 1968, Engelbert was already envisioning concepts like social networking and personal computing long before they became a part of our reality. It was in this demo that he said "I don't know why we call it a mouse."
3. Light Emitting Diodes
It was British born H.J Round who first reported a light-emitting solid-state diode in 1907 but his work was to languish, along with that by Oleg Vladimirovich Losev, until 1962. In this year, while working at General Electric Company, Nick Holonyak Jr created the first practical visible-spectrum LED. Described as the "father of the light-emitting diode", Holonyak's LEDs were red and not really bright enough to light an area effectively.
ROUND WORK: This image replicates the experiments done by H.J Round when he discovered the factors contributing to the LED [Image credit: Biolippi]
What happened next? Advancements in materials and research had red followed by yellow and brighter red and red-orange LEDs in 1972 thanks to work by one of his former students M. George Craford.
4. Dynamic Random Access Memory
While not technically the man who invented RAM, Robert Dennard was the man who redesigned and modified it to create Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM). His insights into how RAM could function more efficiently over a smaller space mean that computers got more memory for less cost and, frankly, took up less space.
ORIGINAL RAM: This schematic shows two of the original designs of DRAM that were developed and patented in 1968 by Robert Dennard [Image credit: Cyferz]
It was one of the most significant moments in technology as Dennard's discovery meant that one chip can hold a billion or more RAM cells.
5. Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
Just so we could strap it to a shark's head and use it in nefarious ways to kill James Bond, Theodore Maiman perfected the laser in 1960. From bar code readers to precise medical procedures to accurate measurement devices, lasers have become an essential part of our lives and it was Maiman's determination at a time when others were losing interest in the subject that we have to thank.
LASER SHARP: Thanks to Theodore Maiman's work on the laser it has led to impressive medical and scientific developments. It's also really pretty [Image credit: Jeff Keyzer]
Armed with nothing more than one assistant and a ton of ambition, he fired the first laser in May that year.
In 1969 a group of employees from AT&T at Bell Labs created one of the most popular and powerful operating systems of the age, UNIX. Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas Mcllroy and Joe Ossana were among the crew who sat down to develop UNIX on the PDP-7. The name was derived from MULTICS, a project run in conjunction with several large companies including Bell Labs that failed to deliver on expectations.
A NEW OS: The history of UNIX made simple showing the progression of the system from 1969 to 2008 [Image credit: Eraserhead1]
Ken Thompson, along with some other members of this project, spent their now free time to make a system that worked within the MULTICS principles but on a much smaller scale. The result, UNIX, was a success story that can still be read across the open source platforms today.
Liked this? Then check out 8 technologies to thank the 1980s for
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Article continues below | <urn:uuid:38636922-0f7b-4fc7-bede-e518d873a294> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://www.techradar.com/us/news/world-of-tech/6-technologies-to-thank-the-1960s-for-650980 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701167599.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193927-00262-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960517 | 1,167 | 3.15625 | 3 |
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