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It's been three years since Apple brought the smartphone to a mass consumer market, but smartphones have actually been around in one form or another since 1993. The difference between then and now is that early smartphones were primarily used as enterprise devices and were prohibitively expensive for most consumers. But with the enormous success of the iPhone, carriers have discovered that they can lock in customers for long periods of time by heavily subsidizing their purchases of the latest and hottest smartphones. In this slideshow we'll track the evolution of the smartphone, from its humble beginnings as a clunky monochrome device to today's sleek multimedia devices capable of supporting HD video.
Republished with permission from Network World (view original version)
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Stuck on your essay?
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Romeo And Juliet Essay for Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare The character in the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare that I think has the largest impact on the audience is probably the Friar Although the Friar might not have that big of a role he was the one with the plan that got Romeo and Juliet killed Some people might say that it was Juliets fault because she was the one that was so desperate for a plan to get her and Romeo together the Friar had no choice but to go along But still the Friar was the one that came up with a plan That plan might not have worked for many reasons but the Friar didnt think ahead Hold then Go home be merry give consent To marry Paris Wednesday is tomorrow Tomorrow night look that thou lie alone Let not the nurse lie with thee in thy chamber 4189-92 This part of the plan already might not work For example the nurse could insist on sleeping in Juliets sleeping chambers or Juliets parents could insist on it If this was the matter Friar should have an excuse that Juliet could use just in case Take thou this vial being then in bed And this distilling liquor drink thou off When presently through all thy veins shall run A cold and drowsy humor for no pulse Shall keep his native progress but surcease 4293-97 In this part of the plan Juliet could drink the liquid but not drink all of it or the potion might not work at all Friar should make it clear to Juliet to drink the whole vial and tell Juliet that there is a chance that it might not work No warmth no breath shall testify thou livest The roses in thy lips and
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How did Japan industrialize so quickly in the 20th century? Why did the country experience a “lost decade” in recent times? Find out in Art and Finance’s first-ever vlog post! (Thanks for your patience regarding the quality, I have a budget of zero right now!)
You might come across it in the news – “How will the US, or China, or Europe avoid a Japan-style lost decade.”
But what does the media mean when they say “lost decade”? In Art and Finance’s first-ever vlog post, we take a trip to Tokyo to eat some seriously good food, AND also get a basic understanding of the success and challenges of Japan’s economy.
Welcome, to the Art and Finance Vlog.
Welcome to Tokyo, Japan.
My name is Ramon Cuenca, and I’m the founder and director of Art and Finance, the website that makes learning about Finance fun and accessible. In this episode, we’ll be learning the basics of Japan’s economy. However. Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that many people have their own opinions on this subject, so what I’ll be giving you are just some of the mainstream theories. In other words, the basics. Now, let’s get started.
(card: Tokyo, Japan. December 2014)
Given some negative press that Japan’s economy has received in recent times, it may be easy to forget that Japan is one of the richest countries in the world, and its rapid economic development in the 20th century is the stuff of legend. Here we are in Tokyo’s Ginza district, a high-end retail mecca that is testament to a wealthy economy.
So, how did it all start? Let’s begin with Japan’s industrialization in the late 19th Century.
Japanese society was feudal up to the mid 1800’s, when foreign powers forced the country to open up to trade. Long story short, this led to a group of samurai staging a coup d’etat against the shogunate. This event was known as the “Meiji Restoration”, dubbed by historian Andrew Gordon as “The Samurai Revolution”. Now, I highlight the presence of the samurai because it was a distinguishing feature of Japan’s industrialization. The samurai were educated, but they did not own lands like the feudal lords did. Therefore, they didn’t have much to lose in industrialization.
As they consolidated power, these samurai effectively paid for an early retirement of the feudal lords, got rid of stipends for the samurai, and created a society based on more on merit than background. In short, they completely changed society within a generation – and if that doesn’t count as some of the most successful political maneuvering in history, I don’t know what does. Now, you could say that these samurai became the oligarchy in this new society, a valid argument, but you can’t deny that these leaders set the stage for Japan’s rapid industrialization.
Cut to Ginza
We’re still here at the Ginza. We’re having lunch at a popular restaurant called Torigin, which specializes in kamameshi – rice and toppings cooked in a kettle. Have a look.
If ever you’re in the area, you should drop by the Mitsukoshi department store, and, if you like cafes, you should check out the Tokyo branch of French luxury bakery La Duree, nestled within Mitsukoshi.
Cut to cards
So. Going back to the late 19th century. We have a new society in Japan, but what did they do industrialize the country so quickly? I highlight two distinct features about Japan’s economic policy that helped spur rapid industrialization.
The first is the presence of “zaibatsu” – these were basically monopolies. The key difference here is that instead of a zaibatsu monopolizing just one industry, it would span several industries, meaning that the zaibatsu were able to quickly mobilize resources, such as labor and capital. And, despite being family-owned organizations, the zaibatsu generally avoided nepotism by hiring talented workers from outside the family.
The second is the proactive role of the state. The government subsidized local industries, and also promoted technological innovation within the country. Some of the methods were… questionable, such as taxing imports and nationalizing the rail network. I don’t think tactics like these would work in our age, otherwise you might incur a trade war.
Cut to Ginza
It’s nighttime in the Ginza. We pass by Tokyu Hands, a chain were you can buy all sorts of Japanese-made goods. For some reason, this branch is named Ginza Hands. Dunno why.
Check out this stationary of Japanese artist Junichi Nakahara – a prominent fashion illustrator from the mid-20th century. Some consider his art to be a precursor to the manga or anime style you see today.
We finish off our night at Kyuubei, a sushi restaurant in the Ginza – let’s take a minute to drool over some sushi.
Cut to cards
So the Samurai Revolution laid the foundation for Japan’s rapid development. However, development all but halted in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. But from 1950 to 1973, real GNP grew 10% every year! What led to this economic miracle? Certainly, the Allied powers helped with reconstruction, but let’s discuss some other key factors that most likely helped.
The first is that international trade in general tripled during the post-war period
The second factor was, similar to the pre-war era, the proactive role of the state. This time around, the government provided “administrative guidance.” Although private enterprise flourished in this period, the government made it very clear that they would support specific industries, via initiatives such as lending programs, and, of course, protectionism
Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (which we will refer to as MITI) was a major actor in this respect. It could pressure individual companies to collude and improve the industry as a whole. For example, MITI pressured major iron and steel producers to share the cost of a key technology license, speeding up the competitiveness of this industry as a whole.
Lastly, let’s talk about labor. Regarding the Japanese labor force, two important events occurred. The first was quality control, or QC. An American import, quality control meant sophisticated analysis of workflow to become more efficient. The Japanese furthered this concept of QC by getting its entire workforce involved. They would form “QC circles” and analyze their workflow and propose solutions.
The second event was the relatively weak power of labor unions. By the 1980’s, given its economic success, Japan had become a corporate-centered society where many believed that what was good for the corporation was good for Japan as a whole. (And although QC identified redundancies in the workforce, extra workers were reassigned to other jobs.)
So all in all, times were good… What happened?
(Back to movie)
Back in Tokyo, we’re here at the Hotel New Otani in Akasaka, which was built for the Olympics in the 1960’s – a testament to Japan’s spectacular economic growth.
Let’s not forget that economic power also helped spread Japanese aesthetics and media around the world. Think of Uniqlo, one of the most successful fashion retailers around.
You could also think of the global popularity of anime and manga. If you’re into that, make sure to drop by Akihabara if ever you’re in Tokyo.
Of course – anime Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger.
(Back to cards)
Things came to a halt starting in the mid 80s. While there are numerous reasons for an economic recession, let’s start with one singular event, the 1985 Plaza Accord. Essentially, as international trade grew throughout the twentieth century, different economies became intertwined. However, foreign imports sometimes mean negative results for local industries as a result of competition.
Sometimes this has to do with currency exchange rates. For example, if the Japanese Yen is cheaper than the US dollar, that means it takes fewer dollars for Americans to buy Japanese products, which was the case in the early 80s.
So, rather than risk a trade war and protectionism, the major developed economies convened and agreed to coordinate the exchange rates of their currencies.
The reason for that is this: when the US buys from Japan, it pays in US dollars, and Japan earns in US dollars, and vice versa. This is how international trade works. What the Plaza Accord stipulated was that Japan would allow the Yen to strengthen even as the US dollar weakened, thus making Japanese exports less competitive, as US exports became more competitive. This marked the first time national economies got together and decided on coordinated actions in the foreign exchange market.
The immediate result of the Plaza Accord was a halt in Japanese exports and GDP growth. To counter a recession, the Japanese government responded with monetary stimulus, which basically meant cutting interest rates to boost business and consumer confidence. This meant that cheap money was readily available.
Meanwhile, the 1970s and 80s were a time of financial deregulation, meaning that banks could make riskier loans, which they did. One reason for banks taking larger risks was that firms, who were the traditional borrowers from banks, now had access to the capital markets. This meant that firms could get borrow money by other means, such as from issuing a bond rather than borrowing from the bank. So banks began lending to real estate developers and households in need of mortgage, using real estate as collateral.
Another factor was euphoria. Due to the two factors above and an economy that has seen rapid growth over the past decades, asset prices – including real estate and stock prices- surged. (Clips of Omotesando)
So that was the Japanese asset bubble, and as all asset bubbles do, it popped.
By the fall of 1989, the bubble began to burst. Stocks fell 60% from late 89 to August 92, while real estate fell throughout the 90’s by 70%.
Following the bursting of the bubble, unemployment increased, while total factor productivity, a rough measure of human capital in GDP calculations, flatlined in the 90s. Some would call those who experienced this the “lost generation” of Japan.
But why was this recession so severe? Let’s look at three factors.
One. Zombie lending. Remember how those banks lent to real estate developers and underwrote mortgages backed by real estate as collateral? Well, as real estate values plummeted and borrowers defaulted, banks could not get the money back from the loans they underwrote.
Remember that a bank makes a profit by borrowing money from depositors and lending to borrowers at a higher rate. Even if the borrowers default, the bank still has to pay back depositors. Normally, banks go out of business when this happens. But in the case of Japan, the government delayed forcing the banks to recognize losses, letting them to continue lending to insolvent firms, known as zombies. The results stifled regular competition and impeded economic productivity.
Two. Balance sheet recession. Because of the euphoria prior to the crash, many firms and households had borrowed a lot of money. With weaker sales, firms spent relatively more of their capital just paying off debt rather than growing their business. So, the government’s efforts to cut interest rates and stimulate the economy was useless, as any extra cash printed was used to pay off debt. By the way, this situation where the government cuts interest rates and prints money but can’t get the economy to recover is also known as a “liquidity trap”. The situation was so severe in Japan that firms were making net debt paydowns for an entire decade, from 1995 to 2005.
Three. Deflation. Throughout the 90s and early 21st century, Japan has had to face bouts of deflation. Deflation is a phenomenon where prices of goods are actually falling. While that may seem like a good thing, it’s a sign that firms and households aren’t spending. Moreover, borrowers find it harder to payoff debt, as their debt is fixed even as their profits weaken.
The severeness of the Japanese recession led to another problem – surging government debt.
As of end 2014, Japan’s national debt stood at 8.4 trillion dollars, more than twice the size of its economy. While this debt load may seem unsustainable, Japan’s borrowing costs are the fourth lowest in the world. How is this even possible?
It’s because most of the holders of Japanese debt, are, well Japanese. Foreigners only held 8.9% of the debt as of end 2014. Compare that to US treasuries, of which 48% is held by foreigners. By the way, the three biggest holders of Japanese debt, accounting for 46% of the total, are the Bank of Japan, public pension funds, and… the Japan post office bank.
So, how did the debt burden get so big? Aside from attempts to stimulate the economy by spending, the government has also had to solve a demographic problem. Japanese society is aging. Currently, about 30% of Japan’s population is elderly, and that number is expected to grow to 40% over the next 30 years. That’s a lot in social security payments.
So you could think of Japan’s massive debt burden as partially a de-facto tax to support social security. What’s wrong with that?
It’s because of another demographic issue. Japan’s population declined for the first time in 2009, and has been declining ever since. Essentially, there are fewer and fewer young people to pay for the elderly. To paraphrase CFA blogger Ron Rimkus, people would have to work harder and harder just to maintain the status quo.
To summarize, Japan currently faces two interrelated economic problems – a lackluster economy and an increasing debt burden.
What can be done to solve this problem? Enter Shinzo Abe, Japan’s current prime minister, elected December 2012, whose economic policy, dubbed “Abenomics” aims to do just that.
Abenomics has 3 distinct programs to fix the economy, dubbed “arrows”
Arrow #1 – Fiscal boost to the economy via government spending
Arrow #2 – Monetary easing; basically, low interest rates and printing money
Arrow #3 – Regulatory reform – among other things, a lower corporate tax rate, free trade agreements, labor reform, and increasing the female workforce
How has Abenomics fared? So far, the results are… mixed.
Arrows 1 and 2 have been fired, and have successfully rekindled inflation; in other words, defeating deflation. Also, GDP grew for the first few quarters since Abenomics began.
However, to address the debt issue, Abe raised Japan’s sales tax in 2014, leading to a technical recession (meaning two quarters of negative GDP growth). This forced a snap election in December, with Abe and his party emerging as the winners.
Meanwhile, controlling inflation now becomes an issue, with Bloomberg recently reporting that current inflation in Japan is outpacing wage growth. It doesn’t help that Japanese firms continue to sit on cash, a sign that they are not too positive on Abenomics.
Arrow 3, which aims for regulatory reform, remains to be implemented, potentially bogged down by politics. But even if the reforms outlined are enacted, some critics say further, deeper reforms, a fourth arrow, is needed to definitively fix the economy.
Bloomberg columnist William Pesek outlined some of these deeper reforms:
- Support for entrepreneurialism
- Civil service reform
- “Smart immigration” – for example, adopting an immigration policy that selects foreigners with specific skills, similar to Singapore’s policy
- Support of alternative energies
- Decreasing import tariffs, and:
- Quotas for female employment
In short, fixing Japan’s economy would involve deep, lasting reform. This, obviously, requires political willpower. It would help if Abe had the backing of the people – unfortunately, even though he won in the snap election, voter turnout was at a postwar low at 52%.
Many feel that Abenomics, with its goal of achieving inflation, has eroded real incomes. Many also see the current government as more of the same and don’t bother voting. Other political controversies haven’t helped either, such as the government’s pro-nuclear energy stance and a cabinet resolution to re-interpret Japan’s pacifist constitution. Moreover, some of the proposed solutions to Japan’s economic woes are unpopular, such as immigration, with a majority of the population against a more open immigration policy.
In closing, I would like to add my own opinion. I believe that the Japanese public, just like the populations of most other countries, has to engage more with the economic issues of the nation. At the end of the day, Japan is a democracy, so if people want economic reform, they can vote for it, whether through Shinzo Abe’s party or another. I also believe encouraging entrepreneurialism and a more open immigration policy will give Japan’s economy a particular edge and here’s why:
In 2012, the Wall Street Journal published an article called “Made Better in Japan” – highlighting the Japanese principles of “perfection, specialization, craft, and obsession” that are now being applied not just to their own culture but to everything else from the rest of the world. For example, Tokyo holds the world record for Michelin stars and, as of 2012, had more stars than Paris, New York, and London combined. Now, imagine if you combined these Japanese principles with entrepreneurialism and smart immigration. This would really help make the economy more globally competitive.
Sounds like a tall order, but stranger things have happened. We only need to look to the recent past to see a country that went from feudal to modern in a generation. (show three pictures)
Thank you for watching, and we hope it was entertaining and educational. If you liked what you saw, you can support us in a number of ways:
- Visit our website, artandfinance.net, which features a) more great blog posts, and b) Ilusion, our webcomic on finance,
- Buy our artwork, prints and merchandise
- Follow us on Youtube and other social media
- Donate via Patreon.
Links are in the description. Thanks and see you next time!!
Ramon Rodrigo Cuenca, CFA
Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present. pp. 49, 52-53, 59-63, 98-99, 245-246, 249-251, 299-300 (2003 Oxford University Press, Inc.)
“Did the Plaza Accord Cause Japan’s Lost Decade?”. International Monetary Fund.
“The Plaza Accord: The World Intervenes in Currency Markets”. Twomey, Brian.
“Yes, Japan Lost a Decade. So did US”. Smith, Noah.
“Lessons from Japan: Fighting a Balance Sheet Recession”. Koo, Richard C.
“How Japan’s National Debt Grew So Large”. The Economist via Barry Ritholtz.
“Bloomberg Quicktake: Abenomics”. Bloomberg Staff.
“Japan: The Third Arrow of Abenomics”. Deloitte University Press.
“Abe Orders Japan’s First Sales-Tax Increase Since ’97: Economy”. Mogi, Chikako and Reynolds, Isabel.
“Japan Unexpectedly Enters Recession as Abe Weighs Tax: Economy”. Fujioka, Toru and Ujikane, Keiko.
“Families hit as inflation outruns wage rises”. Bloomberg staff.
“How to Give Japan a Second Wind”. Pesek, William.
“How Low Can He Go? The Election Math for Abe to Stay in Command”. Reynolds, Isabel and Takahashi, Maiko.
“Abe Scores Commanding Majority in Japan Lower House Election Win”. Reynolds, Isabel and Takahashi, Maiko.
“How Japan Borrows $9 Trillion Practically for Free”. Mayger, James and Ujikane, Keiko.
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Monasteries and churches >> St. Sophia church (also known as the Old Metropolia) 5th - 6th c., Nessebar
St. Sophia church (also known as the Old Metropolia) 5th - 6th c., Nessebar
Information | Map
This is one of the most imposing ancient buildings. The central nave is two times larger than the lateral ones and is separated by massive pillars linked with arches. The church was constructed of stones and bricks, situated in layers of 5 rows, soldered with a mortar, mixed with big parts of bricks. The floor was covered with mosaic.
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Throughout history some battles have had tremendous strategic effects beyond those of immediate tactical success. For example, the German defeat at the battle of Stalingrad placed the Germans on the strategic defensive for the remainder of the war. Germany never conducted large-scale offensives after Stalingrad.
Was Dien Bien Phu an example of a battle achieving large strategic ends? On the one hand the victory succeeded in removing the French from Vietnam. On the other hand its success ultimately led to the American intervention, furthering the conflict for another twenty years. If the Viet Minh had not achieved such a decisive military victory over them, the French, whose goals were vastly overambitious given both available resources and national will, would have eventually withdrawn their forces and acceded to the Viet Minh's quest for independence as they subsequently did in Algeria. It is worthy to note that in Algeria there was no Dien Bien Phu equivalent, the French withdrew, and there was no American intervention.
I contend that Dien Bien Phu, while being a great tactical victory, was a strategic failure because it created more problems for the Viet Minh than it solved as battlefield success led to strategic failure, i.e., American involvement. I analyze this hypothesis by: (1) briefly reviewing the strategic setting that led to the battle of Dien Bien Phu; (2) reviewing the strategic setting after the battle which led to the subsequent American involvement; and (3) based on the previous analysis, provide an alternative outcome that might have led to a resolution of the conflict instead of trading one outside power for a stronger one.
In reviewing the French strategic setting of the battle of Dien Bien Phu prior to the battle, the situation had changed considerably after 1949 with the advent of Communist China. "Especially damaging was the loss of French outposts along the Chinese border." In particular, the Chinese overland routes gave the Viet Minh access to a free flow of Chinese supplies and establishment of base areas. "It brought a fundamental change in the nature of the war - henceforth, any expansion of Western forces in Vietnam or Laos could be readily offset by Viet Minh force escalation.
Thus the French faced a protracted war that they had little chance of winning they had been searching for a situation in which to bring the Viet Minh into battle. Previously, the Viet Minh had been waging a guerrilla war against the French. The French hoped to decisively defeat the Viet Minh in conventional operations, destroy it as a political movement, and retain their colonies in Indochina. The plan they came up with to accomplish was the Navarre Plan of March-April 1953, named after France's last general in Vietnam, General Henri Navarre. The Navarre Plan envisioned that the "Vietnamese army was to assume a larger role, with the United States assuming the financial burden." The French forces, with American equipment, would emphasize mobility operations, designed to entrap Giap's forces and engage it in pitched battle. The French were unable to trap Giap's forces in a series of operations, so Navarre decided to build an airhead in Giap's territory, the mountains of Tonkin. Navarre believed that he could lure Giap's elite forces into "meat-grinder" battles. He did lure the Viet Minh into the "meat-grinder" but it was the French that were consumed for the reasons that we discussed during the student presentations.
The Viet Minh's strategic view and desired end state in seeking battle against the French was that General Giap had become convinced that the protracted people's war being waged by the Vietminh against the French had entered into its third stage, general counterattack. Giap had now three-hundred thousand troops who were organized along conventional lines into battalions, regiments, and divisions. These units were well supplied with Russian and Chinese equipment, and O&M supplies which were carried by a stream of peasant porters to the operational divisions. Their objective was simple: destroy the garrison at Dien Bien Phu and drive the French out of Indochina. General Giap's message to his troops on the eve of the battle said: "Master fear and pain, overcome obstacles, unite your efforts, fight to the very end, annihilate the enemy at Dien Bien Phu, win a great victory!"
The strategic setting after battle as a result of the Geneva Accords was only a military ceasefire between France and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). Vietnam remained divided along the 17th parallel, and only vision of a political future that the DRV received was a promise of elections in two years. The French had the opportunity to regroup their forces below the 17th parallel, and expected to continue to exert their influence on South Vietnam, but their involvement in Vietnam was finished. The ultimate result of the Geneva Conference was the beginning of direct American involvement in Vietnam.
The United States became involved in Vietnam because it saw France's defeat as a blow to the West and a victory for communism. In the aftermath of the Chinese Revolution and the Korean War, the French military defeat at Dien Bien Phu signified a victory for Chinese communism over the West. This Chinese Communist expansion could not be tolerated, thus the US did not support the outcome of the Geneva Conference. What the US did do was to "embark on a course designed to make the purely military arrangements serve as the basis of a de facto political settlement." The US also did not promise to observe the promised elections but rather not to use force to break them up. Effectively vetoing the elections through this clause, the US sought to shore up Ngo Dihn Diem's government in South Vietnam, and thereby making Vietnam's division permanent. The US believed that France pusillanimous policy in Vietnam, poor military planning, and colonial past had been the reasons for their defeat. Not burdened by any of the above sins, the US sought to fight communism in Vietnam through Diem.
Given the political accords reached as a result of Dien Bien Phu, clearly it did not produce a great strategic result or victory: Vietnam remained divided, and the US became directly involved taking the place of France. One may argue that the Vietnamese might have been able to achieve more at the conference table had it not been for American intransigence and duplicity. On the other hand, it can be equally argued that it was the benign nature of the political demands that the accords placed on France (and the US) that led to the agreement in the first place. This remains conjectural but if the demands had been the immediate reunification of Vietnam under DRV rule, the accords might have not been signed. The point here is that the military victory of the Viet Minh over the French at Dien Bien Phu did not translate into a political victory but a great political defeat for the Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh.
An alternative outcome occurred in the Algerian War of independence where there were no French defeats in large-scale military operations, but France subsequently withdrew and there was no American involvement although Ben Bella was also espousing a 'socialist program', employing Marxist rhetoric, and enticing the Soviet-bloc nations for political and material aid. Why did the US not become involved in the Algerian case which was similar in nature to the Vietnamese case, and in an area which was, geographically, much closer to vital American security interests such as Europe? The answer to this issue lies in the political perspective that a military defeat may result in. In Dien Bien Phu, the French were ignominiously defeated and humiliated. As perceived by the Americans, their defeat was a result of the lack of military prowess, an inability to supply troops in the field, and lack of aircraft and technology; essentially a managerial problem subject to a quick resolution if one is tough to see it through. This is was a national security issue which the United States viewed as tailor-made for its foreign policy due to its ability to manage and solve technological problems, which this was if seen through this prism, in an expeditious and efficient manner. Addition-ally, the policy of containment had recently become the motive force behind American rhyme and reason, and led to the Truman Administration's decision to begin military aid to Indochina was taken in "more or less" within the overall policy of containment in the world without evaluating the merit of each individual case.
In the Algerian case, as France did not suffer any major military defeats of note, the American's viewed French operations there as ongoing, and when the negotiated settlement did occur in 1962 there was no stigma of a military defeat for France (although in fact it was a great strategic defeat), and the US did not perceive the communists as being able to pummel the West politically through another Western military disaster.
In conclusion, I posit that the battle of Dien Bien Phu was not the great strategic victory but rather a failure. The reasons for its strategic failure are that the Americans did not want to see the French humiliated by a "communist" movement; did not want another "communist" government in Asia; the outcome of Dien Bien Phu represented Western weakness as opposed if it had been a conscious French choice to withdraw as was in Algeria which did not lead to American involvement.
Another conclusion, that may be tentatively posited for further observation is that a military victory may not lead to a political victory, or that a military defeat (or a least the absence of victory) may still yield political victory. The object of war is not to win battles but to win wars; and objectives of wars are defined in political terms.
By: Gonzalo I. Vergara, Lt. Col., USAF (Ret.)
The other two phases of Mao Zedong's people's war, adapted by Giap to Vietnamese conditions, are: (1) defensive phase where the survival of the revolutionary forces is the prime objective; (2) the second phase's objective is to further demoralize the enemy and increase the ranks of the guerrillas. Cited in Ibid., pp 48-49.
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The Germans came close to winning the First World War, not on the Western Front, but on the waters of the North Atlantic.
Although Imperial German Navy surface ships remained in port after the Battle of Jutland in May-June 1916, Germany possessed a submarine, or U-boat, fleet that menaced shipping coming into the United Kingdom.
Germany’s U-boats had demonstrated their capabilities early in the war. During September they sank four British warships. On the 5th the light cruiser HMS Pathfinder was torpedoed in the North Sea. Her magazines exploded; she sank in under five minutes and 259 crewmen perished.
Worse followed. On the 22nd three old armoured cruisers, HM Ships Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue, patrolling the eastern entrance to the English Channel, were lost. In less than an hour, U-9 torpedoed and sank all three with the loss of 1,459 lives.
U-9 then torpedoed and sank HMS Hawke on 15 October; 525 men died. The menace of the submarine, brought home well and truly to the Admiralty, was emphasised dramatically on 7 May 1915. On that day U-20 torpedoed the RMS Lusitania off the Old Head of Kinsale. The liner sank in less than twenty minutes, taking with her 1,198 souls, including 128 Americans. In the neutral USA there was outrage about the attack.
American reaction prompted the Kaiser to order the Imperial Navy to stop attacking merchant ships. This order held good for over a year but such were German losses on the Somme in 1916, forcing withdrawal to a new line, that unrestricted submarine warfare was renewed in 1917. Within weeks British shipping losses were so severe that a crisis developed. It was clear that Britain’s merchant fleet, the world’s largest, would soon be reduced to a skeleton and the UK forced to seek peace with Germany. Even the entry of the USA into the war in April would not save the situation.
This crisis forced the Admiralty to introduce the convoy system on transatlantic convoys. An American naval force was deployed to the UK to operate under Royal Navy command and, before long, the convoy escorts were showing results.
But the fight had to be continued. As well as ships, the US Navy sent aircraft to the UK, flying boats, to join Royal Naval flying boats and airships in providing air cover for convoys. Two main US Navy air stations were established in Ireland: Queenstown (now Cobh) in County Cork and Ture on the shores of Lough Foyle in County Donegal.
The building of Naval Air Station (NAS) Lough Foyle began in January 1918. Local labour and American construction teams worked on the site, building a control tower that still stands, accommodation and workshops, and a concrete slipway for beaching the aircraft – this is still in existence.
In July the first Curtiss H-16 flying boats arrived in Londonderry. These had been stripped down and had to be re-assembled, a task completed by 22 August when training began. On 1 September the base became operational. Between 3 September and 6 November the flying boats completed 27 patrols – flying was possible only on 31 days. The longest patrol, on 24 October, was over six hours, an unthinkable flight time only ten years earlier.
The RN airships operated from Ballyliffin (the modern golf club). These Sea Scout Zero (SS-Z) class ‘blimps’ carried out patrols of about eight hours. However, if needed, they could remain airborne for over twenty-four hours. Their presence re-assured seamen and deterred German submarines. Operations from Ballyliffin continued until the war ended.
US Navy flying boats from NAS Lough Foyle escorted 10 convoys. On 19 October Ensign Montgomery’s H-16 was escorting convoy HH-72. The aircraft was ‘1 mile ahead and 2 miles on the port side of the convoy [when] a periscope and a well-defined wake’ were spotted. Montgomery ‘signalled to the convoy and dropped 2 bombs in the vicinity and reported that oil and water bubbles appeared’.
Two warships dropped 20 depth charges on the target, but the destruction of the U-boat was credited by the Admiralty to the American flying boat. However, this first ever sinking of a U-boat by an American aircraft was not claimed by the US Navy.
On 3 November another H-16 attacked a ‘suspicious oil slick’. Airships from Ballyliffin joined the attack while HM Drifter Flower depth-charged the area and reported a ‘considerable quantity of oil’. Airship SSZ-12 reported that the slick was zigzagging on a flat calm sea, but the engagement was not confirmed as an attack on a submarine.
With the Armistice NAS Lough Foyle was run down and its airmen went home. Much of the base was dismantled with one hut being floated across the Foyle to Limavady to act as a club room. By January 1919 US personnel had left and the base became part of the history of the Great War and of the North-West, although it has been relegated to the footnotes of history in both categories.
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The Element Einsteinium
[Click for Isotope Data]
Atomic Number: 99
Atomic Weight: 252
Melting Point: 1133 K (860°C or 1580°F)
Boiling Point: Unknown
Phase at Room Temperature: Solid
Element Classification: Metal
Period Number: 7 Group Number: none Group Name: Actinide
Radioactive and Artificially Produced
What's in a name? Named after the scientist Albert Einstein.
Say what? Einsteinium is pronounced as ine-STINE-ee-em.
History and Uses:
Einsteinium was discovered by a team of scientists led by Albert Ghiorso in 1952 while studying the radioactive debris produced by the detonation of the first hydrogen bomb. The isotope they discovered, einsteinium-253, has a half-life of about 20 days and was produced by combining 15 neutrons with uranium-238, which then underwent seven beta decays. Today, einsteinium is produced though a lengthy chain of nuclear reactions that involves bombarding each isotope in the chain with neutrons and then allowing the resulting isotope to undergo beta decay.
Einsteinium's most stable isotope, einsteinium-252, has a half-life of about 471.7 days. It decays into berkelium-248 through alpha decay or into californium-252 through electron capture.
Since only small amounts of einsteinium have ever been produced, it currently has no uses outside of basic scientific research.
Estimated Crustal Abundance: Not Applicable
Estimated Oceanic Abundance: Not Applicable
Number of Stable Isotopes: 0 (View all isotope data)
Ionization Energy: 6.42 eV
Oxidation States: +3
3s2 3p6 3d10
4s2 4p6 4d10 4f14
5s2 5p6 5d10 5f11
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between the two type styles is evident. Type your papers due date press Enter. Surprisingly, there has been little objective and concrete analysis of the privatization of prisons in the United States. Use the Tab key on every next new paragraphs. Alphabetize entries in your list of works cited by the authors last name, using the letter-by-letter system. The, modern Language Association (MLA) is an organization responsible for developing MLA format, often called MLA style.
The top of the first page of a research paper. A research paper does not normally need a title page, but if the paper is a group project, create a title page and list all the authors on it instead of in the header on page 1 of your essay. Automatic works cited and bibliography formatting for MLA, APA and Chicago/Turabian citation styles. Now supports 7th edition. This tutorial will show you how.
Chicago Format Guide to Citing, looking to format your paper in Chicago style and not sure where to start? If youd like to use a different size, ask your teacher prior to submission. When you write your research paper, depending on the field of your study, the format you need to use varies. Here is an example of an MLA header for an MLA format essay, paper, or assignment: Neal. Click on the font and change it to Times New Roman. Although were not affiliated with the MLA, our citation specialists bring you this thoughtful and informative guide on the format. The guidelines found here are simply recommendations.
Formatting a Research Paper, the, mLA, style Center
EasyBib : Free Bibliography Generator
MLA Format Google Docs, mLA Format
MLA Format : Everything You Need to Know Here
Essay on dasara in sanskrit
Http www.bobblum.com essays biomed coronary-ct.html
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Top best answers to the question «What is apache tears iraqed for»
What is the meaning of Apache tears?
- an Apache tear. "Apache tears" is the popular term for rounded pebbles of obsidian or "obsidianites" composed of black or dark-colored natural volcanic glass, usually of rhyolite composition and bearing conchoidal fracture.
10 other answers
Apache Tears Heal Grief & Loss Written By Liz Oakes. Apache Tears have a strong action to aid emotional healing. These natural crystals bring you comfort and and help to heal grief. Yet they have a more friendly vibration than some of the other types of Obsidian, which makes you feel comfortable with them. They are a natural type of Black Obsidian that has not been altered.
Apache Tears are helpful for surfacing grief held in the emotional body in order to cleanse and heal old trauma or wounds from a previous life. They also have the protective and cleansing properties of obsidian, in an easy to carry form.
The Meaning Of Apache Tears. The term “Apache Tears” refers to small round pebbles made of the semi-precious mineral Obsidian, which is black or dark-colored volcanic glass.. These pebbles are relatively small; usually, less than two inches across, and are frequently dented or imperfectly round.
Apache Tears Mineral & Gemstone Information. Apache Tears are small chunks of obsidian, around 1/2 to 1 inch across. In color they are brownish black and range from opaque to semi-transparent when polished. Obsidian is a volcanic glass. Unlike most obsidian which tends to be sharp-edged, Apache Tears are usually rounded like a rough pebble.
Apache Tears Jewelry: Meaning, Properties & Benefits Black obsidian is known for its protective powers against negative energy, just like the other dark-colored stones. However, its vibration may just be too intense for some people who are sensitive to the frequency of this gemstone. If this is the case, you may fi
The name "Apache Tears" came from a haunting story of the Apache Tribe. In the 1870s, the military launched a surprise attack against an Apache tribe. The attack took place on a cliff that overlooks what is now Superior, Arizona. Nearly 50 of the band of 75 Apaches were killed immediately.
Apache Tears can help to strengthen the immune system and often point to the root cause of an illness. It can clear the blockages that cause disease. They may also enhance vitality and strength within the body. As a type of Obsidian stone they can be used for detoxifying the body, alleviating bleeding, increasing blood circulation, and helping ...
Apache tears originate from siliceous lava flows, lava domes or ash-flow tuffs, often in close association with or embedded in, gray perlite. The spherules occur as cores within perlite masses that typically exhibit texture of concentrically curved, onion-skin fractures. Formation is apparently related to differential cooling and various alkali ...
"Apache tears" is the popular term for rounded pebbles of obsidian or "obsidianites" composed of black or dark-colored natural volcanic glass, usually of rhyolite composition and bearing conchoidal fracture. Also known by the lithologic term "marekanite", this variety of obsidian occurs as subrounded to subangular bodies up to about 2 inches in diameter, often bearing indented surfaces.
Apache Tear is really a sub-group or type of obsidian; essentially the same stone, both made of volcanic glass and black in color. Whereas black obsidian is known to be a very powerful stone, Apache Tears are gentler in their energy & good for less forceful emotional cleansing like working through grief…
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Where most drowning deaths occur
Inland waterways contain many environments where drowning deaths occur – rivers, lakes, dams, irrigation channels, water tanks and creeks have all been sites of drowning deaths.
The flat, still surface of an inland waterway can give a false sense of security. Currents, undertows or submerged objects – even in seemingly tranquil waterways – can prove to be very dangerous. Inland waterways are not patrolled by lifeguards, and should someone get into trouble, there may be no one there to assist.
Remember that water conditions can change very quickly. What may have appeared safe earlier could become very different a few hours later. Submerged objects, like branches or rocks, are often invisible from above the surface and present a real risk of neck and spinal injuries, especially to divers. Always enter the water slowly, feet first and never dive in. Be aware that cold water can cause hypothermia. Water can also be deeper than first thought due to steep drop-offs in dams or riverbeds.
People of all ages and ability drown in inland waterways. In 2011/12 there were 104 drowning deaths in inland waterways. Of these 75 occurred in rivers, creeks and streams and 29 in lakes, dams and lagoons.
Changing seasonal weather patterns, flooding and other effects of nature cause inland waterways to change. Click here for more information on flooding
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You know what? Sometimes, the most obvious and easy questions are those that are the most frequently asked. One of such questions about C# is the difference between the cast syntax and the as operator. This is sometimes referred to as prefix-casting and as-casting.
Without giving much thought to the difference, you may think that having two constructs for casting is somewhat redundant. However, that’s not true. C# is an extremely elegant language and every construct has its place and helps you provide clean code. Moreover, these casts have dedicated operations in the Intermediate Language (i.e. the .NET language).
Let’s first list the differences. So, what we have is this.
1. The as operator returns null when casting is impossible (for example, the variable you are trying to convert is not of the requested type). Prefix casting will instead throw an exception.
2. The as operator can be applied only when you want to cast a reference type variable to a reference type. The prefix casting is free of this constraint.
3. The as operator cannot perform user-defined conversions (for example, explicit or implicit conversion operators). A prefix cast can perform these types of conversions.
However, the impact on your code can be more than the above three points describe. First things first. Prefix casting yields to a more reliable code. Why? Because if the cast fails, an exception is thrown right at the moment of casting. With the as operator, no exception is thrown. However, now you have a null reference and once you use the variable, a null reference exception is thrown. Unfortunately, this can be quite far from the place where the cast was performed. Because of this, applications using the as operator can be more difficult to debug.
Some programmers consider the old C style casting ugly. Personally I don’t have anything against the prefix casting (probably for our passion towards the C programming language). However, there is one serious benefit in favor of using the as operator. It’s way too fast when compared to the prefix casting. We have not done a scientific test but we’ve heard that the difference is on the factor of five. Imagine now prefix casting used in loops. A real slowdown for your code.
Thus, whenever possible, eliminate the casting at all, especially in long loops. If, however, casting is impossible to avoid, then use the as operator. But try to do a check right after casting. This will give you a fast and a clean code and a code that is elegant to read and easy to debug.
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Reading time ( words)
Instant and easy connectivity for mobile devices is often taken for granted, but modern cellular networks are tied to cell towers. How do you make a call when cell towers are not available?
To answer this question, teams from the Air Force Research Laboratory's Information Directorate, the United States Navy and Lockheed Martin came together to design, build and test the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), a satellite communications system designed to be a large cell tower in the sky which would improve and provide more communications capability for U.S. forces on the ground.
The basic design works like a typical cellphone system, except that the tower is not on the ground but instead is on a geosynchronous satellite 22,000 miles above the earth. There are four satellites to give global coverage. The original design of the 3G signal was modified so that it could connect to the satellite. The satellite beams the call signal down to a control station on the ground to connect to the network and complete the call.
User's need a MUOS "phone" to use the system. At this time, the "phone" looks like a typical tactical radio, but new MOUS radios will get smaller as the system matures.
One of the tests for the system took place in Antarctica.
Members of the team were able to catch a ride with the 62nd Airlift Wing which was responsible for Operation Deep Freeze, the annual resupply mission of the National Science Foundation (NSF), McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott Stations in Antarctica.
Within 20 minutes of arriving in Antarctica the team was able to send out the first ever voice and data communications from the Continent.
During the trip they were able to gather data that would be used to improve MUOS as it matures to full operation capability.
Michael Gudaitis, AFRL team lead said that tests demonstrated 3G- cellular quality voice, text, and data calls in a place where no cellphones exist.
"Think about how you feel when you don't have cellphone coverage, especially when you need it most," said Gudaitis. "In Antarctica, with the MUOS system we were able to demonstrate calls from places where no other radio or cellphone would work."
Gudaitis said there are commercial applications to the system.
"On an airline flight you can't use your cell phone except in 'airplane mode,'" he said. "But with MUOS you can stay connected at all times."
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When we propose new wind energy projects, people have a lot of questions. It’s a new technology, and local residents want to be sure that important issues are tackled properly. A site like Pen y Cymoedd in construction is chance for us to share our work with you, and show how these issues are dealt with in a real life context. In this “Focus On” blog section this is exactly what we will try and do, by delving into a little more detail on key issues. Today, it’s water quality monitoring.
Turbidity – what is it?
Turbidity is a word that refers to cloudiness in water, and it is created by the presence of suspended particles of silt, clay and other particulate materials. It is an important measurement in monitoring water quality onsite, and we have six monitoring stations across our working area that take continuous recordings.
Rain and turbidity
Rainfall is a key influence on turbidity so when we test and monitor, site specific rainfall data is used to understand the data. High rainfall will generally correlate with high turbidity, but high turbidity with low rainfall will warrant further investigation to establish where the sediment has come from. Construction activities; felling operations and historic mining works are all potential sources.
What else is monitored?
As well as Turbidity, Electrical Conductivity and Fluorescent Dissolved Organic Matter (fDOM) are also continually being monitored. Acreoss the site, monthly water samples are also collected and sent to a local laboratory for analysis and to cross reference with the continuous monitoring.
Visual checks of on-site drainage features and mitigation measures are, as a minimum, done daily to make sure any issues are reported and dealt with quickly if needed.
The next “Focus On” will look at construction of foundations in detail and some of the testing that is completed….
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Here is the solitude from from which you are absent.
It is raining. The sea wind is hunting stray gulls.
— Pablo Neruda
Every day, we encounter symbols that help redefine the world around us and our place in it. Pablo Neruda was a poet acutely aware of this dynamic, and his poems often sought to resolve the separation between the self and the natural world. Referencing the elements of earth, air, water, and fire in stunning language, Neruda’s poems are passionately evocative. Here is the opening stanza of “Bird,” from his book, Fully Empowered:
It was passed from one bird to another,
the whole gift of the day.
The day went from flute to flute,
went dressed in vegetation,
in flights which opened a tunnel
through which the wind would pass
to where birds were breaking open
the dense blue air –
and there, night came in.
In Neruda’s Memoirs, the poet recalls his childhood in Chile. As a small boy he treasured a toy lamb on wooden wheels. One day, he was playing in his yard near a high fence, when he heard the voice of a boy from the other side. The two began a conversation and quickly learned they could become friends. Eventually, Neruda asked the boy to help him dig a hole under the fence. When they had finished, Neruda passed through the gift of his favorite toy. In turn, the boy handed over his prized possession – a pine cone!
That pine cone represents the possibilities for human interaction, and serves as a symbol for poetry itself.
So here’s a suggestion. Find some time to go for an extended walk. Be sure to bring a notebook to write down what you observe along the way. There may be symbols here you’ll write your next poem around.
-by Walter Butts, faculty member in the BFA in Creative Writing Program.
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- Describe a general plant life cycle.
- Outline the life cycle of nonvascular plants.
- Describe the life cycle of seedless vascular plants.
- Summarize the gymnosperm life cycle.
- Describe the angiosperm life cycle.
antheridia (singular, antheridium)
male reproductive organs of the gametophyte generation of plants that produce motile sperm
archegonia (singular, archegonium)
female reproductive organs of the gametophyte generation of plants that produce eggs
sporangium (plural, sporangia)
structure on a plant of the sporophyte generation that produces spores for asexual reproduction
The life cycle of all plants is complex because it is characterized by alternation of generations. Plants alternate between diploid sporophyte and haploid gametophyte generations, and between sexual and asexual reproduction. The ability to reproduce both sexually and asexually gives plants the flexibility to adapt to changing environments. Their complex life cycle allows for great variation.
General Plant Life Cycle
A general plant life cycle is represented by the diagram in Figure below. From the figure, you can see that the diploid sporophyte has a structure called a sporangium (plural, sporangia) that undergoes meiosis to form haploid spores. A spore develops into a haploid gametophyte. The gametophyte has male or female reproductive organs that undergo mitosis to form haploid gametes (sperm or eggs). Fertilization of gametes produces a diploid zygote. The zygote grows and develops into a mature sporophyte, and the cycle repeats.
This diagram represents the life cycle that generally characterizes plants.
One of the two generations of a plant’s life cycle is typically dominant to the other generation. Whether it’s the sporophyte or gametophyte generation, individuals in the dominant generation live longer and grow larger. They are the green, photosynthetic structures that you would recognize as a fern, tree, or other plant (see Figure below). Individuals in the nondominant generation, in contrast, may be very small and rarely seen. They may live in or on the dominant plant.
The dominant generation in nonvascular plants is the gametophyte; in vascular plants, it’s the sporophyte. Why is a dominant sporophyte generation an advantage on land?
All of these photos show plants of the dominant generation in their life cycle.
Life Cycle of Nonvascular Plants
Nonvascular plants include mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. They are the only plants with a life cycle in which the gametophyte generation is dominant. Figure below shows the life cycle of moss. The familiar, green, photosynthetic moss plants are gametophytes. The sporophyte generation is very small and dependent on the gametophyte plant.
Like other bryophytes, moss plants spend most of their life cycle as gametophytes. Find the sporophyte in the diagram. Do you see how it is growing on the gametophyte plant?
The gametophytes of nonvascular plants have distinct male or female reproductive organs (see Figure below). Male reproductive organs, called antheridia (singular, antheridium), produce motile sperm with two flagella. Female reproductive organs, called archegonia (singular, archegonium), produce eggs.
The reproductive organs of bryophytes like this liverwort are male antheridia and female archegonia.
In order for fertilization to occur, sperm must swim in a drop of water from an antheridium to an egg in an archegonium. If fertilization takes place, it results in a zygote that develops into a tiny sporophyte on the parent gametophyte plant. The sporophyte produces haploid spores, and these develop into the next generation of gametophyte plants. Then the cycle repeats.
Life Cycle of Seedless Vascular Plants
Unlike nonvascular plants, all vascular plants—including seedless vascular plants—have a dominant sporophyte generation. Seedless vascular plants include clubmosses and ferns. Figure below shows a typical fern life cycle.
In the life cycle of a fern, the sporophyte generation is dominant.
A mature sporophyte fern has the familiar leafy fronds. The undersides of the leaves are dotted with clusters of sporangia. Sporangia produce spores that develop into tiny, heart-shaped gametophytes. Gametophytes have antheridia and archegonia. Antheridia produce sperm with many cilia; archegonia produce eggs. Fertilization occurs when sperm swim to an egg inside an archegonium. The resulting zygote develops into an embryo that becomes a new sporophyte plant. Then the cycle repeats.
Life Cycle of Gymnosperms
Gymnosperms are vascular plants that produce seeds in cones. Examples include conifers such as pine and spruce trees. The gymnosperm life cycle has a very dominant sporophyte generation. Both gametophytes and the next generation’s new sporophytes develop on the sporophyte parent plant. Figure below is a diagram of a gymnosperm life cycle.
The gymnosperm life cycle follows the general plant life cycle, but with some new adaptations. Can you identify them?
Cones form on a mature sporophyte plant. Inside male cones, male spores develop into male gametophytes. Each male gametophyte consists of several cells enclosed within a grain of pollen. Inside female cones, female spores develop into female gametophytes. Each female gametophyte produces an egg inside an ovule.
Pollination occurs when pollen is transferred from a male to female cone. If sperm then travel from the pollen to an egg so fertilization can occur, a diploid zygote results. The zygote develops into an embryo within a seed, which forms from the ovule inside the female cone. If the seed germinates, it may grow into a mature sporophyte tree, which repeats the cycle.
Life Cycle of Angiosperms
Angiosperms, or flowering plants, are the most abundant and diverse plants on Earth. Angiosperms evolved several reproductive adaptations that have contributed to their success. Like all vascular plants, their life cycle is dominated by the sporophyte generation. A typical angiosperm life cycle is shown in Figure below.
Life cycle of an angiosperm
The flower in Figure above is obviously an innovation in the angiosperm life cycle. Flowers form on the dominant sporophyte plant. They consist of highly specialized male and female reproductive organs. Flowers produce spores that develop into gametophytes. Male gametophytes consist of just a few cells within a pollen grain and produce sperm. Female gametophytes produce eggs inside the ovaries of flowers. Flowers also attract animal pollinators.
If pollination and fertilization occur, a diploid zygote forms within an ovule in the ovary. The zygote develops into an embryo inside a seed, which forms from the ovule and also contains food to nourish the embryo. The ovary surrounding the seed may develop into a fruit. Fruits attract animals that may disperse the seeds they contain. If a seed germinates, it may grow into a mature sporophyte plant and repeat the cycle.
- All plants have a life cycle with alternation of generations. Plants alternate between diploid sporophyte and haploid gametophyte generations, and between sexual reproduction with gametes and asexual reproduction with spores.
- In nonvascular plants, the gametophyte generation is dominant. The tiny sporophyte grows on the gametophyte plant.
- In vascular plants, the sporophyte generation is dominant. In seedless vascular plants such as ferns, the sporophyte releases spores from the undersides of leaves. The spores develop into tiny, separate gametophytes, from which the next generation of sporophyte plants grows.
- In seed plants, the gametophyte generation takes place in a cone or flower, which forms on the mature sporophyte plant. Each male gametophyte is just a few cells inside a grain of pollen. Each female gametophyte produces an egg inside an ovule. Pollination must occur for fertilization to take place. Zygotes develop into embryos inside seeds, from which the next sporophyte generation grows.
Lesson Review Questions
1. Outline the general life cycle of plants.
2. What are sporangia? What do they do?
3. Describe antheridia and archegonia and their functions.
4. What role do leaves play in the reproduction of ferns?
5. Describe how gymnosperms use cones to reproduce.
6. State the functions of flowers and fruits in angiosperm reproduction.
7. Create your own cycle diagram to represent the life cycle of a daisy.
8. Relate the concept of alternation of generations to the ability of plants to adapt to a diversity of habitats.
9. Compare and contrast gymnosperm and angiosperm life cycles.
Points to Consider
In this lesson, you read about many of the reproductive adaptations of plants.
- What are some other plant adaptations? For example, how have desert plants adapted to very dry conditions?
- Besides deserts, what other extreme habitats do plants occupy? What special adaptations might plants require to live in these other habitats?
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- School-Based Vaccination Programs Using FluMist(R) May Serve as Model to
Help Vaccinate Large Numbers of Eligible Children -
GAITHERSBURG, Md, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- MedImmune, the manufacturer of FluMist(R) (Influenza Virus Vaccine Live, Intranasal), today lauded the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for its unanimous vote to expand recommendations for routine seasonal influenza vaccination to include all school-age children up to the age of 18 years as soon as feasible but no later than the 2009-2010 influenza season. To support this move by the ACIP, MedImmune is preparing to manufacture a record number of FluMist doses -- about 12 million -- for the upcoming flu season, with the intention of continuing to substantially increase production in subsequent seasons.
"MedImmune applauds the ACIP for expanding its recommendations and stands ready to support this move by nearly tripling its production of FluMist doses for the 2008-2009 flu season," said Frank J. Malinoski, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president of medical and scientific affairs.
"We also believe that positive experiences using FluMist in school-based programs point to the importance -- and opportunity -- of using non- traditional venues, in addition to traditional venues, to help achieve the goal of vaccinating a larger number of school-age children against the flu," added Malinoski.
Research has shown statistically significant reductions in influenza like illness (ILI), child doctors' office visits, medication use and work/school absenteeism among households whose children attended schools/daycares with influenza vaccination programs, compared to those whose children attended schools/daycares without these programs(1)(2).
Since introduction of the nasal spray vaccine to the U.S. market in 2003, FluMist has been increasingly utilized in schools, public health centers, and other community-based programs to efficiently vaccinate a large number of people.
"Our experience has been that children are generally quite accepting of a vaccine that does not involve a needle," Malinoski said. "Additionally, parents and health care providers may appreciate that FluMist works differently than the flu shot in that it uses live, attenuated -- or weakened -- vaccine viruses within the vaccine to help stimulate an immune response that closely resembles the body's natural protective response to an influenza infection. This may also explain why we have observed some protection against mismatched strains in past seasons."
While past clinical trial results are not indicative of future results,
in multiple studies across several seasons FluMist demonstrated that it
could help offer protection against mismatched influenza A strains(3).
-- In a two-year, multicenter, randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled
trial (conducted between 1996-1998) in children 24 months-71 months of
age, FluMist provided comparable protection in a year with matched
strains (95 percent protection -- year two) and a year with mismatched
strains (87 percent protection -- year two). The mismatched strain
that circulated during the studied season was A/Sydney (H3N2).
-- In a head-to-head study conducted during the 2004-2005 influenza season
that included over 4,000 children between two and five years of age,
when looking specifically at strains that were mismatched, there were
54.2 percent fewer cases of flu in children who received FluMist versus
those that received the flu shot (Attack rate 3.2 percent vs 7.1
percent, respectively). The mismatched strains that circulated during
the studied season were A/California-like (H3N2), B/Florida and
B/Victoria lineage strains.
MedImmune strongly supports the CDC's efforts to encourage vaccination against influenza throughout the season even if there is evidence that some circulating strains are not well-matched to the vaccine. According to the CDC, an influenza vaccination can provide enough protection to help prevent or lessen illness severity and help prevent flu-related complications.
FluMist is a live attenuated influenza virus vaccine indicated for active immunization of individuals two to 49 years of age against influenza disease caused by influenza virus subtypes A and type B contained in the vaccine.
FluMist is contraindicated in individuals with history of hypersensitivity to eggs, egg proteins, gentamicin, gelatin or arginine or with life- threatening reactions to previous influenza vaccinations, and in children and adolescents receiving concomitant aspirin or aspirin-containing therapy.
Do not administer FluMist to children less than two years of age due to an increased risk of hospitalization and wheezing that was observed in clinical trials. FluMist should not be administered to any individual with asthma and to children less than five years of age with recurrent wheezing unless the potential benefit outweighs the potential risk. Do not administer FluMist to individuals with severe asthma or active wheezing.
If Guillain-Barre syndrome has occurred with prior influenza vaccination or if an individual is immunocompromised, the decision to give FluMist should be based on careful consideration of the potential benefits and risks. FluMist should not be administered to individuals with underlying medical conditions predisposing them to wild-type influenza infection complications unless the potential benefit outweighs the potential risk. FluMist should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed.
Most common adverse reactions (occurring in 10 percent or more of individuals receiving FluMist and at a rate at least five percent higher than in those receiving placebo) are runny nose or nasal congestion in recipients of all ages, fever more than 100 degrees F in children two to six years of age, and sore throat in adults.
FluMist may not protect all individuals receiving the vaccine. FluMist is for intranasal administration only.
Please see complete Prescribing Information for FluMist, call 1-877- FLUMIST (1-877-358-6478) or visit http://www.flumist.com for additional information.
Pricing and Insurance Coverage
FluMist is priced per-dose to be competitive with the flu shot. In addition, 94 percent of health insurance plans with immunization benefits provide coverage for FluMist, which is also available to eligible children at no cost through the federal Vaccines for Children (VFC) program.
MedImmune strives to provide better medicines to patients, new medical
options for physicians and rewarding careers to employees. Dedicated to
advancing science and medicine to help people live better lives, the
company is focused on cardiovascular/gastrointestinal disease,
neuroscience, oncology, infection, respiratory disease and inflammation.
With approximately 3,000 employees worldwide and headquarters in Maryland,
MedImmune is wholly owned by AstraZeneca plc (LSE: AZN.L, NYSE: AZN). For
more information, visit MedImmune's website at http://www.medimmune.com.
(1) King JC, et al. N Engl J Med. 2006;355:2523-2532.
(2) Hurwitz ES, et al. JAMA. 2000;284:1677-1682.
(3) In past studies, FluMist has not provided protection against
different-lineage, mismatched B strains.
Copyright©2008 PR Newswire.
All rights reserved
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When the rainy season comes, it can result in a healthier landscape. But if you have trees on your property, it can also cause damage to your trees through lightning strikes. That’s why it’s important to secure a lightning protection system for your trees. But, before you do that, here’s everything you need to know about lightning protection for your trees.
Why Are Trees Vulnerable to Lightning?
Trees are more vulnerable to lightning strikes the taller they become. As you probably know, lightning likes to strike the tallest object around, and if it’s a tree, that’s even better. They contain water and tree sap that are good conductors of electrical charges. When lightning strikes, the tree will provide a pathway that connects positive charges from the ground and negative charges in thunderclouds and vice versa. Although tall trees that grow alone in open areas are more vulnerable, trees that are close to your property and have overhanging limbs can also lead the lightning to other conductive parts of your home, such as the downspouts, making the situation more dangerous.
How Does Lightning Damage Trees?
Powerful lightning can kill a tree outright, which means the only course of action afterward is contacting tree services to remove the dead tree. Even when a tree survives a lightning strike, it’s severely weakened and becomes susceptible to diseases and pest infestations, which eventually kill it. This can be tragic if the tree has high value or carries a lot of historical significance. However, sometimes the tree can survive if only part of it is struck. That means it can still carry out some biological functions, and some of its cells are intact.
How Does a Lightning Protection System Work?
A lightning protection system reduces the chances of your trees being damaged by lightning. It involves ground cables that are installed on the tree, so they extend above the tree branches. The cables are there to guide lightning to the ground, so it doesn’t strike your trees. This lightning protection is identical to those used on homes and should be installed by professional tree services to ensure effectiveness.
Why Invest in a Lightning Protection System?
Investing in a lightning protection system is crucial because it can save you a lot of money down the line. The initial cost of investing and installing a lightning protection system is much less than what tree services will charge to repair or remove a tree damaged by lightning.
Now that you understand how vulnerable your trees are to lightning and how to protect them, it’s time to take action. Keep in mind that doing so may offer a great return on investment down the line. According to statistics, shrubs and trees that are properly maintained can boost your property’s value by up to 14%. Therefore, investing in a lightning protection system for your trees is well worth it.
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If you’re prone to bickering with those around you, a new study suggests that you may want to work on that. The research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, reports a strong link between the amount of arguing a person does and the risk of dying from any cause over the next 10 years. Being a man and being out of work made the connection stronger. But across the board, there was a significant association between mortality and the frequency of arguments with family, friends, and even neighbors.
The study, out of the University of Cogenhagen, followed almost 10,000 people, aged 36-52, for 11 years. The researchers asked them about their social relationships, paying special attention to which of the people in their lives tended to be linked with the most arguments. Over the course of the study, 196 women and 226 men died. About half of the deaths were due to cancer, and the other half from heart disease, accidents, and suicides.
People who reported more arguing with their spouses or children were 50% to 100% more likely to die from any cause at all. Those who reported frequent arguing with anyone in their social circle – including friends, relatives, and neighbors – were two to three times more likely to die over the next decade. The results held strong even when factors like depression, gender, marital status, chronic health conditions, available emotional support, and socioeconomic status were removed from the equation.
Men were especially susceptible to the health effects of arguing – in other words, men who tended to argue a lot had a risk of death that was above and beyond the usual risk associated with being male. People who were unemployed were also more vulnerable to the effects of arguing, which is interesting but not unexpected.
Intuitively, the connection may not be so surprising, but the question is what biological mechanisms might explain it. One possibility is that frequent arguing triggers the stress response and the cascade of negative effects that follows.
“Stressful relations have been associated with heightened proinflammatory cytokine activity,” the authors write, which suggests that the immune system may be involved. “It therefore seems plausible that at least part of the association between stressful relations and health might be mediated by stress-responsive systems.”
As always, the caveat is that there’s no evidence of cause and effect: The study doesn’t “prove” that arguing with your spouse leads to an early death. It could, theoretically, be the other way round – that people who are less healthy to begin with argue more. But this seems less likely. More feasible is the idea that the stress of arguing could be linked to mortality through the stress/immune mechanisms mentioned above.
In any case, even if you’re prone to arguing, not all is lost. Learning to manage your anger, especially when it comes to your close relationships, is probably wise. “Intervening in conflicts, particularly for those out of work, may help to curb premature deaths associated with social relationship stressors,” said study author Rikke Lund. And even if it doesn’t extend your life by many years, managing your emotions can only help your relationships – and your spouse will definitely appreciate a less argumentative you.
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The German language (Deutsch) is a West Germanic language and one of the world’s major languages. German is closely related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. Around the world, German is spoken by ~100 million native speakers and also ~80 million non-native speakers, and Standard German is widely taught in schools and universities in Europe.
Official Language of: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and in some border areas, Belgium and Italy as a minority language.
Total Number of Speakers: 170 million</p
For additional information about the German Language, please click here
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Andromeda Galaxy- Introduction
Andromeda galaxy is the nearest galaxy to our galaxy Milky Way. It is a spiral galaxy. It is known also Messier31, M31 and NGC224. Its old name was Great Andromeda Nebula.
German astronomer Simon Marius give first description about Andromeda Galaxy in 15 December 1612 which based on telescopic observation.
In 2010, astronomers confirms that M31 formed due to collide two Smaller Galaxy approximately between 5 to 9 billion years ago.
- It is the largest galaxy in our local group ( local group contains our Milky way, Triangulum Galaxy and 44 other smaller galaxies).
- It is the nearest largest galaxy to our milky way.
- This galaxy is 2,20,000 light years across.
- It contains approximately 1 trillion stars.
- This galaxy is 2.5 million light years away from the earth.
- This galaxy and Milky way galaxy are expected to collide in Giant Elliptical Galaxy after 3.7 billion years.
- It is the brightest galaxy in Local Group.
- This Galaxy is not most massive than Milky Way because Milky Way contains dark matter in massive quantity.
- It approaching Milky Way at approximately 100-140 km/sec.
- Scientists estimated that it contains at least one SMBH (Super Massive Black Hole) at its core.
It is most distant thing which is visible to naked eye. it appears more than six times wide larger than full moon.you can see it by naked eye from mid-northern latitude. You can see it perfect in last September and early October . It shines in your earthen sky in night. For good viewing, you can observe it in winter evening.
Triangulum Galaxy – Introduction
Triangulum galaxy is a Spiral Galaxy. It is known also as Messier 33 or M33, NGC 598 and Messier 101 (nick name).
- It is the third largest galaxy in our local group after Milky Way Galaxy and Andromeda Galaxy.
- It is referred by Pinwheel Galaxy.
- This galaxy is located in Constellation Triangulum.
- It is approximately 60,000 light years across (almost half diameter of the milky way galaxy).
- This galaxy contains 40 billion stars.
- it has mass approximately 10 billion to 40 billion solar masses.
- Andromeda galaxy shines 8 to 9 times more than Triangulum galaxy.
- Astronomers and scientists detected a source of water maser emission in 2005. These two water masers were detect in the opposite side of the Triangulum galaxy.
- Triangulum galaxy is moving towards Andromeda galaxy.
- There is clumpy steam of hydrogen gas which is linking Andromeda galaxy with Triangulum galaxy.
- A black hole detected in the center of this galaxy in 2007 which contains 15.7 times mass of the sun. this black hole is known as M33 X-7 which is known largest stellar mass black hole.
- M33 linked with M31 by several stream of neutral hydrogen which suggest that there past interaction took place from 2 to 8 billion years ago. And it is estimated again in 2.5 billion years in future.
This galaxy has a own small satellite galaxy which known as Pisces Dwarf Galaxy.
NASA and European scientists recorded a fingerprint of mystery molecule in this galaxy . And that is known as Diffuse Interstellar Bands (DIBs). It is unsolved nearly 100 years. If this will be solve then we can understand and explain the formation of the planets, stars and life.
Sometimes this galaxy looks transparent like a water spot on window.
There is a nebula (a cloud of gas and dust) in the core of this galaxy which called HII region.
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Half of our DNA markers belong to the mother while the other half belongs to the father – meaning one-fourth of our genetic markers belong to our grandparents. The Grandparent Lineage Test is performed to determine whether a couple (either of the grandfather or the grandmother) is a biological grandparent of the child. Grandparentage Tests are done when an alleged father is not available to take the test. Through this test, the lineage is established without any need for an alleged or biological father at all.
Although the Grandparentage Test can be performed with or without the child’s mother, the mother’s participation is highly advised because it aids in excluding the half of the child’s DNA when compared to her DNA. The remaining half of the child’s DNA markers are to be matched with that of grandparents’ DNA markers. If both the grandparents are present, the result of the test is more accurate than only either of the grandparents being present.
The presence of the mother of the child also becomes important due to New York State Law requiring that the biological parents (referring to the names of the mother and the father written on the birth certificate) to give consent on behalf of the child to have a DNA test.
Who is required for Grandparentage Testing?
Grandparentage Testing can be done with four different combinations:
The best testing scenario out of all of these is the first one i.e. the child, the mother and two grandparents are required. Each time a person is removed from the combination, let it be a grandparent or the mother: the accuracy and the strength of a Grandparentage Test decreases. Therefore, the inclusion of all four individuals is the best testing option available to you.
The sample is collected using the same method as the Paternity Test. The accuracy rates are also similar when compared to Paternity Testing i.e. 99.99% of precision when the alleged grandparents are the biological grandparents. When this is not the case, the accuracy of Grandparentage Testing is 100%.
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Health care personnel use sequential compression devices after surgery by fitting them around the legs of patients and attaching them to a machine that rhythmically pumps air through the sleeves, reports Drugs.com. The devices prevent blood clots by simulating the actions of muscles to enable natural blood flow. Nurses or other caregivers periodically inspect the patients' skin and remove the sleeves when patients need to use the bathroom, bathe or walk.Continue Reading
Physicians evaluate patients for their propensity for deep vein thrombosis, or blood clot formation, when they arrive at a hospital for surgery, explains American Nurse Today. If risk is moderately high, sequential compression device therapy may begin shortly after arrival and continue until the patients regain mobility. Specific decisions physicians make include whether to apply devices to one or both legs, whether they should be knee-length or thigh-length and how long to continue the therapy.
Once sequential compression device therapy commences, caregivers remove the devices every eight hours to check for skin pallor, paralysis, pain and other abnormalities, according to American Nurse Today. Patients receive instructions to not remove the devices themselves but call a nurse if they experience unusual discomfort or need to relieve themselves. To ensure effective therapy, caregivers must measure sleeve sizes correctly and address patient concerns about discomfort by using the pump cooling system if the patient is sweating or applying cornstarch to relieve itching.Learn more about Conditions & Diseases
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We know that motorcycles get far better gas mileage than passenger cars and trucks, so it follows that if motorcycles replaced cars on the roads, gas consumption would decrease. But traffic would also drop significantly -- a revelation that comes courtesy of a new study by a Belgian transportation-research
Researchers used computer-modeling software to analyze a stretch of highway between the Belgian cities of Leuven and Brussels, pulling from rush-hour traffic statistics during a typical workday last May. They found that if 10 percent of cars were replaced by motorcycles, drivers' commuting times would decrease by 40 percent and emissions would drop by 6 percent. (The latter is a combination of the fact that motorcycles inherently have lower emissions and that emission rates drop as a vehicle's speed increases -- which it is wont to do when traffic lightens or dissipates.)
Moreover, when the results were extrapolated to Belgium's other highways, the time savings for all vehicles was 15,000 hours per day. And when 25 percent of cars were swapped out for motorcycles, traffic was eliminated entirely.
The explanation for the traffic cure is simple enough. "When there is little traffic on the road, it can be expected that motorcycles will take up as much space on the road as cars," researchers wrote. "However, when the road becomes busier, and the speed of the traffic flow falls, motorcycles take up less space. Some motorcycles keep less distance from the vehicle in front or ride between two lanes." And when car traffic stops altogether, motorcycles keep moving thanks to lane splitting -- the practice of steering between rows of cars lined up in traffic lanes, which is legal in many parts of the world.
Since the study incorporated only statistics on Belgium's primary roads, its main commuter thoroughfares, there are limits to what researchers can do to predict further-reaching traffic reductions. But they speculate that secondary roads would experience a similar traffic boon: "Based on a number of partial reflections, it can be expected that the time benefit is of the same order of magnitude as that of the primary road network," they wrote, though they added that "additional research is needed to substantiate this statement."
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FDA issued drug safety communications about a serious adverse effect associated with the use of over-the-counter benzocaine gels, sprays, and liquids applied to the throat and gums to reduce pain.
FDA issued drug safety communications about a serious adverse effect associated with the use of over-the-counter (OTC) benzocaine gels, sprays, and liquids applied to the throat and gums to reduce pain.
In its communication to healthcare professionals, FDA is warning the public that the use of benzocaine is associated with methemoglobinemia, a rare but serious condition that results in the amount of oxygen carried through the blood stream being greatly reduced. In the most severe cases, methemoglobinemia can result in death.
Methemoglobinemia has been reported with all strengths of benzocaine gels and liquids, including concentrations as low as 7.5%. The cases occurred mainly in children aged 2 years or younger who were treated with benzocaine gel for teething.
FDA is particularly concerned about the use of OTC benzocaine products in children for relief of pain from teething because of the serious outcomes, including death, that may be associated with methemoglobinemia, as well as the difficulty parents or consumers may have in recognizing the signs and symptoms of methemoglobinemia when using these products at home.
Benzocaine gels and liquids are sold OTC under different brand names such as Anbesol, Hurricaine, Orajel, Baby Orajel, Orabase, and store brands.
Furthermore, symptoms of methemoglobinemia may not always be evident or attributed to the condition. Parents and caregivers should not use OTC benzocaine products on children under 2 years of age, except under the advice and supervision of a healthcare professional. If benzocaine products are used, it should be used sparingly and only when needed, but not more than 4 times a day.
In addition, FDA continues to receive reports of methemoglobinemia associated with benzocaine sprays. These sprays are used during medical procedures to numb the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat.
Benzocaine sprays are marketed under different brand names such as Hurricaine, Cetacaine, Exactacain, and Topex.
In 2006, FDA issued a public health advisory warning about methemoglobinemia with the use of benzocaine sprays during medical procedures. Since then, FDA reportedly has received notice of 72 new cases of methemoglobinemia, including 3 resulting in death, associated with the use of benzocaine sprays, bringing the total to 319 cases. A review of the cases indicates that the development of methemoglobinemia after treatment with benzocaine sprays may not be related to the amount applied. Symptoms of methemoglobinemia may appear within minutes to 1 or 2 hours after using benzocaine.
Benzocaine is also sold in a lozenge form.
People who develop methemoglobinemia may experience pale, gray- or blue-colored skin, lips, and nail beds; shortness of breath, fatigue, confusion, headache, lightheadedness, and rapid heart rate. The signs and symptoms usually appear within minutes to hours of applying benzocaine and may occur with the first application of benzocaine or after additional use.
“OTC gel and liquid medications containing benzocaine provide relief for children and adults who experience mouth pain. While FDA’s announcement notes very rare but serious instances of methemoglobinemia . . . these products are safe when used as directed for the large majority of consumers,” according to a statement prepared by the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, in Washington, D.C., for Drug Topics.
“Due to these rare instances, FDA has recommended that the products not be used in children under 2 years of age except under the advice of a healthcare professional. We will continue to study this issue and remain committed to working with the agency to ensure the safe and effective use of these products.”
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Hormone Replacement for Men
Beginning at approximately 40 years of age, a man’s testosterone levels slowly decline. Approximately 30% of men aged 60-70 years and 70% of men aged 70-80 have low levels of testosterone, a condition often called “andropause” because testosterone is in a class of hormones known as androgens. Androgen deficiency is strongly associated with common medical conditions including metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, hypertension and atherosclerosis; as well as elevations in triglycerides (TGs), total cholesterol (TC), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Androgens may provide a protective effect against the development and/or progression of atherosclerosis in men, and emerging evidence indicates that appropriate therapy can relieve or partially reverse the progression of these problems in testosterone-deficient men.
Hypogonadism is the clinical term for low levels of serum testosterone in association with specific signs and symptoms, including:
- diminished sex drive and sense of vitality
- erectile dysfunction
- heart disease or worsening lipid profile
- reduced muscle mass and bone density
- increased fat mass
Testosterone levels can be measured by saliva or blood tests. Hormone therapy is recommended for men with symptoms of hypogonadism and low total testosterone levels or high estrogen levels.
Depressed men have been found to have significantly lower bioavailable (free; able to be used by the body) testosterone levels, perhaps because an associated decrease in sexual function results in depression, irritability, and mood swings. Testosterone therapy may improve depressed mood in older men who have low levels of bioavailable testosterone.
Osteoporosis-related fractures occur in 12% of all men over 50 years of age. Twenty-five percent of all hip fractures occur in men, and 33% of these patients die within one year of fracture. Gradual loss of testosterone is one of the major causes of osteoporosis in elderly men. Studies have reported beneficial effects of testosterone therapy in older men, showing an increase in bone mineral density (BMD) and slowing of bone degeneration. Testosterone therapy in older men with low serum testosterone levels also increases lean body mass and decreases fat mass, improving physical performance and strength.
Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) has relieved symptoms and improved the quality of life for many men. TRT is well tolerated. Laboratory values and clinical response should be monitored frequently so that any necessary adjustments can be made. A recent study found that TRT was associated with beneficial effects on insulin resistance, cardiovascular risk factors (total and LDL-cholesterol, Lipoprotein-a), and symptoms in hypogonadal men with type 2 diabetes and/or metabolic syndrome.
By administering testosterone transdermally (through the skin) in a cream or gel, adequate amounts of testosterone can be absorbed to mimic the normal daily production. Testosterone can also be administered as a sublingual drop or a lozenge that dissolves in the mouth. Compounded preparations can be very advantageous because customized therapies increase compliance.
- the specific dose of hormone(s) needed by each man can be compounded as a dosage form that is most appropriate for the individual.
- there is no need to shave the scrotum to apply a patch and there is no skin irritation from patch adhesive.
A healthy lifestyle is associated with higher hormone levels, and higher hormone levels seem to induce a more active, healthier lifestyle. For optimal results, it is vital that hormone replacement therapy be combined with adequate exercise, proper nutrition, and appropriate use of supplements.
The presence of prostate or breast cancer is an absolute contraindication for androgen replacement therapy. Guidelines recommend that TRT should not be initiated in older men with PSA serum levels above the normal range. Testosterone should be used with caution in men with severe heart, kidney or liver disease.
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Whaling Worsens Carbon Release
By Victoria Gill, Science Reporter, BBC News, Portland
A century of whaling may have released more than 100 million tonnes, or a large forest's worth, of carbon into the atmosphere, scientists say.
Whales store carbon within their huge bodies and when they are killed, much of this carbon can be released.
US scientists revealed their estimate of carbon released by whaling at a major ocean sciences meeting in the US.
Dr Andrew Pershing from the University of Maine described whales as the "forests of the ocean".
Dr Pershing and his colleagues from the Gulf of Maine Research Institure calculated the annual carbon storing capacity of whales as they grew.
"Whales, like any animal or plant on the planet, are made out of a lot of carbon," he said.
"And when you kill and remove a whale from the ocean, that's removing carbon from this storage system and possibly sending it into the atmosphere."
He pointed out that, particularly in the early days of whaling, the animals were a source of lamp oil, which was burned, releasing the carbon directly into the air.
"And this marine system is unique because when whales die (naturally), their bodies sink, so they take that carbon down to the bottom of the ocean.
"If they die where it's deep enough, it will be (stored) out of the atmosphere perhaps for hundreds of years."
In their initial calculations, the team worked out that 100 years of whaling had released an amount of carbon equivalent to burning 130,000 sq km of temperate forests, or to driving 128,000 Humvees continously for 100 years.
"The idea would be to do a full accounting of how much carbon you could store in a fully populated stock of fish or whales" Dr Andrew Pershing, University of Maine
But he said that whales played an important role in storing and transporting carbon in the marine ecosystem.
Simply leaving large groups of whales to grow, he said, could "sequester" the greenhouse gas, in amounts that were comparable to some of the reforestation schemes that earn and sell carbon credits.
He suggested that a similar system of carbon credits could be applied to whales in order to protect and rebuild their stocks.
"The idea would be to do a full accounting of how much carbon you could store in a fully populated stock of fish or whales, and allow countries to sell their fish quota as carbon credits, "he explained.
"You could use those credits as an incentive to reduce the fishing pressure or to promote the conservation of some of these species."
Is bigger better?
Other scientists said that he had raised an exciting and interesting problem.
Professor Daniel Costa, a marine animal researcher from the University of California, Santa Cruz, told BBC news; "so many more groups are looking at the importance of these large animals in the carbon cycle.
"And it's one of those things that, when you look at it, you think; 'This is so obvious, why didn't we think of this before?'
Dr Pershing pointed out that whales, with their huge size, were more efficient than smaller animals at storing carbon.
He used the analogy of a small dog compared to a large dog.
"My wife's 6lb (2.7kg) toy poodle eats one cup of food per day and my dog, a 60lb standard poodle, eats five cups of food per day, he said.
"That's only five times as much food but my dog weighs ten times as much."
He said that the marine carbon credit idea could be applied to other very large marine animals, including endangered bluefin tuna and white sharks.
Dr Pershing said " these are huge and they are top preditors, so unless they're fished they would be likely to take their biomass to the bottom of the ocean (when they die)."
The American Geophysical Union's Ocean Sciences meeting has been taking place this week in Portland, Oregon.
Orangutan Survival And The Shopping Trolly
Many of the biscuits, margarines, breads, crisps and even bars of soap that consumers pick off supermarket shelves contain an ingredient that is feeding a growth industry that conservationists say is killing the orangutans.
The mystery ingredient in the mix is Palm Oil - the cheapest source of vegetable oil available and one that rarely appears on the label of most products.
Palm Oil is grown on land that was once home to the vast rainforests of Borneo and the natural habitate of the orangutan.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that the population has declined by 50% in recent decades and the Indonesian government admits that 50,000 orangutans have died as a result of de-forestation.
A BBC Panorama investigation into clear-cutting in Indonesian Borneo, the island it shares with Malaysia, found that the thirst for land on which to plant Palm plantations is encroaching on areas that the Indonesian government has deemed to be off limits.
Nuisance - The orangutans, displaced as the trees of old growth forests are burned and at times killed by workers who see them as a nuisance in the logging process, are not the only victims of the runaway growth in Palm Oil, scientists say there is a wider environmental price being paid.
Greenpeace has identified the draining of ancient peat lands to make way for Palm Oil as a global threat, saying it had lead to massive amounts of trapped methane and carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere.
As a result, Indonesia is the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, behind only America and China.
Using GPS technology and satellite imaging, the BBC team pinpointed exact locations where Palm Oil giant the Duta Palma Group is logging on both high conservation lands and deep peat lands, both are illegal.
Shailendra Yashwant, Greenpeace director for Southeast Asia, said this illegal logging is widespread and includes major suppliers to the UK's food and household product market.
"We want the Indonesian government to immediately announce a moratorium on further deforestation...beginning with peat lands."
Willie Smits, a former advisor to the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry turned environmental campaigner, said of the findings: "This is criminal, this should not take place. It means there is no hope left for the most endangered sub-species of the orangutan in west Kalamantan."
He said the wider environmental issue of greenhouse gases can no longer be overlooked by both manufacturers and everyday consumers.
"This is not just a matter for Indonesia to decide, this is a matter for the world."
Greenwash - The Palm industry, valued at £5bn ($7.7bn) for Indonesia, is the country's third biggest export earner.
Many of the big manufacturers who buy that oil via European Wholesalers say that while they are starting to find oil from sustainable sources, they are not yet in a position to trace the origin of all of the oil they use.
Curently, only 3% of the world's palm oil is certified sustainable, meaning it comes from plantations that pass an environmental and social impact test.
Many have joined the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) scheme set up to promote certification of where palm oil originates.
Others have set amitious goals to use sustainable oil by 2015 or earlier, but Greenpeace's Shailendra Yashwant said the RSPO amounts to a 'greenwash' because those commitments are unenforceable on the ground.
Bulk oil from a variety of plantations including that of Duta Palma Group that the BBC found to be illegally clear-cutting is mixed together and shipped around the world and sold on to manufacturers behind everyday products.
Duta Palma declined to comment on the BBC's evidence of illegal deforestation.
Consumer Pressure - Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, told Panorama the time is right for consumers to put pressure on manufacturers, demanding to know which of their products contain Palm Oil and assurances that it comes from a sustainable source.
Current labelling laws allow manufacturers to list Palm Oil as 'Vegetable Oil' without singling out the Palm Oil content.
Many manufacturers including industry giants Unilever and Proctor and Gamble, say their recipes can change and the amounts and types of oils they use can vary from week to week, making more detailed labels unworkable.
However, Sainsbury's supermarkets had earlier taken the decision to not only single out Palm Oil on the ingredients lists of their own brand products, but to state directly that it is from a sustainable source.
Recently Unilever, the UK's largest user of Palm Oil in products that range from Dove soap to Pot Noodles, Knorr soups and Flora, terminated a large contract with a supplier called Sinar Mas, because of reports it was destroying high conservation value forests.
Unilever has told Panorama that while it may have used oil from Duta Palma in the past, it intends to overcome its supply system problems so that it no longer uses oil from the producer.
Secretary Benn said, "I think it's really about what consumers can do because the most powerful message that can be sent to companies is from their consumers about what it is they want to buy," he told reporter Raphael Rowe, citing the demand for free range eggs in the UK as an example of consumer influence.
Mr Benn said the participation by UK retailers and manufacturers in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is a step towards ensuring that Palm Oil is traceable and therefore increases the chances that it can be certified sustainable.
Palm oil products in your weekly shop.
To help you understand Palm Oil ingredients that go into your shopping trolley, Rainforests are mostly illegally cut down and burnt and orangutans slaughtered and burnt. Companies that are mostly using Non Certified Palm Oil in their products:
Cadbury, Clover (Dairy Crest), Young's (Findus), Ginsters, Haribo, Aunt Bessie's Roast Potatoes (Heinz), Crunchy Nut Clusters (Kelloggs), Mars, Nestle, Goodfella's Pizza, Chicago Town Pizza, Proctor & Gamble (Pringles), Premier Foods, Vanish, Unilver, Warburtons, Wrigley, Sainsbury's, Asda, Aldi, Tesco, Waitrose, The Co-Operative, Birds Eye, Marks & Spencer.
Rudd Urged To Support Ban On Whalers Spy Flights
Thursday 4th Febraury 2010 7:46am AEDT
The Federal Opposition is calling on the Government to support new legislation which would ban Japanese whalers from using Australian planes to spy on protesters.
It has been revealed Japanese whalers have been chartering Australian planes to track the activity of anti-whaling ships in the Southern Ocean.
Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt says legislation to ban Japanese whalers using Australian services will be introduced by the Greens into Parliament today.
He says the Government should join the Coalition in supporting the bill.
"Planes are taking off from Australian airports to support Japanese whaling, to capture information, to spy on protesters," he said.
"It's time to end the practice of spy flights in support of Japanese whaling in Australian waters.
"It is time to make it absolutely clear that Australia should not be a platform for spy flights in support of Japanese whaling. The challenge for the Prime Minister is to live up to his word and support this legislation as well."
Greens Senator Rachel Siewert says it is unacceptable that whalers are able to use Australian resources to monitor anti-whaling ships.
"We need to make sure the law is absolutely clear, that Australian resources cannot be used for that [and that] boats involved in whaling operations are banned from our ports," she said.
"The Australian Government says it is acting to try and stop whaling, but one of the activities they can do to help stop whaling is to ensure that no Australian resources are used to aid whaling."
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Vegetable seedlings – tips on how to plant
Vegetable seedlings are the starting point for a healthy and productive organic garden, once you have your garden layout and soil well prepared. You will be surprised at how small, no-cost changes in how you manage your vegetable seedlings can make such profound difference to their success. I list simple tips below that I work with, refined over many years of my food growing.
Plant source – In my last blog I recommended using open pollinated seeds as the source of your planting stock, since these will give you certainty about saving seed. If you can’t find out whether the seedlings are from open pollinated seeds, then assume they are not and do not save seeds from them.
Seedling quality – For vegetable seedlings to survive the shock of moving from a seedling container into your garden bed, they should have achieved a reasonable size, for example lettuce seedlings must have good size leaves and be appropriate colour. I have seen seedling suppliers selling tiny lettuce seedlings that are yellowed. These will die as soon as planted. The vegetable seedlings must look healthy and should not have gone to flower. Don’t be tempted buying cheap seedlings that are looking a bit off. You would be better off saving money by getting some open pollinated seeds and growing them yourself.
Planting in season – It is very easy to be trapped with this one as some nurseries will sell vegetable seedlings all year round, whether they are in season or not. Make sure you have a planting calendar that is independent or use a seedling supplier that grows the seedlings in your local climate. Keeping a journal of how your plants go from year to year to develop your wisdom on timing of planting.
Preparing your garden bed – Clear your planting space of old plants and weeds, loosen soil with a pitch fork to get air in the soil (don’t turn it over), add some organic liquid manure fertiliser, water the bed so its very moist and cover the bed with mulch (make sure the mulch is not mouldy as this will transfer to the plants, lucerne hay and sugar cane mulch can be like this at times)
Planting the seedlings – Make space in your mulched bed for the seedling and put a handful of compost in your planting hole, plant the seedling straight into the compost and move the mulch up close to the base of the plant. The picture above shows this process.
Watering the seedlings – Because you have already made the soil moist from watering it before mulching, you will only need to lightly water the seedlings (try not to stress them with too much water pressure). Water them every few days as they settle in and keep watch, if the weather is very hot, you may need more regular watering but seedlings have small roots that are close to the surface so if your soil does not hold water very well, you will need to water more often. In the first watering, it can help to add liquid fertiliser such as Seasol. I tend to use biodynamic soil activator called cow pat pit which we make at our workshops. I find this is great for giving the plants that extra bit of vitality as they cope with the stress of settling into a new environment.
Other factors – Planting your seedlings after 3pm is helpful in providing the cooler evening times for the seedlings to settle in during the warmer months (planting a lettuce in the morning on a hot day will ensure its dead by the end of the day). Planetary forces in the late afternoon and evening tend to be more downward on plants and help them to settle into the earth better. Planting your seedlings on a planetary day that matches the grouping of your plant (for example, planting root crops on an earth sign and fruiting crops on a fire sign). Its quite amazing how much these planetary forces impact the robustness of plants if you time your gardening to optimise their impact.
In our organic gardening and biodynamic gardening workshops, we also work with all these techniques as part of the very practical help we provide in getting plants started. With the planetary impacts, these are an important part of biodynamic gardening practice, so you learn how to easily tap into these forces to help you garden success.
I am always excited at planting out a bed with new seedlings as its the start of another living journey in the garden. You can never be totally sure how well it will go, but working with the tips above and then adopting appropriate garden management techniques, you will have covered most of the bases.
PS: My favourite vegetable seedling supplier in Brisbane where I live is Rumbalara Nursery, fantastic open pollinated seed plants and always healthy. Caboolture market on Sundays is where to find them. Where is your favourite supplier, it would be good to share as a comment to this post.
Authored by Peter Kearney – www.myfoodgarden.com.au
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David Bourget (Western Ontario)
David Chalmers (ANU, NYU)
Rafael De Clercq
Jack Alan Reynolds
Learn more about PhilPapers
Oxford University Press (1999)
This book explores Hume's account of reason and its role in human understanding, seen in the context of other notable accounts by philosophers of the early modern period. David Owen offers new interpretations of many of Hume's most famous arguments about induction, belief, scepticism, the passions, and moral distinctions.
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|Call number||B1499.R4.O94 1999|
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References found in this work BETA
Gary Hatfield (1997). The Workings of the Intellect: Mind and Psychology. In Patricia Easton (ed.), Logic and the Workings of the Mind: The Logic of Ideas and Faculty Psychology in Early Modern Philosophy. Ridgeview Publishing Co 21-45.
Citations of this work BETA
Yuval Avnur (2015). Excuses for Hume's Skepticism. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 91 (3).
Sinan Dogramaci (2013). Intuitions for Inferences. Philosophical Studies 165 (2):371-399.
Ingvar Johansson (2012). Hume's Ontology. Metaphysica 13 (1):87-105.
Peter Millican (2007). Humes Old and New: Four Fashionable Falsehoods, and One Unfashionable Truth. Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 81 (1):163-199.
Peter Millican (2007). Humes Old and New: Four Fashionable Falsehoods, and One Unfashionable Truth. Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 81 (1):163–199.
Similar books and articles
Elizabeth S. Radcliffe (2008). Reason, Morality, and Hume's "Active Principles" : Comments on Rachel Cohon's Hume's Morality: Feeling and Fabrication. Hume Studies 34 (2):267-276.
Aaron Z. Zimmerman (2007). Hume's Reasons. Hume Studies 33 (2):211-256.
Clarence Sholé Johnson (1992). Yet Another Look at Cognitive Reason and Moral Action in Hume's Ethical System. Journal of Philosophical Research 17:225-238.
Fred Wilson (1984). Is Hume a Sceptic with Regard to Reason? Philosophy Research Archives 10:275-319.
James A. Harris (2009). A Compleat Chain of Reasoning: Hume's Project in a Treatise of Human Nature, Books One and Two. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 109 (1pt2):129-148.
Michelle Mason (2005). Hume and Humeans on Practical Reason. Hume Studies 31 (2):347-378.
Paul Hoffman (2011). Hume on the Distinction of Reason. British Journal for the History of Philosophy 19 (6):1131 - 1141.
P. J. E. Kail (2007). Understanding Hume's Natural History of Religion. Philosophical Quarterly 57 (227):190–211.
Elizabeth S. Radcliffe (1999). Hume on the Generation of Motives: Why Beliefs Alone Never Motivate. Hume Studies 25 (1-2):101-122.
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Commonly used food plastic bags are made of polyethylene film, the film non-toxic, it can be used to hold food. There is also a film made of polyvinyl chloride, PVC itself is also non-toxic, but according to the use of the film added to the additives are often harmful substances, has a certain toxicity. So this kind of film and the plastic bags made by the film should not be used to dress food. To identify PVC plastic bags and polyethylene plastic bags, the following simple method can be used to identify.
Polyethylene film (non-toxic)
Thin film was milky white, translucent (several layers stacked observation is particularly evident), feels more lubrication, as if the surface coated with wax layer, forced jitter, sound crisp, fire flammable, yellow flame, burning dripping , And the smell of candles burning.
Polyvinyl chloride film (generally toxic)
If you do not add pigment, transparent, feels the surface of some sticky, forced jitter, the sound is low, the fire is not easy to burn, from the flame that is extinguished, the flame was green.
- Plastic Bags
- Classification Of Plastic Bags
- The Basic Use Of Plastic Bags
- The Advantages Of Plastic Bags
- Express Bag Classification
- How Does The Courier Bag Seal?
- The Type Of Cup
- Paper Cups Of Raw Materials
- Disposable Plastic Cups
- Plastic Cup Harm
- The Food Lab: We Should All Eat Mor...
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There was a time when Earth had no Moon. About 4.5 billion years ago, when our ancient Solar System was still forming, the dark night sky above our primordial planet was moonless. At this time, the Earth was about 60 percent formed, although it did have a differentiated crust, mantle, and core. This was a very chaotic and violent era in our Solar System's past, with planets first forming out of blobs of primordial dust, gas, and rock. During this era, frequently likened to a "cosmic shooting gallery", collisions between the still-forming planets were commonplace. Orbits were not as orderly as they are now.
Phases and Tides. A strong initial attraction between two people, including the warm glow of new romance, can often arise from heavenly bodies other than the Moon. Chemistry involving fiery planets, such as the Sun or Mars, will often spark a romance-but what makes it truly last?
When the American astronomer James Christy discovered Pluto's largest moon Charon back in 1978, astronomers were quick to calculate the mass of the system. Pluto's mass was hundreds of times smaller than the mass originally estimated for it when it was first discovered in 1930. With Charon's discovery, astronomers suddenly acquired a new understanding that something was fundamentally different about Pluto.
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Baby & Children's Vision
!-- --> Did you know that 1 out of every 4 children suffers from vision problems that interfere with learning? Children with uncorrected vision conditions or eye health problems face many barriers in life, academically, socially, and athletically. High-quality eye health care can break down these barriers and help enable your children to reach their highest potential! As a parent, make sure you are giving your children the eye health care they need. Presented are guidelines from the American Optometric Association.
Your baby has a whole lifetime to see and learn. But did you know your baby also has to learn to see? As a parent, there are many things that you can do to help your baby's vision develop.
When your baby is about six months old, consider taking him to an optometrist for his/her first InfantSEE eye examination. This program provides an eye health evaluation at no charge for children up to 1 year. Testing will be done for excessive or unequal amounts of nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, lack of eye movement ability, as well as other eye health problems. These problems are not common, but it is important to identify children who have them at this stage. Vision development and eye health problems can be more easily corrected if treatment is begun early.
During the first 4 months
Your baby should begin to follow moving objects with the eyes and reach for things, first by chance and later more accurately, as hand-eye coordination and depth perception begin to develop. To help, use a nightlight or other dim lamp in your baby's room; change the crib's position frequently and your child's position in it; keep reach-and-touch toys within your baby's focus, about eight to twelve inches; talk to your baby as you walk around the room; alternate right and left sides with each feeding; and hang a mobile above and outside the crib.
From 4-8 months
Your baby should begin to turn from side to side and use his or her arms and legs. Eye movement and eye/body coordination skills should develop further and both eyes should focus equally. Enable your baby to explore different shapes and textures with his or her fingers; give your baby the freedom to crawl and explore; hang objects across the crib; and play "patty cake" and "peek-a-boo" with your baby.
From 8-12 months
Your baby should be mobile now, crawling and pulling himself or herself up. He or she will begin to use both eyes together and judge distances and grasp and throw objects with greater precision. To support development do not encourage early walking - crawling is important in developing eye-hand-foot-body coordination; give your baby stacking and take-apart toys; and provide objects your baby can touch, hold, and see at the same time.
From 1-2 years
Your child's eye-hand coordination and depth perception will continue to develop and he or she will begin to understand abstract terms. Things you can do are encourage walking; provide building blocks, simple puzzles and balls; and provide opportunities to climb and explore indoors and out. There are many other affectionate and loving ways in which you can aid your baby's vision development. Use your creativity and imagination. Ask your doctor to suggest other specific activities.
During infant and toddler years, your child has been developing many vision skills. In the preschool years, this process continues, as your child develops visually guided eye-hand-body coordination, fine motor skills, and the visual motor skills necessary to learn to read.
As a parent, you should watch for signs that may indicate a vision development problem, including:
- a short attention span for the child's age
- difficulty with eye-hand-body coordination in ball play and bike riding
- avoidance of coloring and puzzles and other detailed activities
There are everyday things that you can do at home to help your preschooler's vision develop as it should. These activities include:
- reading aloud to your child and letting him or her see what you are reading
- providing a chalkboard, finger paints and different shaped blocks and showing your child how to use them in imaginative play
- providing safe opportunities to use playground equipment like a jungle gym and balance beam
- allowing time for interacting with other children and for playing independently.
By age 3
Your child should have a thorough optometric eye health examination to make sure your preschooler's vision is developing properly and there is no evidence of eye disease. If needed, your doctor can prescribe treatment including glasses and/or vision therapy to correct a vision development problem.
Here are several tips to make your child's optometric eye health examination a positive experience:
- Make an appointment early in the day
- Allow about one hour
- Talk about the examination in advance and encourage your child's questions
- Explain the examination in your child's terms, comparing the E chart to a puzzle and the instruments to tiny flashlights and a kaleidoscope
Unless recommended otherwise, your child's next eye health examination should be at age five. By comparing test results of the two examinations, your doctor can tell how well your child's vision is developing for the next major step. . .into the school years.
A good education for your child means good schools, good teachers and good vision. Your child's eyes are constantly in use in the classroom and at play. So when his or her vision is not functioning properly, learning and participation in recreational activities will suffer. The basic vision skills needed for school use are:
- Near Vision: The ability to see clearly and comfortably at 10-13 inches.
- Distance Vision: The ability to see clearly and comfortably beyond arms reach.
- Binocular coordination: The ability to use both eyes together.
- Eye movement skills: The ability to aim the eyes accurately, move them smoothly across a page and shift them quickly and accurately from one object to another.
- Focusing skills: The ability to keep both eyes accurately focused at the proper distance to see clearly and the change focus quickly.
- Peripheral awareness: The ability to be aware of things located to the side while looking straight ahead.
- Eye/hand coordination: The ability to use the eyes and hands together.
If any of these or other vision skills is lacking or does not function properly, your child will have to work harder. This can lead to headaches, fatigue and other eyestrain problems. As a parent, be alert for symptoms that may indicate your child has a vision or visual processing problem. Be sure to tell your doctor if your child frequently:
- Loses their place while reading
- Avoids close work
- Holds reading material closer than normal
- Tends to rub their eyes
- Has headaches
- Turns or tilts head to use one eye only
- Makes frequent reversals when reading or writing
- Uses finger to maintain place when reading
- Omits or confuses small words when reading
- Consistently performs below potential
Since vision changes can occur without you or your child noticing them, your child should visit an optometrist at least every two years, or more frequently, if specific problems or risk factors exist. If needed, doctors can prescribe treatment including eyeglasses, contact lenses or vision therapy. Remember, a school vision or pediatrician's screening is not a substitute for a thorough eye health examination.
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2/15/18Social media as good a barometer of public health attitudes as traditional phone polling
CONTACT: Phil Ciciora, Business and law editor, 217-333-2177
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A record number of Americans are able to access the internet from their home or their smartphone, and nearly 70 percent of U.S. adults have a social media account, according to the Pew Research Center.
If the share of Americans using social media is the highest it’s ever been, what insights can be gleaned from their online interactions? According to a new paper co-written by University of Illinois experts in social psychology and marketing, social media data can be used as a complementary source of information alongside traditional data sources like phone-based polling to gauge public opinion about health issues.
An analysis of online communications on Twitter about the public health challenges of the Zika virus correlated highly with a Zika-related analysis of traditional survey data from landline and cellular phones, said Dolores Albarracin, a professor of psychology at Illinois and a co-author of the study.
“Our results demonstrate that it’s possible to uncover and analyze information from Twitter communications that are associated with public health crises,” Albarracin said. “The common perception is that what people read on social media might not be representative of mainstream sentiment but rather a biased or extreme representation. It turns out that, in this domain, social media – specifically, Twitter, in our research – represents exactly the average of the real-life population of the U.S.”
The researchers teamed with the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, which conducted a nationally representative survey of the U.S. adult population over 33 weeks in 2016 on Zika-related attitudes, knowledge and behaviors. Around 1,000 participants per week answered the survey.
The researchers also analyzed Twitter data about the Zika virus outbreak by searching for Zika-related keywords (“zika,” “dengue,” “yellow fever,” for example) using the site’s application programming interface.
“We created a Twitter-based index of three measures that are classically important in disease control: attitudes, knowledge and behaviors,” Albarracin said. “That’s the triad that’s studied in public health and social marketing to see what people’s attitudes and practices are at a given time or in a given context.”
The researchers winnowed the resulting dataset of 3.8 million tweets to an aggregated set that matched the time period of the more traditional phone-based survey data.
“The idea was to be able to see if we could use social media to gauge public opinion in the same way you would use a phone survey,” Albarracin said.
The results demonstrated a high ability to identify community attitudes, knowledge and behaviors in a timely manner and at low cost on social media, Albarracin said.
“The survey data of the phone responses correlated moderately to highly with what was going on in real time on Twitter,” she said.
The study was “a proof of concept that we can make these inferences based on social media conversations and establish surveillance systems that rely on social media postings,” Albarracin said.
The study also has implications for public health, Albarracin said.
“If there’s a public health crisis, or if you wish to see how people are responding to a public health crisis in real time, Twitter would certainly be a valid portal to look at,” she said. “It’s cheap, it’s fast and it’s ubiquitous, whereas traditional phone polling is slow and expensive – it can take weeks and can cost tens of thousands of dollars per week, if not more, to gather data.
“And just about everyone has a smartphone, and everyone of a certain demographic is on one social media channel or another, making the results just as valid as the more expensive traditional polling method.”
Social media could potentially also be an effective tool to launch public health campaigns, Albarracin said.
“Clearly, people will talk about their health online, and they seem to have no qualms about obtaining information about public health issues from social media,” she said. “People aren’t afraid to go public and crowd-source their health concerns.”
The methodology could be applied to collections of tweets from other domains of interest, from business to politics.
“If you’re trying to do market research, instead of calling people, you could obtain these measures of consumer attitudes through social media,” said Albarracin, also a professor of business administration with the Gies College of Business.
The paper will be published in the journal JMIR Public Health and Surveillance.
Albarracin’s co-authors are Man Pui Sally Chan and Mohsen Farhadloo, of the University of Illinois, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Kenneth Winneg, of The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
The research was supported by the Science of Science Communication endowment of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and the National Institutes of Health.
Editor’s notes: To contact Dolores Albarracin, call 217-244-7019; email firstname.lastname@example.org.
The paper “Associations of topics of discussion on Twitter with survey measures of attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors related to Zika: A study in the United States” is available online.
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Planning is underway for The Next 150, an update of the university's strategic plan. Follow the process and progress at strategicplan.illinois.edu.
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No information was found about the weather station, this is about the park it is in. It has a wind speed, ambient temprature, humidity and a few other recording devices.
Currently, there are no signs directing you to Yucca House. The monument is surrounded by private land. Once you leave the main highway, the road to Yucca House becomes gravel or dirt, which may be impassible in wet weather. You will also need to pass through livestock gates and close them behind you. Please contact Mesa Verde National Park at (970) 529-4465 for directions.
Yucca House National Monument is a large, unexcavated Ancestral Puebloan surface site. Yucca House is located in Southwest Colorado between the towns of Towaoc and Cortez. Currently, there are no facilities or fees at Yucca House.
Yucca House is one of the largest archeological sites in southwest Colorado, and acted as an important community center for the Ancestral Puebloan people from A.D. 1150-1300. The long-term preservation of Yucca House ensures that archeologists will be able to continue studying Ancestral Puebloan society and what caused them to migrate from this region in the late 1200s.
Yucca House National Monument is a United States National Monument located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. Yucca House is a large, unexcavated Ancestral Puebloan archaeological site.
President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the site a National Monument on December 19, 1919, after the donation of 9.5 acres (38,000 m2) of land on July 2, 1919 by a private landowner. It was one of many research national monuments designated during that era to preserve them for future investigation, and not necessarily as sites expected to be significant public attractions. As a National Park Service historic area, the park was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Currently, there are no facilities or fees at Yucca House. The site is managed by Mesa Verde National Park.
The monument is located between the towns of Towaoc (headquarters of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe) and Cortez. To reach the monument from US 160, drive on US 160/US 491 for 8 miles (13 km) south of Cortez, take County Road B west for just over a mile, then turn north onto County Road 20.5. County Road 20.5 does not have a sign. It is a right turn just before the last farmhouse on the left (at the right turn you cross a yellow cattle guard) and once you are on the road there is a sign on the property on the left hand side that says "Boxbar Ranch No Trespassing" so stay on the road until you reach the parking lot on the left. Montezuma County has placed a sign at the corner of Road B and Road 20.5 at least three times and vandals have removed the sign each time. The entrance to the monument is at the end of that road, about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the previous turn. An small unimproved parking area may be used, but what is visible can be accessed only by a rough foot trail. Parking space is limited and roads may be difficult immediately following rains or snowmelt. There are no true interpretive features at the site.
The site is one of many Anasazi (Ancestral Pueblo) village sites located in the Montezuma Valley and occupied between AD 900 and 1300, and became a major community center after about 1150. It may have taken advantage of the location nearby of Mud Springs and Navajo Springs, and the junction of several major trails. (Navajo Springs was the original site of the Ute Mountain Indian Agency following the division of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in the early 1900s.) Even today, much of the area around the site is rich, irrigated farmland, while drier, higher areas are arid rangeland.
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Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
This post will look at the disconnect between popular and scholarly belief and try to examine the origin of the myth several centuries after the event occurred. I will follow pretty closely the first part of a comprehensive article on the subject by Hebrew University professor, Yisrael Yuval, which is available here . Because this article is under copyright, I can’t quote more than a few passages, and so I will just be paraphrasing him. But I urge you to read the article, especially his copious footnotes.The myth was not invented by the Zionists, although it was greatly used by them, in part, to justify the return of the Jews to their ancestral homeland. For the tacit assumption of the Zionists was that if the Jews had left the land willingly, if they had merely “emigrated” because they found opportunities beckoning in the Diaspora, then they would have betrayed their allegiance to the land, and their return would have been less justified. That is one of the reasons why Zionists argued for years that the Palestinians left Palestine of their own free will – if they were forcibly expelled, then somehow their claim to the land would be stronger. Of course, the putative expulsion by the Romans was not the only claim of the Jewish people to the land – many peoples have been exiled from their lands, and the Zionists were not claiming that all of them had a right to return -- but it dovetailed nicely with the historical view of the wandering Jew that finds no rest outside of his native place from which he was expelled. The first point to make is that well before the revolt against Rome in 66-70 c.e., there were Jewish communities outside Palestine, most notably in Babylonia and in Egypt, but elsewhere as well. References to the dispersal of the Jewish people throughout the civilized world are found in the book of Esther, Josephus, and Philo. There is no indication that these communities were small, satellite communities. Second, there is no contemporary evidence – i.e., 1st and 2nd centuries c.e. – that anything like an exile took place. The Romans put down two Jewish revolts in 66-70 c.e. and in 132-135 c.e. According to Josephus, the rebels were killed, and many of the Jews died of hunger. Some prisoners were sent to Rome, and others were sold in Libya. But nowhere does Josephus speak of Jews being taken into exile. As we shall see below, there is much evidence to the contrary. There was always Jewish emigration from the Land of Israel, as the quote above from Baron indicates. The first mention of the exile of the Jews occurs in remarks attributed to the third century Palestinian rabbi, R. Yohanan that are found in the Babylonian Talmud, a work that received its final recension several centuries later (c. 500 c.e.): “Our House has been destroyed, our Temple burnt, and we ourselves exiled from our land” (Gittin, 56a). The editor/s of the Talmud referred this statement to the Roman exile. Similar statements can be found elsewhere in the Babylonian Talmud attributing to rabbis living in the Land of Israel the view that the Romans were responsible for the destruction of the House, the burning of the temple, and the exile from the land. But if one examines other Babylonian sources, and most sources from the Land of Israel, the statements most likely refer to the First Temple, and the exile by the Babylonians. There is, after all, something odd in having rabbis living in the Land of Israel bemoaning an exile from the Land of Israel. Yuval summarizes the sources as follows: “In other words, it seems that the triple expression—destruction of the House, burning of the Temple, exile from the land—originally (in the sources from the Land of Israel) referred to the First Temple and were applied to the Second Temple only in Babylonia.10 In the Tannaitic and early Amoraic sources, Rome is accused only of destroying the Temple, not of exiling the people from their land.11 A broad historical and national outlook, one that viewed the “Exile of Edom” (Rome being identified with the biblical Edom) as a political result of forced expulsion, did not survive from this period. Nor would such a view have been appropriate to the political reality and the conditions of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel, which were certainly very well known to the members of that generation.” In fact, Chaim Milikowsky, professor and past chairman of the Talmud department at Bar Ilan university, has argued that in 2nd and 3rd century tannaitic sources, the Hebrew term rendered as “exile” has the meaning of political subjugation rather than physically being driven from the land (cited in Yuval, p. 19, n.1) This, by the way, dovetails nicely with the Zionist historiography that emphasizes the loss of political independence, rather the physical removal of the Jews from the Land of Israel. For Zionists were somewhat at a loss to explain how Jewish rabbis could create the Mishnah and subsequently the Talmud of the Land of Israel if there was a mass exile. This much of Yuval’s essay is uncontroversial and based on widely-accepted historiography. What follows is speculative and fits well the general trend of Yuval’s work, which is to see much greater Christian influence on the formation of rabbinic Judaism than has hitherto been recognized. Yuval points out that in early Christian sources, following the failed Bar Kokhba rebellion, there is an attempt to interpret the removal of the Jews from Jerusalem as punishment for the sin of rejecting Christ, and the depletion of the Jewish population of Jerusalem in light of the Biblical prophecies of exile. The Jewish reaction, on his reading, was to emphasize that Jews were still very much in the Land of Israel – which contemporary Jews, for the first time, interpreted to include not merely the Northern Kingdom of Israel, but the entire land. Only later, during Talmudic times, was the Exile from the Land incorporated in Jewish collective memory. What implications does the exposure of the myth of the Roman Exile have for Zionism, the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, etc., etc. None, in my opinion. It is less important that the Jews were actually carried off into Exile than that they thought they were. The rabbis, and even earlier Jewish scholars, tended to conflate the Babylonian exile with the later loss of independence among the Romans. As a formative moment in Jewish religious consciousness, the destruction of the first temple and the exile was vastly more significant than the destruction of the second temple; some, like Bible scholar Adele Berlin, have argued that parts of the Bible, and maybe even the Torah, were edited in light of the trauma of the Babylonian exile. What this means is that in Jewish (and Christian) consciousness destruction, exile, and return, became significant categories in light of which history was read. If there is any argument for a right to return, it is not based, in the case of the Jews, on being driven out of the land against their will. It is more because of the Land of Israel playing such an important role in the consciousness of many (though not all) Jews. This is a more modest claim than is generally heard; it certainly does not in itself justify Jewish hegemony over Palestine. But it does put on the table the very real connection (imagined or not) between the Jewish people and Palestine. That, to me, is what is reasonable about Zionism. In the words of J.K. Rowling, just because it is in your head doesn’t mean that it is not real.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Israel Racism Watch -- Knesset gives initial approval to bill restricting JNF land lease to Jews only
The Haaretz English Translation is here
Basically, the Israeli Knesset gave preliminary approval today to a bill outlawing the lease of land owned by the Jewish National Fund to goyim. It now goes into committee where, God willing, it will be buried. But I doubt it.Of course, it is against the halakha to sell the land of Israel to idolaters. The fact that Rav Kook ruled that Muslims are not idolaters is a source of unending embarrassment to the religious right. But the point of this bill -- cosponsored by a member of Ehud Olmert's Kadimah party -- is to bypass the High Court's 2004 ruling that required the JNF to lease state land to Israeli arab Adil Ka'adan as a result of that ruling, Meni Mazuz, the State Comptroller, instructed the JNF not to discriminate in sales. That angered the Israeli legislators, who wish to pass this discriminatory law. The irony is that there was an attempt to prevent the bill from being tabled because it is racist. Apparently, not enough. By the way, the Ka'dan ruling was praised by Alan Dershowitz in his book, "The Case for Israel." I am hoping that Alan will speak loud and clear against this racist -- oops -- "Jewish" law, (that is how the proponents are describing it.) Should I be glad that the racism that is so deeply rooted in political Zionism, and the State of Israel, is being flushed out of the closet for everybody to see? Not really. But hang on...it is a Jewish state, right? And that land was bought by Jews for Jews. I mean shouldn't everybody have to a right to buy land for her family? Sure, and I have a legal and moral right to sell only to whites -- right? Will the Knesset redeem itself? Only if we shout loud enough.
Alan, please make a comment on the Huffington Post today. You say that you have criticized Israel before. Let's hear you loud and clear.
By the way, for a truly bizarre reading of the Ka'dan case by Ruth Gavison, the liberal-hawk law professor turned neocon (on her way to being a female Scalia), see
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
In memory of my teacher (for one course), Prof. Yosef ben Shlomo, z”l
Bloggers, I am told, shouldn’t write long posts. So I will be long on claims and short on arguments.Let’s start with some of my assumptions. From its inception the Zionist movement in its statist form threatened the aspirations of the emerging Arab nationalist movement, and the vast majority of the Palestinian residents. The increasing settlement of Jews in Palestine with the express purpose of that settlement being a Jewish state was obviously opposed to the national self-determination of the native population. Of course, given the context of nationalism, colonialism, and orientalism, etc., Zionism was understandable, and I am not for a minute casting aspersion on the morality of the political Zionists. (On the contrary, the view of Zionism as a national liberation movement is one I basically accept – as long as that liberation is not at the expense of another people with claims at least as equal.) Hence , the resistance of Arab nationalists to Jewish nationalism was entirely reasonable. I am not claiming that the Arab position was right; I am claiming that it was reasonable. Israel is now nervous about being swamped with Sudanese refugees. Just imagine how we would feel if those refugees claimed that they were coming home to rebuild their ancient homeland. Even if one accepts the justice of some Zionist claims, those claims would have to be balanced with the claims of the native population, who had every reason to believe, especially following the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire, that in the normal course of things, a Palestinian state would arise that would reflect the makeup of the majority of its inhabitants. Irreconcilable claims are often settled through a reasonable compromise mediated by outsiders. In retrospect, the Arabs miscalculated badly in rejecting partition, but that rejection was understandable. The Zionists miscalculated badly by rejecting partition after they got the upper hand, but that rejection was also understandable. In any event, the UN ratification of the partition plan did not justify the unilateral declaration of independence in 1948, much less the failure to relinquish territory achieved in war, much less the horrible decision not to let the Palestinian refugees return to their homes. And now for the question of Zionist settlements. I am not here talking about private ownership but of national sovereignty. (Important distinction. I will talk about private ownership in a separate post.) Land held by Jewish individuals or companies prior to 1948 should in no way have been seen as automatically belonging to a future Jewish state. If I buy a house “for the Jewish people” in Kansas with the intention of that land being part of a future Jewish state, then this purchase doesn’t advance that claim. Of course, if Jews live in the house, then a democratic government should represent them. But what makes territory part of the state is recognition of that fact, based on international law, treaties, etc. Territory acquired as a result of the 1948 war belongs to the State of Israel by force of that land being recognized by the countries of the world, and by the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people, as under Israeli sovereignty. This includes the land that was acquired in the 1948 war beyond the UN Partition borders. Without such recognition, this territory remains disputed territory. In the eyes of Hamas, for example, it remains disputed, just as in the eyes of some Israelis, the West Bank remains disputed. Still, I believe that the Israel’s sovereignty over such land is as provisional as are its borders. Until a treaty is signed and Israel has recognized borders, everything, in principle, is up for grabs -- including Sheikh Yunis (today Ramat Aviv -- that line was for Prof. Ben Shlomo!) Territory acquired after 1967 is universally viewed by international bodies as Occupied Territory. That includes, in my book, anyway, areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Some conclusions I draw from the above: 1. What counts when it comes to sovereignty is not just what we think but what everybody thinks, i.e., the Palestinians and the world. At the moment, the vast majority of the world, including the Palestinian people, including Hamas, are willing to conclude some sort of peace settlement with Israel on the basis of the 1948 armistice lines. While there is nothing holy about these lines, they are a convenient starting point because of international recognition and the passage of time. 2. That there are Jews and Christians who believe that Israel has a historical claim to Judea and Shomron means as much to me as that there are Iraqis who believe that Iraq has a historical claim to Kuwait. (I am not referring here to the religious question of Eretz Yisrael, which I find utterly irrelevant to Zionism. ) 3. Every step that Israel takes with respect to settlement inside the green line should be done taking into account its implications for bilateral relations with the Palestinian national entity. 4. No Israelis should be settled on post-67 occupied territory against the wishes of the Palestinian people, and in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. I think that Israelis have the right and the responsibility to negotiate for settlement for Jews – for example, the Jewish settlement in the Jewish Quarter – but as part of a peace settlement, and not unilaterally by the occupying power. I wish I had time to argue these points, but I don’t. I haven’t said enough about the morality of the Zionist settlement program. That is a difficult topic, but I think that parts of the settlement program was justifiable in light of the norms and expectations of the time, many of which are no longer relevant. Again, I am not talking about private ownership, but about national sovereignty. So, it is more legitimate for Israelis to settle territories that are within their recognized national sovereignty, than for those that are without. Settlements outside must conform to the guidelines of the Fourth Geneva Convention, as generally interpreted.
Shabbat Shalom...please enjoy the Shabbat respite from the Three Weeks, and no public display of mourning, please!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Of course, tell that to the Knesset's committee on legislation, which declared the occupation of Gaza over...so Israel will not have to pay conpensation to civilians for destruction of life and property.http://www.ynet.co.il/home/0,7340,L-8,00.html (Hebrew) Remember the motto of (political) Zionism -- maximum control over the land with minimum responsibility for the natives.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Don't laugh. In the late eighteenth century, the German Jew David Friedlaender argued (ironically) that if the price for German citizenship was conversion to Christianity, then the Germans should allow for a conversion to an enlightened form of Christianity, to which the Jews could submit en masse.
Judah Magnes, my kind of Zionist, had another solution. But that is for another day.
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Most small injuries will heal on their own. A small bruise will be absorbed by the body and normally vanish without a trace. A small cut will likewise heal, leaving only a thin white line, if any mark remains.
But when it comes to your teeth, your body doesn’t really have a good mechanism for healing your teeth, so when you get a small injury to your tooth, it actually gets worse and worse with time, and eventually can lead to the complete loss of your tooth if not treated.
Small Cracks under Stress
If you develop small cracks in your teeth, they might not seem like a major problem, but they can be.
Your teeth are designed to flex under the pressure of your bite. When this happens, the small crack in your tooth widens. When pressure is released, the crack closes again, but now it’s a little larger.
Another problem is that the small cracks may seem tiny to you, but to microscopic bacteria, the crack is a huge break in the defenses of your teeth. Even when closed, the crack can shelter bacteria, protecting them from your saliva, which is toxic to them, and your toothbrush and floss that is trying to remove them. Inside the crack, the bacteria will eat sugars, excrete acid, and produce new bacteria. The acid eats away at your teeth, making room for more bacteria, which will penetrate deeper and deeper into your tooth until they reach the tooth pulp or nerve. When this occurs, the result is an infected tooth, also called an abscessed tooth, which requires a root canal to treat. In other cases, we may have to remove the tooth and replace it with a dental implant.
When the Treatment Is the Problem
Fillings are used to help protect your teeth from decay. When your teeth are damaged by bacteria, the damaged area is removed, and a filling is placed. In the past, this was usually metal amalgam (silver) fillings.
Metal amalgam fillings can actually promote decay, though. They aren’t bonded to your tooth, so it’s possible that there’s a margin around the filling that is just enough to trap food and shelter oral bacteria–remember, to microscopic bacteria, even tiny spaces are huge. And, once they find a little shelter, they can begin to cause decay around the edges of your fillings.
Metal amalgam fillings can make this even worse through a process known as percolation. When a metal amalgam filling is exposed to cold beverages, it shrinks, which creates a space around the filling, which allows for more penetration by oral bacteria and acidic substances. This creates spaces around the filling for bacteria to grow.
When a metal amalgam filling is exposed to a hot beverage, it expands. This squeezes the bacteria and liquid out, but it also causes the filling to push up against the enamel of your tooth, creating tiny stress cracks, which in turn can shelter oral bacteria and contribute to decay.
It’s even worse when damage occurs around the filling. The black filling conceals the existence of decay around and under it.
Decay around a filling may eventually reach the tooth pulp as well, leading to an abscessed tooth.
Avoiding Serious Problems
To detect and treat minor tooth problems before they become serious, make your regular checkup and hygiene visits. Consider replacing amalgam fillings, which can conceal decay and damage. And, of course, tell your dentist if you suspect a problem.
If you are looking for a San Diego dentist to help protect and repair your teeth, please call today for an appointment at Strober Dental.
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This could also represent lesson #2 on depth of field. The background fades into insignificance without being so blurred that it is entirely lost. Again, we are in Alaska but the main focus is the emotion that is created by the subjects of the picture. Obviously, related and obviously sharing a private joke, it went something like this, "pssst, do you think Dad knows which button to push?" The truth of the matter is the new digital cameras do alot of the work for you so you have very little editing post picture taking. A great picture may not be the one taken by the "professional photographer" but it will always be the one that invokes the sweetest memory.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Same picture, cropped 2 different ways. The landscape view (side to side) focuses more on the "who" of the picture because the subjects fill the frame. The portrait view (top to bottom) gives you more information about the "where". Yep, it's Alaska. This is only true for this example. A landscape picture can record vast vistas and tall mountain ranges if that is what fills your frame. The point is, identify what composition you are trying to create and don't be afraid to turn you camera on a an angle to get it. This is also proof that we did take our kids somewhere, so later in life they can't make us believe that we never did anything with them. Oh and that pretty blonde girl, she's always making a "face" so we have to record what we have to work with. ;D
Ever taken a picture like this and wondered what went wrong? The background is the Savage River of Danali Park Alaska and is a very interesting composition. The person in the foreground is my son, Jared and "No, he's not moving". When taking a "still" shot, something in motion will blurr out, but that didn't happen here. What happened was caused by the aperture setting of the camera. The aperture determines how much light gets through the "hole" to create your image. You may be more familiar with calling it the "f-stop". (no swearing implied or intended) A common portrait practice is to use a large "f-stop" (indicated by a smaller number, think fractions, see your math teacher was right, you will use it later in life.) of say 5.6 which gives you crystal clear images in your foreground and soft blurry non-detracting images in the background. The exact opposite of what we have here. This picture was more than likely shot with a small "f-stop" of around 22, so what is clear is far away and the foreground is blurred. So how does this work with depth of field. Depth of field is a term used to identify where your camera will shoot a sharp image and what will be blurred. A small "f-stop" has a greater depth of field, yards and yards of distance are clear, you just have to know where it starts to be clear and where it is not. At 4-6 feet from the camera as illustrated here...not clear. Maybe I should have titled this "It's all about your focus".
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
It's disenhertening to know I have memories fo 30 years ago. Recently I participated in my 30 year High School Reunion (just so you know I am literally younger than all these people because I skipped kinder garten and graduated early) It's a peculiar ritual we subject ourselves too. We visit with people we don't recognize to be reminded of things we'd rather forget. Reunions are all about facing your own personal insignificance.
A reunion is only a success when the people you remember show up. Thanks to Brent for flying in from New York and Brad came from Arizona and Romy from California. It was their collective sacrifice of time and effort that convinced me to attend.
But to Mike and Brendon, Gwen, Barbara and Teresa, what happened to you? Can we count on you in 10 years? Reunions are all about reconnecting if for no other reason then to remember why you lost touch in the first place.
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The Lowdown on ASP.NET Authentication
If you've created a Web application in Visual Studio .NET, you should be aware that—by default—anyone can access your pages. However, there is a way to keep nosy, unwanted types out. It's called authentication.
ASP.NET includes support for three core types of authentication: Windows, which allows only certain Windows accounts to access a page; Passport, which uses the Microsoft Passport universal login system to verify a user (a pay service); and Forms, the most popular method of authentication, which we'll be covering here.
When a user attempts to access a page that uses Forms authentication, they get redirected to a login screen. From here, your surfer can provide a username and password. You then validate the credentials and grant or deny access to your pages accordingly.
Want to set up ASP.NET Forms authentication? Just follow my five quick and easy steps.
- Open the Web.config file in your Solution. This stores a number of settings for your Web application. Edit the <authentication> element so that it reads something like the following. (Alter usernames and passwords as appropriate, and watch both your casing and spacing.) This provides your application with a list of valid users.
<authentication mode="Forms"> <forms> <credentials passwordFormat="Clear"> <user name="test1" password="password" /> <user name="test2" password="password" /> </credentials> </forms> </authentication>
- Still in the Web.config file, remove the <allow users="*" /> line from within the <authorization> element. This line grants access to anyone, and we've just erased it.
- Still within the <authorization> element, add the following line to deny access to all unknown users (that is, those not authenticated):
- Create a page called login.aspx. By default, all unauthenticated users will be redirected to this page. Add TextBox controls (txtUsername and txtPassword) for your browser to supply credentials. Also, add a CheckBox control (chkPersist) to be used if the user wants his or her machine to automatically log them in next time.
- Behind a login button on your login.aspx page, add code similar to the following to authenticate your user:
<deny users="?" />
If System.Web.Security.FormsAuthentication.Authenticate( _ txtUsername.Text, txtPassword.Text) = True Then System.Web.Security.FormsAuthentication.RedirectFromLogin _ Page(txtUsername.Text, chkPersist.Checked) Else Response.Write("Invalid credentials - go back and try _ again!") End If
And that's it! Now, whenever a user visits a page in your application—and they're unauthenticated—they'll be redirected to login.aspx. From there, they'll be able to provide credentials. The .Authenticate method attempts to match these with a valid username and password combination in Web.config. If the credentials are invalid, a generic error message is displayed. If everything is fine, the .RedirectFromLoginPage method runs, taking the username and whether the login "persists" (that is, is remembered by the computer between sessions) as arguments, and then sends the user back to the initially requested page.
After this, whenever you need to refer back to the username, simply check out the User.Identity.Name property. And, when the user requests to explicitly log out, run code similar to the following:
Top Tip: If you don't want to use login.aspx as your login form, you can change the page by adding a loginUrl attribute to the <forms> element of your Web.config file. For example, the following tag makes myloginpage.aspx the default login page: <forms loginUrl="myloginpage.aspx" />.
Figure: Authentication kicking in, as I try to access a restricted page
Page 1 of 2
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The Law of Conservation of Energy is the first law of thermodynamics. It states that energy must remain constant in an isolated system and is conserved as time passes and that it can neither be created nor destroyed. Instead, energy is a constantly moving entity, transferring from one state to another or changing from one state to another. Thermodynamics and this first Law of Conservation of Energy was created in the mid 1800’s by Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson. Often, Albert Einstein is quoted when he said “Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.”
When we talk about food and nutrition we use the wrong language. We talk about what food will give us and create for us. We drink energy drinks and use pre-workout supplements to give ourselves more energy. We follow strict dietary plans in order to make gains and maximize what food does for us. Part of the reason we might struggle for so long with diet and exercise is exactly because of this false ideology. We think that the food that goes into our body creates something or destroys something. Food is energy. Food is fuel. According to the Law of Conservation of Energy, we neither create nor destroy the energy from food in our body. We change it and we transfer it. What we put into our body in the form of food is transformed into other energy, fat, protein, acids, and much more. What goes in, comes out differently. The food that we put into our body matters because we are conserving that energy in the isolated system which is the machine our bodies truly are.
To lubricate grinds in order to make a machine run smoothly, we wouldn’t use chewing gum. In order to make the machine of our body run smoothly, we have to feed it with the food and supplements that help maximize its productivity. Feeding ourselves what is essentially garbage in terms of food is like sticking chewing gum in a grind. The energy is still transferred and changed, but the energy that is conserved is not as efficient as it could be. Getting in peak physical shape helps us make the most out of life and create meaning that is critical for our recovery. Addiction to drugs and alcohol can rob us of our physical strength. Even if we trained and maintained some kind of physical health during our active using, the Law of Conservation of Energy still applies. Recovery gives us the opportunity to feed our bodies, literally and figuratively. We need to give the body the power it needs in order have a body that is as powerful as the energy we give it. With this energy and this mindset, we can connect ourselves more deeply to our physical form and the energy we create in the world. We are constantly being transformed and transforming the world around us. That is part of the freedom of recovery.
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Full name: Joseph Francis Stadler
Born: June 12, 1880 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Died: February 25, 1950 in Temple City, California, United States
Affiliations: Franklin Athletic Club, Cleveland (USA)
Country: United States
Medals: 1 Silver, 1 Bronze (2 Total)
Joseph Stadler was a prominent athlete from Cleveland at the turn of the 20th century, who competed for the Franklin Athletic Club. Formerly believed to be one of the first black men to compete in the Olympics, that has been disproved by recent photographs of him discovered in the Cleveland Leader newspaper. Little else is known of his life.
Men's Standing Triple Jump
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VICTORIA MEMORIAL HALL
1, QUEEN’S WAY, KOLKATA-71
- Conceived by Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of British India, on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.
- Expected to be a living institution in memory of the Queen with particular emphasis on Indo-British history.
- Raised on a land measuring sixty four acres
- Contributions obtained from the Indian Princes and people totaling more than Rs. 80 lakhs in those days.
- Foundation stone laid by the then Prince of Wales, later King George V, on January 4, 1906.
- Formally opened to the public in 1921.
- An autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture (MoC)
- Victoria Memorial is governed by
- Victoria Memorial Act, 1903 (as amended from time to time)
- Victoria Memorial Rules, 1973
- Victoria Memorial Service Regulations, 1987
- Board of Trustees empowered to acquire and hold property, to enter into contracts and to do all that is necessary for and consistent with the purpose of the Act
- Secretary & Curator is the Chief Executive of Victoria Memorial Hall.
- To be the premier period museum in the world on Indo-British history in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries
- The mission of the VMH is to function as the premier art gallery, museum, research library on art history and museum studies, and cultural space in the city of Kolkata.
- In order to pursue this mission, it collects, conserves and disseminates knowledge among the general public about art objects, historical relics, and documents relating mainly to Indian history in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
- In addition to the exhibits on permanent display, the VMH also organizes regular special exhibitions, lectures, publications, cultural programmes and interactive educational activities – both on-site and in different parts of India and abroad – in its four focal areas of activity, namely, art, culture, heritage and the environment.
- The VMH promotes research through its research fellowships and library resources, networks extensively with other museums, historical societies and the academia.
- It seeks to promote positive social change through its outreach activities with non-museum organizations and community groups.
- It always strives to be – and is recognized by the wider community – as a museum without walls.
- A period museum focusing on Indo-British history.
- Collection of 28,394 objects, including oil paintings, watercolours, sketches, lithographs, photographs, rare books and manuscripts, stamps and postal stationery, coins and medals, arms and armour, sculptures, costumes, personal relics, etc.
- Many of them displayed in 9 existing galleries. Temporary exhibitions are held throughout the year.
- Recently acquired 5,000 paintings of Bengal School of Art on enduring loan from Rabindra Bharati Society
- By far the most-visited government museum in India, and one of the most-visited museums in the world (34 lakh gallery visitors in the year 2014-15).
As Education Centre
- Organizes Lectures/Seminars/Workshops on Art, Culture, History, and Heritage on regular basis.
- Celebrates important national / international/ days by organizing various programmes.
- Library has 15,000 books including rare ones. Leading library of art history and museology in Bengal
- Organizes programmes for involvement of visitors, specially students, in museum activities.
- Light & Sound show(under renovation) on history of Calcutta
Art Preservation Centre
- VMH has full-fledged Restoration/ Conservation Unit.
- Also provides technical support to other institutions in conservation/restoration.
- Has provided technical assistance to museums in North Eastern States in recent past.
- Organizes training /workshops for both in-house staff and other museum professionals regularly.
- VMH with its vast and picturesque garden, together with pathways and waterbodies, is a huge attraction for people.
- The iconic building built in the Indo-Saracen style is also a big draw.
- Gardens alone annually visited by very large crowds.
- Morning and Evening Walkers
- Research Scholars
- Many eminent persons in various Cultural fields e.g. Films, Arts, Paintings etc.
EXPECTATION FROM CITIZEN
- We expect from citizen of India to give their feed back after observation of exhibition of art objects and artefacts exhibited in different galleries of VMH and also suggestion for improvement of the existing system of exhibition & preservation of the Art & Artefacts
- India as seen by Simpson (set of 5 prints)
- India in the Eyes of the Daniells (set of prints)
- Select Views of India (set of 5 prints)
- Charles D’Oyly’s Calcutta – Album one
- Charles D’Oyly’s Calcutta – Album two
- Natural History Paintings: series -1
- Natural History Paintings: series -2
- Natural History Paintings: series -3
- Picture Folio No. -1
- Picture Folio No. -2
- Picture Folio No. -3
- Modern Masters
- India: Land and People
- Catalogue of exhibition on Mother Teresa
- Catalogue of exhibition on Gaganendra nath Tagore
- Catalogue of exhibition on Krishna- Iconographic Representations
- A set of 10 picture post cards on Mughal Miniatures
- 3 different key chains with motifs from the Victoria Memorial collection
- 3 different coffee mugs with motifs from the Victoria Memorial collection
- The Picturesque Ganga
- Spiral note pads with motifs of Kalighat Paintings
- 2 sets of picture post cards with paintings of Jamini Roy.
FOR MORE DETAILS
Please contact to the Secretary and Curator , Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata
Phone No. 2223 -5142/2223-1889
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Fast forward to today. We know that sodas create pressure inside the body and some folks are more sensitive to the CO2 gas (me). Many chemical additives and preservatives may trigger those who are sensitive in the bladder. Some acidic foods, even healthy ones like citrus and tomatoes may cause an allergic reaction just resulting in the bladder needing to empty more often. Some of us may use the restroom many times at night, disrupting our sleep cycle, draining us of energy and wellness. If we don't keep the causes at bay, we may suffer. What can we do to prevent the UTI or frequent urination?
I learned that I had to drink loads of water. I learned that I had to use the restroom as much as possible during the day and taper off in the evenings. I learned that I had to keep a diary of food and elimination for a week to figure out what foods and beverages may be attributing to my frequent urination and UTIs. I learned that holding "it" in when I needed to go, but was too busy, was not a good idea. I learned that Kegel exercises were my friends, especially during red lights, and during commercials. I learned that sodas and artificial ingredients weren't my friends after all, although they may be part of convenience and faster meal preparations.
We are partners in our healing and health care. I encourage you to reach out to your health practitioner if you are suffering with frequent urination or UTIs. Help is on the way!
SuperiorSelf channel on YouTube
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ePBL: Design and implementation of a Problem-based Learning environment
Problem-based Learning (PBL) has been utilized by educators for almost half a century as a powerful and engaging student-centered pedagogy. PBL has also been employed across a wide range of disciplines and areas in education primarily medical, engineering, and business. The pedagogy that has been practiced for decades using the traditional face-to-face activities largely benefited from all the online technologies in empowering the learners in a non-classical structure. Computer technologies were exploited by researcher and educators at different capacities in order to add a value to PBL. Online implementations ranged from using basic communication tools to building fully-fledged systems and websites. Several research projects succeeded in building comprehensive, feature-rich, PBL-tailored learning environments. On the other hand, some implementation were either partially useful or inherently deficient. Although many attempts achieved attractive results, they either ended up unused or unsupported by the institution. The reasons in many cases were purely technical and not related to the suitability of the environment to the pedagogy. This paper describes the need, design, and implementation of a conceptual model to allow students to effectively collaborate using a customizable framework for PBL courses. In this paper, we present ePBL , an online environment for PBL suitable for educational institutions at any level. We also share our experiences and recommendations for developing similar pedagogy-specific solutions. We also describe the details of implementing and testing of ePBL at Qatar University. Analysis of students activities along with their feedbacks is also detailed in this paper.
- Computer Science & Engineering [159 items ]
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
|Developing a Platform for Mobile Learning Using mLearn ||Samaka, Mohammed; Impagliazzo, John||2013||The Society of Digital Information and Wireless Communication||Article|
|A COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK FOR DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF M-LEARNING APPLICATIONS ||Hassen, Abdulahi Mohamed||2016||Master Thesis|
|M-LEARNING FOR TRAINING ENGLISH AT WORKPLACE ||Samaka, Mohammed; Ismail, Loay; Abu Abdulla, Nosayba; Clark, Brendan||2012||IATED Digital Library||Article|
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Methane is probably the most frequently studied hydrocarbon fuel. Both its oxidation mechanism and its pyrolysis to higher-mass products have received considerable attention. In order to have a glance into the combustion chemistry of methane, a detailed kinetic model was developed to reproduce the fuel decomposition and the formation of benzene and PAHs in laminar methane flames. The model was validated against the experimental data from previous works on premixed flames, counter flow diffusion flames, and finally the coflow diffusion flames experimentally investigated in this work. Reaction pathway analysis highlights the combustion kinetics of methane in various flame conditions, including the differences in fuel consumption paths, and the formation of low molecular weight species, benzene and PAHs. C2–C4 species are important intermediates in the combustion of methane, which significantly control the formation of larger molecules and the emission of pollutants. Resonantly stabilized free radicals, such as propargyl, benzyl and indenyl radicals are major PAH precursors, but other aromatic radicals like phenyl and naphthyl radicals also play a significant role. Their self-recombination reactions or the addition reactions on small hydrocarbon intermediates (e.g., C2 species) are effective aromatic grown pathways in laminar methane flames.
Methane; Laminar flames; SVUV-PIMS; Kinetic modeling; Benzene and PAHs formation
Jin, H., Frassoldati, A., Wang, Y., Zhang, X., Zeng, M., Li, Y., Qi, F., Cuoci, A., Faravelli, T.
Kinetic modeling study of benzene and PAH formation in laminar methane flames
Combustion and Flame, 162 (5), pp. 1692-1711 (2015)
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Sugar Goggles, an innovative virtual reality game designed to teach students the importance of a healthy diet, has been unveiled at Coral Gables Senior High School.
At the school on March 15, Atkins Nutritionals announced a partnership with Healthcorps, a nonprofit organization dedicated to equipping students with the tools to improve mental and physical health, as well as making conscious eating choices, said Scott Parker, Atkins’ chief marketing officer
Parker believes the partnership will further the mission of empowering students to live healthier lives. “We know that when working and educating young people being high-tech, engaging and fun works best,” he said as he introduced Sugar Goggles.
Sugar Goggles takes users through the blood vessels in the human body and shows the different physical reactions of sugar consumption. The object of the game is to collect as many points possible by identifying the healthier food choice between a pair of options, as the user “travels” through the blood stream.
Never miss a local story.
A healthy low-sugar choice, which provides balanced energy, propels the user forward. A high-sugar content option, which causes spikes and crashes, slows down the user, preventing him or her to collect more points.
“I loved it, it was amazing, and I got really into it,” 12th-grader Meagan Lee said at the event. “I’m going to tell my mom that we need to watch our sugar intake.”
Coral Gables High is one of 22 HealthCorps Living Labs high schools nationwide. Together, Atkins and HealthCorps revamped the school’s program curriculum to make it highly interactive, engaging students’ attention and educating them about the detrimental effects of hidden sugars, and how to make healthy snacking choices.
The updated curriculum features HealthCorps’ “Think Before You Drink” activity, which allows the students to establish healthy behaviors by testing their ability to recognize the sugar quantity in different soft drink choices. Also updated was the “Understanding Diabetes” curriculum that allows students to understand the long-term effects of a high sugar diet — which can lead to diabetes — and examines the different methods of prevention.
Jamie Desrameaux, a second-year HealthCorps coordinator, helps prepare teachers about the health curriculum. “The students are very receptive, they learn so much, not only because it is educational, but because it is engaging,” she said.
Desrameaux can attest to the influence the HealthCorps curriculum has had on the student body. The students and some staff are taking the knowledge learned in the classroom and applying it at home.
“Most of my students come from a Hispanic background, and they tell me how they convinced their parents to switch from white rice to brown rice or quinoa,” she said. “Matter of fact, we have a staff member that has lost over 100 pounds, so I know they are taking the knowledge back home.”
HealthCorps chose Coral Gables High to announce the Atkins partnership and unveil the Sugar Goggles initiative because of the students’ favorable reception to the curriculum, which has been operating four years. HealthCorps has given students, teachers and the community the opportunity to be more health conscious, Principal Adolfo Costa said.
“HealthCorps has allowed us to conduct health fairs on a yearly basis. Also, the pedometer challenge motivated students to be more active and compete against each other in a fun way,” he said.
Coral Gables Commissioner Vince Lagos attended the event and praised the work HealthCorps and Coral Gables High are doing. “I think it’s important that the students learn how to make healthy choices when it comes to food and drinks, because it pays dividends both short and long term, and can have a positive effect on the community,” he said.
HealthCorps was founded in 2003 by heart surgeon and Daytime Emmy-winning TV host Dr. Mehmet Oz and his wife, Lisa. HealthCorps’ mission is to equip America’s youth with the knowledge to make conscientious health choices and reduce the obesity rates for the next generation.
Atkins Nutritionals teaches people to learn a healthier way to eat. Atkins offers the tools and education to achieve balanced nutrition by reducing sugar and eating foods rich in protein, good fats, and nutrient-dense carbohydrates.
Atkins and HealthCorps will take Sugar Goggles to their other Living Labs high schools nationwide. Atkins is also developing a smartphone app version of the virtual reality game.
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The work our scientists undertake is governed and regulated by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA). ASPA regulates procedures that are carried out on ‘protected animals’ for scientific purposes that may cause pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm. ‘Protected animals’ are defined as all living vertebrates, other than a human, including certain immature forms and any living cephalopod.
The Act regulates the breeding and supply of certain species of ‘protected animals’ for use in regulated procedures or for the scientific use of their organs or tissues. The Act also regulates the methods used to humanely cull these animals.
- The Pirbright Institute holds an Establishment Licence, along with a number of Project Licences and Personal Licences.
- The site has been assigned a Home Office Inspector to monitor standards, practices and compliance with ASPA and the conditions of all Home Office Licences. The Inspector visits our facilities periodically and often comes unannounced.
European Directive 2010/63 and the amended ASPA require extensive project evaluation, taking into consideration ethical implications associated with the use of animals in scientific research. This is pivotal to project authorisation, and requires the implementation of the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement (the 3Rs) in those projects.
Project Licences are reviewed by The Pirbright Institute’s Animal Welfare & Ethical Review Board (AWERB). The Board provides constructive feedback and any recommendations they feel appropriate for the programme of work. These comments and/or recommendations must be addressed to the satisfaction of the AWERB before the Project Licence application or amendment is submitted to the Home Office for approval.
The process enables the Establishment Holder to meet in full the Standard Conditions for holding the Establishment Licences at both sites and to provide assurance that all aspects of the 3R’s have been fully considered in new applications and throughout the life of projects.
All research using animals at The Pirbright Institute is considered at the Animal Welfare Ethical Review Board (AWERB). The AWERB has a remit to consider and review ethical issues regarding the operation of Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA).
However before any projects reach consideration by the AWERB, The Pirbright Institute has a prescribed process in place for all Project Licence holders – this is a rigorous process which should culminate in the submission of an application to the AWERB. The key steps are as follows:
- A potential Project Licence holder nomination is considered by the Institute’s Science Committee;
- With the Science Committee’s approval, nominee will be required to pass accredited Home Office modular training;
- Nominee attends an AWERB meeting to ensure awareness of the AWERB’s objectives;
- Sub-committee meeting is held to consider the draft application. This meeting consists of the applicant, Named Veterinary Surgeon (NVS), Named Animal Care and Welfare Officers (NACWO’s), a Project Licence holder, Home Office Liaison Contact and Chair of AWERB;
- Actions arising from the sub-committee are completed by the applicant;
- Nominee presents application at AWERB;
- Any actions are completed by the applicant with the approval of the AWERB prior to submission to the Home Office.
Once a project reaches the AWERB, the Committee has to be able to balance the possible pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm that will be incurred by an animal under a procedure with the objectives of the project. Each procedure is discussed to ensure where possible, further reduction, replacement or refinement can be included.
Formal statistical review is part of the ethical review process to ensure that all studies are designed appropriately and have sufficient statistical power to detect effects that are biologically meaningful.
The core tasks of the AWERB are to:
- Advise staff dealing with animals at The Pirbright Institute on matters related to the welfare of animals including their acquisition, accommodation, care and use;
- Advise on the application of reduction, refinement, replacement (3Rs) and all relevant technical and scientific developments;
- Establish and review management and operational processes for monitoring, reporting and follow-up in relation to the welfare of animals housed or used in The Pirbright Institute;
- Follow the development and outcome (retrospective review) of projects carried out, taking into account the effect on the animals used and to identify and advise on elements that could further contribute to the 3Rs;
- Promote a ‘culture of care’ within The Pirbright Institute and in the wider community.
The AWERB is made up of representatives of the Chair, Project and Personal Licence holders, Named Animal Care and Welfare Officers (NACWO’s), the Named Veterinary Surgeon (NVS), local management, lay members and independent members. The Pirbright Institute also opens up the meeting to its Animal Technicians to attend.
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Why does the human brain insist on interpreting the world and constructing a narrative? In this ground-breaking work, Michael S. Gazzaniga, one of the world's foremost cognitive neuroscientists, shows how our mind and brain accomplish the amazing feat of constructing our past—a process clearly fraught with errors of perception, memory, and judgment. By showing that the specific systems built into our brain do their work automatically and largely outside of our conscious awareness, Gazzaniga calls into question our everyday notions of self and reality. The implications of his ideas reach deeply into the nature of perception and memory, the profundity of human instinct, and the ways we construct who we are and how we fit into the world around us.
Over the past thirty years, the mind sciences have developed a picture not only of how our brains are built but also of what they were built to do. The emerging picture is wonderfully clear and pointed, underlining William James's notion that humans have far more instincts than other animals. Every baby is born with circuits that compute information enabling it to function in the physical world. Even what helps us to establish our understanding of social relations may have grown out of perceptual laws delivered to an infant's brain. Indeed, the ability to transmit culture—an act that is only part of the human repertoire—may stem from our many automatic and unique perceptual-motor processes that give rise to mental capacities such as belief and culture.
Gazzaniga explains how the mind interprets data the brain has already processed, making "us" the last to know. He shows how what "we" see is frequently an illusion and not at all what our brain is perceiving. False memories become a part of our experience; autobiography is fiction. In exploring how the brain enables the mind, Gazzaniga points us toward one of the greatest mysteries of human evolution: how we become who we are.
Michael S. Gazzaniga is David T. McLaughlin Distinguished Professor and Director of the Program in Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth College. He is the author of Mind Matters: How Mind and Brain Interact to Create Our Conscious Lives (1989) and Nature's Mind: The Biological Roots of Thinking, Emotions, Sexuality, Language and Intelligence (1994) among many other works.
"Gazzaniga, a pioneer in the study of brain-mind relations, provides a highly readable account of what our rapidly accumulating knowledge of the brain implies for the mental processes we live by. The result is a book of enormous interest, written with the broadest possible audience in mind."—George A. Miller, Professor Emeritus Princeton University
"While psychologists, philosophers, and neurologists grapple inconclusively with the elusive concept of consciousness, Gazzaniga convincingly places the 'self' in an evolutionary context. . . . Integrating natural selection, brain function, and mind function, Gazzaniga crystallizes and clarifies, sweeping away the confusing rhetoric with a clear account of how we came to be human."—Ira B. Black, M.D., Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
"A lucid and entertaining book about the mysteries of the human mind. . . . It is the story of how the mind is an evolutionary object just like the beak of a seagull or the wings of a butterfly. Gazzaniga's thesis is that we will not understand the human mind until we grasp this fundamental truth. It is sure to provoke and enlighten. A thoroughly enjoyable, accessible, witty book."—Alfonso Caramazza, Harvard University
"A guided tour through the fascinating personalities whose research findings constitute modern cognitive neuroscience."—Michael I. Posner, University of Oregon
"This book is about how our experience is a construction of the apparatus of our brain. This is great stuff. The material is fascinating, easy to read, witty, and wise."—Steven Pinker, editor of How the Mind Works
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Miniature Frogs Current Affairs
Category Wise PDF Compilations available at This Link
Scientists have discovered four new species of miniature night frogs no bigger than a human thumbnail in Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot.
These species were discovered among the seven new ‘Night Frogs’ by a team of researchers from the University of Delhi and Kerala Forest Department.
- Four new species of miniature night frogs are (i) Athirappilly Night Frog: It was discovered close to the Athirappilly waterfalls. (ii) Sabarimala Night Frog: It was discovered near the Sabarimala hill shrine. (iii) The Radcliffe’s Night frog and (iv) Kadalar Night Frog: They were reported from plantation areas.
- Night Frogs belong to the Nyctibatrachus genus, endemic to the Western Ghats. They make a distinctive chirping sound comparable to that of a cricket.
- These tiny amphibians are present in abundance in the region but were overlooked in the past because of their extremely small size, secretive habitats and insect-like calls.
- They were confirmed as the new species with the help of integrated taxonomic approach that included DNA studies, detailed bioacoustics and morphological comparisons.
- Threats: Over 32% of the frog species in the Western Ghats are threatened with extinction. Out of the seven new species, 5 face considerable anthropogenic extinction threats and require immediate conservation.
- Ancient Group: Night Frogs represent an ancient group of frogs that diversified on the Indian landmass approximately 70 to 80 million years ago.
- Total Nyctibatrachus species: This discovery has taken the total number of known Nyctibatrachus species to 35, of which 20% are less than 18 mm in size (i.e. they are diminutive).
- As many as 103 new amphibian species were discovered from biodiversity rich Western Ghats region between 2006 and 2015.
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Memphis, Tenn. (May 28, 2010) - John DeVincenzo, MD, professor and researcher in the Departments of Pediatrics and Molecular Sciences at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), has proven for the first time that a totally new concept in drug design can be used to treat human disease. Dr. Devincenzo, who also serves as a children's infectious diseases specialist at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, conducted his study at the Children's Foundation Research Center, a UT Health Science Center partner located at Le Bonheur.
The new drug design concept is that a simple chain of sugars called RNA (Ribonucleic Acid*) can be easily designed on laptop computers and then synthesized into powerful disease-fighting therapies. The therapies work by shutting down disease-causing genes through a process known as RNA interference (RNAi). The discovery of this natural process of RNAi was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2006. RNAi drugs had shown promise in test tube studies and in animals, but had never been shown to work in humans.
Realizing the potential power of the new discovery, Dr. DeVincenzo and his team tackled the virus called RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus), the most common cause of hospitalization of infants and an infection with no therapy or vaccine. Healthy adults contract only rare, mild RSV infections that disappear without medical intervention. The investigator's team infected 88 healthy adults with RSV cultures that he collected and grew from his patients at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. He then administered RNAi drug therapy to half the study participants in the form of a nasal spray and a placebo to the other half. Findings from Dr. DeVincenzo's study proved that the RNAi therapy shut down a gene critical to RSV, thus preventing the virus from replicating itself. Patients who received the RNAi drug had significantly less infection than those receiving the placebo. The findings pave the way for this new type of drug therapy to treat a large variety of human diseases including cancers, genetic diseases and viral infections. In April, the study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences announcing the potential of the RNAi drug therapy.
"The next step in this discovery is already being undertaken," said Dr. DeVincenzo. "We are in the midst of a clinical trial to test the RNA interference drug in lung-transplant recipients who have become naturally infected with Respiratory Syncytial Virus, which can be deadly for these patients." The researcher added that the aerosol form of the RNAi drug was proven to be safe in the previous phase of study and the safety is being tested again in the current phase of the clinical trial. His long-term goal is to test RNAi drug therapies to reduce RSV infections in infants.
Regarding the possibility of marketing the RNAi drug treatment, Dr. DeVincenzo emphasizes that the drug's commercialization cannot be predicted, but could receive approval as an orphan drug (a treatment for rare conditions) as early as 2013 if the current phase of clinical trials proves to be very successful. Approval for using RNAi treatment on children who suffer from RSV would take longer.
As the flagship statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service. Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. UTHSC has additional colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy plus an Allied Health Sciences unit in Knoxville, as well as a College of Medicine campus in Chattanooga. For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.
Founded in 1952, Le Bonheur Children's Hospital is the Mid-South's first and only comprehensive pediatric medical facility. Every year Le Bonheur treats almost 140,000 children from throughout the U.S. and the world. Le Bonheur is home to one of the nation's 10 busiest pediatric emergency departments and hosts one of the largest pediatric surgical brain tumor programs. Le Bonheur is building a new state-of-the art hospital. The $340-million facility is scheduled to open in 2010 and will significantly increase the space for patient care, research and teaching. For more information, please call (901) 287-6030 or visit www.lebonheur.org.
The Children's Foundation Research Center is a non-profit laboratory-based and clinical research organization created to promote the health of children. The center was created in 1995 by the Children's Foundation of Memphis, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. Located at Le Bonheur, it is the home of both basic science laboratories, and clinical and translational research facilities. It hosts more than 30 pediatric researchers. For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu/cfrc.
*Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is one of the two main types of nucleic acid (the other being DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid) which functions in cellular protein synthesis in all living cells and replaces DNA as the carrier of genetic information in some viruses.
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Despite it’s vast size, tremendous population, and abundance of natural resources, Africa still has the lowest per-capita use of power of any continent. It isn’t that they don’t need it – with any population of that magnitude, the ability to use power to solve problems is vast. The challenge is in the money. It’s no secret that the United States has the money and technology and is therefore able to produce more energy per capita than any other country.
In fact, America has 1/3 of Africa’s population while producing much, much more than the entire continent.
With anything that is highly coveted and that lacks abundance, the struggle for power always ensues. Such is the case with power in Africa. Those who have it hold it and those who need it miss it. This infographic by Good clearly depicts what is happening in Africa and the struggle for “the power over the power” that is, in many ways, adding to the problems that the continent already faces.
Click to enlarge and view in landscape mode.
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"Caring" Poster is a poster used by Shanghai Education Department, for the 6th grade elementary school students political education class. In this picture, Zhouenlai, an important political figure during Cultural Revolution was portrayed as a caring father figure for the children of China. A close friend of Mao, Zhou stayed in power throughout Cultural Revolution by supporting Mao's decisions, many involved secret executions to those who were considered Mao's threat. Zhouenlai, alleged never was able to conceive a child with his wife, is succeeded by a daughter, whose mother was one of many Zhou's secret lovers. This image was intended to paint a picture of how Communist Party leaders, represented by the good father figure Zhouenlai, cared about the next generation. Zhouenlai's secret past and dirty political agendas were exposed via many documentaries in the late 1990s in China and Hong Kong. Due to still largely state controlled media, to this date, many Chinese citizens have no idea of Zhou's true color. Size: 30.25" L by 20.75" W.
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This is the largest biodiversity chain of forests in the Eastern Arc Mountains that also includes Usambara that had raised to be in top swathing from the coast of the Indian Ocean. It’s the archipelago of the isolated massifs that others termed it as the African Galapagos due to the unique wildlife with rare species of birds and animals and endemic plants that do not exist/found anywhere in the world. Udzungwa alone among the ancient ranges of the Eastern Arc has been accorded national park status. It is also unique within Tanzania in that, its closed-canopy forest spans altitudes of 250 meters (820 feet) to above 2,000 meters (6,560 ft) without interruption.
The biodiversity of Udzungwa with a unique super natural rainforest is the home to six primates that are rare and only found in this park including Sanje Crested Mangabey named after Sanje waterfalls and Iranga Red Colobus. Undzungwa is not like the other National Parks. The Udzungwa Mountains are almost supernatural and possess a remote and exceptional natural beauty. Everything is done on foot: armed rangers and certificated guides accompany visitors, who observe wildlife from another viewpoint.
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Uckfield solicitor Charles Dawson, who “discovered” the Piltdown man, WAS definitely the forger.
The “discovery” at Barkham Manor was made in 1912 and was billed as the missing link between humans and large apes.
It was revealed as a hoax in the early 1950s.
But it was only yesterday (August 10) that evidence published by the Royal Society Open Science identified Dawson as the “single forger”.
It said: In 1912, palaeontologist Arthur Smith Woodward and amateur antiquarian and solicitor Charles Dawson announced the discovery of a fossil that supposedly provided a link between apes and humans: Eoanthropus dawsoni (Dawson’s dawn man).
“The publication generated huge interest from scientists and the general public.
“However, ‘Piltdown man’s’ initial celebrity has long been overshadowed by its subsequent infamy as one of the most famous scientific frauds in history.
“Our re-evaluation of the Piltdown fossils using the latest scientific methods (DNA analyses, high-precision measurements, spectroscopy and virtual anthropology) shows that it is highly likely that a single orang-utan specimen and at least two human specimens were used to create the fake fossils.
Charles Dawson: hunger for acclaim
“The modus operandi was found consistent throughout the assemblage (specimens are stained brown, loaded with gravel fragments and restored using filling materials), linking all specimens from the Piltdown I and Piltdown II sites to a single forger—Charles Dawson.
“Whether Dawson acted alone is uncertain, but his hunger for acclaim may have driven him to risk his reputation and misdirect the course of anthropology for decades.
“The Piltdown hoax stands as a cautionary tale to scientists not to be led by preconceived ideas, but to use scientific integrity and rigour in the face of novel discoveries.”
Charles Dawson established his legal career in Uckfield and became a partner in what we now know as Dawson Hart.
Uckfield and District Preservation Society, in an article by Simon Wright in Hindsight magazine, said Charles Dawson was clerk to Uckfield Urban District Council, secretary to the local water company, solicitor to the gas company, secretary of the Uckfield Building Society and the holder of several offices and trusteeships elsewhere in Sussex.
By 1900 he was established as the leading legal representative in Uckfield. He lived for a large part of his life in Lewes.
Find local businesses in our Uckfield Directory
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This should probably go in the physics help forum website, but phf seems to have a few glitches that have made it difficult for me to post there.
Anyways, it's really just a simple algebra question that has probably been asked thousands of times:
In Newton's distance formula for a constantly accelerating object, to wit:
why don't the t's cancel??
I.e. why isn't Newton's formula instead:
which simply says that the distance travelled is equal to the average of the initial and final velocities multiplied by the time taken. Which, for constant acceleration, is correct.
(Geometrically, the distance travelled = area under the v-t graph. For constant acceleration this is a straight line graph, and the formula is simply the area of a trapezium.)
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Scientists say they have found high levels of small plastic particles in Arctic snow. Their findings provide more evidence that plastic is entering Earth’s atmosphere and traveling great distances around the planet.
A new report describing the discovery was published in Science Advances.
A German-Swiss research team collected snow samples from the Arctic and other areas. They included northern Germany, the Bavarian and Swiss Alps, and the North Sea island of Heligoland.
When the researchers examined the samples in a laboratory, they were surprised to find very high levels of microplastics.
Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic. These plastic particles are generally smaller than 5 millimeters in length. Other studies have found microplastics in the environment. They come from the disposal and breakdown of man-made plastic products and industrial waste.
Melanie Bergmann co-wrote the report on the new study. She told The Associated Press that while her team did expect to find some microplastics in the samples, they were surprised by the very large amounts.
Bergmann is a researcher at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute in the German city of Bremerhaven.
The study found the highest levels of microplastics came from the Bavarian Alps. One snow sample from the area had 154,000 microplastic particles per liter. Samples collected from the Arctic had much lower levels. However, even samples from the Arctic contained up to 14,000 particles per liter, the study found.
Earlier studies found signs of plastic in Arctic areas. Those microplastics were found in coastal areas, sea ice, the seafloor and the seawater’s surface.
The new study attempted to explore how some of the material could have been carried in the atmosphere. A limited number of earlier studies did find microplastics in the air of some cities, including Paris, Tehran and Dongguan, China.
Bergmann said in a statement she believes the new study clearly shows that “the majority of the microplastic in the snow comes from the air.” She said this idea is supported by research that studied the atmospheric movement of pollen from plants. In those studies, scientists confirmed pollen had traveled great distances to reach the Arctic.
Other studies found that dust particles – which are similar to microplastics - traveled more than 3,500 kilometers from the Sahara Desert to the northeast Atlantic.
Bergmann said the new study suggests that much of the microplastic found in Europe and the Arctic comes from the atmosphere and snow. “This additional transport route could also explain the high amounts of microplastic that we’ve found in the Arctic sea ice and the deep sea in previous studies,” she said.
The research team discovered many kinds of microplastics. Some were from paints commonly used to coat the surface of automobiles and ships. A rubber-like substance was also found that could have come from vehicle or boat parts or packaging materials, the report said.
While there is growing concern about the effect of microplastics on the environment, scientists are still studying their possible harmful effects on humans and animals.
Bergmann said she hopes the new study will lead to more research on this issue. She also said she believes that microscopic plastic particles should be included in worldwide observations of air pollution levels.
“We really need to know what effects microplastics have on humans, especially if inhaled with the air that we breathe,” Bergmann said.
I’m Bryan Lynn.
Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Science Advances and the Alfred-Wegener-Institute. George Grow was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.
Words in This Story
sample – n. a small piece or piece meant to show what the whole being or object is like;
disposal – n. the act of getting rid of something
route – n. the path followed to get from one place to another
packaging – n. t e paper, box, etc. something is kept in so it can be sold or sent somewhere
inhale – v. to breathe in
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Spiders rained from the skies in Brazil this weekend.
Brazilian news channel G1 quotes biologist Marta Fischer as saying the occurrence is “normal”.
She added: “They are usually in trees during the day and in the later afternoon and early evening construct a sort of sheet web.
“Each makes his and then they come together. The goal is to capture insects.”
Anelosimus Eximius inhabits tropical environments throughout South America. Scientists have determined that social spiders work in teams to catch much larger prey than otherwise possible.
The spiders are apparently not venomous to humans.
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This is an inventory of all the German American Heritage Sites that highlight America’s German culture and history across the country. From the original settlement of Germantown (Philadelphia) founded in 1683 until today, the Deutschamerikaner has played a huge role in our nation’s history. A huge belt of German settlement runs across the northern tier of our entire country from the east coast to the west coast. Within the “German Triangle” created by the cities of Cincinnati, St. Louis and Milwaukee lies the largest amount of German settlements begun in the Nineteenth century . “With an estimated size of approximately 46 million in 2014, German Americans are the largest of the ancestry groups reported by the US Census Bureau in its American Community Survey.” The group accounts for about 1⁄3 of the total ethnic German population in the world.
The German American Heritage Survey will assemble the past and present influence of the German heritage in the United States. An inventory of sites, prominent people and institutions, settlements, culinary memories, conflicts, scenic byways, migration routes, religious influences, agricultural influences, maps, prints, and images, and music, art, and architecture, along with a list of current organizations with whom to collaborate will be gathered. From this survey, we will use GIS mapping information to share these sites and stories across the country. We will also assemble an interactive website and app, allowing access to our nation’s rich German Heritage. Project Director, Dorris Keeven-Franke, has assembled a team who will assist in coordinating this project.
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If you’re somebody that likes a challenge, then we have one for you – the Picacho peak hike.
You may have heard of it before and it’s somewhere that you’ve always wanted to hike to but don’t know much information about it? Well fear not, whether you’re a hiking beginner or hiking pro theres a trail at the Picacho peak hike to suit everybody so there’s really no excuse we’ll accept about not giving it a go.
In this article we’ll reveal everything needed to know about the Picacho peak hike from the time it takes to hike it to the best time to visit, plus much more, so you can be comfortable knowing all about Picacho peak hike before arriving in sunny Arizona.
But before we get in to the nitty gritty, let’s find out why the peak is a worldwide celebrity!
Why is Picacho Peak Famous?
Picacho peak is famous for the Battle of Picacho Pass during the Civil War. Confederate and Union scouting parties met here which was the largest Civil War battle to take place in Arizona.
Picacho peak state park is located between Casa Grande and Tucson in Southern Arizona and has been used as a landmark by travellers since prehistoric times – yes, we’re talking about the time that dinosaurs were around!
The peak has a unique shape that is 1,500 feet and its main summit that rises to 3,374 feet above sea level. It has been said that what is left over of the peak was once a volcano which is now believed to be a tilted and eroded piece of rock overlain by a lava flow – of course this is completely safe today and there’s no chance of lava erupting.
Picacho peak gets its name from the Spanish for Picacho which simply means ‘peak’. In 1775 the peak was referred to as Cerro de Taca by Francisco Garcés who was a Spanish friar and, in the past, the mountain was referred to as Picacho del Tucson ‘Tucson Peak.’
How do I Get to Picacho Peak?
Depending on where you’re travelling from, Picacho peak state park is a relatively easy place to find, as with any place, when nearing the destination, road signs will show up and you’ll be able to follow it from there. Google Maps is always a handy thing to have on in the car so you know you can’t get lost and it will take you via the quickest road.
Picacho Peak is located in the Sonoran Desert and as it’s 1,500 feet, it’s pretty easy to spot from other areas including Tucson and Phoenix as you drive along Interstate 10. Once you have arrived you will then be asked to pay a park entrance fee (a fee for the car parking which isn’t very much) and you can also reserve different picnic areas up to a year in advance! This will be added on to the entrance fee.
The park is open all year round (apart from Christmas day from 5am all the way up to 10 p m! There is also a gift store located inside the visitor center where you can buy water bottles, magnets, books and souvenirs etc.
Picacho Peak: The Trail:
There are a range of different trails that you’re able to hike at Picacho and all for different age ranges and levels. As Picacho is in the desert and there’s lot of hiking to do, water is a must and it’s recommended that each person has at least two – four litres of water or even more if attempting the difficult hikes.
Wearing sensible clothing and footwear also goes without saying. The weather can be unpredictable but remember to wear hiking boots and gloves and be safe once attempting the more advanced trails! Let’s have a look and see what trails you could be hiking at Picacho Peak.
Children’s cave trail: If there are children with you then we suggest that you start with the children’s cave trail, this is an easy trail that is 0.2 miles and it includes interpretive signs so the children can explore a well as understanding more about the hiking trails.
Nature Trail: This trail is 0.5 miles, so this is another great one to do with children after the children’s cave trail. This includes interpretive signs again and you’ll be able to see lots of trees and flowers.
Calloway Trail: This trail is 0.7 miles and is a good starting point for anybody that hasn’t hiked before as it will allow you to know whether or not you want to go onto the other more advanced trails. Calloway is on the rocky side and once near the end it can get a little steep and will require you to step over some rocks, but nothing too extreme. If hiking in the spring then you’ll get to see beautiful wildflowers including poppies, lupine, brittlebush and much more as well as some small desert creepy crawlies. Once near the end, Calloway leads on to an overlook so you can enjoy a lovely view of the Tortolita Mountains and the Santa Catalina Mountains.
Sunset Vista Trail: This is longest trail out of all five and is 3.1 miles long, but it is not recommended when temperatures are high. You will travel along the south side of the park and when you start your hike on the Sunset Vista trail, in the first two miles you may think that it’s pretty easy and the Hunter trail will be a walk in the park? Well unfortunately, after the first two miles it gets difficult from there. The path becomes steep and twisting with steel cables anchored into the rock in places where the surface is bare so don’t forget gloves! Just like the Calloway trial you will see a range of different wildflowers including lupines, globe-mallow, Mexican gold poppies, desert chicory, desert belles and brittlebush.
Hunter trail: If you’re an expert in hiking and think you can handle the picacho peak hike then we will challenge you to the most difficult trail to hike out of all five of the trails. This trail really is for experts so if you’ve not done much hiking before then this won’t be for you. The hunter trail has a name that’s a bit scary so we take our hat off to anybody who has/will hike/ed this peak.
The trail is 2.0 miles long and it begins on the north side from Barrett Loop and goes to the top of the peak. When looking at Picacho from the ground it doesn’t look very difficult at all, it’s not until you start the hike that you realise it’s a very steep and challenging climb.
Just like the Sunset vista trail you will need gloves for this hike as the path becomes very steep and there’s lots of twists and turns so you will find steel cables anchored into the rocks, so it becomes easier to make your way up to the peak. The Hunter trail is difficult climb so if you’re climbing on a hot day then remember to stay safe and hydrated. If it’s a wet day then take extra care and remember to have appropriate footwear on.
Getting to The Difficult Bit:
Once you’ve got past the ‘easy’ bit, you’ll reach a saddle with a bench so you can have a bit of a rest before the hard part begins. From there onwards you’ll be climbing a very steep vertical slope so make use of the steel cables with gloves on of course. Once you’ve gone past the steel cables, you’ll then reach another saddle and climb a series of switchbacks until you reach the summit.
Once at the top of the Picacho peak hike there will definitely be an opportunity for a photograph after taking in the stunning panoramic view of the desert and mountains. All that hard work that was put in will be forgotten about – until climbing back down the from the peak.
How Long Does It Take to Climb Picacho Peak?
The average time taken to climb Picacho peak is two and a half to four hours as a round trip. The reason why this varies so much is because on a busy day you will more than likely have to wait for other hikers to climb up before you can so there might be a bit of a queue waiting to use the steel cables.
How Long Does the Easy Trail and Moderate Trail Take to Climb?
If you’re wondering how long the easy trail and the moderate trail take to climb, then you’ve come to the right place! The children’s cave trail will take about 15 minutes to walk with littles ones. If you’re wanting to do this for fun and are an adult, then it will probably take about five – eight minutes. For the nature trail it’s most likely that you can add on another five minutes when walking with children.
As the Calloway trail is only 0.7 miles this should only take 20 minutes to walk which is why it’s recommended for first-time hikers at the Picacho peak hike. If children are joining in on this climb, then double the time it would take for an adult to walk around.
The Sunset Vista trail is the longest trail in the park so if you’re wanting to do the all the moderate and difficult trials then it’s a good idea to get the park as early as possible. As the trail is 3.1 miles long a round trip will take around two hours on a good day (depending on weather and how busy the park is). The reason why the Hunter trial takes longer is because of how steep it is, which means allowing extra time to hike up to the steep peak.
What is The Hardest Hike in Arizona?
The hardest hike in Arizona is camelback mountain in Phoenix. You might have guessed from the name, but this mountain is shaped like a kneeling camel and offers two main trails which are the Echo Canyon and Cholla.
Both of these trails are considered extremely difficult so they should only be climbed if you’re a hiking pro. The Echo Canyon trail is a 1.2-mile round trip which will take roughly 40 minutes. The trail is steep and rocky throughout and there are steel cables to hold on to in the difficult parts so make sure gloves are packed in the bag. Once you reach the top, you’ll be able to take a breath as you experience the 360-degree panoramic views.
The Cholla Trail will take 1.5 miles to climb there and back which is approximately just over an hour- one hour twenty depending on how fast you walk or how busy the trail is. The Trail is a slightly longer and steadier climb than Echo Canyon, but that doesn’t mean it’s not tricky!
Lower parts of the mountain are easier to follow, but the last third of the climb is a challenging scramble over large boulders so be careful not to fall or trip over.
If you’re lucky enough as you’re hiking, there’s a possibility of seeing some of camel mountain’s native species which includes the desert tortoise, chuckwalla lizard, cottontail rabbits and rattlesnakes – if you do see a rattlesnake then don’t go near it or attempt to touch it as it will get irritated.
Native species don’t just mean animals! Camelback mountain is also home to native plants which include the saguaro, cholla and prickly pear cacti, as well as native trees such as the mesquite and palo verde.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, then please leave a comment in the box below. If you’ve read this and thought that hiking isn’t going to be for you, then how about seeing if Hawaii is for you in the article below.
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The last explorer : Hubert Wilkins, hero of the great age of polar exploration
This riveting biography recounts the life of the world's firsttruly modern explorer, a life of unrelenting adventure and the high dramaof polar exploration. Hubert Wilkins was the most successful explorer inhistory: no one saw with his own eyes more undiscovered land and sea.Largely self-taught, he was a celebrated reporter, pilot, spy, war hero,scientist, and adventurer. He captured in his lens war and famine, cheateddeath repeatedly, met world leaders like Lenin, Mussolini, and King GeorgeV, and circled the globe on a zeppelin. Knighted for being the first personto fly across the North Pole, Wilkins was also the first to fly in theAntarctic, discover land by airplane, and take a submarine under the Arcticice.
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One might need to insert a large amount of data when first populating a database. This section contains some suggestions on how to make this process as efficient as possible.
When using multiple INSERTs, turn off autocommit and just do one commit at the end. (In plain SQL, this means issuing BEGIN at the start and COMMIT at the end. Some client libraries might do this behind your back, in which case you need to make sure the library does it when you want it done.) If you allow each insertion to be committed separately, PostgreSQL is doing a lot of work for each row that is added. An additional benefit of doing all insertions in one transaction is that if the insertion of one row were to fail then the insertion of all rows inserted up to that point would be rolled back, so you won't be stuck with partially loaded data.
Use COPY to load all the rows in one command, instead of using a series of INSERT commands. The COPY command is optimized for loading large numbers of rows; it is less flexible than INSERT, but incurs significantly less overhead for large data loads. Since COPY is a single command, there is no need to disable autocommit if you use this method to populate a table.
If you cannot use COPY, it might help to use PREPARE to create a prepared INSERT statement, and then use EXECUTE as many times as required. This avoids some of the overhead of repeatedly parsing and planning INSERT. Different interfaces provide this facility in different ways; look for "prepared statements" in the interface documentation.
Note that loading a large number of rows using COPY is almost always faster than using INSERT, even if PREPARE is used and multiple insertions are batched into a single transaction.
COPY is fastest when used within the same transaction as an earlier CREATE TABLE or TRUNCATE command. In such cases no WAL needs to be written, because in case of an error, the files containing the newly loaded data will be removed anyway. However, this consideration only applies when wal_level is minimal as all commands must write WAL otherwise.
If you are loading a freshly created table, the fastest method is to create the table, bulk load the table's data using COPY, then create any indexes needed for the table. Creating an index on pre-existing data is quicker than updating it incrementally as each row is loaded.
If you are adding large amounts of data to an existing table, it might be a win to drop the indexes, load the table, and then recreate the indexes. Of course, the database performance for other users might suffer during the time the indexes are missing. One should also think twice before dropping a unique index, since the error checking afforded by the unique constraint will be lost while the index is missing.
Just as with indexes, a foreign key constraint can be checked "in bulk" more efficiently than row-by-row. So it might be useful to drop foreign key constraints, load data, and re-create the constraints. Again, there is a trade-off between data load speed and loss of error checking while the constraint is missing.
What's more, when you load data into a table with existing foreign key constraints, each new row requires an entry in the server's list of pending trigger events (since it is the firing of a trigger that checks the row's foreign key constraint). Loading many millions of rows can cause the trigger event queue to overflow available memory, leading to intolerable swapping or even outright failure of the command. Therefore it may be necessary, not just desirable, to drop and re-apply foreign keys when loading large amounts of data. If temporarily removing the constraint isn't acceptable, the only other recourse may be to split up the load operation into smaller transactions.
Temporarily increasing the maintenance_work_mem configuration variable when loading large amounts of data can lead to improved performance. This will help to speed up CREATE INDEX commands and ALTER TABLE ADD FOREIGN KEY commands. It won't do much for COPY itself, so this advice is only useful when you are using one or both of the above techniques.
Temporarily increasing the checkpoint_segments configuration variable can also make large data loads faster. This is because loading a large amount of data into PostgreSQL will cause checkpoints to occur more often than the normal checkpoint frequency (specified by the checkpoint_timeout configuration variable). Whenever a checkpoint occurs, all dirty pages must be flushed to disk. By increasing checkpoint_segments temporarily during bulk data loads, the number of checkpoints that are required can be reduced.
When loading large amounts of data into an installation that uses WAL archiving or streaming replication, it might be faster to take a new base backup after the load has completed than to process a large amount of incremental WAL data. To prevent incremental WAL logging while loading, disable archiving and streaming replication, by setting wal_level to minimal, archive_mode to off, and max_wal_senders to zero. But note that changing these settings requires a server restart.
Aside from avoiding the time for the archiver or WAL sender
to process the WAL data, doing this will actually make certain
commands faster, because they are designed not to write WAL at
all if wal_level is minimal. (They can guarantee crash safety more
cheaply by doing an
fsync at the
end than by writing WAL.) This applies to the following
CREATE TABLE AS SELECT
CREATE INDEX (and variants such as ALTER TABLE ADD PRIMARY KEY)
ALTER TABLE SET TABLESPACE
COPY FROM, when the target table has been created or truncated earlier in the same transaction
Whenever you have significantly altered the distribution of data within a table, running ANALYZE is strongly recommended. This includes bulk loading large amounts of data into the table. Running ANALYZE (or VACUUM ANALYZE) ensures that the planner has up-to-date statistics about the table. With no statistics or obsolete statistics, the planner might make poor decisions during query planning, leading to poor performance on any tables with inaccurate or nonexistent statistics. Note that if the autovacuum daemon is enabled, it might run ANALYZE automatically; see Section 23.1.3 and Section 23.1.6 for more information.
Dump scripts generated by pg_dump automatically apply several, but not all, of the above guidelines. To reload a pg_dump dump as quickly as possible, you need to do a few extra things manually. (Note that these points apply while restoring a dump, not while creating it. The same points apply whether loading a text dump with psql or using pg_restore to load from a pg_dump archive file.)
By default, pg_dump uses COPY, and when it is generating a complete schema-and-data dump, it is careful to load data before creating indexes and foreign keys. So in this case several guidelines are handled automatically. What is left for you to do is to:
Set appropriate (i.e., larger than normal) values for maintenance_work_mem and checkpoint_segments.
If using WAL archiving or streaming replication, consider disabling them during the restore. To do that, set archive_mode to off, wal_level to minimal, and max_wal_senders to zero before loading the dump. Afterwards, set them back to the right values and take a fresh base backup.
Experiment with the parallel dump and restore modes of both pg_dump and pg_restore and find the optimal number of concurrent jobs to use. Dumping and restoring in parallel by means of the -j option should give you a significantly higher performance over the serial mode.
Consider whether the whole dump should be restored as a single transaction. To do that, pass the -1 or --single-transaction command-line option to psql or pg_restore. When using this mode, even the smallest of errors will rollback the entire restore, possibly discarding many hours of processing. Depending on how interrelated the data is, that might seem preferable to manual cleanup, or not. COPY commands will run fastest if you use a single transaction and have WAL archiving turned off.
If multiple CPUs are available in the database server, consider using pg_restore's --jobs option. This allows concurrent data loading and index creation.
Run ANALYZE afterwards.
A data-only dump will still use COPY, but it does not drop or recreate indexes, and it does not normally touch foreign keys. So when loading a data-only dump, it is up to you to drop and recreate indexes and foreign keys if you wish to use those techniques. It's still useful to increase checkpoint_segments while loading the data, but don't bother increasing maintenance_work_mem; rather, you'd do that while manually recreating indexes and foreign keys afterwards. And don't forget to ANALYZE when you're done; see Section 23.1.3 and Section 23.1.6 for more information.
You can get the effect of disabling foreign keys by using the --disable-triggers option — but realize that that eliminates, rather than just postpones, foreign key validation, and so it is possible to insert bad data if you use it.
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(www.MaritimeCyprus.com) ITOPF maintains a database of oil spills from tank vessels, including combined carriers, FPSOs and barges. This contains information on accidental spillages of persistent and non-persistent hydrocarbon oil since 1970, except those resulting from acts of war. The data held includes the location and cause of the incident, the vessel involved, the type of oil spilt and the spill amount. For historical reasons, spills are generally categorised by size, <7 tonnes, 7-700 tonnes and >700 tonnes (<50 bbls, 50-5,000 bbls, >5,000 bbls), although the actual amount spilt is also recorded. Information is now held on over 10,000 incidents, the vast majority of which fall into the smallest category i.e. <7 tonnes.
Information is gathered from published sources, such as the shipping press and other specialist publications, as well as from vessel owners, their insurers and from ITOPF's own experience with incidents. Historically, information from published sources mostly related to large spills, often resulting from collisions, groundings, structural damage, fires or explosions. In recent decades, however, reporting of smaller spills has improved.
Number of oil spills from tankers in 2022
For the year 2022, three large spill (>700 tonnes) and four medium spills (7-700 tonnes) were recorded.
Two of the large spills occurred in Asia and one in Africa. The medium spills occurred in North America, Asia and Africa.
This brings the decade average to almost 6 spills (>7 tonnes) per year. This is on a par with the average for the 2010s.
(This data relates to spills with confirmed volumes.)
The total volume of oil lost to the environment from tanker spills in 2022 was approximately 15,000 tonnes. More than 14,000 tonnes of this can be attributed to the three large incidents.
Over the past half-century, statistics for the frequency of spills greater than 7 tonnes from tankers have shown a marked downward trend, as illustrated in Figure 1 below.
The average number of spills per year in the 1970s was approximately 79. This decreased by over 90% to 6 in the 2010s and remains at a similar level for the current decade.
For more interesting details and statistics, download the full report, by clicking on the below image:
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Angle rolling machines are mainly used to form metals into specific shapes that can be used. They turn a flat piece of metal into angle iron, a solid square, a pipe, a round tube, or hundreds of other shapes.
Each angle bending machine can produce metal parts of specific shapes and sizes. Usually, China angle roller manufacturer that produces the rolling machine will make it "to specifications," which means they will make the machine to bend a specific type of metal.
The profile and angle bending machines produced by China angle roller suppliers use the standard tools that come with the rollers to process flat steel, square steel, square and rectangular tubes, round steel, channel steel, and T-shaped steel. With the help of optional tools, Winying steel angle roller will roll angle irons, round tubes, oval tubes, roll forming shapes, aluminum profiles, and special profiles. For decorative applications, Winying's angle iron roller machine can be equipped with an optional special torsion bar device.
Each angle roll bender has its own advantages and disadvantages. Which rolling machine you choose depends on the product you need, and the features that have the greatest impact on your project.
From aerospace to shipyards, from automobiles to structures, angle roll bender can meet your needs. Engineers have been designing solutions for more complex curved parts. These parts are made of hard materials, which can only be obtained by bending non-standard profiles with very small diameters and tight tolerances.
Steel angle rolling machines are ideal for manufacturing flanges, greenhouses, railings, large building structures, such as circular beams on the roof, domes, abutments, metal pergola, curved captions, and tunnel structures.
Angle roll bending machines are also the preferred choice for making urban furniture, such as street lights, roundabout protection devices, bicycle parking racks, tree protection devices, railings, public transportation captions, bollards, or movable bollards, children's amusement parks, and circles and circles of various sizes Round figures.
The upper roller is fixed at the symmetrical position of the equipment and rotates. Two rollers rotate around a fixed center of rotation to perform arc lifting and automatic rotation movement. The output spline shaft gear of the hydraulic motor meshes with the side roller gear to provide torque to the rolling profile. The three working rolls of the angle roll bending machine are the main driving rolls. The idler roller and the correcting guide roller device are arranged on both sides of the work roller. The lifting and rotation of the work rolls are powered by air cylinders. It is beneficial to ensure the rolling quality of asymmetric cross-sections (such as angle iron) profiles.
This is a slow process and you have to adjust the scroll wheel down every time. After repeating the operation several times, you will get a curved metal roll without any unevenness, because the angle bending machine will roll out unevenness when bending the metal tube. They are equipped with ball bearings inside, so they roll smoothly. The single shoe on the top is fixed to the shaft, so it can rotate with the wheel. When you pass the pipe through the rollers, you slowly shape the metal pipe into a long, smooth curve.
The steel angle bending machine is often used to manufacture various profiles with bending section modulus less than 6mm3 at room temperature. It is a necessary equipment for various machinery manufacturing and other industries. JY-40/JY-50 angle roll bending machine is a compact and easy-to-use machine, widely used in small and medium-sized contour bending machines.
In industry, a reliable angle roller is the most basic production requirement, because nothing is more important than accurate and efficient bending process. Winying's angle rollers are used by customers in many industries and have received unanimous praise. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you choose Winying's bending machines. By using our profile rollers, you can precisely control the bending process.
The quality of the angle roller parts is the most important. As with all other types of bending machines, high-quality parts have always been our goal as a professional angle roller manufacturer. Our rolling machines use 3 driving rollers to meet the 2006/42/CE standard. The bending rollers can be adjusted independently, with dual pre-bending functions at the front and rear ends of the symmetrical profile.
Winying's angle steel rollers also combine horizontal guide rollers that can be adjusted in three dimensions, modular rollers, which can bend most profiles. The standard bending roller is made of 4150 alloy steel and has been heat-treated with a surface hardness of 60 HRC. All Winying angle rolling machines have an independent remote control station to control the machine safely. No matter what you want to bend, we can meet your requirements, whether it is pipe bending, profile bending, angle bending, or other needs.
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Want to avoid dental problems and trips to the dentist then follow these dental health tips for a pain free smile.
A lot of people put off visiting the dentist, with dental anxiety and fear being the main reasons.
People who only visit the dentist when they have a problem tend to have more oral health issues than those who visit regularly.
Here at Evolve Dental Healing Kenmore Dentist, we are massive advocates of prevention is better than cure and encouraging people to become responsible for their own oral health and overall wellbeing.
We will do all that we can to support you to have a healthy mouth and take care of your smile.
These 10 tips can put you on the right path to good oral health and help you to avoid having dental problems in the future.
Going to the dentist for regular checkups and cleanings is one of the most important factors in maintaining good oral health.
Regular checkups can prevent cavities, root canals, gum disease, oral cancer, and other dental conditions.
Don’t wait until you have a problem before you see your dentist, help prevent problems before they happen.
Gum disease is one of the main causes of tooth loss in adults and has also been linked to many health conditions like heart disease, strokes, diabetes and even cancers.
If diagnosed early gum disease (gingivitis) can be treated and reversed.
If treatment is not received soon enough, a more serious and advanced stage of gum disease, called periodontitis, which includes bone loss, infections and possible tooth loss, may follow.
Brushing twice a day, flossing daily and getting regular dental checkups and cleanings are the best prevention against gum disease.
When you go for your regular dental check-up, your dentist and hygienist are also screening you for any signs of oral cancer.
Every hour of every day, someone dies of oral cancer in the United States alone.
This serious dental disease, which pertains to the mouth, lips or throat, is often highly curable if diagnosed and treated in the early stages.
Visiting your dentist for regular checkups and avoiding tobacco and alcohol are the key factors in preventing oral cancer.
When you brush your teeth properly for two minutes twice a day you are removing the plaque that causes cavities and gum disease.
Plaque is the soft and sticky film that accumulates on the teeth from food debris and bacteria.
Flossing daily will remove the plaque from in between the teeth that the toothbrush cannot reach.
About 85% of people with persistent bad breath have a dental condition that is to blame. I
f bad breath is due to a dental condition, mouthwash will only mask the odour and not cure it.
Don’t be embarrassed to talk to your dentist; we are there to help you.
Flossing daily and brushing your teeth and tongue can greatly reduce and possibly eliminate bad breath.
The sugars from soft drinks and non-nutritional processed foods combine with the bacteria in the mouth to produce acids that attack tooth enamel.
This can lead to cavities and gum disease.
Limiting the number of drinks and foods that are high in sugar helps to maintain good dental health.
If your dentist gives you a treatment plan for dental work that you need to have done, you should focus on getting your teeth fixed as soon as possible.
Cavities continue to get bigger if left untreated. If they get big enough to reach the nerve in your tooth this can lead to complications like pain and infections and your only options would be to have a root canal or have the tooth extracted.
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard a patient tell me horror stories they have heard about root canals, however, with today’s technology, root canals are nothing like most people think. I have never had root canals but in my opinion, a root canal is as painless as having a filling.
Toothbrushes become worn out after about 3 months and are not as effective as when you first got it. If you have gum disease, you should change your toothbrush every 4 – 6 weeks because bacteria can harbour in the bristles. You should always rinse your toothbrush out with water after every use and change it after you have been unwell.
Some people think that having good dental health takes too much effort. Seeing your dentist for regular dental checkups and cleanings, brushing twice a day, flossing daily and eating a nutritional diet are the key factors in having healthy teeth and gums. Now, that shouldn’t be too hard to do should it?
If it’s been more than 6 months since you’ve seen a dentist or you have any concerns regarding your teeth, gums or smile, call me now on (07) 3720 1811 to book your checkup.
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Korea's DMZ a rare chance for conservation
Last week's meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea has intensified calls from international conservation groups for the preservation of Korea's long unpopulated demilitarised zone (DMZ) as a trans-border reserve for rare and endangered wildlife.
The 243 kilometre long, four kilometre wide corridor was established in 1953 at the end of the Korean War. The DMZ has remained almost untouched by humans due to land mines within, and the barbed wire around it. As a result, the DMZ has become a haven for hundreds of plant and animal species no longer existing elsewhere on the Korean peninsula.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has reported that preliminary surveys show the DMZ supports amur leopards, Asiatic black bears, and possibly the last remaining population of Siberian tiger.
Other reports indicate the area provides wintering grounds for two of the world's most endangered bird species, the white-naped crane and red crowned crane.
WCS biologist, Dr. Robert Lee said, "It's ironic that military conflict has resulted in biodiversity conservation" adding, "Now we have the chance of turning something so tragic into something positive."
Wildlife habitat of the Korean peninsula is being reduced due to urban expansion and industrial development. A 1994 biodiversity study conducted in South Korea found 14 percent of known birds, 23 percent of freshwater fish, 29 percent of mammals, 48 percent of reptiles and 60 percent of amphibians were endangered or extinct.
The human impact upon the natural environment is set to continue, as Korean peninsula's population is predicted to reach 100 million in 2025.
Pennsylvania State University entomologist Ke Chung Kim said the development of a trans-border reserve "Would offer a natural laboratory for research and teaching".
Dr Seung-ho Lee of the Institute of Public Administration said, "The process of environmental protection and biodiversity conservation through a peace park in the DMZ will help foster trust, cooperation and economic partnership between the two Koreas."
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Content or news aggregators collect and repost articles from elsewhere (everywhere from big names like The New York Times or the Atlantic, to lesser known or more casual sources like the Orlando Sentinel or TMZ). They provide a large number of articles, lists, videos, news clips, etc., and update many times a day.
Some, such as Huff Post, employ journalists, bloggers and news teams that produce content.
Even the most respectable of these, the ones that reproduce only vetted news articles and attempt to be politically neutral (think Google News), are not “academic sources” and seldom if ever have articles from scholarly journals. If your professor requires academic, scholarly, or peer-reviewed journals, you needn’t bother with anything from these types of sites. However, if you’re looking for news articles, much of what they post or produce is topical, relevant, and useful.
1. You’re citing the article first. If the article you’re looking at is re-published (if it came from somewhere else) and you can find it in its original source, that’s better.
2. These sites are almost always biased - they lean to the left or right in what they chose to republish or produce. Using biased sites is extremely problematic, and you’re treading in dangerous territory. If you’re using an article the aggregator re-published, evaluate the original site. Use your judgement based on the formality of the class and professor, the syllabus, assignment rubric, and the nature of the assignment. If there’s any doubt about the legitimacy of your sources, you’re best finding new ones.
3. You can also qualify in your assignment why you chose that source or article. Something along the lines of, “While BuzzFeed is not the most scholarly of news sites, this article is relevant because . . .”
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Welcome to the Elementary Band Program!
The purpose of this handbook is to help you understand the nature of the instrumental music program and to offer you resources and suggestions for helping your child become the best musician he or she can be!
· that all children should have the opportunity to learn to play a band instrument.
· that an instrumental music education not only helps a child grow musically but intellectually, socially, and emotionally as well.
· that performing either by ones self or with a group is a rewarding and enjoyable experience that can last a lifetime.
· that band is, and should be, fun!
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Ghana has confirmed that farms across the country have been affected by the invasion of fall armyworms, a pest that is causing huge damage to crops across the continent and threatening food security.
The pests have destroyed more than 1,370 hectares of maize, cowpea and cocoa farms in the Brong Ahafo, Ashanti and western regions of the country so far this year, according to the agricultural ministry. Fall armyworms destroyed 4,500 hectares of farmlands in Ghana last year.
Fall armyworms, which originated in the Americas, had never been seen on the African continent before last year. But since then, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and other African nations have seen the pests invade farms.
Nii Okai Hammond, a Ghana consultant for the international Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said the pests have destroyed 90,000 hectares of maize in Zambia, 130,000 hectares in Zimbabwe, and 87,000 hectares in Kenya, which is in far excess of the level of destruction seen in Ghana.
The fall armyworm is not actually a worm. It is a hungry caterpillar that eats up crops before it turns into a moth. The adult moths lay their eggs on seedlings and plant leaves. Within five to 10 days, the caterpillars hatch and launch a massive onslaught on vegetation. They feed on several crops including, staple food sources like maize and cowpea.
Malawi also has been hit by the fall armyworm. Fortunately for farmers, the devastating pest reared its ugly head towards the end of the planting season, which normally runs from December to April. Still, the northern region of Malawi, which typically receives the rains last, was hardest hit, as were farmers in other regions who planted late.
The worm has devastated lots of maize plantations, which is a staple food for Malawi. Farmers report spraying their fields more than five times, to no avail, and have lost everything. One Malawi farmer indicated that this is one of the most devastating maize pests that he has ever come across, and he is scared to think what will become of his family this year considering he has harvested nothing. Farmers who use irrigation during the dry season are afraid to plant for fear of losing their crop.
The Malawi Ministry of Agriculture acknowledges that it is aware of the problem and that it is doing everything to ensure that the next planting season is free from this problematic worm. The Ministry admits that it is a very difficult pest to manage as it requires a combination of different chemicals to be successfully eradicated, and most smallholder farmers cannot afford to purchase the pesticides. It s apparent that smallholder farmers in Malawi who depend on maize for their livelihood will face serious difficulties in the next planting season if the armyworm is not taken care of immediately.
The Ghana Agricultural Ministry says it will need 16 million cedis ($4 million) to fight the outbreak, half of which will go into the purchase of chemicals, with the remainder being used on education.
The Ghana government has established the National Taskforce for the Control and Management of the Invasion. Taskforce members include the Veterinary Services and National Disaster Management Organization, among others.
Its mandate includes sensitizing farmers and making them aware of the symptoms of armyworm attacks so they can report infestations to authorities. The taskforce will mobilize groups to visit and monitor farms for early detection of attacks, and the team will take measures to stop the current spread. The taskforce also is expected to undertake research for long-term measures to combat the worm, including biological controls using insects that prey on the pests.
We want to remove this [pest] permanently, and so all the measures that are required to ensure this does not occur again after this control, we are putting in place, Dr. Akoto Owusu Afriyie, Ghana’s minister for food and agriculture, told a media briefing in Accra.
We have to take very sharp remedial action in order to stop the spread and also eliminate the incidence from our fields, he added. The issue is being treated as an emergency, and he has informed the cabinet and the office of the president about the need for immediate release of funds to deal with the problem.
Even before the money is released, the minister says the Chemical Dealers Association of Ghana has agreed to release pesticides to the government on credit. He is confident the chemicals will help deal with the pests.
The experience we gained from last year is that armyworm is very sensitive to the chemicals that we are going to apply and we are confident that once we have adequate application, we will be able to eliminate the danger, he explained.
Farmers, particularly those growing cocoa, have been lamenting the destruction caused by the pests on their farms. Thomas Muller, a farmer in the Ejisu Juabeng municipality of the Ashanti Region, said they are seeing increased attacks by the pests this year on the cocoa fields.
The pests have created holes in the cocoa leaves and destroyed the pods, he said. Even if you apply chemicals to them, they do not die. They like the cocoa because it is sweet. Government should step in and help us because Ghana is cocoa and cocoa is Ghana.
The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana is warning that the country s ongoing efforts to achieve food security are at risk as a result of the armyworm invasion.
“The farmers don’t really know what to do, Charles Nyaaba, the association s program officer, said. It is so massive that even if one farmer should spray his farm, the disease will still spread to the other farms. One person cannot control it so we need mass spraying exercise.”
The Ministry says a mass spraying exercise to be undertaken in the coming days will help farmers deal with the problem.
The FAO is commending Ghana for its swift action in setting up the taskforce. We are talking about very huge things that could happen, Hammond said of the emerging situation in Ghana. If at 1,000 to 4,000 hectares [of destruction], we are putting a taskforce together, I should say this is very timely.
Katherine Chaweza contributed to this report from Malawi.
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CC-MAIN-2024-10
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https://allianceforscience.org/blog/2017/05/fall-armyworm-invasion-spreads-to-ghana/
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The SYMBIOSIS project aims to obtain images of detected fish that are classified by type. The system will be deployed in depth of 5-22m in three different marine observatories, each for a period of a month. To explore the perfromance of the system on-the-fly, the images will be transmitted from the submerged unit to the surface unit. Due to the lack of cable connection (a cable may switch and turn), the communication will be performed acoustically. Yet, since the buad rate of the underwater acoustic communication is low (roughly 10kbps) and since the size of the captured images is on the order of 10kB, there is a need to compress the image.
Our imvestigations showed that regular image compression methods fail to reduce the size of the images to a resonable level from the respect of the acoustic modem. For example, the binary black&white image shown in Figure 1 is originally of size 16kB, and is compressed to size 12kB by a lossy JPG protocol (Black & White). For this reason, we turned to develop our own image compression technique that is spesifically tailored to the case considered.
Our method builds upon the understanding that, for the objective of learing of the functionality of the system, the spesific details of the fish in the image are no important. Instead, we would like to compress the image such that the general shape of the target in the image can be observed. This resambles the problem of segmentation, where only the general location of the target is of interest. We thus turn to segmentation techniques. Our methodology is throughly described in the following publications:
A. Abu and R. Diamant, "Robust Image Denoising for Sonar Imagery", IEEE Oceans, Kobe, Japan, May. 2018 (posted on the project's database and website)
A. Abu and R. Diamant, "Enhanced Fuzzy-based Local Information Algorithm for Sonar Image Segmentation", submitted to the IEEE Transactions of Image Processing
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Evidence of Preserved Collagen in the Early Jurassic Dinosaur Lufengosaurus
Just days after writing about a scientific paper published in the academic publication “The Journal of Proteome Research”, which confirmed the presence of collagen in the fossilised bones of an 80 million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur, then a second paper comes along reporting evidence of preserved collagen in a much older dinosaur, a Lufengosaurus, a herbivore that roamed Asia back in the Early Jurassic.
Lufengosaurus – a Sauropodomorph from the Early Jurassic
Picture Credit: Everything Dinosaur
Writing in the journal “Nature Communications”, researchers from the National Central University of Taiwan, the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Centre (Taiwan) and in collaboration with palaeontologist Robert Reisz (Dept. of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) report on the discovery of protein preservation in a terrestrial vertebrate found inside the vascular canals of a rib of a 195-million-year-old sauropodomorph dinosaur, where blood vessels and nerves would normally have been present in the living reptile.
The Lufengosaurus Rib Bone that was Used in the Research
Picture Credit: Nature Communications
Evidence of peptides and amino acids have been found before in dinosaur bones, even evidence of dinosaur blood and red blood cells, although a lot of this research remains controversial. What is significant about this study, is that the vast majority of the organic traces found within the Dinosauria fossil record relate to bones of animals that lived during the Late Cretaceous. In this new paper, the scientists report evidence of proteins that make up collagen in a fossil rib bone from a dinosaur that lived some 195 million-years-ago.
Palaeontologist Dr Robert Reisz, heralded the significance of this research, which used a synchrotron to analyse the mineral content of a cross-section of rib bone, he stated:
“We hope to be able to learn more about the biology of these animals and the more we know about their soft tissues the more we will know about them overall. We are actually looking at the preservation of the original materials that were in the living organism rather than an impression of the soft tissues that were there.”
Blood from a Dinosaur?
The synchrotron permitted the team to examine the infrared spectroscopy of tiny fragments of the rib bone. Signatures of proteins typical of collagen were picked up along with iron-rich proteins found within the walls of microscopic blood vessels located deep with the rib (specimen number CXPM Z4644).
A Highly-magnified Section of the Rib Showing a Vascular Canal with Potential Dinosaur Blood Remnants
Picture Credit: Dr Reisz (University of Toronto Mississauga)
The image above shows a rib section with vascular canal associated with dark iron rich particles (haematite) that probably constitute preserved elements of dinosaur blood.
To read Everything Dinosaur’s recently published article about duck-billed dinosaur collagen: Researchers Confirm Duck-billed Dinosaur Collagen
This new study may not represent the oldest traces of reptile proteins found in the fossilised remains of Mesozoic creatures. In 2016, Everything Dinosaur reported on evidence of blood vessels and proteins having been identified within the fossilised bones of some Triassic marine reptiles, to read about this: Spectroscopic Studies on Organic Matter from Triassic Reptiles
The scientific paper detailing the Lufengosaurus research: “Evidence of preserved collagen in an Early Jurassic sauropodomorph dinosaur revealed by synchrotron FTIR microspectroscopy”, published in the journal “Nature Communications”.
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Interstate Technical Group on Abandoned Underground Mines
Third Biennial Workshop
Mining History in Kansas
Lawrence L. Brady
Kansas Geological Survey
1930 Constant Avenue
Lawrence, Kansas 66047-3726
Mining of economic rocks and minerals in Kansas has been important to the development of the state and the region. From the coal mines of eastern Kansas to the salt mines of central Kansas, the mining history of the state has been both colorful and necessary for an emerging state over the last 150 years. Production from the lead-zinc mines of the Tri-State mining district of southeastern Kansas, southwest Missouri, and northeast Oklahoma was important to the nation's war effort during the first half of this century when the region was the worlds leading zinc producer and also an important lead producer.
Consideration of the important minerals won during the mining history of the state is summarized in Table 1, showing the relation of important mined products during the early part of the 1900's, in 1950, and showing the latest data about Kansas production during 1998. Production (tonnage) of coal peaked in Kansas during 1917-18, while lead-zinc production peaked in 1926. However, review of Table 1 shows the sharp production increase over the century of the major industrial minerals in the state, including stone (mainly limestone), salt and gypsum. The tonnage and value of gypsum in 1998 are not shown in Table 1 (due to concealment policies of the U.S. Geological Survey), but both of these figures are many times larger than gypsum production and value in 1950.
With the peak year for lead-zinc production in Kansas of 1926, the relations of the same mineral products shown in Table 1 (with the exception of dimension stone) are shown in Table 2. Those commodities are also compared to the total production and value for those same commodities for the United States as a whole.
Zinc and Lead Mining
The zinc-lead mines of Cherokee County (Kansas)--especially around the towns of Galena, Treece, and Baxter Springs, produced nearly 2.9 million tons of zinc and 0.7 million tons of lead from approximately 115 million tons of mined ore (Table 3, from Stewart, 1986) over the life of the district. The Tri-State district (Fig. 1) in all three states produced nearly 12 million tons of zinc and 2.9 million tons of lead (Table 3). The earliest period of lead mining in Kansas was probably in Linn County in the 1830's, but the first commercial production of lead in the state was near Galena in 1877 (Schoewe, 1958, p. 418-421). Nearly all of the lead and zinc was won by underground mining methods; however, some strip mining of the ores was tried in the Galena area. An important summary article discussing the geology of the Tri-State district is presented by Brockie, Hare, and Dingus (1968)--geologists with Eagle-Picher Industries, the principal mining company in the Tri-State. McKnight and Fischer (1970) completed another comprehensive study of the huge richer field--located in Oklahoma and Kansas in the western part of the Tri-State.
The Tri-State mining district was the leading zinc-mining district in the world for nearly half a century, and it was also an important producer of lead, silver, cadmium, germanium, and gallium (Hagni, 1986, p. 30). Mining of lead-zinc ended in 1970 with the closing of the Eagle-Picher Industries Swalley Mine near Baxter Springs and the closing of the Eagle-Picher central mill at Cardin, Oklahoma. Nearly all ore production of this district was from carbonate rocks of Mississippian age, with the most important production in the district coming from a zone called the "M" bed or the "Joplin member" of the "Boone formation". An informal system of zoning of the local rock units (Beds B through R) is commonly used in the Tri-State region that was developed by Fowler and Lyden (1932). This system along with local formal and informal stratigraphic units is shown in Figure 2, with the important ore "beds" emphasized on the zoning system by Hagni (1986, p. 31). For formal stratigraphic unit names in the area refer to Thompson (1986), Ebanks and others (1979), and Baars and Maples (1998).
As a result of the extensive mining in the Tri-State district are many hazards that continue to exist to the present time although considerable effort was made by local, state, and federal governments to correct many of the mine hazards. McCauley and others (1983) summarized the physical hazards in the Kansas portion of the Tri-State (Table 4), and also a listing of the total acres disturbed by mining in the Kansas portion of the district (Table 5).
These extensive physical problems highlighted by McCauley and others (1983) were recognized as major problems to future development of the area. Efforts were made to mitigate the hazards by local citizens, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), the U. S. Bureau of Mines (USBM), and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The efforts of the KDHE and EPA were primarily concerned with the heavy metals in the groundwater and surface waters of the area as well as the general background levels of certain portions of the mining district. The physical hazards (subsidence, open shafts, etc.) were the primary concern of the U. S. Bureau of Mines and local citizen groups. The USBM funded the hazard study in Kansas, and similar studies in Missouri by McFarland and Brown (1983), and in Oklahoma by Luza (1983). Dressel, McFarland, and Brown (1986) summarized these hazard studies for the entire mining district.
Deposits of bituminous coal are widespread in the Pennsylvanian rocks of eastern Kansas, with coal production recorded from all but two counties having Pennsylvanian rocks present at or near the surface. Both deep mining and surface mining methods were used in the past to win the coal from at least 20 different coal beds. General stratigraphy of the Pennsylvanian rock units is shown in Figure 3. The most important coal mining in the state was in southeast Kansas where coal beds within the Cherokee Group were extensively mined in portions of Cherokee, Crawford, and Bourbon counties. Most important of the coal beds was the Weir-Pittsburg coal, and the extensive distribution of underground mining of this coal by room-and-pillar methods is shown in Figure 4. Where the Weir-Pittsburg coal was also mined by strip-mining methods total production of the Weir-Pittsburg coal represents about two-thirds of the coal mined in the state.
Another area of extensive deep mining was in Osage County where the Nodaway coal of the Wabaunsee Group was mined by both deep and surface mining methods. In this area the Bell #4 mine south of Burlingame (Osage County) was the last deep coal mine to operate in Kansas, closing in 1964. Deep coal mining at depths around 700+ feet occurred in eastern Leavenworth County where some mines extended under the Missouri River into the state of Missouri. Coal deep-mined in Leavenworth County for the deep mines was mainly from the Bevier coal of the Cherokee Group. The last deep mine operating in Leavenworth County was the Kansas State Prison Mine at Lansing that used convict labor and this mine closed in 1947. The old longwall mining system was used for the deep mining in Leavenworth and Osage counties as compared to the room-and-pillar mining system used in southeast Kansas coal mines.
Coal deposits in Kansas have been exploited for nearly 150 years with a total coal production of approximately 300 million short tons. Peak years for coal production was 1917 and 1918, with production for each year at about 7.25 million tons. The earliest coal mining in Kansas was from mines in the Leavenworth area where the coal was important for Fort Leavenworth (established in 1843), and later the coal was used and moved by large boats and barges on the Missouri River. Mining of coal in the Osage County area was important for early railroads, and the coal mines influenced the location of the rail lines to the southwest.
In the late 1800's the coal mines in southeast Kansas became the important coal-producing region of the state due to the abundance of coal and the thickness and quality of the coal. This area dominated coal production until the mid 1970' s when the Pittsburgh & Midway Coal Mining Company Mine #19 shut down in Cherokee County, and P&M started full production at their Midway Mine in Linn County, Kansas, and Bates County, Missouri, mining the Mulberry coal (Marmaton Group). From that time to the present, Linn County periodically became the dominant county over Crawford County although the P&M Midway Mine closed in 1990.
For the last three and one-half years (1997-2000), Linn County coal production was the largest of any county in the state, and in 1999 and 2000 the only commercial coal production was from Linn County (414 thousand tons in 1999). General distribution of coals having the potential for surface mining in eastern Kansas (Pennsylvanian age) is shown in figure 5. In north central Kansas there are areas of thin lenticular lignite deposits from which a total production of about 300,000 tons was mined from more then 150 small mines (Schoewe, 1958, p. 378-79). These lignite deposits were present in the upper part of the Dakota Formation (Lower Cretaceous age).
The principal industrial minerals of Kansas emphasized in this study are those minerals and rocks that were mined wholly or in part by underground methods. These "minerals" include salt, gypsum, and stone (especially limestone) for crushed stone and building or dimension stone. Included in industrial minerals mined in Kansas entirely by surface methods are the sand and gravel deposits, volcanic ash, clay and shale for ceramic products, and diatomaceous marl. These industrial minerals will not be discussed in this paper, but their general distribution is shown in Figures 6 and 7. Large volumes of sand and gravel are extracted from the floodplains, channels, and terraces of Kansas rivers, and from the large deposits of Tertiary sand and gravel of the high plains in the western part of Kansas. Although used primarily for road and construction purposes, some quality sand is used as industrial sand for fiberglass manufacturing and for sand blasting applications. Grisafe (2000) compiled a listing of nearly 6,300 locations of abandoned industrial mineral pits, quarries, and mine locations in Kansas. In addition, a second compilation (Grisafe and Baker, 1999) lists a total of 879 active industrial mineral pits, quarries, and mine locations (active during 1998) in the state. The general distribution of industrial minerals in Kansas is shown in Figures 6 and 7.
Extensive deposits of salt are present in the central part of the state that have been exploited for economic purposes by underground mining methods and solution mining efforts. Rock salt was first discovered in Kansas in 1887 while individuals were exploring for oil and gas (Schoewe, 1958, p. 437). The important commercial salt bed in the state is the Hutchinson Salt Member of the Wellington Formation (Lower Permian). Distribution and general thickness of the Hutchinson salt is shown in Figure 8. Three mining companies are presently mining the salt by underground mining methods including the Hutchinson Salt Company (Reno County), Lyons Salt Company (Rice County), and the Independent Salt Company (Ellsworth County). Depths of mining range from 645 feet with the Hutchinson Salt Company to 1045 feet with the Lyons Salt Company. At least five additional deep mines have operated in Kansas that are no longer mining salt. Among these five mines, two operated in Rice County, two in Ellsworth County, and one in Kingman County. Besides the companies with operating shaft mines, three salt companies presently have solution mine fields-three fields in Reno County and one in Rice County. A fourth company solution mines salt in Sedgwick County for chlorine chemical manufacturing.
In addition to the Hutchinson salt, there are extensive salt deposits within the Nippewalla Group (Holdoway, 1978) that are not commercially developed. These deposits are stratigraphically higher--but still within Lower Permian rocks, with the salt beds generally west of the Hutchinson salt beds.
Extensive discussion of the Kansas salt deposits and salt mining methods are available in reports by Taft (1946), and Walters (1978). In the Walters report, emphasis is placed on land subsidence due to salt dissolution by improperly designed brine fields, and improperly plugged oil wells that penetrated the thick salt beds. Watney (1980) determined detailed distribution of the Hutchinson salt in Kansas.
Deposits of gypsum are present in several geologic units within Lower Permian rocks of central Kansas. General distribution of the gypsum deposits is shown in fig. 6. Two gypsum mines still operate in the state, and based on the report of Kulstad and others (1956) there were at least 19 mines in ten counties in the state. In Marshall County in the northern part of the state, the Georgia Pacific Gypsum Corporation mines gypsum from shallow depths using underground methods. The gypsum is mined from gypsum beds that are about eight to nine feet thick in the Easly Creek Shale Formation in the upper part of the Council Grove Group. In the south-central part of Kansas, the National Gypsum Company mines the Medicine Lodge Gypsum Member of the Blaine Formation in the upper part of the Nippewalla Group. National Gypsum now mines gypsum primarily by surface mining methods in northwest Barber County; however, they also have a shallow underground mine where they obtain their purest gypsum for high quality plaster. Maximum thickness of the gypsum bed in the area of the mine is about 30 feet.
Most of the gypsum mined by the two active companies is calcined for use in wallboard or plaster. The company plants where the gypsum is processed is located near the mine (Georgia--Pacific) or shipped about 20 miles to the plant (National). Raw gypsum is also used in manufacture of portland cement, and as a soil additive for agriculture purposes.
Throughout the eastern third of Kansas, stone is quarried and crushed for use in cement manufacture, concrete aggregate, agriculture lime, and as road metal. Limestone from Pennsylvanian, Permian, and Cretaceous rocks is commonly used for crushed stone in the state. Sandstone from some Pennsylvanian rocks is used in cement manufacture, and calcite-cemented sandstone in Lincoln County (limited areas of Dakota Formation sandstones within Lower Cretaceous rocks) is extensively used where high quality aggregates are needed in the western part of the state. A general distribution of the stone quarries and mines in Kansas are shown in Fig. 7.
Underground limestone mining operations have been important for years in the Kansas City area, and in the Bonner Springs (underground operations recently closed) and Atchison areas. Currently two underground limestone mines are operating in the Kansas City (Kansas) area, including one mine in Johnson County (mining the Argentine limestone Member of the Wyandotte Limestone) and one mine in Wyandotte County (mining the Bethany Falls Limestone Member of the Swope Limestone). In Atchison County there are three limestone mines, each mining the Plattsmouth Limestone Member of the Oread Limestone.
Limestone for building stone has been extensively quarried in Kansas. At the present time most of the building stone is quarried from Lower Permian limestone units. Important limestones used in recent years by producers (Grisafe, 1976) include certain ledges in the Fort Riley Limestone Member of the Barnston Limestone (with trade names of "Silverdale" and "Junction City", dependent on the location mined), the Cottonwood Limestone Member of the Beattie Limestone, and the Funston Limestone Formation ("Onaga"). Other Permian limestone units quarried include the Five Point Limestone ("Chestnut Shell") where it is developed as a local coquina in Pottawatomie County, that is a member of the Janesville Shale, the Neva Limestone member of the Granola Limestone, and the Creswell Limestone Member of the Winfield Limestone.
Important in the western part of the state for building stone are the thick Fort Hays Limestone Member of the Ibarra Chalk, and the Fencepost limestone bed of the Greenhorn Limestone. These units are present in Upper Cretaceous rocks and located in west central Kansas. Another Cretaceous unit that has been used for building stone is the Dakota Formation in areas where well-cemented sandstone beds exist (Risser, 1960).
Within the Pennsylvanian rocks of Kansas, various limestone units were used for local building stone. Limestone units described by Risser (1960) as having more extensive use are the Kereford Limestone and Toronto Limestone members of the Oread Limestone, and the Westerville Limestone Member of the Cherryville Shale. In Bourbon County, the Bandera Quarry Sandstone Member of the Bandera Shale was extensively quarried and had widespread use in the region. A good summary of the Kansas building stones--their quarrying, processing, and use is summarized in Schoewe (1958, p. 443-457), Risser (1960) and Grisafe (1976).
- Mining in Kansas is now mainly involved with the extraction of industrial minerals. Mine production and value of industrial minerals has continuously increased over the last century as a result mainly of the growing population of the state. In contrast, the zinc--lead industry developed around the large Tri-State mining district no longer produces these metals in Kansas or in the Missouri and Oklahoma portions of the district. Production of coal was also very important in the first half of the 20th century, but coal production has been reduced to the small amount of about 400 thousand tons/year (1999) from a peak yearly production of 7.25 million tons in 1917 and 1918.
- Zinc and lead mining in the Tri-State district closed in 1970 after production of nearly 12 million tons of zinc and 2.9 million tons of lead. Kansas contributed about 25 percent of that metal amount for the district-a district that lead the world in zinc production for nearly 50 years. As the result of this extensive mining of metals, there are a number of hazards that develop over time such as mine collapses, and open shafts. McCauley and others (1983) recognized a total of 910 hazards for the Kansas portion of the Tri-State district. Work by a number of government agencies, and local citizen groups has helped mitigate a number of these hazards since the time of the McCauley study.
- Coal mining existed in most counties in the eastern part of Kansas, but the most important area mined for coal was in southeast Kansas-primarily in Crawford and Cherokee counties. Coal was won in that area by extensive underground mining of the Wier-Pittsburg coal. Surface mining of the Weir-Pittsburg coal and other coals of the Cherokee group were also very important in those counties and in Bourbon County. For the past 25 years Linn County has periodically become the important coal-producing county in the state, and it is now (2000) the only Kansas county with producing coal mines.
- Extensive deposits of Hutchinson salt exist in the central part of the state with a salt thickness up to 400 feet. Those salt deposits have been mined since the 1870's. At the present time there are three shaft mines, and five solution mine fields, that are mining this commodity for use in Kansas and the region.
- Stone production in the state is another very important commodity for our developing economy. Limestone is widely distributed in eastern Kansas and in portions of north central Kansas. The limestone is used as concrete aggregate, road metal, agricultural lime, building stone, and in the manufacturing of cement. Sandstone is produced in limited areas of the state and it is also used for most of the same uses of limestone, except for agriculture lime, and a more restricted use in cement production. Six underground mines exist in northeastern Kansas that produce crushed limestone for the local building and road construction industries.
- Deposits of gypsum exist in a general north-south direction across central Kansas. These gypsum deposits have been actively worked by both underground and surface mining methods. Two gypsum mines now operate in Kansas, one in the northern part of the state and the other in the southern part. The most important use of the gypsum is for manufacture of wallboard and plasters. Other uses include its use as an agriculture soil additive, and in the manufacture of cement,
- Zinc, lead, coal, salt, gypsum, and stone have all been won entirely or in part by underground mining methods in Kansas. Results of those efforts have been important to the economy of the state. However, the space left after mining and the weakening of the overlying rocks with time present potential hazards. These problems must be recognized by geologists and engineers now and in the future as they cope with subsidence, collapse, and weakening rock when roads, buildings, and other structures are constructed over those problem areas. This report provides those geologists and engineers with some general idea of the distribution and amount of mining that was conducted in Kansas. Many key references have been provided to permit further investigations of the mineral resources, or potential problems associated with the winning of those mineral resources.
Abernathy, G. E., 1944, Mined areas of the Weir-Pittsburg coal bed: Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 52, pt. 5, p. 213-228.
Baars, D. L., and Maples, C. G., 1998, Lexicon of geologic names of Kansas (through 1995): Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 231, 271p.
Brady, L. L., Adams, D. B., and Livingston, N. D., 1976, An evaluation of the strippable coal reserves in Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey Mineral Resources Series no. 5, 40 p.
Brady, L. L., Nuelle, L. M., Haug, D. B., Smith, D. C., Bostic, J. L., and Jaquess, J. C., 1994, Coal resources of the Joplin l° x 2° Quadrangle, Kansas and Missouri: U. S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-2426-A, 2 plates w/text.
Brichta, L. C., 1960,Catalog of recorded exploration drilling and mine workings, Tri-State zinc-lead district, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma: U. S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular IC7993, 13p. .
Brockie, D. C., Hare, E. H., Jr., and Dingess, P. R. (1968), The geology and ore deposits of the Tri-State district of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, in Ridge, J. D. (ed.) Ore deposits of the United States, 1933-1967: American Institute of Mining Engineers, New York, p. 400-430.
Dressel, W. M., McFarland, M. C., and Brown, J. C., Jr., 1986, Post-mining hazards of the Kansas-Missouri-Oklahoma Tri-State zinc-lead mining district in Guidebook to the Geology and environmental concerns in the Tri-State lead-zinc district, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma: Association of Missouri Geologists, 33rd annual field trip, September 26-27, 1986, p. 47-54.
Ebanks, W. J., Jr., Brady, L. L., Heckel, P. H., O'Connor, H. G., Sanderson, G. A., West, R. R., and Wilson, F. W., 1979, The Mississippian and Pennsylvanian (Carboniferous) systems in the United States-Kansas: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1110-Q, p. QI-Q28.
Fowler, G. M., and Lyden, J. P., 1932, The ore deposits of the Tri-State district (Missouri Kansas-Oklahoma): American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers Transactions, v. 102, p. 206-251.
Grisafe, D. A., 1976, Kansas building limestone: Kansas Geological Survey Mineral Resources Series 4, 42p.
Grisafe, D. A., 2000, Directory of industrial mineral abandoned pits and quarries in Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey Open-file report 2000-3, 23Op.
Grisafe, D. A., and Baker, D., 1999, Directory of Kansas mineral producers: Kansas Geological Survey Open-file report 1999-46, 230p.
Hagni, R. D., 1986, A summary of the geology of the ore deposits of the Tri-State district, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, in Guidebook to the Geology and environmental concerns in the Tri-State lead-zinc district, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma: Association of Missouri Geologists, 33rd annual field trip, September 26-27, 1986, p. 30-46.
Hambleton, W. W., Goebel, E. D., Muilenburg, G., Hornbaker, A. L., and Smith, R. L., 1962, Economic development for Kansas-Mineral and water resources: Center for Research in Business, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 148p.
Holdoway, K. A., 1978, Deposition of evaporites and red beds of the Nippewalla Group, Permian, western Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 215, 43p.
Kulstad, R. 0., Fairchild, P., and McGregor, D., 1956, Gypsum in Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 113, 110p.
Luza, K. V, 1983, Study of stability problems and hazard evaluation of the Kansas portion of the Tri-State mining area (Contract J0100133 report): U. S. Bureau of Mines Open-file report 76-83, 147 p.
McCauley, J. R., Brady, L. L., and Wilson, F. W., 1983, Study of stability problems and hazard evaluation of the Kansas portion of the Tri-State mining area (Contract 10100131 report): U. S. Bureau of Mines Open-file report 75-83, 193 p. (Also Kansas Geological Survey Open-file Report 83-2.)
McFarland, M. C., and Brown, J. C., 1983, Study of stability problems and hazard evaluation of the Missouri portion of the Tri-State mining area (Contract 10100132 report): U. S. Bureau of Mines Open-file report 97-83, 141 p.
McKnight, E. T., and Fischer, R. P., 1970, Geology and ore deposits of the Picher field, Oklahoma and Kansas: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 588, 165p.
Risser, H. E., 1960, Kansas building stone: Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 142, pt. 2, p. 53-122.
Schoewe, W. H., 1958, The geography of Kansas-Part IV, Economic geography: mineral resources: Transactions Kansas Academy of Science, v. 61, p. 359-468.
Stewart, D. R., 1986, A brief description of the historical, ore production, mine pumping, and prospecting aspects of the Tri-State zinc-lead district of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma in Guidebook to the Geology and environmental concerns in the Tri-State lead-zinc district, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma: Association of Missouri Geologists, 33rd annual field trip, September 26-27, 1986, p.16-29.
Taft, R., 1946, Kansas and the nation's salt: Transactions Kansas Academy of Science, v. 49, p. 223-272.
Tanner, A., and Grisafe, D. A., 1999, The mineral industry of Kansas: U. S. Geological Survey Mineral Industry Surveys--1998 annual estimate, 6p.
Thompson, T. T., 1986, Paleozoic succession in Missouri, Part 4-Mississippian system: Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geology and Land Survey, Report of Investigations 70, 189p.
U. S. Bureau of Mines, 1929a, Mineral resources of the United State-1926: Pt. I, metals: U. S. Bureau of Mines, 774p.
U. S. Bureau of Mines, 1929b, Mineral resources of the United States-1926: Pt. II, nonmetals: U. S. Bureau of Mines, 675p.
U. S. Bureau of Mines, 1952, Minerals yearbook-1950: U. S. Bureau of Mines, 1690p. U. S. Geological Survey, 1916a, Mineral resources of the United States-1914: Pt. I, metals: U.S. Geological Survey, 995p.
U. S. Geological Survey, 1916b, Mineral resources of the United States-1914: Pt. I, nonmetals: U. S. Geological Survey, 1122p.
Walters, R. F., 1978, Land subsidence in central Kansas related to salt dissolution: Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 214, 82p.
Watney, W. L., 1980, Subsurface geologic study of the Hutchinson salt: Kansas Geological Survey Open-file Report 80-16,37 fig., 16p.
Table 1. Kansas mining production and values for selected commodities -1914, 1950, 1998.
|1000 st.||$ million||1000 st.||$ million||1000 st.||$ million|
# Other mined commodities not included in this summary are sand and gravel, volcanic ash, and clay and shales
* U.S. Geological Survey (1916a,b) Mineral Resources of US -1914
** U.S. Bureau of Mines (1953) Minerals Yearbook -1950
*** Tanner and Grisafe (1999), USGS Mineral Industry Surveys -Kansas 1998 est. (1999)
(a) Kansas Department Health and Environment --Surface Mining Section information
(c) Data not released
Table 2. Kansas and U.S. mining production and value for selected commodities -1926.
|1000 st.||$ million||1000 st.||$ million|
*U.S. Bureau of Mines (1929a,b), Mineral Resources of the U.S. -1926.
Table 3. Mine production by states of the Tri-State Mining District.
|State||Operating Period||Est. Tons Mined (st)*||Recoverable Metal (st)|
|Average Grade (% Metal)||0.579||2.357|
(*) Figures rounded to nearest one million tons, and consist of estimated tonnages for 1850-1906 and 1946-1970 periods.
Modified from Stewart (1986, p. 22)
Table 4. Summary of hazards in Kansas portion of the Tri-State Mining District.
|Uncollapsed Collapsed Total|
|Mining Area||Adits||Open Pits||Surface Collapses||Open Shafts||Open Shafts||Hazard Shafts||Total Hazards||Total Shafts|
Modified from McCauley and others (1983, p. 34)
Table 5. Mining affected areas in the Kansas Tri-State Mining District.
|Mining Area||Approximate area covered by mine and mill waste (Acres)||Approximate area of known underground mining (Acres)|
Modified from McCauley and others (1983, p. 34)
Figure 4. Area in southeast Kansas showing extensive underground mining for the WeirPittsburg coal (shaded area). Modified from Brady and others (1994) from original mine distribution by Abernathy (1944). (Click on image for larger version).
Figure 8. General distribution and thickness of the Hutchison salt in central Kansas, and location of shaft mines that mine the salt. Modified from Walters (1978. p. 3). (Click on image for larger version).
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Baby teeth may link autism and heavy metals
NIEHS grantees reported that baby teeth from children with autism contain more lead and lower amounts of the essential nutrients zinc and manganese compared with baby teeth from children without autism. The new findings suggest that autism risk may be influenced by differences in early life exposure to metals and how a child’s body processes them.
The researchers studied twins to help control genetic influences and explore environmental contributors. Participants included 32 pairs of twins and 12 individual twins. The twins had one sibling with autism, both siblings with autism, or neither with autism. The researchers used a method called laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to analyze the metal uptake in the teeth’s growth rings, which correspond to different developmental periods, including the prenatal period.
Analyses of the baby teeth revealed that the children with autism exhibited higher lead levels in the prenatal period and in the first five months after birth compared with children without autism. The children with autism also exhibited lower zinc levels during the third trimester and lower manganese levels both prenatally and after birth, with the highest deficiency seen four months after birth. The researchers said that replication in larger studies is necessary to confirm the connection between metal uptake and autism.
Citation: Arora M, Reichenberg A, Willfors C, Austin C, Gennings C, Berggren S, Lichtenstein P, Anckarsater H, Tammimies K, Bolte S. 2017. Fetal and postnatal metal dysregulation in autism. Nat Commun 8:15493.
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Lean burn combustor technologies introduced to reduce NOx emissions are proving to be inherently noisier than conventional combustors, generating broadband noise that can be heard external to the aircraft. Without careful design and optimisation, there is a danger the low emission cores will cause the aircraft engines to exceed the Horizon 2020 noise requirement.
The research in the CORNET proposal is aimed at understanding the flow physics involved in the generation and propagation of core noise in low emission cores. It includes both the ‘direct noise’ of combustion, pressure waves generated directly by unsteadiness in the rate of combustion, and the ‘indirect noise’ generated as entropy waves accelerate through the Nozzle Guide Vanes (NGVs) at combustor exit and propagate through turbine blade rows.
Large Eddy Simulations of a combustor with a realistic engine fuel injector operating at representative engine conditions are validated through high-speed optical diagnostics applied to a high-pressure rig. The combustor modelling gives the entropy and acoustic waves incident on the NGVs. The generation of in-direct noise is predicted through unsteady high-resolution computations of the interaction of these entropy and acoustic waves within a high-pressure turbine stage. The new understanding will be captured in an advanced analytical combustion noise prediction tool that can be readily used by industry.
Field of science
- /engineering and technology/mechanical engineering/vehicle engineering/aerospace engineering/aircraft
Call for proposal
See other projects for this call
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Thursday, January 26, 2017
Primary Mechanisms of Muscle Growth
Based in New York, Anthony Courcy is a restaurant general manager and training coach for KFC Restaurants. In this role, he hires and trains managers for 15 New York stores. In his free time, Anthony Courcy enjoys weight lifting and bodybuilding.
Those who begin weight lifting are often hoping to develop and build stronger muscles. There are three primary ways to affect natural muscle growth: muscle tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress. All three involve putting more stress on the muscle and disrupting homeostasis but there are differences between them.
Muscle tension involves lifting progressively heavier weights in order to change the chemistry of the muscle and positively affect the connection of motor units with muscle cells. Muscle damage, which is the soreness felt after an effective workout, releases inflammatory molecules and immune system cells that activate other cells to repair the muscles. Finally, metabolic stress, which is the burn felt during a workout, causes cell swelling around the muscle, which results in muscle growth without increasing the size of the muscle cells.
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Brian Baker, Ph.D., and his lab in the Harper Cancer Research Institute and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry were recently awarded a $4 million, 5-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study how they can best engineer a patient’s own T cells in their immune system to target the patient’s specific cancer.
Over the last decades, immunologists have been gaining greater understanding of the relationship between cancer and the immune system—more specifically, how the immune system defends against cancer. For example, immunologists know that patients with weakened immune systems (recipients of organ transplants, HIV patients, etc.) have greater occurrences of cancer. The question “How does cancer escape the immune system, take hold, and progress?” has been studied for many years and has led to new approaches, including successful new drug therapies like the immunotherapy treatment former President Jimmy Carter received that has rendered his metastatic melanoma in remission. Understanding the relationship between the immune system and cancer has led to these new drug therapies, which “take the brakes off” the immune system to allow a more complete and effective anti-cancer immune response.
The next frontier of immunotherapy involves custom engineering immune treatments for each patient. According to Baker, “An important class of cells in the immune system are cytotoxic T cells—killer T cells—because they attack and kill viruses, pathogens, and even tumors. What we are working toward is engineering those T cells to target a specific cancer with great efficiency and potency.”
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Water Purification Using Ozone
Alexandra Foley March 8, 2013
Water purification is the process by which chemicals, contaminants, and sediments are removed from dirty water to make it clean, and there are many processes through which this can be done. What you might not know, is that ozone molecules can be used as a means of disinfection in the purification process. “Ozonation” has been used to purify water, kill germs and bacteria in food, and even get rid of bad smells. Not only does ozonation provide clean water without producing potentially harmful by-products, it is also an environmentally-friendly form of purification.
About Ozonation and Water Purification
In a previous post, my colleague Fanny discussed how oxygen-filled microbubbles can be used as an environmentally-friendly way to restore water quality in contaminated lakes. While microbubbles can be used to reduce the concentration of toxic chemicals in the purification process, when employed alone this process isn’t enough to bring the water quality up to a drinkable standard. In order to turn natural water into drinking water, at least one step in the process must be a disinfecting step. Ozonation can serve this purpose and produce clean, drinkable water.
While ozone purification is quite prevalent in many European countries, it hasn’t quite caught on to the same level of popularity in the United States. Over the past few decades however, there has been increased concern surrounding the by-products that are created by chlorination, one of the most popular disinfection methods. Because of this and other recent developments, ozonation has been gaining popularity in the U.S. over the past few years.
How Water Purification Using Ozone Works
Ozone is a molecule made up of three oxygen atoms and it can be manufactured relatively easily by running a high voltage current through dry air. Similarly to the way the sun’s UV rays create ozone molecules, this voltage causes oxygen molecules to combine, forming ozone molecules.
Ozone is a highly unstable molecule, a property that allows it to react easily with other molecules it comes into contact with. The molecules would rather revert to the more stable oxygen gas molecule, and the remaining oxygen atom then more readily bonds with viruses and bacteria it comes in contact with. This process causes holes to form in the cell walls of organic organisms, a reaction that destroys bacteria, viruses, and many types of fungi.
Simulating an Ozone Water Purification System
In order to use ozone to purify water, you need a Water Purification Reactor like the one simulated below. Just to set the scale, a typical ozone purification reactor is about 40 m long and each chamber is about the size of a small room. The many chambers in the reactor cause the water and ozone to mix completely, allowing the ozone to come into contact with all of the contaminants in the water. By the time the water reaches the end of the reactor, the contaminants have been converted and the ozone molecules have broken into harmless oxygen molecules.
This model depicts fluid flow in an ozone water purification system.
The streamlines’ color represents the velocity of fluid flow and the
width is proportional to turbulent viscosity (mixing).
Let’s assume that the water has already been infused with ozone in a previous step. What’s modeled here (using COMSOL Multiphysics and the CFD Module) is the step that occurs after that, when the liquid enters the reactor and flows through a series of chambers. As the water enters the chamber, the jet hits the wall of the first chamber leaving half of the stream remaining in the chamber, creating a recirculation zone where water and ozone mix, while the other half continues through the reactor, spreading out into subsequent rooms. The further the water continues down the reactor, the more the water and ozone mix.
Optimizing Ozone Water Purification
Although ozonation produces fewer by-products than most other purification methods, it does still have a few drawbacks. When ozone comes into contact with bromide for an extended period of time it can form bromate ions, a suspected carcinogen. In order to prevent this from happening, the time spent in the reactor, the amount of mixing that takes place, and the path the water takes when traveling through the reactor must be understood. This can be predicted and optimized using the reactor above when more physics are taken into account. Simulation allows scientists to ensure that water and ozone stay in contact for just long enough to remove contaminants and prevent bromate ions from forming.
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Stenographer Job Description
Stenographers, sometimes called court reporters, are responsible for court and medical transcription and live broadcast captioning for the deaf and elderly. They use shorthand and a steno machine to transcribe information and commit it to the public record. They train through certificate or associate's degree programs and must be fast and accurate typists. Individuals who work in the court system must be licensed and professionally certified in many states.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that job growth in this field will be about as fast as average for all occupations through 2022, with the best opportunities for stenographers trained in Communication Access Real-Time Translation (CART) or those who can go with clients to medical appointments or public meetings to provide transcription services.
|Required Education||Certificate or associate's degree in court reporting|
|Other Requirements||Many states require licensure and professional certification|
|Projected Job Growth||10% from 2012-22 (all court reporters)*|
|Median Salary (2013)||$49, 560 ()*|
Sources: * U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Stenographer Career Info
Stenographers are responsible for transcribing exact legal or medical proceedings for the record. Stenographers are employed primarily by courts and those in the legal profession, because lawyers and court officials need an exact transcript to use during trials. There is no room for error in the stenography profession, and most in the occupation learn to type at 225 words per minute in order to capture entire conversations quickly and accurately.
Each state has different requirements for stenographers, but all states require stenographers to pass examinations to gain their credentials before they are employed in courts. In most cases, individuals must pass a voice writer test with a written portion covering grammar, spelling and punctuation.
Stenographers must learn a type of shorthand, an abbreviated language form that is designed for rapid transcription, to take notes on a steno machine in order to catch each word that is spoken. Once the notes are entered into the machine by the stenographer, they are translated by computer software into English. The stenographer responsible for recording the proceedings takes the rough transcript and proofreads it before creating a final transcript and committing it to official record. Stenographers must have a good grasp of legal and, for some jobs, medical terminology as well as complete proficiency in the English language to do their jobs to employer standards.
According to the BLS, the job outlook for stenographers should be no better than the average for all professions. Court reporting was projected to grow by 10% between 2012-2022. Court reporters with certification were expected to still be in demand, especially in some federal and state courts. Because of growing costs, courts are at times using digital audio recording to replace stenographers, but other markets, such as live captioning for the deaf and elderly, are growing very quickly.
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DIVE DEEP ENOUGH under the surface of the ocean, and light reigns. Some 90 percent of the fish and crustaceans that dwell at depths of 100 to 1,000 meters are capable of making their own light. Flashlight fish hunt and communicate with a flashing Morse code sent by light pockets that pulse under their eyes. Tubeshoulder fish shoot luminous ink at their attackers. Hatchetfish make themselves appear invisible by generating light on their underbellies to mimic downwelling sunlight; predators prowling below look up to see only a continuous glow.
Scientists have indexed thousands of bioluminescent organisms across the tree of life, and they expect to add many more. Yet researchers have long wondered how bioluminescence came to be. Now, as explained in several recently released studies, researchers have made significant progress in understanding the origins of bioluminescence—both evolutionary and chemical. The new understanding may one day allow bioluminescence to be used as a tool in biology and medical research.
One longstanding challenge has been determining how many separate times bioluminescence arose. How many species came to the same conclusion, independent of one another?
Though some of the most familiar examples of light from living organisms are terrestrial—think of fireflies, glowworms and foxfire—the bulk of evolutionary events involving bioluminescence took place in the ocean. Bioluminescence is in fact markedly absent from all terrestrial vertebrates and flowering plants.
In the deep ocean, light gives organisms a unique way to attract prey, communicate and defend themselves, said Matthew Davis, a biologist at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. In a study released in June, he and his colleagues found that fish that use light for communication and courtship signaling were especially diverse. Over a period of about 150 million years—brief by evolutionary standards—such fish proliferated into more species than other groups of fish. Bioluminescent species that used their light exclusively for camouflage, on the other hand, were no more diverse.
Courtship signals can change relatively easily. These changes can in turn create subgroups in a population, which eventually split into unique species. In June, Todd Oakley, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and one of his students, Emily Ellis, published a study in which they found that organisms that use bioluminescence in courtship had significantly more species, and faster rates of species accumulation, than closely related organisms that do not use light. Oakley and Ellis studied ten groups of organisms, including fireflies, octopuses, sharks and tiny crustaceans called ostracods.
The study by Davis and his colleagues was limited to ray-finned fishes, a group that includes approximately 95 percent of fish species. Davis estimated that even in that single group, bioluminescence evolved at least 27 times. Steven Haddock, a marine biologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and an expert on bioluminescence, estimated that across all life forms bioluminescence evolved independently at least 50 times.
In nearly all shining organisms, bioluminescence requires three ingredients: oxygen, a light-emitting pigment called a luciferin (from the Latin word lucifer, meaning light-bringing), and an enzyme called a luciferase. When a luciferin reacts with oxygen—a process facilitated by luciferase—it forms an excited, unstable compound that emits light when it returns to its lowest energy state.
Curiously, there are far fewer luciferins than luciferases. While species tend to have unique luciferases, many share the same luciferin. Just four luciferins are responsible for most of the light production in the ocean. Of close to 20groups of bioluminescent organisms in the world, a luciferin called coelenterazine is the light-emitter in nine.
Yet it would be a mistake to assume that all coelenterazine-containing organisms had evolved from a single luminous ancestor. If they had, asked Warren Francis, a biologist at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, then why did they develop such a wide variety of luciferases? Presumably the first luciferin-luciferase pair would have survived and multiplied.
It’s more likely that many of these species don’t make coelenterazine themselves. Instead, they get it from their diet, said Yuichi Oba, a professor of biology at Chubu University in Japan.
In 2009, a group led by Oba discovered that the deep-sea copepod—a tiny, near-ubiquitous crustacean—makes its own coelenterazine. These copepods are an extremely abundant food source for a wide range of marine animals—so much so that “in Japan, we call copepods ‘rice in the ocean,’” Oba said. He thinks copepods are key to understanding why so many marine organisms are bioluminescent.
Oba and his colleagues took amino acids believed to be the building blocks of coelenterazine, labeled them with a molecular marker, and loaded them into copepod food. They then fed this food to copepods in the lab.
After 24 hours, the researchers extracted coelenterazine from the copepods and looked for the labels they had added. Sure enough, the labels were there—definitive proof that the crustaceans had synthesized luciferin molecules from the amino acids.
Even the jellyfish in which coelenterazine was first discovered (and named after) was later found not to produce its own coelenterazine at all. It obtains its luciferin by eating copepods and other small crustaceans.
Researchers have found another clue that might help explain the popularity of coelenterazine in deep-sea animals: the molecule also exists in organisms that don’t emit light. This struck Jean-François Rees, a biologist at the Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium, as odd. It’s already surprising “that so many different animals rely on exactly the same molecule for producing light,” he said. Perhaps coelenterazine had another function besides luminescence?
In experiments with rat liver cells, Rees showed that coelenterazine is a powerful antioxidant. His hypothesis: perhaps coelenterazine first proliferated in marine organisms living in surface waters. There, an antioxidant would have provided much-needed protection against oxidative stress from harmful sun rays and high rates of respiration.
When these organisms began colonizing deeper layers of the ocean, where the need for antioxidants is lower, coelenterazine’s ability to emit light became useful, Rees theorized. Over time, organisms evolved different strategies—like luciferases and specialized light organs—to enhance this property.
Still, researchers have not discovered how organisms other than Oba’s copepods make coelenterazine. The genes that encode for coelenterazine are also completely unknown.
Enter the comb jelly. These ancient sea creatures—thought by some to be the first branch off the animal family tree—have long been suspected of being able to produce coelenterazine. But no one had been able to confirm that, much less track the genetic instruction kit at work.
In work reported last year, however, a team of researchers led by Francis and Haddock homed in on a gene that might be involved in synthesizing the luciferin. To do this, they looked at comb jelly transcriptomes, which provide a snapshot of the genes an animal is expressing at any given time. They were searching for genes that encoded for a group of three amino acids—the same amino acids Oba fed to his copepods.
Across 22 species of bioluminescent comb jellies, the scientists found a group of genes that fit their criteria. Those same genes were absent in two other non-luminous species of comb jellies.
“It’s very strong, but still circumstantial, evidence” that these genes might be involved in the production of coelenterazine, Haddock said. As techniques for working with comb jellies in the lab become more advanced, he thinks it may soon be possible to test his team’s findings with gene-manipulation experiments.
The New Flashlight
The genetic machinery of bioluminescence has applications beyond evolutionary biology. If scientists can isolate genes for a luciferin and luciferase pair, they can potentially engineer organisms and cells to glow, for various reasons.
In 1986, scientists at the University of California, San Diego, modified and inserted the firefly luciferase gene into a tobacco plant. The study was published in the journal Science with an image of one of these plants glowing eerily against a dark background.
The plant didn’t create light on its own, however—it contained luciferase, but needed to be watered with a solution containing luciferin to glow.
Thirty years later, scientists are still unable to genetically engineer self-luminous organisms because they don’t know the biosynthetic pathways for most luciferins. (The one exception is in bacteria: researchers have identified the “lux” genes that encode for the bacterial luciferin-luciferase system, but these genes need to be modified to be useful in any non-bacterial organism.)
One of the biggest potential uses for luciferin and luciferase is in cellular biology research—inserting them would be akin to installing lights in cells and tissues. “This type of technology can be used to track anything from where a cell is, to gene expression, to protein production,” said Jennifer Prescher, a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine.
Uses for bioluminescence molecules would be similar to those of the green fluorescent protein, which has been used to follow the fate of HIV infections, visualize tumors and track nerve-cell damage in Alzheimer’s disease.
Currently, researchers who use luciferin for imaging experiments must create a synthetic version or purchase it at $50 per milligram. Delivering externally produced luciferins into cells can also be somewhat challenging—a problem that wouldn’t exist if cells could be engineered to make their own luciferin.
While recent studies are narrowing in on the evolutionary and chemical processes of how organisms produce light, so much of the bioluminescent world still remains in the dark.
source: wired.com by
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The month of February holds cardiac and sentimental significance for many Jamaicans. It is the birth month of at least two of Jamaica’s legendary heroes, namely William Alexander Clarke and Robert Nesta Marley; more popularly known as ‘Busta’ and Bob Marley. The Jamaican Ministry of Health officially dedicates the entire month of February to heart health concerns, including cardiac health awareness.
The Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JaRIA), the newly established legislative brain of Reggae Music, has declared February to be Reggae Month specifically in honour of, arguably Reggae Music’s greatest acts: the King and Crowned Prince of Reggae, Bob Marley and Dennis Emmanuel Brown. Although the world celebrates the birthplace and emerging talent of the revolutionary genre every summer and almost every day, Jamaicans have agreed to divert all their festive attention towards this aspect of their culture to the second month of the Caesarian calendar. Considering Reggae Music’s historic role in realising racial repatriation and liberation, merging Reggae Month into Black History Month is quite comprehensible from an ethnic standpoint. Whilst Black History Month is commemorated worldwide, it may be a while before Reggae Month mimics such global festivity. The pace at which that occurs is of no importance to myself, I am more concerned with an apparent ‘taking for granted’ of this vital sect of our heritage. The forementioned may manifest sooner than Jamaicans anticipate but the rate at and extent to which the average Jamaican values Reggae Music is rapidly decreasing with it, making them indirectly proportional, if one allows it.
There is no protest that can be mounted in asserting that music is a key catalyst in Black Liberation. If one were to refer to ‘the Female Moses’ who employed her skills of song and musicianship to convey messages to her fellow captives or the Maroons of the Caribbean, especially those dwelling and traversing the Cockpit Country or finally the plights of the Nelson Mandela led African National Congress (ANC) and its nationwide supporters who fought against Apartheid on the frontline; any statement contrary to that would be quickly brushed aside. On the plantation, at nights, at church meetings or even dances, our ancestors would gather around, singing and dancing their oppressive woes away from their thoughts for even that moment when all such transgressions would be cast aside. Music again here being the motivating factor behind the physical, spiritual and mental liberty our ancestors might have experienced, temporarily. Therefore, considering that Reggae Music has aided and at times driven our racial liberation for as far back as we dared record, Why is it that natives of the land hailed as its prime origin regard its existence as primary as we do breathing? Please do not misinterpret my prior comparison to mean that we should regard regular respiration as a simple necessity. Neither of the two deserve to be overlooked, especially the blessing of inspiration through coordinated sound by means of global outreach, which is why I reiterate that this gift we possess and maintain is still widely under appreciated, unfortunately by our own. Rather, some only choose to see the fortune and fame attributed to demonstrating the mastery of said gifts in varied art forms instead of the prerequisite divine due diligence.
In more recent days, several music festivals and stageshows have been organized during and surrounding the festive season of Reggae. Other musical outings of varying natures have been making rounds throughout the year featuring more intimate settings from which to deliver.
Emancipation Park is now firmly established as one such hub, being especially utilized during the Emancipation, Independence, Christmas and Reggae Month periods. Usain Bolt’s Tracks and Records at the Marketplace benefits from a packed house each time artistes headline the Behind the Screen Series that has left patrons savouring their experiences and drooling for much more memorable presentations. Several artistes have even debuted at Tracks and Records after being brought to the fore by a headliner and gone on to headline, themselves. Uprising Reggae Roots Band Raging Fyah have been promoting its own reggae stageshow for almost half a decade now called Wickie Wackie Live. Set on the shores of Wickie Wackie Beach in 9Mile Bull Bay, patrons are pampered with soothing symphonies of Reggae and certain Dancehall tracks right up into the morning with the waves adding a divine backdrop fit for a sensual encounter. Dancehall/Reggae Group T.O.K have also ventured into event promotion with the introduction of the very successful Blue Mountain Music Festival set on the optimally cool hills of Hollywell, in rural St. Andrew. Is it that we are to rely heavily on some of our greatest acts to platform their own talents? I think not. Tony Rebel, another musical legend of our time has established the benchmark event of Rebel Music, namely, Rebel Salute. It is the premier Reggae Music festival which annually generates massive worldwide reggae music pilgrimage to our island paradise. Still, I adamantly perceive that the frequency with which Reggae is hoisted to our local population through such festivals must increase. Not, to take away from the prestige of the cemented Reggae events or of the featured acts but instead to personify its significance to Jamaican and Global culture. Neither theory nor music will stand by themselves in pursuit of such realizations, rather a balance will usher our hearts and minds along the right path.
It is my dream that our population holds dear to us Reggae Music, as we do going to the beach or eating ice-cream on Sundays. In every male-dominant society, each industry of livelihood is male-dominant. The music industry is no exception. Reggae Music is one of the most telling examples of that. Women are hardly seen as influential leaders of the ever growing genre, though they have been very much involved before its inception. In an effort to highlight the feminine touch on Reggae Music, author Heather Augustyn has travelled to extract from some of those women still alive, firsthand insight into their contributions and hardships. Added to that, in her book; Songbirds: Pioneering Women in Jamaican Music, is the untold exploits, endeavours and excursions of Reggae Music’s unsung heroines and warriesses, if you may. That is, of course including the women behind the scenery, publishing and recordings. Apart from that, I am pleased to report that an under appreciation for our Reggae Queens is making a speedy ‘U-Turn’. Women like Queen Ifrica, Etana and Jah9 have reached for and safely brought the baton home from names like Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt, Carlene Davis and Millie Small.
They have faced discrimination in morphing forms no doubt, nevertheless, I am also elated to inform my readers of a new phenomena called ADAHZEH. This is Jamaica’s newest all female band with one lead vocalist. Every other member marshalls an instrument to produce unmatched female harmony. These ‘revivalists’ are being hailed as Reggae’s third generation of musicians by our first generation of the I-Threes and Skatalites to name a few.
There might have been a generational gap between the pioneers and our current trailblazers but in my humble opinion, calling the new found eruption of interest in the genre in Jamaica a revival is a bit of a stretch. Reggae is very much alive in every hemisphere of the world. In the words of Protoje: “How unnu fi seh reggae dead, when a it wi carry on?” He cleverly played on the idea of a ‘Reggae Revival’ with impeccably timed puns in a collaborative effort featuring Romain Virgo. Like the Indiggnation Collective, I share the view that the genre has never suffered from a lack of life so to speak, rather the names and faces of the more responsible custodians have changed. The frontrunners have only, now, began to perform and complete victory laps over a much brighter-painted and faster track. The quality of the sound has never deteriorated or been sapped of vital messages. The Indiggnation Artiste himself, indignantly voiced several concerns he thought more prevalent than others on his Twitter page, where the under-commemoration of Reggae Music is concerned.
The fact that he himself as a reggae artist is publicly speaking out is merely coincidental, because I am almost certain, before artistry, as a fan he could recognize the neglect we have shown to our beloved Reggae Music. Negligence which has shackled the minds of the general population into believing it needed reviving. The same nonchalance is to blame for territories outside of Jamaica being declared Reggae capital of the world.
Photo Credit: REGGAEVILLE.com
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The Situation of Death Row
Posted by The Situationist Staff on August 3, 2007
Capital punishment is undoubtedly one of the more controversial and increasingly unique features of the American criminal justice system. While every European country (except Belarus), along with Canada and Australia, have abolished capital punishment, the United States is among a dwindling number of democracies, including Japan and India, that preserve it. Capital punishment isn’t available in every U.S. State, although 38 states sanction it, as does the federal government. Since 1976, there have been 1,089 executions in the United States, 398 of which occurred in the state of Texas.
In this week’s issue of Newsweek, Eve Conant examines a study appearing in the August issue of the American Sociological Review on whether the race of murder victims affects the probability that a convicted killer gets the death penalty or life in prison. Her story is mainly comprised of an interview with David Jacobs, coauthor of the study and a professor of sociology and political science at Ohio State University. Below we have excerpted portions of her story.
* * *
Is American justice colorblind? A new study finds that blacks on death row convicted of killing whites are more likely to be executed than whites who kill minorities. It also concludes that blacks who kill other minorities are less likely to be executed than blacks who kill whites. The authors of the report say their findings raise serious doubts about claims that the U.S. criminal justice system is colorblind.
Appearing in the August issue of American Sociological Review, the report claims to be the first of its kind to study whether the race of murder victims affects the probability that a convicted killer gets the ultimate punishment. The study examined outcomes of 1,560 people sentenced to death in 16 states between 1972 and 2002. NEWSWEEK’s Eve Conant spoke to David Jacobs, coauthor of the study and a professor of sociology and political science at Ohio State University.
NEWSWEEK: Why did you do this study?
David Jacobs: Because the role of race is a fundamental question about the death penalty. There was a lot of research, mostly on one or two Southern states, which found that if an African-American killed a white, that they’d be more likely to get the death penalty. But you have to remember that only about 10 percent of those who get the death sentence actually get executed. Most people wind up leaving death row and going back to prison where they serve long sentences. But we really didn’t know much about what happened to offenders after they were sentenced to death and that’s what’s unique about this study. We didn’t know the factors that cause executions. There have been a few studies, but we didn’t know if a black or Hispanic who kills a white person would be more likely to be executed. We knew it was more likely that these offenders would get the death sentence. But we didn’t know if they were more likely to actually get executed.
NEWSWEEK: So what did you find?
David Jacobs: Holding a whole bunch of stuff constant, including several political variables, we found that if a black person killed a white person they were more likely to get executed. If a Hispanic killed a white person they were also more likely, but this probability wasn’t quite as strong. There is more than a twofold greater risk that an African-American who killed a white will be executed than a white person who kills a nonwhite victim. A Hispanic is at least 1.4 times more likely to be executed if such an offender kills a white. Both findings are statistically significant. Also, the findings indicate that blacks who kill nonwhites are less likely to be executed than blacks who kill whites, which shows that the postsentencing capital-punishment process continues to place greater value on white lives.
* * *
For the rest of the piece, click here. In a previous post, “Black History is Now,” Jon Hanson & Michael McCann discussed a recent and remarkable study by Jennifer Ebehardt and co-authors that examined the life-and-death significance of “blackness” and found a disturbing correlation between how prototypically “black” a death-eligible criminal defendant was and whether that defendant was sentenced to death.
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Image Ownership: Public Domain
Charles Bennett Ray journalist, clergyman, and abolitionist was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts on December 25, 1807. He attended school in his hometown, and then in the 1830s he was given the opportunity by abolitionists to attend Wesleyan Seminary in Wilbraham, Massachusetts to study theology. He also studied in Middletown Connecticut at Wesleyan University, but left because of racial tension. Ray worked for five years on his grandfather’s farm, then later went on to learn the boot making trade. When he moved to New York City in 1832 he opened a boot and shoe store. Ray also became a Methodist minister.
In 1834 Charles Ray married Henrietta Green Regulus on October 27, 1836 she along with her newborn died while giving birth. Then in 1840 he married Charlotte Augusta Burroughs; they had seven children together. Two daughters, Charlotte T. Ray and Florence Ray, became the first black female attorneys in the nation in the 1870s.
In 1833 Charles Ray joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and was a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad. He dedicated most of his life to the abolitionist movement. In 1837 Ray changed denominations and became a Congregational minister. Then in 1843 he joined the New York Vigilance Committee, which involved thirteen black and white men who assisted runaway slaves. In 1848 Ray became the corresponding secretary for the Committee and remained an active member for fifteen years.
Ray in 1837 had been pastor of the predominately white Crosby Congregational Church in New York City. Beginning in 1845 he served as the pastor of the Bethesda Congregational Church, another mostly white congregation, and continued there for more than twenty years. Ray, a paid staffer with the American Missionary Association, believed strongly in the temperance movement. He was also a member of the New York Society for the Promotion of Education among Colored Children and the African Society for Mutual Relief.
In 1837 Ray became general agent of The Colored American, the fourth weekly published by African Americans. One year later he and Phillip A. Bell became co-owners. Ray became the sole owner and editor in 1839 when Phillip A. Bell resigned. Ray used The Colored American to promote “the moral, social and political elevation of the fee colored people; and the peaceful emancipation of the slaves.” Ray traveled across the Northern states giving speeches condemning the prejudice that African Americans endured. Ray and his newspaper supported the newly founded Liberty Party in 1840 because it was the only political party at the time to publicly condemn slavery.
Charles B. Ray died in New York City on August 15, 1886. He was buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn.
Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston, eds., Dictionary of American Negro Biography (New York: W. W. Norton, 1982); The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Oct., 1919), pp. 361-371 Publisher: Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2713446
University of Washington, Seattle
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Complexity theory challenges the dominant tradition of what is deemed ‘scientific’ and ‘professional’. It questions whether we can act as if the world behaves like a machine – is predictable, can be divided into parts, and defined by unambiguous cause-and-effect links. Complexity theory emphasises that the social and natural world is organic, systemic, shaped by history and context. Things are affected by many causes and connections and these act together, synergistically. The future emerges, cannot entirely be known in advance. What happens next is affected by history, chance, choice, and the particularity of the local context.
Complexity theory suggests that organisations and markets and ecologies and communities are:
- Organic: They have more in common with ecosystems, with evolving organisms than with machines; they are not in general predictable or controllable.
- Self-organising and comprised of temporary patterns of relationships: They often display patterns of relationships (such as ways of working in organisations or buying patterns in markets) which can be relatively stable but still display some variation and fluctuation and may indeed evolve, eventually, into new patterns.
- Contingent on history and context: The future depends on the detail of what happens, does not smoothly follow from the past.
- Affected by multiple causes: In general there are no simple cause-and-effect chains; outcomes are influenced by several factors acting together, together with the effects of chance, history and the wider environment.
- Co-evolutionary: Organisations are shaped by their environments and vice versa; there is interaction and reflexive change between scales, between actors.
- Episodic, non-linear change: Sometimes current patterns are resilient but flexible, sometimes locked-in and rigid, sometimes change can be fast and radical.
- Emergent: Change can lead to the emergence of features qualitatively different from the past.
The underlying premise is that the complexity of the world is something to be embraced – not ignored or seen as problematic. To assume things are stable and predictable when they are not does not lead to success. And diversity and complexity are necessary, lead to resilience and adaptability. Allowing diversity and multiple pathways ensures things have not become so efficient that there is little potential to be flexible, to adapt if things change, as they inevitably do.
The Wiltshire folks were in a dither
Because of Heraclitus’ river
They knew they could not cross it twice
But were not clear would once suffice?
And then at last a quite astute ‘un
Remembered dear old Isaac Newton
Who was a marvel in his season.
And never was he contradicted,
He said that all could be predicted
And we could all rely on Reason.
And so they dropped all their ferment
And settled on Enlightenment
And all would have continued charmin’
Apart from that annoying Darwin
And his ideas of Evolution
For which, it seems theres no solution.
This led to quite a sense of urgenc-
Y and focus on emergence;
The physicists tried to ignore it
The social scientists deplored it!
The Christians were not too keen
But then into this sorry scene
Came the Russian Belgian Prigogine
Who said, “Don’t fear, science isn’t broken
‘Cos things thought closed are in truth open;
There is a theory quite supreme
Which fits experience like a dream.”
The Wiltshire folk who’d felt at sea
Poured yet another cup of tea
And marvelled at Complexity.
Jean Boulton, 2009
In relatively stable situations, patterns of relationships tend to form friendship groups, political norms, organisation culture, who buys what from whom, and in ecologies (and corporate finance) who eats whom! But these patterns are constantly at threat of being destabilised by events, by variations in behaviour, by shocks, by shifting alliances, by new technologies. So the future depends on the extent to which the status quo is affected by such ‘events’. It is dependent on the particular path, the particular sequence of events; what emerges depends on the precise combination of factors and cannot be predicted in advance nor understood through looking at averages and stable conditions.
Judging the context
One of the factors to consider in deciding how to operate in a complex world is to judge the nature of the context. The lifecycle of a forest, building on Holling’s work goes through different phases. As it grows and matures it becomes resilient, with multiple pathways, options as to who eats what and whom, variation over the range of the forest. Over time, it becomes more ‘efficient’, less diverse and less resilient, with fewer options, fewer alternative pathways to be able to adapt if things change. This is the ‘lock-in’ stage. This is often followed by collapse as the forest is unable to deal with shocks and change. And the next phase is chaos, with lots of diversity but few established pathways and relationships. Applying this thinking to the social world suggests the following strategies.
|Encourage diversity, keep some slack|
|Allow some variation in approach|
|Lock-in||Explore what will break the lock, allow innovation and new entrants|
|Chaos||How to cohere emerging structure, build stability|
I am old enough to remember how we used to work before the current ‘managerialist’ tendencies set in, and it was pretty much as you advocate (in terms of understanding change, working from the bottom-up, and relating to the bigger picture). Your description of the application of complexity theory is really a description of what ‘good participatory management’ should be all about.
Understanding the complex world, and understanding the science and theory that informs this, has been a burning interest of mine for many years. As a physicist turned social scientist, my interest is in getting to grips with the lessons from this ‘evolutionary science’ of ‘open systems’ and seeing what they may mean for the social and natural world, and how they impact organisations as well as affect us as ordinary people living our lives.
There are many articles, papers and references in the Resources pages which give much more information about these ideas. For straight forward introductions read Leadership in a complex world or Managing in an Age of Complexity.
This Interview with Peter Allen, to whom I owe a great deal, is a great summary of complexity and explains some of the history.
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Below the term “ART” from the Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.
I placed this term (and I am still working on placing each and every of the close to 1000 terms of the Devils Dictionary) on a separate page that you can easily share in your social networks.
But this is only on part of the story: Feel free to comment on the terms, to shed lights about persons mentioned, to write your own definition – now that more 100 years have gone by since the publishing of the Devil’s Dictionary. If you have images that could contribute to this common adventure – please get in contact with me via email – email@example.com.
ART, n. This word has no definition. Its origin is related as
follows by the ingenious Father Gassalasca Jape, S.J.
One day a wag – what would the wretch be at? –
Shifted a letter of the cipher RAT,
And said it was a god’s name! Straight arose
Fantastic priests and postulants (with shows,
And mysteries, and mummeries, and hymns,
And disputations dire that lamed their limbs)
To serve his temple and maintain the fires,
Expound the law, manipulate the wires.
Amazed, the populace that rites attend,
Believe whate’er they cannot comprehend,
And, inly edified to learn that two
Half-hairs joined so and so (as Art can do)
Have sweeter values and a grace more fit
Than Nature’s hairs that never have been split,
Bring cates and wines for sacrificial feasts,
And sell their garments to support the priests.
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Alternate Activity 2: Creating Challenges for Ethics Play
Activity time: 10 minutes
Materials for Activity
- Paper and pencils
Preparation for Activity
- Review what your group has done to date with Ethics Play.
Description of Activity
In this activity, small groups of participants make up new Ethics Play situations. The activity assumes that your group has done Ethics Play activities from time to time, if not at every session. You might wish to do this instead of Activity 1: Ethics Play, above.
Before leading the activity, review the directions in Activity 4 of Session 1: Introducing Virtue and Sin. Remind the group of its experiences with Ethics Play, and ask youth to work in small groups to create new situations to use in Session 16. Say that the situations should be realistic for people of their age.
Divide the youth into small groups of three or four. Distribute pencil and papers so the youth can write their ideas.
Do not share the ideas aloud at this time. Instead, collect them, review them as you can for appropriateness, and save them to use during Session 16: Look at Me, World.
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Recently, Street Smarts received a letter from a reader who wanted to spread the word about the dangers of tailgating and, more specifically, driving while texting and/or talking on cellphones - even while using hands-free capabilities.
You see, she herself caused a collision when she was talking hands-free on her cellphone and didn't notice the green light up ahead had turned red. Upon entering the intersection, she was immediately T-boned by another vehicle. Neither party was hurt.
Street Smarts turned to Chris Cochran, spokesman for the California Office of Traffic Safety for the science behind the dangers of distracted driving. Below are some of his key points. Read his entire essay, uncut, on the Street Smarts blog, www.santacruzlive.com/blogs/streetsmarts.
The danger factor between hands-free and handheld cellphone use while driving is basically the same, he said.
It's the act of talking on a cellphone - the conversation itself - that makes cellphone use while behind the wheel the dangerous distraction, according to a recent study from Carnegie Mellon University, cited Cochran.
"It showed that up to 37 percent of the brain function needed for the complicated task of safely driving a car is apt to be shunted over to the task of carrying on a cellphone conversation," he said. "You are now driving with less than 2/3 of your brain power."
This reduced focus on the road can be referred to as a cognitive disconnect, also known as inattention blindness. That means that while the eyes see things on the road, the brain power needed to process that information is interrupted by the distraction, he said.
"As in the case of your reader, the eyes see the red light, but the brain doesn't. Why not?," he asked. "The cellphone conversation is using that part of the brain that is needed to perceive the importance of a red light in front of a moving car."
Talking on a cellphone versus chatting with passengers in the car is different because the people in the car are going to see things before the driver does and help out. However, the person on the other end of the line is just as engrossed in the conversation as the driver is.
"And since they are not reacting to anything but the conversation, the driver doesn't either," said Cochran.
While hands-free cellphone use is not illegal, the Office of Traffic Safety's "constant message is to not engage in any form of mobile device use while driving," he continued. "No hand-held talking, no texting, also no Bluetooth, no speaker phone, no built-in dashboard integrated voice-activated devices. It's all distracting."
As for tailgating, the reader, who had never been in a collision prior to this one, said motorists who follow too closely, especially while driving distracted, risk rear-ending the vehicle up ahead should it stop unexpectedly.
Street Smarts appears Mondays and Thursdays. New topics are posted weekdays on the blog. Follow it on Twitter and Facebook. Submit questions to those aforementioned social media sites or to email@example.com. Make sure to include your name, city of residence and a phone number where you can be reached.
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I need help on these questions please.
1. given that sin^2 x + cos^2 x = 1 show that 1+cot^2 x = cosec^2 x
2. Solve for values x in the interval -pi<x<pi for the following in 2 decimal places:
a. 2cosec(x/2) - 5 =0
b. 2cot^2 x - cot x -7 = 0
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Data security is a great ever-evolving discipline that should protect delicate information via hacks and breaches. Firms in all industrial sectors have a legal and honest responsibility to guard the customer and user details they collect. This is why improving upon data security can be an essential a part of every organization’s risk management approach.
Whether is considered physical use of your hosts or an accidental simply click a shady link, the top reason for data breaches is our error. To prevent these dangers, you should create clear insurance policies about who can access what data and train your employees to distinguish work with confidential data suspicious activity.
Additionally , you should use the principle of least privilege to limit access to very sensitive data. The more people who have access to a particular part of data, the greater the chance of an internal break or thievery of the data by a web attacker. Instead, grant new accounts the least volume of access possible and increase liberties with seniority or necessity.
The complexity of modern calculating environments increases the need for powerful data governance. It’s now common for the single provider to store data in the cloud, on their enterprise info center and across several edge devices including IoT sensors, robots and remote servers. This enhanced attack area makes it tough to keep track of every actions coupled to the data, let alone safeguard against a infringement or cyberattack. This is why concentrating on best practices like data classification, reducing visibility levels and getting the right software tools to triage and protect data is important.
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…. But a review by scientists from the University of Exeter and the Kunming Institute of Botany (Chinese Academy of Sciences) found plants use a host of techniques long known to be used by animals.
These include blending with the background, “disruptive colouration” (using high-contrast markings to break up the perceived shape of an object) and “masquerade” (looking like an unimportant object predators might ignore, such as a stone).
“It is clear that plants do more than entice pollinators and photosynthesise with their colours—they hide in plain sight from enemies too,” said Professor Martin Stevens, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.
“From ‘decoration’, where they accumulate things like dust or sand on their surface, to disruptive coloration, they use many of the same methods as animals to camouflage themselves.
“We now need to discover just how important a role camouflage has in the ecology and evolution of plants.”
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Writer: Justin Bannister, 575-646-5981, firstname.lastname@example.org
It's a hulking, snarling machine. It's taller than a man and towers over the fields before it. It also communicates with both satellites and computers. Though it may sound intimidating, this mechanical beast isn't part of a science-fiction novel. It's real, and it's actually designed to protect the environment while saving farmers money.
The Spider is a prototype tractor being tested at New Mexico State University. It's not the first ever built, but its infrared cameras, global positioning system, variable rate controller and computer technology certainly make it one of the most advanced.
"I think this is going to be the next advancement in agriculture technology," said Tracey Carrillo, a senior research specialist at NMSU's Agriculture Experiment Station in the College of Agriculture and Home Economics. "Plus, farmers who use the Spider could save hundreds of dollars per acre."
To most, the tractor looks similar to others. What makes the Spider different is its ability to "see" what it's doing with three infrared cameras mounted in the front. A GPS system also tells the tractor exactly where it is.
The infrared cameras mounted on the front of the Spider measure the reflectance of light off of plants in the field and tell a computer their condition. If a plant's leaves are too yellow, it needs more nitrogen. If the leaves are green, the plant is fine. These differences may be too subtle for the human eye to notice. The computer then sends a signal to the variable rate controller to adjust the application rate of granular nitrogen. In layman's terms, the tractor knows to spray only the plants in need.
Conventionally, if crops needed a fertilizer like nitrogen, or any other application, farmers would have to apply a uniform amount over the entire area. This means blanketing the whole field whether every plant needed it or not. This leads to wasted resources.
The fertilizer applicator on the Spider can be adjusted to deliver almost any chemical used in agriculture, but right now the focus is solely on granular nitrogen. "So far it's the only tractor able to deliver a variable rate of nitrogen in a solid form for cotton," said Carrillo.
Carrillo believes by targeting only plants in need of treatment, the delivery system could cut the use of nitrogen on crops by half. "That translates into direct and indirect savings of $200 to $600 per acre for the farmer," said Carrillo.
Cutting the use of nitrogen also helps the environment. Nitrates are derived from nitrogen and are a natural part of the environment, but too many nitrates can be harmful to humans and contaminate drinking water.
"Past research has also shown excessive nitrogen leads to increased pest insect populations," Carrillo said. "Too many pest insects translate into an additional cost for the grower in the form of more frequent insecticide applications."
"Optimizing nitrogen in cotton also limits the amount of growth regulators needed, and that's another savings for the grower," said Carrillo. "It may even reduce the amount of defoliants used by forcing the cotton to drop its leaves sooner so farmers can harvest the lint."
The Spider cuts down on other expenses too. "With less nitrogen in fields, crops won't need as much water to absorb nutrients through their roots," he said.
Previously, researchers tried to use satellite technology to evaluate plant fitness and nitrogen deficiency, but there was a lag in processing the data. By the time the results of a satellite scan got to the user, the needs of the crops had changed. The infrared cameras are more accurate and the data they collect is in real time, said Carrillo.
Satellites are still used by this system, but in a different way. A GPS on the tractor uses satellites to plot what the infrared cameras "see" every two feet. Later, the information can be mapped and a farmer can see which parts of his field are stressed and which parts are healthy. This also lets the farmer know if certain issues such as soil quality, pest insect damage or disease need to be addressed.
Additionally, a vacuum on the front of the tractor is used to collect insect samples as the tractor moves along the rows of crops. Later, scientists can look at the samples to see whether or not the field has a healthy, stable balance of predator and prey insects. A low predator/prey ratio lets a grower know the beneficial insects may not be able to control pest insects, thus requiring intervention.
The applicator can be used with almost any kind of crop. A similar tractor is being tested in Oklahoma for use on wheat and corn. Carrillo wants his machine to focus on cotton. "It's one of the most widely grown crops in southern New Mexico, yet it's not being addressed by this kind of tractor," he said.
The Spider is still in the testing phase. Carrillo helped design this particular version, built by the West Texas Lee Co. He credits others in the NMSU Spider development team, including Joe Ellington, Jeff Drake, Jill McCauley, Justin Trevino and Savannah Kenney.
Carrillo had hoped to evaluate its performance with several different growers in the Mesilla Valley this past summer, but heavy rains hampered their plans. He hopes to explore its use in chile and onions next year with several different farmers.
Once the tractor is perfected, the next step will be to commercialize it. Carrillo sees the tractor being very popular if he's able to show farmers the benefit of using advanced technology in an age old-practice.
© 2013 New Mexico State University Board of Regents
NMSU - All About Discovery!
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First in a series of blogs on design and manufacturability.
Designing a product so that it can be manufactured and simultaneously meet the cost, performance, quality, and reliability goals requires a set of skills, experience, and knowledge across a variety of areas beyond design engineering. Fortunately, strategies and methods have evolved that are effective both in determining the manufacturability of a product and providing potential areas for cost reduction.
There are a number of acronyms for these methods – in this blog we’ll review several of the more widely used terms.
In his book, “Design for Manufacturability: How to use Concurrent Engineering to Rapidly Develop Low-Cost, High Quality Products for Lean Production”, Dr. David Anderson defines DFM as “the process of proactively designing products to (1) optimize all the manufacturing functions: fabrication, assembly, test, procurement, shipping, delivery, service, repair and (2) assure the best cost, quality, reliability, compliance, safety, time-to-market, and customer satisfaction.
Before DFM was a focus, engineering teams designed products and “threw it over the wall” to the manufacturing team to figure out how to get the design into production – this often resulted in significant delays and increased costs as the manufacturing team pleading to the engineers for changes to the design (which was often met with “it’s too late”) in order to meet the manufacturing objectives.
Today, product development teams are often multi-functional with early and consistent participation from the operations side (procurement, manufacturing, quality finance, etc), as well as marketing/sales, service, and so on. The team works together to optimize the design for ease of manufacturing, cost, quality, reliability, testability, servicing, safety, regulatory compliance, etc. from the beginning and throughout the design process.
Design for assembly is a process where products are designed with ease of assembly as the goal. In addition, if the parts are designed with features making it easier to handle and insert, assembly time and costs will also be reduced. The primary theory is that by reducing the number of parts in a design, you’ll lower the assembly time and therefore reduce the assembly costs. In the 1970’s, numerical evaluation methods were developed to facilitate studies on both existing and designs in process to assess ease of assembly. In the late 1970’s Geoff Boothroyd developed the DFA method, which could be used to estimate time for manual assembly of a product along with automatic assembly machine cost. As the most important factor to reduce assembly cost was to minimize the number of parts in a product, he developed three criteria to theoretically determine whether any of the parts in the product could be eliminated or combined with other parts. These criteria, along with tables that relate assembly time to design factors that influence part grasping, orientation and insertion, could be used to estimate total assembly time and to rate the quality of a product design from an assembly viewpoint. For automatic assembly, tables of factors could be used to estimate the cost of automatic feeding and orienting and automatic insertion of the parts on an assembly machine. Since that time there have been many other methods developed based on the original DFA work done, and are all referred to as DFA methods. Commercially available software (Boothroyd-Dewhurst, Inc,) is now available to assist companies in the process of DFA.
It's worth noting that this methodology is most successful when utilized at the earliest phases of the product development cycle (ie, DESIGN for Manufacturability, DESIGN for Assembly). DFM/DFA was one of the founding principles for Acorn – it’s in our DNA and in all the work we do, starting at the conceptual design phase.
We’ll talk more about the DFM/DFA process in subsequent blogs.
Ken Haven has been CEO of Acorn Product Development since the company’s founding in 1993. Ken has more than 25 years of product development experience including technical leadership roles with NeXT Computer, Attain, Inc., and Hewlett-Packard. He holds MS and BS degrees in mechanical engineering from Cornell University.
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Things are looking grim for young Americans starting work.
According to a new report on the state of US education from the Council on Foreign Relations, Americans going into the labor force today are less educated than those retiring from it. This phenomenon is unique among developed countries. For 55- to 64-year-olds, the US has the highest percentage of high-school graduates and the third-highest percentage of college graduates; in people aged 25 to 34, the country is 10th and 13th respectively.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people without a high-school diploma have the highest rate of unemployment and the lowest earnings.
At its current pace, the US will need to add a little more than 200,000 jobs a month in order to close the “jobs gap” by 2020, according to the Hamilton Project. But as baby boomers (those born in the generation after World War II) continue to leave the workforce, companies are having trouble finding skilled workers to replace them.
While robots and iPads may be invading the classroom, there might be something about education we can learn by looking back—about 40 years.
More from Quartz
- College tuition in the US isn’t climbing as fast as you think
- The not-so-simple calculus behind choosing whether or not to go to college
- Two maps debunk one of the biggest myths about student loans in the US
- Personal Finance - Career & Education
- Investing Education
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Scientists find way to make old muscles young again
It is a dream for everyone as they grow older to turn back the clock and live in a younger body once again. While many have developed ways to make the body look younger cosmetically, there have been very few effective methods to combat the aging process within the body – until now.
For the first time ever, researchers have identified a crucial protein responsible for the decline of muscle repair and agility as the body ages. Upon this discovery, the scientists were able to effectively halt muscle decline in mice, giving hope to similar treatments for humans in the future.
According to the study’s authors, loss of muscle strength and repair is one of the major concerns facing elderly citizens.
“A great advantage of medicine is that people are not dying as early as they used to, but the body hasn’t figured out how to maintain its muscle repair,” Andrew Brack, of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Regenerative Medicine and corresponding study author, told FoxNews.com. “The average loss of muscle mass for the 80-year-old male is 40 percent. Elderly people will fall over and break bones, they go to the hospital where they lose more muscle strength, and then don’t recover.”
Brack noted that muscle strength is also one of the main factors that keeps elderly individuals out of the hospital and allows them to be productive members of the workforce. In order to combat this muscle decline, Brack and Albert Basson, who met at King’s College London, teamed up to see if they could put the process in reverse.
The key revolves around stem cells found within muscles. During exercise or injury, these stem cells become activated and work fervently by dividing and multiplying into new muscle fibers that help to repair the muscle. When they are no longer need, they retreat into a reservoir within the muscle and lay dormant until they are needed again.
The problem with aging muscles is that these ‘fixer’ stem cells don’t remain dormant when they’re not needed. Instead, they become activated more and more and unnecessarily divide and multiply – causing them to die at a faster rate. Since muscles only have a finite amount of these stem cells, the quicker the cells die, the less effective muscles become at repairing themselves.
Wondering exactly why the stem cells became more activated with age, Brack and Basson screened older muscles, finding higher levels of a protein called FGF2 – a protein that stimulates cell division. The scientists figured these levels could explain the unnecessary cell activation.
“As your muscle gets old, you start making more of this FGF2 protein,” Basson, senior lecturer at King’s College London Dental Institute, told FoxNews.com. “…When there’s more, the FGF2 starts waking up these stem cells and they start dividing. The stem cells have a limited number of times they can divide before they die or differentiate into other cells.”
Basson figured that if they were able to boost a gene called SPRY2, which inhibits FGF2, then the stem cells would lay dormant until they were absolutely needed. To test this theory, the researchers administered a common drug containing SPRY2 to suppress FGF2 levels in elderly mice. Sure enough, the drugs halted the decline of muscle stem cells in the mice.
Read more: Reverse aging? Scientists find way to make old muscles young again | Fox News
|All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:18 PM.|
Copyright 1997 - 2014 - BlackandGold.com
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|"Each finger is like a mini grumpy cat, beautiful in it's own way"|
(BBC Science-Environment, 9, Jan 2013) - Science may be getting closer to explaining those prune-like fingers and toes we all get when we sit in a hot bath too long. UK researchers from Newcastle University have confirmed wet objects are easier to handle with wrinkled fingers than with dry, smooth ones. They suggest our ancestors may have evolved the creases as they foraged for food in wet vegetation or in streams.
Their experiments are reported in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
Journal article: Water-induced finger wrinkles improve handling of wetobjects
These involved asking volunteers to pick up marbles immersed in a bucket of water with one hand and then passing them through a small slot to be deposited by the other hand in a second container.
Volunteers with wrinkled fingers routinely completed the task faster than their smooth-skinned counterparts. The team found there was no advantage from ridged fingers when moving dry objects. This suggests that the wrinkles serve the specific function of improving our grip on objects under water or when dealing with wet surfaces in general.
For a long time, it was assumed that the wrinkles were simply the result of the skin swelling in water, but recent investigations have actually shown the furrows to be caused by the blood vessels constricting in reaction to the water, which in turn is a response controlled by the body's sympathetic nervous system.
That an active system of regulation is at work led scientists into thinking there must be some deeper evolutionary justification for the ridges.
"If wrinkled fingers were just the result of the skin swelling as it took up water, it could still have a function but it wouldn't need to," said Dr Tom Smulders, from Newcastle's Centre for Behaviour and Evolution. The tests involved handling wet objects with wrinkled and un-wrinkled fingers
"Whereas, if the nervous system is actively controlling this behaviour under some circumstances and not others, it seems less of a leap to assume there must be a function for it, and that evolution has selected it. And evolution wouldn't have selected it unless it conferred some sort of advantage," he told BBC News.
US-based researchers were the first to propose that the wrinkles might act like the tread on tyres, and even demonstrated how the patterns in the skin resembled those of run-off channels seen on the sides of hills.
What the Newcastle team has now done is confirm that prune-like fingers are indeed better at gripping wet objects.
"We have tested the first prediction of the hypothesis - that handling should be improved," Dr Smulders said.
"What we haven't done yet is show why - to see if the wrinkles remove the water, or whether it's some other feature of those wrinkles such as a change in their stickiness or plasticity, or something else. The next thing will be to measure precisely what's happening at that interface between the objects and the fingers."
Our ancestors might not have played with wet marbles, but having better gripping fingers and feet would certainly have been advantageous as they foraged for food along lake-shores and by rivers.
It would be interesting to see, observed Dr Smulders, just how many other animals displayed this trait - in particular, in primates.
"If it's in many, many primates then my guess is that the original function might have been locomotion through wet vegetation or wet trees. Whereas, if it's just in humans that we see this then we might consider something much more specific, such as foraging in and along rivers and the like."
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As much as I wish I was the one that wrote the following article to announce this great news, it is as much an honor to be able to forward it on to whomever happens upon my blog. When the attempt to eradicate polio was started in 1988, 350,000 children a year were stricken with polio. Now the world is down to 3 countries…….think about how great that is……
Statement from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative on Polio-Free Certification
of the WHO South-East Asia Region
WHO SOUTH-EAST ASIA REGION OF 1.8 BILLION PEOPLE DECLARED POLIO-FREE
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) today congratulates the countries in the South-East Asia Region of the World Health Organization (WHO) on being certified polio-free, a historic milestone in the worldwide effort to end polio and realize the broad benefits eradication will bring. The 11 countries in the region – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste – are home to 1.8 billion people and represent the fourth of six WHO regions of the globe to be officially certified polio-free.
India, once deemed the most difficult place to end polio, recorded its last case on 13 January 2011, enabling completion of regional certification. Other countries such as Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan have been polio-free and waiting for this day for more than 15 years.
Ending polio in these countries forged strong systems that are now being used to advance other health priorities. In Bangladesh, immunization coverage for essential vaccines (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis) rose from 82% to 96% between 2000 and 2012, in a period of intense polio eradication activity; in Nepal, the rate went from 74% to 90%. Some countries have expanded their high-performing polio surveillance networks to track other vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, neonatal tetanus and Japanese encephalitis.
South-East Asia’s remarkable achievement in ending polio was made possible by unprecedented commitment from governments to hold high-quality vaccination campaigns that reached a cumulative total of 7.5 billion children over 17 years, in every home from the busiest city street to the remotest rural corner, with the dedication of millions of community health workers and volunteers. Between 1995 and 2012, the polio programme conducted 189 nationwide campaigns across the region and administered more than 13 billion doses of oral polio vaccine.
The region’s accomplishment marks a vital step toward the GPEI’s goal of delivering a polio-free world by 2018. Innovative approaches and new partners are driving global progress against a multi-year plan to stop transmission, improve immunization rates and make a lasting impact on child mortality. However, this progress is at risk unless polio is ended in the three countries where it has never been stopped: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. Recent outbreaks in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa are stark reminders that polio anywhere is a threat everywhere. Until polio is stopped in the remaining three endemic areas, all countries need to maintain sensitive surveillance and high immunization rates to rapidly detect any importation of poliovirus and minimize its impact. Now that 80% of the world’s population lives in regions certified polio-free, the goal of eradication is closer than ever.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is a public-private partnership led by national governments and spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 1988, when the GPEI was launched, more than 350,000 children were being paralyzed or killed by polio each year. That figure has been reduced by 99.9%: in 2013, 406 cases of polio were reported.
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Today we introduce you a robot fish that is able to swim and recognize tank edges and obstacles. We’ll find out how we can easily create it with common insulating material and a few servo motor controlled by Arduino.
The mechanical part
For the fish body we used common polystyrene as the one used as insulating material for walls. Inexpensive, very robust and lightweight: it floats easily and is easily moldable. Great deal.
To make fish’s swimming more realistic, we need three joints between the trunk and the caudal fin. As actuators we have chosen of common modeling servos: small, powerful enough and easily controlled by a microcontroller.
The servos are ideal because with them you can manage the movement of a small shaft connecting all segments of the fish, varying at will the position, even a few degrees.
The fish body is divided into a central part and three parts, each of which moved by a servo. The caudal fin is made with plastic recycled from supermarket goods packages.
The flexibility of the fin allows you to give more realism to movement. To obtain harmonic motion, each part is attached to the next by a servo: the body of the servo should be glued on a body segment while the servo arm (connected to the shaft) shall be glued on the next.
Obviously Robofish needs a system to detect obstacles such as the tank edges. To create this, we used two Sharp GP2Y0D805PCB infrared sensors with digital output. These components can detect objects up to 5 cm and are quite easy to manage. Once encased in a plastic bag, can operate in water.
Position the sensors on the front, tilted to 45°, one on left and one on the right. Then carve out the room for control, batteries and sensors.
The profile of the fish is at your choice. Don’t worry too about weight as in our prototype we added 460g of further weight to ensure right level of floating.
As control we opted for an Arduino-compatible Board produced by Seeedstudio but any Arduino board will do. Four simple AA batteries will provide a voltage compatible with the servo feed, while the Arduino board derives its tension thanks to its internal 5 volt regulator.
As it is difficult to use a conventional switch (you can’t handle it since everything is covered in plastic) we used a small magnetic contact, such as those used to detect the windows opening. It consists of a Reed contact activated by a small magnet. Place the contact on the outer edge of the robot so by approaching the magnet, you can activate the circuit. This explains that little bump on the head of the robots seen in the video.
Of course, the robot fish will work until the magnet is on his head. Clever and cheap.
Using Arduino it’s easier as cabling is easy and immediate and the realization of the sketch is deadly simple.
Servo movement is repetitive and follows a precise scheme. We provided the ability to personalize few variables so that you can test different kinds of swimming. The swim takes place by moving the three servos in synchronous, according to a pattern that resembles the letter s: each segment varies slightly out of phase with respect to the previous.
For the servo movement we used servo.h library, already available on the Arduino IDE. You simply declare the servo and the multi-touch corresponding output using the servo. attach (pin). The servo.detach() method allows to release the output from the servo to use it eventually as PWM output. Commands managing servos movement are two.
The first, ServoWriteMicroseconds, allows you to set the position of the servo command by specifying the length in microseconds. The value in this case should be between 1,000 and 2,000 µs. The midpoint of 1500 corresponds to the neutral position respect the shaft line. The second statement, Write, allows positioning by specifying the angle in degrees: the value of the angle must be between 0 and 180°, 90° intermediate value corresponding to the neutral position of the servo.
The two sens_SX and sens_DX named sensors are wired respectively on pins 5 and 6. In the main loop there’s is a for cycle that increments the i variable at regular intervals from 0 to 360 cyclically, in a total time defined by the variable velocity.
The value of the i variable together with that of phase, determines the position of the servo motors. This value is referred to a full 360° loop and then must be offset, keeping in mind the neutral position of the servo, of the potential shift and that of the maximum deflection you want to give to the movement.
The latter is defined by the variable maxDeflexion (decimal degrees) and defines the maximum deflection of each stroke: the higher this value, the wider will be the movement of the three trunks of the fish.
With phase set to 0 mail all the servo will move along; increasing this value introduces a phase shift between the servo position. As a result you will get a movement that is similar to the letter S, the more pronounced the greater the value of phase is.
When detecting obstacles, the neutral position of the servo moves gradually on the opposite side of the obstacle. In this way, the fish will describe an arc of circle away from the obstacle.
The arc can be controlled through maxDefobs variable: the higher this value, the more will be the swim line curvature. When the obstacle is no longer being detected (time controlled with lostTime), the servo motion resumes to go regular. Each servo PIN range between-maxDeflexion and + maxDeflexion, while if an obstacle is detected it ranges between the values of -maxDeflexion + maxDefobs and maxDeflexion + maxDefobs.
Before testing the robot into water you must carefully check every mechanical and electrical connection. Turn the fish on and control the movements and ensure that both sensors provide signal to the Arduino. Use a multimeter to measure the voltage on their output: in the absence of obstacles the signal should be high. Checking voltage supply is not a bad idea: make sure is at least 5.5 V.
At this point we’re ready to waterproof the robot: there are many solutions, we have introduced the robot in a plastic bag (breathe inside to see if it has holes and seal it with duct tape). Use rubber bands to keep the bag lying close to the body of the robot and make sure the servo are free to move.
The swim will take place in surface water: you’ll probably have to weigh down the robot with sufficient wright to keep it at the correct height. As mentioned above, in our prototype, we added like 460 grams. Once the robot floats in the right way you can turn it on by placing the small magnet and let him sinuously swim in digital freedom.
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The Chain Murders
by MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in Los Angeles
14 Dec 2009 20:19
The history of political assassinations in Iran is almost as old as the nation itself: Xerxes (519-465 BC) was killed by his guards; Xerxes II ruled for only 45 days before he was murdered in 424 by his brother Secydianus; and even Nader Shah (1688-1747) of the Afsharid dynasty met his demise at the hands of an assassin. In fact, the root of the very word "assassin" is generally attributed to Hassan Sabbah (1050s-1124) and his followers, who were the political dissidents of their era, although linguists debate the origin of assassin as deriving from the words meaning "user of hashish" [as Sabbah's followers were sometimes called the Hashshashin], "a follower of Hassan," or "rowdy people."
The Qajar Dynasty
In the modern era, the first political assassination in Iran occurred on April 30, 1896, when Mirza Reza Kermani assassinated Nassereddin Shah (1831-1896) of the Qajar dynasty in Rey, a town south of Tehran. Kermani was a follower of Sayyed Jamaladdin Asadabadi (1838-1897), who was also known as "Afghani," one of the earliest proponents of Islamic modernism. The assassination and the subsequent execution of Kermani on August 12, 1896, represented a watershed moment in Iran's modern history that ultimately led to the Constitutional Revolution (1905-1908), the first democratic movement in the modern Middle East.
Kermani had said, "I could have killed him [Nassaereddin Shah] earlier, but I did not do it because [when I could] the Jews were celebrating their picnic after the 8th day of Passover, and I did not want the Jews to be accused of killing the Shah."
It was after the Constitutional Revolution that murdering intellectuals began to be used routinely as a weapon of state for silencing the opposition. Mirza Jahangir-Khan Shirazi (1875-1908), better known as Mirza Jahangir-Khan Sur-e Esrafil, a journalist, intellectual, revolutionary, and founder and editor of the progressive weekly Sur-e Esrāfil, was executed after Mohammad-Ali Shah Qajar's coup against the Constitutionalists. Mohammad-Ali Shah hated Sur-e Esrafil so much that he personally attended his hanging. It is said that right before his execution, Sur-e Esrafi said, "Long live the Constitutional government!" and that he pointed to the ground and said, "O Land, we are [being] murdered for the sake of your preservation."
Executed along with Sur-e Esrafil was fellow revolutionary Mirza Nasrollah Beheshti, known as Malek al-Motakallemin (1860-1908), an intellectual who was so impressed by the Japanese model of progress that he advocated a more rational use of natural resources for industrialization of Iran. Author and literary critic Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani (1853-1908) was beheaded on the order of Mohammad Ali Shah.
Sheikh Mohammad Khiabani (1880-1920) was also killed in the twilight years of the Qajar dynasty. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Khiabani, who was a leftist revolutionary and had re-established the Democrat Party of Tabriz (it had been banned for five years), published the daily Tajaddod ("Modernity") as the mouthpiece of his political party. He was killed by government forces, although it was claimed that he had committed suicide.
The Pahlavi Dynasty
Political killings of intellectuals and dissidents persisted under the Pahlavi dynasty. The British-sponsored coup of 1921 made Reza Khan Sardar Sepah (1878-1944) Iran's strongman. He later founded the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925 and was crowned as Reza Shah. He suppressed progressive movements in various parts of Iran, and killed their leaders, some of whom were intellectuals: Haydar Amu-Oghlu, a leftist intellectual revolutionary, was killed in 1921 and Col. Mohammad Taghi Khan Pesyan, a military man and author, in 1921. The latter was trained as a pilot in the German Air Force and fought in WWI. He translated many works from Persian to French, French to Persian, as well as from German and English to Persian as well. He authored two books in Persian, Sargozasht-e yek javan-e vatandoust ("The Life of a Young Patriot") and Jang-e moqaddas az Baghdad ta Iran ("The Holy War from Baghdad to Iran"). He was beheaded on the order of Iran's premier Ahmad Qavam (1876-1955) and his minister of war, Reza Khan.
Mohammad Farrokhi Yazdi (1887-1939), the great poet and journalist who had been jailed in 1909 (during the reign of the Qajar dynasty), died in Reza Shah's prison. While in Reza Shah's jail, his lips were sewn together to make an example of the fate that awaited dissidents. Sayyed Mohammad Reza Kordestani, known as Mohammad Reza Mirzadeh Eshghi (1893-1924), an eminent political poet, was assassinated by the security forces of Reza Khan Sardar Sepah, who was then prime minister. Sayyed Hassan Modarres (1870-1937), the cleric founder of one of the first reformist political parties in Iran, Hezb Eslaahtalab (Reformist Party), and was called "brave and incorruptible," and "perhaps the most fervent cleric supporter of true constitutional government," was also killed in Reza Shah's prison. It is interesting to note that Modarres was opposed to Reza Shah's plans for abolishing monarchy in Iran, and wanted him to be a benevolent king. Dr. Taghi Arani (1905-1940), a distinguished leftist intellectual, died in captivity under Reza Shah, after he was deliberately infected by typhus.
Ali Akbar Davar (1888-1937), one of Reza Shah's most faithful servants and the architect of Iran's modern judiciary, committed suicide because he thought that Reza Shah was going to murder him. Mohsen Jansouz (1915-1940), a political activist who was a supporter of Adolf Hitler and had translated his book into Persian, but opposed Pahlavi rule, was killed on the king's order.
Other intellectuals and dissidents either went into exile or fell completely silent, including Abolqassem Aref Ghazvini (1879-1934), a national poet who died in forced exile in Hamadan; Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh (1882-1967); Soleiman Mirza Eskandari (1863-1944), a leftist intellectual and a founding member of the communist Tudeh (masses) Party; and Mohammad Ali Foroughi (1877-1943), who in 1907 had became director of Tehran School of Political Science and was instrumental in the rise of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to the throne, later serving as the first prime minister during his reign.
After the Allied forces invaded and occupied Iran, deposed Reza Shah, and put his son Mohammad Reza on the throne, political assassinations of intellectuals, dissidents and government officials continued. Ahmad Kasravi (1890-1946), the distinguished historian who fought against Shiism and even introduced a new religion with himself as the prophet, was killed by Islamic zealots. On March 11, 1946, while on trial for "slander against Islam," Kasravi was attacked by a knife-wielding follower of Navab Safavi (1924-1955), the Shiite fundamentalist cleric who founded Fadayan Islam (Devotees of Islam).
Fadayan Islam also assassinated members of the Shah's government. First, they assassinated Abdolhosein Hazhir (1899-1949), who served as a minister ten times. He was serving as Minister to the Royal Court when he was assassinated on November 5, 1949, by Sayyed Hossein Emami Esfahani, a member of Navab Safavi's organization. General Haj Ali Razmara (1901-1951), the Shah's premier, was assassinated by 26-year-old Khalil Tahmasebi of Fadayan Islam. He was the first Iranian prime minister to be assassinated.
The Shah himself was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt. He was attending a ceremony on February 4, 1949, to celebrate the founding of Tehran University when Nasser Fakhr Arai fired five shots at him, but only one of them hit the Shah. Fakhr Arai himself was killed by security officers. Although it was claimed that Fakhr Arai was a member of the Tudeh Party (a then-illegal Communist party), there is evidence that he may have been a religious fundamentalist. This evidence is set forth by Stephen Kinzer, a former reporter for The New York Times, in his outstanding 2003 book, "All The Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror." In his memoirs right before his death, the Shah himself stated that Fakhr Arai was a fundamentalist (he also claimed that Fakhr Arai was a British agent). Eventually Fadayan Islam turned against Dr. Mosaddegh as well.
After the CIA/MI6 coup of 1953, Dr. Hossein Fatemi (1919-1954), a prominent journalist who served as foreign minister in Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh's cabinet, was carried on a stretcher to the firing squad. Karim Pourshirazi, editor of the daily Shouresh ("Uprising"), and a fiery critic of the Shah and his twin sister Ashraf, was burnt alive in a military prison after undergoing severe torture.
Khosro Ruzbeh (1915-1958), who was executed by the Shah's government, was the chief of the military branch of the Tudeh Party, as well as the author of a number of pamphlets on chess, artillery warfare, and, together with Ardeshir Ovanessian, the co-author of the country's first political lexicon, Dictionary of Political and Social Terms.
Journalist Khosro Golsorkhi (1944-1974); Keramatollah Daneshian, a filmmaker and teacher (1944-1974); leftist intellectual Bijan Jazani (1938-1975); author Hamid Momeni (who published under the pseudonym M. Bidsorkhi), and dozens of other intellectuals were all murdered simply because they opposed the Pahlavi regime. Hundreds of secular and Islamic leftists were killed by the Shah's security forces in the 1960s and 1970s.
For an excellent account of the history and fate of many Iranian intellectuals, read "The Condition of Intellectuals in Iran," an article by Bagher Momeni.
Murder of Dissidents in the Islamic Republic
In terms of politically-motivated killing of dissidents, intellectuals and opposition members, 1980-1998 represents the darkest and bloodiest period in the last 150 years of Iran's history. Thousands of political prisoners were executed in that decade, as I described in an earlier article (and will therefore not discuss again here).
The focus of this article is the period 1988-1998, during which dozens of prominent dissidents and intellectuals were secretly or openly murdered. The full extent of these murders is still unknown. Not only do we not know the exact number of people murdered, we do not really know who ordered them, as the killings are still shrouded in secrecy.
It was only during the fall of 1998, during the second year of the first term of Mohammad Khatami's presidency that the serial murders of dissidents and intellectuals of the preceding decade came to light. This was made possible by the "Tehran Spring" (named after the "Prague Spring") of 1998-2000, a brief period when the Iranian press enjoyed relative freedom and began publishing exposes on these events.
In 1998, between late summer and fall, six dissidents and intellectuals were murdered in what came to be known as the "Chain Murders" [ghatl-haye zanjireh-i]. Iranians soon learned, however, that the number of people killed far exceeded that number.
The assassination of members of the opposition outside Iran began as early as December 1979, when Shahryar Shafiq (1945-1979), the son of Ashraf Pahlavi, the Shah's twin sister, was gunned down in a street in Paris.
In July 1980, Ali Tabatabaei (1930-1980) was murdered at his home in Bethesda, Maryland, by Dawud Salahuddin, an American who was sympathetic to the 1979 Revolution. Tabatabaei was the press attache in Iran's embassy in the United States under the Shah, and had joined the opposition after the 1979 Revolution. Salahuddin was paid $5,000 to kill Tabatabaei, and currently lives in Iran.
On February 7,1984, General Gholam-Ali Oveissi (1920-1984), a hard-line army commander and military governor of Tehran under the Shah, and his brother Gholam-Hossein, were assassinated in Paris.
On January 16, 1987, Ali Akbar Mohammadi, who was a former pilot for Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was assassinated by two men in Hamburg, Germany.
On May 19, 1987, Hamidreza Chitgar (1949-1987), who was First Secretary of Hezb Kaar (Labor Party), was assassinated in an apartment in Vienna, Austria. His body was discovered a week later. It was said that a man named Ali Amiztab had corresponded with Chitgar from Iran for about two years and had lured him from Paris, where he lived, to Vienna.
In 1989, Abdulrahman Ghassemlou, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) since 1973, had gone to Vienna, Austria, to negotiate with representatives of the Iranian government. On July 13, he and his aides Abdollah Ghaderi, Fadal Mala and Mamoud Rassoul, met with Iranian representatives Mohammad Jafari Sahraroudi, Amir Bozorgnia and Kurdistan provincial governor Mostafa Ajoudi. Shots were fired at the apartment where the meeting took place, killing Ghassemlou and his aides. The shooting was reported to the police by the Iranian delegation who, however, denied any responsibility. The Austrian police, after taking statements, released the Iranian representatives, but concluded later that they were probably the culprits. By then, however, the Iranian delegation had been expelled from Austria.
In August 1989, Gholam Keshavarz, a communist and opponent of the Islamic Republic, was assassinated in Cyprus by unknown assailants.
Dr. Kazem Rajavi (1934-1990), the elder brother of Massoud Rajavi, the leader of Mojahedin-e Khalgh Organization (MKO), was assassinated on April 24, 1990, in a village near Geneva in Switzerland. He was Iran's first Ambassador to the United Nations headquarters in Geneva after the 1979 Revolution, but resigned his post and was active in the MKO's political arm, the National Council of Resistance.
In July 1990, Ali Kashefpour, a member of the Central Committee of the KDPI, was killed in Turkey. He had apparently been kidnapped and severely tortured. The case remains unsolved.
In September 1990, Effat Qazi, who was a daughter of Gazi Mohammed, the Kurdish leader and President of the Mahabad Republic [a breakaway republic formed in 1946-47 and soon crushed by government forces], was killed in Sweden. A letter bomb that had been intended for her husband, Amir Qazi, a Kurdish activist, went off and killed her instead.
In October 1990, Cyrus Elahi, who was a member of the opposition monarchist group Derafsh-e Kaviani (Flag of Freedom), was assassinated at his home in Paris.
In April 1991, Abdolrahman Boroumand was stabbed to death in a street in Paris. He was a member of the executive committee of the National Resistance Movement of Iran that Dr. Shapour Bakhtiar (1915-1991), the last Prime Minister under the Shah, had founded in France.
Bakhtiar himself was assassinated a short time later, on August 7, 1991. He had already escaped an assassination attempt at his home in Paris in July 1980, which killed a policeman and a neighbor. Stabbed to death along with Bakhtiar was his secretary, Soroush Katibeh. Three assassins were involved in the murders: two of them, Nasser Ghasemi Nejad and Gholam Hossein Shoorideh Shirazi, fled to Iran; but the third, Ali Vakili Rad, was apprehended in Switzerland, extradited to France, and after a trial was sentenced in December 1994 to life in prison. He remains in jail.
In September 1991, Saeed Yazdanpanah, a member of the Revolutionary Union of Kurdish People, was stabbed to death in his home in Iraq along with his secretary Cyrus Katibeh.
In August 1992, Fereydoun Farrokhzad, a popular Iranian singer, was killed at his home in Bonn, Germany. He had been beheaded, and his tongue had been cut off.
On September 17, 1992, Dr. Sadeq Sharafkandi, leader of the KDPI, and three Kurdish aides, Homayoun Ardalan, Fattah Abdollahi, and Nouri Dehkordi, were assassinated in the Greek restaurant "Mykonos" in Berlin, Germany. The affair is, therefore, known as the "Mykonos Incident." In April 1997, a German court found Kazem Darabi, an Iranian who worked as a grocer in Berlin, and a Lebanese citizen, Abbas Rhayel, guilty of murder and sentenced them to life in prison. As part of its ruling, the court issued an international arrest warrant for Ali Fallahian, then Iran's Minister of Intelligence. The court also held that the assassination had been ordered by Fallahian with knowledge of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and then president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Darabi and Rhayel were deported to their home countries in December 2007.
In March 1993, two chiefs of the Narou'i tribe of Baluchistan province, Heybatollah Narou'i and Delaviz Narou'i, were shot dead outside their home in Karachi, Pakistan. On August 25, 1993, Mohammad Ghaderi, a former member of the KDPI, was abducted from his house in Kirshahir, Turkey. About ten days later, his mutilated body was discovered. Three days later, Bahram Azadifar, another member of the KDPI, was killed in his house in Ankara, by two men disguised as Turkish policemen.
In May 1996, Reza Mazlouman (also known as Kourosh Aryamanesh), who taught criminology at the University of Tehran before the 1979 Revolution and was Deputy Minister of Education under the Shah, was shot dead in his own apartment in Paris. He was active in the opposition. A friend opened the door to the assassin, who was known to Mazlouman and had declared himself as an opponent of the Islamic Republic.
Those named above are dissidents and opposition figures who were assassinated outside of Iran. In all likelihood, Dr. Kazem Sami Kermani (1934-1988) was the first victim of the Chain Murders in Iran. He was an Islamic nationalist and physician who had founded, before the revolution, Jonbesh-e Enghelabi Mardom Iran [Revolutionary Movement of the Iranian People], known by its Persian acronym JAMA, and was active against the Shah. Right after the revolution, Dr. Sami became Minister of Health in the provisional government of Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan. After the American Embassy
On May 24, 1982, Iranian armed forces liberated Khorramshahr, Iran's most important port on the Persian Gulf, which had been occupied by Iraqi forces since the initial days of the war. While the nation had expected a ceasefire, the war raged on. The continuation of war was strongly protested by the Nationalist-Religious Frontand other groups, including the Freedom Movement of Bazargan and JAMA. Dr. Sami wrote an open letter to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's Supreme Leader, in which he strongly criticized him for not ending the war. Perhaps the letter sealed his fate.
On November 23, 1988, Dr. Sami was attacked in his medical clinic in Tehran. The assailant, posing as a patient, used an ax to strike Dr. Sami in the head, chest and arms. His murder kicked off a string of killings of other intellectuals and dissidents in Iran. A man who claimed to have been the murderer supposedly committed suicide in a public bath in Ahvaz (in the southern province of Khuzestan), after which the case was declared closed.
Sayyed Khosro Besharati was a religious intellectual who was critical of certain beliefs in Shiism. He was summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence in the fall of 1990 for questioning, but was never heard from again. His dead body was found on a rural road with a bullet in the head.
On June 24, 1994, Father Mehdi Dibadj (1935-1994), a Muslim who had converted to Christianity before the 1979 Revolution, was abducted. In December 1993 he had been condemned by a court to death on a charge of apostasy. After much international criticism, he was released from prison. His body was found in northern Iran on July 5, 1994.
Father T. Mikaeilian, who disappeared in early 1994, appears to have been another victim of the Chain Murders. In July of that year, a bomb exploded in the Shrine of Imam Reza [the 8th Shia Imam] in the holy city of Mashhad. Three female members of the MKO were arrested. In a nationally televised program, the three "confessed" that they had slain Father Mikaeilian and put his body in a freezer. It is hard, however, to believe the confession. Why would the MKO want to murder a Christian priest?
Another priest, Father Husepian Mehr, was stabbed to death by an unknown assailant in August 1994 in Karaj, a town west of Tehran.
In 1994, 134 writers published an open letter on October 15 in Tehran entitled, "We Are the Writers!" They demanded that censorship be abolished and called for the establishment of an autonomous writers association.
The hardliners' reaction was immediate and angry. In an article entitled "We Are the Dead!" in their mouthpiece, the daily Kayhan, Hassan Khorasani lashed out at the authors as "the excrement of the monarchical period who have always been the source of moral and intellectual corruption, and whose circles are not different from a fly's nest." Many of those who had signed the letter all died under mysterious circumstances.
Dr. Shamseddin Amir-Alaei, a nationalist figure and opposition member, died in a car accident in Tehran on August 11, 1994. It was widely believed that the accident was intentional, and that he was in fact murdered.
Zohreh Izadi, a political activist, was murdered in Tehran in May 1994. Originally from Abadan (in southern Iran), she was a medical student at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, who had apparently fallen to her death from a building.
The best-known victim was Ali Akbar Saidi Sirjani (1931-1994), the distinguished writer, poet and journalist, and one of the signatories of the open letter. He supported the 1979 Revolution, but then turned against it and used satire to criticize the political establishment. When his book of essays, stories, and parables called "You of Shortened Sleeves," was published in 1989, it sold out in days. That worried the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which consequently banned not only the second printing of the book, but all books by Saidi Sirjani. He wrote a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanding that the second printing of his book be allowed. But Khamenei told Sirjani (through emissaries) to stop writing and protesting. He refused and directly attacked the Islamic Republic in an open letter. He was then arrested on March 14, 1994. After eight months in custody, it was announced that he had died of a heart attack. It is, however, widely believed that he was murdered by Saeed Emami, the notorious agent of the Ministry of Intelligence. Emad Baghi, the distinguished investigative journalist and human rights advocate revealed that a potassium suppository had been inserted into Saidi Sirjani's rectum, which quickly triggered the heart attack.
Even the family of the revolution's founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, did not escape the Chain Murders unscathed. Ahmad Khomeini (1945-1995), the Ayatollah's younger son and the link between him and the political establishment, died of an apparent heart attack on March 17, 1995, a month after giving a speech in which he strongly criticized regime hardliners. It is said that Saeed Emami, the notorious agent of the Ministry of Intelligence, had killed him by cyanide poisoning because he considered him a liability for the Islamic Republic. Mohammad Niazi, the military prosecutor who handled Saeed Emami's case in 1999, reportedly told Hassan Khomeini, Ahmad's son, that Emami had killed his father.
Dr. Abdolaziz Bajd, a professor at Zahedan University (in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan), delivered a speech critical of the TV series "Imam Ali" in 1995. He was kidnapped and his body was found in the desert outside Zahedan sometime later.
Fakhrossadat Borghei (1964-1995) was a high school teacher in the city of Qom. She had a religious education, and had achieved the Ejtehad (Islamic scholar) level, which is very rare for a woman. She was strangled to death, and her dead body was found burnt.
Hossein Barazandeh (1943-1995), an engineer and a close aide of Dr. Ali Shariati [the distinguished sociologist and Islamic scholar] was another victim. In the evening of January 3, 1995, he left a Quran recitation session in Mashhad [in northeastern Iran] to go home, but never arrived there. His body was found the next morning. The cause of death was cardiac arrest.
Ahmad Mir Alaei (1942-1995), a writer, translator, intellectual, and signatory of the writers' open letter, died in Isfahan under mysterious circumstances. He had left home on October 24, 1995, at 7:45 am, to meet someone at a bookstore, but never arrived there. Later that day he was to give a speech at the medical school in Isfahan. Mysteriously, someone had announced to the students that the 2:00 pm lecture had been canceled. His dead body was found at 8:00 that night. The cause of death: cardiac arrest.
"Cardiac arrest" kept claiming other victims. In the winter of 1996, Dr. Ghaffar Husseini (1935-1996), a poet, translator, and theater critic, was found dead at his home. He had not appeared in public for several days. He had told some friends that at one point he had been taken to a room in a hotel in Tehran and threatened. Again, he had apparently died as the result of a cardiac arrest.
Ahmad Moftizadeh (1934-1993) was a Sunni scholar and activist in Kurdistan province. Molla Farough Farsad was a Sunni cleric in Sanandaj (capital of Kurdistan province) and a follower of Moftizadeh, who was active in politics. He was exiled to Ardabil in 1989. On February 16, 1995, his body was found in Ardabil. He had been tortured.
In October 1995, Father Mohammad Bagher Yusefi was found dead in a jungle near Sari, a city in northern Iran. He had been hanged. Again, the circumstances surrounding his death were totally mysterious.
In August of 1996, 21 writers decided to participate in a conference on literature in Armenia. They decided to take a bus and travel together from Tehran to Armenia. On August 8, 1996, the driver of the bus attempted to drive it off the Astara-Ardabil road (in northwestern Iran), in the Hayrun Pass, and into the ravine. He jumped out of the bus to escape, but several alert passengers quickly took control of the bus and veered it off its deadly path. The driver turned out to be none other than Khosrow Barati, who played an important role in the Chain Murders in the fall 1998, and actually confessed to his role in the bus incident. I will come back to this shortly.
Zahra Eftekhari, a political prisoner in the early years after the 1979 Revolution, was abducted in the city of Mashhad and murdered in December 1996. Several other former political prisoners from that era met the same fate in Mashhad. Javad Saffar and Jalal Mobinzadeh were also abducted in Mashhad and apparently murdered on the same day, January 1, 1996. Morteza Olian Najafabadi, who was a political prisoner between 1985 and 1993, was also murdered in Mashhad on January 19, 1997. Another former political prisoner, Abbas Navaei, was also murdered under mysterious circumstances.
Other former political prisoners who were murdered in 1996 included Amir Ghafouri and his brother-in-law Sayyed Mahmoud Milani. Sayyed Mahmoud Maydani, a political prisoner from 1981-1991, was abducted on April 12, 1997, in Mashhad and murdered. Three years earlier, another former political prisoner, Dr. T. Tafti, his wife and their two children were murdered in Tehran in 1993.
Novelist Ghazaleh Alizadeh was strangled to death on May 11, 1996, at her home in northern Iran. The official cause of death was suicide, but many believe that she was murdered because of her militant style of writing.
Abdolaziz Kazemi, a Ph.D. student, a lecturer at the University of Sistan and Baluchestan, and a Sunni cleric, was abducted on November 5, 1996, as he was leaving his office in the evening. Two days later, his bullet-ridden body was found on a road near the city of Zahedan (the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan province). He was a political activist who advocated respect for the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran.
In the same year, other Sunni clerics were also assassinated, some in Iran and others in Pakistan. They included Molavi Abdul-Malek Mollahzadeh, who was gunned down along with an aide outside his Karachi home on March 4, 1996; Molavi Jamshid Zehi who was killed around the same time, and Dr. Ahmad Sayyad, whose mutilated body was found on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas (a major port on the Strait of Hormuz) on February 2, 1996. His family claimed he had been abducted at the Bandar Abbas airport, when he returned from a trip to Dubai. Mollahzadeh had been imprisoned for sometime before going to Pakistan.
On November 30, 1996, Molla Mohammad Rabiei (also known as Mamousta Rabiei) who was the Friday Prayer leader of the Sunnis of Kermanshah [in western Iran], was murdered. Officially, he had died of a heart attack. But it turned out years later that he had been killed through injection of an air bubble that had caused the heart attack.
Siamak Sanjari (1968-1996) was murdered on his wedding night in November 1996. It was said that he was well-informed about some of the crimes that former Minister of Intelligence Ali Fallahian had allegedly committed.
Dr. Ahmad Tafazzoli (1937-1997) was a prominent scholar of ancient Iranian literature, language and culture, and a faculty member at Tehran University. On January 15, 1997, Dr. Tafazzoli was found dead in a suburb northwest of Tehran. He was known to have contacts with many Iranian academics working abroad.
Hossein Sarshar was an opera singer and actor who was supposedly close to Saidi Sirjani. He was reportedly tortured and then declared dead in a fake car accident on February 14, 1997.
A couple, Manouchehr Sanei and his wife Firouzeh Kalantari, appear to have been the next victims on the chain. Sanei was a history scholar. He and his wife had returned to Iran in 1995 after living abroad for many years. They went missing on February 17, 1997. Their bodies were found on February 22 in eastern Tehran and identified a month later. The coroner's office announced that they had been stabbed to death on February 19, but that Sanei had died of a heart attack before being stabbed. Kalantari had died due to head injuries. Before his death, Sanei had been summoned by the Ministry of Intelligence several times and threatened.
On the 24th of the same month, Ebrahim Zalzadeh, editor of the monthly literary magazine, Me'yaar (criterion), and owner of Ebtekar publishing house, was arrested by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and taken to a "safe house." His family was ordered not to reveal his arrest, or that he would be killed. On March 29, 1997, his body was found half buried outside Tehran.
On December 25, 1997, Mrs. Fatemeh Ghaem-Maghami, an airline stewardess, was murdered with a single bullet. Shortly before her death she had been talking to Saeed Emami. It was revealed later that she had been forced to have a relation with Ali Fallahian, and that she had much information about the activities of both men.
On September 22, 1998, the dead body of Hamid Hajizadeh, who was a poet, scholar, and high school teacher, was found in a bed at his home in Kerman [in south central Iran]. He had been stabbed 38 times. The murderer(s) did not have mercy even on his 9-year-old son Karoon, who had also been killed while sleeping in his father's arms.
Even if their murders were not politically motivated, the circumstances surrounding their deaths were so mysterious that they gave rise to a strong suspicion that they were. Even so, most of these murders would not have come to light but for the Chain Murders in the fall of 1998. The event that may have triggered them was an angry speech on September 15, 1998, by Ayatollah Khamenei, in which he called on the judiciary to chastise newspapers and other publications that "abuse" freedom. The next day, a revolutionary court shut down the popular reformist daily Tous, and issued arrest warrants for its editor, Mahmoud Shamsolva'ezin; the publishing manager, Hamidreza Jala'ipour; leading columnist and satirist Ebrahim Nabavi; and journalist Mohammad Sadeq Javadi-Hesar. They were to be tried as "enemies of God."
These actions worried the writers, who began to organize an association. A provisional committee of 6 began the efforts to plan the first general assembly of the Iranian Writers Association. The committee consisted of Mohammad Mokhtari, Mohammad Ja'far Pouyandeh, Hooshang Golshiri, Ali Ashraf Darvishian, Kazem Kordavani, and Mansour Koushan. But, they were summoned to Tehran's Public Prosecutor's office in October 1998 and interrogated about the Association's activities. They were released only after they signed a letter promising that they would not organize the general assembly of the Association.
The first shocking news arrived in the evening of Sunday, November 22, 1998. IRNA, the official news agency, reported, and the 9:00 pm news program of the channel 1 of the national television repeated the news, that Dariush Forouhar and his wife, Parvaneh Majd Eskandari, had been murdered by unidentified assailants at their home on Hedayat Street in central Tehran the night before. They had been stabbed to death, Forouhar by 26 times, his wife 25 times.
Forouhar (1928-1998) had already been abducted once by the security agents on August 12, 1994, after he had attended the funeral of Dr. Shamseddin Amir-Alaei (see above), but had been released. He was the leader of Mellat (Nation) Party since 1951, a small party that was part of the National Front, the political group of Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh. He served as the Minister of Labor in the government of Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan immediately after the 1979 Revolution, and had spent 54 years of his life engaged with political activities. He was detained by the Shah's government several times.
Parvaneh Majd Eskandari (1938-1998) became a member of the Mellat Party when she was a student at the University of Tehran in the 1950s and, together with her future husband, was active in the anti-Shah struggle. Before her death, she had told Human Right Watch in New York that, "We are living with the fear of being killed. Every night when we go to bed we thank God the Almighty for His blessing of living another day."
The next piece of shocking news on these murders came on November 25, 1998. On that day, the body of Dr. Majid Sharif (1950-1998), a writer and translator, was identified at a Tehran morgue. He had disappeared a few days earlier, in the early morning of November 19, when he left the house for a jog. He was an only child of a religious and clerical family, a great grandson of Ayatollah Habib Sharif Kashani. After obtaining his B.S. degree in mathematics from Aryamehr University (now called Sharif University), he moved to California and received an M.S. in physics, and later a Ph.D. in sociology.
I had the honor of knowing him, having been introduced to him through a mutual friend in the spring of 1978. We had several lively discussions regarding the thinking of Dr. Ali Shariati, and Ayatollah Khomeini's criticisms of him before the 1979 Revolution. He had returned to Iran in November 1995. The coroner's office declared that he had died of a cardiac arrest, but it turned out that it had been induced, as Saidi Sirjani's had been.
In the evening of December 3, 1998, Mohammad Mokhtari (1942-1998) -- writer, mythologist, journalist and a member of the organizing committee of the Iranian Writers Association -- left his home in northern Tehran to do some shopping, but never returned. His body turned up in Ray, a town on the southern edge of Tehran, on December 9. He had been strangled. His son, Siavash, identified his father's body at the morgue.
In the evening of the same day, writer and translator Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh went missing as well. His body was found in the Shahriar district of Karaj, west of Tehran, and was identified by his family at the morgue in Tehran on December 11, 1998. He too had been strangled.
The string of five murders helped solve some of the mysteries surrounding the disappearance of another writer and political activist. On August 29, 1998, Pirouz Davani (1961-1998), a leftist and an ex-political prisoner, went missing. His body has never been recovered. Davani supported the 1979 Revolution against the Shah, but was arrested in 1981 for his alleged links to the communist opposition and imprisoned for seven months. Following the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988, Davani began a campaign against the government. He was arrested again in the winter of 1991 and spent six months of his four-year-sentence in solitary confinement. He was released in 1995. After Khatami's election in May 1997, Davani founded a cultural institute to publish and promote new interpretations on the left's struggle for democracy in Iran, which led to the establishment of the Organisation of Unity for Democracy in Iran. He was also the editor and publisher of the newspaper Pirooz.
During the entire time that these murders were taking place, Ayatollah Khamenei insisted that Iran's enemies, and in particular Israel, had a hand in them. But on December 20, 1998, a statement was issued in Tehran by a shadowy and unknown group calling itself Fadayaan-e Islam-e Naab-e Mohammadi-ye Mostafa Navvab [pure Mohammadan Islam devotees of Mostafa Navvab] claiming responsibility for the killings. The statement said in part, "The revolutionary execution of Dariush Forouhar, Parvaneh Eskandari, Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh is a warning to all mercenary writers and their counter-value supporters who cherish the idea of spreading corruption and promiscuity in the country and bringing back foreign domination over Iran."
People were wondering who would be murdered next.
President Khatami formed a committee of three to investigate the murders. Members of the committee were Ali Yunesi, head of the armed forces judiciary organization; Ali Rabiei, an aide to the president with extensive connections to the intelligence community and editor of the daily Kaar va Kargar [labor and worker]; and Ali Sarmadi, deputy Minister of Intelligence.
The next shock came on January 4, 1999, when the Ministry of Intelligence issued a brief statement, admitting its own agents had committed the crimes. It said,
The despicable and abhorring recent murders in Tehran are a sign of a chronic conspiracy and a threat to the national security. Based on its legal obligations and following clear directives issued by the Supreme Leader and the President, the Intelligence Ministry set as a priority discovering and uprooting this sinister and threatening event. With the cooperation of the specially-appointed investigatory committee of the President, the Ministry has succeeded in identifying the group responsible for the killings, has made arrests and referred their cases to the judiciary. Unfortunately, a small number of irresponsible, misguided, headstrong and obstinate staff within the Ministry of Intelligence, who are no doubt under the influence of rogue undercover agents and acting towards the objectives of foreign and estranged sources when committing these criminal acts.
This was the first time in Iran's modern history that the security establishment had taken responsibility for the crimes that it had committed. In the aftermath of the statement, Khatami made it clear to the Minister of Intelligence, the cleric Ghorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi, that he could either resign or would be fired. He was never Khatami's first choice for the position. It was said at that time that Dorri Najafabadi had been imposed on Khatami by Ayatollah Khamenei. In February 1999 Dorri Najafabadi resigned. His successor was Ali Yunesi, who, in my opinion, has been, relatively speaking, the best Minister of Intelligence over the past three decades.
The ring leader of this gang was Saeed Eslami, known as Saeed Emami. Other key figures in the ring included Mostafa Kazemi (Hashemi), Mehrdad Alikhani and Khosrow Barati (the driver who tried to kill the 21 writers by driving the bus off the cliff in northern Iran). At least 11 others were also involved.
Emami was apparently of Jewish origin. He was born in 1969, and moved to the United States in 1978 with the help of his uncle, Soltan Mohammad Etemad, who was the military attaché at Iran's Embassy in Washington. After completing his higher education, he worked at Iran's interest section in the U.S. for one year and at Iran's mission to the United Nations for another year. He was then recruited by security agents. When he returned to Iran, he began working for the newly-established Ministry of Intelligence. At that time Mohammad Mohammadi Rayshahri was the Minister of Intelligence. His deputy, Saeed Hajjarian, was opposed to appointing Emami to sensitive positions at the Ministry, due to his family record.
After Hashemi Rafsanjani was elected the president in 1989, he appointed Ali Fallahian as the new Minister of Intelligence, and he appointed Emami as his deputy for security affairs. Hajjarian had already left the Ministry in 1988.
On June 20, 1999, it was announced that Saeed Emami had died in prison the night before. It was claimed that Emami had attempted to commit suicide by drinking a depilatory compound in the bathroom on June 16, 1999. He had been taken to a hospital and had undergone treatment, but had died on June 19. It was claimed that he died of a cardiac arrest and because he suffered from respiratory problems. His family held a memorial service for him in which 400 people participated.
Among those present at the memorial was the cleric Ruhollah Hosseinian, who had worked for the Intelligence Ministry [he is currently a Majles deputy]. He had claimed immediately after the revelations about the Chain Murders in January 1999 that Emami was innocent and that the crimes had been committed by the reformists around Khatami. He famously said, "We have been a murderer ourselves! Murder of dissidents is not carried out the way that it has been described!"
Investigative journalists Akbar Gangi and Emad Baghi, as well as many others, believed that the orders for the killings had come from the "above," meaning from at least the Intelligence Ministers themselves. Gangi and Baghi shed much light on the earlier killings, from 1988-1998, as listed above. Their reporting revealed that most, if not all, were probably part of a systematic program for eliminating dissidents and intellectuals opposed to repression in the Islamic Republic. Both were jailed for their excellent investigative journalism.
Dr. Nasser Zarafshan, a lawyer who represented the families of some of the slain dissidents, said in 2001 that, "Fallahian, who for years was the direct superior of Saeed Emami and, therefore, has had direct supervision over his work, says that, 'I will give no explanation without my superior being present.' Thus, to avoid the circle of investigations to encompass him, he attaches himself to others. Therefore, people themselves guess what is wrong with the case. The problem is not to which faction the perpetrators of the murders belong, but to which faction the issuer of the fatwa [Islamic order for the assassinations] belongs."
In 2000, Mohammad Reza Khatami, the younger brother of the former president who at that time was Secretary General of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (the largest reformist group in Iran), referring to the hardliners' estimation that dissent can be eliminated by murdering the dissidents, warned that, "the cancer tumor is still alive and could reemerge at any moment." Events in the wake of the country's rigged June 12 presidential election seen to have proven Khatami's statement prophetic.
Copyright © 2009 Tehran Bureau
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Seven soil landscapes have been recognised in the Moggill Creek Catchment
The following map shows their distribution:
Soils in the MCCG Catchment (1517 KB)
The Pullenvale Soil Landscape occurs across the upper catchment and comprises low hills, often steep, formed on metamorphosed greywacke, shales and phylittes of the Neranleigh-Fernvale formation. This part of the catchment has steep drainage gradients resulting in much higher runoff velocities than occur further down the catchment. The sediment movement during high rainfall events poses considerable challenges to riparian land holders in their quests to stabilise stream banks and beds.
Common soils are gravelly shallow Rudosols (rudimentary development) which occur from the crests to lower slope positions. Deeper or more developed soils such as Dermosols, Kandosols which have little structure in the subsoils, can occur on mid to lower slopes. Dermosols have some evidence of structure and may have higher clay content in the sub soils; they can be dark or brown to reddish brown in the subsoil.
The range of rock types in sediment beds influences the surface and sub soil characteristics and where the beds have been tilted substantially a range of soils can occur across a short distance. Most of the Rudosols in the crests to mid slope positions can have substantial gravel in the surface and little weathered material sitting on relatively unweathered rock. Dermosols and Kandosols tend to occur in the drainage lines and other moister parts of the landscape which leads to more weathering of parent materials. Steeper slopes tend to result in higher erosion rates and this limits soil development and accumulation.
The Toowong Soil Landscape has developed in the east edge of the catchment on low hilly lands cut into the Bunya Phyllites. The steeper upper slopes and narrow crests have thin gravelly Rudosols and irregular outcropping rocks. Associated in the upper and mid slopes are shallow gravelly surfaced Kandosols with weakly structured red or brown clay subsoil grading to weathering rock. In moister lower slopes the soils tend to be deeper with mottled red and yellow coarsely structured clay subsurface horizons. In some of these mid and lower slope areas the soils may be Kurosols which have a distinct texture contrast between the surface and sub-surface horizons.
The steep hills of basic volcanic on the southern edge of the upper Brookfield area, and in the middle of the catchment separating the upper part of Wonga creek sub-catchment from Moggill Creek is the Elphinstone Soil Landscape. This landscape gets its name from Mt Elphinstone in the southern part of the catchment. What appear to be scree slopes occur on some upper slopes; soils are shallow stoney Dermosols and Kandosols or Chromosols.
The Brookfield Soil Landscape also developed on basic volcanic rock, occurs in the central and south parts of the catchment and is comprised of low hilly lands and has lower slopes than the Elphinstone soil landscape. The main soils are shallow Dermosols on ridges and upper slope areas, with reddish- brown Kandosols with weak structure in the B horizons on the mid and lower slopes. These areas were some of the first areas cleared for timber and then cropped and/or grazed.
The Kenmore Soil Landscape in the mid to lower part of the catchment comprises low hills also on the Neranleigh-Fernvale formation and forms the lower parts of the catchment below the Pullenvale Soil Landscape. Depending on the rock types and topographic positions, the range of soils is similar to those in the Pullenvale landscape. Most of the soils apart from some in the lowest positions of this landscape have low fertility; those in the lower moister parts of the topography with dense vegetative cover have more soil organic matter, more soil flora and fauna and therefore tend to have slightly higher fertility.
Included in this landscape are small areas of basic volcanic rock with Dermosols and Rudosols which are also of low fertility. The wider valley floors have been widely used for agriculture, grazing of cattle or horses and peri urban dwellings on acreage properties. Many of these have no commercial operations. The main difference to the other soil landscapes on Neranleigh-Fernvale beds is the larger area of more moderate sloping lands and wider valley floors which have allowed a wider range of soil characteristics. They include more developed and deeper light brown to grey brown and reddish brown Kandosols, Dermosols, Kurosols and occasionally Chromosols which have a texture contrast between the surface and sub-surface soil horizons in the low sloping areas.
The Moggill Creek Soil Landscape occurs in the valley floors associated with riparian zones of the main creeks. The soils are formed from a range of sandy and clayey alluvium, and include Kandosols, and Dermosols; they are commonly more than a metre in depth, can be sandy to clayey in texture and in the lowest part of the catchment from Rafting Ground Road to the Brisbane River are likely to be overlying other sedimentary materials which are considered to be buried soils. These are the lands most suitable for agricultural and grazing activities, but are also excellent for sporting and other recreational activities. Much of this landscape in the bottom third of the catchment is subject to flooding during episodic events.
- *Beckmann, G., Hubble, G. and Thompson, C. (1987). The Soil Landscapes of Brisbane and South-east Environs. CSIRO, Australia. 77 pp.
- Know Your Creek –Moggill Creek. 2005. Produced in conjunction with Brisbane City Council Water Resources
- Willmott, Warwick and Stevens, Neville (1992). Rocks and Landscapes of Brisbane and Ipswich. Geological Society of Australia, Queensland Division. 72 pp.
* Note: The older Great Soil Group names used by Beckmann et al have been interpreted and given names that follow Soil Orders of the Australian Soil Classification by Isbell, R.F. 1996. No rigorous field examinations have been made to verify these interpretations.
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On St. Croix in the Danish West Indies, 1751 – 1917, a unit of land area = 200 fod by 200 fod = 40,000 square fod, about 0.394 hectare. Also spelled ager. After Denmark purchased St. Croix from France in 1733, the island was administered by a trading company. The company ordered the island be surveyed into 2000 fod by 3000 fod parcels, which was thought to be the right size for a sugar cane plantation. This amount of land came to be called a fuldkommen. In addition, land area was measured in square fod.
Most of the original planters, however, were British, and they referred to their holdings in acres and bought and sold land in acres, which had no connection to the survey, square fod or fuldkommen. To avoid confusion, in 1751 the St. Croix Burgher Council proposed the agre. A fuldkommen would contain exactly 150 agres. It would also contain about 146.21 English statute acres, near enough to 150 for the purposes of the time.
The unit was not much seen in the rest of the 18th century, but in 1802 a reform of all Danish tax laws taxed cultivated land in the Danish West Indies by the agre. Thereafter it was in regular official use until 1917, when the United States purchased the islands from Denmark.
The eighteenth-century invention of a measure in the Caribbean: the Danish acre of St Croix.
Journal of Historical Geography, vol 18, no. 2, pages 158-173 (1992).
Sorry. No information on contributors is available for this page.
Copyright © 2010 Sizes, Inc. All rights reserved.
Last revised: 8 July 2010.
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accuracy—A qualitative assessment of freedom from error, or a quantitative measure of the magnitude of error, expressed as a function of relative error.
ad hoc processing—One-time-only, casual access and manipulation of data on parameters never before used and usually done in a heuristic, iterative manner.
alternate storage—Storage other than disk-based storage used to hold bulk amounts of relatively inactive storage.
analytical processing—Using the computer to produce an analysis for a management decision that usually involves trend analysis, drill-down analysis, demographic analysis, and profiling.
application database—A collection of data organized to support a specific application.
attribute—A property that can assume values for ...
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Kiwi fruit is a nutritional berry fruit whose original name was Chinese gooseberry.
Today, we’ll look at some great kiwi fruit baby recipes for you but first some general information about this intriguing fruit.
This fruit originated from China but, when exported to New Zealand, it was renamed Kiwi in honor of its national bird which is the Kiwi bird.
It is an oval shaped fruit that is enclosed in a hairy, brown skin. It has tiny black seeds that look like small dots on the green flesh. Its seeds are so small and soft that they can’t harm your baby when ingested.
They resemble the meat of a dragon fruit in appearance. Dragon fruit’s meat is white, though. The skin of kiwi fruits has a tendency not to be contaminated by pesticides.
Kiwi Fruit Facts
This particular fruit is high in potassium (312mg) which aids in strengthening the cardiovascular system and regulates cholesterol levels.
It has Vitamin C (92.7mg in even higher amounts than present in oranges. Vitamin C is great for generally fight infections and boosting the immune system.
Vitamin C in kiwi also helps prevent colon cancer and there are reports that kiwi is very useful as well in dissolving fibroids.
Kiwi is a citrus fruit with a slightly sour taste. People with hyperacidity should tread carefully.
- Important note: Kiwi fruit is known to cause stomach pain because of its acid content so be careful of giving too much of it at once to your baby. Furthermore, kiwis can cause an allergic reaction called latex fruit syndrome. This is also present in avocado, papaya and bananas. It is wise to check your baby first to see if he will manifest any allergies to kiwi. And, as always, consult your baby’s pediatrician before introducing him to something like kiwi. It’s best to be cautious.
Kiwi also contains calcium (34mg), a mineral that helps protects bones from weakening and getting brittle.
The fiber in kiwi fruit aids in cleansing the colon and the whole digestive system which also helps in proper food absorption and bowel movement.
Kiwi fruit is also a great antioxidant with iron, vitamin K and folate.
Just imagine the nutritional benefits this fruit will give to your baby if you start incorporating kiwi fruit in their first solid foods.
Choosing and Storing Kiwi Fruits
Generally, kiwi fruit has brown skin so you can’t really tell when it is ripe or raw just based on its color. What to do is to press the fruit gently to check. If it feels like bouncing back and is a cross between hard and soft then it’s ripe. Hard pressure indicates raw while too soft is rotten.
If you happen to buy a raw kiwi, just leave it to ripen at room temperature away from direct heat or sunlight. You can also wrap kiwi along with bananas and apples to make it ripen quicker.
To maintain its ripeness, place the fruit inside the refrigerator and consume it within 2 weeks. Kiwi fruits are not recommended to be frozen.
Why Are Fresh Kiwi fruits More Nutritious Than Canned Ones?
Fresh kiwi fruit, especially if organic, provides nutritional health benefits at their finest and purest.
Canned fruits in general are loaded with preservatives that are not great for anybody’s health, even less for your own little one.
Kiwi Fruit Baby Food Recipes
- Important Note: Make sure you got a ripe kiwi before serving one to your baby as food. Better yet, taste it first because unripe ones taste awfully sour! Kiwi can be given to babies in their 8th month and onwards.
1) Kiwi Strawberry Puree
- ½ kiwi fruit (diced and peeled)
- 1 cup strawberries (diced and peeled)
- 1 cup water (distilled)
- ½ cup milk (whole or breast milk)
- Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until all is smooth
- Pour into a bowl and serve to baby
2) Fruit Salad
- ½ avocado (peeled and sliced)
- 1 small banana (peeled and sliced)
- ½ kiwi fruit (peeled and sliced)
- ½ cup pineapple juice (sweetened)
- Mash all ingredients in a bowl then add pineapple juice
- Serve immediately
3) Fruit Combo Smoothie
- ½ apple (peeled and sliced thinly)
- 1 small banana
- 1 small kiwi fruit (peeled and sliced)
- ½ pear (peeled and sliced)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ½ cup milk
- Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until a very smooth consistency is acquired
4) Kiwi Kokomo
- 1 cup apple juice
- 2 kiwi fruits (ripe and mashed)
- ½ medium sized papaya (peeled and sliced thinly)
- Place all into a blender or food processor then blend altogether until the mixture becomes yellow green
- Serve it cold to baby so he can enjoy a sort of tropical drink
5) Peach and Kiwi Dessert
- 2 kiwi fruits (ripe and peeled)
- 1 peach (sliced and peeled)
- Simply mash the kiwi and peach together and serve cold
- You can also bring it to a puree to get a smoothie consistency, refrigerate and serve cold
Whichever which way you try to give your precious little bundle of joy kiwi fruit, always remember that in order to achieve baby’s optimum enjoyment in weaning, you should always test the fruit with your own tongue as kiwi fruit tends to be sour even if it is properly ripe.
We hope we have been of some help in making your baby’s first food adventures more enjoyable and that you have enjoyed these kiwi fruit for baby recipes.
Come back for more recipe ideas as we are adding more nutritious food ideas on an ongoing basis.
If you have any queries, please feel free to contact us. We are always delighted to help.
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January 8, 2019 at 10:11 pmSamarSubscriber
Please i would like to know what is the difference between using the ANSYS Workbench and Mechanical APDL in Meshing; As i used to draw a simple shape in workbench and mesh it, then draw the same shape in APDL with the same element type used in workbench and same element size. But i found a great difference in the Mesh of each one, Why ?!!!
January 11, 2019 at 5:08 amsathyaSubscriber
As long as you make sure that shape,sizing and method chosen in both APDL & WB is similar,then you will get the similar mesh.
I have added few words on how ANSYS approaches Meshing in APDL & WB below.
You can use two different methods to generate your model in APDL: solid modeling and direct generation.
With solid modeling, you describe the geometric boundaries of your model, establish controls over the size and desired shape of your elements, and then instruct the ANSYS program to generate all the nodes and elements automatically.
But the limitation of Solid modeling is
- Can sometimes require large amounts of CPU time.
- Can (for small, simple models) sometimes be more cumbersome, requiring more data entries than direct generation.
- Can sometimes "fail" (the program will not be able to generate the finite element mesh) under certain circumstances
By contrast, with the direct generation method, you determine the location of every node and the size, shape, and connectivity of every element prior to defining these entities in your ANSYS model.
But the limitation of direct generation method is
- usually too time consuming for all but the simplest models; the volume of data you must work with can become overwhelming.
- Cannot be used with adaptive meshing.
- Makes it difficult to modify the mesh (tools such as area mesh refinement, SmartSizing, etc. cannot be used).
In spite of the many advantages of solid modeling, you might occasionally encounter circumstances where direct generation will be more useful. You can easily switch back and forth between direct generation and solid modeling, using the different techniques as appropriate to define different parts of your model.
Meshing in Workbench follows different approaches and methods:
- Assembly meshing refers to meshing an entire model as a single mesh process, as compared to part-based or body-based meshing, in which meshing occurs at the part or body level respectively.
- Patch conforming meshing is a meshing technique in which all faces and their boundaries (edges and vertices) [patches] within a very small tolerance are respected for a given part.Patch independent meshing is a meshing technique in which faces and their boundaries (edges and vertices) [patches] are not necessarily respected unless there is a load, boundary condition, contact, Named Selection, result, or other object scoped to the faces or edges or vertices (topology).
- Meshing by Element Shape(Hex,Tet,Prism,Quad,Tri)
January 12, 2019 at 3:08 amSamarSubscriber
Thank you for this great reply, i will check again what i have did.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Simulation World 2022
Earth Rescue – An Ansys Online Series
- ANSYS Workbench Measuring within Design
- Conformal vs Non-Conformal Mesh
- Error in meshing
- Meshing Error
- The mesh file exporter could not resolve cyclic dependencies in overlapping contact regions error
- Ansys 19.0 – will not create mesh
- Dealing with inflation layers around sharp corners in Ansys workbench meshing
- How to resolve Mesh Failure
- Can I view which mesh files (the names of them) are loaded into Fluent?
- Mesh Generation Taking a Long Time
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Andalucia in early summer is a beautiful place to enjoy the colour
and wealth of wildlife on offer. The fact that this, Spain’s
largest region has the best climate in Europe, helps. On the whole,
long hot summers are often
followed by mild and often short, acceptable winters. Heavy rains often occur
in the winter months which are very welcome. Once the short winter has passed
spring explodes with a beautiful show of flowers. Rains from the winter ensure
the flowers are now in profusion. Olive groves are covered by bright
yellow Daisies. The Blood Red
Poppy flourishes on the roadside verges and amongst
annual crop fields. From the vivid colour of the Purple Iris down to the
delicate Saxifrages, there is a wide diversity of wildflowers on show, especially
in the early summer months.
Wherever flowers grow you often find Butterflies to go with them. Andalucia
offers a good and varied selection of these colourful insects. You get a Mediterranean
and also a small North African influence in this part of Spain. It is the only
permanent place in Europe to find the well known Monarch butterfly. Well known
for it’s amazing migration patterns in Central and North America, this
butterfly is resident in small colonies in coastal districts and present on
Gibraltar. The Two-tailed
Pasha is another large and colourful species which
occurs here. Look out for it’s dark brown and bright orange colours.
It is fond of taking wine and rotten fruit and may be observed for long periods
on the ground, while doing this.
With this climate, butterflies are virtually on the wing all year round. Obviously
the warmer, summer months hold the greatest numbers and selection of butterflies
on offer. Blues, Skippers, Fritillaries and Browns are all well represented.
It is also possible to find butterflies here that are not recorded anywhere
else in Europe. Species like the beautiful ‘orange’ Aetherie Fritillary
and Desert Orange Tip are butterflies which are widespread in nearby Morocco.
Birdlife too is exceptional in this area. The Gibraltar Straight is a well
known crossing point for thousands of migrating birds. This point where Africa
moves to Europe is a good reason why Andalucia offers so much to the bird watcher.
Birds not only can be seen in huge numbers, either passing over or resting
off, but also use the area for breeding sites. The Greater Flamingo is the
only species of the Flamingoes to breed in Europe and it does so at the well
known Laguna de Fuenta Piedra site in Andalucia.
A walk in the countryside seems to be filled with the endless chorus of birdsong.
The Nightingale is always heard but is so hard to catch sight of. The birds
of prey feature heavily here and it is an amazing sight to see the huge numbers
of these birds massing together in migration in springtime.
There is so much more wildlife on offer in Andalucia than I have mentioned
here. It does though give a brief insight to the delights that one can encounter
in this rich area of Spain. One only needs to move a few miles inland from
the Costa del Sol, to uncover the ‘other side’ to this region.
From White washed villages and the magic of historic Ronda to the sounds and
style of Seville. There really is something for everyone here.
Clive Burrows, email@example.com
Clive Burrows has given permission for this article to be published here, for
which I thank him very much. The article is copyright to Clive Burrows, and
should be sought before it is reproduced elsewhere; this article is presented
here in HTML format, and may either be read on-line or downloaded for later perusal
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