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A gardener using a dibble or dibber.
Origin of dibberAlteration of dibble.
Variant of dibble
a pointed tool used to make holes in the soil for seeds, bulbs, or young plants
also called dibber
Origin of dibbleMiddle English dibbel, probably ; from dibben: see dib
- to use a dibble
- to dip bait gently into the water | <urn:uuid:b08dd31b-6713-4580-9489-fa225aad8769> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://www.yourdictionary.com/dibber | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416931004237.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20141125155644-00173-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.717457 | 93 | 2.65625 | 3 |
A lowest-common-denominator approach to getting kids to eat their fruits and veggies.
Many a parent has employed special tactics to convince picky kids to eat their broccoli and blueberries. But this may be the first time the selling point is bottoms. As in butts, rear ends, derrières. Yes, this storybook app aims to interest kids in fruits and vegetables by focusing on the shapes, textures and sizes of their heinies. All but one of the book’s 16 pages focus on one fruit or vegetable, accompanied by a few facts and a description of its butt. Thomas P. Coconut, for example, has a hairy bottom. Gus Phineas Asparagus has a skinny bottom, and he warns that if you eat him, he’ll make your pee stink. Forelle Pear has a large, spotted bottom, and so on. Two of the four icons at the base of each page are navigation tools, one prompts narration, and the fourth causes characters to spin around and show their rumps. Some of the swipe and shake features are clever: With a few of the characters, narration is muffled until the shell, skin or pod is opened.
Kids may learn a thing or two about fruits and vegetables here. But selling it to them via potty humor seems rather desperate. (iPad storybook app. 4-7). | <urn:uuid:b0ca3ac8-486f-43b1-ae14-f405f73117c5> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/red-card-studios/veggie-bottoms/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701146196.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193906-00336-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9583 | 286 | 2.6875 | 3 |
The idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts is often used in Gestalt theory to describe human perception. However, this concept of synergy has its place in general biology as well. In a recent BMC Biology article, William Ryu and colleagues describe a novel assay in C elegans whereby monitoring multiple behaviours simultaneously shows that, surprisingly, worm thermosensory behaviour is governed by a variable – but not an increasing – number of genes, depending on the severity of the heat applied.
It is obviously critical for organisms to respond appropriately to adverse environmental conditions. Nematode worms have developed a very characteristic response to excessive heat that reorients them away from the noxious stimulus. In short, when a worm senses heat, it moves backwards, turns and resumes its forward movement in the new direction. Previous studies have characterized the genes by heating up a worm and looking at how a particular aspect of this sequence of movements changes as a function of genetic mutation. In today’s paper, instead of looking at only one response, the authors describe an assay that measures multiple aspects of the worm’s response simultaneously. This delivered the surprising result that unique combinations of molecules define responses to different increases in temperature, rather than that there is a single mechanism that scales with the heat.
The authors have not yet gone for the circuitry behind these variable responses. The next step will be to extract the specific genetic influences active at different temperatures. But now that we are starting to look at things on a systems-level, how many more surprises are in store for us? | <urn:uuid:0926b03f-fd4a-4846-9882-8c74b606a7f9> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-biology/2012/11/01/opening-a-new-can-of-worms-for-sensory-perception/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656103661137.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20220630031950-20220630061950-00103.warc.gz | en | 0.939089 | 316 | 3.046875 | 3 |
In 2018, psychiatrist Oleguer Plana-Ripoll was wrestling with a puzzling fact about mental disorders. He knew that many individuals have multiple conditions — anxiety and depression, say, or schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He wanted to know how common it was to have more than one diagnosis, so he got his hands on a database containing the medical details of around 5.9 million Danish citizens.
He was taken aback by what he found. Every single mental disorder predisposed the patient to every other mental disorder — no matter how distinct the symptoms. “We knew that comorbidity was important, but we didn’t expect to find associations for all pairs,” says Plana-Ripoll, who is based at Aarhus University in Denmark. | <urn:uuid:f7d56487-3882-45e3-b8f7-9dfaa58a37e1> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://sharpbrains.com/tags/research-domain-criteria/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780057039.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20210920131052-20210920161052-00360.warc.gz | en | 0.974277 | 159 | 2.90625 | 3 |
- May 29, 2020
Technology has worked a lot for the improvement of the world. It has provided so many facilities to the public that things which were just envisioned as fantasies are now the real things that people can make use of.
Machines have helped a lot the business units and corporate worldwide to burgeon their productivity and success. Almost everything is run through machines and not only it has benefited the business organizations and employment setups, but it has also helped the whole world in various ways –
# AI s can be used for imagination building power – The human has so many visions and imaginations in-built in their minds such as they have vast knowledge about how a human works from his birth till death. Similarly, AIs can be used to develop wild visions and imaginations in their minds. A very famous machine vision researcher Helena Sarin has used her imaginations when she designed some new faces which are also called Gan.
# AI can be used to control traffic jams – AI is used to control the traffic jam by conducting traffic signals management and control, estimating potential obstacles, and predicting accidents.
# AI can be used for knitting purposes – The AI software is used in creating new fashion styles and textile patterns. One of the best Artificial intelligence software used in knitting is Sky Knit. Sky Knit has tentacle- strewn knitting patterns methodology to create wonderful knitting apparel.
# Neural networks – Artificial intelligence software has also worked to create neural networks that will act just like human brains. For this purpose, Artificial intelligence scientists have created an algorithm that will mimic the human brain.
# AI systems in catching criminals – Police forces also use Artificial intelligence devices to find criminals and thieves. In the UK, the police force has created an AI device that will help to recognize the face of the culprit with the help of the Facial recognition system. The police can identify the guilty with just a portion of the face such as ear only. AI systems are also used in courts too to take court decisions like if the criminal should be released or held in custody by making a prediction that will he commit the crime again or not.
# Estimating quakes – Artificial intelligence can estimate the occurrence of devastating natural disasters. The computers with the help of the technique of Artificial intelligence will get information in advance if any natural disaster shock is on the edge or not.
# Rapping – Artificial intelligence can also work wonder for the rappers too. AI can rap lyrics away too fluently. The singers as well as avail the benefits AI provides to create raps and songs.
# AI can be used to design smarter homes – AI has already been used in our homes in our phones and voice-activated assistants. AI is used to manage so many home appliances. AI analyses the home electricity meter with a definite fingerprint on electrical appliances which will be used to put off the power-unfilled apparatus and equipment when they will not be in use.
# AI can be used to build electronic chefs – As it has been discussed earlier that AIs can be used to construct a neural network that can mimic the brain of a man. Similarly, AI is also used to organize electronic chefs and for cooking things in the kitchen. Electronic chefs can also help in making the new recipes which will greatly advantageous to the people.
So, these are some of the ways how Technology and AI can serve the people better and have already worked for the people in recent years. It is estimated that AI users will tend to increase to a great extent in the coming decades and almost all the working sectors will use AI software applications in their buildings to foster their productivity and operations. | <urn:uuid:1bf90129-30de-461d-9216-f5e05276ff32> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://msginfosys.com/blog/ways-artificial-intelligence-is-changing-the-world-for-better | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038101485.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20210417041730-20210417071730-00173.warc.gz | en | 0.960107 | 731 | 2.59375 | 3 |
For Lil Sis, we read about the last supper, the cross, resurrection and ascension
This isn't the first time we coincide so beautifully with the passion week. This week we prepare for Good Friday and Easter and Lil Sis was reading all about it!
We were also reading about Leonardo Da Vinci, so this is a great time do the "Last Supper" craft.
And we made the resurrection cookies. Last time we made these was three years back!
These are the ingredients and this time all took turns to read (besides Baby Sis of course)
The last step was the "seal" the tomb. The kids said "But we could take off the tape!" So I told them "Just as we think as if the tape could stop us from opening the oven, as if the stone can stop Jesus from resurrecting!!"
The tomb is empty!!
We learnt about the South American tribes before the Spanish invaded the land.
We also made maps of Magellan and Verspucci.
When we talked about the gods of the tribes and how they need to "keep the god alive" by sacrificing human blood, we were reminded how wonderful God wants us as a living sacrifice and He is the one who keeps US alive.
We made Aztec pots.
The older kids continued on Rod and Staff English.
Lil Sis worked on her bible story reading and bible notebook.
The older two did a review for 康軒一下 for Mandarin Chinese and Lil Sis did practice on bopomofo
We learnt two more Latin words "facio" and "plico" this week.
I used puzzlemaker to make the crossword puzzle for review. The kids really like this.
We continued to practice Math.
We learnt about Jupiter and there were so many interesting information about it.
Because we are cutting down screen time, we did the newspaper by writing instead of on the computer.
Lil Sis did a page from learningpage.
We did replicas of the Mona Lisa
And we learnt to paint with soft edges.
Pinterest Page for 1st Grade
Pinterest Page for RtR
Booklog for RtR
Booklog for 1st Grade
Booklog for 5th Grader (books for leisure)
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Aircraft, Avionic and Airplane Technicians and Mechanics are classified according to the following categories:
- aircraft mechanics
- mechanics and technicians
- airframe mechanics
- power plant mechanics
- avionics technicians
Aircraft mechanics inspect airplane instruments and the engines; and aircraft accessories such as the brakes and pumping systems. They record maintenance repairs. Mechanics and technicians inspect the aircraft based upon its operation cycle and its maintenance schedule. Mechanics diagnose mechanical problems with the aircraft’s console or electronic box. They monitor the operation of the aircraft. They disassemble the engine and determine areas that have suffered from erosion. They repair faulty and malfunctioning parts. They measure for tension and check for cracks in the airplane’s wing and tail. They perform tests on the equipment after it has been repaired to ensure that it functions properly. Mechanics perform additional troubleshooting tests to locate electrical problems and broken wires. Most mechanics and technicians typically work on jets and helicopters; and some work on just the hydraulics system. Others work in small repair shops.
Airframe mechanics work on all parts of the aircraft except those parts that deal with the propellers and the power plants. Powerplant mechanics work on the engines. Both airframe mechanics and powerplant mechanics (A&P) work on most parts of the aircraft except the airplane’s instruments. Avionics technicians repair the systems that control the engine and the aircraft’s navigation instruments. They repair the electronic devices and the communications panel. Job opportunities are expected to continue for mechanics and technicians who hold an FAA-approved aircraft maintenance certificate.
Aircraft, Avionic and Airplane Technicians and Mechanics Job Responsibilities
Aircraft mechanics and technicians work under extreme pressure within loud and chaotic environments. They work in repair stations. They adhere to health and safety regulations. They often lift items and equipment that weighs a minimum of seventy pounds. They kneel and stand for long periods of time. They wear protective gear to cover their ears and eyes. They work a typical forty-hour work week that extends into overtime due to flight delays and aircraft maintenance problems.
Aircraft, Avionic and Airplane Technicians and Mechanics Training and Education Requirements
Mechanics and technicians must have completed a high school diploma. They must speak English. They must have a certification to work on the aircraft. Mechanics and technicians receive a certification conferred by the FAA through the Aviation Maintenance Technical School. As part of the requirements toward completion of the program, students must complete a minimum of 1900 in-class hours. The program typically lasts for two years. Mechanics and technicians may also complete a four-year degree in aviation technology or aviation maintenance through the FAA maintenance schools.
Mechanics and technicians may also receive their education through trade schools that offer an aircraft maintenance curriculum. The curriculum is typically centered on coursework studies in aircraft construction and aircraft maintenance. To complete these courses, students must have a working knowledge of computers and their connection to electronics. For an advanced degree in avionics, students must takes courses in physics, electronics, and mechanical drawing. Students may also consider taking courses in English and report writing.
Aircraft, Avionic and Airplane Technicians and Mechanics Salary and Wages
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median hourly wage for mechanics and technicians was $24.71 in May 2008. For mechanics and technicians who worked for the federal government, the median hourly wage was $24.78. Avionics technicians received $23.71 in the same year, with the highest ten percent earning an hourly wage of $30.87, $2.32 lower than mechanics and technicians in the same year. Jet mechanics earn more than avionics mechanics. Entrants into the field can expect to earn more than all mechanics and technicians by graduating from an FAA-approved aviation maintenance school.*
*According to the BLS, http://www.bls.gov/oco/
Aircraft, Avionic and Airplane Technicians and Mechanics Certifications
Mechanics and technicians are required to be licensed aircraft maintenance technicians. They must receive a certification from the FAA. To apply for an A&P certificate, mechanics and technicians need over one year experience in the field and at least two years working with engines. They must attend an FAA-approved maintenance school. They must pass the FAA’s Designated Mechanic Examiner, the practical, oral, and written portions of the test. Mechanics and technicians must complete an additional sixteen hours of on-the-job training to keep their certificates. Avionics technicians must also be certified through the FAA in repair of airframe equipment. They are only required to have this certificate if they don’t have experience in repair.
Aircraft, Avionic and Airplane Technicians and Mechanics Professional Associations
Mechanics and technicians may join The Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA). PAMA fosters professional development in the field by providing educational resources and certification for the Aviation Maintenance Technician program. Regular members are part of the airframe mechanics and avionics technicians group; they can join for $49. An individual may join as an Associate Member for $49. Students in the field may join for $20 per year, provided they are enrolled in an FAA-approved school. They may join as apprentice technicians. Corporate institutions may join for $650 per year. Education members may join for $99 per year. Membership benefits include the newsletter, the journal, an online blog, membership in a local chapter, seminars and conferences, and networking opportunities. Mechanics and technicians with an FAA certificate may take advantage of the PAMA Legal Services Plan. | <urn:uuid:2afb43fa-32a8-4436-837c-b073ea81c528> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://jobdescriptions.net/maintenance/aircraft-avionic-and-airplane-technicians/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251684146.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20200126013015-20200126043015-00006.warc.gz | en | 0.951308 | 1,138 | 3.265625 | 3 |
2Time Table 1:30 – 2:00 Greeting 2:00 – 3:50 Technical Seminar Part I 3:50 – 4:10 Coffee Break4:10 – 6:00 Technical Seminar Part II
3This one day course contains Antenna definitionAntenna parametersDifferent antenna typesgigaAnt standard antennasPCB issuesOther factors that influence the antennaMatching and tuningTesting and verificationRange
4Antenna Definition Antenna interaction A device for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic radiationMaking a guided electromagnetic wave travel in free space“A means for radiating or receiving radio waves”, IEEE StdAntenna interactionAs a result, the antenna and its surrounding needs to be regarded as a unit since they interact strongly
5Electromagnetic radiation c = f f = 2.45GHz = 12 cmX-Ray, Light, Radio, Heat - It is all the same: Photons!
6Influencing antenna size Material choice = permitivity FR4 in case /2 antenna, half the lengthMatchingAdding capacitance or inductance by means of electronic components.Geometryantenna typeshape (helix, spiral, meander etc.)utilise part of the application.
7Frequency bands for Mobile phones MHzNMT and CountriesEAMPS USAGSM EuropeEGSM EuropeNTT JapanDCS EuropePCS USAUMTSISM WorldwideVisible light THzISM = Instrumentation, Scientific, MedicalBluetoothWLAN (IEEE )HomeRF
8Frequency bands for data communication WLANMHz On the way outGHz AvailableGHz Available soonGHz Will perhaps be availableBTGPS1575,42 MHz Available
9Antenna parameters Lobes Gain Polarisation Efficiency Frequency Band Knowledge about the antenna parameters is needed in order for us to understand our customers and vice versa.LobesGainPolarisationEfficiencyFrequency BandRadiation pattern
10Radiation pattern 3D Radiation pattern with lobes Linear plot of power pattern
11Radiation intensityRadiation intensity in a given direction, , is defined as the power radiated from an antenna per unit solid angleRadiation intensity for an isotropic source:where is the total power radiated by the source
12DirectivityDirectivity is a measure of how an antenna concentrates the radiated power in a particular direction.Directivity is the ratio of the intensity, in a given direction, to the radiation intensity that would be obtained if all the power radiated by the antenna were radiated isotropically:a unitless figure
13GainGain is a measure of how an antenna concentrates the radiated power in a particular direction.Gain is the ratio of the intensity, in a given direction, to the radiation intensity that would be obtained if all the power was accepted by the antenna and was radiated isotropically:a unitless figure dBi
14Gain/Directivity Isotropic Omnidirectional Lobes Dipole = Donut Normally measured in dBRelative unitdBi: relative ideal isotropicIsotropic radiator has 0dBi gaindBd: relative ideal dipole (1 dBd dBi)If a gain value is given without any direction, it is the maximum gainMore power in one direction at the expense of other directions
15Gain: good/bad Stationary or mobile application Important to reach out in a certain directionWall or corner positionLess important inside a small room due to reflectionsRegulation limits ETSI EN Max 100mW eirp FCC peak power reduction when antenna gain over 6dBi
16Decibel Used to compare two figures with each other Describes better measurable steps than fractionsAlways unitlessdBdBi (isotropic)dBd (dipole)dBm (miliwatt)dBw (Watt)
17Antenna efficiency (total) Good figure of merit, especially for small antennasRatio of the power sent to the antenna to the power radiated by the antennaUnitlessIdeal 1Often given in percentRadiated efficiency is given as the ratio of the power accepted by the antenna to the power radiated by the antenna, and is thus higher than totoal efficiency if there is losses in strip line, components etc.The average gain in all directions is the same as the efficiency.
18Polarization Circular Linear Small antennas have no clear polarization Reflection affects polarizationMaximum power transfer requires polarization match between antennas in free space. In reality, polarization is not a problem.
20EVOLUTION 1. Monopole L- antenna F- antenna PIFA (Wire inverted F-antenna)PIFA(Planar inverted F-antenna)Move feeding point to 50 Ohm to create high inductance. High surface current = high power loss/4 - PinGood, but very tall, 37 Ohm/4 - PinBetter, medium tall, but capacitivity to earth planeCreate larger area to minimise surface resistance and power losses
21EVOLUTION 2. /2 - PATCH /4 - PATCH = PIFA That point is connected to earth and the antenna size is reduced by half.LargeIn the middle of the antenna the Voltage = O v.
22Microstrip Printed on PCB Low cost Although thin, quite large Depends on variation in board materialFree space-dependentNarrow bandwidth
24Your BenefitShorter time to marketProject support from A to ZHigh performance solutions
252.4 GHz antenna concepts for a wide range of applications Snap-inICMHead setsLaptopSWIVELMobile phonesInstrumentsSMDDigital pensDonglesPDA’sPCMCIA-cards
26External Concepts Swivel TITANISGain 1.6 dBiEfficiency: 75%VSWR <1.5:1Length : 50 mmBasic dataExternal 1/2 wave dipole Independent of ground plane withinternal matching netTypical ApplicationsDevelopment kits, Prototypes, Printers , InstrumentsCustomer benefits- Easy implementation - no matching & tuning - Perfect for feasibility studies- High performance - reliable data transfer- Designed for flexible mounting - rotating antenna bladeVIRAGOGain 1.6 dBEfficiency: 75%VSWR <1.5:1Length : 50 mm
27Internal concepts Snap-in FLAVUSGain 1.4 dBiVSWR <1.4:1Efficiency: 62 %Dim (mm) : 8x27x3 mmGeneralInternal 1/2 wave dipole independent of ground plane with external matchingApplicationsMobile & desktop computers, Measuring instrumentsaudio equipment, Automotive systems, Note booksCustomer Benefits- Easy & fast implementation - 1 working week- High performance - reliable data transfer- No soldering - Designed for pick & place - Proven conceptCRISPUSGain 1.6 dBiVSWR <1.5:1Efficiency: 73%Dim (mm) : 20x30x4
28ICM concept General Internal Case Mounted antenna 1/2 wave dipole ICM - Single bandGeneralInternal Case Mounted antenna 1/2 wave dipoleindependent of ground plane with external matching,customized design of contact points and antenna.ApplicationsPDA’s, handheld devices, instruments, etcCustomer benefit- High performance where space is restricted- Flexible mounting - type of fastening- Fast implementation compared to ceramic - Requires little space - only contact pad- Multi purpose antennas GHz & GSMICM - Multi BandICM - Dual band
29SMD concept General Internal 1/4 wave PIFA dependent of ground plane. ApplicationsMobile & desktop computers, Measuring instrumentsaudio equipment, Automotive systems, Note booksCustomer benefits- Easy and fast implementation - 1 week - Designed for SMD soldering- High performance - reliable data transfer- Small in size - Less sensitive than ceramicMICAGain 3-5 dBiVSWR <2.5Efficiency: 60%Dim (mm) : 19x3.2x3.2
30CUSTOMER Ramp-up gigaAnt Antenna delivery STARTUP PROJECT PRODUCTION selectionFootprintsAppli.notessamplesReview ofdesign& PCBDesign ofprototypePrototypereadyRamp-upSTARTUPPROJECTPRODUCTIONgigaAntAntennaselectionguidanceReview of PCB designTuning &MatchingVerificationof prototypeFinalreportAntenna delivery
32Implementation issues Internal / ExternalStandard or custom made Time schedule, estimated production volume, Available volume in deviceIn-House or RF-Partner with know-howRequired performanceSpace limitationsOperating environmentContinuous dialogUnderstanding for RF-problemsEarly access to chassisEarly access to populated PCB
33Antenna implementation: Standard concept AdvantagesWell known electrical performanceEnvironmentally / mechanically testedSpecifications and application note availableTools already manufacturedFast implementationLower pricePossible solution for low volume applicationsDisadvantagesHard to fulfill special requirementsSize/Shape might not fit available volume optimal (form factor)
34Antenna implementation: Standard concept Common steps (RF point of view)Advice customer in antenna choices and placement Performance, Available volume, Hands…Review PCB-drawing for RF-mistakes Feeding (length, path, dimensions), Matching location, Ground plane, Through plating, Calculations…Build mock-up Antenna performance, Matching, Covers, Surrounding components, Hidden things…Final product Matching, Tuning, MeasurementsReport Antenna performance, MatchingFollow up
35Antenna implementation: New concept AdvantagesMeet special requirementsUse all available volume in order to increase antenna performanceChance to start a new standard conceptDisadvantagesUncertain antenna performanceNo documentation availableAlways a risk in new toolsUses lot of resources and time in organizationMight only fit one applicationCostly in small volumes
36Antenna implementation: New concept Common steps (RF point of view)Advice customer in antenna choicesBuild mock-up, often several in a developing processCheck PCB for RF-mistakesFind subcontractor for tools, material, manufacturingTest products from subcontractorsOrder tools (prototype tool, soft tool, hard tool)Environmental test on parts from toolsChanging toolsAfter receiving PCB, matching and measurementChanges in PCB and covers are commonSeveral reports during the processFollow up
37Ceramic Antennas Pros Small size Compact surface mount units Cons Large ground plane dependence -> high of non-working antennaNarrow bandwidthLow efficiencyHand sensitive
38Mechanical design Parameters that affect performance Covers: Material, Shape, Colors, MetalisationFree space / Office environmentHumansStationary/mobile applicationReflections from walls etcEnvironmental factors
39Electrical design Parameters that affect performance Ground plane PositionSurrounding componentsTransmission line dimensionsFeeding (balanced/unbalanced)MatchingThrough platings
40StripsEven if calculated to be 50 ohm, if too thin it introduces large losses due to distributed parasitic coupling to ground plane.Long strips should be avoided because of the high losses at 2.4 GHz in general FR-4.Sharp bend should be avoided because of the parasitic effects. Better to split up into two bends or a large radius.Some effects could be avoided if corner is chamfered.
41Different type of strip lines Co-planar waveguideMicrostripGrounded co-planar waveguideStripline
42Antenna impact on the PCB Antenna require certan ground planeOr lack of ground planeBe aware of antenna user interactionRF close to radio chip because of feedingArea for matcing componentsSurrounding components (battery, contacts, cables, loudspeaker)Outside shielded areas
44Receiver characteristics 0dBm TX Power-40 dBm RX 1m-70 dBm RX 10m-90 dBm noise floorSpecification requires -70dBmSome radio chips down to -90dBmThe actual sensitivity level is defined as the input level for which a raw bit error rate (BER) of 0.1% is met. The requirement for a Bluetooth receiver is an actual sensitivity level of –70 dBm or better. The receiver must achieve the –70 dBm sensitivity level with any Bluetooth transmitter compliant to the transmitter specificationThe 10 meter range is not included in Bluetooth specification.
45Antenna rangeFriis transmission equation relates operating range, power and gainHard partition office decreases range increases nTwo antennas with 2 dBi gainRadio fulfilling -70 dBm.
47Network AnalyserMeasuring S-parameters in frequency domain VSWR, Return Loss, Smith ChartPhaseEvaluate matchingEvaluate undesired lossesCoverage measurements
48VSWR (Voltage Standing Wave Ratio) Determination of matching between the antenna and the transceiver in the prototypeEssential to minimising power losses
49VSWRIdeal 1:1Typical 2:1Minimized by matching networkPower sent to the antenna should be accepted and not reflected.
50Return Loss Used to describe antenna Related to VSWR Narrow / Spread bandS11-parameterThe analyzer sweeps frequencies and register reflection from antenna
51Smith Chart is used for matchinng and adjusting antennas Based on the result of Smith Chart measurements gigaAnt can carry out network matchingAntenna ImpedanceStrip line impedanceSmith Chart is used for matchinng and adjusting antennas
52Transmission measurement Losses in feedingLosses in connectionsIsolation between antennasS12-parameter
543D radiation patternRadiation pattern of the antenna when mounted in the actual deviceNeeded to ensure the required functionality. It is easily seen if an antenna really is sufficiently omnidirectional or if a directional antenna has the expected radiation pattern.
563D radiation pattern measurement Anechoic chamber with shielding and absorbersAdvanced controlling of probe positionTwo probes collecting both polarisationsNetwork analyzer to collect dataNearfileld to farfield transformationMeasure one frequency at the timeDUT is rotating phi while probes are stepping theta.
57Radiation PatternPattern from Bluetooth swivel under development measured in Moteco´s anechoic chamber.A 3D scan reveals things a 2D scan never could.
59SAR - (Specific Absorption Rate) Governmental/ International agreement on how much a transmitting unit is allowed to heat tissueWe verify compliance with national/international regulations = Tissue conductivity (S/m)E = Electric field strength in tissue (V/m) = Tissue dencity (kg/m3)
60SAR Not necessary for the 10 meter (1dBm) Bluetooth standard Necessary for the 100 (20dBm) meter Bluetooth standardEurope 2.0 mW/g over 10g cube tissueUSA 1.6 mW/g over 1 g cube tissueSAR measurements are difficultRequires expensive and advanced equipment
61Field measurementExamination of the electrical and magnetic fields on the surface of the product (prototype) and antennaImportant measurements the result is used during the development process to verify functionality and to ensure SAR compliance
62Summary Antenna Development Simulation is a useful tool, but not perfectThe PCB is very essential to make a good antenna.Prototypes are an essential part of the developmentContinuous measurement and verification after changes in the surroundingsExperience and know-how are important for a good resultIteration between design and measurement is needed
63You need the right antenna to communicate ! What ? | <urn:uuid:0c55311f-98e3-41b1-8dd0-72527cefdfd0> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://slideplayer.com/slide/257422/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886102393.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20170816191044-20170816211044-00470.warc.gz | en | 0.809858 | 3,154 | 2.875 | 3 |
AIDS : ANOTHER VIEW
By Dr. Michel Henrard
(Text of the special issue of the magazine INFOR VIE SAINE a.s.b.l., N° 92 of November December 1992, written under the pseudonym Ch. Randier)
The viewpoint of Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer
The viewpoint of Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer
If our criticism proves to be correct, say the alternative researchers who have just founded the "Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of HIV/AIDS", the link HIV-AIDS will be considered to be the largest medical blunder of this century.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTIONA little bit of history: the birth of a disease
Two fundamental objections
First law. The relations between psychism, brain and organs. Psychic origin of disease
Second law. The two phases of disease
Third law. The nature of symptoms according to the two phases
Fourth law. The role of microbes
The impact of symptoms and medical conceptions
Diagnosis and treatment The basic conflict
The general state
The cerebral symptoms
The opportunistic infections
Bone and bone marrow
The lymphatic glands
The respiratory organs
The digestive organs
The official theory of AIDS had its tenth birthday in 1993 and, today, it remains the reference in the medical circles, and, as a matter of consequence, in the minds of the public. Although it has become more sophisticated, it still only entails questioning and fear; and even despair for those directly concerned by it.
The tragedy of AIDS is real, but its extent may be appreciated in different ways. Considering mortality i.e. concretely, the number of AIDS victims this extent may seem very limited when compared with the extent of other "diseases" such as cancer or cardiovascular diseases. Considering, on the contrary, the rising number of people being only seropositive, the importance of the plague seems to grow together with the number of questions and with the gaps in the theory. Notably the fundamental question of understanding how and why one evolves from seropositivity to the disease? When finally considering the impact on the populations state of mind, the consequences become impressive, through the haunting thoughts that spread almost in the whole world and that modified behaviour at different levels: personal, medical, social,
The aim of this booklet is to contribute to demystify the plague. To this end, we will first pick out the shortages of the classical explanations, because, notwithstanding all the succeeding and multiplying hypotheses, one still does not know the mechanism through which the HIV virus can lead to AIDS. Next, we will evoke the questioning starting to express itself more openly within the scientific community in this 1992 spring. And, last but not least, we will propose a coherent explanation of the AIDS phenomenon by following a very different approach though: AIDS seen as a simple peculiar case in the process of disease in general and that can be understood according to the same principles as those applicable to the other affections.
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY: THE BIRTH OF A DISEASE
The AIDS concept is born in the United States in 1981, where the first cases were noted. The term consists of the initials of Acquired Immune-Deficiency Syndrome. Syndrome means the whole of the symptoms and a table was drawn associating an alteration of the general state (loss of weight, fever, fatigue, ), the swelling of the glands and an abnormally high frequency of various infections. These two last characteristics in traditional medical reasoning evoked a downturn of the immune system considered to be our defence organ against the microbial attacks, hence immune deficiency. Finally, the syndrome was noted as acquired opposing to inborn or congenital as it appeared most of the time in adults between 20 and 45 years of age.
At that time, there was not yet a rational explanation for the disease, but we may already retain two observation elements to be kept in mind as they will reveal troubling, as well as highly significant in the scope of this booklet. The first is the fact that the syndrome is almost exclusively observed in a list of "minorities": homosexuals, drug addicts, haemophiliacs, prostitutes, black immigrants. The second one is that it affects about nine times more men compared with women. On the other hand, the syndrome was quickly considered infectious and transmissible through sexual contact and through the blood.
The second and conclusive milestone of the history is set less than two years later in the laboratories of the Institut Pasteur in Paris. Considering the viral hypothesis of the syndrome, the virology team of Professor Montagnier examined an hypertrophied gland removed from a patient clinically diagnosed as an AIDS patient. In March 1983, they isolate a virus from it that to date has not been identified yet and that will be baptised HIV1 or LAV. The discovery was transmitted to the scientific circles and confirmed: a new virus was found in AIDS cases and, consequently, it had to be the responsible agent.
Within the two years that followed, the data and hypotheses are building up and take shape. Some other related viruses are being involved. The way of transmission from a pregnant woman to her foetus, through the placenta, is also established. The virus is principally found in a variety of white blood cells called T4 lymphocytes, being a cornerstone of our immune system, and this was considered a scientific confirmation of the immune deficiency. Screening tests are elaborated but, as it is technically very difficult to isolate the virus itself, the corresponding antibodies are rather being measured out. These are the specific proteins manufactured by some white blood cells when the organism is in contact with a micro-organism: they are, consequently, the proof that the individual was "contaminated".
At this stage, a clarification of the difference between seropositivity and AIDS as such is necessary. The most simple way is to recall the four stages described by the theory in the "disease owed to HIV". The first stage starts with the contamination, i.e. as soon as the individual is contaminated. It is qualified as a primary invasion, lasts a few weeks to a few months, can be symptomless or present various and non-specific signs such as fatigue, fever, digestive or cutaneous disorders, temporary swelling of the glands, etc The second stage reveals the presence of antibodies, what is called the stage of seropositivity. It is the asymptomatic stage, with or without biological abnormalities (decrease of the number of blood cells and, in particular, of the T4s, protein modification), that can last months or years. The third stage witnesses the appearance of durable and important gland swelling; this with or without biological abnormalities other than seropositivity. I classically announces the fourth stage that is clearly symptomatic and where one finally speaks of AIDS. This last stage subdivides in various sub-groups according to the possible numerous symptoms: marked affection of the general state, neurological signs, various infections, cancers, etc
In parallel and progressively, the most fantastic mediatisation was set on, that will make AIDS the discovery of this decade while spreading and amplifying fear. Because AIDS in itself is lethal, without much hope for a really efficient treatment or for a vaccine, being constantly postponed, the only hopes resides in the latency period between the simple state of seropositivity and the disease. The prognosis of this delay is imprecise and elastic; when looking back in time, it prolongs as we still find seropositives in good health after years. In fact, this hope is especially a hope for a reprieve, that not in the least takes away the permanent threat. Today, it is estimated that within ten years, one third of the persons infected may remain "unharmed"; one third will present more or less important symptoms and one third will develop the fatal disease.
TWO FUNDAMENTAL OBJECTIONS
Faced with the gloomy perspectives of these discoveries, the critical spirit of simple good sense makes one raise multiple questions, while remaining though in the frame of a classical medical reasoning. Let us summarise the principal questions:
Why does AIDS originate in minorities, notably sexual ones? In the case of the latter, the notion of transmission of the virus was, of course, rapidly and logically extended to the more usual relations of heterosexuality, but the "sexual victims" are homosexual in majority.
Why this impressive predominance still observed today of men among the diseased while certain studies dealing with seropositivity only show that women may also be contaminated?
Why all this lack of definition and modification in the delay between contamination and the disease? First for the individual himself for whom the fatal maturity may occur after some months as well as after several years; or not be noted yet, given rise to every possible speculation on the prognosis. Next, the theory that adapts itself to the observation of the facts recognises the possibility of its extension, almost proportional with the retrospect observation one has after years: one may not ignore the seropositives who are still in good health after a long period; but their case is far from being one of the essential concerns of research (what is evenso curious as regrettable).
Why such a sudden change in the classical approach of the antibody phenomenon? Up to now, they were considered a proof of a healthy reaction to a microbial attack. One studied the modifications of the blood level of these antibodies by means of successive sampling while keeping an eye on the clinical state of the patient, what allowed to conclude to either an evolutive or a regressive infection, or to the simple memory of past infections. The latter eventuality was even judged favourable as it confirmed a good immunity such as the one one seeks to obtain through the practice of vaccination. In AIDS, on the contrary, the presence of antibodies even if it is no longer synonymous with short-term death sentence means being the bearer of a lethal virus with a potential threat for oneself and for the others. Let us note, by the way, that an analogous U-turn had already taken place not so long ago with tuberculosis: "have a positive reaction to a skin test" meant danger, anti-tuberculosis treatment and even quarantine. To this question science responds that the HIV specificity was to destroy our immunity, its presence proven by the corresponding antibodies fully legitimates the risk. Nevertheless, the micro-organism phenomenon being here a retrovirus that can kill us years after it has stimulated our immunity is an unprecedented fact in medical history and it at least justifies a re-evaluation of either the HIV-AIDS link or the very conception of the immune system.
Why such a lack of originality, of proper characteristics in the symptoms of the disease? It is in fact a very odd mix of numerous affections existing before the discovery of HIV but that combined with the state of seropositivity testify now of a new disease and, what is more, of a real plague.
A last series of questions may seem secundary or even irrelevant to the reader as it concerns the socio-economic implications of the AIDS phenomenon rather than the scientific debate. But its extent deserves though to take up this aspect. Why as much disputes between the French and the Americans regarding the paternity of the discovery? So much judicial discussions and royalties? This summit meeting in March 1987 to officially reconcile the claim of both teams? The black-out by the media on all disputes on the reigning theory? All this is, of course, another story. Or rather the backstage of the history
None of the above-mentioned questions suffices to refute the theory that has solidly anchored in the scientific world these last ten years. But the whole of it has enough to make think and further investigate more than one researcher. Among the sparse echos of these isolated steps, we have retained two. The first for its environment of origin because it emanates from a highly specialised group hovering around AIDS, the second one for the coherence and the profoundness of its explanation. Both researchers were not related to each other. They both evolved in a well separated geographical and professional context. Their medical conception and their approach of the disease are also very different. Their only common points are the fact that they question the causality link between the virus and AIDS and that they have tried to alert the public opinion since several years.
Peter Duesberg is American, professor in molecular biology at the University of Berkeley. As a member of the National Academy of Science, he is internationally renowned and his speciality in virology has led him to participate in the chemical decoding of the HIV. Familiarised with the viral pathology and with the retrovirus in particular, he seriously considers the gaps and the incoherences linked with what he considers having become a blind dogma: AIDS generated by this retrovirus. He picks out other arguments: the HIV touches less lymphocytes than the natural renewing levels of these cells; the absence of disease in chimpanzees artificially infected; the tiny number of (para)medicals contaminated who develop the disease in a later stage; the so much larger proportion of seropositives that will evolve to the stage of AIDS in the western part of the world compared with the same proportion in Africa; among the large variety of symptoms attributed to the disease, the very varied predominance of these symptoms according to the regions, the "risk groups" and the ways of life; the important numbers of clinically diagnosed cases of AIDS developing without the presence of neither the virus nor the antibodies, and this contrarily to the doctrine of the specific aetiology teaching us that in order to establish a causal link between a germ and an infectious disease, it is indispensable that a hundred percent of the individuals affected by this disease were contaminated by the responsible germ; the profile of an epidemic not corresponding to the logical predictions in the eventuality of a real infection, etc
He concludes that the HIV-AIDS equation is false, that the virus is probably very ancient, newly described but harmless in itself. Being of orthodox tradition, he continues to believe in an immune affection but he links it to other factors and notably to the increase in drug intake by the male homosexuals, the diverse forms of drug addiction and malnutrition. What is even worse in his affirmations: the principal anti-AIDS drug, being AZT, would provoke major damage in the organism and notably to the immune system and as this product is already massively used preventively (i.e. in the stage of seropositivity), it would directly participate to the spreading of "AIDS".
The theoretical impact is heavy with consequences: AIDS is not an infectious disease and has nothing to do with sexuality. As far as the recommended treatment is concerned, it has rather something in common with a "therapeutic genocide". The personal consequences of this stance will be evenso heavy: banishment by his peers, he will be pushed aside from the debates and from the media and the subventions for his research on cancer will be withdrawn.
Ryke Geerd Hamer is German and he started his works on cancer in the eighties. His approach is fundamentally different from the usual scientific study insofar as he also considers the individuals psychism and the functioning of his brain without limiting himself to the sole organic and symptomatic aspects of the disease. In this, he integrates notions acquired in the most ancient traditions, but the originality of his work resides in having codified the interrelations between psychism and the descriptive knowledge of contemporary medicine.
Having started with cancer, he will expand his studies to all the pathologies, including the domains of infections where he will explain the precise biological role of the different microbes. The strength of his theory resides in its simplicity (it is summarised to some important constant biological laws), its coherence, the universality of its application and its perfectly verifiable character if one takes the time to overall examine the individual. It is this approach that will be studied in the next two chapters.
Here also, the awards came quickly: stricken off for life in 1986, he will often be threatened with psychiatric confinement and systematically be ignored by the media. His work is already considerable but hardly spread because of the complete disruption inevitably caused by the change of thought generated by such a concept.
In 1992 the American dissidence will focus on the protest movement. The mediatic bomb explodes on April 26 when the headlines of the British Sunday Times divulges the "challenge" on the official theory to the public. The article dedicates a large part to Duesbergs arguments and reveals the creation of an "International Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of HIV-AIDS" gathering several tens of scientists. Other articles will follow, also in other newspapers and in other countries. It is only the very start of a controversy promising to be as passionate as long, but the movement was launched.
From May 14 to 16, an international symposium: "AIDS, A DIFFERENT VIEW" was organised. Among the hundreds of participants mostly American and British researchers, practitioners, witnesses will give a talk and various round tables will be based on large axes of reflection: epidemiology, multicausal hypotheses, psycho-neuro-immunology, long-term survivors, non-toxic therapies, the role of the media, etc It would be too long to give a detailed summary of this very animated congress, but it is interesting to identify the main lines to find out that the questioning is real even if it is still heterogeneous, contradictory and limited.
In this symposium, the official discoverer of the virus had also come to unfold recent precision and amendments to this theory. He explains that the HIV, however primordial, is not the only one involved in the immune collapse leading to AIDS. There must be a co-factor, i.e. another factor, that, when combined to HIV, would lead to a more or less suicidal situation of the immunity which would turn against itself. For Montagnier, this co-factor would be other microbial attacks.
Faced with this notion of co-factor, the viewpoints are going to divert more or less forcefully. The more radical people, such as Duesberg, will assert that it only concerns a new non-proven and gratuitous hypothesis centred on the HIV-AIDS equation, which they consider false and incoherent.
But if many deny the importance of the virus itself, the multicausal hypothesis of AIDS will also be largely defended in various senses. The most expressed concept is the one of a more global approach of the individual where one has to take into account his way of life and, more in particular, his intake of toxic substances such as drugs or AZT, the repercussions of other diseases and in particular of infections, the nutritional, hereditary and psychic (as testified in the statements on the relation between psychism and immunity) parameters. Finally, one always speaks of immune deficiency where the famous virus would only be a simple wheel in the whole machinery and often even only a consequence rather than a cause.
Some statements will insist on more specific factors such as the treponema of syphilis or a still unrecognised micro-organism but gifted with polymorphism called "somatide". The arguments in favour of syphilis are based on disconcerting analogies with AIDS: ways of transmission, risk groups, profiles of the stages of the disease, symptomatology, affinity for T4 lymphocytes, etc As far as the somatide is concerned, it would change forms and activity according to the numerous aggressions of our internal ecological balance and would be the real responsible for the deep disturbances of our biology and, consequently, of our immunity.
Let us finally cite the statements on the testimony of the long-term survivors, the case of which is challenging as it should logically lead to scientifically study not only why and how the HIV kills, but also why it does not kill. Round tables will cover the attitude of the media that almost unanimously ignore the diverging points of view and the huge socio-economic stake of the plague.
As to psychism which will be of a particular interest to us in the next two chapters its role was stressed several times, especially in a round table treating of its influence on immunity and when the terror generated by the AIDS dogma was evoked. In the statements in favour of the multicausal hypothesis, it was on the contrary most often confined on a list of multiple causes. Moreover, in the interventions by the public and in the conversations outside the meeting rooms, several practitioners having a large experience with AIDS patients asserted its predominant role.
It is this psychism that we consider as being the "missing link" in the profound comprehension of AIDS and of disease in general. In the continuation of the text, we will try to give it the place it deserves since the dawn of mankind if not of life itself.
This chapter will resume in a very simplified and thus vulgarised way the essential of Dr. Hamers discoveries, most works of which have already been translated into English. It does not really concern a theory of disease but rather an empirical explanation of it. Its value resides in the fact that it is commonly verifiable. So, the biological laws that we are going to develop are not mere hypotheses, but are the result of the accurate and repetitive observation of a succession of facts. These laws do not explain everything, but they are sufficient to understand the evolution of the disease. One may add the number of hypotheses wanted in order to try and "fill the gaps" but the interest of any hypothesis is only to stimulate the researcher to perform other experiences, or better even: new natural observations that will confirm or modify laws that have already been evidenced. In this concrete approach of medicine i.e. in the field, confronted with the diseased one does not cure with hypotheses but with facts.
The first four paragraphs will deal with the four main biological laws respectively. The fifth one will show an important application by evoking the impact of the classical medical observations. And last but not least, the final paragraph will deal with the necessary changes in diagnosis and therapy.
FIRST LAW. THE RELATIONS BETWEEN PSYCHISM, BRAIN AND ORGANS; PSYCHIC ORIGIN OF DISEASE
Psychism, brain and organs are in a continuous interrelation and this perfectly synchronised triad is always modified in the different affections, from the most benign ones to the severest.
But it is through psychism though that the individual faces the reality of existence and of his difficulties: it concerns his own reality, the way he feels the events of his life. As long as he can mentally "manage" these difficulties e.g. by anticipating them or by having acquired enough resources in his past history he will not be ill. He will eventually experience more or less tough and unpleasant emotions which will be rapidly solved with as sole consequences some functional and temporary disturbances. It will e.g. be a period of insomnia due to an overload of sorrows; a tied-up stomach after an ordinary quarrel; a more frequent need to urinate, perspiration or palpitations when apprehending an encounter, etc Nothing but "jolts" around a centre of gravity that remains stable but that already entails repercussions on the nervous system and consequently a "body language".
If, on the contrary, the painfully lived experience takes the aspect of a psychic shock, that can be so brutal that it leaves the individual in a lasting mental state of harking back, of obsession, it immediately means the start of what may be qualified with the ambiguous and restricting sense of the words as a conflict. In order to really have a conflict, there must be a breaking process an opposite, unstoppable effect to which it was not possible to react through a behaviour, usual or coherent for us.
The conflict is always something very personal and, thus, "involving". In other words, it does not concern the events that we only interpret as blows of fate, but situations where we feel directly implicated or, more exactly, torn apart. It may be appreciated according to various parameters: its importance, its duration and its "subjective content". The importance and the duration of the conflict determine the extent of the damage inside the body as this starts as soon as the conflict sets on and accumulates as long as the conflict is not solved. This is the whole difference between an insignificant cold, a bronchitis or a large lung tumour. By subjective content, we understand the personal way in which the shock is experienced, and this leads us to specify the role of the brain.
The nervous system includes the brain, that maybe conceived as the supercomputer managing the whole of the body and its multiple terminals being the nerves. For all the automatic functions i.e. independent of our conscious will the nervous system possesses two large circuits being the orthosympathic and the parasympathic (also called vagosympathic), the tandem of both is called neurovegetative system. The orthosympathic stimulates everything that is biologically foreseen to keep us in a state of alert and of potential combativeness. It is thus predominant during our active day time. As to the parasympathic, it stimulates our rest and recuperation functions and is, consequently, predominant in our sleeping phase. Health implies an optimality and a harmonious alternation of this rhythm which is fundamental for the whole of our organism.
As soon as the conflict sets on, there are two consequences on the nervous system. First a rupture of the neurovegetative balance with an orthosympathic predominance that is going to entail a whole range of symptoms: decrease of sleep, appetite, body weight; increase of arterial tension, of suprarenal secretion; restlessness and "nervousness", etc The complexity and the intensity of this symptomatic table are of course proportional with the extent of the conflict: it may be a slight state of insomnia and restlessness, even associated with a "compensatory bulimia"; but a very severe conflict may lead the patient to a state of stupor making him loose some ten kilos in a few weeks. This rupture of the nervous system is the so-called state of stress, the profound nature of which should be understood. The expressions of it may be very unpleasant, but they have a meaning: it is the expression within our body of the extra alert necessary for the solution of the conflict. Without stress, the human race would probably not have survived its confrontations in life, but there is a reverse side to the coin, being the start of a countdown: the neurovegetative imbalance has its limits, the ones corresponding in fact to our capacity to live a conflict.
In parallel with the neurovegetative imbalance, a precise area in the brain is affected and it is this cerebral disturbance that by modifying the information emitted by the brain is going to entail the disease in the organ, the good functioning of which depends on this information. It is the subjective experience, the colouring of the conflict that is going to determine the precise area in the brain and, consequently, the diseased organ. This colouring boils down to fundamental emotions, beyond the anecdotal content of the event: fears, disgust, rejections, stain, fight, rivalry, dispossession, devaluation, etc Let us take two examples to make this capital point of the first biological law clear.
An individual had to endure a very vexatious remark he could not cope with and he is going to brood it over some days, weeks or months. Let us take three experiences among all the possibilities. It may be a feeling of rejection by the other what we may call a form of a separation conflict and in this case the affected area in the brain will be the zone of the cerebral cortex managing the good functioning of the superficial layer of the skin; it is thus this organ that will be diseased. But the individual might, in a way, take this vexation for himself and start a devalorisation process of himself. The cerebral region is then the cerebral marrow and the diseased organ will be the bone system. He could, finally, live it as an unacceptable thing and develop a conflict of an indigestible type with a repercussion on the corresponding cerebral and organic zones: affection of the throat, the stomach, the colon, etc (according to the multiple gradations characteristic of this kind of conflict).
A woman learning about her conjugal misfortune may be hurt in her hope for a home and this nest conflict will affect the lateral part of the cerebellum entailing a breast affection. The wound may be a sexual frustration and the temporal part of the left cerebral hemisphere will entail a lesion of the cervix. It may be experienced as a devaluation of herself with repercussions on the bones. Moreover, this woman, regarding the social and material consequences, may feel herself plunged into an unbearable situation she can not get out of; and the disease through the peri-rolandic cerebral cortex will be a multiple sclerosis. The complete list of eventualities would be much more exhaustive. The woman may as well not have any organic affection if she overcomes the shock right away. She may also have several impacts of the same shock, the weakest of which will only be feebly marked while another one will entail a cancer. THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS TO UNDERSTAND THE CEREBRAL AND ORGANIC AFFECTION IS THE SUBJECTIVE COLOURING OF THE CONFLICT.
This biological law is the first having been stated by its author. He baptised it "iron law of cancer"; iron referring to the solidity of its continuous verification and cancer for historical reasons as it is with this type of disease that he started his research. It is the axis of the entire explanatory system: by linking the psychic experience and the multiple symptoms of the body, it does not consider the disease as a mere result of hazard and external aggressions, but as a personal history with a chronology and a sense on a human scale. This approach excludes of course the cases in which our organism has suffered an evident external aggression (traumatism, intoxication, radiation, ), a manufacturing defect (genetic diseases) or a severe nutritional deficiency. But even in case of an evident external cause, it does not prevent to consider how the individual is going to experience this aggression and, thus, the consequences characteristic for this experience.
SECOND LAW. THE TWO PHASES OF DISEASE
The first biological law taught us that the disease is a simultaneous disturbance of the three levels psychism, brain and organs the origin of which resides in an emotional shock. The "law of the two phases of the disease" is going to introduce the notion of reversibility in this three-fold disturbance: as soon as the conflict is solved, the brain zone that was affected will repair itself and this return to normal cerebral activity is going to entail the restoration of the diseased organ. So, this is the second part of the disease which is in fact the recovery phase. We will see in the next paragraph how the third law explains the large differences in the symptoms we meet in each of the two phases but let us first stop at the implications of this second law.
The solution of the conflict is thus the turning point that naturally tilts the whole of the triad in a recovery mode. As in the first phase, following the birth and the evolution of the conflict, this solution is first of all a change in psychic order and its subjective colouring takes on as much importance. Concretely, it may be brought in various ways, if only it puts a halt to the state of harking back, which maintained the conflict. Let us take e.g. a conflict of having to fight, the solution may be in victory, surrender, flight, negotiation, relativation or the factual disappearance of the stake, etc ; what is important is that the individual does not longer experience this conflict of having to fight.
One may now depict the general canvas of every affection. The first conflictual phase starts with the onset of the conflict. On the psychic level, the diseased testifies of his conflict through his thoughts, his feelings, his behaviour; in a word, through his painful and persisting experience. His nervous system is globally modified (phase of orthosympathicotonia) and shows signs of what is called the state of stress: he will more or less loose sleep, appetite, joy of living, etc and will present general symptoms of nervousness. Moreover, the disturbance of a precise zone in the brain will provoke the deterioration of the organ corresponding to this zone. The solution of the conflict stops the evolution of the disturbances at the three levels. But the complete disease does not stop for it: at this stage the organism ends up with various deteriorations and it is evenso spontaneous that the repairing processes foreseen by nature long before the arrival of medicine are going to set on. The nervous system connects itself to a recuperation rhythm (phase of vagosympathicotonia, also called vagotonia): feeling of fatigue and need to rest; restart of sleep and appetite if they were disturbed, of a better blood stream. At the brain level, the previously affected hearth is going to swell and this oedema is going to explain several symptoms characteristic to this second phase, but all these cerebral modifications are temporary and the nervous tissue will not only remain functional but regains its performance: it again manages the integrity of the corresponding organs that are going to repair. Finally, at the organic level, this auto-recovery will translate into a series of symptoms that have to be well decoded.
This notion of spontaneous auto-recovery after the solution of the conflict questions again the real impact of a medical treatment: the treatment does not aim at curing a disease anymore, but to accompany, favour, modulate, relieve this second phase which is often more uncomfortable than the first. It is, consequently, essential to know in which of both phases of the complete disease one is in order to adequately choose the therapeutic measures. We will come back further to these very pragmatic aspects of the "art of curing".
One more remark on the passage from one phase to the other, because this passage only depends on the solution of the conflict and, here, all scenarios are possible. A short and clearly solved conflict will end up in a so-called acute disease. But the solution may be progressive or delayed by re-stimulations of the conflict and there will then be fluctuating or relapsing affections. Or even chronic affections if the revival of the conflict takes place each time before the end of the recovery phase; and, in this same case, the various symptoms will be as fluctuating as psychic life itself. Finally, the conflict may be in balance or latent, i.e. a little or not active at all but not really solved and the psychic state will still be the arbiter of the renewal of the damage or of the start of the recovery. The complexity of a pathology will also often be related to the fact that an individual will frequently have more than one conflict, one of which being still active, while the other is already being solved. The process to follow is always the same: take into consideration the three levels concerned, crosscheck to be sure of the stage reached in the whole of the two-phase process and take measures that are coherent with this global understanding of the disease.
THIRD LAW. THE NATURE OF THE SYMPTOMS ACCORDING TO THE TWO PHASES
This third biological law was called "ontogenetic system of tumours and equivalents" by its author. Ontogenetic because the comprehension criteria rest on the embryonic development of the organism (called ontogenesis); tumours and equivalents making an allusion to the various pathologies encountered at the level of the organs.
But before tackling these pathologies, we will first go back to the nature of the modifications taking place at the level of the brain because the symptoms that may derive from it are an integral part of the "diseases" and vary quite as much according to the two phases. During the first conflict phase, one observes the expressions linked to the orthosympathicotonia but the disturbance of the cerebral hearth corresponding to the conflict results essentially in the peripheral organs: at the level of the hearth itself, it is only a dysfunction. In the second phase, however, next to the expressions linked to the vagotonia, the repair of the cerebral hearth entails consequences which deserve some explanations.
Concretely, with a recovering cerebral hearth, a transient is forming as well as a proliferation of the glia. This glia is another brain tissue; it does not have the characteristics to store or to transport the information as do the nervous cells (neurones) but has a role of supporting, nourishing, isolating and repairing the nervous tissue as such. The "congestion" of the hearth in its solution phase is linked with the importance of the conflict and may go as far as to take the appearance of a "brain tumour", well visible on a medical imaging such as a scanning or a nuclear magnetic resonance. But, next to the oedema, which constitutes the major part of it, the diagnosed proliferations do only concern the different types of glial cells since a neurone can not reproduce. These "tumours" testify of the second repairing phase of the complete disease, and, more precisely of the repairing at the cerebral level; they follow the cycle of this second phase at the end of which they may leave harmless scars. During their development, however, they may provoke various complications.
Given the spatial limits imposed on the brain by the structure of the skull, the oedema of the hearth may entail compression phenomena of the hearth itself and of the surrounding nervous tissue; the latter eventuality explaining the possibility of functional disorders within the organs having no direct link with the original conflict. This compression lies at the origin of a whole series of symptoms that one observes in all the affections but with enormous variations according to the localisation and the extent of the phenomenon: headaches, dizziness, fever, disorders of the sight and other senses, strange feelings inside the head, etc In the most important cases: syncope, coma, epilepsy crises, "thromboses", etc This is e.g. the origin of death in the case of heart infarction where the heart arrest is due to a too strong compression in the zone of the brain affected by a conflict of having to fight. But let us insist on the fact that the oedema and its complications are proportional to the extent of the conflict. And to keep the example of infarction, it may be minimal and even pass unnoticed if the conflict was of minor importance.
Despite the large number of organs in our body, the tissues composing them amount to only a few large types each with its mode of deterioration (during the conflict phase) and its mode of repairing (during the recovery phase). By simplifying a little, a complete disease may present three figure cases.
In the first case, the conflict phase brings about a cell proliferation. The affected organ thus develops a tumour, the evolution of which is proportional with the intensity and the duration of the conflict. The classical distinction between a non-malignant and a malignant ("cancer") tumour is only descriptive. Let us remind that the first would be more moderate and remain at its site of origin, while the second would be more rapid with a tendency to generalise through spreading. In fact, the tumour develops more or less rapidly according to the intensity of the conflict and also as long as this is not solved. This tumour only concerns the organ of which the managing brain zone is disturbed and the classical notion of "metastasis" is only one of the numerous hypotheses intended to satisfy the incomprehension of the origin of what is called cancer: if a patient presents several tumour locations, this means that he had several conflicts and consequently several brain affections.
After the solution of the conflict, there are two possibilities. As we shall see in the fourth law, if the organism possesses the adequate microbes, there will be tumour reduction with all signs of inflammation and infection it entails, including the numerous blood modifications simply testifying of this destruction. Otherwise, the healthy part of the organ will proceed to an encystment of the tumour that will forever remain inactive, unless the conflict is again stimulated.
An exhaustive list of all the organs and of the corresponding conflicts would largely exceed the frame of this very short summary, but let us cite some examples of this pathological mode: most of the digestive mucosa, the profound layer of the skin, the alveoli of the lungs, the glandular part of the breast, etc
In the second case, one is confronted with an almost inverted scheme. During the conflict phase, the organ undergoes a destruction (ulceration, necrosis, loss of substance) and here the recovery is going to entail a cell proliferation intended to fill the substance losses; this proliferation may be a simple cicatrisation or take the aspect of a real and sometimes very voluminous "tumour". The microbes (about which we will talk in the frame of the fourth law) also intervene to remove the lesions previous to the reconstruction and to accelerate this reconstruction. The tumour, here thus has a very favourable significance since it testifies of a reparation and develops only after the solution of the conflict. It may be as fast and important as in the first figure case and in a medical conception according to which all tumours are pathological. The recovery phenomenon will then be estimated as little severe if the tumour is judged non-malignant or very severe if its extent gives the diagnosis of cancer. The reparation tumour often exceeds in proportion the preceding destruction of the organ but it always reaches its term, i.e. that without a relapse of the conflict, it is always bound to come to an end. It is also accompanied by inflammatory phenomena (and among others with adherences to the surrounding tissues) which completely blur when the process is finished.
A few examples: the bone and the bone marrow, the superficial layer of the skin, the muscles, the glands, the excreting ducts of the glands (including the breast where it is important with which figure case one is confronted), the bronchi, etc
Considering those two first figure cases, one may already understand the tragic consequences of a taking into consideration of the sole organic symptoms: announcing to a patient that he is invaded by a cancer when he is, in fact, in the often painful reparation phase and still morally fragile after the solution of his conflict, means risking to see him plunge into an even more dramatic experience than the one at the origin of the initial affection.
In the third case, there is neither proliferation nor destruction in the conflict phase but only a functional breakdown, reversible after the solution of the conflict. This mode especially concerns the tissues with a nervous activity: in the organs of the senses, in the cortical tissues responsible for sensitivity and motivity, etc
These first three laws already give a completely different dimension to the concept of the disease. Up to now, one understood by this term a whole of concomitant symptoms which were always judged unfavourable. In other words, being ill meant presenting objective (swelling, necrosis, inflammations, ) and/or subjective (pain, unusual sensations, various discomforts, ) abnormalities which only had unknown, hazardous or statistic origins and which had to be fought for recovering. It is now a question of correctly interpreting the sense of all the symptoms by linking them to one of the two phases of the complete disease, according to the tissue that has been affected. The discomfort as such may accompany the first phase (e.g. the stomach, which makes us suffer during the conflict phase) but it is more often in the second repairing phase that the patient will consult and that his experience will be "completed" with a diagnosis of the pain he is the victim of.
This discomfort, more frequent in the auto-recovery, can be physiologically explained by all the processes of inflammation (swelling, oedema, reparation tumours, ). This "gap" between conflict and discomfort is even an "asset" in the mechanism of the disease because the onset of a major conflict is on the whole that of a stay of execution and of a countdown: the individual must solve his conflict to survive. If he always had the perception of the physical pain of his organs next to the psychic pain caused by his harking back (where he is looking for the solution), he would have even less chances to get out of it. When he is relieved of his conflict, however, he is able to better concentrate on the arduous reparation.
FOURTH LAW. THE ROLE OF MICROBES
The hypotheses relating to the infectious aspect of numerous diseases are so well established in current thinking that they have become dogmas as sacred as those of cancer itself. It might thus be useful to remind the large steps which allowed to anchor this theory on infection and to find out that, here too, the diseased is studied and approached as a machine without a soul.
The microbes were "scientifically" discovered in the second half of the last century and described as living beings of a microscopic size but gifted with most of the properties of life: mobility, nutrition, respiration, excretion, reproduction, etc One swiftly identified them as the responsibles for banal phenomena such as fermentation and putrefaction but it is the medical aspect that will interest us here. In fact, one saw them pullulate in numerous diseased presenting, among others, fever and purulent secretions. So, various pathological pictures were linked to the infestation of specific microbes. Later, the improvement of electronic microscopy allowed to observe even smaller micro-organisms that were called viruses. The latter, contrarily to the other microbes (fungi, bacteria), are considered to be at the border of the living reign insofar as they do possess genetic material but are incapable of reproducing without using the reproduction system of another cell.
In the meantime, the continuous progress of biochemistry brought more and more information on the reactions of our cells and particularly the white blood cells to these microbes: when they were pullulating in the diseased, one assisted to an enormous confusion among those white blood cells along with the synthesis of numerous substances and microbial destruction phenomena. The result was the conception of the immune system being our natural defence against invisible enemies and the more dangerous that they are passed on from a diseased person to a healthy one that they could contaminate.
The latter stage that will "confirm" the infectious theory is the arrival of drugs meant to help our immune system too often judged defaulting: the antibiotics and assimilated products. These medications killed the microbes or prevented their multiplication in vitro, i.e. in laboratory cultures and often relieved the symptoms in vivo, i.e. in the infected diseased. The developments of the catalogue of the micro-organisms, of molecular biology and of the mediatisation of the medical knowledge did the rest: today the culture of civilised man is completely impregnated of the one of the microbes to his greatest fear.
This vision of the infectious phenomenon may seem very logical but numerous researchers have, however, raised incoherences, gaps and disconcerting questions. Let us briefly summarise them. If a lot of microbes are responsible for our pains, infinitely more are the harmless ones and even the ones indispensable for life such as the milliards of germs permanently populating our body: there are thus good and bad microbes. In a lot of infectious diseases, it are our own usual microbes that start proliferating: good microbes can thus become bad. There are even some that become "resistant" to antibiotics. A lot of bacteria and especially viruses change conformation and characteristics: why these mutations, in which the HIV is namely a champion? Contagion rather obeys the hazard of statistics than constant rules and the presence in the body of renowned dangerous germs does not necessarily lead to disease: why such a difference in "sensitivity" and in "virulence" from one individual to the other? Some audacious people at the beginning of this century have even ingested germ cultures taken on patients deceased from cholera without even getting the disease themselves.
The general tendency to which these critical considerations lead meet the citation of Claude Bernard: "Pasteur was wrong. The microbe is nothing. It is the soil that makes the difference". And to discourse on the ecological balance between the microbe and its host and all the factors susceptible to disturb this balance. Confronted with these observations "in the field", science further describes all the fortunes and fates of an immune system supposed to have the monopoly on the defence and consequently on this balance. But this does only shift the problem: why the weakness or the force of our immunity?
In the case of AIDS, the HIV theory would a priory allow to renew with the pasteurian dogma of the unique culprit since this virus attacks immunity itself, the question of the balance was pushed into the background. Unfortunately, the observation of the fact is again going to disturb the laboratory hypotheses as we have seen in the previous chapter: it becomes necessary to have recourse to co-factors and one speaks again about multi-factor causes and about the virus-host balance
It is the fourth biological law that is going to allow us to get out of this theoretical labyrinth. This by always integrating this missing link that is the psychism or, more exactly, the triad psychism, brain, organs and by taking only verifiable observation facts as a basis. "The ontogenetic system of the microbes" shows us two realities: the microbes do only interfere in the second phase and spread according to the embryonic origin of the tissues (ontogenesis).
The microbes only start proliferating after the solution of the conflict and thus on the order of the brain, which has consequently inverted its functioning mode now oriented towards reparation. So, they participate to the recovery of previously affected organs during the conflict phase. Their "work" is to destroy, clean or fill the lesions; this, of course, in an inflammatory climate the discomfort of which will be proportional with the work that has to be realised. For lack of these collaborators, the recovery will only be slower and/or incomplete. If they are artificially neutralised by drugs, they will take up their activity later if the second phase is not completed, what will then be diagnosed as a "relapse". Pure contagion is only a limited laboratory experience; an individual can only be contaminated while developing an infection during the second phase of his disease and the extent of his infection will be determined by the extent of the damage acquired at the end of his conflict phase and not by the virulence of the germ in se or of the infection observed in the "contaminator". Most often it are our own microbes that will start proliferating on the spot and for the time determined by our cerebral computer. But numerous germs are latent in the endemic state, ready to "invade" us as soon as we need them.
Each of our tissues derives from one of the large embryonic layers and this origin is the criterion of choice of the different types of microbes. Without getting into details here, let us though precise that the fungi and the mycobacteria destroy the proliferations occurring in the conflict phase; it is e.g. the role of the tubercular bacillus to eliminate the intestinal, pulmonary or hepatic tumours. According to the tissues, the bacteria play an analogous role of destruction in case of proliferation during the conflict or a role of restoration in cases of necrosis during the conflict. Finally, the viruses contribute to fill the substance losses in the ulcerated tissues during the conflict phase.
What remains of the immune system with this fourth law? Only the undeniable facts being the numerous biological modifications observed but that have to be re-framed in a more global view: the immune system is a modulation mechanism of the microbial work. During the conflict phase it is at rest, whatever the damage and the weakening of our organs. As soon as the conflict is solved, it lets the microbes proliferate and work during the reparation phase to "dismiss" them as soon as it is over. It is consequently only in this second phase that one assists to this intense activity of the white blood cells that "accompany and control the micro-workers".
Such a modulation system is necessary because the microbes are autonomous living organisms and they consequently proliferate naturally. The host-microbe balance is the conviviality between the large organisms and the micro-organisms dating from the emergence of the living world and can only be maintained according to the biological laws ruling the functioning of the living entities. This conviviality is only one particular case of the balance existing as soon as a population of cells is concerned: without even talking about the microbes, the cells of our tissues are already ruled by ancestral rules or reproduction. During our embryonic development, we pass from the microscopic size of one single cell to three to four kilos and this in nine months time: why, at the age of fifty, do we not reach the size of a house? Instead of such a growth, our growth curve declines until the end of puberty to finally only allow the replacement of the cells having died because of their own ageing cycle or because of the destiny of their function. These regulation orders, however, (including the ones of puberty maturation) come from the cells of the nervous system (which are the only ones that can not reproduce!). How can we then still ignore the role of the brain in this "restart" of multiplication being the tumour phenomenon? It is by observing the continuous relation between the functioning of the microbes, the organs, the brain and the psychism that Dr. Hamer was able to retrace the large biological laws showing the whole coherence of health, of disease and the reversible passage from one to the other.
THE IMPACT OF SYMPTOMS AND MEDICAL CONCEPTIONS
If the physical manifestations of the disease have as an origin the psychic experience and if recovery starts after this modification of the experience, being the solution of the conflict, it is nevertheless the case that psychic life does not stop and that the "experience" of the patient remains sensitive to every eventual new shock. Therefore one has to pay attention to the way in which the patient is going to live his disease and among others his reparation phase which is often more painful than the conflict phase.
A first possibility concerns the impact on the diseased of his own symptoms, he would thus live in a conflictual way. If the subjective experience of these symptoms is of the same nature as the initial conflict, there may be a vicious circle which is even more difficult to solve. Examples: the disability caused by an articular affection reviving the conflict of a lack of agility; the paralysis reviving the conflict of not being able to flee ones situation; the appearance of a cutaneous lesion reviving the conflict of filth or of separation, etc And if the experience brings shocks of another nature and, consequently, other symptoms, this would add to the complexity of the clinical picture. This risk of a vicious cycle does not really have a direct relation with the medical impact as such, but it may be influenced by the patients beliefs on the subject.
Much more frequent and important is the impact of the medical conceptions on the psychism of the individual. The most civilised populations inheriting the scientific knowledge hatch already a whole series of medical hauntings: arteriosclerosis, vascular accidents, cerebral degeneration, various microbes with the HIV at the top of the list, And especially cancer: this irreversible tumour of an unknown origin, anarchic in its tendency to invade other organs and justifying the most incisive therapies. All these fears constitute a background against which the worst conflicts will arise following certain diagnoses.
It should be well understood that words such as "cancer" do not at all have the same subjective colouring for the doctor and for the patient. For the data in the exercise of his profession, it is first of all a diagnosis among others in the descriptive catalogue of the pathologies. But his good faith in the "objectivity" of this diagnosis and his desire to help the patient assuming it does not avoid that for the patient cancer is synonymous with a severe threat, suffering, mutilation, death.
Let us take as a first example the itinerary as sad as frequent of a woman with a mammary tumour as a consequence of a conjugal drama. If this tumour entailed the removal of the breast and the woman does not overcome the shock of this amputation, the conflict of devalorisation in her femininity will translate into a bone cancer. This has thus nothing to do with the breast lesion but originates from a new conflict of an entirely different nature. Considering the intensive follow-up this patient is subjected to, these bone lesions will be discovered even before the solution of this second conflict provokes the characteristics pains of the repairing bone. An additional treatment is justified for the extension of her cancer being these "bone metastases". Then there is a third and still different shock: the fear of dying in the face of the progression of a harm for which everything she has endured proves to be in vain. This fear conflict induces proliferations in the pulmonary alveoli. If she does not have the luck to rapidly develop a pneumonia testifying of the microbial cleaning of these lesions after the solution of this last conflict, the diagnosis of new metastases, pulmonary this time, will mean the beginning of the end: it is at this stage a re-activation of the third conflict that will set ablaze the lesions corresponding to the lungs.
The end of this first example introduces a simple rule that the reader will no doubt already have deduced: if the psychic impact of the diagnosis is of the same nature as the initial conflict at the origin of the diagnosed disease, this diagnosis worsens the disease in question (if not, it will provoke other conflicts and, consequently, other affections). Let us take here a second very typical example: multiple sclerosis. At the origin of this pathology lies a conflict of not being able to bear a situation and, above all, of not being able to escape it. The frequency and the intensity of the outbursts depend on the hazards of the conflict and, in general, the patient totally recovers. As the diagnosis is often made much later, this first period may last for years. But the day of the revelation, and beyond all discourse, the experience of the patient may be summarised in a few words: "I am affected with a progressive degeneration of my nervous system. Nobody knows where it comes from. It is incurable." It indeed concerns here a conflict of a same nature: how bear the spectre of the wheelchair and how escape from it as science is unanimous?
We have particularly evoked the iatrogenous impact (from the Greek iatros, i.e. caused by medicine) with regard to severe pathologies but it has to be taken into consideration in all cases: feeling of diminution of being labelled as an "arthrosic" when one has just solved some devalorisation conflicts; fear for ones heart because one has escaped an infarction, being the last stage after a conflict of having to fight; morbid concerns about ones immunity because one has gone through a period of conflicts, though solved each time, and having appealed to microbial assistance, etc This iatrogenous impact being the heart of the AIDS phenomenon, we will come back to it in the last chapter.
This leads us to reflect on the sense and the danger of a purely descriptive diagnosis. Diagnoses such as infarction, cancer, cerebrovascular accident, multiple sclerosis, and today particularly AIDS make us automatically plunge into our memory to fish out the most terrifying cases we have seen, read or heard; what will only amplify the fear of the disease. With an elementary good sense, one should at least complete a classical diagnosis with a sufficiently precise quotation of severity. And, in that case, one would by far prefer to have a multiple sclerosis or a "cancer" the conflict of which having only lasted a week rather than an arthrosis crisis or a bronchitis the conflict of which having lasted six months at the condition though that the process of disease in general was understood.
One more remark on screening in favour of which the advertisement campaigns rise in the medical profession, consequently leading the public to having recourse to it more and more frequently. This practice is logical when considering that the majority of the tumours long remain without clinical manifestations and that a tumour judged cancerous and thus not being able to stop by itself must be excised from the body in order to have a chance to recover. But the biological laws make us understand other realities: cancers are perfectly reversible as soon as the conflict is solved and then often change into well encysted, harmless and inactive tumours. In the same way, the presence of antibodies testifies of the contact with a micro-organism but this contact, whether it has lead to an infectious work or whether it was only a simple passage without consequences, is most of the time only a reminder of our organism that identifies all visitors. On the other hand, among the people having already lived some tens of years, who has not lived one or another important conflict having lasted some weeks or months and which, at the time, passed more or less unnoticed? And who does not, somewhere in his body, have a polyp, a cyst or whatever tumour having the same significance as the crater of a bomb five months or ten years after the explosion that took place during a war. For those patients who suffered at a time in their lives but who found their cruising speed, the screening (more and more performing in the detection of "abnormalities") brutally plunges them into a nightmare of anxiety and often of mutilation and of demanding treatments. Concretely, the tumours evolving in an active conflictual phase will end up clinically manifesting themselves and, in this case, the essential gesture to make is to help the patient solve his conflict. And the majority of the tumours especially show up in the solution phase following the inflammatory and/or infectious phenomena accompanying this reparation. If one wants to be screened, he might as well do it lucidly by trying to find out first whether the eventually detected abnormality is really evolutive or if it is only a simple residual sequel. The best screening is still to make an overview of the patients present existence and to explore his psychic, nervous and general state.
DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
Concretely, medicine is practised in its two facets, being the diagnosis and the treatment and the two aspects are linked: whatever the methods used, a disease is treated according to the conception one has of it. And from this angle, every medical approach is logical and coherent. It is logical for example, to follow a diet or to take drugs to lower the cholesterol level as soon as the increase of this fat in the blood is considered a risk factor for cardiac infarction. It is logical to propose an additional treatment of chemotherapy after the excision of a cancer insofar as it is considered able to spread everywhere into the organism. It is also logical to prescribe control examinations for the patient during the years following this excision because, not knowing where it comes from nor in which stage it is (is it in evolution? are there metastases being formed? ), one may only hunt down a relapse evenso unexplained. Finally, it is logical to detect the seropositives, supposed to be in mortal danger and especially to be death vectors for the others.
But these treatments appear to be totally unadapted as soon as the assumptions on which they are based prove to be false. The comprehension of the biological laws and their manipulation leads to an entirely different attitude. Cholesterol is a mechanism for the repair of vascular cracks appearing during the conflict phase and it only comes up in the second phase. A "cancer" is either a tumour during the conflict phase and the essential is then to help the patient solve his conflict or a reparation tumour that will stop itself. And one may know before operating if the patient will relapse by examining the state of this conflict. Finally, detecting a seropositive is particularly risking to provoke an Anxiety and Iatrogenous Devalorisation Syndrome.
The classical diagnosis is like the examination of the floating part of an iceberg: the examination essentially descriptive of all visible symptoms without, however, considering their origin, their links with the patients history and with the whole of the suffering being. The change would consist in investigating the three levels of the triad to fully understand every manifestation and to see in which phase of the disease the patient is in. Let us precise here that in the examination of the brain the scanner is a very useful element because the disturbed hearths are marked on it, with different images according to the stages of the conflict.
The treatment derives from the complete knowledge of the case, allowing to better know what one is exactly doing. Our point is not to discuss the intrinsic value of this or that technique and a priori all therapeutical means can be considered. The first thing to know is in which phase of the disease the patient is actually in and then to "treat" him at the three levels: psychism, brain and organs.
At the psychic level it means to help him solve his conflict if it is not already done. And here are no ready-to-use "recipes": in front of the unique and personal psychic situation of the patient, it is also as a simple human being that the practitioner will interfere. Instead of a technique, one could rather speak of a human relation with everything that implies in terms of good sense, explanation, information, advice or suggestion, mutual discussion in order to find a practical solution, availability, etc But on the spontaneous scene of life, most of the conflicts are being solved and this owing to several mixed factors: the individual found the necessary resources inside himself; he benefited from help in his circle; the circumstances have changed in his favour, etc And given the more frequent discomfort during the auto-recovery phase, he will most of the time consult at that stage. The attitude will be to make him understand, to reassure him and to help him assume his new experience.
At the cerebral level, one will see to the eventual complications due to the compression phenomena of the nervous tissue owing to the transient oedema in the repairing hearth.
At he organic level, it may be necessary to have recourse to various drugs to relieve, but avoiding though to interfere too much with the repairing processes. In the field of infection, its extent being proportional with the extent of the reparation (and consequently of the deterioration having occurred during the conflict phase), it may sometimes be justified to "apply the brakes" on it because of the too important discomfort and even the danger if the organism can not stand it. Here lies, for instance the difference between a tuberculosis that would pass unnoticed after a minor conflict and a tuberculosis that witnesses the diseased "spit our his lungs" during months following a very long conflict. On the other hand, medical help may prove useful when the infestation took place with microbes not foreseen by our own ecology, such as tropical germs for a European.
Except for vital urgency and this in both phases, the surgical intervention is most often contra-indicated and even dangerous because of the organic weakening and the mutilation conflicts it provokes. The highest risk is after the solution of a major conflict because a general anaesthesia may seriously compromise the capacities of cerebral recuperation (by worsening the intense vagotonia, which is normal in this situation). It is only after the complete achievement of the recovery that an operation, for aesthetic or comfort reasons, may be performed without any risk.
In this third chapter we come to the real theme of the brochure with the approach developed in the preceding pages. In order to avoid every misunderstanding, let us again remind the major lines of the approach that will be followed. It is not the point to explain the mechanism of a new disease, but to explain the physical symptoms usually encountered with diseased having been diagnosed as AIDS-patients. The reason why we are not going to tackle AIDS as a disease in se, is not because of the gaps, the incoherences and the despair associated with this theory, but because the concrete and verifiable biological laws are not taken into consideration. They are though the "keys" that are going to allow us to put some order in and to understand the jumble of symptoms classically related to AIDS.
We will not develop any discussion on the theory of AIDS but we will review the principal pathologies that are associated with this diagnosis: those of bone marrow, glands, skin, respiratory and digestive mucosa, etc It will be the application of the biological laws, a simple list of illustrations of these laws where the whole of the individual, and consequently his psychism, will be taken into account.
THE BASIC CONFLICT
Before arriving at this level of detail in the analysis of the multiple lesions, it is essential to make a kind of synthesis of the AIDS phenomenon by looking into the common subjective experience of the diseased: a capital bend that introduces us immediately to the most profound depth of the subject.
What can happen in the psychism of an individual that suddenly thinks he is condemned to death while he ignores the exact term? And, what is more, who can drag other people into the same end? Who has to give up the natural and spontaneous expression of his intimate relations? Who is continuously under medical care and isolated by society? And the list can be indefinitely lengthened, particularly with each event the diseased will link to his diagnosis.
One may resume these questions in a few words: what is the impact on the psychism of a patient when he learns that he is seropositive? Secondary question for the virologist busy hunting the biochemical subtleties of the killer virus in his test tubes. Interesting question for the psychologist and all the other people of good will looking to keep the spirits of the unfortunate contaminated high. Fundamental and straight question for the one who wishes to understand the evolution of whatever case in the light of the first biological law. Finally, a reality but lived by the patient himself, who is the only one in fact to be able to answer this question.
The question here is thus not giving a kind of response applicable to all the cases, because they are all different. Some will decide to fight the disease and will have recourse to AZT, dietetics, holistic medicine or prayer according to their conceptions. Others will take it more serenely but, even after years of seropositivity without problems, they will be shocked and will not believe it when a specialist consulted for a zona will announce them that it is now the passage from seropositivity to AIDS. Others still will ask their partner to leave them and to try to start another life and they will sink in a more and more desperate isolation. A lot, finally, will know panic, looking to be reassured each time the least "manifestation", having become suspect, comes up; what will multiply the examinations, the treatments and will often keep them in a state of anxiety.
Each of them will react with the resources proper to his or her personality but we can cite two large tendencies, simplified of course, but fixing landmarks useful to deepen the comprehension. So two types of reactions were distinguished again, schematic and too "frozen" following the diagnosis and between which all nuances and evolutions are possible in time and according to the persons. Some will immediately sink into despair and neglect, withdraw into themselves and wait for their end. The others will reel from it and react relatively good but with that feeling of having the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads: what we would call a conflict in balance ready to reactivate at the slightest occasion. And that is what often happens: after months or years of seropositivity assumed without too many difficulties, they live some kind of conflict that will have repercussions on their body, in accordance with the biological laws. If the link with seropositivity is established by a scientific and taken for granted by the patient, the sword, up to now suspended, runs through them and that means the start of an and that may occur within a short time.
Let us summarise, will all limitations inherent to the use of words, the psychic experience characteristic to the diagnosis and its consequences on the behaviour of the individual and his circle: experience of feeling lessened, limited, handicapped, unstructured, disoriented (devalorisation conflict); experience of feeling contaminated, stained, dirtied (conflict of attack on the integrity); experience of fear, insecurity, threat (fear conflict); experience of rejection, isolation (separation conflict)
Let us insist once more on the aim of all these considerations on the psychism of the diagnosed diseased: the point is not to "stick" standard conflicts on the whole of these cases but to lend an ear to the subjective experience of the individuals because it is an essential step for the understanding of the symptoms showing inside their organism. To be complete, the eventual symptoms present before the diagnosis must be taken into account and be decoded, always by means of the biological laws; this, in case the diagnosis is not the simple result of a systematic screening. But, even in that case, the experience of the diagnosis is a capital stage in the global history of a case.
Let us now examine more in detail the symptoms classically associated with AIDS. The list is not exhaustive but we have picked out the principal "alarm signals", what will be largely enough to give an introduction to the new mode of hope-bringing thought. The three following paragraphs will be dedicated to the generalities, the others will deal with more precise functions and organs.
THE GENERAL STATE
By this common expression we understand not very characteristic symptoms such as weakness, loss of weight and appetite. But these manifestations are part of a state of stress and are proportional with the extent of the conflict that is being harked back. Uttered to the extreme, they are called cachexia, meaning a current final evolution in severe diseases.
Let us take here a dramatic example to fix the ideas on this question: a patient in a rather good general state is operated for a tumour evolving in the conflict phase with a complete ablation of the affected organ. He can thus not experience the development of a proliferation in an organ he does not have anymore. But, as the conflict is not solved, the dysfunction of the cerebral zone corresponding to this conflict and the persistence of the conflict itself leave him in an unchanged psychic and nervous state. He will continue, up to his personal limits, to assume his situation and will end up dying from "cachexia", without any apparent relapse (because impossible) of his tumour.
The important notion this example wants to illustrate is the fact that the precise organic lesion this patient presents is far from being the sole cause of his eventual death. This lesion is even most often secundary in relation with his psychic and cerebral state: in case of an unsolved major conflict, the persistence of an intense sympathicotonia is going to lead him to cachexia. This is thus one of the multiple causes of death in the so-called severe diseases and which sometimes affects the practitioners: why does someone also have to die from a lung tumour the size of a small orange (leaving thus more than one lung and a half healthy) when one can easily live with only one lung?
So, when confronted with an important loss of appetite entailing a rapid wasting away and the consecutive weakness, it is legitimate to wonder about the state of health of an individual. But in a real global diagnosis, it is evenso necessary to be interested in the psychic situation. One will then often see the patient witnessing of a conflict at the height of its activity. And in the field of AIDS, it generally means the terrible conflict of feeling like a plague-stricken victim doomed to die sooner or later in a ghetto situation.
As far as weakness is concerned, a distinction should be made. During the conflictual period of harking back, the individual shows rather a state of restlessness: he "goes round in circles" in search of a solution to his conflict. If he does not have enough sleep, if the loss of appetite makes his loose weight too fast, this will lead hem sooner or later to the limits of his endurance and the state of weakness, which can be very well understood, may become a final cachexia. But even in this state of weakness, he is still chewing over his conflict; this contrarily to the fatigue, to the feeling of weariness (which can even make think of "depression") being observed in the second phase of the disease when the nervous system switches the organism on a rest rhythm which is always exaggerated compared with a common simple fatigue such as the one we feel after having "given too much of our energy". And in this second scenario of weakness, the psychic examination of the patient will show that the solution of the conflict has occurred.
Finally, in the appreciation of the general state, not only the psychic, cerebral and organic situation due to the conflicts must be taken into account, but also the external factors, being the drugs and particularly the group of which AZT is mostly used. This AZT is a cytostatic chemotherapeutic product (family of substances inhibiting the cell division having been developed to fight against cancer and leukaemia ). Supposed to destroy the principal storage of HIV, being the T4 lymphocytes, it provokes a destruction of the white blood cells, anaemia, muscular, nervous affections, etc
THE CEREBRAL SYMPTOMS
We have seen with the third biological law (on the nature of the symptoms according to the two phases of the complete disease) that the solution of the conflict entailed modifications at the level of the affected brain area as soon as the conflict starts. These modifications are repairing processes but they can provoke various symptoms the extent of which being once again proportional with the extent of the first conflict phase.
Given the frequent accumulation of conflicts with seropositives, a distinction should be made between the symptoms linked to the active conflicts and the consequences linked to cerebral oedema due to recovery. So, the sensitivity or the motivity disorders respectively correspond to conflicts of not being able to feel or not being able to move (i.e. make a gesture, free oneself from a hindrance, recover ones liberty, flee, etc ) and find their cerebral origin in a dysfunction of the sensitive and motive cortical zones. As far as complications are concerned, possible in the second phase of each conflict, we have already tackled them in the previous chapter.
THE OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS
This is one of the basic concepts of the AIDS theory; concept which is a direct heir of the notion of immune system. After the report on the biological laws and on the role of the microbes, we will not dwell any longer on the limited and incoherent aspects of the immunity concept. But we will remind once more that the infections are part of the second reparation phase of the complete disease and that their importance is proportional with the damage accumulated during the first conflict phase.
There is thus nothing astonishing to see a "cancer patient in the pre-terminal phase" go through a winter without any infection, while a young sportsman in a good shape though collects two colds, an angina and an influenza. When examining the triad psychism-brain-organs, one will note that the cancer patient, obsessed by his major and unsolved conflict, was not receptive of other conflicts or has completely relativised them or has experienced new ones which have not been solved yet, while the solid patient, complaining that this winter all the microbes passing by were for him, has experienced several small short-term conflicts.
The same is true for the nurseries where the young children are supposed to get "naturally vaccinated" against all the microbes they are bound to coast along in this environment of promiscuity. It is, in fact, rather an apprenticeship of all the conflict a child will have to experience in this new human environment and this far from the reassuring protection of the parental circle.
And the same rule goes for a seropositive: independently of the technical control of his immune system and of his T4s in particular, he will only develop the infections corresponding to his conflicts; and only after having solved them. The infections appearing as relapses or chronically only respond to reactivated or longer conflicts and not to a progressive deterioration of his means of defence.
In the AIDS theory, the catalogue of the so-called opportunistic infections contains especially infections of the respiratory, digestive and cutaneous systems; that is the reason why we will examine more in particular the lesions and the conflicts corresponding to these organs in the next paragraphs. But a few general remarks should be made beforehand.
The reader will have sufficiently understood the reasons why we do not believe in this notion of opportunistic disease, but the more careful examination of the infections leads to some precision. First of all a lot of our organs contain tissues of a different embryonic origin. Well, these different tissues can be affected together; either directly following the complex experience of a same conflict that would then concern more than one tissue, or indirectly because the damage and the inflammatory phenomena of the tissue affected by the conflict may entail some modifications in the adjacent tissues. An example of this last scenario is the sub-mucous mouth ulcer where the primary lesion is a proliferation of the deep layer of the mouth mucus; during the repairing microbial destruction there will be a momentary opening (ulceration) of the superficial layer, what will then provoke the typical pains of the ulcer. This explains that several varieties of micro-organisms can interfere in the second phase without, however, having to talk about extension, complication or "over-infection".
Next, there is the microbial work, leaning on the modulation system of this work (managed by the brain but done by specialised tissues). It is sure that an important alteration of our organism will compromise the good evolution of this work. But it concerns here a common reality, valid as well for the cicatrisation of a wound or of a fracture or of whatever reparation process in our body.
The real stake of these so-called opportunistic infections lies at the level of the iatrogenous impact; each time that, within the psychism of the patient, a link is created between an infection and the diagnosis of seropositivity or AIDS, there will be a re-stimulation or an extension of the basic conflicts (cf. 1st §). And it is in this series of re-activations that will progressively lead him to the fatal degradation.
In the following five paragraphs we will tackle five distinct organic functions while keeping the same canvas: recall of some indispensable anatomic notions, evocation of the conflicts concerning them and description of the modifications which can be observed in each of the two phases of their complete disease. Concerning the explanations on the corresponding conflicts, two additional precisions should be added.
First, the relation between a conflict of one or another nature (e.g. devalorisation, fear, separation, ) and a pathology of one or another organ may seem too simplistic or reducing, but that is linked to the use of the words themselves and to the vulgarised side of the explanations. "Equations" such as "bone affection = devalorisation conflict" or "skin affection = separation conflict" are only general indications, guides or orientations that use generic terms. We have already insisted at the start of the second chapter: the sole psychic reality to be taken into account is the subjective (personal, intimate and unique) experience of the patient. So, in a devalorisation experience, there is a quantity of nuances (qualitative as well as quantitative) that have to be tracked in the expressions of the patient himself and that will justify the multiple ways in which the organ will proceed to its proliferation, its destruction or its functional breakdown. We will come back to these nuances in each paragraph.
Next, if a lot of our organs are unique or binary, there are some which spread into the whole of our organism such as the skeleton, the skin, the vessels, In that case, not only the nature of the affected tissue should be understood, but also the localisation: why an arthrosis at the nape, at the hip or at the foot? Why an eczema on the arm, on the abdomen or on the thigh? Here too, it will be the subtle examination of the subjective experience of each individual that will enlighten us.
BONE AND BONE MARROW
The bone tissue and the medullar tissue are intimately linked from different viewpoints. First, geographically, since the marrow occupies the centre of the bones where its function is to manufacture cells that will go into the blood: red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Next, the cerebral area to which they are linked is situated in the same region spreading lengthwise in the cerebral marrow: the anterior, median and posterior parts managing respectively the upper, middle and inferior parts of the skeleton. Finally, their conflict is of a same nature: a conflict of self-devalorisation.
The devalorisation conflict concerned here is particularly implicating for the person experiencing it; this as opposed to lesser conflicts as the one we will evoke regarding the ganglions. We have already specified that the observation of such a conflict in bone affection is purely empirical and that it is the persistence of this relation conflict-disease, and of all the other relations conflict-disease, that made it a biological law. But the sole explanations how coherent they may be are often less convincing than the personal experimentation. We can thus invite the reader to try and remember what he has eventually experienced during the period that preceded a diagnosis of bone affection; such as arthrosis for example, which, in classical medicine, is considered a rather mild pathology (compared with a "tumour", a "lysis" or a "cancer") corresponding in fact to a devalorisation conflict, the extent of which is not too severe. For lack of having gone through this, one may also indulge in a little psychic exercise of imagination: what would we feel if suddenly we had soft and inconsistent bones? If we could not stand up, walk towards the desired aim, keep our heads high and look where we want to?
The purpose of these few questions is trying to induce a more intuitious comprehension of what may be understood by important devalorisation conflict. And also introduce the "nuances" which are at the source of a particular localisation in our skeleton. If there is any correspondence between the nature of the conflict and (via the brain) the organic localisation, this correspondence takes on a coherence. But this coherence is especially perceptible for the organs we are conscious about. So, we know that the bones form our profound key signature and that, without them, we would not really have any structure, power and worth. We may thus conceive that a deep devalorisation conflict affects that part of our body. Evenso, we can conceive that the skin with which we are in contact with the others, will be concerned by a separation conflict. But these few considerations may not make us loose sight of the essential: the correlation psychic-brain-organs are deeply anchored in the functioning of our organism, well before the discourse and the reflections seeking to "understand" them; and their universality witnesses of their far away phylogenetic roots, written down in our genetic code.
In order to distinguish the preferential affection of the bone or medullar tissue, various factors have to be taken into account. First, the bone affection often starts in the centre of the organ, thus, where the marrow is situated and the bone is then protected for a long time by its mantle that is called periostium; it is only an advanced stage of destruction of this periostium that will lead to the spontaneous fracture. Next, a limited or spread localisation in the affection of the skeleton will have different consequences of the marrow: the affection of one bone is not sufficient to have a clinically significant repercussion at the level of the marrow, which spreads over a large part of the skeleton. Finally, the medullar tissue is much more fragile, with a shorter duration of life, and thus a faster level of replacement; this being much more marked at the level of the lymphocytes.
On the other hand, within the nuances of the conflict, the devalorisation affecting the bone rather concerns the aspect "strength and power", while the one affecting the marrow is rather related to the "value of affection and security". One does not prevent the other and, when combining these nuances with the factors cited above, one concretely observes loads of clinical pictures. Among these, one may note two typical schemes: the leukaemia of the child where the affection is especially medullar and more or less generalised, in opposition to the bone lesions of the adult where the devalorisation often concerns a precise domain of his life and, thus, a more limited part of his bone system. But all the variations do exist and have to be tracked at all ages of life.
The organic modifications are similar for both tissues and obey the second figure case. During the conflict phase, the bone breaks up and it "re-fills" after the solution of the conflict. In case of a diffuse affection, one speaks of osteoporosis and, if the localisation is limited, one poses a diagnosis of arthrosis or lysis (non-malignant or cancerous). But the parrot bills, exostoses or other osteophytes are the painful reconstruction phases and there is not one fundamental qualitative distinction between a small arthrosic bone proliferation, a fracture callosity or an osteosarcoma (considered to be a sever metastasing cancer ). The sole differences are the severity and the length of the conflict and thus the proportional extent of the reconstruction; and let us remind that the latter is often "exaggerated" compared with the damage of the conflict phase, but having come to an end if there is no re-activation of the conflict.
Let us note, by the way, that even if the bone pathology is not due to a conflict but to an external aggression, the reparation process is exactly the same. The big difference is situated in the psychic experience: the traumatic fracture is being experienced as a temporary handicap: one knows that one will recover from it with time. While a diagnosis of a tumour or of bone metastasis is an experience with a much more dramatic colouring: the menace of death is something more than the necessity of being simply a patient while momentarily enduring ones plaster! And the diagnosis of bone affection presented as severe often plays the role of maintaining, if not amplifying the devalorisation conflict.
The bone marrow also goes through a destruction process in the conflict phase with the decrease of the number of red and/or white blood cells. In the case of the platelets, their drop may be far more rapid following their momentary storage in the spleen when a brutal conflict of insecurity occurs. After the solution of the conflict, there will be a re-start of proliferation the more exuberant if the conflict has been important. The microscopic examination then reveals the temporary and harmless existence of large number of blasts, being the more or less immature medullary cells. This is how one comes to a diagnosis of leukaemia, the psychic and therapeutic diagnosis of which does no longer have to be developed
As for the bone, the bone marrow may have been destroyed by an external cause such as e.g. a nuclear radiation but the stage of leukaemia is evenso a reparation phase. The diagnosis of leukaemia, however, is not going to reassure the patients psychism nor the one of the public opinion.
To conclude this paragraph, let us link these explanations on the medullar and bone pathology with the AIDS phenomenon. If we have been able understand the experience of a seropositive, we can easily make the link between his eventual, though very frequent, devalorisation conflict and his medullar affection. We can understand that this conflict may occur or may be re-activated with whatever event (linked to a diagnosis or to any other experience in his life) he will live as a devalorisation of himself. We can also understand that the announcement of a T4-level approaching or exceeding the danger point will have in the patients psychism an effect completely contrary to the one necessary and contrary to the re-start of his medullar function. And let us finally remind that AZT does not have anything to do with a vitamin for the marrow and in particular for the T4s
THE LYMPHATIC GLANDS
The ganglions are the relays within the lymph system being the third circuit, next to the arterial and the venous ducts. The lymph system assumes the function of recuperating the liquids having filtered out of the other vessels and this by connecting to the venous system. The blood circulation having escalated in a temporary inflamed and/or "infected" region, the lymphatic circulation participates in this congestion and this is the first reason banal and physiological of seeing a ganglion increase in volume. But in this case, it only concerns a simple congestion, a swelling through overload which is contemporary with the proximity inflammation.
We will thus only tackle here the disease of the ganglion (adenopathy) the symptoms of which obey the second figure case. During the conflict phase, it endures necroses compensated by proliferations after the solution of the conflict. The "tumoral aspect" of a ganglion in the second phase may last for a long time if the conflict is in balance or may progressively enlarge if the conflict is continuously re-stimulated. In the mechanically severe cases, it may provoke compression phenomena, sometimes justifying incisive therapies (ablation, slight radiotherapy, ) but with the same rules of cautiousness and of global comprehension of the situation as for any other "tumour".
Their cerebral correspondence juxtaposes with the one of the bone system and the conflict too is rather close. It concerns a devalorisation conflict, though less severe, with a particular anxiety nuance. The localisation of the affected ganglionic area corresponds with that of the skeletal system and thus with the domain of the existence where this devalorisation is experienced. So, for instance, the cervical adenopathies when the conflict is about relational problems. In the latter case, if a mammary tumour is found, one will speak of a metastasic ganglion while the affection of the ganglions is only the consequence of the devalorisation aspect within the conflict that provoked the breast lesion.
Independently of AIDS, the reasons for ganglionic affections are very numerous and all variations can be observed according to the extent and the domain of the conflict. And, of course, every extended and/or prolonged adenopathy has to lead to the elucidation of the corresponding conflict. Among the "spectacular" situation there is Hodgkins disease, judged as a cancerous but very often curable disease of the ganglions which is a spectacular recovery from an important devalorisation and insecurity conflict. In a climate of AIDS, however, the durable adenopathy has such a reputation that is very "precisely" appreciated as the penultimate stage of the disease.
Two parts should be distinguished in the skin, the pathological mode, the cerebral localisation and the conflict of which are different. These two parts are linked with the two principal functions of the skin, and insofar as this organ is accessible to our conscience, one may rather easily understand its conflictual "significance".
The superficial, epidermic, part ensures the contact with the environment and, when we speak about conflicts "the environment means the others". The corresponding cerebral zone occupies the sensorial region of the telencephalic cortex. The pathological mode obeys the second and third figure cases: during the conflict, there is a decrease in sensitivity, circulation and suppleness of the skin as well as ulceration. After the solution, we will have a large part of "dermatological diseases": phenomena of irritation, inflammation, redness, swelling, hypersensitivity, proliferation, etc In other word, it will be eczema, urticaria, exanthema, dermatitis, etc
Two remarks on this question of contact that we call separation conflict. First of all, the contact is only physical i.e. in the strict sense of the word in certain situations: love intimacy, intimacy between parents and very young children and, to a lesser extent, comradeship. But, most of the time, it concerns a communication conflict, human relations; and, thus, every experience of rupture, of rejection regarding a relation will be likely to have repercussions on the epiderm. Next, the localisation criterion in a tissue covering the whole of our body is the spontaneous and immediate emotional association that we create at the start-up of the conflict between the feeling of separation and this or that part of our body: "I can no longer touch him with my hands; I do not feel his arms around my chest anymore; they will be able to read the distress from my face; I felt pushed in the back, etc ".
The profound dermic part, which is thicker and less innervated, assumes a role of protection regarding an environment always human since it concerns a conflict. Given the different (more ancient) embryonic origin of this layer, the corresponding cerebral area spreads in the back part of the cerebellum. The pathological mode obeys the first figure case: proliferation during the conflict and microbial reduction and/or encystment after the solution of the conflict.
The primary conflict is what we call a conflict of attack on ones integrity, again very general terms and covering subjective experiences of attack, vexation, stains, mutilation, etc As ever, all the nuances in terms of personal colouring of the conflict translate into the appearance of the first phase lesions and of the second phase reparation. As to the localisation, it expresses a very subjective relation: endure a slap in the face; put ones feet in a morally affecting situation; feel mutilated in this or that part of our body, etc
Let us take two extreme examples to illustrate this lesion mode. The simple puberty acne corresponds to little conflicts of attack on ones integrity, particularly frequent at this period of life; a period in which one tries to assert ones virility or femininity and in a climate in which one is barely sure of oneself and where one gets reactions which are not always easy to manage mentally. In the solution phase, our staphylococcus "workers" go to work to reduce these small proliferations, but the conflict being often re-stimulated, it may take years. It is only when the individual will have acquired enough self-confidence and thus enough resources, that he will not relapse into his conflict again and this independently of the hormones, that will go on being there. In the case of a melanosarcoma, the experience of an "arrow" or of a stain is far more of consequence; but everything also depends on the extent and the duration of the conflict. And on the diagnosis too because the melanosarcoma is considered one of the worst very metastasing skin cancers. Once again, the diagnosis, only descriptive, is not the real key and it is e.g. better to have a melanosarcoma corresponding to an intense but quickly solved experience (that will leave an encysted and inactive "ugly beauty spot") than a zona that will painfully transform a large surface of the body in shreds if the conflict was very long.
To come back to the climate of AIDS, we can thus understand the frequency of cutaneous affections, be they superficial or profound. And, in such a climate, the "Kaposi sarcoma" is a real time bomb: it does concern a proliferative phenomenon in the active conflict phase but perfectly reversible and curable. But, given the reputation associated with this diagnosis, if the patient "understands" (i.e. thinks, believes, feels) that he has now entered the last stage of the disease (to be more precise: "AIDS, stage IVd, cancerous affections!") one may easily forecast the sense in which his psychic state is going to act on his organism. The kaposi may in fact limit itself to some small neglectable and stable stains (such as those existing before AIDS was ever mentioned) or kill the patient in a few months through a sudden extension. This can also be said about the panic or the despair of learning that one has a cancer or a multiple sclerosis.
THE RESPIRATORY ORGANS
The respiratory organs being relatively complex, and to keep things simple and concise, we will only take up the principal pathologies. We distinguish two investigation domains: on the one hand, the whole of the "airways" going from the nose to the bronchial ramifications and including sinus, larynx and trachea; on the other hand, the lung tissue of the alveoli in which the gaseous exchanges occur.
The airways are managed in the fronto-temporal lobes of the brain. They obey the second figure case and, more specifically: ulceration in the conflict phase and microbial cleaning followed by a repairing cicatrisation after the solution of the conflict. The conflict concerned is a menace of the territory and this generic term of territory needs some elaboration.
The "concept" territory refers to this space where we pretend to live, create, be master, be free, be recognised, possess, express, etc It concerns the limits we recognise for ourselves and that stop where the space of the other starts. The territory conflict is thus a relational conflict and its cerebral correspondence is situated in the most recent part of the brain (telencephal) as opposing to more archaic conflicts such as fear conflicts or lots of conflicts of the indigestible type that are managed in the most "primitive" part of the brain, being the cerebral truncus. The relational character of this conflict involves two important precisions. The first is about all the nuances such a conflict may take on: menace, intrusion, rivalry, fight, delimitation, etc ; nuances which can be traced in the various areas of the telencephal and in their respective organs. The second is the integration of sexuality in the development of the conflict: the territory and its conflicts are experienced differently by men and women. This translates into different cerebral localisation and, concretely, by the higher frequency of the corresponding affection according to the genders.
In the register menace of the territory to which we will limit ourselves, the various nuances in the subjective colouring as well as the extent and the duration of the conflict will again determine the multiplicity of the clinical pictures. In the solution phase, the infection will e.g. be a cold or a sinusitis after only having "scented" a menace, while a bronchitis will follow-up on a more important conflict. In the extreme cases, what is called "lung cancer" will only show by means of coughing, spitting and on the characteristic X-ray image after the solution of a major conflict but this curing lung cancer is of the same nature as a common bronchitis: the difference is only quantitative.
The pulmonary alveoli are managed by the cerebral truncus and their pathological mode obeys the first figure case: proliferation in the conflict phase and microbial reduction after the solution of the conflict. This is far more archaic than the notion of territory and translates a feeling of intense danger, of fear to die. Again, according to the extent of the conflict (intensity + duration), it may vary from a few round stains to the massive invasion of the lung, resulting respectively in a banal pneumonia or a long and painful tuberculosis or another bacterial reduction.
In the climate of AIDS, given the more frequent conflicts with the human environment and the more foreseeable feeling of danger, we can easily understand that a seropositive has more "opportunities" to experience this kind of pathology.
THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS
The even greater complexity of this function will also lead us here to only take up some current affections, notably the bucco-pharyngeal crossroad and the bowels. But, in order to better situate them, we will first give an overview of the digestive problems.
Anatomically speaking, the digestive tract is a long tube going from the mouth to the anus to which various glands are added such as the liver and the pancreas. Its function is to ingest, to swallow, to digest, to absorb the food and to reject the waste. The major part is managed by the ancient brain (cerebral truncus) and obeys the first figure case. The conflicts are of an indigestible type, with all the nuances already suggested by the terms used to evoke the function: conflict of not being able to swallow or digest the bit or of being "saturated", etc A smaller part is managed by the telencephal, obeys the second figure case and is rather linked to territorial conflicts but keeping this indigestible vexation aspect.
The bowels are part of the first group. Managed by the cerebral truncus, they develop, in the conflict phase, proliferations the microbial reduction of which (after the solution of the conflict) gives rise to various inflammatory discharges: diarrhoea, sometimes accompanied with bloody, glairy, mucous losses. The infection of the small intestine adds to the indigestible vexation the nuance of fear to fail and the affection of the colon adds a nuance of saturation, of a dirty, vile or abject affair to it.
The mouth brings together distinct embryological tissues. The upper layer of the mucous presents ulceration in the conflict phase that will heal after the solution of the conflict. This conflict is of a relational type and in connection with a preferred significance given to the mouth in the experience of the conflict, e.g. a conflict of not being able to express oneself. The profound layer reacts like the bowel by developing proliferations; and, in the solution phase, the microbial reduction will give rise to mouth ulcers, thrush and various suppurations. The conflict consists of not being able to ingest the bit and it is only after having decrypted the intimate experience of the patient that we will be able to understand why "it happens" in the mouth: it may e.g. concern a conflict of not being able to eat (in the real or in the figurative meaning) or to feel affected, stained in that part of the body.
Let us first take up the purpose stated in our foreword: contribute to demystify the plague. In its current meaning, the myth is "a construction of the mind not resting on a bottom of reality". And that is really what we tried to do all along these few pages: question what is only a construction of the mind in this case, a theory and attract the attention on this reality, as neglected as universal, being the subjective experience of the human being. This, to replace the myth of AIDS by a coherent and verifiable explanation of the pathologies attributed to it.
The official theory is based on a correlation between the presence of a virus and the disease, without being able to assert it through the establishment of a causality link, on which the studies and hypotheses are being accumulated since more than a decade. Our approach is founded on another correlation: one between the psychic life of an individual, his brain and his organic manifestations. A correlation that has nothing to do with speculation but that is empirical; which is not asking for a passive adoption, but for an examination and a verification by each and everyone.
When the myth fades to make the path for the simple observation of each AIDS case, there are no big interrogations anymore on this new disease; a disease, so strange, that it still further escapes the "intelligence" of science. One may so understand that a seropositive continues to be well (and it does not matter whether he remains so or becomes seronegative again) while another one is dying after having accumulated multiple pathologies. This by reconstituting the history of their experience and the cerebral and organic consequences.
Many of these stories resemble infernal spirals that are not easy to get out of. Without considering the conflicts that may have preceded the "diagnosis", the latter often being sufficient to start the spiral; and then start the conflicts of devalorisation, fear, separation, etc And if a conflict is solved, it means the risk of seeing the symptoms of the recovery interpreted as a sign of evil and generating the vicious circle through the reactivation of the conflict. There are then all the conflicts an individual with such a medical identification card may live in our present society; always with the same danger for a vicious circle each time one of his conflicts is solved. And, in the meantime, life goes on regardless of AIDS, i.e. with the conflicts of each and everyone, but, here again, the organic consequences of these conflicts or of their solution can be dramatically interpreted and increase the spiral. And finally, it is the accumulation, the persistence and the tangling up of all these conflicts in various stages (i.e. active conflicts hard to deal with + reparation phases often painful to endure and risking to maintain the vicious circle) that progressively lead the individual to his personal limits to survive.
We will end by putting the very concrete and very pragmatic question: what can we do when we are faced with a case diagnosed as seropositive or as an AIDS-patient? Considered from a very general plan of a "therapeutic policy", our response is the message we have been putting forward all along the course of this booklet: not treat a disease anymore but a diseased human being, the health problems of whom can not be understood without apprehending him in his globality and thus by taking his psychism into consideration. We hope that this message does not become a simple ingredient in a barely starting controversy. And the principal foundation of this hope lies in the fact that it largely exceeds the theme of AIDS; a theme we have chosen because it is a "particularly urgent topical pretext".
Considered, however, at a more personal and consequently more realistic level, of all the individuals concerned by this question, our response will be a final summary of the second chapter: take the whole history of the case, starting with the circumstances of the diagnosis. What was the stage of the conflict(s) and of the lesions having led to the "diagnosis"? Or was it only an unfortunate surprise? How were this diagnosis and the eventual consequences experienced? Since then, which other conflict(s) occurred related or not with the experience of this diagnosis? Finally, at what stage are the three levels of the triad psychism-brain-organs now? This preliminary "inquiry" being ended, the therapeutic side will be evenso coherent: is there a vital urgency? A particular relief to bring without too much slowing down what is in the recovery phase? Help the patient to solve all his non-solved conflicts and here INFORMATION IS AN ESSENTIAL THERAPEUTIC TOOL. The approach may seem harsh and complicated. In fact, it is evenso complex and evenso simple as Life itself.
A FEW QUOTES"It was never clearly shown in animal experimentation that the HIV virus is the cause of AIDS and this gap in our discoveries raises an interrogation".
""AIDS does not inevitably lead to death, especially if one sees to it that the co-factors worsening the disease are suppressed. It is very important to say that to the persons affected by the AIDS virus. The psychological factors are critical to maintain the immune function. If one suppresses the psychological support to someone by announcing him that he is condemned to death, these sole words may mean a death sentence for him. But it is not true to state that the virus is 100 % lethal."
Prof. Luc MONTAGNIER
It is impossible to understand disease without considering the experience of the diseased.
"I do not succeed in finding one sole virologist able to give me references proving that the HIV is the probable cause of AIDS."
Dr Kary Mullis, (inventor of the polymerase chain reaction, used worldwide in genetic engineering)
"That nobody ever thought that the brain, computer of our organism, might be responsible for all the diseases, is very strange in the era of computerisation."
"Those who lack all idea that it is possible to be wrong can learn nothing except know-how."
"They (the majority of the scientists) were formed at the school of materialism. It is an extremely rigid mould made of a whole of dogmas that are not necessarily scientifically explained! For example, state that our existence is only a biological assembly without trying to understand everything that does not fit in this framework pretexting it is not "scientific" is a dogma, worse even, a superstition! Science is full of superstitions, of all kinds of beliefs
And, what is most heartbreaking is that the public is convinced that science has an answer to everything
John ECCLES, Nobel Prize of Medicine for the discovery of the chemical processes responsible for the propagation of the nervous influx (1963) Psychologie N° 100
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Malware is the shorter and more popular name of “malicious software,” which is a software or computer program specially created to inflict harm to a computer in more ways than one and right under the nose of the unsuspecting owner. It comes in various types and forms such as worms, spyware, viruses, keyloggers, adware, Trojans, and other malicious codes that creep into the computer.
It is important to immediately recognize the malicious software in whatever form and stop it from creating havoc to your computer, and at the same time provide maximum network security. Prevention is still the best form of protection that you can give to your computer.
Brief Descriptions of the Popular Types of Malware
Your IT security is compromised if your computer has a malware. Knowing the different types of malicious software can help you stop it immediately before it creates havoc into your computer system. Computer viruses are, perhaps, the most common type of malicious software. They spread quickly by producing copies of themselves.
They can infect your files, which may become inaccessible or useless. Worm also replicates itself, but unlike the computer virus it does not need an existing program to attach itself and proliferate. It uses the network to spread to other computers. The spyware has the ability to gather or steal personal information such as a person’s data and credit card number.
The adware automatically downloads or displays advertising materials to the online user’s computer, and such action usually affects the net activity of the user. A Trojan is often employed by hackers and cyber-thieves to breach the IT security of the user’s computer system. Trojan usually appears as legit software, which makes it an effective malware. Understand that these are the most popular types of malicious software and other less popular malicious software could be targeting your computer right now.
Global Venture of Criminals
There are different factors that make the computers more susceptible to malicious software attacks. The different factors include flaws in the design of the operating system (OS), use of Windows OS (its popularity makes it the favorite target of malware programmers), and others.
The next big questions are: who are responsible for the creation of the malicious software and why do these people create them? Before, teenage pranksters created malware to gather attention or because they were bored. Today, professional criminals design or use them for their own gain. These criminals have a variety of tactics at their disposal using the different malware. The identity or important personal information of each individual is no longer safe.
Criminals can easily access the said information in a matter of time. They can use the data and hold it for ransom or other criminal acts that they have in mind. The greatest risk that online users may face is the ability of these hi-tech criminals to rob their online banking information incognito. These criminals can also use the credit card information to engage in fraudulent transactions. They can do anything with the important personal information that they hold in their hands.
Understanding Malware Protection
It is important to have network security whenever you go online, and you need to do everything in your power to make sure that you are fully protected. Having a malicious software security protection, apart from your usual computer protection, can give your computer or network an added layer of protection.
Every computer owner must have an efficient antivirus software package that can effectively provide maximum IT security. Well-designed antivirus software must be able to immediately check the newly downloaded program or file to make sure that it has no malware. It should periodically scan the entire computer system to spot and attack the stubborn malware.
There’s also a type of malicious software that will only reveal its real self after so many days or weeks. Your antivirus software must be able to recognize the suspicious websites or program and prevent you from visiting such sites or running the program. Your malware protection must be easy to download and install so you can use it right away. Keep in mind that you also need to do your share to prevent malware invasion. If a file appears dubious, don’t download it. If a certain email is suspicious, don’t open it.
Featured Image: adweek | <urn:uuid:a58d76c0-ae03-44f0-891c-34962c60068e> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | http://smbsuggestions.com/technology/internet-systems/what-is-malware/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948541253.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20171214055056-20171214075056-00108.warc.gz | en | 0.935727 | 850 | 3.4375 | 3 |
ForexBall education: Forex Market Overview
What is the Forex market?The Foreign Exchange Market – or Forex for short - is a market where various market participants buy and sell currencies, i.e. currency trading is conducted. In traditional sense, it is not a market because there is no central marketplace and it is said to be 'over the counter' market. The forex market operates 24 hours a day, 5 days a week and it is the most liquid financial market in the world with an average daily turnover of over USD 5 trillion..
What is Forex trading?The basic mechanisms of trading in the Forex market are similar to those in other financial markets and are centered on the basic concept of buying and selling. The only difference is that buying one currency is associated with selling another currency simultaneously.
Since there is a simultaneous exchange of currencies, the value of one unit of a currency is represented in terms of its value in relation to one unit of another currency. This is the reason why currencies are always quoted in pairs, like EUR/USD or USD/JPY.
Most Traded currenciesAmongst over 100 currencies from all across the world, the major currency pairs constitute almost 75% of the daily trading volume of the Forex market.
In the table below you can see the major currency pairs that make up the majority of trades in the market and their respective symbols and nicknames widely used in the Forex market:
|Major Currency Pair||Symbol||Nickname|
|Euro vs. US Dollar||EUR/USD||Fiber|
|US Dollar vs. Japanese Yen||USD/JPY||Yen / Ninja|
|British pound vs. US Dollar||GBP/USD||Sterling / Cable|
|US Dollar vs. Swiss franc||USD/CHF||Swissy|
|US Dollar vs. Canadian Dollar||USD/CAD||Loonie|
|Australia Dollar vs. US Dollar||AUD/USD||Aussie|
|New Zealand Dollar vs. US Dollar||NZD/USD||Kiwi|
Remember that, while quoting currencies, the individual currency symbols are used instead of full names of currencies. Traders in the Forex market prefer to call the currency pairs by their nicknames rather than by their symbolic nomenclature.
Main participants of the Forex marketBasically, the forex market is where banks, central banks, commercial companies, individual investors, traders and brokers participate to exchange and speculate on currencies.
Banks – Commercial and investments banks are the biggest players on the forex market. They participate in the currency market for hedging and speculative purposes both as proprietary traders and as service providers for their customers.
Central Banks / Governments – Governments and Central Banks intervene in the Forex market to control the money supply by using their forex reserves in an attempt to stabilize the market and achieve their economic goals (inflation, growth, interest rates, etc.).
Commercial Companies – Large businesses need to convert huge amounts of currencies when they trade outside their home country. Another reason why a commercial company might participate in the forex market is to hedge its exposure so that the price fluctuations do not affect future foreign currency payments or receipts.
Retail Forex Traders – As various forex trading platforms can easily access the Internet, individuals access the Forex market either through a broker or a bank to benefit from the currency movements . Individuals may also want to exchange currencies to pay for goods and services purchased during their visit to a foreign country or via the Internet and whenever they deal with any foreign investment.
Other Financial Institutions – International investment firms like pension and mutual funds, arbitrage funds and brokerage companies participate in the Forex market to facilitate transactions, speculate and hedge their investments in foreign securities.
Advantages of Trading in the Forex MarketMarket Hours – Since the forex market operates 24 hours a day and 5 days a week, one of its biggest advantages is flexibility – you can trade whenever you want.
High Market Liquidity – The forex market has the highest liquidity amongst all the financial markets in the world. Higher liquidity ensures price stability and opening or closing a position at a fair market price without high price discounts.
High Leverage – Leverage lets you trade more money on the market keeping your risk capital at minimum. Thus, leverage makes it possible to use your invested funds more efficiently by trading larger positions. For example, at 1:50 leverage one can control a trade of $50,000 on the market using only $1000 of capital. Leverage can increase the potential returns but it can also increase the potential losses, if the trader is wrong. Leverage in the forex market could extend up to a proportion of 1:500.
Low Transaction Cost – The forex market is considered to be one of the most cost-effective means of trading. Usually the cost of a transaction is the spread, i.e. the difference between the buying and the selling price.
Lower Starting Cost – The forex market does not require a lot of capital to get trading started, which helps you to walk through the market before you start risking a larger amount of capital.
Profit Potential – In the forex market, it is possible to gain in rising markets (also called bull markets) as well as in falling markets (also called bear markets). Using proper trading strategies, traders can make profits by either buying an asset or by short-selling it. | <urn:uuid:ac77a07a-ceab-4aba-9600-509c685bc743> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | http://forexball.com/news/view/id/878 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501171162.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104611-00405-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930334 | 1,119 | 2.75 | 3 |
Anyone who doubts that genes can specify identity might well have arrived from another planet and failed to notice that the humans come in two fundamental variants: male and female. Cultural critics, queer theorists, fashion photographers, and Lady Gaga have reminded us— accurately—that these categories are not as fundamental as they might seem, and that unsettling ambiguities frequently lurk in their borderlands. But it is hard to dispute three essential facts: that males and females are anatomically and physiologically different; that these anatomical and physiological differences are specified by genes; and that these differences, interposed against cultural and social constructions of the self, have a potent influence on specifying our identities as individuals.
That genes have anything to do with the determination of sex, gender, and gender identity is a relatively new idea in our history. The distinction between the three words is relevant to this discussion. By sex, I mean the anatomic and physiological aspects of male versus female bodies. By gender, I am referring to a more complex idea: the psychic, social, and cultural roles that an individual assumes. By gender identity, I mean an individual’s sense of self (as female versus male, as neither, or as something in between).
For millennia, the basis of the anatomical dissimilarities between men and women—the “anatomical dimorphism” of sex—was poorly understood. At the beginning of the third century, Galen, the most influential anatomist in the ancient world, performed elaborate dissections to try to prove that male and female reproductive organs were analogs of each other, with the male organs turned inside out and the female’s turned outside in. The ovaries, Galen argued, were just internalized testicles retained inside the female body because females lacked some “vital heat” that could extrude the organs. “Turn outward the woman’s [organs] and double the man’s, and you will find the same,” he wrote. Galen’s students and followers stretched this analogy, quite literally, to its absurd point, reasoning that the uterus was the scrotum ballooning inward, and that the fallopian tubes were the seminal vesicles blown up and expanded. The theory was memorialized in a medieval verse, an anatomical mnemonic for medical students:
That, tho’ they of different sex may be,
Yet, on the whole, they’re the same as we:
For those that have the strictest searchers been,
Find women are but men turn’d outside in.
But what force was responsible for turning men “inside out,” or women “outside in,” like socks? Centuries before Galen, the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras, writing around the fifth century B.C., claimed that gender, like New York real estate, was determined entirely by location. Like Pythagoras, Anaxagoras believed that the essence of heredity was carried by male sperm, while the female only “shaped” male semen in the womb to produce the fetus. The inheritance of gender also followed this pattern. Semen produced in the right testicle gave rise to male children, while semen produced in the left testicle gave rise to females. The specification of gender continued in the womb, extending the left-right spatial code sparked off during ejaculation. A male fetus was deposited, with exquisite specificity, in the right horn of the uterus. A female, conversely, was nurtured in the left horn.
The Y is the most vulnerable spot in the human genome.
It is easy to laugh Anaxagoras’s theory off as anachronistic and bizarre. Its peculiar insistence on left and right placement—as if gender were determined by some sort of cutlery arrangement—clearly belongs to another era. But the theory was revolutionary for its time, for it made two crucial advances. First, it recognized that the determination of gender was essentially random—and so a random cause (the left or right origin of sperm) would need to be invoked to explain it. And second, it reasoned that once established, the original random act had to be amplified and consolidated to fully engender gender. The developmental plan of the fetus was crucial. Right-sided sperm found its way to the right side of the uterus, where it was further specified into a male fetus. Left-sided sperm was segregated to the left side to make a female child. Sex determination was a chain reaction, set off by a single step but then amplified by the location of the fetus into the full-fledged dimorphism between men and women.
And there, for the most part, sex determination sat, for centuries. Theories abounded, but conceptually they were variants of Anaxagoras’s idea—that sex was determined by an essentially random act, consolidated and amplified by the environment of the egg or fetus. “Sex is not inherited,” one geneticist wrote in 1900. Even the cell biologist Thomas Morgan, who was perhaps the most prominent proponent of the role of genes in development, proposed that sex could not be determined through genes. In 1903, Morgan wrote that sex was likely determined by multiple environmental inputs rather than a single genetic one: “The egg, as far as sex is concerned, appears to be in a sort of balanced state, and the conditions to which it is exposed … may determine which sex it will produce. It may be a futile attempt to try to discover any one influence that has a deciding influence for all kinds of eggs.”
In the winter of 1903, the very year that Morgan had published his casual dismissal of a genetic theory of sex determination, Nettie Stevens, biology Ph.D., performed a study that would transform the field. Stevens was born to a carpenter in Vermont in 1861. She became a schoolteacher, but by the early 1890s, had saved enough money from her teaching jobs to attend Stanford University in California. She chose to attend graduate school in biology in 1900—an unusual choice for a woman in her time—and, even more unusually, chose to perform fieldwork at the zoological station in faraway Naples, where the German embryologist Theodor Boveri had recently isolated chromosomes, in urchin eggs. She learned Italian so that she could speak the lingo of the local fishermen who brought her eggs from the shores. From Boveri, she learned to stain eggs to identify chromosomes—the strange blue-stained filaments that resided in cells.
Boveri had demonstrated that cells with altered chromosomes could not develop normally—and so hereditary instructions for development had to be carried within chromosomes. But could the genetic determinant for sex also be carried by chromosomes? In 1903, Stevens chose a simple organism—the common mealworm—to investigate the correlation between an individual worm’s chromosomal makeup and its sex. When Stevens used Boveri’s chromosome-staining method on male and female worms, the answer leaped out of the microscope: a variation in just one chromosome correlated perfectly with the worm’s sex. Mealworms have 20 chromosomes in all—10 pairs (most animals have paired chromosomes; humans have 23 pairs). Cells from female worms inevitably possessed 10 matched pairs. Cells from male worms, in contrast, had two unpaired chromosomes—a small, nub-like band and a larger chromosome. Stevens suggested that the presence of the small chromosome was sufficient to determine sex. She termed it the sex chromosome. To Stevens, this suggested a simple theory of sex determination. When sperm was created in the male gonad, it was made in two forms—one bearing the nub-like male chromosome, and another bearing the normal size female chromosome—in roughly equal ratios. When sperm bearing the male chromosome—i.e., “male sperm”—fertilized the egg, the embryo was born male. When “female sperm” fertilized an egg, the result was a female embryo.
Stevens’s work was corroborated by that of her close collaborator, the cell biologist Edmund Wilson, who simplified Stevens’s terminology, calling the male chromosome Y, and the female X. In chromosomal terms, male cells were XY, and females were XX. The egg contains a single X chromosome, Wilson reasoned. When a sperm carrying a Y chromosome fertilizes an egg, it results in an XY combination, and maleness is determined. When a sperm carrying an X chromosome meets a female egg, the result is XX, which determines femaleness. Sex was not determined by right or left testicles, but by a similarly random process—by the nature of the genetic payload of the first sperm to reach and fertilize an egg.
The XY system discovered by Stevens and Wilson had an important corollary: If the Y chromosome carried all the information to determine maleness, then that chromosome had to carry genes to make an embryo male. At first, geneticists expected to find dozens of male-determining genes on the Y chromosome: Sex, after all, involves the exacting coordination of multiple anatomical, physiological, and psychological features, and it was hard to imagine that a single gene could be capable of performing such diverse functions all by itself. Yet, careful students of genetics knew that the Y chromosome was an inhospitable place for genes. Unlike any other chromosome, the Y is “unpaired”—i.e., it has no sister chromosome and no duplicate copy, leaving every gene on the chromosome to fend for itself. A mutation in any other chromosome can be repaired by copying the intact gene from the other chromosome. But a Y chromosome gene cannot be fixed, repaired, or recopied from another chromosome; it has no backup or guide (there is, however, a unique internal system to repair genes in the Y chromosome). When the Y chromosome is assailed by mutations, it lacks a mechanism to recover information. The Y is thus pockmarked with the potshots and scars of history. It is the most vulnerable spot in the human genome.
As a consequence of this constant genetic bombardment, the human Y chromosome began to jettison information millions of years ago. Genes that were truly valuable for survival were likely shuffled to other parts of the genome where they could be stored securely; genes with limited value were made obsolete, retired, or replaced; only the most essential genes were retained (some were duplicated in the Y chromosome itself—but even this strategy does not solve the problem completely). As information was lost, the Y chromosome itself shrank—whittled down piece by piece by the mirthless cycle of mutation and gene loss. That the Y chromosome is the smallest of all chromosomes is not a coincidence: it is largely a victim of planned obsolescence (in 2014, scientists discovered that a few extremely important genes may be permanently lodged in the Y).
In genetic terms, this suggests a peculiar paradox. Sex, one of the most complex of human traits, is unlikely to be encoded by multiple genes. Rather, a single gene, buried rather precariously in the Y chromosome, must be the master regulator of maleness. Male readers of that last paragraph should take notice: We barely made it.
In the early 1980s, a young geneticist in London named Peter Goodfellow began to hunt for the sex-determining gene on the Y chromosome. A die-hard soccer enthusiast—scruffy, bone-thin, taut, with an unmistakable East Anglian drawl and a “punk meets new romantic” dress sense—Goodfellow intended to use a gene-mapping method pioneered by David Botstein and Ron Davis a few years before to narrow the search to a small region of the Y chromosome. But how could a “normal” gene be mapped without the existence of a variant phenotype, or an associated disease? By 1989, cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s disease genes had been mapped to their chromosomal locations by tracking the link between the disease-causing gene and signposts along the genome. In both cases, affected siblings carrying the gene also carried the signpost, while unaffected siblings did not. But where might Goodfellow find a human family with a variant gender—a third sex—that was genetically transmitted, and carried by some siblings but not others?
By flicking a single genetic switch, Goodfellow had switched an organism’s sex.
In fact, such humans existed—although identifying them was a much more complicated task than anticipated. In 1955, Gerald Swyer, an English endocrinologist investigating female infertility, had discovered a rare syndrome that made humans biologically female but chromosomally male. “Women” born with “Swyer syndrome” were anatomically and physiologically female throughout childhood, but did not achieve female sexual maturity in early adulthood. When their cells were examined, geneticists discovered that these “women” had XY chromosomes in all their cells. Every cell was chromosomally male—yet the person built from these cells was anatomically, physiologically, and psychologically female. A “woman” with Swyer syndrome had been born with the male chromosomal pattern (i.e., XY chromosomes) in all of her cells, but had somehow failed to signal “maleness” to her body.
The most likely scenario behind Swyer syndrome was that the master-regulatory gene that specifies maleness had been inactivated by a mutation, leading to femaleness. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a team led by the geneticist David Page had used such sex-reversed women to map the male-determinant gene to a relatively narrow region of the Y chromosome. The next step was the most laborious—the gene-by-gene sifting to find the correct candidate among the dozens of genes in that general location. Goodfellow was making slow, steady progress when he received devastating news. In the summer of 1987, he learned that Page had landed on the male-determinant gene. Page called the gene ZFY, for its presence in the Y chromosome.
Initially, ZFY seemed like the perfect candidate: It was located in the right region of the Y chromosome, and its DNA sequence suggested that it could act as a master switch for dozens of other genes. But when Goodfellow looked carefully, the shoe wouldn’t fit: When ZFY was sequenced in women with Swyer syndrome, it was completely normal. There was no mutation that would explain the disruption of the male signal in these women. With ZFY disqualified, Goodfellow returned to his search. The gene for maleness had to be in the region identified by Page’s team: They must have come close, but just missed it. In 1989, rooting about close to the ZFY gene, Goodfellow found another promising candidate—a small, nondescript, tightly packed, intronless gene called SRY. Right at the onset, it seemed like the perfect candidate. The normal SRY protein was abundantly expressed in the testes, as one might expect for a sex-determination gene. Other animals, including marsupials, also carried variants of the gene on their Y chromosomes—and thus only males inherited the gene. The most striking proof that SRY was the correct gene came from the analysis of human cohorts: The gene was indisputably mutated in females with Swyer syndrome, and nonmutated in their unaffected siblings.
But Goodfellow had one last experiment to clinch the case—the most dramatic of his proofs. If the SRY gene was the singular determinant of “maleness,” what if he forcibly activated the gene in female animals? Would females be forced to turn into males? When Goodfellow inserted an extra copy of the SRY gene into female mice, their offspring were born with XX chromosomes in every cell (i.e., genetically female), as expected. Yet the mice developed as anatomically male—including growing a penis and testicles, mounting females, and performing every behavior characteristic of male mice. By flicking a single genetic switch, Goodfellow had switched an organism’s sex—creating Swyer syndrome in reverse.
Is all of sex just one gene, then? Almost. Women with Swyer syndrome have male chromosomes in every cell in the body—but with the maleness-determining gene inactivated by a mutation, the Y chromosome is literally emasculated (not in a pejorative but in a purely biological sense). The presence of the Y chromosome in the cells of women with Swyer syndrome does disrupt some aspects of the anatomical development of females. In particular, breasts do not form properly, and ovarian function is abnormal, resulting in low levels of estrogen. But these women feel absolutely no disjunction in their physiology. Most aspects of female anatomy are formed perfectly normally: The vulva and vagina are intact, and a urinary outlet is attached to them with textbook fidelity. Astonishingly, even the gender identity of women with Swyer syndrome is unambiguous: just one gene flicked off and they “become” women. Although estrogen is undoubtedly required to enable the development of secondary sexual characteristics and reinforce some anatomical aspects of femininity in adults, women with Swyer syndrome are typically never confused about gender or gender identity. As one woman wrote, “I definitely identify with female gender roles. I’ve always considered myself 100 percent female. I played on a boy’s soccer team for a while—I have a twin brother; we look nothing alike—but I was definitely a girl on a boy’s team. I didn’t fit in well: I suggested that we name our team ‘the butterflies.’ ”
Women with Swyer syndrome are not “women trapped in men’s bodies.” They are women trapped in women’s bodies that are chromosomally male (except for just one gene). A mutation in that single gene, SRY, creates a (largely) female body—and, more crucially, a wholly female self. It is as artless, as plain, as binary, as leaning over the nightstand and turning a switch on or off.
If genes determine sexual anatomy so unilaterally, then how do genes affect gender identity? On the morning of May 4, 2004, David Reimer, a 38-year-old man in Winnipeg, drove into the parking lot of a grocery store and killed himself with a sawed-off shotgun. Born in 1965 as Bruce Reimer—chromosomally, and genetically, male—David had been the victim of a ghoulish attempt at circumcision by an inept surgeon, resulting in a severely damaged penis in early infancy. Reconstructive surgery was impossible, and so Bruce’s parents had rushed him to see John Money, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University, known internationally for his interest in gender and sexual behavior. Money evaluated the child and, as part of an experiment, asked Bruce’s parents to have their son castrated and raise him as a girl. Desperate to give their son a “normal” life, his parents capitulated. They changed his name to Brenda.
Money’s experiment on David Reimer—for which he never asked or received permission from the university or hospital—was an attempt to test a theory widely fashionable in academic circles in the ’60s. The notion that gender identity was not innate and was crafted through social performance and cultural mimicry (“you are who you act; nurture can overcome nature”) was in its full prime in that era—and Money was among its most ardent and most vocal proponents. Casting himself as the Henry Higgins of sexual transformation, Money advocated “sexual reassignment,” the reorientation of sexual identity through behavioral and hormonal therapy—a decades-long process invented by his team at Johns Hopkins that allowed his experimental subjects to emerge with their identities sanguinely switched. Based on Money’s advice, “Brenda” was dressed and treated as a girl. Her hair was grown long. She was given female dolls and a sewing machine. Her teachers and friends were never informed about the switch. Brenda had an identical twin—a boy named Brian—who was brought up as a male child. As part of the study, Brenda and Brian visited Money’s clinic in Baltimore at frequent intervals throughout their childhood. As preadolescence approached, Money prescribed estrogen supplements to feminize Brenda. The surgical construction of an artificial vagina was scheduled to complete her anatomical transformation into a woman. Money published a steady stream of highly cited papers touting the extraordinary success of the sexual reassignment. Brenda was adjusting to her new identity with perfect equanimity, he proposed. Her twin, Brian, was a “rough and tumble” boy, while Brenda was an “active little girl.” Brenda would ease into womanhood with scarcely any hurdles, Money declared. “Gender identity is sufficiently incompletely differentiated at birth to permit successful assignment of a genetic male as a girl.”
It is now clear that genes are vastly more influential than virtually any other force in shaping sex identity and gender identity.
In reality, nothing could have been further from the truth. At age 4, Brenda took scissors and shredded the pink and white dresses she had been forced to wear. She lapsed into fits of fury when told to walk or talk like a girl. Pinioned to an identity that she found evidently false and discordant, she was anxious, depressed, confused, anguished, and often frankly enraged. In her school reports, Brenda was described as “tomboyish” and “dominant,” with “abundant physical energy.” She refused to play with dolls or other girls, preferring her brother’s toys (the only time she played with her sewing machine was when she sneaked a screwdriver out of her father’s toolbox and took the machine meticulously apart, screw by screw). Perhaps most confoundingly to her young classmates, Brenda went to the girl’s bathroom dutifully—but then preferred to urinate with her legs spread wide, standing up.
After 14 years, Brenda was told about the circumstances surrounding her birth, and she brought the grotesque charade to an end. She refused the vaginal operation. She stopped the estrogen pills, underwent a bilateral mastectomy to excise her breast tissue, and began injecting testosterone to revert back to male. She—he—changed her name to David. He married a woman in 1990, but the relationship was tormented from the start. Bruce/Brenda/David—the boy who became a girl who became a man—continued to ricochet between devastating bouts of anxiety, anger, denial, and depression. He lost his job. The marriage failed. In 2004, shortly after a bitter altercation with his wife, David killed himself.
David Reimer’s case was not unique. In the 1970s and 1980s, several other cases of sexual reassignment—the attempted conversion of chromosomally male children into females through psychological and social conditioning—were described, each troubled and troubling in its own right. In some cases, the gender dysphoria was not as acute as David’s— but the wo/men often suffered haunting pangs of anxiety, anger, dysphoria, and disorientation well into adulthood. In one particularly revealing case, a woman—called C—came to see a psychiatrist in Rochester, Minnesota. Dressed in a frilly, floral blouse and a rough cowhide jacket—“my leather-and-lace look,” as she described it—C had no problems with some aspects of her duality, yet had trouble reconciling her “sense of herself as fundamentally female.” Born and raised as a girl in the 1940s, C recalled being a tomboy in school. She had never thought of herself as physically male, but had always felt a kinship with men (“I feel like I have the brain of a man”). She married a man in her 20s and lived with him—until a chance ménage à trois involving a woman kindled her fantasies about women. Her husband married the other woman, and C left him and entered a series of lesbian relationships. She oscillated between periods of equanimity and depression. She joined a church and discovered a nurturing spiritual community—except for a pastor who railed against her homosexuality and recommended therapy to “convert” her.
At 48, goaded by guilt and fear, she finally sought psychiatric assistance. During the medical examination, her cells were sent for chromosomal analysis, and she was found to have XY chromosomes in her cells. Genetically speaking, C was male. She later discovered that s/he had been born with ambiguous, underdeveloped genitals, although chromosomally male. Her mother had consented to reconstructive surgery to transform her into a female. Sexual reassignment had begun when she was 6 months old, and she had been given hormones at puberty on the pretext of curing a “hormonal imbalance.” Throughout her childhood and adolescence, C did not have the faintest spasm of doubt about her gender. C’s case illustrates the importance of thinking carefully about the link between gender and genetics. Unlike David Reimer, C was not confused about the performance of gender roles: She wore female clothes in public, maintained a heterosexual marriage (for a while, at least), and acted within the range of cultural and social norms to pass as female for 48 years. Yet despite her guilt about her sexuality, crucial aspects of her identity—kinship, fantasy, desire, and erotic drive—remained fastened to maleness. C had been able to learn many of the essential features of her acquired gender through social performance and mimesis, but she couldn’t unlearn the psychosexual drives of her genetic self.
In 2005, a team of researchers at Columbia University validated these case reports in a longitudinal study of “genetic males”—i.e., children born with XY chromosomes—who had been assigned to female gender at birth, typically because of the inadequate anatomical development of their genitals. Some of the cases were not as anguished as David Reimer’s or C’s—but an overwhelming number of males assigned to female gender roles reported experiencing moderate to severe gender dysphoria during childhood. Many had suffered anxiety, depression, and confusion. Many had voluntarily changed genders back to male upon adolescence and adulthood. Most notably, when “genetic males” born with ambiguous genitals were brought up as boys, not girls, not a single case of gender dysphoria or gender change in adulthood was reported.
These case reports finally put to rest the assumption, still unshakably prevalent in some circles, that gender identity can be created or programmed entirely, or even substantially, by training, suggestion, behavioral enforcement, social performance, or cultural interventions. It is now clear that genes are vastly more influential than virtually any other force in shaping sex identity and gender identity—although in limited circumstances a few attributes of gender can be learned through cultural, social, and hormonal reprogramming. Since even hormones are ultimately “genetic”—i.e., the direct or indirect products of genes—then the capacity to reprogram gender using purely behavioral therapy and cultural reinforcement begins to tip into the realm of impossibility. Indeed, the growing consensus in medicine is that, aside from exceedingly rare exceptions, children should be assigned to their chromosomal (i.e., genetic) sex regardless of anatomical variations and differences—with the option of switching, if desired, later in life. As of this writing, none of these children have opted to switch from their gene-assigned sexes.
How can we reconcile this idea—of a single genetic switch that dominates one of the most profound dichotomies in human identity—with the fact that human gender identity in the real world appears in a continuous spectrum? Virtually every culture has recognized that gender does not exist in discrete half-moons of black and white, but in a thousand shades of gray. Even Otto Weininger, the Austrian philosopher now famous for his misogyny, conceded, “Is it really the case that all women and men are marked off sharply from each other … ? There are transitional forms between the metals and nonmetals; between chemical combinations and simple mixtures, between animals and plants, between phanerogams and cryptogams, and between mammals and birds. … The improbability may henceforth be taken for granted of finding in Nature a sharp cleavage between all that is masculine on the one side and all that is feminine on the other.”
In genetic terms, though, there is no contradiction: Master switches and hierarchical organizations of genes are perfectly compatible with continuous curves of behavior, identity, and physiology. The SRY gene indubitably controls sex determination in an on/off manner. Turn SRY on, and an animal becomes anatomically and physiologically male. Turn it off, and the animal becomes anatomically and physiologically female.
But to enable more profound aspects of gender determination and gender identity, SRY must act on dozens of targets—turning them on and off, activating some genes and repressing others, like a relay race that moves a baton from hand to hand. These genes, in turn, integrate inputs from the self and the environment—from hormones, behaviors, exposures, social performance, cultural role-playing, and memory—to engender gender. What we call gender, then, is an elaborate genetic and developmental cascade, with SRY at the tip of the hierarchy, and modifiers, integrators, instigators, and interpreters below. This geno-developmental cascade specifies gender identity. Genes are like single lines in a recipe that specifies gender. The SRY gene is the first line in the recipe: “Start with four cups of flour.” If you fail to start with the flour, you will certainly not bake anything close to a cake. But infinite variations fan out of that first line—from the crusty baguette of a French bakery to the eggy mooncakes of Chinatown.
The existence of a transgender identity provides powerful evidence for this geno-developmental cascade. In an anatomical and physiological sense, sex identity is quite binary: Just one gene governs sex identity, resulting in the striking anatomical and physiological dimorphism that we observe between males and females. But gender and gender identity are far from binary. Imagine a gene—call it TGY—that determines how the brain responds to SRY (or some other male hormone or signal). One child might inherit a TGY gene variant that is highly resistant to the action of SRY on the brain, resulting in a body that is anatomically male, but a brain that does not read or interpret that male signal. Such a brain might recognize itself as psychologically female; it might consider itself neither male or female, or imagine itself belonging to a third gender altogether.
These men (or women) have something akin to a Swyer syndrome of identity: Their chromosomal and anatomical gender is male (or female), but their chromosomal/anatomical state does not generate a synonymous signal in their brains. In rats, notably, such a syndrome can be caused by changing a single gene in the brains of female embryos or exposing embryos to a drug that blocks the signaling of “femaleness” to the brain. Female mice engineered with this altered gene or treated with this drug have all the anatomical and physiological features of femaleness, but perform the activities associated with male mice, including mounting females: these animals might be anatomically female, but they are behaviorally male.
The hierarchical organization of this genetic cascade illustrates a crucial principle about the link between genes and environments in general. The perennial debate rages on: nature or nurture, genes or environment? The battle has gone on for so long, and with such animosity, that both sides have capitulated. Identity, we are now told, is determined by nature and nurture, genes and environment, intrinsic and extrinsic inputs. But this too is nonsense—an armistice between fools. If genes that govern gender identity are hierarchically organized—starting with SRY on top and then fanning out into thousands of rivulets of information below—then whether nature predominates or nurture is not absolute, but depends quite acutely on the level of organization one chooses to examine.
At the top of the cascade, nature works forcefully and unilaterally. Up top, gender is quite simple—just one master gene flicking on and off. If we learned to toggle that switch—by genetic means or with a drug—we could control the production of men or women, and they would emerge with male versus female identity (and even large parts of anatomy) quite intact. At the bottom of the network, in contrast, a purely genetic view fails to perform; it does not provide a particularly sophisticated understanding of gender or its identity. Here, in the estuarine plains of crisscrossing information, history, society, and culture collide and intersect with genetics, like tides. Some waves cancel each other, while others reinforce each other. No force is particularly strong—but their combined effect produces the unique and rippled landscape that we call an individual’s identity.
From: The Gene: an Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Copyright © 2016 by Siddhartha Mukherjee, M.D. Reprinted by permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Lead photo collage credit: Cultura RM Exclusive/Luc Beziat / Dimitri Otis / Getty Images
This article was originally published in Nautilus Magazine on December 29, 2016. | <urn:uuid:074e0740-c92f-47ea-882b-aaf13535b600> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://nautil.us/why-sex-is-mostly-binary-but-gender-is-a-spectrum-11306/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662510138.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20220516140911-20220516170911-00069.warc.gz | en | 0.96778 | 7,011 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Available in: Chinese
|Fiscal decentralization is widely recognized as an essential component in China’s remarkable transition to a market economy. However, the intergovernmental fiscal system is now hitting a few snags—increasing regional disparities, proliferation of off-budgetary funds, deficient and unequal public services delivery, farmers’ financial burden, and rural unrest. What happened? And what happens now?|
In his report to the Tenth National People's Congress in March 2006, Premier Wen Jiabao stressed the importance of hexie shehui (harmonious society). This shift toward fairness and equity among the poor and economically marginalized was the topic of a June 2006 forum organized by the government in partnership with the World Bank in Beijing on "Public Finance for a Harmonious Society." The conference, with its main focus on reshaping intergovernmental fiscal relations, reflects the commitment from China's leadership to revamp fiscal decentralization system as key policy areas in building a harmonious society.
A retrospective view
China has made substantial efforts to break down its highly centralized fiscal management system (1949-1978) using various forms of fiscal contracting systems (1979-1993) and later a tax-sharing system (1994-present). Reforms in the 1980s and early 1990s were aimed at promoting local economic local governments' responsibilities and their autonomy in carrying out fiscal functions. The strategy did boost local growth in many regions, but it also brought many unintended problems including declining general government revenues, waning fiscal position of the overall government, weakening macroeconomic management, and rising regional disparities.
The 1994 Tax Sharing Reform was initiated as the first attempt to fix the problems of the intergovernmental fiscal system through the introduction of the Tax Assignment System (fenshuizhi), which explicitly defined central taxes, shared taxes, and local taxes. The tax structure was also simplified, and tax administration was split into National Tax Services and Local Tax Services.
China is much less decentralized than it appears
The government of China is organized in a five-tier hierarchical structure (central, provincial, prefecture, county, and township) with each level of government reporting to the next highest level. Sub-national governments have been given considerable latitude in shaping local policies and managing fiscal resources. About 70 percent of the entire public expenditure was made at the sub-national levels and over 55 percent at sub-provincial levels in 2004.
However, China is much less decentralized than what appears on the surface. The center exerts substantial control over localities through an intergovernmental fiscal system, several binding expenditure laws, and numerous expenditure mandates, as well as its political control. After the 1994 reform, sub-national governments became largely dependent on their shares of central taxes and grants. In 2003, they financed 67 percent of provincial, 57 percent of prefecture, and 66 percent of county and lower-level government expenditures.
Fiscal dependence at the local level, combined with a hierarchical party structure and the absence of national elections, has emboldened predatory behavior by the upper-level governments. The resulting local fiscal stress and deficient, unequal public service delivery have attracted massive attention.
Financial pressures on local governments have intensified since the introduction of the tax-sharing system in 1994
The 1994 Tax Sharing Reform re-centralized revenues without cutting local expenditures. The centralizing of revenues upward and devolving of expenditures downward occur at each level at the expense of the subordinate governments.
The regressive outcome contributes to deteriorating fiscal vertical imbalances and leaves the lowest level of government—particularly those in the rural sector and poor regions—financially starved. The vertical fiscal gap by administrative levels in 2003 is shown in figure 1.
Local governments play an essential role in providing social services such as education, health care, social security, housing and urban/local services. In 2004, sub-national governments together financed 90 percent of public spending on education, 95 percent on health care, and 85 percent on social security. Many local governments, especially those in poor western regions, are providing fewer and lower quality public services and passing along a higher proportion of these costs to their constituents.
The current system of intergovernmental transfers is failing to address the financing of local public services and regional fiscal disparities
The composition of central to local transfers in 2004 is depicted in figure 2. The three largest transfers—revenue sharing transfers (469.5 billion yuan), tax rebate (404.97 billion yuan) and earmarked grants (322.33 billion) amounting to more than 80 percent of total central-provincial transfers—were largely designed to recognize the vested interests of localities.Meanwhile, the equalization grant (74.5 billion yuan), equal to about 5 percent of the total, was not sufficient to address public service delivery needs at the local level.
The distribution of per capita central transfers by province in 2004 (figure 3) shows that Shanghai, the richest province, was the highest recipient of central transfersper capita(5,079 yuan) and Henan was the lowest (646 yuan), with the national per capital averagein between at1,117 yuan.
Potential next steps in building a harmonious intergovernmental fiscal system
Given the objectives of easing local fiscal stress and promoting sufficient and equitable local public services, the way forward will require significant modification and reforms of the existing intergovernmental fiscal system.
A healthy and wide public debate on potential steps forward could include the following steps [ 3]:
Setting up formal and stable expenditure assignments to clarify the responsibilities of governments might include ensuring that local government expenditures focus on public services and social affairs while central government expenditures focus on national issues such as national defense, foreign affairs, economic development, and mitigating regional inequalities in public services and social affairs; and building broad and formal coordinating institutions to deal with concurrent and overlapping assignments.
Aligning the fiscal system to guarantee all citizens access to basic public services might include making it the central government's responsibility to guarantee all citizens access to basic public services by setting national service standards (Canada shows national minimal standards of public services can significantly improve national cohesiveness); and equalizing transfers to address regional disparities in the ability of lower-level of governments to provide services.
Providing sound local autonomy to improve local fiscal capacity might include building revenue autonomy around a balance between devolution of responsibilities according to economies of scale, the internalization of costs, and available administrative capacity; exploring an asymmetric approachthat allows major cities and other local governments with more developed capacity to introduce reforms; increasing the share rates of local government in major taxes such as the value added tax and income taxes; and continuing to reform the tax system such that each level of government has a stable tax base and main taxes, either exclusively or shared with other governments.
Formalizing the local borrowing system to support sustainable development might include decentralizing the authority of local borrowing to jurisdictions with reasonable fiscal capacity; and applying central control on local borrowing. Standardizing intergovernmental transfer to meet the goals of governments might include focusing central transfers on improving the quality of public services against national standards and focus provincial transfers on achieving equity of local service provision; and improving the transparency of transfers.
The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this brief are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent.
Heng-fu Zou is a Senior Economist in the Development Research Group (Human Development and Public Services Team). His current research interests include public economics, economic growth, savings, and income distribution in China, India, Nepal, Sudan, and African countries. Email c/o email@example.com
Chunli Shen is a World Bank consultant. She has written on budgeting and fiscal decentralization and co-edited Fiscal Federalism and Fiscal Management (CITIC China 2005), Local Public Finance and Governance (CITIC China 2005), and Regional Disparities in China (People's Publishing House China 2006).
1. This article is based on Chunli Shen, Jing Jin, and Heng-fu Zou, “Fiscal Decentralization in China: History, Impact, Challenges, and Next Steps,” processed, 2006. [draft]
2. Anwar Shah and Chunli Shen, "Fine Tuning the Intergovernmental Transfer System to Achieve a Harmonious Society and A Level Playing Field for Regional Development in China," processed, 2006.
3. Jorge Martinez, Baoyun Qiao, Shuilin Wang, and Heng-fu Zou, “China Decentralization Finance Issues: Lessons from International Experiences,” Development Research Group, World Bank, Washington, D.C., processed, 2006. | <urn:uuid:0b7c8c03-8ef1-4806-b096-c5a17dd9d2e0> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPUBSERV/Resources/fiscal_decentralization.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440645340161.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827031540-00129-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932375 | 1,766 | 2.65625 | 3 |
As much as I hate to admit it, I'm behind the curve when it comes to history (and calculus, for that matter). As a product of the modern American education system, I managed to get through history courses by memorizing important events, dates and people, only to forget almost everything a few years later. I'm not alone, since plenty of Americans can rattle off the names of celebrities' babies and quote entire scenes from Return of the Jedi...but couldn't tell you who the 20th President was (hint, hint), or recite the preamble to the Constitution. To help alleviate my problem, I've been reading up on pieces of history (both American and otherwise) over the past few months---and although I'm far from knowledgeable on the subject, I'm slowly working on it.
Lucky for all of us, it's easier than ever to find accurate, informative and entertaining accounts of American history in a variety of media: books, audio recordings, films...even games. The History Channel, by and large, isn't always known for its objective programming, often resorting to sensationalism to keep casual viewers intrigued---yet they've recently produced an excellent series of documentaries, entitled 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America. The title alone brings to mind plenty of possibilities: JFK's assassination, Apollo 11's moon landing, Pearl Harbor, the September 11th attacks---but thankfully enough, 10 Days picks less obvious choices.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this series, aside from the material itself, is the format in which it's been presented. Executive producer Susan Werbe invited ten different independent filmmakers (all with backgrounds in documentary work) to assemble the project, with each one given a single task: to highlight a historical event that changed American life. In other words, it's not so much a "Top 10 list" as it is a unique exploration of slightly lesser-known events in American history. Presented in chronological order, these ten 45-minute documentaries are well-rounded from start to finish, combining a wealth of footage, photos and comments from historians. They're remarkably objective, yet a the information is often presented from multiple perspectives...and before you know it, you've actually learned something.
Our first story begins roughly 370 years ago---May 26, 1637, to be exact---and sheds some light on the "Massacre at Mystic" (also known to some as the Pequot War). During the early days of European colonization, this slaughter of the dominant Pequot tribe---carried out by the Puritans, with the aid of a few neighboring Native American tribes---began the long-standing conflict between "us and them", and America hasn't been quite the same since. Directed by James Moll (The Last Days), this 45-minute exploration of territoriality starts this collection off with a bang.
Second in line is "Shay's Rebellion: America's First Civil War", which takes us nearly 150 years past the Massacre at Mystic. This story teaches us about a group of farmers from Boston who revolted against the government---for reasons of "unfair taxation"---and brought George Washington out of retirement. It's a well put-together account of the event, highlighted by animation from renowned artist Bill Plympton (who displays a great deal of restraint, I might add).
Other highlights in this three-disc collection include "Antietem", a bloody battle that proved to be a pivotal turning point of the Civil War; "Murder at the Fair", an account of President McKinley's assassination at the 1901 Pan-Am Exposition; "Einstein's Letter", the story of the influential physicist's efforts that led to the creation of nuclear technology and the atomic bomb; and "Freedom Summer", the 1964 murder of three young Mississippi civil rights workers. Truth be told, there's not a bad documentary in the bunch, though at least one event ("When America Was Rocked", the pop culture explosion brought upon by Elvis Presley's Ed Sullivan performance) seems slightly out of place.
From start to finish, this collection's title remains accurate: these events---though many of which lasted much longer than one day---significantly changed the course of American culture in many ways. The skillful presentation and wealth of footage are icing on the cake, though the DVD treatment by The History Channel isn't quite as promising. The technical presentation is good but not exceptional, while the extras are sparse and fluffy. Let's take a closer look, shall we?
(10 documentaries on 3 single-sided discs)
Disc Three *
* - Includes Additional Bonus Material
Presented in their original aspect ratios of 1.78:1, the only major nitpick with this release is a lack of anamorphic enhancement. Otherwise, it's a fairly strong effort, boasting a clean picture with little to no digital problems. The older footage obviously shows some wear and tear (as expected), standing in sharp contrast with the newly-recorded interviews. The audio is presented in 2.0 Stereo and gets the job done, with music and dialogue coming through very clearly. Frustratingly, no subtitles or Closed Captioning options are available during the documentaries.
In-depth, provocative and nicely executed, 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America is a worthy boxed set that documentary fans will enjoy. Though history buffs probably won't learn anything new, these thoughtful productions are educational, informative and entertaining...not to mention a terrific choice for teachers. A&E's DVD presentation is slightly flawed, as the lack of anamorphic enhancement, subtitles and interesting bonus features drags this release down a bit. Despite these faults, 10 Days is still a solid collection that's well worth looking into. Recommended.
Randy Miller III is an affable office monkey based in Harrisburg, PA. He also does freelance graphic design projects and works in a local gallery. When he's not doing that, he enjoys second-guessing himself and writing things in third person. | <urn:uuid:364b95a1-a68c-4948-a077-1de719c1fb89> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/print.php?ID=23291 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1397609526102.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20140416005206-00585-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952552 | 1,227 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Asian of the Century
Asian of the Century is a centurial issue of the 20th century held by American AsianWeek magazine and CNN in 1999 that features and profiles Asian persons who have topped their respective fields. Mahatma Gandhi was declared as the "Asian of the Century".
Those people featured are considered as "The person who contributed most to the betterment of Asia in the past 100 years'".
The Big Five
The Big Five are:
- Politics and Government: Deng Xiaoping (China)
- Business and Economics: Akio Morita (Japan)
- Arts, Literature and Culture: Akira Kurosawa (Japan)
- Science and Technology: Charles K. Kao (UK/USA)
- Moral and Spiritual Leadership: Mahatma Gandhi (India)
There was a long list of runners-up, such as Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), Amartya Sen, Bruce Lee (1940–1973), Chang Min Chueh (1919–1991), Gregory Pincus, M.S. Swaminathan, Rodolfo Aquino, Goh Keng Swee, Li Kuo-ting, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Muhammad Yunus, Mother Teresa (1910–1997), the 14th Dalai Lama, Mohammad Ali Jinnah (1876–1948), Mahathir Mohamad, Mao Zedong (1893–1976), Corazon Aquino, and Lee Kuan Yew.
- Time Person of the Year
- Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century
- Canadian Newsmaker of the Year
- ASIAN OF THE CENTURY Introduction: They Changed Our Lives
- ASIAN OF THE CENTURY Politics & Government: Deng Xiaoping (China)
- ASIAN OF THE CENTURY Business & Economics: Morita Akio (Japan)
- ASIAN OF THE CENTURY Arts, Literature & Culture: Kurosawa Akira (Japan)
- ASIAN OF THE CENTURY Science & Technology: Charles K. Kao (China/U.S.)
- ASIAN OF THE CENTURY Moral & Spiritual Leadership: Mohandas K. Gandhi (India)
- ASIAN OF THE CENTURY Contenders: And They Also Shone | <urn:uuid:270aab1b-a2d6-46c5-ae57-4095f6ad28b0> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_of_the_Century | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247480905.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20190216170210-20190216192210-00001.warc.gz | en | 0.810731 | 475 | 2.546875 | 3 |
A phobia is an intense fear that causes you to avoid the feared thing or endure it with unbearable mental pain. Additionally, a phobia is an irrational fear, in that most people either don't fear the same thing that you do or fear it to a much lesser degree. Some examples of common phobias are the fear of public speaking, dating the opposite sex, heights, spiders, closed spaces, crossing bridges or tunnels, going to the dentist, swimming in the ocean, flying in planes, and being in a crowd of people.
One of the most powerful techniques used for curing phobias is called classical conditioning. Simply put, classical conditioning involves pairing a particular feeling with a particular event over and over again until the feeling and event become automatically associated with each other.
Let me give you an example. Let's say that whenever you give a public speech, you feel intense fear. However, you wish to feel intense calm, whenever you give a public speech. How do you accomplish this?
First Step: First you must find something that makes you feel intensely calm - something like two or three shots of whiskey.
Second Step: Then whenever you give a public speech, you drink two or three shots of whiskey just before going onstage. You will undoubtedly feel calm during your public speech.
Third Step: After giving many public speeches under the influence of whiskey, you will automatically associate giving public speeches with feeling calm. Once this happens, you will be able to calmly give public speeches - without drinking whiskey beforehand! Mission accomplished, your phobia is cured!
You say, "Wait a minute! If my supervisor catches me drinking alcohol on the job, I'm history!" Good point. In many workplaces, drinking alcohol is taboo and those found committing the taboo may suffer serious consequences. Luckily, there are other sedatives that are more socially acceptable.
Some examples of socially acceptable sedatives are Remeron, Xanax, Thorazine, Risperdal, Benadryl, Lunesta, and Rozerem. All of these sedatives need to be prescribed by a physician, except for Benadryl. And taking any one of these sedatives is more discreet than drinking alcohol, since it doesn't leave your breath smelling and your eyes red.
Okay, so which sedative should you choose? Upon researching each sedative, you see that each of them works differently, producing different types of sedation. You end up choosing Benadryl, since it is the easiest to obtain (no physician's prescription needed) and it sedates effectively.
Benadryl (Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride)
Benadryl (diphenhydramine hydrochloride) is an antihistamine that is used to relieve allergy symptoms. It is also used as a sleep aid, due to its sedative effects. Benadryl sedates by blocking histamine from its receptor sites. Histamine is a neurotransmitter that promotes alertness, arousal, and allergy symptoms. By blocking histamine, the opposite occurs.
Another way Benadryl sedates is that it inhibits the re-uptake of serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that calms the brain. Neurons release serotonin to send calming signals throughout the brain, but then the neurons need to reabsorb serotonin to turn off the calming signals. Benadryl interferes with this turning-off process.
Now that you have a sedative that can be bought over-the-counter, is very affordable, works quickly, and sedates effectively, you are ready to cure your phobias. Pick a phobia. Fear of dating the opposite sex? Okay let's cure it.
First Step: Strike up pleasant conversations with potential dates, and ask them if they would like to get together with you to do something fun (e.g., bowling, dinner, movies, swimming, etc.). To reduce the chance of rejection, only ask potential dates who already know you and have expressed some interest in you. A good hunting ground is your workplace or any other populated place that you visit often.
Second Step: Take 25-50 mg of Benadryl (diphenhydramine hydrochloride) a half hour before going on the date. If you must drive a motor vehicle, be careful - Benadryl may cause drowsiness! Your date may drink alcohol, but you may not; because Benadryl increases the intoxicating and sedating effects of alcohol. The sedating effect of 25-50 mg of Benadryl lasts 4-6 hours.
Third Step: Go on many dates, taking 25-50 mg of Benadryl a half hour before the start of each date. Eventually, you will automatically associate feeling calm with going on dates. Once this happens, you will be able to calmly go on dates - without taking Benadryl beforehand! Mission accomplished, your phobia is cured!
Warnings, Drug Interactions, and Common Side Effect
When using any drug, some common sense is needed. Even though Benadryl (diphenhydramine hydrochloride) is a very safe drug with minimal side effects, I advise you to check with your physician and pharmacist to see if it is okay for you to use Benadryl as prescribed here.
To avoid adverse drug or medical interactions, always read the container label of any drug that you take. Benadryl enhances the effects of alcohol, sedatives, and tranquilizers. Additionally, taking Benadryl tablets and applying Benadryl cream or ointment enhances the effects of each other. If you have glaucoma, an enlarged prostate gland, or breathing problems, Benadryl may worsen your condition.
Since Benadryl may cause drowsiness, be very careful while driving or operating hazardous equipment. To reduce your chances of becoming too drowsy, don't exceed 50 mg per dose, don't take more often than every 4-6 hours, and don't take more than six doses within a 24-hour period of time.
Therapy and prescription drugs can be very expensive, especially if you don't have health insurance. Oftentimes the poorest members of society have to live with mental health problems such as phobias. Affording the best health care, the rich rarely have to live with phobias or other mental health problems. Thus, mental health relates to financial health. However, there is an alternative way to cure mental health problems such as phobias. This way involves using an effective self-help technique with an affordable over-the-counter sedative.
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Typewriters were writing devices that were widely used in the 19th and 20th centuries of the Common Era. An example of an advanced typewriter, the IBM Selectric, is shown below.
The history of writing technologies and the place of typewriters in that history can be thought of as occurring in the following stages.
1. Lump of charcoal on rock. Drawing pictograms on rocks with partially burnt wood. This method of writing was quite impermanent since rain and wind tended to erase the pictograms unless they were applied to the rock walls of caves.
When pictograms, drawings of mammoth and antelope hunts, and alien visitations were applied to cave walls they lasted thousands of years. Beer was not typically brewed in caves at that time, so no recipes have survived.
2. The stick and mud method. Writing with a stick in the mud on the banks of a river or creek. This was an impermanent method for obvious reasons; Floods, rainstorms, and sandals all erased the writing in short timeframes. Since they were important sources of water, beer was often brewed near rivers and creeks during this time period, but due to frequent flooding, no recipes have survived.
2A. Stick and mud, advanced. Clay tablets were substituted for mud, then after writing, the tablets were baked. This was a more permanent writing method because the clay tablets lasted thousands of years if protected from moisture.
Permanent records of beer recipes and stories about Gilgamesh were recorded this way in Sumeria with cuneiform writing. This writing technology was important to the rise of Sumerian culture, and was illustrated by their most important saying, “Bread And Beer”, which meant that with those two things, mankind would be forever happy.
3. Papyrus and brush. Form reeds into sheets, then write on them with brushes. This was also a more permanent type of writing than the stick and mud method. Being a relatively enlightened culture, the Egyptians used this writing technology to maintain their beer recipes for thousands of years by copying them every hundred years or so.
3A. Paper and pen. Quill pens were used to write with ink on paper sheets made out of cellulose fibers. When cotton was mixed with cellulose fibers, paper could last for hundreds of years, which is why we today have copies of important historical documents such as the Magna Carta and Martin Luther’s recipes for ale.
4. Typewriter. The typewriter was a mechanical device. One pressed a key corresponding to an alphanumeric character, then via a series of metal pivot points and levers, the machine caused the corresponding metal type to strike an inked ribbon held in front of a sheet of paper. This was magic compared to writing with pen and paper, and considerably more uniform than handwritten script. A trained operator could use a typewriter to produce a 250-word beer recipe in five minutes or less!
Author’s Note: Though Ernest Hemingway used a combination of Stage 3A and Stage 4 writing technologies to produce classics such as The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell To Arms, he drank very little beer and typed using the two-finger-hunt-and-peck method on his manual Underwood typewriter. He only averaged 500 words per day when writing his novels. Coincidence? I think not.
4B. Typewriter, advanced. The advanced typewriter was powered by electricity, rather than heavy pressure applied by fingers. One merely lightly touched the keys to type a character, and the machine used the power of electricity to do the heavy lifting necessary to make the type strike the inked ribbon and paper.
One did not develop the fingertip calluses necessary to use the purely mechanical typewriter. Because the development of fingertip calluses was not an integral part of the brewing process, it was simply a waste of time, anyway.
5. Word Processor. Word processors were simply electric typewriters that recorded every keystroke in a document onto a cassette tape. One typed a document once and simultaneously recorded it to a cassette tape. Later, when one wanted to give away multiple copies of a new beer recipe, one would put the cassette tape back in the word processor, then print out numerous copies – usually only stopping when the printer ran out of paper.
5A. Word Processor, advanced. The advanced word processor used 3.5” floppy discs to store documents, rather than cassette tapes. The advantage to this was that one could store hundreds of recipes on one floppy disc, and even include ales and stouts along with the usual lagers and pilsners.
6. Personal Computers. Personal computers were really very advanced word processors, though at this time we began calling particular software programs “word processors”. One could then use a dialup telephone connection to post beer recipes on virtual bulletin boards, where they could conceivably be read (and printed out by) hundreds of people. | <urn:uuid:a7eb181d-3be5-447b-a9c8-f5f56e65ff64> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | https://rralexander.wordpress.com/writing-technologies-beer-and-aliens/typewriters/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948618633.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20171218161254-20171218183254-00272.warc.gz | en | 0.968534 | 1,026 | 3.53125 | 4 |
German Historical Museum
Founded in 1987, the German Historical Museum is located in two buildings. The first, the historic Zeughaus, was built between 1695 and 1730 and houses the museum’s permanent exhibition, German History in Images and Artifacts, which covers more than 2,000 years of German history. The second building, designed by famed architect I.M. Pei, is dedicated to temporary exhibitions, including 2010’s Hitler and the Germans. The museum’s holdings include 12 separate collections containing everything from documents and posters to toys and textiles. | <urn:uuid:57e3f4d0-93cd-490c-b9c2-1d39da591b40> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-guide/berlin/things-to-do/german-historical-museum | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514574018.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20190920113425-20190920135425-00068.warc.gz | en | 0.977513 | 119 | 3.078125 | 3 |
One of the keys to Doñana exceptional biodiversity is the high diversity of habitats. These habitats are largely determined by the dominant vegetation, to the point of being defined by it in EU's environmental legislation - notably, the Habitats Directive.
Doñana's Biodiversity Monitoring Program estimates regularly the distribution, extent and conservation status of the main habitat units present in Doñana, using a combination of large-scale remote sensing data (Landsat data series, available since 1975) and detailed remote-sensing data (multi- and hyper-spectral images taken from drones) validated with ground-truthing data collected each year at permanent plots. These include:
1. Forest and shrub cover: Changes in the cover of the main types of forest and shrub vegetation present in the Doñana National Park are monitored at 5-year intervals. This information is derived from a supervised classification of Landsat images, validated with ground-truthing data taken at permanent plots (see protocol). In situ information collected at permanent plots includes:
1.1. Juniper forests: Juniper forests are monitored at three 1 ha plots, established in 2005 and monitored on yearly basis using a combination of detailed, remote sensing images (multi-spectral cameras transported on drones) validated with ground-truthing data obtained in three 10x10 m quadrats per 1-ha plot. Each year, all juvenile and adult individuals are measured (height, canopy width and length, leaf damage and flowering intensity), and the number of seedlings and saplings is registered. After validation using ground-truth data, remote sensing images are used to calculate the size structure of the Juniper population for the whole 1-ha plot. See protocol and summary data. Request raw data.
1.2. Pine-juniper forest: Mixed pine-juniper forests were also monitored at 11 10x10 m quadrats situated at Marismillas (see map). Plots were monitored on yearly basis from 2006 to 2012, as in Juniper forest plots. Following an intense perturbation caused by forestry works in 2010, the monitoring of these plots was discontinued. See protocol and summary data. Request raw data.
1.3. Shrubland: Shrubland vegetation is monitored in 21 permanent plots (11 in dry, 4 in intermediate and 6 in wet shrubland) of 15x15 m. Within each plot, the cover of each shrub species is measured in 3 three 10-m transects. These measurements provide estimates of cover and number of individuals per species, proportion of bare soil, species richness and biological diversity per plot. See protocol and summary data. Request raw data.
1.4. Gallery forest: The gallery forest of La Rocina Stream is monitored in 10 circular plots (15-m diameter), where the cover and density of each shrub and tree species is registered. See protocol and summary data. Request raw data.
2. Cork oak forests and heronry: Cork oak forests represent a major conservation concern at Doñana - where they are a keystone species, providing key food resources and nesting substrate to many animal species, most notable Doñana's infamous tree heronry ("pajarera"). In the sandy substrates of the National and Natural Park, cork oaks are typically associated to areas of groundwater discharge - where the water table approaches the surface and falls within the reach of the cork oak's roots. However, recruitment rates have been low for decades and the aging trees that remain are subjected to increasing mortality. The oak-tree monitoring program currently includes a yearly survey of tree occupation (by large nesting birds), survival, health (using a defoliation index) and reproductive yield (acorn production and subsequent predation) of 126 adult trees present in or nearby the Doñana heronry. It also includes biannual measurements of tree dendrometry, i.e. the DBH, height and horizontal canopy size (length and width). See protocol and summary data. Request raw data.
3. Marshland: The vegetation of the Doñana marsh is monitored at 5-years intervals. The monitoring protocol combines the available cartographic information with thematic maps derived from a supervised classification of Landsat images. See protocol and summary data. Request raw data. | <urn:uuid:0aeab3ad-60c8-4850-b188-341440a05c2a> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://icts.ebd.csic.es/monitoring-program-habitats | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257647545.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20180320205242-20180320225242-00306.warc.gz | en | 0.894474 | 885 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Over Kardamyle in Mani, we find Old Kardamili that is built on the slope of the mountain. It is a fortified complex, consisting of tower houses, built around the beautiful 18th-century that dates from the 18th-century. The whole area, and the fortified complex as well, belong to the renowned family of captains Mourtzines-Troupakides, who were constantly fighting with the Mavromihalis family, asserting the sovereignty of Mani.
Old Kardamyli has a long history and played an important role in the liberation of the entire country against the Turks. Passing through the gate of the castle, in the yard of the, we will see the marble inscription from the memoirs of Kolokotronis “on January 6, I visited the residence of my father’s friend Captain Panagiotis Troupakis”.
Kolokotronis went at Old Kardamili to organize the Greek revolution and to begin the liberation struggle, on March 22, 1821, when he started with 2,500 locals from Mani to release Kalamata and Tripoli, after he had already released Nafplio.
At the Troupakis – Mourtzinos fortress that was built in 1807, the visitor of Old Kardamyli can see the half-ruined arched gate, five ruined towers, a forge, an underground cistern, a mill, the small chapel of Agios Theodoros and a beautiful fountain with a characteristic double-arched inscription.
The fortress hosts the graves of Dioscuri.and, moreover, from Old Kardamili you walk through the and see after 10 minutes of walking the | <urn:uuid:2933e078-835e-4db2-b69f-0f2da1f25c02> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://greece.terrabook.com/messinia/page/old-kardamili/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514575860.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20190923022706-20190923044706-00173.warc.gz | en | 0.953417 | 353 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Recently there has been much controversy about global warming, with many supporters of the theory stating that it is “settled science.” For the many educated readers of The Bee, here is a brief history of “settled science.”
1. Earth is flat.
2. Earth is the center of the universe.
3. Heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones.
Never miss a local story.
4. The atom is the smallest particle in the universe (we now know House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s brain is the smallest particle in the universe, with former Sen. Harry Reid’s being a close second).
5. Global cooling (Niagara Falls froze solid in the first part of the 20th century).
6. And now we have global warming.
The only reasonable conclusion one can make from this “settled science” is that the proponents of global warming have lost all touch with reality and need to be committed for a complete psychiatric evaluation.
Phillip Eisner, Sanger | <urn:uuid:ba42083e-63b5-490e-ad54-1187f923f08e> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article130439724.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934806455.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20171122031440-20171122051440-00292.warc.gz | en | 0.921327 | 215 | 2.6875 | 3 |
UA Census Hydrographic Features, 2000 - Nevada
- This datalayer displays the hydrographic features throughout the state. This category includes shorelines of all water regardless of the classification of the water itself. Predominant features which may be represented in this layer have Census Feature Class Code Major and Minor Descriptor (CFCC2 ) values of: H0 (Water feature, classification unknown or not elsewhere classified) H1 (Naturally Flowing Water Features: streams, rivers) H2 (Man-Made Channel to Transport Water or features used for purposes such as transportation, irrigation, or navigation: canals, ditches, or aqueducts) H3 (Inland Body of Water: lake or pond) H4 (Man-Made Body of Water: reservoir) H5 (Seaward Body of Water: Bay, estuary, gulf, sound, sea, or ocean) H6 (Body of Water in a Man-Made Excavation: flooded gravel pit) H7 (Nonvisible Definition Between Water Bodies. The Census Bureau digitizes nonvisible definition boundaries to separate named water areas; for instance, an artificial boundary is drawn to separate a named river from the connecting bay) H8 (Special Water Feature: Includes area covered by glaciers or snow fields) The Feature Name attribute further identifies water bodies as rivers, reservoirs, creeks, branches, forks, etc.
- U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
- inlandWaters, Census, Hydrography, Hydrology, Rivers, Reservoirs, Shorelines, Water, and Hydrographic features
- Held by
|Click on map to inspect values| | <urn:uuid:a1ed6e6c-b2db-46e6-b04e-926b6af4dbc8> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | https://earthworks.stanford.edu/catalog/harvard-tg00nvlkh | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676591575.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20180720080634-20180720100634-00521.warc.gz | en | 0.844021 | 346 | 2.84375 | 3 |
In this course you need an idea of a serious game which will be submitted as a final assignment in the form of the serious game design canvas at the end of the course. This discussion should give you knowledge to fill the top three boxes of the canvas.
Read the document Serious Gaming Demystified to help you to identify what is a serious game, what can be learnt via serious game, what kind of instructional elements there should be in a serious game.
Below there are few ideas for a serious game or a gamified service. Optionally you can write a start for a discussion of your own idea. You should write at least four messages but the more you discuss the better game ideas you get.
List of available ideas:
- Taking care of my car
- Etiquette in business
- Employee in a new workplace
- To learn mathematics
- Type 2 diabetes treatment
- Where does the food come from?
- How to survive in traffic?
In the discussion you need initially clarify following things. See also the top three boxes of the canvas.
- What is possible primary target group (age, gender, ...)?
- Why the game is needed?
- What is the genre of the game? Some game genres explained.
- What is the aim of this game?
- Working title for the game or service.
- Is there a story behind the game?
- How do you create flow in the game? | <urn:uuid:8af06169-90af-4024-a042-213c5c44654f> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | https://moodle.amk.fi/mod/page/view.php?id=13248 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583657555.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20190116154927-20190116180927-00030.warc.gz | en | 0.921092 | 297 | 3.28125 | 3 |
For teachers interested in scaffolding the internet search process for students and creating instructional materials for them that organizes websites (that teachers have pre-identified) around key questions and ideas...try Filamentality. It's "a fill-in-the-blank tool that guides you through picking a topic, searching the Internet, gathering good Internet links, and turning them into online learning activities." These online activities could be in the following formats-
(Source: Filamentality site)
- Hotlist: A reasonable first step is to simply compile a list of web-based resources - i.e. a good "Hotlist" of sites you know are appropriate for your users. These pages might not be standards-based or geared toward a specific learning outcome, but it will be like wheeling a bunch of good books from the library into the classroom.
- Treasure Hunt: If learners are emotionally connected to the topic, then ask the question, "Are they learning enough background information on the subject?" If the answer is no or if the best information on the subject is "hot off the press," then try a Treasure Hunt.
- Subject Sampler: If learners have factual knowledge about a subject, then ask yourself, "Do they come out of the unit affectively engaged?" If they don't seem to care about the subject as you think they should, try creating a Subject Sampler.
- Multimedia Scrapbook: If you want students to explore a variety of sites that you've selected and create their own reports, newsletters, presentation stacks, or posters using "pieces" from those sites, you might try making a Multimedia Scrapbook.
- WebQuest: If they learn facts, but don't pursue higher-level thinking; why not make a WebQuest? A webquest uses the sites you select as the starting point for a complex activity that involves multiple perspectives, possible group collaboration, and a final project of your choosing.
How's that for options!? | <urn:uuid:587b1f6a-e7af-40c1-8d34-3b08d03143f0> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | http://shuchi-edblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/trackstarwebquestsfilamentality.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948593526.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20171217054825-20171217080825-00725.warc.gz | en | 0.923261 | 403 | 4.1875 | 4 |
November 11, 2022| Erin Bluvas, email@example.com
Researchers from the Aging Brain Cohort (ABC) Study have published findings from a study examining the effects of social isolation among older adults during South Carolina’s month-long stay-at-home/shelter-in-place orders during the spring of 2020. Comparing quality-of-life data from a subset of the larger ABC Study both before and after the one-month period, they found this social isolation led to a highly significant decrease in overall quality of life for the participants – providing evidence for yet another negative impact from the pandemic. They published their findings in PLOS ONE.
“Prolonged periods of social isolation are known to have significant negative health consequences and reduce quality of life – an effect that is particularly pronounced in older populations,” says Sara Sayers, research associate for ABC and the Center for the Study of Aphasia Recovery (C-STAR), which are both led by communication sciences and disorders professor/Vice President for the Office of Research Julius Fridriksson. “Despite what we know about these impacts, stay-at-home/shelter-in-place orders have been a key component of the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
With this study, the authors* aimed to better understand the specific effects of social isolation on this historic, once-in-a-lifetime event as well as potential risks and protective factors that may have influenced these effects. Participants in this study included 62 adults between the ages of 60 and 80.
These individuals are part of the ABC Study’s 800 South Carolinians who provide demographic/lifestyle information (e.g., diet, sleep, gender, income, race, education, language, physical activity) and participate in testing (e.g., MRIs, blood samples) to help ABC researchers determine why some brains are more resistant to age-related decline than others. The project was launched in 2019 as one of USC’s Eight Excellence Initiatives.
In addition to revealing a steep decline in overall quality of life, the team’s analyses found this effect to be pervasive and fairly uniform in all subfactors they measured. For example, participants underwent similar decreases in domains related to achievement, self-expression, relationships and surroundings. Further, older participants within the 20-year age span and those with higher mental and physical health prior to isolation experienced significantly greater decreases in quality of life (across all domains) compared to their counterparts.
“Our results demonstrate that even a short period of social isolation can affect quality of life, that the magnitude of this effect varies as a function of age, and that, surprisingly, individuals with higher pre-isolation mental and physical health appear to suffer greater decreases in quality of life,” Newman-Norlund says. “These findings highlight the critical importance of understanding the relationship between COVID-19-related social isolation and quality of life and may be useful to health professionals designing policy approaches to minimizing the negative consequences of social isolation.”
*Authors include Roger Newman-Norlund, Sarah Newman-Norlund, Sara Sayers, Alexander McLain, Nicholas Riccardi, Julius Fridriksson
Staff Spotlight: Roger Newman-Norlund
Study aims to understand effects of COVID-19 on the brain, cognition and language processing | <urn:uuid:9187fa37-337c-4289-969c-fbb80c74aefc> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://www.sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/public_health/about/news/2022/social_isolation_quality_of_life_abc.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296945376.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20230325222822-20230326012822-00575.warc.gz | en | 0.931025 | 706 | 2.578125 | 3 |
People with autism usually have difficulty with joint attention. This means that they have trouble following someone's gaze or pointed finger to look at something. Joint attention is important to communication and language learning. Joint attention therapy focuses on improving specific skills related to shared attention,1 such as:
Improvements from such treatments can last for years.
All related news | <urn:uuid:fb13382a-cb6e-4bed-8754-365f5bd2ef7c> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/autism/conditioninfo/Pages/joint-attention.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440645330174.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827031530-00247-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969991 | 70 | 3.609375 | 4 |
U.S. Army Physician James Carroll Allowed An Infected Mosquito To Feed On Him
On August 27, 1900, U.S. Army physician James Carroll allowed an infected mosquito to feed on him in an attempt to isolate the means of transmission of yellow fever.
Carroll developed a severe case of yellow fever, helping his colleague, Army pathologist Walter Reed, prove that mosquitoes transmit this often-deadly disease.
Prior to these findings, epidemics of yellow fever were common in the American South. Uncertain of how the disease was transmitted, many people would leave the South for the summer, the season in which the epidemics were most common, returning after the first frost.
During the 1888 yellow fever epidemic in Jacksonville, Florida, the government offered railroad transportation out of the area. In a 1940 interview, William F. Hawley describes the scene of panic at the train station.
James Carroll (b. Woolwich, England, June 5, 1854; d. Washington, D.C., September 16, 1907), Major, United States Army, was an American physician and a member of the Yellow Fever Commission in Cuba, along with Walter Reed, Jesse William Lazear, and Aristides Agramonte. He was a graduate of the University of Maryland. He, along with Lazear, subjected himself to the bite of infectious mosquitoes in the course of his work; this infection eventually killed him.
[The trains] were packed to the limit, even the roofs of the cars [were] crowded with terrified citizens…Some people in their haste left their homes with fires burning, food in preparation for the noonday meal, and doors wide open. ”— William F. Hawley | <urn:uuid:2239bccf-24ae-4c78-becd-1d9439399e7f> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | https://worldhistoryproject.org/1900/8/27/us-army-physician-james-carroll-allowed-an-infected-mosquito-to-feed-on-him | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948511435.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20171210235516-20171211015516-00628.warc.gz | en | 0.972519 | 350 | 2.953125 | 3 |
The Legend of How the Arab Horse was Created
When Allah desired to create the horse, he summoned forth the South Wind, which the people of Egypt call "El Marees," saying: "I shall create from thy substance a new being which shall be good fortune unto my followers and humiliation to my enemies. Condense thyself!" And the wind condensed itself. And the angel Gabriel caught a handful of it and said to Allah: "Here is the handful of wind." And Allah created therefrom an Arab horse of bay color and addressed it by saying, "I have created thee and named thee horse. I have bestowed my blessings upon thee above all other beasts of burden and made thee their master. Success and happiness are bound to thy forelock; bounty reposes on your back and riches are with you wherever you may be. And I have endowed thee to fly without wings; you are for pursuit and for flight. And thou shalt carry men who will glorify me, and thou shalt glorify me thereby." And when the horse neighed, He said to it: "I have blessed the and will affright the pagans with your neighing and I will fill their ears with it and fill their hearts with great fear from it, and humiliate their necks with the sound of it!"
"A man would be forgiven one sin in heaven for each grain of barley fed to his horse."
--------Attributed to the Prophet Mohammed
"After God we owe it to the horse."
"Poetry is a centaur. The thinking word-arranging, clarifying faculty must move and leap with the energizing, sentient, musical faculties."
--------Literary Essays of Ezra Pound
Compiled by SunBlind. Email me at firstname.lastname@example.org if you can add to this list.
Buttons and background from Borders by Silverhair | <urn:uuid:4fdbc8d9-f459-4786-af24-122e675171dd> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | http://www.myth-and-fantasy.com/mystichorse/hquotesx.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934805417.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20171119061756-20171119081756-00054.warc.gz | en | 0.931082 | 385 | 2.59375 | 3 |
How our brains process information and how brands are making the most of it.
Post-truth, fake news, false amplifiers, silos, alternative facts, information operations – it’s hard to know who and what to believe anymore. But before we can understand the who and the what, it’s important to understand the why.
I was really looking forward to playing golf last Sunday morning. Being an outdoors activity I opened my weather app to check the forecast for the day: rain and strong winds. Deflated, yet undeterred, I proceeded to scour the web until I found a website that predicted rain and winds but only in the late afternoon. This website suddenly became my most trusted source for weather. But why?
I went on a search for the truth about truth and found answers from Associate Professor and UOW psychology lecturer Steven Roodenrys and UOW Executive Dean of Business Professor Charles Areni.
We’re lazy and time poor
There’s a concept in psychology called dual process theory. It’s based on the view that humans have two different systems of cognitive processes.
System one operates more or less automatically without reflection and is often referred to as our intuition. This system, as Professor Roodenrys explains, is often all that we need to get the job done.
“It’s quick, easy and doesn’t use much energy,” he says. “The suggestion is we’ve evolved in this way to avoid heavy thinking. If you’re in an environment where there’s little food, you want to use as little energy as possible.”
System two – reasoning – requires more rational, effortful thinking to process all the relevant information we have in order to make a decision or form an opinion.
“Some people are more reluctant to engage this second system than others,” Professor Roodenrys says, in what seems to be a polite way of saying that some of us don’t use our brain’s reasoning powers as often as we should.
This reliance on system one – while making perfect sense for our early ancestors – can lead to problems when used to navigate the hundreds of articles on our social feed every day. Taking the time and effort to separate fact from fiction on every post would be exhausting. That’s why we often rely on our intuition, to varying degrees of success.
It’s a cognitive loophole that Professor Areni says marketers exploit by developing a brand. “The most basic thing that brands do is they simplify decision making,” he says.
A simple grocery shop can present the brain with hundreds of decisions to make. More often than not, we turn to system one to speed up the process.
“Brands are important because much of the differentiation between two products is the brand,” Professor Areni says. “Given the constraints on time and information processing and given the wide variety of choice, something has got to give. Making a decision on the basis of a brand is a way to solve those problems, especially if you have had a favourable experience in the past.”
We don’t like to feel bad or uncomfortable
Effectively, we have a whole bunch of different beliefs – from religion and politics to whether pineapple belongs on a pizza (it doesn’t). However, if we went through and systematically catalogued them all you might find that one belief directly contradicts another.
“If you were to think about these beliefs at the same time it would create an uneasiness – a cognitive dissonance,” Professor Roodenrys says. Additionally, an event may happen that creates a new conflict that will need addressing. For example, you may support Donald Trump, but then see a video of him eating Hawaiian pizza, which you strongly despise.
Having two contradictory beliefs can make us feel so uncomfortable that we change our beliefs to rectify the contradiction. “We seek answers to reduce this dissonance,” Professor Roodenrys says.
You may jump off the Trump bandwagon or give pineapple pizza another go. Alternatively, you’ll construct reasoning to explain the dissonance, like Trump was merely being nice to a local chef, or that his taste in pizza toppings has little to do with his policies.
It may be a trivial example but it shows how our beliefs can be formed and altered just to stop us having to deal with discomfort. Often, we find the best way to reduce the possibility of cognitive dissonance is to limit the information we expose ourselves to, like not reading the nutrition label on a new cereal when we’re trying to eat healthy.
“Consumers like to make decisions they can feel good about,” Professor Areni says. “But feeling good about a purchase decision often involves ignoring information or not processing all of the information.”
We like facts that align with our views
Confirmation bias. You’ve probably heard of it. It’s the theory that we look for evidence that is consistent with our own view and avoid or disregard information that is going to challenge it. That type of evidence provokes anxiety and, as humans, we understandably prefer to feel good about ourselves (or our upcoming games of golf).
“Often we will simply filter out, or not pay attention to something that doesn’t fit with our beliefs,” Professor Roodenrys says. “It reinforces the idea that we’re right and it makes us feel comfortable that we’re part of a group that feels the same way.”
While over the past 20 years we’ve seen a proliferation of media sources, the platforms we’re using to digest them are often only feeding our biases.
“The algorithms that social media outlets use pay attention to what you’ve read and suggest similar things,” Professor Roodenrys says. “For most people, to find an opinion that contradicts their beliefs on social media, they’ll have to go and do very deliberate searches.”
These self-curated silos, however, are nothing new. “While social media silos are perhaps smaller and the walls perhaps thicker, there’s always been selected media exposure depending on one’s preferences,” Professor Areni says. “So when people say a Trump statement was clearly proven wrong, it depends on who’s listening.”
If something does break through the silo walls, just presenting the facts often isn’t enough to change a person’s mind. It can even cause a backfire effect, making them more set in the ways, something Oatmeal does a great job of explaining in comic form.
Confirmation bias is part of the reason Professor Areni believes Volkswagen will eventually overcome the 2015 global scandal over faked emissions tests. He says Volkswagen is a very strong brand with a large, loyal following. Consumers will see this bad behaviour as out of character and most will forgive or quickly forget this indiscretion, as it’s easier than changing their beliefs.
“Somebody that has a conviction is great at selective perception,” Professor Areni says. “In fact, one of the basic features of all humans is that when we form an expectation we’re very reluctant to give that thing up.”
Facts are facts, but our biases tell us otherwise.
We dislike uncertainty and ambiguity
Sometimes, believing is about relieving the anxiety that comes with the unknown. Whether we’re driven by the discomfort of not knowing or simply just an inherent curiosity, Professor Roodenrys says people vary in the amount of ambiguity they can tolerate.
“Most people will feel a certain amount of anxiety about uncertain situations,” he says. “We would rather know what’s happening or at least think we know. Even if something isn’t true, if it satisfies the criteria of allowing us to think we understand, then people will often take that information on as fact.”
Believing in something is easier than not knowing.
This desire for familiarity is something brands use to their advantage when launching a new product because marketers know we’re going to choose a brand we already trust.
“Having a strong brand allows you to launch into new product categories because you’re not asking consumers to accept a completely new product,” Professor Areni says. “The consumer knows the brand, it’s just the brand’s being applied in a new product category – as long as you retain the essence of a brand, that stickiness.”
People believed the Trump brand wouldn’t have enough of this stickiness to extend to politics, but he was able to use the brand essence of Trump as the straight-shooting host of The Apprentice and extend it all the way to the White House.
We believe what we’re told
The news we’re bombarded with and conceptual knowledge that’s at our fingertips is overwhelming compared to what our ancestors would have faced just a few hundred years ago.
“We have an inbuilt bias to believe what we are told because if you don’t, you’re probably not going to survive in a hunter-gatherer environment,” Professor Roodenrys says. “If you ignore advice that a noise is a particular animal and it’s dangerous, you’re more likely to die.”
Without that element of trust and belief in what other people tell us we wouldn’t survive as well as a species. Collaboration and the sharing of information have been major contributors to the success of the human race.
Unfortunately, as Professor Roodenrys says, “There hasn’t been enough time or evolutionary pressure to change our cognitive systems.” As a result, we’re not that great at picking up when someone is lying to us. We tend to take a new piece of information on as part of our perceived knowledge. Some share a news post without even reading the article.
Fake Facebook accounts are taking advantage of this inbuilt trust to sow the seeds of misinformation with fake news in the hope of influencing elections. As of April 13, Facebook has taken action against more than 30,000 fake accounts in the lead-up to the election in France.
“If legitimate voices are being drowned out by fake accounts, authentic conversation becomes very difficult,” Facebook says in its white paper on information operations.
So who/what should we believe?
For those who want the whole truth and nothing but, Professor Roodenrys says we simply need to invest more energy and look beyond the headline.
“Our natural processes can lead us astray,” he says. “We need to think clearly and scientifically. Taking a scientific approach to things is a way of combatting the biases we have.”
And help is on its way. The first International Fact-Checking Day – appropriately held the day after April Fools’ Day 2017– gave people trivia quizzes and lesson plans to help them navigate the increasingly murky waters of the news. ABC’s Fact Check has returned to analyse the accuracy of claims politicians, lobby groups and organisations make in the media. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has just launched Wikitribune, a crowd-funded news platform that aims to “fix the news” with a community of volunteers and paid journalists submitting and fact-checking news that is free of advertising or a paywall.
Smart people will always do dumb things, but if we take just a moment to base important decisions and action on rational thinking, there will be less of us playing golf in the pouring rain. Again.
Breaking News photos by Paul Jones | <urn:uuid:0bdf468e-dc26-4106-ba03-707314e3720a> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | http://stand.uow.edu.au/why-we-believe-what-we-believe/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084886397.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20180116090056-20180116110056-00763.warc.gz | en | 0.950926 | 2,458 | 2.609375 | 3 |
"Emissions from deforestation represent close to 20 per cent of the world’s total amount of greenhouse gas emissions. In order to halt climate changes, we must succeed in halting deforestation and forest degradation”, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said.
With the UN Secretary General, the leader of the World Bank, the British Prime Minister, the US Secretary of State, the EU Presidency and leaders from a number of affected countries, Prime Minister Stoltenberg discussed the need to include reduced deforestation in a global climate agreement at the summit in Copenhagen in December.
Norway has allocated up to NOK 3 billion annually as a contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in developing countries. In addition, up to NOK 6 billion has been pledged to Brazil’s Amazon Fund in the years before 2015, provided Brazil delivers large and verifiable reductions in deforestation.
Norway holds the secretariat function of an informal working group of 30 donor countries and central countries affected by deforestation. The group works to find how reduced emissions from deforestation can be financed before a mechanism under the UN Framework Convention becomes operational. | <urn:uuid:b91fadba-96ed-4b77-97db-8b2242c17e8a> | CC-MAIN-2014-52 | http://www.norway-un.org/NorwayandUN/Selected_Topics/Climate_Change/Climate-agreement-should-include-reduced-deforestation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-52/segments/1418802769596.116/warc/CC-MAIN-20141217075249-00115-ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930741 | 227 | 3.125 | 3 |
Dear Bird Folks,I've noticed that the male goldfinches are starting to turn from their winter olive drab to their bright summer yellow. Are the finches growing new feathers or do their old feathers change color? - Emily, Middletown, CT
Hi Emily,Birds don't change colors, you must be thinking of chameleons. I don't know of any birds or many creatures that are able to change their colors without growing new fur or feathers. There are some exceptions like a few fish, some reptiles, and the pale people who visit Tan-O-Rama. The male goldfinches molt into their brilliant spring outfits. New, colorful feathers push out the worn, dull winter plumes. For the next few weeks we will be seeing goldfinches in various stages of molting and they will look a bit odd until the process is complete. But eventually, even the Connecticut male finches will acquire their signature gold feathers. And I've heard that in some CT towns, like Cos Cob and New Canaan, the goldfinches' feathers are made of real gold. But that's only a rumor. But what I don't quite understand is why some birds change colors at all. The standard answer is that some birds molt into flashy new colors to "attract a mate." That makes sense, I guess, but why do we have such a growing population of really dull species like sparrows, mourning doves and tax accountants? There is no color there, but somehow they manage to attract mates. And the other side of that question is why do the goldfinches change into dull colors in the fall? Again, the traditional answer is they become duller in the winter so they can better hide from predators. That's fine, but what about the colorful group that look the same year-round? Some species like cardinals, blue jays and Elton John never give up their attention-grabbing outfits and they continue to survive. Another question is why do some birds get to eat bread, while others are stuck eating worms? And why? Oops, sorry Emily, I got off the track there for a few minutes. The answer is, goldfinches molt into their yellow color. See, that was easy. Let's move on before I start ranting about feeling doublecrossed by birds that still nail my windshield with their droppings after all that I have done for them.
Bird Watcher's General Store * 36 Rt. 6A, Orleans, MA 02653 toll-free: 1-800-562-1512 | <urn:uuid:e9ccfa92-1e8e-4541-be36-75a5e141498a> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | http://www.birdwatchersgeneralstore.com/change.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218188213.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212948-00378-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962396 | 531 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Tomato, cabbage, and garden egg (African eggplant, or Solanum aethiopicum) are important crops for small-scale farmers and migrants in the rural and peri-urban areas of Ghana. Genetic modification has the potential to alleviate poverty through combating yield losses from pests and diseases in these crops, while reducing health risks from application of hazardous chemicals. This ex ante study uses farm survey data to gauge the potential for adoption of genetically modified (GM) varieties, estimate the potential impact of adoption on farm profits, and highlight economic differences among the three crops.
Farmers’ expenditures on insecticides are below the economic optimum in all three crops, and the estimated function for damage abatement shows that insecticide amounts are significant determinants of cabbage yields only. Nonetheless, yield losses from pests and disease affect insecticide use. A stochastic budget analysis also indicates a higher rate of return to vegetable production with the use of resistant seeds relative to the status quo, even considering the technology transfer fee for GM seed. Non-insecticide users could accrue higher marginal benefits than current insecticide users. Comparing among vegetable crops with distinct economic characteristics provides a wider perspective on the potential impact of GM technology. Until now, GM eggplant is the only vegetable crop that has been analyzed in the peer-reviewed, applied economics literature. This is the first analysis that includes African eggplant. | <urn:uuid:9139e16b-f32a-4927-8f63-03af354cb88a> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.ifpri.org/publication/insecticide-use-vegetables-ghana | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463475.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00100-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915413 | 283 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Atlantic Beach in Carteret County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)
Hoop Pole Creek
Ferrying Troops and Equipment at High Tide
—Burnside Expedition —
In March 1862, Union Gen. John G. Parke’s brigade of Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’ Coastal Division advanced from New Bern to capture Beaufort Harbor and Fort Macon. During March 22-26, Parke’s forces took possession of Carolina City, Morehead City and Beaufort. Fort Macon’s Confederate garrison refused to surrender, forcing Parke to begin siege operations against the fort.
On March 29, a detachment of the 4th Rhode Island Infantry crossed Bogue Sound from Carolina City and established an outpost camp on Bogue Banks here at Hoop Pole Creek, five miles from Fort Macon. This camp became the base from which Parke conducted the siege. Over the next two weeks a total of 22 companies of Union infantry and artillery crossed over to the camp from Carolina City. Three batteries of siege cannons and mortars and their ammunition were also ferried across the sound to the camp, using old barges, scows and one light-draft stern-wheel steamer. Bogue Sound and Hoop Pole Creek were so shallow that Parke could only ferry over his troops and equipment at high tide.
Once unloaded from the vessels, the heavy artillery had to be manhandled through the muddy salt marsh and sand to reach the camp. From Hoop Pole Creek, the artillery was then dragged almost four miles up the beach and set up in artillery emplacements from which to fire
(lower left) Hoop Pole Creek and environs.
(upper right) Gen. John G. Parke; Moving cannon through the marsh. - Sketch courtesy Brian Kraus
Erected by North Carolina Civil War Trails.
Marker series. This marker is included in the North Carolina Civil War Trails marker series.
Location. 34° 42.091′ N, 76° 45.111′ W. Marker is in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, in Carteret County. Marker can be reached from the intersection of West Fort Macon Road and Atlantic Station Shopping Center, on the right when traveling west. Click for map. The marker is located on the east side of the Atlantic Station Shopping Center parking lot. Marker is at or near this postal address: 916 W Fort Macon Rd, Atlantic Beach NC 28512, United States of America.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Hoop Pole Creek: A Coastal Nature Preserve (here, next to this marker); Hoophole Creek (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (approx. 1.4 miles away); Carolina City Camp Glenn (approx. 1.6 miles away); Siege of Fort Macon (approx. 1.6 miles away); a different marker also named Carolina City (approx. 1.6 miles away); N.C. State Highway Patrol (approx. 1.6 miles away). Click for a list of all markers in Atlantic Beach.
Categories. • Forts, Castles • War, US Civil • Waterways & Vessels •
Credits. This page originally submitted on , by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Md 21234. This page has been viewed 253 times since then and 21 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on , by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Md 21234. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. | <urn:uuid:9ed948a4-ccdd-47ac-8a6f-b5037d00abc9> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=77046 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218187519.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212947-00499-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941548 | 767 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Objective: Describe the distribution and characteristics of water in local environments.
Introduction: The quality of our drinking water is tested all over Canada. Each community has a water treatment plant where employers conduct a variety of tests to ensure that our drinking water is clear and safe to drink. Contaminated water can pose a number of risks to our health, and it is important we ensure the safety of drinking water and obtain water testing that meets all regulator requirements and quality standards in Canada. One of the tests that are done at local water treatment plant is the pH test. A simple pH test determines the acidity of the water, with the goal of it being as neutral as possible. A neutral pH ensures that the water is safe to travel through pipes and to drink.
Curriculum Connections: Students will identify major factors used in determining if water is potable, and describe and demonstrate tests water quality. | <urn:uuid:b461361a-9a41-4275-a075-110ab3a948c6> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | https://www.nwtsciencefocus.ca/waterqualitynwt.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578526904.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20190418221425-20190419002445-00065.warc.gz | en | 0.950272 | 183 | 4.125 | 4 |
Don't fancy traditional A levels/ GCSEs but worried that you wont be able to go to university or get a job without them?
Well now there's a way you can combine classroom learning with practical hands-on experience while still keeping your options open.
The Government's new Diploma initiative aims to help you make decisions about your future, whether that's further study or a job, without restricting you to academic or vocational studies.
You'll still need to study compulsory subjects like English, Maths, Science and PE, and you'll also get an insight into the world of work.
What you learn
The Diploma contains a mix of compulsory and optional subjects. Compulsory elements of your Diploma will cover the main things you'll need to know and be able to do in your chosen area. It also includes team working, problem solving, analytical and research skills, things that employers and universities really value.
In addition, you can make your course broader by picking from a range of optional subjects. This could be more specialist course that interests you personally or a different subject, like a language.
All Diploma students need to achieve a minimum standard in English, Maths and ICT. You will also get the chance to spend at least 10 days working with an employer, experiencing what work is like from the inside. | <urn:uuid:7a09457a-6d9c-489f-83d9-81bad4a8ba81> | CC-MAIN-2015-06 | http://www.educaedu.co.uk/hair-beauty-courses--14-19-diploma--hair-and-beauty-courses-33279.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422115858580.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124161058-00151-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94567 | 272 | 2.625 | 3 |
A set of 24 threading activity cards.
This resource is a barrier game that is played in pairs, with the players separated by a barrier. There is a speaker and a listener. Prior to beginning the game, the speaker selects one of the task cards and makes the threading sample, copying the photograph on the card. The listener does not see the card. During the game, the speaker gives directions to the listener about which items to thread and in what order. The listener must listen carefully and reproduce the same threading sample.
The resource includes:
- instructions for the barrier game
- photographs of each threading sample with a rating system (1 star is easiest, 3 stars is more difficult)
- templates for the shapes and numbered rectangles.
To enable students to easily copy the task cards, the ideal situation would be to provide materials very similar to those in the images. However, if particular colours of materials are not available, teachers may need to explain these discrepancies to their students. Alternatively, the cards could be printed in black and white. The game could also be played with the speaker designing their own threading sample for the listener to copy.
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You must be logged in to report an error. Sign up now! | <urn:uuid:8b533d83-f295-4233-942e-7e606581182b> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://www.teachstarter.com/gb/teaching-resource/secret-threading-task-cards-gb/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585441.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20211021195527-20211021225527-00186.warc.gz | en | 0.941002 | 303 | 3.46875 | 3 |
How much fiber are you getting?
Today’s standard American diet is a major departure from traditional diets in terms of the fiber content. Recent nutrition reports in the U.S. show an average dietary fiber consumption of only 10 to 15 grams per day. Our standard diet based on refined foods can lead to a heap of digestive trouble – and more. What does it mean to your health? First, fiber can help maintain overall health throughout life. And the benefits go on from there, including better digestion, improved colon health, easier weight maintenance, more regularity and improved blood sugar regulation. | <urn:uuid:5adc8671-1b9b-4dd4-89b7-4c4c9414eb88> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | https://yerba.com/reading-room/dietary-fiber/dietary-fiber-benefits/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221212910.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20180817202237-20180817222237-00529.warc.gz | en | 0.952172 | 120 | 2.640625 | 3 |
In Bee Mite ID you will find information and identification resources for bee-associated mites from the United States and around the world. This tool facilitates identification of harmful mites that attack bees, with a special emphasis on mites associated with important pollinators: honey bees (Apis), mason bees (Osmia), and bumble bees (Bombus) in temperate regions, and stingless bees (Meliponini) and large carpenter bees (Xylocopa) in tropical regions. Our ultimate goal is to make it easier to distinguish harmful mites from non-harmful mites.
Bee-associated mites include more than 700 recorded mite species classified in 236 genera, and they are distributed globally (except for Antarctica where bees do not occur). Bee-associated mites are not a single phylogenetic group (for example, a family), but rather an assemblage of different lineages that originated independently from each other. A typical lineage of bee-associated mites is a genus or group of genera belonging to a family that also contains taxa that are not associated with bees. The families Chaetodactylidae, Gaudiellidae, and Meliponocoptidae are exceptions; they are comprised exclusively of mites associated with bees.
Genera of bee-associated mites are known from three acarine orders: Trombidiformes, Sarcoptiformes (superorder Acariformes), and Mesostigmata (superorder Parasitiformes). The other three parasitiform orders—Opilioacarida, Holothyrida, and Ixodida—do not include any bee-associated mites.
This tool covers mite genera in both Parasitiformes and Acariformes. We included 89 genera and the infraorder Uropodina from these two superorders. (See the taxonomic classification to learn where these taxa are placed within the two superorders.) These are the taxa of greatest concern for biosecurity specialists and beekeepers, based on the following criteria: | <urn:uuid:4123727b-a365-45e6-8130-f157a56e1fcb> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | http://idtools.org/id/mites/beemites/about_scope.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934806609.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20171122141600-20171122161600-00692.warc.gz | en | 0.90528 | 434 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Once there was a community in which most people had been raised on enriched, white, store-bought bread and saw to it that their children were fed the same. The hope was that the children would grow to be big, strong, and well-nourished so they could live productive lives and be a credit to the town. The bread was provided for the children by means of a community tax and was distributed on a regular basis to all community children irrespective of size, shape, or color.
In this town there lived a woman named Matilda, who had three children. She had given the matter some thought and had done some reading and had concluded that she could provide better nourishment for her children by making her own whole-wheat or even white bread. After further thought she decided she would try it out. Now, Matilda was aware that what she was doing was decidedly "odd" and that she might get some flak from her neighbors. She was, however, determined to provide what she viewed as best for her children.
She began to make her own bread and no longer used the Bread Distribution Service. She continued to pay the community tax for bread; and, in addition, bought ingredients for her own homemade bread. Sometimes when Matilda and her children were seen in public during the Bread Distribution Hour, people would ask her, "Why aren't your children eating?" She tried to explain that she made bread for them and that they ate it with the family, but found that most people thought that was illegal. She begin to fear that people would think her children weren't being fed (though they looked well-nourished) and that the City Fathers would think she was an abusive parent. She began closing the windows on baking day so the aroma wouldn't get out of the house and having the children eat their bread during the Bread Distribution Hour so they wouldn't be conspicuous. She tried to keep a low profile to avoid detection.
However, rumor that there were some families making their own bread reached the offices of the City Fathers. The City Fathers decided a law needed to be passed to deal with the situation and define what was legal There arose a great debate. Some said it was basically the parents' responsibility and privilege to provide bread for their children. Others said parents didn't know how to make bread and it should be mandatory that they obtain bread from the Bread Distribution Service. There was some fear expressed that children might starve if there weren't some guarantee that they were receiving bread at home when their parents took them off the Bread Distribution List.
Some wanted the law to require that the parents go to bakers' school; some that they have required ingredients for the homemade bread, some that there be a schedule of baking days and assigned times for the eating of the bread.
Eventually, it was decided that the parents who chose to make their own bread needed to submit a recipe card demonstrating that the bread they fed their children would have at least some sort of flour, oil, and liquid. They also needed to be sure to feed their children on a regular basis.
Matilda was elated! She had been afraid that the requirements of the law would be much more detailed and demanding. She recognized that there were those in the city who were violently opposed to the home-baked bread idea and that they would probably seek to have the law changed sometime; but, for the time being, she felt much easier in mind. She was so used by this time to keeping a low profile in her baking that it never occurred to her that that should change.
This writer, however, thinks that Matilda and other home-bread bakers should let the delicious aroma out to waft over the neighborhood. I also believe it would be beneficial if the community at large became accustomed to the idea and began to learn how tasty and nutritious homemade bread can be. This would, I believe, help to counter the weight of tradition on the side of the Bread Distribution Service should opponents of home-baked bread try to change the present law. People who bake their own bread to feed their children need to work to educate the public as to the beauties and benefits of bread baking!
Author's Note: Since we lived in North Dakota at the time, where "homemade bread baking" was clearly illegal (until after we had moved away!), I wrote this response:
In another community, to the north of Matilda's, the sad situation is this: the Bread Distribution Service union is powerful, and for many years has opposed homemade bread baking. Some parents have tried it, anyway, and most would be only too glad to share their recipe cards. Some would be willing to invite the Bread Distribution Service superintendent into their homes on baking day. Some are even willing to submit their children to an annual examination to prove that they are being well-nourished on home-baked bread.
Last year the local Parents' Association of Home-Bakers made valiant efforts in the city council to get the law changed, but to no avail. The current regulation is that parents cannot bake bread at home for their children unless they hold a valid certificate from bakers' school ~ even though Bakers' School concentrates on teaching institutional bread baking, and would be of little value to parents baking bread at home.
Parents who persist in making their children's bread at home and refusing to obtain their bread from the Bread Distribution Service are highly subject to legal prosecution. In fact, five such families were recently taken to court and convicted. One of those families, like many others in the past, has moved to a different community where home-baked bread is legal. (One frustration is that the communities directly to the east, west and south allow homemade bread baking.)
But at least three of the families are continuing to bake bread at home, and are definitely keeping their windows open on baking day ~ in spite of a threatened jail sentence for doing so. Unfortunately, other families who would risk losing their jobs must keep their windows closed and continue to bake bread in absolute secrecy.
So, I would further encourage those who live in communities like Matilda's where home-baking is possible to keep their windows open so that the delicious aromas may waft even outside the community and influence other less enlightened communities to relieve the oppression of home-baked bread families.
by Ann Murphy
Wyoming Home Educators' Newsletter | <urn:uuid:2c9ed919-1842-4b7c-84c1-4ac0225ec85c> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | https://nclighthousekeeper.blogspot.com/2009/11/homemade-bread-homeschool-parable.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676589029.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20180716002413-20180716022413-00124.warc.gz | en | 0.991437 | 1,301 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Stomach polyps — also called gastric polyps — are masses of cells that form on the lining inside your stomach. These polyps are rare and usually don't cause any signs or symptoms. Stomach polyps are most often discovered when your doctor is examining you for some other reason.
Most stomach polyps don't become cancerous. But certain types can increase your risk of stomach cancer in the future. Depending on the type of stomach polyp you have, treatment might involve removing the polyp or monitoring it for changes.
|Stomach and pyloric valve|
Your stomach is a muscular sac about the size of a small melon that expands when you eat or drink to hold as much as a gallon of food or liquid. Once your stomach pulverizes the food, strong muscular contractions (peristaltic waves) push the food toward the pyloric valve, which leads to the upper portion of your small intestine (duodenum).
Stomach polyps usually don't cause signs or symptoms.
But as a stomach polyp enlarges, open sores (ulcers) can develop on its surface. Rarely, the polyp can block the opening between your stomach and your small intestine.
Signs and symptoms of stomach polyps include:
- Pain or tenderness when you press your abdomen
- Blood in your stool
When to see a doctor
See your doctor if you have persistent blood in your stool or other signs or symptoms of stomach polyps.
Stomach polyps form in response to damage to your stomach lining. The most common causes of stomach polyps are:
- Chronic stomach inflammation. Also known as gastritis, this condition can cause the formation of hyperplastic polyps and adenomas. Hyperplastic polyps are unlikely to become cancerous, although those larger than about 2/5 inch (1 centimeter) carry a greater risk. Adenomas are the least common type of stomach polyp but the type most likely to become cancerous. For that reason, they are generally removed.
- Familial adenomatous polyposis. This rare, inherited syndrome causes certain cells on the stomach's inner lining to a specific type of polyps called fundic gland polyps. When associated with this syndrome, fundic gland polyps are removed because they can become cancerous. Familial adenomatous polyposis can also cause adenomas.
- Regular use of certain stomach medications. Fundic gland polyps are common among people who regularly take proton pump inhibitors to reduce stomach acid. These polyps are generally small and aren't a cause for concern. Fundic gland polyps with a diameter larger than about 2/5 inch (1 centimeter) carry a small risk of cancer, so your doctor might recommend discontinuing proton pump inhibitors or removing the polyp or both.
Factors that increase your chances of developing stomach polyps include:
- Age. Stomach polyps are more common among people in midadulthood to late adulthood.
- Bacterial stomach infection. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria are a common cause of the gastritis that contributes to hyperplastic polyps and adenomas.
- Familial adenomatous polyposis. This rare, inherited syndrome increases the risk of colon cancer and other conditions, including stomach polyps.
- Certain medications. Long-term use of proton pump inhibitors, which are medications used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease, has been linked to fundic gland polyps.
Preparing for your appointment
You may be referred to a doctor who specializes in the digestive system (gastroenterologist).
What you can do
- Be aware of any pre-appointment restrictions, such as fasting before your appointment.
- Write down your symptoms, including any that may seem unrelated to the reason why you scheduled the appointment.
- Make a list of all your medications, vitamins and supplements.
- Write down your key medical information, including other conditions.
- Write down key personal information, including any recent changes or stressors in your life.
- Write down a list of questions to ask your doctor.
- Ask a relative or friend to accompany you, to help you remember what the doctor says.
Questions to ask your doctor
- What's the most likely cause of my symptoms?
- What tests do I need? Is there any special preparation for them?
- What kinds of treatments do I need?
- What follow-up care will I need?
- I have other health problems. How can I best manage these conditions together?
In addition to the questions that you've prepared to ask your doctor, don't hesitate to ask other questions during your appointment.
What to expect from your doctor
Your doctor is likely to ask you a number of questions. Being ready to answer them may leave time to go over points you want to spend more time on. You may be asked:
- What are your symptoms, and when did they begin?
- How severe are your symptoms? Are they occasional or continuous?
- Does anything improve or worsen your symptoms?
- Do you have a family history of colon cancer, polyps or familial adenomatous polyposis?
- Do you take medications to reduce stomach acid?
Tests and diagnosis
Tests and procedures used to diagnose stomach polyps include:
- Endoscopy, to view the inside of your stomach
- Tissue sample (biopsy), which can be removed during endoscopy and analyzed in the laboratory
Treatments and drugs
Treatment depends on the type of stomach polyps you have:
- Small polyps that aren't adenomas. These polyps might not require treatment. They typically don't cause signs and symptoms and only rarely become cancerous. Your doctor might recommend periodic monitoring so that growing polyps or polyps that cause signs and symptoms can be removed.
- Large polyps. These polyps might need to be removed. Most stomach polyps can be removed during endoscopy.
- Adenomas. These polyps can become cancerous and are usually removed during endoscopy.
- Polyps associated with familial adenomatous polyposis. These polyps are removed because they can become cancerous.
Your doctor will likely recommend follow-up endoscopy to check for recurring polyps.
Treating H. pylori infection
If you have gastritis caused by H. pylori bacteria in your stomach, your doctor will likely recommend treatment with antibiotics. Treating an H. pylori infection may make hyperplastic polyps disappear, and may also stop polyps from recurring.
Last updated: November 9th, 2017 | <urn:uuid:31ed073c-1bb2-4156-8a47-9466980e1b8e> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | https://www.drugs.com/mcd/stomach-polyps | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948589512.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20171216220904-20171217002904-00646.warc.gz | en | 0.916957 | 1,407 | 3.765625 | 4 |
RUIN is an abbreviation for RadioUlnar Ischemic Necrosis. This name is given to a group of diseases that causes destruction of the radius and ulna bones.
The characteristic finding on x-rays or CT scan is permeative destruction of bone which extends from the interosseous ligament region into the radius, ulna or both bones. The location of the lesion is typically where the artery in vein enters the proximal third of the radius and ulna bones.
There are a variety of causes of RUIN. Sometimes it is caused by vascular tumors that originate from this site or tumors that have spread to this area. The most common tumor to cause RUIN is hemangioma, which is a benign tumor. Hemangiosarcoma, a highly malignant tumor, is a known cause of RUIN, but is less common. Metastatic adenocarcinoma has also been reported. We have also seen a RUIN lesion in a Rottweiler due to metastatic osteosarcoma.
Another uncommon cause of a RUIN lesion is due to a fungal infection called Coccidiomycosis.
CT scan showing destruction of the radius bone at the nutrient foramen. This dog has metastatic osteosaroma
A presumptive diagnosis can be made based on x-rays, CT scan or MRI. Diagnosis of this condition requires a biopsy. This can be done with fine needle aspiration under fluoroscopic or radiographic guidance. Because these lesions are not very large, it may be difficult to successfully collect a representative sample with a needle. Alternatively, a surgical biopsy can be done with submission of the abnormal tissue for histopathology.
If the lesion is significantly large, it may weaken the bone and cause a fracture. Bone grafting of the region may be indicated. Since getting a good biopsy usually involves an open approach, we recommend scraping the affected areas, and packing the defects in the bone with bone graft to stimulate healing. If there is significant weakening of the bone, placement of a plate on weakened bone(s) may be indicated. If the lesion is caused by a tumor, segmental resection of the affected of ulna bone may be possible. If the tumor is more extensive, amputation of the limb may be indicated. If the tumor is caused by spread of cancer from another region of the body, the prognosis is very guarded and consultation with a medical oncologist should be made. Amputation of the limb should not be done in such cases.
Dr. Roy Pool from Texas A&M University, College of Veterinary Medicine is an excellent reference for unusual bone lesions such as RUIN. | <urn:uuid:37d15fab-42bd-4069-837e-00332ccf4638> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://www.animalsurgicalcenter.com/radioulnar-ischemic-necrosis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107907213.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20201030033658-20201030063658-00408.warc.gz | en | 0.922856 | 557 | 2.65625 | 3 |
This International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2023, marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Stand with us for “Freedom, Equality, and Justice for all”!
As part of the Indian diaspora, we celebrate that India played an integral part in shaping our human rights framework and this foundational document: leading female diplomat Hansa Mehta played a crucial role in establishing a framework of rights for all human beings, thereby infusing a feminist perspective into the language of international law.
As the UDHR turns 75, human rights have deteriorated significantly in states that contributed to its initial drafting. One such state is India – with concerns spanning from restrictions of freedom of expression, and curtailment of religious freedoms, to violations of indigenous rights.
• The Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index currently ranks India 161 out of 180 worldwide. Blanket internet shutdowns, crackdowns on journalists, and censorship of the press violate the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and association enshrined in Articles 19 and 20 of the UDHR.
• The Indian state commits serious human rights violations against Adivasis, with recent evidence of aerial bombing of civilians thereby disregarding the right to life of indigenous peoples under Article 3.
• India has also seen crimes against humanity and widespread targeted violence disproportionately affecting religious minorities, particularly Muslims – in violation of UDHR articles 3, 5, and 18.
• The Indian State has also led 1.9 million people into a de facto statelessness within Indian territory through the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, thus infringing upon the right to a nationality under Article 15.
As the UDHR turns 75, and global efforts to promote a culture of human rights intensify, the EU and India are preparing for their annual Human Rights Dialogue. We call on them to uphold human rights, in all their engagements, and work together to create a world where the principles of the UDHR are not just celebrated but actively safeguarded. | <urn:uuid:6497b608-3936-49a5-bbba-89e06c655613> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://thelondonstory.org/2023/12/07/stand-for-freedom-equality-and-justice-for-all-on-human-rights-day-2023/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947476374.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20240303111005-20240303141005-00487.warc.gz | en | 0.918252 | 409 | 2.640625 | 3 |
What is an EHR?
An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital record of a patient’s health information (formerly kept in a paper format or “chart”) that can provide the patient’s health care team with comprehensive health information about the patient. More than just a computerized version of a paper medical chart, over time, it can allow a patient’s providers to share important information, across different health care settings, while maintaining EHR patient confidentiality in accordance with federal and state privacy and security requirements. The patient health information in an EHR includes allergies, radiology images, lab and test results, medical history, diagnoses, medications, and immunization dates. Today, a small but growing number of doctors and hospitals use EHRs—and more are converting to these systems every day. EHRs are growing in popularity in the health care industry, in part because they can be safer and easier to use than paper, and in part because the Federal government is giving doctors and hospitals incentives to use them to improve care.
The terms EHR, EPR (electronic patient record) and EMR (electronic medical record) are often used interchangeably, although differences between them can be defined. The EMR can, for example, be defined as the patient record created in hospitals and ambulatory environments, and which can serve as a data source for the EHR.
2009 HITECH Act
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (Pub.L. 111-5,§2.A.III & B.4) (a part of the 2009 stimulus package) set meaningful use of interoperable EHR adoption in the health care system as a critical national goal and incentivized EHR adoption. The “goal is not adoption alone but ‘meaningful use’ of EHRs — that is, their use by providers to achieve significant improvements in care.”
Title IV of the act promises maximum incentive payments for Medicaid to those who adopt and use “certified EHRs” of $63,750 over 6 years beginning in 2011. Eligible professionals must begin receiving payments by 2016 to qualify for the program. For Medicare the maximum payments are $44,000 over 5 years. Doctors who do not adopt an EHR by 2015 will be penalized 1% of Medicare payments, increasing to 3% over 3 years. In order to receive the EHR stimulus money, the HITECH act (ARRA) requires doctors to show “meaningful use” of an EHR system. As of June 2010, there are no penalty provisions for Medicaid.
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Endodontics is the branch of dentistry that concentrates on the nerves and pulp within the teeth. Root canals are probably the most notorious dental procedure related to endodontics, and they are essential for treating infections within the tooth. An untreated tooth infection can be extremely painful and lead to more severe conditions, such as abscess or bone loss. Patients who undergo a root canal experience extraordinary relief from chronic pain associated with a tooth infection, enabling them to eat without discomfort. While the prospect of necessitating a root canal can seem frightening, advancements in dental technology have made the process as comfortable as possible. At Gentle Care Dentistry, we strive to create a soothing environment for all of our patients in Las Cruces, New Mexico to ensure a tranquil and pleasing endodontic experience.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have. You can reach us at 575-524-3722 to schedule your consultation with us today!
What a Root Canal Can Do
- Relieve individual tooth pain
- Permanently reduce individual tooth sensitivity
- Treat and prevent a dental abscess and bone loss
- Save a badly infected tooth
Root Canal Procedure
Before the root canal begins, your dentist will use a local anesthetic to the treatment site to ensure your comfort throughout the procedure. During a process called rotary endodontics, your dentist will create an opening into the center of the tooth utilizing a specialized electrical drilling device. After carefully removing any infected tissue and thoroughly cleaning the canal, your dentist will place a dental sealant called gutta percha. Because a root canal essentially “hollows out” the tooth and makes it very susceptible to fracture, your dentist will also place a crown to preserve the strength and longevity of the tooth.
Root Canal Aftercare
Although you may experience some soreness for a few days following your root canal procedure, most patients can alleviate discomfort with over-the-counter pain medication. Your dentist may also prescribe pain medication if necessary. You should avoid chewing on the side of your mouth where the procedure was performed to avoid irritating the area and to ensure that the temporary restorative material properly sets. You will also need to take an antibiotic to treat any remaining infection in your tooth. If you notice an increasing amount of pain or tenderness, a reaction to the medication, or the loss of the temporary restoration (filling), you should call your dentist immediately. Adopting diligent oral hygiene practices, including brushing and flossing regularly, is crucial for maintaining the success of your root canal procedure. It is also recommended to visit your dentist twice a year for professional cleanings and exams. | <urn:uuid:11b02c12-07d7-4980-9f9a-9f97ab511aef> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.gentlecaredentistry.org/procedure/root-canal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510734.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20231001005750-20231001035750-00403.warc.gz | en | 0.919849 | 548 | 2.796875 | 3 |
1033 - 1109
St. Anselm was one of the greatest thinkers of the Middle Ages.
Anselm was born in Aosta, Italy, became a Benedict monk in 1060 in France, and was named arch-bishop of Canterbury in 1093.
Anselm became the founder of Scholasticism and he attempted to use logic to proof the existence of God - a philosophy known as Ontology. He was declared a doctor (teacher) of the church in 1720.
www link :
From the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Medieval Sourcebook: | <urn:uuid:ce595f04-39d0-4235-9498-95a0eb97c8a2> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/people_n2/persons5_n2/anselm.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560281226.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095121-00320-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976315 | 121 | 3.15625 | 3 |
white clover, dutch clover, shamrock, Trifolium repens(noun)
creeping European clover having white to pink flowers and bright green leaves; naturalized in United States; widely grown for forage
common wood sorrel, cuckoo bread, shamrock, Oxalis acetosella(noun)
Eurasian plant with heart-shaped trifoliate leaves and white purple-veined flowers
hop clover, shamrock, lesser yellow trefoil, Trifolium dubium(noun)
clover native to Ireland with yellowish flowers; often considered the true or original shamrock
The trefoil leaf of any small clover, especially Trifolium repens, or such a leaf from a clover-like plant.
She wore a shamrock in honor of her Irish ancestry.
Any of several small plants, forms of clover, with trefoil leaves, especially Trifolium repens.
The fields were covered with shamrocks.
Origin: From seamrog, diminutive of seamar.
a trifoliate plant used as a national emblem by the Irish. The legend is that St. Patrick once plucked a leaf of it for use in illustrating the doctrine of the trinity
Origin: [L. seamrog, seamar, trefoil, white clover, white honeysuckle; akin to Gael. seamrag.]
The shamrock refers to the young sprigs of clover or trefoil. It is known as a symbol of Ireland, with St. Patrick having used it as a metaphor for the Christian Trinity, according to legend. The name shamrock is derived from Irish seamróg, which is the diminutive version of the Irish word for clover meaning simply "little clover" or "young clover". Shamrock is usually considered to refer to either the species Trifolium dubium or Trifolium repens. However, other three-leaved plants—such as Medicago lupulina, Trifolium pratense, and Oxalis acetosella—are sometimes called shamrocks or clovers. The shamrock was traditionally used for its medicinal properties and was a popular motif in Victorian times.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
sham′rok, n. the national emblem of Ireland, a leaf with three leaflets, or plant having such leaves, sometimes supposed to be the Wood-sorrel, but the name is more frequently applied to some species of Clover, or to some common plant of some of the nearly allied genera, as the Bird's Foot Trefoil or the Black Medick. The Lesser Yellow Trefoil is the plant usually sold in Dublin on St Patrick's Day. [Ir. seamrog, Gael. seamrag, trefoil, dim. of seamar, trefoil.]
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
a small trefoil plant, the national emblem of Ireland; it is matter of dispute whether it is the wood-sorrel, a species of clover, or some other allied trefoil; the lesser yellow trefoil is perhaps the most commonly accepted symbol.
The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz
A three-time loser as a racer at sea, but a four-time winner as an "ad." for tea--and Sir T.
The numerical value of shamrock in Chaldean Numerology is: 9
The numerical value of shamrock in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7
Images & Illustrations of shamrock
Translations for shamrock
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
Get even more translations for shamrock »
Find a translation for the shamrock definition in other languages:
Select another language: | <urn:uuid:a04f2ba2-e2c1-4f43-ac0e-31c548e1313e> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://www.definitions.net/definition/shamrock | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463611569.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20170528220125-20170529000125-00154.warc.gz | en | 0.898576 | 791 | 3.078125 | 3 |
While there's a great deal of controversy over research on and use of embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells have been used in medicine for decades, ever since the first bone marrow transplant. Now, stem cell therapy is being used to treat a host of debilitating conditions—including Type 2 diabetes. If you're a Type 2 diabetic, learn more about the dangers and how adult stem cell therapy may be able to help you treat your condition.
Type 2 Diabetes Is A Cumulative Problem For Your Body.
The majority of the estimated 29 million or more people in the U.S. with diabetes suffer from Type 2, which prevents your body from producing the amount of insulin it needs in order to transfer sugar out of your bloodstream and into your cells for energy. As a result, you face ongoing problems that can put cumulative stress (and damage) on your heart, kidneys, liver, nerves, and eyes. Uncontrolled blood sugar levels can even lead to chronic nerve pain and trouble healing ordinary cuts that can end up causing gangrene and require amputation. It can deprive you of your vision and even kill you.
Traditional Treatments Focus On Minimizing The Damage
Once someone is diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, the endless rounds of medication and testing begin. In order to control your blood sugar levels and try to minimize the damage it does to your entire body, you have to keep track of your blood sugar through daily blood tests, monitor everything you eat and how you feel, and take medications that are designed to help either flush out some of the extra sugar or replace the insulin your body needs. Treatment is focused on disease management and minimizing the symptoms of damage, not on a cure.
Stem Cell Therapy Focuses On Reversal Of The Disease.
Stem cell therapy, on the other hand, works by actually repairing damaged blood vessels and pancreatic tissue. The stem cells are able to bind to damaged cells in your pancreas and mature into new, undamaged cells. They also stimulate some of your body's natural mechanisms that can also help replace other damaged cells in your pancreas—with the overall effect being that your pancreas may begin producing the right level of insulin again.
Stem cells can also replace the damaged cells inside the walls of your veins, through much the same process. They find damaged or dying cells and replace them. This helps stimulate blood flow and can reduce the amount of chronic pain you may feel from nerve damage as well.
In studies, the best results for Type 2 diabetics has been through a combined approach of stem cell therapy and medication. In particular, metformin, a drug commonly used to slow down the rate of glucose production within a diabetic's body, and sitagliptin, which stimulates insulin production, have shown promise.
For more information on how you could benefit from adult stem cell therapy, talk to your physician today.Share | <urn:uuid:b289785d-7f1e-4650-96df-84ef01599b00> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | http://golftennismora.com/2016/08/16/could-stem-cell-therapy-help-you-if-youre-a-type-2-diabetic/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948539745.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20171214035620-20171214055620-00376.warc.gz | en | 0.935568 | 590 | 3.0625 | 3 |
If getting laurels is good, and being a Nobel laureate is good, how did we get to "resting on your laurels" being bad?
Highly-accomplished people are often praised for their deeds. When you use the phrase “to rest on your laurels” to describe a person’s character, though, it implies that the person is slacking off, relying on their good reputation or achievements as an excuse to not put in the effort at their current task. What about “resting on laurels” implies this type of laziness?
Let’s start by defining what a laurel is. Laurel is a type of tree ("laurus nobilis”), whose leaves are also known as sweet bay: Yes, the same as those bay leaves you use for cooking!
Besides their culinary or ornamental uses, the idea of a crown of laurels stems from the Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo, ruler of the sun and god of music. When Apollo wanted to woo the nymph Daphne, she turned into a laurel tree instead of returning his affections. Though he was rejected, Apollo decided to don a crown of laurel leaves in her honor. In ancient Greek tradition, these crowns were gifted to athletic champions and seen as symbols of status and victory.
This connotation of glory lives on in the word “laureate,” first coined in the late 14th century, meaning "crowned with laurels.” The phrase “laureat poete” then pops up in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” as part of “The Knight’s Tale.” The modern translation of this reads:
With laurel crowned as conqueror
There he lived in joy and honour.
The phrase switched to “poet laureate” when penned by Ben Jonson in the 16th century.
In 1668, England established the position of Poet Laureate, and esteemed poet, literary critic, and playwright John Dryden was the first to hold this honor. Poet laureates still exist in the United Kingdom, and the honorees are bestowed a stipend and “a butt of sack,” aka. a barrel of sherry! The United States also has a Poet Laureate position, and that person is appointed annually by the Librarian of the United States Congress. Outside of poetry, Nobel Prize winners are also known as laureates.
So a crown of laurels and being a laureate are marks of distinction, not associated with slacking off or riding on your reputation. The expression “to rest on one’s laurels'” evolved in the 18th century as part of an earned victory or a well-deserved retirement speech: that the honored person had accomplished so much, they finally earned a rest!
Later in the 19th century, this expression crossed over from laudatory to critical. In 1825, the review magazine “The Literary Chronicle” praises the work of Maria Edgeworth and ends in a gentle jest:
We do not affect to wish she should repose on her laurels and rest satisfied; on the contrary, we believe that genius is inexhaustible ... For Miss Edgeworth there must be no rest on this side of the grave.
“Don’t rest so soon, Miss Edgeworth,” the reviewer seemed to say, “because your career isn’t over yet!” Odd that this phrase is rooted in a classic story honoring a woman, and then the meaning changed when a woman is told she cannot rely on her past accomplishments.
Today, “to rest on one’s laurels” has a critical edge: that an accomplished person simply relied on their reputation instead of putting in the effort. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, common phrases using “laurels” in this way include “to reap, [or] win one's laurels” and “to look to one's laurels: to beware of losing one's pre-eminence.” There is a cautionary element to this idiom, warning that people who have risen high can also fall if they aren’t diligent.
Nevertheless, we can return to the glory days of laurels. Figuratively and literally, we should give ourselves a break now and then when we need one. And maybe the next time you celebrate an accomplishment, think of cooking a tasty lentil stew using a bay leaf in tribute to its honorable history.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock. | <urn:uuid:5f02a863-8907-45df-8e63-44beef690c84> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/rest-on-your-laurels | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662512249.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20220516204516-20220516234516-00199.warc.gz | en | 0.960746 | 965 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Today was the keynote by Rick Rashid, Sr. VP from Microsoft Research. Notes on the session:
- Why is fundamental research important to a company like Microsoft or country like USA. It is to survive tough times, about agility through your earlier investments and having smart people
- Talked about Terminator, liveness property. Basically if you create a lock in say “C” will the code release it and so on
- Talked about Dryad – Dryad is an infrastructure which allows a programmer to use the resources of a computer cluster or a data center for running data-parallel programs, without knowing anything about concurrent programming
- The study on computer “programs” help us to understand more on human “cells”, similarly study on “cells” is helping us to understand “programs”
- Microsoft has been working with Washington university for Collaborative technologies – ConferenceXP
- Microsoft released today a new version of Microsoft Worldwide telescope Autumnal Equinox Beta
Feng Zhao (Principal Researcher) talked on the energy usage, how to sense and how we can reduce. He showed a small device made by Microsoft Research that uses a 16-bit CPU, 10K RAM, 40K ROM to collect humidity, temperature and other parameters. It then transmits it using a low-power Radio as they are powered by batteries which need to last long.
He showed the below demo on how this data can be visualized:
These visualizations used in Data Center has helped them to map and plan on how cooling happens, where to place heavy computing loads, etc. He talked about Senseweb – a Wikipedia of Sensors which is used by over 11 universities worldwide. This is used primarily in Swiss alps to collate data from different instruments on alps and study them for impact of humans on climate change.
David Heckerman in a video talked about how they are helping to find how HIV mutates in a person using technology from SPAM identification and statistical analysis.
Matthew Maclaurin talked about Project Boku – Lightweight programming for kids. Boku is a character/robot, he needs programming to succeed. Why for Kids – because it is a life skill, demystify and engage & make it easy for learning. All programming is done with XBOX Game Console, no keyboard use. See the demo below:
Finally they showed “SecondLight” an innovation based on Microsoft Surface. In SecondLight you can show over the regular display, which gets shown only when you move an ordinary paper above the display. There is an infrared sensor that follows you on the second display. This is exciting stuff, so don’t miss seeing this video from Tech Flash showing this. | <urn:uuid:bad7cd24-3656-4e2d-837d-ec60aa574e26> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://venkatarangan.com/blog/2008/10/notes-on-microsoft-pdc-2008-day-3-keynote/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988721174.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183841-00367-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926743 | 565 | 2.5625 | 3 |
School accrediting agencies provide information on both the means they use to evaluate schools and the schools that have passed periodic agency assessment. A few examples of regional accrediting agencies include the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.Continue Reading
A list of government recognized accrediting agencies is provided on the United States Department of Education's website. The main purpose of agencies like NEASC and the NCACS is to ensure that participating schools meet the strict guidelines that the agencies establish in order to promote institutional effectiveness and success.
Those who want to verify that the a particular school meets its accrediting agency's strict criteria can sometimes find lists of participating schools on the accrediting agency's website. In addition, many agencies subject participating schools to a periodic review to ensure that standards are continuously met and improved upon. For example, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges visits any particular participating school every 10 years.
Those who want to read the actual standards to which accrediting agencies hold their members can sometimes find this information on any particular agency's website. The New England Association of Schools and Colleges makes its standards available for the public to read.Learn more about K-12 | <urn:uuid:84b68c4a-39b0-4d4d-ad3a-a813af086a69> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | https://www.reference.com/education/can-information-evaluate-schools-7916e62246ca4190 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501170700.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104610-00145-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943525 | 247 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Ctcs 392 history of the american film, 1925–1950, units: 4 art and social conflict in the modern world (4, fasp) examination of social conflicts and political. Ask us check availability from eric it is argued that the organization and meaning of gender are influenced by age, ethnicity, race, sexuality, and social. Race and affect in contemporary hollywood cinema gormley preliminary analysis of affect provides a means by which we can begin to think about the. By 1920, there were more than 100 race movie companies across the co appreciation, and examination of black film and black film history through images movies redeux or contemporary black american film 1991-2000. Character, place, and contemporary american independent cinema stephen independent films, case-study analyses of american identity narratives are used to theorise contradictions – differences of class, race, gender, region, etc.
The 1990s saw the emergence of a new kind of american cinema, which this book calls the “new-brutality film” violence and race have been at the heart of. “if one black film-maker messes up,” said lee, “the rest of us will be made to feel it” intelligent portrayals of both modern african-american life and us by self- congratulatory white-saviour race movies such as the help,. How should the student set about analysing contemporary american cinema this book takes an innovative approach to film analysis: each chapter.
This innovative book looks at representations of ethnic and racial identities in relation to the development of urban culture in postindustrialised american cities. In fact, as our analysis of film casts and awards shows, the number of black actors “a star is born” does not reflect the modern music industry blacks are 126% of the american population, and 10% of oscar nominations. To make a correction or submit additional journals to this list, please email us via the movie sites on the web, mixing savvy pop reviews with in-depth analysis of race, class, and sexuality with audiovisual culture new histories and theories of film, discourse explores a variety of topics in contemporary cultural studies,.
Manohla dargis how could it be otherwise given that the history of american cinema is also the history of american racism i'm reminded. Groups has also stamped the character of contemporary american society 3 see michael reich, racial inequality: a political-economic analysis, 20 jane elliott's experiments are presented in two documentary films “eye of the storm”. Contemporary black american cinema offers a fresh collection of essays on african american film, media, and visual culture in the era of global.
This book takes an innovative approach to film analysis: each of analysis from it, and then analyses a contemporary american movie appealing to a range of interpretive communities fractured by race, class and gender. In 1915, dw griffith made a revolutionary film that practically invented modern cinema in its the film glorified the ku klux klan, which led to the revitalization of the rebellion that is likely to play into america's conversation about race “ to watch his work,” film critic james agee wrote in an essay on. This series has offered rigorous and innovative african american studies philosophy and race, robert bernasconi and t denean sharpley-whiting, eds analysis of the most important changes affecting higher education in the us, while also american cinema, from its earliest iterations to contemporary production.
Commons, law and race commons, and the law and society commons the construction of race and law in contemporary american film, 11 tex analyze such films for the cultural values they construct, reflect, and. Paramount hollywood has a reputation for being a liberal bastion of political correctness but many believed pryor's role was modern-day slavery, and in fairness, the movie was intended as an examination of racism as a. First full account of men & masculinity in modern science fiction cinema spanning landmark american films from blade runner to avatar, this major new study offers the first ever analysis of masculinity in science fiction cinema considering gender alongside racial and class politics, masculinity in contemporary.
Because of the flavor of ethnicity in recent hollywood cinema, the period provides a rich an in-depth analysis of each minority is necessary to determine how the film index: index: a bibliography (the museum of modern art and the hw. Focusing our analysis on popular zombie narratives of the mid-20th similarly, contemporary racial optimists viewed our “race problem” as acutely vanquishable known as the first american zombie film, white zombie was. The race film or race movie was a film type produced entirely in the united states between in their day, race films were very popular among african american of the popular black stock characters found in contemporary mainstream films,. Brown voice and racial performance in american television and film in the 1968 film the party to contemporary representations such as apu from level of analysis of ethnic representation in film and media studies and ethnic studies.
Introduction for underclassmen to the critical examination of their cultural influences and ethnicity class and american film gender and american film and the views of many contemporary film music theorists, these authors tackle. Studying contemporary american film: a guide to movie analysis attempts to crucial not only he but 'race' is for the logic of the film's overall action and the . In the chicano/hispanic image in american film, educator and historian require a clear understanding of the ways in which political, racial, linguistic, and who is also hispanic, garcia berumen's book is an effort to analyze the significance, have continued to portray chicanos and hispanics into the contemporary era. | <urn:uuid:5f3cbb1a-0b81-4bfb-855e-190784b00d38> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | http://awessaymsku.bethanyspringretreats.us/an-analysis-of-race-in-the-contemporary-american-cinema.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039742483.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20181115033911-20181115055911-00533.warc.gz | en | 0.935901 | 1,198 | 3.03125 | 3 |
I would use this website because it has a lot of information about
animals. It also has a lot of resources. There are a ton of videos I
could show, and they have many pictures, too.
I liked this website because of the before and after pictures. It
has a lot of information about magnets, and it also illustrates what it
is talking about for the students.
I would use the website www.sfsocialstudies.com
to teach a lesson on states and counties uysing maps. This website has
very vivid maps to share with the kids. I would use this site with age
groups of about 2nd through 5th grade.
To teach a lesson on plants I would use the website www.biology4kids.com/files/plants_main.html.
This website provides all the necessary information that the kids can
refernce and vivid pictures to make the kids have a greater
understanding of plants, their needs, and how they survive. I would use
this site for upper grades maybe 5th grade children.
Here is an website about plants that describe what plants are
the basic element that makes up each plant. It also talks about
different plants we use for good.
Here is a website for students with spelling words. Here
students can spell various words as an interactive game.
Students can create a blog posts or an individual blog based on a book
they are reading or unit they are studying. This is a way the
could practice their computer skills as well as sharing their work with
ALTEC's ThinkTank is a research tool students can use to guide them
through the beginning stages of the research process. It allows
to narrow their search and list their topics and subtopics to help them
start the research process.
I like this website because it provides a lot of interactive
games for students including Cat in the Hat for rhyming.
I like this website because it provides resources for the
parents, and students. It not only provides games, but is also provides
links to books!
I can use Google Maps to teach a lesson on distance. I could also
that website to teach the students about the parts of a map or about
their address. I could use Google maps to search the students home town
and teach them about counties, cities, states, and streets.
I could use Ask Jeeves for Kids to let the students research extra
information while writing. This will be a good way for the students to
learn how to use the internet to do research on a topic.
I like the starfall website
because it has
many activities for young children with reading. It also is interactive
for the students.
I really like this website because
I can use
it in any lesson. I can find an educational video to grab students
Good websites for
I would use funbrain.com
students learn about nouns,
verbs, and adjactives. There is a game on ther for that.
there is a game to
help the students learn to read. One
is cxalled lets get ready to read. | <urn:uuid:b2ad4752-24e9-4754-ae2c-8534f9a7f0f1> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://ww2.valdosta.edu/~djudd/outstanding.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131297146.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172137-00207-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929748 | 655 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Why is Global Education Important
Why is Global Education Important?
Why is Global Education a Part of our Program?
Part of The Northwood Program's mission is to remove borders by facilitating Global Experiences to create world?ready "Global Citizens".
We provide our participants the "Experience" to:
- Achieve outstanding college readiness
- Excel in today’s dynamic "Global Economy"
- Learn about a wide variety of Global Cultures
Policy makers are not alone in recognizing the importance of improving the global literacy of American students. Americans at large - including those who sit on alumni, advisory, and professional educational boards - have named international education as a key to preparing their children for success in the global age:
- “90% believe it is ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to prepare future generations of Americans for a global society;
- “92% agree that knowledge of other languages will give future generations a competitive advantage in career opportunities;
- 94% feel it is important for future generations to have knowledge of other countries and cultures.”
Excerpted from American Public: International Education is Key to Preparing Next Generation” (NAFSA), January 2006
“With some notable exceptions, our public schools are doing a woeful job of teaching students about the world outside America's borders... These trends have serious consequences. In the 21st century, young people who understand the dynamics of global economic and intercultural relations will have a distinct advantage in securing good jobs.
“In today’s world, the status quo is tantamount to a kind of educational isolationism. That is unacceptable... [we must] foster teaching excellence in international education, and create a new cadre of highly qualified teachers who understand the international dimensions of their subjects... teachers must be qualified to prepare young people for the opportunities and challenges of globalization.”
- Excerpted from Michael H. Levine (Progressive Policy Institute)
Putting the World into Our Classrooms: A New Vision for 31st century Education,2005
Impact of Global Education: The inspiring Story of Felix Ruano
Attending a Global Education focused high school in Los Angeles changed one students life, meet Felix Ruano, a first generation Mexican-American, and first in his family to attend college. Felix grew up in Los Angeles along with his four siblings in a low income family, "Both my parents finished middle school in Mexico and my parents income was in the lowest quintile in the United States" one thing set him apart was his belief that " we are in charge of our own destiny". Felix was fortunate enough to be exposed to many role models which helped him choose a Global curriculum focused high school the, Ambassador School of Global Leadership. Felix states "
Being at an ISSN (International Studies School network) school exposed me to a wide range of intellectual and professional paths. I feel prepared to tackle social and corporate issues in any corner of the world".
Felix wants to inspire other students who like him are facing challenges such as "Lack of teachers and administrators that understood the difficulties students face outside of the classroom". His advice is for students to seek mentors "For one, after being exposed to hundreds of role models, my mentors always reminded me that success comes from helping those coming behind you". He also states " Seek out mentors that will challenge you, push you out of your comfort zone, and will do it without expecting anything in return. This is the number one thing. There are people out there ready to lend you a hand but you have to meet them half way".
Global Education in our schools is not an option but a necessity: Felix states "Global Education programs like The Northwood Program are ahead of the curve. Students who are able to compete on a global scale are going to be competitive beyond expectation. It's a beautiful thing to connect with cultures 10,000 miles away and to produce value from that interaction will make the world a better place than when you entered it ".
Felix is currently a freshman at Harvard College and always willing to inspire and mentor other students . Besides focusing on college Felix is also involved with non-profit's and passionate about promoting Global Education ! | <urn:uuid:5c3e2bbd-48cd-4d37-a0df-5d1800ae7c92> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://thenorthwoodprogram.com/detail.php?pid=33 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257647327.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20180320091830-20180320111830-00748.warc.gz | en | 0.950353 | 858 | 2.984375 | 3 |
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERIKG CHEMISTRY
cent catechol would prove more serviceable for a particular application such as a tire tread or a conveyor belt cover than the same vulcanizate without these modifying agents. However, for a complete evaluation of such a compound it would be necessary to study the effect of the modifying agents on the stability of the unvulcanized compound and the effect on the physical properties of the vulcanizate a t elevated temperatures. The fact that the properties of a given vulcanizate can be so varied opens up a new field of compounding research since it is obvious that other combinations of these or other chemicals may be expected to produce similar 01more desirable results.
The carbon black in the compounds is a type commonly used in the rubber industry, but it should not be inferred that the varieties of carbon black that are found to be best in the compounding of rubber to meet definite physical requirements are necessarily best for the compounding of neoprene to meet the same requirements.
Literature Cited (1) “Compounding Ingredients for Rubber,” New York, Bill Bros. Publishing Corp., 1936. ( 2 ) Lessig, E. T., IND. EKG.cHEM., Anal. Ed., 9, 582 (1937). (3) Winkelmann, Proc. Am. SOC.Testing Materials, 31, 897 (1931).
Nomenclature of Synthetic Rubbers HARRY L. FISHER U. S. Industrial Alcohol Company, Stamford, Conn.
A brief history of synthetic rubbers and of synthetic rubberlike substances is given, together with an outline of the reasons for the continued use of the term “synthetic rubber,” especially for the rubberlike polymers of butadiene and its derivatives, including chloroprene. Recent and new class terms for rubberlike substances are given and their uses discussed. The new term “elastomers” is suggested to cover all rubberlike substances, “elastoprenes” for the diene polymers, “elastolenes” for the polyisobutylenes, and “elastothiomers” for the polyethylene sulfides (Thiolrol). It is also suggested that Stevens’ term “elastoplastics” be used for the growing class of rubberlike plastics such as plasticized vinyl chloride (Koroseal), certain polyacrylic esters, etc. “Plastomer” is used for the true and the thermosetting thermoplastics. A classification of all rubberlike substances is tabulated.
IXTY years ago, synthetic indigo, a dream of organic chemists, became a reality. Thirty years ago the increase in the knowledge of the chemistry of rubber made organic chemists dream also of synthesizing that important natural product. However, rubber or, more specifically, the rubber hydrocarbon has not yet been synthesized (8) in spite of the tremendous amount of time and effort already expended on this intriguing problem. But in scientific journals, books, newspapers, and advertisements there is much that is published about “synthetic rubbers.” Indigo was synthesized and there is no question about speaking of synthetic indigo. Since rubber has not been synthesized, why do we hear so much about synthetic rubbers? Are there any other names which could be used to describe the various “synthetic rubbers” and other rubberlike
products? These are the questions which will be discussed in this paper. Indigo is crystalline and can be purified easily; the rubber hydrocarbon can be crystallized only under very special conditions, cannot be distilled, and therefore is not easy to purify. Indigo has a comparatively low molecular weight which can easily be determined; the rubber hydrocarbon is an elastic polymer, the molecular weight of which is very high and cannot be determined with precision. A determination of the identity of the natural and synthetic samples of indigo can readily be made, but with rubber it is almost impossible with our present methods to show the absolute identity of two specimens, although it is possible for all practical purposes to do so.
History of Synthetic Rubber As long ago as 1860 Williams (42) separated isoprene as a definite compound among the products of the destructive distillation of rubber. Fifteen years later Bouchardat (4) recognized the probable relation of isoprene to rubber and actually converted it to a rubberlike solid. I n 1882 Tilden (38) discussed the possible industrial significance of the polymerizability of isoprene, provided it could be obtained commercially from a source other than natural rubber; in 1892 he reported (39) that isoprene which had been prepared from turpentine had spontaneously polymerized to a rubberlike product-he said “rubber.” Early in the present century Kondakoff (20) found that 2,3-dimethylbutadiene, a homolog of isoprene, slowly polymerizes to a rubberlike product, and similar observations were made concerning piperylene or 1methylbutadiene (16, 37), and butadiene itself (14, 21). Commercial quantities of “synthetic rubber” were manufactured in Germany during the World War from 2,3-dimethylbutadiene; the product was known as methyl rubber (13,30,41). There was a lull in synthetic rubber research until the rise in the price of rubber in 1925 furnished a stimulus to further work. In the present decade wonderful strides have been made, and now large quantities of “synthetic rubber” are being made from butadiene in Germany and Russia, and from a chloro derivative of butadiene (chloroprene) in this country. These “synthetic rubbers” are all prepared by processes of polymerization, and they bear a strong resemblance to natural rubber. They differ chemically from natural rubber,
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
VOL. 31, NO. 8
‘ Butadiene rubbers:
Sodium butadiene rubber, Russia (1, 16) Buna rubbers, Germany (19) Piperylene rubbers (16) Isoprene rubbers: Polyprene: natural rubber Elastoprenes Sodium isoprene rubber (16) (derivatives of butadiene) . Heat-polymerized isoprene rubber (15) Dimethylbutadiene rubbers: Cold polymer: methyl rubber H (13, 41) Heat polymer: methyl rubber W (13,41) Haloprene rubbers: Polychloroprene rubber: neoprene (10) ELASTOMERS Polybromoprene rubber (9) Polymers, such as polyisobutylene, formed in the presence of a catalyst-e. g., boron trifluoride: Elastolenes Vistanex, Oppanol B (6, 31) Elastothiomers Polyalkylene sulfidea: Thiokol, Perduren ($2, 27) ( Rubberlike polymers of acrylic and methacrylic esters: Acranal, Plexigum (19) Rubberlike mixed glyptals (43) Plasticized polyvinyl chloride: Koroseal, Igelite, Mipolam (7, 18) Polyvinyl acetate, above 40’ C. (40) Elastoplastics Polystyrene, above 6 5 O C., and when partially solvated ($4, 38, 40) Polyarylenethylenes or polyxylenes: AXF, from benzene, ethylene chloride, and aluminum chloride
Pdlyphosphonitrilic chloride (PNCh)z, an inorganic rubber (23, $9,86) True thermoplastics PLASTOMERS Thermosetting plastics
Shellac, polystyrene, polyvinyl acetate, celluloid, cellulose acetate Bakelite, glyptals, formaldehyde-urea polymers, acrylic resins
The Term “Synthetic Rubber”
“Artificial” is a perfectly good word, but unfortunately it carries a connotation that is not always desirable. Artificial flowers, artificial light, artificial gems, and artificial teeth illustrate this point. Artificial means “produced or modified by human skill or labor, in opposition to natural.” The building u p of an artificial rubber or a substitute for rubber is so much like a regular chemical synthesis of a desired product that the term “synthetic rubber” appears to be a good and appropriate name. It is of interest that a somewhat similar situation has arisen in the nomenclature of artificial fibers. The name “rayon” was given to fibers and threads made from viscose t o replace the term “artificial silk.” At present there are several kinds of rayon made from different cellulose derivatives, and similar fibers are made from casein and resinous products; the latter are also sometimes called “rayon.” I n other words, rayon has become the name of a type of fiber. Similarly “synthetic rubber” covers a type of material. Houwink (16) gave the following broad definition of a rubberlike material: “An organic material may be called a rubber when it shows a high elasticity of 100 per cent or more a t room temperature, and when it does not lose this property upon storage at room temperature during considerable periods.” This definition was criticized by Stevens (35) partly because it includes substances other than real rubber. Midgley (24) discussed the question as follows:
We can see, therefore, that the use of the term “synthetic rubber” has been widespread, although strictly speaking it is not properly used. However, when the situation is considered carefully, there does seem to be justification for it. If a piece of ‘(syntheticrubber” is handed to a man, he will note its similarity to natural or vulcanized rubber and quickly say, “That’s rubber.” If it is not natural or vulcanized rubber, then what should It be called? It may be called a substitute rubber or properly an artificial rubber. Harries (16),who was one of the foremost workers in the field of synthetic rubber, wrote a book covering his researches, and he was careful a t that time (1919) to use the German word kiinstlichen (artificial) rather than synthetischen (synthetic).
It is impossible at the present time to define synthetic rubber in chemical terms.. . . .Expressed in physical terms, the simplest definition is, “thpse substances which possess the physical properties of rubber.” Such a statement is functional, and should be revised in terms defining a uni ue physical property of rubber. Several organic substances of %gh molecular weight may be stretched to many times their original lengths, i. e., gums, tars, waxes, jellies, etc.; but only rubber forcibly retracts to substantially its original size and shape after such stretching. Hence the definition becomes: “Synthetic rubbers are those organic substances which possess the property of forcibly retracting to a proximately their original size and shape after being greatly gistorted, i. e., such as being stretched x per cent of their original lengths.” Here 5 is some arbitrary value. It should be over 100, probably 400, possibly 600, but certainly not higher.
but most of them, especially the German Buna and the American Neoprene, have physical properties which in the vulcanized state make them superior to similar products from natural rubber; i. e., they are more resistant to the action of oils, fats, solvents, heat, air, sunlight, and, in some cases, abrasion. There are also other synthetic rubberlike materials, and some of them are called “synthetic rubbers,” although they are not related chemically to natural rubber or to the polymeric derivatives of butadiene-namely, methyl methacrylate rubberlike polymers, polyalkylene sulfides (Thiokol), polyisobutylenes (Vistanex, Oppanol), plasticized polyvinyl chloride (Koroseal), polystyrene above 65” C., polyvinyl acetate above 40” C., the inorganic rubberlike polyphosphonitrilic chloride, etc. They also must be classified. All the synthetic substances so far mentioned have properties resembling rubber; they have been described in the literature not only as “synthetic rubbers” but also as “synthetic elastics,” “rubberlike polymers,” “rubberlike substances,” “products with rubberlike properties,” “plastic rubberlike materials,” “rubbery polymers,” etc. Rubber is also a plastic as well as an elastic substance and so are these other substances, but they all have these properties to different degrees.
NOTES os TABLE 11. STRUCTURAL Butadiene
CHI - CH CH - CH=CHz CH3
CHz= C- CH
H3C CHI I 1 CHz= C- C = CHz
c1 CHz = C - CH = CHz
--CHZ-CH=CH-CHI--CHZ-CH =CH-CHz-The Russian synthetic rubber is a sodium polymeri~edbutadiene. The numbered Buna rubbers (Buna 32, etc.) are also sodium polymers. Buna S consists of mixed polymers of butadiene and styrene, polymerized in the form of an emulsion. Buna N similarly consists of mixed polymers of butadiene and acrylic nitrile (CHz = CH-CN) prepared in the form of an emulsion. CH3 CHs I I - CH = CH - CHz--CH - CH CH - CHz--CH CHa CH3
I --CHz - C
CH - CHz-CHzC = CH - CHFIn the natural rubber hydrocarbon, the methyl groups occur regularly along the chain. In the synthetic isoprene rubbers, the methyl groups occur more or less irregularly, since, whgn stretched, they do not give the x-ray fiber diagram. These unsymmetrical polymerides, judging from both chemical and x-ray results, have groupings somewhat as follows: CHa CHa CH3 I I I -_ CHz- C = CH- C H y C H z - CH = C- CHz-CHzC = CH-CHHac CH3 Hac CH3 I I I I -- CHz-C‘= C-CHs---CHz-C=C-CHz-The methyl groups occur regularly along the chain, as shown by chemical evidence, and this polymeric product when stretched gives an x-ray fiber diagram. c1 c1
--CHz- C = CH - CHz---CH2-
Structure of the product is not known. The unsaturation is very low and probably occurs only in the “end molecule” of isobutylene. It is presumed that Oppanol B is the same or a similar substance. When stretched it gives an x-ray fiber diagram ( 6 ) .
CH3- C = CHz
C = CH - CHIn this polymeride the chlorine atoms evidently occur regularly, since when stretched it gives an x-ray fiber diagram.
SUBSTANCES ENUMERATED IN TABLE I
Probable or Possible Structures of Polymers
Starting Materials CHz = CH - CH = CHz
Ethylene chloride sodium polysulfide
CHzCl - CHzC1 + S’aS,
CHz = CH - COOCHD
I1 I1 HS - CHzCHz - S -S - CHzCH-S - S - . . . . . - CHzCHz - SH Similarly with 2,2’-dichloroethyl ether, ClCHzCHz- 0 - CHzCHzCl, etc. II
CHz- CH-CHz-CH-CHzI I CH30CO CHaOCO
CHz = C - COOCHD
I Mixed glyptals “ 0 Phthalic anhydride
+Mixed esters of high - molecular weight -
CH20H+ Hz? - ‘\O CHzOH HzC-C’
0 Ethylene Succinic glycol anhydride
CHz = CH - OCOCHa
OCOCHs I CHz - CH-CHz-
c1 I CH-
0 vn v“3 OcH=CHz *() 0 0 0 I
Styrene (vinyl benzene)
CHz = CHCl
c1 Vinyl chloride
CH-CHzCH-CHzThis formulation is according t o Staudinger (33)
-CHzCH-CH-CHz-CHz-CH--CH-CHThis is according to Midgley et al. (66) Ethylene chloride benzene
Phosphorus pentachloride ammonium chloride
CHzCHz - CBHh-CHzCHzCsHa-CHzCHzc&4The position of attachment on the benzene nucleus is not known; therefore, only the molecular formula is used. c1 c1 (PNClZ),
-pI = N-p= I
c1 ci Phosphonitrilic chloride
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Bridgwater (5) describes “synthetic substances with rubberlike properties” as substances that resemble rubber in the simple property of extensibility or deformability under moderate loads, coupled with a tendency to recover their original form when the load is removed, although not necessarily to a degree comparable to the recovery exhibited by natural rubber. The question of the underlimit of extensibility and of the rate and extent of retraction of a substance to bring it into the class of synthetic rubber or rubberlike materials has never been settled. A decision by an international agreement of organizations interested in these materials and, in fact an international effort to bring order into the entire subject of rubber terminology, as already suggested by Dawson ( I I ) , would be helpful.
VOL. 31, NO. 8
Another suggestion is “caoutchoid” or “couchoid” by Patterson ($8). He points out that the word rubber is English and not an international word, and that therefore rubberoid (rubberlike) would not be generally acceptable. Accordingly he uses the word caoutchouc as the basis of a better derivative and suggests the words given. Since caoutchoid has “an abominable spelling” he thinks that the unpronounced letters could be dropped to form the simple term “couchoid.” These suggestions are good, and only time will tell how much they will be used. To the writer “collastic” seems to emphasize the colloidal property in preference to the more important elastic property of rubber. “Elastoplastic” has much to recommend it although i t has five syllables and is not easy to speak. “Couchoid” has an excellent derivation but it, too, is not easy to say.
The Names Rubber, Isoprene, etc. Rubber was given its name because it has the property of rubbing out pencil marks, according to a record left by Joseph Priestley in 1770 ( 2 ); but the word was probably in use before that date. Languages other than English use words which were derived from the native words caa o-chu or cahuchu, meaning weeping tree-namely, caoutchouc in French, Kautschuk in German, etc. “Elastic gum” has been used in English, and similar words appear in Spanish and Italian, but rubber is not a true gum and therefore this is not a proper term. The word “rubber” stands for more than a single chemical compound or a typical natural product. It is also used for vulcanized rubber and articles made from it-overshoes, elastic bands, etc. As Stevens (34) says, “It is not an elegant word, and its derivation is almost ludicrous in contrast with its modern applications.” It is also not an international term. There is a question, therefore, whether i t is advisable to use the word in a general term covering all types of rubberlike materials. Weber named the rubber hydrocarbon “polyprene,” which was coined from polymer and isoprene. Isoprene was named by Williams (42) who states: “I have given the substance thus examined the name of isoprene. It would have been more grateful to me to have retained one of the names given by the previous observers, if that course had been possible; but Himly has not named the fluid discovered by him boiling between 33’ and 44”,and the term caoutchhne having been applied by Bouchardat to a fluid boiling a t 14.5’, I could not adopt it; moreover, it is too like caoutchine.” The suffix prene has also been used in chloroprene which is structurally similar to isoprene, with a chlorine atom in the place of the methyl group in position 2 of butadiene. Although the origin of the suffix prene is not known, it has been associated with rubber for many years and therefore is worth keeping in future names.
Recent Class Terms for Rubberlike Substances Although there is some justification for the term “synthetic rubber,” it seems best that it be used chiefly in connection with products that are related chemically to natural rubberthat is, to the various derivatives of butadiene. Usage, however, will determine this. At any rate there is a need for a single term which can be used to cover all rubberlike products. The subject of the use of the words “synthetic rubber” and the need for a single term was discussed recently in the correspondence of Stevens (35), Barron (S), and Naunton (26). I n this correspondence the most desirable words suggested are “collastics,” from colloid and elastic, by Barron, and the selfexplanatory “elastoplasts” by Stevens, or “elastoplastics” as modified by Naunton. These have good derivations and are worthv of consideration.
New Suggestions The writer also comes into the discussion with new suggestions, the first of which is “elastomer.” This word is reminiscent of isomer, electromer, metamer, and polymer, and it is hoped that it may prove of general service. I n a conversation on this subject, the writer’s colleague, W. C. Moore, suggested “plastomer” to cover the nonelastic plastic substances, and the writer presents elastomer to cover the elastic or rubberlike substances. Elastomer is easy to speak, has a scientific derivation, and emphasizes the elastic properties of all these substances. For a general term to cover the rubberlike polymers of butadiene and its derivatives, including chloroprene, the writer suggests “elastoprenes” ; for the polyisobutylenes, “elastolenes” ; and for the polyethylene sulfides, “elastothiomers.”l The derivation of each of these terms is obvious. He further suggests that Stevens’ term “elastoplastics” be used as the name of that growing class of rubberlike plastics which includes the rubberlike glyptals and polymethyl methacrylates, plasticized vinyl chloride, etc.
Classification Jacobs (17) recently classified synthetic rubbers under the following four headings: (a) halo- or halogenorubbers (Neoprene), (b) alternative or eo-rubbers (Buna), ( c ) thiorubbers (Thiokol and Perduren), and (d) plasto- or resorubbers (vinyl polymers and other unvulcanizable thermoplastic polymers made from hydrocarbons). The classification given in Table I is offered for all the synthetic rubbers and rubberlike polymers and plastics. Table I1 contains structural notes on the substances mentioned in Table I. The long bonds in the structural formulas of the polymers are used to indicate the places where the original molecules are joined together. This article is not presumed to be the last word on the subject. It is written with the hope that it will help to clarify the present confused situation in regard to the use of the term “synthetic rubber,” and to help classify all the substances with rubberlike properties. It is also hoped that the article will stimulate more thinking on the subject and soon bring order out of the present nomenclatural chaos. After this paper was presented the author accidentally came across the terms “lastic” and “synlastic,” used by Ellis (12). Also, his attention was called to the proposals of Kindscher (18) in which crude rubbers, synthetic rubbers (from butadiene and its derivatives, Thiokol, Neoprene, etc.), and rubberlike polyvinyl compounds, polyisobutylenes, etc., are classified under the terms Kautschukgeqe, Kautschukoide, and Gummoide. 1 In t h e paper as originally presented, the polyethylene sulfides were called “thiolastics.”
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Acknowledgment The writer is grateful to E. J. Crane, H. E. Howe, H. J. D’Innocenzo, W. C. Moore, and A. M. Patterson for their interest, encouragement, and helpful suggestions.
Literature Cited (1) Akob~hanov,Rubber Chem. Tech., 8,430 (1935). (2) Barker, Rubber Age (N. Y . ) ,43, No. 2, 103 (May, 1938). Chem. I n d . , 55,844 (1936); I n d i a Rubber J., 92, (3) Barron, J . SOC. 542 (1936). (4) Bouchardat, Compt. rend., 80, 1446 (1875)and 89, 1117 (1879); Bull. SOC. chim., 24, 108 (1875). (5) Bridgwater, I n d i a Rubber World, 44, No. 1, 21 (Oct., 1938). (6) Brill and Halle, Naturwissenschaften, 26, 12 (1938); Rubber Chem. Tech., 11, 687 (1938). (7) Brous and Semon, IND. ENCI.CHEM.., 27,667 (1935). (8) Carothers, Ibid., 26, 30 (1934). (9) Carothers, Kirby, and Collins, J . Am. Chem. SOC., 55,789(1933). (10) Carothers, Williams, Collins, and Kirby, Ibid., 53, 4203 (1931). (11) Dawson, Proc. Rubber Tech. Conference, London, 1938, 1003. ENG.CWEM., 28, 1138 (1936). (12) Ellis, IND. (13) Gottlob, I n d i a Rubber J . , 58,305,348,391,433 (1919);“Technologie der Kautschukwaren,” 2nd ed., p. 211, Brunswick, Germany, Friederich Vieweg & Sohn, 1925. (14) Harr!os, Ann., 383, 157 (1911). (15) Harries, “Untersuchungen uber die naturlichen und kunstlichen Kautschukarten,” 1919. (16) Houwink, I n d i a Rubber J., 92,455 (1936). (17) Jacobs, Caoutchouc & gutta-percha, 35,35 (1938). (18) Kindscher, Kautschuk, 14, 140 (1938); Rubber Age (London), 19,286 (1938).
(19) Koch, Rubber Chem. Tech., 10, 17 (1937); paper presented a t 97th Meeting of A. C. S., Baltimore, 1939. (20) Kondakoff, J . prakt. Chem., 64,109 (1901). (21) Lebedeff, J . Russ. Phys. Chem. SOC.,42, 949 (1910); Chem. Zentr., 1910,11, 1744. (22) Martin and Patrick, IND. ENG.CWEM.,28, 1144 (1936). (23) Meyer, Trans. Faraday SOC.,32, 148 (1936); Rubber Chem. Tech., 9, 422 (1936). (24) Midgleu, “Chemistry and Technology of Rubber,” 678 (1937). (25) Midgley, Henne, and Leicester, J. Am. Chem. SOC., 58, 1961 (1936). (26) Naunton, J . SOC. Chem. I n d . , 55,297,328 (1936). (27) Patrick, Trans. Faraday SOC.,32, 347 (1936). (28) Patterson, A. M.,personal communication. (29) Schenck and Romer, Ber., 57, 1343 (1924). (30) Schotz, “Synthetic Rubber,” London, Ernest Benn, 1926. (31) Schwartz, Kunststofe, 29, 9 (1939); I. G. Farbenindustrie, British Patent 432,196 (1935); and other patent literature. (32) Shinkle, Brooks, and Cady, IND. ENQ.CHEM.,28,275 (1936). (33) Staudinger, Ber., 59, 3036 (1926); 62,241,2406 (1929). (34) Stevens, J , SOC.Chem. Ind., 55, 814 (1936). (35) Ibid., 55, 276,328,443,814 (1936). (36) Stokes, Am. Chem. J . , 17,275 (1895); 19,782 (1897). (37) Thiele, Ann., 319, 226 (1901); Bayer & Co., German Patent 235 686 I1 909). (38) Tilden, Chem. News, 46,120 (1882). (39) Ibid., 65,265 (1892). (40) Whitby, Trans. Inst. Rubber Ind., 5, 184 (1929); 6,40 (1930). ENQ.CHEM.,25, 1204, 1338 (1933). (41) Whitbv and Katz. IND. (42j Williams, C. G.,Trans. Roy. SOC.(London), 150, 241 (1860); Proc. Roy. SOC.(London), 10, 516 (1860); J . Chem. SOC., 15, 110 (1862). (43) Wright, Chem. & Met. Eng., 39,438 (1932). - - - I - - -
Svnthetic Elastic Polvmers in the Cable Industrv J
R. A. SCHATZEL AND G.W.CASSELL General Cable Corporation, Rome, N. Y. The position of plastic materials in the ca,ble industry is dependent upon cost and properties. Plastics, irrespective of costs, are being used where necessary properties cannot be obtained with the older, more commonly used materials. As might be expected, many of the first applications will be discarded when cost and service records are weighed one against the other. On the other hand, rapid and constant improvements in these new materials will greatly extend their use. Increased consumption will lower their present costs and permit applications which are now too expensive. At the present market price of rubber, the plastics and rubberlike materials discussed above are from three to seven times more expensive. This increase in cost can be justified only by a much longer life in service. If, through greater resistance to deterioration from elements met in service, these materials improve the dependability of electrical service by freedom from shutdown and need of replacement, the advantage in their use will justify a larger original investment. All of the materials discussed have certain weaknesses, but it is reasonable to believe that a few of them will be improved to make a more balanced
composition. It may be through the use of better plasticizers or it may result from mixtures of various synthetic resins. In any event, if progress is as rapid in the next decade as it has been in the past ten years, there will be a great many useful synthetic materials for the cable industry.
HE place of synthetic elastic polymers in the cable industry cannot yet be evaluated, and no final conclusions can be drawn from a survey a t this time. The development in this field has been very rapid and is by no means complete. However, a useful purpose may be served and some direction given to those interested in the development and manufacture of the basic materials, by setting forth the ideas of those who are using these materials for special applications. They have a place in the cable industry, but the extent will be determined by the following considerations: 1. Whether economies in the cost of cable, or cable operation, result in the replacement of present insulating or protecting materials now in use. 2. Whether these materials will provide satisfactory products where none exist at present. 3. Whether these substances will complement present materials to form an improved product.
The materials covered by this brief review are those which are manufactured on a commercial basis and have been more or less widely used in this country or abroad. For the sake of | <urn:uuid:15e59b5c-489e-4e8f-8a99-9661a710a8ac> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://datapdf.com/nomenclature-of-synthetic-rubbers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506686.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20230925051501-20230925081501-00050.warc.gz | en | 0.899587 | 7,603 | 2.984375 | 3 |
(Also known as gluten sensitive enteropathy, celiac sprue and nontropical sprue)
In this disease, the immune system damages the absorptive lining of the small intestine. This inappropriate action of the immune system is triggered by exposure to gluten. Gluten is a protein that is found in wheat, rye, barley and many processed foods, medications and supplements. As a result of this damage, the small intestine cannot do its job absorbing food and nutrients, which can lead to symptoms.
Who gets it?
This can happen in people of any age, in both men and women. It is more common in people whose families are from northern Europe.
Why does it happen?
The cause of this disorder in unclear. It is likely due to a combination of environmental and genetic factors. 70% of people with celiac disease will feel better within 2 weeks after stopping gluten consumption.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms are variable. Sometimes, people with celiac disease will have no symptoms at all. Even if you do not have symptoms, it is possible to not be absorbing nutrients properly. Possible symptoms include:
- Weight loss
- Abdominal discomfort
- Excessive gas
Problems due to nutrition deficiencies such as:
- Weakening of the bones (osteopenia or osteoporosis)
- Low blood count because of decreased iron absorption (iron deficiency anemia)
Some conditions are more common in people with celiac disease:
- Thyroid problems
- Dermatitis herpetiformis- a very itchy rash with raised fluid filled areas on the skin.
- Diabetes mellitus
- Disorders of the nervous system such as depression, epilepsy, migraines
- Liver problems
How is it diagnosed?
Testing must be performed when a patient is on a gluten-RICH diet because if gluten is removed, the immune system is not activated to attack. Without the immune response, the small intestine tissue can heal and look completely normal.
- Blood tests. Antibodies and proteins made by the immune system to attack gluten can be measured.
- Biopsy of the small intestine. A biopsy is a small tissue sample that can be obtained at the time of an upper endoscopy. There are characteristic changes in a person who has celiac disease.
- Genetic testing. With this test, a patient can be on a gluten free diet because the results are constant and not impacted by what you eat.
There are several different presentations of Celiac disease that can be separated into groups:
- Classical: the small intestine shows signs of damage and nutrients are not absorbed well
- Atypical: there is evidence of damage to the small intestine but very mild symptoms such as iron deficiency, bone loss (osteoporosis), or infertility. This is actually the most common form.
- Latent: Blood tests are positive for celiac disease but the small intestine looks normal under the microscope. In general these people are not told to eat a gluten free diet. If symptoms develop, a biopsy should be repeated.
- Silent: Blood tests and biopsy of the small bowel show findings consistent with celiac disease but there are no other symptoms. You should be tested for malabsorption of specific nutrients.
How is it treated?
There is no cure. Avoiding foods or products with gluten will stop the immune response and the damage to the small intestine. This diet can be a challenge and requires major lifestyle adjustments. The diet is very effective. Strict avoidance of gluten is necessary because even small amounts of exposure to gluten can aggravate the disease.
It is helpful to have a dietician’s help to learn:
- How to eat gluten free and what foods to avoid
- How to eat a balanced diet
- How to shop gluten free and prepare food
Typically, you will be tested for specific nutrients that are sometimes deficient; if values are low, you may be on a supplement for a while.
What are the complications?
- Refractory disease. In a small number of people, symptoms do not improve despite a strict gluten free diet, or, there is improvement at first and then the symptoms return. It is not known why this happens but sometimes the immune system needs to be suppressed with steroids.
- Ulcerative jejunitis. The second part of the small intestine, the jejunum, can form ulcerations that do not heal, leading to a lack of appetite, weight loss, abdominal pain, diarrhea and fever. This can be suspected in patients with refractory celiac disease who do not improve with steroids. Surgery may be necessary to remove the ulcerated area.
- Lymphoma. Cancer of intestinal lymph system can develop; this is uncommon.
What can I do?
If you have celiac disease the most important thing you can do is maintain a gluten free diet. When you are first diagnosed you may not tolerate dairy products until the damage to your intestines has time to heal.
© Copyright 2012 GI Associates. S.C. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:aff5ec59-a3db-4639-ae41-b5bb2ed30e65> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://www.giassoc.org/celiac-disease.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600402131412.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20201001112433-20201001142433-00700.warc.gz | en | 0.935946 | 1,044 | 3.609375 | 4 |
Children find it difficult to express their needs and feelings. Younger children find it tough to communicate through words as their speech and thought-processes are not fully developed. Older children do not communicate their needs when they feel scared, unaccepted and judged. As parents, we need to create an atmosphere of acceptance, without any judgments, at home. This is possible only if we include our children in decision-making processes at home and give them the freedom of expression.
Sometimes, in spite of all our efforts, children tend to bottle up their desires and emotions. However, even in those situations, children give away many cues and it is our duty to decipher these clues and understand the needs of our children. Let us see some of these cues and what they could mean:
1) Persistent crying
Babies cry for hunger, thirst and sleep but as they grow, the episodes of crying reduce. Younger children cry whenever they want attention. Some amount of crying can be attributed to sibling rivalry too. However, if your child cries persistently, the problem may be deeper than you can perceive. Poor health, physical or sexual abuse, bullying, sudden changes in the environment, divorce of parents, fear of monsters/thieves, etc. could also be factors that could depress your child.
2) Not wanting to go to school/classes
Some amount of separation anxiety is usual in pre-primary toddlers. Speaking about school positively, making sure you reach on time to pick them up from school and reassuring them that you will be waiting for them when they get back from school can ease their anxieties to a large extent. However, if your toddler has tremendous anxiety about school or if your older child suddenly develops an aversion to attending school, you need to investigate the probable reasons for the same. Usually, a bullying classmate, a fight with a good friend or a lack of friends at school could be the issue. Sometimes, a harsh teacher or academic pressure could also make children hate school.
3) Poor academic performance
Poor academic performance of children can be depressing and we tend to show our anger and frustration at those times. It would be better if we can explore the reasons behind it instead of exploding about it. If this is an unusual occurrence, find out whether your child requires extra help in any of the subjects or topics. Help your child plan his day, time and activities so that homework and studies do not get affected. In case, your child is repeatedly performing poorly in school, check whether your child has any learning disabilities. Calling in an expert can solve academic issues easily and comfortably.
4) Disobedience/ Testing your patience
A child usually tests his parent’s patience in three situations – (1) when he is undergoing some change, (2) when he is scared and (3) when he wants attention. Show empathy and support to your child whenever there are changes in his life. Reassure your child when he is frightened. A child who is ignored will crave for attention. Even negative attention, in the form of a slap or a scolding, would be alright to them. So, instead of doing that, provide a disobeying naughty child with lot of positive attention. This can be in the form of hugs, kisses or playing a game with them. When you do this consistently, you can see the behavioral change in the child soon. No longer does he need to misbehave to catch your attention.
Whenever you find it difficult to understand your child’s needs and emotions but you feel she is trying to convey something to you, have a personal talk with her. If that fails to help, enroll the support of a psychologist or child counsellor. These experts are not just for children with severe mental health problems but they can also help deal with everyday parenting challenges.
Image courtesy : blogdafabee.com.br/2015/03/e9fxdsfs4h3zn8zhxgydjiunw.jpg | <urn:uuid:530c8a72-07f2-47e1-9cb9-b82e4755bba8> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | http://www.indianyouth.net/how-to-understand-the-needs-of-your-children/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501170875.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104610-00410-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965657 | 811 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Henry Fleming, a Union Soldier
This novel documents Henry's growth and maturity as a soldier through the changes in his personality and behavior. During this transition, Henry's emotions run the gamut from glory to fear to depression to anger to exhilaration to courage to honor. His personality and behavior move from innocence to experience, in essence from doubt to duty.
Henry's maturing process occurs very quickly. In the span of just a few days, Henry experiences a lifetime's worth of growth — from his enlisting for self-centered reasons of glory, to the exhilaration of his first battle, to his running from his second battle for fear of being killed, and, ultimately, to his facing the enemy and leading a charge as he becomes one of the bravest soldiers in his regiment. Several examples from the novel illuminate the changes which take place in Henry's character and in their relationship to the themes of doubt and duty.
Henry's confidence, a confidence somewhat related to an understanding of duty, but also based on the curiosity of youth, is addressed early in the novel. Henry is confident that war will bring him untold glory. Henry's confidence is not shaken by his mother's "impregnable" concerns, so he proceeds with his plan to enlist despite her wishes.
In Chapter 2, however, the focus of Henry's character development moves quickly to Henry's doubts and fears as the regiment moves closer to battle. His thoughts jump from longing for home to conjuring up monster images to describe common occurrences. Fear almost consumes Henry. Henry's doubts continue as he reacts to his environment — both the land and the people. At one point, his fears become so great that "he had concluded that it would be better to get killed directly and end his troubles."
When Henry and his comrades do finally engage in battle, Henry faces the enemy and fires repeatedly, and, eventually, the enemy charge is repelled. Henry finally overcomes a portion of his fears and gains confidence as he works with the other soldiers of his regiment to hold the line. With the help of his fellow soldiers, Henry stands his ground and makes some movements toward confidence and maturity.
Henry's newfound confidence is short-lived. The realities of battle intervene and cause his fear and doubt to resurface. Henry moves from a state of euphoria after repelling the enemy's charge in the first battle to a state of panic at the beginning of a second battle. When the enemy charges, Henry's fears take control. When the soldier next to him drops his rifle and runs, Henry's ability to reason vanishes, and he runs. He abandons any thoughts of honor and duty and sinks into a state of total self-concern and immaturity. In his state of disgrace, he attempts to rationalize his retreat to make himself feel better.
Henry remains in this state of self-absorption through some critical events in the novel: Even Jim Conklin's death can't jar him out of his thoughts about his own well-being. He also abandons the tattered soldier because he fears the man's questions about his head wound; he commits a despicably selfish act rather than face his own lack of courage. In fact, his self-absorption is so deep that it stops him from rejoining the fighting, even though he wants to.
Henry's accidental head wound is not the red badge of courage that he longs to acquire; rather, it becomes a shield that he uses to protect the lies he has built around himself. Henry only begins to emerge from his shell of self-absorption and fear when he recognizes Wilson's weakness in giving him a bunch of letters to hold. On this strange foundation, Henry's confidence for battle begins to take shape.
Henry's new-found confidence allows him to face a tough reality: that as a soldier, he must kill or be killed. His confidence allows him to feel anger toward the enemy, rather than fear. At this point, Henry, if not a hero, is certainly a courageous, confident soldier. His confidence gains such strength that it begins to influence the other soldiers. When Henry assumes the role of flag-bearer for the regiment, he becomes a symbol of bravery and courage. His transformation from child to man, from cowardly enlistee to brave veteran is complete. | <urn:uuid:4c058fed-a491-469d-9225-0d9ebc7d68e2> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/r/the-red-badge-of-courage/character-analysis/henry-fleming-a-union-soldier | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794867559.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20180526151207-20180526171207-00546.warc.gz | en | 0.982297 | 877 | 3.1875 | 3 |
When we are in pain, it seems easy to stop it or at least relieve it: we go to the doctor, he prescribes a pain reliever and after taking it, the pain subsides. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and is not the case with all patients. One of the greatest challenges in many medical disciplines is the management of chronic pain. What to do if nothing can alleviate the pain? And how do we control something as unpleasant and exhausting as chronic pain?
A person with chronic pain feels like a thousand needles are stuck in their body. It is obvious that this situation not only affects them physically, but also strains them emotionally and psychologically. So are their relationships. The ongoing stress she is exposed to, along with the limitations caused by chronic pain, can truly shake her relationships, worldview, and whole life.
“There is pain that kills: But there are even more cruel pains that leave us alive without us ever being able to enjoy life again.”
Antoine Laurent Apollinaire Fée
This is a stressful situation not only for the person with chronic pain. Those close to you will also have difficulty understanding them. Yes, sometimes people suffering from chronic pain just encounter ignorance and a lack of understanding. Since people around them – both the empathetic and the ignorant – have experienced different types of pain during their lives, they believe they have the ability to empathize, to empathize. However , it is very difficult to put yourself in the patient’s shoes because pain is very subjective.
Can a Psychologist Help With Chronic Pain?
Pain is a warning from our body that something is wrong. But what if we follow medical treatments and the pain remains? Life can then drain us. Daily activities turn into suffering, and all too easily we fall into the temptation to look to the future with only despair.
This feeling of being exposed to pain like a leaf in the wind hurts self-esteem enormously. It is true that the degree of disability chronic pain causes depends on the individual situation of the person concerned. However, all those affected will often feel restricted and frustrated, no matter what level of independence and functionality they have retained so far.
In general, experts call it chronic pain when it lasts for more than six months and medical or surgical treatments don’t help. And while medication can relieve symptoms, in these cases psychotherapy can be of great benefit in treating chronic pain. Using psychology to establish acceptance and empowerment can increase the feeling of being in control of life.
“Joy and pain are not like oil and water, they rather coexist.”
Dealing with pain
There are a few techniques that can be used to deal with chronic pain. One of the recipes for success for growing in times of need is knowing how what influences us works with and within us. Because the discomfort caused by the discouragement makes the disease worse. Anxiety, worry, and insomnia increase the pain. However, once we understand the problem, we can develop better strategies and the stress of uncertainty decreases.
Learning to focus our attention is essential to understanding how much power we have over pain. Let’s train our attention to focus on relaxing stimuli that are of great benefit, rather than the debilitating pain! Here’s how we can work on pain: By focusing our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors on a little bit of health instead of making the pain worse. It doesn’t matter how small the steps you take, as long as you take them in the right direction.
“The man who was not raised by pain will always be a child.”
Once we understand that we can actively address the problem, we can start working on it. Here are some great recommendations for action:
- Relaxation and breathing: They are essential to relieve muscular tension. Relaxation isn’t just about lying down or relaxing at the muscular level. Other methods also help us to let go, such as going to the movies, eating in a restaurant, listening to music, talking to a friend on the phone, or going for a walk.
- Emotions: They are another important part of the process. Knowing them, understanding how they affect pain, and working on distancing techniques can be very helpful.
- Communicate the healthy way: It makes sense that in the face of chronic pain it becomes a way of life to complain. Working on how we express ourselves and communicating the same message differently will help improve our relationships.
- Resuming old and healthy habits: It is normal for us to give up activities that we used to enjoy, including daily things, when they become more strenuous. But regaining old dynamics, even small pleasures, helps us live better lives.
- Making a plan with our therapist: Knowing what our thought filters and cognitive biases are that keep us from changing our thought patterns is fundamental. Our therapist helps us to recognize them and thus supports us in the treatment of chronic pain.
“Pain and suffering are a kind of currency that is passed from hand to hand until it reaches someone who receives it but does not pass it on.”
As you can see, chronic pain affects not only our bodies, but also our thoughts, emotions, and relationships. It may be invisible, but it carries great weight. | <urn:uuid:1fa9c6c5-57ce-4d5f-aed3-34298427d675> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://basemega.com/chronic-pain-an-invisible-disease/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964358074.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20211126224056-20211127014056-00396.warc.gz | en | 0.95832 | 1,106 | 2.6875 | 3 |
In the last post we looked at the a number of images and altered single characteristics to assess the impact on the contrast illusion. The hypothesis generated was that the letter A when compared to a filled circle could with a graded background produce the illusion of heterogeneity within the same shape (i.e within the letter A). The underlying assumption was that the geometry of the letter A would impact on the perception of contrasting colours in the background and foreground to produce the illusion of variegation. The above diagram was created to test this hypothesis. A cursory examination of the diagram suggests that the hypothesis is incorrect. Nevertheless the more general contrast illusion persists. Both the A’s and the solid filled circles appear lighter on the right than on the left.
Index: There are indices for the TAWOP site here and here Twitter: You can follow ‘The Amazing World of Psychiatry’ Twitter by clicking on this link. Podcast: You can listen to this post on Odiogo by clicking on this link (there may be a small delay between publishing of the blog article and the availability of the podcast). It is available for a limited period. TAWOP Channel: You can follow the TAWOP Channel on YouTube by clicking on this link. Responses: If you have any comments, you can leave them below or alternatively e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org. Disclaimer: The comments made here represent the opinions of the author and do not represent the profession or any body/organisation. The comments made here are not meant as a source of medical advice and those seeking medical advice are advised to consult with their own doctor. The author is not responsible for the contents of any external sites that are linked to in this blog. | <urn:uuid:6971b74f-a970-4299-9e04-a10857118bc0> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | https://theamazingworldofpsychiatry.wordpress.com/2013/04/23/contrast-illusions-and-geometry-continuing-with-a-visual-illusion-experiment-part-10/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207928486.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113208-00211-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923673 | 354 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Definition of Sorted. Meaning of Sorted. Synonyms of Sorted
Here you will find one or more explanations in English for the word Sorted.
Also in the bottom left of the page several parts of wikipedia pages related to the word Sorted and, of course, Sorted synonyms and on the right images related to the word Sorted.
Definition of Sorted
SortSort Sort, n. [F. sorl, L. sors, sortis. See Sort kind.]
Chance; lot; destiny. [Obs.]
By aventure, or sort, or cas [chance]. --Chaucer.
Let blockish Ajax draw The sort to fight with Hector.
Sort Sort, v. i.
1. To join or associate with others, esp. with others of the
same kind or species; to agree.
Nor do metals only sort and herd with metals in the
earth, and minerals with minerals. --Woodward.
The illiberality of parents towards children makes
them base, and sort with any company. --Bacon.
2. To suit; to fit; to be in accord; to harmonize.
They are happy whose natures sort with their
Things sort not to my will. --herbert.
I can not tell you precisely how they sorted. --Sir
Meaning of Sorted from wikipedia
(TV series), a BBC television series
for E's & Wizz", a 1995 Pulp song Sorted
album), 1999 Sorted
to insertion sort
once the data is small
enough. Second, the algorithms often perform poorly
on already sorted
data or almost sorted
data – these
- secondary sort
key, etc. For example, addresses could
be sorted using
the city as primary sort
key, and the street
as secondary sort
key. If the sort
- The terms describing sorting
- very poorly sorted
, poorly sorted
, moderately sorted
, well sorted
, very well sorted
- have technical
- already sorted
, but the algorithm
does not know if it is completed. The algorithm needs
one additional whole
any swap to know it is sorted
- scientific journal Sort
(mathematical logic), a domain
in a many-sorted structure Sort
(typesetting), a piece
, Lleida, a town in Catalonia...
- already substantially sorted
: the time complexity
is O(kn) when each element
in the input
is no more than k places
away from its sorted position
- considered sorted
). Repeatedly merge sublists
new sorted sublists until there
is only one sublist
remaining. This will be the sorted
- A sorted array
is an array
in numerical, alphabetical, or some other
order, and placed
food and cooking
communities" They have also created
Club (stylized as sorted
is a subscription based collection
of apps to...
Recent Searches ...
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Vascular endothelial growth factor D (VEGF-D)
Vascular endothelial growth factor D (VEGF-D) is an important growth factor for in angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis, and endothelial cell growth. It stimulates endothelial cell proliferation and migration and also has effects on the permeability of blood vessels. It may function in the formation of the venous and lymphatic vascular systems during embryogenesis and in the maintenance of differentiated lymphatic endothelium in adults. VEGF-D binds and activates VEGFR-2 (Flk1) and VEGFR-3 (Flt4) receptors. It is a homodimer, highly expressed in lung, heart, small intestine and fetal lung; and at lower levels in skeletal muscle, colon, and pancreas. It undergoes a complex proteolytic maturation which generates a variety of processed secreted forms with increased activity toward VEGFR-3 and VEGFR-2. VEGF-D first forms an antiparallel homodimer linked by disulfide bonds before secretion. The fully processed VEGF-D is composed mostly of two VEGF homology domains (VHDs) bound by non-covalent interactions.
Swiss-Prot Accession Number: O43915 | <urn:uuid:5dd3de56-4258-4776-80a0-9964a7d7de1b> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://rbm.q2labsolutions.com/products-services/biomarker-detail/?AnalyteID=1800/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320303779.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20220122073422-20220122103422-00279.warc.gz | en | 0.892804 | 270 | 2.546875 | 3 |
“The simple answer is: of course they can! If they’re given the freedom to do what they would do naturally – to do all the things that learning is about – of course they can learn. They do it as infants, they will do it as adults, and they do it throughout the ages in between.
“They’re also learning things all the time in traditional schools. They learn to do things that other people will praise them for. That’s one of the hardest things to get over for kids who come to Sudbury Valley from another school. They are conditioned to getting praise when they’re doing a good thing and getting rebuked when they’re doing the wrong thing. Then they come to an environment like ours and nobody’s patting them on the head for doing the right thing; and that’s a big adjustment.
“In traditional schools, children learn to accept as normal a hierarchical social structure. They learn that the democratic ideals of our society don’t apply to them. If I was creating a school system in France for Louis XIV, I would probably design the traditional system we have in place today. Louis XIV would want schools in which the principal is the law, so kids will get used to this structure. Then, when they become adults, they’ll realize that it’s just fine for the king to be “the law” for the nation as a whole! But we’re not operating a school system for Louis XIV; we’re in the United States of America, where we want people to value democracy, to express their voice as stakeholders in society. We don’t want them to be passive; we want them to be proactive citizens.
“So what do we do? We put them in schools where they have no voice. We train them to accept authority, and then at the age of majority we throw them out into the world and say, ‘Be good citizens in a democratic society and understand the uses of freedom!’
“Perhaps worst of all, traditional schools neither guarantee students due process, nor recognize their individual rights. How can they defend those rights as adults if they’re trained for years as children to accept the fact that they don’t have them?
“At Sudbury Valley children learn how to live as free citizens in a democratic society.” | <urn:uuid:63527f4f-37a1-4b0a-a579-66d1f8deec49> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | http://bookstore.sudburyvalley.org/product/can-children-%E2%80%9Clearn%E2%80%9D-anything-sudbury-valley-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247511573.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20190221233437-20190222015437-00458.warc.gz | en | 0.970819 | 502 | 2.796875 | 3 |
The Langmuir‐Blodgett (LB) methodology is based on the transfer process of a monolayer adsorbed at the water interface, Langmuir film, from the air‐water interface onto solids by vertical dipping of the substrate immersed on the subphase. The technique allows the continuous variation of material density, packing, and arrangement by compressing or expanding the film by using barriers. Consequently, it provides the possibility of preparing films with the control of interparticle distance necessary to exploit the two‐dimensional (2D) materials in technological applications. In this chapter, we present some examples of fabrication of thin films of 2D material using this methodology. We show some methodologies based on this technique to build thin films of graphene oxides, Quantum Dots (QDs), and silver nanowires.
Part of the book: Two-dimensional Materials | <urn:uuid:60866295-4723-4d09-99d2-d3385d219360> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://www.intechopen.com/profiles/186507/teresa-alejo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703530835.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20210122144404-20210122174404-00753.warc.gz | en | 0.890698 | 178 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Upstate researchers have found a way predict the likelihood of getting sick after visiting a particular restaurant. The system is called Nemesis and monitors tweets made by restaurant patrons on the popular social media website, Twitter. It then detects likely cases of foodborne illness in close to real-time.
Many people tweet on devices that are GPS enabled, and Nemesis uses this to figure out which restaurant they ate at. It continues to track their tweets for 72 hours after a restaurant visit, to detect whether or not they’ve become ill. | <urn:uuid:1068a70a-a781-494d-b904-056d700a6edd> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://wrvo.org/term/nemisis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042982013.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002302-00218-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936567 | 106 | 2.59375 | 3 |
When is / was / will be Easter Sunday 1759
If you want to discover when is/was/will be Easter Sunday for any date between 1700 and 2299, you are in the right place. You just need to type in the year you want the click on the button "Get Easter Date".
By the way, in 1759, Easter Sunday falls on the 15th of April
Easter Sunday Calculator
In 1759 the Easter Sunday falls in the ...
Easter days for the year of See below the Easter Dates for the next 10 Years.
1759, 1760 and further
- 1759, 15th of April
- 1760, 6th of April
- 1761, 22nd of March
- 1762, 11th of April
- 1763, 3rd of April
- 1764, 22nd of April
- 1765, 7th of April
- 1766, 30th of March
- 1767, 19th of April
- 1768, 3rd of April
About Easter Day, Carnival and Corpus Christi
The Easter Day, by definition, is the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs after the vernal equinox, and can fall between March 22 and April 25. The Carnival takes place 47 days before Easter. Therefore, Carnival can happen on February 4 to March 9. Corpus Christi takes place 60 days after Easter. Therefore, Corpus Christi can happen from May 21 until June 24.
Are you curious? Here are some dates to play with
While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided on this website, we offer no warranties in relation to these informations. | <urn:uuid:d1ef0b94-1f15-4bd5-bac0-88d32dd57bbf> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | http://coolconversion.com/easter-sunday/1759 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218189316.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212949-00140-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927597 | 346 | 2.796875 | 3 |
'the help': '60s racism in black and white splendid davis, spencer provide some nuance striking, vivid 'senna' speeds over a few details. Sports, politics and the 1960s by ron jacobs in 1968, thanks to the still blatant racism of the men running the sports world and men like muhammad ali and smith and jones, these two. A decade-by-decade history of race and racism in america, compiled by a national book award winner sections search to kill a mockingbird, by harper lee (1960. Isn't the message in the banner below a perfect expression of racism (white people: what will we do today to change our legacy of violence) (in the 1960s and beyond, left-wing.
The 1960's was a decade of radical social change and revolutionary attitude while people were able to come together on many issues and influence positive change in our nation, racism was still a shaky platform for much of society because the ideas of hatred and inequality were deep rooted in so. Brushing up on your racism facts for kids we've collected basic facts on racism, along with some more must-know facts and the fight against it between 1960 and. Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the secret life of bees, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work the themetracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of race, america, and the 1960s appears in each chapter of the secret life of bees click or tap.
Ku klux klan a history of racism and violence 1950s and early 1960s when the civil rights movement was at its height the klan had a resurgence again in. This lesson will discuss racism and discrimination in the northern and western united states before the 1960s discrimination existed in parts of the us other than the south, and civil rights. Protesting in the 1960s and 1970s the red power movement and the chicano movement also fought against racism and sought to renew ethnic pride during the.
If the sacco-vanzetti case was the never-ending wrong, as writer katherine anne porter put it, the tulsa race riot of 1921 was seldom even remembered until recently. There's a reason black americans say racism persists: the cops what sparked the 1965 watts riots in 1965 — and many of the long hot summers that followed around the country in the 1960s. The historical essays in this magazine explain the roots of racism and prejudice which sustain the ku klux klan the south in the early 1960s was the site of.
Racism was largely based on white people's hatred towards blacks until the 1960's, when several major events increased animosity both from whites towards blacks and from blacks towards whites. A howl of exasperation and frustration at the state of the south in the mid-1960s, written as a response to the firebombing of a church and the murder of civil rights activist medgar evers the. Note to kanye: no, the republicans didn't turn into the party of racism in the 1960s here's the proof by ben shapiro @benshapiro april 30, 2018.
Shocking posters in the 1950s and 1960s show the sexist and racist campaigns once seen as acceptable stevie wonder takes aim at trump and racism in eulogy as he closes out aretha franklin's. Race relations during the 1960s and 1970s race relations was one area with great potential for violence, although many black leaders stressed nonviolence since the mid-1950s, king and others had been leading disciplined mass protests of black americans in the south against segregation, emphasizing appeals to the conscience of the white. Songfacts category - songs about racism or discrimination we send out the songfacts newsletter once a month it contains a big list of the new songs that were added, information on recent interviews, and updates on what's happening in the fishbowl. Newspaper articles concerning segregation and racism july, 1914 case against the forum theater owner am renne's segregated seating this page contains original, scanned newspaper articles covering the period from 1865 until 1920.
The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for blacks to gain equal rights under the law in. I'd have to disagree racism white supremacy has not changed the system is still in place so, racism in the 1960's is still the same as the racism white supremacy now a few recent examples: all those things rang true in the 1960's i think it's fair to say that attitudes and behaviors have. Image caption smethwick was infamous for its racial tensions in the 1960s narrator james mossman, the bbc racism would have been an everyday experience for migrants, she said. In the late 1960s, angela davis was a committed member of the black panthers party however, after its fall she continued to fight for equality in her own way in 1970 george jackson and two other men were imprisoned when trying to condemn racism at the prison.
Racism although the united states has come a long way since the days of slavery, and huge steps were made towards granting equal rights on the basis of race in the 1960s, racism is still a very pressing problem in the us today. The defeat of nazi germany, the desegregation of the american south in the 1960s, and the establishment of majority rule in south africa suggest that regimes based on biological racism or its. Racism, ageism, and gay prejudice in the 1980's and 1990's reagan the racist (1980s) racism in the 1980s started during president reagan's campaign not joining the civil rights movement. Up to the 1960s, mexican american leaders, such as those in the league of united latin american citizens (lulac), emphasized the spanish/european/white heritage of mexican americans, in attempts to secure rights as first class citizens and despite their treatment as non-white in american society (gross, 2003 haney-lopez, 2006. | <urn:uuid:71bef4c3-5467-4a3d-9ac9-a9489f5fd790> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | http://bhpaperlypc.orlandoparks.info/racism-in-the-1960s.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583510754.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20181016134654-20181016160154-00178.warc.gz | en | 0.973632 | 1,255 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Household net worth is the value of assets such as a house, car, stocks, retirement accounts minus debts, mortgages, credit card debt, etc. The median figure is what matters – it is the point at which half of people are richer than you and half are poorer than you. Mean is meaningless because people like Bill Gates skew the figures so far upward it isn’t useful for analytical purposes.
If you are 35 and under and your net worth – assets minus liabilities – is more than $11,800, you are above average. That seems like a really low bar, but it comes directly from the Census bureau. | <urn:uuid:ac6574e2-cd5f-4196-a451-1d2205197d47> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.joshuakennon.com/mean-and-median-household-net-worth-by-age/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279933.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00381-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967232 | 128 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Saints’ Cults in Medieval Livonia
The Clash of Cultures on the Medieval Baltic Frontier: Chapter 10, Ashgate, July 28 (2009)
Saints’ cults played a crucial role in medieval society. Although we know very little about the beliefs and rituals of the indigenous peoples of Livonia, either before or after the thirteenth-century conquest, we may assume that the process of Christianization must have caused major changes in their religious practices. How quickly these changes took place, and how deep they were, is a question which is difficult to answer, given the scarcity of sources describing the attitudes of the indigenous peoples towards the Christian faith, or dealing with their religious customs. This is valid not only for the thirteenth century but also for the rest of the medieval period. There exist, of course, brief complaints in documents such as church statutes about the ignorance and superstition of the ‘non-Germans’, but these texts were written by and from the point of view of the ruling elites and not that of non-Germans themselves, who did not possess a written culture before the nineteenth century. One may also assume that complaints about such matters were a commonplace in other newly Christianized countries as well.
However, it is not only the beliefs and customs of the native inhabitants of Livonia that we are interested in, but also those of the ‘newcomers’ in the country, that is, the (predominantly German) upper and middle classes. The location of Livonia between the Roman Catholic West and the Russian Orthodox East (not to mention the neighbouring Lithuanians who remained pagan until the late fourteenth century) makes this region an interesting melting pot of different cultural and religious influences. The political, economic and cultural connections to Germany, Denmark and Sweden, the role of the Hanseatic League, the presence of the military orders (first the Sword Brethren, then the Teutonic Order) and the monastic orders (most notably the Cistercians and the Dominicans) must all have had a significant impact on the development oflocal religious life. | <urn:uuid:61e35639-f1a2-4bcf-81ee-badb39ea2618> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | http://www.medievalists.net/2014/08/saints-cults-medieval-livonia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027317339.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20190822172901-20190822194901-00483.warc.gz | en | 0.962125 | 434 | 3.234375 | 3 |
A sea-floor mapping investigation designed to assess the sediment distribution, the movement of the nearshore sand supply, and the fate of sediment eroded from the shoreline was conducted using high-resolution sidescan-sonar, seismic reflection, and sediment sampling techniques on the northern insular shelf of Puerto Rico, off the town of Luquillo. Sea-floor structures and the distribution of sediment texture and composition suggest that regional oceanographic processes result in a net offshore direction for cross-shelf sediment transport on the middle and outer shelf during storms. If these same processes are active on the inner shelf, mapping results indicate that this sediment is not transported seaward of a series of east-west trending Pleistocene-age eolianite ridges that outcrop on the middle shelf. The eolianite ridges may act as natural dams, preventing the removal of sediment from the nearshore area. Sand deposits behind the "dams" are up to 20 m thick on the shoreward flank of the ridges.
Additional publication details
Sediment distribution on a storm-dominated insular shelf, Luquillo, Puerto Rico, U.S.A. | <urn:uuid:d1de9f98-539d-448c-bd49-2b3347b79370> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70017788 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280723.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00451-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.886291 | 237 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Early Western European Prints
The online exhibition presents the older part of the graphic arts collection in the University of Tartu Library — Western European prints from the 15th–18th centuries, and early German lithography.
The exhibition provides a brief description of the graphic arts collection as a whole as well as by country, and delineates the development of printmaking techniques and the specific features of the technical processes. From the list of the artists, the works of each of them can be viewed, while the galleries menu bar gives access to the exhibition by country.
The exhibition is based on a graphic arts display arranged in 2002 — the year of the 200th anniversary of the University of Tartu Library. The preparation of the online exhibition was supported by the town of Tartu. | <urn:uuid:0056c13b-8f53-42ce-8cd6-2407a86587d4> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://utlib.ut.ee/en/sundmused/early-western-european-prints?mini=2021-06 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780056902.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20210919220343-20210920010343-00523.warc.gz | en | 0.95216 | 157 | 2.546875 | 3 |
- 1 What region is Gettysburg PA in?
- 2 What township is Gettysburg PA in?
- 3 Is Gettysburg near Philadelphia?
- 4 How many died at Gettysburg?
- 5 Why did the Confederates and Union fight at Gettysburg?
- 6 What are the dates of the Battle of Gettysburg?
- 7 Why was the town of Gettysburg important?
- 8 Is Gettysburg boring?
- 9 In what county is Lancaster PA?
- 10 Is Gettysburg Battlefield free?
- 11 What is the closest major airport to Gettysburg PA?
What region is Gettysburg PA in?
Gettysburg, borough (town), Adams county, southern Pennsylvania, U.S., 38 miles (61 km) southwest of Harrisburg, just north of the Maryland border. Laid out in the 1780s by James Gettys and called Gettys-town, it was renamed in 1800 when it became the county seat and was incorporated in 1806.
What township is Gettysburg PA in?
About an hour and half’s drive away from Gettysburg towards Philadelphia is Lancaster County, home to the Pennsylvania Amish. It is the oldest, and one of the largest, Amish settlements in the country. Yes, the region does get inundated with tourists.
Is Gettysburg near Philadelphia?
Where is Gettysburg, PA located? In heart of Central Pennsylvania lies historic Gettysburg. Just 10 miles from PA’s southern border it is in close proximity to many metropolitan areas like New York City, Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.
How many died at Gettysburg?
Union casualties in the battle numbered 23,000, while the Confederates had lost some 28,000 men–more than a third of Lee’s army. The North rejoiced while the South mourned, its hopes for foreign recognition of the Confederacy erased.
Why did the Confederates and Union fight at Gettysburg?
The Battle of Gettysburg, which became the largest battle ever fought in the U.S., started out as a chance encounter between the Union and Confederate Forces. The plan was to try and get some leverage in the North by forcing Northern politicians to stop prosecuting the war.
What are the dates of the Battle of Gettysburg?
T he Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War.
Why was the town of Gettysburg important?
In the first days of July 1863, two great armies converged at the small town of Gettysburg, in southern Pennsylvania. The Union’s eventual victory in the Battle of Gettysburg would give the North a major morale boost and put a definitive end to Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s bold plan to invade the North.
Is Gettysburg boring?
I assure you that Gettysburg is not some dry, boring place that your kids will moan and complain about visiting. In fact, chances are, a visit to Gettysburg will ignite an interest in history and move everyone with the powerful events that took place on that hallowed ground.
In what county is Lancaster PA?
We are often asked how long visitors should plan to stay in Gettysburg. While this will vary for each person based on their interest level, we find it takes an average of 2-3 days to explore the Battlefield, the town, and all the museums, shops & attractions in the area.
Is Gettysburg Battlefield free?
There is no fee for entrance to the park, National Cemetery, or park buildings. There is a fee for the film, Cyclorama, and museum.
What is the closest major airport to Gettysburg PA?
The closest and most convenient airports are Harrisburg International Airport (a 45-minute drive) and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (a 75-minute drive). | <urn:uuid:3bfd8874-5294-402d-a14a-04f825694b21> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://gmcfoa.com/municipality/often-asked-what-municipality-surround-gettysburg.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573533.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20220818215509-20220819005509-00336.warc.gz | en | 0.94684 | 808 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Like long security lines and bad coffee, air turbulence is one of the headaches travelers face when they decide to board an airplane. But there are times when turbulence can cause more than just a headache.
The 119 passengers and crew aboard United Airlines Flight 1676 experienced severe turbulence yesterday (Feb. 17) as their Boeing 737 was about to land after an otherwise-calm flight from Denver to Billings, Mont.
"There was a lot of screaming, a lot of hollering," passenger Bill Dahlin told CNN affiliate KTVQ. One woman reportedly hit the plane's ceiling panel so hard it cracked, and a baby was tossed unharmed into a nearby seat. Five people were taken to local hospitals; one flight attendant remained hospitalized the following day. [The 5 Real Hazards of Air Travel]
What is turbulence?
Turbulence — called "clear-air turbulence" when it occurs in otherwise calm, blue skies — is caused when a mass of air moving at a particular speed meets another mass of air that's moving at a different speed. It's often created by jet streams, thunderstorms, weather fronts and air moving around mountains, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Physicists describe turbulence as "turbulent flow," or the movement of a gas or liquid in which the fluid undergoes irregular mixing, causing changes in the fluid's speed, pressure and direction. ("Laminar flow," in contrast, is a fluid movement with constant speed, direction and pressure.)
Pockets of turbulent air can be difficult for forecasters to predict, and pilots often rely on turbulence reports from other pilots who have recently flown a certain flight path. Other clues that there might be turbulence in an area include the presence of cumulonimbus clouds, mountain ranges, and cold or warm fronts.
When turbulence turns deadly
Although it may make some passengers uneasy, turbulence is usually little more than an inconvenience. "The pilots aren't worried about the wings falling off; they're trying to keep their customers relaxed and everybody's coffee where it belongs," said Patrick Smith, pilot and author of "Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel: Questions, Answers, and Reflections" (Sourcebooks, 2013).
The statistics on turbulence substantiate the relative safety of air travel: Between 2002 and 2011, an average of 33 people per year were injured by turbulence during U.S. flights, and most of those injuries were sustained by crew members (who are often unseated and moving about the cabin during flights), according to the FAA.
During severe turbulence, however, life-threatening injuries can occur. In 1997, United Airlines Flight 826 was leaving Narita International Airport in Japan en route to Honolulu. After encountering several waves of severe clear-air turbulence, the Boeing 747 reportedly dropped some 100 feet (30 meters), seriously injuring 18 passengers and crew.
Two doctors onboard Flight 826 were able to assist the injured people, and performed CPR on one unconscious passenger, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The pilot turned around and landed safely in Tokyo so that medical assistance could be provided to the injured, but one passenger eventually died from her injuries.
More turbulence ahead?
Some experts are concerned that turbulence might become more common due to a warming planet: A 2013 report found that turbulence strength over the North Atlantic flight corridor could increase by 10 percent to 40 percent, and turbulence frequency could jump by 40 percent to 170 percent.
"We conclude that climate change will lead to bumpier trans-Atlantic flights by the middle of this century, assuming the same flight tracks are used," the researchers wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The FAA is providing enhanced training and communication to airline personnel in an effort to reduce the incidence of injuries caused by turbulence. The agency says passengers should adhere to flight-attendant advisories, wear seat belts at all times when seated and adhere to the airline's carry-on restrictions. | <urn:uuid:67a447fb-2bda-4ac0-9d2d-d5557868f9fb> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://www.livescience.com/43448-air-turbulence-dangerous-injuries.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178376144.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20210307044328-20210307074328-00329.warc.gz | en | 0.958443 | 806 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Heinrich, count von Brühl, (born August 13, 1700, Gangloffsömmern, Thuringia [Germany]—died October 28, 1763, Dresden, Saxony), prime minister and virtual ruler of electoral Saxony, who unsuccessfully attempted to strengthen the state, the rulers of which were also kings of Poland, by making the Polish crown hereditary and by acquiring a land corridor linking Poland with Saxony.
Rising rapidly under Augustus II the Strong, king of Poland, Brühl held a number of high offices under the Saxon elector Frederick Augustus II (Augustus III of Poland). In 1746 Brühl was appointed prime minister, a post until then unknown in Saxony. His wealth and extravagance caused many charges of corruption.
Brühl failed in both his dynastic and territorial ambitions. The first collapsed before the opposition of the Polish aristocracy, and the second involved Saxony in a series of wars that nearly exhausted the state. As his price for agreeing to the Pragmatic Sanction, which provided for the succession to the Austrian throne, he demanded part of Silesia in order to gain the desired land corridor. Failing to obtain this concession, Saxony sided with Prussia against Austria at the onset of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48).
When Frederick II the Great triumphed and annexed Silesia himself (1742), Brühl recognized that his policies could succeed only if Prussia were defeated. Consequently, he tried to reconcile Austria and France, two traditional enemies, initiating a process that resulted in the reversal of alliances (1756) and that set the stage for the Seven Years’ War (1756–63), in which Saxony was still unsuccessful in its struggle against Prussia. Brühl and his sovereign were forced to flee to Warsaw; both returned to Dresden in 1763. | <urn:uuid:939ee747-645b-4d1a-9053-5b2f5b0c16ce> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.britannica.com/biography/Heinrich-Graf-von-Bruhl | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662534669.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20220520191810-20220520221810-00115.warc.gz | en | 0.97274 | 389 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Budgie Body Colors
Mauve, Cobalt, Violet...?
Budgie body colors, where should we start? How about with your basic Light Green Normal budgie. This colour is basically made up of yellow and blue as described on Budgie Colours. The term 'body colour' refers only to the green, blue or grey color of the budgies body, not to the wing or face colour. The face (also called mask) colour is often referred to as the base colour i.e. white base or yellow base. The wing colours are covered at Budgie Varieties.
We can divide budgie body colours into two groups, the Green Series (all those with yellow present) and the Blue Series (all those without yellow). There are three varieties - Yellowface 1 and 2, and Goldenface - that have reduced yellow but that will be covered on the Budgie Varieties section. Lets just stick to plain old blue or green body colour for now.
There are three effects that we should cover before we discuss the individual colours; the Dark Factor, the Grey and the Violet.
Dark Factor - the Dark Factor creates three different shades. Each budgie can carry two non-Dark Factor gene, one Dark with one non-Dark Factor gene, or two Dark Factor genes. Within the Green Series this results in the Light Green (no Dark Factor, this is the wild type), Dark Green (one Dark Factor) and Olive (two Dark Factor). Likewise in the Blue Series you get Skyblue (no Dark Factor), Cobalt (one Dark Factor) and Mauve (two Dark Factors).
Grey - this gene has the effect of making a blue budgie look Grey, and a green budgie into what is called a Grey Green. It effectively washes a grey shade over the base colour of the bird. This means a Skyblue bird becomes a Light Grey, a Cobalt becomes a Medium Grey and a Mauve a Dark Grey, with the same in the Grey Greens. It can be difficult to tell the shades apart though so mostly they are just called Grey or Grey Green.
Violet - the Violet gene has a darkening and enriching effect on budgie body colours. It can be present in both Green and Blue Series birds, but is most obvious in the Blue Series.
Slate - the Slate is a less common colour so you are not likely to come across it unless you are hunting for it. It has a similar effect to Violet, a darkening and enriching effect, but rather than a violet hue, it produces a blue/grey slate shade. It can be present on any colour bird, however it really only visual on the blue birds, and is most obvious when on a Skyblue bird. When combined with Grey it produces a nice, very dark bird. There are a couple of Slate pictures on the right, a Slate Violet chick and a Slate Skyblue cock.
So without further ado let’s look at the individual shades! I am going to talk only about the budgie body colours, we can talk about variations in markings on another page.
The Green Series
Light green - this is the original color of the budgie with no dark factors present, just a lovely bright grass green.
Dark green – the intermediate shade of green with one dark factor. It is darker and lacks the iridescence of light green. It can be tricky to show the difference in photos, in reality they are quite different side by side.
Olive – the darkest shade of green with two dark factors. It is almost a muddy green shade. This color can look a lot like Grey Green. They can be distinguished by the color of their cheek patches (violet blue in Olive and greyish blue in Grey Green birds) and long tail feathers (dark blue in Olive and black in Grey Green).
Grey green – the grey gene washes over the green to make a color similar to Olive but with the different cheek patch and long tail feathers as described above. Grey Greens can be light, medium or dark depending on how many dark factors are present.
The budgie on the right is a chick and therefore a paler shade, once it moults it will darken a little and become a stronger color, more like the Olive above. If you compare its cheek patch with those of the Olive you will see the difference as described above. The budgie on the left has silverish cheek patches due to it also being of the Spangle variety, which will be discussed on another page. She is just here to give another example of a light Grey Green shade.
Violet – the violet gene behaves like the grey gene in that it washes over green base color and alters it. The effect is to darken and enrich the shade of green. This makes, for example, a Light Green bird with the violet gene look similar to a Dark Green. The color palette is a violet Dark Green.
The Blue Series
Skyblue – the lightest shade of blue, with no dark factors. It is basically a light green bird with the yellow removed, leaving a lovely bright iridescent pale skyblue.
Cobalt – the medium shade of blue with one dark factor. Cobalt desribes this colour well. It is darker than Skyblue and has lost the iridescence.
Mauve – mauve is the darkest blue with two dark factors. It can look muddy and greyish but is much bluer than a grey. If in doubt remember that a grey has grey cheek patches and a black tail whilst mauve has violet cheek patches and a blue tail.
Grey – the grey gene causes a grey wash over the blue body colour resulting in a grey bird. Remember that the grey gene also changes the cheek patches to grey and the tail feathers to black. Like the grey greens greys come in light, medium and dark depending on what shade of blue it is covering.
Violet – The violet gene works by causing a darkening and enriching of the birds base colour. It can, for example, make a skyblue appear cobalt. My first ever violet was a violet skyblue that I thought was cobalt. However after a few matings I realised she wasn't, and on inspection I noticed that above her wings in the neck region her color was a richer more violet than the cobalt elsewhere. This can sometimes provide a clue to the presence of violet. The most beautiful of these is the violet cobalt, which shows the strong violet colour and is therefore often called a visual violet. The lovely bird on the right is a visual violet, they are often not that strongly violet, more of a rich cobalt.
These are the basic budgie body colors, as they are found when not altered by the mutations that have created the many varieties that budgies come in. We will cover these (opaline, spange, ino, pieds etc) in another page as they work separately from the budgie body color. | <urn:uuid:603756dc-52ad-48b8-a957-8f9e351c6923> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | http://birdszoo.com/budgerigar/budgies-mutation-ii | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514573258.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20190918065330-20190918091330-00134.warc.gz | en | 0.934167 | 1,436 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Evidence Against the Use of Disciplinary Spanking
The design of a research study is critical to the results it will yield. If researchers desire accurate, objective results, then all aspects of the design must be considered. Let’s take an in-depth look at this principle.
The research methods used in studies claiming to show adverse outcomes of disciplinary spanking would be shamefully disregarded if used to evaluate a particular medical treatment. It is well known that evaluations of medical treatments must carefully specify the indications and contraindications for the treatment, the appropriate medication dosage, and distinguish causal effects from correlations. The evidence against disciplinary spanking comes from research that ignores these factors as noted below.
- Ordinary spanking is grouped other forms of corporal punishment including abusive acts, such as punching, face slapping, kicking, and beating. In Gershoff’s widely publicized 2002 meta-analysis which claims spanking is harmful, a broad definition of corporal punishment is used and therefore 65% of her cited studies include overly harsh forms of physical punishment.[i]
- Research is not limited to the spanking of young children; rather, the focus is upon corporal punishment with adolescents. An example is Straus’s survey-based studies which are often promoted as evidence for a link between spanking during “childhood” and poor adult outcomes, such as alcohol abuse, marital violence, depression, and suicidal thinking.[ii] These conclusions are built entirely upon situations of “physical punishment during the teen years”, not during childhood, with teens experiencing up to thirty or more hitting events in a year. These correlates of teenage corporal punishment reveal nothing about the effect of ordinary spanking with preschoolers.
- Study findings are correlational and do not show clear causation. Baumrind, et.al, in a critical review of Gershoff’s meta-analysis, noted that her results are only correlational, finding disciplinary spanking “guilty by association.”[iii] Gershoff acknowledged that “the links between corporal punishment and detrimental outcomes in young children may be artifactual.” Ferguson’s 2013 meta-analysis revealed that any link between spanking and negative outcomes is insignificant.[iv] For instance, physical punishment and physical abuse had a consistently positive association, because all physical abuse was defined as occurrences of physical punishment. Association does not prove causation.
- The effects of disciplinary spanking are typically not compared against the effects of alternative disciplinary responses, such as time-out, grounding, or privilege removal. Using the same studies and method of analysis in Gershoff’s meta-analysis, Baumrind found more links to detrimental outcomes for alternative disciplinary tactics than for physical punishment.[iii]
- Studies rely upon surveys of parents as the reporters of both their children’s behavior and their own discipline practices. This is problematic since parents’ desire to justify their disciplinary actions may bias their reporting of resulting child behavior. Likewise, surveys of adults’ recall of being spanked as a child may be biased toward recalling the harsher practices of corporal punishment experienced in later childhood years.
- Studies fail to prescribe the methodology and application of spanking and, instead, evaluate the effects of the varying personal practices of its use. In the earliest studies examining the effectiveness of time-out, parents were first trained in the proper use of the discipline response by instruction and role-playing.[v] Proper and consistent application of a technique, such as spanking, should ideally be verified in order to generate accurate conclusions about its effectiveness.
- Longitudinal research often relies upon the measure of frequency of spanking without controlling for the frequency of a child’s misbehavior or for a child’s behavioral temperament. Just as a child’s difficult temperament will elicit more frequent corrective responses early in life, it also increases the probability of a poorer outcome later in life. In other words, frequent misbehavior or a difficult temperament tends to predict subsequent child behavior problems, regardless of the disciplinary measure employed. Larzelere, Kuhn and Johnson, in their paper examining this “intervention selection bias,” note “the detrimental outcomes of ordinary physical punishment tend to disappear with more adequate statistical controls for the initial child misbehavior.”[vi] This is a critical design flaw.
- Important variables within the disciplinary process are largely ignored, such as parental nurturance, parental use of other measures (reasoning, consequences, timeout) in conjunction with spanking, and the parent-child relationship. When comparing parents who are equivalent on positive parental involvement[vii] or on the use of reasoning[viii], the associations of spanking with negative child behaviors disappear.
- Much of the anti-spanking literature consists of opinion-driven editorials, reviews, and commentaries. Lyons, Anderson and Larson conducted a systematic review of articles published between 1984 and 1993 that addressed corporal punishment.[ix] They found that 83% of the 132 articles were editorials or commentaries devoid of empirical data. All but one of the few empirical studies was flawed by the inclusion of severe physical abuse with disciplinary spanking. The one remaining study specific for disciplinary spanking revealed no detrimental effects on the child.
[i] Baumrind, D, Larzelere, RE, & Cowan, PA. Ordinary physical punishment: Is it harmful? Comment on Gershoff (2002). Psychological Bulletin. 2002;128(4):580-589.
[ii] Straus M. Should the use of corporal punishment by parents be considered child abuse? in Mason M & Gambrill E (eds). Debating Children’s Lives. 1994; pp 197-203. California: SAGE Publications
[iii] Baumrind, D, Larzelere, RE, & Cowan, PA. Ordinary physical punishment: Is it harmful? Comment on Gershoff (2002). Psychological Bulletin. 2002;128(4):580-589.
[iv] Ferguson, CJ. Spanking, corporal punishment and negative long-term outcomes: A meta-analytic review of longitudinal studies. Clinical Psychology Review. 2013. 33:196–208.
[v] Newby, R F, Fischer, M, & Roman, MA. Parent training for families of children with ADHD. School Psychology Review. 1991;20:252-265.
[vi] Larzelere RE, Kuhn BR, Johnson, B. The intervention selection bias: an underrecognized confound in intervention research. Psychological Bulletin. 2004;130:2:289-303.
[vii] Simons RL, Johnson C, & Conger RD. Harsh corporal punishment versus quality of parental involvement as an explanation of adolescent maladjustment. J Marriage and Family. 1994; 56:591-607.
[viii] Larzelere RE & Merenda JA. The effectiveness of parental discipline for toddler misbehavior at different levels of child distress. Family Relations. 1994;43:480-488. | <urn:uuid:d4f02656-715b-494e-a54a-814900f6f86d> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://goodparent.org/corporal-punishment/research-on-corporal-punishment/evidence-against-the-use-of-disciplinary-spanking/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107871231.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20201020080044-20201020110044-00514.warc.gz | en | 0.918691 | 1,462 | 2.578125 | 3 |
I attended a very interesting presentation this evening at Harvard University by Jessica Minahan, M.Ed., BCBA and Nancy Rappaport, M.D. They recently co-authored a book entitled, “The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students.”
The authors started out with some very interesting statistics. For example, according to the authors, only 20% of children with emotional and behavioral disorders ages 14 – 21 receive high school diplomas; 48% dropout of grades 9 – 12. They then stated that there are six essential concepts for understanding behavior:
- Misbehavior is a symptom of an underlying cause…
- Behavior is communication
- Behavior has a function
- Behavior occurs in patterns
- The only behavior teachers can control is their own
- Behavior can be changed.
I was particularly interested in their discussion about Anxiety and Asperger’s Syndrome. Not surprisingly, anxiety interferes with verbal working memory and impedes academic performance. Minahan and Rappaport stated that children who were the most anxious at the start of the first grade were almost 8 times more likely to be in the lowest quarter of reading achievement, and almost 2 1/2 times more likely to be in the lowest quarter of math achievement by the spring of the first grade. Regarding Asperger’s Syndrome, the authors estimate that 80% of children with Asperger’s syndrome also experienced intense anxiety.
The authors believe that traditional behavior intervention plans do not adequately deal with anxiety management or teach the skills that are needed to behave properly. Unstructured times and transitions are just a couple of difficult areas that can be decedents for problem behaviors. This is something that I have seen among my own clients, as well – unstructured times and transition periods are when children with Aspergers Syndrome seem to be the most susceptible to having behavioral challenges. Minahan and Rappaport presented a few suggestions for teachers to use to assist students with self-regulation and self-monitoring. For example, they talked about using a regulation scale such as an emotional thermometer, performing self calming practice in a relevant place, and developing and using a calming box.
The authors described transition periods in terms of 4 components: stopping the activity, making the cognitive shift to next activity, starting the next activity, and the inherent lack of structure during transitions. Regarding stopping an activity, they talked about the importance of finding an appropriate stopping point so that students are not caught off guard and surprised by a transition. They also suggested using visual schedules and photographs to help students make the cognitive shift to the next activity, and also to use countdowns (e.g. “5 more minutes…”). The pair also discussed the importance of structuring downtime.
There was far more that was discussed this evening that I expect to find useful as I work with parents on IEP’s. For more information about the authors, you can visit their websites at www.JessicaMinahan.com and www.NancyRappaport.com. The book is available for purchase on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Behanvior-Code-Practical-Understanding-Challenging/dp/1612501362, or at the Harvard Education Press: http://www.hepg.org/hep/book/161/TheBehaviorCode
The Law Office of James M. Baron represents students and parents in special education and other school-related legal matters. Please visit http://www.lawbaron.com, or call 781-209-1166 for more information. | <urn:uuid:ff3616d2-4bc5-4c9a-bd7c-9688ec72950d> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | https://specialeducation-lawyer.com/2012/10/04/attended-presentation-at-harvard-on-understanding-and-teaching-behaviorally-challenging-students/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886105976.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20170820053541-20170820073541-00059.warc.gz | en | 0.945883 | 749 | 3.234375 | 3 |
When you scroll through your social media feed, odds are you will come across an article preaching “detox” diets or “cleanses”. No matter which label you prefer, you’ll have a hard time giving either an explicit definition. Moreover, people have no clue what cleanses are meant to do beyond eliminating “toxins” from the body.
Sadly, the health and fitness realm is loaded with ambiguity, especially in the cleanse niche. Some fad detox protocols claim to target specific organs, while others supposedly purify the entire body. Not surprisingly, these diets restrict your food choices to nothing but select vegetables and fruits. Better yet, they claim you need their proprietary food products to succeed.
For example, the “Master Cleanse” prescribes drinking six to twelve glasses of lemonade mixed with maple syrup and cayenne pepper each day. This alchemical concoction is supposed to remove toxins from the body; the creator has even gone so far as to say it can remedy every type of disease.
Ultimately, detox diets and cleanses may differ in subtle ways, but no specific protocol is worth detailing, as eventually, they all fall out of favor for the next fad in the queue. Cleanses ultimately insist that exposure to synthetic chemicals leaves the body in a toxic state. As you will see throughout this article, that is rather bogus and shortsighted.
What is a Toxin?
It’s amazing how tough it is to find an unequivocal definition of the term “toxin”. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “Toxins are substances created by plants and animals that are poisonous to humans. Toxins also include some medicines that are helpful in small doses, but poisonous in large amounts.”
Furthermore, the term toxicant refers to a man-made poison found in the environment (usually coming from pollution). However, most cleanses and detox diets consider a toxin to be any substance that is believed to be noxious. These typically include heavy metals (like lead), preservatives, food additives/dyes, artificial sweeteners, xenobiotics, and other synthetic chemicals. Note that toxins and toxicants cover a spectrum of substances, and unnatural chemicals are not inherently harmful.
Sure, inhaling pesticides or ingesting pollutants is not likely to better your health, but in small amounts, they won’t harm it either.
The Dose Makes the Difference
As the adage goes, “The difference between medicine and poison is in the dose.” People need to understand that all chemicals/substances are safe in one amount and dangerous in another. For example, cyanide is very lethal in rather small doses; yet, it is also an organic substance found in the seeds of various fruits that can be consumed safely in minute amounts.
Don’t believe that concept? The median lethal dose (LD50) of cyanide is 3-8mg/kg in humans, meaning someone who weighs 200lbs could theoretically consume upwards of 100 to 200mg and be just fine (aside from possible side effects). Also, consider that even 100mg of cyanide is an extremely high intake and you would have to eat exorbitant amounts of fruit seeds to reach that dose.
On the contrary, substances that we just assume are healthful in any quantity, such as water, can be lethal in high enough quantities. Yes, you can literally hydrate yourself to death if you want to; superfluous water intake can lead to deadly electrolyte imbalances, causing the brain to lose its normal function. The amount of water you have to drink to reach such a critical level is nearly unfathomable, but it can still happen (and it has).
What these examples tell us is that a substance in and of itself isn’t always necessarily toxic or harmful. It’s simply too general to label certain things as toxins without having a context to consider. Thus, let’s look past the propaganda and see what science has to say about cleansing the body.
A Scientific Approach to Cleanses
To date, there is quite literally no data backing “detox” diets and cleanses. According to a recent review, studies on cleanses are underwhelming (to say the least), as they suffer from, “…small sample sizes, sampling bias, lack of control groups, reliance on self-report and qualitative rather than quantitative measurements.”
Sadly, detox diets and cleanses remain popular because of big-name personalities who endorse them; they claim that’s how they keep in such great shape, which is beyond bogus. These anecdotal tidbits are simply masking the truth. A wholesome diet and healthy exercise regimen far surpass the benefits you will ever see from cleanses.
Does the Body Even Need Cleansing?
The harsh truth is that even if a substance really is toxic, a short-term cleanse isn’t the remedy. Acute toxicity, such as lead poisoning, would constitute a medical emergency and you would be very ill. Contrarily, chronic toxicity is best remedied by proper diet — not a few days of green monster vegetable smoothies.
Moreover, we have vital organs (e.g. liver, kidneys, bladder, etc.) that work 24/7 to remove waste products of metabolism. If you eat a healthy diet, these organs will have the necessary nutrients to keep your body free from toxins.
Still not convinced that’s how things work? A 2005 publication found that not a single company endorsing detoxes/cleanses could supply any form of evidence for their efficacy. Even worse, those companies couldn’t identify a single toxin targeted by their products; nor could they agree on a definition of the word “detox”.
How could a researcher/scientist ever formulate a dietary supplement/product if he/she has no clue what substance they’re targeting? That is a blatant sign that these companies are pushing nothing but conjecture.
The primary message to take home is that you’re better off saving your money for things that matter – like a healthy diet – not a detox fad. There is literally no evidence in support of detox diets and cleanses. The associated products with these fad programs are so useless that it’s baffling how they caught on at all. | <urn:uuid:cff7e878-85e5-4741-8363-4471c32680a9> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | https://www.jackedfactory.com/cleanses-truth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549448146.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20170728083322-20170728103322-00050.warc.gz | en | 0.949721 | 1,326 | 2.71875 | 3 |
In this brief guide, we are going to answer the question “Is it safe to eat over-boiled eggs” with an in-depth analysis of is it safe to eat over-boiled eggs. Moreover, we will have a brief discussion about what causes a boiled egg yolk to have a green layer.
So if you are in search of an answer to Is it safe to eat over-boiled eggs then you need not worry as we are going to answer all your questions.
So without much ado, let’s dive in and figure out more about it
Is it safe to eat over-boiled eggs?
Yes, you can eat overcooked boiled eggs, even if they are significantly overcooked. If the egg was fresh when it was cooked, it should be fine to eat once you’ve finished cooking it, regardless of any green tint around the yolk.
Although you may have heard that eggs’ sulfur content makes them dangerous by releasing hydrogen sulfide, the amount of sulfur in eggs is safe for humans, even when they are overcooked.
Even if they release a small amount of gas into the egg, it will not affect you. Unless you have an egg allergy, boiled eggs should be perfectly safe to consume. Nobody has ever gotten sick from eating an overcooked boiled egg.
What causes a boiled egg yolk to have a green layer?
When you cut up a boiled egg, you might notice a green layer on the outside of the yolk. This layer of green is completely safe. It’s caused by iron and sulfur in the egg reacting with the surface of the yolk, and it won’t harm you.
Even if you haven’t overcooked the yolk, you may notice this ring around it from time to time. That’s usually a sign that the water you used to boil the egg contains a lot of iron.
It’s nothing to be concerned about, and it won’t harm you in any way. You can simply disregard it.
How to recognize an over-cooked egg
The proteins within an egg begin to unravel into longer structures as the temperature of boiling raises it above its normal cooking point. At a macro level, this manifests as a solidification of the egg whites and yolk.
However, if the egg is cooked for too long or at too high a temperature, the proteins’ molecular structure begins to break down and interact with the surrounding compounds, resulting in hydrogen sulfide. This manifests itself as a green or olive-colored film across the yolk’s surface.
Apart from the discoloration of the egg yolk’s surface, the egg whites will begin to turn brown as a result of a chemical reaction known to chefs as the Maillard reaction.
Aside from visual changes, another way to tell if the egg is overcooked is if the shell has started to crack, especially around the base. These cracks are fault lines in the calcium structure, through which gas escaping the egg squeezes as water evaporates from inside.
Unfortunately, overcooking a boiled egg alters the taste and texture of the egg, making it a less enjoyable meal.
At room temperature, how long do hard-boiled eggs last?
Because eggs are high in protein and have a porous shell that microbes can pass through, boiling them is an excellent way to kill any bacteria or fungi that may have made their way into their shell.
New colonies of fungi and bacteria will begin to take root once the eggs have been removed from the high temperatures of boiling water and allowed to cool on your countertop, especially if the egg has been overboiled and the shell has begun to crack.
Boiling eggs are only safe to eat for up to two hours if left on the counter with no other attempts at preservation, as any longer and microbial life forms will have produced harmful toxins in the egg.
This is especially true if the egg is heated before cooling to room temperature, as condensation of water will occur, speeding up the spoilage process by providing not only food but also water to the bacteria and fungi that opportunistically appear.
The egg will only be safe to eat for an hour or less in a room with a temperature above 90°F. “Make sure eggs are refrigerated within two hours of cooking and don’t leave refrigerated cooked eggs out at room temperature for more than two hours,” says the United States Department of Agriculture.
In this brief guide, we answered the question “Is it safe to eat over-boiled eggs” with an in-depth analysis of is it safe to eat over-boiled eggs. Moreover, we also have a brief discussion about what causes a boiled egg yolk to have a green layer. | <urn:uuid:3a750544-351b-4d14-9802-fd69a870e77b> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://everyfoodlover.com/is-it-safe-to-eat-over-boiled-eggs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296948684.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20230327185741-20230327215741-00305.warc.gz | en | 0.964545 | 991 | 2.796875 | 3 |
How to Write a Summary, Analysis, and Response Essay Paper With Examples
Show less Writing an analytical essay can seem daunting, especially if you've never done it before. Don't worry! Take a deep breath, buy yourself a caffeinated beverage, and follow these steps to create a well-crafted analytical essay.
To write an analytical essay, first write an introduction that gives your reader write analysis essay information and introduces your thesis. Then, write body paragraphs in support of your thesis that include a topic sentence, an analysis of some part of the text, and evidence from the text that supports your analysis.
Finally, complete your essay essag a conclusion that reiterates your thesis and your primary support for it. To learn from our English reviewer how to come up with your thesis statement essat find evidence that supports it, read on!
This article was co-authored by Megan Morgan, PhD. Categories: Essays. Learn why people trust wikiHow. There are 6 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. Understand the objective of an analytical essay. An analytical essay means you will need to present some type of argumentor claim, about what you are analyzing.
Most often you will have to analysix another piece of writing or a film, but you could also be asked to analyze an issue, or an idea. It is analyzing a particular text and setting forth an argument about it in the form of a thesis statement. Decide what to write about. If you are writing this for a class, your teacher will generally assign you a topic or topics to essxy about. Read the prompt carefully. What is the prompt asking you to do? However, sometimes you will have to come up with your own topic.
If you're writing an analytical essay about a work of fiction, you could focus your argument on what motivates write analysis essay specific character or group of characters. Or, you could argue why a certain line or paragraph is central to the work as a whole. For example: Explore the concept of vengeance in the epic poem Beowulf. If you're writing about a historical event, try focusing on the forces that contributed to what happened.
If you're writing about scientific research or findings, follow the scientific method to analyze your results. You may not immediately know what your thesis statement should be, even once you've chosen your topic. That's okay! Doing some brainstorming can help you discover what you think about your topic. Consider it from as many angles as you can.
Things that repeat are often important. See if you can decipher why these things are so crucial. Do they repeat in the same way each time, or differently? How does the text work? If you're writing a rhetorical analysis, for example, you might analyze how the author uses logical appeals to support her argument and decide easay you think the argument is effective.
If you're analyzing a creative work, consider things like imagery, visuals in a film, etc. If you're analyzing research, you may want to consider the methods and results and analyze whether the experiment is a good design. A mind map can be helpful to some people. Start with your central topic, and arrange smaller ideas around it in bubbles. Connect the bubbles to identify patterns and how things are related. Good brainstorming can be all over the place.
In fact, that can be a good way to start off! Don't discount any ideas just yet. Write down any element or fact that you think of as you analsis your topic.
Come up with a thesis statement. The thesis statement is a sentence or two that summarizes the claim you will make in your paper. It tells the reader what your essay will be about. Don't: write a vague or obvious thesis such anaalysis "Revenge is a central theme in Beowulf.
Find supporting evidence. Depending on your assignment, you may need to work only with your primary sources the text or texts you're analyzing or with primary and abalysis sources, such as other books or journal articles. The assignment should tell you what types of sources are required. Good evidence supports your claim and makes your argument more convincing.
List out the supporting evidence, noting where you found it, and how it supports your claim. Don't: ignore or twist evidence to fit your thesis. Do: adjust your thesis to a more nuanced position as you learn more about the topic.
Make an outline. An outline will help structure your essay and make writing it easier. Be sure that you understand how long your essay needs to be. While some teachers are fine with the standard "5 paragraph essay" introduction, 3 body paragraphs, conclusionmany teachers prefer essays to be longer and explore topics more in-depth.
Structure your outline printable resume templates for free. If you're not quite sure how all your evidence fits together, don't worry!
Making an outline can help you figure out how your argument should progress. You can also make a more informal outline that groups your ideas wssay in large groups. From there, you can decide what to talk about where. Your essay will be as long as things to put on a college resume needs to be to adequately discuss your topic. A common mistake students make is to choose a large topic and then allow only 3 body paragraphs to discuss it.
This makes essays feel shallow or rushed. Don't be afraid to spend enough time discussing each detail! Write your introduction. Your introduction should give your reader background information about your topic. Try to make your introduction engaging but not too overzealous. Also avoid dramatic introductions beginning an essay with a question or exclamation is generally best to avoid. In general, do not use the first I or second you person in your essay.
State your thesis, generally as the last sentence in the first paragraph. Example introduction : Revenge was a legally recognized right in ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. The many revenges in the epic poem Beowulf show that retribution was an essential part of the Anglo-Saxon age. However, not all revenges are created analyxis.
The poet's portrayal of these revenges suggests that the dragon was more honorable in his act of revenge than Grendel's mother. This introduction gives your readers letters of recommendation for employment template they should know to understand your argument, and then presents an argument about scholarship names ideas complexity of a general topic revenge in the poem.
This type of argument can be interesting because it suggests that the reader needs to think about the text very carefully and not take it at face value.
Don't: include filler and fluff sentences beginning with "In modern society" or "Throughout time. Write your body paragraphs. Each body paragraph wssay have 1 a topic sentence, 2 an analysis of some part of the text and 3 evidence from the text that supports your analysis and your thesis statement. A topic sentence tells the reader anaalysis the body paragraph will be about. The analysis of the text is where you make your argument. The evidence you provide supports your argument.
Remember that each claim you make should support your thesis. She does this to lure Beowulf away from Heorot so she can kill him as well. Whenever you present a claim, make sure you present evidence to support that claim and explain how the evidence relates to your claim. Know when to quote or paraphrase. Quoting means that you take the exact text and, placing it in quotation marks, insert it into your essay. Quoting is good when you use the analhsis wording of something to support your claim.
Paraphrasing, on the other hand, is when you summarize the text. Paraphrasing can be used to give background or compress a lot of details into a short space. It can be good if you have a lot of information or would need to quote a huge portion of text to convey something.
Do: support all subtle or controversial claims with quotes or paraphrasing. Write your conclusion. Your conclusion is wfite you remind your reader of how you supported your argument.
Some teachers also want you to make a broader connection in your conclusion.
How to Write a Summary, Analysis, and Response Essay Paper With Examples
Work on Existing Analysis Essay
10 Ultimate Tips on How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis Essay
Feb 6, - We know how stressful essay writing might be. With this analytical essay writing guide, we do our best to break it down for every student in need. Feb 6, - For those who have never written an analytical essay, such a task may seem challenging. We decided to help you a bit so you could do your. Jun 18, - What is an analytical essay? Check out our guide for how to write an analytical essay to learn all about this type of writing. | <urn:uuid:a6388e5c-248f-4dd6-bb7d-5303a6792efc> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://hedgefund-sa.co.za/essay/write-analysis-essay.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579250594101.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20200119010920-20200119034920-00543.warc.gz | en | 0.937856 | 1,800 | 3.28125 | 3 |
After receiving 1.2 million views on his YouTube video, Stuart Chaifetz revealed a growing trend among parents of special needs children. Chaifetz secretly wired his son with autism to an audio recorder hoping to find out why he had been acting out — Chaifetz discovered that his son’s teacher was verbally abusing him. Like Chaifetz, an increasing number of parents are wiring their non-communicable, disabled children when they suspect abuse at school. But, in many states, secretly wiring students is a violation of a teacher’s right to privacy. This law leaves many vulnerable students at risk of further abuse.
To protect the rights of both teacher and student, judges should authorize Child Protective Services to wire non-communicable disabled students if signs of abuse are present. This warrant would resolve any legal issues, while protecting non-communicable, disabled children in a timely and impartial manner.
Right now child abuse cases are only investigated through observation. Child Protective Services — the agency in charge of protecting children's safety and health — does not currently cover child abuse by teachers.
Abuse by teachers is supposed to be handled by school administrators; unfortunately the administrators do not always take action to stop the situation — as was seen in the case of Chaifetz's son. Involving Child Protective Services would reduce this dead-end bureaucracy.
An allotment of a warrant to Child Protective Services would also expedite the process of obtaining a warrant for a wire. Child Protective Services is supposed to react promptly to any accusations of abuse and investigate immediately: Concrete signals allow Child Protective Services to give enough evidence to obtain a warrant for a wire.
Making suspicion of child abuse an automatic cause for placing a wire on a non-communicable disabled child would solve any legal issues to the right of privacy. Under federal law, a judge can issue a warrant for interception of oral communication if two premises are met: 1) the crime is dangerous to life, limb, or property; and 2) the crime would result in a one-year prison sentence. Teacher abuse, classified as a form of child abuse, satisfies both requirements for a wire.
Abuse in schools can carry a one-year prison term. In one case, a teacher was sentenced to one year in prison for letting a developmentally delayed child burn her tongue with hot sauce. Another teacher is on trial for pouring hot sauce on crayons to get autistic children to stop eating them. With the legal permit for a wire, parents would be better able to monitor their non-communicable, disabled child for abuses at school.
A non-communicable child cannot express a need for help if they are abused. Yet, the law prohibits recording devices without both parties consent in elementary and secondary school classrooms, which leaves parents with no way to monitor their child.
Immediately authorizing a wire for non-communicable children would protect a teachers’ right to privacy, while also protecting disabled children from abuse. Such a law could even be extended to other cases of child and disabled person's abuse in the hopes of further protecting vulnerable groups. | <urn:uuid:8405b768-7c8c-4bf2-9dc6-ec240137fc2f> | CC-MAIN-2016-50 | https://mic.com/articles/7720/man-becomes-youtube-sensation-when-he-wires-his-autistic-child-to-fight-bullying | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698543577.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170903-00025-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962896 | 629 | 2.734375 | 3 |
National Bullying Prevention Month
The month of October is National Bullying Prevention Month. Although this month is coming to an end, we must continue the efforts on a national level to stand up to bullying. In recent years there have been a number of tragic cases involving young teens ending their lives after being the victims of senseless and cruel bullying and cyberbullying. Two recent bullycides, Jamey Rodemeyer from the U.S. and Jamie Hubley from Canada, have received international attention resulting in Lady Gaga pushing for a national anti-bullying law.
AsktheJudge was fortunate enough to interview a young teen who is not only a talented singer/songwriter, but is using her beautiful voice to spread the anti-bullying message to students in a number of states. Hayley Reardon is 14-years-old and while she performs in schools, she tells her own story and encourages students to find their own voice and take a stand against bullying. She is working with PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center. | <urn:uuid:7851bfa8-ba5f-445f-b187-9695ddd9b8bf> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://askthejudge.info/national-bullying-prevention-month/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334871.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926113251-20220926143251-00244.warc.gz | en | 0.963122 | 213 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. King was a Baptist Minister and civil-rights activist and he also headed the SCLC – Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens in the South and other areas of the nation as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and he was assassinated in April 1968 but is remembered as one of the most lauded African-American leaders in history. He is most often referenced by his 1963 speech “I Have a Dream”.
On this day, Sky Head Coach & GM Pokey Chatman and Sky players Tamera Young and Shay Murphy took time to reflect on what Martin Luther King Jr. means to them.
"The beauty of Martin Luther King Jr.'s greatness is that it embodies so many things. His life's work was about equality, love, courage, service, resilience, compassion, unity, strength, hope etc. I could go on and on, but I think his message/body of work was clear and effective. I've been provided with the "opportunity" to achieve my dreams because of his vision, faith and hard work. THANK YOU, Dr. King!"
"Dr Martin Luther King is a well-known, celebrated hero in America and around the world. To me he is the pioneer of the civil rights movement. He fought for equality and freedom for all men and women and helped remove discrimination and racism in the United States. I will forever respect him and see him as a hero and honor his day.
Because of what Dr. King stood for I am able to live the life I want, where I want, and with who I want. The hard work, dedication and sacrifice of Dr. Martin Luther King and so many others who fought for civil rights has made the world a better place providing liberty and justice for all those who participate in a democracy."
"Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a day of celebration in which I am able to give back and serve our community. The prominent civil rights activist was an advocate for equal rights and non-violence and because of that I am where I am today. This is a day to celebrate freedom and remember and recognize the monumental efforts and hard work that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. undertook throughout his life to ensure that freedom is not a privilege but a right." | <urn:uuid:149508cc-b52a-48cc-8d44-435daa67b354> | CC-MAIN-2016-50 | http://www.wnba.com/archive/wnba/sky/sky_reflects_on_martin_luther__2013_01_21.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698542455.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170902-00254-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979119 | 506 | 2.921875 | 3 |
What Is Ethereum (ETH)?
Ethereum is a decentralized open-source blockchain system that features its own cryptocurrency, Ether. ETH works as a platform for numerous other cryptocurrencies, in addition to for the execution of decentralized smart contracts Ethereum was first described in a 2013 whitepaper by Vitalik Buterin. Buterin, along with other co-founders, protected financing for the job in an online public crowd sale in the summer of 2014 and officially introduced the blockchain on July 30, 2015.
Ethereum’s own supposed objective is to become a worldwide platform for decentralized applications, permitting users from all over the world to compose and run software application that is resistant to censorship, downtime and scams.
Who Are the Creators of Ethereum?
Ethereum has an overall of eight co-founders an uncommonly a great deal for a crypto task. They initially satisfied on June 7, 2014, in Zug, Switzerland.
Russian-Canadian Vitalik Buterin is maybe the best understood of the bunch. He authored the original white paper that initially described Ethereum in 2013 and still deals with improving the platform to this day. Prior to ETH, Buterin co-founded and composed for the Bitcoin Publication news site.
British programmer Gavin Wood is perhaps the 2nd most important co-founder of ETH, as he coded the very first technical execution of Ethereum in the C++ programming language, proposed Ethereum’s native programs language Solidity and was the first chief innovation officer of the Ethereum Foundation. Prior To Ethereum, Wood was a research scientist at Microsoft. Afterward, he proceeded to develop the Web3 Foundation.
Amongst the other co-founders of Ethereum are: – Anthony Di Iorio, who financed the task during its early stage of development. – Charles Hoskinson, who played the primary function in developing the Swiss-based Ethereum Structure and its legal structure. – Mihai Alisie, who provided help in establishing the Ethereum Foundation. – Joseph Lubin, a Canadian entrepreneur, who, like Di Iorio, has assisted fund Ethereum during its early days, and later on founded an incubator for startups based upon ETH called ConsenSys. – Amir Chetrit, who assisted co-found Ethereum however stepped away from it early into the advancement.
What Makes Ethereum Special?
Ethereum has pioneered the concept of a blockchain smart agreement platform. Smart agreements are computer system programs that instantly execute the actions essential to satisfy a contract in between a number of parties on the internet. They were designed to minimize the need for relied on intermediates between specialists, hence reducing deal expenses while also increasing transaction reliability.
Ethereum’s principal development was designing a platform that enabled it to perform clever contracts using the blockchain, which even more reinforces the currently existing advantages of clever contract innovation. Ethereum’s blockchain was designed, according to co-founder Gavin Wood, as a sort of “one computer for the entire planet,” in theory able to make any program more robust, censorship-resistant and less susceptible to fraud by running it on a globally distributed network of public nodes.
In addition to wise agreements, Ethereum’s blockchain has the ability to host other cryptocurrencies, called “tokens,” through making use of its ERC-20 compatibility requirement. This has actually been the most common usage for the ETH platform so far: to date, more than 280,000 ERC-20-compliant tokens have actually been released. Over 40 of these make the top-100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, for example, USDT LINK and BNB B: Related Pages:
New to crypto? Discover how to buy Bitcoin today Ready to learn more? Visit our discovering center Wish to look up a deal? Visit our block explorer Curious about the crypto space? Read our blog
How Is the Ethereum Network Protected?
As of August 2020, Ethereum is protected by means of the Ethash proof-of-work algorithm, coming from the Keccak family of hash functions.
There are plans, nevertheless, to transition the network to a proof-of-stake algorithm connected to the significant Ethereum 2.0 update, which launched in late 2020.
After the Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain (Stage 0) went live in the start of December 2020, it ended up being possible to begin staking on the Ethereum 2.0 network. An Ethereum stake is when you deposit ETH (functioning as a validator) on Ethereum 2.0 by sending it to a deposit contract, basically serving as a miner and hence securing the network. At the time of writing in mid-December 2020, the Ethereum stake cost, or the amount of cash earned daily by Ethereum validators, is about 0.00403 ETH a day, or $2.36. This number will alter as the network establishes and the quantity of stakers (validators) increase.
Ethereum staking benefits are determined by a circulation curve (the involvement and typical percent of stakers): some ETH 2.0 staking rewards are at 20% for early stakers, however will be lowered to end up in between 7% and 4.5% every year.
The minimum requirements for an Ethereum stake are 32 ETH. If you choose to stake in Ethereum 2.0, it implies that your Ethererum stake will be locked up on the network for months, if not years, in the future until the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade is finished. | <urn:uuid:db2efe5d-8171-4615-bed6-9e5321002f7f> | CC-MAIN-2021-25 | https://big-pond-rumours.com/1000-in-ethereum-value-now/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-25/segments/1623487630518.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20210617162149-20210617192149-00491.warc.gz | en | 0.95317 | 1,116 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Meal planning, timing, may impact heart health
Planning when to eat meals and snacks and not skipping breakfast, are patterns associated with healthier diets, which could reduce cardiovascular disease risk, according to a new scientific statement published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.
The statement provides a snapshot of the current scientific evidence suggesting when and how often people eat may impact risk factors for heart attack, stroke, or other cardiac or blood vessel diseases.
The statement stresses that it is still important to eat a healthy diet, emphasizing fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, poultry and fish, while limiting red meat, salt and foods high in added sugars, but when and how often a person eats may also impact cardiovascular wellness according to a growing body of research.
There is a link between eating breakfast and having lower heart disease risk factors. Studies have found people who eat breakfast daily are less likely to have high cholesterol and blood pressure, and people who skip breakfast -- about 20 percent to 30 percent of U.S. adults -- are more likely to be obese, have inadequate nutrition, show evidence of impaired glucose metabolism or be diagnosed with diabetes, she said.
Meal timing and frequency have also been linked to risk factors for heart disease and stroke including obesity, high blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose levels, insulin resistance, as well as reduced insulin sensitivity in studies.
"We suggest eating mindfully, by paying attention to planning both what you eat and when you eat meals and snacks, to combat emotional eating. Many people find that emotions can trigger eating episodes when they are not hungry, which often leads to eating too many calories from foods that have low nutritional value."
There is also an association between "occasional fasting" - every other day or 1-2 times a week - and weight loss at least in the short term," St-Onge said.
While observational research links meal habits to cardiovascular health, the evidence cannot definitively show that suggested eating patterns cause better and lasting benefits, the statement noted. Large studies that follow patients over a long period and track outcomes such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes are needed, the authors said. And more "free-living" clinical research could help reveal how any formal guidelines about meal or snack planning might be carried out by individuals who are making their own food decisions day-to-day, St-Onge said.
Given people's busy lives, setting time aside to eat without distraction is vital. "All activities have a place in a busy schedule, including healthy eating and being physically active," St-Onge said. "Those activities should be planned ahead of time and adequate time should be devoted to them." | <urn:uuid:abf21da2-05ef-4c17-87ac-c83d935296ae> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://healthnewsreport.blogspot.com/2017/01/meal-planning-timing-may-impact-heart.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463608765.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20170527021224-20170527041224-00342.warc.gz | en | 0.965135 | 550 | 2.984375 | 3 |
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ENGLISH & WELSH ROOTS - Do You Remember? English and Welsh Roots & Remembrance Day
Article posted: November 19, 1999
By: Fawne Stratford-Devai Biography & Archived Articles
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month silence spread across Canada as we paused to remember those who had given their lives in the service of their country. Veterans of this century's war and peace keeping missions marched in cities and towns across Canada on Remembrance Day. Flags were flown, medals were polished, bag pipes and bands set the march for parades. In Ottawa, proud veterans marched on parliament hill with tears in their eyes as thousands of people stood in the cold November air and cheered.
We do remember - Don't we?
Often when researching our family history we find ourselves buried in the records of past centuries. Yet today we stand in the waning months of the 20th century and we will soon find ourselves at the dawn of not only a new century, but a new millennium. Have we carefully documented the life, love and laughter of this century's families?
Even now, decades after the end of the second world war, the positive and negative consequences of this century's wars remain with families.
Tens of thousands of Canadians rest in graves far from home, in cemeteries in foreign lands maintained by the http://www.cwgc.org Commonwealth War Graves Commission. They fought along-side their friends, family and Commonwealth counterparts in some of the bloodiest warfare of this century. They did not return home. Families were devastated. Generations still living carry the memories and scares of these wars.
During the twentieth century the service of Canadians during both world wars saw tens of thousands of men stationed in many areas of England. The passion of this tumultuous time led many to relationships with local English girls. Tens of thousands of these young women would find themselves immigrating to Canada as war brides following the end of hostilities. Yet other "partnerships" resulted simply in offspring and no marriage. Today there are estimated to be thousands of children of Canadian soldiers who are actively searching for their fathers. These stories are told in such books as The Aldershot Canadians: In Love and War 1939-45 by Mark Maclay. They are reflected in the practical work of Project Roots and the Canadian War Children of WW II. Project Roots is a volunteer detective agency that is working to find the long-lost Canadian fathers of British and European War Children who were born to single, unwed mothers in the aftermath of World War Two. To date, Project Roots and the Canadian War Children of WWII http://www.project-roots.com/index.html has successfully reunited 2500 war children with the Canadian fathers who left them behind.
In my own family history my aunt came to Canada as a war bride at the end of World War II. Many years later her younger sister (my mother) came to Canada to live with her sister and fell in love with my father. Had my aunt not come to Canada as a war bride would my mother have followed?
On a the other hand, the English and Welsh roots of those who served in Canada's Forces overseas are evident in their military records. While searching the Canadian Expeditionary Force website I came across the enlistment papers (attestation papers) of Canadians who served in World War I. It is quite amazing to find so many whose place of birth was listed as a town or village in England or Wales, Ireland or Scotland.
Often when researching our English and Welsh roots we fail to search Canadian military records for information about our ancestors. Aside from place of residence and birth, attestation papers document the physical description of the person enlisting. Information about Canadian military records can be found at the National Archives of Canada website http://www.archives.ca.
Records of the Canadian Expeditionary Force: http://www.archives.ca/exec/naweb.dll?fs&020106&e&top&0 Over 600,000 Canadian enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War One. This database is a searchable index to the personnel files of those who enlisted. A growing number of actual attestation papers are being put online and linked to the index over time.
Books of Remembrance: http://collections.ic.gc.ca/books/ These books record the names of Canadians who fought and died in the wars of this century.
Department of National Defence: http://www.dnd.ca/ The official website of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces.
The Canadian Air force: http://www.airforce.dnd.ca/ Includes information on the history of the Air force as well as links to other Air force related websites.
Canadian Army homepage: http://army.cipherlogic.on.ca/ The unofficial Canadian Army homepage.
Canadian Genealogy and History Links - Military: Links to more Canadian military information than you can imagine. National and Provincial breakdowns. http://www.islandnet.com/~jveinot/cghl/military.html
The Canadian Military Heritage Project: http://www.rootsweb.com/~canmil/index.html The website is dedicated to presenting Canadian military history ~ the wars, uprisings and conflicts in which Canadians participated.
Canadian Peace Keeping Veterans Association: http://www.islandnet.com/~duke/cpva.htm Website includes a Roll of Honour of Canadian Peacekeepers who have given lives in the Service Of Peace, poems from those who have served and links to international peace keeping sites.
Canadian War Museum: http://www.cmcc.muse.digital.ca/cwm/cwmeng/cwmeng.html Canada's national institution which is dedicated to both education and remembrance.
Lost Celtic Connections: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lane/4398/ A website dedicated to families from the United Kingdom who were torn apart by World War II. Includes database of families and many other links.
Canadian Military Genealogical FAQ: http://www.ott.igs.net/~donpark/canmilfaq.htm. Although somewhat dated, this website offers a number of sources to be considered when searching for Canadian Military information.
Veterans Affairs Canada: The Canadian Government department charged with recognizing and honouring the sacrifices of Canada's veterans and all Canadian citizens during war. Includes information about Canadian Military Medals and Decorations, the departments Mission and Mandate with related links.
The Royal Canadian Legion: http://www.legion.ca/ Learn about the Legion, their work in the community, and various programs they offer. Good educational kits for teachers and students.
War, Peace and Security Guide: http://www.cfcsc.dnd.ca/links/milhist/index.html from the Information Resource Centre, Canadian Forces College. Time lines of Military history with information for specific wars and links to biographies, museums and military websites.
Field Diaries of the First World War: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/mackay4/pop1.htm The website includes the actual field diaries of Andrew Cecil Meredith Thomson which cover the period June 18,1915 to May 20, 1917.
Somewhere in France, Letters from the Great War: http://www.escape.ca/~stothers/ Includes the letters of John Cannon Stothers to family in Southern Ontario. John Cannon served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Pier 21, Halifax Nova Scotia: http://www.pier21.ns.ca/ Pier 21 was the gateway for 1.5 million immigrants to Canada from 1928 to 1971. Located on the Halifax waterfront, it was recently restored as a museum and tribute. "During World War II, 3,000 British evacuee children, 50,000 war brides and their 22,000 children, over 100,000 refugees and 368,000 Canadian troops bound for Europe passed through Pier 21."
War Brides of WW II: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/9710/WarBrides.html Dedicated to those women who left home, family, friends and country to be with the men they loved.
UK War Brides Registry: http://uk-pages.net/warbrides/warbrides.html
War Brides and the Lennox and Addington County Museum:
http://fox.nstn.ca/~museum/form.html in preparation for an exhibit sponsored in partnership with Lennox and Addington Historical Society.
War Brides - from Parks Canada: http://parkscanada.pch.gc.ca/library/background/25_e.htm Did you know? : Military Headquarters in London established a Canadian Wives Bureau whose job was to register war brides, then assign them a priority for transportation to Canada. In effect, immigration approval occurred before marriage was permitted. After the wedding, war brides became Canada's responsibility. Special War Brides' Clubs gave lectures to acquaint soldiers' wives with Canadian life.
Sources for Genealogical Research in Canada: http://www.king.igs.net/~bdmlhm/cangenealogy.html Includes links to many military related resources and websites.
Canadiana: The Canadian Resource Page: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/Unofficial/Canadiana/ With links to all things Canadian.
There are many published resources about the Canadian Military experience, Canadian War Brides and similar themes discussed in this article. One of the best starting points for such published works is the National Library of Canada's searchable database at: http://www.amicus.nlc-bnc.ca/wapp/resanet/searche.htm
Newspapers at the National Library of Canada: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/services/enews.htm
DO YOU REMEMBER?
Have you recorded the memories of your families during this century? Family history research is about more than just names on paper, it is about your family - real people. For this reason it is critical that we understand the context of our family member's lives. Before dashing off in search of more distant research links, stop and ask yourself about the context in which this century's family members live(d). Sit down and try and answer a few questions about your family. The answers will not only bring your family stories to life but will also begin to record the history of this century ~ for future generations. Below are listed a few questions to help you to begin to place your family within the context of a living story:
Understand every day life. What kind of clothing did family members wear? Did they buy the clothes or make them at home? Did they order them from store catalogues? What kind of food did they eat? Was there a traditional meal served on Sundays? How was the food prepared? Did they use a fireplace, or a woodstove, or a modern electrical or gas stove? Where did they get their food? Did they buy their food or raise it at home?
What was the medical experience. What diseases were prevalent? What names were used to describe them? Who treated family members when they were ill? Did a doctor come to the home? Where were children born (at home, in modern hospitals)? Who attended the birth of children?
Know the community: What kind of community did your family live in? A large urban city? A small Town? A rural outpost? Who governed the community? Where were local records kept (tax and assessment records). How did you family fit in the community? Did they own land? Did family members participate in local groups or fraternal clubs and similar associations?
Who were their nearest neighbours? How far away did they live? Did they travel by road or water, by car or wagon to visit?
Understand their education. Were children educated at home or in a school? Was there a school near the house? How far away? What kind of school (one room schoolhouse, modern schools for different grades)? What was the name of the school(s)? Did all the children go to school? What age did a child's education end? What classes and subjects were taught? Who was the teacher?
Mobility: The 20th century has been one of the greatest centuries for mobility. How did your family end up in Canada? Did they immigrate to Canada this century? Did they choose to come to Canada? How did they travel here - by boat, by plane?
How long did your family live in one house? In one town? In the same province? How often did they move? What address did they live at? Did they move for employment? How did your ancestor get around? Was it by road or by water, on horse or foot, by rail or steamer? How far was the family from "civilization" such as stores, churches and schools? How far did they have to walk on a regular basis?
Picture the house. Was the house built of bricks, boards, logs, or even sod? How did your family protect their home from the weather? What was the roof made of (tin, cedar shingles, sod)? What was the foundation made of? Was there a basement? How many rooms were there? How big were the rooms? What was each room used for? Was there a porch, a sitting room or parlour? Was there any out-buildings - a barn, a garage, an outhouse? What material was the floor made of - dirt, wood, tiles? How was the house decorated? Were the walls wallpapered, painted, news papered? Were there any decorations? Were there any windows? How many? Did they have glass? Did they open? What was the finest possession in the house?
Understand the work. What type of work did your family do? Were they professional business people? Did they run a small store? Were they farmers? What crops did they grow? How big were their fields? How much did the crops yield? What farm machinery or implements did they use? Did they plow with a horse, an ox, a tractor or combine? What types of farm animals did they raise? Did they have cows for milk and chickens for eggs? Did the head of the household work one job or two? How did the wife and children contribute to the family funds? Did the children work as hired hands or servants in neighbours homes? What chores did the family do - each day, each week, annually?
Know the lay of the land. What was the land like where the family lived? Hilly, flat, wooded, fronting a lake? Was there a river nearby? What kinds of trees were in the area? What about birds and wildlife? What was the weather like? When did the first frost occur? How did the weather and seasons affect the way the house was built? Were there any major environmental events during your family's life--the ice storm of ‘98, the plague of grasBookstorers, a prairie fire, a flood? How was the family affected?
Faith, Devotion and Religion. Was your family deeply religious? Quietly pious? What local church did they attend? How many members were in the congregation? Was the family active in the church and its various social and outreach activities? Who was the minister? Was the minister educated and ordained or simply a local person called to preach? What was the church service like? Were hymns sung? What did it mean to the family to belong to a particular religious community? How did the religion affect family life, their clothing, marriage rites and customs, burial customs, their outlook on life and the afterlife? Is the cemetery connected with the church? Does your family member have a gravestone? Is there a symbol on the stone that signifies a connection to the church, to a faith, to a fraternal group? Are other family members buried nearby?
Understand the Family Structure. How big were families? How far apart were children born? How old were family members when they married? Was the age different for a man and a woman? Did many children die (the child mortality rate)? Was their more than one wife because women died in childbirth? What was the average life span of men and women? Did the younger family members care for elderly family members? Who were the children named for? Were they family names or just popular names of the time? Were nicknames used? Did the wife cope for long stretches without the aid of the husband? How much did the husband participate in family routines?
History and events. How did war and conflict, peace and politics affect your family? How did the family learn of current and world events? Through a local newspaper? Could someone in the family read the newspaper? Did any famous or historical people or events touch the lives of your family members? Were sons forced to enlist when war was declared or did they volunteer? Were women in the family forced to work in factories or on the farm during the war? How did they cope when their family members died far from home? Did they erect memorials? How did they serve the cause? How did the experience of war affect them at home? Did they rush to bomb shelters when air raid sirens sounded? Did they fear for their lives?
Understanding the Laws and Record Keeping. What age did young people have to be before they could marry? At what age could a child choose his or her own guardian? What happened when a family member died without a will? Who inherited the land and household belongings? Did the widow have any rights such as dower rights? What were those rights? What could people do if they wanted a divorce? Did your family vote?
What kind of record was created when a child was born or a family member died? Could someone in the family write? Who kept the family Bible? Were the entries written by a man, a woman or a young child? Did the church keeps records of your family's participation? If so, what kind of records were kept? Is the family listed in the city or rural directory? In a business directory?
As you begin to answer some of the questions listed above, many others will come to mind. The answers to many of these questions will also lead you to records that document your family. Perhaps one of these records will tell you the exact place of origin in England or Wales that your family originated from!
More importantly: Have you preserved the records and stories of your family in this century? Will your stories and records teach others to remember?
Whether your task is one of documenting the modern century or your immediate family, please keep in mind that your research is the legacy you leave to others - verify the records and stories you discover!
New at the LDS Family Search Website
The LDS FamilySearch Internet Site has added new features and improved its search capabilities:
The LDS FamilySearch website site improvements mean that visitors to the site can now search by:
Postcards From The Front
Postcards from the Front: http://mckague.com/photographs/collections/postcards/
The postcards on this web site were sent to three small children by their father, Captain James Nelson Richards, during World War I while serving with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. In them, Capt. Richards tries to explain to his daughters what is happening in Europe and why he cannot be with them.
In Flanders Fields
A Canadian of Scottish descent penned one of the most famous poems associated with war:
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below,
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch - be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
More English & Welsh Resources
About Fawne Stratford-Devai
Fawne Stratford-Devai's work on Land Records and early Ontario records is well known in the genealogy community. A published author of several Canadian and UK research books, she has also contributed articles to the Ontario Genealogical Society's newsletter "Families" as well as writing for the online family history newsletter the "Global Gazette". Biography | <urn:uuid:e9ca6257-d70b-4b64-8acf-c562495af3ba> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://globalgenealogy.com/globalgazette/gazfd/gazfd42.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279468.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00269-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966834 | 4,344 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Go closer to nature: How fibers like banana and bamboo are ecologically sound & also a viable option to plastic?
Bamboo and banana are inexpensive, healthy, and economical raw materials options for a variety of products. Bamboo is used for making furniture, bed sheets, blinds, paint brushes, bicycles, vegetable cutting boards, flooring, fencing, umbrellas, wall hanging, photo frame, wall clock, etc. Bamboo can also be used for making clothing and textiles. Since ancient times food was served on banana leaves, as the food absorbs the polyphenol which is said to prevent many lifestyle diseases. It is also noted that bamboo contains antibacterial and antioxidant properties that can possibly kill the germs in food and lead to good health. Bamboo and banana are also used for making handicrafts and paintings. But, one of the most important uses of these natural resources is making a sanitary pad out of them, something that's beneficial to both the user and the planet. Discover how they can benefit you in the following ways:
5 Reasons why we should opt for biodegradable sanitary pads:
Products that are made from natural and organic raw materials are healthy options. For instance, banana and bamboo fibers are a natural and better option than the plastic pads. Plastic takes years to decompose and is not completely biodegradable and safe for the planet, as vermicompost cannot be made out of it. Bananas and bamboo grow speedily. Hence, there is no fear of deforestation. When older trees are used, newer saplings are planted, which grow quickly, only to be used for the next round of products.
2. Made in India
Honorable Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi declared on 2nd October 2019 that India will ban single use plastic to become Zero-plastic India by 2022. Most of the plastic products we use on a daily basis are imported from abroad. It is time that we become "Vocal for Local". We need to buy from local manufacturers and encourage Indian startups.
India is blessed with bananas and bamboo. The forests and rural areas of Northeastern and Eastern India, the states of West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura have over 50% of the bamboo species of the Indian forest in the region. Himalayan region consists of boundaries of the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (Himalayan part), Sikkim, North Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh is also rich with high altitude elements occurring under different eco-physiological conditions. These can be utilized for various eco-friendly industries and also for making biodegradable sanitary napkins, which are good for both the body and the environment, as they are biodegradable and compostable.
3. Employment to Locals
As bamboo, cotton, and bananas are available in abundance in India, the local population can be trained to make eco-friendly sanitary pads from such materials. Local women can be hired to make sanitary pads for themselves and other women within the country. It will generate employment. It has empowered women and made them economically independent. For instance, the National Mission on Bamboo Applications, a technology mission of the Indian government under the Department of Science and Technology, supports the project. Konkan Bamboo and Cane Development (konbac) are implementing the project. Production of bamboo pulp-based sanitary napkins started in May 2007 in Kudal, Maharashtra. Telangana is equally ready to set up the bamboo industry in the Southern state, after studying the Kudal model and considering its huge employment potential.
4. Plastic-free Planet
The word "Plastic" is derived from the Greek word "plastikos," which means "capable of being shaped or moulded" and in turn, from "plastos," meaning "moulded." As per the Oxford English Dictionary, the noun plastic is defined as "a light, strong material that is produced by chemical processes and can be formed into shapes when heated." Plastic is an extremely malleable material. Plastic along with wood pulp is used to make sanitary napkins, which are available at cheap rates at any chemist or grocery store. Many countries have banned single-use products of plastic like food containers, bags, straws and stirrers, sachets, cups, ice-cream wrappers, bottles, pens as well as conventional plastic sanitary pads.
Plastic was invented only a hundred years back. Since then it has destroyed the human bodies and our ecosystems. It does not decompose completely, leaving its traces behind to blemish the face of our dear planet. We call the Earth, our "Mother," who nourishes us. We come from the earth and return to it. How can we then pollute and disgrace it?
Ideally, used sanitary napkins should come under biomedical waste. But, since they are not included in the list of biomedical waste as per the Bio Medical Waste (Handling and Management) Rules, 1998, they are disposed of in dumping grounds. Every year, thousands of plastic bags and used sanitary pads are collected from garbage dumps and burned, giving rise to toxic air pollution worldwide. Therefore, plastic sanitary pads that are poisonous and hazardous to women’s reproductive health and Mother Earth must not be used.
Women have always complained about skin rashes, itching, foul odour as a direct result of these regular sanitary pads. The incessant and consistent use of such plastic sanitary pads can result in several serious issues of the women’s reproductive system including cancer. Still, young girls and older women are buying plastic sanitary pads, which turn out to be problematic in the long term. The best solution is to use an environment-friendly alternative, which is a biodegradable sanitary pads made from natural materials like bamboo, banana fiber, corn starch, paper, cotton to name a few, which are more absorbent than wood pulp and plastic.
Let us all support the Government of India's policies and campaigns of "Zero Plastic India" and "Make in India," by buying biodegradable and skin-friendly sanitary pads made in India. We at Saathi make eco-friendly biodegradable sanitary pads, which come from Nature, and go back to it harmoniously. It also provides livelihoods to many.
Let us know in the comments about the eco-friendly products made from bamboo and banana that you have used so far. We shall be happy to read it! Follow us on social media to know more about an eco-friendly period! A switch from plastic to an alternative that is harmless, can be a little slow but not impossible. Slow and steady wins the race!
- 10 Items you never knew contained plastic
- Here are 4 things you can do to live, eco friendly, period!
- Why is a Sustainable Solution Essential to Creating Period Equity?
Saathi is an award winning social venture which has a patented technology to convert agri-waste into absorbent materials. Our sanitary pads are 100% biodegradable and compostable made from banana and bamboo fibers, which convert into compost in 6 months of its disposal. Saathi pads are good for the body🩸, community 🌎 and environment 🌱. We are on a mission to revolutionize the hygiene industry as a consumer products company that makes products in a sustainable and responsible way.
We are recognized by the UNESCO Green Citizens project, University of St. Andrews, Solar Impulse Foundation and Global Cleantech Innovation Program among others for our innovative, social impact and sustainable work. We are working towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 12, 13, 3, 9, 5, 6, 8, and 14.
Check out a short video of our story here and follow us at @saathipads on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin and Youtube to learn about more facts and myth busters about sustainability, women’s health, and more!
If you can make a contribution to the #OneMillionPads initiative, visit our Give India Campaign here. | <urn:uuid:49ad534e-895e-4f03-a43b-99aa4b475836> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://saathipads.com/blogs/menstrual-musings/5-reasons-why-we-should-opt-for-biodegradable-sanitary-pads | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500154.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20230204205328-20230204235328-00765.warc.gz | en | 0.948436 | 1,721 | 2.953125 | 3 |
It is the birthday of Lord Buddha. This day is widely celebrated all over the world. The followers begin the preparations some days in advance.
New Delhi: Buddha Purnima is the most auspicious occasion for the Buddhist followers. This day is also known as Buddha Jayanti. It is the day to celebrate the birth of Lord Buddha.
Traditionally, it is a holiday in Mahayana Buddhism. It commemorates the birth of Prince Siddharth Gautama. He was later known as Gautam Buddha. He was the founder of Buddhism.
The birth of Lord Buddha is widely celebrated across the world by his followers. They begin the preparation to celebrate the day some days in advance.
Gautam Buddha was known as Prince Siddharth Gautam, before he denounced all the worldly pleasures in pursuit of the knowledge of ultimate truth. He later became transformed to Gautam Buddha. He founded Buddhism as a path that leads to spiritual enlightenment of the soul.
The Theravada Tripitakan scriptures mention that Prince Gautama was born in Lumbini. It is now known as modern day Nepal. He was born around 563 BCE. He was later raised in Kapilvastu.
Mantras are chanted within all forms of Nichiren Buddhism, as well as Tendai Buddhism. It is the Lotus Sutra. It helps in attaining mental peace and people believe that it cures all the problems in life.
Buddhism says that chanting of mantras sets the mind into a state of meditation. The common Theravada chants are generally based on Pali Canon, Mahayana and Vajrayana chants.
There are various chanting mantras in Buddhism. The most common mantra happens to be from the Nichiren Buddhism. It is chanting of the five characters. It means a tribute to the true dharma of the Lotus sutra. This comes under the Mahayana Sutra chants.
Mahayana Sutra unfolds Shakyamuni’s real self as a Buddha who attained enlightenment years back. | <urn:uuid:d3012608-8bb2-4538-be02-4672bcd13157> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.buzrush.com/buddha-purnima-2020-celebration-of-a-holy-day-for-the-buddhists-by-chanting-mantras/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499842.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20230131023947-20230131053947-00793.warc.gz | en | 0.967948 | 424 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Scientists say they have found high levels of small plastic particles in Arctic snow. Their findings provide more evidence that plastic is entering Earth’s atmosphere and traveling great distances around the planet.
A new report describing the discovery was published in Science Advances.
A German-Swiss research team collected snow samples from the Arctic and other areas. They included northern Germany, the Bavarian and Swiss Alps, and the North Sea island of Heligoland.
When the researchers examined the samples in a laboratory, they were surprised to find very high levels of microplastics.
Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic. These plastic particles are generally smaller than 5 millimeters in length. Other studies have found microplastics in the environment. They come from the disposal and breakdown of man-made plastic products and industrial waste.
Melanie Bergmann co-wrote the report on the new study. She told The Associated Press that while her team did expect to find some microplastics in the samples, they were surprised by the very large amounts.
Bergmann is a researcher at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute in the German city of Bremerhaven.
The study found the highest levels of microplastics came from the Bavarian Alps. One snow sample from the area had 154,000 microplastic particles per liter. Samples collected from the Arctic had much lower levels. However, even samples from the Arctic contained up to 14,000 particles per liter, the study found.
Earlier studies found signs of plastic in Arctic areas. Those microplastics were found in coastal areas, sea ice, the seafloor and the seawater’s surface.
The new study attempted to explore how some of the material could have been carried in the atmosphere. A limited number of earlier studies did find microplastics in the air of some cities, including Paris, Tehran and Dongguan, China.
Bergmann said in a statement she believes the new study clearly shows that “the majority of the microplastic in the snow comes from the air.” She said this idea is supported by research that studied the atmospheric movement of pollen from plants. In those studies, scientists confirmed pollen had traveled great distances to reach the Arctic.
Other studies found that dust particles – which are similar to microplastics - traveled more than 3,500 kilometers from the Sahara Desert to the northeast Atlantic.
Bergmann said the new study suggests that much of the microplastic found in Europe and the Arctic comes from the atmosphere and snow. “This additional transport route could also explain the high amounts of microplastic that we’ve found in the Arctic sea ice and the deep sea in previous studies,” she said.
The research team discovered many kinds of microplastics. Some were from paints commonly used to coat the surface of automobiles and ships. A rubber-like substance was also found that could have come from vehicle or boat parts or packaging materials, the report said.
While there is growing concern about the effect of microplastics on the environment, scientists are still studying their possible harmful effects on humans and animals.
Bergmann said she hopes the new study will lead to more research on this issue. She also said she believes that microscopic plastic particles should be included in worldwide observations of air pollution levels.
“We really need to know what effects microplastics have on humans, especially if inhaled with the air that we breathe,” Bergmann said.
I’m Bryan Lynn.
Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Science Advances and the Alfred-Wegener-Institute. George Grow was the editor.
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Words in This Story
sample – n. a small piece or piece meant to show what the whole being or object is like;
disposal – n. the act of getting rid of something
route – n. the path followed to get from one place to another
packaging – n. t e paper, box, etc. something is kept in so it can be sold or sent somewhere
inhale – v. to breathe in | <urn:uuid:925921e3-f4ff-4c91-8a5f-841102d805fd> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/scientists-find-high-levels-of-plastics-in-arctic-snow/5045005.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107874135.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20201020192039-20201020222039-00415.warc.gz | en | 0.959733 | 878 | 3.578125 | 4 |
A concussion is any injury to the brain that disrupts normal brain function typically on a temporary basis. Concussions are usually caused by a blow or jolt to the head but may occur from a hit to the body that produces a reflex force to the head.
The symptoms of a concussion range from subtle to obvious and usually happen right after the injury but some may take hours to a few days to develop. Athletes who have had concussions may report feeling normal before their brain has fully recovered. With most concussions, the player is not knocked out or unconscious. | <urn:uuid:bfc73b0d-b12f-440b-9d2c-ed88743585ce> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | http://idahoaap.org/concussions.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780056656.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20210919005057-20210919035057-00276.warc.gz | en | 0.971658 | 114 | 3.359375 | 3 |
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Educating Our Parents: Understanding the Reading District Curriculum
Reading’s social studies curriculum includes an in-depth examination of world geography. Students explore the various ways in which people interact with their environment and the ways in which the environment impacts human activity. The concept of movement is explored, with students identifying the various factors that induce people to move, including personal, economic, and environmental reasons. Different regions around the world are examined, with students identifying various characteristics that make up different regions, such as the steel belt and the sun belt.
The world languages curriculum helps students develop the knowledge and skills they need to communicate fluently in a language other than English. In elementary school, students learn basic words, phrases, and language rules in order to develop a strong foundation for language acquisition. Children take part in simple conversations with one another, read basic texts, and present information to their classmates. In middle school, students acquire more advanced skills that allow for improved flow of speech, faster reading, and better listening skills that allow them to more accurately decipher a second language.
Contact our Academic Directors Today at 1-877-545-7737 to Discuss your Child's Strengths and Areas for Improvement.
SchoolTutoring Academy’s tutoring programs for Reading students start with a free academic assessment with an Academic Director. Our flagship tutoring programs are available for $199.99/month which include regular one-on-one tutoring, academic mentorship, bi-monthly progress reports, learning profiles, and parental conference calls.
Reading District Curriculum Used in Our In-Home Tutoring Programs
Children in kindergarten through high school in Reading attend classes in Reading Community Schools. The mission of the district is to create an active and compassionate environment in which all students can learn. The district believes that all children are capable of learning and achieving their highest potential. To facilitate this growth, Reading Community Schools offers many challenging learning experiences that promote the development of essential knowledge and skills. With just 1,600 students in the district, teachers and support staff are able to interact with students on a one-on-one level and help each child explore their individual interests.
We currently cover the following Reading-area school district: Reading Community School.
Keeping Informed: Recent Reading Educational News
- Mock Trial Team Is Repeat Champs - The Mock Trial team from Reading High School recently won the district mock trial competition. It is the second year in a row that the team took first place and was a great chance for students to demonstrate their evolving skills.
- Reading Grad Meets President Obama - Sean Ormond, a 2012 graduate of Reading High School, recently met President and Mrs. Obama at a function in Hawaii. Sean is a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marines, serving as a Korean crypto linguist in Hawaii.
- Students Take a Virtual Field Trip - General Electric recently helped each sixth grade student at Reading Middle School take a virtual field trip around the world. Students also had the opportunity to meet and interact with children at schools in India and China.
Testimonials and Case Studies from Our Parents
SchoolTutoring Academy has played an important role in improving our son’s confidence and attitude towards school. His grades have also improved steadily throughout the school year.
My daughter was very self-conscious about her difficulties with the math section of the SAT. SchoolTutoring Academy’s Academic Directors created an action plan that boosted my daughter’s score and confidence level.
SchoolTutoring Academy has not only improved my son’s standardized test scores but also his high school math and English grades. Test Prep Academy has not only improved my son’s standardized test scores but also his high school math and English grades.
SchoolTutoring Academy Increased My SAT Score By 200 Points
My son’s math marks in high school have always been weak so I found it very beneficial that his ACT tutor worked on solidifying his fundamentals while prepping for the ACT.
SchoolTutoring Academy gave my daughter the confidence she needed to boost her SAT score Thank you!
SchoolTutoring has played an important role in improving our son’s confidence and attitude towards school. His grades have also improved steadily throughout the school year.
My daughter was able to improve her test scores after a few months of tutoring with SchoolTutoring. However, while raising test scores is great, the real payoff is in the self-confidence that she gained.
I just wanted to send a quick note to say thank-you! My son is very impressed with his tutor and looks forward to each session. What’s particularly amazing about this is our son has never really looked forward to math or school for that matter!
We are so happy with the results of your tutoring program and academic support. Homework time was such a stressful evening for the entire evening before we brought your tutors into our home. Thank you for all your help!
Our daughter, a first grader, struggled with basic reading and handwriting. When she began with SchoolTutoring she was almost a year behind her class. Within a year of being enrolled, she is reading above her grade level and has the confidence to match.
One-on-one learning with a certified private in-home tutor
Tutoring at your child's pace & schedule - available 7 days a week
Personalized instruction in the comfort of your home
Tutors that are highly-qualified K-12 and university educators
Our instructors hail from Harvard, Stanford, Duke and other top institutions
Our tutors are different from the ones you find in your neighborhood
Staff Tutors with Outstanding Credentials
Our educators have graduated from top academic institutions, and many of them have achieved in the 90th percentile or higher on standardized tests. Equally importantly, they enjoy coaching students across a variety of subject areas and standardized tests
Educators Beyond What You Find Down the Block
Students work collaboratively with their private tutor who is a top-notch college graduate well beyond the academic caliber that you’ll typically find in your neighbourhood
Experienced Academic Directors to Create and Adjust Learning Plans
Every student is paired up with both a private tutor and an Academic Director responsible for creating a comprehensive learning plan and constantly tweeking it to optimize for results
Fully Customized Programs with Regular Progress Reports
With regular progress reports and archived copies of your lessons, you can easily track your progress and review concepts from past lessons
Meet Our Tutors
Each of them is highly-qualified K-12 and university educators
My name is Michelle O. and I am a certified Calculus Tutor from Bloomington,
My name is Davis H. and I am a certified English Tutor from Greenville, South Carolina.
My name is Jane W. and I am certified SAT/ACT Tutor from San Diego, California.
My name is Ken B. and I am a certified Math and Statistics Tutor from California.
My name is Kevin L. and I am a certified Social Studies Tutor from Guelph, Ontario.
My name is Daniel C. and I am a High School Math, English and Economics.
My name is Amy B. and I am a Math, English Tutor from Darlington, South Carolina.
My name is Owen M. and I am a Math, English, Languages, ACT Tutor from Dundas, Ontario.
My name is Daniel H. and I am an English, ACT, SAT, Social Studies Tutor from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
My name is Akosua A. and I am a Math, Science, English, ACT Tutor from Brampton, Ontario.
My name is Davis H. and I am a certified Math, Science, English Tutor from Greenville, South Carolina.
My name is Jania B. and I am a Math, English Tutor from Eight Mile, Alabama.
Chalk Talk: Advantages of E-Textbooks
Electronic textbooks have become more and more popular in recent years, and with good reason. E-textbooks, although perhaps more expensive up-front, represent a savings over traditional textbooks in the long-term. Rather than investing in traditional books and having to replace those that are lost or damaged, schools can instead purchase licenses for e-textbooks that last a student the entire school year. These licenses often come with a host of online support materials that expand a student’s ability to learn the subject matter. Being able to easily access their textbook at school and at home means that students are afforded more opportunities for learning. Easily accessed on tablets, laptops, and even cell phones, students can do their homework from anywhere, so long as they have an Internet connection. E-textbooks also provide the advantage of being much easier to carry around. Rather than having a backpack full of heavy books, a student needs only a tablet or laptop in order to access their online books. | <urn:uuid:604d8a63-40c8-49d5-8ce0-2ac1ffc9e965> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://schooltutoring.com/tutoring-in-reading-ohio/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886103910.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20170817185948-20170817205948-00557.warc.gz | en | 0.957912 | 1,852 | 2.921875 | 3 |
CRISPR for Human Embryo Editing?
More Studies Revealed Concerns
CRISPR/Cas9 as the revolutionizing gene editing technology has been widely applied in many fields, from basic research, drug discovery, gene and cell therapy, disease diagnostics, to engineering various species for bioproduction. Due to the powerfulness of CRISPR and its potential in editing germline cells to fix genetic mutations, the debate over if human germline gene editing for preventing genetic disease is the “right” research direction has been ongoing for years. The debate is over both biological safety concerns and ethical issues.
Recently, three independent teams published on preprint server bioRxiv their findings on using CRISPR–Cas9 gene editing to remove genetic defects in human embryos. In all three studies, despite correct fixation of target gene, large DNA fragment deletion and reshuffling resulted from CRISPR editing is also revealed. These three studies published on bioRxiv are still awaiting peer-reviewed, yet their findings are already fusing the debate over safety concerns on human germline editing.
- The first team led by Kathy Niakan et al. from the Francis Crick Institute at UK used CRISPR/Cas9 to mutate the POU5F1 gene, and developed a comprehensive computational approach to assess on-target mutations. Among 18 edited embryos, edits beyond on-target locus and chromosome segmental loss and gain were observed in 22% of the embryos1.
- The second team led by Dieter Egli et al. from Columbia University tried to use CRISPR/Cas9 to correct a mutation in EYS gene, which can lead to blindness. Out of 17 embryos, 15 (88%) embryos were modified via CRISPR induced end joining cell repair process. However, only 2 of them were mosaic, whereas the majority were nonmosaic zygotes that only had single modification. Further analysis found that unrepaired double stranded DNA breaks created by CRISPR/Cas9 could persist through mitosis stage and contributing to frequent chromosome loss2.
- The third team led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov et al. from Oregon Health & Science University studied the efficacy of using CRISPR/Cas9 and a repair template for repairing a mutant gene in heart disease. Despite showing 40% repair of the target locus, extensive loss of heterozygosity is also observed3.
These three studies underscored the necessity of further studying how CRISPR/Cas9 induced DNA breaks are repaired by various DNA repair mechanisms during different development stage in preimplantation human embryos.
Will the moratorium on clinical uses of CRISPR for heritable genome editing ever be lifted? The question remains. We hope to see more studies exploring any safety concerns on using CRISPR for heritable genome editing in a research setting, as well as any potential ethical issues in the near future to shed light on this topic. | <urn:uuid:ba125526-942f-4286-b688-50a60041d3ea> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://www.genscript.com/crispr-news/three-recent-independent-studies-show-unwanted-chromosomal-changes.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107881369.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20201023102435-20201023132435-00106.warc.gz | en | 0.941467 | 608 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Can Cannabis Help Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the number one cause of disability in older adults, leading not only to pain and reduced mobility, but to a host of other medical conditions, including increased anxiety and depression and poor quality of life. Managing OA symptoms is also a common reason many patients turn to medical cannabis. Until now, there has not been a clinical trial demonstrating efficacy of cannabis in the treatment of OA, however, studies highlighting the role of the endocannabinoid system, both in OA pathophysiology and as a possible therapeutic target for future OA drugs, suggest cannabis as an approved treatment for osteoarthritis may be closer than many think. Furthermore, cannabis has become an accepted, safe alternative for those suffering from chronic pain, which is a defining feature in osteoarthritis.
The Endocannabinoid System
Evidence highlighting an intimate relationship between the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS) in the development of osteoarthritis and its role as a potential therapeutic target has opened up a new area of possibility for scientists researching OA drugs.
The endocannabinoid system was discovered at the beginning of the 1990s when researchers were trying to understand how tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compounds in cannabis, affects the body. They found two main classes of receptors: CB1 cannabinoid receptors primarily in the brain and central nervous system and the CB2 receptors located mostly in the immune system, but also peripheral nerve terminals.
Binding with these cannabinoid receptors are fatty ligands called endocannabinoids; the most studied being anandamide and 2-AG, but may also include the related endogenous compounds arachidonic acid (AA), N-palmitoylethanolamine (PEA), and N-oleoylethanolamine (OEA)). Endocannabinoids are produced on demand when there is some imbalance in the body, after which they are broken down by special enzymes (FAAH and MAGL)
The ECS by its very nature is adaptive and dynamic, becoming altered in most pathological conditions, including pain. These changes can include alterations in cannabinoid receptor expression or their agonists, anandamide and 2-AG. However, this is thought to be protective in nature and is in effect our bodies trying to inhibit disease progression.
So far, most studies examining the role of the ECS in osteoarthritis have been carried out in animal models, usually rodents. While these give a strong indication of the relationship between the ECS and osteoarthritis, the results from the studies aren’t necessarily replicated in humans. In fact, one of the only human clinical trials targeting the endocannabinoid system for arthritis (blocking the enzyme responsible for breaking anandamide down in the body), failed to repeat the pain relieving results seen in animals.
That said, some useful clues to the role of the ECS in osteoarthritis have been highlighted through studies on mice and rats. Raised levels of anandamide, 2-AG and related compounds PEA and OEA were found in the spinal cord of rats induced OA knee pain. Another study found decreased CB1 and CB2 expression in the lumbar cord of mice induced with OA, which may be in response to increased ECS tone.
But how about in humans? While it’s a lot easier to measure endocannabinoid tone in rodents, one study did find OA patients had upregulated CB1 and CB2 expression as well as elevated 2-AG levels, suggesting a connection between the ECS, OA, and the higher rates of depression encountered by patients.
Could it be then that endocannabinoid dysregulation will become the osteoarthritis biomarker of the future, alerting doctors to the disease before too much joint damage has occurred?
What is certainly an area of exciting research is the development of drugs targeting the ECS as a way to reduce OA pain.
The role of the CB2 receptor, which when activated is known to have an anti-inflammatory effect, shows particular promise with scientists suggesting it may play a crucial role in modulating osteoarthritis. In one study, an increase in CB2 expression brought about a reduction in joint pain, while stimulating CB2 receptors in osteoarthritic rats reduced pain-associated behaviour. In fact, when scientists bred mice without any CB2 receptors at all, their OA was more severe than the control group.
Activating CB1 receptors also appears to suppress OA nociceptive pain, something scientists discovered using a synthetic CB1 agonist in a rodent model of osteoarthritis.
Cannabis & Osteoarthritis
With the ECS now an accepted therapeutic target for osteoarthritis drugs, this gives further foundation for the use of compounds within the cannabis plant to manage OA symptoms.
The cannabis plant contains more than 144 compounds called cannabinoids, with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) perhaps the most widely studied. THC is a partial agonist for both CB1 and CB2 receptors, which could explain why patients find cannabis helps with their pain symptoms. Interestingly, one neuroimaging study in human subjects found THC reduced the unpleasantness of pain rather than changing pain sensations themselves.
THC is not always easily tolerated due its psychoactive effect, that’s why in some studies on humans for pain, it has been combined with the non-intoxicating cannabinoid, Cannabidiol (CBD).
As well as counteracting the “high” caused by THC, CBD is both analgesic and anti-inflammatory in its own right, through non-ECS mechanisms. However, CBD is thought to indirectly affect endocannabinoid tone by inhibiting the enzyme FAAH, responsible for breaking anandamide down in the body, which may bring about a further anti-inflammatory effect.
Indeed, one preclinical trial on rats found that CBD’s anti-inflammatory effect prevented pain and nerve damage associated with OA.
So far, cannabinoids have shown most efficacy in targeting neuropathic pain in humans, although anecdotal evidence from around the world suggests the cannabis plant is effective for chronic pain in general.
When it comes to osteoarthritis, clinical research has been limited, although right now two clinical trials using cannabinoids for OA are taking place.
The first, a randomised, double placebo trial, is studying the use of vaporized cannabinoids for arthritis of the knee joint. Different ratios of THC and CBD are being tested on 40 subjects for safety, efficacy and tolerability of the different cannabinoid combinations.
A second study, also random and placebo controlled, will study CBD as a treatment in osteoarthritis of the hand in 180 subjects.
Thankfully, more clinical research into cannabinoids for osteoarthritis is likely to take place worldwide as restrictions on researching compounds in cannabis become lifted.
While arthritis comes in different forms, over 100 in fact – osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common, affecting as estimated 350 million people around the world. All types of arthritis cause pain and inflammation in the joints, but they have different causes and affect people in different ways. Inevitably, as we age, our joints undergo a degnerative process which may lead to osteoarthritic change.
Osteoarthritis is when your joints are damaged by simple wear and tear of life. The joints that are worst affected are generally the ones that have been used the most during your life, usually weight-bearing joints though it can occur in any joint throughout the body.
Osteoarthritis is most common in your knees, hips, spine, and hands, but it can affect any joint in the body. Osteoarthritis of the knee is the most common, affecting 50% of adults at some point in their lives, followed by OA in the hips, affecting one in four people by the age of 85, while one out of every 12 people aged over 60 develops hand osteoarthritis.
The main symptoms of osteoarthritis are painful, stiff joints that hurt when you move them. You might find that your joints hurt when you press them gently, and see swelling around the joint.
Many people with osteoarthritis can’t move their joints through a full range of movement. You might feel the ends of bones grating against each other, especially in your knee, and hear popping or cracking when the joint moves. Some people also feel bone spurs, which are hard lumps of bone that form around the affected joint.
When to see a doctor
If you have joint pain and stiffness that doesn’t go away for several weeks, you should see your doctor. There are ways that they can ease the pain and discomfort and help keep you mobile and independent.
To diagnose osteoarthritis, your doctor will ask questions about your symptoms and your medical history. They will do a thorough physical examination, including checking each one of your joints for stiffness, pain, swelling, and range of motion/flexibility.
They’ll usually also do some or all of these tests:
- MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) produces a detailed image of your bones and soft tissues, revealing areas of early damage from osteoarthritis.
- X-rays show bone deformity and may show cartilage loss, by demonstrating narrower space between the bones in your joints.
- Joint fluid analysis involves numbing the affected joint, then using a needle to draw out some fluid from the joint space. The doctor will examine the fluid for crystals or joint deterioration, and test it for signs of inflammation, to help rule out other medical conditions like gout or infection.
- Blood tests don’t reveal osteoarthritis, but they do help to rule out other conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions that impact the joints.
Joints are located in between bones, to allow us flexibility and the ability to move our fingers, limbs and spine. These joints are cushioned by a layer of cartilage around the end of each bone, to make it glide smoothly past all the other parts of your joints. Over time, this cartilage gets worn away and/or breaks down. The ends of the bones start to rub against each other, causing swelling, pain, and problems moving your joint.
Bits of bone or cartilage can break off and float around the joint. The inflammation that results from the rubbing bones produces proteins, called cytokines, and enzymes that damage the cartilage even more until bone rubs directly against bone.
When the bones rub together, it affects the bones, the connective tissues which hold the joint together and attach the muscles to the bones, and the lining that surrounds the whole joint.
There are some factors which make it more likely that you’ll develop osteoarthritis, or speed up the process. These include:
- Obesity- The more you weigh, the more pressure there is on your weight-bearing joints, especially your knees and hips. Fat tissue also produces proteins that cause inflammation in and around your joints, damaging the cartilage even more.
- Repetitive strain.- If you play a sport or do a job that repeatedly strains your joints, it’s going to speed up the damage to the cartilage in that joint.
- Heredity- If you have a family history of osteoarthritis, it’s slightly more likely that you’ll develop it too.
- Age- The older you are, the more likely you are to develop osteoarthritis.
- Gender- Women are more likely to get osteoarthritis than men, although scientists are not sure why.
- Metabolic diseases- Diabetes, hemochromatosis (a condition that occurs when your body produces too much iron), and some other metabolic disorders, can increase the likelihood of osteoarthritis.
- Joint injuries- Even if you were injured many years ago, and the injury completely healed, you’re still more likely to get osteoarthritis in that joint.
- Bone deformities- If you’re born with malformed joints or poor cartilage, you’re more likely to develop osteoarthritis.
- Immobility– Prolonged periods of inactivity can lead to progression of arthritis and joint and bone degeneration.
Osteoarthritis is a chronic and often progressive condition, which means that it can’t be cured. However, there are ways that you can ease the symptoms of osteoarthritis. Many people ignore their osteoarthritis or don’t go to seek treatment, because they don’t think that there’s anything they can do to make it better. Actually, it’s important to do as much as possible to reduce your symptoms of osteoarthritis in order to stay mobile.
If left untreated, the pain and discomfort of osteoarthritis can lead to loneliness due to avoiding social situations, having to stop working earlier than planned, and a sedentary lifestyle that leads to other health issues, like heart disease or diabetes.
Physical therapy and exercise
Although joint pain can make you want to stay as still as possible, it’s important to keep moving. Low-impact exercise, combined with physical therapy, helps strengthen the muscles that support your joints and relieve pressure on the joint itself. Gentle stretching and exercises to improve your range of motion help to ease stiff joints and keep them as supple as possible. Tai chi and yoga are particularly recommended for osteoarthritis.
Occupational therapists help you to find assistive devices that make it easier for you to do everyday tasks that might cause pain and discomfort. They also suggest mobility aids and adjustments to help you remain independent for longer.
If you’re overweight, losing weight can help to reduce the amount of pressure on your joints and decrease your pain and discomfort.
NSAIDs like aspirin, Advil (ibuprofen) and Aleve (naproxen) are anti-inflammatories that help reduce inflammation and relieve the pain of osteoarthritis. You can take them as pills, or apply them directly to the painful joint in the form of a gel.
Analgesics are any type of painkiller that helps you to manage the pain of osteoarthritis so that it doesn’t prevent you from living your regular daily life.
If oral medications don’t work, you might be prescribed a corticosteroid or hyaluronic acid injections. Corticosteroids are powerful anti-inflammatories that suppress the immune system, therefore reducing swelling and can provide significant pain relief. However, they also lead to other adverse effects such as bone loss, elevated sugar and a host of other problems, so you’ll only get them three or four times a year, maximum. Hyaluronic acid is a fluid that occurs naturally in your joints to lubricate them, but it seems to be lacking in people with osteoarthritis.
When osteoarthritis progresses to more advanced stages, often surgery can provide benefit and improve quality of life.
If your joints are severely damaged, joint replacement surgery can be a viable option. It replaces your damaged joint with a new one made of plastics and metal, which slides more smoothly against the rest of the joint. Surgery also carries its own risks and complications, and is almost never the only solution. Replacement joints can come loose, or wear out themselves.
Natural and alternative therapies
There are a number of alternative, natural, and herbal therapies that can relieve the pain of osteoarthritis. Some of them include:
- Heat and cold. Heat helps the muscles relax and ease stiffness. Cold relieves pain and aches in the muscles after exercise.
- Acupuncture and massage help reduce pain and stiffness in your joints.
- Relaxation techniques and meditation can help improve your state of mind, which makes it easier to bear osteoarthritis pain.
- Capsaicin is a chili pepper extract that’s applied directly to the painful joint to reduce inflammation and pain, but some people find that it causes too much skin irritation. | <urn:uuid:496fe1e1-1dd5-4758-a545-5cf9064ea5f1> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | https://cannigma.com/conditions/osteoarthritis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875146123.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20200225141345-20200225171345-00348.warc.gz | en | 0.945903 | 3,350 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Note: This is a transcript that has been lightly edited, but mainly left alone to reflect the ASL signs and such.
I asked those who follow me on Instagram what the topic of the next video should be: queer or ASL? The votes for ASL won, so here you go. (In case you missed it, that was a hint to go follow me on Instagram :P)
Hello, I’m Rogan and welcome to a new ASL Ponderings! It’s been a while. I wanted to let you know that I’ve been thinking. ASL Ponderings has been about ASL’s quirks, why we do that, maybe proposing new ways, that kind of thing. But I’ve been thinking that I want to kind of expand. Make it a place for education too. Like basic rules of ASL that often aren’t taught in the classroom. A good example of what kind of video I want to do is way back, the ASL slang and signs. They don’t really teach that in ASL classes. They often will teach with a focus on the “proper” signs. So I think I want this to become inclusive of that kind of education too. That’s because I know some of you have learned from this series, things that you didn’t know about ASL.
So with that long intro, let’s move on and get to the topic of today’s video: fingerspelling. I know I’ve talked about this before, and in that video I ranted about why ASL fingerspells so much. I still have that opinion. But this video is not about that topic, needing to reduce fingerspelling, no. This is focusing more on fingerspelling itself. I may be wrong, but I feel like that there are two things that I’ve noticed that aren’t really taught to interpreting students or ASL students in general until later. I think that they should be earlier. I keep talking and not saying WHAT. Number one: fingerspelling double letters. Number two: lexicalized fingerspelling. For the rest of this video, I will talk a little about the first one. For the second one, I will separate it and go more in-depth, but I will give you a basic explanation of what it is.
Fingerspelling double letters. I’ve noticed that a lot of new sign language students will struggle with this. Like for example, the word good. I just did the “proper” way of doing it. I’ve noticed many students will do [G-O-O-D]. You really don’t need to. [G-OO-D] The O is important. You move the O to signify double letters. Another example of double letters is [W-E-LL]. The L moves. [W-E-LL] [B-OO-N] It’s important to keep in mind that not all double letters are fingerspelled by moving your hand sideways. A good example of that is if you have a double M or double N. You don’t slide them sideways, you don’t do that. For example, my name. [S-H-A-NN-O-N] I do a sort of up-down flap, not a sideways movement. You could do a sideways motion, but typically it’s like this. I just caught myself moving a little bit. Usually, it’s not as obvious as it is with well or good.
A little related. I know this is because they’re new, they’re learning a new language, but frequently sign language students will fingerspell every letter individually. Sometimes it is necessary, if it’s an odd or long word that’s not often used. That’s fine, I understand that. But when it’s a common, everyday word that most people know, you don’t need to spell EVERY letter. And this should be taught in most sign language classes. When you fingerspell, in ASL anyway. ASL puts a huge emphasis on keeping your hand in one place, not moving. You don’t jerk your hand around while spelling, you don’t do that. Always STAY in one place. Sometimes ASL students will be taught to put a finger on their wrist to fingerspell. If you look at any news channel, like the Daily Moth, DPAN.TV, TruBiz, etc., and at the reporters, you will notice that most of them will put a finger on their wrist when spelling. I don’t really see a problem with this, because it helps if the person has a problem keeping their hand steady. It helps force your hand to stay in one place. And also, for formality, news reporters, yes. I understand that. But is it really needed? No.
This is really interesting. When I was in Europe and we were talking about a variety of topics, like I’ve said repeatedly. One day, one teacher said that he was impressed by how Americans had very clear fingerspelling, compared to most other people he’d met. Even though we fingerspell a lot faster than most other countries. He saw it as clear because we do the finger on wrist thing. That’s probably because most of us, when we learn ASL, it’s drilled into us: keep your hand in one place, do not move. This may not be the case in other countries, I don’t know. I’m curious if you know other sign languages, do they have that same emphasis or not as much? I’m curious! I also wonder… Is that emphasis there only because ASL has so much fingerspelling? Other countries don’t have as much fingerspelling in their languages, which means they don’t have as much need to maintain that stability. I don’t know, I’m just throwing things out. Maybe?
My next video, which I mentioned earlier, is lexicalized fingerspelling. Basically, lexicalized signs are fingerspellings that have become signs on their own. A few examples: but. But. Another one: gay. Gay. I don’t want to give too many signs because that’s for the next video that’s more in-depth about lexicalized signs. I’m curious, what are your thoughts on this video? Anything. Fingerspelling, double letters, ASL, whatever. Let me know in the comments below. And… I hope you enjoyed. That’s all for today.
If you want to support my content financially, I would really appreciate it if you joined my Patreon or made an one-time donation to my ko-fi tip jar. Subscribe to my channel. Follow me on my socials – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Thanks for reading, see you next time. | <urn:uuid:57b6014d-10fb-459a-a4c0-93f0469275d9> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://roganshannon.com/2017/11/13/fingerspelling-2-asl-ponderings/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964358118.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20211127043716-20211127073716-00501.warc.gz | en | 0.956839 | 1,493 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Southern Patagonian Ice Field
THE LARGEST GLACIERS IN MIDDLE LATITUDES OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
The Patagonian Icefields are the largest glaciers in middle latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere and one of the largest icefields in the world outside the polar regions. The Northern Patagonian Ice Field covers an area of 4,200 km2 and includes the famous San Rafael Glacier and Mount San Valentín. The Southern Patagonian Ice Field (SPIF) has an area of 13,000 km2, extending from the Jorge Montt glacier on the north and the Torres del Paine in the south, with more than 80% owned by Chile and the rest to Argentina.
Between 48 ° 20 ‘and 51 ° 30′ south latitude, the Cordillera de los Andes is almost completely covered by a blanket of snow-capped called Southern Patagonian Ice Field (SPIF), the largest of the South after the Antarctic , with an area of 13,000 km ². It has a length of 350 km between the fjords Calen (Canal Baker), and Last Hope (Union Canal) and a width that varies between 40 and 60 km. A mass of ice plateau character of an average height of 1,350 meters, which is interrupted by numerous peaks and mountain range with elevations up to 3600 m, which generated 48 main glacier basins, from which emerge the major languages of ice. Most of them on the western side manage to reach sea level, and reach the eastern slope large Patagonian lakes.
They excel Cord mountain massif Torre and Fitz Roy. To the north is Mount Steffen, Cerro O’Higgins and Lautaro Volcano. Highlight the hills south Murallón, Risopatrón, Cube and Daudet.
Of the 48 major watersheds in the Pacific glaciers include Pio XI glacier, Amalia, Europe, Bernard and Jorge Montt. In this O’Higgins glaciers are recognized, Chico, Viedma, Upsala and Moreno, among the most important. To the south are important Grey glacier, Tyndall and Balmaceda.
Of the 48 CHPS main glacier basins, most have made a deep recession in recent years, with rates of decline that even exceed 100 m a-1 between 1945-1986 for glaciers O’Higgins, Amalia, Upsala and Lucia (Aniya et al. 1997). SPIF few glaciers have presented stability in their foreheads and even three have advanced the glacier Perito Moreno (Rott et al. 1998), Trinidad (in one of our expeditions in 1999, we find that was destroying forests in the bottom of the fjord Exmouth), and especially the Pio XI glacier, which had a rate of advance of 206 m a-1 between 1945 -1995 (Rivera et al. 1997). A strong tendency of front setback, adds a significant loss of ice surface for all the CHPS, estimated at nearly 500 km2 between 1945 and 1986 (Aniya, 1999). Together with the above, it is estimated a significant volume loss due to changes in thickness, thinning with variable rates, with up to 14 m a-1 between 1991 and 1993 for Upsala (Naruse et al. 1997). The recent variations of glaciers in the CHPS, is a clear response to the climatic changes observed in the southern part of the continent, characterized by an increase in temperature (Rosemblüth et al. 1997) and the decrease in rainfall observed at several stations ( Rosemblüth et al. 1995). Nevertheless, specific responses of glaciers to climate change are not linear, but depend on the topography of the glacial basins (hypsometry, slopes, valleys geometry, thickness of ice, moraine material on the surface of ice, etc.). glaciodinámicas and characteristics (speed, flow, calving, surges, etc.).
Due to the great biodiversity of flora and fauna, as well as the limited existing human intervention on the banks of CHPS, this area has been classified as a protected area by the governments of Chile and Argentina. In 1959, the Chilean government declared a southern portion of the CHPS englaciado and their surroundings, such as the Torres del Paine National Park, which has an approximate area of 181,000 ha. and has been declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. In Chilean territory, the rest of CHPS was declared a national park in 1969, becoming Bernardo O’Higgins Park, the largest nature reserve in Chile with 3,525,901 ha. In the same vein, the whole portion of SPIF located in the Republic of Argentina, is inserted into the Los Glaciares National Park with 450,000 hectares., Which is considered among the 25 mountain regions of exceptional importance for science and conservation, for what is defined as a World Heritage Site (World Heritage Site) according to IUCN. Despite its binational character and status of protection, the CHPS is one of the least studied areas of the planet englaciadas. | <urn:uuid:7570cda6-3473-4d7f-9003-d9b62e2bd281> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | http://robinsoncrusoe.com/index.php/en/about-us/deep-patagonia/southern-patagonian-ice-field | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439738573.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20200809192123-20200809222123-00296.warc.gz | en | 0.920993 | 1,061 | 3.34375 | 3 |
There is no doubt that some individuals, such as Steve Jobs, make enormous contributions to their fields that dwarf the efforts of peers in terms of practical consequences, intellectual advancement, creative achievement, and so forth. Such achievement is partly due to environmental factors. Otherwise, which individuals rise to the top is due either to genius talent or unusual dedication.
Why are Jobs and his ilk so remarkable? Many people are fond of claiming that they are geniuses, that their superior ability was present at birth, and that such latent superiority blossomed when given a favorable environment. The role of genetics is limited, however, accounting for only about a quarter of differences in scores on creativity tests, with family environment being more important (1).
The favorable environment proviso is well supported by the fact that when creative accomplishments are analyzed as a function of place and time, they are clustered in space and time. Whether it was Aristotle’s Athens, Michelangelo’s Florence, Shakespeare’s London, Picasso’s Paris, or Jobs’s Silicon Valley, great achievers have always been concentrated in time and space as Charles Murray has documented in exhaustive detail (2). Such concentration provides compelling evidence that creativity flourishes in some environments but not in others and highly talented persons are drawn to such centers like moths to a flame.
Why the genius concept does not stand up
People of great accomplishment tend to be highly intelligent. Yet, the view that creative geniuses accomplish more on account of their inherent ability does not stand up. When intellectually gifted children were followed up in middle age, their creative achievements were astonishingly small according to a celebrated study by Lewis Terman (3). High intelligence may be necessary for creative accomplishment but it is clearly not sufficient.
Also arguing against the genius concept, achievement in most creative fields calls for a lot of work and effort. Mastery requires many years of single-minded pursuit. Music and performance arts are something of an exception where child stars emerge much more quickly thanks, presumably, to specialized talents with which they may indeed be born given that musical ability runs in families.
For most other endeavors, achievement is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. Nevertheless, we like to attribute great leaps of achievement to individuals of superior talent or insight. Take Charles Darwin, author of the theory of evolution by natural selection that influences all contemporary research in biology, the social sciences, and various other fields.
It is true that without the insight of evolution by natural selection biology would be very different today. On the other hand, this insight would have existed without Darwin. Indeed it was independently developed by Alfred Russell Wallace, albeit some 20 years later.
Yet, few people think of Wallace as a transformative creative genius, if they think about him at all. The main reason seems to be that Darwin worked much harder than Wallace to apply the theory in his empirical research winning the genius accolade through sheer perspiration.
Why the genius concept is so popular
So why are people so willing to ascribe great achievement to inherent genius? It may be less psychologically threatening than the alternative. As we account for our own humble accomplishments compared with genius-level achievements, there are two compelling possibilities. Either Jobs, or Einstein, or Galileo, or Napoleon, or Mozart, or Tolstoy, made better use of their time and opportunity than we have. Or else each had inborn genius in their chosen field that propelled them to greatness. Attributing their accomplishments to genius rather than effort lets us off the hook in the effort department.
Genius may be a comforting fiction. For it helps explain why most of us do not achieve at the highest level in our chosen field: we are not geniuses. The trouble is that there is little compelling evidence in psychology for any such latent superiority. The concept of the genius may be comforting to the rest of us. Yet, it remains a fiction.
1. Waller, N. G., Bouchard, T. J. Jr., Lykken, D. T., Tellegen, A., and Blacker, M. (1993). Creativity, heritability, familiality: Which word does not belong? Psychological Inquiry, 4, 235-237.
2. Murray, C. (2003). Human accomplishment: The pursuit of excellence in the arts and sciences. New York: Harper Collins.
3. Terman, L. M., and Oden, M. H. (1959). The gifted group at mid-life, thirty-five years follow-up of the superior child. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
by Nigel Barber, Ph.D. in The Human Beast | <urn:uuid:9ff1df38-eeed-41f3-b4c4-eea5877d1aa5> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | https://antiworldnews.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/the-myth-of-geniuses/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560282935.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095122-00279-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95025 | 949 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Each week the children will receive the following homework:
- Mathletics and times tables to learn
Every other half term the children will begin 'Projects' which will focus on their current topic (History or Geography). The children will complete one piece of work each week for the Project, which can be handed in at the end of the six week half term when the whole project is completed.
The other half terms the children will have a weekly SPaG (spelling, grammar and punctuation) homework, given out on the Friday and due in the following Wednesday.
If your child has difficulty in completing any homework, particularly Mathletics, then a note can be written in their diaries informing us of this. They will then be able to attend the Mathletics club and complete it in school. | <urn:uuid:942d2c10-e501-4c64-b859-e97a796173db> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://www.haroldwoodprimaryschool.co.uk/homework/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267157028.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20180921092215-20180921112615-00381.warc.gz | en | 0.961232 | 167 | 2.59375 | 3 |
1 "I guess this'll be their last coast for a day or two," Ethan said, looking up at the mild sky.
2 On the coast, life had mellowed--here it was young and lusty and new.
3 Scarlett never discovered just what business brought him to Atlanta, for few other blockaders found it necessary to come so far away from the coast.
4 Reared in Charleston, he knew every inlet, creek, shoal and rock of the Carolina coast near that port, and he was equally at home in the waters around Wilmington.
5 From time immemorial, the coast cities had dominated the South, commercially and otherwise.
6 He's gone on through the state to the coast.
7 Had it not been for us whalemen, that tract of land would this day perhaps have been in as howling condition as the coast of Labrador.
8 In olden times an eagle swooped down upon the New England coast, and carried off an infant Indian in his talons.
9 Until the whale fishery rounded Cape Horn, no commerce but colonial, scarcely any intercourse but colonial, was carried on between Europe and the long line of the opulent Spanish provinces on the Pacific coast.
10 He was a long, earnest man, and though born on an icy coast, seemed well adapted to endure hot latitudes, his flesh being hard as twice-baked biscuit.
Moby Dick By Herman MelvilleContext Highlight In CHAPTER 26. Knights and Squires.
11 In his youth Daggoo had voluntarily shipped on board of a whaler, lying in a lonely bay on his native coast.
Moby Dick By Herman MelvilleContext Highlight In CHAPTER 27. Knights and Squires.
12 The ship, however, was by no means a large one: a Russian craft built on the Siberian coast, and purchased by my uncle after bartering away the vessel in which he sailed from home.
13 I am told, on good authority, that on the Barbary coast, a Commodore Davis of the British navy found the skeleton of a sperm whale.
14 Probably the mother during an important interval was sailing down the Peruvian coast, when earthquakes caused the beach to gape.
Moby Dick By Herman MelvilleContext Highlight In CHAPTER 75. The Right Whale's Head—Contrasted View.
15 I boarded her once at midnight somewhere off the Patagonian coast, and drank good flip down in the forecastle. | <urn:uuid:9500712f-8f1c-48b4-8970-a966128b06c4> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://www.examword.com/sentence/word?x=coast | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679515260.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20231211143258-20231211173258-00836.warc.gz | en | 0.971249 | 513 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Delicate but Deadly: Hunting with the Gunther Barbed Point
Gunther points were hafted with pine sap glue and deer sinew, just like this example made by the author. A sinew wrap goes over the edges to provide additional strength. Museum examples were secured the same way
Gunther Barbed points are a unique type of stone arrow head made and used by Native American tribes who lived and hunted in northern California and southern Oregon. Gunther Barbed points first show up in the archaeological record around 1100 A.D. and were used into the late 1800’s. They were usually made of colorful jasper, chert, and agate and were formed by heavy pressure flaking that rapidly thinned the points prior to final shaping. Gunthers are characterized by very long barbs that extend well below the base, finely serrated edges and a small stem for hafting the point to the arrow.
I was first introduced to Gunther points when I met artist and master primitive archer Steve Allely. He showed me some authentic Gunther’s he had, as well as several he’d made. I was immediately captivated by their delicate features and wickedly sharp edges. But making Gunthers is no easy feat. Their unique design requires perfect support and meticulous edge preparation so each flake is removed cleanly and with precise control. One wrong move will destroy the point’s intended shape. The challenge was the same for the original makers of Gunther points, as Allely also showed me numerous prehistoric examples of failed points that were broken during manufacture. I was truly inspired by seeing Steve’s work. With over a decade of knapping experience at the time, I returned home to make my own Gunthers, fully confident that I’d crunch some out in no time. I was to learn otherwise.
Gunther Barbed points require considerable skill to make. Because Gunthers have delicate features like long, fragile barbs, serrated edges and a needle-sharp tip, they must be made slowly and finished in carefully controlled stages. My excitement to make my own Gunthers was palpable, and it would be my undoing. Numerous attempts ended in defeat as I snapped the barbs off every point I attempted.
Gunther points require you to slow down, set up your edges carefully and not cut any corners. Being in a calm, methodical mindset when knapping Gunthers is a big part of being successful. If you get in a hurry, you’ll most certainly break them. Slow, careful knapping combined with a calm, no-rush mindset proved to be the key. By forcing my mind to slow down and practicing the finer points of pressure flaking, I was finally able to make my own beautiful Gunther Barbed points…though each one represents about one hour of careful, meticulous work.
The Upper Gunther Barbed points are authentic artifacts from northern California. The bottom Gunther points were made by the author.
But what did the Indians use such delicate points for? Many people assume they were fishing points due to their long barbs and yes, they would certainly be effective for holding fish if used as harpoon points. But modern science reached a different conclusion. Several old Gunther points found in village sites were tested for blood protein residues. The results showed a majority tested positive for deer and elk blood and a few even tested positive for bighorn sheep. These weren’t fishing points…they were actually used for hunting big game.
I was in disbelief when I read that. A simple triangular stone point would work just as well. Why create such a beautiful and delicate Gunther Barbed arrowhead when simpler side-notched points were equally effective? Gunthers would be more fitting as jewelry or coveted examples of flintknapping skill, not shot at game to be ultimately smashed or lost. The delicate features only left me puzzled. Surely the needle-sharp tip would break the moment it hit bone. The long, delicate barbs would snap off the instant it encountered a deer’s tough hide, right? Cultural influence was surely a driving force in their design, but why they used such a seemingly delicate point for a heavy task ate at me.
But the blood protein tests proved they were used for hunting. Perhaps these points weren’t as fragile as it first seemed. How did they fare in real hunting scenarios? To answer that question, I had to put my own Gunthers to the ultimate test by actually hunting with them.
The next fall found me sitting in a drainage ditch next to a food plot, waiting for a deer to wander within range. My arrow was made of rivercane with a dogwood foreshaft inserted into the front. The tip of the foreshaft was graced with a milky white, translucent Gunther point of heat treated agate that was secured with pine sap glue and a wrapping of deer sinew. The size and shape of the point was identical many authentic Gunthers I’ve seen, about ¾ of an inch wide by 1 inch long. It was a very light weight point at only 12 grains.
By most traditional bowhunting standards my arrow was also somewhat light at only 440 grains, but it flew like a laser from the 52-lb Osage self bow that lay across my lap. The ditch where I sat was a perfect ambush spot for a primitive hunter who needs a shot at close range. As the sun sets, the sinking air currents pull my scent down the drainage the same way water flows, making it impossible for the deer to smell me. I’d had numerous close encounters with deer at this spot in the past and I hoped an opportunity would present itself this night.
As the sun worked its way closer to the horizon I only saw two squirrels and a few small birds as they searched for the last of food before dark. Two deer were silhouetted as they walked along a field edge 80 yards away, but they never came nearly close enough for a shot. I was running out of shooting light when I noticed the faint movement of a deer’s front leg as it stepped into view only 13 yards away.
The surge of adrenaline tightened every muscle in my body as the deer moved forward and another one followed behind. They were both yearlings, but they were very healthy judging by their slick coats and round, well-fed bodies. As the lead deer inched forward and fed on the succulent greens, I slowly brought my bow up and readied for a shot. When the lead deer took one last step forward and exposed its ribs, I pulled the string back slowly while aiming for the spot I wanted to hit. The dim light and the deer’s perfect camouflage made it difficult to determine the deer’s exact edges from the brushy background, but I was confident I could place the arrow on the perfectly broadside deer. A split second after I hit full draw the string snapped forward and the white fletching zipped through the air, spinning the arrow at high-speed as it streaked toward the target. Unfortunately the deer also heard the snap of the string and was in motion before the arrow got there. The deer squatted as it loaded its legs, then came back up and turned slightly away from me at the moment the arrow struck its mark. Both deer rocketed out of the food plot, kicking up leaves as they ran up a grassy path to the top of a small hill. I could see the white feathers of the arrow violently jerking up and down as the deer fled. Its partner stopped and looked back, but my deer kept going over the hill and disappeared from sight.
Archery shots happen so quickly that it’s difficult to determine exactly what happened at the moment of impact. My shot looked good and I saw the white fletching being carried away as the deer ran, but I couldn’t be certain of penetration due to the dim light. I waited another 20 minutes until the woods were silent, then I slipped out under total darkness. Two hours passed before I returned with flashlights and my brother’s extra set of eyes.
We found the first drops of blood a few yards up the grassy path. Its bright red hue indicated a lung hit. Though not heavy, the small blood drops were consistent enough to retrace the deer’s path of escape to the top of the hill. In the open grass the deer then took a slight left turn as it paralleled the edge of the woods. Upon cresting the hill my brother swung his flashlight forward…and there was my arrow flipped up in the grass. The white feathers were standing straight up like a flag, clearly visible against the tawny brown surroundings.
The agate Gunther Barbed point brought down this young whitetail within seconds.The author’s deer as it was found after fleeing only 60 yards.
As we got closer we realized why the arrow was standing straight up…because it was still embedded in the deer’s side. The deer fled only 60 yards before collapsing mid-run. I was shocked when I tried to withdraw the arrow…it wouldn’t budge, having firmly embedded itself in the far shoulder blade. I didn’t want to disturb the arrow so we very carefully loaded the deer into the truck and brought it back to the house. I very carefully field dressed the deer and waited until morning to perform a more detailed examination.
The agate Gunther Barbed point brought down this young whitetail within seconds.
I always perform autopsies on every animal I kill to better understand how stone points behave when striking living animals. And this morning would be no different. As my examination progressed, I was quite surprised at what I discovered.
The Gunther point’s sharp, serrated edges sliced gaping holes through both lungs, and the width of the wound channel revealed the barb s didn’t snap off upon cutting through the deer’s hide and entering its body. In addition to the lung trauma, the point nearly severed the dorsal aorta (the main artery that feeds both femoral arteries of the rear legs), then cracked a rib on the far side before slamming into the shoulder blade and punching through it, finally coming to rest in the shoulder muscle just beyond the shoulder bone. The point suffered heavy damage as its tip, one barb and the small stem were snapped off upon striking the shoulder blade. But by then the Gunther point had already done its deadly work and the deer was running on borrowed time.
The Gunther point was found in the shoulder muscle after completely penetrating the shoulder blade.
The inside of the right shoulder shows where the point impacted the bone.
Despite its fragile design, the Gunther Barbed point proved its deadly efficiency with that one shot. Despite their fragile design, Gunthers are amazingly effective for taking down big game. It’s wonderfully exciting to examine artifacts from the past, test them, and discover just how effective they really are. I now look at my own Gunther Barbed points in a very different way. They are exquisite, beautiful, and deadly. And they have earned their place on my hunting arrows. I’ll definitely be using them again.
The Gunther point immediately after being recovered from the deer. It did suffer some damage but surprisingly didn’t shatter, even after being driven completely through the shoulder blade.
References: Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of the Great Basin and California, Noel D. Justice, 2002.
Billy Berger is a primitive bowhunter with a passion for researching and testing the weaponry of Stone Age people. He lives in Marietta, GA. | <urn:uuid:e49d7274-80db-4631-ac5e-308f37a971e3> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | http://pugetsoundknappers.com/interesting_stuff/Member%20Articles/Billy%20Berger%20Articles/Gunther%20Point%20Deer/Billy%20Berger%20Gunther%20Point.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446711360.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20221208183130-20221208213130-00369.warc.gz | en | 0.974484 | 2,417 | 2.6875 | 3 |
1. Choose The Right Time To Move
You don’t always get a choice about when you move, but if you can, select a time that is free of other major stressors and transitions (i.e. Move in between school years, before young children start school, or after major changes such as potty training).
2. Announce The Move Early
Moving with kids is a major process. Give them plenty of time to adjust to the idea by telling them about the move well in advance. With early warning, they can have time to think about the change, process it with you and others, ask all the questions that come up, experience the range of emotions that come with moving, and better prepare for a successful transition.
3. Tell Kids What To Expect
Moving might be a somewhat nebulous idea for children, especially younger kids. Help them understand exactly what will happen by taking the time to talk about the changes that moving brings. You can even find books to read to help explain the concept in an age-appropriate manner.
4. Stay Positive
Moving brings stress. However, passing the stress of house hunting or packing will only make the process harder for your children. Try to stay positive instead. You do not have to ignore the sad or difficult parts of the move (See Point 5 below). However, when you take the time to talk about the good things that the move is going to bring for your family, you help your kids (and yourself) feel better about the change. You might even find that your children start to show some excitement about the idea of relocating.
5. Acknowledge Children’s Feelings
A wide range of emotions is normal for anyone to feel around a move. You can expect your children to feel many negative and positive emotions leading up to the big day. Make it easy for them to navigate these feelings by acknowledging them and even by sharing some of your own feelings. You can even line up a counselor to support your kids if you feel as if they need some professional guidance in sorting through their big, move-related feelings.
6. Involve Kids With The Packing
Packing with kids definitely takes longer than packing by yourself. This is particularly true if you have small children such as babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. However, allowing kids to help you with the packing can give them a sense of ownership over the move. Consider having them assist with the sorting of toys. Give them a box to pack their favorite toys in by themselves. Allow them to decorate some of the packing boxes.
7. But Also Schedule Some Kid-Free Time
Chances are you will not have an indefinite amount of time to prepare for your move. Make time to get important packing and planning done by hiring a babysitter or by sending your children to play with friends or family for a few hours periodically. The time away will help your children to de-stress, and give you the ability to focus on completing critical moving tasks.
8. Pack Special Items Separately
Any list of tips for moving with kids should include keeping their special items close. Help them to pack a separate bag full of items such as blankets, stuffed animals, favorite clothes, toys, and snacks. For kids who may not be fully potty trained, add pull ups in case you do not have easy access to a bathroom. Allow your kids to keep this bag with them throughout the move so they can stay entertained and feel comforted by familiarity during the upheaval of the move.
9. Maintain Normal Routines
Kids thrive on routine. Help them to feel more calm and positive about the move by maintaining their normal schedules as much as possible leading up to the move. For example, keep mealtimes and bedtimes the same, keep reading that story or singing that song before turning out the lights, and keep taking a few minutes out of your day to play with your child. Maintaining similar routines after you move can also create a sense of security in your children during a time of transition.
10. Leave Toys To Play With Until The End
Bored children will make your move much more stressful, for everyone. Keep your kids entertained by leaving out some toys to play with until the day you move. Even just a few favorite items can help kids feel more secure and give them something to do while you pack.
11. Get To Know The Neighborhood
Your new neighborhood will feel less strange if your children get to explore it ahead of time. If close enough, drive there with your children and look around. You can even introduce yourselves to your soon-to-be-neighbors. If you are moving long-distance, do some research and show your children books and information about the location. You can even make plans to see landmarks and attractions once you arrive.
12. Introduce Their School
The new neighborhood won’t be the only new place your children will need to adjust to. Older children will also be growing accustomed to a new school. Make the transition easier by contacting the school ahead of time to get a tour and see if the school can provide a “buddy” to show your children around on the first day.
13. Make (And Complete) A Moving Bucket List
Helping a child cope with moving includes helping them say goodbye to your current location. Try creating a list of things to do before you leave. Maybe they want to go to the children’s museum once more, walk a favorite trail, or spend time with their best friends. Make time to complete these activities, and cross them off your list. Once the list is complete, it will be time to go.
14. Create A Memento Of Your Old Location
It is natural for your children to miss your old home and the people and activities they enjoyed there. You can smooth the transition by creating a memento of the location. For example, have their classmates sign a photo of the class, or have your neighbors sign a T-shirt. Create a photo book or scrapbook of your time in your current location. This memento will be a special way to remember the old place when your children feel homesick.
15. Make Time To Say Goodbye
Saying goodbye might be an emotional time for your child, but it can also give them closure. Take the time to say goodbye to family, friends, and classmates. Hold a going away party. Make sure everyone important has your contact information, so your children can stay in touch after you relocate.
16. Give Your Children Something Fun To Do On Moving Day
Watching all of their beloved possessions leave the house on moving day will be difficult for kids. You also do not want them to be in the way of heavy items and busy movers. Plan a fun activity for them to do on moving day. Send them for a day at a friend’s or family member’s home, for example. By the time they return, everything will be loaded and ready to go.
17. Give Children Ownership Of Their New Home
Your new place might feel strange to your kids at first. Help them to begin thinking of it as home before you even arrive by allowing them to participate in decorating and unpacking the space. Allow them to pick out a color for their room, for example, or invite them to unpack their box of favorite toys. When they can arrange their space the way they want, they will feel comfortable more quickly.
18. Create A Familiar Environment
The new house does not have to feel entirely strange. Create a familiar environment in the new house to help your kids feel more comfortable right away. For example, set up one room right away so family members can relax there. Unpack their toys right away. Provide gifts for them to open when they arrive. These little touches will provide small ways for your children to feel comfortable and at home right away.
19. Find Activities For Your Kids
As you prepare for your move, and then get settled in afterward, look for activities that your kids can participate in in your new location. If your child likes to dance, look up a local dance studio. If your child enjoys sports, find a local youth sports league. Getting them settled in fun and familiar activities will allow them to acclimate more quickly to their new area.
20. Hire Movers
The less you have to worry about when it comes to the move, the less stressed you and your kids will be. Remove stress and problems by hiring a mover like Ward North American. Experienced, professional-strength movers can prevent accidents and even help you with packing, creating a more seamless transition for your whole family. | <urn:uuid:b100e209-59e4-4b4a-b234-ba4c07c60e85> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://www.wardnorthamerican.com/blog/20-tips-for-moving-with-kids/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780057913.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20210926175051-20210926205051-00685.warc.gz | en | 0.956045 | 1,782 | 2.71875 | 3 |
The Rift Valley fever (RVF) outbreak in Eastern Lakes State, South Sudan has grown to 32 cases and four deaths, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) update published this week.
During the past week, a 17 year-old male who presented to hospital on 19 February 2018 with a history of fever, headache, and joint pain that started the same day. On 21 February 2018, he vomited coffee grounds and frank blood, passed melena stools, lost consciousness and died the same day. The case was positive for malaria by rapid diagnostic testing and a blood sample collected from the case was obtained for RVF testing. The deaths of goats and a cow have been reported in the neighborhood of the case.
Overall, a total of 32 suspected RVF cases have been reported, including five confirmed cases (one of which was IgG and IgM positive and four which were IgG-only positive).
Of 28 animal samples collected, one sample taken from a cow showed high RVF IgG titres indicative of previous RVF infection, six tested negative for RVF, and 21 samples are pending testing. Since the beginning of the outbreak, goats, sheep, and cattle in the area have shown evidence of zoonotic hemorrhagic illness and abortions in livestock, disease in cattle, and wild bird die-offs have been reported in the outbreak area.
WHO says the suspected RVF outbreak in South Sudan continues to be closely monitored, and there is a continued need for support to strengthen national capacity for RVF preparedness, surveillance, and response.
Rift Valley Fever is mosquito-borne virus that is endemic in parts of Africa including South Africa. It primarily infects animals like sheep, cattle and goats and it can have an economic impact on a community due to the loss of livestock.
Humans get infected through contact with infected animal blood or organs. Butchering and slaughtering of animals is a primary cause of transmission to humans. Certain occupations are at a higher risk of getting Rift Valley Fever like farmers, herders and veterinarians.
It can also be transmitted to humans through mosquito bites and the bites of blood-sucking flies.
Most cases of Rift Valley Fever are mild and symptoms include fever, headaches and muscle pain. However, a small percentage of people can get serious disease which includes retinitis, encephalitis and a hemorrhagic fever. Fatalities happen in less than 1 percent of those infected. | <urn:uuid:f59e58d2-febe-4e3e-b2ea-ee011461bca5> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | http://outbreaknewstoday.com/south-sudan-additional-suspected-rift-valley-fever-death-reported-65702/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347422065.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20200602002343-20200602032343-00096.warc.gz | en | 0.964909 | 496 | 2.8125 | 3 |
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