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Bioethics can rightly be described as a combination of two subjects – Biology and Philosophy. Wondering why philosophy? Well, ethics is a typical discipline of philosophical studies. Philosophy shows the ropes of a perfectly moral life in society for any human being and ethics stick to the notion of right and wrong, good and bad. In the field of medicine and healthcare, professionals come up with complex issues and disputed points.
Why is the one responsible for another and for what reason? Is the effort worthwhile? What are the right things and how to put them to use? What are the obligations people share with one another? How to decide the best possible solutions to a problem without meddling with good moral traits?
This is where bioethics comes into play. Bioethicists skillfully apply theories of ethics to the field of advanced medicine and healthcare. They draw up answers, based on religious theories, secular traditions, innovative scientific advancements and moral philosophies. Bioethicists also take into consideration the advancement and benefits of an upgraded medical technology towards the better maintenance of health and treatment of harmful ailing conditions. In a nutshell, bioethics is a study of multiple subjects like philosophy, theology, nursing, history, medicinal laws, healthcare policies and studies of humanities in the field of medicine.
“Common man’s understanding on what is ethical has seen tremendous growth” – do you agree?
Studies show that we are all well grounded about the ethical do’s and don’ts. Even doctors make it a point to describe the proposed form of treatment to their patients. These patients have the right to inquire about it and refuse the same if considered unnecessary. The remarkable impacts of bioethics are endless.
First termed by Professor Van Rensselear Potter in the year 1971, ‘BIOETHICS’ has remarkably developed from being just a subject of study to a multidisciplinary area of study and activity. It is not restricted within the walls of a laboratory. Instead, the subject of bioethics is discussed in open. From offices to academies, classrooms to hospitals wards and labs, the application of ethical standards on medicinal practices are deliberated, reviewed, challenged and also revised anywhere. Therefore, bioethics is not a subject of study for doctors and scientists only. Ordinary people like you and me, politicians and any common person can participate and learn about the scopes of Bioethics.
Here are some excellent bioethics related web resources:
This website contains a broad collage of annotated web links, and while this list is comprehensive, it is not totally inclusive. The listed resources provide background information and various positions on issues in bioethics.
Informational site related to the services of Bioethics, Inc. Newsletter, hottopics and linksrelated to contemporary bioethical issues.
The most comprehensive resource for bioethics on the internet.
Founded in 1987 as the Center for Medical Ethics, and given an expanded mission and renamed in 1998, the University of Pittsburgh Center for Bioethics and Health Law in Pittsburgh, PA, is committed to bringing together scholars and researchers from a variety of disciplines to cooperate in addressing issues in bioethics and law from both theoretical and clinical perspectives.
Center for the Study of Bioethics, Medical College of Wisconsin.
We invite you to experience the unfiltered story of American eugenics . primarily through materials from the Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, which was the center of American eugenics research from 1910-1940. In the Archive, you will see numerous reports, articles, charts, and pedigrees that were considered scientific “facts” in their day. It is important to remind yourself that the vast majority of eugenics work has been completely discredited.
The bioethics of clinical medical practice, medical research, health care ethics, public health, and human rights are dealt with in this course.
Midwest Bioethics Center is a community-based ethics center, founded in 1984 by a physician, an attorney, and a philosopher. Dedicated to its mission to integrate ethical considerations into healthcare decision-making throughout communities, the Center offers workshops and educational programs for professionals.
St James Ethics Center is an independent, not-for-profit organisation which provides a forum for promoting ethics generally and encourages individuals and organisations to include the ethical dimension in their daily decision making.
This is the nation’s first bioethics center devoted to engaging the sciences, humanities, law and religious faiths in the exploration of the core moral issues which underlie research and medical treatment of African Americans and other un-derserved people.
This site is an excellent resource for current and future members of the CBS, as well as for any other entities interested in bioethical related issues. It was established in 1988 from the fusion of the Canadian Society of Bioethics and the Société Canadienne de la bioéthique médicale. Currently, the Canadian Bioethics Society has over 600 current members.
This site helps individuals and organizations address the demanding bioethical challenges of our present lives, including managed care, end-of-life treatment, genetic intervention, euthanasia and suicide, and reproductive technologies.
This organization enables members of the health care community to identify and resolve ethical issues which arise in the clinical setting. They do this through education, case consultations, policy development, and research.
This ASBH report is intended for ethics consultants; educational programs that help prepare individuals, teams, or committees to do ethics consultations; and all health care organizations that offer ethics consultation services. | <urn:uuid:5670fb5a-9390-458d-9b15-a669dc771eea> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.bioexplorer.net/bioethics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141718314.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20201203031111-20201203061111-00711.warc.gz | en | 0.935073 | 1,150 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Bundi: Architectural Heritage of a Forgotten Rajput Capital
#GS1 #Heritage #Architecture #Culture #History
The Ministry of Tourism’s Dekho Apna Desh Webinar series titled “Bundi: Architectural Heritage of a Forgotten Rajput Capital” focused on Bundi, Rajasthan.
- Bundi erstwhile capital of Hada Rajput province known as Hadauti located in south-eastern Rajasthan, is one such place.
- Bundi is also known as City of stepwalls, blue city and also as Chotti Kashi.
- In ancient times, the area around Bundi was apparently inhabited by various local tribes, of which the Parihar Tribes, Meena was prominent.
- Later the region was governed by Rao Deva, who took over Bundi from Jaita Meena in 1242, renaming the surrounding area as Haravati or Haroti.
- Governed by Rao Deva for two decades, the Hadas of Bundi were the vassals of the Sisodias of Mewar and ruled by the title of Rao until 1569, when Emperor Akbar conferred the title of Rao Raja upon Rao Surjan Singh after the surrender of Ranthambore Fort and his submission.
- In 1632, Rao Raja Chattar Sal became the ruler, he was one of the most valiant, principled and just kings of Bundi.
- He built the temple of Keshavarao at Keshoraipatan and Chathra Mahal at Bundi.
- He became king of Bundi after his grandfather Rao Ratan Singh, as his father Gopinath died while Ratan Singh was still ruling.
- Rao Chattar Sal died fighting valiantly as the head of his Hada Rajput troopsin the Battle of Samugarh in 1658 along with his youngest son Bharat Singh Rao Bhao Singh, the eldest son of Chhattar Sal succeeded his father to the throne of Bundi.
- In 1804 Rao Raja Bishan Singh gave valuable assistance to Colonel Monson in his disastrous retreat before Holkar, in revenge for which the Maratha Empire and Pindaris continually ravaged his state and forced the kingdom to pay tribute up to 1817.
- Consequently, Bishan Singh made a subsidiary alliance with the British East India Company on 10 February 1818, which brought him under its protection.
- He was responsible for the creation of the pleasure palace of Sukh Niwas on the outskirts of Bundi.
- Maharao Raja Ram Singh grew up to be a much-respected ruler who initiated economic and administrative reforms and established schools for the teaching of Sanskrit.
- On the throne for 68 years, he was described as a grand specimen of the Rajput gentleman and "the most conservative prince in conservative Rajputana.
- At the time of the partition of India in 1947, the British abandoned their soverignity over the princely states, which were left to decide whether to remain independent or to accede to the newly independent Dominion of India or to Pakistan.
- The ruler of the state of Bundi decided to accede to India, which later became the Union of India. This brought the internal affairs of Bundi under the control of Delhi.
- Bundi's last ruler signed the accession to the Indian Union on 7 April 1949.
Important and unique aspects
- Hoda Rajputs were fierce, fearless warriors often laying down their life at young age, fighting on behalf of their soverign. Owing to this several times a Hoda child ascended the throne of Bundi. Therefore, the role of the royal queen, Diwan and of Dhai ma became very important in royal administrative and political affairs of Bundi.
- The City of Bundi thus grew outwards Taragarh hill.
- Garh Mahal became the focus and an imposing landmark on skyline of Bundi was visible from the valley below.
- Most houses in Bundi have Jharokhas with some screens on upper floors opening on to street, providing light and ventilation.
- Apart from enabling movement and connectivity, these streets also performed the important role as facades of settlement fabric of walled city.
Darwajas in Bundi can be classified as: -
- Entrance gateways of Taragarh, the oldest darwajas
- Four Darwajas of walled city
- Darwajas of outer city wall
- Darwajas on principal streets of walled city
- small darwajas built
- Best example of medieval Indian city exhibiting water harvesting methods adopted at settlement level as well as finest examples of water architecture.
- Location of Baoris and Kunds outside the walled city was also influenced by social considerations as ascess to baoris and kunds were located within walled city was controlled.
- Bundi was also known as Chotti Kashi owing to presence of over hundred temples within and around the hada capital.
- Despite being a Vassal State of Mughal empire, Hada rulers not only retained their hindu religious and cultural traditions but escalated their unflinching affiliation to them manifesting it in large number of temples built during four centuries of Hada hegemony.
- Temples constructed in early phase of Bundi’s growth were is classical Nagara style, while in later phases new temple typologies emerged from amalgamation of architectural form of traditional haveli with the classical Nagara style.
- Jain temples formed third type of temple type constructed in an introvert form, integrating typical Jain temple features like serpentine Torna gateways at entrance, large cuboid opaque mass and central courtyard with and Nagara style shikars on its garbhagriha.
- A fourth temple type emerged in the form of raised or elevated temple. Absence of monumentality in their scale is a distinctive feature of temples in Bundi.
- The diversity in temple forms and liberty exercised in this creation departing from classical, established norms is indicative of freedom and involvement of local communities.
Architectural heritage of Bundi can be classified in six typologies: -
1) Garh (Fort): Taragarh
2) Garh Mahal (Royal Palace): Bhj Mahal
3) Baori (Stepwell): Khoj Darwaja ki Baori
4) Kund (Stepped tank): Dhabhai ji ka Kund
Nagar Kund & Sagar Kund
5) Sagar mahal (Lake Palace) : Moti Mahal
6) Chhatri (Cenotaph) : Chaurasi | <urn:uuid:5e34358d-a9d2-40e6-8f43-e93ff3c90769> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://believersias.com/blog/bundi-architectural-heritage-forgotten-rajput-capital-upsc-civil-services-prelims-exam-2021/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703538741.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20210123222657-20210124012657-00383.warc.gz | en | 0.962017 | 1,396 | 2.75 | 3 |
A Brief Look at the Evolution of The Euro
The Euro is today the single common currency applicable across all European countries. That was not always the case, however; for long individual countries in Europe traded in their own currencies. This was before the concept of a European Union, or union of European countries, became a reality. The Euro officially became a currency on 1st January, 1999. That must have been some relief for the various stakeholders involved in the creation of a common European currency, as the idea had been floated around for many years, going as far back as the 1960s.
On this page we take a brief look at how the Euro was born. We also track the history of the Euro. We also take a quick look at how the Euro came to be used in online casinos and today, even mobile casinos.
The Early Days of the Euro
While the idea of a common currency like the Euro had been around since the 1960s, a concept of that nature had been discussed decades earlier. Gustav Stresemann had actually brought up the need for a common European currency as early as in 1929 in the League of Nations. Nothing much came of it at that time, because people were still coming to terms with how the Latin Monetary Union – a union that had in it France, Switzerland, and also Belgium – had fared. It had been started with much fanfare and come crashing down after World War I.
The first time a serious attempt was made to create a common European currency was in 1969 thanks to steps taken by the European Commission. The European Council then met at The Hague in the December of 1969. After some upheaval, the European Monetary System was initiated in 1979 in the month of March. The EMS effectively paved the way for the Euro, by first fixing exchange rates for the European Currency Unit and then forming the European Monetary Cooperation Fund.
February 1986 saw the formalization of political cooperation between countries in the European Community with the passing of the Single European Act. The drilling down to the details for monetary cooperation – something that the Euro would help bring about – began in Hannover on 14th June 1988 with the start of the European Council Summit. The main opposition to the Euro was for a long time from the UK, with countries like France and Italy backing it.
The Euro Makes its Debut
Between 1986 and the final launch of the Euro in 1999, there was much behind the scenes drama and politicking. Commitment to the European Monetary Union from Germany was leveraged by France agreeing to support the reunification of Germany, a move it had vehemently opposed along with the UK, in 1989.
On 1st July, 1990, another significant step was taken with the taking out of exchange controls and the freeing up of the transfer and movement of capital in the European Community. The next major step was the signing of the Maastricht Treaty on 7th February, 1992. With this treaty the agreement on formation and use of one currency across Europe except for the UK was initiated, a move that was expected to be completed by January 1999.
On the midnight of 1st January, 1999, the Euro was introduced for the first time. At this point it was just virtual currency; there was no hard currency or coins. On this date technically, the individual currencies of the participating countries of Europe became non-functional. It was not possible, of course, to get rid of the older coins and notes in a single day; so they were allowed to be used as legal tender till the actual Euro coins and notes were printed and released. The official Euro hard currency was released on 1st January 2002.
The Euro at Online Casinos
Here is a fun and significant statistic that you may already know – the first online casinos did not offer the Euro as a currency for transaction! The reason of course was simple – the Euro did not exist as a valid currency back in 1994 when the first online casino was launched. The Euro was launched as hard currency only in 2002, though the soft launch had been done back in 1999. This meant that the Euro came to be offered as a valid currency for transacting at online casinos only from 2002.
Today, the Euro is used by more than half the European countries – 19 out of the 28 countries use it. These countries form together what is called the Eurozone, and the countries that are members of the Eurozone are:
There are a few countries that are not part of the Eurozone; these are:
- United Kingdom
- Czech Republic
Members of these countries that are not part of the Eurozone can make payments at online casinos accepting them in their individual currencies. Players from Eurozone member countries have the luxury of making payments in Euros. This makes transacting at the casino easier, as there is no need for currency conversion should the casino not be accepting a local country currency.
The Rise of the Euro at Online Casinos
Initially, the Euro was a currency that was used a bit circumspectly, as you would imagine; that is how all things new usually fare. However, from those humble beginnings the Euro has come a long way today. Studies show that it is today the most popular online casino currencies in use today. Over the years, it has surpassed the formidable US Dollar as the most preferred and used currency for transaction at these casinos.
There have been a number of factors contributing to this rise, not the least of which is the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in the USA in 2006. This resulted in the second most critical factor for the rise of the Euro: the passage of the UIGEA made a large number of casino operators move out of the USA and shift focus to the European market. With the Euro being the prevalent currency in most European countries, it is only natural for its popularity to increase. | <urn:uuid:e2e935c3-ae24-46ad-955a-f2ce2a729384> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | https://www.legalgamblingandthelaw.com/blog/the-history-of-the-euro | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039741219.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20181113041552-20181113063552-00520.warc.gz | en | 0.975926 | 1,184 | 2.671875 | 3 |
You will choose two (2) of the following question prompts. Then you will submit one of the responses for #1, and the other for #2.
Please choose only one (1) of the following questions and write 3-4 well-structured paragraphs that adequately respond to the questions, proving you know and understand the classroom material. See the rubric below.
1. One of the main distinctions between moral theories is the distinction between relativistic moral theories (those that argue that moral theories are relative to individuals or cultures) and universalistic or objective moral theories (i.e., those that hold that there are objective moral truths). Describe the sense in which two of the moral theories we have studied in this course hold an objectivist or universalist position. Why do you think this is the case? Do you think relativism is a defensible position in the face of these theories?
2. Are there some moral duties that can never be violated? Is it possible to rank order your moral duties so that you would know which one to follow when they were in conflict? Even ‘create the best possible outcome’ or ‘maximize good results’ is a kind of moral duty. Is it the only one? What reasons can you provide to think that there are no absolute moral duties?
3. Discuss the ways that virtue ethics is in tension with Kantianism, Utilitarianism, and pluralism. In other words, I want you to consider the ways that virtue ethics is compatible with these moral theories, but I also want you to describe ways that it is contrary to these theories. Should we still think of ethics as a matter of virtue or not?
4. Consider a contentious, contemporary moral issue or moral dilemma and use at least two of the moral theories that we have studied to provide a framework for resolving this dilemma.
5. Would it be possible to create a productive dialogue between Eastern and Western ethical philosophy? What major points of similarity as well as points of difference would you select to focus on for such a discussion? Use the information you’ve learned to construct an answer that will balance both difference and similarity | <urn:uuid:09d760ef-18f3-49b8-a826-f941b0d95c81> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://academicpaperexperts.com/you-will-choose-two-2-of-the-following-question-prompts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100800.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20231209040008-20231209070008-00378.warc.gz | en | 0.95763 | 440 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Published on July 6th, 2012 | by James Ayre4
Aerosols From Small Volcanic Eruptions Can Influence Global Climate
July 6th, 2012 by James Ayre
An international team of researchers has just discovered that aerosols even from comparatively small volcanic eruptions can make it into the high atmosphere when assisted by weather systems such as monsoons. Once in the high atmosphere, aerosols are capable of affecting global temperatures for a short time. If they don’t make into into the high atmosphere, like the aerosols from most small eruptions don’t, then they can’t affect the global climate.
Until this discovery it had been thought that only a massively energetic eruption was capable of injecting aerosols “past the troposphere, the turbulent atmospheric layer closest to Earth, into the stable layers of the stratosphere higher up.”
“If an aerosol is in the lower atmosphere, it’s affected by the weather and it precipitates back down right away,” said Adam Bourassa, the lead researcher from the University of Saskatchewan’s Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies. “Once it reaches the stratosphere, it can persist for years, and with that kind of a sustained lifetime, it can really have a lasting effect.” The effect that he is referring to is the potential cooling of the Earth’s surface caused by the incoming sunlight being scattered.
The researchers analyzed the June 2011 eruption of the Nabro volcano in Eritrea in northeast Africa. “Wind carried the volcanic gas and aerosol — minute droplets of sulfuric acid — into the path of the annual Asian summer monsoon.”
“The stratosphere’s calm layers are high — from 10 km up at the poles to 17 km altitude at the equator — and it was thought storms could not pierce it. For example, the distinctive flattened ‘anvil’ shape at the top of large thunderstorms is created as the storm pushes against the stratosphere.”
“Dust from the Nabro volcano, being slightly heavier, settled out, but the monsoon lofted volcanic gas and the lighter liquid droplets into the stratosphere where they were detected by the Canadian Space Agency’s OSIRIS instrument aboard the Swedish satellite Odin. The Nabro volcano caused the largest stratospheric aerosol load ever recorded by OSIRIS in its more than 10 years of flight.”
OSIRIS was developed to study the upper atmosphere, especially the ozone layer and atmospheric aerosols. Though it was originally intended as a two-year mission, the instrument has been functioning perfectly since its launch back in 2001. It circles around the Earth from North Pole to South Pole once every hour and a half, continually giving new data to the analysis centre at the U of S campus.
“There are only a few instruments that can measure stratospheric aerosols, and OSIRIS is one of them,” Bourassa says. “It’s become extremely important for climate studies, because we’ve captured more than a full decade of data. The longer it’s up, the more valuable it becomes.”
The researchers hope that these findings will help in the refinement of climate models, allowing for the development of models even more accurate than the ones used now.
The research team included scientists from the U of S, Rutgers University in New Jersey, the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, and the University of Wyoming. The funding was provided by NSERC, the Canadian Space Agency, and the U.S. National Science Foundation, with support from the NASA Aura Science Team.
The research appears in the July 6 issue of the journal Science.
Source: University of Saskatchewan
Image Credits: NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data; NASA Earth Observatory; NOAA
Keep up to date with all the most interesting green news on the planet by subscribing to our (free) Planetsave newsletter. | <urn:uuid:9370f71c-ac8b-4b2c-8840-3588dd08fb41> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://planetsave.com/2012/07/06/aerosols-from-small-volcanic-eruptions-can-influence-global-climate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042987174.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002307-00045-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94018 | 836 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Pros and Cons of Solar Panels
The UK has one of the fastest growing Solar industries in the EU, with 650,000 installations last year.
Solar panels are becoming more affordable meaning that the UK is using more clean, renewable energy than ever. As traditional energy prices rise, solar power is becoming an important investment.
Below we review the many pros and cons of solar panels and solar energy in the UK:
Advantages of solar panels
+ Solar Panels produce renewable energy
Solar panels use a renewable energy source, the Sun. The Sun is a renewable energy source because it will not run out, unlike our current main source of energy, Fossil Fuels (coal, oil, gas). Experts predict that the sun will be around for another 7.5 billion years. Compare this to the UK’s own fossil fuel reserves which may be depleted within as little as 5 years and the current worldwide reserves which may be exhausted by 2088 if more people do not utilise renewable energy sources. Solar panels are a way of investing in future generations as the sun provides more than enough energy for the world’s population every year and will continue to do so for the entire time humans populate the Earth.
+ Solar panels also produce clean energy
The electricity produced by solar panels is completely clean. Clean energy means that there are no negative effects on the environment. Solar panels do not produce any harmful byproducts or pollution. Solar panels do not contribute to rising Co2 emissions as fossil fuels do. They are also silent so they do not contribute to noise pollution. There are certain amounts of Co2 and pollution generated in the initial manufacture and transport of the solar panels, however studies have shown that this initial environmental cost is offset by the clean energy that the solar panels produce. It has been suggested that the Solar panels compensate for the energy needed to produce them within their first four years, a relatively quick payback for a system that has the potential to produce clean energy for up to 50 years!
+ Solar panels can save you money
Using the electricity produced from your solar panels means that you are not using as much electricity from the National Grid. This will significantly reduce your monthly energy bills. You could be looking at savings of around £125 per year just on your energy bills (based on a 3.5kW system on a standard family home). This does not include the money that you could actually make from installing solar panels- more on that next! The amount you save is likely to rise year on year as energy prices look set to continue rising, with some experts believing we could see a 50% rise by 2019.
+ Solar panels can also make you money
Installing solar panels on your roof can actually make you money. In order to encourage more people to invest in solar panels the government introduced the Feed-in Tariff (FiT). Through the FiT you can earn money two ways.
Firstly, the government pays you for all the energy you produce, even if you use it yourself, this is called the Generation Tariff. The current rate is 13.39p per kWh, this amounts to around £400 a year from an average 3kW system. The second way you can make money through FiT is by automatically selling the electricity you don't use back to the National Grid, this is called the Export Tariff. At a current rate of 4.85p per kWh you could expect to earn back about £60 a year from exported energy.
The great thing about the FiT is that it is guaranteed at the same rate for 20 years and the payments are Tax-free. Taking into account the savings on your energy bills and the FiT payments the average house could look to earn up to £14,000 over 20 years, that’s nearly £7,000 profit on the initial costs. However, as more people install solar Panels and take advantage of this scheme the rates are getting lower each year. This means if you are considering installing solar panels now is the time to go for it in order to benefit from these payments.
+ Easy installation and maintenance
Solar panel installation is very easy compared to other renewable energy sources. Solar panels can be installed on any suitable roof within a couple of days and you could be using your clean, renewable electricity from the very next day.
The mechanism involved in the solar panel system is very simple which means it is easy to maintain. There are no moving parts which means most systems have a very long lifespan. Many installers guarantee their panels for around 25 years and the systems have been known to last for double that. The only part of the system that may need more care is the inverter. The cleaning and maintenance needs of the solar panels are infrequent and low cost.
+ Increase the value of your house
The lower energy bills of a house with solar panels could be very appealing to potential buyers if you are planning on selling your house within the next decade. The income generated from the Feed-in Tariff and selling excess electricity back to the grid would also be passed on to the future owners. These factors could potentially raise the value of your home. It is difficult to say exactly how much solar panels can add to property value as there are many factors to consider (area, date of installation, type/power of system etc). One of the main reasons people have been adverse to installing solar panels in the past is the fear that they will lower their property’s value due to the unappealing appearance of the panels. However, modern solar panels are becoming sleeker, thinner and more aesthetically pleasing every year. Studies have shown people are now willing to pay more for houses already fitted with solar panels in order to benefit from cheaper energy bills and Feed-in tariff payments.
Disadvantages of solar panels
- Initial costs
The initial cost of installing solar panels is still fairly high. You can expect to pay between £4,000-£6,000 for an 3kW unit to power a family home. However, the costs are steadily declining, just a few years ago you could have expected to pay double that price for a similar unit. The high start-up costs mean that solar panels are an investment. This investment can see large benefits over a period of years. This means that solar panels are most beneficial to those planning on staying in their current home for a number of years and may not be as rewarding for those intending to move in the near future.
There are some schemes which offer free solar panels and installation which could negate the initial costs. However, these schemes are often loans which are repaid through provider collecting the FiT payments. You may still benefit from cheaper energy bills from the offset but remember that if you wish to sell your house you will have to pass on the remaining balance to the new owner. If they do not want to take it on you may have to pay for the solar panels to be removed.
- Solar panels do not produce constant electricity
At present solar panels cannot store energy. This means that they are only providing your house with electricity during daylight hours. There is a common misconception that it has to be hot and sunny for solar panels to work. Fortunately for us Brits, this is not true! All the solar panels need is light. However, this does mean that overnight and during particularly cloudy weather you will automatically switch back to the grid to provide your household electricity. Only using the grid for electricity during these times will still lead to massive savings on your overall energy bills. You can help yourself save even more by using appliances, such as washing machines and dishwashers, during daylight hours to benefit from the cheaper electricity.
One way to combat this problem in the future is with a solar battery. Solar batteries store unused electricity during the day to use when the sun is not able to reach your solar panels. However, at present the batteries are still very expensive and their reliability has not been fully tested. Studies suggest that they will become more efficient and less expensive in the coming years as more people invest in solar power.
- Potential reduction in house value
Some people still do not like the look of solar panels and will therefore be less likely to want to buy your house if you have them. As mentioned above, this number is reducing and solar panels are more likely to add value to your house. It is still worth remembering that they are not to everyone's liking. This is particularly important if you are planning to install solar panels for free through one of the available schemes. If you choose to install solar panels this way you will pass on the obligations of whichever scheme you choose to the potential buyer. If they do not want to carry on the scheme you may have to pay for the panels to be removed.
- Solar panels are not suitable for everyone
Whilst solar panels are able to go onto most houses they are not suitable for everyone. Solar panels will be most beneficial to those with south facing roofs but those with east or west facing roofs will only produce 15% less electricity. If you have a completely north facing roof, or your house is particularly shaded from the sun, Solar panels may not be your best option. Similarly, if you live in a listed building or conservation area you may need to check whether you are allowed to install Solar Panels. Solar panels themselves do not take up very much space as they are installed directly onto your existing roof, however you will need a small amount of attic space for the inverter (the machine that converts the solar power into usable electricity).
Benefits of solar
Solar power can save you significant amounts of money. Using less electricity from the expensive National Grid will lead to large reductions in your monthly energy bills. You can also make money through your solar panels and the government's Feed-in Tariff (FiT). This government incentive pays you for all of the solar energy you produce; both the energy you use yourself and the excess which you sell back to the grid. Solar power has a hugely positive impact on the environment. The use of Fossil Fuels to power our appliances is not sustainable and experts believe if we continue at the current rate we could deplete our fuel reserves within the next 70 years. However, the Sun can give us a never ending supply of energy that will not damage the Earth for future generations in the process! Solar panels are easy to instal and could raise the value of your house.
Are there any bad things about solar?
Solar panels carry a fairly high initial cost. Although the costs have decreased significantly in recent years and will likely continue to do so, the average house could still expect to pay between £4000-£6000 for a 3kW system. If you are willing to invest in solar panels you could see a profit of around £7000 over 20 years and continued savings on energy bills thereafter. Solar panels do not offer electricity during the night or on particularly cloudy days meaning you are still reliant on the National Grid during these times.
Is my home suitable?
Solar panels are suitable for most homes. Houses with a south facing roof will gain the most from solar panels as they have more access to sunlight. However, east and west facing roofs are also suitable and will not see too much of a loss in the solar panel’s efficiency. If you live in a listed building or an area of conservation it is worth checking with your local council to see if solar panels are an option for your home.
Is renewable the way forward?
The energy we currently use from Fossil Fuels is finite, meaning it could run out. In the past we believed this end would not come for a very long time. However, our growing population and their demands has lead to a potential end date within the next 100 years. Renewable energy, such as solar energy from the sun, will never run out! Renewable energy also has a less damaging effect on the environment. The burning of Fossil Fuels releases mass amounts of Co2 and other chemicals into the air causing pollution. Renewable energy is clean and does not contribute to this pollution. So, yes, renewable energy is the way forward and the sooner the better! | <urn:uuid:b4415521-846e-41a7-a6a5-8f988683c09b> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/pros-and-cons-installing-solar-panels | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443738095178.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001222135-00082-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964628 | 2,467 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Clinical psychology is a sub-field in psychology which is concerned with the evaluation and assistance of mental illness, abnormal behavior and relieving psychologically-based distress. It integrates the science of psychology, clinical knowledge, and theoretical knowledge with the treatment of complicated problems. It is one of the most popular sub-fields within psychology. Clinical psychologists are involved in program development and evaluation, teaching and supervision, research, public police, consultation and other activities such as professional practice. It will mean that they will be working with individuals, families, number of individuals collectively, institutions and organizations. Practitioners usually work within a team, for example, of medical practitioners, social workers and other health professionals.
What is clinical psychology and how does it differ from a psychiatrist?
Often clinical psychologists are compared with psychiatrists and even though they have the same fundamental goal their methods, training and outlook is quite different. The most significant difference is that psychiatrists use the medical model to assess psychological problems – meaning they see their patients as people with an illness – and prescribe medication, whereas a forensic psychologist does not. Clinical psychologists also differ from counselors and social workers, because they primarily deal with patients who have recognized problems. A clinical psychologist will treat depression, anxiety and emotional and mental disorders. The treatment of a patient usually includes the evaluation of the overall mental status of the patient and after that it will be determined which specific conditions might affect the patient. Psychoanalysis is mainly used by clinical psychologists to relieve mental distress. During these sessions the life problems of the patient will be evaluated in an environment in which he or she feels comfortable.
Clinical psychologists provide patients with methods to deal with problems such as stress, anxiety and other mental problems. Clinical psychology differs from forensic psychology in that forensic psychology provides psychological assessments in legal situations, whereas clinical psychology is the diagnosing and treatment of psychological dysfunction. A forensic psychologist has duties bound to the criminal justice system and needs to act accordingly. A clinical psychologist, on the other hand, is not helping the legal system but has the duty to help the patient. To become a practitioner of either form of psychology you need to have an accredited graduate degree from a university. A clinical psychologist will either work to obtain a Ph.D. or a PsyD. A Ph.D. is more towards the side of research, whereas a PsyD is more Spokoj Wglowie. | <urn:uuid:23f98648-4033-493d-9e69-f0f56e09e7cb> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://bilalarticles.com/what-is-clinical-psychology/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571222.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20220810222056-20220811012056-00005.warc.gz | en | 0.954395 | 479 | 3.21875 | 3 |
No less an authority than Alexander Solzhenitsyn understood that a considerable dissimilarity existed between Russia and the West. He lived in both, saw the good and bad in both and believed both had something to offer mankind.
What he wouldn’t have understood is that a sizeable percentage of Russians hold former Soviet dictator and mass murderer Joseph Stalin in high regard.
Russians have picked Stalin as the greatest figure in history, beating out President Vladimir Putin and poet Alexander Pushkin, according to a poll released today.
The poll, conducted in April by the Levada Centre, asked Russians to pick the greatest individuals of all time.
Stalin came out on top with 38 percent, while Putin shared second place on 34 percent with Pushkin, Russia’s beloved national poet.
Stalin’s predecessor Vladimir Lenin, Tsar Peter the Great and first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, came next in the list, with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in last place at 6 percent.
The list includes included just three foreigners: Napoleon Bonaparte, Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton.
Stalin is believed responsible for the deaths of as many as 25 million individuals, some executed during his political purges and many more dying in the Gulag, the vast prison camp systems, or through mass starvation such as the Holodomor.
Stalin was a monster on par with Hitler and Mao, and the fact that more than one-third of Russians consider him the greatest figure in history points out either great deficiencies in the Russian educational system, a voluntary myopia among many Russians regarding their past, or a combination of the two.
(Top: A cemetery for victims of the one of Stalin’s gulags in Vorkuta, in Russia’s Far North.) | <urn:uuid:d65ce7b9-0a9e-4b81-8faf-401444b2f88a> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | https://southcarolina1670.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/38-percent-of-russians-show-poor-understanding-of-history/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187825264.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20171022132026-20171022151940-00028.warc.gz | en | 0.956164 | 368 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Equines are essential for the people as they help in transport as well as fast movements to different destinations. Equines like horses offer safe transport for people from one destination to another. There are several things which you should learn about equines so that they can offer you the right services. One of the most essential aspect when it comes to equines like horses is proper health and treatment services. Like any other living organism member, equines also face some suffer from different diseases hence the need for proper treatment and medication. One of the most prevalent diseases which affect horses is the navicular disease. When you realize that your horses are suffering from navicular disease, ensure that you get the right medication so that you can benefit. It is essential for the people to learn that they can restore soundness in their horses through using the best oral gallium nitrate medication which is readily available. You should always ensure that you have the right information about oral gallium nitrate so that you can benefit from it.
There are different websites and blogs which are reputed in assisting you in learning the facts about oral gallium nitrate hence the need for the people to consider accessing them so that they can benefit. The navicular disease causes pain and bone problems in horses and this can be terminated by the best gallium nitrate which is readily available. If you want to save your horses from such pain and bone suffering, ensure that you get the right facts about gallium nitrate so that you can benefit. You should ensure that you learn the facts established by researchers about gallium nitrate so that you can benefit your horse when it has some health problems with bones. It is essential for the people to note that oral gallium nitrate is an inexpensive treatment readily available for navicular disease hence the need for the horse owners to consider purchase it. You need to ensure that you have substantial details about the best gallium nitrate so that you can benefit when you are planning to buy. You should also ensure that you understand the mechanism of action for the best gallium nitrate so that you can benefit.
The best gallium nitrate inhibits bone resorption on the osteoclasts while stimulating bone formation through osteoblasts hence dealing with bone problems. Bone-forming cells are very essential for all the people and that’s why there is the need for the people to ensure that they locate the right medication like oral gallium nitrate to support the process. The best gallium nitrate has anti-pain properties as well as anti-inflammatory therapeutic activity hence the need for the people to consider buying it to assist their horses. Ensure that you help your horse recover from navicular disease through purchasing the best gallium nitrate. Using the internet can help you discover more about gallium nitrate hence able to make the right purchasing decision to save your horse from pain and other bone problems. Navicular disease can cause foot pain and lameness in horses hence the need for the owners to ensure that they go for the advanced gallium nitrate compounds so that they can help them. | <urn:uuid:c743653a-c248-4ea3-92a9-f85a4ec23a29> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | http://www.homekayak.us/the-10-best-resources-for-lessons/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875146186.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20200226023658-20200226053658-00512.warc.gz | en | 0.954816 | 618 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Common Names: blue bream, copperbelly, copperhead bream, "titty" bream (very large fish).
Preferred habitat: Bluegill prefers small and large impoundments as well as sluggish rivers and streams.
Range: statewide, including all rivers, large impoundments and small impoundments.
Common size: 5-10 inches, 3 ounces to 1 pound.
Food Habits: Bluegill feed on a variety of aquatic and terrestrial insects as well as other small invertebrates.
Spawning: After water temperatures exceed 75° F, bluegill will spawn monthly, usually from late May to September. The male will construct a nest in shallow water over sand or mud bottoms. Bluegill will spawn in congregations with other bluegill creating a bedding colony of as many as 100 or more nests. The female will lay, depending on her size and condition, from 2,000 to 65,000 eggs, which are fertilized and guarded by the male. The eggs require one to two days to hatch after which the male will guard the small fish until they have dispersed. In addition to protecting the nest from intruders, the male also aerates the eggs with movements of his fins.
Miscellaneous: Over the years, bluegill sunfish have been responsible for introducing more young people to fishing, than any other fish. They are commonly called bream and can be caught with inexpensive gear using worms, crickets, and other insects as bait. Bluegill sunfish have been used extensively by state and federal farm pond stocking programs. Bluegill are usually stocked in combination with redear sunfish and largemouth bass. Because of the bluegills reproductive capacity, their populations quickly become stunted without adequate predation by largemouth bass. Summer long bluegill spawning provides a steady supply of appropriate sized food for young largemouth bass, which cannot grow larger than 3" without fish in their diet. Concentrations of large numbers of bedding bluegill produce an odor, which is detectable by experienced anglers.
World Record - 4 pounds, 12 ounces, caught in Ketona Lake, Alabama, in 1950. | <urn:uuid:386a66c4-806c-4906-8aa4-c7dce6d1ee51> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://hrla.com/resources/site/ncfish/bluegill.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195527396.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20190721225759-20190722011759-00528.warc.gz | en | 0.951972 | 448 | 3.34375 | 3 |
1902 – O’Connell Memorial Church, Caherciveen, Co. Kerry
The Daniel O’Connell Memorial Church of the Holy Cross, a Gothic Revival-style Church designed by George C. Ashlin. East, West & South Elevations published in The Architect 1888. It was constructed of mass concrete with a fine granite facade between 1886 and 1892, and finally opened for mass in 1902. The 90 ft tall tower and 168ft tall spire illustrated were never completed.
According to The Irish Builder, July 1 1885: “The church is to accommodate about 2,000 people…. There will be a triforium, or passage, over the ceilings of the aisles, opened to the nave by a long arcade, to which access is gained by a staircase at each side of the west porch. These staircases will also lead to the roof gutters of nave. There will also be a staircase in on eof the turrets of tower, giving access to the various floors thereof to the base of the spire and to the gutters of chancel and transept roofs; this, since there will be access from the triforium to the aisles roofs, there is no part of the roofs which cannot be examined without ladders of scaffolding.
The organ gallery will be in the north transept, and will be reached by the nuns (to whose use it will be chiefly confined) by a staircase leading from the choir. There will be a recess for an altar in this transept.
In the tower porch there will be two arched recesses opposite the entrance, in which it is proposed to put bas-reliefs representative of O’Connell’s love for religion, and in the pier between these arches the memorial stone presented by his Holiness Pope Leo XIII, will be set.
The materials throughout are selected with a view to the monumental, and , therefore, as nearly as possible, imperishable character of the work, and the construction is of the more substantial character. The foundations, which are already built, are of cement concrete, about 11ft. deep; the facing of the walls will be of Minard red stone, the dressing of Kerry white limestone, and the dark bands, &c., of black limestone from Castleisland. The whole of the ceilings will be vaulted with concrete groined vaulting, the ribs and arches of stone, and the roofs of oak, covered with Valentia slates.
It is intended to use Irish marbles in the shafts, floors, &c., to a considerable extent.
The style chosen for the building is Gothic of a very early type, – the round turrets and battlements, gables, and parapets giving an Irish character to the composition.” | <urn:uuid:01734012-d908-4d30-b864-40cef3778880> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | http://archiseek.com/2010/1902-oconnell-memorial-church-caherciveen-co-kerry/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875145941.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20200224102135-20200224132135-00532.warc.gz | en | 0.956793 | 581 | 2.75 | 3 |
Throughout the ages, trees been powerful cosmological symbols. Any why not? Their feet extend deep into the soil, while their branches soar into the sky.
Many cultures, regardless of continent or hemisphere, saw trees as the bridge between the sacred and the profane. Ancient Celts and Greeks made sacred certain groves. The Norse envisioned the tree Yggdrasil as holding the universe and its worlds in place. Trees play a significant role in Judeo-Christian beliefs: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Genesis, to the cedars in Ezekiel’s prophecy (17:22-24), and the role the tree plays in the crucifixion of the Christ.
The trees below seemed a modern echo of the axis mundi — a central pillar holding up the roof of the sky, connecting, yet separating earth and sky, ensuring heaven’s light shines down to the earthbound. | <urn:uuid:fe058faf-c3c7-4d9d-8f83-c5c4054015bd> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | https://suburbanferndaleark.wordpress.com/2012/06/24/axis-mundi/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818689490.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20170923052100-20170923072100-00678.warc.gz | en | 0.8921 | 188 | 3.421875 | 3 |
One of the more compelling graphs in the inequality debate is the growth of real family incomes for low, middle, and high income families, going all the way back to the 1940s. The reason for its popularity is that it’s one of the few pictures (though not the only one) that very clearly delineates a period of growing together and a period of growing apart.
For example, comparing two roughly 30 year periods, 1947-79, when inequality was relatively unchanged, incomes just about doubled for each group shown in the figure. But between 1979 and 2010, income growth at the middle and bottom was pretty much flat, with the important exception of the mid-1990s, discussed below. High incomes rose more consistently over the period, though that trend too looks flat in the 2000s. That is, however, an artifact of these data, which exclude realized capital gains, an important income source re inequality’s growth over this period. In fact, other data which include cap gains show that the share of national income accruing to the top 1% grew to historic highs in 2007, before falling with the financial bust in 2008.
Now, there is of course a lot more than unequal growth delineating the two periods. The latter period saw many more women entering the workforce, demographic changes, including more single parent families, and importantly, at least until the mid-1990s, a significant slowing of productivity growth. But there’s no question that inequality was a major factor in play (see note #1).
Another big distinction between these two roughly thirty year periods was the tightness of the labor market. Over the first period, 1947-1979, the average unemployment rate was 5.1%; over the second period, 1979-2010, it was 6.3% (6.1% through 2007). That doesn’t sound like that big a difference in terms of labor market tightness, but it is. Let me explain.
One useful way to assess labor market tightness is to compare the unemployment rate to a construct called the non-accelerating inflationary rate of unemployment, or the NAIRU. The idea behind the NAIRU is that a) there’s a tradeoff between low unemployment and inflation, and b) there’s a rate of unemployment that’s consistent with stable inflation. The implication is that if unemployment falls below the NAIRU, inflation will keep accelerating.
In fact, it’s a slippery concept, this NAIRU idea, and the historical evidence for its existence is mixed at best. Back in the mid-90s, economists thought it was 6%, and when the jobless rate fell below that, they badgered the Fed to raise interest rates so as to forestall the inflationary spiral they were sure was forthcoming. But it turned out that the spiral was a phantom menace—price growth actually decelerated in these years and the jobless rate fell below 4% for a few months in 2000. Most importantly, from my perspective, very low jobless rates in the latter 1990s shows up quite clearly in Figure 1 as helping to generate uniquely favorable income trends for middle and low-income families.
But I still think the concept is useful, and that the estimated NAIRU provides a rough benchmark against which to compare the actual unemployment rate. For example, analysts like those at the Congressional Budget Office, who estimate the NAIRU, make adjustments for demographics that are useful in figuring out the full-employment unemployment rate. As our labor force ages, we’d expect the NAIRU to fall, because older workers tend to have lower unemployment rates.
The figure below plots the CBO’s NAIRU against the actual unemployment rate since the late 1940s. Obviously, we’re way above full employment right now, thanks to the Great Recession. But what’s notable from the perspective of the income trends above is how much more common full employment was in the period when incomes were growing together versus when they were growing apart. There’s an important, substantive linkage here between growth and inequality: at full employment, middle and low-income workers have much more of the bargaining power they require to claim their fair share of the growth they’re helping to generate.
Sources: BLS, CBO
One way to compare how tight the labor market was over these two periods is to ask how many cumulative points of unemployment were spent above and below full employment in each period (to be clear about polarities, “above full employment” means the actual unemployment rate is “too high,” i.e., above the NAIRU, and vice versa—generally speaking: below is good, above is bad).
The next figure shows that over the first period, 1949-1979 unemployment was often below the NAIRU, for 16 cumulative percentage points over the full period (CBO’s NAIRU series starts in ’49). Conversely, unemployment was above the NAIRU for 29 points, 1980-2011. However, 13 of these points are due to the GR—through 2007, we spent 16 points above the NAIRU.
Sources: BLS, CBO
But do these differences really play a role in generating the differences in income growth shown in the first figure? A little regression analysis suggests that they do. Again, this is correlation, not causation, but there’s a lot more detailed evidence, not to mention common sense, that confirms these relationships (see, for example, this book by Dean Baker and me; see also note #2).
The table below shows the result of regressing (log) changes in real incomes—the ones shown in the first figure above—against the annual difference between actual unemployment and the NAIRU. In other words, if the NAIRU in a given year is 5% and the actual unemployment rate is 6%, this variable equals 1 percentage point in that year, and the regression asks how that measure correlates with real income growth.
The full employment hypothesis developed above would predict that the coefficient on the full-employment deviation variable (FED…like the central bank…hee-hee!) would be “large” and negative for low-incomes and small and not particularly significant for high incomes.
The table shows that the results largely fall out as predicted. The coefficient on FED tell you the percent change in real income at each level that you’d expect to see for each point you’re above the NAIRU. So, for low-incomes (20th percentile), that elasticity is -1.3% and statistically significant. For middle incomes, it’s about -0.8% and again, significant. For high incomes, it’s -0.3 and insignificant, meaning that deviation from full employment doesn’t much hurt high income families. R-squared, a measure between 0 and 1 of how well the regression explains changes in real incomes, is around 0.33 for middle and low-income families and only about one-third that amount for high-income families.
Source: my analysis of Census, BLS, CBO data.
Armed with these simple relationships, we can examine how income growth might have been different had unemployment in period two been more like that of period one—i.e., had we hewn closer to the path of full employment.
The figure below shows actual median incomes—the same series as in Figure 1, though now in 2010 $’s instead of indexed to 100—along with two different simulations. One simulates full employment, meaning the FED variable was set to 0, 1980 forward. It’s not a realistic scenario, of course, but gives you the flavor of the cost of slack labor markets. The second scenario is more realistic—it takes the actual FED value over these years and divides them in half, basically asking how middle incomes might have fared had the job market been half as slack as it actually was.
Source: Census data and results in previous table.
In the first simulation, by 2007, right before the GR, middle-class incomes under “pure full employment” were $9,200 above the actual; under “half-full employment,” they were $4,400 higher. Where would this extra income come from? In fact, we’re sacrificing output when we run slack labor markets, so some would come from missing growth. But another source would be more equitable distribution of growth, such as prevailed throughout the first period shown in Figure 1.
In other words, no matter how you cut it, slack is awfully costly to middle and low-income families.
OK—I hopefully have convinced you that full employment matters, it’s a good thing, and it’s particularly important to middle and low-income families. Now you’d probably like to know how we recreate a job market that generates a bar more like the first one in Figure 3 above.
That’s to come. Right now, time to go cheer on the kid, whose team made the local basketball playoffs!
Note #1: I unearthed this excellent Census study—one I recalled finding quite compelling back in the day—which examines the impact of demographic changes on the growth of inequality. It finds they were more important in the 1970s than in the 1980s, while inequality was a factor in both decades, especially the 1980s (e.g., note that in table 7, the fully standardized income shares are about the same as the actual shares, suggesting that demographics were not the driving factor in share changes over the decade ).
Note #2: Interestingly, the whole NAIRU schtick is based on low unemployment leading workers to push for higher wages, which then feed into higher prices. Once workers realize that their higher incomes are getting eaten up by higher inflation, they push for even higher wages, and that sets off the alleged wage/price spiral. | <urn:uuid:87cca760-d77b-48db-a446-f8d1f1947fb5> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/full-employment-a-force-against-rising-inequality-and-stagnant-incomes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578636101.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20190424074540-20190424100540-00271.warc.gz | en | 0.95721 | 2,061 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Science Education - Resources
K-12 Teaching Resources
Trash for Teaching (Los Angeles): Provide donated and recycled materials for teachers to use for engineering projects. In one example project, students used recycled materials to design their own Mars Rover, and were asked to explain why their design would be appropriate for the Martian surface.
Edutopia: Foundation that showcases teaching strategies based on the latest educational research. You can create your own profile and bookmark resources you like.
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD): "The association provides expert and innovative solutions in professional development, capacity building, and educational leadership essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead."
Science Education Resource Center (Carleton): Exhaustive list of teaching strategies, materials, and assessments for instructors at any and all levels.
CK12: Provides interactive modules and aids in the creation of e-textbooks for a variety of STEM fields.
General Teaching Resources
Think Pair Share (TPS) questions can be any multiple choice question posed to the entire class. In general, the format of a TPS question is the following:
- Pose the question and ask students to think about their answers individually.
- Students vote on their answer using clickers, or an equivalent anonymous voting system.
- Students are asked to "convince" the person next to them that their answer is correct.
- Students are asked to vote individually again (it's OK if their answers have changed).
- If most students now have the correct answer, move on. If not, ask if you can clarify the question.
These short worksheets allow students to exhibit conceptual understanding of a particular subject by applying "rules" to a set of information and/or data. The students may work independently or in groups. The important step is for students to justify their work, so that the instructor can be sure that the students are applying a true understanding of the material to the problem at hand. Read more about ranking tasks by clicking here.
Model Eliciting Activities (MEAs) are problem-solving activities for small groups that are designed to reveal the students' thought process to the instructor. They also serve to reveal misconceptions in the students' understanding of the material, and to train students to approach problems like a real scientist would. Read more about MEAs by clicking here.
Context-rich problems are short realistic scenarios giving the students a plausible motivation for solving the problem. The problem is a short story (beginning with "you") in which the major character is the student. Context-rich problems are more complex than traditional problems, reflecting the real world, and may include excess information, or require the student to recall important background information. (from serc.carleton.edu)
Anonymous Voting Systems
During a lecture, you may wish to collect data from the students by posing a multiple choice question. If you want their answers to be anonymous, you may want to use one of the following:
- Clickers: These come at a cost to the students, but have the advantage of being completely anonymous, and give the instructor instant digital feedback. The results of the quiz/question can then be displayed to the entire class. They can also be used to help the instructor take attendance digitally. Clickers can be borrowed (at a cost) from the Office of Instructional Development (OID; UCLA) or from the Center for Education Innovation in the Life Sciences (CEILS; UCLA)
- Plickers: These are similar to clickers, except that they allow the students to use printed response cards as clickers, saving them (and the instructor) money. The instructor uses a cell phone app to read the response cards, thus returning digital data to the instructor in real-time.
- A-B-C-D voting cards: Instead of using expensive clickers, distribute color-coded A-B-C-D voting cards to the students. You distribute them in paper form (and have the students fold them appropriately) or laminate them as separate cards and have the students hold on to them for the duration of the course. The downside is that the students can see each others' answers if they wish. Also, the instructor can evaluate the responses visually, but does not receive any data digitally.
Most people use PowerPoint or KeyNote to write slides for their classes, but you might consider using one of the following:
- Nearpod: You can edit slides similarly to PowerPoint, but with this app, the instructor's computer is synced to the students' devices (students can use computers, tablets, or smartphones). The instructor therefore controls the pacing of the presentation. The benefit of this app is that it includes an interactive quizzing capability build in to the presentation.
- VoiceThread: Create slides with audio clips integrated into the lecture. Once the lecture is made available to the students online, they can add their own audio comments/questions to the lecture.
- iBook Authors: This is a Mac app (available for free from the App Store) which allows instructors to use beautiful book-like templates to create content for their students. It helps you display and organize your class notes into a book-like format that will be easier for students to read.
Evaluating Your Class
Evaluation is a crucial step in the teaching process, yet most people don't think about it until the last day of class. Here are some ways that you can evaluate yourself (or invite evaluations from your peers or students):
- Peer Evaluation: This is a traditional evaluation form used by peer teachers (fellow TAs or faculty members). While this one was taken from UC Berkeley, it is similar to peer review forms at other institutions.
- COPUS (Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM): This is an observation protocol that would be used by a peer teacher in order to evaluate your teaching practices. The evaluation forms can be filled out on paper or online via the GORP app. The benefit of using COPUS is that the evaluator simply reports on the actions of the teacher and the students every 2 minutes in order to paint a picture of the class dynamic as a whole. There are no value judgements made in the process, so the instructor can evaluate whether they are meeting their own personal goals.
- Student Evaluation: Your university likely has an end-of-course student evaluation process in place, but you may wish to write your own to use at the end of the course or sometime during the quarter/semester. Some classes use "exit tickets" that require students to provide feedback after each class before departing. This can give instructors immediate feedback on individual teaching techniques, and gives them time to adapt their class as needed.
- Self Evaluation: Sometimes it might be necessary to evaluate your own class. This can help instructors make sure that they are meeting the goals that they set for themselves. These goals may be different from the things that traditional evaluation forms test for. The important thing in teaching is to be intentional; chose to use teaching techniques because you believe that they fit your teaching style and the needs of the class. Use "backward design" to start your lesson planning process by thinking about the end goals. | <urn:uuid:b52039c9-ac34-4fb9-97bb-ceeadd3b4d34> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://scicommhub.com/education-and-teaching | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257645310.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20180317194447-20180317214447-00739.warc.gz | en | 0.936988 | 1,479 | 4.34375 | 4 |
This is not a good idea.
A brick facade is designed to be a rain and wind screen for the house itself. It is designed with an air space behind the bricks and weeping holes at the bottom to the outside. When the wind hits the wall, it also forces a little air up the weeping holes, creating an almost equal air pressure on both sides of the bricks. This prevents the wind from driving water through the bricks. The building paper on the inner wall sheds any water that manages to get across the gap and directs it down and out the weep holes. The presence of a vented air gap is an integral part of how a brick facade protects a house from rain and wind.
The air space is irregular and very difficult to fill properly with insulation anyway. Foam shot into this cavity can produce a moisture barrier where it could cause a lot of condensation if it does not fill the requirement of being twice as much thermal resistance as all the rest of the insulation in the wall (the 1/3 -- 2/3 rule -- WHERE IS A VAPOUR BARRIER TO BE PLACED?) If the insulation fails to completely fill absolutely every part of the cavity, the gaps will direct water right into the house. Polyurethane foam tends to expand if wet and hot, which could throw the whole brick wall forward into the flower patch.
In sum, not a very good idea when the most you could gain anyway is a half inch or so of insulation. | <urn:uuid:8950c3a2-0fe3-4fbb-bbf4-5f84c051880f> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://joneakes.com/jons-fixit-database/745-CAN-I-SHOOT-INSULATION-INTO-THE-AIR-SPACE-BEHIND-THE-BRICK-FACING | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701168076.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193928-00225-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942297 | 300 | 2.625 | 3 |
The hamlet of Kinneyside in the parish of St. Bees, Cumbria is believed to be the place of origin of this unusual name. The derivation is from the Olde English words "cena" a personal name meaning "the Bold one" plus "leah" a farm or enclosure, plus "Side" meaning "a Hill Side". The name development includes the following recordings which are both later than usual and particularly prevalent (in different spellings) in the Township of Milburn. Elizabeth Kindleyside who may be also the first recorded person (below) married John Oglethorp at Milburn in 1771, but is more likely to be the Elizabeth Kidleysides, who married Isaac Holmes, also at Milburn on April 9th 1787. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Elizabeth Keenleysidy, which was dated 1765, christened at Milburn Church, Cumberland, during the reign of King George III, "Farmer George", 1760 - 1820. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling. | <urn:uuid:cfc28567-dd7a-4182-b210-665d078d2d11> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://namestele.com/english/surname-Keenlyside-history-23266.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257647251.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20180320013620-20180320033620-00635.warc.gz | en | 0.972028 | 258 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Ethereum is another form of cryptocurrency like Bitcoin but unlike Bitcoin, it does not seek to be a ‘currency’ (for e.g. Dash) but rather a decentralized application platform. What does this mean?
Traditional applications run off servers/computers and as long as the person has access to the code and the databases, these applications can be modified and changed. A simple example are online betting sites whereby you a place a bet on an outcome and when the outcome is achieved, you get a payout. You have to trust the online betting site to give you this payout and if they choose not to do so, your only recourse is a legal one which can be messy with questionable results. With a decentralized application on Ethereum, the betting application is uploaded onto the Ethereum blockchain platform as a smart contract. Once uploaded, the contract cannot be modified and therefore once the outcome is achieved, you automatically get your payout based on the rules set in the contract. It’s a self enforcing contract.
How do you get Ethereum to create and run these contracts? You can either buy it off a cryptocurrency exchange or mine it. This guide teaches you how to do it on Windows. At the point of writing the price of one Ether is USD13.23
Download the official Ethereum wallet and create an account. It will sync Ethereum’s blockchain which may take several hours depending on how fast your internet connection is.
Take note of the Ethereum address.
Edit eth-proxy.conf as follows below and change the bolded parts to suit your chosen Ethereum mining pool. For the purposes of this example we are using ethpool.org which is one of the oldest mining pools for Ethereum.
# Examples of command line for miners:
# ethminer.exe –farm-recheck 200 -G -F http://HOST:PORT/
# ethminer.exe –farm-recheck 300 -G -F http://HOST:PORT/rig1
# ethminer.exe -G -F http://127.0.0.1:8080/
# ethminer.exe –farm-recheck 100 -G -F http://192.168.0.33:8080/rig1
# farm-recheck parameter is very individual. Just test different values.
# You can submit shares without workername or
# You can provide workername:
# – with url like “/rig1”
# – or use automatically numbering(integer) based on IP of miner
# EU-Server: eu1.ethpool.org Port: 3333
# US-Server: us1.ethpool.org Port: 3333
# Asia-Server: asia1.ethpool.org Port: 3333
# Select Ethereum ETH
COIN = “ETH”
# Host and port for your workers
HOST = “127.0.0.1”
PORT = 8080
# Coin address where money goes
WALLET = “YOURETHEREUMADDRESS“
# It’s useful for individually monitoring and statistic
ENABLE_WORKER_ID = True
# Main pool
POOL_HOST = “asia1.ethpool.org“
POOL_PORT = 3333
# Failover pool
POOL_FAILOVER_ENABLE = True
POOL_HOST_FAILOVER1 = “eu1.ethpool.org”
POOL_PORT_FAILOVER1 = 3333
POOL_HOST_FAILOVER2 = “eth-us.dwarfpool.com”
POOL_PORT_FAILOVER2 = 8008
POOL_HOST_FAILOVER3 = “eth-hk.dwarfpool.com”
POOL_PORT_FAILOVER3 = 8008
LOG_TO_FILE = True
# Enable debug
DEBUG = False
Download ethminer (it comes also with other applications but we won’t be using those) which is the main mining software. Install it.
Depending on your setup, the information you enter into the config file will be different.
Create a new file in notepad and name it ethminer.bat with the following information (after editing it) and save it.
For single GPU setup:
ethminer -F http://127.0.0.1:8080/rig1 –farm-recheck 200 -G
If you have more than one GPU on the computer, this is specified with the -t flag. Below shows an example with 2 GPUs:
ethminer -F http://127.0.0.1:8080/rig1 –farm-recheck 200 -G -t 2
If you have an internal GPU (For example Intel) and also a dedicated GPU, the mining software sometimes refuses to load. You have to let the program know which GPU to use using the following command
ethminer -F http://127.0.0.1:8080/rig1 –farm-recheck 200 -G –opencl-platform 1
Save ethminer.bat in the same folder as ethminer.exe (usually C:\Program Files\Ethereum).
Now start-up eth-proxy.exe.
Then double click on ethminer.bat.
After a few seconds, it should show something like this which means you’re mining!
You can monitor your mining also from your mining pool’s website and entering your Ethereum address that you created when you created your wallet. | <urn:uuid:6f603d3b-7f90-4907-90bd-28c5aa11bce6> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | https://www.bolehvpn.net/announcement/how-to-mine-ethereum-in-windows/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257647556.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20180321004405-20180321024405-00580.warc.gz | en | 0.815529 | 1,189 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Bottlenose dolphins are the Navy's best defense against dangerous underwater explosives - called mines. At the Marine Mammal Program in San Diego, California, these amazing animals are trained to find mines and then flag their location. It sounds risky - but it's not. Mines are designed to go off when ships bump into them - not dolphins. The dolphins are born and raised at the base - where there are dozens of scientists and handlers who take care of them and study their behavior. They are trained with love and, of course, lots of tasty fish. In return, they use their unique biosonar ability, called echolocation, to do a job that's impossible for humans or robots. They can quickly and accurately locate mines buried deep under the ocean floor. These dolphins are great at their job, and their mine-hunting missions have found hundreds of mines and saved countless lives. | <urn:uuid:b4143896-1512-4b38-838f-cdaa62ae7655> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | http://aptv.org/IQLEARNING/DigitaLibrary/digitalmediadetail.asp?ConVidID=681 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794863684.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20180520190018-20180520205928-00020.warc.gz | en | 0.97581 | 180 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Due to its simplicity (requires minimum external components) and high availability, LM386 is very popular among hobbyists for use in low-voltage audio amplification applications. Most of the time a potentiometer is used at the input side of LM386 to provide a volume control in the output speaker. The potentiometer does not control the gain of the amplifier itself, but it creates a voltage divider network at the input, which in fact controls the fraction of the audio signal that is fed to the amplifier. This project is about a stereo audio amplifier using two LM386 ICs with digital volume control for both left and right speakers. So, how would you control the volume digitally? You are right, by replacing the traditional electro-mechanical form of potentiometers with digital potentiometer chips. This project uses MAXIM’s DS1868 dual digital potentiometer chip and a PIC microcontroller to control the volume of a stereo output from two LM386 ICs.
Tons of resources can be found on the internet about LM386 and so I am not going to describe it in detail here. The LM386 IC has got 8 pins which require very few external components to work as a mono amplifier. The circuit below is taken from the datasheet and shows the external components required for constructing a mono-channel audio amplifier with LM386. An external 10K potentiometer at the input is used to control the volume of the output speaker. For a stereo audio amplifier, we need two of this circuit.
The supply voltage range for LM386 is wide (4-18 V). It can be powered with a +9V PP3 battery. For digital volume control feature, we will replace the external 10K potentiometer at the input stage with a digital potentiometer chip. MAXIM’s DS1868 is a dual digital potentiometer chip. Each wiper terminal has 256 positions between the high and low end of the potentiometer. The wiper position is set by an 8-bit control value that is stored into the I/O register of DS1868. The communication with the host microcontroller is done through a 3-wire serial interface. Please read my previous post, ‘How to interface MAXIM’s DS1868 digital potentiometer with a PIC microcontroller‘ for further detail on DS1868.
For more detail: LM386 based stereo audio amplifier with digital volume control
Current Project / Post can also be found using:
- pic audio projects
- pic 16f mp3 player diy
- microcontroller audio projects
- pic program for sound system | <urn:uuid:6e1e0b67-99cf-416f-8fd1-031c87da76e2> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://pic-microcontroller.com/lm386-based-stereo-audio-amplifier-digital-volume-control/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320303845.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20220122103819-20220122133819-00654.warc.gz | en | 0.858181 | 543 | 2.6875 | 3 |
The effects of codeine and tramadol use – Short and long-term effects of drug abuse/addiction.
The Effects of Codeine and Tramadol Use
What is Codeine?
Codeine is an opioid pain medication. It is used to treat mild to moderately severe pain. It is one of the many pharmaceuticals classified as an opiate. Opiates are narcotics with a high potential for addiction.
Codeine is used to provide relief from a number of conditions. They include:
- Mild to moderate pain
- Severe pain (when combined with aspirin or paracetamol)
- Dry irritating cough
- Cold and flu (when combined with antihistamines and decongestants)
Some people misuse codeine by intentionally taking more than the recommended dose to get high, or as an act of self-harm. Most individuals who are prescribed codeine to manage a medical illness take the drug directly as prescribed and never have a problem, but some individuals develop an addiction.
Used for centuries to manage pain in chronic pain sufferers, codeine and other opiates are becoming the drug of choice for many drug addicts. In fact, opiates are now the most commonly abused drugs in the world. Opiates such as codeine are drugs of abuse due to the powerful effects on the user. In addition to pain relief, in higher doses, codeine can lead to a pleasurable euphoric sensation. When opiates enter the nervous system, they activate the reward system of the brain, allowing for the excessive release of pleasurable hormones. It is this feeling that codeine addicts crave.
Like any addiction, codeine use and abuse can lead to devastating health and interpersonal problems. Many individuals who abuse codeine become tolerant to the mild effects of the narcotic and begin to abuse heavier and stronger narcotics to achieve greater highs. In addition, many individuals with codeine addiction begin to use other drugs such as benzodiazepines and alcohol in order to achieve greater highs. Others may abuse codeine and stimulant drugs in order to reduce the side effects of the stimulants and produce a more mellow high.
Codeine addiction is a serious disorder that can cause much suffering for all involved.
Symptoms of codeine abuse
The symptoms of codeine abuse are varied among addicts depending largely upon the length of time a person abuses codeine, the amount used, and the frequency of usage. Some of the most common symptoms of codeine abuse are:
- Emotional numbing
- The sense of well-being and calmness
- Mood swings
- Withdrawing socially from loved ones
- Social isolation
- Forging prescription in order to obtain more codeine
- Doctor shopping or visiting a number of doctors in order to obtain greater amounts of codeine
- Frequent ER visit for vague complaints of pain
- Stealing or borrowing codeine from friends
- Financial problems
- Fixation on codeine
- Legal problems
- Health care fraud
- Indifference toward loved ones, job, and social activities
- Ordering codeine on the internet
- Faking illness to obtain more codeine
- Lying to hide the amount of codeine being abused
- Interpersonal relationship problems
- Poor work or school performance
- Nodding off during a conversation
- Blue tinges on the lips and fingernail beds
- Dry mouth
- Urinary retention
- Low blood pressure
- Decreased sex drive
- Respiratory depression
- Worsening of mental health
- Decreased memory
- Increased mental illness symptoms
- Lack of emotions
Effects of codeine abuse
The effects of codeine addiction can impact nearly every area of an individual’s life. These effects include:
- Acute pancreatitis
- Liver damage
- Kidney damage
- Increased sensitivity to pain
- Major depression
- Muscle twitches, cramps, spasms, and pain
- Respiratory depression
- Cold and clammy skin
- Lack of muscle tone
- Job loss
- Legal problems
- Domestic abuse
Effects of withdrawal
Depending on the length of time a person is addicted to codeine, he or she may suffer from severe symptoms of withdrawal. Withdrawal from opiates such as codeine should always be done under the care of a medical professional. These withdrawal effects include:
- Intense drug cravings
- Runny eyes and nose
- Chills and goosebumps
- Stomach cramps
- Nausea and vomiting
- Muscle spasms
- Suicidal thoughts
- Homicidal thoughts
- Racing thoughts
What is Tramadol?
Tramadol is a synthetic opioid analgesic (painkiller) that is frequently prescribed to manage moderate to severe levels of pain such as that experienced after surgery or in chronic conditions like arthritis.
The drug, while somewhat atypical with its activity as an opioid, still elicits its narcotic properties via the brain’s opioid receptors. Similar to other drugs in this class of substances, some people may be at risk for addiction if they:
- use it for a long period of time
- take larger doses than recommended
- take it more frequently than has been prescribed
- take it for non-medical purposes
- take it concurrently with other substances such as alcohol, sedatives, or other painkillers.
Addiction is characterized by:
- Compulsive drug seeking behaviour
- An inability to limit use on one’s own
- Difficulty functioning without the drug
Tramadol works by modifying the processing of pain signals travelling between the nerves and the brain. However, it has several different targets in the nervous system, each importing contributions to tramadol’s pain relieving and sometimes, mood altering properties. However, two well-known effects of tramadol are considered to be the most relevant for its ability to relieve pain and encourage abuse.
First, like heroin, codeine, and all other opiate analgesics, tramadol binds to opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord. These receptors are responsible for both the pain-relieving effects that patients need and at higher doses, the euphoric effects that abusers seek.
Because tramadol is much less potent than other commonly abused narcotics when it is injected, it was thought to be a safe alternative to other painkillers like morphine. However, when taken by mouth, tramadol is converted into another compound called -desmethyltramadol, which is a much more potent activator of opioid receptors than tramadol itself. As a result, users may get high on tramadol, even if that was not their intention when they first started taking the drug.
The second important mechanism of tramadol is that it raises the brain levels of the neurotransmitters; serotonin and norepinephrine, similar to antidepressant drugs like venlafaxine (Effexor). Ultram’s effect on serotonin and norepinephrine signalling in the brain is thought to be partially responsible for the drugs ability to reduce depressive and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in patients taking it.
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Side effects of tramadol
- Difficulty falling asleep
- A headache
- Loss of appetite
- Dry mouth
- Hives, blisters, or rash
- Difficulty swallowing or breathing
- Lack of coordination
- Rapid heartbeat
Note: People who have a seizure disorder should consult with their doctor prior to taking tramadol. Tramadol’s effects on various neurotransmitter systems are thought to mediate potential pro-epileptic response. In other words, this medication may cause seizures. This property also makes tramadol especially dangerous for abusers because the probability of convulsions or seizures increases at high doses.
- Physical dependence
- Cognitive decline
While tramadol must be used carefully, patients should not stop taking it suddenly. Discontinuing use of tramadol need to be done gradually and under the guidance of a physician.
Stopping the medication all at once may produce unpleasant and even dangerous withdrawal symptoms. Nervousness, chills, nausea, and diarrhoea are common side effects of withdrawing from tramadol abruptly.
N.B: If you feel you are in a crisis, or you are having thoughts about hurting yourself or others, please call the emergency number 9-1-1 or go to the nearest emergency room immediately. | <urn:uuid:1dc7b987-2117-4702-acff-4b758848fe49> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://naijafoodtherapy.com/the-effects-of-codeine-and-tramadol-use/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514577478.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20190923172009-20190923194009-00282.warc.gz | en | 0.916026 | 1,749 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Received 4 July 2016; accepted 16 July 2016; published 19 July 2016
At present, after the golden developing period of 20 years, chain business enterprises are facing slow growth, weak consumption, rising costs, fierce competition and other difficulties and challenges . The improvement of competitiveness of chain business enterprises is a matter of their survival and development. The researches of this aspect are relatively scattered. This paper uses the system theory to analyze the structure of competitiveness of chain business enterprises, and provides creative methods and measures for the improvement of their competitiveness.
2. Overview of the System Theory
The system theory was created by L.V. Bertalanffy, an American scientist. The system theory believes that integrity, relevance, grade structure, dynamic balancing, time sequence, etc. are the common basic characteristics of all systems. These characteristics are the basic ideas of the system theory and the basic principles of system approach. The system theory not only is the scientific theory reflecting the objective law, but also has the significance of scientific methodology. It can represent concepts, ideas, models and mathematical methods.
The core of the system theory is the overall concept of the system. Bertalanffy emphasized that any system is an organic whole, but not mechanical combination or simple addition of each part. The system’s overall function is the property which each element does not have in the isolated state. Aristotle said: “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts”. Bertalanffy used his saying explain the integrity of the system, and opposed the idea of mechanism which describes the whole with parts. This idea believes that if the performance of elements is good, the overall performance must be good. The elements in the system do not exist in isolation. Each element in the system is in a certain position, and plays a certain role. The elements are correlated, and constitute an integral whole. Elements are elements in the whole. If they are separated from the system as a whole, the elements of will lose their effect.
The basic method of system theory is considering the object studied and treated as a system; analyzing the system structure and functions; studying the relation among and the law of change of the system, elements and the environment; and constantly optimizing the system. Everything in the world can be seen as a system. The system is universal. The universe, microscopic atoms, a swarm of bees, a machine, an enterprise and so on is a system. The whole world is a collection of the systems.
According to the system theory, the chain business enterprise is also a complex system. The chain business enterprise system is made up of chain headquarters subsystem, store subsystem and logistics and distribution subsystem. Chain headquarters subsystem is the command center of the enterprise, it stores implementation unified operation and management, unified development, allocation and management of enterprise’s human, financial, logistics and product, the formation of the overall brand image; sub system of chain stores is terminal sales of the enterprises. It is directly dealing with customers, providing goods and services to customers, the final completion of the sales function of the enterprise; chain logistics and distribution subsystem is enterprise of power system, it directly for the stores to provide goods storage, distribution, delivery and logistics information. On the one hand, the operation of the chain business enterprise system is affected by micro environmental factors (suppliers, customers, competitors) and macro environment factors (policy, economy and society) outside the system. On the other hand, it is affected by the interaction and coordination among subsystems in the system.
3. Overview of the Enterprise Competitiveness
Enterprise competitiveness refers to the enterprise’s comprehensive ability to realize its own value by cultivating its own resources and capabilities, obtaining, integrating and utilizing external resources and creating values for customers under the competitive market conditions. It also refers to a kind of unique skills and technology with which a company can bring special benefits to the customers. Competitiveness is the decisive ability for an enterprise to gain competitive advantage in the market competition.
The competitiveness of enterprises is divided into three levels. The first level is the product level, including product production and quality control ability of enterprises, enterprise services, cost control, marketing and R & D ability; the second level is the system level, including the structure platform consisting of different operation and management elements internal and external environment of enterprises, resource interactions, operation mechanism of enterprise, enterprise scale, brand and property right system of enterprises; the third level is the core level, including enterprise culture centered on enterprise concept and enterprise values, the consistent internal and external enterprise image, enterprise innovation ability, differentiated and personalized enterprise features, sound finance, and excellent development goals. The first level is the competitiveness of on the surface; the second level is the competitiveness of the support platform; and the third level is the core competitiveness.
The enterprise competitiveness theory focuses on developing and studying the abilities of enterprises, giving full play to their own resources and ability advantages, and creating the competitive advantages better than for enterprises. At the same time, this theory requires enterprises to use their advantages of intangible resources and organizational abilities, and extend their assets stock and abilities, so as to gain lasting competitive advantages. As the market competition environment increasingly becomes complex, enterprises should not only strengthen various internal abilities, and improve the internal resource integration ability, but also pay attention to enterprises’ connection with the external environment, use external resources, and set up the competitive cooperation concept. These requirements actually reflect views of the system theory. For smooth survival in the environment, a subject should pay attention to not only coordination of the internal elements, but also cooperation of external elements.
4. Analysis on the Structure of Competitive of Chain Business Enterprises
The competitiveness of chain business enterprises refers to the comprehensive ability to continuously and effectively meet customer demands, and obtain the competitive advantages and their own development in a certain market environment compared with competitors. It is shown as the brand competitiveness externally, and service ability and logistics ability of the store market. Therefore, competitiveness factors of chain business enterprises include the resources allocation ability of headquarters, distribution ability of logistics system and market service ability of stores .
4.1. The Resources Allocation Ability of Headquarters Refers to the Chain Headquarters’ Ability of Enterprise Development, Configuration and Control
The resources allocation ability of headquarters reflects the chain business enterprises’ business areas, operation efficiency, management level, etc. It is the core competence of competitiveness of the chain business enterprises. Chain headquarters is the command center of the enterprise which implements unified operation management of stores; unified development, distribution and management of the enterprise’s brand, manpower, finance, logistics and products; and forms the overall brand image. Corporate headquarters should focus on the coordination of external relations, build good channels, form strategic alliance with upstream and downstream enterprises, and give full play to the headquarters’ heart and brain function . In addition, the overall enterprise must pay special attention to the overall corporate strategy, combine with its own situation, take the cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy and focus strategy, and implement the enterprise culture construction through the realization of vision.
4.2. The Market Service Ability of Stores Is the Basic Ability of the Chain Business Enterprise
Stores deal with customers every day, provide customers with goods and services, and ultimately complete the enterprise sales. So the operation of stores is directly reflected in the performance of headquarters. Consumers usually do not directly communicate with chain enterprises. Their cognition to the enterprise completely comes from their daily shopping experience, so if stores cannot meet the needs of the customers well and provide perfect services, this part of consumers will disappear. Therefore, the market service ability of stores should b paid special attention to . In addition, one of the key factors of success of chain enterprises is the location of the store. The headquarters should establish a set of perfect store location assessment system consistent with the characteristics of their enterprise. When the location is selected, the market potential analysis, investigation and analysis on business area, and other kinds of research should be completed, so as to provide scientific and rational data support to the confirmation of store address. After the confirmation of the location, the headquarters can provide stores with corresponding store plan, implementation standards and procedures, and provide the best service for the establishment of each new store.
4.3. The Distribution Ability of Logistics System of a Key Part of the Competitiveness of Chain Business Enterprises
The logistics distribution system is a specialized agency which directly provides stores with goods storage, distribution, delivery and logistics information processing. First, because they face the pressure brought by the increasingly complex business environment, chain enterprises must strengthen the concept of improvement of the ability of logistics, promote the informationalization and intelligentizing of distribution, and series and flexibility of services, and strengthen the execution of logistics distribution, so that the products can be quickly distributed from headquarters to the chain stores. Second, the headquarters should build the information platform, provide strong support to distribution, and provide guarantees to the product distribution of stores. Third, the chain enterprises should attach great importance to the strategic choice of the distribution mode, fully and effectively integrate logistics resources, break the distribution boundary among the stores, and improve the overall distribution capabilities.
5. Methods and Measures for the Improvement of Competitiveness of Business Enterprises
To survive in the fierce market competition, and become bigger and stronger, chain business enterprises must attach importance to the integration of internal and external resources, and constantly improve their own competitiveness. According to the analysis on the competitiveness structure of chain business enterprises, the author put forward the following methods and measures:
5.1. Define the Product Positioning, and Build the Enterprise Image
Product positioning means that through the market segmentation, the enterprise selects the market development space suitable for its operation for its products in the target market. Product positioning establishes the image and status of brand or product in the eyes of consumers, and the image and status should be different. It gives the product specific personality. It can adapt to the target market, and meet consumer demand, so as to improve the competitiveness of product or brand. In the face of fierce competition, chain business enterprises must have clear positioning, set up a clear business idea, and implement the differentiation strategy. They should pay special attention to customer orientation, and meet the needs of their customers through the analysis on consumer behaviors and demands. Enterprises should strive for differential operation, obvious distinguish the products and brand from those of competitive enterprises, and create their own store characteristics; and provide marketable products by understanding the needs of the consumers, according to the needs of the consumers. At the same time, they should pay close attention to the trend of the market change, adapt to the changing market, and ensure that they are not discarded by consumers. Therefore, enterprises should regularly make innovative marketing strategies, such as product promotion, relationship marketing and network marketing.
5.2. Use the Advanced Technology, and Optimize the Logistics System
In the operation of chain business enterprises, logistics technology plays a very important role. Excellent distribution ability of the logistics system can greatly reduce the total cost of the enterprise, and can improve the speed of response to customer demands. Chain enterprises should get rid of the bad habit of focusing on production and ignoring logistics in the industrial economic era, quickly build a modern logistics system, improve the ability of logistics, reduce logistics cost and create more values. Wal-Mart’s success cannot go without its good technical facilities and advanced logistics management ability. It established the supplier information management system with and P & G. At the same time, Wal-Mart spent a lot of money on communication satellite and other facilities, established a perfect distribution system in the global market, conducted comprehensive and in- depth analysis on inventory cost, transportation cost and management cost of logistics cost, established the information integration system by strengthening the collaborative commerce of supply chain, reasonably planned, reduced inventory and improved the efficiency of management, so as to reduce logistics costs, greatly shorten the delivery time of the supply chain system, and win the competitive advantages for the enterprise.
5.3. Innovate the High-Quality Service, and Create the Chain Brand
Under the background of the era of global economic integration, the enterprise competition has gradually changed from product and price to the competition for customers. Whether customer service is perfect and continuously innovated has become an important indicator of the enterprise’s survival . Perfect service is the secret of enterprise success. A survey of American Marketing Strategy Plan Association shows that 91% of customers will avoid companies with poor services, 80% of people look for companies with better services, and even 20% of people would rather spend more money for good service. In the fierce competition, product and technology advantages alone are not enough. Chain business enterprises must provide the professional, standard and continuously innovated services to impress customers. As consumers pay more attention to service experience, service brands have drawn more attention from chain business enterprises. Many service firms create their own service brands, such as banking, communication, retail and other industries. Even many manufacturing enterprises have began to build the service brands, such as household appliances, automobiles, electronics, tobacco and other production enterprises. Chain business enterprises should form and solidify their own high- quality brands in the eyes of customers by continuously improving and innovating services and providing differentiated services, and continuously improve the market competitiveness of chain business enterprises .
Chain commercial enterprises are facing increasingly fierce competition. Application system on the idea and method of direct management of enterprise, make its headquarters subsystem, coordinated operation of the stores subsystem and logistics distribution sub system, through the implementation of a clear product positioning, to create corporate image; use of advanced technology, optimize logistics system; innovation and high quality services, to create a chain brand measures, and constantly improve the competitiveness of chain commercial enterprises.
Ji, M. (2013) Research on Evaluation and Improvement of Competitiveness of Home Appliance Retail Chain Enterprises in China: Take Gome Group as an Example. Journal of Political Economy and Management, No. 6. | <urn:uuid:1eafae2b-842e-418b-ac71-13a7add5564f> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://m.scirp.org/papers/68614 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662644142.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20220529103854-20220529133854-00386.warc.gz | en | 0.934571 | 2,850 | 2.625 | 3 |
Dating violence is a common sight in America, where a potential romantic relationship can be marred by the jealousy and insecurities of one partner. Parents need to understand that unhealthy relationships during teenage may persist for life. Therefore, it is necessary that they guide their teens about emerging signs of a violent relationship during the early days of their dating.
Teenage dating violence often starts with teasing and name calling in private or in front of friends and strangers. Boys usually consider this a ‘normal’ part of a relationship, but this may lead to more serious violence; physical assault and rape. So, parents should teach their teens to be careful if they see any of the following signs in their partner:
- Explain to your teen that if there is anything about their partner that makes them suspicious or gives them an ‘uh-oh’ feeling, then it's time they re-think their decision to date this person.
- Language is a powerful tool which tells a lot about a person. It’s not acceptable that your teen's partner talks in a demeaning tone about them in front of friends or in private. This behavior is a stepping stone for many, and problems can escalate any day.
- Another red flag is if your teen's partner is always putting him/herself at the center of every issue and blaming your teen for every little thing that upsets them.
- He/she gets angry or sulky when your teen wants to spend some time with their friends. Their interaction with members of the opposite sex is not met well.
- Your teen's boyfriend or girlfriend asks them to change in a certain way as per his/her wishes. This may involve dressing up the way they like, listening to their choice of music etc.
- They try to assert his/her control over your teen by manipulating their opinion or forcing them to do things which make them uncomfortable – sexual or otherwise.
- Disagreements are a part of a healthy relationship. However, observe how your teen's partner argues - rationally and calmly or aggressively.
- Observe your teen when they are in a conflicting situation. See if your teen's partner loses their calm easily or try to resolve the situation with ease and cool headedness.
Dating and relationships is an important part of teenage life. However, teens need to be cautious and should adopt dating-violence prevention measures. | <urn:uuid:3c38345d-78b2-4307-96e4-6e548b7c79bc> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://www.secureteen.com/domestic-violence/warning-signs-to-look-out-for-in-teen-dating/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195526560.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20190720173623-20190720195623-00361.warc.gz | en | 0.95813 | 488 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Public secondary schools; right of students to freedom of expression; limitations; definitions
Section 82. The right of students to freedom of expression in the public schools of the commonwealth shall not be abridged, provided that such right shall not cause any disruption or disorder within the school. Freedom of expression shall include without limitation, the rights and responsibilities of students, collectively and individually, (a) to express their views through speech and symbols, (b) to write, publish and disseminate their views, (c) to assemble peaceably on school property for the purpose of expressing their opinions. Any assembly planned by students during regularly scheduled school hours shall be held only at a time and place approved in advance by the school principal or his designee.
No expression made by students in the exercise of such rights shall be deemed to be an expression of school policy and no school officials shall be held responsible in any civil or criminal action for any expression made or published by the students.
For the purposes of this section and sections eighty-three to eighty-five, inclusive, the word student shall mean any person attending a public secondary school in the commonwealth. The word school official shall mean any member or employee of the local school committee. | <urn:uuid:18a12417-69c5-4571-bc7d-2efcadcec881> | CC-MAIN-2015-27 | https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXII/Chapter71/Section82/Print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-27/segments/1435375094924.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20150627031814-00015-ip-10-179-60-89.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956145 | 248 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Magnesium deficiency affects at least 68% of Americans according to the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. In other words, two out of three people you know are magnesium deficient. And the worst part is… most don’t even know it!
Magnesium has often been touted as the “miracle mineral” and is responsible for more than 300 biological functions in our bodies. It plays a key role in our overall health and is a powerful antidote to stress.
So what does that mean? Our bones, muscles, and brains must have adequate magnesium levels in order to fully function. If we have deficiencies, then our bodies are struggling to keep us going. This can lead to a number of health-related issues.
Many symptoms of a magnesium deficiency are common ailments for people and often shrugged off as just something we have to live with. If you have any symptoms in your body that seem out of the ordinary, take note- our bodies know what they need, we just have to be willing to seek out what that is.
10 Magnesium Deficiency Symptoms
1- Muscle Cramps and Twitches
3- Irritability or Anxiety
4- Constipation or IBS
5- Headaches and Migraines
8- Chronic Fatigue
9- Kidney Stones
10- High Blood Pressure
Causes of Magnesium Deficiency
Industrial agriculture practices have starved our soil of many needed minerals- especially Magnesium. If it’s not in the soil- then it’s not in our food.
Poor Gut Health
In order to properly absorb nutrients and minerals into our bodies, our gut’s have to be healthy. Overuse of alcohol, antibiotics, antacids, antidepressants, and even excess stress can cause major intestinal problems.
The standard American diet (SAD) is highly processed and consists of mostly white flour, meat, and dairy- none of which contain magnesium.
How Can You Fix a Magnesium Deficiency
The most important thing you can do to begin to heal a Magnesium deficiency is to eat a diet rich in minerals and nutrients.
Some foods with the highest magnesium content include:
- Leafy Greens (Cooked Spinach)
- Pumpkin Seeds
- Brown Rice
- Flax Seed
- Sunflower Seeds
- Dark Chocolate
In some cases, a magnesium supplement is needed to bring levels up within a healthy range. Check with your health care provider if you think you need more support in healing your magnesium deficiency. And check out some of our favorite magnesium-rich recipes. | <urn:uuid:68b5eb3a-edde-4bfd-9680-aa53d9acead1> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.jennwalden.com/10-signs-of-a-magnesium-deficiency/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141188800.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20201126142720-20201126172720-00421.warc.gz | en | 0.914151 | 527 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Dark Fields of the Republic: Alexander Gardner Photographs, 1859-1872
September 18, 2015 - March 13, 2016
Alexander Gardner created dramatic and vivid photographs of battlefields, which included images of the recently dead. These shocking Civil War-era images continue to haunt the national imagination. After the war, Gardner went west, creating unforgettable pictures of western landscape and portraits of American Indians.
Also included in "Dark Fields of the Republic" are Gardner's portraits of President Abraham Lincoln and other leading figures, both military and civilian. His best-known work, the museum's "cracked-plate" photograph of Lincoln, will be on view for this exhibition. The sitting on Feb. 5, 1865, took place mere weeks before Lincoln's assassination in April. The glass plate cracked, and Gardner created only one print before throwing the plate away.
The show also documents the course of American expansion as settlers moved westward after the war and includes landscapes and portraits of American Indians. Gardner's landscapes, with their sense of almost limitless horizons, juxtaposed with his detailed portraits of Indian chiefs and tribal delegations, have a haunting specificity and gravity. The exhibition is curated by David C. Ward, Portrait Gallery senior historian, with guest curator Heather Shannon, former photo archivist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, and research assistance from Sarah Campbell.
"Dark Fields of the Republic: Alexander Gardner Photographs, 1859-1872" is funded by members of the exhibition's leadership committee. The co-chairs for this philanthropic committee are gratefully acknowledged: The Abraham and Virginia Weiss Charitable Trust, Amy and Marc Meadows, in honor of Wendy Wick Reaves; The Stoneridge Fund of Amy and Marc Meadows; The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation; Peter and Rhondda Grant; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Uhler; and Kate Kelly and George Schweitzer.
On "Dark Fields of The Republic: Alexander Gardner Photographs, 1859-1872"
"Those with an interest in the Civil War, and Lincoln, will find the show thoroughly absorbing, but it is far more than a Civil War exhibition. Curator David Ward is sketching a larger picture of America in the late 19th century, a country transformed by war, disillusioned yet ambitious, moving seamlessly from internecine strife to genocidal violence against its native population."
Thursday, September 17, 2015
English language large type labels are available for smartphones via Guide By Cell:
Text: AGEN to 56512
Las traducciones al español están disponibles en tu smartphone vía Guide By Cell
Texto: AGSP para 56512
The Guide By Cell mobile applications have been made possible with support from the Philip and Elizabeth Ryan Fund | <urn:uuid:68bddecb-eab4-4c26-ad50-6ce0ab08c651> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | http://npg.si.edu/exhibition/dark-fields-republic-alexander-gardner-photographs-1859-1872 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501170914.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104610-00490-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.896376 | 571 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Machine Learning Tools Offer Much, but We Pesky Humans Continue to Play the Most Important Role
In simple terms, that “most important role” is the cycle of observation followed by critical thinking followed by action. It’s important to bear in mind that the proper goal of Machine Learning (ML) is not abdication of human responsibility for decision-making. Rather, it’s improving our individual and collective ability to make better decisions by leveraging increased speed, accuracy and absence of bias. Our context here is supply chain planning and execution, but there is no reason to limit the scope of Machine Learning.
When it comes to designing and creating technology solutions for supply chain analytics and business intelligence, this is not a throw-away idea buried in a long-forgotten PowerPoint presentation. Halo’s point of view is clear: “We at Halo prefer to start with the user experience. We identify the optimal way for an expert to interact with data to improve decisions. We then work backwards to find the appropriate solutions that enhance the user experience so that the expert has more data at hand for making better decisions. The expert user interacts with data, reports, and forecasts. The variance from forecast identifies business processes that decision makers will want to understand and take management action on.”
Always start with a user’s needs and work backwards.
A quick examination of some recent examples of the influence of emerging technologies — such as Machine Learning and artificial intelligence (AI) — demonstrates that the human element always was and in fact always has to be paramount. The early hype focused on harnessing the advantages that machines have over humans. Math, speed, brute force, impartiality: this was exhilarating stuff, but it was never about a diminished role for humans.
In 2016, Lowe’s introduced LoweBot, an autonomous retail service robot in Lowe’s stores throughout the San Francisco Bay area. For the customer, LoweBot is able to find products in multiple languages and effectively navigate the store. As LoweBot helps customers with simple questions, it enables employees to spend more time offering their expertise and specialty knowledge to customers. Furthermore, LoweBot is able to assist with inventory monitoring in real time, which helps employees detect patterns that might guide future business decisions. Employees are receiving a double benefit: more time to focus on the strategic versus the mundane and real-time inputs to improve inventory management.
Or consider Walmart’s use of satellite photography and drones for scanning its warehouses. These technologies offer speed, accuracy, and attention to detail. They dutifully report what they find but offer no commentary.
In 2015, IBM acquired The Weather Company. According to IBM’s website, businesses can now make better decisions by using weather data. “Our solutions connect newscasters, airline pilots, energy traders, insurance executives, state agency employees, retail management and more to the weather intel they need, on any device. We aggregate the deepest, richest data-sets — both business and consumer — to deliver personal, reliable and actionable weather information, analytics and insight.”
Using weather data as context, we’re living through a progression that looks something like this:
- Everyone has known forever that weather impacts the sales of many goods and services. Absent Machine Learning tools, humans did the best they could to forecast demand and plan inventory. Mom’s lemonade-stand wisdom held sway: “Make one pitcher at a time while it’s raining.”
- Next was the advent of the descriptive power of Big Data, enabled by giving powerful computers access to vast troves of digital data on the Internet. Call it the era of correlations. As one Walmart executive put it: “We don’t know why berries sell better when the temperature is below 80 degrees. We just go with it. We stock more berries and sell more berries.”
- The next frontier: efficient Machine Learning software implementations that encourage machines to learn, refine and steadily improve the utility offered to decision-makers.
What does that next frontier look like in practical terms? To start with, it means closing the loop by benchmarking results, providing feedback and refining plans, again and again. Ultimately, Machine Learning becomes a closed system when the data flows are highly automated, modeling is continuously updated based on the latest information, and the output of the data processing is an automated input to a business decision — like a forecasting decision or an inventory position decision. And it means the benefits of automation are always balanced against the understanding that positive business results come from human actions. | <urn:uuid:1bc431ea-0c4e-493e-a257-cc71116601a7> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | https://halobi.com/blog/machine-learning-tools-improve-supply-chain-performance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583517628.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20181024001232-20181024022732-00189.warc.gz | en | 0.93258 | 937 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Views:26 Author:Site Editor Publish Time: 2018-05-11 Origin:Site
Flexography (often abbreviated to flexo) is a form of printing process which utilizes a flexible relief plate. It is essentially a modern version of letterpress which can be used for printing on almost any type of substrate, including plastic, metallic films, cellophane, and paper. It is widely used for printing on the non-porous substrates required for various types of food packaging (it is also well suited for printing large areas of solid colour).
Flexo has an advantage over lithography in that it can use a wider range of inks, water based rather than oil based inks, and is good at printing on a variety of different materials like plastic, foil, acetate film, brown paper, and other materials used in packaging. Typical products printed using flexography include brown corrugated boxes, flexible packaging including retail and shopping bags, food and hygiene bags and sacks, milk and beverage cartons, flexible plastics, self-adhesive labels, disposable cups and containers, envelopes and wallpaper. In recent years there has also been a move towards laminates, where two or more materials are bonded together to produce new material with different properties than either of the originals. A number of newspapers now eschew the more common offset lithography process in favour of flexo. Flexographic inks, like those used in gravure and unlike those used in lithography, generally have a low viscosity. This enables faster drying and, as a result, faster production, which results in lower costs.
Printing press speeds of up to 750 meters per minute (2000 feet per minute) are achievable now with modern technology high-end printers. Flexo printing is widely used in the converting industry for printing plastic materials for packaging and other end uses. For maximum efficiency, the flexo presses produce large rolls of material that are then slit down to their finished size on slitting machine. | <urn:uuid:4154f49a-3450-4643-aac3-daffa0957e84> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://www.dencherntech.com/Flexo-printing-application-id555497.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243989814.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20210513142421-20210513172421-00467.warc.gz | en | 0.935618 | 407 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Economic factors affecting business
These are some of the economic environment factors which affect business
At what stage of the business cycle is the economy
If the economy is going through a recession it is obvious that businesses generally will not be doing well due to low aggregate demand in the economy. On the other hand, a boom period will lead to higher business profits and revenue for most of the businesses in the economy.
High rate of inflation leads to lower purchasing power for consumers resulting in lower demand for goods and services. Moreover, a higher inflation rate will make business uncompetitive in the international market leading to lower sales for the business.
Prevailing interest rates
Higher Interest rates will lead to a fall in the aggregate demand in the economy thus leading to difficulty for business to find customers willing to buy its product. Lower interest rates will lead to a increase in demand in the economy.
High level of unemployment in the country can also adversely affect a business. People will not have enough money to purchase a firm’s product.
High labor cost will result higher production costs. This will make a firm’s product more expensive as compared to other firms affecting its sales and profit margin.
Levels of disposable income and income distribution
High level of disposable income is good for business producing luxury goods. A large disparity in income distribution will promote businesses dealing in luxury goods as well as inferior goods.
High level of taxes will lead to low disposable income and contraction of demand in the economy. Business will find it difficult to attract consumers.
Tariffs are taxes and imposed on imported goods. If the tariffs are low the domestic market may be flooded with cheap imported goods and the local businesses will have tough time selling their products.
|< Prev||Next >| | <urn:uuid:eb74bd1f-6fe7-41ce-875c-34fe8b346024> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://www.dineshbakshi.com/igcse-business-studies/external-environment/revision-notes/64-economic-environment-factors | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860113553.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161513-00207-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950492 | 354 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Why hobbies are so important
What are your hobbies?
I believe that everyone should have 1-2 hobbies that they participate in on a regular basis.
What is a hobby?
A hobby is an activity that you freely participate in solely based on the fact that you enjoy it.
Why are hobbies so important?
- Hobbies keep us engaged, occupied, and make us come alive.
- Hobbies are an effective tool/strategy in preventing eating out of boredom.
- Hobbies give you a way to take your mind off the stresses of everyday life.
- Having a hobby can help your social life and create a bond with others.
What do you if you already have hobbies…
- If you already have hobbies – great! Your homework is simply to make sure that you schedule time each and every week for yourself. We schedule dentist appointments and carve out time to cook and clean; so why not schedule fun time as well? A hobby is not an obligation. It’s something you do because you want to.
- Make sure you are consistently improving with whatever your chosen hobbies are. Watch videos, take online courses, and most important of all -have fun!
What do you if you don’t have hobbies…
- If you don’t have any hobbies, ask yourself: What did you love to do when you were younger, before life got hectic? What makes you feel relaxed and most like yourself?
- Say “yes” to opportunities to try new things. Next time someone invites you to do something that is maybe a little out of your comfort zone, say YES and go into that experience with an open heart and an open mind. Who knows what new hobbies are in store for you.
By: Justin A. Seedman BS, CPT, CHC, BCS
Ready to take control of your health and fitness?
Partner with us to get expert coaching, support and accountability. | <urn:uuid:09b2b16f-fcb9-48e1-b5a3-8f42d78ad3c7> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://justinfit.com/hobbies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400192887.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20200919204805-20200919234805-00139.warc.gz | en | 0.951511 | 404 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Title Pollution from fat lingers in your kitchen, warn scientists Degree of recognition International Media name/outlet Telegraph Media type Duration/Length/Size 1 Country/Territory United Kingdom Date 9/12/20 Description By Olivia Rudgard ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT
POLLUTION from frying food survives in your kitchen for several days, scien- tists warned, as they explained why fatty particles linger for longer.
Researchers at the University of Bir- mingham said they had unlocked the mystery of why pollution from cooking with fat seemed to hang around in the air for days longer than other types.
Indoor air pollution from cooking is increasingly being seen as a risk to peo- ple’s health. Gas hobs also release nitro- gen dioxide and carbon monoxide, with many people exposed indoors to levels of dirty air that would be illegal outside.
Scientists recommend using an extractor fan or opening windows to reduce these levels, but the paper, pub- lished in the journal Faraday Discus- sions, suggests that this pollution is also an issue for the wider atmosphere.
The team also said that policymakers should consider regulating pollution created by fast food restaurants, which
is not currently taken into account. In the UK up to 10 per cent of air pollution is thought to come from this source, ris- ing to up to 39 per cent in Hong Kong and 22 per cent in some of China’s cities.
Dr Christian Pfrang, the lead author, said this was a particular issue when cooking with fat at high temperatures, such as deep fat frying.
The pollution is caused by unsaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid, emit- ted when cooking with fat, which interact with water in the atmosphere.
This creates a crust preventing them from being broken down by ozone in the atmosphere, as normally happens with air pollution.
They can also join up with other sub- stances including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are emitted by car exhausts and are carcinogenic, causing these to linger too. The process could also affect the weather by affecting the ability of water droplets to form clouds.
Dr Pfrang said: “The implications of this should be taken into account in city planning.”
Producer/Author Olivia Rudgard (The Telegraph's ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT) Persons Christian Pfrang | <urn:uuid:7cd852f2-dc85-40f6-a450-8f4a2ae743a4> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/en/clippings/pollution-from-fat-lingers-in-your-kitchen-warn-scientists | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030336674.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001132802-20221001162802-00438.warc.gz | en | 0.948612 | 505 | 2.90625 | 3 |
This recipe is now the easiest way to mass-produce pure graphene - sheets of carbon just one atom thick, researchers said.
The material has been predicted to revolutionise the electronics industry, based on its unusual electrical and thermal properties.
But until now, manufacturing high-quality graphene in large quantities has proved difficult the best lab techniques manage less than half a gram per hour, 'New Scientist' reported.
Jonathan Coleman of Trinity College Dublin in Ireland and his team were contracted by Thomas Swan, a chemicals firm based in Consett, UK.
From previous work the team knew that it is possible to shear graphene from graphite, the form of carbon found in pencil lead. Graphite is essentially made from sheets of graphene stacked together like a deck of cards, and sliding it in the right way can separate the layers.
The team put graphite powder and a solvent fluid in a laboratory mixer and set it spinning. Analysis with an electron microscope confirmed that they had produced graphene at a rate of about 5 grams per hour.
To find out how well the process could scale, they tried out different types of motors and solvents. They discovered that a kitchen blender and Fairy Liquid, a UK brand of dishwashing liquid, would also do the job.
However, Coleman said people may not want to try this at home. The exact amount of dishwashing liquid required depends on the properties of the graphite powder, such as the size distribution of the grains and whether any materials other than carbon are contaminating the sample.
These can only be determined using advanced lab equipment. The method also does not convert all the graphite to graphene, so the two materials have to be separated afterwards.
The team's calculations suggest the technique is scalable to industrial levels - a 10,000 litre vat with the right motor could produce 100 grams per hour. | <urn:uuid:a9dd7926-5ca4-404b-909e-af0fffc626b5> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | http://www.financialexpress.com/archive/now-make-graphene-in-your-kitchen-with-soap-and-blender/1242446/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187823997.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20171020082720-20171020102720-00086.warc.gz | en | 0.955032 | 377 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Data is a predictor of human behavior, the glue that holds sales and marketing teams together. In fact, data is the single most powerful growth tool in any business arsenal. On average, customers across the globe generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data per day. Within the next five years, businesses will need to analyse a massive 150 trillion gigabytes of data to gain the insights needed to stay competitive.
In the short term, ‘big data’ can help your business automate critical processes, reduce waste, and maximise value for the customer. Essentially, big data can be leveraged to help you identify key areas in your workflows for automation. It can also help you eliminate waste through predictive modeling. The latter allows you to pinpoint gaps in inventory systems and remove workflow frictions that are decreasing productivity levels.
In the long term, data facilitates growth by giving you visibility into critical KPIs. Undeniably, it’s become increasingly apparent that big data is key to helping businesses optimise processes. And, most importantly, Lean, DevSecOps, and Agile are all intertwined with your ability to analyse data at scale.
As businesses continue to adopt robotic process automation to streamline workflows and create additional business value, finding ways to gather and analyse data is key to creating an RPA-driven lean environment. To do this, it’s important to understand the deep relationship between RPA and big data and leverage that relationship to make consistent changes in your value stream and the processes that define that value stream.
What is Robotic Process Automation?
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a technology that automates processes and reduces human intervention via the use of “robots”(software-based AI). Leslie Willcocks — Professor of Work, Technology, and Globalization at the London School of Economics and Political Science — defines RPA in perhaps the simplest terms.
“RPA takes the robot out of the human.” — Leslie Willcocks
Essentially, RPA takes mundane, repetitive routines that workers have to perform daily and automates them. Still, workers invariably fear that robots will replace their jobs. A recent report shows that the fears may not be unfounded. However, the same report also finds that a “1 percent increase in the stock of robots per manufacturing worker leads to a 0.1 percent boost to productivity…enough to drive meaningful economic growth.” All things considered, a 30% rise in RPA would boost global GDP by 5.3%. RPA actually empowers workers to engage in higher-value tasks, especially those that require creativity, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence.
For businesses, the value of automating business processes is immediate. This includes reduced error rates, increased productivity levels, and reduced worker strain. In all, 98% of IT leaders agree that RPA is vital in driving business benefits in today’s digital ecosystem. For workers, these repetitive processes are a barrier to higher productivity. Not surprisingly, 13% of employees cite repetitive tasks as their biggest time-waster (ahead of meetings, emails, and workplace distractions).
What is Lean?
Originally created by Toyota, lean is a method of waste reduction and continuous improvement. There’s a marriage-of-sorts between Lean, Agile, and DevOps, however. If Agile is product management through increased team collaboration and DevOps is software management with shift-left product testing, then lean is the overarching process that facilitates both.
- Understanding the value that customers want out of your product/service
- Discovering the value stream for the product/service and identifying steps that generate waste within that stream
- Ensuring all service processes are congruent and efficient
- Reducing inventory waste and making data available for the entire value stream
- Implementing continuous improvement
In other words, lean involves assessing the value of your product, mapping out the value stream that facilitates the making of that product, ensuring all business processes work seamlessly, leveraging data to improve those processes, and consistently enhancing your value stream.
What is Big Data?
Big data is two things. It refers to all of the structured and unstructured data that your business accumulates. And, it refers to the field of analysing that data via predictive models and algorithms. Specifically, big data refers to both your data itself and how you handle it. Chances are, you have data and lots of it.
Nearly 90% of all data was created over the last few years. Every day, consumers generate more and more data. And, subsequently, your business needs to process that accumulating data. As far back as 2015, businesses that invested heavily in big data saw their profits grow by a baseline of 8%. In today’s digitally transformed landscape, however, big data isn’t a defining feature — it’s a necessity.
Your data is the gas that powers your business engine. It helps you make decisions, uncover customer behaviors, and drive profitability within your processes. And, big data also fuels RPA — which in turn helps you adhere to the lean methodology.
Understanding the Relationship Between RPA, Lean, and Big Data
When most businesses think of RPA, they generally think in terms of human processes. But RPA robots can also be used to sort and analyse data, as well. One of the primary issues with big data is quality. 95% of businesses cite unstructured data as their primary barrier to successful big data adoption.
RPA bots can analyse, sort, and examine data before passing it on to human controllers (or other bots). This means that RPA tools can be used to sift through a huge big data framework to identify critical data — which helps you analyse data faster and create more realistic and accurate predictive models.
Most importantly, these models can empower your lean methodology. Essentially, lean is rooted in waste reduction and continuous improvement. By using RPA to identify “good” data in your big data framework, you can better understand your overall value stream and uncover wasteful, time-consuming processes.
Not only can RPA collate data across your big data architecture, but it can also do it in a hyper-structured manner. This means you can pinpoint and extract the most valuable data in your architecture and immediately leverage that data to make impactful decisions — like pinpointing the most business-critical process to automate.
Leverage Shibumi to Implement Lean With RPA and Big Data
RPA, lean, and big data are all different value levers in your organization. Together, they enable each other to boost performance, reduce waste, and breed efficient business practices. If you’d like to leverage all three, Shibumi can help. With Shibumi, you can track and prioritize RPA opportunities across your big data architecture. Need actionable insights from your big data stack to guide you towards leaner, more efficient RPA utilisation? If so, Shibumi can find those insights and deliver them directly to your dashboard. Correspondingly, are you ready to maximise the value of your RPA processes? Then, don’t wait to check out our free demo today. | <urn:uuid:d3d0fb11-19f4-4e03-8c12-e914e5ecb5f6> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://shibumi.com/blog/implement-lean-with-rpa-and-big-data/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446710916.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20221202215443-20221203005443-00010.warc.gz | en | 0.922609 | 1,475 | 2.578125 | 3 |
This should probably go in the physics help forum website, but phf seems to have a few glitches that have made it difficult for me to post there.
Anyways, it's really just a simple algebra question that has probably been asked thousands of times:
In Newton's distance formula for a constantly accelerating object, to wit:
why don't the t's cancel??
I.e. why isn't Newton's formula instead:
which simply says that the distance travelled is equal to the average of the initial and final velocities multiplied by the time taken. Which, for constant acceleration, is correct.
(Geometrically, the distance travelled = area under the v-t graph. For constant acceleration this is a straight line graph, and the formula is simply the area of a trapezium.) | <urn:uuid:91e71485-1360-4429-8fdc-7100efe7547c> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://mathhelpforum.com/algebra/104259-why-don-t-t-s-cancel.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207930995.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113210-00120-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962112 | 167 | 2.6875 | 3 |
What Is asthma?
Asthma is a common, chronic respiratory disease
Asthma has two main components that make it tough to breathe: inflammation (swelling and excess mucus build-up in the airways) and airway constriction (tightening of the muscles surrounding the airways). Treating both components of the disease is necessary for many patients to achieve optimal asthma control and to help prevent symptoms, including coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. Whether mild or life-threatening, these symptoms can interfere with sleeping and disrupt daily life.
Asthma can occur at any age, although it most often begins early in life. Young children who have frequent respiratory infections and episodes of wheezing are at the highest risk of developing asthma that continues beyond age six. Other risk factors include having eczema (an allergic skin condition), or parents who have asthma. Physicians diagnose asthma based on medical history, a physical exam, results from lung function tests, and other measures.
While researchers don’t know asthma’s exact cause, they believe it’s the result of a combination of factors such as family genes and environment. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) continues to fund research on asthma to further understanding of the disease and the best ways to control asthma in children, adults, and special populations while working to accelerate the translation of new research discoveries into practice.
Asthma is a serious public health problem
Asthma currently affects about 25 million people in the United States, including seven million children. More than half of people with asthma experience at least one asthma attack (a worsening of asthma symptoms) each year. These attacks lead to more than 1.7 million emergency department visits and about 450,000 hospitalizations annually.
Moreover, while most deaths due to asthma are preventable, more than 3,000 people in the United States die from asthma each year. Altogether, the direct and indirect costs of asthma to the U.S. economy are projected to reach $20.7 billion in 2010.
Asthma is a growing challenge for disadvantaged communities
Asthma disparities are a persistent problem. Urban and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities bear a disproportionately greater asthma burden. These disparities also exist along ethnic and racial lines. Compared with the overall population, African American and Puerto Rican populations are more likely to have asthma, to experience greater asthma severity, and to have higher-than-average rates of hospitalization, emergency room visits, and deaths due to asthma.
Asthma can be controlled
Although there is no cure for asthma, with the right care, most people with asthma can minimize their symptoms, prevent asthma flare-ups, and improve their quality of life. To guide treatment decisions, clinicians can look to third and latest set of asthma guidelines issued by the NHLBI’s National Asthma Education and Prevention Program in 2007. With appropriate medical care, healthy environments, and well-informed and empowered patients, asthma can be controlled and patients can lead full, active lives. Health care providers and patients should accept nothing less.
Last Updated September 2011 | <urn:uuid:bc26b9ea-626a-4bf3-a612-f5cf5fd55ee3> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-pro/resources/lung/naci/asthma-info/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701167599.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193927-00101-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944027 | 636 | 3.984375 | 4 |
As I said in the first installment, these defensive shooting terms and concepts are roughly grouped so that like things are treated together. In this episode, let’s look at concepts about the shooting part of defensive or tactical shooting — those things that involve and affect actually delivering a bullet to the target.
Let’s start with a discussion on accuracy. Many people use the terms “precision” and “accuracy” interchangeably, but they’re not the same. Knowing the difference and how each contributes to success (or failure) in defensive shooting is critical to your skill development.
Tactical Shooting Precision:Precision is the degree of carefulness to which you shoot, which in turn depends on what you need to hit. The area of precision can be practically defined as that where each hit is equal (or approximately so) in value or effect to every other hit. The smaller that area, the more carefully you need to shoot in order to make those hits. The area of precision determines how much skill you need to use, which means that the target dictates the precision to which you need to shoot. Precision is a variable because each different target has a larger or smaller area in which each shot is equal to the next, and your job as a shooter is to recognize that area (which is the level of precision) and apply the amount of carefulness (skill) in order to put your bullets into that area.
Accuracy: Accuracy means that the bullet went where you, the shooter, intended it to go. When considering the target, accuracy refers to whether or not your shots landed within the area of precision that the target required. Accuracy is therefore a digital (yes or no) condition; you either hit within the area of precision the target dictated, or you didn’t. The degree to which you missed can sometimes be a diagnostic aid, but in absolute terms you either are, or are not, accurate; there is no such thing as shooting “more accurately” or “less accurately”, only to greater or lesser degrees of precision. Your goal as a defensive shooter always has to be accurate hits inside the area of precision that the target has dictated; shots that miss are inefficient, because even though they might contribute to your attacker’s incapacitation they use up time and ammunition which would have been better utilized making an accurate shot.
Balance of Speed and Precision: This is a concept that goes back a long way in shooting history, but only recently has it come to the fore of the shooting world to be thoroughly explored and codified. If you’ve been shooting any length of time, you know intuitively that if you have a more “difficult” target (one which requires more carefulness from you — a smaller area or a longer distance, for instance) you slow down as you apply more control (skill) to making the shot. That is the essence of the Balance of Speed and Precision: applying more skill to shoot to a higher level of precision takes time (and effort.) Defensive tactical shooting is always a balance of speed and precision; you’re always looking to shoot as quickly as you can for any given level of precision required, with the goal being 100% accuracy. Every shooting situation you encounter will have a different balance of speed and precision, and a large function of your training and practice needs to be developing your ability to recognize what the proper balance is in any situation. Shoot too quickly and your accuracy suffers; shoot too slowly and you waste time that could have been better spent delivering more rounds to the threat. Learning the proper balance is key to defending yourself efficiently.
Actually getting shots on target involves aligning the gun properly and keeping it aligned until the bullet has left the bore of the gun. There are several mechanical concepts which apply, but not all are equal — and the most important one isn’t what most people think it is.
Sight Alignment: Sight alignment refers to taking the care to make sure that the front and rear blades are in their proper position relative to each other. With typical pistols sights, for instance, sight alignment means that the front sight is placed in the rear notch so that the tops of the sights are even and there is an equal amount of open space on either side of the front blade. In technical terms, sight alignment is referred to as superposition (from the root ‘superpose’.) Note that optical sights, such as scopes and red dots, do not employ the concept of sight alignment. This is one of the two most common sources of alignment errors on target; the other is in sight picture. For another take on this topic, you can review this PDN Video.
Sight Picture: Sight picture refers to the proper placement of the aligned sights (or the optical reticle) on the target; this is technically known as superimposition. This is the second source of alignment error on the target (the first being sight alignment.) The reason most people shoot better with red dots and other optical sights is because the error of sight alignment is removed, leaving only the potential error with the sight picture.
It’s worth noting that, from a conceptual standpoint, you use your sights whenever you need to shoot to a greater level of precision than you can without them. Efficient defensive shooting sight use isn’t whenever you “can” — it’s whenever you NEED to.
Trigger Control: manipulating the trigger to fire a round without disturbing the gun in the process. A lot of people find this difficult to accept, but sight alignment and sight picture errors aren’t usually the source of accuracy problems; trigger control is. Even if you’re not using your sights — simply mechanically indexed on target — poor trigger control will cause the shots to be inaccurate, often to an amazing degree. Manipulating the trigger without moving the gun starts with a solid grasp to avoid the gun moving in the hand or the remaining fingers contracting in sympathy with the trigger finger. Pressing the trigger straight back, seemingly directly into the palm of the hand, is also critical to good trigger control. If the trigger is pushed to one side, or pulled to the other, the gun will move enough to throw the shot off. Trigger control is also influenced by the fit of the gun to the hand; if the gun is much too large or much too small for the shooter, trigger control becomes much more difficult. This is one of the reasons why proper gun fit is more than just “what feels good to you”!
Finally, let’s look at a defensive shooting concept that many people will argue about and obsess over without really understanding.
Shooting stance: A defensive shooting stance is a particular combination of upper and lower body (feet, primarily) positioning. The environment and circumstances in which you shoot will largely dictate your lower body positioning; the ground and items on it affects where your feet can be, and sometimes that may not be where you’ve practiced or what your “ideal” stance is. In training and practice, adopting a neutral stance — where the feet are roughly parallel to the target and about shoulder-width apart, which is what the body tends to do naturally when surprised by a threat — makes it easier to adapt to an improvised position if that’s what circumstances force you to do. It isn’t nearly as easy to adapt to circumstances if your training has used an off-center or off-balance foot position and you’re forced into a position that is completely opposite. Such lopsided stances are usually taught from a misguided attempt to gain a perceived mechanical advantage.
The upper body portion of the stance is dictated by your body’s normal, natural threat reactions. Both scientific and empirical evidence suggest that our natural inclination is to square off to the threat, with our torsos parallel to the attacker, and to put whatever tool we use on our centerline and extend to arm’s length. Our visual systems as well are keyed to that type of response to be able to align the tool on target as efficiently as possible. The so-called “Isosceles” stance in its traditional form — with both arms thrust out and as straight as possible, elbows preferably locked and shoulders rolled forward — is the closest to our body’s natural reactions. If you remember the discussion about “intuitive” from the first part of this series, this stance is intuitive because it works in concert with the way our body wants to react to a threat.
Other stances, where the body is bladed or the arms bent in some fashion, are non-intuitive because they don’t match what our bodies want to do naturally. It’s difficult to find any empirical evidence that training can override this natural reaction when someone is truly surprised and in fear of their life.
In the next installment, we’ll look at those things that describe or develop your ability to perceive or respond to the presence of an immediate and lethal threat.
Other installments of this series:
42 Most Important Ideas in Defensive Shooting
42 Most Important Ideas in Defensive Shooting: Part III | <urn:uuid:9d0b1513-8897-46b8-bfee-a1639ea13b17> | CC-MAIN-2021-25 | https://www.personaldefensenetwork.com/article/42-most-important-ideas-in-defensive-shooting-part-ii/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-25/segments/1623487649688.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20210619172612-20210619202612-00212.warc.gz | en | 0.951222 | 1,879 | 2.78125 | 3 |
LIHUE — More of the Pacific Ocean could be designated as critical habitat for three populations of endangered humpback whales, potentially protecting the migrating mammals from things like gear entanglement and boat strikes.
Proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the rule would designate a total of 302,961 square nautical miles in the Pacific Ocean as critical habitat for the threatened Mexico distinct population segment (DPS), the endangered Central America DPS, and the endangered Western North Pacific DPS of humpback whales.
Specifically, the rule designates 48,459 square miles of critical habitat off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington for the humpback population that winters in Central America. The Mexico population got 175,812 square miles in the North Pacific Ocean, including Bristol Bay, Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska — regions that also made up the 78,690 square miles listed for the Western North Pacific humpback population, according to NMFS.
It wouldn’t apply to the North Pacific humpback whale DPS, which is the population that migrates to and from Hawaii. That’s because critical habitat can only be designated for listed species or DPSs. No critical habitat is being proposed for the non-listed Hawaii population of humpback whales.
But, that doesn’t mean the whales that migrate to Hawaii wouldn’t be affected, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“It is possible that the proposed critical habitat, if finalized, would have some benefit for the non-listed Hawaiian whales,” said NOAA spokeswoman Jennie Lyons. “The Hawaiian population of humpback whales uses feeding habitat that overlaps with some of the feeding habitat proposed for designation off the coast of Alaska.”
Various humpback whale DPSs mix while they’re at their feeding grounds — for example, the Mexico and Central America DPSs both use feeding habitats off the U.S. West Coast. The Western North Pacific DPS whales and Mexico DPS whales also mix in the feeding habitats off the coast of Alaska.
“There have also been some infrequent observations of whales moving among the breeding areas,” Lyons said. “For instance, there have been a few observations of Mexico DPS whales in waters around Hawaii. The biological significance of these movements are not yet understood.”
The NMFS rule proposal follows a court-approved agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity, Turtle Island Restoration Network and Wishtoyo Foundation to issue new protections.
The groups had sued the Trump administration for failing to protect two Pacific Ocean humpback populations listed as endangered and a third as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
“Pacific humpback whales will be safer in their ocean home with these protections,” said Catherine Kilduff, a CBD attorney. “Humpbacks delight whale watchers with their antics, but these playful animals are highly vulnerable to human activities in coastal waters. Identifying their critical habitat is an important way to protect them from speeding ships, oil spills and fishing gear.”
To support their standpoint, the CBD cites a study done by researchers affiliated with organizations including Cascadia Research Collective and Point Blue Conservation Science.
That study found an estimated 22 humpback whales off California, Oregon and Washington die each year after being hit by ships. Supporters of the proposed rule say it would help safeguard ocean areas that are essential for migrating and feeding, and thus protect both listed and unlisted humpback whale populations.
Jessica Else, environment reporter, can be reached at 245-0452 or firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:33895d56-6a9d-44cb-abfb-3504b5bb0ec1> | CC-MAIN-2019-47 | https://www.thegardenisland.com/2019/10/14/hawaii-news/more-space-for-humpbacks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-47/segments/1573496668004.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20191114053752-20191114081752-00167.warc.gz | en | 0.927772 | 736 | 3.390625 | 3 |
An embedded system is the one that “embeds” a microprocessor (or a processor) or a microcontroller (MCU) into the electronics design. Usually most everyday products that we use like refrigerators, automobiles, washing machines, microwave ovens and even your TV uses embedded microcontrollers in them. The best thing about embedded systems is that most of its functions are software controlled and can be changed easily without much work lost in re-designing the hardware. Although embedded systems design are a common part of any electronic systems & used in most of our designs, its worth mentioning it as a separate service since some customers might be specifically looking for this service.
TronicsZone holds almost 14 years of experience working on embedded systems design using various 32/16/8 bit microcontrollers, FPGA & DSPs. | <urn:uuid:35a1203f-9c9f-43b7-9d1d-6291230a8db3> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | https://www.tronicszone.com/embedded-systems-design/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125947654.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20180425001823-20180425021823-00064.warc.gz | en | 0.932205 | 171 | 2.65625 | 3 |
The Middle Passage was the middle section of the trade route taken by many of the slave ships. The first section (the ‘Outward Passage’ ) was from Europe to Africa. Then came the Middle Passage, and the ‘Return Passage’ was the final journey from the Americas to Europe. The Middle Passage took the enslaved Africans away from their homeland. They were from different countries and different ethnic (or cultural) groups. 86% of my DNA reveals a linkage to many who survived the six to thirteen weeks voyage. The average losses were between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 deaths.
Click on prints and select my Historical gallery for details and pricing | <urn:uuid:cd526955-54a4-41b5-8381-def8daa99c04> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://kennethcalvert.com/artwork/4195741-Middle-Passage.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506429.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20230922234442-20230923024442-00278.warc.gz | en | 0.980625 | 138 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Councils across the United Kingdom are now demanding laws be introduced that would force alcohol firms to place calorie labelling on their products. Councils are urging for the move through the Local Government Association (LGA). The LGA represents over 370 council across the country. The move follows recent research that proves the link between alcohol use and deadly diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
Informed, healthier choices
The LGA claims calories in alcohol are a 'black box' for most consumers. The LGA believes compelling alcohol firms to include calorie information on their products will help consumers make a more healthy and informed choice when it comes to purchasing alcohol.
A spokesperson for the LGA, Cllr Izzi Seccombe, said one can of cider contains around 250 calories, which is the equivalent to around 75% of a burger. Similarly, drinking ten pints of beer is the roughly equivalent to eating seven burgers. The LGA claims that hidden calories in alcohol are making a significant contribution to the obesity and general poor health problems suffered by the UK population.
Support for the move is now also being backed up by MEPs following a vote at the European Parliament in Brussels. However, votes cast by MEPs are not binding law on Member States of the European Community.
UK consumers 'falling behind' the rest of the EU
Prior research reveals around eighty percent of the UK public are not aware of the exact number calories contained in a glass of wine or pint of beer. The research says the UK is falling behind other developed countries when it comes to recognising how many calories are contained within common alcoholic drinks such as beer or wine.
For the record, the average pint of beer contains 180 calories, whilst the average glass of wine contains 228 calories.
Cllr Izzi Seccombe said: "Breweries and drinks manufacturers should show leadership in tackling the obesity crisis, by voluntarily providing clear signs on bottles and cans of alcohol.
"Most people are aware that excessive alcohol can lead to serious health problems like liver and heart damage, and an increased risk of cancer. However, the amount of calories from an average night's drinking isn't so well-known. People should be able to make informed choices.
"The onus is on the big breweries to do more to provide clear and prominent labelling. Providing people with the right information allows them to make choices about what they eat and drink.
"Prevention is the only way we are going to tackle the obesity crisis, which is costing the NHS more than £5 billion every year. It's all about giving people the right information about the calories they are consuming. This saves money for other parts of the public sector by reducing demand for hospital, health and social care services, and improves the public's health."
Let's end lenient rules for the alcohol industry
Extended the requirement to publish calorie details on packaging to the drink industry seems like the fair move to make. Food producers have had to include calorie details on their products for many years now and so the time to extend this legislation to drinks producers seems far overdue.
The current rules regarding mandatory labelling of nutritional values on drinks does not apply when the drink contains more than 1.2% alcohol by volume. This exemption is utterly illogical and perhaps a reflection of the power of the alcohol lobby both within the UK and the EU.
Glenis Willmott, MEP for the East Midlands, said: "Europe is still the heaviest-drinking region in the world but many people don't realise that a large glass of wine contains the same number of calories as a slice of cake.
"In order to reduce the burden of alcohol-related harm, we must make sure people are given clear information to enable them to make informed choices." | <urn:uuid:c11d2081-9778-4014-a8b8-d3399c04075b> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://cassioburycourt.com/2016/01/fresh-calls-for-calorie-labelling-on-alcohol-drinks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780057225.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20210921131252-20210921161252-00598.warc.gz | en | 0.955588 | 770 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Miss Sally Edwards is a highly esteemed third grade teacher at
Kootenai County Elementary. In an effort to prepare her students for
the all-important TAKS test, she compiled an exam consisting of 20
questions, which she administered to her class last Tuesday. The exam
purposely covered a broad array of topics.
I call your attention to question # 11, which simply read:
LIST, IN ANY ORDER, THE FOUR SEASONS:
1. ________ 2. ________ 3.________ 4. ________
Now, could you possibly imagine that 67% of the students gave
the following answer?
1. STEELHEAD SEASON
2. DEER SEASON
3. DUCK SEASON
4. ELK SEASON | <urn:uuid:78251519-1ba4-46d5-94e0-95b3dc443c45> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/827429-march-all-topic.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280761.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00076-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906987 | 161 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty turned 50 this year. Credit: www.govexec.com
Fifty years ago, on Jan. 8, 1964, the United States launched a War on Poverty.
President Lyndon Johnson, in his State of the Union address that year, called for passage of an Economic Opportunity Act. The legislation would establish an Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to coordinate local use of federal funds to fight poverty. At the time, the nation's poverty rate (the percentage of people living below a defined "poverty" income level) was 19 percent.
The new OEO, and the War on Poverty as originally conceived, would exist for only 10 years. Much of the present debate about the agency's success or failure is about programs and outcomes that were not directly related to it.
I was working at the time for Sen. Hubert Humphrey, the sponsor of 1960s-era civil-rights and anti-poverty proposals. That summer Sen. Humphrey would become Johnson's vice presidential running mate.
Later, working in the Johnson White House, it was truly inspiring to be among a remarkable group of Cabinet members, White House staff, rank-and-file administrators and labor- and private-sector leaders committed to breaking poverty's hold on a significant percentage of the American population. (Washington Sens. Warren Magnuson and Henry (Scoop) Jackson also were at the front of the effort.)
Sargent Shriver, who would head OEO (and also the Peace Corps) was a weak administrator but a beloved and dedicated leader. We talked then of "the invisible poor," often unseen by other Americans, except when passing on freeways through impoverished neighborhoods or rural areas. We aimed to raise their visibility and, then, the quality of their lives. It also was inspiring to visit Job Corps and Head Start programs in action and, down the road, meet Job Corps and other OEO program graduates. A wonderful spirit pervaded the whole enterprise.
The 50th anniversary has been marked by avid debate, from all sides, about the success or failure of the War on Poverty in the years since its launch. The debate, for the most part, has been about public vs. private models for eradicating poverty and not about specifics of the War on Poverty itself. Much talk has focused on current issues: extension of long-term unemployment benefits, a raise in the minimum wage and growing income inequality.
The inequality is disturbing, owing to its cause: unprecedented greed by self-obsessed financial and business executives. But if executive compensation were cut by two-thirds tomorrow, it would have little effect on the incomes of those still living in poverty.
LBJ's 1964 proposals, and the OEO program, were only one part of a larger strategy to help deliver Americans out of poverty and into good-paying jobs. The '64 initiatives had their origins in President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, trial-and-error federal initiatives to help the poor.
The centerpiece of Roosevelt's effort was the 1935 Social Security Act, whose passage created the first-ever retirement safety net for senior citizens.
World War II reduced poverty by raising employment. Working-age Americans either served in the armed forces or engaged in the homefront war effort. There were fears that the post-war military demobilization and transition to a civilian economy might take the steam out of the recovery. Instead, America experienced an unprecedented boom.
By the late 1950s, however, there was economic stagnation and, in 1959, a 22.5 percent poverty rate. President John F. Kennedy, in his 1960 presidential campaign against Richard Nixon, pledged to "get America moving again." The chair of his Council of Economic Advisors, Walter Heller, brought Keynesian economics to the White House.
JFK successfully proposed legislation and policies to liberalize global trade; business and personal tax cuts to stimulate growth; and new incentives for domestic investment. Together, those policies provided a basis for macroeconomic growth. But the poverty rate continued to hover near 20 percent. Kennedy directed Heller to examine ways to reduce it.
After Kennedy's November 1963 assassination, Heller proposed to President Johnson that he make war on poverty the centerpiece of his State of the Union address. LBJ needed no persuasion. He idolized Franklin Roosevelt and saw this as an opportunity to complete FDR's New Deal initiatives. Johnson, a populist at heart, was drawn to the task.
The 1964 Economic Opportunity Act created a Job Corps that trained workers; the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) and Head Start programs, as well as legal services for the poor and a controversial Community Action program aimed at engaging poor people in local programs affecting them. (Mayors, especially Democratic big-city mayors, wanted Community Action eliminated. They complained that its self-styled, unelected community leaders were causing all kinds of trouble. But the Community Action program stood.)
Not part of the official War on Poverty, but related to it nonetheless, were the Food Stamp Act (1964), Civil Rights Act (1964), Voting Rights Act (1965), Medicare and Medicaid (1965) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965), whose Title I benefited the poor. A Youth Opportunity program, led by Humphrey, provided summer jobs to teenagers in American big cities, helping them back to school in the fall. These, along with rural anti-poverty programs, became part of an overall Great Society package of policies. Since that time, the War on Poverty and the Great Society have often been lumped together.
Between 1964 and 1973, the years of OEO's formal life, the poverty rate fell from 17.3 percent to 11.1 percent. Since that time it has bounced back and forth, generally settling around the 15 percent level, though the rate is slightly higher now.
Was the 10-year decline in the poverty rate wholly tied to the 10-year life of OEO per se and the related War on Poverty? Of course not. Historically, the overall economic growth rate, rising then, has been the single largest factor influencing the poverty rate.
Even in the War on Poverty's heyday, no one claimed that its collective policies and programs, by themselves, could eradicate poverty. The War on Poverty was seen as a way to improve job skills, education and health so that people could rise out of poverty.
Vietnam War spending began to overwhelm domestic spending in the late 1960s. In 1973, President Nixon disestablished OEO and scattered its programs to other federal agencies where they got less emphasis. In the meantime, his administration had shifted focus to programs featuring quotas, set-asides and preferences guaranteeing outcomes for defined groups. They began with the so-called Philadelphia Plan guaranteeing a percentage of jobs for minorities in the notoriously discriminatory construction industry and trades. In an attempt to fight discrimination, the Republican administration had changed the ground on which the War on Poverty was being fought. De facto and controversial quotas, not directly related to poverty reduction, remain in force in employment, college admissions, government contracting and other parts of American life. Criticism of them, ironically, often is directed toward JFK and LBJ, whose agendas did not include them.
In the mid-1980s I participated in review exercises attempting to determine how a still-persistent poverty rate might be reduced. My personal conclusion from these exercises was that we were on the right track in the 1960s before we were interrupted. That is, wise government macro policy should create conditions for private economic growth. Safety-net programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, should spare citizens from disaster. Targeted programs to lift the skills, education and health of the poor should be made available and open to all meeting eligibility by income level. Neither the Great Society nor War on Poverty sought to create a culture of government dependency or guarantee an outcome to any person or group. (I wrote a speech line at the time which characterized the effort and which Humphrey and occasionally LBJ used: "We seek to create not a welfare state but a state of opportunity.")
The present public-or-private debate about poverty reduction is a dead end. Government financial and economic policies can create a climate for job creation and poverty reduction. Government programs can help give citizens knowledge and skills to get good jobs. Ultimately, it is the private sector which must generate jobs and a way out of poverty. Our economy is neither socialist nor capitalist but mixed.
What was the War on Poverty about? I recall a visit, in the mid-1960s, to a community center in a poor Atlanta neighborhood. It administered a range of OEO programs. In the corner of a large main room sat an old upright piano and stool. "See that piano and that stool?" the office director, a middle-aged black woman, said. "There's lots of music in that piano if only it could be played. It's the same with the young people we serve. There's lots of music and talent and promise in them, if only we can help them get it out."
A few minutes later a teenage girl passed through the room and sat at the piano. She played the heck out of that piano. Yes, indeed. | <urn:uuid:34902dfe-0542-4197-8266-d1c7a369b3ff> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://crosscut.com/2014/01/war-povertyvan-dyk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988720471.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183840-00206-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964467 | 1,875 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Probably each of you at the beginning of the adventure with learning a foreign language wondered how to start. Some focus on vocabulary, others meticulously learn grammar, pronunciation and spelling. Still others say that it is worth learning the culture of a given country first, as the first step to success in learning a new language. How to learn Spanish?
Benefits of learning Spanish
Undoubtedly, the great advantage of this language is that it is the second most used among the human population. Over 400 million people on all continents use it for everyday communication. Most often in the Americas, Europe, north-eastern parts of Africa and some regions of Asia and Oceania.
Spanish is the native language of 332 million people and the official language in 21 countries.
How should you learn Spanish?
Two basic principles known to everyone – regularity and consistency.
- Take at least an hour a day. You can divide this time into four quarters of an hour, or into six ten-minute sessions throughout the day. It’s best to use this time when you just remember words, write an email or text in Spanish to your friends.
- Are you preparing dinner for a loved one or do you want to surprise them with something? Take the opportunity, choose a dish and find the recipe on Spanish culinary pages. Without knowing any of the ingredients you will be forced to translate it. At the same time, write this word to your flashcard! When serving dinner, say “que aproveche!” (read: ke approval) instead of “tasty”! How simple is that, right?
- Read a lot! Choose Spanish press and literature. Develop your vocabulary. Start with simple texts. They can be, for example, children’s stories, where the vocabulary is simple. Go from level to level to something more difficult.
- Maybe your passion is music or cinema? Choose Spanish songs and movies. Listening to lyrics in another language will quickly remember the words of the songs. It is also probably the easiest way to practice pronunciation.
- Don’t forget to play with Spanish. Play flashcards, Spanish scrabble, puns or the popular taboo game. It can be a lot more fun when you prepare sangria together with your friends.
- Are you a traveler and for you all roads lead to Spain? If so, go back there as often as possible! Nothing replaces learning a language in a country where it is the official language. Be among the local people, watch, “eavesdrop”, learn!
- Sign up for a Spanish language course at our school. Nothing replaces interaction with the teacher and interesting lessons in a friendly atmosphere.
During the classes it is not about error-free mastering of Spanish grammar, but on achieving communication skills that will give results when communicating with people. | <urn:uuid:451d0dbb-2ae7-4040-9fe7-8b928136a3af> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | http://www.baisakhi1999.org/how-to-learn-spanish/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964359976.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20211201083001-20211201113001-00420.warc.gz | en | 0.934234 | 586 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Agoraphobia is a fear of getting away from your safe place. That fear can become incapacitating when combined with panic. Then the condition becomes a fear of fear. There are steps you can take toward agoraphobia help.
Seek Professional Help
This is probably the best step to take. A combination of medication to give you quick relief from the anxiety and fear you feel and Cognitive Behavior Therapy to bring lasting agoraphobia help.
The medications your physician can prescribe will alleviate the anxiety temporarily. They don’t cure your agoraphobia. These medications are designed to give you relief while you work on the longer-lasting psychotherapy.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy is an approach that works to help you change faulty thinking that is the foundation of your agoraphobia. It is a very effective therapy and seeks to find the triggers that set off your fears.
Self-Help Steps Toward Agoraphobia Help
Below are some steps you can try on your own if you choose not to seek therapy. Most of them are directed toward dealing with panic that comes with agoraphobia.
Don’t Fight The Panic.
If you fight your panic feelings, they will only get worse. You will set up a vicious cycle of fighting, getting afraid because you’re fighting the panic, and feeling more anxiety and fear, making the panic attack worse. Instead, simply accept you’re having the attack and reassure yourself with the constant reminder that it will go away.
Don’t Run Home.
If you’re out away from what you consider your safe place and have a panic attack, stay where you are. Keep yourself physically safe, but don’t run to your safe place. Avoiding your fears gives them the upper hand. Again, reassure yourself the attack will pass.
Much of the time during a panic attack, your breathing becomes shallow and rapid. This brings some changes in your body chemistry that make you feel uncomfortable. Instead, learn to breathe slowly and deeply when you’re in the middle of an attack. Count to three slowly with each breath in and out.
When you start feeling the anxiety build, focus on something outside of yourself. Something non-threatening and visible. Watch the second hand on your watch or focus on the items on the grocery store shelves, almost anything will do. Keep reminding yourself the feelings will pass. They always do.
Challenge The Fear.
Try to figure out what is making you anxious. Most of the time, it will be some thought you have about embarrassing yourself, passing out, or “going crazy” while you’re away from your safe place. Challenge those thoughts. Why do you think you’ll do whatever it is you think you’ll do? Demand proof from yourself that what you fear will actually happen.
Get in mind a place you’ve been where you’ve been completely relaxed and completely safe. Make that place so real you can put yourself there in your mind. Hear the sounds, smell the smells, feel the wind or warmth. Be there in your mind.
Help for agoraphobia http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/answered-questions/help-agoraphobia
Treating agoraphobia http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Agoraphobia/Pages/Treatment.aspx | <urn:uuid:9f548700-5650-4ccf-9d80-2e9473f35698> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://www.helpingminds.com/agoraphobia-help | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224644574.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20230529010218-20230529040218-00776.warc.gz | en | 0.930173 | 725 | 2.734375 | 3 |
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A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals. It is made of a solid piece of semiconductor material, with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current flowing through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled (output) power can be much more than the controlling (input) power, the transistor provides amplification of a signal.More information on Transistor can be found here.
2010 NCN@Purdue Summer School: Electronics from the Bottom Up
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Electronics from the Bottom Up seeks to bring a new perspective to electronic devices – one that is designed to help realize the opportunities that nanotechnology presents.
Nanoelectronic Devices, With an Introduction to Spintronics
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This presentation demonstrates the OMEN capabilities to perform a multi-scale simulation of advanced InAs-based high mobility transistors.
2010 Honorary Symposium for Professor Milton Feng at The Micro and Nano Technology Laboratory UIUC
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The Field-Effect-Transistor has been proposed and implement in many physical systems, materials, and geometries. A multitude of acronyms have developed around these...
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ECE 495N: Fundamentals of Nanoelectronics Lecture Notes (Fall 2009)
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Lecture notes for the Fall 2009 teaching of ECE 495: Fundamentals of Nanoelectronics.
Illinois ECE 440: MOS Field-Effect Transistor Homework
28 Jan 2010 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): Mohamed Mohamed
This homework covers Output Characteristics and Mobility Model of MOSFETs.
Illinois ECE 440: znipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) Homework
This homework covers BJT Fundamentals, Minority Carrier Distribution, and Terminal Currents.
Taxonomy of spintronics (a zoo of devices)
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The presentation deals with classification of logic devices based on electron spin as a computational variable. Requirements for logic devices are reviewed. Specifically we focus on a)...
How to modify Datta’s 1D Matrix Density Matlab code to simulate a germanium pMOS
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ECE 495N F08 Exam 2 (Practice)
ECE 495N F08 Final Exam
ECE 495N F08 Final Exam (Practice) | <urn:uuid:adb98ade-de0c-47a3-b5cc-a172ec230945> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | https://nanohub.org/tags/transistors?sort=date&limit=20&limitstart=60 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501171630.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104611-00230-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.806982 | 1,180 | 3.46875 | 3 |
“Saint Columbanus, who according to Benedict XVI we can truly consider one of the ‘Fathers of Europe,’ was convinced that there can be fraternity in the heart of Europe between people only if a civilization exists that is open to God.”
This statement was made by Pope Francis in a letter that Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, sent on Francis’ behalf for the 18th International Meeting of the Columbanus Community, on the 1400th anniversary of the death of the saint. It was sent to Bishop Gianni Ambrosio of Piacenza-Bobbio, Italy.
Born in 543, Columbanus was a well-educated, Irish missionary who became a celebrated monk and founded several monasteries known for their strictness throughout Europe. He left writings and a monastic Rule which emphasized obedience, silence, poverty, humility, and chastity. Recalling that Saint Columbanus died in Bobbio on Nov. 23, 615, the Holy Father sent his best wishes and greetings to the bishop, diocese, and all those participating in the meeting.
“Irish by family and formation, Columbanus always cherished the European idea of his ecclesial commitment,” the papal note began, referring to a letter the missionary had written to Pope Gregory the Great in 600 AD, in which he made direct reference to the task of all Christians to collaborate so that the different peoples of the continent would live in peace and unity.”
After thirty years in the monastery, the cardinal recalled, Columbanus “carried out the ascetic ideal typical” of the Irish communities, that of the perenigratio pro Christo.
The missionary, the Pontiff’s letter stated, “became a pilgrim in Continental Europe, with the intention to have the light of the Gospel rediscovered in some European regions then de-Christianized after the immigration of peoples of the North East.”
“Saint Columbanus was a privileged channel of God’s grace, attracting crowds of pilgrims and penitents, and receiving in the many new Monasteries very many youths, who embraced his Regula monachorum. Convinced, as he was, that grace is the specific help that providence gives to every human creature that receives the love of God in his existence, he was the intrepid diffuser of Confession, Sacrament of a personal nature, to be repeated in everyone’s life, as irreplaceable means for a serious path of conversion.”
The nations which the now-saint evangelized and attracted many to Christ, he underscored, were many. Columbanus’ monasteries, he also added, became “beacons of spiritual, intellectual and social radiation,” such as Bangor in Ireland, Annegrey and Luxeuil in France, Sankt Gallen in Switzerland, the Bregen region in Germany, and Bobbio.
Cardinal Parolin reminded those gathered that Pope Francis expresses his earnest appreciation of the many pastoral and cultural initiatives, invokes the heavenly intercession of Saint Columbanus for the journey of the whole ecclesial community of which he is patron and for the peoples of Europe, and imparts a heartfelt Apostolic Blessing.
On ZENIT’s Web page:
More about the Irish Missionary Saint: http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/national-mass-recalls-anniversary-of-st-columbanus | <urn:uuid:01191ccc-52df-486f-a565-9eb1a649ffa1> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://zenit.org/articles/st-columbanus-was-privileged-channel-of-god-s-grace/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195523840.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20190715175205-20190715200238-00027.warc.gz | en | 0.956751 | 732 | 2.703125 | 3 |
In the miranda v arizona case in 1966, the us supreme court ruled that the police must give suspects specific warnings prior to custodial interrogations, notes brooks holland for the american bar. A case in which the court held that law enforcement cannot use testimony given by anyone under interrogation while in custody without that miranda v arizona. Missouri v seibert certiorari to but did not read her her rights under miranda v arizona, 384 us the technique used in this case distorts miranda’s. Submit a case brief how to create a case brief about us law cases that i studied in college was miranda v arizona it is one of the first cases studied when. Case brief of miranda vs arizona the end facts: the defendant said evidence that incriminated him in an interrogation without being told his rights specifically the 5th amendment which is listed under the constitution. 1978] miranda v arizona the court reasoned that when escobedo was refused the right to the case of miranda v arizona iii miranda v arizona 13. Miranda v arizona was a significant supreme court case that ruled that a defendant's statements to authorities are inadmissible in court unless the defendant has been informed of their right to have an attorney present during questioning and an understanding that anything they say will be held against them. Brief for the united states poses of miranda v arizona, 384 us 436 (1966), when v cases—continued: page simpson v jackson.
Miranda v arizona, 384 us 436 (1966) supreme court landmark case miranda v arizona from c-span's landmark cases: historic supreme court decisions. Miranda v arizona is a historical decision, revised by the supreme court of the usa in 1966 the key judgment point ruled that any evidence as. Lloyd sealy library find articles miranda later became miranda v arizona student briefs don’t brief the case until you have read it through at least once. Following is the case brief for miranda v arizona, united states supreme court, (1966) case summary of miranda v arizona: miranda was taken into custody by police for purposes of interrogation, where he later confessed.
Miranda v arizona 384 us 436 facts of the case (miranda v arizona) miranda was arrested and taken into custody case brief miranda v arizona. Landmark cases supreme court briefs 1966 miranda v arizona certiorari was granted to review a judgment from the supreme court of arizona for this and.
Miranda v arizona quirement for cases where the witness chooses to stand mute rather supreme court of the united states, wash-ington. Miranda v arizona (no 759) the supreme court of arizona held that miranda's constitutional rights were not violated in obtaining the the case was bram v. One scholar has described miranda v arizona as the most that sought to displace the miranda warnings in federal cases in aclu brief in doe v.
Confession written and signed by miranda, obtained during the brief miranda v arizona is not merely a landmark case it is the landmark case the miranda. Miranda v arizona was one of a series of landmark supreme court cases of the mid-1960's establishing new guarantees of procedural fairness for defendants in criminal cases. I need a quick summary of the miranda vs arizona case that has to do with the fith miranda vs arizona brief miranda v arizona summary.
In miranda v arizona (1966), 384 us 436, 86 s ct 1602, 16 l ed 2d 694, the united states supreme court held that when an individual is taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom in any significant way and is subjected to questioning, he must be warned prior to any questioning that he has the right to remain silent, that. Miranda v arizona case brief united states supreme court 384 us 436 (1966) issue: must a suspect be informed of his constitutional rights against self-incrimination and assistance of counsel and give a voluntary waiver of these rights as a necessary precondition to police questioning and the giving of a confession. These words opened miranda v arizona the supreme court case that introduced the miranda warning into the american aclu amicus curiae brief in united states v. How can the answer be improved. | <urn:uuid:7c080da9-afbc-4d50-b261-b3e4be7df7eb> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | http://lghomeworkytmz.quickrewards.info/miranda-v-arizona-case-brief.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676593586.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20180722194125-20180722214125-00439.warc.gz | en | 0.935328 | 934 | 2.578125 | 3 |
"Frog-get It! You're Mine!"
- Cardstock or construction paper: green, white, pink
scissors, ruler, black marker
- Print and cut out patterns. Cut two small hearts (cheeks) from pink paper.
- Glue eyes on front top of card, overlapping edges. Use black marker to outline eyes and draw eyeballs.
- Glue cheeks on front of card. Use black marker to draw mouth, nostrils, and outline cheeks.
- Fold card in half. On inside, use black marker to write: "Frog-get it... you're mine!" | <urn:uuid:3d2328d3-ead4-4d84-9f17-1c6f6c6fcf74> | CC-MAIN-2014-42 | http://www.craftideas.com/projects/print/2348?Slug=frog-get-ityoure-mine | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1414637898141.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20141030025818-00024-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.774463 | 128 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Elizabeth I signs a preliminary treaty with the Estates-General of the United Provinces (the northern provinces of the Netherlands) to aid them in the defence of Antwerp against their Spanish governors. The treaty was provoked by the signing of the Treaty of Joinville in 1584 between Philip II of Spain and the Catholic League in France in which Philip II promised to finance the League.
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Editors. "Treaty of Nonsuch". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 June 2005
[https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1567, accessed 23 October 2017.] | <urn:uuid:e1a772e1-ab24-491b-b0f6-1dbdc6d0580f> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1567 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187825812.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20171023073607-20171023093607-00148.warc.gz | en | 0.946944 | 166 | 3.6875 | 4 |
The conversion factor from quarts to pints (for both fluid and dry) is 2. To find out how many pints in quarts, multiply by the factor or simply use the converter below.
1 Quart = 2 Pints [US, UK, Fluid or Dry]
Quart and pint are imperial and US customary fluid and dry volume measurement units. In imperial system, there is only one size for both fluid and dry measurements. The abbreviation for quart is "qt" and for pint is "pt".
For pints to quarts converter, please go to pints to quarts
For other volume unit conversions
, please go to Volume Conversion | <urn:uuid:f2c14470-0f6e-4b7c-9dd2-47ebc3a07a4f> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://www.asknumbers.com/QuartsToPintsConversion.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042990611.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002310-00154-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89973 | 137 | 2.59375 | 3 |
For a football player, being in top physical condition is important for both performance and injury prevention. Because of the nature of the game, football players need aerobic endurance to run around the field without becoming winded, but anaerobic fitness plays a more critical role in the development of strength, quickness, speed and power.
Strength is foundational to the sport of football, and strength training is anaerobic in nature. To build optimal strength, strength and conditioning coach Jeff Paluseo of Sports Fitness Advisor recommends performing a variety of resistance-training exercises including bench presses, incline presses and squats. To stay in the anaerobic zone, use training loads of 80 to 90 percent of one repetition max, or 1RM, which is the maximum amount or weight you can lift one time in a given exercise. During the playing season, sports coach Brian Mac cautions that attempting to maintain off-season training volumes could diminish strength and compromise performance. He recommends reducing your training volume during the playing season, minimizing eccentric work, and performing compound exercises that use multiple joints and muscles. Perform whole-body workouts each training session as opposed to focusing on isolated muscle groups.
Football is a stop-and-go sport, with quick bursts of intense activity interrupted by rest periods. According to the "NSCA's Guide to Program Design", the average play in college football lasts only 5.49 seconds, followed by a rest interval between plays averaging 32.7 seconds. College games run between four and five plays per series with each play lasting about five seconds, and three or four series per quarter. To meet the quick anaerobic demands of play, the NSCA recommends interval training at a work-to-rest ratio of 1:5, where bouts of maximal intensity are followed by longer sub-maximal bouts. For example, sprint all-out for 10 seconds, then jog in place for 50 seconds. Repeat this cycle 15 to 20 times.
The Need for Speed
According to Sports Fitness Advisor, the quick, high-intensity sprints required to move the ball down the field are fueled by anaerobic glycolysis, an energy pathway that produces lactic acid as a metabolic byproduct. A buildup of lactic acid can interfere with muscle mechanics, causing a decrease in force production and velocity. Speed training can reduce early lactate formation and enhance the clearance rate of lactic acid from the muscles. Unlike the short intervals used to improve your quickness, speed training requires longer intervals ranging from 30 seconds to three minutes, with only 90 seconds of sub-maximal rest between intervals. A 2010 study of trained athletes published in the "Scandinavian Journal of Medicine, Science and Sports" found that speed-endurance interval training spared energy reserves during rest periods, allowing athletes to ward off fatigue over the course of play.
Power is a combination of speed and strength, according to Paluseo, and at the end of the day, the most powerful players are the ones who get the job done and win the game. Power training requires explosive moves like Olympic lifts, power jumps and squats. Both Paluseo and Sports Fitness Advisor warn that aerobic endurance training is of limited value in football, and excessive endurance training can slow you down and interfere with anaerobic enzyme activity.
- Brian Mac Sports Coach: In-Season Strength Training For American Football
- NSCA's Guide to Program Design: Developing Anaerobic Conditioning Programs
- Scandinavian Journal of Medicine, Science and Sports: Speed Endurance Training is a Powerful Stimulus for Physiological Adaptations and Performance Improvements of Athletes
- Sports Fitness Advisor: Speed Endurance Training
- Sports Fitness Solutions: Football Strength and Conditioning
- Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images | <urn:uuid:510d1b8e-48a3-4f75-933e-e3357ab86796> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | http://livehealthy.chron.com/anaerobic-fitness-football-players-5439.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125937440.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20180420100911-20180420120911-00315.warc.gz | en | 0.931368 | 761 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Bamboo bat development concept for training
Bamboo bat for training at Ballpark.comThere are three development conceptsThere is.
1. Making a bat with reproducibility in mind
Reproducible bats are training bats with the same shape and weight and length as the bats used in regular games. By using a training bat with the same grip as the metal bat used in the game during training, the grip of the metal bat has been reproduced so that the same batting performance as during training can be achieved even when using the metal bat in production. Real grip bamboo bat has been developed.
2. Making a bat that is aware of the suppression effect
The suppressive effect is an effect that suppresses the bad habit of bad batting. Batting training with an extra-thick grip is one of the suppressing effects, such as the effect that the pusher kneads extremely strongly, the bad habit of hitting and hitting is corrected, and the correct swing is acquired. By paying attention to this suppressing effect as well as the contrasting effect when developing the bat, we were able to clarify bad habits that we had not noticed until now, and at the same time succeeded in creating a bat that can be expected to be corrected.
3. Making a bat with a contrast effect in mind
The effect that one of the contrasts enhances the other is called the contrast effect. By batting training with a long bat, it refers to the effect of deepening the understanding of the correct swing trajectory with a normal size bat, the effect of strengthening the swing. In consideration of this contrasting effect, we worked on the development of bats whose lengths were changed and weights were changed than usual, and completed a training bat with a rich lineup that can be selected according to the purpose.
Introducing reviews of users who use bamboo bats for training!
Actually, here is a review from those who purchased bamboo bats for training.
Thank you for using the service!
Let's practice bamboo bat training!
Here, I will introduce the training method using a bamboo bat using images.
*Let's draw a large and smooth trajectory and imagine the correct form!
*Practice of basic elbow/wrist movements to improve bat control
*Let's make the axis of the body at the time of impact! Making the base of the lower body!
<"C" character/tea batting>
* Making the base of the lower body. Making the basics of the lower half of the body with the letter “C”!
How was it? "Bamboo bat for training" that was divided into three times and carefully introduced. Find out where you want to enhance your batting and choose the right training bat! | <urn:uuid:c0a2860b-e302-4881-ab04-268a81e50f9b> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://japan-ballpark.com/en/blogs/web-magazine/bamboo-bat-0598 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400244353.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20200926165308-20200926195308-00283.warc.gz | en | 0.956843 | 551 | 2.59375 | 3 |
- A thematic approach is designed to stimulate the children through various interactive sessions and activities.
- An extensive use of teaching aids to supplement classroom teaching.
- Project works in class calls for mass participation. An equal emphasis is laid on developing a strong sense of individuality.
- Field trips and excursions make learning fun.
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Lifestyle habits and depressive symptoms in Norwegian adolescents: a national cross-sectional study
BMC Public Health volume 21, Article number: 816 (2021)
This study’s purpose was to examine the association between a broad range of lifestyle habits and depressive symptoms in Norwegian adolescents.
This study was based on national, self-reported, cross-sectional data from the Ungdata Surveys, conducted in 2017–2019. The target group comprised 244,250 adolescents (ages 13–19). Binominal logistic regression was used to analyse the association between lifestyle habits (physical activity, social media use, gaming, dietary habits, smoking, smokeless tobacco, alcohol intoxication) and depressive symptoms. The outcome measure was defined as a high level of depressive symptoms (≥80th percentile). Separate analyses were performed for boys and girls, and all models were adjusted for perceived family economy, parental higher education and age.
The odds of having depressive symptoms were significantly lower among those who reported being physically active at least 3 times per week (OR; boys: 0.81, girls: 0.83), used social media ≤3 h per day (OR; boys: 0.65, girls: 0.70), engaged in gaming ≤3 h per day (OR; boys: 0.72, girls: 0.77), were non-smokers (OR; boys: 0.74, girls: 0.72) and had not experienced alcohol intoxication during the previous 12 months (OR; boys: 0.66, girls: 0.67). Furthermore, the results indicated a significant inverse association between depressive symptoms and high consumption of a range of healthy food items and low consumption of unhealthy food and beverages among girls. Similar tendencies were found among boys (OR; 0.77–0.91). Finally, higher adherence to healthy lifestyle habits was associated significantly with lower odds of having depressive symptoms among both genders (OR; boys: 0.40, girls: 0.52).
A healthier lifestyle was associated with lower odds of having depressive symptoms. Additional research is needed to confirm a possible causal relationship.
Globally, depression is the fourth leading cause of illness and disability among adolescents ages 15–19 , and depressive symptoms continue to increase, especially among girls [2, 3]. Therefore, identifying factors that can reduce the risk of depressive symptoms is essential. Some studies that have examined associations between lifestyle habits and depressive symptoms among adolescents identified multifactorial associations [4,5,6], while others revealed gender differences [5, 7]. A recent prospective study reported that adolescents meeting recommendations for multiple lifestyle behaviours – including diet, physical activity, screen time and sleep – experienced fewer health care encounters due to mental illness than those meeting recommendations for a single behaviour . However, evidence confirms that meeting dietary recommendations developed to improve physical health also most likely may exert a positive effect on mental health . Overall, systematic reviews among children and adolescents have concluded that healthy dietary habits seem to be associated with reduced risk of depression and improved mental health, whereas unhealthy dietary habits seem to be associated with increased risk of depression and poorer mental health [10, 11]. Due to different methodological challenges and partly inconsistent results from previous studies , national and international health authorities have emphasised the need for increased knowledge about possible associations between dietary habits and mental health problems, including depressive symptoms [12, 13].
Furthermore, systematic reviews have concluded that decreased sedentary behaviour and increased physical activity levels are associated with reducing depression and, to a certain extent, psychological distress in children and adolescents [14, 15]. A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies also reported that higher levels of physical activity may protect against the future development of depression, regardless of age . However, a longitudinal study found no association between physical activity level (measured objectively) and depression .
High levels of screen time – which includes time spent on the web surfing, gaming, social media messaging and TV/movie watching – also have been associated with depressive symptomatology in adolescents [18, 19]. A recent systematic review of reviews concluded that although few studies have been conducted, there was moderate to strong evidence confirming an association between screen time and depression, but limited evidence indicated an association between social media use and symptoms of depression .
Finally, a strong association has been found between alcohol intoxication and prevalence of depressive symptoms among Norwegian adolescents, and that those with depressive symptoms are more likely to have experienced an earlier onset of alcohol use and more frequent alcohol consumption [21, 22]. Smoking also has been associated with symptoms of depression [23,24,25], and a recent longitudinal study reported that tobacco use during adolescence appears to influence the onset of depressive symptoms, especially among boys .
Low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with both lifestyle habits [21, 27, 28] and mental health problems [29, 30]; therefore, it is an important confounder to consider when analysing the relationship between lifestyle habits and depressive symptoms.
In the Norwegian governmental strategy plan for good mental health, special attention has been paid to promoting good mental health among children and adolescents, emphasising health-promoting lifestyles . To develop tailored measures, it is crucial to have knowledge about the range of protective and promotive factors that influence adolescents’ mental health . To the best of our knowledge, few previously published studies have reported on multiple unhealthy and healthy lifestyle habits among a large sample of adolescents concerning depressive symptoms. The present study aims to examine the association between physical activity, social media use, gaming, dietary habits, substance use and depressive symptoms, adjusting for age, family economy and parental higher education in a large national sample of Norwegian adolescents.
This study was based on data from the Ungdata Survey, an ongoing, nationally representative study of students from grades 8 to 13 across almost all municipalities in Norway. The Ungdata Survey aims to investigate adolescents’ health and well-being at the municipal and national levels (see www.ungdata.no). The survey is conducted by the Norwegian Social Research (NOVA) at Oslo Metropolitan University in a collaboration with all Regional Drug and Alcohol Competence Centres (KoRus). The surveys are financed partially by the Norwegian Directorate of Health and gauge different aspects of adolescents’ lives, i.e., health issues, local environment, school issues, diet and beverage consumption, relationships with friends and parents, leisure time activities and symptoms of depression. They also include questions about tobacco use and alcohol consumption.
In this study, data from surveys conducted from 2017 to 2019 were used. During this period, Ungdata was conducted in 417 out of 435 Norwegian municipalities. The few municipalities that did not participate were small municipalities with a very low population of adolescents. In the participating municipalities, students from almost all secondary schools participated and were not given any incentives. Parents and students were informed via mail in advance, and parents for adolescents ages 13–17 were assured that they could withdraw their children from participation at any time. Students decided in school whether they wanted to participate after being informed that participation was voluntary and that they could skip questions that they did not want to answer. The study was conducted as a web-based questionnaire administered at school during school hours with a teacher or an administrator present to answer questions. The students used approximately 30–45 min to complete the questionnaire. Altogether, 244,250 adolescents participated, for an overall participation rate of 87% in lower secondary school and 73% in upper secondary school . Both genders were represented equally, as were students at different grade levels in the sample, compared with official student statistics . Most of the participants (94%) answered all or almost all variables used in this paper. Independent researchers who did not participate in data collection managed and analysed an anonymous data file. The study was conducted in line with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD) approved all privacy aspects of the study.
Table 1 provides the Ungdata Survey 2017–2019 questions, response alternatives and variable definitions included in this study.
Symptoms of depression
The six items that measured depressive symptoms were derived from a scale based on Hopkins Symptom Checklist 90 [34, 35]. The depressive-symptom scale has been evaluated psychometrically among Norwegian adolescents and has demonstrated good reliability (Person Separation Index: 0.802). As a whole, the scale works reasonably well on a general level .
The adolescents provided information about physical activity, screen time, tobacco use, alcohol intoxication and daily diet, i.e., consumption of food and beverages (see Table 1). The cut-off value for physical activity (≥3 times a week) is used to measure moderate to high levels of physical activity. The cut-off value for screen use , consumption of healthy and unhealthy beverages, and food [38, 39] has been used in similar populations.
Perceived family economy and parental higher education were assessed using subjective measures (see Table 1), as in extant studies, to measure socioeconomic background [5, 40]. Class level was applied as a proxy for adolescent age.
Construction of the lifestyle habit score
To reflect on and quantify a broad range of lifestyle habits related to public health and health promotion, we constructed a lifestyle habit score (LSH) that assesses adherence to diet and beverage consumption (see Table 1), physical activity, screen use, gaming, smoking, smokeless tobacco and alcohol intoxication habits, along with their potentially healthy and unhealthy properties. Each of the 15 subscales was dichotomised, and the scoring values for each subscale were zero or one. The 15 lifestyle indicators (subscales) were chosen to comprise the score based on a combination of potential lifestyle factors. The LSH score was computed by adding up the 15 dichotomised subscale scores, yielding a possible scoring range of 0–15, with a higher LSH score indicating adherence to several healthy lifestyle habits (mean; 4.08, SD; 1.94). For description and analysis, the LSH score was divided into five groups based on quintiles.
The data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 software. A descriptive contingency table was created, and the study population was stratified according to depressive symptoms and gender. Baseline characteristics were presented as proportions, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) in each stratum. Multivariate binomial logistic regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between healthy and unhealthy lifestyle habits and depressive symptoms, and between LSH scores and depressive symptoms. A p-value of ≤0.05 was required for statistical significance. Multivariate analyses were conducted separately for boys and girls, and were adjusted for age, perceived family economy and parents’ higher education. The results were presented as odds ratios (ORs), with 95% CIs.
Table 2 provides the baseline characteristics of the study population, ages 13–19, during the 2017–2019 period, according to depressive symptoms and gender.
A significantly higher proportion of girls reported a high level of depressive symptoms compared with boys (31.7% vs. 12.3%). Overall, and in gender subgroups, those with a high level of depressive symptoms reported a significantly poorer family economy compared with the rest of the study population.
Among students with a low level of depressive symptoms, a higher proportion participated in physical activity 3 or more times per week and spent 3 h or less per day on social media or gaming, compared with those with a high level of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, a higher proportion reported high consumption of fruit, whole-grain bread and low consumption of salty snacks, candy, sugar-sweetened beverages, diet beverages and energy drinks. Additionally, a higher proportion reported no alcohol-intoxicating episodes during the previous 12 months and no use of tobacco, including smokeless forms. These patterns were observed in boys and girls separately.
However, there were differences due to age: Among those with a high level of depressive symptoms, a higher proportion of students were in grades 10–13.
Results from a binary multivariable logistic regression with the dichotomised depressive symptoms scale as the dependent variable for girls and boys are provided in Table 3.
The odds of experiencing a higher level of depressive symptoms were lower for girls and boys who reported being physically active 3 or more times per week, compared with those who did physical activity less than 3 times per week. Furthermore, the odds of having a higher level of depressive symptoms were lower for girls and boys who spent 3 h or less per day on social media or gaming, compared with those who spent more than 3 h per day on screen time.
The odds of having a higher level of depressive symptoms were lower for girls and boys who reported a higher consumption of fruit, whole-grain bread and fish, compared with those who reported a lower consumption of these healthier food choices, and for girls and boys who reported a lower consumption of salty snacks, diet beverages, energy drinks and candy, compared with those who reported a higher consumption of unhealthy food choices. Additionally, the odds of having a higher level of depressive symptoms were greater for girls and boys who reported a higher consumption of vegetables, compared with those who reported a lower consumption. Finally, the odds of having a higher level of depressive symptoms were lower for girls and boys who reported no current smoking activity or alcohol intoxication during the previous 12 months, and for girls who reported no current use of smokeless tobacco compared with the rest of the population.
Results concerning association of adherence to lifestyle habits and depressive symptoms among adolescents are provided in Table 4.
The highest degree of adherence to healthy lifestyle habits was associated with reduced odds of depressive symptoms. Moving from less to more healthy lifestyle habit adherence implied lower odds of depressive symptoms.
This study contributes to the field by examining how depressive symptoms are related to a range of lifestyle habits, including physical activity, screen use, gaming, dietary habits, alcohol intoxication, smoking and smokeless tobacco. Overall, the present study’s main finding was that depressive symptoms were less common among adolescents with healthy lifestyle habits. Our results confirmed an inverse association between consumption of several healthy food items and prevalence of depressive symptoms and a positive association between consumption of several unhealthy food items and beverages, and prevalence of depressive symptoms. However, the results unexpectedly also indicated a weak positive association between consumption of vegetables and having depressive symptoms. In contrast to our findings, a meta-analysis concluded that fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with guarding against depression, thereby supporting the current recommendation of increasing fruit and vegetable consumption to improve mental health . The weak positive association between consumption of vegetables and elevated depressive symptoms could be explained by the reverse causality effect, and the strong association with other possible confounders – such as social competence, family cohesion and appearance satisfaction – which were not included in the present study. Furthermore, recommendations on diet and soft drink consumption to prevent depression specifically have underlined the importance of high consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole-grain cereals, nuts, seeds and fish, and low consumption of processed foods, ‘fast’ foods, commercial baked goods, and sweets [13, 43]. These patterns also were confirmed in a recent meta-analysis of prospective studies, indicating that a higher-quality diet is associated with a lower risk of depressive symptoms . However, other studies have not been able to identify any association between consumption of fish, fruit and vegetables, and depressive symptoms among adolescents [7, 45].
Furthermore, results from the present study indicated a strong positive association between consumption of energy drinks and depressive symptoms, which corresponds with results from a previously published systematic review . Results from the present study also found a weak positive association between sugar-sweetened beverages and depressive symptoms among girls, but not boys. Previously published studies confirmed an association between soft drink consumption and depressive symptoms regardless of gender and in females . However, extant studies have not been able to identify any association between soft drinks and depressive symptoms , and between low-quality diets and higher depression incidence . Inconsistent results from previous studies that have examined the relationship between diet and mental health in children and adolescents may be explained partly by the use of various measures of dietary factors, mental health problems and low methodological quality .
Findings from the present study also indicated an association between higher levels of physical activity and fewer depressive symptoms. This corresponds with a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies indicating that higher levels of physical activity help guard against future development of depression , and a review of reviews found partial evidence for a causal association between physical activity and depression . On the other hand, a study among UK adolescents did not reveal any association between physical activity and depressive symptoms . Physical activity is a complex measure, and little is known regarding the mechanisms between physical activity and mental health . How depressive symptoms and physical activity are operationalised and measured also may impact the relationship.
Both social media use and gaming were associated with a high prevalence of depressive symptoms in the present study, which corresponds with some [14, 18], but not all [52, 53], previous studies. A study among adolescents reported that social media use was associated with slight increases in depression, alcohol consumption and behavioural problems . The increasing availability of screen-based devices has resulted in more time spent on social media and online gaming among adolescents, compared with previous generations , and may explain discrepancy patterns, and that type and features of online activities might affect mental health in different ways .
Corresponding with our results, previous studies also have confirmed an association between use of tobacco, alcohol intoxication and prevalence of depressive symptoms among adolescents [21, 22, 42]. Strandheim et al. found that girls with symptoms of anxiety and depression reported more frequent alcohol intoxication, suggesting a bidirectional relationship. A systematic review concluded that internalising problems, including depression, was associated positively with more severe outcomes, such as heavy problematic drinking and alcohol use disorders, but associated negatively with alcohol consumption .
The present study revealed some minor gender differences in the associations between different lifestyle variables and depressive symptoms. Previous studies also have revealed gender differences; however, the impact from certain lifestyle factors varies. A previous study among Norwegian adolescents reported that alcohol and high levels of screen time were associated significantly with depressive symptoms among girls, while marijuana use, tobacco use and excessive screen time were associated significantly with depressive symptoms among boys . Furthermore, among Australian adolescents, boys with unhealthy dietary patterns and lower physical activity levels were more likely to experience depressive symptoms, while higher levels of screen time were associated with depressive symptoms in girls . Low appearance satisfaction has been revealed as an important confounder, particularly among females in the association between lifestyle risk and symptoms of depression . This discrepancy could be explained by the broad range of lifestyle habits used in our study, the absence of confounding factors and that few previously published studies have reported on the association between multiple unhealthy and healthy lifestyle habits and depressive symptoms in adolescents.
The present study indicates differences between adolescents with lower SES compared with those who have higher SES. Adolescents who reported perceiving a good family economy had lower odds of experiencing depressive symptoms compared with the rest of the population. This corresponds with a review that found higher SES to be associated with fewer mental health problems among young people . Additionally, depressive symptoms have been found to be more common among adolescent girls with lower SES compared with girls with higher SES . However, results seem to vary across different SES indicators chosen in various studies. Lund et al. suggested – based on a systematic review investigating the social gradient in stress and depressive symptoms among adolescent girls – that parental education, as an SES indicator, should be applied with care, although perceived financial situation seemed to be the most consistent SES measure across studies. A validity study comparing self-reported SES (parents’ occupations, Family Affluence scale and adolescents’ perception of their families’ socioeconomic, financial or social status) among adolescents suggested that although different indicators measure different SES dimensions, only perceived SES demonstrated a significant gradient in health-related quality of life .
We observed that higher, as opposed to lower, adherence to healthy lifestyle habits implied lower odds of having depressive symptoms, suggesting a need for multiple lifestyle changes. Similar to our results, previous studies have reported that mental health status was associated strongly with the number of health-promoting behaviours endorsed , and that increased numbers of risk behaviours were associated with an increased likelihood of depressive symptoms . Additionally, adolescents meeting recommendations for multiple lifestyle factors had fewer physician visits for mental illness than those meeting recommendations for a single behaviour .
The association of diet and beverage consumption and depression may be explained by inflammatory pathways . Adopting an anti-inflammatory diet and diets that include omega-3-polyunsaturated fatty acids and dietary fibre might be linked to reduced risk of developing symptoms of depression . Although biological arguments have been made for a possible causal direction between diet and depression, reverse caution must be addressed, as it is plausible that the relationship could be bi-directional, and that depression could impact lifestyle habits. For example, emotions may influence eating behaviour both in terms of the choice of nutrition and volume consumed [62, 63]. Furthermore, depressive symptoms and depression also have been found to affect physical activity and increase risks from sedentary behaviour .
Lifestyle habits in previous studies have been shown to cluster or coexist with one another and have been associated with different levels of mental health symptoms [6, 66]. Several possible mechanisms may contribute to this. As demonstrated above, depressive symptoms, such as anhedonia and withdrawal, may make individuals predisposed to having more negative lifestyle habits, and Verger et al. suggested that diminished interest in health and being less receptive to health education messages could be one explanation for the clustering of negative lifestyle habits among those with depression. Furthermore, common background factors such as SES may influence both various lifestyle factors and depressive symptoms.
Examining lifestyle habits that can explore underlying mechanisms and improve mental health in both clinical and public health settings is vital to future research. Youth counsellors also should be aware of the relationship between depressive symptoms and lifestyle habits. However, although there are potential benefits at the individual level from engaging in healthy lifestyle habits, the present findings are also important for guiding health policies. The positive effects from adopting a healthy lifestyle, present opportunities for implementing health promotion interventions in schools, e.g., as part of a cross-sectoral strategy for public health. Public health strategies should include measures that facilitate the possibility of healthy lifestyle choices for all adolescents, e.g., through universal interventions such as school meals, safe environments that promote physical activity and reduced pricing for healthy food products.
Strengths and limitations
The present study’s major strengths were the large sample size combined with a high response rate. The data used in this study were collected in 2017–2019 and provide an up-to-date description of Norwegian adolescents’ lives. The outcome measure worked well psychometrically on a general level, but one item, ‘worried too much about things’, worked differently for boys and girls, and another item, ‘had sleep problems’, clearly misfits . A limitation in the present study was the cross-sectional design, which precludes inferences about causal relationships. Depressive symptoms may function not only as an outcome, but also may act as an exposure that is hampering lifestyle factors and can influence how young people evaluate their lifestyle and family economy. Furthermore, the use of self-reported measures may have led to unidentified misclassification or measurement errors. As far as we know, no evaluation has been performed in the Ungdata Survey regarding self-reporting of physical activity, screen time or diet and beverage intake. Furthermore, the associations found between different lifestyle habits and depressive symptoms might be influenced by other factors that were not controlled for in the present study. Thus, the results should be interpreted with caution.
Results from the present study indicate that healthier lifestyle habits were associated with a lower level of depressive symptoms in adolescents, as well as demonstrate support for the interrelationship between lifestyle habits and depressive symptoms. Adolescence is a critical time for establishing healthy lifestyle habits, and we hope that our results can contribute to a better understanding of supporting investment in adolescents’ adherence to a healthier lifestyle and be useful for general practice in promoting adolescents’ mental health. Moreover, the findings confirmed the positive consequences of practising healthy lifestyles during childhood and adolescence. Further research is needed to examine the direction and causality between these associations.
Availability of data and materials
The data and materials from the Ungdata Surveys are closed and stored in a national database administered by NOVA. The data are available for research purposes upon application. For request of the data, please contact email@example.com. Further information about the study and the questionnaires can be found on the web page (in Norwegian) (http://ungdata.no/).
Norwegian Social Research
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The Ungdata Surveys were conducted by the Norwegian Social Research Institute (NOVA) in a collaboration with regional centres for drug rehabilitation (KoRus) and the Municipalsectors organisation (KS). The authors wish to thank them for their cooperation and for conducting data collection.
No funding was received to produce this manuscript.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Data were obtained from an already established data material (Ungdata survey) collected by Norwegian Social Research. The data collection was based on informed consent. Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD) and Norwegian Social Research institute (NOVA) have assessed that the data collection is in line with the privacy protections and regulations. Permission to access and use the data were given by NOVA at OsloMet.
Consent for publication
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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Cite this article
Kleppang, A.L., Haugland, S.H., Bakken, A. et al. Lifestyle habits and depressive symptoms in Norwegian adolescents: a national cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 21, 816 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10846-1
- Lifestyle habits
- Symptoms of depression | <urn:uuid:cf118d87-739b-408b-ab27-e52a2d09d5b0> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-10846-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233511023.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20231002232712-20231003022712-00529.warc.gz | en | 0.904236 | 10,612 | 2.890625 | 3 |
The ferns are an ancient lineage of plants, dating back to at least the Devonian. They include three living groups -- Marattiales, Ophioglossales, and leptosporangiate ferns -- as well as a couple of extinct groups. An additional group, the Psilotales, is tentatively included in the ferns, though the group is so vastly different from living ferns that no one is really certain of its relationships.
For more about ferns, visit the American Fern Society. The AFS maintains a nice list of fern-related links.
For more information on fern relationships and fern biology, visit the Filicopsida page on the Tree of Life. | <urn:uuid:35ad8464-ab09-4cdb-bb1c-0c826ab6d9df> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://ucmp.berkeley.edu/plants/pterophyta/pteridopsida.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936535306.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074215-00117-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930936 | 153 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Skin is impacted by aging process. Indeed, skin changes with age. This normal occurrence leads to thinning, sagging, wrinkles and the appearance of age spots, and dry patches.
Skin aging is a common process affecting everyone
Many seniors experience dry skin and the appearance of dry spots. Most of the time these dry sports are located on their lower legs, lower arms, and elbows. This dryness is impacted by the reduction of sweat glands and oil glands.
Skin, with age, begins to wrinkle. This change, due to less elasticity in the skin, comes from a reduction of elastin and collagen. Area that is mainly impacted is the face. Gravity also causes wrinkles and sagging skin.
Another change is the thinning of the skin. The basal layer of the epidermis slows the capacity to produce cell that leads to the thinning of the epidermis. These changes make the skin more prone to wrinkle.
All these changes on skin may be caused by smoking, insufficient water consumption, excessive exposure to the sun, stress.
Some solutions are existing to reduce the impact of health aging on skin
A healthy lifestyle may limit the aging process on skin:
- Limit sun exposure: important sun exposure accelerates skin aging. Using sunscreen may slow the process.
- Avoid smoking: cigarette smoking induces skin wrinkling and is thought to accelerate the damage caused by sun exposure. The action of puckering up for each drag on a cigarette increases the likelihood of wrinkles around the mouth.
- Use soft skin care: aging process can be exacerbated by the us of skin irritants such perfumed soap, heavily chlorinated swimming pools and long hot showers. Using neutral soap limits the incidence on skin.
In addition to these habits, some nutrients are known for their benefits on skin.
Zinc is a trace element that can be found in meat, shellfish, seeds, beans, lentils, and chickpeas.
Zinc is well-know for antioxidant properties. Zinc plays a role in the protection against skin aging. Zinc is also recommended to treat slight to moderate acne. Indeed, zinc has anti-inflammatory properties and may regulate sebaceous glands activity that impact skin health wit acne. An addition effect of zinc on skin is linked to the fact that zinc has cicatrizing virtues.
B complex vitamins are also important to limit the impact of healthy aging on skin. They can be found in animal products such as fish, liver, chicken, eggs and milk but also in nuts, seeds, leafy green vegetable and oat.
Vitamin B3 is well known for all its benefits on skin health. This vitamin helps to minimize enlarged pores, tighten lax or stretched out pores, soften fine lines and wrinkles. | <urn:uuid:62fe0f9b-38a5-4d52-bde2-ee9031884b14> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://gnosisbylesaffre.com/blog/discover-how-to-preserve-your-skin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947474661.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20240226162136-20240226192136-00037.warc.gz | en | 0.945707 | 564 | 2.875 | 3 |
Kids Learn About Safety Tips - Red Cross First Aid Training for Toddlers
- о видео
Смотреть видео Kids Learn About Safety Tips - Red Cross First Aid Training for Toddlers
52,722,181 | 11 мес. назад | 75,911 - 33,266
Accidents can happen anytime, anywhere, and the solution to avoiding unpleasant surprises is prevention. Discover an innovative way that teaches kids to improve their safety by learning the basics of first aid.
Adults can teach them to take different steps to reduce the risk. In case of an accident, it’s important for children to know what to do.
With this app, girls and boys will learn how to recognize everyday hazards they may come upon in different situations and places (at home, in the car, at the park, the beach, the pool, the countryside, etc.) and what steps to follow to prevent them, how and when to call 911 and how to provide assistance for different types of accidents.
- Download game on Google Play :
- Download game on iTunes :
Developer - DADA Company Edutainment
DADA Company Edutainment website -
- Комментарии ВК | <urn:uuid:5683c9a3-a87b-4430-85c1-11365ba3aedc> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | http://androidmafia.ru/video/gmdJUU4b9FI | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125937074.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20180419223925-20180420003925-00356.warc.gz | en | 0.816184 | 279 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Lithium battery solar street light energy is the most popular street light product, and lithium battery as its core, its performance will naturally have a great impact on the final use effect of lithium battery solar street light. Therefore, we need to understand what materials are used for the positive and negative electrodes of Qinchu lithium battery solar street lights.
In the research and application of lithium batteries, the use of cathode materials is regarded as the core content of the research and application of lithium batteries, and has always been the focus of researchers. The anode material must not only be used as an energy storage medium to achieve energy conversion and sustainable power acquisition, but also bear the lithium consumed by the solid-liquid interface film (SEL film) of the battery cathode material. Therefore, in the development and application of lithium batteries, the required cathode materials have the characteristics of high potential, high specific capacity, and high density. , Can maintain a longer service life and better use density.
At present, lithium battery manufacturers mainly use lithium battery cathode materials in three main ways: embedded type, alloy type and conversion type. The various usage methods of cathode materials are suitable for the research and application of different performance lithium batteries, and have different usage characteristics under different conditions. At present, more scientific research scholars need to participate in the research and development of materials in terms of technology and energy utilization, and combine new technologies and production processes to produce high-efficiency lithium batteries. | <urn:uuid:36fc4008-9b2e-4a31-9872-c42945f79d0a> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://www.ishinelux.com/blog/What_materials_are_used_for_the_positive_and_negative_electrodes_of_the_lithium_battery_solar_street_290.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046153816.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20210729043158-20210729073158-00016.warc.gz | en | 0.91129 | 298 | 2.609375 | 3 |
ATLANTA — The federal government is issuing its first guidelines to schools on how to protect children with food allergies.
The voluntary guidelines call on schools to take such steps as restricting nuts, shellfish or other foods that can cause allergic reactions, and make sure emergency allergy medicine — like EpiPens — are available.
The new advice calls for schools to do such things as:
• Identify children with food allergies. Food allergies are a growing concern. A recent CDC survey estimated that about 1 in 20 U.S. children have food allergies — a 50 percent increase from the late 1990s. Experts aren't sure why cases are rising.
• Have a plan to prevent exposures. Many food allergies are mild and something children grow out of. But severe cases may cause anaphylactic shock or even death from eating, say, a peanut.
• Designate someone to carry epinephrine. About 15 states — and numerous individual schools or school districts — already have policies of their own. The guidelines released Wednesday were required by a 2011 federal law.
• Plan parties or field trips free of foods that might cause a reaction. Peanuts, tree nuts, milk and shellfish are among the food that most often most trigger reactions. But experts say more than 170 foods are known to cause reactions.
• Make sure classroom activities are inclusive. For example, don't use Peanut M&M's in a counting lesson, said John Lehr, chief executive of an advocacy group that worked on the guidelines, Food Allergy Research & Education. | <urn:uuid:12d54cb6-cece-4a9d-b4b0-5b4c073498a5> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/feds-post-food-allergy-guidelines-for-schools/2150058 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1408500824445.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20140820021344-00457-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957399 | 316 | 3.375 | 3 |
Brig Amity Replica
The arrival of the Brig Amity in 1826 marks the beginning of European settlement in Western Australia.
In the early 1800's the New South Wales Government saw a need to establish a military outpost on the west coast to counter French ambitions. A settlement party was assembled and the Amity dispatched from Sydney on the 9th November 1826.
After a difficult 6 week journey through rough seas and the sweltering summer sun, the Amity arrived in King George Sound on December 25th, 1826.
On board were Major Edmund Lockyer, 19 soldiers, 23 convict tradesmen, a storekeeper, and the ship's own crew led by Lt. Colson Festing, together with supplies and equipment for 6 months, including sheep and pigs.
On December 26th, the party landed and began the settlement of Frederickstown, named in honour of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Renamed 'Albany' in 1831, the settlement pre-dates Perth by 2 years.
The Amity continued life as a private vessel around Tasmania until she was wrecked in Bass Strait on an uncharted sandbank in 1845.
In 1972, the idea of an Amity Replica was proposed as the focal point of celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Brig's arrival.
After much discussion, information sourced by historian Les Johnson and funding approved by Federal, State and local government, construction began in 1975.
The replica was built using designs, techniques and materials similar to those used in the early 1800s.
Local boat builder Stan Austin and shipwright Pieter van der Brugge lead the construction with help from a team of local craftsmen.
The replica was built using designs, techniques and materials similar to those used in the early 1800s. Natural bush timbers were sourced for many parts of the ship, with much time spent finding the right materials.
On board, an interactive audio tour helps you explore the fascinating history of WA's first settlement.
Article updated 02/09/2015. | <urn:uuid:909b2627-1410-4a4d-a29c-50fcc2b7ceba> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://sensationalsouthcoast.com.au/brig-amity-replica | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195532251.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20190724082321-20190724104321-00368.warc.gz | en | 0.959297 | 419 | 2.734375 | 3 |
I can tie my own shoes. Kids love to be able to shout that out. Sometimes it's a little tricky learning to tie a shoe while wearing one. This fun activity will help your child learn to both lace his shoe and tie his shoe. Of course, you will have to do the teaching but this is a super teaching aid.
Just print the shoes onto cardstock. You can leave them together, as is, or cut the shoes out so you have individual shoes. You will need to get two shoelaces for this activity, which you can purchase at any store or even the drug store. Get some brightly colored ones for more fun.
After printing the shoes, punch holes where the eyelets are shown. If the shoes are cut apart, then you can do this with a hole punch. Another option is to use the shoes as a pattern and trace onto 1/4 inch craft foam for an even sturdier shoe to work with.
- Hole punch
- Print Shoes
- Cut out shoes or leave as a pair.
- Punch holes in eyelets.
- Show child how to lace the shoe properly and how to tie. | <urn:uuid:7dd46c62-f377-4b9f-b5dc-6ca0650a54d0> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.ziggityzoom.com/activity/tie-my-shoe-activity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131302318.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172142-00007-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956492 | 236 | 3.421875 | 3 |
|Geology 105 - Paleontology|
|Course Syllabus||Course Schedule||Assignments||Course Handouts||Critter Charts||Department Home Page||Kusnick Home Page|
Key to text colors and fonts
Find information in book
Get information in class
Get information in both book and class
For this assignment, we will use four reading resources:
Chapter 5, p. 129-135.
Gould, S. J., 1983, What, If Anything, is a Zebra?, Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., pp.355-365.
Evolution 101: Patterns - click through all the web pages in this section of Evolution 101
Biological Diversity: Classification
|taxon - a grouping of organisms|
|taxonomy - sorting organisms into groups|
|systematics - the study of the diversity of organisms, including evolutionary patterns|
|shared derived characters -|
1. Basics of biological classification (Biological Diversity: Classification)
A. Hierarchical groups:
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
Kingdom; fundamentally different kinds of creatures (e.g., plant, animal, fungus, etc.)
Phylum - different body architectures (e.g., Arthropods have jointed appendages, segmented body, chitinous exoskeleton)
Family - recognizable kind of organism; e.g., squirrel, cat, human
Species - specific kind of organism; red squirrel, Asiatic lion, modern human
B. Naming: Suppose you find a fossil brachiopod? What do you have to do to name the species?
2. Why Classify? Read the Gould Article for these questions.
A. To identify morphologic groups - organisms that look like the "same kind" of creature.
E.g., it's easier to refer to "fish" than to "vertebrate organisms with gills and fins that live in the water"
B. To represent evolutionary relationships.
Are all fish more closely related to each other than to other groups?
C. To create a database for answering biological questions, e.g., biodiversity
3. Changing approaches
Traditional biological classification is hierarchical, resulting in a system that looks like this.
This approach puts organisms with similar characteristics in similar boxes, and lumps some boxes together into higher level boxes, but does not tell us how related the boxes at the same level are to each other.
So paleontologists produced diagrams of evolution through time that looked like trees, like this one of horses.
But the linkage between the two kinds of diagrams is messy. Where are the hierarchical boxes on the horse evolutionary tree?
And our classification system does not automatically tell us about how the organisms are related to each other.
In the past few decades, biologists have come up with another approach: cladistic analysis, well described in Evolution 101: Patterns (be sure to click through all the pages in the Patterns section)
A. Briefly describe the sequence of steps in doing cladistic analysis (let's call the diagrams that are produced phylogenetic trees or cladograms).
B. How is a cladogram different from the evolutionary tree of the horses?
C. How would classification derived from cladistic analysis be different than the traditional Linnean groups (family, order, etc.)?
Short Answer: Compare the three schools of biological classification (traditional taxonomy, cladistics, phenetics) based on goals, methods, use of characters, and areas of objectivity/subjectivity.
Debate over cladistic classification has been particularly bitter among paleontologists working on ancient reptiles, dinosaurs and birds. Here is a statement from the Web page of an evolutionary biologist:
Of [the three] basic approaches to taxonomy, I prefer the evolutionary (traditional) approach. The reasons for this are summarized as follows:
Discuss this statement first from the viewpoint of an traditional taxonomist, then from a cladistic viewpoint. Use the example of the classification of reptiles, birds and mammals to argue each side. Be sure you address each of the points listed above for each of the classification systems. | <urn:uuid:3603f380-188f-439d-ae28-07317b5e6c66> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://www.csus.edu/indiv/k/kusnickj/Geology105/systematics.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398447769.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205407-00276-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.862825 | 884 | 3.921875 | 4 |
In 1818 Missouri became a state. The settlers from Missouri wanted it to be a slave state. The Congressmen from the North did not want another slave state. That same year Maine also asked to be admitted to the Union. In 1820 an agreement called the Missouri Compromise was reached. The compromise allowed Missouri to come into the Union as a slave state and Maine would be a free state. Congress drew an imaginary line across the middle of the United States running from the east coast to the Pacific Ocean. This imaginary line separated the states into free and slave states.
Any new state entering the Union that was south of the line would be a slave state. Any state north of the line would enter the Union as a free state. Maine became a state in 1820. Missouri became a state in 1821. For the next 15 years no states entered the Union. From 1836 to 1850 six states were admitted: Arkansas1836slave Michigan1837free Florida1845slave Texas1845slave Iowa1846free Wisconsin1848free In 1850 California asked to be admitted to the Union. The Missouri Compromise had cut California in half. Congressmen argued over whether California should enter the war as a free or slave state.
Henry Clay, the man who worked out the Missouri Compromise, came out of retirement to try to work out another compromise. The new agreement was called the Compromise of 1850. In this compromise Northern California entered the Union as a free state. The Compromise of 1850 added some new laws. Buying and selling slaves in Washington, D. C. was outlawed. The people living in Washington, D. C. could still own slaves, but could not buy or sell new ones. In the South the land received from Mexico was broken up into two states, New Mexico and Utah.
In these states the settlers could decide for themselves whether they wanted slavery or not. The South got a new law called the Fugitive Slave Law which said that any slaves escaping from the south to freedom in the north should be returned to their masters. Bounty hunters received a bounty for each slave they returned. Some free black people were captured by bounty hunters and sold as slaves. Any person who did not help a bounty hunter could be punished under the law. Credits http://www. mce. k12tn. net/civil_war/compromise_of_1850. htm
Copyright 2018 - Coaching WordPress Theme. | <urn:uuid:11394bfb-a184-49ad-925f-edbc93b22e43> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | https://milkywaytribe.com/the-compromise-of-1820-and-1850-5088/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540504338.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20191208021121-20191208045121-00009.warc.gz | en | 0.970448 | 500 | 4.125 | 4 |
Bacillus anthracis is the causative agent of anthrax, a zoonotic disease that is transmitted by uptake of infectious spores. Germination of spores and massive expansion of the resulting vegetative forms precipitate the rapidly lethal disease anthrax, which affects most mammals including humans. B. anthracis has served as a model organism for infectious diseases and was used to first demonstrate that bacteria represent the causative agents of infectious diseases. Further, live-attenuated spore vaccines (LSVs) were used for the first demonstration that infected hosts can mount immune responses protective against wild-type B. anthracis. One of these LSVs, B. anthracis strain Sterne (pXO1+, pXO2-) lacks the pXO2 plasmid responsible for expression of the poly-D-?-glutamic acid capsule (PDGA) and is used globally to prevent anthrax disease in domesticated animals. Importantly, the correlate of LSV-induced anthrax protective immunity is not yet known, however it is appreciated that LSV-derived opsonophagocytic antibodies promote clearance of the pathogen and sterilizing immunity. In the United States, AVA (BioThraxTM), a precipitate of Sterne-type culture supernatants adsorbed to aluminum hydroxide, is used as the anthrax vaccine for humans. AVA provides only partial protection in several animal models and the vaccine does not confer sterilizing immunity. AVA's correlate for protection, antibodies against the lethal toxi component protective antigen (PagA), neutralize the toxin but cannot promote opsonophagocytic clearance of the pathogen. Here we seek to address a key unanswered question for the field of bacterial pathogenesis: what is the correlate of protective immunity derived from LSVs? Obviously, the PDGA capsule can be ruled out, because the Sterne strain does not elaborate capsule. Our current appreciation of the envelope of vegetative forms implicates two main envelope structures as candidates, the secondary cell wall polysaccharide (SCWP) and the S-layer. To evaluate the contributions of the SCWP and the S-layer as protective antigens towards anthrax pathogenesis and protective immunity requires the molecular genetic analysis of the pathogen. We have shown that the SLH domain of 2 S-layer proteins (Sap and EA1) and 22 S-layer associated proteins (BslA-T) binds to the SCWP when it is pyruvylated via the csaB gene product and linked to the peptidoglycan of B. anthracis. Unliked pagA, both csaB and bslA are required for anthrax pathogenesis, however the genes that enable synthesis and assembly of the SCWP and its associated S-layer are not yet known. The knowledge gap is addressed in this proposal, which will explore the biochemical underpinnings of ordered S-layer and S-layer associated protein assembly on the SCWP.
This proposal will establish the molecular mechanisms of Bacillus anthracis envelope assembly and the genetic requirements for LSV (live attenuated spore vaccine)-derived sterilizing immunity against anthrax. The results will reveal the mechanistic underpinnings of protective immunity against bacterial infectious diseases and provide research training for an MSTP student committed to a career in infectious diseases research.
|Lunderberg, J Mark; Liszewski Zilla, Megan; Missiakas, Dominique et al. (2015) Bacillus anthracis tagO Is Required for Vegetative Growth and Secondary Cell Wall Polysaccharide Synthesis. J Bacteriol 197:3511-20|
|Liszewski Zilla, Megan; Chan, Yvonne G Y; Lunderberg, Justin Mark et al. (2015) LytR-CpsA-Psr enzymes as determinants of Bacillus anthracis secondary cell wall polysaccharide assembly. J Bacteriol 197:343-53|
|Liszewski Zilla, Megan; Lunderberg, J Mark; Schneewind, Olaf et al. (2015) Bacillus anthracis lcp Genes Support Vegetative Growth, Envelope Assembly, and Spore Formation. J Bacteriol 197:3731-41| | <urn:uuid:c9a53423-9752-492e-84c0-64b20f575578> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://grantome.com/grant/NIH/F30-AI110036-01 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257645830.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20180318165408-20180318185408-00708.warc.gz | en | 0.881763 | 892 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Researchers report that being too heavy or too light at birth and rapidly gaining weight as a child could lead to a life of obesity.
Studies indicate babies with a high birth weight have a higher risk of suffering from obesity later in life. Infants who do not weigh much at birth but who catch up rapidly could also be more likely to grow into obese adults.
Gaining weight before height - or adiposity rebound - and how fat is deposited on the body during adolescence are also thought to have an impact on the risk of adult obesity and weight-related illnesses like diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
These findings come at a time when the current childhood obesity epidemic reaches new heights. Canadian childhood obesity currently ranks fourth in the world. The obesity crisis has been attributed to lack of exercise, changing diets and larger portion sizes.
Health experts warn childhood obesity is such a critical public health issue, it could possibly reverse gains made over the last 50 years in reducing heart disease and death.
All research on this web site is the property of Leslie Beck Nutrition Consulting Inc. and is protected by copyright. Keep in mind that research on these matters continues daily and is subject to change. The information presented is not intended as a substitute for medical treatment. It is intended to provide ongoing support of your healthy lifestyle practices. | <urn:uuid:e0d7cb07-8fd7-47d4-9886-5cff444c8f3e> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://lesliebeck.com/articles/2005/06/08/heavy-birth-weight-at-birth-ups-risk-for-obesity-later-in-life | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446710462.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20221128002256-20221128032256-00840.warc.gz | en | 0.961688 | 260 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Most experts believe the best in Spanish Empire rarities will rise substantially. This is the finest known 8 Escudos of this era, the largest gold coin ever made of the Spanish Empire.
Flagship Gold coins are the largest denomination of any country’s Gold coins that were actually made for commerce in classic (pre 1933) times. Investors and collectors want the best and biggest coins. Large Gold coins are the best, and most favored coins in the world. Investors and collectors are not interested in modern bullion coins as they are neither rare nor “real.” Investors and collectors want the “real” coins that were actually made for commerce. Bullion is not currency; it is simply a convenient form in which to hold Gold. Bullion is not an investment, whereas rare numismatic coins (Investment Grade Gold) are one of the world’s best and safest investments.
Only four countries in the world made Flagship Gold coins for any length of time. They are the US $20 Double Eagle; French 100 Francs; Great Britain 5 Guineas; and the Spanish Empire 8 Escudos. Other nations only made small coins which are not nearly as interesting to investors and collectors.
Rare coins are generally collected regionally. For instance a US collector collects US coins and a Chinese collector collects Chinese coins. However, Flagship coins have international demand, making them the highest demand rare coins in the world. | <urn:uuid:66dad7e5-46aa-4172-aba5-501173e7c432> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://goldenarttreasures.com/article.php?id=4368 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500154.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20230204205328-20230204235328-00770.warc.gz | en | 0.950795 | 294 | 2.75 | 3 |
A recent article about Hiliary Clinton “Hillary’s Next Move” “(http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/opinion/sunday/collins-hillarys-next-move.html?pagewanted=all) mentioned that part of her success comes from listening. “Lots and lots of listening.”
After reading that I was curious about Seth Horwitz’s article “The Science and Art of Listening”, that appeared several pages later in the same section of the paper.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/opinion/sunday/why-listening-is-so-much-more-than-hearing.html) In it he clarifies the difference between hearing and listening. A distinction we don’t often make. Hearing is one of our basic senses, on all the time, even when we’re sleeping, monitoring the world around us. Listening is a skill, sorting out what we hear, focusing our brain so we can discern the meaning of the sounds we hear.
As we increasingly follow in Hillary’s path, engaging with people from around the world, we need not just to listen but to prepare for and think about the listening. We first have to consider what we’ll hear. The order of the words, the shape of the messages we’ll receive, how people convey information.
In some places like the US, Germany for example, culture shapes communication that Is direct, based on data, facts, where the meaning is carried in the words spoken (known as low context). In others such as China, Spain the appropriate approach is subtle, indirect, with the significant of the message shaped in part by gestures, the environment (known as high context).
Remember that listening is a skill and we build skills with knowledge and practice. Do some research. Be prepared. You'll be surprised how much you'll learn, how much you'll hear, how effective the listening can be. | <urn:uuid:f7608f28-69ac-43a6-876e-75fda3a8b5d5> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | https://www.worldwiseblog.com/2012/11/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232256314.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20190521082340-20190521104340-00170.warc.gz | en | 0.953438 | 432 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Researchers suspect that a protein superstructure called amyloid beta is responsible for much of the neural damage of Alzheimer's disease.
A new study at the University of California, San Diego, shows that amyloid beta disrupts one of the brain's anti-oxidant proteins and demonstrates a way to protect that protein, and perhaps others, from amyloid's harmful effects.
"Amyloid seems to cause damage to cells," said chemistry professor Jerry Yang. "We have reported in a very detailed way one potential interaction of how amyloid can cause disease, and we found a way to stop it." His group's report of their results will appear in the Journal of Biological Chemistry in December.
Their study focused on catalase, an enzyme that mops up excess oxidants, because catalase normally helps to prevent the kind of damage seen in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease and previous work had found catalase proteins deposited within amyloid plaques.
Lila Habib, a bioengineering graduate student and the first author of the report, added amyloid to cultured neural cells and looked at its effects.
"We were able to determine that amyloid beta and this anti-oxidant enzyme, catalase, interact, and that this interaction harmed catalase so it wasn't able to perform its physiological function: to degrade hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water," she said.
When Habib coated the amyloid with a small molecule designed to prevent its interaction with other proteins, she was able to restore the activity of catalase and return hydrogen peroxide to normal levels within the cells.
The coating Habib used to probe the interaction between amyloid and catalase is a candidate drug - one of a class of molecules that Yang's lab has developed.
"Not only are we learning more about the disease, but we are also developing a potential strategy for treatment," said Yang, who is currently testing the new approach in a mouse model of the disease. | <urn:uuid:351d2c9b-7df5-4dbe-981d-e49b6509ef82> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.biosciencetechnology.com/news/2010/11/scientists-identify-1-cause-damage-alzheimers-disease-and-find-way-stop-it | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396455.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00010-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969278 | 416 | 3 | 3 |
The History of The Structures
The two houses are both, one room houses. They were both built in the early 1950's, before the bridge was built that connected Hilton Head Island to the mainland.
The houses were built to provide housing to rent to the migrant workers who came to Hilton Head Island to harvest tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. These houses also provided shelter for many Native Island Families.
Dr. Louise Miller Cohen's grandmother and aunt lived together, their house burned down in 1965, and they came to live with us. Her aunt Rena wanted her own space, but she didn't have the money to rebuild. Habitat for Humanity was not available in those days.
Dr. Cohen's cousin -in-law purchased the body of the first eighteen wheeler that came across Hilton Head Island bridge. The trailer was placed in the yard. They remodeled the inside of the trailer and made living quarters for Aunt Rena. She died, and everything is set-up like she left it.
The houses on this site are the only restored Gullah-Geechee houses on Hilton Head Island.
The Little Blue House Successfully Restored
We are happy to announce that the "Little Blue House" was successfully restored with the help of The Home Builders Association.
We are extremely appreciative of their efforts to support the Gullah Museum of HHI.
You can learn more about them at: | <urn:uuid:fd49c8f0-2652-44a1-ba3b-2e43c431983d> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | http://www.gullahmuseumhhi.org/restoration-campaign.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243991378.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20210515070344-20210515100344-00187.warc.gz | en | 0.980748 | 288 | 2.796875 | 3 |
From winter air and tile floors to ice cream and breath mints, we experience sensations of cold on a regular basis. Yet commonplace though it is, scientists understand little about the cellular and molecular mechanisms that enable our bodies to detect cold. Recent research into heat detection revealed heat receptors in sensory nerves that populate the skin. Now new findings, published online yesterday by the journal Nature, suggest that a similar receptor responds to chilly stimuli.
The University of California at San Francisco team that conducted the research set out to investigate how plant products such as menthol elicit a cooling sensation. Their quest led them to a particular cellular doorway that, in the presence of menthol, changes the flow of ions into nerve cells. This shift produces a nerve signal that results in sensation. As it turns out, the same ion channel that responds to menthol is also activated by cold temperatures, between eight and 28 degrees Celsius.
According to the report, this cold- and menthol-sensitive receptor (CMR1) belongs to the same so-called transient receptor potential (TRP) family of ion channels to which known heat-activated channels belong, making it a "close molecular cousin" of those receptors. The researchers note, however, that the heat receptors are activated only in the pain-producing range. Such differences in channel sensitivities, they write, "may help to explain why psychosocial thresholds for cold-evoked pain are not as distinct as they are for heat." | <urn:uuid:acb58b7e-f0c1-4d74-b50b-5608962e966d> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/researchers-identify-rece/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049277807.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002117-00170-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933629 | 295 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Earth Etude for Elul 2 – Elul: A Time to Start Shifting Our Imperiled Planet onto a Sustainable Path
by Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D
The Hebrew month of Elul has arrived. It is the traditional time for heightened introspection, a chance to consider teshuva, improvements in our lives, before the “Days of Awe,” the days of judgment, the “High Holidays” of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
The shofar is blown every morning (except on Shabbat) in synagogues during the month of Elul to awaken us from slumber, to remind us to consider where we are in our lives and to urge us to make positive changes.
How should we respond to Elul today? How should we respond when:
- Science academies worldwide, 97% of climate scientists, and 99.9% of peer-reviewed papers on the issue in respected scientific journals argue that climate change is real, is largely caused by human activities, and poses great threats to humanity.
- Every decade since the 1970s has been warmer than the previous decade and all of the 16 warmest years since temperature records were kept in 1880 have been since 1998. 2014 was the warmest year recorded and 2015 is on track to break to be even warmer.
- Polar icecaps and glaciers worldwide have been melting rapidly, faster than scientific projections.
- There has been an increase in the number and severity of droughts, wildfires, storms, and floods.
- California has been subjected to so many severe climate events (heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and mudslides when heavy rains occur) recently that its governor, Jerry Brown, stated that, “Humanity is on a collision course with nature.”
- Many climates experts believe that we are close to a tipping point when climate change will spiral out of control, with disastrous consequences, unless major positive changes soon occur.
- While climate scientists believe that 350 parts per million (ppm) of atmospheric CO2 is a threshold value for climate stability, the world reached 400 ppm in 2014, and the amount is increasing by 2 – 3 ppm per year.
- While climate scientists hope that temperature increases can be limited to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), largely because that is the best that can be hoped for with current trends and momentum, the world is now on track for an average increase of 4 – 5 degrees Celsius, which would produce a world with almost unimaginably negative climate events .
- The Pentagon and other military groups believe that climate change will increase the potential for instability, terrorism, and war by reducing access to food and clean water and by causing tens of millions of desperate refuges to flee from droughts, wildfire, floods, storms, and other effects of climate change.
- Despite all of the above, many people are in denial, and most people seem to be “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as we approach a giant iceberg.”
In view of the above, we should make it a priority to do all we can to awaken the world to the dangers and the urgency of doing everything possible to shift our imperiled planet onto a sustainable path. We should contact rabbis, Jewish educators, and other Jewish leaders and ask that they increase awareness of the threats and how Jewish teachings can be applied to avert impending disasters. We should write letters to editors, call talk shows, question politicians, and in every other way possible, stress that we can’t continue the policies that have been so disastrous. We should urge that tikkun olam (the healing and repair of the world) become a central focus in all aspects of Jewish life today.
The afternoon service for Yom Kippur includes the book of Jonah, who was sent by God to Nineveh to urge the people to repent and change their evil ways in order to avoid their destruction. Today the whole world is Nineveh, in danger of annihilation and in need of repentance and redemption, and each one of us must be a Jonah, with a mission to warn the world that it must turn from greed, injustice, and violence, so that we can avoid a climate catastrophe and help shift our imperiled planet onto a sustainable path.
Earth Etudes for Elul are a project of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope
Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D., is the author of Judaism and Vegetarianism, Judaism and Global Survival, Who Stole My Religion? Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal our Imperiled Planet, and Mathematics and Global Survival, and over 200 articles and 25 podcasts at JewishVeg.com/schwartz. He is President of Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV). He is associate producer of the 2007 documentary “A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World.” | <urn:uuid:51018b86-f0fe-4c4b-8e7e-afc79b2c535a> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://jewcology.org/2015/08/earth-etude-for-elul-2-elul-a-time-to-start-shifting-our-imperiled-planet-onto-a-sustainable-path/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233511075.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20231003092549-20231003122549-00793.warc.gz | en | 0.938464 | 1,037 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Elizabeth Proctor was accused by Mary Warren of being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. She was pregnant at the time, so she was not executed at her appointed time. Once Elizabeth's baby was born, the witch trials were finished, and she was pardoned.
According to the Salem Massachusetts City Guide, Elizabeth Proctor was denounced as a witch on March 28, 1692. On April 11, when Elizabeth and Sarah Cloyce were examined in court by several city officials, including Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth and Captain Samuel Sewall, both women were accused of witchcraft and imprisoned.
Elizabeth Proctor remained in prison in Salem until the beginning of August, when she was put on trial for witchcraft and condemned. The other accused witches in court that day, including Elizabeth's husband, John, were hanged on the infamous Gallows Hill, but Elizabeth was awarded a temporary stay of execution because she was pregnant.
By the time Elizabeth Proctor gave birth, the Salem Witch Trials were over. Elizabeth was pardoned and released from prison. But, according to law, she was still a convicted felon. This prevented Elizabeth from claiming any of her husband John Proctor's property. This included the family tavern that she ran for many years. In 1697, five years after the Witch Trials, a probate court restored Elizabeth Proctor's dowry.
On Dec. 17, 1710, Elizabeth Proctor was paid 578 pounds and 12 shillings in restitution for the death of her husband, John. | <urn:uuid:14fe00bf-728c-4342-9cf3-8cb64451cf39> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://www.reference.com/art-literature/happened-elizabeth-proctor-3853e6c2464107fb | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195525312.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20190717141631-20190717163631-00014.warc.gz | en | 0.99125 | 309 | 3.84375 | 4 |
Archaeological evidence suggests that ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians and the Mayans used materials like shells and ivory to fashion rudimentary dental implants.
In the centuries that have passed since those early appliances, the materials used have improved considerably, to say the least. The implants that an oral surgeon would place today are made of titanium, which is biocompatible and able to fuse with the jawbone.
A mid-twentieth century discovery made by a Swedish scientist, Per-Ingvar Branemark, established the foundation for modern-day dental implants. In the course of an experiment examining the healing properties of bone, Branemark noticed that titanium devices fused with the bones of the animal test subjects.
This finding suggested that titanium could be a useful material for an implant intended to be a permanent replacement for the root of an absent tooth.
In the decades that followed Branemark’s initial discovery, he and his colleagues, along with other scientists and researchers, continued to refine the devices and materials. Those scientists published articles and presented research at conferences in an effort to further validate the technology.
Eventually, the implant technology was commercialized and made available to patients in the 1980s. Now, dental implants are an increasingly popular treatment for tooth loss. With their lifelike qualities and durability, dental implants are the intervention of choice for many patients in need of a tooth replacement.
At the same time, the surgical techniques used to place dental implants and the restorations (crowns, partials, etc.) that the implants anchor have improved as well. The end result is a replacement tooth with a remarkably lifelike appearance.
Dental implants have a long history over which they have been fine-tuned into the effective, long-lasting appliances in use today. They are versatile and suitable for replacing single teeth, multiple teeth or even an entire arch of missing teeth.
If you choose dental implants, rest assured that the technology has advanced over time, leading to a quality device.
Contact our offices serving the DFW area for more information. | <urn:uuid:71c84571-8c73-4203-84e6-7df582e84cdc> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | https://oralsurgerydfw.com/2012/09/14/history-dental-implants/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039746301.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20181120071442-20181120093442-00345.warc.gz | en | 0.946624 | 419 | 3.109375 | 3 |
1. cover - noun
· a covering that serves to conceal or shelter something; "a screen of trees afforded privacy"; "under cover of darkness"; "the brush provided a covert for game"; "the simplest concealment is to match perfectly the color of the background"
2. cover - noun
· bedding that keeps a person warm in bed; "he pulled the covers over his head and went to sleep"
3. cover - noun
· the act of concealing the existence of something by obstructing the view of it; "the cover concealed their guns from enemy aircraft"
4. cover - noun
· the protective covering on the front, back, and spine of a book; "the book had a leather binding"
5. cover - noun
· a natural object that covers or envelops; "under a covering of dust"; "the fox was flushed from its cover"
6. cover - noun
· covering for a hole (especially a hole in the top of a container); "he removed the top of the carton"; "he couldn't get the top off of the bottle"; "put the cover back on the kettle"
7. cover - noun
· fire that makes it difficult for the enemy to fire on your own individuals or formations; "artillery provided covering fire for the withdrawal"
8. cover - noun
· a fixed charge by a restaurant or nightclub over and above the charge for food and drink
9. cover - noun
· a recording of a song that was first recorded or made popular by somebody else; "they made a cover of a Beatles' song"
10. cover - noun
· a false identity and background (especially one created for an undercover agent); "her new name and passport are cover for her next assignment"
11. cover - verb
· provide with a covering or cause to be covered; "cover her face with a handkerchief"; "cover the child with a blanket"; "cover the grave with flowers"
12. cover - verb
· form a cover over; "The grass covered the grave"
13. cover - verb
· span an interval of distance, space or time; "The war extended over five years"; "The period covered the turn of the century"; "My land extends over the hills on the horizon"; "This farm covers some 200 acres"; "The Archipelago continues for another 500 miles"
14. cover - verb
· provide for; "The grant doesn't cover my salary"
15. cover - verb
· act on verbally or in some form of artistic expression; "This book deals with incest"; "The course covered all of Western Civilization"; "The new book treats the history of China"
16. cover - verb
· include in scope; include as part of something broader; have as one's sphere or territory; "This group encompasses a wide range of people from different backgrounds"; "this should cover everyone in the group"
17. cover - verb
· travel across or pass over; "The caravan covered almost 100 miles each day"
18. cover - verb
· be responsible for reporting the details of, as in journalism; "Snow reported on China in the 1950's"; "The cub reporter covered New York City"
19. cover - verb
· hold within range of an aimed firearm
20. cover - verb
· to take an action to protect against future problems; "Count the cash in the drawer twice just to cover yourself"
21. cover - verb
· hide from view or knowledge; "The President covered the fact that he bugged the offices in the White House"
22. cover - verb
· protect or defend (a position in a game); "he covered left field"
23. cover - verb
· maintain a check on; especially by patrolling; "The second officer covered the top floor"
24. cover - verb
· protect by insurance; "The insurance won't cover this"
25. cover - verb
· make up for shortcomings or a feeling of inferiority by exaggerating good qualities; "he is compensating for being a bad father"
26. cover - verb
· invest with a large or excessive amount of something; "She covered herself with glory"
27. cover - verb
· help out by taking someone's place and temporarily assuming his responsibilities; "She is covering for our secretary who is ill this week"
28. cover - verb
· be sufficient to meet, defray, or offset the charge or cost of; "Is this enough to cover the check?"
29. cover - verb
· spread over a surface to conceal or protect; "This paint covers well"
30. cover - verb
· cover as if with a shroud; "The origins of this civilization are shrouded in mystery"
31. cover - verb
· copulate with a female, used especially of horses; "The horse covers the mare"
32. cover - verb
· put something on top of something else; "cover the meat with a lot of gravy"
33. cover - verb
· play a higher card than the one previously played; "Smith covered again"
34. cover - verb
· be responsible for guarding an opponent in a game
35. cover - verb
· sit on (eggs); "Birds brood"; "The female covers the eggs"
36. cover - verb
· clothe, as if for protection from the elements; "cover your head!"
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Unscramble.net is the free tool to unscramble letters and words for games like Text Twist, Words with Friends, Scrabble, Word Scraper, and of course the ever popular Jumble newspaper puzzle. It is also great for homework problems that frustrate many parents and students. Unscramble.net provides one and two word unscramble solutions from its extensive 280,000 word list that includes technical, medical and slang words. There is no limit to the number of letters entered for one word unscrambles and the site also provides for rhyming words and dictionary definitions for many of the unscrambled words. Two word unscramble results are provided in two formats for easy comprehension by the user. There is no limit to the number of word combinations provided whether for one or two word unscramble solution sets.
The site is mobile friendly and fully https/tls security compliant. Fast and easy, unscramble.net provides the most accurate and complete word, letter and anagram solutions available. Trust the oldest and most reliable unscramble tool on the net. Word lists are constantly being updated from reliable sources. Android and iOS apps are coming soon. | <urn:uuid:c4109c69-9439-41e3-88fb-c46e52bb2a5d> | CC-MAIN-2016-36 | https://www.unscramble.net/modules.php?name=Dictionary&word=cover | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-36/segments/1471982948216.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160823200908-00277-ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931589 | 1,478 | 2.59375 | 3 |
This course is for teaching assistants who are supporting the teaching of reading both in and outside of the classroom, working with individual pupils, small groups or within whole-class sessions.
It will deepen knowledge about how reading skills progress, and consider strategies for accelerating progress in reading.
During this one-day course, delegates will have the opportunity to extend their knowledge about the principles that underpin successful reading.
Delegates will explore ways of working with pupils and extending their word reading, comprehension and inferential skills. A range of practical activities will be shared and practised, which can be used with pupils across the primary phase. | <urn:uuid:80350212-3692-4dfa-bbd2-d1e4ccf209e0> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://cpd.hertsforlearning.co.uk/courses/bookings/c_detail.asp?cid=12562&iscancelled=0&curpage=&keyword=&ds=&unconfirmed=&waiting=&cs=&subid=&keystage=&sdate=&searchcode=&asearch=&tutid=&estid=&sday=&smonth=&syear=&targetid=&cal=&calday=&calmonth=&calyear=&caldate=&submonth=&subyear=&list=&palist=&frompage=&a=&b=&c=&d=&s_leaid= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655906934.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20200710082212-20200710112212-00251.warc.gz | en | 0.95369 | 125 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Keeping the kids involved (and rested) during Seder
Q: How can we make our Seder fun for kids while maintaining the sanctity of the celebration? A: The Passover Seder, a 15-step ritual dinner...
Q: How can we make our Seder fun for kids while maintaining the sanctity of the celebration?
A: The Passover Seder, a 15-step ritual dinner commemorating the Jews' Exodus from Egypt, is one of the most important events in the Jewish faith.
But because the ceremony traditionally begins after sundown and often lasts well into the evening, it's a long night for children. With a little planning, you can make your Seder engaging and enjoyable for young guests.
Start by including kids in the preparations. Let them help you make some of the foods, such as the haroset (a sweet chutneylike dish), and explain their relevance to the ceremony.
Some families organize a hunt for chametz, or leavened bread, the night before Passover begins, hiding bread and cereal around the house for children to find and clean up. This is often done in addition to the game commonly played during the Seder, where kids search for a hidden piece of matzo, called afikomen. Both games are good ways to prompt questions about why certain foods are not permitted during the holiday.
Discuss the Haggadah (the book of prayers, blessings and stories that maps out the order of the Seder) with kids beforehand. Children like to hear stories repeated and will get more out of the Haggadah if they are familiar with it, says Rabbi Amy Scheinerman, of Beth Shalom Congregation in Westminster, Md. There are many versions of the Haggadah; be sure to choose one with children in mind — in this case, the best is usually the shortest.
It's traditional to ask the youngest child to recite the four questions, which begin the telling of the Exodus story. Depending on the ages of your guests, you can also ask them to come up with a skit based on the Passover story — complete with props and costumes — and to perform it at the Seder.
Kids who are enrolled in Jewish schools probably know some relevant songs they can sing during the ceremony, says Rabbi Faith Joy Dantowitz, regional director of admissions and recruitment at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Kids should get plenty of sleep on the nights leading up to the Seder. If possible, have them take a nap on the day of the Seder, Scheinerman says.
Keep the ceremony lively: Do some of the steps in different rooms or outside. Offer a snack before the Seder starts, and provide hearty helpings of foods eaten early in the ritual — adults will appreciate this, too.
Q: Last year, I planted a pink hybrid tea rose bush, but this year its flowers are red. Why did this happen?
A: Plants that would not otherwise be strong enough to grow on their own, such as hybrid tea roses, are often grafted. This means one or more stems from a weak but desirable plant — in this case, a pink rose — are inserted into the root system of a hardy related plant — here, a red rose.
The stems and the root are then bound together with wax or tape and left to grow into a single plant. With proper care, the new plant assumes the physical characteristics of the weak rose but the strength and longevity of the hardy one.
But grafting has a downside — namely that it is possible to "lose" the traits of the desirable plant, which is what happened to your rose bush.
Most likely, it was not sufficiently protected for winter. The pink stems froze, but the tougher red rose they were grafted onto is still going strong. The pink roses will not come back, but there are a few things you can do to increase your success with grafted roses in the future.
First, make certain the graft union — the knot between the root and stem that identifies a grafted plant — is buried 1 inch to 2 inches deep in well-drained soil, says Michael Ruggiero, former senior curator at the New York Botanical Garden.
He advises planting with the graft union at the soil surface in slower-draining soil, then covering it with a mound of compost or soil.
When shopping for roses, know what you are buying. Check the label: If it does not specify "own root," then the plant is probably grafted. Also, look for the graft union. Grafted plants are often less costly, but own-root varieties may be stronger and longer-lasting.
Questions may be sent to email@example.com or Ask Martha, care of Letters Department, Martha Stewart Living, 11 W. 42nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10036. Sorry, no personal replies.
Furniture & home furnishings
AKC Boston Terrier Puppies
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AKC Chocolate Labrador retriever Pups
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Nature writ small: Kids capture scenes of wild things in the city [SLIDESHOW]
“Small-scale nature,” “little nature,” and “mundane nature” — these are the terms science educators use to elicit excitement from kids who take part in camps and internships at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh. We tell them that nature is all around us, but that often our lives are too fast-paced to notice it. We tell them that we are going to go out and discover the nature that is in our everyday lives. Then we hand them point-and-shoot cameras.
By focusing photography on the beauty and wonder of small-scale nature present in their daily lives, we work to increase these kids’ sense that they too are a part of the natural world — that nature is not only “out there,” beyond the city limits. We tell them that while we will be taking photographs, the emphasis of our teaching is not so much on how to use a camera, but on how to see the world. We teach them that even after they no longer have the camera, they will still be able to see these things.
These images come from young photographers, ages 6-17, nearly all from low-income families, who participated in our “Know and Grow” free camp for underserved elementary and middle school children, our “Learning for a Greener Future” paid summer internship program for underserved high school students, and our “Shutterbugs” and “Photosynthesis” camps for middle schoolers.
Donate now to support our work. | <urn:uuid:c61ed2b5-6898-4b0a-b72a-8541600775b0> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | http://grist.org/slideshow/nature-writ-small-kids-capture-scenes-of-wild-things-in-the-city-slideshow/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440644065241.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827025425-00293-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957571 | 345 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Technology advances at an exponential rate, and 3D printing is no exception. In fact, 3D printing seems to be hitting its stride now, with new advancements announced daily. “Simple” applications involving parts manufacturing, prototyping, dental work, jewelry, architecture and art have been consistently moving forward. It’s even making a move in medicine: 3D printing has already played a role in organ fabrication research. Anthony Atala and his team from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Caroline have been working to develop miraculous medical applications. In fact, 30 functional bladders have been fabricated for patients.
There isn’t a doubt that this technology is very powerful, but what else can it do?
Aside from all these applications, I want to present a huge what if question in regards to 3D printing. If what I’m proposing follows through, the world will never be the same. What if 3D printing could be used to create renewable energy? I’m talking about printable, paper-thin solar strips for generating electricity. Let me elaborate.
Xerox is in the process of developing a special type of silver-ink that melts at a temperature lower than plastic. Silver is one of the key elements to dielectrics, semiconductors, inductors, conductors, and various circuits. With the ability to print silver on to films, fabrics, and plastics, there is a strong potential for paper thin solar strips, adaptable sensors, and a wide variety of circuits — all of which could be printed on to paper thin materials!
“Xerox (NYSE: XRX) has announced its development of special silver inks which have a melting point below that of plastic. Crafted into different versions which can act as conductors, semiconductors, or dielectrics, this silver ink could allow users to print integrated circuits onto plastic, fabric, or film. (source: Aaron Saenz)”
Printing solar strips sounds pretty fascinating, but how would it work? To understand how 3D printing can work within solar energy, one must first understand the process behind photovoltaic (PV) solar energy.
In simple terms, PV solar panels involve a non-reflective layer of film, on top of a semiconductor which is sandwiched by a front and back contact terminal for the electric current to flow through.
Semiconductors involve three layers. The top layer consists of a positive-type silver or silicon. The bottom layer involves a negative-type silver or silicon. Between these layers is a junction where the positive and negative layers meet. When the positive and negative layers meet, they create an electric field. The actual process of generating solar power works like this: when photons (sunlight) hit this semiconductor, the photons break the bonds within the semiconductor. This broken bond leads to free floating electrons; when manipulated correctly, the electric current created within the junction will funnel the loose electrons through the front & back contact terminals, yielding an electric current that we can harness for energy.
Typically, silicon has been used as the semiconductor within PV solar cells. However, silver has been used as a semiconductor as well. Silver is much more conductive, and in many cases more cost effective. It is very expensive to dope, or mix, impurities such as phosphorous or boron with silicon. This process known as doping is necessary for preparing silicon for use within solar panels. Similar processes are required for silver, but in many cases it is more cost effective to use silver.
How does this all relate to 3D printing & Xerox’s engineered silver?
Theoretically, silver used in conjunction with FDM 3D printing and film could result in damage to the non-reflective film, as the heated silver might melt and warp the film. Currently, silver is not used in FDM printing at all. However, Xerox’s silver can be melted at a temperature lower than plastic and many films. If Xerox’s silver could be printed as a semiconductor, we would very likely be looking at paper thin PV solar strips. This would involve doping of this silver to make two different materials – positively charged silver and a negatively charged silver. This would be the key to 3D printable solar strips.
I want to emphasize this again: the technology isn’t here yet, but it just might be within the near future. This new class of silver isn’t widespread, and Xerox is still trying to develop the technology. However, don’t be too surprised if solar energy prices drop dramatically within the next few years! All we can do is wait to find out, but the sky is the limit! | <urn:uuid:c8eb75d2-1a5b-44d4-a7e7-ffdca5210c5a> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.3dprinter.net/3d-printing-renewable-energy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514573052.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20190917040727-20190917062727-00520.warc.gz | en | 0.943649 | 977 | 3.71875 | 4 |
Tune In To Learning: Scanning for Specifics
7/19/2013 12:00:00 AM
Although this site targets adults who want to improve their literacy, it is a great review
for middle school and high school students. Practice picking out key words, scanning, and finding information from charts in the three activities. There are three activities with several questions each to help you practice. Feedback is immediate should you make a mistake. The wrap-up of the activities repeats what you’ve practiced and makes suggestions on how you can work on your own to improve your scanning skills. You will also find three videos that address scanning and reading comprehension skills.
Want to read more stories like this?
comments powered by | <urn:uuid:aa535377-afbd-4440-8ac8-a4b0e5ea7fe7> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://www.techlearning.com/resources/0003/tune-in-to-learning--scanning-for-specifics/62979 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701148475.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193908-00245-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947022 | 148 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Summer Series 2017 - Spectacular scenes under the ice
In October a team of scientists from New Zealand and Finland travelled to Antarctica for a scientific diving expedition under the ice.
Led by NIWA marine ecologist Dr Drew Lohrer, the aim of the expedition was to explore how climate change is affecting the marine biodiversity in Antarctica. A unique combination of species and isolation has provided an area largely unaffected by human activity.
The divers found that there have been surprisingly big changes in the coastal seafloor communities in just a few years.
“What used to be a very stable, sparse and food-deprived animal community on the seafloor under the thick ice in New Harbour is now much richer with more species and higher densities of animals,” Dr Lohrer said.
New Harbour sea ice can go for years without breaking out, and this multiyear ice can grow up to 4.5 meters thick. When the ice is thick, very little light can penetrate the ice to fuel primary production (for example algae) and therefore food supply to the animals on the seafloor is limited.
The rich community now observed is most likely a rapid response to the sea ice breaking out two years in a row, resulting in more light and higher productivity in the ecosystem.
While under the ice divers captured spectacular images of the creatures they saw which they will use for further study.
Water samples were collected from the benthic incubation chambers twice and day, after which they were processed in the “laboratory”. Drew Lohrer and Jen Hillman make measurements, record data, and filter samples. About 300 filtered seawater samples were frozen and brought back to NIWA Hamilton’s analytical chemistry laboratory for analysis. [Photo: Patrick Degerman.]
A large Polar Haven tent, used for eating and meal preparation. A team of nine camping for 20 days requires a lot of food. Red food boxes with dry goods, chilly bins of frozen meats and veg, and LPG bottles for the stoves are lined up outside the tent in an orderly fashion. This was one of three heated huts at camp. The team slept in unheated tents atop the sea ice. [Photo: Patrick Degerman] | <urn:uuid:9fd15fe7-cf58-4ed7-8cbe-46df34873005> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | https://www.niwa.co.nz/news/summer-series-2017-spectacular-scenes-under-the-ice | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891815500.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20180224073111-20180224093111-00278.warc.gz | en | 0.943251 | 460 | 3.40625 | 3 |
- July 2000
- Vol. 1, No. 5
Casey Foundation Report Evaluates the Well-Being of U.S. Children
How are U.S. children doing, educationally, socially, economically, and physically? The 2000 edition of the Kids Count Data Book tries to provide some answers.
The report, published annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, compiles national and State-by-State data on 10 key indicators of child well-being, including infant mortality, poverty, parents' employment, birthweight, and births to teen-age mothers.
This year's report examines vulnerable families through the lens of "connectedness." According to the report, poor families are increasingly "disconnected" from their communities, the economy, and society at large because they lack access to commonplace tools, services, and supports that anchor the lives of more affluent families, such as banks, cars, civic groups, supermarkets, and libraries.
"The absence of these critical links can compound the stress and burden of parenthood, particularly for parents of young children," writes Casey Foundation President Douglas W. Nelson in an essay included in the report. Nelson notes that isolation is strongly correlated with "the high rates of child neglect and abuse that increase out-of-home placements in many poor neighborhoods."
Nelson also observes the increasing importance of being connected electronically, and in this regard, too, poor families lag behind. The report notes, for example, that among poor inner-city households with children, 84 percent do not have a home computer and almost 20 percent don't even have a telephone.
On the national level, during the reporting period of 1990 to 1997, indicators improved in the following areas:
- Infant mortality. The rate of infants who died before their first birthdays fell by 22 percent nationwide. In 1990, 9.2 deaths occurred per 1,000 live births, compared with 7.2 births in 1997.
- Child mortality. The childhood death rate decreased by 19 percent, from 31 to 25 per 100,000 children aged 1 to 14.
- Teen deaths. The death rate for teenagers fell substantially, from 71 to 58 per 100,000 children aged 15 to 19 who died by accident, homicide, and suicide, equalling an 18 percent decline.
- Births to teen-age mothers. The teen birth rate decreased by 14 percent nationwide. For every 1,000 females ages 15 to 17, 32 babies were born in 1997, down from 37 babies in 1990.
- Idle teens. The number of idle teens (those aged 16 to 19 who were not in school or employed) declined by 10 percent.
- Parental employment. The percentage of children living with underemployed parents (parents who did not have full-time, year-round jobs) decreased by 10 percent.
During the same time period, indicators worsened in the following areas:
- Low birthweights. The rate of babies born weighing less than 5.5 pounds rose to 7.5 percent in 1997 from 7.0 percent in 1990.
- Childhood poverty. The rate of children living in poverty increased by 5 percent, with 21 percent of the nation's children living in poverty in 1997.
- Single-parent households. Single-parent households increased by 13 percent, with 27 percent of families with children headed by a single parent in 1997, up from 24 percent in 1990.
The high school dropout rate remained unchanged between 1990 and 1997, with 10 percent of teens aged 16 to 19 dropping out of school at the beginning and the end of the reporting period.
The Data Book ranks States based on the 10 indicators listed above. The Data Book also provides background information on each State, including data on:
- Demographic changes
- Family income
- Child health and education
- Child care
- Juvenile crime
- Access to phones, computers, and the Internet.
The complete 2000 Kids Count Data Book, along with other Kids Count data and publications, is available online at http://www.kidscount.org.
To order a print copy of the 2000 Kids Count Data Book, contact:
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
701 St. Paul Street
Baltimore, MD 21202 | <urn:uuid:fdc7b68c-d99b-4c5d-af79-199e09ac8251> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov/index.cfm?event=website.viewArticles&issueid=7§ionid=3&articleid=130 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593657151761.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20200714212401-20200715002401-00568.warc.gz | en | 0.953732 | 866 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Wetlands — areas with water usually present either above or just below the surface of the soil — are home to a huge diversity of plant and animal life, often collectively referred to as wetland species. The most common wetland species of animals include many types of snakes, turtles, lizards, frogs, toads, salamanders and insects. Mammals such as beavers are common, as are many types of birds, including various species of ducks, geese and songbirds. The most common plant species in wetlands include cattails, water lilies and many types of reed grasses.
Wetlands can take on a number of different forms, including swamps, bogs, marshes and floodplains, and they are found on every continent except Antarctica. Depending on the type of wetland and the part of the world in which it is found, a wetland area will be home to many plant and animal species. Some wetland species might be more numerous in one area, and others might be more common in another. Wetlands in many parts of the world are in danger of destruction because of urban development, and many endangered species live partly or exclusively in wetland areas.
Large mammals account for a surprisingly large number of the world's wetland species. Beaver and muskrat, two of the mammals most commonly associated with North American wetlands, are found across that continent and in parts of Europe and Asia. The swamps and river basins of South and Central America are home to the predatory jaguar, the muskrat-like nutria and the bulky tapir. Several species of monkeys inhabit the mangrove swamps of southeast Asia, including the proboscis monkey and the long-tailed macaque. Even mammals more commonly associated with dry habitat such as deer, raccoon, wild boar, foxes and wolves can sometimes be found in wetlands.
Reptiles are also well represented in wetlands, and there are many wetland species of snakes, turtles and lizards. The water moccasin, the common snapping turtle and the skink are a few examples. Crocodilian animals such as the caiman and alligator also inhabit certain wetland areas.
Birds of all shapes and sizes inhabit wetlands, either year-round or sometimes only briefly as they pass through during migration. Many types of ducks and geese can be found swimming in wetland pools, and blackbirds perched on the tips of cattail plants are a common sight. Songbirds of many types abound, and species such as terns, gulls and sandpipers roam the shores of salt marsh wetlands. In addition, wading birds such as herons, egrets and bitterns find many wetland habitats to be a perfect hunting grounds.
In addition to the larger forms of wildlife, much of the animal life of wetland areas consists of smaller creatures such as amphibians, fish and insects. Frogs, toads and salamanders are common amphibians, and numerous species of fish, including catfish, herring, salmon and lungfish, swim through wetland waters. Wetland species of insects include such familiar denizens as dragonflies, damselflies and mayflies — and of course the ubiquitous mosquitoes. Earthworms, leeches, fairy shrimp and crayfish are some other common wetland invertebrates.
Of the many plant species common to wetlands, cattail is perhaps the most recognizable. In addition, flora such as mangroves, water lilies, cypress and reed grasses, as well as some types of tamarack and spruce, are all found in various wetlands of the world. A great variety of flowering plants, grasses and trees, along with the staggering assortment of animal species that live among them, makes wetlands the world's most biologically diverse type of ecosystem. | <urn:uuid:4021639d-6c02-430a-95dd-2bd8f8c11da2> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.allthingsnature.org/what-are-the-most-common-wetland-species.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500035.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20230202165041-20230202195041-00432.warc.gz | en | 0.961314 | 788 | 3.78125 | 4 |
Study of two large crystal skulls in the collections of the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution
British Museum skull
The life-size carving of a human skull in the British Museum collection was made from a single block of rock crystal (a clear colourless variety of quartz). According to Museum records, the skull was acquired in 1897 from Tiffany and Co., New York, through Mr George Frederick Kunz. In one of his numerous publications, Kunz states that the skull was brought from Mexico by a Spanish Officer before the French occupation. It was sold to an English collector and acquired at his death by Eugène Boban, a French antiquities dealer, later becoming the property of Tiffany and Co.
Human skulls and skull imagery were known to have featured in Aztec art and iconography in Mexico at the time of first contact with the Spanish in AD 1519. They were worked by Aztec, Mixtec and even Mayan lapidaries, and a human skull covered with turquoise and lignite mosaic is displayed in the Mexican gallery (Room 27) of the British Museum. However, they were usually carved in relief in basalt or limestone as architectural elements.
The authenticity of skulls made of quartz crystal soon came to be questioned. Although some are said to be examples of colonial Mexican art for use in churches, perhaps as bases for crucifixes, they may be among the large quantities of forgeries produced during the second half of the nineteenth century, when interest in collecting ancient artefacts from Mexico was at its height in both the United States and Europe.
Some of these pieces made their way into museum and private collections. Scientists at the British Museum examined the British Museum skull several times between 1950 and 1990. Observations made with a binocular microscope suggested that the techniques of carving were probably atypical of pre-Columbian times. Also, the large piece of rock crystal used for the skull was thought to have come from Brazil, an area far outside the ancient trade network of Mexico.
An increasing number of large and small quartz skulls have become known, particularly in recent decades. None has ever been reported from well-documented official archaeological excavations. In 1992, almost a century after the crystal skull was acquired by the British Museum, a particularly large white (or milky) quartz skull with a hollow cranium was sent anonymously to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. An accompanying note said the object was bought in Mexico City in 1960. The carving, like the British Museum skull, is stylistically somewhat anomalous when compared with ancient Mesoamerican depictions. For example on both skulls, the rigid linearity of features representing teeth contrasts with the more precise execution of teeth on pre-Columbian artefacts. The arrival of the white quartz skull led to a study of archival documents concerned with the early history and acquisition of several crystal skulls in museum collections. It became apparent that not only had the dealer, Eugène Boban, owned the British Museum skull (as alluded to above), he had previously also been involved in the sale of three other rock crystal skulls, one around 11 cm high and two small ones (less than 5 cm high), currently in the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris.
In 1996, a collaborative programme of authenticity studies was set up between the British Museum, the Smithsonian Institution and also the Department of Earth Sciences and Geography at Kingston University, London. Small skulls carved from rock crystal have perhaps attracted less public attention than larger examples, and the investigations were focused on the origin of the large skulls in the two national museums. Because stone objects cannot be dated satisfactorily by the techniques available today, the aim of the project was to answer three questions. How were the skulls carved? Where did the large pieces of quartz originate from? What is known about the early history of the skulls?
The approach developed during the 1990s in the British Museum for investigating carving methods was adopted for the study of skulls. This usually enables the use of tools and techniques to be identified from the fine detail of the carved features or ‘tool marks’ preserved on hard stone objects. In the investigation of the skulls, the faint tool marks remaining on the highly polished surface of the British Museum skull and the pitted matt surface of the Smithsonian skull were examined under a microscope and in a scanning electron microscope. They were compared to the tool marks remaining on several rock crystal objects from well-documented excavations in Mexico City and Oaxaca, Mexico. The regular characteristics seen on both skulls showed they were mainly worked with rotary wheels in conjunction with very hard abrasives. The characteristics contrasted with those seen on pre-Columbian carvings, which were carved with hand-held tools.
The white quartz material of the Smithsonian skull is of relatively common occurrence, but the large clear quartz crystal used for the British Museum skull would have been obtained from a special source. Because the characteristics of inclusions in clear quartz may indicate the geological conditions under which the original crystal formed, the mineral composition and the fine detail of the inclusions in the clear crystal of the British Museum skull were investigated. These ongoing investigations are providing information on the provenance of the source.
To address the history of the British Museum skull, further archival research is underway. When complete the information that is being obtained will be combined with the results of the examination of the skulls, enabling detailed descriptions to be made of the origins of these two large carvings, which will form the core of a joint publication.
G.F. Kunz, Gems and Precious Stones of North America. New York, pp. 285-286, 1890.
C. McEwan, A.P. Middleton, C. Cartwright and R. Stacey, Turquoise Mosaics from Mexico. London, British Museum Press, 2006.
M Jones, “The Limits of Expertise”, in: Fake? The Art of Deception. London, British Museum Publications, pp. 296-297, 1990.
J.M. Walsh, “Crystal skulls and other problems”, in: Exhibiting Dilemmas: Issues of Representation at the Smithsonian, A. Henderson and A.L. Kaeppler (eds.). Washington and London, Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 116-139, 1997.
J.M. Walsh, “Falsificando la historia, los falsos objetos prehispánicos”, Archaeologia Mexicana Vol XIV(82), 2006.
J.M. Walsh, “Legends of the crystal skull. Why Indiana Jones might want to rethink his latest quest”, Archaeology Magazine, in press.
M. Sax, N.D. Meeks, and D. Collon., “The introduction of the lapidary engraving wheel in Mesopotamia”, Antiquity 74(284), pp. 380-387, 2000.
A.H. Rankin, “Fluid inclusions; a new look at ancient fluids in crystals”. Geology Today Vol 5, pp. 21-24, 1989.
A.H. Rankin, “Fluid inclusions – tools for geological investigations”, in: Encyclopaedia of Geology, R.C Selley, R. Cocks and I. Plimer (eds.). Elsevier Science, Chapter 9, pp. 253-260, 2005. | <urn:uuid:ca8e9ee4-b41f-46ce-9002-b33c018aa203> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/articles/s/studying_two_crystal_skulls.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440644065954.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827025425-00065-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95794 | 1,528 | 3.890625 | 4 |
More Lessons for Grade 6
Videos, worksheets, stories and songs to help Grade 6 students learn how to evaluate positive, zero and negative exponents.
= 9, 30
= 1, 3-1
There is also an explanation why
and why a0
If the exponent is 0 then the answer is always 1.
For example, 80
= 1, 170
Some mathematicians define 00
= 1, whereas others leave it undefined
Positive and Negative Exponents
Positive exponents are easy, but what happens when you have zero for the exponent? Or even worse, a negative number?
Pattern for zero and negative exponents
= 5 • 5 • 5
= 5 • 5
Zero and negative exponent properties
Zero Exponent Property
Any quantity raised to the zero power equals 1.
Negative Exponent Property
= the reciprocal of an
Definitions, covers negative exponents and zero as an exponent
Negative Exponent Intuition
Intuition on why a-b
(and why a0
Rotate to landscape screen format on a mobile phone or small tablet to use the Mathway widget, a free math problem solver that answers your questions with step-by-step explanations.
You can use the free Mathway calculator and problem solver below to practice Algebra or other math topics. Try the given examples, or type in your own problem and check your answer with the step-by-step explanations.
We welcome your feedback, comments and questions about this site or page. Please submit your feedback or enquiries via our Feedback page. | <urn:uuid:ee3e94de-9d1e-4eb4-95e4-064d1ab8bf55> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | http://www.onlinemathlearning.com/exponent-3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948596051.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20171217132751-20171217154751-00105.warc.gz | en | 0.746168 | 332 | 4 | 4 |
Friction that happens very often at the cleft situated on the top of your buttocks may cause hair or dirt in the area to get buried in the skin. This may trigger your immune system to spring into action, causing a cavity to form around the embedded foreign object in an attempt to contain it. When infected, what’s known as pilonidal cyst develops.
It’s not all the time that the cyst your body creates around the embedded hair or dirt becomes infected. When it does, problems such as pain, inflammation and even fever may arise. Blood, pus as well as foul odor may emanate from the site of infection. Pilonidal cyst, when diagnosed very early on, may be treated with a course of antibiotics. Otherwise, the abscess may have to be surgically removed.
This condition is common in people who spend a lot of time sitting, such as taxi drivers and office workers. Experts say that it also develops more frequently in men as well as young adults. Depending on the severity of the infection and the effectiveness of the treatment, pilonidal cyst usually heals anywhere from 4 to 10 weeks.
Spending a long time sitting and friction that occurs frequently in the area of the buttocks may cause hair or sometimes dirt at the cleft of your buttocks to end up embedded in the skin. Your body forms a cavity around it, thinking that it’s an invader and can leave you with a health problem. The said cavity may be attacked by bacteria, ending up infected.
Experts also blame the hormones for the development of this condition. This is exactly the reason why pilonidal cyst is very common in young adults as hormonal changes are going on in their bodies.
Just like what’s mentioned earlier, pilonidal cyst is a common problem in people who need to sit for long periods of time. It also usually happens to males because they are naturally hairier than women. Young adults are also at high risk of developing the condition because of their hormones.
Wearing undergarments that are too tight or simply cause a lot of friction to take place in the buttocks may also increase your chances of ending up with this usually painful problem.
Initially, you may notice a depression or dimple at the cleft on the top of your buttocks. This means that your body has already formed a cavity around the embedded hair or dirt.
Once bacteria invades the area and causes an infection, a cyst that is filled with pus forms. You will definitely feel pain in the area whether you are standing or sitting. It’s not unlikely for both pus and blood to drain from the infection, causing fouls smell to come from the area. Since your body is battling an infection, you may end up with fever. The development of several holes in the skin is also possible.
When diagnosed early on, a doctor may recommend broad-spectrum antibiotics. This means that the antibiotics you have to take are capable of killing off an assortment of bacteria. Despite of this, it’s still important to have a follow-up exam.
There are instances when a doctor may inject the site with an antiseptic called phenol in order to eliminate bacteria and promote the healing of the infection. There are a few downsides to this mode of treatment for pilonidal cyst. For instance, it has to be performed several times and there’s a possibility that the problem may recur.
Surgery may be warranted for severe cases of pilonidal cyst. In the said procedure, your doctor will open the abscess to remove pus and blood present. The site will be then closed and dressed.
Keeping the site where pilonidal cyst commonly develops clean is very important. You have to wash the area regularly, making sure that you rinse off all the soap completely. You may also dodge having pilonidal cyst by avoiding sitting for long periods of time. | <urn:uuid:9695413a-8490-4e12-bf1a-d43b45b0fa32> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://www.healthdigezt.com/pilonidal-cyst-causes-treatments-and-other-essentials/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195526818.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20190721020230-20190721042230-00339.warc.gz | en | 0.960277 | 808 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Impact of land-use on savanna vegetation and populations of non-timber forest product-providing tree species in West Africa
- Savannas are the most important timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) providing ecosystems in West Africa. They have been shaped by traditional human land-use (i.e. agriculture, grazing, and harvesting) for thousands of years. In the last decades, land-use has drastically changed due to the rapid population growth and the growing production of cash-crop in West Africa and this process is still continuing. The percentage of land intensively used for agriculture has increased, while the length of fallow periods has decreased. Such changes have enormous ecological, economic, and social consequences. In the context of land-use changes, there is an urgent need to better understand and evaluate the impact of land-use on savannas. Such an understanding provides insights on appropriate management activities that ensure the maintenance of savannas and guarantee the availability of savanna products for subsistence and commercial use of rural West African people.
The major objective of the present thesis was to study the impact of land-use on savanna vegetation and diversity as well as on populations of two important NTFP-providing tree species in a semi-arid area in West Africa. The study area was located in the south-eastern part of Burkina Faso and comprised the protected W National Park and its adjacent communal area.
In the first study (chapter 2), I investigated in cooperation with a colleague from Burkina Faso (Blandine Nacoulma) the impact of land-use on the savanna vegetation. We analyzed which environmental factors determine the occurrence of the vegetation types and investigated the effect of land-use on vegetation structure and the occurrence of life forms and highly valued tree species. Furthermore, we tested whether land-use has an impact on plant diversity pattern and if this impact differed between the vegetation types and layers (woody and herb layer). Vegetation relevés were performed and the vegetation and plant diversity of the protected W National Park were compared with those of its surrounding communal area. Our results reveal five vegetation types occurring in both areas. Elevation and physical soil characteristics and thus soil water availability for plants played the most important role for the occurrence of the vegetation types. The influence of land-use on plant diversity differed between the five vegetation types and the two layers. The impact was highest on the vegetation types with the most favorable soil conditions for cultivation and lowest on rocky habitats with poor soils. While the diversity of the woody layer was increased under human land-use, the diversity of the herb layer was diminished. Overall, as land-use effects were not only negative, our findings suggest that land-use does not automatically lead to a loss of plant species and to a degradation of savanna habitats. We conclude that both protected and communal areas are of great importance for the conservation of savanna vegetation and diversity. Our study highlights furthermore the importance of different management strategies for each vegetation type.
In the following two studies (chapter 3 and 4), the impact of land-use - and in particular of harvesting - on populations of Adansonia digitata L., the baobab tree, and Anogeissus leiocarpa (DC.) Guill. & Perr. was examined. These two tree species were chosen as they provide several NTFPs for the local population and as they show different levels of human protection and opposed life histories. Thus, they may react differently to land-use. Stands of the protected W National Park were compared with those of its surrounding communal area (in fallows, croplands, and villages). I applied dendrometric methods to study the population structures and combined it with rates and patterns of NTFP-harvesting (debarking and chopping/pruning). Furthermore, the impact of land-use and harvesting on the fruit production of A. digitata and on the sprouting ability of A. leiocarpa were studied. The inverse J-shaped size class distribution curve indicates that the stands of A. digitata were in a healthy state in the park, while the low number of smaller size classes in fallows, croplands, and villages may give evidence of an ageing population. However, a high number of seedlings were recorded in villages. The stands of A. leiocarpa were also in healthy states in the park and likewise in fallows. In contrast, the absence of saplings gives evidence of a declining population in croplands. Both species were strongly harvested by local people and harvesting was tree size-specific. Pruning in interaction with tree-size had a significant impact on fruit production of A. digitata. While smaller trees were more vulnerable to pruning, bigger trees benefited from slight-pruning. A. leiocarpa had a great ability to respond to chopping by sprouting. The sprouting ability increased even with higher chopping intensity. Results suggest that despite the intense harvesting and the land-use impact, populations of both species are still well preserved. While A. digitata can withstand the harvesting and land-use pressure by its longevity, extremely low adult mortality rates, and particularly due to positive human influences, A. leiocarpa is able to withstand the use pressure by its fast growing, high recruitment, and high sprouting ability. I conclude that a none protected tree species (A. leiocarpa) might not necessarily be at higher risk to the harvesting and land-use impact than a protected tree species (A. digitata) as the adverse impact of harvesting and land-use can be compensated by its specific life history.
Important additional information to such ecological findings can be provided by local people. Learning from traditional knowledge and management systems of local people will help to produce culturally and ecologically reasonable conservation and management strategies. Thus, I investigated local uses and management strategies of A. digitata and A. leiocarpa in the last two studies (chapter 5 and 6). Quantitative ethnobotanical surveys among the Gulimanceba people were conducted in the communal area in order to document uses of the different plant parts, harvesting modes, perceptions about the population status, and conservation status of both species. Hereby, differences in knowledge between gender, generations, and people from different villages were tested. Interviews reveal that both species are harvested for multipurpose and emphasize the high importance of both species for local people. Especially the leaves and fruits of A. digitata add valuable minerals and vitamins to the otherwise micronutrient-“poor” staple crops of the Gulimanceba people. In comparison with other studies in West Africa, it has turned out that people in this area could benefit even more from A. leiocarpa, e.g. for dyeing of clothes, for treatment of malaria and skin problems. Local knowledge did not differ between genders and generations, while it slightly differed between people from different villages. The lack of age differences suggests that the traditional knowledge about these two species is passed on from one generation to another. Differences between people from different villages might be explained by influences from the neighboring countries Niger and Benin. Current local harvesting modes and management strategies of both species resulted in sustainable use. However, ongoing land-use intensifications require adapted harvesting and management techniques to guarantee the persistence of these economically important species. These results provide, in combination with the ecological findings (chapter 3 and 4), appropriate management recommendations for A. digitata and A. leiocarpa that are reliable under currently practiced management strategies.
Nephronectin regulates cardiac valve development via BMP4-HAS2 signaling in zebrafish
- It has been estimated that about 1% of live births carry severe congenital heart defects and 20-30% among them have valve malformations. Despite its medical importance the underlying cause of many valvular diseases remains undiscovered. Thus, it is important to identify genes that play a crucial role in cardiac valve formation and maturation.
A temporal RNA expression analysis of heart development suggested that the extracellular matrix protein Nephronectin might be a novel regulator of valve development and/or trabeculation. Nephronectin is transiently expressed during rat heart development at the time of heart valve morphogenesis and trabeculation. Moreover, the extracellular matrix is known to be crucial for organogenesis. It is a complex, dynamic and critical component that regulates cell behavior by modulating the activity, bioavailability, or presentation of growth factors to cell surface receptors.
In order to verify the hypothesis that Nephronectin is a novel regulator of valve formation and/or trabeculation the zebrafish was chosen as model system. Females are able to spawn at intervals of 5 days laying hundreds of eggs in each clutch. Development progresses rapidly with precursors to all major organs appearing within 36 hours post fertilization. Zebrafish embryos develop externally, are translucent and continue to grow for several days despite developing severely malformed, non functional hearts. In addition, gene expression can be easily modulated. During the present study it has been shown that Nephronectin expression is correlated to valve development and trabeculation. Morpholinomediated knockdown of Nephronectin in zebrafish caused failure of valve formation and trabeculation resulting in > 85% lethality at 7 days post fertilization.
Cardiac valve formation is initiated at the junction of atrium and ventricle and is characterized by extracellular matrix deposition and endocardial cell differentiation. In accordance with the above-described phenotype the earliest observed abnormality in Nephronectin morphants was an extended tube like structure at the atrio-ventricular boundary. In addition, the expression of myocardial genes involved in cardiac valve formation (cspg2, fibulin1, tbx2b, bmp4) was expanded and endocardial cells along the extended tube like structure exhibited characteristics of atrio-ventricular cells (has2, notch1b and Alcam expression, cuboidal cell shape). Inhibition of has2 in Nephronectin morphants rescued the endocardial but not the myocardial expansion. In contrast, diminishment of BMP signaling in npnt morphants resulted in reduced ectopic expression of myocardial and endocardial atrio-ventricular markers. Taken together, these results identify Nephronectin as a novel upstream regulator of BMP4-HAS2 signaling playing a crucial role in atrio-ventricular canal differentiation.
Cell specific crosstalk of the Wnt/β-catenin and the Shh pathway: implications for tumor development and regression
- The canonical Wnt/β-catenin and the Shh pathway as well as the Notch signaling cascade
are key regulators in stem cell biology and are independently associated with the development
of cancer. Despite the knowledge of a balanced signaling for cellular maintenance, the
fundamental biochemical mechanisms of crosstalk are still poorly understood. This study
demonstrates that the outcome of interaction between Wnt and Shh is cell type specific. A
combined inhibitory mechanism of the Shh and Notch2/Jagged2 pathways on dominant
active β-catenin signaling in the adult tongue epithelium keeps Wnt/β-catenin signaling
restricted to physiological tolerable levels. In the opposite crosstalk the activation of
Wnt/β-catenin signaling in medulloblastoma (MB) of the Shh subtype, in turn inhibits the Hh
The inhibitory mechanism of Shh and Notch2/Jagged2 on Wnt/β-catenin signaling is
independent of the degradation complex of β-catenin and takes place inside the nucleus.
Furthermore, the negative feedback on Wnt/β-catenin signaling by the Shh pathway relies
on transcriptional activity of Gli1/2A. Inhibition of Gli1/2A with the specific inhibitor GANT61
abrogated the negative impact of Shh on β-catenin signaling in vitro. Although the negative
feedback loop of Shh is still functional in human SCC25 cells, the inhibitory effect of
Notch2/Jagged2 is lost and contributes to the cancerogenic phenotype of these cells. In the
inverse situation, the activation of β−catenin signaling has a negative feedback on
constantly active Shh signaling and significantly inhibits the Hh pathway. This was shown in
Ptch+/- and Math1-Cre:SmoM2Fl/+ MB tumor spheres in vitro, in which inhibition of sphere
formation and growth was observed and Hh target gene transcription was down-regulated.
This demonstrates for the first time that the activation of canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling
in primary MB cells with a Hh pathway over-activation has a negative effect on the growth of
these cells in vitro.
In summary the results show that crosstalk of Wnt/β-catenin and Shh signaling has context
specific outcome on pathway activity. Elucidation of the molecular interactions will improve
our understanding of Wnt and Hh associated tumors and contribute to the development of
new therapeutic strategies. | <urn:uuid:8f601c9f-df4a-491d-b8e8-766acacac66e> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/solrsearch/index/search/searchtype/collection/id/16190/start/0/rows/10/languagefq/eng/yearfq/2011 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936466999.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074106-00252-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935319 | 2,753 | 3.25 | 3 |
Tips for Teaching Your and You’re
I realize that “your” and “you’re” have over time become interchangeable. It seems to be very commonly accepted that “your” can be used both for possessive as well as when a person's trying to say “you are,” but I’m going to confess right now that seeing the words mixed up does make me wince! So here are a couple of ideas on helping your students remember the difference between "your" and "you're."
To introduce “you’re,” [you are] once again let’s [let us] refer back to the blog on teaching contractions where “you’re” will join the ranks of words transformed by the swift witch’s kick.
Doing a visual to show the difference will definitely make the experience memorable! As we can plainly see, our outgoing, shouting, pointing friend is back. (Does he not remind you of the guy on TV that yells exuberantly about miracle cleaning solutions you can get for $19.99?)
He’s apparently overwhelmed by the beauty of the lady in red and is trying very hard to convince her that he finds her more than attractive. The “‘re” and the word “are” both are printed in blue to show their close relationship.
Now, Gilbert is back to shout and point. This time, he’s indignant because apparently someone assumed he was part owner of a big gray rat. He wants to make it crystal clear that the rat is NOT his, it is NOT ours, but it IS yours! If you point out that both “OUR” and “YOUR” are words that show belonging or possession, and as “YOUR” contains “OUR,” it might be easier for your children to remember when to use this word correctly.
So, to recap this oh-so-brief lesson, just remember that the little black toe in contractions means that a letter or more have been kicked out of a word making for an interesting situation. You have a full word, then the toe, then a partial word – all huddled up together to make a new word. When speaking of belonging or possession, the little black witch’s toe does not come into play at all. | <urn:uuid:d97a48ad-39c8-403a-bec3-ce4f61c4c3f2> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://child1st.com/blogs/resources/119691719-tips-for-teaching-your-and-you-re | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195529737.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20190723215340-20190724001340-00361.warc.gz | en | 0.96284 | 501 | 3.96875 | 4 |
The impacts of leadership opportunities on boys’ academic aspirations
How can student leadership help increase aspiration?
Megan formulated her intervention for Year 10 boys based upon Kouzes and Posner’s ‘Student Leadership Challenge’. This challenge is structured as a five-step process within groups that elect their own student leader. While it has often been applied to extra-curricular activities, Megan chose to explore its potential for tackling a challenge within the curriculum in two subjects (History and PE), very directly targeting the development of effective strategies for tackling the skills required for particular examination style questions. The value of the process was explored over two learning cycles.
Findings revealed an improvement in both students’ attainment grades and their personal ‘attitude to learning’ grades, assessed by teachers. Students also felt aspired to achieve better in the subjects. | <urn:uuid:8e6f29f5-45a1-407b-91c4-b6433c4bd44b> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.educationdeanery.ox.ac.uk/the-impacts-of-leadership-opportunities-on-boys-academic-aspirations/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499911.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20230201045500-20230201075500-00285.warc.gz | en | 0.951497 | 181 | 3.4375 | 3 |
This resource contains everything you need to get going with report writing in your classroom.
• Gain knowledge about journalism by reading a report on clean water.
• Recall the features of a newspaper report.
• Explore the author’s use of language and the impact of writing a report.
• Apply authorial technique to write a newspaper report.
• Evaluate peers’ writing using a list of criteria developed as a class.
Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
This resource can be used by the teachers to help students to -
Report information in an effective order.
Structure paragraphs and transitions for an enhanced readability and comprehension.
This Resource Includes:
Scaffolder Notes -
• Vocabulary Overview
• Report on Clean Water
• Sample Newspaper Report
• Report Writing Tips
• Key Elements of News Report
• Word-Bank: Adjectives, Adverbs, Connectives, Verbs
Real Life Application and Career Options of Report Writing
Teaching and Learning Activities/Strategies -
Flipped Lesson Part - Video - Learn to Write a Report
Lesson Starter – Controversial Issue
Lesson Development - Pair-Share, Mini-Plenary
Individual Task - Differentiated Task
Rubrics - Report
Plenary - PQP Technique
Skills - Social and Cognitive
Home Learning - 4 Exercises | <urn:uuid:ce87d092-048a-4da0-afe1-2019739a8fc4> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/john421969 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221215404.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20180819224020-20180820004020-00260.warc.gz | en | 0.859597 | 365 | 4.125 | 4 |
Doctors have been testing a new way of fixing knee joint injuries by making use of nose cartilages. The advancement of medicine helped doctors build grafts of cartilage tissue. The study was conducted analyzing ten patients. Marcus Mumme, who is MD from the Department of Surgery and the Department of Biomedicine, has stated that the grafts of nasal chondrocyte can generate tissue which is similar in its composition with hyaline cartilage.
These types of procedures were more efficient than those based on injections with autologous joint cartilage’s cells. On October 22, the study was published in the Lancet magazine. After two years have passed, the patients have examined again. Doctors established that in 9 out of 10 patients the repairing of knee joints proved to be successful. The 10th patient suffered another knee injury.
The score for the International Knee Documentation Committee after the evaluation of the knee joint undergone to a subjective patient increased to 75, from 60. The Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score that analyzed symptoms rose from 60 to 80. The clinical improvements which were demonstrated to appear in nasal chondrocyte tissue implant procedures registered a huge success, the knee joint being viable and healthy between 6 and 24 months from the surgery.
After implantation, during the first two years, there were no side effects and no side effects which could concern the biopsy of the septum cartilage. Perhaps more details about the study will help us figure out how this worked. Doctors have enrolled ten patients with ages between 18 and 55 who suffered from injuries on the trochlea or on the femoral condyle that affected the thickness of the cartilage.
The primary goals were safety and feasibility of the surgery. The second important decision was to satisfy the patients, but also to assure the morphological and compositional quality of the repaired knee joint within the first 12 months after the procedure. Researchers thought of using nasal chondrocytes to enhance the previous methods that used the same chondrocytes to heal knee joints.
Doctors have argued that articular chondrocytes, which were firstly used in treating fractured joints, were not as efficient and did not reveal a greater reproducible capacity to produce similar cartilage tissues with the hyaline ones as the nasal chondrocytes did. The articular chondrocytes did not display the same plasticity to adapt as the nasal chondrocytes did.
Image source: public domain | <urn:uuid:ceb37c87-f90c-44e7-9e86-8728c1573067> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://stateschronicle.com/repairing-knee-joint-17932.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243991258.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20210517150020-20210517180020-00205.warc.gz | en | 0.970187 | 512 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Spellodrome summer learning loss
Protect your students from summer learning loss with Spellodrome.
Safeguard students this summer with Spellodrome, providing high factor protection from a damaging dip in literacy learning. Spellodrome is a digital resource that helps improve spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Spellodrome makes learning fun with engaging and interactive games based on curriculum aligned word lists. Teachers can create their own word lists, use the extensive printable worksheets focusing on spelling practice, grammar and punctuation and online standard benchmarking tests.
Children can become Word Detectives, take part in the Word List Workout, play Word List Games, or compete with other students across the globe in real time using Live Spellodrome. If you can spare under two minutes, please watch our video below to discover how you can put a real focus on fun and engagement in your classroom.
Try Spellodrome for FREE
Register your interest now and one of our friendly team will get in touch to discuss how Spellodrome can support the literacy objectives in your school.
Engage students in GPS
Focus on specific words and topics
Identify strengths and weaknesses
Produce student progress reports
Differentiate ability levels
Click edit button to change this text. | <urn:uuid:d47e9fd8-af55-43d2-a95f-37f1b553cf65> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://www.3plearning.com/uk/spellodrome/summerlearningloss/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257646375.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20180319042634-20180319062634-00002.warc.gz | en | 0.862249 | 257 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Basic Excel Formulas
Learn the basic Excel formulas all SEOs need to know before you are able to actually begin working with Excel properly.
I run through Vlookups, IF statements, LEN, TRIM, PROPER / UPPER / LOWER, COUNTIFs & SUMs and show you some basic usage examples.
Knowing these will already heighten your Excel ability, as they will open up what you can do and how you begin to interpret data. And more than that, you will begin to see how much time you can save by using Excel.
No more manually copying and pasting data, these will help you format your data as required.
Vlookup - Find data for a value, within a range
Len - Count character length of a cell
Trim - Remove spaces before & after a cell
Sum - Add all numbers in a range together
Count - Display a count of cells with numbers in them
CountA - Display a count of cells with numbers and letters in them (so not empty)
CountIF - Count all the cells when a specific criteria is met
Proper - Capitalise the first letter of every word in a cell
Upper - Capitalise every letter of every word in a cell
Lower - Make every letter of every word in a cell lowercase
IF - Only do something when a certain condition is met | <urn:uuid:9bc19adc-f417-4df8-9d27-5b7be775b73a> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | http://seoinexcel.com/basics/basic-excel-formulas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549425751.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20170726022311-20170726042311-00521.warc.gz | en | 0.876136 | 283 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Recent advances in antiviral treatment have led to the development of more effective medicines. These medications cure 95 per cent of people of hepatitis C infection and are subsidised in Australia.
Treatment for most people is now 1-3 tablets daily. Treatment can be from 8-24 weeks, with most people undergoing treatment for 8-12 weeks. A blood test 12 weeks after treatment concludes will indicate whether the virus has been cured. Following successful treatment, a person will remain antibody positive but will no longer be infectious or infected. Treatment does not lead to immunity and reinfection following successful treatment can occur if risk factors remain unaddressed.
These medications are highly effective, with a cure rate around 95 per cent. Unlike previous treatments for hep C, these medicines are well tolerated and have fewer side effects.
The treatments are available for all patients over 18 years in Australia with a chronic hepatitis C infection who hold a Medicare card. People do not have to be feeling sick or have significant liver damage to begin treatment. There is also no restrictions applied for people who inject drugs who are a priority population for hepatitis C treatment.
It is usually a state and territory responsibility to fund the health care of people in custodial settings; however, the Australian Government has agreed to fund these treatments for prisoners.
People who wish be treated for hepatitis C will need a prescription. General practitioners (GPs) will be able to prescribe these medicines in consultation with a specialist physician. Specialists will also be able to prescribe these medicines. People should speak with a doctor to access treatment and develop a care plan.
From 1 March 2016 hepatitis C medicines are subsidised on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). This means that formerly very expensive therapies will now cost either $38.30 for general patients or $6.20 for concessional patients.
Hepatitis C virus
Hepatitis C is an infectious blood borne disease that damages the liver. In many cases it leads to liver scarring (cirrhosis and fibrosis), it can also lead to end-stage liver disease. Liver transplants in Australia are mostly due to viral hepatitis destroying the liver. Significant liver damage from viral hepatitis can lead to complications such as heart failure and osteoporosis and more frequently, liver cancer. The fastest growing cause of cancer death in Australia is viral hepatitis.
A person can have hepatitis C and not know it. There are often no obvious symptoms. A simple blood test can detect hepatitis C.
For up to date information about hepatitis C treatments:
• Call in to see us at 36 David St, in Turner, ACT.
• We are happy to respond to emails to info(at)hepatitisACT.com.au
• Talk to your GP, or
• Call the National Hepatitis Info Line on 1800 437 222. | <urn:uuid:3ffefd3f-4df8-4143-ae6e-ac4b7faf1792> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | https://hepatitisact.com.au/treatment/hepatitis-c-treatments/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027317847.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20190823041746-20190823063746-00442.warc.gz | en | 0.931845 | 577 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Corrosion & Fouling
Metals have different electrochemical potentials when in contact with one another and form Galvanic cells. The metal with a lower potential in the galvanic cell will be anodic and will corrode. The same effect can occur in areas of different electrochemical potential in a single piece of metal such as a steel plate. Any craft moored and operating in fresh, salt or brackish water is at risk from corrosion and the effects can be costly.
A clean hull can save you about 30% of fuel Bills, It is common knowledge that fouling on the boat's hull, will lead to increased resistance, which basically means you are going to burn more fuel for every knot you make.
Marine fouling organisms, such as crustaceans (barnacles, Conchodermae), mollusks (boring worms and boring clams), annelids (tubeworms, Serpulidae), tunicates, 15 algae, coelenterates, acorn shells (Balonidae), goose mussels (Lepodoids), and moss (Hydroidae) grow and accumulate on surfaces in an underwater environment.
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Marine Protection Systems is a manufacturer and representative of products and systems that protect vessels and infrastructure in a marine environment.
Products include the MPS Electrolysis Blocker - Galvnic Isolator, the MPS Shaft Grounding Strap and MPS Maddox Anodes, | <urn:uuid:ed1fdfd9-6e5a-483e-9440-dce3eaadf7cb> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://www.pcmarine.co.nz/index.php?page=products&cat=corrosionandfouling | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267158633.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20180922182020-20180922202420-00259.warc.gz | en | 0.903778 | 485 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Hirosaki castle (also known as Takaoka castle) is located in the city of Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture (the historical Mutsu province, which was also known as Rikuchû (陸中)). During the Muromachi period the Tsugaru clan had established themselves at Oura castle, which was slightly to the west of the site of Hirosaki. The Tsugaru relocated to Horikoshi castle in 1594 (which was more secure from hostile neighbors) and finally to Hirosaki in 1610. Hirosaki castle was built from 1610-1611, replacing an earlier structure built in 1560 by Tsugaru Tamenobu. Unlike many other clans, the Tsugaru were never moved from their fief and kept control of the castle until the Meiji Restoration. While the castle qualifies as a hirayamajiro, it more closely resembles a hirajiro due to the rather small hill it was built on. The honmaru was surrounded by three irregularly shaped rings of moats and the castle grounds measured about 1 km north to south and 500 meters east to west. The castle did not feature the extensive ishigaki seen in other structures of the period, but for the most part used earthen embankments. Ishigaki were only used around the honmaru. The original tenshu was five stories tall and was located in the southwest corner of the honmaru. It was struck by lightning in 1627 and burned down. The castle then fell into disuse for about 200 years. The Tsugaru returned in 1810 and built a new tenshu. For some reason which has never been uncovered, this structure was built on the southeast corner of the honmaru and would therefore be more properly classified as a yagura. It features a very simple style of architecture (with small and unadorned windows, although it does use projecting windows on the sides facing outward) and has three exterior and three interior stories. Remaining from the original 1610-1611 structure are five gates and three corner towers. The three corner towers also have three stories, as does the tenshu, but are much smaller. The roofs were at one time covered in wood shingles but now feature copper sheeting. The gateways are two-story structures roofed with traditional tiling. As with most two-story gates, they have a lower story pent roof, but these are located higher up on the structure (to take advantage of the main roof’s protection from snowfall). The gates (including the well preserved Ninomaru Higashimon) are not flanked by ishigaki as seen at other castles, but as noted earlier use earthen embankments.
The castle tenshu is now a museum and part of the grounds are used by Hirosaki University. The rest of the compound is Oyo Park, and is a very popular spot to visit, especially in the spring cherry blossom season (due to the large volume of cherry trees planted atop the fortified embankments). The tenshu, gates, and corner turrets have all been designated Important Cultural Properties by the Japanese government.
- Kodama Kota & Tsuboi Kiyotari, editors Nihon Joukaku Taikei-20 Volumes Tokyo:Shinjimbutsu oraisha, 1981
- Hinago Motoo Nihon No Bijutsu #54:Shiro Tokyo:Shibundo, 1970
- Schmorleitz, Morton S Castles In Japan Tokyo:Charles E Tuttle Company Inc, 1974 | <urn:uuid:8d8a69c8-97d6-4002-90df-ce93fd0e5956> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://samurai-archives.com/wiki/Hirosaki_castle | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964363376.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20211207105847-20211207135847-00224.warc.gz | en | 0.975942 | 750 | 3.390625 | 3 |
The Tarim mummies are a series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from 1800 BCE to the first centuries BCE. The mummies, particularly the early ones, are frequently associated with the presence of the Indo-European Tocharian languages in the Tarim Basin, although the evidence is not totally conclusive and many centuries separate these mummies from the first attestation of the Tocharian languages in writing. Victor H. Mair's team concluded that the mummies are Caucasoid, likely speakers of Indo-European languages such as the Tocharians.
At the beginning of the 20th century, European explorers such as Sven Hedin, Albert von Le Coq and Sir Aurel Stein all recounted their discoveries of desiccated bodies in their search for antiquities in Central Asia. Since then, numerous other mummies have been found and analysed, many of them now displayed in the museums of Xinjiang. Most of these mummies were found on the eastern end of the Tarim Basin (around the area of Lopnur, Subeshi near Turpan, Kroran, Kumul), or along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin (Khotan, Niya, and Cherchen or Qiemo).
The earliest Tarim mummies, found at Qäwrighul and dated to 1800 BCE, are of a Caucasian physical type whose closest affiliation is to the Bronze Age populations of southern Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, and the Lower Volga.
The cemetery at Yanbulaq contained 29 mummies which date from 1100–500 BCE, 21 of which are Mongoloid—the earliest Mongoloid mummies found in the Tarim Basin—and eight of which are of the same Caucasian physical type found at Qäwrighul.
Notable mummies are the tall, red-haired "Chärchän man" or the "Ur-David" (1000 BCE); his son (1000 BCE), a small 1-year-old baby with brown hair protruding from under a red and blue felt cap, with two stones positioned over its eyes; the "Hami Mummy" (c. 1400–800 BCE), a "red-headed beauty" found in Qizilchoqa; and the "Witches of Subeshi" (4th or 3rd century BCE), who wore 2-foot-long (0.61 m) black felt conical hats with a flat brim. Also found at Subeshi was a man with traces of a surgical operation on his abdomen; the incision is sewn up with sutures made of horsehair.
Many of the mummies have been found in very good condition, owing to the dryness of the desert and the desiccation it produced in the corpses. The mummies share many typical Caucasian body features (elongated bodies, angular faces, recessed eyes), and many of them have their hair physically intact, ranging in color from blond to red to deep brown, and generally long, curly and braided. Their costumes, and especially textiles, may indicate a common origin with Indo-European neolithic clothing techniques or a common low-level textile technology. Chärchän man wore a red twill tunic and tartan leggings. Textile expert Elizabeth Wayland Barber, who examined the tartan-style cloth, discusses similarities between it and fragments recovered from salt mines associated with the Hallstatt culture. As a result of the arid conditions and exceptional preservation, tattoos have been identified on mummies from several sites around the Tarim Basin, including Qäwrighul, Yanghai, Shengjindian, Shanpula, Zaghunluq, and Qizilchoqa.
A 2008 study by Jilin University showed that the Yuansha population has relatively close relationships with the modern populations of South Central Asia and Indus Valley, as well as with the ancient population of Chawuhu.
In 2007 the Chinese government allowed a National Geographic Society team headed by Spencer Wells to examine the mummies' DNA. Wells was able to extract undegraded DNA from the internal tissues. The scientists extracted enough material to suggest the Tarim Basin was continually inhabited from 2000 BCE to 300 BCE and preliminary results indicate the people, rather than having a single origin, originated from Europe, Mesopotamia, Indus Valley and other regions yet to be determined.
Genetic analyses of the mummies showed that the Xiaohe people were an admixture from populations originating from both the West and the East. The maternal lineages of the Xiaohe people originated from both East Asia and West Eurasia, whereas the paternal lineages all originated from West Eurasia.
Mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that maternal lineages carried by the people at Xiaohe included mtDNA haplogroups H, K, U5, U7, U2e, T and R*, which are now most common in West Eurasia. Also found were haplogroups common in modern populations from East Asia: B5, D and G2a. Haplogroups now common in Central Asian or Siberian populations included: C4 and C5. Haplogroups later regarded as typically South Asian includedM5 and M*.
The paternal lines of male remains surveyed nearly all – 11 out of 12, or around 92% – belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup R1a1, which are now most common in West Eurasia; the other belonged to the exceptionally rare paragroup K* (M9).
The geographic location of this admixing is unknown, although south Siberia is likely.
It has been asserted that the textiles found with the mummies are of an early European textile type based on close similarities to fragmentary textiles found in salt mines in Austria, dating from the second millennium BCE. Anthropologist Irene Good, a specialist in early Eurasian textiles, noted the woven diagonal twill pattern indicated the use of a rather sophisticated loom and said that the textile is "the easternmost known example of this kind of weaving technique."
Mair claims that "the earliest mummies in the Tarim Basin were exclusively Caucasoid, or Europoid" with east Asian migrants arriving in the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin around 3,000 years ago while the Uyghur peoples arrived around the year 842. In trying to trace the origins of these populations, Victor Mair's team suggested that they may have arrived in the region by way of the Pamir Mountains about 5,000 years ago.
Mair has claimed that:
The new finds are also forcing a reexamination of old Chinese books that describe historical or legendary figures of great height, with deep-set blue or green eyes, long noses, full beards, and red or blond hair. Scholars have traditionally scoffed at these accounts, but it now seems that they may be accurate.
Chinese historian Ji Xianlin says China "supported and admired" research by foreign experts into the mummies. "However, within China a small group of ethnic separatists have taken advantage of this opportunity to stir up trouble and are acting like buffoons. Some of them have even styled themselves the descendants of these ancient 'white people' with the aim of dividing the motherland. But these perverse acts will not succeed". Barber addresses these claims by noting that "[The Loulan Beauty] is scarcely closer to 'Turkic' in her anthropological type than she is to Han Chinese. The body and facial forms associated with Turks and Mongols began to appear in the Tarim cemeteries only in the first millennium BCE, fifteen hundred years after this woman lived. Due to the "fear of fuelling separatist currents", the Xinjiang museum, regardless of dating, displays all their mummies, both Tarim and Han, together.
Physical anthropologists propose the movement of at least two Caucasian physical types into the Tarim Basin. Mallory and Mair associate these types with the Tocharian and Iranian (Saka) branches of the Indo-European language family, respectively. However, archaeology and linguistics professor Elizabeth Wayland Barber cautions against assuming the mummies spoke Tocharian, noting a gap of about a thousand years between the mummies and the documented Tocharians: "people can change their language at will, without altering a single gene or freckle."
B. E. Hemphill's biodistance analysis of cranial metrics (as cited in Larsen 2002 and Schurr 2001) has questioned the identification of the Tarim Basin population as European, noting that the earlier population has close affinities to the Indus Valley population, and the later population with the Oxus River valley population. Because craniometry can produce results which make no sense at all (e.g. the close relationship between Neolithic populations in Ukraine and Portugal) and therefore lack any historical meaning, any putative genetic relationship must be consistent with geographical plausibility and have the support of other evidence.
Han Kangxin, who examined the skulls of 302 mummies, found the closest relatives of the earlier Tarim Basin population in the populations of the Afanasevo culture situated immediately north of the Tarim Basin and the Andronovo culture that spanned Kazakhstan and reached southwards into West Central Asia and the Altai.
It is the Afanasevo culture to which Mallory & Mair (2000:294–296, 314–318) trace the earliest Bronze Age settlers of the Tarim and Turpan basins. The Afanasevo culture (c. 3500–2500 BCE) displays cultural and genetic connections with the Indo-European-associated cultures of the Eurasian Steppe yet predates the specifically Indo-Iranian-associated Andronovo culture (c. 2000–900 BCE) enough to isolate the Tocharian languages from Indo-Iranian linguistic innovations like satemization.
Hemphill & Mallory (2004) confirm a second Caucasian physical type at Alwighul (700–1 BCE) and Krorän (200 CE) different from the earlier one found at Qäwrighul (1800 BCE) and Yanbulaq (1100–500 BCE):
This study confirms the assertion of Han that the occupants of Alwighul and Krorän are not derived from proto-European steppe populations, but share closest affinities with Eastern Mediterranean populations. Further, the results demonstrate that such Eastern Mediterraneans may also be found at the urban centers of the Oxus civilization located in the north Bactrian oasis to the west. Affinities are especially close between Krorän, the latest of the Xinjiang samples, and Sapalli, the earliest of the Bactrian samples, while Alwighul and later samples from Bactria exhibit more distant phenetic affinities. This pattern may reflect a possible major shift in interregional contacts in Central Asia in the early centuries of the second millennium BCE.
From the evidence available, we have found that during the first 1,000 years after the Loulan Beauty, the only settlers in the Tarim Basin were Caucasoid. East Asian peoples only began showing up in the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin about 3,000 years ago, Mair said, while the Uighur peoples arrived after the collapse of the Orkon Uighur Kingdom, largely based in modern day Mongolia, around the year 842.
Historical records and associated texts
Reference to the Yuezhi name in Guanzi was made around 7th century BCE by the Chinese economist Guan Zhong, though the book is generally considered to be a forgery of later generations.:115–127 The attributed author, Guan Zhong, described the Yuzhi 禺氏, or Niuzhi 牛氏, as a people from the north-west who supplied jade to the Chinese from the nearby mountains of Yuzhi 禺氏 at Gansu. A large part of the Yuezhi, vanquished by the Xiongnu, were to migrate to southern Asia in the 2nd century BCE, and later establish the Kushan Empire.
Pliny the Elder (, Chap XXIV "Taprobane") reports a curious description of the Seres made by some Romans whose ship had drifted to the shore of Taprobane (Ceylon), saying that they "exceeded the ordinary human height, had flaxen hair, and blue eyes, and made an uncouth sort of noise by way of talking", however it is very unlikely that this passage has anything to do with the population of the Tarim Basin.
The Indo-European Tocharian languages also have been attested in the same geographical area, and although the first known epigraphic evidence dates to the 6th century CE, the degree of differentiation between Tocharian A and Tocharian B, and the absence of Tocharian language remains beyond that area, tends to indicate that a common Tocharian language existed in the same area during the second half of the 1st millennium BCE. Although Tocharian texts postdate the mummies by several centuries, their identical geographical location and common non-Chinese origin suggest that the mummies were related to the Tocharians and spoke a similar Indo-European language.
The Tocharians were described as having full beards, red or blond hair, deep-set blue or green eyes and high noses and with no sign of decline as attestation in the Chinese sources for the past 1,000 years. This was first noted after the Tocharians had come under the steppe nomads and Chinese subjugation. During the 3rd to 4th century CE, the Tocharians reached their height by incorporating adjoining states.
Arguments for the occurrence of cultural transmission from West to East
The possible presence of speakers of Indo-European languages in the Tarim Basin by about 2000 BCE could, if confirmed, be interpreted as evidence that cultural exchanges occurred among Indo-European and Chinese populations at a very early date. It has been suggested that such activities as chariot warfare and bronze-making may have been transmitted to the east by these Indo-European nomads. Mallory and Mair also note that: "Prior to c. 2000 BC, finds of metal artifacts in China are excedeedingly few, simple and, puzzlingly, already made of alloyed copper (and hence questionable)." While stressing that the argument as to whether bronze technology travelled from China to the West or that "the earliest bronze technology in China was stimulated by contacts with western steppe cultures", is far from settled in scholarly circles, they do suggest that the evidence to date favours the latter scenario. However the culture and technology in the northwest region of Tarim basin was less advanced than that in the East China of Yellow River-Erlitou (2070 BCE ~ 1600 BCE) or Majiayao culture (3100 BCE ~ 2600 BCE), which are earliest bronze-using cultures in China, implies that the northwest region did not use copper or any metal until bronze technology was introduced to this region by the Shang Dynasty about 1600 BC. The earliest bronze artifacts in China are found at the Majiayao culture site (dating from between 3100 and 2700 BC), and it is from this location and time period that Chinese Bronze Age spread. Bronze metallurgy in China originated in what is referred to as the Erlitou (Wade–Giles: Erh-li-t'ou) period, which some historians argue places it within the range of dates controlled by the Shang dynasty. Others believe the Erlitou sites belong to the preceding Xia (Wade–Giles: Hsia) dynasty. The U.S. National Gallery of Art defines the Chinese Bronze Age as the "period between about 2000 BC and 771 BC," a period that begins with Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of Western Zhou rule. Though this provides a concise frame of reference, it overlooks the continued importance of bronze in Chinese metallurgy and culture. Since this was significantly later than the discovery of bronze in Mesopotamia, bronze technology could have been imported rather than discovered independently in China. However, there is reason to believe that bronzework did develop inside China separately from outside influence.
The Chinese official Zhang Qian, who visited Bactria and Sogdiana in 126 BCE, made the first known Chinese report on many regions to the west of China. He believed he discerned Greek influences in some of these kingdoms. He names Parthia "Ānxī" (Chinese: 安息), a transcription of "Arshak" (Arsaces), the name of the founder of Parthian dynasty. Zhang Qian clearly identifies Parthia as an advanced urban civilization that farmed grain and grapes, and manufactured silver coins and leather goods. Zhang Qian equated Parthia's level of advancement to the cultures of Dayuan in Ferghana and Daxia in Bactria.
The supplying of Tarim Basin jade to China from ancient times is well established, according to Liu (2001): "It is well known that ancient Chinese rulers had a strong attachment to jade. All of the jade items excavated from the tomb of Fuhao of the Shang dynasty, more than 750 pieces, were from Khotan in modern Xinjiang. As early as the mid-first millennium BCE the Yuezhi engaged in the jade trade, of which the major consumers were the rulers of agricultural China."
In popular culture
- The Tarim mummies were mentioned in the episode "Mummy in the Maze" of the television series Bones.
- Mallory & Mair (2000), p. 237.
- Wade, Nicholas (2010-03-15). "A Host of Mummies, a Forest of Secrets". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
- Baumer (2000), p. 28.
- "The mystery of China's celtic mummies". The Independent. August 28, 2006. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
- Mallory & Mair (2000), p. 10.
- Though modern Westerners tend to identify this type of hat as the headgear of a witch, there is evidence that these pointed hats were widely worn by both women and men in some Central Asian tribes. For instance, the Persian king Darius recorded a victory over the "Sakas of the pointed hats". The Subeshi headgear is likely an ethnic badge or a symbol of position in the society.
- "The Mummies of Xinjiang" Discover April 1, 1994
- Christopher P. Thornton and Theodore G. Schurr, "Genes, language, and culture: an example from the Tarim Basin", in: Oxford Journal of Archaeology, Volume 23 Issue 1, pp 83–106, 2004
- Deter-Wolf, Aaron; Robitaille, Benoît; Krutak, Lars; Galliot, Sébastien (February 2016). "The World's Oldest Tattoos". Journal of Archaeological Science:Reports. 5: 19–24. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.11.007.
- Mitochondrial DNA analysis of human remains from the Yuansha site in Xinjiang Science in China Series C: Life Sciences Volume 51, Number 3 / March, 2008
- Chunxiang Li, Hongjie Li, Yinqiu Cui, Chengzhi Xie, Dawei Cai, Wenying Li, Victor H Mair, Zhi Xu, Quanchao Zhang, Idelis Abuduresule, Li Jin, Hong Zhu and Hui Zhou (2010). "Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age". BMC Biology. 8 (15). doi:10.1186/1741-7007-8-15. PMC . PMID 20163704.
- Chunxiang Li, Chao Ning, Erika Hagelberg, Hongjie Li, Yongbin Zhao, Wenying Li, Idelisi Abuduresule, Hong Zhu and Hui Zhou (2015). "Analysis of ancient human mitochondrial DNA from the Xiaohe cemetery: insights into prehistoric population movements in the Tarim Basin, China". BMC Genet. 16 (78). doi:10.1186/s12863-015-0237-5. PMC . PMID 26153446.
- Zhōngguó běifāng gǔdài rénqún Y rǎnsètǐ yíchuán duōyàng xìng yánjiū--“jílín dàxué”2012 nián bóshì lùnwén.
- Mair, Victor H., "Mummies of the Tarim Basin," Archaeology, vol. 48, no. 2, pages 28–35 (March/April 1995); the quote appears on page 30 of this article.
- Barber 1999, p. 72
- Mallory & Mair (2000), pp. 317–318.
- Barber 1999, p. 119
- Mallory & Mair (2000), p. 236.
- Mallory & Mair (2000), pp. 236–237.
- Mallory & Mair (2000), pp. 260, 294–296, 314–318.
- Mallory & Mair (2000), p. 318.
- Liu, Jianguo (2004), Distinguishing and Correcting the pre-Qin Forged Classics, Xi'an: Shaanxi People's Press, ISBN 7-224-05725-8
- Mair, Victor H., "Mummies of the Tarim Basin," Archaeology, vol. 48, no. 2, pages 28-35 (March/April 1995); the quote appears on page 30 of this article.
- Yu (2003), pp. 34–57, 77–88, 96–103.
- Mallory and Mair (2000), pp. 317-318.
- Mallory and Mair (2000), pp. 327-328.
- Martini, I. Peter (2010). Landscapes and Societies: Selected Cases. Springer. p. 310. ISBN 90-481-9412-1.
- Higham, Charles (2004). Encyclopedia of ancient Asian civilizations. Infobase Publishing. p. 200. ISBN 0-8160-4640-9.
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- Chang, K. C.: "Studies of Shang Archaeology", p. 1. Yale University Press, 1982.
- "Teaching Chinese Archaeology, Part Two — NGA". Nga.gov. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
- Li-Liu; The Chinese Neolithic, Cambridge University Press, 2005
- Shang and Zhou Dynasties: The Bronze Age of China Heilbrunn Timeline Retrieved May 13, 2010
- The Kingdom of Anxi
- Silk Road, North China, C. Michael Hogan, The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham (2007)
- Williams, Scott. "Mummy in the Maze." Bones. Dir. Marita Grabiak. Fox. 30 Oct. 2007. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
- Barber, Elizabeth Wayland (1999), The Mummies of Ürümchi, London: Pan Books, ISBN 0-330-36897-4
- Baumer, Christoph. (2000). Southern Silk Road: In the Footsteps of Sir Aurel Stein and Sven Hedin. White Orchid Books. Bangkok. ISBN 974-8304-38-8 (HC); ISBN 974-8304-39-6 (TP).
- Davis-Kimball, Jeannine, with Mona Behan (2002). Warrior Women: An Archaeologist’s Search for History’s Hidden Heroines. Warner Books, New York. First Trade Edition 2003. ISBN 0-446-67983-6 (pbk)
- Hemphill, Brian E.; Mallory, J.P. (2004), "Horse-mounted invaders from the Russo-Kazakh steppe or agricultural colonists from Western Central Asia? A craniometric investigation of the Bronze Age settlement of Xinjiang", American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 125, pp. 199ff.
- Larsen, Clark Spencer (2002), "Bioarchaeology: The Lives and Lifestyles of Past People", Journal of Archaeological Research (published June 2002), 10 (2), pp. 119–166, doi:10.1023/A:1015267705803.
- Li, Shuicheng (1999), "A Discussion of Sino-Western Cultural Contact and Exchange in the Second Millennium BC Based on Recent Archeological Discoveries", Sino-Platonic Papers (published December 1999) (97).
- Light, Nathan (1999a), "Hidden Discourses of Race: Imagining Europeans in China", presented at the Association for Asian Studies conference, Boston, retrieved 2007-08-20.
- Light, Nathan (1999b), "Tabloid Archaeology: Is Television Trivializing Science?", Discovering Archaeology (published March–April 1999), pp. 98–101.
- Liu, Xinru (2001), "Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan. Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies", Journal of World History, 12 (2), pp. 261–292, doi:10.1353/jwh.2001.0034.
- Mallory, J. P.; Mair, Victor H. (2000), The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West, London: Thames & Hudson.
- Pliny the Elder, The Natural History.
- Schurr, Theodore G. (2001), "Tracking Genes Across the Globe: A review of Genes, Peoples, and Languages, by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza.", American Scientist (published January–February 2001), 89 (1).
- Chengzhi, Xie; Chunxiang, Li; Yinqiu, Cui; Dawei, Cai; Haijing, Wang; Hong, Zhu; Hui, Zhou (2007). "Mitochondrial DNA analysis of ancient Sampula population in Xinjiang". Progress in Natural Science. 17 (8): 927–933. doi:10.1080/10002007088537493.
- Yu, Taishan (2003), A Comprehensive History of Western Regions (2nd ed.), Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou Guji Press, ISBN 7-5348-1266-6
- Downloadable article: "Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age" Li et al. BMC Biology 2010, 8:15.
- Stratification in the peopling of China: how far does the linguistic evidence match genetics and archaeology? pdf
- High-quality images of Tarim-basin mummies
- Images of the Tocharian mummies Includes the face of the "Beauty of Loulan" as reconstructed by an artist.
- "The Takla Makan Mummies". PBS. Retrieved 17 January 2008.
- Genetic testing reveals awkward truth about Xinjiang’s famous mummies (AFP) Khaleej Times Online, 19 April 2005
- The Dead Tell a Tale China Doesn’t Care to Listen To The New York Times, 18 November 2008
- 'A Host of Mummies, A Forest of Secrets', Nicholas Wade, The New York Times, 15 March 2010. | <urn:uuid:32040cb8-2d07-4055-90e2-f57b5ed0c3b7> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarim_mummies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501171176.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104611-00149-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897929 | 5,820 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Concentric vs. Eccentric Muscle Movement
Oct 14, 2018
A lot goes on in your body during a workout, and sometimes, learning more about exactly what is happening can help you work out more effectively so you can get better results. Whether or not you've heard of concentric and eccentric muscle contractions, you can benefit from learning the difference—especially because one of them is often overlooked, but can help you get even better results from your workout.
Muscle movement can be broken down into concentric and eccentric motion. Concentric muscle contraction is what you may typically think of with exercise. It is the standard contraction and lifting motion, when the muscle shortens and its two connection points come close together. This movement is acting against the force of gravity and improves the muscle's ability to pull and lift.
The eccentric contraction is utilizing the same muscle, but acts in the lowering part of the motion. As the muscle lengthens, the two connection points of the muscle get further apart, but the muscle continues to contract. Eccentric contractions normally occur as a braking force in opposition to a concentric contraction to protect joints from damage. During virtually any routine movement, eccentric contractions assist in keeping motions smooth, but can also slow rapid movements such as a punch or kick.
In a basic jab-cross, two punch combination, the extension of the punch (loaded with the glove) would be the eccentric movement. Muscles are elongating and extending. The concentric part of the punch would be the recoil, when you bring the hands back to the 'home' position for protection. The same is true of the kick, with its four parts: chamber, extension, recoil, plant. You can associate the extension with concentric movement and the eccentric part with the recoiling of the kick.
Eccentric muscle movement is often overlooked and left to gravity. However, you’re doing your body a disservice if you’re not focusing on this type of muscle movement. Your muscles can actually generate more force during the eccentric phase of an exercise. By slowing down the negative (eccentric) phase of your exercise, you can help your muscles build greater strength.
This is why, at 9Round, trainers encourage members to focus on form, and perform each movement with careful precision. For instance, loading a squat movement by holding a medicine ball on Round 2 adds resistance. The down part of the squat would be eccentric and the up part of the squat would be concentric. Instead of just dropping into a squat, we suggest slowly lowering yourself, while engaging your muscles.
By training with slower speeds, the muscles can adapt to increase control and stability. This focus on slowing down also helps to concentrate on form and technique, which helps strengthen stability muscles, and decrease risk of injury. | <urn:uuid:37409f06-b858-4534-a703-19ce88d1c9d6> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | https://uae.9round.com/blog/concentric-vs-eccentric-muscle-movement | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585370502513.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20200331150854-20200331180854-00244.warc.gz | en | 0.951082 | 572 | 2.953125 | 3 |
14 August, 2017
How to Calculate What a Child's Height Will Be
Calculating your child's height is based on gender, the height of both of parents and the child's diet and activity level. A number of methods exist and none is definitive. However, it can be fun to guess what your child's height will be, and for some kids, it may be medically necessary. As long as you can track a few statistics, you can gauge the potential range for your child's full height.
Gather the required statistics. Your child's height and weight, age and gender are all required for the closest guess. Also write down the height of each parent.
Add the parents' heights together. If your child is a boy, add 5 inches and divide by two. This number is the estimated height for a boy. If your child is a girl, subtract 5 inches and divide by two. The result is the estimated height for a girl. Most children are within 4 inches of this number when they reach their full adult height.
Check your baby book. Another method of estimating height is to take your child's height at the age of 2 and simply double it. This estimate is less accurate than the calculation in Step 2, but it remains a popular approach.
Use an online tool. Many online sites include a calculator that uses the data to run the calculation for you. Note whether the site requires a specific age, as many height calculators assume a child is either over age 2 or 4, which can make a significant difference in the final number.
Have your child's wrist X-rayed. X-rays can determine with specificity your child's chronological age. This painless procedure evaluates the growth-plate status in your child's wrist compared to the range of normal development. Using this information, doctors can pinpoint any growth or hormone issues that may be emerging if your child's age and the maturation of her skeleton are at odds. It also helps doctors treat children who have conditions that may affect their growth.
Your child's height may vary, depending on the family history and grandparents' heights.
Health providers prefer to minimize x-ray exposure unless medically necessary.
- Your child's height may vary, depending on the family history and grandparents' heights.
- ChiccoDodiFC/iStock/Getty Images | <urn:uuid:c40080cf-6f7c-453f-a04c-3e6c4138e59a> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | https://healthfully.com/185076-how-to-calculate-what-a-childs-height-will-be.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027315321.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20190820092326-20190820114326-00386.warc.gz | en | 0.9223 | 477 | 3.1875 | 3 |
For years, we've entrusted the future of space exploration to public agencies and they have done a great job. NASA was able to land on the moon, send a rover to Mars, and make a satellite out of Android phone with public dollars. Unfortunately, governments aren't as invested in space anymore. That's where the private sector comes in.
A new start-up called Uwingu is hoping to fund the future of space exploration through selling educational software and other space related products. Through these sales, they will set up the Wingu fund. The fund will be put toward the next generation of private space exploration, research and education.
Like any start-up, they need some help to get off the ground. SpaceX had the advantage of being funded by the founder of PayPal. Uwingu has no such luck, and has therefore turned to the increasingly lucrative crowdsourcing model.
The Uwingu Indiegogo campaign has raised over $63,000 so far, but requires $75,000 in up front capital to keep going. The campaign only has four more days to go, but they remain confident that they'll be able to hit their target.
If successful, this may be the first crowdfunded scientific endeavor. Advances in science and technology are usually funded by governments, corporations or private investors. A lot of people obviously love the idea of space travel, and would happily give money to make it happen. I'm honestly surprised that somebody hasn't tried to appeal to the public before this.
All of this only proves that NASA needs to host a Kickstarter campaign. Nerds love NASA and the Internet is full of them. Riding off the momentum of the successful Mars Rover landing would ensure crowdfunding success. | <urn:uuid:ca443719-a147-478e-8426-72cb940dc33d> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | http://www.webpronews.com/uwingu-looks-to-crowdfunding-for-the-future-of-space-exploration-2012-09/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128320201.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20170623220935-20170624000935-00041.warc.gz | en | 0.967722 | 348 | 2.71875 | 3 |
In a world where we spend the majority of our money paying our bills and a significant amount of time organizing our finances, we somehow manage to find ourselves with a clean bill of health. Strangely though, it is believed by many that the United States provides some of the best healthcare in the world even though we soar past everyone in terms of healthcare expenditure. It is also believed that we Americans are some of the unhealthiest people in the world even though we are a nation of immigrants which means that it is not one group of people who are the unhealthiest, it is the lifestyle of every person who lives here.
The phrase "a clean bill of health" is usually provided to someone who is recovering from an illness or injury and is finally able to function on their own without assistance or any apparent risks to his or her well-being. It is a phrase that has been adapted to fit every aspect of our society. Vehicles are given clean bills of health. Buildings are given clean bills of health. Even technology is given a clean bill of health. And, of course, humans are as well.
This process of routine inspection is often done by an outside professional, e.g. primary care physician, who is skilled in searching for potential problem areas that could place an entire system at risk. Essentially, they are on a mission to find what is wrong. But has anyone been hired to search for what is right or functioning well? Why is it that we don't spend time highlighting these parts and, as a result, take them for granted?
Think about it. What phrases do you most often hear in a workplace? Do any of these sound familiar?
"There's a crisis at work."
"I have too much on my plate right now."
"What issues [problems] should we focus on?"
"Come up with a resolution by the end of the week."
"We've been fighting with this for a long time now."
And then there is the frightening word "deadline", which connotates something different altogether.
A "clean bill of health" is more than the erasure of harmful elements from one's physiology. It is a realization of one's individual responsibility to his or her state of being.
It is very easy to see a system that is functioning well and put it aside until it reaches a state of dysfunction. By doing so, we can then put on our perfectionist glasses and work towards adding to this well-functioning system by diagnosing, and ultimately correcting, what is imperfect. Over the course of time, humans have successfully created a culture of fix-it mentalities. We are trained to look for problems, and we are just as determined to solve them. This approach has formed the idea that a "clean bill of health" is dependent upon the absence of negative influences and little to no risk to well-being.
So whose responsibility is it to determine and maintain this "clean bill of health"? Well, of course it is up to us all individually. So then, what if we started looking at our own "bills of health" from a different perspective? What would happen if we highlighted the accomplishments of our health and focused on enhancing them on a routine basis that would effectively remind us of the positive changes constantly occurring in our lives? Might this eventually reverse the negativity programmed into the standard approach to care; the constant need to fix things?
A "clean bill of health" is more than the erasure of harmful elements from one's physiology. It is a realization of one's individual responsibility to his or her state of being. It is a bill that needs neither paid no passed. It simply requires your attention one day at a time to remind you how to thrive rather than just survive.
A whole note is, according to the almighty Google, "a note having the time value of two half notes or four quarter notes, represented by a ring with no stem. It is the longest note now in common use."
For those of you who don't know me that well, I have a strong music background. I've played numerous instruments, written music, and practically made it my life by deciding to go to college and play piano professionally. During that last one though, my life took a sharp turn in a different direction, and to this day, I wonder what my life would have been like had I continued on that musical journey. Would I have become a professional musician? Would I have become a famous artist? Would I have become a music and song-writer like I had once dreamed of at a young age? Frequently, I ponder this alternate universe that I chose to leave behind nearly 20 years ago.
This does not mean though that my fingers don't hunger for the smooth glide across the steel strings of a guitar or yearn to fly up and down the ivory steps of a piano in an emotionally-driven whirlwind. I could not survive without immersing myself in the freeing experiences that music has blessed me with. It is an escape from all sense of time. Perhaps, even, it might be why I enjoy using my fingers to type this very blog; because my fingers yearn to dance again on the musical instruments they befriended many years ago.
Music has always been the easiest metaphor for understanding my life.
Regardless of where I once was though, I understand my life is here and now. My life is just as magnificent as it could have ever been had I continued my journey with music two decades ago. I firmly believe that. Just as I have always believed that life will guide you through your choices and will leave breadcrumbs along the way to remind you of where you came from. My life in music has defined who I am as an individual. Every person has experienced the joys of music at one time or another. For music is an opportunity to step beyond the boundaries of a confined lifestyle and live freely once again, even if it's only for the length of a short song playing through your headphones.
I find it interesting that the whole note is partially defined as "the longest note now in common use". It seems synonymous with life itself. Our lives are meant to be whole, just as this particular note is meant to be whole. It is the longest note in common use just as life should be lived as a continuous process following the rhythm of everything that has come before it. And the whole note is what leads and flows into the rhythm of the entire piece after it.
A whole life does just the same. It is complete; it is filled; it is never-ending; it is whole. The rhythm of your life is set by all of the experiences that come from the moment you are created. The rhythm you set in your life will also determine the rhythm that is set for the lives that follow yours. So your life is meant to be played like one glorious song. One WHOLE glorious song, to be exact.
Music has always been the easiest metaphor for understanding my life. Anytime I struggle or meet a new challenge, music frees me. It empties my mind by stirring my emotions and preventing them from stagnating inside of me ultimately leading me away from pain and towards movement, towards freedom, towards wholeness. A whole note to some may simply be the addition to all the other notes and viewed as a part of music that can be broken down into parts or counted as a sum of a particular number of beats. To me though, a whole note is not just a black empty circle hanging randomly from a line on a funny looking sheet of paper. It is an extended moment filled with a magnificent story driven by emotion, driven by the past that carries onward for as long as one chooses. This whole note becomes a whole vibration once the hammers strike the metal strings within signaling a whole resonance that invades and heals every space of your whole body. The only question left is, are you living whole enough to hear it?
For centuries, wars have plagued our world and wreaked havoc on its economies pushing them to the brink of collapse and forcing societies and cultures to transform in order to meet the needs of the struggling people. Ways of life have morphed into forms that no longer resemble living. The concept of "being" has been overshadowed by the practice of "doing". We are never not on the move. We are chasing life, running from death, rushing to the next thing, or running from the last thing. We constantly live in the past or in the future. Then, before we know it, we have ticked our last tock. Long life or not, our time has run out.
With the passing of each moment, we no longer live in the past. The point of time where we rushed out of bed to rush and make our morning coffee to rush to work to rush home, all the while rushing to retirement and running away from death as fast as humanly possible, we are always on the move. Never stopping...always going. Never being...always doing. Life is meant to be lived and this requires action. But when one moment has passed and another is yet to come, should you fight to run from or towards either of them? Should you let your history define your present? Or should you let your history guide you to your present?
We, and all of existence, are born to live in the "now"; to live in the present. When your day at work has finished and it's time to go home, that day of work no longer exists. It is time for you to go home; to the home where you live physically, to the home where you live mentally, and to the home where you live spiritually.
A long life is by no means symbolic of a good life. Ancient texts that preserve the secret methods of longevity may have been testing the limits of time to see how far they could push them. We will never know their true purpose of this quest, nor what they were afraid of, if anything, that led them to desire the need for longevity. So I can only question their potential desire by asking, what's the point? Why focus on the need to live a lengthened number of days? Why not focus on the most effective ways to live a "good life", a happy life, and a life that exists in the present and nowhere else?
Making the choice to live a "good life" is to make a choice to ignore all distractions in your life; eliminate all stressors in your life; erase all dissatisfaction from your life; and ultimately, dismiss all sense of time in your life. Choose "now", and nothing else exists. Not even time, a concept created by humans. The fact that we only get one life to live should be enough reason for us all to make the right choice: the choice to live a "good life" versus a "long life". Enjoy the moment you are in now and I guarantee you that you will forget all about your desire for a long life.
That, my friend, is a "good life". And it will win every single time.
Yesterday evening I hosted our monthly Ask The Expert live interview with Jamie Gallagher, founder of Origin Fitness Fairfax and CrossFit Burke. (Listen to the Live Interview Here) At the end of a great interview, I asked him one final question, the same question I close every interview with each month:
"What gets you out of bed every morning?"
His response? "The pursuit of excellence." Knowing Jamie for some time now, I couldn't agree more with him that this is truly what he looks for each day. But what exactly is the pursuit of excellence? What actually does excellence mean? To answer this question, first ask yourself the same question I asked Jamie during his interview: "What gets you out of bed every morning?" More specifically, what is your purpose in life you are so passionate about that drives you to get up everyday and live every moment to its fullest?
The pursuit of excellence is ALWAYS exhilarating!
Excellence is built upon the standards you set for yourself because they are the blueprint of your life. If your accomplishments in life do not match your overall blueprint, then how could you possibly achieve excellence? From this blueprint, this innate schematic leading you towards fulfillment, you are driven to use your body in a certain way. You mind is flooded with only certain kinds of thoughts. Your spiritual beliefs tie them all together with what you see as your higher purpose in life. Without these connections, we are just an empty, lifeless shell following the robotic actions of what we were taught that society "needs" from us.
By allowing yourself to not just move against the current, but step out of the water altogether, you allow a transition towards personal freedom. From this moment onward, you understand the power of choice. For in every moment lies a new choice in life; one that can create opportunities no matter what lies before you. Be it negativity, pessimism, or doubt, you know that you can step away from that current and walk in the direction of excellence every single time. Your ability to hold the light as you walk to the end of the tunnel rather that walk towards the light that someone else is holding sets you apart from every other human being. However, the light you hold is actually a light shining from within you that is now so strong it has begun to illuminate outward and requires no holding at all. It is a self-generated luminescence that comes from your heart, your soul, and your newfound ability to unlock your personal potential.
I want to warn you though. This is not something I read in an inspiring book or heard on some podcast similar to mine. This is real and this is powerful. How do I know? Because, through experience, this is my life every single day. This is also Jamie's life every single day. Now, do we both stumble? Do we both have our days full of doubts and find ourselves questioning our purpose in life? Darn right we do! But do we ever veer away from the direction we believe to be "right"? Never. No matter the obstacle that appears before us, even if it's in our minds, we look forward to the challenge. Some might even say that I love the game more than the result myself. I might agree with this. That is because the pursuit of excellence is ALWAYS exhilarating!
The power of choice determines your understanding of your own potential and your own ability to empower yourself. This is not to be confused with destiny either. Your destiny points you in a certain direction, but it is your daily choice to get up an start your day with a specific mindset; a day that stems from a desire to pursue something. And the goal of this pursuit should be nothing less than the pursuit of excellence. THIS is personal power. THIS is inspiration. THIS is a life of fulfillment. I challenge you from this moment forward to join Jamie and me together in this pursuit; a pursuit of excellence.
Posted here are...
inspirational ideas on healthy living through eastern medicine, optimism, and possibility through empowerment. | <urn:uuid:cb483a54-75fa-4c6d-b2fb-f01165eb1d88> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://www.mymetromedicine.com/blog/archives/03-2018 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195524502.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20190716035206-20190716061206-00498.warc.gz | en | 0.971058 | 3,073 | 2.609375 | 3 |
National Geographic NewsWatch: Up-Close Look at Louisiana’s Disappearing Marshes
In the Journey OnEarth film series, National Geographic Emerging Explorer Roshini Thinakaran, reports about the people most directly impacted by pollution, oil spills, and toxic chemicals, and communities coping with climate change across the U.S.
The newly released second episode takes a closer look at Louisiana’s mashes. Referred to as part of America’s hardest working wetlands, the marshes are breathtaking, but they are a natural treasure disappearing at an alarming rate. For this film, Roshini visits this unique ecosystem and examines the cost of losing a piece of our natural heritage. | <urn:uuid:f1271b45-7022-4c1a-ac45-e421040a5ca3> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://waterbytes.tumblr.com/post/7205990795/national-geographic-newswatch-up-close-look-at | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1397609539705.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20140416005219-00594-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909064 | 140 | 2.703125 | 3 |
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