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I spent most of my childhood in Vancouver, British Columbia. On those rare winter days when we did get snow it was wet and slushy. Consequently, getting hit by a snowball in Vancouver was a much more unpleasant experience than in other parts of Canada. I quickly learned the value of building a strong snow fort before getting involved in a snowball fight.
Our planet also benefits from having strong shields between it and potential colliders. Those shields are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Because of its size and proximity to Earth, Jupiter is by far the most important of Earth’s protectors.
As Figure 1 illustrates, more than 1,300 planet Earths would fit inside of Jupiter. Though not as dense as our planet, Jupiter still weighs in at 318 times the mass of Earth. Jupiter’s volume and mass are such that asteroids and comets headed for Earth are almost always either deflected away (the much more common outcome) or absorbed into the volume that makes up Jupiter.
Figure 1: Earth-Jupiter Size Comparison
Even a single storm eddy, known as the Great Red Spot, on Jupiter is larger in size than planet Earth. Image credit: NASA.
The first planetary impact event observed by astronomers occurred in 1994, when comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter. Figure 2 shows the aftermath of the collision event. At the time, astronomers believed such impact events would prove rare—less than one such event per astronomer lifetime (astronomers manifest notoriously long life spans). However, on July 19, 2009, amateur astronomers observed another collision event on Jupiter, and in the June 1, 2010 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters two teams of professional astronomers published the results of their analysis of the event.1
Figure 2: Aftermath of the Collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter
Just before the collision, Jupiter’s gravity broke up comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into at least 21 distinct pieces. Collisions with Jupiter occurred between July 16 and 22 in 1994. The purple spots in the image above mark a few of the collision sites. The largest collision spots were as big as Earth’s diameter. At the impact moments, fireball temperatures reached 24,000° Centigrade (43,000° Fahrenheit). Image credit: NASA/Hubble Space Telescope Comet Team.
The collision itself was not observed because it occurred on Jupiter’s far side. Within a few hours, however, Jupiter had rotated around enough so that a number of amateur astronomers could observe and report “an anomalous feature.” Subsequent infrared observations confirmed that the feature was exogenic (the result of an external collider). Figure 3 shows a Hubble Space Telescope image taken of the debris from the collision impact four days after the collision event.
Figure 3: Impact Scar from the July 19, 2009 Collision Event
This Hubble Space Telescope image was taken on July 23, 2009, with the newly installed Wide Field Camera 3. The dark smudge toward the bottom right of Jupiter is the debris from the asteroid collision. Image credit: NASA/ESA/STScI/Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado/Jupiter Impact Team.
Astronomers observed just one debris spot, indicating that the collider did not break up before the collision event. A research team led by Heidi Hammel of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, noted that the July 2009 impact site differed from the 1994 Shoemaker-Levy 9 sites in both ultraviolet morphology and contrast lifetime. These three distinguishing features point to an asteroid, rather than a comet, as the culprit for the collision event.
Another research team, led by A. Sánchez-Lavega, estimated the size of the collider as 0.5–1.0 kilometers. They also put the collision rates both for this type of impact and the Shoemaker-Levy 9 event at about five to ten times more frequent than what astronomers had previously determined.
That the July 19, 2009 Jupiter collider was an asteroid rather than a comet and that Jupiter colliders are five to ten times more frequent than previous estimates reveals how dangerous a place the solar system can be. One of the 21 fragments of Shoemaker-Levy 9 generated by itself the equivalent of a six trillion ton TNT energy release upon impact. (This is about 600 times greater than the energy that would be released if the world’s total nuclear arsenal were detonated all at once.) Yet, the solar system is probably a much safer environment than other planetary systems thanks to a 1:2 orbital resonance between Jupiter and Saturn (a situation where Jupiter orbits the Sun exactly twice for every single orbit of Saturn). This event occurred 3.9 billion years ago and caused the Kuiper Belt, the solar system’s most dangerous belt of asteroids and comets, to be reduced to about one percent of its previous size.
The July 16, 1994 and July 19, 2009 collision events on Jupiter demonstrate just how crucial a role the planet plays in protecting life on Earth. Without Jupiter’s gravitational shield our planet would be pummeled by frequent life-exterminating events.
Yet Jupiter by itself is not an adequate shield. The best protection is achieved via a specific arrangement of several gas giant planets. The most massive gas giant must be nearest to the life support planet and the second most massive gas giant the next nearest, followed by smaller, more distant gas giants. Together Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune provide Earth with this ideal shield.
Some might argue that a gas giant planet more massive and closer than Jupiter would better protect Earth. While such a planet would provide Earth with superior protection from collision events, its gravity would be strong enough to seriously disrupt Earth’s orbit. A Jupiter more or less massive would pose a greater risk to life on Earth, as would a Jupiter more or less distant. The same delicate balances hold true for Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
The Jupiter collision events remind all of us how thankful we need to be for God providing Earth with such wonderfully designed planetary partners. These celestial bodies also illustrate that the more we learn about our solar system, the more reasons we discover to believe in Christ as Creator, Lord, and Savior. | <urn:uuid:4b019c6a-a557-4476-9e9f-c6d2a89e9937> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://www.reasons.org/articles/thank-god-for-jupiter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1405997859240.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20140722025739-00073-ip-10-33-131-23.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94156 | 1,280 | 3.71875 | 4 |
The Burned-Over District, the Second Great Awakening (Arminius-based Revivalism) and Western New York from 1800-1850.A lot of what defined this period was the notion that Jesus would soon return for total and final judgment and that therefore society needed to be perfected soon. While this seems to ignore Jesus’ words that his kingdom was “not of this world,” it could partially be attributed to the Mayflower pilgrims and their “Shining City on a Hill” idea. Both movements saw their “shining” heyday and their decline.
Elements were religious, social and political:
- A soaring of mainline church membership (mostly Methodist and [Ana]Baptist).
- Mormonism: Joseph Smith, Jr., and the Latter Day Saints. (which reflected the hodgepodge of belief and practice of that time and place, including Masonry* [which has a natural penchant for hodgepodges / religious non-discernment]).
- William Miller and the Millerites.
- Ellen G. White and the Seventh-day Adventists.
- The Fox Sisters of Hydesville, N.Y., the Spiritualists (featuring the first instance of channeled texts in “New-Agey” circles).
- Influx of Shakers.
- John Humphrey Noyes and the Oneida Society.
- The Fourierist utopian socialist movement and the Skaneateles Community.
- Influx of Hunter Patriots.
- FEMINISM: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Seneca Falls Convention. (See also Susan B. Anthony.)
- Charles Grandison Finney.
- .The Restoration Movement (Christian primitivism).
- Congregationalist missionary societies.
- ABOLITIONISM. (See also Frederick Douglass.)
- PROHIBITIONISM (“Temperance“).
- Influx of Freemasonry.
- William Morgan (missing) and the Anti-Masonic Party (first Third Party in the United States of America which held the first-ever presidential convention!).
* Like William Morgan, whom the Freemasons disappeared, Joseph Smith was gunned down by disgruntled Freemasons. Accounts say his body was too heavy for six strong men to carry until he was fully dead whereupon one man easily removed the corpse. | <urn:uuid:f0e2506e-1dc0-4102-a95e-2bb533aa0d3c> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://untrain.org/history-untaught/the-burned-over-district/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103334753.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20220627134424-20220627164424-00211.warc.gz | en | 0.915284 | 498 | 3 | 3 |
Philadelphia, PA, May 8, 2008 - Wouldn't it be nice if our doctors could predict accurately whether we would respond to a particular medication" This question is important because research studies provide information about how groups of patients tend to respond to treatments, but inevitably, differences among groups of patients with the same diagnosis mean that findings about groups of patients may not apply to individuals from those groups. "Personalized medicine" is the effort to match particular treatments to particular patients on the basis of genetic information or other biological markers. In a new article published in Biological Psychiatry on May 1st, researchers report their findings on the potential use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to match treatments for patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
Whalen and colleagues recruited subjects diagnosed with GAD who underwent brain scans both before and after treatment with venlafaxine, an antidepressant that has been shown to be effective in treating anxiety. During the fMRI scans, the participants' responses to viewing pictures of fearful facial expressions were measured. Dr. Paul Whalen, corresponding author for this article, explains, "We focused our study on a regulatory circuit in the brain involving the amygdala, an area that serves to detect the presence of threatening information, and the prefrontal cortex, an area that functions to control these threat responses when they are exaggerated or unnecessary."
The researchers found that approximately two thirds of the patients experienced relief from their anxiety symptoms after treatment, and of those who improved, some responded better than others. As hypothesized, the fMRI data predicted who would do well on the drug and who would not. According to Dr. Whalen, "subjects who showed high prefrontal cortex activation together with low amygdala activation in response to the fearful faces reported a significant decrease in their anxiety symptoms, while those showing the reverse brain activation pattern (i.e., high amygdala, low prefrontal) did not."
John H. Krystal, M.D., Editor of Biological Psychiatry and affiliated with both Yale University School of Medicine and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, comments on this study, "There is a tremendous need for biomarkers of treatment response. The paper by Whalen et al. joins a small group of preliminary studies suggesting that fMRI research might contribute to the effort to develop treatment biomarkers." He cautions, though, that "while these are exciting data, we have yet to see this type of biomarker receive sufficient rigorous validation to be useful for matching patients to existing treatments or to test new potential treatment mechanisms." Dr. Whalen acknowledges the preliminary nature of their findings, noting that "future studies will be needed to determine the exact impact that brain imaging might have in helping physicians prescribe anti-anxiety medications," but he concludes that "while a brain scan would be a relatively expensive addition to the prescribing procedure, this cost pales in comparison to the amount of time, money and angst invested by patients who go through multiple medications and dosages looking for relief."
Notes to Editors:
The article is "A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Predictor of Treatment Response to Venlafaxine in Generalized Anxiety Disorder" by Paul J. Whalen, Tom Johnstone, Leah H. Somerville, Jack B. Nitschke, Sara Polis, Andrew L. Alexander, Richard J. Davidson and Ned H. Kalin. Drs. Whalen and Somerville are affiliated with the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. Drs. Johnstone, Nitschke, Polis, Alexander, Davidson and Kalin are affiliated with the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison and The Waisman Center for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior in Madison, Wisconsin. The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 63, Issue 9 (May 1, 2008), published by Elsevier.
Full text of the article mentioned above is available upon request. Contact Jayne M. Dawkins at (215) 239-3674 or firstname.lastname@example.org to obtain a copy or to schedule an interview.
About Biological Psychiatry
This international rapid-publication journal is the official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry. It covers a broad range of topics in psychiatric neuroscience and therapeutics. Both basic and clinical contributions are encouraged from all disciplines and research areas relevant to the pathophysiology and treatment of major neuropsychiatric disorders. Full-length and Brief Reports of novel results, Commentaries, Case Studies of unusual significance, and Correspondence and Comments judged to be of high impact to the field are published, particularly those addressing genetic and environmental risk factors, neural circuitry and neurochemistry, and important new therapeutic approaches. Concise Reviews and Editorials that focus on topics of current research and interest are also published rapidly.
Biological Psychiatry (www.sobp.org/journal) is ranked 4th out of the 95 Psychiatry titles and 16th out of 199 Neurosciences titles on the 2006 ISI Journal Citations Reports® published by Thomson Scientific.
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier's 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect (http://www. | <urn:uuid:e2e1bd1e-fca1-48a0-b9c1-bd660e53a331> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/e-iat050808.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818690376.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20170925074036-20170925094036-00669.warc.gz | en | 0.918322 | 1,099 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Up until now, solar generation on the electricity grid operated in most places in what is known as a “must-take” scenario. That means that all solar that is generated must be used on the grid. When renewable energy was a fledgling new technology, this scenario made sense.
However, as solar penetration has increased, this “must-take” scenario is beginning to cause big problems for other generation technologies because solar can be slightly higher or lower than forecast and therefore requires a flexible source of generation to back it up.
Today, that flexibility is provided by natural gas combined cycle generation plants, which can ramp up and down to accommodate for the fluctuations of solar generation, leaving some gas power plant owners worried that the extra ramping is degrading their assets quicker than anticipated.
But a new study by Energy and Environment Economics (E3), First Solar, and Florida integrated utility Tampa Electric Company (TECO) and sponsored by First Solar shows that at high penetration levels solar generation can provide the same flexibility that natural gas plants have been providing and in doing so, not only does it lower emissions for the entire system but it also saves money for the utility and ultimately the customers.
Mahesh Morjaria, report author and VP, PV Systems Development at First Solar explained why other generating technologies are not happy with the “must-take” scenario.
“It’s more or less like [solar is] saying 'hey I can generate however much electricity I want and the rest of you become flexible…I can be a nuisance to you but you be flexible,’” he said, adding “but if I will also be flexible, the relationship works better, don't you think?”
The study models an actual utility system – TECO – and its generation portfolio to investigate the economic value of using solar as a flexible resource, exploring four solar operating modes: “Must-Take,” “Curtailable,” “Downward Dispatch,” and “Full Flexibility.”
Morjaria explained some of the key findings in the 55-page study, which you can download here.
Curtailable and Downward Dispatch
At penetration levels exceeding 20 percent on the TECO system, solar curtailment can be reduced by more than half by moving from the Curtailable to the Full Flexibility solar operating mode. This results in significant additional value due to reduced fuel costs, operations and maintenance costs, and air emissions.
Utilities with high solar penetration are already curtailing solar, which means just cutting it off when the grid doesn’t need it. When solar is forecast to be generating more electricity than the grid can handle, say for example on a spring day when the load is low, many utilities will just plan to curtail it.
“And that's wasting all that energy,” said Morjaria.
Instead the study shows that utilities could be using solar for downward dispatch.
“If I need to do something where I need to reduce the amount of solar I can push it down and so the downward dispatch actually accommodates more solar because now you are not making a commitment of the thermal generation,” explained Morjaria, pointing out that thermal generation in the figure above is reduced in the middle of the day.
“Then in the evening time, there is a sharp ramp up of the generation and that is all accommodated because the thermal generation can handle that and solar is helping as much as it can,” he said.
In the full-flexibility scenario, the study shows that the utility could even eliminate the need for gas steam generation, making better use of the solar generation so “you can get more value out of it,” said Morjaria.
“If you look at these two pictures, you would say the one on the right is a better way of using solar,” said Morjaria, because “you are reducing the burden on thermal generation to provide headroom and footroom.” (Headroom and footroom are needed in the case where utilities experience higher or lower load than expected.)
There are economic benefits of working this way, said Morjaia.
“If you are an integrated utility you can clearly see if I operate the plants this way, I actually not only reduce CO2 emissions but I also increase the benefit to my customer base…I cycle the thermal plants less and I have more ability to increase the penetration of solar.”
Markets are the Problem
Morjaria said that the purpose of the study is to show utilities and grid operators that we have the technology to let variable renewable energy plants (wind can do this, too, according to Morjaria) provide the flexible resource that the grid needs to accommodate them.
“The other way to approach [the grid] is to say if we add solar and solar is flexible then sure it can get curtailed but on the other hand it can provide the flexibility so you don’t need as much thermal generation to provide flexibility and hence you can accommodate more solar, which is a virtuous cycle that enables the system to be more cost effective.”
What we don’t have are market mechanisms to provide the signals needed to operate solar plants this way. Morjaria explained that all the different ISOs have different market mechanisms in place and will need to adjust in order to use solar energy in this fashion.
“That's the whole purpose of this report to say technically this is not an issue. Ensuring that we can get it into operational practice and overcome all the market frameworks and regulatory environment is the challenge,” he said. | <urn:uuid:8d47d4c0-b36c-4dd0-bc2b-7283e983bd08> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://www.txsillc.com/news/archive/utilities-take-note-flexible-dispatchable-solar-generation-is-here/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560627998844.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20190618223541-20190619005541-00135.warc.gz | en | 0.942412 | 1,177 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Extreme Weather and Climate Change: The Northeast
WHAT WE KNOW
Devastating deluges, record floods and deadly heat waves have raised the question of whether there’s a connection between these events and global warming.
The bottom line answer is yes: Heat waves are longer and hotter than they used to be and some regions are suffering from catastrophic drought. Heavy rains are more frequent and can be more intense and rainfall records have been smashed. These events fit a pattern that climate scientists have long expected to appear as the result of increased greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. That doesn’t mean global warming is the only culprit: extreme weather was happening before global warming began. But there’s general scientific agreement that global warming has contributed to a trend toward more intense extremes of heat and precipitation around the world, is partly to blame for specific extreme weather events over the last decade and will continue to influence both in the future.
Major Rainstorms and Floods of 2011
A quick summary of 2011 weather highlights would read approximately like this: Devastating snowstorm, devastating snowstorm, blizzard, heat wave, heat wave, torrential rains, hurricane (more torrential rains), floods, hurricane remnants (even more torrential rains), worse floods, even more devastating snowstorm—and that only takes you through October. The details follow.
RECORD SMASHING RAIN
All-Time Rainiest Month:
Rainiest August of All Time
Rainiest September of All Time
Rainiest August-September of
Rainiest Year Ever *
In late August, Hurricane Irene became the first hurricane to make landfall in New Jersey in more than 100 years, dumping 6 to 8 inches of rain in parts of New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont. This was on top of the 6 to 8 inches that had already fallen in August.
In early September, Irene was followed by more heavy rain due in part to the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee which caused several Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states to experience historic flooding (Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia) and in Pennsylvania alone forced 75,000 people to evacuate and destroyed 2,000 homes.
The September rains swelled the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers to record-breaking levels in Binghamton and Owego, NY, and Waverly and Wilkes-Barre, PA, to name just a few.
In Hershey PA, Swatara Creek crested at 26.8 feet, beating the previous record by more than 10 feet.
Flood damage, which is estimated at around $1 billion, was especially severe because the rains fell on a region that had already been saturated with drenching rainfall in the preceding weeks and months including from Hurricane Irene in late August.
- On September 8th, a whopping 7.03 inches of rain fell in Ft. Belvoir, VA., in just three hours. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), that amount of rain in that amount of time was “off the charts above a 1000-year rainfall (based on precipitation frequency from Quantico).” Largely due to Tropical Storm Lee, Pennsylvania recorded its rainiest September on record, according to the National Climatic Data Center.
January through September was the rainiest such period on record in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
Major Snowstorms of 2011
The blizzard that paralyzed New York City shortly after Christmas 2010 was followed by record-breaking snowstorms in the Northeast and Midwest during January and February.
Six cities saw their snowiest January on record: Hartford, CT (57.0 inches), Bridgeport, CT (42.0 inches); Newark, NJ (37.4 inches); Central Park, NY (36.0 inches); Islip, NY (34.3 inches); and LaGuardia Airport, NY (32.6 inches).
Hartford’s 57 inches of snow in January made it the city’s all-time snowiest month on record.
Thanks to reduced sea ice in the Arctic Ocean in summer and fall, the Arctic has been unusually warm. Recent research suggests this may have changed air circulation patterns in winter, pushing colder than normal air down toward North America and Europe (22, 23, 24).
An unusually early major winter storm that struck the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast in late October, 2011 caused widespread tree damage and power outages and contributed to 22 deaths. The storm, nicknamed “Snowtober”, knocked out power to more than three million customers from West Virginia to Maine and resulted in the largest power outage in Connecticut’s history. Dropping up to 32 inches of snow, it was the most severe early-season snowstorm in New England since before the Civil War.
- According to one insurance company estimate, Snowtober resulted in upwards of $3 billion in damage.
2011 Heat Records
April 2011 was the warmest April on record for Portland, ME, New York, NY and Atlantic City, NJ.
June 2011 was the warmest June on record for Philadelphia, PA.
Philadelphia, PA, Trenton, NJ and Atlantic City NJ, all set records for the most days ever above 90°F.
- Summer 2011 was the hottest summer on record for Boston, MA and Windsor, CT.
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Author(s): Pall Pardeep; Aina Tolu; Stone Daithi A.; et al.
Source: NATURE Volume: 470 Issue: 7334 Pages: 382-385 DOI: 10.1038/nature09762 Published: FEB 17 2011
(23) Francis, J.A., W. Chan, D.J. Leathers, J.R. Miller, and D.E. Veron (2009), Winter Northern Hemisphere weather patterns remember summer Arctic sea-ice extent, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L07503, doi:10.1029/2009GL037274. | <urn:uuid:19819e43-7a94-4d6d-ad49-44746ee6fcdb> | CC-MAIN-2016-50 | http://www.climatecentral.org/library/climopedia/extreme-weather-and-climate-change-the-northeast | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698541910.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170901-00246-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.798349 | 3,286 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Technology, Outreach, and Marine Archaeology in the Deep Sea
The NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program’s 2012 Gulf of Mexico cruise combined cutting edge technologies to…
The term “public outreach and engagement” is a popular, credence-lending industry buzzword, but do we know what that actually means in archaeology today? And are we as a profession committed to using these components of our work to their greatest advantage in our field? Unfortunately, the answer to both of these questions, far too often, is: No.
Public outreach and engagement in archaeology should be holistic, meaningful and a primary component of our scientific research design—and this includes all projects, from the beginning. Unfortunately, fully integrated public engagement in our collective archaeological work is a rarity. When we do see purposeful engagement, it is often uni-directional, refusing to engage the public in an equal exchange of information. At best, the public is often an “add-on” instead of a meaningfully-planned, integral part of the process.
There are, of course, notable exceptions to learn from in our quest to meaningfully improve our public engagement. One such example is the California Gold Rush shipwreck Frolic, lost along the rugged northern California coast in 1849. Although known to wreck divers, the ship’s association with the history of the area was brought to the public’s attention when Chinese artifacts excavated in a Native American contact site in the coastal range led to the identification of the gold rush shipwreck on the coast. This identification spurred local residents of Mendocino to explore the connection between the Frolic and the founding of their city.
This exploration originated from a diverse set of voices from throughout the community. A complex exhibit of the shipwreck spanned three museums, exploring many community voices and the rise of lumbering in the Redwoods. Research on the ship’s manifest revealed a sizeable cargo of ale, leading a local microbrewery to replicate the drink. Community interest in heritage led to a theater production about the shipwreck’s historical significance, as well as the return of many salvaged artifacts to local museums. And all this in addition to a series of historical books by Thomas Layton, regarding the ship, the cargo, her history, the people, and the places associated with the ship’s career. Years later, the collections and collected stories helped inform the underwater archaeologists who finally studied the submerged remains, and reconstructed the final moments of the fateful voyage.
The defining public engagement variable in this project was the community’s active participation at each stage from the start—from the research design phase all the way through public presentation, including interpretation and implementation of both the outreach and the archaeological investigation. In other words, the “public” was not just an outreach activity. Instead, the public became an active member of the research team that impacted both design and outcomes. The engagement was meaningful because there was a clear role for the public to be an active participant, not just an observer.
We live in an exciting age for archaeology. Technology is changing the very nature of our work, and increasing accessibility to large volumes of knowledge. More crucially, these changes allow us to actively engage the public with far less friction than ever before. It’s time to move beyond measuring public outreach and engagement only in terms of “site visits”: lectures, tours, school visits, streaming video and websites. It’s time to make meaningful engagement—in which the public is a fully contributing member of our research team—a standard for every stage of the process.
The good news is that this trend is changing – share with us your examples of the public as part of the science. | <urn:uuid:8f14b7d8-ed14-4c57-9156-0c1233b09560> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://sha.org/blog/2012/09/what-purposeful-public-engagement-means-for-archaeology/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443737946509.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001221906-00144-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947887 | 771 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Record-Breaking Arctic Warming Leaves Winners And Losers
A new report from a group of multination scientists says that the planet´s Arctic is moving into a warmer phase compared with previous years. And as with most all major environmental changes, there are both winners and losers as temperatures rise.
Researchers from 14 nations published the now famous Arctic Report Card on Thursday in which they stated that average air temperatures in the region were significantly elevated in 2011 compared with previous thirty years–on average some 2.5 degrees F (1.5 C) warmer to be precise.
“This report, by a team of 121 scientists from around the globe, concludes that the Arctic region continues to warm, with less sea ice and greater green vegetation,” explained Monica Medina of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
One of the most significant effects of this shift has been a rapid decrease in the volume of sea and glacial ice in the earth´s northern polar region as these massive stores of frozen water melt off into the ocean. The change has meant a number of dramatic changes for the region´s aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
Researchers say that polar bear and walrus populations in particular have suffered, as the size of their hunting grounds have significantly diminished as sheets of surface ice continue to melt. The region´s whale community, by contrast, is profiting from greatly enlarged feeding areas.
Medina expressed the belief that humans also stood to benefit from the shift, as a more hospitable polar region presents an opportunity to capitalize on previously inaccessible resources.
“With a greener and warmer Arctic, more development is likely. Reports like this one help us prepare for increasing demands on Arctic resources so that better decisions can be made about how to manage and protect these more valuable and increasingly available resources,” she said.
Oil, natural gas and tourist industries are expected to see the most substantial booms, Medina noted.
This new trend towards warmer temperatures is not expected to change anytime soon, say researchers. As highly reflective surface ice melts, more and more of the sun´s rays are able to reach and warm open ocean waters, thus causing more ice to melt in a sort of positive feedback mechanism.
“We´ve got a new norm,” explained Don Perovich of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers´ Cold Research and Engineering division. “Whether it´s a tipping point and it will never recover, who can say? But we have a new normal “¦ that has implications not just for the ice but for other components of the Arctic system.”
What´s more, these changes to the Arctic system may in turn affect the whole planet, says one of the report´s co-authors Jackie Richte-Menge. It doesn´t mean that the Arctic is doomed and the whole world with it, she said. But the Arctic region is like the world´s air-conditioner, and someone has cranked up the thermostat way too high.
The report specifically highlighted the following statistical trends to illustrate a few of the effects of rising temperatures:
- The 5 lowest levels of summer ice on record were measured in the 5 years between 2006 and 2011.
- According to estimates from NASA satellites, roughly 430 billion metric tons of ice have melted in Greenland since 2010.
- Almost half of the region´s known 19 sub-populations of polar bears have been shrinking in recent years.
On the Net: | <urn:uuid:3a4766a2-7825-489e-8459-bab19638074e> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112433321/record-breaking-arctic-warming-leaves-winners-and-losers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394021585790/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305121305-00048-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93437 | 713 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Within the EU-led Copernicus programme, ESA, as a main partner, is the coordinator and system architect of the Space Component, which is composed of dedicated satellite missions called Sentinels, specifically developed by ESA for the needs of Copernicus users, and of “Copernicus Contributing Missions” (CCMs). These are owned or operated by European, national or multinational organisations that also make data available to the programme.
It was created in 2010 with the EU Regulation establishing the Copernicus programme (still GMES at that time) and subsequently adopted in 2013 with the delegated Regulation no. 1159 on access to data and information. It continued with the 2014 Copernicus Regulation and with the 2021 EU Space programme Regulation, which implements a free, full and open Copernicus data and information provision and access scheme. This fully applies to the data coming directly from the Sentinels missions.
The thematic information products from the Copernicus services are also made available on a full, free and open basis. They are produced using Sentinel data complemented, where needed, with Very High Resolution (VHR) or other Earth Observation (EO) data coming from the CCMs. The key elements of this data policy can be summarised in the following points: 1) there are no restrictions on the use (commercial and non-commercial) nor on users (European and non-European); 2) a free of charge version of any dataset is always available on the Copernicus dissemination platforms; and 3) data and information are available worldwide without limitation in time.
In order to know if the actual data policy scheme is still the most adequate for the Copernicus objectives, the European Commission published the results of a study on alternative options that could improve the current legal, technical, economic and strategic elements of the Copernicus free, full and open data policy in 2019. The conclusion was that the current data policy was still the better option. This data policy scheme has been implemented mainly to stimulate the European EO services market growth, in particular the downstream sector, with a view to enabling job creation, and to support the European research, technology and innovation communities.
But even if a long-term stability in data policy may be considered essential to allow the commercial sector to establish and consolidate business strategies, for the first time in 2021, the EU Space Programme Regulation contemplated the possibility of different mechanisms for non-EU Member States to access Copernicus data beyond the common dissemination facilities.
On top of that, the arrival of the future dedicated satellite missions (Expansion and Next Generation Sentinels) and the emergence of new entrepreneurs and commercial initiatives for the evolution of the current CCMs, might pose a challenge concerning data access conditions. Therefore, the EC, representing the EU and ESA, will need to jointly discuss the evolution of the Copernicus data policy mechanism to ensure that the main objectives of the programme are safeguarded. | <urn:uuid:385b4883-fd9e-412b-975c-2c9a9b2d4e7c> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://constellation.iislweb.space/simonetta-cheli-esa-law/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662606992.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20220526131456-20220526161456-00377.warc.gz | en | 0.912783 | 598 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Up to 23 feet (8.2 m) for females
4 tons (3,620) for females
Orcas are an apex predator, meaning they are at the top of the food chain. Some populations, referred to as “residents”, stay in the same general area throughout the year, following food sources. These whales typically feed on fish such as salmon or herring. Transient, or Bigg’s Orcas, tend to feed on larger prey including seals, sea lions, sharks, or other cetaceans. They are particularly effective hunters, reaching burst speeds of 30 mph while hunting in groups with the aid of echolocation. Orcas have complex social structures and in some cases are known to spend their entire lives within strong family groups.
Little is known about Killer Whale population estimates; however, they are vulnerable to pollution and prey-loss as declining fish populations becomes an issue for both fish-eating populations and Orcas that feed on other fish-eating mammals. | <urn:uuid:2424b9cd-d2a6-4f08-b62e-6c2da2619eb1> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://sdwhalewatch.com/what-we-see/orcakillerwhale/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233511002.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20231002164819-20231002194819-00061.warc.gz | en | 0.96215 | 221 | 3.234375 | 3 |
On May 30, the double-hulled voyaging canoe Hōkūle‘a set sail from the Hawaiian Islands on a more than 50,000-mile, 26-country journey around the world. The crew’s mission: to spread the word about the importance of world conservation.
The dual-masted, 62-foot Hōkūle‘a, along with her escort the voyaging canoe Hikianalia, will travel to Tahiti, New Zealand, Indonesia, South Africa around Cape Horn, Brazil and Florida, and through the Panama Canal before heading to Rapa Nui (Easter Island). At Rapa Nui, younger crewmembers will take the helm and sail back to Hawaii.
“This accepting and sharing of responsibility symbolizes the learning which is a cornerstone of Hōkūle‘a’s message and journey,” said Jodi Chew, the Pacific Island liaison for the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region.
At each port of call, Hōkūle‘a’s crew will meet with schoolchildren and community leaders and members to share a pledge signed by the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region and more than 20 federal and state agencies and environmental groups promising to address conservation issues, such as vanishing natural resources, rising seas and changing climates.
In partnership with the Forest Service, the Hawaii Conservation Alliance supports the voyage as it furthers the organization’s core value of promoting global sustainability. The HCA is a cooperative collaboration of conservation leaders representing 23 Hawai’i focused government, education, and non-profit organizations. Collectively, HCA is responsible for managing the biodiversity of Hawai’i’s lands and waters. The Pacific Southwest Region provides funding, technical expertise and advice to resource managers in implementing Hawaii’s strategies for forest conservation, and works with organizations to engage youth in environmental stewardship.
“The Hawaiian name for this voyage, Mālama Honua, means ‘to care for our Earth’. This voyage promotes a global movement toward sustainability and the importance of working together to achieve this goal,” said Fischer. “I think every Forest Service employee is connected to this purpose.”
The Hōkūle‘a and Hikianalia are maintained by the Polynesian Voyaging Society, a Honolulu-based non-profit that seeks to perpetuate the art and science of traditional Polynesian voyaging and the spirit of exploration through experiential educational programs. Hokule’a’s journey can be tracked through its website. | <urn:uuid:657bb6ae-2d7b-4d26-b35b-86bc492cdbc9> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.fs.fed.us/blogs/hawaiian-canoe-carries-pledge-conservation-around-world | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721555.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00298-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908127 | 541 | 2.53125 | 3 |
What is WIC?
Congress funded the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in 1974 to help low-income pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants and children have the nutritious food they need for a good start toward a lifetime of health. WIC has become one of the most successful and cost-effective federally funded programs directed toward improving the health of its participants.
What does WIC provide?
The WIC program provides milk, cheese, eggs, juice, peanut butter, iron-fortified cereals, and infant formula to participants. Each WIC participant also receives nutrition education and counseling to learn how to use the food as part of a good daily diet and to improve their long-term health.
With national funding of $4 billion, WIC serves 7 million participants nationwide through 85 state agencies. In Tennessee, the WIC program serves 155,000 people through a $101 million grant administered by the Department of Health. An additional $34 million comes from an infant formula rebate contract with the Nestlé Company.
Who is eligible?
Pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to five years of age who meet income guidelines and have documented medical or nutritional needs are eligible. Individuals who receive food stamps, AFDC, or who are on TennCare at no cost are income eligible for WIC. Many individuals not receiving benefits from these programs may also qualify. The potentially eligible Tennessee population is approximately 200,000 people.
How does WIC make a difference in people's lives?
- Helps provide early entry into the health care system
- Supplies basic nourishing foods
- Educates how to choose healthy diets
- Gives breastfeeding mothers help and support
- Is associated with healthy newborn babies
- Links with other help in the community
- Encourages childhood immunizations
- Serves homeless participants with special food packages
How can I get additional information about WIC?
Call your local health department or 1-800-DIAL-WIC (342-5942). Applicants are given an appointment to come in for a health screening, or to bring current medical referral information from a local physician, outpatient clinic, or hospital. Or visit our department's WIC website by clicking here: http://tn.gov/wic. | <urn:uuid:faad13db-74c0-4ff0-aa2d-f0e5108f639f> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | https://tn.gov/health/article/wic-fact-sheet | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187823478.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20171019212946-20171019232946-00897.warc.gz | en | 0.93819 | 476 | 2.765625 | 3 |
COVID-19 has amplified the need for Pacific Education systems to invest in their schools’ ICT facilities to support online learning. However, many of these education systems are constrained by factors like their country’s under-developed ICT infrastructure or expensive connectivity.
Recent research has found that at least seven Pacific island countries’ have fully equipped their primary schools with computers. Only two of these countries provide their primary schools with internet connectivity.
Some countries have successfully pursued solutions for the development of ICTs for education. For instance, Fiji charges telecommunication providers a levy to subsidise the costs of its ICT initiatives for education. About 95% of Fiji’s population are connected to a mobile network. Another example is the ‘bring your own device’ policy practised by Samoa’s private schools. The policy allows students a better learning experience and greater access to learning opportunities despite their school's resource constraints. | <urn:uuid:1bb6ebad-89f2-4197-b91c-2a9e39787852> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://www.spc.int/updates/blog/did-you-know/2021/06/pacific-education-computers-to-support-learning-in-primary | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296944606.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20230323003026-20230323033026-00285.warc.gz | en | 0.968581 | 190 | 2.828125 | 3 |
While sex can reduce stress, it may not always be appropriate to heat things up when anxiety rolls in. Luckily, researchers suggest listening to music is an effective way to reduce physiological stress (and doesn’t require taking any clothes off). In one study, college students performed an oral presentation with either Pachaelbel’s Canon or no music in the background. Scientists found those lovely violins helped reduce anxiety, heart rate, and blood pressure in participants who presented with the tune.
While the science behind music therapy is relatively new, some experts suggest the brain’s response to music can help ease pain and depression and could even enhance creativity. (Who needs booze?) Slower musical beats can also alter brainwave speed, creating brainwave activity to when we’re in a more meditative or hypnotic state. For some people, listening to slow music is also a therapeutic way to reduce stress, headache pain, and even symptoms of PMS.
Still stressin’ at night? Classical music may be an effective way to ease into falling asleep, which will hopefully lead to feeling more refreshed in the AM. Not a huge Beethoven fan? Don’t you worry ’bout a thing — just listen to this song instead.
The dance-able, upbeat music at London's "Run to the Beat" race was selected on the basis of the research and consultation of sport psychologist Costas Karageorghis of Brunel University in England. He has learned how to devise soundtracks that are just as powerful, if not more so, as some of the not-so-legal substances that athletes commonly take to excel.
"Music is a great way to regulate mood both before and during physical activity. A lot of athletes use music as if it's a legal drug," Karageorghis told LiveScience. "They can use it as a stimulant or as a sedative. Generally speaking, loud upbeat music has a stimulating effect and slow music reduces arousal."
If you have ever visited a spa to relax, rejuvenate and escape from stress, you’ve probably noticed the type of ambient music playing. Typically it is soft, slow and sweeping. Often there are even sounds of nature laced throughout the instrumentals. There are no sharp spikes or heavy crashes. The music is never fast paced, and this is for good reason. Just as studies reveal the calming, anti-stress effects of gentle music, they also prove that hard, heavy, intense music can create converse results. All music has its own specific energy, and hard, fast rock or booming bass lines often cause muscle tension and elevated heart rate; two classic harbingers of stress. | <urn:uuid:fab9a4b7-a310-4be1-97a0-606f06c2ccc6> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://pedangbermatasipit.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-power-of-music-to-reduce-stress.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719437.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00218-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950458 | 551 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Hopper & Coal Dump Cars
A railroad hopper car is a freight car used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, and track ballast. There are two main types of hopper cars: covered hoppers, which are equipped with a roof, and open hopper cars which do not have a roof.
Covered hopper cars are used for bulk cargo such as grain, sugar, and fertilizer and must be protected from the weather. Open hopper cars are used for commodities such as coal or ore which are not impacted by the Mother Nature. To this day, both variations are common and remain in use throughout the United States, including short line and local railroads.
Lionel created two basic hopper styles during the postwar era. The first was a two-bay hopper introduced in 1948. Originally produced with the number 2456, it remained in the Lionel product line, under different stock numbers, until the end of production in 1969. The 2456-style hopper is generally considered and 027 freight car, usually with the Lehigh Valley roadname and was always the open top design.
Lionel second hopper was introduced in the mid-1950's and was a larger, more prototypical looking hopper. This second variation is a four-bay hopper, sometimes referred to as a quad hopper. Lionel's quad hopper is was marketed as an O gauge hopper and unlike the two-bay hopper, included many different road names during the postwar era. Additionally, Lionel's quad hopper was produced as both and open and closed hopper.
* Scroll down & click on any item number for more details regarding any hopper or coal car * | <urn:uuid:4b764e0f-51e4-4cc7-9efe-8ff5bfeac5e1> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://postwarlionel.com/freight-cars/hopper-coal-dump-cars/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463608984.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20170527171852-20170527191852-00216.warc.gz | en | 0.977239 | 351 | 2.875 | 3 |
Edgar Allen Poe's wife, Virginia, died in Fordham, New York, in 1847. Ill for many months, she finally succumbed to tuberculosis in January. She died at home in their Bronx cottage.Continue Reading
In the early summer of 1846, Poe brought his wife and aunt to the Bronx, hoping the country air would restore Virginia's health. Despite the bucolic setting and scenic views, Virginia died of tuberculosis in January of 1847. Her death sent Poe into bouts of depression during which he reportedly comforted himself with alcohol.
The cottage, a small wooden farmhouse built around 1812 and home to Poe from 1846 until his death in 1849, has been administered by The Bronx County Historical Society since 1975. The Society restored the cottage to its original appearance, with authentic period furnishings. Tours of the cottage are available. Visitors can view, among other things, the bed in which Virginia Poe died.
Poe wed his cousin, Virginia Clemm, in May of 1836 when she was 13 years old and he was 27 years of age. Virginia's mother was Poe's aunt, who kept house for the couple and, later, for Poe.
At the cottage in Fordham, Poe penned the poems “Annabel Lee,” “The Bells” and “Eureka.”Learn more about US History | <urn:uuid:f877c67b-875e-48ba-9b65-4d55bb3aa38f> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | https://www.reference.com/history/happened-fordham-n-y-1847-4579d927248cbcba | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917122629.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031202-00454-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981109 | 282 | 3.125 | 3 |
10 actions to combat climate change
published on 10.02.21
There has been much debate about the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of individual actions to combat climate change. Even if we try to do the best we can, it does not help if everyone else continues to do the same. It is also true that shifting all the responsibility to individuals is unfair if large companies – especially those in the fossil fuel sector – and governments are left out. This does not detract from the fact that if we all led more sustainable lives we would also be making a significant contribution to improving the situation.
Many psychologists explain that the actions we take individually influence our environment. Even though we continually tell ourselves that we cannot be influenced at all, we always look to the people around us for guidance. Climate change is the order of the day, and we have all changed some of our habits in recent years to do our bit when we saw others doing the same. The Fridays For Future movement is an example of how the awareness of individuals has given rise to space for political debate that demands action from governments and companies.
What are the most impactful individual actions?
A study published in Environmental Research Letters, by Seth Wynes and Kimberly A. Nicholas, ranks different actions according to their impact on climate change. The individual actions with the greatest impact are quite controversial, as they involve personal choices that are also very important. Topping the list of high impact actions are having fewer children, eating only plant-based products, not owning a car, and not flying in an airplane. While it is true that acting against climate change requires personal sacrifices, some people cannot base their diet on vegetables alone, and it is unfair to focus all attention on women’s fertility and such important decisions as to whether or not to have children. Even so, there are several lifestyle changes that we can consider, within our socio-economic means.
What can we do then?
- Not owning a private car, using it less, and opting for public transport or cycling. If we need to travel by car, opt for a hybrid or electric car, always within each person’s means.
- Fly less: avoid flying if you can travel by other means, whether by train, bus or boat.
- Review our diet: Reduce meat consumption, eat local and seasonal products, and avoid anything that comes with excessive packaging.
- Look after the forests and avoid anything that could cause a fire. If possible, even planting a tree can have a big impact.
- Save energy: take care in the use of electrical appliances at home, turn them off instead of leaving them on standby. Use renewable energy. For example, install solar panels at home.
- Recycle: recycle our waste properly, find out exactly which bin each material goes into.
- Reuse and repair: try to make the most of the things we already have instead of buying new things. Repair or replace parts of objects when they break down instead of replacing them.
- Consume less: In the last UNIR Project debate, the topic of hyper-consumerism and responsible consumption was discussed, find out more:
- Civic actions: They also highlight in their study the importance of civic actions: raising awareness among the people around us and influencing the actions that take place in our environment, be it at school or work. It may not be a high-impact action, but as we have explained, setting an example does make a difference.
- Demand more from our politicians: As we have already said, personal decisions are useless if they are not followed by political decisions at a global level. | <urn:uuid:e76d0410-23bc-4f83-a3ca-e270f46421b3> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://barcelona.tbs-education.com/news/10-actions-to-combat-climate-change/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046153934.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20210730060435-20210730090435-00015.warc.gz | en | 0.95177 | 738 | 2.984375 | 3 |
What Are Microchips And Why Does My Dog Need One?
All dogs should have a collar with identification on them at all times. But what if that collar slips off? One way to make sure your dog always has identification on them is through the use of a microchip. A dog microchip is a very small computerized identification tag that is about the size of a grain of rice. The microchip transmits a unique identifying number that can be read with a specific type of scanner. We in the veterinary community understand how much your faithful friend means to you, which is why we make microchipping a top priority.
Microchips for dogs are the key to keeping your pet safe, so reach out to a local veterinarian if you haven’t had your dog microchipped yet.
How Is A Dog Microchip Implanted?
A veterinarian places the microchip under your dog’s skin between their shoulder blades using a needle, similar to an injection. The implantation is completely safe; there has never been an issue with a microchip when placed by a veterinarian.
How Does A Microchip Tell Me My Dog’s Location?
As part of the microchipping process at your veterinarian’s office, you will fill out a form with your dog’s information and your contact information; that form is sent into the microchip company and linked to your dog’s microchip number. If your dog were to become lost and then turned in at a shelter or veterinary clinic, they would be able to scan your dog’s microchip using a specialized scanner. They would then contact the microchip company with that ID number. The microchip company would search their database for the number and match it up with your contact information, and you would then be contacted.
Therefore, it’s very important to keep your contact information up to date with the microchip company so that you and your dog can be reunited once he or she is found.
Speak With Your Veterinarian About The Benefits of Microchipping Your Dog
If your dog doesn’t already have a microchip, contact a veterinarian near you today and make an appointment to have one placed. It’s a very safe and effective way to ensure your dog always has identification at all times. | <urn:uuid:4b039391-903c-4919-8dda-6d346b885e13> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://www.geniusvets.com/pet-care/learn/dogs/dog-microchipping | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600401617641.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20200928234043-20200929024043-00548.warc.gz | en | 0.944255 | 475 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Getting creative with water landscaping - photo by Teena Jo
By Erin Volheim
In the spring of 1998, Wolf Creek was flowing with water on farmer Tom Powell’s initial visit to the land his family now cultivates as Wolf Gulch Farm. This first glance at Wolf Creek could have led him to believe the land was blessed with water. Sun and water are optimum situations for growing most crops, but the seemingly plentiful water of 1998 was a seasonal apparition, drawing its strength from a high water table born from the floods of 1997. Subsequent years were mostly dry averaging around 11 inches a year, (comparable to a good year in the Sonoran Desert), while the past two years have averaged around 27 inches per year. Wolf Gulch Farm is situated in the Little Applegate Valley of Southern Oregon where moisture is drawn to the coniferous North-facing hillsides and drawn away from the South-facing oak, manzanita, and madrone woodlands. The terraced slopes of Wolf Gulch Farm are positioned in one of these South-facing bowls.
Historically, farmers have been at the whims of weather patterns. The 21st century bears the additional burden of human-influenced global warming and the subsequent bioregional climate changes; hotter temperatures, floods and regionally uncharacteristic cold snaps. Even the centuries-old Farmers Almanac is having a hard time predicting the weather of the future. Wisely, Tom foresaw that his first priority was to drought proof the farm as much as possible. Improving the natural water storage capacity at Wolf Gulch farm was not only important for the farm’s viability but for the surrounding wildlands and wildlife, as well. He chose to enact two general approaches to water storage, one at the surface level and the other subterranean.
The surface approach was to install cisterns and create two ponds. The 3,000 sq. ft. roof of the main house has a water catchment system that routes water to two 2,000 gallon cisterns that can be used in the summer to supplement irrigation for the kitchen garden around the house. The house has access to a five gallon per minute well. The rain water catchment system, when it’s managed in a more aseptic manner, can also be filtered for drinking and bathing water and provide back-up irrigation for the lower fields.
In the first year, Tom also built two ponds. Winter rains fill the ponds supplemented with seasonal water from Wolf Creek and the farm’s roads. These ponds are gravity-fed with one above the first set of higher fields and the other above the lower fields. The best pond is one in which water is naturally held by a clay soil layer, surrounded by non-invasive native vegetation which shades the pond from evaporation, filters the water and creates wildlife habitat while providing irrigation water.
Tom first tried a pond without a plastic liner, but since Southern Oregon summers are generally dry; it was hard to maintain the necessary water level that would prevent the natural clay bottom from cracking. As nature’s best is hard to imitate, he eventually had to install a black plastic liner that kept water in the pond. Initially, he started with open ditches that also exposed the water to the sun and absorption into the soil. Now the flow is funneled through pipes instead. An additional water source for the ponds, is channeled from access roads through the fields that are angled to divert water into a parallel ditch that directs run-off to the pond. On average, the first pond holds a half-acre foot of water while the second one holds three-acre feet. With his ponds, Tom was able to directly irrigate two acres of annuals the first year.
Another way to hold water is in the soil structure utilizing a keyline system. P.A. Yoemans of New South Wales, Australia, developed the keyline method to stretch water resources available on his ranch in its arid climate. The system uses various methods to spread water laterally, across slopes and also, to slow its movement off the farm. Utilizing gravity, this is achieved with ponds, swales, cultivation and roads that direct water. The practice has become a model for sustainable agriculture. Designing a keyline system for any property requires good initial planning. A contour map is essential in order to best understand the rise, fall and flow of water on the land.
Proponents of keyline design recommend the use of aerial photomaps because of their increased contour detail. With keylining, the three fundamental concepts that must be understood are keypoints, keylines and keyline cultivation patterns. A keypoint is a position located along the centerline at the base of the steepest part of a primary valley, the place where there is a change in a slope. A keyline is a contour line that runs through the keypoint and extends to where the curve of the valley start to become the sides of the ridge.
Tom maintains the keyline design on the farm by keyline cultivating annual fields two times a year, and the pasture and perennial fields once a year. Yoeman invented a special plow for cultivation in his pastures. The plow is a modified ripper designed to loosen soil without turning it over. Keyline cultivation is done across the slope, slightly off contour, on a line dropping in elevation as one moves from a valley to a ridge. The keyline rips absorb water and influence its flow across the slope, moving it from wetter areas (valleys) to drier areas (ridges).
The keyline plow that is used has three shanks, each with a tapered foot at the bottom and a wheel on each end. The wheel is what you use to adjust the depth of your shanks. This kind of plow breaks up clay without turning it over, thereby maintaining the soil structure while allowing air and water to penetrate. Simultaneously, this form of passive tillage adds organic matter to new depths. This approach, coupled with additions of organic matter results in the formation of more topsoil.
The first time Tom keylined at a shallow four inches because the soil was very compacted. Later, he went to 12 inches and now it’s 18 inches each time. Every spring in his annual fields, Tom turns in his cover crop, lets it decompose, keylines his contours and then rototills down six inches maximum while adding amendments to his annual fields. A second keyline ripping, just before sowing fall cover crop, breaks up any hardpan from use of the rototiller. It’s not recommended to plant small seeded annuals into the keylines, because the seed will be overwhelmed at that depth. Potatoes, onions for seed and garlic and other low water tubers and bulbs could be planted along with fruit and nut trees into the keyline rip.
A swale is a slight depression that runs along the contour of the land. That is to say, it is level all along its length. It can be deep, shallow or even hidden. The dirt from digging the swale is usually used to make a berm on the downhill side. Rainfall, instead of running straight down the slope runs to the swale. There it soaks in slowly, forming a lens of water underneath that is absorbed into the clay layer. This provides a plume of shallow subsurface water down slope from the swale where it is stored for a long time. A common-sized swale is two or three feet wide. Of course, you can make them any size you want. An important distinction is that a swale is not a drain. It is a water collection device. The cheapest way to store water is in the soil. And of course, by stopping the run-off it prevents erosion as well.
After five years of water storage in swales and keylining, Tom started planting his orchard hedgerows three years ago. He planted apple, plum and pear trees as as a hedgerow – or windbreak – which are flanked on one side by a row of native conifers like ponderosa pine. On the other side are native alder and ash, which are fast growing deciduous trees that will shelter the slower-growing fruit trees into maturity. This provides habitat for wildlife and for other pollinators, as well. Tom also planted chestnut trees which have a long taproot, very much like the native oaks and manzanita of this area.
In Southern Oregon, though the summers are dry, the winters can be very wet. So when planting trees in areas like these, he recommends not planting them too deeply, not only to prevent suckering at the graft point but because water-filled basins in a wet winter will easily rot the root systems of newly planted trees. He plants the trees with their fine upper roots above the soil line and then generously top dresses them with compost. For the first several years, it will be necessary for him to water in the dry season till the roots of these newly planted trees are established and can begin to take advantage of the water stored in the clay. He will also sheet mulch these hedgerows with cardboard to supress weeds.
Two other facets of being a water-wise farmer are utilizing low water irrigation methods and choosing the right crops. Conventional agricultural irrigation is one of the largest groups of consumptive water uses in Oregon state. Overhead sprinklers and big water guns result in excessive evaporation and deep percolation losses, it’s estimated at least 25 percent is lost to evaporation, even more if you water during the heat of the day. Tom switched to drip irrigation as soon as he could.
Tom has also built his farm around root crops and the more drought tolerant and heat loving Nightshade, Curcubitae and Allium families. His market field’s focus has been led away from fussy water-intensive Brassicas, except for those less water-intensive varieties that are closer to their wild relatives like cabbage, kale and collards. He also recommends growing income-producing seed crops. Seed crops conserve water because you need to stop watering in the hottest months, like August to convince them into producing seed and to let them dry out before the autumn rains.
One of the first signs that keylining was a success at Wolf Gulch Farm, was the immediate effect Tom saw on his parsnips and carrots. He can now direct seed without forking the soil and instead of harvesting small stunted, forked roots that hit hardpan; they are big, sweet and straight.
Perhaps one of the clearest signs of success, that doesn’t require a farmer’s wisdom, is being able to jump into a water-rich pond on a hot, global warming day in the 21st century.
Erin Volheim lives in the Little Applegate of Southern Oregon where she writes her award winning journalism. | <urn:uuid:34df935d-e1ca-4f1a-a3dd-ad115407d007> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tilth.org/education-research/in-good-tilth-magazine/articles/2008/19i/swale-well | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383160/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961278 | 2,257 | 3.296875 | 3 |
The part of the datacenter where the data entry terminals and operators are located. In the past, every major company had a data entry department where paper documents were collected. Until the late-1960s, all input was first keyed into punch cards. That was followed by key-to-tape machines, and later, everything was keyed directly into the computer via terminals. Today, users enter their own data, and most paper documents are machine-scanned into the computer. See data entry, data entry operator, punch card and key-to-tape machine. | <urn:uuid:4ee2c3e2-014c-4780-8167-a0864d6617fa> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | https://www.yourdictionary.com/data-entry-department | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550249500704.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20190223102155-20190223124155-00100.warc.gz | en | 0.976309 | 118 | 2.890625 | 3 |
What we eat has an impact on our body. If you are consuming foods that are good for eyes, you reduce the chances of your eyes getting weaker. If you’re on the lookout for eyes friendly foods, you’ve come to the right place. We have put together some of the best foods that will certainly help you maintain a good eyes health. Let’s find out what foods is good for your eyes’ health:
We know that mostly all types of fish species are high in omega-3 fatty acids which are considered as the best food for brain and eyes. The fish with the most beneficial type of Omega-3s include: tuna, salmon, mackerel, herring, anchovies, and trout. According to some reports, fish oil can also help reverse dry eye. So people who spend most time sitting on a computer, they should consider consuming fish oil to stay on the safe side.
Nuts & Legumes
Legumes and nuts are also high in omega-3 fatty acids. They also contain a decent amount of vitamin E that fights off eye problems. The legumes and nuts that are supposed to be good for eye health include: walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, peanuts, lentils, etc.
To maintain a good eye health, you need to consume foods high in vitamin C. As an antioxidant, vitamin C brings a lot of excellent health benefits. It’s recommended by the AOA to decrease age-related eye issues. You can get vitamin c from the following fruits: grapefruits, oranges and lemons.
How you look at this? Have something to add to this story? Please feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. | <urn:uuid:7cc7b310-6775-4f51-bae0-3a751498d1d8> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://healthehappy.com/best-foods-for-maintaining-good-eyesight/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103989282.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20220702071223-20220702101223-00377.warc.gz | en | 0.950846 | 363 | 2.671875 | 3 |
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General consensus among Alzheimer’s researchers has it that the disease’s main culprit, a protein called amyloid beta, is an unfortunate waste product that is not known to play any useful role in the body—and one that can have devastating consequences. When not properly cleared from the brain it builds up into plaques that destroy synapses, the junctions between nerve cells, resulting in cognitive decline and memory loss. The protein has thus become a major drug target in the search for a cure to Alzheimer’s. Now a team of researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital are proposing a very different story. In a study published this week inScience Translational Medicine, neurologists Rudolph Tanzi and Robert Moir report evidence that amyloid beta serves a crucial purpose: protecting the brain from invading microbes.“The original idea goes back to 2010 or so when Rob had a few too many Coronas,” Tanzi jokes. Moir had come across surprising similarities between amyloid beta and LL37, a protein that acts as a foot soldier in the brain’s innate immune system, killing potentially harmful bugs and alerting other cells to their presence. “These types of proteins, although small, are very sophisticated in what they do,” Moir says. “And they’re very ancient, going back to the dawn of multicellular life.”Just as amyloid beta is known to do, these antimicrobial proteins can build up and form fibrils that, when not properly regulated, have harmful effects. Yet unlike amyloid beta, their role in the immune system has been widely accepted: They prevent microbes from adhering to host cells, and ultimately trap them. So five years ago the pair of researchers set out to determine whether amyloid beta could also act as a natural antibiotic. They had previously explored their hypothesis in vitro, but in this new study they used worms and mice. For these animal models they compared what happened when amyloid beta was overexpressed to when it was not produced, and found that the former led to increased resistance to infection and longer survival rates.The team first infected cultured human and hamster cells with a type of fungus calledCandida albicans and found that high expression of amyloid beta had a protective effect, doubling the number of cells that were not infected. The researchers then moved on to roundworms, or nematodes, which usually do not survive for more than two to three days once the fungus takes hold. The nematodes with overexpressed amyloid beta, however, were still going strong five to six days after they were infected. Finally, the researchers infected the brains of mice with a strain of salmonella to cause meningitis. Mice that were genetically altered to overproduce human amyloid beta survived nearly twice as long as mice that did not have the protein at all.Most shocking of all, according to Tanzi and Moir, was that when they injected bacteria into the brains of Alzheimer’s mouse models, amyloid plaques—the hallmark of the disease—formed within 48 hours. “We didn’t know this was even possible,” Tanzi says, “that amyloid plaques would form rapidly overnight.” And in the middle of each plaque was one Salmonella bacterium, supporting the theory that the amyloid deposition had formed around the microbe as an entrapment mechanism—just like LL37 and other established antimicrobial proteins.“These results are particularly intriguing,” says Anna Palamara, a microbiologist at the Sapienza University of Rome who was not involved in the study. “Previous [research] shows that several infectious agents, including viruses, trigger amyloid beta production and accumulation.” Herpes and influenza are just two of the infections that have been tested by other research teams.The Harvard team’s new findings provide further evidence that Alzheimer’s could be inadvertently spurred by an infection that causes the formation of too much amyloid. As people get older the immune system and blood-brain barrier become increasingly compromised, making it easier for microbes to sneak into the brain. It wouldn’t take many of these pathogens, according to Tanzi, to cause amyloid buildup. “And that could rapidly start the cascade toward the disease,” he says, “causing tangles and inflammation. You’ve got all three pillars of Alzheimer’s right there.”“It is possible to speculate that during a mild infection the production of amyloid beta may help,” Palamara says. “But in the presence of persistent or repeated infections, amyloid beta levels may accumulate, exceeding a threshold. In this case its protective role might change to the well-known neurotoxic one.”The idea that amyloid beta has a positive function in the body could potentially change how scientists approach potential treatments. Instead of attempting to completely eliminate the protein, “we might want to think about just dialing it down,” Tanzi says. Moreover, Moir adds, the drugs in trials now are for the most part designed to reduce inflammation by targeting pathways in the adaptive immune system. But if amyloid production and deposition are innate immune responses, then targeting pathways of innate immunity or the microbes themselves may be the way to go.They do not expect convincing the scientific community of this to be easy. “This is really going to cause a lot of unrest in the field,” Tanzi says. “Any new revolutionary discovery is first ridiculed, then violently opposed, and finally taken to be self-evident. We’re ready for the ridicule and the violent opposition, and we think we have enough data so that we can look forward to self-evident.”But the pair has a long way to go. They are now moving forward with a plan to systematically characterize the microbes found in the aging brain. From there they hope to identify the pathogens that may be involved in the onset of Alzheimer’s—as well as those that potentially play a role in other amyloid diseases, such as diabetes.“We’re at the top of a mountain with a freshly formed layer of snow,” Moir says. “Where you go is where you choose. There’s so much to explore.” | <urn:uuid:fe56d953-e169-4a65-aeb6-4f17da551c9e> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | http://amicor.blogspot.com/2016/06/alzheimer-d-and-infections.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818686117.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20170920014637-20170920034637-00345.warc.gz | en | 0.964611 | 1,368 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Policy Analysis investigates what effect the financial benefits for families with children had on alleviating poverty in Estonia during 2000-2007 and which support measure has reduced poverty most cost-efficiently, i.e. with minimal cost for reducing child poverty by one percentage point. The study examines benefits that are paid in accordance with the State Family Benefits Act and the Parental Benefit Act and the additional income tax exemption for raising children according to the Income Tax Act. The cost of the benefits and tax incentives was estimated 2.8 billion kroons (180 million euros) in 2006.
The report uses microsimulation method i.e. the values of financial benefits and taxes are simulated according to the policy rules given to the households. This allows assessing real and hypothetical effect on distribution of incomes, poverty and costs of policy measures. Initial information about the structure, income and expenses of households is taken from the Statistics Estonia report on the household budget survey for the period 2000-2005.
Analysis showed that family benefits, parental benefits and income tax exemption together reduced the number of children living below the relative poverty threshold almost by third (about 20 000 children). It cost almost 300 million kroons (19.2 million euros) to reduce the relative poverty of children by one percentage point. The effect of reducing poverty is higher on families with many children and smaller on single parent families.
Out of all policy measures valid until 2006, the support for families with three and more children reached poor families the most. Single parent benefit reached the poor families also relatively well. Poor families received least from the additional income tax exemptions, especially if it is applied from the second child. The most cost effective measures to reduce child poverty are the benefits for families with many children. The least cost effective measures were the parental benefits and the income tax exemption from the second child.
Family Benefits on the Ministry of Social Affairs Website
Relative Poverty on the Statistics Estonia Website | <urn:uuid:38ce270f-bf8f-4646-b1e1-03dd954e0f99> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://www.praxis.ee/en/tood/effect-of-family-benefits/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224648209.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20230601211701-20230602001701-00552.warc.gz | en | 0.954111 | 390 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Forced Marriage as a Form of Violence Against Women
It is important to recognize forced marriage as a form of violence against women in order to understand that:
Forced Marriage is Not a Cultural or Religious Practice
Forced marriage occurs in all patriarchal societies at some point, and manifests itself in all patriarchal institutions, whether they are religious, legal, cultural or governmental. Understanding forced marriage as a form of violence against women allows us to understand that it is not a core tradition of any particular culture or religion but rather a symptom of patriarchal control.
Forced Marriage is Directly Related to Women’s Inferior Position Within Society
Forced marriage is overwhelmingly a form of power and control used against women and girls. Like partner abuse, rape and other forms of sexual assault, it is used to control women, their sexuality, and often, their offspring. If forced marriage is not positioned as a form of violence against women, women’s treatment and status throughout society will not be examined, leaving the roots of this form of violence – women’s inequality – untouched.
Male Victims of Forced Marriage are Treated “As If” They Were Women
In patriarchal societies, the worst insult that can be given to a man is to equate him with, or call him, a woman. Men who are forced to marry often feel less “manly”, less in control, because they feel that they are being treated like women. In her study of young men from immigrant communities in Norway, Anja Bredal found that “Forced marriage is an especially problematic term when trying to get young men to talk. It has been a topic related to young women, and it is important for these men not to be associated with women’s problems.” 4
Positioning forced marriage as a form of violence against women allows us to critique the position of both women and men within society, and the damage done by gender stereotypes and the devaluation of women.
Where forced marriage is not understood as a form of violence against women, some men have reacted by taking out the anger they feel at their loss of control onto the women they have been forced to marry. When this happens, these men are in fact perpetuating the very system that abused them.
When men come to an understanding of the negative consequences of patriarchal control for both genders they will be able to work with women to overcome these attitudes and practices. Men who have faced forced marriage will come to understand that the inferior status of women in patriarchal societies needs to be eliminated in order to ensure the freedom of all members of society. | <urn:uuid:62ace7c9-8932-42c3-9fe6-d40e66ad6ddb> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://fmp.acsa.community/forced-marriage-as-a-form-of-violence-against-women/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141169606.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20201124000351-20201124030351-00073.warc.gz | en | 0.973605 | 531 | 2.84375 | 3 |
- Interactive map
Slovenia has a surface area of 20,270 square kilometres, bordering Italy on the west, the Adriatic Sea on the southwest, Croatia on the south and east, Hungary on the northeast, and Austria on the north. Slovenia has four major geographic regions: the Alps, the Dinaric-Karst, the Pannonian plain and the Mediterranean. Karst covers around 44 per cent of the total area of the country.
Slovenia has a population of 2,000,500, with a population density of 99 people per kilometre. (World Bank 2005). Slovenia has a high-income developed economy which enjoys the highest GDP per capita of the newly joined European Union countries, at around 86 per cent of the European Union average.
The country's relatively high rate of inflation declined to 2.3 per cent by 2006 and is now comparable to the average in the European Union.
Slovenia's economy has started to grow more strongly in the last few years (5.2 per cent in 2006, 4.0 per cent in 2005, 4.4 per cent in 2004, 4.8 per cent 2007 forecast), after relatively slow growth in 2003 (2.7 per cent). Overall, the country is on a sound economic footing.
Slovenia is more vulnerable to earthquake than to any other hazard. Hazard data for Slovenia is available only from 1995 onwards in the EM-DAT database. During the last 11 years, five disaster events were recorded in the country.
Out of this, two events (40 per cent) were earthquake and one was a flood event, while one event involved extreme temperature and one was technological (an industrial accident).
The incidence of natural hazards showed an increasing trend during this period. There is insufficient data for trend analysis of technological hazard.
The number of events and deaths, and the affected population, are highest for earthquakes, while economic loss is high due to extreme temperature. Economic loss due to extreme temperature is USD 80 million. Slovenia is vulnerable to earthquakes, summer storms, heavy floods, frost, landslides and other natural hazards. The loss is estimated to equal more than 2 per cent of the country's GDP The 1990 flood has caused damages of over one-fifth of GDP (Pusch 2004).
As per EM-DAT, between 1994 and 2006, two earthquakes were recorded. These events killed one person and affected 1,306, with an economic loss of USD 10 million. As per the country report, the Gorenjska-Ljubljana and Dolenjska-Notranjska-Bela Krajina regions are the active earthquake zone areas of the country. Over 650,770 citizens, 33.1 per cent of country's population, lives in areas where earthquakes of VIII and IX levels on the MCS scale could occur. Each year, Slovenia experiences ten weak-to-moderate shocks. In the past, several destructive earthquakes have taken place, with epicenters either within the territory of present-day Slovenia or in its vicinity. No deaths or victims were reported due to flood, but an economic loss of USD 5 million is recorded in EM-DAT The economic loss due to earthquake is USD 10 million during the last 33 years, and 321,934 people were exposed to earthquake, showing the vulnerability of the country to earthquake. Drought-related hazards have caused USD 80 million in losses during this period. With the country's strong GDPJ the loss percentage to GDP is relatively low. As per the national report, 14.8 per cent of the total area of the country is under the threat of flood, with 132,000 people (7 per cent of the total population) exposed to flood risk; 30,984 people are exposed to earthquake. About 7,000 square kilometres of the country is affected due to landslides. The country is prone to risk due to avalanches also. As per the country-level report, the karst and coastal region, and the Notranjska region have the risk of fire; fire is reported as one of the most frequent hazards in Slovenia. Between 1987 and 1997 there were an average of 2,712 fires per year in Slovenia, of which 1,080 occurred outdoors, 1,337 in buildings and 295 on means of transport. According to the Global Fire Monitoring Center, there were 89 fire events affecting an area of 643 hectares during 1991-1999.
The country is less vulnerable than other SEE countries to both natural and technological disasters. Considering its geographic position in the Balkans and the drainage characteristics of the country, Slovenia needs to be involved in regional cooperation for disaster preparedness and prevention. Slovenia is a member country of the Sava River Basin initiative. The country has an emergency response plan in the event of earthquakes, nuclear accidents, floods, aircraft accidents, railway accidents, accidents in the sea and terrorist attack. Based on the national security strategy of Slovenia, the National Programme of Protection against natural another disasters was adopted, and different hazards are addressed according to the priorities in the country's five-year plans. While it is looking at disaster management from a proactive perspective, including preparedness and mitigation, the country warrants a comprehensive national level disaster management plan. Non-governmental organizations are active in protection, rescue and relief tasks in the country. Building codes are being used in the country, but they need to be followed strictly, considering the earthquake vulnerability of the region. The existing institutional framework has the capacity to handle disasters and emergency situations. There is a need for urgent attention to development of a detailed biophysical and socio-economic GIS database, which would be a planning tool for disaster mitigation and preparedness.
The European Center for Education on prevention of risks of school level was established in 1997 under FORM - OSE to partially open EUR-OPA agreement for large risks to the Council of Europe. Currently the Agreement have joined 23 countries: Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Morocco, Macedonia, Portugal, Russia, San Marino, Spain , Turkey, Ukraine. After the 1990 Open Partial Agreement disclosed in various European countries - not just members of the Council of Europe, a network of centers. The European Center is included in this network. It summarizes the European experience and coordinate activities in the development and implementation of general and partial educational policies, educational concepts and teaching methods in the field of training in prevention of risks to the school level. The center promotes and coordinates the consultation among member states of the Council of Europe, other countries and international organizations in the field of prevention of risks to the school level. | <urn:uuid:c4cdab58-abe7-4112-b0e1-89211c36273f> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://drace-project.org/index.php/map/slovenia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207927824.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113207-00258-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951167 | 1,358 | 3.078125 | 3 |
The first documented case of mandatory clerical celibacy was the Council or Synod of Elvira, held in Spain sometime towards the beginning of the fourth century. From there it spread gradually east until celibacy was required for all western clerics. This practice never took hold in the East.
In Eastern Orthodoxy, bishops and monastics are celibate. However, candidates for the priesthood and diaconate are allowed to marry if they do so before ordination. A married priesthood is technically allowed in the Eastern Rite Catholic churches. However, in some jurisdictions, Latin Rite Catholic bishops have not recognized married Uniate priests as being valid, which has been a contributing factor to the return of several Eastern Rite groups to Orthodoxy. | <urn:uuid:9347746d-a1e1-4039-84bc-282e7bc684d2> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Celibacy&direction=prev&oldid=115240 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461862047707.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428164727-00150-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97708 | 149 | 2.78125 | 3 |
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (P.R.B.) was a 19th-century English art movement founded in 1848 by Holman Hunt, Millais, Rosetti and others.
Such painters shared the ideal of emulating or recreating works akin to Italian paintings produced before mature works of the the 16th-century artist Raphael. In fact, the artists knew little of Italian art of this period and developed an innovative type of extremely detailed technique, often applied to Biblical or literary subjects.
The characteristics which their pictures share include a meticulous approach, brilliant colours worked into a wet white ground, complex symbolism, and the study of subjects outside the studio.
The Pre-Raphaelites enjoyed patronage and critical acclaim from writers such as Ruskin. | <urn:uuid:fc1673cd-e699-426b-bf5b-cb68459f8963> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/pre-raphaelite | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583659654.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20190118005216-20190118031216-00314.warc.gz | en | 0.961964 | 156 | 3.390625 | 3 |
write once, run
Logic, Proof and Computation
The text Logic,
Proof and Computation (233 pages,
£15) is now available.
Order this book now direct from the
Proof and Computation will be available from other
sites in 2015. You can download the programs for this
book here (includes Shen executable for Windows 7). For
Linux users, you can download Shen from this site.
Logic, Proof and
Computation is designed as a
multidisciplinary reader for students in
computing, philosophy and mathematics.
Beginning with a
review of formal languages and their syntax and
semantics, Logic, Proof and Computation conducts
a computer assisted course in formal reasoning
and the relevance of logic to mathematical proof,
information processing and philosophy.
include formal grammars, semantics of formal
languages, sequent systems, truth-tables,
propositional and first order logic, identity,
proof heuristics, regimentation, set theory,
databases, automated deduction, proof by
induction, Turing machines, undecidability and a
computer illustration of the reasoning
underpinning Gödel's incompleteness proof. The
text is completely supported by free programs
written to illustrate propositional and
first-order reasoning, set theory, Turing
machines and resolution.
|Table of Contents | <urn:uuid:3cead3de-86da-447e-b534-32146483cc8c> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://www.shenlanguage.org/LPC/lpc.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886105927.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20170819220657-20170820000657-00421.warc.gz | en | 0.823039 | 290 | 2.640625 | 3 |
What a trustee is responsible for
Trustees are legally and financially responsible for maintaining trust funds and carrying our their instructions.
Trustees oversee the funds and are relied upon to invest assets, file taxes, and report to beneficiaries.
If you are a trustee, make sure you maintain the highest standards of financial stewardship. Any irregularity is your responsibility and could result in you being sued for breach of fiduciary duty.
The trust may designate more than one trustee. Co-trustees can serve together, or a successor trustee can be designated in case the trustee cannot carry out their duties.
When the person who set up the trust (known as a grantor) dies, new paperwork must be filed. The trustee is responsible for filing the needed documents accurately and on time.
Creating a trust can be part of an overall estate plan and is generally used to preserve wealth.
A trust is a legal entity that can be used to protect assets, since it cannot be touched by creditors, it doesn’t have to go through probate after the person who set it up (known as the grantor) dies, and it can reduce the inheritance tax burden.
Another reason trusts offer more security is that they are overseen by a person whose job it is to protect the financial health of the trust. That person is called a trustee.
What does a trustee do?
The trustee’s duty is to act in the best interests of the trust—while the grantor is alive, and after they are gone.
If a parent sets up a trust for a child, for instance, the trustee is responsible carrying out the instructions of the trust. That can mean they simply distribute a monthly payment to them, for instance, or that can mean holding the funds until a specific age when the trust is turned over to them.
In addition to carrying out the provisions and instructions of the trust, the trustee also has fiduciary responsibility for investing the assets, filing taxes, and reporting to beneficiaries.
Who usually serves as trustee
Many grantors choose to be the trustee and manage the trust for as long as possible. Married couples are often co-trustees so that the surviving spouse can continue to handle their finances. Sometimes two or more adult children are named to act together or a corporate trustee (bank or trust company) is named.
It is your job to protect the trust, so it is your responsibility to keep the finances above reproach.
A trustee can also be a beneficiary. In addition, there may be more than one trustee (known as co-trustees), and the trust may also name a successor trustee (in the event that the original trustee cannot perform their duties).
Trustees are entitled to reasonable compensation for their services, which are often defined in the trust document. If the trust document provides no guidelines, compensation is generally determined by state law.
What to do if you’re appointed a trustee
First, become familiar with the trust and its provisions, including the location of important papers (e.g., trust document, trust assets, and past account records) and the names of any co-trustees and successor trustees.
Keep in mind, trustees are required to stay transparent in all dealings and your responsibilities include:
Investing the trust assets responsibly.
Administering the trust and making decisions according to its terms.
Preparing any records, statements, and tax returns and keeping accurate records.
Communicating regularly with beneficiaries, including issuing account statements and tax reports
Finding answers to any questions the beneficiaries may have concerning the trust.
Financial risks for trustees
It is important to protect yourself from any accusations that you have misappropriated funds in any way. It is your job to protect the trust, so it is your responsibility to keep the finances above reproach.
For this reason, you cannot mix trust assets with your own, use trust assets for your benefit (unless authorized by the trust), or treat beneficiaries differently (unless authorized by the trust).
As a trustee, you can be sued for breach of fiduciary duty if you:
Refuse to give an accounting.
Steal from a trust.
Engage in self-dealing (i.e., purchase assets from the trust, borrow from the trust—even if it was repaid—use trust assets to invest in their own business, etc.).
When the grantor of a trust dies
As the trustee you must abide by the trust’s terms and comply with state laws, and you are responsible for filing all documents accurately and on time.
You’ll want to be in contact with the executor or administrator of the estate, who is the person legally empowered to act on behalf of the entire estate and is responsible for guiding it through the probate process.
It may also be helpful to meet with an attorney to review the trust and next steps, especially if the beneficiaries have questions.
Keep in mind, any trustee who is planning to meet with an attorney should not sell or distribute any assets beforehand.
If all assets have been properly accounted for, either through transfers to the trust or the use of beneficiary designations, then probate is not required. If probate is required, the trustee and the executor or administrator must ensure that any assets that should be distributed to the trust are indeed deposited.
Next steps may include:
Informing the family of the trustee role and notifying any co-trustees or successor trustees.
Collecting any of the trust’s death benefits and putting them in an interest-bearing account until assets are distributed. (The trustee shouldn’t make any distributions until after it is determined there is enough money to pay all expenses, including taxes.)
Notifying financial institutions of the grantor’s death, providing a certified death certificate, a certificate of trust, and personal identification.
Finalizing the list of assets with the exact values as of the grantor’s death date.
Once all of this is done, the assets are distributed according to the trust’s instructions: either by transferring the trust’s funds to beneficiaries or keeping them in a trust.
If they stay in a trust, it will need a new tax identification number, and bookkeeping and reporting procedures must be maintained.
Can you resign as a trustee?
Acting as a trustee is complex and time-consuming, so it’s important that you are well suited to the role. Especially during periods of grief and heightened emotions, it can be reasonable to decide that just because the grantor nominated you does not mean that you have to accept the position, or continue indefinitely.
First, check the original trust document to see if a successor trustee was named. If not, you can ask the grantor to name a successor, if the grantor is still alive. If not, you may be able to ask beneficiaries to allow you to resign and name a successor, depending on the terms of the trust. Barring that, you can always seek help from the court to name a successor.
Keep in mind, before you hand over trustee duties, you'll need to provide a full financial accounting of the trust, along with financial records, tax returns, and any contracts you signed as trustee.
The most important thing is to make sure the trust and its beneficiaries are taken care of, and if you are not able to fulfill those duties, there is no shame in handing over the responsibility to someone else.
What happens when there is no will?
Not everyone leaves behind a will, but all estates must be settled. Your family can generally choose who is appointed to administer the estate, but clear laws determine who inherits what. These legal boundaries can create some calm at a difficult time.7 min read
What is probate?
Probate is a legal process that must be completed after someone dies, before any heir or beneficiary can receive their inheritance. Depending on where you live and the complexity of the estate, it can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few years.4 min read
What happens to your loved one’s assets
Not everything that your loved one owned will have been included in their will. Many assets are passed through trusts to avoid probate, and understanding how each type works is important.5 min read | <urn:uuid:74c328f2-2cf5-4308-8692-5784604213cc> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.empathy.com/property-assets/what-is-a-trustee-everything-you-need-to-know | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500837.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20230208155417-20230208185417-00056.warc.gz | en | 0.959505 | 1,701 | 2.859375 | 3 |
This is a valuable account of the history of dacoity in Bengal that gives much data that is unknown about the practices in the early days of the East India Company. Ghoshal himself rose from the ranks to become an officer in the Bengal Police force.
Robbery has been defined thus in Section 390 of the Indian Penal Code:
In all robbery, there is either theft or extortion. Theft is 'robbery' if, in order to the committing of the theft, or in committing the theft, or in carrying away or attempting to carry away property obtained by theft, the offender, for that end, voluntarily causes or attempts to cause to any person death or hurt or wrongful restraint, or fear of instant death or of instant hurt or of instant wrongful restraint.
So much for what the crime of robbery connotes. Let us now turn to Dacoity. In section 391 of the Indian Penal Code the ingredients of this crime have been set forth in this fashion:
When five or more persons conjointly commit or attempt to commit a robbery, or where the whole number of persons conjointly committing or attempting to commit a robbery, and persons present and aiding such commission or attempt, amount to five or more, every person so committing, attempting or aiding, is said to commit 'dacoity'.
Robbery and Dacoity are major crimes among this country's ancient list of crimes. Robbery and Dacoity occur on both land & sea. In West Bengal people usually travel over land for various works, hence here these crimes congregate on land. But in a riverine area like East Bengal, people usually travel more by waterways. Hence, in that area these crimes accumulate on the waterways.
Let us first speak of riverine misdeeds. In olden times, these pirates would use swift boats of 20 to 30 paddles for dacoity. Having many oars, those lightweight craft can bear many people swiftly. By the efforts of the Hon'ble Government, these organized bands of pirates have been totally eradicated. At present, no trace of them can be found. The present day pirates usually commit dacoity using passenger boats on large rivers. On seeing any passenger craft nearby, these dacoits request those passengers, 'Please spare us a little fire.' Thereafter, on the excuse of borrowing fire they bring their craft alongside and proceed to attack. In this region, a class of cruel and wicked pirates named ' Bijanaa' commit dacoity on the Padma in this typical fashion even today. For these reasons boatmen of traders, jewelers and passenger craft ought never stop their boats out of compassion for lending fire or tobacco. Rather, the moment they hear such a request, 'a little fire please, a little tobacco please,' they should remove their craft far away. Among these criminal-natured pirates, the Sandaar and Goaynaa bands were notorious. These pirates roam about in boats and live on fish they catch. How terrible the nature of these pirate bands is will be understood from the following account.
'Immediately on receiving news of pirates, we turned our boat to the mouth of the river. After proceeding a little, we saw the pirates' boat. On that boat four or five persons were standing, spear in hand. On perceiving the actual intention of our arrival, one of these roared out, 'Come; let me see who you are. Fish that live fathoms deep under water have I hooked up; you who are so clearly visible I'll surely spear.' The logic was undoubtedly infallible. Naturally, this roared out challenge startled me, but that was only momentary,'
In the past many kings, Nawabs and Zamindars used to take the help of these pirates quite often in war or to take possession of land. After the fall of those landlords and princely houses, for some time these riverine bands were forced to eke out a livelihood only by means of dacoity. Like these pirates, the land dacoits were also extremely powerful in this region in the past. At places, their leaders have received honors even like kings. In the past landlords were even forced to pay them annual taxes. In the first part of British rule in India, their power was not slight. It even said that the ancestors of some famous Zamindar families of today were dacoits. Even though these dacoits committed dacoity, they would rob the poor less. Their target was always the houses of big landlords or merchants' establishments. Their only motto was'hunt but the rhino, loot but the treasury.' From such prevalent folk sayings, much can be found out about the hopes and aspirations of the dacoits of those days. Such stories have also been heard of the dacoits of this region that some of them would loot the wealth of the rich and to the beat of drum distribute it among the poor. Because of the sympathy of the poor public of the region for them, it was extremely difficult to arrest them in the old days. In the course of time, with the establishment of British Rule in this country, these dacoit bands have been wiped out.
From an 80-year-old grandmother this is the story I heard about dacoity in the olden times:
'75 years ago when I came as a bride to this house of yours I was just 5. That day too I saw the wall beside your outhouse lying broken as now. I heard from my mother-in-law the story how such a high wall broke down. Then I was but a child. That is why, along with her grand children, she used to keep me amused with so many true stories. The story I heard from her I am passing on to you. Listen!
'Suddenly one day a short squat sort of chap with unkempt matted hair, vermilion smeared on his forehead handed over a chit scribbled on bark to Kartta Moshai, the head of the family, and prostrated himself to touch his feet. This is what was written in that chit. 'From now on, every year on the night of Kali Puja my people will wait on you. I trust you will oblige by sending the annual provisions and five times twenty rupees. Otherwise I shall myself come. Remember the miserable state to which the senior branch of the Ratanpur family was reduced and do not do otherwise'and so on.' Not troubled a whit by such terror tactics, Kartta Moshai summoned picked lathials, expert in wielding the staff, loyal to him from the countryside and gathered them at the outer entrance. A few days later that new moon night of Kali Puja arrived. The midnight worship got over and each of us was about to go to sleep in our rooms when suddenly a terrifying sound startled us. From afar a horrifying shout of Re re re re' was heard. Opening the window fearfully, I saw that a line of torches had been lit beyond the outer wall. About eighty dacoits carrying torches, swords and spears were approaching, yelling re re re. Realizing that matters were not propitious, we locked the narrow staircase to the upper floor and hid all the jeweler and valuables in secret places. That attic's roof you see on top, above it was another room that collapsed in the Ashvin storm that year. I have heard that it was shaped like a tall minar and if one stood atop it the Ganga could be seen. Our archers got on top of that minar and resisted the dacoits with arrows and slingshots. At the same time, our trusted lathials had readied for battle in the courtyard below. Suddenly, battering down that high wall next to the outer gate with a paddy-husker, the dacoits burst into the house. Those rusted heavy curved swords you see in the attic, taking them up the men of the household too were ready to fight. Standing on the ledge of the roof, my father-in-law was blowing the horn signaling to his subjects in Bagdi habitation nearby about this dacoity. One of the riders of the cutchery rushed off to inform the headquarters Tehsildar and his sepoys. But despite all these efforts, none could hold back the dacoits. Killing a few, they began to climb up the curved staircase of the inner apartments. About ten sacks of mustard seed had been stored in the upper terrace. My aunt-in-law rushed up and began to pour sack after sack of mustard seed on the stairs. The seed poured down in a stream. Slipping on the mustard seeds all the dacoits rolled down and got hurt. In the mean time raising a hue & cry, shouting Kali Mai ki jai (victory to Mother Kali) two hundred families of the Bagdi subjects turned up with sickles, spears and axes. It is said that this was the first defeat Gourey Bede the dacoit faced. It is the courage and bravery of all our men and women together that saved our honor and our lives that day. My aunt-in-law's courage astonishes you, does it not? In those days women often had to display such courage to save themselves. Even the other day an old maidservant of my father-in-law seeing a thief enter the room quickly snapped the strings tying the mosquito net to the posts and flinging it like a net over the thief's body, sat down upon him. Hearing the screams we went to her room and found the thief lying half-dead, suffocated, unable to stir.'
It is said that the dacoits of the old days despite being from lower classes were extremely devoted to Goddess Kali. Before leaving for committing dacoity, they would worship Kali. It seems that some of these gangs offered even human sacrifice. According to some, this human sacrifice originated from the practice of sacrificing prisoners of war. I have heard a story about this from an ancient gentleman who had heard it in his childhood from another ancient gentleman. The story is based on an incident in the life of that gentleman's maternal grandfather. Here is the story.
'In those days we used to visit the pilgrimage spots of Bharat by boat on the Ganga. On the way back from Kashi, we were resting at a place on the riverbank. My neighbors requested me to collect firewood. I had gone a little way into the jungle when some muscular men caught hold of me. Tying my hands and gagging me with a gamchcha, (a napkin) they carried me through the jungle. Reaching a huge pond, they dropped me on its bank. Looking back, I saw below a banyan tree a massive image of Kali with lolling tongue and a real chopper in hand. I understood that they had undoubtedly brought me to be sacrificed to the mother. Here and there about 60 people were seated on mats and smoking. Looking at the wooden block nearby and the polished chopper next to it, I horripilated. After this at two at night, after the worship, two of the men untied me and took me to the tank for bathing. One of them dragged me into the water. Luckily, I was expert in underwater swimming and could hold my breath very long. On the excuse of dunking my head, I dove underwater to the opposite bank where I merged into the darkness and sat silently on the topmost branch of a big tree. The dacoits searched long for me with torches in the jungle and finally left frustrated. Then I quietly came down and after tiptoeing for some distance ran for my life to the bank of the Ganga and clambered up on the boat. It is Mother Kali's grace that saved my life somehow on that trip and that is why I could tell you this story. Otherwise all my friends would have presumed that I had been dragged away by a tiger.'
Such tales of Kapalik dacoits are heard in every other Bengal home. I do not know how true they are, but it is not proper to disbelieve and reject folk tales as a class altogether. Many such stories are heard in this region that in olden days taking advantage of these dacoits' devotion to Kali, some dark-complexioned wives would stride forth naked, hair flying, chopper or sword in hand to repel dacoits, and seeing this scene dacoits overwhelmed by fear, would shout 'Maa! Maa' and, making obeisance, leave the place. Is there not a shred of truth in all these stories? I do not know if there is, but it cannot be denied that in some dacoit gangs great devotion to Kali has been noticed.
Just as the pirates of old used slim longboats for speed, similarly the land dacoit used a type of Ron-paa for traveling. Ron here signifies 'battle'. Ron-paa is made of two pieces of slim bamboo. In the centre of these bamboo staffs there is a knot. Placing their feet on these knots and rising far up dacoits could speed at twelve miles an hour on these 'battle-legs.' With the help of these battle-legs they were able in a body to cross through canals, tanks, fields, plains and undergrowth very swiftly. When these dacoits traveled with battle-legs, they would appear like massive giants striding on huge legs. The use of the battle legs demands great practice. Just as besides the Finns none are able to master skiing on snow, similarly none but the Bengali has been able to use this Ron-paa. The dacoits expert in using it can be compared with modern mechanized troops. In the days of Bengali kings soldiers used this ron-paa for speedy travel and because of this these artificial legs were called battle-legs. In ancient India too the ritual of battle was somewhat thus: In the first line, like huge tanks of today, armored elephants would crash through all obstacles and dangers with their huge bodies and behind this living tank-column would rush chariots and cavalry, like motorized columns of today. But though this battle technique was effective on the hard ground and hilly terrain of North and South India, it was absolutely useless in Bengal bereft of land routes and full of marshy land. Because of this reason in this region, kings and chieftains had to resort to fishing boats for traveling swiftly over water and to this Ron-paa for land. In a word, this Ron-paa is an indigenous invention of the Bengali warrior. Needless to say, after the fall of large royal families it is their scattered soldiers who built up these dacoit bands in the past. The word Ron-paa and its monopoly use by dacoit gangs is sure proof of this.
On enquiry, I have learnt that many in the dacoit gangs that came into being at the beginning of British rule were sepoys and lathials dismissed by Zamindars. During the Pathan rule, these Zamindars were fully autonomous with respect to internal government. For this reason they had to establish these sepoys and lathials in their areas for generations by gifting them land. By family tradition, their very profession became fighting for the Zamindar. Even though under the Mughals the autonomy of the Zamindars was slightly abridged, they went on sustaining these fighters for a long time for their personal requirement. Under the English too for some time law and order responsibility was vested in these Zamindars. Thereafter on establishment of the police and the judiciary, the Zamindars had no longer any need for them. Many of these dismissed lathials began to serve with the dacoit leaders of those times for their livelihood. For these reasons at that time in every district of Bengal, several dacoit gangs had gathered. It can be declared with surety that some dacoits of today belonging to criminal tribes are the unworthy descendants of those very warriors.
By way of example, the Bagelis can be cited. Some branches of this Bagdi Class have been declared as criminal tribes in present times because of their violent nature. This Bagdi class was at one time one of the important professional warrior clans. Disturbed by the depredations of the Marathas the Nawab of Bengal Alivardi Khan had dispatched his family members for their safety to the Natore royal family. At that time, the army of the semi-independent Natore kingdom was constituted of the Bagdis of West Bengal and the Bhojpuris of Bihar. It is because of the great trust he placed in these Bagdi soldiers that Nawab Alivardi Khan made such arrangements. Every historian is well aware of the bravery of the Bagdi soldiers of Bishnupur. With their help, Bishnupur was able to safeguard its independence for long. The famous cannons of Bishnupur used to be handled by these Bagdi soldiers. But it is a matter of regret that some bands of these very Bagdis became dacoits in later times. Perhaps even today they have been unable to renounce the war-lust cultivated over time. That is why despite such long effort the nature of these criminal tribes could not be changed. Another instance of this are the Bekaar Hindu criminal-tribe of the Deccan who were previously among Tipoo Sultan's commanders and soldiers. But after the fall of his kingdom, they roam about even now committing dacoity.
In my opinion it is possible to put an end the lust for battle ingrained in these habituated criminals and make them normal by enrolling them in the army. Although many of these tribes converted to Islam later, they did not lose their ingrained battle-lust. Even today, when they riot over possession of land, it is the art of war that they display in the fights. They fight on plain fields far from villages. From one side one may yell, 'Karim Bhai guard yourself! Here, I throw the dart targeting your nose, no-o-o-s-e!' Then Karim, swiftly saving his nose with a bamboo shield shouts, 'Radhu Uncle, guard your eyes, ey-e-e-s! Here, I throw my spear, guard yourself!' Despite fighting in this fashion beside canals or on fields, they never disturbed the peace inside a village. These riots occur because of personal, economic or surrounding circumstances. Those who see any communal taint in them are mistaken.
Besides spears with curved blades, these tribal people use a type of brass or bell-metal plate with serrated edges. These are spun and thrown with such force that they can slice off any person's head very far off. Placing pebbles in loops of string and whirling them about, they throw these in such a way that, speeding like bullets, they succeed in killing people. In the past, dacoits and warriors used such plates with serrated edges in battles and skirmishes. On studying all these matters, it is possible to find out much about the origin of today's tribal dacoit gangs. Those of these mercenaries who, despite engaging in agricultural work, have been unable to change their life-style, it is they who made up the dacoit bands of the past and some of the criminal tribes of today.
Even at the beginning of British rule, many dacoit gangs made up of these martial people roamed the districts of Bengal. Among these dacoits Gaurey Bedey and Raghu Dakat were prominent. Both lived in Halisahar Parganas of the 24 Parganas. On the fringes of Madral village near Naihati the ruins of Raghu Dakat's Kali temple still exist. The local people believe that even now, if the surrounding wasteland is dug up, the treasures buried by dacoits can be found.
In those days if any distant village were to be visited, villagers would usually leave home only after making their wills or having made permanent arrangements for their lands and property, because every moment of travel was beset with the fear of losing their lives at the hands of dacoits or thengaariyaa [staff wielding murderous gangs]. Even today tales of such thengaariyaa fields or dacoits' Kali can be heard in villages. When these dacoits came to eat at any zamindar's place, they never took salt. That is, they used to take salt-less food, for they knew that good relations might not continue forever with these zamindars. Hunting for hidden treasure, they have tied men to posts and scorched them with kolkey (clay pipes for smoking tobacco), but as for women, let alone touch them, they never even tried to take a single ornament off their bodies. But this cannot be said about dacoits of today. Modern dacoits at times perpetrate unspeakable atrocities indiscriminately on women and men.
Among dacoit gangs of today the criminal tribe of Toontia Muslims and the Bagdi and Dom tribes are prominent. Even today they use the paddy-husking pedal (dhenki) for dacoity. This husking pedal is nothing but a simple implement to husk paddy. It can be seen in the houses of all classes of people'rich and poor'in villages. These criminals rob a paddy-husker from a poor person's home and suspend it a little above the ground on three bamboo posts. The instrument thus made is called the dhenki kol. In old days European soldiers also used such an implement for breaking down walls of forts. This was called battering ram. Bringing this paddy-husker on poles to the rich man's door, by means of a rope the suspended pedal was drawn back and then released at high velocity to hit the door. By repeated violent blows of this pedal, any door or brick wall would collapse.
The Toontia Muslims, besides using this paddy-husker, also climb up steep walls. Thus, after one of them enters the house and opens the main gate, the rest rush in with shouts. Before the dacoity they tie up the doors of adjoining householders with rope so that on hearing the shouts none of them can come to help the victims. They carry out dacoity using torches and staves. In some cases, throwing down small children prone on their stomachs and planting their feet on their backs they have ripped off the golden girdles around their waists. This band of dacoits has also snatched ornaments from women's bodies. While fleeing, 'flies swarm thick, draw in the net' is the phrase they use which actually means, 'flies are collecting in bands, now make off.' At the time of their operations or while returning these dacoits signal their positions to one another by imitating the call of jackals.
The Magheyaa Doms also behave like these Toontia Muslims. They usually commit dacoities in the districts of Jessore, Midnapur, Nadia, Hugli and Burdwan. Among Hindus, the Pod, Baagdi, Keoraa and Thaaru people also commit dacoity. Of Hindi speaking Hindus, the Kurmis of Champaaran, Paaloyaar, Dusaad and Raibodhli, and the Baaraabaatrik Parsis also roam Bengal committing dacoity. The martial Bhimji tribe of Midnapur, Birbhum, Bankura and Manbhum and the Bhobs of Bihar also go about committing dacoity. For dacoity they use sword, spear, axe, torch and at times even guns and dynamite. Besides this, they also use a type of mask. Some of them apply bitumen in such a way all over their faces that none can recognize them. From the code words they use during arrival, return and travel, it can be easily understood that they are the mercenaries of old. By way of example only two such code words are reproduced here: 'Bro', i.e. 'go' (quick march) and 'Baybro' i.e. 'go fast' (double march). Besides this, among these criminal tribes the system of finger or hand signals was also prevalent.
Among the dacoit gangs of the past Thugis and Pindaris were prominent. They used to rob travelers of their money and belongings. Knotting a coin at an end of a strip of cloth (rumaal), they would fling that knot around the victim's throat in such a manner that it became a noose. Killing people in this way they used to loot all their belongings. Their leaders used to issue commands in Sanskrit words. For suppressing them a special section was added to the IPC. Fortunately, at present this dacoit gang is extinct. Many zamindars of those days are said to have helped them secretly. It has even been heard that mistakenly killing their very employer's son-in-law, they have brought his golden necklace and ring to the zamindar.*
In rural areas there are many such dacoit gangs who are said to announce their location to one another by imitating animal calls. Leaders quite often convey instructions thereby to members of the gang to meet at a particular spot. There are many such criminal tribes as are said even today to commit misdeeds voicing such animal calls. For example the Bauri tribe of Bengal can be cited. Regarding this the following account is worth attention:
'My residence was in a village of Burdwan. It is matter of long ago when I was a child. In the living room father was seated playing dice with our neighbor Mr. Mukherjee. It was about 1230 at night. Suddenly a jackal's howl was heard'huyaa-yaa-yaa, hoo-oo-huyaa! Startled, Mukherjee Moshai told father, 'No, Banerjee, this isn't good, for it is a female jackal's cry. It seems a female jackal's cry is a terrible thing. Usually, never does a solitary jackal howl. If one howls at once many other jackals join in howling together. Actually, some dacoit leader was directing his followers to meet at a particular spot by imitating a jackal's cry. At Mr. Mukherjee's word father quickly got up and shut the narrow staircase. Mr. Mukherjee also did not delay any more and left for his house. In the morning I heard dacoity had occurred in the village. The dacoits had cut the goldsmith Mano into two and looted all he had.'
Ferocious beasts voice a terrifying cry before attacking the victim. Hearing this roar or cry, the weak become fearful and powerless as it is, let alone resist. In such a condition, they are even unable to flee, for their blood congeals, they lose control of their nerves and soon thereafter these ferocious beasts leap upon their prey and kill it. It is for this reason that tigers and lions roar. The dacoits of this region are also fully aware of such tactics. Before attacking any household, they repeatedly cry out imitating the call of these beasts. They call this the 'Jeergaa' cry. In common parlance this cry is termed 'voicing jeergaa,' such as, 'aabaa aabaa aabaa aa', 'iyaa yaa yaa', or 'o, o, o--ay ay ay', or 'ray ray ray' etc. The Namo-sudras, Bagdis and other martial races of this region voice this 'jeergaa' call quite often. On coming across them suddenly should any householder ask, 'Who's it?' then in reply they say: 'Your death,' or 'your father' etc.
In this region one will see such scrawny persons as no one would believe to be dacoits. But after swallowing a jug or two of taadi (fermented palm juice) they turn into terrible dacoits and then their nature is no longer timid.
Some dacoits of today adopt a novel tactic to persuade householders to open their doors. At night one of them goes ahead and knocking on the door cries out, imitating a postal peon, 'Babu, telegram, there's a telegram!' In this region telegrams usually bear ill news. There is no custom of sending telegrams for auspicious occasions. Immediately on hearing that a telegram has arrived, the worried householders hurriedly rush to open the door. Then, the moment the door is found open, dacoits succeed in entering the house in a band. In some cases a group of them disguised as teams of wandering jatra players or minstrels attract most of the villagers to the edge of the village by staging a play or a dance programme and keep them engaged there. Taking this chance, another group of theirs attacks a rich man's house at the other end of the village and achieves their goal. Sometimes one of them pretends to be a spy and informs the notice that a dacoity is going to be committed in a village. Receiving this information, the police gather all their forces in that village. In the meantime, that dacoit gang attacks another village and loots it all through the night.
City criminals have adopted a novel tactic for robbery and looting these days. Regarding this the following account deserves note:
'I am a cloth merchant. The lack of supplies for over a month has nearly wound up my business. In the meantime, I got information through a middleman that such and such a person will sell cloth in the black market. After this, according to the arrangements, I arrived at the specified place with five thousand rupees. Immediately on arrival, a group of people with knives jumped upon me and snatching all my money, left. I was left with stab wounds on my hands and back.'
In this manner, for buying a house or on the pretext of providing a prohibited item, they delude people to a lonely place and loot their money and belongings. Stories of such crimes are heard quite often in big cities. Regarding this the following account is worth noting:
'I joined their gang as a bid-gambler or Nausera cheat. But on arriving at their den, I found not race of cards or gambling. I found their only work be fooling people and snatching their belongings. Finally, fed up, I left this dacoit gang and left in search of a genuine Nausera gang.'
Sometime back, a dacoity was committed on a Zamindar's house in Rajshahi in a new way. In this crime, the dacoit gang proceeded disguised as a marriage procession, playing the band. It seems even a map showing the route from the station to the village was seen with them.
In recent times railway robbery features as a major type of dacoity. In this crime a member of the gang rides on the train and according to the plan pulls the emergency chain on reaching a lonely deserted place to stop the train. The gang members are present there already as previously arranged and the moment the train arrives, they board it and start looting.
These days some dacoits are found to be unnecessarily cruel, even killing people without reason for very little money. Such a mentality has taken root among them only because of extreme materialism. For this it is lack of faith in religion that is responsible. Usually they are first time criminals. In their view, sin and virtue are merely distortions of the mind. Besides this, some of them become so nervous and excited on the spot that they lose all sense of discrimination at that time. In this condition, they kill whosoever they find before them quite indiscriminately. At this time, they become a sort of patient owing to lack of practice. It is the lack of self-control that is the reason for this. But this cannot be said about genuine or professional dacoits for they have taken to crime as a profession. They know full well that such needless cruelty is harmful to their business. Regarding good and evil they have their own views. For this reason, if there is too much of weeping and wailing, some of them have even left behind part of a householder's looted stuff. They never lose patience having arrived at the spot. Besides this, there are even such dacoits in this region who apparently commit dacoity just to enjoy the thrill or for some romantic reason. Regarding this I quote a gentleman dacoit's account:
'Imagine a house. Leaping across the wall, I have entered the house with my gang. The men and women folk of the household have begun to run helter-skelter fearing for their lives, and I am standing before them like a conquering hero. Can you imagine anything more romantic than this?'
These days some local dacoits are found who tie bamboos across the highway to loot travelers going by motor vehicles. Regarding this an account is given below:
'I was traveling by car with my family to a place. Suddenly I saw a group of people lifting a bamboo pole over the road.** Immediately comprehending the situation, I speedily drove the car in reverse to quite some distance and then sped off turning it around. The dacoit gang came running but could not reach us.'
During the Muslim rule, these dacoit gangs had established a parallel government in many places. Of course, local zamindars had also helped them in this. Although, the Muslims had established supremacy in the towns and the capital of Hindustan, they had no powers in the villages or remote areas of the country. In those places, the Zamindars and dacoit leaders ruled unchallenged. Because of this, at the rise of Marathas, Jats and Rajputs etc., the Mughal Empire easily collapsed. | <urn:uuid:b8352433-7716-40f3-89b3-550bea5ec882> | CC-MAIN-2015-06 | http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=3645 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422122059136.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124175419-00229-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970795 | 7,042 | 2.890625 | 3 |
173 books (9 pages) in this category
by Magnhagen, Carin
Fishes are by far the most species-rich vertebrate taxon, and it is also the vertebrate group with the most strikingly diverse repertoire of behaviours and behavioural adaptations. As such, they provide us with many opportunities to explore the ...eBook
by Fernandes, Marisa N
Gills of healthy fishes are their lifeline to meet the challenges arising from their changing environment: oxygen gradient, alkalinity, temperature fluctuations and the added pollutants. The diverse and ever changing aquatic environment has a ...eBook
by Patton, David R.
<P>Across the continental United States, one can identify 20 distinct forest cover types. Most of these are to be found on federal lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Those responsible for the management of ...eBook
Identification, Enumeration and Use as Bioindicators
by Edward G. Bellinger & David C. Sigee
<p>This is the second edition of <em>Freshwater Algae</em>; the popular guide to temperate freshwater algae. This book uniquely combines practical information on sampling and experimental techniques with an explanation of basic algal taxonomy ...eBook
by Einar Dahl & Josianne Støttrup
<p>Growing pressure from increasingly diverse human activities coupled with climate change impacts threaten the functional integrity of coastal ecosystems around the globe. A multi-disciplinary approach towards understanding drivers, pressures ...eBook
Achievements and Challenges
by H. H. Shugart & F. I. Woodward
<p>Global climate change challenges ecologists to synthesize what we know to solve a problem with deep historical roots in our discipline. In ecology, the question, <em>“How do terrestrial ecosystems interact with the other earth systems to ...eBook
by Ronald Altig & Roy W. McDiarmid
<p>Generously illustrated, this essential handbook for herpetologists, ecologists, and naturalists features comprehensive keys to eggs, embryos, salamander larvae, and tadpoles; species accounts; a glossary of terms; and an extensive ...eBook
by Raymond Coppinger & Mark Feinstein
<p>How well do we really know dogs? People may enjoy thinking about them as “man’s best friend,” but what actually drives the things they do? What is going on in their fur-covered heads as they look at us with their big, expressive eyes? ...eBook
by France, Diane L.
<P>In <EM>Human and Nonhuman Bone Identification: A Color Atlas,</EM>Diane L. France, one of the most respected forensic anthropologists in the world, offered a comprehensive handbook of photographs and other information essential for examining ...eBook
by Conover, Michael R.
<P><STRONG>Human Diseases from Wildlife</STRONG> presents information on the most prevalent and serious zoonotic diseases in the US and Canada, some of which have been national headline news like anthrax, influenza, and West Nile virus. DiseaseseBook
by Kerkut, G. A.
This volume is primarily devoted to the analysis of the integument (epidermis, cuticle), the fat body, the connective tissues, the circulatory and respiratory systems. It discusses the organization and functioning of the insect systems ...eBook
by Robinson, Roy
Lepidoptera Genetics provides a systematic account of the genetics and karyology of Lepidoptera. Topics covered include the use of biometry in genetic studies; population genetics and polymorphism; the rise of industrial melanism; and the ...eBook
by Deirdre Jackson
<p>Although the lion is not the largest, fastest or most lethal animal, its position as king of beasts has rarely been challenged. Since Palaeolithic times, lions have fascinated people, and due to its gallant mane, knowing eyes, and distinctiveeBook
by Simon Jennings, Michel Kaiser & John D. Reynolds
<p>This topical and exciting textbook describes fisheries exploitation, biology, conservation and management, and reflects many recent and important changes in fisheries science. These include growing concerns about the environmental impacts of ...eBook
by John Pastor
Population ecologists study how births and deaths affect the dynamics of populations and communities while ecosystem ecologists study how species control the flux of energy and materials through food webs and ecosystems. Although all these ...eBook
by Anne E. Magurran
<p>This accessible and timely book provides a comprehensive overview of how to measure biodiversity. The book highlights new developments, including innovative approaches to measuring taxonomic distinctness and estimating species richness, and ...eBook
by Geison, Gerald L.
<p>Despite great ferment and activity among historians of science in recent years, the history of physiology after 1850 has received little attention. Gerald Geison makes an important contribution to our knowledge of this neglected area by ...eBook
by Donald L. J. Quicke
<p>Deals with all aspects of adaptive resemblance</p> <ul> <li>Full colour</li> <li>Covers everything from classic examples of Batesian, Mullerian, aggressive and sexual mimicries through to human behavioural and microbial molecular ...eBook
by Dixon, Kenneth R.
<P>Exploring roles critical to environmental toxicology, <STRONG>Modeling and Simulation in Ecotoxicology with Applications in MATLAB<SUP>®</SUP> and Simulink<SUP>® </SUP></STRONG>covers the steps in modeling and simulation from problem ...eBook | <urn:uuid:40531722-c638-402f-956a-9670d3817935> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | http://collinsbooks.com.au/Category/Science_Zoology/?category=SCI070000&page=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655881984.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20200703091148-20200703121148-00312.warc.gz | en | 0.880716 | 1,181 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Simple RISC Machine
A simple RISC machine built on the FPGA component of a De1-SoC board.
Built a turing complete simple Reduced Instruction Set Computer machine with branching and memory functions on the FPGA component of a De1-SoC board using Verilog in the lab of a Microcomputers course at UBC.
- Finite State Machine (FSM) controller
- Program Counter (PC)
- Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
- Register files
- Shifter Unit
- Status flags
- Writing testbenches
- Code review
Gained a stronger understanding in the fundamental hardware of a computer. | <urn:uuid:962fe43e-ae00-462f-8212-25bcbab39d7e> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://stellawang.com/2019/11/30/RISC-machine.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243991288.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20210518160705-20210518190705-00344.warc.gz | en | 0.751632 | 139 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Too little and your dog can suffer from nutritional deficiencies, and too much will eventually cause obesity and the many health problems associated with obesity.
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to know how much your dog needs to eat. Determining the amount of food to give your dog will depend on the type of food you feed your dog, how many times a day they are fed, how big they are, their metabolism, the amount of exercise they get, and many other factors! But you can figure out an approximate amount of food that should work for your individual pet, or you can ask your veterinarian!
If you're wondering how much your dog is supposed to be eating, start by checking the feeding guide on your dog's food label. They are usually presented as a table, with Weight of Dog and Amount Per Day being the categories on the columns.
Keeping in mind that these amounts are the total food your dog should consume in a 24 hours period. Seeing as adult dogs generally take 2 feedings a day, and puppies usually require 3 or 4, you will need to divide this amount by the number of feedings your dog gets per day.
Use this information combined with your knowledge of your dogs life to find the initial amount of food you should be offering. For example, if you have a 35 pound corgi who is not very active, maybe start with 2 cups of food per day. If you have a 35 pound Border Collie who is constantly moving, start with a little more.
Next, use a scale or body conditioning system to fine tune the amount of food your feed your dog. Check your dog every 2 - 4 weeks, and record the results. If your dog is gaining or losing an inappropriate amount of weight, adjust your food portions accordingly. In general, healthy dogs tend to:
Remember, each time your change dog foods, you will have to go through this process again. | <urn:uuid:d0f52191-63f9-448e-8c9d-2449e35f2a1a> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | http://emergencyvc.ca/vet-news/2015/08/are-you-feeding-your-dog-the-right-amount | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128329344.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20170629135715-20170629155715-00162.warc.gz | en | 0.96041 | 387 | 2.9375 | 3 |
South Carolina is among the states suing the Feds
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers published a Final Clean Water Act Rule defining “waters of the United States” on June 29. The effective date of the rule, which greatly expands the scope of jurisdictional waters, is August 28. The full text of the rule can be read here.
The Clean Water Act’s jurisdiction relates to “navigable waters” which was previously defined simply as “waters of the United States or the territorial seas”. This vague definition led to numerous lawsuits and much regulatory interpretation, but confusion persisted. For this reason, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers decided to resolve the uncertainty by promulgating a new definition by federal rule. Supporters say the true motivation for the rule is to protect the safety of drinking water and stream health.
The new rule will affect several industries, two of which are of particular importance to real estate practitioners: construction and housing. The rule will undoubtedly lead to considerable additional costly federal permitting and is likely to slow development.
The rule deems all tributaries to traditional navigable waters with beds, banks and ordinary high water marks, as jurisdictional, regardless of size. The definition of “wetlands” has been expanded to include “neighboring” wetlands which incorporates all waters within the floodplain or within specified distances from the ordinary high water mark of traditional navigable waters, their tributaries and impoundments.
Of local significance, the rule extends protections to “Carolina Bays”, on a case-by-case basis, depending on the significance of their nexus to navigable waters. Carolina bays are defined as ponded depressional wetlands that occur along the Atlantic coastal plains.
Two lawsuits were filed by 22 states on the day after the rule was published. South Carolina is a plaintiff in Georgia v. McCarthy, which claims the rule infringes on state sovereignty by eliminating the states’ primary authority to regulate and protect water under state standards. The lawsuit also alleges that the rule imposes significant new federal burdens on the states, homeowners, business owners and farmers by forcing them to obtain costly federal permits to continue to conduct activities on their property that have no significant impact on navigable, interstate waters.
The second lawsuit, North Dakota v. McCarthy, alleges that the rule harms states in their capacity as owners and regulators of waters and lands within their respective jurisdictions.
It is likely that other challenges to the new rule will follow. In addition to the challenges by the states, the housing, construction, farming and oil industries are opposed to the implementation of this far reaching rule. | <urn:uuid:7cf5ea44-aa71-46cf-81da-d27f75701dff> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://letstalkdirtsc.com/2015/07/15/waters-of-the-united-states-redefined/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585405.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20211021102435-20211021132435-00506.warc.gz | en | 0.961145 | 546 | 2.75 | 3 |
New US study reveals natural solutions can reduce global warming
Restoring the United States' lands and coastal wetlands could have a much bigger role in reducing global warming than previously thought, according to the most comprehensive national assessment to date of how greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced and stored in forests, farmland, grasslands, and wetlands.
The peer-reviewed study in Science Advances from The Nature Conservancy and 21 institutional partners found that nature's contribution could equal 21 percent of the nation's current net annual emissions, by adjusting 21 natural management practices to increase carbon storage and avoid greenhouse emissions. The study is the first to include the climate benefits of coastal wetlands and grasslands in a comprehensive mix along with forests and agriculture.
In October the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change special report called for global action immediately to limit warming to 1.5 Centigrade (approximately 3 Fahrenheit) to avoid the most damaging climate change impacts. This new study highlights how, and which, natural solutions in the United States offer the most promise to help limit temperatures below that 3 Fahrenheit goal.
Joe Fargione, director of science for The Nature Conservancy, was the study's lead author: "One of America's greatest assets is its land. Through changes in management, along with protecting and restoring natural lands, we demonstrated we could reduce carbon pollution and filter water, enhance fish and wildlife habitat, and have better soil health to grow our food—all at the same time. Nature offers us a simple, cost-effective way to help fight global warming. In combination with transitioning to zero carbon energy production, natural climate solutions can help protect our climate for future generations."
Lynn Scarlett, chief external affairs officer for The Nature Conservancy and former Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior, spoke to practical elements of the study's findings: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so we should reduce carbon pollution where we can. But we also need to put natural solutions to work as a tool to insulate ourselves from global warming. This study provides good news that making investments in nature will make a big difference, while offering the potential for new revenue to farmers, ranchers, foresters, and coastal communities at the same time."
Of the 21 natural solutions analyzed, increased reforestation (the planting of trees) emerged as the largest means to achieve greater carbon storage, equivalent to eliminating the emissions of 65 million passenger cars. Other high-performing forest solutions include allowing longer periods between timber harvest to increase carbon storage; increasing controlled burns and strategic thinning in forests to reduce the risk of megafire; and avoided loss of forests from urban sprawl.
The study identified a maximum of 156 million acres that could be reforested, 304 million acres where forest harvest rotations could be extended, and at least 42 million additional acres of forests that would benefit from fire risk reduction treatments. In addition, almost a million acres of forest are being converted to non-forest habitat a year, largely due to suburban and exurban expansion, which could be addressed through better land use planning. The study also finds that urban reforestation can add important carbon storage benefits.
"Planting trees and improving the health of existing forests will be a deciding factor in whether we are able to get ahead of the climate curve," said Jad Daley, CEO of American Forests. "This breakthrough analysis clarifies the highest impact actions for keeping our forests as a growing and resilient carbon sink and the potential scale of climate benefit."
Grasslands are underappreciated for their carbon storage opportunity. Grassland is being lost at a rate of over one million acres per year. When grassland is converted to cropland, about 28 percent of the carbon in the top meter of soil is released to the atmosphere. This trend could be reversed by re-enrolling 13 million acres of marginal cropland in conservation programs and restoring them to provide habitat and storage of carbon in the soil.
Existing croplands have an important role to play. Farmers can optimize their nutrient application, saving money and avoiding emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. Farmers can also plant cover crops, which suck carbon out the atmosphere and return it to the soil during times of the year when fields would normally be bare.
"Farmers are some of our best land stewards, and Danone North America is partnering with farms across the country to find climate solutions through our soil health initiative. Improved nutrient management, cover crops, and crop rotations are examples of practices that can help reduce GHG emissions and over time improve a farm's bottom-line. Farmers and the food industry depend on a predictable climate, so it's important to work together to reduce the risks of climate change." said Chris Adamo, vice president federal & industry affairs at Danone North America.
Natural solutions can be found under water as well. An estimated 27 percent of tidal wetlands have been disconnected from the ocean, increasing the release of methane. Reconnecting tidal wetlands to the ocean virtually eliminates those methane emissions, and also restores fish habitat important for coastal communities.
"Shellfish growers make a living on the water and have witnessed salt marshes losing productivity due to freshwater inundation. Not only does this damage important waters and increase emissions, but it also harms their ability to make a living growing oysters, clams, mussels and other species that support many coastal communities and other important stakeholders. By restoring salt marshes, we can help shellfish farmers, wholesalers, retailers and restaurants and the climate all at the same time," said Davis Herron, Director, Retail & Restaurant Division, Lobster Place, spokesman for the Shellfish Growers Climate Coalition.
Not only do natural climate solutions have strong benefits for personal enjoyment, healthier water, air, wildlife, and soil, many are quite affordable. As states and the federal government evaluate rules and markets for greenhouse gas emissions, these low-cost reductions from natural solutions offer the United States a powerful tool to address a warming planet. | <urn:uuid:916c33ce-e948-474d-9143-91a01ec5eb8e> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | https://phys.org/news/2018-11-reveals-natural-solutions-global.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540533401.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20191211212657-20191212000657-00142.warc.gz | en | 0.938866 | 1,218 | 3.671875 | 4 |
Sunderland, Jane (2000) New understandings of gender and language classroom research: texts, teacher talk and student talk. Language Teaching Research, 4 (2). pp. 149-173. ISSN 1477-0954Full text not available from this repository.
While gender has been an ongoing if sometimes peripheral area of interest for researchers and practitioners in language education, conceptualizations of gender itself have developed apace. This means that, unfortunately, gender is at times viewed in an outdated way in language education, resulting in oversimplification and unproductive generalizations. In particular, women and girls are sometimes simplistically represented as victims of gender bias in language textbooks, and of male dominance in the classroom. This picture is far from being the full one, does little, I would argue, to help female students, and may mislead teachers. In this paper I present a rather more complex picture. I illustrate some subtleties and complexities of gender in language education, and suggest some implications of research for educational practice. I also demonstrate alternatives for research into gender and language classrooms, showing both how the more familiar approaches can be fruitfully developed and how researchers can go beyond them. It is important that both researchers working in the area of gender and language education, and teachers in their practice, should be able to engage with considerations of agency, individuality and diversity, while not losing sight of the still-important notions of disadvantage and of gender itself.
|Journal or Publication Title:||Language Teaching Research|
|Subjects:||P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics|
|Departments:||Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences > Linguistics & English Language|
|Deposited By:||Dr Jane Sunderland|
|Deposited On:||11 Feb 2008 16:07|
|Last Modified:||16 May 2016 00:00|
Actions (login required) | <urn:uuid:0319964b-2648-472c-a187-df9482fe7fef> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/1446/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049275836.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002115-00162-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904567 | 390 | 2.78125 | 3 |
In our experience of coaching teams in business, it is common to find teams that are not working together and are dysfunctional. When we ask 'what is team working?' we find most are unable to answer with any degree of clarity.
The first step in building a team is to identify the common purpose for the individual team members, ie the common reason why they are there. See our previous blog on this subject.
The second step is to identify the team working behaviours that are appropriate to and agreed by the members of a team. Sometimes known as the 'rules of the road', these give guidance if members are unclear about how they should work together. Working behaviours must be understood and agreed by all members of the team.
Some examples of agreed team working rules might be:
No interrupting when a team member is speaking
No phone/laptops during team meetings
We give each other feedback using the Stop, Start, Continue model
Arrive on time to meetings
Each of these rules can have behaviours that describe positive and negative ways so people know the difference.
Sir Clive Woodward, manager of the World Cup winning England rugby team, had his squad of players define the behaviours that everyone agreed were examples of good team working behaviour, and published them in a little black book. This was given to new squad members when they joined the team, which helped them to know what good team working behaviour was - and wasn't. It also became self-policing because if someone broke the rules, the other team members told them that that was unacceptable as they had all signed up to the rules. It was also obvious to Sir Clive who did buy into the team ethic and who didn't, and the latter didn't end up on the final squad for the World Cup.
By helping dysfunctional teams to draw up their own set of 'rules of the road', it allows us to help
teams to iron out any difficulties and challenges they face as a team, and enables them to work together with a firm understanding of what is acceptable and what isn't.
This has the knock on effect of helping the managers deal with difficult performance issues which inevitably are the outcome of a dysfunctional team.
If you have any questions or would like to talk to us about how we might help build teams in today's environment, please email us at firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:349475f1-e215-4b26-b312-8ec9588fd7b7> | CC-MAIN-2019-47 | http://www.management-learning.co.uk/single-post/2016/08/12/Team-working---how-to-get-teams-to-work-together | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-47/segments/1573496664808.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20191112074214-20191112102214-00111.warc.gz | en | 0.98523 | 481 | 2.546875 | 3 |
This is an attractive example of Willem Blaeu’s 1635 map of the American Northeast, the regions settled by the Dutch (New Netherlands) and the English (New England). Oriented to the west, Blaeu's map covers the American coast from Virginia, past New York and Long Island to Cape Code, New England, and Quebec. Fur-bearing animals frolic inland while a caravan of trade ships heads towards the coast - underscoring the potential and wealth of this region.
Adriaen Block's Map
This map is cartographically derived from data accumulated by Adriaen Block and other Dutch fur traders active in the early 17th century. Burden, in his Mapping of North America
This important map was one of the most attractive of the Americas at the time. It is noted for the fact that its primary source is the first manuscript map of Adriaen Block, 1614. Indeed, it is the first full representation of it in print. It is one of the earliest to name Nieu Amsterdam. Block, a Dutch fur trader, explored the area between Cape Cod and Manhattan, examining the bays and rivers along the way. This helped to create an accurate picture of the longitudinal scale of the coastline. His manuscript map is the first document to delineate an insular Manhattan; it also provides the earliest appearance of Manhates and Nieu Nederland.
Despite the early year of the Block manuscript, it would be at least fifteen years before Blaeu began work on the printed version of this map. The Stokes Collection in New York possesses an example of the map on thicker paper without text on the reverse which could well be a proof issue of some kind, to which has been attributed a date of 1630.
Blaeu's map is not a slavish copy of the Block chart. Some of these could be accounted for by the fact that the surviving map is not the original, and that the copyist omitted some place names referred to in the text of de Laet's work. Block drew on Champlain's map of 1612 for the depiction of the lake named after him, here named Lacus Irocoisiensis
, referencing the Five Nations in whose domain that lake lay. The lack of intercommunication between the Dutch or English colonies and the French, led for some time to the eastward displacement of this lake when its true position would be north of the Hudson River.
Some nomenclature has its origins in Blaeu's second Paskaert of c.1630, and others, such as Manatthans, in de Laet. The colony of Nieu Pleimouth is identified. This and other English names along that part of the coast are largely derived from Smith's New England, 1616. Cape Cod is here improved over the Block manuscript by being reconnected to the mainland, the narrow strait having been removed. The coastline between here and Narragansett Bay, which can be clearly recognized, is not so accurate. Adriaen Blocx Eylandt leads us to the Versche Rivier, or Connecticut River, which Block ascended as far as was possible. 't Lange Eyland is named; however, it is incorrectly too far east, being applied to what is possibly Fishers Island. De Groote bay marks Long Island Sound. The Hudson River is still not named as such, but is littered with Dutch settlements, and the failed Fort Nassau is here depicted renamed as Fort Orange. He does, however, improve on the direction of its flow. Blaeu separates the sources of the Hudson and Delaware Rivers which had been causing some confusion. Nieu Amsterdam is correctly marked as a fort at the tip of an island separated on the east side by Hellegat, or the east River. The coastline south of Sandy Hook also shows signs of improvement.
A Decorative Trailblazer
Blaeu's map was the first of the region to depict, reasonably accurately, the fauna of the northeast. The whole map is adorned by deer, foxes, bears, egrets, rabbits, cranes and turkeys. Beavers, polecats and otters appear here for the first time on a printed map. The map includes also an engraving of a Mohawk village at the top right, loosely derived from the De Bry-White engravings. The impact of these decorative flourishes was widespread in the map trade: Jansson's map of the same region, derived from the 1630 De Laet, had shared its predecessor's Spartan aesthetic. Almost immediately on the 1635 publication of the Blaeu map, Jansson reworked his own map: copying wholesale virtually all of the decorative elements of this map.
Publication History and Census
This map would prove to be a staple map of Blaeu's atlases; it was included in every subsequent edition of the firm's output until its dissolution in 1672. Consequently, the map is well represented in institutional collections, and can be found on the market with some regularity. The present example was included in either the 1640 three-volume Latin edition or the 1644 four-volume Latin edition of the Blaeu Atlas Novus
. Increasingly uncommon.
Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571 - October 18, 1638), also known as Guillaume Blaeu and Guiljelmus Janssonius Caesius, was a Dutch cartographer, globemaker, and astronomer active in Amsterdam during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Blaeu was born 'Willem Janszoon' in Alkmaar, North Holland to a prosperous herring packing and trading family of Dutch Reformist faith. As a young man, he was sent to Amsterdam to apprentice in the family business, but he found the herring trade dull and instead worked for his cousin 'Hooft' as a carpenter and clerk. In 1595, he traveled to the small Swedish island of Hven to study astronomy under the Danish Enlightenment polymath Tycho Brahe. For six months he studied astronomy, cartography, instrument making, globe making, and geodesy. He returned to Alkmaar in 1596 to marry and for the birth of his first son, Johannes (Joan) Blaeu (1596 – 1673). Shortly thereafter, in 1598 or 1599, he relocated his family to Amsterdam where he founded the a firm as globe and instrument makers. Many of his earliest imprints, from roughly form 1599 - 1633, bear the imprint 'Guiljelmus Janssonius Caesius' or simply 'G: Jansonius'. In 1613, Johannes Janssonius, also a mapmaker, married Elizabeth Hondius, the daughter of Willem's primary competitor Jodocus Hondius the Elder, and moved to the same neighborhood. This led to considerable confusion and may have spurred Willam Janszoon to adopt the 'Blaeu' patronym. All maps after 1633 bear the Guiljelmus Blaeu imprint. Around this time, he also began issuing separate issue nautical charts and wall maps – which as we see from Vermeer's paintings were popular with Dutch merchants as decorative items – and invented the Dutch Printing Press. As a non-Calvinist Blaeu was a persona non grata to the ruling elite and so he partnered with Hessel Gerritsz to develop his business. In 1619, Blaeu arranged for Gerritsz to be appointed official cartographer to the VOC, an extremely lucrative position that that, in the slightly more liberal environment of the 1630s, he managed to see passed to his eldest son, Johannes. In 1633, he was also appointed official cartographer of the Dutch Republic. Blaeu's most significant work is his 1635 publication of the Theatrum orbis terrarum, sive, Atlas Novus, one of the greatest atlases of all time. He died three years later, in 1638, passing the Blaeu firm on to his two sons, Cornelius (1616 - 1648) and Johannes Blaeu (September 23, 1596 - December 21, 1673). Under his sons, the firm continued to prosper until the 1672 Great Fire of Amsterdam destroyed their offices and most of their printing plates. Willem's most enduring legacy was most likely the VOC contract, which ultimately passed to Johannes' son, Johannes II, who held the position until 1617. As a hobbyist astronomer, Blaeu discovered the star now known as P. Cygni. Learn More...
Joan (Johannes) Blaeu (September 23, 1596 - December 21, 1673) was a Dutch cartographer active in the 17th century. Joan was the son of Willem Janszoon Blaeu, founder of the Blaeu firm. Like his father Willem, Johannes was born in Alkmaar, North Holland. He studied Law, attaining a doctorate, before moving to Amsterdam to join the family mapmaking business. In 1633, Willem arranged for Johannes to take over Hessel Gerritsz's position as the official chartmaker of the Dutch East India Company, although little is known of his work for that organization, which was by contract and oath secretive. What is known is his work supplying the fabulously wealthy VOC with charts was exceedingly profitable. Where other cartographers often fell into financial ruin, the Blaeu firm thrived. It was most likely those profits that allowed the firm to publish the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas Novus, their most significant and best-known publication. When Willem Blaeu died in 1638, Johannes, along with his brother Cornelius Blaeu (1616 - 1648) took over the management of the Blaeu firm. In 1662, Joan and Cornelius produced a vastly expanded and updated work, the Atlas Maior, whose handful of editions ranged from 9 to an astonishing 12 volumes. Under the brothers' capable management, the firm continued to prosper until the 1672 Great Amsterdam Fire destroyed their offices and most of their printing plates. Johannes Blaeu, witnessing the destruction of his life's work, died in despondence the following year. He is buried in the Dutch Reformist cemetery of Westerkerk. Johannes Blaeu was survived by his son, also Johannes but commonly called Joan II, who inherited the family's VOC contract, for whom he compiled maps until 1712. Learn More...
Adriaen Block (c. 1567 – 1627) was a Dutch private trader, privateer, and ship's captain best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts between 1611 to 1614. He is associated with possibly having named Block Island, Rhode Island, and establishing early trade with the Native Americans. The 1614 map of his last voyage provided the basis for Willem Blaeu's Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova, which would present many European readers with their first image of the mid-Atlantic region appear for the first time. The term 'New Netherland' appeared on the Block chart for the first time.
Though his childhood is obscure to us, by 1590 Block appears to have been active in the European shipping trade and by 1601, he had sailed as far as the Dutch East Indies. By 1604 he had been granted Letters of Marque from Dutch authorities to capture enemy ships, on which he seems to have made good at least once. Reports of Hudson's 1609 voyage to the Hudson Valley led Block to make three journeys to the same vicinity and its surrounds. He would be the first known European to sail through Hell Gate and explore the East River, and one of the first to explore Long Island Sound. Learn More...
Blaeu, W., Atlas Novus, (Amsterdam: Blaeu) 1640 - 55.
The classic Dutch atlas, whose publication ushered in the Dutch golden age of cartography. Willem Jansz Blaeu had been, since 1604, producing engraved maps for sale; these were separate issues (and all consequently extremely rare) until the publishing of Blaeu's Appendix in 1630 and 1631, which also included a number of maps purchased from the widow of Jodocus Hondius, (for example his famous iteration of John Smith's map of Virginia.) In 1634, he announced his intention to produce a new world atlas in two volumes, entitled Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive Atlas Novus (in an effort to invoke the successful work of the same title produced by Ortelius the previous century, while reinforcing the notion of it being a new work.) This work was published first in German in 1634, followed by Latin, Dutch and French editions in 1635. Blaeu's maps have always been noted for the quality of their paper, engraving and fine coloring, and this was the intent from the very start. The 1634 announcement of the upcoming work described it: 'All editions on very fine paper, completely renewed with newly engraved copperplates and new, comprehensive descriptions.' (van der Krogt, p,43) Many of the most beautiful and desirable maps available to the modern collector were printed and bound in Blaeu's atlases. Willem's son, Joan, would go on to add further volumes to the Atlas Novus, concurrently printing new editions of the first two volumes with additional maps, in effect making these new editions an entirely new book. Under Joan there would be nine Latin editions, twelve French, at least seven Dutch, and two German. This exceedingly successful work would be the mainstay of the Blaeu firm until 1661, at which point the work was supplanted by Joan Blaeu's masterwork Atlas Maior in 1662.
Good. Mended splits to upper and lower centerfold; recornered on lower left margin; some filled holes not affecting printed image. Original hand color.
OCLC 46842203. Burden, P., The Mapping of North America, 241. Schwartz, S. and Ehrenberg, R., The Mapping of America,pl.58, p.103. McCorkle, B. B, New England in Early Printed Maps 1513 - 1800, 635.1. | <urn:uuid:6233f1af-1025-412d-9190-b0ffd99755e9> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/novabelgicaetanglianova-blaeu-1640-5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103037649.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20220626071255-20220626101255-00397.warc.gz | en | 0.966299 | 3,002 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Dangerous and harmless shark
When you hear the word “shark” we present a huge toothy fish, predator and ruthless killer. But, it turns out that among 350 species of sharks are not dangerous more than 50 species – the other sharks are quite harmless. Many sharks are fairly small, not more than two feet long, and only attack clams and crabs, and the largest sharks in General are confined to the plankton.
Sharks belong to the cartilaginous class of fishes. Sharks superorder includes 8 units and approx 20 families. All sharks are carnivorous, and most of them are predators. Sharks can live in the open sea and hunting on mammals and large fish, and can live near the seabed and collect benthic animals. The difference in lifestyle gives rise to the difference in appearance. “Shark” appearance sharks are from the family of Requiem sharks: blue (3.8 to 6 m) and soup (2 m) sharks, as well as the setting in water of Mediterranean mackerel shark and shark-Mako 2 (3,4-4 m) from the squad of lunoobraznogo.
Blue and soupfin sharks are kept open sea and hunt for fish and cephalopods. Blue sharks often accompany court Pobjeda thrown overboard the waste. It is believed that the blue shark dangerous to humans, but as in the open sea, where it is more usual, little swimmers, and attacks are infrequent. Ethanol is much more dangerous to the man himself. Both of these sharks are the target species, and shark fin soup cook a delicious soup. Sharks-Mako, on the contrary, very dangerous. Aggressive and armed with several rows of razor sharp teeth, they often attack boats in the open ocean and swimming up close to shore to attack swimmers.
Benthic sharks have different habits and a different appearance. For example, benthic lifestyle had transformed European marine angel 3 (2,4 m 72 kg), the shark from the squad scutineering, the family of sea angels. The body of this Mediterranean sharks are much flattened and have large pectoral and pelvic fins located on the sides of the body.
At the bottom of the cat and weasel sharks body is not flat, but strongly elongated. The small dorsal fins are heavily tilted back and his mouth is located at the bottom of the muzzle. Light gray or yellowish color, often with spots, masks these sharks in the color of the bottom. Family gray, cat and weasel sharks belong to the order of carcharhiniformes. The smallest sharks are United into the family katrenova or spiny sharks. They are called spiny because in front of dorsal fins they have sharp thorns. In the Mediterranean, several species of old-fashioned recourses. Shark meat is tender and tasty, lacking typical of other sharks unpleasant smell.
But on the appearance of sand tiger shark (3 m) from the squad lunoobraznye benthic life is almost not affected. “Shark” appearance concedes slightly flattened head and slightly shifted back to a small dorsal fins.
From large sharks in the Mediterranean sea is home to a six-gilled (to 5 m) and sevengill (2 m) sharks from the squad mnogoelektronnykh. Both sharks are found both in shallow waters and at depths (sixgill up to 1900 m). In the Mediterranean sea, these sharks are not dangerous, but the Australian relatives of the sevengill sharks, which can grow up to 4.5 m, often attack people.
Cartilaginous fish with highly flattened disc-shaped or diamond-shaped body are United into a super-squad the stingrays. The rays, unlike the sharks, with Gill slits on the sides of the body and on the ventral side, and the edges of the pectoral fins fused with the head and sides. Most of the stingrays leads a benthic life. More than other stingrays sharks stingrays similar guitar from the squad rachiopathy, family rolevyh rays. Body shape these rays resemble the guitar or violin (in France they are called sea violins). Ordinary guitar Stingray is most commonly found in the Adriatic sea and in Sicily. This manta ray swims slowly near the bottom or is buried in the sand. He eats small benthic inhabitants, including oysters. Voracious scat eating these shellfish in such quantities that a substantial damage to the breeders oysters.
Bad reputation is Gnus or ordinary electric ray (1.8 m, 90 kg) from the squad stingrays. A resident of coastal shoals, Gnus burrow into the sand and becomes almost invisible. Woe to the bather inadvertently step on a Stingray, strong electric discharge will discourage carelessly walking over the sand. With caution should be treated to the sea Fox (70-125 cm), the caudal peduncle which is studded with barbed spikes near. If stepping on it, it will cause painful attacks spiked tail. Sea Fox belongs to the family of diamond stingrays, the stingrays squad remotely. | <urn:uuid:ea4f2498-8599-4fbc-9036-ec8b76ccde8d> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | http://gleumes.info/dangerous-and-harmless-shark | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948550199.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20171214183234-20171214203234-00198.warc.gz | en | 0.946482 | 1,077 | 3.140625 | 3 |
The importance of the Greeks lies in the fact that they sketched out many, although of course not all, of the broad foundations upon which Western Civilization rests. This may seem a bit strange in view of the fact that each city-state was independent and often jealous of the others, but the Greeks were bound together by a common language, by common gods, by belief in their descent from a common ancestor and in their superiority to non-Greeks, and by many common customs. Although the name of Athens has been chosen in the title of this chapter to represent the vigorous cultural life of the Golden Age, it must be remembered that other city-states made important contributions as well. [excerpt]
This is the publisher's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Bloom, Robert L. et al. "3. Athens: Greek Civilization. Pt. I: Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem: Background of Western Civilization." Ideas and Institutions of Western Man (Gettysburg College, 1958), 10-14. | <urn:uuid:be63fa87-b275-4651-bf68-8471e7361d70> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/contemporary_sec1/3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540515344.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20191208230118-20191209014118-00410.warc.gz | en | 0.945983 | 228 | 3.515625 | 4 |
By Joanna Kyriakakis
The Azaria Chamberlain case is a reminder that the criminal justice system does get it wrong, with each error bearing its own human cost.
Last week, the Northern Territory Coroner’s office concluded an inquest into the cause of death of baby Azaria Chamberlain near Uluru on the night of 17 August 1980. The finding: a dingo took the baby.
Despite the same determination in the original coronial inquest, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton was tried and found guilty of the child’s murder in one of the most public criminal cases in Australian history. She was sentenced to life in prison and served nearly three years before new evidence and a Royal Commission Inquiry led to a pardon and reversal of her wrongful conviction.
The Chamberlain-Creighton conviction was based largely on the use of unreliable or improper forensic science during the trial. But the Chamberlain case is only one example of wrongful conviction following a flawed criminal trial. Many have been sent to jail or even executed on the basis of faulty evidence despite their innocence.
The Innocence Project in the United States is dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through the use of modern DNA testing.
They report that in US history there have been 292 post-conviction DNA exonerations. From their experience, the seven most common causes of wrongful convictions are eyewitness misidentification, improper forensic science, false confessions, government misconduct, reliance on informants, and plain old bad lawyering – including defence counsel sleeping during trial.
Unreliable or improper forensic science was found to be present in 52% of the first 225 exoneration cases the Innocence Project have dealt with.
A lack of scientific standards for assessing the results of forensic testing methods was a key finding by Justice Morling in the Royal Commission Inquiry into the Chamberlain case. This unreliable evidence, along with unverified assumptions by experts, were presented as scientific evidence to the court.
Despite advancements in forensic practice, modern concerns persist with respect to its use in criminal trials. For example, the term “the CSI effect” has been coined to describe the impact of television programs that depict a high level of sophistication in current forensic sciences. These shows foster unrealistic expectations among jurors as to the need for, and veracity of, forensic science in criminal trials.
Also with respect to jury trials, studies have shown that jurors can be prone to confusion as to legal directions and factual narratives, especially in cases involving complex evidence. They may also automatically defer to expert witnesses.
There is a large corpus of international human rights law directed at ensuring procedural fairness for defendants. These rights seek to balance the usually limited power of defendants relative to that of the state and to minimise the risks of injustice.
Key among these is Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) that ensures basic rights. These include the presumption of innocence, the right to silence, to be dealt with by an impartial tribunal, to be fully informed of charges, to participate fully in the examination of evidence and to be protected against multiple prosecutions for the same offence.
Article 14 also confirms the right of all persons to appeal to a higher court and to compensation where new evidence leads to exoneration.
But even with due process assurances, errors occur. In states retaining the death penalty such errors may result in the highest cost of all.
The Death Penalty Information Centre reports that in the United States 140 people have been released from death row since 1973 due to evidence of wrongful conviction. Some would say that this shows the criminal justice system working, as appeal processes have enabled the errors to be identified. To some extent this is true.
Sadly, however, there are cases where the error has not been uncovered in time or limitations in the system have worked against its recognition. For example, there is evidence to suggest that in 2004 Cameron Todd Willingham was wrongfully executed by the state of Texas. His murder convictions had been founded on discredited scientific theories as to how the fire that killed his children most likely occurred.
Earlier this year the Columbia Human Rights Law Review dedicated one of its editions to research detailing how Carlos DeLuna was executed in 1989 for a crime that he most likely did not commit.
Studies in the United States also suggest the race of a victim has a bearing on the likelihood of an imposition of the death penalty.
The death penalty and international law
International human rights law has yet to prohibit the use of capital punishment. Instead, Article 6 of the ICCPR limits its application to the most serious crimes and to defendants over 18 years of age.
Despite this, there is a global trend towards its abolition. This trend is supported by international instruments such as the 1989 Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, which confirms that the abolition of the death penalty contributes to enhancement of human dignity and progressive development of human rights.
The Chamberlain case is a reminder that criminal justice systems are fallible. For the family in this case, the legal system has, as far as is possible, rectified the errors – the criminal conviction has been reversed, financial compensation awarded, and now the accurate recording of the cause of Azaria’s death.
Some wrongs can be rectified. But as philosopher John Stuart Mill acknowledged in his eloquent defence of the death penalty in 1868, there is one argument against the practice which “never can be entirely got rid of. .. [T]hat if by an error of justice an innocent person is put to death, the mistake can never be corrected”. | <urn:uuid:973db546-457f-4bf4-bbdc-362e5bce2db6> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://castancentre.com/2012/06/19/lessons-from-the-chamberlain-case-the-human-cost-of-wrongful-conviction-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046154053.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20210731043043-20210731073043-00049.warc.gz | en | 0.958492 | 1,124 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Folklore And Tradition
Saint Lambert Folkloric March in Cerfontaine
The Saint Lambert Folkloric March taking place on 15 August in Cerfontaine, along with Napoleonic-style uniforms and a music parade. A UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.
History of the Napoleonic March in Cerfontaine
Cerfontaine is one of the forty Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse towns that was incorporated into France in 1793 and which remained there until December 1815.
The Saint Lambert March in Cerfontaine was founded to honour the memory of the local conscripts that fought throughout Europe in the ranks of Napoleon's army.
Among the survivors, several were awarded the Croix de Sainte Hélène (Saint Helen Cross), which can be seen at the Museum of Local Life in Cerfontaine.
The day's scheduleThe Napoleonic Saint Lambert March in Cerfontaine takes place every year on 15 August.
Sappers, grenadiers, police, the Zouave, light infantry and artillerymen march to the sound of drums and fifes.
11am: Departure of the procession
12.30pm: Return of the procession
8pm: Return of companies and squadrons
The Saint Lambert March distinguishes itself from other by a squadron of over 50 cavalrymen, wearing an exact replica of the uniforms of which the soldiers of the Empire wore.
Full information can be found here (link in French only).
Origins of the Napoleonic march
The Marches have religious roots and were influenced by the Napoleonic era. They evolved during the 20th century to become what they are today.
Find out more at Folkloric Marches in Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse.
Instructions for the marches
From May until September, 20,000 people dress up in costumes to re-enact this long tradition.
Each Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse March has its own traditions, customs and characteristics.
Check out the Marches calendar here (link in French only).
Tourist information on the town CERFONTAINE
Visit our partners' webpages
- Food-lovers' walk in the Han-sur-Lesse Wildlife Reserve
- Namur Legend, classic motorcycles at the Namur Citadel
- Special "Halloween" Train... The Horror Train!
- "Facing Time Rops-Fabre" exhibition in Namur
We are not responsible for any changes in dates and/or programmes. Please contact the organiser prior to departure. | <urn:uuid:627bd58e-b5cb-4894-bd86-3ea90276b495> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://www.opt.be/informations/events-cerfontaine-saint-lambert-folkloric-march-in-cerfontaine/en/E/63774.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207930259.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113210-00319-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929367 | 541 | 2.75 | 3 |
The stethoscope which I have devised intensifies the audibility of sounds without changing their character. It consists of a set of resonators of different sizes, which are adapted to be detachably connected to a hollow, curved Y-tube that serves as a handle and also as a connection for the ear-pieces. The resonators are so constructed that they can be nested together and combined with a member which cooperates with a resonator of greater diameter to form a protecting cover for other resonators that are nested inside.
Each resonator, A, A1 and A2, is cup-shaped, with a flat top wall, and is preferably formed from metal, although some other suitable material which has a certain degree of resonance would do as well. The opening from the top wall of each resonator, 2a, communicates with opening 1a of the device B. The resonator is connected to the handle | <urn:uuid:e38d3038-3726-43ab-a68f-96429c6aad63> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=435794 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510264270.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011744-00368-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981184 | 185 | 2.75 | 3 |
Creativity spawns meaningful satisfaction and value in life and work. Sadly, people habitually scurry to “what’s worked in the past” for the quickest path to limitations and boredom. Fear of failure is often the toothy gremlin that encourages us to recycle old ideas that have worked rather than risk new concepts. But repeatedly pushing your creative boundaries is like any other activity that we do again and again — over time, it becomes less scary and more rewarding.
The late American writer Kurt Vonnegut said about creativity: “We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” So we bring you a series of techniques to help jump off the cliff and soar.
One way to approach a project more creatively is to take yourself out of it. We spend so much time self-focused that we sometimes forget the obvious: not everyone thinks like us. International Business Advisor Mark Wardell stated: “Role-playing is a highly effective way to develop new solutions to current problems by putting yourself in the shoes of your customer.” Imagine you are your clients working at their respective companies. What are their challenges? How do they want to be regarded by people who know nothing about them?
Try an exercise that fiction writers use: write down what you know about your client, then flesh out a quick character sketch. A character sketch describes what your character looks like, what they do, how they feel and what they want. It helps the writer understand the character better so when they sit down to write their novel, the character feels more like an authentic being rather than two-dimensional. Role-playing can help you to better understand and empathize with your client’s needs and can shift your thinking about what your creative should look like.
Take a Creativity Test
In 1967, American psychologist J.P. Guilford created the creativity test Guilford’s Alterative Uses Task. This test can help you break out of old ways of thinking by encouraging you to consider new uses for common household items.
Try these examples as a warm-up: Name as many uses as you can for a paper clip and then jot them down. Then try the exercise again with a brick as your object.
Turn an Accepted Idea Inside Out
Giovanni Corazza, Founder of the Marconi Institute of Creativity, gave a talk at Tedx Roma about what it means to ‘think outside the box’. Corazza explained that thinking outside the box means looking at convergent ideas (ideas that everyone knows) and creating divergent ones. In order to do this, you need to be open-minded and accept there’s no ‘right’ answer.
Corazzo said, “If we want to go out of the box, we need to add something more, a little spice, something which goes beyond the convergent information. We need a little of that divergent information to cross the borders within our minds from what we know to what we haven’t yet thought about.”
Watch the video to see Corazzo deliver an example of divergent thinking using Tedx conferences as his model.
Study Some Surreal Art or Poetry
Need help summoning divergent thinking? It can help to look at something nonsensical. Blogger Gregory Ciotti recommends, “embracing the absurd.” “Research suggests that reading/experiencing something absurd or surreal can help boost pattern recognition and creative thinking,” wrote Ciotti.
Reading poems by Gary Snyder or looking at art by René Magritte can help you upend your conventional way of looking at the world and inspire you to try something dangerous.
Jot Down Ideas While Waiting in Line
According to some recent studies, the state of being bored is actually the ideal time to brainstorm new ideas. At the University of Central Lancashire, two such studies were conducted. In the first, 80 participants were tasked with engaging in a boring writing activity (while a control group was not) followed by a creative challenge. In the second study, 90 participants undertook a boring writing activity, a boring reading activity or no activity at all (the control group) and then completed a creative task.
The results suggested that the groups who engaged in the boring activities first came up with more creative ideas than the control group, and that the participants who were tasked with the dull reading assignment displayed even more creative thinking than the ones who completed the dull writing task. Researchers Sandi Mann and Rebekah Cadman concluded that “boring reading tasks facilitate more daydreaming than boring written tasks — and it is this daydreaming that leads to an increase in creativity.”
Pennsylvania State University researcher Karen Gasper, who did her own study on the effects of boredom on creative thought, told Fast Company: “Boredom encourages people to explore because it signals that your current situation is lacking so it’s kind of a push to seek out something new.”
Master a New Skill
This may sound like a procrastination technique rather than a way to push your creative boundaries. But if you’re going to be jumping off cliffs, you’re going to need some exposure to the unknown. And what better way to live in uncertainty than to regularly seek out new experiences?
Not knowing how to do something and then mastering it is one of life’s most satisfying (and self-esteem boosting) pursuits. It also expands your knowledge of the world so you’ll have more points of reference in your creative work. Knitting or dark-water diving anyone?
Take Your Laptop to the Coffee Shop
Did you ever wonder why people tapping away at their keyboards take up so many tables at Starbucks? How can they get anything done with all the noise around them?
It turns out that ambient noise is actually beneficial for creative thinking. Belle Beth Cooper, a co-founder of Exist, wrote, “Silence, in fact, actually helps us sharpen our focus so it’s useful for intense problem-solving or detail-oriented tasks. Creative thinking, on the other hand, requires the kind of ambient buzz of sound that you might find in a café to promote broader thinking and new ideas.”
So go ahead and claim that corner table at the local cafe and see if a few hours surrounded by fellow caffeine addicts and ambient noise inspires new concepts.
Learn to Value Your Ideas…Especially the Risky Ones
Abandoning the safety of your conventional ideas to pursue something new can be terrifying. You worry the client won’t get your idea for a new layout of their website or a strategy you wrote will get returned to you with nothing but red cross-outs and “Please see me” scrawled across the top.
But remember that plenty of new (and great) ideas end up tossed in search of the right one for the particular campaign. Even if one of your ideas is rejected, it doesn’t mean all of your other ideas will be too. Maybe the rejected idea will be right for another project in the pipeline.
Or maybe you just need to push a little harder. I recall, just two years into my communication career at a national airline, I pitched an idea to help boost employee morale. The concept comprised a spoof tabloid, mimicking the Enquirer, poking fun at ourselves with silly photos and ridiculous headlines to inject humour and lightness into the workplace. My superiors joked they were worried about my state, and were swift to dismiss it. About a year later, British Airways launched a very similar publication, and the initiative was a major success. In fact, it won the airline recognition and awards.
Keep in mind when you feel like copping out with a ho-hum creative nothing new and exciting results from the same old same old. Ad campaigns are a perfect example. With the introduction of the DVR allowing viewers to fast forward through commercials and paid streaming subscriptions offering commercial-free options, ad agencies have to work harder than Don Draper and his crew trying to save Sterling Cooper one more time. Ads have to be relevant, interesting, often funny and most important, not register in viewers’ minds as just another annoying commercial — all of this while still achieving the desired result.
When Dove decided to ditch conventionally beautiful models and hire plainer models for its Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty in 2004, doubtless there were some naysayers in the boardroom who wondered if people would buy beauty products from less than glamorous women. But 11 years, multiple ad awards, and billions of dollars in profits later, the risk has paid off. Although the campaign was not without its critics, you can’t deny this concept captured people’s attention (and their imagination).
So, if you want to push your creative boundaries, it’s vital you value every idea you come up with — even if it seems risky. It’s true that some may turn out to be untenable, or need to be developed, or simply won’t work. But when you value all of your ideas it encourages you to keep creating them until you hit one that fits the project. That idea you scrapped for being too “out there” may be the one that develops wings. | <urn:uuid:b40b0a16-b9da-4752-b924-24b40f132bd2> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://blog.webcopyplus.com/2015/07/28/8-techniques-to-push-your-creative-boundaries/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251669967.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20200125041318-20200125070318-00166.warc.gz | en | 0.953166 | 1,923 | 2.5625 | 3 |
The “Monuments Men," were a group of men and women from thirteen nations, most of whom volunteered for service in the newly created MFAA section during World War II. Many had expertise as museum directors, curators, art historians, artists, architects, and educators. Their job description was simple: to protect cultural treasures so far as war allowed.
On June 23, 1943, President Roosevelt approved the formation of the "American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas" widely known as "The Roberts Commission," after its chairman, Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts. The work of the "Harvard Group" and the "American Council of Learned Societies" contributed to its establishment.
Thus was born the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (“MFAA”) section under the auspices of the Civil Affairs and Military Government Sections of the Allied Armies. Together the Monuments Men worked to protect monuments and other cultural treasures from the destruction of World War II. In the last year of the war, they tracked, located, and in the years that followed, returned more than five million artistic and cultural items stolen by Hitler and the Nazis. Their role in preserving cultural treasures was without precedent.
The Monuments Men remained in Europe for up to six years following the conclusion of fighting to oversee the complicated restitution of stolen works of art. During that time they played instrumental roles in rebuilding cultural life in the devastated countries of Europe by organizing temporary art exhibitions and musical concerts.
Upon returning home, many of the Monuments Men and women had extraordinarily prominent roles in building some of the greatest cultural and educational institutions in the United States. They became directors and curators of world renowned museums such as the Met, the MOMA, the National Gallery of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and many others. Other revered institutions, such as the New York City Ballet, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts, were the tangible results of ideas of the Monuments Men.
We Need Your Help!
Our research on each of the Monuments Men and women is now in its eighth year. For those names underlined within the lists below, we have completed biographies, and in most instances have a photograph. However, our research continues on each of the other names for which we have varying degrees of information. In some instances, we have just a name. We appeal to the public for help in completing these biographies. If you have information or photographs, or believe someone should be added to these lists, please contact the Foundation. | <urn:uuid:04790fc5-b668-4cbf-aaab-18ff14213624> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://www.monumentsmenfoundation.org/the-heroes?id=218 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1408500813887.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20140820021333-00016-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960691 | 551 | 3.5625 | 4 |
1506?–1534, English prophet, called the Maid of Kent or the Nun of Kent. She was a domestic servant who, after a period of illness, began (c.1525) to go into trances and to utter prophecies, which were claimed to be of divine origin. She entered a convent in Canterbury, and, under the influence of Edward Bocking, her prophecies became increasingly dangerous politically. She foretold dire consequences to King Henry VIII should he divorce Katharine of Aragón and marry Anne Boleyn. Bocking probably hoped to stir an uprising against the king, but his protégée was arrested (1533) and brought to confess herself an impostor. She and her accomplices were put to death.
See biography by A. Neame (1971); study by E. J. Devereux (1966).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: British and Irish History: Biographies | <urn:uuid:1817d433-7c4d-4882-a5eb-9aaf2aa3b534> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/bios/uk-ireland/barton-elizabeth | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232257767.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20190524204559-20190524230559-00011.warc.gz | en | 0.961752 | 214 | 3.4375 | 3 |
In a number of engineering and scientific disciplines, the ability to directly correlate the magnitude and direction of a force emanating from an external source has a high intrinsic value. By more precisely identifying the nature of the source that generated or generates these forces, the more we improve our ability to predict how the world around us will behave.
Current ranging systems use radar or laser interferometers, which in principle are based on the Doppler Effect. They measure only a change in range, which infers an estimate of the magnitude of that external force. As far as we know, these systems don’t allow for the direct measurement of the transverse component of the force, which is expected to have the higher intrinsic value. Besides, the current ranging systems mostly depend on pulse/phase measurement; this novel technique does not.
We are proposing a technique for measuring the relative displacement between several objects (either moving, like satellites, airplanes, balloons, or cars, or static, like stations on the ground, or composed of both moving and static objects) in the plane perpendicular to their range-axis, as well as their relative yaw and pitch rotations. This is done by monitoring the relative displacement of the geometrical center of the energy pattern created by an emitting energy source (located on the emitting object) measured at the receiving object through algorithms using a zero-sum equation, for example.
Any deviation of the geometrical center of the energy pattern relative to the detector can be detected. Such deviation could be used to interpolate or derive a measurement of magnitude of the relative external force experienced by the objects, which is not a phase measurement.
Each object could be either an emitter or a receiver relative to any other objects. By increasing the number of independent measurements, we can measure the relative rotations of the objects in addition to their relative displacements. Instead of just two objects, one could extend this idea to a network of different objects.
In some specific cases where there are no practical limitations, one could envisage to measure all three-dimensional spatial components of the displacement by adding a measurement with a different angle of incidence. This angle would be between the direction of propagation of the incoming energy beam and the perpendicular to the surface containing the detector cells.
Unlike our technique, current-ranging techniques don’t measure the relative displacement of objects in the plane perpendicular to their range-axis. Such measurements can provide critical information currently not being assessed. Our technique can be used in diverse applications like remote sensing, as it applies to earth/planetary and geo sciences, oil/gas exploration, and mining, civil, structural, medical engineering, and homeland security & defense, among others. Patent applications have been filed for this technique.
— Shervin Taghavi Larigani attended Caltech where he earned a master's degree and a PhD. He went on to conduct advanced research at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His research culminated as developing/demonstrating a new 201 Hg+ atomic ion clock with the nuclear spectroscopy of this “new” isotope attaining a precision 100 million times better than any previous application. He is currently the lead scientist of this measurement technique. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:656afd7e-b01f-4f70-9971-9318e540a230> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1365&doc_id=271014&piddl_msgorder= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049275981.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002115-00035-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924895 | 668 | 3.359375 | 3 |
It is important to keep plants hydrated during the heat of the summer, but the recent dry spell (don’t let the few days of heavy rain fool you) saw a significant increase in households using sprinklers and hoses at the same time in the evenings.
This has resulted in a drop in water pressure for some regions, and Water UK reported a 40 per cent above normal peak water demand for this time of year. Some , and some are warning of shortages during the summer.
We have some tips on how to save water in your garden.
These are ideal for collecting rainwater to be used for watering plants or washing the car. Keep an eye on the weather forecast, and prepare water butts ready to collect the rain. If you don’t have one, then use watering cans or buckets to collect the water.
The peak for domestic water use is generally in the early evening, so water your plants in the morning to reduce the demand later in the day. This will also provide water for the plants to draw on during the day instead of draining away at night.
Lawns don’t need watering as much as plants, as they are resilient and will bounce back once it rains again.
Hoses and sprinklers use a huge amount of water. One hour of hose use can be equivalent to the average supply for a family of four for two days. The use of buckets and watering cans will limit the amount of water used and also slow the flow when watering containers which means more water stays in the pot rather than running out the bottom.
If you’re looking for gardening services in London, come and talk to us today! | <urn:uuid:73d2d1f0-d48d-407a-9d3f-a3da73ab27ef> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.greenlight-landscape-gardening.co.uk/blog/save-water-gardening/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141187753.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126084625-20201126114625-00248.warc.gz | en | 0.956808 | 342 | 2.953125 | 3 |
First of all,
what do you know about all Life Insurance Losses?
Well, the business of insurance in the United States is classified into three broad sections: life insurance, health insurance, and property and liability insurance.
Altogether it provides about 1,490,000 jobs and has responsibility for assets of more than $289 billion.
But its greatest significance in the American economy is as an absorber of personal and business risks.
The property and liability segment of the insurance business is responsible for assets which at the end of 1971 totaled about $66 billion.
It provides hundreds of forms of financial protection against virtually every known peril.
The business of property and liability insurance employs an estimated 640,000 persons.
About half of these are employees of insurance companies, and about half are agents and brokers, and others are engaged in agency or brokerage operations.
There are nearly 6,000 insurance companies domiciled in the U. S. Some of these companies sell all lines of insurance; many specialize in one or more fields.
More than 2,700 companies sell some form of property and liability insurance, and related lines, including inland marine coverages and surety and fidelity bonds.
A vast majority of the business is written by about 900 companies that operate in all or most states.
The property and liability insurance business play a major role in keeping the American economy moving.
Insurance coverages backstop the extensive commercial and consumer credit system of our nation.
Further, surety bonds are required on almost all commercial construction and public works, to protect against loss in the event the contractor fails to satisfy his obligations.
In large part because of insurance coverages, the American businessman, the American homeowner, the American housewife—in short, the American people—have more financial protection and a greater sense of security than any people anywhere have ever enjoyed in the history of the world.
LIFE INSURANCE FACTS ABOUT LOSS
A SUMMARY OF LOSSES
Natural and man-made perils—such as fire, windstorms, accidents on and off the highways, crime, and riots—take a steadily increasing toll on life and property, with a staggering economic loss to the nation. Most of these losses directly impact insurance claims—and an indirect impact on insurance rates.
Every day, almost7,000 fires happen in the United States. Every 46 seconds, on average, fire breaks out in a home.
Every 43 minutes, fire claims a life.
In 1971, fire losses in the United States totaled $2,245,835,000, not counting losses from aircraft, motor vehicles, forests, and other non-building fires. Fourteen fires causing damage of $3 million or more each occurred during the year.
Fires in homes account for almost 70 percent of the nation’s building fires and about 32 percent of the dollar fire losses.
Faulty cables and electrical appliances edged out heating and cooking-related purposes as the principal cause of building fires in 1971.
Between them, they were blamed for nearly 35 percent of all building fires of known causes.
Accidents, the fourth leading cause of death, claimed the lives of approximately 115,000 persons in the United States in 1971. Only heart conditions, strokes, and cancer take more lives.
Injuries from accidents of all kinds numbered an estimated 11.2 million in 1971.
Traffic fatalities in the United States declined slightly in 1971, to 54,700 from the 1970 toll of 54,800.
However, slight increases in the number of accidents (22.1 million to 22.65 million) and injuries (4.98 million to 4.99 million).
Together with the rising costs of auto repairs and medical care helped push the estimated dollar cost of highway accidents to an all-time high of almost $16.9 billion.
About 91 percent of all traffic accidents in 1971 were reported to involve improper driving.
Speeding was listed as a factor in about 33.5 percent of all fatal accidents, and about 50 percent of the fatal accidents involved drinking drivers.
Although only 21.6 percent of the nation’s motoring population is under age 25, drivers age 24 and younger were involved in 35 percent of all reported accidents and 33.8 percent of fatal accidents in the United States in 1971.
Accidents in the home accounted for 27,500 deaths in 1971, slightly more than in the previous year. Accidents at work took about 14,200 lives, but the number of fatalities per 100,000 workers reached an all-time low of 18.
The number of work injuries increased by about 100,000 to an estimated 2.3 million.
Accidents involving commercial or private aircraft killed an estimated 1,525 persons in 1971, 125 more than in 1970.
The nation’s overall crime index rose by about 6 percent in 1971. Crimes against property showed a 7 percent increase, with robbery up 11 percent, burglary up 9 percent, larceny up 7 percent, and auto theft up 2 percent.
Thirty-one times during 1971, wind or hail storms struck areas of the United States causing property damage above $1 million.
Tropical storm Doria, which struck the Atlantic coastal states in August caused insured losses estimated at $13.5 million, while a series of tornadoes, wind, and hail storms did an estimated $13 million in insured damage in nine central and southern states in May.
From an insurance standpoint, the year’s most costly catastrophe was the earthquake and resulting fires that struck Los Angeles County in February and caused insured damage of approximately $31.6 million. | <urn:uuid:90db77a3-86ab-4494-94a9-a0e0c13ce045> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://www.insurancily.com/life-insurance-losses/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780056348.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20210918062845-20210918092845-00322.warc.gz | en | 0.947422 | 1,159 | 2.65625 | 3 |
This logical fallacy is known as a “red herring”. This is when someone diverts attention from the subject at hand to a completely different subject altogether. This tactic is usually used when someone is being asked questions they do not want to answer, and they are hoping that the subject can be changed without you or someone else noticing.
For example, Brian is called by a sales company wanting to market him a website for his business (the sales person’s name is Lloyd). Brian is intrigued, but he has a few questions.
First, Brian asks Lloyd what companies has his business worked for in the past. Lloyd says “many”, then proceeds to tell Brian how quickly they can set him up with a website.
Secondly, Brian asks “What web platform do you use? Is there any proprietary lock-in where I have to pay a monthly web hosting fee, or can I self-host my website after it is completed?” Lloyd then proceeds to say “Do not worry. We will always make sure you have access to your website.” He then starts talking about how Brian could have a new website that all the search engines will place him in the top 10 results.
See what happened? Every time Brian asked a question, Lloyd diverted attention to some other subject. This is a sign you will not like the answers to your questions, and you should find another company to work with.
Summary: “Red herrings” are nothing more than someone’s attempt to change the subject of a conversation, usually due to uncomfortable questions being asked, or due to an unfavorable topic being discussed.
Posted in General, Logical Fallacies, Society | <urn:uuid:26f1a5c5-ef56-49e0-abd6-75998f523c68> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://blog.computerlagoon.com/2021/10/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570901.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809033952-20220809063952-00455.warc.gz | en | 0.976233 | 349 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Associations to the word «Transform»
TRANSFORM, verb. (transitive) To change greatly the appearance or form of.
TRANSFORM, verb. (transitive) To change the nature, condition or function of; to change in nature, disposition, heart, character, etc.; to convert.
TRANSFORM, verb. (transitive) (mathematics) To subject to a transformation; to change into another form without altering the value.
TRANSFORM, verb. (transitive) (electricity) To subject to the action of a transformer.
TRANSFORM, verb. (transitive) (genetics) To subject (a cell) to transformation.
TRANSFORM, verb. (intransitive) To undergo a transformation.
TRANSFORM, noun. (mathematics) the result of a transformation
TRANSFORM FAULT, noun. (geology) A geological fault (a form of strike-slip fault) found in mid-ocean ridges in which displacement undergoes a sudden change in direction
TRANSFORM, verb. Subject to a mathematical transformation.
TRANSFORM, verb. Change or alter in form, appearance, or nature; "This experience transformed her completely"; "She transformed the clay into a beautiful sculpture"; "transubstantiate one element into another".
TRANSFORM, verb. Change in outward structure or looks; "He transformed into a monster"; "The salesman metamorphosed into an ugly beetle".
TRANSFORM, verb. Change from one form or medium into another; "Braque translated collage into oil".
TRANSFORM, verb. Convert (one form of energy) to another; "transform energy to light".
TRANSFORM, verb. Change (a bacterial cell) into a genetically distinct cell by the introduction of DNA from another cell of the same or closely related species.
TRANSFORM, verb. Increase or decrease (an alternating current or voltage).
The chief difference between words and deeds is that words are always intended for men for their approbation, but deeds can be done only for God. | <urn:uuid:b01af92c-1d7f-4184-bc0f-743e7ab87377> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | https://wordassociations.net/en/words-associated-with/Transform | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794868248.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20180527111631-20180527131631-00212.warc.gz | en | 0.764519 | 444 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Let’s Go On a Technology Hunt!
Technology is all around us. Talk with your child about different types of technology. What purposes are they used for? Some technology is used for communication. Other types are used for entertainment. Technology can also be used for transportation, medical support, counting, organizing, cooking, cleaning, space exploration, and a variety of other purposes.
- Two-year-olds—Go on a Technology Hunt to identify the types of technology in your home. Can your child name each piece of technology? Describe what it does and how that piece of technology helps you.
- Three-year-olds—Extend your Technology Hunt by asking your child to sort technology pieces or pictures of technology by type.
- Four-/Five-year-olds—After the Technology Hunt, encourage your child to draw a picture of a new technology or invention he or she would like to make. What does it do? How does it work?
Skills Supported: technology understanding, sorting, imagination, fine motor skills (drawing) | <urn:uuid:89432a11-86cb-45d1-ab8e-0c9ff4454639> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | https://www.cadence-education.com/technology-hunt/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439735885.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20200804220455-20200805010455-00290.warc.gz | en | 0.947805 | 217 | 3.953125 | 4 |
An unsupervised algorithm for person-name disambiguation on the web – Delgado et al. 2014
Many people share the same name. When you search for a person by name on the web, the results you get back are page ranked without consideration to the individual they refer to. If you’re searching for a person who shares a name with someone famous, the top results are almost certainly not what you’re looking for.
It would be great if we could first identify the particular individual we’re interested in, and then see the results relating to just that individual (and not any of their namesakes).
…given a query of a person name in addition to the results of a search engine for that query, the goal is to cluster the resultant web pages according to the different individuals they refer to. Thus, the challenge of this task is estimating the number of different individuals and grouping the pages of the same individual in the same cluster.
This turns out to be an interesting enough problem that there have been several Web People Search (WePS) competitions for algorithms to solve it. Delgado et al. present an unsupervised (ie. does not need prior training) algorithm that performs competitively with the best entrants from the WePS-1, WePS-2, and WePS-3 competitions.
Given a web page, the algorithm first creates a set of n-grams for that page, consisting of only the capitalised words. After testing, 3-grams were found to be a good compromise. Intuitively, the greater the similarity between the bags of n-grams for two different pages, the more likely they are to refer to the same individual.
The z-score is used as a weighting function for an individual n-gram. Where informally, z-score = ((frequency of n-gram in this page) – (mean frequency in the background set)) / (standard deviation of n-gram in backgound set).
This score gives an idea of the distance of the frequency of an n-gram in a web page from the general distribution of this n-gram in the background set.
In this context, background set refers to the set of pages returned by the query for the name in question.
The cosine distance is then used to measure the similarity between two pages based on their weighted bag of n-grams. A threshold function is defined to determine whether or not these two pages belong to the same cluster based on their similarity score. The threshold function takes into account both the number of n-grams in common and also the size of the web pages. See the full paper for the straightforward definition.
To evaluate the algorithm, Delgado et al. used the WePS corpus.
WePS is a competitive evaluation campaign that proposes several tasks including disambiguating web data. In particular, [the] WePS-1, WePS-2, and WePS-3 campaigns provide an evaluation framework consisting of several annotated data sets for English person names.
And how does this algorithm fair?
…our approach gets the best results of all the completely unsupervised approaches. Moreover, the precision scores for all collections are very high and confirm that our approach is accurate to get relevant information for characterizing an individual. We also obtain competitive recall results…
Check out the paper for full details and a comparison table showing how their Unsupervised Person Name Disambiguator (UPND) algorithm performed against the other competition entrants. | <urn:uuid:80deae69-adad-44cc-89ce-5c4d93094398> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | https://blog.acolyer.org/2014/11/03/an-unsupervised-algorithm-for-person-name-disambiguation-on-the-web/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027323328.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20190825105643-20190825131643-00327.warc.gz | en | 0.925938 | 725 | 2.515625 | 3 |
WHY DO YOU QUOTE THAT ONE?
by Bertrand L. Comparet
Taken From Your Heritage
Prepared into a PDF file by:
Clifton A. Emahiser’s Teaching Ministries
Plus Critical Note
You have noticed that sometimes I point out to you some matter on which the King James Bible is not accurate. I may quote a verse from another translation, in not quite the same words you find when you read the King James translation of the Bible. Some of you probably wonder why I don’t just stick to the King James Bible with which we are all so familiar.
Here is the answer. I do this because you are entitled to be told the exact truth as to just what the word of Yahweh really says. If I couldn’t tell you the exact truth, I’d just stop teaching. No matter how old an error is, no matter how we have become accustomed to it or have grown to love it because of its familiarity, it won’t do to be mistaken about what Yahweh really said.
Am I attacking religion or the Bible by correcting errors in this way? Not at all. The teachings of Yahweh are the supreme truth and only when we get man made mistakes out of it can we have the purest religion. So what about the Bible? Well, let’s start at the beginning.
As you know, the Bible was written many centuries before there was any such language as English. The Old Testament was originally written in the Hebrew language. About 300 B.C., a group of 70 scholars, in the city of Alexandria, translated it into Greek. Their translation is called the Septuagint, meaning seventy.
The New Testament was originally written in the language which Yahshua spoke, Aramaic. This is a language closely related to Hebrew, later translated into Greek. All Catholic translations of the Bible were translated from the Greek into Latin by Jerome. His translation was called the Vulgate, and from the Vulgate into English. Protestant Bibles are nearly all translated into English from Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament and translated from Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. In these repeated translations, there were multiple opportunities for errors to creep in.
I believe the Bible, as the prophets originally wrote it in Hebrew and Aramaic, is truly the word of Yahweh, inspired by Him, true and correct. So far as the translators have made a perfect and exact translation into English, without the slightest change, it is still the word of Yahweh. However, wherever the translators have changed it, it is no longer the word of Yahweh but only the word of the translator or interpreter. We cannot accept or rely upon it in those particular verses which were changed. We must get back to the exact words and meaning it had in the original.
The King James Bible was published in the year 1611 A.D.. At that time there were no ancient language scholars as well trained as the best we now have. Then they had relatively little of ancient writings to study. King James expressly forbade them to make any but the most necessary changes in previous translations, or to make any innovations. In those days heresy, which was any disagreement with the religious hierarchy, was still punished by a most horrible torture and death. Consequently the translators were not eager to dispute older translations. The best scholars of today, tell us that there are a great many mistakes in the translation of the King James Bible, but by far the greatest part of it is correct. Where it is correct, I quote from it because it is so well known and loved for its majestically beautiful wording. But, the errors must still be corrected. What sort of errors are there?
Where the translators just didn’t understand the meaning of the Hebrew or Greek words, they used the wrong English word. The best scholars of today can find and correct these errors without any doubt. However, it is not all that simple. In nearly all languages, some words have more than one meaning, so which do you take? For example, the English word fast, what does it mean? First it means, capable of moving very rapidly. Second it means, stuck so firmly that you can’t move at all. Third, to go without eating. Fourth, as applied to colors, not fading from sunlight - or washing. Fifth, in a slang sense it means, of doubtful moral character.
Which meaning will you give it when you translate it? Sometimes the general context will tell you, but not always. For example, “I asked the Captain, Can you get your ship out of the harbor into the open sea within an hour?” He replied, “My ship is fast.” Did he mean, my ship is speedy, so I can do it, or did he mean, my ship is stuck fast aground, so I can’t move it at all?
When you find a word of double meaning in the Bible, you must carefully compare each meaning the word has, with everything the other prophets wrote on that same subject. Then you can see which meaning is entirely consistent with all of Yahweh’s messages on this subject. Sometimes one translator gets it right, sometimes another. Consequently, it is necessary to compare many translations.
Sometimes a certain sect has founded its principle doctrine on a definitely wrong translation. In such a case, I can only stick to the correct translation, no matter what someone’s erroneous doctrines may be. Another difficulty arises where the Hebrews or the Greeks used different words than we use in English to express the same idea. Each language has its own idioms. For example, if you heard a man say, “I sure painted the town red last night”, you would know what he meant. However, that isn’t what he said. Suppose you translated that word for word, into German. Can you imagine some solemn German wondering why a man would spend the night slopping red paint on other people’s houses? To translate the meaning exactly, you would have to use other words. Ten different languages would probably have ten different ways of saying it.
These cases are the most difficult of all to translate. You must truly get into the spirit of both languages and no translator can always do it. The one who translates one Hebrew phrase with brilliant accuracy, will make a terrible botch of another. Therefore, there is no one perfect translation of the Bible. That is why, in my library, I have eleven different translations of the Old Testament and eighteen different translations of the New Testament. In all doubtful points I compare many, and choose the one which is the clearest and most accurate.
For example Jeremiah 8:8 In the King James Bible reads, “How then do we say, We are wise and the law of Yahweh is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.” If this means anything at all, it must mean that Yahweh made His law in vain. Poor weak Yahweh, He meant well, but He just wasn’t able to make it stick. You know Jeremiah didn’t write anything that silly, what did he really write?
Smith and Goodspeed, An American Translation, translates it this way. “How can you say, We are wise, and the law of Yahweh is with us? When lo, the lying pen of the scribes has turned it into a lie!” Moffat translates it, “What, You say we are wise, we do have His directions, when lo, your scribes have written them wrong and falsified them.” Rotherham is the same. As Yahweh said through the prophet in Isaiah 43:27, “Thine interpreters have transgressed against Me.”
The meaning of some English words has changed greatly since the King James translation was done. For example, take where the writer, probably Hezekiah, says, “I prevented the dawning of the morning”. You don’t really believe that Hezekiah didn’t allow the sun to rise, do you? He never said that was what he did. In the year 1611 A.D., the English word prevent meant to anticipate or to come before. Hezekiah merely said that he anticipated that morning would soon dawn. That’s what people who read the King James Bible in 1611 A.D. understood it to mean. Today, prevent means to hinder, which means not to allow something to occur.
There are many other old English words which have changed meaning like this. Wherever such a word is used in the King James Bible, it will mislead you. In such cases I use one of the modern translations, sometimes Moffat, Smith and Goodspeed, Ferrer Fenton, Rotherham, Weymouth, Panin, or Bagsters translation of the Septuagint or Lamsa’s translation from the Aramaic, or yet some other. Sometimes nothing but a literal translation of the Hebrew or Greek will give enough precision of expression.
I’m not disputing the divine inspiration of the Bible, I am defending and upholding it. There is only one true Bible. It is exactly what Yahweh expressed in the languages in which it was first written. Whenever men have changed this they are wrong, no matter how good their intentions may have been. We must go back to the real Bible, the true word of Yahweh.
Critical note #10 by William Finck taken from Comparet’s tape series on the Book of Revelation now in book form, Lesson #13 of 14 and applies here as well: “Note #10: The Jews insist that the New Testament books were written originally in Aramaic, as does George Lamsa, himself an Arab, as they insist that Yahshua and His disciples spoke Aramaic primarily, and all this helps them to conceal their identity to the general public, and to perpetuate their lies. There is a preponderance of evidence in the New Testament itself that every book of it, including the epistle to the Hebrews, was originally penned in Greek. There is also a preponderance of evidence in Archaeology that – while Hebrew was spoken in Jerusalem at the time of Christ – Greek was the common language of Palestine. Even all of the coins of Herod and his successors contained Greek, and no Hebrew or Aramaic, inscriptions (Literacy In The Time of Jesus, in Biblical Archaeology Review, July-August 2003, p. 36), and most of the inscriptions of the period are in Greek, and no other language (ibid., and also p. 25 of the same issue). Dozens of second and third century papyri have been found in Archaeology containing copies of the New Testament books in Greek, yet no such manuscripts have been found in Aramaic. The earliest Aramaic (Syriac) versions date to the 3rd to 4th centuries and are translated from Greek. (See the Introduction to Nestle-Aland’s Novum Testamentum Graece, 27th edition, pages 65-68). Aside from this, there is also a preponderance of evidence in the Greek language itself, and the variations which occur across all known ancient Greek copies, that Greek was the original language of the Gospel (and so surely Isaiah 28:11 was fulfilled) and not any other which these Greek manuscripts could have been translated from, and there is also the fact that so many quotes from the Old Testament are from the Greek of the Septuagint. It surprises me that Comparet has fallen for this Jewish deception.
“Additionally, by ‘translating’ the names ‘Gog’ and ‘Magog’ into ‘China’ and ‘Mongolia’, Lamsa shows himself to be but a biased interpreter of Scripture, and not truly a translator, whether he be correct or not.” W.R.F. | <urn:uuid:94f1189a-cc7a-4429-b427-ac0328014306> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | https://comparet.christogenea.org/sermons/why-do-you-quote-one | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583509336.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20181015163653-20181015185153-00146.warc.gz | en | 0.967355 | 2,512 | 2.625 | 3 |
According to American Association for Cancer Research, nearly 10 percent of the long term cancer surviving people play with fire by continuing to smoke. These are specially the ones who endure cancers of lungs and bladders.
According to a report published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, the percentages of cancer patients still smoking after 9 years of their diagnosis: Bladder cancer- 17.%, Lung cancer-14.9%, Ovarian cancer-11.6%, Melanoma cancer-7.6%, Kidney cancer-7.3%, Colorectal cancer-6.8%.
“Smoking can cause new mutations among cancer survivors that can lead to secondary and primary additional cancers. It can also affect other functions and can interfere with the efficacy of the therapies”, stated Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, chief of medical oncology at Yale University and chair of the AACR Tobacco and Cancer Subcommittee
As per Lee Westmaas smoking decreases the survival time and pose them again to the cancer. It is disheartening to see that despite these glaring facts, people don’t feel like to quit smoking.
The study showed that 83% of the survivors smoked 15 cigarettes per day. Smoking was more common among women than man probably due to lack of education and less income. They estimated that only one-third of the people quit smoking after being diagnosed of the disease, rest two-thirds still continue.
“Information is lacking on smoking patterns of survivors many years after diagnosis and correlates of smoking status and patterns, likelihood of quitting, and intentions to quit, “ says the study’s abstract.
“Smoking is addictive and having cancer does not guarantee that you will stop, even if that cancer is directly tied to your smoking. We need to do more to intervene with these patients”, says Lees.
For motivating the cancer survivors to quit smoking, a rational approach is required. With the assistance from the psychological variables, these people could be familiarized with the other health related aspects.
As indicated by various authors, these people can be best dealt with proper counseling sessions and medication facilities. | <urn:uuid:f24a7dcb-bf67-4063-87a6-4f16fdac77cc> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://thewestsidestory.net/2014/08/07/15232/despite-glaring-facts-cancer-survivors-continue-smoking/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416400378724.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20141119123258-00084-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950868 | 449 | 2.90625 | 3 |
This is an extract of our Anti Competitive Agreements document, which we sell as part of our Competition Law Notes collection written by the top tier of University Of New South Wales students.
The following is a more accessble plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our Competition Law Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:
Anticompetitive agreements Definition
Anti competitive agreements are agreements that lessen competition in a market for goods or services. They may be made by firms competing in that market (horizontal agreements) or between firms operating at different levels in the distribution chain for the goods and services involved (vertical agreements). The scheme in the CCA is to deal with horizontal agreements, other than mergers, in s 45(2) and in Part 1 Div IV and to leave vertical agreements to ss 47 (exclusive dealing) and 48 (resale price maintenance). However this scheme is not rigid. S 45(2) is broad enough to catch vertical anti-competitive agreements that do not fall within ss 47 or 48. Horizontal and vertical are not adopted terms by the CCA either.
4 types of conduct:
The expression 'anti-competitive agreement' is not used in s 45(2). Rather s 45(2) identifies 4 types of conduct: o Making a 'contract or arrangement' or arriving at an understanding which contains an 'exclusionary provision'; o Giving effect to an exclusionary provision in a contract, arrangement or understanding; o Making a contract or arrangement or arriving at an understanding which contains a provision which has the 'purpose or would have or be likely to have the effect, of substantially lessening competition'; o Giving effect to a provision in a contract, arrangement or understanding which has the purpose, or would have or be likely to have the effect, of substantially lessening competition. SEE: the diagram on page 346. The remaining forms of anti-competitive agreements caught by s 45(2) that we have not yet dealt with are dealt with in this chapter. Where a horizontal agreement creates regularised or formal cooperation between firms it will often be described as a cartel (usually engage in price fixing, dividing markets between members, controlling production levels and providing for sharing or exchange of market information).
CCA 2010 s 45(1)(2) COMPETITION AND CONSUMER ACT 2010 - SECT 45 Contracts, arrangements or understandings that restrict dealings or affect competition 1) If a provision of a contract made before the commencement of the Trade Practices Amendment Act 1977 : a) is an exclusionary provision; or b) has the purpose, or has or is likely to have the effect, of substantially lessening competition; that provision is unenforceable in so far as it confers rights or benefits or imposes duties or obligations on a corporation.
2) A corporation shall not: a) make a contract or arrangement, or arrive at an understanding, if: i. the proposed contract, arrangement or understanding contains an exclusionary provision; or ii. a provision of the proposed contract, arrangement or understanding has the purpose, or would have or be likely to have the effect, of substantially lessening competition; or
b) give effect to a provision of a contract, arrangement or understanding, whether the contract or arrangement was made, or the understanding was arrived at, before or after the commencement of this section, if that provision: i. is an exclusionary provision; or ii. has the purpose, or has or is likely to have the effect, of substantially lessening competition.
Contracts, arrangements and understandings
The central element of s 45 is the requirement that the anti-competitive provision must emanate from a contract, arrangement or understanding made between 2 or more parties. S 45 does not catch unilateral conduct. Therefore the first step to see if s 45 has been contravened is to see whether a C,A or U exists. ACCC v Leahy Petroleum Pty Ltd: in order to meet the lowest threshold of 'understanding' conduct must involve some form of communication, consent, consensus and commitment. Gray J: commitment involves at least the assumption of an obligation...morally binding or binding in honour.
Anti Competitive purpose or effect
* Except where it contains an exclusionary provision, a CAU will contravene s 45(2) only if it has the purpose or effect of substantially lessening competition in a market or is likely to do so. This requirement will very often be the principal matter in issue when contravention of s 45(2) is alleged.
* For the purpose of s 45, 'competition' is defined in s 45(3): For the purposes of this section, competition , in relation to a provision of a contract, arrangement or understanding or of a proposed contract, arrangement or understanding, means competition in any market in which a corporation that is a party to the contract, arrangement or understanding or would be a party to the proposed contract, arrangement or understanding, or any body corporate related to such a corporation, supplies or acquires, or is likely to supply or acquire, goods or services or would, but for the provision, supply or acquire, or be likely to supply or acquire, goods or services.
* It does NOT require that parties to the CAU be competitors (therefore it is not restricted to horizontal agreements). E.g. if A, B and C will contravene s 45 by making an agreement with the purpose/effect of substantially lessening competition even if C is the only one competing in the market. Purpose of substantially lessening competition
* The Full Court in Seven Network Ltd v News Ltd: the purpose of a provision is the subjective purpose of at least one of the parties to that arrangement responsible for including the provision.
* Hughes v WACA: In relation to s 4D, purpose means the immediate intended result of the agreement in question, rather than some ultimate or long term objective. (thus if the immediate objective of an agreement is to lessen competition, it is no defence to establish that the parties had some longer term purpose).
* S 4F: the proscribed purpose does not have to be the parties' sole or dominant purpose. It is sufficient if it is a substantial one. Dowling v Dalgety Australia Ltd (1992) - page 349
* FCA Lockhart J: 'Purpose' is concerned with motivation and the reasons of the parties for introducing the provision. It must be read in conjunction with s 4F. 'Purpose' has been held to involve subjective considerations in s 45D.
* The purpose relates to the purpose of the parties when the agreement was made.
The first question is, was the relevant purpose a substantial purpose? Secondly, if it was a substantial purpose, did the purpose amount to a purpose, not only to lessen competition, but to substantially lessen competition? Substantial means considerable.
* Effectively discouraging competition was a secondary purpose. It was alleged in this case that not letting them use the saleyard was anti-competitive agreement. It was held that they had a proprietary interest in the saleyard, they didn't want others to use because of their investment. This was not anti-competitive (so pushing one party out of the market may not be anti-competitive). If you look at the ski boot case where he was refused supply of the ski boots, it was only one person cutting out a brand from one area, he was punching above his weight in the local market in which he serviced and his large impact made this case different. Stationers Supply Pty Ltd v Victorian Authorised Newsagents Associated Limited (1993) - page 350
* VANA entered into arrangements with VNS and various individual newsagents for the purpose of establishing a Newspower product line of stationery. It was alleged that promotional services were supplied on the condition that members not purchase goods from its preferred warehouse.
* Ryan J in FCA: s 45 has been held to be directed towards the subjective purpose of the parties to the arrangement. VANA unilaterally declared all of its members to be nonadvertising members. Yet the purpose was the more effective promotion of newsagents with a view to increasing the overall volume of sales of stationary products by them. There was not a substantial purpose of significantly lessening competition in the market for stationery and other newsagent supplies.
* This case is quite clear. The key fact is that at the time that they brought the rules in they did not have the exclusive supply. Not that important. A judge falls one side because of the circumstances - it is a good example of this. ACCC v Liquorland (Australia) Pty Ltd - page 351
* Woolworths submitted that the Commission must establish that Woolworths had the purpose of harming the competitive process or state of competition in the relevant markets alleged by it so as to substantially lessen competition in those markets; that is was insufficient to demonstrate that Woolworths had the purpose of harming any of the licence applicants in question; and that it was insufficient to establish that Woolworths had the purpose of protecting its own business.
* In s 46, 'substantial' means 'a considerable or large degree of such power' when qualifying market power. In relation to 'substantial' in s 4F: Did the proscribed purpose, if it existed, loom large among the objects the corporation sought to achieve? 'Substantial' in s 45 means considerable, meaningful or relevant to the competitive process, more than nominal, more than insignificant.
* The fact that the licence and purpose was legitimately pursued by rights given by State law is not the point. The point is that there was a substantial purpose directed towards the competitive process in a meaningful way. Therefore they did substantially lessen competition and contravene s 45(2)(a)(ii) and (b)(ii).
* The notion of purpose (like in Rural Press) must be read in the real world. (why would you say I'm going to have the purpose of substantially lessening competition - this would never happen - so you need to look at the practicalities or the likely result). Effect or likely effect of substantially lessening competition
* You need to identify the market in which 1 or more of the parties trade and consider in each case whether the level of competition in that market is substantially reduced by the agreement (this is dealt with by chapter 5).
* When determining whether a particular provision in an agreement substantially lessens competition, the anti-competitive effect of that provision can be aggregated with the anti-
Buy the full version of these notes or essay plans and more in our Competition Law Notes. | <urn:uuid:d82b45b0-fc21-49ee-b353-cf69269c758d> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://en-au.oxbridgenotes.com/revision_notes/law-university-of-new-south-wales-competition-law/samples/anti-competitive-agreements | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337404.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20221003070342-20221003100342-00550.warc.gz | en | 0.963412 | 2,199 | 2.578125 | 3 |
To participate in current discussions, it is important to know what is happening in the world, especially relating to policy and economic decisions. After conducting interviews with leaders in the field, we comprised a list of a few news sources for you to utilize to foster discussions and expand your knowledge in foreign policy. It is not necessary to read all of the sources everyday, but it is important to read a few to broaden your knowledge and ensure that you have the best information. Reading about current events is also a good opportunity to help you figure out what topics or regions in foreign policy interest you the most.
Here are just a few sources to facilitate your knowledge journey!
- Diplomatic Courier: This is a global affairs magazine that connects the diplomatic and policy establishment to the next generation of leaders in diplomacy and foreign policy. It publishes six print editions per year, as well as weekly online content and a daily blog.
- The Economist: This news source offers authoritative insight and opinion on international news, politics, business, finance, science, and technology.
- Foreign Affairs Magazine: This magazine is the leading forum for serious discussion of American foreign policy and global affairs. It is published by Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a non-profit and nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to improving the understanding of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs through the free exchange of ideas.
- Financial Times: This is a UK based newspaper that specifically focusing on global business. It is the leading global business news organization and provides trusted news, commentary, and analysis on numerous economic issues worldwide.
- The Global Post: This is a great news source, started by The Boston Global. They obtain more on the ground news and will get information on what is specifically happening locally around the world.
- Local newspapers from regions that you are interested in. Almost every country or region has a dedicated English newspaper, or if you are particularly ambitious, read the paper in the country’s native language.
To learn more about how to obtain an international job in government, check out our “Guide to International Jobs in Government.”
What Do You Think?
Are there other important news sources perspective government workers should be reading to get ahead in the field? | <urn:uuid:d33134f7-c2a1-4656-b823-2429edc0cb34> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://www.govloop.com/community/blog/the-perfect-reading-list-to-begin-your-international-job-journey/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103917192.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20220701004112-20220701034112-00318.warc.gz | en | 0.942945 | 451 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Augusta Jane Evans (Wilson) (1835-1909)
Augusta Jane Evans wrote nine novels about southern women that were among the most popular fiction in nineteenth-century America.
Evans was born in Columbus in 1835 and died in Alabama in 1909, buried among the Confederate soldiers she loved. She became a writer partially to recuperate the family fortune. Her father, Matthew Evans, lost palatial Sherwood Hall dubbed "Matt's Folly" by Columbus citizens after he was bankrupted in the 1840s. His family of ten migrated to Texas. However, the dangers of a frontier border town and the Mexican War (1846-48) caused them to resettle in Mobile, Alabama. There Evans penned her anonymous first novel, Inez: A Tale of the Alamo (1855), an anti-Catholic diatribe, followed by the much more popular Beulah (1859). Beulah began the theme of female education that persisted in her novels. Although Evans never returned to Columbus, she made it the setting for St. Elmo.
Slavery remained in the background of Evans's novels, but she supported the Confederacy zealously in her life and fiction. She broke off her engagement to New York journalist James Reed Spaulding in 1860 because he supported Abraham Lincoln.
During the Civil War (1861-65), Evans sewed sandbags for community defense, wrote patriotic addresses, and set up a hospital dubbed "Camp Beulah" near her home. She worked as a hospital nurse yet wrote General P.G.T. Beauregard in mid-1862 that she still felt marginal to war efforts. Her novel Macaria (1864) attempts to remedy that situation by showing how Southern women can sacrifice their lives for the Confederacy. Macaria penetrated the Northern blockade with five thousand bootlegged copies sold in the North. So effective was Macaria as pro-Southern propoganda that General G. H. Thomas, commander of the Union army in Tennessee, banned it among his troops and confiscated and burned those copies that existed.
Evans and her family faced serious financial problems at the war's end, with the loss of their slaves and other property. She accompanied her brother Howard to New York City seeking a medical specialist to treat a paralyzed arm resulting from a war wound. In meeting with her publisher there, she discovered that he had been holding for her a substantial sum of money from northern sales of Macaria. Realizing just how profitable her writing could be, she quickly completed St. Elmo and ended any future financial worries for herself and her family.
In 1868 Evans married Colonel Lorenzo Madison Wilson, a wealthy planter twenty-eight years her senior who had been widowed in 1862. She moved to his estate, Ashland, next door to the Evans home and spent much of the rest of her life making it and its surrounding gardens one of Mobile's most beautiful showplaces. She continued to write, though more sporadically. She published three novels over the course of her married life at Ashland, one of which, a murder mystery entitled At the Mercy of Tiberius (1887), she declared her favorite.
When Colonel Wilson died in 1891, Evans Wilson left Ashland and moved into her brother Howard's home in Mobile. Despite deteriorating health and eyesight, she wrote two more romantic novels, A Speckled Bird (1902) and Devota (1907). She died of a heart attack in 1909, a day after her seventy-fourth birthday.
Recent feminist critics have read past the marriage themes in Evans's novels to show how her women characters are as intellectually capable as men and how they gain personal and public power in their world.
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In the early 1800's, the most common North American winter vehicle was the piano box sleigh. Sensible, practical, it was made for hauling a family with kids, farm or business goods and usually pulled by a single horse or a team of horses.
|Moose hitched to sleigh, Athabasca Landing, Alberta. 1909. Glenbow Archives, Calgary, Alberta|
First designed in the early 1820's by James Goold of The Albany Coach Works, the Albany sleigh presented an ornate, rounded body in direct contrast to the piano box sleigh. With higher runners it could glide smoothly across deeper snow. Built with a single seat for two people, it became a romantic cutter, able to race against the fastest sleighs of the time.
|1868 Albany cutter manufactured by The Albany Coach Works. Courtesy of coachbuilt.com|
The single seat Albany cutters and two-seater sleighs were the most expensive sleighs of their time due to their custom finish to whatever paint and fabric you ordered. Because of this customization however, Albany sleighs never reached mass market. Instead, Portand sleighs became the most popular sleigh of the snowy season.
According to The Farm Implement News Volume 15, Peter Kimball of Bryant's Pond, ME buiilt the first Portland sleigh one year after Mr. Goold built his Albany sleigh in 1817. But Kimball stuck to straight lines instead of Goold's curved ones and the simplicity appealed to the Puritan nature of the New England population.
This newspaper ad from The New York Herald of December 12, 1869 shows what was trending during that winter:
The New York herald. (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, December 12, 1869. Image provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC
So fifty years after their introduction, the sleek Albany cutter was old-fashioned and the Portland and Boston made Sleighs were light, elegant and modern. They may have the rolled dash, but their bottoms were still flat which makes me call them boxy. Further research led me to the 1889 Hitchcock Manufacturing Co Catalogue which showed two versions of a Swell-Body Cutter - one with a foldaway top.
A similar ad for a Swell Body Cutter in an 1894 edition of The Farm Implement News confirmed the Swell Body cutter was on the market and not just the offering of one manufacturer.
It's interesting to note that the 1911 Sears, Roebuck and Co. Fall Catalogue carries the Portland cutter with a slightly rounded bottom and high runners, as well as a double-seater platform Business or Pleasure Sleigh that looks like the old Piano box style.
This two-seater held a minimum of 4 people and used independent runners for easier maneuverability as well as safer travel. Called a bobsleigh, it didn't tip as easy with the dual runners as it did with those using long, single runners on each side.
Although the Albany and Portland styles were manufactured in Canada during the same time as their American counterparts, a different type of sleigh, called a cariole, was often seen north of the friendly border. Gliding low to the ground instead of with 12-18" high runners, the cariole looked similar to the old world ones in countries like Russia where snowfall equaled that of Canada. You can see the style difference between the cariole and other sleighs of the time on this poster from the January 1899 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine.
|Poster for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Jan 1899|
Larger carioles provided a seat for the driver, but the design still retained the low solid appearance which appears frequently in Canadian paintings.
Winter Beauties of Humber Valley Hold Lure, The Globe, Toronto, 7 January 1925, Courtesy of Toronto Public Library
Sleighs can be found at many large museums in snowfall areas, but check out the small museums too. They may only have one type, but it will give you an idea of what was available and in use in that area.
So, did you see a sleigh you liked? Have you ever been on a sleigh ride? Where? When? Why? What was the weather like? What time of the day?
Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are written under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details. Anita's short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, was a finalist for the Word Guild's 2015 Word Awards. Her novellas are included in Austen in Austin Volume 1, The American Heiress Brides Collection, and The Secret Admirer Romance Collection. Readers can check out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories to enrich their reading experience. Discover more at: | <urn:uuid:ce8003c5-a4cf-4aff-a2fa-e8ed930e9728> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | https://www.hhhistory.com/2017/12/sleighs-cutters-carioles.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039745761.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20181119105556-20181119130813-00006.warc.gz | en | 0.964809 | 1,017 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The Concept of Competition
Competitors, as it relates to marketing, are companies that satisfy the same customer need or want. Someone in the market for a car wants “a means of transportation” - subways, buses, bicycles can meet that need. From a marketing perspective, the concept of competition involves a broad set of potential and actual competitors.
Dealing with competitors is important but don't lose sight of who's most important – customers. Be alert and watch for weaknesses (yours and those of your competitors) but goals, rather than competitors, should be the main driving force of your business activities.
The Importance of Identifying Latent Competitors
Identifying competitors might sound like a simple task. No doubt Toyota realizes that Honda is a major competitor, and Coca-Cola knows that Pepsi-Cola is a competitor. The actual range of competition most companies face is much broader than the obvious. Your company is more likely to be hurt by new technologies or emerging competitors than by known competitors.
We can look to the classic example of how in Canada, Barnes & Noble, Indigo and Chapters were all competing to build the most stores where customers could spend their time reading while sipping coffee. At the same time, Jeffry Bezos was building Amazon.com, exclusively online. This had the advantage of providing an enormous selection of books without the cost of stocking large inventories and the overhead of brick-and-mortar megastores. The incumbents scrambled to play catch up in building online stores yet, at the time of this writing, Amazon still dominates Internet sales. The “traditional” bookstores have survived in this case, however focusing on current competitors instead of the latent ones has been the downfall of many businesses. Amazon and Barnes & Noble are all big companies, but the same lesson applies to small businesses as well.
Once competitors have been identified, it's important to try to identify their objectives, strengths and weaknesses and their reaction patterns. This make it easier to anticipate competitor moves and come up with successful strategies to deal with them.
- Objectives: What are your competitors looking for in the marketplace? For example, are they trying to increase market share or maximize current profits?
- Strengths and weaknesses: How dominant is each competitor in the marketplace? Can any given competitor control the behavior of other competitors? How much market share does each main competitor have and what are their product quality levels?
Reaction patterns: Businesses deal with competition in different ways but most companies fall into one of four categories.
- Laid-back competitors: Are ones that react slowly and weakly to competitor moves. It doesn't necessarily mean the company lacks funds to react, it may be that they feel their customers are loyal or are slow in noticing the move.
- Selective competitors: Are ones that react only to certain types of attacks, such as to price cuts but not advertising increases.
- “Respond to all” competitors: Are ones that react strongly and quickly to any attack.
- Unpredictable competitors: Are ones that don't seem to have any kind of pattern to their reactions. Small companies are often the unpredictable ones because they tend to compete on a variety of fronts when they can afford to.
Gathering Information on the Competition
It's not always easy to find out about the your competitors, nevertheless information is often available from a variety of sources.
Your sales force, suppliers, market research firms, trade associations and published data can be excellent sources of information. If you have a former employee of a competitor as part of your staff, have him or her serve as the resident expert on that competitor.
Use competitor websites to find out information on what they are doing to attract customers and partners. Many post press releases on their websites announcing new products. Trade association websites are also valuable because they often provide information about industry players.
Stay away from information gathering methods of questionable legality or ethics. Some companies have been discovered buying their competitors' garbage and holding interviews for non-existent jobs to get information from competitor employees.
General Attack Strategies
Attacking a competitor on several fronts or head-on by matching their marketing mix (products, pricing, advertising and distribution) is often a difficult approach, especially if the competitor enjoys advantages such as larger market share. However, direct attacks can be effective if the competitor commands fewer resources.
A better approach for smaller firms is to attack indirectly. One way is to spot areas where the competitor is underperforming and to better serve those areas. These areas could be untapped geographic locations or uncovered market needs. In other words, attacking indirectly means identifying shifts in market segments that cause supply gaps to develop, and then filling in those gaps while developing them into stronger segments. This is the essence of marketing, discovering needs and satisfying them.
Most companies target weaker competitors because it's less costly, but this usually results in small gains. Remember, even strong competitors have weaknesses that can be exploited.
Specific Attack Strategies
Depending on the particular situation, different strategies should be developed. Some of these include:
- Intensive advertising and promotion: Increasing advertising and promotion expenditures makes sense if your product or advertising message is superior.
- Price discounts: To successfully offer a comparable product at a lower price, you have to convince buyers that your product is similar to that of the competitor and that the competitor won't lower prices in response. Buyers must also be price sensitive for price discounts to have an effect.
- Cheaper products: Offering average or low-quality products at a much lower price can work, but his strategy is vulnerable to competitors with even lower prices.
- Prestige products: Launching a higher quality product at a higher price than the market leader can work well if customers can be made aware of the quality difference.
- Product variety: Giving buyers more choice can help build market share. Baskin-Robins is an example, it opened stores that served 31 flavors of ice-cream while most offered just a few.
- Product innovation: Product innovations or improvements help differentiate offerings from those of the competition.
- Cost reductions: Reducing manufacturing, labor or purchasing costs can create a lot of options when it comes to dealing with competition. Savings can be used to fund advertising, promotions and other activities.
- Service improvements: Serving customers better than the competition is another differentiator.
- Distribution changes: Using different or improved distribution channels can give an edge. Victoria Secret became a major women's wear company by perfecting catalog sales instead of battling other firms in traditional stores. | <urn:uuid:7bf7526d-d9ec-47cf-b917-9538576e1946> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | http://helpsme.com/articles/marketing/dealing-competitors | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676589634.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20180717090227-20180717110227-00280.warc.gz | en | 0.957504 | 1,341 | 2.734375 | 3 |
New research confirms that not realizing a memory problem is in itself a warning sign for dementia. Physicians explain that some brain conditions can interfere with a patient’s ability to understand they have a medical problem, a neurological disorder known as anosognosia, often associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
A new study now finds that individuals who experience this lack of awareness present a nearly threefold increase in likelihood of developing dementia within two years. The study appears in the journal Neurology.
Joseph Therriault, a graduate student at McGill University examined data available through the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), a global research effort in which participating patients agree to complete a variety of imaging and clinical assessments.
Therriault analyzed 450 patients who experienced mild memory deficits, but were still capable of taking care of themselves, who had been asked to rate their cognitive abilities. Close relatives of the patient also filled out the similar surveys.
When a patient reported having no cognitive problems but the family member reported significant difficulties, he was considered to have poor awareness of illness.
Researchers compared the poor awareness group to the ones showing no awareness problems and found that those suffering from anosognosia had impaired brain metabolic function and higher rates of amyloid deposition, a protein known to accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients.
A follow up two years later showed that patients who were unaware of their memory problems were more likely to have developed dementia, even when taking into account other factors like genetic risk, age, gender, and education.
The increased progression to dementia was mirrored by increased brain metabolic dysfunction in regions vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease. The finding provides crucial evidence about the importance of consulting with the patient’s close family members during clinical visits.
“This has practical applications for clinicians: people with mild memory complaints should have an assessment that takes into account information gathered from reliable informants, such as family members or close friends,” says Dr. Serge Gauthier, co-senior author of the paper and Professor of Neurology & Neurosurgery, Psychiatry, and Medicine at McGill.
“This study could provide clinicians with insights regarding clinical progression to dementia,” adds Dr. Rosa-Neto, co-senior author of the study.
The scientists are now expanding the research by exploring how awareness of illness changes across the full spectrum of Alzheimer’s disease, and how these changes are related to critical Alzheimer’s biomarkers.
Source: McGill University | <urn:uuid:fe65eef2-cac7-41a0-abf6-0a3e3466677b> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://psychcentral.com/news/2018/02/16/unawareness-of-memory-problems-is-predictor-of-alzheimers/132628.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195531106.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20190724061728-20190724083728-00411.warc.gz | en | 0.957645 | 517 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Butyl rubber (IIR), also called isobutylene-isoprene rubber, a synthetic rubber produced by copolymerizing isobutylene with small amounts of isoprene. .
Both isobutylene (C[CH3]2=CH2) and isoprene (CH2=C[CH3]-CH=CH2) are usually obtained by the thermal cracking of natural gas or of the lighter fractions of crude oil. At normal temperature and pressure isobutylene is a gas and isoprene is a volatile liquid. For processing into IIR, isobutylene, refrigerated to very low temperatures (approximately −100 °C [−150 °F]), is diluted with methyl chloride. Low concentrations (1.5 to 4.5 percent) of isoprene are added in the presence of aluminum chloride, which initiates the reaction in which the two compounds copolymerize (i.e., their single-unit molecules link together to form giant, multiple-unit molecules). The polymer repeating units have the following structures:
Because the base polymer, polyisobutylene, is stereoregular (i.e., its pendant groups are arranged in a regular order along the polymer chains) and because the chains crystallize rapidly on stretching, IIR containing only a small amount of isoprene is as strong as natural rubber. In addition, because the copolymer contains few unsaturated groups (represented by the carbon-carbon double bond located in each isoprene repeating unit), IIR is relatively resistant to oxidation—a process by which oxygen in the atmosphere reacts with the double bonds and breaks the polymer chains, thereby degrading the material. Butyl rubber also shows an unusually low rate of molecular motion well above the glass transition temperature (the temperature above which the molecules are no longer frozen in a rigid, glassy state). This lack of motion is reflected in the copolymer’s unusually low permeability to gases as well as in its outstanding resistance to attack by ozone. | <urn:uuid:7bfdc7a1-d789-4eb7-b223-5c0a360e3f38> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | http://karanco.com/en/allproduct/butyl-rubber-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178370752.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20210305091526-20210305121526-00046.warc.gz | en | 0.925731 | 417 | 3.328125 | 3 |
The co-relation between stress and infertility has been long debated. Although stress does not directly affect fertility, it might affect certain bodily functions, which in turn can affect fertility. Let us consider what stress really is and what some of its physiological effects include.
What stress means
Stress is a situation that challenges or threatens our normal state of mind. Although we need some kind of stress to challenge and keep us motivated, chronic stress is not good for you. Chronic stress, if left untreated, can lead to anxieties and phobias of various kinds.
How stress affects your health
Every individual reacts differently to stressful situations. In some people, stress can affect the area of the brain that regulates some reproductive functions. For instance, the hypothalamus gland in the brain regulates the hormone that is responsible for timely egg release from the ovary. This is the same gland that controls the testosterone hormone levels in men.
If you are going through physical or mental stress, it can hinder ovulation, which means you will either ovulate later than expected or not ovulate at all. Such changes in ovulation are known as stress-induced anovulation. However, the good thing is that if you are experiencing delayed ovulation due to stress, it cannot cause permanent infertility.
Is stress causing the infertility or infertility causing stress?
If you have been trying for a baby for a long time or have been diagnosed with infertility, it could be causing or adding to the existing reasons for stress. This is especially applicable in case of women. They go through stress each month while trying to conceive.
Couples going through infertility are advised to meet counsellors who assist individuals and couples going through infertility. Many fertility clinics today have in-house counsellors, who help couples discuss the emotional challenges faced during infertility and related treatments such as IVF, IUI and ICSI.
Ways to reduce stress
- Be positive – Having a positive attitude will help you cope with the stressful situations you come across in life.
- Engage in regular exercise – Regular, moderate exercise is known to have stress-reduction capabilities.
- Change your diet – Include foods that are healthy. Reduce eating foods that are high in sugar and saturated fats. Eat a few hours before bedtime.
- Get enough sleep – Meet your body’s sleep demands. Giving your body rest can help you de-stress.
- Avoid taking recreational drugs, caffeine and other stimulants
- Spend some time doing things you like. It could be something as simple as cooking, visiting places, reading a book, listening to music, etc.
- Learn meditation or yoga – This is also known to be a very effective way to deal with stress
If none of these methods seem to help you relax, it is recommended that you meet a fertility specialist. A fertility specialist might be able to help you identify the exact cause of infertility and prescribe lifestyle changes, medications, or a combination of both, to help improve fertility.
Do you feel stressed out? Have you been able to identify the stress triggers? Share your valuable thoughts with us in the comment section below. | <urn:uuid:e5f0a2e1-5363-421a-bd6e-16f80530fe4a> | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | https://www.novaivifertility.com/blog/are-stress-and-infertility-co-related/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912203168.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20190324022143-20190324044143-00473.warc.gz | en | 0.956377 | 640 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Piercing mandibles, retracted within the head-capsule.
Hydrocaulus, and forms a cup, the hydrangium or hydrotheca (h, t), standing off from the body, into which the hydranth can be retracted for shelter and protection.
Also the notion that snakes when attacking are able to jump off the ground is quite erroneous; when they strike an object, they dart the fore part of their body, which was retracted in several bends, forwards in a straight line.
It is protruded and retracted by special muscles which are partly attached to the ventral, distal end of the ilium.
The ninth and tenth segments are at most times retracted within the eighth.
B, spiracle on prothorax; c, protruded head region; d, tail-end with functional spiracles; e, f, head region with mouth hooks protruded; g, hooks retracted; h, eggs.
- Metagenetic colony-forming Hydromedusae, in which the polyp-colony forms a massive, calcareous corallum into which the polyps can be retracted; polyp-individuals always of two kinds, gastrozoids and dactylozoids; gonosome either free medusae or sessile gonophores.
In Nemertines the everted proboscis is retracted in the same way as the tip of a glove finger would be if it were pulled backwards by a thread situated in the axis and attached to the tip. The comparison may be carried still further.
It is worthy of notice that in those Nemertines which make a very free use of their proboscis, and in which it is seen to be continually protruded and retracted, the walls of the proboscidian sheath are enormously muscular.
4 retracted; fig.
They seem to act as reservoirs into which the fluid of the tense, extended proboscis can withdraw when it is retracted, and from which the fluid can be driven out when it is wished to expand the proboscis.
A, The larva of Echinorhynchus proteus from the body cavity of Phoxinus laevis, with the proboscis retracted and the whole still enclosed in a capsule.
Opisthosoma three minute and forming a slender generally-retracted tail like that of Thelyphonus.
The tentacles serve for the capture of prey and are very contractile, being often protruded to a great length or, on the other hand, retracted and forming corkscrew-like curls.
- a, Microcodon clavus, showing corona, lateral antennae and jointed foot; b, Rhinops vitrea, corona from below, showing proboscidiform extension containing eyes; c, Philodina megalotrocha; d, head of Rotifer macroceros, postero-ventral view, showing lobes of corona, and antero-dorsal median antenna, telescopic with setae; e, Rotifer (Actinurus) neptunius, showing head with retracted corona, and protruded dorsal proboscis bearing median antenna, and telescopic foot with toes and spurs; f.
The mantle-skirt is always long, and hides the rest of the animal from view, its dependent margins meeting in the middle line below the ventral surface when the animal is retracted; it is, as it were, slit in the median line before and behind so as to form two flaps, a right and a left; on these the right and the left calcareous valves of the shell are borne respectively, connected by an uncalcified part of the shell called the ligament.
In most species the penis (which is generally provided with a bone) may be more or less completely retracted within the fold of integument surrounding the vent, and lie curved backwards upon itself under cover of the integument, or it may be carried forward some distance in front of the anal orifice, from which, as in voles and marmots,.
- When the Neo-Kantians, led by Lange, had modified Kant's hypothesis of a priori forms, and retracted Kant's admission and postulation of things in themselves beyond phenomena and ideas, and that too without proceeding further in the direction of Fichte and the noumenal idealists, there was not enough left of Kant to distinguish him essentially from Hume.
The almost spherical head is covered by a hood which can be retracted; it bears upon its side a number of sickle-shaped, chitinous hooks and one or more short rows of low 89 spines - both of these features are used in characterizing the various species.
The anterior one-quarter or one-third of the body is capable of being retracted into the remainder, as the tip of a glove-finger may be pushed into the rest, and this retractile part is termed the introvert.
Finally he accepted the decrees against him and retracted "all that he said contrary to the faith, morals and discipline of the Church."
His methods were not free from arbitrariness; he would attribute to " the wise " the opinion of a single authority which he regarded as correct; he would ignore conflicting opinions or those of scholars which they themselves had afterwards retracted, and he did not scruple to cite his own decisions.2 The period of the Amora'im, " speakers, interpreters," (about 220-500 A.D.), witnessed the growth of the Gemara, when the now " canonical " Mishnah formed the basis for further amplification and for the collecting of old and new material which bore upon it.
The vertebral column is almost entirely welded into a solid tube, but there is a complex joint at the base of the neck, to allow the head being retracted within the carapace.
John appears to have retracted shortly before his death, which occurred on the 4th of December 1334.(fn1)
By, muscle-fibres belonging to the same two systems the whole body may be retracted or protruded.
The tongue is generally short and not deeply divided at its extremity, nor is its base retracted into a sheath; it is always moist and covered with a glutinous secretion.
Both capitulum and physa can be retracted: within the scapus.
Thus the summum bonum for man is objectively God, subjectively the happiness to be derived from loving vision of his perfections; although there is a lower kind of happiness to be realized here 1 Abelard afterwards retracted this view, at least in its extreme form; and in fact does not seem to have been fully conscious of the difference between (I) unfulfilled intention to do an act objectively right, and (2) intention to do what is merely believed by the agent to be right.
When in a state of repose it is retracted, by a muscle arising from the sacrum, within the prepuce, a cutaneous fold attached below the symphysis pubis.
Only three or four abdominal segments are visible, the hinder segments being slender and retracted to form a telescope-like tube in which the ovipositor lies.
Then he evidently retracted his favourable judgment, why I do not know.
Maybe I would have if you hadn't retracted it as soon as you said it. | <urn:uuid:4a3fd723-fbd6-42cf-bc3e-d814222cb553> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | http://sentence.yourdictionary.com/retracted | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891813832.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20180222002257-20180222022257-00551.warc.gz | en | 0.957406 | 1,536 | 2.59375 | 3 |
As part of my ongoing re-organizing and inventorying of my work & creative space, I spent some time going through my collection of children’s books that I commonly use in group work (as well as individual sessions) with school aged youth (ages 6-12) and pre-school aged children. Many of these books I have had for years, purchased at trauma conferences, and have found really helpful to introduce a theme or topic that we will be working on before beginning the art intervention.
Here are some of my favorites and how I like to use them with art making in the groups I’ve done over the years:
- The Safe House– I have included this book when working with youth from violent homes on making paper houses around the theme of safety and what makes a house a safe home. You can learn more about paper house making with youth exposed to domestic violence here.
- Hands Are Not For Hitting– I like to use this book with younger kiddos, between 4-6 years old to help discuss helpful and & kind ways we can use our hands instead of choosing to be hurtful. Often the story is followed by the children in the group tracing their own hands, decorating them with crayons or markers to include with the many ways we’ve discussed about how their hands can be used in positive, respectful, and non-violent ways.
- A Place for Starr: A Story of Hope for Children Experiencing Family Violence– This book tells a young girl’s story about her mother, brother, and her leaving their home of domestic violence to the safety of a shelter. The book is now out of print and any available finds are quite expensive to purchase, but if you come across an affordable copy somewhere, I recommend it highly! I am super thankful to have a copy for my collection- I have found this book helpful for opening up discussions and art-making around the experience of coming to a shelter.
- Is It Right to Fight? – The content in this book looks at aggression & anger from a variety of perspectives such as bullying, fighting between adults, war and prompts the group/child with questions to explore decisions, situations, and ways we can manage our anger or conflicts without fighting & violence.
- When I’m Feeling…. series – This series features 8 different books about the feelings scared, sad, jealous, happy, loved, kind, lonely, & angry in very simple & short illustrated stories, which is great to use with young children to explore emotional themes. When we’re going to work on something like Worry Dolls, the When I’m Feeling Scared book is a helpful introduction to learn more about or normalize the feeling.
- My Many Colored Days– This book is another favorite of mine: I love the images and descriptions of emotions associated with the different colors– My favorite is the green, calm & cool fish! Lots and lots of possibilities for art-making to promote emotional expression inspired by this classic Dr. Seuss book! Check out this PDF resource supporting social emotional development using a variety of arts based and hands on activities with this book.
- Just Because I Am: A Child’s Book of Affirmations: I mostly use this book with young children as a way to instill not only how all feelings are OK, but that our thoughts, bodies, and who we are, is important to respect as well. This book goes really well with drawing images or pictures around the theme of “who am I?” or “this is me!”
- Life Doesn’t Frighten Me– Maya Angelou’s amazing poem meets the awesome art illustrations of Jean-Michel Basquiat in this very inspiring book that tells the story of fearlessness and resiliency. The narrative from these pages sets a great foundation to do some art-making about our strengths and supports.
- Courage– This children’s book I’ve used not only in my professional work to introduce what courage is to the youth I work with, but it has also inspired my own creative work! It’s a great story for adults to be reminded about too and both children & grown ups alike can benefit from creating Couarge Coins!
- When I Grow Up– I initially bought this book at a local toy store in Chicago many years ago because I really liked the creative illustrations with black and white photographs of children’s faces, but then fell in love with it’s entire concept surrounding the cliche question: What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? Instead of focusing on the typical answer of an occupation or vocation, this book suggests another thoughtful perspective (and fun pictures) such as growing up to be brave, adventurous, generous, imaginative, curious, optimistic, patient, & more. It’s a great book to explore how we feel about ourselves (and future selves), as well as how we want to treat others.
Trauma & Loss:
Both of these books below are really valuable to help introduce what trauma is, trauma reactions, and learning how to manage traumatic stress through an animal character based story. After reading and having a discussion about the book, I often invite kids to create art expressions about what they think happened in the story.
- Brave Bart– A resource on activities and ideas on how to use this book with grieving and traumatized youth can be found here from the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children.
I use this batch of books & stories to inspire kids about how to become a peacemaker and how make choices to live non-violently in their home, school, and community:
- Make Someone Smile and 40 More Ways to Be a Peaceful Person- This book inspired some of messages for Peace Flags that one of my groups about Peacemaking created a couple of years ago from handmade paper pulped from hurtful bullying messages.
- What Does Peace Feel Like?– This is my favorite book in this section…. The content prompts children to use their imagination and explore their senses about what peace looks, feels, smells, tastes, and sounds like. It’s fun to have kids draw one of the senses symbolizing peace to him or her! Just like the book, I’ve seen that often peace often tastes a lot like ice cream! 🙂
- The Peace Book– A great introductory book to start exploring simple, but meaningful ways that we can bring peace to others & the world around us! I like to prompt group members to think (and create about) what peace means to them as an individual, in our group, to others they know (at home, school, their neighborhood), and what peace means globally in the form of a flag,, shield, or mandala.
Relaxation & Self-Regulation:
These two books share lots of different ways for kids to calm their minds and bodies in the face of stress. Often before it’s time to make art, I like to take time to pause for a little bit of quiet time in the group, where we focus on breathing, movement, and more:
I hope this list and ideas were helpful! A lot of books listed above are linked to one of my favorite resources, The Self Esteem Shop, who supports trauma informed work through carrying many of these children’s books and more. I hope you will check some of them out, or if you use them already (or others!) share your experiences below! | <urn:uuid:30a1a443-ecbd-406e-a920-330feb036739> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | https://gretchenmiller.wordpress.com/2014/10/06/childrens-story-books-for-trauma-informed-work-art-making/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917118713.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031158-00192-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952173 | 1,546 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Standing tall on the colorful clay cliffs of Martha's Vineyard, Gay Head Lighthouse has provided safe passage to seafarers since 1799. The steadfast tower marks a dangerous and heavily traveled passage between the island and mainland known as Devil's Bridge. Being the first lighthouse on the Vineyard, Gay Head Light has a rich and varied history filled with stories of inspirational lighthouse keepers, disastrous shipwrecks and even mysterious deaths. Today, Gay Head Light serves as an iconic symbol of the island's maritime history and attracts visitors from around the world. Join author William Waterway as he charts the history of the lighthouse from the original wooden tower lit with oil lamps to the rebuilt brick structure that houses the famous Fresnel lens. | <urn:uuid:e0131bfd-583c-43fc-8bb2-f625961abffb> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.eagleharborbooks.com/book/9781626194069 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662538646.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20220521045616-20220521075616-00127.warc.gz | en | 0.939024 | 145 | 2.75 | 3 |
Choose a good topic is the first step to building a successful web site.
You should select a topic which you find interesting, as you will be devoting thousands of hours of your life to this topic. It does not necessarily have to be a topic where you are deeply knowledgeable today, but it does have to be a topic in which you are interested in becoming deeply knowledgeable.
It should also be a topic in which other people are interested. No one wants to build a web site only for themselves. Your topic should be broad enough to appeal to a good audience, but narrow enough for you to be able to cover it comprehensively. Many successful web sites initially focus on a very small niche, grow to dominate that niche, and then branch out from that niche into related topics.
It should be a topic with economic value to an advertiser. Some topics are very interesting as hobbies, but do not do well at generating income. For example, the War of 1812 is fascinating, but is not something which will interest many advertisers.
Finally, the topic for a new web site should be one which is not too competitive. If there are already a hundred great web sites on your chosen topic, you should choose a new topic where you will be able to add something new to the Internet.
How to Determine if Other People are Interested in your Topic
One easy method of determining if other people are interested in your topic is to use the Digital Point Keyword Suggestion Tool (http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/). This tool will show you rough numbers which represent what people on the Internet are searching for. These numbers come from the Wordtracker and Overture tools which we will discuss in the section on keyword selection.
Enter possible topics into the Keyword Suggestion tool and you will be able to get a rough idea how popular your topic is as compared to other topics. The actual numbers are irrelevant; the important thing to note is how the numbers relate to one another.
Today, the term "arizona cardinals" scored 265 on Wordtracker and 492.4 on Overture. The term "chicago white sox" scored 511 on Wordtracker and 755.1 on Overture. From this data, we can see that more people search the web for information on the White Sox than on the Cardinals.
How to Determine if Advertisers are Interested in your Topic
One of the best methods for measuring advertiser interest in a topic is to find out what it would cost an advertiser to purchase a PPC (Pay Per Click) advertisement on that topic. This can be done using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal).
Enter the topic you are thinking of as a keyword and click "Get More Keywords". Change the value of the "Show columns" dropdown list to "Cost and ad position estimates". Enter an unrealistic value as the Max CPC -- $50 should work fine. Click the "Recalculate" button.
When we try to search for "white sox", our search fails. This is because AdWords does not allow advertisers to key on Trademarks. Therefore, we search for other terms which will be found on our web site. For example, a search for "baseball" shows that "baseball" currently has an average CPC of$1.07. This is a good CPC and tells us that this is a site idea that we might be interested in.
How to Determine if your Topic is too Competitive
NicheBot (http://www.nichebot.com/) is one useful tool for roughly determining the competitiveness of a keyword. Enter your prospective keyword and click the "Search" button.
If we search for "white sox", we see that "chicago white sox"was searched for 40,537 times. That is excellent. Lots of people are interested in this topic. However, we also see that 19,100,000 pages on the Internet include the phrase "chicago white sox." That gives us a ratio of 471.17. 471.17 generally means that a search term is very competitive. I recommend competing for search terms with a ratio of less than 10.
However, if we look down the list of suggested keywords, we see that "white sox jersey", "white sox jerseys", "chicago white sox jersey", "chicago white sox jerseys", "chicago white sox jacket" and "chicago white sox hat" all have ratios below ten. This tells us that a web site dedicated to Chicago White Sox clothing could potentially do very well.
Checklist for Topic Selection:
__ I am interested in this topic
__ Other people are interested in this topic
__ Advertisers are interested in this topic
__ This topic is not too competitive | <urn:uuid:8375a4c5-d5c1-443f-b624-69a9269553c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.netbuilders.org/building/choosing-topic-your-web-site-39.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705749262/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120229-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933712 | 1,014 | 2.5625 | 3 |
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abraham Eustis (March 26, 1786 – June 27, 1843) was a lawyer and notable U.S. Army officer, eventually rising to become a Brevet Brigadier General. He saw service in Florida and became a notable artillery specialist and the first commander of Fort Monroe, located at the entrance to the harbor of Hampton Roads in Virginia.
In the State of Florida, Eustis Lake and the town of Eustis were each named in his honor. Camp Abraham Eustis, a World War I-era U.S. Army base along the James River, was named for him. Later renamed Fort Eustis, in the 21st century, it is an expanded and active facility which now located in the independent city of Newport News, Virginia.
Abraham Eustis was born in Petersburg, Virginia. He was educated at Harvard College and Bowdoin College. He served during the War of 1812, in the Black Hawk War (1832), and in the Seminole Wars in Florida.
In 1830, Eustis became the first commander of Fort Monroe, which guards the entrance to Hampton Roads at Old Point Comfort in southeastern Virginia. There for many years, he commanded the school for Artillery Practice.
In May, 1838, Eustis took command of Fort Butler, the one of the main military posts built for the forced removal of the Cherokee known as the Trail of Tears. Nearly 5,000 Cherokee of North Carolina and adjacent Georgia were taken to Fort Butler, thence to the main internment camp at Fort Cass. The troops stationed at Fort Butler were those of Eustis's command from the Second Seminole War in Florida (Duncan 2003:190).
He was the father of Brig. Gen. Henry L. Eustis.
Fort Eustis was originally known as Camp Abraham Eustis when it was established during the World War I on historic Mulberry Island and an adjacent portion of the mainland along the James River in Warwick County, upstream from Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. It became Fort Eustis and a permanent Army base in 1923.
Fort Eustis is currently home to the U.S. Army Transportation Corps, and is now located within the corporate limits of the independent city of Newport News (which merged with the former Warwick County in 1958). An Army Aviation School is also located there. A large mothball fleet of ships known locally as the "Ghost Fleet" is located adjacently in the river.
As of 2007, with the pending base closure of Fort Monroe in nearby Hampton, a portion of the work there will shift to Fort Eustis.
- Eustace Families Association website
- Fort Eustis history
- Duncan, Barbara R. and Riggs, Brett H. Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook. University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill (2003). ISBN 0-8078-5457-3 | <urn:uuid:9662f7c4-5c4a-4378-89d1-8c44c65c2e78> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | http://dictionnaire.sensagent.leparisien.fr/abraham+eustis/en-en/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818695066.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20170926051558-20170926071558-00660.warc.gz | en | 0.9763 | 607 | 3.15625 | 3 |
|Introduction to Women's Studies
and Classical Studies:
Epic Study Guide for Women in Antiquity.
I Ancient Evidence: Know 1) the literary genre (epic) and how these poems conform to requirements or expectations associated with the genre;
2) what society was like in the Archaic Period (800-500 B.C.E.): what does the literature tell us about the lives of women from childhood to old age:
What do other sources (Cf.. art or other archaeological evidence in Fantham) indicate about the lives of women of that period?
II. Evaluation of Evidence for Female Powers and Personalities: How do the stories about goddesses and mortal women conform to or differ from what you learned in the video, The Goddess Remembered? How does each account present a positive view of a female character; What would you criticize? Cf the charts on handout "Desirable Characteristics" and "Gestures of Power and Privilege" in Women and Gender.
III. Evaluation of Evidence for influence of social structures on individuals: Be able to give examples of how social hierarchies influence the lives of individual characters and how individuals suffer but also benefit from, subvert, and create new structures. Show how a character can be both subject (person acting and influencing others) and object (peson acted on or influenced) in a situation or relationship. Consider bell hooks'argument in Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center on the need to "eradicate oppression...(and) the ideology of domination" (24) and to "transform relationships so that alienation, competition, and the dehumanization of human interaction is replaced by feelings of intimacy, mutuality, and camaraderie" (34). Give examples of oppression/domination and intimacy/mutuality.
A. Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite: How does this goddess serve as both an archetype (sex goddess) and as an individual who desires and is desired?
1) What does the introduction tell us about the goddess Aphrodite and how were the three virgin goddesses, Athena, Artemis, and Hestia involved in non-sexual ways with men and women? How does Aphrodite exert her power over gods and animals?
2) Describe Aphrodite's seduction of Anchises: Her preparations and appearance; her words to him; her actions before and after she talked to him. Describe Anchises' reaction to her appearance and words, his words and actions. How does the poet's description of him suggest reasons for Aphrodite's being attracted to him. How and why is Zeus involved in this relationship: Is his involvement necessary or do his machinations suggest the author's attitude toward the relationship between men and women/ gods and mortals?
3) Describe the aftermath: What Aphrodite says and does after she lies with Anchises: How does she address Anchises now? Why does she talk about Ganymedes and Tithonus, name her child-to-be Aeneas, refer to the nymphs, threaten Zeus' punishment? How do Anchises and Aphrodite respond to each other's needs? How can we argue that there will be a lasting bond between them? How will they forever be separate?
B. Homeric Hymn to Demeter: How does this goddess serve both as an archetype (earth goddess of fertility) and as an individual mother who loves, loses, and regains her child? 1) Describe why and how Hades takes Persephone and consider the female evaluation: Gaia's intervention, the initial responses of Persephone, Hecate, and Demeter, the symbolic significance of Persephone's being in a flowery meadow with the Oceanids. How does this scene compare with other descriptions of ancient Greek weddings? How does the later scene, when Hermes goes to Hades, suggest a revision of marriage--consider the meaning of Hades' promise to Persephone and his giving her the pomegranate seed?
2) Describe the relationships between females--among the mortals in Eleusis the four daughters, Queen Metaneira, (the servant Iambe), new nursemaid Demeter; among the goddesses: Persephone, Demeter, Hecate, Iris, Rhea. What does each do and say? How does this poem portray the psycho-social life of a female: as a young woman before marriage and as a bride, as a mother of young, unmarried children, as the mother of adult children?
3) How is lasting union established between the gods of Olympos and the underworld, between males and females, between mortals and immortals? How does the poem demonstrate the power and the limitations of gods and mortals, female nurturing and bonding between a mother and her children, daughters and sons?
C. Homer's Iliad 6: Discuss the women in Troy during the Trojan War: A) Hecabe with Hector and the woman sacrificing to Athene; B) Helen, the woman for whom the war was fought, in Paris' bedroom and speaking to Hector about herself and the men with whom she is involved; C) Andromache with her husband Hector and son Astyanax
D.Odyssey 19, 23: Discuss the character and social role of Penelope, a woman left behind during the war: With what obstacles must she contend and what strategems does she employ to keep her home and family intact under siege? How does she prove a worthy match for her husband, the wily long-enduring hero Odysseus? How is Athene involved in their eventual reunion, and to what extent does Penelope act completely on her own--unlike Odysseus?
Some cousins of the above include
Zeus (Lord of Heaven and Father of Gods and Men) had many children. These include the following.
Hesiod, Aphrodite was the child of Ouranos only.
Trojan War Families:
King Odysseus, son of Laertes and Antikleia, was married to Penelope and had a son Telemachus. | <urn:uuid:17a05b1b-1e39-45bf-a911-4fb8e8503fbd> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://www.luc.edu/faculty/pgraha1/womeninantiquity/epicwomen.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1397609538022.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20140416005218-00351-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954957 | 1,260 | 3.203125 | 3 |
For collegiate or high school history teachers, August is the season of tinkering. With new semesters barreling down, we add and remove readings, change assignments, shift October material to December.
Coverage is the enemy of tinkering. Whether for professional, political, or personal reasons, courses (especially surveys) often have to cover more in less time.
Native American history may not immediately leap to mind as the solution to problems of coverage, but it should. The depth and interplay of Native American worlds, cultures, and politics have been demonstrated by scholars, but they are often underappreciated in pedagogy. The recent volume Why You Can’t Teach U.S. History without Native Americans explodes the myth that coverage demands preclude integrating Native Americans broadly in the history of the United States. When it comes to Civil War, the Great Depression, and the Nuclear Age, Native American history can be a solution to coverage demands.
Let me sell you on two potential lesson plans, based off the essays in Why You Can’t. Then if you’re still reading, we can talk theory. But if you’re tinkerer, you need lessons first.
Let’s start with a religion and violence in America. As an added bonus, this example also functions as a War of 1812 lesson plan. (And let’s face it: unless you are Nicole Eustice or Alan Taylor, you probably need a War of 1812 lesson plan.)
You’ll need a couple of maps of the Indiana Territory as divided by Indian treaties (a good one is available on Wikipedia) and if possible, some of the letters of the territory’s governor, William Henry Harrison, available in Logan Esarey’s 1922 collection.
A quick comparison of modern Indiana maps and early nineteenth-century Indiana maps shows that Indiana then was a little stamp of white settlement, surging up from Kentucky, and the rest of the territory belonged to Indians. Harrison negotiated for several more scraps of land, but when he bought more land in the Treaty of Ft. Wayne, a Native American prophet said no. Tenskwatawa—a devotee of a new religion—rebuked Harrison, declared the north of the territory to be his sovereign region, and built his own city on the banks of the Tippecanoe to prove it. That meant that Indiana was split by multiple territorial claims. (Why You Can’t Teach has a map depicting just that.) From here, teachers can usefully discuss a) how land claims provoked conflict in Indiana, and b) how different maps convey different kinds of information.
If you really want to go for the gold star, you can have students read Harrison’s 1810 message to his legislature, which lays out the arguments Tenskwatawa presented against Fort Wayne, and Harrison’s peremptory response. This message also has Harrison dismissal of Tenskwatawa’s religion as imposture. Tenskwatawa and his brother Tecumseh practiced a novel religion known today as nativism, and Harrison repeatedly described this religion to legislators and superiors in Washington as a kind of evil cult that needed to be destroyed. When Harrison torched Prophetstown in 1811, at the Battle of Tippecanoe, he thought he had succeeded; in fact, Tippecanoe tilted the Old Northwest into the wider War of 1812. Battles erupted across American soil for the next two years.
Next let’s try the California Gold Rush, as suggested by Jean M. O’Brien’s essay in Why You Can’t Teach. O’Brien examined a flotilla of textbooks to discover how they treated the 1849 discovery of gold in California. All of them, she found, described John Sutter and James Wilson Marshall as isolated white men in California, accidentally stumbling upon gold flecks. None of these books explain what Sutter and Marshall were doing in northern California—namely, setting up a new colony and drawing upon the labor of the Yalisummi Ninesan nation. In other words, they were entering into a world of preexisting Native American labor, land claims, and rights that had been turned topsy-turvy by the Mexican War. The discovery of gold was not a lucky break for a lone entrepreneur, but an accidental result of the introduction of American interests into Indian territory.
What followed, therefore, was a process that involved expelling California’s Indians from their land. Robert Heizer’s edited collection, Destruction of the California Indians, provides a wealth of primary-source documents demonstrating the world Sutter found in 1848, the reversal of Indian land rights, and the massacres that followed. (I recommend documents 1:1, 2:7, and 7:1, but Heizer’s volume is rich in examples.) If Heizer’s book is not readily available, enterprising teachers might look at J. Ross Browne’s Report of the Debates in the Convention of California (digitized on Google Books), or might compare the definitions of citizenship and voting rights as laid out in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo as compared to those enacted in Article II of California’s original constitution.
Legal and military efforts to control Native American communities embedded in the gold rush soon brought de facto wars across California, devastating Native American communities. Guns and ammunition are particularly noticeable elements in the militia reports of Indian massacres. Yet as O’Brien points out, while the decline in Indian population received mention in most history books, the causes did not—nor did the ultimate survival of California’s Native American population.
These lesson outlines are not perfect: I have not included any Native voices, for one thing, and I have oversimplified Native American internal cultural and political alliances. But it’s also worth pointing out what these lessons are not: stories of the First Thanksgiving, or of the Beringian Migrations, or of the French and Indian War.
Part of the problem of thinking about Native American history is that Indian history is “coded” as colonial—when the thirteen colonies declare independence, Indians usually fade from view. That creates the illusion that the continent was virgin territory—essentially empty—and that the politics, culture, religion, and power of Native North Americans had no further influence and no further importance. That skews the view of all U.S. history, and provides a haunting post hoc justification for white expansion and exploitation of Native country in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Making Native American history a part of U.S. history—of all U.S. history—can ameliorate some of these textbook flaws. And the good news is: the tools are here to do it. It can take place now, as you tinker. The essays in Why You Can’t Teach cover the full chronology of American history, demonstrating both methodological approaches to rethinking the survey and practical lessons that can be immediately folded into a variety of history classes. Indian history is not a bit player that appears as a windtalker or a Sitting Bull, but integral to the history of American power and society; questions of sovereignty, energy, and war require an understanding of Native Americans and the Native American experience. From a practical pedagogical standpoint, including Native Americans is not only a compelling new way to teach post-1776 topics, it is also a way to get to coverage.
O’Brien rightly asserts that we shouldn’t teach American history without Native Americans. But the editors of the volume made their contribution more explicit: you can’t teach it without Native Americans. Without considering Native American lives and politics, then the dynamics of 1811 Indiana and 1849 California become mere data rather than human drama. Showing the people of the Midwest and Alta California as living communities that fought, feared, and forged a new world makes it history.
WHH Annual Message, 11/12/1810, in Messages and Papers of William Henry Harrison, Logan Esarey, ed. (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1922), 1: 487. | <urn:uuid:47237184-6182-4fe7-9cb8-8e42404077e2> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | http://www.processhistory.org/jortner-coverage/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128323889.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20170629070237-20170629090237-00626.warc.gz | en | 0.929613 | 1,689 | 3.3125 | 3 |
A headache (cephalea, Cephalalgia, the Greek word) is pain or painful sensations in the head and parts of the neck, and compared to its onset and duration, can be acute or chronic.
Although it is sometimes accompanying symptom of other diseases, a headache is often a disease in itself. Headaches are one of the most common diseases affecting the human race.They usually occur between the ages of 25 – 35 years, more frequently in women than ,in men and children.
The brain itself is not sensitive to pain. However, some structures of the head and neck are, and when they are in any way irritate we have a conscious perception of pain, which is called a headache.
On the head we have more structures that react with pain, such as extracranial structures like skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscles, tendons, arteries, nerves, teeth, middle ear, the surface of the lips, nasal cavity, periost skull, eye, as well as within the cranial structure : sinus, the great arteries of the brain, meningitis, sensitive nerves …
A headache occurs for many reasons but often happens that even we can not detect its true cause.
The most common triggers for headaches are fatigue, lack of sleep, poor posture and neck, stress, prolonged exposure to the wind, problems with vision, poisoning harmful substances, high blood pressure and the like. It is certain that there is a person who at least once in his life he felt this uneasy pain. A severe headache (especially migraine), can cause nausea and other symptoms.
There are several types of headaches:
Secondary or symptomatic headaches
-A headache caused from trauma or injury of the head and / or neck;
-A headache caused by cranial or cervical vascular disorders;
-A headache caused from non-vascular intracranial disorders;
-A headache caused from substances and their termination;
-A headache caused from infection;
A migraine is a chronic disease characterized by attacks of a headache, affecting one-half of the head, through moderate or severe intensity, pulsating character, accompanied by nausea, vomiting, photophobia (sensitivity to light) and phonophobia (sensitivity to sound). This is why patients withdraw into a quiet and darkened room to make it easier submitted already an unbearable headache. It occurs in 12-18% of women with 5-6% of men.
Do not ignore the following symptoms:
A headache lasts more than 24 hours and is deteriorating, thunderclap (current severe headache, which may be a sign of bleeding in the brain;
A headache after exercise (can be aware of a tumor or an aneurysm) ;
A headache with blurring of vision (may be a sign of stroke accompanied with the inability of speech) ;
Headaches after 50 years of age (can be dangerous because it may indicate atherosclerotic changes in the arteries in the brain) ;
A headache after a head injury (if you feel mental confusion or dizziness may be a sign of a concussion) Headache meningitis (stiff neck , fever, and headache can be a sign of inflammation of the brain);
Different types of headaches (if you once had cancer, and suddenly you feel a headache you need to go to the doctor).
Remedy of lemon for a migraine
– Pinch of salt
– 1 cup water
– 1 teaspoon lemon juice
1. In a cup put a tablespoon of warm water
2. Add salt and stir until it is melted
3. Then add the lemon juice and a glass of cold water recharge
4. Mix the ingredients and drink.
– The beverage within 5 minutes should to mitigate or completely remove a headache
– If necessary, repeat the process after an hour.
Symptoms: Pain occurs in the form of pressure, which is most pronounced in the forehead, and may in the nape. People who have this migraine pain feel like a ring that tightens their head. Besides pain may have nausea, the feeling of fullness in the stomach, tightness in the throat, palpitations, irritable are difficult to concentrate and bad memories.
Peppermint oil for a tension headache
Rub mint oil along the edge of the hairline. It will create a cooling sensation and will relax the muscles in the head and neck.
Ginger tea for a headache
Buy fresh ginger root mash 2-3 centimeters, and then insert it into the boiling water, cook 5 min , strain , add lemon juice and drink . This tea relieves inflammation as fast as aspirin.
When the headache pain is described as a jab to the head, this is because the pain is concentrated on one point. The pain is usually accompanied by a runny nose and fever and is often referred to as a histamine headache. These headaches are the most common in the winter due to frequent changes in temperature.
Rosemary tea for a cluster headache
Rosemary tea is highly effective as a natural means of healing headaches.
One teaspoon of tea (or one tea bag) pours with 200 ml of hot water.Let stand covered for 10 minutes, strain it and drink it while it is still warm.This will calm down and eliminate the symptoms of a headache.
Symptoms: Dull pain in the head and neck during exercise.
Diagnosis: When the neck muscles twitch during a demanding physical activity or intercourse, increases the tension in the head, causing headaches.
Tea of St. John’s Wort for a neurological headache
Tea from this herb can be the very effective cure for headaches, especially those caused by stress, annoyance, and general bad mood.
A teaspoon of St. John’s wort pour with one cup of boiling water, after ten minutes, strain and drink slowly in small sips throughout the day.
This tea except headaches will also eliminate the bad mood.
Symptoms: Knocking noise, similar to migraine pain, but the pain is steady and occurs at specific time intervals.
PMS headaches – estrogen levels fall faster than usual. So, hormonal imbalance is to blame for this problem that women have during their reproductive years.
Is known that 60% of headaches are caused because of hormonal disbalance .
Tea of lady’s mantle and yarrow for Pms a headache
Put one tablespoon of dried yarrow and dried lady’s mantle in a teapot. Add 300 ml of boiling water and let stand for 10 minutes. Strain and sweeten to taste. To relieve PMS a headache takes one cup of tea , twice a day during 5 days .
Natural remedies are harmless in contrast to the chemically produced painkillers.
What you should avoid or reduce:
Avoid tyramine, found in the (red wine, chocolate, red grapes are fermented cheese-cheddar, mozzarella, feta, parmesan, sauerkraut, soy sauce).
Thiamine is a derivative of a natural amino acid that occurs due to the dissolution of the protein. In sensitive people, tyramine causes a rise in blood pressure and cause headaches.
Avoid nitrites and nitrates found in (salami, hot dogs, ham, bacon) and other meat products
They can increase blood flow to the brain causing pain.Also ,avoid fatty foods.
Foods against a headache: fish oil, ginger and lemon, water and food full of magnesium.
Useful things: head massage with essential oils, covering forehead with a leaf of cabbage or sliced potatoes, get enough sleep,drink plenty of water, because dehydration can cause headaches, avoid stress and beware of sudden temperature changes.
Note: A headache is usually just a signal that the body is something wrong, however, before any treatment, it’s advisable and necessary to go to your doctor and check out what kind of a headache you have . | <urn:uuid:d75f02ff-7aae-495b-ba2b-d848c7ae7625> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://healthycareandbeauty.com/index.php/2016/09/30/serious-symptoms-that-you-should-never-ignore-quick-relief-from-migraines-and-headachesnatural-remedies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886103891.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20170817170613-20170817190613-00639.warc.gz | en | 0.921883 | 1,627 | 3.625 | 4 |
We are approaching a point beyond which Moore’s Law will no longer apply, at least economically.
Moore’s Law predicted the constant exponential evolution of processing power, so that we could do more at the same cost as time goes by – but that is no longer true.
As Moore’s Law approaches its practical limits, the future of computing lies not in cramming more transistors onto a chip but in getting processor architectures to work smarter not harder. Survival will require a focus on breakthroughs that can disrupt markets and create new opportunities.
Computing has advanced steadily since humanity harnessed electrical power and transformed it into something approaching an intelligent control system. This process started with vacuum tubes, then advanced to transistors, and finally to microchips. The advances conformed to Moore's Law, which predicted the doubling of chip performance every 18 months. From an evolutionary standpoint, however, computing technology remains primitive, as today's torrents of data mean little to the systems that process them. However, that is starting to change as we enter an unprecedented stage of cognitive computing. And even if advances in computing generally unfold at less-than-exponential rates from now on, we still anticipate a generational change in the evolution of computing.
We are approaching a point beyond which Moore’s Law will no longer apply, at least economically. Demand for computing power and communications bandwidth is expanding each year, yet the industry is now bumping up against 1) the limits to shrinking semiconductors as the physical integrity of chips is threatened, 2) rising production costs that will render further advances economically unviable, and 3) demand impairment as costs increase.
The future of computing will look fundamentally different as mathematics, biology and physics converge. Scaling silicon is no longer the only way to achieve better performance, and the computing landscape is becoming less horizontal and more vertical, with processing using a wider range of specialised chips. Efficiency gains are playing a role in meeting near-term computing demand, but we expect radical – not incremental – breakthroughs in computing to solve increasingly complex sets of problems. The future of computing is a convergence of math with information (the classical 0 and 1 bits), biology with information (neurons in a neural network), and physics with information (quantum qubits).
The opportunities – and threats – are substantial. The end of Moore's Law should not be seen as the end of progress. We are in the midst of a real-world paradigm shift: the final stages of a decades-long transition from the scientific discipline of computing to an array of applied cognitive technologies made more widely available through innovative architectures. These advances have yet to realise their full disruptive potential, but their benefits will lead to greater adoption and investing in them will be crucial for many firms’ long-term prospects.
For more on what is possible in the future of cognitive computing, speak to your Morgan Stanley financial adviser or representative. Plus, more Ideas from Morgan Stanley's thought leaders. | <urn:uuid:e0fe083a-3adf-4d32-bbea-9a9b2b96a179> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://www.morganstanley.com.au/ideas/future-of-computing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100909.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20231209103523-20231209133523-00617.warc.gz | en | 0.934318 | 607 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Climb Mount Vesuvius
Classified as a Stratovolcano, Mount Vesuvius dominates the skyline and is a legendary volcano that famously erupted in 79 AD and caused the destruction and burial of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Vesuvius stands as the only volcano in mainland Europe that has erupted in the last 100 years – It is considered extremely dangerous due to the amount of human settlement. Today you can take a bus tour from Naples to visit this magnificent natural phenomenon and climb up its slopes to peer into the crater. A hike will take between 20 minutes and is considered not challenging – The views from the top on a clear day are simply fantastic and the caldera and crater are hugely interesting too. | <urn:uuid:0a57d0be-f3f8-4ac5-8248-81527c06b71b> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://plentyholidays.co.uk/destinations/Naples | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655894904.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20200707173839-20200707203839-00175.warc.gz | en | 0.956704 | 146 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics
Earthquake belts and distribution. Earthquakes occur in well‐defined belts that correspond to active plate tectonic zones. The
circum‐Pacific belt (also called the
Rim of Fire) follows the rim of the Pacific Ocean and hosts over 80 percent of the world's shallow and medium‐depth earthquakes and 100 percent of the deep earthquakes. Other earthquake zones are the
Mediterranean‐Himalayan belt and the
midoceanic ridges that split the crust at the bottom of the world's oceans.
Plate boundaries and associated earthquakes. Distribution plots reveal that many earthquakes are associated with andesitic volcanic action and oceanic trenches that occur over subduction zones in the circum‐Pacific belt. Oceanic trenches are narrow, deep troughs that mark where two plates converge, usually along the edge of a continent or island are where andesitic volcanoes typically occur. Earthquakes originate in Benioff zones, zones that slope downward from the trenches and under the overlying rocks at 30 to 60 degrees. Benioff zones are closely associated with the subduction of a crustal plate below an adjacent plate.
Almost all earthquakes occur at the edges of the crustal plates. The constant bumping, grinding, and lateral movement along crustal boundaries can create sudden movements that result in earthquakes. Each of the three types of plate boundaries—convergent, divergent, and transform—has a distinctive pattern of earthquakes.
There are two kinds of convergent boundaries: subduction and collision. A subduction boundary is marked by the oceanic crust of one plate that is being pushed downward beneath the continental or oceanic crust of another plate. A collision boundary separates two continental plates that are pushed into contact; the suture zone is the line of collision. Both types of boundaries have distinctive earthquake patterns.
Earthquakes associated with a collision boundary define shallow, broad zones of seismic activity that form in complex fault systems along the suture zone. Earthquake patterns in subduction zones are more complex. As the oceanic crust begins to descend, it begins to break into blocks because of tension stress. Shallow earthquakes in the upper part of the subduction zone are a result of shallow‐angle thrust faults, in which slices of plates slide like cards in a deck that is being shuffled. Earthquakes also periodically occur as the plate continues to subduct up to a depth of about 670 kilometers (400 miles). First‐motion studies of these earthquakes suggest they result from both compressional and tensional forces on the subducting plate.
Earthquakes are relatively abundant in the first 300 kilometers (180 miles) of a subduction zone, are scarce from 300 to 450 kilometers (180 to 270 miles), and then increase slightly again from 450 to 670 kilometers (270 to 400 miles). It is possible that these deepest quakes are related to sudden mineral transformations and resultant energy releases or volume changes. It has been theorized that earthquakes do not occur at depths greater than 670 kilometers because the subducting plate is not brittle anymore and has become hot enough to flow plastically.
The distribution of earthquake foci along a subduction zone gives an accurate profile of the angle of the descending plate. Most often, plates start subducting at a shallow angle, which becomes steeper with depth. The angle of subduction is proportional to the density of the plate material, the amount of faulting and thrusting, and the tearing or crumpling of the descending plate.
Divergent boundaries are those at which crustal plates move away from each other, such as at midoceanic ridges. These huge underwater mountains often have a central graben feature, or rift valley, that forms at the crest of the ridge. The formation of new ocean crust that is pushed away from both sides of the ridge fault creates a tensional setting that results in the formation of the graben. Earthquakes are located along the normal faults that form the sides of the rift or beneath the floor of the rift. Divergent faults and rift valleys within a continental mass also host shallow‐focus earthquakes.
Shallow‐focus earthquakes occur along transform boundaries where two plates move past each other. The earthquakes originate in the transform fault, or in parallel strike‐slip faults, probably when a frictional resistance in the fault system is overcome and the plates suddenly move. | <urn:uuid:cbb81d61-96dc-4766-b47a-b7d5c351306f> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/geology/earthquakes/earthquakes-and-plate-tectonics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221213264.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20180818021014-20180818041014-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.931923 | 893 | 4.59375 | 5 |
From 1981 to 1988 officials in the state of Utah did nothing but sit back and watch people die of AIDS. That is not a hyperbole. You see, AIDS was one of those moral diseases that separated “us from them.” Good people would never catch such an infliction, so why spend scarce resources on people that essentially brought death upon themselves?
I became a gay historian because of the AIDS epidemic. Whether I would survive it or not was unknown to me at the time, but I wanted to record it. I wanted future generations to know what we endured. I needed to tell the stories of my friends who couldn’t speak from the grave.
Between 1981 and 1985 the official national position was the disease was simply confined to homosexual males, intravenous drug users, and Haitians. Obviously Utah did not have a Haitian community to speak of, and well, homosexuals and drug users; they hardly fit Utah’s family-friendly image.
When Wyoming Attorney Gerry Spense sued the State of Utah, on behalf of a family whose mother died of AIDS, for not informing the gay community to not donate blood, so as to prevent the spread of the disease, the state countered that in 1984 there was no gay community to inform. The state lost its case when, as the archivist for the Utah Stonewall Center, I supplied the Wyoming law firm with information proving that, indeed, in 1984 there was a vibrant gay community in Utah. It was not until AIDS was shown to be transmitted by blood donations that Utahns began to decry the horrors of AIDS.
During these early years within the gay community there was a gnawing festering fear, as reports poured in from the West Coast of the rising number of victims of the gay plague. San Francisco and Los Angeles were ground zero on the West Coast as was Manhattan Island on the East. America’s medical community was quick to identify the disease as a gay pathology. It was called gay cancer then Gay-Related Immune Deficiency until it entered the blood banks of America. By then, however, Americans had made gay a synonym for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome and AIDS was a synonym for death.
Many gay men with the AIDS virus were dead within days of being diagnosed. Healthy, strong, active men weakened, wasted and died – often shunned by friends and family. Some people were afraid to even be in the presence of gay men.
In Utah, AIDS education or the concept of safer sex, did not exist before 1985. I take that back. The Best Source, a publication for the gay community, listed an AIDS-information 800-number for panicky Utahns. However, by the time the purple lesions appeared and the night sweats drenched the beds, death was imminent.
In this information void, heroes arose. They will never be honored in the halls of power, they will never have memorials named for them, but they are heroes none the less in the truest sense of the word. For the limit of this space I can only name a few.
Dr. Kristen Ries came to Utah in 1981 from Pennsylvania originally to work with a geriatric population. She had specialized in diseases that affected the immune system. I am convinced that Providence sent the good doctor to Utah as the AIDS tide began to roll in. During all of the 1980s and for most of the rest of her career, Dr. Ries carried the majority of the case load of AIDS clients in Utah. She was assisted compassionately and capably by Maggie Snyder. The pair, along with the Catholic Sisters of Holy Cross Hospital, eased the suffering of the AIDS community by compassionately allowing gay men to die with dignity when much of the rest of Utah’s health professionals were loath to deal with gay people at all.
Becky Moss became the main voice and producer of Concerning Gays and Lesbians in 1983 on KRCL. For much of the rest of the decade, she was the only source of reliable and up-to-date information on AIDS. It became more than an abstract for her when she learned that her sister Peggy Tingey and nephew Chance had contracted AIDS and died in 1994 and 1995.
In the fall of 1985 a handful of health professionals from the gay community saw the looming health crisis that was heading toward Utah as swiftly as any tsunami from the West Coast. While state health officials viewed AIDS as not a clear-and-present danger, Dr. Patty Reagan, a health educator at the University of Utah, and Duane Dawson, a registered nurse, stepped in to fill the breach. Amazingly they did so simultaneously without knowledge of each other’s endeavors.
Dr. Patty Reagan, with the help of the University of Utah Women’s Resource Center created an information organization she called The Salt Lake City AIDS Foundation. She said it sounded impressive but to her chagrin she later realized a foundation usually gives out money and much of her time when not teaching was begging for donations to keep the phone lines operating. At a low point she even asked her mother for funds to keep the lines open.
Because of Dr. Reagan’s academic training, she was asked to speak to groups up and down the Wasatch Front, occasionally raising the hackles of conservative groups, like Family Alert for once demonstrating how to put a condom on a banana.
Dr. Reagan, who was the only AIDS educator in the entire state, begged for the funds that the Center for Disease Control had allocated Utah for AIDS education. However, the state epidemiologist, Dr. Craig Nichols, refused her, saying that the gay community was capable of taking care of itself and didn’t need the state’s intervention.
Duane Dawson, RN along with other health workers in October 1985 created the AIDS Project Utah with an entirely different mission from the Salt Lake AIDS Foundation. APU’s primary goal was to provide services to people infected with HIV or had developed full-blown AIDS. While SLAF dealt with AIDS prevention, APU assisted people with AIDS in finding the medical and physical attention they needed. People with AIDS often lost jobs, friends and shelter at the most critical time of their lives.
In 1986 Ben Barr began to volunteer at the AIDS Project Utah and soon began organizing AIDS awareness and fundraising events involving his sister Roseanne Barr who at the time was a rising star on the comedy circuit. She agreed to perform at two fundraisers for APU.
The very nature of being a health care provider is exhausting work and it was quickly burning out leadership at both APU and SLAF. APU folded in 1988 due to several reasons; not the least the lack of support from the gay community as APU had tried to distance itself as a gay organization to achieve a more mainstream appeal.
Ben Barr was asked by Dr. Patty Reagan to take over the flailing SLAF which he did in 1989, changing the name of the organization to the Utah AIDS Foundation. He combined the jobs of providing AIDS information and services under one roof. His drive and commitment to combating the AIDS onslaught built the UAF into the organization it is today. He left the organization only after he realized that it had outgrown his capabilities; however, leaving it a sound, thriving and respected nonprofit enterprise.
David Sharpton was a native Texan and a Mormon convert. He came to Utah in 1987 as a guest speaker at an LDS health conference. As an outspoken, articulate person with AIDS, Sharpton soon became the face of AIDS in Utah. Sharpton knew his time was limited but he fought hard to educate the ignorant on Capitol Hill about AIDS, and to keep them from passing damaging legislation. Mandatory testing and quarantining on Antelope Island were a couple of the more draconic measures bandied about. The worse offending law passed was prohibiting people with AIDS from marrying. The law was so worded that it invalidated legal marriages wherein one of the partners had AIDS. Peggy Tingey and Cindy Kidd sued the state and had the law overturned.
David Sharpton’s acerbic tongue became more caustic as AIDS took its toll on him and even his closest friends called him David Sharp Tongue, but not to his face. With all his bravado toward a deadly foe, David was failing but he managed to found an ACT-UP chapter in Utah and was also co founder with Thomas Lindsey of the People With AIDS Coalition. David died in 1992 in Texas and thus was robbed of being a Utah statistic.
In 1990 Dick Dotson and Donald Steward [our own Ruby Ridge] founded the Horizon House and an annual retreat for people with AIDS at Camp Pinecliff. Dick had a passion to serve the AIDS community as does Donald who has spent countless hours and has raised thousands of dollars to benefit the community.
AIDS deaths peaked in Utah in 1995. One hundred-thirty deaths were attributed to AIDS according to the Utah Health Department that year. However, since the state only counted those who were diagnosed and who died in-state, that number is probably much higher.
As a man in my 30s during the 1980s I lived much of my life in fear, supposing that I would not live much past my 40s. All around me it felt like I was living in war time. We had AIDS fatigue. We had safe-sex fatigue. We had funeral fatigue. We even had survivor’s guilt.
I am now 60 years old and am one of the oldest persons I know from that period. Many of my contemporaries are gone. My adversaries have become my friends due to attrition. AIDS in the 1980s was the refiner’s fire that shaped us. We managed to keep the Civil Rights struggle alive even though we could not keep our friends and lovers alive. Having gone through our own gay holocaust I can witness that we are a strong, noble and compassionate people. I hope we will remember that as our legacy. | <urn:uuid:942b9cfe-3e3e-450d-9304-47c873635cc4> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | https://qsaltlake.com/news/2011/04/28/lambda-lore-aids-in-utah/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039743968.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20181118052443-20181118074443-00509.warc.gz | en | 0.985361 | 2,034 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Posted: March 24, 2014, 8:45 p.m. EDT
© Ferret Chester/Courtesy Secilia Owens
A ferret's belly usualy has no blue tinge to it.
Q: I live in Greece, so I can’t find a veterinarian who knows a lot about ferrets. My ferret has something blue around her tummy. I read that happens when new hairs grow, but her belly is not bald. Is this from new hair or some kind of disease?
A: When ferrets grow new hair, many times the skin where the new hair is growing in appears to turn blue. This can be normal. But in ferrets that have unusual amounts of hair loss, such as with adrenal gland disease, you may see a bluish tinge to the skin more often.
If your ferret has normal hair growth, then there should not be a bluish tinge from new hair. Then there are two other things to consider. One, your ferret may have bruising on her belly. Bruising can be from trauma, such as falling from a short height, or sometimes disease of the blood cells can lead to increased bruising.
The other reason you may see a bluish tinge on the belly, especially if it is only on the belly, is that there is some organ or mass in the belly that is pressing on the skin and you are seeing this mass through the skin. This can happen most commonly with an enlarged spleen.
In all of these conditions, the best way to get an answer is to visit a veterinarian. If you do not have a veterinarian in your area who specializes in ferrets, try finding a veterinarian who is happy to consult with colleagues in other areas or countries and can help you and your ferret.
Skin Tumors In Ferrets, click here>>
See all veterinary Q&A about ferrets, click here>>
See all ferret health articles, click here>>
See veterinary Q&A for all small animal pets, click here>> | <urn:uuid:adcb289e-0a6d-454e-a875-a5c31dd163ee> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://www.smallanimalchannel.com/critter-experts/vet/ferret-with-blue-belly-1403.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443736673439.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001215753-00148-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945255 | 418 | 2.53125 | 3 |
VIEWS: 9 PAGES: 3 POSTED ON: 11/15/2011
Multiple Choice Questions 1. Any event, biological, psychosocial or social, in which environmental and/or internal demands tax or exceed the adaptive resources of an individual can be defined as a) defense mechanism. b) stress. c) adaptation. d) diathesis. Answer: b) stress 2. In her counseling sessions, Sheila has learned that a key to the process of successful coping and adaptation lies in her ability to a) form meaningful relationships. b) improve her academic status. c) become more assertive. d) depend less on her parents. Answer: a) form meaningful relationships 3. Psychological stress can be broken down into three categories: harm, challenge, and a) hassles. b) trauma. c) threat. d) crisis. Answer: c) threat 4. The interaction of environmental stresses and a diathesis (vulnerability) to the disorder is believed to related to the onset of a) Depression. b) schizophrenia. c) mental illness. d) external stress. Answer: b) schizophrenia 5. Unconscious, automatic responses that enable us to minimize perceived threats or keep them out of our awareness entirely are a) avoidance strategies. b) adaptations. c) defense mechanisms. d) flight responses. Answer: c) defense mechanisms 6. When Sheila began to manage stressors at the university by finding an apartment with more privacy and by joining some small university clubs she was utilizing a) problem-focused coping strategies. b) emotion-focused coping strategies. c) assertiveness-focused strategies. d) mixed coping strategies. Answer: a) problem-focused coping strategies 7. Sheila’s counselor helped her realize that her thoughts and feelings are not uncommon for many students, especially during their freshman year at the university. This is referred to as a) rationalization. b) projection. c) normalization. d) denial. Answer: c) normalization 8. The “boss” yells at the man, who goes home and shouts at his wife, who screams at the child, who slams the door. This is an example of a) reaction formation. b) displacement. c) sublimation. d) intellectualization. Answer: b) displacement 9. A young woman throws a temper tantrum when she tries on one of her favorite dresses and finds it so tight she cannot button it. This response is called a) projection. b) denial. c) reaction formation. d) regression. Answer: d) regression 10. Attributing one’s own negative thoughts and feelings to others is the defense mechanism know as a) sublimation. b) displacement. c) projection. d) deviance. Answer: c) projection
"Multiple Choice Questions and ans - chapter 5" | <urn:uuid:e48330ad-0432-45fe-bb96-2f986f288a9c> | CC-MAIN-2015-06 | http://www.docstoc.com/docs/103047121/Multiple-Choice-Questions-and-ans---chapter-5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422122123549.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124175523-00087-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903331 | 581 | 3.171875 | 3 |
A young Chinese boy who was born with beaming blue eyes has stunned medics with his ability to see in pitch black darkness.
Nong Yousui from Dahua, China has eyes that reflect neon green when light is shined on them. Doctors have studied Nong’s amazing eyesight since his dad took him to hospital concerned over his bright blue eyes.
“They told me he would grow out of it and that his eyes would stop glowing and turn black like most Chinese people but they never did”, his Dad said.
Nong enjoys playing outside with his schoolmates but experiences discomfort when in bright sunlight, however can see completely clearly in pure darkness.
To test his abilities, a Chinese journalist prepared a set of questionnaires which he was able to finish while sitting in a pitch black room. The tests show Nong can read and write perfectly without any light and can see as clearly as most people do during the day.
According to the World Record Academy (the leading international organization which certify world records), Nong has even set the world record for the first human who can see in the dark.
In animals, night vision is made possible by the existence of a thin layer of cells, called the tapetum lucidum. And like a Siamese cat, Nong’s sky-blue eyes flash neon green when illuminated by a flashlight.
Nong’s night vision has sparked interest around the world by vision scientists, evolutionary biologists, and genetic engineers. And this is good news for science as we may eventually be able to use genetic technologies to deliberately create such a condition ourselves.
A new and growing generation of extraordinary and gifted children are springing up across our planet. | <urn:uuid:1bcc38e0-550e-441c-bb19-e01aa52b7793> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://thekingslighthouse.nikipress.com/2013/08/24/chinese-boy-with-ability-to-see-in-pitch-black-stuns-medics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320303729.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20220122012907-20220122042907-00472.warc.gz | en | 0.98036 | 361 | 2.640625 | 3 |
HIV/AIDS is a significant public health issue in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1.2 million people aged 13 years old and older are now living with HIV infection, and an additional 50,000 new HIV infections occur every year. One out of eight people with HIV are unaware of their infection. There are tremendous disparities in HIV prevalence. Men who have sex with men bear a greater burden of HIV, accounting for about 63% of all new infections. The estimated number of new HIV infections was greatest among young MSM and HIV disproportionately affects young African American MSM.
As our understanding of HIV/AIDS grows and effective treatments are developed, more focus is put on the needs for enhanced HIV services. In the old model, HIV prevention and HIV care services function separately. This separation was inefficient and compromises the quality of HIV services. To address the limitations of this practice, Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) has 1) increased program capacity, 2) increased HIV testing, 3) increased access to partner services, and 4) increased linkage to medical care through a merger of HIV prevention and HIV care staff. The ultimate goals are to improve the quality and continuum of HIV care, achieve cost sharing through the integration, and reduce the rate of transmission of HIV. To successfully integrate prevention and care services, the practice developed a quality improvement plan based on the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ (NACCHO) strategic planning guide. The primary activity of the merger was to cross-train CUPHD staff to provide both prevention and care services. Staff received both onsite and offsite training. This integration increased current staff capacity to provide both prevention and care services.
Champaign-Urbana Public Health District
Integrating HIV Prevention and Care Services
CUPHD, recently accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) in 2014, is the local public health authority for the Cities of Champaign and Urbana and Champaign County, Illinois. Champaign County is located in east central Illinois and is 998.39 square miles with a population density of 201.8 people per square mile. Champaign County is an exemplar micro-urban community and a statewide leader in progressive education, health care, government, high technology, light industry and agriculture. In 2013 the US Census Bureau estimated the population to be 204,897 residents, a 1.9% increase since 2010. CUPHD has a mission to improve the health, safety and wellbeing of the community through prevention, education, collaboration, and regulation. With a budget of over $11 million and a staff of 120, CUPHD has expanded to meet countless needs in the Champaign-Urbana community. CUPHD has a multi-disciplinary staff with expertise in program design, implementation and evaluation. CUPHD has accomplished employees in outreach, health education, nursing, epidemiology, finance, information technology, social marketing, and public relations.
Over the past 3 decades, a portfolio of proven strategies have been developed to reduce the risk of HIV transmission, including HIV testing, partner services, antiretroviral therapy, substance abuse treatment, access to condoms and sterile syringes, and screening and treatment for other sexually transmitted infections (CDC, 2011). However, like the nation's health care system, the current HIV prevention and care delivery system is fragmented at best. Evidence-based approaches to HIV prevention and care are not well integrated or coordinated. For example, HIV prevention and HIV care staff at CUPHD worked independently. Prevention staff and care staff worked separately with the same client populations, and there was little communication between staff. When a client presented for services, the prevention staff would test the client for HIV and provide preventive services only. If the client tested positive for HIV, the prevention staff could not provide adequate follow-up care services due to program constraints and lack of training in care services. Rather, the HIV prevention staff would refer the client to HIV care staff for engagement in medical care. Because the two systems were not allowed to share information, it was impossible to know whether adequate follow-up was administered to those who tested positive for HIV. This lack of coordination also made it difficult to provide prevention services for those persons living with HIV, again due to program constraints and lack of training in prevention services among care specialists.
Prior to the integration, HIV prevention staff conducted: HIV Counseling and Testing; Partner Services; Risk Reduction Counseling; Harm Reduction Counseling, including syringe exchange; and STD testing with HIV negative or unknown status persons. Staff performed these services in the agency and in outreach settings including the gay bar. This staff provided HIV prevention services through the CUPHD STD clinic with clients at an increased risk for HIV infection. HIV care staff focused their efforts on persons living with HIV disease. This staff coordinated medical appointments for HIV care and laboratory services. Care staff assisted clients with medical adherence and in understanding their HIV related laboratory services. Adequate housing with financial assistance, as needed, was provided. CUPHD provides financial assistance for medical care, dental care, adequate housing, nutritional needs, and mental health services for HIV positive persons who quality for this assistance under the HRSA guidelines. CUPHD employs four HIV positive peers that conduct client engagement services with clients to encourage adherence to medical care.
The lack of integration of HIV prevention and care was inefficient and compromised quality of HIV services. The integration allows staff to provide the full array of HIV prevention and care services at the time of the client visit. To address the limitations of previous practice, CUPHD has 1) trained existing prevention staff to conduct Ryan White Care services, 2) trained existing HIV care staff to conduct HIV Prevention activities, and 3) increased medical treatment adherence counseling, including surveillance activities. The ultimate goals are to improve the quality and continuum of care, achieve cost sharing through the integration, and reduce the rate of HIV transmission.
The primary activity of the merger was to cross-train staff to provide both HIV prevention and HIV care services. Staff received both onsite training and offsite training by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). Staff was cross-trained to conduct HIV Counseling and Testing; Partner Services; Linkage to Care services; Ryan White Medical Case Management Services; Risk Reduction Counseling; Harm Reduction Counseling, including syringe exchange; and STD Screening including phlebotomy skills. One additional staff was cross-trained to provide all of these activities, with the exception of Ryan White Services, in addition to Disease Intervention Services (DIS).
Following the integration of these two program teams, a person newly diagnosed with HIV infection could remain with the same CUPHD staff while receiving the HIV test result, through the partner services process, and then be linked to medical care through Ryan White services or their primary care provider. A staff conducting a home visit to provide care services can now provide HIV testing to a partner of the HIV positive client. CUPHD now provides quality HIV prevention services to persons living with HIV disease during the routine medical case management visits. STD testing is routinely offered to HIV positive persons and partner services is now an ongoing services rather than just at the time of HIV diagnosis.
By creating seamless services from HIV testing to entry into medical care for HIV positive clients, our HIV care services are more efficient and effective. Six HIV care staff completed the IDPH seven day HIV Counseling, Testing and Partner Services training over the course of a year’s time. This staff was trained on-site to conduct harm reduction counseling, STD screening, phlebotomy skills, and surveillance activities. Two HIV Prevention staff was trained on-site for several weeks to provide HIV care services.
The design and implementation of the practice involved a number of important stakeholders including HIV prevention and care program directors, members of the teams that were being merged, administration of CUPHD, and community partners and clients. Peer navigators and staff from other agencies in the community who serve the same target population provided input on the current services, recommendations for change, and support to others in the community affected by HIV/AIDS.
Existing staff was incorporated into this new model of care. Existing grant funds were used to develop the staff skills needed for this merger. Staff recorded the time spent in each discipline to the corresponding cost center in the on-line time management system. No new staff was added in response to this merger. Staff spent approximately 160 hours in onsite training to provide care services. In addition, training for prevention activities included 60 hours of on-site training and 40 hours of required IDPH training on HIV Counseling and Testing and Partner Services. The intention was to keep this merger low cost and sustainable to be able to replicate to other communities. We do not anticipate any additional on-going cost to this program. There were no indirect costs associated with this merger.
HIV in the U.S.
The inefficiency and lack of coordination of the previous HIV prevention and HIV care services has been recognized in the newest strategic plan of the CDC 's of HIV/AIDS Prevention 2011-2015. In the strategic plan, the CDC highlighted the importance of prioritizing the allocation of prevention resources, careful monitoring and constant re-evaluation, and intensive and sustained collaboration and coordination with partners. It recommended a comprehensive approach to HIV care that emphasizes prevention with people living with HIV and linkage to and retention in care. Accordingly, the CDC 's new mandates now require programs to document and report complete referrals and care linkages. The CDC’s “High-Impact HIV Prevention: CDC’s Approach to Reducing HIV Infections in the United States” documents the plan that CUPHD adopted.
In response to the CDC 's “High Impact Prevention” plan, a careful evaluation of the current HIV service delivery at CUPHD was conducted. It was decided to merge the HIV prevention and HIV care staff and services. CUPHD HIV leadership developed a quality improvement plan based on NACCHO strategic planning guide to successfully create a seamless HIV service delivery system from HIV testing to entry into medical care for HIV positive clients. According to our knowledge, this merger is the only one of its kind in public health. The current practice is better in several ways. The merged system improves efficiency and effectiveness, improves clients' retention in services, increases linkage to care for HIV positive persons, allows for prevention activities with HIV positive persons, and conforms better with the CDC 's direction. Integration of services is an evidence-based approach, recommended by leading health bodies such as the CDC, HRSA, The Henry J. Kaiser Foundations, NASTAD, and independent researchers across the United States (CDC, 2011; HRSA, 2011;Henry Kaiser Foundation, 2004).
The current CUPHD practice is a timely response to the CDC's goal of creating a future free of HIV. Following the CDC’s “High Impact Prevention” model, CUPHD has identified activities in Biomedical Interventions; Public Health Strategies; Behavioral Interventions; Structural Interventions; and Social Marketing that are now offered in HIV services programming. The increase in the number of staff with the necessary skills to deliver these interventions has increased the capacity of the CUPHD HIV services program. The new coordinated care system is one step forward toward achieving a future without HIV.
Biomedical interventions are highlighted and include Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to clients most at risk for HIV infection. PrEP is an exciting new HIV prevention tool that has been shown to be very effective in preventing new HIV infections. PrEP used daily is more than 92% effective in preventing HIV acquisition. PrEP is a powerful tool in HIV prevention and even more effective when combined with other prevention strategies. In addition to PrEP, CUPHD staff provides STD testing and treatment to HIV negative and HIV positive clients. Treatment adherence counseling is highlighted in PrEP and Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) for CUPHD clients.
In June 2015, CUPHD’s nursing and HIV services staff received extensive training on PrEP from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and IDPH. After this training, reviewing the CDC’s guidance for initiating PrEP, and consulting with other agencies providing the service, CUPHD opened an onsite PrEP clinic. PrEP is prescribed to clients meeting appropriate risk criteria. Client received a personalized risk assessment; receive risk reduction counseling; and education about adherence and side effects during their initial PrEP session. PrEP clients complete laboratory screening for Hepatitis B and creatinine clearance for kidney function, as well as a rapid HIV antigen/antibody test. The CUPHD medical director and nurse practitioner provide prescriptions for Truvada for PrEP, and HIV services staff works with clients to ensure that they have benefits to pay for medication, through health insurance, Medicaid, or the pharmaceutical medication assistance programs.
STD testing and treatment is offered to both HIV positive and negative clients. CUPHD provides STD services onsite all day each weekday. In addition, CUPHD has an offsite evening clinic one night a week for clients who cannot access services at the main clinic. STD testing is offered in all mobile outreach and during gay bar outreach. STD testing is normalized during routine visits for HIV care services. Since the merger, CUPHD has cross trained two STD clinic nurses to conduct services in both the PrEP clinic and to increase STD testing and treatment in HIV services. These nurses now split their time between STD clinics and HIV services. The integration of services continues at CUPHD with the understanding that integrated services are more efficient and allow for better service delivery. Clients can now access more services with one staff person instead of being bounced between various staff in various programs.
Another biomedical intervention that has been expanded since the merger is treatment adherence strategies to engage HIV positive individuals in medical services. Efforts to identify HIV positive individuals who are aware of their status and to engage them in HIV medical care has become a priority at CUPHD. Research has shown that engaging HIV positive persons in medical care reduces HIV transmission potential through HIV viral suppression. This staff conducts surveillance activities for persons who are previously diagnosed with HIV but are not active in HIV medical care. IDPH generates a roster of persons who are HIV positive but have not had viral load testing in the past six months or have been recently diagnosed with an STD. CUPHD staff conducts DIS investigations to locate these individuals and assist in addressing their barriers to accessing HIV medical care.
This surveillance model has been implemented in the local HIV clinic. The HIV clinic now releases a roster of clients that are not medically-adherent for the same surveillance activities. Staff has discovered that it is easier to locate a client who missed a recent HIV related medical appointment rather than wait until the client is reported by IDPH months later. Staff contacts the client and assists in addressing the barriers in attending medical care. This collaboration has enhanced the quality of care that clients receive.
Public Health strategies, HIV testing for unknown status persons and Partner Services for HIV positive persons have also seen growth in the past year. Onsite partner testing for HIV positive clients has reduced barriers to accessing testing. CUPHD now employs nine IDPH trained HIV Counseling and Testing staff, a three-fold increase since before the merger. This staff has received intensive, focused training to conduct HIV Counseling and Testing with those at risk for HIV. This staff is practiced at delivering an HIV positive test result and conducting partner services elicitation. Linkage to Care interventions are now completed by the staff who identifies the newly-diagnosed HIV persons. CUPHD can now provide accurate documentation of engagement in HIV medical care and ongoing follow up.
Risk Reduction Counseling for HIV positive and negative persons is offered at each client visit. CUPHD HIV services staff are trained to provide client-centered counseling to address HIV and STD risk behaviors. Following the “High-Impact Prevention” model, quality risk reduction counseling with HIV positive individuals significantly reduces HIV transmission. CUPHD staff is trained to deliver risk reduction counseling with their HIV positive clients during care related visits. This continuum of care is client centered and beneficial for clients engaged in care services as they receive this intervention while they are receiving other services at CUPHD.
Behavioral Interventions at CUPHD include a long-standing Mpowerment project for African American MSM. This group follows the CDC Effective Behavioral Intervention model and is managed by two peers who are employed by CUPHD. The peers are IDPH trained in HIV Counseling and Testing. The project uses an offsite location for Mgroups and social events. The peers have been trained in PrEP promotion and market the CUPHD PrEP clinic through their bar zaps and small group activities. Peers are integrated into the CUPHD HIV services programming.
CUPHD employs four HIV positive peers that provide treatment adherence strategies to clients accessing care services. Peers engage members of their social networks to reach “harder-to-reach” clients and connect them to medical care. The peers assist HIV positive persons with scheduling and accessing medical appointment, laboratory testing or other health services that are needed to manage HIV disease. Peers engage these members in AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) enrollment to ensure successful engagement in medical care. Other barriers to medical care are addressed though one on one meetings and in support groups. These peers are a vital piece of the care continuum and reach HIV positive persons in ways that local health department staff cannot.
CUPHD operates with the understanding that all HIV programming must be supported by structural interventions including syringe exchange and condom distribution. CUPHD has provided syringe exchange services since 2001. CUPHD offers comprehensive harm reduction services to participants. Clients access harm reduction supplies (syringes, cotton, water, ascorbic acid, alcohol swabs, band-aids, cookers, condoms, and lubricant) from trained HIV services staff. Sharps containers are labeled with our project logo and offered to all participating clients. Participants who are hesitant to take a sharps container are offered a hard plastic container, often bleach or laundry detergent bottle, for collecting syringes. In addition, CUPHD provides overdose prevention services. Participants are trained in the signs and symptoms of opiate overdose and in rescue breathing. The overdose training includes Naloxone administration, how to continually monitor the overdosing person, and how to contact emergency services.
Condoms are distributed throughout the agency, through mobile outreach, and at the gay bar. Access to condoms is vital in reducing new HIV infections. CUPHD works to ensure that people living with HIV, or who are at risk for HIV infection, have easy access to condoms as a prevention tool. HIV services staff conducts “condom teaching and teach back” with all clients who are seen the CUPHD STD clinic. This prevention skill is taught with clients in Counseling and Testing and Risk Reduction Counseling. While most clients report that they know how to properly use a condom, the intervention often reveals areas for skill improvement.
CUPHD has adopted the national social marketing campaign, “Getting to Zero” and put a local spin on it with “CU at Zero”. The campaign has three tenets: Zero new HIV infections; Zero HIV related deaths; and Zero HIV-related stigma. The campaign is particularly useful because it fits well with CUPHD’s integrated services model, as it engages both HIV positive and negative individuals. “CU at Zero” incorporates all of the interventions that are employed at CUPHD to end HIV in our community. Messaging under the “CU at Zero” brand can range from promoting condom use, to PrEP and HIV testing, to treatment adherence, and STD testing for HIV+ people. The campaign differs from traditional “use a condom everytime” campaigns, and parallels efforts happening in larger cities.
CUPHD has evaluated the HIV prevention and care merger since completion. A survey was conducted in December 2014 to evaluate the merger perceived effectiveness from the HIV services staff perspective. The survey was delivered anonymously via SurveyMonkey® and was completed by eight members of the staff. The overall perception of the merger has been positive. The majority of the responses to the survey showed positive attitudes towards the cross-training of staff in prevention and care, and that staff perceived am increase in communication and workflow efficiency. Areas of note are found in the training session effectiveness. Most respondents “agree” and “strongly agree” with statements regarding the perceived value of the training sessions and the way in which the training was delivered. When asked how CUPHD could improve the delivery of the training sessions, a majority of employees asked for more training sessions or follow-up/refresher training sessions to reinforce the various activities.
Areas of improvement that were identified in the staff survey included the integration of the HIV positive peer staff into the overall merger. The staff requested more interaction with the peers to better incorporate their efforts into the work of the integration model. This will be addressed in the next steps in the merger’s progress. Another area for improvement was in increasing the fluidity and speed of communication between staff members. Common among the comments made were improvements for quicker replies to emails, presence of supervisors at meetings, and more open conversations about the tasks, and individual check-ins between staff and supervisors. Though to note, when asked if staff have been working effectively together, most responses were in agreement or strong agreement.
Finally, in terms of staff reporting of client-level concerns, there was very little concern about the way services were being delivered as a merged model. Overall, it would appear the merger is doing well in its first year of progress. The staff is generally pleased with the merger and believes the merger has been effective in combining the prevention care roles. Client satisfaction surveys are conducted bi-annually and address the client perception of the quality of services that they receive.
CUPHD initiated a Quality Assurance (QA) review of the HIV services merger in September 2015 to ensure that goals that were set for the merger have been satisfied. CUPHD has been trained by PHAB to conduct program evaluation using the Kaizen model. The project goals included: 1) increased program capacity, 2) increased HIV testing, 3) increased access to partner services, and 4) increased linkage to medical care through a merger of HIV prevention and HIV care staff. Secondary goals to meet these project goals included: 1) trained existing prevention staff to conduct Ryan White Care services, 2) trained existing HIV care staff to conduct HIV Counseling and Testing Services and Partner Services, and 3) increased medical treatment adherence counseling, including surveillance activities. Results of this QA process will inform HIV services leadership on the next steps toward further integration.
The “High-Impact Prevention” model prioritizes interventions that are cost-effective. HIV testing and condom distribution are strongly supported as cost-effective interventions. Reducing new infections through treatment adherence and risk reduction interventions for persons living with HIV are also prioritized. The CUPHD HIV services plan was developed around these priorities. Providing preventative services to HIV positive persons at the time of care services is more efficient and client centered as clients are not asked to go between the divided staff for needed services.
The merger is a more efficient use of resources and can achieve cost sharing. No new staff was added in this process. This merger fits well with CUPHD’s goal of ensuring that every position within the agency is staffed “three-deep”, meaning that there are at least three employees who can do each job or activity. As staff transition to new employment, CUPHD has more available remaining staff to cover the various HIV services activities which promotes good client services. As staff is hired to work in CUPHD HIV services program, candidates understand that their efforts will be divided between prevention and care.
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|EN: The Lavra Funicular
It was 1882. The age of the omnibus had gone; the 'Larmanjat' railway was singing its swan song, and Carris was still running its transport system with carriages drawn by animals. But Carris was also experimenting with ways of replacing this form of transport. Lisbon was criss-crossed by carriages belonging to various transport companies. They coexisted but competed against each other in attracting the public, when they were not trying to reign supreme. One thing was common to all of them: the type of traction used. The carriages might be Carris or Rippert or Chora or Lusitania, but they all used animals as their power source. The efforts made by the animals, however, were in vain when they faced the steepest slopes.
On the 3rd of June of that year the Lisbon Mechanical Lift Company (Companhia dos Ascensores Mecânicos de Lisboa) was founded. Its aim, in the words of its articles, was (...) to build and operate mechanical lifts, on sloping terrain, propelled by mechanical means.
The first to see the light of day was the Calçada do Lavra, which ran from the Largo da Anunciada to the Travessa do Forno do Torel.
Work was completed in the middle of April 1884. The system used was a rack and cable with water as a counterweight. Basically, there were two carriages, linked by an underground cable, one of which moved up and the other down simultaneously on two parallel tracks laid at ground level. On the outside of the lines, by the side of the rails there were two racks which took the cogs fitted on the axis of the carriages. Motion was conditional on the weight of water which was pumped into a special tank on the carriage at the top and emptied out at the bottom, in the Largo da Anunciada. The carriages could take 24 passengers each and they had both a manual brake and an automatic system which cut in immediately if the cable snapped.
The funicular was opened on April 19, 1884 after an inspection by the city council engineer Ressano Garcia. From very early on, the Company set up a steam engine in order to cut in if there was any break in the water supply. On November 15, 1885, the management ordered this to be started on a trial basis and the fuel weight was gauged. The purpose of this was to find out whether water or coal was more convenient to use. The results would seem to have been on the side of the steam engine because we know that in 1898 there were two boilers working on the Lavra line. One of them was German, manufactured by the Maschinnnenfabrik Essling and the other was Swiss, manufactured by Theodor Bell & Co.
Several incidents darkened the scene during the first years that the funicular was operating. The most serious was in December 1897, when the two carriages and a large part of the line had to be taken out of service because of a fracture in the line caused by the simultaneous use of the two brakes. When they were back in service a few months later, there were apparently new carriages which had to have the boarding platform raised to avoid any scraping along the walls. In 1884, the Company was reorganised and was now called The New Lisbon Mechanical Lift Company (Nova Companhia dos Ascensores Mecânicos de Lisboa).
In 1912 they signed an agreement with the City Council for a new concession which would allow them to electrify all of their lines. The works began in 1914, after ensuring the energy supply from the Santos power station, which was owned by Carris.
The system was also used on the Glória and Bica funiculars, and the works continued for another year.
The line consisted of two tracks where the carriage wheels fitted and by a slot where the cable linking the carriages was laid. The rack was not used any more. The carriages were supplied by the Electric Car Co., they weighed nearly 10 tons and they were powered by two 25 horsepower electric motors in tandem. In this way, they could only be worked if the two brake operators set off together, although each one of them could stop the carriages alone. They were equipped with two types of brake, one of them a clamp which worked by gripping the central rails between two pads and the other by pressure on the rails. Electricity was supplied by pantographs fitted on the roof. The bodywork was in wood, painted the colour of mahogany and the benches were crosswise. They could take between 20 and 22 passengers sitting down.
In December 1915, the Lavra funicular was back in service. In 1926 the company was wound up and the funicular became Carris property.
During one of the periodical maintenance operations carried out by Carris, the carriages were given a new look, the dominant colour this time being yellow.
The centenary of the Lavra funicular was celebrated in 1984 and it has the honour of being the first Lisbon transport to successfully tackle one of the city’s steepest slopes. In February 2002, along with Glória and Bica, it was classified as a national monument. | <urn:uuid:dee67efe-5a6b-4182-ae6b-fc41be418b54> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GCQ7QE_o-ascensor-do-lavra-the-lavra-funicular | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267864953.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20180623074142-20180623094142-00490.warc.gz | en | 0.990563 | 1,097 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Design & Technology
Our DT Curriculum Intent
At Norton, Design and Technology is planned for using the National Curriculum objectives. A DT curriculum skills and progression document shows a clear overview of design and technology across the school., supported by long term and medium-term plans. This ensures skills and techniques are developed across the school and clear progress is made.
Design and technology is an important part of school life and learning and as a school we are committed to the teaching and delivery of a high quality Design and Technology curriculum; through well planned and resourced projects and experiences. | <urn:uuid:3b583fd9-b020-4b15-bf09-24b64c7b7e99> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://www.nortonfitzwarrenprimary.co.uk/design-technology-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947473598.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20240221234056-20240222024056-00188.warc.gz | en | 0.946367 | 117 | 2.703125 | 3 |
By A.J.S. Rayl
It’s one thing to think about studying Earth from above or sending robots and humans to the moon or Mars or conducting experiments in space. It’s something else to create the technology to actually do these things. The people who turn space exploration dreams into real NASA missions or projects are engineers and scientists.
Space science pioneer - James Van Allen, key contributor to 25 space missions.
Engineers draw the cutting edge in every capacity for NASA, from avionics to electronics, software to rocketry. Similarly, to explain the things and places it explores, NASA enlists scientists from a multitude of specialties within the fields of astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, materials science and physics. As NASA has extended its presence on the final frontier, they have defined new fields and expanded knowledge and technology on almost every front. One in every 1,000 patents issued by United States Patent and Trade Organization has gone to scientists or engineers working on NASA projects and tens of thousands of scientific studies from the agency’s missions have been published in leading journals worldwide.
If your image of a NASA engineer or scientist is that of a white male in a crisp white shirt with black clip-on tie and pocket protector, think again. NASA has evolved and so has it workforce. Drawing on the talents of individuals from all nationalities and cultural backgrounds, NASA is looking to acquire the best of what humanity has to offer.
No one builds a rocket or makes a discovery in space alone. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of people may be involved in a single project. For a mission to succeed, NASA scientists and engineers must share certain qualities despite their inherent differences, “qualities like patience, dedication, optimism, faith in colleagues, a willingness to take informed risks, and the capacity to be a team player,” according to former Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Director Edward C. Stone, also the Voyager project scientist. Only together can scientists and engineers do the work of NASA and it has been that way from the start.
While engineering – building the rockets and spacecraft and getting them out to their destinations in working order – was clearly the driving force of NASA in the early years, science was always an integral part of the space program. Even Sputnik was the U.S.S.R.’s contribution to a cooperative global science project called International Geophysical Year 1957-’58, at least officially. Its beep-beep-beep startled the world and scored the U.S.S.R. an unprecedented achievement. But the United States response – Explorer 1 – flew higher and returned textbook-changing knowledge. It was engineering and science together that demonstrated American capabilities and put the U.S. on the space map. Thousands of inspiring stories involving extraordinary scientists and engineers have been lived and told in NASA’s first 50 years. Only a few are mentioned here.
Legendary leader - Alan Shepard, John Glenn, and James Webb (behind microphones) look on as President John F. Kennedy presents Dr. Robert Gilruth, director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, with the Medal for Distinguished Federal Civil Service. The ceremony took place on the White House Lawn.
When the United States announced in September 1955 that it would produce the first artificial satellite for the International Geophysical Year project, James Van Allen, head of the University of Iowa’s physics department, began building an instrument to measure radiation in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Explorer 1 lifted off on Jan. 31, 1958, and his cosmic ray detector was onboard “by virtue of preparedness and good fortune,” as he often recalled. The data revealed a donut-shaped ring of charged particle radiation trapped by Earth’s magnetic field surrounding the planet. It was the first major discovery of the Space Age.
In demonstrating the possibilities for the world, Explorer I made space a race. It also laid the initial groundwork for NASA’s exploration of the moon and planets. “The event was symbolic of the mixing process between engineering and science, between the world and the research laboratory … it had mixed rocket technology with the universe, and reduced astronautics to practice at last,” then-JPL Director William Pickering reflected years later.
Van Allen and colleagues discovered a second ring of radiation on another flight in December 1958. The two rings became known internationally as the Van Allen Radiation Belts. Van Allen became the icon of a space scientist. He also went on to be one of the most influential people at NASA, sending instruments on more than 25 missions from the moon to Neptune, and serving as a member of the powerful Space Science Board that recommends how science projects should be chosen.
Pay It Forward
Software designer - Margaret Hamilton, lead Apollo flight software designer.
President John F. Kennedy’s moon proclamation in May 1961 set NASA on a bold and daring adventure. Leadership was critical. Aeronautical engineer and aviation pioneer Robert "Bob" Rowe Gilruth, the appointed director of the Manned Spacecraft Center from Mercury through Apollo, came to the agency from NACA’s Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, where he had already laid the groundwork for the country’s first launch of humans into space. “There were many heroes during the early days of the space program, but Bob Gilruth was the most respected of them all and particularly by those who knew what it took to reach the goals that were established,” noted former Johnson Space Center Director Christopher Kraft, Jr., a longtime associate and friend, on Gilruth’s passing in August 2000.
At NASA, Gilruth fostered a work environment that encouraged independent thinking, empowering the engineers and scientists to achieve the technological breakthroughs the agency needed to accomplish Kennedy’s goal. “Gilruth allowed the space program to happen,” said Kraft, who had first worked for Gilruth at NACA before being selected as one of the original members of the Space Task Group. “He shaped my mind by letting me do what I thought was the right thing to do and encouraging me to go further,” Kraft said. “He had confidence that I could do the job, then did whatever he could to promote my ideas and at the same time gave me the tools and the responsibility to get the job done -- and the authority to get it done. It meant we took the hits as well as the glory.”
For Kraft, it was quite a job: helping develop basic mission and flight control techniques, serving as deputy director of the Manned Spacecraft Center, flight director for the mission that sent America’s first astronaut, Alan Shepard, on his sub-orbital flight in the Freedom 7, as well as all the subsequent Mercury missions and some Gemini missions. Later, he was appointed director of Flight Operations and also oversaw the design and implementation of the Mission Control Center. “Gilruth instilled that approach in every aspect of the program. He never wanted to overshadow anyone and always, always gave credit where it was due.”
In 1972, Gilruth retired and Kraft was asked to follow in his footsteps. He had already followed his approach. “I brought on the best people I could and let them do the job. I’m very proud of the people I chose,” summed up Kraft. “They made the program happen.”
Rock hound - Planetary geologist Gene Shoemaker.
At the start of the Apollo program, the onboard flight software needed to land on the moon didn’t exist. Computer science wasn’t in any college curriculum. NASA turned to mathematician Margaret Hamilton, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to pioneer and direct the effort. With her colleagues, she developed the building blocks for modern “software engineering,” a term Hamilton coined. What later became the foundations for her Universal Systems Language (001AXES) and Development Before the Fact (DBTF) formal systems theory, allowed the team to create what she called ultra-reliable software for the moon trip. In addition to creating the concept of priority displays, where the software in an emergency could interrupt the astronauts so they could reconfigure in realtime, Hamilton established hard requirements on the engineering of all components and subsystems, insisted on debugging all component and testing everything before assembly, then simulated every conceivable situation at the systems level to identify potential problems before releasing the code.
“There was no second chance. We all knew that,” Hamilton said. “We took our work very seriously, but we were young, many of us in our 20s. Coming up with new ideas was an adventure. Dedication and commitment were a given. Mutual respect was across the board. Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust. We had to find a way and we did. Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers; no time to be beginners.” Hamilton’s integrity and ability to balance fearlessness with attention to detail may have ensured Apollo 11’s success.
On July 20, 1969, three minutes before the Eagle landed, the ultra-reliable software overrode a manual command because of a faulty operations script. If the software had not functioned, the moon landing might not have happened. Instead, Neil Armstrong took that “giant leap” for all humankind. Remarkably, no “bug” occurred in the software during any crewed Apollo mission.
Fly Me to the Moon
First interplanetary spacecraft - Launched Aug. 27, 1962 NASA’s Mariner 2 spacecraft was the first robotic probe to pass near a planet. On Dec. 14, 1962 the spacecraft flew within 21,000 miles of Venus, sending back valuable new information about the solar wind, and our sister planet’s temperature and atmosphere.
Although the Space Race was mostly about beating the Russians and achieving the milestone of landing on the moon, there were forward-thinking scientists who saw the opportunity – and the future. Geologist-astronomer Eugene “Gene” Shoemaker, of the U.S. Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) in Flagstaff, Ariz., anticipated years before Apollo how geologic studies would expand as humanity ventured out to other planets and set out to be the first geologist to walk on the moon. A diagnosis of Addison’s disease soon clipped his wings. Instead of taking that walk himself, Shoemaker prepared others and encouraged NASA to make geology a part of Apollo. As he shifted goals, he established the field of astrogeology, studying planets from telescopic and spacecraft imagery. He also organized the geologic tasks planned for the Ranger and Surveyor missions to the moon, and gave crash courses to the Apollo crews training for the mission he would forever long to fly.
In December 1972, Jack Schmitt, of the U.S.G.S. Astrogeology Center that Shoemaker created, became the first and so far only Ph.D. geologist to walk on the moon. While he was realizing Shoemaker’s dream during the Apollo 17 mission, Shoemaker was by Walter Cronkite’s side, giving geologic commentary for CBS News. The walk on the moon would be Shoemaker’s greatest unfulfilled dream. But his story doesn’t end there.
Known for loving life and knowledge even more, Shoemaker, who co-discovered comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1993, became a revered legend in his own time and among planetary science’s first royalty. He was beloved for his “hearty body-quaking laugh that bounded its happy way across a room,” as his former student, friend and colleague Carolyn Porco described it. Then, in July 1997, his illustrious life came to a sudden, tragic end in a car accident in Australia. Though deeply saddened, an inspired and determined Porco, now leader of the Cassini Spacecraft Imaging Science Team, initiated Shoemaker’s final mission. On July 31, 1999, 30 years to the month after humans first set foot on the moon, the Lunar Prospector deposited a polycarbonate capsule containing some of Shoemaker’s ashes on the surface of the moon’s south polar region. “The fulfillment of one man’s dreams and the final episode of his inspirational life met on impact,” Porco announced later in a heartfelt tribute in Astronomy magazine (February 2000). To date, Shoemaker is the only human to have been “interred” on another celestial body.
Ready for the voyage - Technicians work on the Voyager 1 spacecraft prior to its launch to the outer planets in 1977.
When Pickering and his JPL team first set their sights on planetary exploration, nobody had ever built a spacecraft to another planet. NASA’s order was astronomically tall: design, build, fly, and operate robot spacecraft – the very first spacecraft – capable of surviving for a long time over great distances in space to reach Venus or Mars, find a way for it to study the planet with onboard scientific instruments, then get the data back to Earth.
In 1959, the NASA/JPL’s Chief of Mechanical Engineering John Small assigned John R. Casani to lead a team of young engineers that included Marc Comuntzis, Walter Downhower and James Burke to build a “planetary machine,” as Pickering first described it. “In the beginning, it was all about learning how to build systems that could be flown, operated successfully in space and be used for science,” recalled Casani, who arrived at JPL in 1956.
Perhaps most significantly, the team deemed it necessary to have complete control of the spacecraft for flights to the planets, in all three axes – roll, yaw, and pitch – instead of it stabilizing it by spinning like Explorer. The three-axis stabilization design would allow for more precise pointing of the science instruments and antenna, as well as maximize solar power collection and thermal control. Flight trajectory would be “tweaked” by igniting an onboard rocket in a midcourse maneuver, with a small rocket available to compensate for minor guidance errors on launch. From their huddles, NASA’s first spacecraft emerged.
“The very first spacecraft to go to the moon was Ranger,” Casani noted. Although the early Rangers failed, the first two because of rocket issues, every loss bestowed the engineers with necessary lessons and by the end of the project in 1965 the mission had returned thousands of highly informative images in plenty of time for the piloted missions to come. Before that, however, Casani and his team moved on to advance the work with Mariner, the first spacecraft bound for Venus and Mars.
Mounting a planetary mission took a colossal effort on the part of an enormous number of people. First, the spacecraft had to be designed and configured. Having directed the design teams, Casani not only helped architect these robot explorers but knew more about the parts of what they were building than anyone, pioneering the role of the missions’ system engineer, the one responsible for the overall “blueprint.”
Mechanical engineers Marc Comuntizis and Walter Downhower, along with John H. Gerpheide, and Bill Layman, designed the octagonal shape and magnesium frame structure of the Rangers and the 9.5-foot-tall Mariner, determining where everything went. Meanwhile, electronic engineers Steve Szirmay and Ted Kopf advanced avionics technology as they worked on the electronics for operating the spacecraft and its subsystems, creating a system of digital circuits and switches so it could maintain balance and orientation in space. Another team of electronic engineers, including Tom Gavin, William “Bill” Shipley, Larry Wright and Tom Gindorf, developed the fundamentals of “armoring” a spacecraft so it could survive the harshness of space, pioneering long life design and enabling the vast majority of NASA’s robot emissaries to live longer and prosper.
Since interplanetary spacecraft travel such great distances, they had to make adjustments along the way. Electrical engineers Walt Brown, Wayne Kohl and Ed Greenberg developed the fundamentals of spacecraft command and data handling by putting together an electronic system to take in telemetry and commands from Earth, prepare data for transmission back, process information from all subsystems and payloads, carry out commanded maneuvers and manage the collection of solar power and charging of the batteries, among other things.
Given the route to Mars or Venus had never been charted, NASA’s engineers and rocket scientists also had to figure out how interplanetary spacecraft would move through space. “Up to then, rocket propulsion was a controlled explosion,” Casani explained. “What we needed for spacecraft were systems that could operate reliably for years in a much different environment.” JPL’s propulsion engineers Duane Dipprey and Dave Evans literally transformed basic rocket technology into low thrust-level, long duration, highly reliable restartable systems, ironing out material compatibility issues and other things that were just not part of the existing rocket technology.
Influential visionary - Long before he became world famous, Carl Sagan was one of NASA’s most influential contributing scientists and outspoken visionaries. “Everybody starts out as a scientist,” he once noted. “Every child has the scientist’s sense of wonder and awe.” Sagan inspired a generation of young people to become scientists.
The weight of fuel makes rocketing directly to another other planet besides the moon prohibitive; therefore, the engineers knew that planetary spacecraft would have to rely on a combination of solar cells and batteries for power in space. Terry Koerner and Joe Savino designed the first schemes for power generation, distribution and management, enabling the necessary automatic shift from solar power to batteries and back again even as the power source, the sunlight, changed as the attitude of the spacecraft changed or when it moved into shadowed areas.
Another challenge for planetary missions was getting right with celestial mechanics, so that a spacecraft would rendezvous with its target at the correct time and place. Based on fundamentals developed by electrical engineer and mathematician Clarence R. (John) Gates, engineers Charles Kohlhase, Norman R. Haynes, Vic Clarke, John Beckman, and William Melbourne defined planetary mission design and space navigation. Also, to get the spacecraft to its destination, it takes more than knowing where the planets are. “You have to consider everything, from the launch vehicle to scientific instruments and their objectives, how steady the spacecraft has to be to hold the cameras, what light levels are out there, how we would use gravity assist, and what requirements every element places on the others, everything,” Kohlhase pointed out.
Most planetary missions launch on one-way trips, so telecommunications and tracking were obviously mission critical. In 1958, Pickering brought in a former student, electrical engineer Eberhardt Rechtin to develop spacecraft telecommunications. Beyond grasping complex systems, Rechtin had a knack for coming up with ingenious solutions to technical problems. The earliest space missions featured their own tracking and data acquisition systems, but it made much more sense if ground facilities could perform the functions for all projects. Moreover, the single station approach in use in the early 1960s to track satellites couldn’t monitor the spacecraft all the time.
Rechtin proposed a network of receivers in select locations around the globe which comprised a Deep Space Instrumentation Facility. With his principal system designer, Walter Victor, and a small team of engineers, Rechtin established three stations approximately 120 degrees longitude apart so one would always be in view of any spacecraft. One was placed north of Barstow, Calif.; another near Woomera, Australia; the third near Johannesburg, South Africa. Since the ground receivers would need large apertures and be highly directional to pick up the extremely weak signals coming from distant locales in space, William Merrick and Robertson Stevens borrowed an antenna design from radio astronomers and fashioned a 85-foot-diameter parabolic dish for the ground, while Lee Randolf and system engineer Sam Zingales worked on the redesign of the receivers to go inside spacecraft. Thus the Deep Space Network was born.
Pulling the parts of a planetary mission together took serious management, structure and discipline. At JPL, Jack James and Harris “Bud” Schurmeier literally wrote NASA’s first Project Management Manual. “Jack James invented project management as practiced at JPL and set the foundation for all the projects that followed the first two Mariner missions and Bud Schurmeier came in and really refined what James put in place,” said Casani, who later followed in their footsteps. Known around the lab as an “organizing genius,” James established an overall mission structure that included milestones, rigorous status monitoring and change control, a system wherein “freezes” were set on every part and the spacecraft itself, as well as weekly project meetings, setting the tone for effective communication.
“A key thing was putting together the project team, selecting the people, then respecting their knowledge and their capability, communicating with them and making sure they had respect for you as the guy making the decisions,” said Schurmeier, whose leadership skills were recognized by Pickering early on when he assigned the young aeronautical engineer the task of developing the lab’s systems division and, later, management of Ranger. Importantly, the discipline started at the top with project mangers assuming full responsibility. “The buck always stopped,” he said, “with me.”
Historic X-ray - Image of the “Chandra Deep Field South” the deepest X-ray exposure ever achieved. The Chandra X-ray Observatory ultra-deep survey project was led by Nobel Laureate (Physics) Riccardo Giacconi.
On Dec. 14, 1962, Mariner 2 flew by Venus and into history books. It was the world’s first successful mission to another planet and the country’s first major space exploration achievement. It also returned the first data on the planet’s atmosphere and mass to the team’s scientists, which included a young astronomer named Carl Sagan. Less than three years later, on July 14, 1965, with James and Casani at the helm, as manager and system engineer, respectively, Mariner 4 – the NASA/JPL team’s “second generation spacecraft” -- flew by Mars and returned the first close-up photographs of another planet ever taken.
Following a string of successes, the planetary science community set its sites on the outer solar system and a celestial event that only occurs once every 176 years. In this rare event, the planets align, presenting a configuration that would allow spacecraft to travel efficiently from one to another. A Grand Tour was proposed to send four specially designed spacecraft to all four outer planets in only 12 years. Congress, however, cancelled it. “We just couldn’t let this opportunity slip by,” remembered Bruce C. Murray, then-JPL director, now professor emeritus of geology at Caltech. “As former NASA Administrator Tom Paine used to say: ‘The last time this alignment happened was when Thomas Jefferson was president. And he blew it.’ We weren’t going to.”
“We came up with a scaled-down version based on Mariner technology that we initially called Mariner Jupiter Saturn ‘77, or MJS77, and later renamed it Voyager,” said Schurmeier, the mission’s first project manager. “The most striking thing about Voyager was the timing – and not just the alignment of the planets. By that point, we had worked enough on these missions and we knew how to build the spacecraft, how to navigate, and the scientists knew how to make the right instruments. If it had been a few years later, politics wouldn’t have permitted it because of the space shuttle, any earlier and we wouldn’t have been ready.”
“Voyager was a third generation spacecraft with a specific design objective of going beyond Saturn and that was a big step up from Mariner,” added Casani, who took over project management from Schurmeier in 1975. “We had never built anything with that kind of longevity before.” To meet the challenge, they radiation-hardened all components, adopted a design policy that no single part failure could cause loss of mission, then implemented it with complete block redundancy of engineering systems, and enabled autonomous onboard fault detection and recovery.
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 launched separately in the summer of 1977 and sailed off to the outer planets. Between 1979 and 1989 they flew by Jupiter and Saturn, then went on to Uranus and Neptune. For the scientists, it was an embarrassing challenge of riches. “As a scientist, you have most to learn when you see things you had not expected to see and with Voyager there was just a flood of discoveries at every encounter,” pointed out Ed Stone, who has served as project scientist from the beginning, even during his directorship of JPL from 1991 to 2001.
The discoveries were there for the taking. When Voyager 2 passed by Io, the innermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter, astronomer Linda Morabito (Kelly), cognizant engineer for the mission’s optical navigation imaging processing system, noticed something protruding from the limb. “I had the sense I was seeing something that no one else had seen before,” she recalled. One by one, she convinced colleagues the protrusion was worth closer examination. It wound up being the first active volcano discovered on another planet and one the likes of which no scientist had ever seen. “It was the greatest experience any scientist could ever hope for,” she said.
All told, the Voyager mission visited almost 60 different worlds, presenting the solar system in its beauty, complexity and diversity to everyone on Earth with picture “postcards” that took the world’s collective breath away and more science than any planetary mission ever collected. “It was an extraordinary, epochal voyage of discovery that will be remembered in much the same way as we remember Captain Cook’s explorations of the then-hidden parts of the world,” summed up Murray. “It revolutionized our perceptions of the solar system.” It would also revolutionize our perception of Earth.
Carl Sagan, a member of the Voyager imaging team and by then one of the most prolific and renowned scientists contributing to NASA missions, politicked for a decade, with Casani backing him, to ensure that when the spacecraft left our planetary neighborhood for the outer solar system in the early 1990s, they would turn around for one last set of planetary portraits. It was the Voyagers’ final photographic assignment. Although Earth appeared as but a dot, those images remain some of the most profound ever taken by NASA spacecraft. “Look again at that dot,” Sagan urged in his best-selling book Pale Blue Dot (Random House, 1994). “On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.”
In just 15 fast years, the engineers and scientists at NASA/JPL had gone from the Earth’s upper atmosphere to beyond Neptune, advancing robotic spacecraft technology with uncanny speed to pioneer the world’s first interplanetary spacecraft and blaze the first trails into our solar system. “Voyager culminated our era of learning,” said Casani.
Today, the Voyagers sail on, more than 30 years after launching. No other spacecraft have gone so far. In 2005, Voyager 1, the most distant human-made object in space, crossed the termination shock, the last major threshold in the solar system. Voyager 2 followed in 2007. “They’re in the heliosheath on the final lap of their race to the edge of interstellar space,” Stone said, projecting that Voyager 1 could cross the boundary in 2014, with Voyager 2 following two to three years later. The power systems should run to 2020 and scientists everywhere are anxiously hoping for that first glimpse of interstellar space. “It’s an incredible feeling,” Schurmeier smiled.
Across the universe
A great place to work - Little did Lebanese native Dr. Charles Elachi realize when he first read a science magazine about the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that he would eventually become JPL’s leader.
NASA’s spacecraft have sent numerous telescopes and observatories aloft above the Earth’s atmosphere, helping scientists open windows on the universe. In 1960, NASA began supporting physicist-astronomer Ricardo Giacconi in a search for celestial X-ray sources. After launching an experiment on an Aerobee rocket in 1962, he led the implementation of the UHURU and High Energy Astronomy Observatory 2, renamed Einstein after its 1978 launch, the first fully imaging X-ray telescope put into space. In his research, Giacconi discovered the X-ray background and first X-ray stars and thus became known as the “father of X-ray astronomy.” He also detected anomalous objects emitting X-rays many orders of magnitude greater than the sun that turned out to be neutron stars and black holes, observations that revealed extremely violent events happen all the time throughout the universe.
Giacconi, along with Harvey Tananbaum of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, first submitted a proposal to NASA in 1976 to initiate the design of a large, space-based X-ray telescope. The project survived delays and setbacks for more than 20 years in large part because of Martin Weisskopf, of Marshall Space Flight Center, the project scientist who persevered and guided the telescope to launch in 1999. Since then, the Chandra X-ray Observatory has been the agency’s flagship mission for X-ray astronomy. In 2002, Giacconi, who serves as the lead scientist on the ultra-deep survey, known as Chandra Deep Field South, was named co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics for his pioneering contributions to astrophysics that led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources.
New Hope from Columbia
Super computer team - Gravitational Astrophysics Laboratory Team. From left to right: Michael Koppitz, Jim van Meter, Joan Centrella and John Baker. Not pictured: Dae-Il “Dale” Choi.
As the biotechnology industry began to burgeon, NASA re-enlisted C.D. “Andy” Anderson, who had retired after a 20-year career, to form a kind of skunk works team at Johnson Space Center. The objective: to create a device to keep cells and tissue in experiments aboard the space shuttles alive and healthy from launch to landing. He brought in engineers Ray Schwarz and David Wolf and medical technician Tinh Trinh, a Vietnamese immigrant, to design the hardware. Their efforts were stalling until one day in May 1986 when, Anderson recalled, he walked into the lab to watch Trinh pull the trigger on a speed drill. On the end was a fluid-filled cylinder with little flakes. “It started spinning and the particles inside went into this beautiful orbital path,” Anderson recalled. At that point they needed a scientist to help figure out how to make it work. Anderson tapped biologist Thomas J. Goodwin.
In creating a new form of media or “soup” as the nutritional environment inside, Goodwin transformed the rotating wall vessel, aka NASA bioreactor, into a life-support system for the cells. He then went on to advance the technology, initiating its use in ground laboratories, overseeing and designing numerous bioreactor flight experiments and spearheading more than a dozen NASA patents. Intriguingly, the team found the cells inside the bioreactor in space grew in three dimensions, much like they would naturally inside the body. Perhaps the most impressive demonstration to date came when renowned prostate cancer researcher Leland W.K. Chung, of Emory University, Atlanta, Ga., and Goodwin grew the largest tumor tissue ever grown in space in an experiment to mimic the metastasis of human prostate cancer to bone on STS-107, Columbia’s last flight. While the data were lost with the crew and orbiter, videotape of the experiment that astronaut Michael Anderson downlinked to Goodwin before the tragedy gave them something to use.
Chung took the unfinished observation and with his team recreated the three-dimensional growth conditions in a NASA bioreactor using techniques Goodwin pioneered. “Remarkably, we found that when prostate cancer cells were placed in close proximity with either prostate or bone cells in microgravity, they underwent non-random genetic and behavioral changes that profoundly enhanced the ability of cancer cells to grow and survive in bone,” said Chung. Although unfinished, the experiment onboard Columbia “has resulted in clues in how to target cancer cells for future development of novel therapeutics,” he added. Beyond dramatically demonstrating the potential of biomedical research in space laboratories, the experiment has allowed a new hope to arise from Columbia’s final mission.
An American Dream
Joan Centrella’s team crunched Einstein’s theory of general relativity equations on the Columbia supercomputer to create a three-dimensional simulation of merging black holes (above). This was the largest astrophysical calculation ever performed on a NASA supercomputer. The simulation provides the foundation to explore the universe in an entirely new way, through the detection of gravitational waves.
When Sputnik launched, a young boy named Charles Elachi was listening to all the excitement on the radio in Rayak, Lebanon. He had always been fascinated with space and during the summer, when it was warm, he would sleep outside and watch the stars and wonder. “Something about the beauty of the sky and the stars impacted me and got me into science,” he said. Not long after that, he read a science magazine the American Embassy distributed. “I remember very clearly reading about America’s first satellite launch, Explorer I, by a place called J-P-L. I remember that page very clearly, because I thought, ‘Gee, that would a great place to work.’”
Elachi received a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Grenoble, France, and the Diplome Ingenieur in engineering from the Polytechnic Institute, Grenoble, in 1968, where he graduated first in his class. He then headed west to the California Institute of Technology, where he earned his master's degree in electrical sciences in 1969 and pursued his interests in electromagnetism and radar. In 1970, he landed a summer job at that place he had read about years before, just a few miles from school. After earning his doctorate from Caltech the next year, he accepted a full-time job at JPL to work on an imaging radar instrument to go to Venus. His American dream had come true -- and it was only beginning.
Elachi took the lead in developing the radar and was soon put in charge of JPL’s radar-mapping group. With the Venus mission stalled, he flew the imaging radar instrument on Seasat in 1978, then on the space shuttle in 1981 and again in 1984. The data returned was stunning, revealing a subsurface network of ancient drainage channels beneath the sands of the Sahara, among other things. His perseverance and enthusiasm not only earned Elachi promotion to director for space and Earth science programs at JPL, it turned spaceborne imaging radar from a small research area into a major field in which NASA is now a world leader. On May 4, 1989, the imaging radar finally headed for Venus onboard Magellan, with Elachi serving as co-investigator. It successfully mapped 98 percent of the planet’s surface producing a better whole planet topographic map than was then available for Earth.
Over the years, he wrote more than 230 publications on everything from space and planetary exploration, to Earth observation from space, remote sensing, electromagnetic theory, and integrated optics, and was awarded several patents. On Jan. 31, 2001, almost 31 years after he too
Rendering the Ripples of Spacetime
High flying robots - The Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity pose with the flight spare of the Sojourner rover from the 1997 Pathfinder mission.
Scientists have long known that massive objects in motion in space produce gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of spacetime that Einstein predicted in his general theory of relativity. They also know that when black holes collide they produce an abundance of waves that roll on altering spacetime sometimes for years depending on the masses involved. “These mergers are by far the most powerful events occurring in the universe, with each one generating more energy than all of the stars in the universe combined,” pointed out Joan Centrella, who leads the Gravitational Astrophysics Laboratory at Goddard. According to Einstein, such a black hole merger causes all of space to jiggle like a bowl of Jell-O, a mind-numbing concept and extremely difficult thing to model in computers.
Einstein’s theory employs a type of mathematics called tensor calculus that needs to be expressed in a language computers can understand and work with. That translation greatly expands the equations, requiring thousands of lines of computer coding. The complexity of the equations, coupled with the large numbers that represented the extraordinarily strong gravitational field near the black holes, caused even the most sophisticated supercomputers to crash. Then in April 2006, after months of work, the Goddard team, led by Centrella, including John Baker, Jim van Meter, Michael Koppitz and Dae-II “Dale” Choi, reached the breakthrough needed. The 3-D black hole merger simulations, as performed on the Columbia supercomputer at Ames, show two black holes orbiting each other seven times, then merging in a kind of psychedelic explosion. To date, they are the largest astrophysical calculations ever performed on a NASA supercomputer.
Bouncing onto Mars
Climate change researcher -James E. Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
In the early 1990s, NASA gave JPL’s planetary mission engineers a daunting assignment: build a spacecraft and rover, land them on Mars and do it for under $280 million. With many of the Lab’s engineers still working on the Galileo Jupiter mission or readying the Cassini Saturn mission, Project Manager Tony Spear turned to JPL’s younger generation, appointing Brian Muirhead as spaceflight systems engineer, Richard Cook as flight operations manager, Jennifer Harris as flight director, and Rob Manning as flight system chief engineer responsible for the design, development and testing of all aspects of the spacecraft to be called Pathfinder.
On the dime they had, the Pathfinder team was challenged with many things, but perhaps most importantly they had to find a new way of getting down to the surface since rocketing in with a controlled landing was cost prohibitive. Manning, who also served as the lead system engineer for the entry, descent and landing phase and his team of engineers started throwing out ideas. Over the course of many months they designed, developed, and tested a rather novel entry, descent and landing system. At the core, what would protect the spacecraft and cushion its “controlled crash landing” on the surface, as Manning called it, was a kind of bouquet of airbags. It seemed a wacky idea but on July 4, 1997, Mars Pathfinder, with rover Sojourner safely ensconced inside, demonstrated the landing system for the world.
Pathfinder hit the atmosphere at around 17,000 miles per hour and began the “six minutes of terror” to the Martian surface. First, the 36-foot-diameter parachute deployed to slow the spacecraft’s descent through the thin Martian atmosphere, then the heat shield separated, the lander separated, bridle was deployed and the landing radar switched on. Just eight seconds from landing, the airbags inflated, small retro rockets fired, and the bridle was cut. Pathfinder hit the ground and bounced to a stop within 13 miles of the center of the targeted ellipse in Ares Vallis. Some 100 million "hits" jammed the mission's Web sites that Independence Day, more than for any previous event "broadcast" on the Internet.
During the ensuing days, Sojourner emerged to explore its Martian site and captured the hearts of people around the world. Although the toaster-oven sized ‘bot named after American civil rights crusader Sojourner Truth had to stay in sight and radiolink of the lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, JPL’s ever-ebullient project scientist Matt Golombek and his colleagues reveled in the bounty of data collected from the atmosphere overhead and especially the rocks on the surface they named Barnacle Bill, Yogi and Scooby Doo. It was real honest-to-goodness ground-truthing on Mars, even if Sojourner redefined the word "crawl" as it moved 1.9 feet per minute, traveling a max of nearly 10 feet a day.
The original leader of the team that built the highly acclaimed little rover, engineer Donna Shirley, was instrumental in the 1980s and 1990s in the development of automation, robotics and mobile surface vehicles at JPL. Before Pathfinder launched, in August 1994, NASA created a Mars Exploration Program Office at the center and she was appointed project manager. But in the early, development days, she worked with an inspired team of engineers to create prototypes that led to Sojourner and would evolve into the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.
A primary goal was to design in as much stability as possible so the rover could traverse Martian terrains. While working in his garage at night, engineer and robotic team member Donald B. Bickler came up with the rather unique design -- a rocker-bogie system that does not use springs and features six-wheels for greater stability giving the rover the ability to overcome obstacles three times larger than those crossable by four-wheeled vehicles. Sojourner took the first baby roves on that rocker bogie system on Mars and proved its worth to the world. Pathfinder defied the odds and lived up to its name in the process.
Protecting the Mothership: Earth Sciences
Proud principal investigator - Dr. Steve Squyres, of Cornell University, principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Rover’s science instruments, uses a rover model to illustrate a point during a science briefing for the media at the Kennedy Space Center.
For all NASA’s explorations, Earth is still the only planet we know of that harbors life and the only one that offers us a natural habitat. While the cosmos has beckoned many, some scientists chose to stay closer to home. Using various NASA and environmental satellites, like Landsat, Seasat, TOPEX/Poseidon, and building on the legacy of the first weather satellites TIROS and NIMBUS, NASA’s first Earth scientists began developing methods in the early 1970s of observing planetary changes on Earth, from the weather to measuring oceans and continents for the presence of dangerous pollutants to detecting holes in the ozone layer that shields the sun’s hazardous ultraviolet rays.
In 1976, Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) scientist James E. Hansen and four colleagues studied human-made trace gases other than carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons that might have an important greenhouse effect. They found methane and nitrous oxide were likely to be important, although measurements of how these gases might be changing were not then available. Two years later, he resigned a lead scientist berth on a mission to Venus to devote fulltime to studies of Earth. “It seemed to me then it was more interesting and important to study a planet that would be changing before our eyes and the one which housed civilization,” he said. Since then, Hansen has become one of the world’s leading climatologists, as well as the longtime director of Goddard’s Institute for Space Studies.
Trained in physics and astronomy in James Van Allen’s space science program at the University of Iowa, Hansen first testified on climate change before Congressional committees in the 1980s and raised the initial awareness of global warming. One of the most significant findings of Hansen’s years of research is that the Earth is now experiencing climate change due to a greenhouse effect caused by human-made trace gases emitted from fossil fuels. Although his research has stirred controversy in the past on both sides of the political fence, the scientific community and leaders around the world now agree with his assessment, that global warming and climate change are here and we need to address the issue by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and our reliance on foreign oil, among other things.
According to the GISS 2007 Temperature Analysis, last year tied for the second warmest year, behind 2005, in the period since instruments have been used. The analysis found no easing of the steep global warming trend of the past 30 years. While there is still much unknown about global warming – exactly how much carbon dioxide the planet can handle, for example – the concern, as Hansen views it, is that Earth’s capacity is nearing a “tipping point” past which the atmospheric and climate systems will take over. The goal now is to avoid that “tipping point,” although we may be perilously close to it already. The problem is we don’t know exactly where it is.
In January 2008, a comprehensive, first-of-its-kind study conducted by an international team led by Eric Rignot of JPL and the University of California Irvine, revealed that ice loss in Antarctica increased by 75 percent in the last decade due to a speed-up in the flow of its glaciers. “Our new results emphasize the vital importance of continuing to monitor Antarctica using a variety of remote sensing techniques to determine how this trend will continue,” said Rignot.
Earth scientists now regularly tap NASA satellites to monitor events, such as Hurricane Katrina and the massive Indian Ocean earthquake that caused a devastating tsunami in December 2004, as well as other natural phenomena. NASA plans to continue to advance the frontiers of scientific discovery about Earth, its climate and its future with new remote-sensing instruments in orbit and projects to research the intricate workings of the mothership.
The First Overland Expedition of Mars<
Jumping for joy - Richard Cook, Mars Exploration Rover (MER) deputy project manager and Wayne Lee, MER chief engineer for the rovers' descent and landing systems, jump for joy when the word reached the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that Spirit had successfully landed on the Red Planet on Jan. 3, 2004. Sitting at the control desk is Rob Manning, entry, descent and landing operations manager.
Despite the huge success of Pathfinder and Sojourner, Mars was still taking out two of every three spacecraft dispatched its way. That was the status when Steven W. Squyres, of Cornell University, a former student of Carl Sagan’s, got the call that NASA was giving him the go-ahead for his Mars Exploration Rovers. He had spent more than a decade writing proposals. Now he was going to Mars, the principal investigator for the rovers’ science payloads, and the project team had less than four years to get two robots designed, built, and buttoned-up for launch. They would be using the Pathfinder entry, descent and landing system, but the Mars Exploration Rovers, the approximate size of a golfcart, were significantly bigger and heavier and there was much to be done.
To meet the brutal launch deadline, the Mars Exploration Rover team would have to overcome extraordinary obstacles, from shredding parachutes to exploding airbags and blowing pyros. “There was a lot of skepticism and a lot of fear,” said Squyres. As they lived it, this particular group of engineers and scientists developed a camaraderie that got them through the worst of times on the long and winding road to Kennedy Space Center. “I give a lot of the credit, especially for the camaraderie between science and engineering, to Pete Theisinger, our first project manager,” Squyres acknowledged. “He set the tone. On day one, he brought everyone together and said: ‘Look, if all we do is land these things safely, we’ve done nothing.’ He instilled in everyone that the only real objective was to take the Pathfinder technology and use it to do science and everyone embraced that.” Truth told, they also embraced the tireless enthusiasm and “workability” of Squyres, not to mention the capabilities of their rovers.
Just three days before the launch window opened, Spirit got the green light and took off in beautiful blue skies June 10, 2003. Three weeks later, Opportunity experienced an equally “picture perfect” launch, but the misfortunes were far from over. En route, they were both zapped by the largest solar storm ever recorded. As Spirit closed in, the engineers realized the Martian atmosphere was nowhere near as dense as models had indicated and a large dust storm had suddenly whipped up. Manning, the MER entry, descent, and landing operations manager, Chief Engineer Wayne Lee and colleagues reconsidered, did the math and sent up new parameters for the Spirit’s entry, descent and landing system.
When the TV cameras weren’t on, the strains of Bobby McFerrin singing “don’t worry, be happy” wafted through mission control attempting to lighten the psychological load. Amidst the tension and anxiety, the eyes of NASA officials and more than 300 members of the global media that had descended on JPL Jan. 3, 2004, the rover team and everyone else watching could only wait as Spirit sped into the Martian atmosphere. With the one-way signal transit time between Earth and Mars nearly 14 minutes, it was on its own.
Once again, however, the landing system worked like clockwork and Spirit slowed from 12,000 miles per hour to zero with seeming ease. It signaled when it hit the ground. Then it bounced, presumably much like Pathfinder, only for a lot longer, 28 times actually, then rolled to a stop, upright in the heart of Gusev Crater.
Standing 5 feet tall, stereo panoramic camera “eyes” at the top of their masts, Spirit and Opportunity were created to emulate human field geologists. When the first images came streaming in, Cornell’s Jim Bell, Pancam’s lead scientist, almost couldn’t believe it. “I’m in a state of shock and awe,” he told reporters. In those moments, every extra minute, every drop of angst-ridden sweat was worth it. As the rover stood and snapped pictures all around its location, it looked around the alien surroundings much like a human tourist would. The images were so crisp, so clean, it seemed almost as if you could step out onto the Martian surface.
Within 72 hours of Spirit’s arrival, NASA tallied more than one billion “hits” on its Web sites, obliterating the record set by Pathfinder/Sojourner in 1997. But as Opportunity was closing in on Mars, Spirit’s computer got stuck in an endless reboot loop at its first rock target and for a while Squyres wondered if it would all be over – 16 years of his own life and years of effort from more than 4,000 other people. Just hours before Opportunity hit the Martian atmosphere, however, software engineers Tracy Neilson and Glenn Reeves managed to diagnose and “treat” Spirit for a flash memory problem. Then, Opportunity grabbed the spotlight. “We just scored the world’s first 300-million-mile interplanetary hole-in-one!” exclaimed Squyres at the post landing press conference. When it couldn’t get any better, it did. In the first image Opportunity returned: “Bang! Bedrock. Right in front of us,” Squyres confirmed. The rover had all but met its mission objective and it hadn’t even stood up.
With rover chief engineer Jake Matijevic and his drivers at the controls, Squyres and deputy principal scientist Ray Arvidson, of Washington University St. Louis, directed Spirit and Opportunity around Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum. The Mars Exploration Rovers delivered their prime directive within the 90-day primary mission, with Opportunity sending home evidence of an ancient salty sea and Spirit returning evidence of water underground, bolstering the theory that Mars was once much wetter and perhaps hospitable to life.
Since then, Spirit and Opportunity have shown their robot right stuff time and again. As the solar-powered robot field geologists roved across these strangely familiar topographies, they have written new chapters in Martian geology and established rover records, the first to climb hills on another planet, find and study meteorites, capture images of the notorious Martian dust devils, drive miles across the Martian surface, and participate in collaborative experiments with orbiters overhead. Their ability “to move through a scene then keep on moving,” as Squyres often put it, underscores the capability in this new era planetary exploration.
Intriguingly, Spirit and Opportunity are also helping pioneer the robot-human relationships that will be a part of future explorations. During the last four-plus years, the rovers have endeared themselves by demonstrating an uncanny resilience. Spirit has had to drive backwards to its destinations dragging its broken right front wheel for more than two years now, but last year serendipitously uncovered one of the mission’s biggest finds because of that handicap. And when a monster Martian dust dervish whirled around and “sat” on top of Opportunity in July 2007, the rover could only hunker down while its team waited helpless on Earth. Words and prayers of support poured in to NASA via email, snail mail and phone calls and Arvidson was even approached during a trip to rural China and anxiously grilled about the “little rovers in the dust storm on Mars.” Neither rover was designed to withstand a Martian dust storm. Somehow both survived. As emissaries of the human race, NASA's Spirit and Opportunity have become the first "real" R2D2s on the landscape of planetary exploration. "They have gone beyond everyone’s wildest imagination,” said Squyres. "Yes, they are just robots, but we care deeply for them."
As of February 2008, the Mars Exploration Rovers were roving still. The team’s greatest hope is that they rove until they drop. If the twins can carry on, they will "greet” their descendant, the Mars Science Laboratory, slated to arrive in 2010. That rover is bigger, stronger, and faster. But Spirit and Opportunity will always hold a special place in space history as the valiant pioneers that took humanity on its first overland expedition of Mars. | <urn:uuid:54b83728-b86d-4e26-b89b-5b3f1bf027d3> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.nasa.gov/50th/50th_magazine/scientists.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462009.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00257-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95756 | 11,511 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Canada has been recently inundated with Fentanyl, which is an incredibly potent opiate painkiller that is very popular with those addicted to narcotics.
Recently, one article in particular seems to encapsulate how serious the problem is: A Killer High: How Canada Got Addicted to Fentanyl.
This article chronicles the pain suffered by the survivors of those who overdose, and also features excellent reporting about how easy it is to obtain the drug online.
To help stem the tide of overdose deaths from prescription drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin, the U.S. FDA for the first time is considering widespread distribution of a drug that is an antidote for drug overdoses.
Naloxone, which has been available by prescription for nearly two decades, may soon be available as an over-the-counter medication. Sold under the brand name Narcan, naloxone is non-addictive, nontoxic and able to reverse the effects of potentially fatal drug overdoses. In addition to counteracting an overdose from prescription drugs including oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, codeine and fentanyl, naloxone is effective when used with heroin overdoses. | <urn:uuid:a3d58a32-77c9-4f17-b6a8-6319d410cf5e> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | https://www.addictionreporter.com/tag/opiates/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128323604.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20170628101910-20170628121910-00670.warc.gz | en | 0.942212 | 237 | 2.625 | 3 |
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See also: înjection
- The act of injecting, or something that is injected.
- A specimen prepared by injection.
- (category theory) A morphism from either one of the two components of a coproduct to that coproduct.
- (construction) The act of inserting materials like concrete grout or gravel by using high pressure pumps.
- (figuratively) The supply of additional funding to a person or a business.
- The troubled business received a much-needed cash injection.
- (mathematics) A relation on sets (X,Y) that associates each element of Y with at most one element of X.
- (programming) The insertion of program code into an application, URL, hardware, etc.; especially when malicious or when the target is not designed for such insertion.
- a SQL injection exploit allowing a malicious user to modify a database query
- (space science) The act of putting a spacecraft into a particular orbit, especially for changing a stable orbit into a transfer orbit, e.g. trans-lunar injection
- (set theory) A function that maps distinct x in the domain to distinct y in the codomain; formally, a f: X → Y such that f(a) = f(b) implies a = b for any a, b in the domain.
- (specifically, medicine) Something injected subcutaneously, intravenously, or intramuscularly by use of a syringe and a needle.
- (steam engines) The act of throwing cold water into a condenser to produce a vacuum.
- (steam engines) The cold water thrown into a condenser to produce a vacuum.
(computing) Insertion of program code into an application, URL, etc.
act of injecting, or something injected
medicine: something injected
set theory: one-to-one mapping
injection f (plural injections) | <urn:uuid:318e5b22-8c90-44bc-a0a8-d205529558e3> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/injection | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267157351.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20180921170920-20180921191320-00001.warc.gz | en | 0.825626 | 416 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Marjorie R. Sims
Family Economic Security, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Initiative Seeks to Address Racial Barriers Faced by Vulnerable Children
WHAT: Tomorrow, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation will launch America Healing: A Racial Equity Initiative of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. America Healing is a five-year, $75 million commitment to promote racial equity by addressing the effects of structural racism on communities, particularly children. Through this initiative, 119 organizations from 29 states and the District of Columbia are receiving grants, many of which will expand opportunities for vulnerable children, youth and their communities affected by racism.
BACKGROUND: The election of President Barack Obama marked a major milestone for racial progress. But every day vulnerable families and their children continue to face invisible barriers as they go to work, attend school, visit their doctors and participate in other aspects of American society. Data and recent news events underscore the impact that structural racism continues to have in communities throughout the United States and underscore the clear need for healing.
· Children of color comprise nearly two-thirds of the 30 million children in the United States living in poverty.
· Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions among Native Americans, with 12.2 percent of all Native Americans over 19 suffering from the disease.
· Infant mortality rates are twice as high for African-Americans as for whites.
· Hispanic youth are incarcerated at rates seven to 17 times greater than those of whites in Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
WHO: Representative John Lewis (D-GA); W.K. Kellogg Foundation President and CEO, Sterling Speirn; W.K. Kellogg Foundation Vice President of Programs Dr. Gail Christopher; Harvard University Professor of Public Health, Dr. David Williams, and 10 grantee organizations.
WHEN: Tomorrow, 9:30 a.m. EDT
WHERE: JW Marriott Hotel, Salon l - Lower Level
1331 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C.
# # #
About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Established in 1930, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (www.wkkf.org) supports children, families and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society. Grants are concentrated in the United States, southern Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. | <urn:uuid:8cc54446-6779-4810-b8da-1ffedd9a267e> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | http://www.blackradionetwork.com/kellogg_foundation_launches_$75m_racial_healing_initiative_tomorrow | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501170696.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104610-00022-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914235 | 496 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Image: IBM Research
It’s long been understood that early disease detection is the key to successful treatments. But annual checkups with a doctor might not be frequent enough to help. So imagine if you could forego a trip to the doctor’s office and detect any disease with a simple urine or saliva test at home.
Of course this has been the aim of lab-on-a-chip technologies for years now, but now scientists at IBM Research may have tipped the scales in the technology that could make such at-home tests real.
In cross-disciplinary research described in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, a team at IBM led by research scientist Joshua Smith and Gustavo Stolovitzky, program director of IBM Translational Systems Biology and Nanobiotechnology, has been able to retool silicon-based technologies to create a diagnostic device that can separate viruses, DNA, and other nanoscale-size biological targets from saliva or urine. This could enable the device to detect the presence of diseases before any physical symptoms are visible.
Of course, the separation of nanoscale particles has been possible for years in various forms, such as ultracentrifugation, gel electrophoresis, chromatography, or filtration. These approaches all come with compromises: Centrifugation and chromatography can be very precise but require expensive machinery and trained technicians; gels and filter media are cheap and easy to use but are less precise and more difficult to recover samples from.
The basis of the IBM team’s approach is something called deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) separation technology, which was first developed in 2004. DLD is a microfluidic process that uses the laminar flow of fluid through a field of tiny posts to separate particles based on size. In this array of pillars, the separation occurs because the smaller particles are moving in the direction of the fluid, while the larger particles get deflected along the direction of pillar asymmetry. This sorting makes it possible to isolate, detect, and analyze the particles downstream.
DLD has been used to sort and separate micrometer-scale organisms, like parasites, but it has never been used for sorting nanoscale targets, like viruses. (See Jonas Tegenfeldt and Stefan Holms’s video below.)
With nanoscale DLD, the researchers can take a liquid sample and pass it through a silicon chip especially designed with an array of asymmetric pillars. This pillar array separates particles by size down to a resolution within tens of nanometers.
Smith explained the new device in an email interview with IEEE Spectrum:
“What we have done is to use IBM’s vast knowledge and capabilities in silicon nanotechnology, applying it to healthcare, to dramatically scale deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) separation technology beyond what others have been able to achieve.
“Piggy-backing on silicon technology lends itself to high-volume manufacturing, which lowers costs and allows more ubiquitous use in medicine and diagnostic technologies. In addition, nanoscale DLD provides high-fidelity separation of nano-colloids and requires minimal training to operate. This lowers the barrier to entry for researchers wanting high-precision separation technology.”
To test their technology, the researchers targeted exosomes, which are 30- to 100-nanometer structures containing protein and genetic material that are present in many if not all biological fluids and that may play a role in blood coagulation, among other things. Exosomes serve as biomarkers for detecting cancers and other diseases.
Smith and his colleague Benjamin Wunsch, a surface chemist with IBM’s Nanotechnology Group, explained that the main challenges in producing this device were with fabrication, nanofluidics, and biochemistry:
“First off, it was a major challenge to make the pillar structure and gap sizes down to 25 nanometers with high aspect ratios. This required innovations in process engineering. Also, micro-fabricated silicon is not a natural environment for bioparticles, so a tremendous amount of work on varying the surface chemistry was required to achieve compatibility with exosomes. Lastly, in operating at the nanoscale, new phenomena emerge that are not present in microfluidic devices, and this required substantial testing and development of a physical model to both understand and control the separation process.”
While news surrounding the device has focused on detecting the Zika virus, that was not its main purpose. However, this nanoseparation technology will be able to detect it, because at 40 nm, the virus is within the device’s limits.
“Currently we can separate, fractionate, and collect samples downstream, and we are working on incorporating detection modules,” says Smith. “Off-chip sequencing of individual exosomes may help further the understanding of exosome biology and their role in disease. ” IBM will work with Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City “to validate if our lab-on-a-chip technology can pick up exosomes with prostate cancer–specific biomarkers in patient liquid biopsies,” he adds.
The IBM team believe that within a year it will be possible to determine whether this device can sort and detect viruses from biological fluids, the key requirements for generating a mobile, easy-to-use, and rapid diagnostic platform.
“We also will continue to push the size limit of particle separation to access the sub-10 nm particle regime,” says Smith. | <urn:uuid:89d15010-027b-4484-b909-13fee74ea92a> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://scooblrinc.com/ibm-making-silicon-sort-viruses-nanoscale-biological-targets/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718034.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00422-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92772 | 1,138 | 3.734375 | 4 |
World Mental Health Day 2019: Suicide Prevention Awareness
CARTA joins the world to mark World Mental Health Day on October 10. The day aims to shed light on mental health issues on both a broad-scale as well as the community and individual level.
Suicide was the second leading cause of death among young people aged 15-29 years, after road injury. Among teenagers aged 15-19 years, suicide was the second leading cause of death among girls (after maternal conditions) and the third leading cause of death in boys (after road injury and interpersonal violence), shows the World Health Organisation.
WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says: “Every death is a tragedy for family, friends, and colleagues. Yet suicides are preventable. We call on all countries to incorporate proven suicide prevention strategies into national health and education programmes in a sustainable way.”
While at least four in five of the world’s suicides occurred in low- and middle-income countries, high-income countries had the highest rate, at 11.5 per 100 000. Nearly three times as many men as women die by suicide in high-income countries, in contrast to low- and middle-income countries, where the rate is more equal, shows the WHO.
Our Cohort Four Fellow and graduate Boladale Mapayi from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Nigeria says suicide in low and middle-income countries is due to a number of factors.
“Adverse childhood experiences, violence, and abuse of all forms (including sexual harassment and violence), low self-esteem, abuse of psychoactive substances, chronic physical illnesses, sexual and ethnic minority status, reduced ability to negotiate interpersonal relationships are some of the factors associated with depression. Early intervention is key to preventing complications like suicide,”
She adds that “many young people are distressed by suicidal thoughts and some have attempted suicide multiple times. There is a need to create an atmosphere that engenders help-seeking and resources to improve resilience in them.”
Although suicide is preventable, countries like Nigeria continue to criminalize suicide, making survivors liable to imprisonment, Mapayi shares.
“Government need to be committed to passing the Mental Health Bill so that we can implement effective solutions to the problem of suicide in Nigeria,” the mental health expert with a PhD in Clinical Psychology from OAU adds.
The most common methods of suicide are hanging, pesticide self-poisoning, and firearms. Key interventions that have shown success in reducing suicides are restricting access to means; educating the media on responsible reporting of suicide; implementing programs among young people to build life skills that enable them to cope with life stresses; and early identification, management and follow-up of people at risk of suicide.
September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. This year, the WHO, in collaboration with global partners, the World Federation for Mental Health, the International Association for Suicide Prevention and United for Global Mental Health, launched the 40 seconds of action campaign.
Written by Eunice Kilonzo, CARTA Communications Officer | <urn:uuid:bdea6dea-126d-4d3d-b954-2b29170a1391> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | http://cartafrica.org/world-mental-health-day-2019-suicide-prevention-awareness/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251690095.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20200126165718-20200126195718-00200.warc.gz | en | 0.936019 | 640 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Researchers developing fusion rocket to slash travel time of Mars missions
By David Szondy
April 8, 2013
Traveling through deep space is a hazardous undertaking and choosing the right engine can mean the difference between a fast, successful mission and a slow one with mounting dangers of radiation sickness, equipment failures and personal conflicts. A team of researchers from the University of Washington (UW) and Redmond, Washington-based MSNW are aiming to expand the options by developing a new fusion drive rocket engine that promises to make possible a manned spacecraft that could reach Mars and return to Earth in months rather than years.
There are a number of ways of getting to Mars, but the options are pretty limited if it includes having a crew on board. The obvious choice is chemical rockets. That’s how all space vehicles from Earth are launched and most are set on their trajectories. It’s a tried and trusted technology, but long ago reached the point of diminishing returns. Without getting into the maths, using chemical rockets would mean building a huge Mars ship that is mostly fuel with a tiny payload that will take years to complete the journey.
Nuclear thermal rockets
One alternative is a nuclear thermal rocket that gets its power from splitting heavy atoms such as plutonium in more or less the same way as power plants do on Earth. These rockets have been under development since the 1940s, but none have ever been used on a space mission. There are a remarkable number of designs, from straightforward fission reactors that heat hydrogen as it passes through the core, to exotic gas core reactors.
With their greater power output and energy density, they hold the promise of more powerful engines and thus shorter journeys, but there are a lot of tradeoffs that offset the advantages – such shielding and larger tanks to accommodate lighter weight propellants. So in reality, even the most practical ones don’t reach much more than a 30 percent improvement over chemical rockets.
According to the research team, a nuclear thermal rocket Mars mission would require nine launches to put the Mars ship into Earth orbit at a cost of more than US$12 billion – and that doesn't include the rest of the budget for building the ship, exploring Mars or making the tea. The ship would weigh 848 tonnes (935 tons) and a round trip mission to Mars would take 4.6 years.
“Using existing rocket fuels, it’s nearly impossible for humans to explore much beyond Earth,” said lead researcher John Slough, a UW research associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics. “We are hoping to give us a much more powerful source of energy in space that could eventually lead to making interplanetary travel commonplace.”
Fusion Driven Rocket could be the answer
The team believes that they can do better using a Fusion Driven Rocket (FDR). As the name implies, it uses fusion, the fusing of light elements, as a power source instead of fission. There are a number of ways of causing fusion and here the Washington team is using a Field Reversed Configuration (FRC).
A FRC is a device for confining plasma on closed magnetic field lines without a central penetration. It uses huge electric capacitors powering an extremely powerful magnetic field with one million amps that causes large lithium metal foil rings to implode on a blob of ionized hydrogen plasma as it squirts into the engine. The metal foil squeezes the plasma for a few microseconds until fusion occurs. The magnetic field then channels the superheated, ionized metal out of the rocket nozzle at high velocity in a pulse of thrust.
It’s not a very smooth ride. The pulses come at one minute intervals, so the ship travels in a series of jolts rather than a constant thrust, but the Washington team believes that it can do the job and is very efficient with only a bit of material the size of a grain of sand producing as much power as a gallon (3.7 l) of chemical rocket fuel. According to the team, a Mars ship using the FDR engine would have a mass of only 134 tonnes (148 tons), need only one launch to put it into orbit, and could make the trip to Mars and back in 210 days with a 30 day stopover.
Currently, the team is working to develop individual components and then combining them into a working prototype of a whole engine. “I think everybody was pleased to see confirmation of the principal mechanism that we’re using to compress the plasma,” Slough said. “We hope we can interest the world with the fact that fusion isn't always 40 years away and doesn't always cost $2 billion.”
The results of the team’s work was presented last month at the 2013 NIAC Symposium.
The brief animation below shows how the fusion drive works.
- Around The Home
- Digital Cameras
- Good Thinking
- Health and Wellbeing
- Holiday Destinations
- Home Entertainment
- Inventors and Remarkable People
- Mobile Technology
- Urban Transport
- Wearable Electronics | <urn:uuid:b60fd590-11e8-4cbb-8ebc-1260f69ed9ec> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://www.gizmag.com/mars-fusion-drive/26939/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246661675.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045741-00078-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932464 | 1,043 | 3.40625 | 3 |
If you visit Korea, there are certain things you will undoubtedly do, and drinking is one of those things so knowing how to say “cheers” in Korean can definitely come in handy. Koreans drink a lot, more than any other country in the world according to some sources, and Soju(소주), beer(맥주) and makgeolli (막걸리) are among the most popular beverages. Drinking is a good way to bond with both friends and strangers and toasting creates a pleasant atmosphere and makes everyone feel good (until someone drinks to much and takes of their shirt that is). But enough talking, let’s find out how to say cheers. For this, you say:
The formal/polite way
in Hangul: 건배!
So this is the normal, traditional, standard (etc etc) way to say cheers in Korean. It is of Chinese origin and literally translates to “dry glass”. In case you happen to stumble upon either the Chinese or Japanese expressions, you’ll notice that they are very similar to the Korean expression. Use it with anyone so that means your boss, older people, coworkers, friends and so on.
in Hangul: 위하여!
= cheers! (wish/hope for…)
This expression is a little bit different. It means “wish for” or “hope for”, but it is used while toasting just like the other expressions. It can sound a bit old-fashioned but it’s nevertheless frequently used. Normally also include what you are wishing for (such as someone’s health, good fortune) and a common expression is:
in Hangul: 세계평화를 위하여!
= for world peace!
The casual/familiar way
in Hangul: 짠!
If you want to be one of the cool kids, you need to talk like the cool kids. And to talk like the cool kids, you need to know the slang. ‘zzan’ (or jjan, depending on how you want to romanize it) (짠) is the casual way to say “cheers” in Korean. Note, however, that use should not use this with strangers and older people. So make sure you only use it only with your close friends!
More vocabulary related to drinking culture
You might not like the song, but the video shows, although slightly exaggerated, how a night out drinking in Korea can look like.
This is all you need to know in order to say “cheers” in Korean. For more lessons like this one, please check out our Everyday Korean archive! If you found this lesson helpful, please like or share! And if you have any questions, please leave a comment below and we will do our best to help you out.
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Assist Stop The Abuse Of Animals
The improper use of certain items of training gear, such because the pinch collar or the shock collar, can inflict pain on a dog and prompt a ache-elicited bite to her pet parent. Male and feminine canine are equally vulnerable to pain-elicited aggression, and this kind of aggression can occur in each puppies and adults. Social aggression is considerably extra widespread in males than in females and more widespread in purebreds than in blended breeds. Puppies are hardly ever socially aggressive with individuals, however they can be with different dogs, significantly littermates. Social aggression often develops in dogs between one to three years of age. If they have been left on their own, they would stay together in small groups, or packs, of family and friends. If one member of a pack is at risk, the others usually rush in to assist defend that individual.
You can often keep away from this by feeding the cat far away from your door. Also, when you plan to feed the cat frequently, you’ll need to do a number of things to protect yourself and your loved ones and, in fact, the cat. Be sure to examine usually so the animal does not fall prey to different animals within the area. This scenario means animals could be abused by neighbors who don’t desire them round. They may develop weak and turn into the victim of different animals. They may be shunned by their very own mates or families because they purchase a unique scent from eating near people. I’ve additionally seen firsthand how its volunteers assist the Shelter present high quality care to its canines and discover forever properties for them.
Victory For The Big Cats!!!!
Social media advanced into an essential tool for finding homes for adoptable canines, butmany teams don’t have time or moneyfor their workers to design and oversee their social media pages like Facebook and Twitter. But animal lovers who want to do greater than write a examine to a rescue or can’t afford a monetary donation have plenty of alternatives to assist local animal shelters and rescue teams in different ways. Adopt a Panda Make a symbolic panda adoption to help save a few of the world’s most endangered animals from extinction and support WWF’s conservation efforts. However, there’s no assure that an aggressive canine may be fully cured. In many circumstances, the one answer is to manage the problem by limiting a dog’s exposure to the situations, people or things that set off her aggression.
They can also provide you with recommendation on how to look after a stray and the place to search out local vets. Medicine Net.com may give you information about diseases animals can pass on to humans. One step can be to make use of a humane entice for the cat so you can get the cat checked by a vet and handled for parasites, diseases and so forth, in addition to getting the cat fixed to keep away from marking and mating issues . Also, create a shelter for the cat close to where you feed it. A dog house will work, just as a styrofoam cooler that has a hole reduce in one aspect will work.
An in any other case mild, friendly canine can behave aggressively when in pain. That’s why it’s so essential to take precautions when handling an injured canine, even when she’s your own. A canine with a painful orthopedic situation or an infection may chew with little warning, even when the rationale you’re touching her is to treat her.
Put a rock or two on top to keep it from being blown away by the wind. Cloth will take in water from the air and will freeze within the winter. If you want to assist a stray dog, the steps would basically be the identical. There are methods to assist that won’t cause issues depending upon the animal and your help. For instance, serving to a stray cat may cause the cat to mark your doors in an attempt to hold different cats away.
Pet mother and father are liable for their canines’ habits and must take precautions to make sure that no one’s harmed. Even if a dog has been nicely behaved for years, it’s not potential to predict when all the required circumstances would possibly come collectively to create “the perfect storm” that triggers her aggression. Dogs who’ve a historical past of resorting to aggression as a way of dealing with annoying situations can fall back on that strategy. Pet dad and mom of aggressive dogs ought to be prudent and always assume that their dog is NOT cured in order that they never let down their guard. Targets.How often your dog is exposed to the targets of her aggression can affect how easy it is to handle and resolve her conduct.
A canine who’s aggressive to strangers is comparatively simple to regulate should you live in a rural surroundings with a securely fenced yard. A dog who’s aggressive to kids may be managed if her pet dad and mom are childless and haven’t any associates or family members with youngsters. A canine who is aggressive to unfamiliar canines poses little difficulty for pet mother and father who dislike dog parks and prefer to exercise their dog on isolated climbing trails. In distinction, living with a dog who has recurring ear infections and bites relations after they attempt to medicate her can be stressful and ugly. Some pet dogs present traditional canine predatory behaviors, including chasing and grabbing fast-moving things. | <urn:uuid:4a42307e-52d6-4034-9127-45db87687965> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://greatpettips.xyz/13-superb-photographs-of-animals-helping-different-animals.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662584398.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20220525085552-20220525115552-00307.warc.gz | en | 0.955888 | 1,121 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Gas detectors can be found in all walks of life, from food processing plants to parking garages, from aeroplanes to casinos. Any place that can have a potential lack of oxygen or presence of toxic gas needs a gas detector present to monitor the safety of people. Some common uses during field projects are: confined space entry, well drilling, soil screening, area monitoring, worker safety, indoor air quality, and leak detection.
Of course they have been around for a very long time, starting with the canary, which was sadly a one shot trick that when subjected to methane tended to die rather quickly, with no audio visual alarm capabilities other than a slight chirp and a total lack of motion. Fortunately, technology has advanced significantly and we find ourselves at this point in time with some very sophisticated electronic equipment.
Let’s cover some basics:
- One ppm is one part in 1,000,000 parts. Generally, ppm (parts per million) is the lowest unit of measurement 10,000 ppm = 1% by volume
- LEL (Lower Explosive Limit) is the next unit of measurement and is a percentage of the explosive %(vol) level of a compound
- 100% LEL is the lowest concentration at which a flammable substance can produce a fire or explosion when ignited
- UEL (Upper Explosive Limit) is the maximum concentration of gas in air that will burn
- Each compound (gas) has a different LEL, or the point at which the compound will burn or become explosiv
- Most flammable compounds become explosive at less than 5% volume
- Each gas has a different LEL and UEL
- The percentage of gas is the highest unit of measurement, which is the amount of pure gas
How do gas detection sensors work?
Modern technology will no doubt make the below explanation outdated as it strides forward, so quickly below are the basics.
The oxygen sensor is an electromechanical sensor. Any gas that can be oxidised or reduced electromechanically can be detected by means of a fuel based electrochemical sensor. The consumption of oxygen produces a current that is linearly proportional to the concentration of gas in air.
Since the oxygen sensor is constantly exposed to oxygen, the normal life of the sensor is between one and two years.
The combustible sensor consists of two coils of fine platinum wire each embedded in a bead of alumina, connected electrically in a bridge circuit. One of the beads is impregnated with a special catalyst that promotes oxidation and the other is treated to inhibit oxidation. Current is passed through the coils so that they reach a temperature at which oxidation of a gas readily occurs at the catalysed bead (about 500°C).
This raises the temperature further which increases the resistance of the platinum coil in the catalysed bead, leading to an imbalance of the bridge. This output change is linear, for most gases, up to and beyond 100% LEL and response time is only a few seconds to detect alarm levels (typically 20% LEL).
The toxic sensors are also electromechanical and operate by the same basic principles as the oxygen sensor. Electromechanical sensors consume minute amounts of gas, the absorption of gas and electric output being controlled by a “diffusion barrier”.
Confined spaces and gas detection
A confined space is any space large enough for someone to enter and perform assigned work that has limited means of entry or exit, and which is not designed for continuous worker occupancy. This covers just about every industry, including utilities, construction, hydrocarbon exploration and processing, petrochemicals, marine, agriculture, food processing and brewing, as well as the emergency services.
Employers must assess the risks these workplaces pose to their employers and endeavour to prevent them. In most cases, both assessment and the safe working system will require testing of the atmosphere with gas testing equipment.
Confined space gas risks can be divided into three broad categories: combustible gas, toxic gas and oxygen depletion or enrichment.
Combustible gas risks
For combustion to occur the air must contain a minimum concentration of combustible gas or vapour. This quantity is called the LEL. Different compounds have different LELs so it is vital that detectors are capable of detecting at the correct levels.
Typically, storage vessels which have contained hydrocarbon fuels and oils present a danger. Other dangers come from fuel leaks: burst fuel containers; pipelines on and off site, gas cylinders and engine driven plant. For workers in pits, sewers and other sub-surface locations, methane formed by decaying organic matter is an almost universal danger.
Toxic gas and vapours
Confined space workers may be exposed to many toxic compounds, depending on the nature of the work. A risk assessment should be made of which toxic substances a worker may be exposed to in any given work situation.
When looking at toxic gases related to specific applications, the water industry for example uses many toxic compounds for cleaning and processing both waste and clean water. Hazards such as chlorine, ozone, sulphur dioxide and chlorine dioxide then pose additional risks both in storage and treatment areas.
Oxygen – too high or too low?
The normal concentration of oxygen in fresh air is 20.9%. An atmosphere is hazardous if the concentration drops below 19.5% or goes above 23.5%.
Without adequate ventilation, the simple act of breathing will cause oxygen levels to fall surprisingly quickly. Combustion also uses up oxygen, so engine-driven plant and naked flames such as welding torches are potential hazards. Oxygen can also be displaced. Nitrogen, for example, when used to purge hydrocarbon storage vessels prior to re-use, drives oxygen out of the container and leaves it highly dangerous until thoroughly ventilated.
High oxygen levels are also dangerous. As with too little, too much will impair the victim’s ability to think clearly and act sensibly. Moreover, oxygen-enriched atmospheres represent a significant fire hazard.
Gas detector types
Both portable and fixed gas detectors can be used for confined space monitoring. Fixed systems typically comprise of one or more detector “heads” connected to a separate control panel. If a detector reads a dangerous gas level, the panel raises the alarm by triggering external sirens and beacons. This sort of installation is suited to larger spaces like plant rooms, which have sufficient room for the hardware or remote stations that are usually unmanned.
However, much confined space work takes place in more restricted areas, making compact portable units more suitable. Ease of use, with one button operation, means minimal training is required while increased safety is ensured. Combining one or more sensors with powerful audible and visual signals to warn when pre-set gas levels are reached, portable detectors can be carried or worn wherever they are needed. In addition, a compact instrument is easily carried in a confined space, ensuring that pockets of high gas concentration are not missed.
Certain features should be expected in every portable gas detector. Clearly life-saving tools for demanding environments must be as tough as possible, with reliable electronics housed in impact resistant casings. While the need to leave gas sensors exposed to the atmosphere means that no instrument can be fully sealed, a high degree of protection against dust and water ingress is essential. Toughness notwithstanding, a well-designed detector will also be light and compact enough to wear for an entire shift.
Finally, because of the difficulties of working in a cramped space, perhaps under poor lighting, instruments should be easy to use. No matter how advanced a detector’s internal architecture or data management options, personnel in the field should be faced with nothing more daunting than a clear display, simple, one-button operation and loud/bright alarms.
Combustible gas sensors
As detailed below, combustible gas sensors come in the form of catalytic, metallic oxide semiconductor, and infra-red.
Catalytic combustible gas sensors
Searching out explosive atmospheres, catalytic combustible gas sensors detect combustible gases by causing a combustion of gases within the sensor chamber.
Not only do catalytic sensors offer good linearity, they can also react to most combustible gases. As resistance change to %LEL is relatively small, however, they do work better in concentrations between 1,000 and 50,000ppm.
As for their drawbacks:
- They do not measure trace amounts (under 200ppm) of gas and so should not be used to determine toxic levels
- To work accurately they require 14% minimum oxygen in air
- Not recommended for use in acetylene atmospheres
- The sensor can be damaged by lead, silicone or other catalytic poisons
- Readings can be affected by water vapour condensation and humidity
- Poor response to low energy hydrocarbons, e.g. oil vapours, kerosene, diesel fuel and commercial jet fuels
- Oftentimes they lose linearity after approximately one year
Metallic oxide semiconductor (MOS) combustible gas sensor
Also known as solid state sensors, Metallic Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) combustible gas sensors have been around for years. With a long operation life of three to five years this is a very resilient sensor that recovers well from high gas concentrations that could damage other types of sensors.
As with catalytic sensors, readings of MOS sensors can also be affected by humidity and water vapour condensation. In addition, while not requiring as much oxygen as their catalytic counterpart, they too require oxygen to work accurately.
In addition to the above mentioned disadvantages, further MOS sensor specific disadvantages include:
- Heating elements in some MOS sensors require a great deal of power, meaning larger battery packs are required
- Despite responding to many VOCs, HFCs and solvents, MOS sensors are not specific to any single compound
Infra-red combustible sensors
Relatively recently these sensors have been appearing in some instruments. They work well in low oxygen levels or acetylene atmospheres; however, they are quite expensive. These sensors work by reflecting light off a mirror and measuring the amount of light absorbed during refraction. Infrared sensors typically require a constant flow across the sensing assembly and may be slow to clear from alarm. They are unable to detect hydrogen. An infra-red sensor calibrated for a simple hydrocarbon such as methane or ethane will not be accurate for vapour of higher molecular weight hydrocarbons, solvents or fuels.
Electrochemical (wet chem) toxic sensors
These sensors react to a specific chemical (substance). Chemically specific sensors are available for up to 30 different gases including chlorine, ammonia, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide. The manufacturers technical information will indicate what sensors are available for their unit.
These sensors have good linearity, which makes them very accurate for the substance they will react to. They can measure either large or small quantities and these sensors have a typical life span of approximately one year for many toxic gases and up to two years for hydrogen sulphide and carbon monoxide.
As with all sensors, wet chem sensors are not without their limitations. The electrolytic fluid can freeze when left in environments having temperatures lower than 0ºC. Some chemical sensors may be adversely affected by altitude as they may be pressure sensitive.
Metallic oxide semiconductor (MOS) toxic broad range gas sensors
There are a number of different MOS sensors on the market and one has been developed for detecting toxic gases. Its make-up and operation is similar to the one used for the detection of combustible gases. However, the MOS broad range toxic sensor is capable of reacting to low PPM levels of wide range of toxic gases including carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, styrene, toluene, gasoline and many other hydrocarbons and solvents. MOS sensors cannot detect carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide. The sensor is incapable of telling you what gas you have encountered or the concentration, only that the atmosphere may be hazardous to your health.
Photo ionisation detectors (PIDs)
Health and safety professionals and others have been using photo ionisation sensor technology for evaluating atmospheric hazards in the workplace since the 1960s. Life expectancy of these sensors is from one to three years. They are usually too costly to use in a multi-sensor instrument.
For those of you who work in atmospheres that could be hazardous to your health, selecting the right gas detector could be the single most important decision you ever make. Your life could hinge on that decision so it is critical that the user/purchaser make themselves aware of the hazards that could be encountered and the proper sensors to protect them. Data gathered in the late 1970s and early 1980s indicated that 65% of those who died in confined spaces were unaware that the space they were entering was a potential hazard. Over 50% of confined space deaths occur to the rescuers and over one third of the fatalities occurred after the space was tested, declared safe and the gas detector was removed.
Selecting a gas detector should be based on the hazard faced. Unfortunately, far too many purchasers make one of the largest and most crucial single equipment expenditures without really understanding what they are buying. Sensors and their capabilities are the single most important factor when choosing a gas detector, yet more often than not decisions are based on size, price and features that have nothing to do with the instrument’s detecting abilities.
Gas detectors come in a variety of sizes, shapes, colours and sensor configurations. For confined space work, it is necessary to monitor for oxygen deficiency/enrichment, combustible gases and toxics. An instrument capable of dealing with these three hazards is essential. | <urn:uuid:128b7419-69dd-44e0-ab08-7f648d358293> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://cablesafe.com/detection-of-gas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593657169226.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20200716122414-20200716152414-00266.warc.gz | en | 0.941653 | 2,834 | 3.609375 | 4 |
The function key used to edit the contents in a cell.
In Excel, a page composed of columns and rows that create cells at their intersection, you type data and formulas into cells
This bar shows the formula, or text in a cell.
symbols that indicate what type of calculation to perform on the cells, ranges, or values.
Mathematical calculations which enable you to use ranges in calculations.
A set of instructions used to perform one or more numeric calculations, such as adding, multiplying, or averaging, on values or cells.
Is one that uses more than one arithmetic operator.
Function ( related to creating a formula)
A special, predefined formula that provides a short cut for a commonly used calculation, for example, SUM(for calculating a total) or COUNT(for counting items in a list).
a reference that does not change when you copy the formula (requires a $ sign in front of both the column letter and the row number of the cell address).
A collection of related worksheets contained within a single Excel file
computer program that performs calculations and presents numeric data.
the location of a cell, expressed by cell coordinates
The intersection of a column and row in a worksheet, datasheet, or table.
most are of the formula bar that shows the cell reference or name of the active cell.
Descriptive text or other information that identifies spreadsheet rows, columns, or chart data, but are not included in calculations.
used to start a formula, such as an equal sign
The symbol that is used for multiplying.
The symbol that is used for division.
The symbol that is used for adding.
The symbol that is used for subtraction. | <urn:uuid:750aa346-0ab2-4cd1-90cb-e8ae05d544f7> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | https://quizlet.com/564025/computer-terminology-flash-cards/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125949036.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20180427041028-20180427061028-00492.warc.gz | en | 0.840043 | 354 | 3.859375 | 4 |
More Children Under 8 are Spending Time Looking at Screens
Almost every major human achievement that is discussed in today’s society has something to do with technology and computers. The iPad, iPhone, Xbox, Wii, and countless other pieces of technology are in the hands of adults and children. A common thread between all these innovative pieces is the fact that they have a screen that harnesses the attention of any individual using such products. Children, especially, have become the new generation of young people who are surrounded by TVs, video game systems, computers, and portable tablets. However, though this exposure to technology at an early age has certain benefits, the drawbacks are even more important to understand.
For years, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that children spend less time in front of screens; recent studies show that more eight year olds are exposed to screens than ever before. Further studies for younger children show that kids under the age of two watch over two hours of television every day. This goes against the Academy’s suggestions that children under two not be exposed to any screens at all at such a young age. The reasoning behind this recommendation revolves around the fact that quality time between parents and young kids is impeded when a TV is on. Parents tend to be distracted when a program is being watched, and toddlers generally do not play with the same enthusiasm if a TV is blaring somewhere in their vicinity. Even programs that are meant for younger audiences are unhealthy for children at such a young age. It is a proven fact that kids learn more from face-to-face interaction, and lead healthier lifestyles, develop stronger vocabularies, and suffer less from speech impediments.
Numerous other reports state that children who spend too much time watching television, playing video games or other screen related activities are likely to suffer from a list of issues. A few concerns include irregular sleeping patterns, difficulty in school, less time spent outdoors, and behavior problems. However, another major issue that has come up is the fact that the scope of screens has changed. Tablet computers, like the iPad, have become quite popular with higher income families because parents can download interactive apps for their young children. These apps, both educational and game-like, are not always available to lower income families who most likely only have televisions in their homes. Though the Academy of Pediatrics has said time and time again that screens are unhealthy for young children, parents are eschewing this information due to the fact that phone and tablet apps are both interactive and child friendly. More often than not, children are learning something from these apps that they are not getting from TV, and parents think they are helping their kids by not letting them sit in front of televisions all day long.
However, studies are showing that specialists and researchers are unsure where the iPad and other tablet computers fit into the screen time health issues. A myriad of specialists are unsure how the iPad affects young children because not enough research has been done on such a new piece of technology. Furthermore, iPads and other tablets have a whole range of apps made just for young children. There are apps for handwriting, hand-eye coordination, practicing vocabulary, and any other skill under the sun. In fact, there are hundreds of lists posted online that rank which apps are best for children within a certain age group. A lot of them are rather interesting, and look like they promote creativity and valuable skills for children to learn. Regardless of how much TV and videogames children watch and play, there is something to be said about the innovative nature of tablet computers, and how they have managed to change the way children think and learn. | <urn:uuid:5ce35785-2e82-44d7-be31-7533f3012f4b> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | http://notenoughgood.com/2011/11/screen-shot/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446710898.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20221202050510-20221202080510-00207.warc.gz | en | 0.97235 | 733 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Where in the World? Finland
Today we’re exploring… Finland!
Finland, a country of forests and lakes, is perhaps best known for its unspoilt natural beauty. In the far north, the White Nights, during which the sun does not set, last for around 10 weeks of the summer. In winter the same area goes through nearly eight weeks when the sun never rises above the horizon.
As a result of Finland being a part of Sweden for seven centuries (from the 12th century until 1809) some 6% of the population is Swedish-speaking. Finland became an independent state following the Russian revolution in 1917. Since this date Finland has been a republic. It has a one-chamber parliament whose 200 members are elected every four years.
The country has developed a modern, competitive economy, and is a world leader in telecommunications equipment. Main exports include telecoms equipment and engineering products, paper, pulp and lumber, glassware, stainless steel and ceramics.
Its remote northern beauty has inspired many artists, including the composer Jean Sibelius and the designer Alvar Aalto.
Finland has also produced a number of top sports stars, including Formula One drivers Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen.
Finnish cuisine has been influenced by continental, Russian and Swedish food. Traditional specialities include fish (especially salmon and turbot roe), as well as reindeer meat. Dishes to look out for include karjalanpiirakka (rice or potato pastry) and kalakukko (fish and pork fat baked inside a loaf).
- Political system: Republic
- Capital city: Helsinki
- Language: Finnish and Swedish
- National day: 6 December – independence from Russia (1917)
- Total area: 338 000 km²
- Population: 5.3 million
- Currency: euro
How to say Hello: | <urn:uuid:37e67158-2954-4a24-9ffa-7edeeb4b9249> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://www.funkidslive.com/features/fun-around-the-world/finland/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1408500833461.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20140820021353-00404-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948986 | 400 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Acidity is also referred to as acid reflux. It is a common medical condition caused due to excessive production of acid by the stomach, which flows back into the food pipe and causes pain or burning sensation in the lower chest area. According to nutritionists, poor food habits and an unhealthy lifestyle are responsible for acidity in individuals.
Let us have an overview of the causes of acidity and acidity symptoms.
Causes of Acidity
The digestive fluid of the stomach also called the gastric juice or stomach acid is mainly composed of sodium chloride (NaCl), potassium chloride (KCl), and hydrochloric acid (HCl), Among these acids, the hydrochloric acid is the strong acid, which plays a vital role in the break down of food molecules and destroys the invading pathogens along with the food particles.
As the food particles move down into the stomach through the food pipe or oesophagus, the gastric glands present in the stomach produce the acid necessary to digest the food and kill any invading pathogens. In certain conditions, the gastric glands produce a large amount of acid, than usual to complete the digestion process. This results in acidity and burning sensation.
The main causes of the acidity are:
- Lack of physical activities
- Irregular and poor eating habits
- Eating spicy and oily foods
- Smoking and use of tobacco products
- Resting or lying down right after a meal
- Intake of more alcohol, carbonated drinks, coffee, and tea
- Apart from food items, medicines including ibuprofen, aspirin also cause acidity.
Also Read: Human Digestive System
Following are the important acidity symptoms:
- Bad Breath
- Stomach ulcers
- Excessive vomiting
- Sour taste in the mouth
- Difficulty in swallowing
- Burning sensation in the stomach and throat.
- Severe pain in the chest or abdomen
These were the common acidity symptoms, and they may also vary based on the diet followed by an individual. This condition can be easily cured by taking certain medicines to reduce the excessive production of acid within the stomach. Other natural cure and precautions include following a healthy eating pattern including protein-rich foods and avoiding carbonated beverages, and certain spicy and oily foods.
Also Read: Role of Digestive Enzymes
Learn more about acidity symptoms and its causes only at BYJU’S Biology.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best treatments available for acidity?
The best treatment options available for acidity is the regular intake of safe and effective medications including esomeprazole, famotidine, Gaviscon and other antacids and indigestion drugs to prevent the overproduction of acids and provide relief from the pain and burning sensations.
List out the risk factors of acidity?
Acidity is a common medical condition, which affects people of all ages and sex. According to the records, more than 60 millions of people suffer from acidity and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. The main cause is the lifestyle factor, obesity and regular use of certain drugs.
What are the main acidity symptoms?
The major acidity symptoms include:
- Ulcers in stomach
What are the complications involved with acidity?
If the acidity is not treated before the symptoms worsen, it may lead to several complications including:
- Gastric ulcers
- Severe pain in the chest or abdomen
- Difficulties or pain in swallowing the food
- Other problems related to the digestive system.
How to prevent Acidity?
There are few precautions which need to be followed if a patient is suffering from the acidity. The precautions include:
- Having less and frequent meals.
- Regular walking and other physical activities.
- Wearing loose clothing to avoid pressure on the abdomen
- Reduce or avoid the consumption of spicy and deep-fried food items.
- Reduce the intake of food which may trigger the symptoms of acidity like citrus food, raw onions, milk, salt, chocolates, tea, coffee, alcohol, carbonated beverages, and other tobacco products. | <urn:uuid:4abcf1b5-e450-41a8-bebb-4277d3524f89> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://byjus.com/biology/acidity-symptoms/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107880878.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20201023073305-20201023103305-00364.warc.gz | en | 0.921702 | 853 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Mountain Caribou and snowmobilers share much of the same terrain in late winter within the Interior Wet Belt of east-central and southeastern British Columbia, northern Idaho and northeastern Washington. The rarity of Mountain Caribou and the expansion in both numbers and capability of snowmobiles have raised concerns that snowmobile activity may have negative effects on caribou, such as physiological impacts, increased exposure to dangerous terrain, and displacement or range abandonment. This report examines two types of information, with the goal of increasing our knowledge on the potential relationships between snowmobiling and caribou. It (1) summarizes the observations of a sample of snowmobilers, wildlife managers and others with experiences relevant to the topic, and (2) examines late-winter caribou survey data in relation to mapping of snowmobile-use areas, to determine whether there has been any decrease over time in the proportion of surveyed caribou groups occurring within snowmobiling areas. Data are current to when this report was initially prepared (2003) but literature available to early 2008 has been reviewed during editing.
Kinley, T.. 2008. Snowmobile - Mountain Caribou Interactions: Perceptions and Trends in Caribou Displacement. Ministry of Environment | <urn:uuid:6a60f485-ee4a-481c-bd0c-395e0569ad8a> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eirs/lookupDocument.do?fromStatic=true&repository=BDP&documentId=9920 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662675072.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20220527174336-20220527204336-00494.warc.gz | en | 0.930215 | 250 | 3.09375 | 3 |
DATELINE: Ben Franklin after Treasure?
This time William Shatner is taking on the take of the American Revolution using the treasure on Oak Island to finance the fight against the British. The irony is that they used Canadian territory—and even tried to draw Nova Scotia to join the States.
Samuel Ball, the former slave, was given his freedom for working with the Brits—and reportedly found some of the treasure within 20 years of moving to Oak Island.
Shatner hosts “The Founding Fathers.” To fight the richest empire of the time, the United States used Benjamin Franklin to try to locate funding. Because of his ties as the Grand Master of the Masons, he could use this connection to find money.
What’s interesting the French ties to the Templars had transformed into freemasons. That was the role and connection that Franklin used for the American Revolution. These ties actually went back half a century to Nova Scotia. These French military wanted to take the territory away from the British.
The French placed a “second” treasure on Oak Island in the mid-1700s. The Templars went to Scotland where they were not persecuted—and they soon delivered their secret treasures to New Scotland (Nova Scotia).
The Laginas tell Shatner that there is no proof, but there is circumstantial evidence. It does allow the Lagina Brothers to dig out their visits to Scotland to give Shatner some information, including the discovery of the lead Templar cross on Oak Island.
Shatner provides the authority and brings the gravity of his celebrity to the theories. He relates how Franklin and Thomas Jefferson owned thousands of acres in Nova Scotia—and wanted it to be part of the new nation.
George Washington may also have a connection, however oblique, to Oak Island. Did the Americans finance their freedom fight with Oak Island treasures? | <urn:uuid:b582f4fc-f0c0-4d07-8f67-290592f0a660> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://ossurworld.com/tag/lagina-brothers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107867463.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20201019232613-20201020022613-00388.warc.gz | en | 0.958766 | 390 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Children under 12 should trick-or-treat and cross streets with an adult. Cross the street at corners, using traffic signals and crosswalks.
Look left, right and left again when crossing and keep looking as you cross. Walk–don’t run, across the street.
Teach children to make eye contact with drivers before crossing in front of them.
Always walk on sidewalks or paths. If there are no sidewalks, walk facing traffic as far to the left as possible. Children should walk on direct routes with the fewest street crossings.
Watch for cars that are turning or backing up. Teach children to never dart out into the street or cross between parked cars.
Trick or Treat With an Adult
Children under the age of 12 should not be out at night without adult supervision. If kids are mature enough to be out on their own, they should stick to familiar areas that are well lit and trick-or-treat in groups.
Keep Costumes Both Creative and Safe
When selecting a costume, make sure it is the right size to prevent trips and falls.
Decorate costumes and bags with reflective tape or stickers and, if possible, choose light colors.
Choose face paint and makeup whenever possible instead of masks, which can obstruct a child’s vision.
Have kids carry glow sticks or flashlights to help them see and be seen by drivers.
Double Check Candy and Costumes
Check treats for signs of tampering before children are allowed to eat them.
Remind children to eat only treats in their original, unopened wrappers.
Candy should be thrown away if the wrapper is faded or torn, or if the candy is unwrapped.
While glow sticks are good for visibility, remember that the liquid in glow sticks is also hazardous, so parents should remind children not to chew on or break them.
Look for non-toxic designations when choosing Halloween makeup.
Drive Extra Safely on Halloween
Slow down and be especially alert in residential neighborhoods. Children are excited on Halloween and may move in unpredictable ways.
Take extra time to look for kids at intersections, on medians and on curbs.
Enter and exit driveways and alleys slowly and carefully.
Eliminate any distractions inside your car so you can concentrate on the road and your surroundings.
Drive slowly, anticipate heavy pedestrian traffic and turn your headlights on earlier in the day to spot children from greater distances. | <urn:uuid:790e4817-5219-4e1a-a8df-ce72a9840e20> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.lplrisk.com/halloween-safety-tips/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030336921.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001195125-20221001225125-00264.warc.gz | en | 0.920025 | 502 | 3.1875 | 3 |
In the 1970s and 1980s, millions of Cambodians were forcibly displaced to labor camps by the Khmer Rouge, where many were worked or starved to death, or executed. Local governments effectively ceased to function during this time, and by the mid-1990s, public trust in local institutions was severely eroded.
In order to rebuild local governance and improve economic welfare from the bottom up in post-conflict Cambodia, a $750 million-dollar program focused on local infrastructure and governance—the Commune/Sangkat Fund—was scaled up and institutionalized nationwide beginning in 2002. The program was initially supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the World Bank, and other donors in partnership with the Government of Cambodia, but has since transitioned to full country ownership. The Commune/Sangkat Fund therefore represents a rare instance of a development program that began as a donor-supported initiative with limited geographic scope, but evolved into a fully government-owned, nationwide program—one that has had profound socioeconomic impacts, as a new AidData evaluation finds.
Cambodia made major strides during the period following the program’s expansion, with the national poverty rate falling from nearly 50% in 2006 to less than 15% by 2014. Yet, until recently it was unclear how much the Commune/Sangkat Fund contributed to these gains, as no rigorous impact evaluation (with counterfactual evidence of what would have happened in the program’s absence) had ever been done. In partnership with Sweden’s Expert Group for Aid Studies, a team of researchers from AidData and Open Development Cambodia has published the first geospatial impact evaluation of the Commune/Sangkat Fund’s long-term effects, filling this evidence gap.
Read the full report, Building on a Foundation Stone: The Long-Term Impacts of a Local Infrastructure and Governance Project in Cambodia, on the EBA’s website.
The ‘communes' and 'sangkats' of the program’s name refer to the 1,621 jurisdictions where local governance takes place in Cambodia. In 1996, the Government of Cambodia, Sida, and other donors launched a pilot program— called Seila—in just four communes and sangkats. ‘Seila’ means foundation stone in Khmer, and it introduced a suite of reforms and capacity-building efforts to restore public confidence in Cambodia’s local institutions. In 2002, the Seila program was reconfigured and renamed the Commune/Sangkat Fund as it entered a nationwide scale-up.
By 2010, the Government of Cambodia had assumed full financial and operational responsibility for the Fund, and nearly three percent of the central government’s budget was contributed to the program each year. These resources, in turn, were then allocated to local councils using a transparent formula, which facilitated an expansion of the program to all 1,621 of Cambodia's communes and sangkats. Ultimately, the program resulted in democratically-elected local councils managing the design and implementation of more than 40,000 local infrastructure projects across 14,073 villages. The vast majority of these projects supported the construction and rehabilitation of rural roads, water supply systems, irrigation dams, and canals.
To determine the net, attributable effect of the Commune/Sangkat Fund on local development outcomes, the evaluation team measured changes in nighttime light intensity within villages that occurred over time as a result of the implementation of individual Fund projects. Likewise, they used village-level administrative data on key indicators of wellbeing—such as infant mortality rates—to compare outcomes in each village after treatment to counterfactual outcomes obtained from the same village’s preceding socioeconomic outcomes. This quasi-experimental method provided a rigorous way to estimate the effects of the scale-up and institutionalization of the program, as opposed to other, independent factors that could have brought about local development gains.
The evaluation finds that the completion of locally-managed infrastructure projects supported by the Fund—in particular, road improvements in densely populated rural areas—significantly improved local economic development outcomes, as measured by changes in the intensity of nighttime lights. On average, a village that successfully implemented a single project saw a roughly 20% increase in nighttime lights attributable to that project. Since the median (or typical) village received four projects over the course of the program, it experienced an average gain of nearly 80% over its baseline level of nighttime lights. Even more encouraging is the fact that these impacts appear to grow over time, suggesting that infrastructure improvements increased not only the level but also the trajectory of economic development.
The evaluation team also found that projects supported by the Fund reduced infant mortality in the villages where they were implemented. On average, in a village that implemented a single project, infant mortality (measured by the number of deaths of infants less than one month old) fell by 3.2% from 2008 levels, indicating that socioeconomic gains were broadly shared by village residents. In a typical village that received four projects between 2008 and 2016, this average effect is roughly equivalent to a 12.8% reduction in infant mortality.
A focus on local governance
The Commune/Sangkat Fund was a major decentralization effort that provided public resources to local governments (many newly created) for the first time in a generation. Consequently, the evaluation team also examined how the socio-economic gains from Fund-supported infrastructure projects were influenced by community engagement, government responsiveness to citizen priorities, and the capacity of local village councils.
Previous research demonstrates that villages subjected to high levels of political violence under the Khmer Rouge have lower levels of social cohesion and community engagement today, so the evaluation team used data from Yale University’s Cambodian Genocide Program Interactive Geographic Database on the locations of prisons, mass graves, and memorial sites in Cambodia to proxy for pre-existing levels of community engagement. Government responsiveness was measured with village-level data on the percentage of community priorities that received funding during the first year of the Fund’s expansion (2002-03). Finally, the capacity of local councils was measured using several variables, including the total number of councilors per commune; the proportion of newly elected local council members and councils chief with previous experience; and the percentage of councilors that were female.
Counterintuitively, the evaluation finds that areas with lower levels of community engagement at the beginning of the program actually experienced larger gains from project implementation, and areas whose local councils were initially more responsive to citizen priorities experienced no greater impacts than other areas. Local government capacity, by contrast, was a key determinant of project success: communes with larger councils and more experienced councilors experienced larger economic gains, especially in areas with multiple projects. These results suggest that local councils’ ability to direct resources on the basis of citizen preferences may have been limited, and that while the Fund’s support of local institutions created some capacity for administering local projects, it did not substantially alter their responsiveness to citizen interests.
These findings reinforce a critical feature of the Commune/Sangkat Fund: unlike a typical community-driven development (CDD) program, in which a community exercises more direct control of planning decisions and more robust monitoring of project activities, the Fund prioritized the rebuilding of local government capacity over activities that would have required high levels of social trust and civic engagement. Recent studies show that CDD programs often fail to improve —and can even undermine—social cohesion and the quality of local governance. In settings where local government is severely capacity-constrained, CDD programs often underinvest in local government capacity, thereby setting in motion a vicious cycle of government inaction and citizen disengagement. But the Commune/Sangkat Fund seems to have avoided this “premature load-bearing” trap by first rebuilding local administrators’ credibility and capacity to perform basic functions that serve their constituents.
This study also highlights the importance of early, sustained investments in host country data systems. Since Sida and its partners invested in village-level data collection and management at an early stage, and because those investments were sustained over time by the Cambodian government, our evaluation team was able to precisely measure the timing of the program’s rollout over geographic space, as well as changes over time in village-level development conditions as the program scaled up. With this granular intervention and outcome data, geospatial impact evaluation methods could be employed to establish a credible counterfactual of what would have happened in the absence of the program and rigorously estimate the program’s long-term impacts. This allowed the program to be evaluated retrospectively and at a modest financial cost—nearly a decade after donors made their last financial contributions to the Fund.
To read the full evaluation, Building on a Foundation Stone: The Long-Term Impacts of a Local Infrastructure and Governance Program in Cambodia, please visit the EBA’s website here. | <urn:uuid:3d81acd6-2392-4bd2-ae36-63f6f2a4072e> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://www.aiddata.org/blog/how-cambodias-program-to-strengthen-local-governance-built-roads-and-saved-lives | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178359624.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20210227234501-20210228024501-00477.warc.gz | en | 0.954738 | 1,826 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Until the emergence of the concept of “Big Data”, data were mainly treated locally in data warehouses consisting of several structured databases. Gradually, the data sources are widely diversified and become relatively heterogeneous and were mainly localized on the Internet.
Analysts are projecting the future of the analysis of customer data. Several points of attention are highlighted. While most companies collect, store and analyze data, majority of them are struggling with their big project data and are struggling to meet IT challenges associated with the use of this framework.
Newscientist in association with Microsoft released an infographics how big data techniques seek to gain new insight by analyzing very large data sets. The proliferation of data sources associated with 3V (volume, variety, velocity) have contributed to big data’s growth in recent years. As per the infographics, data is coming in a growing variety of new and often unstructured forms such as text, video and sensor reading. Data sets are growing to around a petabyte (one million gigabytes), which until recently would have been unmanaged with standard hardware and software.
By 2020, all the digital data created, replicated and consumed per year will reach 40,000 Exabytes. The connected devices including pocket calculators, personnel computer, mobile phones, servers and mainframes and videogame consoles have contributed more than 10 million instructions per second.
Today, only 0.5% of data in the digital universe is being analyzed with a potential of increasing the figure to 23% if data is tagged and analyzed properly. Moreover, 13% (5,208 EB) of total digital data will be stored in the cloud in 2020, 24% will be processed or transmitted in the cloud but will not be stored and over 63% (25,030 EB) will remain unprocessed in the cloud.
Big Data Techniques
The infographics states that a wide variety of techniques has been developed and adapted to visualize, analyze, manipulate and aggregate big data to make this kind of data volume tractable. These techniques include Data fusion, Crowdsourcing, Time series analysis, A/B testing, Network analysis, Cluster analysis, Ensemble learning, Association rule learning, Machine learning and much more.
While A/B testing is used to compare different options against a control group in order to determine what treatments will improve a given objective; Cluster analysis is used for classifying objects that splits a diverse group into smaller groups of similar objects. Ensemble learning uses multiple predictive models to obtain better predictive performance.
Network analysis analyzes connections between nodes in a network and their strength. Lastly, Machine learning uses artificial intelligence to automatically learn to recognize complex patterns and make intelligent decisions based on data. | <urn:uuid:6e49aa3f-02d4-4903-86c6-7f6099ca08ac> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | http://cloudtimes.org/2013/06/13/big-data-techniques-for-analyzing-large-data-sets-infographic/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038119532.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20210417102129-20210417132129-00056.warc.gz | en | 0.939652 | 547 | 3.078125 | 3 |
The Globe Wellness Organization has a definition for Health and also Health. According to the Globe Wellness Company, wellness is a state of full well-being, without any type of condition or imperfection. This modern interpretation consists of physical, social, and also psychological wellness. Hence, it is important to locate means to maintain yourself healthy. To do so, you ought to practice these three habits. Continue reading to find out more. As well as don’t forget to include your spouse in your wellness and health regimens.
As people, our lives have lots of difficulties and opportunities. Having a sense of objective can secure our lives and also supply a favorable point of view. While this might appear abstract, it is very actual. By making healthy selections as well as embracing a positive mindset, we can guarantee our long-term health and wellness and health. Wellness and also wellness are a financial investment in our lives, so make sure you spend a long time nurturing yourself. It is your best investment! We have all chose to care for our bodies, but we pick to make them one of the most crucial.
The term Health as well as Health has a long history. Old worlds practiced nutritional habits and also workout routines targeted at advertising good health. This principle is additionally part of the origins of contemporary medicine. Hippocrates, the daddy of modern-day medicine, is attributed with promoting the idea of a healthy body. His focus on an all natural approach is the foundation of practical medication. By accepting health and wellness holistically, the emphasis is on avoidance.
Physical fitness and nutrition are fundamental elements of Wellness as well as Wellness. Physical conditioning boosts the body’s ability to resist disease as well as illness. Workout promotes a healthy mind. Exercise, such as strolling, cycling, and playing sporting activities, likewise advertises fitness and prevents the inactive way of life. Ample rest and diet plan help maintain the mind active. Health consists of an active way of living. In addition, a healthy and balanced setting promotes a favorable mental state.
Comprehending Health and Wellness is very important for all aspects of your life. It can aid you develop goals, develop a lasting plan, as well as create a total better lifestyle. The first step is health and wellness, and this must be the structure for any kind of healthy and balanced plan. Wellness and also Wellness aren’t equally special, nonetheless; it should be complementary. Health is necessary completely wellness as well as a lengthy life. However attaining both of these isn’t very easy. Wellness calls for that you care for on your own. You need to be active and also take steps to improve your wellness as well as health.
Physical wellness is very important for both the body and mind. By preserving a healthy and balanced diet regimen as well as exercise, you can lower your threat of illness as well as stroke, increase your energy, and also boost your state of mind. In addition, a balanced diet plan supplies the body with all the nutrients it requires to work effectively. A healthy diet regimen also fosters psychological and also psychological health, as correct nutrition aids the mind stay sharp and protects against anxiety. If you want enhancing your wellness as well as wellness, check out these suggestions and start cultivating it on a recurring basis.
The National Health Institute has a definition of Health based on the eight dimensions of well-being. According to the institute, wellness incorporates the physical, emotional, social, as well as intellectual elements of living. Utilizing this framework will help you streamline intervention efforts and assess results. The National Wellness Institute offers even more details about the principle. If you’re interested in learning more about Health and also Wellness, check out our e-learning component! The Wellness 360 lifestyle is really life altering, and also can transform the means you take a look at your life.
The UW School of Wellness as well as Wellness (HAWES) supplies an education in wellness management. The program is shown by University of Wisconsin professors and sector specialists, as well as it features a broad-ranging educational program including health and wellness, regulation, research study, and also interaction training courses. It will allow you to acquire important insights and management skills. This is an extremely useful ability for any type of occupation path. If you want to produce a worksite culture of health and wellness as well as wellness, the UW Health and wellness as well as Health care is the ideal fit for you.
A well balanced diet with minimally processed foods has actually been shown to boost immunity, minimize the danger of chronic diseases, and promote a flourishing digestive tract microbiome. This connection between the digestive tract as well as mind is a significant consider emotional as well as emotional health. Actually, 90% of our serotonin is created in our gut. Food influences every significant system of our body, so it’s important to learn which foods will make us feel excellent as well as provide us with one of the most nourishment.
Whether you are searching for ways to enhance your general health and wellness or are looking for a way to enhance your life, you may locate some suggestions listed below to assist you. Taking responsibility for your health as well as wellness is a crucial to a fulfilling life. With the help of a wellness program, you can boost your total wellness and health and also enjoy a much healthier, better way of living. Just like any type of significant way of life adjustment, wellness requires time to accomplish. So, set little goals, make healthier choices as well as stay favorable. Wellness is a fantastic financial investment in your total wellness.
The Globe Wellness Company defines health and wellness as “total physical, mental, and social wellbeing” and stresses the connection between physical, psychological, and social wellness. A healthy and balanced way of living includes staying clear of unhealthy behaviors, tension, depression, as well as addiction. It also stresses the value of being active and participated in a social atmosphere to advertise health. Nonetheless, health is an outcome of lots of aspects, consisting of an individual’s way of living and environment. While a healthy and balanced setting is necessary, it is likewise vital to maintain a positive attitude and also adopt a way of life that advertises optimum wellness. cbd extract
Establishing a wellness society is an essential step in the direction of improving your overall health. A worksite wellness society promotes a setting where individuals are motivated to be physically active and also healthy. It also improves the lives of workers and also boosts the organization’s bottom line. There are several benefits to developing a wellness culture at the office, so why not begin today? It will only take a couple of mins to find out exactly how to create a healthy and balanced environment for yourself!
A balanced lifestyle will improve your general wellness, allowing you to live a fulfilling and healthy and balanced life. By including wellness techniques right into your way of living, you can establish reasonable goals, create a sustainable plan, and boost your lifestyle. Health and wellness is an essential part of general health, but it doesn’t represent the whole process. Wellness and also wellness go hand in hand. In fact, wellness is a long-lasting pursuit. With healthy and balanced living comes the possibility to enhance every aspect of your life. | <urn:uuid:ed6c505f-4d7f-4c7a-939b-e61b0864814f> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | http://www.whatisaglutenfreedietreview.com/2022/06/16/i-will-certainly-tell-you-the-reality-regarding-wellness-and-wellness-in-the-following-one-minute/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103619185.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20220628233925-20220629023925-00412.warc.gz | en | 0.96924 | 1,490 | 2.828125 | 3 |
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