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Hunting for the decent and helpful GPA Calculator?
GPA stands for quality point ordinary and it’s yet one more metric you’ll ought to retain track of in substantial faculty, college or university, and past. Students oftentimes get baffled on all things GPA – a way to determine and enhance GPA; differing types of GPA, weighted vs. non-weighted, cumulative vs. semester GPA and so forth., and there are not any high quality useful resource on hand on-line which will help learners with all their queries. We’ve stepped in to aid you out that has a GPA handbook.
That’s this guidebook for?
Any very high school or college scholar which includes a quality letter or 4-point scale based mostly grade reporting structure. Some academic devices place additional bodyweight and significance on the GPA calculations than people, nevertheless it is really an principal piece of educational requirements in American educational facilities especially.
Precisely what is GPA?
Why GPA is so important and vital?
How is GPA calculated?
What is a reliable college or university GPA?
Does GPA essentially issue?
The amount can GPA assist or harm you?
Can GPA be improved?
Exactly what is GPA?
I always keep hearing about GPA and the way some learners possess a GPA of three or four, and so forth. What do these quantities suggest and just how should really I compute my GPA?
Quality Issue Ordinary (GPA) is a summary statistic that signifies a student’s typical general performance inside their scientific studies greater than a mentioned period of time of time, like as an individual semester, a tutorial year, or a whole academic effectiveness at an establishment. Really being numerical, GPAs are sometimes calculated to two decimals. They may be used as indicators of irrespective of whether amounts of college student general performance meet some fixed criterion, and for sorting teams of scholars into rank get.
Even while GPA scores are universally recognized, grading scales vary significantly throughout establishments and nations around the world. Conversion tables tend to be accessible for comparing grades and GPAs within countries and internationally.
When an entire analyze application is arranged as a collection of “units”, each time period of time offers rise to its possess GPA. The commonest examine interval to get a system is a person semester, almost always 12-15 months of class. If a full-time scholar enrolls in 4 classes in a very distinct semester, the GPA is calculated as the typical functionality through those 4 classes.
Why is GPA so important?
Faculties use this number to evaluate your total operation at school and compare and contrast you to definitely other learners.
Your GPA is essential for your long term as a result of:
Even in the past college, your GPA can decide if or not you’re eligible to require Highly developed Placement (AP)or Intercontinental Baccalaureate (IB) courses during your junior and senior years of high school. For admission, the upper your GPA, the greater your prospects are of getting into the school of one’s alternative. Your GPA is definitely a premier thought for the two academic and athletic college scholarships, too as monetary help. Sustaining a huge GPA can qualify pupils for educational excellence awards, the Dean’s checklist, and admission to scholar companies committed to tutorial performance. Slipping beneath a specific GPA score might possibly place you at risk for educational probation, expulsion, or inability to graduate. Your GPA on university graduation will, again, develop into a point of reference for post-graduate academic courses like legislation faculty, health-related school, Master’s software programs, and many others.
GPA has become the key tasks that educational institutions, undergraduate and post-graduate, look at when reviewing applications for admission. Consistent with a Nationwide Association of college Admission Counselors (NACAC) 2011 Survey, grades in school prep courses were being an important aspect weighing in towards the admissions determination. Grades in all programs ranked given that the fourth most vital thing, powering energy of curriculum and ACT/SAT scores. The more selective the college, the more the GPA will subject along with the higher it should must be. The general consensus for tremendously selective educational institutions looks for being that a GPA of 3.5 or above is considered acceptable. A university student that has a GPA down below 3.5 should have a more durable time convincing an exceptionally selective college that he or she could be admitted.
How is a cumulative GPA calculated? A cumulative GPA stands out as the quality position normal of a team of courses. The lessons could very well be grouped by semester, educational calendar year, full tutorial historical past at an establishment, important or department, and many others. Possibly your leading demands which you manage a certain GPA in their classes to become a part of their system, or possibly your curious how past semesters GPA impacted your complete tutorial GPA. Possibly way, the primary move would be to determine the programs that make up the cumulative GPA you’re hoping to research and record the corresponding last grades. Next, we’ll simply just change them from a letter quality into a 4.0 scale, carry out some easy arithmetic, and *poof* cumulative GPA! Pull out your grades and stick to in conjunction with the easy ways below. Change the grades from all of your courses to details by using the following scale: The points for every course are multiplied by the range of credits or several hours for that class, additional collectively, and divided because of the full quantity of credits or hours. Uncomplicated, properly? At any time you are nerd or contemplate C programming is cooler than J Cole, then here’s your entire instruct on how to work out GPA. Get a hold of out how your excessive faculty calculates your GPA. Very high schools can work out GPAs based with your letter grades in numerous ideas. Subsequent a typical four.0 scale such as, A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0. All the same, some very high schools count pluses and minuses in different ways. As an illustration, B+=3.3, B=3.0, B-=2.seven. Each course quality is multiplied with the credit score for every class and additional jointly to determine an unweighted GPA. Alternatively, some educational facilities will calculate weighted GPAs, which give far more great importance to honors, accelerated, AP and IB classes. On this state of affairs, a five.0 could be a perfect score rather then a 4.0. One example is, AP biology A=5,B=4,C=3,D=2,F=0 Understand how schools would probably recalculate your GPA. Lots of faculties choose to examine your GPA utilizing their own personal approaches. Quite often, they’ll disregard “easy A’s” you earned in gymnasium or art class and target the basics of the education and learning, calculating your GPA from the grades you attained in main curriculum lessons like science, English, social reports and math. It could actually even be taken under consideration the level of your classes, in case your superior college designates on. As an illustration, some excessive colleges have basic, intermediate, and leading-edge levels of all classes (not this includes AP or honors courses), which can engage in a factor in how schools weight those grades in your transcript. So even though you are acing many courses, it’s primary to carry out well inside of the main tutorial courses. Some colleges also appear at the two your unweighted and weighted GPA’s, which implies you cannot rely on your AP, IB and honors classes to lift your GPA. Precisely what is a good quality college GPA? Believe it or not, this depends mainly with your schemes after college. As per Pat Criscito in “How to write down Higher Resumes and cover Letters,” employers examine a good GPA being above a 3.five. A GPA somewhere between three.0 and three.5 will neither impress an employer nor set up an unfavorable impression. Career candidates really should omit college or university GPAs reduced than a 3.0 from their resumes. Pupils attracted to attending legislation or medical related faculty may want to investigate the standard GPA of scholars admitted for their prospective universities. The online market place Authorized Homework Team reports the average GPA of scholars admitted towards high fifty legislation educational facilities inside the United states in 2009 ranged from three.31 to 3.77. Pre-med learners will be mindful the common GPA of students admitted to healthcare faculty is bigger; based on the Association of american Health Schools (AAMC), learners recognized to medical university have GPAs ranging from 3.46 to 3.91. Learners desiring to utilize to graduate school have more overall flexibility. What is taken into consideration the best GPA may differ from college to school and industry to industry. Look at the graduate school’s least standards for GPA for admission; products inside that graduate school might have further more standards. Generally, pupils along with a GPA lower than the usual three.0 possibly will unearth it frustrating to become recognized to some master’s or doctoral application. Possessing a significant GPA but a transcript crammed with easy or lower-level courses can be significantly less spectacular to graduate, medical, and regulation colleges than a a bit cheaper GPA but a history of tackling very difficult coursework. Usually do not be discouraged if you ever use a rough freshman year with regard to grades. You may highlight your enhancement either in your application or in an interview. Focus on your key GPA as well as your cumulative GPA. Several graduate and health packages will appear at equally in pondering your application. The amount can GPA enable or damage you? Judged alongside your SAT/ACT scores, letters of recommendation, individual assertion, and extracurricular functions, your huge college GPA is definitely a person with the most vital variables that is definitely viewed as from the faculty admissions process. Despite the fact that they are really frequently judged together, to be a collective portrayal of the effectiveness as a student, experiencing a excessive GPA (while in the 3.five to four.0 or simply a range) can really enable you to, even so it also depends on the conditions. Your great GPA shall be a big asset if: 1. You attained it in great degree lessons or courses which were ever more tougher Above all, schools hope to see that you just are keen to challenge by yourself intellectually. They want to grasp you are prepared to check inside “big leagues” which, if acknowledged to their university, the demanding faculty curriculum will not cause you to bat an eye. Those that managed to earn a large GPA even while using demanding classes, this would indicate them that you are the two smart and pushed. Although you took less difficult lessons within the beginning of highschool and afterwards went on to consider more difficult types later on, this demonstrates that you are engaged with your understanding and they are willing to thrust on your own. Showing your determination to getting to know and advancing is just as very important as demonstrating your evolution as being a college student. 2. Your standardized take a look at scores are ideal, although not brilliant If you happen to are not a very good test taker and did not conclude up getting great scores on the SAT or ACT, your GPA might help you to increase earlier mentioned the group in spite of this. Once again, your GPA and exam scores are perceived as as element of a collective portrayal of one’s educational achieving success, but if your check scores are drawing adverse consideration on your application, fret not-your GPA is here to avoid wasting you. More and more, faculties are beginning to see GPA is mostly a a lot more reputable metric than standardized checks for judging tutorial potential. A large GPA demonstrates perseverance over time as well as in the classroom and is by far the most dependable indicator of the student’s flexibility to adhere to by and really graduate college-much significantly more so than a examination rating that displays how properly you penciled in bubbles with a take a look at sort for two hrs with a Saturday morning for the period of your junior yr. three. Your GPA stands out from other college students with your class If particularly couple of other pupils at your faculty accomplished a GPA similar to yours, this means that you were being eager to go earlier mentioned and outside of to get substantial grades in challenging lessons. You really do not ought to be the valedictorian or graduate to start with as part of your course, even though that most definitely wouldn’t hurt, but a GPA that sites you among an elite group of significant academic performers in an otherwise average-performing student shape is strictly the sort of awareness you should carry with your school application. Your large GPA may likely not issue quite a bit if: 1. You acquired it in fewer demanding courses Chances are you may use a 4.0, however, if you took the simplest courses accessible to get there, schools won’t look as favorably on your application. Any time you think it over, it will make a good deal of sense – faculties are looking for pupils who are keen to apply them selves and make full use of the assets they may be presented. If you happen to took each of the primary stage programs and done perfectly having an A regular, ideal to suit your needs, but Suzy Q took most of the innovative amount classes, stumbled somewhat, but managed a B+ normal and that appears better still. Those that do not display mental engagement in very high school and instead just choose the straightforward A, it does not create a ideal perception. two. Your standardized examination scores are abnormally lower Even when you make an incredibly significant GPA, when your standardized test scores are normal or beneath average, you may have worries. In today’s times, standardized tests are looked at a little bit further for whatever they are-a tool to measure the ordinary university student, which you’ll or not be. Still, these checks are one of the most significant variables faculties keep in mind furthermore GPA, therefore you should not acquire them evenly. Relating to test-taking, the information in the check is only 50 percent the struggle. Invest a sufficient amount of your time and vigor into studying the material, but in addition in how one can require tests-you would not believe that the amount of excellent minds have scored terribly on checks purely mainly because they absence the test-taking ability, relatively as opposed to information on the test. No matter if it’s the science of a few different preference issues, doing away with possibilities, the art of BS, or actually researching raw academic substance, once you come up with a issue of finding out for these tests, you should be able to strengthen your scores even when you really do not reflect on on your own a organic test-taker. three. A number of other students are within the very same stage If your GPA doesn’t stick out in the pack, this factors to grade inflation (very high grades for deliver the results which may not totally deserve them). This really is a problem at many schools, and it is honestly aggravating for college students who’re high-achieving but cannot stand out owing to affordable criteria. This can not be as much as being a issue as the other issues since admissions officers will know whether or not your university has this matter and will get it under consideration when investigating your file. It just would mean an increased emphasis on standardized test scores, extracurricular activities, and anything else that individualizes you being a outstanding college student, therefore you could get the job done on getting ready strong discretionary parts of one’s application, like personal assertion and letters of recommendation, if you decide to know grade inflation is a really problem at your faculty. “YOU get a 4.0 GPA! And you also have a 4.0 GPA! You all get 4.0 GPAs!!!!” Now let’s consider the other aspect of elements. Having a affordable GPA (anyplace underneath the national ordinary of a 3.0), you can feel you are outside of luck, but that is not essentially valid. Although it might be challenging to obtain into extremely selective universities, schools will examine other things as well-again, please remember your software is sort of a puzzle, and each metric is like a assorted piece. Your minimal GPA might not be also considerably of the dilemma if: one. It is higher than a two.0 Assuming that your GPA is larger than the usual two.0, there will be some colleges whereby there is a nice possibility of acceptance. Within this situation, create a robust situation for your extracurricular pursuits and your policies for fulfillment in college. If it’s underneath a 2.0 it’s going to be virtually unattainable to get into most schools. 2. You probably did clearly on standardized assessments As I discussed before, standardized checks are classified as the most important factor faculties will give some thought to aside out of your GPA. If you ever do remarkably nicely, they can be significantly more very likely to provide you a chance, even with your very low GPA. Learning for standardized checks and improving your scores is far simpler and easier than strengthening your GPA, therefore if your GPA is not where you would like it to always be, try and give attention to rating improvement to find the most bang for your personal buck inside higher education admissions plan. As it’s not recommended to go ahead and take SATs fifteen periods till you can get an ideal rating, bombing it relating to the for starters try isn’t a dead-end possibly. Think about using the SATs or Functions 2-3 periods, if obligatory, as your optimum rating will be the an individual you certainly will ship out to universities for thing to consider. 3. You challenged yourself with frustrating coursework When your GPA is to the cheaper side, but you attained it in really difficult courses or challenged by yourself more and more in excess of the study course of high school, schools will consider this under consideration. Ensure to talk concerning this inside of your exclusive statement. Your GPA alone is less important than the highway you took to get there. 4. You encountered demanding situations Conceivably you’ve got a understanding or actual physical disability, skipped a considerable interval of time due to illness, lost a family member, started out as a new student, or suffered almost every other considerable hardship. When you did and it negatively impacted your grades, a strong personalized statement, proof, and supporting letters of recommendation may help explain a batch of reduced grades that dragged down your GPA and draw awareness for your afterwards prosperity within the confront of adversity. Can GPA be enhanced? It is hard, but doable. Certain, it’s challenging to enhance your GPA due to the fact it is the typical of your grades above the program of faculty or big school. The more grades you include in on the mix, the significantly less every of these is worth-don’t imagine that all As in your own previous semester will save the working day in the event you obtained generally Bs and Cs through the primary 3 ages. When you end up with a C common your freshman year of high school, for example, you possibly can technically deliver it nearly a B+ common from the conclude of your junior 12 months when you gained A averages for the duration of your sophomore and junior a long time. In case you have a C regular for both equally your freshman and sophomore yrs, the finest you’ll have the ability to do may be a B- as the Cs through the initially two years of highschool will bring down your ordinary a lot of. Which is let alone that likely from the C ordinary to an A common in all lessons is not something which most people will can take care of since it requires such a drastic switch in analyze routines and determination. At the conclusion of the working day, it’s all about math and inspiration. On the other hand, there are methods you can still strengthen your GPA by: 1. Requesting increased enable This is continuously a decent thought for those who experience all by yourself slipping within a class. As soon as you start to battle, ask for clarification this means you really don’t close up acquiring absolutely missing and don’t sense shy about executing it. It’s your instructors work to show the material including a portion of training will mean ensuring that the learners know. You may just need to get details spelled out a special way, and you would probably not be alone! 2. Never wait to slide to inquire for just a hand Quite a few pupils tend to be classified into two sorts: individuals who excel in math and sciences, and people who excel in crafting and languages. If you are a crafting and languages form of pupil gearing up for just a semester of chemistry, really do not wait around before the very first lab report will come back again which has a decreased quality on it to look for support. On establishing a program in an vicinity you usually wrestle in, have got a frank dialogue with the teacher expressing your issues and asking for ideas in methods of stay on best. Conceivably they may move along even more readings, workouts, tutor options or analyze groups that will help you continue to be afloat before you get started to sink. In addition to, they’ll respect your honesty and enthusiasm in hoping to perform well within their course. three. Reassessing your analyze behaviors Your condition is also that you procrastinate much too a whole lot or never in fact research the material plenty of to prepare for assessments. These awful patterns are tricky to alter, but it is very vital that you phase again and repair essential complications like this that will be holding you back right before they get out of hand. If you’re undecided what your concern is or a way to go about cracking it, utilize your advisor or support counselor-they’re there for additional than simply timetable designing! Advisors and counselors are skilled industry experts who would like to see you do well and they are an commonly forgotten about source in tutorial being successful. Shoot out an email or give their business office doorway a you can find out more knock and find out what type of solutions they might have up their sleeve to support you have your act alongside one another. 4. Challenging all by yourself more This might seem paradoxical – I might only advocate this if you are obtaining a exceedingly superb GPA in small amount courses. Your GPA will glimpse more desirable to high schools those that deliver the results more durable for it, therefore you needs to be proactive about pursuing a lot more tricky coursework. Regardless if your grades conclude up slightly decreased, relocating up a level reveals you were being ready to thrust on your own outside your ease and comfort zone for the more productive studying expertise. About the flip facet of the, if you are in a situation whereby a category is amazingly troublesome to suit your needs along with your grades may be unsalvageable, you should think about dropping it so you really do not end up with a failing grade on the transcript. If it’s currently your junior 12 months and you also really don’t have noticeably time left to help make enhancements, i suggest you focus further on standardized tests. Using a few months of focused finding out, you could potentially tremendously increase your scores and boost your odds of faculty admission. Professional Idea: The main issue for GPA may be to start off potent and finish up more powerful; together with the way averages job, it’s stressful to create critical adjustments afterwards. Earning a superb GPA is like operating a cross country race. It is pretty painful and you’ve got to take care of a strong tempo all over, but inside of the stop it is worthy of it due to the perception of accomplishment. GPA: Remaining Verdict A daily unweighted GPA is calculated on a scale of 0 to four.0. Your GPA may likely be weighted, which implies it goes up increased (quite often approximately a five.0 but some schools have an excellent bigger scale). This can complicate issues when it comes to to be in comparison with other pupils, but with the very long operate, it is continue to an precise measurement of your respective academic deliver the results. Weighted GPAs get course trouble under consideration aside from grades, to make sure that students in excessive degree courses get paid GPAs that mirror the problem from the courses they just take. What this means is a pupil earning within a inside a straightforward level course will likely have a lessen GPA than a college student earning an A in an upper amount class. College admissions officers will use your GPA to evaluate it doesn’t matter if you are prepared for school coursework and are undeniably engaged in understanding and ready to the large course load that arrives as well as university studies. Your GPA can assist you loads in faculty admissions if it is within the A spread, or previously mentioned a 3.five, but that often varies according to thedifficulty of your respective coursework, your course rank, and therefore the superior of one’s standardized check scores. If your GPA is very minimal (2.five or lesser), concentrate on strengthening your standardized examination scores and make an hard work to carry up your grades by asking for assist and fixing any lousy practices you have fallen into. Your GPA has become the most important facets of your college or university software, so if you really feel like details aren’t going perfectly within your classes, speak up! Also go over your situation with all your direction counselor or advisor. They could be capable to assist you change your system load to something a bit more manageable or sensible, and even get a hold of out if you’re able to repeat a system to boost the quality. Launch boosting your GPA now. You cannot hold out until your junior or senior yr to start stressing regarding your cumulative GPA. Each one course you’re taking during the course of the four yrs expended in substantial university receives averaged in, so your freshman and sophomore 12 months grades are merely as valuable. Those that bomb every last course inside of the to begin with yr or two, it’ll be impossible to graduate with an above average GPA. That currently being reported, reduced grades as part of your very first year or two will likely not necessarily exclude you from an elite university. If you are allowed to pull by yourself up from a boot straps and conduct terribly from there on out, your application will scan as the results tale fairly than a failure, although it is something that needs to be spelled out with your own assertion. Deliver the results tough in your own freshman and sophomore a long time to enhance your probability of admission into AP, IB, honors and accelerated courses-they’re your golden ticket to some higher GPA since they are more often than not granted a whole lot more bodyweight relating to the GPA scale. Truthfully, the GPA on your school application could perhaps only reflect the first 3 or 3 ? yrs of highschool anyway, as you are going to have got to apply earlier than your to start with semester grades of senior yr are calculated. Additionally, some universities will accept these superior courses as college credit rating, demonstrating that not only are you currently ready for college-level research, but have currently been having and succeeding in better level learning. The main element to remember about GPAs are they commonly are not some magical, mathematical equation drawn away from thin air. Your GPA is just a simplified numerical reflection belonging to the triumph you have (or have not) had during a presented period of time of time. If you study tough, dedicate your self, and require instruction severely, your GPA will replicate that and you won’t have a good deal to worry about. Ideal luck, and should the grades be ever in the favor. | <urn:uuid:13e7855a-46ca-4615-85f1-1daa5913adf5> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://kashidcottages.com/hunting-for-the-decent-and-helpful-gpa-calculator-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500080.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20230204012622-20230204042622-00508.warc.gz | en | 0.95979 | 5,704 | 2.5625 | 3 |
2.3 Analysing the results of questionnaires
I shall assume that the questionnaires were completed and submitted for analysis in paper form. Online questionnaires are discussed in section 4.1. Here is a summary of the key stages in the process of analysing the data with useful tips – more extensive discussion follows:
- Prepare a simple grid to collate the data provided in the questionnaires.
- Design a simple coding system – careful design of questions and the form that answers take can simplify this process considerably.
- It is relatively straightforward to code closed questions. For example, if answers are ranked according to a numerical scale, you will probably use the same scale as code.
- To evaluate open questions, review responses and try to categorise them into a sufficiently small set of broad categories, which may then be coded. (There is an example of this below.)
- Enter data on to the grid.
- Calculate the proportion of respondents answering for each category of each question.
- Many institutions calculate averages and standard deviations for ranked questions. Statistically, this is not necessarily a very sound approach (see the discussion on ‘evaluating data’ below).
- If your data allow you to explore relationships in the data – for example, between the perceived difficulties that students experience with the course and the degree programme to which they are attached – a simple Chi-squared test may be appropriate.
- For a review of this test and an example, see Munn and Drever (1999) and Burns (2000) – the page references are indexed.
- You may wish to pool responses to a number of related questions. In this case, answers must conform to a consistent numerical code, and it is often best simply to sum the scores over questions, rather than compute an average score.
Preparing a grid
You will have a large number of paper questionnaires. To make it easier to interpret and store the responses, it is best to transfer data on to a single grid, which should comprise of no more than two or three sheets depending on the number of questions and student respondents. A typical grid looks like this:
If the answers to a question are represented on the questionnaire as points on a scale from 1 to 5, usually you will enter these numbers directly into the grid. If the answers take a different form, you may wish to translate them into a numerical scale. For example, if students are asked to note their gender as male/female, you may ascribe a value of 1 to every male response and 0 to female responses – this will be helpful when it comes to computing summary statistics and necessary if you are interested in exploring correlations in the data. It will make it much easier to analyse the data if there is an entry for all questions. To do this, you will need to construct code to describe ‘missing data’, ‘don’t know’ answers or answers that do not follow instructions – for example, if some respondents select more than one category.
Coding open questions is not straightforward. You must first read through all of the comments made in response to the open questions and try to group them into meaningful categories. For example, if students are asked to ‘state what they least like about the course’, there are likely to be some very broad themes. A number may not find the subject matter interesting; others will have difficulties accessing reading material. It may be useful to have an ‘other’ category for those responses that you are unable to categorise meaningfully.
Often, it is sufficient and best simply to calculate the proportions of all respondents answering in each category. (An Excel spreadsheet is much quicker than using a calculator!) It is clear that having a category for all respondents who either don’t know or didn’t answer is very important, as it provides useful information on the strength of feeling over a particular question.
Questionnaire results are often used to compute mean scores for individual questions or groups of questions. For example, the questionnaire may ask students to rate their lecturer on a five-point scale, with 5 denoting excellent, 4 good, 3 average, 2 poor and 1 very poor. The mean score is then used as an index of the overall quality of a lecturer with high scores indicating good quality. This is not a particularly useful or legitimate approach as it assumes that you are working on an evenly spaced scale, so that, for example, ‘very poor’ is twice as bad as ‘poor’, and ‘excellent’ twice as good as ‘good’.
Often analysts add up scores over a number of related questions. For example, you may ask students ten questions related to a lecturer’s skills, all ranked from 1 to 5 with 5 indicating a positive response, and add up the scores to derive some index of the overall ability of the lecturer. Again, except in carefully designed questionnaires, this approach is inappropriate. It assumes that each question is relevant and of equal importance. Comparing scores across different lecturers and modules, this assumption is unlikely to hold. If you are interested in summative indices of quality, it may be best simply to ask the students to rate the lecturer themselves on a ranked scale. | <urn:uuid:62bcb3e9-b4f8-42de-a5e8-bf332c1251a6> | CC-MAIN-2014-52 | http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/handbook/questionnaires/23 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-52/segments/1418802772281.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20141217075252-00012-ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926484 | 1,077 | 2.75 | 3 |
Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia
Print version ISSN 1415-790X
MALTA, Deborah Carvalho et al. Sexual health of adolescents according to the National Survey of School Health. Rev. bras. epidemiol. [online]. 2011, vol.14, suppl.1, pp. 147-156. ISSN 1415-790X. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1415-790X2011000500015.
The objective of this study was to describe situations related to sexual health of adolescents, according to the National Survey of School Health (PeNSE). It is a cross-sectional study performed by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), in partnership with the Ministry of Health that involved 60,973 students and 1,453 public and private schools. Data analysis points out that 30.5% (95%CI 29.9-31.2) of the adolescents had already had sexual relations sometime in their lives, being more frequent for males (43.7%; 95%CI 42.7-44.7) than females (18.7%; 95%CI 18.0-19.4), especially those who go to public schools (33.1%; 95%CI 32.4-33.9), aged 15 years or older (47.3%; 95%CI 45.7-48.9) and 16 years (63.5%; 95%CI 61,5-65.4). The sexual initiation age was early and 40.1% (95%CI 38.8-41.4) reported having had only one partner in life. The use of condoms in the last sexual relation was high both for protective (75.9%; CI95% 74.8-76.9) and contraceptive methods (74.7%; 95%CI 73.6-75.7). It is necessary to emphasize actions for promoting sexual health towards adolescents in order to minimize vulnerabilities.
Keywords : sexuality; adolescent; schools; epidemiology, descriptive. | <urn:uuid:a7ce8298-9d64-4d80-9aa3-5877161a55ac> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1415-790X2011000500015&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416400379462.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20141119123259-00016-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908445 | 426 | 2.984375 | 3 |
What Cookware Works On InductionStainless Steel Cookware Manufacturer
Induction cookers have entered thousands of households and become an indispensable tool for many professional chefs and home kitchens. However, only when the cookware and induction cooker match each other can we get a pleasant cooking experience. This article will tell you what types of cookware can be used on induction cooktops and introduce more knowledge about induction cookware.
Working principle of induction cooker
Induction cooking takes advantage of an electromagnetic field generated by passing an alternating electric current through a copper coil wire placed in an induction hob. The produced magnetic field vacillates and induces an eddy electrical current moving in the cookware.
Instead of using an electric or gas-heated element, induction cooktops heat pots and pans directly. It boils water up to 50 percent faster than gas or electric, and maintains a consistent and precise temperature. The surface stays relatively cool so spills, splatters and occasional boil-overs don’t burn onto the cooktop, making clean-up quick and easy.
What kinds of cookware can be used on induction cooktop
Cookware made of the following types of materials cannot be used on induction cooktops. Please check the raw materials carefully when purchasing.
1.Non-magnetic stainless steel
2.Pot with stands
3.Heat resistant glass
What kinds of cookware can not be used on induction cooktop
1.Magnetic Stainless Steel
When purchasing, please pay attention to the label on the cookware. The label will clearly indicate its induction compatibility.
How stainless steel cookware works on induction
If stainless steel cookware is to be used on an induction cooktop, it must have a bottom that is compatible with induction.This bottom usually consists of an aluminum or copper core and is wrapped in stainless steel. Because they are better conductors than stainless steel.
An oscillating magnetic field is created when the copper coil and electric current join forces in the cooking area. The electric coupling with the magnetic field then permeates the cookware’s bottom to generate heat, which is then used to cook the food.
Another benefit of adding an electromagnetic induction-compatible bottom sheet to the bottom of the pot is that it only heats the bottom and keeps the pot body cool, effectively preventing burns.
How to test for induction compatibility
The simplest and most effective method is to use magnets for detection.With a regular magnet, if it sticks to the bottom of pots and pans, then the cookware is induction compatible. If it doesn’t stick to the bottom, it’s not electromagnetic compatible.
If you don’t have a magnet lying around, we have another simple and effective way to test it.
Place your cookware on the induction cooker (make sure the size of the cookware matches the induction area of the induction cooker), add an appropriate amount of water, turn on the induction cooker, wait for a while, if the water boils, it proves that the cookware is compatible with induction .
Both of the methods listed above can quickly test whether your cookware is induction-compatible. But both methods have a prerequisite, that is, the cookware must be flat-bottomed. Even though the wok is compatible with induction, it cannot be used on an induction cooker.
How much does stainless steel induction cookware cost
Induction cookware tends to range from $50 up to $300. The difference in price results in a difference in performance. In order to avoid wasting money, I suggest that before purchasing a complete set of cookware, you can purchase a single pot or frying pan of the same brand and series to test its performance.Generally speaking, more expensive products will have better performance and last longer. In the long run, they are cheaper.
Caring for your induction cookware
In order to maximize the service life of induction cookware, I recommend the following measures:
1.Avoid overheating.Excessive heat can discolor stainless steel. Start at a lower temperature and gradually increase the temperature.
2.Do not use metal kitchen utensils.Metal kitchen utensils will scratch off the non-stick coating and damage the surface of the cookware.As an alternative, use silicone or wooden kitchenware.
3.Avoid cooling too quickly.Do not put freshly heated pots and pans into cold water immediately. Because this will cause deformation. The correct way is to let it sit for a while before putting it in cold water.
4.The induction area of the induction cooker should match the size of the cookware.Matching the sizes will distribute heat evenly and transfer it faster.
5.Hand wash.Although many cookware brands claim that their products are dishwasher safe, hand washing is still essential.Please remember to use warm soapy water and a soft cloth or sponge when hand washing.
6.Avoid wear and tear.Do not use steel wool or other tools that can easily scratch the surface of the cookware to clean it.
7.Dry in time.After washing, wipe away any remaining water stains on the pots and pans in time. Accumulating too much water stains will affect the use of cookware and human health.
8.Store on request.If the cookware set you purchased comes with a manual, please follow the instructions in the manual and store it properly. If not, keep them in a cool, dry place.
If you want to find cost-effective induction-compatible cookware manufacturers, Changwen is your best choice. Changwen is located in Xinhui District, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, one of China’s stainless steel product production bases. It has more than 20 years of production experience and provides OEM/ODM services. You can visit https://www.kitchenwarecw.com/about-us/ to learn more. | <urn:uuid:e4884409-60f2-41ea-8f0a-e2b8131d0fb1> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://www.kitchenwarecw.com/what-cookware-works-on-induction/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100551.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20231205140836-20231205170836-00724.warc.gz | en | 0.896826 | 1,208 | 2.578125 | 3 |
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Many students and teachers headed back to school recently, after enjoying the time off during their summer break. But some youngsters and educators spent their summer brushing up on career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related fields.
Education Relations focals with The Boeing Company look for opportunities to work with students and teachers to get them more informed and interested in STEM activities, and also ensure a healthy future work force for its operations.
The Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri had a chance to do just that when Boeing engineers gave them a fun-filled introduction to robots and robotics. Many students jumped at the chance to operate the robots, and others agreed robotic engineering sounded like a fascinating career choice.
Teachers were also given the opportunity to find out more about STEM-related career choices that exist for students, when they attended a conference at the St. Louis site hosted by Boeing.
“I will certainly have plenty of material to take back with me into the classroom!” one teacher commented at the end of the session. | <urn:uuid:2cf063c7-2987-4989-a85c-fe9621f6d88b> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://www.boeing.com/Features/2012/09/bds_girlscouts_09_10_12.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416931007625.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20141125155647-00144-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965256 | 219 | 2.578125 | 3 |
New Sleep Studies in the Military
New sleep studies are finding relationships between sleep disorders and military service. In particular, two new sleep articles based on the same research have focused on sleep disorders among active duty personnel. “Sleep Disorders and Associated Medical Comorbidities in Active Duty Military Personnel,” and “Wounded In Action: What the Sleep Community can Learn from Sleep Disorders of US Military Service Members,” both published in the journal SLEEP, have implications for anyone considering military service and anyone currently enlisted – as well as for their loved ones.
Sleep Disorders and Sleep Duration
Vincent Mysliwiec, MD, is principle investigator on the study and chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Tacoma, Washington’s Madigan Army Medical Center. He told Medical News Today, “The high prevalence of short sleep duration in military personnel with sleep disorders was surprising,” despite the well-known aspect of sleep deprivation as “part of military culture.” Said Mysliwiec, The potential risk of increased accidents as well as long-term clinical consequences … is unknown” – but potentially dangerous. This is the first sleep study to describe primary sleep disorders – “and associated comorbidities” – using standard scientific/medical diagnostic criteria among military personnel.
Study results found that the majority of active military service members studied had a “clinically relevant sleep disorder.” 85.1 percent of participants had a disorder – 51.2 percent were found to have obstructive sleep apnea and 24.7 percent had insomnia, among others. 41.8 percent of the population studied slept less than five hours per night! The mean self-reported time participants slept was 5.74 hours each night, so short sleep duration is a widespread problem among active service members.
The population was pulled from a group (a “cohort”) of military service members who had been referred to medical treatment for sleep problems, so these percentages are probably more elevated than they would be among a random sample of service members. Still, the high prevalence of a couple sleep disorders (sleep apnea and insomnia) among the research population is cause for further study.
More than half the study participants also presented with another major medical problem, most commonly depression, at 22.6 percent, anxiety at 16.8 percent, post-traumatic stress disorder at 13.2 percent, and traumatic brain injury (mild) at 12.8 percent. Almost a quarter of the population was taking pain medications! The links between sleep and health are well-supported with sleep research; understanding how lack of sleep exacerbates other problems with a return to civilian life may help troubled soldiers and their families navigate the transition with greater ease. | <urn:uuid:34cbf1ed-52c1-4226-8987-1f44487a254c> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | http://www.latexmattress.org/blog/military-personnel-sleep-disorder/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218189462.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212949-00613-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957244 | 569 | 2.515625 | 3 |
WASHINGTON — The Wall Street meltdown of 2008 and the ensuing recession did little to help make high school seniors financially savvy and less than half of them have a solid understanding of economics, according to an Education Department report released Tuesday.
In real terms, that might mean that students might have difficulty understanding the impact of a poor credit rating, the relationship between consumer spending and higher unemployment or how inflation can eat away at pay raises.
Students’ scores of economic literacy changed little between 2006 and 2012, suggesting that the national discussion about the millions of jobs that were lost and homes that were foreclosed didn’t translate to higher academic achievement. During that period, several states added an economics course to high school offerings and some started requiring it to earn a diploma.
“It is astonishing that high school seniors do not know more about how economics affects their wallets, their country and the world at a pivotal time in their lives, whether they choose to enter the workforce or pursue higher education,” said David Driscoll, chair of the National Assessment Governing Board, which runs the federal tests. “We need to do more to educate all students in economics so they can make informed decisions, whether they are negotiating a car loan, voting or reading financial news.”
The findings show that more than half of students leave high school without an economic knowledge that federal officials consider proficient. In 2012, 39 percent of students had a basic understanding of economics while 18 were considered below basic.
“This is exactly what I would have expected,” said Annamaria Lusardi, a distinguished scholar at George Washington University who on Wednesday testified to a Senate subcommittee about students’ economic skills.
“Financial literacy is like every topic; they don’t learn by osmosis. Just because you read The Wall Street Journal, you’re not going to learn about interest compounding,” Lusardi said, noting headlines were no substitute for instruction.
About 10,900 high school seniors at 480 public and private schools took the economics test as part of the 2012 National Assessment of Educational Progress, more commonly called “the nation’s report card.”
Overall achievement on the tests was flat since 2006, when the economic questions were first asked. For all students, the average performance shifted from 150 to 152 on a 300-point scale.
“The overall scores for the two assessments were not significantly different,” said Jack Buckley, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Education Department’s research arm.
But among Hispanic students, performance rose, narrowing the gap between their scores and those of their white classmates.
Buckley suggested Hispanic students’ uptick might be due to higher reading skills that are documented in other part of the national exams.
Students from private schools performed better than those at public schools, while males scored higher than females.
Since the 2008 economic crisis, education officials have added economic instruction to their classrooms. In 2004, only 16 states required economics to be offered to high school students. That number rose to 25 in 2011, according to the Council for Economic Education’s survey of states.
And in 2004, only 14 states required students to take such a class. That number jumped to 22 in 2011.
During the 2011-12 academic year, all 50 states and the District of Columbia included some form of economics in their curriculum between kindergarten through high school graduation, the same survey from the professional organization found.
Just because the requirement is on paper doesn’t mean it’s reaching the classrooms, cautioned Nan Morrison, president and CEO of the Council for Economic Education.
“It’s not just being taught widely enough and deeply enough,” she said.
Morrison said much of the education that followed the 2008 meltdown focused on helping students calculate interest payments and other real-world examples but didn’t address the broader theories that move economies.
“With the financial crisis, people have become very focused on mechanics. But it’s a bigger story than that about making decisions,” she said. “The pendulum swung toward helping people fix a few specific things but not the big picture.”
That’s been a major focus of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
“Financial education supports not only individual well-being, but also the economic health of our nation,” Bernanke told a town hall-style meeting with teachers in 2012. “As the recent financial crisis illustrates, consumers who can make informed decisions about financial products and services not only serve their own best interests, but, collectively, they also help promote broader economic stability.”
And earlier this month, he told an audience in Dayton, Ohio: “Among the lessons of the recent financial crisis is the need for virtually everyone — both young and old — to acquire a basic knowledge of finance and economics. Such knowledge is necessary for anyone who will be faced with managing a household budget, making financial investments, finding reliable information about buying a car or house and preparing financially for retirement and other life goals.” | <urn:uuid:a49f61f5-0e35-40e8-be7b-6b0257fbdfd1> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://www.timesherald.com/article/20130424/NEWS04/130429764&template=printart | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463607731.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20170524020456-20170524040456-00616.warc.gz | en | 0.962545 | 1,053 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Sodium Peroxide, also known as Disodium Peroxide, Solozone, Sodium Super Oxide, Disodium Dioxide, and Natrium Peroxydatum, has the chemical formula Na2O2. It appears as white to yellowish-white granular powder with no odor and salty taste. It can readily absorb moisture and Carbon Dioxide from air and turn yellow. It is freely soluble in Water at ambient conditions forming Hydrogen Peroxide and Sodium Hydroxide. On a lab scale, it is prepared by heating Sodium metal in an Aluminum vessel with a current of purified air. Lab grade chemicals possess reasonable purity but do not comply with any official standard for quality or purity like the ACS Grade, the USP Grade, or the FCC Grade. The Lab Grade is also known as Laboratory Reagent (LR) and Chemically Pure (CP). Lab Alley’s Sodium Peroxide, Lab Grade is available for sale online at laballey.com. It is highly recommended for educational institutes and research labs.
Uses Of Sodium Peroxide
- Sodium Peroxide For Cleaning
- Sodium Peroxide Is Used As An Oxidizing Agent And Bleaching Agent
- Sodium Peroxide is used for personal care products, including cosmetics, shampoos, perfumes, soaps, lotions, toothpastes, etc.
- Sodium Peroxide is used as an oxygen source by reacting with carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and sodium carbonate.
- Sodium Hydroxide is an antibacterial agent in Mr. Clean.
- Sodium Peroxide is used for bleaching animal and vegetable fibers, feathers, bones, ivory, wood, wax, sponges, coral; rendering air charged with carbon dioxide respirable as in torpedo boats, submarines, diving bells, etc; purifying air in sick rooms; dyeing and printing textiles; chemical analysis; general oxidizing agent.
- Sodium Peroxide is a source of sodium that is suitable for optic, glass and ceramic applications.
- Sodium Peroxide Formula: Na2O2
- Sodium Peroxide Molar Mass: 77.98 g/mol
- Sodium Peroxide Melting point: 1,247°F (675°C)
- Sodium Peroxide Boiling point: 1,215°F (657°C)
- Sodium Peroxide Density: 2.8 g/cm³
- Sodium Peroxide ChemSpider ID: 14119
- Other Names For Sodium Peroxide: Disodium dioxide, Flocool, Solozone, Disodium peroxide
- Sodium Peroxide PubChem CID: 14803
Sodium peroxide is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2O2. This yellowish solid is the product of sodium ignited in excess oxygen. It is a strong base. This metal peroxide exists in several hydrates and peroxyhydrates including Na2O2·2H2O2·4H2O, Na2O2·2H2O, Na2O2·2H2O2, and Na2O2·8H2O. The octahydrate, which is simple to prepare, is white, in contrast to the anhydrous material.
Sodium peroxide hydrolyzes to give sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide according to the reaction
Na2O2 + 2 H2O → 2 NaOH + H2O2
Sodium peroxide was used to bleach wood pulp for the production of paper and textiles. Presently it is mainly used for specialized laboratory operations, e.g., the extraction of minerals from various ores. Sodium peroxide may go by the commercial names of Solozone and Flocool. In chemistry preparations, sodium peroxide is used as an oxidizing agent. It is also used as an oxygen source by reacting it with carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and sodium carbonate:
2 Na2O2 + 2 CO2 → 2 Na2CO3 + O2
It is thus particularly useful in scuba gear, submarines, etc. Lithium peroxide has similar uses. Read more here.
What happens when sodium peroxide reacts with water?
"When sodium peroxide dissolves in water, it is hydrolyzed and forms sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide." ... When sodium peroxide dissolves in water, it is hydrolyzed and forms sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide. Read more here.
- Strong oxidizing agent
- Catalyst in polymerization
- Bleaching animal/vegetable fibers
- Purification of air
- Dyeing industry
Please contact us to request a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) and Certificate of Analysis (COA) for Sodium Peroxide. Hazmat fee required. | <urn:uuid:3ff811b8-5b88-4ad4-93a8-f1b7317ad147> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://www.laballey.com/products/sodium-peroxide-lab-grade | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446710462.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20221128002256-20221128032256-00804.warc.gz | en | 0.884156 | 1,005 | 3.21875 | 3 |
The best ways to protect your peach trees from frost include covering them, mulching around their base, or giving them warmth from strings of lights. Protecting peach trees from frost is vital to the health of your trees. Peach trees can experience damage relatively quickly if temperatures plummet, although they will typically bounce back from an occasional brush with frigid weather.
Table of Contents
3 Ways to Protect Peach Trees from Frost
Peach trees are not overly difficult to grow, but like most fruit trees, they do not do well in extremely cold temperatures. Follow the three tips outlined below to protect your peaches from an unexpected visit by Jack Frost.
Protect Your Peaches With Row Covers
One of the most commonly used systems to protect peaches from frost is covering them with blankets or row covers. This method works best for trees that are small enough to be accommodated by a simple frame. Full-grown peach trees can be difficult to protect with these types of coverings, unless you have the skills and materials to build a very large framework to which to attach the blankets.
- Protect young peach trees with blankets or row covers.
- Don’t allow the covers to touch the trees.
- This method protects the cambium of the tree and prevents long-term damage.
For younger trees, row covers are a great frost shield. Build a simple frame, making sure to leave adequate space so that the row covers do not touch the trees. If they do, it can lead to the proliferation of mildew or mold. Proper covers will protect the cambium, which is a thin layer of bark located under the rough, outer bark.
Mulch the Ground at the Base of Your Trees
An often overlooked, but very effective way to protect your peach trees from frost is to apply a layer of mulch to the base of the trunk. Then, wrap the trunk with a tree guard. Don’t use rock mulch, though. Shredded bark or wood chip mulch are the best options for keeping the ground insulated.
- Apply a 4–6 inch deep (10–15 cm) layer of mulch around the base of the tree trunk.
- Wrap the trunk with this tree guard.
- Opt for wood chip or shredded bark mulch, rather than rock mulch.
- Mulch provides insulation for the trees’ roots.
Make the mulch layer several inches thicker than you make your mulch layers during the growing season. This technique is very effective because the mulch provides insulation for the roots of the trees. Peach trees of any age will benefit from this strategy.
Install Warming Lights
If your peach trees are being grown in proximity to a power source, you can install warming lights to prevent frost damage. Simply string up rows of botanical warming lights or even everyday holiday lights to create warmth for your peach trees. The best time to use such lights is after the sun sets when the biggest danger of frost is present.
- String up special warming lights or everyday holiday lights to provide warmth for your peach trees.
- Do not allow the lights to touch the trees, but keep them 18 inches (45 cm) away.
Never allow the lights to touch your trees. Instead, keep a distance of 18 inches (45 cm) between the trees and the bulbs. This is because this method is not meant to heat the trees, but merely to prevent frost damage. This approach can be used for trees of any age as long as you have a nearby power source.
Does Frost Hurt Peach Trees?
Although peach trees have some frost tolerance, frost can hurt them. In most cases, peach trees bounce back quickly from light frost damage.
- Peach trees have some frost tolerance.
- If peach trees are overexposed to frost, their health will be compromised.
- Peach trees will experience stunted growth if exposed to freezing temperatures.
If your peach trees are subjected to frost on multiple occasions, it will eventually compromise their health and the quality of your peach harvest. Temperatures that are consistently well below freezing will stunt the growth of your peach trees.
When Should You Protect Peach Trees from Frost?
Generally speaking, anytime the temperature is expected to drop below 32℉ (0℃), it is time to protect your peach trees from frost. More specifically, peach flower buds that have recently started to swell can often withstand temperatures as low as 20℉ (-7℃).
- Protect your peach trees from frost any time the temperature drops below 32℉ (0℃).
- Blossoms that have opened are far more susceptible to damage than buds that have only recently begun to swell.
Peach blossoms that are already open usually show signs of damage when temperatures drop to 26℉ (-3℃). If peach blossoms have already dropped off, immature peaches will die if temperatures reach 28℉ (-2℃) or lower.
How to Cover Peach Trees from Frost
Protecting peach trees from frost is essential. Frost can damage both young trees and older ones. Most stone fruit trees are not immune to frost damage, but preventative methods can stop such damage in most cases.
- Peach trees can experience frost damage relatively quickly.
- Cover young peach trees with row covers on a frame to prevent frost damage.
- Mulching around the base of the peach tree can protect it from frost damage.
- Wrap peach tree trunks with insulating material to protect your trees.
- Hang strings of lights in your peach trees to add warmth and ward off frost.
Although late frosts can pose a threat to peach trees, most peach varieties can withstand temperatures below freezing as long as the freeze is not deep and does not continue for days. | <urn:uuid:be1fba20-d093-4513-a644-c6f69de0239a> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://peppershomeandgarden.com/protect-peach-trees-frost/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882572220.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20220816030218-20220816060218-00109.warc.gz | en | 0.911104 | 1,188 | 2.90625 | 3 |
A major trend in the fitness industry globally is the idea of High Intensity Interval Training, which is referred to as HIIT.
HIIT methods have been an essential part of athletic training programs since the early 19th century due to how closely connected it is linked with specific sports training intensities.
HIIT training programs can be easily modified to suit people of all fitness levels and can be performed in just about all exercise modalities, including but not limited to:
- Cross training
- Body weight and free weight exercises
HIIT is continuing to grow in its popularity, and for good reason. It seems simple, but science is proving that incorporating a couple of HIIT sessions into your regular training routine can have major health benefits.
WHAT IS HIIT?
HIIT is a training technique, which involves intense bursts of high intensity exercise followed by varied periods of low intensity or complete rest.
When developing HIIT programs, the relationship of both the work and recovery interval is extremely important.
You must consider the duration, intensity and frequency of both the work and recovery intervals.
The intensity during the work period should be greater than 80% of estimated max heart rate (the higher the better – it should feel like you are exercising “hard” to “very hard”). Your maximum heart rate can be roughly estimate by subtracting your age from 220. For example if you are 35, your maximum heart rate is around 185 (220 minus 35).
The intensity of the recovery period should be less than 50% of your estimated max heart (rest or active recovery – prepares you for next working interval).
SESSION DURATION AND INTERVAL TIMING
The length of HIIT programs can range from 30 min all the way down to 4 min (commonly known as Tabata Training). You must consider the ratio of work to rest. Remember the key is to work as hard as possible during working phase and recover as best as possible before the next working set. If you do not allow yourself to recover and decide to take shorter rests periods you could be limiting the effectiveness of this training method (EPOC – explained in detail below).
A few variations can include work : rest ratios of 1:3, 1:2, 1:1.
It all depends on how long and how intense the session is.
RECOVERY IS VITAL
While HIIT workouts may be very short, they are more exhaustive then steady state exercise. Therefore, a longer recovery period is often needed before starting your next session. If you are fatigued and not fully recovered you will find yourself not working as hard in the session.
Research recommends two HIIT sessions a week, making sure you spread both workouts throughout the week. If you are a complete beginner consider starting with one session per week and when you feel ready, add a second HIIT session for a greater challenge and faster results.
Each year HIIT is becoming an increasingly recognised and well liked method of training. If HIIT training is incorporated into a well-balanced program it can optimise the development of numerous health and fitness goals.
MAJOR BENEFITS OF HIIT
Here is a summary of some major benefits of what one HIIT session could do for you:
- Burn more calories in least amount of time – 10 min HIIT vs 45 min steady state walk. Which would you prefer? (Get more results and train for less amount of time)
- Quick and convenient – super efficient HIIT session can be ideal for a busy schedule (fit more in your day)
- Increased metabolism for short period of time – burn more calories in less time (refer to EPOC effect in next paragraph)
- Both aerobic and anaerobic fitness gains
- Increased cardiovascular health
- Increased insulin sensitivity – helps exercising muscles use glucose for fuel to make energy (using glucose for fuel during exercise is key to training harder and burning more fat at rest – again refer to EPOC)
- Lower cholesterol
- Lower abdominal fat and weight loss
EPOC – Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption
A HIIT workout (training “very hard”) increases the body’s need for oxygen during the working phase. This then causes your body to ask for more oxygen during recovery.
If you can increase the amount of oxygen during and after a workout, you can increase the amount of net calories burned.
This is what is called the EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) effect and is the main reason why intense exercise in short bursts will help burn more calories (especially fat) then your regular steady state exercises.
Due to the vigorous nature of HIIT workouts, studies show that over a 2 hour period after exercise you can be burning 6-15% more calories above your initial workout energy expenditure.
The EPOC effect can also speed up your metabolic rate for up to 48 hours after a HIIT session. How long after the workout all depends on how hard you work with each working period.
High Intensity Interval training alsmost sounds too simple to be true, however the large body of scientific evidence supports the claims that HIIT training really is one of the most effective ways to get better fitness results in less time.
- Bersheim E. and Bahr R. Effect of exercise intensity, duration and mode on post-exercise oxygen consumption. Sports Medicine, 2003.
- LaForgia J., Withers R. and Gore C. Effects of exercise intensity and duration on the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. Journal of Sports Sciences, 2006. | <urn:uuid:99d78a76-ba98-4a05-9b0c-d0c38395b1de> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | https://www.nudenutrients.com.au/understanding-hiit-and-why-you-should-be-using-it/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247490225.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20190219142524-20190219164524-00327.warc.gz | en | 0.939903 | 1,148 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Swaziland is a kingdom in southern Africa (17,364 sq. km.; 6,704 sq.mi.; population in 1982, 600,000; in 2005, 1,173,900). The first Mennonite Central Committee and Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities (Mennonite Church) personnel arrived in Swaziland in 1971 to begin a program which is registered as "The Mennonite Board of Swaziland." The program began with three teachers in the Teachers Abroad Program. By 1976, there were 26 people working in vocational training, health, agriculture, handicapped concerns, Bible education, and church leadership training (mainly with the African Independent Churches). In 1985 the program consisted of 17 people. There has always been a significant emphasis on working in cooperation with local churches and other established institutions. Due to Swaziland's geographic location, South African and Mozambican refugees have frequently been a major focus of the Swaziland Mennonite program.
Cite This Article
Nussbaum, Gloria. "Swaziland." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989. Web. 18 Nov 2017. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Swaziland&oldid=93667.
Nussbaum, Gloria. (1989). Swaziland. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 November 2017, from http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Swaziland&oldid=93667.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 868. All rights reserved.
©1996-2017 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:be86faf0-4215-4eec-89a3-4ea4b78b101c> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | http://www.gameo.org/index.php?title=Swaziland | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934804610.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20171118040756-20171118060756-00555.warc.gz | en | 0.86939 | 371 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The term "nursery rhyme" refers to a traditional song or poem for children, such as "Ring around the Rosie" or 'Remember Remember'. "Nursery rhyme" is a British phrase, but its equivalents, such as "Mother Goose Rhymes," are found in many cultures.
Usage of the term "nursery rhyme" dates back to 18th century England, but traditional poems and rhymes for children are staples of many cultures. The oldest childrens' songs of which historians have records are lullabies, songs sung to children to help them sleep. Lullabies are found in every human culture, though they do not always feature words and are more akin to melodies put to simple syllables. The melodies of lullabies were eventually put to more complex rhyme schemes and written down, and thus the nursery rhyme was born.
Nursery rhymes, especially those of 18th- and 19th-century Britain, are infamous for their dark subject material, made more frightening by their innocent-sounding melodies. "Remember, Remember" is a rhyme about the attempted assassination of King James I at the hands of pro-Catholic terrorists, and it is taught to British children to this day.
Other examples of common nursery rhymes include "Baa, Baa Black Sheep," "Little Miss Muffet" and "Three Blind Mice." | <urn:uuid:dee11df6-c401-4cdf-88c4-4acf12e7fd9e> | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | https://www.reference.com/art-literature/examples-old-time-nursery-rhymes-e3eb87885665c16a | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570986718918.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20191020183709-20191020211209-00365.warc.gz | en | 0.97829 | 284 | 3.40625 | 3 |
To conclude the section we’ll bring here a short guide to learning mussar:
- Set yourself predetermined times for study, so that you won’t be disturbed with the distractions of the day. Best is to set aside a time adjacent to one of the tefillos, such as before or immediately after Shacharis. The length is in proportion to one’s comprehension and ability. Ideally he should learn for a half hour. Study alone, without a chavrusah.
- Start the session with a short review of the previous day with respect to his behavior in middos and avodah.
- One ought learn a single text, or at least a single section with regularity, not to jump from text to text.
- After a major failing in middos and there is a great need for repairing it — learn on that day a saying of Chaza”l or a paragraph from a book relevant to fixing that thing.
- Start the study with reading a sentence or one paragraph with great depth and exactitude, without any tune or feeling but in the way one works to understand rishonim or acharonim. And remember: there does not exist any poems in mussar books that don’t require detailed study!
- The essential mussar books, that which is called “studying mussar” are: Chovos haLvavos, Igeres haRamba”n, Sha’arei Teshuvah, Orchos Tzadiqim,Tomer Devorah, Mesilas Yesharim, and Or Yisra’el.
Youths, up to the age of 16, who have no purpose for the books listed above, could learn Tana deVei Eliyahu, Mishlei with Rabbeinu Yonah’s commentary, Tr. Avos with Rabbeinu Yonah’s or the pious Ya’ave”tz’s commentary; or of the acharonim, Seifer Shemiras haLashon of the Chafeitz Chaim, or Michtav mei’Eliyahu section one by R’ EE Dessler.
- After studying the sentence or paragraph in depth, repeat it specifically out loud and with a melody, constantly striving to seek more elaboration in understanding the subject.
- Every time you feel a new purpose or effect in reviewing the sentence or paragraph — continue with the review, even if it extends over the course of many weeks.
- During the review and deepening of understanding try to think about yourself and your stance in the subject being learned.
- If you can, try to find some practical conclusion from what was learned, that would strive for some change or small strengthening in your behavior. However, “If you grasp for too much — you won’t grasp at all. If you grasp a small amount — you will be able to grasp it!”
- In our mussar study, there is no attempt to mastering breadth of knowledge. — The books of the gedolim of the generations that deal with mussar and the laws of the fundamentals of the Torah require learning, but not in this format of mussar study.
- The texts which every talmid chakham needs to know are: The Kuzari, the Ramba”m’s Shemonah Peraqim; and from the books of the acharonim:Derekh Hashem and Da’as uSvunos by the Ramcha”l, and Nefesh haChaim by Rav Chaim Vilozhiner. From amongst the books that reached print from the achronim who were ba’alei mussar — each person should choose for himself according to his purpose and understanding.
With this we reach the conclusion of the section on mussar study, with G-d’s help. | <urn:uuid:eabb6792-2f2e-4190-9934-5f95ab01c80e> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://www.aishdas.org/mussar/aleishur/mussar-study-guide/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243990584.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20210513080742-20210513110742-00460.warc.gz | en | 0.92581 | 836 | 2.78125 | 3 |
The Magic of Kindness
An inspired writer declared: “That which makes a man desirable is his kindness” (Prov. 19:22). A non-inspired writer, the celebrated William Shakespeare, mused: “Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love.”
While “kindness” may be disdained by the brutal and go unappreciated by the insensitive, it is applauded in any cultured society. The value of the “milk of human kindness” cannot be overstated.
The history of the word “kindness” (Grk. – chrestotes) is interesting. Originally, it had to do with that which is “useful” or “effective,” referring to either persons or things. In the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) it was employed of “precious” stones (Ezek. 27:22), or “fine” gold (Dan. 2:32). But the word could also have a sense of the ethical, encompassing such traits as honesty, friendliness, lovingness, goodness, generosity, compassion, benevolence, etc.
It is the opposite of brutal, harsh, hurtful, uncaring, rude, and such like. The word is more difficult to succinctly define than it is to recognize.
There is the story of the mother who sought to chastise her quarreling children. She admonished them to be “kind” to one another. When her little girl inquired what “kind” meant, the mother carefully explained the term.
Shockingly, the child then asked: “Mom, do we know anyone like that?”
The Motivation to Kindness
In a world that is more prone to the tooth-and-claw philosophy of Darwin, than it is to the rule of kindness, one is bound to ask: How is one to survive in a ruthless society wherein kindness is becoming such a rare commodity? Is there value in kindness? If so, how do we learn this virtue?
It is an indisputable fact that every good trait of which man is capable, ultimately, is motivated by that which is found in the Creator — in whose image he has been fashioned (Gen. 1:26-27). John writes:
“We love, because he first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19). So, similarly, Jesus declared: “But love your enemies, and do them good, and lend, never despairing; and your reward shall be great, and you shall be sons of the Most High: for _he is kind toward the unthankful and evil”_ (Lk. 6:35).
How tragic it is that so many, even in the church, have never learned this truth. Rather, they contend that one’s enemies are worthy of destruction. If we would emulate our God, we will cultivate kindness.
In the antique religion of paganism, only rarely is the term “kind” used of the gods. The heathen disdained the term and “thought it to be incompatible with the majesty of deity” (Weiss, 1320).
By way of contrast, however, the God of the Bible is supremely kind.
The Psalmist wrote: “Praise ye Jehovah. Oh give thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; For his lovingkindness endures forever” (Ps. 106:1).
Paul says that the gift of Christ for human salvation was an expression of divine “kindness” (Tit. 3:4; Eph. 2:7), and it is this “kindness” (chreston — “goodness” KJV/ASV) that leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4).
In Romans 11:22, Paul employs the noun crestotes three times (rendered “goodness” in the common versions). God’s goodness and kindness is set in contrast to his “severity.” The latter is derived from a word meaning “to cut off.” In the papyri it is used of exacting the full provisions of law — the law untampered (Moulton, 71).
But note that whereas the Roman Christians were urged to consider the goodness or kindness (chrestotes) of God, they were similarly admonished to “continue” in that kindness (v. 22), which is the equivalent of continuing in “the faith” (cf. Acts 14:22). There is human responsibility there; those who neglect the Creator’s kindness, ultimately will suffer his wrath. Now is the time for accepting Heaven’s kindness; the day will come when only “judgment” remains.
Since the varying qualities of deity are wonderfully apparent in Jesus, it should be no surprise that the milk of kindness was evidenced in the Son of God. In that great invitation offered to the cities of Galilee, and in spite of their rejection of his miraculous works (cf. Mt. 11:20ff), Christ bade the citizens of his country to:
“Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy (chrestos) and my burden is light” (vv. 28-30).
One writer suggests that this could indicate a “well-conditioned yoke, one that is not rough and does not hurt or chafe” (Spicq, 511). Another notes:
bq. “Just as wisdom does not force upon a person the heavy yoke of the conqueror, but rather invites him into an intimate bond which is actually a form of joy and adornment, so also does Jesus” (Balz, 474).
In addition to his teaching, the Son of God also exemplified kindness in his demeanor toward others. His treatment of the woman who had been apprehended in the very act of adultery exuded the spirit of gentleness and compassion (cf. Jn. 8:1ff), though the Savior did not condone her evil in any way.
Or consider how Jesus dealt with Judas when the traitor approached him in the garden of Gethsemane, assaulting him with a treacherous kiss. The Lord gently said: “Friend, do that for which you have come” (Mt. 26:50). Kind to the very end.
New Testament Admonitions
The New Testament documents have a good deal to say about the necessity of kindness. Paul observes that those who possess love (agape) are kind (1 Cor. 13:4); indeed, kindness is one of those qualities that compose the “fruit” of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22) — without which one does not belong to the Lord (Rom. 8:9). It was a marvelous trait that was generously demonstrated by the Lord’s apostles (2 Cor. 6:6).
It is one thing to speak of kindness in the abstract, it is quite another to make specific applications. But this is what we must do. We must get down to “where we live.”
Let us, therefore, look at several areas in which a greater measure of kindness doubtless is needed.
Kindness to strangers
The Christian must look for opportunities to show kindness to others in society at large. That next-door neighbor, the waitress in the restaurant, the companion on the plane, etc. It appears that so many these days are “cocked,” ready to “take on” someone at the drop of a hat.
A man was checking out at the grocery store. As he picked up his sack to depart, the smiling young lady who was clerking, said: “Have a nice day, sir.” With a glare, he shot back: “Young woman, nobody tells me what to do!” The old-timers used to speak of those who act as if they were weaned on a dill pickle!
The early saints earned the reputation of being so very kind to their contemporaries. The Roman ruler Julian, who reigned a brief period in the mid-fourth century A.D. and who despised Christianity, nonetheless unwittingly paid a glowing compliment to the primitive saints when he wrote:
“As children are coaxed with cake, so have these Christians enticed the poor to join them by kindness. Strangers they have secured by hospitality. By affecting brotherly love, great moral purity, and honoring their dead, they have won the multitude” (Abbott, 340).
Kindness in the home
There must be a greater exhibition of kindness in the home. Sometimes husbands and wives are so brutal to one another. Words can cut deeply, and there are those who surgically use the tongue as a deadly instrument, wounding the soul.
There are parents who talk to and treat their children no better than a common street dog. Most everyone is aware that child-abuse is virtually epidemic in its scope. Even now, there is the growing maltreatment of aged parents by cruel and ungrateful offspring.
In the concluding chapter of the book of Proverbs, there is the recorded testimony of king Lemuel, as taught to him by his dear mother, regarding the woman who is to be deemed “worthy” (31:10 ASV). The Hebrew term hayil in this context signifies capable, efficient, or quality of character (Wakely, 118). Such a remarkable woman is valued far above rubies.
Note the adulation she enjoys from her family. Her husband trusts in her, because she does him good and not evil (vv. 11-12). He praises this wonderful wife, and their children join in the chorus; they rise up and call her blessed (vv. 28-29). One of the key elements to the domain of domestic bliss surely has to be this: “the law of kindness is on her tongue” (v. 26b).
Is there any doubt about the fact that if more homes were saturated with the benevolence of kindness, there would be far fewer divorces, less juvenile delinquency, and a much greater degree of happiness?
Kindness in the church
There needs to be a larger measure of kindness in the church. Some of the early congregations apparently had their problems mastering this virtue. Paul dropped a load on the Ephesians when he wrote:
“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:31-32).
It is interesting that the verb in this passage linked to the word “kind” literally means “to become,” and its present tense form would suggest, “practice becoming kind to one another.” This indicates that kindness is something that has to be diligently pursued and practiced. It does not come easily when dealing with difficult people.
How many church problems might be healed if brethren were kinder to each other? In some congregations, where elders do not exist, “business meetings” have become a virtual war zone for the display of all sorts of harshness. Some brethren appear to be unable to approach an issue except in the “attack” mode.
There are men who serve as shepherds (elders) who do not treat their flock with kindness. Have you ever noticed how many of the bishop’s qualifications relate to this quality — such traits as no brawler, no striker, not contentious, gentle, patient, given to hospitality, just, a lover of good men?
Moreover, as virtually anyone who has his finger on the brotherhood pulse knows, there are preachers among us who find it most difficult to disagree with others without punctuating their diatribes with the worst sort of epithets. To them, “kindness” is not a virtue; it is compromise and weakness.
There are, of course, occasions when one is compelled to deal with error and its advocates in a forceful way. Jesus did (cf. Mt. 23), and he was the epitome of kindness. Moreover, the inspired writers of the New Testament also addressed heresy and the purveyors thereof.
There is, however, a difference between dealing with a false ideology or an erring brother, and that in a firm fashion, and being downright vicious. Some of our men have mastered the art of hatefulness.
May we strive toward a kinder atmosphere in the various compartments of our lives.
Scripture references: Proverbs 19:22; Ezekiel 27:22; Daniel 2:32; Genesis 1:26-27; 1 John 4:19; Luke 6:35; Psalm 106:1; Titus 3:4; Ephesians 2:7; Romans 2:4; Romans 11:22; Acts 14:22; Matthew 11:20; John 8:1; Matthew 26:50; 1 Corinthians 13:4; Galatians 5:22; Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 6:6; Ephesians 4:31-32; Matthew 23
- Abbott, John S. C. 1883. The History of Christianity. Portland, ME: George Stinson & Co.
- Balz, Horst & Schneider, Gerhard. 1993. Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. Vol. 3. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
- Moulton, J. H. & Milligan, G. 1963. The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
- Spicq, Ceslas. 1994. Theological Lexicon of the New Testament. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.
- Wakely, Robin. 1997. Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis. Vol. 2. W.A. VanGemeren, ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
- Weiss, K. 1985. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. G. Bromiley, ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. | <urn:uuid:8b98cbbc-7b8f-450a-8f5e-cb2dcedf1fb3> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/883-the-magic-of-kindness | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398460263.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205420-00290-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955187 | 3,035 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Locks and Keys
To summarise, we find it convenient and relevant to divide the human brain’s awareness and activity into three ‘minds’: the conscious (creative, logical, rational), the subconscious (emotion, behaviour), and the inner mind (which sends subtle messages to the conscious). Rabbi Avrohom Abulafia, famous thirteenth-century Kabbalist, writes that the inner mind is guarded by what he terms, “a revolving sword” – an allusion to the revolving sword placed at the entrance to the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24). Today, this is called the Conscious Critical Faculty, or the CCF.
This sword, or CCF, acts like a shutter to the brain, preventing an onslaught of outside stimuli from entering unchecked into the mind and bombarding the unconscious. Simultaneously though, it impedes concentration, fast absorbing of knowledge and the ability to lock on to a single subject. It also prevents a person from accessing his own inner mind, the door to the soul, a point vividly described by the great kabbalist, Chief Rabbi of Haifa in the early twentieth century, Rabbi Naftoli Herts:
"There is nothing in the physical that cannot be seen in its spiritual form (through the soul’s insight). Man however, while living in this world, will only be able to see the spiritual if he removes his physicality. It is [thus] written, “And He placed to the east of the Garden of Eden the Kerubim and the sharpness of the revolving sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life”(Gen. 3:24).
This refers to two factors that prevent a person from perceiving the spiritual.
1. Man’s physicality, alluded to by the two Kerubim. Like eye-lids covering the eyes, man’s physicality impedes his spiritual understanding.
2. [The ability to fix one’s mind consistently on one thought.] To gain true understanding, a person has to continuously think on the spiritual and not allow any other thoughts to interrupt. Only then can he transcend his physicality. [But] G-d has made man such that his thoughts constantly change from one subject to the next. He finds it very difficult to keep hold of a single thought. The ‘thought’ that interrupts him is like ‘a sword’, cutting and interrupting his flow of thinking. This is the “sharpness of the revolving sword”. Just as there are Kerubim and the sharpness of the sword in the world [in Eden], so there are Kerubim and the sharpness of the sword in man.”
Sefer HaTseruf 2b. Also Guide for the Perplexed, Introduction (Friedlander, Pg 3).
Hypnosis is defined as “a state of mind in which the critical faculty of the human is bypassed, and selective thinking established”. Elman, Hypnotherapy, p. 26. (U.S. Gov. Dept. of Educ.).
See Liqutei MohaRan 1, 24:8. | <urn:uuid:8fab4f69-754e-4a99-aa66-f118467947d2> | CC-MAIN-2016-36 | http://www.mpaths.com/2014/02/eye-to-infinitelocks-keys.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-36/segments/1471982982027.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160823200942-00182-ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945735 | 666 | 2.84375 | 3 |
They’d saved her from the streets of Moscow, and for what? To be chained down for five hours in this rapidly heating box with only this salty, empty jelly to eat?
It wasn’t right.
Blistering air hit her lungs. Her legs and body convulsed.
One gentle bark.
Then Laika died.
Laika was the first space dog. She was chained inside Sputnik 2 before it was launched, with no intention for her survival. The world was told she was euthanized in space with poisoned food. This was not true. It was found out later there was a malfunction that caused the craft to heat up to the point where it killed her. This stamp commemorates her. | <urn:uuid:17f1b9d5-78bd-4673-b27b-c84c4967dbd4> | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | http://www.damianjayclay.com/2018/03/07/95/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912207146.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20190327000624-20190327022624-00212.warc.gz | en | 0.982483 | 153 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Bay View has a very rich and diverse history, so much so that it is impossible to cover all of its deserving scenes and stories here in this one book. In order to narrow it down a bit, this volume will focus on aspects that involve Kinnickinnic Avenue, the main artery that runs through the center of Bay View. Originally an Indian trail that traversed north and south from Milwaukee to Chicago, Kinnickinnic Avenue was well utilized by Native Americans, European traders, explorers and settlers. Kinnickinnic Avenue, or KK, as it is known by Bay Viewites, witnessed virtually all aspects of local history, including the beginnings of the French fur trade, the settling of the area following the Homestead Act of 1862, America’s first labor strike in 1886, as well as the organization of Freemasons and Good Templars. Today, KK remains the main artery of Bay View, and bustles full of restaurants and shops, nightclubs and residences, most of which are housed in buildings that still stand today just as they did when first constructed many years ago. | <urn:uuid:babfdab5-053d-4de5-8413-a0d2a1e971c3> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://bayviewhistoricalsociety.org/product/kinnickinnic-avenue-the-heart-of-bay-view-wi/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320301264.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20220119064554-20220119094554-00687.warc.gz | en | 0.972979 | 223 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Figurative language --- any "figure of speech" that is not literal in meaning -- is enriching to literature, nowhere more so than in love poems. Figurative usages are like the spices you toss into a spaghetti sauce to make it special; you could do without, but the end result is the poorer for it. In fact, the simile "usages are like spices" is figurative language. Love poetry uses similes, metaphors, apostrophe and personification, among other literary devices, to create imagery that clarifies and enhances the poem's emotional effect.
To write good figurative love poems, study the masters. Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18" compares his lover to a summer's day, with "thou art more lovely and more temperate." This is a metaphor, with the woman as the day. He promises her "thy eternal summer shall not fade," which is both hyperbole and apostrophe, as he exaggerates to one who is not present. Shakespeare ends with "so long lives this and this gives life to thee," a personification of the poem as an eternal life giver. Each usage intensifies the emotional truth of the poet's commitment to his beloved.
Emily Dickinson, in "Poem 1260," uses figurative language for a darker purpose, sorrow over a loved one's death. Her emotions are overwrought, so her hyperbole is grand: The lovers found each other, a "discovery not God himself could now annihilate." The poet's pain is so intense, she uses personification to reprimand the departed and introduce a paradox: "You, who were Existence, yourself forgot to live." Figurative language is sparing in this poem, making its occasional use all the more intense, as the truth of the poet's absolute loss expresses itself in absolutes.
Figurative Language for Truth
The best rule in using figurative language in love poetry, according to Poetry Foundation's forum "How to Write Love Poems," is to work toward "not the poetry but the heart," to use figurative language not because you think it's required but because your emotion is so strong that literal words are not enough to express it. Your beloved is "a glowing ember," kissing her is like "melting into chocolate," her scent is "a gentle stroke on the cheek." You use metaphor, simile or personification not just for effect, but to intensify your emotional truth.
Metaphors Are a Trap
The Poetry Foundation forum warns that the use of tired similes and metaphors is the worst trap in writing love poetry. Stephen King in "On Writing" reiterates this, begging young authors to avoid trite figurative clichés such as "my love's like a red rose." Both King and the Poetry Foundation advise writers to read and write a lot in their preferred genre, thus rediscovering and reinventing similes, metaphors and other usages that express love figuratively, intensely and truthfully. | <urn:uuid:13119c5b-e903-47a0-bf57-18d835847f44> | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | https://penandthepad.com/use-figurative-languages-love-poems-23483.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570987834649.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20191023150047-20191023173547-00094.warc.gz | en | 0.950915 | 613 | 3.203125 | 3 |
NASA's Curiosity rover sits on Mars with a view that no human has ever beheld in person.
But the cameras that act as its eyes capture the planet's desolate, craggy, red-washed vistas, and relay these scenes back to Earth in a stream of images each day.
But Curiosity's photography skills aren't just a window into another world -- the images, curated by a diligent, little-known team of scientists, deliver crucial information that informs future science.
The rover is larger than you might think---about seven feet tall and the size of a small SUV. If you study the face closely, you'll notice its mismatched eyes.
Both are fixed focal lengths with no zoom capability, in focus starting from about six feet ahead of the rover. The left eye is a 34 mm lens, while the right is a 100 mm telephoto.
The Mastcam, comprised of these two lenses, can capture color images and video, which can be stitched together for Curiosity's iconic selfies and panoramas. In early March, NASA shared a stunning panorama comprised of 1.8 billion pixels' worth of images taken over the Thanksgiving holiday.
It's like a large version of Disney's WALL-E, an endearing explorer sending back postcards to humanity on a daily basis.
The data, carried by radio waves, pings off orbiters around Mars and reaches NASA's Deep Space Network of antennas around the world.
Image processing specialists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are the first people in the world who get access to the photos.
They quickly process them, using the first digital image processing software actually developed by JPL in 1966.
Photoshop doesn't know how to handle the images sent back from Mars -- the photo editing software used by photographers would stitch images together and create a jumbled picture of Mars, completely out of order.
But image processing specialists like Hallie Gengl know exactly what to do.
Each image comes embedded with 100 lines of data, which Gengl and others on her team use to figure out its orientation in the larger mosaic they're assembling. Like individual paint pigments in a portrait, the images are quickly assembled, sent around to the rover team scientists and placed online for the public to view, including raw images, she said.
The images don't receive much editing. The main concern is making sure they're oriented the right way, especially when fitting them together in mosaics.
Without the images collected by Mastcam ---- as well as the black-and-white Navcams for navigation beneath them ---- the rover would sit still on Mars.
This is because Curiosity isn't autonomous. Instead, teams on Earth send commands to the rover. And without images, the drivers wouldn't be able to tell Curiosity where to go. Curiosity doesn't move unless it's safe to proceed.
It's those images that has enabled it to travel more than 13 miles across the surface of Mars since landing in 2012. Currently, it's climbing and investigating a steep hill to learn more about its geologic formation. When Curiosity landed, that same hill was just a blip in the distance.
Curiosity landed in Gale Crater, a vast and dry ancient lake bed with a 16,404-foot mountain at its center. Mount Sharp's peak is taller than the rim of the crater. Streams and lakes likely filled Gale Crater billions of years ago, which is why NASA landed the rover there in 2012.
The image processing team is an unseen element to the rover, but "you can't live without us," Gengl said. "We're getting data and we're sharing it with the world.
"Every day, I feel like I'm vicariously living through robots on Mars. Especially for rovers, because we're exploring a new location we've never been to. Seeing the images coming down, I can't help but think, 'I'm one of the first people to see this data of this location on Mars.' "
Seven years of Mars vistas
Every day for the last seven years, the rover team's scientists have begun their day by waking up to the latest images Curiosity snapped of Mars and analyzing the images for exciting features.
Curiosity's broad science team includes 500 scientists around the world, 40% of which are outside the US. They help make decisions for the science gathered by the rover's ten instruments.
But everything starts with what they see. Each day, depending on the bandwidth of what the rover can capture and send back, they're usually looking at a panorama consisting of a few dozen images.
Then the team of roughly 30 scientists get on a conference call. They talk about areas relating to their particular areas of focus, like geologists wanting to investigate unusual-looking rocks that appear in the images.
When the rover arrives at a new site, it's commanded to capture as much of the area in detail as possible.
"That data set provides our first look at what's really there," said Ashwin Vasavada, the rover's project lead scientist.
Vasavada said it's not unusual to wake up to emails full of exclamation points from a geologist who noticed an interesting crack in a rock -- and was awake at 3 a.m. to watch the image come down to Earth.
"Everyone has different things they're excited about," he said.
The rover takes new images every day, extends its robotic arm to investigate and place instruments strategically every few days and brings out its drill to sample material every few months, Vasavada said.
Every decision is a question of the science that could be returned, by the bandwidth and power used by the rover.
For example, the decision to keep the rover occupied over the Thanksgiving holiday made sense because the rover teams would be on break. Commands sent to the rover told it to sit still and focus on capturing images at the same time each day, which would provide even lighting for a wide panorama of its perspective.
The rover rarely has idle time when it's not investigating specific things, so the timing worked out. And it happened during the winter season on Mars, when there's less dust in the atmosphere. Vasavada said it was clearer on Mars during Thanksgiving than it was in Los Angeles.
After seven years -- and 16 total spent on the mission from concept to landing for Vasavada -- the rover teams are still excited to see what they learn each day.
They've checked off a lot of images and investigations on the wishlist.
But Vasavada and his colleagues want to investigate a transition in the rocks -- from those rich in clay to others more rich in sulfate minerals.
"It may indicate a big climatic change in early Mars, when there was a lot less water around and the rocks became more salty," he said. "This is one aspect of the landing site we've been talking about for years. I'm excited to see it. That's one thing I want to see before the mission ends."
And lessons learned from Curiosity's one megapixel cameras, as well as the stationary InSight lander and previous rovers like Spirit and Opportunity, have informed future missions. The Perseverance rover, which will sport 20-megapixel color zoom-capable cameras, is set to launch in July.
Curiosity requires between 10 and 12 images for a 360-degree panorama. Perseverance will only require five.
With rovers and landers on Mars, and orbiters above, it's safe to say we'll be waking up to new images from the surface of another planet for a long, long time. | <urn:uuid:23e87af7-4300-4acc-abaa-17f82e83aa32> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://www.waaytv.com/content/news/568829032.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178376144.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20210307044328-20210307074328-00455.warc.gz | en | 0.958882 | 1,569 | 3.890625 | 4 |
Childlessness is the condition of having no children. Childlessness may have personal, social and/or political significance. There are two types of childlessness, voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary childlessness, also described as being childfree, occurs when one decides not to reproduce. To be childless, but not by choice, is involuntary childlessness.
From 2007 to 2011 the fertility rate in the U.S. declined 9%, the Pew Research Center reporting in 2010 that the birth rate was the lowest in U.S. history and that childlessness rose across all racial and ethnic groups to about 1 in 5 versus 1 in 10 in the 1970s.
Reasons for childlessness include, but are not limited to, the following.
- Celibacy, that is, abstention from sexual intercourse.
- Personal choice, that is, having the physical, mental, and financial capability to have children but choosing not to (that is, voluntary childlessness).
- Infertility, the inability of a person or persons to conceive, due to complications related to either or both the woman or the man. This is regarded as the most prominent reason for involuntary childlessness. Biological causes of infertility vary because many organs of both sexes must function properly for conception to take place. Infertility also affects people who are unable to conceive a second or subsequent pregnancy. This is called secondary infertility.
- The death of an infant or child either before, during, or shortly after birth. Infant death can happen for any number of reasons, usually being medical or environmental. Death can be attributed to factors such as, inadequate access to proper medical care, biological malformations, maternal complications, and/or accidents and unintentional injuries. An unsuitable environment with little to no resources may also play a role in infant mortality.
- Medical or gynaecological problems, including a lack of maternal medical care before or after birth and damage obtained from a previous pregnancy.
- lack of appropriate resources, such as finances, adequate medical care, communal/family support, etc.
- environment, this is related to availability of resources, whether emotional, physical, or biological.
- lack of a partner, or lack of willingness from partner.
- social infertility.
Options for involuntary childlessness
Those that, for whatever reason, are affected from involuntary childlessness do have options available to them. A person or persons that have the necessary components to reproduce, but may have a low sperm count or problems with ovulation could look into options such as artificial insemination or intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICIS). Artificial insemination is the process in which sperm is collected via masturbation and inserted into the uterus immediately after ovulation. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection is a more recent technique that involves injecting a single sperm directly into an egg, the egg is then placed in the uterus by in vitro fertilization. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the process in which a mature ovum is surgically removed from a women's ovary, placed in a medium with sperm until fertilization occurs and then placed in the women's uterus. About 50,000 babies in the United States are conceived this way and are sometimes referred to as "test-tube babies." Other forms of assisted reproductive technology include, gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) and zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT). Fertility drugs also may improve the chances of conception in women.
Due to complex organ complications some individuals can not produce a biological child; for those individuals an option may be surrogacy or adoption. Surrogacy, in this case a surrogate mother, is the process in which a woman becomes pregnant (usually by artificial insemination or surgical implantation of a fertilized egg) for the purpose of carrying the fetus to term for another woman or couple. Another option may be adoption; to adopt is to take voluntarily (a child of other parents) as one's own child.
All forms of contraception have played a role in voluntary childlessness over time, but the invention of reliable oral contraception contributed profoundly to changes in societal ideas and norms. Voluntary childlessness, resulting from contraception has influenced women's health, laws and policies, interpersonal relationships, feminist issues, and sexual practices among adults and adolescents.
The availability of oral contraception during the late 1900s was directly related to the women's rights movement by establishing, for the first time, a mass distribution of a way to control fertility. The so-called "pill" gave women the opportunity to make different life choices they may not previously been able to make, such as for example, furthering their career. This led to monumental changes in the current gender and family roles.
Margaret Sanger, an activist in 1914, was an important figure during the reproductive rights movement. She coined the term "birth control" and opened the first birth control clinic in the U.S. Sanger collaborated with many others to make the first oral contraception possible, these persons include: Gregory Pincus, John Rock, Frank Colton, and Katherine McCormick. The pill was approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for contraceptive use in the year 1960 and although it was controversial, it remained the most popular form of birth control in the U.S. until 1967 when there was a rise in publicity about the possible health risks associated with the pill; consequently sales dropped twenty-four percent. In the year 1988 the original high-dose pill was taken off the market and replaced with a low-dose pill that was considered to have less risks and some health benefits.
For most individuals, for most of history, childlessness has been regarded as a great personal tragedy, involving much emotional pain and grief, especially when it resulted from a failure to conceive or from the death of a child. Before conception was well-understood, childlessness was usually blamed on the woman and this in itself added to the high level of negative emotional and social effects of childlessness. “Some wealthy families also adopted children, as a means of providing heirs in cases of childlessness or where no sons had been born.” The monetary incentives offered by westerners desire for children is so strong that a commercial market in the child laundering business exists.
People trying to cope with involuntary childlessness may experience symptoms of distress that are similar to those experienced by bereaved people, such as health problems, anxiety and depression.
Specific instances of childlessness, especially in cases of royal succession, but more generally for people in positions of power or influence, have had enormous impacts on politics, culture and society. In many cases, a lack of a male child was also considered a type of childlessness, since male children were needed as heirs to property and titles. Examples of historical impacts of actual or potential childlessness include:
- Elizabeth I of England was childless, choosing not to marry in part to prevent political instability in the kingdom, which passed on her death from the House of Tudor to the House of Stuart.
- Henry VIII of England divorced his first wife Catherine of Aragon, to whom he had been married for more than 20 years, because she had not produced a male heir to the throne. This decision set in train a break between the English and the Roman churches that reverberated across Europe for centuries.
- Queen Anne had seventeen pregnancies but none of her children survived so the throne passed from the House of Stuart to the House of Hanover.
- Napoléon’s first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, did not bear him any children so he divorced her and married another in order to produce an heir.
- The lack of a male heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne in Japan brought the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis.
Socially, childlessness has also resulted in financial stress and sometimes ruin in societies which depend on their offspring to contribute economically and to support other members of the family or tribe. “In agricultural societies about 20 per cent of all couples would not have children because of problems for at least one of the partners. Worry about assuring the desired birth rate could become an important part of family life … even after a first child was born. … In agricultural societies up to half of all children born would die within two years … (Excess surviving children could among other things, be sent to childless families to provide labour there, reducing upkeep demands at home.) When a population disaster hit – like war or major disease – higher birth rates might briefly be feasible to fill out community ranks.”
In the 20th and 21st centuries, when control over conception became reliable in some countries, childlessness is having an enormous impact on national planning and financial planning.
In a society that encourages and promotes parenthood, with its current social norms and culture, childlessness can be stigmatizing. The traditional idea that couples should reproduce and want to reproduce is still widespread in North America. Childlessness is considered deviant behavior in marriage and this may lead to adverse effects on the relationship of the couple, as well as their individual identities when pertaining to the lack of children being involuntary. For persons that assume that becoming parents was a critical process of their adult family life, a "transition" as Rossi deems it must take place. This transition is from the anticipated parenthood to an unwanted status of nonparenthood. Such a transition may require the individual to readjust their perspective of self and/or relationship role with their significant other.
Possible Positive Impacts
- Education: Childless persons tend to have higher educations than those that do have children. Due to their higher education these childless couples also tend to have professional and managerial positions.
- Finances: As a result of their higher educations, higher paying jobs, and dual income, childless couples tend to have greater financial stability as compared to those with children. On average, a childless couple spends 60 percent more on entertainment, 79 percent more on food and 101 percent more on dining out. Childless couples are also more likely to have pets and those that do tend to spend a good deal more money on them.
- Quality of Living: Childless persons typically eat healthier than those with children, consuming more meats, fruits, and vegetables. Happiness may also play a distinctive role in the comparison to people with children and those without. Different studies have indicated that marital happiness dramatically decreases after a child is born and does not recover until after that last child has left the house. A study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that working outside the home and receiving less support from extended family, as well as other factors, has increased the level of stress associated with raising children and decreased overall marital satisfaction as a result. Childless couples were more likely to take vacations, exercise, and overall live a healthier life style than those that have children.
- List of international adoption scandals
- Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day
- Reproductive technology
- Tax on childlessness
Guthrie, Gillian (2012) Childless: reflections on life's longing for itself Leichhardt, N.S.W.: A&A Book Publishing ISBN 978-0-9870899-7-7
- Sandler, Lauren (August 12, 2013). "Having It All Without Having Children". TIME. Archived from the original on August 4, 2013.
- Mosher, W.D. and Pratt, W.F. (1991) Fecundity and infertility in the United States: Incidence and trends.
- An example is obstetric fistula which has left many women rejected by their husbands and communities and unable to bear further children. The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital is the only hospital of its kind in the world dedicated exclusively to women with obstetric fistula. It was founded by Doctors Catherine and Reg Hamlin.
- Social infertility is a term that has been used to describe homosexuality or single life as factors of infertility. Sexual Function and Sexuality: Social infertility In extended use, it also includes couples where the husband spends a lot of time away from home, such as in the armed forces, or for those who simply put other goals, such as a career, before having children, resulting in infertility from advanced maternal age.
- Hammond, P., et al. (2009) In vitro fertilization availability and utilization in the United States:A study of demographic social, and economic factors: 1630-1635.
- Tyrer L. (May 1999). "Introduction of the pill and its impact". Contraception 59 (1 Suppl): 11S–16S. doi:10.1016/s0010-7824(98)00131-0. PMID 10342090.
- Nikolchev, Alexandra (7 May 2010). "A brief history of the birth control pill".
- Stearns, Peter N. (2010). Childhood in world history. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-415-59808-8.
- Lechner, L.; Bolman, C., van Dalen, A. (10 October 2006). "Definite involuntary childlessness: associations between coping, social support and psychological distress". Human Reproduction 22 (1): 288–294. doi:10.1093/humrep/del327. Check date values in:
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- McCurry, Justin (6 September 2006). "Baby boy ends 40-year wait for heir to chrysanthemum throne". The Guardian.
- McCurry, Justin (4 November 2005). "Bring back concubines, urges emperor's cousin". The Guardian.
- Stearns, Peter N. (2009). Sexuality in world history. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-415-77776-6.
- Toshihiko Hara (November 2008). "Increasing Childlessness in Germany and Japan: Toward a Childless Society?". International Journal of Japanese Sociology 17 (1): 42–62. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6781.2008.00110.x.
- Miall, Charlene (April 1986). "The Stigma of Involuntary Childlessness". Retrieved 2013-02-03.
- Matthews, Ralph (August 1986). "Infertility and Involuntary Childlessness: The Transition to Nonparenthood". Retrieved 2013-02-03.
- Gilbert, D.T. Stumbling on Happiness. New York Vintage Books, 2007.
|Look up childlessness in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.| | <urn:uuid:97262f19-420b-43ab-b2eb-d19c3c301ad5> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childless | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207926736.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113206-00227-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943034 | 3,028 | 3.28125 | 3 |
SARS-CoV-2 ELISA Assay
For sensitive and reliable measurement of specific antibodies as a result of Covid-19 infections and vaccination programmes
We manufacture trimeric Spike protein - the most valuable Covid-19 antigen, ensuring the highest sensitivity of the resulting test. It is produced in human cell culture and therefore is the exact match of the current vaccines, providing the best tool to assess the efficacy of those vaccines.
Most of the current commercial diagnostic kits have either recombinant Nucleocapsid or much smaller fragments of Spike as their components.
The former cannot distinguish between SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses such as flu or common cold, presenting specificity issues of the resulting tests. Moreover, it cannot be used to measure SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies in the blood of vaccinated people.
The Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) based tests cause sensitivity problems since they can only detect a small portion of specific antibodies.
Small volumes of blood required which can be collected at home
Extremely sensitive and reliable antibody-measuring method
Minimum consumables and instruments required to run
Distinguishes between serological response to various mutants/variants of concern; has a potential prognostic value
ELISA in a 96-well format based on the trimeric Spike antigen as the capture antigen and colorimetric substrate development.
The method is the most sensitive and economical compared to all current commercially available tests, requiring only few microlitres of patient’s blood (finger prick) and has been adapted for dry blood spots which can be collected at home. OD reading is performed on conventional plate-reader.
The ELISA assay has been validated on serological panel of Covid-19 patients (37) supplied by the UK National Institute of Biological Standards and Controls, NIBSC, United Kingdom. It has also been validated on 54 volunteers encompassing recovered Covid-19 patients and people immunised with various vaccines. More validation on larger patient samples will be carried out by our partners such as the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, LSTM, and AlphaBiolabs (Warrington).
The method has also been used to assess individual serological response to various SARS-CoV-2 mutants, for example the pandemic strain of SARS-CoV-2 D614G versus the South African variant of concern (B.1.351, beta variant).
Fig. 1. IgG Detection of COVID -19 patients’ serum panel (NIBSC 20/B770), WHO Reference panel (NIBSC 20/268) and calibrant (NIBSC 20/162) against B1.351 and the D614G pandemic form. Human specific anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgGs were detected using Daresbury Proteins ELISA.
With low analyte requirement (1-3 µL) and assay costs, Daresbury Trimeric spike protein ELISA IgG test provides OD/CO of B1.351 and D614G mutants in a 2-way parallel serum study. The test is very useful in gaining prognostic understanding of different immune responses and assessing the efficacy of different vaccines against certain mutant strains.
Fig. 2. IgG Detection in individuals vaccinated by 3 different vaccines against B1.351 and the D614G pandemic form. Human specific anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgGs were detected using Daresbury Proteins ELISA.
Daresbury Trimeric spike protein ELISA test reliably detects individual serological response and can be used to monitor the immune titre provided by various vaccines as well as to measure their efficiency against newly emerging geographical variants of concern. | <urn:uuid:82ec7ce9-6e4d-4d0f-ad07-e57b9484793f> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://www.daresburyproteins.co.uk/copy-of-recombinant-full-length-solub | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964358443.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20211128013650-20211128043650-00536.warc.gz | en | 0.913887 | 787 | 2.8125 | 3 |
What is the difference between ethics and morality?
Ethics refer to rules provided by an external source, Morals refer to an individual’s own principles regarding right and wrong.
The Victorian ethics, similar and closely related to Victorian morality, is the subsequent result of the myriad of influences and struggles between Victorian social classes, particularly the rise of the middle class.
In the beginning of the Victorian Era (1837s – 1901), the English society was already dominated by social stratification, between the upper class – descendants of the nobility – and the lower class – those who do the “dirty” works for a living. Consequently, the inevitable historical emergence of industrialization and its clash against the predominant aristocratic ideology of the people paved the way to the rise of the middle class – doctors, manufacturers, and professors, among many others. This rise challenged the existing social order that led to the birth of the conflicting class-bound Victorian ethics.
Ethics and Materialism
The upper class was primarily materialist. The nobility focused on their social appearance rather than their spirituality or inner self. Alongside with this, they perceived idleness as a virtue – a divine gift from the heavens bestowed upon the descendants of the elite rulers. They loathe those who worked for a living.
As the era approached the early 19th century, England’s shift to the economic mode of production – from feudalism to industrial capitalism – re-distributed the socio-economic power. The middle class, being this historical shift’s beneficiary, grew contempt over the materialist perspective of the upper class and their notion of the divine rights of the nobility. This is inevitably expected since the rise of the middle class is founded on the ideology that a man has to work hard both as contribution and catalysis towards the proliferation of the economic industry.
Middle class and Individualism
Truly, the Victorian Era has become a plethora of social movements and political changes. Following the materialist conception of history, class struggle and conflict persist as to improve the prevailing and fragmented condition of the society.
Traditionally, the Victorian people simply accepted the social class that they were born into. This implies that moving upwards the social ladder is impossible. However, the historical shift from agriculture to industry opened the possibility of social mobility. Higher social status can then be earned as long as people earn the right and qualification needed for the proliferation of the industrial economy.
During the nobility’s subsequent financial crisis, the prosperous middle class was able to buy lands and properties that were initially dedicated only to the upper classes. This historical phenomenon has been followed by the emergence and expansion of various disciplines, such as science, psychology, and sociology.
Modernism: Darwin, Freud, and Marx
Industrialization entails modernism. Three ground-shaking discoveries had further increased the contradictions present during the Victorian era, namely Charles Darwin’s Evolution of species, Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis and Karl Marx’s Communism. These ideas challenged all the pre-existing Victorian values and beliefs as they altogether denounced creationism, ego-centrism, and socio-political hierarchy.
Ethics, during the Victorian transitional period of the mode of production, has become an ideological hybrid of feudalism and industrial capitalism. | <urn:uuid:c8aa02e8-4f38-4337-9675-717bfcedfd6b> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | http://victorian-era.org/ethics-during-Victorian-Era.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027314904.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20190819180710-20190819202710-00198.warc.gz | en | 0.94445 | 669 | 4 | 4 |
Financial Management is about preparing, directing and managing the money activities of a company such as buying, selling and using money to its best results to maximise wealth or produce best value for money. It is basically applying general management concepts to the cash of the company. Financial Management can also be defined as – The management of the finances of a business / organisation in order to achieve financial objectives
“Financial management is concerned with raising financial resources and their effective utilisation towards achieving the organisational goals
“Financial management is the process of putting the available funds to the best advantage from the long term point of view of business objectives”
It is crucial for both public and private sector organisations.
Taking a commercial business as the most common organisational structure, the key objectives of financial management would be to:
• Create wealth for the business
• Generate cash,
• Provide an adequate return on investment bearing in mind the risks that the business is taking and the resources invested
There are three key elements to the process of financial management:
Management need to ensure that enough funding is available at the right time to meet the needs of the business. In the short term, funding may be needed to invest in equipment and stocks, pay employees and fund sales made on credit.
In the medium and long term, funding may be required for significant additions to the productive capacity of the business or to make acquisitions. This links in with the financial decision making process and forecasting
Financial control is a critically important activity to help the business ensure that the business is meeting its objectives. Financial control addresses questions such as:
• Are assets being used efficiently? • Are the businesses assets secure?
• Do management act in the best interest of shareholders and in accordance with business rules?
however there are always financing alternatives that can be considered. For example it is possible to raise finance from selling new shares, borrowing from banks or taking credit from suppliers. This is connected with the capital budget and forecasting when dealing with fixed assets and projects.
this is connected to the raising of finance from various sources like banks or financial investors, which will depend on the options of the type of source, period of financing, cost of financing and the net present returns generated.
A key financing decision is whether profits earned by the business should be retained rather than distributed to shareholders via dividends. If dividends are too high, the business may be starved of funding to reinvest in growing revenues and profits further.
Financial management facilitates better decision making. It collects and provides all financial information regarding the organization. Easy availability and accessibility of all information helps managers in taking decisions efficiently on the bases of facts and figures.
Financial management leads to transparency of all information in business. It records all information systematically and made it available to all business users. Better transparency helps in developing proper understanding within and outside the organization and avoids any confusion or errors.
Controlling the finance of an organization is one of better advantage offered by financial management. It supervises and manages all activities of business to exercise financial control. Finance managers ensure that all activities of business go in accordance with the estimated cost and should not go above the pre-set budgets.
Financial management is responsible for maintaining proper financial discipline in an organization. It ensures that all financial resources are efficiently utilized and there is no wastage. Financial managers supervise the activities of all employees and work at deriving better results out of them.
Financial management aims at raising the profit of organization and wealth of shareholders. It aims at earning high profits by reducing the cost of operation and efficiently utilizing all resources. Higher the profit the company earns, higher would be the dividend declared by the company for its shareholders. This way it will increase their wealth.
Estimation of an adequate amount of capital that a business requires to start and continue its activities is an important task. Financial management estimates the right amount of funds required by business so that it can be acquired timely.
Financial management helps in avoiding and taking any unnecessary debt by the company. It aims at the proper and efficient application of all funds and aims at reducing the overall cost. This leads to avoiding any need for additional funds requirements by business.
Practicing of Financial management is costly activity for business organization. For controlling and measuring the cost, financial management implies various financial control tools. These tools are costly to use and are time-consuming.
Financial management leads to rigidity by setting certain standards for measuring performance. All the standards are set in accordance with certain parameters. However, conditions may differ while performing the actual task from those conditions which were considered while framing standards. Therefore due to standards rigidity, actual and standard performance cannot be properly evaluated.
Financial management requires determination of standards for measuring actual performance which is a very difficult task. There is no proper setup criteria for setting up standards and there may be chances to set improper standards.
: Applying various financial control measures faces several difficulties. These financial controls can be easily applied at the starting off the process but its implication becomes difficult during operation of the process.
Identification of real reasons for deviation in an actual performance is not always possible. Financial management can work toward managing or avoiding deviations if and only real reasons for such deviations are found out, otherwise, it is ineffective.
The financial management is generally concerned with procurement, allocation and control of financial resources of a concern. The objectives can be-
Key scope of financial management are divided in four categories. Lets learn and understand about the nature and scope of financial management through the below details notes.
Evaluating the risk involved, measuring the cost of fund and estimating expected benefits from a project comes under investment decision. It is one of the important scope of financial management. The two major components of investment decision are – Capital budgeting and liquidity.
Capital budgeting is commonly known as the investment appraisal. It deals with the allocation of capital and funds in such a manner that they will yield earnings in future. Capital budgeting determines the long term investment which includes replacement and renovation of old assets. It is all about maintaining an appropriate balance between fixed and current assets in order to maximize profitability and to maintain desired liquidity in the firm for its smooth functioning.
Decisions related to working capital is another crucial scope of financial management. Decisions involving around working capital and short term financing are known as working capital decision. It also manages the relationship between short term assets and its liabilities.
Short term assets include cash in hand, receivables, inventory, short-term securities, etc. Creditors, bills payable, outstanding expenses, bank overdraft, etc are a firm’s short term liabilities. Short term assets can be exchanged with cash within one calendar year. Similarly, the liabilities are to be settled within an accounting year.
The Dividend Decision plays a crucial role in today’s corporate era. It determines the amount of taxation that stockholders pay. A good dividend policy helps to achieve the objective of wealth maximization. Distributing the entire profit in the form of dividends or distributing only a certain percentage of it is decided by dividend policy. It is known as deciding the optimum dividend payout ratio i.e. proportion of net profits to be paid out to shareholders.
Stability of cash dividends and stock sets the parameter which determines the number of investment opportunities. Expansion of an economic activity depends on effectiveness of dividend decisions and scope of financial management.
Financing Decisions focuses on the accountabilities and stockholders’ equity side of the firm’s balance sheet, for example decision to issue bonds is a kind of financing decision. The main aim of financing decision is to cover expenses and investments. The decision involves generating capitals by various methods, from different sources, in relative proportion and considering opportunity costs, with respect to time of flotation of securities, etc.
Scope of financial management is to meet the expenses of the firm, a suitable capital structure for the enterprise should be developed by the finance manager. Only an optimum finance mix can maximize the market price of the company’s shares in the long run. To decrease the risk, a stable equilibrium is required between debt and equity.
Finance management is a long term decision making process which involves lot of planning, allocation of funds, discipline and much more. Let us understand the nature of financial management with reference of this discipline.
A finance manager has to make estimation with regards to capital requirements of the company. This will depend upon expected costs and profits and future programmes and policies of a concern. Estimations have to be made in an adequate manner which increases earning capacity of enterprise.
Once the estimation have been made, the capital structure have to be decided. This involves short- term and long- term debt equity analysis. This will depend upon the proportion of equity capital a company is possessing and additional funds which have to be raised from outside parties.
: For additional funds to be procured, a company has many choices like-
Choice of factor will depend on relative merits and demerits of each source and period of financing.
The finance manager has to decide to allocate funds into profitable ventures so that there is safety on investment and regular returns is possible.
The net profits decision have to be made by the finance manager. This can be done in two ways:
Finance manager has to make decisions with regards to cash management. Cash is required for many purposes like payment of wages and salaries, payment of electricity and water bills, payment to creditors, meeting current liabilities, maintainance of enough stock, purchase of raw materials, etc.
The finance manager has not only to plan, procure and utilize the funds but he also has to exercise control over finances. This can be done through many techniques like ratio analysis, financial forecasting, cost and profit control, etc.
Financial Management means applying management principles to manage the financial resources of an organization. It simply involves planning, organizing, directing and controlling financial operations to manage the finance of an organization efficiently. Financial Management is a methodology that business implements to monitor and govern its revenue, expenses and assets in order to maximize profitability and ensure sustainability.
Management of finance is a vital part of every business. Finance is termed as a backbone of every business and is required for carrying out its each and every activity. Financial management is concerned with efficiently planning the procurement of funds and utilization of these funds in the business.
The finance manager is required to decide the proper capital structure of an organization deciding optimum mix of debt and equity for raising required funds. Financial management concept ensures that an adequate amount of fund is always available in business from different sources and also it earns the best return on its investments. | <urn:uuid:054a1494-c7c7-4715-8865-cabc97f491ea> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | https://examtube.in/theory/financial-management/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439735939.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20200805094821-20200805124821-00461.warc.gz | en | 0.944472 | 2,151 | 3.296875 | 3 |
|This variety is a crabapple. Does not tolerate chlorosis and is subject to sunscold. There are varieties of apples suitable for almost all of the climate zones in the United States. They prefer cold winters, moderate summer and high humidity. Apples are deciduous and must be pollinated in order to produce fruit. Apple trees should be pruned in summer and winter. Codling Moths are one of the most serious apple pests. | <urn:uuid:7ca433c6-8afa-4271-9b3d-d299f1da0fd6> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://www.backyardgardener.com/plantname/pda_2481.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443737893676.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001221813-00136-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941232 | 91 | 2.796875 | 3 |
For Adegbola Adesogan, a major research university in the Subtropics provides the perfect setting for his life’s work: figuring out how to feed a hot and crowded world
Nature is tormenting Nepal’s farmers. Droughts are lingering. Melting glaciers in the Himalayas are causing rivers to flood. Monsoon season — once a reliable June and July phenomenon — has shifted to late summer. Making matters worse, Nepal’s population is expected to swell from 29 million now to more than 36 million in 2050, the United Nations reports.
Soon, it will be impossible for that nation to grow enough rice, corn and wheat to feed itself. Nepal isn’t alone. Civilization is tumbling into a global food crisis. In the decades ahead, according to the U.N., people in some of the world’s poorest regions will be dealt severe shortages. There simply won’t be enough food to go around.
That troubles Adegbola Adesogan. And it’s the reason he uprooted his wife and daughter, now a UF student, to move from the University of Wales to the University of Florida in 2001.
“The thought that our research could literally save lives motivates me,” says Adesogan, an animal nutrition professor. “I came to UF because the Florida climate is similar to those of many developing countries. This allows us to develop scientific solutions to problems limiting agricultural productivity and proper nutrition in many parts of the developing world.”
The Nigerian-born scientist, who was educated at the University of Reading in the U.K., directs the UF-managed international Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems, an alliance of 24 universities and research institutions. The coalition is working with impoverished communities in Cambodia, Ethiopia, Nepal, Niger, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda to make sure families in those places can be fed now and later.
Enter cows, goats and chickens. When raised wisely in local smallholder groups — using new location-appropriate technologies, improving management practices and skills, introducing higher-quality livestock and fostering environment-friendly policies — meat, milk and eggs enrich nutrition and livelihoods. There’s another benefit, too, Adesogan says: Good protein sources help prevent stunting and under-nutrition, which can impair brain development and accounts for about 45 percent of child deaths worldwide.
Adesogan’s work is showing promise. When the coalition added a small amount of animal-source foods to the diets of schoolchildren in one of its partner communities, the children’s growth, cognitive development, leadership skills and test scores improved. Those results and other UF research make Adesogan optimistic that a food crises — if addressed now — can be averted.
“The threat is real, but it will become worse if we don’t act,” he says, citing a new United Nations report noting that each year the global population grows by about 83 million — roughly the size of Germany — and that by 2050 there will be nearly 10 billion people on Earth.
“Food shortages will be worst in some African and Asian countries unless appropriate steps are taken to prevent the problem,” he says. “Famine is already a constant threat. This year, millions of people in northern Africa and the Middle East have been facing starvation in what is called the largest humanitarian crisis since 1945.”
The solution, Adesogan says, could be discovered and developed at the University of Florida.
“Many lessons learned from Florida livestock production systems can be used to solve livestock production problems in tropical and subtropical countries across the world,” he says. | <urn:uuid:e367529a-e376-43a3-948a-6452cf955627> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | https://www.uff.ufl.edu/your-impact/adegbola-adesogan-advocate-hungry/?appeal=GASWRA1?appeal=GASWRA1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347417746.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20200601113849-20200601143849-00580.warc.gz | en | 0.93016 | 772 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Oil pricing, like other risk-driven activities, can be wrong, depending on the expectations involved.
A Market Driven by the News
Al Hegburg is a senior fellow for the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Updated March 9, 2011, 11:28 AM
Commodity prices are based on replacement costs, not production costs.
Oil and natural gas are commodities. Market expectations for oil indicate that it is a commodity that will become more expensive over time. That market expectation is probably driven by investors and traders concerned about the political activity in the main oil producing countries in the Arabian Gulf.
The oil market is event driven and reports and interpretations of these events can be dramatic, leading to over interpretation of the future. Likewise, the episodes can be downplayed by market participants, leading to moderate interpretations of potential events.
Future oil prices are one means to interpret the value of the commodity, albeit perhaps incorrectly. These prices reflect an effort to price future risk and like all risk-driven activities the outcome can either be accurate or overestimated, driven by political and economic expectations. | <urn:uuid:5ca2bb85-aa28-47b6-94a6-05fb9bfbeefa> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/03/08/whats-behind-the-spike-in-oil-prices/a-market-driven-by-the-news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398446250.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205406-00181-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950226 | 229 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Claim: The word "blackmail" came about because it referenced letters of extortion sent via mail.
Origins: "Blackmail," a word for the extortion of money or other considerations to forestall the making public of injurious revelations or accusations, derives not from the intuitively obvious source of relating to letters dispatched by those looking to make a buck off their knowledge of the missteps of others. The "mail" in "blackmail" has nothing to do with missives delivered by the postal service (nor does it have anything to do, as claimed in one outlandish theory, with freelance knights gone brigand whose chain mail turned to black in concert with their dark deeds).
Blackmail instead began its linguistic career as a descriptor for the process of paying off those who would otherwise inflict physical harm (i.e., protection money). It
entered our language in 1530, when it characterized the practice among English farmers living along the border to fork over monies or goods to plundering Scottish chiefs to exempt themselves and their property from pillage. Its "mail" portion derives from the Old Norse word "mal," meaning "agreement," which subsequently expanded in Old and Middle English to encompass payments made pursuant to bargains struck between two or more parties and then to payments in general. "Black" came from the general association between that color and dark or underhanded doings (e.g., black market, black-hearted, blacklist, black arts, black magic), thus "blackmail" was a pact between an assailant and a victim in which the one being threatened paid the aggressor to leave him and his belongings unmolested.
The word did not shift to its current meaning of a bribe tendered in exchange for silence about embarrassing personal matters until around 1774. Prior to that time, what was being safeguarded were tangible items (houses, cattle, one's physical person) rather than intangible (one's reputation and secrets).
Blackmail need not always be about the extortion of hush money, as demonstrated by a common urban legend about a child's threat to reveal something Mommy would rather not have made public knowledge. | <urn:uuid:412db55a-3f3b-4a11-802e-4e371fdd8337> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://snopes.com/language/colors/blackmail.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707440693/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123040-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968914 | 434 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Saturday Kliwon, 16 October 2021
(9 Rabiul Awwal 1443 Hijri)
Having healthy body is important. If you have a healthy body, you will unlikely suffer from sickness. Your body will have higher ability to fight for bacteria and viruses. In addition, you can do all the activities you want. Even if it is an outdoor and challenging activity, you can still do it. It is because your bone and muscle are not easily injured. Healthy body will also enable you to keep working, taking care of the family, and travelling. It is because your body is fit and has all the energy to do it.
However, keeping your body healthy is not easy. Most people do not have time to exercise or cook and eat healthy food. Therefore, they are prone to virus attack, illness, and chronic disease. In fighting them, some people prefer to use herbal medicine or herbal remedies. A long time ago, herbal medicine is used to treat various illnesses. Some cultures that use it are ancient Egyptian and ancient Chinese. They use root, leaves, plant’s seeds, and other part of plant’s body to relieve illnesses. Some of the modern medicine now also contains the active ingredients of these ancient herbs.
There is some herbal medicine that is popular among the society. One of them is gingko biloba. It is believed to be effective in treating memory loss, tinnitus, and poor blood circulation. Another popular herb is ginger. Ginger is good to help pregnant women who suffer from morning sickness. In general, it is good to treat nausea. Ginseng is believed to be able to help patient to recover from illness. It is use to boost the energy and reduce cholesterol. To treat anxiety, muscle pain, and cramping, many people use chamomile tea.
Some illnesses that can be treated with herbal medicine are depression, insomnia, arthritis, high blood pressure, migraines, and skin problems. However, it is important to know the side effect of the herbal medicine. For some people, certain herbs can cause allergic reaction. The side effect of taking ginseng too much is that it can cause high blood pressure. Valerian may cause sleepiness or overstimulation for some people. Therefore, it is important to consult with the pharmacist before you take herbal medicine. It is also important to inform your doctor about the herbal medicine you use if he asks about the medicine you have taken. You must also be careful if the herbal medicine is imported from Asia. It may contain lead, cadmium, and mercury.
Ten Most Chilling Ghost Sightings caught On Camera | <urn:uuid:33c78af7-2e25-4463-86e5-a45bd35ae9e9> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://freedivination.org/article-an-alternative-to-cure-your-illness.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585025.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20211016200444-20211016230444-00002.warc.gz | en | 0.950277 | 540 | 2.828125 | 3 |
FSM news & articles:
TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine): New Developments: China is protecting its $40bn Chinese medicine export and sales industry and attempting to grow it and is influencing our country [Australia, but probably many other countries too] through the back door, by giving millions of dollars to our Universities for so called ‘collaborative’ research which may translate into building TCM ‘research’ hospitals – here and abroad.
(Yiling Pharmaceutical, a company that makes herbal remedies based on traditional recipes, has a market capitalisation of $3bn! )
Interesting concept… Why we should pay people to stop smoking: “One evidence-based approach that has not received much attention in Australia is using financial incentives. Incentives programs reward quitters for not smoking by giving them a monetary voucher. The quitter’s abstinence is verified using biochemical tests of either their saliva, urine or breath. Financial incentive programs are one of the most effective and cost effective strategies for getting people to quit. They are considered the most effective strategy for pregnant smokers. They are also cost effective, with the calculated net benefit (after taking into account of the incentives used) being around A$4,300 per smoker, per attempt to quit. There have been a number of studies showing their benefits.”
Great Moments in Health and Science:
The Invention of IV Fluid Hydration. What is now so commonly part of hospital practice for dehydrated patients or those who cannot keep up oral fluid intake first demonstrated its utility during a cholera epidemic in the 1830s.
Medical Advances in History:
Fighting the flu can be a matter of life and death – so what more can we do?: Unlike other vaccines that are more than 95% effective at protecting against a specific disease when a full dose is administered – for example, the chickenpox and polio ones – the flu vaccine is, on average, only 40% protective, although this varies depending on the flu strain. By comparison, staying home from work when suffering the flu, hand-washing, and covering one’s mouth when coughing and sneezing protects against spreading the disease 68% of the time. He emphasises the importance of those in higher-risk groups getting the vaccine, including pregnant women, who can get immunised for free under the national immunisation program. “Even 30% or 40% protection against going to hospital is better than nothing,” Collignon says.
Australia’s health minister, Greg Hunt, has asked the chief medical officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, to ensure that all aged care workers are properly vaccinated. There is no mandatory requirement for this at present. “I will work with the medical authorities, healthcare workers and the aged care providers on how we can make it compulsory for those working in aged care facilities,” Hunt says. “We cannot continue to have a situation where people whose immunity is already low are at risk from others who may be infected.”
Thanks to Science:
(…and the work of three Nobel Prize-winning scientists) we now know the molecular basis for the internal ‘body clock’ behind circadian rhythms: 2017 Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes to 3 Americans for Body Clock Studies: The win was unexpected for these scientists, as more ‘trendy’ discoveries of cancer immunotherapy and gene editing were also nominated for the Prize. The work has the potential to influence how we approach sleep-related diseases in humans, shift work, jet lag and our understanding of plant and animal biology.
Medical Advances in History:
Joseph Lister Biography: Please ignore the rather awkward banner to this article (children, death, young, etc) and read about the man who introduced the principles behind Pasteur’s research into microbes and fermentation into the operating theatre. By innovating the use of carbolic acid (phenol) for dressing surgical wounds, Lister drastically reduced the number of post-surgical deaths, thereby allowing surgical procedures that surgeons had not dared attempt due to the risk of infection. The introduction of the practices of anaesthesia and asepsis has made all of modern surgery possible. | <urn:uuid:f3bb7994-3846-4aae-8112-bb2270b3aa84> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://www.scienceinmedicine.org.au/2017/10/08/chinese-medicine-smoking-flu-and-more/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243991921.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20210516232554-20210517022554-00469.warc.gz | en | 0.951437 | 857 | 2.734375 | 3 |
First Lady of Maryland
Image: Lady Anne Arundel Baltimore
Lady Anne Arundel (sometimes spelled Arundell) was born in 1615. She was an English noblewoman, daughter of Thomas Arundel, 1st Baron of Wardour, and a member of the ancient family of Arundels in Cornwall, England. Her father was a wealthy and influential Catholic.
In 1628, at the age of thirteen, Lady Anne married Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, the founder of the colony of Maryland. Of the nine children the Calverts had, only three survived to adulthood, including Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore.
In 1632, King Charles I signed the Charter of Maryland—named for Queen Consort Henrietta Maria—granting the colony to Cecil Calvert. Cecil and his father George envisioned the colony as a place where fellow Roman Catholics could escape the religious persecution that was then prevalent in England.
After George Calvert’s death, Anne’s father, Lord Wardour, invested heavily in the new colony, and was able to fulfill his dream of establishing a colony in North America through his son-in-law.
Cecil Calvert, who never set foot in Maryland, tried to make the colony a prosperous and safe refuge for persecuted Catholics, investing a good deal of his own wealth. He sent his younger brother, Leonard, to the new colony in 1634. Leonard sailed with the ships Ark and Dove, and the colonists established a settlement at St. Mary’s.
In 1642, the English Civil War broke out between the Roman Catholic royalists supporting Charles I and the Protestant Parliamentarians. Cecil Calvert became concerned about his ability to maintain control over his colony. To solidify his position, he took several steps that would prove pivotal in the history of the Maryland Colony and what would soon become Anne Arundel County.
In 1649, the Maryland General Assembly passed An Act Concerning Religion which provided some religious protection to all Christians. Lord Baltimore also replaced the Catholic Acting Governor Thomas Greene with the Virginia Protestant William Stone, with the understanding that Stone would bring new settlers to the Colony.
Lady Anne Arundel Baltimore died in 1649, at the age of 34. Cecil Calvert was distraught over the death of his beloved wife of twenty-one years. He outlived her by many years, enjoying a long retirement before dying in Middlesex on November 30, 1675.
Governor Stone lured a group of nonconformist Virginia Puritans to Maryland with the promise of land and guaranteed freedoms. In December of 1649, the first European settlement in what would become Anne Arundel County was founded by these Puritans on the north shore of the Severn River opposite present-day Annapolis. It was called Providence.
In 1650, the Maryland General Assembly officially created Anne Arundel County. The County seal still in use is the Coat of Arms of the Lords’ Baltimore. London Town was the original seat of County government.
From 1650 through 1695, a series of religious, regional and political struggles occurred in Maryland. In March of 1655, the Battle of the Severn was fought at the mouth of the Severn River. Governor Stone’s forces, under Lord Baltimore’s orders, sailed up the Chesapeake Bay from St. Mary’s City. His goal was to reestablish the authority of the Calverts over Providence, but the Puritans decisively defeated the Governor’s forces and gained temporary control of the colony.
Oliver Cromwell restored Cecil Calvert’s control in 1657, but in 1688 King William III annulled the Calvert Charter and declared Maryland a royal colony. The General Assembly voted in 1694 to move the capital from St. Mary’s City to Anne Arundell Towne.
In 1695 the town was renamed Annapolis in honor of then Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Mary. Annapolis became the economic, social, and political center of the colony and the seat of government for Anne Arundel County. It remained the capital and seat of government when statehood was achieved on April 28, 1788. | <urn:uuid:de071026-56aa-4820-9d8f-a3627b9b196f> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2007/12/lady-anne-arundel-baltimore.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891815934.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20180224191934-20180224211934-00372.warc.gz | en | 0.966167 | 875 | 3.765625 | 4 |
These two languages are the essentials for creating web pages. HTML stand for Hypertext Markup Language and CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. HTML has been around since the early 1990s, and makes up the structure and hierarchy for the content of a web page. CSS is what styles the content in terms of color, layout, and size.
<title>this is what html looks like</title> | <urn:uuid:8a7f6731-e313-4116-86aa-7876fdc37d5d> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://amycesal.github.io/which-code-quiz/html+css.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764495012.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20230127195946-20230127225946-00607.warc.gz | en | 0.75396 | 171 | 3.25 | 3 |
What Is Dermatology?
The skin is the largest, but the most delicate and fragile human organ. Like the heart, lungs, or liver, the skin has vital functions that influence the person’s state and health in general.
The skin actively reacts to any chemical and physical agents, and its diseases can be noticed almost immediately because the problem is plain to see. This is a kind of advantage since people can diagnose the disease early and start the treatment. The downside of skin problems is aesthetic defects and the associated emotional distress. This is especially true for chronic skin conditions since their exacerbations are difficult to manage in a short time. Therefore, the diagnosis and treatment of skin problems in a short time is the overriding priority of a skilled professional. Dermatology is concerned with a close study of skin diseases, their causes, symptoms, and treatment methods. A doctor who deals with skin, hair, nail, sweat, and sebaceous gland disorders, is called a dermatologist.
Dermatology is closely intertwined with venereology, endocrinology, oncology, allergology, gastroenterology, and many other branches of medicine. After all, most diseases somehow affect the human skin. For example, allergy causes skin rashes and itching, and melanoma is a malignant skin tumor. Some skin diseases can eventually become systemic. For example, psoriasis causes arthritis, inflammation of the joints, in 20% of cases.
You should never underestimate dermal lesions. The lesion size does not matter: you should consult a specialist and have an accurate diagnosis. For example, melanoma is often detected at advanced stages, when the person has widespread metastases. People simply neglect their skin or ignore small changes.
There is a relationship between the incidence of certain diseases of the skin and its derivatives (hair and nails) and stressful situations. For example, emotional stress often leads to exacerbations of dermatitis or pimples. A competent foreign dermatologist refers such patients to a psychotherapist, neurologist, and other specialists who will help find out the root cause of all the problems and eliminate it.
Dermatology oncology is a large and promising division. Its main tasks are considered to be the following:
- treatment and prevention of benign and malignant skin neoplasms;
- observation of moles and precancerous conditions.
The Most Common Diseases
Everybody has experienced some skin problems. They could be common teenage acne, comedones, or chronic skin diseases. In most cases, people do not seek medical help immediately, spending precious time on self-medication and waiting for everything to pass by itself. This does not work as often as we would like it to.
The most common skin disorders are:
- fungal foot and nail infections;
- pimples and acne;
- atopic dermatitis;
- rashes caused by allergy;
People also visit a dermatologist to remove an unwanted mole or have a preventive examination.
You should consult a dermatologist if your skin features:
- rashes of any nature and location;
- a changed color;
- peeling and itching;
- hyperhidrosis or excessive dryness.
Skin Diseases Treatment Methods
Foreign clinics are glad to offer skin surgery to patients from any country. Before starting any operation, dermatologists, plastic surgeons, and other specialized doctors inspect and interview the patient and conduct the necessary examinations; only after that, the surgery is scheduled, and its scope and technique are chosen.
In the case of skin diseases, most operations are performed on outpatients though sometimes the patient may still be hospitalized and observed by specialists. Topical anesthetics are enough to anesthetize the patient.
When removing nevi and other skin masses, doctors send tissue samples for histological testing: this is necessary to learn the cellular composition of the lesion. In the case of malignant neoplasms, it is important to find out whether the tumor has been removed completely. Malignant skin tumor surgery involves the removal of some healthy skin: this is essential for cancer recurrence prevention.
If possible, dermatologists and surgeons try to opt for minimally invasive surgery, particularly with regard to open areas of the skin, face, and neck. Small incisions heal quickly, and rough scar tissue is less likely to cover the site.
If a person has hypertrophic scars (keloids) or ugly scars, the surgeon can perform cosmetic surgery. Its result is a neater scar, which will be almost unnoticeable for the patient and other people.
If a significant layer of skin was removed during surgery or diagnostic biopsy, then the defect may need to be covered through skin grafting and transplantation.
For varicose veins, dermatology and cosmetology offer various cures: small veins can be obliterated; some vessels can be removed. Minimally invasive surgery is the first choice.
Benign neoplasms can be easily removed through surgery. Foreign surgeons use modern equipment to make small incisions, which leave barely noticeable scars. Malignant neoplasms are removed so that to minimize the risk of relapses. The patient is always observed by doctors, who are to eliminate all possible complications in time and notice early signs of tumor recurrence.
Skillful care should be taken of the skin and sutures in order for the surgery result to please the doctor and patient. Paramedical personnel takes care of the patient, and the doctor sees to it that all prescriptions are observed. In the first 1–2 weeks, the patient should avoid vigorous exercise and sunbathe. To accelerate tissue healing, one can use special creams. Smoking disrupts the process of tissue regeneration, so it is advisable to abandon this unhealthy habit.
To treat skin diseases, foreign specialists use all effective and safe methods that are known to science. They focus on non-invasive techniques so that not to cause extra irritation and injuries. The specialist also gives recommendations on care for the affected skin to prevent the disease progression.
For therapeutic purposes, they can prescribe injections, tablets, lotions, creams, ointments, and many other drug formulations. Some patients are also prescribed special bath therapy, light therapy, cryotherapy, and laser treatment. Many years of experience enable specialists of large centers in Israel, Germany, and other developed countries to achieve quick results of skin treatment, restoring its beautiful appearance and the patient’s psychological comfort.
The main goals of rehabilitation in dermatology are:
- improving the visual appearance;
- reducing the mass of scar tissue;
- repairing skin damage and restoring all skin functions;
- controlling the patient’s emotional distress caused by their own appearance;
- social adaptation of the patient.
Rehabilitation is required after surgery, during which the skin was damaged extensively. The rehabilitation therapy promotes rapid tissue healing and reduces the risks of postoperative complications. | <urn:uuid:bbc16dfa-f8d5-4cf4-a930-3907681644f5> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.medilooker.com/en/dermatology/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500983.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20230208222635-20230209012635-00628.warc.gz | en | 0.937442 | 1,448 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Evaluating the farmers market from a food safety perspective
Farmers markets are a great place to find healthy, wholesome food. To ensure the food purchased is as wholesome as it can be, customers may consider a few things when evaluating food safety practiced by growers at the farmers market.
Fresh produce is good for one’s health, and Michigan State University Extension says there are often economic and social benefits to buying the produce from a farmers market. From a food safety perspective, however, a nasty foodborne illness from fresh produce might undo the health benefits of eating it. When shopping at a farmers market, customers may wish to consider the following when evaluating produce at the farmers market.
Is highly perishable food kept on ice or in a cooler?
Food that can make you sick, like meats, eggs and dairy products, should be kept cold to reduce the chances of foodborne illness. If a vendor keeps these products exposed to air temperatures, this could reduce the shelf-life of the product or make a consumer sick. Vendors who take pains to have coolers for eggs and dairy products are working to ensure a safe, wholesome farm stand.
Does the farmer remind you to wash your produce before you eat it?
As you might expect, produce may be handled by a number of people before you bring it home. If the vendor handling produce was frequently washing his or her hands and reminding buyers to wash the produce prior to being eaten, this shows that the vendors care enough about food safety to incorporate it into their operations.
Are the farmers using farming practices that seem to help ensure a safe product?
A useful exercise is to simply ask farmers what they’re doing to ensure the safety and quality of the food they’re selling. The answer to this question should influence whether you buy from them or not. The best answer to this question will highlight practices the farmer is doing, like making sure they irrigate with and wash produce in water that is demonstrated to be potable. If the vendor uses manure, an application at least 120 days prior to harvest and at least two weeks prior to planting is the industry standard. If the answer is a blank stare, that may also speak volumes. How do they measure up?
No matter how many precautions we all take to reduce risk of foodborne illness, we cannot reduce the risk of getting sick to zero. We can, however, take practical steps to make the food we eat safer. We all have a role to play in keeping food safe from farm to table. | <urn:uuid:c04d4ef8-65ae-4575-b631-299bb33a23ea> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/evaluating_the_farmers_market_from_a_food_safety_perspective | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818685912.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20170919164651-20170919184651-00062.warc.gz | en | 0.961682 | 516 | 2.84375 | 3 |
This is the third installment of a long post. I may revise it as I post later parts. The whole will be published as a page, for ease of reference. If you haven’t read “Part I: What Is Economics About?“ or “Part II: Economic Principles in Perspective“, you may benefit from doing so before you embark on this part.
What follows isn’t meant to depict the historical evolution of economies and the role of governments in them. The idea, rather, is to contrast various degrees of complexity in economic activity, and the effect of government on that activity — for good and ill.
Communism: The Real Kind
Bands of hunter-gatherers roam widely, or as widely as they can on foot, with young children and old adults (perhaps in their 30s and 40s) in tow. The hunters and gatherers share with other members of the band what they catch, kill, and collect. The stronger members of the band presumably catch, kill, and collect more than their dependents do, and so they probably take more than their “share” because doing so gives them the strength to do what they do for everyone else.
This primitive arrangement — in which producers are necessarily consumer more than non-producers so that non-producers are able to survive — operates exactly in accordance with the maxim “from each according to his ability; to each according to his needs”. But that is not the system envisaged by Marxists and Millennials, in which the state takes from producers and given to non-producers because it’s “only fair” and in the spirit of “social justice”. Primitive peoples know on which side their bread is buttered, which is a lot more than can be said for modern “communists”, state socialists, and the parasites who believe that the goose will continue to lay golden eggs after it has been put down.
That’s what happens when people without “skin in the game” (i.e., political theorists, pundits, politicians, bureaucrats, naive students, and layabouts) get their hands on the levers of government power. But I am getting ahead of myself and will have much more to say about it later in this post.
Barter: An Economy of Relatives, Friends, and Acquaintances
Imagine a simple economy in which goods are exchanged through barter. Implicit in the transaction are the existence of property rights and gains from trade: The producers of the goods own them and can trade them to their mutual benefit.
There is, at this point, no money to clutter our understanding of the economy’s workings, though there could be credit. One producer, Arlo, could give some of his goods to another producer, Brenda, with the understanding that Brenda will repay the loan with a specified quantity of goods by a specified time.
Credit can exist in this barter economy because its participants know each other well, either personally or by reputation. Credit is therefore more firmly based on trust and knowledge than it is in economies that are more widely dispersed and involve total strangers, if not enemies. But credit always carries a cost because the creditor (a) usually has other uses for the goods (or money) that he lends, and must forgo those uses by lending, and (b) takes a risk that the borrower won’t repay the loan. The risk may be lower in a barter economy of friends, relatives, and acquaintances than in a dispersed, money-based economy, but it is nevertheless there.
Credit in a barter economy can finance investment. If Arlo is a baker and Brenda is a butter-maker, Arlo could offer to give Brenda additional bread in the future (over and above the amount that she would normally receive for a certain amount of butter) while he rebuilds his oven so that he can produce bread at a faster rate. (Here, we must assume that the capacity of Arlo’s oven is a bottleneck, and that the availability other resources — flour, for example — is not a constraint.)
Barter, whatever its social advantages — which shouldn’t be overlooked — is cumbersome. Even with the use of central marketplaces, much time and effort is required to arrange, in a timely way, all of the trades necessary to satisfy even a fairly simple menu of wants: food (of various kinds), clothing (of various kinds), construction services (of various kinds), personal-care services (e.g., haircuts) and products (e.g., soap). It is time and effort that could be put to better use in the enjoyment of the fruits of one’s labor and in the production of more goods (in order to enjoy even more fruits).
Then, too, there is the difficulty of saving in a barter economy. Arlo might stockpile bread, for instance, but how much bread can he stockpile before it spoils or loses value because Brenda can’t use as much as Arlo has on hand? Producers of services face more serious problems. For example, how would a barber save haircuts for a rainy day?
A Closed, Money-Based Economy
We are still in a close-knit economy, that is, a closed one. But money now enters the picture. It eases the task of acquiring goods by allowing the purchaser to acquire them at his leisure (subject to the risk of non-delivery, of course). This is called saving, which is also a form of credit. The purchaser of goods (who is also a producer of goods) needn’t trade all of his output for the output of others. He can defer his purchases, thus effectively giving credit to those who buy his goods while he puts off buying theirs.
How does it work? If Arlo makes bread and Brenda makes butter, Arlo, with Brenda’s consent, can give her some bread in exchange for money instead of butter. (Maybe Arlo doesn’t need butter at the moment, and would rather buy it from Brenda at a later date.) Arlo, at one stroke, is accepting money (as a measure of the value of the goods he can purchase in the future) and extending credit to Brenda.
The value of the money, to Arlo, depends on his confidence that Brenda will deliver to him the quantity of butter that he would have received by trading his bread for her butter on the spot. If Arlo is unsure about Brenda’s ability to deliver the desired quantity of butter at a future date, he will ask for the monetary equivalent of additional butter. This is equivalent to the issuance of credit by Arlo to Brenda; that is, he is giving her time in which to produce more butter, and getting a share of the additional output in return.
A money-based economy is, perforce, a credit-based economy. And the value of money depends on the holder’s assessment of his ability to get his money’s worth, so to speak.
The existence of money enables producers to save a portion of their income in a non-perishable, fungible form. This facilitates investment by, for example, enabling the investing party to subsist on what he can purchase from the money he has saved while turning his time and effort toward improving the way in which he produces his goods, devising new goods that might yield him more income, or even wandering far and wide to seek new buyers for his goods.
Thus money is a beneficial economic instrument — as long as the terms of its use are established by those who actually produce and exchange goods. This included the “middlemen” (i.e., wholesalers, retailers, bankers, lenders) whose services are sought and valued by producers of other goods. As I will discuss later, outside interference in the creation and valuation money will distort the terms of trade between producers, causing them to make choices that are less beneficial to them than the choices they would make in the absence of such interference.
In an economy where there is no outside interference in the issuance and valuation of money (and credit), defaults aren’t distorting; that is, they don’t change the “normal” flow of economic activity. Those who give and accept credit do so willingly and after balancing the risks involved (including the possibility of unforeseen calamities) against the gains from trade. Moreover, other “middlemen” known as insurers come to the fore. For a fee, which is paid willingly by the participants in this economy, they absorb the costs of losses from unforeseen calamities (personal injury and illness, fire, flood, etc.).
An Open, Money-Based Economy
An open economy is simply one in which goods are exchanged across territorial boundaries. This kind of exchange is inherently beneficial because it enables all parties to improve their lot by giving them access to a wider range of goods. It also fosters specialization, so that a greater abundance of goods is produced, given available resources. Though inter-territorial trade can be conducted through barter, money obviously facilitates inter-territorial trade, inasmuch as it is (by definition) conducted over a wider area, making direct trades even more difficult than they are within smaller area.
Inasmuch as government isn’t yet in the picture, there is practically no downside to inter-territorial trade. It is simply an expansion of what has gone before — voluntary exchanges of goods (usually through the medium of money) for the mutual benefit of the parties to the transactions. With government out of the picture, there are less likely to be distortions of the kind that are caused by tariffs and subsidization, both of which are aimed at benefiting the citizens (or elites) of one territory at the expense of persons in other territories.
An Open, Money-Based Economy with Government
It is time to introduce government. I am not suggesting that government is a necessary or inevitable outgrowth of a money-based economy. Government probably came first, in the guise of a tribal leader to whom certain decisions were referred and who was responsible for settling disputes within the tribe and seeing to its defense from outside force.
The point of introducing government here is to highlight its potential economic value, and to draw attention to the ways in which it can destroy economic value — and liberty as well. I must say, at the outset, that government, when it comes to domestic affairs, can do no better than enforce prevailing social norms that not only bind a people but also protect them from each other. Such norms include the prohibition of — and social punishment of — acts that cause harm, including the disruption of economic activity. They may be summarized as acts of force (e.g., murder, battery, theft, and vandalism) and fraud (e.g., lying and deliberate deception). There is a related peace-keeping function that is best performed by a third party, and that is the settlement of civil disputes, which in some cases must be done by government, as a referee of last resort.
The point of government with respect to such acts is to ensure the enforcement and punishment of prohibitions in an even-handed way by a party that is presumed to be impartial. (I won’t get into the many historical deviations from this ideal, but will later address how those deviations might have been minimized.) With the assurance that government will enforce and punish harmful acts, the populace as a whole — including its economic units — can more freely go about the business of life (and business) and spend less time, effort, and money on self-defense. In this way, government can be a boon to an economy, especially one that spans a large and diverse populace of strangers.
Ensuring that the business of business can be conducted freely (within the constraint that otherwise illegal transactions are prohibited and punished), requires the national government to prevent subsidiary governments from erecting barriers to trade between the territories of the subsidiary governments. The national government may, on the other hand, restrict trade between entities inside the nation and entities outside of it, where such restrictions (a) keep dangerous materials and technologies out of the hands of actual or potential enemies or (b) prevent foreign regimes from undermining parts of the national economy by subsidizing foreign producers directly or through tariffs on imports to the foreign country.
Government can also protect the populace (and the business of business) from attacks by outsiders. The ideal way of doing this is to mount a defense that is robust enough to deter such attacks. Failing that, the defense must be robust enough to defeat attacking outsiders in a way the prevents much of the damage that they might otherwise do to the populace and its economic activities.
(The problematic side of peace-keeping, both domestically and against outsiders, is that its costs must be borne in some manner by the people and economic units it protects. Further, those costs must be borne, in many cases, by persons who have some objection to peace-keeping; for example: outright pacifists, bleeding-hearts who loath to believe that certain classes of human beings are more prone to criminality than others, and yet-to-be-mugged innocents who simply believe the best of everyone. That said, there is no “fair” way to apportion the costs of peace-keeping, but there is a fairer way than the is now the case: the imposition of a truly flat tax.)
A government that is limited as outlined above must be subject to several checks if it is to remain limited:
- A written constitution that specifies the powers of the national government and subsidiary governments.
- Onerous provisions for amending the written constitution.
- A judiciary that is empowered to review all governmental actions to ensure their consistency with the written constitution.
- A mechanism for rejecting judicial decisions that are inconsistent with the written constitution.
- Regular elections through which qualified voters pass judgment on government officials.
- The restriction of voting to persons of mature age who have “skin in the game”.
The failure to institute and maintain any of these checks will result, eventually, in a system of government that routinely does more than defend the populace and ensure that the business of business can be conducted freely. In the United States, the lack of oversight of the judiciary and the expansion of the franchise (rather than its restriction) have proved fatal to the otherwise clever design of the original Constitution.
The result is an badly distorted economy, which produces things (or fails to produce them) in accordance with the desires (mostly) of unelected bureaucrats, and redistributes income and wealth (and such antecedents as jobs and university admissions) in accordance with the desires of persons without “skin in the game” (i.e., political theorists, pundits, politicians, bureaucrats, naive students, and layabouts). The economy isn’t only badly distorted, but as a result of myriad government interventions, it produces far less than it would otherwise produce, to the detriment of almost everyone, including the supposed beneficiaries of government interventions.
What I have discussed thus far is microeconomic activity — the actions of individuals and firms that result in the exchange of economic goods, either directly or with the aid of money and credit. I have also addressed the effects of government interventions, but mainly in terms of the microeconomic effects of such interventions.
What I have avoided, except in passing, is the thing called macroeconomics, which is supposed to deal with aggregate economic activity and things that influence it, such as the monetary and fiscal tools wielded by government. | <urn:uuid:31882140-832e-4077-bcee-9fc294606d57> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://politicsandprosperity.com/category/economics-principles-and-issues/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655902377.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20200709224746-20200710014746-00226.warc.gz | en | 0.96804 | 3,215 | 2.5625 | 3 |
No matter what ever languages you use, you definitely need some word to praise, blame, envy, etc, Some of the examples are Cute, Stupid, Smart, etc. Hence, like every other language, Japanese also has its own set of adjectives with appropriate rules and exceptions. We will be discussing about it in our today’s lesson.
What is an Adjective?
You all must already be knowing but still for the ones that are yet to know, Wiki says
In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's referent.In simple words, an adjective is a word which modifies the nouns and pronouns.
English - “That is a book”
Hindi – Wo ek kithab hai (वो एक किताब है)
Tamil – Adhu oru puthagam (அது ஒரு புத்தகம்)
Japanese – Sore wa hon desu (それ は ほん です )
This is a normal sentence. Here book (kithab/puthagam/hon) is a noun. Let us add “something” that can modify this noun.
Using adjective before the noun
English - That is a good bookUsing adjective after the noun
Hindi – Wo ek achha kithab hai (वो एक अच्छा किताब है)
Tamil – Adhu oru nalla puthagam (அது ஒரு நல்ல புத்தகம்)
Japanese – Sore wa ii hon desu (それ は いい ほん です)
English - That book is goodHere “good” (achha/nalla/ii) changes the noun and it acts as an Adjective.
Hindi – Wo kithab achha hai (वो किताब अच्छा है)
Tamil – Andha puthagam nandraga ulladhu (அந்த புத்தகம் நன்றாக உள்ள்து)
Japanese – Sore wa hon ii desu (それ は ほん いい です)
So, you must be clear by now that – "In Japanese, adjectives are placed either before a noun or at the end of a sentence which is the same case as in English”
Types of Adjectives
In Japanese, they have two different types of Adjectives. They call it as
- I – adjective (called as the 'true' adjectives) - Adjectives that end with an “I” sound
- Na – adjective (called as the 'quasi' adjectives) -Adjectives that end with an “NA” sound
Why two types of adjectives?
Well, the answer to your question is, “Why two types of Kana exist in Japanese?”.
Yes, it is for the same reason. I-adjective have Japanese Origin while the NA-adjectives are mostly Chinese origin words.
Now, guess what type of adjective the below belong to…
TAKAI - たかい (meaning Expensive) – I adjective
SHIZUKANA - しずかな (meaning Quiet) – NA adjective.
That was really simple, wasn’t it? :)
Well, there are some exceptions too where not all i-adjectives have to end with I sound and not all na-adjectives have to end with a NA sound. Don’t worry about the exceptions now, we have just started, Let us take it slowly :) | <urn:uuid:0350a6ee-5231-4ad5-acdd-6081cec093ed> | CC-MAIN-2016-40 | http://mastijapanese.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-40/segments/1474738661778.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20160924173741-00170-ip-10-143-35-109.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.836646 | 992 | 4 | 4 |
When the American Civil War brought an end to Irish cotton imports in the 1860s, the local linen industry, still largely composed of hand loom weavers, went into overdrive to take advantage. Within a relatively short period, Irish linen was the world’s most famous and Banbridge was at the heart of the increasingly mechanised industry.
One early entrepreneur was Thomas Ferguson from the village of Clare, not far from Banbridge. Orphaned as a youth he had learned the trade from the remarkable Brice Smyth, a blind handloom weaver of renown and founder of Banbridge’s famous Brookfield Linen Mill.
Not long after the Civil War ended, Ferguson acquired a 999 lease for the site on which his company operated until recent times – the Edenderry Works, just around the corner from their present factory. Soon mechanised with the latest equipment, Ferguson’s Damask linen became a byword for quality around the world. The company would remain within the Ferguson family until 1988.
Lurgan Public Art – Linen Bleachers
Today, you can take an enthralling tour of Fergusons, the last maker of quality Irish Damask linen, considered the world’s finest linen, to see how it is created. And, although technology has transformed the efficiency of the process, it is essentially the same as during the golden age of linen, says Nigel Spiers, who conducts the tours of Fergusons.
The intricate design, once printed out on cards and laboriously inputted into the looms, is now directly transferred from computers, cutting out human error and many man hours.
Linen yarn, notoriously brittle, needs constant moisture at the weaving stage to keep it pliable. With the heat created by the great looms this creates a very humid atmosphere. In the early days of mechanised linen manufacture, barefoot employees trod floors covered in water, ingested flax fibres that led to terrible chest conditions and nearly passed out with the humidity.
Today, vacuum cleaners absorb the fibres, machines control the humidity and the floors are dry as a bone. But the yarn is still fed into the looms in much the same way and there remains something magically hypnotic about watching the clattering looms gradually recreating the beautiful designs.
From the weaving department the linen, once despatched to local bleaching mills, is now sent to Portugal to be returned pristine white. Then it is the turn of Ferguson’s skilled seamstresses, working on vintage sewing machines, including Singers from the Victoria era, to hem and stitch the Damask linen into the sheets, handkerchiefs, tablecloths and napkins that will be sold around the globe.
Today, Ferguson’s sell their linen to several royal families (they made 250 napkins for the Queen’s Jubilee to the same design as was used for her coronation napkins) around the world. Their prized fabrics are bought by the likes of major opera and ballet companies and leading fashion designers.
Technology has made the process more efficient, even allowing for more bespoke designs, Nigel says, but the human skill and endeavour that lies at the core of Irish linen’s renowned quality, including Ferguson’s famous Double Damask, remains a key part of the company’s success.
You can buy their products at their factory shop, online, at retail stores throughout the island of Ireland and at the FE McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge.
Tours of Fergusons can be arranged by calling 028 4062 3491 and asking for Nigel or emailing firstname.lastname@example.org. Linen tours of Banbridge and further afield can be arranged by contacting the Banbridge Visitor Information Centre on 028 4062 3322 or emailing email@example.com. Please allow notice of at least three days before booking either tour.
Ferguson’s Factory 1961
Today, you can take an enthralling tour of Fergusons, the last maker of quality Irish Damask linen, considered the world’s finest linen, to see how it is created. | <urn:uuid:e122b456-8991-4274-a0e3-16e3a2445ed2> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://visitarmagh.com/stories/discover-our-culture-and-weave-your-own-story-of-armagh/weaving-the-story-of-the-worlds-finest-irish-linen/the-story-of-the-worlds-finest-linen/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573876.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20220820012448-20220820042448-00372.warc.gz | en | 0.942173 | 868 | 2.75 | 3 |
all livestock will be on customer collection only basis as we will not send animals by mail.
Budgies: Colourful, attractive, sociable birds that are easy to keep and look after. They originate from Australia and can live up to 15 years - so choosing one as a pet is a long-term commitment. They can be kept alone but prefer the company of their own species. If kept indoors they will need regular daily exercise outside their cage and are at their most active during the daytime, sleeping once it gets dark.
Budgies can be housed indoors in a large wire cage with a plastic base or outdoors in a purpose-built aviary. The cage should have some horizontal bars on it to allow climbing this means many round cages are unsuitable. Bars should be no wider than 12mm apart to prevent escape. Kept outdoors, your aviary should allow room for the birds to fly around properly. Budgies kept indoors will need to be let out of their cage daily to exercise make sure you keep all doors and windows closed when you do this. Covering the cage with a cloth at night will encourage your Budgie to settle down for sleep.
You should provide a bath for your bird, either fixed to the outside of the cage or a shallow bowl placed inside the cage although some birds may prefer to be sprayed with tepid water instead.
The cage should also contain plenty of toys to keep your Budgie amused, particularly if it is kept on its own.
Budgies come in a vast array of colours and markings including pied, spangled, opaline, blue, green, grey, yellow faces, lutino and albino.
Budgies in the wild eat a wide range of seeds, grains, and vegetation. A good-quality Budgerigar / Parakeet mix makes a good basic diet although supplements may also be required such as cuttlefish which acts as a vitamin supplement, environmental enrichment, and also helps grind the beak down. Small pieces of fresh fruit and vegetables may also be given as treats and fresh drinking water should always be available. Certain foods can be harmful to your Budgie - avoid giving your pet lettuce, avocado, lemon, potato, or any sweets or drinks designed for human consumption.
Budgies are intelligent and inquisitive birds that enjoy playing and climbing. Toys are essential to stimulate them mentally and physically especially important for birds kept on their own. Budgies can also be taught to mimic sounds and talk. If they hear the same words repeatedly from the same person they may pick them up and begin mimicking the words or phrases. A solitary bird will need more attention and affection than a pair or group and should be handled every day.
With patience, Budgies can become quite tame although it is essential they are trained from an early age, and by one person only. The first step is to get the bird used to being stroked inside its cage use a stick or perch, not your hands. Start by gently stroking its chest a couple of times a day, then encourage it to jump onto the stick. Next, repeat the whole process through the door of the cage rather than the bars. Finally, repeat again, using your hands this time instead of the stick. This is a gradual process that may take several weeks but usually works in the end.
To pick up your Budgie, ensure your palm covers its back and wings while your middle and index finger surround the birds neck. Be gentle Budgies will bite if they feel stressed. If catching an aviary bird use a padded rim net and never try to catch it in mid flight - always wait until it is perched safely.
Budgies can be mated from about a year old and will produce a clutch of 4-6 eggs in about 18-21 days. As with all pets, breeding Budgies requires much commitment of time and effort. It is recommended that you therefore seek expert advice and do appropriate research before considering keeping a breeding pair and only if you're certain you can find good homes for the babies.
Budgies can be kept alone but prefer the company of their own kind. They can be kept in pairs (hens with cocks) although if just keeping a few birds together, either sex should be fine. For larger aviaries it's usually best to keep more hens than cocks otherwise the cock birds may fight over the hens. You can also mix pairs of Budgies with other small parakeets although if kept in a breeding aviary you shouldn't mix more than 2 species.
Budgies can catch Scaly Beak, a contagious condition that requires immediate treatment by a vet. As with all birds, if you are worried about any aspect of your Budgies health, seek advice from an Avian veterinarian. For a healthy life, your Budgie needs the following:
FREE DELIVERY ON ALL ORDERS OVER £50.00 TO UK MAINLANDsales@pet-shopper.co.uk
UK ORMSKIRK CUSTOMERS Free delivery from Pet Shopper to Ormskirk area within a 5 mile radius of Ormskirk town centre. Order through "contact us" option or by phone 01695 579827 | <urn:uuid:9e2b9fda-3554-4416-82ae-86e6d76ed304> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | http://www.pet-shopper.co.uk/product/budgies-customer-collection-only | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934808133.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20171124123222-20171124143222-00620.warc.gz | en | 0.947568 | 1,090 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Thank you Rewire for keeping reporters on track! Here are the important things everyone should know to get it right on abortion:
Six Facts You Should Know:
- Every major medical association here and abroad supports unfettered access to abortion care.
- The vast majority of abortions in this country take place in the first trimester.
- Abortions are safe and complications are rare.
- Limiting access to abortion makes complications more likely and endangers patients.
- Efforts to ban later abortions are based on outright lies.
- Later abortions are safe, medically necessary procedures.
Read the full article HERE | <urn:uuid:3f37c9c2-58d8-47af-a94d-6cc696f0fa33> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://southwesternwomens.com/discussions/reporters-keep-getting-it-wrong-on-abortion-rewire-sets-the-record-straight/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141674082.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20201201104718-20201201134718-00565.warc.gz | en | 0.884586 | 127 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Published: July 2015
The purpose of the research is to explore ways in which teaching and learning with 1:1 devices is changing the way teachers teach and pupils learn. We look in detail at how technology can impact teaching and learning through pedagogical models such as flipped learning and challenge based learning.
This research has focused on the way in which schools can sustain changes to pedagogy following the introduction of 1:1 mobile technology. Previous research found out that the introduction of 1:1 technology was most successful if it became part of a wider pedagogical vision for the school which received strong support from the leadership. The Transforming Learning research builds on this to show the importance of sustaining teacher support, training and motivation to use the technology. | <urn:uuid:a33b60f2-f641-43fb-9927-133643b00140> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | http://techknowledge.org.uk/research/research-reports/transforming-learning/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039744513.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20181118155835-20181118181835-00448.warc.gz | en | 0.970672 | 150 | 3.21875 | 3 |
I'm on a Jury: Why Can't I Google, Tweet, Facebook,
Email or Blog About It?
New technology and social media can help us stay in touch with friends, families and online acquaintances, but using social media doesn’t always follow the rules for jurors.
When you are on a jury – whether a grand juror or a trial juror – two principles guide your work:
First, you must reach a decision based only on the evidence presented to you in court. This is important because one element of a fair trial is that a case is decided based only on evidence that is reviewed by the parties and the court, and that is relevant to the case and to the issues to be decided.Second, you must make the decision with your fellow jurors, in private and without any outside influence. You and your colleagues on the jury have met the qualifications to be a juror and are the only people selected to decide the case.
If you are a grand juror, there is a third principle – you must observe grand jury secrecy and keep secret everything that happens when the grand jury meets.
These principles and the juror’s job did not change with the arrival of new technology and social media. Cell phones, lap tops, tablets and other technology have made it easier for us to stay in touch, but jurors and potential jurors have to use technology in a way that does not conflict with their responsibilities as jurors.
The same caution applies to jurors' and potential jurors’ use of social media. Many jurors are accustomed to using Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and other sites to communicate their views, experiences, observations and opinions. Jurors and potential jurors must only use social media in a way that is consistent with their responsibilities as jurors.Some guidelines for jurors. Following these guidelines throughout your jury service will help you meet your job as a juror. They apply to any and all methods of communication or research – conversations, writings, electronic devices and social media.
- If you are a prospective juror, do not attempt to learn what cases might be called for trial while you are on jury service. Do not conduct any research that might reveal any information about any case that might be pending before the court, or about any of the parties that might be involved in any case. And do not make any attempt to learn what case might be called for trial while you are on jury service.
- If you have been selected for a jury, do not try to learn more about the case or a witness, communicate about the case or a witness, or communicate with a witness or party.
- Do not discuss the case, communicate about the case, or express an opinion about the case, with anyone. This includes your family and your fellow jurors.
- Do not blog about your experience or a case.
- Do not independently visit a location mentioned in the case.
- Do not independently research a case, a party, a witness, or anything that comes up in a case.
The guidelines apply to any and all methods of communication or research. The guidelines given above apply to any and all methods of communication or research - reading or writing, electronic devices and social media. You cannot write about grand jury deliberations in a letter or on a blog. You cannot drive to a site mentioned in testimony or check it out on Google Earth. You cannot text a fellow juror about the day’s testimony or talk to your spouse about it.
Questions? No list of guidelines will cover every situation. If you have a question about whether you can – or should – do something, do nothing until you have received direction from the Judge, the Jury Office or, if you are on a grand jury, the State’s Attorney or Assistant State’s Attorney. | <urn:uuid:57b9c4a0-27b1-4a53-8a6d-addd44f6dad5> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://courts.state.md.us/juryservice/why.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257827079.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071027-00239-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942585 | 776 | 2.625 | 3 |
If you are a history buff and you want to visit a place that has more to offer than flashy nightspots and deluxe hotels, Petra is the place for you. This historical city, located in southern Jordan, was chosen as one of the “New Seven Wonders of the World” in 2007. It is quite possibly the most visited tourist sight in Jordan.
A City Carved Out from Rose Stone
This UNESCO World Heritage Site is often referred to as the Rose City because of the color of the stone from which its ancient builders carved out the city’s amazing buildings. Archeologists estimate that city was built around 312 BCE, but the Western world only discovered its existence in 1812, after it was seen by Swiss explorer Johann Burckhardt.
In the old days, Petra was a trade center to contend with. Like a fortress, it was protected from attack by surrounding tall and massive rocks. Trade caravans from Bosra, Damascus, Aqaba, Gaza, and the Persian Gulf all passed through this city. One of its entrances is a steep and narrow gorge among sandstone rocks. This keyhole like pathway leads to the city referred to as “a rose-red city half as old as time”.
Monuments of Ancient History
The city of Petra holds some of the world’s most valuable monuments. Right at its entrance is the Al Khazneh, popularly called “the Treasury”. This ruin is hewn into a cliff made of sandstone, and to this day, much of its intricate detail remains intact. Close to the Treasury, you will find the En-Neir, an amphitheater carved from the hillside. Hemmed in on three sides by a rose-colored mountain, this impressive structure allows the audience to view the city’s tombs.
Nine hundred and fifty steps up the side of a tall sandstone mountain, you will find a truly breathtaking building called “the Monastery”. This structure may have been originally built as a tomb, but it may have been converted into a monastery during the time of the Crusades.
The old city has homes clustered close to one another; these relatively small buildings were also carved out of sandstone. From afar, the doorways of these homes look like rectangular holes in the mountain, but this is where families lived when Petra was a bustling commercial center.
One of the marvels of Petra is its ancient aqueduct. Tourists are still able to see parts of the clay piping and the covered water channel that the ancient residents used to conduct water from the Wadi Musa spring to the city. It is awe-inspiring to see how this man-made waterway was made to go up the mountain then angled gradually to maintain water pressure in the city’s outlets.
You have the option of taking a day tour to Petra, but it may mean missing the magical experience of seeing Petra by candle light, or watching the sun rise and slowly reveal the city in its different shades of rose, coral, and red. The best option, expert travelers say, is to start out from Eilat for a two-day tour. This will allow you to take a leisurely tour of the city, climb up to the monastery, and take a sumptuous lunch, and spend time just soaking in the wonders of the city.
There are plenty of hotels for Petra tourists, but in addition to these contemporary accommodations, you can also opt to rest in traditional Bedouin camp. Less than half an hour from Petra, Bedouin-style camps are available for guests who want the modern convenience of comfortable beds and hot showers while sleeping in beit shar tents, eating traditional home style food, and drinking tea under the stars when the day is done. | <urn:uuid:3dc19b9f-4bc4-4499-9c26-bcf836d2a0cd> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://onlinetravelconsultant.com/petra-a-step-back-in-time/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257647044.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20180319175337-20180319195337-00493.warc.gz | en | 0.966481 | 780 | 2.703125 | 3 |
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Studies at Sea Life Park are under way to narrow down the temperature range that determines the gender of sea turtles.
Researchers try to determine whether nest temperatures influence the gender of unborn Hawaiian green sea turtles
Whether it's a boy or a girl might have something to do with "nest temperatures."
And when it comes to Hawaiian green sea turtles, nest temperatures could be an important factor in keeping the ratio of females and males about the same, some scientists believe.
"It's one of the last great mysteries left for Hawaiian sea turtles," said biologist George Balazs, head of the Marine Turtle Research Team of the National Marine Fisheries Service. This is the first time this type of research is being done in Hawaii on the endemic, threatened species.
Sea Life Park, the Marine Turtle Research Team of the National Marine Fisheries Service and the University of Alabama at Birmingham are working together to determine whether pivotal temperatures are the reason for gender determination for Hawaiian green sea turtles. Experts believe warmer temperatures produce females while cooler temperatures produce males.
Data is expected to be available in four months, with researchers continuing their work through 2007.
"(Hawaii) has relatively cool nesting beaches compared to other beaches in the world where sea turtles nest," said Thane Wibbels, associate biology professor of the University of Alabama and principal scientist on the study.
Researchers believe Hawaii's turtles have adapted to those cooler temperatures, producing an equal ratio of males and females.
Balazs has operated a stranded and salvage team for sea turtles in isle waters for 22 years. Through his research, autopsies performed on dead turtles showed an equal ratio of males and females. When they are too small, their gender cannot be determined based on their appearance, he said.
"The study will help reaffirm that our field studies are indeed correct, that we have a 1-to-1 sex ratio or thereabouts, meaning it's a healthy, balanced male-to-female sex ratio," Balazs said.
Balazs has been studying green sea turtles for 37 years and said Hawaii's nesting temperatures are quite low compared with other nesting beaches in the world.
"There should be a larger number of males," he said. Experts believe that the Hawaiian green sea turtle population has adapted to "significantly lower pivotal temperatures. The temperature seems to have shifted in the Hawaiian green sea turtles. At least, that's what we're investigating," Wibbels said.
The study is significant for conservation and preservation reasons as well as to determine how the turtles adapt to climate changes. "They demonstrated to be very adaptable," said Dr. Renato Lenzi, general manager of Sea Life Park. "The more we can find out about them now, the more we'll be able to predict down the road."
About 130 to 140 eggs are being used in the study. About 200 turtles will be used for the study before they are released into the ocean. Eggs are hatched in the sand by female Hawaiian green sea turtles in the conservation colony of Sea Life Park. Since 1976 about 400 to 1,000 hatchlings have been produced at the park annually.
Each egg is marked and incubated for about 60 days. When the turtles hatch, each is tagged on its flippers to determine the incubator in which it is placed. When the turtle is big enough, about 8 inches in diameter, experts conduct a laparoscopic procedure to determine whether the turtle is male or female.
A majority of the Hawaiian green sea turtles nest at the French Frigate Shoals about 400 miles off Kauai. It takes about 20 to 35 years for the turtles to reach maturity, Balazs said. | <urn:uuid:229dbc17-475c-4739-8eb0-9668050705f1> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/09/18/news/story06.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394011044030/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305091724-00004-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939287 | 768 | 3.203125 | 3 |
In 635, a Syrian monk named Alopen arrived in the Chinese capital. A monument was placed in 781, called the Nestorian Stele was a nine-foot limestone covered with inscription. It details the teachings of the Christian community as well as describes Alopen and his students. Nearly 150 years after his arrival, it is impossible to know what was originally in Alopen’s message and what was elaborated by the Chinese who became Christians. These inscriptions present a fairly orthodox understanding of Jesus, yet express that orthodoxy in distinctive ways that would resonate with the religious plurality of Asia at this time. Besides the text, there is the imagery of a cross emerging from a lotus blossom, demonstrating how the Christian message can grow from the existence of ancient Eastern religions.
This is an extended quote from Philip Jenkins book, “The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Goden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia– and How it Died” (HarperOne, 2008). I suppose it may be a longer quote than normal copyrights approve. But I do heartily recommend getting the book for those who are interested in Christian history… even more so since Asian and African Christianity are gaining in importance. Interfaith dialogue and interaction are also gaining in import, so there is much to be gained from this book. This section speaks of Bishop Timothy living in the 8th and 9th centuries AD in Selucia. I am quoting from pages 16-19.
“Timothy’s church also had critical interactions with Islam, inevitably because for the past century and a half most Eastern Christians had lived under Muslim political power. Christians largely flourished under that authority, although subject to legal disadvantages. Timothy lived in a universe that was culturally and spiritually Christian but politically Muslim, and he coped quite comfortably with that situation. As faithful subjects, the patriarch and his clergy prayed for the caliph and his family. The catholicos was a key figure at the court of the Muslim caliph, and when the city of Seleucia itself went the way of ancient Babylon, fading into ruin in its turn, the caliphate moved its capital to Baghdad; and Timothy naturally followed. Most of his patriarchate coincided with the legendary caliphate of Haran al-Rashid, the era of the Arabian Nights.
As in the case of Buddhism, Christians had to engage intellectually with Islam, and the interactions were impressive, even moving. Timothy’s famous dialogue with the caliph al-Mahdi survives as a precious monument of civilized, intelligent religious exchange. …. He asked the king to imagine that
we are all of us as in a dark house in the middle of the night. If at night and in a dark house, a precious pearl happens to fall in the midst of people, and all become aware of its existence, every one would strive to pick up the pearl, which will not fall to the lot of all but to the lot of one only, while one will get hold of the pearl itself, another one of a piece of glass, a third one a stone or a bit of earth, but every one will be happy and proud that he is the real possessor of the pearl. When, however, night and darkness disappear, and light and day arise, then every one of those people who had believed that they had the pearl, would extend and stretch their hand towards the light, which alone can show what everyone has in hand. The one who possesses the pearl will rejoice and be happy and pleased with it, while those who had in hand pieces of glass and bits of stone only will weep and be sad, and will sigh and shed tears.
In the same way, Timothy said, the pearl of true faith had fallen into the transient mortal world, and each faith naively believed that it alone possessed it. All he could claim– and all the caliph could assert in response– was that some faiths could see enough evidence that theirs was the real pearl, although the final truth would not be known in this world.
Timothy could speak so freely because Eastern Christians played such a critical role of building Muslim politics and culture, and they still had a near stranglehold over the ranks of administration. Their wide linguistic background made the Eastern churches invaluable resources for rising empires in search of diplomats, advisers, and scholars. Eastern Christians dominated the cultural and intellectual life of what was only slowly becoming the “Muslim world,” and this cultural strength starkly challenges standard assumptions about the relationship between the two faiths. It is common knowledge that medieval Arab societies were far ahead of those of Europe in terms of science, philosophy, and medicine, and that Europeans derived much of their scholarship from the Arab world; yet in the early centuries, this cultural achievement was usually Christian and Jewish rather than Muslim. … Timothy himself translated Aristotle’s Topics from Syriac into Arabic, at the behest of the caliph. …
It was during Timothy’s time that Baghdad became a legendary intellectual center, and the caliph’s creation of the famous House of Wisdom, the fountainhead of later Islamic scholarship. But this was the direct successor of the Christian “university” of Jundishapur, and it borrowed many Nestorian scholars. One early head of the House of Wisdom was the Christian Arab Hunayn, who began the massive project of translating the Greek classics into Arabic: the works of Plato, Aristotle, and the Neoplatonists, as well as medical authorities like Hippocrates and Galen.”
It is sad that the congenial relations were not mirrored in Western Christianity. It is also sad that the usually peaceful relations in “Muslim” territories between Muslims and Eastern Christians ended starting in the 13th century continuing until today. However, as more and more Christians live in countries whose government is not aligned with Christian beliefs (be they Muslim, Buddhist, Secularist, or otherwise) we may find better models from the 1st Millennium Eastern Christianity in how to relate in their societies.
<Warning: Just some speculative mental wanderings. If it seems imbecilic or pointless… you are probably correct.>
Long ago, I used to be an engineer. I was a mechanical engineer and (for awhile) a nuclear engineer. As such I had a certain fascination with “techie” things, and with the boundaries of physics. As I transitioned into full-time Christian ministry, my readings moved more towards practical ministry, theology, and philosophy. I kind of wish now that I had kept up with physics, because it sure seems like there are areas in Modern Physics that brings up interesting ways of looking at God and the Church. Take the concept of Space-Time.
Einsteinian Physics focuses on Space-Time. Newtonian Physics assumes that time is constant, an unchanging ticking of a universal clock (it is interesting the Newton recognized that this was merely an assumption he was making, but did so since he had no way to prove or disprove it). But with Einstein, this changed. We see time as a vector tied to the three vectors that we are more comfortable with (length, width, and depth). In the past, one might look at the universe as a big (very big) ball. The ball may be changing (growing, shrinking, oscillating, whatever). However, with the new understanding it might be better to look at the universe as a giant hotdog. Hotdog? By that I mean, if one looks at the universe at a moment of time (an admittedly questionable concept of itself, but never mind) it might look like the giant ball, but as it interacts with the time dimension one could see it as a series of balls forming a sausage shape with the curved surface at one end being the beginning (in the beginning) and the other side being the end (FIN).
With space-time, time and space interact in strange ways. Not only does change of position in space and time result in velocity, but velocity affects space and time (in space-time). Because of this, the concept of “the present” becomes muddy. The past and future become different parts of the hotdog. Modern Physics tends to downplay the perception of the passage of time. How MIGHT this affect theology?
1. God’s position regarding the Universe. We often describe God as omnipresent and timeless. These could be described as God’s relationship with space and time. Some add immutability. This would be God’s unchanging nature (with respect of time). I am not particularly convinced that immutability is an accurate characteristic of God, based on the Biblical record. “God and Time: Four Views” is a book showing four different Christian views (based on four Christian philosophers) of God’s nature regarding time. I will let others fight the details, but if God created space-time, then one could argue that God is outside of space-time, or at least not affected by it. God would be like a person looking at a hotdog (space-time). God is (from our perspective) in an eternal now. That does not necessarily mean that God is in a static existence where time does not exist. Rather, it means that God is timeless from our perspective (living as we do in the space-time “hotdog”). God can be said to be omnipresent and timeless by existing and permeating all points of space-time, but have existence that goes far outside of its boundaries.
2. Prophecy. We often looked at prophecy (the foretelling-type of prophecy at least) as peeking into the future and writing it down beforehand. The question that resulted from that was whether prophecy violated freewill (or is there freewill to violate in the first place?). However, if one looks at the Universe in terms of space-time, prophecy is putting a note about what is seen in one part of the hotdog in a different part. As such, it loses, to some extent, its predictive quality. Space-time seems to allow for the idea that the future can affect the past. The principle of causation seems to prevent it, but a valid prophecy could be the result of an iterative process between past and future, which in the final point does not affect causation. Prophecy is simply writing down what is seen as happening in a different part of the space-time continuum (much like writing down in one place what is happening in a different geographic location). The effects of causation of a prophecy would affect instantaneously (if one could use such a term) space-time. A prophecy from divine perspective would affect other events, affecting the prophecy and so on until a stable loop results.
3. Calvin and Arminius. This really relates to prophecy. Calvin saw salvation is imputed in the past (prescriptive) by God. Arminius saw it as based on divine foreknowledge (predictive). Since the Bible has passages that support both sides, Calvinists and Arminians tend to build their theology on the verses they prefer and downplay the theological significance of the verses of the opposition. There should be a better way. It seems as if the concept of space-time allows for a reading of scripture where the prescriptive and predictive meet. If God exists outside of Space-time, then God working with and respond to us now is not in conflict to God working for us in the past from our perspective since both are in the eternal NOW.
4. The Universal Church. If we talk about the Universal Church, we talk about churches in the Americas, in Asia, in Africa, in every part of the world. But from the space-time concept, it is equally valuable and important to think of the church in all points of time, not just space. I am an evangelical, and evangelicals tend to be ahistoric. Some other groups are highly focused on the past… on tradition. But both kind of miss the point. The church of North Africa died close to 1200 years ago. This is a sad thing. But they are not gone. In space- time, they are equally part of us. They exist in history, so they exist. They are an active part of the Universe as much as we are. As such, to ignore them or fail to interact with them is as foolish as ignoring churches today in Southeast Asia. When Jesus noted that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we need to remember that God is our God now as well. If we are connected to God in the eternal NOW, as is the patriarchs, then we are connected to them as well. If this is a valid way of looking at things, it is an awesome thing to meditate upon.
5. The spirit world. Attitudes differ as far as ghosts, angels, and demons. There are even arguments as to whether we are simply flesh and blood (the mind/soul/spirit simply being a simplistic model for describing the chemical-electrical interactions of the flesh and bolood) or if there indeed is a ghost in the machine… a driver inside, but unique, from the vehicle. The space-time Universe allows for the idea of the Multiverse. Many Universes. These may be independent, but could, potentially, interact. Phenomena that do not fit well into the naturalistic (repeatable and predictive) phenomena of our space-time may be due to unpredictable interactions with other universes. It might be a bit like the ghost images one might get on a signal due to problems of multiplexing signals. Don’t know. Just something to think about.
So what does this all have to do with Missions? I have no idea. However, Christians should not fear science (nor get to impressed by its strongest supporters). God put us in a place more amazingly complex and interesting than we have even allowed ourselves to dream. We should be prepared, as Newton, Kepler, and many others, to understand ourselves and understand God, by understanding His works. If the heavens do indeed declare the glory of God, we need to listen to that declaration.
Being a missionary is both a divine calling and a professional vocation. These two truths exist in constant tension with each other. This is true of other forms of ministry as well.
Take the story of Micah and the Levite in Judges 17-18. The two main characters are Micah, an Israelite living in Laish, and a Levite from Bethlehem, but looking for a new place to live and work. You can read the story yourself. Micah was a syncretized Israelite. He believed in the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Moses. He was also a pious person desiring to have his own special place to worship God. However, much of the way he understood God and worshiped him was in line with regional pagan understandings. He set up an idol (“graven image”) in his own house (along with already having little “house gods” already there) and he set up one of his sons as a priest of God. This all was in violation of Mosaic Law. As the writer said in the book of Judges, people did whatever was seen as right in their own eyes.
When a Levite from Bethlehem came by, Micah offered to make him a priest. This was also in violation of Mosaic Law, but since the man was a Levite, he was tied to the ministry work of God. Clearly, having a Levite as a priest would be more presitious than having his own son. Micah offered a really sweet deal of position and wealth. The Levite accepted. However, later on the Danites (a tribe of Israel) found the place, stole the idol of Micah, and offered the Levite a promotion… being priest of the whole tribe.
In the story we see a minister (the Levite) looking for work. It appears that his decision-making process was primarily guided by pay, position, and prestige. He worked for Micah, because of good pay and the title of priest. He then switched to working for the Danites since he retained the good stuff of before but was added the prestige of being the religious professional for a whole tribe.
Yet, the story also shows the Levite giving up a lot as well. He had to violate Mosaic moral law. He had to worship and serve a graven image (an idol) in violation of the Decalogue. He violated Mosaic ceremonial law. A Levite (who was not of the Aaronic line) could not serve as a priest. Finally, he served money and people rather than God. His decision-making was based on pay, position, and prestige, rather than on what God wanted.
The story of Micah and the Levite is pretty straightforward, and sometimes things are pretty straightforward today. I have seen ministers who follow the money. Heterodox groups come in (here in the Philippines, this is quite common) and offer money to ministers if they will change allegiances. Again, pay, position, and prestige are used to lure the person to serving a god that is somewhat similar to the one they were trained to serve, but is somewhat different now.
The story of Micah and the Levite is pretty straightforward, but sometimes things are NOT straightforward today. Serving God in ministry often results in opportunities to serve in different places in different roles. This is not inherently bad.
There are some who assume that a divine calling to ministry is either tied to a specific role, or to a specific location. This does not appear to be correct. First, there appears to be little evidence of such a calling in the Bible (especially, the New Testament). Second, the church fathers appeared not to follow that either. Take, for example, John Mark. John Mark began ministry as a helper of Barnabbas. Later on, he served as a helper of Paul and of Peter. This type of work is apostolic (missionary role). However, later in life he changed role and location, becoming bishop (pastor) of the church of Alexandria. Another example appears to be St. John. He served as an apostle for many years. But what about later in life? It depends on who you ask. The church fathers note a person called John the Elder who served in Ephesus. Some church fathers show John the Apostle as the same person as John the Elder, but some disagree. I would like to suggest that the confusion that people had in later centuries was based on confusion as to what an apostle was. An apostle was a missionary, a church-planter. It is a role outside of the local church. I believe that John did the same thing as John Mark. As he got older, he “retired” from the travel and responsibilities of the apostolic role, and moved to serving in a local church (Ephesus) as an elder.
There are other examples as well. The challenge then is this:
1. Maturity and opportunities may mean that it is needed, appropriate, or desirable to change ministerial role or location.
2. It is not wrong in and of itself to change role or location.
3. I believe that we have a certain amount of freedom in this, but not total freedom. Paul appeared to have a great deal of freedom to go where he wanted to go, yet God did step in to guide him away from one area to send him to Macedonia.
4. The freedom God gives is limited by God’s will. Serving a ministry that violates God’s Word and will.
5. Pay, Position, and Prestige are not bad of themselves, but one must be sure that these are not used to rationalize serving in the wrong role, the wrong place, or the wrong person (or god).
6. I don’t believe that making a wrong choice, leads necessarily to failure. I do believe that Paul made a mistake in not recognizing divine warning from church leaders about going to Jerusalem. However, regardless, God used him. We can make mistakes, and correct later if necessary.
7. I believe that the guiding principle is the Great Commandment. Our priorities are love of God and love of man (rather than pay, position, and prestige).
Anyway, that is the way I see it now. But I am learning and growing as well.
A child is running on the sidewalk. He trips and falls down. After a moment of being stunned and another moment of reflection and evaluation, he ties his right shoe lace, brushes the pebbles off his pants and shirt, gets up, and continues running.
Who is the best witness? I would suggest that it is an individual who lives a life of faithful imperfection.
Not everyone agrees. Often the thought is that perfection is the best model. Certainly, Jesus is our model. Yet, He is the image of the transcendent God in immanent form. Yet, Jesus did not stay with us, but rather returned to heaven leaving us as imperfect people acting as witnesses of a perfect God. PERHAPS an imperfect witness is a better witness than a perfect one since we have a hard time relating to perfection… or even recognizing it.
Certainly, many groups seek to show themselves in terms of perfection. Turning the channels on TV here in the Philippines, I stop briefly at a channel owned by a local religion created by a man who claims to be “the new Son of God.” He says that Jesus was the Son of God, but now Jesus is the Father, and he (Apollo Quiboloy) is the new Son of God. I don’t really pay much attention to the group… happily the group has little impact up here in Baguio… but the channel really portrays a very sweet, syrupy, (and to me at least, creepy) image. The people at his temple in Davao are all dressed the same and act the same. The leader is the clear center of attention (of himself as well as his followers). All of the TV productions are developed to portray a certain perfection. The camera angles and lenses are set up to make the temple appear larger than it really is (it is kind of reminiscent of the Mormon tendency to always show the Salt Lake Temple from low angles to make it look taller and grander). The music is heavily audio mixed, with photogenic singers (all dressed the same) or with idyllic backgrounds like those used for videoke.
I am sure this sort of production is appealing to some. For me, it is very disturbing. The narcissistic leader, the high pressure towards group conformity, and huge concern about image points towards an authoritarian, “cultic” structure (though I have never talked to an insider, so I can only go by the way they wish to present themselves). Such an image could never appeal to me and most people I know.
I would like to suggest that the example above is NOT what we are supposed to show as witnesses of Christ. Yes, it might be attractive to some, but it may be drawing people to individuals or churches rather than to God. It is interesting that none of the church fathers in the New Testament are shown this way. Rather, they are shown making mistakes and learning. Even Jesus is shown in surprisingly human (non-idealized) terms. It is also interesting that there are very few examples of perfect followers of God in the Bible. Daniel might be an exception, but few look to Daniel as an example except for courage.
In business/marketing it has been discovered that when a problem occurs with a customer, it is better to to treat the customer graciously and extravagantly than it is to try to cover things up. In fact, there is greater customer loyalty from those who were dissatisfied and then treated well than by those who were not disatisfied in the first place! Many companies embrace faithful imperfection in building a strong customer base, rather than by denying errors and covering things up.
Let’s return to the metaphor. The boy falls down… making a mistake. There is the momentary shock (normal) followed by self-reflection (what went wrong, what problems now exist). The problem is found and corrected and cleaned up. Then the boy continues on the way. This is faithful imperfection. It is inspirational. It is more inspirational than seeing a child running and apparently not challenged by obstacles and gravity.
Faithful perfection is hypocrisy since we are NOT perfect. (Those who are part of the Holiness tradition believe in the possibility of perfection in this world. I will leave that to theologians to argue about. But I am unaware of any perfect people and am uncertain that a perfect person would be very useful in this world.)
Unfaithful (perfect or otherwise) is simply secular. I have heard some church leaders describing the church as simply a congregation of sinners. Yet that is NOT simply what we are meant to be. We are meant to be sinners, learning, and growing in faithfulness. Otherwise we are no witness at all.
“Bonhoeffer saw the chief temptation faced by Christians as the lure to withdraw out of the world into pious enclaves, to erect private spheres of religiosity or to view religion as one activity or dimension of existence in addition to the others.
The Gospel is not a call to be religious in this sense. Bonhoeffer asserted. Thus he rejected any suggestion that Christians should strive for a detached, disengaged piety that was viewed as elevating them above humankind. To be a Christian, he argued, does not entail cultivating asceticism.
Rather, to be a Christian means to participate in the life of the world, to serve God in the world, and not merely to some sterile religious sanctuary or in an isolated sheltered Christian enclave. The church is ‘to stand in the center of the village,’ he argued, and the Christian life is to be lived in the world. He found this call to be based on the nature of the Christian hope itself, which is not directed toward an escape from the present situation into a better world beyond the grave, but rather sends believers back to life on earth in a wholly new way. We must ‘drink the earthly cup to the lees,’ he declared, for only in so doing is the crucified and risen Lord with us.”
I was raised up in a a Separatist tradition. While there is much in my upbringing that I do embrace, I do believe that Separatism (the spiritual, and often physical, removal of the church from society as much as possible) has tended to make churches increasingly irrelevant. I believe Pietism(I am using the term in this case for the attitude of judging “spirituality” or “godliness” by the intensity or duration of privatized spiritual disciplines) and Apocalypticism(I am using the term in this case as an intense focus on the future Kingdom of God so that the world we live in, and our role in it, is highly devalued) are related problems within the Reformed, Fundamentalist, Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Charismatic movements. I am not attacking these movements. I am deeply rooted in two or three of these movements, but believe it is time for some self-reflection and change to be effective in our work in the world.
This is just some thoughts on Diaspora missions. I have a number of friends and colleagues who are experts on Diaspora missions. I am not such an expert. But writing is my way thinking and learning. Diaspora refers to the “scattered seed” or the scattered people group in other countries. Filipinos are commonly thought of as a group with a large Diaspora. Close to 10% of Filipinos work overseas. This is a huge number with a lot of sociological implications… many of them not good. However, rather than focusing on the problems associated with the Diaspora (or OFW) phenomenon, I would rather focus on the REALITY of the situation. It exists, so how do we work with it?
1. Diaspora missions is sub-cultural missions. Missions can focus on cultures (dominant culture), sub-cultures, or micro-cultures. Sub-cultures are different from micro-cultures with sub-cultures involving groups that are unique within the broader society 24 hours a day. Micro-cultures are unique only part of the time. For example, taxicab drivers have a distinctive culture part of the day and then go home and join the larger culture the rest of the time. OFWs normally are recognized as a different culture 24-hours a day.
2. Typically, Diaspora missions is Marginalized Diaspora missions. If the Diaspora are Integrated or Assimilated into the broader society, there is little need for a separate missions methodology. It is possible, theoretically, for Diaspora to exist within a Separated relationship with the broader society. This might exist in some scattered people groups such as the Romany. However, with groups like the Filipinos, they are thinly scattered within the broader society because of work status. Rarely do they live with the option of being in a sub-cultural enclave.
3. Marginalized Diaspora missions needs to deal with more than simply conversion. Marginalization suggests that the people have lost important aspects of their culture without gaining some other coping mechanisms from the dominant culture. While most of us don’t FEEL like we need culture… but we do. Partly, this is because culture provides a narrative, a structure, and a set of coping mechanisms. Without these, there is emotional and behavioral chaos.
Why is this? Take the case of Filipino Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs). Filipinos who work overseas typically are:
a. Uprooted from their religious, familial, and social bonds, norms, and taboos. This forces them to try to create new bonds, norms, and taboos.
b. Not only are OFWs removed from the extended families, they are commonly removed from their nuclear families. In many sub-cultures new norms and bonds form that are hugely in conflict with their home culture. Infidelity not only causes a lot of legal and financial problems, it creates a lot of internal tension, and family destruction.
c. OFWs relate to the broader culture in different ways. In some cases they are welcome and legal. In some cases they are legal but unwelcome (or are at least denigrated). In some cases they are welcome (at least by employers) but illegal. I have seen some places were Filipinos are looked at as a people of servants, because the OFWs take on the roles that the local people don’t want to do (much like the migrant worker situation in the US). Often the OFWs have more education than the people they are working for. All of this adds additional stress and questions regarding self-identity and self-worth.
I am sure there are more. But all of this gives some suggestion of roles needed in Diaspora Missions.
The disorientation of the new culture may make OFWs open to spiritual redirection. Conversion and church development are important, but this is just the start.
The church for OFWs needs to provide a role more in line with the 1st century church. The first century church created a new family and structure (without rejecting one’s old family).
OFWs need to be helped to develop healthy new social structures. They can’t simply copy the ones from home. Yet, assimilating into the new culture can be very unhealthy, as is maintaining a culturally damaged (marginalized) status.
OFWs need to be helped to integrate their lives so that they are not developing a compartmentalized life (two families, two sets of morals).
In clinical pastoral counseling, there is language used referring to the “recovery of the soul.” The term soul in this case is closer to the older meaning for spirit… the self empowered and meaningful life. The ideal of clinical pastoral counseling must follow through into Diaspora Missions. OFWs need to feel empowered, but that empowering must have meaning/direction… and that direction needs to be healthy, not unhealthy.
That is a major challenge with Diaspora missions. To a large extent OFWs gain power (money) through working overseas. But the direction of that power tears families a part and creates marginalized sub-cultures. Diaspora missions needs to step in and work with OFWs to redirect… the recovery of the soul.
Yes, but you must wager. There is no choice, you are already committed. Which will you choose then? Let us see: since a choice must be made, let us see which offers you the least interest. You have two things to lose: the true and the good; and two things to stake: your reason and your will, your knowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two things to avoid: error and wretchedness. Since you must necessarily choose, your reason is no more affronted by choosing one rather than the other. That is one point cleared up. But your happiness? Let us weight up the gain and the loss involved in calling heads that God exists. Let us assess the two cases: if you win you win everything, if you lose you lose nothing. Do not hesitate then; wager that he does exist.”
The basic argument is essentially game theory. The way to minimize risk is belief as opposed to unbelief (in God). However, William James in his essay “The Will to Believe” quotes Mahdi (not sure which one… “Mahdi” is a title from Islamic Tradition… perhaps he was referring to the one who was part of the 19th century Mahdist revolt in British Sudan.)
“I am the Expected One who God has created in his effulgence. You shall be infinitely happy if you confess me; otherwise you shall be cut off from the light of the sun. Weigh, then your infinite gain if I am genuine against your finite sacrifice if I am not!”
The argument is essentially the same. However, at least from a Christian standpoint, the argument seems much weaker. The idea that god (as described within the Islamic system) and his messenger should be believed since the gain is much greater than the loss, only makes sense if there is no competing system.
Pascal’s Wager essentially works in a setting where there are two essential positions: Unbelief (or nominalism) in a religious system versus Belief in that same religious system. Things fall apart in a pluralistic culture.
Does that mean that nothing can be said? To me, it might be a solid wager in the broadest sense. There is a basic soundness that believing in God if God exists is of greater benefit then the loss associated with believing in God if God does not exist.
Still I am not sure that Pascal’s Wager is all that useful in missions. Nearly everywhere now, cultures are either pluralistic or are dualistic where Christianity is an outsider sytem. The idea that having religious faith “makes sense” on some level may be comforting to some. However, in a pluralistic society, there are too many options.
Still, we live in a time when the vestiges of logical positivism remain (at least for the moment) so there are still some that feel that faith and truth are at war. Works such as that by Pascal and William James (and the various challenges to naivety of scientific exuberance, “Popperism,” and positivism) help some realize that the realm of faith can be an intellectually safe place to dwell.
It seems to me that Christians should avoid the extremes of placing faith in stark contrast to logic (faith against cognition) on one side and “scientifically proving” faith on the other side.
With the growth of post-modernism, faith is given more respect (as long as it is tinged by doubt). Faith is necessary (even unbelief takes a certain amount of faith of one sort). The growing challenge is that faith communities must learn to welcome both “thinkers” and “feelers.” Both are made by God and both have a place in His church.
I was doing some lookups on doubt on the Internet. Very little good information is available. I took a class called “Faith and Doubt” at Asia Baptist Graduate Theological Seminary. Our two main texts were “Doubt: A History” by Jennifer M. Hecht and “In Praise of Doubt: How to Have Convictions Without Becoming a Fanatic” by Peter Berger and Anton Zijderveld. Both were interesting books, although neither was really good at categorizing types of doubt (at least in a clear fashion). The Internet doesn’t do a good job either. Perhaps this is because of the general disinterest in the topic.
Religionists reject doubt commonly. But anti-religionists commonly do as well. At most, doubt may be seen as an unpleasant transition towards the more positive state of belief or disbelief. After all, disbelief is simply the belief in the antithesis of what someone else believes. Doubt tends to dissatisfy disbelievers and believers alike. True believers (or True disbelievers) are often likely to be more angry at doubters than those who truly oppose them.
There seems to be a need for better categorization of doubt. I think this is well beyond me, but I can list a few common categories and a few ideas. Maybe something will develop from there in future work.
1. Methodological Doubt: Cartesian Doubt. Starting from a position of doubt in an reasoning argument. In philosophy, one seeks to separate between the dubious, the probable, and the certain. Such doubt may not say anything about the beliefs of the individual… it is simply a position to start from in a logical argument. This can be a useful tool in analysis. Sometimes it bothers people. I have an Apologetics Study Bible. In it, it argues for the authenticity or reliability of the Bible. Often it will argue from historical, textual, or logical positions. Some react to this. “The Bible says it! I believe it! That settles it!” But that is not good enough for some people, so the writers of the study Bible develop arguments from a starting position of doubt to make their arguments relevant to a broader audience.
2. Existential Doubt: The values and meaning I have… are they what I SHOULD have? This is axiological. What OUGHT I believe, think, value, and do? Paul Tillich considered existential doubt as foundational to faith. Major changes in one’s values and motives (such as in a religious conversion experience) requires existential doubt. It is necessary most likely for 2nd order changes… ones that involve basic change of belief, not simply change of method or action.
3. Skeptical Doubt: I never did find a great definition of this. Seems to be more of an attitude than an actual doubt. Doubt that pushes one to disbelief. Of course, disbelief simply means belief in something else.
For example, if one goes to the website for Sceptic Magazine:
“The Skeptics Society is a scientific and educational organization of leading scientists, scholars, investigative journalists, historians, professors and teachers. Our mission is to investigate and provide a sound scientific viewpoint on claims of the paranormal, pseudoscience, fringe groups, cults and claims between: science, pseudoscience, junk science, voodoo science, pathological science, bad science, non science and plain old nonsense. “
It is clear here that the Sceptic Society has a large number of things that they have sceptical doubt (not just methodological doubt) about. But they also have some areas that they have very strong beliefs about. The name “The Skeptics Society” seems to be at least 50% misnamed.
4. Pathological Doubt: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is often called a “disease of doubt” because it involves an inability to distinguish between what is possible, probable, and unlikely to happen. Doubt can be healthy but at least some doubt needs to ultimately be resolved.
5. Radical Doubt: Term coined by Arne Unhjem and is defined as “the recognition– often implicit, rather than explicit– that there is no truth and no meaning that deserves man’s unqualified acceptance.” It seems to be true that man needs meaning in life. Radical doubt, whether justified or not, hardly seems to be healthy… not how we were made.
6. Guilty Doubt: I made up this term… but I am sure that the term exists, or a similar term exists for this. Like “skeptical doubt” this is an attitude or response. Doubt can generally be healthy, but some feel that it is wrong to have doubt. This can be exacerbated by systems (religious, cultural, academic, corporate) that seek conformity of view. Often guilt or shame is used within the social structure to deny doubt. Guilty Doubt can lead to conformity of members and the maintaining of the oppressive structure. Paradoxically, it can result in a complete rejection of the original belief. Two reasons: First, the person who finally acknowledges their doubt may feel that doubt is the same as disbelief. Second, the system does not set up a healthy environment for addressing doubt.
I am sure there are other categories worthy of listing, but if one looks at this list, the first two are certainly beneficial in faith (or at least can be). However, there are other ways to look at doubt. One way would be to look at it from a position of source.
A. Cognitive Doubt would then be doubt of facts. This is an intellectual doubt.
B. Emotive Doubt would then be a feeling of doubt. Perhaps the doubt can’t be put into an intellectual form.
C. Volitional Doubt would then be a feeling of doubt about choices (kind of like existential doubt).
Perhaps one could add something like Self-doubt. We think of self-doubt as negative, but in this case, I mean the recognition of our own limitations as a human (limits in time, space, knowledge, wisdom). From this perspective, self-doubt is very useful… even necessary. Failure to recognize these limits is the realm of the fool and egoist.
Anyway, these are just some thoughts. Would love to hear more on doubt and categorization of doubt. | <urn:uuid:cb4bd5d2-7d4e-46a5-a0f2-489f2bbdc657> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://munsonmissions.org/2012/05/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141748276.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205165649-20201205195649-00448.warc.gz | en | 0.969409 | 8,859 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Neurological protein may help treat depression
Scientists have developed a protein peptide that may be a novel type of treatment for depression.
London: Scientists have developed a protein peptide that may be a novel type of highly targeted treatment for depression with a low side-effect profile.
Neuroscientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) found that coupling between two dopamine receptors was significantly elevated in the brains of people who had been diagnosed with major depression.
"We identified a potential therapeutic target for development of novel anti-depressants," said Dr. Fang Liu, Principal Investigator and Senior Scientist in CAMH`s Neuroscience Program and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.
Working from this discovery, researchers sought to find a way to disrupt coupling between the two receptors in hopes that it would have an anti-depressant effect.
Using an autopsied brain study, Dr. Liu and her team initially found that coupling between two dopamine receptors was significantly elevated in the brains of people who had been diagnosed with major depression.
They started by analyzing a specific dopamine signalling mechanism, the D1 and D2 receptor complex, to identify the sites where the two receptors bind together. With this information, they were able to generate a protein peptide to disrupt the binding of the two receptors. The peptide was then tested in animal models to compare the effects with existing anti-depressant medications.
"After we administered the peptide, we saw a marked improvement in depression-related behaviors. The improvement seen in the peptide group was equivalent to the improvement on traditional anti-depressant medication".
This peptide is an entirely new approach to treating depression, which has previously relied on medications that primarily block serotonin or norepinephrine transporters.
These conventional antidepressant medications don`t work for all patients, and can cause various side effects. "We are hopeful that our research will lead to new options for treatment that might have reduced side effects for patients with depression," Dr Liu stated.
The study has been published in this month`s Nature Medicine. | <urn:uuid:b4821afe-8404-4a16-99b2-5c4861ce81ed> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | http://zeenews.india.com/home/neurological-protein-may-help-treat-depression_671376.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948520218.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20171213011024-20171213031024-00293.warc.gz | en | 0.957753 | 430 | 2.703125 | 3 |
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worksheets for 1st grade bar graph worksheets. | <urn:uuid:d9b993d0-6e78-42d6-8b4e-1693358b2c8e> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | http://kolonisten.info/how-many-more-worksheets/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247479967.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20190216065107-20190216091107-00403.warc.gz | en | 0.835953 | 503 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Overfitting a model is a condition where a statistical model begins to describe the random error in the data rather than the relationships between variables. This problem occurs when the model is too complex. In regression analysis, overfitting can produce misleading R-squared values, regression coefficients, and p-values. In this post, I explain how overfitting models is a problem and how you can identify and avoid it.
Overfit regression models have too many terms for the number of observations. When this occurs, the regression coefficients represent the noise rather than the genuine relationships in the population.
That’s problematic by itself. However, there is another problem. Each sample has its own unique quirks. Consequently, a regression model that becomes tailor-made to fit the random quirks of one sample is unlikely to fit the random quirks of another sample. Thus, overfitting a regression model reduces its generalizability outside the original dataset.
Taking the above in combination, an overfit regression model describes the noise, and it’s not applicable outside the sample. That’s not very helpful, right? I’d really like these problems to sink in because overfitting often occurs when analysts chase a high R-squared. In fact, inflated R-squared values are a symptom of overfit models! Despite the misleading results, it can be difficult for analysts to give up that nice high R-squared value.
When choosing a regression model, our goal is to approximate the true model for the whole population. If we accomplish this goal, our model should fit most random samples drawn from that population. In other words, our results are more generalizable—we can expect that the model will fit other samples.
Graphical Illustration of Overfitting Regression Models
The image below illustrates an overfit model. The green line represents the true relationship between the variables. The random error inherent in the data causes the data points to fall randomly around the green fit line. The red line represents an overfit model. This model is too complex, and it attempts to explain the random error present in the data.
The example above is very clear. However, it’s not always that obvious. Below, the fitted line plot shows an overfit model. In the graph, it appears that the model explains a good proportion of the dependent variable variance. Unfortunately, this is an overfit model, and I’ll show you how to detect it shortly.
If you have more than two independent variables, it’s not possible to graph them in this manner, which makes it harder to detect.
How Overfitting a Model Causes these Problems
Let’s go back to the basics of inferential statistics to understand how overfitting models causes problems. You use inferential statistics to draw conclusions about a population from a random sample. An important consideration is that the sample size limits the quantity and quality of the conclusions you can draw about a population. The more you need to learn, the larger the sample must be.
This concept is fairly intuitive. Suppose we have a total sample size of 20 and we need to estimate one population mean using a 1-sample t-test. We’ll probably obtain a good estimate. However, if we want to use a 2-sample t-test to estimate the means of two populations, it’s not as good because we have only ten observations to estimate each mean. If we want to estimate three or more means using one-way ANOVA, it becomes pretty bad.
As the number of observations per estimate decreases (20, 10, 6.7, etc.), the estimates become more erratic. Furthermore, a new sample is unlikely to replicate the inconsistent estimates produced by the smaller sample sizes.
In short, the quality of the estimates deteriorates as you draw more conclusions from a sample. This idea is directly related to the degrees of freedom in the analysis. To learn more about this concept, read my post: Degrees of Freedom in Statistics.
Applying These Concepts to Overfitting Regression Models
Overfitting a regression model is similar to the example above. The problems occur when you try to estimate too many parameters from the sample. Each term in the model forces the regression analysis to estimate a parameter using a fixed sample size. Therefore, the size of your sample restricts the number of terms that you can safely add to the model before you obtain erratic estimates.
Similar to the example with the means, you need a sufficient number of observations for each term in the regression model to help ensure trustworthy results. Statisticians have conducted simulation studies* which indicate you should have at least 10-15 observations for each term in a linear model. The number of terms in a model is the sum of all the independent variables, their interactions, and polynomial terms to model curvature.
For instance, if the regression model has two independent variables and their interaction term, you have three terms and need 30-45 observations. Although, if the model has multicollinearity or if the effect size is small, you might need more observations.
To obtain reliable results, you need a sample size that is large enough to handle the model complexity that your study requires. If your study calls for a complex model, you must collect a relatively large sample size. If the sample is too small, you can’t dependably fit a model that approaches the true model for your independent variable. In that case, the results can be misleading.
How to Detect Overfit Models
As I discussed earlier, generalizability suffers in an overfit model. Consequently, you can detect overfitting by determining whether your model fits new data as well as it fits the data used to estimate the model. In statistics, we call this cross-validation, and it often involves partitioning your data.
However, for linear regression, there is an excellent accelerated cross-validation method called predicted R-squared. This method doesn’t require you to collect a separate sample or partition your data, and you can obtain the cross-validated results as you fit the model. Statistical software calculates predicted R-squared using the following automated procedure:
- It removes a data point from the dataset.
- Calculates the regression equation.
- Evaluates how well the model predicts the missing observation.
- And, repeats this for all data points in the dataset.
Predicted R-squared has several cool features. First, you can just include it in the output as you fit the model without any extra steps on your part. Second, it’s easy to interpret. You simply compare predicted R-squared to the regular R-squared and see if there is a big difference.
If there is a large discrepancy between the two values, your model doesn’t predict new observations as well as it fits the original dataset. The results are not generalizable, and there’s a good chance you’re overfitting the model.
For the fitted line plot above, the model produces a predicted R-squared (not shown) of 0%, which reveals the overfitting. For more information, read my post about how to interpret predicted R-squared, which also covers the model in the fitted line plot in more detail.
How to Avoid Overfitting Models
To avoid overfitting a regression model, you should draw a random sample that is large enough to handle all of the terms that you expect to include in your model. This process requires that you investigate similar studies before you collect data. The goal is to identify relevant variables and terms that you are likely to include in your own model. After you get a sense of the typical complexity of models in your study area, you’ll be able to estimate a good sample size.
For more information about successful regression modeling, read my post: Five Regression Analysis Tips to Avoid Common Mistakes.
Babyak, MA., What You See May Not Be What You Get: A Brief, Nontechnical Introduction to Overfitting in Regression-Type Models, Psychosomatic Medicine 66:411-421 (2004). | <urn:uuid:ccf0b510-2356-463d-a30b-d32b8bbab8bf> | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | https://statisticsbyjim.com/regression/overfitting-regression-models/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912202781.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20190323080959-20190323102959-00129.warc.gz | en | 0.914439 | 1,663 | 3.125 | 3 |
Immobilization of Enzymes refers to the enzymes which are trapped or immobilized in a membrane support. This technique helps the human race to the chemical substitute and helping the cells for the synthesis naturally with the specific enzyme.
Total number of techniques granted by USPTO for patents is 22. Some tof the patented techniques are listed below.
Patent No: 6,905,733 titled ‘Irreversible immobilization of enzymes into polyurethane coatings’ with the abstract: This invention provides a method of irreversibly immobilizing an enzyme into polyurethane coatings. This invention also provides for an enzyme-containing coating having a degree of immobilization of the enzyme of approximately 100%. The synthesis of waterborne polyurethane coatings in the presence of enzyme has enabled the irreversible attachment of the enzyme to the polymeric matrix. The distribution of immobilized enzyme as well as activity retention are homogeneous within the coating. Decreasing ECC hydrophobicity, via the use of a less hydrophobic polyisocyanate prepolymer during polymerization, significantly enhanced the intrinsic activity of the ECC.
Patent No: 6,582,942 titled ‘Immobilization of enzymes on particulate porous carriers for use in organic mediums’ with the abstract: An immobilized enzyme is prepared for use in organic mediums essentially devoid of free water. An enzyme-containing liquid medium is contacted with a particulate porous carrier which preferably has a particle size of 200-1000 .mu.m and a surface area of 20-1000 m.sup.2 /g to adsorb the enzyme on the carrier, and volatile components of the liquid medium contained by the carrier are removed. The carrier may have a hydrophilic surface, and an amount of liquid medium is used to prevent agglomeration of the carrier. Alternatively, the carrier has a hydrophobic surface, and the addition of a hygroscopic substance suppresses agglomeration of the carrier by absorbing excess liquid. The hygroscopic substance may be removed during the removal of volatile components. Contacting of the enzyme-containing liquid and carrier can be in a fluidized bed where immobilization and removing volatile components are conducted simultaneously, or contacting can be in mixer followed by removing volatile components in a fluidized bed. The enzyme-containing liquid may be atomized onto the carrier in the fluidized bed or in the mixer. Enzymes immobilized include lipase, and the immobilized lipase can be used in trans-esterification reactions.
Patent No: 4,897,352 titled ‘Acrylate based adsorbent resin for the immobilization of enzymes’ with the abstract: Enzymes are immobilized on macroporous hydrophilic polymer beads by adsorption. The polymer beads are cross-linked, acrylate-based resins containing pendant hydroxy groups. The resins contain 10-70% methyl methacrylate, 10-70% methylacrylate, 5-14 40% ethylenically unsaturated monomer having at least one pendant hydroxyl group and 10-25% divinylbenzene. The resins provide immobilized enzyme preparations exhibiting excellent physical strength and stability as well as high enzyme activity.
Patent No: 4,968,605 titled ‘Immobilization of enzymes on porous melt spun polyamide yarns’ with he abstract : An immobilized enzyme structure in which molecules of one or more enzymes are attached to chemically active groups located on surface in the structure, such structure being composed of melt spun polyamide fibres comprising spaced fibrils of polyamide which are substantially aligned to the axis of the fibre, such aligned spaced fibrils being interconnected to each other in a random manner. | <urn:uuid:b040698a-364e-4277-ada9-62075f10c573> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.tmpsearchers.com/biotechnology/immobilization-of-enzymes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00138-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926946 | 784 | 2.578125 | 3 |
In Leviticus 19:2, Moses is commanded: "Speak to entire congregation of Israel, and command them to be Holy – since I, God, am also holy." This gathering was an unusual event, and prompts us to consider a number of questions:
- Why does the commandment to be holy require that the entire nation gather to hear it?
- The commandments that follow are mostly regarding interpersonal relations. Why are these commandments holy? Doesn't holiness relate more to things like the Temple service?
- What exactly is this command to "be holy"? Are we expected to be holy like God, a seeming impossibility?
The commentators offer three beautiful explanations why this "holy mitzvah" needed to be taught while the entire Jewish people were gathered together.
Rashi explains: Since the main body of the Torah is included in this section and it applies to everyone without exception, this section was said to the entire nation. We need to understand that holiness applies not only to select individuals on a high level, but even to the simplest Jew. We all have to aspire to holiness, and we all can attain it. This follows the general principle that God only commands something that we are capable of fulfilling.1 Failure comes in because we underestimate our abilities.
This section is taught when everyone is together, to teach us that a Jew can attain true holiness only if he connects himself to the Jewish people.
You do not have to separate yourself from society and go meditate in a forest to become holy. These mitzvot are not for angels. They are mainly interpersonal commandments, such as honoring parents, feeding the poor, not slandering, and not hating in our heart. Being a contributing part of society is a personal obligation. Everyone should aspire to elevate himself, and at the same time aspires to elevate the community. That's why the command to be holy, kedoshim t'hiyu – is written in the plural.
Lets step back and ask a more fundamental question: How is a human being to acquire holiness? Isn't that reserved for the realm of angels?
The Ramchal, in his classic work of Jewish ethics, Mesilat Yesharim,2 explains: Holiness is a very high level that we could not attain on our own. We begin to make an effort – and then God gives it to us as a gift. You can only go so far, and God does the rest.
Therefore, these mitzvot need to be taught to the entire community. As individuals, we don't deserve God's most elevated gifts. Rather, it is only through the power of Jewish unity that God will bring us to a point of true fulfillment. This is indicated in the prelude to the Ten Commandments, "And you shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6).
Definition of ‘Holy’
The two classical Torah commentators, Rashi and Ramban (Nachmanides), offer a difference of opinion on what it means to be holy.
Rashi says that in order to be holy you have to stay away from forbidden actions. That is achieved not just by refraining from those actions, but also by constructing fences to not stray too close to spiritual dangers. A person who respects these "fences" is on the path to holiness. And, if the boundaries are broken, that is the opposite of holiness.
One example is the idea of Yichud, the Jewish prohibition against being secluded in a private area with certain members of the opposite gender. How many times have we heard of one spouse, for example, who was working late on a project with a colleague (of the opposite sex) and gotten into a problematic situation that threatened to destroy their marriage? That's why the Sages instituted the laws of Yichud, as a fence against such episodes.3
Ramban disagrees and says that the key to holiness is to separate even from activities that are technically permitted! For example, while there is no Torah law against drinking wine, a person can go so overboard that he becomes what Ramban describes as a "scoundrel within the confines of Torah." Similarly, a person who eats only kosher food could still be disgusting in the eyes of the Torah if he eats like a glutton. The definition of holiness, says Ramban, is to maintain moderation even in things permitted.
Both of these approaches are obviously correct. On one hand, a person needs a healthy respect for what is forbidden: Just as you would erect a fence to keep away from a physical danger (e.g. an open pit), so too we respect the severity of Torah prohibitions by constructing fences. And in addition, we increase our sensitivity to God-like behavior by moderating our physical consumptions. In this way, all our actions carry a refined sense of holiness.
How Much Holiness?
How much holiness should a person strive to attain?
Actually, the command to be holy is unquantifiable, and in a certain way this is more difficult than a clear-cut command. For after all, how is one to measure whether he is living up to the right “standard of holiness"?
The answer is as we said before: This commandment is given to the entire community. If your being holy enhances your connection to the community, then you are behaving correctly. But if it causes a separation between you and those around you, that is incorrect. Our actions, provided they are within the confines of Jewish law, should always be gauged by what will bring the biggest Kiddush Hashem, sanctification of God’s Holy Name.
This idea is illustrated by the Holy Ark which contained the Tablets of the Ten Commandments. This Ark was a square box made of wood, covered with pure gold from the inside and from the outside.4 But if the Ark is covered with gold both on the inside and the outside, then what need is there at all for the shell to be made out of wood?! Why not simply make the ark one solid piece of gold? The commentaries explain that case, the Ark will be too heavy for others to carry. And this teaches us that a person should not adhere to a standard of holiness that could have a negative effect on the community.
An extension of this is the idea that in performing any action – either mundane or a mitzvah – we should have the intention of doing it in a holy way. The purpose of this world is that it should cause us to cling to God, not for our own pleasure. Even when I am performing a mitzvah that includes physical pleasure, such as Shabbat or even marital relations, we are supposed to enjoy ourselves, but never lose sight of the fact that God is inextricably bound to this pleasure.
If a person designates his existence for a higher purpose, rather than focusing on himself, than even what he does do for himself is holy. In that way he can maximize the power of those physical pleasures.
There is another question that can be raised: Why is this command stated in the future tense, you command to be holy – kedoshim t'hiyu – rather than in the present tense like most other commands?
This teaches that this mitzvah has no limits. Every level you reach in holiness is just a stepping stone to the next higher level. We should never be complacent in thinking that we have reached perfection in the present. There is no limit to God's holiness, and as we are created in the image of God, we are meant to emulate that holiness.5
A person may, for example, keep kosher inside the home but eat in non-kosher restaurants. While keeping a kosher home is a big commitment, whose importance cannot be minimized, the question is: Does the person recognize that this is one stage that must lead to a greater commitment? Or does the person view this as a plateau, a stopping-point where, “I am comfortable just where I am and feel no need to grow further”?
This differing philosophy represents a key difference between Torah Judaism and other streams of Jewish thought. Are we constantly striving to fulfill all of the 613 mitzvot in their ideal way, or have we established a limit, a comfort level, beyond which we feel no need to reach beyond.
Notice that Leviticus chapter 19 contains many commands in the realm of interpersonal relationships – e.g. love your neighbor, don’t take revenge, etc. Holiness is not just between myself and God.
This is illustrated by the well-known Gemara6 about someone who wanted to convert and asked to learn the entire Torah while standing on one foot. In other words, he wanted to know the one central idea that represents the whole torah. The great sage Hillel answered him, "That which you dislike, don't do to your friend.”
Another way of understanding why “be holy” is written in the future tense is that it is not just a command, but a promise and encouragement that despite the difficulties and ups and downs, we will be holy. There is an internal, eternal holiness of the Jewish people that remains, even if we don't always express it on the outside.
This explains the phenomena of people who seem to be completely disconnected from the Jewish nation, and suddenly finding their way home again. Soviet Jewry is a classic example. They were seemingly completely assimilated and unconnected, having been trapped behind an iron curtain for two generations – with no Jewish education or leadership. The wake of the Six Day War brought a spontaneous outbreak of Jewish identity and joy. This began the movement of the refuseniks, typified by Natan Sharansky, and ultimately the great immigration of Russian Jews to Israel and their reattachment to the Jewish people.
This is also the individual spark of Judaism, known as the “Pintele Yid,” which explains the popularity of the Baal Teshuva movement. Literally tens of thousands of assimilated Jews have made their way back to full Torah observance. There is no rational way to explain it.
As a resident of Jerusalem, I frequently visit the Western Wall, where I am constantly approached by people, asking deep and searching questions. They explain: “Somewhere deep inside, I feel connected here.”
At that gathering thousands of years ago, every Jewish soul was told: “You will be holy.” There is a spark of holiness in every Jews, and even if we do not see it, it is there, dormant, waiting to be kindled.
- Midrash Tanchuma (Vezot HaBracha 4)
- Chapter 26
- Talmud – Kiddushin 80b. There are many details of these laws; see Even Ha’ezer Ch. 22
- Exodus 25:11
- Deut. 28:9
- Shabbat 31 | <urn:uuid:5bf42925-9be7-4428-9eac-cb2b6adfb776> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | http://www.aish.com/jl/b/chumash/Chumash-Themes-16-Pursuing-Holiness--Love-Your-Neighbor.html?s=mbaw | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049275328.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002115-00102-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963795 | 2,280 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Can thrust be used to describe the force used to accelerate a typical car (piston engine)?
Yes, the engine torque is multiplied by the overall gear ratio (transmission and rear end) and after losses in the drive train are accounted for, ends up as torque applied to the driven tires. The "thrust" equals the driven tire torque divided by the driven tire radius.
It's a bit different if Howbabbyform (where the hell did that name come from? ) is trying to equate hp to the thrust as measured from a jet or rocket. That ratio changes with speed and atmospheric pressure.
parody of a yahoo answers question. http://www.somethingawful.com/flash/shmorky/babby.swf
The reason why I ask the question is because on a separate forum I was saying that you can find thrust of a car with engine torque, gear ratios and tire radius (not including parasitic drag of the drive train). Someone told me that thrust wasn't the correct term to use and when I searched for better descriptions of thrust, all I could find had to do with aviation.
The wiki definition wouldn't appear to the force generated by the tires, because it defines thrust as the reaction force to acceleration of some mass (such as acceleration of air by a propeller, or acceleration of spent fuel by a rocket engine).
However the force applied by the tires to the earth results in a very tiny amount of linear and angular acceleration of the earth, which "reacts" with a forwards force on the tires, so could this be called "thrust"?
I misunderstood your original question, thinking it was about the math and not about the terminology. Thrust is normally used to refer to reaction force from the acceleration gases and fluids, but the wiki definition doesn't include this restriction.
Separate names with a comma. | <urn:uuid:f55bc337-01c9-4aac-960c-27b3c41c5b34> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/cars-and-thrust.267866/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934806465.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20171122050455-20171122070455-00168.warc.gz | en | 0.960933 | 382 | 3.109375 | 3 |
The more we study Mars the weirder it becomes. Which should come as a surprise to no one. It’s an entire planet that’s not Earth. It would be really strange and disappointing if we already figured out Mars’ secrets before we even got over there. Probably the biggest question regarding Mars is whether the red planet ever supported life and if it did in the past, could it still be harboring alien life today? Those in the camp of “duh, of course there are Martians” may have another boost to their argument as a recent NASA press release reveals that the levels of oxygen (which you might know as one of the main things we need to not die) on Mars are behaving rather strangely.
NASA already found that methane levels on Mars act differently than scientists thought they should. Methane is, like oxygen, a “biosignature” gas because it is a byproduct of carbon-based life (put simply, it’s farts). Last year, the Curiosity rover discovered that levels of methane in Mars’ atmosphere fluctuate based on the season, rising dramatically during Mars’ summer and spiking periodically at seemingly random times, for unknown reasons. Coupled with the organic matter that was found on Mars at nearly the same time and some eyebrows were certainly raised.
Now scientists have found that levels of oxygen behave the same bizarre way as the levels of methane, cycling periodically with the greatest concentration during the summer months. NASA’s Curiosity rover analyzed the atmosphere in Mars’ Gale Crater over the course of three years and found that while other atmospheric gasses increased and decreased in line with scientists’ models, oxygen levels rose in the spring and summer months by up to 30% before falling “back to levels predicted by known chemistry.” According to a paper recently published, this suggests that something was producing oxygen and then taking it away. Cue the music.
NASA is far from convinced that the likely source is biological, however. Melissa Trainer, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center who led the research says:
“We’re struggling to explain this. The fact that the oxygen behavior isn’t perfectly repeatable every season makes us think that it’s not an issue that has to do with atmospheric dynamics. It has to be some chemical source and sink that we can’t yet account for.”
Oxygen and methane are biosignatures, yes, but they are also present in high concentrations in the Martian soil. Scientists working on the problem say that it is much more likely the cause is geological rather than biological, but so far all of the geological explanations have come up short. Timothy McConnochie, who co-wrote the paper says:
“We have not been able to come up with one process yet that produces the amount of oxygen we need, but we think it has to be something in the surface soil that changes seasonally because there aren’t enough available oxygen atoms in the atmosphere to create the behavior we see.”
So scientists are, at the moment, completely at a loss. Melissa Trainer invites anyone who can help to do so:
“This is the first time where we’re seeing this interesting behavior over multiple years. We don’t totally understand it. For me, this is an open call to all the smart people out there who are interested in this: See what you can come up with.”
Before you go spouting off about how it’s definitely aliens consider this: there would need to be a population of something that springs to life so quickly that it raises oxygen levels by 30% in the course of half a year. That, too, is ridiculous. But who am I to say? It’s Mars. Mars is weird. | <urn:uuid:38a2ad18-06ad-4360-9c5e-2979c4cbfbe1> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/11/the-oxygen-on-mars-is-acting-really-weird/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178372367.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20210305122143-20210305152143-00635.warc.gz | en | 0.959562 | 795 | 3.515625 | 4 |
“Plans are useless. Planning is everything.” – Dwight David Eisenhower
If all goes as planned, in 42 days the hatch will open and our one-year mission to simulated space will end. Thanks in part to this mission, if all goes as planned, a generation from now we’ll be waist-deep in our first attempt to land humans on Mars. Between now and then, plans will accumulate: a plan for building a launch vehicle; a plan for getting our stuff there (hopefully, most of it in advance); a plan for how to select and train and feed and water a crew of four or more for three years. Sometimes, twenty years feels like enough time to make all this happen. Then, I remember how long it took to plan, design, build, test, launch, and land the Mars Curiosity Rover: ~2004-2012. When a robot’s one-way trip is eight years in the making, twenty years to get people safely to Mars and back suddenly seems like a mighty tall order.
Fortunately, we’ve already started. Our mission is proof of that.
Simulations like ours are a critical part of any serious endeavor. Humans need to practice in order to get things right. Whatever we attempt – a geometry problem, a round-house kick, or an asteroid rendezvous – the odds of success are inextricably linked to how many times we’ve tried that maneuver before. Entropy will always introduce unforeseen twists and turns. The more times we’ve simulated the scenario, the less likely we are to fall flat when our standing plans fail.
Case in point: we planned July’s water supply down to within a centimeter of our tank’s low-water mark. Based on the last ten months of data, our chief engineer was able to make a call that accurate. His projections were dead-on. Nonetheless, our refill plan failed. When the appointed time came, no water ‘bot arrived.
This was due to a mechanical failure on their end. On our end, there is an emergency water tank for just such scenarios. However, it hadn’t been touched in years. Like a stubborn Schrodinger’s box, the quality of the water in our tank was totally unknown, even after we opened it. Also unknown: when we would get more water delivered.
Fortunately, though our initial plan failed, we’ve been practicing water extraction and water restriction for nearly the entire mission. A a result, we could SCIENCE our way out of disaster by distilling the emergency water: by boiling it and channeling the evaporated contents into a container. Within hours of us realizing that we weren’t going to get our scheduled water delivery, we had just such a system set up and running .
Thanks to water restriction days, which were an invention of this crew, we knew how much water we needed to produce to survive and by what margin. Experience also told us how much power we could spare to run the electric heaters that were boiling the water, one pot at a time, into steam that collected onto plastic sheeting, which then ran down until it gathered underneath the weight of a metal spoon and dripped into the bottom of the black storage bin in which the entire contraption was contained. In this way, water collected slowly and steadily. Every so often, one of us would come along with a baster, suck the distilled water out of the bottom of the bin and add more water into the pots. This evaporation system produced liters of purified water: enough to keep us going, at least for a while.
This crew dealt with that level of potential disaster without so much as breaking a sweat. We didn’t even have to change the rhythm of our day much to do it. I’m not sure how a crew who had only been up here for only a month, or four, would have handled it, which brings us to a question we are asked fairly frequently: What would happen in a real emergency?
Let’s say that we hadn’t been up here for very long, or that the crew was inexperienced with water reclamation; let say there wasn’t enough plastic sheeting to make such a system work, or there weren’t enough clamps to hold the sheeting in place (we would default to duct tape, but let’s just assume for now that we’re running low on that, too). What would have been our fate? In a real emergency, there are people on this land mass who could make their way up the mountain with bottled water. On Mars, not so much. Going forward, to be sure that crews can handle it both physically and psychologically, we should probably simulate water shortages, as well as food shortages, power shortages, and the of depravation-situations with which the six of us are now intimately familiar.
It goes without saying: for most of us, becoming an expert in water purification was never the plan – nor was mastering composting toilet maintainence, repairing hiking boots with duct tape, or any of several dozen things we’ve taught ourselves over these last ~11 months. The wonderful thing about our experiment is that we have the opportunity to learn and the freedom to fail – even, one could argue, the imperative. Now is the time to test out these scenarios; to try our hands at pushing limits and pulling ourselves back from the brink. Sometimes, we won’t quite make it, and that’s ok. We won’t fall too hard or fall too far – for now.
Our relative successes and failures from the last 323 days – at growing radishes, conserving water and power, staying in shape, and getting along with each other – will become part of data that goes into planning the first human missions to Mars. Owing to successes and failures from this and other simulations, humankind will master the art and science of planning long-duration space missions. It’s the only way we can acquire this skill in advance. In a generation or more whether the actual plan succeeds as intended (they rarely do) mastery of interplanetary mission planning as a skill will sooner or later see us safely through to the next world. Of that much, at least, I am certain. | <urn:uuid:780be3b5-33f0-4f3d-8f72-4c0b0685136b> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | http://livefrommars.life/2016/07/17/the-freedom-to-fail-space-simulations-and-the-future-of-our-species/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501170286.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104610-00126-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964018 | 1,308 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Using the following information answer the following questions.
1860 379, 994
1870 560, 247
1880 864, 694
1890 1,213, 398
1900 1,485, 053
B) What does the model predict for the year 1880, 1910, 1990?
C) Is the actual population in 1880 the same as the model predicts? Why or Why not?
D)Does the prediction for 1910 seem reasonable and consistent with the population values prior to 1910?
Explain. Defend the explanation by commenting about the differences in the population numbers and analyzing them.
H) In California in 1990 the population was 29, 839, 250. what is the prediction of california's population in the long-run?
I) What factors in life could contribute to the population size in 1990? What things could account for the differences in the predicted value and the actual value?
A graph is analyzed for the purpose of regression and forecasting. | <urn:uuid:6d889d02-f819-401a-aace-7e8790109bcb> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | https://brainmass.com/math/interpolation-extrapolation-and-regression/graphs-regression-forecasting-10945 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501171176.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104611-00216-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.848917 | 203 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Misleading Lists of Large Lakes
Second-place standing is also controversial. Most lists place Lake Superior in this position, including AboutGeography. The Wikipedia, however, has demoted Superior to third place, as it claims that Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are actually a single lake, the world’s second largest. From a strictly limnological point of view, it is difficult to argue with this assessment.
The Wikipedia list of the largest lakes conveniently includes small maps, made to scale, of the water-bodies in question. I have copied and traced out several of these images to construct a simple map overlay that shows relative sizes of a few noted lakes. The massive extent of the Caspian Sea (which is actually a lake) is evident, dwarfing the combined Michigan-Huron. Michigan-Huron, in turn, is shown to be massively larger that Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul (in maroon), the world’s second largest Alpine lake, which in turn is vastly large than Lake Tahoe (dark blue), widely viewed as sizable lake. (Lake Tahoe is actually too small to be on the Wikipedia list; as a result I have had to estimate its relative size here.)
« The 1970s Transformation of California’s...
Turkmenistan’s Renewed Personality Cult » | <urn:uuid:3ed99b9b-0d34-488f-9031-2e73ba64a661> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | http://www.geocurrents.info/place/world/misleading-lists-of-large-lakes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221219197.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20180821230258-20180822010258-00199.warc.gz | en | 0.942419 | 280 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Short posterior ciliary arteries
|Short posterior ciliary arteries|
The arteries of the choroid and iris. The greater part of the sclera has been removed.
|Supplies||Choroid (up to the equator of the eye) |
|Latin||Arteriae ciliares posteriores breves|
Course and target
They pass forward around the optic nerve to the posterior part of the eyeball, pierce the sclera around the entrance of the optic nerve, and supply the choroid (up to the equator of the eye) and ciliary processes.
Some branches of the short posterior ciliary arteries also supply the optic disc via an anastomotic ring, the Circle of Zinn-Haller or Circle of Zinn, which is associated with the fibrous extension of the ocular tendons (Annulus of Zinn). | <urn:uuid:e5ca44fd-794f-47aa-b178-35314c111968> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://zims-en.kiwix.campusafrica.gos.orange.com/wikipedia_en_all_nopic/A/Short_posterior_ciliary_arteries | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400241093.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20200926102645-20200926132645-00075.warc.gz | en | 0.75152 | 186 | 2.546875 | 3 |
February 2021 archive of L5 Faith Formation Class
Posted by Mrs Amanda Garcia on 2/28/21
Good morning Parents and Students, We will be working on our Liturgical Year. You should have received your packet. We will be starting with our Advent chapter. Please remember to have your cameras on and be ready to participate. Our mass question is an important part of our Class ... Read More »
Posted by Mrs Amanda Garcia on 2/21/21
Good Morning Parents and Students, We will be working on chapter 24 today in our Be My Disciples Book. It is very important that you are coming to class and completing the work. All the links needed for today are below. a copy of the class will be ... Read More »
Posted by Mrs Amanda Garcia on 2/07/21
We will be working on the First Five Commandments. Mass https://youtu.be/wmW_8purUSs Mass Question In today's Gospel who had a fever? Zoom Class Feb 7, 2021 01:00 PM https://zoom.us/j/7744158907?
Assignment In Seesaw complete the Activity on the Ten Commandments and watch the Faith filled Videos sent to you. They are in your Inbox in ... Read More » | <urn:uuid:e1b59bf3-ec19-4fbf-bdfe-331f8f155b3c> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://www.stjohnbap.org/blog/l5-faith-formation-class/archives/2021/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320301488.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20220119185232-20220119215232-00062.warc.gz | en | 0.936451 | 261 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Success is a multidimensional concept that encompasses various aspects of our lives. While individual definitions of success may vary, there are three key pillars that form a strong foundation for achieving it: Connections, Careers, and Finances. In this blog post, we will delve into each of these pillars and explore their significance in attaining a fulfilling and prosperous life.
1. Connections: Building Meaningful Relationships
Connections, or relationships, play a fundamental role in our personal and professional lives. Building and nurturing meaningful connections can enrich our experiences, provide support, and open doors to new opportunities. Here’s why connections are crucial for success:
a. Support and Collaboration: Strong connections offer a support system, allowing us to lean on others during challenging times. Collaborating with like-minded individuals can also lead to innovative ideas and shared achievements.
b. Mentorship and Guidance: Mentors and role models can provide invaluable guidance, helping us navigate our career paths and personal development journeys. Their experience and insights can accelerate our growth and provide clarity in decision-making.
c. Networking and Opportunities: Connections broaden our network, increasing the likelihood of discovering new opportunities. Whether it’s finding a job, starting a business, or accessing resources, a robust network can be a catalyst for success.
2. Careers: Pursuing Meaningful and Fulfilling Work
Our careers play a significant role in our overall sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. A successful career involves aligning our passions, skills, and values with meaningful work. Consider the following aspects:
a. Passion and Purpose: Identifying and pursuing work that aligns with our passions and values brings a sense of purpose and fulfilment. When we enjoy what we do, our motivation and commitment soar.
b. Continuous Learning and Growth: Embracing a growth mindset and seeking ongoing learning opportunities is essential for career success. Acquiring new skills, adapting to change, and staying relevant in a rapidly evolving world is vital for professional growth.
c. Work-Life Balance: Striving for a healthy work-life balance is crucial for overall well-being. It allows us to maintain harmony between our professional and personal lives, ensuring long-term success and happiness.
3. Finances: Achieving Stability and Financial Well-being
Finances play a pivotal role in our ability to lead a comfortable and secure life. While financial success looks different for everyone, establishing a solid foundation and managing our finances effectively are key components:
a. Financial Literacy: Developing a good understanding of financial concepts and practices empowers us to make informed decisions and effectively manage our money. Budgeting, saving, and investing wisely contribute to long-term financial stability.
b. Goal Setting and Planning: Setting clear financial goals and creating a plan to achieve them is essential. This includes saving for emergencies, retirement, and other milestones, as well as managing debt responsibly.
c. Creating Multiple Streams of Income: Diversifying income streams, such as through investments or side hustles, can provide added financial security and freedom. It enables us to weather economic uncertainties and pursue opportunities beyond our primary careers.
Connections, Careers, and Finances are the three interconnected pillars of success. By nurturing meaningful relationships, pursuing fulfilling work, and managing our finances wisely, we create a strong foundation for achieving our goals and living a prosperous life. Remember, success is a journey, and it’s important to continually assess and nurture these pillars to ensure holistic growth and fulfillment. Contact us for more information at https://ascentim.com/contact/. | <urn:uuid:587c43ca-65db-4c46-b0df-78e598827c06> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://ascentim.com/blog/pillars-for-success/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947473472.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20240221102433-20240221132433-00851.warc.gz | en | 0.911828 | 740 | 2.5625 | 3 |
THE CATHOLIC FEAST
DATE: FEBRUARY 08
NAME: SAINT JOSEPHINE BAKHITA
HER LIFE PROFILE
Saint Josephine Bakhita was born in Sudan, Africa, in 1869.
When she was a child, she was captured and sold as a slave and suffered harsh treatment.
The name “Bakhita,” which means “fortunate,” was given to her in sarcasm by the people who kidnapped her.
Bakhita was taken to Italy and put into service as a nanny. She was sent to live with the Canossian Sisters in Venice. From the sisters she learned about God and Christianity. In time, she asked to be baptized, and took the name Josephine.
At the age of forty–one, Josephine felt God calling her to become one of the sisters.
The Canossian Sisters accepted her into their community.
For twenty–five years, Sister Josephine carried out humble services in the convent. She cooked, sewed, took care of the chapel and answered the door.
During World War I, Sister Josephine helped to care for the wounded. She became known for her kindness and goodness. She was a source of comfort and encouragement to everyone who came to her in need.
Someone once asked Sister Josephine how she would react if she ever met the people who had kidnapped her. She answered,
“I would kiss their hands to thank them for giving me the chance to become a Christian and a sister.”
As Sister Josephine grew older, her health began to decline. She continued to live a life of loving kindness and faith even in sickness and pain.
As her death drew near, she said, “Why should I be afraid to die? Death brings us to God, and I love God and want to be with Him.”
Sister Josephine Bakhita died at the age of seventy–eight. Her last words were “Our Lady! Our Lady!
She was canonized on October 1, 2000, by Pope John Paul II. St. Josephine is the patron saint of the Christian Sudanese people who still suffer persecution for their faith.
Let us learn from Saint Josephine Bakhita to put our trust in God when we have problems or when we have something to suffer. God, Who loves us without limits, can bring good even out of bad circumstances.
Father, in Your great mercy You have freed Sant Josephine, virgin, from slavery in order to lead her to the dignity of being Your daughter and the spouse of Christ.
Grant us the grace to imitate her great love for Jesus crucified and to persevere in the practice of charity and forgiveness.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen!
SAINT JOSEPHINE BAKHITA,
PRAY FOR US. | <urn:uuid:ad777299-1759-413e-a2b3-9910b9af6a37> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://www.maryscastle.net/p/the-catholic-feast-date-february-08.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947476211.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20240303075134-20240303105134-00301.warc.gz | en | 0.981835 | 630 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Welcome to Ms. Green's Class
With all schools closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak, our teachers have worked hard to provide resources and ideas to help your child continue learning. Visit their website for specific ways you can keep your child engaged until we are back in school again.
Many of the resources are computer based, but if you don't have internet, there are many activities to do paper and pencil. I want to encourage you if you are feeling a bit intimindated to be teaching your child in place of school, that you are their first and best teacher. Your time with them doing simple activities is time worth spending. Connecting over a puzzle, reading together, or talking about a movie they watched, are all essential learning behaviors. | <urn:uuid:d9ffa1ec-1dbc-43a7-a9ca-862b77cab911> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://www.everettsd.org/Domain/788 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780058552.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20210927211955-20210928001955-00084.warc.gz | en | 0.974251 | 153 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Western Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Carex rostrata J. Stokes
- Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
- Flowering: May-August
- Field Marks: This sedge has male and female flowers in separate spikes, densely crowded perigynia swollen at the base and conspicuously beaked at the tip, and stems usually spongy-inflated at the base.
- Habitat: Along streams, around lakes and ponds, wet meadows, swamps, from sea level to the mountains.
- Habit: Perennial herb from stout, elongated rhizomes.
- Stems: Upright, triangular, up to 3 1/2 feet tall, smooth, usually spongy-inflated at the base.
- Leaves: Several, elongated, flat, up to 1/2 inch wide, not hairy, with evident cross-walls.
- Flowers: Borne in spikes, the male in 2-4 upper spikes, up to 3 inches long, the female in several lower, thicker spikes up to 4 inches long; scales pointed or awned at the tip, usually straw-colored, shorter than the perigynia.
- Sepals: O.
- Petals: O.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Enclosed in a perigynium; each perigynium pale brown, smooth, shiny, up to 1/6 inch long with a conspicuous beak about 1/4 the length, ovoid, broadly rounded below, with
8-16 conspicuous nerves; stigmas 3.
- Fruits: Achenes triangular, up to 1/10 inch long, with a persistent, twisted style.
- Notes: The achenes are eaten by waterfowl.
Previous Species -- Raynolds' Sedge (Carex raynoldsii)
Return to Species List -- Group 3
Next Species -- Russet Sedge (Carex saxatilis) | <urn:uuid:d18ef36c-dbb7-43c0-84a3-afbccf509908> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florawe/species/3/carerost.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1405997862121.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20140722025742-00125-ip-10-33-131-23.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.809198 | 433 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Luang Prabang montane rain forests
The Luang Prabang Montane Rain Forests are globally outstanding for bird richness. This ecoregion has had limited biological exploration. Although more than 70 percent of this ecoregion's original montane vegetation has been converted to scrub or degraded forest, the remaining area presents some of the best opportunities for large mammal conservation in Indochina.
Location and General Description
The Luang Prabang Montane Rain Forests ecoregion comprises areas largely above 800 meters (m) in north central Laos. This region grades to the north very gradually into the Northern Indochina subtropical forests Ecoregion and to the east into the Northern Annamites rain forests Ecoregion. Precise boundary lines between these ecoregions are somewhat arbitrary. The eastern gradient involves a gradual change in the amount of rainfall and length of the dry season.
Rather than a single community type, these forests include a variety of forest associations. Included within these forest habitats are montane hardwood forests of Fagaceae and Lauraceae, mixed conifer-hardwood forests, open montane forests, and open conifer forests. Montane habitats in northern Laos typically have 2,000-3,000 millimeters (mm) of annual rainfall but a long dry season.
humid evergreen forest occur at about 800 m elevation, with Dipterocarpus turbinatus and Toxicodendron succedanea as the dominant canopy trees. Also characteristic are a variety of palms including Arenga saccharifera, Caryota, and Calamus spp. Montane habitats at 1,000-1,500 m may be dominated by a variety of forest communities representing both substrate differences and history of human disturbance. Evergreen forest originally represented by a variety of Fagaceae and other hardwoods is now dominated by Castanopsis hystrix, with Phyllanthus emblica as a co-dominant and Antidesma collettii, Helicia terminalis, and Wendlandia paniculata as important associates. The low stature of trees in this community and open understory with an abundance of broad-leaved monocots and grasses suggest severe past impacts from burning and clearance. Open conifer hardwood forests are also present, with open Quercus griffithii, Q. serrata, and the conifer Keteleeria evelyniana as the dominant tree species. Thin, granitic soils support an edaphic climax overwhelmingly dominated by Engelhardtia spicata with an understory cover of bracken fern, Pteridium aquilinum. Another edaphic climax occurs with open stands dominated by Pinus kesiya on skeletal soils of clay schist or sandstone.Transitional communities of
This ecoregion lacks endemic mammals or birds, but that may be because of its inaccessibility and lack of biological surveys. However, the ecoregion harbors several threatened and endangered mammals of conservation significance, including the Francois's leaf monkey (Semnopithecus francoisi), silvered leaf monkey (S. cristatus), douc langur (Pygathrix nemaeus), tiger (Panthera tigris), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), wild dog (Cuon alpinus), Himalayan black bear (Ursus thibetanus), sun bear (Ursus malayanus), clouded leopard (Pardofelis nebulosa), common leopard (Panthera pardus), thamin (Cervus eldii), and gaur (Bos gaurus). This ecoregion overlaps with two Level I Tiger Conservation Units (TCUs) and two Level II TCUs. There are more than 540 bird species whose ranges are shown to extend into this ecoregion, including the green peafowl (Pavo muticus).
|Table 1. WCMC (1997) Protected Areas That Overlap with the Ecoregion.|
|Protected Area||Area (km2)||IUCN Category|
|Phou Khao Khoay||1,890||VIII|
|Phu Miang-Phu Thong||500||IV|
|Phu Hin Rong Kla||310||II|
|Ton Krabak Yai||270||II|
|Phu Pha Man||350||?|
|Ecoregion numbers of protected areas that overlap with additional ecoregions are listed in brackets.|
Today many of the montane broadleaf forests in this ecoregion have been converted to scrub or degraded habitat, primarily as a result of widespread shifting cultivation, and less than 30 percent of the original habitat now remains. In northeastern Thailand the Khorat Plateau is mostly deforested, although extensive forest still exists on the mountain ranges, especially in the steeper, more inaccessible slopes. The twelve protected areas cover 9,300 square kilometers (km2) (13 percent) of the ecoregion (Table 1). There are three protected areas—Nam Poui, Phou Khao Khoay and Phu Khieo—that are greater than 1,000 km2. Thailand's Nam Nao National Park and Phu Khieo Reserves are encompassed by Level I TCUs, and Laos's Nam Poui is included within a Level II TCU.
Types and Severity of Threats
The primary threats to biological diversity in this ecoregion are from shifting cultivation, especially in the steeper slopes that people (especially in Vietnam and Thailand) are beginning to clear because of lack of land to support increasing populations, illegal hunting for a huge commercial trade that supplies China and loss of habitat caused by large hydro projects (especially in Laos and Vietnam), illegal logging, gahuru-wood and widlife (elephant and gaur) poaching, and road construction in Nam Poui.
Justification of Ecoregion Delineation
The extensive Indochina biounit (10) identified by MacKinnon comprises three subunits that represent the tropical lowland plains, subtropical hills, and temperate montane areas. The largest of these subunits, Central Indochina (10a), is a mix of tropical moist forest and tropical dry forest biomes, and we delineated eight ecoregions that overlap with this biounit but represent the distinct biomes. This ecoregion represents the large area of montane evergreen forests in the Luang-Prabang Range.
Additional information on this ecoregion
- For a shorter summary of this entry, see the WWF WildWorld profile of this ecoregion.
- To see the species that live in this ecoregion, including images and threat levels, see the WWF Wildfinder description of this ecoregion.
- World Wildlife Fund Homepage
Disclaimer: This article is taken wholly from, or contains information that was originally published by, the World Wildlife Fund. Topic editors and authors for the Encyclopedia of Earth may have edited its content or added new information. The use of information from the World Wildlife Fund should not be construed as support for or endorsement by that organization for any new information added by EoE personnel, or for any editing of the original content. | <urn:uuid:65a9aafc-0a65-4735-8630-66c335cc8a57> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://www.eoearth.org/view/view/154310/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416400374040.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20141119123254-00016-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.881129 | 1,533 | 3.375 | 3 |
The periodic table of the elements with the most common elements within living cells highlighted.
Click on image for full size
L.Gardiner/Windows to the Universe
The Elements of Life
Elements make up everything around us including the trees of a forest, your pets, and even YOU!
If you looked at living things with a microscope, you would see that all life is made up of small compartments called cells. Very small life forms, such as bacteria, have only one cell, while large animals have millions. No matter what type of living thing, the cells of every creature are made of atoms of different elements.
The most common elements in a cell are:
Hydrogen (H) 59%
Oxygen (O) 24%
Carbon (C) 11%
Nitrogen (N) 4%
Others such as phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S) 2% combined
But these are not the only elements that have important roles for living things! Plants and animals need a variety of elements to survive and grow.
Some elements that are important for animals (including people) are calcium (Ca), for bones and muscles, chlorine (Cl) for digesting food, fluorine (F) for tooth enamel and iron (Fe) to help blood carry oxygen around the body.
Plants also need elements to survive and grow including magnesium (Mg) and chlorine (Cl) that help plants convert the Sun’s energy into food. Some plants, such as grass, contain silica (Si), which makes them very strong.
Last modified July 7, 2004 by Lisa Gardiner.
Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
The Fall 2010 issue of The Earth Scientist
, focuses on rocks and minerals, including articles on minerals and mining, the use of minerals in society, and rare earth minerals, and includes 3 posters!
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Mica minerals make some rocks sparkle! They are often found in igneous rocks such as granite and metamorphic rocks such as schist. They sparkle because light is reflected on their flat surfaces, which...more | <urn:uuid:18ab261f-3af7-4169-9d86-497808d90173> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | https://www.windows2universe.org/earth/geology/life_elements.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267864919.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20180623015758-20180623035758-00267.warc.gz | en | 0.938457 | 726 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Making Christmas Trees last Longer
Following on from yesterday's look at Christmas Trees, the news from Canada is that scientists have discovered a way to double the lifespan of Christmas trees in homes and prevent needles from dropping too early.
The work, by scientists at Universite Laval, Quebec in collaboration with Nova Scotia Agricultural College was published recently in the scientific journal Trees.
Working on balsam fir, the scientists confirmed that the plant hormone ethylene is responsible for needle loss by placing the tree branches in containers of water inside a growth chamber. After ten days, the branches began to produce ethylene and after a further three days, the needles began to drop.
It took 40 days before the branches were completely bare.
To test that the needle loss was in fact due to the ethylene, the researchers used two chemical compounds that interfere with this hormone: 1-MCP and AVG. After exposing the branches to one of these two products, the needle retention period rose to 73 and 87 days, respectively.
"By Day 40, the branches that had been treated were still green, tender, and fresh-looking, while the untreated branches had lost virtually all their needles," explained Steeve Pépin, co-author of the study and professor at the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences at Université Laval.
"Since 1-MCP is a gas, it would be feasible to release it into the trucks used to ship the trees," suggests Pépin. This would be particularly useful for the export market.
Consumers also stand to benefit from this discovery since it would be possible to dissolve AVG in the water added to the tree stand, which would prolong the tree's lifespan indoors. "What is really encouraging is that we managed to double the needle retention period of the branches," notes Steeve Pépin. "However, we still have to prove that we can transpose these findings to the entire tree," he concluded. | <urn:uuid:2933a9b3-5dba-447d-bcd8-1905b5d97bc2> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | http://www.communicatescience.eu/2010/12/christmas-science-10-making-christmas.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917123632.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031203-00252-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976326 | 397 | 3.78125 | 4 |
Adults who have not received their high school diploma are eligible to receive an equivalent credential by passing the GED exam. The GED exam tests basic subjects that students are taught in high schools across the United States. Although students who take the GED exam are not awarded a diploma, they do receive an equivalency credential certification that is accepted by employers and higher learning institutions around the country.
The GED exam consists of five sections- language arts (writing), language arts (reading), science, math, and social studies. Each section awards a score between 200 and 800. A score of 800 puts the test taker in the top 1 percentile of all high school students. To pass the GED exam, a student must obtain a minimum score of 410 on each section and an overall average of 450 on the entire GED exam.
More than 15 million people have received a GED credential since the program began. One in every seven Americans with high school credentials received the GED, as well as one in 20 college students. Seventy percent of GED recipients complete at least the 10th grade before leaving school, and the same number are over the age of 19, with the average age being 24.
Students who are seeking their GED certification can prepare for the test with prep classes offered at public libraries, literacy centers, workforce learning centers, adult education centers, high school libraries, community colleges, universities and other volunteer organizations. We provide you with a list of the nearest GED classes to your home.
The GED examination cannot be taken online and must be taken in paper and pencil format at an official testing center. We also offer a nationwide directory of GED testing locations. | <urn:uuid:bc7e4151-adb3-4384-9c9d-4538fc213557> | CC-MAIN-2013-48 | http://ged101.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386163049635/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204131729-00027-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969194 | 342 | 2.9375 | 3 |
France, officially the French Republic (French: République française is a sovereign state comprising territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European part of France, called Metropolitan France, extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. France spans 640,679 square kilometres (247,368 sq mi) and has a total population of 67 million. It is a unitarysemi-presidential republic with the capital in Paris, the country’s largest city and main cultural and commercial centre.
During the Iron Age, what is now Metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The Gauls were conquered in 51 BC by the Roman Empire, which held Gaul until 486. The Gallo-Romans faced raids and migration from the Germanic Franks, who dominated the region for hundreds of years, eventually creating the medieval Kingdom of France. France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years’ War (1337 to 1453) strengthening French state-building and paving the way for a future centralized absolute monarchy. During the Renaissance, France experienced a vast cultural development and established the beginning of a global colonial empire. The 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots).
France became Europe’s dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV. French philosophers played a key role in the Age of Enlightenment during the 18th century. In the late 18th century, the absolute monarchy was overthrown in the French Revolution. Among its legacies was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, one of the earliest documents on human rights, which expresses the nation’s ideals to this day. France became one of modern history’s earliest republics until Napoleon took power and launched the First French Empire in 1804. Fighting against a complex set of coalitions during the Napoleonic Wars, he dominated European affairs for over a decade and had a long-lasting impact on Western culture. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a tumultuous succession of governments: the monarchy was restored, it was replaced in 1830 by a constitutional monarchy, then briefly by a Second Republic, and then by a Second Empire, until a more lasting French Third Republic was established in 1870. The French republic had tumultuous relationships with the Catholic Church from the dechristianization of France during the French Revolution to the 1905 law establishing laïcité. Laïcité is a strict but consensual form of secularism, which is nowadays an important federative principle in the modern French society.
France reached its territorial height during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when it ultimately possessed the second-largest colonial empire in the world. In World War I, France was one of the main winners as part of the Triple Entente alliance fighting against the Central Powers. France was also one of the Allied Powers in World War II, but came under occupation by the Axis Powers in 1940. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War. The Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Following World War II, most of the French colonial empire became decolonized.
France topographically is one of the most varied countries of Europe, with elevations ranging from 2 m (7 ft) below sea level at Rhône River delta to the highest peak of the continent, Mont Blanc (4,807 m/15,771 ft), on the border with Italy. Much of the country is ringed with mountains. In the northeast is the Ardennes Plateau, which extends into Belgium and Luxembourg; to the east are the Vosges, the high Alps, and the Jura Mountains; and along the Spanish border are the Pyrenees, much like the Alps in ruggedness and height.
The core of France is the Paris Basin, connected in the southwest with the lowland of Aquitaine. Low hills cover much of Brittany and Normandy. The old, worn-down upland of the Massif Central, topped by extinct volcanoes, occupies the south-central area. The valley of the Rhône (813 km/505 mi), with that of its tributary the Saône (480 km/298 mi), provides an excellent passageway from the Paris Basin and eastern France to the Mediterranean.
There are three other main river systems: the Seine (776 km/482 mi), draining into the English Channel; the Loire (1,020 km/634 mi), which flows through central France to the Atlantic; and the Garonne (575 km/357 mi), which flows across southern France to the Atlantic.
Three types of climate may be found within France: oceanic, continental, and Mediterranean. The oceanic climate, prevailing in the western parts of the country, is one of small temperature range, ample rainfall, cool summers, and cool but seldom very cold winters. The continental (transition) type of climate, found over much of eastern and central France, adjoining its long common boundary with west-central Europe, is characterized by warmer summers and colder winters than areas farther west; rainfall is ample, and winters tend to be snowy, especially in the higher areas. The Mediterranean climate, widespread throughout the south of France (except in the mountainous southwest), is one of cool winters, hot summers, and limited rainfall. The mean temperature is about 11°c (53°f) at Paris and 15°c (59°f) at Nice. In central and southern France, annual rainfall is light to moderate, ranging from about 68 cm (27 in) at Paris to 100 cm (39 in) at Bordeaux. Rainfall is heavy in Brittany, the northern coastal areas, and the mountainous areas, where it reaches more than 112 cm (44 in).
France’s flora and fauna are as varied as its range of topography and climate. It has forests of oak and beech in the north and center, as well as pine, birch, poplar, and willow. The Massif Central has chestnut and beech; the subalpine zone, juniper and dwarf pine. In the south are pine forests and various oaks. Eucalyptus (imported from Australia) and dwarf pines abound in Provence. Toward the Mediterranean are olive trees, vines, and mulberry and fig trees, as well as laurel, wild herbs, and the low scrub known as maquis (from which the French resistance movement in World War II took its name).
The Pyrenees and the Alps are the home of the brown bear, chamois, marmot, and alpine hare. In the forests are polecat and marten, wild boar, and various deer. Hedgehog and shrew are common, as are fox, weasel, bat, squirrel, badger, rabbit, mouse, otter, and beaver. The birds of France are largely migratory; warblers, thrushes, magpies, owls, buzzards, and gulls are common. There are storks in Alsace and elsewhere, eagles and falcons in the mountains, pheasants and partridge in the south. Flamingos, terns, buntings, herons, and egrets are found in the Mediterranean zone. The rivers hold eels, pike, perch, carp, roach, salmon, and trout; lobster and crayfish are found in the Mediterranean.
As of 2002, there were at least 93 species of mammals, 283 species of birds, and over 4,600 species of plants throughout the country.
The national parks of France is a system of ten national parks throughout metropolitan France and its overseas departments, coordinated by the government agency Parcs Nationaux de France. The French national parks protect a total area of 3,710 square kilometres (1,430 sq mi) in core area and 9,162 square kilometres (3,537 sq mi) in buffer zones in metropolitan France. This puts over 2% of the total area of metropolitan France under some level of protection. French national parks draw over seven million visitors every year.
- Les Calanques: In the Bouches-du-Rhône (13) and Var (83) départements. Around 11,200 hectares on land and 78,000 hectares marine. Periphery: about 34,000 hectares on land and 145,000 hectares marine.
- Les Cévennes: Southern Massif Central, La Lozère (48), Gard (30), L’Ardèche (07). Created in 1970, covering 93,500 hectares. Periphery: 278 500 hectares
- Ecrins: Hautes-Alpes (05), L’Isère (38) Opened in 1973, covering 91,800 hectares. Periphery: 178 400 hectares.
- Guadeloupe: French territory (971), the park was formed in 1989 covering 21,850 hectares. Periphery: 94 065 hectares.
- Le Reunion: (974) Opened in 2007, the park is 105,500 hectares running the length of the island. Periphery: 87 800 hectares
- Mercantour: Alpes-Maritimes ( 06 ), Alpes de Haute-Provence (04 ) Opened 1979, 68,500 hectares. Periphery : 146 000 hectares.
- Parc des Forêts de Champagne et Bourgogne – previously Entre Champagne et Bourgogne: Cote d’Or (21), Haute-Marne (52), in the pipeline, total area including periphery covering 80,000 hectares -opening date to be confirmed
- Port-Cros: Iles d’Hyères – Var (83) Opened 1963, this is the smallest park, 700 hectares on land, 1,300 hectares marine. Periphery : 1000 hectares
- Pyrénées: Pyrénées-Atlantiques (64), Hautes-Pyrénées (65). Opened in 1967 with 45,700 hectares of land. Periphery: 206 300 hectares
- La Vanoise: Savoie (73), The first National Park, opened in 1963 with 53,500 hectares. Periphery: 146 500 hectares | <urn:uuid:dccd6568-166e-42de-97dc-16034b78ea53> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://myvirtualcontent.me/2016/01/11/france/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267159561.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20180923153915-20180923174315-00299.warc.gz | en | 0.927689 | 2,177 | 3.359375 | 3 |
In the summer of 2007, in a bizarre incident shown live on Russian television, scientists accompanied by a couple of senior politicians descended 4,300 meters to the floor of the Arctic Ocean in two Mir mini submarines. Divers then planted a Russian flag on the seabed, and Russia officially notified the United Nations that it was claiming the ridge as part of its sovereign territory.
In effect, the Chinese did the same kind of thing when they decided to start building islandsin the South China Sea by dredging sand from the bottom of the ocean.
In both cases, the countries were creating new sovereign territory.
One implication of their declaration was that anyone traveling within the 12-mile limit defined by international law was traversing through their sovereign waters, and could only do so subject to their approval.
Indeed, the Chinese take their claim so seriously that last week it even threatened that it “is not frightened to fight a war with the US in the region” to protect its sovereignty.
So the question is: why do American policymakers care about seemingly insignificant tracts of land so far away from America’s shores?
International law and American concerns
International law is pretty clear. You can’t declare any territory submerged under the sea outside the conventional 12-mile limit as your own, although you may have some privileges in the waters that lie immediately beyond it. You certainly can’t build up some land to above the waterline, thus creating an island, and call it part of your own territory. And in neither case can you legitimately control access by other vessels. Indeed, no international commission has upheld the Russian or Chinese claims. But that hasn’t stopped either the Chinese or the Russians from trying.
Americans, however, are pretty emphatic when it comes to denying such claims have any legitimacy.
In the Russian case, American policymakers were understandably caught off guard and bemused by this strange symbolic act.
But, at the same time, American policymakers have a right to be worried. Climate change could vastly increase sea traffic through the Arctic Ocean. And the future implications of Russian control of these sea-lanes have lots of potential downsides, given recent friction over Ukraine and Syria.
In the Chinese case, Americans were caught off guard and bemused when they shouldn’t have been.
The Chinese have been making claims for a long time about their sovereignty over huge portions of both the East and South China Sea. But in this case, Americans are worried about what China’s control of these waterways might do now to these commercial shipping lanes. Every year an estimated 50% of the world’s total of commercial trade plus oil passes through the area.
Global trade and American national security
The question of why we do care isn’t as obvious as it may seem.
America’s policymakers declare that the maintenance of global trade and commerce is in its national security interests. So America needs to keep these shipping lanes open to what they call “freedom of navigation.”
What that means is that they can send an Aegis class destroyer (so this was a powerful ship, not the equivalent of a coast guards vessel) and sail it past the Subi Reef (think of an island so small it would drive you mad if it was deserted and you had to live on it alone). It’s the equivalent of a drive-by – just to send a message.
Then you put the US secretary of defense on an aircraft carrier, the USS Roosevelt, and do it again – just to ensure that both the Chinese and America’s important regional allies understood the message:. “This isn’t your territory – and our mighty navy is not about to allow you to push us out.”
You might understandably assume that the Chinese, with their huge volume of exports, would also want to maintain open seas. And that the Russians would want to ship oil and gas to keep their economy afloat by water. So there is nothing to worry about.
But that’s where more modest concerns about global trade are replaced by those about deeper, hardcore national security interests. For Americans there is a difference between “our” open seas and “their” open seas.
Freedom of navigation and American doctrine
A central element of American national security doctrine is the notion of “Freedom of Navigation” or FON.
In effect, we (Americans) assert our right to sail where we want, when we need to. Behind that, however, is the deeply embedded concept of “control of the commons..”
Military historian Alfred Thayer Mahan popularized this idea over 130 years ago. He stressed the importance of America’s navy in ensuring the free flow of international trade. The seas were his “commons.”
Mahan argued that the British Empire was able to retain its commercial and military advantage by ensuring its ships could go anywhere. And that it could deny anyone else from doing so, if needed, in times of war. The overriding lesson is that wars are not won on the land. They are won on the sea by denying your adversary access to resources.
Today, Mahan’s work remains a core element of America’s military doctrine. It is taught to America’s naval officers at their major training academy where he himself once worked and where his work is still regarded as having biblical significance. But it no longer is just applied to commercial trade. It now is applied to the access of its military in all kinds of commons – in the air, on the sea, in space and even in cyberspace.
So American policymakers become frustrated when they believe Chinese hackers spy on the US or they build islands because it demonstrates that the US can’t “control” that commons.
The answering message is clear. As Ash Carter, the US Secretary of Defense, said in a speech about Russia last week “At sea, in the air, in space and in cyberspace, Russian actors have engaged in challenging activities.” Carter went on to make it clear that the US wouldn’t tolerate Russian efforts to control those domains. Responding to Chinese threats, he also clearly implied in the same speech that China’s continued activities could indeed lead to conflict.
The importance of chokepoints
But the sea remains the priority when it comes to controlling the commons.
And Chinese sovereignty over the South China Sea offers the prospect that a key trading route located in a narrow strip of water between land masses either side, what they call a chokepoint could be closed by the Chinese, in the future, if not today.
The Malacca Strait on the Western end of the South China Sea is one chokepoint – the immediate object of the US’ concern last week. The Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, where much of the world’s oil passes through, is another. And, at least according to the US Congressional Research Service, the Arctic Ocean, where the Russian planted their flag, could become another.
So this leaves the Americans with an abiding dilemma.
They are saddled with a grand military doctrine built on the principle of keeping the globe’s key access points freely accessible to the US. The barely audible counterpart is that it should maintain a capacity to deny that access to any potential adversary in case of war. The doctrine, however, in practice can itself engender conflict – as we saw with the Chinese.
America may have a much bigger military capacity and even newer technologies that allow it to fight conventional wars. But defending the open seaways is expensive and often counterproductive. The Chinese, for example, are the world’s largest importer of fossil fuelsand China is far more dependent on foreign oil than the newly fossil fuel independent United States.
So critics ask why the US is defending the Persian Gulf when the Chinese are the prime beneficiaries?
The answer, it appears, has far more to do with military strategy than with global commerce. | <urn:uuid:a0d8501b-a096-40a1-8afc-eb95c40e14d9> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | https://cpianalysis.org/2015/11/17/under-the-sea-russia-china-and-american-control-of-the-waterways/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891814857.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20180223213947-20180223233947-00418.warc.gz | en | 0.957078 | 1,647 | 2.59375 | 3 |
the area in Central London, in the Eastern part of the West End between St Martins lane and Drury lane. The district is associated with the former here earlier in the Central square fruit and vegetable market, now a popular shopping and tourist attraction along with the adjacent Royal Opera House, also known as "Covent garden". The area comprises the main artery, the long Acre street (eng. Long Acre (street)), North of which are independent small shops, mostly located in Neils Yard (eng. Neal's Yard) and seven Tails (eng. Seven Dials), South Central square with street performers and most beautiful buildings, theatres and entertainment venues, including the theatre Royal Drury lane and the London public transport Museum.
In the Middle, Covent Garden was vegetable field known as «convent garden»,it supplied food to the nuns of the nearby convent of St Peter.
Royal Opera House, often simply called "Covent garden", was constructed as the "Theatre King" in 1732 by Edward shepherd. During the first hundred years of its history the theatre was primarily dramatic, with the patent certificate issued by Charles II of Covent garden and the theatre Royal Drury lane for the exclusive right of oral drama in London. In 1734, was presented the first ballet, and a year later began the first season of operas by Handel. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent garden, where he held their premiere. The building became home to the Royal Opera house in 1945 and the Royal ballet since 1946.
The Central area is called simply "Covent garden", often also called "Piazza Covent garden" to distinguish it from gave her the name of the surrounding area. It was the first modern square in London and originally it was a flat space with a low barrier. The Church of Saint Paul's became the first building was begun in July 1631 on the Western side of the square. The last building was finished in Seventeen of the houses had porticos arcade, organized in groups of four and six either side of James Street on Severnoi side, and three and four either side of Russell Street.
Modern Theatre Royal Drury lane is the most modern of the four incarnations, the first of which opened in 1663, making this theater the oldest continuously used theatre London. For most of its first two centuries, it had, along with the Royal Opera House, showing drama and had claims to being one of the leading theaters in London. The first theatre known as "theatre Royal bridges Street," had on its stage performances by Nell Gwin. | <urn:uuid:ad21c91f-9c41-46ba-be8b-cea4646121c0> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | http://www.myshared.ru/slide/1323372/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187823282.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20171019103222-20171019123222-00437.warc.gz | en | 0.981904 | 540 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Judging the salinity content of the Cape Fear River is a bit tricky because of its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean.
“The answer to that question is a moving target. The salinity of the river is different based on whether or not the tide is coming in or going out,” said Kemp Burdette, Cape Fear River Watch riverkeeper. “When the tide’s coming in from the ocean, it’s pushing salt water in. When it turns around and goes in the other direction, it’s pushing fresh water out.”
The river’s salt content is also affected by other factors, such as the weather. For example, one side effect of the area’s super-dry summer was a decrease in the fresh water flowing into the Cape Fear.
“When we have a drought in North Carolina, that means there is a lot less water going down all the rivers and all the streams that combine to make the Cape Fear River,” Burdette said. “By contrast, in years with a lot of rain, the river is not as salty.”
Because the river’s salt-water content is dependent on so many factors, it’s difficult to pinpoint a location where the salt concentration is particularly low. However, Burdette said there’s one easy way to gauge the salinity of the river in your area – examine the cypress trees growing along the shoreline.
“They don’t tolerate salt water very well,” he said. “If you don’t see dead cypress trees in your area, that means the water is fairly fresh. It’s not completely fresh. The water is never completely fresh, but it’s mostly fresh.”
That means the river in the Port City is pretty salty, but less so near Castle Hayne.
“You don’t find a lot of dead trees up around Castle Hayne,” Burdette said.
Date posted: October 24, 2011
User-contributed question by: | <urn:uuid:c5bbf4ec-c377-47a8-aeb1-31613b246aa5> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://www.myreporter.com/2011/10/how-far-up-the-cape-fear-river-do-you-have-to-go-to-be-in-fresh-water/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443737913406.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001221833-00048-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947405 | 439 | 3.015625 | 3 |
In addition to these tragic deaths, it is estimated that one child in Australia needs to be hospitalised every day because they have swallowed a button battery. Of these kids, one child a month is also seriously injured, with some sustaining lifelong injuries.
All because of a button battery.
Button battery warning
Many people are unaware that these batteries are so dangerous if swallowed. But they are – once ingested, they start to attack from the inside, affecting the bowels, oesophagus, nose and ears.
There is currently no regulation in place (but the ACCC is working very hard to change this), however, there are some button battery safety tips that all parents need to know, especially with the lead-up to Christmas.
After all, plenty of Christmas gifts, toys and Christmas decorations have button batteries.
Button battery safety tips
1. Store safely
Keep new and used button batteries out of sight and out of reach of small children. High shelves, locked cupboards – places your kids cannot get to. Even old or spent button batteries can retain enough charge to cause life-threatening injuries.
2. Opt for button-battery free products
When choosing gifts, go button battery-free, if you can! This eliminates the risk. So many products (and Christmas gifts) have button batteries – watches, remotes, toys, torches, but there are alternatives.
3. Check the compartments
Check that the product does not release the battery and it is difficult for a child to access. If the battery compartment does not close securely, stop using the product and keep it away from children.
4. Dispose of properly
As soon as you have finished using a button battery, put sticky tape around both sides of the battery and dispose of it immediately in an outside bin, out of reach of children, or recycle safely.
5. Know the symptoms of button battery ingestion
It takes two seconds for a child to find one on the floor, ingest it, and keep on playing. Many parents are not aware their children have swallowed a battery. Three-year-old Brittany went 8 days before it was discovered she swallowed a battery through an X-ray.
This is why it’s important to know the symptoms: gagging or choking, drooling, chest pain (grunting), coughing or noisy breathing, food refusal, black or red bowel motions, nose bleeds, spitting blood or blood-stained saliva, any unexplained vomiting, fever, abdominal pain or general discomfort.
If you suspect a child has swallowed or inserted a button battery, you should ask for an X-Ray from a hospital emergency department to make sure. If you know they have swallowed a button battery, call 000 immediately.
Additional safety tips during the festive season
Of course, button batteries are only one of the many hazards to watch out for at Christmas. Battery World has some great general battery safety tips for you to keep the kids safe at Christmas, especially around Christmas lights.
- Before you start setting up your Christmas decorations, make sure you check the cables for any cracks, exposed wires or frayed ends.
- Make sure your batteries are new if they have been stored away for the past year.
- Indoor and outdoor Christmas lights are different, with the cables built for different purposes and conditions, so don’t use indoor lighting outside!
- When shopping for outdoor lights, make sure the ones you get are durable and have waterproof battery packs.
- For any length of cord not used, make sure to tape it down, as the last thing you want is preventable tripping leading to rather disgruntled relatives!
- Place your lights away from any flammable materials like gas bottles, and avoid confining the cables by placing them under rugs, mats and into tight spaces where they can overheat and cause damage.
- When you’re heading to bed, turn your lights off to make sure they don’t overheat or cause any damage while you’re out.
- Store them safely when you’re done in a tightly sealed container with cables neatly piled away to avoid any deterioration, poor storage conditions or nasty pests chewing on the cables. | <urn:uuid:7efb9872-d545-44ca-9389-da7f44117b36> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://mumcentral.com.au/button-battery-warning-christmas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320304217.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20220123081226-20220123111226-00201.warc.gz | en | 0.933265 | 860 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Cleanliness is to purify our souls, manners, body, clothes, and environment form bad, dirty, and filthy things. There are two kinds of cleanliness:
1. PHYSICAL CLEANLINESSMatters that contain germs such as blood, urine, and pus are considered impure in our religion. Eliminating all kinds of dirt and filth from our body, clothes, and environment is called physical cleaning. The main subdivisions of physical cleaning are the following:
a. Keeping one’s hands clean:
Our hands are the most frequently used members of our body and therefore they get dirty most often. The dirt that gets into our hands results in an environment that facilitates germ growth. Those germs cause us to get sick by entering into our bodies via the food that we eat. Thus, in order to protect ourselves from germs and diseases, we must wash our hand before and after each meal. Also, after using the bathroom, we must thoroughly wash our hands with soap.
b. Keeping the face clean:
As our hands, our faces too get begrimed with dust and dirt. Washing our faces decreases our fatigue and remedies headaches associated with it. It energizes us and refreshes our health and looks. For this reason, we must wash our faces frequently.
c. Keeping the mouth and teeth clean:
The pieces of food that we eat accumulate mostly on our teeth and between them. When we don’t clean our teeth regularly, unfriendly bacteria start to thrive there. This causes bad breath and tooth cavities. Cavities are one of the principal reasons for many of the illnesses on our tonsils, stomach, and heart. In order to prevent these, we need to keep our mouths clean and brush our teeth at least twice a day. Outward cleanliness is very important but not sufficient. For this reason, I must also try to purify myself from the bad feelings, thoughts, and acts that God forbids. I truly believe that God will love me more when I succeed in that.
d. Keeping nails clean:
Clean nails complete clean hands and feet. We should never forget that our nails have the potential of becoming shelters for germs. When we think of our mouth, nose, eyes, and other parts of our body where our hands can touch, we should realize the risks associated with unclean nails.
e. Keeping the feet clean:
Our feet carry the burden of our whole body. Since we wear shoes, our feet may get sweaty and dirty. Washing our feet and in between our toes makes us healthier and more energized. For this reason, we must wash our feet and in between our toes very often. After we wash our feet, we need to dry them thoroughly in order to protect ourselves from fungi and similar diseases. We must pay attention to wearing clean socks and shoes as well.
f. Keeping the body clean:
Due to sweating and other reasons, our body gets dirty and starts to smell. Germs that populate our body endanger our health. The best way to clean our body from dirt and germs is to take a shower or bath with warm water and soap. To protect our health, which is the one of the most important gifts that God has given us, we should take a bath at least once a week. Also, before some ritual worship, we must absolutely clean ourselves from any physical filth such as urine, blood, or pus that are also called najasah (visible uncleanness)
g. Clean bathrooms:
All types of cleanliness start with clean bathrooms. For this reason, in terms of our health and worship, the most important cleanliness is bathroom cleanliness.
When entering a bathroom, the following prayer may be recited:
“O God! I seek refuge in You from dirt and filthy things.”
When exiting a bathroom, the following prayer may be recited:
“O God I seek your forgiveness! Praise be to Allah Who removes harmful things from me and gives me health.”
h. Keeping clothes clean:
When our clothes, which protect us from heat and cold, get dirty, they can be harmful for both our body and our environment. In order to prevent the harms of dirt and germs, we must regularly change and wash our clothes.
i. Keeping foods and drinks clean:
Germs generally enter our body trough food and drinks that we intake. For our health, we must wash fruits and vegetables before we eat. We must pay attention to the cleanliness of drinks as well.
j. Keeping the environment clean:
A clean environment starts with our immediate surroundings first of all. It is important to keep clean our house, our streets, our neighborhoods, our schools, the whole environment we live in and the air we breathe. A clean environment is important to prevent illnesses, for clean drinking water, and for the lives of other living organisms. By keeping our environment clean, we need to be considerate of others and not harm them. Our religion encourages keeping the environment clean. Our Prophet said: “A man while taking a walk saw a thorn bush and removed it from the street. God liked this act of his and forgave him.” (Muslim, Birr 127, Imare 164)
2. SPIRITUAL PURITY
Spiritual purity consists in purifying our hearts, feelings, and thoughts. Spiritual purity is composed of two main parts:
a) The Cleanliness of Hearts:
Societies that are composed of truehearted and well-mannered individuals become happy and peaceful. In order to establish a peaceful society, we must purify our hearts from bad feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that God prohibited such as selfishness, lying, hypocrisy, jealousy, and backbiting etc. We should stay away from grudge and hatred. We should not be jealous of others nor belittle them. A verse in the Quran says: “He who purifies the self has succeeded.”
Our beloved Prophet says:
“In the body, there is a piece of flesh, if it is good, the whole body is good, and if it is bad, the whole body is bad; truly it is the heart.” (Bukhari, Iman 39)
b) Cleaning from conditions
That are considered ritually impure. It consists in making ablution (al- Wudhu) or ritual bath (al-Ghusl) when necessary. Its purpose is to eliminate the conditions of being without ablution or with only partial ablution that prevents us from performing our worship. This is called cleaning to prepare for worship (al-Taharah min al-Hadath). | <urn:uuid:37717fe2-4be3-4a53-b55c-36ce668e4990> | CC-MAIN-2018-51 | http://www.namazzamani.net/english/kinds-of-cleanliness.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376827137.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20181215222234-20181216004234-00550.warc.gz | en | 0.949045 | 1,385 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Cuba's digital destination
The turn of the twentieth century and Cuba’s new independence spawned a push for modernity in domestic architecture, and Europe and especially North America were influential to the world-class Cuban school of architecture.
Within the first decade of the twentieth century, the art nouveau style arrived from Europe with Catalan, Viennese, and French versions in overlapping succession. The numerous and very different decorative façade treatments of Havana’s Palacio Cueto, built between 1905 and 1908, and the Guasch Palace in Pinar del Río, built between 1909 and 1914, are perfect examples of the modernistic effect these styles produced.
After the War of Independence and the Spanish- American War, .American companies began to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in major Cuban industries….The unprecedented fount of capital, popularly named the “dance of the millions” (danza de los millones), was responsible for a building boom that lasted from 1910 to 1930 and created new suburbs throughout all of Cuba.
These foreign investments in mining, railroads, tobacco, coffee, utilities, and, most of all, in sugar also paid for time as one style came into fashion others that until lately had claimed that honor were still under construction. Cuban cities were becoming modernized and their architectural content was diversified. There were public and private offices and institutions, government buildings, bars, hotels, hospitals, social clubs, and commercial complexes, all designed, developed, and disseminated throughout the island.
By the 1940s the modern architectural movement had shed all traditional reminiscences of the Mudéjar, Romanesque, gothic, and baroque influences Cuba had experienced, and another housing boom resulted from capital investment accumulated after World War II. Because of the technological advancement of reinforced concrete, apartment buildings started springing up in the late 1940s and through the next decade for the middle classes.
Modernism came into its glory and peaked in the 1950s. Thousands of Cuban homes were designed in the contemporary fashion in the suburbs of towns and cities throughout the island. Houses in Havana’s Miramar and Cubanacán districts illustrate the last phase of Cuban modernism before the Communist Revolution. In the Miramar district Casa de Eutimio Falla Bonet was designed by architect Eugenio Batista and broke radically with the traditional grandeur and opulence of Havana’s elite. Constructed in 1939, the single-story modernity employs concepts that Batista developed to achieve a style influenced by traditional Cuban colonial architecture but defined by the latest modernism in aesthetic composition….
The Cubanacán district was originally called Country Club Park and was Havana’s equivalent to Beverly Hills. First developed in the 1920s by Alberto Mendóza with winding tree-lined streets and enormous lots, the district housed the most ostentatious and grandiose mansions built by Havana’s wealthy classes. In the character of country estates, the United States ambassador’s residence was built in this area in 1939 in the twentieth-century neoclassical “garden city” style. Designed and built with a collaboration of American and Cuban architects and builders, the residence has a total of sixty-five rooms and covers more than 31,700 square feet of living space. The first-floor state dining room seats forty people. The second floor has seven bedrooms each with its own loggia from where the grounds can be viewed. The residence is surrounded by seventeen acres of beautiful formal gardens, with fountains, a swimming pool, tennis courts, and an orchard of fruit trees. At the end of a long promenade, overlooking a reflecting pool, is a huge American eagle sculpture. It once stood atop the Monumento del Maine on the Malecón, Havana’s ocean promenade. It was placed to commemorate the battleship Maine, blown up in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, killing 266 of the crew members—the incident that ignited the Spanish-American War.
Today, with the exception of the few ingenios and cafetales that have been made into government restaurants, all of Cuba’s once large sugar and coffee plantation great houses (haciendas) lie in ruins, destroyed during the wars of independence as part of the scorched-earth policy carried out by the Mambi (independent) army or by the reorganization of agricultural systems under the communist regime in the last half of the twentieth century. Most of the wealthy homeowners fled Cuba in the 1960s, and their country villas, palacios, and mansions were dispensed to government officials or their appointees who live in the lap of luxury behind closed doors and are unavailable for research or photography.
By the 1960s, Cuba’s architectural revolution abruptly ended. Following the Communist Revolution, most of the leading architects left the island; in 1965 the School of Architecture closed, signifying the end of Cuba’s glorious era of architecture. December 2011 | <urn:uuid:bad11f44-16b1-4d3e-ac42-ed3589332c4d> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://www.lahabana.com/content/the-republican-era-and-modernization/?full-site=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257648205.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20180323083246-20180323103246-00238.warc.gz | en | 0.959541 | 1,032 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Bristol has grown from a tightly bounded walled town and 'sacred city' centred on its High Cross to a wide ranging city of trade and commerce. A County in its own right since 1377, frequently rebellious, Bristol demolished its Castle Royal in the 17th Century. The City 'lost' its High Cross over the next hundred yeras and in 1764 it was 'sold' to a country estate in Dorset (and on 19th May 2012 there was a trip to Stourhead to see it) . The medieval walls were hidden beneath Bristols later prosperity, except for one fine gate - St. Johns.
Bristol Civic Society in 2011 published a report by Haydn Mason of on 'The Lost Walls of Bristol' (p5)
Bristol features in Braun and Hogenberg Vol III.1 (see detail below)
and in Baedeker 1906 Gross Britannien (German) map p88/89
Further information is included in David M. Bruce's presentation to the Bristol Civic Society. | <urn:uuid:2aec95f4-e4e9-4460-aefc-1e461b481c8f> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | http://www.walledtownsresearch.org/2011/10/bristol-walled-town-text.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027313889.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20190818124516-20190818150516-00066.warc.gz | en | 0.954603 | 214 | 3.125 | 3 |
Archive for the ‘Bugs’ Category
Heart-leaved Miners Lettuce “Claytonia cordifolia” Purslane Family (Portulaceae) Perennial or annual. Plant 6-12″ tall, leaves somewhat fleshy, flowers white with five 1/2″ petals. Blooms spring to early summer in the damp woods in the mountains of OR & WA, Notice the mosquito’s proboscis extends clear to the bottom of the flower and it may be sucking up “tissue juices.” Photo: Strawberry Mt near Seneca, Or 6/20/09
Cyanide Millipede “Harpaphe haydeniana” Approximately 1″ long with twenty body segments, two pair of legs per segment and blind. They eat organic matter and when handled they release a liquid that stains the skin and smells of almonds (hydrogen cyanide). Photo; Saddle Mt near Seaside, Or 5/13/2005
Galls are created when tiny wasps lay their eggs in plants and the larvae develop in swellings, called galls. Plant selection and the size and shape of the galls is a characteristic of each wasp species. These galls were on a small oak tree and were about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Incidentally, larvae don’t have the anatomy to excrete fecal matter until after they pupate. Photo: Catherine Creek near Lyle, WA 3/13/2007
Varied-leaf Phacelia “Phacelia heterophylla” Biennial or Perennial, plant 1-3′ tall, leaves gray green and hairy, flowers white to lilac, stamens prominent. Blooms in midsummer throughout OR & WA. The bumblebee is probably the red form of “Bombus melanopygus”. Photo: Dead Indian Road between Ashland and Klamath Falls, OR 7/07/2011.
Seven Spotted LadyBird Beetle “Coccinella septempunctata”. In Germany they are called the Lady-beetles of the Virgin Mary” and they help to control grapevine pests. This one has seven spots and it is native to Europe. They are many different species of lady bugs. Some of them have no spots and there are others that have twenty. Our common native lady-bug has nine spots but their numbers are on the decline. Photo: Mt Emily near La Grande, OR 7/13/2006 © Marvin Kellar
Subalpine Mariposa Lily “Calochortus subalpinus” Lily Family (Liliacea) Perennial bulb, plant 4-8″ tall, flowers, white and hairy with purple markings. Midsummer in the higher elevations in the Cascade Mts. of Or. & Wa.
Photo: Cone Peak near Sweet Home Or. 6/4/2007 © 2007 mkellar | <urn:uuid:3d3130e4-fe90-4eff-918f-10ba3109c4c1> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | http://saunteringoregon.com/blog/?cat=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917124299.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031204-00595-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921261 | 619 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Flying focus: Controlling lasers through time and space
Scientists have produced an extremely bright spot of light that can travel at any speed—including faster than the speed of light. Researchers have found a way to use this concept, called "flying focus," to move an intense laser focal point over long distances at any speed. Their technique includes capturing some of the fastest movies ever recorded.
A "flying focus" combines a lens that focuses specific colors of light at different locations with the recent Nobel Prize winning chirped-pulse amplification technology, which organizes the colors of light in time. Imagine a laser producing a continuously changing rainbow of colors that start with blue and end with red. Now focus the light with a lens that concentrates the red light close to the lens and blue light much farther from the lens. Because of the time delay between the colors, the high-intensity focal point moves. By changing the time delay separating the different colors, this spot can be made to move at any speed.
"The flying focus turns out to be super powerful," said Dustin Froula, the Plasma Physics Group Leader at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics. "It allows us to generate high intensities over hundreds of times the distance than we could before and at any speed. We're now trying to make the next generation of high-powered lasers and flying focus could be that enabling technology." His team, supported by the Department of Energy Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, will be presenting this research at the upcoming American Physical Society's Division of Plasma Physics meeting in Portland, Ore.
"Our group set out to design an experiment that would measure the propagation of a focal spot at any velocity, including 50 times the speed of light. This required a new diagnostic that could make a movie with frames separated by a trillionth of a second," Froula said.
In addition to helping usher in the next generation of high-power lasers, this research has the potential to produce novel light sources such as those that generate light of nearly any color. | <urn:uuid:0c5b8ac0-40d7-4bb3-ad6a-4443866e0186> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://phys.org/news/2018-11-focus-lasers-space.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655882051.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20200703122347-20200703152347-00297.warc.gz | en | 0.946687 | 417 | 3.84375 | 4 |
If you are really serious to take up programming as career then you need to look into the following areas:
- Procedural/Functional Programming
- Object Oriented Programming
- Data Structures
- Analysis of Algorithms
- Design Patterns
- Software Engineering
A degree course in Software Engineering would greatly help you to strengthen your skills and to outline your career path for the future but to take up a degree course is not mandatory. If you are passionate and dedicated, then all you have to do it to look into the areas above i have outlined. There are many informative books already available on these subjects.
Specify the area in programming where you find yourself comfortable to work. Essentially speaking there are 2 areas:
And do remember one thing, hands on prcatice is what you need on a regular basis apart from study! Join meetup and startup groups of whatever you language you choose to program. Participate in forums and post your questions, issues and also help others with your suggestions and feedback.
You also have to be commiunicative as well to succeed in your career as programmer. When i say communicative, i meant to be paying attention to detail, coming up with precise requirement facts and then conveying them to your team or transforming them into code effectively. Remember, programming is healthy when it is considered a team activity! You cannot and you should not construct every bit of the software yourself and feel good about it. You have to be critical and appreciate other people's criticism about your code or software and must know that there is no such thing as a perfect software. There is a life cycle that makes your software product evolving at every iteration. And then there is something what we call Software Testing which is crucial for a well creafted software.Being a developer, it is your job to atleast Unit Test your code before you go for final testing. | <urn:uuid:e04b7d74-d607-4a3c-9701-c077220a904a> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/137934/how-to-learn-the-basics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1397609535095.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20140416005215-00226-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959284 | 383 | 2.578125 | 3 |
In Remembrance: Senator Robert C. Byrd
On June 28, the animal welfare community lost a stalwart friend when Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, America’s longest serving senator, died at the age of 92. Byrd was a fierce advocate for animal protection legislation and was well known for his forceful oratory on the subject of compassion to animals.
Byrd’s legislative efforts on behalf of animals began early. As a U.S. representative in 1958, months before taking the senate seat he would occupy for over 50 years, he voted for passage of the Humane Slaughter Act. Later, as a senator, he supported the 1966 Laboratory Animal Welfare Act (later renamed the Animal Welfare Act) to improve the treatment and well-being of animals intended for research. But it was his advocacy on behalf of animals during the last decade of his career for which he is most remembered. Among other things, he sponsored legislation to protect wild horses, co-authored a bill to end horse slaughter and, in 2002, convinced the Senate Appropriations Committee to allocate a record $5 million toward improving enforcement of the Humane Slaughter Act. (At a hearing the following year, under harsh questioning from the Senator, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman was forced to admit that no new humane slaughter inspectors had been hired as Congress had directed. Ms. Veneman later recalled that as one of the worst days of her life.)
A noted dog-lover, Byrd delivered a powerful 25-minute speech in 2007 condemning dog fighting as brought to light by the Michael Vick case. Years before, reacting to the news of a little dog thrown into traffic by an angry motorist, Byrd said, "We have a responsibility to roundly condemn such abject cruelty. Apathy regarding incidents such as this will only lead to more deviant behavior. And respect for life, all life, and for humane treatment of all creatures is something that must never be lost."
Byrd was equally passionate about improving the condition of animals raised for slaughter. He told his Senate colleagues: "It is one thing to determine as a culture that it is acceptable to raise and rear and then eat animals. It is another thing to cause them to lead a miserable life of torment, and then to slaughter them in a crude and callous manner. As a civilized society, we owe it to animals to treat them with compassion and humaneness. Animals suffer and they feel. Because we are moral agents, and compassionate people, we must do better."
To members of the animal welfare community, Senator Byrd was an inspirational, resolute champion, one who will be fondly remembered and sorely missed. | <urn:uuid:1179d28c-5692-4c76-b4f6-c23f0521282f> | CC-MAIN-2014-52 | http://www.awionline.org/awi-quarterly/2010-summer/remembrance-senator-robert-c-byrd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-52/segments/1418802765616.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20141217075245-00060-ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975287 | 536 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Hawthorn can be a shrub in a hedgerow, or grow into a small tree 5 to 12 metres tall. The young stems of the hawthorn bear sharp thorns – it is these that make for an ‘impenetrable’ hedge that is so useful in agricultural terms.
Hawthorn was much planted at the time of the Enclosures (which started in Tudor times).
Hawthorn-rich hedges offer food and / or micro-habitats for many insect / arthropod species; and a home for many birds and small mammals.
Hawthorn wood is hard and prized for its grain.
Buds, Bark and Stem
The bark is brown with occasional orange cracks, sometimes green algae may be found along the bark (see image below).
Flowers and Fruits
Hawthorn usually flowers in early Spring, this is known as ‘May Blossom’. The tree or bush is covered with a profusion of small, white flowers.
The flowers appear after the leaves on Hawthorn, whereas on Blackthorn the flowers appear on bare branches before the leaves.
The midland hawthorn (Crataegus leavigata) may have pink flowers.
In the autumn, the flowers form 1cm long dark red berry-like fruits known as ‘haws’. These are often collected to be used in the making of jams, jellies etc | <urn:uuid:e71981e2-3b24-49b7-8eda-9d91b9f73bdb> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/tree-identification/hawthorn/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463609061.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20170527210417-20170527230417-00425.warc.gz | en | 0.947652 | 303 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Vyvanse Abuse & Addiction
Vyvanse is a brand name medication of lisdexamfetamine. Primarily used for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Vyvanse is meant to be part of a larger, more comprehensive treatment plan that includes psychological and social treatments.
Vyvanse is also used to treat binge eating disorder (BED). Specifically, Vyvanse may reduce the amount of binge eating activity someone experiences. Vyvanse is a stimulant that affects chemicals in the brain. While it has therapeutic uses, Vyvanse abuse is possible.
What is Vyvanse?
Vyvanse is a prescription stimulant. It is a federally controlled substance because of the potential for misuse and dependence. When someone uses Vyvanse, it speeds up activity in their brain. If someone has ADHD, the drug can improve their levels of focus and attention. However, it can also cause a euphoric high, appetite suppression, weight loss and increased energy.
Side effects of Vyvanse, particularly when it’s used recreationally, can include raised heart rate and blood pressure. Vyvanse can also lead to increased body temperature and the constriction of blood vessels. Other side effects of Vyvanse include:
- Dry mouth
- Sleep disturbances
- Pain in the upper stomach
Is Vyvanse Addictive?
Vyvanse isn’t a narcotic, but it is a Schedule II controlled substance in the United States. As a Schedule II substance, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), considers it to have a high potential for misuse, addiction and dependence. Vyvanse comes with a black box warning advising of its potential for misuse and dependency. Before someone uses this stimulant, they should let their doctor know about any history of substance misuse.
Vyvanse addiction can occur because of the desirable and sometimes euphoric effects the drug can create. Someone who uses Vyvanse, particularly if they’re misusing it, may feel euphoric, focused and energetic. The positive feelings stemming from the use of Vyvanse can trigger a reward response in the brain, which plays a role in the development of addiction.
How Long Does It Take to Get Addicted to Vyvanse?
Just how addictive is Vyvanse and how long does it take for an addiction to form? There’s not a specific answer, because every person is different. The risk of becoming addicted to Vyvanse is lower in people who use it as their doctor instructs. There is a higher risk of an addiction forming in people who:
- Use Vyvanse without a prescription
- Use it in ways other than what’s intended, such as snorting it or using high doses
- Use Vyvanse only for certain effects such as weight loss or euphoria
- Have a history of substance abuse
- Mix Vyvanse with other drugs or substances
Signs of Vyvanse addiction vary from person to person. Because every person has unique physical characteristics and psychological conditions, the signs of addiction are not the same for everyone. Some general signs of Vyvanse addiction include:
- Being unable to stop or reduce Vyvanse use despite attempts
- Focusing a lot of attention on obtaining Vyvanse and using it
- Doctor shopping for prescriptions
- Using Vyvanse in spite of negative outcomes or effects
- Experiencing cravings for Vyvanse
- Developing tolerance and needing more to get the desired effects
Who is at Risk for Vyvanse Addiction?
People who misuse the drug are at a greater risk of developing an addiction. However, when considering the Vyvanse addiction potential, anyone is at risk. While the aforementioned factors put someone at a greater risk of developing an addiction, anyone can potentially misuse the drug and develop an addiction. The risk of addiction to Vyvanse is lowest in people who are prescribed to use it and carefully follow their doctor’s instructions when they take it.
Get Help for Vyvanse Addiction
Are you struggling with Vyvanse addiction? If so, help is available. Contact The Recovery Village at Palmer Lake to learn about Vyvanse detox and addiction treatment programs, what to expect and how to start treatment. Start your healthier future today.
Medical Disclaimer: The Recovery Village aims to improve the quality of life for people struggling with a substance use or mental health disorder with fact-based content about the nature of behavioral health conditions, treatment options and their related outcomes. We publish material that is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by licensed medical professionals. The information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider. | <urn:uuid:41645e49-bebf-4e4e-b6b6-dfa801560bbc> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.palmerlakerecovery.com/vyvanse-addiction/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662619221.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20220526162749-20220526192749-00301.warc.gz | en | 0.926599 | 1,048 | 2.84375 | 3 |
by Rachel Davis, geologist and environmental professional
“Adopt a Drain” is a free, community-driven service program for West Chester Borough started in May 2018 by the Chester County Sierra Club-sponsored Don’t Spray Me! Group and is supported by West Chester Borough Council. Our goal is to educate citizens of all ages, but concentrating mostly on the youth, on how to maintain their local waterways by first caring about the direct avenues to those waterways: the storm water drains. Most people pass drains by without a thought — because drains are flush with the ground and easily overlooked. However, with enough time and education, one can truly begin to understand how important these vital pathways are to our community’s health and well-being.
The program is based on the nationwide concept called “Adopt a Drain” as featured from Nashville to Burlington to St. Louis. Cities throughout the United States are making it viable and accessible to citizens to perform voluntary drain cleaning activities by incorporating debris collection and notation with computer-based mapping software. When the hands-on aspect joins with the technological, a comprehensive city- or town-wide view of the drain quality can be constructed.
The West Chester Borough “Adopt a Drain” program has thus far completed two two-hour events in which we worked as a team to find, observe, take notes on and then clean the surficial area around the storm drains in the borough in Ward 3. We are working to complete this same activity per ward per section until all 1000+ drains are completed within the Borough by the end of the summer 2018. At each drain, we note if there is organic debris (leaves, sticks, etc.), plastic debris/trash (bags, straws, cups, lids, etc.) and/or standing water in and/or around the drain. By combining the physical removal of waste from the drains and the observing of the standing water inside the drains, we hope to identify which drains need attention from the borough to be cleaned further, fixed, dredged, or larvicided.
By the end of summer 2018, “Adopt a Drain” plans to present our data to the West Chester Borough Council and Public Works Department with the help of a West Chester University Graduate Student concentrating in Geographical Information Systems. Additionally, we hope to address the problem of mosquito larvae in the standing water within the drains and share a detailed view of trash in the borough’s drains too. Given the success of the program thus far, we hope that our observations continue to educate citizens for years to come and that the program is embedded in West Chester’s sustainable culture.
The program is open and available to all ages and but is prepared if the participant is less than age 12 that there be a parent or guardian there to support the event. If you are interested in joining in our events, please email me. Meetings at 1 pm on Sundays are confirmed through an email blast. We hope to see you there! | <urn:uuid:82649e7f-5241-4c75-b330-a377cff11b6e> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://dontsprayme.com/2018/07/08/adopt-a-drain-in-west-chester/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335504.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20220930181143-20220930211143-00710.warc.gz | en | 0.949838 | 613 | 2.75 | 3 |
In the book of Isaiah chapter 46 god tells the people of Israelites not to compare him to a goldsmith.
There is no mention in the Bible of the Prophet Isaiah ever disobeying God. The book of Isaiah is one of two books in the Bible that speaks directly of the wrath of the Lord.
not in Isaiah its psalm 138 vs 2b
The prophet Isaiah comes in the book of Isaiah.
The Book of Isaiah is named after its author, the Prophet Isaiah. His name translates: The Lord is the strength of my salvation.
God spoke to Isaiah through dreams. He had a voice, but no aspect.
Isaiah means "Yahweh is Salvation." The Book of Isaiah is often referred to as the Gospel according to Isaiah. Isaiah is the first of the Major Prophets in the English Bible.
A prophet speaks on behalf of God and a Priest represents the people to God. Look in the Old Testament of the Bible - Isaiah found in the book of Isaiah) was a prophet. Aaron was a priest (See Leviticus).
The king whose life was extended by 15 years because God granted it to him
The Book of Mormon quotes 478 verses from the Book of Isaiah. That is a full 1/3 of the Book of Isaiah! Of those 478 verses: 201 verses are exactly the same as the King James Version of Isaiah. 207 verses are slightly different from the King James Version of Isaiah. 69 verses are paraphrased from Isaiah. A great article on Isaiah in the Book of Mormon is found at the "Related Link" below.
A:Isaiah, son of Amoz, after whom the Book of Isaiah is named, lived in Jerusalem. An anonymous writer, now known as Second Isaiah because of his contribution to part of the Book of Isaiah, lived in Babylon during the Exile. A third author of the Book of Isaiah, therefore known as Third Isaiah, lived in Jerusalem after the Return from Exile.
The prophet Isaiah lived in the 8th Century BC in the Kingdom of Judah. He completed the writing the book of Isaiah around 732 BC. See related links for more information on Isaiah and the Book of Isaiah.
It refers to the 40th Chapter of the Book of Isaiah
Isaiah was a prophet of God. He preached redemption to the people of Israel and Judah.he was a prophet.Additional Answer:Isaiah was a prophet of God whose book has come to be called the 'Little Bible.' Though Isaiah warned ancient Israel (both the temple priest and the people of Israel), his primary writings are for end-time Israel - the people of God's true Church, specifically the Laodicean Era of His Church.
God, my SaviourSalvation Of God
Salvation Of God
The Book of Isaiah
Isaiah 1:1 introduces the book as the work of Isaiah, son of Amoz, who lived in Judah during the reigns of the Judahite kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, early in the seventh century BCE. The author of this verse makes no claim to live during the time of the Babylonian Exile.The Book of Isaiah then omits the 150 year period from Hezekiah to the fall of Jerusalem and recommences with the Babylonian Exile. Chapters 40-55 of the Book of Isaiah were written by an anonymous author in Babylon in the middle of the sixth century BCE. The last chapters of what is now the Book of Isaiah were written back in Jerusalem by another anonymous author.The three different authors of the Book of Isaiah are sometimes known as First Isaiah (I Isaiah), Second Isaiah (II Isaiah) and Third Isaiah (III Isaiah), respectively. It appears that the works of Second Isaiah and Third Isaiah were originally separate books, but were subsequently added to the Book of Isaiah.
Some scholars say that Book of Isaiah was a composite work by authors now known as I Isaiah and II Isaiah, whose lives and experiences were separated more than 150 years. They wrote the Book as a history of their times, for the benefit of the Jews.
Isaiah is in the Old Testament. It is the 23 book.
No. Isaiah was superlatively pious and observed the Torah in full.
Yes, Isaiah is included in the Tanakh. | <urn:uuid:4aa502c8-8223-4e48-ad37-ec39fe97754b> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://www.answers.com/Q/How_does_God_judge_in_the_book_of_Isaiah | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178378043.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20210307170119-20210307200119-00477.warc.gz | en | 0.976297 | 875 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Police Officer Testimony:
"CIT training did not just teach me an effective de-escalation tactic, it provided me with a new mindset that I value. It was confirmed the first time I used my skills to help a citizen who had become aggressive due to a PTSD flashback get psychiatric help, rather than incarceration."
What is a CIT?
Crisis Intervention Teams (CITs) are designed to reduce negative interactions between individuals with serious mental illness and law enforcement officers, including incidents of violence, and to divert individuals from punitive incarceration to appropriate medical treatment. CITs are formed through the collaboration of mental health providers, law enforcement agencies, family members of individuals with mental illnesses, and the individuals themselves. This coalition develops plans to address systems issues, including the best way to transfer someone from law enforcement custody to mental health treatment; and crisis intervention situations, including teaching law enforcement officers how to recognize and de-escalate a psychiatric crisis to prevent injury or death.
Since its development in 1988 in Memphis, CIT has been implemented by hundreds of communities across the country and statewide in several states. Studies show that CIT trained officers identify individuals who need psychiatric care and are 25% more likely to transport an individual to a psychiatric treatment facility than other officers. CIT training also reduces officer stigma and prejudice toward people with mental illness. Research also shows that police-based diversions in general and CIT in particular, significantly reduce arrests of people with serious mental illness. Individuals diverted through CIT and other programs receive more counseling, medication and other forms of treatment than individuals who are not diverted.
In short, CIT is a community partnership that allows individuals with mental illnesses' to be redirected from the Judicial System to the Health Care System. It is a more educated, understandable and safer approach to mental health crisis events. It provides law enforcement-based crisis training for officers assisting citizens with mental illness. Officers are part of a specialized team which can respond to a mental health crisis at any time. CIT is now used in over 400 Law Enforcement Agencies worldwide, including Australia, Israel, Canada, and Sweden.
If you have a family member or friend who is experiencing a mental health crisis call 911
For more information on What To Do when you call 911 click here
For more information on who the CIT is and how they work click here | <urn:uuid:545c0bee-d88e-4b4e-85a3-8bf3640a6d55> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://www.vbgov.com/government/departments/human-services/for-residents/Pages/crisis-intervention-team.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398445208.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205405-00250-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95755 | 477 | 2.765625 | 3 |
The liar paradox is the statement:
“This sentence is false.”
Let us refer to this sentence simply as L. The paradox comes when we try to assign a truth value to L. Is it true or is it false? If we declare it to be true, then what it says must actually be the case. But it says that it is false. We would thus have a sentence that is both true and false, which is not possible. On the other hand, if we declare it to be false then we are affirming precisely what the sentence says. That makes it true! So, once again, we would have a sentence that is both true and false. We get a contradiction either way.
Perhaps, though, we are making a category error. The concepts of truth and falsity apply to propositions, not just arbitrary sentences. Sentence L is not a proposition, we might argue. We should not be trying to assign it a truth value in the first place. It is neither true nor false.
Well, then. What are we to make of this:
“This sentence is either false or neither true nor false.”
Let us call this sentence M. Are you inclined to say that M is neither true nor false? Then you have just affirmed that what it asserts is actually the case, which makes it true. (Recall that an “or” statement is true if either of its parts is true.) Could the sentence be true? Certainly not, since in that case neither part of the or statement is correct. And could the sentence be false? Again, no, since in that case the first part of the or statement is true, and we once again have arrived at a contradiction.
But maybe you’re still inclined to say that M just flat is not a proposition. Very well. Then try this one:
This sentence is not a true proposition.
Now what are we going to do? Let us refer to this as N. If you say that N is not a proposition at all, then it certainly is not a true proposition. So, by declaring N to be something other than a proposition, then you have just made it true. But if you say that it is true, then it must be a true proposition (since propositions are the only things with truth values), and you have just made the statement false. I’ll let you work out for yourself the badness that ensues if you declare N to be false.
So how do we get out of this mess? How you answer that depends in part on whether you are a mathematician or a philosopher. Mathematicians just don’t worry about it. For us, this sort of thing is comparable to the old joke about the man who approaches a doctor and says, “ My arm hurts when I move it like this. What should I do?” To which the doctor replies, “Don’t move it like that.” Likewise, if you get into trouble applying concepts of truth and falsity to these weird, self-referential sentences, then don’t apply concepts of truth and falsity to them. Problem solved!
Philosophers have different concerns. For them, these sorts of sentences are at least potentially telling us something important about the nature of truth. There’s rather a large literature investigating this topic, much of it dense and technical. An especially audacious suggestion is simply to bite the bullet. If our attempt to assign a truth value to sentence L leads inevitably to the conclusion that it is simultaneously true and false, then maybe we should just accept that some sentences can be both true and false. Law of non-contradiction be damned! This view, which can also be expressed by saying that there are true contradictions, is known as dialetheism. It’s one of those ideas that sounds so crazy that there must be something to it for clever people to be defending it. I’ve been reading about it lately, and, well, I still think it’s kind of crazy. But interesting!
There’s a parallel here with set theory. We have certain intuitive notions about collections of objects, which we call sets. But we run into trouble if we get too clever about defining our collections. Russell’s paradox famously asks us to consider the set of all sets that are not elements themselves. If we call this set S, then there is no consistent way to answer the question, “Is S an element of itself?”
One way of dealing with this is to set-up elaborate rules regarding what is, and what is not, a legitimate set. This is the way of axiomatic set theory, and it is a long-standing and honored branch of mathematics. The fact is, however, that most mathematicians pay no attention to it most of the time. We prefer “naive set theory”. Set theory is just a useful formalism. If you get into trouble when you devise super-clever sets then stop being clever! Why should Russell spoil the fun for the rest of us?
Philosophers are more interested in using formal languages to capture the way people use natural language. Systems of logic can be correct or incorrect, depending on how successfully they capture the way people reason and use language. Thus, classical logic, which is what most people think of when they think of logic, is just one more theory among many. For example, here’s philosopher Graham Priest, an especially prominent defender of dialtheism, in his book Beyond the Limits of Thought:
That a contradiction might be true, or that dialetheism (the view that there are true contradictions) makes sense, may still be abhorrent, and even threatening, to many contemporary English-speaking philosophers. More likely than not, even the suggestion of it will be met with a look of blank incomprehension. How could a contradiction be true? After all, orthodox logic assures us that for every statement, S, either S or not S is true. The simple answer is that orthodox logic, however well entrenched, is just a theory of how logical particles, like negation, work; and there is no a priori guarantee that it is correct.
So that’s it. I have no particular point to make, but this is the sort of thing I’ve been reading about, during all the time I’ve been spending not blogging! | <urn:uuid:342f63f1-d94f-4c47-ab90-54e4c0794e10> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2013/07/02/the-liar-paradox/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818687447.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20170920194628-20170920214628-00225.warc.gz | en | 0.951742 | 1,332 | 4.34375 | 4 |
Methods updating instance variables java
Don’t worry, just read the 50 most important Angular JS interview questions we’ve outlined in this post.
It’ll help you sense the level of the questions asked in interviews and thus increase your probability of selection.
But don’t forget that success not only depends on your technical skills but your behavior matters too. Angular JS works fine with the latest versions of Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Opera 15 , and IE9 (Internet Explorer).
Hence, if you want to be a cut above the rest, then prepare in advance, practice more, and perform well. It also supports various mobile browsers like Android, Chrome Mobile, i OS Safari, and Opera Mobile.
Whereas a singleton enabled class will create the object first time and return the same object onwards. Scope object has access to both View and controller.
Thus it works as a medium of communication between both of them. We can use it to access model data of the controller. Using root scope we can set the value in one controller and read it from the other controller. Every Angular JS application consists of one root scope but may have several child scopes.
Similar to DOM, they also create a hierarchical structure. Single-Page Applications (SPAs) are web applications that fit on a single HTML page.
It dynamically updates the web page as the user performs actions on the app.
An app can have only one $root Scope which will be shared among all its components. These new scopes get added as children of their parent scope.
Thus the user navigates to different parts of the application quickly as it happens without refreshing the whole page.
Key Characteristics of Single-Page Applications are as follows. However, the “scope” will be used to create a link function for the custom directive.
For example, a controller may be defined as (let’s define $scope as the first parameter in this case): Thus, Angular JS does not care for the position of “$scope” in both the cases.
It uses the argument name to retrieve an object out of the dependency injection container. | <urn:uuid:a49a3df6-feca-4e1c-bdd0-8bbd348bfdaf> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | https://brand4u-shop.ru/methods-updating-instance-variables-java-159.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540507109.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20191208072107-20191208100107-00468.warc.gz | en | 0.894286 | 441 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Theme in thanatopsis
Thanatopsis on circa art actuel | “in a small remote room, among other composite elements, a multiform structure was constructed with an approximate. Nature tells us that death is fine—actually a good thing because once you die you are buried and your body will rot, making you an element of nature (you will. Thanatopsis is definitely a poem about death, but it's also a nature poem human beings come and go, but nature is always there the hills and rivers are.
Thanatopsis” is a good example of romantic poetry because— a) the poem is the theme of “thanatopsis” strongly suggests that human beings are— a) the. Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for thanatopsis - thanatopsis on allmusic - 2001. Thanatopsis to him who in the love of nature holds communion with her visible forms, she speaks a various language for his gayer hours she has a voice of.
The icarus anthology invited submissions on the theme of cathexis — which can be defined as “the concentration of mental energy on one particular person,. Theme bryant composed the first version of “thanatopsis” when he was only sixteen years old, during solitary walks in the woods despite his youth, though,. Explain' and find homework help for other thanatopsis questions at enotes list cite link link. Discussion of themes and motifs in william cullen bryant's thanatopsis enotes critical analyses help you gain a deeper understanding of thanatopsis so you.
A summary of themes in sinclair lewis's main street lewis further satirizes the women of the thanatopsis club, the women's study club, because they. Student thanatopsis analysisdocx summary (lines 1-10) there is a guy who figurative language, and connecting the poem's structure to its overall theme. Themes in thanatopsis, analysis of key thanatopsis themes. Artist: asher brown durand (american, jefferson, new jersey 1796–1886 maplewood, new jersey) date: 1850 culture: american medium: oil on canvas.
Sadness theme in thanatopsis, analysis of theme of sadness. William cullen bryant, in his poem “thanatopsis”, portrays a comforting view of 1053 words - 4 pages the theme of death in william shakespeare's hamlet. Awordaday--thanatopsis pronunciation sound clip realaudio this week's theme: words related to death and taxes thanatopsis (than-uh-top-sis) noun. 2 quotes from thanatopsis: 'to him who in the love of nature holds communion with her visible forms, she speaks a various language for his gayer hours.
- Thanatopsis is a poem by the american poet william cullen bryant i have no in thanatopsis by william cullen bryant, what is the theme.
- Free essay: the poem “thanatopsis” by william cullen bryant reveals a very unusual aspect of nature while most also, it sets the theme for the entire poem.
Thanatopsis is a poem by the american poet william cullen bryant meaning 'a consideration of death', the word is derived from the greek 'thanatos' (death). The theme of 'thanatopsis' is life and death the poem is divided into three main sections the first section is what you might call the introduction it introduces. Thanatopsis was written by william cullen bryant in 1811 and was first published in the north american review in 1817 the themes in thanatopsis center.Download theme in thanatopsis | <urn:uuid:62410fe4-bc1d-4c66-a673-c89238676213> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | http://slcourseworkizrf.cleaningservicesny.us/theme-in-thanatopsis.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583516123.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20181023090235-20181023111735-00429.warc.gz | en | 0.931451 | 789 | 2.875 | 3 |
004 Where quantum mechanics fits.
Where quantum mechanics fits.
Last time I discussed a bit about how scientists view Nature at molecular dimensions. One of the reasons scientists think that quantum mechanics is a complete theory of the microscopic is because it is capable of explaining all objective data. Well as we will see, not quite all. There is one experiment that causes trouble but otherwise with no evidence of anything deeper. How can we know if a sub-quantum domain actually exists?
Requirements of a physical theory
The least we should expect from a physical theory is that it is consistent with reality; completely explains all phenomena; and deterministically allows for events to be predicted from some initial cause. We also should expect interactions to be local.
Quantum mechanics fails in all these.
Particles are real and we have many ways of determining and confirming the structure and function of molecules—that is chemistry.
Interactions fall off with some inverse power law—so interactions are local. Near a source the intensity drops off the further you are, like the light from a distant star. This is an example of an inverse power law and all forces (well there are only four) become weaker with separation until they are negligible and can be ignored.
Evolution is deterministic. Here is an example of cause and effect. In our world where classical mechanics is applicable all processes are deterministic, but not in quantum mechanics.
We’d also expect a physical theory to describe all properties of a system accurately. Quantum fails there too.
Maybe these are not failures of quantum mechanics, maybe quantum mechanics is complete and accurately reflects the way Nature is.
So maybe reality does change and we can let philosophers argue the ontological difficulties. Maybe Nature is not deterministic, and only gives probabilities and God really does roll dice.
But that is not very satisfying as attested to by the large number of attempts to understand and interpret quantum mechanics.
Troubling issues with quantum mechanics
Right from the beginning, scientists have been troubled by these issues yet wowed by its success.
It started about the time of this famous photograph showing the participants of the 1927 Solvay conference in Brussels which was chaired by the well known grandfather of physics Hendrick Lorentz. The focus of the conference was the interpretation of the wave function and most were on the side of Niels Bohr who believed quantum mechanics a complete theory, but with Louis de Broglie and Einstein as notable exceptions. In his summary at the end of the conference, Lorentz expressed what has been echoed many times since: dissatisfaction with the rejection of determinism in quantum mechanics. Let us look at a chronological list of some of the many attempts to interpret quantum mechanics since that time
Consider all these approaches.
- Ensemble interpretation—Born 1926
- Copenhagen—Bohr and Heisenberg 1927
- Hydrodynamic—Madelung 1927
- Projective measure—von Neumann 1932
- Quantum Logic—Birkhoff 1936
- Bohmian mechanics—Bohm 1954
- Many-worlds—Everett 1957
- Stochastic mechanics—Nelson 1966
- Many minds—Zeh 1970
- Statistical-ensemble—Ballentine 1974
- Consistent histories—Griffiths 1984
- Objective collapse theories—GRW 1989
- Transactional—Cramer 1986
- Rational—Rovelli 1994
- Incomplete measurement de Dinechin 2006
All accept quantum mechanics to be a complete description of Nature except the ensemble approaches (1 and 10) and David Bohm’s Bohmian sub-quantum mechanics, 6.
Notably is the Copenhagen interpretation which today is still perhaps one of the most accepted, and first articulated by Bohr at the 1926 Como conference in Italy. It too assumes the completeness of quantum mechanics.
Quite a few interpretations require the wave function collapse upon measurement. This is also called “reduction of the wave function”. I remember when I was taking a course in quantum physics as a grad student at UBC. I was not really paying attention when suddenly I heard the professor say, “..and the wave function collapses…” He suddenly had my attention and I had a strange image of quantum mechanics falling apart. But the more I looked at it, the less sense it make. I had no answers of course, but it needled me from then on.
The Statistical-Ensemble Interpretation
There is a notable paper by Leslie Ballentine where he explains the statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics and compares it to other approaches. In that paper regarding the enormous number of papers on the theory of quantum measurement, Ballentine states,
“The reader can shorten his task greatly by ignoring all papers which try, without modifying quantum theory, to accommodate the reduction of the state vector and which also assume the state vector to describe an individual system.”
Cross out 4, 12 to 15 because they all require wave function collapse. Of the remaining interpretations of quantum mechanics, only the Statistical-Ensemble approach leaves open the door for sub-quantum theories. All the others maintain that quantum mechanics is a complete theory of the microscopic. So since we are discussing the possibilities of sub-quantum theories, let us cross them out too.
Only the statistical-ensemble interpretations, as discussed in that paper by Ballentine, allows for a sub-quantum theory to complete quantum mechanics with properties that satisfy local realism, causality and determinism. That a suitable sub-quantum theory has not been found is a human failing and nothing more.
I am not including number 6, Bohmian mechanics, because it is a sub-quantum theory rather than an interpretation of quantum mechanics. Also I am not rejecting the other interpretations just noting that they all consider quantum mechanics is complete.
Where does quantum mechanics fit?
So to what systems is quantum mechanics applied? Since we can recover classical mechanics from quantum mechanics, we could move into the cosmos, but let’s not go too far. Let us not consider the cosmos and questions of quantum gravity, black holes and dark matter etc. The cosmos is big. Cosmologists estimate the number of starts in units of sextillion.
How about our macroscopic surroundings: we know that quantum effects are manifested in many ways, but they are indirect. They are there but you can safely ignore them without hindering your ability to function normally. In fact from an empiricists point of view, we can only see microscopic effects indirectly as numbers on meters and deflections of needles.
Quantum mechanics becomes relevant when Planck’s constant becomes important. Planck’s constant is a very small number. He first discovered his constant while studying blackbody radiation in 1898. As you heat a black body, say by turning on your stove, it starts to glow and give out radiation. The intensity and colour depend upon the temperature of the body.
One of his critics, James Jeans, who tried unsuccessfully to use classical mechanics to describe BlackBody radiation and which led to the ultraviolet catastrophe, said “The real value of Planck’s constant is zero.” In classical mechanics he is right, but quantum mechanics describes phenomena where its value is non-negligible.
This is where quantum starts to be relevant.
Many people incorrectly think that Planck’s constant the smallest quantum of energy, but that is not correct. It has the units of Joule seconds which is angular momentum.
Likely the value of Planck’s constant was fixed at the time of the Big Bang and after that, along with other fundamental constants, …, our periodic table was set.
The limit of quantum mechanics
But back to the fit of quantum mechanics in Nature. Earlier I mentioned that the Heisenberg Uncertainty Relations have nothing to do with measurement, but they do put a limit on how we prepare a system for a measurement. That preparation fails unless it satisfies the Heisenberg Uncertainty Relations . If preparation is impossible, then measurement is impossible. Quantum mechanics is a theory about measurement of the microscopic and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Relations give the limit of its applicability.
Let us call the microscopic domain that lies below the Heisenberg Uncertainty Relations the quantum noise. Is it only noise : that is uncertainty, dispersion and random events? This is the sub-quantum domain.
Here I do not mean quantum noise in any experimental sense, like shot noise. Quantum noise is defined here by the statistical nature of quantum mechanics as determined by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Relations.
Sub-quantum theories are beyond measure.
This gives us a big hint. If Quantum mechanics is a theory of measurement which is limited by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Relations, then we can surmise that one of the properties of a sub-quantum theory is that is cannot be directly measured. We can ignore the measurement problem in developing a sub-quantum theory. Quantum mechanics does the job very well and even sets limits of applicability.
So what good is sub-quantum theory if it cannot be measured?
Well just as quantum effects indirectly affect our macroscopic surroundings, so a sub-quantum theory can lead to measureable effects indirectly on quantum mechanics. In other words, unless something new emerges from a sub-quantum theory, then we might as well forget it. New predictions and results are needed and these must be consistent with quantum mechanics. This is one of the difficulties with Bohmian mechanics—an intriguing sub-quantum theory, but nothing new is predicted, so it cannot be confirmed.
Here is a summary: Cosmology down to our Classical Earth, and then into the quantum world where Planck’s constant rules and finally perhaps to the elusive hidden variable sub-quantum mechanics that restores Objective Reality to Nature and restores ontological sense to science.
Of course a complete unified theory is still a holy grail of physics. Perhaps some clues lie in trying to understand if something lies below Quantum Mechanics, and if so what?
The truth about reality would be nice. So in my next entry I want to talk a bit about how objective reality at microscopic dimensions differs from that of our macroscopic surroundings. | <urn:uuid:4effbe1f-a970-4d67-894e-af12bf675ff0> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://quantummechanics.mchmultimedia.com/2010/quantum-mechanics/111/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655879532.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20200702142549-20200702172549-00089.warc.gz | en | 0.926919 | 2,118 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The Proverbs and the Idea of “Money”Related Media
The Proverbs have a great deal to say about money and related topics such as giving, poverty, righteousness and wisdom. The purpose of this study is to narrowly focus upon the issue of money and wealth in order to draw out, from the vast material in Proverbs, principles to help us in maintaining a Biblical lifestyle in relation to money.
A Representative List of Verses
3:9, 10; 8:18-21; 10:4,15, 16, 22; 11:4, 24-26, 28; 13:7, 8, 11, 21, 22; 14:20, 23, 24; 15:6,16, 27; 16:8; 17:6; 18:11, 23; 19:4, 7; 21:5, 17; 22:1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 16; 23:4, 5; 27:24; 28:6, 8, 11, 22, 25; 30:8; 31:18.
the Proverbs on Money
Honor God with your wealth.
- Prioritize your giving; give to Him first (3:9).
- God will often bless people materially who give first to him (3:10; 13:21).
Lesson 1: When it comes to money, put God first (Matt. 6:24).
Remember that wisdom is more important than money.
- Wisdom often brings enduring wealth (8:18, 21).
- Wisdom yields better fruit than money (8:20).
- Wisdom enables one to rightly use money (17:16).
- Wisdom gives one proper restraint in the pursuit of money (23:4).
Lesson 2: Ask God for wisdom in dealing with money (cf. James 1:5).
Remember that righteousness is more important than money.
- Righteous people can have great riches that involve no trouble (15:6).
- A poor, but blameless man (i.e. one who is righteous) is better off (i.e. before God) than a rich, but perverse man (28:6).
- God often rewards the righteous with money (13:21).
- It is better to have a little money with righteousness than much with injustice (16:8).
Lesson 3: Seek uprightness in money matters (cf. 2 Cor. 8:21).
Remember that fearing God is more important than money.
- Fearing God is better than a lot of money (15:16)
- Humility and the fear of God often leads to the acquisition of money (22:4).
Lesson 4: Remember to whom we must give an account (Rom. 14:10)!
People, diligent at what they do, often acquire much wealth.
- Diligent people, in contrast to lazy people, often have more money (10:4).
- All hard work brings a profit whereas mere talk accomplishes nothing (14:23).
- Acquiring wealth takes diligent planning; anything less may end up in ruin (21:5).
- People who cannot control their spending habits end up with nothing (21:17).
Lesson 5: Plan for your financial future as far as it depends upon you.
Recognize the limitations of money.
- Money can do nothing to deliver someone from the wrath of God (11:4).
- Money is very temporal and lasts but a short time (23:5; 27:24).
- Money cannot be trusted in for it will lead to one's downfall (11:28). Trust, instead, in God (28:25).
Lesson 6: Be sober about money; keep it in perspective (1 Tim. 6:6-10)!
Recognize the potential for good that money properly used can have.
- Money can provide protection from certain problems and alleviate certain stresses (10: 15).
- Money can be left as an inheritance to help one's descendants in this life (13:22).
- An industrious wife can make sufficient money to help he family (31:18).
Lesson 7: Be prepared to use your money to good ends (cf. Phil. 4:14).
Recognize and avoid the evil that money can cause in relationships.
- Rich people tend to receive more attention from others than poor people do. There is often favoritism (14:20; cf. James 2:11ff).
- If you are rich, be careful of people who desire your friendship (19:4a).
- If you are poor, do not be surprised if people abandon you for a rich friend (19:4b; cf. 19:7).
- Those with money often become the target of thieves et al. (13:8).
- The poor person can often see through the facade of the rich person who thinks he knows it all (28:11).
- A good reputation with people is better than much money (22:1).
- Because of money people often try to pretend to be something they're not; they live a lie (13:7).
- Rich people often "lord it over" poor people (22:7).
Lesson 8: The rich and the poor must remember that God made them both (22:2); humility is the order of the day.
Giving generously often leads to acquiring further wealth and spiritual benefits, but poverty awaits the stingy.
- Generosity, not stinginess often leads to having more money (11:24).
- Generosity often leads to the giver being spiritually refreshed (11:25).
- Those who are stingy often end up with nothing (11:24b;11:26b; 28:22).
Lesson 9: Give generously (2 Cor. 9:6, 7).
Money gained by unjust means leads to naught, whereas the monetary blessing of God brings no trouble.
- Money gained by dishonest means dwindles away fast (13:11).
- People who oppress others for money can come to poverty because of it (22:16a).
Lesson 10: Earn your money honestly (cf. Acts 24:16; 2 Thes. 3:7-9).
Be careful for greed.
- Greed for money can lead to family problems (15:27).
- Do not charge exorbitant interest; justice will prevail (28:8).
- Ask God for the proper amount of money (30:8).
Lesson 11: Search your heart before God that you might be aware of any greed (cf. Ephesians 5:3).
Remember that a biblical view of money begins by a commitment to honoring God first with our money (I). Then we must keep in mind that wisdom, righteousness and the fear of God are more important than money (II-IV) and will enable us to perform the first principle more adequately, as well as the others (V-XI).
Related Topics: Finance | <urn:uuid:65f5c184-dab0-464d-966c-ee162a638524> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | https://bible.org/article/proverbs-and-idea-%E2%80%9Cmoney%E2%80%9D | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824230.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00231-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913518 | 1,471 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Produce is defined as to create or bring into being.(verb)
An example of produce is to paint a work of art.
Produce is defined as products of agriculture, particularly fruits and vegetables.(noun)
An example of produce is a carrot.
See produce in Webster's New World College Dictionary
Origin: L producere < pro-, forward + ducere, to lead, draw: see pro- & duct
See produce in American Heritage Dictionary 4
verb pro·duced, pro·duc·ing, pro·duc·es verb, transitive
Origin: Middle English producen, to proceed, extend
Origin: , from Latin prōdūcere, to extend, bring forth
Origin: : prō-, forward; see pro-1
Origin: + dūcere, to lead; see deuk- in Indo-European roots.
Learn more about produce | <urn:uuid:7b43c4ea-096c-4491-a6c8-869d8dd70738> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yourdictionary.com/produce | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706470784/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121430-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.81327 | 190 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder that can lead to life-threatening lung infections, and it can occur in any ethnic background. Determine if you’re at increased risk for having a child with CF.
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a hereditary disorder that destroys nerves, and the leading genetic cause of infant death.1 You could be a carrier even if no one in your family has SMA.
Fragile X syndrome
Fragile X syndrome is the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability, affecting approximately 1 in 4,000 males and 1 in 8,000 females.2 In addition to carrier screening, we offer both prenatal and pediatric diagnostic testing.
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1. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 691, March, 2017
2. Sherman, S, et al. Fragile X syndrome: Diagnostic and carrier testing. ACMG Practice Guideline Genet Med 2005; 7(8):584–587 | <urn:uuid:a1d6b00b-4662-4c05-a493-80b667922def> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://www.integratedgenetics.com/patients/pre-pregnancy/all-single-gene | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585120.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20211017021554-20211017051554-00009.warc.gz | en | 0.859376 | 383 | 2.953125 | 3 |
September 15, 2010
Satellites Capture Tropical Storm Karl Landfalling In Mexico
NASA's Aqua satellite captured the birth of Tropical Storm Karl on Sept. 14 as it passed overhead at 3:05 p.m. EDT in the Caribbean. This morning, Karl made landfall in the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.
By 5 p.m. EDT on Sept. 14, System 92L intensified quickly in the western Caribbean and became the thirteenth tropical depression that quickly fired up into Tropical Storm Karl. NASA's Aqua satellite was flying overhead at 3:05 p.m. EDT and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument captured a visible image of Karl as he was rapidly intensifying.
At 8 a.m. EDT Karl's maximum sustained winds were near 65 mph (9 mph less than hurricane strength) as Karl was making landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. It was centered near latitude 18.6 North and longitude 87.6 West. Minimum central pressure is 991 millibars.
Karl is moving toward the west-northwest near 13 mph and he will continue in this direction across the Yucatan Peninsula, moving back into the southwestern Gulf of Mexico on Thursday.
The National Hurricane Center noted this morning, that when Karl moves into the Gulf of Mexico, it is likely that he'll strengthen into a hurricane.
Karl is a small system as tropical storm-force winds currently extend out 45 miles from the center (making him about 90 miles in diameter), however, the rain and storm surge he brings with him will pack a strong punch.
In the 8 a.m. EDT hour, a Mexican automated station at Banco Chinchorro reported sustained winds of 49 mph and a wind gust of 62 mph.
Watches and Warnings are in effect as Karl was approaching landfall this morning. A Tropical storm warning is in effect from Chetumal on the Mexico / Belize border to Cabo Catoche. A Tropical storm watch is in effect from Belize City north to the Mexico / Belize border.
Where Karl makes landfall, coastal flooding will occur near and north of that location and it will be accompanied by large and battering waves. Rainfall is expected to be heavy over the Yucatan Peninsula, Belize and northern Guatemala, where 3 to 5 inches of rain are expected with isolated amounts up to 8 inches.
That heavy rainfall was observed yesterday when the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, that is managed by NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA flew over Karl before he became a tropical storm. During the early morning on Sept. 14, the TRMM satellite noticed some heavy rainfall (falling at more than 2 inches per hour) around the storm's center at 2:19 a.m. EDT yesterday. That rainfall is now happening over the Yucatan Peninsula.
Text credit: Rob Gutro, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. and Hal Pierce, SSAI
Image 1: On Sept. 14 at 3:05 p.m. EDT, the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of Tropical Storm Karl approaching the Yucatan Peninsula (left in the image). Karl does not have a visible eye. Credit: NASA Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response Team
Image 2: The TRMM satellite noticed some heavy rainfall (red) falling at over 2 inches per hour around the storm's center at 2:19 a.m. EDT on Sept. 14. The yellow and green areas indicate moderate rainfall between .78 to 1.57 inches per hour. Credit: NASA/SSAI, Hal Pierce
On the Net: | <urn:uuid:ad8aa18e-844b-4e8b-9663-f48a2ef21816> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1917609/satellites_capture_tropical_storm_karl_landfalling_in_mexico/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042989234.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002309-00135-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945113 | 761 | 2.84375 | 3 |
A Short History of the Artist Abecedarium
by Lynne Sachs, Co-director Abecedarium:NYC
Anthropologists, filmmakers, linguists, musicians, painters, poets, writers — all share a fascination with the 26 letters of the alphabet. An abecedarium is traditionally an educational book for children containing words beginning with each letter, but for centuries it has also been a resource for creative work by artists in almost every media. This history of the abecedarium will look at a selection of artists whose intentions are both to celebrate and disrupt this most basic and widespread system of verbal communication.Linguistic philosopher Johanna Drucker points to the obvious: words come and go while letters remain strikingly constant. Her Alphabetic Labyrinth: the Letters in History and Imagination is a fascinating place to begin exploring the role that these iconic characters have played in the theater of world history and culture. Drucker’s interest in the typography of the Roman alphabet is expansive, allowing her reader to witness the alphabet’s omnipotence as well as its eccentricity. Rather than a dry archeology of language, Drucker leads us into “the realm of imagination and philosophical speculation.” Through her erudition and curiosity, we see each letter as a communicative symbol, a picture, and a discrete aesthetic experience.According to Drucker, both this alphabet and the Chinese character system began as early as 1700 B.C.E. Remarkable as it may seem, the Arabic, Bengali, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Tibetan languages all stem from one point of origin in the Sinai, the birthplace of both the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations. Eventually, the Indo-European languages would grow out of this rich environment, creating the 24-30 letter alphabets comprising the Balkan, Germanic, Indian, Indonesian, Romance and Slavic languages we know today. The non-alphabetic Chinese characters provided the written forms for the rest of the world. With this rudimentary knowledge of the evolution of letters as signifiers and signs, we can start looking at artists who have played with, challenged, punctured, praised and deconstructed words — those lofty yet prosaic creations that come from the permutations and combinations of the alphabet.
THE FUTURIST EXPERIMENT IN EUROPE
The Italian Futurists were notorious for their desire to rip apart every cultural institution in European society. Coming of age in Italy just before the outbreak of World War I, the Futurist movement’s fearless leader Filippo Marinetti brazenly experimented with all forms of typography by putting “words-in-liberty”, on the page and the wall. Their new alphabet epitomized a radical “stati d’animo” (state of mind) in which text was turned upside down, flipped, and graphically transformed. The Futurists even went so far in their desire to shake up the status quo that they wrote a Futurist Cookbook where they invented an edible alphabet that would bake, boil and burn the Italian culinary system like it had never been cooked before.Just a few hundred miles to the east, the Russian Futurists were doing equally innovative things with the alphabet. Poet Aleski Kruchenykh and artist Velimir Khlebnikov collaborated on the creation of a new, experimental language they called Zaum. Equally committed to the articulation of the horrific and the non-verbal, this Cyrillic version of a futurist alphabet embraced baby talk, onomatopoeia, and insanity. Zaum assigned a characteristic to each sound: the letter A embodied a statement of denial; B was collision or magnification. Some letters took on the qualities of certain colors. No one, not even its inventors, claimed to understand the language of Zaum.
AMERICAN WORD PLAY
With a nod to the original purpose of an abecedarium, Gertrude Stein threw herself into writing an episodic A to Z poem for children in 1940. She aspired to creating a “book I would have liked as a child.” Seventeen years later, her dear friend Alice B. Toklas assisted her in the publication of To Do: Alphabets and Birthdays, a delightful romp through a series of eccentric characters that probably appeals to a open-minded adults more so than an earnest child. In true Stein form, the language is playful and rhythmic – pushing words and their meanings into new galaxies of sense and non-sense. By the time we reach Z, this is where we are:“Oh dear oh Zero. Zero they said and they felt well fed. Oh hero dear oh Zero….And why is Zero a hero. Because if there was no Zero there would not be ten of them there would only be one….” Gertrude Stein
Equally resistant to the notion of empowering a man-made thing – be it a word, a song or a canvas — with the ability to express an actual emotion, painter Jasper Johns hurled a quiet epitaph at the grandiose vision of Abstract Expressionism with his 1956 painting “Alphabet”. Johns’ large, golden beeswax-and-oil canvas full of letters was the harbinger of an artistic movement glorifying “things that are not looked at.” Over six feet high and six feet wide, this homage to willful banality brought attention to the 26 letters as they had never experienced before.Like conventional musical notation, the alphabet simultaneously limits and explodes the possibilities for verbal expression. In 1982, experimental composer and philosopher of time and rhythm, John Cage wrote “An Alphabet”, a radio play with characters based on Marcel Duchamp, James Joyce and Eric Satie. The piece creates an imaginary encounter between the narrator and sixteen creative personalities who represent “an alphabet by means of which we spell our lives.” The dialogue between the characters relies on Cage’s infamous chance operations as well as his ingenious mesostic poetry. A mesostic word emerges from a vertical phrase intersecting lines of horizontal text. In contrast to alphabet acrostics where the beginning of successive words follows from A to Z, mesostics emerge from letters found in the middle of a line.At the same time as Cage was embracing his conceptual alphabet, essayist Susan Sontag was writing her own alphabet on modern dance. Her contemplative yet erudite “Lexicon for Available Light” (1983) looks at contemporary dance through a series of short thought-pieces moving from Beauty to Choreography to Diagonal to Openings to Politeness to Space to Volition to Yearning to Zeno’s Territory. Intertwining a love of both classical and modern choreography, Sontag contemplates the almost typographic postures of a contemporary dancer.
AVANT GARDE FILM MEETS AVANT GARDE ALPHABET
In 1970, American avant-garde filmmaker Hollis Frampton completed his opus on the alphabet and named it “Zorns Lemma”. For six years, Frampton crisscrossed New York City – from Coney Island to the Lower East Side to the far reaches of City Island — carrying a 16mm film camera and looking for words from A to Z. His documentation of signs is an exhilarating history of 1970s New York. This astounding experimental film presents us with a recurring structure that transports the way we look at skyscrapers, subway stops, barbershops, diners and newsstands. With each loop through the letters, purely photographic images begin to replace signs, as a rhythmic kaleidoscopic of activity propels the viewer through the city.Twenty years later, another New York experimental filmmaker decided to structure a far more autobiographical film around the alphabet, this time in reverse. Su Friedrich’s “Sink or Swim” is an astonishingly intimate yet elleptical portrait of the filmmaker and her relationship with her father. Through this collage oddysey, Friedrich visits all 26 letters, including Zygote (sci-fi footage of the egg and the sperm), Virginity (a fantacy about harems), Temptation (sleek women bodybuilders), Quicksand (abstracted imagery for a terrifying movie) and Ghosts (brooding images of a confrontational letter to her father). Reaching the very core of a young woman’s burgeoning identity, the film has been enormously influential in the realm of both the personal essay film and the experimental film. Friedrich’s inclusion of a girl singing the alphabet song brings to the fore her interest in this linguistic system – in all its glory and rigidity.
THE ABECEDARIAN POEM
New York poet and Abecedarium:NYC artist, Erik Schurink helps us move from a study of the alphabet as visual image to the alphabet poem, what he calls “a succession of letters and a big idea .” The beauty of the abecedarian poem, writes Schurink, is that the poet can apply its format to underscore the vastness of the subject he writes about, or to celebrate the completeness within his subject, however small. Its poetic form is guided by order—alphabetical order — its idea is based on the a to z of things. In his 1983 “ABC,” former poet laureate Robert Pinsky skillfully breaks out of the linear restrained structure of the alphabet, inspiring the reader to do just that with his or her own life—to go beyond the expected while embracing a given structure, even when restrictive.
Any body can die, evidently. Few
Go happily, irradiating joy,
Knowledge, love. Many
Need oblivion, painkillers,
Sweet time unafflicted,
Equaling X to an idea described by two words, Pinsky leaves language—ever so briefly—through math, to revisit words, highlighting the distance between their individual and joined meanings. Bibles and biologists start where he leaves off. Do Pinsky’s contemporary “ABC”, Geoffrey Chaucer’s “An ABC” acrostic poem, and Psalm 119 (one of the earliest well-known abecedarian poems) sit around the same table? Alphabet poems of various scales, from three distinctly different continents and eras—can they meet? If not, there is solace in knowing that all of us are abecedarians—beginners in any field of learning. Are we comfortable not knowing? Would we embrace learning to give body to sweet time?
In our search for the 26 words which comprise Abecedarium:NYC, we discovered that some words found in a 1968 Webster’s dictionary had essentially disappeared in 2008. By giving 16 artists the opportunity to reflect on the fluid nature of language, Abecedarium:NYC encouraged them to ponder single words — be they familiar or esoteric — in the context of a city of buildings, neighborhoods, and even people whose relevance shifts with the winds of the day. Why is a word so vital to one person and irrelevant to another? How do the changes in words reflect the changes in our society? Over the course of two years of production, Abecedarium:NYC has become a multi-media collaboration reflecting these questions in the context of a sound-image exploration of New York City.In an age in which definitions are utilitarian, spelling is automatic, derivations are incidental, and lack of common usage means abridgement and eventual death, we can only wonder what the life span for a word like WELKIN might be. Look up to the sky and ask yourself “Is there a word for that sweeping, opening above me?” The fast-disappearing, almost archaic “welkin”, is indeed your answer. Visit this word or GEORGIC, or TYPHLOLOGY, or XENOGENISIS and experience one artist’s interpretation of its meaning. With Abecedarum:NYC, you can ponder not only this suite of 26 expansive, yet little known, words, but also look at a hidden New York City where tall buildings can easily shadow a treasure below.For more examples of intriguing artist abecedaria, please visit Abecedarium:NYC on http://del.icio.us/Abecedarium.NYC where you can see a wide range of work including an abecedarium of Lacanian psychoanalytic concepts, a folk music abecedarium, an Auschwitz abecedarium, a “Three Stooges” abecedarium and so much more.
“ABC” poem by Robert Pinsky
“A Lexicon of Available Light” in Where the Stress Falls by Susan Sontag
Alphabets and Birthdays by Gertrude Stein, copyright Alice B. Toklas, 1957.
The Alphabetic Labyrinth: the Letters in History and Imagination by Johanna Drucker
Fred Camper’s Review of Su Friedrich’s “Sink or Swim” (1990)
The Italian Futurist Book
A New Alphabet Iconographic Language and Textual EmbodimentBy Jeanie Dean
Shallow Water Dictionary by John R. Stilgoe
“Thoughts on The Futurist Cookbook, by F.T. Marinetti”by Barbara Kirshenblatt Gimblett
Zaum: A Russian Futurist Alphabet
“Zorn’s Lemma” by Hollis Frampton (1970) | <urn:uuid:482fc757-aeda-4b00-80db-e13bbf982038> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | http://www.abecedariumnyc.org/welcome/history/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780056892.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20210919160038-20210919190038-00435.warc.gz | en | 0.917753 | 2,830 | 3.34375 | 3 |
The growth of India's working-age population
INDIA will soon have a fifth of the world's working-age population. But many are worried that it is squandering its opportunity. During the boom of the 1990s and 2000s it became fashionable to talk of India's demographic dividend – evoking the experiences of East Asia. There, working-age populations rose at the same time as the ratio of dependents to workers fell. An associated rise in the rate of saving allowed more investment, helping the vast expansion of manufacturing that employed those workers and lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. India's fertility rate dropped substantially in the 1980s and 1990s, and its working age population is expected to expand by 125m over the next decade. But now India's GDP growth rate has fallen to half of its peak rate. The country's record on job creation has been poor, households are redirecting their savings out of the financial system into physical assets, and manufacturers remain wary of labour rules and infrastructure bottlenecks. For more on India’s demographic challenge see here.
This graphic is from the print edition of May 11th 2013. A contact sheet of all this week's infographics is also available to download. | <urn:uuid:50f12b9c-fed7-4d2f-ac3b-2915bc187252> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/05/daily-chart-8/email | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1393999654003/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305060734-00098-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97113 | 250 | 2.53125 | 3 |
A Picture of Hope
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, a photograph by Joe Rosenthal, is an iconic image that we all should be familiar with. It is perhaps that single most reproduced picture ever captured. If you have not seen the original image, you probably at least have seen some replication of it either in print or as a monument. It was taken on February 23, 1945 (almost 71 years ago). It depicts six soldiers raising the American flag after the island of Iwo Jima was captured during World War II. It was captured, developed, transmitted, and printed on hundreds of newspapers in the U.S. in less than 18 hours, an astonishing feat for that time. The picture invoked a sense of patriotism and the belief that our soldiers were fighting the good fight and emerging victorious. The image still calls to mind the sacrifice that was made so that we could live with the hope of freedom. That we can have the life that we desire.
Of the six soldiers depicted in the photo, one of those was Ira Hamilton Hayes. Ira Hayes was a Pima Indian who was born on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Sacaton, Arizona, on January 12, 1923. His father, Joseph Hayes was a World War I veteran. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Ira Hayes was determined to enlist in the Marines. He enlisted when he was 19 years old and at the age of 22 he was planting the American flag on the top of Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima. He stayed and fought on the island until it was declared secure on March 26th. His company suffered many casualties and he was 1 of only 5 Marines remaining from his 45 man platoon. By that time, 3 of the original 6 men in the photo had been killed in combat.
Ira Hayes and the 2 other men in the photo became war heroes. They were called back to Washington D.C. to meet the president and participate in fund raising efforts for the war. It is said that Ira never wanted the attention and mostly suffered from post traumatic stress and survivor guilt. He carried the guilt that so many soldiers had gave their life in the war and were continuing to do so while he was being praised as a hero. He never liked the attention although he was paraded around the country and asked to play himself in the movie “The Sands of Iwo Jima” starring John Wayne. Eventually the fame subsided and he returned home to the reservation but could not find steady work. His guilt soon manifested itself into an alcohol addiction and he was arrested over 50 times for alcohol intoxication in public. He was in and out of jail and eventually his addiction played a part in his death. Ira Hayes died on January 24, 1955, just less than 10 years after the iconic picture. He was 32.
The story of Ira Hayes is tragic. Unfortunately there are thousands more just like it from where he grew up. Just over 70 years later, young men and women from a reservation less than 30 minutes from Phoenix are in need of hope. The land is filled with tragedy and brokenness. Just to give you a few examples:
1. Income among the Pima Natives is well below the national average.
2. The unemployment rate is approaching 30% and is close to 50% in some areas.
3. The high school dropout rate among Native teens is close to 50%.
4. Native teens have the highest suicide rate of any other people group in the U.S.
5. The Pima Natives are the 2nd most obese culture in modern history.
6. 80% have type 2 diabetes
7. The average life expectancy among the Pima Natives is only 46 years.
Over the next few weeks, I want to describe some of the complexities that go along with life in Sacaton and the surrounding districts. To bring to light some of the specific challenges that have faced the natives on the Gila River Reservation in the past and those that continue to face them in the present. It is my hope that you find yourself in a place of understanding and moved with compassion.
But I want to leave you with a picture that I have in my mind. It is a picture of hope!
Just as the image of the flag being raised on Iwo Jima is a sign of triumph, I have a picture that is much clearer and much more triumphant. When I see the image of the pole being planted on the mountain and the symbol of our country being lifted up, I cannot stop thinking about the image of Roman soldiers planting a similar pole on a mountain and the greatest of all Symbols being lifted up. Where the one represents a worldly victory in battle and pride in our country, the other represents an eternal victory in the greatest of all battles and the pride in a country named Zion. It is a story where tragedy and brokenness bring about salvation. This story is still being written and the Natives of the Gila River Reservation are a part of this story. I hope that you stick around to hear it and find out how you can be a part of it too! Until next time, God bless and please pray!
Here is a link to his blog. | <urn:uuid:c9c45b71-664a-4be8-a169-e33077e0c3c0> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | http://hardinbaptist.org/a-picture-of-hope/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818687333.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20170920161029-20170920181029-00283.warc.gz | en | 0.983338 | 1,073 | 2.84375 | 3 |
According to research, vitamin D deficiency is linked to a significantly increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in elderly individuals.
Prior studies have confirmed that individuals with low vitamin D levels are more inclined to go on to encounter cognitive problems, but this research shows that this results in a significant increase in the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
The team of researchers discovered that severely Vitamin D deficient individuals had more than double the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
The researchers discovered that moderately vitamin D deficient study participants had a 53% increased risk of developing dementia of any kind, and the risk increased to 125% in severely deficient individuals.
The moderately deficient vitamin D group had a 69% increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, with a 122 % increased risk for individuals severely vitamin D deficient.
The researchers studied 1,658 individuals aged 65 and older, who had been capable of walking unaided and were dementia, stroke and cardiovascular disease free at the beginning of the study. They were then observed for 6 years to determine who proceeded to develop Alzheimer’s disease as well as other types of dementia.
Dementia is one our biggest issues, with 44 million worldwide cases, an amount expected to increase threefold by 2050 as a result of the aging population. A billion people around the world are believed to have low vitamin D levels and many elderly individuals can have poorer health because of this.
Vitamin D is derived from 3 main sources – sunlight exposure, supplements and foods like oily fish. The skin of older individuals can be more inefficient at converting sunlight into Vitamin D, which makes them more prone to deficiency and reliant on other sources. In a lot of countries UVB radiation levels in winter aren’t high enough to allow production of vitamin D.
Evidence was also found that there’s a threshold level of Vitamin D in the blood below which the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia increases. The researchers had earlier hypothesized that this may be in the region of 25-50 nmol/L, and the new results confirm that vitamin D levels above 50 nmol/L have the strongest association with good brain health. | <urn:uuid:949e0fe9-6b9d-4d6d-b64e-42de6414e6a5> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | https://www.ahealthblog.com/vitamin-deficiency-symptoms-chart.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218188550.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212948-00548-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949132 | 445 | 3.5 | 4 |
Harvard - This ivy league university was home to one of the nation's best male rowing teams.
Chamber of Commerce - This was a local organization of businesses in Princeton, New Jersey, and many other cities.
Scull - This was a type of boat designed to be used by a rowing crew.
Oar - This was an object used to move a boat through the water.
Seattle - This is the largest city in the state of Washington.
Olympic Games - This is the peak showcase for top performing amateur athletes.
Medals - These are awards for winning an Olympic game.
Seat - This is part of a boat that is used for rowing.
Boathouse - This is a storage place.
Engagement Party - This is an event that Wood and Kristy Aserlind participated in.
Double - This is a particular type of boat used for rowing...
This section contains 229 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) | <urn:uuid:dcf84db8-63bd-4552-aeaa-aeb00a2d263d> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://www.bookrags.com/lessonplan/the-amateurs/objects.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246659449.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045739-00015-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950633 | 210 | 2.765625 | 3 |
The stress on our water environment as a result of increased industrialization, which aids urbanization, is becoming very high thus reducing the availability of clean water. Polluted water is of great concern to the aquatic organism, plants, humans, and climate and indeed alters the ecosystem. The preservation of our water environment, which is embedded in sustainable development, must be well driven by all sectors. While effective wastewater treatment has the tendency of salvaging the water environment, integration of environmental policies into the actor firms core objectives coupled with continuous periodical enlightenment on the present and future consequences of environmental/water pollution will greatly assist in conserving the water environment.
Part of the book: Water Challenges of an Urbanizing World | <urn:uuid:2f72e8c7-44a3-4f65-bc87-7ad372dcb94c> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.intechopen.com/profiles/101570 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337537.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005042446-20221005072446-00337.warc.gz | en | 0.937985 | 141 | 3.03125 | 3 |
The National Road, otherwise known as Highway 40, is America’s oldest highway and the first federally-funded highway in the country. Thomas Jefferson himself approved funding for the route, back in 1806. On Saturday, the highway, which stretches from Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois, will get a makeover, as the Indiana National Road Association installs 15 signs at historically significant sites across Indiana.
National Road Association board member Joseph Skvarenina, says by the time Indiana’s section of the highway was completed in 1834, the route was already heavily used by thousands of settlers, looking for opportunity in Indiana and Illinois.
“I myself have traveled the national road from Cumberland Maryland to Vandalia Illinois, just to see the old section of it,” Skvarenina said. “It was a lot of fun ‘cause there’s a lot to see; there’s old inns there’s an old ‘s’ bridge in Zanesville Ohio, there’s old toll gates, there’s museums, there’s just all kinds of things to see. It’s really an adventure.”
Although use of the National road has dropped significantly since the construction of Interstate 70, preservationists like Skvarina say the route’s significance is in its history.
The dedication of the signs is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, at the Old National Road Welcome Center in Richmond. | <urn:uuid:a36629ec-988a-4786-a92b-de4e0e68c956> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/historic-markers-line-americas-oldest-highway-41042/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720471.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00050-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949031 | 312 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Don’t scold your dog or cat for nibbling your house plants – she’s telling you something! Many animals are deficient in the nutrients found in leafy green vegetables.
Meat should be the primary component of a carnivore’s diet, of course, but a diet containing no plant matter is a fast ticket to nutritional disaster. A dog or cat that eats no green vegetables is more likely to experience digestive disorders, trace mineral deficiencies and even some forms of cancer. An animal that eats a diet rich in greens is likely to have a long and healthy life.
Dogs vs. cats
Most animals benefit from leafy green vegetables, but these benefits vary for each species.
• Dogs are true omnivores: they can fully digest plant foods and animal products alike. They benefit from the antioxidants found in green vegetables, which can help fight cellular aging. Dogs efficiently process plant-based nutrients; for example, they readily convert beta carotene into vitamin A. Greens are very important for a dog’s long term health, but this critical component of canine nutrition is neglected by many mainstream veterinarians and commercial food manufacturers.
• Cats lack the enzymes necessary for digesting plant based foods. Salad greens placed in a bowl may look remarkably the same when they appear in the litter box. Does this mean cats can’t benefit from greens? Not at all!
They need to eat green foods because they remove waste and detoxify the colon. Leafy vegetables can also help a cat expel hairballs, either by pushing them into the digestive tract or enabling vomiting. A cat that uses greens to induce vomiting shouldn’t be stopped; occasional vomiting is perfectly normal and healthy.
The role of grass
Most dogs and cats occasionally eat weeds and grass. Under ideal circumstances, grassy lawns can help them meet their nutritional needs. Dandelion greens are packed with nutritious compounds that detoxify the liver and urinary tract, while common lawn grasses like St. Augustine offer fiber and trace minerals. However, outdoor plants are often contaminated with pesticides, fertilizers and automobile pollution that will harm your companion.
Organic indoor grown grass is a healthy alternative for the animal with an urge to graze. Many pet supply stores sell sprouted alfalfa, wheat and rye, which are easier for animals to digest than standard lawn grass varieties. These indoor grasses stay alive and fresh year round, and are especially helpful for animals that nibble house plants. Many cats will also enjoy snacking on indoor grown catnip, which tastes delicious even to kitties that do not respond to its psychoactive compounds.
Leafy green foods are especially critical for animals with digestive disorders. Fibrous greens like kale and chard help prevent constipation, fecal impactions and spastic colon. Fiber also helps prevent the buildup of gas and waste in the colon. Human studies have demonstrated that leafy vegetables can even prevent cancers of the digestive tract. Considering the cancer epidemic among companion animals, this should not be overlooked or underestimated.
Raw foods contain the highest concentration of live enzymes, which perform essential functions for the plant. Many advocates of raw feeding believe that raw vegetables enable animals to derive more nutrition from plant based foods. Additionally, the proteolytic enzymes found in some leafy greens are anti-inflammatory, and may ease painful conditions like arthritis.
Choosing and cooking
Leafy foods lose most of their active enzymes when cooked. They also tend to lose a few vitamins and minerals. For this reason, you should strive to serve fresh raw foods to your dog or cat whenever possible. However, cooked greens are still very nutritious. If your companion will only accept cooked greens, try steaming rather than boiling them. Steaming leaves more of the nutrients intact.
When selecting leafy vegetables, choose dark colors over light. In general, dark green vegetables have a higher concentration of vitamins and minerals. For example, Romaine lettuce has about ten times the beta carotene and five times the vitamin C of iceberg lettuce. The chart presents some of the healthiest green leafy foods for animals.
Leafy greens, either raw or cooked, can be chopped, minced or pureed and added to your companion’s regular food. Start with small amounts and monitor his response – too much all at once might cause diarrhea, especially if he’s not used to eating vegetables. Adding leafy vegetables to your dog or cat’s diet even just a few times a week will do a lot to enhance his overall health.
Celeste ’s top-anything sauce
1/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
2 tablespoons fish oil 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon kelp powder
1 raw egg
Mix all contents evenly in a blender. This all-purpose sauce makes a great salad dressing for your animal. Also try it on fish, cooked vegetables, and canned or dry food. | <urn:uuid:2ff574fa-89e4-467b-96dc-ba02d3f1c52d> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | https://canadiandogs.com/greens-for-your-dogs-health/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039742666.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20181115095814-20181115121814-00376.warc.gz | en | 0.930506 | 1,015 | 2.828125 | 3 |
For the first time, a drumlin - a mound of sediment and rock - has been observed mid-formation.
The drumlin was found under the ice in Antarctica
The streamlined, elongated hills form underneath ice-sheets as they scrape up material as they move.
While many relic drumlins are well known features in once ice-covered areas, this is the first time an active one has been observed.
It was found under the ice in Antarctica, a team reported in the journal Geology.
The scientists believe it will help shed light on ice-sheet behaviour.
The Rutford Ice Stream, a 2km (1.2 mile) thick, fast flowing ice stream, which drains part of the West Antarctic ice sheet into the sea, creating huge floating ice shelves, was the location of the discovery.
The team surveyed the area three times over a period of 13 years, between 1991 and 2004.
"We went from this feature not being there, to suddenly, bam, this big mound had risen from the sea-bed. This was a really big surprise," explained Professor Tavi Murray, a glaciologist from Swansea University and one of the authors on the study.
"People think of glaciated landscapes as representing thousands or tens of thousands of years of time; then suddenly here we have this thing that is the size of a large warehouse popping up in this very short period."
The drumlin, which is still growing, now measures about 10m (33ft) high, 100m (330ft) wide and 1km (0.6 miles) long, and is growing 10 times faster than had been expected.
The speed of its growth has altered the scientists' perceptions of past drumlin formation.
"There are a quite a lot of these features around the world; you may have seen them in the Pennines or in the Yorkshire Dales. These were deposited during the last ice age and are relics in our landscape.
"But instead of representing what the ice was doing over a really long time-scale formation, they are really brief snap-shots of what has happened in the past.
"The bed underneath these ice streams must be changing really rapidly, much more rapidly than we thought before."
Drumlin relics mark the landscape in once-glacial areas
The drumlin could also help glaciologists to understand how fast flowing ice streams respond to a changing climate and changes in sea level.
"The ice streams in Antarctica control how much ice is stored in the ice sheet," explained Professor Murray.
"If you can change the speed at which the ice is moving through them, then, basically, you have more or less ice kept in Antarctica - they are the volume regulators.
"The results show us that the bed of a fast flowing ice stream can change rapidly.
"So the response of the whole ice sheet to changes of sea level or climate could be faster, because the beds of these ice stream can be changed much faster than we have previously thought possible." | <urn:uuid:a3bdd0fd-4330-4a55-a59e-cb2cc2ab383e> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6295395.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440645311026.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827031511-00336-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974305 | 617 | 3.953125 | 4 |
'Late Preterm' Babies Face Surprising Risks
There's some disturbing new information out today about babies that are born too early, a trend that has been increasing in the United States: A new study found that babies born prematurely are at much greater risk for serious neurological problems such as cerebral palsy, even if they are just a few weeks early.
Joann Petrini of the March of Dimes and her colleagues studied more than 140,000 babies born in northern California between 2000 and 2004 found that the earlier babies were born the greater their risk for problems. For example, babies born between 30 and 33 weeks of gestation were nearly eight times as likely as full term babies to have cerebral palsy.
But even those born just four to six weeks before a mother's due date -- so-called "late preterm" babies--were more than three times as likely as full-term babies to be diagnosed with cerebral palsy. They were also at increased risk for developmental delays and mental retardation, according to the study published online today along with an editorial by The Journal of Pediatrics.
More than half a million babies are born too early each year in the United States, and the rate of premature birth has been rising, causing increasing concern among doctors. That's because preterm babies are at increased risk for a host of health problems, including breathing and feeding problems, jaundice, delayed brain development and death. Late preterm babies account for more than 70 percent of all preterm births, and for most of the increase in preterm birth rates in the last two decades.
There are a variety of reasons why more babies are being born too early. Part of it is due to the fact that more women are waiting to have children--older women are more likely to give birth early. In addition, an increase in IVF and other infertility treatments has increased the number of twins, who also tend to be born early. Also, doctors are more likely to induce labor at any sign of problems, and more women are asking their doctors to induce labor or schedule Caesarean sections, sometimes just to make their deliveries more convenient or predictable.
The new findings, the researchers say, provide powerful new evidence for why women and their doctors should try to do whatever they can to carry their babies to full term.
Anyone care to share their thoughts about scheduling C-sections?
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The comments to this entry are closed. | <urn:uuid:5ce31f9d-c802-41bb-8c08-381ce5c8c971> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkup/2008/12/late_preterm_babies_face_surpr.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676590314.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20180718174111-20180718194111-00134.warc.gz | en | 0.981016 | 650 | 2.734375 | 3 |
As you all know, my name is Emilie and I’m currently serving in the Peace Corps as a Girls Education and Empowerment volunteer in the village of Pobe-Mengao in Burkina Faso, West Africa.
After teaching at the school, speaking to villagers, students, teachers and other functionaries, one thing has become quite clear: Pobe Mengao needs a library!
With no electricity, students are forced to study by the light of lanterns. Since not every family can afford lanterns, it’s common to find nightly study sessions at someone's home, with children sitting or lying on mats on the ground to study. Students also do not have textbooks, since neither the families nor the school can afford enough for the 100-plus students per class, so students study only with the notes that they quickly and vigorously copy from the blackboard. The library, which ideally would have solar panels, would offer students a place to study late into the night.
A library, open to the entire community, would provide plenty of interesting, educational and fun reading materials for all. It would offer students and villagers the opportunity to read books like novels, biographies, non-fiction (in French and in local languages) and learn more about the world outside their village. The literacy rate in Burkina is 28%, with women it falls to 16%. In the library an area would be created to hold literacy classes. This would give the villagers, especially women, an opportunity for education and knowledge that could greatly increase their overall lifestyle in areas like nutrition, health and economic status.
If enough money is raised, Friends of African Libraries, a non-profit based in California, would help manage and oversee the library, promoting sustainability. They would advise on the needed materials (books, furniture, latrine) and help oversee its progress. But more importantly they would oversee budgeting, making sure the librarian is paid and the donated money is put to correct use. FAVL will help if I am able to raise $10,000 (at least $5,000 of which is to ensure its sustainability for at least 5 years). It's a lot of money, but I’m optimistic it can be done. With the economy in its current state, money is tight. However, in Burkina, a little goes a long way. For example:
10$ - Covers the purchase of 2 new African novels or other reading materials
$50 – Pays for the six month subscription of a nationally-read newspaper for the library
$100- Covers the librarian's salary for a month
$500 – Pays for the purchase of bookshelves, tables and chairs
$1,200 – Covers the cost and installation of solar panels for a library
AMERICANS Donate by mail with a check to:
Friends of African Village Libraries
P.O Box 90533
San Jose, California 95109-3533
Be sure to earmark the check to Pobe -Mengao
CANADIANS Donate by mail with a check to/
OSU Children's Library Fund
188 Montrose St
Canada R3M 3M7
Make check payable to OSU Children's Library fund, but make sure to earmark it or add a note saying that the funds are for FAVL Project, Pobe Mengao Library.
For more information visit http://www.favl.org/
The community of Pobe Mengao will contribute 25% of the funds. They have already contributed a building for the library and when the time comes much of their contributions will be done through manual labor.
In addition we'll ask for money through grants but any contribution, large or small, will help immensely. Updates on fundraising and the library project will be kept on the blog. So please help Pobe Mengao have a library. For the sake of the villagers, for the sake of the students and for the sake of education! | <urn:uuid:3fd94256-30a9-4efa-a98d-88f04d51239c> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | https://www.causes.com/causes/303375-support-a-library-for-pobe-mengao/updates/201351-a-library-for-pobe-mengao?auto_prompt_sharing=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501170600.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104610-00603-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956294 | 819 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities
The final link in the cradle-to-grave concept is the treatment, storage, and disposal facility (TSDF) that follows the generator and transporter in the chain of waste management activities. The regulations pertaining to TSDFs are more stringent than those that apply to generators or transporters. A TSDF must comply with the standards of Chapter 14 or Chapter 15.
The Chapter 14/15 regulations apply to facilities that treat, store, and dispose of hazardous wastes. The terms “facility,” “treat,” “store,” and “dispose” all have specific definitions found in 22 CCR § 66260.10
- A facility includes all contiguous land, structures, and appurtenances on or in the land used for treating, storing, or disposing of hazardous waste. A single facility may consist of several types or combinations of operational units.
- Treatment is defined as any method, technique, or process designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste so as to neutralize such waste, or so as to recover energy or material resources from the waste, or so as to render such waste nonhazardous, or less hazardous; safer to transport, store or dispose of; or amenable for recovery, amenable for storage, or reduced in volume.
- Storage is defined as holding hazardous waste for a temporary period, at the end of which the hazardous waste is treated, disposed of, or stored elsewhere.
- Disposal is the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid or hazardous waste on or in the land or water. A disposal facility is any site where hazardous waste is intentionally placed and at which the waste will remain after closure.
Hazardous Waste Links
- Hazardous Waste Home
- Certified Appliance Recycler (CAR) Program
- Electronic Waste (E-Waste)
- Facilities (TSDFs)
- Hazardous Waste ID Numbers
- Hazardous Waste Manifests
- Hazardous Waste Tracking System
- Household Hazardous Waste
- Land Use Restriction Sites
- Metal Recycling
- Universal Waste
- Form 1358
- California Hazardous Waste Codes
Hazardous Waste Related Links
- Annual/Biennial Reports
- Emergency Response Program
- Export-Import Standards
- Fact Sheets & Publications
- Find a Registered Hazardous Waste Transporter
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Hazardous Waste Policies & Procedures
- Hazardous Waste Project Documents
- Kettleman Hills Landfill
- Office of Criminal Investigations
- Regulatory Assistance Office
- Report an Environmental Concern
- Retail Waste | <urn:uuid:8f910551-141f-4342-8db2-1343e3049363> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | https://dtsc.ca.gov/treatment-storage-and-disposal-facilities/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585370505826.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20200401161832-20200401191832-00018.warc.gz | en | 0.851849 | 567 | 2.609375 | 3 |
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