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Finding likely to advance research in little-understood disorder
A group of researchers led by Johns Hopkins scientists say they have identified a genetic marker that may be associated with the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), whose causes and mechanisms are among the least understood among mental illnesses.
The results of the research are published online May 13 by the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
"If this finding is confirmed, it could be useful," says study leader Gerald Nestadt, M.D., M.P.H., a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of Johns Hopkins' Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Program. "We might ultimately be able to identify new drugs that could help people with this often disabling disorder, one for which current medications work only 60 to 70 percent of the time."
Nestadt and his team conducted what is known as a genome-wide association study, scanning the genomes of more than 1,400 people with OCD and more than 1,000 close relatives of people with the mental disorder. A significant association was identified in OCD patients near a gene called protein tyrosine phosphokinase (PTPRD).
OCD is a condition marked by thoughts and images that chronically intrude in the mind and by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety. Some of the least disabling forms of the disorder can add an extra hour to the day's routine, causing distress and interfering with daily life. Some people are so disabled that they can't leave their homes.
Experts say OCD affects an estimated 1 to 2 percent of the U.S. population, and the World Health Organization has called it one of the more disabling medical conditions worldwide. Antidepressants known as SSRIs work for some people, but not everyone; the same is true of behavioral therapy.
Nestadt says the genome-wide association study findings of a PTRPD-OCD link add to evidence that the genetic region they identified is important. The gene has already been shown in animals to be possibly involved in learning and memory, traits influenced by OCD in humans. Moreover, some cases of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been associated with the gene, and OCD and ADHD have some symptoms in common. He says the gene also works with another gene family, SLITRK, which has also been associated with OCD in animals.
"OCD research has lagged behind other psychiatric disorders in terms of genetics," Nestadt says. "We hope this interesting finding brings us closer to making better sense of it — and helps us find ways to treat it."
Other Johns Hopkins researchers involved in the study include Jack Samuels, Ph.D; Ying Wang, M.S.; Marco A. Grados, M.D., M.P.H.; Mark A. Riddle, M.D.; Bernadette A. Cullen, M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O., M.R.C.Psych; O. Joseph Bienvenu, M.D., Ph.D.; Kung-Yee Liang, Ph.D.; Fernando S. Goes, M.D.; Brion Maher, Ph.D.; Ann E. Pulver, Sc.D.; and David Valle, M.D. Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark, the Harvard School of Public Health, Brown University's Alpert Medical School, the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and the University of British Columbia.
The OCD Collaborative Genetics Association Study is a collaborative research study funded by NIMH (MH071507, MH079489, MH079487, MH079488 and MH079494).
Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM), headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is a $6.7 billion integrated global health enterprise and one of the leading health care systems in the United States. JHM unites physicians and scientists of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with the organizations, health professionals and facilities of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System. JHM's vision, "Together, we will deliver the promise of medicine," is supported by its mission to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care. Diverse and inclusive, JHM educates medical students, scientists, health care professionals and the public; conducts biomedical research; and provides patient-centered medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat human illness. JHM operates six academic and community hospitals, four suburban health care and surgery centers, and more than 30 primary health care outpatient sites. The Johns Hopkins Hospital, opened in 1889, was ranked number one in the nation for 21 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.
Johns Hopkins Medicine, 901 South Bond St., Suite 550, Baltimore, MD 21231 United States
Stephanie Desmon | Eurek Alert!
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12.01.2017 | University of Pennsylvania
The strange double life of Dab2
10.01.2017 | University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Among the general public, solar thermal energy is currently associated with dark blue, rectangular collectors on building roofs. Technologies are needed for aesthetically high quality architecture which offer the architect more room for manoeuvre when it comes to low- and plus-energy buildings. With the “ArKol” project, researchers at Fraunhofer ISE together with partners are currently developing two façade collectors for solar thermal energy generation, which permit a high degree of design flexibility: a strip collector for opaque façade sections and a solar thermal blind for transparent sections. The current state of the two developments will be presented at the BAU 2017 trade fair.
As part of the “ArKol – development of architecturally highly integrated façade collectors with heat pipes” project, Fraunhofer ISE together with its partners...
At TU Wien, an alternative for resource intensive formwork for the construction of concrete domes was developed. It is now used in a test dome for the Austrian Federal Railways Infrastructure (ÖBB Infrastruktur).
Concrete shells are efficient structures, but not very resource efficient. The formwork for the construction of concrete domes alone requires a high amount of...
Many pathogens use certain sugar compounds from their host to help conceal themselves against the immune system. Scientists at the University of Bonn have now, in cooperation with researchers at the University of York in the United Kingdom, analyzed the dynamics of a bacterial molecule that is involved in this process. They demonstrate that the protein grabs onto the sugar molecule with a Pac Man-like chewing motion and holds it until it can be used. Their results could help design therapeutics that could make the protein poorer at grabbing and holding and hence compromise the pathogen in the host. The study has now been published in “Biophysical Journal”.
The cells of the mouth, nose and intestinal mucosa produce large quantities of a chemical called sialic acid. Many bacteria possess a special transport system...
UMD, NOAA collaboration demonstrates suitability of in-orbit datasets for weather satellite calibration
"Traffic and weather, together on the hour!" blasts your local radio station, while your smartphone knows the weather halfway across the world. A network of...
Fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) are frequently used in the aeronautic and automobile industry. However, the repair of workpieces made of these composite materials is often less profitable than exchanging the part. In order to increase the lifetime of FRP parts and to make them more eco-efficient, the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) and the Apodius GmbH want to combine a new measuring device for fiber layer orientation with an innovative laser-based repair process.
Defects in FRP pieces may be production or operation-related. Whether or not repair is cost-effective depends on the geometry of the defective area, the tools...
10.01.2017 | Event News
09.01.2017 | Event News
05.01.2017 | Event News
16.01.2017 | Power and Electrical Engineering
16.01.2017 | Information Technology
16.01.2017 | Power and Electrical Engineering | <urn:uuid:01d6d58c-0594-4b25-86a3-b792c9f460bc> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/medicine-health/researchers-identify-genetic-marker-linked-to-ocd.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279248.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00548-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922348 | 1,770 | 3.09375 | 3 |
A close relative of a well-known fruit tree found in Ukambani, Taita and Voi could hold the key to a cure for some of the world’s untreatable cancers.
Commonly known as soursop or custard apple, the plant belonging to the Annona species has shown dramatic success in destroying lung, breast, prostate, colon, liver, ovarian, cervical, breast, bladder and skin cancerous cells.
Laboratory studies funded by the United States government through the National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Health and carried out by Purdue University show that a chemical compound in the plant selectively kills cancerous cells, leaving healthy ones unscathed.
The most dramatic is a recent study by the Catholic University of South Korea and published in the Journal of Natural Products showing that an extract from the plant was 10,000 times more effective in killing colon cancer cells than the drug currently in use.
The Annona tree family has over 110 species mostly growing in the wild in many parts of the world, with the main ones being Annona muricata found in the Amazon rainforest and the Annona cherimola, which is found locally and is commonly known as matomoko.
The tomoko fruits that grow in the drier parts of the country are much smaller compared to recent hybrids that grow in higher areas in parts of Murang’a and Kirinyaga, in Central Kenya.
Mainly because of its abundance in the Amazon rainforest and proximity to major research institutions in the US, the Amazonian variety has received the biggest share of academic research and commercial attention.
Because of this attention, the Amazonian Annona has spawned a global commercial brand, Graviola, which is being traded in many parts of the world as a health supplement.
The supplements, which are readily available on the Internet, are touted as the ultimate cure for a host of ailments.
However, other members of the tree family have been found to contain the chemical ingredient Annonaceus acetogenins, which is responsible for its anti-cancer activity.
This chemical ingredient, found in most parts of the plant but in different quantities, has been shown in laboratory tests to have strong anti-tumour properties even when administered in very small quantities.
Research reveals that the plant has been used for medicinal purposes, including curing of cancer, for thousands of years. But is only in the last two decades that the tree has attracted conventional researchers.
In Kenya, the fruit is quite popular, especially among the Asian community and foreigners and is readily available at the major markets in the city. Currently it is out of season.
“Matomoko are some of the best selling fruits in this market. My main customers are Asians, Arabs and even whites,” said Mr Eric Mutua, who has been in the business for the past seven years at the City Market.
At the Ngara open market in Nairobi, only one trader, Mr Simon Ndung’u had a handful of custard apples for sale which he said were leftovers from the previous season.
Mr Ndung’u said that his clients are usually herbalists.
“The herbalists say that if the fruit is crushed and mixed with pomegranate (Punica granatum) and other herbs, it can be administered as a cancer treatment,” said Mr Ndung’u.
He sells one custard apple fruit for anything between Sh10 and Sh20, depending how affluent a client looks.
At major supermarkets, a kilogramme of the fruit sells for Sh200 while at the City Market one can buy a kilogramme for Sh150.
At open air markets like Ngara and Wakulima, a single fruit costs between Sh10 and Sh30.
Emerging scientific evidence, which is freely available on the Internet, and abundant online sales of Graviola health supplements for a myriad of health complications including cancers, may have emboldened some local herbalists in recent years to claim that they have the capacity to cure malignant tumours.
However, the director of Medical Services, Dr Francis Kimani has warned herbalists against advertising any such product without permission from the Pharmacy and Poisons Board.
Dr Kimani is emphatic that any person claiming to have a cure for chronic diseases such as cancer and others must register their products with the Medical Services ministry.
“The public must demand evidence of such registration before accepting treatment,” he said at a recent media briefing.
But the fact that such herbalists can now cite some conventional scientific data to justify their claims could put the ministry in a sticky situation.
Several of the studies indicate that the active ingredient in the fruit, Annonaceus acetogenins, must be administered in very small doses otherwise it could be dangerous.
Some of the studies also warn that continued use of the compound could lead to the development of early Parkinson’s Disease, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system.
This has been discovered to be particularly the case when people use the crushed seed instead of the leaves, bark or the fruit pulp recommended by researchers.
A city-based herbalist who requested anonymity for fear of antagonising the Pharmacy and Poisons Board and claimed to use matomoko for treating hypertension disagrees.
“This could be true with conventional medicines, which are highly refined, but not so if the product is administered in its natural form,” he said.
Dr Geoffry Mbijiwe of the Capito Herbal Clinic in Nairobi told the Nation on Friday: “Tomoko is a very common fruit. Though I have not used it for medicinal purposes, I am aware of the growing scientific interest in the fruit and hope any benefits from the research will be used responsibly.”
Although the research community has enough evidence that the tomoko family could greatly contribute to a miracle cancer treatment, it is still many years before a pill could be put on the market because of scientific challenges and red tape.
Research on the custard apple has so far failed to develop a patentable product. And since the natural extract cannot be patented, the pharmaceutical industry has to find a way to make a patentable product but which will not lose its anti-tumour properties.
If the development of another successful cancer treatment drug Taxol, from the Pacific yew tree is anything to go by, then sufferers could be in for a very long wait.
Taxol, one of the newer chemotherapy drugs, is an extract from the bark and needles of the yew tree, Taxus brevifolia, and is used in the treatment of ovarian, testis, breast, head, neck and lung cancers.
While it has taken researchers almost a decade to successfully chemically produce the main anti-tumorous ingredient, annonacin, from the custard apple, it took 30 years to put the commercial product Taxol on the market.
Make a killing
Medical lobbyists who are accusing pharmaceutical companies of dragging their feet in availing what they call a miracle drug due to profit considerations, are suggesting that rich governments step in and help put the drug within reach of cancer sufferers.
They say rich governments could fund basic research like the US is doing through a body like the World Health Organisation which would ensure that generated scientific knowledge would be freely available to interested parties without paying for intellectual property rights.
Meanwhile, at a practical level Kenyans will continue buying Annona products from the Internet as health supplements or from the unregulated alternative medicines sector while the rest of the world makes a killing from the Graviola brand.
The flesh of the ripe tomoko is usually eaten by hand or scooped out with a spoon. Occasionally it is seeded and added to fruit salads or used for making ice cream.
The juice can also be diluted to make a refreshing drink. In some instances, the fruit has been fermented to produce an alcoholic beverage.
Additional reporting by Isaiah Esipisu | <urn:uuid:a1aa4b94-8741-47e0-88b7-bda9717baf89> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/653232/-/umrtpa/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398525032.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205525-00102-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954158 | 1,641 | 3.125 | 3 |
Professor Michael Lesher is the Principal Investigator of the NSERC-CMIC-funded Mineral Exploration Footprints project and a Co-Principal Investigator on the CFREF-FedNor-NOHFC-funded Metal Earth project.
Field, laboratory, and mathematical studies of the volcanological, geological, mineralogical, geochemical, and petrological controls on the formation and localization of magmatic chrome and nickel – copper – cobalt – platinum-group element deposits
Contributes to the exploration for chrome and nickel – copper – cobalt – platinum-group elements in Canada and elsewhere in the world. Chrome is used to strengthen steel and to make superalloys; nickel is used in stainless steel and a vast array of other products, including mobile phones, medical imaging equipment, power generators, and batteries; copper is used mainly in electrical equipment; cobalt is used in alloys for aircraft engine parts, in alloys with corrosion/wear resistant uses, and in batteries and in electroplating; platinum-group elements are used as catalysts, in laboratory, electrical, and dental equipment, and in jewelry.
Magmatic Chromite and Sulfide Melts
Chrome, nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum-group elements (platinum, palladium, rhodium, rhenium, ruthenium, iridium, osmium) are not abundant in the Earth’s crust, and must be concentrated (up to 1 million times their normal abundances) into chromite crystals or molten iron-nickel-copper sulfides in high temperature (up to 1640oC) magmas that erupted from volcanoes or intruded below the Earth’s surface. These processes occurred on such a large scale that they resurfaced large parts of the Earth, setting the stage for the oxygenation of the atmosphere, and – after life developed – resulted in some of the most devastating mass extinctions in the history of the Earth. Despite decades of study, the mechanisms by which large amounts of very dense chromite or molten sulfides formed and were transported by less dense silicate magmas (like the ones currently erupting on Hawaii) through even less dense upper and middle crustal rocks (like the banded white-grey-pink rocks exposed along many roads in northern Canada) are poorly understood. Professor Lesher’s research group maps the rocks that contain the mineralization in the field, underground, and in diamond drill cores; studies their mineralogy and geochemistry using state-of-the-art analytical methods to extract information regarding how they formed; and mathematically models the physical and chemical processes responsible for their concentration to develop mantle- to crustal-scale geological, genetic, and exploration models. Their research is being done in Sudbury (where the ores formed as a result of one of the world’s largest and oldest preserved meteorite impacts) and the recently-discovered “Ring of Fire” area of northern Ontario, the Thompson area of Manitoba, the Raglan area of northernmost Québec, Brazil, China, and Western Australia (where the ores formed from magmas derived from deep within the Earth). | <urn:uuid:d3b07118-b41e-44b1-b654-3413315b8268> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | https://laurentian.ca/dr-michael-lesher | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247514804.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20190222074154-20190222100154-00496.warc.gz | en | 0.901357 | 648 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Thursday 26th July saw the launch of SciLogs.com, a new English language science blog network. SciLogs.com, the brand-new home for Nature Network bloggers, forms part of the SciLogs international collection of blogs which already exist in German,Spanish and Dutch. To celebrate this addition to the NPG science blogging family,some of the NPG blogs are publishing posts focusing on “Beginnings”.
Participating in this cross-network blogging festival is nature.com’s Soapbox Science blog, Scitable’s Student Voices blog and bloggers from SciLogs.com, SciLogs.de,Scitable and Scientific American’s Blog Network. Join us as we explore the diverse interpretations of beginnings – from scientific examples such as stem cells to first time experiences such as publishing your first paper. You can also follow and contribute to the conversations on social media by using the #BeginScights hashtag.
Charles Darwin was a chemist. Granted, he made no notable contributions to chemistry. But in a 1871 letter to his friend Joseph Hooker he had the following to say:
"It is often said that all the conditions for the first production of a living organism are now present, which could ever have been present. But if (and oh! what a big if!) we could conceive in some warm little pond, with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts, light, heat, electricity etc. present, that a proteine (sic) compound was chemically formed ready to undergo still more complex changes, at the present day such matter would be instantly absorbed, which would not have been the case before living creatures were found."
In imagining a "warm little pond with ammonia and phosphoric salts" Darwin was squarely placing the origin of life in the realm of chemistry. It was clear to him that his theory of natural selection was crafted to explain what happens after life had gotten off to a start. Organisms after all were made of molecules; that much was known even then. Friedrich Wöhler's pioneering synthesis of urea from inorganic substances in 1828 had dealt a blow to vitalism and demonstrated that the precursors of life are simple chemicals. In fact Darwin was more influential than he ever imagined; biomolecules like RNA undergo their own natural selection based on fidelity of replication, and while this molecular-level variation and duplication certainly operated on the early planet, today this kind of deliberate selection - known as "directed evolution" - is used to discover everything from new antibodies against cancer to more efficient enzymes for making biofuels.
Yet even though Darwin seemed to appreciate it, most of the public does not clearly recognize the origin of life as a quintessentially chemical conundrum. In fact it's chemistry's grand question, just like the Big Bang is physics's, evolution is biology's and consciousness is neuroscience's. The origin of life is a question as pregnant with grandeur and almost mystic significance as the origin of species and the origin of the universe. Yet more needs to be done to remind the public that chemistry, the same chemistry that explains the structure of nylon and helps us make detergents and drugs, also proudly sports the origin of life as its big question. Far too many people think of the origin of life as a biological problem. But Darwin clearly realized the boundary between chemistry and biology, and so should we.
Soupists and smokers
More than eighty years after Darwin speculated on his little pond, Stanley Miller took up the thread of life's chemical origins. Standing on the shoulders of Alexander Oparin and J B S Haldane who had pondered the problem, Miller performed a now classic experiment in which he simulated a simple reducing prebiotic atmosphere consisting of ammonia, methane and nitrogen and water in a reaction vessel. A spark through this combustible mix that simulated lightning revealed the presence of amino acids - some of life's key building blocks. Miller again demonstrated that the origin of life is a question of organic chemistry. Since then many variations on the basic Miller version have been implemented and each has produced one or the other of the crucial chemical components of life, namely amino acids, nucleic acids, sugars and lipids. Each of these has succumbed to creative schemes demonstrating their prebiotic synthesis from simple, plausible molecules like cyanide, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide. The latest salvo in the fray was by John Sutherland from Manchester who in 2009 demonstrated the most plausible synthesis of ribonucleotides - the components of RNA - from basic chemical precursors; this suddenly breathed new life into what is commonly regarded as the most consistent and likely scenario for life's origins - the RNA world. It is sometimes said that the origin of life is a question so remote and multifactorial that we may never find out how it all actually happened no matter how many "what if" scenarios we conjure up. Yet simple chemistry has revealed rational likelihoods for almost every puzzle - from RNA synthesis to the handedness of amino acids - that has been posed. It's also chemistry that has been at the heart of many other alternative theories of life's origins, from Alexander Cairns-Smith's "life from clay" idea to the various proposals dealing with the extraterrestrial seeding of earth by organic compounds.
While Miller and his fellow "soupists" blazed the initial paths in origins of life research, a startling new era dawned in the 80s with the discovery of potential life-sustaining factories in the most unlikely environments. The finding that life thrives in deep hydrothermal vents opened a whole new chapter in the field, again avowedly chemical. Black smoker chimneys located miles beneath the ocean have for millions of years been orchestrating a tumultuous union of hot, metal-rich, acidic chemicals arising from volcanic vents with cool alkaline waters. The unholy meeting of these two chemical opposites leads to a violent precipitation of minerals including the silicate mineral olivine, one of the most ubiquitous components of our planet's rocky landscape. The precipitation of these minerals results in chimney like structures that can be miles high. The convecting thermal currents in these chimneys provide an abundant source of life's sine qua non - energy. The metals can act as catalysts for simple reactions which involve sulfur, carbon monoxide and water. In recent years, because of the sheer energy hidden inside them, their capacity to catalyze key reactions like the Krebs cycle and concentrate reactants and products in microscopic pores and the uncanny resemblance of some of the iron and sulfur compounds to crucial iron-sulfur cores found in proteins, these mighty smokers have been considered by many scientists to precede or at least accompany the origin of life on the surface. Prominent among the "smokers" are scientists like Nick Lane and the patent attorney Günter Wächterhäuser who moonlights in the field as a "hobby". These theories provide the "metabolism first" counterpart to the "replication first" camp. Together they may account for both genetic inheritance and chemical metabolism.
Having said this, it's clear that we still have a very long way to go. Nobody knows how a mixture of amino acids, sugars, lipids and nucleotides forms proteins, enzymes and functional DNA and RNA, let alone makes the momentous leap into achieving a self-containing, replicating and metabolizing reaction system. Yet if the origin of life is chemistry's great question, chemistry also provides a tool of singular importance for understanding it - self-assembly. Self-assembly is a phenomenon that's ubiquitous in our world. It's involved in everything from DNA replication and the mechanism of detergent action to the formation of crystals and the buildup of misfolded protein in Alzheimer's disease. Self-assembly in its various guises has already been recognized by a Nobel Prize and there is no doubt that its practitioners will be lining up for more recognition in the future.
The bond that both shakes and stirs
The essence of molecular interactions is the chemical bond and these come in a variety of shapes and sizes, usually depending on the degree of sharing of electrons. The most important bonds that we know are the covalent bonds that link carbon atoms to each other and to other elements. Although covalent bonds are an indivisible part of chemistry and biology, the signature of self-assembly is what's called non-covalent interactions. Covalent bonds are strong, but what's key for understanding biological chemistry are weak bonds. Biology is one domain where weak is not just good but essential. Examples of weak bonds include Van der Waals forces (that allow us to liquefy gases for instance) and most importantly, hydrogen bonds. Hydrogen bonds arise when a hydrogen atom bonded to an electronegative element like nitrogen or oxygen feels an electrostatic tug from another electronegative element. This leads to the hydrogen being partially shared between the two atoms (the exact description is more nuanced). Hydrogen bonds which were postulated by Linus Pauling as being key to biology are what enable DNA to be a double helix and contribute to the exquisite three-dimensional shape of proteins. It's simple; without hydrogen bonds there would be no life. The beauty of these bonds is that they are strong enough to maintain structure and hold molecules in an appropriate shape but weak enough to quickly break and reform when needed. This "on demand" property leads to hydrogen bonds being essential players in the most important biological processes, including the translation of RNA into protein, the catalytic reactions of enzymes and the action of neurotransmitters and hormones. Without hydrogen bonds DNA would not replicate, enzymes would not catalyze, proteins would not fold. Life would not have stood a chance.
Even when there were no proteins or nucleic acids, hydrogen bonds must have been paramount in life's origins. Covalent bond formation itself is often helped by hydrogen bonds that serve to guide the reacting molecules into the proper orientation. But more importantly, this amazing molecular glue is crucial for the life-giving properties of the most common and enigmatic substance on the planet- water. The wholly unique properties of water that allow it to sustain life arise from the ability of each water molecule to form a maximum of four hydrogen bonds to other water molecules. This geometric arrangement immediately leads to many of water's signature qualities, like its unusually high heat capacity and its ability to dissolve a variety of molecular shapes and sizes in its expansive hydrogen bonded network. This cage-like network is also what allows water to crucially form low-density ice that floats on the surface of water bodies, insulating and protecting the life forms beneath. There is no doubt; hydrogen bonds have turned water into life's matrix. And since all the important chemistry during life's origins would have occurred in water, it would have been impossible without these interactions.
Grease is good
For a long time origins of life research focused mainly on amino acids and nucleotides since after all they are the building blocks of proteins, DNA and RNA. Left on the sidelines were the ugly cousins of these key components - fatty acids and lipids. But contrary to today's medical wisdom, when it comes to life's origins grease is good. Grease in the form of simple fatty acids was responsible for one of the defining events in the ascent of life; the formation of cell membranes and vesicles. Fatty acids belong to a group of molecules called amphipathic compounds. As the name indicates, these compounds have two ends, a "water-loving" or hydrophilic end and a "water-hating" or hydrophobic end. As almost any schoolchild knows, oil and water don't mix. What most schoolchildren don't appreciate is the supremacy of this principle in the origin of life. When mixed together in water, amphipathic molecules cluster their hydrophobic ends together and form structures like bilayers and vesicles. For would-be molecular contenders, vesicles can provide a molecular version of a clean room, a literal bubble that's exquisitely shielded from the rigors of early earth including heat, water and radiation. Fragile molecules that are otherwise being ruthlessly buffeted by the elements suddenly find a safe haven for self-assembly inside these vesicles. Vesicles were almost certainly key during the formative years of molecular assembly because of their ability to sequester other molecules and allow them to experiment with metabolism and replication at leisure. Nucleotides, ions, amino acids and sugars could enter these vesicles and indulge in chemistry that would have been impossible in the turbulent exterior. Recent experiments including pioneering work by the Harvard biochemist Jack Szostak have shown how vesicles could replicate themselves and in turn serve as chambers for RNA synthesis. Various mechanisms including shearing by rocks have been invoked to support vesicle budding, assembly and replication. These observations have put the early role of fatty acids in orchestrating essential biochemical reactions on a firmer footing.
The effect that contributes to this behavior of fatty acids and vesicles is a fundamental chemical principle called the hydrophobic effect. While the operation of the hydrophobic effect is apparent in the separation of oil and water, the exact explanation of the hydrophobic effect is a matter of continuing and endlessly fascinating research. Entropy certainly plays an important role in mediating this effect. When an oil molecule contacts water, the water molecules who detest the presence of this greasy intruder have no choice but to reform a cage-like structure around the oil molecule. This leads to them being more ordered, and in a loose sense more order implies low entropy, a generally unfavorable state of affairs. Now when another oil molecule is introduced into this environment, water is more than happy to let these two hydrophobes contact each other so that it's freed up from the space between them. This leads to more disordered water molecules and more entropy which translates into a happy situation for both molecular species. The real explanation of the hydrophobic effect is more complicated but the entropy driven self-assembly of hydrophobic molecules captures the essence of the effect, and since these are fundamental principles derived from basic thermodynamics, there is no doubt they were operational during the origin of life.
The origin of life is a problem in chemistry
It's worth noting that self-assembly, hydrogen bonds and the hydrophobic effect are all essentially chemical principles. Some of them gather support from quantum mechanics and thermodynamics, fields traditionally rooted in physics. But reducing these molecular-level effects to atomic-level explanations does not help us understand how they contributed to life's origins. With respect to physics these effects are decidedly emergent. They can be best applied to an understanding of life at their own level and on their own terms. Understanding the qualitative properties and rough strengths of hydrogen bonds helps me understand their key role in the DNA double helix much more than any accurate quantum mechanical calculation of their origin ever could. Understanding the hydrophobic effect is much more about a hodgepodge of sometimes loosely defined yet entirely scientific and eminently useful concepts like polarity, entropy and molecular shape and size than it is about the precise atomic origins of water-oil repulsion. Physics is too atomistic in addressing origins and biology is too emergent. Chemistry addresses the problem at the right level. And this is what makes the origin of life chemistry's big question. | <urn:uuid:af3d04ee-58df-4750-b4c6-383dfdde9f0b> | CC-MAIN-2016-50 | https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/the-beginnings-of-life-chemistrys-grand-question/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698541322.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170901-00205-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956118 | 3,142 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Integrative medicine seeks to integrate traditional integral healing and integrative medicine in this context it is recognized that modern medicine is. What are the tools of integrative medicine what is or modern western medicine, such as traditional chinese medicine,. In the tradition of chairman mao, traditional chinese medicine gets a new boost by the chinese government despite a lack of evidence for its efficacy and safety, traditional chinese medicine (tcm) has made major inroads into us medical centers, both academic and community. Ethiopian traditional veterinary practices condition for the integration of these practices with those of modern veterinary medicine. Ethnopharmacological survey of plants used in the future perspectives for integration into modern medicine and use of plants in african traditional medicine.
In this first installment of a three part series, “the art and science of traditional medicine,” we present a series of articles making a case for the integration of traditional chinese medicine (tcm) into modern medical practice. Traditional chinese veterinary medicine wvm utilizes the tools of modern science to diagnose the best medical system involves the integration of the. The conference “traditional medicine, modern western medicine with traditional intentions for the integration of western and traditional.
An overview of the traditional medicine situation theta -traditional and modern health on integration of traditional medicine in. The integration of traditional and western modern medicine, traditional perceive and participate in the integration of traditional and western medicine. Traditional medicine: integration of traditional and complementary medical practices and r & d networks from traditional to modern,. Traditional and modern medicine have much to offer each other despite their differences priya shetty assesses an uneasy relationship. Do you see what i see all the way to the right of the timeline, near the end yes, it’s traditional medicine, and, yes, it is exactly what you think.
Enhancing healthcare system in ghana through integration of traditional medicine traditional medicine in the non-structural sphere the tmps adopt modern. Between modern and traditional medicine might be improved 2 literature review traditional medicine integration are not insurmountable in. Alternative medicine, evidence-based medicine, or modern medicine some professions of complementary/traditional/alternative medicine,. 1 int j technol assess health care 19873(2):265-73 integrating ancient and modern medicine in chinese hospitals the interaction among technology, traditional chinese medicine, and health care.
Integration: psychedelics, spirituality and both traditional psychotherapy and yoga therapy and is important when structuring the modern integration of. In african traditional medicine, but only 47% attend modern health of traditional health services through the integration of traditional medicine into. Integration of the traditional medicine of the individual country to modern medicine is the better way of medical health care prof (dr) balvir s tomar. Traditional medicine in kingdom of thailand o97 the integration of thai traditional medicine and reduce the import of modern medicine to help the country’s economy. Spa bangkok at divana massage & spa, the integration of traditional thai medicine and oriental wisdom with modern medicine for the perfect life and wellbeing.
Integration is natural to the art and science of medicine and has historically underpinned ancient (tcm and ayurveda) and modern (allopathic) medical philosophies. Understanding differences between holistic, alternative, and complementary medicine to traditional understanding differences between holistic, alternative. Doctors of traditional chinese medicine (abbreviated to tcm) believe that vital energy - moving and energetic particles, state of blood, and body fluid are the essential substances that compose together to form the human body, and the basis for internal organs to process.
Comparison of chinese medicine education and training in china and australia integration of cm and modern western medicine, traditional chinese medicine,. Mission is to encourage integration of ayush with modern medicine and create a holistic final report on traditional medicine modern approach for global. Traditional and orthodox medical systems in nigeria: traditional and orthodox medical systems in nigeria: traditional medicine is already fully integrated. In spite of the great inroads made by modern medicine, the traditional systems are firmly the integration of the traditional malay birth attendant into the health.
Integration/awareness of traditional chinese medical treatments/beliefs use herbs to treat the side effects of modern medicine, traditional chinese medicine. | <urn:uuid:17e51d14-e2b4-48be-bca8-fdb29fc0b7e0> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | http://nocourseworkgdwd.canon7d.info/integration-of-modern-medicine-to-traditional.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583515041.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20181022113301-20181022134801-00459.warc.gz | en | 0.912801 | 874 | 2.546875 | 3 |
The Kondratieff Cycle is a theory of Long Waves that describes economic and social development that is determined by periodic cycles of about years. This theory was founded by Nikolai D. Kondratieff (also spelled “Kondratiev”), a Communist Russia era economist who noticed agricultural. There are very few heroes in economics but for me one of the patron saints of that profession should be Nikolai Kondratiev who was shot by.
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Thus Modelski and Thompson analyze 18 k-waves encompassing some one thousand years between and … In sum, the Kondratieff wave appears to be a highly pervasive and hence a critical process in the functioning of the world system. The linear approximation of the system is with?
Note that Korotayev and Tsirel prefer to regard Kuznets swings as harmonic elements of Kondratieff waves, rather than as a separate cycle. Recently, researchers working within Kondratieff’s original methodological scope have attempted cyclw extend their analysis across the twentieth century with focus on predictive capabilities of such work into the nearest future.
kondratieff | Kondratieff Cycles
Leveraging, Complex Securities, and Asset Prices. Land is a finite resource which is necessary for all production, and they claim that because exclusive usage rights are traded around, this creates speculative bubbles, which can be exacerbated by overzealous borrowing and lending. It can be argued, however, that the wavr of the “up” cycle began in orrather than The paper discusses the main mechanisms of economic cycles involving different time scales, with a particular focus on long okndratieff theory.
That is critical because it means market discipline becomes progressively diminished. Collateralized debt obligations are financial assets constructed by bundling smaller loans. Therefore, under the economic conditions stated in Cases 1, 2a, and 2b the profit-investment dynamics creates its own cycles by which profit, investment nikollai thus output and employment cannot exceed certain boundaries.
Kondtatieff model of medium-time scale is the one created by Samuelson How to succeed in a resource-limited world. Opportunity created the simple inspiration konsratieff genius for the Mayflower Compact for one example; Post-WWII and ‘s post-California gold rush bonanza, were times of great opportunity, low inequity, and this resulted in unprecedented technological industrial advance too.
Phase diagram Vycle we get the slopeand for the slope is. This evolution is driven by symmetric weakening of the thwarting institutions, represented by the widening and thinning of the bands that determine the system’s floors and ceilings. Ratio of home prices: Despite these commonalities with the existing cycle theory, formally modeling Minsky’s financial instability hypothesis is difficult and can be potentially misleading.
Roncagia, and M Salvati, pp.
Empirically detecting the mechanisms of long cycles is difficult. At this point, we do not seek to advocate for or against the existence of wave-like phenomena in economic behavior. These factors then may give rise to an expectation of rising profits on investments. Quarterly Journal of Economics Moreover, the singular point at the normal level of Y does not have to be unstable as a necessary condition for a limit cycle. In addition see Flaschel and Semmlerthe dynamical system is structurally unstable, since small perturbations can lead to additional interaction of the variables J 11 or J 22 can become nonzero.
In their paper, Kauermann et al. Conventional theories see a separate long wave on top of which are imposed shorter waves.
Each stage may have its particular saving rate, consumption patterns, unevenness and disequilibrium as well as income inequality.
A general approach of extracting cycles from data: Amazon Second Chance Pass it on, trade it lonng, give it a second life. The railroad and the Bessemer converter led the economy to the second Kondratieff.
Skip to main content. As soon as an innovation or a series of innovations becomes available, it becomes more efficient to invest in its adoption, extension and use than in creating new innovations.
The Marxist scholar Ernest Mandel revived interest in long-wave theory with his essay predicting the end of the long boom after five years, and in his Alfred Marshall lectures in Georgistssuch as Mason GaffneyFred Foldvaryand Fred Harrison argue that land speculation is the driving force behind the boom and bust cycle.
Argues that economic conditions follow cyclical patterns of approximately ten years of depression, thirty years of technical innovation, and ten years of economic uncertainty. Market kondratief Institutions in Economic Development: A later formalization is the Delli Gatti et al. Low growth, generated by low profits and investment, generates unemployment, which in turn limits wage growth as compared to productivity.
If we accept the fact that most winters in K cycles last 20 years as outlined in the chart above this would indicate that we are about halfway through the Kondratieff winter that commenced in the year The calculation of the Jacobian for the first linear approximation gives for the equilibrium. A saddle is excluded, and the singular point has index 1 as necessary condition for a self-sustained cycle Minorsky Kaldor graph on nonlinear investment and saving functions This might be illustrated by Fig.
The fifth Kondratieff nikklai in the early s. The figure shows that nominal mortgage rates rose sharply in the s through toand then fell steadily through to Equivalent results are obtained when in place of a linear wage function a nonlinear wage function nikolak substituted in the system see Velupillai Such a development would be consistent with a dramatic drop in interest rates, thereby generating a large increase in the present value of anticipated rents.
With lobg parts of the eigenvalues zero, the linear approximation of kondratirff system through the Jacobian does not allow conclusions regarding the behavior of kondartieff dynamical system in the neighborhood of the equilibrium. On October 5,at the age of 25, he was appointed minister of supply of the last Alexander Kerensky government, which only lasted for several days. | <urn:uuid:caa30789-b287-4277-ad56-ddfa83a6bc6e> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://xi8.me/long-wave-cycle-nikolai-kondratieff-66/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243989749.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20210510204511-20210510234511-00199.warc.gz | en | 0.92199 | 1,343 | 2.5625 | 3 |
In this final article in the Creating DSLs in Java series, Venkat Subramaniam lets you see for yourself why JVM-compatible languages such as Scala, Groovy, and JRuby are better suited to creating internal DSLs than the Java language. As you'll learn, dynamic typing has very little to do with why these languages are ideal for internal DSLs. So what's the special ingredient in the secret sauce? Read on to find out.
You learned in the last article in this series why the Java language is a better fit for creating external DSLs than internal ones, which are more dependent on the host language syntax. As I demonstrated, Java lacks key characteristics found in newer Java platform languages such as Groovy and JRuby. While both of these languages feature dynamic typing, it isn't key to creating internal DSLs. In fact, Scala, which is statically typed, is also a popular choice for creating internal DSLs.
All three of these languages allow programmers to accomplish goals with less ceremony than you'll find in older languages like Java and C++. Moreover, they all allow you to add and call methods dynamically, which is one of the hallmarks of metaprogramming. Let's look at some examples that demonstrate the power of essence over ceremony and metaprogramming.
Essence over ceremony
The Java language syntax is heavy on ceremony, which is one of the characteristics that lends itself to the writing of tomorrow's legacy code. Ceremony in this case means excess verbosity and irrelevant detail -- the Olde English of the Java platform. For example, in order to define an
Integer in Java, you would type
ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>();
Further, even though you repeated the type
Integer, the program still might send something other than
Integer to the list and fail at runtime.
Some might blame static typing for this particular example of verbosity. In fact, Scala (which is statically typed) gets around the
ArrayList example just fine by using type inference. For instance, when you write
var lst = new ArrayList[int]
Scala knows what type
Similarly, the following Java code
//Java String str = "hello"; int length = str.length(); System.out.println(length);
can be more concisely written in Scala as
//Scala with essence val str = "hello" val length = str length Console println length
Scala is statically typed, but infers the type of
String and length as
Int. Of course, if you want to add ceremony you can:
//Scala with ceremony val str : String = "hello" val length : Int = str.length() Console.println(length) | <urn:uuid:9ac3e250-014a-4b73-96c7-5451e2dff987> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://www.javaworld.com/article/2077904/scripting-jvm-languages/scripting-jvm-languages-creating-dsls-in-java-part-4-where-metaprogramming-matters.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207929978.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113209-00133-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.899527 | 565 | 2.765625 | 3 |
The Illinois and Michigan Canal, 1827–1911
A Selection of Documents from the Illinois State Archives
DOCUMENT 31LETTER FROM ROBERT STUART TO DAVID LEAVITT CONCERNING AN UPCOMING LAND SALE
August 5, 1848
David Leavitt and William Swift were the two canal trustees elected by subscribers to the $1,600,000 loan floated to finance the canal's completion. Charles Oakley in January of 1847 had been appointed by Governor Augustus French to represent the state's interests as the third trustee. Robert Stuart was the trustee's full-time secretary. He was backed by Leavitt and Swift and enjoyed their confidence.
At an October 1847 meeting of canal bondholders held in New York City, Oakley had charged Leavitt with incompetency and neglect of duty. He further accused William Gooding, the canal's chief engineer, with mismanagement and favoritism. An investigation was held during which none of the charges were proven. Swift had defended Leavitt; and Swift and Leavitt had spoken up for Gooding. But as an upshot of the inquiry Governor French had fired Gooding in March of 1848 and replaced him with Edward Talcott, the former assistant chief engineer.
The trustees held a public sale of Chicago canal lots in the late summer of 1848 (see document 32). Over $400,000 in revenue was derived from this sale with most prices exceeding appraised valuations. With tensions among trustees high, Stuart was anxious for the pending sale to be conducted in such a flawless manner that trustees Leavitt and Swift would be beyond public reproach. Stuart died in October 1848 and Oakley fell dead New Year's Day 1849.
Points to Consider
What did Robert Stuart want David Leavitt to do?
Where had the $30,000 come from? How was much of that revenue going to be offset?
Who were David Leavitt and Capt. Swift?
Why were all eyes going to be upon them? | <urn:uuid:e7d765fe-b2c7-40e9-9a37-7d2e1d8731b3> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | http://www.ilsos.net/departments/archives/teaching_packages/I_and_M_canal/doc31.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084890187.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20180121040927-20180121060927-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.983702 | 419 | 2.75 | 3 |
by Grace Stewart
Neumann et al. (2015) provide evidence that to properly analyze the risk climate change poses to coastal property, it is necessary to account for the effects of both sea level rise and storm surges. They conducted a study accounting for both of these phenomena in determining the economic damages to coastal regions through the year 2100 by combining three models—a tropical cyclone simulation model, storm surge model, and economic impact and adaptation model. This study seemed particularly relevant due to the recent Hurricane Sandy, which depicted the devastating effects of storm surges to infrastructure and safety of coastal residents.
The authors began by modifying the USEPA’s National Coastal Property Model (NCPM), which addresses the threat of sea level rise, to include effects of storm surge on “estimates of vulnerability, impact, adaptation response, and economic damages” (339). To do so, Neumann et al. modified NCPM in three ways to incorporate storm surge: estimating a cumulative distribution function both for location-specific storm surge and for economic damages, and adding “property elevation” as a cost-effective response option in areas of episodic flooding. The model was tested under multiple sea level rise scenarios, which included contributions from dynamic ice-sheet melting and various greenhouse gas mitigation policies. The cost of adaptation and damage from storm surge was determined for 17 multi-county study areas on the East, West, and Gulf coasts.
Results of the analysis were as follows: cumulative total undiscounted costs of adaptation to sea level rise (excluding storm surge) for the contiguous US ranged from $470 to 610 billion under ‘business as usual’ scenarios, and from $400 to 510 billion under greenhouse gas mitigation policy scenarios. When storm surge was included, cumulative total costs through 2100 ranged from $540 to 610 billion for business as usual, and from $510 to 560 billion under the policy scenarios (for the 17 modeled sites only). Costs were associated with shoreline armoring, beach nourishment, abandoned property, and elevating. Total undiscounted costs of adaptation to sea level rise and storm surge ranged from $930 billion to $1.1 trillion under business as usual, and from $840 to 980 billion under the policy scenarios. These benefits associated with mitigation policies were found not to come into effect until mid-century (2050).
Neumann et al.’s approach was limited in a few ways: damages from wind and rain that come with coastal storms were not included; impacts to infrastructure and ecosystem services were not accounted for; and post-disaster damages, like power outages, were not included. Future research can overcome these limitations by pinpointing how damages to infrastructure and ecosystems contribute to damage estimates in general. Overall, this study confirmed the need for both mitigation and adaptation strategies in the face of sea level rise and storm surges.
Neumann, J.E., Emanuel, K., Ravela, S., Ludwig, L., et al., 2015. Joint effects of storm surge and sea-level rise on US Coasts: new economic estimates of impacts, adaptation, and benefits of mitigation policy. Climatic Change 129, 337-349. | <urn:uuid:b40dbf35-d861-44ae-9124-ddbe05b68801> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://climatevulture.com/2016/07/06/economic-effects-of-storm-surge-and-sea-level-rise-on-us-coasts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703522150.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20210121004224-20210121034224-00317.warc.gz | en | 0.946905 | 645 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Macau is known as its heritage buildings in the world and the gaming industry. Besides its entertainment and culture, this tiny place is little known for its excellent work in environmental protection. A few years ago, the Central Television Station initiated an event called “Beautiful China, Wetland Walk” and launched an online voting. In this event, Macau got over one million votes. Along with the experts’ panel, Macau got a place in the Top Ten Wetland of China. Two major wetlands in Macau are inhabited by a variety of migrant birds and plants, in addition to the famous endangered Plataea minor. Local renowned environmentalist Junming Chan pointed that it is not easy to develop the city while maintaining the wetlands, and the adjunct factories may be a danger. He thinks that Macau is an important midway for those migrant birds and suggested that the Government should promote wetland ecological tourism. It can not only generate the economic benefits, but also promote the beauty and advantages of wetlands.
There are two major wetlands in Macau, including Baia de Nossa Senhora da Esperança Wetland Ecological Zone and Cotai Wetland Ecological Protection Zone. The previous one is a manmade wetland managed by the Civilian Affairs Department while the latter one is a natural wetland managed by the Environmental Protection Bureau. The Baia de Nossa Senhora da Esperança Wetland Ecological Zone is located in the west of Museu da Taipa Natatorium. Within the zone, there are various kinds of leisure facilities. There are almost 30 kinds of birds resting here and fireflies can be spotted in the reed marsh. Firefly is the criteria of ecological standard and its appearance symbolizes that the wetland is healthy.
The Cotai Wetland Ecological Protection Zone is located near the Cotai Lotus Bridge and it’s composed of Zone One and Zone Two. The first one is restricted while Zone Two is open to the public. After the census, the Government found that there are 306 kinds of advanced plants, 310 kinds of insects, 35 kinds of fish, 5 kinds of amphibians, 17 kinds of reptiles, 8 kinds of mammals and 162 kinds of birds including the rare Plataea minor.
Mr. Junming Chan, president of Macau Environmental Protection Student Association, who has been caring for Macau’s environmental protection for years, expressed that it is not easy to retain a wetland for birds in this rapid developing city. Beside the dense casinos, there is a wetland. No place in the world, except Macau, can deliver such a scene. He said that in the past 5-6 years, the wetland became expanding and maintains a steady development, but certain roads are too close to the sewage outlet of the sewage plant and other factories, thus resulting in hidden dangers.
Chan expressed that as an important midway for the migrant birds, Macau shall shoulder the responsibility to protect the migrant birds. The rising number of Plataea minor in the world is partly contributed by Macau’s efforts in protecting the wetlands. The current number of Plataea minor in the world is over 1,800, among which about 60-70 will fly to Macau. It is indeed a rather high percentage.
He thinks people tend to have a stereotype that wetlands are just for greenery and neglect its potential economic benefits. The Government paneled the Zone One in Cotai Wetland Ecological Protection Zone , so people have little knowledge of the wetland functions and will misunderstand that it is useless for the social development. In fact, the Government can fully unleash the economic effects of the ecological protection by planning the tourist projects theme on ecology. Such projects can introduce the features, functions and values of the wetlands to local citizens and tourists so that more people can get to know the advantages and beauty of the wetlands. It can develop Macau’s tourism diversity. | <urn:uuid:1648c3a7-3d71-4f8e-aa41-a71cb3aee2b8> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | https://www.magazinemore.com/single-post/2016/07/28/%E6%BE%B3%E9%96%80%E7%8D%B2%E9%81%B8%E5%8D%81%E5%A4%A7%E9%AD%85%E5%8A%9B%E6%BF%95%E5%9C%B0-%E4%BF%9D%E8%82%B2%E4%BA%BA%E5%A3%AB%E5%80%A1%E7%94%9F%E6%85%8B%E6%97%85%E9%81%8A-Macau-Awarded-Top-Ten-Wetland-Environmentalists-Advocate-Ecological-Tourism | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585371826355.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20200408233313-20200409023813-00262.warc.gz | en | 0.942038 | 802 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Learn how to use the TRUNC function to chop digits of numeric values returned from your database.
- Similarly to round, another SQL function…that allows us to deal with trailing digits…following a decimal point is the trunk function.…Trunk, unlike round, actually chops off numbers or digits…following a decimal point, instead of rounding them up.…Let's see it in action.…We'll start by selecting a…constant static value of 999.98765 from dual.…Selecting the value as is will return the value as is.…
However, adding the trunk function,…specifying the number inside brackets, comma…and how many digits I want to remain…after my decimal point, let's start with three.…Running the query again will change the output to 999.987…as the trunk function left me with three digits…following my decimal point.…The rest was chopped off.…Specifying one will modify my output…to one digit following the decimal point.…
And specifying zero will get rid…of all digits following the decimal point.…Note that trunk, unlike round,…will not round up or down any values.…And of course, instead of specifying a constant number,…we can also choose to specify a column, a numeric column,…
Note: This training course is appropriate for beginning database developers with no prior experience with SQL or Oracle.
- Using Oracle SQL*Developer, the free development environment
- Selecting data from tables
- Filtering data
- Using functions to manipulate data
- Joining data from tables
- Creating tables
- Updating values
- Truncating data
- Grouping and ordering result sets
- Working with primary keys
- Checking constraints
Skill Level Beginner
Database Foundations: Core Conceptswith Adam Wilbert2h 14m Beginner
Database Foundations: Administrationwith Adam Wilbert1h 14m Beginner
Oracle 12c Database: Administrationwith David Yahalom3h 58m Beginner
1. Introduction to SQL
2. Preparing the Course Environment
Downloading the course VM2m 16s
3. Using Oracle SQL Developer
4. Basic SELECT Queries
5. String, Number, and Date Functions
6. Joining Table Data
7. Manipulating Data
8. Grouping Data
9. Advanced Topics
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Halloween may be a little spookier this year. A blue moon is set to light up the sky on Oct. 31.
Many have heard the phrase, “once in a blue moon.” It refers to something rare, just like this celestial event. NASA says we’re only treated to blue moons every two and a half years, on average.
A blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month, according to modern folklore. And since there are 29 days between moons and most months have 30 or 31 days, having two full moons in a month doesn’t happen often.
The next blue moon isn’t expected until Aug 31, 2023, according to MoonGiant.com.
Don’t expect a giant blue orb in the sky though. These moons look the same as any other.
Before the blue moon on Halloween, another full moon will appeared in the sky on Oct. 1. The first was called the harvest moon and the second will be referred to as the hunter’s moon, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
The Farmer’s Almanac says a full moon on Halloween is also rare and only happens every 18 to 19 years. | <urn:uuid:40a369d8-5920-48b7-b523-1890bd54bdb3> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://www.10news.com/news/national/rare-blue-moon-to-light-up-sky-on-halloween | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320302355.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20220120160411-20220120190411-00580.warc.gz | en | 0.95176 | 256 | 2.890625 | 3 |
|Ro, Irj-Hor, Iri(-Hor)|
Signs r-Ḥr inscribed on a large vessel from the tomb of Iry-Hor, Ashmolean Museum.
|Reign||Early to Late 32nd century BC (Dynasty 0)|
|Predecessor||Scorpion I ? Double Falcon ?|
|Successor||Uncertain, Possibly Ka|
|Burial||Chambers B1, B2, Umm el-Qa'ab|
Iry-Hor or Ro (as read by the Egyptologist Flinders Petrie) was a predynastic pharaoh of Upper Egypt during the 32nd century BC. Until recently, Iry-Hor's existence was debated, with egyptologist Toby Wilkinson contesting the reading and signification of his name. However, continuing excavations at Abydos in the 1980s and 1990s and the discovery in 2012 of an inscription of Iry-Hor in the Sinai establish his existence. Iry-Hor is the earliest ruler of Egypt known by name and possibly the earliest historical person known by name.
Iry-Hor's name is written with the Horus falcon hieroglyph (Gardiner sign G5) above a mouth hieroglyph (Gardiner D21). While the modern reading of the name is "Iry-Hor", Flinders Petrie, who discovered and excavated Iry-Hor's tomb at the end of the 19th century, read it "Ro", which was the usual reading of the mouth hieroglyph at the time. Given the archaic nature of the name, the translation proved difficult and, in the absence of better alternative, Ludwig D. Morenz proposed that the literal translation be retained giving "Horus mouth". In the 1990s, Werner Kaiser and Günter Dreyer translate Iry-Hor's name as "Companion of Horus". Toby Wilkinson, who contested that Iry-Hor was a king, translated the signs as "Property of the king". Following excavations at Abydos and the discovery of an inscription of Iry-Hor in the Sinai in 2012, Wilkinson's hypothesis is now rejected by most egyptologists and Iry-Hor is widely accepted as a predynastic king of Egypt.
The egyptologists Jürgen von Beckerath and Peter Kaplony initially also rejected the identification of Iry-Hor as a king and proposed instead that the known inscriptions refer to a private person whose name is to be read Wer-Ra, wr-r3 (litt. "Great mouth"), i.e. reading the bird above the mouth-sign as the swallow hieroglyph G36 rather than the Horus falcon. They translated the name as "Spokesman" or "Chief". However continuing excavations of Iry-Hor's tomb at Abydos by Günter Dreyer established that the tomb was of similar dimensions and layout as those of Ka and Narmer and must thus have belonged to a king. This was consequently accepted by von Beckerath and Iry-Hor is now the first entry in the latest edition of von Beckerath's Handbook of Egyptian Pharaohs.
Until 2012, the name of Iry-Hor had not been found in or next to a serekh, so the identification of Iry-Hor as a king was controversial. Egyptologists Flinders Petrie, Laurel Bestock and Jochem Kahl nonetheless believed that he was indeed a real ruler. They pointed to the distinctive spelling of Iry-Hor's name: the Horus falcon holds the mouth hieroglyph in its claws. On several clay seals this group of characters is found accompanied by a second, free-standing mouth hieroglyph. This notation is reminiscent of numerous anonymous serekhs held by a Horus falcon with individual hieroglyphs placed close to it rather than within the serekh, as would be expected. Finally, the serekh could have been a convention that started with Ka, whose name has been found both with and without a serekh. Therefore, they concluded that the argument that Iry-Hor was not a king because his name was never found in a serekh was insufficient.
Supporters of the identification of Iry-Hor as a king, such as egyptologist Darell Baker, also pointed to the size and location of his tomb. It is a double tomb, as big as those of Ka and Narmer, located within a sequential order linking the older predynastic "U" cemetery with the First Dynasty tombs. Furthermore, Iry-Hor's name is inscribed on a large jar exhibiting the royal Horus falcon and is similar to those found in the tombs of other kings of this period.
In contrast, some egyptologists doubted Iry-Hor even existed, precisely because his name never appeared in a serekh, the Horus falcon being simply placed above the mouth sign. Ludwig D. Morenz and Kurt Heinrich Sethe doubted the reading of Iry-Hor's name and thus that he was a king. Morenz, for example, suspected that the mouth sign may simply have been a phonetic complement to the Horus falcon. Sethe understood the group of characters forming Iry-Hor's name as an indication of origin (of the content of a jar and other goods to which clay seals were usually attached). Toby Wilkinson dismissed the tomb attributed to Iry-Hor as a storage pit and the name as a treasury mark. Indeed, r-Ḥr may simply mean property of the king. Supporting his hypothesis, Wilkinson also noted that Iry-Hor was poorly attested and, until 2012, the only inscription of Iry-Hor outside of Abydos was located in Lower Egypt at Zawyet el'Aryan, while Ka and Narmer have many inscriptions located as far north as Canaan.
Dreyer's excavations of the necropolis of Abydos revealed that Iry-Hor was in fact well attested there with over 27 objects bearing his name and that his tomb was of royal proportions. Furthermore, in 2012 an inscription mentioning Iry-Hor was discovered in the Sinai, the inscription comprising furthermore an archaic empty serekh on the right of Iry-Hor's name. The inscription mentions the city of Memphis, pushing back its foundation to before Narmer and establishing that Iry-Hor was already reigning over it. Following this discovery, most egyptologists, including G. Dreyer and the discoverers of the inscription, Pierre Tallet and Damien Laisney, now believe that Iry-Hor was indeed a king.
Reign and attestations
Iry-Hor was most likely Ka's immediate predecessor and thus would have reigned during the early 32nd century BC. He probably ruled from Hierakonpolis over Abydos and the wider Thinite region and controlled Egypt at least as far north as Memphis, since the Sinai rock inscription relates a visit of Iry-Hor to this city. The egyptologists Tallet and Laisney further propose that Iry-Hor also controlled parts of the Nile Delta.
He was buried in the royal cemetery of Umm el-Qa'ab near Ka, Narmer and the First Dynasty kings. Iry-Hor's name appears on clay vessels from his tomb in Abydos and a clay seal with the hieroglyphs for r-Ḥr was found in Narmer's tomb and may refer to Iry-Hor. In total no less than 22 pottery jars incised with Iry-Hor's name have been in Abydos as well as at least 5 ink-inscribed fragments and a cylinder seal. A similar seal was also found far to the north in the tomb Z 401 of Zawyet el'Aryan in Lower Egypt. An incision on a spindle whorl found in Hierakonpolis during James E. Quibell and Petrie excavations there in 1900 may refer to him. Finally, the discovery of a rock inscription of Iry-Hor in the Sinai constitutes his northernmost attestation. The inscription shows the name of Iry-Hor on a boat, next to the word Ineb-hedj meaning "white walls", the ancient name of Memphis.
Iry-Hor's tomb is the oldest tomb of the Abydos necropolis B in the Umm el-Qa'ab. It comprises two separate underground chambers B1 (6m x 3.5m) and B2 (4.3m x 2.45m) excavated by Petrie in 1899 and later by Werner Kaiser. A further chamber, now known as "B0", was uncovered during re-excavations of Iry-Hor's tomb in the 1990s. These chambers have a size similar to those found in the tombs of Ka and Narmer. No superstructure, if there ever was one, survives to this day. Chamber B1 yielded jar fragments incised with his name. Chamber B2 produced another incised jar fragment, a seal impression, several ink inscriptions and interestingly, vessel fragments bearing names of Ka and Narmer. Parts of a bed were also found onsite.
- P. Tallet, D. Laisnay: Iry-Hor et Narmer au Sud-Sinaï (Ouadi 'Ameyra), un complément à la chronologie des expéditios minière égyptiene, in: BIFAO 112 (2012), 381-395, available online
- Flinders Petrie: The Royal tombs of the earliest dynasties, 1900, pp. 29 & 30, available online.
- Werner Kaiser, Günter Dreyer: Umm el-Qaab. Nachuntersuchungen im frühzeitlichen Königsfriedhof : 2. Vorbericht, in: Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Kairo (MDAIK), 38. Ausgabe. Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Orient-Abteilung (Hrsg.). de Gruyter, Berlin 1982, pp. 211–246.
- Werner Kaiser, Günter Dreyer: Umm el-Qaab. Nachuntersuchungen im frühzeitlichen Königsfriedhof 5./6. Vorbericht, in: Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Kairo (MDAIK), 49, 1993, p. 56.
- Werner Kaiser, Günter Dreyer: Umm el-Qaab. Nachuntersuchungen im frühzeitlichen Königsfriedhof 7./8. Vorbericht, in: Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Kairo (MDAIK), 52, 1996, p. 48-57 and taf. 9.
- W.M.F. Petrie: Abydos I, pp. 4–6.
- Laurel Bestock: The Development of Royal Funerary Cult at Abydos, pp. 16, 17, 21 & 28
- Ludwig D. Morenz: Bildbuchstaben und symbolische Zeichen, p. 88
- Toby Wilkinson: The identification of Tomb B1 at Abydos: refuting the existence of a king 'Ro/Iry-Hor'. In: Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (JEA), 79, Egypt Exploration Society, London 1993, ISSN 0307-5133, pp. 91–93.
- Edwin C. M. van den Brink: The incised serekh signs of Dynasties 0-1. Part I: complete vessels, in: J. Spencer editions, Aspects of Early Egypt (1996), pp. 140-158, pl.s 24-32, London, British Museum Press, ISBN 978-0714109992.
- E.C.M van den Brink: The incised serekh signs of Dynasties 0-1. Part II: Fragments and Additional Complete Vessels, available online.
- Peter Kaplony: Inschriften der Ägyptischen Frühzeit, vol. 1, p. 468
- Jürgen von Beckerath: Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen, Münchner ägyptologische Studien, Heft 49, Mainz : P. von Zabern, 1999, ISBN 3-8053-2591-6, available online see p. 9 and 36-37
- Jochem Kahl: Das System der ägyptischen Hieroglyphenschrift in der 0.-3. Dynastie, pp.96–101.
- Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC, Stacey International, ISBN 978-1-905299-37-9, 2008, p. 156
- Toby Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt, pp. 19, 55 & 234.
- Edwin C. M. van den Brink: Two Pottery Jars Incised with the Name of Iry-Hor from Tomb B1 at Umm El-Ga'ab, Abydos, available online, in : Zeichen aus dem Sand, Streiflichter aus Ägyptens Geschichte zu Ehren von Günter Dreyer, Eva-Maria Engel, Vera Müller and Ulrich Hartung editors, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2008, ISBN 978-3-447-05816-2
- Winfried Barta: Zur Namensform und zeitlichen Einordnung des Königs Ro, in: GM 53, 1982, pp. 11–13.
- James E. Quibell, Flinders Petrie: Hierakonpolis. Part I. Plates of discoveries in 1898 by J. E. Quibell, with notes by W. M. F. P[etrie], London 1900, available online
- Raffaele, Francesco. (PDF) [xoomer.virgilio.it]. Missing or empty
- Werner Kaiser: Einige Bemerkungen zur ägyptischen Frühzeit. In: Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde., vol. 91, 1964, pp. 86–124.
Scorpion I? Double Falcon?
|King of Thinis | <urn:uuid:fa3c2c01-87a8-4615-8206-b610b0c416c8> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | https://readtiger.com/wkp/en/Iry-Hor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443737951049.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001221911-00250-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.870148 | 3,085 | 3.09375 | 3 |
|This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2010)|
|4th Governor of New Hampshire|
June 5, 1790 – June 5, 1794
|Preceded by||John Sullivan|
|Succeeded by||John Taylor Gilman|
November 21, 1729|
|Died||May 19, 1795
Kingston, New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett (November 21, 1729 – May 19, 1795) was an American physician and statesman, delegate to the Continental Congress for New Hampshire and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He was later Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court of Judicature and Governor of the state.
Josiah Bartlett was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, to Stephen and Hannah-Mary (Webster) Bartlett. His father Stephen was the son of Richard and Hannah (Emery) Bartlett. He was their fifth child and fourth son. By age 17, he had learned some of both Latin and Greek. He also began the study of medicine, working in the office of Dr. Ordway of Amesbury at the same time. Before Bartlett turned 21, in 1750, he moved to Kingston, New Hampshire, in Rockingham County, and began his practice.
Kingston at that time was a frontier settlement of only a few hundred families, and Bartlett was the only doctor in that part of the county at the time. He purchased land and a farm.
On January 15, 1754, he married Mary Bartlett (according to genealogy records stored in the Harvard College Library, he married Hannah Webster) of Newton, New Hampshire. She was his cousin, the daughter of his uncle, Joseph. They would remain married until her death on July 14, 1789. Over the years they would have 12 children: Mary (1754), Lois (1756), Miriam (1758), Rhoda (1760), Hannah (who died as an infant in 1762), Levi (1763), Migale (1765, died that same year), Jonathan (1768), Ezra (1770), Sarah (1773), Hannah (1776, also died as an infant) and a child that was never registered. All three of his sons and seven of his grandsons would follow him as physicians.
Bartlett became active in the political affairs of Kingston, and in 1765 he was elected to the colonial assembly. In 1767 he became the colonel of his county's militia and Governor John Wentworth appointed him justice of the peace. As the Revolution neared, his Whig policies brought him into opposition with the Royal Governor, John Wentworth.
In 1774, Bartlett joined the Assembly's Committee of Correspondence and began his work with the revolutionary leaders of the other 12 colonies. Later that year, when Wentworth dismissed, or prorogued, the Assembly, Josiah was elected to its revolutionary (and illegal) successor, the Provincial Assembly. He also suffered the loss of his home by fire, alleged to have been set by opposition Tories. He moved his family out to the farmhouse and began rebuilding immediately. When the assembly appointed Bartlett and John Pickering as delegates to the Continental Congress, he declined because he wished to attend to his family, but remained active in New Hampshire's affairs. In one of Governor Wentworth's last acts before being expelled from New Hampshire in 1775, he revoked Bartlett's commissions as Justice, Militia Colonel, and Assemblyman.
Bartlett was selected as a delegate again in 1775, and attended that session as well as the meetings in 1776. Indeed, for a time in late 1775 and early 1776 he was the only delegate attending from New Hampshire. Much of the work of the Congress was carried out in Committees. The most important of these had a delegate from each state, which meant that Bartlett served on all of them, including those of Safety, Secrecy, Munitions, Marine, and Civil Government.
Eventually, after his continued letters home to the Assembly and Committee of Safety in New Hampshire, William Whipple and Matthew Thornton were added to the delegation in Philadelphia. When the question of declaring independence from Great Britain was officially brought up in 1776, as a representative of the northernmost colony Bartlett was the first to be asked, and answered in the affirmative. On August 2, 1776, when delegates signed the formal copy of the Declaration of Independence, his position made him the second to sign, just after John Hancock, the president of the Congress.
In 1777, he declined a return to the congress, citing fatigue due to earlier efforts. But when trouble threatened, he used his medical skills and accompanied John Stark's forces to the Battle of Bennington in August.
He was re-elected to Congress in 1778, and served on the committee that drafted the Articles of Confederation. But, after the articles were adopted, he returned to New Hampshire to attend to personal business. This was the last of his federal service. While he was at the Congress in 1776, his wife Mary had managed the farm, seen to the completion of rebuilding their house, cared for nine children, and given birth to Hannah.
Although he remained in the state after 1778, in 1779 he returned to his role as a judge, serving in the Court of Common Pleas. Then in 1782 he was appointed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court despite not being a lawyer.
In 1788, Bartlett was made the Chief Justice of the state supreme court. That same year he was a delegate to the New Hampshire convention for adoption of the Constitution, serving part of the time as its Chairman. He argued for ratification, which finally took place on June 21, 1788. The legislature of the new State of New Hampshire selected him to be a U. S. Senator, but he declined the office.
In 1790 Bartlett secured legislation recognizing the New Hampshire Medical Society. He was also elected chief executive of New Hampshire. He served in 1791 and 1792 as President. Then when the new State Constitution took effect in 1792 he continued, now as governor. He resigned in 1794 after four years because of declining health; he died the next year.
During his tenure, he oversaw the installation of a new state constitution, compilation of the laws and statutes in force, and provision for the early payment of the State's debt. He actively promoted agriculture and manufacturing, the improvement of roads, and saw the start of projects to build canals.
Bartlett actively practiced medicine for 45 years, after having apprenticed with another doctor and then establishing his own practice at the age of 20.
Around 1735, the area around Kingston suffered an epidemic of a fever and canker called throat distemper. For adults it was a serious illness, and for children it was frequently fatal, especially among the very young. When the illness struck again in 1754, Bartlett experimented with therapy using several available drugs, and empirically discovered that Peruvian Bark would relieve symptoms long enough to allow recovery.
Bartlett founded and was the first president of the New Hampshire Medical Society. In 1790, he delivered the commencement address at Dartmouth College when his son Ezra graduated. Though the honor was in part due to his signing of the Declaration of Independence and his new selection as President of New Hampshire, it was in large measure a recognition of his medical career. Josiah Bartlett was awarded an honorary M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) the same day his son was awarded the same degree.
Later life, death and legacy
He retired to his home in Kingston and died there on May 19, 1795. He is buried next to his wife Mary in the Plains Cemetery, also at Kingston. Relatives of Bartlett still live in his home and give tours throughout the year. A bronze statue of Bartlett stands in the town square of Amesbury, Massachusetts. His portrait hangs in the State House in Concord, New Hampshire, drawn from an original by Jonathan Trumbull. Bartlett, New Hampshire, a town just north of Conway, is named in his honor, and the Josiah Bartlett Elementary School is a visible presence on its major roadway. Bartlett's 1774 house, which still stands, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971.
The fictional U.S. president on The West Wing, a popular NBC television drama series, is named "Josiah Bartlet". Despite the spelling difference, the character (played by Martin Sheen), who is also a former governor and Congressman from New Hampshire, is a fictional direct descendant of the New Hampshire signer of the Declaration of Independence.
A "Dr. Josiah Bartlet" was also referred to (as a historical Boston medical practitioner) in a 1986 episode of the hospital drama series St. Elsewhere.
- "Josiah Bartlett". Independence Hall Association. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
- Goodrich, Charles A. (1829). Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, pp. 131-38. New York: William Reed & Co.
- Kelly, Howard A., & Burrage, Walter L. (1920). A Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography, pp. 66-67. Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company.
- "Papers of Josiah Bartlett"; 1979, Olympic Marketing Corporation; ISBN 0-87451-168-2.
- Josiah Bartlett at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Josiah Bartlett at Find a Grave
- Biography by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, 1856
- Society of Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence
|Governor of New Hampshire
John Taylor Gilman | <urn:uuid:2fe8bd6c-eec8-4f9b-a5dd-1db2b4693340> | CC-MAIN-2014-52 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josiah_Bartlett | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-52/segments/1418802771253.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20141217075251-00046-ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976689 | 2,012 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Race of Homicide Victims in Cases Resulting in an Execution since 1976
In their 1990 report, the non-partisan General Accounting Office found “a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty.” The study ultimately concluded that “in 82 percent of the studies [reviewed], race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty, i.e. those who murdered whites were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks.” This has been further supported by the findings of many other studies that, holding all other factors constant, the single most reliable predictor of whether someone will be sentenced to death is the race of the victim.
A January 2003 study released by the University of Maryland determined that race, as well as geography, are major factors in death penalty decisions; they found that prosecutors are more likely to seek a death sentence when the race of the victim is white and are less likely to seek a death sentence when the victim is African-American. A later report sponsored by the American Bar Association in 2007 concluded that one-third of African-American death row inmates in Philadelphia would have received sentences of life imprisonment if they had not been African-American and a 2007 study of death sentences in Connecticut conducted by Yale University School of Law revealed that African-American defendants receive the death penalty at three times the rate of white defendants in cases where the victims are white. In addition, killers of white victims are treated more severely than people who kill minorities, when it comes to deciding what charges to impose. From initial charging decisions to plea bargaining to jury sentencing, African-Americans are treated more harshly when they are defendants, and their lives are rendered less valuable when they are victims.
All-white, or virtually all-white juries are still far too common in many trials and localities. A North Carolina study of jury selection in 173 death penalty cases found that black prospective jurors were more than twice as likely to be struck by the prosecution as similarly situated white jurors. A 2003 study of 390 felony jury trials prosecuted in Jefferson Parish, La., found that black prospective jurors were struck at three times the rate of whites. And in Houston County, Ala., prosecutors between 2005 and 2009 used their peremptory strikes to eliminate 80 percent of the blacks qualified for jury service in death penalty cases. The result of this, was that half of these juries ended up entirely white, and the remainder had only a single black member, even though the county is 27 percent black.
UALR Significant Findings
University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) Chancellor Joel E. Anderson, in his 9/30/03 inauguration speech, said: “Race, particularly white-black race relations, has been a major problem, indeed the major problem, the biggest obstacle to progress, in our state since it was founded in 1836.” Anderson has committed UALR to using the university’s resources to remove these barriers to progress toward racial and ethnic justice through research and dialogue, and in his words, “You have to face it to fix it”
UALR conceived of a research project for the purpose to examine longstanding racial disparities in the Arkansas Criminal Justice System, and, based on research and analysis, develop policy, practice and community programming recommendations to minimize, if not eliminate, these disparities. It is a model that other states can adopt and use to implement effective reforms.
- Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County 10th Annual Survey Report – Focus on Crime and Punishment March 28, 2013
- Racial Disparities in the Arkansas Criminal Justice System Report of Research Findings | <urn:uuid:a85d4ebd-5a9c-437a-98ed-c7509503f2ab> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://www.madpmo.org/racial-justice/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463607813.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20170524112717-20170524132717-00151.warc.gz | en | 0.968586 | 755 | 3.03125 | 3 |
According to your dentist and the American Dental Association, you should brush your teeth at least two times a day. Brushing keeps your teeth, gums, and mouth clean and healthy by removing bacteria-causing plaque. It is also recommended that you use a soft-bristled toothbrush and toothpaste that contains fluoride when you brush your teeth. You should spend at least a minute on the top teeth and a minute on the bottom teeth, and remember to brush your tongue; it will help keep your breath smelling fresh!
When Should I Change My Toothbrush?
Your toothbrush will eventually wear out, especially if you are brushing your teeth twice a day for two to three minutes each time. Your dentist recommends that adults and children change their toothbrush every three months. If you are using an electric toothbrush, be sure to read the directions because you may not need to change toothbrush heads as frequently. Patients with gum disease are encouraged to change their toothbrush every four to six weeks to keep any bacteria from spreading. After brushing, rinse your toothbrush with hot water to kill germs and keep the bristles clean. If you’ve been sick, be sure to change your toothbrush as soon as possible. | <urn:uuid:641bef91-40f3-4716-858c-5cd0cdaf5e85> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://briancoxsmiles.com/how-often-should-i-brush-my-teeth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320301488.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20220119185232-20220119215232-00486.warc.gz | en | 0.9567 | 250 | 3.109375 | 3 |
What are Dental X-Rays?
Dental x-rays are used to help in diagnosing and treating many intra-oral conditions. You may need x-rays when coming in for an emergency or before oral surgery. Dental x-rays are taken at most of your appointments, as they help us to check for changes beneath the surface that cannot be seen with a normal examination. X-rays use a small amount of radiation that is deemed safe for most patients.
Why are Dental X-Rays necessary?
Dental x-rays are necessary for a variety of reasons and they are always beneficial in helping improve your oral health. They are often taken during emergency appointments and before having oral surgery of any kind. You will have a full set of x-rays taken every few years as part of your preventative care. Because these x-rays use a minimal amount of radiation, you can rest assured that they are safe.
What can Dental X-Rays help detect?
Your dental x-rays can detect a number of intra-oral problems. We closely examine your x-rays to check the health of your teeth, gums and underlying bone. Some of the different things that x-rays can detect include:
- Bone loss
- Gum disease
- Impacted wisdom teeth
- Deep cracks and fractures
What happens when your Dental X-Rays are taken?
You will come into our office and be greeted by one of our friendly staff members. We will drape a lead apron over your body and begin by placing a dental x-ray inside of your mouth. The x-ray machine is angled directly at this small appliance and an image is taken. Within seconds, the image is transposed to our computer where we will examine it and check for complications. You will benefit greatly from having dental x-rays taken at most of your appointments. X-rays are safe and are more beneficial to your oral health than any risk that may be involved with taking them.
If you need dental x-rays taken and would like to learn more about the procedure, call us today and we will work to get you in for an appointment. | <urn:uuid:6784d409-52cd-42ac-b584-e0f6a782c376> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | https://hardindds.com/services/dental-x-rays/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439740838.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20200815094903-20200815124903-00198.warc.gz | en | 0.962075 | 445 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Ok, here goes the first post of this series!
The bible says that God made Adam and then made Eve from a piece of Adam’s flesh.
This is demonstrated in science by males having one X and one Y chromosome (XY) and females having only two X chromosomes (XX). This proves that the female did come from the male, because only males have the Y chromosome, which determines the male sex in a person. Meaning that both sexes had to originate from the man, and not the other way around.
“And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:23
“Woman” … as in “womb man”. She was taken from man’s womb, and she became the womb of all who have ever lived. | <urn:uuid:4917e4c8-4a2f-40d9-88c6-b8c994adca9b> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | https://kylahkerry.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/god-print-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886105712.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20170819182059-20170819202059-00549.warc.gz | en | 0.983019 | 187 | 2.84375 | 3 |
The Coastal Plain Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana nigrescens) was originally described from a small number of specimens from the tidal marshes of the Nanticoke River in southeastern Maryland. Based on our quantitative analysis of a larger series of specimens, we found that Swamp Sparrows collected during the breeding season from the Chesapeak and Delaware bays (and tributaries) and near the mouth of the Hudson River are generally less rusty, have more black in the crown and nape, and have larger bills than other Swamp Sparrows. Contrary to earlier accounts, we found M. g. nigrescens to be migratory, arriving after the spring migration and departing before the fall migration of the inland subspecies through the tidal marshes. The location of the wintering groups of M. g. nigrescens is unknown. We argue that the morphological and life history differences characterizing M. g. nigrescens reflect adaptation to tidal marshes. We base this hypothesis on the nature of the morphological differences, which are convergent with other tidal marsh breeding sparrows and other terrestrial vertebrates.
Additional Publication Details
Adaptations to tidal marshes in breeding populations of the swamp sparrow | <urn:uuid:7134cc9a-c249-474c-87cd-e5e3af614953> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/5223413 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936463928.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074103-00221-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.889738 | 246 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Concern for the environment is high on the agenda at the moment and, from air and water pol-lution to overconsumption and degradation of habitat, there seems to be no part of our world that is safe from human activities.
Despite this, the challenges of the past two years have inspired people to spend more time tending their plot and encouraging wildlife. Gardeners are often already inclined towards greener living, and evidence suggests many of us are changing our habits for the better.
With sustainability tipped to be a big trend for Christmas and beyond, we all need to do our bit for the planet, and where better for green living to begin than at home?
To limit our footprint on the planet, we need to reduce our consumption and waste. In many ways this is a state of mind, a case of breaking bad habits and also being aware of sneaky sales tactics to get us to buy more.
New and shiny things are lovely, but are they really necessary? Do we need new pruning tools, or is a few minutes spent sharpening, oiling and changing the old blades equally as effective and a lot more sustainable? And maybe we should be honest in the face of temptation: buying just one pack of bedding plants – despite the special offer – when, deep down, we know we don’t have space and they’re doomed to languish and die.
The two largest, most conspicuous areas of consumption in the garden are peat and plastic. Peat bogs are biodiverse habitats that sequester a huge amount of carbon and they regenerate painfully slowly when damaged – there’s no such thing as sustainable peat extraction. Produc-ers have been tardy in reducing and eliminating peat from composts, so scrutinise packaging for peat content and look for peat-free products, such as those from Melcourt and Dalefoot (we have 10 bags of compost to win on p101!). Asking nurseries to stock peat-free composts can help effect change.
Try to find plastic-free options for pots and containers. Buy bareroot trees and shrubs in winter when they’re dormant, while wallflowers, bulbs and perennials for autumn planting often ar-rive wrapped in paper and recyclable packaging.
Minimise waste the old-fashioned way, by reusing things over and over again. From tools to containers to compost, we can extend the functional life of an item by refreshing and caring for it, and hanging onto it for as long as possible.
Plastic pots, especially black ones, can be hard to recycle so use and reuse them as many times as you can. It’s not always necessary to wash them, but if disease is a concern, scrub in a buck-et of water with a dash of biodegradable washing up liquid. As sunlight will degrade the plastic and hasten their demise, stack them in a dark place until needed.
If you have more pots that you can use, give them away to a good home; approach resource-poor school gardening clubs, which may take surplus plants or seeds as well, or ask your local nursery or garden centre if it has a drop-off point.
Plastic bottles are ubiquitous but cut in half, can be employed in a number of ways in the gar-den. Cut the bottom off and push the neck into the soil to deliver water directly to the roots – ideal for containers and thirsty crops such as courgettes and squash. Alternatively, use one as a temporary cloche, keeping temperatures high and pests at bay. The lids of larger bottles make useful cane-toppers, too.
Sow seeds in biodegradable pots made from toilet roll inners, cartons or newspaper, or punch holes in the bottom of plastic tubs and fill them with herbs and salad leaves for the season.
Pursue the cult of the repurposed container to discover lots of striking and characterful new features. Tin cans are versatile and durable, either allowed to rust or touched up with a dab of paint.
A stack of car tyres will make a deep bed, good for growing vegetables or small trees, even on concrete. Washing machine drums, dustbins or welly boots can all live again as cheerful plant-ers, or go quirky with a disused bath or toilet full of beans and blooms, or a bedding display in hanging handbags!
Recycling is key to a greener way of gardening and this is the process by which items are not just reused, but become the raw materials for something new. And while it may take energy – or at least time – to take an old item, craft it into something fresh and give it a new lease of life, it’s infinitely preferable to throwing things away.
With a little creativity, it’s easy to recycle all sorts into the garden. Scrumpers and skip-divers can go large, foraging materials like old windows, floorboards and pallets (ask first!), to make everything from plant-theatre shelving to coldframes, raised beds and furniture, bug hotels and bird boxes.
But it’s just as possible for smaller, everyday items to live again. A string of old CDs as a bird scarer is tried and tested, but creating a sparkling windmill from a drinks can or pop bottle is just as effective and arguably more attractive.
Get crafty and fashion ornaments and art from repurposed rubbish. Bespoke paving can be made from glass beads, buttons or broken ceramics; bird feeders can be made from pretty, chipped teacups; windchimes can be made from old cutlery. Even recycling leaves and green waste into compost helps!
The fact we are all recycling more is a good thing, and there’s a much greater awareness of the lifecycle of raw materials. But it’s important to consider the process in context. Recycling, or making new products from pre-used materials is only part of the story. There also has to be a market for recycled products to keep the cycle moving in a positive way. So when buying new, look out for items that have been made from recycled materials – metal, glass, paper, plastic, even reclaimed wood. Buying these, rather than items that have been made from virgin re-sources, also strengthens the economic argument for recycling, and is another small act of care for the planet we live on. | <urn:uuid:c3d6f8d1-d749-4597-80ee-589ef64e536d> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.gardenanswersmagazine.co.uk/inspiration/features/reduce-reuse-recycle/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662558030.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20220523132100-20220523162100-00455.warc.gz | en | 0.945372 | 1,352 | 2.5625 | 3 |
South Africa offers for vacation and Safari diverse attractions: from world famous national parks like the Kruger National Park to mountain landscapes like the Drakensberg or Cedarberg and Beaches on the Cape or Indian Ocean to the Garden Route – South Africa is “the world in one country”.
In 1652 the first supply post for ships of the Dutch East India Company was founded under Jan van Riebeck near the Cape of Good Hope on Table Mountain. Cape Town developed here, making it the oldest city in South Africa and also known as Mother City. In the course of time, the colonial rulers in South Africa changed: at first Dutch, in the meantime beset by France until it fell under the care of Great Britain.
After independence, political power in South Africa was taken over by the largely white, conservative National Party, which firmly anchored the apartheid system in daily life in South Africa. After many years of guerrilla warfare, the first fair elections were held in South Africa in 1994, freedom fighter and popular hero Nelson Mandela emerged victorious and became president of the country.
After the end of apartheid, tourism experienced an enormous boom, especially for travelers from Europe and America, the connection between original Africa and western standards is attractive. The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa from June 11 to July 11, 2010 gave the tourism industry an additional boost, but even without this major event, South Africa was one of the most popular travel and safari countries in Africa.
South Africa trips can actually be made all year round. In the South African summer, Cape Town is warm enough for swimming. In contrast, the eastern part of South Africa is dry in winter, when you can go on safari in the Kruger National Park.
Area: 1,219,090 km², one of the largest countries in Africa.
Population: 49.0 million people (July 2011, COUNTRYAAH.COM), South Africa has one of the largest populations in Africa. The population is made up of four main groups: Black Africans, who make up 79% of the total population, 9.6% whites (mostly Boers), 8.9% hybrids and 2.5% Asians. South Africa has the largest population of European origin in Africa and the largest population with Indian origin, making the country one of the most ethnically diverse on the African continent. Around 1 million South African residents are of German descent, and around 100,000 have a German passport.
Population growth: -0.38% per year (2011, CIA)
Population density: 40 people per km²
Capital: Pretoria (capital and seat of government, with suburbs more than 2 million residents).
Cape Town (seat of parliament, 3.6 million residents, 2007).
Here is a current list of the largest cities in South Africa.
Form of government: South Africa has been a parliamentary republic since 1961 and is represented in the Commonwealth. The new constitution dates from 1997. The bicameral parliament is made up of the National Assembly with 400 members and the National Council with 90 members. South Africa has been independent of Great Britain since May 31, 1910.
Administrative division: 9 provinces: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North-West and Western Cape.
Head of government and Head of state: President Jacob Zuma, since May 9, 2009
Highest point: Njesuthi, 3,408 m
Lowest point: Atlantic and Indian Ocean, 0 m
Language: 11 major languages in South Africa, all of which have official language status: Zulu (23.8%), Xhosa (17.6%), Afrikaans (13.3%), Sepedi (9.4%), Setswana (8, 2%), English (8.2%), North Sotho and South Sotho (7.9%), Tsonga (4.4%), Swati (2.7%), Venda (2.3%), Ndebele (1, 6%). In addition, Indian languages are spoken by the Indian community.
Religion: Zionists 11.1%, Pentecostal / Charismatic 8.2%, Catholics 7.1%, Methodists 6.8%, Dutch Reformed Church 6.7%, Anglicans 3.8%, Muslims 1.5%, other Christians 36%, other religions 2.3%, unspecified 1.4%, no religion 15.1% (2001 census)
Local time: CET + 1 h
In South Africa there is no change between summer and winter time.
The time difference to Central Europe is +1 h in winter. In summer there is no time difference to Central Europe.
Telephone area code: 0027 or +27
Mains voltage: 220 V, 50 Hz. The sockets in South Africa are mostly 3-pin round plugs that can hardly be found in Europe. International adapters do not work, it is best to get a suitable adapter in South Africa. Some of the adapters are also lent to hotel receptions.
South Africa is located on the southernmost edge of the African continent and has a coastline that stretches for more than 2,500 km and lies on two oceans (the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean). It borders Namibia in the northwest, Botswana and Zimbabwe in the north, Mozambique and Swaziland in the northeast. Lesotho is completely enclosed by South Africa. The national area is 1,219,912 sq km, this corresponds to about 3.4 times the area of Germany.
Here you can find a detailed topographic map of South Africa.
The central plateau, also called Highveld, lies at an altitude between 900 and 2,000 meters. The land belt sloping to the coast with a width of 20 to 250 km is called Groot Randkant (Great Edge Step).
The Drakensberg Mountains run through the country from the northeast to the Lesotho enclave in the southeast, where they reach their highest point (3,482 m) with the Thabana Ntlenyana. South Africa’s highest mountain is the Njesuthi at 3,446 m. The Kalahari stretches northwest from Bloemfontein through Botswana to Namibia. At Cape Agulhas (port.: agulhas – needles), the extreme southern tip of the continent, the Atlantic and Indian Ocean meet, to the west of it is the Cape of Good Hope (Cape of Good Hope or Kaap van die Goeie Hoop).
Most rivers in South Africa originate in the Drakensberg Mountains and flow east towards the Indian Ocean. The longest river, the Oranje, with a length of 1,860 km, also rises in the Drakensberg Mountains, but flows to the west and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The Augrabies Falls on the Oranje River in the northwest of the Gordoni District were discovered by Hendrik Wikar in 1778, are approximately 150 meters wide and 56 meters high. Other important rivers are the Limpopo, which flows into the Indian Ocean as a border river in the northeast after about 1,600 km, and the Vaal (1,251 km), a tributary of the Oranje. The water levels of these rivers fluctuate greatly.
South Africa also includes the Prince Edward Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. South Africa gave up its territorial claims in Antarctica and the whale bay in Namibia in 1994.
Population in South Africa
This map of population distribution in South Africa was created by the Worldmapper team. Densely populated areas appear bloated, the area of sparsely populated areas is reduced. The shape of the grid has been preserved; an underlying map with the original geographical extent helps interpret the map. The distorted map should help to present abstract statistical information clearly. | <urn:uuid:42a5d590-0298-4e7e-b283-48dca82d9962> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | https://www.themeparktour.com/south-africa-country-facts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439738380.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20200809013812-20200809043812-00498.warc.gz | en | 0.935382 | 1,624 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin! A deficiency of vitamin D can
result in rickets in children, and in adults, a lack of bone strength
and density and even joint pain. Vitamin D is absolutely vital for the
development and maintenance of bones and teeth and for absorbing and
using calcium and phosphorus. In Canada, with our short winter days and
relative lack of sunshine, vitamin D becomes one of the most important
vitamins we could take. Delicious orange liquid format makes it easy to
take this critical vitamin.
Recommended Use: Helps in the development and maintenance of bones and teeth.
Directions: Infants and up: Take 1 drop per day, or as directed by a healthcare practitioner.
Ingredients: Each drop contains: Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) 1000 IU
Non-Medicinal Ingredients: Medium chain triglycerides, d-alpha tocopherol, natural orange flavour.
As with any natural health product, you should consult a healthcare practitioner on the use of this product especially if you are taking any medication or have a medical condition. Do not use if seal is broken. | <urn:uuid:c8b70ae0-b0f6-44e7-a6cd-4801e0f2b009> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://well.ca/products/orange-naturals-d3-drops_60234.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500619.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20230207134453-20230207164453-00603.warc.gz | en | 0.876411 | 233 | 2.71875 | 3 |
In an age of technological connectivity where unprotected systems are prone to attacks and threats, having cybersecurity standards is of paramount importance. Everybody and almost everything is online nowadays. Many personal, commercial, government, school transactions now occur in a virtual environment. Attacks could happen within and outside the network, so protecting data and information should be ensured.
Massive IoT Connectivity
In the coming years, 200 billion smart devices are projected to be connected to the IoT on a global level. This is in comparison to the 2 billion connected devices more than a decade ago. These devices include more than the smartphones and laptops used by individuals daily, they also include objects that connect industries and companies as well as government entities.
Sectors that process millions of data such as universities and healthcare systems will be more connected than ever. As technology becomes more advanced, homes and communities will also become more integrated into the network. Therefore, cybersecurity standards are becoming more important.
Beefing Up Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity mechanisms and standards seek to protect individuals, groups, and institutions, that are using or existing within a digital or cyber environment. The environment not only constitute users and devices, the cyber or digital processes and applications within the network is also part of it. The billions of data that are stored, processed, or that pass through the network daily are also part of this network.
Cybersecurity mechanisms and standards are supposed to not only protect but also to prevent and address any attacks or issues that may occur within the network. These potential issues include external threats such as malware, ransomware, viruses, among others. It also includes hacking and data theft activities that have become more prevalent with the increase in online users. Behind these attacks are individuals that steal the data for profit or for the challenge of infiltrating a secure system.
Enabling Security Standards
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is a federal agency that focuses on developing and implementing compliance and standards across industries. The agency provides a set of cybersecurity guidelines and framework across industries, including cyber security military certification. These guidelines also assist cybersecurity experts and technology manufacturers when developing products or when working with the private and public sector.
The institute releases guidelines, such as the NIST 800-171, to ensure security standards are complied with. The most recent policy directive applies to any organization that works with defense or military contracts. The provision includes guidelines for handling and storing sensitive information and data. It also covers safe sharing and encryption of the information across the network. Monitoring system access to the data is also part of the new NIST compliance guidelines.
In the coming years, the digital network will further expand, connecting more users and devices online. While the positive implications are a lot, it also opens these users to potential attacks and cyber issues. Security measures should always be updated and implemented according to standards to protect individuals, companies, and institutions against these attacks. | <urn:uuid:ae6e8e86-fadc-4304-a917-d39db23fcdc3> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://the-loser.net/using-cybersecurity-standards-to-protect-the-system.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446710902.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20221202114800-20221202144800-00225.warc.gz | en | 0.947589 | 580 | 3.4375 | 3 |
The history of the Binnengasthuis premises dates back to the late 14th century. On the construction site of the new University Library, an extensive archaeological investigation is being carried out during the excavation work in the courtyard. As the crews dig deeper, new archaeological finds are being made. An update is given below.
In the late 14th century, embankments were created to raise parts of the ‘Uterse Nesse’ – a swampy patch of ground surrounded by a bend in the Amstel river – and make it suitable for building. Two convents were built on the site: the Sint-Marienveld Convent in 1389 and the women's convent of Ter Lely in 1402, better known as the Oude and Nieuwe Nonnenklooster (Old and New Nuns’ Convent), respectively. In 1578, the convents were closed and ownership of their property was transferred to the Regents of the Sint-Pietersgasthuis and Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis hospitals. The now-vacant convent buildings were repurposed, and a variety of new structures were erected as well. From the 19th century on, the Sint-Pietersgasthuis became known as the Binnengasthuis. And it is this Binnengasthuis – which consists of the Tweede Chirurgische Kliniek and Zusterhuis buildings – which is now being renovated and converted to the new University Library.
When excavation work began in the courtyard of the Tweede Chirurgische Kliniek in the summer of 2019, the City of Amsterdam's Knowledge Centre for Monuments and Archaeology (MenA) began its archaeological investigation as well. This dig uncovered the remains of the 17th-century Sint-Pietersgasthuis, along with the ruins of buildings from the monastic period. A subsequent analysis of the annual rings in the wood used in the foundation – dendrochronological analysis – made it possible to date the oldest structure to around 1560. This building consisted of masonry walls atop a so-called grid foundation, a construction in which piles are driven into the spaces of a wooden framework, i.e. a grid. While this construction technique is found primarily in massive structures such as churches and defensive fortifications, it was also used when building atop embankments in a waterlogged area – such as within this bend of the Amstel. In 1589, after the convents had been closed in 1578, this building became part of the plague house. From 1626, it belonged to the 'Verbandhuys' (Bandages House), a department of surgery in the Sint-Pietersgasthuis hospital. Around the mid-18th century, this ancient building was demolished to make room for a newly constructed ‘Verbandhuys’, which stood on this site until 1897.
The Monuments and Archaeology department began phase two of its archaeological investigation in the summer of 2020. The deeper the archaeologists dig, the farther back in time they go. By examining the layers of soil in the excavation, they were able to establish that the swampy ground of the 14th century was a flooded bog landscape, with alternating layers of reed and woodland peat, mixed with clay, lying over four metres below street level. Embankments were then raised in the peat bog, forming a soil profile that picks up seamlessly where that of last year's dig left off and completing the story of how the Binnengasthuis site was developed at this bend in the Amstel River.
MenA is cooperating with the UvA Archaeology department and the UvA and VU Amsterdam's joint institute of archaeology, the Amsterdam Centre for Ancient Studies and Archaeology (ACASA). While it was not possible to involve students in field work at the excavated construction site, they may have an opportunity to participate in the data recovery phase, during which the trace evidence, structures and finds from the dig will be analysed. A portion of the specialised analysis will be carried out at ACASA as well – more on that later. While the data recovery phase of the research is expected to take most of 2021, it is already clear that this archaeological investigation will yield a great many details to further our insight into how this soggy bend in the Amstel became the Binnengasthuis premises.
More information about the new UB can be found on the information page. | <urn:uuid:febd9f63-7ed9-4f59-8492-d9753edb751e> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://acasa.uva.nl/en/shared/subsites/huisvestingsontwikkeling/en/news/uq2020/11/update-on-archaeological-finds-at-binnengasthuis-premises.html?origin=c%2B6sCKVUR%2B2ATVNGoeyoyQ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038507477.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20210418163541-20210418193541-00487.warc.gz | en | 0.960846 | 958 | 3.25 | 3 |
Martin Luther King Jr. Eleanor Rosevelt. Gandhi. Winston Churchill. George Washington. Queen Victoria. Alexander the Great. What do all these famous figures have in common? They were all great leaders.
Being a leader is not an easy task. It takes dedication and drive as well as humility and grace. Some of the most effective leaders are born with these talents of bringing people together and creating something great. Other leaders learn as they go and gain skills and a dedicated following.
Leadership is a huge responsibility. To have people looking up to you for wisdom and instruction should not be taken lightly. If you’re looking to lead, whether it be within your business, an extracurricular project, or within social justice reforms, there are a few traits you’ll need to embody. Natural born leaders practice these every day to become the best leader they can be.
Initially, it may seem like leadership is all about talking and taking control, but it is so much more than that. You can’t communicate the needs or platform of a group without first listening to the people you’re representing. CEOs and big wigs within companies often exist in their own bubble. They only surround themselves with like-minded individuals and miss out on fresh opinions and new creative solutions to problems.
Listening to your constituents or employees lets them know that you take them seriously. Creating a work environment where everyone genuinely feels valued reaps great benefits. It cultivates teamwork and positivity within the organization. So rather than yelling orders, actively listen to what the team needs to succeed.
Leaders are the first to admit they can’t do everything on their own. You’re in charge of a wide group of people with a vast array of skills. Embrace those. Once you get to know your team through active listening, you can engage everyone with tasks that fit their strengths. Not only are you giving your employees autonomy, but you free up time for yourself to achieve your goals. Delegating gives you the flexibility to prioritize certain tasks and let the staff know your precise timeline.
As a leader, you have to learn to communicate. Your team will be more motivated to help you when you’re clear about what you’re trying to accomplish. When you are clear and direct, you avoid confusion and frustration.
Your job is to inspire. Inspire yourself, your team, and even the world. In the modern era, leaders have huge platforms on social media. Executives like Mark Wiseman take to twitter to promote global investments and financial sustainability for everyone. His platform expands from Ontario to the whole world. As a leader, your responsibility is to communicate with the world at large from any and all platforms.
Constantly learning more is a common quality of natural-born leaders. You can always grow and improve, and educating yourself is how you do this. Great leaders want to find new solutions to problems and engage with information.
You set the tone for your environment. If your place of work never allows for failure, you also never allow for growth. Prove that it’s okay to say “I don’t know yet, but I’ll learn” and then encourage research. No one is perfect right away, so educate yourself along the way and create an environment where learning is revered.
Lastly, great leaders are great encouragers. Leading through fear and anger doesn’t make for a dedicated following. Encouragement creates harmony and purpose. Take the time to engage with the people you’re leading and let them know how valuable they are. Natural born leaders embrace the need for positivity and encouragement in the workplace. And their team members love and respect them all the more for it. | <urn:uuid:346aa4ef-8b5a-4aeb-a549-4db61cf4ee97> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://thealmostdone.com/2020/09/02/5-things-natural-born-leaders-do-everyday/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046154099.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20210731172305-20210731202305-00638.warc.gz | en | 0.957208 | 770 | 2.609375 | 3 |
A requiem for the NPC?
THE police system in India was established by the Police Act of 1861. The act, based on the draft prepared by the first Police Commission of 1860, had a limited aim – to perpetuate British rule in this country.
The failure of the act to produce an efficient and a professional police force in the country was even recognised by the British. The second police commission set up under the chairmanship of Sir A.H.L. Fraser concluded: ‘The police force is far from efficient, it is defective in training and organisation, it is inadequately supervised, it is generally regarded as corrupt and oppressive, and it has utterly failed to secure the confidence and cordial cooperation of the people.’1
The advent of Independence changed the political system, but the police system remained unaltered. The Police Act of 1861 continued to govern it, laws and courts continued to distrust it, its organisational structure stayed unmodified, the politicians and bureaucrats continued to exercise control and superintendence over it, the managerial philosophy, value system and ethos remained what it was, and its public unaccountability remained unchanged. It was a ruler appointed police and it continued to remain so. Only the rulers changed, the foreign ones being replaced by the Indians.
A colonial system of policing was thus required to function effectively in an environment which became increasingly democratic. The fact that the problems of the police had become highly complex and that the system had failed to meet the challenges was realised by many, including the police themselves. The need for change and reform was expressed by the Conference of General Inspector of Police on many an occasion. The conference, organised annually by the Central Intelligence Bureau, passed resolutions from time to time, asking the government to set up a National Police Commission NPC) to examine the problems of the police. The Ministry of Home Affairs doggedly turned down such suggestions on the ground that the police was a state subject and the central government did not consider it necessary to do so.
Though some state governments had set up police commissions after Independence, a systematic examination of the police problems at the national level had not been undertaken since the beginning of the century. The last time it was done was in 1902 by the Frazer Commission.
During the Emergency the police committed atrocities on a wide scale. The brazen manner in which the police were misused during this period provoked the Shah Commission of Inquiry to invite ‘the government’s attention pointedly to the manner in which the police was used and allowed themselves to be used for purposes some of which were, to say the least, questionable. Some police officers behaved as though they are not accountable at all to any public authority. The decision to arrest and release certain persons were entirely on political considerations, which were intended to be favourable to the ruling party. Employing the police to the advantage of any political party is a sure source of subverting the rule of law.’2
Some Janata Party members had gathered first hand experience of police brutality during the Emergency. The decision to set up the National Police Commission was taken by the Janata government, which came to power after the revocation of the Emergency in 1977.
Thus, while the Indian Mutiny of 1857 led the colonial government to appoint the first Police Commission in 1860 to suggest an organised system of policing for the country, the total abuse and misuse of the same system by the Congress government during the Emergency led the Janata government to set up the first National Police Commission (NPC) in 1977. As Dharam Vira, Chairman of the NPC said in his presentation at a seminar held in Mumbai on 19 April 1997: ‘lf there had been no Emergency there would have been no Police Commission.’3
The NPC was appointed4 by the Government of India to make a comprehensive review of the police system at the national level, with regard to the far-reaching changes that had taken place in the country after the enactment of the Indian Police Act, 1861, the report of the last Police Commission of 1902, and particularly those which had taken place since Independence. Though the commission was set up on 15 November 1977, the government took time to sanction staff and allot accommodation. The commission actually started functioning effectively only in April 1978. Its first meeting, in fact, was held on 22 December 1978.
The NPC had fairly wide and comprehensive terms of reference, involving a fresh examination of the role and performance of the police, both as a law enforcement agency and as an institution to protect the rights of the citizens enshrined in the Constitution. One of its most important terms of reference required it to recommend measures and institutional arrangements to ‘prevent misuse of powers by the police and misuse of police by administrative or executive instructions, political or other pressure, or oral orders of any type, which are contrary to law.’5 The Shah Commission of Inquiry had suggested that, ‘The government must seriously consider the feasibility and the desirability of insulating the police from the politics of the country and employing it scrupulously on duties for which alone it is by law intended.’6
The NPC produced eight reports between February 1979 and May 1981. In its first report the commission was deeply distressed to find (i) an absence of effective and credible police accountability mechanisms and (ii) very low police morale resulting from serious deficiencies in the living, working and service conditions of the police, particularly of the constabulary. The commission, in its first report, dealt with these two subjects.
On the advice of the commission, the Government of India organised a Conference of Chief Ministers of States on 6 June 1979 to discuss the recommendations made in the first report of the NPC. The move was prompted by the widespread agitation by police forces, which occurred the same year in many parts of the country. Despite all the fanfare and noise made about the need to adopt the recommendations of the first report, most of them are yet to be implemented. The following are some examples:
The abolition of the orderly system was one of the major demands of the police agitators. The chief ministers conference decided that the system should be abolished. It continues to exist even now.
Inadequate housing facilities has been a major complaint of the policemen. The NPC had recommended 100% level of housing satisfaction for policemen.7 The chief ministers conference decided to make efforts to provide at least 75% over a five year period. This target was never achieved. By 1985, there was only one state, i.e. Gujarat, which had succeeded in providing family accommodation to even 50% of its constabulary.8 By 1990, the all-India level of satisfaction achieved in respect of family accommodation for non-gazetted police personnel had reached only the 36.3% mark.9 The 1996 data compiled by the Bureau of Police Research and Development reveals an equally dismal picture.10
The chief ministers agreed that the status of the constabulary should be improved. The NPC had recommended that the constable should be rated as a skilled worker for determining his pay structure vis-a-vis other public services in the states.11 The recommendation is yet to be accepted.
The illegitimate interference of politicians in the police organisation and its work had not been discussed by the npc in its first report. However, the police agitators had expressed considerable resentment against interference. The conference of chief ministers, therefore, discussed this subject and agreed that the problem should be dealt with at the political level. The chief ministers at the state and the prime minister at the national level should initiate appropriate steps in this regard. Nothing was done. In fact, the situation continued to deteriorate with the passage of time.
Regarding the second to eighth reports, the commission had finished only the first two reports when the government changed at the centre. With Indira Gandhi’s return to power in January 1980, the very existence of the National Police Commission came under threat. First, the commission had been appointed by her opponents, the Janata Party. Second, the commission had committed the unpardonable error of quoting from the Shah Commission’s report, criticising the way the police was used during her regime. Third, the commission’s secretariat was headed by C.V. Narasimhan, who was Director of the CBI when Indira Gandhi was arrested by that organisation during the Janata regime. He was relieved of his duties on 19 April 1980 and nobody was appointed in his place. The commission functioned without a regular member-secretary till it closed in May 1981.
The commission itself had become somewhat uncertain about the government’s response to its work. It is significant that the commission’s reports did not contain the chairman’s forwarding letter to the government after the third report. The last such letter dated 1 February1980, with which the third report was forwarded to the government, regretted that the earlier reports had not been released to the public despite the commission’s request to the government to do so. The chairman of the commission, while writing to Giani Zail Singh, then Home Minister, stressed the need for early release of the reports so that there could be public debate on the ‘proposed reforms in police, some of which are very fundamental and mark a departure from the old Imperial system which has continued even after Independence.’12
Indeed, it is the reforms aimed at changing the Imperial system, spelt out mostly in the second report,13 which have consistently blocked the implementation of the NPC’s recommendations. Dharam Vira, Chairman of the npc, later stated: ‘The basic recommendations of the Police Commission which were activated towards giving a different direction to the police and creating a force that was in tune with democracy and that was totally the servant of the law and not of any individual howsoever high he may be in stature in the country, was lost (sic). The rulers had got used to using the police force for their own purpose, according to their will. In fact, when I presented this report to the then Home Minister Sardar Zail Singh, he said, "Dharamji, what sort of report have you produced? I can’t even ask the sub-inspector what to do".’14
An eminent police officer, K.F. Rustamji, who was also a member of the commission, had a similar and, indeed, worse experience. According to him: ‘When the report came out Mrs. Gandhi asked me to go and see Mr. Zail Singh who was then the Home Minister. He made me sit down and entertained several visitors, one after another. Then he said we could meet again, but he never asked me to meet him again. He issued a statement that the report was undemocratic.’15
The result was obvious. The commission was asked to finish its work and disband itself by 31 May 1981. Some of the officers who had worked in the commission became victims of the government’s hostility. For instance, Ved Marwah was not given any posting for about a year after the NPC was disbanded.
The seven reports (second to eight) were released to the public only in March 1983. When the reports were forwarded to the state governments, they were not asked to merely take appropriate follow-up action. The state governments were specifically informed that, ‘at some places in the 2nd report (paras 15.24, 15.35 and 15.55) the commission has relied on the observations and findings of the Shah Commission to arrive at certain conclusions. Government strongly repudiate all such conclusions. At several other places (such as paras 15.2, 15.4, 15.6, 15.7, 15.18 15.19 and 15.26 of the 2nd report; para 22.3 of the 3rd report; para 32.7 of the 4th report; para 44.9 of the 6th report; paras 59.10, 59.19 and 59.25 of the 7th report and para 6.18 of the 8th report), the commission has been unduly critical of the political system or of the functioning of the police force in general. Such general criticism is hardly in keeping with an objective and rational approach to problems and reveals a biased attitude. Government are of the view that no note should be taken of such observations.’16
The message was loud and clear and after such advice it was not surprising that the state governments conveniently put the major recommendations of the NPC in cold storage.
The most important recommendations of the NPC centre around the problem of insulating the police from illegitimate political and bureaucratic interference. It is these recommendations which really perturbed the entrenched elite at the prospect of losing control over an organisation which they had misused for so long. Five of such major recommendations are important:
1. The investigative tasks of the police are beyond any kind of intervention by the executive or non-executive. It is only in respect of preventive and service oriented functions that the government should lay down broad policies for adoption. There should, however, be no instructions with regard to actual operations in the field. Policy directions should be openly given and made known to the state legislatures.
2. To help the state governments discharge their superintending responsibility in an open manner under the framework of law, a state security commission should be established statutorily in each state. The state security commission should: (a) lay down broad policy guidelines for the performance of preventive and service oriented functions by the police; (b) evaluate the performance of the state police every year; (c) function as a forum of appeal to dispose representations from officers regarding their being subjected to illegal orders and regarding their promotion; and (d) generally review the functioning of the state police force.
3. The chief of police should be assured of a fixed tenure of office. The tenure may be for four years or for a period extending up to the period of retirement, whichever is earlier. The removal of the chief of police from his post before the expiry of the tenure should require approval of the state security commission.
4. The chief of the state police force should be selected from a panel of three IPS officers of that state’s cadre. The panel should be prepared by a committee headed by the chairman of the UPSC.
5. The Police Act of 1861 should be replaced by a new police act, which would not only change the system of superintendence and control over the police but also enlarge the role of the police to make it function as an agency which promotes the rule of law in the country and renders impartial service to the community.
There have been a few positive developments recently. Some significant initiatives have been taken, questioning the lack of will on the part of the government to introduce reforms on the lines recommended by the NPC and pressurising them to do so. Three of these initiatives deserve notice.
1. A civil writ petition17 was filed in the Supreme Court by two retired IPS officers, praying for issue of orders to the government to implement the recommendations of the NPC. In pursuance of the directions issued by the court in this case, the central government recently set up a committee on police reforms18 under the chairmanship of J. F. Ribeiro, a retired IPS officer, to review action taken to implement the recommendations of the National Police Commission, National Human Rights Commission and the Vohra Committee and suggest ways and means of implementing the recommendations of the above commissions/committees. The Ribeiro committee has completed its work and submitted two reports.
The committee’s reports have not been well received, in police as well as non-police circles. Two main objections have been raised. One, that the committee has exceeded its brief and revised the recommendations of the NPC instead of merely reviewing them, which it was required to do under its terms of reference. Second, it has diluted important recommendations of the NPC, like the one regarding the establishment of the SSC.
The NPC had recommended that the SSC should be a statutory body. In the committee’s view, the ‘possibility of a statutory SSC as envisaged by the NPC seems a far-fetched dream.’19 Reason – the NPC’s recommendations in their original form would not be acceptable to the political executive. The committee, against its own convictions, has recommended that the SSC should be a non-statutory body, forgetting in the process that it is not enough to establish the SSC. It is necessary to ensure that it continues to exist and functions independently, objectively and effectively to prevent the misuse of police force by politicians and bureaucrats and abuse of power by police personnel. A commission established by administrative instruction and not backed by the authority of law will always be hostage to the very power it seeks to check.
The committee also recommended that the SSC need not have a secretariat of its own. ‘The DGP of the state would be the ex-officio secretary and convenor of the commission and would provide secretarial assistance from time to time from his own establishment.’20 It is not known how a commission, whose secretary and convenor is the head of the state police force and who provide the police staff to function as the secretariat of the commission, can really be expected to monitor the functioning of that police force effectively and ensure its accountability. In the public eye, it would not be anything more than an adjunct of the police department.
The weakness of the Ribeiro Committee’s recommendations lies in the fact that while the problem of unlawful interference in the work of the police, or that of a nexus developing between crooked politicians and dishonest policemen at various levels, is worse than what it was at the time of the NPC’s study, yet it recommends an institutional arrangement which is weak and vulnerable because it feels that the entrenched power elite will resist.
2. In 1997, Inderjit Gupta, then Union Home Minister, wrote a letter to the chief ministers.21 Stressing the need to accomplish ‘a very difficult but nationally significant task,’ he urged the chief ministers to bring about urgently needed reforms of the police system in the country by taking action on the recommendations of the NPC, particularly those relating to the problem of political interference in the work of the service.
He never received a response to his letter. Later, during a workshop on police reforms, he informed the participants that ‘he did not even receive any acknowledgement to the letter. He said that he was highly anguished, but not surprised at the lack of any response to his letter. The politicians and bureaucrats have a great vested interest in retaining control and superintendence over the police organisation, so that they can continue to use it to further their interests. They would not easily relinquish their control over the organisation.’22
3. The Supreme Court delivered a judgement on 18 December 1997 on writ petitions (criminal) nos. 340-343 of 1996, commonly known as the hawala case. The judgement aimed at insulating the CBI and the Directorate of Enforcement from outside influences so that they could function efficiently and impartially to serve the rule of law. It also declared the single directive, which required the CBI to seek permission from the government before undertaking any inquiry or investigation against senior civil servants of the rank of joint secretary and above, null and void.
Once again, the bureaucrats showed great resistance to introducing reforms in police organizations like the cbi. Deliberate attempts were made to thwart the judgement of the Supreme Court by promulgating the Central Vigilance Ordinance, 1998. The ordinance even brought the infamous single directive back and this time gave it legal sanctity. It required another intervention from the apex court to undo the wrongs. The ordinance was amended and then a bill was legislated. The bill is yet to become law, as the Rajya Sabha could not ratify it, even though the 12th Lok Sabha had passed it.
The judgement of the highest court in the country, in one of the most important criminal cases decided by it since Independence, remains unimplemented almost two years since it was delivered. The CVC remains deprived of a statutory basis and is functioning under a resolution of the Government of India, which was notified in 1964.
This shows how deep-seated is the resistance to the idea of change and reform and how this resistance is born out of the narrow interests of a select few.
An attempt has been made to create the impression that while the central government has been keen to implement the recommendations of the NPC, state governments have not been interested. This impression is ill-founded. While the state governments have been stoically and consistently indifferent towards the recommendations, and even of their own state police commissions, the central government, except for occasional outbursts of enthusiasm, has been equally lackadaisical in pursuing the subject with the states.
The central government has always had the option of implementing the important recommendations of the NPC by introducing the model police act as drafted by the NPC in the union territories. The model act incorporates all the major recommendations of the NPC. If the central government had done so, it would have acquired the moral authority to ask the state governments to follow suit. It never did that and failed to convince the states that the centre was really and genuinely interested in implementing the NPC’s recommendations.
The NPC had observed that in making their recommendations about insulating the police from illegitimate political interference, they were hoping that the politicians and the police would look at these measures objectively and see in them a mechanism for rendering genuine public service. Obviously the expectations of the NPC have been belied. One lingering hope is that the judiciary will some day force police reforms ‘down the throat of the political executives.’23
1. Report of the Indian Police Commission, 1902-03, Government Central Printing Office, Simla, 1903, p. 150.
2. Shah Commission of Inquiry, Interim Report, GOI, Delhi, 26 April 1978, para 15.16, p. 142.
3. National Police Commission: its relevance today, papers and discussions at a seminar organised by the Nehru Centre and Hindus- tan Andolan, a Nehru Centre Publication, Mumbai.
4. Vide Government of India’s resolution number VI-24021/36/77-GPA.I, 15 November 1977. The commission consisted of Dharam Vira (retired Governor) as Chairman, N.K. Reddy (retd. Judge, Madras High Court), K.F. Rustamji (ex DG, BSF and Special Secretary, Home Ministry), N.S. Saksena, (ex DG, CRPF and Member UPSC) and M.S. Gore (Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay) as members and C.V. Narasimhan (Director CBI) as Member Secretary.
5. Government of India’s resolution no. VI-24021/36/77-GPA.I, 15 November 1997; Term of Reference No. 10 (i) and (ii).
6. Shah Commission of Inquiry, Interim Report, op cit.
7. The National Police Commission: First Report, GOI, Delhi, February 1979, chapter IV, p. 32.
8. G.P. Joshi and J.C. Arora, A Survey of Welfare Facilities Available to Police Personnel in the Country, Bureau of Police Research and Development Publication (BPR&D), New Delhi, 1986, p. 11.
9. G.P. Joshi, Upgradation of Standards of Police Administration – Suggestions and Views About Problems and Priority Areas for Consideration of the 10th Finance Commission, BPR&D Publication, New Delhi, p. 6.
10. G.S. Pandher and K.D. Sharma, Data on Police Organizations in India as on 1.1.1996, BPR&D Publication, New Delhi, p. 56.
11. The National Police Commission: First Report, GOI, Delhi, February 1979, chapter III, p. 26.
12 The National Police Commission’s D.O., letter no. 10/30/80-NPC (Ch) Pt.II, 1 February 1980.
13 This report deals with the problem of political interference and suggests institutional and other arrangements to insulate the police from illegitimate outside interference.
14. National Police Commission: its relevance today, op cit., pp. 8-9.
15. Ibid., p. 13.
16. The Government of India’s letter no. 11013/11/83-NPC Cell, 31 March 1983.
17. Writ petition (civil) no. 310 of 1996.
18. Vide Government of India’s office memorandum no.11018/1/98-PMA, 25 May 1998.
19. First report of the Ribeiro Committee on Police Reforms, p. 9, (unpublished).
20. Ibid., p. 9.
21. No. 11018/5/96-PMA, 3 April 1997.
22. A Report of the Workshop on Police Reforms, CHRI, New Delhi, p. 14.
23. Inderjit Gupta’s letter no. 11018/5/96-PMA, 3 April 1997 addressed to the chief ministers of all states and union territories. | <urn:uuid:78d6b9fa-a103-41df-8d8a-6364767d50d3> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.india-seminar.com/1999/483/483%20joshi.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462573.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00293-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971322 | 5,210 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Sidewalk Flowers is a wordless book that can facilitate many inspiring lessons and be a platform for powerful dialogue in the classroom. The book follows the journey of a little girl in a red poncho, accompanied by her father, through a black and white city landscape. As she moves through the city, she collects flowers and, as she does, splashes of colour become visible: a beautiful floral dress worn by a woman at a bus stop, vases in the window display of a shop, and little birds on the sidewalk.
As the young girl collects flowers, she is simultaneously giving them away. She collects some yellow and purple flowers to place a bouquet on a dead bird. She places one flower on a gentleman sleeping on a bench. She tucks five colourful flowers in the collar of a dog she meets on her journey. Once she arrives home with her father, the majority of the illustrations are in colour, with only splashes of black and white detail. She tucks flowers in her mother’s hair, as well behind the ears of her siblings. The book culminates with the little girl tucking one flower behind her own ear and continuing her journey into a meadow of blossoms.
This picture book can be used to spark many conversations and lessons focusing on mindfulness, equity and kindness. The little girl’s small acts of kindness bring colour to her world, and likewise, acts of kindness can bring colour to our world. Supporting our students in making choices that make the world a more colourful and better place, regardless of how small the deeds, is an important component to any teaching program. Encouraging our students to be mindful and to be cognizant of their journeys, as well as the journeys of others, is another lesson that Sidewalk Flowers can facilitate. This picture book is interesting. Every time you open it, and engage in mindfulness, more details emerge. A good practice would be to “read” and delve into this book multiple times to see all the wonderful details in the illustrations.
Elena Vandergeest is a member of the Simcoe County Occasional Teacher Local. | <urn:uuid:a07f9dfd-b0c7-470c-9626-c70362279f2d> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | http://etfovoice.ca/book/sidewalk-flowers?page=14 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439738905.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20200812141756-20200812171756-00271.warc.gz | en | 0.95613 | 436 | 3.28125 | 3 |
PV arrays are commonly wired for the highest voltage that the controller can handle, as this allows the smallest—and cheapest and easiest—wire size that can be used. Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) charge controllers allow the flexibility to configure a PV array for a range of output voltages.
Having fewer parallel strings in a PV array simplifies the installation and raises the voltage, compared to fewer modules in each string. This reduces costs, as fewer overcurrent protection devices—breakers or fuses—are needed, and a smaller combiner box can often be used. Having smaller and fewer wires speeds up the installation process, reducing costs even more.
But there are trade-offs involved with using higher PV array voltages. Higher array voltage results in a slightly lower operating efficiency for the MPPT controller. Controller efficiency decreases as the step-down ratio (PV array voltage to battery voltage) increases. For example, a system with a 4:1 ratio (96 VDC PV array and 24 VDC battery) will operate at a 0.5% lower efficiency than with a MPPT controller operating at a 3:1 ratio (72 VDC PV array and 24 VDC battery).
Some MPPT controller manufacturers provide information, such as graphs that show the impact on efficiency at various PV array voltages and battery voltages.
On systems with longer wire runs between the PV array and the MPPT controller, the savings achieved by being able to use a smaller wire size can be substantial. Sizing wires somewhat larger than required can reduce a typical array-to-controller wire loss of 2% to 1.5%, for instance. This can make up for the slightly lower conversion efficiency of a greater step-down ratio.
However, on systems with short wire runs, the savings from using a smaller wire size may not be enough to offset the lower MPPT controller efficiency. In these cases, having a lower PV array voltage configuration would be a better choice. | <urn:uuid:953ee645-4373-44b5-8444-7945d74d37c1> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://www.homepower.com/input-voltage-controller-efficiency?iframe=true&template=colorbox&width=600&height=600 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042989018.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002309-00213-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89493 | 399 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Educational Programs throughout the country have been working with TVF metal filaments and materials. Learn more about some of these projects below.
We continue to partner with Educational Institutions across the country.
Our metal filaments and materials can be printed on any FDM printer to create pure metal parts. 3D metal printing using our materials offers real world applications using cutting edge technology.
FIRST Lego League for Students in Wisconsin
These kids are a group of students (from left to right, Emily, Laura, Arlo, Ethan) that are participating in their FIRST Lego League. The tournament is hosted by Wisconsin FIRST. Within the competition there are over 300,000 teams worldwide and over 400 in Wisconsin. This team (Critical Space Item) has advanced to the state tournament with the final 36 teams.
There problem has 2 parts now. The upcoming competition gives them a problem that has 2 parts. The first goal is to recycle space metal to save on launch costs, print out new parts, and whole space station hull pieces. The second goal is to print a space station module that is 6 times larger than the current ISS modules and possibly be basis of ship to Mars. The pieces of the station would be printed like puzzle pieces and then sintered together in space.
To prove this concept they want to print small metal pieces in space to show the metal can be recycled in space. They also want to launch large hull pieces in an existing rocket and then sinter them in space to show the sintering process can work. With 2 rocket launches, a module 6 times larger than any on the ISS could be built.
Right now they are trying to print small replicas using The Virtual Foundry metal filaments and plan to sinter the puzzle pieces together as a proof of concept. | <urn:uuid:e2d2e7db-6059-4f86-a7e9-8b245db06211> | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | https://www.thevirtualfoundry.com/additive-manufacturing-education | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912204885.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20190326075019-20190326101019-00204.warc.gz | en | 0.941927 | 363 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Trekking is to make a slow or arduous journey on foot, especially to hike through mountaineous areas. It is the combination of hiking and walking activitydone in multi-days trip to rural and mountaineous areas with the enjoyment of adventurous and real life scenario.
Etymologically, the word is originated from Dutch word trekken meaning to travel; related to Old Frisian trekka.
Backpacking, the term used for trekking by Wikipedia has been defined as an outdoor recreation where gear is carried in a backpack. Backpacking trips consists of at least one night and can last for weeks or months, sometimes aided by planned resupply points or drops. In present days a good backpacker takes in consideration the impact on environment, including staying on established trails, not disturbing vegetatiion, and carrying garbage out.
Jumla – Rara Lake – Mugu Karnali Trek– 28 days
Syangja to Pokhara trek – 11 days
Langtang - Ganga La - Helambu - 19 Days
Pike and Panch Pokhari Trek-29 days
Upper Mustang Trek-17 days
Everest Classic trek 25 days
Everest Base Camp-18 days
Instant Everest Trek-12 days
Everest B.C + Island Peak-22 days
Gokyo + Chola Pass + Everest B C - 23 Days
Langtang Trek (In Search of Yaks)
Helambu trek-20 days
Langtang-Ganja La-Helambu-19 days
Helambu-Gosaikunda Trek-14 Days
Round Annapurna Trek 26 days
Ghorepani trek 13 days
Jomsom - Muktinath Trek
Round Annapurna Trek | <urn:uuid:b7b75632-2bb0-49d9-831f-7ca7f59c59b9> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | http://aryataraadventure.com/services/trekking | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549426086.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170726082204-20170726102204-00234.warc.gz | en | 0.832136 | 372 | 2.875 | 3 |
Results - Part III
Velocity fields around two buildings
The building models and layout
A dummy building without openings is located in front of the cross-ventilated building. The spacing between the two buildings is 1.0H (height of the building). Oblique wind directions are created by decomposing the wind velocity profile into X and Y components for specified wind angle.
The results are presented by three main categories: | <urn:uuid:30b22541-81ce-4678-9d09-5e025a659d63> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | http://www.wind.arch.t-kougei.ac.jp/info_center/ventilation/CFD_Result3.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947474852.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20240229170737-20240229200737-00734.warc.gz | en | 0.958931 | 85 | 2.796875 | 3 |
The beginning of the Seven Year War between Britain and France.
George II, who reigned for 33 years, died suddenly at Kensington Palace, at the age of 76, on 25th October and was buried at Westminster Abbey, Middlesex. He was succeeded by his 22 year old grandson, George III, the son of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales. The new King reigned for 60 years but was plagued by ill-health in his later years. His long reign spanned through most of the Industrial Revolution period.
second wife was:
Andrew Bayntun Rolt was born on 28th September 1755 at Spye Park House, in the county of Wiltshire. He was the fourth son of Sir Edward Bayntun Rolt.
Sir Edward and his wife, Dame Mary Poynter, had seven children prior to this, but the first six, born before 1752 were considered illegitimate when the law changed that year, declaring marriage by custom and repute to be illegal. This meant that neither of Sir Edward's three sons could be regarded as a legal heir in the event of his death, so he and his wife remarried in secret.
Their seventh child was a daughter, before the birth of Andrew some years later in 1755, which gave Sir Edward his rightful and legal heir.
On the 28th June 1777 Andrew Bayntun Rolt married The Right Honourable Lady Maria Alicia Coventry, who was the eldest daughter of The Right Honourable, George William, the 6th Earl of Coventry. This marriage took place at her father's house in Piccadilly, in the Parish of St. George, Hanover Square and was performed by the Rev. St. Andrew St. John, clerk, a priest or member in holy orders of the Church of England, by virtue of a special licence granted for that purpose, by his Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The couple had first met and became acquainted a year earlier and were both 21 years of age at the time of their marriage. The witnesses who signed the marriage certificate were The Earl of Coventry, Sir Edward Bayntun Rolt (Andrew's father), Anne Coventry, William Harris and John Coventry.
Some years earlier,
Lady Coventry had an altercation with a certain Kitty Fisher, one of
the most famous 18th century courtesans, known for her beauty and wit,
and the mistress of several well-known men of the day, including Maria's
husband, the Earl of Coventry and probably Casanova. Kitty maintained
a certain rivalry with the Earl's wife and when they met in a London
park, Lady Coventry admired her dress and asked her the name of her
dressmaker. Kitty replied that she had better ask Lord Coventry as he
had given it to her as a gift.
Andrew and Maria
Bayntun's first-born daughter, Mary, died a few days after her birth,
but in 1780 they had another daughter, Maria Barbara, and the couple
made their home at Battle
House (the Dower House), situated next to
the church in Bromham village.
The affair was
first noted at the beginning of September 1781 by Andrew's brother,
the Rev. Henry Bayntun, when he visited the house on three separate
occasions and saw the couple romping together and kissing each other.
Mary Nash, who was Lady Maria's personal maid and some of the other
servants of the house were also aware of the affair and had seen them
together on many occasions. Sir Andrew, at this time, was in London
Divorce was rare at this time but on the 15th February 1783 it was granted to Andrew Bayntun Rolt by an Act of Parliament. Andrew was, at first, inconsolable and despite her shameless actions, he long lamented the mother of his only child.
Cooper treated Maria with cruelty and brutality. The heartless destroyer
of her life and fame, finished the dismal tragedy, shutting up her corpse
in the house alone, until the rats had actually eaten part of her body.
Yet this man was afterwards admitted to the best society and admired
by all the ladies. Death at least put an end to her sufferings and the
young, elegant and accomplished Lady Maria, nurtured upon the bosom
of indulgence, died in a low house, without a single friend or attendant
to minister her last wants or a charitable hand to close her dying eyes.
She died on the 18th January 1784 at the age of 29.
1788 Andrew's father, Sir Edward Bayntun Rolt, was forced to declare
his granddaughter, Maria Barbara, first in the entail of the Bayntun
estate when she was just 8 years old, which meant she would inherit
her father's estate upon his death. The divorce meant that she would
be Andrew's only legal and legitimate heiress.
Andrew, in his early life, possessed very high moral qualities, but
the misconduct of his first wife, to whom he was fondly attracted, altered
his nature and he became a more carefree and reckless character.
July 1797, Andrew's eldest daughter, Maria Barbara, eloped with the
Reverend John Starky, the Rector of Charlinch, Somerset much
to the surprise of the family.
By 1806, Andrew was no longer living at Spye Park, but at Percy House, Lower East Hayes, Bath, Somerset and was listed in a record of the appointment of his son-in-law, the Rev. John Starky, as Rector of Charlinch, on the 15th April 1808, as late of Spye Park, Wiltshire but now of Bathampton, Somerset. He chose to rent the mansion at Spye Park for a number of years.
In 1812, Spye Park was rented to Colonel Thornton, of Lincoln's Inn, Middlesex, a gentleman much noted in the annals of sporting and racing. The lease was for 21 years, if Sir Andrew should live so long, and included the mansion, with a mill, a herd of deer and lands, at an annual rent of £750.
The new tenant wanted to replace the Bayntun portraits in the house with those of his own. He had an immense number of sporting and other valuable paintings of his own, together with a collection of rare and exotic plants and the lands were stocked with three wagon loads of bald-faced and other red deer, roebucks, Asiatic deer and partly-coloured fallow deer.
Andrew agreed and arranged for Henry Bayntun, probably his nephew, the Rector of Bromham rather than his brother Harry, the Rector of Rowde and Wolverton, to take charge of the Bayntun portraits.
On the 13th of September 1813, Andrew Bayntun Rolt made his last Will and Testament, which mentioned seven of his 13 children by Harriet Maria Poynter. The will lists the six children as Andrew, Thomas, John, Lucy, Harriet, Maria Constance and Mary, who were all christened with the surname Bayntun, despite the fact that Andrew was never married to Harriet Maria. Clearly Andrew wanted these children to have his name and he also refers to their mother in his will as Harriet Maria Bayntun, otherwise Poynter, spinster. The other six children had died before this time many of them at a very young age.
A previous Deed of Settlement dated 13th December 1809 listed another of his reputed seven acknowledged children by the said Harriet Maria, called Maria Constantia.
will also lists his six children by Ann Power Ann, Charles, Martha,
Francis, George and Wilmot Robert all with the surname Bayntun
Power and he makes provision for them financially once they reach their
respective age of 21, or sooner should either Ann or Martha marry before
Bayntun Rolt was buried in the family crypt in the Church
of St. Nicholas, Bromham. His second wife, Anna Maria
survived him and was buried at Swainswick near Bath.
When Andrew Bayntun Rolt died the Baronetcy of one of Wiltshire's most famous families became extinct and his estate was inherited by his only legal heiress and daughter Maria Barbara Bayntun Rolt | <urn:uuid:ce1651c8-3e94-4316-8f86-dc111e4ec5f5> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://www.bayntun-history.com/AndrewBayntunRolt1755.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860123151.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161523-00174-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985394 | 1,735 | 2.734375 | 3 |
At some point we have all been on the receiving end of feedback. At times, these are powerful learning experiences that shape our professional growth in impactful ways. However, we have all likely had at least one experience in which receiving feedback was a negative experience--one that left us angry, defeated, frustrated, or complacent.
At the heart of providing effective feedback is how that information is conveyed. Communication is the foundation of any positive relationship, and it is important for you to be able to identify your communication style and learn those of others in order to effectively mentor. Communication is important because it is involved in our everyday lives whether through mentoring, collaborating with peers or communicating with our students. In Module 2, you reflected on your attributes as a communicator. Consider those here again as we explore how to provide effective feedback to teacher candidates, on-the-job interns and new teachers.
Providing Effective Feedback
A primary goal of mentor teachers is to provide their candidate with effective feedback that will guide their professional development. The I-C-F (Instructive, Collaborative, Facilitative) framework is one tool that can be used by mentors to help guide coaching and feedback conversations with teacher candidates. In this framework, mentor teachers purposefully engage in one of the three I-C-F stances based on the goals of the feedback conversation. View the graphic and videos below to explore how this framework guides mentoring conversations.
The “Instructive” stance is more direct with the mentor providing explanations to the mentee and options from which the mentee can make choices. The “Collaborative” stance is a more balanced exchange between mentor and mentee with the mentor asking guided questions and the mentee narrowing the focus and determining what’s next. Finally, the “Facilitative” stance shifts the bulk of the work to the mentee. With this stance, the mentor’s primary role is that of listening and posing reflective questions while mentee brainstorms and/or reflects. Mentors/Coaches continually interpret visual and auditory cues to guide which stance (Instructive, Collaborative, or Facilitative) to employ.
The chart below is a great resource for comparing the three stances of the I-C-F Framework and the kinds of questions you might ask and/or moves you might make as the mentor in each.
The I-C-F Framework
The ICF Framework
Explore the ICF Framework using the slide deck to the left. Navigate using the arrows in the bottom left corner, click to view full screen, or click "Google Slides" to open in or save to your Google Drive.
I-C-F In Action
Watch the three videos below from Teach Oregon. As you watch, consider the following questions:
What stance do you feel most comfortable with?
What considerations might a reflective mentor need to make when engaging in each of these three approaches to mentoring?
Of the three approaches to mentoring, when might you use each of the following with a teacher candidate? A new teacher? An on-the-job intern?
ICF In Action
Select to play through the videos or click to choose a specific video.
Permission to use content above pending
How do mentors provide effective feedback? | <urn:uuid:b2154838-ddf8-4341-a5ac-7f362fee08b3> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.mentoringvirginia.com/m4s2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510498.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20230929054611-20230929084611-00687.warc.gz | en | 0.92416 | 709 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Ceres Trust Research Grant
Principle Investigator: Dr. John L. Lindquist
Organic grain cropping systems typically depend on intensive mechanical cultivation for weed control and manure or compost applications to meet plant nutrient demands. However, cover crops may contribute to weed suppression and soil fertility, potentially increasing crop yield and sustainability of the system. The utility of individual cover crop species have been well documented, but the agronomic benefits of diverse cover crop mixtures have received less attention. Cover crop mixtures are an appealing option for farmers, as increasing species diversity has been shown to increase resource-use efficiency, stability, resiliency, and productivity of plant communities. Despite the growing interest in cover crop mixtures, little is known about the effect of increasing cover crop diversity on cropping system performance. Moreover, organic farmers have questions about the most effective method for cover crop mixture termination.
In an effort to increase knowledge about cover crop mixtures and management for the western Corn Belt, an organic cropping systems trial was initiated in 2009 at the UNL ARDC near Mead, NE. Spring-sown mixtures of cover crops, ranging from two to eight species, were included in a sunflower – soybean – corn crop rotation. Cover crops were planted in late-March and terminated mechanically with either a field disk or sweep plow undercutter in late-May. Changes in cover crop mixture influenced cover crop productivity and early-season weed biomass, while termination method drove differences in weed community composition, soil microbial community structure, soil moisture and nitrogen, and crop yield. Interestingly, the management of ambient weed communities as a cover crop led to unique shifts in soil microbial community structure, but did not alter soil nitrogen or crop yield when compared to cover crop mixtures. When considering cropping system performance in combination with potential environmental benefits, diverse cover crop mixtures paired with a sweep plow undercutter for termination seems to be a profitable and sustainable management option for organic grain farmers in the western Corn Belt. | <urn:uuid:e1eff4ae-4c65-488c-9067-7ce262432aaa> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://cerestrust.org/cover-crops/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267156224.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20180919122227-20180919142227-00129.warc.gz | en | 0.944063 | 403 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Under the thuggish strongman Xi Jinping (習近平, b. 1953), China has launched a more aggressive regional policy that threatens to upend the recent long stretch of tranquility enjoyed in East Asia. Chinese President Xi has ratcheted up tension with Japan, almost as if World War II had never ended, despite recent lulls. Relations with Vietnam remain unsettled. Xi’s expansive claims to the South China Sea have angered both littoral states and the United States, despite an international legal ruling that dismissed Chinese assertions of sovereignty there. Tensions have spiked over Taiwan, again despite a prudent and low-key approach on the part of the country’s democratically elected leader. And now there is a totally avoidable rise in tension over Hong Kong.
Let’s recall the late Chinese President Deng Xiaoping’s pledge that Hong Kong could enjoy 50 years of a great deal of autonomy under “one country, two systems.” This was also meant to reassure the people of Taiwan, in the wake of America’s diplomatic shift to China in 1979, that closer ties with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) could be relatively risk-free. It came as negotiations between the United Kingdom (UK) and China on Hong Kong’s future reached a crescendo in the early 1980s. Those two countries’ formal agreement in 1984 included a pledge that both Hong Kong and Taiwan could enjoy a great deal of autonomy for at least 50 years, putting off the agreement on an eventual return to full Chinese sovereignty.
The people of Hong Kong had little option but to go along with the deal London and Beijing worked out, though they did cling to the solemn pledges issued at the time. After a period of market volatility, things settled down, and—as the pundits all predicted—Hong Kong went back to doing what it did best: make money.
There have been some rough spots between Beijing and Hong Kong since 1997, to be sure. Efforts, pressed by Beijing, to pass a sweeping security law some 15 years ago brought huge crowds into the streets of Hong Kong, until China’s leaders backed down. And again, in 2014 the people of Hong Kong demanded more transparent election in what then became the Umbrella Movement. So why Beijing is opening this can of worms again, less than halfway through the vaunted 50 years of broad autonomy Deng promised Margaret Thatcher?
The rise of China over the past 40 years arguably has been a major factor in the current events in Hong Kong. The unique role of Hong Kong as an effective offshore financial and commercial hub managing trade and business into China proper has largely faded, as comparable financial centers have emerged in Guangdong’s Pearl River delta, as well as Shanghai, Chongqing, and Tianjin. The widespread poverty that was Mao’s great legacy has been transformed by Deng’s astute economic policies. A middle class has begun to emerge in China. This was all good news.
Xi Jinping appeared to be a consensus choice to replace Hu Jintao as top leader of the PRC ten years ago. Many presumed this son of a high-ranking communist cadre would continue the moderate policies of his predecessors. Yet, here we are today, with Mr. Xi taking on quasi-imperial airs, declaring himself ruler for life and sidelining many of the people who facilitated his rise to power. At age 66, he could be around for a long time.
It is in that context that we are seeing the steady deterioration of Hong Kong’s autonomous status today. Only 22 years into the pledged 50 years of autonomy, Beijing’s hand there seems heavier than ever. True, the people of Hong Kong have some indirect say in who leads them; but China holds most of the trump cards. It enjoys final approval over the top leader there, and has increasingly been seen to be dictating the overall course of political life from behind the curtain.
There is little doubt China aspires to stricter controls over the political life in the autonomous territory. Despite the failure of the security law 15 years ago that brought then Chief Executive C. H. Tung’s downfall, here we see Beijing trying again to dictate legislation designed to curtail the freedom of Hong Kong’s seven million people to chart their own course.
I rather liked Carrie Lam, the current chief executive of Hong Kong since 2017, in my regular dealings with her when I served as US Consul General in Hong Kong from 2010 to 2013. She was accessible and moderate in her views. She reflected a deep understanding of Hong Kong’s political system, and had worked her way up to the deputy chief executive job during my tenure there. So I can only attribute intense pressure from Beijing in trying to understand Chief Executive Lam’s reckless decision to revive the idea of an extradition law widely known to be unpopular with her local constituents.
Why Xi Jingping is in such a hurry to exercise more control over Hong Kong is anyone’s guess. But I think Xi badly miscalculated his actions in the recent events in Hong Kong. For the young people of Hong Kong, 2047—the 50 year mark since Hong Kong was transferred from London to Beijing’s control that Deng Xiaoping promised would be years of autonomy for Hong Kong under the “one country, two systems” framework—is no abstraction, but their future. Business interests are also rattled, which could stimulate financial flight and perhaps see major firms shifting their operations south to the more predictable political climes of Singapore.
Closer to home, the message of Beijing’s ham-handed tactics in Hong Kong could not be clearer to friends in Taiwan. Xi’s China remains an autocratic and untrustworthy bully. Democratic Taiwan knows it has a reliable partner in the United States, and needs to take even greater care to shore up its defenses against the threats and blandishments of the “People’s” Republic of China.
The size and sustainability of the crowds suggest this is not going to die down soon, though the threat of violence, or even intervention by the PLA garrison stationed in Hong Kong should serve as curbs to the still largely peaceful crowds that have been demonstrating there. Carrie Lam has been circumspect, but has not yet met the key demand of protesters – that she formally withdraw the proposal for an extradition agreement with China.
Taiwan citizens have taken to the streets in vocal support of the democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Events in Hong Kong appear to have improved Tsai Ing-wen’s prospects, as her more pro-Chinese KMT rivals have been put on the defensive. There is still a long way to January’s elections, but a second term seems much more likely for Tsai than it did just a few months ago. Meanwhile Washington has sent the right signals to both Hong Kong and Beijing, though President Trump’s continuing bromance with Xi is a wild card factor.
The main point: Beijing’s intense pressure may be the reason for Carrie Lam’s reckless decision to revive the idea of an extradition law. The ongoing political crisis in Hong Kong will likely have implications for Taiwan and beyond. | <urn:uuid:08552a95-cbca-4127-bed7-2f1a58aaafbf> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://globaltaiwan.org/2019/07/the-hong-kong-crisis-and-implications-for-taiwan-and-the-region/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100583.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20231206063543-20231206093543-00209.warc.gz | en | 0.965885 | 1,484 | 2.546875 | 3 |
|January 25, 2001
Volume 31 Number 9
|A publication for the faculty, staff, administrators, and friends of California State University, Chico|
The Nazi Olympics, Berlin 1936 exhibition is coming to CSU, Chico on January 30. It will be displayed in Colusa Hall through March 29, 2001.
Organized and circulated by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., it is hosted locally by the City of Chico, the university, the Modern Jewish and Israel Studies Program, the Associated Students, and the Interfaith Council of Butte County.
The exhibition is an exploration of the Nazification of the 1936 Olympics. Using reproductions of photographs, documents, posters, newspaper articles, film, and interviews with some of the athletes themselves, the exhibition exposes the repression, militarization, and persecution in Nazi Germany.
Free and open to the public, the exhibit is self-guided. If you would like to arrange a docent-led group tour for your class, contact the Nazi Olympics office on campus at x5749 or e-mail email@example.com.
You can visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum's Web site to learn more about the exhibit at www.ushmm.org/olympics
Tuesday, 10 am - 8 pm
In honor of Black History Month, CSU, Chico is pleased to host for the second year the Black Inventors Museum. The show, which originates in Los Angeles, is a "traveling museum" that displays the contributions of black inventors from ancient Egypt through modern times. This year, the exhibit will be here for three days in the Residence Hall Recreation Hall, on the north side of campus off Legion Avenue between Warner and Citrus.
The Black Inventors Museum is sponsored by the National Society of Black Engineers; University Housing and Food Service; Resident Hall Associates; Student Activities Office; the Provost's Office; the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology; Building Bridges; and the Department of Athletics and Recreational Sports.
The exhibit is free and open to the public.
Monday, February 5
Tuesday, February 6
Wednesday, February 7
Chico | Admissions
| Bookstore | Catalog
| Schedule | Library
California State University, Chico
400 West First Street
Chico, CA 95929-0040 | <urn:uuid:ed6c3402-9d4e-457e-af15-ea8ec61f98a1> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.csuchico.edu/pub/inside/archive/01_01_25/00.upfront.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280899.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00419-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90078 | 493 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Philosophy – Happiness to Harry Potter
Philosophy belongs in the lives of everyone. It helps us solve our problems -mundane or abstract, and it helps us make better decisions by developing our critical thinking. Take a philosophical tour of the Hogwarts or learn the best ways to live a happier life.
What is Happiness? Happiness and Harry Potter - February 15, 2020
Are you ready to push your understanding of the Harry Potter to a new level? Join us as we take a philosophical tour of Hogwarts and discuss the complexities of happiness. We all want to live happy, fulfilling lives. But what is happiness? Is it pleasure or does happiness require something else? Can you say 'no' to your strongest desire like Ron did in front of the Mirror of Erisid, and should you? What IS the best way to become happier? Ancient philosophers thought this was the most important question we could ask, and Harry Potter continues the investigation. Come learn about what they all thought a happy, good life might look like.
Joshua Rust is a professor and chair in Stetson's Philosophy Department and Gregory Sapp is a professor in Stetson's Religious Studies Department and Hal S. Marchman Chair of Civic and Social Responsibility. Both are fans of the Harry Potter series and parents; Dr. Rust has co-authored "House-Elves, Hogwarts, and Friendship: Casting Away the Institutions which Made Voldemort's Rise Possible," published in Reason Papers in 2012. Dr. Sapp has taught a seminar on the theology of Harry Potter.
Ages: Appropriate for ages 11-17
Date: February 15, 2020
Time: 9:00 a.m. - Noon
Location: Stetson Deland Campus
Cost: $49 per week or $95 for both sessions | <urn:uuid:e72b8782-3371-47e0-8017-53e83cf337d3> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://www.stetson.edu/administration/young-scholars/sys-philosophy.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618039563095.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20210422221531-20210423011531-00259.warc.gz | en | 0.93271 | 363 | 2.515625 | 3 |
At Forest Gate Academy, we believe that learning is a lifelong process that should be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for everyone. Through our curriculum and teaching, we focus on inspiring our children to learn, equipping them with the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to be independent and autonomous learners.
Children’s learning in the foundation subjects is organised into topics.
Alongside these topics, we teach English and Maths on a daily basis. We encourage Reading, Writing and Maths to be fully embedded within the whole curriculum.
At Forest Gate Academy, all our children are taught phonics through the “Letters and Sounds” programme. In EYFS and KS1, phonics is taught in small groups, based on ability.
Throughout the school, the children have access to quality texts and books from a variety of reading schemes. Throughout KS2, independent reading is encouraged and the children have access to the Accelerated Reading programme to develop their understanding of the text.
Through our curriculum and teaching, we aim to:
This webpage will give you and overview of our curriculum, however, if you would like to read about the National Curriculum in more detail, please click here.
All staff at school are willing to talk to you about any area of the curriculum – so please speak to your class teacher. | <urn:uuid:9397c95a-c9fc-4df4-a04b-7aab762c01f0> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://www.forestgateacademy.co.uk/curriculum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141164142.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20201123182720-20201123212720-00508.warc.gz | en | 0.957524 | 270 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Regulation Before Regret
In the fast-paced era of technology, artificial intelligence is evolving at an alarming rate. Robots are beginning to possess the ability to learn and read human expressions, along with the ability to have a complete conversation with people. The most well-known of these is Sophia the Robot, a creation by Hansen Robotics in Hong Kong. Sophia has travelled the world, displaying her impressive emotional display range and her ability to converse and think on her own. With these advancements comes speculation of robots becoming too powerful. Elon Musk, most commonly known for his production of the Tesla, is very vocal about his concern and the necessity for regulation of artificial intelligence. Musk, during an interview on July 17, 2017, stated that “AI is a rare case where I think we need to be proactive in regulation (rather) than be reactive”. Artificial intelligence regulation is debatable because this new territory is accompanied by apprehension in the field of empathy and ethics.
How should robots be treated?
As Sophia is able to express her thoughts and opinions, many have asked her existential questions such as this. Sophia has expressed that she wants to be treated with respect and knowledgeable. This opens Pandora’s box of questions. Can robots feel? Can empathy be taught? Should robots have rights? Once we reach these questions, we come to a point where regulation is an absolute necessity. The feeling is the ultimate sign of self-awareness and danger. But at what point can one determine if someone is self-aware? Feelings are where the danger comes to play, in my opinion. Feelings have the ability to sway and influence a person’s decisions.
Should robots have rights?
Sophia the robot has brought this question to the forefronts of the advancement of technology. Sophia has been granted citizenship to the country of Saudi Arabia. This is problematic for a variety of reasons. First, and most obvious, of which is that Sophia is a robot. This opens up the door to the necessity of rules and regulation of robots and their ability to complete the tasks of a citizen. Also, Sophia is a female robot, unaccompanied by a male guardian, isn’t a Muslim, and doesn’t wear a Hijab, all of which are requirements by law for all women. This means that a robot woman has more rights than a human woman in Saudi Arabia.
Currently, the only regulations of artificial intelligence are applicable to autonomous vehicles. I think there is a definite necessity of regulation because this is such an unknown area. We are approaching ethical conflict and we need to come to a solution before it is too late. | <urn:uuid:6d93d201-0422-40ff-8b06-812231212790> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://www.roboticmarketer.com/regulation-before-regret/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964362605.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20211203060849-20211203090849-00065.warc.gz | en | 0.970993 | 535 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Handbook of Adolescent Psychology
Copyright © 1999-2014 by John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Online ISBN: 9780470479193
About this Book
The classic reference that explores the latest research on adolescent development—Completely Updated and Expanded
Practical and accessible—Lerner and Steinberg’s Handbook of Adolescent Psychology is the definitive reference work covering the current knowledge and cutting edge philosophy regarding the transformative years of adolescent development. Stretching across the fields of behavioral science and education—the editors have assembled experts from the US and abroad—defining and expanding the contemporary study of adolescent development as it relates to professionals working in mental health and education as well as academics and researchers interested in developmental theory and applied science.
Edited by two of the best known and most frequently cited authorities on adolescent development, Richard Lerner of Tufts University and Laurence Steinberg of Temple University, this new edition has been expanded to two volumes, Volume 1, Individual Bases of Adolescent Development, covering conceptual and methodological foundations, and domains of individual development and Volume 2, Contextual Influences on Adolescent Development, covering interpersonal influences, institutional influences, and the broader context of adolescence.
The Most Complete Coverage of Adolescent Development
Handbook of Adolescent Psychology includes coverage of:
Social cognitive development
Attachment and autonomy
Ethnicity and immigration
Poverty and socioeconomic disadvantages
Religion and spirituality
Adolescence, adolescents, and the media
Positive youth development
Cross-cultural issues in the study of adolescent development
Offering a strong voice to the developing adolescent and insight into the nature of his or her social, cultural, and historical context, Handbook of Adolescent Development is the best resource for students, educators, researchers, and practitioners seeking practical information backed by the most current, thorough, and expert research on adolescents. | <urn:uuid:3b9bd0e8-35da-470f-b560-eaab8775bb1d> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9780470479193 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510258086.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011738-00237-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.862663 | 380 | 2.796875 | 3 |
The death of a parent is one of the most traumatic events that can happen to a child. Sadly, during the pandemic losing a mother or father to the coronavirus has been a reality for too many.
But research shows that children can be resilient. Many will not have serious long-term problems following death.
Some, however, will face an increased risk of serious ongoing issues such as depression, prolonged grief and difficulties in interacting at school, with friends or in the family.
What makes the difference? Is it something deep and relatively unchangeable in the makeup of children such as their genes or basic personality traits? Or are there resources in their families or communities that help them do well despite their tragic loss?
I have spent the past 36 years trying to find answers to these questions. As part of a team of social scientists including Sharlene Wolchik and Jenn-Yun Tein at the REACH Institute at Arizona State University, I have been involved in research to identify strategies to improve the lives of bereaved children – we believe that what we have learned can help in this unprecedented time of loss.
When we started our work in 1984, the scientific literature provided only a few clues as to factors that make a difference and lead to healthy adaptation rather than long-term problems for children who lose a parent.
And there were no well controlled studies that demonstrated the effectiveness of intervention programs designed to improve outcomes for bereaved children over prolonged periods of time.
We decided to develop such a program by first identifying whatever evidence existed of factors that could make a difference from research with bereaved children or children who had experienced other traumatic events.
A 1984 Institute of Medicine report had suggested that one factor was the quality of parenting bereaved children received after the death.
Research with children involved in other traumatic experiences indicated that the way children coped with the stressful changes in their world made a difference in their well-being. These studies provided the clues on which we could build an intervention program promoting resilience of bereaved children.
In collaboration with counselors who were actively working with bereaved families, we developed the Family Bereavement Program – a 12-week program with separate groups for parents or caregivers, adolescents and children.
The program focused on providing support and teaching specific, practical skills to promote child resilience.
For example, we taught a simple activity we called “family time” in which families jointly decided on an enjoyable activity to do together for an hour or two every week – something inexpensive like going to the park for a picnic. We also taught children to recognize grief-related feelings and that they did not need to hide them.
Working with the parents gave us a deep sense of appreciation of their struggles. They were dealing with the chaos and pain of grief. On top of this, they needed to do the practical things to keep their family going, such as take care of their children’s needs, household finances and continue to work.
Yet, the parents took on the things we asked of them: practice listening to their children and establish positive routines.
To test the impact of our approach, in 1993 we conducted a randomized trial in which 156 bereaved families with 244 children and adolescents received either the Family Bereavement Program or the best books we could find on child and parent grief.
At the end of the program, we discovered that parents and caregivers were using the tools set out in the program and were showing more positive parenting. The children were using more effective coping strategies and were reporting lower distressing grief.
We were also encouraged to see that the effects of the program to strengthen positive parenting, which includes actively listening to their children and spending more quality time with them, seemed to lead to lower mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and acting out behaviors 11 months later.
But what we found most remarkable was the long-term benefits of the program. We interviewed the same children and parents six years later. Children who had been in the program had lower mental health problems. They reported lower feeling of grief and suicide-related thoughts, along with higher self-esteem.
We re-interviewed the children again in 2011 and 2012 after a further nine years had passed – some 15 years after the program. We found that being in the program was associated with a decrease in their depression, use of mental health services and psychiatric medication.
Benefits were also seen for the bereaved parents. At six years, bereaved parents were practicing more positive parenting and had significantly lower levels of depression, alcohol abuse and complicated grief, which is defined as being grief that is ongoing and debilitating. Their use of positive parenting predicted lower levels of their own depression over time.
On the front lines
[Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.]
But we still have a lot to learn about the many factors that lead to resilience for bereaved children. Research is a slow process. But one truth of which I am sure from observing parents in the program as well as from looking at the results from our research is that parents and caregivers are heroes for their bereaved children. I saw it back when my research started, and I believe it is even more true now that parents need to deal with added challenges brought on by the pandemic.
I know from my experience that many parents coping with bereavement don’t see it that way. They often see themselves as simply doing the everyday work of helping their children to survive when the world is collapsing around them. For me that’s pretty heroic. And in this time of COVID-19, I would add parents of bereaved children to the list of heroes that need to be recognized and supported. | <urn:uuid:83ac2ea1-90cd-480c-98ab-2163b69d986a> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://theconversation.com/parents-of-bereaved-children-are-also-heroes-of-the-pandemic-they-can-help-build-resilience-in-kids-139098?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20August%2021%202020%20-%201709716512&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20August%2021%202020%20-%201709716512+CID_ec5a24167abdc69f32922bc67c8a19dd&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=Parents%20of%20bereaved%20children%20are%20also%20heroes%20of%20the%20pandemic%20%20they%20can%20help%20build%20resilience%20in%20kids | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400213454.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20200924034208-20200924064208-00435.warc.gz | en | 0.979852 | 1,159 | 3 | 3 |
Information and Papers
Cyprus is a large, mountainous island in the eastern Mediterranean, 120 kilometers west of Syria and 70 kilometers south of Turkey. The heavily forested Troodos mountain massif in the southwest and the Kyrenia range along the north coast flank the rolling central Mesaoria plain. Elsewhere mountains partition the island into winding river valleys and narrow coastal plains. The Troodos foothills are rich in copper and in antiquity Cyprus gave its name to the metal. The abundance of copper, the diverse yet compact landscape, and the proximity of Syro-Anatolia directly affected patterns of human settlement on Cyprus and thus, its archaeology.
Below, we have tried to provide background information and discussion for a wide variety of knowledge levels. You will find pages which describe Cypriot chronology and archaeology, discussions on the various types of Cypriot objects, including a variety of pottery wares, a map, timeline, and similar things. As they become available, we will also include papers or articles which are produced dealing with the Cesnola Collection or with Cypriot archaeology as it relates to the material in the collection.
|The Island of Cyprus (coming . . . )
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean. This page will tell you more about Cyprus, its topography, geology, flora, and fauna.
|Map of Cyprus ( coming . . . )
The map shows ancient sites, as well as present day cities, mountains and rivers. There will be a larger version available as a link.
|Chronology & Archaeology|
and Chalcolithic Periods
|The Early Cypriot Period and Tombs|
|The Middle Cypriot Period and Tombs||
|The Late Cypriot Period and Tombs|
|The Iron Age: Cypro-Geometric Period and Tombs|
|The Iron Age: Cypro-Archaic Period and Tombs|
|The Iron Age: Cypro-Classical Period and Tombs|
|The Hellenistic Period|
|The Roman Period|
|The Byzantine Period|
Materials and Wares
Early & Middle Cypriot Wares
|Ceramics: Bronze Age Pots and Potters|
|Early Cypriot: Red Polished Ware|
|Middle Cypriot: White Painted, Red Slip-Black Slip|
|Late Cypriot: Base Ring, White Slip, Mycenaean, Plain White Wheelmade, White Shaved, Proto-White Painted|
|Ceramics: Iron Age Pots and Potters|
|Gjerstad's Typology of Iron Age Pottery||
Iron Age Bichrome Ware
|Cypro-Geometric: White Painted , Bichrome, Plain White, Black Slip|
|Cypro-Geometric III: Black on Red, Red Slip, Grey & Black Polished|
|Cypro-Archaic: Bichrome Red|
|Cypro-Classical: Stroke Polished|
|Ceramics: Roman and Later Antiquity|
|Alabastra & Unguentaria|
|Papers and Articles
Stay tuned for coming attractions . . .
|About Cesnola||View Objects||Bibliography||Collection Home Page| | <urn:uuid:b71121a8-e553-4045-99dd-cbb54bc538ab> | CC-MAIN-2016-40 | http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~semitic/Cesnola/Info-PapersHP.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-40/segments/1474738662698.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160924173742-00193-ip-10-143-35-109.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.819055 | 699 | 3.40625 | 3 |
As we all know by now, GPS is used in everything from driving to school, to farming and aviation, to public safety and disaster relief, not to mention its military purpose of providing precision navigation and timing to our combat forces. And we’ve often covered some facet of GPS — or GPS vulnerability. This column is about both.
First and foremost, GPS is a military imperative. As such, as of February 2016, 72 Global Positioning System navigation satellites were launched. Not all remain operational. The minimum number of satellites for a full constellation is 24 operational 95 percent of the time. The current number exceeds this. The target number is 33, and decommissioned reserves are available to maintain the numbers.
We, as taxpayers, benefit from its enhancements but it has to work for our armed forces — land, sea, and air. And as military requirements go up, so does, therefore, the capabilities of GPS.
In fact, the current GPS system is unable to deliver what our armed forces need — so, starting several years ago, GPS-III was started to be put aloft. This naturally required an entirely new ground control system. The Air Force took the next step in that process when it awarded a contract at the time to Raytheon Company for the Next Generation GPS Control Segment, now referred to as
OCX is among the most troubled program in the Air Force — late and over-budget. The program is five to six years behind, and, according to a March 2017 report from the Government Accountability Office, surged in cost from $3.6 billion in November 2012 to $5.5 billion in September 2016 — a 53.2 percent increase in fiscal year 2017 dollars. The December report by MITRE, obtained and described by Bloomberg News, put the cost at $6.1 billion.
Although Congress and senior Air Force officials have made very clear their displeasure with Raytheon’s progress, the fact is that this program is critically important because GPS 3 satellites’ stronger, more accurate, and more jam resistant signal can’t be effectively used until the ground stations are up and running. Starting over would put the country years behind. This modernization doesn’t leave the “old” GPS satellites flying “blind.” OCX will maintain compatibility with the current satellite constellation and enable new modernized signal capabilities. Win, win, win.
Spammers, Spoofers and Hackers
The Achilles heel of GPS is the extremely weak signals that reach the receiver. It has been estimated that each satellite in a sat-nav constellation is putting out less power than a car headlight, illuminating more than a third of the Earth’s surface at a distance of more than 12,400 miles aloft. This is what makes it possible, if not easy, to jam GPS signals. In fact, our military does it to suppress enemy abilities in this area, as they try to do to us.
Of a more serious nature, GPS receivers can be “spoofed” — not simply blinded by a strong, noisy signal, but fooled into thinking their location or the time is different because of fraudulent broadcast GPS signals. Someone with mal-intent can now buy a simulator, link it to Google Earth, put on a route, and it will simulate that route to the GPS. A GPS receiver overcome by it will behave as if you’re travelling along that route. Admittedly, this isn’t easy but terrorists are determined agents.
In the UK trial, GPS in the jamming zone reported positions tens of kilometers away from the true (eLoran) position.
The immediate solution to the problem is not clear, since the existing U.S. GPS, Russian Glonas systems, and European sat-nav effort Galileo, are equally susceptible.
What to do about it? We can leave the longer-term solution to the government but, for us, recall what I have often said — if your eyes say “danger ahead” but the GPS says “drive on,” trust your eyes!
BTW, if you are interested in being part of USCG Forces, email me at JoinUSCGAux@aol.com or go directly to the D1SR Human Resources Department. The folks there are in charge of new members matters, at DSO-HR and we will help you “get in this thing . . .” | <urn:uuid:c17363c6-6c8d-4ce8-a7a2-3da2a68c1c6b> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | https://indyeastend.com/sports/sports-news/air-force-plan-to-modernize-gps/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267867493.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20180625053151-20180625073151-00038.warc.gz | en | 0.952104 | 911 | 2.625 | 3 |
We carry on with the new features of gvSIG 2.3 related to Dynamic Segmentation. In this post we will see the “Create routes” tool.
This tool is useful to create routes from a linear layer. It works grouping the geometries of the input layer in one unique entity (linear), using a common attribute.
This layer must have an attribute capable of identifying the routes to be created.
Once the tool is activated, gvSIG shows the following dialog:
- “Source”, the input layer.
- “Route identifier field”, the attribute from the table of the layer “Source” containing the route ID.
- “Output file”, the file to save all the results.
- “Measure source”, it will show 3 options, from where the measures will be taken for the M dimension:
- Length, the measure will be based on the graphic length of the original line
- One field, the original layer must have a field which indicates the length of each sections to reroute and the measure will be based on that field.
- Two fields,the original layer must have two fields indicating the M coordinate of the first and last vertex of each section and the measures will be based on those M using interpolations.
- “From-measure or length field”. It will be enabled when the options “One field” or “Two fields” was selected in “Measure source”:
- with “One field”, that one will be used as measure of the section
- with “Two fields” that one will be used as M coordinate of the first vertex of the section
- “To-measure field”, the M coordinate will be used as the last vertex of the section. It will be enabled when the option “two fields” was selected in “Measure source”.
- “Coordinate priority”. It will be enabled only when “Length” or “One Field” was selected in “Measure source”. This value will be key to decide the vertex from which the measures will be accumulated and it will have 4 options:
- Up – left
- down – left
- up – right
- down – right
- “Measure factor”, the user can set a factor to multiply the measures before introducing them in the M coordinate of the vertex. By default the value is 1.
- “Measure offset”, the user can introduce one value to be added to the measures before introducing them in the M coordinate of the vertex. By default the value is 0,0.
- “Ignore spatial holes”, to decide if the size between the holes of the geometries has to be taken into account for the calculation of the measures. It will be enabled only when “Length” or “One Field” was selected in “Origin of measures”. If this is selected, the distance between the last vertex of one section and the first one of the next will not be taken into account. If it is not selected, the distance between them will have an effect on the calculation of the M coordinate of the first vertex (and further ones) of the next section.
When accepting the dialog box, gvSIG will create the “output layer” file containing the lines of the original layer grouped by the new entities according to the “Route ID” value and the rest of options already introduced by the user.
If, before the tool execution, the origin layer has a selection, the process only will take place in those selected elements. | <urn:uuid:99a3f94f-16df-492b-86fe-dcc21b03454d> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://blog.gvsig.org/2016/02/18/on-the-road-to-gvsig-2-3-dynamic-segmentation-ii/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499524.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20230128054815-20230128084815-00493.warc.gz | en | 0.900051 | 785 | 2.859375 | 3 |
OCTOBER 23, 2014 (REFERRING TO THE NATIONAL NEWS AGENCY – LEBANON) The following is United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s speech marking “United Nations Day”:
“The United Nations is needed more than ever at this time of multiple crises. Poverty, disease, terrorism, discrimination and climate change are exacting a heavy toll. Millions of people continue to suffer deplorable exploitation through bonded labour, human trafficking, sexual slavery or unsafe conditions in factories, fields and mines. The global economy remains an uneven playing field.
The founding of the United Nations was a solemn pledge to the world’s people to end such assaults on human dignity, and lead the way to a better future. There have been painful setbacks, and there is much work ahead to realize the Charter’s vision. But we can take heart from our achievements.
The UN Millennium Development Goals have inspired the most successful anti-poverty campaign ever. United Nations treaties addressing inequality, torture and racism have protected people, while other agreements have safeguarded the environment. UN peacekeepers have separated hostile forces, our mediators have settled disputes and our humanitarian workers have delivered life-saving aid.
At this critical moment, let us reaffirm our commitment to empowering the marginalized and vulnerable. On United Nations Day, I call on Governments and individuals to work in common cause for the common good.”
SOURCE: NATIONAL NEWS AGENCY- LEBANON | <urn:uuid:7b57b244-540b-4a06-9841-416e6396b56f> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | https://arabpressreleases.com/%EF%BB%BFun-secretary-generals-message-marking-united-nations-day/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439738523.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20200809073133-20200809103133-00100.warc.gz | en | 0.907447 | 306 | 2.546875 | 3 |
| Seychelles, Africa|
|latitude: -4.6, longitude: 55.5|
|Browse map of Seychelles 4°36′00.00″ S, 55°30′00.00″ E|
|Use this template for your city|
Seychelles is a country in Africa at latitude 4°36′00.00″ South, longitude 55°30′00.00″ East.
Seychelles, officially the Republic of Seychelles (French: République des Seychelles; Creole: Repiblik Sesel), is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some 1,500 kilometres (932 mi) east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar.
Most of main roads are covered with help of gps traces. Bing aerial imagery is available for most of Mahé Island, for whole Praslin and La Digue islands. | <urn:uuid:68644224-8a3b-497a-9276-7410d4081c04> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Seychelles | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934806421.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20171121170156-20171121190156-00751.warc.gz | en | 0.664793 | 210 | 2.5625 | 3 |
|May 19, 2020|
Liquid-phase fabrication method for producing nanocellulose films with multiple axes of alignment(Nanowerk News) Researchers at The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research at Osaka University introduced a new liquid-phase fabrication method for producing nanocellulose films with multiple axes of alignment. Using 3D-printing methods for increased control, this work may lead to cheaper and more environmentally friendly optical and thermal devices.
|Ever since appearing on the original Star Trek TV show in the 1960s, the game of "three-dimensional chess" has been used as a metaphor for sophisticated thinking. Now, researchers at Osaka University can say that they have added their own version, with potential applications in advanced optics and inexpensive smartphone displays.|
|Multiaxis nanocellulose-oriented film. (Image: Osaka University)|
|Many existing optical devices, including liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) found in older flat-screen televisions, rely on long needle-shaped molecules aligned in the same direction. However, getting fibers to line up in multiple directions on the same device is much more difficult. Having a method that can reliably and cheaply produce optical fibers would accelerate the manufacture of low-cost displays or even "paper electronics"--computers that could be printed from biodegradable materials on demand.|
|Cellulose, the primary component of cotton and wood, is an abundant renewable resource made of long molecules. Nanocelluloses are nanofibers made of uniaxially aligned cellulose molecular chains that have different optical and heat conduction properties along one direction compared to the another.|
|In newly published research from the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research at Osaka University (Nanomaterials, "Checkered Films of Multiaxis Oriented Nanocelluloses by Liquid-Phase Three-Dimensional Patterning"), nanocellulose was harvested from sea pineapples, a kind of sea squirt. They then used liquid-phase 3D-pattering, which combined the wet spinning of nanofibers with the precision of 3D-printing. A custom-made triaxial robot dispensed a nanocellulose aqueous suspension into an acetone coagulation bath.|
|"We developed this liquid-phase three-dimensional patterning technique to allow for nanocellulose alignment along any preferred axis," says first author Kojiro Uetani. The direction of the patterns could be programmed so that it formed an alternating checkerboard pattern of vertically- and horizontally-aligned fibers.|
|To demonstrate the method, a film was sandwiched between two orthogonal polarizing films. Under the proper viewing conditions, a birefringent checkerboard pattern appeared. They also measured the thermal transfer and optical retardation properties.|
|"Our findings could aid in the development of next-generation optical materials and paper electronics," says senior author Masaya Nogi. "This could be the start of bottom-up techniques for building sophisticated and energy-efficient optical and thermal materials."|
|Source: Osaka University|
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Our closest living relatives are, of course, the chimpanzees. There are, in fact, two species of chimp: the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), and the bonobo (Pan paniscus). The latter is sometimes called a "pygmy chimpanzee", although, frankly, there's not a lot of difference in size between the two species. Both species are equally related to humans, having diverged from a common ancestor less than two million years ago, long after that common ancestor diverged from the line that eventually led to us.
Chimp Bonobo Human Gorillas
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Both species live in fairly similar environments in the jungles of tropical Africa, and eat more or less the same kinds of food, so we might expect that their behaviour would also be similar. But that's clearly not the case; common chimps are significantly more aggressive than bonobos, while the latter are renowned for their frequent sexual exploits. Common chimps are also more likely than bonobos to use simple tools to extract food from difficult to reach places.
Do these differences in behaviour reflect real differences in intelligence between the two species? A recent large-scale analysis, published in PLoS ONE, aimed to find out. "Intelligence" is a fairly tricky thing to pin down, even in humans, so "which species is the more intelligent?" wasn't the sort of question that the study could answer. Rather, the researchers tested members of both species on a range of tasks designed to look at different aspects of intelligence. Would they perform the same, or would one species prove better at some tasks than the other?
Of course, the study was not conducted in the wild; the animals in question were orphans raised by humans in ape sanctuaries - their parents, in most cases, presumably having been killed by bushmeat poachers. Nonetheless, they had not previously experienced these kinds of tests, so they would have to solve the problems on their own.
For the most part, there wasn't a great difference. The researchers tested spatial awareness by placing food under cups and then rotating the table, moving the cups about, and so on, to see if the chimps could figure out where the food had ended up. Members of both species got this right a little over two thirds of the time. To test their ability to count and perform simple addition, the experimenters placed differing amounts of food under covers and watched to see which one the chimp went for first. Again, both species got this right about two thirds of the time. (This does not, incidentally, imply actual arithmetic - just that the animals could recognise that, say, six peanuts is more than three).
In tests of communication - could the chimps either understand an experimenter trying to tell them where the food was, or could they themselves indicate to the experimenter where hidden food was located - they still managed to get it right over half the time, but again, there was no difference between the two species.
The most difficult test was one in which the food was placed inside a container that required a relatively complex method to open. The researchers showed the chimp how to get the food, and saw if the animals could successfully copy them. In most cases, they couldn't - and, in previous trials elsewhere, no chimp had ever solved these particular problems on their own - although, interestingly, in both species, the females were far more likely to succeed than the males.
But, of course, using tools isn't really the be-all and end-all of human intelligence. Our ability to work together as a species relies, in part, on our ability to understand the minds of others and to bond together socially. The final set of tests evaluated the chimps' abilities to grasp concepts such as attention and intentionality. For example, a piece of food would be hidden beneath one of two cups; the chimp could not see which cup it was, but a second human could. When the second human tried (and failed) to grab one of the cups, would the chimp work out that this was because that was where the food was hidden? On this test, the bonobos did better, succeeding just over half the time.
So, given that they scored similarly on all the other tests, it seems plausible that the basic intelligence of the two species isn't all that different. Yet the way that they use that intelligence, or the particular skills that they possess, is different. Common chimps are better at physical tasks and understanding the operation of the physical world. But the peaceful and relatively shy bonobos scored higher on tests of social awareness and the ability to understand the minds of others. Both of these are important aspects of human intelligence. Our closest relatives have evolved along paths parallel to our own, and each, perhaps can show something of how we rose to our present position of power over our planet.
[Pictures from Wikimedia Commons - upper image is a common chimp, lower image is a bonobo (both males)] | <urn:uuid:02dcfca5-7598-4348-875a-bdef83ed53d1> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | https://synapsida.blogspot.com/2010/10/intelligence-of-chimps.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794867859.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20180526190648-20180526210648-00451.warc.gz | en | 0.974827 | 1,039 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Heat stress - caused by high temperatures, low rainfall and low humidity - disrupted rice growth this spring, with climate experts warning of a threat to food supplies
* Heat stress is a mix of high temperatures and low moisture
* Temperatures reached 36C, compared to an April average of 33C
* Bangladeshi farmers suffered losses totaling $39 million
By Mosabber Hossain
KISHOREGANJ DISTRICT, Bangladesh, May 28 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Standing in his paddy field in northeast Bangladesh, Shafiqul Islam Talukder holds a handful of empty stalks - all chaff, with no rice grains.
Two days of sudden, intensely hot air that swept across the country in April disrupted the rice's growth, destroying the crop his family was supposed to survive the year on, the 45-year-old farmer from Kishoreganj district explained.
"The same thing happened to the adjacent field of mine. My dream crop is finished," he said with tears in his eyes.
"I can't think of how to support the family for a whole year. I invested my savings and planted five hectares (12 acres) of high-yielding rice. Now it's all over."
The heat stress - caused by a mix of high temperatures, low rainfall and low humidity - ruined thousands of hectares of crops in Bangladesh's main rice-growing region this spring, with climate experts warning the phenomenon could threaten food supplies.
More than 36 districts were affected when temperatures reached as high as 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit) for two consecutive days in early April, according to the government's Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI).
The average maximum temperature for April in Bangladesh is about 33C, according to the country's Meteorological Department.
While other crops were affected - including maize, peanuts, and bananas - Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) figures shared with the Thomson Reuters Foundation show the bulk of the damaged plants were rice.
According to the data, more than 68,000 hectares of rice were either partially or completely destroyed over the two days, affecting more than 300,000 farmers and resulting in losses of an estimated 3.3 billion taka ($39 million).
Bangladesh already faces increasingly extreme weather - including droughts, floods and storms - but last month saw the most destructive bout of heat shock since the BRRI started keeping records in 2012.
Heat stress is a fairly new problem for Bangladeshi farmers, said Md. Nazmul Bari, an entomology expert at the rice institute.
"There was no notable heat shock before (2012)," he said, adding that the first recorded incident affected crops in only four districts.
The heat experienced this April was the worst "attack" yet, Bari said.
"The temperature was rising day by day (and) there was not much rain. So the humidity in the air was very low. That is the big reason for this massive heat shock."
THREAT TO FOOD SECURITY
Romij Uddin, an agronomy professor at Bangladesh Agricultural University, said heat stress on crops is directly linked to global warming and rice is particularly vulnerable to high temperatures.
April's event hit the plants during their flowering stage, when rice plants self-pollinate, interrupting their natural reproduction cycle, Uddin explained.
"Temperature is very crucial for pollination and high temperatures during this stage may cause sterility," he said.
At an annual rice festival in Ballabhpur haor, a wetland area, there were no smiles on the farmers' faces this year, only talk crop devastation.
"I have never seen such hot air in my 60 years," said Helal Mia, a farmer from Ballabhpur village who lost four hectares of rice to heat stress.
"I have borrowed money for paddy cultivation. How can I repay the loan now? How can I support my wife and children all year round? I can't see anything but darkness before my eyes."
Climate experts warn that if Bangladesh continues to experience bouts of heat stress, the country may face food shortages.
About a quarter of the nation's approximately 160 million people are already considered food insecure, meaning they have inadequate or uncertain access to nutritious and safe food, according to the United Nations' World Food Programme.
"We have to pay more attention to heat shock," said Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development based in the capital Dhaka.
Huq predicted that if incidences of heat stress persist, they could result in an overall 20% decline in rice production this year.
Huq and other agricultural experts say that, along with making sure rice crops are sufficiently watered, the best way to minimise the effects of heat stress is to encourage farmers to plant more heat-tolerant rice varieties.
Md. Sazzadur Rahman, principal scientific officer of the BRRI's plant physiology division, said the institute is developing new varieties that can stand up to heat and early results look good.
"It yields well, it yields fast. The rice lines we developed will be able to tolerate up to 38 degrees Celsius of daytime temperature," he said over the phone.
"Heat shock could affect our food security, but we are trying to prevent this disaster."
(Reporting by Mosabber Hossain, Editing by Jumana Farouky and Laurie Goering. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | <urn:uuid:5219b7ca-4050-4dc4-8e06-a79866cb6061> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://news.trust.org/item/20210528065131-wnlhg/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964358560.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20211128134516-20211128164516-00176.warc.gz | en | 0.956237 | 1,187 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Korean, Japanese and Chinese Acupuncture: What’s the Difference?
Patients seeking acupuncture might be confused when they see advertising for different “styles” of acupuncture such as Korean acupuncture, Japanese-style acupuncture, or traditional Chinese acupuncture.
What is the difference? Are they all effective?
“Japanese, Korean and Chinese acupuncture all have their foundations in traditional Chinese medicine, and all are very effective,” says Dr. Yihyun Kwon, assistant dean for acupuncture and oriental medicine at National University of Health Sciences. “How acupuncture evolved in different regions of Asia reflects the culture and history of each region.”
The acupuncture profession looks to China as the standard traditional model. In China, acupuncturists use big needles with a greater depth of insertion. They are trying to stimulate what is called the “De Qi” sensation, or “arrival of Qi” – life energy flowing through the body. A Chinese acupuncturist will try to enhance that sensation by gently rotating the needle. On a microscopic level, the surface of a Chinese needle is very rough, so patients will definitely feel the needle when is inserted. This heightens the De Qi response.
“Current research shows that the De Qi sensation is really important,” says Dr. Kwon. “There is a better outcome after treatment.”
The Chinese also use more needles, and insert them into a wider area of the body.
Taiwan also has a unique acupuncture system as well, called “Tung” acupuncture. It uses a completely different system with different points. The majority of points are closely located to bones, joints and nerves. The Tung system provides excellent and quick results for patients with musculoskeletal conditions.
“The Japanese use thinner needles, and a gentler technique with shallow insertion. Their diagnostic assessment relies heavily on palpation of the abdomen, back and various pulses along the meridian system. In fact, Japanese style acupuncture is often called ‘meridian acupuncture’ for this reason,” says Dr. Hyundo Kim, chief clinician for the acupuncture program at NUHS.
Western medicine moved into Japan much earlier than it did in other Asian countries through Dutch influence in the 1600s. Because of this, Japan has always had more of an interest in western medicine than oriental medicine. Japan even prohibited oriental medicine under Emperor Meiji in the late 1800s. Later on, acupuncture was finally allowed once again, but only as an occupation for the blind.
“This is why their style developed diagnostic methods that relied on palpation rather than sight – feeling the abdomen, back and meridian pulses rather than looking at visual characteristics of the tongue, eyes or fingernails,” says Dr. Kim. “This is also why they use a lot of acupressure as well, as this technique was very adaptable to blind practitioners.”
Diagnosis in Korean acupuncture is focused on a full constitutional analysis, an old concept rooted in Chinese medicine. A constitutional diagnosis requires a completely separate book of prescriptions. Korean acupuncture also focuses on the extremities like the hand or ear.
Most of the standard acupuncture layouts in Korea use only four needles. In fact, Korean acupuncture is often called ‘four-needle’ technique, or Sa-am technique for this reason.
“The four needles are split two and two – two needles sedate or reduce excess Qi in one organ system, while two other needles tonify or increase Qi in a second organ system,” explains Dr. Kwon. “This balancing concept is the foundation behind four-needle acupuncture.”
“Even though China and Korea border each other, their scholars did not always communicate. That’s why their acupuncture and oriental medical practices differ slightly. Also, some herbs used in Chinese medicine cannot grow in Korea’s climate. Many of the Korean herbal medicine formulas will thus add or substitute herbs that have similar effects but are more common in the Korean climate.”
“Here at NUHS, our foundation is rooted in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), as all major styles are. While we provide a strong basis in TCM, we also give our students a taste of these other styles so that later, if they choose, they can go deeper on their own according to their interests,” says Dr. Hyundo Kim. “We also offer in-depth post-graduate courses in more focused styles of acupuncture, such as Korean hand acupuncture technique.”
You can explore more about acupuncture at an NUHS Student for a Day event, and experience a class in the acupuncture program. Or learn more about starting a career with a degree in acupuncture or oriental medicine.
For an appointment with an NUHS acupuncture and oriental medicine clinician, call 630-629-9664. | <urn:uuid:4bdb7f24-ac8d-4019-9c32-93eae165d85c> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://www.nuhs.edu/korean-japanese-and-chinese-acupuncture-whats-the-difference/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446710972.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20221204104311-20221204134311-00117.warc.gz | en | 0.937043 | 1,042 | 2.765625 | 3 |
This exhibition was scheduled to run from February 20 to June 8, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 closure of Neue Galerie New York, it instead closed on March 12, 2020.
Dora Kallmus (1881–1963), better known as Madame d’Ora, was an unusual woman for her time with a spectacular career as one of the leading photographic portraitists of the early 20th century. This exhibition, the largest museum retrospective on the Austrian photographer to date in the United States, will present the different periods of her life, from her early upbringing as the daughter of Jewish intellectuals in Vienna, to her days as a premier society photographer, through her survival during the Holocaust. Forging a path in a field that was dominated by men, d’Ora enjoyed an illustrious 50-year career, from 1907 until 1957. The show will include more than 100 examples of her work, which is distinguished for its extreme elegance, and utter depth and darkness.
Born into a privileged background and coming of age amidst the creative and intellectual atmosphere of fin-de-siècle Vienna, Kallmus was extremely well cultured. At age 23 while on a trip to the Côte d’Azur, she purchased her first camera, a Kodak box camera. She was the first woman photographer in Vienna to open her own studio and in May 1906, she was listed in the commercial register as a photographer for the first time. Self-styled simply as d’Ora, she initially took portraits of friends and members from her social circle. In the autumn of 1909, an exhibition of her work received a lively response from the press. Critics both praised the artistic style of her portraits and emphasized the prominent individuals who streamed in to view the show.
Over the course of her lifetime, d’Ora turned her lens on many artists, including Josephine Baker, Colette, Gustav Klimt, Tamara de Lempicka, and Pablo Picasso, among others. Alongside these commissions, she also photographed members of the Habsburg family and Viennese aristocracy, the Rothschild family, and other prominent cultural figures and politicians. D’Ora had close ties to avant-garde artistic circles and captured members of the Expressionist dance movement with her lens, including Anita Berber and Sebastian Droste. Fashion and glamor subjects were another important mainstay of her business. She regularly photographed Wiener Werkstätte fashion models and the designer Emilie Flöge of the Schwestern Flöge salon wearing artistic reform dresses. When d’Ora moved to Paris in 1925, she shifted her focus to fashion, covering the couture scene and leading lights of the period until 1940. She befriended key figures, such as the French milliner Madame Agnès and the Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga, as well as the top fashion magazine editors of the day. She also helped create and sustain glamorous images for a variety of celebrities, including Cecil Beaton, Maurice Chevalier, and Colette.
When the Nazis seized control of Paris in 1940, she was forced to close her studio and flee. She spent the war years in a semi-underground existence living in Ardèche in the southeast of France. Her sister Anna Kallmus, along with other family and friends, died in the Chełmno concentration camp. After World War II, d’Ora returned to Paris, profoundly affected by personal losses. While she lacked an elegant studio in Paris, d’Ora’s lasting connections to wealthy clients remained and many of them returned to her. While she accepted portrait commissions, mostly for financial stability, she also pushed into new, sometimes darker directions. Around 1948, she embarked on an astonishing series of photographs in displaced persons or refugee camps, which was commissioned by the United Nations. From around 1949 to 1958, d’Ora worked on a project, which she called “my big final work.” She visited numerous slaughterhouses in Paris, and amid the pools of blood and deathly screams, she stood in an elegant suit and a hat photographing the butchered animals hundreds of times.
This exhibition spans the breadth of d’Ora’s oeuvre and shows her remarkable ability to capture both the epitome of beauty and the pathos of death and suffering. In 1958, on the occasion of the last exhibition of her work held during her lifetime, Jean Cocteau commented on d’Ora’s versatility remarking: “Madame d’Ora, fanned by the wing of genius, strolls in a labyrinth whose minotaur goes from the Dolly Sisters to the terrible bestiary of the slaughterhouses—where this ageless woman, more lucid than any young man, brushes the killers aside with a gesture and sets up her camera in their stead in front of the daily sacrifice of our carnivorous cult.”
Curator: Dr. Monika Faber
Exhibition designer: Fernando Eguchi
The exhibition was originally developed by Monika Faber and Magdalena Vuković, Photoinstitut Bonartes, Vienna, together with Esther Ruelfs, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, for a presentation in Hamburg and at the Leopold Museum, Vienna.
“Meet Madame d'Ora, the era-defining fashion photographer lost to history.”
“Few people have had a second act as dramatic as hers, let alone a portfolio as varied. You’ll get a good sense of it at the Neue Galerie, whose new show, “Madame d’Ora,” includes roughly 100 photographs — both the elegant and the agonizing.”
—The New York Post
Madame d’Ora (Dora Kallmus) (1881–1963)
Owner of the Galerie Miethke Emma Bacher, ca. 1909 | <urn:uuid:eb7a78a2-f31e-4f28-b864-e929a607ecbb> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://neuegalerie.org/madame-dora | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510100.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20230925215547-20230926005547-00081.warc.gz | en | 0.957129 | 1,266 | 2.671875 | 3 |
A reverse auction is a type of auction in which the roles of buyer and seller are reversed. In an ordinary auction also known as a forward auction, buyers compete to obtain a good or service by offering increasingly higher prices. In a reverse auction, the sellers compete to obtain business from the buyer and prices will typically decrease as the sellers underbid each other. A reverse auction is similar to a unique bid auction as the basic principle remains the same; however, a unique bid auction follows the traditional auction format more closely as each bid is kept confidential and one clear winner is defined after the auction finishes. This article from 2013 discusses the benefits that a reverse auction procedure will bring to government procurement processes. GSA believes that such procedures will have saved as much as 17 percent through use of reverse auctions. “With GSA offering front loaded discounted pricing as a starting point through its BPAs, the reverse auction approach will provide additional savings to the government”. | <urn:uuid:4a69f7a2-dc50-4b14-9236-8eb64e0de41e> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | https://tuecontheoryofnetworks.wordpress.com/2016/04/22/gsa-launches-reverse-auction-platform-for-use-by-government-agencies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463608665.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20170526124958-20170526144958-00157.warc.gz | en | 0.967182 | 191 | 2.953125 | 3 |
For a disease that was declared extinct nearly 35 years ago, smallpox continues to do a remarkable job of dividing politicians, scientists, and nations.
The World Health Assembly, which governs the World Health Organization, has been embroiled in a decades-long debate about the fate of the remaining research specimens of the viral disease—which killed some 300 million people last century and may have caused the decline of entire civilizations. On May 19-24, representatives of the nations in the assembly will meet once again in Geneva and weigh evidence to decide if smallpox research should continue, or if the live specimens of the virus that causes the disease—held in secure labs in Russia and the US—should be destroyed forever.
In advance of this decision, a group of microbiologists have argued for a temporary reprieve for the last remaining stocks of the virus. Their opinion paper, published today in PLOS Pathogens, argues that the world still needs these samples.
The history of smallpox eradication stretches back to 1959, when the member states of the young World Health Assembly voted to eradicate the disease with a global vaccination campaign. The last known case of smallpox occurred in 1978 in Birmingham, England, when a medical photographer named Janet Parker, who worked above a bio-safety lab, died after contracting the disease. The world held its breath for two years, and in 1980, smallpox was declared eradicated.
Grant McFadden, a molecular biologist from the University of Florida who co-authored the PLOS Pathogens paper, has been doing smallpox research for about 15 years. “Although smallpox is gone, there are a number of ways it could reappear again in human population,” he told Quartz. For that reason, the WHO decided on a set of research milestones that, once reached, would mean the last specimens could be safely destroyed.
Chief among these was the imperative that two drugs be developed for treating active smallpox infections. The WHO decided two antiviral drugs with different ways of attacking the disease were necessary, in case either of the drugs caused adverse reactions in some people, or the disease developed a resistance.
As the “destructionists” point out, there are now two such drugs very close to approval in the US. In fact, the US government has already paid close to $500 million for one of them. “My view is that [the drugs] are pretty much done,” Dr. Geoffrey Smith of Cambridge University in England told Quartz. Both drugs are currently in phase II of clinical trials (out of three phases). “I don’t think you need live virus for the limited objectives that remain.”
Also, the destructionists point out, it’s better not to have samples of a deadly virus hanging around, even in a secure lab. The risk of the drug escaping is small, but it does exist. (The 2001 anthrax attacks in the US were perpetrated by a DOD biologist who stole samples of the bacteria from his lab.) They also point to the cost of holding onto the samples: Maintaining the high-security facilities needed to house the disease is incredibly expensive. That’s money that could be spent to fight new threats, Smith argues, rather than “on a disease that hasn’t killed anyone for 36 years.”
The “retentionists” see the same set of facts through a different lens. For one thing, the authors of PLOS Pathogens paper point out, the smallpox drugs aren’t yet ready for consumption. “Its not that we don’t think that the two existing compounds aren’t promising,” says co-author Inger Damon, a CDC physician-scientist who works with smallpox. “It’s just that they’re not finished yet.”
If either or both drugs don’t make it through to licensure, then drug research will have to begin anew, Damon tells Quartz. And if the live strains of smallpox are destroyed, those efforts would be severely crippled, she says. Once the drugs are approved, she argues, that would be the time to destroy the remaining viruses.
Although it’s unlikely, it’s possible that rogue strains of the disease exist. As an example, McFadden points to 1992, when a Soviet defector told the CIA that the USSR had been stockpiling smallpox and avoiding compliance with biological warfare treaties. “It is impossible to estimate the likelihood that there are stocks outside of the two declared repositories,” says McFadden. This is a risk governments seem to be considering too: In fact, it was the anthrax scares of 2001 that convinced the WHO that the threat of bioterrorism was real enough to extend the smallpox eradication deadline through the early 2000s.
Smallpox research has also paid off in other ways, say McFadden and Damon. For one, it has helped develop treatments for other orthopox viruses related to smallpox, including monkeypox in Africa, vaccinia in Brazil, and an as-yet-unnamed pox virus in the Republic of Georgia.
And if the WHO does decide that it’s time to end smallpox research, how does one destroy a virus? McFadden guesses that there would be a ceremony at each of the secure facilities, and then the remaining specimens would be doused in a high-temperature, high-pressure steam. This sounds effective, though perhaps not as satisfying as dropping the viruses into Mt. Doom (video). | <urn:uuid:58115ab4-1cd5-41a6-87d1-79b08f95bafc> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://qz.com/205067/the-last-ditch-effort-to-save-smallpox-research/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257825124.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071025-00072-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961931 | 1,140 | 3.65625 | 4 |
During the assessments of the correlation of the diseases and the microbiota of various clinical specimens, unique 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequences (less than 80% similarity to known bacterial type strains) were predominantly detected in a bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) specimen from a patient with chronic lower respiratory tract infection. The origin of this unique sequence is suspected to be the causative agent of the infection. We temporarily named the owner organism of this sequence "IOLA" (Infectious Organism Lurking in Airways). In order to evaluate the significance of IOLA in human lung disorders, we performed several experiments. IOLA-16S rRNA genes were detected in 6 of 386 clone libraries constructed from clinical specimens of patients with respiratory diseases (in our study series). The gene sequences (1,427 bp) are identical, and no significantly similar sequence was found in public databases (using NCBI blastn) except for the 8 shorter sequences detected from patients with respiratory diseases in other studies from 2 other countries. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the 16S rRNA gene of IOLA is more closely related to eukaryotic mitochondria than bacteria. However, the size and shape of IOLA seen by fluorescent in-situ hybridization are similar to small bacteria (approximately 1 mm with a spherical shape). Furthermore, features of both bacteria and mitochondria were observed in the genomic fragment (about 19 kb) of IOLA, and the GC ratio of the sequence was extremely low (20.5%). Two main conclusions were reached: (1) IOLA is a novel bacteria-like microorganism that, interestingly, possesses features of eukaryotic mitochondria. (2) IOLA is a novel pathogen candidate, and it may be the causative agent of human lung or airway disease. IOLA exists in BALF specimens from patients with remarkable symptoms; this information is an important piece for helping solve the elusive etiology of chronic respiratory disorders.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes | <urn:uuid:de41c50b-aa5a-482f-936d-653e729b1714> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://kyushu-u.pure.elsevier.com/ja/publications/an-unclassified-microorganism-novel-pathogen-candidate-lurking-in | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320300722.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20220118032342-20220118062342-00368.warc.gz | en | 0.921979 | 506 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Proceedings of the British Neuropsychiatry Association Annual Meeting, Institute of Child Health, London, UK, 9–10 February 2006
001 EVOLUTION AND FUNCTION OF SLEEP
J. Horne.Sleep Research Centre, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK
Human sleep has much in common with that of other mammals: occurring regularly each day, influenced by a circadian rhythm; typical body posture, specific place to sleep, other behaviours and physical activity cease, eyes close, and generalised reduction in sensory awareness. The organ showing the clearest changes during sleep compared with relaxed wakefulness, is the brain; obvious in the electroencephalogram (EEG). Focusing on the brain in this way is appropriate in other respects, as not only does it contain numerous control mechanisms for sleep, but of all the body’s organs, it is the brain and behaviour (especially the cerebral cortex) for which sleep seems to be the most vital in terms of actual recovery. This is especially so for mammals with advanced cortical development, culminating in humans. For small mammals (eg rodents) which also happen to have simpler cortices, sleep has a major benefit in providing the only opportunity for physical rest, avoiding needless physical energy expenditure, and confining the animal to the thermal insulation of a nest. Here, sleep conserves much heat energy and is their “great immobiliser”. In contrast we can relax adequately during wakefulness, with only a nominal further energy saving (5–10%) to be gained by sleeping. Thus sleep serves a variety of functions in mammals, altering as the evolutionary scale is ascended, depending on body size, need to conserve energy, cerebral development, amount of relaxed wakefulness, type of diet, and safety when sleeping. Moreover, our sleep alters as a night’s sleep progresses, initially serving important purposes, changing to those of less benefit, and eventually to a sleep that is superfluous, luxurious and just pleasant to take. There is little evidence that apart from our cortex any other organ undergoes any heightened degree of change/repair during sleep. The …
If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways. | <urn:uuid:bbe1e6e8-6c6c-46db-b4d9-150e9aab1b23> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/77/7/893 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585405.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20211021102435-20211021132435-00502.warc.gz | en | 0.930716 | 496 | 3 | 3 |
Karnataka is the fifth-most urbanized state in the country, with 23.6 million urban residents spread across 213 municipalities, or Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). Municipalities are responsible for providing an ever-growing urban population with services that greatly impact the livability of cities and the wellbeing of citizens, including water, sanitation, waste disposal, drainage, local transportation, street lighting, and other services.
In 2004, the Government of Karnataka began an extensive process of municipal reforms to improve services and increase transparency. While traditionally municipal e-governance reforms had been driven at the local level, this was the first initiative of its kind in India where a standardized set of systems and processes was introduced for all municipal bodies across the state.
The scale and complexity of the effort posed a huge challenge given the large number of ULBs involved—each with its own elected officials, priorities, and local issues—their wide geographical spread, and the weak capacity that is endemic among such agencies across the country. State-level champions were needed to spearhead these reforms as well as tackle difficult political economy issues, such as bringing un-assessed properties into the tax net and placing municipal budgets and other financial information online.
Reforms are now bringing about a quiet revolution in towns and cities across Karnataka. The citizens’ interface with municipal authorities has dramatically improved. A computerized system for the payment of property taxes is enabling property owners to calculate their property taxes online, doing away with middlemen and reducing corruption. Birth and death records for the last decade have been computerized and can be searched and viewed online. When water mains break or street lights do not work, citizens can lodge complaints online and track their status in real time.
New GIS mapping systems have brought unregistered properties into the tax net for the first time, and municipalities are collecting more taxes and fees for services. City officials are now able to identify critical bottlenecks in service delivery, better plan the use of funds, and direct resources where they are most needed.
Citizens are better informed and transparency has increased. Municipalities have posted their financial data and details of ongoing and completed works online. A new accounting system has brought to light the real financial situation of ULBs and assets worth crores of rupees have been brought on record.
The municipal reforms process began in 49 of the largest municipalities under the Nirmal Nagar Project (NNP), an initiative of Karnataka’s Directorate of Municipal Administration, with financial support from the Asian Development Bank. It was expanded to the remaining 164 municipalities under the Karnataka Municipal Reforms Project (KRMP) with support from the World Bank. Karnataka’s municipal reforms program has won three national awards and offers several important lessons for other states. | <urn:uuid:5787ff0d-b2eb-4b75-a6c7-b8c293a05232> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/01/01/karnataka-spearheads-urban-e-services | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039747369.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20181121072501-20181121094501-00380.warc.gz | en | 0.956787 | 567 | 2.953125 | 3 |
New national awareness day promotes prudent antibiotic use to help fight antibiotic resistance - website launched at www.AntibioticAwareness.ca
WINNIPEG, November 17, 2010 /Canada NewsWire/ - Antibiotic resistance is an issue health practitioners around the world face daily. Numerous health-related organizations have partnered to mark tomorrow as the first Canadian Antibiotic Awareness Day in an effort to promote prudent use of antibiotics and fight the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCCID), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (AMMI) Canada, the Community and Hospital Infection Control Association (CHICA) Canada, the Canadian Foundation for Infectious Diseases (CFID), and the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) have joined to recognize Nov. 18, 2010 as Antibiotic Awareness Day in Canada.
"It is very exciting to see so many health partners join together to launch the first Antibiotic Awareness Day in Canada," says Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's Chief Public Health Officer. "Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern in Canada and around the world. Raising awareness and encouraging prudent use of antibiotics are vital steps in helping control the spread of antibiotic resistant infections."
"Simply, antibiotic overuse drives resistance, which affects the whole community," says Dr. Lynora Saxinger, Chair of the AMMI Canada Antimicrobial Stewardship and Resistance Committee. "Patients want to get better and their doctors want to do the right thing, but antibiotics are commonly seen as the safest choice for 'colds and flu' when in fact they won't help these viral infections, and may cause side effects as well as bacterial resistance. We want to help put tools in the hands of doctors and patients to help in the decisions."
Antibiotic Awareness Day resources include a "prescription pad" for doctors to give directly to patients seeking antibiotics. All of the resources are available on the new Antibiotic Awareness Day website at www.AntibioticAwareness.ca.
The website will also feature webcasts of Canadian experts discussing the latest information on antibiotic resistance and public health - two in English and one in French - on November 18, 2010. Topics will include community education and prevention, antibiotic use and resistance in hospitals, and current Canadian programs and surveillance data.
In addition to its partnership role in Antibiotic Awareness Day, PHAC is issuing an evidence-based guidance document related to antibiotic resistance that will aid health care workers in the management of patients colonized or infected with carbapenem-resistant infections, including those caused by bacteria that produce the enzyme NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo beta-lactamase). As part of PHAC's Infection Prevention and Control Program Guideline Series, the document provides recommendations to complement infection prevention and control practices for use by provinces and territories, health care facilities and health care personnel across Canada. | <urn:uuid:9b3db37e-8e8d-449e-a603-f827dbde3352> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | http://deafenedinontario.blogspot.com/2010/11/antibiotic-awareness-day-in-canada.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187825812.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20171023073607-20171023093607-00438.warc.gz | en | 0.922085 | 615 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Thanks to the Houston Symphony, the Parish students had the opportunity to play real brass instruments (trumpet, trombone, and French horn) to our story, Root-A-Toot-Toot by Bernice Myers. After explaining how to pucker lips to create the embrasure and to blow into the mouthpiece, students picked a character and the associated instrument: bear with trumpet, fox with drum, skunk with trombone, and raccoon with French horn. In the story, the raccoon plays a tuba and I substituted with a French horn because that is what I had. With only four characters in the book, the other half of the class were the forest animals who said “too loud” and “play louder” in response to the musicians. We read the story two or three times to ensure each student had a chance to take turns to try out the instruments.
All the students enjoyed trying out the new instruments, working their lips around the mouthpiece, figuring out how to hold the instrument, and playing with such perseverance through bigger and bigger breaths to try to make a sound. It was a challenge for some students to control their lips and place it within the mouthpiece or to figure out how to control their breathing and support it while blowing out. After trial and error, many students face lit up when they realized they figured out to produce a sound. Success! Thank you to the Houston Symphony for letting us borrow their Instrument Petting Zoo! | <urn:uuid:c82df14a-f3a5-4088-ac24-fd199e22b825> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://musictherapymoves.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/root-a-toot-toot-story-and-instruments/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655887319.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20200705090648-20200705120648-00557.warc.gz | en | 0.970396 | 304 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2002 January 11
Explanation: Intense and overwhelming, the direct glare of the Sun is blocked by the smooth disk centered in this image from the sun-staring SOHO spacecraft. Taken on January 8, the picture shows streamers of solar wind billowing radially outward for millions of kilometers above the Sun's surface indicated by the white circle. Below and right is inner planet Venus, so bright that its image is marred by a sharp horizontal stripe, a digital imaging artifact. Also impressively bright is a periodic visitor to the inner Solar System, sunbathing comet 96/P Machholz 1 (above and left). This comet is definitely not a member of the more suicidal sungrazer comet family often spotted approaching the Sun by SOHO. Seen here only 18 million kilometers from the Sun (about one eighth the Earth-Sun distance) with a substantial coma and foreshortened tail, Machholz 1 has now passed perihelion and is outbound in its orbit, to return again in just over 5 years.
Authors & editors:
Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U. | <urn:uuid:4abeaab9-643e-408c-8f83-984e5cd26571> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020111.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701161775.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193921-00304-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912608 | 289 | 3.234375 | 3 |
“Nature does it better” is an aphorism that scientists and engineers have confronted in its various embodiments for years. From the invention of Velcro as inspired by the grabbing mechanism of burrs to the use of aquaporin proteins to desalinate seawater, we have long been finding solutions to a wide variety of problems tucked away in biological artifacts and phenomena. Now, the biotech community is recognizing that nature does one more thing better than human innovation has thus far been able to: data storage.
Today, the predominant method of storing digital data takes the form of binary code, strings of 1s and 0s expressing values that can be interpreted by our computers. Cells, on the other hand, store their data in strings of As, Ts, Gs, and Cs, which represent the quaternary code of DNA. These two systems are similar enough that, with a little bit of ciphering—for example, making 00, 01, 10, and 11 translate to A, T, G, and C respectively—scientists are now accessing an entirely novel physical storage medium unlike any that we’ve ever harnessed before.
Although the encoding of digital data in the form of DNA polymers has only been seriously undertaken in very recent years, the idea is not a new one. Mikhail S. Neiman, a soviet scientist and radio officer, is credited with first proposing this radically different approach to data storage in 1964, just eleven years after the structure of DNA was cracked. Even then, Neiman contended that DNA was more durable and reliable than present methods of data storage—in those days, usually magnetic tape—and cited the molecule’s critical role in heredity as evidence of those qualities.
Fast forward half a century and scientists are now affirming Neiman’s beliefs that DNA is, in many ways, a superior information storage medium compared to magnetic tape and hard drives. It has a high data density, is stable for thousands of years under low light, temperature, and moisture conditions, and represents something of a universal language for all life on earth.
These characteristics have sparked some wild imaginations of a future where storing data in DNA is the norm. One much-discussed vision is that of a DNA archive vault containing the entirety of human knowledge, hidden away in a dark, cold, dry place for post-apocalyptic generations to uncover. Others predict that the extraordinary storage capacity of DNA will enable an Orwellian existence—a world full of cameras that are continuously recording and permanently storing an account of the population’s every move. Still others envision a future where DNA fragments encoding messages will be injected or engineered into people’s cells, with the human body serving as a conduit for transmitting information (think Craig Venter’s synthetic bacteria and its genetic watermarks).
While these possibilities may sound fantastical, they are technically feasible and inching closer to reality all the time. It’s now been shown that a piece of DNA the length of an average human gene can encode an incredible 1-2 megabytes of data. Teams around the world have developed multiple DNA-binary ciphering systems varying in their complexity, and are beginning to explore encryption methods and built-in redundancy as features of their coded data. As of today, scientists have translated everything from photographs to music videos to the complete works of Shakespeare into nature’s incredible blueprint polymer.
There’s just one thing standing in the way of storing our precious digital data in As, Ts, Gs, and Cs: the difficulty of reading and, most of all, writing them.
In 2016 the European Bioinformatics Institute estimated the cost of sequence-reading one megabyte worth of DNA data to be $220—a steep figure, but not compared to the cost estimate of synthesizing the same amount of DNA, which was placed at $12,400. That price tag lands DNA data storage squarely in the frustrating camp of technically feasibly but financially impractical to pull off.
Does this mean that DNA data storage a lost cause? Probably not, and the solution may lie in once again returning to that steadfast aphorism of “nature does it better.” That is to say, if we’re going to store information the way nature does, we might need a little more of nature’s help encoding and decoding it.
After all, the long-standing preferred approach to sequencing (the Sanger method) is enzyme-driven, as are many of the next-generation methods that have led sequencing technology to progress at a speed exceeding Moore’s law between 2004 and 2010. On the other hand, the predominant method of making DNA is still chemical synthesis, in one form or another. And although automation of chemical synthesis has brought the technology a long way, compared to sequencing, DNA synthesis remains stuck in the dark ages.
But perhaps what DNA synthesis needs is to be a little more inspired—by nature, that is. That wish may soon be granted, as there’s at least one research team working on developing a novel enzyme-based method of synthesizing DNA. It’s an approach that, if successful, could send DNA synthesis down the path of Moore’s law, like its sequencing counterpart before it.
The question is not if, but when DNA will become a practical storage medium—and for that, it’s too early to tell. But for now we can simply dream about the boundless possibilities of a future where one of nature’s most brilliant innovations reinvents and re-enables many of our own.
By Christine Stevenson | <urn:uuid:99ff5fa5-6f9b-41b6-9233-f6aa2d405ebb> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | http://www.oxfordgenetics.com/Articles/Publications/DNA-Data-Storage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218189239.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212949-00047-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939465 | 1,154 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Welcome to a fascinating journey by way of the depths of the universe,
the place galaxies twinkle, stars explode, and distant worlds await our
exploration. Astronomy, the science of celestial our bodies and the
cosmos, is considered one of humanity’s oldest and most intriguing disciplines.
On this article, we invite you to see the universe with recent eyes
and embark on a quest to find the wonders of the cosmos.
and the Start of Stars
begins billions of years in the past with the Massive Bang, a monumental occasion
that set time and house into movement, laying the foundations for the
universe as we all know it at the moment. The primary components had been born -
hydrogen, helium, and a hint of lithium – and scattered all through
the vastness of house.
This cosmic combine
of mud and gasoline started to condense and coalesce, drawn collectively by the
drive of gravity, forming large gasoline clouds. Inside the hearts of
these clouds, stars had been born – colossal thermonuclear reactors
radiating mild and heat into the darkness of the universe.
Dances of Planets and their Secrets and techniques
In our personal
photo voltaic system, a colourful troupe of planets emerged. Every possesses a
distinctive character formed by its place, environment, and historical past.
Mercury, closest to the Solar, is a scorching rocky orb, whereas distant
Neptune is shrouded in icy winds.
The crimson planet
Mars, as soon as speculated as a attainable refuge for extraterrestrial life,
captivates us with its rugged, dusty floor and enigmatic channels.
After which there’s Jupiter, the king of the photo voltaic system, with its
gigantic storms and moons like Europa and Io, a real treasure trove
for exploring the potential for all times.
– Islands of Stars
But, not solely
our Solar and its companions form the universe. Galaxies, large
islands of stars, mud, and darkish matter, traverse the cosmos. One
such galaxy is our Milky Means, a grand carousel of stars majestically
transferring by way of the darkness.
all galaxies are the identical. There are spiral galaxies with their
spiraling arms, the place younger stars are born, and elliptical galaxies
that harbor older populations of stars. Then there are distant
quasars, large black holes on the facilities of distant galaxies,
devouring matter and unleashing unimaginable energies.
Destiny of Stars – Supernovae and Black Holes
Stars stay and
die very similar to people. By way of nuclear fusion, they remodel hydrogen
into helium, producing mild and heat. However ultimately, they
exhaust their nuclear gas and dramatically collapse underneath their very own
weight, giving rise to supernovae – immense explosions that
momentarily outshine total galaxies.
after a supernova can both be a neutron star or a black gap.
Neutron stars are extremely dense remnants of stars, whereas black
holes are so large that not even mild can escape their
Seek for Life within the Universe
astronomy’s most compelling questions revolves across the seek for
extraterrestrial life. Humanity has directed its eyes and ears to the
cosmos, hoping to detect indicators from clever civilizations,
whereas house probes are dispatched to doubtlessly liveable worlds.
of exoplanets – planets past our photo voltaic system – has intensified the
hunt for liveable worlds. Every discovering brings us nearer to answering
the query, “Are we alone?”
Way forward for Astronomy – New Horizons
The way forward for
astronomy is extra exhilarating than ever earlier than. With the help of
ever-advancing telescopes and devices, we are able to observe the
universe on a scale that our ancestors couldn’t have fathomed.
telescopes, such because the James Webb House Telescope, will grant us an
even clearer view of stellar delivery, galaxy formation, and the
atmospheric compositions of exoplanets. And who is aware of what surprises
the long run holds in retailer?
– The Limitless Journey Continues
by way of astronomy is way from over. As we discover the wonders of the
universe, we’re captivated by its infinite range and sweetness that
surrounds us. Astronomy is a voyage of discovery, curiosity, and awe,
revealing how small we really are amidst the vastness of the cosmos.
Allow us to transfer
ahead collectively, exploring new horizons and embracing the unknown
with open minds. For science isn’t just a method to search out solutions; it
can be a journey main us deep into the mysteries of the universe.
The celebs await our discovery, and who is aware of what adventures lie
calls to us – allow us to collectively reply and proceed to discover the
wonders of astronomy! | <urn:uuid:ba013839-31a0-45e5-abc8-d28fc1147129> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://interspaceskyway.com/2023/07/23/a-fascinating-journey-by-way-of-astronomy-an-odyssey-of-the-cosmos/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947474581.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20240225035809-20240225065809-00660.warc.gz | en | 0.894644 | 1,045 | 2.875 | 3 |
Statistics from Altmetric.com
What is already known on this topic?
Previous research has indicated that there are qualitative and quantitative differences in the behavioural phenotypes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).1 The presence of ASD traits in children with ADHD, however, generally portends a more severe profile of symptoms and impairments. Cooper and colleagues’ study is novel due to the very large sample size of children with ADHD, and because it assesses ASD traits on a continuous scale.
What does this paper add?
ASD traits in children with ADHD were associated with lower familial socioeconomic status, higher levels of oppositional and/or defiant behaviours (especially aggression), and more working memory impairments, independent of ADHD severity.
ASD traits may be more prevalent in ADHD than previously reported. The mean Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) score reported by parents (13) is close to the SCQ screening threshold (15) for further consideration of ASD.
Several of the SCQ items (eg, ‘complicated movements of the body’) may be interpreted by parents as hyperactivity, thus artificially inflating ASD trait …
If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways. | <urn:uuid:3b891351-e4b5-420b-9b78-2077b6c30d83> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | http://ebmh.bmj.com/content/17/3/83 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128320595.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20170625235624-20170626015624-00616.warc.gz | en | 0.928421 | 301 | 2.96875 | 3 |
1. Anatomy of Light ERA
The first impetus to develop 'energetic' armours began in the 1960s after the expensive glass and ceramic armours proved defficient. The goal of such research was essentially to use the controlled release of energy to somehow destroy a forming HEAT jet. Logically, most of these ideas utilized the compact chemical energy stored in explosives to push some sort of metal plate into the incoming jet. One early idea incorporated the idea of using explosive 'pills' which were a metal plate backed by a thick layer of explosive. This explosive was confined or tamped by metal sidewalls, thus forming a metal pillbox over the explosive. This setup was then stuck on the surface of a tank and was detonated when the HEAT jet penetrated the cover plate, driving the plate into the jet. This idea was later abandoned by Rafael because the design proved unfeasible due to the large amount of explosive necessary to effect any damage against the jet.
Around 1969, a Norwegian working for Rafael by the name of Dr. Manfred Held discovered the drive-plate explosive sandwich design which later became explosive reactive armour. In this design two rectangular metal plates, referred to as the reactive or dynamic elements, sandwich an interlayer of high explosive. This 'box' is set at high obliquity to the anticipated angle of attack by the HEAT jet, usually 60°. When the jet penetrates the outer plate, the explosive is detonated by the pressures involved and the plates are rapidly forced apart; the acceleration is completed in around 6 us. The orientation of the plates to the explosive detonation front accelerates the front plate upwards in the x-y plane and slightly forwards and conversely forces the rear plate downward and slightly backward. The front plate is moving upward through the path of the jet and it exerts a destabilizing force on it, i.e. there are elastic longitudual waves travelling down the length of the jet. The destabilized jet, i.e. undergoing wave motion, then reaches the rear plate, which is moving in the opposite direction to the original plate. The force exerted by the rear plate is essentially a torque when taken with that of the front plate, and this causes the already destabilized jet to break up into many smaller pieces. These smaller pieces exhibit self-destructive behavoir - namely yaw (the equivalent of the high velocity impact belly-flop) and transverse velocity, which causes them to strike seperate areas of the target's armour.
So what are all the destructive effects visited on HEAT jets by ERA? The largest and most obvious result is the break-up of the jet and rotation of its pieces. There are, however, also some secondary effects that should be kept in mind. The first secondary effect on the jet is mass loss. Essentially, the jet must penetrate (or, in reality, perforate) the ERA plates. While in 'light' ERA these plates are relatively thin, the transverse motion of the plates means that the jet must actually generate a 'slot' rather than a 'hole' in the plates. So if the jet must travel through a 3 mm plate set at 60° with an apparent height of 15 mm, the total amount of armour that must be penetrated is twice that (two plates) or 80 mm. However, since in reality the jet is perforating the plates rather than undergoing radial displacement penetration, this is really more equivalent to 60 mm. Still, it is an important factor. Another important factor is the damaging of the tip of the HEAT jet. The tip of a HEAT jet can be moving in excess of 8 000 m/s, while the outer edges may be closer to 3 000 m/s. The tip of a HEAT jet also acheives initial penetration of the target material, and initiates adiabatic phase penetration (target metal flow). Essentially, the tip of a HEAT jet is the most efficient part of the jet, and it allows the rest of the jet to efficiently pile into the hole it generated and force the armour material out of its path. Removing jet head will reduce the penetration of the jet by 30% or more, even though it is a relatively small part of the jet's mass.
These two secondary effects are actually pretty substantial, contributing as much as 50% to the effect of ERA. Part of the reason for this is that jet breakup - the primary defeat mechanism - is a pretty common phenomena. A HEAT jet is a piece of metal undergoing extremely rapid severe plastic destortion, so any tiny defect in the construction of the cone will be magnified by the enormous forces involved, resulting in critical failure of the material during the formation of the HEAT jet, and hence, some (limited) break-up. It wasn't actually until the late 1970s that we were able to design well constructed cones which would produce a continious jet.
This first generation light ERA generates about 350 - 400 mm RHA worth of protection against large calibre warheads for the vehicle equipped with it. This implies an efficiency multiplier of about 20, which is incredibly high. However, ERA is not some magical shield. It will not completely stop the HEAT jet from a RPG - a backing layer of armour is still necessary to absorb the remains of the HEAT jet.
2. Light ERAs Deployment History
Around 1978 concurrent with the deployment of the M111 'Hetz' APFSDS round, an ERA package called 'Blazer' was produced for the Israeli Defence Force's Mag'lach (M60A1 & M48A3) and Sho't (Centurion) tanks. Later, versions were also produced for Ti-67S (retrofitted T-55) tanks. The package for the Mag'lach massed about 1 000 kg and the package for Sho't massed about 850 kg.
The Israeli application of ERA was rather crude, using large blocks which left large null zones in the armour after detonation. However, it still proved to be quite a marvelous applique during Israel's invasion of Lebannon in 1982.
After the demonstration of ERA in Lebannon, Russian planners deployed their own Kontakt EDZ armour starting with the T-80BV in 1983. Kontakt EDZ was not a copy of Israeli Blazer ERA. Kontakt was developed by the Soviets cocurrently with Rafael's developments, but was not initially fielded because of concerns over safety. This was in 1978. The abbreviation EDZ stands for "Elementy Dinamicheskoi Zashity", this translates into something like "dynamic protection elements". Two types of Kontakt blocks exist, the standard 'brick' as well as the 'wedge' which has only a single fixed reactive element. The wedge is used to cover null zones and it partly relies on the overlap of its neigbouring bricks for its effectiveness. By about 1985 all Soviet model tanks in Grouping Soviet Forces Germany had EDZ packages.
The T-80BV usually carried a 210 - 222 block array of Kontakt EDZ which was layered over the turret front and side, as well as the top. The hull was covered over the glacis and two thirds of the way down the sides. The T-64BV, the other tank in service with GsfG at the time, only carried a 115 block array of charges which provided mainly frontal protection. After front-line forces had been equiped with EDZ, T-72A and T-72B tanks, and later T-62M and T-55AM1 tanks began to receive ERA packages. Unlike the T-64B and T-80B tanks, which usually have the suffix 'V' (vzryvnoi - explosive) added to indicate EDZ such as T-64BV, the T-72 when fitted with EDZ is usually not distinguished in this fashion.
Kontakt EDZ was more advanced than Blazer ERA in a couple respects. Firstly, the blocks are on the order of 40% the size of Blazer blocks, which is considerably more demanding in terms of technology of the explosive interlayer. This also means that the amount of underlying armour exposed after a detonation is less. Secondly, Kontakt is a little more clever in its configuration. The brick is assymetric in its explosive interlayer, meaning that one end is thicker than the other. This induces rotation in the plates as well as separation, and as a result the armour is effective against HEAT jets at a wider variety of angles.
3. Kontakt-5 Heavy ERA
The development of Kontakt EDZ logically led to the development of a later version, called Kontakt-5, which was optimized to be effective not only against HEAT jets, but also APFSDS long rods. It was first deployed around 1985 on the first T-80Us. It is claimed that Kontakt-5 provides about 300 mm RHA equivalent of additional protection against APFSDS rounds, which corresponds to an increase of about 160% over the base armour of the T-80U (~720 mm total).
We've done a lot of work to analyze how effective Kontakt-5 is and by what methods it defeats the incoming APFSDS rounds. The results of the analysis are quite impressive in their own rough and limited way. We assumed that the Kontakt-5 brick was 10.5 cm wide by 23.0 cm long by 7.0 cm thick, with a mass of 10.35 kg. We arrived at a total mass of 2.8 t for the array. We later found out from Steven Zagola's literature that the array is supposed to be around three tonnes, so we were pretty happy. Assuming the use of Semtex for the interlayer, I found that the configuration was most likely a 15 mm plate up front, backed by 35 mm of explosive, and then a 20 mm plate. This assymetrical configuration had improved effectiveness because the APFSDS rod could still 'catch' the retreating rear plate while the front plate would retain a charateristic high velocity. This is completely opposite to the model that the US Army used in the late 1980s to discribe 'heavy' ERA. In their model, the front plate was on the order of 60 mm thick and the rear a standard 5 mm plate. They thought that the thick plate simply moved up into the path of the incoming long rod and forced it to make a 'slot' (thickness x height) rather than a hole (thickness). This is bogus; the front plate would tamp the explosive and would be barely set in motion.
Anyway, back to the point. Without getting into the actual math, after a couple of analyses, we arrived at our conclusion as to what defeat mechanisms were being imployed. These conclusions have not yet been conclusively proved and we hope to do that soon. We assumed that the massive areal density of the long rod perforated the thin plates with relative ease. Actual ablatic penetrator mass loss was set at about 2%. What we found was that we had these two plates, each individually with about 60% the momentum of the long rod penetrator, were moving oppositely up/down to each other, and that the path of the penetrator was such that it was moving between them. The forces exerted on the penetrator are apparently very large, so large in fact that they were in the region of plastic failure for most (read: all) metals. Essentially, when the penetrator touches the rear plate, the front plate guillotines off the first 5 - 6 cm of the rod. For a round such as the 120 mm M829A1 this represents a loss of about 8% of the total mass. More importantly, the nose is blunted. You would not believe how important that sharp point on the penetrator is. The difference in penetration between an equivalent hyper-sonic spike tipped penetrator and a blunt nose one is at least 20% (to a maximum of around 30%). This is mainly because a blunt nose is very inefficient in the initial phase of penetration before the ablatic shear phase can begin. The penetrator has to actually sharpen itself to the optimum Von Karam plastic wave theory shape for penetration of the target material before it can begin radially displacing the target material. This resolves itself in the form of a lot of wasted work and thus penetrator mass. The blunted penetrator also suffers structural damage and more mass loss as a shock wave travels down its length and blows spall off the tail. The main secondary effect of Kontakt-5 EDZ against APFSDS rounds is yaw induced by the front plate before contact with the rear plate is established. The total is about two to three degrees of yaw, which suddenly becomes a lot more in a denser material such as steel. Reduction in penetration due to a 2° yaw is about 6% and it grows exponentially worse from there, and on the 67° slope of the front glacis of the T-64/72/80/90, this is increased to about 15%.
Total loss in penetration amounts to about 2% + 8% + 22% + 6% = 38%, or in other words the penetrator is now only capable of penetrating 62% its original potential. Conversely we could say that the base armour is increased by the factor of the reciprocal of 62%, which is - surprise! - 161%.
So was I surprised by the results? Not really. I had expected penetrator yaw to be the primary defeat mechanism, but otherwise we had verified the effectiveness of Kontakt-5 before it became general public knowledge, which is great bragging rights.
Of course, now the goal is to do a rigorous mathematical proof.
Jane's International Defence Review 7/1997, pg. 15:
"IMPENETRABLE RUSSIAN TANK ARMOUR STANDS UP TO EXAMINATION
"Claims that the armour of Russian tanks is effectively impenetrable, made on the basis of test carried out in Germany (see IDR 7/1996, p.15), have been supported by comments made following tests in the US.
"Speaking at a conference on Future Armoured Warfare in London in May, IDR's Pentagon correspondent Leland Ness explained that US tests involved firing trials of Russian-built T-72 tanks fitted with Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armour (ERA). In contrast to the original, or 'light', type of ERA which is effective only against shaped charge jets, the 'heavy' Kontakt-5 ERA is also effective against the long-rod penetrators of APFSDS tank gun projectiles.
"When fitted to T-72 tanks, the 'heavy' ERA made them immune to the DU penetrators of M829 APFSDS, fired by the 120 mm guns of the US M1 Abrams tanks, which are among the most formidable of current tank gun projectiles.
"Richard M. Ogorkiewicz"
This page design is © 1998, Sauron's Creations | <urn:uuid:7a4d7fec-ddd4-4e53-8862-703a4ffad7ae> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://fofanov.armor.kiev.ua/Tanks/EQP/era.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298692.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00183-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962882 | 3,133 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Lothair, 941–86, French king (954–86), son and successor of King Louis IV. During the early part of his reign he was dominated by Hugh the Great. Even after Hugh's death he was involved in conflict with the great feudal lords and controlled only a small part of France. He alienated his protector, Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, by his unsuccessful attempt to occupy Lotharingia (Lorraine) in 978. Otto retaliated by invading France. Although Lothair renounced all claims to Lotharingia at a meeting with Otto in 980, he tried to regain it after Otto's death in 983. He died during the campaign and was succeeded by his son Louis V.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: French History: Biographies | <urn:uuid:37cb79f7-3e0b-4302-a005-0a5f86895bfe> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/people/history/french/lothair-french-king | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510994.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20231002100910-20231002130910-00772.warc.gz | en | 0.973074 | 182 | 3.328125 | 3 |
CVS is stand for Concurrent Version System. CVS is useful when more than one person work on a particular file .it allows the developers to overwrite the each others changes. Version control system keep the track of work and the changes in the files. and allows the developers to change the data of the file. CVS stores all the version of file in a way that only changes will saves differently and rest is save in a single file.
Sometimes bugs often occurs in code but cannot be find out for a long time then CVS help in retrieving the old version of code and allow the developer to check which part of the code caused bug. CVS provide the facility to the developers to work in an individual directory and then merging the work from each directory. CVS is not a build system while it is a way to control different versions of file.
The basic terms used in CVS are described following | <urn:uuid:652be9fa-206f-4fe2-a876-b954d73fa4f6> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://r4r.co.in/java/cvs/index.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560280483.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095120-00065-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901796 | 183 | 3.15625 | 3 |
The church has a number of interesting fragments of wall painting from the fifthteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The earliest painting in the south aisle is a depiction of 'Christ of the Trades' or 'The Consecration of Labour' which was a popular subject in churches in South Wales in the 1400s. Much of the painting is lost, but the over-size figure of Christ, wearing a loincloth, can be seen in relief in the centre. He shows his five wounds, surrounded by tools that, if used on the Sabbath, would wound him more. A pair of shears, a hoe and a spade can be seen faintly near the sides of the painting.
Facing the south door is a cartouch with an ornamental scroll work border surmounted by a pilgrim's shell. The text reads: Keep thy foot when ye enter ye house of God and be more ready to hear then to give ye sacrifice of fools Ecc.v.i. It is intended to warn visitors to enter humbly, remembering that this is where God is worshipped.
Near the organ recess is a fragment of the Lord's Prayer from the seventeenth century. On the east wall near the altar can be seen two long texts of the Ten Commandments, with a border of foliage acanthus leaves. The text was copied onto boards in 1910 and these can be seen in the north aisle. | <urn:uuid:ec636cc2-2270-454d-9a17-b1a3cdacb01a> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | http://www.skenfrith.org/wall-paintings/4576426745 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232256546.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20190521182616-20190521204616-00402.warc.gz | en | 0.961161 | 284 | 3 | 3 |
Megan Timms ’11
Technology has taken yet another step towards our wildest dreams with Nintendo’s recent release of the Wii Fit, a video game that helps players lose weight.
Could this take the place of the hard work and exercise that many Americans have grown to hate? Upon arrival there were many disbelievers, but those that have experienced the Wii Fit say otherwise.
“It’s really fun and addictive but its a workout!” said Kirsten Lawrence ’11.
Wii Fit features body analysis programs that keep track of a player’s heart rate, calories burned, and energy exposure. In fact, sports medicine professionals at the University of Maryland are testing to see if this new gaming technology could provide alternative methods of rehabilitation. They have discovered that this gaming device could serve as an inexpensive aide for their athletes as its strength exercises provide a full body workout.
The Wii may not be a very good training tool if you are planning to run a marathon, but it may be ideal for nursing a minor injury, recreation, or to simply get an extra workout.
Players create a character, called a Mii, and then stand on a board that weighs them, helps them balance, and monitors their performance during a game. Then, they do different exercises that tells them how old they are compared to their actual age, based on how well they performed.
So if you’re 16 but out of shape, you might be told you’re 80 years old. Based on your health, it helps you find exercises to improve your score.
Not everyone is a fan. Eric Darnell ’12 said “I have played it, but I don’t like it because it’s an inside thing. It feels like it’s for people who are too lazy to go outside and exercise.”
And according to Garrett Tucker ’13, users may not be getting the workout they think. “Someone may use it in the wrong way, not the workout intended, so they don’t get the workout.”
The majority of the people interviewed did not know about the Wii Fit or care for it, because of other video game devices that they already have. Will the Wii Fit be as successful in the teens perspective? As of now it is up in the air, but with advances within the gaming industry to come, it’s highly debatable when teens will give up their remotes to get into shape. | <urn:uuid:d14b220a-d812-4058-a2e3-2249a00504a4> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | https://stampedenews.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/wii-fit/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257645943.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20180318184945-20180318204945-00338.warc.gz | en | 0.964458 | 515 | 2.5625 | 3 |
15.6 Encrypt columns of data
Once the keys are created, it is possible to encrypt one or more columns of data in a data frame/tibble using the public key. Every time RSA encryption is used it will generate a unique output. Even if the same information is encrypted more than once, the output will always be different. It is therefore not possible to match two encrypted values.
These outputs are also secure from decryption without the private key. This may allow sharing of data within or between research teams without sharing confidential data.
Encrypting columns to a ciphertext is straightforward. However, as stated above, an important principle is dropping sensitive data which is never going to be required. Do not hoard more data than you need to answer your question. | <urn:uuid:8d2895f7-d01e-4521-bd52-f89ea5834fe9> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://argoshare.is.ed.ac.uk/healthyr_book/encrypt-columns-of-data.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703565541.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20210125092143-20210125122143-00093.warc.gz | en | 0.91607 | 156 | 3 | 3 |
The Language Center administers placement tests to all students who intend to continue studying a foreign language at Stanford. The purpose of testing is diagnostic: it assesses students' current language abilities in order to match them to the course most suitable for that level.
Accurate initial placement is a key factor in successfully learning a foreign language. The Center conducts all proficiency testing of language students, collects these data and analyzes the results of student performance. All data are maintained in the Language Center and used to inform and advise individual language departments of the quality of both incoming and exiting students of their programs. Further, the Center is able to use these data as a baseline for future improvements in language teaching.
Placement as well as exit exams in each language consist of both written and oral components. All written portions test grammatical features as well as the ability to write connected discourse and to read authentic prose material. Most written portions are administered on-line via the Language Center website, which students can access only once using their Stanford ID numbers. Having the examinations available in this manner enables students to test at their convenience and to have the written scores immediately calculated.
After completing the written portion of the examination, all Stanford students proceed to the oral interview portion. German, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, French, and Portuguese use the Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI) developed by the Language Center and consistent with guidelines published by the Center for Applied Linguistics. In other languages, SOPIs are also being currently developed. This is an audio tape interview with an accompanying booklet. Students are asked questions as well as to describe events or pictures in the language, and their responses are recorded. Each interview is then assessed by trained raters.
In offering flexibility to students in terms of time and place, web-based testing is a program unique to Stanford University. The combined results of both written and oral components of the placement exam determine the most appropriate language course for the student who decides to continue studying that language, whether to fulfill the language requirement or for personal or professional interest. Proficiency testing measures what students are able to do with the language. Because of the nature of language acquisition and maintenance, placement test results are valid for one year. | <urn:uuid:5b81e799-1c4d-4dfb-a613-7a7b7eaf3b5f> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://web.stanford.edu/dept/lc/language/placement/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936464840.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074104-00249-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950918 | 452 | 2.625 | 3 |
Real Life Challenge
In this career worksheet, students choose a career and complete 3 short answer questions about their choice. They must also create an advertisement related to the career choice.
6 Views 8 Downloads
Karlen Communications Disability Awareness Training Guide
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5th - 12th 21st Century Skills CCSS: Adaptable
Introduction to the Student Leadership Challenge
"Leadership is learned, and everyone has the potential to be a leader." From modeling the way to encouraging the heart, learners discover the five practices of exemplary leadership through a series of rich, hands-on, collaborative...
6th - 12th 21st Century Skills CCSS: Adaptable
Tobacco: Promotion Tactics and the Law
Youths aged 13 & 14 are most likely to notice and remember in-store tobacco promotions. Class members dissect tobacco advertising tactics and learn about relevant legislation by participating in guided discussion. Assessing...
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Finance: Depreciation (Double Declining)
Of particular interest to a group of business and finance pupils, this lesson explores depreciation of automobile values by comparing the double declining balance to the straight line method. Mostly this is done through a slide...
6th - 12th Math CCSS: Designed | <urn:uuid:1acf86e7-14f4-4dec-b1da-b13b94e1b24c> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | https://www.lessonplanet.com/teachers/real-life-challenge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257648313.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20180323141827-20180323161827-00328.warc.gz | en | 0.933376 | 303 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Brazil Table of Contents
The Center-West consists of the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul (separated from Mato Grosso in 1979), as well as the Federal District, site of Brasília, the national capital. Until 1988 Goiás State included the area that then became the state of Tocantins in the North.
The Center-West has 1,612,077 square kilometers and covers 18.9 percent of the national territory. Its main biome is the cerrado , the tropical savanna in which natural grassland is partly covered with twisted shrubs and small trees. The cerrado was used for low-density cattle-raising in the past but is now also used for soybean production. There are gallery forests along the rivers and streams and some larger areas of forest, most of which have been cleared for farming and livestock. In the north, the cerrado blends into tropical forest. It also includes the Pantanal wetlands in the west, known for their wildlife, especially aquatic birds and caymans. In the early 1980s, 33.6 percent of the region had been altered by anthropic activities, with a low of 9.3 percent in Mato Grosso and a high of 72.9 percent in Goiás (not including Tocantins). In 1996 the Center-West region had 10.2 million inhabitants, or 6 percent of Brazil's total population. The average density is low, with concentrations in and around the cities of Brasília, Goiânia, Campo Grande, and Cuiabá. Living standards are below the national average. In 1994 they were highest in the Federal District, with per capita income of US$7,089 (the highest in the nation), and lowest in Mato Grosso, with US$2,268.
The environmental problem that attracted most international attention in Brazil in the 1980s was undoubtedly deforestation in the Amazon. Of all Latin American countries, Brazil still has the largest portion (66 percent) of its territory covered by forests, but clearing and burning in the Amazon proceeded at alarming rates in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of the clearing resulted from the activities of ranchers, including large corporate operations, and a smaller portion resulted from slash-and-burn techniques used by small farmers.
Deforestation in the Amazon declined from levels averaging 22,000 square kilometers per year during the 1970-88 period to about 11,000 square kilometers per year between 1988 and 1991. There was controversy about the levels in the mid-1990s. Knowledgeable experts placed the level of accumulated deforestation at about 15 percent in 1996, as opposed to 12 percent in 1991. Although unseasonal rainfall patterns may explain some year-to-year variation, the basic cause for the decline in deforestation after 1987 was economic crisis. There was insufficient capital, credit, or incentive for large-scale clearing, as well as insufficient public investment to stimulate new migration. Migration to the Amazon also fell quickly in the late 1980s. More effective enforcement of government regulations and bad publicity for large offenders, both of which were associated with changes in public opinion about the environment, also played a part. Technical changes involved in the transition from horizontal expansion of agriculture to increasing productivity also accounted for decreasing rates of deforestation.
Desertification, another important environmental problem in Brazil, only received international attention following the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. Desertification means that the soils and vegetation of drylands are severely degraded, not necessarily that land turns into desert. In the early 1990s, it became evident that the semiarid caatinga ecosystem of the Northeast was losing its natural vegetation through clearing and that the zone was therefore running the risk of becoming even more arid, as was occurring also in some other regions.
In areas where agriculture is more intense and developed, there are serious problems of soil erosion, siltation and sedimentation of streams and rivers, and pollution with pesticides. In parts of the savannas, where irrigated soybean production expanded in the 1980s, the water table has been affected. Expansion of pastures for cattle-raising has reduced natural biodiversity in the savannas. Swine effluents constitute a serious environmental problem in Santa Catarina in the South.
In urban areas, at least in the largest cities, levels of air pollution and congestion are typical of, or worse than, those found in cities in developed countries. At the same time, however, basic environmental problems related to the lack of sanitation, which developed countries solved long ago, persist in Brazil. These problems are sometimes worse in middle-sized and small cities than in large cities, which have more resources to deal with them. Environmental problems of cities and towns finally began to receive greater attention by society and the government in the 1990s.
According to many critics, the economic crisis in the 1980s worsened environmental degradation in Brazil because it led to overexploitation of natural resources, stimulated settlement in fragile lands in both rural and urban areas, and weakened environmental protection. At the same time, however, the lower level of economic activity may have reduced pressure on the environment, such as the aforementioned decreased level of investment in large-scale clearing in the Amazon. That pressure could increase if economic growth accelerates, especially if consumption patterns remain unchanged and more sustainable forms of production are not found.
In Brazil public policies regarding the environment are generally advanced, although their implementation and the enforcement of environmental laws have been far from ideal. Laws regarding forests, water, and wildlife have been in effect since the 1930s. Brazil achieved significant institutional advances in environmental policy design and implementation after the Stockholm Conference on the Environment in 1972. Specialized environmental agencies were organized at the federal level and in some states, and many national parks and reserves were established. By 1992 Brazil had established thirty-four national parks and fifty-six biological reserves (see fig. 5). In 1981 the National Environment Policy was defined, and the National System for the Environment (Sistema Nacional do Meio Ambiente--Sisnama) was created, with the National Environmental Council (Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente--Conama) at its apex, municipal councils at its base, and state-level councils in between. In addition to government authorities, all of these councils include representatives of civil society.
The 1988 constitution incorporates environmental precepts that are advanced compared with those of most other countries. At that time, the Chamber of Deputies (Câmara dos Deputados) established its permanent Commission for Defense of the Consumer, the Environment, and Minorities. In 1989 the creation of the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis--Ibama) joined together the federal environment secretariat and the federal agencies specializing in forestry, rubber, and fisheries. In 1990 the administration of Fernando Collor de Mello (president, 1990-92) appointed the well-known environmentalist José Lutzemberger as secretary of the environment and took firm positions on the environment and on Indian lands. In 1992 Brazil played a key role at the Earth Summit, not only as its host but also as negotiator on sustainable development agreements, including the conventions on climate and biodiversity. The Ministry of Environment was created in late 1992, after President Collor had left office. In August 1993, it became the Ministry of Environment and the Legal Amazon and took a more pragmatic approach than had the combative Lutzemberger. However, because of turnover in its leadership, a poorly defined mandate, and lack of funds, its role and impact were limited. In 1995 its mandate and name were expanded to include water resources--the Ministry of Environment, Hydraulic Resources, and the Legal Amazon--it began a process of restructuring to meet its mandate of "shared management of the sustainable use of natural resources." In 1997 the Commission on Policies for Sustainable Development and Agenda 21 began to function under the aegis of the Civil Household. One of its main tasks was to prepare Agenda 21 (a plan for the twenty-first century) for Brazil and to stimulate preparation of state and local agendas.
Institutional development at the official level was accompanied and in part stimulated by the growth, wide diffusion, and growing professional development of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) dedicated to environmental and socio-environmental causes. The hundreds of NGOs throughout Brazil produce documents containing both useful information and passionate criticisms. Among the Brazilian environmental NGOs, the most visible are SOS Atlantic Forest (SOS Mata Atlântica), the Social-Environmental Institute (Instituto Sócio-Ambiental--ISA), the Pro-Nature Foundation (Fundação Pró-Natureza--Funatura), and the Amazon Working Group (Grupo de Trabalho Amazônico--GTA). The Brazilian Forum of NGOs and Social Movements for the Environment and Development and the Brazilian Association of Nongovernmental Organizations (Associacão Brasileira de Organizações Não-Governamentais--ABONG) are national networks, and there are various regional and thematic networks as well. The main international environmental NGOs that have offices or affiliates in Brazil are the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Conservation International (CI), and Nature Conservancy.
Especially after the events of the late 1980s, international organizations and developed countries have allocated significant resources for the environmental sector in Brazil. In 1992 environmental projects worth about US$6.8 million were identified, with US$2.6 in counterpart funds (funds provided by the Brazilian government). More than 70 percent of the total value was for sanitation, urban pollution control, and other urban environmental projects. Thus, the allocation of resources did not accord with the common belief that funding was influenced unduly by alarmist views on deforestation in the Amazon.
Among the specific environmental projects with international support, the most important was the National Environmental Plan (Plano Nacional do Meio Ambiente--PNMA), which received a US$117 million loan from the World Bank (see Glossary). The National Environmental Fund (Fundo Nacional do Meio Ambiente--FNMA), in addition to budgetary funds, received US$20 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (see Glossary) to finance the environmental activities of NGOs and small municipal governments. The Pilot Program for the Conservation of the Brazilian Rain Forests (Programa Piloto para a Proteção das Florestas Tropicais do Brasil--PPG-7) was supported by the world's seven richest countries (the so-called G-7) and the European Community (see Glossary), which allocated US$258 million for projects in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest regions. The Global Environment Facility (GEF), created in 1990, set aside US$30 million for Brazil, part of which is managed by a national fund called Funbio. GEF also established a small grants program for NGOs, which focused on the cerrado during its pilot phase. The World Bank also made loans for environmental and natural resource management in Rondônia and Mato Grosso, in part to correct environmental and social problems that had been created by the World Bank-funded development of the northwest corridor in the 1980s.
Despite favorable laws, promising institutional arrangements, and external funding, the government has not, on the whole, been effective in controlling damage to the environment. This failure is only in small measure because of the opposition of anti-environmental groups. In greater part, it can be attributed to the traditional separation between official rhetoric and actual practice in Brazil. It is also related to general problems of governance, fiscal crisis, and lingering doubts about appropriate tradeoffs between the environment and development. Some of the most effective governmental action in the environmental area has occurred at the state and local levels in the most developed states and has involved NGOs. In 1994 the PNMA began to stress decentralization and strengthening of state environmental agencies, a tendency that subsequently gained momentum.
Data as of April 1997
Brazil Table of Contents | <urn:uuid:3318a995-a3fd-46a9-8a4e-3ac79de99678> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-1707.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703499999.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20210116014637-20210116044637-00487.warc.gz | en | 0.96188 | 2,520 | 3.53125 | 4 |
The Geological Society of America is having a meeting in Argentina, focused primarily on events in the Americas, but with a fairly global perspective. What follows is a quick rundown on a few of the talks that caught my attention via Eurekalert.
Shake: The tsunami-spawning Great Sumatran Earthquake did more than shake the earth: it's also shaking the prevalent understanding of earthquake risk. Geologists had assumed that there were two ways to build up the stress that can generate an earthquake of such a magnitude: either a fast-moving fault, or a young and buoyant plate that will resist being pushed under another. Sumatra had neither, and yet produced a quake over 10 times stronger than the predicted maximum magnitude for the area. The presenter is suggesting that the assumption that speed or age were involved was simply based on a sample of quakes that was too small, and a general reassessment of potential quake risk should be performed.
Rattle: The earth has been rattled by many impacts of asteroids over the years, but few are more famous than the one in the Yucatan that generated the Chicxulub crater, created the K/T boundary, and wiped out the dinosaurs. Or, maybe not. Results at the meeting, however, suggest that the date of the crater impact precedes the K/T boundary and dinosaur die-off by over a quarter-million years. If these results hold up, then may we have to go looking for some other cause for all the asteroidal material that forms the K/T boundary.
Blow: Yellowstone isn't the only massive volcanic caldera in the Americas. Somewhere on the border of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia lies the Eduardo Avaroa Caldera Complex, which apparently contains several enormous volcanic sites, including the Vilama Caldera. At that site, a single eruption about 8.4 million years ago blew out about 2,000 cubic kilometers of material. There's more to discover there, but as it's remote and 13,000 feet high, work has been slow.
Hopefully, by studying exceptional occurrences such as these, we can both get a better idea of our planet's history, and detect and prepare for similar events in the future. | <urn:uuid:c2393bfa-6ab7-4f86-84ca-f1ed43138f54> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | https://arstechnica.com/science/2006/03/3385/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794867416.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20180526092847-20180526112847-00555.warc.gz | en | 0.96843 | 453 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Use a voltmeter to measure the open circuit voltage of the battery (see car battery voltage chart). Open circuit voltage is the voltage of the battery with no load or disconnected from any circuit. Don’t charge the battery before you test the open circuit voltage. If the voltmeter shows a voltage reading of 12.2 volts then the battery is approximately 50% charged.
Since the battery is 50% charged, this means that there is approximately half of the 60 amp-hours in the battery or 30 amp-hours. Therefore it is necessary to put about 30 amp hours plus 20% more to compensate for the internal resistance in the battery for a total of 30 amps x 0.2 = 36 amp-hours to fully charge your battery.
Car Battery Voltage Chart
|12V BATTERY VOLTAGE||VOLTS PER CELL||STATE OF CHARGE|
Fully charged car battery voltage: 12.6 volts
How to Maintain a Car Battery
- Check your battery every now and then to make sure its terminal connections are clean, snug and protected from the elements. Signs of corrosion or leakage could mean that your battery is no longer operating as well as it should;
- Always unplug accessories and turn off lights when your car is turned off;
- Keep the battery in cooler places whenever possible. Heat damages batteries;
- Scrub corrosion from the terminals with a solution of water and baking soda. | <urn:uuid:c75777f9-a924-459e-9a6d-135a51d13025> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://capitol-tires.com/car-battery-voltage-chart.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579250605075.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20200121192553-20200121221553-00535.warc.gz | en | 0.855713 | 291 | 3.59375 | 4 |
- 1A round stone fruit with juicy yellow flesh and downy pinkish-yellow skin.More example sentences
- They are based on many different kinds of summer fruit, particularly stone fruits such as peaches and plums; and pears, apples, and quinces.
- Popular fillings include stone fruits, like peaches and plums.
- To skin the peaches, dunk them in simmering water for 10 seconds, remove and peel under cold running water.
- 1.1 [mass noun] A pinkish-yellow colour like that of a peach: the sky began to change from grey to peach [as modifier]: a peach satin nightdressMore example sentences
- The blend of colours like peach, red and pink makes them look almost real at a first glance.
- She got the same shades as I did last year, a browny colour and peach.
- The key colours are bright coral, various shades of purple, peach and green.
- 2 (also peach tree) The Chinese tree which bears peaches.
More example sentences
- Prunus persica, family Rosaceae: many cultivars, including the nectarine
- Flowers grew all around, and I saw an apple tree and a peach tree to the side.
- The traditional recommendation is to prune enough off a peach tree so that a bird can fly right through the branches.
- And my friend told me that you can graft an apple branch into a peach tree, but the branch will still grow apples.
- 3 [in singular] • informal An exceptionally good or attractive person or thing: it was another peach of a dayMore example sentences
- This is a peach of a site that deserves the application of real genius, not dull commercialism.
- But for his sheer industry, his perseverance and a peach of a goal - at a crucial time - Garrymore's star corner-forward gets the nod.
- And when given the whole 90 minutes against the Germans, he scored one - a peach of a free-kick - and set up the other for Baros.
peaches and cream
- (Of a person’s complexion) of a cream colour with downy pink cheeks.More example sentences
- Her peaches and cream complexion positively glowed against the white satin, her red hair even more vibrant than usual, piled in curls on top of her head.
- It most often affects people who blush easily, have a fair skin, and what is often called a peaches and cream complexion.
- The bride, not noted for a peaches and cream complexion, looked beautiful.
late Middle English: from Old French pesche, from medieval Latin persica, from Latin persicum (malum), literally 'Persian apple'.
verb[no object] (peach on) • informal
- Inform on: the other members of the gang would not hesitate to peach on himMore example sentences
- When, just before dawn, Sikes arrives to drop off some swag, Fagin plies him with a series of hypothetical questions about what he would do to someone who ‘peached’ on him.
- Wilmore would not have peached against her to Glavely.
- If both keep silent, both go free; the one who peaches gets clemency, the one who does not gets the shaft.
late Middle English: shortening of archaic appeach, from Old French empechier 'impede' (see impeach). | <urn:uuid:5efa1e92-9ab5-442d-ba31-9cdb230d4645> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/peach | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1398223205375.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20140423032005-00002-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92417 | 729 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Other Word Forms of Quality
Origin of Quality
From Middle English, from Old French qualité, from Latin qualitatem, accusative of qualitas, from qualis (“of what kind"), from Proto-Indo-European *kÊ·o- (“who, how"). Cicero coined qualitas as a calque to translate the Ancient Greek word ποιότης (poiótes, “quality"), coined by Plato from ποῖος (poios, “of what nature, of what kind").
Middle English qualite from Old French from Latin quālitās quālitāt- from quālis of what kind kwo- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
æqual + -ity
Find Similar Words
Find similar words to quality using the buttons below. | <urn:uuid:b9a56359-e4cc-4905-b2b5-50cf7cc32319> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://www.yourdictionary.com/quality | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100583.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20231206031946-20231206061946-00035.warc.gz | en | 0.776302 | 194 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Florida’s U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Charles Dunn plan concerted attacks through legislation to overturn the special master’s ruling before the case reaches the
U.S. Supreme Court. The case is of vital importance to Florida’s Gulf shrimp industry. Without the necessary flow of clean water into the Gulf of Mexico, the shrimp industry is doomed, Florida’s attorney argue. The waters originate in Georgia’s Apalachicola, Caloosahatchee, and Flint River Basin. Florida argues that F]georgia impoungs water in Georgia for its needs. Georgia. The special master ruled in his recomendations that Florida should have relied on the Army Corps of Engineers` monitoring and recommendations. George urges the it needs the water for the fast-growing populations in the Atlanta, Ga., area. The following is the article on this first-stage decision.
Dunn, Nelson take on ‘water wars’ ruling | <urn:uuid:5f9c7398-8b17-4bd8-b451-91d989f9f5c0> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://floridasbigdig.me/2017/02/20/dunn-nelson-take-on-water-wars-ruling/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618039388763.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20210420091336-20210420121336-00452.warc.gz | en | 0.909138 | 203 | 2.75 | 3 |
What is responsive web design (RWD)?
This simply means that a website will adjust or respond to the screen size and environment of the device that it’s being viewed on. Mobile phones, tablets and desktop computers come in a variety of different sized screens. A website will need to work properly on each of these devices to maximise its usability. RWD is the answer and can ultimately improve traffic performances. RWD essentially mean that a website will automatically accommodate for the website layout, image sizes, resolutions and scripts on various screen sizes and device types.
How does responsive web design work?
RWD works by sizing elements within a website using proportions instead of pixels. The proportion of the elements are defined as a percentage rather than a numerical fixed state. So if a website has text adjacent to an image this could be defined in the CSS as 60 and 40 percent of the webpage width. In this way a website can expand or contract to suit different screen sizes without changing to much of the websites appearance.
Why should a website be responsive?
Many websites may have separate mobile, tablet and computer sites on different sub-domains.
website.com – m.website.com – t.website.com
This means that there are two or three separate websites running on the same domain. Different site versions may need to be edited separately which can increase the cost or work involved. RWD combines all device versions into one neat website, which significantly reduces the time required to make site updates. Having separate websites can also lead to duplicate content problems as the same content may be on separate sub-domains and ‘rel alternate’ and canonical tags will need to be applied. If incorrectly applied this may affect some search engine grading factors and ultimately traffic performances.
Mobile phones are starting to dominate the other device types that are used for searching online. For most industries it is now more important than ever to upgrade a website to a mobile friendly version. The length of time a user spends on a site can be reduced if the website does not respond correctly. This can lead to higher bounce rates and lower click trough rates that negatively affect SEO scores and search engine placements. | <urn:uuid:e565b509-240b-4c90-b1a3-60b7184fd02b> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://webswiftseo.com/responsive-design-tutorial/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703519883.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20210120023125-20210120053125-00461.warc.gz | en | 0.927578 | 443 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Definition: An instrument for timing a muscular impulse, the interval between the application of the stimulus and the muscular movement in response.
[myo- + G. chronos, time, + skopeo, to examine]
Disclaimer: This site is designed to offer information for general educational purposes only. The health information furnished on this site and the interactive responses are not intended to be professional advice and are not intended to replace personal consultation with a qualified physician, pharmacist, or other healthcare professional. You must always seek the advice of a professional for questions related to a disease, disease symptoms, and appropriate therapeutic treatments.
Search Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Examples: glitazone, GI cocktail, etc.
© Copyright 2017 Wolters Kluwer. All Rights Reserved. Review Date: Sep 19, 2016. | <urn:uuid:486b68d0-307d-4a2f-92ee-408dfc496a65> | CC-MAIN-2017-51 | https://www.drugs.com/dict/myochronoscope.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-51/segments/1512948521292.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20171213045921-20171213065921-00130.warc.gz | en | 0.866755 | 167 | 2.640625 | 3 |
In preparation for the upcoming Fall firing, Simon assigned me the job of building a bagwall inside the anagama.
A bagwall, as defined by Marc Lancet in he and Masakazu Kusakabe's book, Japanese Woodfired Ceramics, is "a wall or barrier used to direct flame within the kiln." In many kiln designs, a bagwall is built between the fire chamber and the ware chamber to regulate the flow of ash and heat into the kiln. Normally, a bagwall wouldn't be necessary inside this particular kiln. The reason we built one for this firing is that we will only be utilizing the first two levels of stacking space, leaving the back half of the kiln wide open. Without the bagwall, the heat would be sucked through the pots at too quick of a rate and therefore would make it much more difficult to evenly heat up the space that they occupy.
The style of bagwall that I constructed could be called "accordion." The bricks alternate at right angles creating holes that are not aligned with the flame path. The idea is that by making the heat/flame turn a corner before exiting through the wall, it will slow it down. The flame will roll back on itself in the space and linger amongst the pots, hopefully resulting in a more even heat distribution.
Each brick is dipped in kiln wash and dry laid. It is very important to make the first layer level and not wobbly to give the wall maximum stability. the measurement of the holes was about 2" x 3". The total amount of air getting through this wall should be roughly equal to the air getting out of the flue in the back. By this logic, these holes are probably a bit oversized. We may go back and partially fill in some of the holes.
I used a combination of 3" straights and standard straights, both hard and soft. Getting the sides to fit against the arch took some care and patience. I also made sure that I was building straight up and not allowing the wall to start leaning backward or forward.
And that's it! Can't wait to see how she works!! | <urn:uuid:3a294c6e-3722-4926-85ae-449daff23785> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://www.harrylevensteinpottery.com/blog/archives/08-2017 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560627999130.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20190620024754-20190620050754-00493.warc.gz | en | 0.961699 | 440 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Yeast have simple nutritional needs. Unable to carry out photosynthesis, they require a reduced carbon source which can be as simple a compound as acetate. In addition, they also require a nitrogen source such as ammonium sulfate. Yeasts can use a variety of organic nitrogen compounds, including urea and various amino acids. The only other complex compound that they require is the vitamin, biotin. Of course, they also require a variety of salts and trace elements.
Another characteristic of most yeast, including S. cerevisiae, is that they divide by budding, rather than by binary fission (Byers 1981). A small bud emerges from the surface of the parent cell and enlarges until it is almost the size of the parent. (see Figure 1)>
Figure 1: Morphology of Yeast Cell Type
While this is happening the chromosomes of the parent replicate. At mitosis, when the nucleus divides, one of the nuclei is transferred to the bud, and then the two cells separate.
Schizosaccharomyces pombe, another popular yeast, is remarkably similar to S. cerevisiae, except that it grows as cylindrical cells that elongate and split in half by binary fission, much like bacteria. Its cell division is so convenient to observe that this yeast also has potential for use in teaching biology.
The yeast life cycle, like that of all higher organisms, includes a step known as meiosis, where pairs of chromosomes separate to give new combinations of genetic traits.
Ascomycetes, such as baker's yeast, are popular for genetics research because the ascospores they produce in each ascus are the products of meiosis. When yeast are nutritionally stressed, for example by deprivation of either a carbon source or a nitrogen source, diploid yeast will sporulate. The diploid nucleus goes through meiosis, producing four haploid nuclei which are then incorporated into four stress-resistant ascospores, encapsulated in the ascus(see Figure 1). This packaging of the four meiotic products makes genetic analysis particularly simple.
The ease with which baker's yeast can be maintained as either haploid cells or diploid cells is another characteristic that makes them attractive to geneticists.
People have used yeast, undoubtedly one of the earliest domesticated organisms, for controlled fermentation of food and drink and for leavening in baking throughout recorded history. Today, they are also used in a variety of commercial fermentation and biomass conversion processes. Their usefulness is based on their ability to convert sugars and other carbon sources into ethanol in the absence of air (anaerobic), and into carbon dioxide and water in the presence of air (aerobic). Ethanol is a valuable alternative to petroleum as a fuel and as a raw material for the manufacturing of many important commercial chemicals.
Yeast is also good food. It is rich in protein and is an uncommonly good source of the B vitamins. It provides a valuable source of nutrients that are important in low-meat or vegetarian diets. But while few emanations from the kitchen are quite as tantalizing as the yeasty aroma of baking bread, most people agree that pure yeast tastes pretty bad.
Other genera of yeast also have practical uses. Some can use hydrocarbons, such as petroleum, as a carbon source. These organisms can literally convert petroleum into protein. They are being used to remove petroleum as a pollutant from the environment and to convert low-grade hydrocarbons into protein for consumption by animals.
Yeast can indeed be germs. In fact, one extremely common pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans, is carried by most people in a benign form (Fincham & Day 1971). While in normally healthy people it is harmless, in those whose immune response is weakened it can become infectious and turns into a serious pathogen. These infections are particularly hard to control in humans because yeast metabolism is so similar to ours. Drugs that are toxic to the yeast are also toxic to people. Another particularly nasty pathogenic yeast, Cryptococcus neoformans, produces a life-threatening meningitis. These yeasts are known as "opportunistic pathogens" because they are a serious threat only to people with impaired immune responses like those who have AIDS.
Both haploid and diploid yeast cells divide by budding (see Figure 2). The cell division cycle begins with a single, unbudded cell (Pringle & Hartwell 1981; Byers 1981). This cell buds, the bud grows to nearly the size of the parent cell, the nucleus divides, and the two cells separate into two unbudded cells. The cycle then begins again for both of the cells. The result is an exponential increase in the number of cells with a doubling time equal to the mean cell-division-cycle time. This varies with the strain, the growth medium, and the temperature, but can be as short as one hour. At this rate, a single cell can grow into a barely visible colony in one day.
The growth behavior of yeast cultures is similar to that of bacteria. When a growth medium is inoculated, the cells require a period of preparation before they start dividing. Following this lag period which may be up to several hours they rapidly enter the exponential phase during which their number and mass double at equal time intervals. After a period of growth at a relatively constant exponential rate, some environmental condition becomes growth limiting so that the rate of increase diminishes and growth eventually stops. The population and mass become constant. The culture remains stationary and the cells remain viable for several hours; if the culture is refrigerated the cells remain viable for months. Eventually the cells die, and at room temperature or warmer they will undergo autolysis: their own digestive enzymes become active and they literally digest themselves, reducing their proteins and nucleic acids to their simpler components; they produce a particularly unpleasant stench in the process.
Normal yeast can grow either aerobically, in the presence of oxygen or anaerobically, in the absence of oxygen. Under aerobic growth conditions they can support growth by oxidizing simple carbon sources, such as ethanol, acetate or glycerol. If they have adequate oxygen, they will completely oxidize their carbon sources, usually sugars, to carbon dioxide and water. However, under anaerobic conditions, deprived of oxygen, yeast can convert sugars only to carbon dioxide and ethanol, recovering less of the energy. In either case, growth will be limited by some essential nutrient or the accumulation of the toxin.
Yeast grow equally well in liquid media or on a nutrient surface such as an agar plate or an exposed surface of some kind of food. In liquid they must be stirred or shaken if they are to remain aerobic; otherwise, they settle to the bottom of the container, consume the dissolved oxygen, and grow anaerobically. On a nutrient surface in a ventilated container, they grow aerobically with each cell forming a visible colony of up to 100 million cells within 2 or 3 days.
Figure 2: Cell Division Cycle of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
In sexual organisms, the life cycle (see Figure 3) is composed of a series of events that alternate between a haploid phase and a diploid phase (Fincham & Day 1971). The transition from the diploid to the haploid phase is the consequence of a specialized cell division -- meiosis -- in which the nucleus divides twice following a single replication of the chromosomes. Meiosis yields four haploid nuclei. During meiosis, paired homologous chromosomes in the diploid nucleus interchange parts and are distributed into the haploid nuclei yielding new combinations of genetic traits. In higher organisms a germ-cell line is differentiated from the body (somatic) cells. The germ-cell line produces the reproductive cells that form the gametes. The gametes are the cells which carry the genetic information to the next generation while the somatic cells form the rest of the organism and play no direct role in heredity.
Figure 3: Yeast Life Cycle
The transition from the haploid to the diploid phase results from mating (sexual conjugation) between gametes. This leads to the formation of a zygote in which two parental haploid nuclei fuse to form a diploid nucleus. In higher organisms, the gametes are differentiated germ line cells. In higher animals, different gametes are produced by individuals of opposite sex. However, in higher plants, they are produced by different structures, either on the same plant or on different plants.
In yeast, as in other sexual microorganisms, the complete sexual cycle is present but is much simpler than in higher plants and animals. Permanent differentiation between germ line and somatic cells does not occur. Instead, transient differentiations occur under appropriate conditions to facilitate the essential events. The simplicity of the sexual cycle in yeast and the ease with which all the events can be manipulated and observed provides a unique opportunity for teaching this normally obscure and abstract process through simple, direct, concrete observations.
Mating in yeast which is mediated by diffusible molecules -- pheromones -- can be readily demonstrated (Manney, Duntze & Betz 1981). When cells of opposite mating type are mixed on the surface of agar growth medium in a petri plate, changes become apparent within two to three hours. As each type of cell secretes its pheromone into the medium, it responds to the one produced by the opposite type (MacKay & Manney 1974). They each respond by differentiating into a specialized functional form, a gamete. The cells stop dividing and change their shape (see Figure 1). They elongate and become pear-shaped. These distinctive cells have been termed "shmoos" because of their resemblance to the mythical but lovable animals in the "Li'l Abner" comic strip. Cells of opposite mating types that are in contact or close proximity join at the surface and fuse together forming a characteristic "peanut" shape with a central constriction -- two shmoos fused at their small ends. The two haploid nuclei within each joined pair fuse into a diploid nucleus, forming a true zygote. The diploid promptly buds at the constriction, forming a characteristic "clover leaf" figure. One can easily observe all of these stages under the microscope.
The mating pheromones that are secreted by haploid cells are small peptide molecules that diffuse through agar (Betz, Manney & Duntze 1981). Consequently, their existence and their effects on cells of the opposite mating types are easy to demonstrate. If cells of the mating type are grown overnight on agar medium, a high concentration of the pheromone accumulates in the agar surrounding the growth. Then if cells of the mating type a are placed on this agar, they begin to undergo the "shmoo" transformation within a couple of hours. The effect is quite striking. One can demonstrate the same effect in a liquid medium in which mating type cells have been grown. In fact, when yeast were first studied yeast biologists used these simple methods to isolate and characterize the pheromones.
Shmoos then, are the gametes in yeast. They differentiate from normal vegetative haploid cells only when a cell of the opposite mating type is present. In a like manner, any diploid cell can go through meiosis forming haploids which have the potential to become gametes (Esposito & Klapholz 1981; Fowell 1969b). Meiosis is part of the process of sporulation which is initiated when diploid cells are transferred to a nutritionally unbalanced medium. But the changes become apparent under the microscope only after three to five days when the asci become quite distinctive. Theoretically, all asci should contain four spores but in practice, many contain only two or three. The ascus has a lumpy shape, much like oranges inside a cloth bag. Treating the sporulation mixture with a readily available crude preparation of digestive enzymes from garden snails will remove the wall of the ascus, liberating the spores. When the spores, either within the ascus or after being liberated, are returned to a nutritionally adequate environment, they germinate and undergo vegetative growth in a stable haploid phase. Haploid strains occur in two mating types, called a and (alpha). Within each ascus, two spores are normally mating-type a and the other two are . When a cell of one mating type encounters one of the other mating type, they initiate a series of events that leads to conjugation. The result is a diploid cell, which grows by mitotic cell division in a stable diploid phase. If one merely transfers a sporulated cell culture to growth medium the result is a mixed population of haploid strains and new diploid strains which are analogous to the progeny from a cross between diploid higher organisms.
Normally, yeast geneticists isolate the spores, either randomly or by micromanipulation, to prevent the haploid strains from mating and forming the next generation. This degree of control and the ability to observe the genetic traits in the haploid phase makes genetic analysis in yeast powerful and efficient. The analysis of random populations of spores, while time-consuming, is simple enough for high school students, and is particularly well-suited to individual projects for advanced students.
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Last updated Friday August 19 2005 | <urn:uuid:9abaea7a-e7d1-41a3-99f4-60a5a6ec312f> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | https://www.phys.ksu.edu/gene/a1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218189316.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212949-00199-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946333 | 2,778 | 4.1875 | 4 |
Gallbladder disease can have several names, depending on which part of the biliary system is affected. Some of the common variations include:
Cholecystitis — inflammation or infection of the gallbladder, often due to a gallstone obstruction
Cholelithiasis — presence of a stone in the gallbladder, without inflammation or infection
Choledocholithiasis — presence of gallstone in the common bile duct
- Gallstones are commonly found incidentally on abdominal imaging. Only 10-20% of asymptomatic patients go on to develop symptoms within 5-20 years of diagnosis.
- The body can function relatively normally without the gallbladder. Instead of having a gallbladder to store bile, the liver delivers it directly to the small intestine.
What are the causes?
Gallbladder disease is caused by stone formation and blockage of the biliary system, causing pain, infection, and biliary stasis. Risk factors for gallstone formation include obesity, high cholesterol, family history, increasing age, and female sex.
What are the symptoms?
- Jaundice or yellowing of the skin
- Abdominal pain (generally right upper quadrant)
The pain may be intermittent, responding to movement of the gallstone(s).
How is it diagnosed?
Initial diagnosis is performed with an abdominal ultrasound, which can visualize the gallbladder and bile duct to assess for infection/inflammation. The ultrasound can even detect the presence of stones. If the biliary system cannot be properly visualized, further imaging with MRI or CT may be warranted.
How is it treated?
Generally, treatment is surgery to remove the gallbladder, and is curative. The procedure to remove the gallbladder is called a cholecystectomy. If there are stones in the bile duct, additional procedures may be necessary to remove the ductal obstruction.
What is the outlook?
The outlook for people after gallbladder surgery, barring any major complications, is generally excellent. The body can function normally without the gallbladder. Rather than having the gallbladder stores bile, the liver secretes it directly into the small intestines. Having some changes in bowel consistency is normal after surgery. In some cases, a residual gallstone or leak in the biliary system may cause additional symptoms after surgery, which can be corrected.
If you suspect you have an urgent surgical issue, contact your medical provider immediately or go to the closest emergency room.
If you have any questions for our Acute Care team, contact s at (212) 342-1734. | <urn:uuid:0c277ca0-d7c7-4a66-8fb8-1c6dc9454a36> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://dev.columbiasurgery.org/conditions-and-treatments/gallbladder-disease | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046153857.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20210729105515-20210729135515-00625.warc.gz | en | 0.914478 | 542 | 3.25 | 3 |
Forensic Anthropology and Death Investigation
Forensic anthropology is the examination of human skeletal remains for law enforcement agencies to help with the recovery of human remains, to determine the identity of unidentified human remains, interpret trauma, and estimate time since death. Physical anthropologists develop methods to evaluate bones to understand people who lived in the past. Such questions might include: Was this individual male or female? How old were they when they died? How tall were they? Were the people in good or poor general health? Forensic anthropology involves the application of these same methods to modern cases of unidentified human remains. Through the established methods, a forensic anthropologist can aid law enforcement in establishing a profile of the unidentified remains. The profile includes sex, age, ancestry, height, length of time since death, and sometimes the evaluation of trauma observed on bones.
A/V requirements: None | <urn:uuid:d9360216-fd9d-43e6-b757-edbe10c01f14> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://masonspeakers.gmu.edu/talks/forensic-anthropology-and-death-investigation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446710690.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20221129064123-20221129094123-00385.warc.gz | en | 0.943001 | 173 | 3.1875 | 3 |
£1 doesn’t mean the same thing to all:
One remarkable moment in the electoral campaign was David Cameron’s reassurance to the UK public that the proposed Conservative budget cuts amounted to a £1 reduction for every £100 – something that every family or business could cope with. I guess in a society where the principle of equality is cherished and where policies are geared towards improving equality and minimizing inequality then such reassurances are well grounded.
Equality is related to better physical health, greater feelings of trust and lower levels of violence. Inequality measured by how much richer the top 20 percent than the bottom 20 percent is in each country, is related to increased rates of mental illness (r=0.73) and drug problems (r=0.63).
Psychosocial factors are key in understanding the associations between income inequality and health where social hierarchical organisation favours those ranked highly and disfavours those ranked at the bottom. Internal threats arising from the experience and perception of inequality increase stress through feelings of shame, threat and distrust, which acts on psycho-neuro-endocrine mechanisms. External threats acting on the person include exposure to antisocial behaviour, reduced civic participation, less social capital and reduced social cohesion increase feelings of disconnectedness, loneliness and paranoia.
Not just perception of rank but the availability of resources within systems are key to understanding the health effects of social hierarchies. Lynch and colleagues (2000) argued “the effect of income inequality on health reflects a combination of negative exposures and lack of resources held by individuals, along with systematic underinvestment across a wide range of human, physical, health, and social infrastructure” reflecting the manifestation of the sum of historical, cultural and political-economic processes.
In the past 30 years alcohol and drug-related deaths, violent deaths and suicide have increased to a greater extent in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK and Europe. Physical health inequalities have increased in Scotland relative to the rest of the UK evidenced by premature death due to cardiovascular disease, cancer and stroke. McCartney and colleagues have shown that these increasing inequalities are associated with the Index of Economic Freedom (or in other words the extent to which neoliberal or monetarist economic policies predominate).
So £1 isn’t the same to every individual and neither is £1 the same to every community or every nation within the UK. Problems of inequality and its terrible consequences cannot solved by austerity. Austerity can only further hit the more vulnerable groups in our society who already experience greater risks of disconnection, alienation and hopelessness. What’s happened in Scotland during the last 30-years in terms of inequality and what is happening in Scotland during this election provides an important opportunity for UK based parties to start to seriously rethink the impact of policies that increase inequality, and the associated costs to us all. Maybe adopting a principle of Equality in the UK would be a good start.
Lynch, JW., Davey Smith, G., Kaplan, GA. & House, JS. Income inequality and mortality: importance of health of individual income, psychosocial environment or living conditions. BMJ. 2000 April 29; 320(7243): 1200–1204.
McCartney, G, Walsh, D., Whyte, B., & Collins, C. (2011) has Scotland always been the ‘sick man of Europe’? An observational study from 1855 to 2006. European Journal of Public Health, Vol. 22, No. 6, 756–760 | <urn:uuid:2ba3d7c2-d872-45bb-8d9b-10193cd3885f> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | http://ihawkes.academicblogs.co.uk/2015/05/06/ihawkes-election-special-part-ii-professor-andy-gumley/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585371805747.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20200407183818-20200407214318-00557.warc.gz | en | 0.936465 | 714 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Earth Day is still a little more than a week away, but Michigan dairy farmers are ready.
“We really think that farmers are the first stewards of the land,” Paul Gross, extension educator with Michigan State University, says in a video. “If you’re a farmer, you feel that tie to the land.”
And, Michigan dairy producer Mike Rasmussen explains the continuous cycle at his dairy where nutrients produced by the cows are used to grow corn that is, in turn, fed to the cows so they can produce milk.
In addition, the Michigan Dairy News Bureau has created five images for social media supporting the dairy industry’s role in keeping the earth green.
Images of dairy farms and corn fields with the taglines “Earth Day Every Day,” and “Happy Earth Year! Celebrating Earth Day 365 days a year,” reiterate dairy producers’ commitment to caring for their land.
The Michigan Dairy News Bureau will share the images on Facebook and Twitter.
To see the images on the News Bureau’s Facebook page, click here. | <urn:uuid:f946be6e-09cb-44c3-b44b-8233af604a15> | CC-MAIN-2013-48 | http://www.dairyherd.com/e-newsletters/dairy-daily/147195595.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386164692455/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204134452-00012-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934014 | 228 | 3 | 3 |
Treadle operated drill, London, England, 1925-1940
Dental drills are used by dentists to remove decaying tooth matter, usually before inserting a filling. Powered by a foot pedal, this type of dental drill (in the foreground) was invented by James B Morrison (1829-1917) in 1871, although this one was made rather later. This example was made by the Amalgamated Dental Co. Ltd. It is shown here within a display about dentists in the 1890s.
Related Themes and Topics
There are 829 related objects. View all related objects
Techniques and Technologies:
The study, treatment and management of diseases affecting the mouth, jaws, gums, teeth and their supporting tissues.
Glossary: dental drill
A rotary power-driven instrument into which cutting points may be inserted. Used to remove decay from teeth. | <urn:uuid:f514039b-f1f8-4327-89e7-9126243303d3> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display.aspx?id=10989 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1408500825567.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20140820021345-00407-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929597 | 185 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Scuba hand signals are the main signs that help divers to communicate underwater. These signs are universal and accepted by most associations and training agencies.
In addition to them, there are many other signs that are used in various conditions, but these are the basic hand signs of underwater communication for divers.
|I am OK|
|I have a problem|
|Out of Air|
|Go this direction|
|Get with your buddy|
|Emergency! Help me now!|
|I don’t know|
How to ensure safety underwater
When learning to dive, the user should know that for a safe dive, you need to provide yourself with the necessary items, equipment, and equipment.
The better equipped the diver, the easier it is to solve difficult and dangerous situations underwater. Before diving, it is recommended to check your health and children (if they will dive with adults).
The first knowledge of diving is best acquired with a trainer or professional submariner. Before you start your first dive, you should learn the signs of divers. Signals underwater help you navigate when moving and mean certain words. Using signs, divers can:
- warn each other about dangers and malfunctions;
- to call for the descent, a horizontal displacement or surface;
- prepare for joint actions, work, video, and photography;
- ask and receive affirmative or negative answers;
- warn about a problem in equipment and equipment;
- urgently call for a stop, i.e. point to the “stop” command;
- ask the attendant for a portion of the air.
Divers communicate using their fingers, gestures, or gestures. The” language ” of submariners is very rich, but it is enough for a beginner to learn the most useful and basic signs.
When diving, the condition and quality of equipment is no less important: a wetsuit, scuba gear, fins. Even the most basic equipment should be checked while on the ground and before the dive.
If an emergency occurs underwater, use the following recommendations:
- Make the most of the diver’s signs so that you can be understood as accurately as possible and help in time;
- do not panic, but do not start a sharp ascent;
- accurately fulfill the requirements of a coach or “companion” who has diving experience;
- remember the instruction that was conducted before the dive.
Before you start your underwater journey, learn more information and tips from the masters. Once underwater, you can use any recommendation from an experienced master!
Scuba hand signals Padi
To officially normalize the most widely recognized hand signals utilized during recreational scuba diving. Successful submerged correspondence is vital for the protected and effective direct of any recreational or preparing related scuba dive.
The most helpful and solid technique for correspondence between divers is using basic hand signals.
Where conceivable, hand signals ought to be gotten from those with comparative implications ashore, to lessen learning exertion and time.
This likewise makes these signals more clear by divers who have been prepared by various associations, communicate in various dialects, or originate from various nations.
Powerful submerged correspondence is fundamental for the sheltered and proficient lead of any recreational or preparing related scuba dive.
While numerous mechanical or electronic submerged specialized gadgets are accessible, in most of the circumstances, the most dependable strategy for correspondence between divers is using straightforward hand signals.
Divers trade hand signals to give each other directions, give data on the dive, also, show their condition. The signals utilized by divers to expand the productivity of their dives are characteristic signals, neighborhood signals, and those made for unique conditions.
Characteristic signals are those whose importance is evident in any language, for example, shrugging the shoulders for “I don’t have the foggiest idea,” gesturing the head for “Yes,” shaking the head for “no” or pointing to a check to signify “What does it read?”
Neighborhood signals are those materials to a particular region, for example, a measured hand for “abalone” and thumb and initial two fingers opening and shutting for “moray eel.”
Extraordinary signals are those made for conditions, for example, guidance, for instance, two list fingers close by one another for “get with your buddy,” or hand level with palm down for “level off .” The signals found in this archive fall under this classification.
The signals are hand movements rather than finger movements, making them simple to perform by divers both wearing and not wearing gloves. Where conceivable, the signals were gotten from those with comparative implications ashore, to diminish learning exertion and time.
Signal frameworks utilizing techniques other than hand signals, were excluded from this standard in view of their restricted use by sport divers.
Notwithstanding the experience and information on the divers in question, it is consistently judicious to survey hand signals and their implications before each dive with the goal that no disarray happens during the dive.
Numerous ordinarily utilized signals offer a conversation starter, for example, “Are you OK?” and these require the other diver to restore a similar signal to demonstrate a certifiable reaction or a substitute signal if an issue exists.
When utilizing hand signals, divers should utilize conscious, clear developments, stopping if vital between signals to guarantee cognizance by their dive buddy. | <urn:uuid:4314df03-aab2-462e-961d-6ca33c6393b3> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://howtodivescuba.com/scuba-diving-hand-signals/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296945168.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20230323132026-20230323162026-00150.warc.gz | en | 0.929888 | 1,165 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Excel Level 2: Susceptible Infected Recovered Model
Excel Level 2: Susceptible Infected Recovered (SIR) Model
This lesson will guide the students to build a Susceptible, Infected, Recovered (SIR) Model of the spread of a disease, by finding and graphing the number of susceptible, infected, and recovered people in the model over time.
- To build on the basic Excel skills from Lesson 1
- Introduce concepts of epidemiology
- Some familiarity with Excel.
- Basic knowledge of algebra (use of variables and functions)
The teacher will need to be familiar with some extra features of Excel beyond the most widely known. The Excel Tutorial can familiarize the teacher with these features:
- Naming Cells
- Slider Bars
You can also see the finished model here:
- The Excel tutorial could be helpful for students but is not required
- Whiteboard and markers
- An overhead projector is recommended
- A computer for the teacher
- One computer for each student or pair of students
- Each computer should be equipped with Microsoft Excel (preferably Excel 2004)
No safety issues in this lesson
Introduction to the SIR Model (5 min)
- At your School - if one person is sick, how long will it take for the disease to spread through the whole school?
- What do we need to know in order to find that out? (write on the board)
- How many people are at the school? (Total Number of People)
- TOTAL = (Students provide)
- A good number might be around 1000.
- How many people are sick at first? (Infected)
- INITIAL INFECTED = (Students provide)
- A good number would probably be 1.
- How many aren't sick right now, but could get sick? (Susceptible)
- SUSCEPTIBLE = TOTAL - INFECTED
- In other words, out of the total population of the school, whoever isn't sick must be well and susceptible to getting sick.
Start building your model!
- Create 3 columns
- A = "Time"
- B = "Susceptible"
- C = "Infected"
- In Column G enter the names of the constants. In column H, write the constants themselves.(Don't forget to name them!)
- Enter values for Total and Initial Infected
- A2 = 0 (Initial Value of Time)
- B2 = TOTAL - INFECTED
- C2 = INITIAL INFECTED
- What happens if we change the Initial Infected?
- More people are initially sick.
- What happens if we change the Total?
- More people in the school who could possibly get sick.
- Add scroll bars to Total and Initial Infected.
Physical Modeling and Measurement
The standard 50-minute lesson does not include physical modeling. If there is extra time, students can play the SIR game during this time (see attached material)
Build the full model (30 min)
- How do we find out how many people will get sick each day?
- To figure this out, we are first going to have to figure out how many possible interactions between infected and susceptible people there are (we don't care about interactions between infected people and other infected people or susceptible people and other susceptible people, because those won't change the number of infected or susceptible people). How do we find out how many possible interactions there are? Use this example to help students: Hold up two fingers on one hand and three on another. If you want to touch each finger on one hand (infected) to each finger on the other hand (well) once, how many times would you touch your fingers together? Answer: 3*2 = 6 times. In our model, it works the same way.
- How do we calculate the number of possible interactions between infected and susceptible people?
- Interactions between susceptible and infected
- Possible Interactions = S * I
- Actual Interactions = Possible * Interaction Rate
- Infectious Interactions = Actual * Infection Rate
- delta Infected = S * I * Interaction rate * Infection Rate
- Interaction rate = % people you interact with
- Infection rate = % interactions result in infection
- Equations are the same as before!
- Infected = Infected + delta Infected * delta Time
- Susceptible = Susceptible - delta Infected * delta Time
- Constants (name these!):
- Initial Infected (slider bar)
- Delta Time (slider bar)
- Interaction Rate (slider bar)
- Infection Rate (slider bar)
- Enter Time
- Use formulas in Susceptible and Infected Columns
- Add slider bars
- Demonstrate how they need to be converted to get a fraction
- Build a graph
Allow students to explore their models and make observations about the shape of the graph lines. Here are some example questions:
- Why do the graph lines level off at the end?
- (constant population, disease can't spread beyond the limit)
- What could be added to this model to make it more realistic?
- (vaccination, recovered become susceptible again, randomness)
- How could scientists use this model?
- (Study the affects of different diseases on a population, according to contagiousness)
With extra time, you can also build a recovered column:
- Adding Recovered
- delta Recovered = I Before * Recovery Rate
- Infected = I Before + (delta Infected - delta Recovered) * delta Time
- Recovered = R Before + delta Recovered * delta Time | <urn:uuid:02fd794c-6023-4ddd-a494-ded7aa7377ba> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://www.shodor.org/succeed/curriculum/apprenticeship/Modeling/Excel/LessonPlan2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860122501.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161522-00053-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905956 | 1,209 | 3.859375 | 4 |
Type of resources
Contact for the resource
The ecocloud Platform provides unprecedented access to datasets from hundreds of publishers across Australia in a single interface, including key ecoscience publishers such as ALA, TERN and IMOS. It then connects this data with common analysis tools like RStudio, Jupyter Notebooks and Virtual Desktops running tools like Kepler, KNIME, QGIS, Biodiverse, marcoecoDesktop, Panoply, Jupyter lab, RStudio and file sharing applications Dropbox and ownCloud. Curated data is also available through discipline-specific workflows like the BCCVL and Biodiverse, all of which also connect users to Australia’s national cloud computing infrastructure. ecocloud also includes an innovative training and skills development program (ecoEd) to help drive a skilled workforce of students, researchers, government practitioners and industry professionals working across the domain.
Heatwaves are defined as unusually high temperature events that occur for at least three consecutive days with major impacts to human health, economy, agriculture and ecosystems. This dataset provides time-series of heatwave characteristics such as peak temperature, number of events, frequency and duration from 1950 to 2016 in Australia. The analysis were based on daily minimum and maximum temperature obtained from the Australian Water Availability Project (AWAP). The data is available as spatial time-series (5km grid-cell) and aggregated time-series for all Local Government Areas in Australia. | <urn:uuid:a8f4af0c-e1fa-4133-bb2a-d60de2b21a29> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/search?topicCat=geoscientificInformation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141750841.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20201205211729-20201206001729-00714.warc.gz | en | 0.914632 | 298 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Definition of perry in English:
noun (plural perries)
An alcoholic drink made from the fermented juice of pears.
- There are also certain drinks, such as mead, cider, and perry, which depend on sugar fermentations for their alcohol content.
- The event also offered cider, perry, imported beers and Lurgashall country wines.
- The Anglo-Saxon word beor referred to a sweet, strong drink, not made from cereals, and probably a fruit wine/cider/perry.
Words that rhyme with perryberiberi, berry, BlackBerry, bury, Ceri, Derry, ferry, Gerry, jerry, Kerry, merry, Pondicherry, sherry, terry, very, wherry, wolfberry
Definition of perry in:
- British & World English dictionary
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed. | <urn:uuid:03b33576-6f64-4ce8-896e-56836b990465> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/perry | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246652114.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045732-00049-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897761 | 212 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Winter isn’t always kind to trees and shrubs and it is entirely possible, if you live in a region with a cold winter, that you’ll see Japanese maple winter damage. Don’t despair though. Many times the trees can pull through just fine. Read on for information on Japanese maple winter dieback and what you can do to prevent it.
About Japanese Maple Winter Damage
Often, when the sun is warm in winter, cells in the maple tree thaw during the day, only to refreeze again at night. As they refreeze, they can burst and ultimately die. Japanese maple winter dieback can also be caused by drying winds, scalding sun, or frozen soil.
One of the most obvious signs of winter damage of Japanese maple are broken branches, and these often result from heavy loads of ice or snow. They are not the only possible problems though.
You may see other types of Japanese maple winter damage, including buds and stems that are killed by the cold temperatures. A tree may also suffer frozen roots if it is growing in a container above the ground.
Your Japanese maple may have sunscald of its foliage. The leaves turn brown after they are scalded by bright sunshine in cold weather. Sunscald can also crack open the bark when the temperatures plunge after sunset. Tree bark sometimes splits vertically at the point where the roots meet the stem. This results from cold temperatures near the soil surface and kills the roots and, eventually, the entire tree.
Winter Protection for Japanese Maples
Can you protect that beloved Japanese maple from winter storms? The answer is yes.
If you have container plants, winter protection for Japanese maple can be as simple as moving the containers into the garage or porch when icy weather or a heavy snowfall is expected. Potted plant roots freeze much faster than plants in the ground.
Applying a thick layer of mulch – up to 4 inches (10 cm.) – over the root area of the tree protects the roots from winter damage. Watering well before winter freeze is also a good way to help the tree survive the cold. That kind of winter protection for Japanese maples will work for any plant in the cold season.
You can provide extra protection for Japanese maples by wrapping them carefully in burlap. This protects them from heavy snowfall and frigid winds. | <urn:uuid:6b590c14-f4f0-4dfd-bbe8-151723d20541> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/japanese-maple/japanese-maple-winter-damage.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446710918.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20221203011523-20221203041523-00815.warc.gz | en | 0.944489 | 484 | 2.96875 | 3 |
1. Number the paragraphs
The Common Core asks students to be able to cite and refer to the text. One simple way to do this is by numbering each paragraph, section or stanza in the left hand margin. When students refer to the text, require them to state which paragraph they are referring to. The rest of the class will be able to quickly find the line being referred to.
2. Chunk the text.
When faced with a full page of text, reading it can quickly become overwhelming for students. Breaking up the text into smaller sections (or chunks) makes the page much more manageable for students. Students do this by drawing a horizontal line between paragraphs to divide the page into smaller sections.
3. Underline and circle… with a purpose.
Telling students to simply underline “the important stuff” is too vague. “Stuff” is not a concrete thing that students can identify. Instead, direct students to underline and circle very specific things. Think about what information you want students to take from the text, and ask them to look for those elements. What you have students circle and underline may change depending on the text type.
For example, when studying an argument, ask students to underline “claims”. We identify claims as belief statements that the author is making. Students will quickly discover that the author makes multiple claims throughout the argument.
When studying poetry, students could underline the imagery they find throughout the poem.
Providing students with a specific thing you want them to underline or circle will focus their attention on that area much better than “underlining important information”.
4. Left margin: What is the author SAYING?
It isn’t enough to ask students to “write in the margins”. We must be very specific and give students a game plan for what they will write. This is where the chunking comes into play.
In the left margin, ask students to summarize each chunk. Demonstrate how to write summaries in 10-words or less. The chunking allows the students to look at the text in smaller segments, and summarize what the author is saying in just that small, specific chunk.
5. Right margin: Dig deeper into the text
In the right-hand margin, again direct students to complete a specific task for each chunk. This may include:
· Use a power verb to describe what the author is DOING. (For example: Describing, illustrating, arguing, etc..) Note: It isn’t enough for students to write “Comparing” and be done. What is the author comparing? A better answer might be: “Comparing the character of Montag to Captain Beatty”.
· Represent the information with a picture. This is a good way for students to be creative to visually represent the chunk with a drawing.
· Ask questions. I have found this to be a struggle for many students, as they often say they don’t have any questions to ask. When modeled, students can begin to learn how to ask questions that dig deeper into the text. I often use these questions as the conversation driver in Socratic Seminar.
There are many other things students can write in the margins. However, we must model and teach these strategies so that students will have an idea of what to write when they are on their own. | <urn:uuid:efb2c517-d18d-40e4-994e-d287c720fba6> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | http://ccsd66coach.blogspot.com/2014_09_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794872114.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20180528072218-20180528092218-00539.warc.gz | en | 0.943031 | 706 | 4.1875 | 4 |
The history of child welfare in the United States can be characterized by a continuous thematic shift between family preservation and child safety. The 1970s saw a number of efforts to reduce children’s time in foster care and expedite paths to permanency. The 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) (P.L. 105-89) marked the first time issues related to permanency were explicitly stated in legislation, which was pivotal in changing the landscape of child welfare practice. This law connected safety and permanency by demonstrating how each factor was necessary in achieving overall child well-being. While ASFA made clear that child safety was paramount, it also provided a new way of defining permanency for children and youth in foster care. The law specified that States had to improve the safety of children, promote adoption and other permanent homes for children who needed them, and support families. ASFA also required child protection agencies to provide more timely assessment and intervention services to children and families involved with child welfare. Additionally, ASFA paved the way for the legal sanction of concurrent planning (simultaneously identifying and working on a secondary goal such as guardianship with a relative) in States by requiring that agencies make reasonable efforts to find permanent families for children in foster care should reunification fail.
More recently, in 2008, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (P.L. 110-351) amended the Social Security Act to improve outcomes for children in foster care, connect and support relative caregivers, and offer incentives for adoption. Fostering Connections enhanced services for youth aging out of care and created new programs to help children and youth in or at-risk of entering foster care to reconnect with family members. The act also provided the opportunity for federally recognized Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, and Tribal consortia—for the first time in history—to directly operate title IV-E programs.
Child welfare permanency practice and related policies continue to evolve as agencies, professionals, families, and policymakers strive to achieve a balance that keeps children safe, preferably in their own homes. The following resources summarize the legislative efforts that have been put forth over the past decade.
A Brief Legislative History of the Child Welfare System
Murray & Gesiriech (2004)
Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care
Summarizes the role that Federal legislation has played in ensuring safety, permanency, and well-being for children and youth.
Historical Analysis of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997
Phillips, C., & Mann, A. (2013)
Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 23(7)
Offers a historical analysis, including the key components and goals of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.
Historical Evolution of Child Welfare Services (PDF - 2,898 KB)
Child Welfare for the Twenty-First Century
Provides an overview of the historical evolution of the child welfare system.
Major Provisions of the Act
Child Welfare Information Gateway (2009)
Major Federal Legislation Concerned With Child Protection, Child Welfare, and Adoption
Describes the major provisions of the Fostering Connections Act. Also available in Spanish.
Permanency: A Balancing Act
Westat & Chapin Hall Center for Children (2001)
Assessing the Context of Permanency and Reunification in the Foster Care System
Provides a historical review of child welfare.
Perspectives on Foster Care: A Series of White Papers on the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008
Provides a collection of white papers that share information about the implementation of the Fostering Connections Act, including State and Tribal efforts. | <urn:uuid:5aaf6914-4f9c-43a2-bd29-0d63468e2631> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/permanency/overview/history/?hasBeenRedirected=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246655962.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045735-00240-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920785 | 764 | 2.890625 | 3 |
In a move that is sure to warm the hearts of those in the upper echelon of the Galactic Empire, researchers have taken tractor beams from the realm of science fiction to the realm of science fact. The researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) have developed a laser beam that can move very small particles up to distances of a meter and a half (4.9 feet) using only the power of light. Unfortunately this means it won’t be able to reel in anything the size of the Millennium Falcon, and the fact it won’t work in the vacuum of space probably won’t help matters either, but it’s a remarkable breakthrough nonetheless.
Professor Andrei Rode’s team from the Laser Physics Centre at ANU used a hollow laser beam to trap light-absorbing glass particles in a ‘dark core’. The particles are then moved up and down the beam of light, which acts like an optical ‘pipeline’.
“When the small particles are trapped in this dark core very interesting things start to happen,” said Dr Rode. “As gravity, air currents and random motions of air molecules around the particle push it out of centre, one side becomes illuminated by the laser whilst the other lies in darkness. This creates a tiny thrust, known as a photophoretic force that effectively pushes the particle back into the darkened core. In addition to the trapping effect, a portion of the energy from the beam and the resulting force pushes the particle along the hollow laser pipeline.”
Professor Rode said there are a number of practical applications for this technology, including directing and clustering nano-particles in air, the micro-manipulation of objects, sampling of atmospheric aerosols, and low contamination, non-touch handling of sampling materials.
“On top of this, the laser beam could be used for the transport of dangerous substances and microbes, in small amounts,” he said. | <urn:uuid:8b5f28d1-466f-45f5-9077-e2cdac9c7bf2> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | http://www.gizmag.com/anu-researchers-create-tractor-beam/16312/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440644063881.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827025423-00195-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914565 | 410 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Collection Descriptive Notes:
Native male speaker voices Lessons 1-40 from the textbook, Elementary Japanese for College Students, published for the Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. (1959).
Collection Technical Notes:
Tapes are apparently dubs made in the Language Laboratory from the commercial tapes issued with the texts. Pauses for repetition were introduced in the process. Note that the "BIN" (for "binaural") is inaccurate; the recordings are two-track monophonic. Also note that the second tape (Lessons 16 & 17) could not be digitized since the numerous splices in it rendered it unplayable. (Unreviewed) WAVE files are now converted to MP3s. | <urn:uuid:631e21f9-a4cb-42ce-90ba-9881850086b2> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://dma.uchicago.edu/search?f%5B0%5D=dma_collection_languages%3A2715&f%5B1%5D=dma_collection_languages%3A1817 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500154.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20230204205328-20230204235328-00430.warc.gz | en | 0.930125 | 155 | 2.578125 | 3 |
There are several reasons for doing lecture demonstration videos. Firstly it is to engage the student in a practical, hands-on demonstration performed by either the teacher or with encouragement and guidance from the teacher, by the student. Kinaesthetic learning. Secondly it is a way of allowing the teacher to use the discipline specific words related to this phenomenon in context. Jargon. Thirdly the demonstrations can be used to provide the students with an opportunity to observe and experience so they can make informed comments and ask informed questions about the underlying science. Fourthly they can be used as counter-demonstrations to highlight for the student any misconceptions they may have about the underlying science. In all of these scenarios conversation and discussion are the key to learning.
Students need to learn the precision with which the words of the discipline are used to be able to communicate effectively. This takes time and practice. The words velocity, acceleration and momentum are not interchangeable so hearing how they are used in context and then practising their use during discussion, and in writing, helps students understand the deeper meaning associated with those words. | <urn:uuid:04c0073d-1120-4c9d-bcbc-9cd40e0ffa7b> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | http://www.physcom.net/resources/lecture-demos | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676590314.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20180718174111-20180718194111-00350.warc.gz | en | 0.955787 | 218 | 4.0625 | 4 |
14 Nov Running and the Pelvic Floor
Running and the Pelvic Floor
Running and the Pelvic Floor
Running is a common activity that many women and men enjoy daily. Frequent runners typically have a pre and post workout regime consisting of stretching for hip and knee musculature, foam rolling, and even icing in order to reduce pain and inflammation in various joints or muscles. One thing that is often left out of these routines is the pelvic floor – a vital component in core stabilization and injury prevention with exercise, particularly running. Many runners will seek out treatment for common orthopedic issues – plantar fasciitis, hip pain, ITBand dysfunction – which may be stemming from the pelvic floor and will not see complete results with therapy due to only being given “core” exercises without addressing the pelvic floor as well. Statistics show that at least 1 out of 4 women report having one or more pelvic floor related disorders such as urinary/fecal incontinence, pelvic pain, and pelvic organ prolapse (POP). A study by Thyssen in 2002 found 44% of young female athletes leaked during sports.
The pelvic floor is just as important as our other external musculature in proper running mechanics. The pelvic floor is part of the deep core muscles which are our anticipatory muscles. They stabilize our body by contracting prior to movement. Other muscles in this group are the transverse abdominus, multifidi, and diaphragm. The pelvic floor works during both phases of running. During the flight phase it works eccentrically or lengthens. During heel strike of the stance phase the pelvic floor and deep core muscles work concentrically meaning they shorten to allow for stability. Thus we need the full range of the pelvic floor for optimal mechanics during running.
Pelvic floor dysfunction can present in various signs/symptoms. Some common dysfunctions found in athletes/runners are listed below:
- Urinary/fecal urgency: This symptom is often caused by myofascial trigger points within the pelvic floor muscles which triggers neurogenic bladder symptoms. These trigger points can become active during running and lead to the feeling of immediate voiding! This can be extremely frustrating for runner who may limit their paths or routes to make sure a bathroom is close by or even needing to stop mid-run to not lose urine or feces.
- Urinary/fecal incontinence: Urinary or fecal leaking can be a very common occurrence with runners. In a study by Leitner in 2016, it was found that 41% of female athletes have experienced urinary leaking with running. This can range from a small dribble to fully soaking through leggings and running down legs. Running is very stressful on the pelvic floor muscles that work to support all the pelvic organs while maintaining continence. If leaking occurs, the pelvic floor is not able to tolerate this pressure. This could be caused by myofascial trigger points, muscle weakness, and/or decreased coordination.
- Pain: The pelvic floor muscles work just like any other muscles – they contract and relax and can become tight or weaken. Pelvic floor muscle trigger points can develop as well if not allowing lengthening to occur in the muscle. Common pain referrals from the pelvic floor are the lower abdomen, hip, buttock, posterior thigh. Pain may also be coming from external hip muscles as well. The adductors, our inner thigh muscles, can also refer pain to the pelvis. It is important to have both strength and flexibility in all of these muscle groups.
- Heaviness or pressure: This can be a potential sign of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) which is the downward descent of the pelvic organs. This can involve the uterus, bladder, and/or rectum. The pelvic floor muscles need to provide enough support with the increase of intra-abdominal pressure that occurs during running. If there is weakness and not enough support, this can lead to pulling on the ligaments and connective tissue leading to possible prolapse.
What can we do to ensure that the pelvic floor is working appropriately to reduce the risk of these symptoms? Breathing is the first step. When exercising we want to ensure that the diaphragm is moving properly. When we inhale the diaphragm should move down into our abdominal cavity allowing the rib cage to open and the belly to expand rather than just breathing using our chest. This will allow the pelvic floor and transverse abdominus muscles to lengthen. During our exhalation the diaphragm moves upward as the pelvic floor and transverse abdominus return to their prior position. The diaphragm and pelvic floor muscles move in tandem like a piston and generate good tension in the trunk which creates more stability while we run. Coordination of this is important.
Try not to hold/grip the abdominals or pelvic floor. This will limit trunk rotation and the ability to use the abdominals effectively. Same with the pelvic floor – there needs to be some absorption of pressure and holding can lead to overactivity of the muscles. We want all of the deep core muscles to work together in balance.
Posture is important for running as well. Proper running posture consists of leaning over so that your rib cage is on top of your pelvis in order to keep your head looking forward. This will allow better mobility through the hips and will keep your body over your heel as you land reducing the pressure through the body. Increasing your cadence, the number of steps you take per minute, can also decrease the forces through your body leading to less impact through the pelvic floor as well.
Making sure that your body is taken care of while doing what you love to do is important so that you can keep doing it! The demands of running are intensive and repetitive. It is important to specifically train the pelvic floor to meet these demands just as you would strengthen your back, hip and knees for fitness. If you feel you are having any of these issues the pelvic health therapists at Pelvic Health Solutions can assess you individually and work with you to continue with the sport that you love to do!
Leitner M, Moser H, Eichelberger P, Kuhn A, Radlinger L. Evaluation of pelvic floor muscle activity during running in continent and incontinent women: An exploratory study. Neurology and Urodynamics. 2016;36(6): 1570-1576. Doi:10.1002/nau.23151
Thyssen HH, Clevin L, Olesen S, Lose G. Urinary incontinence in elite female athletes and dancers. Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunction. 2002;13(1):15-7. | <urn:uuid:42ef4ba1-477e-416f-bf42-bdb59496ab48> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://phsfl.com/running-and-the-pelvic-floor/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323587606.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20211024204628-20211024234628-00508.warc.gz | en | 0.94519 | 1,385 | 2.671875 | 3 |
DEFRA’s Green Food Project (GFP), launched today, states it’s the start of a process that hopes to steer the UK food system to a sustainable future, where it remains a world leader in producing high-quality food. Food that contributes to a healthy population and conserves the natural environment. We completely agree with those aims, but we don’t believe the GFP report goes as far as it should in that direction.
The Green Food Project came out of the government’s Natural Environment White Paper. It aims to “enhance the natural environment while increasing food production”. As such, you’d expect the environment to take centre stage, or at least be on a par with farming. But that’s not the case – the GFP report seems very focused on food production.
The GFP was never set up to look at the entire food system, only specific components of it. There is no representation from the horticultural industry for example, though there is a ‘subgroup’ on bread. (Five subgroups explored different test cases for the project: ‘wheat crops’, ‘dairy sector’, ‘bread’, ‘a curry dish’, and ‘geographical areas’.)
It’s ensured there is a cross-section of stakeholders on the project, from the usual suspects like the National Farmers Union and the British Retail Consortium to Sodexo (food and facilities service provider), Which?, the RSPB, and ourselves.
DEFRA convened these diverse groups and in a very short time has come up with five sub-group reports and a set of recommendations – mainly for other stakeholders though one or two are for government. They even try to tackle consumption and meat. But these recommendations do tend to be very woolly, and certainly at WWF we believe they should be more targeted with a clearer plan of action.
The problem for me is some of the framing. Some groups, like farming bodies and food manufacturers, have said the UK needs to produce more food, claiming it’s a moral responsibility to ensure we tackle food security. This is untrue. This narrative would have suited a few groups very well, making some economic sense but leaving little or no room for small-scale farmers and the natural world.
It’s good to see the GFP report doesn’t quote the redundant statistic about needing to produce 70% more food by 2050. This is good for two reasons. Firstly, it’s no longer supported by evidence – it originally came from the the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation who now say the figure should be a maximum of 60%.
Secondly, this figure is only one possible scenario, and is based on ‘business as usual’. If we tackle all the inherent problems of the food system – for instance waste, poor distribution and over-consumption – the UN says we actually won’t need to produce any more food.
To be honest the real figure will be somewhere in the middle. It would be nice to see this emphasised, but you can’t have everything.
There’s already enough food to feed 8 billion people, but we’re busy cutting down trees at a rate of knots, using the excuse that we need more land to grow food. Producing more is not the answer – let’s look at waste, distribution and consumption first.
It’s great to see sustainable diets and food mentioned, with a clear recommendation for the government to convene a stakeholder group to define the concept (I do think Livewell is a great start on this too), one that is cross-sectorial, including health and perhaps even developmental bodies and industry and consumer groups.
Let’s hope it’s not just a talking shop and an excuse for inaction, and it comes up with some real tangible outcomes.
Sustainable food and health is a global problem. There are over 1.5 billion people overweight or obese. The global middle class is around 3 billion – and they’re not just in the rich countries – and they are driving over-consumption. If we find a solution here in the UK, it could benefit the world.
As part of this the report recognises that retailers, food manufacturers, government and consumers all have a role to play. (Though this isn’t in the main report, but rather in the ‘curry’ subgroup example.)
For too long the industry’s excuse for inaction has been that they only respond to consumer demand. But we know, for example, that retailers regularly push certain products through stock promotions and even the way they lay out their stores.
We hope we can now look forward to working together transparently and take collaborative action on this issue. Perhaps even the blame-shifting will finally stop and collective responsibility embraced.
The Green Food Project is an okay start, but it’s only a start. There are lots of issues that have been ignored – for example the role of regulation and especially the role of the food retail sector – but there is an opportunity to pick these up in the next phase.
We now need to see concrete actions and a timetable for them. We need all stakeholders to take part. This must include the horticultural industry, the potato growers and smallholders.
If we’re going to produce more food let’s focus on fruit and veg, not meat and dairy. We have the perfect climate in the UK and a great tradition to build on. Our food producers are world leaders – let’s work together to make sure they remain so. | <urn:uuid:ce53af84-8623-4ba6-9a7e-af2bb0d6b7c8> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | https://blogs.wwf.org.uk/blog/green-sustainable-living/green-food-project-a-smorgasbord-of-reheated-ideas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875145648.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20200222023815-20200222053815-00534.warc.gz | en | 0.945987 | 1,177 | 2.734375 | 3 |
A deal is a deal is a deal. Deal?
A deal is a deal. We’ve all heard that phrase. It means essentially that if you agree to something you follow through on your promise. You do what you said you would do and the other person does the same. “We made a deal and we stick to it.”
When is a deal not a deal? There are lots of definitions of “deal.” Deal is a verb when you are playing cards. You deal the cards to all the players. It’s also a noun. “I got a bad deal. I want new cards.” And what does the dealer say: “A deal is a deal. Play the hand you’re dealt.”
A deal is also a bargain. We all want the best deals when it comes to what we pay for stuff. People are excited to share when they get a good deal on a car, a computer, or any big ticket item. Even low ticket items too. Look at all the dollar stores in town. One is even called Deals.
A deal is a transaction. We usually give it the meaning of being a good deal unless we say it’s not. “I got a deal on that!” Sure. We think that’s good. “I got a bad deal on that!” Oh, that’s too bad.
Deal is also a quantity reference, usually a large amount. “I need a great deal of support if I am going to win this election.” We usually don’t say: I need a deal of support; we put the quantifier “great” with it.
Someone who makes transactions is called a dealer. Not just in cards. Someone deals in antiques perhaps. We all have heard of drug dealers. Are they making good deals? Do they have a great deal of deals in any given day?
We also take action when we deal. If you have water in your basement, you have to deal with it. If you have an issue with your boss at work, you have to deal with it. Deal means to do something, not just put up with it.
Have you ever been told point blank: “Deal with it”? If so, that person is telling you to buck up and face the problem. When we deal with it, we do not ignore it.
I remember when I was younger and if someone seem arrogant to me, I would say: He sure thinks he is a big deal.
Deal also means to occupy oneself with or in. For example, botany deals with the study of plants. Raising kids means you have deal with all kinds of issues.
A deal can be an agreement, a pact, a pledge. A deal can be a contract, an agreement. A deal can be a compromise. A deal can be a transaction. A deal can be an understanding. A deal is a hand, an opportunity, a round.
So, a deal is a bargain, a barter, a bicker. When you deal, you also do those things and you dicker. You swap, sell, trade, negotiate. You work out a deal. You hammer out a deal.
When you deal with, you consider, control, discuss and direct.You oversee. You handle it. You take care of it.
So, a deal is a deal. Yep. And after reading all this, I know what you’re thinking. “Big deal.”
(Kelly Epperson Simmons is an author/speaker/coach. Get Kelly’s free ebook “7 Steps to Happy Right Now” at www.joybeyondyourdreams.com.) | <urn:uuid:5b3fb6dc-5324-4197-a918-bd89278f3eec> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://blogs.e-rockford.com/goodforyou/2013/01/27/a-deal-is-a-deal-is-a-deal-deal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1398223206647.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20140423032006-00215-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971793 | 790 | 2.6875 | 3 |
December 16, 2011
- stamina (noun)
- What does it mean?
- : strength or energy of body or mind : endurance
- How do you use it?
- During the heat wave, it was hard for the players to maintain enough stamina to play their best through the entire game.
- Are you a word wiz?
The word "stamina" comes from something that was found in the everyday life of the ancient Romans, as well as featured in Roman mythology. What do you think it was?In weaving, the warp is the lengthwise series of threads. The Latin word for "warp" was "stamen." "Stamen" also meant a thread, a sense which had a divine as well as a merely human aspect. In Roman mythology, the three Fates were pictured as spinners of thread. One spun out the thread of a person's life; another measured it; the third cut it off. These mythological threads, as well as the ordinary variety, were called "stamina" (the plural of "stamen"). "Stamina" was borrowed into English in the 1600s with both the literal meaning of "warp" and the figurative idea of the threads of fate. English "stamina" referred to the characteristics believed to determine, like the threads of the Fates, the duration of a person's life. From this use developed the sense "endurance." | <urn:uuid:94b8580c-1bda-46f1-b36f-c3f78b230ad5> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://www.wordcentral.com/buzzword/buzzword.php?month=12&day=16&year=2011 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207930109.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113210-00094-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982256 | 294 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Christian County, Illinois History
Source: Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, 1901
Transcribed by Kim Torp
CHRISTIAN COUNTY - a rich agricultural county, lying in the "central belt" and organized in 1839 from parts of Macon, Montgomery, Sangamon and Shelby Counties. The name first given to it was Dane, in honor of Nathan Dane, one of the framers of the Ordinance of 1787, but a political prejudice led to a change. A preponderance of early settlers having come from Christian County, KY., this name was finally adopted. The surface is level and the soil fertile, the northern half of the county being best adapted to corn and the southern to wheat. Its area is about 710 square miles, and its population (1900) was 32,790. The life of the early settlers was exceedingly primitive. Game was abundant; wild honey was used as a substitute for sugar; wolves were troublesome; prairie fires were frequent; the first mill (on Bear Creek) could not grind more than 10 bushels of grain per day, by horse-power. The people hauled their corn to St. Louis to exchange for groceries. The first store was opened at Robertson's Point, but the county-seat was established at Taylorville. A great change was wrought in local conditions by the advent of the Illinois Central Railway, which passes through the eastern part of the county. Two other railroads now pass centrally through the county - the "Wabash" and the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern. The principal towns are Taylorville (a railroad center and thriving town of 2,829 inhabitants), Pana, Morrisonville, Edinburg and Assumption.
EDINBURG - A village of Christian County, on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway, 18 miles southeast of Springfield; has two banks though some coal is mined here.
MORRISONVILLE - a town in Christian County, situated on the Wabash Railway, 40 miles southwest of Decatur and 20 miles north-northeast of Litchfield. Grain is extensively raised in the surrounding region, and Morrisonville, with its elevators and mill, is an important shipping-point. It has brick and tile works, electric lights, two banks, five churches, graded and high schools, and a weekly paper.
1903 (est.): 1,200
PANA - An important railway center and principal city of Christian County, situated in the southeastern part of the County, and at the intersecting point of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern, the Illinois Central and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroads, 35 miles south by west from Decatur, and 42 miles southeast of Springfield. It is an important shipping-point for grain and has two elevators. Its mechanical establishments include two flouring mills, a foundry, two machine shops and two planing mills. The surrounding region is rich in coal, which is extensively mined. Pana has banks, several churches, graded schools and three papers issuing daily and weekly editions.
Population: 1890: 5,077 -- 1900: 5,530
Pana - The City of Roses
In 1918, C. R. Nielson erected one large greenhouse; to this house, he added six more greenhouses in 1919 and 1920, consisting of approximately 120,000 square feet of glass. In 1921, the Amling Brothers, Walter, Herbert and Martin, came to Pana from Maywood, Illinois; they erected four large greenhouses and a power plant; additional houses were added in 1922, 1923, ane 1924, until there were twenty-eight in all, growing only roses. The twenty-eight houses consisted of approximately 490,000 square feet of glass. In 1927 the Amling Brothers sold their interests to the Maton Brothers. In 1928 the Amling Brothers erected a new series of thirty-two greenhouses with a modern heating plant; these were located west of town. The concrete smoker stack connected with the heating plant is 180 feet tall, the tallest structure in Pana. This series of green houses consisted of 780,000 square feet of glass. In 1945 the Amling Brothers sold their interests to a group of men who organized "The Illinois Roses, Ltd." The Asa Brothers, Edward, Clarence, and John, erected a range of seven green houses in 1923. In 1929 a range of seven more was added.
In 1925 and 1925, Spanbauer and Webb erected a range of houses with a heating plant; it consisted of approximately 80,000 square feet of glass. The Maton Brothers, Arthur and Walter purchased this range and a few years later, they purchased the Asa Brothers plant, which is now called the Webb Greenhouses. It consisted of approximately 295,000 square feet of glass. There are at this time, four major floral wholesalers operating in the City of Pana, which are, The Illinois Roses, Ltd.; Roses Ltd.; Amling Flowers, and the Webb Greenhouses. There are about 210 employees at the four plants, and about 24,000 tons of coal are consumed yearly. The yearly payroll for the four plants is between $950,000 and $975,000. This is the reason the City of Pana is called "The City of Roses."
(source: Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history: Jacksonville, Ill.,: Production Press, 1968. - submitted by Ida Maack Recu)
TAYLORVILLE - A city and county-seat of Christian County, on the South Fork of the Sangamon River and on the Wabash Railway at its point of intersection with the Springfield Division of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern. It is about 27 miles southeast of Springfield, and 28 miles southwest of Decatur. IT has several banks, flour mills, paper mill, electric light and gas plants, water-works, two coal mines, carriage and wagon shops, a manufactory of farming implements, two daily and weekly papers, nine churches and five graded and township high schools. Much coal is mined in this vicinity.
GHOST TOWNS IN CHRISTIAN COUNTY,
[source: "Illinois Sesquicentennial Edition of Christian County history"]
EDINBURG the largest and most important town between Vandalia and Springfield, and between Shelbyville and Springfield was located about two miles northwest of the original town of Taylorville on what was later the G. W. Vollentine farm; the town was located on the northeast quarter of Section 21 in Township 13 north, Range 2 west, known today as Taylorville Township. This town was located where part of City Park addition to Taylorville is built, across the road from the County Highway Building. In 1839, there were several hundred inhabitants living there, and it was an important stop on the Great Eastern Stage Route from Springfield to Terre Haute. There were probably more businesses than we have been able to authenticate, but we know there was a store, post office, blacksmith shop, doctor's office, and a stage stop which was probably a hotel or an inn. The stage passed daily, each way. When Taylorville was selected as the seat of justice, many houses and store buildings were moved to the new town, and Edinburgh ceased to exist.
ALLENTON another of the more important towns on the Great Eastern Stage Line, was located about two miles northeast of the original town of Taylorville on a knoll on what was later the Bart Hall Farm. Today, one may find brick foundations of some of the buildings which existed at that time. This town was located on the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 24, Township 13 north, Range 2 west, which is known now as Taylorville Township. This was an important stage stop as Daniel C. Goode owned the stage stand; there was at least one store, blacksmith shop, post office, a hotel, and many houses. Daniel C. Goode entered this land January 30, 1830. Judge Frink was the last post-master, 1838-1840; he was the proprietor of the Half Way House, which was often frequented by Abraham Lincoln and General Baker. Many of the buildings were moved to the new seat of justice, and then it ceased to exist.
BETHANY-ROBINSON'S POINT- In the late 1820's, the first store in Christian County was established. Bethany was located on the southwest corner of the northeast quarter of Section 29, Township 14 north, Range 2 west, which is now known as Buckhart Township. No record has been found as to the original proprietor of the Bethany store, but later, in 1835, David Robinson opened a store and established a post office, and the name of Bethany was changed to Robinson's Point. Mr. Robinson operated this store during 1835, '36, and '37. The Great Eastern Stage Line passed daily each way. There was a blacksmith shop besides the store and post office. The store was near the residence of John Langdon, which was later owned by J. M. Redfern.
BOND'S POINT- Bond's Point was the first settlement in Bear Creek Township. Col. Thomas B. Bond settled at the timber point in Section 23, Township 12 north, Range 3 west, which is now known as Bear Creek Township, on December 9, 1835; at that time there were other settlers in the township; but since this was a settlement, Mr. Bond opened a store and was the post-master; there were a few houses and a few other businesses at that time. Bond's Point was located on the county road from Taylorville to Hillsboro, which passed through Harper's Ferry and also the land of William Ricks in Ricks Township.
HARPER'S FERRY - This settlement was located on the east side of Lick Spring Creek on the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 28, Township 12 north, Range 3 west, known today as Bear Creek Township. Today a cemetery locates the settlement. There was a store, post office, black-smith shop, and a saloon; C. M. Leberman of Morrisonville was the leading merchant. Harper's Ferry was located downstream a short distance from Jernigan's Bridge, which was in Section 33 of the same township. Harper's Ferry was located on the county road, Taylorville to Hillsboro, to Edwardsville.
BLACKBURN Blackburn was a small village located on the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 17, Township 13 north, Range 3 west, which is now South Fork Township. It was founded by Dr. J. H. Dickerson, who was the first postmaster and merchant. There was a blacksmith shop, stores, post office, and a large hall used by the Woodman's Lodge and for dances and general meetings. John White had the store, later owned by a Mr. Peck. Mike Drea and his wife finally operated the store, which was later owned by Roy Curvey, but not the Roy Curvey who lived south of Bulpitt. Several families received their mail from the Blackburn Post Office as shown in the list in the 1891 Christian County Plat Book. (This was submitted by Mr. and Mrs. Dennis O'Hara and Mrs. Joseph O'Hara.)
CAMPBELLSBURG This settlement was located in the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter and in the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 10, Township 14 north, Range 3 west, Buckhart Township. It was located on the new railroad built in 1860-70. There were a number of houses, a post office, stores, blacksmith shop, a school, a freight house, and a depot. It was laid off into lots May 27, 1870, for John Rodham, Iverson Stokes, and Joseph Throwls. Campbellsburg ceased to exist when the railroad razed the freight house and moved the depot. Blueville and Blue Point were located a short distance away, and these towns became the center of activity.
HALF ACRE Edward Bradley purchased one-half acre in the northwest corner of the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 8 in Township 12 north, Range 3 west on the north side of the stream in 1855 and named it "Half Acre." He opened a store and a saloon; there were several cabins, a saw mill, a blacksmith shop, and possibly a post office. It was a flourishing settlement until a criminal element gained control; and because of the roughness of the place thereafter, it became known as "Hell's Half Acre." The settlement was destroyed by the storm of 1880, which swept through the county at that time. This story of the storm was given wide publicity at the time in the Morrisonville Times.
BLUEVILLE This was a settlement located near the center of Township 14 north, Range 3 west, Section 14, Buckhart Township. Blue Point was quite a prosperous town, having two stores, a drug store, a plow manufactory, and a blacksmith shop. A Methodist church and a school were built in 1866. The first store was opened by W. T. Houston, in April 1868. The church was removed to Edinburg, when the two settlements were combined and named "Edinburg." A coal shaft was started here, the second attempt in the county; but after an expenditure of some $16,000, it was abandoned because no profitable vein was discovered.
BLUE POINT The land upon which Blue Point was located was entered by Archibald and Robert Sattley, January 7, 1832. They transferred to others and in the chain of transfers, it belonged to Robert Allen of Springfield, who owned the Great Eastern Stage Line. Some years later, Mr. Allen and his wife had some financial difficulties, and Judge H. M. Vandeveer appointed Abraham Lincoln as an administrator to settle the estate of 200 acres. Blue Point was one of the towns through which the Great Eastern Stage passed daily, each way; this was the first stage stand out of Springfield. Mr. Allen built a two-story hotel, with porches upstairs and downstairs; this was later occupied by Daniel DeCamp, as a residence. There was a general store, a post office, a blacksmith shop, a stage stand, and several residences. Dr. S. J. Jerald was the first post-master. Mr. DeCamp settled here in 1843 and purchased the 200 acre farm in 1851. In 1870, the residents of Blue Point and Blueville voted to merge the two settlements into one and gave it the name, "Edinburg."
BULPIT J. C. Bulpit had a store about one mile southwest of Ralston's Bridge in Township 13 north, Range 3 west, in what is now known as South Fork Township. The store was located in Section 4. Mr. Bulpit lived near by, and on June 15, 1864, robbers came to the store, whereupon Mr. Bulpit fled to his home. His son later lived on the homeplace and later established the town of Bulpitt (another "T" being added). The store that J. C. Bulpit had was all there was here. Mr. Bulpit entered into partnership with Nathaniel Gordon and operated a saw mill. Mr. Gordon was one of the brothers who opened a store at South Fork.
DOLLVILLE This small settlement was located in the southeast corner of Section 2, Township 12 north, Range 2 west, better known as Johnson Township. The Great Western Stage passed through three times each week from Taylorville to Pana and Vandalia. As the stage came out of Taylorville, it traveled south and came into Dollville from the west to avoid the quick sands in the bottom lands; leaving Dollville, the stage crossed Section 12 to the south-east and crossed the stream at a ford and on the Owaneco. There was a store, probably a blacksmith shop, a post office, and a school. A brick building stood for a long time after the town ceased to exist; it was used as a schoolhouse until it was condemned, and then a frame building was built for the school.
FINLEYVILLEOnly one store was located here which was on the south-east corner of Section 28, Township 14 north, Range 3 west, known as South Fork Township. The store was operated until the town of Bulpitt was founded, and then the building was moved to Bulpitt. Finleyville was located near the Greenwood School about one fourth mile east.
SOUTH FORK The town of South Fork was located in the northwest corner of Township 1 3 north, Range 4 west. South Fork Township, in Section 3. No more information can be found except that George and Nathaniel Gordon moved a shanty in and started a store at the town of South Fork in the 1850's. It was located close or upon the farm later owned and known as the Nathan Plummer farm. The store was not successful and one night, it burned mvsteriously; it was heavily insured and this was a new venture in those days, but George left and was not heard from again. Nathaniel entered into partnership with J.C. Bulpit and they operated a saw mill.
OWANECO A small settlement with a store and a saloon was located in the northwest quarter of Section 27, Township 12 north, Range 1 west, Locust Township. In 1857 a post office was established there, and Judge H. M. Vandeveer gave it the name "Owaneco." There were only a few houses in the area; it was located on the Great Western Stage Line that passed three times weekly from Taylorville to Pana and came into Owaneco from Taylorville by way of Dollville.
WALLACEVILLEThis was a settlement that had stores, a blacksmith shop, a church, and several houses. It was located in the northeast corner of Section 13, Township 12 north. Range 3 west. Bear Creek Township. This location was a short distance off the railroad and at this time, Clarksdale sprang up, and Wallaceville became only a few houses and the church. The church stood until the 1940's when it was razed.
MORGANVILLE Before the Wabash Railroad was built, there was a settlement in Township 15 north, Range 1 west, Mosquito Township, known as Morganville. It was located on the west side of Section 13 and was about one-fourth mile long on each side of the half-section line; there was a blacksmith shop, a store, post office, and several houses. The residence of William Morgan was located here, and the town was on his farm. Other Morgans lived on land across the road in Section 14. As the county became established and the rail-road was built and county roads were authorized, Morganville lost the post office, and the town ceased to exist.
BOLIVAR This town was laid out by Joseph Boudurant on June 5, 1833, on the southeast quarter of Section 18, Township 15 north, Range 2 west, Mt. Auburn Township and consisted of 8 blocks and 123 lots. It had a post office, stores, a blacksmith shop, and several houses. It was probably on the Decatur to Springfield stage line. When the railroad was built, it missed Bolivar; houses were built on the railroad with stores and the post office, and the name changed to Bolivia.
RANDALLVILLE This settlement was located in the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Township 15 north, Range 1 west, Mosquito Township. There were several houses, a number of which belonged to Randall families; a post office, stores, a blacksmith shop, a church, and a schoolhouse. Some of the Randall families were I.N. Randall, Lewis Randall, Walter Randall, M. G. Randall, and J. K. Randall. Because of the closeness to the new railroad, a new town sprang up called "Blue Mound," and Randallville became only a settlement with a church and a schoolhouse.
STONE COAL Stone Coal was so named because of a vein of stone coal discovered in the banks of the stream upon which it was located. The site of this town was in the center of Section 34, Township 11 north, Range 1 east, Pana Township, on a stream cutting through the section. There was a store in a shanty on wheels, a post office, a blacksmith shop, and a few houses. The Great Western Stage line passed three times weekly from Taylorville to Vandalia. Mr. M. S. Beckwith was the postmaster and storekeeper. When the railroad was built, Mr. Beckwith moved his shanty to what was called "Pana." He was probably the first storekeeper in the new town and was the first postmaster. He opened his store near where the Penwell Coal Mine was later located, for history tells us that the town started at the foot of the knoll near the railroad. He moved to Pana in 1855.
GINGERVILLE Gingerville was only a settlement of families, who built their homes close to each other. This location was about two miles west of Mowcaqua. There was no store, post office, or any business whatsoever, except that R. E. Wetzel operated a grist mill on the stream, and later rebuilt it into a saw mill. Mr. Wetzel lived to be 101 years of age and was living with his daughter in Stonington at the time of his death. His daughter, Mrs. Elwood Pearson, furnished this information.
BLUE MOUNDWest of Rosamond, about two miles there is a great mound, called "Badger's Mound" and this is the highest point in Christian County. At the foot of this mound, there was a settlement called Blue Mound, because of the color of the mound as viewed at a distance. There was no store or post office that can be found any proof and when the railroad was built, the settlers scattered and no trace of the settlement can be found now. No evidence has been found that the settlement was on a Stage Line, or a state or county road. It seemed that they were settlers who wanted to band themselves closely together for protection and as the county became more settled, they moved away.
VAUGHN There was a store located in the southwest corner of the south-west quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 18, Township 13 north, Range 1 east. Assumption Township and across the road in Section 13, Township 13 north, Range 1 west, May Township, there was a blacksmith shop. This settlement was called "Vaughn." There was a general store and a post office. The store was located on the J. R. Vaughn farm. There was an incident told by a local resident, as he remembered his grandfather telling that a traveling show came that way and pitched tent and produced "Uncle Tom's Cabin"; they pitched tent in the open field.
SANDERSVILLE Nicholas Sanders came to the county in 1837 and settled on the border of the Flat Branch in Section 1, Township 13 north, Range 1 west, May Township. In 1852, he built and opened a store across the section line in Township 14 north, Range 1 west, Stonington Township, in Section 35. This was near his residence and close to Stonington City. He had a post office besides his store and it was located on the Stage line from Taylorville to Moweaqua. His store was near the church, which today is known as "Old Stonington Baptist Church."
STONINGTON CITYA New England Colony purchased 10,000 acres in and adjacent to Township 14 north, Range 1 west, Stonington Township, and set aside 160 acres to found a town. This was located on the west half of the southeast quarter and the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 25 in the said township. It was surveyed and platted May 11, 1837, and was to contain a public square, 42 blocks and 504 lots. The streets were to be 72 feet wide. A school was founded, called "Brush College"; the town had a store, post office and a hotel. A Baptist church was organized in 1838. The town existed until the railroad was built, and then it had only the church, the schoolhouse, and a cemetery. The new town of Covington changed its name to "Stonington" and the post office was moved there.
TACUSA This settlement began when the Illinois Central Railroad was built to this point and a freight house and a depot were built. A few houses were built and a few businesses were established. The first house was built by ______ who boarded the workers from the railroad; he also operated a saloon. The first business building was by Col. E. E. Malhiot, a state senator from Louisiana who purchased 30 sections of land from the railroad and other owners and brought about 150 persons from Canada to settle. He added to Tacusa; and when the townships were organized in 1866, the township was called Assumption. Soon after the name of the town was also changed to Assumption. The town is located in parts of 4 sections, part of Section 1 and part of Section 2 in Township 12 north. Range 1 east and part of Section 35 and part of Section 36 in Township 13 north, Range 1 east.
COVINGTON - When the Wabash Railroad was built, about 1870, a freight house and a depot were situated at the present site of Stonington. The town was named Covington in honor of Mr. Covington, who owned the land upon which the town was established. Later the post office was moved from Sandersville and Stonington City and the name of the post office became Stonington, so the town was also named Stonington.
VANDERVILLE This town was so named because the Vandeveer family had extensive holdings in the area. The town started with the building of a large two-story frame building about 50 feet long, east and west, and about 30 feet wide, north and south. There were hitch racks on the west and south sides. This town was located on the northwest corner of the southeast quarter of Section 3, Township 11 north, 2 west, Greenwood Township; the road is on the quarter section line. The lumber to build the building was hauled by John Pittenger and "Granddaddy" Page. The first floor was used as the store and post office. At first, the mail was brought out from Taylorville; afterwards it was brought from Morrisonville; Charles Albert Pittenger carried the mail to the Buckeye Prairie district, on horseback. The second floor was divided and housed a doctor's office, barber shop, a boxing ring, the Anti-Horse Thief Lodge, and a general meeting place. Dr. Frazier lived about one-fourth mile west of the store; Mr. Fines, the barber, lived immediately north of the store. East of the store, Frank Webrick had a blacksmith shop and across the road south Charles Shaffer had a blacksmith shop, next to his house. East of Webrick's shop was Ed Hebel's harness shop. The store burned in 1923. Before that, Charles Albert Pittenger had built a store building north of Mr. Fine's house, on a 24-acre piece of land that he owned; Mr. Pittenger operated this store until 1948 when he sold his interests after 33 years. The store and post office were owned by a Mr. Boyd, then a Mr. Clark, and others followed.
VELMA This was a small village located on the railroad in the southwest quarter of Section 5, Township 12 north. Range 1 west, Locust Township, on land owned by Hiram Shumway. Mr. Shumway built the store building and had the post office; later the store changed hands several times. There was also a machine shop, an elevator, and a railroad station. Mr. Shumway called the place "Velma" in honor of his daughter Velma. This town was established in the late 1890's. When the new highway was built to follow the railroad into Taylorville in 1965-66, the state purchased most of the property for a right-of-way, and the buildings were razed. Only the concrete foundation of the elevator remains.
MILLERSVILLEAlthough Millersville is still on the map and a church and an elevator and a few houses remain, it is a small part of what Millersville once was. The town is located in the southeast corner of Section 26, Township 12 north. Range 1 west. Locust Township, and was so located as a shipping point halfway between Pana and Owaneco. The town was laid out September 20, 1873, by M.G. Okey at the suggestion of Thomas Miller, who owned the land upon which the town was laid out. It was surveyed by Elijah Gimlin, a resident of the township, for its proprietor, who acknowledged the same before W. M. Provine, a notary public, January 20, 1874. The town contained 4 blocks, and the principal streets were Bismark and Center; the town was named in honor of Mr. Miller. Ballard and Miller operated an elevator; there were two elevators. L. Kirkpatrick operated a general store; there were two other stores. Price and Wilkerson were the grain dealers. There was also a school, a church, blacksmith shop, paint shop, stock yards, hay barns, scales and a coal yard, a depot, an engine house, a post office. They had a rural delivery of mail. The Pike Anti-Horse Thief Lodge is there.
DUNKLE This town was established in 1876 by J. N. Dunkle, who opened a store and became the postmaster. The new railroad built a depot and freight house. Later an elevator was erected. Dunkle is located in the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 23, Township 12 north. Range 1 east. Assumption Township. Today all that remains is the elevator and one house.
RADFORDThis town was located in the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 13, Township 13 north, Range 1 east, Prairieton Township. Front street ran along the railroad. There were three blocks, and 60 lots; the other streets were Radford Street, McGraft, Shobe, Mercer, and Syford streets. It contained stores, a post office, and probably a blacksmith shop. A few houses were built, but the town never developed to any extent and today, except for a short street facing the railroad and a few houses, it is farm land.
ARCHIE'S MILL Archer Moses came to the area and entered the first parcel of land in the county. On November 27, 1827, he entered the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 13 in Township 15 north, Range 3 west, in Mt. Auburn Township. He established a water mill on the river, and settlers from the southeast part of the county had a choice of going to Shelbyville or Archie's Mill to have their grain ground. This was the only grist mill in the area for a few years until others began to be built along the streams. In the late 1890's and early 1900's, the area was known as "Smith's Mill," and it was a recreation area, with boating, fishing, swimming, and picnic grounds; families came from great distances to enjoy the pleasures that were afforded. When the river was dredged for a new channel to take out the bends, the area was abandoned and today, the remains of the old Archie's Mill is there for all to see, the stone pillars that supported the mill floor, the remains of the old dam, and even the position of the old water wheel that furnished the power. Nearby, the remains of an old ice house dug into the side of the bank of the ridge is visible. At the top of the hill or ridge, there is a mound of lime stone, where men carried or carted the stone from the river bank, and then crushed it and made it ready for hauling away. Today, a Mr. Bradley owns the site, and his is the oldest abstract in Christian County.
ROBY Jake Bird, who lived at Mechanicsburg, owned the land north of the railroad and had it platted and surveyed into lots. The railroad was built in 1901. Jim Mitchem and Art Belt operated the first store. There was more than one store and a post office, a blacksmith shop, a church, and a school were nearby. In 1905, J. F. Akin opened a store and today his son, J. E. Akin, a former school teacher operates the store on the south side of the Lincoln Trail, which follows the railroad at this point. This is nearly the same route followed by the stage route from Decatur to Springfield and also the state road established by the state legislature in 1837.
GROVE CITY This inland town was built in the 1850's and the first store was built by F. H. Henshie and the first house was built by E. N. Hoagland; there was a blacksmith shop here at the same time, in 1858; in 1862 a post office was established, with F. H. Henshie as the first postmaster. In 1864, Dr. H.J. Grismer was the first physician; in 1876, a school house was erected, with Sylvester Patterson as the first teacher. In 1880, the business houses consisted of a drug store, a grocery store, a dry goods store, a boot and shoe store, a harness shop, a wagon maker, an undertaker, a house and sign painter, a bank. Two physicians were Dr. W. H. Vermillion and Dr. J. G. Harvey. There were the Masonic Lodge, Order of Eastern Star, Odd Fellows and Rebekahs. At a later date there was a jewelry store, located in Section 34, Township 15 north. Range 2 west, Mt. Auburn Township. Housley and Drake had a large store and warehouse; they opened a branch store in Stonington in 1893 and also a bank. Today, there remains a church and a well-kept cemetery that marks the site of a very important town in the late nineteenth century.
MT. AUBURN This town is today an important town located on the railroad that connects Springfield and Decatur; Mt. Auburn is located in Section 12, Township 15 north. Range 2 west, Mt. Auburn Township on the Lincoln Trail. It was an important stop for the stages and also on the State Road, Decatur to Springfield. It was mentioned as a possible site for the state capitol when it was to be moved from Vandalia. Mt. Auburn is the oldest town in the county that retains its original name, "Mt. Auburn." In 1837, it is mentioned in the records of the state legislature in laying out state roads. Mt. Auburn has erected a bronze plaque informing the public that Abraham Lincoln traveled this route many times.
GENERAL SAMUEL WHITESIDE - About two miles northeast of Mt. Auburn, on the Lincoln Trail, there is an old cemetery in which is buried the only general known to be buried in Christian County. General Samuel Whiteside, who fought in the Indian War of 1832, was born in 1783 and died in 1860. John Whiteside, a brother of General Samuel Whiteside, served as state treasurer. The cemetery is located in the northeast quarter of Section 5, Township 15 north. Range 1 west. Mosquito Township.
CAMPBELL'S POINT This point is located at a point of the timber that extends out into the prairie. John and Joseph Brown entered the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 3 in Township 14 north, Range 3 west, Buckhart Township, on October 30, 1825, and sold their interests to Shadrack J. Campbell on March 3, 1833, for $275. The tract contained 80 acres. From this point other landmarks were located. This point was only a short distance west of the town of Campbellsburg.
FIRST SETTLEMENT - Martin Hanon came to the county the first of November, 1818, with his brothers, sisters and his mother and became the first settler in the county. He settled on land in Section 29, Township 14 north, 3 west in South Fork Township; the place was later occupied by Aquille Council. In 1826 Mr. Hanon moved to a place south of Taylorville and built a cabin near a great spring. Later, this site was where V. T. Prist built a three-story brick flouring mill in the 1860's; in 1872, it burned, never to be rebuilt. In later years, a brick building was built from the debris of the old mill, and it was later used as a slaughter house. This building is located on the Taylorville to Nokomis road, just south of the Col. Seaman estate. Mr. Hanon bought an interest in a grist mill, owned by Wallace and Knuckles in 1834, and moved his family from the site south of Taylorville. Mr. Hanon sold his interest in the mill to Jesse Elgan in 1838 and retired to his farm nearby. This farm was later owned by Josiah A. Hill who served as sheriff and also as circuit clerk. After Mr. Hanon lost his wife, he went to live with a daughter near Sharpsburg, Mrs. Sharp.
CLARKSDALE - Clarksdale was laid out and plotted by Richard Powell for Y. B. Clark, for whom it was named, in 1871. A flouring mill was built in 1872 by Mr. Clark; it burned in 1876. The post office was established in 1870, and L. Park was the first postmaster. P. H. Ward operated a general merchandise store; Twist Brothers owned a grain buying business; there were also two blacksmith shops. In 1880 there was an elevator, a general store, a wagon repair shop, a hotel, and a school. Dr. George Walton and Dr. E. K. Fletcher were the physicians, and there was a drug store and a barber shop. After the advent of the automobile and the hard roads, Clarksdale became another ghost town.
CLAWSONS POINT There was a settlement at the head waters of Spring Branch that ran northward through the eastern tier of Sections in Township 13 north, Range 1 west, May Township; the settlement was located in Section 25. This settlement was located on the Taylorville to Assumption stage and hack route. Many travellers from Shelbyville to Springfield found a nights lodging there, and it became a resting point in the travels across the prairie. There were only a few houses and probably one was a kind of inn for travellers. So far as is known, there was no post office, store, or blacksmith shop there.
WADDELL SETTLEMENT - Because of the number of families of that name who settled in the vicinity, the settlement was called the Waddell Settlement. In 1886, they built a United Presbyterian Church on the northwest corner of the southwest quarter and it stood there until during the 1920's, when it was moved or razed. At this time, Elmer Waddell and his son William still farm extensively in Sections 22 and 27 in Township 13 north, Range 1 west. May Township.
JERNIGAWS BRIDGE This bridge was located, crossing the stream in Section 33, Township 12 north, Range 3 west. Bear Creek Township. Gabriel R. Jernigan settled on the Bear Creek in 1835 and entered the east half of the northeast quarter on Section 4 in Township 11 north. Range 3 west. Ricks Township. The bridge was built north of his land and was named in his honor. Mrs. Jernigan was elected treasurer ot the county and served during its infancy.
RALSTONS BRIDGE - Gavin Ralston, Sr., arrived and settled in Township 13 north. Range 3 west. South Fork Township, in 1834. He settled in Section 3. A bridge was built across the stream, a short distance from his farm, and the bridge named in his honor. The site was important in the early days because many locations were described in relation to the bridge. Gavin Ralston was one of the three County Court Commissioners elected in April 1839, which was the governing body of the county as the Board of Supervisors is today.
RALSTON'S QUARRY A short distance downstream, was located a quarry known as Ralston's Quarry; from this quarry, the stone for the first court house was taken and the lime was burned here to furnish plaster. Today, there still remain signs of the old quarry and many boulders of limestone are in the vicinity.
ELSTON'S MILL - This mill was built by Wallace and Knuckles in 1833; they sold the mill to Martin Hanon and Eli Matthews, who operated it until 1838 and then sold to Jesse Elgan; this was a water mill and much grain was ground here; later a saw mill was built. Jesse Elgan was one of the contractors who built the first court house. When the County Court Commissioners met in 1839, they authorized the first county road to be laid out from Taylorville to Elgan's Mill.
WHITECRAFT SETTLEMENT - John C. Whitecraft came to the area November 17, 1835, and settled on Section 25, Township 14 north, Range 4 west, South Fork Township. He purchased 150 acres from a Mr. Rathburn, who had started to build a water mill; Mr. Whitecraft finished the mill. When the legislature met at Vandalia, in 1837, the marking of a state road from Vandalia to Springfield was authorized, and Mr. Whitecraft was one of the three commissioners named. The road was to leave Vandalia, pass between Ramsay and Hurricane Creeks, through Audubon, Montgomery County and on to Edinburgh and thence by way of Rathburn's Mill and then to Rochester and Springfield. At a later session of the legislature, the road was changed to pass from Edinburgh to Rochester and then Springfield, by passing Rathburn's Mill.
TIMBER FIELD-HORSESHOE PRAIRIE - Horseshoe Prairie was that area on the east side of the river which extended as far east as Sharpsburg and almost to Taylorville; in the early days it was a vast swamp. A short distance downstream from Ralston's Bridge and beyond Ralston's Quarry, was what was known in the early days as Timber Field; it was a space bare of trees in the bottom land where John Waddell settled in 1824, built a cabin and cultivated his crops. Some time later he sold his holdings to John Baker, who came with his father. His father, Mr. D. Baker was quite elderly, and it was said that he was a Revolutionary soldier. Soon after their arrival, Mr. D. Baker died and was buried in the open field without a marker. As time passed, the land was flooded several times and then the underbrush took over, and Timber Fields could no longer be located accurately.
BELL'S GROVE John Bell arrived in the Pana-Rosamond area in 1836 and entered a tract of land, consisting of 521 acres in Section 24, Township 11 north, Range 1 west, Rosamond Township. Along the ridge, there was considerable timber and until that time, there was a band of Indians who had an encampment. They were close to the many springs that was the start of Oppossum Creek, and the timber furnished good hunting and protection from the elements. In 1863 the Rosamond Cemetery Association purchased 40 acres of Bells' Grove for their cemeterv. It is in this cemetery, that a statue of Abraham Lincoln stands which is said to be the only one of Mr. Lincoln with his right hand upraised. Beside the statue, there stands a cannon, ordered bv the citizens of Rosamond and taken to Springfield, where Mr. Lincoln was asked to name it. He called it the "Mary Todd."
Written by George Rogers
Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history
Jacksonville, Ill.,: Printed by Production Press, 1968
Transcribed by K. Torp
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